peacefulreader

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Mudbound

Hillary Jordan

2008

The Good Spirits book club I’m a member of chose this for our April read based on a glowing recommendation from one of our favorite and trusted local librarians. We haven’t met yet to talk about it but I’ve chatted with a few from our group and it seems like a unanimous winner.

Synopsis (from Jordan’s website):

In the winter of 1946, Henry McAllen moves his city-bred wife, Laura, from their comfortable home in Memphis to a remote cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta — a place she finds both foreign and frightening. While Henry works the land he loves, Laura struggles to raise their two young children in a rude shack with no indoor plumbing or electricity, under the eye of her hateful, racist father-in-law. When it rains, the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud.

As the McAllans are being tested in every way, two celebrated soldiers of World War II return home to the Delta. Jamie McAllan is everything his older brother Henry is not: charming, handsome, and sensitive to Laura’s plight, but also haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black tenant farmers who live on the McAllan farm, comes home from fighting the Nazis with the shine of a war hero, only to face far more personal — and dangerous — battles against the ingrained bigotry of his own countrymen. It is the unlikely friendship of these two brothers-in-arms, and the passions they arouse in others, that drive this powerful debut novel.

Mudbound is told in riveting personal narratives by the individual members of the McAllan and Jackson families. As they strive for love and honor in a brutal time and place, they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale and find redemption where they least expect it.

I enjoyed the changing point-of-view chapters, which allowed me get to know all the characters. The female characters were especially poignant and had a much richer story to tell. I don’t want to give away any of the amazing twists Jordan’s story holds so if you haven’t read this book-hop to it.

Two quotes:

Laura~

“I was bewitched by both of them, and by the beauty of ordinary life, which went on despite the war and seemed all the more precious for it. When I wasn’t changing diapers and weeding my victory garden, I was rolling bandages and sewing for the Red Cross. My sisters, cousins and I organized drives for scrap metal and for silk and nylon stockings, which the army turned into powder bags. It was a frightening and sorrowful time, but it was also exhilarating. For the first time in our lives, we had a purpose greater than ourselves.” (50)

and from Florence~

“First time I laid eyes on Laura McAllen she was out of her head with mama worry. When that mama worry takes ahold of a woman you can’t expect no sense from her. she’ll do or say anything at all and you just better hope you ain’t in her way. That’s the Lord’s doing right there. He made mothers to be like that on account of children need protecting and the men ain’t around to do it most of the time.” (80)

Take a chance and read this tale~

Other reviews:

Donna Jean at The Compulsive Reader

Reading Group Guides Discussion questions for this book.

Sunrise Service

(Groovy Girl and Teenage boy share a quiet moment)

My alarm went off this morning at 5:30 am as it has for the last 5 Easter mornings. I got dressed in my overalls and a warm sweater and woke my two children up to do the same. I went down and warmed up the car, made sure we had blankets and a pile of hats and mittens. My husband and his merry band of teens lead the service so he’s been up since 4 am getting ready for early risers to arrive at this beautiful spot at a nearby state park.

The fellowship (the doughnuts and hot chocolate) makes the early morning bearable for the teenagers.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Especially to the man who gets up early to get it all organized:

Weekend Cooking; My favorite cookbooks.

My mom is going to be here tomorrow for Easter dinner. I’m Spring cleaning today. Deep down cleaning. Dusting, rearranging, organizing, dispelling clutter. Soon I’m going to vacuum all the pet hair. A natural offshoot of cleaning is to cull some of the old and this idea brought me to my cookbook cabinets. I blew a fine layer of dust about and took a long look.

I know I get many recipes from the internet; blogs and Pinterest and I do have several magazine subscriptions, thanks to my mom, but my cookbooks are somewhat sacred. Something my mother taught me. I don’t get rid of them easily and I don’t buy them very often. As I reorganized this cupboard (I tend to stuff printed recipes in randomly even though I have folders to put them in) I reflected on my top 5 favorites.

