So, all the books I've been reading for the last, oh 11 months (ish) is parenting and pregnancy books. Baby "A" was born June 17, 2015 at 7:53 a.m. she weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 21 inches long. She is growing steadily and healthily now, which is great! :) Yesterday she turned 7 weeks old and today I finally feel like I might be close to feeling like my head is above water. I'm still not sleeping much since it takes me at least 30 minutes before I fall asleep after she's done feeding at night, and when she wakes up around every 2-3 hours you can imagine I'm still not getting a lot of sleep. Today I was able to get coffee and run a few errands while she was asleep in the back of the car, and she was quiet while she got to ride in her stroller (asleep) the first time. I was also able to do a load of her laundry, do all of the dishes, and take out the trash. All in all, I would say that makes for a very successful day! Now if only I could figure out a way to get in a shower as well… There's always tomorrow!
Speaking of, tomorrow will be the first time I am going to go out without the baby and have a "normal" time. Getting sushi and going to a movie with a good friend.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
First Semester!
So, the first semester has come and gone. It has been a very…interesting… and busy first semester. I'll go month by month:
I started the school year with a student teacher, Jaimie. She was a sweet girl who was very sensitive, and very optimistic! She wanted to teach in our neck of the woods when she graduated (more affluent kids…) Paul's school went I.B. this year so the school hired a Chinese Teacher from China. His name is… well, I couldn't pronounce his real name, and he never really gave it to me because I am lowly female, but he goes by "Terry". Terry moved in during Labor Day Weekend. He needed a place to stay with reasonably low rent, plus he couldn't drive, and didn't have a driver's license or permit, so Paul could take him to school. Our extra bedroom for the most part we were just using as storage unless guests came into town, so we figured why not.
Terry was… a nice enough fellow I suppose. He wasn't very cleanly, but I guess I was getting whatever I deserved from how I was as a roommate in college. We'll get to more of that later though. For the most part, things went okay. It was definitely a cultural experience. Terry expected us to pick up the bill whenever he joined us for a happy hour, and he never trusted anything I said because I was female. When he would ask a question and I would answer he would look to Paul to make sure whatever I said was true. That definitely got tiresome… He would also bring his computer into the living room and play his "online Chinese classes" at full volume, but then watch them, go around the house, and left it playing full blast for Paul and I to enjoy… He also spent a lot of time yelling on speakerphone in Chinese. I'm unsure why we needed to hear what his counterparts were saying, since we couldn't understand anyway, but there it was. We also only asked that he pay 1/3 of the power, gas, water, and garbage, which usually totaled less than $100/month. Even though he was on the internet more than we were we didn't charge him for that. One day towards the end of September I awoke and found all of the windows and doors open, and nobody home. I was a little disconcerted and texted Paul, he didn't know anything about it. I asked Terry when he came home and he let me know he had turned the gas on the stove, but hadn't actually lit it, so he had just let gas permeate our house, and he was trying to air it out...
That was basically September, onto October. School was/is going fine for both Paul and I. We both have over 300 students in our programs, and I have a prep buy-out so I can teach them in 6 classes instead of 5. October we had plans… We were going to spend Halloween at Disneyland, which is something I've always wanted to do! Terry let us know his wife was coming to visit in two weeks, and she would stay for a month. We were also planning on hiking to the petroglyphs that aren't that far from our house. On October 17 we went to Bonnie Screams (a haunted village) with some friends, I hadn't been feeling very amazing lately, and I was talking to my friends about it. They laughingly joked that I might be pregnant, we laughed it off though. The next morning I thought I may as well take a test, and sure enough, on Saturday, October 18, the test came back positive. I woke Paul up, because I was a bit… I'm not sure how to describe it… but I was. We were going hiking with my parents to the petroglyphs that morning, they were going to come over in about an hour. As I was running back into the bedroom, I stubbed my foot on the bed, and cracked my pinky toenail. We did an 8.5 mile hike and told my parents about halfway through the hike. They were ecstatic of course. Once we got home my pinky toenail fell off (gross, I know). We called to wish Paul's Dad a happy birthday and to let them know they are going to be grandparents. :)
The next day we got a phone call from Paul's parents that his grandma wasn't doing well, she ended up passing away that night. Paul and I flew up that weekend to be with his family and attend the funeral service. We still didn't tell any of his relatives, since it was so soon.
