Holiday Roundup-Ready for a New Year

 So I just need to re cap the frantic feeling holiday! It seems like I drove away the whole Christmas time! My favorite time though was this. On Christmas night after supper, DD, Uber Son & Lovely Jean loaded up in the car to look at the Christmas lights around town......

 And to catch Pokemon!

 I know-silly, right? Well I have a bunch of Pokemon Go! players in my life and it was actually a lot of fun to do!

 We drove to a couple of Pokemon Gyms and enjoyed the Christmas lights along the way! Fun time with the family!

We also had Christmas Monday at my folks home. There's some joyous vibes coming form these two...or maybe not....

 We exchanged gifts, ate sloppy joes and had a great time.

 I told my sister that I didn't have any photos of her from 2016 to put in to the 2017 annual calendar for Mom so I had to make an effort to get some of her for the 2018 calendar!

 Mom always likes the calendars, with the photos of the family scattered around every month. She and Dad both liked the assortment this year!

 Then we had the final gifting event with Pizza at our house on Friday. The Ginger kids all came to get their gifts-the logistics involved in getting multiple Christmas gatherings with multiple extended families is a truly a massive undertaking!

And the best part is, no one cried and said they didn't like it! YAY! I used the Pinterest idea of getting each kid "something to wear, something to read and something they want." So they all got socks and pants and a book and some money to buy whatever they want! Score one for this Christmas gift giver! I wish I would have had a little bit more time-I wanted to read the books I bought them. For Caitlynn I got Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco & James Patterson-I love James Patterson, for Will I got Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham-I love to read John Grisham books, I gotta say, I think it's awesome that quite a few of my favorite authors are writing books for young readers-maybe it's just smart marketing, but I really liked  choosing authors I love, to share with the kids! For Kevin I got Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot (Captain Underpants #12) by Dav Pilkey-Uber Son loved Captain Underpants at that age! And for Jaymie I got the first in a new series called The never Girls In a Blink (Disney: The Never Girls Series #1) by Kiki Thorpe, RH Disney. Maybe they'll let me borrow them so I can read them in the coming year!  

OK, so I think that's the final Christmas and the final post for 2016. Hard to believe the year is over already.

Old School Movie Night

 So I came back from Minnesota with a VCR! YAY! I know, I know, it's old technology, but I have TAPES! Look Beauty & The Beast....

 The Little Mermaid.....Bob was watching the movies with me too! And lookie here, I won a $10 gift card from the Public Library Winter Reading Program!

Yay for the oldest technology-Books!

Friends of the Library

A few times a year the local friends of the Library have a book sale at the Coralville Library. Everybody knows I love books, sooooo.....

I had to go have a lookie loo.  Saturday was the 2nd day and I heard a few folks say they thought things were pretty picked over. I thought there were plenty of books to choose from and if I didn't hate to dust books so much I would have come home with more than just a few.

So I picked up just a few, two knitting books with really pretty illustrations for Mom. I doubt if she needs another project to knit on, but these are really nice books and only fifty cents each!! And a quilt book, it's a little but aged, but has a cute heart block pattern, and last a brand new dollar store decor book. I'm not interested in much from the dollar store, but I think it will be great in a gift basket for the church bazaar & auction in November. Yes, I'm planning ahead!

I got  3 books to add to the library in Uber Son's/Bob's/Guest room. They were only a quarter each. When GIL's kiddos come over I like to have something for them to read. Tiger Trail has some really lovely pictures.

Look at the wonderful illustrations in this book called King Bidgood's in the Bathtub.

The story is about King Bidgood, who doesn't want to get out of the tub, so he carries on with business from the bathtub. Love the pictures! What a great bathtub!

And the last book I bought is Little Black, A Pony. We had this book when we were kids and I think it was one of my sister's favorites, so I imagine the kids will like it too.

 

I had to read it again my self..... Yup, it's still a great book!

Book Sale Today!

So the library had their book sale today. They have them a couple of times a year. I always go but I rarely buy a book. There's a whole other room full of books too, and this is on day 2!

If I buy a book I'd have to dust it on the bookshelf at home..no stuff to dust for me thank you very much.

But they have a ton of books and they GIVE A LOT away. FOR FREE!

That's where you'll find the encyclopedias. On the FREE rack. They can't even give them away. I always thought they'd make a great lamp, like this...

Photo from HGTV

or like this from Our Take On Freedom
Not today though, because I don't need a lamp either!!!

What next!

So my car went to Sears for a new battery today. DEEP SIGH! Another one of those expenses.... Lucky for me Sears is right across the parking lot from Barnes & Noble. OH GOODY! 

I love the smell of books.
I love how they feel, how they line up in pretty colors and all sizes.

Really? Just for Kids huh? Perhaps for SOME kids, but not the paint your own piggy bank and my 1st book of fairy tales set I'm thinking!

Is it funny that Joesph Kennedy is next to the most evil mobsters? Kinda theologically humorous that the US Army survival guide is next to the story of Jesus though, you gotta admit!