In particular order with recipe titles linked to my posted recipe:

The Healthy Kitchen; Recipes for a better body, life, and spirit by Andrew Weil, M.D. and Rosie Daly. (2002). This book has been so well loved it is coming apart at the binding. It splits open right at the Vegetable Lasagna recipe I’ve made dozens of times in the last 10 years. My other top recipes in this book include the Miso soup, Tomato, Corn, and Basil soup, Seared Salmon with orange glaze, and the Lemon cayenne tonic. Filled with pages of healthy information about spices, eating mindfully, and tips from both Weil and Daley I’ve learned plenty.

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. (1997). This one looks used as the top is peppered with post-it notes sticking out like a yellow mohawk. My favorites recipes include the page of peanut sauces, Thai tofu and Winter squash stew, and Sweet potato muffins with candied ginger. My mother-in-law gave me this book for Christmas one year and the inside front cover still holds the sticky note she included telling me how much use she thought I would get from this book. She was right.

Fresh from the vegetarian slow cooker by Robin Robertson. (2004). This one my mother-in-law also gave me when she gifted me with a new slow cooker. I’ve made the Caponata for book club, the No-Hurry Vegetable Curry, the light and easy vegetable stock, the Pintos Picadillo, and the Lentil Soup with Kale. Right now I have chili cooking in the same slow cooker and I’m excited for our chili and baked potatoes.

Not Your Mother’s Casseroles by Faith Durand. (2004) This one I actually bought myself and it is newer than the other three. The Baked Cheesy Chili Grits, the Simple Pot Bread, the Pot Chicken and Potatoes in Cinnamon-Saffron Milk, and the Baked Buttermilk Pancakes are all fantastic recipes from this book.

Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentis. (2005). My kids could eat buttered pasta every day of the week, making this book a perfect match for us. Now they love several of Giada’s pasta dishes, making it easy to upgrade their taste buds just a notch. I also started making my own pesto from her recipe and love it even more in the winter as a pull it out from the freezer. The Checca sauce is an easy summer favorite, the white bean dip with pita chips is perfect for happy hour, and the Lemon Spaghetti is too die for because I have a thing for lemons.

Now that I’ve made myself hungry by paging through my favorite cookbooks I realize I need to explore them more, perhaps challenge myself to choosing a recipe from one of them on a regular basis. I don’t want them to get old and dusty. Cookbooks are like friends, something I want my daughter to experience as well.

I happened upon an article in my Real Simple magazine and found this pie baker extraordinaire, Beth Howard of The World Needs More Pie. She lives just down the “road”, well, a few towns over but I’m thinking Summer ROAD TRIP. I want to check out her pies, she has a new cookbook out, and she lives in the American Gothic house in Eldon, Iowa.

Happy Cooking~
This post is linked to Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Click her link to find many other food-related posts from a wide variety of bloggers.

If I was Queen of the Lunchroom…

My district gives us the gift of Good Friday. I’ve enjoyed this day with all of my heart. I got up a little later than usual and made breakfast in my jammies, The look on my son’s face as he was preparing to leave and noticed I was still in plaid, flannel pants was priceless. After much kissing of daughter she set off on her bike with my husband lagging behind. Usually I walk with them but her riding the bike makes it much less fun. I had a mission in mind anyway. I crawled back between my aubergine sheets and read, The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker, and drifted between reading and sleep. I love drowsy.

My husband brought me a bowl of cereal and cuddled with me for a few minutes before he left for work/church and I was able to read 5 more chapters (laughing out loud several times under the covers) before crawling out from the warm covers. I dressed in Saturday clothes (Gap pants with side cargo pockets, Gap oatmeal long sleeve tee and a long cardigan) and took the straightener to my fat hair. Off to the mall to gather some Easter basket treats. I love picking pretty Spring items for my kids. I don’t even bother with the basket now that the kids are bigger. I use baskets from around the house. The Easter bunny has even been know to use clay pots for his treats. I finished at the mall and headed home to grab a snack.

On the rare days I’ve had off and she doesn’t Groovy Girl and I love to have lunch together in her cafeteria. She’s brings her lunch 98% of the time. She’s a picky eater and not much on the lunch menu appeals to her. I’m not happy that she is such a picky eater but I’m glad she chooses our lunch over what the school has to offer. Today sitting at the small round table with a gaggle of giggly girls I (again) am mortified as to what is served to our children. Well, not my child, but most of the kids in the cafeteria were eating school lunch.

