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Ah The Grand Budapest Hotel.  This is a coffee table book I can't wait to thumb through!

Pistol Annies… Interstate Gospel... been on the wait list for this cd for a while now.

Flavia De Luce and I have a long term relationship.  This is Alan Bradley's newest book and will probably take less time to read than the time I've been waiting on it!

Inheritance... I normally can't get into the majority of books on the best sellers list.  Judging the reviews I'm gonna give this one a good shot.

Riverdale... only because a character on a tv show I watch talks about this series.  I don't have a clue what it's about... I like it that way.

Girl, Wash Your Face..., my niece Lacey loved this one.  I've been on the hold list a couple of times.  Highly popular at the library.

Have a wonderful day!

literally on the library hold shelf

Aaah a library list. Yes I still frequent the library.  Sometimes I leave with so much stuff that I don't remember requesting it!  I've been getting a lot of movies lately.  Especially of the Alfred Hitchcock variety.  Rear Window remains my favorite.  Also... did you ever see the movie Mr. Brooks?  Oh my.  Good flick.  Here's what I'm waiting for currently.

literally on the library hold shelf

I got an email from Goodreads wanting votes for the best of the best 2015 books.  While there aren't a whole lot of new releases that I can vote for, mainly because I haven't read a ton of new releases, I found it a fantastic place to find new items to check out.  You can find the fabulous link of the Choice Awards books HERE.

And now I will share what I quickly went through and picked for myself as I scramble to the library website to get on the hold lists.  I literally probably won't see any of these books until after the first of the year.  So I am all set for winter time fireplace reading for a while.

 

 



literally on the library hold shelf

Y'all, I am going to admit that I am so excited for Thanksgiving.  I love getting together with family, eating wonderful food that you just don't get all year long, and listening to the parades on TV because I am always too busy to watch, being off work... the whole manila.  There is a warmth that comes up in my heart when I know Thanksgiving is coming soon. 

 

Today, I researched Thanksgiving at the library, well on the website, to get some things on order for myself and the day care.  It's funny that if you don't get items on hold soon enough you will miss them because so many others are on the wait list as well.  I always seem to be too late and it's barely November.  So I am on the wait list for several items that will hopefully find their way to me before November is over.  Luckily I have a few weeks before it gets here.  Ideally they would get there the week of Thanksgiving when we will be hot and heavy into Thanksgiving talk at the day care. 

 

Here's a peek at a couple of things headed my way.

 

 

In my opinion, Thanksgiving cooking and decorating wouldn't be complete without consulting Martha.  She gives me a feel good attitude about cooking and such.  I would invite her to lunch with us but she'd probably show us all up with her holiday magic!

 

Charlie Brown is also a staple at heart when it comes to holidays.  We have channel 2 to thank for that!  There's no telling how many are on the list for this one but eventually we will be watching it at the day care.

 

Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn, the story behind Thanksgiving symbols.  I thought this sounded interesting.  I mostly just figured they were symbols because of the time of year Thanksgiving is celebrated.  We will see what she has to say.

 

The Thanksgiving Story I hope will shed good light on the holiday itself.  I know what we were all taught in school but a part of me can't help but feel sorry for the Indians.  I am sure there were a few who threw up their hands surrendering to the newcomers and breaking bread but not all, as we are led to believe, were a part of the first meal. 

 I plan to pass on the normal Thanksgiving story to the kids here. 

 

A Catered Thanksgiving, because my mind will need a Thanksgiving-related murder mystery that includes recipes.  Who's doesn't??



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YES! Another library book post!!! 

I can feel that you are equally as excited as I am to see what I've got on hold at the library!  I don't blame you.  How else are you going to know what to pick up when you go?  I know I'm not the only library go-er.  There's other people in there every time I'm there.  This time I've been in the mood for a little murder mystery since Halloween is coming up AND I have a four wheeling trip coming up.  Not that I can read in the truck on the way there without getting nauseous or like we will have time for me to lie in the hammock at the beach cause duh!  We're not going to the beach.  We will be on the trails where no book should ever be!  Unless you call the trail map a book... then that's ok and much needed at times.  Nevertheless, I want a fun, fast, dolled up, chick flick kind of murder book and here are my four picks that I literally... wait for it... have on the hold shelf at the library.  Wow.. that literally came out of no where!  I am so making fun of myself in this post and need to stop!  I love sharing my library lists with you...  literally. 

