Chelle tries to find time to read

HI Friends!
Hope everyone is getting a great start to their 2018! After a busy (and stressful) 2017 I am hoping to have a drama free year of just enjoying life!
I won't be making any reading goals other than try and find time to read whenever possible. I'm going to give the Pop Sugar challenge a try as well.

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful 2018!
Chelle

I am Chelle, 36yo wife, mother of two and a police dispatcher. Hubby is an officer and between our two shift work schedules we share in all duties of house and children. I read at work when it is slow and after our daughters are in bed, which doesn't amount to much reading anymore. We had our second child in 2017 so life is hectic right now but I'm still trying to find time to read.
I used to read about 100-125 books a year but in 2016 I only hit 36 and 2017 I just squeaked in with 75!
Hoping to hit 75 again this year.




Attempting to track our Children's Books
New books acquired and read since January 1:
Mmm, Cookies! by Robert Munsch
That's Not My Snowman... by Fiona Watt
That's Not My Puppy... by Fiona Watt
Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown
Bear's Loose Tooth by Karma Wilson
Ladybug Girl Dresses Up by David Soman and Jacks Davis
The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield
The Bad Seed by Jory John
If you Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff
Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann
Pinkalicious: The Pinkamazing Storybook Collection by Victoria Kann
Silverlicious by Victoria Kann
Pinkalicious: The Princess of Pink Treasury by Victoria Kann
Purplicious by Victoria Kann

New books from our shelves:
Edgar's Second Word by Audrey Vernick
Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

Rereads of books that we own:
Doggies by Sandra Boynton
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Your Baby's First Word Will Be DADA by Jimmy Fallon
More Blueberries! by Susan Musgrave

Library books:
Stick Man by Julia Donaldson

Books read in 2018:

January
1) Midnight Line by Lee Child
2) Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
3) The Pyramid of Mud by Andrea Camilleri
4) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
5) Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Currently reading ... The Lying Game by Ruth Ware


2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge

1. A book made into a movie you've already seen
2. True crime
3. The next book in a series you started
4. A book involving a heist
5. Nordic noir
6. A novel based on a real person
7. A book set in a country that fascinates you - A Pyramid of Mud by Andrea Camilleri
8. A book with a time of day in the title -Midnight Line by Lee Child
9. A book about a villain or antihero
10. A book about death or grief
11. A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym
12. A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist
13. A book that is also a stage play or musical - Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
14. A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you
15. A book about feminism
16. A book about mental health
17. A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift
18. A book by two authors
19. A book about or involving a sport
20. A book by a local author -
21. A book with your favorite color in the title
22. A book with alliteration in the title
23. A book about time travel
24. A book with a weather element in the title
25. A book set at sea
26. A book with an animal in the title- Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
27. A book set on a different planet
28. A book with song lyrics in the title
29. A book about or set on Halloween
30. A book with characters who are twins
31. A book mentioned in another book
32. A book from a celebrity book club
33. A childhood classic you've never read
34. A book that's published in 2018
35. A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner
36. A book set in the decade you were born
37. A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to
38. A book with an ugly cover
39. A book that involves a bookstore or library
40. Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges (you can easily Google these)

Happy New Year, Chelle. I've dropped my star and I am looking forward to a fun 2018 following along with you and your family.

Happy New Year, Chelle!

Welcome back! That's a great looking family!

Great photo! Happy new year.

Happy new reading year, Chelle! Love that picture at the top :)

Happy reading in 2018, Chelle!

Happy New Year Chelle. What a lovely opening image. May 2018 be filled with health, laugher and happiness. Congratulations on your wonderful addition.

Hi Chelle, what a great photo of you all my dear, just dropping my star off dear friend and send love and hugs to you all from both of us.

Thanks for visiting friends! One of my goals this year is to keep up on a threads better and keep up with my own as well! At least a couple days a week! I'm slowing making my way around to all the new threads but this time of year they are moving so fast!

>4 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy! It should be a fun year and hopefully maybe a year of books as well!

>5 norabelle414: Happy new year, Nora!

>6 drneutron: Thanks Jim, I think I'll keep them :)

>7 _Zoe_: Thanks Zoe! Happy new year to you as well!

>8 katiekrug: Thanks Katie! It's one of my faves!

>9 FAMeulstee: Happy new year, Anita!

>10 Whisper1: Thanks Linda! Hope you have a wonderful year as well!

>11 johnsimpson: Thanks John! Hope you and Karen are having a great start to the year!

Happy New Year, Chelle! What gorgeous kids you have!
Looking forward to seeing what you read this year.

Have a great year of reading!

Dropping off a
And wishing you


How is the littlest one doing, Chelle? And Chloe wants a cat? Do you still have your dogs? Glad to see you having time to get on LT--means life is starting to return to normal!

Happy Reading in 2018, Chelle. What a beautiful family topper!

Hope everything goes smoothly in the new year, for you and your family. Hugs to my pal.

Happy New Year! Lovely photo of a beautiful family. I had a hard time reading when Callia was tiny, but I managed to start reading again when Marina was a baby. I would read next to them in the bath or while they napped, and for some reason it just clicked again.

Hi,Chelle. Dropping a star.



>1 ChelleBearss: What a beautiful picture of your family. How is everyone doing?

Happy New Year, Chelle! The smiling faces on your topper tell a wonderful story! Happy reading!

Dropping a star, Chelle. Beautiful topper! Are you and Elissa back home now?

Morning friends. It's been a rough transition home for wee Elissa. She is doing well health wise but her sleepy and digestion has suffered. We were up more than we were down last night and I'm a touch under the weather today. Chloe, of course, is a ball of energy that never stops moving or talking so a nap has been out of the questions. Hopefully when Nate wakes up from his nightshift I will be able to sneak a nap in!

>14 cushlareads: Thanks Cushla! I'll be happy to read anything this year! I've been too tired to read this week but I've been watching Call the Midwife which I've found pretty good. Wishing I had more seasons of The Crown but I've watched them already

>15 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori! You as well :)

>16 ronincats: Hi Roni! 2017 was a rough year on our pets, we lost both our dog Tempe and our cat Taz. We still have our dog Jackson and he is doing very well adjusting to life with two monsters. Chloe keeps asking for a kitty but that won't happen since our last cat had to be put down because of issues with peeing all over the house which cost us too much money when we had to replace flooring. I always loved having a cat but I think one animal will be best for a while.
Eli is doing well, thanks! She is happy and not in any pain now. Once we get her digestion working properly then hopefully we will all start sleeping better.

>17 msf59: Hiya Mark! Thanks so much! Hope the mail route isn't too taxing on your this week! Did you guys get affected by the big snow storm that Ontario got?

>18 AMQS: HI Anne! I was getting into a good routine of reading on my phone while I nursed or cuddled Eli but she has to be on a special diet now from surgery so she is bottle fed and I can't hold my phone any longer. Trying to read at night isn't working right now as I'm too tired. Hoping Eli starts to sleep well soon and we can all stop being so tired!

>19 rretzler: Thanks Robin! Everyone is doing well! And all happy to be home! :)

>20 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda! It's very nice to have everyone under one roof again!

>21 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! Yes, Elissa and I got released from hospital on Tuesday! We were so happy to leave there. They did take such good care of us but three weeks in hospital was too much for me. I was so incredibly happy to see my bed and Chloe!

Happy New Year, Chelle. You have a lovely family.

Happy new year, Beth! Thanks so much, they are keepers (most days!)

I have started to make my way around the threads! I know that there are many I have missed still so if I haven't found you yet please feel free to drop me a link to your thread!
Happy Friday!!

What a beautiful family!! So glad to hear Elissa is doing well and hope her tummy will settle down and she can go back to being the fine sleeper she was before surgery. Happy new year to you all.

Ah ha! I knew you'd create a thread sometime in the new year, and here you are!

Happy New Year, happy new thread!

So glad you're home with Nathen and Chloe and Elissa. I hope Eli's tummy troubles and sleeping troubles go away soon.

Oh Chelle, so happy that you and the family are home from the hospital and all is well. Though my experience is nothing compared to yours, I've spent time in the NICU with my second - 12 days following his birth . He was a little early and had a few issues and he had trouble coordinating his sucking. So it took him a bit to be able to suck down a bottle and he had to be tube partially tube feed . It was really weird to go home without a baby, but fortunately he was our second, so at least I had a little hospital experience behind me. With our first, wouldn't you know it, but on Christmas eve just before after his 4th birthday he began urinating something that looked like thick coca cola. So into Children's Hospital we went, and we spend about 4 days there. He has an unexplained glomenonephritis, in which for some reason his kidneys were not doing the job and he was urinating out blood cells . I was quite terrified initially because no one seemed to know what the cause was , or exactly what we were facing Anyway, they took a blood sample every 8 hours or so and collected all of his urine. They also put him on a high dose of penicillin. About 4 days later the whole thing spontaneously resolved. We had to do follow up with that, but never another problem .

I did find as stressful as it was, Christmas in a Childrens's Hospital is " not so bad." We had stuff for Daniel for Christmas and Santa came to Daniels bed at least twice on Christmas day.

Take it easy, if you can. I hope soon Elise is back on schedule and her digestion improves. Not easy with Elise feeling unwell and Chloe ready to go! Hugs, Chelle.

And now the guy that had trouble feeding is 27 and over 6 feet tall and the " kidney son" is involved in power lifting. Hang in there Chelle.

"Did you guys get affected by the big snow storm that Ontario got?" No, we did not. We have been very lucky with the snowfall. Just a few inches, these past 10 days.

