I finished Only Enchanting last night https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mary-balogh/only-enchanting/. It is the fourth in Mary Balogh's Survivor's Club series which I have been really enjoying. This was probably my favorite so far.

VC, You are so right about it no longer rhyming right. It never occurred to me somehow. H is pronounced differently also.

We have Sleep Number beds and love them. Mid price range with pillow top for us bought in 2001. Still good and has moved in luggage overseas with us....3 duffle bags I think it was. They used to have owner's sales so when the kids transfered to real beds they got them also. Have also moved theirs. Cheap ones but no problems with any of them. We have really old sheets and a mattress pad for our bed. Still in use. Bought on sale and have been discontinued because I tried to buy more of the pads....waterproof but doesn't feel waterproof. It worked. No idea about the current ones.

We loved Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We read Chicka, Goodnight Moon, and Madeleine, everynight for about two years for our night night stories. Dd thought they were just what her baby brother needed to hear nightly. Daddy could fill in the next line in all the stories from another room. Thanks for the memory..... Oddly no one here has ever read Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom. I was talking about favorite children's books with my librarian friend who runs great storytimes and even she doesn't know the book. I can still quote the first lines.... Going to bring a copy back with me.

Jane, it is lovely. Very tempting. Your cape led me to look at the Woodland Knits Bookhttp://tinyowlknits.wordpress.com/woodland-knits/ I love the cream chunky cabled cape with the hood. I may have to buy the book because I think the Midsummer's hat is lovely too, for dd not me. :lol:

I have to say voting sounds like way more fun in Australia. Everyone here does a postal vote so dh and I and maybe 30 others vote in person. Last time the workers looked so bored I offered to bring them something to do. One lady had finished her book already....

Lovely pattern selection, I saved a few. If I am actually starting to figure out how Ravelry works! I still can't sem to sort very effectively. I haven't knitted this pattern for the February Lady Sweater but I have made the Elizabeth Zimmerman child sized one that is what this pattern is based on. I remember it as knitting up pretty easily if that is any help, of course I did make a small one!

I haven't had normal TV on in weeks. Have to say I find it pretty funny that I have now watched the M & S and Sainsbury Christmas ads on an American Home Ed board and not on my TV where I am sure they are airing frequently. :lol:

Jenn, I hope you are feeling better. Crstarlette, Congrats on 52! Melmichigan, Wishing you a lovely holiday season. I hope you return to us feeling much better! I seem to completely lose this thread from the boards every week on Monday or Tuesday. It normally reappears on Friday. I have started saving a couple of my likes instead of clearing my box. Same for any other threads I am enjoying reading, midweek vanished from my sorts if I posted. Anyway I can click on a like and go to the thread. I am very grateful when people like me because of this problem. Hugely impressed that you have caught up on HotAW. I really do want to finish it but it doesn't seem to be happening. It doesn't help that it looks so huge sitting beside the bed. I don't think I have read I book in paper form this month. Lots of grab the kindle and go combined with insomnia.

Just dug out an unfinished girl baby sweater that I started for someone else last year. I seem to start gifts and end up finishing some previous project when it actually comes time to give the gift. Baby is due the right before Christmas so am hoping that casual knitting will finish it off in time.

Today was officially hectic. It started slow with me getting some author research done then wham running all over the place. First, I have read all the authors everyone else has listed and enjoyed all. The new authors that appeared multiple times are: Morag Joss who I am completely unfamiliar with but personally like the looks of. Probably will request one of hers soon. Ake Edwardson who I had already marked as a want to read. His book series takes place in Sweden and London apparently. Personally curious because ds wants to live in Sweden someday. ;) Gilbert Adair sounds entertaining. Another one to try..... Catherine Aird, who I have actually read some of hers. Really enjoyed Relgious Body and Henrietta Who but gave the others 2 and 3 stars. They were short so I finished them...... James Anderson.....looked interesting Patricia Harwin, I want to start with Arson and Old Lace. Susan Hill, The Various Haunts of Man is the one that I picked of hers. Dorothy Sayers, I have read most of hers. Relieved that she appeared on the multiple list. As you can tell I have had fun with this project! My hold list has increased greatly which will be good for the library statistics. I have been slacking lately. ;( I have a huge list of other single appearance authors to reseach since I have enjoyed at least one book by your dad's favorites and this website seems to be recommending lots of new to me authors. Stacia, you seem to have lengthened my list which is good, I think. :lol:

Give me a couple of examples of what he likes. Preferably a couple favourite authors that aren't super common. As you know I read these but what you don't know is I now have access to a service through my library stuff that compares authors and offers suggestions. I played with it for a few minutes the other night and it seemed accurate, paid subscription. I will give it a try and try to come up with something good. If anyone else wants me to hunt for a suggestion I am willing. Good practice.

