Books and treasures in the mail.........

I finished the last of the Janette Oke Canadian West series and loved each and every book.  Such soothing and pleasant reading to be the last thoughts of the day before I go to sleep.  But wait....that's not all!  I've been watching the series on Saturday nights on the Hallmark channel and she visited the set and told Hallmark she's writing another book for the series!  I'm so excited! (This entire series was gotten at my local library).

I finally finished reading this book which took me awhile.  It was not a page turner but one of those books that you become comfortable with but still very interesting. It is about 2 twins who are separated when very young when their parents die.  One goes to live with German relatives and the other stays in the Netherlands and is raised there.  They meet when they are old and recount their different experiences of WWII being on different sides.  This was a very enlightening book and well researched and so glad I didn't "quit it" because at the end it turned out to be a very worthwhile read.  (I got this book at a garage sale from a friend that bought it overseas in Ireland when she traveled over there.)
I started reading The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.  I've loved all her other books so I'm sure I'll enjoy this one.  She is a great storyteller.  This book takes place during the slave days in Charleston, South Carolina about 2 little girls; one white and one black.  The white girl "owns" the black girl as her hand maid and is given her as a gift on her 11th birthday.  The story of Handful, the slave girl, is partly taken from journals and information about a real person.  Although it is not a true story, it certainly could be with the accuracy that Ms. Kidd utilizes in her books.

Well, it's been over a week that I've had this book and I haven't learned Yoga yet but I am reading the book and I'm on the  "breathing" chapter and I think I've got that down pat! LOL!  I've wanted to learn yoga for a while now as I want to remain flexible in my elder years.

I have never read Jane Austen before....any of her books.  Yet so many are in adoration of her writings.  I decided I needed to see what all the fuss was about so I picked up the only book they had available at the time in the library.  I've just started reading it and I think I might have watched it on PBS before, or at least parts of it.  Time will tell.  I'm not much into "romances" or "childish women" so we'll see.  Right now it seems like one sister is very "emotional" while the other is "sensible" thereby the title evidently.   I'm banking on the sensible one but then that's just me. LOL!

I got a lovely "surprise" in the mail the other day from my daughter.  We like so many of the same things and I always love anything and everything I get from her.     

I got cherry duct tape, Lipsyl lip balm which she swears by and it has a little bee on the side that you push to get more balm....too cute!  There were 2 Yankee votive candles, Valentine cards from her 2 little sweeties; Sam and Grayson, a lovely card and note from my daughter, a cute bracelet, a set of colored sharpies and Orange Blossom Hand lotion from The Naked Bee and did I forget anything?
It was such a treat to get something in the mail for no reason or season!

 My daughter is an elementary art teacher and the outside of her cards are prettier than the cards........(I think so anyway but I might be prejudiced a bit)

I'd like to enlarge what she calls her "doodles" and make them into appliqued wool pieces. 
Any who........that's all the news that's fit to print from here.  I hope you are all ready to enjoy your weekend!  Happy Trails!

Spring cleaning.....I think..........

I have really been busy around here.  I am deep into clearing and cleaning but of course I run out of steam before I get everything I want done.  It was foggy the other day and so pretty.  I love fog as long as I'm home and not out trying to drive in it.

Whenever I change the sheets on my bed, Grace loves to hop up there on the newly "fluffed" feather topper I have.

 I took a "selfie", in case you're curious what I look like. LOL!  My hair is gray now, my blonde days are over with, I'm lots heavier but I notice it stretches your skin so you don't have as many wrinkles so maybe that's good thing? Ha! Ha!  I'm healthy and happy and that's all that matters to me.

 My pattern notebooks were getting so full that I needed another one and I found an old notebook from one of my technical conferences I used to attend at IBM.  They're huge and sturdy so I "repurposed" it.

 See how much bigger it is than a normal notebook?

 I pulled the labels out of the plastic sleeves and replaced it with some prettier scrapbook paper.  Lots of room for patterns now!

 We had a few nice days of 70's so I got outside and washed the screens for the windows which I usually do in the Fall but it got cold so fast I missed my "window of opportunity".  I take my screens off in the Winter as I can see out the windows better and I wash the windows in the Fall.  My Dad always used Pella crank out windows in every house he built and although I like the regular sash windows I must admit these are easy to clean!  I can clean both sides from inside the house and also the screens come off and on from inside.  I didn't take a picture of the clean screens as I figured it wasn't really that interesting.    
I was planning on washing the ceiling in the bathroom....my starting point for Spring cleaning and I mixed up some TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) which I have used for years for cleaning walls and ceilings.  Unfortunately, the people they hired to paint and wallpaper cut corners and didn't seal the ceilings or the walls that they wallpapered so when I went to wash the ceiling this is what I got.  Pretty awful...now I have to paint it.  The wallpaper is coming loose in a few places and I really don't want to paint over it at this time so I washed it good and I have tubes of ready to use wallpaper paste for repairing it.

 The TSP did a nice job on the cleaning the wallpaper though.

 So, I am off to repair and paint!  Oh, there's all kinds of useful information and tips on Pinterest for Spring Cleaning.  As you can see, I need all the help I can get!  Happy Trails!