I hope you guys are staying warm & snug!

>22 ChelleBearss: Keegan is 3 years and 4 months younger than Beckham. When he was born, I mistakenly thought that we would all be taking naps together, because up until that time Beckham took a 2 hour nap every day. Well...apparently he had other plans, about a week after we brought Keegan home, Beckham decided to stop taking naps. And while Beckham slept through the night around 3 months, it took Keegan 6 months to sleep through the night. But that all seems so long ago now. Ed used to love to sleep in and I remember telling him in the weeks before we had Beckham to enjoy sleeping in while he could. It took 10 years + before we were finally able to sleep in as the boys seemed to want to get up between 6 or 7 on the weekends and wake us up too. Fortunately now we all sleep in on the weekends. Enjoy it all while you can!

I love Call the Midwife. I think there may be a new season out that I haven't seen - I'll have to check it out. I bought the first book a while back, but haven't gotten around to reading it.

Happy Saturday! Or in Nate's chive world we say Happy Caturday!
Today Nate is home and has been assigned errands to run for me so I might get a few hours of quiet today with just Eli napping!
Our new truck had an issue with the lift gate with we were away so Nate is going to return our loaner and pick up the truck and I'm going to bribe him to take the ever talking Chloe with him :)

Eli slept alllllll night last night and it was wonderful! She then proceeded to throw up on me after she ate breakfast but hey, can't win all the battles I guess :)

>27 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba! She slept all last night but I won't assume that she will do that again tonight. I can only hope though!

>28 karenmarie: Ha, Karen! I can't even stay away too long! Even when I can't maintain my thread properly I still pop in for visits :)

>29 vancouverdeb: Wow, Deb! 12 days in hospital is no joke either! You are one tough Mama! Your boys health and growth clearly were not affected by their early issues! I doubt either of my girls will hit 6 feet but Elissa isn't having any trouble growing right now, even with the heart issues. We have been very lucky that even with her issues she has never had growth or development issues so far! Nate and I agreed that even though she had to have surgery and spend three weeks in hospital it really could have been a lot worse. When we looked around the hospital or just the cardiac wing we saw children with a lot worse issues with Elissa and they were all smiling and laughing. It's amazing how strong babies and children can be! Sometimes I think they are better patients than many adults!

>30 msf59: Hiya Mark! That's great that you didn't get walloped with snow! Our town managed to miss the storm as well, we are about 30km south of the worse of it. My family were in the middle of it and sent through some photos of the snow and it was impressive! The OPP had to shut down a local main highway due to it and it left people stranded in a community centre overnight. It got pretty gross in areas. Made me happy to be on mat leave and not have to commute to work this winter!

>31 rretzler: HI Robin! I wish Chloe still napped too! She gave it up at about 1 year old. If we let her nap she would still be awake at 10pm! We finally gave in just to have our normal bedtime routine. She does pretty good without a nap but sometimes we do afternoon quiet time if she is showing signs of being tired. It would have been great to have both her and Elissa nap together! At least Chloe is happy doing crafts or playing playdoh quietly.

I think I am on season 4 of Call the Midwife. I am loving it! I saw on the opening credits that it was based on memoirs. Is it a series of books then?

I'd also like to look into some books about the royal family. I really enjoyed The Crown and found the family very interesting. I had never been interested in them before that show.

Finally! I found you. : )

Sorry about the lack of nap time for Chloe (ages ago!) and the touchy stomach for Elissa. Mine had a bit of that after surgery, too, but it righted itself pretty quickly. Glad you are home and I hope you get some reading in sometime soon. Big hugs and welcome back!!

>33 Berly: Kim, the tummy troubles was not a side affect that we had anticipated. We knew that there could be issues after surgery but the vomiting was severely under played! She has been vomiting on us at least once a day since we got home (today twice!). I think it may be due to switching from breastmilk to the gross formula that she has to be on. Poor little nugget, holding her is like a ticking bomb! Just never know when she will go off!

>32 ChelleBearss: Yes, Call the Midwife is at least a 2 book series. I've not read the first yet, but one of these days.

Please don't think I'm making light of your Elissa's vomiting, but my older son used to vomit quite a bit for some reason when he was 2-3 months old and I have some funny memories. I'll never forgot one of the first times, he was in a bouncy chair and he vomited his formula and it came out of his mouth AND nose, and he looked at me as if to say "What in the world is happening?" Then there was the time that I was all dressed for work and picked him up and got a bottle full of formula down the front of me - and the time we were reading to him before bed and he projectile vomited at least 3 feet across the room. It's funny thinking of it now, but it certainly wasn't at the time. Poor Elissa, I'm sure she isn't having an easy time of it - and neither are you guys - hang in there.

HI Robin!
Vomiting can be funny sometimes as much as it can be aggravating! We had some funny moments when Chloe was an infant. She was constantly spitting up large amounts on us! I remember once when Nate was burping her over his shoulder and heard a SPLAT! She had thrown up all down his back and all over the floor and wall behind!

Eli's vomiting is most likely due to the gross formula she has to be on for a few weeks as well as some constipation. The doctor said the force of trying to push can make it come up as vomit instead. We have had a few days of normal now so hoping that is almost over!

And three nights of sleeping all night! Yahoo!!

THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW!!!



(Baby fireworks, silent but pretty)

Wow, three nights of sleeping all night!! That's wonderful. Hope it is the first of a lifetime of them :)

Hello, Chelle! Your family photo topper is absolutely lovely, and I'm glad to read that Elissa is doing so much better. I see that you are reading The Midnight Line — I'll be tackling that one as soon as I'm finished with my current read.

>37 richardderus: Thanks Richard! It's amazing what a full sleep can do for a person!

>38 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba! Make that four now :) Although both girls have a cold now it doesn't seem to have affected Elissa's sleep. It has made Chloe more tired and cranky though

>39 rosalita: Thanks Julia! It's a typical Reacher story. Enjoyable but predictable :)

Sounds like you have turned a corner with Elissa, Chelle. Hooray for that! Sorry that the girls have come down with colds, though.

>41 Crazymamie: Morning Mamie! I am hoping that we have turned a corner, sleep wise! It's nice to get a full 8 hours most nights!
Both girls have low grade fevers this morning. Hoping that doesn't turn into anything!

Hooray for sleep!! Boo for colds!!! hope they're better soon.

>36 ChelleBearss: Hooray for four nights in a row! How wonderful! Hopefully, this is the start of a full night sleep all the time. Even though my younger son is almost 13, I still remember what joy I felt when he finally slept through the night.

And Ugh for the colds and fevers.

I somehow missed you thread Chelle - but better late than never. xx



Happy New Year
Happy New Group here
This place is full of friends
I hope it never ends
Its brew of erudition and good cheer.

Hi, Chelle. Hooray for sleep-filled nights. Boo to fevers. I hope the girls are feeling better.

Finding any reading time?

>43 RebaRelishesReading: thanks Reba. A dose of Tylenol each and a nap for Ellie and the fevers are lower. Ellie’s I blame on her vaccine yesterday but I think Chloe is sick and run down. Hoping they each wake up happy and healthy tomorrow :-)

>44 rretzler: Hi Robin! I love love love getting sleep! The lack of sleep is not something a new parent can really understand until they are in the midst of it. I remember the days in my early 20’s (pre husband and kids) when I slept until noon, woke for a meal and climbed back into bed with a tea and book. I wouldn’t trade my family for anything but I would pay a LOT of money to have just one day like that :)

>45 PaulCranswick: glad you found me, Paul! Hope you are doing OK with Hani away!

>46 msf59: Hi Mark! Not a ton of reading time but I am about halfway through the new Lee Child The Midnight Line. It’s decent and I’m enjoying it now that I’m invested in the outcome.

Two healthy kids this morning but a slightly sick Mama. Nothing that a day of couch lounging can't fix! Hopefully I can bribe Chloe with some movie time today so that I can lay down for a bit!
I managed a large chunk of The Midnight Line last night. Hoping to finish it in the next few days :)

Glad the kids are better and hope you get a peaceful day and feel better yourself tomorrow. The life of a mom of young children is exhausting!

>50 RebaRelishesReading: You are so right, it is exhausting! At least I have Nate to help me when he is home from work. Kudos to the single parents who do everything all the time!

As exhausting as they are I do love their energy and creativity. Chloe got an easel for Christmas from my parents and has made a masterpiece every day.
This is her masterpiece from yesterday. Apparently it is a picture of my sister and I.

That is totally adorable! And it looks just like you, O Martian Tripod. :)

>51 ChelleBearss: SO cute!!! Thanks for sharing, Chelle.

Hi thought would pop by and say thank you for stopping by my thread.

Hi Chelle, love the photo of Chloe and her latest masterpiece, she is so cute. Hope you and the family are well my dear, I have been remiss in visiting threads so far this year but will be making up for this. Sending love and hugs to you all from both of us dear friend.

1) Midnight Line by Lee Child

Another edition of the Jack Reacher series. Typical and enjoyable.

Chelle--Glad the tummy issue seems to be resolving, but sorry that you are now sick. : ( At least you are getting some sleep!

What # is that Jack Reacher? I just read my first one at the end of last year.

>51 ChelleBearss: An artist is born!!

Happy Friday.

Hi Friends!
I think my household is back to normal from the colds. Nate never caught it, thankfully, and both girls seem to have rebounded. I am feeling much better than yesterday, just very tired today. Nate and I went to bed by 9 last night! Hopefully I can steal a quick nap later when Ellie naps but most likely that will result in Chloe constantly poking me in the nose. She thinks she is rather clever when she does that!
Happy Friday!!

