Got to read Follett!

I finished "World Without End" this morning! Absolutely great! It took me through the lives of a group of children that shared a fearful experience in the forest surrounding a fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. The time frame was the 1300's. It was the time of Edward II. The town of Kingsbridge was headed up by a group of monks at it's famous catherdral (built during the first novel; "The Pillars of the Earth"). One of the children shared a secret with a Knight(part of that experience in the forest). The Knight became a monk and the mystery continued through the story but wasn't revealed till the end. The lives of these characters were intermingled either because of family ties, friendship or area events. History abounds along with suspense and intrigue. Throw in a little plague and it makes for a great story. I remember that even though "Pillars" was over 900 pages I didn't want it to end and I felt the same after this even longer book. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to wait an additional 19 years to get the next novel. Definitely worth reading and owning! I'm thinking of re-reading the first one just to have it fresh in my memory.

Another interview tomorrow with a "not well known company." Apparently they are big in other states but just coming into our area. Might as well check it out and see what they have to offer. It's really going to be difficult to make a decision. I wish there were other options!

Follett



Latest books

Insomnia

Due to a bout of insomnia I reached page 836. I guess worrying about what career decisions to make has me tense. Or, maybe I was thinking about the plague of the 1340's that I've been reading about. Went to sleep around 12:30 and was awake by 1:30 and tried numerous times to go back to sleep. Last time I checked the clock it was nearing 6:00 and the alarm was set for 7:30. Hit my first interview this morning at 9:00. The couple who opened this office recently, have very little room and therefore there won't be many agents. I like that! I liked a lot of what they said but then I hit the bigger office scenario and the real pressure manager put the screws to me. Got to have all the bells and whistles that we offer or you're just not going to be able to compete in the market. Even said if I went with the smaller office that it would be a sign that I wasn't serious about my career. Guilt trip! Made me remember why I left that office. Decisions, decisions! Stopped by my current office and it's not a happy place! Fortunately I have a few days to make my choice. Eeny meeny miney moe...........

Looking for work!

I'm on page 659 of the 1013 page novel by Ken Follett. It's wonderful! Hard to put down now that I have a little more time to enjoy it.

Got the news this morning that our real estate office is closing by the end of the year. The owner just doesn't want to do residential sales anymore so he's going back to just commercial. He admitted that he didn't know enough about residential and basically bit off more than he could chew. He had built his agency up to 35 agents from just a couple when we joined him and now there are 35 agents faced with finding a new place to go just before the holidays and at the worst time to go shopping for a new office with the market the way it is. All the agencies are in trouble, I'm sure. I was lucky to get three calls today when the word got out about the closing. I can go back to the office I used to work in or go to another new company and see what they offer. I like small offices so we'll see what they have to say. Tomorrow will be interview day! I had been saying all along that if I left the current office it would be for some other kind of job but I'm trapped in the necessity to help out a former client sell her house and also, to get a new client through their purchase of a new home.

The hubby and I went south to Maryland at noon to meet some old cronies from our days in corporate America. It was a gathering of "his" old office workers and since I was in the same corporation and knew them all I got to tag along. It was a very enjoyable event. Felt like a family reunion! When I was hired I started in his office and that's where I met him. After not quite a year I transferred to another department but still knew the people he worked with. The gathering was in honor of his old boss (first and only female boss) who was visiting the area from Texas. She was wonderful when I was stricken with needing an emergency surgery almost 21 years ago and hubby was in Greece on business. She brought him home and went over to Greece in his place. Even though she wasn't prepared for what she faced there and needed his full support which kept him late at the office faxing her information, at least he was back home and not there. It was amazing how many people had passed away from the original group. Of course it was 16 years ago that we left the corporation. These were people who were there at the beginning of "our romance" and marriage. They couldn't believe that we're together now for 30 years.

Back to the book!!

August Rush

I just saw my most favorite movie of all time! When my daughter asked me to join her to see "August Rush" I didn't realize that it would be so wonderful. We had tissues in hand from the beginning. The young actor who plays August Rush (Freddie Highmore)is so endearing and talented that you believed whatever he did. I'm convinced he's a musical prodigy even if he isn't. Keri Russell as the "Mom" and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the "Dad" were perfectly cast. Robin Williams character "Wizzard" was award winning. A couple of other young actors were involved and noteworthy. The little girl with the pipes was unbelievable. The sound track for this movie is being ordered tonight. You can guess the ending but you don't care!! See it!

I didn't get the reading done that I was planning on doing today. I could start now and get a few chapters done before making dinner. I could have leftovers if we had any!

