Down In the Mouth

I was thinking of talking about how down in the mouth I felt today and how the mood seemed to come out of the blue.  But the memory of this picture made me question whether my wobbly mood came anywhere close to worthy of that phrase now so tightly tied in my mind to this picture of my sister.

I've long been familiar with that phrase--down in the mouth--found in old novels, directed at me by grandmother's.  I knew what it meant too but only abstractly until this week when my sister sent me a picture of herself taken the day after her oral surgery last week.  Now I have a skin-shivering, visceral, comprehension of its meaning.

So I chided myself for putting my wishy-washy mood in the same category as the genuinely earned 'down in the mouth' my sister had the day after her oral surgery and the car wreck she and her friend got in on the way home from the dentist.

Even worse, I realized that, not only was there no mystery as to where my mood came from but it was entirely of my own doing.  Unlike my sister's mood triggered by necessary dental work and a jarring accident, mine might as well be ascribed to me having taken a hammer to my own front teeth and then asked for sympathy while expressing mystification as to why I felt so bad.

My mood is the direct result of nearly two weeks of completely dissing my sleep and med schedule.  Without the duties and social expectations in place when Mom and Carri are here I immediately slid back into old habits--not sleeping, missing meds, forgetting meals, laying down at dawn and waking at dusk, neglecting to fill my water bottle.

And I wondered why I sported an upside down smile?

I think I need to go back to bed and hope I get up on the right side at dawn.

Read more...

Book Review: Where the Wildflowers Grow by Vera Jane Cook

Where the Wildflowers Grow
by Vera Jane Cook
Pub: Musa Publishing (March 8, 2013)
Available in: ebook only 312 pages

Small town Georgia, 1960. Passions and secrets marinate in a simmering summer heat.  Instead of a single protagonist like Sassy in The Story of Sassy Sweetwater to get attached to and to view the events through, Cook has given us a large cast of at least a dozen well drawn and differentiated characters (The Cassidy family of four and all those caught in their gravity well) whose secrets entwine their many lives like bindweed with some of the most insidious vines being those secrets individuals keep from themselves until they've gained a choke hold on their hope and happiness, their very lives and those of their nearest and dearest.

Not one of them has a dependable viewpoint on which the reader can be grounded and from which they can check the veracity of other view points with confidence.  Instead the jagged pieces of the puzzle that is the reality of this story world must be  gathered from the careful observation of what each character knows when and of their particular blinders and how what they can't or won't know affects their viewpoint and comprehension of what is happening.

Because of this and the disturbing thread of sexual dysfunction running through all their lives, this is not an easy or quick read.  But it is an engrossing page turner that pays high dividends for the investment of careful attention for the story is powerful and haunting, lingering and dispensing new insights long after it is over..


From the Publishers:

The Story of Sassy Sweetwater was the Finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year Awards for 2012! Won the Eric Hoffer Award for Sassy Sweetwater for 2013 – Honorable Mention Best ebook Fiction!

Sexual confusion and dysfunction cause the unraveling of the perfect American family in small town Georgia in 1960.

Rose Cassidy’s fantasy life is a haunting reminder that she’s living a lie. So when she has the opportunity to act on those fantasies, she dives in without any thought to consequences.
Rose’s husband, Ryan, has fantasies of his own, and his actions cause unimaginable pain to the very children he tries so hard to protect.

When the happiness each member of the Cassidy family seeks so desperately to find is shattered by shame, guilt, and ultimately murder, they must each face the truth that lies deep within their souls.

What they are saying:

Praise for Where the Wildflowers Grow:

“A Riveting Plot from the 60’s—Secrets, Shame, Murder—Sexual Confusion Unravels A Perfect American Southern Family!”- Jo-Anne Vandermeulen, Goodreads Reviewer
” Love her books, a great author. Nice to read something that is not the same old stuff. Can’t wait for her next book to come out.”- Sharon, Amazon Reviewer

Praise for The Story of Sassy Sweetwater:

