What I'm reading Wednesday...

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear.  Happy to be starting this book.  My co-worker has recently read it and recommended it.  This is the first of a series of Maisie Dobbs mysteries.  Very interesting in that she is a post-WW I female private detective in London.  I'm about 100 pages in, and enjoying it.

And check out my new book mark... 


I have a TON of these empty, used-up Sonic gift cards.  Big surprise, huh?  So last night I punched a hole in one, looped in some yarn, and braided.  SWEET!

And can I just say that I love libraries.  Always have.  Always will.  And the one in my new town is absolutely, totally awesome!  Great programs, great website, great email notifications.  And happily the other day they sent a notice that they have an Amazon.com link on their website now, that brings in a percentage of each members' Amazon purchases to the library if we enter through their link.  I had a purchase planned that I am so glad I had held off on for awhile.  Now it has been placed, and I'm feeling really good about that purchase and all future ones.  Win/win.

AND they are a TexShare participant.  So although I had to give up my card at my previous library (no longer a resident of the city/county)...even though I begged and pleaded (because I still work in that town, and I never know when I might have a reading emergency on my lunch break), I now get to be a card-carrying patron of both libraries.  YEA!

Making it Monday...

I have two of these to make.  They were supposed to be done a month ago.  They HAVE to be done by the end of May, though if they aren't done in two weeks, I'm going to pay to buy off the rack.

When I am trying to maneuver around my kitchen making a meal, I often think that the island in my kitchen is too big.  But honestly, it is the perfect size and height for cutting out fabric and pattern...at least I think it will be...guess I'll have to let you know after I actually get the dresses underway.

What I'm reading Wednesday 4/20/2011...

I'm still reading this...



And a LOT of these...

                           
 
                      

'Bout time...

Waaaaay back in November, I posted about spray painting the wall sconce and lamp.  And in January I posted about the tree I painted on the playroom wall.  It took me awhile to get around to the decorative painting I wanted to do on the wall opposite the bed.  But here it is...finally.

 

I painted various-sized polka dots on the wall, and I'm really happy with how they turned out.  To a few of them I added adhesive mirror circles called Add Heres that I found at Kohl's for half price.  The instructions suggested letting freshly painted surfaces cure for thirty days before applying them, so that's what took so long...yeah, that's it.  ;)  Including the tree and the polka dots combined, I think I used about half of a $1 bottle of acrylic paint...way to stretch my decorating dollar, huh?

 

I love the sheers and panels I found.  The colors match the new bed linens (quilt /shams clearance from Overstock.com), and the polka dots on the sheers coordinate with the polka dot wall...cute ribbon tabs at the top too.  I splurged on them since I had a Bed Bath & Beyond gift card we received at Christmas.

Finally something feels finished!

Life's a beach...

Yesterday marked our 35th wedding anniversary.  Why, yes, I WAS a child bride.  :)  Thank you for asking.

When I met him, Carey was listening to country music, and wearing sharply-creased blue jeans and a cowboy hat (and for the most part he still is, though he's relaxed the starch a bit).  Shortly before I met him, however, he was a surfer...with shaggy hair, cutoffs, and a long board.  Our first date (back in the olden days) was to see the movie Jaws.  The next day we went to the beach with a group of friends.  He's always enjoyed watching televised surfing competitions.  So when I saw the previews for Soul Surfer, I thought that would be something fun, and kind of nostalgic, for us to do together.

We enjoyed it.  It had really good surfing footage.  I liked the story more than he did.  I thought that what could have been made overly dramatic, was instead treated with a very light hand.  I took away the impression that the family didn't over-dramatize things in real life either, instead dealing with whatever comes along.  It depicted the family's faith in a way that I think will make believers happy to see, without turning off non-believers.  Overall, it had an extremely positive message...that passion, hard work, and determination can be their own reward.

So back to our anniversary.  Like the above photo indicates, I am giving thanks for the past three and a half decades (!) spent with my sweetie.  Like the ocean's surf, sometimes there is smooth sailing, and sometimes it's choppy.  Thankfully for us the real storms have been few and far between.  Mostly it's been a day at the beach...playing, walking hand in hand, searching for treasures that wash up now and then, sometimes squabbling like hungry gulls...but always rinsing off the sand and going home together.

Uncle Sam wants you...

image from www.unclesamphotos.com

...to pay your taxes!

Today is April 15th...tax day.  It always brings my mom to mind.  She was a numbers genius, a career large-scale money manager, read tax codes for fun, and helped lots of people with what she learned. Yet she would always be in line at the post office at midnight, coming in under the wire with her own.  I guess I know where I came by my procrastination gene...as if I didn't before.

Luckily I married a non-procrastinator, and he takes care of getting all the tax records together and to the CPA.  Thanks, honey.  And thanks to all those wonderful CPAs and tax preparers...hope they all are able to get a long, deep, refreshing night's sleep tonight.

It never feels good to make out that check.  Wish I believed that what is so painful for us would make even the teeniest tiniest dent on decreasing the nation's deficit.

Happy birthday, baby girl...

Yesterday was Kasey's birthday.  I took her favorite birthday pie up a notch.  I was inspired by Emily in the Desert, but didn't want to do a cake.  So I used our traditional birthday pie recipe, I just assembled it in a spring form pan.  I stood Kit Kats around the edge (they remained standing pretty easily).  I crushed up the chocolate cookie pie crust, added a tablespoon or so of melted butter, and mixed it thoroughly with a pastry cutter...I poured that in the bottom of the spring form pan and pressed it out...careful not to knock down the KitKats.  I doubled the filling, using two boxes of pudding and two small containers of Cool Whip, and folded in lots of chopped peanut butter cups.  I poured the pudding filling on top of the crust.  Then I topped it with even more chocolate!!!  Just to get crazy I arranged chocolate covered cherries (another family fave) on the top, then I sprinkled chopped peanut butter cups to cover.  I put it in the freezer overnight.  When it was time to party, I removed the sides of the spring form pan, tied a ribbon around the Kit Kat perimeter to add some color and make sure everything stayed together. I left the whole thing on the spring form base, and just set it on the cake stand.




Once it had softened a little, I added the sparkler candles to make it extra fun.


 

About fifteen minutes after Kasey blew out the candles, her children started bouncing off the ceiling from the sugar rush (well, some of them), and those of us with another home to escape to skedaddled.  :)  Felt a little guilty for dessert-ing her and then deserting her.  Hope they went to bed okay.