Celebrating Autumn with Books!

Yeehaw tookie tookie, bloggy friends! Lesa here! I can't tell you how thrilled I am to see the back of September-- it is my one busy and hectic month at school. 

And I'm plumb giddy that autumn has finally arrived. Aren't you? Just think: cooler weather to play outside and work on outdoor projects, festivals, fairs,  fall foliage, Halloween, fewer bugs. Yep, autumn is a wonderful thing!


And don't fret bookish ones, I'm not so giddy that I've mixed up which of my blogs this post is for SO one of the loveliest things about autumn are chilly mornings to cozy up with a cuppa and a good book.  

Can I get an 'Amen, sister!'. 

 Thank you... thank you.. see my wits are intact. Hey,  I heard that snicker.

I do have wits... I do... I do! Silly wits but wits nonetheless... nonethemore either but I make do. And did I mention I was giiid-deee?

Okay, okay,  sillies are contained... back to autumn and books.  

Isn't this absolutely loverly...





Source: imsovintage.blogspot.com via Lesa on Pinterest

I've shared bookish decor vignettes before but this seasonal beauty may be my favorite.

Are you excited about autumn? What are some of your favorite autumn activities?

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Even though September is never a good bloggy month for me due to school, I've  still managed to read some good books and fall into bookish adventures which I hope to share with you soon. 

And I even photographed every single bargain book waiting in the wings for a BBB feature-- now that was a major coup right there. So am I ahead of the BBB game? No, after my photo frenzy,  I went wild at the county library book sale... tsk tsk tsk. 

Right now, I'm reading three books.  A slow savor of Wind In The Willows and The Scarlett Letter and.... the latest Pendergast thriller!! Not sure if I can savor the Pendergast thriller. It is getting good so I may have to gobble it up!

Happy autumn reading days, book besties! Enjoy and savor!  (but if you gobble, that is okay too, I understand completely)

edit: Ha-- my wits were wacky last night. I accidently posted this on one of Izzy's blank drafts. So, if you were confused earlier by the  'posted by Isabella' , that was just an error on my part. She bears no blame for this silly post.   

Bargain Book Bonanza (26): A Pioneer Kindle Freebie For Adult Fans Of Little House On The Prairie

 Welcome to Bargain Book Bonanza!

A book haul linky party for bargain loving bookworms!

Want to join the party? Just visit the Bargain Book Bonanza page for the particulars.


DeLynne is hosting this week!

Tracy wrote here ages ago about her Kindle, and at the time it seemed to me like some incredibly modern, foreign device.  We didn't have them here in Australia. 

But then my beautiful mother bought each of our girls (aged 14 and 10) one and we got used to them. My girls just love them and use them all the time.  

I do recommend Kindle for kids, especially since Amazon replaced both Kindles when they were accidentally damaged in separate incidents.  No questions, no need to return the old ones, just a new Kindle in the mail immediately.

But, I didn't have a Kindle (aren't all mums like that?) and kept thinking that one trip to the States I'd shout myself one.  Well, lo and behold Aussies can now buy the Kindle almost anywhere, and the very first time I saw it in Australia I just happened to have cash in my wallet (now that is a miracle!). I bought it before you could slide and release that power switch. 

So now we are a Kindle family (Hubby has shown absolutely no interest in an e reader of any kind.) and very happy.  I was a bit worried that I would start spending lots on books, since most of my reading comes from BBB-type sources.  However, I have found the Kindle very economical reading after the initial purchase.

I Googled 'free Kindle books'  and was overwhelmed with choices.  There are many sites that offer free e books, but so far I have stuck to the free category in the Amazon site.  One of my finds is Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, written in the early 1900's.

Unlike so many stories of hardship and subjugation in the West (that poor Caroline Ingalls following Pa's every whim), this collection of letters tells a life full of joy and achievement.  

There is some sorrow, of course, but basically Elinore is a woman who chooses her destiny, seeks adventure, helps those less fortunate, and thrills at the landscape around her.  She makes friends, among them a French trapper, and enjoys an active social life while raising her family. 

Bring out the pioneer woman in you and read this book.  It's available in paperback, so even if you're an old fashioned girl you can read it, too.

Images from http://commons.wikimedia.org, all oil paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff.

If you have a bargain book, please share. We love to brag on bargains!

Home remedies

Hello book-bloggers! I am not going to even try and excuse my long, dwindling absence but I can say that I am ecstatic to finally be doing a post I have probably had in my mind for about a month. For those who don't know who I am, this basically sums it up.

My hair (among many other beauty issues I am having right now) has become excessively dry lately. My hair is my child. It's as simple as that. I have been growing it since... well, forever... and the most important thing is to keep it nice and shiny. And you know, to respect my friends and family, make the most of life, etc etc.

