Crocus...

Look what I found on my walk yesterday! Lovely. There were bunches of these everywhere.

It was another crazy day yesterday. I hope that today will be much more calm.

I have about 40 boxes that need to be painted post haste.. and my house looks like a hurricane had a party in here. c's school report is finally finished! Hooray! I hope it goes well for her today.

Google Reader...

I have been using Google reader lately. Wow. What a time saver. If you are trying to keep up with a number of blogs. Google reader lets me know when one of you has posted something new and then I can stop by for a visit. I've loved it.

Bouquet of Daisies...

This is my favorite bouquet to make.. I make it all the time. It costs $4.. $5 if you include the little tin bucket which are available tons of places. I am taking this bouquet to a friend of mine who has just accomplished a major accomplishment! Hooray! Long story.. but anyway she deserves some flowers!

Daisies are my favorite.. Well OK.. it's difficult to choose a favorite flower because I like most of them quite a lot.. but daisies are definitely one of my favorites. And, these daisies with the green centers are my favorite daisies.. I don't know why I always paint them with yellow centers. Hmm.

Daisies are the happiest flower to me. In the language of flowers, they mean innocence and they are common flower and so they kind of remind me of childhood... a playful and innocent happiness. Lovely.

Chaucer called the daisy the "eye of the day". Daisies are perennials and sometimes they volunteer for beauty duty. My brother-in-law once told me that a weed is actually defined as anything that is not planted intentionally. I don't feel that way. I think volunteers are often a miracle of nature.

My favorite tree in our whole neighborhood was planted by heaven. It's lovely in the summer with green leaves and in the autumn when the leaves tumble down. It's beautiful covered with snow and looks magical when frost and fog crystals freeze to it. It is such an amazing shape that even right now "mud time" according to Robert Frost the branches reaching for the sun make me hear the sounds of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in my head. I know the more violent parts of that ballet are supposed to be something about pagan Russia and oppression and all that.. but when I listen to it... it sounds like the violence of a winter storm.. It sounds like ice and wind and then it sounds like the joy of flowers and blooming and little grass shoots coming through the dirt.

I suppose daisies are common because we see them all the time, but they are a miracle to me. My mom likes to say that beauty has its own value. It truly does. It's hopeful. It has the spark of faith in it.

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies,

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower-- but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, all in all,

I should know what God and man is.

Tennyson

Frilly Pink Dress...

Nammy says this may be the last frilly dress she'll get the girls to wear. They are growing up and getting too sophisticated for all these ruffles. I hope not, but I fear she may be right.
I love to see my sweet c twirling and twirling. I better take lots of snaps of the three cute cousins. They are all three going to be flowers girls at my sister Alicia's wedding. They are sooo excited.

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although eating honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.

~A.A. Milne

Do you know what I'm dreaming of doing???

Not a dang thing. Not in the long run of course. In the long run I dream of doing a whole slew of things, a bunch of things, tons of new things... but today... I would love to do
NOTHING.. just for a little while. I have been running all day, which why I'm posting this while I wait for the whites to go in the dryer so that we will have clothes tomorrow. Funny, they frown on nudity at our church. You'd think they'd just be glad you showed up, but no. You must show up in clothes. It's a lot of pressure some days. Today being one of those days.
And tomorrow, the Holy Sabbath, is a day of rest. HA!!! I know some of you just nearly peed your pants laughing at that one.. right? right! C always says, "the Sabbath day is a day of rest. You labor six days and on the Sabbath you do all the rest." Get it! Funny huh? I attended a bridal shower this afternoon and listened as some of the ladies told about their day coming up. It was frightening. This is what our day of rest will amount to: Tomorrow we have 3 hours of church, interviews with the bishopric, choir practice, choir performance, taking my brother Josh for his Sunday drive (he needs a break more than anyone) and a stake leadership training meeting.
Sundays are normally as long as a full work day, but some Sundays are a marathon. Even though Saturday is a special day.. the day you get ready for Sunday (feel free to sing a long if ya know the words).. Saturday wasn't special enough.. we never made it to the store. Good thing there's tuna in the food storage or we could starve. We still might though, because unless we get up extra early we might not have time to eat it.

