WEDNESDAY FUN

I really like Wednesdays.  Bowling!  More than just bowling, it's being around a lot of fun people around my own age.  I like most of the people in our league.  There are one or two I could do without, but they probably don't care for me either - and that's OK.

We lost all our games today.  We bowled the best bowlers in the league and really didn't have much of a chance.  I didn't do too badly - in fact, 2 games were pretty darn good.  I have a little side bet with the other girl on my team.  We bet a quarter on each game and a quarter for total pins.  I took the whole dollar today!  I feel so rich!

Shelby is coming over tomorrow morning to do some cleaning for me.  She had borrowed a little bit of money last month and is working off her debt.  I plan to have her do some grocery shopping for me and even cook some meals that I can freeze.  I don't really need the help, but I'm trying to teach her some accountability.

I haven't been on the scale for a day or so, but I feel like I'm doing OK.  We did have pizza last night, but it was a thin crust, not a lot of cheese, and loaded with fresh vegetables.  I didn't eat as much as I usually do - I saved a couple of pieces and had them for lunch today.  Then a light dinner.  I'm bound and determined to get some of this weight off.

Harvesting tomatoes on my FarmVille farm on Facebook has given me a craving for fresh tomatoes!  We still have a few on the plants.  They're still green but I think I'll pick them and let them ripen inside.  Next year we're going to plant in pots instead of the ground; I think they'll do better that way.

Off now for a nice hot cup of tea (it's gotten nice and cool here) and some reading.

THE TURTLE IS BACK

The scale is not my friend.

I got on the scale last night and was shocked at the numbers.  It's time to really - REALLY - get serious about losing some weight.  Where I am right now is not only unpleasant to look at, it's bordering on unhealthy.

So starting this morning I'm working on this.  I find I need more protein in the morning to keep me satisfied until noon time.  So I had an egg this morning with one slice of toast and a glass of V-8.  This kept me going all morning.  For lunch I went to Applebee's and had a small crock of French Onion soup and a small grilled shrimp and spinach salad.  A banana this afternoon, and I'm having a grilled chicken salad for dinner.  Plus lots of water.

As the weather gets cooler, I want to walk more.  Until then, I would like to be able to do a Walk Away the Pounds DVD each day - I just have to get myself motivated.  Bowling twice a week will help a little bit too.

I have a mini-class reunion scheduled for next September.  I want to be able to lose one pound a week - that's really not too far-fetched or unrealistic.  I've got the turtle at the top of this blog to keep me accountable.

Anyone want to join me?  Any cheerleaders out there?

THE NEW WOMAN

THE NEW WOMAN by Jon Hassler is another airport bookstore find.

From the back of the book:

THE NEW WOMAN is Jon Hassler's latest visit to Staggerford and its eccentric but all-too-recognizable residents.


At the age of eighty-eight, Agatha McGee, whom Hassler residents see as somewhere between "Moses and Emily Post," has grudgingly moved out of her house on River Street and into the Sunset Senior Apartments.  Life is throwing Agatha plenty of curveballs - two close friends pass away, her nephew Frederick is drifting into depression, and a kidnapped little girl has suddenly appeared on her doorstep.  With characteristic poise and dignity, Agatha takes on her problems and finds that the bonds of friendship and family are still the key to happiness at any age.  Affectionate and life-affirming, THE NEW WOMAN is another delightful trip to this town with a soul as real as rural America itself.

I found this book in a bookstore at the Orlando airport.  It was on a sale table, and I just couldn't pass up a deal.

Apparently Jon Hassler has written an entire series of books about the fictional town of Staggerford.  This, however, is the first one I've ever heard about or read.    A blurb on the cover from The Detroit Free Press states that "Fans of Jan Karon's Mitford series will enjoy Hassler's books."  Since I like the Mitford books, I thought I'd give this one a try.

