Thank you Jeanie!

We got home from our trip to Boston (coming soon to a blog near you) Tuesday night. There on our kitchen island were two brand new aprons. My friend (and co-in-law) Jeanie made them for us. Aren't they beautiful?? They are just the right length, which is hard to find in an apron, great fabric, and best of all, we really use aprons. In fact both aprons have already been used several times.

Here we are modelling the model aprons. (Ray and I believe in doing an American Gothic pose every 28 years or so. The last one was done on our wedding day. Really.)

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough

So far I haven't found a David McCullough book I didn't like. In fact I really like his books a lot.

Several years ago I was on a Theodore Roosevelt kick. I read Edmund Morris' The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, and Theodore Rex. Then I read the book about TR's wife - Edith Kermit Roosevelt by Sylvia Jukes Morris. 

A couple of years ago I ran across this book, and picked it up. It kept getting shifted up and down in my pile of books to read. Finally last week I started it. I didn't realize this book was published in 1980. I can't believe I missed it before. It was terrific. To give a brief summary of the book, I'll just quote the subtitle of the book: "The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt. " It is not at all a comprehensive study of TR's life. Rather, it is a study of the family he came from, and how he became who he was. The book ends when TR is in his mid-twenties - just ready to launch his comprehensive political career. Partnered with the Morris books, you can get a great view of this great man's life.  If you like biographies, you will love these. 

The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs

Complete title:

The Know-It-All One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

I loved this book. My nephew David recommended it quite a while ago. I bought it, began reading it, and promptly loaned it to my son. I knew he would love it. He recently returned it to me, and I finished it.

This book is about Jacobs' quest to become smarter by reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. The book is comprised of various entries - spun off of actual entries in the EB. I found it witty, intelligent, and thoroughly enjoyable. It is just my cup of tea - full of completely irrelevant trivia and interesting facts. My head was already full of things that won't help me or anyone else in the world, but that I find interesting. This has compounded that problem. Jacobs also manages to weave interesting threads about his own family and life through the various entries.

I was sad to see the end of this book.

Big Boned by Meg Cabot

Cute. Light mystery. I'm now done reading her books.

Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Someone I'm friends with on Goodreads said they recommend this book to anyone they know who needs a lift. So, I thought I'd check it out.

It's a young adult book, sort of a junior Bridget Jones' Diary from what I understand (I started BJ Diary, but the language put me off, so I didn't get very far). This one doesn't have language problems. Parts of it were very funny. Parts of it were cute.  That said, I am not driven to read any more of her books.

Surprise!

I have been fighting a cold all week. Yesterday I felt remarkably better. This morning I felt lousy. Headache, coughing, it hurts to breathe. How could it happen on a BYU football (home game) day? I actually went back to bed this morning, hoping if I slept I would feel well enough to go to the game. It didn't work. I must admit I did spend some time contemplating how bad it would be to contract pneumonia - I thought it could be worth the risk and still go to the game. Who cares if it is supposed to snow? Then I remembered last year when Ray had pneumonia. I elected to stay home today. 

While I slept, Ray was busy working. I had no idea. Right before he left for the game, he said, "Your car didn't get one drop of snow on it today." I thought to myself, "What's that supposed to mean?" but what I said aloud was, "That's great!" Later I stepped into the garage to get something out of the freezer, and what did I see?

Yes, that's right! My car in the garage. That lovely man cleaned out the garage so my car can be snug all winter long, and I won't have to scrape off snow in the bitter cold. What a treat!

I'm going back to bed now. The game's about to start...

(Final score 21-3 - Go Cougs!)

The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville

I loved The Eight by Katherine Neville, and was looking forward to a great read with this one. I was caught up in the book immediately. Parts of it were very compelling, but unfortunately not all of it was. I got bogged down in some of the parts, and skimmed to get to the next good part. 

I liked it enough to try her other book - A Calculated Risk. I don't know how much I really recommend this one - the jury is still out on that.

Another quilt done!

I've got to figure out a good way to take pictures of my quilts. Not only am I scanner challenged, I am also photoshop challenged. So right now there is not much hope for "fixing" a picture I take. Hopefuly I'll improve as I go along. These were taken with my phone. It was close at hand. I think my camera takes better pictures, but right now I can't get my card reader to work and then I have to bother Ray to download the pictures...then I have to download them onto my computer, etc. etc.  For right now, these pictures will have to do. 

This quilt wins for fastest quilt start to finish for the year. I started the thought process and planning on it one week ago today. I finished it this afternoon. 

Most of the front:

A closer shot (but less focused):
The back:

Size: approx: 63 X 65 inches

Completed: October 9, 2008

Pattern: Crow's Fence from 11 Laps from Fats by Ellen Replogle

Fabrics: Thimbleberries fat quarters