>52 richardderus: Ha, Thanks Richard! I especially like my super long legs! Not sure why I am so much bigger than my sister though!

>53 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie! She knows she is pretty cute, hence the pose :)

>54 BBGirl55: Thanks for visiting, Bryony!

>55 johnsimpson: HI John! The threads are moving fast these days. Hopefully they return to normal soon

>57 Berly: Hi Kim! I feel a lot better today, just tired now. Ellie slept all night but decided that 6am was play time. Perhaps kids were why coffee was created?
This Reacher was book #22. Did you enjoy the first one?

Oh, I hear you on the lack of sleep thing as far as young children go, Chelle. I well recall it, but now I think about what is in store for my son and his wife. It's not something you can really imagine until it is upon you. Perhaps they will get a good sleeper? Chloe is so darling! So cute!

>51 ChelleBearss: Adorable, totally adorable (and nice art too)!

Hi Chelle, what a beautiful picture of you and your family. Perfect thread topper pic! Sending you best wishes for 2018. Glad to see that wee Elissa has transitioned home, but sorry to learn that her sleeping and digestion has suffered. I love naps but that must be an indication of me getting older. ;-) Glad to see you have been managing to get some nights with uninterrupted sleep!

>51 ChelleBearss: - Looks like the easel was the perfect gift for your budding young artist!

Starring your thread so that I can make it back here for more visits. Wishing you and your family a lovely weekend, Chelle.

I feel like we’d be friends! Welcome (welcome back? Sorry I was mostly absent in 2017). Can’t wait to go though this journey with you.

>47 ChelleBearss: Chelle, that's what Mother's Days are for (or so that's what my family tells me!)

>51 ChelleBearss: She's adorable! I so miss that age.

Hi Chelle, glad to hear that you and your family are getting a full nights' sleep these days. And that you were able to squeeze in a book as well. I love Chloe's artwork!

Happy Saturday! No sleeping late for me today but Nate has taken Chloe out for the morning and Ellie and I will be relaxing. Currently it’s nap time for Ellie and LT and book time for me! I’ve started Magpie Murders and I’m enjoying it so far!

>59 vancouverdeb: I will cross my fingers that your son gets a good sleeper! I am very thankful that for the last week Ellie has been sleeping 11-12 hours. I hope it continues!

>60 RebaRelishesReading: thanks Reba! She has been working on a new one every day. Thankfully she likes to share them so once they are dry we roll them up and give them away to her family!

>61 lkernagh: thanks for visiting, Lori! Hope you have a great reading year!
Thankfully both Ellie’s sleeping and digestion have improved over the last week. I hope it continues!

>62 drewybear9111: Welcome to my thread, drewybear9111.

>63 rretzler: Ha! I hope to sleep in on Mother’s Day! Nate is supposed to be off work this year so I’ll keep my fingers crossed

>64 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! I’m going to end up with Chloe’s art hanging all over the house soon!

Hi Chelle!

Great to hear that except for colds you are all getting good sleep and etc.

'Dorable picture of her mommy and aunt by Chloe.

Glad that you and Elissa are relaxing. I hope you like Magpie Murders - I thought it was fantastic.

(>57 Berly: Kim- if you click on a touchstoned title of a book and it's part of a series, it will immediately tell you that. If you then click on that hyperlinked info, Series: (name)#, you will see the whole series in order, including which books you have in your catalog and any prequels, short stories, novellas, or other publications in addition to recommendations and etc. If it's not part of a series, you'll see that, too.)

>51 ChelleBearss: Your daughter chloe is a budding artist. And, she is so charmingly cute!

Hi, Chelle!

Took me a while to find your thread. Love the family photo up top!

Three nights straight of sleep - you've probably stopped hallucinating? I can remember being at work after we had our restless first one, and thinking my mind was somewhere in outer space.

We tease our daughter about vomiting and pooping on me - not her favorite stories.

I liked The Midnight Line, too. "Typical and enjoyable" - well put. Not a knockout, but a good time.

There were already a dozen or so Reacher books already out when I read and loved the first one. I was so happy! I plowed right through them. Now I always have to wait for the next one to come out. Child keeps up a steady pace with them, I'll say that much.

I think you'll have fun with Magpie Murders. My wife (walklover) is probably going to start it today.

Mrsdrneutron loved Magpie Murders and keeps bugging me to read it.

I'll second and third on Magpie Murders. It was warbled about quite a bit here on LT and then my sister lent me the book. It was a lot fun!

>67 karenmarie: Thanks Karen! We are giving her Aunty that picture to hang in her spare room (aka Chloe's sleepover room :)
Glad to hear you enjoyed Magpie Murders! I am about a quarter way through and it's very good so far. I find that I'm trying to fit in reading time for it, which is always a good sign lately!

>68 Whisper1: Thanks Linda! Chloe has always been very into her arts and crafts. She loves making pictures with glue and pom poms or gems and she has always been into painting. I like that with the easel she is starting to make larger paintings and working on different shapes and designs. It's so fun to watch her paint.

>69 jnwelch: Glad you found me, Joe!
Thankfully the hallucinations have stopped, however I am still hearing the Paw Patrol song in my sleep! Ear worms are bad enough but they are worse then they are kids songs!

I find all the Reacher novels to be like that. Not knockouts but dependable good times. My experience with the Reacher books was similar. I read them all one after another one year. I went back to my old threads to check and I read fifteen in a row in 2014, took a break and then read another three!

Hope Walklover enjoys Magpie Murders. I think I have missed but does she keep a thread as well?

>70 drneutron: Doc, you should always listen to your wife! ;-0

>71 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb! Yes I saw a bunch of the warbling and added it a while back. I just found it while looking through my kobo for something to read and decided to pick it up. Glad I did :)

Happy Sunday, Folks!

I am up with the birds today as wee Ellie has decided that if she is going to sleep all night she prefers to be up by 630am.
Well, shit.
I can't really complain at the early hour as at least I am getting a full night's rest. I just have to start heading to bed earlier. And in the morning I get a little quiet time with my coffee while Ellie plays and Chloe is still sleeping.
I even managed to get a little bit of Magpie Murders read last night before passing out.

Today we are finally having our Christmas with Nathen's parents. First we were delayed in Toronto with Ellie and then when we got home they both got quite sick. It will be nice to visit with them today and even better they are bringing lasagna and cheesecake so all I have to do it salad and red lobster biscuits, yes!!

Have a happy, lazy Sunday all!

Morning Waves to Moms, birds and babies! Happy Sunday, Chelle. I hope you are enjoying Magpie Murders and you get to read a bit, while you have your coffee.

Enjoy the Christmas gathering today and delicious sounding meal.

Hiya Mark! Hope your lunch visit with Joe was fun!
I am enjoying Magpie Murders and am going to spend the rest of the night reading it. It's been a busy day and I am pooped right out. Kids are asleep and I'm going to lay in bed with my shortbread cookies, tea and eReader until I fall asleep.

The girls had a good Christmas with their grandparents and were spoiled as usual.
This is the best picture I could get of them in their Christmas dresses.

^ Love that picture! So touching.

>75 ChelleBearss: Your girls so beautiful! Such sweet faces.

Cute picture and such pretty little girls.

>72 ChelleBearss: Re Reacher: I read fifteen in a row in 2014, took a break and then read another three! That sure does sound just like me!

Walklover (Debbi) was setting up her 2018 thread today, so it should show up in the threadbook.

P.S. Yup, here it is: http://www.librarything.com/topic/283345#

The get-together with Mark yesterday was a ton o' fun.

>75 ChelleBearss:, What a gorgeous photo of your fabulous daughters my dear.

>75 ChelleBearss: Beautiful photo of the girls, Chelle! Chloe is looking so much like you!

Happy Tuesday!
Yesterday Nate and I spent half the day at the hospital with Elissa for her post-op followup and she has been given a clean bill of health! Chest x-rays are clear and heart is working as it should. Hurray!! No appointments for us for another month and then just a followup to make sure the fluid doesn't come back once she is on full fat foods again

Today it's snowy so we are trying to decide if we want to venture out for our planned lunch and Costco trip or just stay home and veg. If we stay home then it would mean a Costco trip on the weekend instead and I'm not sure that's worth the veg day!

>76 lkernagh: Thanks Lori! Chloe always asks to hold Ellie (for 2.5 seconds and then "I'm done!")

>77 scaifea: Thanks Amber! I agree, but then I'm rather biased!

Chelle, that is great news! And the picture of the girls is adorable. Elissa looks really well. It must be such a relief to have it all behind you. Is there a way you can have a veg day and then send Nate to Costco on the weekend on his own? :-)

>78 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba!

>79 jnwelch: Thanks Joe! I'll have to check out walklover's thread soon! I'm getting behind again!

>80 johnsimpson: Thanks John! They are pretty cute, eh! :)

>81 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie! Chloe is weird in that sometimes she looks like Nathen and other days she looks like me. I find it bizarre!

>84 ChelleBearss: I think expressions and mannerisms can often account for that.

Really great news about Elissa, Chelle!! I bet you gave a huge sigh of relief.

>82 ChelleBearss: >83 susanj67: Costco on the weekend...scary thought! Husband alone at Costco...scarier thought! How about Costco today and veg day on the weekend?

Great news about Elissa. Here's to a healthy, happy future for all four of you.

Adorable picture of your girls up there, Chelle!

>82 ChelleBearss: That is great news about Elissa!