Treatments for this kind of issue are incredibly expensive, I've discovered! I was displeased and got a cheap one that probably won't work for about $3. Back in the day when Mum used to be a hippie and Dad had a mullet, she made her own versions of these kinds of products out of the DIY beauty-bible, Bodycraft.

Bodycraft, surprisingly, is full of remedies for skin, hair and mind that look like they will actually work. My favourite categories are the bath oils, hair masks and perfumes. If you just buy a few essential oils and work with what you have in your pantry, you should be looking naturally beautiful and feeling pampered. Who doesn't love pampering? And aromatherapy bath oil recipes? 

Aromatherapy Bath Oil

- I cup brandy or vodka

- 5 teaspoons essential oils

- 3 teaspoons glycerine

Shake well and put one teaspoon of it in your bath!

(Excerpted from the book, pg 126)

I will try hard to post soon. When I finally get out of this bath I'm about to have!

http://viewsofnow.blogspot.com/

Bargain Book Bonanza (25): Mrs. K's Yard Sale Gamble!

 Welcome to Bargain Book Bonanza!

A book haul linky party for bargain loving bookworms!

Want to join the party? Just visit the Bargain Book Bonanza page for the particulars.


Lesa is hosting this week!

Hello, friends!  I'm so excited to share a BBB from the lovely Mrs. K! 

Just who in the world is Mrs. K, you ask? Well, she is the fun and fabulous librarian at one of my schools.  

Mind you,  I like all the librarians in my life but I think Mrs. K might just be my favorite.  (And not just because she lets me have my pick of the school library discards... really, that isn't why)


Typically, we chat via notes left under the computer keyboard and only get to visit in person a couple of times a year since we work at this school on different days of the week. Last week, Mrs. K worked on my day of the week.  What a pleasant surprise!

And what fun!  We talked and laughed all day (between work tasks, of course) and never ran out of topics-- mostly bookish topics but not all.

Ah, good conversation with a kindred spirit...

As the conversation turned to bargain books, Mrs. K showed me her recent spectacular yard sale find.   

(Sorry no photo of Mrs. K yet-- she is a bit camera shy but said I could take a photo of her on book fair day-- that is a snazzy day for school librarians)

A set of eight brand new never read Magic Tree House books for one dollar! One dollar! Can you believe it?! That is like twelve cents a book!

This set was a bit of gamble even at one dollar since the  books were bound as a set in very dirty raggedy plastic that looked as though it had been wet. But the books are absolutely pristine! 

Kudos, Mrs. K! You are a bargain book shopper extraordinaire!

If you have a bargain book, please share. We love to brag on bargains!

Bargain Book Bonanza (24): Bloggie Bonanza!

Welcome to Bargain Book Bonanza!

A book haul linky party for bargain loving bookworms!

Want to join the party? Just visit the Bargain Book Bonanza page for the particulars.

Leslie is hosting this week!

What is this? Blogs? Is that really fair? I mean, isn't this supposed to be about (air quotes) books?

Excellent question, kind sir and/or madam. Yes, this is fair. Books are involved, and it is my humble opinion that this would be a bonanza.

As none of you probably know, I am planning to home school my kids after fifth grade. If any of you have ever looked into homeschooling you know how expensive it is! Actually, if you are an educator, tutor or parent, you know that supplemental materials, educational games, and extra supplies are expensive!

So, I went researching. I got a book from the library about home schooling for free or very little money. I was contemplating buying it, but decided to check out the reviews of this one and similar titles. One of the reviews mentioned www.freelyeducate.com that provides free resources for a variety of subjects. There is a sister site www.frugallyeducate.com that lists great deals that come along.

Some examples of the neat-o finds are free classics that can be downloaded to your PC (and e-readers, of course), free worksheets, free or reduced magazine subscriptions (no catches), discount school supplies, and really cool downloadable educational crafts. 

What I like the most is the free or low cost curriculum! There are some fantastic free sources to legitimately teach K-12 - math, science, language arts, foreign languages, history, and more! These are age-appropriate lessons that can be used by a tutor, teacher, or home schooler.

One of my favorite finds from these sites is www.livemocha.com. It is free language website for just about any language - even ESL! Very similar to Rosetta Stone, a user can even record a few sentences and have a native speaker critique his pronunciation. So cool!


Anyway, I am super excited to find a place that has scoured the internet for real and safe sources and has compiled it into an easy to follow blog.

Do you have any great websites or blogs you are excited about? Dish please!

If you have a bargain book, please share. We love to brag on bargains!