Delicious Dilemmas

What to do... what to do....
It's a delightful Sunday morning with so much nothing to do. There are books to be read ...












And I got a special deal on this cotton yarn at Hobby Lobby. What should I make of it?















It'd be a great day for a bike ride on the River...
It's just too much fun to THINK about it to actually DO anything!

The delicious pleasure in a day with nothing to do

Source material

I've been asked where I get my eclectic reading list. I'd have to say Amazon.

Amazon has a nifty "Wish List" feature that lets you add things you see in Amazonland to your wish list - whether books, movies, clothes, food, etc. My Wish List link is below. Feel free to shop for me there. (LOL) Amazon also has a handy feature that lets you see where other shoppers went after looking at an item. It says something like, "People who viewed this item, also liked ....." I love to follow those links and see where I end up. Amazon has discounts on books that you can find 'buy3 -get one free" that's fun to surf.

I also get weekly emails from Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble that list "new and notable" or other suggestions. And I love to browse in bookstores. Actual brick & mortar stores with rows and shelves of books - the smell of new books!!!!!!

Here's a cool website: http://www.fantasticfiction.com/
This site has an exhaustive list of authors and their books - in chronological order, AND in order by character in series. I love to read series fiction, but I hate to miss one and get out of order! Horrors!!! Another neat thing at this site is that lots of authors have THEIR recommendations. I love Stephen King, so on his page at fantasticfiction, he lists some of the authors and books that HE likes. And I'm off on another quest to find interesting reading material.

For me, Amazon gift certificates are the perfect gift. The highlight of last Christmas was the day AFTER Christmas which I spent hours trying to combine my gift certificates with bargain promotions and sales to get the most from my Wish List. That was so much fun. Almost, but not quite, as much fun as opening the box when my order arrived!

http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/DWWIATKD8JF

And P.S. I did go back to page one in the "Yiddish Policemen's Union" - I'm just not ready to leave the world of the Sitka Jews.

Workday Blues

I am sad about work. Work. Where I spend the majority of my waking hours. Where if you'd asked me six months ago who my best work buddies were, I'd've said, "Marsha & Summer!" Where my 'special project' is mostly over and it's back to fighting for scraps of actual work to do with the rest of the hungry puppies. Where I keep trying to figure out, "Why am I here?" I know that I'm vastly under-employed with no chance of any real advancement, because I just do NOT like ass-kissing at this stage in my life. I have entered the stage of life called, "Get fucking real!" I know that I used to work to support my family - to provide for my daughters. Now that's not the reason anymore, and I'd like someone to support ME for a change. I'm sure that part of my malaise is that I see people laid-off all around me. They're doing okay. Their unemployment is stretching to fit. I don't know anybody losing their home (thank goodness). I would absolutely love a month - or two - or even three - without having to hear that alarm clock at 5:50 in the morning and thinking, "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO WORK!"

Summer was laid off a while back (and immediately had alternate full-time employment). Today was Marsha's last day - she's quitting to spend time with her husband this summer while he's off work, then hoping to find something part-time this fall. I am SO going to miss her - her sense of humor, her comfort, her no-nonsense advice.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Whatcha been doin`?

I've been reading a lot lately. A lot. It's either been raining or burning-in-hell-hot around here. Although I list the books I've read in the column to the right, I've got more to say...

My current read is "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon. WOW! I am so totally engrossed in the story and characters. The initial premise is "What if the European Jews were not able to establish and settle Israel after WWII - and what if Roosevelt gave them an area in Alaska to settle?" Chabon got the idea for the story after coming across a "Common Phrases in Yiddish" book and wondered where on our modern earth would you need a Yiddish phrasebook? Because Israel was settled, Hebrew became the official Jewish language. But what if??? The book totally immerses you in this world where a murder has occurred, and our very flawed protagonist is the yid, Detective Meyer Landesman. His world has many of the same problems as our world: drugs, violence, divorce. I am completely loving this book and dreading "The End."

My last book was also set in a familiar alternate world. "Lion Among Men" by Gregory Maguire is the story of the Cowardly Lion of Oz fame - how he became 'cowardly,' what his life was like before and after his brief encounter with that Dorothy girl. Maguire writes with a very dense style that I felt like I was slogging through in the beginning, but it became easier to read as I let myself fall back into the world of Oz. Reading "Lion" made me want to go back and read Elphaba's story again - "Witch." It remains one of my favorites.

And then there was "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova. It reads very much like a biography, but it's the fictional story of a woman who discovers, at age 50, that she has early-onset Alzheimer's. Her life as a Harvard professor of linguistics, as wife and mother is marching to its inevitable end. The book roped me into caring so much for Alice, her plans to avoid the end-stage disease, her husband's reaction to the diagnosis, her children's way of coming to terms with her new and damaged self. Loved this one too.

Happy Father's Day & Happy Reading!

P.S. I finished my book this afternoon. I think I may turn back to Page 1 and start again!

Green Thumb

Back in May, my sweetheart & I decided we would plant our "garden" like the 'Topsy Turvy' hanging gizmos on TV -- only we wouldn't spend the $20 a piece for each one. We decided on 5 gallon buckets into which he cut 3 holes each. We planted two varieties of tomatoes and two kinds of peppers in the buckets.

We started out hanging the buckets from the front edge of my carport - but they were hard to reach to water, so he built a frame.

In addition to the tomatoes and peppers in the buckets, we experimented with one tomato plant coming out the side of a 2-liter soda bottle. That one has grown like gangbusters!



I also planted basil, oregano and cilantro, some watermelon and cantelope, and cucumbers. They're doing great too - I've already made salsa twice with my very own fresh cilantro!

We've moved the frame to try and get the most sunshine on it every day. I think we've lost two tomato plants and one pepper plant - whether from the shock of planting upside down, or something else - we don't know. The others are doing great.

So here, in true "Where's Waldo?" fashion, are our first two tomatoes. Can you find them?

They're not quite ready for eating, but I'm excited anyway. For our experimenting purposes, the first tomato came out on the plant in the soda bottle. Go figure!

Happy Birthday Anna

Today, June 8, 2009, is Anna's 21st birthday.

I'm asking you to take 20 seconds (I timed it) to sing her "Happy Birthday" sometime today. And to remember her with a smile.

Thanks -
Jenn

for
Anna Michael Bryant
June 8, 1988 to December 31, 2005