a quote to inspire and book review

There were all those unkindnesses, palpable, daily, so easily avoidable; but one could not think just of those.. or one would spend one's time in tears - and the unkindnesses would continue. So the small things came into their own: small act of helping others, if one could; small ways of making one's own life better; acts of love, acts of tea, acts of laughter.
- from The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith


I love this series! I just finished the 8th book "The Good Husband of Zebra Drive". Set in Botswana it is a mystery series with colorful characters and casts an honest but kindly eye on humanity. The atmosphere is warm and loving without drifting into sappy sweetness. The first book in the series is called "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" and there are I believe 9 in the series at this time. If you're in the mood for a good story intertwined with a bit of mystery and humor, pick one of these up, pour your self a cuppa tea and enjoy!

Butterflies Butterflies

Every spring we are the lucky observers of butterfly migrations. For a few weeks, every where you look you can see butterflies flitting. The trees in our neighborhood act as sort of a funnel so a large portion of them go right through our backyard! Once the sun is up, you can see about 5 - 10 butterflies each minute. The kids and I were out enjoying the wonderful sunny spring day and they agreed to catch me a few butterflies so I could take a picture for this blog. I think we caught 5 in about 15 minutes! of course we let them go right away, but I managed to snap a few pics. The baby even got in on it. I'm sure she thought her siblings had gone nuts jumping up and down and waving their arms around but she enjoyed the show!

Book Review - Runaway Mistress

So as you can tell by my sideline I'm a bibliophile or book lover. I read constantly, or as much as I can with 4 kids! I have a serious addiction to books! As you can imagine this could be expensive, however I manage to keep the costs down two ways; the old fashioned library and a FANTASTIC site called pbs.com or Paper Back Swap. This site has saved me hundreds (really!) over the year + I've been a member. I LOVE it! check it out! Anyway, once in a while on this blog I will do some book reviews on books that stand out. I have a handful of favorite authors and I'll talk about them some, but I just finished a cute little romance that I sincerely enjoyed; Robyn Carr's Runaway Mistress. I've never read anything by her before and this was an older one (written in 2005)but it was clever, with an endearing heroine and a nice climax that made you wonder if the white knight was going to swoop in in and rescue her in time. I also enjoyed the main characters self discovery and appreciation of the simple things in life. A nice, cheerful novel that I would rate as: Definitely worth your time. Happy reading!

Don't Worry, Be happy

February has blown by and march is already here. Wow. Life is improving in many ways and plodding along in others. I am still struggling with the depression. I know there are 3 aspects to it; first the hormones from the pregnancy and now breastfeeding. They are still out of whack because I'm all zitted out(UG!wrinkles and zits is just not fair!) and the hair is still dropping by the handful each time I wash it. But I'm trying to be more like my positive self and remember that the hormones will improve with time. One of the other aspects to this depression will also improve with time; the juggling act of a toddler and a baby and a teenager and a second grader will get better and easier. I tell you that I do have a new respect for and sympathy for ANY mother who has 2 or more in diapers. It's tougher than it looks folks. I've decided to get a bit of help with the third aspect of my depression: grief. My mother in law passing in December is really difficult for me still and it made me realize that I've had so little experience dealing with such grief so I decided to go see someone to talk it out. I expect that I will be feeling better soon, but until then I'm gonna 'fake it 'til I make it' and do my best to act and think like a happy, productive me. LOL! Here's some inspiration; a pic of my HEALTHY mother - her hair is coming back from the Chemo and she's hugging my two littlest troublemakers. Remember life is short so Don't Worry, Be happy everyone!