The following weekend we went to Disneyland with our friends (and two of their kids), I had to tell them I was pregnant since I couldn't ride any of the fun rides. It was definitely interesting going to Disneyland in that capacity. Other than being really tired though, it was fun. We left Thursday night, and Terry's wife flew in as we were leaving, they left Friday morning for Chicago (Halloween morning). We returned from Disneyland Saturday evening and found our front door wide open. Terry had left the house not only unlocked on Halloween (and for the whole weekend), but he left the door open for strangers to come in… Thankfully we live in a nice neighborhood and nobody came into our home, or stole anything. We were FURIOUS! Jaimie was offered a job at a middle school closer to where I started teaching. It is a Title 1 school, highly at risk, with a teacher who quit in the middle of the year. Those poor students… Jaimie will start once she graduates in December, until then, my mom will long-term sub there. (Side note, it is a rough school… I have never heard my mom complain about a school as much as I have this one…). Jaimie will definitely have her work cut out for her.
And now November. The first Monday was a Staff Development Day, I woke up, didn't feel amazing, and proceeded to vomit for the first time. I left Tuesday to fly to Wyoming to conduct the Middle School Choir Clinic. So far, I had only been sick the day before, but that all changed… I was severely sick the entire time I was in Wyoming. I couldn't keep anything down, and was throwing up water if I drank too much of that. I drove down to Cheyenne to see my brother, nephew, and sister-in-law (who was having her baby 4 days later), and let them know I was pregnant, too. I came home Saturday and finally got to meet Terry's Wife. I had cooled down (some) from them leaving our house open, and didn't go off the way I would have had I been home when the returned. We had a low-key party for Paul's birthday this year, some friends of ours hosted at their place.
November I was incredibly sick the whole month, same with December. Morning Sickness (which is actually 24/7 sickness) hit me with a vengeance and I lost 15-20 lbs in those two months. While Terry's wife was here for the month of November they didn't clean any dishes, or do anything to help around the house. In fact, they would use all our pots and pans, and then leave them in the sink and go out of town for the weekend, so if we wanted to cook, we had to do all of their dishes, and since I was so sick, it meant Paul had to do ALL of the dishes. He cleaned up after Terry and his wife the entire month. It was disgusting what he was doing to our house… The day after his wife left I had a talk with Terry about how rude it was for him to expect Paul or myself to clean up after him. He was living here, but he wasn't paying us enough to constantly be cleaning up after him. (We won't get into his food handling… Paul had forbidden me from eating any of his cooking because of how long he would leave food out, I couldn't eat anyway). He apologized, and said he thought his wife had been cleaning… or at least the one time she did clean a pot/pan I put it back in the sink. I showed him the picture (yes, I was so angry at this point I was taking pictures) of the filthy pot and asked if he would eat out of it? He said no… I told him from now on he needed to clean all of his dishes before he went to bed. You use it, you clean it. After the last month we had gone through with him and his wife, we felt that was fair.
Onto December… we still hadn't told many people we were expecting (other than a few close friends down here and our immediate family). Terry didn't even know. He would cook hamburger or some weird rice stuff every morning for breakfast, and I would wake up throwing up from the smell. Because his wife had been here for a month, and Paul and I had been out of town so much, we split the bills in half. Terry didn't think that was fair at all… In fact, after he paid us his half of the bill, he told us he was thinking of looking for a new place (this was a Wednesday), on Thursday (the day of my winter concert) he had moved all his stuff out of the house. He had found a new place.
Paul and I were relieved. It was nice to have our home to ourselves again. We were going to let Terry know during Winter Break he had until Spring Break to move out, but we didn't have to tell him after all. The guest room will be our nursery, and we're excited to get moving on it.
Paul and I had good winter concerts, they were overflowing as usual. Winter break was nice, low key. I was sick all the way through it. Paul got bored and ripped up the linoleum in our kitchen. We bought tile and he is going to replace it… someday… :)
And… Happy New Year! Our Christmas Cards this year let people know about the upcoming baby. I've only been sick a few times since New Years (which is AMAZING)! And I am starting to eat again. I also started teaching voice lessons this school year. The students are great! I only have two right now, but it has been a joy to watch them grow!
