Catching Up

Life has fallen into a kind of rhythm these days. Between reading, working two jobs, couponing (and shopping), TV watching, computer game playing, and hanging out with friends, I feel like I need twice the amount of time in the day. (Notice I didn't say anything about keeping the house clean in there...it's kind of a wreck around here.) I've gone out after work on Friday for the last two weeks...something I haven't done in a long time. But I'm finding that by sticking to my grocery budget, using coupons wherever I can, and moving around some funds, I have the money to do the things I didn't think I could afford before. I got together with two of my good friends and one old friend whom I haven't seen in almost two years to have drinks and dinner at a local Chili's restaurant. (I LOVE Chili's...two for one margaritas, how can you beat that?)

Tonight, we went to the in-laws for dinner to celebrate Father's Day. My brother-in-law grilled us burgers and Ricky and I brought dessert. It was a nice chance to get together with the family. And we came away with some home-grown basil and mangoes from the tree in their backyard.

As far as work goes, it's been slow for a while, but I have a trial set for the week of July 4th. I'm kind of excited about this one, so we shall see how it goes.

Oh! I went back on Weight Watchers at the end of April, and so far I've lost 15 pounds. I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol/triglycerides, which is largely related to my terrible diet, pre-WW. I'm on two different meds right now, and it is absolutely ridiculous that someone my age should have to be on so much medicine, so I'm trying to lose the weight to get off the meds. I want to get healthy AND look good, and I'm doing well so far. The challenge will be staying on the program. I lost somewhere between 50 and 75 pounds a few years ago by doing Weight Watchers, but then I quit following the program and gained it all back (plus some!). Hopefully, this time it will be a true lifestyle change and I will keep it alllll off. I joined the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge to try to help me get in my exercise. We'll see how well I do...

I'm currently reading The Beekeeper's Apprentice. And I LOVE it. I've heard nothing but good things about this series by Laurie R. King, and those comments are proving true. I have the rest of the series on my shelf, too, so now the question is whether to pace myself or to rush through the rest of the series ASAP. I think I'll try to pace myself. Now, with the Outlander series that I'm re-reading, I'm in the midst of two series that I really love. Sigh. Book heaven!

What are you reading these days? What series do you absolutely love?

Sunday Salon: Pre-Christmas Excitement!

It's been awhile since I posted anything other than a review, so I thought a little updating was in order. We're learning to live with Ricky's MS, so our lives have settled down a little since the beginning of the year and his diagnosis. I'm working two jobs (my regular job as a PD, and my second job teaching Business Law at a local college), so it leaves me little time for reading, especially when I use the weekends to catch up on all the non-work-related stuff that needs to get done. But the semester is winding down at school, and we've almost reached the holiday lull in the court system, so I'll soon have plenty of reading time. I've pretty much given up on cleaning, in order to have some free time, and guess what...the world hasn't ended yet. I've been baking cookies for the Christmas cookie exchange at work, doing my Christmas shopping (I'm actually ALL DONE...this is probably the earliest I've ever finished shopping), watching football, and making plans for our long road trip to Ohio to see my family for Christmas. I need to get our tree up tonight and then...Christmas can come whenever it wants!

I'm incredibly excited about our trip up North. We decided to drive this year, because I thought it would be less stressful. I didn't want to deal with trying to make a connection while hauling Ricky and all our crap through a busy airport. Add in all the new security measures, and the fact that flying stresses me out in general, and I'd rather drive, so we can take our time and go at our own pace. This will be the first year that Ricky has ever come home with me for Christmas. That's right, despite being together for four and a half years, he's never come to the old homestead for Christmas. Usually he would have to work, but since he's receiving disability now, it frees him up for holiday traveling.

In reading news, I had a very productive couple of weeks. I read two books within about a week of each other, which I haven't done in a VERY long time, and I'm now re-reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. I bought the newest book in the series with a gift card last Christmas and I want to read it soon, but I definitely needed a refresher on the events in the series, so I decided to read them all over again before tackling An Echo in the Bone. I first read the series during my last year of law school/studying for the Bar/my first year of practice. So it's been a good four years or so (at least). I love these books, so I'm flying through the first one. Hopefully, I'll be keeping up this pace, especially with the amount of free time I'll have for reading, once we get to my parents' house.

