January 2010 reads

I just finished my first biography from my 2010 biography &/or memoir challenge. I have a book a month scheduled for this genre.

I Am A Soldier Too, The Jessica Lynch Story, by Rick Bragg

• Read from January 14 to 31, 2010
• Recommended by:  It jumped out at me.
• Review: I give it 4.5 stars. This was a real eye-opener & Bragg did a great job of reporting it. It's amazing how the media can twist the truth. Bragg did a great job of correcting those errors & in his reporting made it a good read. In a M*A*S*H episode Major Frank Burns said, "We all know it's brutal up there at the front, especially those of us at the rear." The 507th Maintenance Company were definitely in the rear. The Army, in it's infinite wisdom, sent out supply clerks to their death, with a CD & sketchy instructions. Somehow that doesn't surprise me. 

This makes 4 books read for the month of January, with 3 in progress.

Read: 4 down, 140 to go.
Weight? Who knows, I don't. I forget to weigh, pfft.

Gwendolyn Strong Foundation placed

OMG, I didn't realize that I hadn't reported on how the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation placed in the Community Giving campaign on Facebook. I did on the Bipolar Kids message board on Jan. 25:

OK, we've been following this for the past 10 days. Today, I checked out the leaderboard on Chase Giving again.

We have some excellent news!! although none of our favorite charities won the $1 million dollars, Gwendolyn Strong Foundation did win $100k!! Numbers 7 through 100 won $25k! So, that means Ehlers-Danlos, National Autism Assoc., Pancreatic Cancer!! The Chase Community Advisory Board picked another 17 charities to win even more dollars. Six more charities won $100k and 11 more won $37k.

So, my dear friends, thank you for putting up with my crusading, thank you even more for participating in the voting.

I came over to Blogspot to check on Jonah, Gwendolyn, & the other blogs I follow. This is a nightly routine. Just before I go to bed, I check the blogs. Tonight I found a comment from Kristen, a lady who lost a baby to SMA, on my blog. I answered her & then went to check her blog to see what I had said. I read more of her entries, found another blog from her blog about a family losing twins, a boy named Nicholas, & a girl, Olivia. I had to check that blog too.

I heard the clock chime, & I, thinking it was 1 a.m., checked the computer clock. It was 2!!!!!!!!! It couldn't be, I just started this journey. I bookmarked Georgia's Journey, & now it's almost 2:30 & I have to work tomorrow & I should've been in bed hours ago!!

Kristen posted this on her blog about the Facebook Chase Community Giving & SMA being in 6th place:

I know that some of you are probably annoyed but think about it this way. Autism has Jim Carey and Jenny McCarthy. They have books, millions of dollars of research, treatment and 'cures'. Their victims are out in the community getting noticed. Our children remain silent for the most part. We have no celebrities and no treatments. All that we are left with is manpower and hope.

So, I answered: 

Autism has Jim Carey and Jenny McCarthy. They have books, millions of dollars of research, treatment and 'cures'. Their victims are out in the community getting noticed. Our children remain silent for the most part.

This is said so much better than I could ever have said it. Which is exactly why I DID NOT vote for autism awareness, even though my 22-yo son has Asperger's. I did not want to jeopardize the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation.

I am saddened to read about your sweet Georgia.

No, I didn't vote for autism awareness. I did not want to jeopardize the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. These babies are DYING!! Besides, the research for SMA will benefit other diseases such as Parkinson's which is what my father had. And ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease which is what Bob Marshall, a former owner of The Citizen, died of. These diseases are cruel. Polio was eradicated, why can't these diseases be eradicated?

Now, it's 2:52 & I'm not very coherent. I hope this post makes sense.

Netflix & backgrounds

I was getting tired of the blue New Year's background, so I decided to check out the Valentine's backgrounds. There were several that I liked, so maybe I can change it a couple of times through February.

Has anyone seen the movie "Fireproof?" I thought it was excellent. I'm not done watching it yet. Oh, I've watched it. Now, I have to check out the special features. I L<3VE Netflix. Did I say I L<3VE Netflix? I don't have to worry about returning the DVD at a certain time. Of course, having my own account is a bonus, LOL. I can choose my own movies, watch them at my own pace & not have to share! Selfish, I know. I also L<3VE my personal DVD player. Santa got a good deal at a Black Friday sale a few years ago. It's been lost for almost 2 years. Don-Mike found it at his house, so now I'm really enjoying it.

We just canceled Starz & Showtime because we never watched those channels. We use Netflix instead.