I know this started out as a book blog, but I have felt so terrible the last 3 months that I've barely done anything, and have hardly had any energy to do anything. I'm just now starting to come around and talk to people again. I hope you are doing amazing. Love to the like (three of you) who might read this. ;)
I started the school year with a student teacher, Jaimie. She was a sweet girl who was very sensitive, and very optimistic! She wanted to teach in our neck of the woods when she graduated (more affluent kids…) Paul's school went I.B. this year so the school hired a Chinese Teacher from China. His name is… well, I couldn't pronounce his real name, and he never really gave it to me because I am lowly female, but he goes by "Terry". Terry moved in during Labor Day Weekend. He needed a place to stay with reasonably low rent, plus he couldn't drive, and didn't have a driver's license or permit, so Paul could take him to school. Our extra bedroom for the most part we were just using as storage unless guests came into town, so we figured why not.
Terry was… a nice enough fellow I suppose. He wasn't very cleanly, but I guess I was getting whatever I deserved from how I was as a roommate in college. We'll get to more of that later though. For the most part, things went okay. It was definitely a cultural experience. Terry expected us to pick up the bill whenever he joined us for a happy hour, and he never trusted anything I said because I was female. When he would ask a question and I would answer he would look to Paul to make sure whatever I said was true. That definitely got tiresome… He would also bring his computer into the living room and play his "online Chinese classes" at full volume, but then watch them, go around the house, and left it playing full blast for Paul and I to enjoy… He also spent a lot of time yelling on speakerphone in Chinese. I'm unsure why we needed to hear what his counterparts were saying, since we couldn't understand anyway, but there it was. We also only asked that he pay 1/3 of the power, gas, water, and garbage, which usually totaled less than $100/month. Even though he was on the internet more than we were we didn't charge him for that. One day towards the end of September I awoke and found all of the windows and doors open, and nobody home. I was a little disconcerted and texted Paul, he didn't know anything about it. I asked Terry when he came home and he let me know he had turned the gas on the stove, but hadn't actually lit it, so he had just let gas permeate our house, and he was trying to air it out...
That was basically September, onto October. School was/is going fine for both Paul and I. We both have over 300 students in our programs, and I have a prep buy-out so I can teach them in 6 classes instead of 5. October we had plans… We were going to spend Halloween at Disneyland, which is something I've always wanted to do! Terry let us know his wife was coming to visit in two weeks, and she would stay for a month. We were also planning on hiking to the petroglyphs that aren't that far from our house. On October 17 we went to Bonnie Screams (a haunted village) with some friends, I hadn't been feeling very amazing lately, and I was talking to my friends about it. They laughingly joked that I might be pregnant, we laughed it off though. The next morning I thought I may as well take a test, and sure enough, on Saturday, October 18, the test came back positive. I woke Paul up, because I was a bit… I'm not sure how to describe it… but I was. We were going hiking with my parents to the petroglyphs that morning, they were going to come over in about an hour. As I was running back into the bedroom, I stubbed my foot on the bed, and cracked my pinky toenail. We did an 8.5 mile hike and told my parents about halfway through the hike. They were ecstatic of course. Once we got home my pinky toenail fell off (gross, I know). We called to wish Paul's Dad a happy birthday and to let them know they are going to be grandparents. :)
The next day we got a phone call from Paul's parents that his grandma wasn't doing well, she ended up passing away that night. Paul and I flew up that weekend to be with his family and attend the funeral service. We still didn't tell any of his relatives, since it was so soon.
The following weekend we went to Disneyland with our friends (and two of their kids), I had to tell them I was pregnant since I couldn't ride any of the fun rides. It was definitely interesting going to Disneyland in that capacity. Other than being really tired though, it was fun. We left Thursday night, and Terry's wife flew in as we were leaving, they left Friday morning for Chicago (Halloween morning). We returned from Disneyland Saturday evening and found our front door wide open. Terry had left the house not only unlocked on Halloween (and for the whole weekend), but he left the door open for strangers to come in… Thankfully we live in a nice neighborhood and nobody came into our home, or stole anything. We were FURIOUS! Jaimie was offered a job at a middle school closer to where I started teaching. It is a Title 1 school, highly at risk, with a teacher who quit in the middle of the year. Those poor students… Jaimie will start once she graduates in December, until then, my mom will long-term sub there. (Side note, it is a rough school… I have never heard my mom complain about a school as much as I have this one…). Jaimie will definitely have her work cut out for her.
