Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

I was doing post earlier in the month with goals for the month and realized I wasn't hitting those goals.  So now I'm going to just focus on how the month went. For May, I wanted to really try to make my step goal every day. Weekends are normally really hard for me (I'm lazy) but it was a busy month.  So as of today (5/26) there have only been 3 days where I haven't hit my step goal. I went on vacation for a long weekend Thursday-Monday and averaged around 13,500 steps a day.  My best day was Saturday where I hit 20,718.  Even with all the walking I did, I must have done more eating since I gained 3.8 lbs.. I started to do a modified bullet journal and it's been keeping me on track with tracking my calories. I had been slacking on tracking my calorie intake. I started the month with asking myself to track just breakfast and lunch.  I did really well with that for a week so I added a checkbox for dinner. I only required myself to track two of the meals. ...

A Nice Little Place on the North Side: A History of Triumph, Mostly Defeat, and Incurable Hope at Wrigley Field by George F. Will My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am a baseball fan. I wouldn't say I was a Cubs fan, but they are well respected in my family. My mother is a Cubs fan.  Every Spring we hear the common anthem of "This is our year" and every Fall we hear "Next year will be our year." I feel safe saying this chant could probably be heard in the households of many members of  Cubs Nation.  The other similar trait is the love of Wrigley Field.  I have a deep love of Wrigley Field. It is one of my favorite places to watch a ball game. I was a believer in The Curse of the Billy Goat before reading this book, but now I fear the curse goes back even further. I fear the curse dates back to 1914 and the opening of Wrigley Field. The history of Wrigley is wrapped in so much more history.  This book covers the history of the team, the city, key players, owne...

Kell Sabin by Linda Howard #3 Heartbreaker #4 White Lies Linda Howard Collection by Linda Howard My rating: 3 of 5 stars A number of years ago I was on a Linda Howard kick and read everything the library owned.  They had books 1 and 2 in this series but not books 3 and 4.  I thought now would be a good time to finish the series.  I liked the first two books and I liked these two books.  They are clearly 80's romances.  They have the overly dominate older male and he pretty much forces himself onto a woman at least 5 years younger who is kind of willing.  That aside, they were good stories. Heartbreaker was connected to the story in book 2. I kind of remembered the book but it wasn't really necessary to read this story.  Michelle and John have circled around each other for years, since Michelle was too young John kind of kept his distance.  They both have the wrong impression of each other and this time around they both are learning t...

Save Yourself by Jeremy Whitley My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm a princess fan. I grew up with them and but I never wanted to be one. This is one princess I wouldn't mind being. Adrienne might have been born a princess, but she doesn't want to be a princess. In her world a princess comes of age and then gets locked in a tower with a dragon to guard her.  There she waits until a prince comes to save her. Adrienne doesn't want that life, but her father doesn't give her a choice.  Stuck in her tower Adrienne gets the idea to use her dragon to free herself and go free her sisters. This turns into a humorous adventure. Adrienne is joined by the daughter of an armor maker who wants to design for women. This was one of my favorite sections in the book. Get Over Yourself by Jeremy Whitley My rating: 5 of 5 stars The story continues with Adrienne and her small troupe head off to save her sister Angelica.  While the group is trying to find Angelica's tow...

With April being National Poetry Month, I thought it would be a good time to get this requirement crossed off the list.  I would have gone back to some of my favorite collections or poets that I already knew so I reached out to the Twitter hive mind for some suggestions. I got what I could from the library and picked up one other. Small Poems by Valerie Worth My rating: 4 of 5 stars I thought these poems were really cute and I think a great way to start kids off with poetry.  These are simple poems about everyday objects, animals, and I think some foods stuffs. Pug: And Other Animal Poems by Valerie Worth My rating: 4 of 5 stars When I was looking in the library catalog for I saw this book.  Being a pug mom I had to check it out. Again some great poems for children. Personally I think the pug poem was the best! Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was intrigued by this collection of retold fairy tal...

"Did you get what you wanted?" "Yes." "Then let’s get out of here." He sighed in relief as his brother came out of the store, a confident stride to his walk. He watched as his brother easily slid into the driver’s seat holding a takeout bag. He rolled his eyes once the door closed and his bother quickly opened the bag to retrieve what was inside. “Did you get what you wanted?” His brother looked over at him with a big smile. “Yes.” “Then let’s get out of here.” His smile turned into a mischievous grin as he pulled a fork out of the bag and started to eat a piece of pie. The challenge was getting this to be vague yet recognizable to fans of a certain show and also keeping it to 100 words. I think I was successful on both fronts.

Write Your Obituary  I based my obituary on one of the obituaries written for Jane Austen. It reads:  Courier (July 22, 1817, no. 7744, p. 4), makes the first published admission of Jane Austen’s authorship of the four novels then published: “On the 18th inst. at Winchester, Miss Jane Austen, youngest daughter of the late Rev. George Austen, Rector of Steventon, in Hampshire, and the Authoress of Emma, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. Her manners were most gentle; her affections ardent; her candor was not to be surpassed, and she lived and died as became a humble Christian.”  I also went with the idea that I was writing in now with areas where someone could fill in once I pass away.  Times of Trenton (Mon. ?, 20??, no. ?, p. ?), On the ??th inst. at Hamilton, Miss [hopefully this can be changed to Mrs.] Amelia [with any luck a nee will be here] Rodriguez, daughter of the late Mr. Fernando Rodriguez, Auditor with the State, in New J...