Life | Book Chatter

E2 One Year Old — The Girl at her 1-year Bday Party

In one sense the time has flown by, but in another… I can still remember the sleepless nights, the feedings that took place every 30 min (seriously), and the countless fevers and injuries. The Boy was a breeze but The Girl was quite different right from the start. She demanded my attention and I gave it to her with all my heart. It was a rough few years but she knew from day one that she had me wrapped around her little finger.

As you can see, she hasn’t lost her sweet tooth but she’s managed to lose every other tooth. She is missing 4 in this photo alone. I’m not sure where that shadow came from. There was no shadow when I took the pic and even the flash would not have caused it since there was nothing obstructing its range. I like to think her great grandparents were there too. Here, we were enjoying dinner at The Outback in Palm Desert, which is where she gets her juicy, juicy steak. She loves a juicy steak.

Today, since I am still off from work, we are going to bake cupcakes and cook her favorite dinner, homemade chicken soup. Later we are getting mani-peds and seeing a movie. The Boy is in school this week so it’s girl time all the way. After dinner, we plan to cram into her window seat to catch-up on our reading. Her window seat is perfect for her little girl behind but it’s take a bit of work for both of us to get in there. It will be cozy for sure.

Hope you all have a great day!

Palm Desert Sunny — Palm Desert when it's sunny!

Out by me, the kids have what is called “fall break” but this year, The Boy’s break was only two days long so we headed to Palm Desert for a weekend getaway. We also went to celebrate The Girl’s 7th birthday which is later this week. Usually this is the perfect time of year to visit. The temps are usually cooler but the skies are still blue and the sunsets are brilliant.

Well…not this time. It started with a flash flood on the way there (no pics of it) and then there was a lot of lightning which made swimming difficult even though it was a warm 95 degrees. We spent a lot of time shopping and eating, which may sound wonderful but it wasn’t the plan. Even with the rain I didn’t really get to spend much time reading. My tote bag was full of books as was my Kindle, but there were only two books that I read from and that was only once the kids crashed. I didn’t make much progress in either one of them.

Oh, and did I mention that there was no Wi-Fi? To be honest, it was nice to take a break from all of the devices that keep me connected during a normal week but I missed you all. I worried about your out-of-state moves, your four-legged friends, your kids, their kids, your health issues, etc. I’m glad to be back so I can re-connect with all of you.

On a reading note, here is what I must read within the next few weeks, and if I left one or two out it’s not surprising as I am going from memory (which is not always good).

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver ( loving it)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (so, so hard to get through)

Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch (loved his first book, Finn so I am looking forward to this one)

Everything is Going to Be Great by Rachel Shukert (a memoir of Shukert’s grand tour of Europe)

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell (Zombies!! Lots of zombies!)

Sunset Park by Paul Auster (loved Invisible, this one comes out 11/9/10)

The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy (a delicious collection of short stories)

Black Hills by Dan Simmons (love Simmons but having a hard time getting into this one)

In addition to all of this reading, I have to write a paper on the poems from lit class. Yep, the lit class that I missed this week because of my weekend getaway. Don’t you worry. I’ll get it all done. I always do.

Hope your week is going well so far.

Chatting with friends about books and life…