>83 susanj67: Thanks Susan! She is doing well and sleeping well, so it's a huge relief!
No way can I send Nate to Costco on his own! He would come home with $200 worth of junk food and nothing from my list ;-p

>85 Crazymamie: I think you are right, Mamie. She probably takes a lot from both Nathen and I.
HUGE sigh! I know she will still have this for her life and may have issues later in life but I am so relieved to be out of the woods for now!

>86 RebaRelishesReading: Ha, husband and toddler loose in Costco WAS a nightmare! They wandered off on their own while my MIL and I looked at some stuff together. They started with an empty cart and when I found them again they had managed to find a 10lb jug of some cheese puff thing. (It found it's way back onto the shelf!)

>87 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita! :-)

>88 ChelleBearss: LOL! Your Costco experience is why my wife didn't let the kids and I go back with her to Costco for a long time. In my case, it was a huge jug of dates instead of cheese puff things, although she had other reasons . . .

>89 jnwelch: It's funny that he says I spend too much money at Costco but half the crap in our cart was junk he added that we don't need. Avocado mayonnaise. Gigantic box of fruit gummies. Two years worth of vitamin C drops.
Yeah. I spend too much. LOL!!

I'm delighted that Elissa has a clean bill of health and that things are going well. As for Costco, after our two sons moved out on their own, we gave up our Costco Membership. I found that we did not need the big quantities, and also there is always something at Costco that you just must have ( but you don't really need it! :-)

Avocado mayo? Yum! I’ll take some! 😀

>75 ChelleBearss: What a gorgeous photo!

>82 ChelleBearss: Great news!

>90 ChelleBearss: Whenever I send my husband to the grocery store, he ALWAYS comes back with some $5 bottles of soda or even more expensive beer, plus numerous really expensive snacks! Last week, I asked him to pick up milk on his way home from Keegan's soccer game, and they came home with bags and bags full of stuff. It's definitely a man thing, IMO.

Oh, that's such good news!! Yay for Elissa!!

Hooray for Ellie's clean bill of health! I bet this is such a relief, for you both. What a sweetheart!

We shop at Costco too. I did not realize they had stores in Canada.

Morning, Chelle. I hope you are squeezing some reading in, here and there.

Wonderful to hear Ellie's checkup was a good one! Both of your girls are lovely — thanks for sharing the phot of them in their Christmas finery.

I just read The Midnight Line also. Lee Child sure has a formula, but it's still working for me at least.

I'll add my song of praises for The Magpie Murders. I loved it.

Happy Wednesday, Folks! Elissa's 6am wake ups have continued but I've been going to bed earlier so it's almost ok. Nate is back to work today so I'm hoping for a quiet day at home with the girls and after bedtime some wine and my book!


>91 vancouverdeb: We just got a Costco membership before Christmas as they had a giant doll house that we wanted to get for Chloe for Christmas. I agree with you that we often find too many things that we "need" but really we can live without. Like the pillow sized bag of Miss Vickie's chips that managed to make it's way into the cart! It does have it's benefits as there are some things that we actually need that are a very good price, but I'm not sure it makes up for all the extras that we buy. I'm sure we end up spending too much.

>92 drneutron: I haven't tasted it yet, Jim. I feel like it is something we would like though!

>93 rretzler: It can be a dangerous thing, eh Robin! I think in our case it's because it's usually my responsibility to shop and I don't buy much junk. So when Nate goes he realizes all the yummy things that we don't have so he feels the need to stock up. Usually it's also influenced by him having a junk craving toddler with him.

>94 scaifea: Thanks Amber! We are pretty over the moon. Now to try and get her to sleep in past 7am! :)

>95 msf59: Morning Mark! I am almost halfway through Magpie Murders. I wasn't feeling great last night so I cuddled on the couch with my book and let Nate watch Narcos (which I have no desire to watch with him). I think I will be finished by this weekend. I'm debating starting Sleeping Beauties next but it's such a tomb that it will take me forever to finish.

>96 rosalita: I agree, Julia, that Child does seem to have a format that he sticks to. I was happy that in this book it appeared that he was going to skip the "Reacher helps a woman and sleeps with her" routine that he had been using ... but then it happened near the end. It wasn't as much of the story line this time, though, which I liked. They are enjoyable and dependable reads.

We are safe at Costco as we go together as Karen doesn't drive and we stick to our list. I do the household shopping and I have a list and if it isn't on the list it doesn't go in the trolley and I don't go perusing aisles or picking things up and wittering on about the item. The shopping doesn't take me long and once we got going I don't do a big shop apart from at Christmas. we used to do a big shop when Karen got paid and then the next three weeks were smaller shops and now once we had got things sorted out I do a small shop every week.

Morning!

A little tired today as Ellie was gassy in the night and had me up, but thankfully only for an hour. Nate is off to work today and he was so excited as he is executing his first warrant at work. My cute little policeman
Hoping for another quiet day at home! I hope to do a little research on diet plans today. Now that Ellie is healthy and I'm not nursing I think it's time to start losing some of the extra weight. I am considering weight watchers. Anyone have any recent experience with that program?

>99 johnsimpson: Hi John! You and Karen must have great willpower! Unfortunately Nathen and I do not and end up with many extras!

Hi Chelle!

So glad to hear about Elissa's good post-op followup. The pic of the girls is 'dorable.

Costco - we've gotten very strong about not buying the huge jars of Tootsie Pops or other candy and chips. We (now I, since I'm retired) usually just stick to the things go in for with the occasional unplanned book or two. Coffee's the big thing - medium roast beans, $9.99/2 lbs. Can't beat it for price or quality as they are roasted by Starbucks.

Have a good day with the girls.

>101 karenmarie: Thanks Karen! I did pretty well at our last costco trip and the only book I bought was a Robert Munsch for Chloe. I have too many unread right now so I found some willpower and refrained!
I have a hard time at Costco at Christmas. They always have some great decorations at good prices and the huge boxes of chocolates and candy that I can't resist!

Good morning, Chelle!

>51 ChelleBearss: Your little artist really captured your lovely smile!

I'm glad all went well with Ellie's appointment. What a relief for all of you!

I love love love the gif in >97 ChelleBearss:. I saved it to my Facebook account for future use :)

Wishing you and yours a lovely weekend!

>98 ChelleBearss: I was hoping that Reacher would (somehow) stick with Michelle Chang from Make Me, or at least try. The "helps a woman and sleeps with her" does get old.

Yesterday I decided that I am too chubby (post pregnancy chubby, but chubby none the less) so I joined weight watchers!

I had great success with it a few years back so I decided to give it a shot again. My goal is 25-30lbs by the time I go back to work in September. I am hoping that is do-able since I have 35 weeks until I go back to work. I need to lose at least 15lbs so that I don't have to buy new dress pants for work!!

So that being said what is your favourite diet friendly dinner meals that don't take a ton of time to prepare???

>103 Carmenere: Morning Lynda! Wine Wednesday is a wonderful thing :)

>104 jnwelch: It does get old, doesn't it! I'm not sure he will ever settle down because then the chances of these encounters becomes less probable. It's much easier to write him finding all these problems if he wanders the USA but if he stays still then what would happen?

Chelle, good luck with the weight loss - I am working on that, too. Here is a link to a blog that has some really great recipes, and all of her stuff has the weight watchers info on it. It's here: Skinnytaste We have tried a ton of her stuff, and only a few have been less than delicious - all of her meatball recipes are yummy. And we just made this last night, which is a favorite of ours:


One skillet chicken with bacon and green beans

Thanks Mamie! I love skinny taste, thanks for the reminder. I love her turkey taco soup for freezer lunches! I haven’t looked at that website in a while so I’ll check it out again and she what new stuff she has!

Hi Chelle! I finally found your new thread and am, of course, dropping off my star.

I love the photo at the top; what a lovely family. And I think it's cool that you're going to give the PopSugar challenge a try. I am not-doing several challenges this year (but I am trying to choose really flexible challenges to not-do).

>75 ChelleBearss: "This is the best picture I could get of them in their Christmas dresses."
Squirmy little ones, eh? :-)

Chelle, I just picked up Magpie Murders from the library and will be starting it as soon as I finish Nemesis by Jo Nesbo. It seems to be a popular one here at LT so I am looking forward to it. I've been using some of the recipes at Skinny Taste and I can recommend the Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach, The Italian Chicken and Veggie Sheetpan Dinner and the Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops!

>109 EBT1002: Squirmy indeed! And not willing to both look at me at the same time :)
I like that the pop sugar challenge allows for me to read what I feel like at the time and then try and fit it in the categories after. It will come down to a few at the end that I'll specifically have to find books for but hopefully I'll have time for that later in the year.

>110 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy! I'll check those out! I can tell I'll eat more chicken and fish since it's less points but I know that I'll get bored quickly! I was shocked to see how many points my sausage was last night. Those are now off the menu!!

Chelle, I joined WW online last May and lost 20 lbs! I found it quite easy to follow, but it is pretty boring, I suppose. It's a lot easier when you only have a very health minded husband and myself to worry about, instead of a young family. I've gained back 5 lbs over the holidays- and I"ve got to get back on track. I think it's those endless chocolates and what not that end up coming my way in December. Somehow the weather over the winter is not very conducive to walking and the thought of warm comfort food beckons over nice cold fruit and veggies in the summer. But I'm getting back on track. I tell you, keeping weight off at the grand of age of - well, nearly 57 is a lot harder than it was back in my pre - menopause days. Yikes!

