Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

I have been asked to review this book. Here is what a review on amazon.com said:

Ellen Gleeson was balancing life as a single mother and a feature reporter as well as could be expected. She had taken on single parenthood voluntarily, having fallen in love with her adopted son, Will, now three, when he was a very sick infant. A have-you-seen-this-child postcard featuring a child who could be Will’s twin catches Ellen’s attention, and while she should be pursuing her assigned story about the emotional effect of Philadelphia’s high teenage murder rate, she instead becomes obsessed with the missing child and with pursuing more details about Will’s background. Her questions multiply when she learns that, just three weeks after she adopted Will, the attorney who handled the proceedings killed herself. Where is the birth mother, and why doesn’t her family seem to know that she was pregnant? The answer only leads to danger, but Ellen, her reporter’s instincts on high alert, is hell-bent on finding the truth, no matter the cost. In a departure from her wildly popular Rosato & Associates series, Scottoline still sticks to what she knows in this taut stand-alone: female drama, family ties, legal intrigue, and fast-paced action. A sure-fire winner.

When I'm done with the book, I'll let you know what I thought. Have a great day everyone!

St. Patrick's Day Wreath

I was looking on-line tonight for some St. Patrick's Day decorating ideas and I came across this wreath. That reminds me I have a green-themed wreath packed away some where. I need to find it and hang it on the front door. I also have to get my Beleek China collection out and decorate with that. John, my husband is 100% Irish decent so we really need to be very festive for this holiday!

It's Raining Cats and Dogs here today!

It is raining cats and dogs here today. Don't you just love that old saying!! My Grandmother always used to say that and so did alot of my older relatives. I was curious as to how that phrase originated so I went to google.com and looked it up. Here are some things I found on there:

It comes from mythology. Witches, who often took the form of their familiars - cats, are supposed to have ridden the wind. Dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms and sailors associated them with rain. Well, some evidence would be nice. There doesn’t appear to be any to support this notion.


Cats and dogs were supposed to be washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a lease of life with the message "Life in the 1500s", which began circulating on the Internet in 1999. Here’s the relevant part of that:

I’ll describe their houses a little. You’ve heard of thatch roofs, well that’s all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it’s raining cats and dogs."

This is nonsense of course. It hardly needs debunking, but, lest there be any doubt...

Dogs lived in thatched roofs? No, of course they didn’t. Even accepting that mad idea, for them to have slipped off when it rained they would have needed to be on the outside - hardly the place an animal would head for to shelter from bad weather.


The phrase is supposed to have originated in England in the 17th century when city streets were filthy and heavy rain would occasionally carry along dead animals.

The idea that seeing dead cats and dogs floating by in storms would cause people to coin this phrase is just about believable. People may not have actually thought the animals had come from the sky, but might have made up the phrase to suit the occasion.


Another suggestion is that it comes from a version of the French word, catadoupe, meaning waterfall.

Well, again. No evidence. If the phrase were ’raining cats’ or if there also existed a French word, dogadoupe we might be going somewhere with this one. As there isn’t let’s pass this by.

Hope you enjoyed this little bit of knowledge! Have a great day!

Walking today on the Greenway

Today the temp in Charlotte hit 68 degrees!! It was absolutely beautiful! John and I have been talking about walking on the Greenway down the road. We've never gone and thought today would be a wonderful day to go there. We were going to bring Teddy but John had just given him a bath and he was still wet. Next time we'll bring him. It was a great day! Here are a few pictures I took.


Here's John at the beginning of the greenway.


We walked this greenway path for about 3 miles. There were so many people on there today because of the beautiful weather.



If you look really close in the middle of the picture towards the back there is a male and female mallard. You almost missed seeing them they were so quiet.

John and I will have to go there more often and bring Teddy the next time!

Valentine's Day the movie

Megan, our friend Tara and myself went to dinner at JoJo's China Bistro and then we went to see Valentine's Day the movie. Dinner was wonderful and the movie was wonderful too! There were so many stars in this movie and the story lines were really nice. I give this movie **** out of five stars! This movie makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over!!

Thoughts and Prayers for John!

UPDATE: John had a very good interview today and the headhunter is lining up 2 interviews for him! Please keep your fingers crossed! Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts!


Today John is in Atlanta on a job interview. The actual job is in Duluth, GA. One good thing is the job is in his field of title insurance. I'm sure he will have to go back for another interview after this one-I just hope and pray this one goes well!

Thanks everyone!

Thoughts of Ireland

With St. Patrick's Day coming next month it made me think of my trip to Ireland with John in 2004. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in Ireland for 11 days and it was the trip of a lifetime! All of Ireland was beautiful! I especially loved touring the Waterford factory and the Beleek factory. We also went to Jerpoint Studios where they blow glass. I bought alot of things there but my favorite is a paperweight which has green and blue swirls throughout it-just gorgeous! The people in Ireland were so friendly and nice to us. We also got to spend 3 days with our friends in Ballyliffin and 1 of those days we went to their house in Derry! Paddy Ann and her family opened their home, lives and family to us and we will never forget their generosity, friendship, kindness and time with them! It was definitely a magical time for John and I!