Sunday Salon: Week of the Crud

 A fantastic morning to all of you my friends!  Well, last week I alluded to the fact that this week would be squirrelly.  (The Sandy definition of "squirrelly" = downright horrid.)  However it was not.  At least not in the way I was expecting.  


I had expected non-stop insanity, with a number of schedules converging into a sort of cataclysmic act of God, but instead both of my kids contracted The Crud.  My son was out for the first four days of the week, and my daughter was out the last two.  Therefore, our number of volleyball games and practices were reduced, the number of nighttime Andre visits were reduced, and dinner was actually served each night BEFORE 8PM!!!  Amazing.  If not for the sickness, it would have been a perfect week.


An all-day meeting at school was cancelled for me, I was able to get four workouts in at Casa Angel of Death instead of the normal three, and I was actually able to sneak in a lunch with Heather (Raging Bibliomania) to trade bookish goodies.  Friday night my husband and I attended our school's annual fundraising Gala, which was a ball.  


So not many squirrels.  Except for the ones that my daughter thinks she needs as pets, and is attempting to catch with a snare.  I don't know, go figure - when it comes to animals and this child, I don't even try to understand.  She thinks she is Katniss.


So I was able to do a little reading.  I finished "The Big Short" in print, and as much as this is a niche book and not what I would consider the greatest for a book club because of its complexity, I enjoyed it immensely.  There was a two hour special on PBS on Tuesday (continued on next Tuesday as well) about the financial meltdown, and it was a nice supplement to the book.  So then I briefly started Lauren Oliver's "Pandemonium", but after my lunch with Heather, who loaned me her copy of "Fifty Shades of Grey", I started that one for my other book club.  Not to spoil anything people, but this has got to be the most horrible thing I've ever read.  My buddy Molly Bumble, she looks out for me, and suggested perhaps I engage in a drinking game while reading it.  Not a bad idea.


On audio, I finished "Swamplandia", and after wallowing in a general feeling of sadness and ick, I picked up "One of Our Thursdays Is Missing" by Jasper Fforde.  I know many of you love these books, but it did not work for me on audio.  It was glib and a little too clever for itself, and only managed to irritate me, so after one disc I stopped.  I turned to my fail-safe alternative, Jack Reacher.  His latest adventures in the novel "The Affair" is keeping me entertained and I should be done with it soon.


For the longest time, I almost couldn't load the audios fast enough into my iPod, I plowed through them so quickly.  Now, between my library requests, loans from friends, and the monthly packages of happiness from Penguin Audio, I am almost swimming in them.  Just this week I loaded "Heft" by Liz Moore, "Catherine the Great" by Robert Massie, "The Informationist" and "The Innocent" by Taylor Stevens, "A Stolen Life" by Jaycee Dugard, and "A Land Remembered" by Patrick Smith.  That is just in the last three days.  I want to listen to them all NOW.  


Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday filled with friends, family and reading!