Bluebird Books

It's a big Monday...the Monday before Thanksgiving.  This week is full: of shopping, of cleaning, and of celebrating.  I will not let all the work ahead of me rob me of the joy of eating a big, delicious meal with the people I love.  So, yay Monday! I'm serious Denise, GET WITH THE PROGRAM.  WE ARE HAPPY TODAY. Here's what I love: 1.  Tea tree oil body wash from Trader Joe's.  I love tea tree oil and this body wash is great, light and clean and smells great.   me when I open  2.  Christmas decorations.  Even though we haven't had Thanksgiving yet, we put our tree up on Sunday.  At church, the pastor said Christmas Eve is only a month away and I was like ok, I'm doing this.  We didn't decorate it yet, but having the tree with soft white lights makes us all feel a little more peaceful.  I love coming down in the morning to see the tree all lit up.  Don't @ me.  Christmas is a lot of work and I want a full month of enjoyment, thank you v

Tis the season to be grateful, right?  Being grateful in every season has all kinds of benefits.  This year I decided to keep a gratitude journal and I actually stuck with it.  The practice of waking up and writing some things that I'm grateful for each day helped me feel more content and pay attention to all the good things in my life. One of the things I find that crops up in my gratitude journal now and then is my current read.  This got me thinking.  What are 5 books I've read over the course of my life that I'm grateful for?  Not necessarily my favorites...but books that helped me. This is not a complete list, not by a long shot, but here are a few of the books I am grateful for, in no particular order. Hippos Go Berserk .  This is a board book that we read to all four of our children.  I can still recite it from memory.  "One hippo, all alone, calls two hippos, on the phone."  It is a tale of going from loneliness to a life filled with hippos and b

Another weekend in the books, another week on the horizon. Let's do this! Here are my Monday moods. Things I Love: 1.  Date nights.  We used to only go on date nights occasionally.  Babysitters are expensive and it just seemed like a lot.  Nowadays we are going weekly.  We have two teen daughters who alternate babysitting.  We pay them a small amount and they make dinner and hang out with their siblings.  My husband and I can go out and have a nice meal and a real conversation and come home to happy kids.  The only problem is that the kids are never in bed when we get home...but as long as they're all smiling, I'll take it! #relatable 2.  Reading "fun" books.  I love classics, but after finishing a big, serious book, I really love curling up with a book that does not take too much brainpower.  This weekend was full of "fun" reading and it was good.   3.  An hour of cleaning.  On weekends, I usually sit with my book, thinking a

I thought October would be the month that I only read one book.  I started like 50, but couldn't seem to actually finish any.  But then I got focused and determined and October turned out to be a pretty good month for reading.  I even spent time reading on Halloween thanks to crappy weather and only 20 minutes of trick-or-treating.   Here's what I read: Ask Again, Yes has been everywhere.  And I get it.  It's a well-written novel about two families.  It has nuanced themes like young love, duty, and mental health.  But for me, I didn't love it.  I only kind of liked it.  When I give a book four or five stars it's usually because I highlighted it to death.  I like it when a book has beautiful writing or insightful writing.  This book was good technically, but I felt like there weren't any parts where I stopped to say, "Wow."  I'm glad I checked it off my list for fomo reasons and also because it was a Book of the Month pick sitting

Well, it's Wednesday so that should pretty much tell you all you need to know about my Monday.   cheers! Let's get to it... Things I Love 1.  Finishing big, long books that are also classics and are also wonderful.  Last weekend I finished East of Eden and I'm still riding that high. 2.  Having dinner in the oven at 9am.  I love doubling recipes and slow cooking things.  Tonight it's pulled pork and I cannot wait.  Already I've over planned the hours of 4-7pm since I won't have to do much to get a meal for six people on the table.   basically... 3.  Reading my son's writing.  My son is 8 and in 3rd grade.  This is the first year that he kind of likes reading and writing.  The papers and stories he brings home from school show his sense of humor and developing skill and I look forward to each one.  He invited me to visit his classroom next week and also asked for a ham sandwich from Subway.  He wrote a story that began with this l

Here we are again, after another full weekend.  Are you enjoying the quiet or dreading the rush of the week?  I think I fall into both categories. Things I Love 1.  NaNoWriMo .  I've been trying to be more intentional about my writing but it's always the first thing that gets pushed aside.  This month I'm writing with a specific word goal every day to participate in National Novel Writing Month.  I'll be curious to see if there is a dip in my reading (although it hasn't been that great over the last few months anyway).  Logging my word count means I have some serious accountability and already I'm noticing how I can squeeze writing in if it's important to me.  Which it is.   2.  Coloring pages.  I used to love coloring so much when I was a little kid and then I bought a ton of adult coloring books which were too detailed and I gave up fast.  I started subscribing to Rad + Happy 's monthly coloring pages and they are a perfect in-between.  I