Somebody has made himself right at home.

In house

and in hearts.

Someone's gonna miss the furball when she goes away for 3 weeks.

Friday's Fave Five #144

Hi and welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  Time to look back over the past week and think on those things that have blessed our lives.  Sometimes they are easy to find and other times we really have to unearth them, but they are there if we look.  Sometimes we look for the huge things that scream "blessing" but most times it the simple things that daily bring us the joy.  What have been your favorite five blessings of the week?  If you need the guidelines for posting you can stop by here first and then just join right in.

1.  Celebrating with my hubby 28 years of being husband and wife.  Last Saturday was the day and we celebrated with a lovely meal at our favorite restaurant.  I can't believe it has been 28 years already.  I'm so grateful the Lord brought us together and has been the glue that holds us together.  Through all of what life throws at us, the good and the bad, I'm so grateful to have my hubby by my side.

2.  Celebrating Father's Day with those in my life who bear the name "Dad".  Cooking for my own Dad and my hubby who happens to be my kid's Dad, was an honor.  And fun too.

3.  Tiramasu Espresso Cake (Sugarplum Desserts) for dessert on Father's Day.  Oh my goodness.  Tell me you are not drooling for a slice  from these pics and this description:

Layers of coffee cake are infused with coffee soak while creamy marscapone  mousse sits in the middle and coffee whipped cream completes the layering. Covered with more real whipped cream, decorated with toasted almonds &dark chocolate flakes. Each slice is topped with a coffee bean for that real “Pick Me Up”— Net Wt: 2.1 kg




4.  Summer making it's entrance with some good hot days.  Well what we consider hot around here anyway.  I know some of my bloggy friends would laugh at me for calling high '70's *F hot, but it's all relative.  For us, who were still having weather in the 40's and low '50's last week in the wee hours of the morning,  it was smoking!


5.  Sitting and reading under the umbrella at my patio table amongst my potted flowers in above said hot weather.  I love sitting out there with a cold drink and my book.  Now I know summer has arrived.


What are your favorites?  If you do a post don't forget to link the specific post and not your general home page on the Mr. Linky.  

Busy It Seems

Again I find my week disappearing without my having posted much.  I just don't know what on earth is filling up my days but filled they are.  I suppose it could be that I've got a new 1 year old in the dayhome and that totally takes my time in the day when he is here.  It could be that we are outside most of the day and therefore away from the computer.  Or it just might be that trying to get my daughter ready to go away for three weeks has kept me busy, not to mention tearing my hair out.  But I don't think it has to do with So You Think You Can Dance being on twice a week and now So You Think You Can Dance Canada starting the other day.  (How will I ever keep the two shows and all the contestants straight is a feat I'm not sure my poor overloaded brain is up to but we'll see).  And it certainly wouldn't be affected by Top Chef Canada having a Calgary chef that has made it to the top 4.  No, no I don't think it's that.  Whatever the case may be, my days are full as is my brain and it's hard to narrow anything down and then find the time to post.  Oh well.  Life is as life is.

But I did find a fun thing I wanted to share if you like memes and theme day posting.  The Bz House That Love Built has compiled an extensive list of a ton, and I do mean a ton, of memes that run on a daily, weekly and monthly basis all over the blogging world.  Take a peek over there.  You might just find a new meme or two that you'd like to participate in.  But don't you leave my Friday's Fave Five!  LOL.  Which reminds me, I better start working on that for tomorrow!  See you then.

Spring Reading Thing 2011...Done

It is done.  Finished.  Ended.  Spring Reading Thing 2011 is over.  With the first day of summer upon us, it is time to wrap up and see how we did on our spring reading goals this year.

This was a great spring read for me this year.  Between some really great books and a wetter spring allowing lots of evening reading time, I actually accomplished my Spring Reading Thing List and even went beyond adding a couple of review books and a book on my library list.  The biggest surprise was that I finished a total of 5, count them, 5, non-fiction books on my list plus added 1 for review for a total of 6 non-fictions and they were all read cover to cover.  That is definitely one for the record books.  That is, if anyone is keeping track of such things.

