whatcha readin?

Thought I quit reading did you?  Thought I stopped frequenting the library huh?  They wish!!!  The rates actually went down forty bucks for out-of-county members this past year!!  Who was excited??? me.

One of my January goals was to read two books for the month.  Well, it's January 17th and I've got 1 plus 1/4 down... 3/4 to go!  I visited the juvenile fiction section to do so but hey... whatever it takes.  I'm not a real fast reader unless it really peaks my interest.

I read The Uncommoners by Jennifer Bell.  I'll never look at a toilet brush the same.  Read it.  Super cute.  I'm now reading a compilation of short "peculiar" stories (picture of book below).  I also finally broke down and let myself buy Country Living... British Edition magazine a couple weeks ago... it's in the pics with all the post-it tabs sticking out.  Oh how I love this magazine.  So inspirational and dreamy.

ALSO! The Fairy Gardening book... I have very high hopes of turning most all of my potting this Spring and Summer into tiny worlds.  Why not?!?!  Especially my kitchen sink/potting station by the basement.  Why yes... it will have dishes and flowers that look like suds this year... thanks for asking!

And I still have flowers on my table... always.  The enamelware milk jug came from Uncle Randy.  It's one of my favorite things.

lovin right now

 

1~The Secret Garden adult coloring book by Johanna Brasford.  I actually bought this a year ago and pick it up from time to time.  Lately I have really enjoyed stepping into calm and creating by coloring.  I have found it's best to use gel pens of which I have several... even neon, shimmer and glittered colors.

 

2~I am in love with pre-peppered pork loin from Kroger.  All you do is pop it in the oven for thirty minutes and it's ready to go with whatever sides you prefer.  So good!

 

3~This is the second book of Alice Hoffman's I have read lately.  I started this one on Monday of this week after reading Practical Magic last week.  I am really enjoying the ease of reading in her writing and so far am enjoying this one to the bone.  I want more of this oddities museum!

 

4~I bought this sunscreen in 30 spf last year when I went to Florida with my family.  I am still enjoying it.  It's not greasy or heavy and I've even been wearing it on my face everyday and have yet to over do it in the sun and I am out in it a lot.

 

5~Guilty pleasure in snack size.  Little Kit Kats have me hooked right now.

days of our day care

I truly love, as a hobby of mine, to peruse the internet looking for good books for children and go back and forth from websites to my library site, searching titles and authors and requesting the results to be brought to my library for my usual pick up on Saturdays after yoga.  I then have another slight hobby of going online again to find coloring pages to go along with the books that I read to the kids.  Coloring pages or activities keep us busy a little while longer after story time.  Especially on Mondays when it's time for our wormhole picture for the week.  I think I've explained my form of discipline I reverted to when time out stopped working.

Each week we have a coloring page on Monday, for each child, that gets put in their folder on the wall.  If a child misbehaves or gets time out or acts up when adults and parents arrive or uses bad language then I will ask them to go and get their picture and they get a "wormhole" or a hole punched in their picture which means that they don't get to choose a prize from the treat box at the end of the week.  If they do not have a wormhole in their picture then they get to choose something on the way out on the last day. 

This week we had a fun book called Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash.  A book which was right down my clothesline alley.  I pinned up a clothesline complete with sparkled clothespins over each folder for each child.  I then went online and found a simple picture of a sock and printed enough for each child to have one sock to color.  The kids we so excited to hang up their socks on the clothesline.  So far no one has a hole in their sock.  Hopefully it will stay that way.

Another day this week we read Harold and the Purple Crayon.  I dug out enough purple crayons, skinny ones for the older kids and little shorties for younger ones, and passed out white paper to each child when the story was over.  As they were sitting down they each asked me to flip through the pages to a certain scene they remember and wanted to draw like Harold did.  It was pretty fun and they were proud of their purple crayon drawings.

