25 posts tagged “books”

Wow, three days since a post. It's not that I haven't been thinking about it. I've thought of many a post. Transferring from my brain to the keyboard is something else.

Let's see . . .

I've gone back to work. Thank heavens for the three-day workweek.

I did like National Treasure.

I threw away any make-up or face product that could've been a year older away.

Conversation with mom: (holding up handicapped parking hanger) "This thing has been a lifesaver!" So I guess I don't have to say 'I told you so!'? "No."

I got a Ninetendo for Christmas. With a Brain Game 2. My starting mental age is 80. I've been doing the training every day and really enjoy it.

I'm going to try out list-making.

I really enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale.

I've been updating my music collection. Love the Public Library: Spoon, Fall Out Boy, Robin Thicke, Rascal Flats, Carrie Underwood, Chris Rice, Amy Winehouse and a couple of Grammy compilations.

Based on a recommendation from Baylor Girl, I bought the starter set of Bare Minerals/Escentuals. So far, I love it.

My new TV Guide subscription started. It was free, but I realize now with the writer's strike that a different choice might've been the better option.

My friend Jill has back surgery tomorrow. If you gotta sec, would you mind sending up a prayer?

OK, I just wandered off and got lost reading about the Iowa Caucus's tonight. Anyone else think our Electoral process could use an overhaul?

I read this lovely story last week and it really inspired me to do something similar. It's about a family that gives a glass jar (think pickle sized) filled with money (mostly coins, some bills) accumulated over a year to someone they think might be in need.

I thought, Why can't I do that?

So I gathered up some baby food jars and am going to work to fill them with my change this year. I haven't decided if I will give them away as they are filled or if I'll wait till next Christmas to be a Santa of sorts.

It seems this time of year, I am always thinking what was my favorite . . . As of right now, I have read 70 books this year. Could be a few more.

My absolute favorite book of the year was:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Barbara Kingsolver

★★★★★

What else? I discovered and loved the Yada-Yada series. There were two Joshilyn Jackson books that I enjoyed. And two Christopher Moore reads that cracked me up. Khaled Hosseini'es two marvelous works. Plus the new Father Tim series started. There are many others that I could include. But looking at the "serious books," I'll have to finish out my year's list with:

The Faith Club

Eat, Pray, Love

1 comment

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers

Love Walked In

Water for Elephants

I've not been silent about my love affair with the library. But today, they made my heart expand even more. They've added downloads of eBooks, music and videos.

Skinny Bitch. I don't know whether I should laugh out loud or toss this book for its crass attitude.

"But being a fat pig will hinder you, sober or drunk."

"Soda is Satan."

"You need to exercise, you lazy shit."

"Go suck your mother's tits."

"So every time you put crap in your body, you are crap."

"Let's face it; there is no greater pleasure than taking a big, steamy dump."

However, this book also has lots of good information hidden in the "tough love" tone.

I was particularly interested in "Sugar is the devil." If that's true, then high fructose corn syrup is the devil's wife!  They talk about sugar alternatives like Stevia (good) and aspartame (bad). I was feeling pretty good about my personal choice, Splenda. Apparently, Splenda is 98% pure. The other 2% is heavy metals, methanol and arsenic. Yes, that arsenic.

The authors are vegans, so if you want to keep eating meat don't read this book. I'd read similar stuff already in my vegetarian quest, but with their bitchy attitude -- well you can imagine . . . it's pretty sickening.

They have good lists of vegan foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's nice to have a list of foods that I know I don't have to worry about the occasional animal bone or stomach lining stuck in it. Plus there's a nice list of websites, bookes, etc... for reference.

I can also recommend that if you'd like to continue down the path of eating as you are now don't read Twinkie, Deconstructed. Eww.

The author works his way through each of the ingrediants listed on a Twinkie. It's not an exciting read, but wow, the crap they put in our food.

Example: glucose. I'm sure you've seen it on an ingrediant list once or twice. It's what keeps the item moisture. It also adds smoothness, flavor and shelf life to tobacco; brings glossiness and pliability to show leather; stablizes adhesives; prolongs the setting of concrete; moisturizes air fresheners; controls evaporation of perfumes.