And, okay, I caved. I asked for a Kindle for Christmas. I was going back and forth on whether I wanted to ask my parents for one. I wasn't sure I was ready to leave actual REAL books behind yet. I have so much on my TBR shelves that it seemed almost unfair to ask for an e-reader on which I can't read any of those books. And I hadn't done any research as to whether I'd prefer a Kindle or a Nook or a Sony. But when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, it just kind of popped out. And then I found myself really excited about the prospect of getting one. And if I DO get one, I'm sure I'll find a way to balance the books I currently own with the books I may purchase for the Kindle.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, with lots of reading time and many, many books under the tree!

Sigh

Friday night, and I'm catching up on my Google Reader.

It's been an unproductive reading week here. I'm in the middle of Angela Carter's Shaking a Leg, which is a collection of her literary criticism and other articles she wrote, mostly for New Society. It covers a variety of topics and I'm finding that I quite enjoy her acidic writing style and thought-provoking pieces. She was a feminist of the 1970's variety, if anyone knows what I mean by that. I think they call it First-Wave Feminism? I'm not up on the lingo. I love her scathing review of Linda Lovelace's autobiography. (Linda Lovelace was, I believe, the "actress" who starred in Deep Throat...I had to ask my husband about that one!)

Anyway, this isn't meant to be an in-depth review of the work (I'm only about one sixth of the way through the monstrous thing). BUT what I'm trying to say is...I haven't gotten much accomplished on it this week. I was in jury selection Monday, which tired me out too much to read anything quite as heavy and intellectual as Carter's essays. And I was in trial Wednesday (well, supposed to be...), so I spent most of Tuesday night putting the final touches on my case. When the thing pled out on Wednesday, I was then too exhausted from the stress to pick up the book. All I could manage was Glee. Last night was a night full of TV with the hubby, so that leaves me...nowhere, really. I seem to get through more of the book when I read it during commercials of my beloved football games.

I wish I were one of those people who can read multiple things at once, but I'm not. I'd get a novel going on the side and forsake the non-fiction for that. Especially if it's a good novel. It's not that the essay collection is boring or anything, it's just that I need all my faculties about me to take it all in...and that's hard to come by on a weeknight.

This weekend I'm looking forward to seeing some friends for the Georgia game tomorrow, and hanging with the hubster on Sunday. He's FINALLY done with his week and a half of working nights, so...that'll be nice. Keep your fingers crossed for him. He had two job interviews today and we're really hoping he gets one of them!

Another One?

Another mysterious and monstrous creature has been found, this time in Panama. Remember this post? Is it the same creature? Is it something different? What are these things? I'm still fascinated...

In other news, the 24-Hour Read-a-Thon is coming up!!! This year, it's the weekend of October 24 and 25! I can't wait. This is, hands-down, my favorite book bloggy event of the year (TWICE a year!). And I think my husband's young cousins will be joining us, so it may become a family affair. If the girls are up to it, I might feature guest posts by them during the course of the Read-a-Thon. They are 14, 12, and 11, so they'll provide quite a different viewpoint from mine. I'd love to get their takes on some YA fiction, graphic novels, or whatever else they're reading. I'm really looking forward to it!

Childhood Book Memories

For some reason, I've been thinking of these books a lot lately. But I couldn't remember the name of the main character or the author. All I could remember was that it was a girl who had to go live with rich relatives and there was a Native American friend, or something. So I had to call my mom to help out. Of course, she remembered, the girl's name was Mandie!

Lois Gladys Leppard's Mandie series was a favorite of mine and Nat's when we were little. My mom bought us the first one, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, at the grocery store one week, and every week after she would have to buy a new one to keep us quiet. Apparently, they were Christian fiction, which I don't remember as being central to the plot at all. I refreshed my memory of these books by going to Amazon (once I remembered the protagonist's name!) and looking them up. They were great adventure stories of the pioneer days. Mandie had an old Native American man named Uncle Ned watching over her, after her father died. I kind of want to see if my library has these, so I can read them over. They probably won't stand up to re-reading, so I might be in for a disappointment, but it would be nice to relive some of the wonder of my childhood reading experiences.

