Wishlist

If we ever moved to a place that could house more than what we already have, I'd love to have one of these.  Such a great way to display books!

Visit my Pages!

Don't forget to check out my other Pages I post to: 

• All Things Food where I blog about recipes I make whether or not I ultimately like them
• Books, Books, & More Books where my "expert" opinion on books I read are jotted down
• Crafty Things where my current & finished projects are outlined
• Playing in the Soil will be seasonal due to my lack of fall/winter gardening skills
• Run Like Hell where I am documenting my progress in my hobby: running

Books

I finished reading Watchers by Dean Koontz.  I actually enjoyed it quite a bit...a bit odd, but definitely better than what I'm reading now.  I've heard great things about Nelson DeMille, but I'm struggling to get through Wild Fire.  It's about an American plan to nuke two cities in the U.S. so that we can nuke Islamic countries.  So far it's just been a bunch of talking about the plan and not much action.  I hope it picks up soon.  And even if it doesn't, I'll still trudge through it because I'm the type to read a book start to finish no matter how much I hate it.

Shockingly, (because I typically read only one book at a time) I'm also reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  I really hope I find some spark of genius in there.  I didn't know it at the time I bought it, but it seems this book is more about coming out of credit card debt.  Which doesn't really help us because my husband is about to pay off his last credit card.  So the only debt we'll have is our mortgage and student loans.  I'm only three chapters in, so maybe later on I'll be more happy with it.  So far it's just been three chapters of him touting his plan.  I suppose that's what you sign up for when you buy a book based on a plan.

Time flies

I can't believe it's the middle of July already.  Or at least pretty close to it.  Pretty soon all the kids will be back on campus & annoying the heck out of me.  I take that back...I welcome it...I welcome the new cds the new Recreation Assistants will create so that something new will go through the speakers for once.

I lost over 6 pounds in two weeks.  I like to think I'm becoming healthier, but really, I think I'm probably just losing muscle mass from not working out & losing weight from not eating much due to fear my stomach will lash out against me.  I feel like I've had gastric bypass & can only eat portions the size of peas.

I have a renewed love of books now that we have no satellite tv.  I just finished Summer Sisters by Judy Blume.  Good!  And am now working on Knitting Under the Influence by Claire Lazebnik.  I stopped by our local bookstore this weekend & bought a book about lowering one's cholesterol, a cookbook for blondes (hilarious!), and two romance novels (I know, I know) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.  I took one of her books with me on my honeymoon & finished it in two days, so I figured I'd try some more out.  I'm looking forward to getting credit for books I trade in & hopefully finding some new ones on my list.  My aunt got a nook for her bday...maybe C & I can split one for his bday.  :o)

I'm getting antsy...I think it's the military brat in me itching to move.  School is blah, the job is blah, all I want is to get out of Sylva.  I was hoping to do something this past weekend, but nothing got planned.  Maybe this weekend.

My book calleth.

Renewed love

The other day I was really craving sushi.  But where does one find sushi in a small town in the mountains of western NC??  Not anywhere that you would trust.  However!  My husband found out a local eatery (one that is trusted) has sushi Wednesdays.  The restaurant is kind of, as they say, "crunchy" and was closing/for sale at one point but has since reopened. 

So guess what we had for dinner tonight.  As we were leaving we stopped by a table where some friends were eating and were promptly told not to forget to get our bookstore stamp.  Huh?  Apparently with every visit (meal?--still not sure) one gets $5 off used books at the bookstore connected (physically) to the restaurant.  Yes please.  Of course we head over there (uh, who could pass up a visit to a bookstore?!) and I find a used copy of Watership Down (I've been craving that too) and my husband gets a new book titled something written by somebody.  What can top it all off??  A FREE tea or coffee at the restaurant by buying a new book.  It just keeps getting better and better.  You can also receive credit at the bookstore by trading in books you no longer want--but let's take this one step at a time.

And I know it's all a ploy to get you to visit more and spend more, but I'll take my little hole in the wall restaurant and my little hole in the wall bookstore to your Barnes & Noble & Starbucks any day.  "Your" as in "The Man"...not you personally. 

It's days like these that I love my little town.

On a roll!

I'm on a high from getting research items finished; namely, my poster for the upcoming conference.  I think I may be goal & reward oriented, so the goal I'm setting for myself is to get 1 page of my intro written everyday after work with the weekends all to myself as a reward.  Starting Monday.  I'll let you know how it goes.  ;o)  1 page isn't much! 

Now to my bed & Into the Beautiful North.

I do not want to die

From Spring Moon by Bette Bao Lord:

The child shook his head. Slowly the tears fell, like brave soldiers marching before the king.

"Was it a ghost?"

"I..." His words burst forth. "I do not want to die, I do not want to die like True Mother. Why do I have to die?"

Bold Talent put his arms around him, comforting him. "You see, if no one ever died, the world would be a terrible place. There would be too many people, no room to grow food or play. So it is better to have a season and live each minute until it is time to join our ancestors."

Another post on the Christmas topic

I finally finished reading Cane River (not impressed) and started reading The Autobiography of Santa Claus as told to Jeff Guinn.  I'm only two chapters in and I'm already in love.  It's such a cute book (so far) and I guess you can read a chapter a day starting on December 1st and arrive at the end on Christmas day or maybe Christmas Eve...I'm not real sure.  At any rate, that's pretty neat-o and I'm keeping it in mind if I ever have children. 

P.S.  I have a sneaking suspicion that this book is regarded as a classic.  If so and you already knew that, I just demonstrated to you how little I know of literature.