Saying Goodbye to Favorite Authors

Sitrep: last week - 30 minutes swimming
Goals: 2x Boot camp

One of my favorite authors, Suz.anne Bro.ckmann, released a new book last week. And I have yet to buy it. Yes, I know. Coming from the person that scoured used book stores on her vacation in Japan to find copies of her back list, this is shocking.

I haven't enjoyed her last few books as much as I used to. (My post on her previous book) Part of it is that I have changed since I first discovered her books 10+ years ago. Part of it is she has changed, as has the world.

I'm on the library waiting list for this one. I noticed Saturday that I'm now up to number one (from 4 on release day), with the next copy due back around August 14. But I'm so not excited about this. I think I'm actually dreading reading this book. Made evident by a BB post header listing several characters that apparently have secondary story lines in this book. Characters from two of her "triangles"; the seemingly endless soap-opera-like threads. [sigh]

It's so depressing when an author whose books/writing I enjoy evolves into a different style. It happened with J.ude De.vereaux, Ju.lie Ga.rwood, etc. It's the switch over to mainstream, more fiction/suspense, I think. And seems to happen around or after they move into hardback. After they hit the bestseller lists. Reader, publisher, editor or author driven, it seems to inevitably happen.

This weekend it dawned on me that OTE was the last book of hers that I read more than once. Every one after that, once I'd read it, I put it away and that was that.

Her writing style has changed. Slowly at first with the introduction of the Sam/Alyssa/MaryLou triangle. But once that went over so "well" (hey, it generated lots of buzz and people wanting to keep reading to get to the end) it's like that became the sole goal. There are now three continuous story lines or "arcs": Decker/Dave/Sophia, Tess/Nash, Izzy/Tracy. The last book and now this book introduce the hero and heroine for the first time. And they are newcomers to the "world" she's created. Characters we've never heard about. It's like they are foils for these story arcs, and overshadowed. Less detailed, less impressive, less important. At least, that's how I feel.

And her books are definitely more political. It's not like my politics and hers differ. They really don't from what I can tell. I just am tired of the "causes". Maybe they were always there; I'm either too sensitive or the climate politically has changed and it's coming across more stridently in her books. I don't k now. But things like "Cosmo" pulling out the PF.LAG button/emblem (whatever it was) didn't fit in the scene it happened in. Maybe it was the way it was written, like it was added to promote the group, not as part of the character development. I'm so not sure why that was jarring to me and stands out. Hmmm.

The characters no longer stand out for me; they blend together now. It's kind of irritating that the heroines all seem to be of the same type: spunky, law-enforcement type background, etc. The continual use of alcoholism, lack of condom useage. It's becoming repetitive. And I know I've remarked on this before, but the fact that everyone the characters meet has the same type of sense of humor etc. It's like what happened with Davi.d E.ddings. I loved the "Belagariad". The "Belgarion" was pretty good. But after that, especially through the "Sparhawk" and later series, it's like they were pale imitations of the first books.

Or like the Ro.bert J.ordan "Whee.l of T.im.e" series. Wonderful writing, detailed, intricate story lines, great characters. Until what, the fourth or fifth book? Then the characters (especially the women) started to become more like empty shells of themselves, more alike than dissimilar, and way too many threads/story lines for any of them to be satisfactorily written. It was too easy to become lost, confused...and way too much work to read the books as they came out. I'm not sure to this day, almost twenty years after the first book in the series, if he ever finished it.

But I digress. So this is how I feel about Suz' books. Rather a revelation to me. And I'm not sure I even want to read this latest one, In.to the F.ire, when my turn comes up at the library. I'm tempted to wait until she finishes these story arcs. Or maybe not even then. (Which will probably get me banned from the BB.)

It's All About Scully

Sitrep: 30 minutes Swimming

And no, I'm not referring to the new X.-Files movie. Although I want to go see it. First I need to rewatch the series finale...I can't remember the ending!

I'm talking about my wonderful, obnoxious, adorable and extremely spoiled fur-baby.

