As the nest empties

Snow Day!

2012-02-14T11:42:00.000-05:00

Living in NEO we typically get about 60"of snow beginning in November and ending in late March - sometimes even into April. This winter season we have had hardly any snow. (Not that I am complaining too much - just a little.)

So waking up this past Saturday to about 4 or 5 inches of fluffy lake effect snow (it's a regional thing) was a nice thing. It was Saturday so no fighting traffic to get to work and it was pretty snow. It was really cold - like 15 degrees and the snow crunched as you walked.

Caitlin had the great idea to take Reggie and Lola on a walk. They love the snow - love, love, love it. We took them to a local school that's near by and let them run on the soccer field which is strictly verboten but hey, some rules are meant to be broken, aren't they? It's not like there was going to be a soccer game any time soon.

We had enough foresight to take the camera along and managed to get some great shots.

Reggie in the lead!

Romp!

Only the best photo ever!!!!

Plus check out Lola's Snowy Run" on the left side bar of my blog too!

It makes me smile just thinking about how much fun they had playing in the snow.
Ahhhh, the life of a hound dog!

I Just Don't Care - Redux

2012-02-06T18:18:00.000-05:00

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote this post about how I just don't care about award shows. This is another chapter in the book of "I Just Don't Care." This time the topic is the Super Bowl.

I really don't care about the Super Bowl - any of it. I don't care about who sings the Star Spangled Banner (although I love Kelly Clarkson).

I don't care what teams are playing. I don't care who does the half time show and Madonna has never been a particular fave of mine so I doubly didn't care. And perhaps the biggest sacrilege of all - I don't care about the commercials. And I work in the advertising industry!

Now, don't get me wrong - I will sing the praises of a well done ad - but I am not going to watch some stupid game that I care zero about to see them. And the idea that the going rate this year was $3.5 million dollars for a 30 second spot was ludicrous to me. Really? Our government is drowning in it's own debt; people are starving; medical research needs money - there are so many better ways to spend that kind of cash. Put your money to better use, please.

I don't even know who won yesterday's game - and that's OK with me!

So that's today's rant. Just needed to get it off my chest.

Please note, however, that I reserve the right to change my mind when hell freezes over and the Cleveland Browns make it to the Super Bowl. Then, I will care!

Year end reading recap - 2011

2012-01-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

Another year on the books and another reading recap. The big difference between 2011 and the prior 3 years was that I know longer worked at a book store. I had to fend for myself finding reading material - and I must admit I don't think I did such a great job of it. My how I miss my Joseph Beth Booksellers job and peeps!

Anyway, all lamenting aside - I did still manage to read 52 books over the course of the year. Here are the statistics for those of you who like that sort of thing.

52 books, an assortment of the old fashioned kind, kindle books and audio books. The breakdown:

21 audio books totaling almost 256 hours or about 11 days.

16 Kindle books

15 old fashioned books

By looking up all the titles on Amazon I calculated that I "read" 19,039 pages in 2011 which is a 15% decrease from 2010. Oh well, life happens!

Out of the 52 titles only 11 were non-fiction meaning 41 were fiction. Does that make me shallow that I prefer to read fiction over non? Or does the fact that I actually read some escapism chick lit already prove the shallowness factor?

The winner of male versus female authors goes to the women - 21 books were written by men, 31 by women. Someday when I feel like being even geekier than I am at the moment I'm going to go back and look at the last few years and see how that trend looks over a longer time period.

Anyway - without further ado, the list (in alphabetical order):

1 C	A Cold Day for Murder	Dana Stabenow
2 B	A Discovery of Witches	Deborah Harkness
3 C	A Secret Kept	Tatiana De Rosnay
4 B+	Anansi Boys	Neil Gaiman
5 D	Beachcombers: A Novel	Nancy Thayer
6 A	Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth	James M Tabor
7 B+	Catching Fire (Hunger Games Book 2)	Suzanne Collins
8 B+	Cutting for Stone	Abraham Verghese
9 B+	Domestic Violets: A Novel	Matthew Norman
10 B+	Don't Stop the Carnival	Herman Wouk
11 C	Escape	Barbara Delinsky
12 B+	Everything Matters	Ron Currie Jr
13 B	Exile	Rich North Patterson
14 C+	Fragment	Warren Fahy
15 C	Heart of the Matter	Emily Giffin
16 C	I'm Going to Live My Life Like a Jimmy Buffett Song	Anthony Bjorklund
17 B	Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship	Gail Caldwell
18 C	Little Pink Slips	Sally Koslow
19 A	Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home Lost Children of Nepal	Conor Grennan
20 B+	Lost in Shangri-La	Mitchell Zuckoff
21 B	Lottery	Patricia Wood
22 D	Love at Absolute Zero	Christopher Meeks
23 D	Love the One You're With	Emily Giffin
24 C	Medical Error	Ricard Mabry
25 B+	Mockingjay (Final Book of the Hunger Games)	Suzanne Collins
26 D	Moonlight Mile	Dennis Lehane
27 B	One Hundred Names for Love	Diane Ackerman
28 D	Picture Perfect	Jodi Picoult
29 C	Pope Joan	Dona Woolfolk Cross
30 C+	Quantum: Portal Chronicals Book 3	Imogen Rose
31 B	Room	Emma Donohue
32 C	Saving Cee Cee HoneyCutt	Beth Hoffman
33 B	Spin	Robt Charles Wilson
34 C	Stranger in a Strange Land	Robert Heinlein
35 C-	Sweet Revenge (Goldy Culinary Mystery, Book 14)	Diane Mott Davidson
36 D	Swine Not	Jimmy Buffett
37 B	The 19th Wife	David Ebershoff
38 D	The Craigslist Murders	Brenda Cullerton
39 B	The Dog Park: A Collection of Stories with a Common Cast of Characters	Ann Elwood
40 B	The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox	Nina Burleigh
41 B+	The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Book 1 )	Suzanne Collins
42 B	The Lost Dogs	Jim Gorant
43 D	The Paris Wife	Paula McLain
44 B	The Sixth Man	David Baldacci
45 B	The Spire	Rich North Patterson
46 C	The Weird Sisters	Eleanor Brown
47 A	Unbroken	Laura Hillenbrand
48 B	Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas	Abby Sunderland
49 C	Vanish (Jane Rizzoli, Book 5)	Tess Gerritsen
50 B+	What Happened Before He Shot Her	Elizabeth George
51 C	With Friends Like These	Sally Koslow
52 B	You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness	Julie Klam

Grade Key:

A - I loved it
B - I liked it - a lot.
C - I liked it
D - I was indifferent to it.
F - I hated it

If you are interested my book reviews are linked.

Finally, my picks for "Book of the year"

Non fiction was a 3 way tie between Blind Descent, Little Princes and Unbroken. All three were well written and taught me a lot. I would highly recommend them all. Surprisingly - they were the only grade A's I gave out.

Fiction - hands down winner was Cutting for Stone.

Happy birthday Caitlin!

2012-01-23T13:40:00.000-05:00

So yesterday 1/22/2012 was Caitlin’s birthday. The big 2-3. Seems like only yesterday she was leaving for college – heading for the University of South Carolina which was the impetus for the creation of this blog. My, how the time has flown and how life has changed.

Here’s a recap.

January 22, 1989 – Super Bowl Sunday. San Francisco Forty Niners versus the Cincinnati Bengals. Cailtin was born 11:22 AM - plenty of time for her Dad to get home to watch the game! She was about 3 weeks early and was a teeny little thing at 6 lbs 10 oz.

January 1989 through June 2007: Caitlin is a little sister to Jack. Then she becomes a big sister to Sera. She takes ballet lessons. She plays tball and soccer and then softball. She becomes a gymnast. She plays lacrosse. She plays fast pitch. She goes to grade school at St. Ann and high school at Gilmour. She learns to drive and gets her license on the first try. She goes to dances and parties. And then ….

Fast forward to August of 2007: Caitlin leaves for USC. I am at a loss without her.

Another fast forward to September of 2008: Caitlin transfers to The Ohio State University! Yay!

Press the FF button again and it is June, 2011: Caitlin graduates from The Ohio State University proving you can indeed complete college in 4 years – even after transferring from one university to another!

The final fast forward on today’s journey takes us to this past weekend. Sera and some friends from OSU came home for the weekend to help Caitlin celebrate her birthday. It was nice having them around – and not just for Caitlin either. There was talk of going to look at apartments – Caitlin is feeling the need to spread her wings. And I get it, really I do. I just really like having her at home – like I have a roomie to do things with when Steve is away. I know the dogs enjoy having her there too. But, I do realize she will eventually be moving out on her own – this time for good.

Good thing I have this blog.

Happy birthday Caitlin – I just wanted you to know I get it.

Love,

Mom

I Just Don't Care

2012-01-16T12:24:00.000-05:00

It’s awards season. People’s Choice, Golden Globes, Academy Awards just to name a few. If you click here you’ll be taken to the Wikipedia page which shows a listing of awards for cinema given out yearly by country. It’s actually a bit over the top. Wait, who am I kidding? It is a lot over the top.

The red carpet, the dresses, the jewels, the reporters and all the fuss made about the movies or the latest TV melodrama. I just don’t get it. I just don’t care.

I go to movies for several different reasons:

· I read the book and really liked it.

· I like the previews and trailers I’ve seen.

· I like the actor or actress starring in it.

· My friends/coworkers recommended it.

Nowhere in my decision process does the award status of the movie come into play, nowhere.

So why am I the odd one out? My daughter DVR’d the Golden Globes last night because she was going out and didn’t want to miss them. One of my coworkers attended a Golden Globes party, another blogs about the red carpet and who was wearing what designer dress. And I still don’t care.

Growing up, my mother - an Italian immigrant who spoke very broken English loved watching the awards shows. She also liked watching the Miss America and Miss Universe pageants. My dad did not like watching these programs and so a little war would ensue when it was time for them. My mom always chose her battles carefully and watching these shows was one she always won. In her case I think I can understand.

My mom grew up during WWII in Italy. Her village was bombed, life was grim. She married my father, a handsome American GI of Italian descent (he was first generation US) and came over on a ship through Ellis Island and eventually became a citizen. They settled in a small town in a coal mining area along the Ohio River. There was nothing glamorous about their life. They worked hard and raised a family, always paying the bills on time, never on credit. Life was hard. To my mom, these award shows and pageants were an escape to a more fascinating world. I get that.

But, in my life today, I just don’t care.

Is it really 2012?

2012-01-08T22:15:00.003-05:00

It doesn't seem possible that another year has flown by, breaking all light speed records. It seems like just yesterday I was discussing some end of the year reporting requirements with one of the partners at work. We were discussing how to slice and dice the 2010 actual results to best line up with our forecast for that year. On Friday, just the day before yesterday he stopped by my office to discuss reporting 2011 results - how can that even be possible? I guess the old adage "time flies" really is true. And as my age increases, so does the speed of the flight.

Looking back over my blog posts for the last year (thanks Allison for the idea) helped me remember all the things I did, places I went, and good times with wonderful friends. So here's a recap of my 2011:

In January my BFFs and I attended the Elvis Birthday Bash celebration at Playhouse Square sitting in the front row, I might add. It was so much fun. My darling daughter. Caitlin turned 22 on her golden birthday. At the end the of month my BFFs (yep, same ones) and I had a sleepover! Yes, even 50 year old women can have sleepovers! And, finally, making worldwide news, my main man and favorite performer Jimmy Buffett, walked right off the stage - literally and fell to the ground below - while performing in Australia. I was happy to report here that we was recovering nicely!

February was a pretty uneventful month and with it came one of my seasonal funky spells. Note to self - do more in February this year to proactively stave off those blues. I went to see True Grit in the theater and then because everyone I knew kept comparing it to the original, I saw that one too. I recapped my comparison of the two here. Throughout the month I worked on my BFF yearbook for the year called Captain's Log - 2010. It turned out great and by the end of the month it was complete!

March for the most part was a planning month. Lots of plans - here. At the end of the month we had tickets to see Willie Nelson who at age 77 put on a great show. Fun way to end the month.

With April came not only showers but hubby's itch to buy land in Tennessee needed scratching - again. I am fairly certain that one day in the not too distant future I'll be posting that we are TN landowners - much to my dismay. I had a fabulous hot stone massage thanks to Living Social. I vowed to get one a month for the rest of the year but that just didn't happen. My hounds turned 5 on April 16th. Caitlin came home for Easter and we colored glittery Easter eggs and went to see Soul Surfer - most definitely my pick. Caitlin pretty much muttered under her breath through the entire movie about how dumb she thought it was.

May was a fun month! Sera turned 21 and we took the show on the road to throw a birthday fiesta for her at her house in Columbus. It was big fun! The BFFs and I headed south for a week in late May - first to Beaufort, SC and then onto Virginia Beach for a Jimmy Buffett concert. All in all, a great trip.

On June 1st Steve turned 56 - old fart that he is! Caitlin graduated from The Ohio State University mid month right on schedule - yay Caitlin! 2 down, 1 to go! Later in the month we went to see David Bromberg at the Beachland Ballroom on Waterloo Road, and then a week later Ray LaMontagne at Nautica Pavillion downtown in the flats. Cleveland is really a music friendly town, lots of shows, lots of venues. Another thing I said I was going to do was see more live music - need to get busy. Apparently I was keeping pretty busy because my blog posts for June were practically non existent.

July 4th found us at my sister's house for a family get together. We got to meet Sera's boyfriend, Alex for the first time - nice guy, super sweet. July 15th Steve and I took off for our big trip to Alaska - trying to see as much of the biggest state in the union in 15 days. It was amazing! Wrote this post when we got back.

August 11th hubby and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary! Hard to believe we have been together that long. We kept it pretty low key - after all we just got back from an amazing and expensive vacation. Caitlin got a JOB! A real live, graduated from college in her field job with a business card and benefits! Woohoo! Another slightly different group of us traveled to Burgettstown, PA to catch my 2nd Jimmy Buffett show of the season later in the month. I'd like to put "traveling around the US following Jimmy on tour and catching every show one summer" on my bucket list but I'm thinking Jimmy may not be touring anymore (no - never!) when I would have the wherewithal to do this. So maybe in 2012 I can see 3 shows - gotta set reasonable goals!

September was my birthday month - no need to bring up numbers. Steve, Jack and Caitlin all sent deliveries to my office - such fun to be the center of attention! Sera called later in the day to make my day complete.

On October 10th Jack turned 26. Hard for me to fathom. I drove down to C'bus to take him shopping. We spent the day together - he even made me dinner! Mid month I flew to Florida to meet Steve who was there for business. We stayed 4 nights, 5 days on Longboat Key. It was fabulous. Beautiful weather and great company! The next week my work took me to Las Vegas for a conference. October was a very busy month! I hadn't been blogging much the past few months so I kind of caught things up here.

