Reflections on Books I've Read...

For more than 13 years I have been recording all of the books I have read in a journal. One of the reasons I started writing them down was because sometimes I couldn't remember if I had already read a particular book. (That problem hasn't improved in recent years!) Looking back through my book journal is a lot like listening to old music or reading a diary kept years before. My book journal reflects time periods in my life, my interests, and my method of escape through reading. Sometimes I would read 2 dozen books in a single month, and at other times not pick up a book for 3 or 4 months. Sometimes I would record favorite quotes in the journal, but most of the time I just listed the date, title and author. This year I have read almost 30 books --I am still working on the last three. No single book stands out for me, but I have a few favorites among those I read this year.

As 2009 comes to a close, I have been contemplating the concept of consumption over the past few weeks; what I buy, eat, listen to, watch, and read --how I spend my time. I just finished reading Give it Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less by Mary Carlomagno. (Thanks Emily!) While not everyone will relate to the author, I found that I could relate to her desire to understand her own buying or consuming habits. Each month for one year, she chose one of her favorite things to give up, cold turkey, for one month. She gave up alcohol, shopping, cell phones, newspapers, elevators, dining out, taxis, television, coffee, cursing, chocolate and multitasking; and gained some interesting insights in the process which changed her life.

When I think about giving things up, I begin to feel deprived. So the idea of giving something up for 30 days in order to better understand what motivates me seems much more manageable. Some of the things I will consider giving up include multitasking, dining out, and using credit cards. Instead of coming up with a list of 12 to start, I will see where this project leads me...

My 2009 Book List (**Favorites)

Blood Orange by Druisilla Campbell
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nifenegger **
When Madeline was Young by Jane Hamilton
Slam by Nick Hornby
Divining Women by Kaye Gibbons
The Elephant in the Playroom by Denise Brody **
Bringing Elizabeth Home by Ed & Lois Smart
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan **
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie **
Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl by Kate McCafferty
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows **
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine (this one didn't rub off on me as I had hoped it would!)
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini **
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin **
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini **
Cross by James Patterson
Double Cross by James Patterson
Cross Country by James Patterson
Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts (Audio Book)
Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls **
Shopaholic & Baby by Sophia Kinsella (Audio Book)
Give it Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less by Mary Carlomagno**
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Kindle)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (and family)
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon **

Christmas in Redding

Hmmm... it seems that I'm always behind the camera. Out of 150 photos, there is only one of Mom and she is sleeping, and none of me. Someone else may need to take over the photography!

The Dress

In anticipation of Carly's 8th Birthday and Baptism on December 27th, Amanda asked me in June or July if I would make the dress for the baptism. She picked out a Girl's Regency Dress Pattern from Sense and Sensibility Patterns.


I decided it would be a good idea to make a practice dress to check the fit before I made the baptism dress in the dupioni silk Amanda picked out. Even though I had the fabric and pattern months before the baptism, I procrastinated until the last minute! The practice dress was fairly easy and I managed to get it to Amanda for a fitting about a week before Christmas. We only needed to increase the length and make the cuffs on the sleeves a little bigger.

The white is the silk and the green print is the practice dress.


I learned that Santa was bringing Carly an American Girl doll for Christmas. So of course the doll needed a matching dress. Since the silk frayed so easily, I opted for the green fabric for the doll dress.


The dress was finished in time for the baptism and "Sweet Caroline" wore both dresses to have her Birthday portraits taken today.

Amy Butler Functional Art

Emily loves Amy Butler fabrics! So I decided to make her some decoupage plates and matching napkins with some Amy Butler coordinating prints. After searching the net for "how to" make the plates, I found a description on Kaboose.com. The instructions had a difficulty rating of "Very Easy". Let's hope so! I learned quickly that our local fabric shops don't carry her designs. After trekking all the way to Ashland, I could only find one print. So I tried the internet again and found quite a few options on the Hancocks of Paducah website. Here are the prints I selected:



The first coat of glue is drying... that modge podge is smelly stuff!



After several coats of glue, I trimmed and sanded around the edges of each plate. The fabric really didn't want to stick so I added even more glue just under the edge with a Qtip. Then followed up with three coats of spray acrylic sealer (also very stinky stuff).



Here's the finished product with matching napkins! The plates are not water proof, but could be used for sandwiches or snacks. I bought some plate hangers so she could display the plates as kitchen art when she isn't using them.



A few lessons learned from this project:

Use lightweight and tighter woven fabrics, they tend to stick better to the plate.
You might want to tackle this project in warmer weather. Gluing and spraying outdoors to avoid getting a headache from the smelly fumes!
Waiting until the last minute to start creates stess!

Carol of the Bells

For the past three years in December, I have been going to visit this house on Marion Lane in Grants Pass. The lights are synched to music which you can hear on your FM radio when you are within a couple of blocks of the house. Two of my favorite songs have been by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra . Christmas Cannon and this one called Christmas/Sarajevo 12/24, which is their version of Carol of the Bells. If you will be in Grants Pass between now and New Years Day, I recommend you go check it out in person. Enjoy!

Whooooosh!

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Christmas is almost here. Only two more work days before my two week Winter Break. The living room and dining room are piled with presents, projects, and shipping boxes from my on-line shopping spree. I think I need a little help from Santa's elves to get it all together in time. Still to go: one baptism dress, two photo projects, and some decoupaged functional art. I have a busy week ahead!

I did manage to set up my mini Christmas tree this year. :-)