"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

This is another favorite book of mine so far in 2011!! I have been seeing the movie trailers on TV, so I thought I'd give the book a try! It was so good, I started reading it yesterday afternoon and couldn't put it down until I finished it!

The book is about the main character, Jacob and his youth with the circus. In the beginning, we are introduced to 90, or 93, year old Jacob that is living in an "old age" home due to a broken hip. When going to lunch one day, he notices a circus has come to town and causing great excitement in the home. Jacob goes to his usual table for lunch and is greeted by a new patient that claims to have carried water for the elephants while working at a circus. Jacob is outraged by his out right lie and is immediately returned to his room. Jacob begins to flash back to when he was 23 years old.

It's during the Great Depression and Jacob is enrolled at Cornell University getting ready to take his final exam for a veterinary license when the dean pulls him out of class. The dean tells Jacob there has been a horrible accident and both of his parents are dead. Between his parents death and finding out they are broke because all of their money went to pay for his Ivy League education, Jacob takes off. He just starts running and doesn't stop until his feet cannot take it anymore. Jacob then realizes he is lost and happened to hear a train coming. He hops aboard the train to find out it is a circus train.

He makes friends with a guy on the train, Camel, and Camel is able to get him on working for the circus. The owner of the circus, Uncle Al, appoints Jacob as the official circus vet.

As soon as Jacob sees Marlena, the wife of the head animal trainer, August, he falls in love. August is a strange man and violent man. He is out right cruel to the animals and anyone that gets in his way, yet is he married to a beautiful and compassionate performer. Jacob is determined to have Marlena, but August stands in his way.

The book describes the horrid condition of the animals and their treatment while being apart of a circus. And, circus life in general for the workers and performers. It's just a really good book about how the circus was ran in the 1930's and the impact it had on peoples lives.

(photo from Amazon.com)

Baby Log Cabin Variation Quilt Top

These are the 2 quilt tops I made for my new niece and nephew. Very simple to make, you just have to know how to sew a straight line. Yes, it's that easy! I didn't have to buy any fabric to make these, I had everything in my fabric stash! Approx size of finished quilt top is 45"x36".

I went with pinks and purples for Alexa and blues and greens for Braiden. You could make this with 2 different colors, or make each row something different. I am sure there are several different ways to pick a theme.



I am going to use the pink and purple color theme for the tutorial.

Material Needed:

Pinks
2- 4.5 x 4.5 squares
2- 12.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 20.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 28.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 36.5 x 4.5 strips

Purples
1- 4.5 x 4.5 square
2- 12.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 20.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 28.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 36.5 x 4.5 strips

1. Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew pink squares to purple to form the center of the quilt. Press seams to one side.

2.Sew 12.5 x 4.5 purple strips to center strip.

3. Sew 12.5 x 4.5 pink strips to bottom and top of block.

4. Continue sewing strips in size order, starting with purple until quilt top is finished.

With several distractions, it only took me about 3 hours to cut the pieces and sew them together to make 1 quilt top. They go together pretty fast! This would probably make a easy quilt to finish for the Linus Project!

This up coming week, I will be finishing the quilts and I will post another tutorial on how to finish them.

"The Pact: A Love Story" by Jodi Picoult

It was a very nice day yesterday and the girls wanted to play outside, so I brought out a new book from the library. It is called "The Pact: A Love Story" by Jodi Picoult. Once I started reading, I just could not put it down! As of right now, it's the best book I've year this year! And, that is saying a lot because I read about a book a week, sometimes 2!

From the cover, "...comes a riveting, timely, heartbreaking, and terrifying novel of family in anguish and friendship ripped apart by inconceivable violence. Until the phone call came on a November morning, the Golds and their neighbors, the Hartes, had been inseparable. It was no surprise to anyone when their teenage children, Chris and Emily, began showing signs that their relationship was moving beyond lifelong friends. But now 17 year old Emily has been shot to death as part of an apparent suicide pact-leaving 2 devastated families stranded in the dark and dense predawn, desperate for answers about an unthinkable act and the children they really never knew."

