Recommended Books for Enjoyment

I love to read.  These days my free time to read a book is not that often but I do try and read before falling asleep in bed each night.  Its just so relaxing getting lost in a story.  My favorite kind of books to read are historical non-fiction.  I love biographies and books that take me to another time.  Fictional novels that are also set in another time and place also top my list of books I enjoy.  Most of the books below I read in the last year or two but there are some that I've read long ago that I would still recommend to anyone looking for their next good read.































1. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand  A wonderful biography of a man mostly during his time in the Pacific Theater during WWII.  You won't want to put this down once you start this story. 

2. And the Band Played On by Christopher Ward  The amazing true story of one of the band members who famously played as the Titanic sank, written by his grandson.

3. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan  A true story of those who experienced the dust bowl.  An engaging book about the worst environmental disaster in our history.

4. The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin The stories of those who suffered through the disasterous blizzard of 1888 on the plains.  Grab a blanket because you will feel cold reading this book!

5. My Life in France by Julia Child  A great autobiography by a woman who lived an amazing life.

6. Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond  I love The Pioneer Woman's blog and her autobiograhy reads just like her blog does.  I feel like I know her much better after reading this book.  Hi, Ree!  If you follow her blog, definitely read this one.

7. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson  This is an oldie but a goodie.  Well not too old, but Erik Larson has written several books since this one.  This one takes place during the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. It intertwines the true stories of the workings of a serial killer with the building of the World's Fair.

8. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson This is Larson's most recent book. It takes place in 1933 in Hitler's Berlin.  This is the story of the American ambassador to Germany and his family living in Germany during the critical time of Hitler's rise to power.

9. Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis Truly eye opening and inspirational.  Katie writes of her own journey to follow God's call in her life and as a young woman adopted and is currently raising in Uganda 13 girls.  An amazing story.

10. Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins Although these 3 books are neither historical fiction or non-fiction, I still really enjoyed this futuristic trilogy.  The first book I thought was really really good, the second book was pretty good, but the third I found to just be ok.  I got a little bored by the end.  If you read the first book though you'll understand why once you start you have to read all 3 to find out what happens.

11. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Love John Steinbeck.  The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden are 2 of my all time favorites.  Could read them over and over.

12. East of Eden by John Steinbeck See above.

13. Tracy Chevalier I haven't read her most recent novels but I have enjoyed reading all of her older novels.  The Girl with the Pearl Earring was the first of her books that I read and have since read 4 or 5 others by her.  They all have a similar feel to them.  They seem a bit dark and center around a painting.  They also seem to leave you wanting more when the book ends.

14. Lisa See This author's fictional stories take place in China from the middle of the 19th century until the first half of the 20th.  It's fascinating learning about a culture so different an my own.

15. Erma Bombeck Love, love, love Erma Bombeck.  I've read almost all of her books and the few that I haven't are on my to-read list for this year.  She is so funny and relatable even though her books were written decades ago and some of the material is a bit outdated.  If you want to read anything by her start with If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits?

16. Anita Shreve  Anything by Anita Shreve is good.  All her fictional books are very different and cover a wide range of times and places.  They all do revolve around a love story, some more center focus to the story than others.

Henry's Bedroom

When I decided to paint horizontal stripes in Henry's room, I just knew they would turn out awful and we'd have to paint over them a solid color.  With that in mind, I set out to try and increase our chances of success.  The linen color is the same as the trim color.  So our first step was to paint the whole room Linen White.  Since we didn't have to trim anything around the windows, doors, baseboard and crown molding, this was quick and very fast.  Next Dan did the tedious work of measuring the stripes evenly around the whole room, taping off where the stripes would go with FROG TAPE (definitely use this tape for painting), and making sure everything was level.  Then we painted a light coat of the linen color on the edges of the tape where we would paint the navy color.  This is to reduce bleeding of the navy onto the white.  Now all that was left was to paint in the navy stripes.  Dan painted and I trimmed the edges.  After everything was dry it was time to peel off the tape.  This is the part where I just knew everything would go terribly wrong as I just knew the tape was going to pull off huge chunks of paint.  But somehow, after the tape was off, everything looked good and just minor touch ups were needed.

