Under a Blue Moon

Book report

Sheesh I have one little post on how I'm going to cut back on my magazine addiction and now all my favorites are folding! Domino, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, Country Home. What is going on? I take it back! I'll keep buying you!

I guess this may be the universe's way of telling me to spend my reading time with books. I have a few that I've read lately that I really, really liked and a few that no matter how much I wanted to like them as soon as I picked them up I fell asleep. I'm just going to review the one's I liked. Keep in mind that I listen to books just as much (if not more) than I actually read them. Sometimes I think the story is really enhanced by listening to it.

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book

This is actually a children's book (ages 9-12) but it is so entertaining that I think it is great for all ages – like the Harry Potter books. Well maybe not for children under the age of nine because it starts off with a rather horrific murder.

It's the story of Bod (short for Nobody) Owens who is the sole survivor of the murder and how he is raised by the citizens of a graveyard. Spirit/Ghost citizens. He learns some spirity like tricks and gets a fabulous education from the dead but he has to be on constant guard because the man that murdered his family is still looking for him.

This is a book that I listened to and it was narrated by the author himself which I think greatly adds to the story. He has a great story telling voice and I was quite on the edge of my seat for a great deal of this book.

Mary Ann Shaffer's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I'm sure everyone has read this book already – it's been mentioned on so many blogs. And for good reason. I love a book where there is a clever way of telling the story.

This story is told by the use of letters between a writer and the citizens of the previously German occupied island of Guernsey. You get to know each character through their own letters and from other's mentioning them in their own.

I admit that I resisted the book initially because of the title. I thought it was going to be a chick-lit type of book (a genre I don't care for) but once I started seeing it pop up all over the place I read it. In one sitting.

One other thing about this book – the author, Mary Ann Shaffer, became gravely ill during the writing of the book and asked her niece, Annie Barrows to take over – I think you can tell when that happens – towards the end the writing isn't as evocotive and I got the sense of 'wrapping things up.' That's the only negative thing I have to say about the book.

Julia Glass's Three Junes

I thought this was going to be the story about three women named June but it is the story of a Scottish family told in three parts. Each part takes place over the month of June.

The first part you meet the patriarch of the family who is vacationing in Greece after the death of his wife. You learn the story of their courtship, their marriage and raising their three sons.

The second part is the told from the perspective of the oldest son after the death of the father. He has moved to New York and this section weaves together his history and his return trip to Scotland for his father's funeral.

The third part is through the eyes of a young woman who met the father on his trip in Greece. It is ten years later and she meets the oldest son in New York after the death of her husband.

Even though the book is in three parts I think the main character is Fenno, the oldest son in the second part. The author includes him as a secondary character in her second novel, The Whole World Over. I didn't enjoy the second book nearly as much as the first but it was fun to run into Fenno again.

This is another book I listened to but I think the narration was a little distracting. The person narrating does great job with his native Scottish accent but the times he uses a French or American accent I found to be awkward.

Veronique Vienne's The Art of Doing Nothing: Simple Ways to Make Time For Yourself

Okay I don't actually have this book yet – I just ordered it but it was only a penny! Yes one cent plus $3.95 for shipping. What a deal. I ordered it through an Amazon used book seller.

I've ordered a number of books from various sellers this way (always going through Amazon) and have had terrific luck. It's great for decorating books that generally get thumbed through quickly and never opened again.

Let's see what kind of shape a book for a penny is!

Happy Reading!

Pinching pennies

I can't think of one person that isn't carefully watching their money right now. Everyone I know has been affected by the current state of our economy. Whether it be a lost job, a reduction in hours or benefits, the higher price of things.

While I think I am a fairly conservative with my money I can be a bit of a spendthrift in certain areas. Like magazines. Is there a 12-step program for us magazineoholics? And craft supplies. I amass stuff and then do nothing with it.

Late in December I decided to sit down and draft a budget. I went through the year's spending and figured out how much certain set expenses were (cell phone, cable, car insurance, etc.). Then I figured out how much I was spending on groceries, shopping, rubber stamps. Ouch. I figured the set expenses are pretty hard to pare down without getting rid of them all together (we haven't come that far yet) but in other areas I could vastly improve.

I started my budget on January 1st. I just spent the last of my gasoline money yesterday so I'm good for the month. I am over my grocery budget by $68 already and we still have four days left in the month (we will presumably want to eat on those days). I'm trying to pare down my cellphone charges and I'm headed in the right direction but I still went over by $40 this month.

I have implemented a 'no tossing a magazine into the grocery cart' rule. If I want a magazine it has to come out of my $20 a week allowance. Which is also for the occasional lunch out, craft supplies, non-essential beauty supplies, that sort of thing. It's a good thing I don't have a Starbucks habit.

I give myself a C+ for the month. I think I'm on the right track anyway. I do have some areas where I can improve – like better meal planning which should help the grocery budget.

I have to admit I'm kind of enjoying myself. I think that comes from a feeling of taking control. While I certainly can't control the economy I do feel good that I'm taking steps to improve my own situation.

(By the way – the quilt in the picture was made by Nicki and I think the pattern is called Pop-Beads. I love the 30's repo prints and I think it is a perfect backdrop for a post about saving and economizing. I'm feeling a bit 30's-ish lately. Next we'll get into the 40's and talk about Victory gardens….)

