Sunday Salon: Wrapping Up Spring Break, and Saving Lives Again

This is the last day of Spring Break, and while I am sad (it is nice not getting home every night at 8pm) I am also looking forward to getting my routine back.  It also means that there is only seven weeks of school left!  Yeah baby!  It would be right about now when I start to retreat into my shell and avoid everything to do with school.  I max out in mid-April.  I'm sick of volunteering, the meetings, the homework, everything.  It is a predictable cycle for me.


We have had a busy week.  Just to update you, Easter brunch was splendid.  I did not count calories that day.  I drank champagne and ate dessert, and passed out on my floatie in the pool and got a sunburn.  What a glorious day.  We filled the week with an additional horse lesson, mom/kid workouts at Andre's, an eye doctor appointment to get my daughter contacts, a second viewing of The Hunger Games (while I sat outside and read Nesbo), a day trip to the beach, shopping, and an extra-long day of volunteerism at the animal shelter.  I need to share an animal shelter story with you.


There are two sections for the cats at the animal shelter.  One is the adoptable cats (ones that aren't sick or wild), and then the "back" section, which are the ones that are labeled as "people aggressive".  Nine out of ten times, these cats are put down after the waiting period has passed.  Nobody wants them.  I hate saying that, but it is true.  So that is exactly where my daughter spends her time.  She is a cat whisperer, so if a cat can be tamed, she'll be the one to do it.  This past Thursday, she fixated on a 6 month old tiger kitty that was labeled as "people aggressive", and within 10 or 15 minutes, had it cradled in her arms like a baby.  It was probably just terrified when it was brought in.  I summoned an employee to show them what was happening, and they changed the label to "friendly" and moved the kitten up to the adoptable section.  You see, THIS is why we are there.  We made a difference that day.


*collecting myself*


I did miss both of my book club meetings.  I just couldn't get there.  I was sad because we were discussing "Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen" by Susan Gregg Gilmore, and "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand, and I loved both.  The Books, Babes and Bordeaux have chosen our next read to be "Fifty Shades of Grey" (yes THAT one) and I'm not real happy about it.  I do not want to read this book.  I'm highly annoyed.  But I will try for the sake of keeping an open mind.  I am not a prude, mind you, but I really prefer not to spend my time reading pandering, erotica trash written for shock value.  Sorry about the attitude.  I'll settle down now.


Despite all that kid entertaining and running around, I did do some reading.  After finishing Jenny Lawson's memoir "Let's Pretend This Never Happened", I spent most of the week listening to "Chasing Midnight", a book in a mystery thriller series that takes place in Florida.  I can't say I loved it, but I still need to process.  Now I am slogging through the fact-dense "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly.  Everything you'd ever want to know about the Civil War battles, but I'm wondering when we're going to get to the assassination plot?


And HEAR YE!  I finished "The Leopard" by Jo Nesbo in print!  It seemed a bit long and wandering, but I do love his books and will probably never stop reading them as long as he writes them.  I am now deep into "A Land More Kind Than Home" by the most charming Wiley Cash, and I am gripped, GRIPPED, I tell you.  This book is coming out in early May and should do incredibly well.


Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday filled with family, relaxation and reading!