Redheaded Princess Review

The Redheaded Princess by Ann Rinaldi

Type of book: young adult, historical fiction

Synopsis: About Princess Elizabeth I from the age of nine until she becomes queen.

Review: A nice quick and easy read. There are lots of books and movies out there on this subject right now. Not one you want if you want to get into a lot of details.

Growing up Ann Rinaldi was one of my favorite authors. The fact still holds. You can definently tell it was written for an early young adult though.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Reading Promise book review

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma

Type of book: non-fiction, reading, life

Synopsis: A girl and her dad challenge themselves to read every night for 100 nights. The then continue until he drops her off for college, 3218 nights later.

Review: I liked the thought of this book. But to tell the truth it was more about her relationship with her dad, which was okay. I just wished it had been more about the books that they had read. Some of it was hard to follow. The time line didn't always flow nicely.

It was okay to read, I started this back in June when it came out. I put it aside for library books, that were hot on my reading list. But I did go back and finish it. The beginning and the end were good. The middle kind of lost me.

2 out of 5 stars

The Wilder Life review

The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

Synopsis: Author goes back and re-reads the  Little House series of books that she loved as a child. And the book follows her obsession following this.

Review: I had heard lots of good things about this book and had been really excited to read. To be honest I did not finish this book. It was a short check out from the library and I just couldn't get into it that much that I wanted to put myself back on the waiting list for it. 

Growing up I was a huge Laura fan. And I still am. I have often thought of going to some of the "Laura sights" like Wendy does in her search. Wendy seemed like she was lost and looking for something.After reading 2/3 of it I still wasn't sure what she was searching for and I'm not to sure she was either. I couldn't relate to how she was telling this story. The journey she took both in the travel and research has so much potential, but it just falls short.


2 of 5 stars.

Hello Again

Happy Summer to all. I know it's been a while since I've come to visit. The truth is I haven't really felt like it. Actually I even took a break from reading most blogs too.

But I think I'm back now. I probably won't post much or often but I like to share with you. And well if nothing else it's a place to write down some of my thoughts. I think part of the break was I was feeling over whelmed by how much other people do. I know it's just how they portray it but it still makes me feel like a slacker. I looked the other day and I was following around 200 blogs. No wonder I wasn't getting anything done. So I went through and deleted a bunch of them from my list. Now it's not that they aren't great blogs, it's just that they don't talk to me or inspire me like I would like them too. The goal was to cut back my list in half. After reviewing every blog in my list it is now down to 66. That's with a few iffy ones. I know I'll come across new ones to add and I might even go back to some of the one that I deleted. But for now I have several that I really enjoy and not a lot that are just okay.

What have I been doing? Nothing much. Some reading, I started a new knitting project. A sweater for me. I'm slowly working on it. Mostly it get worked on when I'm in front of the TV.

We have some big changes coming up with my family. I'll share them with you once things become a little more clear.

Other then that I'm in the middle of a kid free week. I had hopes of getting a lot of things done. But none of that has come into play. That's okay though, I've enjoyed the extra time with the hubby and some time with just us and the Boy. The only two things that would make it even better is time off of work and some outside furniture so I could sit on the deck and read.

Well that's all I have for now.

Not Much

Well hello. I know it's been a bit. But really there hasn't been much to share. Or really I haven't felt like doing much. So in truth I haven't. It's just been the bare minimum around here. But well today I got a little somewhere on my cleaning. I thought I share.

The hubby hung these that we got at Ikea a few weeks ago.

I'm liking them a lot. But I think I want another spice rack above that one. I hadn't planned on putting the knives there. But my input wasn't asked for until after he had hung them. I really wasn't going to argue at that point. Just glad to have and have it up.

Now on this next one I wish a had remembered to take a before picture. But if you can image: the bottom shelf had baskets with the kids' color and crafting supplies, the middle shelf had my cook books and all the recipe print outs that I haven't tried or copied into my note book to keep. and well the top had some of what is there now plus a bunch of random things (it's the catch all place for when we clear the table off to eat).

The shelf I've had for 9 years now and I got it only because someone left it when the moved out of house before we moved in. But I have something on my list of things for my hubby to make that will replace this. I'm hoping that will happen before the end of summer. I know that seems like a long ways out, but I have 2 other projects for him to make before this. And well it's the case of time and money (no money and lots of time vs. some money and no time).

We also celebrated someone turning 2 a couple of weekends ago.

And well I listed my first item to sell on Craigslist. I hope it goes.

I hope everyone has a great week. And here's hoping the we will continue to have so spring weather. I'm tired of snow.

Finished Bunk Beds

Well  I finally finished something. Well the Hubby helped on this one, in fact my step-son and nephew also helped.

We were originally going to build a loft/fort bed. But we changed our minds and went with classic bunk beds.

The girls love it. Now on to the next build project: Dresser for the girls. They also will be done in this purple color.

        

New Meal Monday

Do you meal plan?

I do. It's a love/hate thing. I love the money that it saves me at the grocery store and the fact that I know I have enough food for the week. I hate trying to come up with meals to put on the list for the week. And I'm so tempted to make the same things all the time. But there are almost always something new to try on my list.

Since I have a hard time finding new things to make, I figure there's a bunch of us out there that could use an idea or two. Or find out what out there didn't make the cut.

 So last week here was the meal plan:

• Potato and Dumpling soup
• Pork Roast
• Quasidias
• leftovers
• tuna salad
• chow main

Well there were only one new meal on my list. The soup.

The Potato and Dumpling soup recipe I found here. I made half a recipe and probably could easy get 2 meals plus leftover for my family of 4. I loved it. It tasted great even though I forgot to add the salt, pepper and parsley. This one will definitely make it's way into my cookbook or recipe notebook.