Did I mention that c has a major report due at school and we thought we had two more weeks to do it? c is an A student. She's not going to sleep tonight. She's going to freak out instead which will make the whole doing a fantastic report in 2 days so much more pleasant. Freaking out in the place of sleeping in c's and my favorite nightime pass time.
Back to the laundry... I just noticed that I wouldn't have to go in the buff to church. My jammies are clean. Good night people.. and good luck tomorrow.

*** Author's note: I hope you're laughing. I have to be a bit sarcastic sometimes. Don't mis-interpret this. I love my life and I am a mostly happy person.. It just feels good to belly ache a little sometimes. In addition to the above. The garage broke while I was on my way to pick up my brother. He's very mentally handicapped. I don't think he was happy I was late. He wet in my car on the way to his babysitters. Happily I was mostly prepared for that with a towel and garbage bag.. so I won't have to spend $60 getting the car detailed this week. Hooray. I was late for my stake meeting, but they were very kind about it.. and you know the sun is shining.. and The Easter Hymn Sing was simply sublime and so it's been a good Sabbath after all. Now Monday! Smile people!!! :)

Fun Stuff...

It isn't even my birthday or anything, but I got these fun gifts from friends across the way this week. Thanks Jess for all this cute stuff from Iowa. I maybe need to go shopping over in Iowa.. they have my kinda stuff. I love these tatted pillowcases and the most darling tiny lemonade picture ever... Jess is my friend from when I lived in the city. One time we had a party and we made so many Mexican paper flowers it almost filled my apartment. It was sooo fun!
Then, my friend Lilli sent me all this great stuff. Lilli is one of the fun friends that I met through the blogs. It's been great to meet people who like the same creative things! She even sent c something too and c is more than thrilled! We love mail of any kind (well, not bills), but the kind that has presents is awfully great! We can't wait to see what we can make with these cutie buttons. My guess is that Lilli crocheted the tiny pink doilie herself. I love it! Thank you! Thank you ! Lilli!

Kalanchoe and a few thoughts...

I like Kalanchoe. It is bothersome to me that when I visit a garden that is supposedly desert (really meaning that most of the plants are low water and they are going to use a lot of wood chips and rocks in the place of plants) that there is so little color. Often just a bunch of tumbleweed type things. As a westerner, I crave color. There are times of the year around here where we look at dry brown fields and dry brown mountains for months. Kalanchoe is a low water succulent however, but it has a lot of color. Actually it comes in 2 of my favorite pinks and a gorgeous yellow and a few other colors. It makes a great houseplant because it doesn't require tons of care. I soak them good twice a week and let them drain before putting them back in their pots. They last a long time.
I'm allergic to animals... and I don't like to clean up poo, so flowers are my thing instead. I used to not like to have them around because you get those little fruit fly bugs, but if you just put a few drops of liquid dish soap in a spray bottle and fill the remainder with water ... you will have the perfect bug spray and it really works. I even spray around my front door to keep the box elder bugs and midges down to a minimum. I don't know what to do about the froggys in the window well however.

I feel like life is passing at lightening speed right now. In all of the things that must be done, I am desperate to accomplish goals. I guess that one of those things is to live with flowers and lots of color. I also want to spend tons of time with c and C and my family. And, I want to paint tons of boxes. I want to learn to be a good friend.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was an interesting person. She was a psychiatrist who moved to the United States in 1958 and became a champion of the terminally ill. She wrote the landmark book, On Death and Dying. She taught people about the 5 stages of grief and how to care for people at the end of their lives. I have not read her book. I'd like to sometime, but she is a person who is often quoted and I run across her quotes frequently. She has amazing perspective as those who care for the dying often do. She said all of these things:

People are like stained - glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

We need to teach the next generation of children from day one that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind's greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear.

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.

It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.

A few years ago I read one of those books that stays with you. It was written by the mother of 12 children. As you can imagine, she was a very busy lady. One day she told her daughter that she would like to be an author someday but did not know how to do it time wise. Her daughter made the suggestion that she write a few words everyday and eventually it would become a book. I think that it has actually become 5 books or maybe more. Two of them are fantastic: Things I Wish I'd Known Sooner: Personal Discoveries of a Mother of Twelve & Celebration!: Ten Principles of More Joyous Living. The author is Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards. (I think they are out of print, but Amazon may have some used copies). They are two of my favorite books. The writing is incredibly beautiful.