Thanksgiving!

The meals over; the pots and pans are scrubbed. The carcus is sitting in a roaster waiting for a burial fitting the mighty. The leftovers are few! They were packed up by some and taken home for future enjoyment or to become scientific experiments months from now when their discovered in the refrigerator. Things went smoothly. There was a small panic early when I worried that the turkey might not get done as quick as I thought but everything came together nicely. I got the 20 pounds of potatoes mashed just prior to the last latecomers' arrival. Feasting continued the whole afternoon and well into the night. The dishwasher is running for the third time! No more will be done tonight!

We found out we're to be great grandparents again. A little boy is due in early January. The family grows! Our 3 year old great granddaughter kept us entertained by running and jumping on the furniture. Not a good thing!

Just thrilled to know that Christmas is right around the corner and no preparations are in place. It's hard to get in the mood when the temps have been in the high 60's to low 70's. Cooling off now but not enough for snow and that's what's needed.

Great day with family and it was wonderful having them with us!!

Stocks are down!

Wow! the market's falling like it did back in the Clinton years. Oh that's right! I'm the only one who remembers that crash! Lost half my pension and it's never recovered. Everyone blames the current government but it started before this administration and it's not improving. Definitely not the time to be a realtor either. Buying market is down 13 percent.

The pies are made for tomorrow thanks to my darling granddaughter. Grampy is sampling one tonight to make sure it's okay. Everything is under control so far. I don't panic until everyone arrives and the potatoes have to be mashed while "all" are standing in the kitchen salivating. Tough to do what needs to be done at that point. My brother thinks I should put a menu board outside on the porch to indicate the food offered and the price per serving. There's a 25 lb. turkey plus extra legs, a ham, pork and sauerkraut, two kinds of stuffing and yet I can't find a thing to make for dinner tonight. Might be that I'm tired of cooking and don't want to even think about it. We could just skip it and have more room for tomorrow's feast. The average calorie intake for a Thanksgiving meal is 5000. Can't imagine! A bowl of cereal is sounding good!

Thank God nobody has to travel too far tomorrow. Except for Mr. Hawaii (and he's not coming) the rest are within an hour's drive. That doesn't mean they will be on time! There are a couple of kids who show up at the appointed time (bless them)but then we have those who still think it's okay to come late. They are shown the microwave since we wait for no one!

I'm not too far, yet, into "World Without End." I'm enjoying it but haven't been able to just sit and read a lot. Hopefully by Friday I'll be sitting with my feet up and enjoying a well earned day off. No shopping on Black Friday for this chick! Surprise, everybody, you're getting a gift card!

Sparks Rules

Nicholas Sparks has done it again! His latest is "The Choice." I don't know how a "guy" can write such romantic books. I know that's sexist but really, who would think it possible. This one is right up there with "The Notebook" only with a younger couple. Get out the tissues! It's inevitable.

Now the big decision. Start Ken Follet's latest or read John Grisham's latest. Since John's isn't an attorney based thriller I think I'll tackle the "MORE THAN A 1000 PAGES THAT KEN WROTE." I don't think this one will be a day read. Might even keep me busy for the week since I've got to do a little cooking in the middle of things.

My granddaughter is coming over tomorrow night and we're spending Wednesday cooking and making pies. She more interested in using the scrap dough to make "cinnamon thingies." I better make extra dough so she has enough. Just spread the rolled dough with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, roll it up in little circles and bake. To quote Rachael Ray, "YUMMO!"

Thank God for James Patterson

"Double Cross" is great! Kept me reading it even though with the short chapters that he writes (sometimes only a page) I felt the need to put the book down and do something constructive. His character Alex Cross is being pursued by two serial killers. Not enough drama in this man's life. He's on every wacko's "want to kill" list since he was birthed by Patterson. I'm sure the return of Kyle Craig's character will bring us "Triple Cross." That's the only predictable thing in this book. I was thoroughly entertained. Now I'll calm down by reading Nicholas Sparks' latest. "The Choice." I doubt there will be any serial killers in this one but always a great read. I did find Ken Follett wrote another book like his now famous (because Oprah said so) "The Pillars of the Earth". This one is "World Without End." Oprah's suggested the later for her book club readers. Where's she been! He wrote it in 1989! That's when I read it and loved it. She made a big deal about it being over 900 pages. My God, what will she do with the new one. It's over 1000! Guess she'll wait another 19 years to recommend it.

