it never fails

After the youngest finishes his swimming lesson this morning, we need to head over to our local Costco for a few items. A few items at Costco always ends up costing me close to $200, if I'm lucky and don't fall prey to some amazing 'deal' or temptation. I usually try and make a list to keep me within my budget, but even with a list, I always forget to pick up something needed for the house.

It never fails.

I watered my backyard flower beds this morning as rain has been scarce. Our extended forecast shows a chance of rain over the weekend, which might put a damper on a holiday plans for some folks, but we really need the water Mother Nature provides. On a positive note, all of my veggie plants are thriving and are either bearing produce or have some really awesome 'flowers' that indicate produce to come in the near future!

Yesterday while the oldest was at conditioning, I sat out at the field under a tree, enjoyed a nice breeze and began to read the third Inheritance Cycle book by Christopher Paolini, "Brisinger"....so far I'm not enjoying the book and slogged through the first 50 pages. Ugh. I hate when a book is slow to begin and if this one doesn't get better quick, I may set it aside. I rarely do that, but when a book is this size (748 pages), the temptation to cut bait is tempting.

smorgasboard

We had a great weekend around here. Got a spur of the moment invitation to a cookout/swim party from the family of one of our oldest kid's friends. Had a ball at their house...good food, good company. Of course that meant we were up way too late on Saturday and getting out the door for 8:00 Mass on Sunday morning was a bit difficult. Met our new associate priest, a baby-priest, as this is his first parish after being ordained. Hope he can deliver a homily.

Threw together a crockpot of beef stroganoff for supper. For dessert we had a yellow sheetcake with white frosting topped with fresh strawberries. It was like strawberry shortcake on steroids...sooooo good.

I started a new book, "Mina"...the story of what took place after "Dracula" ended. Always wondered about what the characters would have done next. So far, it is a very good book.

Speaking of what happens next, while I was standing in church listening to the Gospel reading, I had a full blown flash of inspiration for a book. It just exploded onto the scene. Weird. And even more weird is that two possible ways of writing this story came to me. Needless to say the rest of Mass passed by in a blur, I was way too preoccupied to be prayerful. I came home and did quite a bit of googling to see if any fiction has been written about this character as the person is mentioned in Mark's Gospel. But, the book is most definitely not a Christian-fiction story.......

And even weirder still is that I keep thinking about this story idea, it is like a splinter in my head, it just won't stop 'talking' to me. So, I guess I will be pulling out the notebook and opening a Word doc because something tells me that until I start jotting down these thoughts, impressions, scenes and ideas the noise in my head isn't going to stop.

finger lickin fifteen

I'm not even going to bother recapping Janet Evanovich's latest novel about Stephanie Plum and the assorted wacky folks that inhabit the pages of "Finger Lickin Fifteen."

Go. Buy. Borrow. Read. Enjoy.

I laughed out loud causing the middle kid to roll her eyes at me before she dove back into the pages of her summer reading novel. Poor kid, no laughter coming from her...I did enough for both of us though!

the proposal

I usually have a fairly tight fist when it comes to parting with my money to purchase a movie ticket. We have a 'big screen needed' yardstick and we use it to determine whether or not we should lay down the cash to pay for a seat at the local Malco. Obviously such movies as Harry Potter qualify for a family trip to the theater, but many times we wait for the dvd to be released on other films.

Now that we are in the dog days of summer, a bit earlier than normal I might note, I caved yesterday and took the girls to see the latest Sandra Bullock, romantic comedy, "The Proposal." It was an adorable movie with good acting, a cute albeit predictable storyline, and it included Betty White! One scene was so funny between Bullock and White that I actually had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

Now, this pic isn't going to win any Academy Awards, even with the recent change that will allow ten films instead of five to be nominated for best picture of the year. But, it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours with my girls.

summer reading

In between me nagging my daughters to read their assigned books for their honors English classes, I have managed to do a lot of reading this summer. I've almost completed the Flower Shop Mystery series and cracked open the latest title to be published, "Evil in Carnations" yesterday. I think I will move on to the Cleo Coyle Coffeeshop series when I get a chance. I'm also eagerly awaiting the new Janet Evanovich book, "Finger Lickin' Fifteen." I think some bookstore buddies and I have come up with a plan to allow several of us to read the book on only one 'check-out.' Evil laughter should ensue now........I love a good plan!

The bookstore is thriving this summer. We joined forces with the Young Adult department and are the source of their summer reading prizes. We've given away almost 100 books to YA readers. They read for ten hours and they get a coupon for a free book. The ironic thing is most of the books they can choose from were discards from the library's YA section.

Beyond the freebies, sales are UP. Yeah. I was a tad bit concerned when our weekly totals dropped during April and May. We've rebounded and are back to our old sales numbers. Good thing for all concerned. Folks are reading and we are making money.

The head children's librarian told me yesterday they signed up 1400 kids so far for the reading programs, children's and YA. That is a good number, but I can't remember if it is equal to what they've done in the past. Will have to investigate further next time I see her and she isn't swamped with wee ones looking for just that one certain book.

Today we are off to the high school to sell snack foods to the summer school students and raise money for the soccer boosters. Then the girls and I may see a movie, I'm thinking Sandy Bullock's new one, "The Proposal." Looks cute and most definitely a chick flick.

Our water leak was a minor fix and was resolved in less than an hour yesterday afternoon. The Town responded nicely and the plumber arrived on time and quickly had the problem corrected. Keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have any other 'joy of home ownership issues to resolve over the next several months.

the physick book of deliverance dane

If I'm not mistaken, I first read about this book in The New Yorker because when I stumbled across it on the new release shelf at the library, the title and the plot rang major bells in my head. Yesterday I mentioned I was enjoying the story and after finishing it last night, my opinion is solidified. This was a good read: a supernatural flavored mystery with a healthy dose of American history, interesting characters and a great setting. I want to visit the cottage on Milk Lane and wander through that garden thinking about the 'cunning' women who harvested herbs to heal those around them.

Katherine Howe's debut novel weaves a wonderful spell.....dive in and enjoy.

normalcy

The clear calendar I've been enjoying ends today. We have a variety of events this week. The youngest is attending Camp Invention. He will attend this science/exploration camp all day long all week. The oldest has an orthodontist appointment, just a check-up, as well as snack selling duties at the highschool for the soccer booster club, which I get to help with as well. We also have our regularly scheduled library and bookstore events.

Then to top all that off.....we noticed a small puddle of standing water in the easement area of the front yard right over the water meter. Yep. So, I went online and filled out the new Mayor's Action Center form to report a leak to our Town water department. Going to be interesting to see how quickly they respond. Going to be more interesting to see who gets to pay to fix this obvious problem. My guess is my checkbook/savings account is going to be lighter in a few short days.

Ahhh, the joys of home ownership.

In the realm of reading, I've set aside the Kate Collin's Flower Shop Mysteries and am taking a delightful detour into our early American past with Kate Howe's debut novel, "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane." I'm bewitched:) Howe, a descendant of not one, but two, Salem "witches" has crafted a book that moves in time between 1991 and the 1680's. Harvard grad student Connie Goodwin has to write her PhD dissertation when she discovers Deliverance and begins to piece together a new way to view the Salem witch phenomena.

Great stuff! The writing is layered and complex, the imagery is lush and the characters are well drawn. Will have to savor this one while reading it at a steady pace.

Happy Monday!