The Newport Ladies Book Club: Olivia -- Book Review

I've just finished reading the first of The Newport Ladies Book Club series: Olivia. I expected the book to be a more than adequate read, one that was well worth the time spent. What I didn't expect was to get caught up in the characters, read it in less than twenty four hours and end up in tears before the book was through.

Olivia is not your run-of-the-mill two dimensional character. Rather she's a believable, three dimensional, character with lovely strengths as well as flaws. I found myself caring deeply about her struggles, and wanted, oh-so-badly, for her to have a happy ending. Part way through the book, I was sure I knew where the book was going. What a lovely surprise when I turned out to be dead wrong.

This book is a classic example of what I look for in a novel: relationships; humor; a nicely paced, moving narrative; and believable dialogue. It left me wanting more. Here's to Daisy in June!!

DIY Fail

I've been looking at pictures like this one from here,

and this one from here

for quite some time now.

I learned how to make my own chalkboard paint and schemed and planned.

Hubders was going to be out of town for three days and so, once he left, I got started.

Here's how it unfolded.

I filled in the dings and nail holes in the wall and then gave the wall two coats of the original paint so that it looked pristine in it's yellow loveliness.

Next, I carefully measured and taped off my calendar, making sure that the squares were large enough to write multiple items on each each day.

I then gave it one more coat of yellow so that all the feathery paint streaks that manage to worm their way under the tape would be the wall color.

Then I started painting my chalkboard paint. I was sooo excited!!

Not a great picture, but a great start! No vinyl title or labels yet, but it's a calendar with a place to leave notes and one to list family birthdays (and my daughters thought the optical illusion dots in between the squares were super cool).

The DIY chalkboard paint tutorial said that after you paint, you should sand it all lightly, which knocked off the black paint wherever there was a small bump from all the coats of paint and revealed lovely yellow dots randomly over the whole surface--not so pretty!

Then I was supposed to "prime" the chalkboard by covering the whole surface with chalk and erasing it all. Which I did. No picture of that one, but by this time, the whole thing is looking really sloppy.

But, I persevered, cleaned as best I could and got out the new chalk I had bought. I made the squares big so that multiple schedule items could be written on each day. Chalk has nothing in common with the words "fine tip" and that wide tip "skipped" on the less-than-smooth surface.

Not working. It's sloppy, hard to read, and there's not room to write multiple appointments.

My next attempt was chalk markers, bright happy colors, smaller tips. This just might work.

However, unless you have a very smooth surface, they don't want to erase (and they're expensive).

This was after considerable elbow grease. Not a happy moment.

And all of the elbow grease smeared the color onto the yellow background (lousy picture, I know, but you can see the mess around the edges of the square--and I still didn't get the square clean).

There were possible fixes that I explored, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized I wasn't going to be happy with the results.

So I sanded and sanded, and sanded and sanded some more.

Then I painted and whimpered because I could still see those stupid calendar lines.

But, two more coats and the wall was back to it's lovely yellow shade. I went and bought a calendar and put up one of these for messages, backed with a black foam core board.

It's not quite what I was after but it's workable, and the DIY option was a total fail!

Ya live and learn!

LOVED my November!

In November, I spent one week in North Carolina with these people that I love and had a blast! (Notice, the grandbaby is in every picture and it just did my heart good to spend some time with her--she's growing up sooo fast!)

 

I flew home for fourteen  hours, loaded our old piano in the back of our Rav4--yes I did--and drove out to Utah.

I spent five days with these people that I love.

Spent time with them in their classes, went to their concerts, crafted, ate too much, saw them at work. It was all a joy.

Finally, I spent 24 hours in Cache Valley and saw (for a bit) all of these people that I love.

 

 

 

Yup, there are a LOT of people in Utah that I love--and I didn't even get to see them all!

It was way to short, but I had soooo much fun!

Hubders held down the fort for two weeks, being mom and dad while adjusting to his new church calling. He's my hero (and makes my heart go pitter-pat!)

November

In November, my baby, whose as cute as can be,

went into the waters of baptism with her dad,

And made covenants with her Heavenly Father.

Grandpa and Grandma came from very far away to be with her, such a treat!

Life is good!

Giveaway Winner and I'm slow (so what else is new)

I'm slow to pick a winner for my first giveaway. Sorry, but I'm not going to bother to explain the why's (okay, part of it is that I'm simply a slacker/procrastinator--but that's all I'll say).


Anywhoo--the winner is...

Cozy. Cozy has an adorable blog, so click on her name and head on over there.

Congratulations Cozy, the book is on it's way!

