Sunday Salon: Wolf made me do it

 Good morning, my lovelies.  I seriously had to sit here and think hard about my past week before I wrote it all down.  It wasn't necessarily a pleasurable one for sure.  Every day but Wednesday I had a kid home sick, plus I had the crud as well.  I had a female doctor appointment with a bit of unpleasantness.  About 50 tons of pollen falling from the trees, resulting in not only red eyes and sneezing but daily yard and pool labor.  The air conditioner upstairs blew out.  Blah.

So it may not shock you to hear that I only made it two weeks into the "no alcohol" Lenten sacrifice (hanging head in shame).  Yeah well, it just wasn't happening.  I gave up Diet Coke instead.  The final straw in my whole undoing this week was a rather incredible but disturbing reading adventure with Mo Hayder's upcoming release "Wolf" (coming in May).  She is amazing, this women, but she is SICK AND TWISTED.  And I love it.  But it was the last straw.  So sue me.  After I finished it, I quickly plucked "The Expats" by Chris Pavone from my shelves, in preparation for his arrival at our local book festival in a couple of weeks.  But I've not progressed with it.  I'm still too..unsettled from "Wolf".  So I'll blame Hayder for my weakness.

On audio I finished Laura Lippman's "After I'm Gone", which was a little quieter than I thought it would be, but was great storytelling, with good discussable plotting, and a satisfying ending.  I also finished "This Dark Road to Mercy" by the most incredible Wiley Cash, which was also quieter than his previous novel and great storytelling.  I'm now about halfway through "A Burnable Book" by Bruce Holsinger, narrated by Simon Vance, yo.  However I am not digging this audio at all.  The only thing that is keeping me in the game is Simon.  I hope it turns around here soon, or I will have wasted 12 hours of my life.

Speaking of Simon, I need to just mention, because you know I feel that audio narrators are ROCKS GODS, that my son went to Megacon this weekend here in town.  (In case you aren't aware, this is a celebration of geekdom in the best way, with all stuff involving graphic novels, TV shows, movies and video games.)  ANYWAY, my dear child scored an autograph from Wil Wheaton because he knows I love him.  Because Wil is an audio rock god, among fifty other reasons to love that man.  My son told him that his mama loved him.   I thought it was pretty cool.
  

While he was rubbing elbows with Wil and the cast of the Walking Dead and a badass from Assassins Creed, my hubby and I were at the Bay Hill golf tournament, which was fun.  Adam Scott IS a talk drink of water.  We won't discuss how we were trying to find our car and ended up walking like five miles because "someone" has a bad sense of direction.  Details.  I just know "someone" owes me a foot rub.

Besides church today, there is nothing on the schedule. NOTHING.  Maybe I'll get a running start on "The Expats".  Lay by the pool with pollen falling gently down into my hair like delicate flakes of snow.  Hope everyone has a relaxing day of reading.  What is everyone up to?

Sunday Salon: Girls Weekend

 Happy weekend everyone!  We had a normal week in the Nawrot house, and normal is good.  My parents left to go back to the cold, unforgiving North (from the 80's to the middle of yet another snow storm, go figure), which is a sign that spring is upon us.  Both my son and daughter chose their classes for next year, which is always cause for discussion and debate.  I golfed on Thursday.  Weather was gorgeous.

I just have to make a comment about my daughter's birthday dinner on Sunday night at Victoria and Albert's (at the Grand Floridian Resort at Disney).  Not something you want to do more than once or twice in a lifetime, but it really was incredible.  They wait on you hand and foot, seven courses of taste explosions in your mouth, and they even offer the women cashmere shawls to borrow if it is too chilly.  It is first class, an an event you should try if you can.

We continue the birthday celebration this weekend.  (Trust me, this ongoing extravagance isn't routine, but she DID turn 16.)  She had Friday off, so she and I did some shopping, then went to Downtown Disney and had lunch and saw Frozen.  On Saturday we went to the spa, then spent a night at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort.  Just to get away.  (The boys went to North Florida to see a rodeo and drag racing - woo hoo!).  It was a nice relaxing time, with a few hours by the pool and some good reading.

As far as reading goes, I finished "The Wicked Girls" by Alex Marwood, which I LOVED.  So twisted and full of conflicting emotions!  This book was one of Stephen King's "best books of 2013" and for good reason.  I'm now about a hundred pages into "Wolf", the new Mo Hayder, which was sent to me by the dear Michele Jacobsen of "Reader's Respite" who got her hands on the ARC.  Can't even tell you how damn excited I am to read this.