On November 1st it was announced that my company had acquired another company. I was to head up the integration of the financials for the merger. Work, already busy, became crazy! One of the BFF's daughter was married on November 12th and the whole gang attended the wedding. Jack drove up for the wedding and we got to meet his girlfriend, Meredith. She is so much fun - we all had a great time. Thanksgiving was to be low key with just the five us and my sister. We were surprised on Turkey day however, when 3 of my sisters 4 kids plus a grandchild arrived on our doorstep. So much fun! I loved it. For our annual Thanksgiving tradition of seeing a movie we saw the new Muppet movie. Meredith joined us and she and I were the only ones who actually like the movie. I knew I liked that girl!

December brought with it all the madness of the season. I really hadn't done much shopping in advance of the holiday so I had shopping, wrapping, cards, decorating and baking to do. Even the hounds sent out cards this year! I kind of had a melt down, which I described here. Eventually everything was under control. Jack and Sera came home and Grammie came to visit for the holiday. We had a very nice time and then - poof - it was over!

Which brings me to New Year's Eve. We were invited to a house party at our good friends, Mark and Tricia's. As the new year approached Tricia turned the TV on so we could watch the ball drop and countdown the last 10 seconds of 2011 into 2012. With about 15 - 20 seconds to go Mark decided to adjust the volume and accidentally changed the station. Then in his excitement to get back to the ball drop he just couldn't seem to find the station. So we arbitrarily began our own countdown - when we eventually got back to the ball drop it was over - we had missed it! So ...

Maybe that's really the reason it doesn't seem like 2012 to me!

Happy New Year kiddos!

I love Christmas movies!

2011-12-26T19:11:00.000-05:00

I am a sucker for Lifetime and Hallmark channel movies in general. So at Christmas time when they show non stop Christmas movies I am in my glory. Our DVR is at 98% capacity - filled with them.

Every evening for the past week as soon as we finished dinner I would lock myself in my bedroom and wrap presents while watching one sappy Christmas movie after another. When I was done wrapping for the night I would crawl under the covers and watch some more.

There is just something about the inevitable sadness of the movie eventually leading to the moment when the Christmas spirit works its magic and everyone lives happily ever after that gets me every time. I tear up and get goosebumps and just feel good inside. I can't help but feel the Christmas spirit even though I know it's just a silly made for TV movie. Call me a sentimental fool - but I always say if the shoe fits, buy it in multiple colors!

The question now is, do I erase the unwatched ones and wait until next year to start over? Or do I just keep on watching until I run out of movies?

Any advice?

So perhaps I was on edge a bit

2011-12-18T19:53:00.000-05:00

When I had two meltdowns and wrote that last post. Here's a photo of this year's Baker Christmas tree. It's not that bad. It's 10 feet tall, it smells good and it looks pretty all decorated. What it isn't is a big fat tree. Maybe next year ...

With one week to go before Christmas, lots of things are done and crossed off the list:

The tree is up and decorated.
The house is decorated, inside and out.
The house is relatively tidy and the bathrooms are clean.
The Christmas cards are 'in the mail.'
Cookies have been baked and are being eaten (even though the latter half of that sentence was not in the plan - at least not yet)
Most of the shopping is done - I have about 3 or 4 more things to get - two of them gift cards.

So, all in all, I'm in pretty good shape. No need for hysterics. What a different perspective from 12 days ago. Anyway, lots of wrapping this week as well as a final swath through the house with a dust cloth and a vacuum cleaner on Thursday night/Friday morning. And then the kids will arrive and Grammie will arrive and it will be the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Pre Christmas Meltdown

2011-12-06T18:30:00.000-05:00

I'm not particularly proud of myself for the story I am about to tell. But I'm thinking if I throw it out into the blogosphere I'll feel better. And since that's why I started this blog, really, as a bit of an emotional outlet, here it comes.

I had two meltdowns this past weekend. We're talking yelling and screaming and in general acting like a real brat. I think some of the underlying causes were valid, but my behavior was really out of line.

The first "event" (as I will refer to them) came on Saturday as we were on our way across town to go to a party. Steve was angry because he had caught Lola with her paws up, nose on the table very close to snatching the appetizer we were supposed to be taking with us. Now, mind you, she didn't get it - she needed another moment or two - but he went crazy. He yelled at her, she took off and headed upstairs to find me to save her. He chased her up three flights of stairs so he could chastise her. A bit of an over reaction, I felt. From there we went on to discuss the beach house we are looking to rent for the summer and whether or not it needed a pool. (It doesn't but we need a decent sized house as there will be 12 of us - all adults. The bigger houses often have pools.) From there it just went on. I spend too much money. He's always gone. He wished we could get rid of the hounds, I love the hounds. Etc, so on and so forth until I was crying and telling him to take me home because I was in no mood for a party. He didn't. We went and had a really good time actually. Maybe some air clearing was just necessary.

The second "event" took place on Sunday when Steve brought the Christmas tree in and put it in the stand. I have written a couple of blog posts in the past about the Christmas tree tradition and how I like big fat trees. Well, I reacted to this tree as if it were an embarrassment to Christmas trees around the world. And he and Caitlin both laughed at me! That sent me right over the edge. I'm not proud of how I acted. I know it's only a tree. But it's really important to me. And no one seems to care - maybe that's what got to me.

In retrospect I think what's really getting to me is everything. It's the holiday season fa la la la la. But the world just doesn't stop so we can all have a Norman Rockwell Christmas. We all still have jobs and have to go to work every day (and thank God for that.) It's not like I can go shopping at my leisure. The house still needs cleaned, the dogs walked, the laundry done. But December 25th is still advancing at a steady pace.

So tonight I think I will put on some Christmas music, pour myself a glass of wine and finish decorating the tree. After all, if it's really an embarrassment to Christmas trees everywhere, it shouldn't take long to do.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T17:13:00.000-05:00

We shouldn't really need a designated day to be thankful for all that we have. We should count our blessings everyday. So even though Thanksgiving 2011 is in the bag, I am still thankful today for:

My family. Yesterday was such a great day because our family of five was joined by my sister, three of her four children and her grandson. I knew my sister and my nephew Chris would be joining us but Ellen, Beth and Nicolas were a wonderful surprise!

Our health. Yes, Steve has a sore knee from jumping rope, Jack has a swollen ankle from playing in the annual GA Turkey Bowl, and Caitlin has sore knees but for the most part we are healthy and thankful for it.
My hounds who love me unconditionally.

My immediate family who humor me every Thanksgiving by letting me pick the family movie for our annual Thanksgiving movie event. This year it was The Muppets and I've been told I never get to pick again, but I'm hoping by next year they have forgotten that edict! For the record, I liked it.

Our great friends, without whom life would be boring.
Our continued employment jobs that enable us to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table and so much more.
The real live employment including benefits and 401Ks of our two oldest children. Two down, one to go.
My great coworkers who make every day at the office fun - I know not everyone is as lucky as I.
This great country we live in.
All of you reading this, whether I know you personally or just through this blog, Facebook, or Twitter. I'm thankful for each and every one of you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So here's what you missed ...

2011-11-14T21:11:00.000-05:00

It appears I have taken an unplanned hiatus from blogging. I guess I ran out of things to blog about - wait, that wasn't it. I have a lot of material, but just no motivation. I have The Caitlin Syndrome in reverse. You see when Caitlin (child #2, daughter #1) went off to South Carolina in the fall of 2007 I missed her terribly and started blogging as a way to deal with my feelings. Fast forward to June of this year - she has graduated from college, moved home, and found a job - within 8 weeks! She's living at home for the time being so she can save some money before striking out on her own. So she's back. And my blogging has become almost non existent. Voila - The Caitlin Syndrome in reverse!

Anyway - here's what you missed ...

After Alaska which I wrote about here, here and here I spent most of August, September and the beginning of October working on my magnum opus - my Alaska photo journal which you can see here if you are at all interested.

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Columbus to help Sera move into her new apartment for her final year at OSU. My how time does fly. My baby is in her senior year of college. Yikes.

My birthday was also in September. I get to add another year to the right digit of my age. Right digit adds are OK it's the left digit flips that really hurt. I got flowers from Steve and Caitlin and an amazing arrangement of chocolate covered fruit truffles from Jack delivered to the office. Somehow deliveries always make things more fun so that was awesome. Sera checked in throughout the day with birthday wishes too! My work BFFs took me out for a great lunch and my non work BFFs took me out for a fun dinner and drinks. All in all, it was a pretty nice day.

The beginning of October brought Jack's birthday. Since it's not easy for a mom to buy her going on 26 year old son clothing and since said going on 26 year old son said he really needed clothing, I went down to Columbus and we spent a Sunday shopping and hanging out. He even cooked dinner - some seriously good chili made from bison meat, sausage and shrimp which we decided should be called Chil-Bo - a combination of chili and gumbo. It was in a word - amazing. He got some much needed new threads and I got to spend a really nice day with him. Life is good.

Mid October brought a mini vacation with my hubby to Longboat Key, Florida on the Gulf Coast. Steve had to be in Florida for work purposes two weeks in a row. Financially it made no sense for him to come home on the weekend in between so he looked up an old college buddy and stayed with him for the weekend. I think he felt a little guilty being gone for so long so he invited me to join him Wednesday through Sunday of the second week. We stayed right on the beach and it was lovely. The weather was beautiful - we hung out on the beach all day, ate lunch beach-side and then went out for dinner in the evenings. It was a totally relaxing trip.

The following week found me in Las Vegas for a work conference. I am not much of a Las Vegas person but I traveled with fun work mates and we stayed at a really nice resort and ate at really great restaurants so how much can I complain? We even got to visit Gold and Silver Pawn Shop where the TV show Pawn Stars is filmed. That was a highlight! The conference itself was very good - came back with lots of great ideas that need to be put into action.

On October 30th we went to see a production of the Wizard of Oz at Playhouse Square. It was fun - I mean how can you go wrong with a beloved story that everyone knows? It certainly was not Wicked, however, not even close.

Oh, by the way, on November 1st my company bought another company and now I am up to my eyeballs in systems integration along with beta testing of our enterprise software's newest release - an outcome of the conference. When it rains it pours. But hey it's job security - right?

Last week I got to go to opening night for La Cage Aux Folles with none other than George Hamilton playing the role of Georges. The show was great, as were the fabulous seats my friend Amy scored for it!

This past weekend the daughter of one of my dearest friends was married so it was a fun busy weekend. Jack came home to go to the wedding and we got to meet his delightful new girlfriend so that was fun as well.

So, you can see, I've been busy. And to quote another good friend, "it's good to be me."

So that's what you missed

Until next time ....

Wordless Wednesday - Here we go Brownies, here we go! Woof Woof

2011-09-21T14:53:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday - Papasan!

2011-09-14T11:50:00.000-04:00

What do you remember?

2011-09-11T09:00:00.001-04:00

What do you remember from that day 10 years ago today?

I remember driving to work in Twinsburg on a beautiful September morning. It was a crisp fall day with bright blue skies and wispy clouds. I remember that I was listening to an audio book on the drive and was totally oblivious to what was happening in our world that day. I remember wondering why Brandon Cole was listening to the radio rather loudly, something that was usually frowned upon. I actually stopped to bust his chops as I walked by on the way to my office. He was the one who told me about the first plane. And then as I was standing there talking to him, the second plane hit. I remember saying "oh my God, my husband is flying."

I remember running to my desk and calling my husband's cell phone. Of course it went straight to voice mail, he was flying. I called his administrative assistant in Columbus and asked her if she had heard from him. Right before he got on the plane was her answer. We promised each other to call the minute we knew more. I hung up and saw my voice mail light blinking. It was Jack, who was 15, worrying about his father. He had no cell phone at the time so he ran from assembly at school to the office to use the phone to try and check on his dad. As soon as i hung up from voice mail my phone rang and it was Steve. He was calling from Grand Rapids, Michigan where his plane had been grounded. He had no idea what was going on - the pilot's only communication to the passengers were that they were being grounded due to a national emergency. He assured me he was all right. He was renting a van and driving anyone who wanted a ride back to Cleveland. We hung up and my phone rang again. It was Jack, voice trembling, asking if I had any word about Steve. Fortunately I was able to tell him that his dad was fine. Little did I know then how many other kids wouldn't get a good answer to that question that day.

I remember that we gathered in the cafeteria, in conference rooms, in hallways, and in lobbies watching TVs set up to keep us informed. When the news came of a possible threat to Cleveland we were told to go home. I went to St. Ann School to pick Caitlin and Sera up before they got on the bus. Caitlin was 12, Sera 11. They were all a buzz because they had been outside for recess and had seen the plane that turned over Cleveland. It was flying very low and they said they could see the people in the windows of the plane. I was horrified.

I remember we went home to wait for Jack and Steve to get home. I called all my loved ones, making sure they were safe. And then I sat and watched those planes hit the towers, over and over again while the girls were upstairs doing their homework not really understanding the magnitude of the day.

I remember Steve getting home much later that night, having been fortunate enough to get the last rental vehicle available at the Grand Rapids Airport. I remember my sense of relief that my family was finally home, safe and under one roof.

And I remember thinking that our world had changed forever this day. And I remember being afraid

What do you remember?

Six-Word Book Reviews - My Reads of June, July & August

2011-09-10T19:58:00.000-04:00

While I was out walking the hounds today (a story in itself) I started thinking about the status of my book reviews. To no one's surprise, I am way behind, once again. From there I jumped (in my mind) to the Twitter stream I was part of yesterday where I was asked to tweet what I was reading and give a six word synopsis. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. I decided to get through 3 months worth of book reviews using six-word reviews.

So without further ado -

Love at Absolute Zero by Christopher Meeks

Physicist looks for love, wrong places.

Grade: D

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow

Alaskan natives versus outsiders, old, new.

Grade: C

Don't Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk

NY PR man escapes to tropics

Grade: B+

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff

Triumph over tragedy against great odds.

Grade: B+

Escape by Barbara Delinsky

High powered couple stuck in rut.

Grade: C

Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Crazy mom, distant dad, poor kid.

Grade: C

A Secret Kept by Tatiana DeRosnay

Family secret discovered by adult children.

Grade: C

Grade Key:

A - I loved it
B - I liked it - a lot.
C - I liked it
D - I was indifferent to it.
F - I hated it

Now that I have that monkey off my back I can get back to work on my Alaskan photo album!

Happy reading!

Wordless Wednesday - So Pretty!

2011-08-31T11:21:00.000-04:00

Domestic Violets

2011-08-19T14:15:00.000-04:00

Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman

Domestic Violets is Matthew Norman's first novel and I am pretty certain it won't be his last. He has a great voice with a writing style reminiscent of Jonathan Tropper or Joshua Ferris. And that is a good thing.

The book opens with our main character, Tom Violet, fretting and worrying over his inability to get an erection - I mean c'mon, he had me at hello! He has a job he hates, a wife he is afraid may be having an affair, a novelist Dad that drinks too much and womanizes, and a dog with high anxiety. In a nutshell, Tom's existence is crushing his own soul. Seriously, what is there not to love?

Turns out Tom is a copywriter working for a large corporation whose entire raison d'etre is beyond him. He refers to it as the Death Star. He refers to his office nemesis as Darth Vader. He rebels in lots of little ways - he won't wear a tie, he doesn't spew company propaganda even though it is at the core of his job, and he has a serious crush on his 23 year old intern. It is all so real - I think that's why it works.

