Book Club for June!

This month's selection was

The Piano Teacher by Lynne York

From Amazon.com

From Booklist
An easy journey into familiar territory: the small North Carolina town of Swan's Knob sometime in the late 1970s. Known as Miss Wilma, the gentle, upright piano teacher of the title keeps her life in order and finds comfort in it. She comes home after playing the organ for a wedding to find her daughter Sarah--thin, uncommunicative, and tense--on her doorstep with her granddaughter, Starling, but not with Starling's dad, Harper. York moves the point of view between Miss Wilma, Sarah, Harper, and Roy, the local distinguished gentleman who finds himself quite taken with Wilma, as all hell breaks loose. A handsome stranger comes looking for Sarah and is soon accused of murder. Harper's weaknesses are of the hippy-dippy kind but loathsome withal. Sarah doesn't get her mother's bone-deep kindness. Sad family stories leak out of direct, well-wrought prose. Romance, justice, and family win--probably. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Everyone liked the book, although everyone agreed that it started off slow!

In usual book club fashion I have one of these up for grabs!

Just leave me a comment by WEDNESDAY AND you can get a 2nd entry if you become a follower. If you already are than just do a 2nd comment letting me know. ALSO you will get your choice of one bookmark from my Etsy store. You can choose whichever one you want!

Book Club selection for July is

Barbara Delinsky's Flirting With Pete

From Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly
Cassandra (Casey) Ellis, 34, a single, successful psychotherapist, is the newest of this prolific writer's heroines. The novel opens with a memorial service for Dr. Cornelius Unger, a brilliant and reclusive psychologist who is also Casey's father. She never knew him personally, since she was the product of her mother's single encounter with Unger, and is shocked to learn that Dr. Unger has left her a $3 million townhouse on Boston's Beacon Hill, complete with a maid, Meg, and a gardener, Jordan. Casey has always felt hostile toward her famous, mysterious father, even though her mother never expressed any anger. She's uneasy at first about living in a luxurious house haunted by her father's presence, but soon finds its meticulously attended gardens a source of relief from professional stress and the emotional turmoil of caring for her mother, left comatose after a recent accident. Moreover, she is attracted to handsome, virile Jordan. While she's rooting through Dr. Unger's personal papers, she comes across the story of Jenny Clyde, a young woman in her 20s who was abused by her father for years before being rescued by a police officer. Casey becomes intrigued: is this incestuous relationship fiction or one of Dr. Unger's case histories? Why did her father leave it for her to find? Delinsky (The Woman Next Door, etc.) weaves Jenny's story through the novel, and meshes her and Casey's fates in a melodramatic climax. Both stories have some lapses in credibility and underdeveloped supporting characters (Meg is particularly weak), but the plot is more sophisticated and fast-moving than some of Delinsky's earlier work. It will satisfy her fans and may even win her some new readers.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sounds like a good one! My neighbor gave me her copy to borrow so I will start it after finishing the book I'm currently reading.

I also ordered one off www.paperbackswap.com so I will have one to give away.
Make sure you check back next month to win one!

Warped Tour 09 & San Francisco Treat

Yesterday I took Jessica and her friend to San Francisco for the Warped Tour. We took Bart like last time but didn't get a hotel room.

The plan was to be at the Bart station at 9:15 to meet up with some more of Jessica's friends. Later I found out these "friends" were boys. Imagine that lol. So we got there and were getting our tickets and Jessica finds out they are already on a train, couldn't wait for the next one apparently. She was PISSED.

So we get to San Francisco finally and the girls get off at the Embarcadero Station, I told Jess to just follow all the other kids lol. She gets so turned around and lost so easily. I think I was the only parent there with kids going to the concert but I didn't think she could handle getting there on her own. So they get off and then I realize I have their tickets in my pocket. You need the tickets to get out of the train station! I get off at the mall and text her saying UMMM I have your tickets. She said they jumped over the thing that lets you out. Nice, we are felons I'm sure!

I walked around the mall a bit and settled on some Panda Express for lunch. Then I hit the streets and walked around a bit. I went into Old Navy and got a bathing suit for $10, they had them on sale for $5 each piece! I didn't try it on though since the line for the fitting room was huge. If it doesn't fit I'll take it back here.





I went into a bunch of stores and looked around but didn't buy anything else. Then I was just walking and wow what is that?? It's China Town!

