A Wish Come True

Once Upon A Time…

A little girl brought to her mother a special stone from a far away land. The sweet child earnestly explained that the special stone was, in fact, a wishing stone and that they must both rub the stone and make a wish.

And so they did.

The bright and cheerful little girl wished with all her heart to become a fairy-princess-mermaid while her fair and tired mother wanted nothing more than an afternoon nap.  Sadly the world was a harsh place. The little girl had been born to common parents and even after her wish seemed to be entirely devoid of wings or tail. Her mother had dinner to make, laundry to fold and a lawn to mow, it seemed that neither of their wishes would come true. Undaunted they resolved to be hopeful.

There is always tomorrow and one never knows what tomorrow will bring.

Then, one fine day, a messenger came to the house with a mysterious looking brown box. They examined the box thoroughly but could find no markings that showed where it had come from. Mystified the pair opened the box and found a note within.

Hi Jessie, Sometimes wishes do come true! Now go take a nap! OOXX

Hi Jessie, Sometimes wishes do come true! Now go take a nap! OOXX

Under the message was a magical outfit that turned the happy little girl into the mermaid she had so fervently wished to become.

(She tells me this is how the fancy mermaids get their picture taken...)

(She tells me this is how the fancy mermaids get their picture taken…)

Mother and daughter were incredibly grateful to whomever sent the mysterious box and overjoyed to find that their wishes had indeed come true!

And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

We really don’t know who sent it and Jane about fell over with excitement as she thanked me over and over and over again for the gift while I kept repeating that it wasn’t from me. She slept with it under her pillow that first night to keep it safe! 

Mundane Monday: Burrs

I dig them out in the spring, mow them down in the summer and burn them as they start to dry in the fall.

It’s a battle and I’m not on the winning side.

They stick to our clothes and our kids and our dogs.

They follow us into the house breaking into tiny pokey pieces until everything we own seems to be infested with their little hooks.

I do not like the burrs.

Though, some mornings, with a touch of sunlight and a bit of spiderwebs, they are quite striking…Burrs

…but this is war, they go on the burn pile tomorrow!

I’m linking up with PhoTrabloggers Mundane Monday Challenge pop over and see what other mundane things people have taken beautiful pictures of this week!

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and September Book at the Door Winner

And the winner of September’s book and first line art is…I won a Book at the Door with Behind the Willows

…Amy from Photography Journal Blog!

Book Bee and I are getting ready to head to the post office to ship this book and fun artwork from Dan of straydogstrut.co.uk off to Amy.

While we do that you should go find yourselves a copy of the book too. It’s one of those books that when I see it and point it out I can’t articulate much more than an, “Ooooo. Yeah. Read that!”  Then once it’s in your hands get ready because, as I said back when I first read the book, this isn’t a casual beach read – you are going to need to pay attention to this one.

And it’s going to be worth it…

Get ready to pay attention!

Because as the main character relives her life over and over again you’ll want to remember who’s who, what was what and when things happened the last times around.

Would I recommend it? Yes, this is a book worth paying attention to!

Book at the Door winner was chosen using a random number generator from http://www.random.org 

Artists of all kinds (Yes, you photographers and you who says you can’t draw and you who just wants to practice hand lettering and you who is selling paintings online and…all of you!) if you are interested in providing a small piece of work that includes a first sentence I would love to hear from you!  

Authors, have I read your book and tagged it as a recommended read? Would you like to donate a hard copy? Let me know! 

The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

“Finis.”

I read the last line, sighed happily and mentally hugged the digital book to my heart (It’s a true downfall of e-readers, they just don’t snuggle like paper does).

This novel flipped between excerpts from Mrs. Darcy’s diary (yes, that Pride and Prejudice Mrs. Darcy) and the 2014 hunt for the lost diary. On the surface that sounds like it could be, well, boring.

It wasn’t.

The chapters switched between time frames in a way that I was never lost in one time yearning for another. I loved the romance, (of the happy sighing kind) and the hard to put down suspense of it all (I know, lost document suspense, believe it!). My only regret is that e-readers just don’t accept hugs like paperbacks do.

Would I recommend it? I have already told everyone who’s been willing to sit and listen that they should read this and you should too! If you’ve ever shown even a passing interest in Pride and Prejudice, historical fiction, sweet romance, contemporary drama or detective stories, try this book! I absolutely loved it and have moved the authors other book to the top of my “to be read” list!

Rosie's Book Review team 1

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

Wishes

Today Jane said that the two of us should each make a wish.

She wished to be a fairy-princess-mermaid.

I wished for a nap.

She was quite disappointed in me.

I understood. I was too.

Unfortunately, I’ve found one of the great truths of motherhood to be that more sleep is actually your dearest wish.zinnias

And, sadly, neither one of our wishes came true today.