“This story was as sweet and sassy as its narrator and title character. But not the sweet of syrup, no, more like the pucker-power sweet of a persimmon.  The sweetness is in the delicious prose, the pucker in the dark plot and the sassy in its protagonist’s stance towards her life.”- Joy Renee Davis, Joystory
“As you read the story there are times you feel like shaking Sassy so she can get a grip on herself but also times when you feel her heartache a tear trickle down your face in compassion for what she had endured. The story is well written and I cannot emphasized enough the real life dramas that was brought forth. A lot of eye openers especially for people who are very quick to judge.  If you into southern history stories this is one is for you, definitely a must read.”- Lynelle Clark, Romance & Inspiration
“I love southern fiction and the easy style of storytelling that Vera Jane Cook uses in “The Story of Sassy Sweetwater” made this a page turner for me. A richly woven tale where Ms. Cook makes the characters seem so real, that they literally step off of the pages and make you feel as if you’re viewing the goings on in their lives! Sassy was such a unique voice, at the age of thirteen she is more than a bit feisty,and well Sassy! She sees the world in such a down to earth way. Really wise beyond her years, but not always doing the right thing, she was totally understandable and really likeable. The author does a wonderful job of allowing Sassy to grow and change as the story progresses. The  way that she clashed with her Grandma Edna was sometimes funny, it seemed often to be a test of will, but as the story progresses we see that relationship change, and truthfully Edna and Sassy were a lot alike. With more than a few twists, I was actually surprised at what sort of family that Violet actually came from. There were several secondary characters that propelled the plot right along and added interesting layers to the overall telling of the story. Overall a story that easily pulled me right in making me care about what happened to the characters. Fans of southern fiction that pull you back in time and revolve around family drama will certainly enjoy this read, I know that I did!“-Brenda Casto, WV Stitcher
“Vera Jane Cook joins the illustrious ranks of Faulkner, O’Connor, and Capote with The Story of Sassy Sweetwater.  The novel contains the necessary elements for good Southern gothic:  flawed and eccentric characters, racism, violence, and incest.  Her depiction of rural South Carolina in the 1960s is so clear that the reader can almost hear the cicadas in the background.  Clear a day on your calendar before you start reading, because after you start, you won’t be able to put down this book until the end.”- Tammy Cuevas, The Self-Taught Cook

Vera Jane Cook, writer of Award Winning Women’s Fiction, is the author of The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, Lies a River Deep, Where the Wildflowers Grow, Dancing Backward in Paradise and Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem.

Jane, as she is known to family and friends, was born in New York City and grew up amid the eccentricity of her southern and glamorous mother on the Upper West and Upper East Side of Manhattan.

An only child, Jane turned to reading novels at an early age and was deeply influenced by an eclectic group of authors. Some of her favorite authors today are Nelson DeMille, Calib Carr, Wally Lamb, Anne Rice, Sue Monk Kidd, Anita Shreve, Jodi Picoult, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Her favorite novels are too long to list but include The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, Cheri and The Last of Cheri, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Wuthering Heights, Look at Me, Dogs of Babel, The Bluest Eye, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Body Surfing, Lolita, The Brothers Karamazov, She’s Come Undone, Tale of Two Cities, etc., etc., etc.,

The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, Vera’s second published southern novel, was a finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year Award for 2012! The novel also won the Eric Hoffer Award for 2012 – Honorable Mention Best ebook Fiction! Vera’s first published southern novel, Dancing Backward in Paradise, won the Indie Excellence Award for notable new fiction in 2007 and the Eric Hoffer Award for publishing excellence, also in 2007. Both books earned five star ForeWord Clarion reviews!

The author works by day for an education publishing company as an account manager and lives on the Upper West side of Manhattan with her long term partner, her Pomeranian, Daisy, her Basenji/Chihuahua mix, Roxie, her Chihuahua, Peanut and her two pussy cats, Sassy and Sweetie Pie.

Vera Jane Cook’s Website: http://www.verajanecook.com/

Vera Jane Cook on Twitter: https://twitter.com/verajanecook
Vera Jane Cook on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vera.j.cook

Follow the blog tour for more reviews, giveaways, author interviews and guest posts: 

So Many Precious Books Jan 20 Review & Giveaway
Joystory Jan 21 Review
From Isi Jan 22 Review & Giveaway
Carole Rae’s Ramblings Jan 23 Review
Romance & Inspiration Jan 24 Review
Romance & Inspiration Jan 27 Interview
Wall to Wall Books Jan 28 Review & Giveaway
Back Porch Reservations Feb 3
The Book Review Feb 5 Review
VW Stitcher Feb 7 Review
I Feel So Unnecessary Feb 10 Review
Indie Reviews Behind the Scenes Mar 29 12 pm cst Interview- Live on Blog Talk Radio

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

Read more...

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Share what you (are, have been, are about to, hope to be) reading or reviewing this week. Sign Mr Linky at Book Journey and visit other Monday reading roundups.