I felt the book was just OK.  Maybe if I had read earlier books in the series and had some type of reading relationship with the characters I would have enjoyed it more.  Agatha reminded me a little bit of Miss Julia from the Ann B. Ross books, though older and not quite as spunky.  My only real problem with the book was the way it ended.  It just ended.  As if the author ran out of things to say.  Or maybe the story is picked up again in another book.  Though interesting to a point, I don't think I'll be going out of my way to find more books in this series.

Now, if they're on a sale table, that's another story.

DISMAL SATURDAY

I hate dreary, rainy days.  It's not raining right now - thank goodness, Atlanta doesn't need much more rain - but it's spitting off and on.  And it's gray outside.

I wanted to take Maggie for a walk this morning. I put her collar and leash on her and she refused to get up.  I had to almost carry her to the door. When we got outside, she stood on the driveway and refused to move.  I guess she doesn't like this weather either.  She finally went for a walk after the drizzle stopped.

I spent a wonderful morning in Wal-Mart doing grocery shopping.  Not my favorite thing to do.  I always wind up buying the same food over and over again.  I need to pull out a couple of cookbooks and look for something different to make.  I'm actually going to make dinner tonight for a change.  Dom's mouth is healing beautifully from his tooth extractions on Tuesday, so he'll be able to eat something other than soup.

I'm looking forward to finishing a book this afternoon, then I can play around with my farm on Facebook.  Unless I decide to give in to this dismal weather and take a nice long nap!

BACK IN THE SWING ... ALMOST

I'm back in the swing of things - almost.  (And wouldn't I just love to be in THAT swing?)

It's strange.  I was only gone for 5 days, and I feel like so much has changed.  The house felt strange.

I've gotten caught up on laundry and the kitchen is clean.  I do need to go to the grocery store, but I guess I'll do that tomorrow.  The carpet needs to be vacuumed, the furniture needs dusting and the bathrooms need some cleaning.

Poor Maggie - her schedule is all messed up.  Dom had been walking her 3 times a day and now she won't go out in the back yard.  I'm not going to walk her that often (mean Mommy!) - it's hard on my back and legs - so she's going to have to get used to going out back again.  Her eating schedule is off.  She's been eating breakfast at 2 in the afternoon and dinner at 10 at night.  She needs to get back to 6 a.m. breakfast and 3 p.m. dinner.  Dom also gave her a lot of table food so her itching has gotten bad again.  She had a medicated bath this morning, so hopefully that will help her.

My Friday afternoon card club is taking a break until October 16 because one or another of us won't be available.  I really miss that.  I'm starting back on my Monday morning bowling league this coming Monday.  I wasn't going to bowl then, but they had a vacant team so a couple of us decided to join again.  I love to bowl so it's no problem.

It seems like less people are blogging - or blogging less.  I know there are a lot of people over on Facebook, so I guess that's kind of taking the place of blogging.  I want to post more here, and I'm going to try harder to get back to daily posting - as if I have that much of importance to say!  I've been busy with my farm over there - I've even gotten Shelby to start a farm.  My reading has dropped, but since I stopped the reading challenges, I hope that will pick up again.  I just got burned out reading books that didn't really interest me.

Dom will be home from work soon, so I need to scrounge up something that he can eat.  Can you say pancakes??

READING CHALLENGES

I'm challenged-out.

I joined a lot of reading challenges this year, but right now, I'm tired of reading scheduled books.  I want to just pick up books randomly, without worrying if I'll be able to fit it into a challenge.  I'm not going to worry any more about finishing all the challenges.  And I'm not going to feel bad about not finishing all of them.

I'm claiming victory in the following challenges:

Medical Mystery Madness Challenge:  The challenge calls for 5 books; I've read 6.

Pub 2009 Challenge:  The challenge calls for 9 books; I've read 16.

Read Your Own Books Challenge:  I signed up for 30.  I didn't read all on my list, but I did substitute enough to reach the 30 book mark.