(Turns out I don't need to put my email address on the blog yet because I already have her address--hadn't thought of that before, but I have the addresses of most of my followers--love you guys!). 

Grandma's Bragging Book

This is a Grandma post, 

purely for the pleasure of showing off that face

that makes me melt.

(All pictures are huge if you click on them)

In the tub

  First lasagna experience

Love that it's on her foot.

  

Her other grandma made this adorable outfit

With Daddy in the viking hat's I made from the pattern I bought here

That's all

(I restrained myself and didn't put in thousands

of pictures, but believe me, I could have!)

I'm Back and my first ever Giveaway!

There's simply no way to catch up a blog that's been neglected for months, so I'm jumping in right where I am.

This summer I bought a Kindle version of the book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, by Ann Voskamp a Christian blogger whom I adore.

This book has a hold on me that won't let go and I hope it never does. She's a non-denominational Christian and yet, from the first pages, she had me smack dab in the temple. I saw myself in her brutal honesty and as I read I determined that I'll no longer live my life an amateur.

So I bought a hard copy to read again with colored pencil in hand. And I bought a journal to write down my own one thousand gifts and I'm haltingly filling it up. It's all starts and stops and forward three steps and back two, but there's so much beauty and joy in this journey.

I'm giving away a copy of this beautiful book, my very first giveaway. Only one entry per person. No facebook liking, following me on twitter or posting on your own blog on this one. To enter, just leave a comment listing three things you're thankful for--gifts from God. They don't need to be profound or astounding. For example, here are the first three gifts Ann Voskamp wrote down (pg 45):
1. Morning shadows across the old floors
2. Jam piled high on the toast
3. Cry of blue jay from high in the spruce

Your list can be simple things, like Ann's, or bigger things. Whatever, it's your list.

That's it. The winner will be announced one week from today (unless I forget and take a day or two longer). If I can figure out how to work one of those random online things, I'll do it that way. If not, I'll write your names on paper and have my seven-year-old draw a name out of a hat.

So leave your comments and let the giveaway begin.

Wow, it feels good to blog again!! (Thanks for the gentle push, Amanda!)

Joplin Two Months Later

Last month, a dear friend arranged through United Way to take her kids to Joplin and volunteer for a couple of days. She invited me and my kids along. I was tickled to watch my kids work so hard in the sweltering heat.

It was an experience.So many people with nothing, people who lost both homes and jobs. Although they need help, they won't take a bit more than absolutely necessary as they do all they can to get back on their feet. Many of them are spending part of their time volunteering, finding a way to make sense of it all as they serve and lift others.

Two short vignettes:

A family with two young sons, were sitting in the emergency room for dad's broken rib when it hit. Rented home? Gone. Mom's and Dad's jobs? Gone. Just paid off truck? Found totaled two blocks away in a tree with a car in the back. Husband had a stroke during the tornado and for a while, they thought he was dead. The things they saw and walked over as they left the hospital will never fully leave them. The boys are in counseling to deal with it, but the family is intact, with smiles on their faces as you talk to them. Grateful for life and more days together, regardless of what they've lost.

A man who's lived a hard life, you can see it on his face, was in Chicago when it hit and came to help his sister whose home was damaged. He lost everything in Katrina and could never remember feeling more desolate and alone. But people came from everywhere and lifted him back up and he vowed if anything like this ever happened again, he'd get there and volunteer and so there he was working and giving hope.

I could tell more, but suffice to say, we met amazing people who were undaunted in the face of devastation.

Here are some pics (click to see the larger version).

Notice the steps lead to the nowhere now that the house is gone, but the rubble has been cleared away ready to rebuild and the family is living in a trailer with a new shed.

Can you see the three pieces of metal wrapped around what is left of this tree?

Most of the rubble has been pushed to the streets to be taken away and the construction business is booming!

Signs of hope are everywhere.

Whoda thunk that you could safely ride out a tornado in the McDonald's playplace?

I loved the flags on display, this one from a tree...

...in the middle of the rubble.

...at a rebuilding sight.

It will take years, but the Joplin's spirit isn't broken. They'll be back. I loved this sign on a bank.

Vinyl banners were everywhere on businesses. This one says:

"WE WILL REBUILD!"

I had to take a picture of the Chick-Fil-A because our family adores that place.

Yes, the Home Depot that you saw on the news has reopened from this massive tent and it's a busy place.

There are still stickers on the new windows, but Walgreens is open.

Every church I saw had tents like this outside, collecting and distributing needed items.

 

I'll never forget the devastation, but what a beautiful thing to see people of all faiths come together to help our brothers and sisters in need.