Today’s fare was either a huge slice of greasy pizza or 2 huge cheese bread sticks and a cup of vanilla ice cream. The bread stick in the photo actually has more cheese than the ones I saw today and they truly didn’t look done. On several of the platters there was a large scoop of formerly frozen strawberries, which is at least a fruit or had been, but not one plate had any veggies. The bread stick kids had a small container, fast food style, of marinara sauce for dunking-was that supposed to be a veggie?

Not only was the food not healthy but this is how the kids ate it: the ice cream cup was opened and eaten first. A few that had the strawberry mix added that to ice cream cup and stirred. Hurrah-they accidentally got one serving of a fruit that was also probably sugar-laced! One girl at our table poured some of her chocolate milk into her ice cream. All the 4th grade girls at our table had the bread sticks; not the pizza, and they ate some of the heavily-breaded sticks after downing the ice cream.

If I was queen of the lunchroom I’d make a mandate that you’d have to bring up your almost empty tray to get an ice cream cup. If I was queen of the lunchroom though they’d have a delicious tray of food, filled with veggies and bright colors. While I can’t blame the kids for eating the ice cream first-who am I too judge dessert first-but I find it appalling as to what the “experts” call nutritious for an afternoon of learning.

Not to brag but here’s what Groovy Girl’s frog lunch bag contained; a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread, a small container of grapes, a small container of baby carrots, a clementine, and an organic juice box. I could tell she was a little green with envy as she watched her friends scarf down vanilla ice cream, or chocolate /strawberry-infused ice cream but she quickly turned her attention back to her own lunch. We shared the clementine and the small handful of blue chips with flax that I love. One bonus was that she (and the other “brown baggers”) get to sit first while the other students wait in line for their lunch-her sandwich was mostly gone before the lunch trays were sliding across our table. She only had to nibble at her other healthy food choices as she conversed with her friends.

I don’t have a cool phone or I would have snapped an amazing photo of this lunch adventure instead I borrowed my photo from this blogger, Eat Hoboken, who wrote about school lunches back in 2010. Click the link to check it out. Too bad she’s not still chronicling her journey.

I don’t know if Groovy Girl’s school and my school have the same lunches but I constantly look at what the kids at my school are eating (esp. book club days) and am sad that no vegetarian option is available. Public schools need to find funding for better food choices for our children. Hyping them up on sugar and carbs is no way to learn. Have you ever read about what professional sports teams eat and now even college-level players? They are working hard to make sure their players are eating well for best performances. Why can’t we get that for our youngest generation?

On reading; I finished and loved The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. What took me so long to pick this book up, I’ll never know but it was wonderful to read.

Blessing on this Good Friday.

Top Ten Tuesday; Books to read in a day.

This weekly meme is featured at The Broke and the Bookish. Click the link to read other blogger’s lists. This week the subject is books that kept you on the edge of your seat, read-the-whole-day kind of books.

1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. I remember the first three books in this series kept me reading through the day. I remember the excitement of the early delivery, the frenzy. Pure joy.

2. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. I loved this character’s moodiness and enjoyed reaching back to the French Revolutionary time period.

3. Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier. A retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses, I felt transported and did read it in about 2 days. Really should go back and read more by this author.

4. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. Just finished this one and loved the changing perspective in each chapter. Proves every story does have more than two sides.

5. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Loved Death as a character. Creepy, unique perspective of the Holocaust.

6. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow. Sad tale but her writing made me want to keep reading to find out what was happening.

7. Shiver by Maggie Steifvater. I loved how she created wolf characters who shifted~made me love wolves.

8. The Luxe by Anna Gabbenstein. The first one grabbed me, transported me, and piqued my interest, with all its twists and turns, until I turned the last page.

9. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. It was long and worth it. The story was riviting and well-told.

10. I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan. Tells the captivating story of two boys, abused by their homeless father, who make it despite the many roadblocks they struggle with.

11. Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Alzheimer’s disease was unraveled right before my eyes and it made me sob.

