November 2012 Book Report

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich

Number 2 in the Lizzy and Diesel series. In this one, they are in search of the Lust Stone. I cannot stress enough how much you should read Ms. Evanovich’s books. And I mean right now! You will be doing yourself a favor.

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Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander

This is from the young adult section. Great read. A young boy and his cat go on a journey through time to 9 different time periods. One time period for each life of a cat. A bit of a history lesson thrown in for good measure.

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The Blue Room by Georges Simenon

This is the first non-Inspector Maigret book of Simenon’s I’ve read, and it’s a good one. I love the Maigret books and this was very different. Not a mystery, exactly, but a study in human relationships and passion gone wrong. 

Forget Twinkies, Give Me Sno Balls!!

Don’t get me wrong, Twinkies are OK, and I’ve eaten my fair share of them. And the cupcakes are fine, too. Ding Dongs are better though. But Sno Balls rule! 

If Twinkies actually do go bye-bye forever, I will not mourn overmuch. And there are plenty of Walmart substitutes for Ding Dongs and some of the other Hostess/Dolly Madison goodies. Sno Balls are another story. I can’t recall seeing a knock-off or generic Sno Ball. And that’s concerns me deeply. I will have to start looking….

I have to admit that I would LOVE to try some of the goodies that the Tastykake folks produce, but that is apparently an East Coast kind of thing. Reading about their stuff in the Janet Evanovich novels make me drool…

Anyway. For now I will have to console myself with any kind of chocolate I can get my hands on and survive…AS IF THAT WERE A PROBLEM!! Buwahahahahahahahah!

Hey, it’s Friday and I didn’t have another subject in mind right now. Give me a break. Give me a break. Break me off a piece of that KitKat bar…..

I think I need to go lie down for awhile…..

Great Hobby

I’ve had a new hobby for the last 4 months or so. It’s exchanging postcards with people all over the world. A friend told me about it and I checked it out. It sounded like fun, so I jumped in with both feet. Go to www.postcrossing.com and follow the directions. It’s easy and free, except for the cost of postcards and stamps. You start out by getting random addresses for others who have registered. You send them a postcard. When your postcard arrives, they register it. Your name is then thrown in the pot, and some random person sends YOU a postcard. When you get it, you register it, and the circle continues. Each time you register a card, you can get another address. So far, I’ve sent 30 registered postcards, have 8 that are traveling and have received 30.

One of the options you can sign up for is “direct swap” which means exchanging cards off the register. I’ve only had one person so far that I’ve done this with. Here’s my tally so far.(BTW, I have no idea why the numbers are all over the place. I line them up all neat and tidy, but when I go to post them, the copy shows them all over. Meh.)

Cards Sent:

Belarus            3

Russia              15

Germany         5

Finland            1

China               2

USA                5

Netherlands     5

Poland             1

Taiwan                        1

Cards Received:

Austria                        1

Germany         5

Belarus            2

Canada                        2

China               1

Netherlands     3

Russia              3

Norway           1

Finland            4

Italy                 1

Ukraine           1

USA                3

Australia          1

Taiwan                        1

Japan               1

It’s a joy every time I reach into my mailbox and pull out a card. The biggest problem I’ve had is obtaining any kind of local postcard. There just aren’t that many around here. The local Walmart is just now starting to carry a few, but there are only about 4 different ones. I’ve gotten some nice ones from the visitors center at the dam, but again, the selection is limited. And there are none that are just fun or funny cards. Sometimes I make my own postcard to send. But it’s still SO MUCH FUN to do this!! I get cards from kids who are doing this as a class project. I’ve sent cards to kids in other countries that are probably doing the same. If you’re my friend on Facebook, you’ve probably already seen my album of cards I’ve received. I really encourage everyone to look into this as a fun hobby.

Slow Down!

It may not look like it, by I have WAY too much on my plate! And I don’t mean just food (although that CAN be a problem…) but everything else I have piled on in life. And a goodly portion of that is something I have served up MYSELF. It seems like people feel that if they don’t have every minute accounted for in doing SOMETHING, they’re slacking off.