For both books high fructose corn syrup is beyond evil. The baby daddy of the devil maybe.

*Sigh* Thankfully there are lots of healthy foods out there to eat. But why can't we find them at "regular" grocery stores at prices the general public can afford? Some days it feels as if "they" are plotting against us and some days I'm happy to eat my orange-cranberry scone from Starbucks with my Venti Iced Soy Vanilla Latte.

"You're absolutely right. You do need to read them," his uncle said. "That's what it means to be civilized. Novels, history, philosophy, science -- the lot. You expose yourself to as much as possible, you absorb it, you forget most of it, but along the way it's changed you."

And I loved this . . .

"But Marina felt there was a strange quiet around Danielle's words, a silence in the line; and she decided that Danielle was just saying she was happy because it seemed the thing to say, because not to say it would be egregious. Marina wasn't sure whether there was merit simply in the saying: maybe sometimes pretense was the best you could hope for."

-- The Emperor's Children

Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume

Jennifer O'Connell

I was seven when I discovered the secret.

 

I'd slip my hand down between my legs, pressing the cotton crotch of my panties inward until I found the right spot. It didn't occur to me to move my fingers around or to remove my underpants from the equation. All I knew is that it felt good, my finger there--sometimes good enough to help me fall asleep.

 

Later, after many, many nights of experimenting with pressure and position, I rubbed long enough and hard enough and in the right rhythm to feel every muscle down there pull tight together, like a tiny fist, and then explode into waves of hot twitchy goodness..."

 

She remembers reading a similar scene in Deenie and realizes, Finally, my ten-year-old self thought happily. After all those years of practice! There was a name for what I was doing!

 

In retrospect, I realize that what I was feeling wasn't so much happiness as relief. Someone else was doing it too. A lot of someones, it seemed. I mean, if there was a name for it, there's no way I was alone. I couldn't be, if it was in a book.

Shrink Yourself

I'm reading this book. It's about emotional eating.

Which I've been thinking is my issue. And now I know for sure.

How? Because I want nothing more than to eat a hot fudge sundae as I read it!!

No, I'm not trying to mask anything. Unt-uh!

So the oddest part about finishing Hallows is that I haven’t wanted to talk about it. I thought for sure I would call my mom and tell her the ending, but in reality I just wanted to be silent, alone with my thoughts when I finished.

Yesterday I felt like I had a hangover almost. My brain felt fuzzy. I was tired. Emotionally and mentally spent. I’m not sure how I thought I would react when it was over, but I was surprised at how I felt all day.

I met some friends for lunch and we talked it through. Two of us had the same reaction to the ending. I’m glad my friend said it out loud because I thought I might be the only one.

Semi-Spoiler Alert

My issue? I felt . . . letdown. By the epilogue. It took some of the polish off the book for me. I was disappointed. What does Harry do for a living? What about the other characters? What happened to them?

And, there were times when I was not as emotional I as thought I would be. I caught myself thinking, Wait, I’m supposed to be crying here, but I’m not.

But there were also times when I sobbed. To the point that I had to stop reading, put the book down and get a cold washcloth for my face. That reaction surprised me too.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I am satisfied with how JK Rowling worked out the Horcruxes and brought down the bad guy.

Yet I can’t rave about it. Yet. Maybe in time. It feels like it is still sinking in. Being digested. Processed.

Am I the only one?

And they were what I expected.

Cholesterol ~ 261 (<200)

Triglycerides ~ 173 (<150)

LDL ~ 187 (<100)

According to the American Heart Association, triglycerides are the fats floating around and the LDL is what makes the plaque.

I have six months to lower my LDL or she puts me on a statin drug. If it had been three points higher, she would've put me on them today.

Thankfully my HDL level was only 53 (40-85). My blood pressure was good. My sugar levels are good. Basically everything except for my weight and cholesterol are fine.

My doctor recommended the Sugar Busters plan as her first choice. Then South Beach. I'll probably go back to South Beach. I've done it before and know what to expect. I'll try to pick up a copy of Sugar Busters at the library to read because she said it does a good job of explaining cholesterol.