This morning I hosted our first art playgroup.  What could be more fun (and potentially messy) than a group of 2 year olds painting?!

Hosting an art group is something I’ve been thinking about since May, when I first ran across The Artful Parent.  Jean’s art group for her daughter is amazing!  The purpose of the art group is to give our young children a change to learn about the process of art.  This is open ended art, and not about the final product.  It doesn’t matter which kid (or mommy!) can create the most beautiful painting.  This group is to let the kids explore different kinds of art (painting, collage, watercolors, sculpture), and different methods of art (fingerpainting, painting with fruit, splatter painting, etc).

It certainly took me some time to work up the courage to start this art group.  Not only because of the obvious, young children doing a messy activity in my home, but also because I am a reluctant entertainer.  I’m always thinking that my home isn’t quite perfect enough: not the right furniture, not the right paint colors, not decorated enough, not clean enough, etc (the list goes on and on), and it keeps me from opening my home to others more regularly.  This need for everything to be perfect is definitely something I’m working on, and a post (or 2 or 3) for another time!

I kept returning again and again to the idea of an art group….why NOT me?  Why couldn’t I do this?  Where would the kids paint?  We don’t have enough room….What about the mess?  What about the stress of making sure my house was presentable every Wednesday?  What about the fact that we’re in the middle of a playroom AND guest bathroom makeover?  I let my inner Negative Nelly express all the reasons why I shouldn’t and/or couldn’t host an art group in my home, but I just couldn’t let go of this idea!  In then end, I decided this was something I definitely needed to follow through on.

When I finally sent out the first email to see who might be interested in an art playgroup, I was pleasantly surprised by the all positive feedback.  That only fueled the fire more, and got me planning.  Scheduling is always a little tricky for playgroups, especially with most of our friends in some sort of preschool (T/Th or M/W/F) now.  I went with what worked best for us and for the majority of the interested mommies….Wednesday morning.

For our first meeting, we had 4 budding artists.  (6 originally, but 2 had to cancel last minute).  This was absolutely a perfect number to start with as I work out the logistics of where to put all the kids as they paint.  Art studio, I have none!  We used the kitchen table with a booster seat and some improvised book booster seats.  When the group grows a little larger, I plan to use the smaller kids table and the kitchen bar area or bring down another low table from upstairs.  Some of the messier activities will be done outside as the weather gets cooler.

Our activity this week was printmaking with fruits and vegetables.  We used acorn squash, corn, broccoli, green peppers, apples, and pears.  I only set out 2 colors of paint so the kids wouldn’t overwhelmed by choices.

I think the favorite options were the corn, green peppers and pears.  The acorn squash was a little too heavy for small hands, and I couldn’t get any of my apples to have that cool star in the middle.  All the kids definitely needed a little help from their mommies, which was fine, but I’m hoping next week’s activity is a little more independent.  I’m not sure how long the kids painted, maybe 10 or 15 minutes?  They all painted 2 11×14 pages, and I was pleasantly surprised they lasted as long as they did!  My Littlest Apple is usually done after 5 minutes, but not this time.  I was so busy supervising the painting that I forgot to take some photos of the kids in action.  I did capture a few shots of The Littlest Apple’s final prints.

Printing with bell peppers, pears, and corn on the cob

Acorn squash and apples

I love the way the corn printing looks!

After painting, we had snack time of fruit, cheese crackers, and pumpkin muffins.

Then the boys (yup, this time it was all boys) had a blast playing with all of The Littlest Apple’s trucks, tools, blocks, and train table.  Everyone seemed to have a really good time!  The Littlest Apple couldn’t wait to show his prints to Daddy after work, and talked about all his friends that came to paint and play with him.  I heard similar reports back from the other mommies, too!

Now that the first art group meeting is over, I know what to expect next time (though do you ever really know what to expect from a group of 2 year olds?!)  I’m feeling much more confident about our next meeting and looking forward to it already!  The plan is to make this a weekly meeting, so stay tuned for more Art Group updates!

I’m a big planner, and I definitely wouldn’t make it through the week without my meals all planned out in advance.  I’m planning(!) a post sometime soon all about how I create my menu plans for those of you who still haven’t discovered this sanity saving tool, but for now I’ll just leave you with a list of this week’s meals…. (I’ll share some of the new recipes soon!)

