What is this moisture that is falling from the sky?

Here are some more books I have been reading and other type stuff I wish to share.

Plain and Simple is a short book and an easy read. If you are looking for something nice to read, but don’t feel like you have a lot of time or attention to devote, this book is a great way to get you started thinking about simplicity and what it means. The book is really about a woman who becomes intrigued by the Amish way of life. She spends some time living with a couple of Amish families and it has a profound effect on her. This book makes me want to learn more about the Amish. I don’t want to BECOME Amish (I do like my electricity), but the emphasis they have on community and resourcefulness, not to mention the fact that their daily lives are so deeply intertwined with their faith is beautiful to me.

I really liked this book. It is funny and thoughtful. The author is Jewish and admittedly more of an agnostic than anything else, but he seeks to be sincere in a pursuit of faith for one year by living VERY literally by the words of the Bible (New Testament and Old Testament). This makes for some pretty hilarious stories. If you don’t know it, there are a lot of crazy rules in the Bible- particularly in the Old Testament. I especially love the way this guy’s wife handles things… like the times when her husband can’t touch her or anything she touches because she is unclean. Read it. Lots of fun and informative to boot.

A friend of mine read this book and it really helped her home life when she implemented some of the core ideas that the book offers. So I was inspired. It took me forever to get this book at the library because it was perpetually on hold by other people, so it must be popular. Let’s just say that after I read this book, I took 9 (that is right, 9) bags of toys to Goodwill and it doesn’t even look like we made a dent. I wish I could get the grandparents to read this book. It really makes you think.

It's raining in Southern California...whaaaat? Miss Z enjoyed playing in the rain. That rain coat is way to small for her, but it was her dad's when he was a tyke and she loves to wear it.

Our art project for this weekend was decorating an empty diaper box with magazines and art from school. It took forever! The three-dimensional object on the front of the box is the empty glue bottle wrapped in paper. Miss Z insisted that this be included. I accept any and all craft ideas. Particularly if you have uses for school art. We have A LOT of that.

I can almost smell the candy corn......