 

 

Don't you just love my little witch trails!  I'm so witch crafty.  I know you also love how I get out of doing book reviews the correct way by sharing what's coming to me from the library that I haven't read yet.  You so often don't know if I liked the books or even looked at them.  And why, do you ask, do I need four murder mystery books at one time?  I reckon because I can and I have the fear that if I only get one I won't like it and wish I had gotten a different one that I could "get in to".  So, literally (here I go again) I have one book to read and three on back up... literally.  Makes total sense to me. 

 

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It seems nowadays and especially since I don't have my Fridays off anymore that I don't have as much time to library.  I have been skipping yoga on Saturdays it feels like every other week.  My holds have been put back on the shelf at times.  The library is closed on Sundays and during the week I just don't have the energy or interest to drive to Goodlettsville to pick up my stuff on the two days during the week that they are open past six.  But... with the new season almost upon us, seeing that October is already here, I have a totally different interest in what to order and pick up from my favorite free supply store... the library. 

This post is about a few of the items I have ordered for the kids at the day care.  I have plans for each one of these books that will include coloring and/or crafts to go with reading aloud.  I also have a few movies with some of their favorite characters.  I have already strung Halloween lights at the day care in two rooms and we've done a fall craft or two.

Here are a few titles of what our next week has in store for us... provided I don't flake out of going to the library.  I have good intentions this week of going!



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I love the library but truthfully I haven't been going much lately.  Lately I have only wanted one book to just read before bed or during naptime at the day care.  I have also only wanted one video.  That being some sort of sitcom to have on while I am working in the kitchen.  I admit, when I saw that the library was getting The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, I got a little excited.  I watched it growing up and still have certain scenes permanently engraved in my mind and some of the songs!!  Ease on down ease on down the road!  I think I might have mentioned The New Bohemians interior book on a previous list but I'm still waiting on it.  And I am hoping the either The Marriage of Opposites or A Window Opens will keep me captivated long enough to finish them.  I loved the last book I read, Bloodroot by Amy Greene, but the second book I got of hers, Long Man, I can't get into for some reason.  I find myself wondering if it can really last that long and just want to know if the chick and her kid in the town leave before they block off the water to the new dam and flood the town.  I have skipped forward I admit. 

 

I also admit that I have taken bike riding back up.  Please don't get an image of me in your head in spandex on some expensive bike blocking half of a lane of back roads getting in the way of passing cars.  I just truck around the shop.  I've gotten quite good at dodging the camper, trucks, stray motors and air hoses and can get pretty good speed up if I've got the right music in my ears.  I think Shaun likes the company and sometimes when he drops a tool while working on his trucks I'll just glide over, scoop it up and hand it to him and be on my merry way while we can still chat yet I'm really not in the way.  Plus I get a little exercise.  I bet I rode that bike for two hours last Sunday... maybe more.  Here's a picture of me on the Vista Sophisticate.  That's when we went camping last year.  I love the last picture of Shaun with Katie Bug in that post when it was raining and we had to stay inside for a while that morning.

 

 

 

literally on the library hold shelf

 

My library list today consists of a few finds and one old favorite.  The first one sparked my interest while reading a list in the New York Times on great gifts for college graduates.  I didn't feel that  my college graduating niece would be the slightest bit interested in this book but thought maybe I would.  I did read some reviews on Amazon and one said that cities are more big cites and not off the beaten path type stuff.  I don't know which I would be more interested in anyway.  I more like Waymore... drinking and dreamin, knowing damn well I won't go.  Until the Provost comes into play someday.  But then it will be campgrounds and such.

If you saw my post from Tuesday of this week then you know why I want the Tennessee wildflowers book.  I found a few new blooms in the woods this year that I've not seen before and am interested in finding out what they are.  