BREAKFAST

Greek Yogurt with Pumpkin Spice Granola (still not tired of it yet!!), fresh fruit

LUNCH

Greek salad

Quesadillas

Leftovers

DINNERS

Sunday: Indian Spiced Pork Skewers, Basmati Rice, Baked Acorn Squash

Monday: leftovers or quesadillas

Tuesday: Honey Glazed Pork Loin with Browned Apples, Green Beans with Bacon, Rice

Wednesday:  Chicken Taquitos, Refried Beans, Salad

Thursday:  Perfect Roast Chicken, Broccoli, Potatoes

Friday:  All American Beef Chili, Beer Bread

Saturday: Dine out.  Hopefully it will be date night sans The Littlest Apple

BAKING and SWEETS

Apple Fritters

Autumn Pumpkin Bread with Pecan Streusel Topping

Caramel Coconut Fudge Brownies

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

For more menu planning inspiration, check out Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie

This will be a new weekly feature to share my favorite posts from around blogland.  I follow way too many blogs in Google Reader, and I’m finding new blogs every day that I absolutely love.  There are so many talented bloggers out there, and so many great posts to read!  Since this is my first week of Apple Picks, some of the posts that I’m sharing this time around are a little older, but certainly worth checking out!

Some beautiful fall décor inspiration at The Inspired Room.

Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife has a great post on The Cost of Eating Well.  I just finished reading both In Defense of Food and Real Food: What to Eat and Why, and I’m very interested to see how others are making healthy changes to their diets.

An AMAZING home makeover from Jennifer at The Old Painted Cottage.  Truly amazing!

Stephanie at Metropolitan Mama has a great idea on how to reach out to others on a more regular basis.  I thought this was particularly useful since I always let the small things of daily life take over and forget to call/write/visit/email those in my life that I’m thinking about.

Great info on how to Make Your Salads Count by Katie at Kitchen Stewardship

Joni at Cote de Texas has been doing a great series on the Top 10 Design Elements.  She’s currently on #5: Lighting.  Lots of great photos!  I’m really wishing for some lanterns and chandeliers now….

A well written article at Nourished Kitchen on How to Encourage Your Children to Enjoy Fruits & Vegetables.  I definitely need to be offering The Littlest Apple more vegetables!

This recipe comes from my one of my new favorite cookbooks, The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever by Beatrice Ojakangas.  I am not a huge casserole fan, but I love this cookbook!  I actually checked this cookbook out from the library first, and started bookmarking all the recipes I wanted to try before I returned the book.  When I kept marking every other page, I realized that this was definitely a book that I needed to own.  Lucky for me, this wonderful cookbook turned up as a birthday present a few days later.  What I love most about this cookbook is that it contains more than just the traditional “cream of  soup” laden casseroles.  In fact, this cookbook provides several sauce recipes to use in place of those canned soups.  Also, with more than 500 recipes, some of these are stretching it a bit to be called “casseroles”: there are breads, desserts, dips and appetizers in addition to all of the casseroles.  I’ve only tried 2 recipes so far, but they’ve both been keepers.  You’ll definitely be seeing more recipes from this cookbook!

The first recipe I want to share with you from this cookbook is for Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes.  My mom makes a similar dish like this on occasion, but I’ve never attempted to make it myself.  I could eat potatoes all day, every day, and last week I was just craving some cheesy potatoes.  This dish is a little labor intensive, but definitely worth it.  These potatoes taste great leftover as well and I ate them for both lunch and yes, even breakfast in the next few days.  This isn’t a great photo, but look at all that crunchy goodness on top!  I just love the contrast of the crunchy bits on top with the creamy cheesy potatoes below!  Delicious!

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

From The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever, by Beatrice Ojakangas

Ingredients:

• 6 medium baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 recipe Basic White Sauce (recipe follows)
• ½ cup water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray (Picky Apple note: maybe my potatoes were just extra large, but I almost needed a bigger pan!)

Rinse the sliced potatoes in cold water to prevent browning.  Pat dry with paper towels.

