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Things I am Loving and Not Loving These Days, plus a book review

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Things I Am Loving These Days

You know what I have been really really into lately?  I’m sure you are dying to hear. 

Item 1: My shark steam mop.  We bought it at Costco ages ago and then it sat in its box for what seemed like forever and then I finally opened it and used it.  Ohhhhhhh why didn’t I do this before?  I lurve it.  It makes me feel like I could eat off my kitchen floor.  Seriously.  I used it on the kitchen, the bathrooms, and especially on the laundry room floor (where my aging cat likes to pee).  Admittedly, I still would not eat off the laundry room floor where Alex occasionally pees, but…me likey the steam mop.  I only wish I were brave enough to try it on the wood floors.  Shark says it is safe, but I have my doubts, and it’s difficult to find reliable information on these here internets.

Item 2: My high capacity washing machine and dryer.  I’m finally washing all the clothes and things that have been stuffed on closet floors for years, all in an effort to declutter so we can make room for the tot. 

Item 3:  Not working.  You know what?  It is 5:21 and I am still in my jammies.  Oh yes, I am.  Also, this semester of school is ridiculously labor-intensive, and I honestly don’t think I’d have been able to survive if I tried working full time and doing school, too.

Item 4: My phone.  I still don’t really like to talk on the phone much, but I have been talking to my mom and my sister a lot more lately than I used to.  What would we do without phones???

Item 5: This knitting pattern.  I’ve been in the mood to do some simple knitting lately, and so I have.  I have been making dishcloths galore (although I do mine with solid colors instead of those crazy variegated “ombre” shades pictured in the pattern.

Item 6: My new furniture!  it hasn’t arrived yet,   and it won’t arrive for another several weeks, but oh, I love it.  Soon, Rob and I will own not only a dresser, but a chest of drawers, too!  And a bed frame!  And a coffee table for our downstairs living room!  And a baby crib!  We found it all at one store, and it’s currently being made by some Amish dudes in Ohio.  Interesting fact: allegedly, the Ohio Amish make better furniture than the Pennsylvania Amish, so that most of the furniture stores in Amish country in PA actually sell furniture that is made in Ohio.  Isn’t that weird?  I wonder what the Pennsylvania Amish do better than the Ohio Amish?  Maybe their puppy mills are somehow better.   Hrm.  Should I have not bought furniture from the Amish when I emphatically disagree with their puppy breeding practices?  I suppose it is a little late to be asking that question.

Things I Am Decidedly Not Loving These Days

The jerks at BP.  Did y’all know that I grew up in a town on the Gulf of Mexico?  I did.  I try to put all this awful oil spill stuff out of my mind because it’s just too horrifying and depressing to think about.  Last night, though, Rob and I found ourselves watching some coverage on CNN.  I simply can’t watch that stuff without crying.  I do not understand how someone (or some company) can drill for oil in a body of water without coming up with several viable emergency response options first.  I wonder if Sarah Palin is still chanting “Drill, baby, drill” up there in Alaska.   I wonder if my son will ever get to see my hometown beaches looking as beautiful and pristine as they were when I was growing up, with their fine snowy white sand and clear, warm water.  I marvel that BP has the nerve to try lying to us (“Oh, those tar balls on Dauphin Island are from something else”) and that they know so little about how to stop this brown sludge from spilling into the Gulf that they have resorted to consulting with movie producers to get ideas.   I cry for the sea life, for the people who make their living from tourism or fishing or real estate or any of the other industries that will be affected by this.   I worry for the people working in that mess to protect the marshland and try cleaning up, exposing themselves not only to the oil but to the crazy chemical dispersants BP has dumped in along with the oil.  Icould go on and on about this.   It’s a nightmare of epic proportions and I worry that there will be no end to it until every ounce of our coast is ruined.

Wow, I am cheery, am I not?

Book Review

Let’s move on to a book review.  Today, we are talking about Meg Cabot’s Insatiable.

This book arrived on my doorstep, without solicitation (sort of: it’s a HarperCollins book, which I regularly receive, but I didn’t request it).  When I opened the package and read the blurb, I rolled my eyes.  Enough with the vampires, already!  I have too many vampires in my life between the vampires of Forks and the vampires of Bon Temps!

Still…I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth or whatever.  Besides, I do love me some YA fiction.  So, I picked it up and started reading.  The next thing I knew, I had finished the book and my butt was numb from lying in one position for so long.

I may be exaggerating slightly (I did not actually read this in one sitting), but my point here is that this is a pretty enjoyable, albeit extremely fluffy, little book.  Cabot acknowledges the ridiculous popularity of vampire books and manages to make her own little niche in an already overdone genre.  (Can “vampire” be considered a genre?  I doubt it, but y’all know what I mean, right?)  Is the book ridiculous?  Yep.  Is it incredibly plot driven with very little character development?  Heck, yeah.  Is it fun, though?  Indeedy, it is.