The Thanksgiving plans are in place. Turkey, ham and spuds galore will grace the table. Might even throw down a vegetable even though it's a waste of time and effort. Who wants veggies at Thanksgiving! There's a need for stuffing and maybe a sweet potato. I better get busy on those pumpkin pies, too! One more trip to the grocery store and another $100 should do it. I'm down $200 now. I can't imagine that a meal purchased at a restaurant could cost me much more than buying all the makings for this feast. I can't fit it all in the frig so it's sitting in coolers on the deck. Hope we don't have a heat wave before Thursday! The oldest stepdaughter won't be coming. She's decided to work that day. Sounds like Christmas is out for her, too. The life of a nurse! So we're down two stepchildren! Still planning on 14-17 to make it. Hope the Thanksgiving Fairy shows up to help in the clean up!

Made a teeny tiny dent in the "clean out the basement" project. Managed to drag 4 boxes up to the street for garbage pickup tomorrow. Plenty more could follow but that would involve opening and going through the items to place a value on whether to keep or not. Let's see; if I hated my kids then I'd just wait another 20 or 30 years and let them deal with it. They'll have enough on their hands just putting all the book jackets back on all my books sitting naked on the shelves. The cleaning project was suggested by my beloved husband and he started it recently. He found some old army information and some pictures of the kids and now they aren't in the basement but in a notebook compliments of his wife. There are plenty more boxes so we'll see what other treasures he comes up with. I must get another scrapbook so that I can put the newly found pictures in some kind of order.

New Author

I finished "Lost Lake" by Mark Slouka. Quick read! I think I would have liked it better if it wouldn't have seemed so disjointed. It was the combination of 12 imagined stories linked by character and setting. Covered 3 generations of men and women. The first part for me was the best since it was about youth and a lake where the fishing was wonderful. I could picture myself there!

I'm waiting patiently (well not so patiently) for my Amazon order to come. They're sending it in three parts. I have to be finished with whatever I'm reading in order to get the new James Patterson book coming out next week. He's finished an Alex Cross book and that's always a great read. According to the interview on the "Today Show", Patterson says this one will involve two serial killers. Sounds like they're looking at Jamie Fox to replace Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross in the upcoming movies since Morgan was way too old for the part to begin with. He played a good character but he definitely didn't fit the one for this guy. Like Matt Damon playing Bourne in Robert Ludlum's books. They've butchered those books so bad that Ludlum wouldn't recognize his own work if he'd lived to see the films. The movies were good but shouldn't state "based on Ludlum's novels" since the the only resemblance to Bourne is the loss of memory and being chased by his own countrymen. I understand that "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult is being made into a movie starring the Dakota sisters and Cameron Diaz. Way too young! All of them! I need to be a consultant on these matters.

Finished 8 Victorian ornaments for the big sale coming up. I figured I have about 2 -3 hours of work in each one and the material is running me about $4-5 on each so I'll probably sell them for a lot less than they cost me. Let's face it, my time isn't worth much.

I could report on all the real estate activity taking place but that would be "NOTHING!" I know we're all thinking about the holidays but wouldn't somebody like a new house to have those holidays in?

One of my favorites is hopeless

Very seldom does it take me a full week to read a book! I usually have polished off 3 or more by now. I struggled through the "Book of the Dead" by Patricia Cornwell and it was brutal. Never has she been more disjointed and confusing in her writing. Not only has she destroyed her characters but now she's finishing them off. She has a reason for it though...it will keep her readers curious as to what happened to one of the main characters at the end of this book. They'll by her next book just to find out. I was thoroughly confused through most of the book. I guess if I had just finished her last two or three books instead of reading them years ago, I would have remembered the Dr. Self character better. Suddenly she was a major player and I couldn't remember why. I hope this latest novel is like childbirth and I can forget the pain by the time she writes again.

I've also been very busy making Christmas ornaments for the event at my daughter-in-law's house in December. It's to be a pre-shopping event with several people displaying their craft for sale. I was trying to do mostly stained glass but I just don't like the patterns I have and after about 15 pieces I gave up and picked up a crochet hook and am making Victorian ornaments. It won't matter that I spent 4 or 5 hours on each ornament. People will only want to pay a buck or two for them. That doesn't even cover the material. If you're reading this and are family or friend, expect an ornament for Christmas!

A week till Thanksgiving! Wow! I haven't done anything but order an 8 legged turkey! Never enough dark meat for my family so we have to improvise. There has to be a big run to the grocery store for potatoes. I usually need two carts to carry the amount I need. That's the main focus of the day. I could just serve that and I think they'd die happy. I talked to our son in Hawaii two nights ago and he was amazed that we were having the meal without him and wondered how it would taste if mailed to him by express mail. We've already discovered that overnight to Hawaii is impossible so I think everything would be rather green and fuzzy by the time it got there in 5 days or so. His loss! I'm trying to figure how many we'll be feeding this year. I think I'm still hanging in there with 18. Could be a few less but I never know.

