A couple of days ago I finished this book by Nicholas Sparks and along with his other two, The Notebook and The Wedding, I particularly enjoyed this one. It was different, not exactly a novel, I think it had memoir written on the front cover. It is the story of a three week trip he took with his older brother a few years ago; an incredible type around the world trip to see places like Machu Picchu in Peru, Easter Island, the Australian Outback, & the Taj Mahal. Interwoven with the travelogue is the story of their family, his childhood years and the tragedies that he faced as a young adult. He and his brother had always been close but were now the only surviving members of their family and the trip was a time to heal, bond, and remember.
I have had several people comment over the last few years that they wondered how a man could write such books as what he has written, with such feeling and depth of emotion is what I took them to mean. But after reading this book and seeing what he went through in his childhood and young adult life, it is easier to understand. He writes what he knows about, what he has experienced and it seems that so much of his personal experiences are the inspiration for his books. The parts of the book that were about his family are the best parts of this book. I would enjoy seeing exotic places like they toured but he didn’t give as much detail about those as you might expect but I think maybe this was to be more about his personal life and the healing that they do than about the trip itself. It was a really good book and if you enjoy his other books, this is one that you should read as well.
I found this and wanted to share it………………I have really been into You Tube lately! Have seen it lots of places, have had people email me with stuff to watch on it and now I’m putting it up here. I’ll have to email it to my kids because they probably won’t see it on here! But I thought this was funny and thought some of you might like it as well. The hubby liked it too, but we tend to like comedy. I’ll put it on the extended page:
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Yesterday I went to Walmart, somewhere I go way too often! I went down a few clearance aisles and found something on it that I don’t remember seeing in there before. In fact, we looked for this item back in March when the kids were home and looked around the store and even asked a clerk if it was in the store (that was optimistic because they are almost never helpful). But yesterday this was on the clearance aisle for $10! I had to call Kathryn and tell her because she is the one that wanted it in the first place!
There are about 3-4 of these left, if anyone wants me to get them one for 10 dollars, let me know!
Click below for a picture if you are interested:
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10 things that remind you of your mother
This will be hard to think of and do since my mom is gone now but here goes:
1. Coffee-she drank it every morning for most of her life and I never really learned to even halfway like it until after she died.
2. Crossword puzzles-she loved them and worked them all the time!
3. Short housecoats-they snapped up the front and she called them dusters I think!
4. Pimento cheese-she made the best!
5. Wheel of fortune-she used to love to watch it on tv. Kathryn told me recently that she remembered that about Dodie too and watching it with her.
6. Bridge-when I was a child she used to love to play and would do so weekly sometimes.
7. The beauty shop-she HAD to go once a week and get her hair done! She didn’t feel right if she didn’t get to go.
8. Computer & emailing-She loved both of these later in her life and was on the computer every day.
9. Recipe cards & notepads-she gave both to me all the time and she used these herself! The kind of notepads that had a magnet and you could hang on the fridge. Now Stacy gives them to me!
10. Cigarettes-I hesitate to mention this one but she smoked most all her life and for as long as I can remember, so it is probably one of the strongest memories I have.
Bonus one: Reading– she loved to read more when I was younger and that is probably part of where I got my love of reading from too.
One of my friends brought me something today, a treat…….for pet sitting! It was so not necessary; I like for us all to do that back and forth for each other, and I might need their services sometime later this year. But it was fun to get and they are so nice to have to eat!
Click below for a couple of pics of our treat.
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About a week ago, friend #1 asked the hubby if we would feed their cats (and fish) and get mail while they were gone on a trip. Hubby says sure, which really means me because he hasn’t fed them yet 😉 Then friend #2 calls, because her cat really stays most of the time at friend #1’s house, and says they are going out of town and knew we were in charge of friend #1’s pets so could I get their paper and mail, and check on their cat, so of course I will do this as well. Then friend #3 calls on Thursday; they are going out of town too and could I feed their cats and dogs and get paper and mail as well. Of course, because if I’m already doing 2 houses, what is one more! On Friday, after it has rained, the hubby decides he wants to go to Jackson to eat out, see a movie, maybe we can shop (he knows how to get me to go!) and maybe the guys can golf; this is after he is the one that initially started all this with agreeing to pet/house sit! So I called friend #4 to see if she could sub for me for some of the animals on Saturday morning! She goes with me on Friday afternoon to friend #3’s house; to see what to do for the 4 outside cats, the outside dog and to see about letting the inside dog out to go to the bathroom……….is this confusing yet! So, we were able to feed all the menagerie on Friday afternoon at all locations, #’s 1, 2 and 3, get all paper and mail at all locations, then go out of town briefly to eat out, see a movie, and shop some (golf for the guys) and still get back on Saturday in enough time to do it all again. And feed our cats in the process as well! Friend #1 gets back Monday, friends #2 and 3 get back on Sunday. I thought life was supposed to be easy, carefree and nothing at all to do when the kids left home! When does that happen?
I finally got some plants put into pots……..I’ve had the big Kimberly Queen Ferns for almost a week and really needed to get them done. They are the one thing that for some reason I’m able to grow all season and not kill! I can almost neglect them and they still are good all summer and into early fall; don’t know if it’s because of the plant or where I put the pots or just what it is but I’m grateful for it! Now I just need to get them moved to their spots.