And now November. The first Monday was a Staff Development Day, I woke up, didn't feel amazing, and proceeded to vomit for the first time. I left Tuesday to fly to Wyoming to conduct the Middle School Choir Clinic. So far, I had only been sick the day before, but that all changed… I was severely sick the entire time I was in Wyoming. I couldn't keep anything down, and was throwing up water if I drank too much of that. I drove down to Cheyenne to see my brother, nephew, and sister-in-law (who was having her baby 4 days later), and let them know I was pregnant, too. I came home Saturday and finally got to meet Terry's Wife. I had cooled down (some) from them leaving our house open, and didn't go off the way I would have had I been home when the returned. We had a low-key party for Paul's birthday this year, some friends of ours hosted at their place.
November I was incredibly sick the whole month, same with December. Morning Sickness (which is actually 24/7 sickness) hit me with a vengeance and I lost 15-20 lbs in those two months. While Terry's wife was here for the month of November they didn't clean any dishes, or do anything to help around the house. In fact, they would use all our pots and pans, and then leave them in the sink and go out of town for the weekend, so if we wanted to cook, we had to do all of their dishes, and since I was so sick, it meant Paul had to do ALL of the dishes. He cleaned up after Terry and his wife the entire month. It was disgusting what he was doing to our house… The day after his wife left I had a talk with Terry about how rude it was for him to expect Paul or myself to clean up after him. He was living here, but he wasn't paying us enough to constantly be cleaning up after him. (We won't get into his food handling… Paul had forbidden me from eating any of his cooking because of how long he would leave food out, I couldn't eat anyway). He apologized, and said he thought his wife had been cleaning… or at least the one time she did clean a pot/pan I put it back in the sink. I showed him the picture (yes, I was so angry at this point I was taking pictures) of the filthy pot and asked if he would eat out of it? He said no… I told him from now on he needed to clean all of his dishes before he went to bed. You use it, you clean it. After the last month we had gone through with him and his wife, we felt that was fair.
Onto December… we still hadn't told many people we were expecting (other than a few close friends down here and our immediate family). Terry didn't even know. He would cook hamburger or some weird rice stuff every morning for breakfast, and I would wake up throwing up from the smell. Because his wife had been here for a month, and Paul and I had been out of town so much, we split the bills in half. Terry didn't think that was fair at all… In fact, after he paid us his half of the bill, he told us he was thinking of looking for a new place (this was a Wednesday), on Thursday (the day of my winter concert) he had moved all his stuff out of the house. He had found a new place.
Paul and I were relieved. It was nice to have our home to ourselves again. We were going to let Terry know during Winter Break he had until Spring Break to move out, but we didn't have to tell him after all. The guest room will be our nursery, and we're excited to get moving on it.
Paul and I had good winter concerts, they were overflowing as usual. Winter break was nice, low key. I was sick all the way through it. Paul got bored and ripped up the linoleum in our kitchen. We bought tile and he is going to replace it… someday… :)
And… Happy New Year! Our Christmas Cards this year let people know about the upcoming baby. I've only been sick a few times since New Years (which is AMAZING)! And I am starting to eat again. I also started teaching voice lessons this school year. The students are great! I only have two right now, but it has been a joy to watch them grow!
I know this started out as a book blog, but I have felt so terrible the last 3 months that I've barely done anything, and have hardly had any energy to do anything. I'm just now starting to come around and talk to people again. I hope you are doing amazing. Love to the like (three of you) who might read this. ;)
Monday, August 25, 2014
First Day Back and health update.
First Day:
If every day could be as productive as today I will consider it a success! I woke up on time (thanks to my phone alarm, since my regular alarm was set for PM instead of AM), went to the gym for 40 minutes, came home and got ready for the first day. Got coffee (forgot my lunch, but remembered before I got to school so I could stop at Subway), and had a pretty good first day! I feel pretty organized and ready for this year, here's hoping I am! :)
Only negative of the day was the air conditioning going out in our school for 3-5 periods... Thankfully I had fans (thank you donorschoose!). :) Our new housemate made us dinner, and I am going to head to bed reasonably early to start again.
Have a good night!
Health Update:
So I finally found out what was wrong with me... I was really sick in March with a terrible sinus infection and allergies so I went to urgent care after our Pre-Festival Concert. The doctor convinced me to get a shot (one steroid and one antibiotic) to help get me healthy and help alleviate my awful allergies. I was a little hesitant and asked the side effects, but the ones he explained didn't seem THAT bad...