Place a layer of potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish and sprinkle with onion, cheese, salt, and pepper.  Continue layering the potatoes, onion, cheese, and seasonings in this way, ending with a layer of cheese.

Mix the sauce or soup and the water in a small bowl and pour over the casserole.  (At this point you can cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.  Add 5 to 10 minutes to the baking time.)

Bake for 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until the potatoes are tender.

Basic White Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup hot milk

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.  Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes, or until the mixture is smooth and bubbly.

Whisk in the hot milk, keeping the mixture smooth and free of lumps.  Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, reducing the heat, and cook until thickened and smooth.  Use the sauce hot, or cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Lately I’ve been trying my best to take some steps toward more natural, less wasteful living.  In addition to eating less processed foods, there are many steps I’m taking around the house.  Using more natural cleaning products instead of harsh chemicals, conserving our energy usage, more recycling and less waste.

image from Pottery Barn

One of the easiest changes for us has been switching from paper to cloth napkins for meals.  I’ve got a serious paper towel addiction, but by using cloth napkins at meal time, we’ve greatly reduced our paper towel usage.  I purchased some cute linen napkins (ours are the “Flax” color) that I enjoy looking at.  Using cloth napkins has the added bonus of making meals feel much more sophisticated too!

image from Pottery Barn

But I do have a confession:  I’m still having a hard time using these napkins for The Littlest Apple at meal time.  As with any 2 year old, I’m sure, he’s just SO MESSY, and as silly as this sounds, I don’t want my pretty cloth napkins getting dirty!  Goofy right?!  I still use wet wipes to clean The Littlest Apple after each meal, though I’m trying really hard to switch him to cloth napkins too.  I’ve also tried using a damp kitchen towel for The Littlest Apple, but I’m not sold on that method either.  The Little Apple hates the damp towel method because it always winds up too cold for him, no matter how warm the water is in the faucet.  And what do you do with your damp towel when you’re done?  Rinse and save for the next mealtime mess?  If so, where to store it in the meantime?  Maybe I need some additional towel hanging space.  I’m pretty sure I’m over thinking this!

Household cleaning: I’ve also cut back my paper towel usage for cleaning up around the house.  I use newspaper for cleaning mirrors and old tshirts for dusting.  I now wipe down my counters with cloths like these which can be run through the dishwasher or washing machine:

Washing and drying produce: This is an area I still use paper towels more than I’d like.  We eat lots of fruit at our house, and I am constantly washing and drying grapes, strawberries, blueberries, apples, etc.  I typically use a paper towel to dry them because I feel like the paper towels absorb more water than my cloth towels….am I just not using the right kind of towels or drying method?  I know this is another easy place I can cut back my paper towel usage.

Art and craft messes:  Yet another area where I usually reach for paper towels or wet wipes.  The Littlest Apple and I do art frequently, and he HATES having paint or marker on his hands.  It is so easy to grab a paper towel, but wouldn’t it be just as easy (and effective?) to use a cloth instead?  I’m going to focus on changing this next, at least when it is just the two of us.

Guests: Not everyone is on board with this “greener” lifestyle, and visitors to my house tend to reach for the paper towels first and frequently.  For now I’m letting it slide.  I know how awkward it can be trying to figure out which towel to use for what in a hostess’s house, and then what to do with the used towels?  For those of you making an effort to reduce your paper towel consumption, how do you deal with guests who reach for paper towels? And what would happen if I didn’t have any paper towels on hand?  As much as I’d love to just stop buying paper towels all together, I get a little freaked out just thinking about that….I’m hosting an weekly art playgroup starting next week for eight kids (two and three year olds).  Yikes!  How will I survive without my beloved paper towels?!

I know this post hasn’t provided lots of answers or advice, but I wanted to share my thoughts as I’m starting out on this journey toward less consumption and less waste.  I know using cloth napkins at meal times is drop in the bucket (especially when we’re still using disposable diapers, among other things).  It’s the celebrity equivalent of buying a Prius when you also own a Range Rover and a Porshe.  But it’s a start, and I’m eager to take the next step.

Do you use paper towels?  Wet wipes?  What steps are you taking to reduce your paper towel consumption?  I’d love to hear about any tips or products!

I’ve mentioned before my love for oatmeal at breakfast, but every once in a while I like to mix things up with yogurt and granola.  Ok, I realize the granola has oatmeal in it, but it is presented in a different (crunchier) format.  I’ve got quite a few granola recipes on file to try and since it’s Fall I opted for this Pumpkin Spice Granola.  This is my new favorite granola!  I’ve been eating Pumpkin Spice Granola for breakfast, snacks, and sometimes even dessert.  I am SO in love with this granola.  I eat it with Fage 0% Plain Greek Yogurt.  Mmm!  I’ll be making another batch tomorrow….

Pumpkin Spice Granola

from Baking Bites

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• pinch ground cardamom
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plain pureed pumpkin
• 1/4 cup plain applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet (or two smaller sheets) with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, combine oats, puffed rice cereal. In a medium bowl, whisk together spices, salt, sugar, applesauce (do not use chunky applesauce), pumpkin puree, maple syrup and vanilla. Whisk until very smooth.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir with a spatula or large spoon until mixture is evenly coated. Spread on prepared baking sheet(s) in an even layer.  Bake for 30 minutes, then turn over the granola carefully using a large wide spatula. Sprinkle the nuts onto the granola, then bake everything for additional 15 minutes, until crisp and golden. Depending on the size of your baking sheet, the center might not be fully dried if your granola layer is thick, so if necessary remove the edges of the cooked granola to a cooling rack and let the rest cook for another 10-15 minutes until done.  Cool on pan or on a fine wire rack.  Break granola up as desired and store in an airtight container. Add dried fruit before serving.

Makes about 8 servings, more depending on add-ins.

For more delicious Fall recipes, visit Life as Mom’s Ultimate Recipe Swap!

I’m hoping to post a weekly (at the very least) recap of some of the activities I do with The Littlest Apple.  I try my best to take some time each day to ignore other distractions and really focus on The Littlest Apple.  Being the planner that I am, I plan our activities in advance, about a week at a time, but I try to be flexible (have to work more on this!!).  If The Littlest Apple isn’t interested in what I have to offer, then we do something else that he is interested in (or sometimes I do the activity by myself, hoping he’ll join in!).  There are many places I find these activities, and I hope to highlight some of these in various posts as well as on my new Resources page (still under construction).

One of the first amazing resources I found earlier this spring is the blog, 1+1+1=1 and the concept of “Tot School.”  Without even knowing it, The Littlest Apple and I were already doing Tot School!  Tot School isn’t actually school, but just a fun name for the quality time I spend each day with my tot learning by having fun!

What kinds of activities do we do in Tot School?  Lots of reading, art, working on fine motor skills, outside time, pretend play, science, and life skills, to name a few.

The Littlest Apple doesn’t normally stick with an activity for very long, even if he really loves it.  But in the last couple of weeks, I discovered several activities that held his attention for a significant amount of time (for a 2 year old, around 30 minutes).  In addition, he asks to do these activities, so they’ve become some of our current favorites.

The Baking Learning Center:  I filled a box with a cake pan, muffin tin, rolling pin, empty flour box, plastic eggs, an empty sour cream container, cinnamon sticks, empty spice jars, a jar of sprinkles (sealed shut), measuring cups, measuring spoons, cookie cutters, whisk, a muffin cookbook, a cookie cookbook (both with lots of photos) and a few other baking-related items.

I intended for this to be a temporary activity this week while our theme was Cookies, but this was such a hit that I’m looking for a permanent home for this Learning Center.  The Littlest Apple enjoyed rolling out the playdough and using the cookie cutters to cut the dough, then transfer to a pan.  He pretended one of our kitchen cabinets was the oven, and put the cookies in, and took them out when the “timer” beeped.  He pretended to pour the flour and other ingredients into a bowl and stir, then pour into the muffin tins.  I’m starting to think a play kitchen might be a good purchase for us!

