Library Loot, my TBR Pile and what's outside my kitchen window

If you want to see what's Outside My Kitchen window take a peak here at my Big Backyard Blog.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva from a Striped Armchair, and Marg at the Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!




This is how my TBR pile rolls....

....the library calls and tells me that I have an overdue book and I can't renew it because it is on a waiting list. Can I please bring it in?
(I'm on the library board, so it's kind of embarrassing)


So I say, Of course I can bring it in. After I read it! So, it moves to the top of my TBR list.

It is, Lisa Scottoline's "Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog". (my original due date was April 9th--I just kept "re" checking it out).

My daughter in law, who arrived at my house on 3rd of June, late afternoon, just in time for her younger sisters high school graduation, and left my house for a cousin's wedding in Minnesota on June 8th, happened to read this book, which was sitting in among other library books that are also over due (although none so overdue as this one). She enjoyed the book very much. She enjoys all Scottoline's books. But Sadie is 25 and this book, this " Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog," is written by a 50ish Scottoline whom I can so relate to.

I'm LOVING this book. It's a book of essays from her column, or inspired by her column, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Chick Wit". I can identify with so many things she is talking about, such as squeezing myself into Spanx and noticing things have been pushed up and moved around to where it's just not natural and The first clue that she had forgotten her bra was the running. ( Seriously, running without a bra is dangerous. I can attest to that, having almost knocked myself out one time. )


But my favorite so far...I'm only on page 44....is that "A movie theater is the Switzerland of the diet world" and "all movie candy has one portion size: 2 hours".


I love the movies. I love going to the movies. I love having popcorn and raisinettes at the movies, or milkduds (sometimes Good and Plentys or Red Vines), and now I am so glad to know that "A movie theater is the Switzerland of the diet world". (sigh)


I love Lisa Scottoline.


So, for my Library Loot this week, I'm going to go with "Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog". I "re" looted.


Okay, I did check out two more this week.

One is "Saints Preserve us" Everything you need to know about every Saint you'll ever need, by Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers. ( I saw it on CBS's Sunday Morning, and it looked interesting )






and the other one is "One Mississippi" by Mark Childress.
because it is compared to Pat Conroy's writing as well as a couple other great southern writers.
 

and that is my Library Loot for this week.  And just for the fun of it, check out this blog I found..  Debbie's Garden  (no, not me), she has a post called "what's in your cookbook".  Love the post and I love her blog too.

What's Outside My Kitchen Window? Library Loot and a fun meme

What's Outside My Kitchen Window?

Well, that's looking just as it did last week....nothing new.  Our springs  here in the "high desert" are sometimes cold, sometimes hot.  One never knows.  This year it is cold.  We had snow and hail and rain and sunshine all in one day.
This day.

I was leaving my house to walk down the street to the park, where my grandson had his first baseball game of the season.
I had on a hoodie (we used to call them hooded sweatshirts) and a coat and gloves. And I carried an old quilt.
I am no dummy.

While sitting on the cold--very cold--metal bleachers, I noticed there was blue sky between the fluffy white clouds and the dark menacing rain cloud drifting over us.
Can you see it?

Those little ball players were T-Ball players, younger than my grandson... we were on the cold--very cold---metal bleachers on the other side of the park.  We have a "real" baseball diamond.
And see those cars parked there?  I so very much wanted to be the kind of grandma who sat in her car and just HONKED when my grandson and his team  made a good play.
But I just couldn't do it.  I felt if I did so,  I'd have to be the kind of grandma who had her slippers on and curlers in her hair, so, um, no, I braved the cold--freezing, fridgid cold with the parents who had to be there.
I am still trying to thaw out.
And that rain cloud?  It never really did much but give a little mist to  us towards the end of the game... that is, until the Handyman and I had to walk home.   Then it let loose and poured.

so, not my kitchen window, but that's what's outside my window of life....

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Library Loot!  I love Library Loot, but have  taken out way too many book in the past few weeks, so I only have  a couple to share with you today.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva at  at "A Striped Armchair"  and Marg at "Adventures of an Intrepid Reader"  that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

What did I get?

Christmas on Jane Street.
You are probably asking yourself why?  Why a Christmas book?
Well, because I read a little review on it and thought if it was any good, I might buy one or two as gifts next Christmas.  But it has to be good, so this is my way of checking that out.

And these two...

This Dame's for Hire, Too Darn Hot, by Sandra Scoppettone.
Because...I'm always on the lookout for some good characters!  Usually I find them  (characters I want to follow) in mystery books.  I've never read any by this author, so we'll have to see.

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And finally.....
Thanks to TeacherNinja for this fun meme.