Fast forward for the next three months. Life sucked, as in REALLY sucked. I was afraid I had tumors, I was afraid I was infertile, I was just honestly scared for what was going on in my body. I didn't think about telling my OBGYN I had a shot in March since I couldn't get in until mid-June. When we drove into Jackson I thought about how under control my allergies had been and it clicked! I called the Urgent Care Doctor to figure out what shot I got, explained my symptoms to the receptionist and she informed me she would tell the doctor, have him call me back, but when she told him he said what I was going through wasn't a symptom. I looked it up online and there were SEVERAL people who had the same symptoms I was having. I called my OBGYN to let her know, and was told the same thing. Both doctor's called me back (one that afternoon, one the next day) letting me know it was a side effect afterall.... The doc who gave me the shot told me he didn't tell me because it was so rare and had never had one of his patients experience it, I was also told if I got the shot again and same symptoms happened, I would know that is the reaction my body has to the shot. Uhm, no thank you... it is not worth putting my body and mind (or my Husband's for that matter...) through that again.
But, it finally wore off, and I am back to normal now. I am very thankful it wasn't something worse! :)
If every day could be as productive as today I will consider it a success! I woke up on time (thanks to my phone alarm, since my regular alarm was set for PM instead of AM), went to the gym for 40 minutes, came home and got ready for the first day. Got coffee (forgot my lunch, but remembered before I got to school so I could stop at Subway), and had a pretty good first day! I feel pretty organized and ready for this year, here's hoping I am! :)
Only negative of the day was the air conditioning going out in our school for 3-5 periods... Thankfully I had fans (thank you donorschoose!). :) Our new housemate made us dinner, and I am going to head to bed reasonably early to start again.
Have a good night!
Health Update:
So I finally found out what was wrong with me... I was really sick in March with a terrible sinus infection and allergies so I went to urgent care after our Pre-Festival Concert. The doctor convinced me to get a shot (one steroid and one antibiotic) to help get me healthy and help alleviate my awful allergies. I was a little hesitant and asked the side effects, but the ones he explained didn't seem THAT bad...
Fast forward for the next three months. Life sucked, as in REALLY sucked. I was afraid I had tumors, I was afraid I was infertile, I was just honestly scared for what was going on in my body. I didn't think about telling my OBGYN I had a shot in March since I couldn't get in until mid-June. When we drove into Jackson I thought about how under control my allergies had been and it clicked! I called the Urgent Care Doctor to figure out what shot I got, explained my symptoms to the receptionist and she informed me she would tell the doctor, have him call me back, but when she told him he said what I was going through wasn't a symptom. I looked it up online and there were SEVERAL people who had the same symptoms I was having. I called my OBGYN to let her know, and was told the same thing. Both doctor's called me back (one that afternoon, one the next day) letting me know it was a side effect afterall.... The doc who gave me the shot told me he didn't tell me because it was so rare and had never had one of his patients experience it, I was also told if I got the shot again and same symptoms happened, I would know that is the reaction my body has to the shot. Uhm, no thank you... it is not worth putting my body and mind (or my Husband's for that matter...) through that again.
But, it finally wore off, and I am back to normal now. I am very thankful it wasn't something worse! :)
Monday, June 23, 2014
Health Issues
This year has been an intense year... I took two trips to Cali with two different choirs and sold my prep to teach an extra class (I am doing that again next year because 330+ students between 5 classes makes my head want to explode). In April I started having some health issues, I was hoping it would just pass, but by the end of May it hadn't. I called the Doctor and made the earliest appointment I could (5 weeks later), then they called less than a week before and had to cancel and had me reschedule to a week and a half later. At this point, we're not exactly sure what's going on, but they took my blood and are checking several different things (which I might know about tomorrow?) and then I am supposed to go in for an ultrasound on Friday.
Here's hoping they can figure out what's going on, and fast. I'm tired of this going on all the time.
On the positive side, summer has been nice and relaxing. And we got a new puppy named Jorah (of course after Game of Thrones). :)
Here's hoping they can figure out what's going on, and fast. I'm tired of this going on all the time.
On the positive side, summer has been nice and relaxing. And we got a new puppy named Jorah (of course after Game of Thrones). :)
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Club33 Truffled Mac n' Cheese
Over the summer I made a new recipe after going to visit Club33 with a friend at Disneyland. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google it! This is the recipe I used for Truffled Mac n' Cheese. It was SO amazing I had to try it. The first time I made it it took me about an hour and a half to make because I very meticulously chopped everything to be as equal and tiny as possible, not reading ahead to realize I was going to strain out all of the vegetables from the beginning. I think next time I could cut it down to 45 min-an hour. I'm going to try again tonight.
My husband tends to not eat leftovers. Ever. So whenever I find a recipe he enjoys and will eat again the next day I count as a success. Last time I made it to take over to a friend's house so he got whatever was leftover.
