Catching Up

It has been a few days since I've posted anything new to the blog. My Hawaii blogger friend, Jalna, wrote on her blog that it was really hard to come up with something to post. She posted every day for quite some time. She has decided to only post on 3 or so different days. I have to agree with her, it is hard to think of something to post about.


I am back to reading. I haven't done so in a lot of months, not like I don't have anything to read either. I have several books I've purchased and they sit on my bookshelves waiting for me to pick them up.


I receive a periodic newsletter from Francine Rivers and am a fan on her Facebook page. She has been talking about her new book which was just released last week. I then received an email from Family Christian Book Stores to pre-order the book so I did so. It arrived while we were on our trip to Southern California. The name of the book is "Her Mother's Hope" and although she says it is purely fiction, it is based on the relationship of her mother and her mother's mother. It is an excellent book and I highly recommend reading it. I've read most of Francine Rivers' books and they are all excellent.


I didn't know who she was until Denise told me about her. The first book I read was "The Scarlet Thread" and I was hooked.


Reading the book made me think of the relationship I had with my mother which was very difficult in a lot of ways. I was not always the kindest or most understanding daughter. I loved her very much yet we clashed a lot of the time. In a lot of ways, I have her personality and that was probably a lot of the problem.


In my very young days, she was probably upset with me more than anything. My father favored me of my sisters and that caused a lot of problems. I never thought she was very happy with anything I did in my adult years. She was very upset with me when I told her I wanted to get married to my first husband yet she made me a very lovely dress to wear for the ceremony. Well, she was a professional seamstress. That dress and jacket still hangs in my closet some 48 years later. I've taken it in every move I've made and I treasure it because she made it.


We went for years without speaking and I always wondered whether she loved me or not. In her later years she did verbalize how much she loved me, it was hard, I think, for her to demonstrate it. I have always been thankful Denise and I have a close relationship and we have not gone through the struggles my mother and I did. I've always made sure I not only verbalized my love for Denise, I also made sure I demonstrated it to her so she would not have any doubts. There was a brief time when I think she probably doubted my love for her yet we got through that period.


I came to a place in my life where I had to accept my mother for who she was and although she didn't express her love for me the way I wanted her to, she did love and care for me. I certainly loved her and expressed it to her often. She is with Jesus now.


Last night I finished reading one of Nicholas Sparks books, The Choice, which he wrote a couple of years ago. He is another author Denise told me about. He has written one or two books since The Choice which I haven't purchased. I need to read what I have before I go buying anything new. I think the next book I'll read is a non-fiction entitled "Children of Chinatown, San Francisco". The author of the book is the daughter of one of the residents here at our mobile home park. She is a professor at Sacramento State.


I bought myself a new toy today.

I have a stamping blogger friend who uses stitching on a lot of her cards. I really like the way her cards look. So I sent her an email the other day asking her if she used a full size sewing machine to do the stitching or did she have a mini one. I got an email from her this morning with a link to the machine she uses. She got it from Hancock Fabrics. So I went online and looked at it and read the reviews. Every reviewer gave the machine at least 4 stars. And it was on sale too. I decided to call a Hancock Fabrics store here in town to see if they carried them. The store I called had three of them in stock and they were on sale in the store too. So after I went to Sushi Masa's for lunch I drove over to get it. And I didn't have to wait for it and didn't have to pay shipping. :))

The machine weighs less than 5 lbs. and it does go in reverse. That is the lever on the right side of the machine. It also has several choices of stitches. So I am anxious to try it out and see what I can come up with. I have a full size Singer with lots of bells and whistles but it is a pain to get out and set up. I have a small table in my office/craft room to put my machine on, however it is stacked with other stuff right now. :))

I found a mini Singer machine on Joann's website, it is $50 more than this one and the reviews were really bad. My friend told me she really loves hers and has used it for other things besides her cards.

My hair has gotten quite long, just past my shoulders when it is wet, rests on my shoulders when it is curled. I have an appointment tomorrow to get it trimmed or maybe go a little shorter, although I like the length of it right now. I've noticed too it is getting quite thin on the top. It is a little unnerving since my hair has always been so thick. I guess that is a sign of getting old. I've always been so vain about my hair. :)

That's all I can think of to write about for now. I am enjoying this weather and hope it lasts for a while.