On my bookshelf

I haven’t been doing a lot of scrapbooking while I’ve been healing from my surgery, but I have been doing a lot of reading.

Here are a few books I’ve finished in the past few weeks:

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran: Book Cover Nefertiti was a very interesting escape into the world of the Pharaohs. I wanted something totally unrelated to real life (today) and I got it. The story was very engrossing – I had a hard time putting it down each night and could’ve probably read all night long if my eyes would’ve stayed open.

The story is written from the perspective of Nefertiti’s younger sister, Mutny, and follows Nefertiti and her family as they rise to power after her arranged marriage to Amunhotep – who later changes his name to Akenhaten. It is an interesting look at the politics of the day as well as the dynamics of a dynastic family to whom power and position are the most important things.

I can’t wait to read the next story in the series: The Heretic Queen, which focuses on Mutny’s story after Nefertiti’s death.

If you like historical fiction, give this one a try.

Another one I just finished, and totally different from Nefertiti, was The Paris Vendetta The Paris Vendetta (Cotton Malone Series #5) by Steve Berry: Book Cover by Steve Berry. I love his books, even though they are somewhat formulaic, because I am always completely engrossed in the story by the end of the first chapter and can’t wait to see how he spins the story out through the book.

This latest Cotton Malone story is no different. Right from the beginning, the action grabs you and keeps you guessing as to what in the heck is going on and how the different parallel plots are going to come together.

I have to say, though, I was not happy with the final chapter, simply because of what happens to one of the main characters, but I will not spoil it for you in case you are a Steve Berry/Cotton Malone fan and haven’t read the book yet.

I didn’t realize that I had skipped the Charlemagne Pursuit (which is #3 in the Cotton Malone series) so I will be hitting up the local bookstore this weekend to purchase it along with the Heretic Queen. I’m not sure which one I want to read first!

What books have you been reading lately?

Oh, I managed to do this, too

I also managed to get a little scrapbooking done in the past couple weeks. Not much, because I haven’t really felt like it, but I did some once or twice.

Here are some pages I did:

I’ve also got a few projects that were not digital – but I need to take some pictures of those before I can post them.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I know this is not really a big holiday in most parts of the world… but, you see, I am from one of the parts of the US where St. Patrick’s Day is a HUGE celebration. School breaks are planned around March 17th. Businesses close for the day. Nobody works and everyone heads downtown to the parade. It wasn’t until I moved to the big city and got a real adult job that I realized that St. Patty’s was not a national holiday.

Now? I can’t stand the crowds of the parade and the noise, drunks, and general craziness makes my mommy protective radar go berserk. I am very happy to be almost 500 miles away from the crazies and not compelled to attend the parade and revelries.

But, I still feel the need to commemorate the day somehow. Wear something green. Make some green food. Pretend like I am Irish for the day.

Happy St. Patty’s everyone!

Take me to the circus!

Some of my all-time favorite memories of my childhood are our trips to see the circus. I just loved, loved, loved going and seeing all of the animals and acrobats. I would imagine that one day I was going to be one of the animal trainers – working with the horses, elephants, or, even better – the tigers. I just loved it!

So, I was so thrilled when we decided that we were going to take the girls to see the circus this year as part of Big Girl’s birthday celebrations. I think I was as excited (or more) than the kids were. I couldn’t wait for the day to arrive and I woke up early anticipating how much fun our day was going to be.

It was all that I imagined and more.

We got awesome seats (purely by accident since I had never ordered seats for our Arena online before) and were 4 rows from the main floor. We were close enough to see all the action and yet far enough away that we didn’t get sore necks from trying to watch everything. Also, we were so lucky to have gotten “club” seats that were part of a “members only” section with private restrooms, etc. That was extra nice when we had to take the girls to the bathroom and wander away from our awesome seats. It felt like we were special, even though I knew we hadn’t planned it that way. The girls will probably think that it is always that way since they have no other frame of reference, and I was really happy that I was able to give them that experience the first time.

Anyway, like I said, our seats were awesome. And with my zoom on the camera, I got some great shots of the action:

The little Princess loved the costumes… especially these. She said they looked like fairies.

I love the elephants. They are so adorable. Those big long eyelashes… just love them.

And the horses – oh my goodness, they were beautiful. Especially that Friesian in the middle.

Big Girl loved the dog acrobatics.

The highwire act was pretty cool, too. I have never seen anyone dance a Rumba on a highwire before.

More elephants! Love it!

My favorites – the tigers. Aren’t they beautiful? Awesomely beautiful.

I want one, Mommy. 🙂

But, the most fun for me? Watching the girls' faces when each new act started. Hearing the gasps and feeling the little one grab my arm in delight as she was thrilled yet again by something.

Great seats? Wonderful.

Private bathrooms? Very nice.

My kids' reactions? Priceless.

Watch this space

I'm headed back… working on some posts and hope to get back to my regular posting schedule this week!