Happy weekend, folks!
Today is a lazy day. I plan to spend part of it meal planning for next week and then grocery shopping. I am hoping that since Nate is home that he can entertain the kids while I escape to shop alone. Ellie should nap soon so hopefully I can sneak out!

I am almost finished Magpie Murders! Hoping to finish tonight. I am very intrigued on where this is going. I haven't figured out either of the plots yet! And while reading the first portion I had forgot that I was reading a novel within a novel!



>112 vancouverdeb: That's great, Deb! Congrats! I'd be happy with 20lbs!!
The one good thing about doing this is it means that if I eat healthier then Nate is forced to as well. He is always complaining that he doesn't eat well enough and it affects his weight training. He lifts heavy weights and has grown some huge muscles but isn't disciplined enough to eat a proper diet with it. Chloe doesn't really eat what we eat most times anyway so I'll probably have to make her some extras to go with our healthier meals. Although she loves fish and vegetables so hopefully I'll just end up making some extra pastas or chicken fingers on days that I make things that she won't eat.

>82 ChelleBearss: So glad to see that Ellie is doing so well and out of hospital. Must be such a relief to you all.

>113 ChelleBearss: Love the photo! Good luck with the weight loss project. You can do it!! : )

Happy Sunday!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Lazy Sunday in this house. Last night when Chloe went to bed she requested pancakes for breakfast for today so we have had a big family breakfast with pancakes, eggs, turkey bacon (that was overcooked and rather gross) and fruit.
Nate has to take a run to his work to pick up something and also to dispose of our old Christmas tree. He will be gone a few hours and plans to take Chloe with him for the ride and leave me and Ellie to relax.

That in mind I have two goals for today:

1) Clean my kitchen and dinning room of all signs of life. (Toddler and my husband have left a trail of debris!)

2) Finish Magpie Murders. I am about 92% of the way through (or so my eReader tells me :)

Bonus: 3) Find time to get caught up on all threads during naps.

>114 SandDune: Thanks Rhian! It is such a relief and she is doing well at home so we are very happy.

>115 Berly: Thanks Kim! I have been doing excellent with keeping to my allowed points during the day ... then the kids go to bed and I eat the entire snack cupboard. Need to work on that! ;-p

Chelle, my Dad did the Weight Watchers points thing a few years ago when he needed to lose a bit of weight before a joint replacement. He studied it all very closely and announced that everything was possible except, sadly, sausages :-) But he found it really helpful, even though he was the only boy in the group.

I hope you enjoy your quiet(er) time and don't spend it all tidying up!

Morning, Chelle. Happy Sunday. Love the Ellie photo up there. What a sweetheart. I enjoyed Sleeping Beauties and I think you will too. My only issue is , like many King books, is it's excessive length. I am going to start Strange Weather next, this is from King's son, Joe Hill, who I also really like.

Hope you day goes smoothly.

Hi Chelle!

Good luck with your weight loss goals. I don't know how WW works these days, but one thing that I think is critical for weight loss is eating protein, carbohydrates, and fat each time you eat. Not always possible, but even thinking about it helps cut down the carbs.

2) Magpie murders by Anthony Horowitz
2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge : 26. A book with an animal in the title

This was a very clever murder mystery! I loved how this had a whodunit within a whodunit and that I didn't figure out either one!

>117 susanj67: Hi Susan! Like your dad I will miss sausages. We don't eat a lot of them, or red meat, but I do enjoy one every once in a while and it's usually one of the proteins that i can get Chloe to eat. I'll have to fit them in on a day I eat a light lunch.

>118 msf59: Happy Sunday, Mark! I'm sure, like you, that I will enjoy King's latest. I just don't have a lot of reading time lately so it's hard to pick up such a huge book. I may take me weeks to finish it! I have the newest Andrea Camilleri so I think I'll read that one first as it's shorter and then perhaps tackle the King.
I love Joe Hill but I don't care for short stories so I think I'll skip that one.
King has a new one out in May called The Outsider. It's a more reasonable 567 pages ;-p

>119 karenmarie: Hi Karen! The new WW program stresses lean protein so things like chicken breast, turkey and eggs are free points meaning I can eat as much of those as I need to be full without stressing about how many points I have left.
I also bought some no point sauces and dressings, like hot mustard, to liven up boring chicken!

Chelle dear, your question about Doctor Who in my thread, post 142: It's on Space.

I live to serve.

Stopping by to get caught up. Love the Costco story. It is amazing how stores like Costco (and IKEA) can suck one into to making purchases they wouldn't ordinarily make. ;-)

Glad to see that Elissa has a clean bill of health. That is wonderful news!

>105 ChelleBearss: - Given that I usually go on a diet in the winter months, I find making a big pot of soup and then eating it as small servings really does the trick for me. Good luck with your WW goals!

>122 richardderus: Thanks Ricard!! I had a complete brain fart and when I searched my library catalogue I searched for "Dr Who" and got hardly anything. I just rechecked with the proper "Doctor Who' and found quite a lot more!
So question for you, the ninth series is that the one that is considered Series One?
My library has this:


>123 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Oh, Ikea is another bad one for finding so many things that I MUST HAVE!! Thankfully we haven't been there in a long time!
Thanks for the idea but I don't find soup filling and I end up snacking. Chili I can do :)

>124 ChelleBearss: Yep. Thass it. The Ninth Doctor is Series One for y'all bizarros who call a season a series and a series a show. Or however that works. "Rose" is the first episode and I am immoderately fond of it.

>125 richardderus: Spectacular! My library does have this one so I should be able to start this week :)

Happy day-that-shant-be-named.

The children are up before the birds today! Nate's alarm went off at a ghastly 330 and then snow (or something) fell off our roof around 430 and made a loud bang and woke Miss Ellie. Thankfully she eventually went back to sleep without assistance but was up again at 630. Chloe got up at 715 but I talked her into going back to bed for a bit. She is very influenced by the movements of the sun and moon and when I told her the moon was still up that was all the encouragement she needed to hop back in bed. I've opened her blinds and told her to call me when she sees the sun. I imagine she is just laying there playing but it's better to have her rest for another little while than spend the whole day cranky.

Last night I tried a new recipe from the Skinny Taste website (thanks again for the reminder, Mamie!)
Cheese stuffed turkey meatloaf
It was delicious and Nate even had seconds and tried to have more but I made him stop so he could have leftovers for work lunches! I couldn't find low-fat cheese (is that really a thing?) so it had a bit more calories than the recipe said but paired with lots of veggies it worked great!

Today I don't plan to even get out of my jammies :) Have a good day everyone!

>127 ChelleBearss: I love that Chloe went back to bed because the moon was still up!

And hooray for the recipe! I saw that one and thought it looked good, too, so we were going to try it this week. I always do just what you did with the cheese because I don't like the low-fat stuff - I can really taste the difference.

Enjoy your jammie day - sounds full of fabulous!

>128 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie!
It only worked for about three more sips of coffee and then she was up again, but it was worth a shot!

I couldn’t find low fat cheese at all. Not sure if it would be with specialty cheeses instead of the normal dairy. Either way it didn’t make that much of a difference and regular cheese will always be better!
I’m sure you family will love it! It made eight servings so with six of you eating you might want to make two loaves as Nate wanted thirds!

>75 ChelleBearss: What beautiful children! When we were little, our mother would dress us in like dresses. I had two sisters who were younger than I, The youngest sister laughs and tells the story that because our mother only bought quality items, she wore the same dress for many years. My sister two years younger, grew into my dress, then my youngest sister four years younger grew into her dress. Thus, my sister Robin wore her original dress, then my sisters, then mine.

Glad you enjoyed Magpie Murders, Chelle!

>127 ChelleBearss: That sounds like a difficult morning. Our Abby (a cat, but still) was incredibly restless all last night. Tonight I managed to get her pain medicine down her and I think she is conked out now. I hope so because we need the sleep!

Did Nate's alarm go off at 330 on purpose???

>75 ChelleBearss: Aw, your babies are bigger each day. My babies are blundering boys now and I can scarcely remember them as little (then again, Little Lenny who is 6 is still very young, and sleeps all arms and legs akimbo like he did as a baby- In fact, I might go and look at him now, as I love seeing that gorgeousness....)

>124 ChelleBearss: a Doctor Who fledgling huh? I never watched it religiously but have seen it, and I like Billie Piper. She was a young pop star turned wife of way older tv celebrity when I lived in the UK, so I noticed when she became a Doctor Who person :)

eta: I couldn't find low-fat cheese (is that really a thing?)
LOL! I guess it is...although, what would be the point? We use Edam all the time (or parmesan) which is low-ER fat than some....

Chelle, low-fat cheese is definitely a thing here, and it's displayed with the ordinary cheese. In fact, it looks so similar, packaging-wise, that I have bought it by mistake a couple of times and then felt cross when my cheese on toast (grilled cheese) wouldn't melt. I always try and get the ordinary kind, and not have too much of it. I hope the thing that fell off the roof was indeed snow, or there could be anything out there!

Morning, Chelle. Glad you had a good time with Magpie Murders. I did start the first 2 episodes of Dr. Who. (This 9th version). It may not be my cuppa but I will watch a few more. It is fun, mindless entertainment.

Morning folks!
I had a poor sleep last night, tossed and turned a bit. A little coffee and quiet should do the trick this morning!

We had an interesting day yesterday. Chloe was an angel but little Ellie has found her "voice" and screamed all day long. Not screaming because she needs anything (although I think a tooth should be soon!) but screaming because she likes it. It's loud. Very loud. At one point Chloe said "mommy, she is hurting my ears!". It continues this morning ... ugh!