So other than the painting of the walls, the rest of the room came together pretty quick.  This is Henry's room from the doorway.  He sleeps in the same crib that we had for Magnolia and Boothe.  This framed picture above his crib are maternity pictures we had taken and the stuff on the shelf I'll talk about next.

The old toy tractor and the 'cowboys and Indians' framed picture were flea market finds. The large 'H' is a cardboard letter from JoAns that I wrapped in twine. Then there are some old books with the spines hidden against the wall with a piggy bank on top that he got for Christmas last year. Total cost of shelf items: less than $20.
The little white teacup in front of the picture belonged to Henry's great-grandpa Cory when he was a baby. It reads "For a good little boy". Total cost of this item: priceless.

Across from the crib is the changing table. You can't put much on a changing table because it gets kicked right off so this corner is pretty simple. The oars on the wall are from Mishawaka Antiques downtown Mishawaka...love that store.

This is the mirror on Henry's closet door reflecting back to his bed.

At the foot of the crib, in front of the window that looks out to the front of the house, sits the rocking chair and table. The curtains in this room are linen panels from ikea.

I've spent many many many countless hours in this rocking chair over the last 5.5 years. The quilt over the back of the chair was made by Henry's great-grandma Cory and was made for Dan when he was a baby. You can see 2 of the quilting panels, the astronaut and the doctor, but the whole thing is 10 different panels all of different professions and the detail is amazing.

The map on the wall is framed behind an old window all peeling and chipping. Also bought at Mishawaka Antiques. When putting the room together, I wanted a boyish vintage feel, but no theme. Anything boyish, rusty, or old was fair game. I love the way it all came together too. The doorway leads to the hallway and we've come full circle.

So this is the end of the house tour. Thanks for stopping by!

The Girls' Bedroom

Magnolia and Boothe have been sharing a room since Boothe turned 2 and was done with her crib. At that point we knew Henry was on the way and would soon need the nursery for him. We redecorated the girls' room when we moved Magnolia into a twin sized bed and Boothe into the toddler bed. I got the nesting bug when I was thinking about ideas for doing the nursery and we decided to do both of the bedrooms! More details about the room are on the Apartment Therapy post so you an click over there for those if you want.

 This is the view of the room from the hallway outside their room. That's Magnolia's bed. We will move Boothe from the toddler bed into a matching twin bed this summer when she turns 4.

 Each of the girls have their monogram hanging above their beds. The letters are cheap Hobby Lobby wooden letters that I stapled ribbon to the backs of. Total cost for each monogram was less than $5.

This is another cute and very inexpensive project that I did for their room. I had some leftover fabric from the curtains I made for their windows and some other coordinating fabrics in my stash. I waited until the embroidery hoops were half off at one of the craft stores and got 7 in various sizes. The rest is pretty self explanatory. This whole project cost was about $10.

This is just another view from the same angle as above. Here you can see the little white round table next to Magnolia's bed and the foot of Boothe's bed in the corner. The little round table I picked up at a garage sale for $7 and spray painted it white.

And here is Boothe's little bed. She loves stuffed animals, if you can't tell. The pictures on the wall are of each of the girls at 3 months old. The contrasting polka dot frames I got from my photographer, Traditions Photography, here in South Bend. And below the pictures is their dollhouse. We keep only a couple of toys in their room so it stays cleaner and since we have the room downstairs for the toys.

On the opposite side of the room above their dresser are pictures of the girls together every year since Boothe was a newborn. The frames came from Michaels when they were on sale for half off.

This picture is also taken from out in the hall but of the wall on the left. In the far corner is the closet door and in front if that, the dresser they share. The post n Apartment Therapy has the paint colors I used for the walls and dresser. The dress form I fund at a flea market. I thought it would add a nice touch of femininity to the room as well as something a bit whimsical.

Leave a comment if there are any details you are wondering about that I left out. Tomorrow I will finish up the house tour with Henry's room. His room may be my favorite room in the whole house. I just love how it turned out and I have to give Dan the credit for his hard work with this one.