War zone?

Sunday, Jan. 17, was the first time in a long time that I didn't have to go in to work. Vicki Atkinson came back to work Friday. It was so nice to have her back.

So, I stayed at Mother's longer than I usually would. Don-Mike came home earlier than usual. He pulled out his M*A*S*H collection & stuck a DVD into watch. He received the whole collection for C-mas 2008. He was really surprised. I would love that collection, but it's a little pricey.

M*A*S*H was the only TV show I watched for years. When I was pregnant with the boys, I watched it at least once a day. I was put in the hospital about 4 weeks before my due date for 3-4 days with each boy. I had to have the door to the hall closed & I couldn't watch TV. I did, however, watch M*A*S*H. I couldn't read either because my eyes were so blurry from the toxemia. After the boys were born & they were brought in to my room to feed, M*A*S*H came on. Both boys turned to the TV set when the theme song came on.

Anyway, this particular episode was episode 7 from season 3, "Checkup." It aired Oct. 22, 1974, so I obviously didn't see it the first time around, because in October 1974 I was in Bloomington, Minn., on my mission. I caught it several times in reruns, but I have never related to it like I did that night.

Everyone had to have a checkup. Trapper John refused to have a checkup. He confided to Hawkeye that he had diagnosed himself with a  "duodenal ulcer." Supposedly an ulcer was a ticket home. The ulcer was confirmed. A farewell party is set up. Just as the party is starting, Radar breaks the news to Trapper that there is a new Army regulation. He is not going home, but going to Tokyo General for treatment, then will be reassigned.

Trapper is understandably upset & rants to Radar, "This place GAVE me the ulcer!" To which Radar softly confides, "It gave me the runs."

I laughed, but here's the sad thing. They are in a war zone, in a mobile Army surgical hospital, sometimes behind enemy lines, patching broken bodies, under enemy fire & sometimes friendly fire. Stress gave them an ulcer & the runs.

So, what is my excuse? I could rant right along with Trapper about my own home & family, "This place GAVE me the ulcer!" And I can confide right along with Radar, "It gave me the runs." Is my home a war zone? Sometimes I feel like it is. Sometimes I wonder if my problem is simply post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

However, I've developed a new coping mechanism to go along with the runs & the ulcer. My old nemesis, the migraine headache, is back. I'm hoping it's just the low pressure from the inversions we've been having this winter that is bringing on the headaches again.

I snagged this picture from cachevalleydaily.com I'm sure it was a red burn day, but it gives new meaning to "yellow" burn days.

Getting lost in a book helps me to zone out. I need to get through these non-fiction books though, so I can enjoy being transported to another place & time.

Reading, reading, reading

I've been reading in The Book of Mormon every day. Yesterday at work I had to change desks & am now back in the editors' office. Not my favorite place to be, sigh, but necessary. I had nothing to do, wonder of wonders, & so I checked out the books on the shelf on my desk. I found this really cool book called Creative Typography. I also have a cookbook that I checked out from the Citizen. (There are several boxes of books, videos & CDs that are "demo only" & some advance reader copies.)

Today I stopped in at the library because I wanted to see where these 2 books fit in the Dewey Decimal system so that I could add them to my Dewey Decimal mini challenge. It almost looks like they are both in the 600 series.

While I was at the library I thought I'd get a schedule for their lecture series, Let's Talk About It, this winter for the calendar for the newspaper. Instead of just the calendar, I got a reading kit of 5 books. The topic sounds interesting, We Are What We Eat, food.

The lecture/discussion for the first one, Choice Cuts, is a week from Thursday. The book is going to be slow going. It's an anthology, billed as "A Savory Selection of Food Writing." There are 452 pages, so I broke it down into 56.5 pages a day.

I sat down this afternoon & made up 11-12 spreadsheets to keep track of my reading this year. I am reading three books at once, but don't think I'll make my 12 books this month. I keep trying to tell myself that if I just finish one mini challenge of 26 or 24 books or 2 of the 10 or 12 books, I'll be ahead of 2009.

I should be able to finish the Dewey Decimal challenge. The cookbook says it is 641.8 right by the ISBN number, so there is the 600 series. BOM will fit nicely in the 200 category, Religion. Creative Typography will fit in the 000 General Category under News Media, Journalism & Publishing. Choice Cuts can go in 800, Literature; and the biography I am reading will fit in the 900 category, Geography & History.

I have done my scripture reading, read at Choice Cuts & I have a headache. I'm going to take my meds & go to bed early.

