Boob tube.....

I used to get up and switch on the TODAY show (with hesitation since 9/11) but to try to stay on top of the current events. I also enjoyed the evening news. Lately, I'm just tired of the drama with politics. The blatant favortism of the news media as far as political parties. Living in PA we thought that we wouldn't have much say in the political process since we're so late with our primary but here we are......the big vote! I'm for neither! We're watching commercials by both potential candidates that just turn my stomach. We have the guy who gave the supposed wonderful speech from Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. The speech was about race. We are being slammed with his commercials about being raised by a single mother and his grandparents. The commercial is centers on his mother's side of the family and her parents. Interesting! We have the female who brags about her experience that far out weighs others because she's lived in the white house. Well so did the pastry chef! In fact, I'm sure there are some that have been there through more than an eight year term. Let's get them and vote them into office. The guards or maybe the cleaning crew. Let's vote in Monica; she's got oval office experience and she's female! Poor John McCain has to use his video of being a prisoner of war in his commercial. Great! The most unpopular war of all time and he's trying to get votes from that. Maybe if he'd run in the 50's. Let's change the law and then Arnold can be president! A Republican married to a Democrat. Would be interesting! It's going to be a long month till they move out of the state and forget about us again.

I broke my titanium glasses yesterday. Snapped in half at the nose piece. I loved those glasses! Now I'm stuck with little granny glasses from the drug store that give a person a headache. My favorite optician in the whole world is in Hawaii so it's a long flight to get to him.

Better

I'm doing much better in the root canal department. No longer need drugs and just feeling a little pressure.

Finished a great book by Jeffrey Archer. "A Prisoner of Birth." Archer is a former member of the House of Commons, and the House of Lords in Britain. He's also spent two years in Her Majesty's prison. He's written wonderful stories, including "Kane and Abel," which is one of my all time favorite books and was a TV miniseries. I enjoyed this one book immensely. He took his legal knowledge and his prison knowledge to write this story. He took the main character from the East End of London. A young man with a future as a mechanic in his fiance's Father's garage. The night he proposes to his girl is the night that life changed. He's accused of a murder and sent to prison where he's befriended by his cell mates. This leads to a total life change for him and a way to escape his wrongful conviction. He's seeking revenge and setting his traps. Throw in a little "Prince and the Pauper." Definitely a hard book to put down.

Spent some time with my new friend. A little comfort food, knitting and chatting at a necessary time. Thanks MA!

Another Harlan Coben

This time I finished "Gone for Good." I thought the last one was suspenseful but this one was even more so. I never knew who was the good guy and who was the bad guy. I didn't expect the ending at all and I usually am able to figure them out. Excellent author! Great story!

I think I might finally have a handle on the root canal pain. It's evening and I haven't had to take my hourly hit of pain relief.

Another Mystery

I finished "Tell No One" by Harlan Coben. A great suspense thriller! Dr. David Beck married his childhood sweetheart and then watched her kidnapping while he was being beaten and left to drown. For eight years he believed her dead! Suddenly he's being questioned by the FBI about his wife's death and his possible connection to it. To top it off, he's receiving strange emails that could only be sent by his dead wife. Wonderfully written and definitely a page turner!

I had to call the endodontist this morning to find out why I'm having such pain after the root canal. He said since I'm unable to take Advil or something similar that I'm not getting the benefit of an anti-inflamatory that is needed to help with the pain. I was told by my family doctor that since I have stomach problems that I shouldn't use anything but Tylenol. Now I need to dump the Tylenol and take Advil. 600 milligrams of it! If I don't time it right so that it is in my system at the exact moment then the effects are devastating. I have to wake up every 3 hours to make sure that I take it regularly. Gee, let's guess what's next month's horror story! Stomach problems maybe!

Got my root canal

I was taken in as an emergency to the endodontist and my root canal is complete. Used to take several sessions but now they do it in one sitting. Another fortune was spent to keep this old body together. Now I get to go back to the regular dentist and have his put a crown on the salvaged tooth. Bet that won't cost much either! My tongue is doing a dance over the sharp edges of the temporary filling.

Finished "Killer Heat" by Linda Fairstein. It's her latest and she has regular characters in her books but you don't have to read them all to enjoy them. She's one of America's foremost legal experts on crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence and she ran the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney's Office in Manhattan for more than 20 years. With that background she definitely knows what she's writing about. This book was about a serial killer that liked his victims in uniform. A very good story if you like a murder mystery.