Entrance to China Town

I think this was a bar, so odd in the middle of normal buildings!

I went into the Kite Shop, the SMELL was overwhelming.

Cool kites but it smelled so bad in there.

Cool building!

This church seemed a little out of place in the middle of China Town.

I was really intrigued by all these ivory carvings I saw in a bunch of windows.

Apparently they are all "antiques".

Like the light poles? Neat building too.



Am I bright enough for you?

After you get to the end of China Town you can go to "Big Al's" and get your adult book store and video fix.

After China Town I wandered my way back towards the "Bart" area and found this nice wall to have a break on. It was behind the Jewish Museum (debated on going in)



and St. Patrick's Church I think it was. Sitting here I just felt so small.





This is the doorway to that huge building



After wandering around a bit more I found this weird building that said it was a theater. I can't remember what it was called, but I went in and they had a movie theater in there. I checked the time and I was right on time to see The Proposal!



I got a kids meal which was only $3 !?!? for a little popcorn, a good size drink and a BIG bag of candy. I'm still wondering if the girl messed up somehow.

Sandra Bullock is HOT in this movie. She wears these fierce heels through most of it. I about died laughing with the dog/eagle scene. This is definitly a great chick flick!! Best one I've seen in awhile!

When the movie was over I sent Jess a text and the concert was almost over so I made my way out to find the Bart Station. I went up a block and it was right there. I got on the train and got off at the girls' station and waited for them to come down.

And waited, and waited and waited.

There were lots of kids coming down and everyone was burnt to a crisp. Finally after forever they finally came down and I handed them their tickets to get in, but they wouldn't work right because they were never shown as getting out of the station. If I was smart I would have just ran them through the machine. They had to go up to the attendant and she fixed them for them.

We got on the train (with the boys, one of which I think is a new boyfriend) and it was packed and stinky. Thank God the stinky boys that I was sitting next to got off before too long.

We stopped on the way home and had some dinner at In & Out (tried to go to Mimi's but there was no where to park!). We got home around 9 and then I took the girls to Jessica's friend's house to spend the night since they have a pool.

All in all it was a nice day! It wasn't so bad being by myself since I could go anywhere and do anything I wanted and didn't have to worry about anyone else :)

A Tour of The Day

Today I slept in a bit, I got up around 8:30 (the poor dog just couldn't hold it any longer and got REALLY vocal!)

I made myself tackle the huge load of clean clothes that I have been neglecting to put away before I did anything else. Of course that lead to me washing even more clothes and having more to put away.

I took a tour of the yard and did a little weeding and watering.

Made dinner in the crock pot. I think the crock pot should only be used if you aren't going to be home all day. I was home all day. I think I ate everything in the house because the food smelled SO GOOD. And it was!

Slow-Cooker Saucy Swiss Steak



Finished up these bookmarks.




This one is in my store



The next door neighbor boy came over. I kicked him out repeatedly but apparently he doesn't understand that YOU HAVE TO GO OUTSIDE, HERE'S YOUR SHOES, means to go out there and STAY OUT THERE. Not that he was bad, but he was annoying Trevor and then Trevor kept saying the boys name over and over and nagging him.

Eventually they both went outside and then went over to the boy's house and went swimming :)

Jessica and I ate the yummy dinner since we were the only ones here.

Then I was so bored so I decided to take the dog for a walk.

Look geese!!



The geese see the dog and they are like "outta here!!"



This is my favorite part of the walk around the lake.




We went around two lakes (we have three) and my poor dog was EXHAUSTED. She hasn't walked that far in a long time. She's sacked out and snoring.

I saw a bunch of other things to take pictures of but was thinking people would get all freaked out if I was taking pictures of their houses and stuff. I need to get up more courage. Maybe next time!

Oh and unless you live in a cave, you've heard that Michael Jackson died today. I still remember when Thriller came out and he was ALL THAT and I got not one but TWO of his records for my birthday. I had posters of him on my wall and I remember my mom coming in and talking to me about being people that are in your own race or whatever. I was like SERIOUSLY? I don't want to marry the guy, I just like his music. But really, that was so 1950's like.

Anyhow, that always comes to mind when I think of him. Oh and my friend Trina and I watching the 2nd hand of the clock while Thriller played on the radio to see if it REALLY was as long as they said it was.