Which Ones Have You Read?
So which of the Top 100 Children's Novels have you read? I put mine in bold. I've read quite a few....because I've been around for quite a while.  ~smiles~


100. The Egypt Game - Snyder (1967)
99. The Indian in the Cupboard - Banks (1980)
98. Children of Green Knowe - Boston (1954)
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - DiCamillo (2006)
96. The Witches - Dahl (1983)
95. Pippi Longstocking - Lindgren (1950
94. Swallows and Amazons - Ransome (1930)
93. Caddie Woodlawn - Brink (1935)
92. Ella Enchanted - Levine (1997)
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School - Sachar (1978)
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall - MacLachlan (1985)
89. Ramona and Her Father - Cleary (1977)
88. The High King - Alexander (1968)
87. The View from Saturday - Konigsburg (1996)
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Rowling (1999)
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek - Wilder (1937)
84. The Little White Horse - Goudge (1946)
83. The Thief - Turner (1997)
82. The Book of Three - Alexander (1964)
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Lin (2009)
80. The Graveyard Book - Gaiman (2008)
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family - Taylor (1951)
78. Johnny Tremain - Forbes (1943)
77. The City of Ember - DuPrau (2003)
76. Out of the Dust - Hesse (1997)
75. Love That Dog - Creech (2001)
74. The Borrowers - Norton (1953)
73. My Side of the Mountain - George (1959)
72. My Father's Dragon - Gannett (1948)
71. The Bad Beginning - Snicket (1999)
70. Betsy-Tacy - Lovelae (1940)
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society - Stewart ( 2007)
68. Walk Two Moons - Creech (1994)
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher - Coville (1991)
66. Henry Huggins - Cleary (1950)
65. Ballet Shoes - Stratfeild (1936)
64. A Long Way from Chicago - Peck (1998)
63. Gone-Away Lake - Enright (1957)
62. The Secret of the Old Clock - Keene (1959)
61. Stargirl - Spinelli (2000)
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - Avi (1990)
59. Inkheart - Funke (2003)
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Aiken (1962)
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Cleary (1981)
56. Number the Stars - Lowry (1989)
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins - Paterson (1978)
54. The BFG - Dahl (1982)
53. Wind in the Willows - Grahame (1908)
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)
51. The Saturdays - Enright (1941)
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins - O'Dell (1960)
49. Frindle - Clements (1996)
48. The Penderwicks - Birdsall (2005)
47. Bud, Not Buddy - Curtis (1999)
46. Where the Red Fern Grows - Rawls (1961)
45. The Golden Compass - Pullman (1995)
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Blume (1972)
43. Ramona the Pest - Cleary (1968)
42. Little House on the Prairie - Wilder (1935)
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Speare (1958)
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Baum (1900)
39. When You Reach Me - Stead (2009)
38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling (2003)
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Taylor (1976)
36. Are You there, God? It's Me, Margaret - Blume (1970)
35. HP and the Goblet of Fire - Rowling (2000)
34. The Watson's Go to Birmingham - Curtis (1995)
33. James and the Giant Peach - Dahl (1961)
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - O'Brian (1971)
31. Half Magic - Eager (1954)
30. Winnie-the-Pooh - Milne (1926)
29. The Dark Is Rising - Cooper (1973)
28. A Little Princess - Burnett (1905)
27. Alice I and II - Carroll (1865/72)
26. Hatchet - Paulsen (1989)
25. Little Women - Alcott (1868/9)
24. HP and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling (2007)
23. Little House in the Big Woods - Wilder (1932)
22. The Tale of Despereaux - DiCamillo (2003)
21. The Lightening Thief - Riordan (2005)
20. Tuck Everlasting - Babbitt (1975)
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl (1964)
18. Matilda - Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee - Spinelli (1990)
16. Harriet the Spy - Fitzhugh (1964)
15. Because of Winn-Dixie - DiCamillo (2000)
14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Rowling (1999)
13. Bridge to Terabithia - Paterson (1977)
12. The Hobbit - Tolkien (1938)
11. The Westing Game - Raskin (1978)
10. The Phantom Tollbooth - Juster (1961)
9. Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery (1908)
8. The Secret Garden - Burnett (1911)
7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)
6. Holes - Sachar (1998)
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - Koningsburg (1967)
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Lewis (1950)
3. Harry Potter #1 - Rowling (1997)
2. A Wrinkle in Time - L'Engle (1962)
1. Charlotte's Web - White (1952)

What's Outside My Kitchen Window and Library Loot

What's Outside my Kitchen window?

Some welcomed sunshine.... and a few Quail.

(You can always check out My Big Back Yard, for more of what's outside there...

... in the high Nevada desert)

Library Loot!

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva from a Striped Armchair, and Marg at the Adventures of an Intrepid Reader,  that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Want to share your loot?


I went to the library last night to pick up a book they had on hold for me...



