paint chip bookmark how to:

1) Gather paint chips of all colors (free at your local hardware/paint shop).
2) Cut, embellish, and stick in a book of your choosing.
{I like to leave some of the paint color names showing: morning sun, refresh, cloudless, splashy.}



It's that time again, time to start up the book clubs after a little summer break. The air is changing to that magical mix of summer heat and autumnal cool. I'm not one for huge summer reading lists. I just don't seem to get much reading done in the summer. But now, now that it is all sharpen your pencils and get back to school time, I am so in the mood. Our little neighborhood book club met last night. We talked books way past bed time and put together our monthly reads for the coming 10 months. It was so much fun, I really am a sucker for such gatherings. For me book club nurtures both my introvert self, the one who wants to curl up with a good read, and my extrovert self, the one who wants to connect with other women and share ideas that go beyond child care, home repairs, work, or weather.

Our book for September is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, a book that I have read and wouldn't mind picking up again. It is a memoir but reads like fiction. The other book club I read with is doing a little Harry Potter marathon. We'll discuss books 1-4 for September and 5-7 for October. My one summer read was one Dave and I read aloud together. All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House by David Giffels. Within the 1st paragraphs Dave was moved to tears of laughter. To say the book really struck a chord with us is almost an understatement. It felt like everything we have been going through just on a much larger, falling down scale. It made me grateful for things that I hadn't thought of before, like the fact that our house isn't infused with the smell of cat urine.

I think I'll be adding a side bar of books that I currently reading for myself, for book clubs, with Dave, and to the Boy. That way this blog doesn't turn into book review, but you can get a peek at what might be stacked around the house, waiting on my night stand, slipped in my bag, or rocking in a chair. Does that interest anyone?

the cook book that makes me happy about food

Way back, May 1st to be exact, how lucky I was - and all that eat from my hands - that I was in the car listening to the Diane Rehm Show. Her guests for that hour were Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift talking about their new book "The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper". These lovely ladies and their radio show, The Splendid Table, were new to me. That has all been rectified. Listening to that radio conversation all about food, from women who LOVE to eat and cook (you could hear it just in the way they shaped their words, how they said "extra virgin olive oil" and "Parmigiano-Reggiano") and who made it sound so enjoyable and easy, I knew their book would be my Mother's Day gift to myself. With excitement and a little uncertainty I delved into the recipes with weekly meal plans and grocery list. The results have been delicious. Dave has never been so happy about a gift I bought for myself. The quality of our meals has taken off in leaps and bounds and our spice cupboard is expanding to include turmeric and coriander. Thanks to podcasts of their show I can now play catch up and I listen while making dinner or painting walls. Very entertaining, full of flavor, curiosity, inspiration, and creativity. Have you ever heard about a skirted cheese burger? or how to build your own oven?? Well, then you must start listening. Your mouth with water.