Vote for Gwendolyn Strong Foundation

Chase Community Giving is donating $5,000,000 to charities around the USA. Facebook users are voting for the recipients! Round 2 of the voting is open. Please vote for Spinal Muscular Atrophy or SMA. Number 1 genetic killer of children under the age of 2. This research will help Parkinson's, ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease, spinal cord injury & many others.

Right now we are in #4 position out of 100. Bill, Gwendolyn's father, posted this on their blog: 

One thing is for certain -- $1 Million means more to SMA than to any other cause. SMA is vastly underfunded yet research is on the verge of changing science FOREVER and $1 Million WILL make a difference. SMA parents fundraise relentlessly under unfathomably challenging circumstances, but we simply can't whip up $1 Million on a whim. But, we can NOW!

If you are a Facebook member, please take this opportunity to vote for SMA. There is a button in the sidebar here on my blog that you can click to take you right to the page, once you have logged into Facebook.

I have been following the Gwendolyn Strong blog for several months. Most children don't make it to their 2nd birthday. Gwendolyn turned 2 in October. She has already beat those odds. 

Every second of every day we operate on a ridiculously high level of anxiety, alertness, awareness, and readiness -- even when Gwendolyn is perfectly healthy. We have to, as she can literally plug and stop breathing, as she has several times over the last few weeks and countless times over the last two years, at any second with zero warning, no signs, and no way to tell us (we literally have to be watching her 24/7). And when we see even the slightest signs of change in anything, and I mean absolutely anything, it sends us into a new stress galaxy altogether.

Posted by Bill, Sept. 12, 2009

On another note, I finished "A" is for Alibi. If you are following my blog & all of a sudden the entry with all the tickers for my reading challenge for 2010 comes up, it's because I couldn't remember the password for the Alphabetically by Title ticker, argh, so I had to make a new one & repost it.

My next book is a biography about Jessica Lynch, the young soldier who was held prisoner in 2003, I Am a Soldier Too.

What should I do for Lent?

Last year is the first year I observed Lent. I tried getting to bed by 11:30 every night. I went back & read last year's post & I knew at the beginning it would not work. I valiantly tried & it was a long six weeks.

A friend & I were talking about Mardi Gras. I wanted to know when it was this year because Easter is early this year. She didn't realize that Mardi Gras was linked to Lent.

Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection. Ash Wednesday is Feb. 17 this year.

Mardi Gras has to end on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. This was decided during the Nicene Council held in 325 AD. I took the following from a web site on Mardi Gras

These festivals - some of which can only be described as drunken orgies - existed across most lands that were being overtaken by the Christian Church, and like many other holidays and rites, the Church sought a balance between the old and new. Understanding that the party was not going to stop, the church placed limits on it, decreeing that it could not start until the finish of the Christmas holidays and had to end on the day before Ash Wednesday.

The finish of the Christmas season is the end of the 12 days of Christmas or Epiphany on Jan. 6. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is generally the last 5 day weekend before Ash Wednesday.

I've been thinking about things I could do for Lent again this year. I debated about posting a question on Facebook, thinking, what are my LDS friends going to think when I'm asking for ideas on Lent. I decided I didn't care, so I posted this:

Any ideas on what to give up for Lent?

There are 16 comments. Among those things suggested is worry, stress, doing dishes and laundry, TV, mountain climbing, exercise, money, computer games. One person suggested giving up bread or soda. She has given up both for a diet she is on. Someone else said, "I say give up soda."

A friend in Australia said:

lol... I usually give up alcohol but I've already given it up (trying to be healthy - I'm on Day 9 :) So don't know what I'll give up . You can always not "give up" anything as such but give money or time to a cause .

 There it is again, you don't have to give up anything. I had forgotten that little fact.

A friend in New York State said:

I once gave up tv...that was tough!

This same friend commented:

I like the idea of doing something, instead of giving something up. It's all about sacrifice, so if you are doing something that you don't normally do, that is kind of a sacrifice. Sacrifice the time you would have spent doing something else that you normally do to do something new - to benefit someone else, or to pray more, etc.

There was a fun little discussion that went like this:

• Jenny: my occasions of near sin? so I am leaving my family and going to a cloistered convent for 40 days. Oh wait, that probably is not a sacrifice.
• Kathy: Jenny can I go with you?
• Star: Oh Oh me too can I come?
• Jenny: LOL, yes
• RaNae: Add me to the cloistered convent gig, LOL.