I pretty much lost interest in him when the whole "Bad" video came out and he was being all weird and beating on cars and such. I think that's when his freak really came out.

I'm kind of excited to see if his kids really have faces though, aren't you?

My Baby Comes Home Tomorrow

Melissa's been at camp for four days now.

So far I haven't killed her goldfish. I hope Bubbles can make it just one more day! Although I'm kind of becoming attatched to him. I think he wanted me to pet him when I was feeding him yesterday. He came up and tried to nuzzle my finger.

I just looked on the camp website and there are still no pictures of her on there. Totally disappointed.

Whose idea was it to let the quiet kid go to camp anyways?

Etsy Shop Update & What We Did Today!

I just made a little header for my Etsy shop. I think it turned out cute. It's hard to make something that is not very tall and wide!

So far I've sold 2 bookmarks. One to my friend Barb over at Tinksquilts and one to someone I don't know. Look how cute Barb's came out.



I have picked out a bunch more papers to make some more but I'm wondering if I should just wait and see if I sell more first. What do you think? More variety or too much is overwhelming?

In other news, we spent the day at my brother's house using his pool. He gave us a key, which is really cool! So now I'm burnt from trying to even out my farmer's tan! Trevor has almost learned how to swim now, which is awesome. The kids actually went all day without trying to kill eachother and so far Trevor hasn't spray painted anything or gotten into any other mischief. He's been REAL busy lately!

Melissa Goes To Camp

My baby girl went to camp this morning. This is her second year going. Last year we had to go over the list a few times and I helped her get all packed up and she was just a bit afraid of going. THIS year? She opened the letter with the list herself and I never saw it again. She's been packed for a month. A MONTH. Seriously. This morning she got up at 6:00 and made her own sack lunch and loaded up all her stuff in the car. I heard a noise at 6:30 and got up and it was her with her little carry on bag on her back. I told her it wasn't even time to get up yet!! And went back to bed. Two hours later we were on our way. She insisted that she HAD to have McDonald's for breakfast. So we hit the drive through and got to the drop off point right on time. She was just a tiny bit nervous when we were waiting for it to be time to load the bus. Then she gave me a big hug and ran and got on. I'll see her on Friday!!

I added a few more bookmarks to my Etsy Shop. Check them out and buy a few!

Happy Father's Day!

I hope everyone had a nice Father's Day! I didn't spend the day with any of MY Dads. I have two by the way. I just called them up and talked to them on the phone. Bad me. My mother in law was the first one to invite us over so that is where we went.

My sister in law works at Whole Foods so whenever she comes she brings LOTS of food. So nice! We brought a cheesecake, soda and chips. No one but us ate the cheesecake, soda or chips. I tried! Oh well! They bbq'd some ribs, made potato salad and had meat and cheese trays. It was all yummy! My brother in law and his daugther that we hardly ever see anymore were there too. I didn't take too many pictures because my mother in law had her camera out and I always feel weird taking pictures when someone else is taking them too.

Here's my kids on the couch. There isn't a whole lot to do there besides watch tv, which was blocked or just sit around and talk.



Almost everyone spent more time out in the "shop" so they could smoke. I think almost everyone in their family smokes. You come home smelling like you work in a cigarette factory.



This is the plant from my MIL's birthday. It is getting really big. I swear that woman can make a dead stick grow.



This is my MIL's rock garden. She says my FIL won't let her plant anything in the ground so she has things planted in all kinds of containers. I can't imagine anyone telling me what I couldn't do (and me actually listening). Hmmm times sure change over the years don't they!



You know that phrase "upcycle" and "recycle"? My IL lived through the depression. Everything has some kind of use around there. Or at least they keep it "just in case" it might.

Gotta love them!

Party & Yardwork

Yesterday I went to my LITTLE brother's new house. He just got the keys a few days ago. He had a party for my BABY brother's birthday last night. I suck and only took this one picture!

The new house has a pool, which is super cool. Especially since he gave me my own KEY so we can go over and go swimming. I was told that all he asks is that if it's not work hours I call first. Guess he doesn't want me walking in on him and any "ladies" haha!