The sections of this template:

Intro (here)
My Week in Review (list of books finished and links to bookish posts in the previous week)
Reading Now (my current reading list broken up into NF and Fiction)
Upcoming (scheduled reviews and blog tours and list of finished books awaiting reviews)
Recently (links to bookish posts in the last few weeks)
New Arrivals: (lists of recently acquired ARC broken up into snail mail, email and Net Gallery)
ARC in waiting (a list that is getting shamefully long)

.

Flannery O'Connor
Mystery and Manners:
Occasional Prose

My Week in Review Upcoming Weeks:

I haven't posted anything bookish since my last IMWAYR? the last Monday of 2013.  Nor have a posted any bookish posts in January yet as every post since the 6th has been about the big room project.  Nor have I finished another book.

The motive for joining IMWAYR? this week is the two blog tour reviews I have going up Tuesday and Thursday:

Where the Wildflowers Grow by Vera Jane Cook -- January 21 blog tour
Organic Beauty With Essential Oil  --  January 23 blog tour

And in the following two weeks:

Hospice  --  January 29 blog tour
The Korean Word For Butterfly by James Zerndt --  February 4 blog tour.
_______________
Fifteen tours in eleven weeks last fall was over-committing on top of NaNo, holiday prep and all the duty I have here at Mom's.  Thus I was unable to finish ten of them before posting their reviews.  It shames me. I loved every one of them too so I'm anxious to finish every one.  I finished three in late December:

Ghost of Lost Eagle by Dean Sault
The Return by Melissa Douthit
Sinnerman by Jonathan M. Cook

I made it one of my goals for January to finish the remaining 7:
Bookish posts in the last week:
 Arctic Fire by Paul Byers.
Tinseltown Riff by Shelly Frome
The Thunderbird Conspiracy by R. K. Price
The Three Sisters by Bryan Taylor
Blood Drama by Christopher Meeks -- currently reading and nearly finished
Head Games by Erika Rummel
Woman On Top by Deborah Schwartz

I'm probably not going to make it so I'm extending the goal into February and will keep this list here to monitor my progress.

This goal fits well with my goal to finish as many crochet WIP as possible.  That was where most of my December effort went as I frantically worked to prepare Christmas gifts.  I did not get them all finished in time and have continued doling them out since and will continue through the next several weeks months.  There are also the several small ones for Mom's birthday on Friday.


Finished reading recently:

Ghost of Lost Eagle by Dean Sault
The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats by Constance Corcoran Wilson
The Return by Melissa Douthit
Sinnerman by Jonathan M. Cook

Began reading recently:

Complexity and the Arrow of Time by (multiple authors) --  a collaboration of scientists, philosophers and theologians exploring the concepts of Complexity Theory.  a NetGalley ARC
My AWAI Copywriting course Installment 1 (of 13)
In the Company of Others by Jan Karon -- reading aloud to Mom several evenings a week.
The Marshall Plan by Evan Marshal -- this is a re-read.  It is one of the ebooks packaged with the Marshall Plan writer's software sent to me by Evan Marshall in exchange for sharing my experience on Joystory.
 Arctic Fire by Paul Byers.
Tinseltown Riff by Shelly Frome
The Thunderbird Conspiracy by R. K. Price
The Three Sisters by Bryan Taylor
Blood Drama by Christopher Meeks
Head Games by Erika Rummel
Woman On Top by Deborah Schwartz
Where the Wildflowers Grow by Vera Jane Cook -- January 21 blog tour
Organic Beauty With Essential Oil  --  January 23 blog tour
Hospice  --  January 29 blog tour
The Korean Word For Butterfly by James Zerndt --  February 4 blog tour.

Reading Now Intermittently:

__Non-Fiction:

Most of these I plug away in at a snail's pace--a couple pages or chapters per week or even every other week as that is my preferred way to read non-fic.  It sticks with me longer. I'm closing in on the finish line for several but as I get close on one I tend to add two or three more. There are some not listed here because I read in them so infrequently.

Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Go by Les Edgerton  ROW80 reading list
What to Do When There's Too Much to Do by Laura Stack (Part of my attempt to organize my life around my priorities. So part of my ROW80 reading list)
The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler   ROW80 reading list
And So It Goes by Charles J. Sheilds a bio of Kurt Vonnegut.  (I've posted about this biography of Kurt Vonnegut several time in a kind of reading journal. It is past time for another.  Part of the fun I'm having reading this is in stopping to read the stories he wrote as the narrative reaches the point where he writes them. Since this is an author bio this will also be on my ROW80 reading list )

This Mobius Strip of Ifs by Mathias Freese (I've posted a reading journal post for this collection of personal essays also.  It is past time for another.)