Edited to Add: How sad! Lois Gladys Leppard passed away in October. However, it appears that she left behind at least 40 Mandie books. I know I've only read about ten of them. Maybe I really SHOULD check for them at the library. Also, they are published by Christian publishing company Bethany House, one of Bookfool's favorite publishers.

Someone Around Here Is Spoiled

So, here it is, the bookish goodies post. What did I get from my loved ones this Christmas? Lots of books! My loving Fiance' got me the new Rachael Ray cookbook, Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book. Not entirely altruistic, as he enjoys eating the things I cook out of my two shelves' worth of cookbooks!

My mother's birthday is on December 12, and I'd bought her a copy of Brunonia Barry's The Lace Reader. Turns out, she'd already brought a copy home from the library and read it. Since when did my mom start going to the library again? I guess she is, though, because she had a stack of books from the Molly Murphy series by Rhys Bowen, stacked up almost to the ceiling! Since she'd already read the book I got her, I decided to just keep it and get her something to replace it. She had not, however, read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (ha HA!), which was the other half of her birthday present. She HAD read the entire Maisie Dobbs series, of which I got her the first book for Christmas (I really should have known), but she was very excited to own a copy of it for her very own, since she loves the series so much. I offered to pre-order the newest book for her for when it comes out in February. She also was interested to read The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold, author of one of her very favorite books, which she won't stop talking about, The Lovely Bones.

Ahem, this post is supposed to be about ME! Between them, my aunt and uncle and two of my sisters got me $70 worth of Barnes and Noble gift cards. Which have all been spent...Ricky and I went to the bookstore yesterday, and I polished off the balance online. Sigh. At the store, I picked up a mystery by Mark Mills called Amagansett. I don't remember where I heard about this book (doubtless on someone's blog...perhaps Jenclair's? I should really start keeping track of where I get my recommendations from.) and it sounded good. Still does. I also picked up the first novel in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mystery series by Laurie R. King, The Beekeeper's Apprentice. I'm completely excited to start in on this series, which sounds awesome. Online, I ordered the second and third books in Pearl Buck's The Good Earth trilogy. The first book was easy to find...it's a classic and there are copies of it everywhere. But the second and third books? No one carries them, except online! So I've been waiting to get a gift card so I could purchase them. The final item I bought online was Joanna Kavenna's Inglorious, another book blog find. I cannot wait for my choices to arrive in the mail.

In the meantime, I'll have to content myself with browsing the books Santa brought me: The Best American Short Stories, Mystery Stories, and Non-Required Reading of 2008. I love these books and have been collecting them for about ten years now. Originally, I only collected the Short Story and Mystery Story ones, but I added the Non-Required Reading ones a few years ago, while I was in law school. Best gift of the year, every Christmas. Oh! I also picked up a copy of Julian Barnes' Arthur & George, at the B&N after Christmas sale (where I got my half-off Book-a-Day calendar, too!), where it was on remainder. WHEE! Last, but certainly not least in the bookish goodies category, is the subscription that my future-mother-in-law got me to Bookmarks magazine! I'm SO lucky to get along with my (future) in-laws. My sister and her mother-in-law do NOT see eye to eye, and it sucks. Luckily, my future mom-in-law is awesome and loves me enough to get me something I've really wanted for a good six months now!

So that was my literary Christmas. I got a ton of other great stuff, too, but how boring would it be to listen to me list my abundance? My family loves Christmas and we go all out for each other. I'm really, really blessed to have so many people who love me and know exactly what to do to make my season bright!

Christmas Update

Well, I left for parts north on Saturday, Dec. 20th. The flight up was fairly uneventful. Well, once I was on a flight that was actually going to make it. Apparently, there was some delay with the flight to Atlanta, so they booked me through Baltimore instead. Otherwise, I would have been stuck in the ATL overnight. Which wouldn't have been a problem, there are people I could have dropped in on whom I haven't seen in a while, but then again, unexpected guests are not always the most welcome. Luckily, I had a pretty enterprising ticket agent working for me, so she found another flight which would get me into Ohio on time. Or at least the same day.

It was bitterly cold when I first arrived, and I am simply not built for cold and snow anymore. There's a REASON I moved to Florida, y'all, and it was pretty much so I wouldn't have to battle single-digit temps anymore. I HATE the cold, I'm not REALLY a fan of snow (even on Christmas), and I can DEFINITELY do without scraping ice off my car for several months of the year. But the week warmed up, and my parents' house is always 800 degrees, so I was pretty comfortable.

