Sunday Review

I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley this afternoon.  Definitely a great book.  The book is about Flavia de Luce, a very intelligent 11 year old with a passion for chemistry.  The story essentially begins with Flavia overhearing a stranger and her father arguing in the middle of the night.  Later that morning, Flavia finds the stranger dead in the family's cucumber patch.   How did he die and who killed him??  This mystery brings up unanswered questions about her father's past and his school days.

Before you even finish the first half of the page, you're hooked!  You want to know what's going on because you instantly know there are secrets -- and they are juicy!  The book has been nominated for numerous awards and Flavia herself was nominated for Goodread's "Favorite Hero of the Year".  There are two other books in the series, and then one slated to come out in 2012.  The two others are The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag and A Red Herring Without Mustard.  I foresee getting hooked on another series for me! :)

A confession: I'm not a very good movie watcher.  Austin and I NEVER go to the movies because either we pay $20 for a terrible movie, or I fall asleep.  Seriously, the last movie we went to see in theaters was the Batman movie with Heath Ledger in it.  We're horrible.

Therefore, I hadn't seen "Letters to Juliet".  I picked it up at RedBox this morning on my Kroger run.  It's a really cute movie!  I have to be in the right mood to watch a chick flick, but this one was different.  Yeah, you know they're all going to end up together eventually, but the plot line was so different than the "boy meets girl, they fall in love, break up, realize they were stupid, get back together again."  I want to be one of Juliet's secretaries!!!! That would be so fun!!  But I'm a hopeless romantic -- come on...I cried at the new Fancy Feast commercial!!  But anyway, this was a really cute movie, and perfect for a dreary, lazy Sunday afternoon.

Starting this book today:

Another of my Books-A-Million Bargain Bin Finds.  I'll let you know how it is!!!!!

Cacti

"Cacti" - the plural of "cactus" as my husband has reminded me several times of this in the last several weeks.  Anyway, here are pictures of our cacti - Doug, Patty Mayonnaise, and Fern.  Austin had a cactus for years, but it recently died due to inconsistent watering/too much water.  Patty is actually an Aloe plant -- she still has spikes :)

 

Hopefully, we can keep these alive......

khl

What I'm Loving

>This fabulous weather!  Love, Love, Love it!  And the time difference -- Austin and I have plenty of time to be out in the yard -- fixing up the flower beds, playing with Lila, and just enjoying the sunshine!  That, and I've gotten all of my spring and summer clothes out -- so be prepared for a cold snap soon!

This book:

>This is one of our book club books.  I wasn't going to get it at first, but I found it in the $5 bin at Books-a-Million.  Starting reading it Sunday and it is FANTASTIC.  It's a very easy read, but with a lot of mystery.  From the very first page, you know there is something at the end of the book you MUST find out.  I'm about halfway through and can't wait to finish it!

>My tervis tumblers: I have 5 of them right now -- but one of them is Jenny's. (She might not get it back)
I love them. 

They're perfect for chocolate milk, water, sweet tea, or Malibu and Pineapple Juice sweetness.  If I had known how great they were, I would have registered for a whole set of them instead of my glasses :)

>>Crawfish

My wonderful and very talented crawfish cooking Father-in-Law boiled us crawfish when we were in Pineville last weekend.  We had A LOT left over, so this week, Austin and I have had crawfish and more crawfish!  Monday night we had my mom's delicious crawfish pasta and last night we had Mardi Gras Pizza.  It's become a family favorite.  Here's the recipe:

1 Premade pizza crust (or you can make your own)
Whipped cream cheese
Red onion, yellow bell pepper, red bell pepper, green bell pepper
Andouille Sausage
Chicken or Crawfish (or both!)
Mozzarella Cheese
Tony's
 >>Then it will look like this:

Bake according to crust instructions until the cheese is bubbly. It's delicious!

I'll update soon with the new and improved pictures of the house.  We've been working in the yard and it looks so great! 

Ears Only a Mother Could Love

And Jenny's Coming Today! Can't wait to spend time with her!!!

Life with the Lee's

It's been a crazy couple of months! And I'm going to start blogging regularly, because I'm determined to! Austin and I bought our first house, and our weekends are now full of honey do's, unpacking, trips to Home Depot, and cooking in my new, huge, kitchen. :)

The House!

New Kitchen :)

Lila Belle (For Good Measure!)

And because she's adorable!

We're building gardens, waiting impatiently for it to warm up so we can tackle the flower beds, planting herbs and cacti (that's for another post), and having the time of our lives!  With this new house, I know I'll be cooking A LOT more, attempting home projects (Help me!), and God willing, finding time to read.  So be prepared for pictures, recipes, house projects, book reviews, and hilarious stories as Austin and I tackle being home owners!

khl