Posted in Lists, Reading, Super-Consumer!, rant | 5 Comments »

Books, polls, cheese, Chester, and more.

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Please bear with me as I continue to attempt to get back into the swing of blogging and whatnot. Are you surprised to hear from me again in the month of October? I sure am! In case you can’t tell from the title of this post (in which case, I am sorry that you are so inclined to miss the obvious), I have a total random assortment of things to discuss today.

Thing Numero Uno: after stepping on the scale and finding myself a few pounds heavier, I have decided to give up sweets. I have no idea how long this will last. Personally, I am just shocked that I made it through one day and most of another. The siren call of the giant bowl of Starbursts at our receptionist’s desk is enticing, as is the knowledge that there is a place across the street that sells delicious sugar cookies the size of my head.

Thing Numero Dos: I have been a horrible book reviewer lately. I have two books to review today: Hummingbirds, by Joshua Gaylord and Not That Kind of Girl, by Carlene Bauer.

Of the two, Hummingbirds was definitely my favorite. Y’all, this is the first book in a long time that has made me put down my knitting and focus on reading. I don’t want to ruin the book for you by divulging too much, because it’s one that continually surprised me as I read it, but I can at least tell you that it is about a male English teacher in an all-girl’s private prep school in Manhattan; it’s also about said teacher’s relationships with his wife, with his fellow teachers, and with his students; and it’s about a lot of other stuff, too, but I can’t tell you or it will ruin it. What I CAN tell you is that I found the book to be highly enjoyable, entertaining, and well-written.

I also recently read Not That Kind of Girl, which is the memoir of a woman who isn’t that kind of girl. I didn’t LOVE the book, but I didn’t dislike it either. I found myself agreeing with many of the author’s sentiments, and although I did not abstain from drinking in college like she did, I think she and I are fairly similar. HOWEVER, I agree with my pal Marty – who also reviewed the book – that the book was a bit lacking in the sense that the author talked a lot about holding out and being a virgin at a less-than-conventional age, and then barely even mentions the guy to whom she finally did lose her virginity or why she decided to do so. Regardless, I did enjoy the book and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thing Numero Tres: I don’t think I could choose just one favorite kind of cheese. I do love me some goat cheeses and aged goudas and yummy raw milk cheeses with names I don’t remember, though. Ooh, and a nice shaved parmesan on some roasted brussels sprouts is divine. And Vermont cheddar! Mmmm, cheese.

Thing Numero Quatro: Chester the Wonder Dog, for those who have asked, is still the cutest, greatest, most wonderful dog in the whole wide world. HOWEVER. Did I tell y’all about him eating 36 of the 40 pastry cups filled with chicken salad that I had made for a party I threw a couple weeks ago? AHEM. Yes, he did. Also, last night when Rob and I were walking Chester along Main Street in our neighborhood, Chester jumped up and put his front paws on the passenger door of a car that was parallel-parked on the street, while he gazed inside. I don’t know if a dog was in the car or what, but that is so not cool, and I am relieved that he didn’t scratch the paint.

Thing Numero Cinco: Aren’t you impressed at my bilingual-ness?

Thing Numero Seis: I don’t remember how to spell Spanish numbers, so bear with me. On a different note, I’ve been knitting lately for a group that makes blankets for preemies at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It is such a nice project and is one that is close to my heart since my own favorite littles were early birds. The great thing about it is that each blanket is knit by five or six different people. Whoever starts the blanket chooses a theme and color scheme, then knits four inches on it and sends it to the next knitter. I’ve only worked on three blankets so far, but I love looking at the completed blankies on the charity’s blog.

And, finally, Thing Numero Siete:
Please go over to flickr and check out the shirt I”m wearing in this picture (not the cardigan – just the shirt). Then, come back here and vote on whether it is ugly or not. I simply cannot decide. So far, that hasn’t stopped me from wearing it, so I’m not sure why I care. Indulge me, please!

And that, my friends, is that.

Posted in Dieting (or not), Doggies, Eating, Knitting, Miscellany, Reading | 9 Comments »

NOR’EASTER!

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Do you know what is really great about Nor’easters, other than getting to say the word Nor’easter? (Tip: it is especially fun to say “NORRRR-EASTERRRR!” as though you were saying “LAND HO!” or “ANCHORS AWAY!” or some other such nautical type of phrase.) Anyway, the great thing about NOR’EASTERS! is that it is so windy and rainy and just all-around icky that I do not feel even the slightest teeniest bit bad about being lazy during them.

