Good morning my friends! Well, no Slo Mo Sandy today. I'm up at 5:30am in order to get my post written and head off to church. The week has been fairly uneventful...just the usual song and dance that you hear from me each week.
I did a lot of walking - the weather has been gorgeous. I don't mean to rub it in here, but all that awfulness the rest of you have been experiencing has basically missed us, with the exception of some rain here and there. (Hint - come and visit me!) My son was in a Regional History Bee. He did not advance on to National, but it was a pretty intense but fun experience. Sort of like Jeopardy, with buzzers and stuff. I golfed on Thursday, despite the fact that it was nippy and VERY WINDY. Only four of us showed up, but dammit we hit that ball! I had lunch with a long-lost friend who moved away and is now back n town again. And Valentines Day was supposed to have been celebrated Friday night by going to some friends' house, but the hubby came home from work with the flu. Yep, that was special. So I drank my champagne, ordered in pizza, took a bath and fell asleep reading. Bah.
So this is kinda cool. A girl from my daughter's high school qualified for the top 30 on American Idol. Her name is Emily Piriz. She is really GOOD! We are very proud of her. We don't get much celebrity action around here.
So I finally finished "Winter's Tale" by Mark Helprin. I know this is a "beloved" work of fiction, and it did hold my attention, at least enough for me to finish it. But it just did not deliver in the end. I was waiting for some revelation, but it never came. What I got instead was a bloated stream of weirdness. Very strange magical realism, which I'm not against if it makes sense. And the writing, which has been praised to the hilt, to me just sounded like the author was in love with his smartness. Ack! The movie released on Friday and got 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. So. I will probably see the movie if I get the chance, but how disappointing.
After that experience, I grabbed something short. I am now (slowly) reading "Fight Club". I adore the movie, and while I like the book, I think maybe the movie is even better. I should wrap that up fairly soon.
On audio I finished "Zealot", a book about the historical life of Jesus, versus Jesus of the Bible, which was a bit of a mind-blower. I have no idea whether everything this guy says is true (alas, I am not a Bible scholar) but he sounded like he knew what he was talking about and I was willing to listen. My husband wouldn't hear any of it though. There were some challenging ideas in there. I like to have my brain tickled.
I'm now close to finishing "The Raven Boys" by Maggie Stiefvater. And wow. I had actually downloaded this from the library awhile back when Jill raved about it, and didn't get to it. I'm glad I tried again, because I love the story and I love the narrator. Which is a shocker because I usually have plenty of disdain for these kinds of books. I think this is the first of four books (of course) and I couldn't be happier.
Not sure what I'll be doing for the rest of the day. Definitely a couple hours at the animal shelter. My son and I talked about going to the shooting range with my dad...will see if my son can actually find his way out of his room today. And my son also has tomorrow off from school, so somewhere in the next 24 hours, I predict a movie. Hope you all have a great Sunday!
Moving a little slow today. We hosted our semi-annual(ish) Polish fest last night with friends. I made pierogies, apple carrot salad, and a hunter's stew called Bigos. You basically throw whatever wild game you can find into a stew with cabbage, mushrooms, sauerkraut and bacon...last night's had wild boar, venison, pheasant, elk and kielbasa. My husband got distracted making drinks while grilling kielbasa and ended up torching all of it. So that was nice. We still had lots of fun and ended up going to bed pretty late.
It's been another busy week. Both kids had the sickness, especially my son. Head cold and fever type of thing. Nothing gets done when they are home with me. We had more rain as well, which just encourages sloth and burrowing under the covers.
In a couple of weeks my daughter turns 16! Ack! She won't actually get her license until August because she waited to get her permit, so I don't have that stress yet. But this is a big deal, so she and I have been planning the festivities. We are going to take her to probably the nicest restaurant in town, Victoria and Albert's at Disney's Grand Floridian. And then she and I are going to have a spa weekend. You generally have to be 16 to participate in the regular treatments, so she has been anxiously waiting for this. This girl loves to be pampered.
My son and I finally got out to see Nebraska, which was one of the last Oscar movies we hadn't seen. We loved it. It so much reminded us of where I grew up in Indiana. Very well-acted, sometimes thoughtful and sometimes hilarious. In my opinion, the only chance this movie has of winning anything is with June Squibb, but I'm not sure if she can compete with the girl from 12 Years a Slave. At home, we have been working our way through House of Cards (Netflix streaming), which is about toxic politics in DC starring Kevin Spacey. We also just started watching Game of Thrones. So much stuff to obsess over!
Reading-wise, I'm STILL plunking my way through "Winter's Tale". I'm actually at 92%, so I should finish soon. This story is very complicated, and a little other-worldly. I'm not sure I love it, but it is holding my interest. The movie comes out next week, and I'm starting to get a sinking feeling. I just don't know how in the world this is going to translate to the screen. I can tell you one thing though. The next book I read is going to be less than 300 pages. I feel like I'm making this book into a career.
