Book update

I figured it's time to update you on what I've been reading. I went to a book club for the first time tonight and it was wonderful. I'm full of reading enthusiasm and excitement - give me more books. Om-num-num-num-num-num-num (say it like Cookie Monster)! So here's the most recent list:

May 2011:

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

This was a weird book. I'm kind of at a loss how to describe it or my reaction to it. The main Catch 22 in the book is sanity/insanity. From the book:

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to."

I felt like a lot of the book left you guessing as to who was sane and who was insane and after trying fruitlessly to do this, wondering what it means to be "sane". However, it was interesting and got me thinking which is generally good. 3.5 stars.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I have very mixed feelings about this book, which makes me think I need to reread it. I liked it - mostly. I was not frustrated by it - mostly. I think Jane Eyre is not frustratingly annoying - mostly. I know many people who love love this book so I will definitely give it another chance. I did like it, but I feel like I will like it more the second time so I'm not going to give it any arbitrary rating right now.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

This was a good mystery/suspense/romance novel. Based on just the front cover, which was red wavy marbling with only the title large in gold embossing, I would probably have put it right back on the shelf, but it was a fun, if not serious, read. 4 stars.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I liked Sense and Sensibility. I loved Pride and Prejudice and I read that first so I still love that more, even though I think that perhaps these are almost the same book, disguised in different trappings. It's still a good read and I can't help myself from sighing and wishing things turn out how I hope. 4.5 stars.

June 2011:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

This book is awesome, however, I used to think the movie was really great but after reading the book, the movie is disappointing in many ways. I highly recommend this book anyways! 5 stars.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

I listened to the audio book (free download from librivox) and really liked this book. I think I listened to all 19-20 hours of it in just a few days. It kept me guessing and wondering and it is fun to read such an old book of this genre. 4.5 stars.

I'm working on Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres right now but I'm not making very fast progress on it. I'd like to continue, but the narration comes from several different perspectives, and I like one or two of them and dislike the rest. I'm going to try to make myself keep reading it, but I have just heard of so many other books that sound so interesting that I want to get to!

I Just Like Animals

Let me start by saying that I have recently discovered that we have (relatively) nearby us not one but two nonprofit big cat rescue centers: Carolina Tiger Rescue and The Conservators' Center.

Both organizations take in lions, tigers, binturongs, ocelots, kinkajous, servals, etc. that no one else wants or have been mistreated in other facilities or otherwise can't find a home. The Conservators' Center also has wolves, foxes, lemurs, chausies, and more variety of species.

I have really got an itching to go visit and tour one or both of these places. They both offer a few different tours: Regular, evening, etc. I have spent at least an hour on each of their websites, looking at the animals. I don't know why. I just like animals.

The Wood Man

And now, let's treat ourselves to a classic ghost story written by myself in about 1993 (3rd or 4th grade). Prepare to be spookified!

If you can't read that, or don't want to try to read that awkward, large, double lined elementary school print, I've typed it up below. I have to pat myself on the back for resisting the urge to add commentary throughout.

The Wood Man

There once was a man who lived in Northern Canada. His name was Mr. Smage. He lived in a cabin with his wife and children, Lisa and Marie.

Every day he would travel to the city and walk around with his mule and cart selling wood. People would buy his wood for a good price.

One day a man called to him from a shack on an empty lot. Her said he would buy enough wood to build a small house.

Mr. Smage took the offer. The man called out as he was leaving that Mr. Smage would have to bring it by himself. Usually he would hire a poor family to take the wood to the People who bought them.

"Why would a person who lived in a shack have enough money to buy such beautiful wood?" Mr. Smage wondered. But he went home and began cutting the pieces the man from the shack needed. After 3 days he loaded it all up in his cart and told his mule to go. He told Zerrell to go again. Zerrell was the name of the mule. He pulled and pulled but he couldn't pull such a heavy load. So Mr. Smage went to his barn to get another mule named Darrell. He hitched Darrell up to the cart. Darrell and Zarrell pulled the cart back to the man's shack.

He got the wood and went up to the door and knocked. He tried to knock. His hand went right through the door. When he was up that close he could see right through the broken down shack.

Some neighbors said they heard a yell and they say they heard wheels creaking down the road. Nobody ever saw the wood man again. The people who live there now say at night, they hear the creaking of old cart wheels passing the empty lot where the shack once stood. And they still tell stories of the Ghost and Mr. Smage.

The End!

Well, are you scared?! If you're anything like me, you are now scared - scared that you are going to pee your pants laughing or perhaps have your eyes get stuck facing the back of your head from excessive eye rolling. Darrell and Zarrell? Lisa and Marie (holla!)? The Ghost and Mr. Smage? Gee whiz... I can't tell whether I was "creative" or crazy!

Sewing Scrap Bag

I have been enjoying very much doing little sewing projects on my new sewing machine. This combination scrap bag/pincushion/tool holder should have been the first thing I made. Instead of having strings and clipped corner pieces everywhere, they could have all been neatly collected in this nice little removable bag.

I got the directions from a website called Sew, Mama, Sew!

Handy dandy hanging scrap bag. The bottom of the pincushion is weighted with rice so it can stay on the edge of a table, chair, etc.

And of course, I couldn't have done it without my "helper".

Homemade Beach Chair

You may have noticed from some previous posts that we take our camp chairs to the beach. This is not ideal because they are a little hard to get balanced on the sand, the feet get sand in them that doesn't easily brush off and if the fabric is moist when you put them in the storage bags, they can get moldy. For years I have been looking for just the right beach chair at just the right price. I have been eyeing one on Amazon that can sit up or lie flat and has a face hole so that you can lay on your back or your stomach and read. However, the cheapest I could find a chair like this is about $80 and the reviews weren't even that good.

Sooooo, I recently came across directions for making a folding sling beach chair on Ana White's blog (she designs make-it-yourself furniture plans and posts them on her blog here). When I saw the chair, I loved it and wanted to make one for myself. So I did. And here is the result:

It's not actually finished - the wood needs to be sanded and stained or painted, but it's still comfy. It is adjustable to three levels of recliney-ness, and even though it doesn't lay completely flat, I think it will be lightyears better than a camp chair for the beach.

The fabric sling is reversible which is awesome, and that also made it funner to choose out the fabric. The pillow is my own design... Jeran said it needed a pillow so voila! Goodbye leftover scraps!

Beach day!

A few weeks ago, we made our first trip to the beach in two years. Last summer, we didn't make it at all due to illness, injury, etc. so we were very excited to go. Especially because this time, we went with friends! We went with Adam and Mary to Topsail and we all had a grand time. The weather was perfect, the water was nice, it wasn't overly crowded, so we had a fabulous time.

Adam's first time in the ocean! I know, can you believe it?

Wet Baseball

We went to a Durham Bulls game last weekend with some of Jeran's co-workers. The forecast called for storms that evening, but many people were skeptical. A few hours before the game, the only thing that wasn't sold out was the lawn. However, the rain started coming down hard a little while before the game and kept going and going. There were about a million people standing in the covered concessions area that we had to wade through to get around the stadium. We were sitting under the covered portion and waiting and waiting to see if they would call off the game due to the rain. Finally after a few hours, we got tired of it and left. Later we learned that they had actually played the game, but started over 3 hours after the scheduled start time. Oh well. Who wants to be at a baseball game at midnight?!

What we really wanted was for them to let us go slip and slide all over the huge puddley tarp. That would have been awesome!

Our group is this whole row. Some lady took this picture so sorry it's blurry. On the other side of me were many sections of empty seats because we were at the far edge of the covered area.