Chloe and I discovered that she is now old enough to read some of the books that have been piling up but were a bit too long for her when she was two. Last night we read the new book from Costco and two more from her shelves that we hadn't read before.
I think I'm going to start tracking the new books that Chloe and I read as I'm curious to see how many we will have by the end of the year.
From last night:
Edgar's Second Word by Audrey Vernick
Mmm, Cookies! by Robert Munsch
Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

>130 Whisper1: Oh Linda, that's funny! Your poor sister was probably so tired of that dress! I do try and match the girls for special occasions. Their Christmas dress was identical except for the size, but that is a little hard to find sometimes due to their age difference (3 years). A lot of their fancy dresses come as gifts. Our family loves to see them in dresses, especially my sister's MIL. She always buys the girls beautiful dresses from the Gap and got them each pretty silver ones this year. They weren't identical but they matched and were so sweet!

>131 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! Sorry to see your kitty is in pain and restless. Poor thing! Did you guys get some sleep?
Unfortunately Nate's alarm goes off at 330am on purpose. He starts work at 6am and has a 40 minute commute and likes to take his time in the morning. He isn't out of bed usually until about 4 so I get to listen to him hit snooze many times. He thought he was funny last week when he got a new phone and found a rooster alarm. I thought it was a lot less funny than he did and he has now changed it to something a little less likely for him to be killed at 330am!

>132 LovingLit: Your boys are adorable! And growing bigger each day as well! Isn't a shame how kids do that! I just want them to stay young and cute (like puppies!)
Yep, a Who-newbie! My library does have the Ninth (first?) series so I will try it with Nathen later this week hopefully. I know we tried an episode many years ago and I don't think it was our thing, but we will give it shot again!

>133 susanj67: Susan, I love cheese too much! It's not really a diet friendly food.
A think the noise was snow, but it was so warm out yesterday that our snow has mostly melted. I hope that was what it was!

>134 msf59: Morning Mark! I haven't had a chance to get to Who yet, library still transfering between branches. I hope Thursday perhaps.
Have a good light mail day!

Hi Chelle!

That turkey meatloaf sounds yummy, although my husband won't eat spinach so I can't sneak greens in that way. I make a turkey meatloaf recipe my sister gave me decades ago which is very tasty, too. You remind me that I should make it soon.

Ellie has found her voice. Chloe can be cajoled with staying in bed 'til she sees the sun. 330 rooster alarms! Exciting times at your house. I hope you all have a great Tuesday.

Sorry for the rough night and the noise day! Have a great Tuesday.

I found this while searching for new kids books today. This came up when I googled "books for 3 year olds" but it's clearly for adults. I laughed out loud! I want to read it now but I'm not going to buy it and it's not at my library. Shoot.



The beasty is called an American Trump.
Its skin is bright orange, its figure is plump.
Its fur so complex you might get enveloped.
Its hands though are, sadly, underdeveloped.

>137 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I wonder if you could swap the spinach for something else? Chopped broccoli perhaps? Or just skip the veg and have something on the side.
You say exciting, I say too loud :)

>138 drneutron: Thanks Doc! You too!

*snerk*

>139 ChelleBearss: Excellent book. Snarky. *smile*

The only green vegetables my husband will eat are lettuce, cucumbers, green beans preferably cooked 'til they are not crisp and also preferably cooked with some kind of pork, and cabbage, but only if it's thinly shredded into vegetable beef soup. I am not kidding. No broccoli, peas, coleslaw, brussel sprouts, green peppers, etc. It's trying, for sure. He will eat canned green beans on the side, or fresh green beans if I cook them more than I like and less than he likes.

Ah yes. Ellie doesn't understand the request to use her inside voice yet, does she? I am sympathetic, and majorly impressed at anybody who has two or more. I just have the one, and realize that two doesn't double the work, it increases it exponentially. And more than two.... Kudos to you and Nathen. Your girls are lucky.

Chelle, thanks for the link to the Cheese Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf, that's one I will definitely give a try! I skipped over all your spoilers re: Magpie Murders as I have finally started it myself. Still in the first hundred pages but so far it reminds me of Midsommer Murders!

Found you chelle!! Such a sweet family picture!! Dropping my star so I can find you again. :)

Morning! Nate is home today so I'll have some help with the kidlets. He and Chloe have dental appointments today and not much else going on here. Hoping for a boring day!

I'm still working my way through Pyramid of Mud by Andrea Camilleri (Montalbano #22). Last night Chloe and I read three of her new books:
The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield (Chloe now wants to visit the moon!)
The Bad Seed by Jory John
If you Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff
and we reread Mmmm, Cookies

>140 drneutron: Right! (Are his hands really that small though?)

>141 karenmarie: Karen, your husband sounds remarkably like my father!! I can't get him to eat a vegetable no matter what I try, except for soggy beans! Yuck! I like my beans a little crunchy with some chili garlic sauce! mmmm!
Yes, Ellie does not have an inside voice yet. She very much loves to scream. A lot. Even when happy. It's loud. Very loud.
We are lucky to have two beautiful, healthy and happy girls, but I wouldn't say no to a sleep in!! :-p

>142 DeltaQueen50: HI Judy! Hope you love the meatloaf! Nate has asked that I add it to the rotation! That reminds me to ask him if it reheated well for lunches.
Hope you are loving Magpie Murders. I haven't read Midsommer Murders so I'll check it out!

>143 jolerie: Yay, Valerie!! Glad to see you

Last night Nathen brought home a bag of books for Chloe that one of his coworkers gave him. She has sent so many things for Chloe over the last couple years from play clothes, play sand to books. Her children are a few years older and as they grow out of things she passes them to us.

The books she sent home are from a princess series called Pinkalicious:
Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann
Pinkalicious: The Pinkamazing Storybook Collection by Victoria Kann
Silverlicious by Victoria Kann
Pinkalicious: The Princess of Pink Treasury by Victoria Kann
Purplicious by Victoria Kann

Chloe has already sat down in the living room and looked through them and refuses to leave me alone until I read them all.

I love days where the hubby can be home to help out but in my case that usually is the case if one of us is sick and out for the count!

Your girls are beautiful! How old are they now?
Boring days means there is no disasters. I welcome those with wide arms. :)

My boring day slightly changed when we went in to register Chloe for JK for September! Eeek!

>146 jolerie: Thanks Valerie! Chloe is 3.5 and Ellisa is 6 months :) Little handfulls!

I am glad the screaming/reading handfuls are doing well. And so is Mom, aside from the rooster alarm. It's fun to see what the latest kids books are--keep posting your reads with Chloe! And now I am making meatloaf for dinner tonight. : )

>135 ChelleBearss: I dressed my youngest daughter with adorable clothes from the Gap. Your message reminded me of the fun I had shopping for something special for school photos.

Morning, Chelle! Charlie LOVES the Pinkalicious books!

Good Morning!
So yesterday Ellie decided to cut her first tooth! Yay! It's just starting to poke out enough to feel it but I can't really see it yet. I figured it was on the way soon by her refusal to finish a few meals and her general crankiness. Hopefully it finishes ascending with out too much bother!
Today my only goal is to get to the library with Chloe. Nate needs some time to go grab a hair cut and pharmacy trip. Other than that we will be boring people today!

Last night I finished Pyramid of Mud and started Neverwhere. I keep saying I'm going to start Sleeping Beauties but then I pick up smaller books... maybe next time!


3) Pyramid of Mud by Andrea Camilleri
2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge :7. A book set in a country that fascinates you

>148 Berly: Hi Kim! How'd your meatloaf turn out? Was it the one I posted or your own recipe that you would care to share? :)
I'll keep posting new books, thanks for encouraging me! I'm sure we will bring home a ton from the library today!
We didn't read any new ones last night as Nate did bedtime, yay!

>149 Whisper1: That's a sweet memory, Linda! I'm glad that Chloe is getting a bit older and can come to the mall with me to help pick our her pretty dresses. She is very much a girly girl right now and loves to wear pretty dresses

>150 scaifea: Morning, Amber! Glad to see Charlie liked them, Chloe loves them already!

Chelle, I think my son and his wife are in for a big surprise! :-) You know their baby is arriving in Mid March? Well, I asked my son about getting a mobile for the crib. He replied that he hoped that the crib would not become a playplace and not a sleeping place. I chuckled silently to myself and I thought - you will be so glad if you can buy some time with your baby when she wakes up with a mobile or a busy box on the side of the crib. But some things you have to find out yourself. And unfortunately the crib has such wide sides a mobile won't fit. I'll have to look into something that will attach to the side of the crib - if my son and DIL agree it is a good idea :-)

My new grand daughter is set to be a girly girl, whether she likes it or not. My DIL has at least 12 sets of shoes for baby . It will be an interesting adventure for all of us. I'm am so eager to find out the name, but they are keeping that a secret until after she is born.

>139 ChelleBearss: OMG I might have to buy that!

Ouch...teeth cutting has got to be some form of torture for both the wee one and the adult.

Silas..being an overachiever that he is just finished cutting ALL 4 of his top teeth at once!! Thankfully it didn't affect his sleep or eating too much. Just needed to be held ALL DAY LONG. :D

Chloe and I had our library date this morning and it was fun! She says she made three friends :) Even better, Nate survived his first time alone with Ellie :) I'm slowly trying to make him more comfortable with her alone so I can eventually spend a little more time outside the house! She has been a bit of a mama's girl and I need to reduce that a touch so I can be able to run errands alone or perhaps my long overdue spa visit! (My sad gift card is collecting dust in my wallet!)

