Mid-December update

Last weekend Caden was here for a few hours while his mom and dad went out shopping. He was taking a nap when they left, but woke up because he had pooped himself. After the diaper change, we played.

Earlier in the day last Sunday, I was one of the teachers for the preschoolers at my church. We had a visit from a very special guest while we were working on a poinsettia project for the bulletin board.

I had dinner that night with my friends Kathleen, Laurie, Joyce and Jennifer. Sorry, no pictures of us or our food.

On Wednesday evening, I attended my book club's annual Christmas party. The wine, the food and my dining companions were impeccable as were the festive decorations and Bonnie's recently remodeled kitchen. We had our customary book exchange, but this time enacted an unlimited steal rule. It worked out in my favor. I had to steal it twice, but I walked away with this bag knitted by Amy (she used it as the gift bag) along with the book "Pride and Prejudice"!

I've been incredibly busy with work lately. This weekend has been spent mostly helping with the Christmas Sharing event that Catholic Charities does for the low-income families in the area. The families are able to come and pick out gifts for their children, get some non-perishable food products and browse a thrift shop where all the items are FREE. Friday I spent my time gift-wrapping their gifts. Last night we also had a holiday get-together for the couples in the program where I work and I helped get set up for that. Consequently, I have only gotten my house partially decorated for Christmas. That changes today. I'm working on decorating and making a list of presents I have yet to purchase. And I need to write my Christmas letter. So many things, so little time!

Book club at the Arboretum

A couple of weeks ago (I'm a slow blogger) my book club met at the Bartlett Arboretum. Robin, one of our members, is the proprietress of the Arb and graciously hosts the October meeting so we can enjoy the surroundings. It is such a relaxing, not to mention beautiful, place. Here are some of my favorite snaps from the day.

Suzanne and Tara, two of my carpool buddies.

Suzanne prepares to take pictures of herself while twirling.

My twirling self-portrait.

The group discusses the book "Twilight" and the brand new Spirit Stick Book Club blog.

Razzleberry casualty

I'm sad to report that last Thursday (yes, I'm a week late posting this) when I hosted book club at my house, the razzleberry pie that Tara brought ended up on the floor. It looked absolutely divine, but my kitchen filled with people and the pie ended up sliding onto the floor. The razzleberry color actually makes the carpet look better, I think. As you can see from this picture, Tara's shoe was also a casualty and Suzanne looked on with shock as they waited for my reaction. I laughed hysterically because I really do hate that carpet. And Tara's shoes? Well, she threw them in the trash because she said they were uncomfortable anyway.

One of the highlights of the night for me was receiving flowers from Bonnie. They are a beautiful purple color, which fits in nicely with my colorful house. I enjoyed them here for a couple of days and then took them with me to my parents house so my mom and I could enjoy them there. Dad tolerates but doesn't really enjoy flowers.

We all liked the book "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. And some of us even loved it. I especially loved the detailed descriptions of the Nebraska countryside and identified with the small-town aspects of the book.

Book club

Last night was book club at Teresa's home. We all admired her newly-remodeled kitchen and enjoyed her spicy pork chili and a whole host of other goodies that the rest of us provided. Her living room was crowded and the chatter was widespread. It was the recipe for a good evening. They (I say that because I didn't read the book) discussed "The United States of Arugula" and the reviews were mixed. Nobody stood up and said it was their favorite book ever. But nobody said they hated it either. At least not that I remember, but by then I was enjoying one of the cupcakes Denise brought (they were completely homemade and they rocked) and a small slice of heavenly pie that Amy brought from Village Inn. Yummy.

Here are some snaps from the evening:

Kerry, Deb, Theresa (on the floor) and Denise.

Brenda, Jaime and Lori B.

My buddies sitting on the couch, Kathryn and Amy. That's Deb sitting to the left of Amy.

Brenda and our hostess Teresa.

The conversation touched on Genesis health clubs vs. the Y and then turned to tattoos. The tattoo subject came up because we were discussing a feature story in this week's WichiTalk section on the county's only female tattoo artist. Only two of us in attendance at last night's book club have 'em: me and Kerry. She showed both of hers and I showed mine. Check out my next post for a photo and the story of my lone piece of ink.

Very merry book club

This past Wednesday night was our annual Christmas book club. Bonnie again hosted us at her magnificently decorated home. Here she is getting more wine glasses for the masses. We had a wonderful spread including beef tenderloin, croissants, banana pudding, mashed potatoes, mushrooms and scalloped potatoes. Bonnie made sure everyone had a vessel with which to imbibe:

There were even luminaries to light the path to her door. I don't even remember what was on this magnificently decorated dessert buffet:


Lori B. looked like a flapper from the 1920s with the bow from her gift wrapped around her head. The Dirty Santa gift exchange was quite fun. Especially for me. I had the luckiest number - 18 - out of 18 guests. That's the first time that's ever happened, I swear! There were so many good books to choose from that I swiped one that Peggy and Carrie had been swapping back and forth all night called "A Wrinkle in Time" brought by Lori B. It has bonus highlights because she read it while in college and had to write a paper about it. I figure it's like the Cliff Notes, so I'm sure to get a lot out of this book!