SO. Friday night, we actually braved the elements – for good reason, which was to go to this fabulous chickadee’s wedding! Congratulations, Teenie Baneenie! Let me be the first to say that she was a beautiful bride, the ceremony was lovely, the reception was fun, the food was delicious, and nobody gave two hoots about the weather. Also, the DJ was the son of a woman in my knitting group, and he did an excellent job. And! I did not fall over, despite wearing heels that were higher and spikier than I normally wear! Whee!

After the wedding, the NOR’EASTER! hibernating commenced. I made this Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Apples & Bacon. I learned to crochet a scalloped edge on a blanket that is part of one of my charity knitting projects. I did some laundry but did not fold it (in the interest of laziness). I took Chester on a couple short walks. And – for the first time in a while, I settled in for some long hours on my couch and in my bed with a good book.

After setting this one aside for a while, I finally finished How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn. This book was published way back in 1939 and was sent to me by an old friend who thought I might like it. That friend was right. This is a coming-of-age story, but it is not just another coming-of-age story. Although the book is not particularly fast-moving and is not one that will leave you breathlessly awaiting the next chapter, it is a beautifully, lyrically, poetically written saga of this Welsh family’s struggles and successes and its loves and losses in a small coal-mining town. If I sound a bit effusive over the language, I gush with good reason, as it is the kind of writing that makes my heart ache. This is a book to be savored.

And that, my friends, is that. Peace out. Also, how ’bout those Phillies?? (Now that the Red Sox season is over, we are wholehearted Phillies fans until next year.)

Posted in Miscellany, Reading | 7 Comments »

Optimism, or lack thereof, and a book review.

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

I have really been neglecting the giant piles of books that are taking over my house these days, but I finally finished one that my pals at HarperCollins sent to me. The book is called I Shudder: And Other Reactions to Life, Death, and New Jersey and is by Paul Rudnick.

I don’t quite know what to say about the book. I liked it, but didn’t looooove it – but I’m hesitant to say that because I’m beginning to suspect that I simply don’t looooooove any sort of memoir/collection of essays type of book, and I fear that my criticism is more one of genre than of the book itself. I chose this book partly because it’s fun to make fun of New Jersey (even though they DO sell beer, wine, and liquor all in one store as opposed to Stupid Pennsylvania) and partly because I figured that it was bound to be funny since the author wrote the screenplay for the movie In & Out and I laughed a lot in it. The essays in the book fit a few different categories: (1) general wit and wisdom; (2) anecdotes about famous people and making movies and plays and stuff; and (3) what I presume are fiction vignettes from the “diary” of a character named Elyot Vionnet. In general, I loved the essays that fell into categories 1 and 3 and found myself skimming those in category 2.

There’s no denying that Paul Rudnick is a funny dude, and his book makes me want to go back in time so I can participate in some of his escapades (most notably, I would like to attend the party his friend William threw at The Chelsea Hotel. I’d also like to meet William’s sister Laura), but I’d also be content just to have a drink with the guy one day. Anyone who subsists on treats like Peeps is pretty ace in my book.
***

In a complete shift of gears…

When I was in either 7th or 9th grade (I can’t remember which), some sort of motivational speaker dude came to my school. I remember very little about his speech other than the acronym he hammered into my young adult noggin: P.A.C.E., which stood for Positive Attitude Changes Everything!

I know. It kind of make me want to vomit, too. Here’s the rub, though: I think perhaps I should give it a try. I’ve come to the realization lately that I have really been looking at the dreary side of things lately when I don’t have that much to complain about. Sure, my job is ridiculous right now and I keep finding myself on the receiving end of such dire statements as, “If you don’t make a direct hire placement [translation: put an attorney in a permanent position with a big fat fee attached to it] soon, you’ll be out of a job” – but HELL, at least I still have a job, and I still have a job that ultimately isn’t that horrible. And I’m tired of letting that get me down.

SO. I think it’s time to get back to that Grace in Small Things project I was doing a while ago. I may not do it all official-like, where I go in and post my small things on the special Grace in Small Things website – that seems a bit overwhelming and high maintenance as I’m having a hard enough time posting over here on a regular basis lately – but I vow to at least attempt to write my little lists here. I am hoping that such positive thoughts will, indeed, Change Everything.

With no further ado:

Today’s Grace in Small Things:

1. My pretty pink argyle cashmere sweater that I’m wearing.
2. The fact that I ate coffee cake every day during my mom’s visit and still managed to lose 3 pounds.
3. This one girl that was in my sister’s grade when we were growing up who is now my facebook friend even though we really don’t know each other. She is always so funny and sweet and commenty on my page and I get the biggest kick out of her.
4. I’m almost finished with the body portion of my spiral sweater! (Here’s an example of what it will sort of look like, but with different yarn.)
5. A full commitment-free weekend ahead of me.

Posted in Goodness, Grace in Small Things, Reading | 4 Comments »

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