Thursday, June 26, 2014

{ Summer Reading List }

Morning

With my busy life lately, I have found that my moments for reading have dwindled, if not completely disappeared.

Oh I love reading, I just don't have the time and when I finally sit down for a moment, more often than not I am fast asleep.  Just ask my husband who is quite used to me sitting next to him on the couch to watch something, only to be nodding off within 5 minutes.

Thing is, I miss reading.

I miss everything about it.  The new pages of a book, the smell of the said pages and most of all, losing myself in a good story.  There is nothing quite like forgetting about real life for a moment and indulging in some good fiction.

I decided that I need to get back to my reading, and so, I'm doing something I haven't done in a very long time.  I am starting a Summer Reading List and I'm determined to get through it.

I'm starting small though, I am not going to give myself a huge list only to not be able to finish and thereby feel bad it.  Small....a few books.

I raided my bookshelf for books I have had for a long time but never got around to reading.  So here they are:

Summer Reading List

  • Little Women by Louisa May Alcott  (why?  because it's been years since I read it and I love it)
  • Plain and Fancy by Wanda Brunstetter
  • White Christmas by Wanda Brunstetter
  • A Sister's Secret by Wanda Brunstetter
  • A Sister's Test by Wanda Brunstetter
  • A Sister's Hope by Wanda Brunstetter
  • Looking for a Miracle by Wanda Brunstetter
  • What the Heart Sees by Kathleen Fuller
  • Adoring Addie by Leslie Gould
  • The Guardian by Beverly Lewis

Now that I've typed it out, it actually seems like a bit of a list doesn't it????  No matter, I'm going to get through it :)

Are you doing a Summer Reading List tooAny good books you can recommend?

We are almost ready to turn in the keys to the old house, actually have to go in tomorrow and clean the carpets in the master bedroom....not that they need it, but I'm so used to military housing inspections that I just can't leave a house without giving it a good run through.

A lot of you have been asking about my knee, thank you for your kind words and thoughts.  My knee is fine, it is no longer swollen, I can walk just fine, but the bruising remains, it is now in that ugly yellowish phase, so I'm guessing a few more days before it is back to normal.

I have been good though, I have been taking it easy and staying off it as much as possible.

World Cup watching

One of the things I've been indulging in, is World Cup watching, while plugging away on my crochet blanket, which let me tell you, is now on it's last two rows before being finished.  I'm going to give it a cute border and then it will be completely done, but I'll show you at that time.

Strawberries

I've also been loving watching my veggies and fruits growing.  I do enjoy gardening, though truth be told I am no expert and still fumble and kill the occasional plant here and there.  I am doing much better though and managing to grow a lot of things.

Gardening

Something I've never been able to grow, was Lavender, but look at how well they are doing here in Idaho???  Happy, Happy with that!

Gardening

And lastly, I've also been researching dinners on a budget, quick and easy meals to make without breaking the grocery budget.   Also, adding a lot more salad and veggies to each meal, it's something I use to do all the time and then stopped, but we seriously need to eat more veggies and fruit.

Easy French Dip Sandwiches

It's not hard to do, I will continue to make yummy meals but just adding salad or a veggie to each dinner.

Easy French Dip Sandwiches was tonight's dinner, with some creamed peas.  You can find the recipe on my food blog.  

Trying to work on a budget, trying to cut corners, trying to grow our own food, just trying to live life simply but good.  I've been purging as I unpack boxes too and so far have 4 boxes filled with items to do a yard sale with. 

So yeah, now you know what I've been up to. 

I'm sorry I wasn't around for the past few days, I just realized that my last post was on Monday and by now you were all probably wondering where I disappeared too with my jacked up knee.  HA!!!

I felt I needed to come in and let you know how I was and what I have been up to. 

Tomorrow we have some more cleaning up to do at the old house, and then at night we have the local rodeo to attend.  I can't wait for that, can you believe I have never been to one in the 16 years I have lived in the USA???  Goodness!!

Alright friends, I'm off for the night, going to finish my crochet blanket and try to watch something with the hubby before I fall asleep.  Wish me luck!!

10 comments:

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Good morning Sandra ~ So glad your knee is doing better. I had to go back and look at the post, as my reader list wasn't showing but one post at a time and I missed a lot of blog posts. (It's back to normal now.)

I'm also glad that your move is just about completed. I hope you don't have to move again for a good long while.

Your reading list looks good and I'm going to copy it to see if I can find any of them at the library. I love to read too.

You inspire me Sandra to live life each day and be thankful.

Have a lovely weekend ~ FlowerLady

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I think I keep a reading list year round, but do run out of time over summer. The garden drains out all of my free time, so I get more reading in the winter months.

Deb J. in Utah said...

Sandra - so sorry to hear about your knee but I am glad it is starting to heal. Glad you are taking it easy. You are a landlord's dream with the way you leaving your old house. I miss reading too, when I don't have a lot of time. I am doing a lot of reading this summer - but again I seem to be stuck in non-fiction, which is good, but I need a good story so you have inspired me to dust off some good Amish novels as soon as I am finished with my current book. Have a good week getting settled into the new place!

Kar said...

Glad to hear your knee is feeling better. Good reason to kick back and work on your blanket though. :)

Renee said...

Great book list! Found quite a few I'll be adding to my TBR pile. :)

Enjoy the rodeo!

Joanna Unbehaun said...

Glad you're better, praise God! Can I just say, I LOVE YOUR BOOKENDS!

Liz said...

So glad to hear your knee is doing much better. I love your summer reading list. I too am facing the yearning to read but slim opportunity problem. I have picked up a few books from the grocery store as I walk by. I'm really bad about picking books based on their cover art. I'm currently reading The Family Beach House by Holly Chamberlin. So far so good, but I don't have much of a chance to read. Oh well, eventually. I'm also planning to start the Game of Thrones books. I enjoy the show so much, and my husband has already read them and has been begging me to read them for a while.

We do veggies with every meal. Growing up all of our veggies came from a can or salads that were iceberg lettuce with dressing. I wasn't really into veggies. I have found that roasting them is easy and delicious. Steaming takes all of the flavor out. I like to roast veggies with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder and cooking spray over the top. We do broccoli and asparagus with almost every dinner.

I hope you enjoy the rodeo! I haven't been in years but oh how I love the rodeo, the smell, the cows, the horses, and of course the cowboys. About 10 years ago I worked at Cabela's and they used to have the boys from PBR come out and sign autographs. That was the best time to work there.

Unknown said...

Do you have any facebook buy/sell/trade groups in your area? I've been selling junk left and right and making some spending money for my vacation. Plus I've met some really nice new people!

I try so hard with meal planning and shopping every 2 weeks, but I get burned out and tired after work. Always like your meal planning and budgeting tips!

Anna said...

I've read those Wanda Brunstetter books. It's been a while back, but they are good.

Susanne said...

Glad your knee is better. That was some pressure bruise.

I smiled when I saw most of your reading was Amish stories. I picked books out of my own basket to read this summer. My list is here: http://www.susannesspace.blogspot.ca/2014/06/the-summer-to-read-list.html