Princess Academy

Book #6 is finished.  I must admit, I love young adult reads.  They are so quick and satisfying.  And, I can read them even when sleep deprived.  Big bonus.  My newest one finished was this:

 

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

I enjoyed it, but not for the reasons I thought I would.  I had read many good things about this book and had wanted to read it for awhile, but had not wanted to spend the money on it.  I was thrilled to find it at DI last month for $1.  Yay! 

Anyway – I expected, based on the synopsis and title, a fairy tale-ish book.  Yet, it totally wasn’t.  I mean, you have a prince who needs to marry a princess, but it really is a bit more of Heidi then Cinderella. 

At first, upon finishing, I was dissatisfied.  But, the more I reflect on the novel, the more I see that it is reminiscent of one of my favorite kids books, Fanny’s Dream.  It is nice to have books that tell girls that they don’t have to be a princess, sometimes the best place to be in life is right where they are. 

On to book  #7…

Death

I can’t put off this post any longer.  I never did post about my Grandfather’s passing, and I know I should write about him, especially since this a chronicle of our family.   Now that death has visited my family again, I cannot put off this post.  It just needs to be written. 

My paternal grandfather passed away early last month.  He was a 92 year-old man who had lived a wonderful and amazing life.  He left behind a legacy of faith, family, and self-reliance.  My husband wrote a wonderful tribute to my grandfather here, so I will not repeat. 

I will, however, mention just a few things I will miss about my grandpa. 

-I will miss him calling me “dolly”. 

-I will miss his bread and waffles, “awful waffle” as they are so fondly called.

-I will miss his strength and the focus he was as our family patriarch. 

-I will miss his donald duck voice which he loved to use to entertain kids.

-I will miss his sayings like “Wasting daylight”, “Shame to eat so much and leave so little”, and “Comin’ down in everything but price.”

-I will miss his cowboy songs and his stories.  He has a million and I know there were many I never heard. 

Just this last week, the family dog I grew up with, Micheal, had to be put to sleep.  He was a giant of a dog, over 100 lbs, so he was fondly given as one of his nicknames, Goliath.  He was 14, 6 years pass the normal life expectancy for a boxer.  For that reason he gained the nickname Methuselah.  I know that many might say, its just a dog…but he was a member of our family and will be sorely missed.  He had about a million nicknames.  He loved to wrestle boxes and rip them to shreds.  Although he was large and imposing looking and had a bark that sent anyone at the front door backing up, he was a gentle giant who only ever wanted you to scratch him and play with him.  Sisters and I used to joke that he was the brother we never had.  He could always make you smile because he hated it when you cried and would come over and lick all the tears off your face. 

I will miss them both.  I hope that March comes and goes without any other sad news, as January and February have both had their own so far.  Grandpa, I will miss you.  Give Mike a scratch for me.

Delightful

I love the word “delightful”.  It is a word that should not be often used, as it would loose its magic.  When you say it, you can’t help but smile a little bit (thanks to that long “I” sound), even when said sarcastically.

I have read many, many books in my life.  Some that were okay, some that were great, clever, interesting, thought-provoking, escapist, and a myriad of other adjectives.  I have read very very few that I would call delightful. 

This book, however, fits that title.

Yes, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society was delightful.  If I were to organize my books by reaction instead of genre, this book would live very happily right next to Anne of Green Gables and the other books of that series.   The Anne books are the only other books I’ve ever read that I would characterize as delightful.  I read the entire series over 2 years ago.  It has been a long time since a delightful book has crossed my path.

So, Guernsey.  It is an epistolary novel, which I as a general rule do not enjoy and avoid.  This is a huge exception to the rule.  I found the format perfect for the setting of a story set against the backdrop of the end of WWII.  I knew I was enjoying when in the first 40 pages it has made me laugh out loud.   Last night I went to read some more and intended to read 30 pages or so, but instead stayed up way too late and finished the book. 

So, yes, you should read it.  And I am on the look out for more delightful books.  Any suggestions?