I spend hours on most days working to make my dreams come true.. not minutes, but the time still seems short. However, I am inspired by Jaroldeen and hopeful that even though things take more time than we'd like ... every moment that we spend working toward our dreams and even the moments that just give us more experience are moments that bring us closer to the things we really want.

The reason I haven't been around lately...

This was our Relief Society birthday dinner. I almost hate to show the photos because they don't take very well in the gym. The thing about gyms is they are mostly brown with fluorescent lighting and they swallow color right up. But, I think if you were actually there, it felt bright and Springy.
We did give the ladies a nice meal. These little white plates were just for chips and salsa when they first came in.
The long table at the end was so that each of the ladies could bring one thing from home that represented something about themselves. It was fun to see all the things people brought.
We had nine tables and about 63 ladies came, which was really fun because it isn't a good party unless all the friends are there. We had some pretty background music, but we didn't do anything but eat and visit which was so fun.
We had a nice dinner. We had those Chicken Enchiladas (the ones I always mention). You're laughing. I can hear it! It is pathetic that I only know about 5 recipes and that's the best one I have so that's why we used it. Then we had instead of a salad, a big pile of fresh veggies on each plate with broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas and celery. And just so you don't think we were going healthy on that... we had Lone Star Steak House Ranch Dressing, which is the best.

It takes so many people to put something like this together. I got counting up how many people had helped last night and I got to about 25 but there may be more. I have lots of notes to write today, which is just fine because I am feeling quite thankful.

Gold Paint...

This has been a crazy busy day and it's not over yet, but I had to show you this daisy egg, which is out the door in the morning. I like this shade of blue.


This purple one was listed in the shop. I am enjoying playing with the gold paint. Who needs the real stuff? In just the right light.. it's just so glimmery.

Faith is a Flower...

I love Joan Walsh Anglund books and this one is a favorite... perfect for Easter.

In the evening twilight, stand out under the stars and let your thoughts rise to God, in silent gratitude for all He has bestowed upon you.

Joan Walsh Anglund

The Indian in the Cupboard Series...

These books are so much fun! One of my favorite memories of c's childhood is going to be the time C was out of town on business and we had a late night... a really late night. We stayed up until 2 A.M. listening to books 3 and 4 in this series and painting in my studio. Book 4 is my favorite, but just doesn't wrap everything up, so it was nice to finally read the last book where Omri's father goes back in time to visit Omri's indian friend Little Bull.

The author herself reads the books and she does a fantastic job. They are all available unabridged (very important.. I hate to miss part of the story!) and on tape.

I was confused by the order of the series, but I think I have it correct for you here...

1. The Indian in the Cupboard

2. The Return of the Indian

3. The Secret of the Indian

4. The Mystery of the Cupboard

5. The Key to the Indian

I really think these books would appeal to any child who can sit still long enough to listen to a chapter all the way up to as old as you can get.

**P.S. Sorry for not being a regular poster lately or commenter... I'm kinda swamped, but back to normal by Wednesday I hope. :)

Easter Spin Tops...

Today was a pretty good day. A good day being one where nothing major goes wrong and a few things go very right. I like to get a few things done. And, I like to learn something.

I made these spin tops today and they will be in

The LOvE BoXEs SHoP

Tomorrow..

I learned a few things.

I took a nice walk in the sun, which always makes for a happier day.

I like to go for spring walks and see that things are sending out shoots and greening and budding.

I have purple crocus in my garden.

I made a new recipe! (This is major.. I'm not a cook so you should clap at this point).

I made Marta's recipe here. It is sooooo good and such a great recipe (pretty easy). My family asked for seconds (this never happens with c). And then my mom and sister came over and they ate the rest. I was so pleased that I actually had something decent to feed them. Hooray!

Colonial Products...

I love Eucerin cream because it saved my poor face in high school and college. I used to have to slather in on because my skin is so dry that even my poor face would crack. But it's not fun to go to bed each night with greasy white mask on your face. So, I like these creams even better.

