The Slice

Outside My Window - Every night....a beautiful sunset.

Right now it's daytime so....It's summertime and I'm outside the window sitting on our new deck! The kids are playing in the yard on their new slip-n-slide. I tell ya...that is some good entertainment. It's hilarious watching them.

From The Kitchen - Fresh popcorn and iced coffee. I cook popcorn in a bit of olive oil and then sprinkle on some coarse sea salt. Delicious! The ice coffee is so good too. I don't drink coffee in the a.m. but I occasionally enjoy one in the afternoon. Today's drink is coffee, a bit of chocolate syrup and milk stirred together and poured over ice.

I Am Wearing - Teal shorts, a white embroidered t-shirt and black flip flops. I love flip flops! Hair in a ponytail.

I Am Creating - Order out of chaos....getting closets sorted and back to school clothes ready. Getting school supplies bought and sorted for each kid. That doesn't seem very creative...but it's all I got. 

I Am Going - To the salon tomorrow! Woot! Hair day and relaxation time. Love! 

I Am Reading - For book club we are going to read The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World. I haven't started it yet. For now I'm catching up on all my magazines. I get Martha Stewart Living, Sunset, and Real Simple. 

I'm also reading an issue of Christian Parenting (issue from 1996) and Thriving Family, A Focus on the Family magazine. My new neighbor left them in my mailbox yesterday. 

Hmmm.....I wasn't sure what to think about this..... 

A. She thinks I could use some parenting help.

B. She is trying to evangelize me.

C. Both A & C. 

Ha!! I got a good laugh out of it. I'm choosing to believe that D. She just wanted to give me some magazines she thought I'd like. :) And actually the Thriving Family issue has some good info in it. 

I Am Planning - A few more trips to the beach before school is back in session. And a few more S'more roasts in the backyard. Mmmmmm.

Around The House - We have a new deck.....almost complete!!! It's amazing and I'll be posting pics soon.

One Of My Favorite Things - My flower pots. These are my Mother's Day pots the kids and I planted. I love how lush they get by mid-summer. I have five of them and now with my new HUGE deck I could use a few more.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week - Sit on the deck, go to the beach, get school supplies for last two kids, ride bikes, soak up the sun....

A Picture Thought I'm Sharing -

The Slice Again

Outside My Window - The trees are beginning to send out new shoots. Spring is starting....It's not here yet but soon it will be. The sky is blue with white clouds and the sun is starting to peek out.

I Am Thinking - About how my kids are growing so big. I vow to take every opportunity to snuggle them. I've got to get in kisses and hugs while they still let me.

I Am Thankful - For a calendar full of busy happy fun times. The birthdays, holidays, gatherings, and even the routine of the days, weeks and months makes my life so rewarding.

From The Kitchen - Clam chowder for dinner tonight.

I Am Wearing - Jeans, grey shirt, teal cardigan sweater and of course my black slippers.

I Am Creating - St. Patrick's Day decorations are going up. Sadly, I had to put the Valentine stuff away today. I really love them. But, onto the next holiday. I have a sweet banner sign that says "Lucky In Love" with shamrocks. I'm a sucker for banners.

I Am Going - On a date with my hot husband! Woot! Date night this weekend. Yippee!!




I Am Reading - Hypocrite in A Pouffy White Dress. I'm only about 1/3 done and I have book club tomorrow night. I better get reading....speed reading! Not sure if I'd give it a thumbs up or not yet. Some parts are good and very funny but it's not a page turner.


I did just finish reading Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight. It was really good. Two thumbs up.

I Am Hoping - To get Sis signed up for gymnastics this week. She is a natural! She busily turns cartwheels all day long. She is eager to learn how do handstands and flips.




I Am Hearing - The radio is on in the kitchen. Fun music to get me motivated...for housework. Since I'm siting on the couch I guess it didn't work.

I Am Laughing At - I was looking through some old cards and things from the kids. There was a preschool paper from Mr. P. The teacher has asked the kids to fill in the blank on a list of questions about their mom. One question was "I know my mom is smart because _______". Mr. P filled it in with ...because she does dishes. Bahahaha! We all had a good laugh.





