Paperback Swap Update

I know I said I wasn’t going to post this week, but I have a few minutes right now during lunch and I thought I’d give you a little update on the paperbackswap! And show you this really cute picture by one of my favorite artists, Stephanie Fizer! You can get a personalized bookplate of this little owl in her etsy shop!

So far I have mailed 31 books and received 30 books! I know, it’s crazy! Now I have all these books piling up that I want to read and they just sit there at my desk mocking me because I can’t read them right now! Here are the books I’ve received since my last update and I thought it would be fun if I put in parenthesis why I got these (at least for the ones I can remember!):

1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Allison and possible bookclub choice)
2. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (NY Times Bestseller List)
3. Gods and Generals by Jeffrey Shaara (Civil War Class)
4. Inferno by Dante Alighieri (b/c I read The Gargoyle and possible bookclub choice)
5. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (I just liked The Lord of the Rings and thought I might like to read this)
6. Once and Future King by T. H. White (Allison and that’s what Magneto was reading while in jail in one of the X-Men movies…although that’s not a real reason)
7. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (10 Best Books of 2007)
8. The House of Gentle Men by Kathy Hepinstall (possible bookclub choice)
9. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (possible bookclub choice)
10. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (possible bookclub choice)
11. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (possible bookclub choice)
12. Miriam’s Kitchen: A Memoir by Elizabeth Ehrlich (Lauren Winner)
13. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (possible bookclub choice)
14. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (I think I saw another bookclub reading this)
15. Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (NY Times Bestseller List)
16. Confessions by St. Augustine (future textbook)
17. She : A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard (future textbook)
18. The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso, Russ Hudson (Shauna Niequist)
So, there you have it…wonderng what I’m going to read first? I have no idea! However, I can see on paperbackswap who is waiting for any particular books I own, so I’ll probably start with one that someone is waiting for so I can send it off to them when I’m done! Way too much fun! I just love reading!

I spoke too soon…

I was so hesitant to put up that last post but thought, they have us scheduled to close…it’s almost here…well, I got home only to find out that because of some pay period issue, we aren’t going to close until mid August. Not only is it disapointing because we would love to move sooner, but they way it was set up is that we would get to move during my two weeks off of school and now I’ll have already started my next set of classes by the time we close, so that is just super inconvenient for me

Our 2nd 1st House

Although we felt a little gunshy after our ‘1st house,’ once Jeremy got his new job we were still thinking that $8000 sounded pretty sweet! We found this house literally the day before we left for CA and had to make the decision on our vacation to put an offer on it and then go through the whole offer giving, changing, accepting process while on vacation…

I’m starting to get more excited as it seems likes it’s becoming more of a reality. Our close date is set for July 30th (I had hoped for it to be about a week earlier, but hey, more time to pack!). Here are some pictures for you!

Here’s the living room and you can kind of see the fire place on the left.

The kitchen is pretty small, but I really like it and it came with all those brand new appliances (even the fridge)!

Here’s the backyard. Part of the back patio is covered and then they extended the deck over.

So there it is! Some stats: It was built in 2001 and is 1541 sq feet. The master is downstairs (and I’ll have a separate garden tub, which I am so excited about). Upstairs there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a loft. The downstairs is all tile excluding the bedroom and even though I’m not a huge fan of tile, I think it’s nice.

Confessions

I have not been a very good blogger lately and the confession is that I think that’s going to last another couple of weeks. Life has been so crazy and school is out of control! These last two weeks will probably be the hardest. I’m still trying to make my way through We the Living – great book, but for some reason it’s taking me some time to get through it. I need to write a book review on that and then I have a reseach paper for my American Revolution class, and of course my two finals…then maybe I’ll be able to breathe. Anyway, I’m not anticipating many postings between now and then, but don’t delete me from your Reader! I promise I’ll be back someday!

Shopping Spree

I got a lovely gift from one of my favorite people a couple of weeks ago and it was a gift card to Williams-Sonoma! I know I’m always talking about their fun gadgets but I was totally overwhelemed when I went to the store. I did get a few items from their sale rack though!

1. Small green spatula – $4
2. Non-stick roasting rack – $5
3.  Set of three cocktail mixers – $5
4. Jar of green mole – $5

pretty awesome sale. I was tempted to buy an apron but it always seems silly for me to do that when I could just make one (well, and I own 5!). It was pretty fun and I still have money left on the card to go back sometime!