They are made by the same company in California and I buy them through Amazon. The Colonial Dames is thicker, but soaks in better although it has kind of a funny smell. The colonial naturals smells better, like primroses, but is a bit thinner and more oily.
My skin isn't perfect, but it feels much better.

The Golden Egg...

My mom always sets this little book out at Easter time. It is interesting to me to watch how the children are always drawn to it. The pages are magical in their imaginative beauty. Maybe the bunny should bring c a copy in her basket, or maybe she should just enjoy it at grandma's house.

The Queen Comes for a Visit, Boxes & Jeremiah...

I watched Barbara Walter's program last night about the Queen coming to the States. It was so fun to see how the White House puts on a state dinner... white tie even.
The white tie dinner was the only one of President Bush's presidency. He usually just invites people over to Crawford for barbeque.. which is something I love about he and Laura. Laura looked so pretty in a beautiful blue gown. She is so pretty.
I had been painting these bunnies most of the day. I am listing just one in the shop tomorrow, but if anyone needs multiples.. there are 4. It looks like 5, but my dad bought one.
This little bunny doesn't have his flowers yet, but they are coming soon. I was going to put a happy verse from the Psalms. I wanted to make these boxes very special Easter boxes. I love the Psalms but, I am really leaning toward parts of some of these scriptures from Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 31:33

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jeremiah 32:38
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

Jeremiah 31:1
At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

and this one is my favorite...

Jeremiah 24:7
And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

Of course, I can only write about 10 words in these boxes, but I will put the reference too so it will show which one.

***These boxes are a much brighter blue and I'm not sure why they are showing up like this. I will work on it.

C.S. Lewis...

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

I wonder if C.S. Lewis would like the movies that have been made and are going to be made of his books. I liked The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe very much. The Lion is so beautiful. I hope the next one will be as good. C.S.Lewis was an amazing scholar whose wisdom is still a blessing. My friend Liz posted a quote here that she likes and it reminded me of this one that I like.

I love CANDY!

Someone asked me the other day what food I would survive on if I could have just anything I wanted. I didn't really want to tell this person that I am already on the Eat What You Love Diet (this title is copyrighted... I'm writing the book... sure to be a bestseller!) and I mostly just love candy. That's why it's so hard for me to eat 5 a day (fruits & veggies) for better health. If you eat all that healthy stuff, there will be no room for the candy.

If we are going for elegance... I love this candy. But, I am not as elegant as I would like to be so I'm pretty happy just at the grocery store. I love ju-ju bunnies! LOVE THEM! and Swedish Fish. I even like the smarties that you get at the bank (why didn't I ever grow up?) I adore tootsie rolls and one of my favorite things of all.... KISSES!!! Chocolate and affection in every bite!

Sometimes the Kisses people really mess up... like when they took the old Christmas mint kisses and put the yucky green goo inside. YUCK!

However, I hear they have redeemed themselves from the green goo incident with the Toasted Coconut Triumph! I am going to get some today and I'll let you know... Do you have a favorite? I might need to try it!

I never did find a spring wreath. I went to a second place and the wreaths were awful there as well. I don't know where people just buy the pretty ones. I see them places. (I liked your Valentine wreath so much SSWS... very pretty). However, this just goes to show that if you just roll up your sleeves you can have what you want. I bought a silk peony bush at a craft store 1/2 off and a total of $5. I bought a grape vine wreath. I had a bolt of this lovely but very inexpensive ribbon at home. Add glue gun.. and one hour. Done. And, I kind of like it.
I know I should take the tacky Starlight Gardens sign down. But, I can't. It's sentimental. I put it up because I wanted this to be a happy home with a good name. Our last place was aptly named, "the Village of the Damned." Yes, C named it that, but after a while we both called it that. I wanted to start fresh when we moved here and I painted this little sign right away and put it up.

I named my house after a restaurant in the old Hotel Utah. It's now just called The Garden.. I guess the ambient light from the city makes it difficult to see the stars through the glass roof. But, I love going there anyway, it's like dining in a terrarium kind of. The view is incredible and the food is pretty good. We've celebrated lots of happy days there.

And, naming the house must have worked because most days are a happy celebration here. We have very kind neighbors. We purchased some little trees. We have nice windows and lots of sunshine and when a light bulb needs changing.. we don't have to fight a condo board to do it.

