Shabbat Shalom

On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is

love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness,

goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

 

Galatians 5:22-23

Lessons From Gilmore Girls ~ Books

Everyone knows my very obsessive love affair with Gilmore Girls and even though it has been 6 years since it has been off the air .. it has not diminished my affection for it. One of the things I look forward to doing with the grandbabies is sitting down and watching the show. And showing her all the things that makes Stars Hollow wonderful.

 

The first item of point is of course a love of books. And not just your average love of books but I am talking about being crazy obsessed - fully immersed - live and die - I have to have books under my bed because I own too many - kind of love for books.

 

The one great thing this program showed is that it is OK to carry books with you everywhere you go and not feel like a freak. Before GG - I thought I was the only one (well me and my oldest kid) no other program showed a smart, pretty, intellectual girl carrying books everywhere to enjoy the wonderful pleasure of reading. Actually I think before GG the only readers that were depicted were the weird poet who thinks the sun rises and sets around Kerouac or the antisocialist sitting under a tree reading The Bell Jar.

 

I do have to admit that even to this day I buy a purse that can accommodate a book (along with wallet and makeup bag). I even go around smelling the new books at stores (my kid has a thing about smelling the books at the library 'yup this person smoked' ) .. I know it's weird.  LOL  And I love to eat and read .. even while I am waiting for my food at a restaurant BAMM - book in hand. A busy day for me is a day when I don't read while eating lunch - I am not too sure what happened to whole month of July - actually I am not too sure what has happened to this year *_*




The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Yale University

 

 

 

 

New Kitchen Valance and A Bear For The Baby ..

I have finally gotten around to making the curtain for over the sink in the kitchen. As you can see from the picture below that the window is a bit bare. When we bought the house 10 years ago it came with both a valance and blinds over the sink, neither were my style at all, but living with both gave me ideas of what I didn't want when we re-did the kitchen. I didn't want blinds because they would always be up and I didn't want café curtains because it would always be wet from the splashing (yes I still wash my dishes by hand) and no to a cornice because well .. I don't like them. So two options were leave it bare or go with a valance. I lived with it bare and it just seemed unfinished. So valance it is.



So with stash in hand I went off to the craft room for a day of sewing and this is what I came up with. A simple valance. I tied up the valance with twine since I am still unsure if I want it as a straight valance or a swag.  IF I keep the swag I will pleat the bottom so that it will hang better and change out the ties. But truthfully I am liking the twine. IF I change it to the straight valance I will shorten it by about 1 1/2".



A few quick tips on how I work with burlap. The open weave of burlap makes it a fairly easy fabric to work worth. NOTE .. burlap isn't your softest fabric and it doesn't drape like other materials - so keep that in mind when selecting this for a curtain. I always tend to go longer in length .. this gives me the ability to play with the fabric more. I would regret it if I am too short and I can always shorten it if it seems too long.



START TO PULL THREAD AT THE LENGHT YOU WANT IT

CONT. TO WORK THREAD BUT DON'T TUG TOO HARD YOU DON'T WANT TO BREAK THE THREAD
 



CUT BELOW THE GAP



IRONING YOUR FOLD WILL KEEP IT PERFECTLY STRAIGHT

LONG STRAIGHT STITCHES AND YOU ARE DONE!

SEE SUPER EASY.

 

 



And I did say I made something special for the youngest grandbaby.



Awe .. so sad

 

Much better ..
 

I used the same pattern as last time and like last time I sewed down the felt nose and did large French knots for eyes. Oh and I also added lavender scent by dabbing a cotton ball and putting it in the tummy before sewing.

Shabbat Shalom

Keep on asking, and it will be given you;

keep on seeking, and you will find;

keep on knocking, and it will be open to you.

For everyone asking receives,

and everyone seeking finds,

 and to everyone knocking it will be opened.

 

Matthew 7:7-8

Finally Found A Book ..

Last month has been soooo crazy that I didn't even get a chance to pick out book much less read something. I did finish 'Gone' .. not on time .. and it is all that I hoped it would be. Another Patterson smash!

