Weekly Daily Reader

Just before Charlotte's birthday party I was digging through my parents' storage room in search of my old dollhouse furniture to go with the dollhouse Mark and I got her. (I found the furniture. Maybe I'll snag pictures of it sometime.) In my search my mom and I unearthed a box full of old books that used to belong to my siblings and me. Here are a few of my favorites:


According to my mom, most of these were bought at the Weekly Reader book fairs that our elementary school had multiple times each year. I don't really remember the book fairs at all, but I'm pretty confident when I guess that all four of us probably loved being able to pour over the list of books to decide which was just the right one to use "our own money" to buy. I have a feeling Charlotte will be just as excited when she starts having regular book fairs at school.


For now she'll get to look over all my old favorites. I'm pretty sure that Stone Soup will get looked at a lot. (Did you check out the link in the book title? Crazy that this version is selling for close to $50!!) I'm sure you know the story -- some travelers are unable to find food in the town they're visiting because the townsfolks are too stingy to share and so they suggest making stone soup. With some prodding the townsfolks add ingredients to the stone-filled water until they have a delicious soup ready to share. I vividly remember making this soup in school and figure our family will make some this summer as we read through this book.


We also plan to read The Snowy Day since it's the book I remember most of the bunch. Although we may save it for fall/winter given the subject matter. It's about a boy spending the day in the snow. Nothing earth-shattering in terms of storyline, but the artwork is really fantastic! It's got a mix of watercolor, cut-outs and collage, all in interesting colors. It even won a Caldecott Medal in 1963.


Charlotte was never that into books as an infant. She'd much rather play with toys or sing. But she's all about reading now. I catch her on her bed long after bedtime every night, thumbing through a book or two. I did the same thing as a kid, so it's no big surprise that she's become a night owl with a love for reading too. I can't wait to add these oldies, but goodies, to her pile of choices! I may even let her keep the trio of owls piggy bank in her room with the books. Then she'll be able to start saving for future book fairs. :)

My Reading List

For the past few years several of my girlfriends and I have been getting together once a month for book club. Makes me feel so adult. ;) We're closing in on completing our current cycle of choices and so just finished making another round of selections. Our method of picking what books to read is that each person nominates several books, we all vote which book we want to read from each person's list and then shuffle up the winners. It makes for a lot of variety and a list of books that everyone is interested in. Here is what's on the agenda for the coming year (click each title for the Amazon link):


Have you read any of our selections? Any other ideas you'd like to offer up? Now that I've got a Kindle Fire, I'm looking for more and more books to fill it up with.

This Week's Menu {5/16} + Book Club

These next few days are likely to be busy, so planning ahead for our meals is especially important. Here's what the menu will look like this week:

Monday - Tuna Casserole (this got skipped last week)
Tuesday - Pork Chop Skillet
Wednesday - Brats & Tater Tots
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Shepherd's Pie
Saturday - Party!!

Over the weekend I worked on my party to do list. And by that I mean I created it, not that I accomplished much on it. As I was writing it out I got to thinking about our last book for book club (I'm happy to say that I've been successful thus far in my goal to read every book club book).


We read Still Alice, the story of a 50-year-old Harvard professor who struggles to maintain her lifestyle through the confusion of early onset Alzheimer's. It's a heart-breaking and haunting read, but in the best way possible. It makes you want to not worry about how each minute decision will affect your future, but instead live for now and cherish the moments you have here on earth. So while I'll be enjoying a party on Saturday (part of living in the moment) I won't be stressing about the items that never got crossed off my to do list.

Have you read anything recently that you particularly enjoyed? This month's book club pick is decidedly more fluff in nature, but I'm thoroughly loving it too. Gunn's Golden Rules.