The book is quirky and fun and a fast read. I have already told lots of people about it and now I'm telling you. For a good time read Domestic Violets.

Grade: B++++

Full disclosure: I was provided a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes by NetGalley. I was not required to give it a good review, however.

Mat Kearney - Young Love, a CD review

2011-08-18T17:33:00.001-04:00

This is a bit of a departure for me. If you follow my blog you know I do a lot of book reviews and I even indirectly review music concerts that I attend, but I have never done just a straight up CD review. So this is a first.

Let me start with full disclosure. I was given a copy of this CD for the purpose of reviewing it from the nice folks at One2One Network. However, I am not obligated to give it a good review. Now, with that out of the way, let me begin.

There are a lot of Matts on the music scene right now. There's Matt Nathanson, Matt Costa, Matt Hires, Matt White, Matt Wertz, and even Matt & Kim. Honest, I have them all on my iPod. I didn't have Mat Kearney until I got this CD and I have to admit, I was missing out on something good.

I have listened to the album (do we still call them that?) three or four times from start to finish and I like it - a lot. I like every track - from the catchy Hey Mama to the little more mellow Learning to Love Again and all of the ones in between. The music is fun and easy to listen to; he has a great voice and the lyrics are really good. I am a totally into lyrics and I like to listen to the words of songs. After only a handful of listens I can't say I know these by heart but I like what I heard. And I want to hear more.

Lucky for me I have this CD.

Our Home(s) Away From Home

2011-08-17T13:42:00.002-04:00

So it seems the most frequent questions I get asked about our Alaska trip are about planning it and where we stayed. And oh, did we see a bear? Here are the answers to those burning questions:

Did we take a cruise? No
Did we use a travel agent to arrange everything? No
Did we drive until we were ready to stop and then look for a place to stay? No. We were planning to be in Alaska at the peak of the high season. Other than in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Valdez (on our route) there really weren't hotel chains. We stayed in local hotels, B&B's, lodges and cabins. And for those type of accommodations reservations needed to be made well in advance. Otherwise we would be sleeping in our rented Dodge Journey.Steve did a really great job of studying The Milepost and figuring out where to stay. Only one place didn't live up to what we were expecting so we left and luckily found other accommodations that night.
Did we see a bear? Yes! He was just standing there in the middle of the road as we came around a curve (in our car, thankfully). I was so excited I fumbled the camera and missed the photo op! Oh well, we know what he looked like!

So anyway - following are some photos of and some facts about our "Homes Away From Home:"

First stop - Anchorage, Alaska's largest city with a population of 291,826, more than 40% of the state's total. We stayed there two nights (the first after arriving at 9:00 PM local time - 1:00 AM EST) at the Homewood Suites Anchorage. It looks just like every other Homewood Suite on the outside but this guy standing in the lobby gave it a bit more of a local feel.

Grizzly!

From Anchorage we headed north to Talkeetna, Alaska - population 860. Talkeetna is a cool little town that has the same vibe as the old TV show Northern Exposure. (In fact, after doing some checking I discovered it was commonly thought that the fictitious town of Cicely where Northern Exposure was filmed was based on Talkeetna.) We stayed at Susitna River Lodge and Cabins, a wonderfully warm and cozy spot. We had a loft room in the lodge that overlooked the river. It was such a peaceful spot I was sad that we would only be staying there one night.


Susitna River Lodge

View from our window

Our next stop took us to Healy, population 971 located about 10 miles north of Denali National Park. Healy's claim to fame (not really) is that it is where Sarah Palin's parents live. We didn't see them. We stayed at Denali Lakeview Inn. We had a really nice room with a view of Otto Lake and the Alaska Range in the distance.

Denali Lakeview Inn

View from our window

From Denali we headed north again to Fairbanks, the second largest city in Alaska with a population of 35,000. (If you take in the greater Fairbanks metropolitan area the population jumps to almost 98,000!) We stayed at the Hampton Inn there for two nights, using it as home base as we explored the area.

A Hampton Inn is a Hampton Inn no matter where you go. And sometimes that's a good thing. The employees were super friendly as they were all over the state. And we met a lot of ex military who were staying there on long term assignment as they trained the Singapore Air Force on how to use some F14 fighters they purchased from us. Hmm, interesting, huh?

Leaving Fairbanks we headed south for Paxson, a booming metropolis with a population of 43 at the last census. We stayed at Denali Highway Cabins where the Denali Highway meets the Richardson Highway. It was a really pretty spot located right next to the Gulkana River with great views of Paxson Mountain. Our hosts at Denali Highway Cabins were Jenny and Audubon Bakewell. You may be thinking that Audubon is an unusual first name. Turns out Audie, as he introduced himself, is related to the guy who started the Audubon Society. And yes, he is a birder.


Denali Highway Cabin - this is where Steve's topsider disappeared	!

Next stop - Copper Center, population 362. We stayed at a bed and breakfast called The Copper Moose. It was a gorgeous log cabin with amazing views of the Wrangell St. Elias Mountains. Some of the peaks of this mountain range are active volcanoes and we were able to see steam spewing from them in the mornings.


Copper Moose B&B

View from the deck

From Copper Center we made our way to the coast to the seaport of Valdez, population 4,000. Unfortunately our time in Valdez was marred a bit by rain and heavy fog. Even so, it seemed like a really cool harbor town and I wish I could have seen it on a sunny day.

We stayed at the Best Western Valdez Harbor Inn. I'm thinking it was a pretty typical Best Western - even if it did have a colony of solid black rabbits living on the grounds. We were just really happy it had a guest laundry room!

Valdez Harbor Inn

Fog and a Fisherman - Valdez

From Valdez we took the Alaska Marine Highway Systems ferry to the port of Whittier (population176) on the other side of the Prince William Sound. Of course, we didn't stay in the cute little seaport, no we were staying at the Portage Valley RV Park (the name was a harbinger of bad things to come) which was a tunnel ride through the mountain and about 20 miles away.

The mailing address for Portage Valley RV Park is actually Girdwood, Alaska. Girdwood is also the home of Alyeska which is a ski resort. Why hubby chose to make reservations at the RV park instead of the ski resort I will never know. What I do know is that we arrived and found cute teeny cabins.

Portage RV Park Cabin

There was no running water at all. There were port-a-potties and a shower house and a garden hose for drinking water. I kind of freaked out. And we left. We ended up going into the ski resort area near Alyeska and found a place to stay there.

Near Mount Alyeska

It was a lovely condo inside this building with all the modern amenities, including a washer, dryer, dishwasher etc. Not that we needed them - but it was sure nice to have indoor plumbing!

Next stop on our itinerary was Homer, Alaska, on the Kenai Peninsula. Homer is actually a cool town, a lot bigger than I expected with a population of 5,364. It also has "the spit" a 4.5 mile gravel bar of land that extends out into Kachemak Bay. All along this spit are shops, restaurants, and fishing. Lots and lots of fishing! We stayed at the very end of the spit in a local hotel, Land's End Resort.


Land's End Resort

After Homer we headed back up the peninsula a bit to Cooper Landing, population 369. Here we would be staying at the Kenai River Drifters Lodge which was an amazing slice of heaven tucked into the mountains. The claim to fame in this part of Alaska is salmon fishing. The world record for the largest salmon ever caught was pulled out of the Kenai (pronounced keen-eye) River. It weighed 98 pounds!!!


Kenai River Drifters Lodge & Cabins - view one way

View the other way

After two nights in Cooper Landing we headed back to Anchorage and thoughts of home. This time we stayed at the Embassy Suites. It was actually a really nice, nice hotel. Hubby said he figured we deserved a little bit of luxury after our two weeks "in the wild" as he put it. As usual, he was right.

Lobby of the Embassy Suites - Anchorage

So there you have it. It was an absolutely beautiful trip; one I will never forget. The kicker - I kind of want to go back in the winter! Any takers?

Our first hike - Flattop Mountain

2011-08-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

A view of the trail form above.

On our first day in Alaska hubby and I went for a hike. This was not just any hike, oh no. This hike had great significance - it would set the tone for the rest of the hikes on our vacation. It was my time to shine - or not. For this momentous occasion Steve choose Flattop Mountain Trail in the Chugach Mountains State Park just outside Anchorage. It's not very long - only 1.7 miles each way but it is rated as "moderate to difficult" which immediately put fear in my heart.

Things started out a bit rough - there was no parking available in the parking lot at the trail head so we had to park halfway down the mountain and trudge up the road before we even could begin the hike. I was spent before we even started. Stalling in the parking lot so i could catch my breath I went to use the restroom. When I came out Steve was busy snapping photos of a baby moose. The mama was right nearby but she wasn't posing for any photos.

Of course the park naturalist told us that the moose were hanging around the trail because of the bears in the park. That really gave me a warm fuzzy as we set out on our hike.

Steve heading up.

The day was beautiful, bright blue skies and puffy clouds. The scenery was gorgeous. The trail overlooked the city of Anchorage.and Cook Inlet beyond. If only the hiking part wasn't so difficult (at least for me) it would have been a perfect day.

Pretty view on the way up.


Anchorage and Cook Inlet

One thing that I found very cool was how many people hiked with their dogs. A ton of them. After a while I started snapping pics of the "Dogs of Alaska" as I like to call them. Here are a few:

The end of the hike brought a surprise - a $200 parking ticket for parking in a fire lane. I, of course, had to rub Steve's face in it since he forced me to trudge up that mountain road! It became something we laughed about during the rest of the trip. And, oh by the way, you can be certain we never parked anywhere close to illegally again.

Welcome to Alaska!

North to Alaska

2011-08-06T17:29:00.001-04:00

So those of you who know me personally as well as those of you who follow me on Twitter or are my friends on Facebook know I just got back from a two week + trip to our 49th state. You probably also know that it wasn't my idea to vacation there. No, all credit for this trip goes to my hubby. Alaska was on his bucket list. Not only that, but by going there he has now completed another bucket list item - visiting all 50 states.

Sometime about 12 to 18 months ago he came home from an RV show (work related) in Arizona with a pretty thick book called The Milepost the legendary Alaska trip planner and travel guide to the highways, roads, ferries, lodgings, recreation, sightseeing attractions and services along all the Alaska Highways. He announced that his next trip was going to be to Alaska and that I was welcome to join him, but he was definitely going - with or without me. And so the planning began.

He studied The Milepost like he was studying for the Bar exam. Eventually he decided (with a little input from me) on our route. There would be no Alaskan Cruise in our future; that was too organized for him. Instead we would be doing a fly and drive trip with a route of just under 2,000 miles to be covered in 15 days.. Once the route was established, we would sit with our laptops and the ever present Milepost and figure out what we wanted to see and how far we wanted to travel each day. Then we would make calls to secure lodging in our destination for the night. Only in the biggest cities, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Valdez, did we stay in hotel chains. The rest of the time we were in log cabins, lodges, or B&B's. And only once did we find a place not on par with our expectations - so we left. The rest of the places were wonderful. As were all the people - simply wonderful. As a group they were warm and friendly, without exception.

So the purpose of this post is not to take you through our 15 days on the road. I'm sure Blogger has some sort of limitation on blog length. But instead what I wanted to do was 'fess up. I was only lukewarm to the idea of this trip. It was a long way to go in my humble opinion to not have a beach and umbrella drinks when we got there. But I was wrong. (Except about the hiking - but that's fodder for another blog post.)

So first and foremost - cheers to my hubby for being the best darn trip planner a girl could have. Second, I had heard over and over from many people how beautiful Alaska is - but until you see it you can't comprehend it. It was so much more than I anticipated. The grandeur of God's work is everywhere you turn. We probably never spent more than 30 minutes driving at any time. Every 5 minutes, if that, we were pulling off the road and taking a photo (or 10) or following a trail or having a picnic. For the most part we were "off the grid." No cell reception, no satellite radio - we couldn't even get our TomTom to work. But we were just fine without all that. We had an iPod that we used for car tunes, we had our cameras and we had each other. And life was good. We enjoyed our time away from the hustle and bustle of our jobs and our everyday lives. After all, isn't that what vacations are supposed to be?

The Sixth Man - David Baldacci

2011-08-03T14:22:00.001-04:00

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci

My husband is huge David Baldacci fan. Having never read this author before I decided to give The Sixth Man a try and now I understand why he likes his books. I believe he is a "must read" author for any political thriller fans out there.

This book grabbed me from page 1 of the prologue and kept me hooked until the final pages. It took a while before the author tied the prologue and the main story together and I really did not anticipate how the two would meet. I like books that keep me wondering and this one did a fine job of it.

The characters were well written and the premise was very interesting. I'm assuming that there is some fact from which the novel was derived and I am very curious to know if such a program as described in the book really does exist in the deepest, darkest corners of our government. Hmmm, a bit scary actually. The action was non-stop and the ending pretty much blew me away.

Without a doubt I will be reading more by David Baldacci as well as recommending this book to others.

Grade: B

Full disclosure: I was provided a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. I was not required to give it a good review, however.

Road Tripping - BTW Style - Part 2 - South Carolina

2011-07-11T19:00:00.001-04:00

So, on our first day in South Carolina we got up and went to Walmart, the only game in town for serious shopping adventures. Little did any of us realize that we would make many trips to this particular Walmart during our stay.

Back to the house to get ready to head to the community pool. It was really hot - way above the average temps normally seen in these parts in May. It made for a good pool day.

BTW entering the pool

Funny sign by the trash cans

We hung out most of the afternoon and then went home to have cocktails on the veranda. It was lovely. That evening Master Chef Michele and Sous Chef Kim made us a fabulous dinner.

Master Chef Michele

~~Soused~~, er Sous Chef Kim

On Monday we decided to hit the beach - as in Hilton Head. Cathy had told us it was a 20 minute drive - in actuality it was 45 minutes - maybe even an hour. But hey - who's actually counting (this eventually becomes a very relevant question)? It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and again - it was hot, hot, hot.

A BTW tradition!

Pretty beach - fun watching the dogs

On Tuesday we headed into Beaufort to see the sights and do some shopping. Beaufort is a quaint little city sometimes referred to as Little Savannah. There's a pretty waterfront, lots of flowers everywhere, fun shops and lots of southern hospitality to be found.

On Tuesday all hell broke loose for Michele. We knew when we left the CLE that there was a very strong possibility that she was going to have to fly home mid week and fly back to continue her vacation. Well things went from bad to worse. She really didn't get much of a vacation at all. She worked in the mornings and took calls all day before having to fly out, not to return on Wednesday.

On Tuesday night Cathy told us that it was a tradition for everyone who stayed in the house to take a photograph of the group that would be displayed on the walls of the elevator. We tried several spots, laughed like crazy fools and basically ended up taking a communal shower - but ended up with a few photos worthy of the wall.

Here are the two finalists (out of about 30 photos):

Always a favorite - photo on the stairs

And a not so common spot - in the bathtub!

On Wednesday we said goodbye to Michele as we put her in a taxi headed to Savannah Airport. We were a bit worried for her safety so we took this shot in case we had to report her missing:

Bye Mitch, make sure you call us from the airport!

On Thursday we would be leaving our lovely digs in SC and heading up to Virginia Beach for the Buffett concert that night. The plan was to get there about noon and have a beach day since our hotel was right on the beach.

