You've Got Mail Monday

I figured if I didn't share the contents of my mailbox pretty soon, you might be thinking the mail carrier doesn't love me anymore. Actually, that's far from true. The holidays will quickly be upon us, which means the arrival of catalogs galore from places I've never heard of or ordered from before.

One of those unknown places catalogs came from HearthSong®. They have some neat things, like this Putter Pool Game. I want one of those! I'm thinking of getting these Sno-Paints to put in the girls' stockings. Another new catalog in our house came from FrontGate®. I am seriously considering this iPad Caddy for the hubby. It looks stunning.

In addition to the plethora of catalogs that seem to arrive every day--so much for the world going paperless anytime soon--I received three books:

• The Proxy Assassin by John Knoerle, which I'll be reviewing at The Book Connection for his tour this month,
• Cartwheel: A Sequel to Double Eagle by Sneed B. Collard III, 
• Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter: A Memoir by Melissa Francis, which I had pre-ordered as soon as I heard about it.

I read the second book of Knoerle's spy trilogy and was thrilled to learn the last book was out. My father-in-law has read the first two books and loved them. I haven't read the first one yet.

Melissa Francis was a name I heard from the years I watched Little House on the Prairie. She and Jason Bateman were brought onto the show late in the series run, becoming the adopted children of Charles and Caroline Ingalls (Michael Landon and Karen Grassle). I hadn't heard the name for years, until I spotted Francis on the Fox Business Network, looking much different than her LHOP character, but still with those huge, beautiful eyes. I haven't had a chance to dig into it yet, but I'm trying not to overload my review schedule in the new year, so I might have time to read it before too long. I've purchased the memoirs of three other Little House on the Prairie stars: Melissa Gilbert, Alison Arngrim, and Melissa Sue Anderson. I knew I wanted to add Francis's book to my collection.

That's it for now. I hope your preparations for Thanksgiving are going well. It will be here before you know it.