I am completely surrounded by unread books. It is, on the one hand, so utterly delightful, and on the other hand, so very sad. I seldom have time to read them. I generally read at night when I get into bed. Lately, though, I’ve been working such long hours, that when I get into bed, crack the current book, and read one sentence – WHAMMO! I’m down for the count. That’s it. Just like that. I read one sentence, and I am way off in the land of the Almighty ZZZ’s!!
Just here in my bedroom, near my bed, I have eight books, either begun, or not yet even opened. I also have three unfinished magazines. Oh my! I wish I had an Orlando vacation home that I could sneak off to, with my magazines and books in tow. I would buy enough food for a week, so I wouldn’t have to leave at all, and just get cozy and read. It sounds completely blissful. A reading vacation – that’s a new twist, isn’t it? I would be in Heaven, though!
Mark just came home from helping his mom with some stuff. After they got done working, they stopped by one of the local antique stores that is going out of business and has dropped their prices ridiculously low!
He got himself a few neat things and he got me the most beautiful wooden birdhouse, handcrafted in Tennessee. The birdhouse cost $7.00! It was originally $19.00, but, in Dallas, craftsmanship that nice would easily sell for at least $45.00!! I will definitely have to get a picture to post here for you! I think I’ve talked here before about loving birdhouses!
He also bought a little doodad for Shawn. Shawn has become a huge fan of purple over the last couple of years, and Mark saw a purple-haired troll and just had to get it for him. And Mark and I reminisced about how trolls were so popular when we were kids. It’s so neat when stuff like that – that was popular in your own childhood – gets your kids all geeked out, too! Like the chia pets – I think that is so cool they are gaining in popularity again. I remember when they first came out. I know my kids would love to have one. Well, Sammie and Shawn, anyway – Patrick would just mock the thing! 
The other day I learned about a frightening new development in the street drug world. The newest thing out there is being called ‘Strawberry Quik’ – like the powder we used to mix in our milk. Well, I suppose it is still on the market – I just haven’t bought it myself in years. Anyway, they are making methamphetamines with candy flavors! And the stuff is even colored pink! It closely resembles Pop Rocks candy, and kids as young as 11 are being targeted with this drug! I just had the drug talk again with my kids after learning about this stuff. I want to do everything that I can to keep them off of drugs and out of drug treatment centers! They are making this junk in more than just strawberry, too! Chocolate, and who knows what else! It is so scary! The thing that really struck me about is that it very strongly lowers the children’s awareness of the severity of the drug, you know? If an 11 year old kid sees a needle with some ugly heroin in it, that is going to look pretty freaky to them. But if they see what looks to be Pop Rocks, it doesn’t look so daunting…and the next thing you know, they’re hooked! When I told my fourteen year old about it, he said he saw on TV that they are making marijuana flavored now, too. We have all got to just keep talking to our kids! Very scary stuff!
You know how I’ve been telling you how much my family completely and totally loves Halloween? And how my daughter and her friends just put up all of our Halloween decorations? Well, guess what! We love Halloween so much that we even changed our outdoor lighting for it! It’s true, really! See, my brother and his wife know how much we love Halloween, and they just happened to see these really cool Halloween light bulbs one year, and thinking immediately of us, they just had to get them for us! The one on our front porch looks really cool! I’ll try to remember to get a picture of it for you tonight! (If my darn camera will stop eating all of the batteries!)
Halloween is sneaking up on us – it’s just around the corner! I can’t believe that! This year is just flying right past us! But, oh how I love Halloween! My daughter and her friends just put up all of our decorations yesterday. And we’ve been discussing costumes, and plans for the magical, spooky, creepy evening! Last year we definitely all had a blast! Our whole family just loves Halloween and I know that we will have so much fun this year, too!
And then it will be over. Just like that. And then we’re in the last inning stretch towards Christmas. Christmas? Already? Wow!
Yep, Christmas will be upon us – I think, in just over a week. You see, once Halloween is over, then it’s all about Christmas. Sure, we’ve got Thanksgiving first, but, that is really just Christmas’ appetizer. (As well as time for Mrs. Lisa to rant on and on about how Columbus did NOT discover America!)
When my brothers and I were kids, I know this will come as a big surprise to you 
but, one of my very favorite, most-coveted Christmas gifts was my gift certificate to Taylor’s Bookstore. (Which isn’t even around anymore.) 
It was always in my stocking, and I would search and dig in there until I found that wonderful brown envelope! And then the day would come when Mom would take us all to Taylor’s and OH! how I loved that day! We would all go our separate ways to our favorite sections in the store and I was just in Hog Heaven! I suppose you might want to call it Book Heaven!
There was another favorite gift that we would often receive, though. And that is RC cars. Each year, they were newer, faster, stronger, bigger, etc and we were always so excited to try them out! We would go across the street to the elementary school and try out our new cars in the driveway or on those long sidewalks or even in the parking lot. And there were always neighbors there with their new RC cars, as well! It was so much fun!