The Golden Girls I've seen bunches of times in the past.  Both when they were prime time and reruns on Lifetime.  Since we have an outside antenna for our television source and no cable or satellite to watch reruns, if they even still show them, I resort to my beloved library.  I have a tv in the kitchen that is not hooked up to the antenna but does have a dvd player so that's where I watch my old sitcoms and favorite movies over and over again.  I will switch it on in the mornings for a laugh while making coffee and cooking breakfast and in the evenings if Shaun is watching something in the living room that I'm not particularly interested in... which most of the time involves Dirty Harry or Burt Reynolds. He's old fashioned too... just in a different way.  I even sit on the countertop where my tv is in the kitchen to watch it and lately I've noticed that over the last six years I've worn the color off of the drawer handle by putting my foot on it.  

I have seen and loved the movie Practical Magic for many years but have never taken the time to read the book.  So often or maybe every time, the book is better than the movie and I am really hoping so in this case.  I adore the kitchen and plant room/conservatory in the house and hope to goodness the author explains these rooms in detail so my imagination can run wild with it.  Here is the movie version.

 

Gasp!  What I would give for that room.... and that enamelware bin under the table!

 And the kitchen...

 And let us not forget the outside of the beautiful Victorian home and the garden that surrounds it.  

OK.. enough day dreaming already!  I've got library books to pick up!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I plan on doing some reading in the Oasis! 

p.s. Practical Magic pictures found on pinterest

literally on the library hold shelf

Fortunately and unfortunately I have a couple of kids headed to kindergarten in the fall of this year.  It makes me both sad and proud but it also makes me feel as if I have some sort of responsibility to do my part in helping prepare them as much as I can.  This should be a fun book to help with that and I love that Miss Bindergarten is a border collie like Katie Bug whom they know very well.

Spring is upon us and if the weather will ever clear up enough for us to take a good walk when they are all here we will have a discovery stroll looking around us to finds signs of spring right around us.  

We are still stuck on Mo Willems.  I try to include one at least one book of his every week.  They are easy to find a good coloring page online and the books makes the kids laugh which I adore both.

We have been eating healthier and cutting out sweets whenever we can here at the day care.  Shaun couldn't believe, when he was here during snack time the other day, that the kids were asking for more cut carrots.  It's funny that the foods they at one time turned their noses up to are now their favorites.  I hope even if they choose a junk food path for themselves that they always remember the healthy stuff too.  I am excited to read The Food Parade and plan to maybe have coloring pages of different foods to have our own food parade.

Lego DC on dvd.  This is for the older boys.  As much as I try to keep their minds off of weapons and violence... they are still boys (as Shaun pointed out to me).  I have one day a week where I only have the older boys and I reckon this will be the day next week that I allow them to watch a movie like this.  They have all seen it before but will love seeing it again.  I like to make the day with the bigger kids special and still let them be who they are. 

Looks like it's going to be an exciting week here next week! 

Especially when Mrs Laurie comes up with activities to go along with these books!

I'd better get to work!

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1. Collected by Fritz Karch.  I have actually already checked out this book but I will tell you that I really enjoyed thumbing through the pages of items collected and ogling at all the stuff.  I did learn a few things too.  For instance, I have some vintage linens that have the name Vera in the bottom corner and I learned that it is Vera Neumann and some other interesting things.  

2.  Modern Pioneering by Georgia Pellegrini.  I already rented this one too.  I will admit that at first glance through the pages I wasn't too impressed and set it back down for a few days.  When I did pick it back up and really looked at it I felt differently.  She has some good tips on cooking and gardening and some pretty good looking recipes.  I really like the small tips in the corners and plan to write several of them in my journal for later.

3.  Captain Phillips dvd.  My sister Mary Evelyn actually recommended this movie telling me that she and her husband were on the edges of their seats through the whole movie!  

4.  Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems.  I am currently hooked on Mo Willems children's books.  The kids loved this book and I love any book that makes them laugh.  And laugh they did at this one.  It says at one point that the monster wants to scare the tuna salad out of someone.  They thought this was the funniest thing they had ever heard.  I have more Mo Willems books on the way.

5. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.  I am on the wait list for this one and it is only available on over drive from my library.  Meaning it is a downloadable version that will have to be returned too.  I normally don't like renting books this way because downloading it eats up our internet time.  So I am thinking about buying the actual book.  Anything that can make cleaning up feel like magic sounds good to me.  I am looking forward to a different approach at being a tidy person and it making total sense.  Things like that generally stick with me.  

P.S. I do take suggestions on reading and movies. If you have seen or read anything good lately please let me know!

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i've not forgot.... i just haven't had that much to say... but I am still doing this....

I am a library lover.  I belong to a library that I have to pay to be in because I live outside the county.  It's ok because I use the absolute fire out of it and I guarantee you that they spend more on fuel delivering my uncanny requests for books and movies that I could never gripe about the yearly charge to me.  Yes there is a library in my own county and I have been a member.  But my card is expired and they don't have near the selection and I find myself back again and again.  Currently I have ten items checked out and eleven on hold, none of which are actually ready to be picked up yet but will be by the time my yoga class rolls around on Saturday that is happily located on the block in front of the library (insert my greedy smile), and the total count of twenty one is very low for me.  Oh... I forgot about the winter curriculum kit that has twenty five children's books and five dvds about winter that I have at the day care.  

And here is a quick word about my presently awaited items.

Physik  continuing my reading in the series.  I am really enjoying these as I have gotten to know the characters and enjoy the story line and even feel I know my way around their world.

The Pigeon Needs a Bath  kid book for the dc and because it looks funny.  Also interested to see if I have a new author of children's books to add to my favorites.

The Kinfolk Table because I am into easy and laid back entertaining.  Not the I "entertain" often but when I do it is quaint and I can't wait to look at the recipes.

The Selby is in your place... I like to look in people's homes... mostly online... and this is even of some famous people's homes.  Who doesn't want to see that.  Ideas can be found anywhere.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus I told Shaun last night after having him watch another on of my odd movies (odd to him meaning it's not old west... of sorts) that I like to get different movies to keep our minds fresh.  Especially after the one we watched last night which I adored!

library list

Literally, these titles are on "hold" or on their way to me from the library. 

Happy Handmade Home by Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman.  I have actually followed A Beautiful Mess blog for a few years now and have enjoyed watching it grow as it has.  I have a feeling I will recognize posts made into book form but will enjoy having it in my hands all the same.

Five Little Pumpkins should be to me in time for October.  I love this little tale and enjoy the kid's faces as I read about what the little pumpkins get into.

Happy Herbivore Holidays by Lindsay Nixon.  I actually have one of her books on my birthday list.  She has a way of making vegetarian cooking easy and very good.  Her book Happy Herbivore Abroad is my personal favorite.

Dallas Buyers Club is actually at the suggestion of Shaun.  He oddly mentioned the title of this movie and I responded by asking if he had seen it.  I knew better that he hadn't so it's coming for us to see.  I have been amazed at Matthew McConnaughey's transformation for the movie.

Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks.  Oddly enough, I saw the book in a picture, on a blog, sitting on a nightstand in a post entitled "Bedside" on Moon to Moon blog which I frequent.  I have since read a snippet about the book and have it on order from simple interest. 

Funny where my inspiration comes from.  I really liked the picture above this one too with the tea cups stretched along the nightstand.  I showed it to Shaun and he simply said "looks like somebody needs to clean up."  

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These titles are literally on the library hold shelf for me.  As I was putting this collage together, and after I swiped the picture of Boogie Nights from Amazon.com, I thought to myself... this library list collage, in a way, sums me up.  The Libra balance... the music with possibly a bit of trash from the seventies, the tidbits of autobiographies from strong women, the interest in nature, witchery of sorts and old wive's tales from the people of the mountains, and my interest in animals and morbidly wanting to learn how to remove their skin and stuff them with whatever to make them hold their shape forever.  On that note... I plan to begin with a simple dove on September 1st and only mounting it's wings and tail.  I think it would be beautiful and simple to do because I watched a video on youtube... which I am also hooked on these days because you can find how to do anything.  Seriously... last weekend I removed the starter off of Black Rose and took it to the auto parts store and got a new one.  Youtube video confidence... it's dangerous and it will sometimes cause grease to get under your already short nails that won't come out.  My mind goes in so many impossible directions at the same time that it is really hard to keep up.  Most people wouldn't let others in to see their odd interests... or maybe not everybody has odd interests.  I love it and this list sums it up.