It’s okay though, Jane says we can wish again tomorrow.

 

The Pickpocket by Celine Jeanjean

Perhaps you’ve read The Bloodless Assassin or The Black Orchid (I know I told you should!). If you have, you’ll already know the main character Rory. But if you haven’t, this truly is (and believe me I’m picky about such things) a stand alone novella about Rory’s life as a young street urchin.

If you’ve read the others in this series you’ll get treated to flashes of insight into what makes Rory tick and fun glimpses of supporting characters as they were years before we really “meet” them.

If you are a new reader you’ll be presented with a page turning story (I read it in one sitting) of a hungry street urchin turned pickpocket. Complete with loss, hard times, friendships and the character depth and growth I’m beginning to happily expect from Celine Jeanjean’s writing. And, you’ll be introduced to the city of Damsport. A city that comes with such depth and detail it gives all of the books an unbelievably firm sense of place and seems to be a character in it’s own right.

Would I recommend it? Was it not yet obvious? Yes! If you haven’t been sure The Viper and Urchin is the right series for you, try this one first! It’s short, it’s minimally steampunk-y (in case that scares you off) and it’s an all around great read. Just don’t yell at me when you are downloading the rest of the series onto your e-reader in the middle of the night!

September’s Book at the Door giveaway is still open! Don’t forget to put your name in the hat for the chance to win a paperback book and first line artwork! Book at the Door: September Giveaway

The Fear of “What If?”

It’s possible that the longer that John and I go on being parents, the worse we get. Now, I can hear you all protesting already, but hear me out.  In the beginning, when you bring a new baby home and are suddenly faced with, you know, keeping it alive you try really hard to make sure you don’t mess it up. And as the kids grow and hit new milestones you continue to try really hard not to mess it up because, “WHAT IF?” Those are the two scariest words ever when you are a new parent.

But life happened and John and I went back to doing what John and I do (mainly activities that involve an avoidance of early mornings executed with spontaneous but poor planning) and we discovered that most of the “WHAT IF?”s are actually not so bad. I’m pretty sure my kid ate part of a dead shrew once… she was fine. Another of my girls wore the same dress for a week, child protective services did not take her away from me. I have experienced forgotten water bottles, snacks, diapers, wipes, wallet, shoes and underwear not to mention winter jackets on a Northern Wisconsin trip in December.

And you know what? It was all fine.

Inconvenient? Yes.

Fine? Absolutely.

Does this make us look like stellar parents? Probably not. Are our kids learning to take extra responsibilities for themselves because their mom is never going to actually remember to pack anyone a snack? I sure hope so.

This brings us to John’s company sponsored trip to the zoo this last weekend. Parents still in the “WHAT IF?” stage would have done a fabulous job of planning the day. Free zoo pass, multiple free animal shows to watch, free food over the lunch hours, free face painting… JaneIt was going to be awesome!

But…zebra

-John and I let all our kids have sleepovers the night before.

-Which of course had us leaving much later than we should have in the morning (and yes all the kids were tired and grumpy).

-Which meant that we had to feed them on the way to the zoo.

-Which of course we didn’t plan for because of the free food at the zoo.

-Which meant that when we got to the zoo they weren’t hungry and because patience has never been my strong suit, I encouraged us to go see animals and come back later.

-Of course we lost track of time and missed the food.

-Of course we lost track of time and missed the animal shows.

-Of course we ended up having to feed the kids on the way home because they were starving.

-And, of course, at one point we looked wistfully at a family with coolers and snacks and water bottles and a child being pulled in a wagon and wondered why we didn’t do that.taiper

But I know why we didn’t, we’ve lost our fear of the “WHAT IF?”

And now I can tell you, What if you go to the zoo completely unprepared over tired and miss almost all the “good” stuff.

Well…Jane Clara and a lion

You’ll still get to be eyeball to eyeball with the big cats. Watching the giraffe run will still amaze everyone. There will still be contests to see who can find the animal in each exhibit first and the kids will still have to pull the two of us away from the octopus.  You will spend too much on a snack, or two, it’s true. And there will be whining kids. (But isn’t there always?) You will discover that everyone would actually rather see the velvet peeling off the caribou’s antlers than watch the sea lion show anyway and you’ll teach your child that tapirs are not the same as armadillos. Your lack of handy wheeled device to carry all your nonexistent snacks will have you zipping in and out of all the exhibits and when a tired little girl says she can’t walk anymore, you can sympathize with her tired legs and skip to the next animal house together.Me and Jane (Clara too)

Yes, we’ve lost most of our fear of those two words, for certain we would be better prepared parents if we carried a bit of that fear with us still but I think we are doing just fine without it.