frantic friday

The first whirlwind has departed the house. Yikes!  Oops...just got stopped again...guess they are stuck in the driveway.

Laurel and Hardy have nothing on us this morning, and on that note...

Enjoy the weekend.
Happy Halloween.
Lots of tricks here this morning and not so many treats!

tick tock

The clock is winding down on 2010. Ack.  Once Halloween arrives and departs, the remainder of the year is going to come rushing through. The calendar is already looking quite full for some weeks in November and December. It really isn't too early to start shopping for Christmas. I have been making my lists and checking them, if not twice, at least once.

Coming up for us is.....

state soccer play
jury duty
friendly soccer matches
band practices
Turkey Day
band concerts
The ACT
Holiday Home Tour
Birthday Parties
Christmas Parties
Christmas
and on, and on and on.....

But for right now, silence reigns golden in my home. At least for another ten minutes.

new Alys Clare series

I love it when I find a new series of novels from an author I enjoy reading. I was totally excited to discover an Alys Clare novel on the new book shelf at the Library. I read several of Clare's books in her Hawkenlye series years ago. That series featured an amateur sleuth who was also an abbess. Good stuff.  This new series is set in medieval England just after William the Conqueror's death and our sleuth is a young girl from an ancient family...as in she is not Saxon, or Norman but a true 'native'. The first novel, "Out of the Dawn Light" is a wonderful blend of magic, history, plot and character. I can't wait for the next two titles to learn more about young Lassair, her friend Sibert and their interesting families. I hope the library gets them, but if not, I've already checked online to see how much it would be to order them.

This book I just finished is number 84 for the year. I have 16 more to read before year end to hit the 100 mark.  Guess I'm on a mission.

My meeting went well. We were all in agreement. We didn't dissolve into complaining too much. We enjoyed a nice lunch afterwards. It. Is. All. Good.

champagne tastes on a beer budget

And I'm not talking good beer...no fancy packages with nice glass bottles imported from overseas. I'm talking cans of generic! That seems to be my theme for the week. Frugal. Thrifty.  Ignore those extra letters, those are 'four' letter words.

Yep, I have a Friends executive board meeting today....about money.  How much we spend. Where we spend it. How we donate it.

Here is another 'four' letter word: budget.

Ack. Ugh. Ick.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to make everyone happy? To not have to budget? To not have to compromise? To be on the same fiscal 'page' as everyone else?

Oh hell, what is a few thousand dollars between friends, right?!

four books in a week

My TBR pile is in a sad state at the moment. I finished all four of the library books I checked out two weeks ago. What an eclectic pile of novels.

Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater. Undead and Unfinished by MaryJanice Davidson. The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.  Here is the rundown: not as good as the first, good, excellent, so-so.

I need to count the titles I have read and see how close I am to 100 novels for 2010 and decide how I'm going to reach my goal.  I do have a new YA novel to read, the sequel to Beautiful Creatures found its way home with us after a short visit to B&N over fall break.  I'd also like to read the 7th Harry Potter book before the movie comes out...maybe.  I'm still debating that one.

Fall break was wonderful. I enjoyed my alone time with the middle kid. The other two and hubby had a nice visit with family up north. Then the second half of the break we were all together...or as together as we normally are with multiple schedules etc to accommodate. We even had a bit of rain yesterday to end our 60 plus days of drought.

Here we go, launching into a new week, refreshed from vacation and ready to tackle what the days will throw our way.

hiatus

Taking a break this week from the blog, ya'll......Happy Fall Break!!!!

fall break

When school began in August, it seemed like fall break was years away. With the last bell today, the week long vacation arrives. The oldest and youngest are headed up north with hubby. A college visit is in store as well as family visiting. The middle kid is staying put with me and the mutt. She contracted a 'fungus' and is in the midst of treatment....and may have to go back to the doctor on Monday if Dr. Mom doesn't think it is looking better by then. Ugh.

But, we are determined to make the best of it and will enjoy some time for just the two of us.