To which I replied:

Love the ideas. Add me to the cloistered convent gig, LOL. I can't give up TV, I don't watch TV. Last year I tried to give up late nights, but that sucked. I couldn't do it, LOL. Stress & worry are great ideas, but don't know how to do that. My eyelid twitched for like 2 weeks solid, now I'm back to the migraines.

Mountain climbing, dishes, laundry, I can't give up something I don't do, LOL. I'll keep thinking. Keep sending ideas :)

After Monica's & Kathy's comments, especially Kathy's, I started thinking more about positives. I thought about listing things I'm grateful for. I thought about prayer. Kathy said to pray more. Prayer is something I do several times a day. The other night we were having a major meltdown. I just sat here very quietly. I was doing my usual praying. Sometimes I wonder if it is even prayer, it's incomprehensible. Nick was looming over me & I said, "I'm not ignoring you. I'm praying."


I thought of another friend that reads her scriptures every night before she goes to bed. I've sat in hotel rooms, me on the computer, she reading her scriptures. I know I'm lax in reading my scriptures. I went for months not even knowing where my scriptures were.

I've decided. I will read the scriptures daily. In fact, while I was still thinking about it, I went in to the scripture sight & changed my reading assignment. And started today. I know, I know! I'm a month early. But hey, this is supposed to be a lifetime habit is it not? I used to read my scriptures all the time, so I'll just get a head start on it.

Book 2, 142 to go

I finished The Runaway Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini & gave it 3 stars. I decided what kept me from reading it is I knew the ending. Besides that, it is a historical novel about families that ran stations on the Underground Railroad.

I picked up another Chiaverini book, #14 The Lost Quilter because the name intrigued me. Lo, & behold, it is the direct sequel to #4, but was just published in 2009. However, I decided to try Sue Grafton's "A" is for Alibi.

A new book challenge

I was reading through some of the posts in the Goodreads group, 144 Books in 2010 & found this awesome idea for a challenge by a Goodreads member named Lynn

WHAT'S IN A TITLE? 2010

Challenge: Choose one book from each of the categories. This challenge will run from January 1st until December 31st.

1. Profession - An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
2. Time of Day - Troubled Midnight by John Champlin Gardner Jr.
3. Relative - The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
4. Body Part - Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
5. Building - Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh
6. Medical Condition - Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
7. Town - Dubliners, by James Joyce
8. Plant Name - The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
9. Color - The Black Cat by Martha Grimes

It is too late to do this, or maybe it's not. Perhaps I could cut the number of books by favorite authors to incorporate this challenge. I saw someone else with a challenge to read a book with numbers in the titles, numerically, instead of alphabetically. I'm already reading Janet Evanovichs by the numbers books. She is one of my favorite authors.

I could use Numbers, Weather, Gender ... A challenge for another year would be to read a book with the name of each of the 50 states in the title.

Today I went to the library & picked up a book from my "May Never Read" list, The Runaway Quilt, #4 by Jennifer Chiaverini. I finished it & gave it 3 stars.

I also picked up a biography & another Jennifer Chiaverini book that is actually the sequel to Runaway Quilt.

Trust in the Lord

Remember when a man's word was his bond? Now, they look you in the eye & lie. When reminded of what they said, it's suddenly YOUR fault that they didn't keep their word??? So sad.

I wrote the above on Facebook as my "status." Eddie promised he'd come over today, Sunday, & get some big thing on Runescape. Which I thought was only fair. Nick has paid for Eddie to have a paid account too many times for me to count. Well, Eddie ended up at another friend's house & got the level or cape or whatever. Don asked Eddie on chat about it & Eddie immediately started bashing Nick. Can we say, been there, done that? This time it was Don, not me.

Nick was hurt. He wanted to know what he could do. I told him nothing. We didn't want to give Eddie the satisfaction. I told Nick that Eddie's word means nothing. He will look you in the eye & lie. But he will come when he wants something.

So, what does this whole sad scenario have to do with the title? I learned long ago that if a person makes Jesus Christ the center of their universe, He doesn't leave you, you leave Him. I wish I could have done a better job of teaching Nick that principle.

Now, onward & upward. Look forward, not back? But, the important thing is to learn from your mistakes. I hope Eddie's lack of integrity doesn't sour Nick on friendship.

OK, a baseline for weight is in order. If I'm going to lose 30 pounds this year. I need to start. According to Mother's scale, I weighed 175 after dinner tonight. That's higher than I want to admit. I also admit it was a bad time to weigh, but hey, it's when I thought about it. It also gives me a cushion, hehe.