When we decided we should Map Quest the directions from Beaufort to the hotel in Virginia Beach we got quite a surprise! Remember, we were working under the impression that VB was about 140 miles from Beaufort. Kim was standing behind me as I typed all the info into Map Quest. I pressed the enter key and then scrolled to the bottom to see how long it would take and about shit my pants - it said the mileage between the two cities was 550 miles - 8 hours drive time!!! I was horrified. Kim was looking over my shoulder and said "that can't be right." I said, "let's try Google Maps - this really can't be right." Like switching websites was going to bring the two places closer together. We tried Yahoo, we tried Google and we tried redoing Map Quest - all to no avail. It was indeed 550 miles away. Our plans for a beach day evaporated in the mist - or should I say - in the car?

I have never seen Cathy angry before - and she was angry. I felt bad and Kim felt even worse. We sent Calla in to talk to Cathy; there was even talk of scuttling the whole trip to Virginia Beach and just eating the cost of the tickets. But it didn't come to that. We got up Thursday morning, closed up the house, took our trash to the dump and left for Virginia Beach. The sun was shining and we were on the road again!

At the dump!

To be continued ....

Rub a Dub Dub - Bassets in the Tub

2011-07-10T17:19:00.000-04:00

Today was a steamy 90 degree day with not a cloud in the sky in our neighborhood. Caitlin decided the hounds needed a bath for two reasons: they smelled like ripe basset hounds and they were hot. So out came the baby pool and the hose. I decided to do the unthinkable and document bath time with hubby's 35 mm digital SLR which I am verboten to operate. (I have earned the nickname of El Destructo of late - everything I touch I seem to break - so he kind of has good reason.) My own camera needed a battery charge so I had no choice if I were to get the events on film.

The minute Caitlin turned the hose on Reggie took off for parts unknown upstairs. Lola followed Caitlin outside as if she was going to her own execution. They are not terribly fond of baths - these dogs of mine.

Following are shots of Lola getting her rub - a dub- dub.

Thoughtful Lola sits patiently for Caitlin

Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been - huh?

Enough - no need to dunk me!

Please can I be done?

My job, besides being the photographer to the stars, was to dry each dog as they exited the pool. I had Lola to a medium dry status when Caitlin reemerged from the house dragging Sir Reginald to his spa bath. I let go of Lola to start taking the photos of Reggie shown here:

On word for Reggie - stoic

Please be gentle with me.

Yep, that's the spot

Yes, I do have very long ears.

While I was busy photographing Reggie, Lola began running wild circles around the yard, eventually stopping to roll over and over in an area near the fire pit which has no grass. In other words in her semi dry state she was rolling in the dirt until she was literally covered in it. And she was damn happy about it!

Yep, I'm mudy and I'm cute!

Who says dogs can't smile?

What's the big deal anyway?

By this time Reggie was out of the pool and ready to be dried. I had to chase Lola down to get her back in the pool for round 2. Reggie thought the chase was a game so he joined in too - but he didn't roll in the dirt so he didn't have to be bathed again. However, I guess he thought Lola was getting too much attention because he climbed in with her with no coaxing at all!

Reggie just sat there as Lola got her 2nd bath.

Bassets in a tub.

Eventually we got them both out onto dry land.

Reggie says "worth it!"

Lola says "I just had a really good time!"

The end!

Road Tripping - BTW Style - Part 1 - Planning and Getting There

2011-07-06T19:00:00.000-04:00

So way back in February I presented each of my BFF's with a copy of our 2010 yearbook, Captain's Log 2010. As we sat there paging through all the photos taken on our adventures last year we decided that we needed to giddy up and get some events scheduled for 2011.

Now 2011 has some built in complications - health wise (with some hubbies); professionally (someones company being sold, someone else didn't get rehired for her summer job); financially (someones daughter is getting married); and already booked (someone - ME - is going to Alaska for 17 days). All those things made us think we couldn't go on a girl's trip this summer. But the more wine we drank the more ideas we came up with for "cheap vacations." And then out of the mouth of Cathy came "We could go to South Carolina and stay at my sister-in-law's vacation house for free. It has 5 bedrooms, a guest cottage, there's a pool and it's 20 minutes outside Hilton Head!" We immediately grabbed our calendars and began to coordinate the 2011 BTW Road Trip!

Gracious living in Beaufort, SC

And so it came to pass that the week of May 22nd would be BTW Road Trip week. We would take one car to save money on gas, We would buy groceries and cook meals at home rather than eat out at every meal. We would not over buy alcohol as we did in Key West. We would be frugal - even if it is an ugly word! Those were the ground rules.

And then in late March/early April the Jimmy Buffett 2011 tour dates began to emerge. With every new city and date announced we had to deal with the same issues as stated above. It was not looking good for our annual pilgrimage to see my hero. From Calla we heard:

"OK Here is a Jimmy thought. It seems we are having trouble finding a summer date that is good for everyone and I hate the thought of splinter groups. So what about Tennessee? I think I saw the date was May 28th. Maybe we could swing by on the way to SC. Kind of a great way to kick off the summer and another BTW adventure vacation. I looked at a map and is seems only slightly out of the way. ( of course slightly is all relative) The only added cost would be one night in a hotel- OK maybe two. We are old. Anyway, just a random thought."

Since it was Calla suggesting this and she had the timing confused - we would be on our way home not going to SC and since she has been known to suggest crazy things before I did my homework and sent the following response:

"I think this is a great fun plan! However, never one to squash a Jimmy plan let me be the voice of reason. If after that we all agree, I’m buying tickets.
1. It is roughly 750 miles from Cleveland to Beaufort,SC. About 12.5 hours
2. It is roughly 550 miles from Beaufort, SC to Nashville, TN – minimum 9 hours
3. It is roughly 550 miles from Nashville, TN to Cleveland, OH – minimum 9 hours
4. The show is indoors in a Gund Arena type place.
5. I just looked. Tix went on sale this morning but there are still some available. Either $165/each for lower level rows pretty close to the stage or; $105/each or upper level further back. The cheap seats ~$50/each are gone.
So am I buying them?"

And then Kim piped in with: (I am paraphrasing here as I seem to have deleted this gem of an email)

"I just checked and he's playing Atlanta on Tuesday that week and Virgina Beach on Thursday. It's about 230 miles to Atlanta and about 140 miles to Virginia Beach. If we went to Atlanta we would have to drive back to SC but if we went to Virginia Beach we could spend our last couple of nights there. And it's on the way home!"

Sold! Since this was Kim's idea I didn't question her facts. Neither did anyone else. Without looking at a map or consulting the stars I bought us 5 tickets to the sold-out show in Virginia Beach. Let's just say the cost of those tickets took our cheap vacation and pushed it up a notch on the money scale. But hey - we were in actuality combining two trips into one so it was OK.

So it began. We left bright and early Saturday morning - all 5 of us in Cathy's husband's Honda CRV. It actually was not a bad fit for the five of us. We had a seat rotation plan, we had a Tom Tom, we had an iPod (without an adapter but we didn't know it at the time), we had our luggage and we had some road food. Off we went. We stopped at least 6 times on the drive down. We were women - we had needs. We did not have husbands telling us we couldn't stop.

After a rather rough time of it finding the house in Habersham, SC in the dark we finally were there! The house was lovely. Gracious southern style living. We set out claiming bedrooms and checking everything out. In addition to five bedrooms and at least that many bathrooms, the house has a complete outside kitchen, a walk-in wine cooler and an elevator. Yep - an elevator!

To be continued ...

It's Not All Fun and Games at This Dog Park

2011-06-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

The Dog Park: A Collection of Stories with a Common Cast of Characters
by Ann Elwood

The writing style of this book - crafting separate stories with a common character threaded through them has become a popular technique lately. It works quite effectively in this case. The common character is not always the same one - although one of the dogs, Argus, does appear in all of the stories.

What struck me the most as I read The Dog Park: A Collection of Stories with a Common Cast of Characters was that it was not at all what I expected. I expected funny little anecdotes about people and their dogs - nothing too serious, nothing too deep. Instead what I got was a group of mostly flawed characters who have one thing in common - their love of dogs.

After finishing the book, I took my two hounds out for a walk, mulling over what I would write in this review. I found myself going through the dogs in my mind and matching them up with their owners as I walked. I was able to match: Jane and Stretch, Cara and Argus, Chase and Voltaire, Barb and Roy, Zoe and Gretel, Harvest and Aquarius, JP and Reel, Dr Tom, Maddy and MacDougal, Sarah and Jax, Coyote and King, Todd and Felicity, Miguel and Bonnie, Adriana, Josef and Teddy, Olivia and Dizzy and Jasmine and Harry.

You have to admit that's a lot of recall for an old brain like mine! I was able to do this because the characters and their dogs were very well written, making it easy for me to remember them.

Each story tugged at my heart. Old dogs, puppies, shelter dogs, and purebred dogs - all of them are represented at the dog park. Some have owners worthy of their unending devotion while some do not. But the group of people who meet every day at the dog park are all made stronger and are enriched by their dealings with each other and most importantly with their dogs.

Grade: B

Disclosure: I was given a complimentary copy of this book to read and review by BookRooster.com

Reading Wrap-up April & May

2011-06-23T18:01:00.000-04:00

It appears I have fallen out of rhythm with my book posts again. It's just so easy to let the days turn into weeks and then months and before you know it I am looking back at the whole year like this post.

So, in an effort to not fall as far behind as I did then, here's my reading wrap up for April and May. For those two months I read the following eight books. (I actually read nine, but I wrote about Unsinkable here.)

Exile by Richard North Patterson

This my second RNP book in as many months and I am OK with that. He writes compelling novels with lots of twists and turns so I am never sure of who the bad guys are until he decides to lay it out for me. I like that in a book. The back drop for this book is the Israeli/Palestine conflict, a topic I am ashamed to admit I don't really know or fully understand. Reading this book made me want to get a better grasp on the events of 1946 through the present so I did a little investigative reading on my own when I finished the book. To me - that's a sign of a good book.

Grade: B

The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Jim Gorant

Most people that I told I was reading this book had the same reaction - why? Why would I read what I knew would be a terribly sad/horrifying book about cruelty to dogs? And my answer - I really don't know why I started it. I do know however, after finishing this book that Michael Vick should not be back on the football field making gazillions of dollars. Nope - he should be tortured in exactly the same manner that he helped to torture those innocent dogs. No amount of time served in prison can make amends for what he did and what he bid others to do.

The bright spot in this book is that almost all the dogs were able to be rehabilitated. I look at pit bulls in such a different light since reading this book. Mr. Gorant does a fine job of bringing these gentle souls to the forefront and showing that they are not "born killers" at all. Kudos for that.

If you can bring yourself to read it knowing full well what you are getting into - by all means do so.

Grade: B

Room by Emma Donohue

Room was our BTW pick for the month of April. There was so much hype/buzz surrounding this book when I was working at the bookstore that I was a little hesitant to read it. I am happy to say I felt the novel lived up to the hype.

At first I had a bit of a hard time getting into the book - being narrated by a 5 year old child, and a very precocious one at that. But eventually it just worked. It was his story really, and he was telling it. Once I accepted that it was fine. I felt like the author did a tremendous job with the setting and the pacing. I was getting claustrophobic just reading the book. I don't want to give any spoilers but there were a few parts where I felt the story was a bit implausible. I came to the conclusion that that part of the story wasn't really as important as what came before and after it so it was OK if it was weak. I know that's cryptic but I really don't want to spill anything in case you might happen to read the book - which I recommend that you do!

Grade: B

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

This was an inspiring book. I might have compared it to Stones for Schools except now that would not be a good thing so I won't.

Conor Grennan was a 20 something young man out to see the world. When razzed by his friends that he was being a bit selfish and short sighted by squandering his savings on an around the world trip he shot back that it wouldn't be just a pleasure trip. After all, he was volunteering at an orphanage in Nepal! Little did he know that the three weeks he spent there would change his life.

A well written and moving story about yet another plight I knew nothing about. Conor saw a void and attempted to fill it. Excuse me, he is attempting (present tense) to fill it. He saw a wrong and is actively working to make it right. As I said, an inspiring book. I have been recommending it to everyone. I hope you will read it.

Grade: A

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

I was on a roll. I was reading a fairly well rounded group of books and liking them. And then I felt the need for something a bit easier. Not quite chick lit - but heading there. And I found The Weird Sisters. Rosalind (As You Like It), Bianca (The Taming of the Shrew) and Cordelia (King Lear) Andreas were named by their father after females characters in William Shakespeare's plays. This same father spoke to them primarily in Shakespearean verse. The three sisters were all different of course. Two left their home in Barnwell, Ohio after/during college and one stayed behind. Mom gets cancer, sisters all come home to help - all hiding something from each other. Fairly typical story line but not a bad read. As I said - it was easy. If you are looking for something light - give it a try.

Grade: C

Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

OK - now we are talking chick lit. This book was one step above a Harlequin Romance. I have read quite a few of Ms Picoult's books in the past and I must say this might have been the last. Really a fall for her. Don't bother.

Grade: D

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

Still in the chick lit mode - please don't judge me too harshly. Stay at home mom versus the high powered attorney single mom - almost a pariah at the expensive day school her young son attends. When Charlie gets burned by a campfire at a sleepover and needs plastic surgery things get dicey. Add in the good looking plastic surgeon who is married to one of the stay at home moms and there are more than just campfire flames. Really chick lit. But better than the last book.

Grade: C

I'm Going to Live My Life Like A Jimmy Buffett Song by Anthony Bjorklund

And finally - I was on vacation. It was a short story. It was about my two favorite topics - the beach and Jimmy Buffett. Was it a work of art or a great masterpiece? No. Did I enjoy every word? Hell yes. There's even a guide to what not to miss in Key West at the end.

I can almost taste the margaritas!

Grade: C

Since when does mental illness make a funny musical? Just asking?

2011-06-15T16:25:00.000-04:00

So what I want to know is whose bright idea it was to present bipolar disease as a musical, with humor, no less? Yes, you read that correctly – a musical, with laughs. In case you don’t have any idea what I am talking about let me tell you.

Last night my two friends and I went to Playhouse Square to see the last play of our Broadway Series. The play was Next to Normal. I was aware of the fact that the topic of the play was mental illness. I was also aware of the fact that the play has been garnering a lot of critical acclaim. I was even aware of the fact that Alice Ripley won a Tony Award for her performance as Diane Goodman. But none of that in any way prepared me for the play itself. Or that the family in the play in many ways resembled my own growing up.

Dysfunctional family, check.

Parent that suffers from deep depression check.

Death of a child (my nephew), check.

Sibling that self medicates depression with drugs and alcohol, check.

My own journey through the world of psycho therapy and related pharmacology, check.

All the pieces were there – my own family’s struggles added up to a different finished puzzle than the one portrayed in the play, but it hit home, none the less. Add to that the worry I have about my own children and the genetic time bomb they are carrying (just like the daughter in the play) and it equals a really depressing (pun intended) night at the theatre. And I paid money for this torment.

