This and That and a Book Review

I'm back with a few pics of what all I've been up to lately.  Is anyone else out there liking this new Blogger format, cuz it's driven me crazy trying to do this post.  My pics were all over the place and I played around w/them till I got them somewhat straightened out, but they are still a bit out of order, so just hang in there and hopefully at least some of it will make sense, lol.

After the quilt I finally finished in time for our granddaughter's b'day, I finished that 'special order' ladybug purse that looks exactly like the one I made for myself last yr.  Here is the brand new version and I also made a matching kleenex pouch.  The gal was thrilled w/both pieces and I told her to keep me in mind if she ever wants me to make her more 'ladybug' items for her MIL, cuz I have several more pieces in mind.  She told me her MIL/FIL live in a trailer that is totally decorated in ladybug decor.  Never heard of that one before, but 'to each his own' as my mother always said.

I even added some tiny rick rack to jazz it up a bit....

 Sun. evening I was coming out of our camper, had my arms full of pillows/sheets to wash up, couldn't see my feet and totally missed the last step.  I fell to the ground and knew I had twisted my left foot/ankle.   This is what it looked like last night!!  It actually looked worse 3 days later than it did the first nite.  (Our 18 yr. old son told me to 'get that thing out of here' when I showed it to him in his room last nite)~LOL!!  We had a good laugh over that one. (I normally have a long narrow foot, so I wanted to show you what a difference it made).  Even my toes get swollen.
 The strange thing is that it looks almost back to normal by morning, then as the day goes on, it swells up pretty bad by late afternoon/early evening.  I have been propping it up a lot late in the day, and try to stay off of it as much as I can, but it still hurts across the top and I can't wear regular shoes yet.  Good thing the weather is warmer, cuz all I can wear right now are slip on sandals.

Onto the book review.
 Awhile back Bethany House Publishers asked various people to post a book review(good or bad) and they would send you a book for free to read and write a review on your website and then write one on theirs.  Well, I jumped on the bandwagon cuz I saw the word FREE, and so I chose what I thought would be a great book to read.  Sorry to say that I wasn't as thrilled w/it as I had hoped.  Now, keep in mind that I did NOT read the first book in the series and maybe that would have helped, but I was very confused in the first few chapters as to who was who and how they were related.  It seemed like the story jumped into the 'middle' at the very beginning.  At times I really did like the characters, but other times I thought they were a bit lame.  All in all, if you like historical romance (Christian Fiction), you certainly may want to try this one.  It wasn't one of my favorites, but it wasn't the least favorite I've ever read either.  The author has written many other books that I would still like to read.  I sure hope she doesn't mind my honesty on this one.

On to other news~ my oldest son's girlfriend and I have become quite smitten w/one another, get along great and have regular girls' day out adventures, so I asked her a few wks. ago if she wanted to take a cake decorating course w/me.  She was more than thrilled!  I have always wanted to do this, but could never find anyone to take it w/me, until Bekah came along.   The class runs for 4 wks. in a row and the second wk. we had to take a cake to decorate.  This is what hers looked like.  Really cute!

 This is what mine looked like..... I had it in the cake carrier and as I was coming through our front door it just plopped out of my hands and landed upside down, but boy did it ever taste good!!  My DH said it was the best icing I'd ever made!!!  LOL

I wish I could say that I made this darling cake for our granddaughter~Brooke, but they ordered it from a bakery.  Her favorite color is bright green, so they made it a 'frog' theme.  It was a square cake and really cute, plus tasted great!!

Here's a better view of the candles.... and look at those 'shells' on the side, made w/icing.  Mine don't look quite that good......................YET! ha

Here's the b'day girl herself at her great aunt's house.

Anxiously awaiting the opening of gifts..........

If you've hung in there till the end of this rather long post, hats off to you!!!  Happy Spring!!