On audio I finished Lee Child's "A Wanted Man", the 17th installment in the Jack Reacher series. Hey, you know what? In a week, I won't be able to tell you more than two or three things about the book, but whatever. They entertain me! I also listened to "Every Day" by David Levithan and absolutely fell in love with the book. I just did start "Zealot" by Reza Aslan, a book about the historical Jesus of Nazareth. It is fascinating, but almost too much fact exploding into my ears. It is hard to absorb everything.
So now that all the remnants of last night have been cleaned up, I think my husband and I are going on a very long walk! Our walks have been getting pretty ambitious. Yesterday we did about 5 miles, but today is probably going to be longer. For once it isn't raining and the weather is gorgeous. After that, I intend to do some laundry and finish my book! Hope everyone has a great Sunday. Let me know if you are doing anything fun!
I know, I know, I'm running a little late today. I was tired last night, and I woke up late this morning and barely made it to church. Then my little ducklings were begging for food, as they do every three and a half hours, so I went to the grocery store. Then my daughter had a rare burst of things to say (versus hiding in her room), and when that happens, I sit and listen. So.
It seems like I talk a lot about the weather. I'm such an old fart. Don't old farts obsess over the weather? But it sorta drives my week! This week, a huge blob of yuck hung over us, and it rained and rained and rained. I couldn't walk, I couldn't do yard work, and everything felt slimy. It was one of those weeks when you wanted to stay in bed.
My husband threw his back completely out of whack playing golf last weekend (he thinks it is a pinched nerve) and while he tried to tough it out, by Friday he couldn't move AT ALL. So he has been underfoot. He did go to a chiropractor and is at least moving a little bit today.
We had an open house this week for the high school magnet program my son wants to attend next year. High drama and emotion around here until he finds out whether he was accepted (which should be late February). Friday we attended a food truck fundraising event for a little 2 year old boy in our community who has neuroblastoma...horrible, horrible, horrible thing. Only this kind of cause would have gotten me out in that weather. My daughter and I worked an animal shelter adoption event yesterday. One dog was adopted. Another one, an old and somewhat sickly dog that was scheduled to be euthanized today, found a potential owner. There was a flurry of panicked phone calls from me to the shelter to MAKE SURE THAT DOG WAS TAKEN OFF DEATH ROW, so arrangements could be made on Monday. I lost sleep over that one last night.
So is everyone partying tonight? I honestly don't have much of an opinion on either team, but I love the festivities, getting together with friends, and the commercials. For the last couple of years, we have celebrated at a unique location...a "garage" where a bunch of classic cars are displayed. There is a full kitchen and about about three or four big-screen TVs around. This is not your dad's garage. I'm going to take pictures this time, as proof.
I guess I should talk about reading since this is a sort-of bookish blog. For all the rain, you'd think I should have read six books but alas, no. I have dug myself into a very large HOLE in reading "Winter's Tale". Because the sizes of books are invisible with e-readers, I plunged in, only to find out that the damned thing has 768 FREAKING PAGES. OMG!!! I'm about halfway through it, and hey, I like it. It is just insanely long. Who knows if I'll get it done while the movie is showing at the theaters.
On audio, I finished the amazing "Someone Else's Love Story" by Joshilyn Jackson. Oh how I love her. She is just always so enjoyable to listen to. I just wanted to walk and walk and not stop while I was listening. I'm now about halfway through a Jack Reacher installment "A Wanted Man". I think I've got one more book after this one in order to be caught up. Honestly I can't really tell you one book from another after I've read them, but I enjoy them. You can always count on Jack Reacher to be a cool customer, kick everybody's butt, and be really smart about stuff.
That should about wrap it up. I'm fixing to go on a long walk and get some steps in before I go and eat something bad for me tonight. Hope everyone has a great Sunday!
Good morning! I feel like I'm dragging my sluggish body to the table this morning, having had what feels like a busier week than average. I know, they are all busy, but it's just something I have to say.
The kids had Monday off from school. Normally, we would all be traipsing off to Andre's in the morning followed by a movie, but my son had weird things going on with his stomach all week, so that didn't happen. After I got back from Andre's myself, my mom was coming down our lane (they are our neighbors in the winter), she fell, bloodied her head and broke her arm. OMG! You know head wounds. They are shocking, but it is the arm that ultimately laid her up and caused her to be leveled for the week. I feel terrible.
Stomach issues persisted with the boy, so we had some shortened days, but he did a pretty good job of getting to all the classes that mattered. I've been going at it pretty hard with working out, walking and running, so I found myself falling in a heap every night.