My one friend who has similar family history left the play at intermission, sobbing, and went to the bar next door to wait. It hit just a little too close to home for her. My other friend didn’t quite get how personally the play affected people suffering with various forms of mental illness in the family. We went to the bar to find our friend and had some good conversation about why the play affected two of us differently than the third. We talked about it – a lot. We laid a lot of things bare out there on the bar.

So maybe the play did what it was intended to do. It got us, three fairly well adjusted, middle aged women talking about mental illness in a bar no less. Let’s hope it gets a lot of people talking and maybe understanding just a bit more. Let’s hope so because it sure as hell wasn’t funny. And it shouldn’t have been a musical – but maybe, just maybe it needed to be done. Maybe.

You know those "people of Walmart" photos that are all over the internet?

2011-06-07T21:51:00.000-04:00

I took a few of my own.

Taken at the Walmart in Beaufort, SC.

I always wondered if those photos were staged.

Now I know the truth - they aren't!

Consider this a sign

2011-06-07T21:31:00.000-04:00

Seen on the beach at Hilton Head

Eat, drink and get some exercise - all for a good cause

2011-05-20T14:06:00.000-04:00

My neighbors, Steve and Cynthia Crowley lost their ten year old daughter, Olivia to cancer a few years ago. To help raise much needed funds and awareness about children's cancer they are chairing the Northeast Ohio CureSearch Walk on Saturday June 4th at University Circle.

Olivia Crowley

Some things you probably don't know and pray to God you never need to know:

- Besides accidents, cancer is the leading cause of death in children, more than all other childhood diseases combined

- The National Cancer Institute spends 96% of its budget on adult cancer, and less than 4% on children’s cancer (and government funding is being cut by up to 10%)

- While drug companies provide 60% of R&D for adult cancers, they account for almost 0% of R&D for children’s cancer – they see no profit in it, and lifesaving drugs are in short supply

- The incidence of invasive pediatric cancer is up 29% over the last 20 years

- CureSearch funds the collaborative research of the Children’s Oncology Group, which treats more than 90% of children with cancer at over 200 hospitals in the United States. 96% of the money raised by CureSearch goes to fund the COG and its clinical trials!

For those of you who are local, there are a few great ways to support the CureSearch Walk even if you’re unable to actually walk on that day. (Although if you are able to walk, please do! Register here.)

Additionally, in Olivia’s honor, you can raise a glass and a fork to help reach the day when all children diagnosed with cancer are guaranteed a cure:

May 16-22: “Olivia’s Pasta” special at Marotta’s Restaurant — (2289 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights). Marotta’s is offering “Olivia’s Pasta”: fusilli pasta tossed with artichoke hearts and fresh spinach in a lemon cream sauce, served with a field greens salad and crusty Italian bread (available for eat-in or take-out). The cost is $24, with 100% of proceeds donated to the CureSearch Walk. The special may last longer but be sure to get yours while it lasts!

May 28: ”Kegger for the Cure”— The Crowleys’ friend Shawn Paul is hosting a party with BBQ and beer for a $25 donation; all proceeds are going to the Walk. Saturday, May 28 from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, 3140 Corydon Road in Cleveland Heights. All are welcome.

Unsinkable - A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas

2011-05-18T16:10:00.000-04:00

Unsinkable - A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas

By Abby Sunderland and Lynn Vincent

Unless you were living under a rock in 2010 you were aware of teenager Abby Sunderland attempting a solo, nonstop circumnavigation of the globe in her 40’ sailboat Wild Eyes. You are also more than likely aware of the fact that she failed.

This book however is not a story of defeat. Far from it, it is a story of a young girl who set out to reach her dream and in the process found out that there is as much honor in the attempt as there is in the completion. She also found out more about herself than she could have ever imagined.

The book, told in the alternating voices of Abby and her parents is a compelling read. Why would parents allow their 16 year old daughter to attempt something so dangerous? Abby would be at sea, alone for a minimum of six months. She would be sailing in dangerous waters with narrow weather windows for success. Aside from her sailing prowess was she mentally strong enough?

From Abby’s point of view we understand that she has literally grown up on a sailboat. One year earlier she watched her older brother Zac successfully complete the same quest. Why would it be OK for Zac to do this and not her? She was more comfortable alone, on the water than she was in crowds, or malls unlike most other 16 year old girls. She was mentally tough and she was ready for the challenge.

And so, off we go, with Abby on her sailboat. While reading Unsinkable I could imagine the sea spray in the air, I could see the dolphins escorting the boat. All too well I felt terror when she was in trouble. But amazingly she stayed calm and strong, a testament to a sailor of any age. She proved that she really is strong, resilient and unsinkable.

I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to adventure lovers of all ages.

Grade: B

No Dogs Allowed on the Furniture

2011-05-17T17:26:00.003-04:00

Perhaps some one should tell the hounds ...

This is my chair, in case you wondered

What? I said this is my chair.

Rough housing on the bed!

Lola: What happens if Dad catches us?
Reggie: Who cares?

Yeah, we're bad.

We love the smell of leather when we sleep!

Feliz Cumpleaños Sera!

2011-05-15T15:19:00.003-04:00

Twenty one years ago on May 5, 1990 I gave birth to my youngest child, Sera. Last weekend we celebrated her 21st birthday in the same fashion we celebrated this coming of age milestone with our other two kids. We had a party! Or in this case we had a "una fiesta muy grande!"

Since Sera's actual birthday falls on May 5th or Cinco de Mayo (which contrary to widespread popular belief, is not Mexico's independence Day) we had no choice but to have a Mexican fiesta. What constitutes a Mexican fiesta, you might be wondering?

1. Mexican accessories

Sera had her own custom made fascinator - fashioned well before the royal wedding, I might add. Thanks to my awesome friend Sally P. for putting it all together for me!

Sera - the birthday girl!

The BTW ladies and a few others were rocking some red chili pepper bracelets as well. I don't seem to have captured any of them photographically though so you will have to take my word for their coolness!

2. Mexican decor

Nothing too elaborate - we had lots of tinsel type chili peppers hanging from the ceiling, some inflatable chili peppers, chili pepper garland and chili pepper shaped serving dishes to name a few of the atmosphere setters.

Inflatable chili peppers behind Sera help define the Mexican theme

Chili pepper twirlers hang from the door frame and the mantel.
Sera & I won the first beer pong game!

3. Mexican food

The menu was simple - Appetizers: chips with traditional salsa, guacamole, corn salsa and queso. Main course: a taco bar which consisted of shredded beef or chicken, cheese, tomatoes, onions, chili peppers, sour cream, hard and soft taco shells, Mexican rice.and corn & black bean salad.

Dessert was not only delicious but a work of art! We had not one but three kinds of cake - Mexican chocolate cake in the shape of chili peppers, pink champagne cupcakes and a large cupcake that was tequila sunrise flavored. Thanks to BFF Michele for her hard work and amazing talent for creating these masterpieces.

People thought the top cupcake was a bouquet of flowers!

Great cakes - cool candles

The birthday girl just before blowing out the candles

4. Mexican drink

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out our drink menu. We had a margarita bar with three choices - regular, shaken margaritas, strawberry frozen margaritas and mango frozen margaritas. We also had Corona and a varied assortment of Mexican beers as well as the college standby - Natty Light. (Disclaimer - The kids brought the Natty.) On a sad note - we ran out of ALL alcohol at about 11:30 - way too early! But to Sera it was perfect. We packed up the party and headed out to the bars where she could actually get in using her own ID!

A shot of the bar before all the blenders were set up - note the chili pepper shaped garland!

5. A pinata

Question: What Mexican fiesta would be complete without a pinata? Answer: None!

The prize inside? Little bottles of alcohol, shot glasses, beer png balls and of course, candy!

Ever the fashionista, Sera wields the pinata bat
with her blindfold and her satchel

The fiesta was a big success. There were lots of guests, friemds, family, and relatives. We all feted Sera, the last of the Baker children to reach this milestone and the last party like this that we would be throwing. But we know more milestones are to come and although they will not be celebrated with a college campus party they will still be celebrated. Of that we are sure.

So I leave you with a final image of Sera and her Daddy. A photo taken without their awareness - a photo for a scrapbook in the future (or maybe a frame for Father's day.)

Daddy's Girl

Times passes, circumstances change but some things remain the same.

Lapdogs come in all shapes and sizes ...

2011-05-10T15:04:00.000-04:00

Royals Smoyals!

2011-04-28T11:56:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you but I am SO not interested in the upcoming royal nuptials. I wasn't interested when Diana married Charles and I am not interested now. But it appears I am in the great minority on this topic.

Everywhere I turn it's there. I like to listen to The Today Show as I am getting ready in the morning but the past few weeks it has been intolerable. So I have been channel surfing. Prior to this week I was able to find some real news on the competition like The Early Show and Good Morning America - but not now. It appears our morning talk shows have become all royal wedding (RW), all the time. I did find some humorous spoofs of the RW on The Daily Buzz (check out the Royal Flush Auditions!) so that was good at least.

In my car I either listen to music on my iPod, a book on my iPod or Sirius radio so at least my drive time hasn't been polluted. However at this very moment I am sitting in the waiting area at my car dealership waiting for some routine maintenance to be done. The TV is on in the hopes of diverting our attention from just how long the work is taking and it is tuned to something that is all about all things RW God spare me.

Googling "the royal wedding" yields 48,500,000 results in .22 seconds. Really? Do we really need to know this stuff? Would my life have been incomplete if I had not known that one of the horses in the royal calvary is named William? Or that OMG Kate Middleton drove herself - gasp - to the rehearsal? And how about all the tchotchkes that are available to buy to commemorate the big day? Don't we collectively have better things to do with our time or things to think about in our brains or buy with our money?

I could use some of these - all this RW makes me ill!

Who wouldn't want RW condoms?

With a nod to the Orange County Register Communications columnist Barry Koltnow following is his list of 50 things to do instead of watching the royal wedding. You can read the whole article here. Go Barry go!

Here are 50 things that would be more fun than watching the royal wedding on Friday morning:

1. Sleeping later than usual.

2. Eating an English muffin.

3. Watching the Oscar-winning performance of Helen Mirren in the 2006 film "The Queen."

4. Listening repeatedly to Queen's recording of "Bohemian Rhapsody."

5. Reading a biography of Winston Churchill.

6. Dancing to the Sex Pistols' classic "God Save the Queen."

7. Driving to Las Vegas for the weekend.

8. Watching a DVD of the last Harry Potter movie so that you're ready for the finale this summer.

9. Mixing a gin and tonic.

10. Scrambling eggs with chives.

11. Reading a newspaper.

12. Playing an early round of golf.

13. Inviting your grandkids over for some fun.

14. Surfing the Web.

15. Surfing the ocean.

16. Meditating with your legs crossed.

17. Trying to cross your legs.

18. Knitting a sweater for your favorite columnist.

19. Drinking a mango-banana-pineapple smoothie.

20. Texting something nasty about the wedding.

21. Learning a new language.

22. Shaking, not stirring a vodka martini.

23. Bowling a few frames.

24. Bicycling along the beach.

25. Ordering online stuff you don't really need

26. Slicing a poppy-seeded bagel without cutting yourself.

27. Hiking in the hills.

28. Washing your car.

29. Renting a DVD of "The King's Speech" because you were too busy to see it last year when it was out in theaters.

30. Stirring a cup of Earl Grey tea.

31. Tweeting to other people who aren't watching the wedding.

32. Watching "Sports Center" on ESPN.

33. Downloading Beatles songs.

34. Brewing fresh coffee.

35. Holding an actual book in your hands, turning actual pages with your fingers and reading words with your actual eyes.

36. Reading the same book on your iPad.

37. Swimming a few laps.

38. Shopping at the empty mall because everybody else is watching the wedding.

39. Working out at the gym.

40. Taking an informal survey of every doughnut shop in your neighborhood to see which one has the best apple fritter.

41. Creating a web site called "Idontwatchroyalweddings.com."

42. Frying some thick-cut bacon to serve with number 10.

43. Working in your vegetable garden.

44. Making reservations for dinner.

45. Calling in to a talk radio show to complain about the American obsession with royal weddings.

46. Parking your car at a scenic overlook and watching the sun rise. You can watch the sun set on the British Empire at another time.

47. Taking a tennis lesson before it gets too hot.

48. Lining up early for the Newport Film Festival.

49. Fast-forwarding to the Hugh Grant dancing scene in "Love Actually."

50. Getting a life

At least Barry is in my corner!

Royals smoyals.

Glittery eggs and a cheesy movie

2011-04-27T23:50:00.000-04:00

So as I mentioned a couple of posts ago Caitlin was the only one of my kids who made it home for part of Easter weekend. So we got to have some real bonding time - at least that's what I call it. (I'm not sure what she would call it!)

Anyway, I had several ideas for things we could do like - give the hounds a bath, color Easter eggs and see a movie. She had her own agenda - clean laundry and stock up on groceries before heading back to Columbus bright and early Sunday morning. Both items on her list got checked off and only two out three of mine. Reggie and Lola escaped baths for yet another weekend and they are OK with that.

Saturday morning I managed to boil 18 eggs for Easter egg coloring without incident. As I mentioned in my last post, I am not the greatest talent in the kitchen. I actually have had some trouble boiling eggs, believe it or not. You see, hard boiled eggs require more than one minute of focus therefore they fall off my radar screen and bad things happen. Bad things like all the water boiling out of the pan and the eggs exploding sounding as if we were under attack in my kitchen. The hounds really prefer that I do not attempt to boil eggs anymore - they think a hunter is shooting at them! But I did manage to boil these eggs and not even crack any of the shells. (I have subsequently discovered that a few of them were actually soft boiled instead of hard boiled and I am having difficulty understanding this. They were all in the same pan for the same amount of time - how could they come out differently?)

I surprised Caitlin with a glitter egg coloring kit. I was way more 'eggcited' about it then she was but she was a good sport about it. She was in charge of the glittering and ended up wearing a lot of it - as did Miss Lola!

Next up on the agenda was a movie. We tossed around titles. I wanted to see Water for Elephants and Soul Surfer. Caitlin wanted to see Rio or Hop. I was really pulling for Soul Surfer so Caitlin graciously acquiesced.

Now if you know anything about the movie Soul Surfer you know that it is based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a young up and coming surfer who lost her left arm in a shark attack when she was 13. Not only did she learn to surf again with only one arm, she went on to become a professional surfer. Her story is inspiring - showing that with faith and determination you can overcome anything.

While I didn't think the movie was academy award worthy, I enjoyed it. It's filmed in Hawaii and 80% of the movie is in or around the ocean! How could it be bad? Bethany Hamilton is an inspiration. Her composure during the accident and her recovery from such a traumatic event is truly amazing. She was able to accomplish this because of her strong faith and her strong family support. Thus the "soul" in the title.

Caitlin really did not like it and dubbed it the cheesiest movie ever!

So there you have it - glittery eggs and a cheesy movie.

Hope you had lots of Easter joy!

Flubber!

2011-04-26T18:30:00.000-04:00

Why is it that some people have an innate ability to cook or bake while others don't? I fall flatly into the don't category - but not for lack of trying. Although I must confess these days I try less and less.

