So in this reread, I was going along quite nicely, then it was Cujo's turn. And blech. I do not like the main female character AT ALL. Part of this is what I call in my head the Weeds syndrome. I tried very very hard to watch Weeds, a lot of people I respect loved it, but I just could not get past the part in the first ten minutes of the show (and I paraphrase here) the main character blurts out "So am I just supposed to get a job at the mall??". Yes. Yes, honey, when your husband dies and you have to feed your kids, your first thought should be "I need a job.". And I get that without that character saying that, there would be no show, but it is an INSTANT way of making me turn away from the show completely.
Donna Trenton is sort of that character for me right now. Aside from that immediate and kinda total dislike, Cujo is in no way a supernatural horror novel. It is a sad, tragic tale, yes, but not horror, IMHO.
So I am giving myself permission to skip Cujo and go on to The Running Man. (I took a hard side turn and reread/read a whole bunch of Discworld novels, which I enjoy mostly.)
In the album side of things, nothing earth shattering to report. The first eight or so are jazz/big band, Sinatra and Elvis Presley, all things I enjoy. Interestingly enough, while listening to Elvis, I realized that I had never heard anything other than his radio hits and very few of those at that. Elvis kinda seeped into my consciousness, I guess. I also decided that I will probably never be a huge fan of Thelonious Monk. Can't quite put my finger on it, but was not what I expected. Perhaps a few more listens to the album will change my mind.
Thursday 30 July 2015
Saturday 11 July 2015
King in the Seventies
I am now through the seventies in King's oeuvre. Which, really, didn't take that long. With the exception of The Stand, none of the books are much over 350 pages. They all move though. Funnily enough, I had forgotten quite a bit about them, so a lot of this may be a nice surprise. (I had, however, remembered a lot of the short stories...funny how one's mind works.)
I have noticed that a theme through all of these books (and, perhaps, through all the rest, once I really get going. The eighties and nineties are when his books turned into pretty good jackleg doorstops.) seems to be Choice. And Consequences. Or, to phrase it how I heard it growing up "you made your bed, you lie in it". To be fair, you're not going to have much of a book if Jack Torrence turns down the job at the Overlook. Or if Carrie decides not to destroy her town. So maybe it's not much of a theme, just a storytelling device. But it was interesting to see this thread run through the books.
I have noticed that a theme through all of these books (and, perhaps, through all the rest, once I really get going. The eighties and nineties are when his books turned into pretty good jackleg doorstops.) seems to be Choice. And Consequences. Or, to phrase it how I heard it growing up "you made your bed, you lie in it". To be fair, you're not going to have much of a book if Jack Torrence turns down the job at the Overlook. Or if Carrie decides not to destroy her town. So maybe it's not much of a theme, just a storytelling device. But it was interesting to see this thread run through the books.
Sunday 28 June 2015
My summer projects
It's been a while...but here I am.
So I announced on Facebook that my summer projects this year would be to reread Stephen King in publication order (yes, even the ones I read once and never ever ever went back to [Apt Pupil, I'm dreading your turn. Oh and that creepy mechanical monkey one. Gahhh.])
I've finished the first three and wanted to get some thoughts down. First of all, not really scary to me any more. I remember 'Salem's Lot scaring the bejeebers out of me when I first read it -- in fact, I had received a cheap cross in the mail from some ad in the back of a tabloid and I taped it to the window in my bedroom. Dead centre, as this seemed to have the most chance of working. I believe that I read both Carrie and 'Salem's Lot way, way WAY too young (well before I was 12. Possibly around 10, but I can't be sure) which happens when you read anything and everything.
Second, the writing is tight. I'm used (now) to setting aside at least a couple of days of steady reading to get through a King novel and I powered through Carrie in probably 3 hours total of reading time. Tight and everything just hangs together, man. Events just slot into place, bang bang bang and that's it. That's the only way that those stories could have been told.
Third, I was a tad hesitant to start this because it had been so very long since I read the early ones...what if I didn't enjoy them anymore? Well, I did. Not only is the writing good, the story is good too. Even when King was writing in a coked out haze, the man could tell a story.