12. Graceling by Kristin Cashore. This was an amazing fantasy book. I loved the world Cashore dreamed up and even like the second one, Fire.

13. Claire Marvel by John Burnham Schwartz. My husband read it and I loved listening to him talk about it as he read it. I read it right after and loved it just as much. The story of missed opportunity and love.

14. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Another great fantasy book-Gaiman created a marvelously creepy underground world.

15. Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu. A fairy tale world lies right out there in that woods beyond your neighborhood-be careful where you tread.

I’m not good at following directions and I couldn’t stop at ten. All 15 of these I highly recommend because they kept me on the edge of my seat or tucked down in my covers reading until late in the night.

Weekend Cooking; Food for Thought

I cooked routine, easy meals this week. Leftovers, pasta with some of my frozen-from-last-summer pesto, and hamburgers nourished us this week. Over the last few years our family meals have taken new direction. Change is good. I would say we’ve always been on the cusp of healthy eating but not over the edge. Many people consider us to be over-the-edge though.

I’ve eaten a vegetarian diet since I was a teenager. Teenage boy was raised vegetarian. (Except for Gpa Dean who kept taking him to McD for chicken nuggets on their manly Saturday wash the truck days!!) My husband, who spent time as a young boy in both Sierra Leone and Malaysia has a versatile palate and he’s a runner. He swayed easily with my vegetarian cooking. Every once in awhile he would come home with a package of ground turkey, shape patties, and serve them for dinner. I just ate the side dishes.

As Teenage Boy became well, a teenager, and more active he begged for meat. I’d read Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, where she talks about making responsible meat choices. Every foodie should read her book. After some local research I found a Gentleman Farmer who sells straight to the consumer for a reasonable price. Now I can purchase meat from him because he has the same ideas about animals that I do and I’ve introduced meat back in to our diet over the last three years. My veg friends are shocked and a little disgusted but I’ve enjoyed the journey. I like the idea of helping the farmer practice sustainable, healthy food production. It’s all about supply and demand.

We still eat vegetarian at home most of the time and when we venture out for food I always eat vegetarian. I want restaurants to think about what they serve and how whole groups of us are left out when only two veg menu items are offered, usually one of the items is a cheese quesadilla; not very healthy and I’m a cheese snob. Lucky for us we have a dairy that practices sustainable and wholesome farming where we can purchase hormone-free milk and local cheeses. Trust me there is plenty of eye-rolling going on at our table as I sweetly question wait staff on vegetarian eating options. Nachos with cheese SAUCE always riles me up and confuses the poor wait person.

Teenage Boy is now tackling our sugar habit. He is an athlete and has decided to cut out refined sugars. We don’t eat a ton of sugar at our house but I like to bake and Teenage Boy loves to have cookies or bars on hand to eat. He is super thin and needs multiple food choices throughout the day. We are soda free but the kids drink healthy-ish real juice. Cereals are another area where sugar is an issue but we do have a special way of serving cereal that deserves an entire post all its own. The search is on for baking recipes that use natural sweeteners other than refined sugar. I need to read more to understand my options. Obviously we all know sugar isn’t good for us but what kind of treats can I make that my kids will still think of as edible and not tree bark?

Sidebars:

1. I browsed through this book, Chloe’s Kitchen, online yesterday and am completely enticed. While we are not vegan I think this cookbook offers some great variations on everyday recipes. Why not throw it into our already jumbled randomness of food ideas? Has anybody experimented with this book?

2. I started watching The Future of Food on Netflix instant while Groovy Girl was in gymnastics class. I plan to finish watching today. Genetically modified foods scare me and we need to be wary of their existence on our grocery shelves. I discovered this list of food documentaries on Lettuce Eat Kale. I’ve watched a few of them (I highly recommend King Corn) but should probably watch all. I always feel disgusted and angry after watching but more involved as well. Sick but smarter…

3. I get this Rodale newsletter through email and found this must-read article about the over-used word, natural. It’s crazy that we’ve watched this word transformed from a positive into a meaningless word. Tragic. Someday I hope it will come back from the dark side. The bottom line is if you see the word natural on products-it’s not because food manufacturer’s have watered-down the meaning of the word-ON PURPOSE-to make more money.