I dropped her off at my little's house Wednesday a.m. before heading out of town on a business trip. Shanni called that night, around 10pm, to "chat", and while talking realized they hadn't fed Scully dinner. Now, Scully is nothing if not insistent about having her meals at preordained times. Seriously. If I'm not feeding her by 7am on weekends, she makes such a racket I'm surprised the neighbors don't complain. So Shanni was upset because they forgot to feed Scully...it's not that they're cruel, etc, it's that their 3 dogs are outside most of the day (Golden Retriever, Standard Poodle, Westie) and self-feed from this huge bowl. For Scully going over there is a little bit like Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled into one. Naturally she's outside with the other dogs a lot, and munches quite happily from their bowl. Keeping them away until she eats the juiciest bits, of course. She's The Alpha of that pack.

So yesterday morning at 6:45 am Michelle called to assure me they fed her breakfast. Scully made sure of it. [g] Then last night Shanni called to say good-night, and told me Scully almost gave them heart failure. Apparently, she disappeared for quite awhile. Various accounts have it ranging from a few minutes, to over an hour. When they weren't looking, she slipped into the master bedroom and crawled under the bed. (I do mean crawled - there's very little space. She can make herself mighty little/flat when she wants to.) And she stayed there all day. I think there's just too much activity there for her. [g] Shanni was apparently so scared she was shrieking Scully's name. Oh yeah, that'll make the dog come running. [rolling my eyes]

Well, talking to them just now, it appears Scully stayed all night and all morning under the bed. She didn't come out for dinner (I'm sure she was too gorged on the other dog's food. She won't skip a meal) nor did she come out for breakfast. Michelle said "I know she's still alive because whenever the cat tries to go under the bed she growls. And if the other dogs come in the room, she growls." Still on the phone, Michelle decided it was time for Scully to go outside. I mean, she has got to go pee...Then she started laughing.

Apparently Shanni was so worried about Scully starving while I'm away, she put Scully's dog food bowl under the bed this morning!!! It was licked clean. OMG. I'm still laughing. No wonder the silly thing didn't get out from under the bed. Talk about "room service."

If You're Ever...

Sitrep: 30 minutes Swimming

If you're ever in Bozeman, Montana on a Thursday night, have dinner at The Mint Bar & Cafe in Belgrade, just outside town.

The food is phenomenal. I had the tastiest, tenderest steak I can remember (which says a lot, since I order medium well or well done). It was like butter in my mouth. And whatever they marinate it in...O.M.G. The fries were delicious as well...tangy and salty and just perfect. And you won't find a better vanilla bean Creme Brulee. The atmosphere is great...very Montana yet tasteful....The Mint has been around since 1904 so the history is fun.

And on Thursday nights, an extra special treat with entertainment by Montana Rose. Great mellow beat, kinda bluegrass meets country meets something else...She has a wonderful voice, and the band is excellent. Live music with the best dinner I've had in a long time!

The company was great; I love listening to our Ed Consultant J. swap stories with the instructors...especially when we can get him talking about his travels in Europe, or his years in the Navy. Tonight was no exception, great dinner company (except for one of the instructors, who I don't like for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on why I distrust her so much. Must puzzle that one out.)

Driving back to the hotel we were treated to a Montana sunset over the countryside and mountains. Breathtaking! And a perfect end to a perfect evening.

Last night a wonderful Italian place, tonight the Mint...who knows where we'll eat tomorrow?

Turning Limes into Limeade

I'm having such a hard time keeping to my budget lately. Stress, stress, stress. And today I bought another Lime Tree. For Pete's sake. Sigh. BUT it was the one I really wanted in the first place only it was $39.95 plus shipping. So I got the cheaper one. And it is thriving. Oh, you should see the new leaves coming off of it. I'm thrilled...it was actually the third attempt (first 2 attempts from a different company) and finally SUCCESS!

Anyway. With my love of limes, I've been thinking of getting a second one. In Paraguay I pretty much denuded the two lime trees in my yard when they were in season, and the limes in the grocery stores around here are puh-theh-tic.

