Book Review: "A Cowboy for a Lifetime" by Suzanne D. Williams

Estelle Moore represents an investor.  She is sent to the Sanborns' ranch to see what would need to change in their management of the ranch in order for them to receive the funds.  She did not count on the reaction she would have to Neil Sanborn.

Neil Sanborn has not had the most moral of a lifestyle and he is trying to get his life straightened out.  His will to follow the moral road is tested when Estelle shows up at his house.

At the beginning of the book, it states: "Scenes in this story may contain graphic and/ or sexual situations not suitable for younger readers, but are framed by Christian morals and solutions." I was a little concerned as to what I may read in the book, but there were no sex scenes in the book.  It is mentioned at one point that Neil Sanborn had "been with" many women and he himself confirms there had been dozens of women, consisting of mostly one night stands. He has reformed his ways and struggles with not following his old patterns when he meets Estelle Moore.  Estelle has made a purity pact with her friend, but it doesn't seem to be due to a religious inclination, but just a moral decision.  This book was a little more "edgy" than I usually like to read, but it does show how staying pure isn't always easy to carry out.  I didn't understand why Estelle was acting weird at the beginning of the book.  I thought that she was going to steal the calendar at first. There is some mention of praying and going to church, but other than that, I didn't find the book to have a super strong religious content. I found Neil and Estelle to be realistic. The romance happened really quickly, but for a novella, that isn't unexpected.  There were a few spots that had missing words or letters, but on the whole, it was well written.  

"A Cowboy for a Lifetime" is available in Kindle edition:

• File Size: 750 KB
• Print Length: 116 pages
• Publication Date: July 26, 2014
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00M61WMHA

and in paperback:

• Paperback: 114 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (July 25, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1500649511
• ISBN-13: 978-1500649517
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.5 inches

I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An Orange Ladder

We got the ladder for the boys' bunk beds painted orange!  I decided to paint the light switch cover, too, since most of the green paint was off.

Bunk Beds!

I've been going to give the boys bunk beds since summer.  We needed to paint them to refresh them a little, but never got around to doing it for the longest time.  My parents brought them over today.   The ladder is eventually going to be orange and I didn't finish their bed covers, but here are pictures of the boys going to bed in their new bunk beds...

New Bedroom Curtains

We were in need of new curtains for our bedroom.  The ones we had were quite old and our bedspread was starting to fall apart.  There were also parts of the curtains that were fading.  I had a new bedspread and found some fabric for curtains.  It wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, but I didn't have a huge selection, either!  I lined the curtains with fabric from a sheet I got at Goodwill.

The before

One of the holes

Another hole

Faded spot on the curtain

The room looks a lot different with the new curtains and bedspread!

The after 

Dan works 3rd shift, so being able to get the room dark is a very good thing!

With the roller shades up, but the curtains closed

This pictures shows it with the roller shades and the curtains closed.
In the original, you can see the clock readout in the lower right corner.
I can't see it when I post it to the blog, however.  Not sure why not!

Every time I make curtains, it makes me think of the time I was getting fabric for Sarah's baby nursery.  The clerk said, "I think we all start with curtains."  (Implying it was my first project)  I told her that I'd been sewing for 24 years and I'd even sewn my wedding dress!  (My first project was actually a skirt when I was 8 years old!)

Andrew's Big Boy Bed - Finally!

About a year ago, I really  wanted to redecorate the boys room!  My mom pointed out that it would be about the time I would be decorating a nursery if we had kept the same time frame of having kids (every 20 months).  I decided that I would redecorate and give Andy his big boy bed at the same time.  I started working on switching the room before Andy's 2nd birthday in August.  I was really hopeful to have him switched to his big boy bed by October, but I realized that the bed didn't have the bolts that went with it!  So I started looking for something that would work (when I remembered), but what I found didn't work so I enlisted the help of my dad, who found some bolts that would work in his stash. (Thanks, Dad!!).  But I still didn't have the time or energy to get to putting the bed together!  Well, I brought all the pieces up today and wrangled it together.  (I had to have Sarah pull down on one leg of the foot board to get the holes to even out enough to screw the bolt in!)  When Andy woke up from his nap, I told him there was something for him in the living room.  He ran in, saw his bed, turned around, ran back to me and gave me a big hug!   Payment enough! ☺

So anyway, here are the pictures:

Loving his big boy bed

All tucked in for bed

Here are some pictures of the new room decor:

I scaned the fabric I used for the curtains and printed up some pictures for the walls

New drawer knobs

Plaques above William's bed

I didn't get any full room shots as their room was rather "untidy".  Maybe I'll post some later!

Big Boy Bed!

William has been able to climb out of his crib for at least a month now. I finally got his crib taken down and his big boy bed put in!

Drawer Knobs Tutorial

I wanted to show how I made the knobs for the dresser in the boys room.

I painted plain wooden knobs the same color as the walls and cut out scans of the fabric I used for the curtains.

I coated the backs of the pictures with white glue.

Smoothed it onto the knob with the paintbrush.

Painted more glue over the top of the picture.

After they'd dried for awhile, I used a toothpick to push down any loose edges or bubbles.

Finally, I covered them with 3 coats of varnish.

All done.

On the dresser.