I have photos and stories to share so I hope you will check back and visit with me.

Thank you for being patient while I recuperated from my surgery. The surgery was a piece of cake. The secondary issues after the surgery – well, not so much. BUT, I am feeling much better – much perkier – and ready to get back to blogging, scrapbooking and living my life again. Lots to be thankful for – and I'll share some of that with you in the next few weeks.

Y'all come back, now, y'hear?

Still not there yet

Hi, all,

Surgery went well last week and I was hoping to be back to my usual blogging activities this week. However, I have developed a few post-surgery issues and am feeling rather rotten. I'm going to continue to lay low for a few days until things sort themselves out. Hope to be back to scrapbooking and blogging soon.

Thanks for your comments on my last post and for being patient while I recuperate.

Lois

Freaking out… just a little

I’m having some surgery on Thursday… nothing serious… just making myself healthier. But, I’m freaking out just a little at the whole idea. It’s a lot to organize – knowing you are going to be out of the house for a few days and out of circulation for a few more after that. I don’t know what is freaking me more – the surgery itself, or the logistics of all the things going on around here that have to keep going even if I’m not here to do them.

So, with all that said, I may (or may not) be somewhat sporadic in my blog posts over the next week or so. Bear with me. I am coming back, I promise.

Ok, enough with all that –

Here are some Project Life pictures for the past week:

Want to see more Project Life pictures? Check out the Mom Creative for more Project Life Tuesday posts.

I promised circus pictures, but I have over a hundred to sort through before I do that. Maybe tomorrow.

Oh, and if you have read this far I have two more things:

1. Thank you. Thank you for reading my blog entries, for commenting, and for caring enough to come back and see what I have to say each day.

2. I wanted to know: what do you like most about my entries? What type do you like the best? The scrapbook layouts, pages,templates? Stories about my family adventures? Random observations about parenting? None of the above? Let me know! I’d really like to hear from you.

How was your weekend?

Oh my goodness! I am so glad this weekend is over! It was another whirlwind weekend. It was so fun, but so exhausting!

We had BigGirl’s birthday sleepover party on Friday night. Five pre-teen girls running around the house. Oh.my.goodness. Remind me next year that is not a good idea. BigGirl even decided that was too much and that next time she wanted a smaller crowd. Too many people to please – and if you have a pre-teen girl, you know they are impossible to please. Poor thing was in a tizzy trying to keep everyone happy.

Saturday (after the party-goers went home) I managed to sneak in a little scrapbooking at a crop that was raising money for children’s charities. It was a large event (100+ scrapbookers) and I enjoyed having a little “me” time after the craziness of the party.

Here are some pages I did while I was there. I tried to use some of the concepts I am learning in the Design Your Life class I’m taking over at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

I’m still not sure if I’m done with those two. I like the green and the blue, but not sure about the swirles and I need to put some journaling in there somewhere. Maybe in that big box on the left-hand page and take out that clear swirlie.

What do you think about the overlays on top of the big pictures? Too much? Distracting? Or just right?

I didn’t get too much done, I was distracted organizing all my digital content on my PC, but I did manage to get a little bit done. And, more importantly, it got me back in the mood to scrap. I have been very distracted lately with a few other major projects in my life and had lost my scrappitude. Now, I’m geared back up and looking forward to doing some more scrapping. I have even decided I want to try some hybrid scrapbooking layouts. Mix up the digital and traditional a little.

Yesterday we went to see the circus. It was the last big part of BigGirl’s birthday celebrations. We hadn’t been since she was 2 and Little Princess had never been. Needless to say we were all so excited to go. I am not sure if the girls were more excited than me or not. I LOVE the circus – and LOVED the fact that I was taking my babies to see something that was such a big part of my happy childhood memories. I couldn’t wait to add those to their own childhood memory banks.

Of course, it was awesome. I don’t think Ringling Brothers ever puts on a bad show. We had a blast. I think I probably took over 100 pictures. Loving my big zoom lens on the camera, too. I was able to get thisclose to the performers without leaving my seat. I’m sure it helped that we had awesome seats, though… 4 rows from the floor! So cool!

I’ll post some circus pictures tomorrow – they’re still in the camera.

Anyway, that is why I haven’t posted all weekend. It was crazy. It was fun. And I’m tired!

I’m back!

Hello to all of you!

After a whirlwind weekend, I'm back at home, back at work, and back to blogging.

Big Girl is now "officially" nine and we celebrated in style with a low-country boil at her grandparents’ house. It was freezing cold, raining, wet and miserable, but we had a marvelous time. Her birthday was capped off by a light dusting of snow on Friday night (after we all went to bed, of course). That, in and of itself, was pretty special – I can’t remember it snowing in south Georgia since I was in college (which is longer ago that I am going to tell you!)