According to my calculations, I can lose 1 lb. every 12 days to reach my goal of 30 lb. by Dec. 31, 2010. Now, my goal weight is 135, but 30 lb. is certainly a start. If I get serious about this, I may have to change my little New Year's Goal graphic.

I am proud to announce that I stepped out in faith & read 1 book today, tonight actually. I picked up Jack Weyland's book Brianna, My Brother & the Blog. I absolutely loved it. It was a quick read, but it was what I needed & I finished it by 11:30. I gave it 5 stars. I cataloged it in "Alphabetical by Author Last Name." So, W is checked off.

Evidently the bishop has given our ward members a goal to finish The Book of Mormon by Memorial Day. Just saw that today on the Sacrament meeting program. I've been thinking about using the scripture web site to help me with The Old Testament, since that is the course of study for 2010 in Sunday School. So, that is a dilemma, Old Testament or The Book of Mormon??

Reading: 1 book read (See ticker in the sidebar of the blog.)
Weight: 30 lb. to go

New Year's resolutions

I spent the day in bed today. I didn't even get dressed. I left the house once to go out to the car to see if I could find my Christmas book & to find the sack of meds I picked up from the pharmacy on Thursday. Even to do that I put on boots & a coat. Now, to most people that would be a no-brainer, but for me? That was a biggie. I've been known to run outside in the snow barefooted.

But if people die in bed, that's the best place to die. In your own bed. Why die in a hospital bed? I've had something sinus going on. Runny nose, that wouldn't stop. Dizziness, a cough, off & on. Headache. Aches & pains. Now Nick tells me he's had a sore shoulder for 2 weeks & I still haven't done anything about it. What do you do for a sore shoulder???

It's finally Saturday. I don't know what day it felt like, but it didn't feel like Saturday. Don had to work. They called Thursday or Friday & asked which day he wanted a no work for. It is, after all, January. And at RR Donnelly, January is just one big work-a-thon. They work every day. Since he had a choice, he took Sunday off.

I got up this evening & Don handed me a lawsuit that had just been served. We have five days from the receipt of this lawsuit to contact them & make payment arrangements. We've been served with 3 of them in the past few weeks, sigh. Merry Christmas!! Guess where Don's January overtime pay is going?

Well, on to happier things, new year's resolutions. These are my 2006 resolutions. Four years later & it doesn't look like things have changed.

1. I still need to lose 30 pounds
2. I really need to FACE our finances, argh! FACE is an acronym from FlyLady that means Financial Awareness Continuously Empowers
3. Declutter house, uh, ya!
4. Mother's affairs. I've been very poor steward of Mother's financial affairs, sigh.

Maybe I'll go back to bed. Sounds good to me.

So, in checking my email I found one from Guideposts Personal Change. When did I sign up for that newsletter? The subject was 6 Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions. Uh, ya, ok, let's see what I need to do to keep my resolutions.

This article is by Alex Ferreyra, sounds like Ferrari, but I don't think I'll try pronouncing Alex's last name.

1. Start early. Do you think 2006 is early enough??? I even started my 144 books in 2010 early too. "It's essential to make plans, not have good intentions."
2. Keep it real. Don't make "grandiose" plans. "Think of it as a marathon, not a sprint." Well, I know I can't lose 50 pounds by next week, nor can I get finances in order or read 144 books in a "nanosecond."
3. Be specific. "Vague resolutions beget vague attempts," University of Scranton psychology professor John C. Norcross, Ph.D. In other words I need to make a plan like I did for my 144 books, hmmm, food for thought.
4. Buddy up. It helps to have someone encourage you. Someone to keep you motivated. The reading group on Goodreads can help me with my reading goal. The weight loss forum on Parenting Bipolar Kids can help me with the weight & Clutterbugs can help me with my decluttering, as well as FlyLady on Facebook. Maybe, thinking aloud right now. I think Don & I had better buddy up on the finances.
5. Go for something new. If one way doesn't work, go a different route. Hmmmm, that's more food for thought.
   
6. Write what you sow. "Keep track of your highs and lows." As Norcross puts it, "Keeping a journal helps you measure what you're doing over time, which increases the success rate." So, my blog will become my "journal."

Hmmmmmmm,  OK!

Reading: Haven't even started, so 144 books to go.
Weight: 30 lb. to go
Declutter: The lawsuit just added another layer.
Finances: Sliding further down the hill
Mother's finances: No progress