Too good not to share - totally random Eagle brand milk edition

 I love this image. It says it all! *via Jenni Sparks

It's Friday and time for that random amalgamation of things floating around in my head: 

For all us childless mother-hearts out there...Hear, hear! Someone brave enough to tell the truth, but still finding a way to be hopeful and positive.

On the topic of why we read what we read... This was an interesting book review that almost made me want to read this book, but then I get to this line: "Ada, or Ardor is not hopeful and not kind." I stopped to ask whether I really want to read something that is not hopeful and not kind. You can write achingly beautiful (and sometimes true) words about the darkest nights of the soul and there is nothing wrong with that. I think people should write what they want. But when I'm pondering what I want to spend hours meditating on, I just have to say no, I do not want to read a book that is not hopeful and not kind, even if it's achingly beautiful. 

*via fluffybunnies

I went on a rant this week. I had an acute overdose of cute. It was a picture of a bunny that did it. Sometimes everything is so lovely online it stirs up a case of I want it-itis, but not everything I want is really a great idea. 

Being a writer who blogs this caught my eye: Author blogging - you're doing it wrong. I hope I don't offend anyone who is also a writer blogger when I say I really agree with it! But I don't know what I'm doing as a writer-blogger. I'm not following any rules. There's no clear strategy. I'm not trying to get 10K followers. I'm just shooting in this mad darkness and seeing what happens. Let's call it the grand experiment.

For the girl who has everything... The Mr. Darcy Tuxedo Cat Bookmark. I think it's sort of cute. And I quite like the Mr. Darcy cat print.  What hath Jane Austen wrought? Of course, why I need a bookmark when I'm reading from Kindle, I don't know.

Samples I read on Kindle this week that make me want to buy the book:

• A Weekend with Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly - ah, escapist fantasy, holidays, romance, boxwoods, manors, England, Austen. Sounds purrfect for the dog days of summer.
• French Lessons by Ellen Sussman - a great recommendation by a writer friend. Paris. Hello? Gorgeous smart writing? That too.
• Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson - in the "now something totally different" category, something with more testosterone, pure geekdom and sentient machines.

I'm not sure which one to read first! Maybe I should finish what's in my Kindle first.

I've commandeered my husband's iPhone just for Instagram, because I want to make a photo wall like this one! When it's done, I'm envisioning a snapshot of memories. I wish I could do something like this that would capture the past (nearly) 10 years of our marriage!

*via Smitten Kitchen

And last but not least, a friend I were chatting this week about the miracle of Eagle brand milk. You know, the sweetened condensed kind. For all you actresses who need to put on 20 pounds for a movie role or all you lucky peeps with high metabolisms, I am providing some dee-licious classic cookie bar recipes involving graham crackers and Eagle brand milk and chocolate chips.  Yum.

• Hello Dolly Bars - coconut, pecans, chocolate chips, graham crackers, and good old eagle brand milk.
• Millionaire Bars Chocolate Caramel Shortbread bars ala Nigella- try sprinkling a little kosher salt on top
• And not to repeat myself, but I mustn't omit the Devil's Saltines (Chocolate Caramel Crackers) 

Happy Friday!