  

literally on the library hold shelf

I seriously saw the mention of The Broken Circle Breakdown on a blog and thought I'd see if the library had it.  I've been on the hold list for a few weeks for it.... still waiting.

The 30-Day Vegan Challenge.  I am anxious to read more about vegans and heck since I have been challenged thus far with my diet... why not push it further!  Do it Gul!

Green Smoothie Magic.  Since I got my Vita Mix, we've made smoothies at the day care at least twice a week and had them for our dessert with lunch.  This book is cute in that it talks about green magic juice from leaves and the making of smoothies in a kid sense.  

I am still on my bread making kick and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day I had to see.  I have really enjoyed the other bread books I have had and learned a lot but I still haven't found the dark bread recipe I am looking for.  Maybe this one will have something for me!

literally on the library hold shelf

When I say, literally on the library hold shelf, it is precisely what I mean.  With the Davidson County library system, of which I am proudly a part of, I can go online and request just about anything from books to cds to movies.  I go once a week and pick up my items on the hold shelf and happily skip out the door.  Here is where I share what I'm waiting on and hopefully will have in my hands by the end of the week.  It's pretty much a constant cycle.  

1.  Honestly... I am struggling with what to say on why I want to read this book.  I do want to read her insight into healthier living and eco-friendly lifestyle.  Hopefully when I get the book I will have my answer .

2.  I have been on a bread baking craze the last few weeks.  I have never really had the urge to want to bake bread before and frankly using yeast always made me feel like it was setting me up for failure.  There's just something about the smell of fresh baked bread in the house that I adore.

3.  Um Hello...??? Party in the USA is one of my favorite all time songs!  It's my ringtone for crying out loud.  Still.... yes I know.  I still want to hear the whole cd.

4.  Not that I am going all vegetarian, that's impossible for me.  I love meat!  But some good vegetarian recipes in my back pocket doesn't hurt either.  The black beans and rice are already startin to get old!

literally on the library hold shelf

1)  Kate Greenaway, Book of Games.  This is an oldie and I can't wait to bring it to the day care.  Goodness knows with all the rain and cold weather the winter has provided, we need new games to play inside.

2)  The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, By Alan Bradley.  This is the latest in a series that I happened upon when needing a new read.  It began with Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  A good little mystery series.  I have been waiting on the release of this title for almost a year.  Ugh the torcher.

3)  Doc Martin DVD, Series 2.  I am so hooked.  And I am 6 of 6 holds on 3 copies for this one!  ARGH  I will hopefully get it in another week since the rental time is one week.  I think I have Shaun hooked too.

4)  Saving the Season, By Kevin West.  A book of preserving.  I am always looking for new recipes and new ways to preserve tastes of the seasons and Spring is coming!

literally on the library hold shelf

 

here I go again... trying desperately to find natural, herbal help for my awful skin.  by the looks of the books it probably looks like I am about ready to start casting spells!  not true.  hexes and hemlines is the third book in a series I picked up this fall.  I just finished the second one and am ready for more.  it's extremely fictional but fun to read.  there are several songs on the best of doobie brothers cd that I've wanted to hear lately.  I appreciate the fact that the library has such things.  I am so readily interested in what the healing arts of American Indians has to say.  it may be made up hogwash or it may make sense.  you just never know.  I feel that some person some where in time had skin problems long before modern medicine and feel there are plants that grow wild on our farm that I can use to help in some way.  I tend to get desperate this time of year.  I am still learning and soak it up.  I would love to take an herbal class or something but prefer to study it in my own time.

 

what are you reading right now?