Leftover Soup DEF

D – Dieffenbachia

Very attractive house plant. I forget where I first saw it and was told the dreaded tale of how it could cause your tongue to swell up and you’d die. And all you had to do was TOUCH it, and then touch your tongue. Scared me to death. I know differently now, of course. As long as you don’t make a salad with the stuff, you’re gonna be OK. Don’t let the cats nibble on it, either.

E – Étagère

A piece of French furniture to put your what-nots and tchotchkes on. I really like the look of the one in the picture. And believe you me, I have tons of what-nots and tchotchkes. Most of them in the form of cats. Sarah has already told me that the first thing she’s going to do after I die is sell them all on ebay. So if y’all are still around when I kick off, keep an eye open and you might get some bargains…

F - Fairy ring

I’ve always love the idea of fairy rings, and have been delighted whenever I’ve come across them. I remember years ago when we removed the pine tree that died in the back yard, and a fairy ring appeared some time afterward. And I was delighted to teach Lia about them as well. In their old neighborhood, there were a couple of moist shady places that we’d pass on our walks. One time after a rain, there was a very nice little fairy village of mushrooms in one of the spots. Lia seemed very pleased.

Book Report January 2014

All The Mowgli Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Over the years I’ve heard or read most of the Jungle Book stories. I had never read this particular book that had to do specifically with Mowgli. This was from the children’s section at a book sale. I gave it to Sarah for Lia to have, but had never read it. One of the times I was visiting, I took it out and started looking through it. I was surprised that everything in the book was new to me. So I read it. And enjoyed it thoroughly! I doubt that Lia will ever take an interest in it, so I kept it for my own library. Great book!

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Mail for Mikey by Orson Bean

I’ve always enjoyed Orson Bean’s humor and had read a previous book he had written about his first marriages and using drugs. It was well written and had a lot of humor in it. I had heard a blurb about this particular book online, with the explanation that it was how Orson had come to be a Christian. Since personal testimonies are a great favorite of mine, I bought the book. At first, I was greatly dismayed to discover that this was a book of fiction. It was very well written, but I had been hoping for a true personal testimony. I later found a very good interview with Orson on Youtube when he was on a Christian talk show. Yes, the book was fiction in a way, but it was based pretty much on his true experience of accepting Christ. The interview relieved my mind a great deal and I would recommend this book highly.

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Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly, Martin Dugard

Since I was raised in the Christian church, there was nothing really new to me in this book as far as the account of the Crucifixion. I got it mainly because I greatly enjoyed the previous books, “Killing Lincoln” and Killing Kennedy” and I know O’Reilly and Dugard are good writers. I was more interested in the history behind it all, and learned a great deal about the Caesars, Jewish law, and the politics of the times. Good read for the historical aspect.

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Manhunt by Janet Evanovich

I’ve read all the Stephanie Plum books so far, so I thought I would try one of the earlier books by the author. This was strictly a romance, and I was a bit skittish about it. But I should’ve trusted who this was written by. It was full of good humor and the sex was non-graphic. A nice little romp. A burned-out executive chucks her busy, luxurious life for the wilds of Alaska with husband hunting on her mind.

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Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

In this sequel to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, the story picks up right where it left off. The writing is so good that the pictures are just an added bonus. I was a bit dismayed to find out what seems to have happened to Miss Peregrine (don’t want to spoil things), but am eagerly looking forward to the series continuing to the next book.

Spring Cleaning

This was written many years ago when I was still in a very dark frame of mind. I hadn’t started ‘happy meds’ either. BTW, most of those boxes are gone now...

Spring Cleaning

Time to open up the boxes in my mind--

     Let in a little air and sunshine

But watch out!

Some of that stuff hasn’t seen the light of day in years

It may not be ready to face the world again

…Now where did THAT come from?

I don’t remember those thoughts being around before…

Must’ve been when I wasn’t paying attention that they slipped in

     Better get rid of them fast

And THAT one, too! I know that memory isn’t something I want to keep--

Out with it!

…Now THAT’s a nice one. That can stay.

So can those others right behind it. Always good to have a few nice ones around.

Never enough of them, it seems--

stay,

stay,

out with that one,

stay,

go

One last box

Very small

Can’t be much

NO NO NOOOO!!!

Leftover Alphabet Soup ABC

A bit less than 3 years ago I did a series called Alphabet Soup. I decided there were still plenty of letters left over to do it again. This time I’m trying for something unusual or at least different. So the first letter is:

A – Algonquin Round Table

Being a voracious reader, I’d heard of the famous group of writers and wits that would get together for lunch. I loved Robert Benchley’s work and greatly enjoyed Dorothy Parker. I always felt kind of sad for her.

I liked the idea of all these tremendously talented people getting together and having lunch amongst all the golden words surrounding them.

B – Blue Footed Booby

Not only does it have a funny sounding name, but it’s odd looking as well. I first learned about this bird while watching Captain Kangaroo with my kids when they were little. There was a cute little video and song that was played. I tried to find it on the internet to no avail.

C – Calumet

I grew up seeing the red Calumet Baking Powder can on the shelf in the kitchen. There’s one in my own kitchen now, too. I always assumed that Calumet was the name of a tribe. It wasn’t until I was an adult and came across the word in a different way that I realized it was not a Tribal name. It was just another name for a peace pipe. The origin seems to come from a French word for a musical instrument that resembled the pipe. I then looked up all the images I could find for the baking powder logo and as far as I can tell, a pipe was never part of it.

2014 Resolutions

As I’ve written before, I don’t make resolutions. It’s pointless, for me, anyway. However, there are a few things I’d really like to accomplish this year. Feel free to ask me about them once in awhile.

Less time on Facebook. Now that I don’t play any games on FB except for the occasional word game, there is less for me to waste time on. Yes, I do enjoy doing Bitstrips, and have been known to spend a lot of time plowing through all the scenes to find just the right one. If they had a better way of presenting the scenes so it would be quicker to look through, I’d be happier.

More time reading. That’s a no-brainer. If I’m not on FB, I SHOULD be reading!  OR:

More time crafting. I didn’t make ANY Christmas cards this last year! I haven’t done much at all in the way of stamping or crafting. I miss it! I need it! And that leads into:

Art Journaling/guided journaling. I saw a couple of great tutorials on making art journals that my soul is craving to do. I also downloaded a guided journal for this year that I want to have filled out by the end of the year.

Photo journaling. There were some neat things going around on FB this last year about posting pics every day for a month. Or more. I found a great site that gives really good prompts for each month. I printed up the list for January, and we’ll just see how much I want to get involved with this. This would also be excellent fodder for my blog.

Get rid of more stuff in the attic. I’m afraid that one day the whole thing will collapse in on us. I’ve been trying to have something to donate every time our church has a rummage sale, which is usually twice a year. And I’ve done OK with that, except this last sale in October I came home with a whole armload of stamping/crafting magazines and books and an entire BOX of craft supplies! (bad Dottie!)

So there ya go. Not too hard. Early days, though….