HERE is a direct to a preschool book search on goodreads.com.  Most of the time I put links on here for you to enjoy.  But a lot of times, especially with all the pc and internet trouble I have had lately, I find myself looking back and feeling safe that I have saved links here to refer back to.  Especially since I lost all of my browsing data and favorites more than once.

I also came across a really cute summer time backyard bingo, free printable that I quickly printed out two copies of and laminated.  Not real laminated... just the plastic overlay stuff.  HERE is the link to that.  You can play it with anyone I reckon!

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!

A Bit of Holiday Reading

I don't know about you, but I like to read before going to sleep at night.  Most people say that it puts them to sleep.  I will say that it does me that very same way but that's the point!  When a hectic day or worries have my mind all clogged up come bedtime I feel it helps to clear my mind and focus on something else.  A little reading does just that.  This practice can be especially helpful during the holidays and may help to not be so stressed out.  Most of the time I will read until I can't hold my eyes open anymore.  Sometimes that is a chapter or two and sometimes it's one page.  But I find I have let go of my worries so I can sleep more soundly.

 

I have put together a few holiday book suggestions for you!  Awe!  I have actually only read one of these and it wasn't necessarily about Christmas but the mystery story was based during that time of year.  It's nice to fictionally see what someone else is doing for a bit!  I'll be focusing on Christmas Bliss myself... and maybe a little Christmas in High Heels.  The Gemma Halliday books can get a touch steamy!

 

 

 

I am dying to get my hands on several of these books.  Unluckily, my library does have three of them.

Happy Holiday Reading!

 

BTW Christmas in High Heels by Gemma Halliday is part of the High Heels mystery series.  If you sign up for Gemma's newsletters in her website you will get Christmas in High Heels short story free by download!  I am a fan of the High Heels series and am delighted to get this read!!

Click HERE to sign up! 

P.S. the freebie is only good through January 15th, 2014.



Current Book Crush

I would like to report that I am the very first person to rent this particular book from the library.  And that just tickles me to death!  I have loved this series by Alan Bradley that began with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  I read this first book in the series in October, then proceeded to read the next three in the line through December.  I found that fifth book was due out in January and my library already had it on order, so I put my name on the request list to read it.  Low and behold, it was in transit last Thursday and when I got it I noticed the date on the outside of 1/31/13.  Meaning.... I am the first one to read this book... not the story itself ... just this one book.  OOhhh I like it!  And I am on the tenth chapter and already have some favorite parts.  One of them is this:

"A seed is a remarkable vessel," he told me.  "Our one true time machine.  Each of them is capable of bringing the past, alive, into the present, Think of that!" 

I just love living normal life and then being lucky enough to have the interest of popping into a story of someone else's life, mostly fictional lives but still, to look around and see their world and meet people related to the story line.  And mostly with this one, I can't wait to see if five hundred year old seeds are collected and successfully germinated to bloom.  If that really happened I would be in awe.

Hooked On Henkes

Kevin Henkes is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors of children's books.  For the age group that I have it seems better that there is less to read and more to look at.  I simply lose their attention if the story is too long. 

I found my first Henkes book while looking for children's books about birds.  The cover was colorful and on the library's website it looked interesting.  So I requested it and picked it up the next Saturday along with another Kevin Henkes book about gardening.  At story time the following week, these were the weekly favorites.  So yesterday, when I visited the library, I searched the kid room for more.  I came home with four more although there were more than that.   I don't want to read them all at once!

I have already read one this morning.  I just love the small stories and how beautifully the books are illustrated.  It makes me feel that I could create my own book.  Maybe I will.

 

Birds at the DC

We like us some birds at the DC y'all.  We watch them out the front window as they frequent our feeder, we collect feathers when we play outside, we even had a Robin's nest in our tree we planted this past Summer!

This past Saturday I picked up a book at the library by Kevin Henkes called Birds that had requested.  So that is the book we read at story time.... four times.  Then during nap time I cut out bird silhouettes on card stock that I had printed.  After sleepy heads were up, we broke out colored tissue paper, circles and glue sticks. 