Also Chloe's grandma called and invited her for a sleepover today. Score! Perhaps I'll get some reading time this afternoon :)

This is our library haul. We will read the kids books on repeat for the next three weeks and then hopefully have another library date!
For me:
Dark Saturday by Nicci French
The lying game by Ruth Ware
A perilous undertaking Deanna Raybourn

For Chloe:
Gruffalo crumble and other recipes by Julia Donaldson
The rabbit and the turtle : Aesop's fables / retold and illustrated - Eric Carle
The elephant wish - Lou Berger
I'm a hungry dinosaur - Janeen Brian
Tater and Tot - by Andrea Burris
Snow moon - Nicholas Brunelle
Baby Polar - by Yannick Murphy

We also grabbed a pre-packed bag of suggestions with these:
( I was happy to see the Karma Wilson which we have not read)

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Cottonwool Colin by Jeanne Willis
The Dragon Snatcher by MP Robertson
A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson
The Hockey Tree by David Ward
Mom, the School Flooded by Ken Rivard
My Best Friend by Mary Ann Rodman
Never Tease a Weasel by Jean Conder Soule
Pog and the Birdies by Jane Simmons
Skippyjohn Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner

>152 vancouverdeb: Ha, Deb, some things you just have to learn on your own. I prefer to keep the crib as a sleep only place too but a mobile helps when I put her down to wash my hands after changing her or even if I need to run down and grab more for her bottle. Anything to keep her from crying is worth it. The crib (or playpen) are always the safest place to put them when you need a moment (bathroom? laundry?) and a mobile distracts.

We have a fish tank too that we love. Chloe still has it in her bedroom but soon it will be switched to Elissa's bed. She used it in her hospital room and it really helped soothe her when she was fussy.
My issue with a mobile (from when Chloe was super fussy!) is that they don't last long. You wind it and then 30 seconds later it's done and you have to wind it again. The fish tank, and things similar, comes with a remote that when baby falls asleep it either times out or you can use the remote to turn it off. I would recommend this as a wonderful gift for new parents! Even if your son doesn't use it right away with baby we used ours with Chloe from about 7 months until today! She still turns it on and watches it when she is falling asleep and she is 3.5 years old!


>153 RebaRelishesReading: Ha, Reba! Let me know what you think if you do get it! That quote made me laugh so hard!

>154 jolerie: Hi Valerie! Teething is one of those things that every baby does differently and the lucky few don't get bothered at all! Thankfully Elissa's sleep hasn't been affected much as we just got her sleeping all night and I'd like to keep that. As far as I can tell it's just one tooth so far, but who knows! Silas is quite the overachiever eh! Four teeth, poor fella!

Great minds read alike. I got The Lying Game from the library as well.

>155 ChelleBearss: Sounds like your library date was a success all around! Glad you and Chloe had a great time and glad that Nate had some quality time with Ellie!

Happy Friday, Folks!


Nate and I enjoyed our 50% free child night! (Chloe slept at her grandparents and Ellie was in bed by 630 for the night!)
We watched Doctor Who and Bad Moms and I died of laughter! So many accurate mom jokes! We also threw my diet out the window with bad hors d'oeuvres (Crispy fried shrimps & lobster mac & cheese puffs that tastes like the mac and cheese deli meat 🤢)

Doctor Who was pretty great. We watched the first three episodes of the Ninth Doctor. Drove me nuts for the first episode trying to figure out where I had seen the actor who plays Doctor Who (Christopher Eccleston). He was the bad guy in Gone in 60 Seconds! I have requested the rest of the season from the library so hopefully we can have another binge watching session next week.

Today I'm going to try and get caught up on a little cleaning, do some cooking for Nate's weekend of shifts and then read until Chloe comes home (which I'm not sure when that will be, after lunch perhaps?)

>157 jolerie: Oh, do tell me what you think if you get to it before I do! I may have over estimated my free time by taking out three books!

>158 rretzler: Thanks, Robin! Apparently every Thursday morning is a free play time type event that we could go to. Michael the librarian is there to do crafts and play with the kids. By the time we left the place was full!

I forgot to mention that I picked up a new library book bag while at the library yesterday!

Chelle, your evening in sounds like a complete success. I love evenings like that. And your new library bag is awesome!

Hi Chelle!

Glad that you and Nathen got some time alone (one gone and one asleep). Nice library bag, too.

Hooray for an evening off!! Glad you had fun and got a little R&R.

>160 ChelleBearss: Love that book bag, Chelle!

Hey Chelle, I have a quick question for you - when you made the turkey meatloaf how much salt did you add.I noticed the recipe said:

1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Did you use regular salt and Kosher, making it 2 1/4 tsp total or did you figure it was a mistake and just add one of them?

I added just 1 tsp of Kosher, thinking it was better to err of the side of caution. The meatloaf is baking right now, so we have not tasted it yet.

I’ll come back and respond after the kids are in bed but >165 Crazymamie: Mamie I just used the regular. I kinda think that must be a typo? I’m no gourmet chef (just as my husband!) but I can’t think of why it would need two different salts? Now with two pounds of meat 2 tsp wouldn’t seem to be too much but I prefer things less salty anyway so I just used the one.
Hope that helps! :)

Thank you so much, Chelle! I was thinking it was a typo, too, and I noticed that one woman did question her about it, but she hadn't responded to that post, so... Anyway, I figured if it tasted like it needed more salt, then you could always just salt your individual piece. If you did the same thing I did and loved the taste, I am guessing it will be absolutely fine.

I think I just used one tsp as well. Just went back and read the recipe and I see it asks for a lot more.
I also left a message on the recipe post about using both salts. I’ll let you know if she responds

(Ugh, iphone autocorrect is killing me!! )

I was really surprised that she didn't respond to the first query about it because it is a valid question, and she had answered one that was posted after that (by date). I'll be curious to see if she responds to you.

>161 Crazymamie: Thanks! And it was only $8! Whoot!

>162 karenmarie: Thanks Karen! It was nice to be able to relax! I wouldn't want to do that too often but if we can't have a date night out then a quiet date night in works too!

>163 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba! It was nice! Way too much junk food though so back on the meal plan today!

>164 rosalita: Thanks Julia! They had a bunch but this quote caught my eye and I needed a bag as Chloe's book bag was full!

>169 Crazymamie: Perhaps she doesn't want to admit to a mistake? Although she did admit to the mistake with the serving sizes. Hmm.

"The beasty is called an American Trump.
Its skin is bright orange, its figure is plump.
Its fur so complex you might get enveloped.
Its hands though are, sadly, underdeveloped. "

^Well, that should gave me a well needed laugh. Thanks!

Happy Friday, Chelle. Hooray for a Chloe Library Date! How great is that?

.156 Oh Deb, How wonderful that a grandbaby girl is on the way. Before I became a grandmother people would tell me how wonderful the experience is. Then, when our first granddaughter was born 14 (almost 15 years ago), it was joy beyond words. They lived locally, so we were very much a part of the babies life.

Then, my older daughter who lives in Ohio had twin boys a month after Kayla was born. And, when I receive a phone call telling me to sit down, I knew something was happening. My daughter in Ohio became pregnant shortly after the twins. They have three children in 13 months. I became a grammy of four in a short period of time.

I am a little tuckered this morning. Elissa had me up at 6am. I had predicted she would be up extra early as she fell asleep in my arms 30 minutes before bedtime so I just tucked her into bed where she stayed all night. I went to bed by 930 in anticipation of her waking in the night, so at least I got a decent sleep even if I'm up at an indecent hour!

No plans for today other than staying in our jammies and playing with the girls. It's my goal to keep them semi quiet today so Nate can sleep for night shift.

>171 msf59: Glad you had a chuckle, Mark!
Chloe loves the library and the "library man Michael".

>171 msf59: Hi Linda! That's so nice that you were blessed with so many grand babies at once!

Happy Saturday, Chelle. Hooray for the Library Man!

Hi Chelle! I hope you have a quiet jammies day. When Bill was working off shifts I put up blackout curtains in the bedroom and tippy toed around the house. Of course I didn't have two young girls to try to keep 'semi-quiet'. Good luck!

>173 ChelleBearss: Hi Chelle! Thanks for stopping by my thread! And good luck keeping the little ones quiet. I'm very new to this step-motherhood thing, so I'm only learning to keep kids quiet, lol. Luckily, I am stay-at-home and Aaron works a "normal" 8-5 weekday schedule, so generally if the kids are awake he's awake too. Therefore, I concentrate more on them being entertained and getting exercise rather than on quietness. Right now, they're watching TV, but we'll be getting them out to the Winter Carnival later today. :)

>174 msf59: Happy Saturday, Mark! Hope you have packed some important books! Leave room for clothes!

>175 karenmarie: HI Karen! We had a jammies day but nothing about it was quiet. Elissa is going through a screaming stage. I need Advil.

>176 The_Hibernator: Welcome, Rachel! Keeping kids entertained can be harder than keeping them quiet! I failed at both those things today!
Hope the carnival was fun!

Ahhh, a lovely jammie day! Good for you! With two little ones, why not? Enjoy!

>178 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb! No jammies for us today, I'm afraid. We actually have to leave the house to visit family. I could have spent the whole day in bed, though!

4) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge :13: A book that is also a stage play or musical

Whenever I finish a Neil Gaiman book I am always amazed at how much I get sucked into the world that he creates. It's been a long time since I was willing to stay up past my bedtime and risk being tired when the girls get up before the birds. I stayed up so late to finish this last night that I fell asleep in the early morning hours with my eReader on my chest and only 4% of the book left to read! It was worth it!

Yup, my favorite of his!

Good morning, Chelle!

>180 ChelleBearss: I don't know if it was here or somewhere else, but somehow Neverwhere popped up on my radar. I'm a member of BookMooch, and since I had points and someone had it available, I've got a copy winging its way to me, sent January 27th. I'm looking forward to it!

I hope you have a good day with the girls - little or no screaming from the darling Elissa, and a fun time with Chloe. I've lost track of Nathen's schedule, so depending on what his schedule is I hope you 1) enjoy his company too, 2) can keep the girls quiet so he can sleep, or 3) enjoy the girls with whatever level of loudness ensues. Keep the Advil handy!

>180 ChelleBearss: Hooray, Chelle! I love when that happens. Magic. And I have that one in the stacks just waiting for me.

Morning, folks!
Today is supposed to be Nate's day off but he is stuck testifying in court. His brother is visiting from Alberta so depending on how long Nate is stuck working we may head over to start our visit without him. Hopefully they dismiss early as it's just a pretrial date.

Today Elissa is 7 months old! Thankfully she is healthy and now growing like a weed! I was shocked to see she gained 2.5lbs this month! Whoa

My BIL took this on his fancy new google phone. I haven't liked a photo of myself in a long time and I love this one!


>181 drneutron: Hi Doc! Gaiman does seem to have a lot of love from the LTers!

>182 karenmarie: Hi Karen! You know, Elissa made a liar out of me yesterday at her grandparent's house! She was quiet as a mouse for hours and everyone teased me about making up the screaming ... until she started before supper and didn't stop for hours! LOL
Advil is a must right now, as well as lots of coffee!
Hope you love Neverwhere! Have you seen the show? I haven't but am interested now

>183 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie! I have had lots of magic from Gaiman's books! I even love his children's books and so does Chloe!

Lovely photo!! Happy seven months to Miss Elissa!

So beautiful Chelle! Glad your BIL took the opportunity to snag a picture of you and your girl. Too often moms are behind the camera and not in front of it. I am totally guilty of that.

LOVED Neverwhere! He knows how to suck you into his worlds for sure. :)

Chelle, I think you and your family are a very photogenic bunch! So glad that Elissa is thriving after her surgery. Good luck with your weight loss program. Keep trying on those work pants so you don’t lose too much and have to buy new ones because you’re too skinny!

You got me with a book bullet for Neverwhere. It has been on my radar for quite awhile but I finally put it on my mental “Read in 2018” list. I figured if a busy Mom of two of LT’s cutest little readers could give up precious sleep for a book, then I should just read it rather than think about it...

Hi Chelle, love the photo of you and Elissa my dear. Hope you had a good weekend and have a good week ahead, a bit of a bummer that Nate has to spend his day in court testifying but hopefully he gets done quickly my dear. Sending love and hugs to you and the family from both of us dear friend.

> Very nice photo. Elissa is 7 months old, healthy and growing quickly. HOORAY!!

Neverwhere!! My favorite of his, too. So good.

I just got my hands on The Pyramid of Mud, Chelle. I've got one I've half finished in front of it, but I can't wait! What to do, what to do. The dilemmas of book reading.

Oh, beautiful photo!

And yay for Gaiman!

Morning friends!
I don't know what it is about babies that makes them wake up at the same time. Every. Day. We were late getting home last night and Ellie didn't get to bed until about 1.5 hours after her normal bedtime, but up at 630 we are.
Today we have a speech appointment for Chloe (her speech delay does not appear to be improving, despite talking non-stop from the moment she wakes up). Today is an assessment to see which letters they still need to work on.
After that we have one more day of visiting Nathen's brother before he heads back to Red Deer, AB tomorrow.
Have a good day!

>185 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! This is her 7 month photo. I do a new one of these each month


>186 jolerie: Too true, Valerie! Part of my problem is I refuse to wear make-up just around the house so half the time when Nate or Chloe take a photo of my I don't like the photo. I showed Nate a meme a while back about mom's not getting photos taken so he has made an effort to try and take a few more pictures of me, but I am still the main photographer in this house

>187 Donna828: Ha, Thanks Donna! I don't think I'm in danger of losing too much weight, but thanks for the laugh! I think I'm down a whopping 3lbs ;-P
Glad to hit you with a Gaiman book bullet! One of the best kinds!

>188 johnsimpson: Thanks, John! He made if there by 430. He will get a full day of visiting his brother today though, which will be nice for them both. Hope Karen is feeling better.

>189 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba! I was shocked to see she gained 2.5lbs this month! That's incredible only a month after surgery.

>190 jnwelch: Hi Joe! Hope you enjoy Pyramid of Mud! Personally I would tell you to put down the other and go for Montalbano, but that would be rude of me ;-p

>191 scaifea: Thanks, Amber! :)

Hi Chelle! Lovely photo of you and Elissa, and your monthly pic/notes about her is wonderful. She sure is thriving. Screaming builds her lungs up, right? *smile*

Bill was always the photographer, so there are more photos of me and Jenna than Bill and Jenna.

I love the photo with milestones written on it! May have to pass that idea on to our daughter. Is there an app for that?

Maybe it's because I'm shutting the baby factory down, but every time I see a baby now I just want to scoop them up and just hug them to bits and pieces. It could also be because Elissa is so darn cute. Probably both...haha!

>193 karenmarie: Ha, Elissa must have excellent lungs then!!

>194 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba. I use a photo editing app called Picmonkey. There are free accounts and I use a yearly account for just her first year. After the end of the year I will put them all together in a photo frame that is designed for the 1st to 12th years of school, works perfect for a monthly photo!

>195 jolerie: I feel the same way, Valerie! My baby factory is closed as well, permanently! Squishing other people's children is nice because it's temporary and then the noise (and poop) goes home with their parents! :)

>196 ChelleBearss: Thank you Chelle. I forwarded a copy of the photo and your response to my daughter with the 1 week & 1 day old baby. Hope she does something like that. I think it's adorable and a great record of what happened when.

P.S. >196 ChelleBearss: That's called being a grandparent :)

Happy Hump Day!
Life should be back to normal today, Nate is back to work and his brother has headed back to Red Deer. We had a few nice visits with him but it will be nice to get back to normal today. Chloe has an eye doctor appointment today to see if there is anything we can do for a stye that won't go away and then home for an exciting day of cleaning and relaxing.

Reading front we are still working our way through Chloe's library books and I have proceeded to ignore my library books and started one on my eReader instead. I'm part way through Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder and it's pretty entertaining so far.

>197 RebaRelishesReading: Hopefully your daughter does something like that. Chloe loves to look back at what she did as a baby and will ask Nate or me to read her what she did. And I found it a great way to see the difference and similarities between both girls!
I can give her more tips on how I made mine look like that if she wants them. Just PM me if she does :)

Morning, Chelle! I love that milestone photo of Elissa - what a clever idea. Such a great way to capture her first year.

>198 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle, that's very nice. I sent her a copy of the one you posted and followed up with your response to me. I'lll keep your kind offer in mind if she expresses interest.

Hi Chelle! Love that photo of you and Elissa!

>199 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie! I started that for Chloe when I had oooodles of time with just one baby. (I thought I was so busy though, ha!) I have a little less time now (under statement?!) but I didn't want Elissa to feel left out so I'm making sure to do it each month for her too. Thankfully Chloe likes to help with our little photo shoot!

>200 RebaRelishesReading: No problem, Reba! Glad to help.

>201 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! Every once in a while I find a picture of myself that I don't want to burn ;-p

We just recently got all three of our kids into the optometrist to get their yearly eye checks. All three passed with flying colours, but we always get the "talk" where they tell us since both parents wear glasses, our kids have a pretty high chance of needing glasses at some point in their life. We are hoping it will be later than sooner. :/

>203 jolerie: I figure my girls have a good chance of ending up with glasses as well. My whole family has glasses and Nate is the only one in his family that doesn't. My glasses, by the time I was an adult, were so thick I had to pay extra for the slim kind. Thankfully I was able to get Lasik done, although I have to wear reading/computer glasses now

5) Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

This was an enjoyable little murder mystery to start this series. I quite enjoyed it and Hannah is an adorable character that i couldn't help but like. I will continue with this series as I can find them

Pretty good start to the year, if I say so myself :)


January Totals:
January
1) Midnight Line by Lee Child
2) Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
3) The Pyramid of Mud by Andrea Camilleri
4) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
5) Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

>204 ChelleBearss: You never know. Both myself and Mr SandDune needed glasses at a very young age whereas J has near perfect eyesight.

>192 ChelleBearss: Chelle, what a cute photo of Elissa, and a great idea! I have my baby book, in which my mother wrote down my various milestones, and it *is* lovely to look through it.

I'm jealous that you've read the most recent Jack Reacher - I need to find it, but I assume there's a giant library queue and I'm not supposed to be reserving stuff (which isn't really working). I like the Joanne Fluke books too :-)

>207 SandDune: I can only hope, Rhian! Nate has perfect eyesight and I needed glasses by grade 8. I am hoping for good eyesight for my girls!

>208 susanj67: Thanks, Susan! I also have a baby book for each of them but I am incredibly behind on doing the photos for Elissa's. I need a few hours to sit down and organize. Perhaps next time Chloe goes out with her Grandma!

I got the newest Reacher for Christmas. I was on a giant library hold as well!