My Year in Books, 2013

A couple years ago, Lisa over at Two Bears Farm got me hooked on this meme from The happily ever after blog. I've come to really enjoy wrapping up the year with this post, so here goes.

These are all based on the list books I read in 2013. (I didn't read nearly as much as usual, in part, because I wasn't in school either semester, nor did I have the urge to read as much as usual. I can't wait to do this list again in 2014, because I should be back into my reading groove by then, as well as getting back into grad school classes.)

Here's how you play along: answer the questions by using only the books you read in 2013. Fun, huh?! I think so!

1.  Describe yourself:  The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
2.  How do you feel?  Out of Range by C.J. Box
3.  Describe where you currently live.  Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
4.  If you could go anywhere, where would you go?  In Plain Sight by C.J. Box
5.  Your favorite form of transportation?  Night Passage by Robert B. Parker
6.  Your best friend is: Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman
7.  You and your friends are: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
8.  What's the weather like?  Below Zero by C.J. Box
9.  What is life to you?  Trouble in Paradise by Robert B. Parker
10.  Favorite time of day?  Zero Hour by Clive Cussler
11.  Your Fear?  The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer
12.  What is the best advice you have to give? Chocolat by Joanne Harris
13.  Thought for the day?  Merry Christmas, Alex Cross, by James Patterson
14.  How I would like to die: Ghost Sickness by Luis Alberto Urrea
15.  My soul's present condition:  Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
16. My family is: Force of Nature by C.J. Box

A view from the University of Iowa Main Library (a row of foreign language books). I took this pic in the spring of 2012 using the Instagram app on my iPhone.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2014 brings you many blessings.

(And I'm planning on writing and blogging much more than I have in 2013.)

More Farm Photos - Rural Thursday

Okay, I saved a few of our farm photos (from our pumpkin picking/pony riding trip to Bart's Farm) for today's "Rural Thursday."

You may recognize the view of "Bart's Farm" from this past Monday's "Barn Charm." However, in this photo, I had Livie posing next to the barn (near the straw bales).

Of course, Livie HAD to get a pony ride (or in this case, a horse ride, as this guy was a couple hands too tall to be a pony). She loved the Palomino, and picked him because it looked like a Palomino Appendix Quarter Horse I used to have.

 The farm wouldn't be complete without some chickens! Livie LOVED these chickens because they were "bock-bocking" like chickens! Haha! (What else would they do, right?)

 Livie and I took advantage of this photo opportunity - there was an "autumn scene" all set up in the front yard of the "Bart's Farm" family house. When we got home, Livie helped me decorate the photo with PicMonkey. 

And, of course, Livie went crazy with the PicMonkey decorations on this photo. She's posing with a couple of the pumpkins we'd gotten from Bart's Farm, plus the awesome orange mums I'd gotten last week (and the sucker she'd gotten after her pony ride).

And yes, that's a spider plant holder (made out of metal parts)! We'd gotten it a few years ago at the Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market, and usually put it out every fall; this was the first year I'd actually remembered to go out and get some mums for it. 

Rural Thursday is co-hosted by Two Bears Farm and A Rural Journal.  Please check out other "Rural Thursday" entries by clicking on the "Rural Thursday" button below:

 

A bit of kindness

Okay, I've been meaning to post this, but with all the reading I have to do for class, I've been swamped and I've forgotten.

Anyway, on Valentine's Day, I got a little surprise in the mail.

Lisa, from Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs, sent me a little care package as a "thank you" for regularly participating in Memory Lane Friday.

She included some fun stuff: a travel journal, photo album, scrapbooking supplies, a magnet with some great sayings, a little jar of play dough from Pierce to Livie, a Dove dark chocolate bar for me.

(I had to put it all on a solid-colored towel, so I wouldn't have too busy a background to display the stuff.)

Anyway, it was fun waiting anxiously for the package, wanting to see exactly what was inside. And then finally getting it, now that was fun!

And the chocolate bar? I hid it so Liv wouldn't see it. And I ate some of it after she went to bed. I ate the rest after class the following day. It was gooood!

The magnet, with it's sayings like, "Your presence is a present to the world," and "Count your blessings, not your troubles," and "Have courage," went on the fridge right away.

Liv loved the play dough, especially because it was pink! She immediately began making various creations with it.

And when she saw the scrapbooking material, she got excited about a potential art project that she and I could do together.

Now I don't normally do scrapbooking, but seeing how excited Livie got about all that stuff, I figured that when my semester is over, she and I can do some fun art projects with it (and the photo album - and maybe even the travel journal, both of which Lisa included in the package).

So anyway, I just wanted to say "Thanks again" to Lisa. I look forward to using the travel journal, and doing some art projects with Livie and the scrapbooking supplies! And, of course, the photo album will be put to good use! (If you're new to my blog - I love taking photos!)