AFTERWARDS

Well, the presents are open, the food is cooked and eaten. Thought I'd share some of our Christmas with you. This was the twins first Christmas. So they didn't really know what was going on. But they had fun with their presents. We put them on the floor and they were having fun chasing them around. They are both ready to crawl. They just haven't figured out the process yet. Bub is getting on his knees and rocking, but he hasn't made it any further. Bella is rolling over both ways. They are growing so fast. Anyway here are some snapshots of our Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

REVIEW - CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC

"Confederates in the Attic" by Tony Horwitz

Product Description(Amazon.com)
When prize-winning war correspondent Tony Horwitz leaves the battlefields of Bosnia and the Middle East for a peaceful corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains, he thinks he's put war zones behind him. But awakened one morning by the crackle of musket fire, Horwitz starts filing front-line dispatches again this time from a war close to home, and to his own heart.
Propelled by his boyhood passion for the Civil War, Horwitz embarks on a search for places and people still held in thrall by America's greatest conflict. The result is an adventure into the soul of the unvanquished South, where the ghosts of the Lost Cause are resurrected through ritual and remembrance.
In Virginia, Horwitz joins a band of 'hardcore' reenactors who crash-diet to achieve the hollow-eyed look of starved Confederates; in Kentucky, he witnesses Klan rallies and calls for race war sparked by the killing of a white man who brandishes a rebel flag; at Andersonville, he finds that the prison's commander, executed as a war criminal, is now exalted as a martyr and hero; and in the book's climax, Horwitz takes a marathon trek from Antietam to Gettysburg to Appomattox in the company of Robert Lee Hodge, an eccentric pilgrim who dubs their odyssey the 'Civil Wargasm.'
Written with Horwitz's signature blend of humor, history, and hard-nosed journalism, Confederates in the Attic brings alive old battlefields and new ones 'classrooms, courts, country bars' where the past and the present collide, often in explosive ways. Poignant and picaresque, haunting and hilarious, it speaks to anyone who has ever felt drawn to the mythic South and to the dark romance of the Civil War.
# Paperback: 432 pages
# Publisher: Vintage; Later Printing edition (February 22, 1999)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 067975833X
# ISBN-13: 978-0679758334

MY THOUGHTS: This book has been on my list of TBR books for ages. I love reading about history, especially the Civil War. I don't really know what the fascination is with the period, but I've always loved reading about it since I was a young girl. Mr. Horwitz did a remarkable job with this book. I found out lots of things I didn't know and lots of things I did know, but needed a refresher on it. Many people think the Civil War was about Slavery. It wasn't. It was about states rights. As Horwitz takes you through the south you hear what everyone there thinks about the Civil War and some keep it alive and some don't care one way or the other. But some take it to extreme. If you like to read about the Civil War you should really read this book. I highly recommend it.

MY RATING: 5

REVIEW - CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC

"Confederates in the Attic" by Tony Horwitz

Product Description(Amazon.com)
When prize-winning war correspondent Tony Horwitz leaves the battlefields of Bosnia and the Middle East for a peaceful corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains, he thinks he's put war zones behind him. But awakened one morning by the crackle of musket fire, Horwitz starts filing front-line dispatches again this time from a war close to home, and to his own heart.
Propelled by his boyhood passion for the Civil War, Horwitz embarks on a search for places and people still held in thrall by America's greatest conflict. The result is an adventure into the soul of the unvanquished South, where the ghosts of the Lost Cause are resurrected through ritual and remembrance.
In Virginia, Horwitz joins a band of 'hardcore' reenactors who crash-diet to achieve the hollow-eyed look of starved Confederates; in Kentucky, he witnesses Klan rallies and calls for race war sparked by the killing of a white man who brandishes a rebel flag; at Andersonville, he finds that the prison's commander, executed as a war criminal, is now exalted as a martyr and hero; and in the book's climax, Horwitz takes a marathon trek from Antietam to Gettysburg to Appomattox in the company of Robert Lee Hodge, an eccentric pilgrim who dubs their odyssey the 'Civil Wargasm.'
Written with Horwitz's signature blend of humor, history, and hard-nosed journalism, Confederates in the Attic brings alive old battlefields and new ones 'classrooms, courts, country bars' where the past and the present collide, often in explosive ways. Poignant and picaresque, haunting and hilarious, it speaks to anyone who has ever felt drawn to the mythic South and to the dark romance of the Civil War.
# Paperback: 432 pages
# Publisher: Vintage; Later Printing edition (February 22, 1999)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 067975833X
# ISBN-13: 978-0679758334

MY THOUGHTS: This book has been on my list of TBR books for ages. I love reading about history, especially the Civil War. I don't really know what the fascination is with the period, but I've always loved reading about it since I was a young girl. Mr. Horwitz did a remarkable job with this book. I found out lots of things I didn't know and lots of things I did know, but needed a refresher on it. Many people think the Civil War was about Slavery. It wasn't. It was about states rights. As Horwitz takes you through the south you hear what everyone there thinks about the Civil War and some keep it alive and some don't care one way or the other. But some take it to extreme. If you like to read about the Civil War you should really read this book. I highly recommend it.