I have been given a great gift of not having to work outside the home, but it seems that I get to the end of my day and wonder “What the heck happened?!? What do I have to show for this day?”

I’ll admit SOME of it is due to having a computer, but not all of it. I used to write a lot more, and having a computer made it very easy. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a short story or a poem. Of course, I do keep to my schedule of a weekly blog, but I don’t count that as much.

I used to read a LOT. It was one of the biggest joys in my life. It’s still a joy, but one I don’t indulge in as much as I’d like. And I DO blame the computer for that one. When I’m at Sarah’s, I hardly touch the computer and I read each evening before going to bed.

Crafting has always been a big joy as well. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, when my muse Myrtle hits me, I’m a whirlwind for a certain period of time. Then I stop completely. My craft room is still in total chaos.

In my case, I need to clear some of the “junk food” off my plate and replace it with healthy stuff. Reading, of course. Playing the piano. Writing to friends. I had a very active and wonderful correspondence with 3 penpals that has pretty much fallen by the wayside.

Most important of all, I feel, is to JUST STOP AND THINK. Do nothing. Sit and ponder, pray, meditate, whatever. BE QUIET for a minute.

And I fully understand the irony of this whole post, as I'm about to spend another week in Fresno with Lia again. She doesn't understand the concept of "quiet time". And of course we're heading into "the holidays" as well. 

I don’t quite know how I’m going to deal with all this, but I’m hoping that by addressing this in a somewhat public manner, I will be encouraged to take charge and make changes. We’ll see. Wish me luck!!

Halloween Reminiscences

My very first Halloween was when I was about 4. We had just moved out from Kansas City to San Diego for my dad’s work and were staying with our friends the Dearmans. It was the night before, and I remember Mrs. Dearman yelling at me and her two boys to shut up and go to sleep or there would be no trick-or-treating. I remember having fabulous dreams of witches on rooftops. But I have NO recollection of going out the next night. None. Odd.

I got glasses when I was in first grade, and from that point on, I couldn’t wear any kind of Halloween mask. It just wouldn’t fit over my glasses, and my glasses wouldn’t fit over a mask. I could have the pretty princess dress, but couldn’t wear the pretty mask with the makeup, crown and earrings that were part of it.

Later on in grade school, my friend Debbie and I would pool our treats and divide them up evenly as to “good stuff” and “ordinary stuff” and I don’t remember ever being limited on how much candy I could eat at any time. My treats were mine to do with as I chose. Sure didn’t pass THAT one on with MY kids!! Their stuff was put in a big bowl on top of the fridge and doled out sparingly.

When I got braces, I was almost at the end of my trick-or-treating career, but not quite. But I still had to pick out all the gooey stuff and gave it to Debbie in exchange for less sticky stuff. I hated doing that, but I was a GOOD GIRL and didn’t want to compromise my very expensive orthodontic work.

And now my kids are grown and gone and we answer the door on Halloween to an ever dwindling group. It’s just not that safe anymore, which I find incredibly sad. I’m glad there are more community and church events with a safer place for the kids, but it’s just not the same.

October 2012 Book Report

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly 

This is the first book in the Magical Cat series. Picked this one up on a whim in Raley’s and thoroughly enjoyed it. What’s not to like: it involves murder, books and cats. ‘Nuf said.

Kathleen is disappointed in love and moves to a new town and a new job in a library. She’s adopted by two cats, Hercules and Owen, who turn out to have magical powers. With their help, Kathleen solves a murder and meets a potential new love interest in a handsome detective. I really look forward to more in this series.

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Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout

I never get tired of these books. I’d seen the TV adaptation of this book, but had never read it. Even though I knew “who dunnit” it was still a very enjoyable read. Nero Wolfe’s long lost adopted daughter from the Balkans shows up in this country and gets into trouble at the fencing studio where she works. Of course Archie falls in love with her, and plans on calling Wolfe “dad”. And of course it doesn’t happen. But the murderer is caught and all is well in the end.