What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Muller   ROW80 reading list  Net Galley ARC a NF that purports to answer many puzzles in the Austen novels.
Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go by Shaun McNiff So part of my ROW80 reading list.
Jung and the Tarot: An Archetypal Journey by Sallie Nichols     Since I'm reading this for an understanding of character type and the language of symbol understood by our unconscious this will be on my ROW80 reading list.
13 Ways of Looking at a Novel by Jane Smiley   ROW80 reading list
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick.   ROW80 reading list  Who knew.  Dick was a mystic.  I've only read one of his novels and a few short stories but now I've got to try to find and read everything!
Before You Say I Do Again by Benjamin Berkley  for Blog Tour Review Feb 8 2013.  The review is up but I'm not finished.
The Fiction Writer's Handbook by Shelly Lowenkopf  ROW80 reading list  posted review for blog tour in March 2013  but still not finished
Choice Theory: A Psychology of Personal Freedom by William Glasser M.D.
Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson  I own this book.
How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
Mystery and Manners by Flannery O'Connor    ROW80 reading list  This is a reread for me and has had significant impact on the development of my storyworld in the early months of its inception.  This Friday post was about my current encounter with it after checking it out of the Longview library again for the first time in over a decade.
The Right to Write by Julia Cameron   ROW80 reading list
It's Not About You by Max Lucado.  I found this on my own shelves while packing up my personal library.  It was one of the last gifts I received from my Dad in 2005 the year he died of cancer.  It has a lovely inscription in his handwriting on the inside front page.  And I was reminded how I'd promised him to read it.  My bookmark was less than half way through and I could not remember if I'd finished it and just left the bookmark in or not but I doubt it.  So I've pulled it out to put on front burner.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch  I pulled this off my sister's bookshelf awhile back.  It is over a thousand pages in smallish font.  So it will be on this list for a long time.  I find it exhilarating that my mind seems ready to tackle text that is so dense in info and complex ideas again.  There is only one other book on this list that fits that criteria, The Act of Creation, and I've not pulled it out very often in these last months but am now finding myself yearning toward it again.   Good signs.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance by Alison Kent.  Also found on my shelves.  I won this in a drawing during the Sweating for Sven writing challenge in 2007.  It made me blush and I kept it hidden in the recesses of my bookshelves but I think I've gotten over that.  Tho I admit it is hard to pull it out and read in it now that I'm back at Mom's.
The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin
Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy by Emily Bazelon -- one of the new library books and also a NetGalley ARC that timed out on me a couple months ago.
Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights
by Marina Warner  --  just got this back from the library November 13 after a month hiatus
Complexity and the Arrow of Time by (multiple authors) --  a collaboration of scientists, philosophers and theologians exploring the concepts of Complexity Theory.  a NetGalley ARC
My AWAI Copywriting course Installment 1 (of 13)
The Marshall Plan by Evan Marshal -- this is a re-read.
Organic Beauty With Essential Oil  --  January 23 blog tour

__Fiction:

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness  (audio from library)  Was listening to this while working on this Xmas crochet project in 2012 and have had to restart it several times and get pulled away again again.
The Civilized World by Susi Wyss (another Tree book ARC that got lost in the mix before I'd finished it.  Have not posted a review for this one either and can't remember when I received it but it had to be at least before I started packing for our move and likely before 2011 NaNo when I typically stop reading fiction while I'm so intensely writing it.  This is a collection of interlocking short stories set in South Africa and I remember I was quite enjoying it.  I've had to start it over.)
A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon  --  a NetGalley ARC
In the Company of Others by Jan Karon  --  am reading aloud to Mom.  Features Father Tim from the Mitford series as he and his wife Cynthia travel to Ireland to spend two weeks in the area where his father and grandfather immigrated from.
 Arctic Fire by Paul Byers.  -- Tho I posted my review for the tour I had not quite finished it
Tinseltown Riff by Shelly Frome   -- Again had to post review before finishing the story
The Thunderbird Conspiracy by R. K. Price
The Three Sisters by Bryan Taylor
Blood Drama by Christopher Meeks
Head Games by Erika Rummel

Woman On Top by Deborah Schwartz

Where the Wildflowers Grow by Vera Jane Cook -- January 21 blog tour
Hospice  --  January 29 blog tour
The Korean Word For Butterfly by James Zerndt --  February 4 blog tour.