For example Friday - I tried. Hubby made some seriously awesome fish kabobs with salmon, shrimp, swordfish and a whole bunch of other good stuff like potatoes, mushrooms and onions. I decided that we needed dessert and rather than run out to buy a box mix of something I decided to make something from scratch - because I like to try.

I went online and looked for dessert recipes suing ingredients that I had on hand which meant nothing too exotic. I ended up with Buttery Cinnamon Bundt Cake. The cake part went fine - I actually got out all the ingredients in advance (which is a really important thing to do, BTW.) I put the cake in the oven, set the timer, and promptly forgot about it. A little while later I was in the family room picking up a bit when I heard a beep beep beep. I assumed it was the dryer so I went to the laundry room and starting folding clothes. When I heard the beep beep beep again, I realized with horror that it was the oven timer!!! I dropped everything and bolted up the stairs, yanked open the oven and removed the cake which was surprisingly not burnt. A little dry perhaps, but not burnt.

Then I set about making the cinnamon syrup that was to be poured into holes poked into the cake with a fork. Making the syrup was a matter of putting butter, sugar, vanilla, water and cinnamon in a pan and cooking it only until the butter melted. It very specifically says - "do not boil." So being my ADD self, I put the pan on the stove on low and started to vacuum. The next time I even thought of the syrup was when I walked through the kitchen to put the vacuum cleaner away and I spied it - on the stove - boiling madly. I quickly removed it from the burner to check it out. It passed the sniff test - no scent of burnt butter so I figured it was fine. When I attempted to pour it down the little fork holes I discovered that I had created .... wait for it .... mighty fine smelling Flubber! Seriously it was bouncy and thick and had amazing elasticity.

So you're probably thinking I threw it out and started over on the syrup. I would love for you to be right but in reality - I was out of butter and vanilla so I would have to go to the store which was what I was attempting to avoid all along. So instead I heated the flubber a little - very slowly - and while it was warm I attempted to pour it. It all rolled to the bottom and sat there. So I flipped the cake over and poured some more. And I flipped it one more time repeating this process. And then I served it. To my family and friends. I didn't give them all the details, just vaguely referred to the flubber under my breath as I was cutting it.

And they ate it. And they said it was good. The moral of the story? There are two:

1. A little flubber never hurt anyone and
2. Maybe I am a Baker after all. But not by birth - only by marriage!

Happy Birthday To My Buddies!

2011-04-16T10:00:00.015-04:00

Happy Birthday Reggie and Lola!

My friends and I lovingly refer to Reggie and Lola as "the buddies." I'm not sure how this came about, but I think it was something along the line of Hubby bitching that we didn't need these dogs and me saying in a sweet little sing song voice "but they're my buddies" and it stuck.

So today the buddies turn 5. Hard for me to believe I have had them for 4 and a half years. (I got them when they were 5 months old.) Harder still to believe my beloved Milton has been gone for 5 years.

Milton

he story of how I came to get Reggie and Lola is kind of funny. After Milton's death I had decided that I really couldn't go through that again so I was going to be dog less. I lasted about 6 weeks before I started really missing having canine companionship. My kids also thought we needed to get another dog. My husband was mostly against the idea.

So we looked a little at the APL and the pound. The pound had puppies but they were going through a no adoption period. Several of the dogs that had recently been adopted out had died suddenly. They needed to get that all figured out. The APL only had older dogs. As much as I think it is noble of someone to rescue a mature dog after having just gone through the death of an older dog in not so pleasant circumstances I needed a puppy.

Next I tried the classifieds. I really wanted another basset hound but the kids were suggesting we get another breed. They were also rattled by Milton's death and wanted another breed in case his seizure disorder was a 'basset thing,' I found a nearby breeder who had a litter of Labradoodles. Hubby's sister has one and they are very nice dogs so I figured what the heck. We made an appointment to go and see them. Just as I was leaving work to go get the girls for the drive the breeder called and said the puppies weren't feeling well. She wanted to have them cleared by her vet before she placed any of them. Hmmm, perhaps a sign?

While all of this was going on a coworker told me she knew of someone who had basset puppies. Did I want to see them? At first I said no but eventually I said yes. The bassets lived on a farm about an hour and a half from my office and the owner was willing to drive them to my office for me to see tham. How could I say no? By the time she arrived the entire office was on basset puppy alert. All the women and several of the men went out into the parking lot to see the hounds.

There were three of them - 2 females in one crate and a male in a crate all by himself. When the woman opened the crate containing the females out came Lola and immediately rolled onto her back for belly rubs. I was smitten. However my girls' last request to me before school that day was that I get another male dog - like Milton. So after much hemming and hawing I finally asked the seller how much she wanted per dog. She replied that because the father dog had been hit by a car and never properly registered that the puppies, although purebred couldn't be registered. I really didn't care and asked again how much? When she told me what she was asking it was so little that I said "I'll take two!" So I got Reggie (who really was the most handsome dog there) and sweet Lola of the belly rubs. One of my coworkers took the last pup and named her Sunny to go along with her two other bassets, Thunder and Lightning! The cool thing is that the three siblings still get to see each other.

It's raining bassets!
Back - Lola, Sunny, Lightning
Center - Reggie
Front - Thunder

The rest, as they say is history!

To Easter Basket or not?

2011-04-12T18:30:00.000-04:00

So y'all know my lovelies are 25, 22, and 20. Even though I know it's silly on my part, last year for Easter since they were all at home for the weekend I made them Easter Baskets. I "filled" the baskets with functional things and just a little bit of candy. By functional I mean I got the girls cute purses and I got Jack a book.

This year Easter is going to be a bit different. Usually Easter is a time when my side of the family gets together at my sister's or my house. However this year my sister is living in Florida, and my brother just had surgery and is not up for traveling yet. My mother-in-law who sometimes spends Easter with us recently disclocated her hip and is unable to do stairs - which is a real problem at my house. So we are going to Grandma's house for Easter dinner - driving down on Sunday. (Don't worry we aren't making Grandma cook - we're handling that.) Since Grandma lives in Columbus as do all three of my children, two of the three are not coming up to Cleveland at all. Caitlin will be coming home on Thursday night and driving back to Columbus with us on Sunday morning - she wants to see and spend time with the hounds.

So all that back story for a simple question. Originally I thought none of them were coming to Cleveland and decided that since the kids won't be waking up in their beds there was no need for the Easter Bunny to pay a visit. However, Caitlin will be waking up in her bed. So what do I do?

Do I Easter Basket or not? That is the question!

Hot Stone Amazing!

2011-04-09T18:53:00.000-04:00

I've signed up for all kinds of Groupon-like gotta buy today local savings types of alerts. I think I'm judicious in my decision making when it comes to actually buying but I have to admit I have let at least two expire without using them. Not cool.

So determined not to let that happen again, today I took advantage of a 60 minute hot stone massage that I purchased a while ago for $35 from LivingSocial. Let me tell you, that may have been the best $35 I have ever spent!

First of all let me say I am a big fan of being pampered with massages, manis, pedis and facials. Let me also mention that the first time I had any of the above I was in my 40s. So the way I see it I wasted a lot of time. Unfortunately even though the body is willing, the money for such luxuries isn't always available. So when I saw the daily deal for either a 60 minute hot stone massage or a facial for $35 I grabbed it. Never having had a hot stone massage that was my choice.

In the spa ads I have seen photos of people getting hot stone massages the stones are lined up on the spine and the person is just lying there relaxing. The massage I had today was a bit different. First she massaged my muscles to loosen them up then she held the hot stones in her hands and massaged my muscles with them. It was incredible and I might add, went by all too fast. I asked her at the end about the stones resting on the back and she said that some masseuses align the stones with the body's Chakra points and let them rest until they cool. I can't really compare only having had the one method but it was amazing!

Definitely money well spent and you can bet I'll be looking for more of those daily deals coming my way!

March Reading Wrap-up

2011-04-03T19:04:00.000-04:00

March found me in a really funky place. The crappy weather, the unending cold all just got to me. I really didn't think the month was ever going to end.

On the reading front, I was back to my roughly one book per week pace for a total of five books over the course of the month. The books were an interesting assortment and for the most part, fairly decent reads.

Without further ado, I give you my March reads:

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

I think I have hit the wall with Dennis LeHane books. The first few I read I was so confused and often had no idea who were the bad guys versus the good guys in the story. And I loved them. However, this book was just sort of eh. It was a decent enough story line. Private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro were back - now a married couple with a young daughter. The case was to find a 16 year old girl who had gone missing. The hook? This same girl was the 4 year old they had found in Gone Baby Gone. 12 years later she's missing again.

This book just didn't have the edginess to it that the other LeHane books I've read had. There was a twist in the ending but it was so far fetched that it wasn't at all believable and that kind of ruined it for me.

Would I recommend it? Probably not. But I would recommend some of LeHane's earlier novels.

Grade: D

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

This was an odd choice for me. I found this title at the Kindle lending library site. I wanted to try out the lending library and this title looked interesting so I gave it a try. And I liked it

This book is science fiction but after reading some reviews it is not "hard" science fiction. I'm not sure what that means but I would describe it as science fiction without space creatures and monsters, although there is one little man from Mars.

The main characters are three kids, Tyler Dupree and twins Diane and Jason Lawton. Tyler's mom is the Lawton's maid and they live in a small cottage on the Lawton property. Jason and Diane live in the big house as it is referred to through out the book. One night the kids are sitting out on the lawn talking, watching a party going on inside the big house when suddenly the moon and stars go dark. Panic ensues. People are sure the end of the world is upon them so there are mass suicides and chaos.

Turns out that the earth has been wrapped in a membrane by someone or something unknown. The purpose of the membrane is to slow down time on earth as the sun moves toward it's ultimate end. Outside of the membrane time has not slowed down and moves as an insanely faster pace.

This book is pretty hard to synopsize without saying too much. We see Tyler, Diane, and Jason grow up - each dealing with the "spin" (as the membrane is referred to) in their own ways. And one day many many years later as suddenly as the stars went out, they came back. And more trouble begins.

I found Spin to be a very enjoyable read, one of those that I couldn't put down because I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. A lot of the actual scientific stuff was way over my head - I kind of skimmed that just to get the gist.

If you are at all intrigued by my sad attempt at a book review, by all means read it.

Grade: B

The Spire by Richard North Patterson

I honestly don't think I've read anything by Richard North Patterson before because I thought he was a spy guy. Yep, a spy guy. Kind of like John LeCarre and Tom Clancy. As George Costanza would say "not that there's anything wrong with that." I have to really be in the mood for a spy/espionage thriller and usually I can find something else that interests me more.

Anyway, I was perusing the digital download books at Cleveland Public Library and stumbled across The Spire. The teaser says the book is about a kid who gets a full ride scholarship to a small Ohio college and eventually comes back as the colleges' youngest president. Of course there's a murder on campus and some embezzlement going on so his job is not an easy one. No spies in sight so I downloaded it. "Yeah, you want to know somethin' else friends and neighbors" I really liked it.

I have to admit I fell for all the red herrings and totally missed who was the real bad guy until Patterson came out and told me - but that's OK. Cause I enjoyed the ride.

Read it when you are in the mood for a decent mystery.

Grade: B

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

This book was the BTW selection for the month of March. I'll be the first to admit I did not like it. Some of the others did but it really didn't hit my reading sweet spot. This is purely a flaw on my part - I am not overly fond of historic fiction or of religious fiction and this definitely fit both genres.

Set in the 800s is the story of a young girl who wanted to learn. During those times girls didn't learn. They cooked, kept the house, were married off, had children and stayed in the background. Joan was very smart - smarter than her brother John so when she had an opportunity to take his place at a religious center of learning she took it. She kept her hair cut short and her breasts bound and lived in fear of discovery because that would mean death. Long story short - eventually one thing lead to another and she became Pope. Pope John VII if you are to believe any of this fictional tale.

If you are interested enough in the answer as to whether or not Pope Joan was real read this brief article and form your own opinions.

Grade: C - but with prejudice

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Finally, saving the best for last. The full title is Unbroken A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. This book was incredible.

The true story of Louis Zamperini, a troubled California youth, an Olympic runner, and a member of the United States Air Force this book is unforgettable. First of all I was surprised that I have never heard of Louis Zamperini before. I was also amazed at the atrocities against American POWs in Japan that I have never really heard much about either. We hear so much about the European theater of war and Hitler and the Holocaust but this was really eye opening to me. Do I live under a big ole rock or is it a fact that the stories of Pacific portion of WWII have not been told as much? I'm afraid the answer is probably my naivete - or my ignorance.

To read this book is almost like being there, living through the horrors that Louis lived through. I cringed and I cried and I cheered.

By all means, read this book.

Grade: A

A Nice Place to Visit But I Wouldn't Want to Live There.

2011-04-02T20:56:00.000-04:00

So Hubby has had this bug up his butt for a while now. He wants to buy land in eastern Tennessee in the mountains - a lot of land - and build a retirement place there. Lately the bug is really acting up - badly. He has actually made some appointments to go on down to Tennessee and see some properties. And in case you haven't guessed, I have a serious problem with this.

The idea of retiring and then moving away from all family, friends and neighbors to go live in the woods just doesn't make any sense to me. My parents lived in the house I grew up in until they died. There was no great whistle blown when my Dad retired saying it was time to pick up and go. Hubby's parents didn't move anywhere upon retirement either. He says they were "this close" to moving to North Carolina but didn't get the chance because his Dad died. Funny I never heard about that. None of our close friends' parents have moved anywhere and they are all retired. So I just don't get it.

Now if he were suggesting we buy some land to build a 2nd home as a place to go for a few months a year, that I could understand. But I still wouldn't pick Tennessee. Tennessee? Really? As the old saying goes, a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. No, my idea of a place to build a 2nd home, a get away place would be at the beach - pretty much any beach but definitely not in the mountains. And not in Tennessee. And there in lies the problem.

We don't see eye to eye on this one. Nope we aren't even looking in the same direction.

What to do, what to do?

March comes in like a lion and goes out a lamb

2011-03-31T13:34:00.000-04:00

One word - bullshit.

Wordless Wednesday - indicative of my mood!

2011-03-30T15:11:00.000-04:00

How Old Would You Be If You Didn't Know How Old You Are?

2011-03-28T18:38:00.000-04:00

So I went to see Willie Nelson at the Cleveland House of Blues last Friday night. There were 5 of us in my group, ranging from age 52 to age 62. Everyone I told I was going to the show had the same reaction - "How old is he anyway?" or "He's got to be like a 100 years old." Only my 82 year old mother-in-law made no reference to his age. Her comment - "He's a dirty old man who doesn't pay his taxes and smokes pot. Why would you go see him?" And therein lies the point of this post.

Willie Hugh Nelson is 77 years old, 5 years younger than my mother-in-law so to her he's not that old. Yeah, he sort of shuffled out on stage and up to the microphone, but once he got there he was great. His voice is still strong, he plays guitar like a madman, and he played for two solid hours - truly one song immediately following the last with no break. You really are only as old as you feel.

The show was a sell-out and the crowd was truly eclectic. We saw kids on their Dad's shoulders and little old women who needed help getting to their $125/seats. The man has recorded 36 albums over the course of his career so there truly was something for everyone. Everyone knows Willie's music and we sang along - sometimes at his prompting and other times just because we wanted to belt it out with him.

