Merry Merry

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A Week of Book Club - We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby

"...but there I was, trying to fit the ocean into a plastic cup as it tossed and turned me in its waves."

"The doughnuts tormented me, nestled so sweetly in their box, but, bitch, I just had a chair collapse underneath me so please pass the fucking watermelon balls."

"I guess what I'm saying is that maybe we could all just mind our own fucking business for once, and that when you can actually see a person's scars, maybe be a pal and don't pick at them."

A Week of Book Club - Kids Book Club - The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

Why we chose it - part of  a classics set from Scholastic.

The Boy's favorite part - The Dancing Bear.

A Week of Book Club - My Life In France by Julia Child

"Our first lunch together in France had been absolute perfection.  It was the most exciting meal of my life."

"Instead I had married Paul Child, a painter, photographer, poet, and mid-level diplomat who had taken me to live in dirty, dreaded France. I couldn't have been happier!"

"I was thirty seven years old and still  discovering who I was."

"I lit a match and turned on the four burner cuisiniere; the stove made a dramatic pouf! noise when the gas lit, which scared everyone but made me smile."

A Week of Book Club - The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer

"That darkness would not surface easily.  He would compartmentalize it, keep it away from this gentle life, pack it into the dark spaces where it fit."

A Week of Book Club - Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson

"The moon seemed to be laughing at him."

A Week of Book Club - Kids Book Club - Swiss Family Robsinson by Johann Wyss

Why we  chose it -  my pick off the bookshelf as I'd never read it before.  Picked up secondhand a few years ago.

The Boy's favorite part - "When they built the house out of the cave."

A Week of Book Club - The Art Of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein

"My soul has learned what it came to learn, and all other things are just things.  We can't have everything we want.  Sometimes we simply have to believe."

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I'm cleaning house and trying to get my draft folder a bit emptied before the New Year.
Here's 7 days of books - my 5 most recent reads and 2 of The Boy's.

Potlucking - Punch and Meatballs

We went to a potluck a couple of weeks ago - lots of fun and enough food for half a neighborhood.  There was spinach dip and chips and dip, dry ribs, wings, salads, meat and cheese, veggies, breads, desserts, cookies.....you name it.  I ate too  much and it was glorious.

We took some raw veggies because our kids are pretty picky eaters but they will always eat some raw vegetables; and they did, but they ate nearly everything else as well.  I was surprised and impressed. 

I made some grape jelly meatballs - The Mister had these at a party years and years ago (we still lived in Calgary!) and we keep meaning to make them, and finally their time arrived.

I used this recipe and they were perfect.

We also made a punch called Lifesaver Punch from Best of Bridge.  

It is a thawed can of Strawberry Daiquiri mix and a thawed can of Pink Lemonade mix and 4 cups of Ginger Ale.  I found it too sweet so I added the other half of the 2 liter bottle  of Ginger Ale and still thought it was too sweet, but it was all drankened (huh?) up, and the boys have requested I make it at home this holiday season.  

The other potluck we were to go to we have bowed out of; so thankfully I am done with that for the year.  I am focusing on getting to the end of 2017 in one piece and wishing for a joyful new year.

Something I Love and Cried 5 Times While Watching

Western Canada Theater Company has been on a roll the past few years - we've seen some really excellent shows, and yesterday The Boy and I saw one of the best - A Christmas Carol.

They are doing an amazing job and I really did cry a lot, as did the lady next to me (not as much as me though!)

I'm not giving you much time but if you are in Kamloops, you have only a couple of days left to go see it - and if you can, you really should! 

Snapshot - Saturday afternoon reading

A couple of Saturdays ago the boys were out at a birthday party and The Girl was napping, and I should have been cleaning something, or laundry, or sorting, or a million other chores that always seem to be waiting for me, but I couldn't find the energy to do anything but crawl under a blanket and read a bit of "My Life In France" by Julia Child.

When I read As Always, Julia in the Spring, it fatigued me a bit for this one- I didn't enjoy AAJ as much as I'd expected to, and wasn't looking forward to Life in France. But this one is more my style, and a real treat.  

