Wild Insurance Agent - Part 2

I previously complained about this little guy trying to sell me insurance. Apparently, his colleague decided to step up the campaign, because this week this one was in our house:

Give it up, already. I do not have 15 minutes to give you! (I do usually have lots of screaming when I see one of these in the house, until I realize they are harmless. I guess I'm that kind of girl now.)

You can check out more Wordless Wednesday at the headquarters and see pics of our boys enjoying extra closeups of their favorite toys at TexasRed and the Twins.

Crochet Tools

Still making progress on some crochet work here -- thanks to Amigurumi Two! by Ana Paula Rimoli (check out her blog for other fantastic ideas).

(screwdrivers, files, and handle for hammer)

My husband loves these for our little boys!

You can check out more Wordless Wednesday at the headquarters and see pics of my One Eyed Jack at TexasRed and the Twins.

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution

I'm getting back into some fiction reading and was very impressed with Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I assumed the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum started in London in the 70s or 80s. Well, it did start in the 70s --- the 1870s! Yes, this book was about the woman behind the museum, but because of her connections with both the royalist and revolutionary sides of the French Revolution, we get to see both sides of the conflict as it developed and spiraled out of control.

This book does have descriptions of the violence of war. I thought it was fascinating, though, especially in the wake of the revolutions in the Middle East to see how similar the development of the French Revolution (using cafes instead of Twitter and Facebook) was to our current world. Hopefully we have learned from the past. In history classes I've had, though, there was no real explanation as to how reasonable people with the best of intentions can spiral out of control. To me, that portrait was the most fascinating part of this book.

Let me know if you get a chance to read it and what you think!

Happy Weekend!

Quilting Catch-Up

I stopped posting on my quilting blog when I started the separate space for the boys at TexasRed and the Twins. I still want to update about what I'm working on (when I have a chance during naptimes) from time to time. Here's what I finished this spring:

You can check out more Wordless Wednesday at the headquarters and see pics of the boys at our Independence Parade at TexasRed and the Twins.