I've just started The Stand (uncut, all pages restored version) which is probably in my top 5 of his books. (The other ones would be Duma Key, Gerald's Game, Shawshank Redemption and Danse Macabre)
And in the other half of my summer project...I have many tomatoes on my two wee plants (well, wee-ish) and my mint is still alive. I have hopes for chocolate mint tea from my own garden.
So I announced on Facebook that my summer projects this year would be to reread Stephen King in publication order (yes, even the ones I read once and never ever ever went back to [Apt Pupil, I'm dreading your turn. Oh and that creepy mechanical monkey one. Gahhh.])
I've finished the first three and wanted to get some thoughts down. First of all, not really scary to me any more. I remember 'Salem's Lot scaring the bejeebers out of me when I first read it -- in fact, I had received a cheap cross in the mail from some ad in the back of a tabloid and I taped it to the window in my bedroom. Dead centre, as this seemed to have the most chance of working. I believe that I read both Carrie and 'Salem's Lot way, way WAY too young (well before I was 12. Possibly around 10, but I can't be sure) which happens when you read anything and everything.
Second, the writing is tight. I'm used (now) to setting aside at least a couple of days of steady reading to get through a King novel and I powered through Carrie in probably 3 hours total of reading time. Tight and everything just hangs together, man. Events just slot into place, bang bang bang and that's it. That's the only way that those stories could have been told.
Third, I was a tad hesitant to start this because it had been so very long since I read the early ones...what if I didn't enjoy them anymore? Well, I did. Not only is the writing good, the story is good too. Even when King was writing in a coked out haze, the man could tell a story.
I've just started The Stand (uncut, all pages restored version) which is probably in my top 5 of his books. (The other ones would be Duma Key, Gerald's Game, Shawshank Redemption and Danse Macabre)
And in the other half of my summer project...I have many tomatoes on my two wee plants (well, wee-ish) and my mint is still alive. I have hopes for chocolate mint tea from my own garden.
Wednesday 18 March 2015
Sliding into hippiedom
One of the things I wanted to talk about here was the different steps I'm taking towards green living, sustainable living, hippie-dom, whatever term works for you.
So far, my successes include laundry detergent (OMG, so simple), making my own lotions (which I love, there's something so satisfying about feeling like a witch stirring up potions) and moving away from packaged/processed food. This is all highly amusing to me, given that one of my very favorite facebook icons bears the caption "Domestically Disabled". With a tiara, of course.
But I take my baby steps and do the things I know I can do and every now and then stretch a little outside the comfort zone. Someone said to me once "good lord, no wonder you're tired if you're making your own laundry detergent" and it wasn't until I was home that I really figured out that it takes me less time to make than to drive to the store, find it, buy it and drive home. Plus, as long as I have the ingredients...I'm never out of anything.
I'm sort of straddling the line between the 'mommy blogs' and the 'crunchy hippie' blogs and so far, I haven't found many others out there. Or not that are writing highly popular blogs anyways.
I sort of want to be able to devote a lot of time to this, but I do have bills to pay, so I'm fitting it (as so many other things) around the edges. I am, as always, a work in progress.
So far, my successes include laundry detergent (OMG, so simple), making my own lotions (which I love, there's something so satisfying about feeling like a witch stirring up potions) and moving away from packaged/processed food. This is all highly amusing to me, given that one of my very favorite facebook icons bears the caption "Domestically Disabled". With a tiara, of course.
But I take my baby steps and do the things I know I can do and every now and then stretch a little outside the comfort zone. Someone said to me once "good lord, no wonder you're tired if you're making your own laundry detergent" and it wasn't until I was home that I really figured out that it takes me less time to make than to drive to the store, find it, buy it and drive home. Plus, as long as I have the ingredients...I'm never out of anything.
I'm sort of straddling the line between the 'mommy blogs' and the 'crunchy hippie' blogs and so far, I haven't found many others out there. Or not that are writing highly popular blogs anyways.
I sort of want to be able to devote a lot of time to this, but I do have bills to pay, so I'm fitting it (as so many other things) around the edges. I am, as always, a work in progress.