This little home has become the dream that is a perfect fit. I always hope that I'll get to stay in it for all the rest of the seasons to come.

Martha's Good Eggs...

Martha has lots of good Eastery ideas as usual. These cards were my favorite. They would be really pretty with origami papers as well, don't you think? See here for egg cards.. and here for all the other fun ideas.

A Tale for Easter...

I adore Tasha Tudor books and this is one of my favorite.

...up, up over the misty moisty clouds, where the bluebirds dye their feather and the robins find the color for their eggs...

A Day in my head and life...

What did you do that was interesting yesterday? I woke up really early. I painted and got some orders shipped out and listened to a lot of news on the radio while I cleaned the master bathroom and put stuff away. I learned about how the Chinese have decided to take away tax breaks from many of the factories that make low cost/ low tech items and so those factories are closing down hundreds at a time. I wonder what that will mean for places like the dollar stores here in the states and places like Tai Pan trading. The Chinese still seem to have labor shortage so I don't think it will effect unemployment there but I don't know. That is an interesting place and culture for sure. I want to go to China someday.

I vacuumed and cleaned up the family room. While I was sanding more boxes, they were talking about the passing of William F. Buckley. What an interesting man and I think a great man. Even those who disagreed with him politically liked him when they knew him. He was fun and funny as well. I loved where in a political debate he refused to take his allotted time to speak and said, "I am satisfied to sit back and contemplate my own former eloquence."

I met his brother once and had the opportunity to listen to him speak. I won't forget it. It was very moving and just amazing. I wrote a little about that here.

My sister came over for lunch. It was fun to visit with her. She probably thinks eating over here is weird because I always just grab odd leftovers out of the fridge. I photographed and listed these boxes in the shop.

I had been up since 4 Am.. can't sleep sometimes. I wanted to watch some mindless something about Oscar gowns and Harry Winston diamonds. I just want to try on one of those pretty necklaces sometime. So I turned on Oprah. No glitter, no glam at all just some guy who was eating out of the garbage to save money and the planet. Weird. I had to run out to the store and grab the ingredients for dinner. I decided to pay for mine rather than dumpster dive.. passing on weird guys suggestions. Made dinner. Pizza. Chauffeured c to her thing. Then for a moment I was contemplating the decor. The Valentine's Day decor is truly still up. How can I take it down and put it away & then get the Easter stuff out when the Christmas wreath is still on the door? It's a conundrum. I have looked and looked (OK I looked just one place, but I looked all around there) and can't find a pretty spring wreath. I know that I need to make one, but I was trying to avoid it. The last one did not turn out as I envisioned.
Oh, I forgot to say the Jehovah's Witnesses tried to visit in the morning. I try to be kind to traveling evangelists since my own church sends missionaries out as well, but they came during jammie time which is often all morning and so I had to hide and pretend I wasn't home. It's awkward to be caught in your jammie pants and 10 AM (although I've seen people wearing jammies and slippers at the Mall.. that's a bit casual isn't it.) With me though it's less devastating to spill paint on your jammies somehow. And, I spill frequently.

I tried to read/listen to this book called Snow in August (I think that's it). The reader sounds like a computer. No emotion. No range. He stunk and so I need to make a trip to the library today.

In the evening I went to the church and helped (I am not much help at this) make a quilt for a girl in our neighborhood who is going off to college soon. My finger cracked and I bled on it a bit.. nice. I liked the colors though bright pink, green, tangerine and yellow. It was about a full size quilt and the top was made out of this really pretty sheet.

When I got home, c and I played a game of speed scrabble.. we just made this particular game up. You dump out all the tiles and try to make a huge crossword as fast as you can. It's pretty fun. I like Scrabble and Boggle and hate most other games except maybe Pictionary.

Then when the house was dark and quiet.. we spent an hour whispering about all the news of the day. C knows about everything I swear. I love a fascinating conversation right before I drop off to sleep.
So those are a few of moments in my day. What happened in your day?

You are all very good eggs & Make my DAY!

I recently received a You Make my Day award from

All Things Bright and Beautiful...

Which was so flattering to me because I would rather stop over there and look at all those pretty things than look through any glossy magazine.

