My Mom's a Mortician by Patricia Wiles

FUNNY, yep super funny and a must read! This is the first book in the Kevin Kirk Chronicles. The author is LDS.

So this kid has to move to a funeral home. He has to sleep in the same house as dead bodies. He misses his friends and only has one after he moves. Just so happeneds that she is the Stake Pres. daughter. While he is helping his parents run the family business the "deceased" start appearing to him and giving him advice. Of course there is also a bully at school that he has to deal with. He starts finding out about a few secrets kept from him...he finds out that his parents are Mormons! He falls in love, he gets a new older sister...and he might get to go fishing! There are a few more books in this little set so it doesn't all happen in the first book.

I don't want to give it all away but it is a really good book. It made me laugh and two parts I couldn't help but start crying, they were really really sad. I also like that Kevin likes nature and is keeping a nature log of the animals he sees in his backyard. The Armadillers (that is how the towns people say it)are funny and especially Kevin's grandparents that make jokes about running them over with the RV.

This is also a Whole and a Healing book.

Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen

This is the 3rd book in the series. I actually found a 4th too.

It was really good! I couldn't put it down, had to for sleep but resumed second thing in the morning. I think this is a Healing and Whole book.

The Author rewrote the ending to the first book. Instead of just surviving through the summer after the plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, this book has him survive through the whole winter!

Without giving too much away...the book really made me hungry and cold. He had to kill to survive but realized that everyone in the forest needed to eat to survive. Life depended on it and revolved around it. Every time he killed a rabbit he would say sorry and be really glad that it died quickly. He was also very thankful and made sure he didn't waste anything for the life he had to take to go on living. He also gave God a lot of credit for helping him.

It was a great book! I love to hear about taking it to the limits and making it when everything is stacked against you! What a brave kid.

Any Day Now...Counting down...

There are two books that are taking forever to be released...I can't stand the suspense.

First is the 3rd book by Christopher Paolini in the Inheritance Trilogy. It was supposed to come out Aug. 25th but I heard a rumor that it isn't being released for financial reasons. What? Not fair! I'll give him a dollar, come on I need to read the third book!!!!!!

The second one I'm waiting for and already pre-ordered on Amazon. com is by Shannon Hale, River Secrets. I can't wait for this one...it is coming out Sept. 5th 2006!!!!Just after labor day weekend...and mine will just come in the mail one day like a little surprise! I can't wait.


okay, I'm still waiting...I need to read something interesting soon! Oh I just got the My Side Of The Mountain trilogy by Jean Craighead George. But my son swiped it and is reading it so I can't till he is done. I guess I will have to swipe it back when he is asleep.

The River by Gary Paulsen

I just read the sequel to Hatchet. It was really good. I wanted something more after finishing the first book and I guess a lot of fans did too. The author had 60 letters a day asking him to write another book. So he finally did.

The boy in the story goes on another adventure. This time on purpose but then unexpected things happen and he is forced to use his survival skills to make it out of the wilderness alive. He is also not alone this time. I love how the author totally get in his head! His thoughts and actions are from his point of view with feeling and fear. Then he conquers fear and presses on...

This book would be great for boys but I'm a girl and I really liked it too.
It is a Healing and Whole Book.

Great news there is also a continuation of the first book Hatchet called Brian's Winter...The story takes off right before he was rescued and he isn't rescued. He has to survive the winter in the Canadian wilderness instead of just 54 days of summer and fall. Can't wait to get that one!

Window Pains

I have this unsightly small window right behind my stove, but not centered behind it. It is the only window left in the house without a curtain. Every time I walk to the bathroom late at night I have to go past it. I am always imagining bad guys peeking in at me. I have tried to find something to cover it that would fit the dimensions of the window but with no luck. I can't hang a cloth curtain because it would probably catch fire being so close to the gas stove flames. It still wanted light to come through the window because the window is very dark. I didn't really want to put mini-blinds because they would be a pain to clean from cooking splatter and grease...so I remembered I had some window paints somewhere...but I hadn't seen them for a while. I didn't want to buy new ones if I already had some.

I found them! They are very user friendly. They were from the KLUTZ company. They make great kid things and crafty things. These paints are so easy and they peel right off later if you hate your picture. Or if you mess up.

So my daughter and I went on line to find a pattern to draw on the window. We looked at the stain glass sites. I finally found almost the most perfect one...it was a yellow sunflower design. I needed something simple and yellow because the curtain over the sink is also yellow and the curtain to the kids room at the opposite end of the kitchen is yellow.

We then downloaded it and printed it out. Then I drew it bigger then it was, but I am not talented to draw it big enough for the long window...so it will have to do.
Then we traced it on the window in black.


After that dried we colored it in.

It looks cool!

How about like this?














NOW what should I do with the extra space under and above the part we colored? It is about 5" by 7 ". I need a design that doesn't take away from the lovely one we already have.

Series of Unfortunate Events-book 7

Okay so it has takes me a while to read these. They are so depressing and funny at the same time! This book was sad and you had to use your imagination for the unreal things the kids did...like getting out of prison with a stale piece of bread and some water. Silly.

These books are very BROKEN. Grown ups are the bad guys and they never listen to the kids. They are on their own...literally. They are orphans and people are always getting murdered. There is a mystery, well a few and that is probably why I keep reading them....I have to know what happened to their parents and the fire!

I'm reading book 8 right now....so far I think it is the best one...we will see.