This week was the (almost) final round of Confirmation classes for the boy. This has been going on since late November on a weekly basis. I know this is supposed to be a spiritual journey and all, but what 14 year old really sees it that way? I know mine did not, but he stoically endured the church ladies and their lessons on purity and chastity and such. It all culminated with the actual Confirmation yesterday morning. I was proud. He cleaned up nice. (Yes, in the picture we appear to be the same height, but I have four inch heels on. When did this happen?) He does have a follow up class next week, which we may or may not make because of a conflicting schedule. We celebrated with a nice Saturday night dinner, where ALL OF US attended, even my persnickety daughter and injured mother. So there is another box that I have checked off for his 8th grade year.
Tonight, we will be celebrating my husband's birthday (which was a couple weeks ago) at a Disney restaurant...for the record, California Grill. Good thing I got all that walking in earlier in the week!
On a literary note, my daughter came to me early in the week and said she had to analyze eight chapters of "Great Expectations", including the identification of literary devices, plot, character vices and virtues, conflicts, and historical references. I've never read this book, but like a good mom I did read these chapters, and spent about six hours yesterday helping her. LIKE A ROOT CANAL. I would have never been a good English major.
On the reading front, I spent most of my time finishing up Joe Hill's "Nos4a2". It was a loooong audio (over 19 hours) but worth the journey, and ended up truly loving it, especially the narrator. She was freaking amazing! Now I'm several hours into the incredible Joshilyn Jackson's newest book "Someone Else's Love Story". Her audios are like slipping into a favorite pair of sweats...warm, comfortable, loved and familiar.
In print I'm still slowly plugging through "Winter's Tale". I was waylaid by the Dickens project though, so maybe next week I'll gather some momentum. I DO really like it though, even though this is not my genre. Something about it called to me.
Today my primary goal is to walk a lot. To make up for last night's dinner and tonight's dinner. This might mean a round of golf, or a walk about the neighborhood, I'm not sure. But I'm going for it.
What is everyone up to today? Reading? Staying warm? Digging out of the snow? Working on their Super Bowl menu?
A good, chilly morning to you all. So the 10 day forecast doesn't show one day of 80 degrees, and the evenings are all below 60 degrees, so I guess maybe winter has come to Florida? It's a miracle. Jeans and jackets for everyone!
In our house, we get pretty excited when the Oscar nominations are announced. The big question is always how many of the important movies have we seen, and how many do we need to cram in? This year we did a pretty good job. I doubt we will even attempt to see "The Wolf of Wall Street" (not sure I can sit through 3 hours of that), but if we hit "Nebraska" and "Dallas Buyers Club", I think we can feel good about our track record. We've got a three day weekend, so we should hit one of those today or tomorrow.
I've also strangely been on a Netflix bender during the day, while I'm eating lunch or whatever. And as a result of good recommendations, all but one have been excellent (wasn't in love with the cheap Charles Manson documentary). So you may see my Letterboxd stuff coming through Facebook. It does appear I have no discrimination, but trust me, I've had a good week.
I've been doing a lot of walking to get my Fitbit steps in. No matter what I do (there are days when I NEVER SIT DOWN), I can't get close to Kathy (Bermudaonion) and Julie (Booking Mama). I swear they must run 24/7 and not sleep. I had to get as many steps in yesterday in order to offset the live Maine lobsters that my dad bought for us to eat last night. Oh boy, were they good! I had to put down garbage bags on my kitchen table to protect it from all the butter and lobster juice flying everywhere.
On the other hand, my reading isn't all that swift. My audio time has been better than print. I finished "Songs of Willow Frost" by Jamie Ford on audio. It was OK, but nothing about it blew my mind. Sweet, predictable, but not exactly what I was hoping for. I'm now about halfway through "Nos4a2" by Joe Hill and it is creepy and a little ridiculous, in the best possible way. And the narration! It is SO GOOD. This woman, Kate Mulgrew, was made to narrate his books.
In print I finished "Palestine", which was incredible and intense. If you like historical graphic novels, and you ever wanted to get a street level view of what is really going on over there, you shouldn't miss this one. Now I have just started Mark Helprin's "Winter's Tale", because I wanted to read it before it comes out at the theater. I haven't made much progress, because I've distracted myself. Has anyone read this? It seemed worthy of reading based on the movie trailer. I need to focus a little more on sitting still.
Wishing you all a great Sunday and three day weekend, if you get Monday off from work. Does anyone have fun plans?
Good morning everyone! Hopefully you are starting to melt and dig out of your ice and drifts of snow. We had frigid temps for about...two days. Yesterday it was close to 80 with stifling humidity. Obnoxious. I've given up on wearing a jacket.