Root Canal

That's the latest! I was sitting at home on Easter Day and the pain started above a molar. I thought I'd just gotten something trapped under the gum but as the day went on so did the pain. By this morning it was pretty bad. I called my dentist and needless to say he was on vacation until tomorrow. I called the backup "guy." Got in to see him at 3:00 but all he did was x-ray and confirm that it needed a root canal which I had started to suspect. He wrote a prescription for antibiotics and more pain pills and off I went to the drug store. I took the first pill at 3:45 and it's barely fazed it. I have to go to my dentist now to decide whether to do a root canal on a tooth that has been rebuilt several times or to just pull it and put in a fake. Here we go again! Tomorrow I have a real estate class till noon; office duty till 5:00 and my oil painting class till 9:30. Hmmmmmmmmmm.........wonder what I have to give up to see the dentist. The way I feel I'd like to give them all up.

The Monsters of Templeton"

I finished this book by Lauren Groff. I enjoyed it but there were parts that left me a little confused until later in the book. It's loosely based on Cooperstown, NY even though the author has renamed it Templeton in the book. It spans two centuries: part a contemporary story of a girl's search for her father, part historical and part ghost story. It's basically a town that holds the secrets of a family. It even has it's own "lake monster" that unfortunately is found dead in the beginning of the book. Since I've been doing family tree searches for about two years now, this book held some interest. The main character was busily searching her family history which was also the key to finding her biological father.

Happy Birthday, Dew!

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic this morning. Going back 13 years to the birth of my granddaughter. Watching my baby girl give birth to her baby girl. Walking her up and down the hall during labor. Having my hand squeezed with the labor pains that ripped through her. Watching that little bundle of joy being vacuumed literally from her body when it didn't want to give the baby up. The smiles on the faces of my daughter and son-in-law when they were given the little bundle to hold. The itch in my fingers to grab her. I waited patiently, and finally when they were busy with my daughter and my son-in-law had gone to tell his parents the news, I got my chance. When they placed that little baby in my arms I didn't think I could love anyone more. You love your children but I was "way" young when I went through that and maturity makes it different. Being a "Grandma" makes it different. All the blessings it brings. My heart burst with the love I felt! Now she's so near to grown! All legs, growing "buds," and braces. Trying to tame her curls in a ponytail when she should let them go wild! Firing rapid speech at you faster than your brain can translate it into words. Oh, still my little treasure. Born on the first day of Spring and nicknamed "Dew." Happy Birthday, my darling Dew!

My son is off to Holland tonight for Spring Break. His wife had been in Italy for the week with some other teachers and now she's meeting up with him in Holland for a little rest and relaxation. What happens in Amsterdam, stays in Amsterdam! Guess this means they'll miss Easter Dinner!

There's really no Easter dinner this year. Other relatives claim the children and my husband is scheduled to work the whole day so it's a sandwich for me at noon. No reason to paint eggs or buy chocolate either. Maybe I'll go visit my cousin that's still in the hospital after her back surgery. She probably needs the chocolate and flowers after a month of being strapped to a bed.

I gave the book "Change of Heart" to a girl I work with and she's loving it as much as I did. Only a little over halfway through it but already sending me emails about how wonderful and thought provoking it is and that she has never read anything better. When we worked together before, we used to share books and enjoy similar ones so I was hoping she would read this one so I could discuss it with her. Jodi Picoult's books do that to me. Makes me want everyone around me to read them so I can discuss them. I was at the office yesterday and she was asking me things I couldn't tell her because I didn't want to ruin the ending for her. I'll soon be done with my latest read but it won't get great reviews.

James Patterson disappointment

I've read James Patterson for years and this is the first time he let me down. His latest book in the Maximum Ride series "The Final Warning" just didn't make the grade. Even though it's geared for 10 to 110 year olds, this one just left me disappointed. The "flock" were always in danger and this time they were only challenged once and by less than scary characters. Patterson was trying desperately to bring in the issue of "Global Warming" and getting the characters involved in it that he lost his way. I'm all for doing more for the environment and changing the world but he failed miserably with this novel. He's apparently writing way too many novels and he's struggling to fit them all in to the time slots that they are due. I'd rather wait longer and have a better quality book.

