The Rescuer by Dee Henderson

This book is one in a series of books by Dee Henderson. The main characters in this series are the O’Malley’s. This book centers on Stephen O’Malley. He has four sisters and two brothers. They all met at a children’s home and became family to each other. They even chose the name O’Malley and all changed their last names. They look out for each and other and take care of each other. It is an interesting family dynamic. This book opens on the night of the funeral of Jennifer O’Malley. Stephen is hurting and confused and burned out on his job as a paramedic in Chicago. His answer for coping is to run. Jennifer’s husband sends Stephen her diary and her bible as a Christmas present. Although he doesn’t expect to find any answers he decides to read the bible for Jennifer. When his older sister, Kate, finds out she’s pregnant he returns home to his family. Stephen buys a farm in the small town of Silverton outside of Chicago and renews an old friendship. We get to see his journey of discovery about God and we are there when he finally finds peace. Just for fun and a bit of mystery the author threw in a ring of jewel thieves. This was a fun and interesting read.

Book Review – A Woman in Jerusalem by A. B. Yehoshua

This is a story about a woman and a man. The woman is a foreigner who has moved to Jerusalem and taken a job as a cleaning lady at a local bakery. She is killed by a sucide bomber in the marketplace. Her only ID is a check stub. The Human Resource Manager at the bakery is called upon to ID her body and see that it and her family are taken care of. It becomes more of a responsibility than the newly divorced HR Manager imagained in the beginning as he accompanies body to its homeland and village for burial. The journey has its affect upon the manager as begins to wake up. He starts seeing and appreciating the little things in life and even begins to repair the damage done in his marriage and with his relationship with his daughter. It turned out to be a wonderful story with much to contemplate. You will find life and death, a philosophical discussion about love, and even a brief word from our dreams in the pages of this short book.

Money Saving Ideas and Tips

In my meandurings on the World Wide Web, I occasionally come across an item that I feel may be of interest to you, my dear readers. Acting responsibly is so important. This is as true of our planet as in other aspects of our lives. If we don’t take care of our home/planet, then who will? In the past living green has been expensive and sometimes it still can be. However, I have found that there are many little things we can do that help the planet and cost very little. I recently came across this list on Inhabitots and felt that it was worth passing forward. The list includes things such as planting a vegetable garden and using cloth napkins. Some of the items on the list can be big money savers. To read the full list click here. In the interest of saving money, visit $5 Dinners. This is actually a blog I ran across the other day. The woman who writes the blog shares recipes for making nutritious meals for your family that only cost $5 per meal. She also shares shopping and coupon tips. She started her blog when gas prices sky rocketed and her family needed to save money somewhere. Groceries, etc is the one area of budgets we have the most control over, so that’s where she started and she’s sharing what she learns. I am still quite new to this blog, but am infatuated with the concept and hope it may be of some use and interest to you.

Random Tidbits of Life

Friday was a good mail day! I had signed up for a free trial issue of Lucky Magazine sometime ago. I received a bill for further issues, but no magazine and then on Friday they arrived. I now have my trial issue and the first of issue of my subscription. It’s always fun to get a magazine in the mail, but getting two is just awesome!

Following the arrival of the mail was a trip into town for a little shopping. If you have a Big Lots in your area and enjoy paper crafting of any kind, then you might want to run into town yourself. I happened upon this totally cool grab bag of paper goodies. I know they’ll bring hours of enjoyment!

We couldn’t resist one last visit to Waldenbooks while we were in town. I added three more treats to my TBR pile! I just wish I knew which one to read first!

A visit to my two favorite flea markets on Saturday revealed a perfect Valentine’s Day Gift for my sharing sister at church and some wonderful little victorian figurines for my ever progressing new work/craft space.

And there you have it folks, our exciting, fun-filled weekend!

Book Review – Stardust

I once read Little Women and then watched the movie with Winona Ryder. This was a huge mistake. The book was just too fresh on my mind and I couldn’t enjoy the movie. Every little difference and tiny nuance jumped at me and screamed. I didn’t want a repeat performance so I put off reading this book until after I had seen the movie. Although the story in the book differs greatly from the movie, I can say with all honesty I love both. My favorite part of the story has to be the world of Faerie. I simply delight in the magic. There is more to the story than magic of course. Tristan sets out to find a fallen star, which in the land of Faerie turns out to be a beautiful young girl. He wants to bring the star back to his home and present her to Victoria (his lady love) as a gift. On the way they encounter strange creatures, talking trees, a unicorn, a sky pirate, and a witch or two. Their journey is one of self-discovery for Tristan. He will come to learn who he is and to whom his heart truly belongs.

Something to Watch

We recently watched a couple of wonderful movies and I wanted to share them with you.

This is a wonderful movie about being different and being open to change. And it all happens in a Chocolate shop in France. It is a beautiful story and a beautiful movie. My husband loved it as much as I did. I understand it is based on a book. I would love to find a copy of that book. I’m sure it would be a lovely read.

This is actually a mini series made by the Scifi Channel in 2007. We bought it when it came out on DVD and finally had an opportunity to watch the whole thing on Monday. It is a wonderful retelling of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It stars one my favorites actresses, Zoey Deschanel, as DG (Dorothy). It is a wonderful journey. I found out this morning that the Sleuth channel is planning to air this delightful series. I recommend checking it out. Once simply has to see this for themselves and as a plus it is a wonderful family movie.

Book Review – Wonderful Wizard of Oz

After watching Tin Man on Monday I decided it was high time I read the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Although, I had seen Judy Garland sing “Somehwere Over the Rainbow” more times than I can count, I had never read the book. I found it a wonderful story. It is quite different from the movie musical I grew up watching. It is a delightful story of a little girl and a wonderful, magical land. I became reacquainted with the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion and met some new characters such as the Winkies. I also discovered that the winged monkeys were not so evil as I have always thought. The journey as one might expect was exciting and at times dangereous. I highly recommend this children’s fairy tale for readers of all ages.

Book Review – Chasing Shakespeares

This was an interesting book. It centered around a controversy concerning the true of authorship of Shakespeare’s work. Being a fan of Shakespeare, I found the book quite fascinating. The main character, Joe Roper, finds a letter supposedly written by Shakespeare claiming that he did not write the plays for which he is famous. This letter sends Joe on a search for the truth. The book is full of history and facts about Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Era. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a history buff or a Shakespeare fan. If these hold no interest for you, than I advise you to avoid this mystery.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.” Juliet

Bookstore Closing

I received some rather sad news today! Our local Waldenbooks is closing its doors. It is one of three business in our mall that are currently going out of business. I hate to see a good bookstore leave the area. It seems there are so few. Hubby and I did make a quick run into town to see for ourselves what was happening and hoping that at least we might find a bargain or two. The store’s last day will be January 24. They have a pretty good sale happening currently and books are flying off of the shelves. I came out with three new items to add to my to-be-read pile.

I am pretty excited about Junk Jewelry! I love trying to new crafty things! I enjoy Joanne Fluke’s books. They are a wonderful, light, fun read! Finally, I have always been a fan of Tennyson’s poems and this slim volume was quite appealing. I’ll greatly miss our Waldenbooks. It has long been an old friend.

Apron at Target

I found this apron at Target the other night and just couldn’t resist! Isn’t it pretty. I love the butterflies and birds. Click here to visit Target and find out more. Below is a close up of the apron so you can get a better look at the beautiful material from which this is made.