Sometimes I have to stop myself because of the ideas that are in my head of what I want the end result of a craft or plan to be and allow the kids to do whatever they want with the supplies they are given.  I get in there and create my own version and let them be the artist of their version.  It always works out beautifully and they are so proud of their work. 

This morning, on the drive to work (down the driveway), I stopped and picked up a couple of branches, which were a little icy.  They thawed quickly once inside and I strung thin embroidery thread from the branches to tacks and pushed the tacks into the ceiling.  The branches hung really nicely.  Then I tied the string from the birds to the branches.  I love it!  They are hanging in front of the window where our bird feeder is.

The kids were so excited when they got there this morning.  I love that feeling.  The little one always says "Oh thank you Waurie!" when I have done something new.  So very rewarding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Magazine

Let me tell you about my favorite magazine.  I don't have a subscription to it.  Mainly because it costs so much because it comes from another country.  But if I am lucky, when I visit Hendersonville or Rivergate book stores, I can find the current month's copy waiting for me on the magazine rack. 

It is Country Living, British Edition.  I first saw it on a flickr friend's photo that lives... somewhere else.  It has wonderful articles and home decorating pictures.  I am half intrigued to see how the other side of the world decorates and cooks but also I love the farm animal write ups and recipes.  Although the recipe measurements have to be converted to what I know and it totally throws me off if I try one. 

They also have a good resale value on ebay if I could ever let go of a copy. 

January 2013 copy.

This is how you know for sure that it's the one. 

This month has a good article about keeping chickens.  I love the idea of hanging greens for them like this.

I pour over the details of pictures like this.

This bed spread makes me want to learn to crochet.

This is my favorite edition from June of 2010. 

And this is why.  I was amazed at this article about the kingfisher that lives in their country.  We have them here but definitely not their beautiful colors.

Book Review

Two weeks before Christmas I was wishing I had a good read to sink in to.  Something to keep my mind on track and semi away from the Holiday jumbo.  As luck would have it I logged on to the library's website and typed in Alan Bradley, the Flavia de Luce creator and found a fourth book in the Flavia series!  I was so tickled.  The book name is I Am Half-Sick of Shadows and it is based at Christmas time.  How ironic that was!  I requested it and picked it up in a few short days.  It feels so good to wrap my mind around a good story with twists and turns.  Here are a few of my favorite lines from the book.

Flavia: Most chemists, whether they admit it or not, have a favorite corner of their craft in which they are forever tinkering, mine is poisons.

Phyllis Wyvern: Kitchens are the hot beds of scandal.

Flavia: Grumblers are deaf to any voices but their own.

Dogger: I believe a man named Aristotle once said that we delight to contemplate things such as dead bodies, which in themselves would give us pain, because in them, we experience a pleasure of learning which outweighs the pain.

I recited that last one to myself when I was helping my husband gut a deer shortly after I finished the book. 

I currently have found myself hooked on another book to be reviewed soon.  And also I found a cool website called Goodreads from a friends blog who uses it.  I have desired to find a place to compile a list of books that I want to read and so forth without having to request them from the library before I am ready.  This seems to be partly what this website is all about.  I was hooked on it for over an hour last night.  Once I have finished my lists I plan to post them under the Reading tab of my blog.

What We're Reading

After a heavy library visit on Saturday, and by heavy I mean the book stack, I found myself at home with fifteen books. (quiet he he)  I left with a stack of children's books to read at the DC this week and a stack for myself to browse over. 

Some of them are to inspire our Provost ( :) ) journey down the road, some of them just to look at and one of them to remind me that gardening in 2013 really isn't that far away.  Plus it was a suggestion from a new blog friend's book role. 

None of the children's books were on the hold shelf for me.  I hand picked them while I was there.  I always wonder what people think of me.  Seeing me squatting or sitting Indian style in the kid's section with a healthy grin on my face. 

I do regret not taking the time to check out a new reading book.  One that I can pour over the words.  One with no pictures, just the ones they paint for you.  Maybe next week.