I ordered a book from a company called "Books on Demand" which deals in old books. It was a family tree but unfortunately was not the family I was hoping for. I contacted them that I was returning the book and was given a pre-printed label to use which I printed out. Sent it insured to Georgia and got it back yesterday marked "vacant." I emailed and was ignored so I'm assuming that company has folded up and left the area. They were dealing through Alibris books online. Hope they practice what they preach and guarantee all books. They're going to lose some big money on this vendor. First I'm headed to the post office since the book came back with the packaging shredded and the pages of the book damaged from their inadequate handling. Good thing it was insured. Wonder how long it will take to get satisfaction.

Day Whatever

All the agents in our office were called in to discuss our "futures." Our benefits for being there are being drastically cut since the sales are so off they have to cut corner where they can. We were worried that the owner was going too far with his ideas. Later yesterday we heard that most of the staff have been laid off. Definitely not a good sign. I think we'll see a major cut in the amount of agents in the office by the end of the month. I need to get my resume updated.

I'm struggling to read "Book of the Dead" by Patricia Cornwell. It's so hard to believe that someone who wrote such wonderful books that I couldn't put down would end her career with such loser books. The last 3 or 4 have been just barely readable. I keep hoping she'll get better so I keep buying them since I'm rather addicted to her characters and want to see what happens to them. She's changed them, too. Poor Marino went from being a fat detective to a body building, head shaved, biker guy working for Scarpetta in the private sector! I think that was one of the problems. She took Scarpetta out of the coroner's office in VA where she was a big deal and put her in a different setting that just doesn't suit the character. I will finish this book even though I've said I don't waste time on bad books because of the characters but I don't know how much more her former fans will tolerate. Patricia knows that when she writes about something other than these characters that she doesn't sell so she's stuck with writing about them. How long can she keep the main characters interesting when they're pushing 60? Maybe she just can't compete with Kathy Reichs who is really what she writes about.

Trying, also, to fit in some stained glass projects for an upcoming holiday sale. I'm just doing ornaments since I've learned that people don't want to pay for the big items. You spend a fortune on glass and your time is valuable but people don't realize what is involved in making a piece. I spent $11 for just one sheet of red glass. I know I'm not going to make a living or even subsidize my income with these items so they will just be gifts or projects for family and friends.

The trip to Canada was postponed since I haven't heard from the family members who were going. It will be too late now to go since snow is already falling in that area. I hate to wait and hope all will still be well in the Spring. The Aunt we were going to visit is hitting her mid 80's. The family isn't known for longevity.

Day 4

It took a long time to finish the lastest book by Elizabeth Berg (What We Keep). Not that it wasn't good; just had a lot of interruptions. I just finished it and like it. Not quite as much as her others, but still good. Basically about a woman who flashes back from present day to her youth when she and her sister were in their pre and early teens and what their lives were like and how it all changed when their mother decided to "find herself" some where other than with them and their father. The estrangement was deep and left them adrift for 35 years before illness brought them together again to mend.

We've been celebrating my husband's birthday for a few days now. There was the actual birthday with a real estate showing scheduled to interrupt our evening but we made up for it by going out to dinner which wasn't planned. The next day we went to Baltimore to have lunch with my son and his wife at the Rusty Scuper on the Harbor. Hadn't been there in 20 years. Always fun being with them and having good conversation instead of just reading his "blog." Tonight we're having dinner with my daugther and her family and my oldest stepson who is joining us. One thing is for sure; no weight is lost this week!

Cannot believe it's time to start planning for Thanksgiving dinner and having to clean for the big event. Then to roll right into Christmas. I just want it over! When did it go from being fun to such a chore. You spend days cooking and baking and the meals over in minutes. Then you spend a ton of money and time getting ready for Christmas and it, too, is over in minutes. You can't even remember what you gave or got a month or so later. I'm starting to see the benefit of taking those vacations over the holidays and coming back with a hint of guilt for not being there! I can handle guilt!

Forgot to turn the clocks back last night. First time ever! Poor hubby got up an hour early for his part time job and then took a nap before he left. Hopefully it was beneficial. I didn't realize it until an hour after he was up and I looked at the "atomic" clock that had changed itself. Glad it wasn't the time of year you set it forward of he would have been in real trouble. Now I've been up for almost 4 hours and it's not even 9:00. Maybe I should consider a nap!