Today in my email I got the newsletter for Park Trees & Shrubs , and there it was, the other lime tree, for only $19.95. So I had to buy it. I mean, that's half the price! So I'm a happy little grower.

And for all of you wondering how I can grow lime trees in MT, it's for my container garden. They'll over-winter it in the house. ;) So now I'm sitting here at my desk singing "Limes, beautiful Limes" in my head. At least I'm smiling now! It's all good, as long as I don't start singing out loud and skipping through the office!

Silence. With a capital "S".

Somehow I've ended up single and childless yet with a child very much like me as a teen. OMG. How the heck did that happen? Oh, yeah...I joined Big Brothers Big Sisters. I have no idea what to do with Shanni. She's just a bundle of raw nerves and crazy emotions. I can so relate to what she's feeling. I was an emotional mess myself at her age. I just don't know what to do or say when she falls apart. Nothing I do seems to help, and only makes it worse. So I just sit there and listen. It's just so hard because I know what's on the other side of all that emotion and chaos...it's just something you can see at twelve, almost thirteen. But, Oh, the melodrama! Her Aunt yelled at her yesterday, and called her lazy. (Actually, she called Shanni and her siblings lazy.) Not cause for a meltdown, but this is Shanni. A child whose parents never yell at her, and are pretty lax in discipline, rules, etc. The truth of the matter is that Shanni is lazy. As are her siblings. They've learned to be so from their parents (both households). So the house and yard aren't very well maintained. Unless they're having company over for a holiday, and then it's clean-clean-clean like mad for days. I know, because I'm family enough I've been recruited for those events. [g] Since they are now moving (long story short, they gave up their house in the bankruptcy, and are having a different home brought in) Mom has decided it's time to start fresh. Sunday Shanni's Aunt D and family (think Brady Bunch, only 5 girls and 1 boy) descended to clean the yard. I didn't show up until early afternoon, and just in time for the fireworks. [g] It was all I could do later on not to laugh when Shanni was presenting to her mother all her grievances against Aunt D. Especially when she started in on "Aunt D didn't take into consideration that I have a job, or the dogs, or the wind, or that we concentrate on the inside of the house so much..." OMG. That "take into consideration" part sounds so like me. At this point her Mom stopped her and went "How many days in July have you worked?" Silence. With a Capital S. Her mom held up one finger. "One day." Then she looked around the room, raised an eyebrow and continued "You've been concentrating on the inside?" Silence. Again, with a Capital S. "It doesn't look clean to me." By this point I was sitting hunched up in my chair, face turned away, because I really wanted to laugh at the dumbstruck looks on the girl's faces. M doesn't usually call them on their crap. I do, but their Mom doesn't. I wanted to cheer her on. I'd already been over this with Shannon earlier that afternoon. And I've told her on numerous occasions that she should do more around the house. She's learned the rules at my house, although I have to remind her a lot. I don't yell, I just remind her calmly to throw stuff away, or rinse her dishes and put them in the dishwasher...But then again, I only have her with me once a week. If it was daily I might lose my mind. [g] Anyway. I do my best not to let Shanni get away with her flights of fancy...I'll let her have her little fits. I ignore her, turn up the music, read, stuff like that, until she's calmer and then we talk rationally about stuff. Mostly I just ask her questions to try to get her to think through why she's so upset. Honestly, she doesn't have these breakdowns with me, unless they've started before I show up. There are numerous reasons for that, the largest one I'm not mom, followed by the fact I see it coming and say "Don't even start that with me. You'll only ruin your afternoon, not mine." And have proven the point. I've tried to tell M. we can't baby Shanni through these. Let her have her melt down and talk to her afterward. Trying to cajole her into a better mood only feeds into the meltdown. Maybe I'm just too harsh. I don't know. It's nerve-wracking. Anyway. By the time I got home I was exhausted. And extremely thankful for the Blessed Silence of my home. With a Capital S!!! At least her mom has her seeing a counselor. Maybe she can help Shanni learn how to deal with her emotions and anger issues. I definitely think some physical activity will help tremendously. Keep your fingers crossed we get into the YMCA for the Single Parent Family Rate. Then I think I'll make a weekly date with Shanni to go to the Y, in addition to our usual weekend outing. P.S. Did I mention the lettuce is coming up? Just a few little leaves poking through the dirt. Man, I'm going to go crazy waiting for all this stuff to get big enough to eat. How do people stand this?