Hi Everyone! Hope you guys are having a good holiday weekend. We went shopping at the mall today because advertising was mentioning Black Friday and wanted to compare it to US. It wasn't much, no deep discounts found other than on TV'S. As we walked by North Face we noticed they had the same super sale they had two weeks ago when I was shopping for a coat. :( Pretty much the same all over. Ran in to some neighbours who thought they had done really well so to the uninitiated it seemed great apparently, but to someone who once bought a kitchen aid stand mixer for $88 the deals were sadly missing. Think it is in the eye of the shopper. Dh who is the pro deal shopper in our family came home rather unfulfilled. :lol: I did finish Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt yesterday. Possibly the best one out of the ones I have read in the Maiden Lane series so far. I also finished off Charlaine Harris' Harper Connelly series. The last book was good just not what I was expecting. I am still a bit shocked that the author maneged to tie up so many bits so well from other books and still have a new story. I enjoyed the series and had wondered why no new ones for awhile and now I get it, completed!

I make them cubed with olive oil, italian seasoning, pinch of salt, and the hottest paprika I can find. Really good with parsnips added in.

I was surprised by how good Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer was also. I watched the first 10 minutes of the movie recently and it was dreadful!

Tress :grouphug:

We are doing Thanksgiving very lightly tomorrow night with some other expat friends. Our village turns the lights on for the main tree tonight and has an outdoor market. Start of the Christmas season and a busy night for are family because of a variety of Christmas activities. Thanksgiving and the Late Night event fall on the same Thursday every year. Too exhausting to do both, tacos for early dinner tonight!

I think the first five in the vampire series are less explicit then Rice's other books but it has been a very long time since I read them also. So I am not sure what level less actually is. I would love to hear what your nephew uses in his class. I read quite a bit of vampire fiction and my favourite part of these books is the variety of background mythology the author's present..... Everything from all descended from super nanos created on Atlantis to Egyptians.

Sounds lovely. It's amazing what can be done with inexpensive schrubs and plants. We moved into our house (mid terrace so small garden) last fall. The previous owners took the plants with them except for a climbing rose and a couple of sickly things. I have been busy playing in my garden every since generally with the most inexpensive plants I can find. My dahlias and glads finally were hit by frost last week. Until then my yard looked like it was September! The hanging baskets with Sweet William and Pansy are still looking greet. I love the mild weather we have been having.

Just having a normal day here. Foggy so I can't put the laundry out. I have been out dropping dd off at her art class and picked up a couple of books at the library. I planted lots of bulbs about a month ago and they are starting to appear. I wish I could remember what I planted where. Lol So Laura, what kind of schrubs?

Last year I combined a reread of Stoker and The Historian with a really old version of Dracula, Price of many Faces by Radu Florescu. Price of Many Faces explores the real history behind the myth and for a vampire lit fan was pretty interesting. It went really well with the other books. Tell your ds that Rices series gets better after Interview with a Vampire. It has been years since I have done a reread but The Tale of the Body Thief normally ends up being my favorite.

I finished the sweater for ds. I never found the missing parts so had to redo the back and one sleeve. Can't believe that my quick knit turned into taking 3 1/2 seasons of Grey's Anatomy. So happy to be done.

I just finished the Heiress of Winterwoodhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15760508-the-heiress-of-winterwood?from_search=true by Sarah Ladd. This is one that should be good contentwise for all. Rather Joan Smith. The ultimate stamp of approval is that I am waiting for the next one in the series but suspect they will be stand alones.

Looking forward to hearing about the Man in the Empty Suit. Sounds intriguing. Eliana -- I hope you are feeling much better. Bronchitis is awful. :grouphug: Shukriyya -- Not sure what to say but :grouphug: Kareni -- I meant to quote the link but forgot for the 2014 best books list. There were some really interesting ones on that list. I need to go through it and make requests. I just finished another of my spooky series reads.....Destined for the Grave the fourth Night Huntress book by Jeannine Frost. Really enjoyed it, I was a bit meh about the third and stopped reading the series. This one has me requesting the next one.

My dd is also very shy. It has taken us years for her to accumulate several friends. A few of her friends are homeschooled but most came from outside interests that she was willing to pursue. To be honest the home ed friends generally have happened because I became friends with the mother and the mother's pursued the friendship for the girls. The friendship was pursued away from the group setting. One of dh's good friends has two terribly shy dd's also. We have thrown the three girls together on monthly family events for a couple of years now. They have just achieved a level I would honestly class as friendship. They have watched a lot of movies while the adults drank coffee after dinner. Last week there was happy hugs and chatter in greeting, great to see! 😀