The Patron Sait of Liars by Ann Patchett

This is one of those books that I’ve always heard the name but never actually read.  Since reading State of Wonder  by the same author ( I thought I wrote a review on that book but just discovered that I didn’t. But I should have because it was one of my favorite books I have read lately, definitely a recommend read that one, check it out!  – anyway-)   I thought I’d read some more of Patchett’s books.  I’ve always heard this title come up and now I can see why, it’s good!

I like when books switch character perspectives, but I like it more when they go back. I enjoyed this book, I read it quickly, it was good, but I missed the characters voices when I never got to hear them again.

Would I recommend it? Yes.

One of Those Days

You know those days when you lose your sheep… …but you don’t know it until your neighbor calls to say they are in his yard but he can’t help you because he’s going to the dentist and then you have to walk them home through the fields with a two year old on your shoulders a bucket of corn in your hand while cajoling your four year old the whole way and then when you’re almost home the two year old grabs the electric fence while you are holding her other hand, which is an effective way to test the fencer but a really bad idea and then when you get all the way home you find out that your most wonderful dog has eaten a gigantic pile of dog food out of the bin while you were gone because some innocent looking girl… … left the pantry door open and the lid off the dog’s food and after puking the dog and monitoring her water all day and listing to the request of “Dammit Mom I need some ketchup please.”  and loading sheep to take to the butcher in the dark, your husband asks if you want some help putting the girls to bed and the combination of the day and the rampant hormones and the lack of sleep from the night before sends you off into something that’s like hysterical laughter but maybe is just hysterics, you know those days?

Yeah, that’s the kind of day I had.

I’d like to leave you for the night with words of wisdom from Great Big Sea, “…it’s a double edged knife but there’s always tomorrow…”

Cheers to tomorrow, I’m going to bed!

Pumpkin Patch

Once again the girls Great Gramps grew them a patch full of pumpkins, and once again I made the girls do all the work while I took pictures.

The pumpkins have turned into a tradition for the girls,  you can see a how some past years have gone on last years “Pumpkins” post.

This year while the picture taking was fun as always. Clara, just up from a nap, was not so interested in getting out and finding pumpkins. She was unsure of the whole ordeal until I showed her that there were bugs on the pumpkins. I’m not sure if we predisposed her to her love of bugs by nicknaming her Clara Bug or if it was bound to happen but give the girl an ant, a few squash bugs and a worm and she’s a happy camper.

She and Granny found all the pumpkin bugs, but it look like they were a little unsure of some of them.

Ivy on the other hand was the big pumpkin carrier this year.

Good thing because Gramps needs lots of help sometimes!They loaded up pumpkins until the cart was full and headed off into the sunset.Clara didn’t want to get left out of the ride……but my serious little girl picked an unsteady seat and Great Gramps tipped her on the first corner.

Pumpkins, they are all fun and games until someone falls off!

Pumpkin patch pictures are some of my favorites, the orange pumpkins, green grass, soft fall light…… you can even take a picture of your stockbroker with a few pumpkins and it turns out great!

Doing Dishes

Since the dishwasher broke seven million years ago I have spent three bazillion hours washing 17 quadrillion dishes.

Approximately.

This morning when the girls wanted to help I handed the whole shebang over without hesitation.  As they were stripping down I was told they had to be naked because otherwise their clothes would get wet. Yet when they got redressed it was in different clothes, which is a whole different problem. That problem is called reason 3,001 why I do too much laundry, because when the kids take off damp clothes and throw them on the floor they are then dirty and they refuse to put them back on even though they get just as dirty on a daily basis. But back to the naked dishwashers…

I left them alone and did some work in the other room while listening to them sing songs about waterfalls, swimming and soap bubbles. Fifteen minutes later they had had enough. When we were done cleaning up they were clean, the chairs were clean, the counter and floor were clean and one spatula was clean. It’s a start. Tomorrow I’m going to see if I can get them to wash a spatula and a bowl!

Bring Your Own Chair

I’m afraid I’ve got a problem.

It started off innocently enough, John and I and our cats bought a little house in the country.

Then we got a dog. Her name is Piper, you may remember her by her other name, Best Dog Ever.  Piper, being a Great Dane, takes up a lot of room when she lays down, and Piper, being Piper, requires something comfortable to lay on.  The choices were to get the most gigantic dog bed ever and put it in our tiny house or give her the couch. We gave her the couch.

The Best Dog Ever is spoiled.

Don’t even think about taking her couch or she’ll give you the stink eye.

Then came Storm, Storm is only half the size of Piper and will lay on the floor, like, you know, a dog. But when Piper sleeps on the couch how can you begrudge Storm the recliner?

Along comes Trip. Once he was finally deemed worthy of being allowed into the living room Trip sized up the situation,  and found a recliner of his own.

Now my living room looks like this:

I live in a 1200 square foot house with my husband, two kids, three dogs and cat.

The only upside I can see is that if they were all on floor at the same time I wouldn’t actually be able to walk through my house.