Here is the recipe from the website listed above:
-Using 2 Tablespoons of butter sauté 4 oz. of shallots (right around two heads) with 2 oz. of button mushrooms for a couple of minutes. I couldn't find button mushrooms at my local grocery store so I used regular brown mushrooms.
-Add 6 oz. of Chardonnay wine and reduce until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. The first time I used a cheap Sutter Homes Chardonnay. Tonight I'm using Sonoma Loeb Chardonnay- it is a delicious buttery chardonnay that I think will compliment the mac n' cheese perfectly!
-Add 16 oz. of Chicken stock and reduce liquid by half over medium heat.
-Add 8 oz. (a Half Pint) of Heavy Cream. Bring to a boil and reduce to a light simmer for 15 minutes.
- Strain through a fine sieve and place back into pot.
- Around this time I start to boil the Water for the macaroni.
-Over low heat, slowly whisk in 24 oz. of Velveeta Cheese in stages until fully incorporated. (Yes, you read that correct... a WHOLE 24 ounces of Velveeta!)
-Add in .81 t of White Truffle Oil with salt and pepper.
-I used one whole bag of Large Elbow Macaroni and mix it into the cheese mixture after cooked.
-At this point the recipe called to shave Black Truffles on top of the macaroni, I didn't have any and didn't want to spend that much on dinner so I didn't. It still tastes amazing!
Enjoy!
My husband tends to not eat leftovers. Ever. So whenever I find a recipe he enjoys and will eat again the next day I count as a success. Last time I made it to take over to a friend's house so he got whatever was leftover.
Here is the recipe from the website listed above:
-Using 2 Tablespoons of butter sauté 4 oz. of shallots (right around two heads) with 2 oz. of button mushrooms for a couple of minutes. I couldn't find button mushrooms at my local grocery store so I used regular brown mushrooms.
-Add 6 oz. of Chardonnay wine and reduce until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. The first time I used a cheap Sutter Homes Chardonnay. Tonight I'm using Sonoma Loeb Chardonnay- it is a delicious buttery chardonnay that I think will compliment the mac n' cheese perfectly!
-Add 16 oz. of Chicken stock and reduce liquid by half over medium heat.
-Add 8 oz. (a Half Pint) of Heavy Cream. Bring to a boil and reduce to a light simmer for 15 minutes.
- Strain through a fine sieve and place back into pot.
- Around this time I start to boil the Water for the macaroni.
-Over low heat, slowly whisk in 24 oz. of Velveeta Cheese in stages until fully incorporated. (Yes, you read that correct... a WHOLE 24 ounces of Velveeta!)
-Add in .81 t of White Truffle Oil with salt and pepper.
-I used one whole bag of Large Elbow Macaroni and mix it into the cheese mixture after cooked.
-At this point the recipe called to shave Black Truffles on top of the macaroni, I didn't have any and didn't want to spend that much on dinner so I didn't. It still tastes amazing!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Austenland by Shannon Hale
As you can see from my previous post, I haven't done much reading for relaxation awhile. But, I hadn't read the Bible in about 2 weeks (I was behind, I'm caught up, more on that later) and we went to the bookstore upon our return from vacation. I bought three books, and this one was the shortest, so I thought I would start with it.
Genre: Fiction Pages:194
Let me start by saying I have not read any Jane Austen books cover-to-cover, and I have not watched any of the movies... My roommate in college, M, watched the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice, so I have seen parts of it, but never the whole thing. I know, this apparently makes me not a real girl...
This book starts out with Jane (yes... she even share her name) being single and obsessed with Colin Firth a la BBC's Pride and Prejudice. She's dated some terrible boys, but she holds all men to the standard of Jane Austen heroes. None, can compare, obviously. Her great-aunt leaves her trip to "Austenland" (not actually what it's called in the book, but you get the gist) in her will, and Jane decides to go, one last Hurrah before she swears off men altogether and gives up the Jane Austen Fantasy.