Saturday 28 February 2015
It's the small things, really
I've learned to celebrate the small victories...and sometimes they are very small. For instance, today, I am celebrating the fact that I've found BOTH the library books I thought I lost, taking the bottles and cans in for recycling and getting yet another bag together for the thrift store. (Included in that is remembering that the DS system needed a cord to charge, finding said cord [also checking cord with DS] and putting the cord in the bag with the DS stuff.)
These have ripple effects in my house. Getting the bottles and cans in clears up the breezeway so it's not quite an obstacle course to get inside, the DS/thrift store bag clears up another square foot of space in the living room and finding the books...well, that saves me money.
Another thing I've learned is not to disparage someone else's things they celebrate. Something that I do on a regular basis may be the equivalent of hitting the peak of Everest to someone else and just because it doesn't seem like a big thing to me does not me that it is not celebration time. I still remember being made to feel like a personal victory was really something that I should be ashamed of and I try to keep that in mind. (To make matters worse, the person behind this was someone I counted as a friend pretty much right up until that time.)
Basically, as with so many other things in life, it comes down to 'don't be a dick'.
These have ripple effects in my house. Getting the bottles and cans in clears up the breezeway so it's not quite an obstacle course to get inside, the DS/thrift store bag clears up another square foot of space in the living room and finding the books...well, that saves me money.
Another thing I've learned is not to disparage someone else's things they celebrate. Something that I do on a regular basis may be the equivalent of hitting the peak of Everest to someone else and just because it doesn't seem like a big thing to me does not me that it is not celebration time. I still remember being made to feel like a personal victory was really something that I should be ashamed of and I try to keep that in mind. (To make matters worse, the person behind this was someone I counted as a friend pretty much right up until that time.)
Basically, as with so many other things in life, it comes down to 'don't be a dick'.
Thursday 26 February 2015
The great tragedy of 2015....
So Tuesday night, my faithful Kobo ereader (seriously, BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVAR) decided that the left (back) button was not going to back at all, and the right (forward) button was going to advance me three to four pages every time I pushed it. So I did what I usually do when electronics get the best of me, namely, said 'shit' and turned it off for the night.
It's still doing it. And since this has the feel of 'actual malfunction' rather than just a software/upgrade issue, I think I'm kinda screwed.
Luckily, I do have a lost and found acquired Kindle that is perfectly useable. All well and good, except that now I have 1000+ epub books to convert to Kindle format and sideload onto my Kindle. Sigh. I'm trying to look at this as "okay, now everything will be converted over, saved on the computer (and backed up) and organized and blah blah.". There is a little voice in my head that just keeps shrieking "OMG OVER A THOUSAND FILES TO CONVERT" though. (Possibly more than that, that's just the ones that I've loaded onto the Adobe library function on the computer, so there may be more lurking around the hard drive.)
Argh.
It's still doing it. And since this has the feel of 'actual malfunction' rather than just a software/upgrade issue, I think I'm kinda screwed.
Luckily, I do have a lost and found acquired Kindle that is perfectly useable. All well and good, except that now I have 1000+ epub books to convert to Kindle format and sideload onto my Kindle. Sigh. I'm trying to look at this as "okay, now everything will be converted over, saved on the computer (and backed up) and organized and blah blah.". There is a little voice in my head that just keeps shrieking "OMG OVER A THOUSAND FILES TO CONVERT" though. (Possibly more than that, that's just the ones that I've loaded onto the Adobe library function on the computer, so there may be more lurking around the hard drive.)
Argh.
Monday 16 February 2015
Today I am...
feeling like I've accomplished something. 3 containers of body butter (2 for others, 1 for me) in containers and ready to go, 1 batch of cuticle butter cooling in the freezer so I can whip that up as well. Kitchen not a complete disaster.
I love this body butter recipe, I've made it several times before and it always seems to turn out! The cuticle butter is new, but along the same lines of the butter, so it should come together nicely. I am somewhat astounded at the fact that every time I'm in the kitchen with my butters and oils and essential oils...everything seems to work! I am edging up on the idea of doing some soaping as well, there's a rosemary/peppermint shampoo bar I want to try and one of my favorite sites just posted a lavendar/vanilla soap that looks amazing.