Off to the 2nd oil painting class tonight. This time we actually get to put paint on canvas even though I'm not sure what I'm doing or if I feel I'm ready for that. The supplies are purchased and our little paint boxes are at the ready to make a necessary showing. I'm doing the typical landscape but my husband is tackling an unusual still life. Fried egg in pan or on a dish. Hasn't decided but I took some pictures for him over the weekend. Not sure where we'll hang it. Maybe over the stove!

St. Patrick's Day

Attended a "tea" for my soon to be 13 year old granddaughter. It was just grandmothers, an aunt, couple of cousins and her mom. 13, wow! I can feel the white hair growing out of my head with each passing minute. The 21st is the official birthday but she'll be celebrating all week, I'm sure.

Today James Patterson's new book from the "Maximum Ride" series came out. I got the granddaughter hooked on it over Christmas and she read all three originals in less than a week. We've been anxiously waiting for today and I got the books this afternoon so that she has it tonight. Won't take long since it's a short novel this time. Probably will be done with it late tonight then we have to wait another year for the next one.

Back to Michigan

My friend from Michigan is on her way back home. We had two dinners out over the last two days and got caught up. I even showed them a house while they were here since they're talking about retiring back here some day.

I finished Peter Carey's "His Illegal Self" late last night. The time frame was the early 70's and it's main character is a 7 year old boy of privilege that is being raised by his grandmother in NYC. His parents were radical student activists at Harvard in the late sixties and the child has been removed from his mother's care due to her illegal and unsafe activities in the "Students for a Democratic Society". A supposedly innocent visit to his mother leads to an abduction and a flight to Queenland, Australia. I would have enjoyed this book a little more if it would have been better written. I found it difficult to follow. I won't be looking for any other books by this author.

It's weird to think that tomorrow is Palm Sunday already and that somewhere between Palm Sunday and Easter we're going to have St. Patrick's Day. This hasn't happened since the early 1800's and won't happen again until 2200's. Once in a life time!

Visit from an old friend......

I'm waiting for a call from my old friend that moved to Michigan six years ago. She returns about this time every year with her husband to attend a conference for his company. We've made tentative plans to go to dinner tonight to catch up. She likes to hit all her old haunts when she gets back in the area but I'm not ready for a long trip to find a restaurant when there are plenty of others nearby. Suffering a little stiffness in the neck today. Once again it was from sleeping poorly.

Finished "A Ticket to Ride" by Paula McLain. A short novel set in 1973. The main character is an insecure, motherless teenager who falls under the spell of an older more worldly cousin. The cousin is walking trouble. They are headed for ruin at 15 and 16 with the lifestyle the older has decided on. Drink, drugs, and men much too old for them. One learns from the tragedy of the summer and one doesn't.

One Thousand White Women......

I finished "One Thousand White Women" by Jim Fergus. Even though it is fiction it was eye opening to the treatment of the American Indians by the "White man's government." Mary Dodd was the main character and writer of the journals of her life with the Cheyenne. She was raised in a family of wealth but turned from them to pursue her own life. This led to her being wrongly committed to an asylum and there tortured and raped for a year until the she received the offer to join up as one of the women to go west to "breed" with the Cheyennes to further Indian relations with the White Man. The friendships she made and the life she came to honor with her new family was a fascinating story. Many of these women were former patients, prisoners or females who had fallen on hard times. Well worth reading.

The yard is filled with birds. Unbelievable noise! Sure hope they don't plan on roosting here for the night or we're in trouble. Guess a few loud noises might frighten them away.

Insomnia again........

Another night of waking after an hour of sleep. This time I took some Tylenol PM to get back to sleep and then I couldn't wake up. I'm still in a fog in late afternoon. I need to perk up since Hubby and I have our first beginners oil painting class tonight. I'm shooting for becoming an abstract artist since with the hand tremor I can't see me doing too many fine details at this point. We've talked of taking this kind of class for 30 years and finally got around to doing it. Like the weaving class we've always wanted to take. We did the stained glass thing years ago but I'm the only one still involved in it and recently I haven't been able to do it. Still hoping to do those arched windows for my dining room and guest room. Now that I have the go ahead from the doctor I can maybe get back to trying to get them done. I've already changed my mind on the design I wanted to do.