This place is a three week retreat of sorts. There are three other ladies that are there as well, everyone else is an actor and they pretend they are from the Austen-era (circa early 1800s). The women are supposed to fall in love, and the actor's make them feel cherished. Jane can't really get into the whole "acting/play" part of the scenario and spends the first quarter of the book fretting and just letting go and enjoying herself. There are really four men that Jane has talked to: Capt. East (A captain who was already engaged at one point to one of the other girls), Mr. Nobley (a snobbish brute), Martin (the Gardner), and Colonel Andrews (a very handsome, witty gentleman). She gets to know each of the men in turn (no... not like THAT!) and she finally finds herself and what she wants by the end of this. There is also some friction with the lady who runs the retreat, as she knows Jane will never return because she couldn't afford to. She's basically tries to ruin the trip for Jane and get her kicked out (because of the no electronics rule).
All in all, I would give this book 4/5 stars for what it is. It's a fun, quick, summer read that was predictable, but I still smiled at the end. :)
Bible Update: I am more than half finished (good thing, since we are more than half way through the year. I just started Ecclesiastes last night. Thus far, my favorite Book has been the Book of Proverbs).
Genre: Fiction Pages:194
Let me start by saying I have not read any Jane Austen books cover-to-cover, and I have not watched any of the movies... My roommate in college, M, watched the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice, so I have seen parts of it, but never the whole thing. I know, this apparently makes me not a real girl...
This book starts out with Jane (yes... she even share her name) being single and obsessed with Colin Firth a la BBC's Pride and Prejudice. She's dated some terrible boys, but she holds all men to the standard of Jane Austen heroes. None, can compare, obviously. Her great-aunt leaves her trip to "Austenland" (not actually what it's called in the book, but you get the gist) in her will, and Jane decides to go, one last Hurrah before she swears off men altogether and gives up the Jane Austen Fantasy.
This place is a three week retreat of sorts. There are three other ladies that are there as well, everyone else is an actor and they pretend they are from the Austen-era (circa early 1800s). The women are supposed to fall in love, and the actor's make them feel cherished. Jane can't really get into the whole "acting/play" part of the scenario and spends the first quarter of the book fretting and just letting go and enjoying herself. There are really four men that Jane has talked to: Capt. East (A captain who was already engaged at one point to one of the other girls), Mr. Nobley (a snobbish brute), Martin (the Gardner), and Colonel Andrews (a very handsome, witty gentleman). She gets to know each of the men in turn (no... not like THAT!) and she finally finds herself and what she wants by the end of this. There is also some friction with the lady who runs the retreat, as she knows Jane will never return because she couldn't afford to. She's basically tries to ruin the trip for Jane and get her kicked out (because of the no electronics rule).
All in all, I would give this book 4/5 stars for what it is. It's a fun, quick, summer read that was predictable, but I still smiled at the end. :)
Bible Update: I am more than half finished (good thing, since we are more than half way through the year. I just started Ecclesiastes last night. Thus far, my favorite Book has been the Book of Proverbs).
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Bible.
I am currently embarking a long journey. I decided in January that I should finally read The Bible. If you didn't know, I am an Episcopalian (which is Christian). I was baptised Lutheran, and then Confirmed Episcopal when I was thirteen. I like the fact that most of the Episcopals I meet tend to be more open minded than a lot of other denominations (and way more than non-denominations). As Robin Williams put it "All the religion with half the guilt [a la Catholicism]). I tend to not wear my religion on my sleeve and be overt about it, because I think it is a private and personal matter, if you are curious and/or if you ask, I'll talk about it, but otherwise, I have never found it to be my duty to shove my beliefs down your throat. I find it un-Christian of people to be so judgemental, and it makes me sad- especially as that is the very thing that tends to turn people away from religion in the first place. That being said, here is why I started The Bible.
I am 29 years old, and I haven't tried to read the Bible cover to cover since I was in third grade (so almost twenty years). It was hard to get through then, I think I only made it halfway-three quarters of the way through the Old Testament. Growing up I went to Sunday School, was a part of youth group, and a member of the church choir. I went to church practically EVERY Sunday and several Wednesdays in high school. When I went away to college I didn't have a car my freshman year, and not being from a place that had public transportation I didn't really figure out how to work the bus system until almost a year later. Then, once I had a car I was up late every night and Sundays were my day to sleep in, or we were at Ultimate tournaments, so I just stopped going to church. When I went home for breaks I would go to church with my parents, but I had basically stopped. I still prayed every night, and consider myself a religious person. I just, during college, didn't find the need to attend church. When we moved to Vegas I tried to find a new church, that was hard. The church I grew up in was very traditional, and was a gothic style building. They don't have buildings like that here. Everything is stucco and, let's be honest, ugly. I couldn't bear attending church when it wasn't what I was used to in Wyoming or Washington. I still wasn't going, then after my parents moved here I tried going with them a few times, but their Priest was horrible. The last time I went with them was a Christmas Eve service, where the priest spent his sermon talking about negative things, and Satan. Really?! During the Christmas Eve Service where everyone is supposed to be happy for the birth of Christ? I liked the organ at the church, and the choir was decent, but the people were not kind, or welcoming, and I just didn't like the feel of the entire thing. It was very unwelcoming, and I felt wasn't worth the 45 minute drive to get to.