I've made soap before and as long as you take your time and don't rush, it's pretty easy.
The kitchen and downstairs hallway got the flooring laid this weekend, so now the downstairs is done. We think we have enough to do the upstairs as well, and if not, I may be able to find some more laminate on the cheap. It is chilly on my toes, but I think that in the long run I will come to love it dearly. (And as I figured out, if I don't wear socks, the cold keeps my feet from swelling up, so win/win?)
Today will be going through all the stuff that got shoved into the dining room from the hallway, possibly sending at least 1 box to the thrift store and pondering again the fact that I so need to get all my recipes together so I can start to draft out a monthly meal plan and get ready to do some freezer cooking. And getting ready to work tomorrow...there's a button calling my name somewhere.
I love this body butter recipe, I've made it several times before and it always seems to turn out! The cuticle butter is new, but along the same lines of the butter, so it should come together nicely. I am somewhat astounded at the fact that every time I'm in the kitchen with my butters and oils and essential oils...everything seems to work! I am edging up on the idea of doing some soaping as well, there's a rosemary/peppermint shampoo bar I want to try and one of my favorite sites just posted a lavendar/vanilla soap that looks amazing.
I've made soap before and as long as you take your time and don't rush, it's pretty easy.
The kitchen and downstairs hallway got the flooring laid this weekend, so now the downstairs is done. We think we have enough to do the upstairs as well, and if not, I may be able to find some more laminate on the cheap. It is chilly on my toes, but I think that in the long run I will come to love it dearly. (And as I figured out, if I don't wear socks, the cold keeps my feet from swelling up, so win/win?)
Today will be going through all the stuff that got shoved into the dining room from the hallway, possibly sending at least 1 box to the thrift store and pondering again the fact that I so need to get all my recipes together so I can start to draft out a monthly meal plan and get ready to do some freezer cooking. And getting ready to work tomorrow...there's a button calling my name somewhere.
Saturday 14 February 2015
Happy Valentine's Day!
I'm pretty sure that once you've been married (or cohabiting, I make no judgements here) for over 10-15 years, new flooring is just as romantic (or possibly more) than flowers, chocolate or other accoutrements.
I scored the deal of the year in January, enough boxes of laminate flooring to do our house for $100. The living and dining room got done right away (since that's where most of the heavy stuff [read: filled bookcases] are) and today it's the kitchen/downstairs hallway's turn. This is tremendously exciting to me, as the carpet in the kitchen is SO GROSS OMG! As an acquaintance of mine said when I told her "I had carpet in the kitchen too at one time, you could have boiled it and lived off the broth for a year probably". Yeah.
We're not doing the bathrooms or porch (although depending on how much is left, I may advance the possibility of doing the porch just to have it done) but the bedrooms are on the list as well.
So, flooring>flowers in my book.
I scored the deal of the year in January, enough boxes of laminate flooring to do our house for $100. The living and dining room got done right away (since that's where most of the heavy stuff [read: filled bookcases] are) and today it's the kitchen/downstairs hallway's turn. This is tremendously exciting to me, as the carpet in the kitchen is SO GROSS OMG! As an acquaintance of mine said when I told her "I had carpet in the kitchen too at one time, you could have boiled it and lived off the broth for a year probably". Yeah.
We're not doing the bathrooms or porch (although depending on how much is left, I may advance the possibility of doing the porch just to have it done) but the bedrooms are on the list as well.
So, flooring>flowers in my book.
Sunday 8 February 2015
Sunrise
So I have had a case of the 'creeping blargh' as I call it. Not quite sick, not quite "well", just blargh. I felt bad enough to call in sick at work Friday (trying to save up the energy to go to work Saturday when there is no backup) and that seemed to work.
Overall, though, I have been feeling blargh-y (or, as a coworker's brother says "malaise", which is a lot nicer and perhaps a little more grownup, especially if one is talking to one's doctor) for a very long time. I have come up with a plan, though. (You know me, I'm all about the plans)
Step one -- unplug from that thar intartubes as much as possible. (Which is funny, considering that I've just started this blogging thing. Haha. My brain has great timing.)
