Month: July 2015

July Read: “Hild” by Nicola Griffith and “Divine Vintage” by R Heskett and J Butler

Getting greedy this month, I’m hoping to finish two books. I used to finish some books in two days, then I got a job, got married, and had kids. I like to tell myself I traded in one kind of crazy fun (hours of non-stop reading, woo-hoo!!) for another (grading papers, saying stuff like “don’t lick your brother’s hair!”**)

This month I’m reading two books, and one has to get back to the library before the end of July or I get late fees. I hate late fees, but always end up owing them to the library… I nobly tell myself “it isn’t a fine, it is my donation to a fine institution” to take the sting out of my day-late-dollar-short character.

2Q==So, this month I want to read “Hild” by Nicola Griffith, a novel about a 7th century saint… what might her life and times had been like? A lot of research and a ton of imagination went into this story, and I am really looking forward to reading this book. (Photo at left is from Amazon.com and links to their page)

2Q==-1The other book is the non-fiction “Divine Vintage- Following the Wine Trail from Genesis to the Modern Age.” by Randall Heskett and Joel Butler. I love learning about food chemistry, history, and origins, and this book includes all three, heavy on the last two. (Photo at right is from Amazon.com and links to their purchasing info for this book)

Enough posting, I’m going to get reading.

**True story: those words really did come out of my mouth about 15 years ago.

July Project of the Month- Interior DIY (or, “In Which I Visit Lowe’s/Home Depot 42 Times in One Month”)

I remember when we bought our first home almost twenty years ago, we learned really fast that you don’t start a repair project after 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon. N00bs like us tended to have to head back to the home improvement store at least five more times than the first three trips you originally planned on making. All the shops we needed closed at 6:00 on a Sunday evening back then, leaving us fat out of luck and stuck amidst unconnected parts and unfinished projects until the DIY store reopened.

Wish me luck- I am going to try to fix, repair, paint and/or decorate a bunch of stuff around here this month. Maybe I can learn how to operate a few power tools, yeah! The To Do list has gotten a little long and it is time to start hacking away at it.

But I won’t be starting anything after 2:00 on a Sunday. I’ve learned that lesson.

Is this a summer To Do list? Or is this just wishful thinking?
Is this a summer To Do list? Or is this just wishful thinking?

June Read: The Alchemist- Finished, and Loved It!

“If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves His children.
Paulo Coelho The Alchemist p.103

What a nice, uplifting, positive book! A fast read, but deep. Pick this book up to join Santiago, the Andalusian shepherd boy as he travels from Spain to the Pyramids of Egypt to discover his treasure.

Here’s quite a Life Nugget, if this doesn’t sum up what it feels like to start making your own decisions in life, I don’t know what does:
“He still had some doubts about the decision he had made. But he was able to understand one thing: making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” (p. 68)

So, keep making those good choices. You know which ones they are- the healthy ones. All the little good choices you make are like streams of goodness leading to your river of what is your very own ocean Overall Good. Been making bad choices lately? Little choices that are not healthy? Big ones, maybe? They are draining your ocean of Good. Fill yourself with what is good. Be carried away by currents of goodness.

One of my most favorite parts of the adventure is the story that the alchemist tells Santiago just before the two part ways (page 156 in my book) and begins with these words:
“I want to tell you a story about dreams,” said the alchemist. The boy brought his horse closer…” My. Favorite. Part. If you have the book, go look it up, right now!

And my favorite line from the book:
“Today, I understand something I didn’t see before: every blessing ignored becomes a curse.” (p.58)

Does Santiago’s quest end with riches and treasure, as the Gypsy woman, the king, and the alchemist all suggested? You have to read the story to find out. One of my last favorite lines from the book was this:

“(Because) wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”

Get into a good book!
Get into a good book!

Old Movies, Bugs Bunny, and Tricks from the “Official Teen Wrangling Handbook”

It is usually pretty easy to get The Boy to sit down and watch something with me, you just have to use the basic “Teen Handling Maneuver #24,” which, if you have consulted your Official Teen Wrangling Handbook, you know read as follows:

“If you want your teen to hang around to watch TV or a movie with you, just sit down, hit “play,” make yourself comfortable, and begin enjoying the show. If uninvited, your teen will probably hang around out of sheer curiosity. Teens are very curious. Offer nachos, if necessary. WARNING: this will not work if you invite them to watch with you, tell them how great the movie is, or if they have any of the following: a vehicle, keys to the vehicle, gas in the vehicle.”

Click for the IMDB link...
Click for the IMDB link…

Tonight I got him to watch a great old movie with me- The Canterville Ghost, 1944, with Charls Laughton, Robert Young and a very young Margaret O’Brien. It was a fun oldie, and even The Boy pronounced it “good.”

We finished up with about half a dozen Bugs Bunny cartoons, our all around favorite, no matter how much Bob’s Burgers kills us, Looney Tunes are the best.

If you have the square dance song memorized from this one, you have my respect:

Does life get any better than watching Bugs Bunny with your kids? Thank you, Netflix and You Tube!