So, after a lot of searching I found another church. The Priest was a lady who was very nice, and gave good sermons/homilies. My issue with this place was it was in an office building... However, I was away from the church long enough that I decided this didn't matter (and the 15 minute drive made it that much more enticing). After I had been going off and on for about 5 months the Priest was moved and now we have several different priests cycling through. Some have been great, one has been "eh", but none have been even close to as bad as the one at my parents church (who, it has to be said is no longer there. They just hired a new, young Priest who is supposed to be fantastic). I haven't decided if I will stay at this church or check out the one in old Henderson (who one of the Priests I really like- that is his main church), plus that one is more of a Church style building.
At any rate back to the Bible... (I know this was a long trek). I decided I am now old enough to read the book cover to cover. Plus, I am tired of people quoting scripture to me, and me not being positive if what they are saying is actually factual. I have several friends who I think are wonderful people, and they happen to be gay. I don't think that's a problem. So, honestly, I am reading the Book to figure out my own interpretation and be able to hold my own when people quote at me. I am about 400 pages in. I am trying to do 3 verses a night, and in doing that I can finish the Book by the end of the year.
Now you know. :) So that is why there haven't been any new book postings. This is what I'm reading currently, and it is going to take me all year to finish.
I am 29 years old, and I haven't tried to read the Bible cover to cover since I was in third grade (so almost twenty years). It was hard to get through then, I think I only made it halfway-three quarters of the way through the Old Testament. Growing up I went to Sunday School, was a part of youth group, and a member of the church choir. I went to church practically EVERY Sunday and several Wednesdays in high school. When I went away to college I didn't have a car my freshman year, and not being from a place that had public transportation I didn't really figure out how to work the bus system until almost a year later. Then, once I had a car I was up late every night and Sundays were my day to sleep in, or we were at Ultimate tournaments, so I just stopped going to church. When I went home for breaks I would go to church with my parents, but I had basically stopped. I still prayed every night, and consider myself a religious person. I just, during college, didn't find the need to attend church. When we moved to Vegas I tried to find a new church, that was hard. The church I grew up in was very traditional, and was a gothic style building. They don't have buildings like that here. Everything is stucco and, let's be honest, ugly. I couldn't bear attending church when it wasn't what I was used to in Wyoming or Washington. I still wasn't going, then after my parents moved here I tried going with them a few times, but their Priest was horrible. The last time I went with them was a Christmas Eve service, where the priest spent his sermon talking about negative things, and Satan. Really?! During the Christmas Eve Service where everyone is supposed to be happy for the birth of Christ? I liked the organ at the church, and the choir was decent, but the people were not kind, or welcoming, and I just didn't like the feel of the entire thing. It was very unwelcoming, and I felt wasn't worth the 45 minute drive to get to.
So, after a lot of searching I found another church. The Priest was a lady who was very nice, and gave good sermons/homilies. My issue with this place was it was in an office building... However, I was away from the church long enough that I decided this didn't matter (and the 15 minute drive made it that much more enticing). After I had been going off and on for about 5 months the Priest was moved and now we have several different priests cycling through. Some have been great, one has been "eh", but none have been even close to as bad as the one at my parents church (who, it has to be said is no longer there. They just hired a new, young Priest who is supposed to be fantastic). I haven't decided if I will stay at this church or check out the one in old Henderson (who one of the Priests I really like- that is his main church), plus that one is more of a Church style building.
At any rate back to the Bible... (I know this was a long trek). I decided I am now old enough to read the book cover to cover. Plus, I am tired of people quoting scripture to me, and me not being positive if what they are saying is actually factual. I have several friends who I think are wonderful people, and they happen to be gay. I don't think that's a problem. So, honestly, I am reading the Book to figure out my own interpretation and be able to hold my own when people quote at me. I am about 400 pages in. I am trying to do 3 verses a night, and in doing that I can finish the Book by the end of the year.
Now you know. :) So that is why there haven't been any new book postings. This is what I'm reading currently, and it is going to take me all year to finish.
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