Oh, and by the way, I’m made a goal to read 42 books in 2010.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society as number 5.  Hmmm…perhaps I shall start a page listing the books I’ve read this year just in case anyone is interested.

I Love to See the Temple

A couple of weeks ago, we had a full week of rain.  While it was much-needed and appreciated, by Saturday, Miss E and I were going stir crazy.  Since Daddy was home, we decided to get out and go somewhere.  Since all the parks were too wet to play, we decided to go to the Redlands Temple.  Miss E was thrilled to walk around the temple grounds.  She kept asking if Mommy and Daddy were going inside to get married.  She hasn’t quite grasped the concept that it was a past event, but she remembers that it happened in the Temple. 

She loved the flowers.

She couldn’t resist sticking her hand in the fountain.

And then wanted to play ring around the rosie with Daddy.

But the sweetest part of all was her intense desire to touch the Temple.  “Wan noo touch emple!”  And then when she got to she was thrilled.  She loved discovering the engravings on the stonework and looking at the doors.

Since then every building with a spire has been declared a temple in the eyes of my 2.5 year old. 

Don’t ya hate it…

when you have a post or two that need to go up and you can’t find you camera cord?  Sigh.  Its gotta be around here somewhere. 

In the meantime, I’ve been rearranging our place.  And, I like it.  Our room doesn’t feel any bigger, but it is more functional.  Miss E’s room and the front room, however, actually feel bigger – and that’s hard to do when you have less than 700 sq ft total to start with.  I like it though. 

It has led me to think of some fun projects, things I hope to get the shopping for done this week and get done and posted for all to see and waste time looking at.  Not that looking at my blog is a waste of time…

Yeah – so, we’ve been busy.  And now I’m tired. 

Miss E is going to bed nicely in her big girl bed now.  We are having nap resistance problems, though.  She actually took one today, Yeah!   Yet, they are so few and far between that she’s really tired.  And, she’s still spending a good portion of the night in our bed and not sleeping well there that she is really over-tired.   We’ll get there. 

And, so, there – another post without pictures.  How boring…

Couponing

For a few years  now I have been a couponer, at some times more avid than others.  At first, I was a Grocery Gamer, thanks to tip about the site from a friend of mine.  I stayed with Grocery Game for over a year until my pantry was stuffed to the brim.  About that time, I decided to try to cook more from scratch and less from boxed goods, and my shopping took a shift.  I no longer found the Grocery Game lists as valuable and worth my money.  So, I stopped paying for the service.

I had another site I struggled to use for the last year.  CouponMom is great and has many wonderful features and is free, so I tried to use it.  But, I had a hard time distinguishing deals and finding exactly what I needed.  So, my couponing has been on the back burner for a year now.  And, I’m beginning to run out of my almost free toiletries.  Definitely a sign I need to get back.

Well, day before yesterday, I ran across Grocery Smarts.  I am so excited about this site.  It seems to be the best of The Grocery Game and CouponMom with more stores and absolutely free.  I’m so excited about it!!!!  Now, back to almost free toiletries and a few coupons used on other items.  Hand and hand with my new price book project, this is going to be awesome!

As I have other couponing friends  out there, so I thought I would share.  You do have to have a “passport” to get into your  state.  They don’t have lists for every state, but these are the passports I found:

California:  g92ro1 (that’s an o and not a zero)

Washington State:  g99ro1 (again an o)

Utah:  g84rcm

Idaho:  g83ro1

Check it out!  Yay for getting back into couponing and saving money!!!

~Merry Christmas~

So, its been nearly a month since I’ve blogged.  I had 3-4 great little posts with coordinating pictures planned, but, alas, I lost them all.  Sigh.  So, I have  no pictures of the last month to share with you.  I will however, give you the journal style version of Christmas. 

Miss E loved Christmas this year.  She was enamored with Santa Tause (as she calles him) and even loved the opportunity to sit on his lap.  I was so thrilled!  She loved helping me wrap the gifts.  I was a wee bit concerned about putting the gifts under the tree for fear that she would get into them.  She surprised me though, and she didn’t even touch them once they went under the tree.  She was thrilled to help wrap the presents for all of our family.  

