What I'm reading ...

I love to read. My sweet husband and I are both big readers, with shelves and shelves of books in our house. There is a series of books that I’ve enjoyed through the years – the “Miss Julia” books by Ann B. Ross. The latest, which I just finished (and thoroughly enjoyed), is called Miss Julia Delivers the Goods. They’re all about a peppery little widow woman – a fine, upstanding, cultured, church-going, southern woman – “Miss Julia” – who recently lost her husband of many years, Wesley Lloyd.

To Miss Julia’s surprise and extreme dismay, a child appears on her porch one day, and it turns out that he is the illegitimate son of Wesley Lloyd. Miss Julia finds herself taking in the boy, “Little Lloyd,” along with his mother (and Wesley Lloyd’s former paramour), Hazel Marie, despite what her gossiping church peers and everyone else might be thinking.

This is the tenth book in the series, and I’ve enjoyed reading them all. They’re entertaining, light reading with a southern voice. Miss Julia reminds me a little of Miss Daisy in the Driving Miss Daisy movie.

I’m not sure what’s next on my list. I’ve got another latest in a “culinary mystery” series that I think I’ll take on next. I’ll let you know, though!

More later --

My first official post on a new blog

So I wanted to start a blog about the minutiae that make up my life … everyone’s life, really. As my banner says, there’s a saying about not “sweating the small stuff.” Well, my humble opinion is that pretty much everything in life is small stuff. Granted, every now and then something big happens, but most of life is taken up with the day-to-day, ordinary things that make up the framework of life – the small stuff. So this blog is dedicated to that end. Nothing too earth-shattering, no heavy reading involved … I’ll talk about the books I’m reading, my fur babies, work, home, friends, family … just life.

Today was a good day. A holiday for my sweet husband and me. We recently moved into a new house (well, new to us, anyway) and we are still getting settled. So we had breakfast out at Panera Bread Company. Never had eaten there before, but there’s one close to the house, so we tried it. Pretty tasty. Then it was off to Bed Bath & Beyond for some house stuff (we had a gift card and three 20% off coupons burning holes in our pockets). Next stop was Pier One, then finally Home Depot.

We’ve been pretty much working non-stop on the house and yard since we moved in, and at last, we’re seeing some real progress. You know how, when there’s million things to be done, you can work all day and not even be able to tell much difference? That’s how it was for a couple of weeks. But now, it’s all coming together, and we will be so glad when it’s finished. Or, as finished as a house ever gets….

I had planned to cook out, today being Memorial Day and all, but when we started to fire up the grill (first time; it’s a new grill), the gas cylinder made a funny hissing sound and emitted a strong smell of gasoline. It scared me, so I decided to cook inside. Actually, the gas container is old, having remained after our last grill bit the dust. So, we decided it would be good to trade it in for a new cylinder, as we’re not entirely sure it’s safe.

So, instead of chicken on the barbie, we had it roasted in the oven. I marinated boneless skinless chicken breasts in Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing overnight. They were really moist and flavorful, so that’s an easy marinade that I’ll use again. Corn on the cob, baked beans, sliced tomatoes, and fresh cantaloupe rounded it out.

Here's a picture I just took of my dog, Chance. He has two speeds: "full-speed-ahead" and "stopped." He's all tuckered out from running to and fro all day, so he crashed on his doggie bed in front of the fireplace.



More later --

Memorial Day 2009