This month ~ not knowing when the next time I will get to the library will be ~ I started looking around the house. Frankly I am quite sad about the little amount of books I own and kind of disturbed about how many Patterson's. I did find a  Louis L'Amour that I haven't read in 15 plus years that I thought I would revisit but instead I found something hiding under a stack of Patterson's ..  JA Konrath's 'Bloody Mary' - which is second in a series of the Jacqueline 'Jack' Daniels mystery and all the titles in the series are named after drinks: Whiskey Sour, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb and then there is Shaken and the last book is Stirred. I'm not much of a drinker but I thought it was unique. I got it for free about 3 years ago at a book exchange when I read the description page 'Start with a tough but vulnerable Chicago cop. Add a hyperactive cat, an ailing mother, a jealous boyfriend, a high-maintenance ex-husband and a partner is the throes of a mid-life crisis.' and it is such a bonus that the cop is female .. know that when she kicks the stuffings out of someone I will be giggling =D

 

Classic Movies Review

Lately Mr. and I have been in a classic movie binge but here are 3 to start you off with.

 

 

Let's start with 'Malta Story'. Released in 1953, it's about the British trying to keep Malta from being occupied by Germany in 1942 and a budding romance between a local girl and a RAF  photographer. Malta sits in the middle of the Mediterranean, just south of Italy but north  of Libya. Consider it the Mid-Way of Mediterranean .. both sides need this island for a stopping area for their supply lines. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either .. all in all I say it's about a 3 star.

Forget it Jake .. yup the next movie is 'Chinatown'. This 1974 film was nominated for 11 Oscars and 7 Golden Globes but walked away with 1 Oscar and 4 Golden Globes - along with a slew of other nomination and wins; which is why I would give it 4.5 stars. I will start by saying that I am not really a Polanski fan but this movie is one to watch. It is about a private investigator - Jake Gittes - who is hired by a wife to expose her cheating husband a co-owner from the city's water supply system. Jake finds himself tangled up in this crazy web of lies when he photographs the husband with a young woman. Everything from the woman who hired him really isn't the water guy's wife to who the mystery woman is to what is really happening to the city's water supply. Not only does it have the beautiful Faye Dunaway but both Jack Nicholson and John Huston - yes Angelica Huston's dad whom Jack was dating at the time. You will even get to see Ron Howards dad, Rance Howard, who plays the angry farmer.  There is a sequel 'The Two Jakes' which is not directed by Polanski but by Nicholson who also kept the staring role - it's added to my Netflix so expect a review on it. Not to spoil anything but due to some of the content and the finale' I wouldn't let kids under 13 (15 for that matter) watch this.

Lastly trust no one .. well at least not in 'Charade'. Well I wish I could say that I absolutely loved this 1963 classic but sadly I didn't ~ so my rating will be 3.5 stars .. maybe I need to watch it again. There was so much potential .. between the wit, the intrigue, the scenery along with the very beautiful Audrey Hepburn and the even more handsome Cary Grant but something is missing. It was like the timing was off or they were trying too hard - I just can't put my finger on it but something wasn't right. This movie is about Reggie (Hepburn)  who is on vacation with her female friend and tells her she is going to divorce her wealthy husband and on this trip she meets Peter Joshua (Grant). When Reggie arrives home she finds out that her husband is dead and that he liquidated all their assets into cash and that the cash is missing. Cash that her husband obtained during WWII  when he and 4 of his buddies intercepted a delivery of gold on its way to the French Resistance. Now the buddies came to claim their share and think Reggie has it. The only person who seems to be able to help her is Peter but she finds out that not all as it seems as the buddies start to turn up dead. Bum Bum Bummm. Grant didn't wish to make this film due to his 24 year age difference with Hepburn, he thought that his advances towards her would seem predatorial - in a last ditch effort the writer changed it that she pursued him and that was ok with Grant. This film seems very Hitchcock-y but in fact it is directed by Stanley Donen (from Singing in the Rain, Funny Face, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and On the Town) this confusion has lead people to call this film "the best Hitchcock film that Hitchcock never made".