Sunday, March 9, 2014

Sunday Salon: Four days down...

Good morning friends!  Don't you just LOVE it when you lose an hour of your life to the time change?  Bah.  The only upside is that you can squeeze in a late golf game on Sunday afternoon.  Other than that, it sucks.

It also sucks that for the third year in a row, I've given up alcohol for Lent (which started Wednesday).  Yes, I could give up Diet Coke or sweets or cursing.  But I have found that it is truly good for my soul and my diet to dry myself out for 40 days.  A real test of the will.  Having two teenagers in the house doesn't really lend itself to an easy journey however.  Ask my BFF, who after two years of accompanying me in this sacrifice, hung her head this year and said "I just can't do it.  I'm giving up sweets".  36 more days to go.

On to things that do not suck.  Did everyone catch the Oscars last Sunday night?  I think Ellen should have a lifetime job of hosting.  I loved her selfies, the pizza delivery, and her little fluffy Glenda the Good Witch outfit.  I was not at all surprised or disappointed by any of those winners.  Everyone that won should have.

The weather down here doesn't suck.  Gorgeous, 70's and 80's and sunshine.

House of Cards and Game of Thrones don't suck.  I am THOROUGHLY addicted to both.  I have not watched a proper movie in ages.  This is how we spend our evenings, quickly snarfing down whatever I make for dinner so we can immerse ourselves in scandal, murder and treachery.  And more than our share of naked boobs.

In the reading department, I finished "This House is Haunted" by John Boyne for book club.  Eh.  There was plenty of good there...creepy characters and house, gothic time period...but the haunting was just a little too overt.  Too much 'splaining, and not enough left to the imagination.  It came across as a little silly and predictable to me.  I just started "The Wicked Girls" by Alex Marwood on my Kindle.  This was a recommendation from Stephen King at some point last year in EW.  I couldn't resist.

On audio, I finally caught up on all my Jack Reacher novels by finishing "Never Go Back", the 18th and latest installment.  I REALLY thought Lee Child was going to change things up in this one, as Jack finally tracks down Ms. Sexy Voice from a few books ago.  But, well, I guess the jury is out.  I also listened to "American Assassin" by Vince Flynn, another badass bit of manfiction that was recommended to me by a badass friend.  It had some corny, predictable moments but I love clever men who are good at hand-to-hand combat.  I have now just started "Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore" by Robin Sloan, which is charming so far.

Our Sunday is going to fly by, with church, four hours at the animal shelter, and my daughter's birthday dinner at Disney. I vote that weekends be three days long.        



11 comments:

rhapsodyinbooks said...

I can't believe you picked alcohol again! A true test of faith! :--) And I couldn't believe the pizza. I mean, didn't they worry about getting it all over their beautiful dresses? Or maybe they were so hungry from starving to get into them they didn't care!

Beth F said...

Good luck on Lent! Andy I'm thrilled to be able to walk outside after work again (assuming I won't get frostbite)

bermudaonion said...

Carl finally finished House of Cards, thank heavens! I tweeted Kevin Spacey about some of his pronunciations and he never tweeted me back! lol

Anonymous said...

Busy, busy day! Sounds like you're finding some time for reading, though - a necessity when life gets crazy. I've been wanting to read Mr. Penumbra forever, so looking forward to what you think of it.

I wasn't as crazy about Ellen's hosting as everyone else was. I thought it was fine, just nothing special. Loved that Matthew M. won, though, and LOVED the music - Idina Menzel, Pink, Bette Midler - they were all awesome.

Trisha said...

The first season of Game of Thrones rocked my world, but I still haven't watched the second season despite the fact that I managed to record the entire season on one of those free HBO weekends.

Iliana said...

I love that we get more daylight hours but the first few days of DST is hard! Today I totally overslept. Good luck keeping your lent promise. I gave up Cokes one time and it was great. Actually got me off drinking sodas for a long time.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with giving up wine. I managed a few months last year before deciding it wasn't worth it :)
I loved the Oscars too. I thought the same thing about the pizza. I wouldn't want that greasy thing anything near my nice clothes, let alone an Oscar gown. Thought the music was all great this year and Ellen too, of course.
I'm just now on Jack Raacher #9 (audio) and Vaness Michael Monroe #2. Two side of the same coin and I love them both.

Heidenkind said...

I thought about giving up alcohol for Lent but decided to go with stupid Facebook quizzes instead. lol It just felt right, what can I say.

I got the latest Jack Reacher novel from the library. I've never read them before but I figured I'd give them a try. Have you read any of the Gabriel Allon books by Daniel Silva? I think you'd like them.

JoAnn said...

I thought about giving up wine but, as my brother-in-law says, "It's lent, not hell." ;-) Good luck!

Ti said...

Yeah, the Boyne book had all the elements to be good but lacked oomph.

I am so late to the party but yes! The Oscars with Ellen hosting was a lot of fun.

Darlene said...

I'm always impressed that you can give up alcohol for 40 days. That's a long time. Not sure I could hack it!