“Science Corner” (as it was nicknamed by The Picky Apple): This was an opportunity for The Littlest Apple to explore his sense of touch and to mix things together (always a favorite activity around here).  I set up bowls with flour, cotton balls, corn starch slurry, water with green food coloring, and a bowl of ice.  I also provided him with several measuring cups and spoons to transfer and mix with.  He LOVED this activity!  I was doing a lot of cringing about the mess, but I finally just relaxed, put a few towels on the floor and let him go to town!  As you can see from the photo below, he dumped all of the cotton balls and the ice into the green water and was working on adding the flour too.  The Littlest Apple discovered quickly that he did not like the way the cotton balls felt (dry or wet).

Washing Dishes:  Another activity that really kept The Littlest Apple busy was washing dishes in the sink.  Why haven’t we done this sooner?!  I filled one side of the sink with soapy water and 4 or 5 plastic plates, several bowls, and cups.  I showed him how to wash the dishes in the soapy water with a sponge then rinse them off in the running water.  The last step was to dry the dishes.  I left him doing this activity under the supervision of grandparents while I ran to the library, and he had JUST stopped as I pulled back into the garage 30 minutes later.  This activity definitely requires a little more supervision, but it‘s good to keep in mind for when it is too hot or rainy to go outside.

Button Sorting:  I bought a big container of buttons from Hobby Lobby.  There are different sizes, colors, shapes, and even a few “neat” buttons as we call those with special patterns (since he holds them up and says “Neat!”).  The Littlest Apple enjoys sorting by size, color, and shape.  He also enjoys pouring them from bowl to bowl.  Some (most?) of these buttons are small enough to be a choking hazard, but The Littlest Apple has been great about not putting them in his mouth.

I have SO many more activities to share, but I just wanted to do a small introduction of favorite activities since this is my first Tot School post.  Future posts will be a recap each week (hopefully) with more pictures and more info on where I get my activity ideas.

Happy Fall, Y’all!  It’s the first day of Autumn,  a “cool” front is rolling through Texas, and I couldn’t be happier.  It will still be in the lower 80s here, but I just couldn’t wait any longer to break out my fall decorations.  I actually got them out last weekend when the temperatures were still in the 90s.

We’ve got many warm fall colors (reds, yellows, browns) in our downstairs décor (oooh, doesn’t that make it sounds so sophisticated?!), so the pumpkins and leaves of fall fit right in, and just make our house feel so homey.  As much as I love all things Christmas, fall just fits our house so much better.

A closeup of our entry hall rug

My most prized fall possession is my front door wreath that I found in a little gift shop while ordering some party invitations.  I’ve always wanted to be a wreath-on-the-front-door kind of person, but this was the first wreath that really spoke to me.  A wreath on the door just says “Welcome to my house!” and is an easy way to jazz up a boring front door.  Our front door is definitely boring: a plain white builder basic door.  We’re the last folks on the block that haven’t upgraded to a wooden door with glass.  I don’t think the feathers used to stick out all crazy like that, but that’s how they looked when I pulled out the wreath this year, and I kind of like it this way!

Last year, one of the gourds on the wreath cracked in our not-really-fall Texas heat.  After some initial panic and sadness that my brand new wreath was already a casualty, I managed a successful transplant operation of a new gourd.

I also acquired quite a few fake pumpkins last year.  We’ve got pumpkins for the front porch (saving those until October), pumpkins for the entry hall, pumpkins for the fireplace, and a pumpkin for the kitchen island.

As you can see, I also love using fall leaves in my decorating.  I’ve got several garlands that I use both on the fireplace mantle and the tops of my kitchen cabinets.  I’m not a huge fan of fake florals and greenery, but I found some beautiful garlands with apples that I couldn’t pass up.

Speaking of apples, it’s only natural at the home of The Picky Apple.  We’ve got quite a few of those…

Hope you’ve enjoyed this small peek at my fall decorations!  My house and I are ready for fall, now bring on the cooler weather already!

For more fall decorating inspiration, check out Southern Hospitality , Show Us Your Life: Fall Decorations at Kelly’s Korner, Hooked on House Tours: Fall Edition, and Fall Inspiration at Thrifty Decor Chick.