 As a review, here is my Spring Reading Thing list.
 The extra's were "To Be Perfectly Honest" by Phil Callaway, "The Bride's House" by Sandra Dallas,  and "When Sparrows Fall" by Meg Moseley.  Your can go here for reviews on all the books from my Spring Reading.  Just scroll down to #6 - 19.  (If you choose to comment on that site please mention the name(s) of the book you are commenting on within your comment.)

Did I have a favorite from my reads this spring?   The one that stuck out the most to me was definitely "The Kitchen Boy - A Novel of the Last Tsar" by Robert Alexander.   It was interesting and gripped me from beginning to end, was well researched to historical facts, had a believable fiction storyline, and had the surprise twist at the end that I love.  It was the perfect historical fiction novel.

So did I learn anything new this time around from the Spring Reading Thing?  Well I learned that branching out of my usual authors was quite fun.  I found quite a few new ones this time around.  And I also learned I am quite capable of finishing non-fiction from cover to cover and of finishing more than one a year.  And as usual one of my favorite parts about this challenge was reading everyone else's lists and finding new titles to add to want to read list.  Thanks again Katrina for hosting.

How did you do on your spring reading goals if you made them?

Boor Tour ~ When Sparrows Fall

"When Sparrows Fall" by Meg Moseley


Miranda Hanford is a young widow, trying to raise her 6 small children quietly in the home her husband provided for them.  But when her dominant, controlling pastor announces that he is moving to another state and that the whole church must move with him, Miranda knows she will not go.  Already labeled a trouble maker and "pariah" by the pastor, Miranda wonders how she will make a stand without having the pastor use "secrets" that were revealed to him in counselling years back against her to make her move.    As Miranda tries to seek God and what He would have her do, she has an accident that lands her in the hospital.  Having just named her brother-in-law, whom she had only met once, as legal guardian over her children, he receives a call from her son asking for him to come until Miranda is well.  No one is more surprised than Jack Hanford as he had no relationship with his brother at all.  Leaving immediately to help the family, he is confronted by the extreme sheltering of the children and the controlling religious views that his brother had.  As Miranda is recovering,  she not only has to still try to figure out what to do with the move, but now she also has Jack challenging how she has raised her family to contend with.

This is the debut novel for this author and it is a good debut.  The story of Miranda finding herself after years of being told what to do and having no choices really drew me in.  My heart ached for her predicament of wanting to seek God's will and yet trying to reconcile it with the harshness and controlling factor of her husband's and church's beliefs and her feeling of having her hands tied because she was afraid of the consequences. It was easy to cheer her on as she tried to find freedom for her and her children, yet to stay within the parameters of what she felt was God's will.   I really enjoyed the relationship that Jack built with the children as the story went on.  Though I felt he overstepped his bounds on many an occasion in regards to his interference, given his frustration with the hard control of the pastor over his congregation, his suspicions with the motives behind the congregational move, and his desire to see the children with some freedom,  that interference was understandable.     I thought the story flowed along well and I finished it within a few days.  The characters where well written and the conversations seemed real given their motivations and brokeness.   A good story that makes you think about the lines between the freedom we have in Christ and blind and complete obedience to another person.

Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah for providing a copy for review.  All opinions are my own.

Friday's Fave Five #143

It's Friday so a big welcome to everyone who is joining me in looking back over our week and finding the blessings, the smiles, the joy, the good.  Please share with us your five favorites.  For more guidelines if you are new, you can read this over quickly, and then just join right in.  Remember, this exercise is to look for blessings, whether you are having a good week or bad.  My hope is that in encouraging you to do that, that it may uplift you and that we all may become more thankful in realizing the good things in our lives.  And on that note my five:

1.  Sunday company.  Our first bbq of the year with company!  It was so much fun having a family from church for lunch, firing up the grill and having a great meal.  Burgers, potato salad, coleslaw, beans, ceasar salad, watermelon and chocolate marble cake with banana glaze all scream summer to me and they were delicious.  The company was fun and the sun co-operated and showed up too.