During the flight up there, I was finishing up the November/December issue of Bookmarks magazine and perusing a holiday-themed issue of Rachael Ray's magazine. Then I started in on The Eight. And I'm still reading it. It's long, like 600 pages. To be fair, this vacation was not the string of uninterrupted reading time I anticipated. I always forget how busy a trip home is. There's Christmas with my cousins, Christmas with the immediate family, dinners with my best friend, evenings watching movies with the fam, a football game, shopping with my sisters, dinners out with my parents and sisters, computer games, etc. Mostly, I read in the mornings over breakfast, before the day got going. And occasionally when I had some down time during the day. On the flight back, I was sick with a terrible cold, so I read a bit in the airport, but slept on the plane. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to finish the book soon, but I do have those 300 Google Reader entries to catch up on...

Sigh. There's always something else going on.

P.S. Hurrah for the Georgia Bulldogs, winners of the Capital One Bowl!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Yes, I actually finished a book while I was on break. My mom, knowing our love of Harry Potter, got myself and all my sisters this book to share. It was the last thing opened on Christmas Day. I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I mean, after all the Harry Hype, how could a little book of stories, only tangentially related, measure up? I picked the book up late on the day after Christmas, while my sister and her husband were whipping my parents at Phase 10 (or were they? I don't play). And I'd read it by the time the game was over. There are only five stories, fairy tales, but they are each very good. My favorite was "The Hairy Heart." It was more like a Grimm's fairy tale than anything else. The commentary by Albus Dumbledore gave more depth to the stories (as well as an HP tie-in for purists). I'd like to see Rowling tackle something non-Potter-related now. She's a talented storyteller, there's no doubt, but will people read something that doesn't have to do with the boy wizard? I would.

Four out of five Whatevers.

Blog Silent

I'm flying up North tomorrow to see my family for Christmas, and I won't return until Dec. 30th. As my parents have dial-up (I KNOW!), I probably won't be checking in much till I get back. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, and I'll be back to blog-hopping and posting soon.

Review: Little Altars Everywhere by Rebecca Wells (and Thanksgiving)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a character-driven novel about the Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana. Big Shep and Viviane (Vivi) Walker have four children: Siddalee (the "main character"), Little Shep, Lulu, and Baylor. The family is rounded out by Chaney, the African-American farmhand who helps Big Shep run the farm, and his wife, Willetta, who is also Vivi's maid. Vivi also has a group of crazy girlfriends that some may recognize from another book: the Ya-yas. The story alternates between the 1960's and 1991, as well as between all the characters' points of view. Some might find the alternating viewpoints or time periods confusing, but I thought Ms. Wells did a good job giving each character an individual voice. By far, my favorite character was Sidda, who was very intelligent and a complete bookworm. (Wonder why I liked her!) I love the part of the book where she runs away and is found hiding in the town's bookmobile!

At first glance (especially if you're looking at the pink cover, featuring a little girl jumping rope), the book seems to be a light Southern read: cute vignettes about an Old South family growing up in the 1960's. But the Walker family hides several dark secrets. Vivi and Big Shep both drink far too much, and that leads them down other unsavory paths. There's really not much of a plot to the book; it's mostly just the story of a family told from multiple viewpoints. I'm interested in reading the other two books in the series to see if anything else about the Walkers is revealed.

I really did enjoy the book. Even though it's not plot-driven, I liked most of the Walkers. And I HATED Vivi, which I think I was supposed to. I'd give the book four out of five whatevers. It's a good read for people who like Southern novels and/or character-driven works.

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We went to the fiance's aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but I ended up enjoying myself. Thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday, but since law school, I haven't been able to go home and share it with MY family. Thus, I inevitably end up depressed on Thanksgiving, remembering the years when we would all gather at my Grandma's house and eat till we burst. I know it's not the same anymore: Grandma is in a nursing home now, so dinner is at my parents' house; one of my sisters is now married, so she doesn't come anymore; not all of the cousins show up, depending on what their significant others are doing; there's no more touch football in the yard; etc. But I miss it anyway.

Ricky's family did it up right, though. This is the first year we've celebrated with his extended family. The last couple of years, it was just me and him and his parents. So it was nice to get back to a big family Thanksgiving. We had spicy turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, con gris (black beans and rice), grilled asparagus, frijoles refritos con tocino (refried beans with bacon), homemade cranberry sauce, corn, MOJITOS!...and I made a Cheesy Broccoli Bake to share. Everything was delicious. And his cousin Miguel and his wife Elizabeth had an announcement to make: they're pregnant again! So it was a nice night all around, even if I was missing my family. I'll get to see them soon enough...Christmas is coming!

We've got the tree up, now we just need to get the lights on. But we're both suffering from a terrible chest cold, so that might have to wait for Sunday.

We're BAAAACK!

After delays in Atlanta, the Fiance' and I arrived back in our area LATE last night. I called off of work today, since I was only going to get a few hours of sleep, so now I'm using the rest of the day to get organized and ready to go back to work full-steam tomorrow. I have a review to post, of a book I finished over my vacation, in between all the wedding prep and visiting friends and family. I'll be back to post that soon. The wedding was really nice, and it was good to see everyone. There were people there that I haven't seen in years! I enjoyed my time at home, but, as always, I wish that it lasted longer.

Tripping

Tomorrow, the fiance' and I leave beautiful sunny South Florida (HA! Hurricane Central, is more like it!) for the not-so-tropical North. My sister is getting married this Saturday and I'm in the wedding...so I'll be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, hoping I didn't forget anything, hurrying Ricky along, trying to make it to the airport on time. I'm glad Hanna has taken a turn away from us, so our plane can make it out. Now if only Ike will hold off till we're safely back Monday night!

Departures

Well, my sisters left for parts north yesterday. I was sad to see them go. We had a great week of beaching it, eating at various restaurants, watching the Olympics, shopping at the bookstore (at The Fiance's suggestion, even!). We didn't really do anything too terribly exciting, but when I'm with my sisters, I don't really want to do anything but hang out. And we definitely accomplished that.

Speaking of the Olympics, I battled supreme fatigue last night to stay up and watch Michael Phelps win his record eighth gold medal at the Games in Beijing. Ricky and I were up off the couch, cheering Lezak on in the last leg of the relay, like a couple of huge dorks. But it was cool to see history being made.

Now that the house is quiet again, maybe I'll get a little more reading done. I need to finish: this month's Glamour, which was started at the beach and is a little waterlogged at the moment; a book belonging to a co-worker, who wants it back, while several other co-workers want to borrow it; my Bookmarks magazine, long abandoned in favor of a library book; and poor Jane Eyre, still stuck with the Riverses, which I put down to read the copy of Bookmarks, and haven't picked back up again. Sigh. I WILL finish all my books!

Vacation

I've been spending a lot of time at the beach with my sisters, and I have the lobster-shoulders to prove it. We're taking a break from swimming today in favor of indoor activities, which, hopefully, will not burn us. I've taken them to eat at one of my favorite places, and we've eaten at home a bit, too, since we're all poor. We've been watching the Olympics obsessively, when they're on, although I've been falling asleep much too early. In between all that, we've been having all the fun a flock of us generally have when we're in the same place. Ricky seems to fit right in...it's been a great week so far.

Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow. I think we're going to have brunch at our favorite diner today, and probably do dinner with a couple of my co-workers. Ricky's brother is supposed to come into town today, also, so maybe we'll have dinner with him tomorrow night. All this eating out is kind of hard on the wallet (and the waistline -- Weight Watchers is out the window this week), but it sure is fun.

More book news when I get a chance to get back to reading. It's been mostly magazines and the beach this week.

Arrivals

My sisters are here!!! Two of my sisters have come down from Ohio and Kentucky to visit me for the week. They got here yesterday afternoon, and I picked them up at the airport. Ran into some friends at a local bar, went grocery shopping, and now I'm waiting on them to wake up so we can hit the beach. We don't really have any major plans for this week, except getting as much beach/pool time as possible, but that's the way I like it. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to do a lot of reading while we're lying on the beach...

Things I Can't Wait For

This.

My sisters coming to visit in a month.

Going to Ohio for Nat's wedding in September.