January Books and General Stuff (Warning: Long Blog!)

OK, Froggy & Otter - here's another entry! You both got on me for not posting since Wednesday. However, Otter you haven't posted on your blog since when? And Froggy, you don't even have one! (You should, you know).

Important things first: Books!

1. Christmas in Plains by Jimmy Carter. I still think he was the absolute worst president we've ever had, without a doubt. But he wrote an interesting book about his childhood Christmas experiences.

2. Fire Lover by Joseph Wambaugh. About a serial arsonist who turned out to be an arson investigator. This one is a true story, I remember hearing about it on the news many years ago.

3. Standing Next to History, an Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service by Joseph Petro. Very interesting.

4. Battleship Oklahoma BB-37 by Jeff Phister with Thomas Hone & Paul Goodyear. This one is a must-read, it is a very detailed account of the crew on the Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941. It is very well written, but it is a hard read at times.

5. On the Wild Edge, In Search of a Natural Life by David Peterson. More than a little treehugger but interesting.

6. The Parting by Beverly Lewis. Part one of 3, not as good as her earlier work but good.

7. The Forbidden by Bevely Lewis. Part 2 of 3.

8. American Pattern Glass Table Sets by Gene & Cathy Florence. More research!

9. Warman's Carnival Glass 2nd Edition by Ellen T. Shroy. Learned a lot from this one.

10. The Art of Cars, Disney & Pixar by Michael Wallus & Suzanne Firtgerald Wallis. This one was a lot of fun. Mostly pictures, but a lot of back story on how they came up with the story & characters for the movie Cars.

11. Everything & a Kite by Ray Ramono. Don't bother. Just don't!

12. Fenton Art Glass 1907 - 1939 2nd Edition by Margaret & Kenn Whitmire. This is one I bought. I learned a lot from it, and my Fenton addicition is now stronger. If that is even possible!

13. Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - JonBenet & the City of Boulder by Lawrence Schiller. Patsy Ramsey murdered her daughter. Possibly it was an accident and she covered it up (or attempted to), but she did it. And the Boulder police department at the time were a bunch of idiots. Up until I read this book, I thought that there was a good chance the parents were innocent. But not anymore. John Ramsey might not have been involved, he might not have ever even confronted her but I think he was suspicious but didn't act on his suspicions. But I am now convinced that she is responsible.

14. The Longing by Beverly Lewis. Part 3 of 3, 1 and 2 mentioned earlier in the list.

15. Fenton Art Glass Patterns 1939 - 1980 by Margaret & Kenn Whitmyer. See # 12.

16. We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee. This was really good, and a tear jerker at times.

17. On Coon Mountain, Scenes From a Childhood in the Oklahoma Hills by Glen Ross. Pretty good and some of his stories could have been out of Dad's childhood.

18. Sick Girl by Amy Sliverstein. She had a heart transplant in her early 20's and this is her story. While I realize she did go through a lot and it was not easy - I don't like whining and I really do not like selfishness.

19. Poster Child by Emily Rapp. This one was very good.

20. Storm Chaser by Jim Reed. Stories and pictures of storms he's chased over the last several years all across the country. Including one particular one that was our introduction to the fact that the area we live in is called Tornado Alley for a reason!

21. Fenton Glass Compendium 1985 - 2001 by John Walk. See # 12 & 15, which are better books but I still learned a lot. However, I have a time period that I need a book for, 1980 - 1985.

22. Simple Glass Crafts by Marthe Le Van. Some interesting ideas, but probably not anything I will try.

23. Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy. I've read it a couple of times before and it's still good.

24. Michael's Book of Arts & Crafts. I have read other Michael's books with this title, they really should put volume numbers on them! This one was pretty good and I got a few ideas.

25. A Labor of Love by Anne Geddes. This is an autobiography, and is filled with the lovely pictures she takes of the babies in costume, flowers, etc. I enjoyed this one.

The snow & ice is just about gone. Otter went back to school on Friday, but I took her and picked her up. There is still a little bit of ice in the front of our porch, it stays shady most of the time. But it is melting away. We took the poochies for a walk today, and there were still a few spots but not too many. It was warm, for January. Very sunny and nice.

Bill did not get the job in the local school district, they simply could not afford him. Which is about what we expected. He's not upset. It would have been nice, but we are not worried. However, I think he's going to let me drive the El Camino to work one day next week so he must be in a pretty good mood! :) My 92 year old boss really wants to see it, he had one at one time and he keeps asking me when I'm going to bring "his car to him."

And the redecorating bug is very firmly moved into our bedroom now. Bill's working on another quilt for our bed, we've been using the camo quilt the last several nights as it's been very cold and that quilt is very warm. But he's working on another one which will be on our bed most of the time. I've had the palm trees for many years, and I do like them but it's time for a change. Bill was already making the quilt before I decided, but I think he likes the idea. The bathroom is also going to be redecorated, but only to a point. Remember last summer when I bought a new bathmat? Bill always says that a new bathmat is his clue that I'm redecorating. Well, he was right. I started with a new bathmat and I am now going to finish the bathroom, along with our bedroom and the kitchen. All three are works-in-progress. When we moved into our home over 4 years ago, I had already had the palm tree stuff in the bedroom for a couple of years. The bathroom at that time was in need of work, we rebuilt the shower and a couple of other things. Originally, I was going to paint the bathroom blue and use my Fenton glass in there. I did put the glass in there, but Bill convinced me that we should paint the bathroom the same color as the bedroom. Which is when I decided to go ahead and continue the palm trees in the bathroom.

And that is when I had my S.T.U.P.I.D. moment and sold off some of my Fenton. Never again! Anyway, I'm going to put the Fenton back in the bathroom, the bathmat and towels I bought last summer will stay in there and the bedroom will be easy with the quilt. The curtains in the bedroom will look fine with the quilt, the round tablecloth covers I have on the nightstands will still work and I moved the moonstone glass lamp from the living room to the nighstand on my side of the bed. This one has been easy. I'm still not sure about a couple of things in the bathroom, such as a drinking glass and what we're going to put the toothbrushes in. But I'll figure that out. I had a Fenton vase that I (sold) used before when I had the glass in there, I think I'll probably do something along the same lines. And now, I have several palm tree items that I'm going to put on eBay in the near future! And I think I also have an excuse to shop for more Fenton. Like I ever need one!