Ayn Rand Interview

This month our book club is reading Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Unfortunately I am pretty bogged down with school reading right now and since I couldn’t seem to get a copy of Anthem on paperbackswap.com I decided to postpone reading it until a less busy time in my life. However, it just so happens that for my 20th Century Europe class I am reading her very first book, We the Living. I am really enjoying it. She is both a philosopher and a storyteller and it’s very interesting. Anyway, for my class I had to watch this interview with her on You Tube. This is only part 1 of 5 but I love seeing her personality come through – she’s a lot like I imagined her to be!

If you’re having trouble viewing it, click here.

Amy Butler Sweet Life Bags

I came across this new set of Amy Butler Sweet Life Bags a while back but just have not taken the time to post about them. I think they are absolutely wonderful! I can’t even decide which one I like the most! And of course, they look even better in her beautiful fabric! I think Amy just taunts us by making these bags and not publishing a pattern! I would want to make every single one of them! I know the best thing to do would be to just be supportive and purchase one, but sadly, I’m not sure I could really aford one.  If there is a sweet husband out there readin(mine, obviously)…maybe  you want to surprise me with one someday….(cheeky smile!). These make me want to design a bag of my own even more but they also make me think – look at all the options! I think I would want to put a ton of pockets and zippers on it! Yay for bags that make me so happy (even if I only get to look at them…and drool)!

Professional Multi-Chopper

I was super impressed when I watched the video of this little chopper!

4th of July Food

I didn’t actually take any pictures of the food that I made for the 4th of July, but I thought you might be interested in the recipes anyway! We took some food down to Jason and Beth’s so we could grill on the 4th and enjoy each other’s company. Beth made a ridiculous peach and cardamon pie with sour cream ice cream! Amazing! You have to check it out when she posts it!

I fashioned my menu after receiving an e-mail from Epicurious. Everything looked and sounded so good! I didn’t make everything and the only thing I added to it was the Black Bean Salsa… Check it out!

• Chunky Guacamole -  pretty good!
• Black Bean Salsa – I love this recipe and have made it several times.
• Brother David’s Grilled Chicken & Ribs -  I had planned on both chicken and ribs but we opened the package of chicken and it was bad (the sell by date wasn’t until July 7th! bummer) so they guys bought some other chicken, but we did the ribs and I thought they were pretty tasty!
• Sweet & Tangy Barbecue Sauce -  it’s pretty tangy but I really liked it!
• Layered Salad with Roasted Garlic Dressing -  This was ok. I did like the dressing, very refreshing. I’m not a huge fan of olives and it was the first time I had really used fennel. Jeremy wasn’t a big fan, so I probably won’t make it again. I had planned on making the whole recipe but only half fit in my bowl – it’s a lot of salad!
• Manchego Jalapeño Cornbread – This was really more like white cheddar jalepeno cornbread because the manchego was a little more than I wanted to spend and the white cheddar is what the lady at the deli suggested and I thought it was really good! Moist and a little bit spicy!

It was a fabulous 4th of July! I hope yours was great too!

Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front

I finished reading this book right before I left for California. I know, you’re thinking, haven’t you been reading In Defense of Food for forever and now you’ve just up and finished something else!? Well, this book was for my 20th Century Europe class, so it took priority over my book club book However, I’m not really that sad because this book was excellent. I read it in high school and did not like it at all – I remember complaining a lot, which I’m sure I did about almost everything! So I was not so excited about reading this again, but just a couple pages into it, I was saying, “I can’t believe I thought this was so boring!” And really, the book is not meant to be for entertainment, it is very serious, sad, and reflective, but the writing is almost poetic! It really is a very well written book and it is relatively short. For the class I had to write a book review focusing on how this book is a testament to the horrors of WWI and how it destroyed an entire generation of men. If you are really interested, you are welcome to ready my review here. Otherwise, my review consists of “this was an excellent book, the writing was poetic and thoughtful, the images are brutal and honest, I would give this book 5 stars”.

Interested in reading this book? I would be happy to pass it on to you! Normally I would just post it on paperbackswap.com however I think there are a lot of them on there, so I’m happy to give it away to one of my lucky readers. If you’re intersted (and if not, you won’t hurt my feelings), please mention in a comment that you would like the book – the first one to comment will get it!