I don't mind taking the credit for the pretzel 'logs'
the idea of making a tastebook
Check out this post from 101 cookbooks. You can create your very own beautiful cookbook from your own recipes. The only problem as I see it, is, that most of my recipes would be difficult to write down since I am fond the the 'eyeball it' and then taste method.
the original A Room With a View film
I have been rewatching it and confirm that it is perfect and marvelous in every possible way. Every character is perfectly casted, most of all the young and innocent Helena Bonham Carter. The music brings me joy and touches my soul every time I hear it. The new version doesn't hold a candle.
a nice juicy read
I recently enjoyed Linda Holeman's (author of The Linnet Bird) The Moonlit Cage. This is the story of a young woman growing up in a village in Afghanistan during Victorian times. She is the sort of girl that never quite feels as though she belongs, that she wants more than seems to be available to her. A series of events in which this young woman seeks to change her fate brings her to Victorian London. A few of the characters from The Linnet Bird appear in this book. This book had adventure, history, a foreign land and its culture, romance and a villain. What more could I want? This book may still be available from bookcloseouts. I am currently reading Maisie Dobbs and enjoying it immensely. I will certainly be reading more of this series.
a year with frog and toad
We saw this last night and it was really wonderful, certainly the best show I've seen yet at the Children's Theater (and I've liked them all). The music was so good, sort of a 30's big band sound.
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I have entered the 'too much to do and not enough time to do it in' phase of December and find myself looking forward to the new year. (Be forewarned, a whine is coming.) Due to a variety of reasons, it is not practical to spend Christmas with my family and I will again be traveling to my in-laws to spend Christmas. Naturally, as the wife, I am responsible for all the holiday preparations and then do not even get to stay in my own home. I wish that we could start to have our own traditions and wonder if this will ever come. Thank you. I needed to get that off my chest. Blogging will be light in the coming weeks, though I am looking forward to a few end of the year wrap-up sort of posts. Take care!
16 comments:
I do feel for you regarding the Christmas with the in-laws. We do it every second year, and I MUCH prefer staying in Melbourne and celebrating with my family. This year we're having Christmas at MY house for the first time, as my mum is no longer able to cope with all the preparations at her place. Sad, but at least she'll be able to enjoy being with the family and not having to do anything!
Pretzel logs! Great idea. I've made the gingerbread for the houses but haven't had time to put them together.
Looking forward to some peace and quiet in the new year too. Must dig out ARWAV, love that film.
And that's why Christmas celebrations should cease. It's impossible logistically. Everyone should get to stay at their own home - but then, families tend to live everywhere. Gah.
That gingerbread house is so cute!
You're entitled to a little Christmas whine! I feel there is masses to do here, almost nothing done yet, and the more I think that the more I want to do 'other things'and not get on with what I should be doing. Procrastinating? Yes, definitely!
Lazy cow, it's been every year (except when my daughter was a baby) at the in-laws for years. I would love to host but since my sister-in-law is remarried and there are a bunch of step-relationships, I know they'd never leave town. How lucky that you have a chance to host this year, and I hope your mum enjoys herself.
Carrie, you made me laugh - thanks!
Karen, thank you, and yes - procrastinating is exactly what I've been doing all month!
Love the gingerbread house!
And, yay you are getting to read Maisie Dobbs. I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the next book in the series.
The gingerbread house brings back memories. I'll start that up again when we have grandbabies. Hopefully, that won't be for a bit.
Yes, I understand the whine. Time will pass though and before you know it you will be having it at your house with your grown-up daughter. That's when it kind of shifts I think. We are on the cusp of that shift, sometimes at our house, sometimes still at my mother-in-law's. My parents are in assisted living for the first year and that is a transition as well. Just remember to take a few deep breaths and enjoy the season.
Hey, Tara, why not come to my house?! That would shake them all up wouldn't it? :<) With my parents dead, and being an only child, it was Tom's family we got together with when the kids were little. We would switch off years between our house and Tom's two sisters (a couple hours away) for a family Christmas, but never on The day; either the week before or Christmas week itself. We haven't done it for a long time since the kids got older. I vow to not make my kids feel badly when they have their own families about "having" to come here. I think Christmas should be full of joy and cheer not stress and hassle.
Iliana, I loved Maisie Dobbs and feel a binge coming on....I picked up the 2nd book at HPB today!
Kay, thank you for your understanding words and thoughts. As you've pointed out, there's just a natural progression of things and I will just appreciate where I am now.
Nan, I'd love to come! I don't think it's so much that we're pressured to go.....my husband and daughter want to go.......I guess I just always feel like it's not *my family* and it's just not as relaxing as my own home. Also, I don't have much say about the food which bothers me.
Tara, I do sympathise - we used to go to my in-laws and I didn't even get on with them very well. It was wretched, and I was so glad the first year I said we would stay at home. Eventually they started coming to us for Christmas, but now we are on our own again. And now I'm lucky because both grown-up sons spend the holiday with us and I love having them both here.
Bought Room with a View for my husband for Christmas - we both love it but haven't seen it for some time.
My sister has that problem, feeling obligated to go to her inlaws' houses (my BIL's parents have married and remarried and remarried, so they go to two or three different places), every year. We put the proverbial feet down the year we married and told everyone we were going to spend our first Christmas alone together. It was a good idea; we've alternated between his family and mine and sometimes stayed home, but setting the tone early (letting people know we were obligated to each other first) really worked well. Sometimes you just have to say, "This is what we are going to do," and go for it.
Love the gingerbread house! That's usually a tradition with us, but we're skipping most everything this year, out of necessity. It kinda sucks. But, some years are like that. :)
Awww-what a cute post! I saw your earlier post about treating your bookshelves as a bookstore, and I totally identified. Since I promised not to buy any new books, I've been redicovering books on my shelves. Yay!
Sorry about your Christmas troubles. :( Hope that they get sorted out eventually!
Geranium Cat, Good for you, standing up and making the decision to do what you want for Christmas! I suspect as everyone ages things will change for us as well. Enjoy RWAV! I hadn't watched it myself in years and it was such a treat.
Bookfool, my SIL is remarried and they have so many events to attend that we drive all the way to Iowa and get a few hour block of time with them at that's it. The rest of the time it's just the 3 of us and my in-laws. The hard part is my daughter wants to be with her cousins, that is of course the fun part and takes some of the burden off me in regards to entertaining her but they don't have much time to spend.
Eva, thank you, that's sweet to say. Isn't it fun to shop through your own books - each one picked especially for you!?
tara,
in about a week i'll be purging my books and plan to giveaway mdobbs #3. i'll hold onto it for you if you like. and i couldn't agree more about A Room with a View - that is the gold standard book to movie for me.
mel
Mel, I would *love* to have your book - as a matter of fact I'm reading #2 right now! Are you on bookmooch? I could give you a point for it. I love 'meeting' other lovers of ARWAV - this was my 'first love' in the costume drama film genre and remains so.
I plan on reading Linnet Bird this winter (hopefully anyway). I'd heard she has a new book out (newish anyway)--I'll have to look for it as it sounds good, too.
Danielle, I think you'll really like The Linnet Bird. I think The Moonlit Cage is her new US release, though I haven't seen it in person.
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