How is it that I’ve never roasted a whole chicken before?  I’ve roasted 4 or 5 turkeys for holidays, but never a chicken.  For the past year or so, I have purchased a rotisserie chicken nearly every other week from the grocery store.   I guess I thought that buying rotisserie was the easiest thing to do, but it is definitely NOT the cheapest way to go.  And it turns out that roasting a chicken at home isn’t that hard, and yields some really flavorful results.  It only takes about 10 or 15 minutes to prep (and I’m sure it gets easier with time), so don’t be intimidated.  For extra flavor, tuck butter and rosemary between the skin and the meat in addition to filling the cavity.  You can use the browned bits left in the pan to make a pan sauce, but for now I’m just keeping it simple!

I served my Roast Chicken with Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes and a Spinach Strawberry Salad.  The next night, I removed all the meat from the chicken bones, used some of it for Chicken Tortilla Soup and froze the rest for future use.  To stretch this chicken even further, I used the chicken carcass (ew!  Hate that word!) to make my first ever batch of homemade chicken stock (12 cups!).   I’ll share all these recipes soon.  That’s a long way to stretch a chicken!

Perfect Roast Chicken

adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cooking School

Ingredients:

• 1 fresh whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 lemon, cut into ¼ inch rounds
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Prepare Chicken: Heat oven to 450 degrees F.  Remove giblets and liver from cavity; discard (or reserve for another use).  Let chicken rest at room temperature 1 hour.  Trim excess fat from cavity.  Rinse chicken thoroughly under cold water, inside and out, then pat dry, making sure the cavity is as dry as possible.  Season cavity with salt and pepper, then stuff with lemon, rosemary, and garlic.  Rub skin with 2 tablespoons butter.  Tie legs together with twine.  Season all over generously with salt and pepper.

Roast:  Place chicken in a large ovenproof skillet or a small roasting pan (filled with a rack, if desired).  Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh (avoiding bone) registers 165 degrees F, 50 to 55 minutes.  Transfer chicken to a platter.  Let rest for 10 minutes.

I’m a bookworm.  I’ve been using my Amazon wishlist for the last few years to keep track of all the books I’d like to read (not necessarily own, and as of today, I’ve got 1208 books on my list.  Although I’m a fast reader, I’m not making much of a dent in my wishlist since I keep adding to it.  We’ve got a great library nearby that allows me to place books on hold online and then lets me know when they’re ready to be picked up.  Though the book selection at the library is somewhat limited, with a list of 1208 books I want to read, I can always find something to suit my mood.  I do place my fair share of Amazon orders too, but I try to use the library as much as possible.

I get really antsy if I don’t have something good on my nightstand to read, and I try to rotate between fiction and nonfiction.  While there is so much information to glean from reading lots of nonfiction, I love the escape of a good novel.  I started and finished the Twilight Saga last month then promptly reread all four books.  (My favorite was Eclipse, btw.)  I discarded the next couple of dud novels I picked…what a huge letdown after Twilight!

Then finally I picked up this book and couldn’t put it down:

At over 600 pages, Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon kept me busy for a while, and it was a much-needed distraction at the time.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved this book.  After all, the premise is a bit wacky: it is a historical romance with an element of time-travel thrown in. Strong-willed Claire Randall, a World War Two nurse, and her husband Frank travel to Scotland shortly after the war to rekindle their marriage.  A trip to some mysterious ancient stones sends Claire back to 17^th century Scotland, where she finds herself in the middle of a skirmish between the British and Scottish.  She’s kidnapped by the Scottish warriors, and the story revolves around her attempts to return back to the mysterious stones and her husband Frank.  Along the way, she meets a young and loyal Scottish warrior named James Fraser with whom she forms a strong bond.  She also meets Black Jack Randall, an English officer and all-around bad guy who is a distant ancestor of her husband (and resembles him greatly).  Certain events occur to hamper her return to her rightful time in post World War Two Scotland, and there is some question as to whether she will return at all.  I will warn that this book has its fair share of violence as Highland Scotland is an often brutal, savage place (Braveheart anyone?), but don’t let that keep you from reading.  This is one amazing story!

And the best part of all?  Outlander is the first in a series of SIX novels, all longer than 600 pages each.  To date, I’ve only read the first three books, but #2 and 3 were every bit as wonderful as Outlander.  I’m pacing myself before starting #4 so I can actually get something done around the house in the meantime.  These books are THAT good.  Definitely something I would go back and read again and again!