Top 10 Books of 2013

I have been keeping track of the books I read each year since 2001.  For the past few years I've also picked my top 10 books that I read that year (5 fiction and 5 non-fiction).  In 2013 I also decided to keep track of how many cookbooks I read too.  In 2013 I read SO many great non-fiction books that I have some honorable mentions to include as well.  I read 88 books in 2013 and here are my top picks:

Top 10 Books of 2013

Fiction

Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Mouse Guard: the Black Axe by David Petersen

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Non-Fiction

Gun Guys: a road trip by Dan Baum

Bootstrapper: from broke to badass on a northern Michigan farm by Mardi Jo Link

The Ethical Butcher: how thoughtful eating can change your world by Berlin Reed

Lean In: women, work, and the will to lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Comet's Tale: how the dog I rescued saved my life by Steven Wolf

Honorable Mention Non-Fiction

Saved: how I quit worrying about money and became the richest guy in the world by Ben Hewitt

Homeward Bound: why women are embracing the new domesticity by Emily Matchar

Cooked: a natural history of transformation by Michael Pollan

Gaining Ground: a story of farmers' markets, local food, and saving the family farm by Forrest Pritchard

Free Spirit: growing up on the road and off the grid by Joshua Safran

Cookbooks - I read 39 cookbooks in 2013 and these were my favorites

Biscuits by Belinda Ellis (I purchased this one)

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

Homemade with Love: simple scratch cooking from In Jennie's kitchen by Jennifer Perillo (I purchased this one)

At My Grandmother's Table: heartwarming stories and cherished recipes from the South by Faye Porter

Pure Vanilla:irresistible recipes and essential techniques by Shauna Sever

Southern Fried: more than 150 recipes for crab cakes, fried chicken, hush puppies, and more by James Villas

2013 Totals

2013 Coupon Savings

For the past few years I've been keeping track of how much money we save by shopping sales and using coupons.  In 2012 I saved $1855.19 and so my goal for 2013 was to break $2000.  In 2013 I saved $2271.28 - $416.09 MORE than 2012!  I can only hope that I increase my savings by that much again in 2014!

2013 Garden Totals

Since this was our first year in our new house we didn't really know what to expect with our garden.  We were also hurrying to try to get it ready in time to plant and did a few things that we wouldn't do again.  Even though we almost quadrupled our garden space (from the equivalent of 2 raised beds to 8 raised beds), we didn't get great production this year.  We tried to start seeds inside and they didn't take, so we planted again directly into the beds and all of the plants got a REALLY slow start.  So, here are our garden totals for 2013:

Cucumbers - 2 plants = 3 cucumbers

Pickling cucmbers - 2 plants = 10 pickling cucumbers (enough to make almost 3 pints of pickles)

Cherry tomatoes - 2 plants = 10 cherry tomatoes

Tomatoes - 2 plants = 2 tomatoes

(these were the biggest tomato plants I have EVER seen, they were easily 8 feet tall, but because they started so late they were covered with green tomatoes when the first frost hit and they all died.  If they had started earlier we would have had a HUGE crop I think)

Kidney beans - 4 plants = 62 pods

Lima beans - 4 plants = 97 pods

Pinto beans - 4 plants = 46 pods

Yellow squash - 4 plants = 1 squash (some bug kept eating them before they were fully grown)

Zucchini - 4 plants = 3 zucchini

Pie pumpkin - 2 plants = 1 pumpkin (a second one developed but a bug got into it before it ripened)

Okra - 2 beds of plants = 173 okra pods 

Some things we're planning to do differently next year:

• Start seeds earlier - Chad is planning to build a cold frame so we can get our seeds going earlier
• Get better fill dirt to top off our garden beds
• Create a better compost system to actually create compost from all the leaves in our yard and vegetable scraps
• Investigate organic/natural pesticides
• Set up our rain barrels to collect rain for watering the garden

New Camera!

At the beginning of December we got a new camera.  Our old camera was very nice when we bought it, but it was starting to give us more and more problems - particularly blurry pictures.  Sometimes you couldn't tell the picture was blurry until you loaded it onto the computer and then it's too late to take another one.  I really wanted to take good pictures this Christmas, so we decided to go ahead and get the new camera.  The main feature we wanted was a viewfinder, which is hard to find in digital cameras that are not digital SLRs.  I was also VERY happy that it came with a strap.  All the pictures from this Christmas were taken with this new camera and so far I've been VERY happy with it!

Christmas 2013

We had a nice, relaxing Christmas at home this year.  One thing we did this year that might become a new tradition is skype with my Mom and stepdad on Christmas Day and open our presents over skype.  Here are some pictures from our Christmas this year:




This year for Christmas Chad wanted to surprise our older niece Kathryn with a guitar. We don't normally do quite that big of a gift for them, but since Chad plays guitar he really wanted to surprise her. We also wanted to get our younger niece Karissa a bigger gift than normal, so we got her some pricey headphones she really wanted. Both girls were VERY surprised and it was so nice to see them get so excited about their gifts. Here are some pictures of our Christmas with Chad's family:

I created this side-by-side of me and my brother wearing the same Santa pajamas - we were both about 1 1/2 years old at the time.

Miscellaneous Christmas Stuff

I found out that Ree Drummond, aka "the Pioneer Woman," was going to be doing a book signing at the Books A Million near me.  I'm a fan of hers, so I decided to go.  I've been to book signings before, but never for anyone as well known as her, so I didn't know what to expect.  BAM started selling the book and tickets the week before.  Thankfully Chad was able to get my book the day they started selling them so I was ticket # 17.  The actual book signing was pretty crazy and there were a LOT of people there, but because of my ticket number I was at the beginning of the line.  I thought the BAM staff were very nice, but the line wasn't very well controlled.  Ree seemed very nice and I was able to get a picture with her too.  Since I was at the beginning of the line we were done by 6:20 or so (it started at 6:00), but a friend of mine was like number 240 and she was there until 9:30 before she got her book signed - I was SO thankful Chad got me an early ticket number!

Me with Ree Drummond "the Pioneer Woman."

My two signed books.

A pretty sunset view from our deck.

One of the best Christmas gifts I got this year was getting to see the closest thing to an Athenaeum reunion show!  Mark Kano and Mike Garrigan played at Amos' Southend with a full band - just not the original Athenaeum band.  But it was an AWESOME 2 hour show!  They are so incredibly talented and the concert was on Dec. 20, so only a few days before Christmas.  Plus, we got there a little early and were able to snag a table upstairs so we didn't have to stand the whole time.  Here are some pictures from the Athenaeum reunion show: