What I have been reading

I’ve been working my way through the pile from the library steadily.

The first book I finished was

Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions

I’ve followed the blog since early on so most of it was not new to me. I find it very funny. However it did confirm that, as I have long suspected, I am not the right kind of white people. The right kind of white people are liberal urban dwellers who shop at IKEA and Whole Foods and love the outdoors.  I am a moderate rural dweller who shops at Wal Mart and is outdoorsy in that I like getting drunk on patios. But I know the right kind of white people, so I find the book very funny.

Then I read

Secrets of the Tudor Court: Between Two Queens

Which is a fictional account of the life of Anne Basset, who was a real person and a maid of honor to Henry VIII’s 3rd through 6th wives and may have had a brief affair with him. Surviving documents show he had some degree of fondness for her. It’s a pretty good story. I enjoyed it for the most part. But Anne is a professional courtier and as such makes decisions that are not always the kindest. There are times when it is hard to feel much sympathy for her though overall I found her an interesting character.

I did prefer the first book in the series more.  I read it a few months ago

Secrets of the Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace

It is the fictional story of Jane Popyncourt, also a real person, who joined the household of Henry VII as a child and became close friends with Princess Mary, Henry VIII’s sister.

And since I am on a Tudor theme I might as well mention

The Queen's Mistake: In the Court of Henry VIII

Which is a fiction account of the life of Katherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, who was beheaded for having an affair with Thomas Culpepper while married to Henry. It’s a ok story. She gives Kat more intelligence than many authors do but there is depth lacking in her characterization and in the other characters of the book. They all seem rather flat.  A secondary character. Mary Lassells add some much needed emotion and motivation to the story & maybe had she been the main character the story would have been more compelling.

The most recent new book I have finished is

Murder on the Mauretania: A Mystery Featuring George Porter Dillman and Genevieve Masefield (A Shipboard Mystery Featuring George Porter Dillman & Genevieve Masefield)

It is a very enjoyable read about a couple of Cunard ship’s detectives who are on the maiden voyage of the  Mauretania and have to deal with a series of thefts, one of which leads to murder. This is the second in a series. The first was checked out when I discovered them & I am still waiting on it. I hate reading series’ out of order. But it was no real detriment to following this one. There is enough background info given to determine the two met in the previous book when she was passenger & by the end of it they had formed a romantic attachment & she had done so well helping him that Cunard offered her a job. There are 6 or so more in the series. I picked up books 3, 5, 7  and 8 today.

I am rereading an historical mystery series by Roberta Gellis that feature Magdalene la Batarde, a whoremistress in Southwark at the time of King Stephen. She runs a high class whorehouse or ‘house of ease’ which makes people I say that phrase to assume she owns a public bathroom.

Chains of Folly (Five Star Mystery Series)

I enjoy this series enormously & reread it a couple times a year. I first heard all 4 books on audio about 4 years ago, mostly listening in the car. Which meant the boys listened as well. Most of it was just “WHHAA WHHHA WHHHHAA” to them but some words did get through I had the pleasure of explaining to my 2 and 3 year old what a whore was, as well as what a knight, a bishop, a priory and a guild were. Fortunately all words seemed to be equally interesting and I’ve heard nothing about any of them since. The books are well written, with lots of period details, good plots and well drawn characters. It’s a pity there are only 4 of them. I’d love to know if Magdalene ever finds a blind girl to replace the one she los to marriage t & how things develop with her lover Bell. I highly recommend them if you can find them.

I’ll be working my way through the rest of the Shipboard mysteries in the coming weeks as well as trying out

Killer Cocktail (Molly Forrester Novels)

Which is supposed to be a humorous murder mystery that is something of a cross between Sex & the City and Stephanie Plum. I enjoy both of those, off and on, so I’m hoping to at least like the book enough to finish it. It too is the second in a series and the library does not have the first. This gives me some reservations but it worked out ok with Murder on the Mauretania, so I am taking the chance with this one.

What have you read lately?

Weekly Winners

 

A few for this week.

Dying daisies

Lunch

Deep in concentration

He did quite well at the pinewood derby

Ashes

For more Weekly Winners please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom. Thanks for stopping by!

Chillin’

A month or so ago I cleaned out my freezer.

Yesterday I cleaned my refrigerator. This is a different thing than just cleaning it out. Cleaning it out mostly involves taking most of the food off of the shelves, sorting it and putting the good stuff back. Maybe wiping up some visible spills. But not getting behind or under things or dealing with the bottles on the door.

Cleaning it involves taking all the food out, all the bins out, plus disassembling the shelves and scrubbing them & the inside of the fridge all clean.

This happens as rarely as the freezer cleaning for much the same reasons – it’s cold, my hands cramp up from the scrubbing and the solid yet still gel like substances that accumulate in dark forgotten corners are a PITA to get clean. Plus the heavy tempered glass shelves are too big to fit in the kitchen sink and have to be washed in the bathtub. Which means I then I have to wash the bathtub. And mop. I never manage to clean the fridge without getting dirty water on the floor, or wrecking the kitchen in general

So it’s a bit of an undertaking really.

But someone didn’t put the lid back securely on a juice bottle and then someone grabbed it off the shelf with wild abandon, resulting in juice splattering and then someone did not wipe the mess up. (could be the same someone, could be a conspiracy, it’s hard to say as I was not around at the time)

The other night I saw this on the door

There was more on the inside shelves and it had solidified in the chill so it could not be wiped up easily any longer.

You see how given the layout & lighting seeing what is under the cheese drawer is almost impossible? Or behind the jelly? or the back half of the bottom shelf? (this is not an actual before photo, it is from last month)

I cleared the top shelves & removed them & the cheese drawer & found this

I emptied the door shelves, removed them and found this

What is it? How did it get there? How long has it been there?

I left the shelves to soak in the bathtub and scrubbed the whole fridge. Then I sorted the food.

This is all the non-expired still edible food in the fridge, minus a 6 pack of hard cider that didn’t fit on the counter, the bottles that go on the door shelves and the contents of the fruit & veggie bins.

Rather a lot of dairy products, especially if you include the crescent rolls & eggs which are both often found in the dairy aisle of the supermarket. Dairy, alcohol, bread and soup. My 4 food groups.

I cleaned out the bottled condiments for the first time in forever as well. These are all that were expired, surprisingly enough.  We only like Newman’s Own Parmesan & Garlic salad dressing but keep others on hand for company. I have no idea why we have pickle relish.

The prominently placed small bottle of Ranch is the oldest. I suppose it got hidden behind other bottles & forgotten & probably I failed to check dates last time I cleaned the bins. (which was this summer when the Newman’s Own fell over with a loose lid and made an all natural oily mess)

So, how long have I been ignoring this small bottle of dressing?

Not quite as long as I overlooked the tater tots. The rest of the stuff expired in the past 2 months so I suppose I don’t completely suck at keeping the food rotated.

The shelves were washed, dried, replaced and the food put back neatly. (twice because I can never remember which holes the shelves were in & can’t tell until the food is there if I left enough space)

Look at my lovely clean fridge

I’ll be offering classes on “The Effects of Cold on Sticky Liquids & Why You Should Clean them Immediately” to various members of the household in the coming days.

They will be followed by brief lectures on “The Importance of Checking Dates Before Eating Anything Because Mom is Lazy” and “Lids – How to Tighten Them” which is a fun filled hands on seminar.

The first person who spills anything in that fridge will reach for a sponge if he values his life.

It’s delurker day too! So now would be a great chance for you to delurk and tell me what the oldest thing in your fridge is or what the biggest mess you have ever cleaned out of you fridge was.

I look forward to hearing about it!

Cold and itchy

It is 37 degrees today which is a veritable heat wave given the past 3 weeks. It’s warm enough the heat pump actually stopped running a few hours ago for the first time in days.

At least, I assume that is why the heat pump stopped running and not some darker, more expensive reason.

The problem with a heat pump is it blows cool air. When you are already cold, having a cool draft blow around your head does not bring you joy. Instead it makes you think longingly of radiators while you go in search of another layer to put on.

All the sliding glass doors and French doors don’t help either. Double paned maybe but still a chill comes off those 36 square foot areas of glass. Not to mention the little gaps from the ‘settling’ of the French doors that I am constantly finding & plugging. Or from them sticking & therefore not being shut all the way by the people using them.

I spend most of my days in an undershirt, a long sleeved shirt,a sweater, warm socks, and slippers. Sometimes wearing fingerless gloves, sometimes with a fuzzy shawl on top of the whole ensemble.

And that is just to surf the internet.

If I want to take out the garbage or meet the boys bus I add a scarf, a hat, a heavy coat, sheepskin boots and mittens to the look and shuffle my way outside.

The only time the house feels actually warm is when I come in from meeting the boys bus. It has apparently been slowed by the cold & has run 7-12 minutes late nearly every day. Meaning I have to stand out in wind chill, with nary a patch of sunlight to be found at this time of year, for upwards of 15 minutes at a time.

The dry heat pump air and the dry wind chill air have combined to make my skin feel like sandpaper. Do you know what it is like to have an itch under 5 layers of clothing? I thought I was going to die Friday from the non stop skin itching.

Turns out I am allergic to Burt Bees Peppermint soap products, so that at least resolved some of the problem.

I bathe with Aveeno moisturizing body wash. I use Cetophil over my whole body. I drink water by the gallon. I am seriously contemplating taking a bath in baby oil.

It itches! Dear god it itches! And where it doesn’t itch it hurts from cracking.

It’s not even mid-winter yet! Spring is two and half months away!

If the electric bill doesn’t bankrupt us the body lotion will.

Weekly Winners

 

I just have a few from my 365 batch today

Fingerless gloves I’m making

Aren’t you a little short to be a droid

Stay away from my DS game

My 2009 365 book came in the mail

Havoc in his balaclava

For more Weekly Winners please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom.  Thanks for stopping by

Scrapbook Saturday

Journal Your Christmas final pages

I finished the 7th! Go me! I was running 3-4 days behind most of the month & sort of assumed it would be 15th or so before I started working on the cover. Which is fine and I actually did not mind that. But Monday I decided I wanted to get it wrapped up before Saturday. I start back to work next week & the kids have half days & 4 day weekend as well next week. So this is the last time I have all day to scrap. I managed 2-3 layouts a day & completed the front & back covers along with the last prompt on the 7th.

I think it may be a couple weeks or so before I feel like scrapping again. 

I always enjoy making the pages but am also so relieved when it is over. Don’t have to do *that* again for another year!

Here are some of my last pages.

The back & front cover.

 

I have all the pages uploaded to VioVio & Inkubook. I just need to decide which I want to use. I’ve printed books with both of them in the past & the prices & quality are similar. Viovio is shinier paper. I suppose I’ll go with the first one with a decent coupon .

No limits

I read a great deal. I read 98 new books last year. 85% of them came from the library.

I’m in my local library about once a week or so. Sometimes I slowly browse the new titles, sometimes I head for specific subjects. Sometimes I just head to the circulation desk to pick up some books I put on hold through their website

Sometimes I use their wicked fast internet connection to upload a couple months worth of photos to Smug Mug.

Yesterday I ran in looking for Photoshop CS3 for Dummies. I was just going to get the one book & then head out. But in the same aisle my eye was caught by “Stuff White People Like” which I had been meaning to see if the library had for some time now. And then I saw “A Treasure of Deceptions” by an author whose other books I had read & enjoyed. Oh and there is “The Illustrated History of Human Migrations” I bet Havoc would like that.

I ran in to get one book and am now holding 4.

The most direct path to the circulation desk was through fiction aisle A-Be where I noticed another book by an author I had read recently. It seems it was the start of a series. Speaking of series, what is this collection of books all titled “Murder on the <insert ship name>”?  Oh and these a shelf a over which look like Sex in the City meet Stephanie Plum? One book from each is added to my pile

I arrive at the circulation desk with 7 books, having only intended to get one.

I do this all the time.

Back in my double income no kids days I did it in bookstores.

Odds are I will only enjoy about half the books I have picked out. I finished 98 new books last year, but I started almost twice that many. I’d get 100 or so pages into a book, decide I didn’t like it enough to waste my valuable reading time on it any longer, flipped to the last 10 pages, read how it turned out and toss it aside. In my bookstore days I would probably have enjoyed two thirds of them. The big difference is I am out nothing by it at the library, whereas I spent from $5-30 on that book I didn’t like at a bookstore.

I was and still am much pickier in bookstores since I can’t just take the book back & get  a refund if I don’t like it. That narrows my choices. I stick with authors I know & love & genres I am most familiar with. When I get my books from bookstores, new or used, I am limited by finances & fear of wasting those dollars on something I won’t like. I didn’t branch out much then & do so even less now.

But libraries! Libraries are wonderful! Look at all those books! And they are FREE! If you don’t like them, so what? Take them back. Get more. Try again. You are only out some time. I have been a regular visitor to my library since Mayhem was born and I have read or at least sampled hundreds of books I would never have picked up in a bookstore. Some of my favorite series, such as Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher or Carola Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple mysteries would have been passed over because they are not in my preferred time period or setting. I certainly never would have read all the Discworld novels this past fall if I had had to pay for them (I didn’t like a third of them & disliking just one would have kept me from buying the rest). But I could take the chance on these hardcover books in the library. I feel so free in there.

When I arrived at the desk to check out I was told I had 25 books out currently & did I want to change their renewal date to match these? I said sure and tried to imagine what 25 books I had out & where they might be.  I suffer from book blindness. What others see as a huge stack of books is just some books to me, maybe about 5 or 6. Had you asked me on the day the photo above was taken how many books were on my nightstand I would have said “A few. Maybe 6 or so.”. I just don’t see them, they are too much a part of the landscape & decor of my home.

My personal best total at the library was this summer when, while checking out another half dozen or so books & movies with the boys I was informed I currently had 47 books already checked out.

Fortunately the library has no limits on the number of books you can have out at any one time.

Dog Tale

I’ve mentioned before that our dog is a bit of an escape artist. Her name is Athena but she is known to us as Houndini because nothing can hold her. There has not been a kennel built that can hold her. I think she might be the reincarnation of a WWII airman from Stalag 3 because she will tunnel out of anything, or climb over it (even an 8 foot tall fence) or collapse her rib cage into a flat package & squeeze through a 4 inch wide gap.

I’m not merely imagining this either. Her kennel is clearly visible from my desk and over the summer I watched her numerous escape attempts, marveling at the ingenuity she showed in moving pavers so heavy I can’t lift them easily, at the agility she showed in wedging herself between the door & the frame of the kennel and at the speed with which she can, in 3 movements climb the kennel wall. It is astounding & I wish I had been able to find out Flip video to get it recorded.

I tried keeping her in the house but she is too big to run loose in the house alone, especially with 3 cats also in the house. While she does come in after supper and lays around the living room & sleeps in her crate overnight just fine, she freaks out if we leave the house while she is in the crate and has damaged it trying to escape. She is an outdoor dog. She is a hound & she is unhappy if kept in the house away from all the wonderful scents for too long.She’d fling herself against the door constantly to go out. She does stay on her lead if people are outside with her but I can’t spend all day out there watching her. Otherwise she pulls out of the harness or collar. She’s worked out how to use her back paws to push it off. Either that or she has opposable thumbs and can reach in the middle of her back to unhook it.

We got her from the shelter & I suspect the reason her former owners couldn’t keep her was that they literally could. not. keep. her.

We have tried every make & model of dog collar and harness out there except the really pointy choke ones. She gets out of all of them. We tried a training class but unless we are out with her all the time it’s not that effective. Invisible fencing doesn’t phase her. We have spent 6 months and hundreds of dollars trying to keep her in the yard.

We just can’t.

We live in the country. There isn’t much traffic. There are working farms on all 4 sides of us. Many dogs just roam around here. We see them in our yard from time to time. Athena has had all her shots, has a very gentle disposition & is submissive to everyone, including the cats. She doesn’t even bother the trash cans on garbage day. So we decided to just accept that this is what she does. It’s not like we really had a choice – accept her roaming or return her to the shelter were the only options left.  She always comes home & she has a routine. We put her on her lead or in her kennel in the morning & she gets out 10-15 minutes later (or while I am at the gym) & takes off. She comes back about an hour or so later & lays around the yard. I put her on her lead then. Sometimes she stays on her lead, sometimes she gets out of it but lays near it. We go for a walk around lunch together & about 3 she takes off again for an hour or so before coming back.  Since she spends most of the time in the yard I don’t worry about it too much anymore.

We’re not entirely sure where she goes but we suspect she has some play dates. We do know she visits a dog a couple houses up the road. We found her there a few times. The family has a son who takes TKD with the boys. Apparently since Athena began visiting this summer the family’s dog has lost some weight and is much more playful and energetic than she used to be. They like having Athena come up during the day when they are working & the kids are at school. It gives their dog exercise. Havoc has seen her from the bus and one of the kids on it mentioned that she comes & plays with his dog sometimes.

Then the other night she came home with a note stuck in her collar

“Hey there. What’s your dog’s name. she keeps coming over to my house to play with my dog which is no problem. I was just wondering what I should call her.” then in a  different ink and handwriting ‘over   --->”

On the other side it said this

She’d come home collarless a few weeks earlier & we’d replaced the collar but forgot to get a new tag with her name & our phone #. So not only did someone finally get curious about her but she then went somewhere else where the people saw the note & had also seen her often enough to wonder about her name.

I am so embarrassed by this. At least she isn’t being a problem for people. Believe me, if I could get her to stay I would.

5 days into my 365 project

And 2 of the photos feature clones, one with Legos & one with dinos. And one photo of food.

I can see a theme emerging already.