I did start a new book which I'm really enjoying. It was recommended by a woman I work with. It's fiction but based on an actual historical event that took place in 1854 at a peace conference at Fort Laramie. A prominent Northern Cheyenne chief requested of the U.S. Army authorities the gift of one thousand white women as brides for his young warriors. Because theirs is a matrilineal society in which all children born belong to their mother's tribe, this seemed to the Cheyennes to be the perfect means of assimilation into the white man's world. Needless to say, the Cheyennes' request was not well received by the white authorities and the peace conference collapsed. The Cheyennes went home without their brides. The author, Jim Fergus, took this tidbit and with historic background created a novel entitled "One Thousand White Women: The Journal of May Dodd" in which if the Cheyennes had gotten their wish would have happened in the eyes of one of the first women to take the journey. If you were locked in an asylum or prison and given the choice to be sent into the wild west as a bride of a Cheyenne or stay where you are for years or even a lifetime then it isn't inconceivable that this could have taken place. They were free to leave once they had a child or after two years.

Another book

Between a late night last night and the long wait in the doctor's office today I was able to make a pretty good dent in another book which I ended up finishing tonight. This was a different kind of book for me. Not since "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey have I read a book like this one. This book was "Living on the Edge of Madness" by Sonny Kramer and Linda Wakeman. Mostly Sonny telling the story of Linda. She came into his life when he was 52 and she was 28. She was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. A "little" something passed down from her father (with a touch of it in her mother) and his family. Linda introduced him to a woman of wit, intellect, charm, and beauty but also a woman of deceit, infidelity, manipulation and madness. When she was well she was wonderful, but when she wasn't they lived a nightmare. The devotion of Sonny to Linda is heart wrenching. He recorded their lives together and put them in this book for others to understand what living with and having this disorder is like.

Finally...post op

I got in to see the doctor today and it took a few hours of waiting even though that was the reason for the cancellation on Friday. He told me that the "DO NOT DO" list was too rigid in his estimation and I was okay with doing more than it allowed. What a relief! I can return to work if there was work to do. We'll see! The bills from the procedure are coming in and what a shock! I better find some work that pays. Anyway, I asked the doctor what exactly he had done during the surgery since I hadn't wanted to know prior to the operation. He showed me an x-ray that he had taken of me after the surgery and there was a spacer of bone in my spinal column that wasn't there before. I asked him where he got the bone and he said "out of a jar." Funny guy! I mentioned that I thought maybe he had stopped by the morgue on his way to surgery and he said that it is donated bone that is sterilized, etc. I mentioned that my cousin had bone removed from her hip to replace what she needed and he said they don't have to do that now and it is a very painful procedure. He was impressed that I hadn't needed any further pain medication. Mentioned that most patients use pain killers for months after. Maybe they're just looking for more time off work or they're addicted.

I finished "The Seduction of the Crimson Rose" which is the last to date of Lauren Willig's books. I was hoping for a wrap up but it doesn't sound like it will end for a while. I'll have to wait a year to get the next one though. This one followed immediately after the last in story line and picked up on two other characters and their involvement in the search for the Black Tulip spy working for the French and the Pink Carnation who is working for England. Still set in 1803 with flash forwards to the present and the graduate dissertation research. I hope I remember all that's happened in these last few books when they release the next one.

Post Op

I'm three weeks post op and still waiting for my two week appointment. It was to be today at 12:15. I've had this same appointment even back when I first met with the doctor and we thought I was getting better on my own. Because of his vacation last week, the appointment time seemed to coincide with what his needs were so I kept it. Originally it was a follow up to our first meeting and then became my post op. I got a call yesterday from his office stating that he was 170 percent overbooked for Friday and unless I wanted to wait in the office for two or more hours, could I make my appointment for Monday. I guess they don't care that you've had surgery and should be checked to make sure all is well. What's three more days when you're already over a week overdue? So now I'm scheduled for Monday and hoping no further delays come along. In the meantime, I'm still not supposed to do any driving, etc. because it's on the "DO NOT DO" list that I'm supposed to follow until I see the doctor in post op. I'm driving myself to the appointment, so there! After all, I have this great back up camera to try out.

