weekend update

this was a slow and easy kind of weekend. i love it when it turns out that way. my time was spent playing and recharging, visiting and laughing, cooking and a little cleaning. pjs were the uniform of choice. hot cocoa was our breakfast. spending time with my most favorite peeps fed my soul. i loved hearing about what happened in biology class or who was at the party and how it was soo fun afterwards. little eyes dancing with delight while the chipmunks squeaked and sharing fries with my best bud. this is what matters......this is the life.

::date night with the Fosters complete with a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings and then some bowling
::hand holding and talking about just anything with my beau
::a trip to see Chipmunks the Squeakquel
::yummy vegetable soup @ the inlaws
::lots of reading under covers
::fun surprises of a new cell phone to one super guy
::my car finally got fixed!!
::book shelf cleaned out
::much conversing with my peeps

hope your weekend was as fab as the bonins!

narrow it down to 15?

on facebook (which i am on a little too much), a friend sent along a request of the 15 books that have stayed with you. silly minor game for most people, but for me it was hard. books are personal. the stories, the characters become woven into the tapestries that are our lives. the townspeople of Mitford are friends of mine. i wept with March family when sweet angelic Beth died. i learned magic at Hogwarts. will never forget the lessons i learned from The Good Earth.
so how do i narrow it down to only 15? it wasn't just me. apparently there are many other book nerds out there in facebook land as well. those lists of our favorite 15 were the buzz all day. how wonderful to find out that you are not alone in craze!

15 books that have stayed with me

1.The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
2.Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
3.The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4.My Life in France by Julia Child
5.The Color of Water by James McBride
6.An Hour Before Daylight by Jimmy Carter
7.Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
8.To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
9.Robert Frost Poetry
10.Good Families Don't Just Happen by Catherine Musco Garcia-Prats, Joseph A., M.D. Garcia-Prats
11.Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
12.Camilla: A Biography of Camilla Eyring Kimball by Caroline Eyring
13.The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
14.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
15.Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman and Nancy Freedman

**Bonus**
The Yearling by Margorie Rawlings
Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
These is my Words by Nancy Turner

what books would find their way on your list?

10 right now

::spending the morning running errands with a sweet obedient 16 year old and the conversations that are included

::chocolate dipped strawberries....dipped by a 5 year old chef i know

::crisp, cool (frigid actually) mornings with my girls....feeding & watering and the eggs they give me in return

::reading under one of the blankets that Nadine Fortenberry, my great grandmother, made by her own hands

::date nights with the Fosters

::french rolling pins

::vintage canning jars

::putting in to practice the commandment "to love one another"

::beautiful book plates

::writing in my journal

cloudy with a chance

who knew? probably everyone on the planet but the bonins...Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs comes out on dvd tomorrow. the fine folks @BlueYonderRanch.com are giving a copy away. just run over and enter to win. i know i did!

ringing it in

the last hours of 2009 could not have gone out more perfectly. 3 out of 4 of my most favorite boys in this world were home with me, enjoying each other, eating burgers & fries, discussing what we have read, play WII, and watching

a true new year's eve movie

i cannot recall a more special end of the year. everything so slow, so comfortable, so very peaceful. jimmy stewart gave us our excitement! "mom, i can't watch! my stomach hurts" says sawyer through opened fingers wrapped around his sweet little blue eyes. he thoroughly enjoyed it. and i him.

the eve of this new decade is a perfect example of how i intend on living this next one. simple, slow,comfortable, surrounded by the ones i hold dear to me. it occurred to me that i do not need to go looking for happiness and a good time anywhere but here. do other's know this secret? countless people last night may have just been looking for that. do they see through their bloodshot eyes this morning that they could have had a different experience? my prayer is that the lonely and lost find just that.....peace and comfort. and for those that have those eyes and have that peace. may you continue to feel its warmth.

may comfort, peace, health&happiness be yours in 2010!

how did you end 2009 and what are your plans for this new decade?

****having technical difficulties with blogger......the movie was Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly

fresh

a love a fresh start. a clean sheet of note paper for a list....my favorite thing. starting a brand spanking new year with that blank page waiting to be filled with resolutions, goals, books to read, compassionate service to carry out. what will 2010 hold for me...for you?

for starters:

*a daily dose of prayer and meditation before anything else
*a more healthful lifestyle
*organize
*appreciate nature and spending more time in it
*talk less and listen more
*feed my brain and my soul with good books, music, conversation
*be a more patient mother, wife and friend
*find ways to use & develop my personal talents
*show compassion and do service for my fellow man
*learn a foreign language
*master pasta making by hand
*build my self esteem
*increase my value with classsearch.com...be an asset
*go on dates with my boys individually...let them know they are important to me
*keep my journal religiously
*smile and make friends
*increase our organic garden and preserve as much as possible from it
*increase our poultry by adding ducks and more layers
*be a saver and not a spender
*teach my children to Love Another.....leading by example

book lust
:: The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
:: Atlas Shrugged
:: Truman
:: The Wednesday Sisters
:: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
:: The Last of the Mohicans
:: Water for Elephants
:: East to the Dawn
:: Mornings on Horseback
::Jesus the Christ
:: 100 Years of Solitude
:: Einstein: His Life and Universe

i have great hope for this coming year.
what are you hopes, resolutions, reading list..............

10 right now

::christmas music....especially sung by a sweet 5 year old.

::UT games....Hook Em

::catching up with friends

::lighted christmas parade with family and friends

::anticipating a date for my anniversary.....17 years can you believe it??

::quiet moments with a wonderful book

::snow in southeast texas and the excitement on the faces of my boys