Top Commenters

I was just thinking how I made mention of my Top Droppers and thought "aren't the Top Commenters just as important?". So to all my faithful commenters here's a big THANK YOU to you.

1.B Boys Mom (19)
2.Becki (11)
3.Michelle (8)
4.The Adventures of Grunty and Chubbs (7)
5.Lynne (6)
6.siteseer (oops this is me) (5)
7.Vixen (5)
8.Diana - FreeStyleMama (4)
9.Shannon (3)
10.Wendy (2)


I think it's funny that I'm on my own list - guess that means that I'm answering some questions. lol

Car Seat Ponchos

I've recently learned that children are safer in their car seats if they don't have on a fluffy winter coat. Evidently, the tighter the seat is on the child the safer it is for them. My friend at work bought her son one last year to the tune of $50.00. When my son mentioned that they were probably going to buy one I got motivated and made a couple for my granddaughters. I just googled it and went from there. No pattern was required and they were really quick and easy.



These two ponchos are practically identical. The color is more of a rose pink.



I used the same amount of fabric (42" squared) for both the infant and toddler car seats. Lil Peanut loves to wear it and twirl around. They are definitely cozy warm and it's easy to either cover their heads while you buckle them in or just work under the poncho. The ones I made happen to be two layers because the pretty kitty fabric didn't feel thick enough so I bought the same amount of a solid pink and made it reversible. I also figured out a little hat... don't know if they'll actually wear them, but I had the fabric. Some of the directions I found also had mittens made of the fleece that looked real simple.

Isn't the internet amazing?!

October Ecard Droppers

Thanks to all my visitors, but especially those that found the time to visit as often as these did.

All Stace, All the Time 29
Harmony In Motion 28
I will have the... 26
Get outside 25
Free Junk Easy Money 24
Did I miss something 24
Rambling Unsettled Vagabond 24
The Bubba Effect 23
Wii Mommies 23
The Sewing Mom 23

Thanks again, and I'm going to try real hard to make it on someone - anyone's top dropper list.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Visit Stockholm, Sweden and you'll be entranced by cleanliness from the moment you arrive. Brightly-hued flowers mingle with the beauty of Old World brick and stonework while freshly-scrubbed Swedes wind their way to work. Even in this modern metropolis, you cannot but marvel at the effort taken to present such an immaculate, crisp image to the outside world.

But Stieg Larsson knows better.

First published in English a year ago, Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has garnered considerable praise for its deft characterization in service to a high tension mystery/thriller plot. Yet it's not the usual thriller trappings that enthrall readers entirely. This is no banal police procedural or run-of-the-mill locked room mystery (though elements of both figure prominently in the novel). Instead, there is something simply riveting about what Larsson reveals about his native Sweden - things which, I suppose, most Swedes already know, but which Americans could not even begin to fathom.

Calling Larsson's Sweden "seedy" just isn't the right term. Take the image of a 1970s-era Times Square completely out of your mind. Likewise, drop your noir-driven conceptions of cheesy first-person narrative. These are crimes, criminals and environments of an entirely different nature.

The plot is anything but simple, and readers may be initially put off by the complicated Vanger family tree that greets them inside the front cover. For what it's worth, I never needed to refer to the family tree, and I imagine most except the most retentive readers won't have to. Beyond this superfluous map, the novel begins with quite a paradox of reading conditions. I defy anyone to read the prologue and not be immediately captivated by the vague mystery presented. In contrast, the first few chapters past the prologue are enough to drive away all but the most devoted reader. It's an odd pairing, to be sure, but I encourage tenacity - the layers of this mystery may peel back slowly, but the payoff is worth the wait.

I have to say that I tried to read this book for about a week. I'd pick it up when I had 10 minutes at lunchtime and set it down, the next day I'd do the same thing and I just couldn't get into it. Well, I woke up one Saturday and decided it was a good day to read and never set the book down again. It is one big page turner. For a minute it was hard to get into the Swedish names and places, but you get over that quick as the plot thickens. Great book!

I Got A New Car

A brand new 2005 Malibu!!

Well, maybe not a new car, but one that's 7 years newer than my last one. The old one was just fine and I really liked it, but it was 11 years old and that was our newest car. So if we needed to travel on short notice we weren't sure we could count on it totally. I hope it finds a good new home. Here's a picture of the new one.



I really like the moon roof, and it has heated seats which will be a nice feature in the winter. The radio has the feature where it tells you what's playing and who sings it - which is nice. Being a Malibu (which is what we traded) you'd think everything would be the same, but the knobs are all different and in different spots. It's a nice car and I look forward to years of reliable service.

Wake Up America!

I've been visiting Judy at More Than Sew So lately and she has some startling revelations!! Take a look at what she has to say in her 'What Would You Say' post dated the 23rd of this month. It's time for us to wake up!! What do you think?

The Narrows by Michael Connelly

FBI agent Rachel Walling finally gets the call she's dreaded for years: the one that tells her the Poet has returned. Years earlier she worked on the famous case tracking down the serial killer who wove lines of poetry into his hideous crimes. Rachel has never forgotten the killer who called himself the Poet — and apparently he has not forgotten her.

Harry Bosch gets a call, too. The former LAPD detective hears from an old friend whose husband recently died. The death appeared natural, but this man's ties to the hunt for the Poet make Harry dig deep — and lead him into a terrifying and unknown world.

So begins the most deeply compelling, frightening, and masterful novel Michael Connelly has ever written. The Narrows places Harry Bosch in league with Rachel Walling, at odds with the FBI, and squarely in the path of the most ruthless and ingenious murderer in Los Angeles's history. What follows is a taut and tantalizing mystery that has Harry Bosch racing from the hostile vistas of the Nevada desert to the glittering Las Vegas Strip to the dark corners of Los Angeles.

Through it all, Bosch works at his newfound life as father to a young daughter, balancing the deepest love he has ever felt with his own sense of mission and his deep awareness of evil.

A lot of twists and turns keep you reading to see what's next. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a murder mystery. Good read.

The One

I just read an interesting post at More Than Sew So. It's a synopsis of what's going on in our country. Take a look and see what you think.