Man these guys are short

It’s ok buddy. Really. It’ll be ok

$130 of groceries lurk behind that juice & under those eggs & meat.

 

I have also managed to stick to my Lightroom importing & tagging resolution! 5 whole days now! Woohoo! But I am not going to pretend there are loads of veggies under that box of Premium Saltines. I’m still working on ‘veggies are more than a side dish’ That zucchini & the leeks are going to be part of a frittata tomorrow nights, so that’s something anyway.

Sleep 3 Insomnia 12

And those 3 had to be medicated.

Plus one of the insomnia nights was medicated. WTF? I pay $1.78 a pill and insomnia wins?

What is keeping me awake? Nothing in particular. Just a busy brain that won’t shut off until 4am or so. I free associate thoughts all night long. No particularly stressful thoughts, just an endless stream of consciousness.

Relax, relax and empty your mind, relax, drifting, nothing, calm mind, let it empty, like in that book Holy Cow, where she took the week long brain dump, I wonder if that would work, who would watch the kids if I went to it?, Brad would have to take the week off, and I’d have to fly probably. Hey! trying to sleep here, knock it off. Imagine relaxing, picture yourself in a soft bed, floating, drifting, what kind of sheets? white? what is sort of glaring, not really soothing, maybe warm cream colored sheets, flannel with a nice thick comforter, warm and relaxing and like hot chocolate, that was really good hot chocolate I made the other day with the Special Dark cocoa, i need to do a layout about it, I wonder what kit would go well with it? and what about that pot roast recipe, where did it come from? did I copy it or save it? AHEM! trying to sleep now! Drifting off, empty the mind, picture a warm dimly lit room, soft & comfortable. I wish I wasn’t allergic to wool. Wool looks so soft and comfortable but them I break out in hives if i touch it. pity my mom didn’t remember that. It’s a nice scarf but I can never wear it. I’d like to get some bamboo silk blend yarn & crochet a scarf, maybe a lime green or it could be a good knitting project. knitting, yeah, I don’t know, crochet just comes so much easier for me but if I practiced more then I suppose knitting would as well, what was that book I was looking at with the hats in it? Yo! Trying to sleep here!

and on and on and on all night long

Sometimes the anxious part of my brain tries to take over but the sensible conscious part of my brain, that wants to sleep but can’t, always seems to know when the anxious part is playing and smacks it down. Last night as a semi drifted off into a dream the anxious part decided to imagine “what if Havoc got hit by a truck while riding his bike?” but as soon as it happened in the dream the not yet asleep sensible conscious part of my brain flipped a switch and yelled KNOCK IT OFF at the anxious part before any emotions could kick in and panic me.

It’s not always that fast off the mark but it does fairly well at heading off panic attacks. I had a horrible night of anxiety last week. The dog kept whining & barking because she wanted out & then when she wanted back in she’d bang on the French doors. I’m in a semi drowse with anxiety hovering around looking for a way in and whining was it.

THERE MUST BE A HOMICIDAL AXE WIELDING MANIC IN THE LIVING ROOM

anxiety shouts. And before consciousness could get in “or the dog has to pee” the adrenaline kicked in and I spent the next hour laying there with this bi polar dialogue in my head while the sensible part tries to talk the anxious part down.

It’s just the dog

No it’s a maniac

Dog

Maniac, why else would I be panicking? I *know* it’s a maniac, that’s why I feel this way

It’s a dog and your imagination is causing you to feel this way

Oh my god there are two of them

The dog just wants in

What if he has a gun!!!!

Dog's can’t fire guns, they don’t have thumbs

The maniac!!!

You have a gun. Wake DH up & tell him what you think

No I can’t wake him up

*sigh* yes, much better to freak out alone

I’m doing yoga at night now and crocheting as a form of mindful meditation. I’m taking a Kava extract to relax me. I know I should just get up when I can’t sleep but I’m rarely actually awake. What I end up in is a sort of half awake doze, not quite asleep, but enough to be hopeful that if I just lay there I might sleep. But I never do and it is not at all restful.

My doctor suggested a sleep clinic if I can’t get the insomnia under control on my own. I’m not sure what my insurance thinks about it but as soon as my doc gets back from maternity leave I am going to ask her too look into it.

Weekly Winners - new year

 

The snow is starting to melt here

Macro by the tree

We had a bonfire for New Year’s Eve

The smoke turned green in the air

And we had fireworks. My tripod is a desktop model so I had to hold the camera for these

Space the final frontier

 

My first photo of Project 365 2010

For more Weekly Winners please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom. 

Thanks for stopping by