What's In My Teapot?

It's time for some more Fifth Tuesday Fun, and since this giveaway falls in the fall (no pun intended!) I decided that now would be a good time for one of my readers to prepare for the coming winter by storing up a few books, just as a squirrel might do with her stash of acorns. After all, good books are almost as paramount to survival as a winter's store of food!  Almost. And how does one store up books? Well, one person will get to do this with a $20.00 gift card to Amazon ,   and the rest of you will have to find a friend with a good supply who is willing to share!!!  I have made entering this giveaway as easy as falling off a log! All you have to do is leave a comment below and you will be entered into the drawing. However , there is one small stipulation: this gift card must be used to purchase books only !!! I guess you'll be on your honor with this one, but lets just say that I will be sorely disappointed to hear that it was used it to buy...

Here we are at the fourth Tuesday of the month already, and it is time to review September's book of the month  (you might want to view that post again to see the special update I added today!) As always, I would love to hear from others who have read this book, either recently or in the past! You should know that comments always make my day!!! Growing up is never the easiest proposition, and very few of us do it without our fair share of foibles, mistakes, and moments that are best described as downright awkward. Sometimes I feel bad for young people. Not because I relish  growing old, and not because I feel that I have all the answers to life and that they have none, but because the decisions and pressures that bombard youth are just plain down difficult by times. Youth is finally the time when we are faced with the choice of what we're going to do with what we've been given, whether that has been good or bad, and our future course in life is largely charted by...

I looked winter in the face today and didn't like what I saw. Now, to be fair, the temperatures were only in the low sixties, and it was only the first grey day after an abundance of sunshine, but the children still wore mittens when they collected tomatoes from the garden, and I still suddenly felt that a batch of chili was no longer out of season. Instead of feeling energized by the nip in the air, however, I felt a rising panic. I am not ready for cozy. I am not ready for every recipe that comes my way to have pumpkin pie spice in it. I am not ready to put summertime back in storage. I never am. If I were a monarch butterfly, I would be on the wing right about now, flying for warmer lands and skipping out on the whole business of winter entirely. I have said before that if winter were all about curling up with tea and books, I wouldn't mind it so much, but the problem is that winter is about three children cooped up in the house for too many hours in one day. I...

When this family goes camping,  there will be a cabin and not a tent, electricity but no running water, and much gratitude for clean wash houses with hot showers. When this family goes camping, there will be mountain pies for breakfast and supper one day,  cinnamon buns on a stick, campfire cones,  s'mores and pigs-in-a-blanket, oatmeal in a jar and bagels toasted over the burner, little boys raiding the strawberries, coffee made in a percolator, and the general agreement that food has never tasted so good! When this family goes camping, there will be general thankfulness over comfortable beds in safe places. The two older children will camp out together on one single bed  and the toddler will stay up 'til at least one in the morning on the first night and climb out of his pack 'n' play to steal flashlights from his sleeping siblin...