Because....

While we have been having a wonderful 3 day weekend, full of movie watching, book reading, ferry rides and time spent poking around in quaint little shops on Bainbridge Island, we have taken time to remember just why have a 3 day weekend in the first place.

Thank you to all the service men and women who have lost their lives protecting the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Thank you to all those who are currently serving and fighting to protect us.

Because of you, I can close my eyes at night and sleep without fear.

Hello, Hello!

Well hello! I would like to welcome you AND myself back to my blog...it feels like ages since I have had time to post, let alone visit all my blog friends, and let me say, I have missed you all. What has prevented me from being around, you may (or may not) be asking? Well.....

Simply,

Life!

• A son is graduating who needed a mom to put together our family's traditional graduation memory book. (Thank you Shutterfly.com. You are my new best friend!) Oh my goodness this took hours and hours to do because we have 1/2 of his life in photos that are hard copy, and the second 1/2 of his life is digital. I scanned and edited 200 pictures a couple of weekends ago. Then I had to pick out which digitals I might want, and upload those to Shutterfly along with all the scanned ones. Last weekend I uploaded almost 500 pictures!!
• The same son now needs a picture display board made for the big recognition dessert night being held on Wednesday. This entailed getting printed those photos on the computer that I wanted to use which I have never bothered to get printed before! (That took most of yesterday)
• Baseball games have started for both boys.

• End of the year school concerts have begun---and more to come.
• Work has been crazy and full of changes.
• Getting ready to plan graduating son's senior recital and open house to be held the 19th, not to mention the celebrating we will do on the 12th when the graduation ceremony occurs!

But, in the midst of all this, I have managed to squeak a little reading in.
I finished:
Hens Dancing--loved it!
The Postmistress--found it riveting, and am still processing my thoughts.

Currently reading:
Snow Falling in Spring: coming of age in China during the cultural revolution---so far, finding it to be fascinating and am realizing how little I know about China's not so distant past.

How about you all? Busy with end of school year activities? Still carving out reading time? Read any great books??

I am hoping to stop by for visits later today!

As always...

Oops! Almost forgot...Adelaide Renee at her first baseball game.

6 months old

Dogwood

Dogwood Blossom
May 2010

Little Miss Sunshine

Lyddie
5.5 months
sitting independently and laughing out loud

Mail Monday

What's In Your Mailbox Monday is hosted each week by Marcia over at The Printed Page.

Life has been so busy and I just have not had much drive to blog--but I miss it! So, even though I am late to get this post up, I am going to do it anyway!! All of my mailbox gems I have received via paperbackswap.com.

Got Books???

I am so proud of myself.
I have mailed out 20 books via paperbackswap.com this week.
The down side? I have ordered 9.
But in my defense....3 of those 9 are books to have on my 'grandma shelf' or otherwise known as children's picture a books!
I even have 7 more to ship out this week for a grand total of 27!!! I call this a victory in the cleaning shelves war. :)

Still reading Hens Dancing-- only have had time to read on my lunch break and for a few minutes before falling asleep this week.

I MUST work on senior boy's shutterfly graduation book this weekend--so I am guessing that not much reading or blogging will be happening.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Hello Sunday!

First off, a little sweetness for your viewing pleasure!
Adelaide at 5 months.

My big plans to visit blogs and write some witty (snort!) blog posts has not come to pass this weekend.

Oh no it has not, because a serious case of spring cleaning hit me! And of course, in my little house, when you tackle a project in one corner of the room, it quickly affects the rest of the room. And then, like dominoes, other rooms in the house begin to fall. What started out as a need to take stock of my quilting /cross-stitch supplies that were taking up precious shelf space in my mudroom, I realized that some of it needed to go into storage in the attic so I could organize my hobby of choice right now....knitting. I needed to face the facts:
1. I don't cross-stitch anymore because my only time is in the evening and the poor lighting in our house combined with my granny eyes makes this difficult. Someday, when I have time during daylight hours I will pick it up again.

2. Quilting? Who are we kidding here? Without a sewing room where I can set up the old sewing machine and leave a project laying about when not being worked on, I just am not going to pursue this hobby. Leaving a quilting project out on the dining room table just isn' t going to fly.

3. But knitting? It is so portable, and I can do it with my bi-focals on while watching t.v. at night.

So as I packed up craft stuff, I began to look at the shelves above and noticed a lot of books.
A. Lot. Of. Books.
Some I received from paperbackswap over 3 years ago and yet have not read. Upon closer inspection, I realized that while some these seemed like good choices back then, not so much anymore. My reading tastes have changed a bit.

So, I made a stack to re-list on paperbackswap, and I am happy to say that I have requests for 16 books already--many of them from this stack. There are 4 more that were on people's wish list and I am waiting to hear if they still want them.

This stack is comprised of books that have been on the bookshelf on that website for a while and have not been requested, so I have removed them and they are going to find a new home at the thrift store! This pile actually had tripled by the end of the day!


And then, because of all this, I decided that I should go through my closet and purge a few clothes out of there. I mean, I am headed to the thrift store to donate tomorrow so I should make it worth my time!

Sunday, we are taking the boys to our favorite restaurant of all time...Salty's at Redondo Beach.

They have an incredible seafood all you can eat brunch buffet and we are planning on having a yummy time.

The boys, last September when we went out for brunch.

In the afternoon, both boys are auditioning for the Puget Sound Youth Wind Ensemble. I am hoping both boys get in. (crossing my fingers here: xxxx!)

In book news:
I am still reading Hens Dancing, and have all but 1 review written.

Review

Book: The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama
Finished: April
Pages: 291
Challenges:
**Amy Einhorn Challenge** The Spring Reading Thing ** Read & Review ** New Authors **

From Booklist:
"Zama’s debut novel captivates the reader as an entertaining chronicle of a contemporary Indian matchmaking service and as insightful commentary on the lingering dictates of religion and class in modern India. Mr. and Mrs. Ali live in Vizag, on India’s eastern coast. Several years into his retirement, Mr. Ali grows bored, so he opens a marriage bureau, where the city’s well-to-do can come to find the perfect match for their offspring based on their unique requirements as to caste, religion, dowry amount, age, and height. The business flourishes, forcing Mr. Ali to hire an assistant, Aruna, a young woman whose family’s financial collapse forced her to give up her postgraduate studies and go to work. Aruna has a knack for making even the most difficult matches—failing only to find a young woman for a wealthy young doctor with especially picky parents. Zama sprinkles his lively narrative with morsels of everyday life and age-old traditions, from marriage and burial rituals to the making of mung-bean crepes—all of which enrich and enliven his simple and engaging plot."

This book took a bit to get into as the beginning seemed to drag along. But eventually I began to connect to the characters and became compelled to find out what happened to then. The writing and dialogue tends to be on the dry side, but once I became engaged with the story I did not mind that so much.
The author, Alexander McCall Smith came to mind quite often while reading, as the two authors share a similar style. Al in all, this book turned out to be a satisfying read for me!