Lucky Bookstore Find

Sitrep: no Mount Helena tomorrow. :(

So yesterday I drove to Butte with my little sis and her family. It was bankruptcy court date, and their car is in the shop. Of course. So I "volunteered" to take them. It's only about an hour away, and a pretty drive. I didn't have a clue where we were going, but Steve said he knew, no prob. Riiiiight. Ya know, when a person is driving down the interstate at 75 mph, and you're the navigator, you really have to tell them it's their exit coming up before you pass it!!!!

He said he could get us there taking the next exit, and foolishly I listened instead of just turning around like I wanted to. Sigh. We had 10 minutes to get to the courthouse by the time the attorney had given them (thank goodness he told them to be there 30 minutes before the hearing start time!!!!). I was not exactly happy as I thought they were going to be late for court. Not a good idea. I think judges tend to get irritated by that kind of thing.

Anyway. Steve & Michelle were doing the usual couple-bickering-over-asking-for-directions thing, KT telling me to just "Google it", and Shanni was uncharacteristically quiet. Smart kid. [g] I'm going how the hell do I "Google it" when I'm driving? I don't exactly have the Internet in my car...that's when KT (in that teenager tone - you know the one) informed me that I can text Google for directions. How the heck am I supposed to know that? I usually Google it BEFORE I GO. To put an end to the madness I just pulled over, grabbed my cell and called a coworker that lives in Butte. She told me how to get where we were going and we were there just in time to meet the attorney.

Oh, did I mention that downtown Butte is something like 4 blocks by 4 blocks? Turns out where I pulled over was two blocks from the courthouse, which we could see from where we were. I even pointed to it and said "is that it?" Hah.

After that was done, we ate lunch, and then went shopping. First store was this great little used book store. I spent $25 there. I found a copy of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "Listen, the Wind" which I've been wanting for a long time. :) Happy happy. And it was only $5.00. Joy, joy I had the worst time figuring out where they put her books. The owner said his wife insists on shelving AML in the classics section. He lead me to the right book case, and I saw it first. I almost knocked him over trying to get it off the shelf. LOL.

Then we hit a couple of antique stores, took the girls to the mall, and came home. It was a good day! Except for when Steve lost his patience and went to haul the girls out of Claire's Boutique. He was a pretty amusing sight standing there in the midst of all that girly stuff. And suitably threatening, as the two made their choices ASAP when they saw him.

Happy, happy, joy, joy...that was me last night fondling my new-to-me books as I tried to read them all at once.

P.S. - Shanni forgot she's babysitting all day tomorrow, followed by an school friend's slumber party, so no hike on Mount Helena. Too bad I promised her months ago that I wouldn't go up there without her. Stupid me. So it's Boot Camp with Alden this weekend.

P.S.S. - Almost forgot! They weren't there last night when I watered, but this morning the onions are peeking through the surface...a whole 1/4"! Whoo-hoo!

Minor Miracles and Lessons Learned

Sitrep: I have a goal now. [g] Mt Helena on Saturday or Bust!

So yesterday was the monthly grocery shopping day. It's still going surprisingly well, using the typed list on the fridge and going only once for the main stuff, and 2 weeks later the other store for the meats (monthly supply again). Last night I came in at $4.84 over my budget. Because of a book, naturally. :) And this was also one of those monthly trips where I had to restock flour, sugar, shortening...all those baking goods I buy infrequently. And miracle of miracles, I actually made it out of the store without any chocolate, cookies, ice cream or pizza/tomato items. Which is saying a lot since a) I was really hungry and b) I was PMS-ing.

Then I ruined it by making oatmeal cookies at 9pm and inhaling several cookies worth of the dough. Not to mention the finished product. They're supposed to be for tomorrow's trip to Butte, America with my little and her family. At least that's what I told myself as I was baking them. (But we all know it's because I wanted the dough.)