With all that…
Stay positive.
What changes can you make if the future of food is important to you?

This post is connected to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to see more food-related posts.

The Lions of Little Rock

Our family had the pleasure of living in North Little Rock for 3 years. I met my wonderful friend, V, there and experienced Southern life for a short period. One of my favorite first memories was trick-or-treating in flip flops with my children. Growing up in Minnesota I’d spent many a Halloween bundled in winter coats and boots.

In 2007 the Little Rock Nine celebrated their 50th anniversary but before that Commemorative Civil Rights stamps were released and several events occurred that we attended, including a movie premier with Minnijean Brown Trickey. My husband made it to the dedication of these striking statues (above photo) on the capital grounds commemorating their journey. Anytime we walked to see these statues I always felt an overwhelming sense of fear for what these mere teenagers faced everyday.

The Lions of Little Rock (2012) takes place the year after that difficult year of integration at Central High School, when emotions were just as high. Integration did not go as planned; neither side had won leaving both sides bitter. Many of the high schools closed instead of withstanding another attempt at forced integration.

Synopsis from Penguin:

Two girls separated by race form an unbreakable bond during the tumultuous integration of Little Rock schools in 1958 Twelve-year-old Marlee doesn’t have many friends until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is bold and brave, and always knows the right thing to say, especially to Sally, the resident mean girl. Liz even helps Marlee overcome her greatest fear – speaking, which Marlee never does outside her family.

But then Liz is gone, replaced by the rumor that she was a Negro girl passing as white. But Marlee decides that doesn’t matter. Liz is her best friend. And to stay friends, Marlee and Liz are willing to take on integration and the dangers their friendship could bring to both their families.

A Halloween quote:

“Howdy , cowpoke!”
I turned and saw a cowgirl with a leather skirt, chaps, a fringed jacket, hat and bandanna over her face. Beside her stood a little kid dressed as a horse, with a full mask over his head.
“Wow,” I said. I recognized Liz’s voice, even if I couldn’t see her face. “You look great!”
“Granny can sew,” she said. “Too bad every day isn’t Halloween. We could go anywhere we wanted.”
“You’re not supposed to talk to your white friend,” said Tommy.
“Shhh,” said Liz. “Horses don’t talk. Besides, I told you I’d give you half my candy.” (116-117)

The friendship between Liz and Marlee springs up naturally at school and the two enjoy each other’s company, fitting together like two parts of a puzzle. Through their eyes integration is an easy choice but the world is filled with haters and Liz and Marlee run into many of them. After being banned by both families to meet they conspire to see each other anyway at the zoo. It’s tough in the face of adversity to stick to each other but they do the best they can under their complicated circumstances.

I appreciated feeling at home in the Little Rock setting, could picture the zoo, Philander Smith College, and the Central High School area. The Lions of Little Rock is Kristin Levine’s second historical fiction novel about race. Her first book, The Best Bad Luck I’ve Ever Had is about the friendship between Harry and Emma in Alabama.

Kristin Levine grew up in the South and now makes her home on the East Coast. The Fourth Musketeer has a wonderful interview with Levine and Janssen’s review is worth reading at Everyday Reading.

Bunheads

I finished this book over my Spring Break. What a great Spring Break it was, relaxing with a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

Bunheads by Sophie Flack (2011)

The cover of this one drew me in-ballerinas with their elegant tutus and delicate arms swooshing overhead. Hannah Ward is nineteen and been at dance academy since she was young. She doesn’t want you to call her a ballerina though as those are the stars of the show, she dances in the corps de ballet. Hannah is a wonderful mentor for us novice wanna-be ballet anythings. We see through her eyes the difficult struggle, the competitiveness, and the thrust into adult life, Hannah is living. One night she meets a boy though and through his eyes she sees how she just might be missing out on a thing or two.

I like this story although there isn’t any amazing triumphant crisis. I like that Hannah was upbeat compared to some of her other dance partners and her friend, Bea, even more so. It was very interesting peeking backstage, and listening in on dressing room gossip as Flack takes us into their personal lives as each of the corps girls struggle with weight, injuries, and Otto, the man in charge of it all.