He sang first in a cowboy hat and then later in his trademark red bandana headband. Those headbands were flung into the crowd every now and then as souvenirs. (That was were you saw his age - his headband tosses couldn't have gotten any further back than the front row - but oh well.) He even performed for a bit wearing an Indians baseball cap complete with Chief Wahoo on it. (Oh the scandal of it - his first wife was 100% Cherokee - Wahoo didn't seem to bother him any.)

Simply put, Willie Nelson is an entertainer. And entertain us - he did. I only hope to be as sassy and with it at 77. Thinking about this post made me think of my own parents - my mom died at 72 and my dad died at 75. There's a good chance I may not even see 77. So God Bless You Willie - you done good!

Mending fences - so to speak

2011-03-13T21:13:00.000-04:00

We live in an old neighborhood with old houses and some weird lot lines. My house and the house to the right share a great big driveway. Rather than house driveway house driveway our particular pattern is house driveway driveway house. For this reason and a host of others too tedious to get into here, it is virtually impossible to fence our backyard. To keep our fun loving basset hounds in our back yard we have an "electronic pet containment system." Perfect, you think. Uh no.

Shy Lovable Reggie

The reason I am referring to it by what it is as opposed to it's brand name is because I don't think the brand really has anything to do with our issues. You see shy, lovable Reggie and sly, shrewd Lola have figured out that they can escape - with minor consequences. And once they escape the wide open neighborhood is theirs for smelling, exploring, chasing and baying.

Sly Shrewd Lola

So that brings me to the drama that has been building up in our household. In the beginning Lola would never, ever, for any reason approach the fence boundaries. Reggie on the other hand has a really thick neck with a lot of excess skin and fur and I truly believe he feels nothing from the electronic collar as he buzzes through. One day he convinced Miss Lola that the shock wasn't that terrible and she joined him on one of his neighborhood jaunts. And now, they escape the yard before I can say Houdini.

Usually they are on a quest when they take off. Often neighbors walking dogs are a favorite target. That usually goes well. Imagine you are out for a stroll with your canine minding your own business and suddenly two burly bassets with combined weight of about 130 pounds come streaking out of nowhere baying at full voice after you. (And before you think it - bassets can be fast when they want to be - so no slow dopey jokes, please.) Some neighbors are kind to me and they stop and tell their well trained dog in a modulated tone that he must sit, which he does, while I run screaming unheeded like a wild woman at the top of my lungs for my dogs to stop. I grab them and if I was smart enough to grab a leash I clip them and take them home. Other times I forget to grab a leash and I have to crab walk holding their collars home. Remember, bassets at the shoulder can be no more than 14" so it is a pretty uncomfortable stance for me to hold for very long. Sometimes the neighbor speeds up thinking this will help the situation but in fact all it does is give me a longer way home dragging said 14" 130 pound of dogs. It is not pretty.

Other escapes are after squirrels, rabbits, or the occasional deer. Sometimes the mailman is involved. All in all it has become a nightmare. Lately I have been walking them on leashes 3 - 4 times a day and then standing guard over them in the backyard (often unsuccessfully) the times I let them out there. And it is getting old. Really old, I tell you. Hubby has declared that since these are "my hounds" that he will no longer let them outside because he refuses to chase them. He says I need to "retrain" them to the electric fence. So - today was day 1 of retraining.

Basically by retraining I mean, clipping a leash to their choker collar and pulling them into the fence line until they get zapped. When the zap occurs I say "NO" in a very stern voice and pull them back. Lather, rinse and repeat - a lot. Up and down the fence line. Finally Reggie lays on his belly with all 4 legs out to the sides reminiscent of Bambi ice skating. At that point I call it enough and let them off the leashes into the back yard. I stand guard making sure there are no escape attempts. Finally we go in and I reward them with a biscuit. Is it working? I don't really know. I had three sessions with Reggie today and two with Lola. Only two with her because when it was time for the third round I couldn't get her to even go outside. I sure hope it's working.

As I was walking them tonight after dinner I was thinking about writing this post. Anyone have any suggestions to help me out? Am I doing this correctly? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. By me and the hounds!

Arooooooooooo!

February Reading Wrap-up

2011-03-10T23:56:00.000-05:00

Even though February was a very short month it was also a very cold, very snowy, very rainy and very icy month. In other words a perfect reading month. And I read (or listened to) six, count 'em, six books in 28 days. I'm pretty sure that's a record for me..

Out of those six, 2 were chick lit, 2 were YA, and 2 were grown up books. Books are like shoes, different ones for different moods. Without further ado, here are my February reads.

The chick lit titles: With Friends Like These and Little Pink Slips by Sally Koslow. Last year I listened to The Late Lamentable Molly Marx by this author and really enjoyed it. It wasn't rocket science, it was just a fun book to listen to in the car. I was feeling a bit funky so I decided fun light books might be a mood lifter. Neither of these books was as good as Molly Marx, but they were light, easy listening and fun. They were what the doctor ordered.

Grade: C

The YA titles: Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

So unless you have been living under a rock you know that these titles are the 2nd and 3rd (final) books of the wildly popular YA trilogy The Hunger Games. It's a bit hard to write about these books without spoiling them for those of you who read this and may actually want to read the books. So here's the cliff notes without giving too much away.

Written for a young adult audience, this series makes an easy crossover into the adult realm. The books are set in an unspecified time in North America’s future. What was the United States in now called Panem. The county is divided into twelve numbered districts dominated by a decadent, exploitative central city called the Capitol. Every year, two children from each district are drafted by lottery to compete in a televised contest called the Hunger Games. The games are a fight to the death with the last child alive declared the victor. So that's the premise. There is also a love triangle but you'll have to read the books to find out more about that.

This series is very well written, much better written in my opinion that the Twilight series. The story is gripping and the pacing is right on. I read all three books one right after the next because I really cared about what happened to the characters. I admire Suzanne Collins for her ability to come up with the story line as fascinating as this one.

Grade: B+

The grown up books:

One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing by Diane Ackerman

I got this book as an ARC from a publisher subsequent to the bookstore closing. He asked that I read it and provide feedback. Not wanting to lose a potential source of books in my post bookseller days I agreed. When the book first arrived I was bummed out by the subtitle. I did not really want to read a book about a stroke. But since they were kind enough to send it, I figured I could force myself to read it.

I must admit the first part was so hard to read. It was so depressing. Paul and Diane are an older couple, both authors. They are childless - and words are their livelihood and their life. Paul has a severe stroke and loses his ability to speak - aphasia. The author has a beautiful voice but the topic and all they were going through was so sad I almost quit on it a couple of times. Knowing this book was non-fiction made it even harder. Once Paul got out of the hospital and they were back at home it got better. It was still hard and still sad, but then hope appeared. Diane tells you more than once that Paul's condition can never be cured so I wasn't hoping for a happy ending tied in a bow. But I was thrilled with the progress he made and how they learned to reconnect with the aphasia and through the aphasia. A testament to the depth of their love and commitment to each other.

All in all I found this book to be quite interesting. I knew nothing about strokes or anything anywhere near close to one. The brain is really a mysterious and marvelous organ.

I'm not sure I could recommend this book unless I knew of someone who was going through something similar. It was just too sad. Of course that doesn't mean I won't talk about it - I'm sure I will as I feel like it touched something in me.

Grade: B

And finally Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

This is one of those books that got so much hype while I was working at the bookstore that I was a bit leery about reading it. Then one day it was available as an audio download from my library and I figured I would give it a try. And, I loved it. The narration was very good but the story itself was complex and totally absorbing. I found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading and I couldn't wait to get back to it. I haven't read anything set in or about Ethiopia before and I knew very little of the history that transpired over the course of the book. I didn't realize the proximity of India to Ethiopia and actually got out a map to see it visually - I was so taken by the book. I was sad when I got to the end - I really didn't want to leave the world Verghese created in this novel.

I would highly recommend this title.

Grade: B+

Upcoming fun in the CLE

2011-03-05T14:43:00.000-05:00

Back in the fall my two bff's and I bought the Broadway Series Package for plays at Playhouse Square - and I am so happy we did. To date we've seen Blue Man Group (awesome!), Billy Elliott (awesome!) and South Pacific (awesome!) - three great shows.

My one friend Calla who can be a bit scattered at times (love you - don't be offended - it's true!) seems to have lost the dates of the remaining shows and is double booking on days when she shouldn't. I sat down today to send her the dates of those shows and decided while I was add it to add in three concerts that we are going to as well. When I was done I realized I had an awesome spring and early summer line-up of activities in place! And I love activities!!

So here's what's scheduled so far in 2011 in the CLE:

I love a busy schedule - and I really love going to concerts!!!

Tuesday March 8th - Shrek the Musical

Friday March 25th - Willie Nelson & Friends - House of Blues

Tuesday Apr 12th - Les Miserables
(Ed. Note - I HATE Les Mis - Calla's sister will be taking my ticket!)

Tuesday May 10th - West Side Story

Friday May 20th - David Bromberg Quartet - Beachland Ballroom

Wednesday June 8th - Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs - Nautica Pavillion

Tuesday June 14th - Next to Normal

There really are a lot of things to do in the CLE. Just have to seize them all!!!

Wordless Wednesday! How much are those doggies in the window?

2011-03-02T16:50:00.000-05:00

A year in the life ....

2011-02-26T19:07:00.001-05:00

So you know how I am always talking about my best friends in the whole wide world? I may refer to them as a group - as in BTW (Books Travel and Wine Club). I may refer to them individually - as in Michele, Calla, Kim and Cathy. But no matter how I refer to them they are often part of my blog posts.

During 2010 we did a LOT together. It was an awesome year - one that we documented well in photos. So being the photo/computer geek that I am I made us a yearbook to commemorate the fun year we just completed. Everyone was thrilled with the results. We talked and laughed about all we did and we decided it was time to start planning for 2011. More on that later.

But for now I wanted to share the yearbook I made. It's called "Captain's Log 2010" because we drank a lot of Captain Morgan along the way.

I hope you enjoy paging through it!

Captain's* Log: 2010

Make Your Own Book

True Grit vs True Grit

2011-02-21T20:59:00.002-05:00

Friday night hubby and I went on a movie date - his turn to pick.  We went to see the remake of True Grit. Not being a huge fan of westerns I am surprised to say I liked it. I had never seen the original so I had nothing to compare it to but according to hubby they did a pretty good job of remaking it.

Saturday night we went out to dinner with some friends and conversation turned to movies and to True Grit.  One person liked Jeff Bridges better as Rooster Cogburn while someone else swore by the John Wayne performance. Again, not having seen the original I didn't have much to add to the conversation.

As luck would have it, the original True Grit was on AMC in the wee hours of Sunday morning so we taped it and watched it last night.

First of all, let me say that I don't understand why movie studios insist on remaking movies. Aren't there any original thinkers any more? Very rarely, in my humble estimation are the remakes better than the originals. Ok, now that I have that off my chest - let me get back to my True Grit comparison.

True Grit - 1969

Directed by Henry Hathaway

Rooster Cogburn - played by John Wayne
Mattie Ross - played by Kim Darby
Texas Ranger La Boeuf - played by Glenn Campbell

Based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Charles Portis.
John Wayne won Golden Globe & the Academy Award for Best Actor

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%

True Grit - 2010

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

Rooster Cogburn - played by Jeff Bridges
Mattie Ross - played by Hailee Steinfeld
Texas Ranger La Boeuf - played by Matt Damon

Nominated for 10 Oscars

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%

So here's my take - although I am a big Jeff Bridges fan, John Wayne wins hands down for his portrayal of US Marshall Rooster Cogburn. He's just plain better. As grieving daughter Mattie Ross, the relative newcomer to films, Hailee Steinfeld has my vote. And as to Texas Ranger La Boeuf, it's a toss up between Glen Campbell and Matt Damon.

I'm still wondering however why John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn and Jeff Bridges Rooster Cogburn wore their eye patches on different eyes!

As for the story line there were some differences. I won't state them here as they are spoilers if you haven't seen the movie yet. The original strayed from the book a bit and the 2010 version stayed true to it. The 2010 movie had edgier music. But all things considered I liked the story line better in the new version but John Wayne so much more in the old version that I have to give the nod to the 1969 version of the movie.

But it's close, very close. Almost breaking my remakes are never better rule!

Suzy Homemaker, I Am Not

2011-02-20T18:14:00.000-05:00

Now that I am only working one job I am really enjoying having my Sundays free to do whatever I want. Much to hubby's great dismay, 99.9% of the time what I want to do has nothing to do with house work, yard work, cleaning or cooking. I figure after 4 years of working 6.5 days a weeks Sunday is now my day of rest!

But for some reason today I felt a little like doing some things. So I vacuumed - enough dog hair to create a third basset hound. I did laundry - but now only 1 load as opposed to never ending laundry when Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3 lived at home (one upside to the empty nest.) I played online cribbage until my eyes were crossed. I checked, posted and rechecked what was going on over at Facebook. And then I did something so unexpected I am having a hard time believing it myself - I cooked something. And I baked something.

So what are the somethings you might be wondering? Well let me tell you - I cooked something called Quinoa Salad. Only because I have heard how quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a super food. It's a grain but it has more protein than any other grain. Yada Yada Yada. All the cool kids have been talking about it so I figured I'd give it a try. The recipe called for, in addition to quinoa, scallions, red pepper, dried cranberries, cilantro, cumin, paprika, pepper, salt and coriander. And quite honestly - it's pretty darn tasty - different - but tasty.

As to what I baked - in my oven right this very moment a loaf of Classic Banana Bread is baking. Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light - it is awesome - I've made it before. I am one of those weird people that can't throw a black banana away so my freezer is full of them. Usually I make banana muffins, but today I had no muffin cups. Actually when I started on this little project today I had it in my head to make blueberry banana muffins and send them to the kids - it made me feel good thinking about it. But no muffin cups = now we get the yummy banana bread. Better luck next time kiddos!

So here it is 6:00 PM and I have been such a busy bee that I think I'll go back to doing nothing. Or playing online cribbage - I'll have to let you know!

The funk is back

2011-02-16T21:59:00.000-05:00

Looking back at my past blog posts it seems this is not the first time I've written about this. That's the nature of depression, it's never really gone. So the best you can do is deal with the symptoms.

I'm thinking that writing about it will help me deal with so please feel free to look away at any time.

So what exactly is the funk? Well here I described it as a void, a feeling that something is missing. Something I can't put my finger on. And I guess that still holds true. But right now at the moment the feeling is more of a "is this all there is?" feeling.

Let me state again for the record:

I'm happily married - have been for 31 years. Hubby travels a lot though.
I have 3 awesome kids.They are all in Columbus - Jack lives and works there, Caitlin and Sera are at OSU.
I have two basset hounds who love me unconditionally. They keep escaping their invisible fence.
I have an awesome job - the envy of all my friends.
I have a lot of awesome friends.