Chunkster Challenge:  The challenge called for 6 books; I read 9.

I've gotten myself out of a reading mood in the past few weeks.  I've been sewing and doing big things in the house, plus my little trip to Florida.  I want to read for the fun of it, not because I feel I have to read certain books.

So now I'm taking all the challenges off my sidebars.  Next year, I'm going to have to think twice about most of these challenges.

THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO WOMEN

THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO WOMEN by Kris Radish is a book I picked up at the Atlanta airport.

From the book jacket:

After all these years is there any way you would see me again?  When Emma Lauryn Gilford heard the voice on her answering machine, she thought, How dare he?  She's put a lot of distance between herself and Samuel, filling her life with work and family, lavishing her attention on her lovely nieces and a garden that's the pride of Higgins, South Carolina.  So why does his voice still have the power to make her heart skip?  Why can't she stop thinking about this man she'd forgotten so long ago?


Emma has always been the dependable daughter, the mediator of the controlled chaos always surrounding her high-strung sisters and her widowed mother, Higgins's own senior citizen seductress.  But with the annual Gilford family reunion just around the corner, at least two of her sisters approaching meltdown, and her favorite teenage niece taking sanctuary in her home, Emma's concrete wall of self-denial is showing cracks.  And on the other side is a life she can't put off living a moment longer.

I saw this book at the airport when I was leaving on my trip.  Although I had a couple of books with me, none sounded like something I wanted to read.  When I saw this one, I was interested enough to pick it up.  Although I had just recently read a book by Ms. Radish, MY SUNDAY LIST OF DREAMS, and wasn't too impressed, I thought I'd give her one more chance.

This book was much better.  No sex toys in this one.  Just a family of four daughters, each with their own problems.  Two sisters who drink too much, one sister who moved away and now wants to return to South Carolina, a teenage niece with a large nose ring and multi-colored hair, a sister who sleeps in the middle of her garden, and a mother who has run off with a man who wears an animal print thong.  Add into this a family reunion that isn't being planned as it should, a charity auction that includes a penis-holder, a group running through a party in their underwear while wearing masks, and a wedding.  But no Samuel.  According to the blurb on the back, it sounded like Samuel was a major character in this book.  Disappointing.

I liked this book, but not so much that I'll be running to the bookstore looking for every book by Ms. Radish.

HOME AGAIN

I got home yesterday afternoon.  (See, the plane is going in the opposite direction!)  After 4 beautiful, sunny days in Florida, I came home to torrential rains and major flooding in the Atlanta area.  But it's still good to be home.

I have so much to do.  I haven't even unpacked yet.  I've been going through piles of mail, sorting out all the junk.  I have bowling stuff to do for tomorrow, bills to pay, clothes to wash.  And this afternoon, I need to go with Dom as he has two teeth extracted.  Hopefully, when we get home I'll have some free time to get caught up with life.

I had such a great time with my sister and brother-in-law.  Met some new people, saw some family members I haven't seen for a while.  Went to a show and a museum, took rides through Orlando, ate a lot of good food, read a book and a half, and played cards till all hours of the night.

I'll write more later.  Right now, I need to take a shower and get something to eat.

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE ...

I'm leaving at 6 a.m. to get to the airport for a morning flight to Orlando.  I'm spending 4+ days with my sister and brother-in-law.

I'm taking a couple of books, but no computer.  I'm planning on spending a lot of sister-time with Anne.

I'll be back here probably next Tuesday.

MY LITTLE GIRL IS BACK

Maggie is working her way back to normal.  She's eating, going outside again by herself, and her itching and biting is almost stopped.  Her vet put her on a drug called Atopica for the itching and it's working.  She's able to sleep through the night now.

Her anxiety is gone - the doctor thinks it might have been related to the constant itching.  Poor baby was so miserable.  She would run around the house in circles, then stop and lick and bite, then run some more.  She's on this drug daily for about another week, then we'll cut back to a maintenance dosage.