I finished "The Deception of the Emerald Ring" by Lauren Willig. It was the book I put aside to read Jodi Picoult's. By the way, if you email Jodi she answers your email. I did it when she wrote "My Sister's Keeper," never expecting an answer, just letting her know I loved it. I got a nice chatty email back. This time, I just let her know I felt it was her best to date and got a two line answer. She's much busier now and all, but she still answers. Anyway, Lauren Willig's books are all sequels that are about spies in the early 1800's. The time frame is still 1803 and it involved new characters that were known to the last two books' characters. This time it centered around the Irish Rebellion of 1803 that the French were backing so that England would be at their mercy when they were attacked by both the Irish and the French at the same time. History, again, with a little fictional storyline running through it. The novel flips between the 1803 time period and current day with it's own storyline. The modern day version is the supposed author of the doctorate on English spies with her own story to tell. So far only two weeks have passed in the time frame of these three novels. I have the fourth book waiting to be read and I hope it's the last. It's an interesting concept but it's time to put it to rest. Good read. Hard to say it's thought provoking after what I just finished from Picoult, though.

Picoult does it again

I finished "Change of Heart" tonight and I just don't know where to start! It was absolutely my most favorite book to date. She even topped "My Sister's Keeper." I mentioned the build up to page 30 and after that it only got better. I know I'll be reading more about Gnosticism. I can't say more. I've thought about it and if I mentioned more it would ruin the story. Now I have to wait another year to read her next one.

Jodi Picoult

I was in the middle of another book but raced out, well not raced, to the bookstore yesterday to get Jodi Picoult's "Change of Heart." I started it on the drive home and by page 30 there had already been a fatal car accident, a double murder, a conviction and sentencing. I'm not even half way yet but I know this is definitely a good read. If I could have kept my eyes open later last night I would have been farther along. I think I was actually hoping for insomnia last night so that I could get up and read but I'd had a bout the night before which is what made me so tired last night.

I'm ready to drive! My hubby bought me a back up camera for my car so I won't have to turn my head so far to see behind me when backing up. It took him two days and he had to recruit my step son to help him to install the equipment. I'm a little concerned about theft since all of these things, GPS included, are enticements to theives to break in vehicles. Now I'll have two reasons to have that happen. Not to mention all the cords that are now all over the dashboard. The camera is mounted on the license plate which unfortunately sits off to the side on my car. That means you don't really get a good view of the whole back side the car and if someone is walking up behind from the passenger side you can't really see them so it will mean a lot of mirror checking in addition to monitor viewing.

Back to my book!

Book II

I finished "The Masque of the Black Tulip" by Lauren Willig. It was a sequel to "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation." It's been a little while since I read the first and there are four books now. I will probably try to read the other two fairly soon so I don't forget what happened like I did with the first one. The setting was 1803 and it was during the Napoleon days. Set in England it went from current times to flashes back in history. A modern day graduate student, Eloise, achieved the academic coup of the centruy when she unmasked one of history's greatest spies, the Pink Carnation, who save England from Napoleon. But now she has a million questions about the Carnation's deadly French nemesis, the Black Tulip. She is granted access to private documents that lead her to these secrets. Even though I know that there were no such spies it was a fun read. The next one is "The Deception of the Emerald Ring." I'll read that one until I get Jodi Picoult's "Change of Heart" which comes out tomorrow.

Back to work, sort of...

I held an open house today for my daughter's house. I drove myself and did fine. Unfortunately backing up is still a problem. Hard to turn around and see behind me with a stiff neck. Mirrors were of little help. Oh well, little steps! The open house wasn't to productive so we'll keep trying.

Yesterday was fun! Had my grandchildren for a while. My granddaughter's gotten into sewing and I got some material and pillow stuffing and let her make some pillows for her new bedroom. One's a 30x30 and the other a small for a sofa or chair. She did an excellent job! Hope she stays interested in it as a hobby.

I'm enjoying my latest read but I'm just not making a lot of head way. Not a real long book; just not finding the time I usually have for reading. I put it down quicker at night because I get tired sooner. I really want to finish it since Jodi Picoult's new book is due out in two days and I'm anxious to read it. If this one isn't finished then it will have to sit there while I read Picoult's. She trumps all!

Vacation time is sneaking up on us and no plans have been made. My brother is pressing me for a commitment to go fishing somewhere. Our large family trips have dwindled to a very small gathering and it's just not the same. From 18 to 4 or 5 is just not fun! I know my brother wants to seek revenge for the big fish I caught on the last night of our vacation last year which beat out his catch by a couple inches and pounds. I'm loving the status and am not anxious to forfeit it. I'm hoping that by next year we'll have the Hawaii son and daughter-in-law back in the area and the rest of the family ready to go again. I'm think Glacier National Park! Fishing and rock hunting make for a good combo.