Reading Challenge 2018

Last year my goal was to read 75 books.  That's a bit lower than what I usually read, but I wanted to try more classics.  I ended up being a bit out of control and I read 200 books (a total of 65,232 pages!)- Yowza!  I need to probably find a bit more balance in my life this year, but one thing I really loved was the classics challenge, because it forced me to read outside of my comfort zone, and also check a couple of books off my list that I should have read a long time ago.  I'm most proud of my accomplishment in reading Tolstoy's War and Peace.  That had been on my to-read list for years and years!  I've decided to try the Classics Challenge again this year.  This is what I have so far, but I'm already thinking of changing a few.  We'll see.  Once again I tried to pick mostly books that I've always wanted to read, but for some reason or another haven't gotten around to reading yet.  I like the extra little push this challenge gives me. 

1.  A 19th century classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

2.  A 20th century classic - any book published between 1900 and 1968. Just like last year, all books MUST have been published at least 50 years ago to qualify. The only exception is books written at least 50 years ago, but published later, such as posthumous publications.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

3.  A classic by a woman author. 

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

4.  A classic in translation.  Any book originally written published in a language other than your native language. Feel free to read the book in your language or the original language. (You can also read books in translation for any of the other categories). Modern translations are acceptable as long as the original work fits the guidelines for publications as explained in the challenge rules.

           La casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca

5. A children's classic. Indulge your inner child and read that classic that you somehow missed years ago. Short stories are fine, but it must be a complete volume. Young adult and picture books don't count!

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (I thought about reading this with my daughter since I love it so much)

6.  A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction. This can be a true crime story, mystery, detective novel, spy novel, etc., as long as a crime is an integral part of the story and it was published at least 50 years ago. Examples include The 39 Steps, Strangers on a Train, In Cold Blood, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, etc.  The Haycraft-Queen Cornerstones list is an excellent source for suggestions. 

something from Agatha Christie

7. A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction. The journey itself must be the major plot point -- not just the destination. Good examples include The Hobbit, Around the World in 80 Days, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Kon-Tiki, Travels with Charley, etc. 

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

8. A classic with a single-word title. No articles please! Proper names are fine -- Emma, Germinal, Middlemarch, Kidnapped, etc.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

9. A classic with a color in the title. The Woman in White; Anne of Green Gables; The Red and the Black, and so on. (Silver, gold, etc. are acceptable. Basically, if it's a color in a Crayola box of crayons, it's fine!)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

10. A classic by an author that's new to you. Choose an author you've never read before.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

11. A classic that scares you. Is there a classic you've been putting off forever? A really long book which intimidates you because of its sheer length? Now's the time to read it, and hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised!

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (the length has always made me shy away)

12. Re-read a favorite classic. Like me, you probably have a lot of favorites -- choose one and read it again, then tell us why you love it so much. 

Chronicles of Avonlea by LM Montgomery

Scrappy Pinwheels

I turned my scrappy blocks into Half-Square Triangles with the intention of doing a fairly innocuous pattern when it occurred to me that I could make large pinwheels.   I'm a huge fan of pinwheels, so that's what I went with for this quilt top.  And yes, this quilt top makes me happy with all its scrappy loveliness. 

I had a little sidekick while taking pictures.  He saw my camera aimed at the quilt and walked right in front of it.  Luckily for me, he wasn't tall enough to block it.  This Little Guy can be quite the attention hog, but he gets away with it, because he's so stinkin' cute!

 Gah!  That smile gets me every time!

Lest he be perceived as a cherubic angel, this is what I encountered not long afterward with him hiding in the pantry with the light on and door closed.  All he said when I opened the door was, "Cereal!"  (in a very demanding toddler voice). 

Life with a toddler is a never ending roller coaster ride. 

Final Classic

I'm squeezing in the final book of my Classics Challenge, and it turned out to be quite a delightful one at that.  When I was in high school I went to go see "Little Women" in the movie theater.  I didn't know much about it, but I was promised that if I loved Jane Austin I would love this.  Well, my teenager heart could never forgive Winona Ryder for actually choosing some old German man over Christian Bale.  How could she do that?!  I was fairly certain no woman on this planet would do that, and it basically ruined the movie for me.  I decided the book was most definitely not for me. 