In case you were wondering, a low country boil is sausage (usually polska), corn, potatoes, and shrimp all boiled together (in stages so you don’t overcook the shrimp) with some crab boil seasoning and Old Bay. We love it and usually find any excuse we can to fix it while we are visiting Mom’s. SuperMan and PopPop love the leftovers as shrimp salad, potato salad and fried up with eggs for breakfast. I usually have enough on the first go-round that I don’t have any leftovers. I’m also finding that the Old Bay seasoning doesn’t do well with my allergies and it’s not worth having swollen lips and a sore mouth just to get some seafood. But I usually suffer long enough to get at least one helping!

Saturday and Sunday were beautiful but cold days and we spent most of the day hanging out with the grandparents.

I love this picture of Mom and the girls together.

I managed to sneak a visit to a local yarn shop – Unwind Yarn & Gifts. The ladies were so welcoming and helpful. I just reveled in walking around and touching everything! They had some really nice yarns.

I bought a beautiful blue alpaca and bamboo blend that I am planning to make into a scarf

I also couldn’t help but indulge in some gorgeous, iridescent bamboo yarn. I am not sure when I will knit with it – it was a little pricey and now I am a little afraid to mess it up with my amateur knitting skills! I’d love to do a lacey scarf with it. Hmmm… maybe in a few months.

Sunday night we treated ourselves to a dinner at Spanky’s Saloon. It’s an institution that we have been frequenting since our high school days and a must-visit when we head home. We enjoyed the fried shrimp, chicken fingers and spuds and SuperMan had some fried veggies. It was more fried food than I have had in forever but it was so good!

Monday I spent the afternoon with Mom and SuperMan and the girls went to spend the day with his family. One of our nephews' birthday was on Tuesday so they had a combined birthday celebration/cookout for the birthday kids. Mom and I enjoyed hanging out and did a little shopping after we split a scrumptious quesadilla at the local Mexican joint.

After our shopping we went back home and she finished some sewing projects that I needed help with (I can do most anything, but I cannot sew!!) and just relaxed while we waited for the girlies and SuperMan to come home.

Tuesday was a quick trip to the hairdresser’s for the girls and me and a very long ride home. Yes, I still drive hours and hours to the hair salon I used to frequent when I lived down south. I can’t find anyone in the big city that I like as well and trusting your hairdresser enough to just walk in, sit down, and know that when you leave an hour or so later you are going to look fabulous is just priceless!

Little Princess did not like my haircut! She kept asking Ms.Scissors when she was going to be finished and informed her that she did not like what she had done with my hair! (hee hee) I now have BANGS! and apparently, Little Princess does not think Mommy is the bang-y type. I am still getting used to them – I see a stranger every time I look in the mirror – but I like them. I wanted something different and perkier and I got it!

I had some help with my Project Life photo taking this weekend, so after I round up all the pictures from the various cameras, I’ll post them here.

Lots going on in the next week – I hope to share some of it with you soon.

Traffic Ninjas

I’m taking a little hiatus for a couple of days while I’m spending some downtime with my family to celebrate Big Girl’s birthday. While I’m gone, I thought I’d share some old posts with you –

This one is from 2008 – back in the days when I was carpooling and fighting traffic daily.

Today, I was driving to work, chatting away with my carpool buddy (thank God for someone to talk to at 6AM or else I'd be sleep-driving!)

Anyway, we're talking about how to solve all the world's problems and I realize I'm in the wrong lane for the tollbooth.

So, as I'm trying to merge across 5 lanes of traffic (Yes, I was REALLY in the wrong lane) nobody will let me over!

What is up, people? I just need to get over, not cause an accident!

I am amazed at this.

Why is it that people seem to view the stretch of the road they are driving on as THEIRS and are so unwilling to cede any territory? Do they realize that this "territory" is literally disappearing under their tires as they drive? Or that it is being claimed by someone in front of and behind them as well? When did we lose our manners when we drive?

Now, driving is a competitive sport where the one to reach the "finish" wins and everyone else is a loser. And, we all know we don't want to be the loser. So, we race along the highway, fighting for every inch of space and pushing slower drivers out of our way. Driving has become about achieving a goal – getting somewhere as fast as possible.

It makes me want to stop and take a minute to remember by-gone days when families would go for Sunday drives… driving just for the sake of driving. No destination or purpose in mind… I remember many Sundays being spent with my families along back roads and country lanes, gazing out at pastures of cows and fields of cotton and wondering where the next stop would be and what we'd see.

Alas, those days are gone. Now, my kids think Sunday drives are "boring" and want to know if they can take their Game Boys or watch a movie on the DVD in the car. I know that this is partly my fault, because these distractions are a blessing when we're on a long road trip, but I want my girls to learn to appreciate the leisurely Sunday drive as well.

And.. I want to teach my girls about having manners when you drive. I always remind myself that one car length is not going to make a noticeable difference in my commute time; one more person in front of me will not, most likely, make that much difference in when I arrive at the office. I gracefully let people merge, yielding my "territory" and being content to get there when I get there….

….at least that's what I tell myself.

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