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America By Heart by Sarah Palin

I read Palin's book, “Going Rogue” several years ago and it pretty much cemented my hatred for politics. I love Sarah Palin, but really hate the atmosphere of the political world. This book had wonderful info and words of wisdom from great American leaders past and present. I absolutely love this country and wish the best for us all.

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An American Son by Marco Rubio

I know, another political book. But I truly admire Marco Rubio. I was fascinated by his family history. I had to skim some of the political stuff. Just can’t believe the crap that was done to him by his own party. I look for good things to come from him in the future.

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Murder Past Due by Miranda James

This is another “first” in a series: Cat in the Stacks. And again, it was picked up on a whim at Raley’s. This time the protagonist is a man, who comes back to his home town after his wife dies. He doesn’t plan on any emotional attachments, because they are too painful when they end, but is adopted by a Maine Coon cat that he names Diesel. (Maine Coons are enormous, BTW. Always wanted one, but probably couldn’t afford the food bill.) Charlie works in the archives of the local college, where he’s all by himself mostly. Which is the way he wants it. But slowly, people in the town creep into his life and he finds himself getting involved against his will. Then a former school bully from Charlie’s past is murdered. Diesel’s presence helps Charlie deal with the fact that like it or not, Charlie is once again involved with people on an emotional level.

Family Words

Growing up, there were words and phrases used in my family that no one else used. I never really thought about them until I was much older. They were just a part of my life. They were mostly German in origin, and once I really started thinking about them and where they came from, my grandmother was long gone and I couldn’t ask her anymore. I had to do some research in my German/English dictionary and Google translator. I also consulted my brother, who is fluent in German.

“Schlook” was a term I heard a lot as a kid. I’d have a soda and maybe my mom would say “Hey, can I have a schlook of that?” Or I would say the same to my brother. Or someone would offer a person a schlook of something. The word is spelled “schluck” and means “sip”.

There was a heavy duty metal cart on wheels that lived in our garage and had all manner of cleaning supplies and rags piled on it. It was called The Hoodlum Cart. Q: Where’s the silver polish? A: It’s on the hoodlum cart. Q: Do we have an old toothbrush? A: Look on the hoodlum cart. The original word is from old German: hudelum. It means disorderly. And the hoodlum cart was certainly in disorder. 

“Saboola” was from a rhyme that my brother and I made up when we were very little. It went like this: “Hallelujah, hallelujah. Mashed potatoes and saboola.” And this is my spelling of the word. My grandmother said saboola meant onions. This is the one I had to ask my brother about, since his resources were greater than mine. This is what he wrote me: Saboola could actually be a morphed form of the German for onion, which is Zwiebel (pronounced suh-VEE-bool).  Could easily be that somewhere along the line somebody forgot the middle syllable, and came up with suh-BOOL-uh.

Now for words from Marv’s family. Of German origin, and again, the spelling is phonetic:

“Kanuppled” and Katiltered”—both mean askew, bent, awry, etc. “My fender was all kanuppled up.” “You put that bedspread on all katiltered.”  Here is my brother’s answer:  The German word is Knuppel, which means bat or cudgel, so if something is knuppelt (or geknuppelt), it is battered or beat up.  Same thing with getiltered; the ge- prefix and -ed (or in German simply -t) ending is just a past tense construction, so any verb can fit in the middle: getilted, ge-this-ed, ge-that-ed. 

The last phrase I have is from my family (with my spelling). This was said whenever someone went somewhere: “I’ll river.”

This was usually said first by the person leaving, and then whoever was nearby would respond in kind. This was said for YEARS. Many times I was the person responding. I had no clue why this was said and I didn’t think to ask. It was just a traditional saying as far as I knew. I don’t know how old I was before I finally realized this was actually the French phrase, “au revoir,” intentionally mispronounced as a joke.  I felt SO DUMB. Up until then, I would always have this little mental picture of someone sailing down a river in a tiny boat…I kinda miss that…