After a bit my Mom took all the kids over to her place, I think she was about as happy about it as Jessica was to go there (PISSED!) Sometimes Mommy would really like to just hang out with adult people (even if they aren't really acting TOO adult like) and just drink and be stupid with everyone else. It didn't last too terribly long though since Scott was giving me the, "you better stop drinking so you can drive home bit". I was thinking we'd just stay the night but he didn't really seem up for that. (We had 2 cars because he drove over after work). Anyhow, we got home about 12:30 am. TG we got to sleep in until about 9:30 this morning without anyone waking us up.

Got up and went out to work in the yard. We got SO MUCH done today. Scott framed out the walkway area, which also frames out the flower bed that will be along the patio like the other side. Used the rototiller a bit after we dug the grass out.



When we got done with that we went and got the gravel to put in the walkway area so we even got that done!

Then he worked on the front part and framed that all in, including making the little flower box area around the newspaper box.



The color is way off on this picture because of the sun's position, but I love how Trevor looks like he's doing the same thing as dad.



Here's the end of the day, all framed up and looking clean.



If you are bored go check out the Post Secret website. There are a bunch of Father's Day "secrets" up. I find them so intriguing!

Etsy Shop!

I was bored last night so I made up some bookmarks and opened an Etsy Store for my bookmarks. Go check it out and tell a friend!

Through The Eyes Of A Six Year Old

Hey Peeps!! Trevor here!

Here's a little peek into what I like to do.

Hello, see my tooth I lost? I lost it last week. I put my tooth under my pillow, and then, I woke up, and I had a DOLLAR!! And the toothfairy?? She didn't even take my tooth!! It was on the floor!! Mom said she must have dropped it or something...

Can you see my projects I work on over there? Mom likes to sit in the dirt and when she does that?? I like to work on my CAR. My grandpa gave me wheels, and see there's my hammer. And my tank!! It's a remote control.

Here's my cat Sydney. She gets mad if I hold her. I do it anyways. I chase her ALL over and then, and then, I stuff her in the laundry basket!!

Here's my MySpace picture! MOM!!! How do you spell MYSPACE???

Here's my drum set and my hot wheels track and look I'm watching Spy Kids 3 AGAIN!!

Here's my friends, Fluffy and Fluffy. Mom calls them Fluffy and Max. But that's not their names. That's Fluffy there on the right, wait, which side is the right side again??

OH look what my mom was doing!! She's looking at naked men on the computer!

Here's my naked..

MOM HERE: OMG he took pictures of his member.

Delete delete delete.

Must have disccussion tomorrow on what is appropriate to take pictures of.

Here's my sister Melissa.

She's yelling at me to Stooouuuuppppiiittttttt

like usual. It's fun getting her to make that noise.

Vote for me on MyYearbook! I have like 10000 friends!!

Peace out!

Trevor.

I'm drugged!

So this explains why I get all happy when I'm sitting on my ass in the middle of a dirt pile playing in the dirt. And maybe why I've been feeling kind of lost and lonely since I haven't worked out there in two days!

No free babysitting tonight

So it's Wednesday.

The last two Wednesdays my Mom has volunteered to take my kids for the day, let them spend the night and had me pick them up Thursday around dinner time.

This week?

No mention of taking the kids. They must have worn her out the last two times I'm thinking. Although my nephew didn't come over so my brother must have taken him to her house. So she still has one.

Is anyone else amazed at how difficult it is for your parents to watch the kids?

My house: me doing whatever while the kids do whatever

Mom's house: mom sitting there jumping up everytime the kids need anything, including a drink of water and washing their hands.

She keeps telling me that things change when you get older and it's more difficult, but I'm thinking it's just a control thing.

::shrugs::

Guess I'll find out eventually.

Monkeys in Trees

Look what the monkeys learned how to do today. Tony was the first one to climb up there. I told him right off the bat that if he climbs up he has to climb down by himself too. I'm not helping him and he will just have to sleep up there. Eventually he learned how to get down.
Then he went and told Trevor. He's a little afraid to get down still too. Guess he can sleep up there. My poor geranium was looking so pretty down there but it's been tromped on a few times. I should have known something would happen to it.

How long do you think it will be before someone falls out? Maybe I should go put pillows around the base like I did when they were on the couch when they were little...

It's a good thing they didn't try this (Texas Privet) tree on the other end of the yard. It's in full bloom and it sounds like a bee hive.

It has a lot of bees on it but a lot of them are flies.

I hope it gets done soon, it kind of freaks me out when I walk by it.