Upcoming:


___Blog Tours:

Where the Wildflowers Grow by Vera Jane Cook --  January 21 blog tour
Organic Beauty With Essential Oil  --  January 23 blog tour
Hospice  --  January 29 blog tour
The Korean Word For Butterfly by James Zerndt --  February 4 blog tour.

___Books I've Finished Awaiting Reviews:

Whenever I'm not pinned to a date like with the blog tours I do very poorly at getting reviews written in a timely way after finishing books and the longer I wait the harder it gets.  This is an issue I'm working on and hope to get a system in place to smooth the track from beginning book to posting review.

Jan Karon's Mitford series. 
The short lighthearted chapters of these books are almost like stand-alone short stories with beloved characters and make great bedtime reading for adults wanting pleasant dreams.  I've been reading them aloud to my Mom during my visits here for nearly two years.  

I decided some time back to wait until we finished them all and do one review for the entire series.  We are currently on the last one. In the Company of Others, book two of the Father Tim series, featuring the same lead character having adventures beyond Mitford after his retirement from Episcopal priest duty.

• At Home in Mitford 
• A Light in the Window by Jan Karon  
• These High, Green Hills by Jan Karon  The third book in the Mitford series.
• Out to Caanan by Jan Karon  Book Four of the Mitford series.
• A New Song by Jan Karon.  The fifth Mitford book.
• A Common Life: The Wedding Story by Jan Karon
• Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon  reading aloud to Mom
• In This Mountain by Jan Karon
• A Light From Heaven by Jan Karon  --  have been reading this to Mom in the evenings.  It's the final book in the series.
• At Home in Holly Springs by Jan Karon  --  Features Father Tim from the Mitford series as he returns to the town he grew up in.  First of two.

The Land of Decoration by Grace McClean

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff  a library book
Losses by Robert Wexelblatt an ARC
After: The Shock by Scott Nicholson  This is post apocalyptic horror with zombies.    I anticipated enjoying this even tho zombies are not my favorite horror theme because I really enjoyed his The Red Church and I did but probably not to the same degree.  And its continued.
Pie Town by Lynne Hinton
Good in Bed by Jennifer Wiener
Certain Girls by Jennifer Wiener (sequel to Good in Bed)
Joyland by Stephen King
Rose Fire by Mercedes Lackey

Another series for which I'll probably do a single review. I think there is a 5th book out now so I may wait until I can get my hands on it.  These four were loaners from my niece.

• Witch by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
• Curse by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
• Legacy by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
• Spellbound by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Boys Will Be Joys by Dave Meurer.
Write Good or Die! edited by Scott Nicholson   ROW80 reading list (a collection of essays by inde authors.  many of them self-published)
Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by Rust Hills onetime fiction editor at Esquire.
 Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Leher.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg   Part of my attempt to organize my life around my priorities. So part of my ROW80 reading list.   I discussed this in such detail in this ROW80 check-in post which was practically a review and I'll probably copy/paste much of what I said there into the review.
Never Give in to Fear by Marti MacGibbon  This was a NetGalley ARC but later I picked it up for Kindle when it was free on Amazon.  I began it in Adobe Digital Editions and when that timed out on me switched to the Kindle for PC.  This was a memoir of an addict's decent into the abyss and rise back out again and was quite engrossing.
Get Your Loved One Sober by Robert Meyers (Research for a fiction WIP)


Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living by by Bailey White I thought this was a novel and getting set to put it in the fiction list below when I thought to check out its page on Goodreads and discovered it is a memoir.  It's short little vignette chapters and easy to read font made it ideal for taking with me to doctor appointments.  Which is how I managed to finally finish it.

Recently:

___Reviews and Bookish Posts:


My Friday Forays in Fiction featured another one of my LOLcats displaying a literary quote along with a kitteh's spin on it.

The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats
by Constance Corcoran Wilson

Adorable!

I loved this Dr. Suess-ical story and got so caught up in the rhythm and rhyme I couldn't seem to compose my review without it.




Woman On Top by Deborah Schwartz.  I've long touted my theory that story has the power to change you in lasting and profound ways. Woman on Top just might have done that for me. It triggered a personal epiphany and if Kate's story has the sticking power I sense it does it could be the spark that keeps the vision lit and the impetus to move toward it.

If that isn't a good reason to read this story, I don't know what could be a better one.