This was a crazy week, getting back to our normal schedule. I feel like I didn't sit down at all, ever. My son had mid-terms all week, plus we served the homeless at a shelter one night, I had book club, there were a couple of doctor appointments, and of course the never-ending confirmation classes. And today is my husband's birthday!! We had a particularly yummy dinner last night but we will celebrate at one of the nicer Disney restaurants in a couple of weeks (it is close to impossible to get into these places when you want).
My parents, my son and I went yesterday to see "Her" directed by Spike Jonze. I was pretty excited about this one, having loved "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation". It is possible this one will get some recognition at the Oscars, but it isn't for everyone (some people walked out of our theater - ha!). We enjoyed it though...it was pretty clever.
I wanted to share this picture with you because I think it is cool. (I shared it on Facebook yesterday.) My trainer Andre loved the idea of "One Little Word" that I talked about last Sunday. So he encouraged all of his ladies in his morning class to find their own word and write it on his wall in hand chalk. Here are a few:
I sort of got back in saddle this week with reading, now that the kids are back in school. On audio, I finished "Native Son" by Richard Wright. So powerful! There were some courtroom scenes that would rival anything you've ever read. I also listened to "Schroder" by Amity Gaige, an interesting and wandering adventure that was excellently narrated by Will Collyer (thanks for the recommendation Jennifer at Literate Housewife!). I'm now several discs into "Songs of Willow Frost" by Jamie Ford. I'm not blown away at this point, but he tends to be slow-building.
In print I finished "Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery" by Robert Kolker. This is exactly why I love a true crime novel. I love to be able to Google the characters, and I love the dynamics and the drama of a real case. This one was terrifying and complicated, and has yet to be solved. I'm now reading a graphic novel by Joe Sacco called "Palestine" which is fascinating. I'd seen this GN mentioned as being one of the best ones out there, and so far it is living up to that reputation.
I'm not sure what is up for today yet. I'm definitely going to hit the shower for early Mass here in a second. We will see if my daughter wants to work the shelter today. I think my husband is itching to play golf...we will see if we can squeeze it in. Or maybe another movie. So many good ones. Hope everyone has a great Sunday and great week!
Hello out there! Can anybody see me beyond their snow banks??? It seems the entire US is covered in snow and suffering frigid temps, and I know you are probably sick to death of it already. Down here, we are having weather in the near 80's, and we are a bit sick of that too. If I put on my jeans BECAUSE IT IS WINTER DAMMIT, then I pay the price by sweating. I hear we may get a little cold snap in a day or two, for a little bit anyway. I might get to wear a jacket. I know it might anger you all, but I'd pay money to be snowed in for just a day or two.
So I hope we all made it through New Year's Eve safe and sound and full of energy and hope for 2014. We spent it with friends, gorging on clam chowda and lobsters (our friends are from Boston), and wine and champagne and very interesting Puerto Rican egg nog (!). I was going for broke, because on the 1st, I snapped that Fitbit on and began tracking my calories. Again. It feels good to be back in the saddle. (Silly question...am I the only nut that runs up and down the stairs and in circles around my house at 9pm trying to hit my goals????)
Several people had mentioned this inspirational idea, born from Ali Edwards, about adopting "one little word"...a word carefully chosen by each of us to welcome into our lives for the year. A word to focus on, to meditate on, to guide us day-to-day. I think this is simple yet powerful. You can choose to join Ali's year-long workshop, or you can embrace it privately. My word this year is going to be STRENGTH. I'll be working with my trainer to up my weightlifting (I love lifting weights), but I'm also talking about strength of will (against food, sitting on my rear end, and too much wine), and strength to guide and nurture my kids without losing my mind. Check out the website. It is a very good thing.
With the new year, I also decided I wanted a way to track the movies I watch. Please know that I am SO not a movie reviewer, but we watch a lot of them, and at the end of 2014 I'd love to say that I watched this many movies and these were my favorites. So look for my Facebook posts from Letterboxd. It's free and easy to use, and if you join or are already on there, friend me (youvegottaread).
Damn I'm long-winded today.
I also wanted to promote my sister's new website she is running with two other cinephiles. It will be supporting the film scene in the Twin Cities where she lives, but has movie reviews and discussions for people who not only love the blockbusters but also indie films off the beaten path. These three know their stuff. The site is called Joyless Creatures (a term director Werner Herzog used for critics...I think this is hilarious!!!). Check it out.
Have I been reading? Well, I'm trying without huge success. I am about halfway through reading "Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery" by Robert Kolker. This was a Christmas gift from my son, and it is really good. True crime is so much my brain candy. I'm also still listening to "Native Son", with maybe 3 discs (out of 15) left. I have no earthly clue what I'm going to say about this when I'm finished. I'm sure to not do it justice. It would be an excellent book club pick. Every time I put on my headphones I think my brain is going to explode.
OK I'm going to shut up now. Wishing you all a really great Sunday, and for many of us this will be the last day of vacation. This is a sad and happy thing all rolled into one!
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