A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini

Rating: 3 stars

Cliff Notes: I have heard great things about this book for years and was excited to pick it up at a recent book sale.

Full Summary: It took me a little longer to get through because of the foreign names of geography and culture (food, clothing, celebrations, etc). I also got bogged down at times with the in depth details of the conflict in the region.

But the stories of these women. Holy cow. The resilience and courage these women showed throughout the novel is humbling, especially knowing that the situations that these women endured are probably taken from actual events. And are probably still happening today.

A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
By |2019-12-12T19:29:07-05:00June 24th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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About That Trash Can in the Garden

I have gotten a few questions from those of you who read about the irrigation project who were wondering why the heck I have a trash can in the middle of the space I am trying to cultivate into a garden. Its nothing fancy or forward thinking – its taters. According to the interwebs, potatoes can be grown in a trash can so I just had to give it a try. We had to replace our kitchen trash can so I hoarded it from the garbage man (don’t tell Paul, let this be our secret).

There are special bags you can buy to do this, but I wanted to try it the DIY way and so far it has been going fine – other than looking like I have a trash can in the middle of my back yard, of course. I don’t think our HOA has seen it yet.

Garden irrigation project
By |2019-11-30T16:26:44-05:00June 23rd, 2019|Environmental Surroundings|0 Comments
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Secret Daughter – Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Rating: I would rate it 3.5 stars if I could.

Cliff Notes: I loved all of the Indian culture present in this book. The author did a great job describing it in great detail. The themes of motherhood and what that means for women really struck a chord with me, making it hard to read at times.

Full Summary: I don’t think this is spoiler-ish at all, but read the review at your own risk. Somer could not have kids and struggled with that infertility and what it meant about her as a woman. It really struck a chord with me as I have had these same thoughts. Not that I struggled with infertility, but as a woman who does not have biological children of her own.

Shilpi Somaya Gowda Secret Daughter

Throughout evolution, one of the main “purposes” for women is to procreate, to carry children, nurture them, work with other women to foster a community in which to raise the children. This is not my jam. I am about as nurturing as a porcupine, although it has gotten a bit “easier” as the kids have gotten older. Teenagers don’t really want to cuddle – they actually don’t even want to be on the same level of the house with us. I put “easier” in quotes because let’s be honest – the bigger the kid the bigger the problems. We certainly have had our fair share. But I am specifically talking about my ability to be maternal and nurturing. Or not be maternal and nurturing, as it were.

When I first became a step mother and we made the choice to not have children of our own, I did struggle with the idea that I had no purpose as a woman if I was not going to have my own kids. What was broken in me that I did not long for that? Over time I have come to see different ways. I can make a difference in the lives of kids – my nieces or my step kids. Friends’ kids and such. Not everyone needs to birth kids in order to make an impact in their lives. Nurturing can look many different ways.

By |2019-12-12T19:29:22-05:00June 22nd, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Nights in Rodanthe – Nicholas Sparks

Rating: 3 stars

Cliff Notes: Super cheesy, but sometimes you just need an escape. I loved how the story ended.

Full Summary: The copy of this book that I read is the one where it had the movie characters on the front so the whole time I just pictured Richard Gere, which I generally don’t like to do because I want to use my imagination. Because that is pretty much the point of books, right!?

Anyway, so this was super cheesy – I am not sure how you fall in love like this in a weekend. But how the relationship played out was RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!! I do want to watch the movie so watch for the review of that. I see a new hashtag coming – Book to Movie Adaptation. Hint: The books is always better.

Nights in Rodanthe Nicholas Sparks
By |2019-12-12T19:29:31-05:00June 21st, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Songs of the Humpback Whale – Jodi Picoult

Rating: 4 stars

Cliff Notes: Accidental unicorn. This was a reread, but I did not realize it until too far in. I figured if I forgot so much I might as well redo it.

Full Summary: I like how this was written backwards. I remember when I read it the first time that I was confused for quite a bit of the first half of the book. Which is probably why I don’t remember so much of it. This barely counts as a reread.

I like how much this book honors young love. Love when you are a teenager is different. It is often dismissed as puppy love or not “real” love. It might not be a love you can base a future on and God help me if I would have married a person who liked who I was when I was 15 or expected me to stay that poor same young woman. But those first loves are big and deep and real. Jodi Picoult does a wonderful job of presenting it in this novel.