Two interesting quotes that stood out to me:

“That’s why I had to tell them, over one of my mom’s hippie dinners of baked tofu and mashed yams, that this was the chance of a lifetime and that I was willing to take the risk.” (6) (sounds yummy!)

and

“Mai is incredibly thin, and Otto uses her as the model for the ideal ballerina body. I’ve heard that she eats only once a day, and then only white foods. As I look at her, I can believe the rumors, even though I don’t want to.” (137) (White foods like garlic mashed potatoes or vanilla ice cream? I think maybe she eats things more like bean sprouts or jicama.)

You notice lots of focus on food and the girls do smoke and drink which is kind of hard to take as they are young and ever so thin. This is a light read that transports you backstage and around NYC with a set of hip young friends.

Sophie Flack writes from experience as she trained at the Boston Ballet School, and at fifteen, was accepted into the American Ballet. Her experience is what makes this book worth reading. Find another review here at 4Dancers.

Weekend Cookies;Cherry Oatmeal Cookies Variation

Happy Birthday to my husband, Gregory! It’s a big one and he’s not all that excited about it. I made him a special breakfast this morning of grits, Fresh Air bacon, scrambled eggs, and biscuits and peppery gravy. He was in heaven with all his favorite breakfast foods at the table.

Last night I made these cookies for him because he loves oatmeal cookies. They are delicious and next time I would double the recipe. The directions say it makes 50 cookies-I beg to differ-as I even made mine nearly bite-sized as I could see the dough disappearing.

(Image Source)

Adapted from So Sweet! Cookies, Cupcakes, Whoopie Pies, and More by Sur La Table. (This book was well worth the $11 I paid for it and I notice it is less than $10 on Amazon now)

Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
~~(makes about 50 cookies)~~ (makes about 30 cookies)

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 Stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 T. granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 salt
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup dried sour cherries

1. Preheat oven to 350*F and position rack in the center. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. (I used my silicone mat)
2. Place the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrape the bowl well. Add the egg and vanilla and blend well.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter mixture all at once. Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and blend slowly, just until there are no more patches of flour. Scrape down the bowl.
4. Add the oats and cherries and blend on low until just combined. Remove the bowl from mixer and stir gently a few times to make sure everything is incorporated.
5. Using a small ice cream scoop or a spoon, portion tablespoon-sized mounds (I did teaspoon size) onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes, until cookies are golden brown at the edges and still a bit pale in the center. Transfer to a cooking rack and let the cookies cool.

I did not have dried sour cherries in the house but I did have raisins and dried cranberries. My husband loves oatmeal raisin cookies and I tossed caution to the wind by adding the cranberries as well. He loved them-the cranberries add a snap. I would like to try the dried cherries at some point but who needs a trip to the grocery store for just one ingredient?? These cookies were very quick to make-perfect for time-crunched baking. Enjoy!

This recipe is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. See hers and the long list of other food-related posts by clicking over to her site.

Random Spring Break Thoughts and Photos

Mr. PR with Tarah

Blooming in March!

I’ve been back at work for three days now and I’m exhausted.
I’m so close to finishing Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. Excellent book.
My next read is Mudbound by Hillary Jordan- for book club.
I’m trying to figure out how to use pinterest for a 5th grade project. Any ideas?
I am in the mood to Spring clean and would like a blog makeover. Any ideas?
I “mastered” Google Music and uploaded a slew of my favorite CD’s.
I reorganized the picture folders on my laptop.
I shared sweet potato black bean burritos with two friends at work and it was unanimous eating love!
Through a twitter conversation I enjoyed Beth F’s lunch love for same burritos! Made my day!

Spring Break Photo Journal:

Children’s Museum (in flight)

dramatic like her father.

Ice skating in the mall

Teenage Boy walking the dog
(how nice was it here!)

Bike Riding in my new flirty grape skort from Athleta (it was on sale).
I love skirts and this one is versatile. Now I want it in black.

Spring is here and it makes me so very, very happy.
What’s making you smile these days?