2.  Banana glaze.  Wondering what to put on the cake mentioned above, Younger Girl and I decided to make a bundt cake with a glaze.  There was a bunch of bananas sitting on the counter and it hit me:  bananas and chocolate are a match made in heaven so I whizzed a banana up in a 1 cup processor until smooth with couople of drops of half and half.  Then I added powdered sugar until it was a nice glaze consistency and pulsed it until it was smooth.  It was a hit and I ended up putting the extra on the plate and everyone scooped extra onto the cake.  Next time I think I'll add a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg.

3. A beloved cat purring in my ear as she sits by my shoulder.  Such a simple pleasure but one that makes me feel warm and cuddly and makes me smile.  There is something relaxing about the rumblings of a purr.

  

4.  Lemon Tart hand lotion.   It smells absolutely luscious.


5.  Friday.  I'm so glad it's Friday.  I don't think I even need to write anymore about that.


Did you find some favorite things from your week?  Write a post and share them then link on up and join in on visiting others who are sharing their blessings.


Have a wonderful weekend!

Book Review ~ The Bride's House

The Bride's House by Sandra Dallas


  "The Bride's House" follows the lives of 3 women within the same family.  Neallie moves to Georgetown as a teenager in order to get away from her abusive father.  While working at a boardinghouse, she meets two men who will profoundly affect her life.  Charlie Dumas, a miner,  loves her and wants to court and marry her but when she meets Will Spaulding, a mining executive, her heart goes to him.  When her and Will come across a house being built, that they affectionately nickname the Bride's House, Neallie has dreams of it one day becoming hers.  When Will abruptly leaves Georgetown and doesn't return Neallie's life is turned into upheaval but the the ever faithful Charlie is still there wanting to marry her.  As a surprise wedding gift, Charlie gives her the Bride's house as her home but Neallie sometimes has a hard time separating the house from her first love.

Pearl is Neallie's daughter who grows up in the Bride's House who dreams of being married there but as her father, Charlie, tightens his grip on her life it seems that dream will never come true as she is way past the marrying age.

Susan, Pearl's daughter also has dreams of being married in the Bride's House but bad life choices may make that dream disappear.

I usually stick mainly to the Christian genre of  fiction, especially love stories,  but this is one of my favorite secular authors because she is not gratuitous and overly descriptive  with sexual descriptions and I was excited for Sandra Dallas's new novel to hit the library.  In fact, I  had a hold on it before they even catalogued it.  And it didn't disappoint.  As with some of her other novels (Prayers for Sale, Whiter than Snow) she transported me, the reader, to a little mining town in the Colorado Mountains.  As I was drawn into Neallie's young life, I hoped for her and cried with her story, and then her daughter and granddaughter's life also brought out an array of emotions for me.  I groaned as they made some of the same mistakes and hoped with them as they hung onto some of the same dreams.  As with the other novels, Sandra takes on a wonderful journey of storytelling through women's lives and throws in a few twists and turns just to make us think.     

Photo Hunt ~ Triangle

Photo Hunt theme for today is TRIANGLE.  I knew right away where my inspiration for looking for the picture would be and that is mountains.  I love the mountains.  And  triangles just seem to naturally pop up in that setting.

This big triangle shaped rock is in the field of rocks at Frank Slide in the Crowsnest Pass where in the early 1900's literally a mountain broke in half and slid down covering mines and portions of a town.  The boulders are huge and it's hard to imagine how a mountain can split in half like that.

This triangle mountain is somewhere when you are entering Banff National Park coming from BC.

This mountain in the shape of a triangle sits at Waterton Lakes International Peace Park.

And this cloud tipped one is in the Roger's Pass in British Columbia.

And because I just can't quit with this theme...

...there are tons of triangles in the supports of this train bridge

For more interpretations on the triangle theme or to join in go to Photo Hunter

Friday's Fave Five #142

Good morning everyone!  Welcome to Friday's Fave Fives.  Please join in as we take a look back over our week and look for those things in our lives that were a blessing in some way to us and then share 5 of them. I'm posting the Linky for now and will join up myself in a little bit.  So please go ahead and start!

Whoo, I finally have a chance to catch my breath and do this.  We had an issue with the car last night and I didn't get home until really late by which time I was so flustered that the whole thing had happened I completely forgot to finish my post and put it up.  But in spite of that there is blessings that occured during the week.