Songs of the Humpback Whale Jodi Picoult
By |2019-12-12T19:29:42-05:00June 20th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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A Monk Swimming – Malachy McCourt

Rating: DNF around p 60/300

Cliff Notes: Too scattered for me to get traction with the author’s voice

Full Summary: I think part of the problem I was having was I expected Frank McCourt kind of novel. This memoir was more of a series of humorous anecdotes. I would have liked to shoot the shit with Malachy, but could not really engage in his stories. He would have been a great blogger I bet.

A Monk Swimming Malachy McCourt
By |2019-12-12T19:30:27-05:00June 18th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Quilting

A couple years ago I decided to make a T shirt quilt with all of the leftovers from my youth. My sister in law helped me with that project and it was quite an experience for us both. She is so patient and kind. It took a couple years to get over that, but last year I started sewing again.

In January of this year I started Quilters Academy – Freshman Year at Calla Lilly Quilts in Greensboro. The curriculum is based on Harriet Hargrave techniques and it is PRECISE. Normally I love precision, but it was a learning curve for sure! Classes met once a month and were very homework intensive. After the first class I went to the shop EVERY DAY for 3 weeks trying to sort out various issues and learn what I needed. Now those were some patient ladies. I ripped out more seams in those 3 weeks than I had done in my entire life up to that point.

Fabric Quilting

It is nice to have hobbies away from the computer – even if I do seem like an 80-year old woman or like I should live on the banks of Plum Creek. There is something about the feel of the fabric and the visual of all of the colors and patterns that is soothing to the soul – especially after a long day of looking at spreadsheets and such.

What are your soul saving hobbies?

By |2019-06-12T20:40:06-04:00June 15th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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The Pull of the Moon – Elizabeth Berg

Rating: 5 stars

Cliff Notes: I could not put it down and read it in one sitting. Then I was sad it was over. I will be keeping this book.

Full Summary: This one really touched a nerve with me as June is my birthday month, and 2019 is a milestone birthday for me – a milestone that rounds up to 50, the age Nan is in this story. The age she is lamenting in this story. Nan is wrestling with lots of the questions I have been turning over this year. What does it mean to get old? Am I supposed to age gracefully or become a truer version of myself as I age and stop putting up with bullshit?

Why is retirement feared – I often hear of employees who don’t want to retire because they don’t know how they will fill their time. What happens when we get still? They don’t know if they can stand to be with their partner all the time – what happens if we have different interests?

From Nan, The Pull of the Moon

I am not going to lie – I had a hard time between 35 and now. I thought I would be at a different point in my career. Seven years ago I chucked the career I had worked for since I was in 3rd grade straight out the window. I am not going to say that I have never looked back, but I will say several changes in my life have made room for the smaller inside voice to be heard in the stillness. The “dull nudge” that Nan talks about in this book.

“The thought was not in words, it was in the form of a dull nudge. And it was that nudge that got me to find this journal, and get going on this trip. And now, in my own stillness, I hear something. ‘Where have you been?’ my inside body whispers to my outside one. Its sense of outrage is present but dulled by the grief of abandonment. ‘I had ideas, There were things to do. Where did you go?’

Nan, The Pull of the Moon

I still do not think I have landed exactly where I am supposed to be, but I sure am closer than ever. I have a few circles of friends who help with this discovery – trying to excavate creativity, authenticity, and vulnerability. It is challenging, exciting, exhausting and invigorating all at the same time. I am extraordinarily lucky to have a partner who supports this excavation and is not threatened by it in the least (I attribute this partly to waiting until later in life to marry). However, I have had relationships change their look and feel or fall by the wayside altogether.

While I certainly have mourned these relationship changes and second guessed myself (usually in the middle of the night when I cannot sleep for thinking about it), I don’t want to continue to put everyone else ahead of me. Dulling my creative energy to take care of someone else’s needs is not what I am on the Earth for. I am sure my fellow people pleasers can relate. And where are all the pleased people anyway?

The Pull of the Moon Elizabeth Berg
By |2019-12-12T19:30:51-05:00June 14th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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