And I bought a geranium too and got it done today also. It looks good now but I’m afraid that on into the summer, it might not last as long. I need to be better about remembering to water it more often when it gets really hot here, and maybe I should give it Miracle-Gro every week or two and that might help it last a bit longer. But it looks pretty good right now! I want to get some bedding plants to put in a few more spots, maybe one or two other things for pots and possibly some herbs for pots on my patio, I would enjoy having some I could cook with.
In the last few days to a week I have seen at least 4-5 reports about AI on tv and the internet, all were talking about the fact that the show seemed to be bigger than ever and I think it has surprised them all. Everyone thought the show would have lost some momentum by now, me included. I’m not sure what keeps people coming back to it each season with more and more viewers. Maybe it’s all the stuff that goes on with the judges and all the reports of not getting along; and I have to sometimes think that part of that is staged so that people will be more interested in the show.
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10 Favorite Romantic Movies
In no particular order:
1. Casablanca
2. An Affair to Remember
3. The Philadelphia Story
4. You’ve Got Mail
5. Sleepless in Seattle
6. Gone With the Wind
7. Love Story
8. The Notebook
9. Serendipity
10. Sabrina
This was hard to do, so many others out there.
Found this at Stacy’s blog, so I thought I’d swipe it!
She found it here.
1. Should I quit blogging? Sigh. No.
2. Toilet paper… over or under? Over……although sometimes people at my house put it on the other way! I like having it over.
3. What brand names are you completely loyal to? Redken, Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter, Yoplait or Dannon yogurt, All or Wisk HE detergent, Isacord thread (bet that’s a new one on ya!) …….that’s just a few; I have been known to try others from time to time.
4. Do you like your job? What is your dream job? I have been a stay at home mom for as long as I can remember but think that job is about over! dream job, hmmm, growing up, I always wanted to do Broadway but huge problem, I have no talent! So I have no idea.
5. On a scale from 1-10, how computer savvy are you? I don’t know, a 5 or 6 maybe.
6. Do you make your lunch or buy it? Since I’m at home, I fix it here; unless I go out with the hubby or friends!
7. What color is your front door? A dark, dark green
8. Jeans or kakhis? Jeans
9. What is the longest distance you have ever run? Probably 1 mile
10. If you could buy one thing for yourself (cost is no matter), what would you buy? Never really thought about it, maybe a second home somewhere to go and visit, like in New York! That would be fun (that would have to be an apartment!)
I guess really it was Friday that was the busiest, or most hectic. D decided to go on the camp out that they took the church boys on and I decided to go to the women’s retreat! So we were both scrambling at the last minute to pack and we left about the same time Friday afternoon. He took a 4-wheeler and his golf clubs (used neither and I forgot to find out if the clubs were to use or if they were thinking about using them on the kids :lol:) My retreat was at a wildlife lodge, that is very popular with hunters, but since most of that is over for the year, the women had the whole place to ourselves!
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I got this from Stacy’s blog and she got it from her blog buddy Laura…..I thought it looked like fun so I decided to answer as well. I’ve loved reading since I was a little girl, had many years in there when the kids were small that I didn’t read as much, but in the last year or two I have done tons more reading and I am enjoying it.
1) Total number of books I own? That is hard to say because the hubby buys books all the time….but he did commission the girls to catalog our books and we had a list of them at one time so we could easily find what we were looking for; they were all shelved in the right places! The last time I remember looking at the list, there were probably 800-900 books on it and not all of them are entered so it’s more than that now I would guess.
2) The last book I bought? For him the last book we ordered was probably call “Humble Apologetics”. I have no idea when I have bought a book, I did buy 2 old ones at an estate sale recently though, both were copies of “My Utmost for His Highest”, a devotional book that we already have multiple copies of so not sure why we keep getting more!
3) The last book I read? The Memory Book by Penelope J. Stokes
4) 5 books that mean a lot to me?
*The Bible
*Les Miserables by Victor Hugo; was crying by the end!
*The Zion Covenant, series of books by Brock & Bodie Thoene
*The Zion Chronicles, another series by Brock & Bodie Thoene
* The Notebook and The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks; more tearjerkers!
it’s hard to pick five!
I’ll tag Elizabeth to do this one, but I won’t hold my breath!
It rained here last night, stormed I think, and is now nice and cool today; almost chilly! My magnolia tree has many buds on it and the first blossom on it opened a day or so ago; I should have gotten a picture of it then because I think it doesn’t look as good today after all the rain. Can’t wait for all the other buds to open up. Southern Magnolias are so pretty I think and I love to use the leaves, especially at Christmas and other times of the year to decorate with.
However I still noticed something in one of my other beds that to me is in the
“why won’t it die” category!
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I get to ask the trivia questions this week over in the forums……I love getting to do that! It will give Stacy a break and something fun for me to do. I like finding theme stuff, don’t know if everyone or anyone likes doing it that way but I am doing questions on “24” this week, for all the fans of that show. So if you play trivia over at hambones, be sure to answer this week.
Not too bad so far, for a Monday! Had an eye appointment this morning to check the pressure, and I’m glad it was ok! They told me not to use the Baush & Lomb contact solution anymore, I threw most of mine out a week or so ago when I heard about that infection! They were supposed to give me samples of some new stuff but I think they forgot. I think I’m going to try some new contacts……I don’t like the Acuvue Hydraclear they advertise on tv all the time, they don’t seem too clear to me! But the eye dr also found an eyelash in my eye with the contact, that he said had been there a while, because something had coated over it I think he said, so I wonder if that had been making my eye feel not so clear all the time; maybe it was that and not the contacts!
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