The Handyman has limited me to only 3 books at a time (to be checked out), because it's addicting to me...being in a library...there is NO limit to the amount of books I can have.


I asked him if he was going to get a book. He told me that there were too many to choose from and that he got confused and didn't know what to get. BECAUSE he only gets one! His theory is that he only reads one at a time.


Anyway...he finally did choose one book, and I got him two others I think he might like.


And I picked up one, two, three, four, five.....


He gave me "a look" and I said...."It's the 24 hour read-a-thon this weekend".

Sadly I won't be participating in the Read-a-Thon, but it sounds like a lot of fun. 

This week, I only picked up four books....

The 2nd in the Sooky Stackhouse mystery series, Living Dead in Dallas.  I really enjoyed the first one and also love HBO's Tru-Blood series.

The Hour I First Beleived by Wally Lamb.  I've just seen it on many book club lists, so I thought I'd see if I liked it.

Chris Bohjalian's book, Secrets of Eden, which I know nothing about, but I've enjoyed a few of his other books.

And finally, the newest Margaret Maron book, Sand Sharks.  I love, Love, LOVE, the Deborah Knott Mystery series.

While it would be fun to stay home and do the 24-hour Read-a-thon. ,
I'm headed to a "fare-well" party for my book club friend Liesbet, who is moving back to Austrailia.    She will be missed.  We plan on having a "Skype" bookclub in a couple of months!  More on that later.
Happy Reading!!

What's Outside My Kitchen Window and Library Loot

What's outside my kitchen window?


This.......

March really did go out like a LION!

It wasn't like this all week, but for a full look at my Big Backyard please check out that blog.

You could just click on the button on my sidebar...the one with the picture of  a bird at the feeder, which was, incidentally, taken just outside my kitchen window, but if it's easier for you just click here

You know, if I were a person who could get things done in a timely manner (my friend April put it so accurately in describing the both of us...if someone gives me a deadline, all of the sudden everything else becomes extremely important. EVERYTHING! even straightening out a sock drawer, so that the deadline drawers nearer and nearer with nothing done! It's called procrastination)

if I got things done in a timely manner and wasn't such a procrastinator, might do a "Mr. Linky" and have everyone show me "what's outside their kitchen windows"


But I'm not that organized.


I do have to say tho, that I'm great under pressure..... my job requires it.
I get my things done, just as the guillotine of the deadline is about to drop!
I actually must thrive on that feeling.... it's how I roll.

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 Library Loot!

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva at
"A Striped Armchair" and Marg at "Reading Adventures"  that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!




Want to share your loot?

This is what I picked up this week.

I have no idea as to why, except I like to hear stories about America and it's people. Regions and customs and stories. Hopefully this will be good for that. I'll let you know.

Cookbook Countdown, What's Outside my Kitchen Window and Library Loot.

Wednesdays are long for my blog posts.  If you are looking for library loot,  don't be discouraged....just scroll down to the very end!

This could possibly be the longest post I've ever written.
(**not ture....there is mostly pictures, so written is subjective)


I'm not quite sure what to do about that. I mean, I KNOW my mom will read it and maybe my mother-in-law. My daughter in-law Sadie, a few Friday Friends, here and there.... but really, reading it to the end?


If a post gets too long and it's not that captivating --if my sense of humor and my quick wit doesn't reel you in, in the first couple of paragraphs, (because if truth be told, my recipes are not TO DIE FOR), well, then, you probably won't get to the end of my longest post ever.
That makes me a bit sad.    Also, knowing I just passed by my 400th post without having a big celebration....like a give-away--makes me feel bad too!

My first blog post ever? (click HERE for trip down memory lane and my first post)  It was about the same thing as my 400th blog post.  In a round about way.
I'm trying not to laugh, for fear of falling off my seat, --it wasn't a "food" post, or a "book" post -- BUT it did mention my trip to Virginia and me having
Sweet Tea.   It was not until my 2nd post, July 2007, that I mentioned having started my blog.   (   You have to remember, that it was not a food blog, but just a way to keep in touch with all my "Friday Friends" )



HOW WEIRD IS THAT?
That my 1st post and my 400th post mentioning the same thing: ICED TEA.
If I would have only thought ahead...... I would have done a give-away.  Maybe I can do one for my 425th post!
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Let's move on to my Cookbook Countdown!

I am going to count one of my "put together notebooks" as a cookbook... I have notebooks and notebooks of recipes I've collected over the years.

 Look at this notebook, (if you can read it ) it says:   
Soups, Hometown cooking misc. and Diet Recipes.
There is no rhyme or reason to my organizational skills.