Step two -- up my water intake. Some of the blargh feelings could very well be subtle dehydration. I have a very nice 3 litre jug with a pouring spout that I will very soon be filling up with water, a couple of Meyer lemons and maybe some mint leaves if the mint doesn't look too bad. I'll start on that soon and we'll see how that goes.
Step three -- get back to going to the gym. I would like to be hitting the gym six days a week -- Fridays I peel out of work as fast as I can to get out before all the crazy weekend people show up, and I'll be challenging a coworker and joining a work challenge if they run it again this year.
Step four -- plan out the meals a little better, up the vegetable/fruit intake. I do not believe that carbs are evil (aside, I also have a hard time believing that carbs=sugar, despite the many hours of increasingly high-pitched debate) I also like real butter, cheese and salad dressing. Yum yum.
I'll do that for a couple of months and if I still feel like I should be draped over a fainting couch...well, then I can go for my annual checkup and at least say "Dude, I'm drinking lots (sadly not alcohol, but I can if you think it would help....), going to the gym and I'm still blargh-y...can we do some sort of in-depth test here?"
In case any of you were on the edge of your seat about the pattern knitting from yesterday...the yarn is all wound up neatly waiting for me to start again. I had a brief flirtation with the idea of knitting socks but have put that aside for right now. (I have, somewhere, a pattern for chunky yarn socks. Much more my style, although I may sneak back up on the actual sock pattern. Maybe. Or maybe I will just side-eye it until it grovels in submission.)
Overall, though, I have been feeling blargh-y (or, as a coworker's brother says "malaise", which is a lot nicer and perhaps a little more grownup, especially if one is talking to one's doctor) for a very long time. I have come up with a plan, though. (You know me, I'm all about the plans)
Step one -- unplug from that thar intartubes as much as possible. (Which is funny, considering that I've just started this blogging thing. Haha. My brain has great timing.)
Step two -- up my water intake. Some of the blargh feelings could very well be subtle dehydration. I have a very nice 3 litre jug with a pouring spout that I will very soon be filling up with water, a couple of Meyer lemons and maybe some mint leaves if the mint doesn't look too bad. I'll start on that soon and we'll see how that goes.
Step three -- get back to going to the gym. I would like to be hitting the gym six days a week -- Fridays I peel out of work as fast as I can to get out before all the crazy weekend people show up, and I'll be challenging a coworker and joining a work challenge if they run it again this year.
Step four -- plan out the meals a little better, up the vegetable/fruit intake. I do not believe that carbs are evil (aside, I also have a hard time believing that carbs=sugar, despite the many hours of increasingly high-pitched debate) I also like real butter, cheese and salad dressing. Yum yum.
I'll do that for a couple of months and if I still feel like I should be draped over a fainting couch...well, then I can go for my annual checkup and at least say "Dude, I'm drinking lots (sadly not alcohol, but I can if you think it would help....), going to the gym and I'm still blargh-y...can we do some sort of in-depth test here?"
In case any of you were on the edge of your seat about the pattern knitting from yesterday...the yarn is all wound up neatly waiting for me to start again. I had a brief flirtation with the idea of knitting socks but have put that aside for right now. (I have, somewhere, a pattern for chunky yarn socks. Much more my style, although I may sneak back up on the actual sock pattern. Maybe. Or maybe I will just side-eye it until it grovels in submission.)
Saturday 7 February 2015
Really, logic? Really?
You would think that, in a knitting pattern that is 4 rows (2 knit, 2 purl), there would not be a way to SCREW THIS UP!
You would be wrong. I may have to actually follow the pattern as written instead of using logic to get to my 2 knit, 2 purl. This makes no sense to me.
But a lot of things make no sense to me and I'm usually okay with that, so I shall carry on.
(If the pattern approach rather than the logic approach works, I may be muttering to myself for a while)
You would be wrong. I may have to actually follow the pattern as written instead of using logic to get to my 2 knit, 2 purl. This makes no sense to me.
But a lot of things make no sense to me and I'm usually okay with that, so I shall carry on.
(If the pattern approach rather than the logic approach works, I may be muttering to myself for a while)
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