Exceedingly Mundane

Comfort Food

Okay . . . picture this (really) worst-case scenario: It’s cold and raining, your boyfriend/girlfriend has just dumped you, you’ve just been fired, the pile of unpaid bills is sky-high, your beloved pet has recently died, and you think you’re coming down with a cold. All you want to do (other than hiding under the covers) is to curl up with a good book, something warm and comforting that will make you feel better.

What do you read?

(Any bets on how quickly somebody says the Bible or some other religious text? A good choice, to be sure, but to be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of fiction…. Unless I laid it on a little strong in the string of catastrophes? Maybe I should have just stuck to catching a cold on a rainy day….)

Great question again this week, over at Booking Through Thursday. Wow, I certainly hope that none of these (much less all of these!) happen to me. Although, I can remember when our beloved Sally dog passed away nearly 4 years ago. I was beyond despondent, but I really didn’t want to “curl up with a good book” for a while. Now, if it’s cold and raining, I do love to snuggle up under a blanket with a book and a mug of hot cocoa, so I’m going that route 😀

For me, a comfort type book is something light and easy. Something engrossing. A favorite author, part of a favorite series. I don’t tend to reread books, so my choice would probably be something new that I had not read before. Maybe a book by Nicholas Sparks or John Grisham, maybe a women’s fiction book by Debbie Macomber or someone like her, or perhaps one of my new favorites – a cozy mystery. I’m really enjoying this type of book lately, as well as just other murder type mystery suspense or thriller books. I just don’t like them to be very gory or overly descriptive of violence.

On a side note, we’re hoping to get some rain later today and maybe tomorrow. Tropical Storm Humberto is headed this way from the Texas coast, and we’re really hoping to get some good rain. My grass, flowers and trees and shrubs are beyond dry. We could really use the rain.

Today’s Question of the Day is another “quick and easy” one – do you consider yourself musical? Can you sing, read music, play a musical instrument? If not, which would you like to be able to do, or do better? Are you the only one in your family like that (musical or non-musical)? In other words, if you’re really musical, is your spouse and children the same way or just the opposite?

As for me, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. I love music and I sing all the time – if no one else is around. I don’t have a good voice and I know it. I can’t read music and I can’t play any musical instrument. One of the things I wish I had been able to do growing up was take some kind of musical lesson. I would have liked to have had the chance to learn to read music, or to learn to play an instrument, or even sing in a choir. My mom knew that I loved to sing. I think she even wrote in my baby book that I was singing at an early age, and memorizing song lyrics long before I got to kindergarten. I love music, and I listen to it — a lot. My iPod has tons on it and I listen to music a lot on my computer. Surprisingly, I never think to turn on our TV and tune to the dozens of Music Choice channels we have. But I do love my iPod and I do love singing when no one can hear me!

How about you? Leave me a comment and let me know! 🙂

I’m still reading a lot, but I haven’t been posting very many reviews. Never fear, this is not a book review post. Just a few random thoughts of some of the books I’ve read recently and on books in general 😀

Which brings up my other book-related thought I wanted to blog about. Years ago, I used to just read most of the same authors over and over. My horizons weren’t very broad, and I was ok with that. I had a handful of authors I liked and I read those. But, since I’ve been blogging and I’ve discovered so many other fellow book-lover blogs, I’ve been really finding not only a lot of new authors that I like and enjoy, but a lot of new genres. I’ve really stretched out and am reading more Christian fiction, as well as branching out into “cozy” mysteries and other mysteries like this book by Tess Gerritsen that I just started, or books by James Patterson, for example. These are not authors I probably would have read before. I really love how many authors I’ve already tried, and how many more I have on my to-try list. It makes a bookworm like me positively giddy

For the record, I’ve read 81 books so far, with a total of 23,847 pages. I’m currently reading “Body Double” by Tess Gerritsen. I have plenty more books on my TBR shelf to read after that, but I might have to just go back to the library. I haven’t been in a couple of weeks, and I’m feeling the pull of a library visit. It’s pretty strong, so I will probably go this week. Maybe even later today 😀

How about you? Do you have any books or authors to recommend? What are you reading?

Happy Reading!!!

Let’s see… last week went pretty much according to plan. The weekends tend to get mixed up, and sometimes things don’t get made that I put on the menu. I use things like frozen pizza, spaghetti, sandwiches, etc. as items for our weekend. But, a lot of the time, we end up eating out. Oh well, I got most of my meals made 🙂 As always, thanks to Laura at OrgJunkie for organizing and hosting this each week!

Monday – Loaded Potatoes, Salad

Tuesday – Chicken Soft Tacos (using this recipe for the chicken), or maybe Chicken Quesadillas, Pinto Beans, Rice

Wednesday – Breakfast Burritoes, turkey bacon, oatmeal

Thursday – Soup, new recipe for bread

Friday, Saturday and Sunday – not sure about the weekend. We’ll probably eat out one night and then there’s things like grilling out, frozen pizza, take-out Chinese, and wings during the football games 🙂

Feast One Hundred & Fifty Nine
September 7, 2007

Appetizer
Using only one word, how does grocery shopping make you feel? Happy! I know, I know, I’m odd. I really like to go grocery shopping 🙂

Soup
What is your favorite part about the season of Autumn? Cooler temps, football, our birthdays and the ensuing holidays, just to name a few.