Every so often I get these strange cravings or spells where I only want to eat one thing. Usually it's my favorite lime pasta dish, or egg salad sandwiches, or biscuits with eggs and gravy...lately it's been Oatmeal Cookies. This was my third batch in the last 2 weeks. All eaten by yours truly. Although one batch was an oatmeal cake (try it sometime. It's pretty good with coffee for breakfast). Interestingly enough, did you realize that you can (without adjusting the other ingredients)

1) Use less flour than called for
2) Use less shortening than called for
3) Use butter 1 for 1 instead of shortening
4) Use a mix of butter & shortening
5) Eliminate the eggs entirely
6) Don't add vanilla (I wanna know who closed the bottle last. It's un-openable!)

And the cookies will still turn out pretty decent? You can even do a multiple of the above in the same batch and the cookies are still edible.

And if you're using the recipe from the New Better Homes & Garden Cookbook (the same one my Mom's had since I can remember), you can substitute regular milk for the buttermilk, change nothing else in the recipe, and bake it in a cake pan? It's kinda like a cornbread, only oatmeal. With sugar. Yum. (It only works with the above cookbook's recipe. At least, that's the only one that's worked for me so far!)

But you absolutely, positively, can not use less oats than the recipe calls for without reducing all the other ingredients first. Because it just does not taste like oatmeal cookies. It tastes like a brown sugar flour cinnamon cookie. Which I suppose is okay. Just not when you're craving oatmeal cookies.

Not that that stopped me from eating a handful for breakfast.

Ostrich

Sitrep: Che Caique...( loosely translated from Guarani - "Without Want". No motivation!)

A lot of things lately have made me think humans are a bunch of ostriches with our heads in the sand. I read a great Thurber quote (I'm re-reading a bunch of his stuff. The "Flood" story from "My Life & Hard Times" can still make me laugh helplessly.) Anyway. I read a great Thurber quote that brought ostriches to mind (I'll post it later) and was kind of my ah-ha moment that brought together a lot of things I've been musing over the last few weeks.

1) Discovering my little's mom has been paying interest-only mortgage payments for ten years. OMG. It took a lot of doing to get her to understand why she's upside down in her house...with the girls looking on. I just wanted to shake her and yell at the girls that if I ever catch them doing something so stupid...Not once in those ten years did she add up what she'd paid, or even look at the balance remaining on her mortgage statement...

Thwump...there goes her head into the sand.

2) News story on giving cholesterol to children as young as one year old if high cholesterol/obesity runs in the family. Apparently that's considered safe. WTF? Are they serious? Geez. Both my parents have high cholesterol, yet aren't obese. I'm overweight yet my cholesterol is excellent. So instead of actually implementing programs such as incentives for parents to exercise with their kids from a young age, assistance for poorer families to buy fruits/veggies, insisting on physical education in school, nutrition classes in school (can combine into all sorts of other classes as well, like math - you use math in recipes, figuring out calories, etc). Do they actually think putting these kids on cholesterol meds as young as one years old is the right thing to do? What potential side-effects would that have!

Thwump...there go all our heads into the sand.

3) Tom's post the other day on Charlie Mike. I've read it a few times and each time I feel like I'm hearing this giant THWUMP. Me sticking my head in the sand. [g] In particular the last few days I've been focusing on his last line "what lifestyle do you want to be trapped in?" Judging by the last few weeks, one of indolence and food. [sigh] But that's not what I want to be trapped in. I used to say to myself (and others) that if only I lost 20 pounds, I'd be satisfied, I'd be healthy, etc. Well, the truth of it is that I've lost - and kept off for over a year - those 20 pounds. And I'm not satisfied. I'm happy, very much so, but it's not enough. There's another 20 pounds for me to hit the healthy mark. I think where I've been stumbling is that I've been setting short-term goals. Things like "this is what I'm doing this week". Which is good, but without having that larger goal beyond the smaller one, it's too easy to lose focus. I want to be trapped in a lifestyle where exercising several times a week is normal, part of my routine. A lifestyle where I have energy and am healthy. A lifestyle that my little sister can look to and think she can do it too.