Around The House - My sewing/craft and laundry area is really shaping up. I rearranged everything this week. It's getting there.






One Of My Favorite Things - Holding my kids in church. I sat yesterday and snuggled George. He is way too big for me to hold and stand up so I sat and cuddled him. Love every minute of it. Oh, I did hold him standing up too....my back is paying the price today. Still I loved every minute of it.





I Never Thought This Would Come Out Of My Mouth - I'm constantly telling kids to hurry up. Hurry and get in the car, hurry and brush your teeth, hurry we are going to be late....hurry, hurry! The other part of the day I'm telling kids to stop running. Stop, slow down, don't run. Don't rush. My kids must think I'm crazy.


A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week - Book club, TKD for the boys and Cam, and date night!!!! Woohoo!! Date night! Drinks and good food and dressing up and Cam all to myself!

A Picture Thought I'm Sharing

Book Time

I'm home with sick kids. 4 kids with horrible coughs, terrible noses and fevers. They were sick all weekend and on it goes. I've got it too. Tuba is the only one who is completely well. Good for him!

So, I'm home and the kids are being allowed to watch more TV than they ever thought possible. I might as well catch up on my blogging. :)

Book club met last week and we discussed 3 Cups of Tea; One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time. I loved this book! Everybody should read it. Inspirational and educational and entertaining. The best!

Here is one of my favorite quotes in the book. "In times of war, you often hear leaders-Christians, Jewish, and Muslim-saying, 'God is on our side.' But that isn't true. In war, God is on the side of the refugees, widows and orphans." The other is in reference to educating girls and Mortenson's struggle to get more village girls attending school. He says, "Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in the cities. But girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they've learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls". I first read this quote in the book Half the Sky. I highly recommend the book. If anyone ever wonders what they can do to fight poverty, slavery, terror in the world....read both of these books and you will have your answer. We can ALL do something. We cannot do everything but we can do something. So, go do it!

I am book club host for March and I chose Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Thank you Erika for the suggestion...and now, what kind of chocolate would you like?? Send me your address too. I'm excited to get reading this book. Looks great. This is what Publisher's Weekly says about the book.

See's engrossing novel set in remote 19th-century China details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends (laotong, or "old sames") Lily and Snow Flower, their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love. While granting immediacy to Lily's voice, See (Flower Net) adroitly transmits historical background in graceful prose. Her in-depth research into women's ceremonies and duties in China's rural interior brings fascinating revelations about arranged marriages, women's inferior status in both their natal and married homes, and the Confucian proverbs and myriad superstitions that informed daily life. Beginning with a detailed and heartbreaking description of Lily and her sisters' foot binding ("Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you have peace"), the story widens to a vivid portrait of family and village life. Most impressive is See's incorporation of nu shu, a secret written phonetic code among women—here between Lily and Snow Flower—that dates back 1,000 years in the southwestern Hunan province ("My writing is soaked with the tears of my heart,/ An invisible rebellion that no man can see"). As both a suspenseful and poignant story and an absorbing historical chronicle, this novel has bestseller potential and should become a reading group favorite as well.

Happy Reading!

This One's For The Girls

I had a great time last night at my book club. The gals were all so fun. I actually knew a couple of them....one from Pre-school and one from the gym. We had yummy snacks and discussed the book. I'm so happy to be part of this fun group of gals. We are all about the same age with kids about the same ages too. I'm thankful today for all the terrific women in my life. I have so many great friends....family friends (those I'm lucky to have in my family and have as friends), childhood friends, church family friends, blogger friends, adoption world friends, teacher/school friends, and neighborhood friends too.

Our next book club book choice is.....

On The Calendar

I'm so excited...I have a night out on the calendar. I've been wanting to join a book club for a long time and now I have! It meets the last Wed. of each month. Wow, I'm so looking forward to this. Today I saw a good and long time friend of mine at the library. She invited me to join her book club! I couldn't be more excited. The book is called How Evan Broke His Head. I have a month to read it...I hope I can do it. Anyone out there read this book?