Books I want to read

Here are the latest additions to my TBR list:

Romance

from Amazon.com: "Bridgerton meets Gossip Girl with a dash of Jane Austen, in Reputation, a Regency-era historical romantic comedy with a deliciously feminist twist, from a hilarious new British voice, Lex Croucher."


Apparently the third in a series, so I will have to track down the first two before I get to this one. But, what intrigued me about this was the description from Christie Ridgway which says, "Waters' prose harkens back to foundational Regency romance author Georgette Heyer..." Having recently read all of Heyer's regency novels that I could get my hands on I am eager to read more like that.

Literary fiction

Isn't this cover pretty?


from Amazon.com: "...a novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space."

Lifestyle

The first of two points of favor for this book: a pretty cover. The second is the first name of the author. I have been loving design books since we moved since I finally have a home I can make my own.

MIniature Christmas Village

Victorian Christmas Village

These miniature buildings are collected from various places some are cherished inheritances from my grandmother who used to put them on top of her piano after Thanksgiving. I always had fun helping with that.

Some I bought new from Target's Dollar Spot, which I think is actually called Bullseye's Playground now. They are the white ceramic houses.

Some of the houses came from Goodwill, Salvation Army, and yardsales. There is a little yarn tree that I made from an online tutorial for bottle brush trees.

And the Eiffel Tower is all the way from Paris, France.

Christmas gift ideas 2018

Here are some of the things my family and I are wishing for this year! LEGO Dimensions starter pack and figures.




This is perfect because my older kids love LEGO and video games.
Some of the figures they (and other kids might) want are Sonic the Hedgehog or this fun set pictured below


There are some less expensive figures available as well such as this set of Powerpuff Girls or Homer Simpson or Unikitty. Speaking of Unikitty these make AWESOME stocking stuffers. That's a blind bag which are the biggest thing for my 5 and 7 year old. There are tricks to making sure you don't get doubles, you can find those tips my searching on youtube.

If you happen to be shopping for younger children you might like to check our Fat Brain toys. I love this one.


Doesn't that look like fun? I can see my older boys teaching our toddler how to do it and having a blast too.
Remember fidget spinners that were huge for a few months?

This is another type of fidget toy that looks like fun and safe for children one year and older.
This set looks fun for older toddlers and younger big kids.

I hope these  ideas help you get a start on your holiday shopping! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

homemade purple paper

I've been trying to make a lot of paper this summer. This latest batch of many shades of violet started out like this.

It's a mixture of red, white, blue and magenta tissue paper and white copy paper. 

Here's what it looks like mashed up in my mom's old blender. 

This is a sheet laid out to dry. This batch has more of the red and violet colored paper in it. 

The batch this sheet came from was made the next day when I added used white copy paper to the leftover violet water, so it's got the barest tint of color to it. 

blue paper

homemade green paper

Old Mill in Sciota, PA

June 9 was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue with beautiful white clouds. So we went on a family picnic for lunch.  It was our first time to pack a lunch and take a blanket and sit out in nature to eat a meal.

The location I chose was Old Mill in Sciota, PA in Hamilton Township. We had the place to ourselves which was nice because the grassy field wasn't very big. After reading the description on this site I wish we had tried to go in the building, but we didn't.

I also wish I had taken a picture of the bridge we crossed.

photo theme of the day: kids running away from the camera

Here is a map of the location where we were. I highly recommend it as a picnic spot because it was so cute and peaceful.