14-15 Sept

            WEEKEND DIARIES

Good afternoon, everyone! I hope that you all had a great weekend! Ours was a mix, part productivity, part illness. It seems that we will go weeks, even months, without so much as a sniffle, and then the weather will change and everyone will get sick! This past week we experienced some hot and cold extremes (it fell 30 degrees in one day), and sure enough... coughs, sore throats, low grade fevers, and more. Little V was the hardest hit; she has been battling a yucky virus and she spent most of the weekend crying. Thank goodness we had the occasion bright moment (see below), to remind us that this too shall pass. 

Since the troops have been under the weather (literally?), and the weather has been cold and rainy, we watched lots of television and did a good amount of reading this weekend. Mainly it's been PBS kids' shows via Netflix, and kids' books via me. Recently we started reading Paddington Here and Now. My oldest (almost 5 years) is really enjoying it, though she doesn't get the Amelia Bedelia type of word play that the author uses liberally.

Paddington illustration via

None of the books lying around the house fit my fancy, so I took a peek at the free ebook list over at goodreads and got started on Wives and Daughters. Though I'm not very far in (it didn't dawn on me until Sunday to check goodreads), I'm finding it enjoyable so far. What are you reading?

About a year ago, I developed an allergy to nickel. I quickly discovered that almost all of my rings and earrings caused a very uncomfortable rash after even an hour or two of wear. Even gold jewelry that is considered "fine" often has a small bit of nickel added into the mix to stabilize it and create the white color. More and more I have been turning to sterling silver as an affordable and comfortable option. See those hoop earrings above? They are sterling plated and were originally $30 at Kohl's. I received a $10 coupon in the mail recently. By combining the coupon with the Saturday morning sale, I ended up paying around $2 out of pocket. Score! Moral of the story? Sign up for the Kohl's mailing and email lists. They send out these $10 coupons quite frequently, and there is no purchase minimum or credit card required!

And finally, the productive part of the weekend. That can be attributed almost exclusively to my husband. He installed a new ceiling fan in our bedroom, fixed an outlet that was loose in the wall, and started repairing some tiles that had come loose in the bathroom. I'm especially loving the ceiling fan. I don't have any pics of the previous one, but just imagine something made out of faux wood with some gold scroll decoration and about the same birthdate as me.