1.  Better grades than expected for T. in social studies.  Social is not one of her favorite subjects and it was a nice to surprise to discover she had done better than thought.  Congrats, T!

2.  Mango iced tea.  T. mixed some mango juice into the iced tea and boy was it good!  I think that just might become a staple this summer in the Living to Tell household.

3.  Sunshine.  Yipee we finally  woke up to sunshine.  We have had so much rain and cloudy days the last few weeks.  And cold temps at night!  It was absolutely wonderful to see that cheery sunshine this morning.  Maybe now the flowers and tomatoes can get growing.  Nice weather will also get me outside with the camera which I've really been missing!

4.  Money back in my pocket.  Remember last week I mentioned the new patio furniture we purchased?  This last week I happened to be back in the store and saw it had gone on sale.  So I inquired at the customer service desk and they refunded me the difference.  Yipee.  A lot of the bigger stores around here will do that within a certain time frame.  Coffee and reading at the table will be all the more enjoyable now.

5.  Flowers in their pots.  I love potted summer flowers in pots.  I love when I visit others and get to look at their pots of flowers and what kinds they have used and see the flowers spilling over. When I go walking or bike riding I'm always on the lookout for everybody's flower pot displays. It just brings a smile to my face and I never get tired of it.

What have been your favorite blessings from the week?  What has made you smile or bought a positive or happy moment to what might otherwise be a difficult week?  Or if you've had a great week, what has been the best moments that you want to remember?  Join on in and take a moment to visit others participating too.  It's amazing how much it makes you start looking for the good throughout the day.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Book Review ~ Standing in the Rainbow

I can't believe it but it is true.  With just over two weeks left on the Spring Reading Thing challenge, I am done.  Every book on my list was read and not left off and there was even an extra one in there.  Non-fiction to boot.  Yay me.

 I finished up on a wonderful note with Fannie Flagg's "Standing in the Rainbow".  This was my first book by this author and I have to say I really enjoyed it.  Though I left it to the end because it seemed a bit daunting with it's number of pages, 496 to be exact, I seemed to fly right through it once I started.

Standing in the Rainbow is a story of the life stories of the folks in a small town in Missouri.  It starts in the 1940's and wraps up in the '90's.  The characters are richly written and varied.  From Dorothy who broadcasts a radio show from her own livingroom that touches people all the way into other states, to the gospel singing Oatman family, to Hamm Sparks the tractor salesman turned Governor to his wife Betty Raye who was an Oatman and just wanted a quiet settled life, to Tot, the hairdresser who turned people's hair purple and just couldn't get a break in life.

It's a very heartwarming read with moments touching every emotion.  You are drawn right into the members of this little town and become invested with their lives.  You rejoice with them, are sad for them, get angry with some of their circumstances and want to have a good chat with them when they make bad decisions.

In spite of all the varied lives and the details thereof, I never felt the book bogged down or got confusing, it moved at a really good pace, slowed down when needed and clipping right along when it had to.  Though there were parts in the story of certain characters that were decidedly not in keeping my own values, they were a part of the story and happens all the time in "real" life and the author did not gratuitously spend time getting into the physical details of it but rather the emotional aspect of it.  All in all, I loved the story and will read another Fannie Flagg book soon.

For all the reviews from my spring reading thing challenge you can go here and scroll through numbers 6 -16.

Photo Hunter ~ Dirty

Today's photo hunter theme is dirty.  The opportunity for the picture presented itself in a split second when I called my dog to come for a ride in the car.  He came bounding up to the patio door.   Dirty.   And there he stood, happily looking at me for me to let him in so he could come for a ride.  After the shock I could do nothing else but to run and get the camera.

Needless to say, he stayed on the other side of the screen and did not get his car ride until he had a bath to take him from dirty back to clean.

To participate in Photo Hunter or to just enjoy everyone else's takes on dirty go here.

Friday's Fave Five #141

Good morning and welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  A place to look back over the week and find those things that have blessed our everyday lives.  If you new, we'd love to have you join in.  You can link to the guidelines page in the sidebar and then don't forget to sign on to Mr. Linky so that we can come and visit.