Daddy and I had the opportunity to go to an adults only party.  My youngest sister came to babysit, and Daddy and I escaped for a few hours and enjoyed the company of other adults.  It was a lot of fun!  Thanks Amber and Sarah!

Things got a little crazy with Christmas when we got the news that my Grandfather’s health is failing (more on that later).  Suddenly schedules changed and time I though I had to bake and do other Christmas-y things evaporated.  We rushed off to celebrate Christmas with my family earlier than planned so that my father could get to Grandpa’s side.   Miss E loved opening her gifts and helping pass out the gifts to her Aunties and Uncle.  

The days between Christmas with my family and Christmas Day (which we were to celebrate with Daddy’s family) passed swiftly.  There were last-minute presents to buy as my baking had not and was not going to happen, lots of laundry to do, and packing to accomplish. 

Christmas Eve, Miss E carefully carried out a plate of cookies for Santa and left one of her cups with milk in it for him to have a “nack” (snack).  We read the Christmas story out of Luke and also read “The Night Before Christmas”.  Telling us that Santa was watching her sleep, she curled up in her crib and drifted off to sleep.  In the morning, she ran to the front window to look for Santa Clause.  While peering out the window, she asked, 

“Where my toys?”

She thought Santa was going to leave her present on the porch.  She was even more surprised to find that her new doll house was actually inside the house and near the tree.  She was fascinated by the missing cookies and the drunk milk.  It was a lot of fun.  We spend the afternoon of Christmas Day with Daddy’s family as planned and had a nice Christmas.  Miss E once again got to pass out gifts.  She enjoys gifts and gift giving so much and is such a joy.  Amid everything that was going on this Christmas, she made it worthwhile. 

The next day, we packed up the car and headed to the Central Valley to visit my grandfather, grandma and other family that was in town.  That I DO have pictures for and does deserve its own post, so you’ll just have to wait for that.

Grandpa is hanging in there.  We came back day before yesterday, but my parents stayed behind to help  Grandma arrange care and other things for Grandpa.  Since we were staying in a hotel room, Miss E slept in a real bed with us.  The first night was rough, but then we settled down into a little bit of a routine and the subsequent 2 nights went better.  However,  I knew returning home would be tough, especially since she had us in such close sleeping proximity to her for a couple of days.  As it turned out, she had no desire to go back into her crib.  She is now  sleeping in her big girl bed.  Its a major adjustment and I feel like we’re redoing her sleep training, but, that’s how it goes, I guess.  All in all, I think she’s doing  pretty well, even if we are having to sit with her until she falls asleep. 

And, so went December.  Stay tuned for a post in the next couple of days about our trip to the Fresno area…

Setting Up Christmas

Sunday, we were all home sick, but not feeling so horrible as to  not break out the Christmas Tree or the Nemeth Tee as Miss E calls it.  She was so thrilled to be a part of the decorating process.  She helped bring our fake tree back to a tree-like state, and then she had a blast rushing back and forth between Daddy and myself carrying ornaments to be hung on the tree.  She was so proud of the completed  result and keeps rushing over to sit by her Nemeth Tee.  Christmas is going to be fun this year.

Check out the mis-matched socks she picked out!

Thanksgiving Adventures

We had a very nice Thanksgiving visiting my family.  Miss E was in heaven, chasing her Aunts and sitting on their backs as they crawled across the floor.  She especially had fun tossing the ball at Aunt Crystal’s stomach as she layed on the floor.  She thought it was so funny!  Aunt Crystal -  well, that’s debatable.

Long Time, No See

Last week, we were very fortunate to be able to get together with some of my friends from my YSA days whom I had not seen in a long time.  The Tolleys were down visiting family for Thanksgiving, and we took the opportunity to get together a couple days before.  The Snapps also came, which was great because I hadn’t seen them in, well, forever!  Once they all got warmed up, the 5 kids had fun playing together, especially playing with a huge puzzle spread out over the coffee table.  It was a great evening and I’m really glad we had the opportunity to visit with them.