The whole empty nest thing is probably the biggest contributor to this funky feeling. The fact that Jack will never be back living in our house is really hard for me to deal with. Caitlin is graduating in June and will soon be living on her own as well. I can't imagine this house in the summer without her. Add to that the fact that Sera did not come home last summer and doesn't plan to this summer just makes me sad - so sad.

The dogs escaping the fencing all the time makes me crazy. I am so afraid that something is going to happen to them. I try and retrain them - but I'm not sure how. They know the fence is there - I have to drag them into it to do corrections so I know wit is there - but yet they escape.

And hubby traveling all the time is nothing new. You would think that after 31 years of marriage I would be used to it - but night after night of coming home to an empty house wears on me. And I must admit - it is worse when it's gray and dreary out - like it was today.

But this feeling has been around longer than just today. I really don't feel like doing anything. I sleep way too much and I have not been watching my food habits or exercising enough. Those are classic symptoms in my case that all is not as it should be.

I'll give it another few days - and then if the funk hasn't lifted I'll have to call my doctor. Cause like the Cymbalta commercials says - "Depression hurts everyone."

The post where I talk about work where I talked about blogging

2011-02-10T22:00:00.001-05:00

Huh? I admit, it's a confusing title but it actually says it all.

If you read this blog much you know that I work for an awesome integrated marketing communications company. Well today was quarterly staff meeting day. Quarterly staff meetings start at three o'clock. We go over the prior quarter's financials, recognize any new employees, milestone anniversaries and then have a speaker or an activity of some sort. This is followed by an office happy hour. Sweet.

Today's activity was an internal social media trade show. We had eight tables manned by two internal "experts" on various social media topics. The topics were Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, Blogging, Quora, Four Square, Posterous. and some social gaming platforms. And in case you didn't see this coming, I was manning the blogging table.

Every table had stickers and every person in the agency had a card that they needed to fill up with the various stickers in order to be entered into a drawing for some fabulous prizes. The rule at our table was that in order to get a sticker a person needed to ask at least one question of us. There was a lot of discussion and it really was a fun way to spend an hour or so.

So to summarize - I got paid this afternoon to talk about my blog. Yep, sometimes I have to pinch myself just to make sure I am not dreaming.

I'm back with my monthly book reviews! Here's January .....

2011-02-08T19:00:00.002-05:00

I'm going to try this book review format again. It seemed to work a lot better for me than last year's single book reviews.

My only reading goal for 2011 is to enjoy as many books as I can. To that note, I am not going to list how many books, how many pages - until the end of the year summary - and I only do that because I think it's fun to see all those stats.

Anyway - in January I read:

Quantum: Portal Chronicles Book 3 by Imogen Rose

Here's the scoop on this one. As I have previously mentioned, I love to enter contests. So I entered a contest on Twitter or Facebook and I won a "Portal Gift Box." It included a book - Portal, several book marks, a teddy bear wearing a Portal tee-shirt (which is now a dog toy) and a mouse pad. So I read the book. It's a YA book about a high school girl who wakes up one morning in another city and state but unbeknownst to her, she is also in a different time dimension. Interesting concept, huh? So I happily read on - not realizing at the time that it was book 1 in a series. So when I got to the last page and discovered I had to read Equilibrium: Portal Chronicles Book 2, I downloaded it to my Kindle and continued reading. At the end of Equilibrium same thing happened so I downloaded Quantum (which was the first book I read in 2011). At the end I discovered that there is a book 4 called Momentum that won't be out until early summer of this year. I am not happy about this turn of events. At first I thought I was reading one book. Then I thought it was a trilogy and now I really have no idea how many more books there are. But I guess I'll find out. I'm hooked - need to find out what happens to Arizona Darley/Stevens. Think Twilight but substitute time dimensions and wanderers and portals for Forks, WA, vampires and werewolves.

Grade: C++++

You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness by Julie Klam

This was my first audio book of the year. I downloaded it from the library on a whim. I had seen it while working at Joseph Beth. The cover has a picture of an adorable Boston Terrier on it and between the cover and the title I was smitten. It's a really nice memoir-ish book about a 30 something woman in NYC who rescues a Boston because she needs her life to have some meaning. She eventually gets pretty involved in Boston Terrier rescue and ends up adopting several and fostering even more.

In my friend Ed's review of this book, he comments about being hesitant to become involved in any rescue and/or fostering group due to a fear of attachment and perhaps ending up with more animals than can possible be cared for. I have those same concerns but believe I would like to be involved in basset rescue someday. My hubby however has a very different point of view and in a commitment like that you really need to have buy in from the household - not just one person - so it probably won't be happening at my house.

Bottom line - if you are a dog lover, read the book. It's cute and funny and yes, sometimes very, very sad.

Grade: B

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Don't you just love January? Everything is a first in January. This was our first BTW read of 2011. I am happy to report that everyone read the book and the discussion was lively. As you can tell from the title the book addresses polygamy - but in a really interesting way. The author puts forth a modern day murder mystery wrapped around a book written in the early days of the FLDS (First Latter Day Saints) religion. Only if you read the author's notes at the end of the book you discover that he wrote the historical novel too - very talented that David Ebershoff! The book alternates between only two stories but multiple story tellers in both stories so it is a bit complex but still easy enough to follow.

I thoroughly enjoyed it - and I am not a huge fan of historical fiction or books with a lot of religious overtone so that's saying a lot.

Grade: B

And finally The Hunger Games (Book 1) by Suzanne Collins

Yes, this is another YA book. No, I am not having a midlife crisis. At least I don't think so. My friend Amy got me into this one. She just couldn't stop talking about it. Then when Amazon said you could begin "lending" your Kindle titles as of January 1st she just sent it to me. How could I resist that? And like Amy, I keep talking about it to anyone who will listen. Yes this is a YA book - but a really good one. Really well written - much better than either the Twilight series or the above mentioned Portal Chronicles.

Taken from the School Library Journal the following review sums this book up much better than I could ever do:

"In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing."

Definitely worth reading!

Grade: B+++

There you have it - my January reads. Stay tuned for February - I have already finished Book 2 of the Hunger Games and am eagerly awaiting Book 3 from Amy!

Quandary

2011-02-07T12:59:00.000-05:00

I am in a quandary. My sweet lovable Lola has been having seizures since she was 2. At first the seizures happened very sporadically – she had three in 2008, three in 2009 and prior to December 2010 she had only had one. On December 16th she had one bringing her 2010 total to three – which is considered manageable. Then on the day after Christmas she had another one. And then about a month later she had another one. And today, a mere 2 weeks from the last one she had another. And it wasn’t until I was typing this post that I saw what I was missing. The seizures are really escalating in frequency. So I guess I am not in a quandary after all. She needs to be medicated.

I know I am kind of rambling – but that is kind of why I started this blog. As a place to put my thoughts into words and make some sense out of them. Mainly about my kids leaving home and being an empty nester but evolution has taken me other places too. Usually I try to write fun, upbeat posts. But sometimes I gotta write what needs to get out.

So, the quandary was – do I or do I not put Lola on seizure meds? The medicine will NOT stop the seizures completely – nothing will. The best that we can hope to achieve with the meds is to keep the seizures to once every 2 to 3 months. The downside of the medicine is that once started it is FOREVER. Two times a day for the rest of her life. The drugs are tough on her kidneys and liver so she will have to have blood draws every 4 to 6 months monitoring those numbers. But hopefully the seizures will go back to sporadic, every once in a while – instead of increasing in frequency at an alarming rate.

Another downside to the medicine is that it may slow her down a lot. (Our last dog, Milton, who also suffered from seizure disorder, became really dopey on the meds.) My vet, who was not Milton’s vet, assures me we can tinker with the dosage to try and avoid that side effect. He cautions me however not to lose sight of the main goal which is to control the seizures. So that has to be our guide.

Anyway – if you have read this far, thanks for listening. My heart is heavy thinking about the eventual outcome - having been down this path before I know how this story ends. But that’s what you sign up for when you get a dog. Unconditional love and eventual heartbreak. Hug your four legged friends extra hard today.

I'm happy to report Jimmy is recovering nicely...

2011-02-02T18:17:00.000-05:00

So unless you live under a rock or have had your head in the sand for the last week you know that Jimmy Buffett fell off the stage during the encore of his third Austrailian concert last Wednesday. To quote Mary Phillips-Sandy contributor to the Surge Desk on AOLnews.com

"Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but it may have been the lighting director's fault when Jimmy Buffett fell offstage during a Wednesday performance in Sydney, Australia.

It seems Buffett may have been temporarily blinded by a flash of light during the show's finale, causing him to lose his footing and fall off the edge of the stage. "

How nice of her not to mention his age. A lot of people who shall remain nameless (you know who you are) repeatedly brought up Jimmy's advanced age as the reason for his fall. For God's sake people - he is 64 - not 164! I am 55 - so Jimmy is 9 years older than me. From my vantage point that doesn't look so old.

But Mr. Buffett's fall from the stage did give me pause. In previous posts here and here I told you all about my Buffett concert history. The first and foresmost fact is that I have not missed a summer tour since 1980. That's 31 years people - and some years I went to more than one show. I believe my concert count is at about 40 shows - I lost count a long time ago. This year (God Lord willing and the creek don't rise) will be number 41.

When my son, Jackson, heard about Jimmy's fall, he immediately jumped on the internet and googled for more information. He was teriibly concerned that if something really bad happened (like the worst but I can't bring myself to write it) to Jimmy Buffett he would need to take time off from work and drive back to Cleveland to comfort me. When he was telling me this my daughter, Caitlin, piped up saying she had the exact same thought. I got emails and Facebook postings from several people checking to see how I was taking the news of Jimmy's fall - as if I know him personally or he was a relative of mine. My persona (to use some ad agency lingo) is wrapped up and around Jimmy Buffett!

Which brings me to my point. What am I going to do when Jimmy stops touring? To me a summer without a Buffett concert is like a day without sunshine. And according to Steve Martin "A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." Anyway, I can't fathom a world, my world, without Jimmy in it - let's just leave it at that.

In closing I am happy to report that Mr. Buffett is doing well and still planning to be back on the concert circuit in April with this year's Welcome to Finland Tour. Check out the awesome tour logo!

Fins up!

What DO Fifty Something Women DO at a Sleepover????

2011-01-22T16:39:00.000-05:00

My BTW friends, aka my BFF's, also aka from this day forward as the Fab Five (including me of course) decided to make our book club meeting a bit different in January. January is usually a bit of a let down after all the holiday hullabaloo so we thought we would do something more than our typical book club meeting. And just so you know - at a typical meeting we meet at one of our houses, drink a lot of wine, eat a lot of great food and sometimes talk a little about a book or a lot about our next destination vacation. And we laugh - a LOT!

At our November meeting we were trying to decide what books we would read for the next 3 or 4 months. Dennis Lehane's latest Moonlight Mile came up as an option since we had all enjoyed Shutter Island. The fly in the ointment about reading MM was that it is kind of a continuation of the story started in Lehane's Gone Baby Gone which none of us had read. The logical thing would have been to pick GBG as our reading choice saving MM for a later month. But that's not what we did. Nope, not us. We decided instead to watch the movie GBG at an upcoming book club meeting and then read MM for the next month. However, all the above mentioned eating, drinking, talking and laughing really wouldn't leave us with much time to watch a movie so we decided to have a sleepover party. We would have plenty of time to do all of the usual meeting things and watch a movie. So that is what we did.

Michele volunteered to be the hostess for the sleepover - I think it might have been her turn to have book club - or not. Whatever - we were spending the night at her house. She planned dinner and asked us each to bring something. My contribution was stuff to make margaritas since dinner was to be a Mexican theme. I also brought a large trash bag full of popcorn popped in the office popcorn maker - better than movie popcorn any day. As usual we had waaaay too much food but it wouldn't be a BTW get together if we didn't.

Cathy (aka Katie) surprised the rest of us by bringing us gifts of new PJ's for all. They were all carefully chosen to suit our personalities (mine have polka dots!) AND each one was presented in a gift bag that was color coordinated to the PJs' Seriously - she makes me feel so inadequate at times - I'm just thrilled she's my friend!

So here's what we did:

We had cocktails.

We ate dinner and really discussed the book of the month which was The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. (We all liked it, FYI.)

We put on our PJ's

We had more cocktails.

We posed for photos.

We watched part of the movie then had intermission while we had had pudding shots which btw were the fabulous creation of Kim's.

We watched the rest of the movie and then talked about the twists and turns which we did not see coming.

We watched the Jimmy Buffett DVD Scenes You Know by Heart and discussed where our road trip should take us this summer.

We talked about our hubbies, our kids, and upcoming events - like Michele and my trip to Columbus next weekend to take our daughters who are roommates shopping for their birthdays. (Pretty cool of us to have daughters 5 days apart!)

We also talked about the upcoming BTW trip to Columbus in May to celebrate Sera's 21 st birthday.

We talked about a road trip to Cincinnati to see Katie and Kim's daughters, Courtney and Ashley, and go shopping. (It appears shopping in the CLE isn't an option.)

We talked about Ashley's upcoming nuptials. We talked about Erik becoming a Sigma Nu at Miami University. We talked about Zack's new job and Alex's lack of one. We talked about Mr. Big and Jack's job. We talked about Dean breaking his uncle's rib by accident. We talked about Eric and Brady and what they have been up to.

And eventually we went to bed and got up in the morning to talk some more.

But the answer to the question posed by this post's title? We had FUN! Like we always do.

Here's to you, my dear friends!

Happy Birthday Caitlin!

2011-01-22T01:30:00.000-05:00

Today on the 22nd day of January 2011 my daughter Caitlin turns 22. That makes this her Golden Birthday! Each person only gets one golden birthday in their life so I guess that makes it a little more special than every other birthday - or not. I'm weird that way - I like to make special days as special as possible so I like this golden birthday idea.

Unfortunately I won't be with Caitlin on her special day and I hate that. I sent a card with a little something in it to arrive today and I'm driving to Columbus on the 29th to take her shopping and celebrate.

So the best I can do today is wish her a happy birthday here.
22 times in 22 different languages!

Happy Birthday! (English)
Joyeux Anniversaire (French)
Hau'oli la Hanau (Hawaiian)
Buon Compleanno (Italian)
Feliz Aniversário (Portugese)
Feliz Cumpleaños (Spanish)
Ia Ora Te Mahana Fanaura'a (Tahitian)
A Freilekhn Gebortstog (Yiddish)
Bon Nanivèsè (West Indian Creole)
Tillykke Med Fødselsdagen (Danish)
Gefeliciteerd Met Je Verjaardag (Dutch)
Felicxan Naskigxtagon (Esperanto)
Gelukkige Verjaardag (Flemish)
Hyvää Syntymäpäivää (Finnish)
Pongezi Kwa Siku Ya Kuzaliwa (Swahili)
Tillukku Við Føðingardegnum (Faroese)
Všechno Nejlepší (Czech)
Joyeux Anniversaire (Bobo)
Janamdin Ki Hardhik Shubhkaamnaayein (Hindi)
Lá Breithe Shona Dhuit (Irish Gaelic)
Til Hamingju Með Afmælið (Icelandic)
Bonne Fête (Quebecois)

There you have little girl! Happy birthday and many happy returns of the day. Love you,

Mom