There was a spontaneous sing-along and the evening was so much fun. Thanks for the party favor, Bon!

The Arb in Autumn

We met for our monthly book club on Sunday at the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine. Robin, one of our members (it should be said she recently dropped her other book club because we're more fun), owns this gem of Sumner county. It's absolutely gorgeous any time of year, but fall is especially pretty. My carpoolers and I arrived about 3:45 and enjoyed a walk around the grounds before most of others arrived. Suzanne snapped this picture of the four of us on the bridge:

Me, Tara, Suzanne and Deb

We had a great time and I will post more pictures later. I was a bit sickly yesterday (not because of book club) and didn't do anything but sleep and sit. More to come, I promise.

p.s. the pumpkin bread turned out fabulously even though I didn't have all the ingredients. I improvised and still it worked. hooray for me!

Sunglasses and jacket weather

A thousand apologies to my Mother who gently reminded me that she's checked my blog 14 times and still I hadn't posted anything. This one's for you, Mom!

Here in the land of Kansas, we've been having some gorgeous October weather. It's warm and sunny during the days (hence the sunglasses), but there's just enough of a chill in the air that you need a jacket, too. The trees are starting to turn (I'll post pictures here soon) and I've pulled out my trusty down comforter to use at night. It's good sleepin' weather, I tell ya. I did break down and turn on the heat in my house Friday night. But I turned it back off Saturday morning and haven't turned it on since. I like this time of year when it's rather chilly inside my house during the day when it's warm and sunny outside. And as I sit here typing this, there's not a cloud in the sky and the day looks promising.

I've got book club this afternoon (yes, it's a different day than usual) at the Arboretum in Belle Plaine. I'll be leaving in a couple of hours to head down there with my carpool buddies. I'll post pictures later, but now I must head off to make some pumpkin bread to take with me.

Under the Big Top

Thursday night I hosted book club under my Big Top (aka my living room). Seventeen people crowded in to see the show, er, discuss the book "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen. We dined on circus foods including hot dogs, chips, tater tots, fried chicken, fruit, caramel apples, peanuts and those sugary circus peanut candies. Mmmm. Your mouth is watering, isn't it? We were also treated to some Lemony Wickets (gin-laced lemonade drinks) provided by Carrie and Robin. Pictured here are some of the crowd from bottom right -- Jaime's head, Molly, Kasey (a new member), Cory, Suzanne, Tara and Kathryn:


Here is Denise making a point. I can't remember what the point was after making her do this over again so I could take the picture. Thank you for posing beautifully for this! But she said it with conviction. A lot of conviction.

One of the highlights of the night was seeing Robin walk through the door with a turkey carcass (it was made out of fabric) on her head. Her birthday is around Thanksgiving, so that's why the fascination with the bird. It all made sense when she explained it. And no one thought twice about why she might be wearing turkey attire. We're just that accepting. Also pictured here are Lori L., Amy, Kerry's foot, Carrie's foot, Lori B.'s foot and Jaime's arm. Not pictured besides me: Peggy, Diane and Bonnie. Sorry ladies!

The time spent discussing the book had to be close to a record. It seems like we discussed for almost an hour and that's pretty darn good for us.

On a sad note, we had no Book Club After Dark this time. It must have been because Brenda wasn't there to entertain us.

It wouldn't have been a circus theme without some cotton candy, and Bonnie showed up with this bag, which we passed around:

There's still a little bit left in the bag, which is still in my kitchen. I checked the nutritional contents. Yes, it's pure sugar (and air) but it is only 330 calories for the whole bag. That surprised me for some reason. Overall the book was a hit among everyone who'd read it. And most of us had. It was a good time.

Lots of Wine = Lots of Laughter

Last night was our monthly book club gathering. And what a gathering it was! I'd say that it ranks right up there with "Spirit Stick" night and the small but intimate gathering we had once at Molly's house. This evening's hostess was Lori L. (pictured at left) who made a fabulous curried chicken salad. Yum.

And after 9 o'clock the conversation went to places I shouldn't discuss in such a public place. But I should point out that I've NEVER seen Denise laugh so hard. Throughout the evening, Lori B. was making some interesting faces. But I was lucky to get this shot of Suzanne and Lori when the talk turned to the socioeconomic issues of head massages, pedicures and GBV.

Just thinking back on the evening makes me smile. A lot. And giggle a little bit sometimes. It was definitely the high of my day and possibly my week!

Here's a shot of Tara and Cory at a moment when the hilarity was not at its peak:

Next month I'm the hostess and it's going to be hard to top this particular book club gathering. A very hard act to follow.