The book starts in present day when the parents get the call to come down to the hospital. Emily is pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital, but Chis is alive. Chris tells the police it was a suicide pact and he wasn't able to go through with it on his end. The parents are shocked, they had no clue either of of their children was contemplating suicide.

After a short stay, Chis is released from the hospital and that's when the police start to disbelieve his story of the "pact". A case starts to mount up against him, accusing him of shooting Emily in cold blood.

Many times during the book, you are taken back in time to various points to show the strong relationships between Chris' family, the Hartes, and Emily's family, the Golds. Chris and Emily had known each other since birth and they even shared a crib together at one point.

After Chris is arrested on charges of murdering Emily, the Gold's and the Harte's relationship is dramatically changed. Mrs. Gold believes the reports that Chris actually killed Emily, that he was able to put aside the feelings he's always had for Emily and shoot her in the head in cold blood. Mrs. Harte, on the other hand, is defending Chris to the end. She believes her son is incapable of killing his one true love.

Will Chris be found guilty of murder, a crime that means life in prison, or will his story of a suicide pact be proven? What will happen to the 20 year relationship between the Harts and the Golds?

More Babies!!

We had some excitement 2 weeks ago Wednesday!! My sister, who was pregnant with twins, delivered her babies!! She has had a very hard pregnancy, there were several foods she couldn't eat and was still getting sick after eating. Last Wednesday, she called me to tell me she was having severe cramps and didn't know what to do. (She had a scheduled doctor's appointment 30 minutes from then.) I told her the babies were probably laying on her wrong or tumbling around. She went to the doctor and he determined that she was in labor!! We were all in shock!! She was only 25 weeks pregnant (out of 40)!! The doctor told her to drive to the local hospital, about 10 minutes away, and a helicopter would be waiting to take her to the University of Cincinnati Hospital (about 35 minutes away by car). She arrived at the local hospital and the babies decided not to wait!! She was in full blown labor, right there in the emergency room entrance. The helicopter didn't even have time to arrive yet, nor the delivery doctor. The hospital staff had to do an emergency C-Section!

They took the little boy out first and he stopped breathing, we are not sure of how long. They were able to resuscitate him. My mom was in the hall and said it looked like a scene from a movie. They have the boy on the gurney, running down the hall while massaging his heart and pumping the bag ventilator on his face. He was rushed immediately to Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. (Children's was full, so that's why he went to Good Sam)

The girl was a little better off, but not by much. My sister, Tara, was able too see her and touch her before she was rushed off to Good Sam also.

The babies weighed in a less than 2 pounds (900 grams) each!! Neither one of the babies were expected to make it through the night! Everything was such a flash, we couldn't believe it was happening!!

Tara stayed in the local hospital for 2 days while her babies were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Good Sam (again about 35 minutes by car). Tara is doing well physically, but not coping well well emotionally. WE are in the process of trying to find a support group for her.

After the babies made it through the night, she gave them names! My nephew is Braiden Asher and my niece is Alexa Kristine. They are currently still struggling in the NICU, but no longer struggling to live! Alexa has fluid on her brain (used to be known as "water on the brain") and is recovering from a collapsed lung. Braiden has some breathing issues and has a turned in leg that will require therapy.

I was sick when the babies were born, so I didn't get to see them until they were a week old. I took lots of pictures of them!


Alexa


Braiden


I have already made them some outfits for micro preemies and their first quilt! I will post the quilts later in the week along with the tutorial. They are going to be the best dressed babies in the NICU as soon as she gets the green light to dress them!!

Hello Again

Hello again to everyone! I been away for awhile keeping busy! We finally began remodeling our kitchen! I now how a sink, cabinets, and counter tops in my kitchen like normal houses do! We're doing all the work ourselves, so it is a little slow going. Here are a few of our "in progress" photos


We decided to go with purple, yes purple, for the walls! I love it! Our floor is called "lay down vinyl" and it's the best thing ever!! You just unroll the vinyl like a rug and cut off any excess! No glue or anything! I love it!

You can look at the "before" pics under the label "House Remodeling". We've come a long way!!