Sunday, July 27, 2014

Sunday Salon: The search for happiness

 Good morning all!  The Nawrot family is now officially all back in Florida.  Vacation over.  It is always good to get back to your own bed and your cats, but you know there are always things you face that aren't so great.  A yard overgrown with vines (all it takes is two weeks down here), a problematic pool, a smashed wall that still isn't fixed and an insurance company that is being uncooperative, awful neighbors that won't leave me alone, kids getting ready for school and all the drama that goes with it, a dirty house, a cat with a urinary tract infection...on and on it goes.  My eyelid is twitching again.

I'm also deeply troubled by the sudden eruption of total chaos all over the world.  Normally you hear the news and keep moving, but it is hard to ignore two passenger planes going down, gunfire between Israel and Palestine, explosions in Libya causing evacuations of all Americans, and freaking Putin with a God complex and an arsenal.  It's really scary.  If I were traveling ANYWHERE overseas right now, I would not go.

So for that reason, I thought Michele Jacobsen (Reader's Respite) had a wonderful idea on Facebook the other day.  She is paying it forward, offering to do something nice for five people sometime over the next year.  Could be an encouraging note, a ticket, a book, something homegrown, sent unannounced.  In return, those five people do the same thing to five other people.  Like a chain letter of happiness.  We can all use a little more of that.

So I don't want to be all doom and gloom.  We had book club this week and that is always nice.  We discussed "We Were Liars" this time around with mixed emotions.  Some loved it (me included) and some were not impressed.  But there was wine, food and desert and that is good.  Next month we are reading "The Three" by Sarah Lotz.

I'm back to working out at Andre's, and the hubby and I played a (very sweaty) round of golf yesterday.

Reading always brings happiness too, right?  When you have time for it.  In print I finished "The Strain" by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro (review coming sometime today on Goodreads), and I enjoyed it.  Leave it to Mr. del Toro to come up with some nasty version of a vampire...that man is DARK.  It is fun to watch the book come to life with the series on FX.  Now I am plunging into a little graphic novel fun today with "Saga" and "Snowpiercer".

On audio I finished "Sinful Folk" by Ned Hayes, complements of the author and TLC Book Tours.  I said this on Facebook, and I'll say it here...this is one awesome historical fiction book.  It takes place in Medieval England and is narrated by an ex-nun who is hiding incognito as a man.  Five boys have been burned to death and a group of the villagers (including the nun/man) take their dead children on a journey to the king for justice.  There are secrets, including who killed the boys, including the history of the nun, that are slowly revealed.  Highly recommended...Goodreads review coming soon.  I'm now four discs into "The Silkworm"!!! WOOT!

Hope your Sunday is filled with reading and happiness!

  


17 comments:

rhapsodyinbooks said...

Poor kitty! And yes, very scary in the news these days!

JoAnn said...

This world chaos has got me down, too... I'm especially nervous because my daughter is traveling to France next month. Hope it's a good week for you, Sandy.

bermudaonion said...

I'm with you and the world right now. I told Carl I do not want to leave the country. I want to be able to get in a car and get back to my family if anything crazy happens.

Anonymous said...

I understand your ambivalence about coming home and having to face all the problems that are awaiting you after vacation. Hope you have good memories of your time away.
I read The Strain a couple of years ago and enjoyed the different take the author took on vampires, which I usually avoid.
I am also distressed about the state of the world, and try to keep positive thoughts about the vast majority of folks who don't want things to go this way. I have been a regular follower of pay it forward mentality since watching the movie/reading that book year ago. Even though I am not Buddhist, I appreciate the wisdom of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "My religion is kindness".

Have a good week!

Unknown said...

I agree that the world news has been very distressing. I've been sad each day at the fighting and the plane disasters.
I hope things settle down...school in a couple of weeks will speed things up.
Do what you can to make your own world happy.

Ti said...

The news has been difficult to watch in general. All that stuff going on all over the world and then right here at home, so many hit and runs, freakish lightning strikes killing a person on the beach, idiot parent leaving their kids in hot cars and the like.

With my crazy week backstage, I can tune some of it out for a little while, but last night, the news was on before bed and even The Girl said, can't you find something else to watch besides all this negative stuff?

Right now I am at work and already thinking about Friday.

Ti said...

The news has been difficult to watch in general. All that stuff going on all over the world and then right here at home, so many hit and runs, freakish lightning strikes killing a person on the beach, idiot parent leaving their kids in hot cars and the like.

With my crazy week backstage, I can tune some of it out for a little while, but last night, the news was on before bed and even The Girl said, can't you find something else to watch besides all this negative stuff?

Right now I am at work and already thinking about Friday.

Ti said...

The news has been difficult to watch in general. All that stuff going on all over the world and then right here at home, so many hit and runs, freakish lightning strikes killing a person on the beach, idiot parent leaving their kids in hot cars and the like.

With my crazy week backstage, I can tune some of it out for a little while, but last night, the news was on before bed and even The Girl said, can't you find something else to watch besides all this negative stuff?

Right now I am at work and already thinking about Friday.

Literary Feline said...

With the good comes the bad, it sounds like. Sending you a big hug, Sandy, for all the personal stuff you are dealing with. And the news! It's very disturbing lately, isn't it?

I've seen the Pay It Forward idea going around for a while now, but haven't ever taken part. It sounds like fun!

Sinful Folk is going on my wish list. It sounds good!

Have a great week!

Anonymous said...

I am so jealous that you got to read We Were Liars! My library doesn't have it. :(

And I can so relate about problems with neighbors - one of the best things about moving away was getting rid of ours!

Alyce said...

Horrible stuff in the news! Of course that had to be the week we chose for my oldest to work on his citizenship badge, which meant watching the national news every day. One day he just said that he couldn't watch any more and I didn't blame him, between the caskets arriving in The Netherlands and the UN school bombing in Gaza, it was just too much. I guess the way to balance it is just to do happy stuff together with my kids, of course to them that means hours of video games. I hope you have a great week!

Beth F said...

The news is crazy. And you're reading THE THREE???? *shudder* And I too am rethinking an upcoming Europe trip.

Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness) said...

Welcome back from vacation (and sorry that you have so much nuttiness to deal with now that you're back!). The world chaos right now is a little scary, but I've been trying to focus my energy towards things I can control rather than bogging down in things that I can't. Easier said than done though!

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

I love going on vacation, but getting back home and trying to regain your balance is ALWAYS tough. I love the idea of trying to bring a bit of joy into other's lives in the midst of this madness.

Anonymous said...

You have a lot going on right now! I can't ever seem to catch up and we haven't even been on vacation!
The world is a crazy place right now and I wouldn't travel overseas either. My cousin and her family just got back from Germany last week, and it was a relief.
Keep on keepin' on :)

Marie Cloutier said...

I know what you mean about all the bad things going on in the world. I love the pay it forward idea and I want to do it once my own life settles down a little. Big changes ahead for me, lol. I hope you have a great week :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you enjoyed Sinful Folk - I can't wait to read it myself!

Thanks for being on the tour!