ABC Baby Shower

My sister's beautiful Chenille Shower curtain.

It took her a while to collect all the different Chenille.

 She has also stitched some wonderful quilts!

We Never Lose our Loved Ones

"...you know, we never lose our loved ones, 

because we always carry them in our heart. 

When we love someone, we're changed.

We become better people. 

That's how our loved ones always remain with us. 

We're different because of them"

                                              - A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin

Ambivert

 I am Listending to a book called Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by Susan Cain

She introduced a term I was unfamiliar with, Ambivert. That may be what I am, an ambivert with strong leanings to itrovert. I will write more after I finish the book, which so far is fascinating, maybe even life changing.



A personality trait including the qualities of both introversion and extroversion.

So What Can an Ambivert Do?

Let people know about your style: that your behavior fluctuations are not about them, just about you needing to manage energy.   Be realistic about your needs. When you need to recharge, don’t feel guilty stepping away. You’ll be more useful and nice to be around when you return. And when you’re in the mood to talk out loud, say that these are early thoughts and that you’re tossing them out. On the other hand, if you need time to think before responding, say so.  People will be less confused, and will make fewer wrong assumptions about your intent.
Think you’re an Ambivert? How can you tell? What advice do you have for others?
Assess Yourself: Find out if you’re an Ambivert with this quick online assessment from Dan Pink

top 100 children's novels

I found this list in a blog by the School Library Journal. It is taken from lists sent in by teachers, librarians and readers. I do love a good children's book. I have read a lot of these books. I want to read them all. It will be fun to have a list to go to.
I am starring the ones I have read. Question marks are for the ones that sound familiar but I can't remember if I read it or not. There are some books on this list that I would not have included. Every one has different taste in books, to each his own....

**#1 Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

**#2 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

**#3 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

**#4 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

**#5 From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

**#6 Holes by Louis Sachar

**#7 The Giver by Lois Lowry

**#8 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

**#9 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

??#10 The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

**#11 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

#12 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

**#13 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

**#14 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

**#15 Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

#16 Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

**#17 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

#18 Matilda by Roald Dahl

**#19 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

**#20 Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

#21 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riodan

**#22 The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo

**#23 Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

**#24 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

**#25 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

**#26 Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

**#27 A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett

#28 Winnie-the Pooh by A.A. Milne

#29 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland /Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

#30 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

#31 Half Magic by Edward Eager

**#32 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

**#33 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

**#34 Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

**#35 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire JK Rowling

#36 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

**#37 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

**#38 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

#39 When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

#40 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

**#41 The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

**#42 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

#43 Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

#44 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

#45 The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

**#46 Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

**#47 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

#48 The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall

**#49 Frindle by Andrew Clements

**#50 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

#51 The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

#52 The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

#53 Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

**#54 The BFG by Roald Dahl

#55 The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

**#56 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

#57 Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

#58 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

#59 Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

**#60 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

**#61 Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

**#62 The Secret of the Old Clock (The Nancy Drew mysteries) by Caroline Keene

#63 Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright

**#64 A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

#65 Ballet Shoes by Noah Streatfeild

**#66 Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

#67 Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

**#68 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

#69 The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

#70 Betsy Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace

#71 A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

#72 My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

??#73 My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

**#74 The Borrowers by Mary Norton

#75 Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

??#76 Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

#77 City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

??#78 Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

#79 All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

**#80 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

#81 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

#82 The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

#83 The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

#84 Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

#85 On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

**#86 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

#87 The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg

#88 The High King by Lloyd Alexander

#89 Ramona and her Father by Beverly Cleary

**#90 Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

#91 Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

**#92 Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

**#93 Caddie Woodlawn by C. R. Brink

#94 Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

**#95 Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

**#96 The Witches by Roald Dahl

#97: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

#98 Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston

**#99 The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

#100 The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyde

Don't eat those carbs!

If you suspect that you have impaired glucose tolerance, don't ignore it. The excess glucose molecules that make up those elevated post-meal blood sugars will bond to your body proteins, deposit themselves in your arteries, damage your kidney filtration units, clog up your retinal capillaries, and cause your nerve function to deteriorate leading to, among other things, impotence and pain. Keep this up, and in another five or ten years you'll be one of those people with "newly diagnosed" diabetes who have serious, established, possibly irreversible long-term complications.

Use your meter to determine how much carbohydrate you can eat without causing a blood sugar spike. The closer your blood sugar stays to 85 mg/dl at all times, the better off you are. Remember that the lower your post-meal blood sugar, the lower your risk for heart attack and other diabetic complications.

vinegar and blood sugar

By Jack Challem

Strange as it might seem, including some vinegar in your diet may improve your blood sugar. Although vinegar has a bit of a checkered past — it has too often been hyped in weight-loss diets and miracle cures — solid research has clearly shown that it can improve glycemic control.

“Scientific studies over the past 10 years show benefits from vinegar consumption,” says Carol Johnston, Ph.D., head of the nutrition department at Arizona State University, Tempe. Vinegar decreases both fasting and postprandial (after-meal) glucose levels, she says. “It’s inexpensive and can be easily incorporated into the diet. Used in combination with diet and exercise, it can help many people with type 2 diabetes.” Much of the vinegar research comes out of Johnston’s laboratory and that of Elin Ostman, Ph.D., at Lund University in Lund, Sweden.

The biologically active constituent of vinegar is acetic acid, also the source of the liquid’s lip-puckering pungency. Nobumasa Ogawa, Ph.D., of Tokyo University in Tokyo, discovered that the acetic acid inhibits the activity of several carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, including amylase, sucrase, maltase, and lactase. As a result, when vinegar is present in the intestines, some sugars and starches temporarily pass through without being digested, so they have less of an impact on blood sugar
n another study, Johnston found that taking 2 tablespoons of apple-cider vinegar along with 1 ounce of cheese before bedtime led to a 4 to 6 percent decrease in fasting blood sugar levels, according to an article in Diabetes Care (November 2007). Meanwhile, Lund University’s Ostman found that people were less hungry a couple hours after consuming vinegar with bread, as opposed to bread alone, according to a report in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (September 2005).