So this ostrich is pulling her head outta the sand and taking a look around.

My goal: lose 20 pounds by July 15, 2009.

I think that's a pretty decent amount of time to get this accomplished in. Short term steps to get this done are to get back on Spark People. Daily journaling of my food/exercise helped. A lot. I'm also setting weekly goals and monthly "rewards" (ie, Starbucks, Books, Music) for meeting those goals. This week's goal: climb Mount Helena.

Basil, I see Basil!

Finally! The basil is peeking it's way out of the dirt. I'd about given up on it. I must have planted it a bit too deep, maybe. But I was watering the tomato/basil/chives container after work yesterday and there it was! I was so excited I forgot I had the hose in my hand and sprayed the dog. Oops. [g] I got the carrots, onion and lettuce planted although I'm afraid it's probably too hot for them right now. We'll see. Tonight I need to build the planter for the green beans and the green pepper. I've had the wood piled in the "garden" area for weeks, just have been too distracted (read lazy) to do anything about it. The tomatoes are ripening up quite nicely. Too bad I don't eat them. lol. But Shanni does, so they are all hers! They're little tomatoes, too.

It's a good thing I had such a nice day last Sunday, because this week has been heck at work. The convention started today and it has just been insane getting ready for it. Especially with a new boss, and the 2nd in "command" hasn't a clue (even if she thinks she does!). At least I managed to finagle my way out of attending. Because if I was there I'd be doing all the work. I already had one call from Nick (coworker) who is so frustrated because he's doing the work while everyone else is socializing. I had a feeling it would be that way. Which is why I didn't want to go. :)

Nothing much else to report. I'm exhausted (haven't exercised in awhile!!!) and I ate lunch at one of my favorite places this week (Pita Pit) and forgot that their Caesar dressing is the kind that gives me a headache. So it's been a fun few days. I'm not sure which is more draining; the headache or the meds? Either way I'm too tired mentally to think of anything to blog about today. Just thought I'd post before everyone thinks I'm sick or something. And I was excited about the basil. [g]

Perfect Day

Sitrep for last week: 1x Swimming, 1x Walk (30 min w/little sis), 1x Yard Mowing, 1x Moving Furniture (Sofa, ugh)

Goals: 2x Boot camp, Daily Walks w/Dog (weather permitting)

I didn't want yesterday to end. Maybe my idea of a perfect day is different than others' ideas, but yesterday was so wonderful, so relaxing. I got up at my usual weekend time, 7 am (thanks fur baby-that-must-eat-on-schedule-or-else), and then crashed on the couch for a few hours. There was a wonderful breeze coming in the windows most of the day. I watched a few home decorating shows, then logged on to check the library website to see if a book I wanted was in. It was. So I showered and dressed, and then worked on my puzzle book "Brain Games" (I love this thing, and am always so impatient for the next issue to come out!). I headed to the library around 1pm (that's when they open) and found my book, "Susannah Morrow" by Megan Chance. (VERY GOOD BOOK, as is "An Inconvenient Wife".) I also picked up "The Timekeeper's Wife" or whatever it's called. Can't remember right now.

I went home and read the rest of the day. Didn't turn the TV on, just sat in my recliner chair under the window, with the fresh air flowing over me. It was great. The house was spotless since I'd cleaned for the party on Friday. Laundry was done, I had dinner already prepared. I just sat there and read. Late afternoon I stopped for a bit and mowed the yard, tended to my plants (chives are growing nicely, tomatoes are doing okay - one is actually ripening, no sight of the basil yet, and the lime tree is thriving in it's new pot). Then I went inside and read some more. It was just one of those peaceful, perfect days. The light, the air, the quiet, the soft sounds of summer drifting in from outside (distant lawnmowers, children's voices, a dog bark here and there). I love days like this. :)

Here's wishing you all have days that renew you as much as yesterday did for me.

PS - If you haven't read it yet, check out last week's guest post on Charlie Mike. It's wonderful!!!