On audio I listened to "Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore", a charming little book that was made for geeky modern-day bibliophiles.  I am now near the finish of Lippman's latest called "After I'm Gone".  It isn't quite what I was expecting, but is good storytelling.

Besides church and a shelter adoption event today, I'm not sure what else will be going on.  Hope you all have a great Sunday!
  

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.        

Sunday Salon: Off the Grid

I never intended to stay away this long, but I found myself off the grid for awhile, and I guess that is never a bad thing.  So I have to catch you up over the last couple of weeks.

So it turns out that while my son didn't individually qualify for the National History Bee, our school team did.  So in early June, the five kids and their families will all head up to Atlanta to compete.  My husband, my daughter, my son and I will all go, and make a long weekend out of it.  He also received news that he qualified for the Criminal Justice Magnet at a public high school in town, which has been his ultimate goal for a couple of years now.  This kid has only ever gone to private schools, and he is so excited for this new challenge.  I am now running around gathering documents, registering him in the public school system, and making an appointment to schedule his classes.  This whole thing gives me the heebie jeebies.  If you have young ones, look at them long and hard and appreciate them, because they grow up overnight.

On that note, my daughter turns 16 tomorrow.  We've got a big dinner at Disney planned for her next weekend, and the weekend after that she and I will be doing the spa.  (We had to plan the spa weekend around her test schedule!)  I just wrote a $995 check for an SAT test prep course that starts in August, and she is whittling down a list of colleges she is aiming for.  Gah!

So last Saturday, my husband and I went down to Key Biscayne for a JP Morgan conference that is held every year for their clients.  It was held at the Ritz.  Yeah.  No way I was going to be left behind on this one.  But you see, while the Ritz prides themselves in serving their customers like royalty, they also charge $20 a day for Internet, which I cannot abide.  Thus, I just put my computer away while I was there.  We had A BALL.  We golfed...I experienced having my first caddy - a wiry little dude from Boston.  I ate some amazing food and drank a bunch of rum, thanks to our bartender friend Anthony.  I spent excessive amounts of time at the spa and the pool.  We went on a couple of long walks and explored the island, and observed wealth that is hard to comprehend.  Tony Blair talked to our JP Morgan group about the state of the world...that fellow is looking good these days.  (And he ended up in the gym with me the next day, but I left him alone lest his guards rough me up.) Here are some pictures:

The ball-eating tree.  One of them belongs to hubby.

Sunset off our balcony.

Where the rich and famous hide.

Trying to steal my lunch at the poolside.

Anthony our rum man, and enabler.

 I had to actually go back and see what I was reading two weeks ago.  So here is my update.  I finished Fight Club in print, and loved it.  In this case, however, I might even say that the movie is better.  I almost never say that, but I probably would have loved it more had I read it first.  I'm anxious to read more by Palahniuk.  I'm literally pages away from finishing The Tilted World by Tom Franklin (Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter) and his wife Beth Ann Fennelly.  Great historical-based novel that nicely balances his tendency towards violence and her fierce maternal instincts, and has heart times two.  I'm diving into This House is Haunted by John Boyne next for book club.

On audio, I finished both The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves, the first two books in The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater.  I really liked both of them...loved the characters, their chemistry and the overall premise.  Will Patton, the narrator, does an excellent job.  I also listened to The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.  For the first half of the book, I listened to it on Overdrive from the library, and was narrated by David Warner, and I loved his gothic British accent.  Then it stopped working, so I found it on the new Hoopla system from the library, and that one was narrated by Bernadette Dunne, who was fine but I preferred Warner.  Great classic scary story where you don't really know what is going on, kind of like A Little Stranger.  For fun I watched The Haunting, a 1999 movie based on the novel, starring Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta Jones and Owen Wilson.  Goofy ass movie, kind of a shame.  I'm now closing in on the end of the latest Reacher novel, Never Go Back.

Whew.  Are you still with me?

We went to the annual Gala fundraiser for the school Friday night, and last night we went to the annual Crawfish Boil at a friend's house...a Catholic community's big hurrah before Lent.  Spicy food, crawfish from Louisiana, King Cake, Hurricanes.  Yeah baby.

Today my mind is on the Oscars.  I have officially seen all 10 of the nominated movies.  I have my opinions.   Not sure if I'll be able to stay up the entire time, but I will try.

I won't torture you any further.  Hope everyone has a great Sunday!  

Sunday Salon: Time to visit Florida

 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!  

Sunday Salon: Slo Mo Sandy

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!
   

Sunday Salon: Water-logged

 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!