We still don't know what caused her liver enzymes to be so high, but she seems to have recovered from whatever caused the problem.  I'm just so glad to have my little girl back to normal!

BUSY DAYS

These next few days are going to be busy.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to make a dress.  Hopefully, I'll have enough material for the one I want to make.  Then I have to do a little cooking so Dom will have meals while I'm in Florida the end of the week.

On Monday, I have to call the vet with an update on Maggie.  If she's not showing improvement, I'll have to take her in that morning.  I bowl in the afternoon, and I need to meet with the girl who does the scores for our league. There are some mistakes that need to be corrected.

Tuesday morning I have to get my nails done and do laundry.  Dom and I have an appointment in the afternoon that will take about 2 hours.

Wednesday morning I'll be checking on little things I need to take to Florida and doing a little last minute shopping and packing.  Bowling in the afternoon, then I have to post the scores and do our bowling blog.  Early to bed on Wednesday - I hope.

Dom is taking me to the airport on Thursday morning - my flight isn't until 9:30 a.m. but because of the terrible traffic in Atlanta, we'll have to leave around 6.  He's going to have to drive home in rush-hour traffic.

I know there are more things that I need to get done, but I can't think of a thing right now.

THE SUNDAY LIST OF DREAMS

THE SUNDAY LIST OF DREAMS by Kris Radish was read for the 9 Books for 2009 Challenge (letter) and the Read Your Own Books Challenge.

From the back of the book:

Connie Nixon is no stranger to making lists.  In fact, she has rewritten the list of her deepest desires no fewer than forty-eight time.  And each Sunday, for as long as she can remember, she's tinkered with it.  But actually doing something about her desires is a different story - until the night she comes across a box belonging to her estranged daughter ... and makes a stunning discovery.  It turns out that her seemingly straitlaced Jessica is part owner of one of the most successful sex toy shops in America.


Shocked by her daughter's secret life, Connie tucks her list in her back pocket and does something utterly impulsive:  she hops on a plane to New York City to track down Jessica - and winds up on the wildest adventure of her life.  Because with her daughter's help, Connie's about to let her own inner bombshell see the light of day.


Now, for the first time ever, things are flying off Connie's list.  Like reconnecting with her daughter.  And getting tipsy before noon.  And the most startlingly extraordinary desire of all:  falling in love.

It's hard to write about this book.  It wasn't what I expected.  I thought it would be about a middle-aged woman having a few adventures and meeting a man and falling in love again.  That's what the book blurb led me to believe.  What Connie actually did was crash into her daughter's life and become an employee of the sex toy store, running around the country with a van full of sex toys, and hosting parties to demonstrate how women can become more sexually satisfied - all in about 3 weeks' time.  I'm not a prude.  But all the "sexual awareness" business turned me off.

This could have been a nice book about living your dreams instead of just dreaming them, about a mother and daughter reconnecting and working out a new understanding between them.  A book about the importance of family and friends.  Instead it seemed to be a campaign for all women to become sexually liberated, with or without a partner.  There was even a "sex dictionary" in the back.

The author had this sex toy store becoming a huge enterprise, with stores world-wide and a home-party system (think Tupperware).  Sexually-frustrated women pouring into the stores and hosting parties.  A gigantic new-product introduction party in New York, covered by television, newspapers and magazines.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but this book just didn't ring true at all for me.

MAGGIE - AGAIN

I had Maggie at the vet today.  She's still acting strange.

Her skin is terrible from itching and biting.  He gave her a medicated shampoo which needs to be repeated weekly.  She also has to use a medicated spray every 2-3 days.  He couldn't risk giving her steroids (due to her Cushing's disease) so she needs to take Atopica - which runs about $5.50 per capsule.  She'll take one a day for a while, then hopefully we can cut the dosage down.