It's a bit crazy that it's taken me over 25 years to decide that maybe I oughta, sorta give it a try.  You'd think I'd know by now that the movie is almost never as good as the book, and usually gets it all wrong to boot.  I've also always felt that since I've read every Jane Austin book multiple times that maybe it was high time I finally read Little Women.  I'm so very glad I did, because it was absolutely delightful.  I loved all 4 girls instantaneously, and their mother is so wise.  I liked the book even more when I realized Alcott based the book on her family.  It brought more depth to it for me.  

I dearly loved Laurie and confess that the romantic nonsense side of me would have still liked to see him with Jo, but at the same time the more realistic side of me saw how they weren't a good match.  I was happy for him and Amy.  I still didn't love the German tutor as much as "Teddy," but that didn't mean I enjoyed the book any less. 

This book fit under Category #1: A 19th Century Classic.  (It was first published in 1862).

A Riley Blake Christmas

Several years ago someone gave me a Riley Blake "Alpine Wonderland" charm pack, but I never knew what to do with it.  Every Christmas I always thought about it, but never used it until I saw a fun Zig Zag Table Runner Tutorial from the Missouri Quilt Company.  I have a "Favorite Things" party I'm going to this week and I thought it would be fun to stuff my stocking with a Christmas table runner among other treats. 

Sewing charms together is incredibly fast and simple, but I had a bunch of other things I (cough) was supposed to be doing instead of starting a new sewing project, so I didn't get around to layering it and quilting it until the following day.  Technically speaking I didn't have a whole lot of time to spare that day either, but I really wanted to work on it, so my home just remained a little dirtier yesterday, and my to do list got a little longer.   

 The stitching is just stitch in the ditch, so it's nothing fancy, but it's still really cute.  I made the backing a bit more traditional, so that if you just wanted the normal Red and Green it would look nice flipped on the back as well.

Now it's time to conquer that To-Do List!!

Cookie Exchange

This morning I had my 8th annual cookie exchange party.  This year I was looking for a molasses/ginger cookie that wasn't hard.  I love ginger snaps and I like regular molasses cookies, but I wanted to find one that was soft and chewy.  These guys fit the bill!

Recipe here.

I always like to try new cookies.  I was searching for another fun cookie to try when I came across Texas Sheet Cake Cookies.   If you like the cake version you'll enjoy the cookie version.  Yum!!

It was a wonderfully low key time talking with great friends while eating cookies.  That's my kind of a party!

Ornaments for 2017

This year the ornaments were so much fun to come up with for the kids. 

Little Man:  It had to be Harry!  After the awesome Harry Potter birthday party and Harry Potter Camp, and then Halloween costume...again, how could we not get him a Harry Potter ornament?!

Little Lady: She's always got a stack of library books sitting next to her bed.  She reads all the time, and almost always has a book attached to her if she's not talking to someone.

 BB: His most beloved object is his Polar Bear.  It goes everywhere with him.

Little Guy:  There is much weeping and wailing when Little Guy's blankie has to be washed.  He hates being without his blankie and he most definitely won't go to sleep without it. 

These are our ornaments from our vacation out West this past Summer: Albuquerque, 4 Corners, and Mesa Verde.

 

November Stitches

This month Steph asked us to make 2 low volume plus blocks for do.Good Stitches.  She wanted us to chose two different colors for the pluses.  I must have Christmas on the brain, because I chose green and red.

Caring Kits for the Homeless

Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed a woman with a shopping cart outside the library and another homeless man walking up and down Classen as I drive my daughter to cello. I’ve been feeling that nudge again that I should be doing more.  Quite a few homeless migrate down to Oklahoma because of the milder winters.  I decided I wanted to put together some Care Kits, so that I could have something ready in my car to give them.  A friend from church saw my post on Facebook about it and asked if I would be willing to coordinate a get together to make kits.  I agreed, and this morning we came together and in about an hour we put together 70 Caring Kits for the homeless and another 10 hygiene packets.  It's amazing how much you can accomplish in such a small amount of time when multiple people come together to accomplish something.  We had 12 ladies donate and help out this morning.  Here are a few of us at the end.  

Here's an awesome link that gives great ideas if you've ever wanted to do something similar, but weren't sure what would be the most helpful and/or needed.  We're headed downtown to Little Lady's cello lesson this evening, and I'm hopeful we'll be able to hand one out.