MY RATING: 5

Hunter and Hayden

1 month old and growing.

MEGAN AND ...................TWINS

Megan, my niece. She gave birth to twins on November 11. Hunter and Hayden.







This is the whole family about a month ago. I saw Megan and family at Wal Mart yesterday. They are all doing fine. Hunter and Hayden are growing like weeds. They are picking up weight and filling out nicely. But since my computer crashed I can't get to my new pictures. So I'm using my archived pictures from a month ago.

RAIN OR SNOW

So far it's rain, no snow, which suits me fine. But I'm sure it will be snow before the nights over as the temps are dropping.

COMPUTER CRASHED...........AGAIN

My computer crashed and am using the lap top for now. I'm not happy about this. I want my computer back.

IT'S A BOY......AND A GIRL

I got a scrapbook page of the twins. I'm working on an album for them. This is when they came home. They were 1 week old and so tiny. I was almost afraid to pick them up. Hard to believe now that they are 5 months that they were that tiny.

WINTER.................YUK!!!!!

This is why I hate winter. Snow and cold. It's now 14 degrees outside with the wind blowing which makes the wind chill even colder.

TEASER TUESDAYS

My Current Read

The Red Queen - Margaret Drabble


My teaser sentence

"When we were little, the Crown Prince and I played games together. We played, like the children that we were."

I've just started this book so am not very far into it. But I like what I've read so far.

REVEIW - MARLEY & ME

"Marley & Me" by John Grogan

"Marley & Me" by John Grogan
Product Description(Amazon.com)
The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life.
# Paperback: 307 pages
# Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Mti edition (October 28, 2008)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0061718653
# ISBN-13: 978-0061718656

MY THOUGHTS: I went into this book knowing full well what was going to happen. But I really enjoyed reading about the Grogan family and all their misadventures with Marley. How could you not love him. He enjoyed life to the fullest, a bit energetic, true, but happy most of the time. I think my favorite "Marley" story is him getting kicked out of Obedience school. And then going back and trying it again and getting is degree and eating it! Whatever you say about Marley he truly loved his family and they loved him very deeply even with all his so called "problems". Now on to the movie. Which I'm sure I'll need some tissues to see this one.

MY RATING: 5

[Note: I saw the movie and was not disappointed. Although some of the parts of the book were missing. I'm sure they had to cut some to make this movie. Other than that it was a pretty good movie and loved the people that stared in the movie.]

STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA

I think I've mentioned my niece having twins. She had two boys, Hayden and Hunter. They are 3 weeks old now and growing.

Hayden


Hunter


These pictures are straight out of my camera no cropping or resizing.

NEW AFGHAN

I started a new afghan last week. I'm using shades of green in this one. I'm trying to use up my odds and ends yarn. I've just got a few skeins of each color so this may be a lap afghan.

FRIDAY'S FAVE FIVE

Susanne is the host of Friday's Fave Five. Go check it out.

1. Vegetable Soup - my son made a really big pot this week and have been eating it all week. It's so much better once it sits a day or so. Plus it warms the body up on these cold days.

2. Scrapbooks - I'm a scrapbooker and I'm always looking for new things and ideas to scrapbook with. I've even got a blog where I put all my scrapbook stuff. It's called My Journal. It's a Journal of my scrapbooking. This is a new page I done this week. It was last fall and we were having the last cook out of the year. It was kind of chilly. My hubby is watching the fire till it burns down. Our son is the griller here. He uses wood instead of gas or charcoal.


3. Libraries - I love my library. When I need or want a book, they are all so helpful in getting it if they don't have it. I've got a couple books waiting there now that they got.

4. Babies - We have lots of those right now. We have twins, Bella and Luke, and my niece just had a set of twin boys. Got to visit them. They are so tiny. This is Hunter and Hayden at 3 weeks old.


5. My Camera - I love my camera. It catches some of the most important events in my life. This is one I caught yesterday. My son napping with his daughter Bella. They look so peaceful laying there.



Have a great Friday!!

THEMED THURSDAY

My STONE is from last spring. The spring flowers blooming here are called Anonmies (I'm not sure about this name). They are so tiny and delicate looking, but they come up through the snow in the spring. They are in my rock garden outside the back door. There's lots of rocks(STONES) in my garden.

FIRST SNOW

We had our first snow of the season during the night. Not much just a dusting.