She's losing low-light vision, which could be what is making her so anxious and afraid to go outside.  He'll put her on an anti-anxiety medication next week if she can tolerate the Atopica first.  We'll have to leave night lights on for her throughout the house.

Her pancreatic lab values were sky-high.  He thought she had pancreatitis and would have to be hospitalized, but another test showed that she didn't have it.  He thinks when she got sick last week that she might have had pancreatitis then and is recovering now, but that her values are still up.

Her kidney values are holding steady.  Her urine had no signs of infection, and she's not spilling sugar.

This all probably sounds too technical, but I guess it's the nurse in me coming out.  All in all, she's not a really sick little girl now, but she's not in great health either.  We're just going to do whatever is necessary to keep her comfortable for as long as possible.

PICTURING THE PAST

Dom and I, no matter how much we try to deny it, are getting older.   Next year will be our 40th wedding anniversary.  To celebrate, we've decided to take a trip back to our past.

We're going to drive up to Philadelphia and visit and take pictures of places that were part of our lives.  We'll visit the houses we've lived in, schools we attended, favorite restaurants and stores, gravesites.  We'll go down to the Jersey shore where I spent many, many summers.  Maybe we'll get to go to a Phillies game.  We'll eat cheese steaks, hoagies, soft pretzels from a street vendor, and Tastycakes.

On the way up, we'll take our time and possibly visit some Revolutionary War and/or Civil War sites.  On the way back, I'd love to visit Cincinnati and northern Kentucky where we lived before we moved to Georgia.

We want to make a scrapbook to give to our children and grandchildren so they can learn a little more about us before we're not around any more.  We have a lot of stories to tell them; they don't like to sit and listen to us, but maybe they'd enjoy seeing our stories.

A SLIGHT TRANSFORMATION

We had the exterior of our house painted today. The main color had been a very, very light off-white, and the shutters were a grayish-green. It looked nice, but there was no contrast between the siding and the white trim.

Dom is very much against dark colors, so it was hard to find a color that would have some contrast but not be dark. I finally found a tan that we both liked. The shutters are now a brighter dark green. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The company that did the work was terrific. The men were fast (only about 6 hours to do the whole house) and neat. They had come a few days ago to pressure wash the house - they also did the driveway and the front walk. Yesterday they caulked, and this afternoon they painted.

New carpeting last week, new paint today. Now we're done!

92 PACIFIC BOULEVARD

92 PACIFIC BOULEVARD by Debbie Macomber was read for the Pub 2009 Challenge.

From the book jacket:

Dear Reader,

I'm not much of a letter writer. As the sheriff here, I'm used to writing incident reports, not chatty letters. But my daughter, Megan - who'll be making me a grandfather soon - told me I had to do this. So here goes.

I'll tell you straight out that I'd hoped to marry Faith Beckwith (my onetime high school girlfriend) but she ended the relationship last month, even though we're both widowed and available. There were a few misunderstandings between us, some of them inadvertently caused by Megan.

However, I've got plenty to keep me occupied, like the unidentified remains found in a cave outside town. And the fact that my friend Judge Olivia Griffin is fighting cancer. And the break-ins at 204 Rosewood Lane - the house Faith happens to be renting from Grace Harding...

If you want to hear more, come on over to my place or to the sheriff's office - if you can stand the stale coffee!

Troy Davis

I look forward to each September to read the latest Cedar Cove book. It's like re-visiting old friends and making some new ones. Debbie (I met her once and had my picture taken with her, so I can call her by her first name) always includes some relationships having problems that are usually solved by the end of the book and a little cliff-hanger for the next one. This book had the relationships, a mystery solved and a new one forming, babies being born, and more. These books are perfect for light reading, just right when you need something refreshing to take you away from everyday problems.

In this book, she mentions a group of recipes that one character (Charlotte) is putting together for her daughter. And coincidentally, Debbie's released a new book - DEBBIE MACOMBER'S CEDAR COVE COOKBOOK - that includes those very recipes and more. A subtle plug for the new cookbook, but that's OK.