Stress and my schedule have finally caught up with me, and I was down for the count for 2 days which has put me behind at work and at home which, guess what?  adds more stress.  Ugh.

I am trying to be chill about it and not over do it on the first day that I feel somewhat  normal.

This Christmas (this December; this YEAR) looks nothing like I expected or wanted it to, but I cannot control it, so instead I will roll with it.

Happy Saturday.  Deep breaths.

6 of my favorite books

My Book Club posts focus on books I haven't read before; so here I thought I would share with you 6 of my faves from my book shelf. 

I laid them out on the cleanest spot on the carpet that I could find for a fancy photo.

Let's start with the one I think I've owned the longest- The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.  

I really wanted to take a photo of the first book in the series - The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 - but it escapes me at 5:30am, so here is book 2 in the set.  My parents bought me the first two I believe, at a book store in Vancouver in the 80's.  My dad (The Grandfather)  was and is a big reader, but didn't approve of most teen and juvenile fiction.  These got his approval probably because they were English, but I'm not sure they would have been ok with me reading them if they'd known the content. The books, especially the first ones in his younger years, are hilarious, and angsty and wonderful. The Queen and I is also a very good book by Sue Townsend, as is The True Confessions of Margaret Hilda Roberts.

Beside that is Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.  My grandmother bought me a couple of her books as a birthday gift one year; this one and The Handmaids Tale,  and one other I can't think of anymore.  This was my favorite, because I felt like it was written for me. This isn't the original copy from her, I lost that in a move, not that that matters to anyone but me.   I think this is one of MA's greatest books.

Up next is She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb.  I don't know why or where I bought this one, but this is one of those books that punches you in the gut and you are rooting for the main character and you don't ever want the story to end. Another great one by WL is I Know This Much Is True.

Top row- Where The Red Fern Grows - oh man. This is one of those books for me where you feel like you are in the story.  Get a box of tissues ready.  So good.  No idea how I came across this one but I can't wait to read it with The Boy.  He's probably old enough now, come to think of it.....

I have a pretty big soft spot for the movie Friend Green Tomatos (Jessica Tandy!), but the book, which I ordered from the book counter at the grocery store (early 90's ahem), is SO MUCH BETTER.  I have read this book so many times that it's falling apart.  

The most recent book is Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. by Rob Delaney.  I  discovered him when I still used twitter for more than checking the weather, the traffic,and following Chrissy Teigan, and although he is often crass, he is funny and brilliant.  His book is both hilarious and sad, and reading about his struggles with alcohol and depression were eye opening for me.  

I have more that I love and plan on keeping for a while; but recently a friend told me that she almost never re-reads books and gets rid of them as soon as she is done.  
Are you a saver or a recycler?
What are some of your favorite books of all time?

Something I Like - The Big Sick

It was worth it to stay up late (for me) and watch this excellent movie.  Funny, sad, beautiful.

Cajun Linguine

We've got some heavy stuff happening in our family right now and things are not smooth sailing. The days are long and busy and most nights it is late when I get home and everyone is waiting for me and dinner still has to be made before we can talk and catch up, and before you know it, it's time for bed and no one wants to go but me, because I am so damn tired all the time.....and it feels like I've only been home for 10 minutes and the day is over. 

 It's tough. It's draining. It fills me with mom-guilt.

 I continually struggle to find fast meals that everyone will eat - which is 

a nearly impossible challenge! 

We don't have a lot of fridge space, so I can't make much in advance. 

My preferred solution would be to order in each night, but my teeny 

bank account won't let that happen. 

I try to spend some time online on the weekend mornings looking for easy fast meals - and here is  the most delicious pasta I found on Pinterest - Cajun Linguine!

I went a little off recipe - used fresh garlic, chicken broth instead of wine,  subbed all half and half for the heavy cream/light cream combo, and eased up on the cajun spice for my weenie kids.

It was delicious and fast and comforting.  Exactly what I needed.