You know blogging is an interesting hobby to have. I know there are people who have issues with it, but this is what I think.

Being a painterly sort of person, which sort of person spends much of the day being painterly and in order to be painterly and have things end up to be the way they are meant to be... one ends up spending a large portion of time by ones self, which has always been OK with me. I have lots of books from the library to listen to and I have fun music and I have lots of little jars of color, which is the best. But if I ever get to be the smallest bit lonely, I can walk down to the computer and find a message or leave a message with a great old friend or a fun new friend. So other than the actual word blogging (which sounds like a person could possibly be gagging on their oatmeal) I love it. And, I am grateful for the connections it makes with people. And, I can still laugh when people make fun of it like they did on NPR yesterday by saying it was all about self importance. WELL (huff, huff!) I have to have someone to show off to. Don't you!

Speaking of Showing off, these are some eggs that go out today for a special order, but I wanted to show them to all of you first. Don't you like this last photo? I thought the side of the lid turned out particularly well that time. :)

Anyway, according to All Things Bright & Beautiful...

I get to choose 5 blogs that make my day and that is difficult because there are so many fun ones, so have you ever visited...

On This Harvest Moon.. which I love because its owner is a new bride and it's so much fun to read about her dinner parties and see the things she picks in furniture and music. She has great taste in music and shares my love of white kitchen furniture.

I Love You... I Think is just smart and fun with a little satire, which I love!

Tales From Pixie Wood has the loveliest English Charm.. you must see her lovely Easter tree today.

My Pink Turtle is literally one of my favorite new artists and shares my adoration of Mexican culture and art.

Gingham World because Michelle is my good friend and I was a bit worried when she moved away, but because of blogs we talk everyday. :)

Green Sugar Egg Bunnies...

The little bunnies are peeking out at you!

Stop by ...

The LoVE BoXes SHoP

and day hello to them!

All Over but the Shoutin'...

I took a chance on this book and finished it even though it just didn't resonate with me in the beginning. The book describes itself as a biography of the author's mother, but it is far more an autobiography of the author, Rick Bragg.

The author has a lot of hubris, or false pride as his mother would have said, but I would define it differently than she. He acts cocky, brags a lot and seems, seems being the key word here, proud of his bad behavior. I don't buy that. I don't think that people really can be proud of behaving badly, using poor manners, mistreating women and all that stuff. But, you can see the strutting in the words. I think it's all false. And so, at first I really didn't like this book or the character of the man as much as I just felt bad for him.

But that I would feel bad for him is maybe where the strutting comes from. He doesn't want you to feel bad for him, Rick Bragg, writer for the New York Times and winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

It is hard not to sorrow for him and for his mother though as your read an account of poverty, alcoholism, faithlessness and abuse, all of which were characteristics of his father. And, this is not an intimate tale, Bragg keeps you at a distance from his heart in this book. But, as the author himself points out... he's used that stuff, that alcoholism and abuse to his own purpose. All of it together made a man who could witness atrocities from hurricane Andrew to Oklahoma City to Haiti, who could write the stories that needed to be told there and walk away. We need people like that in our society, unfortunately. We have to have people who can walk into the broken places in the world and tell us what is there or we would never be able to fix it. I am grateful for people like that. They contribute in a big way.

And so, while I disagree with the class warfare that Rick Bragg seems to need to wage, and I disagree with how he relates to the women he dates... very destructive if you ask me, but I respect his loyalty to his family and his attempts to repay his mother for her goodness. I respect the courage it must take to tell these stories and the control it would require to tell them and then to close your eyes at night and sleep after the telling. That is toughness.

If you are a person who finds that a great book is a book that will show you a different place and perspective and really make you think, this is a great book.

The Dresses...

I watch the Oscars for the dresses. The only movies that were up for awards that I had actually seen were August Rush and Enchanted. So I didn't know much about the films that were nominated.

I always watch for Nicole Kidman. I love her style. She always looks so elegant to me. Her dresses have been my favorite for a few years running. And, she makes everything more beautiful because she has the gracious manners like Grace Kelly & Audrey Hepburn.

I also love the dresses that Helen Mirren and Rene Zellweger wore. Beautiful.

Which dress was your favorite?

This photo came from JustJared who had lots of great photos of the red carpet.