Cedar Cove is based on Debbie's hometown of Port Orchard, Washington. Last month, the town put on a 5-day Cedar Cove Days Festival where Debbie met with fans and took them all around, meeting characters from the books and visiting places mentioned in this series and also in the Blossom Street series.

I'm looking forward to September 2010 when I can visit 1022 EVERGREEN PLACE and catch up on all that's happening with my old friends.

THE HELP

THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett

From the book jacket:

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step....

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, THE HELP is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and ones we don't.

I had heard a lot of hype about this book, and wondered if it would live up to its fame. It did - it was a great book to read. I'm sure that many readers were not alive in the early 1960's when the Civil Rights Movement took hold, the time of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and the march on Washington. Before that time, there was no integration in schools and the workplace; separate but equal was the law.

It was a courageous act for the black maids of this book to tell their stories and have them published in a book, a book that their white employers could and would read. Some were stories of how badly they were treated, but some told of good and fair employers. Though their names and locations were changed, there was a fear that they would be recognized - and if so, their jobs could be lost -they could even be incarcerated for supposed-petty thefts.

These women wanted change. They wanted to be treated decently. They wanted to tell people that even though their skin color was different, they were still basically the same underneath. In the author's words:

Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought.

This was a very good book. If you haven't read it yet, go and get yourself a copy.

SATURDAY STUFF

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day here in Atlanta. Sunny and a high of 82 predicted. We'll see.

I have a nice easy day planned. I cleaned yesterday, so I can cross that off my list. I do have one load of laundry to do. Then a trip to the library to pick up a book on hold - THE DEVIL'S PUNCHBOWL by Greg Iles. I also need to get a cheap cordless phone for the office. I bought a new all-in-one printer-scanner-copier-fax but it doesn't have a handset for the phone part, and I really need one in here.

I might even cut out a new dress this afternoon. I'm going to visit my sister in Orlando in a couple of weeks, and I think a couple new dresses might be in order. Maybe a new pair of slacks and a top too. Now that I've moved the bed out of my sewing room, I have a lot more open space to set up a cutting table and ironing board.

And I just realized that Penn State has their first game this afternoon. I can sew and watch the game at the same time.

But first, a little something for breakfast then I'm going to finish reading THE HELP. It's a great book - you should read it if you haven't already.

What Saturday stuff do you have planned?

THURSDAY THINGS

Maggie seems to be feeling better. No more vomiting and she's eating her food. She's not quite back to "normal" but I don't think her renal failure is anywhere near a critical stage. I'll keep a close watch on her and if there's any more change, I'll take her to see her doctor.

I'm heading over to Shelby's this afternoon. She's having problems with the laptop I bought her in May - she can't get it to turn on. A call to Dell is in order.

This morning is cleaning time. I'm having our card club here tomorrow, so it's time to get out the dust rags and the vacuum. I also need to get something to serve for lunch.

So it'll be a busy day, but no so busy that I can't get a little reading time thrown in. I'm reading THE HELP and it's really good.

What's on your agenda for today?

MAGGIE

I'm afraid our sweet Maggie isn't doing too well right now. On Monday night, she vomited about 4 times. When it was time to go to bed, she got right into her bed and didn't move all night - which is unusual for her. But yesterday, she seemed back to normal so I didn't call the vet.

Now this morning, her tummy was making funny noises. She went outside and was eating grass. She refused her breakfast, which is highly unusual for her. She's just moping around now.

I'm going to give her another day, then call the vet. Vomiting, not eating, depression - all signs of chronic renal failure. I know her kidney function labs were a little bit off, so this is a real concern. I don't think waiting another day will make any difference in the long run, but I know that I'll have to call the vet even if I don't have to take her in to see him.

It's been just 6 weeks since we lost Teddy. I'm not ready for anything to happen to Maggie.