Salad
Have you ever had any bad experiences online? Not really, at least nothing that I can think of right now. (Of course, my head feels like a watermelon (sinus), so I could just not be thinking of something that’s relevant)

Main Course
Name three things that make you happy daily. Being at home, reading, spending time with Tim and Beau

Dessert
What one household cleansing or organizing item would you not want to be without? Hmmm, good question. Hard to pick just one. Maybe my Dustbuster? For vacuuming up bits of hair and dirt that we track in (especially Beau). Or 4-09 cleaner. I use a lot of that 🙂

Goldilocks

Okay, so the other day, a friend was commenting on my monthly reading list and asked when I found the time to read. In the ensuing discussion, she described herself as a “goldilocks� when it comes to reading–she needs to have everything juuuuuust right to be able to focus. This caught my attention because, first, I thought that was a charming way of describing the condition, but, two, while we’ve talked about our reading habits, this is an interesting wrinkle. I’d never really thought about it that way.

So, this is my question to you–are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?

Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?

Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital–as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

Another good question today over at Booking Through Thursday! I’m afraid that I am a bit of a Goldilocks 🙂 Not totally, but I do need certain things and certain conditions. I can’t just pick up a book while waiting on the teakettle to go off. I can’t read in a really loud place, like the living room while my husband is watching a shoot-em-up movie on the big screen with surround sound blaring. I can’t sit down and read if I have things that need to be done, errands to run, cooking or cleaning to do, etc. I guess I’m more of a Goldilocks than I thought 🙄 I like to read when it’s quiet and I’m comfortable. I have to have enough light and I have to be able to read for more than a few seconds. Ideally, I read in the evenings before bed, when it’s quiet and I can read until my eyes are tired and I’m ready to go to sleep 😀

Background info… I have been working on going through some old magazines lately. I have magazines literally coming out my ears, as I get quite a few on a regular basis. Some are ones I have cashed in my “points” at an online points program to get a free subscription, and others are those that I really like and want, and actually subscribe to. Either way, it amounts to a lot of magazines coming in the mail. Which I love, but they do tend to pile up. I probably have 2 years worth of magazines piled up around here. 🙄

When I won the “Good Things” book kit from the delightful Barb, I decided this would be the impetus I needed to start working on my mountain of magazines. And it has! I’ve been working on going through my 2 year backlog and cutting out any pages I want to keep and put in my binders.

I ran across an article in a really old copy of “Good Housekeeping” on the “Flylady” the other day. Now, I’ve read for several years about the Flylady, and I know many ladies in the blogosphere have taken her suggestions to heart and had good success. I personally have not, but I find her concepts (get dressed and have your shoes on, shine your sink, 27 fling boogie, etc) very interesting! What really caught my eye though, was a block on the side of the article, entitled “The Great Cleaning Debates”. It’s subtitled “Is there a Right way to…” and apparently they did an informal poll of the Good Housekeeping staff and asked them a series of questions on the “right” way to do certain cleaning and household tasks. I thought I’d pose their questions here and see if we all “stack up” to their findings.

Chime in and let me know your answers to these questions!

Is There A Right Way to …

1) Replace the toilet paper (hang so the paper falls over the roll or hang so the paper falls under the roll)

2) Store Socks (Roll Them or Fold Them)

3) Hang Towels (fold in thirds or fold in half)

4) Vacuum and Dust (dust first or vacuum first)

5) Clean Mirrors (use paper towels or use newspaper)

Oh, and in case you wanted to know my answers! 1) Toilet Paper must go over the top of the roll, 2) roll the edges of socks to keep them together, 3) Towels are folded in thirds, always (that one thanks to my mom), 4) Dust first, then vacuum, and 5) I’ve used both, but 98% of the time, I use paper towels to clean mirrors and glass.

Well, I’m a day late. Nothing like doing Menu Plan Monday on a Tuesday!

Last week went pretty much according to plan. I made every meal but one (the crockpot sweet and sour pork chops). I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to stick to this week’s plan. Between me not feeling well and Tim’s unpredictable work schedule, it may not be possible to stick to the plan. 🙂

Monday – Labor Day – grilled burgers, chips and crunchy slaw for lunch; grilled pork chops, rosemary roasted potatoes and corn for supper

Tuesday – Dawn’s Honey Lime Chicken tenders, sesame rice, sesame green beans

Wednesday – waffles, turkey bacon

Thursday – Saints vs Colts on opening night. Yee-haw! Wings, bleu cheese dip, bread, pasta salad or something on the side

Friday – Grilled Sausage Sandwiches, oven fries, leftover pasta salad

Saturday – USM game on PPV; Pizza

Sunday – TBD

Hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend!

We’re having a good one, but a quiet laid back holiday. I haven’t felt well (sinus headache and sore throat), so I am not sure what we’ll do today. We were really busy on Saturday, working out in the yard, giving Beau a bath and doing some stuff outside. We watched a bunch of college football, then went out shopping and to a new restaurant for supper. Sunday afternoon, Tim went to play golf and I spent the whole afternoon cleaning out our master closet (or at least, my side of it!). I think that is what got me feeling worse, all of those inches and inches of dust bunnies. Our closet was long overdue for a cleaning out and serious purging. I bought a couple of closet organizers the other day, and got those all setup in the closet. I’ll post a couple of photos later today over on my Project365 blog (ok, there’s a couple of photos here).

Not sure what today will hold. I know I won’t be making up my menu for the week yet, or posting it for “Menu Plan Monday”. Maybe tomorrow. We grilled a bunch of stuff yesterday, so we’ll have leftovers today.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend 🙂

Just some random book-related things…

Happy Reading!!!