Must Read!

Jode & I have been reading the Mistborn series. We have read the first book, Mistborn, and also the sequel, The Well of Ascension. We are currently in the middle of The Hero of Ages. If you like magic, good vs. evil, and all that good stuff, you'll love this series. It has great character development, an interesting world, and lots of action, suspense, & cool fighting. When we're done with the series, we'll be sure to read Brandon Sanderson's Elantris, which is a New York Times Bestseller & written before this series.

Tea Party

I set up a gorgeous tea party for my daughter's birthday party. I made a pretty tent for the table. We had donut holes, cupcakes, pink soda, finger sandwiches, carrots & Vienna sausages. It turned out really fun!

Perfect Bread

Perfect bread happens about once a year!

Brilliant Laundry Sorter

I'm so brilliant! I made these signs for my laundry sorter. Now the kids can sort their own laundry!

Siamese Banana

Check out this Siamese banana!

I'm done!

I finally finished reading The Eight (see below). It was so incredible! I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel!!!

Ketchup, I mean catch up

I have still been reading. I just haven't posted in a while. For book club, I recently read The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker. It's a quick & easy read and a really, really cute story. I think Disney is currently making a movie of it. I'm excited to read the other books in the series. But, my 3rd-grade daughter is reading The Frog Princess first, then we'll read the rest together. When the princess kisses the frog prince, the spell backfires & she turns into a frog too. They have many adventures together on their quest to be turned back.

I also read ahead on the book club list & read My Enemy's Cradle by Sara Young. This is Sara Pennypacker's first novel for adults; she's famous for her Clementine books for children. It was incredible! It is a WWII story about the Lebensborn. This is the German program in which German women or women of occupied countries who have been impregnated by Germans could go to a maternity hospital where they would live and be cared for for the course of their pregnancy & give birth there. It was the Nazi's idea of breeding the perfect race. It was a very interesting book--a fictitous story of a half-Jewish girl who takes her cousin's place in the maternity hospital in order to hide her heritage. Where better to hide than under the enemy's nose? Then she has to try to escape with her baby. I couldn't put the book down. Be warned, there are a few "ahem" scenes in the book. Well worth the read.

I am currently reading The Eight by Katherine Neville. If you like conspiracy theories, you'll love it. It's along the same lines as the DaVinci Code. It was written 20 years ago & apparently didn't do so well. When the DaVinci Code came out, The Eight was re-published. The author has also recently written the sequel, The Fire, which I will probably read next. It is written in an interesting style--flipping back and forth between events that happened in the 1700's in France/Europe during the French Revolution and the 1970's with a woman who is caught in the middle of a mystery. If you are interested in historical fiction with lots of mystery, intrigue, conspiracy, suspense and surprises you'll love this book! You can read the synopsis here. Be sure you give yourself plenty of time to read it. It's 600 pages of small print, and it takes me longer cuz I'm trying to unravel the riddles while I read. Love it so far!

Kiss it goodbye!

I just found out today that I have 6 weeks left on my braces! I'll be kissing all this metal goodbye! Wahoo! ("When was the last time you went wahoo?"--sorry, I can't go 2 seconds without quoting a movie.) I wanted to have them off for our trip to Disneyland June 1st, but it looks like I need 1 more week. Bummer! That's ok. I'm so psyched! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The ironic thing is, I would have been done sooner if I hadn't pointed out a mistake that needs to be fixed. I go in June 10th to have my final "evaluation," then they schedule a removal for the next week. When I'm all done, I'll post my before & after pics on here. The change is amazing! Just the change from my oral surgery is incredible!

So Busy!

I wore myself out today. I didn't sit down until 2:30pm, and then it was only for a minute. I put away folded clothes, cleaned my kitchen, made a double batch of banana bread, ground 20 lbs. of wheat into flour, made whole wheat bread, did 2 loads of dishes, and cleaned my kitchen again, while washing and drying and folding 4 loads of laundry. Then, I sat down with my baby for a minute to watch a movie with him. Less than ten minutes later my mom knocked on the door. We made another batch of wheat bread, trying out her new equipment. I also made dinner at the same time, then cleaned the kitchen again. Then I got the kids fed & all ready and loaded in the car so Jode could take them to gymnastics. Then, my mom & I went to Enrichment. We saw the most inspiring program tonight! I just finished the third load of dishes. What a busy day! I'm bushed! Now I've got to go put the freshly-laundered sheets on my bed so I can go to sleep!

Jane Austen's Works

K. So I finished reading Pride & Prejudice. I was 2/3 through it before I finally got into it and couldn't put it down. It was good. I have yet to see the movie. I started to read Mansfield Park, but found the beginning completely confusing. I think my brain just needs a break from old English. I just saw the movie Emma which I liked a great deal.

Sense and Sensibility

I recently finished reading Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Then, I saw the movie. They were both great. I decided to read all of Jane Austen. I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice. I have had a hard time getting into it--it's slow at first. Finally, two-thirds of the way through, it's getting more interesting. What got me interested in reading Jane Austen was the movie "Becoming Jane." We rented it from Netflix, and I really liked it. So, now I've decided to read all of her written works. But, I do wonder where all of the info about Jane Austen's life came from. The Salt Lake County Library system does not have a biography of her. I wonder why there has not been a biography written about Jane Austen. When I went on my British Literary Tour in college, we were taken to her grave. I have a crayon rubbing of her headstone. That's kind of fun.