On Sunday,  I was hungry for a stew that my daughter-in-law, Mara's, mother had made when we visited them last fall.  We were in Arizona visiting my son and his wife and most importantly, our new granddaughter, Cassandra, and we ate lunch at a restaurant where my DIL's mother works.



It's been on my mind for quite some time, so I thought I'd try my hand at making this original Mexican Stew.

Here we are....  the two grandma's.  Me and Maxine.  Which isn't her "real" name, but that is the Americanized version of it.   She speaks no English and I speak no Spanish.
REMEMBER, the camera adds 10lbs. Not to mention how many pounds are added when flying thru camera to computer to internet!

She made us these great dishes! (no cheese, no Fritos)

 "My" family makes a soup/chili dish that we call Chalupa.   It has pork, pinto beans and a  broth with spices...it's  really good.    But of course we "Americanize" it by adding cheese and crushed Fritos, among other things.
I thought I'd "UN-Americanize" it and make it like the stew last fall.

This stew (my photo is blurry)  came to the table with the beef and the broth and then my daughter in law added the cabbage and onions, which were in a bowl beside the soup/stew bowl.
 
So.... I got out my cookbook notebook and looked at my Chalupa recipe, called my daughter-in-law  and asked her if she knew what Chalupa was.
She said "from Taco Bell?" She had never heard of it before. She did say that different regions of Mexico cook different dishes, so it could be a dish, that she just hadn't heard of.



Next, I looked thru my Diana Kennedy cookbook "From My Mexican Kitchen" where she does indeed have a Chalupa recipe... that is nothing like what we make.

Her chalupa --meaning little boats-- is a concoction of flour, like a thicker tortilla, filled with toppings/fillings.

I will have to try them someday, but for now this is my Chalupa/or Pork stew.
 
If I'm honest with you---yes, I did buy Fritos for my family to crush up. And I had some Jack Cheese, and I set the sour cream on the table too..... I couldn't "UN-Americanize" it too much. The rest of my toppings were onions, cabbage, radishes, tomatoes and avocadoes.

 



The verdict was...it was REALLY GOOD. But we've always known that. It was good when it was just Chalupa with the Fritos crushed into it and the cheese melted on top of it.


I didn't have any Fritos in mine.... I made it more of a "stew". I think.

Chalupa--our way
(I add this as part of my cookbook challenge in my very own cookbook countdown --click here to see how far I've come)

3 pound pork roast
1 pound pinto beans
1 4oz can diced green chilies
1 tsp oregano
1 Tblsp ground cumin
2 Tblsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 small onion -chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
7 cups of water

soak beans over night, drain.
Simmer all of the above for about 5 hours.  Remove the roast, shred and add back into the broth.

Crush some Fritos into a soup bowl, add the Chalupa and top with the following:
tomatoes
avocados
lettuce
cheese
onions
salsa 

to make it more original ( I thought) I also topped it with:
cilantro
cabbage  (instead of lettuce)
radishes


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As long as this is the longest post ever, (for me)  I will mention that the Handyman and I played a game and voted on it in our "Weed out the Games" resolution for 2010. (Brainchild of my dil Sadie) 
This way it will be recorded.

We played Showdown Yahtzee.

It was fun enough. We decided that we should play it with four people to make sure.


I said, "maybe this is a cabin/lake game" (meaning we'll take this one to my parents cabin and leave it there)
Handyman said, "I thought all the ones we didn't like were going to the cabin?"
Me, "no, we're selling them in the yard sale."
Handyman, "oh."  And then he looked at the Keeper pile (very big) and the loser pile (only 2 games) and he sighed.


So the verdict on this one is tabled for a while.
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What's Outside My Kitchen Window?
Lots of brown stuff right now. Brown grass, brown leaves, brown weeds......
But I can see spring...in my mind.

My "dining room" window.....

Just after Christmas, we had a sad thing happen---our old Basset Hound died. Monroe. He waited until all the boys were home and said good-bye and then he just lay down and died. He was very old. It was very sad.

But now....the Handyman and I have decided to live dog-free for a while. It has been over 30 years with a dog in our lives.


so what does one do with the old dog house? Since Monroe's pen and dog house (not that he was ever penned in his life) shared space with our garden.
See our garden space last year/click here.
 
Outside right now...

We plan to take the chain-link fence down and cart the dog-house somewhere and enlarge our garden area. I might even consider composting. I want to, but I have to research it.

Last Summer

Right now

I can't wait for it to get warm enough to plant something!

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Library Loot.



Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva (a striped armchair) and Marg (reading adventures) which encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!



Poor, poor library looters, who have come to see what loot I've gotten and then had to wade thru a rambling recipe and a gazillion pictures of my yard.


Ask me how I'm going to have time to read these book?! I have no idea.
But....here is my loot for this week.....

I'm a little obsessive, I know.
Happy Reading everyone!