Cat vs. Tree

Well, the Christmas tree is up and I think I did better than usual this year. Went with a theme of all white lights, around doors, mantle, tree etc. I tried to use only clear or pale ornaments too. This year the tree is on the carpet so I felt safer to use the glass ones than in years past. Everything had been fine till we aquired the "cats". Now Sam was older when we got him and more settled, still he climbed the first real tree we had in years. Nowadays that's all beneath him. Then Tilly came in as a kitten. I can't remember her ever climbing the tree, though she might have at night. However, Luci? Whole nother story. Every year from the box coming out to it getting put away she is after the tree. Climbs in the box as we assemble the tree, in the lights, and ornaments...

Hmmm thought I could access the old Christmas pics but I can't. Oh well, take my word for it, she's in everything decorating based. This year has been no exception. She started getting in the tree as soon as the base layer of branches was in. Green tree has white fur all over it. However, I've been doing better with it and she's been staying out more. Garland is still in the same place as I put it. Yay! This morning there were a couple ornaments down but not too bad. Wonder who will win this year, cat or tree?

 

 

 

Merry Christmas to all!

Dear friends, I stink at this! I never feel like I have anything interesting to say, and if I say anything it's on facebook. Seems like more people like FB than blogs anymore. I can't blame them. It's easier to keep up a conversation with all your friends than rattle on a blog and carry on a one way conversation. Of course if you're a journaler then this is a great format. In any case I seem to be using it to review books I've read, the latest being All Things New by Lynn Austin. It was a freebie from Bethany house publishers to review online so here goes:

This is a stand alone story (as far as I know it's going to be) about the end of the civil war and how it affected a family and their slaves in the south. The characters were very real and I appreciated that although there was a love interest, it wasn't a sappy love story. It stayed interesting till 3/4 of the way through when it became intense. Maybe it was because I had invested in the characters but it was so good I stayed up till 12:15am to finish it last night.

What I found very interesting was something I hadn't thought of. Though the slaves were set free, the weren't really free from their masters and families. Legally yes, but realistically their day to say routines were so entwined that there was no difference. The real change took years I'm sure to seperate themselves from the plantations families. I had never thought of that.

So, I gave the book a 5 star rating, another thumbs up to Lynn Austin, whom I love all her work.

Have a great week blog, till I have another book to review. :)

How long has it been?

Wow, has it really been almost 2 yrs? I like the idea of blogging and love reading them but I guess I don't feel I have much to say about my life. Even on facebook I don't post much. Who cares if I'm drinking coffe at starbucks? (I'm not by the way- don't drink coffee and wouldn't pay for that if I did).

So, now what's interesting? Well, the real reason I'm back here (and might keep it up this time) is that the lovely people at Bethany House have given me a few books to read/ review. I'm to review on Amazon but also to my blog. So, to the 2 people out there who might read this... here goes.

The first book was called Over the Edge by Mary Connelly and was book 3 in a series of westerns. Normally I don't like reading the middle of a series first but hey, it was free. I'm a stickler for reading books in order. So, I started it and it seemed a bit hokey to me, a bit too Annie Oakley but I kept at it. Somehow by chapter 4 I still wasn't feeling it and felt it deserved a better chance than me. After all I'm not a historical romance kinda gal (what was I thinking anyway) more humor and memoirs. So I passed it for review to wonderful lady in my church who is an avid reader and likes that sort of thing.

She too felt it was a bit slow in the beginning but it all made sense to her (and me) that it was book #3 so they were trying to fill in the background in case you read it as a stand alone. Once she got past the background detail she felt it was exciting and a good read. She thought she would like to read them in order and could get a better feel for it. I will try to get the others in the series and include them all in our church library.

The other book was called "Unstuck" by Arnie Cole and Michael Ross. I admit to having that one a long time before this review. It is an excellent book for those of us (including me) who had a dry time in our spirituality. After all if you're further from God, Who moved? That'd be me. It has real life stories of dry times and what people tried to get "unstuck". Gives good thoughts and tips for reviving your walk with God and even has a website connected to it which gives among other things a quiz to help you find your difficult areas. Then you can get daily emails sent to you with help in those particular areas of struggle. Also little short bible studies that you can expand on if you wish. Altogether a nice book which I will also include in our church library.

Aside from all this reading I've been doing, I've kinda given up the spinning, slowed down the knitting and the past few days focused on getting the smell of a dead mouse outta my closet wall. Happy days are here again! Hope to be back soon!