1.  New sunglasses.  I am so, so grateful for these.  I need my sunglasses and I need prescription ones, so when mine broke a few weeks ago it was tough stuff waiting for the new ones.  But they are here and happy I am.


2.  Patio set.  Our patio table and chairs were 18 years old.  They held up great but when I saw a new set with the glass table and slingback chairs for a really great deal I couldn't resist.  I can hardly wait for hubby to put them together.  And now that I've got the next point cleared and off the deck, we can start enjoying it.  That is if the rain ever goes away.


3.  Flowers.  Finally, my flowers are snug in their beds and pots.  Poor little things were getting so root-bound waiting for the rain and nightly freezing to go away.  I can't recall where I have ever been this late putting my flowers out.  But I determined, rain or shine to get them out yesterday and my muscles can attest, I got it done.  Pictures will come.


4.  Posts that speak right to the heart.  Like this one.

5.  Cute ideas that make me wish I was that creative.

No, this isn't mine.  But I wish it was!  You can find step by step instructions for it here if you're the handy dandy type or you can talk your hubby into doing it for you.

What were your favorites this week.  Please share them in a post and link up.  Grab a coffee and visit and read others and you'll be amazed at how uplifted you feel seeing the good things in life we are blessed with even in the midst of trouble.

A Whole Lotta Random

Well, holy smokes.  I can't believe I haven't posted this week at all.  It's just been crazy busy around here, at least for me.  I don't know about anyone else in the house. I've been trying to get my flowers beds and pots planted but the weather has not been cooperating in the least.  It's June 2nd and I still don't have it done.  I cannot ever remember my flowers not being in by this time.  Ever.  My cedar bushes aren't even trimmed and usually they are done by the end of April.  Between days on end of rain and freeze warnings out at night,  my poor flowers sit becoming root bound in their tiny little pots.  But today it's getting done.  There is rain forecast, again, but I don't care.  I'll be out there in raincoat and shovel and it will be put to rest even if it takes looking like a drowned rat to do it.

My son went to the cycle store to buy an inner tube for his bike the other day.  And guess what he came home with?  C'mon, guess.  I'll tell ya.  Are you ready for it?  ...A unicycle.  Yes, you read that right.  A unicycle.  Apparently he's always wanted one.  And it happened to be on sale. Because it had mountain bike treads on it.   So now I not only have to worry about him mountain biking and crashing, which he has done, now I can worry about him, out and about on one tire and crashing.  I swear that kid does these things just to see me break out in a sweat and see my hair turn gray before his very eyes.  But I guess if that is the extent of him doing crazy things, as compared to some kids who really go through the drinking/partying thing at this age, I'll take it.

I'm trying to come to terms with my youngest being gone for 3 weeks this July. She'll be attending a summer youth training program.   Man, that is a tough one.  It was hard when my oldest did it and it's no easier with my youngest.  The consolation I have with this time though is my youngest can stay with her big sis whereas when big sis went she knew nobody.  Not even the people she was billeted with.  I know the time will stretch her spiritually, bring out really good things in her and she'll make many new friends.  So it's with mixed feelings I'm preparing to send her off.  At least I don't have to put her on a Greyhound bus all by herself like with the oldest.  I'll actually be able to drive her the 7 hours away and Big Sis will bring her back and then spend the week at home.

At church this last month, the pastor has been doing a series on evangelism.  It has been really good to be reminded that it is easier than we Christians tend to make it sometimes.  The messages have gotten me thinking in that area again.  When one has been a Christian a long time, sometimes we can get complacent in areas and the reminders and the stirring up are good.  There have definitely been some things within the messages, though, that are really stretching me.  Which is a good thing.  It forces me to the Word and prayer as I work it through.

The library had a pre-summer book sale again.  I swore I wasn't going to go because, seriously, I still have some books from the last sale that I haven't got to yet.  But the books, they called to me.  How can I seriously pass up books that are a dollar or so.  So I can home with more.  Yikes.   Someone shake me!

I guess I've shook out some of my thoughts that have been banging around in my brain.  Thanks for putting up with it today.  Hopefully, there's some space in my brain now to actually think things through so that I can do a decent Friday's Fave Five post.  Or any post for that matter.  :v)