Well there went my Saturday

I stumbled across the Polyvore website where you can style create your own style sheets. You search their database of images and paste in whatever you want. It also has links to where you can purchase the items.

The entire outfit above would set me back about $700. Okay I left off the Cartier tank watch because I don't think I'm ready to sell my car in order to afford one of those.

Now I wouldn't actually spend $700 on that outfit but not all the pieces were pricey. For example that cardigan comes from Old Navy for $35. The t-shirt is James Pearse and retails for $115. I cannot fathom spending more that $15 on a t-shirt.

You aren't limited to just fashion either – you can do interior style sheets too.

You can browse other peoples sets and if you pick an item you can see what sets it has already been used in. Mine are really simple – some that I saw are so detailed and professional looking.

You've been warned ~ it's a total time sink but lots of fun.

The VERY best sloppy joes you will ever eat

Sloppy Joes with an Asian flair. I have, ahem, fallen off the diet bandwagon a bit these past few weeks. Fallen off, landed in a ditch and gone down stream a mile or two.

I know I need to get back on track before any of those angry pounds come looking for me and try to jump back on. So this was a last meal, so to speak, before I start eating nothing but eggs again.

Last week I made a fabulous turkey burger, courtesy of Oprah and Donald Trump. If you google it you'll find it. Mar-a-Lago turkey burger. Anyway I decided I wanted semi-home made buns to go with it so I bought frozen bread dough (Bridgeford), let it rise, then cut it into bun size pieces, let rise a bit more then baked them. Very easy and very tasty.

So going with that same theme – I made home made buns again. Not the prettiest looking buns in the world but the way they smell and taste is worth a little mis-shapeness.

For the innards of the Sloppy Joes – I wanted something reminiscent of PF Chang's lettuce wrap chicken. This is the recipe I came up with:

1.25 lbs ground turkey

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 diced yellow onion

1 tsp./clove diced garlic

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

3 tbsp. soy sauce

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

2 tbsp. sesame oil

1 can water chestnuts diced

1/4 – 1/2 tsp. chili hot sauce (too taste)

Brown the turkey in the olive oil. Remove from pan. Add onion to the pan and when it begins to soften add the rest of the ingredients and cook for about five minutes. Add cooked turkey and heat through.

Serve on heated sliced buns.

If salt is an issue for you then you might want to skip this recipe. I use lower sodium soy sauce but between the soy sauce and the hoisin sauce it's pretty salty. I'm going to look like a Bassett hound when I get up tomorrow, I just know it.

Wine and chickens at the cottage

"Why don't you and Grandpa come up to the cottage for a glass of wine…"

I love getting those emails from Sara. We went up yesterday afternoon to visit the chickens and see the bees and partake in Ryan's latest white wine offering, a Riesling.

The last time I saw the chickens they weren't chickens yet – they were just little handfuls of fluffy feathers.

Not that they still aren't fluffy. And I'm certainly not one to point fingers but would you take a look at those fluffy butts up there.

They have nice digs, a pale yellow chicken coop with a cozy place to sleep and they have a grassy hill to wander on.

The bees aren't quite as lively right now. They are conserving their energy.

Ryan and Sara have provided them with food right at their hive so they don't have to go too far afield to find it. If you click on the picture to see it bigger you can see a few dark spots on the lower right hand corner of the hive – those are a few bees just checking out the sunshine.

Here the girls are all looking through the fence towards the beehive. That is Rosie up front, she has healed nicely from her accident.

They are really quite comical to watch. When one runs to go look at something they ALL have to see what the fuss is about.

After we oohed and ahhed over the girls we went inside and had a glass of Ryan's new Riesling. I'm a dyed in the wool Chardonnay drinker but the Riesling was exceptionally good. It had a sparkly quality to it. Very easy to sip. The name, Firefly and the painting for the label perfectly capture this wine.

Random shot, just because I thought it was so pretty hanging there in the arbor amongst the wisteria vines.

Linens and laundry

I have a few sets of these oddly sized embroidered pieces. I couldn't figure out why anyone would want three doilies or dresser scarves in various sizes. I mean it is obvious they are a set but how would they be displayed? The bigger one in the middle with the two smaller on either side? Or was the bigger one for a dresser and the smaller for bedside tables?

Then when I was over at Kelly's she handed me the set above and I mentioned my confusion and she just looked at me patiently for a second and said they were for the arms and the back of a chair.

Oh.

I have had a couple people tell me that when you have a piece that is stained Biz is the way to go. I am becoming a spokesperson for Biz now. I love the stuff. It brightens, gets rid of really stubborn stains and doesn't fade colors.

This one took a bit of work, but patience pays off. First I soaked it over night in the sink with a cup of Biz, then the next morning, when the stains still hadn't quite lifted, I made a paste of water and Biz and rubbed it all over the stained area and let it dry for about an hour. Then I plopped the whole thing back in the sink with some hot water and let it soak for a couple more hours. That did the trick. The stain isn't 100% gone but it's is hard to see it.

After I rinsed the piece well I filled the sink with hot water again and about a 1/4 cup of white vinegar to remove any Biz residue. So soak, rinse with vinegar, rinse with plain water, air dry.

« Previous Page