New Arrivals:

By snail mail:

By email:

from NetGalley



ARC in waiting:

Tree Books:

The Variations by John Donatich
The Inquisitor by Mark Allen Smith   My husband read this and loved it and is after me to read it so he can talk about it.
The Hunger Angel by Herta Muller  Nobel winner!!
Skios by Michael Frayn
How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
The Sadness of the Samurai by Victor del Arbo
Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World by Sabina Berman
Winter Journal by Paul Auster a memoir from an American literary figure that really excites me.
We Sinners by Hanna Pylvaine.   It's another story exploring the impact on family life of a fundamentalist religion.  One of the themes I'm drawn to like Pooh to honey.
Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers' Testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000-2010 compiled by The Organization Breaking the Silence
A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks
Detroit City Is the Place to Be: The Afterlife of an american Metropolis by Mark Binelli
The Autobiography of Us
The Abundance by Amit Majmudar
Here Comes Mrs. Kugelman by Minka Pradelski

Ebooks:

____By email:


Troubled by Scott Nicholson

____From Net Galley:


A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee
What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Muller
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Unloched by Candace Lemon-Scott
Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy by Emily Bazelon  [the  55 day NetGalley digital edition timed out before I finished but I have just nabbed a library copy]
APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur: How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch
With or Without You A Memoir by Domenica Ruta   [the  55 day NetGalley digital edition timed out before I finished but I am watching for a library copy]

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron

The Book of Why by Nicholas Montemarano  [the  55 day NetGalley digital edition timed out before I finished but I am watching for a library copy]

Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof You Can Heal Yourself by Lissa Rankin, M.D.
Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence by David Samuel Levinson
Kinslow System Your Path to Proven Success in Health, Love, and Life by Frank J Kinslow
Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One by Joe Dispenza
Women, Sex, Power, And Pleasure Getting the Life (and Sex) You Want by Evelyn Resh
All Is Well: Heal Your Body with Medicine, Affirmations, and Intuition by Louise Hay & Mona Lisa Schulz
The Honeymoon Effect: The Science of Creating Heaven on Earth by Bruce H. Lipton,

The Science of Creating Heaven on Earth by Bruce H. Lipton,
A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon
Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani
Directing Your Destiny by Jennifer Grace
Hiding in Sunshine by John Stuart and Caitlin Stuart
I Am: Renewal from Within the Garden by Lucie K Lewis
The Book Publisher's Toolkit by Independent Book Publishers Association
The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino
Why Priests? by Garry Wills
Why we Write by by Meredith Maran (Editor)
A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon
Complexity and the Arrow of Time by (multiple authors) --  a collaboration of scientists, philosophers and theologians exploring the concepts of Complexity Theory.

If anyone reading this states a preference I may let it weigh my decision as to what I begin next from the above list.

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Sunday Serenity #372

My Two Favorites of Mom's College Paintings

I found a stack of a dozen or so of Mom's paintings from college.  I was hoping to get pics of each of them but time ran out and I had to settle for one pic featuring two of my favorites.

I've been into Peacocks since I became a fan of the novelist Flannery O'Conner who raised them.  And blue is my favorite color.  Nuf said?

The house is another story.  It needs a story to explain its meaning to me.  This was my grandparents' home in Tahama county California.  Mom spent her teens in this house.  I visited it an average of twice a year until I was fifteen when Grandpa and Grandma Myers moved in with my Aunt Helen in Longview WA.

I'm pretty sure Mom drew this from a black and white photo taken in the early years of their residency here.  By the time I knew this house it was covered in climbing vines of various kinds, the trees were twice as tall and the yard was full of flowers and flowering shrubs.  If this was a photo then behind the photographer is the field where the milk cows grazed and off to the right aka the back there was a chicken coop and a small barn for milking the cows.  There was a vegetable garden which I'm not quite placing in my memory.  Grandpa was a truck farmer while raising his family.  Before he married he was a school teacher as was Mom's mother.

I could go on and on but I have appointments with both my med nurse and counselor tomorrow afternoon so mustn't linger over this now.

Read more...

Boxed Up Bushels of Desiccated Passions

Mom's Paper's and Misc.

 I finally got Mom's papers and misc consolidated from 11 boxes, three bags, and three shelves of various sizes into 8 bushel sized boxes.  I wanted that uniform look bad enough to empty several of those Bear Creek pear box tops of other things so I could use them for Mom's things.  I even switched the contents of one of Mom's bushel sized fruit boxes with a different label into one of these so they would match.  Aesthetics matter to me even when its mostly junk I guess.

Paper Sorting Station.
See Tomorrow's Sunday Serenity
for the story about that painting.

Here is the cubby desk and its cupboard after I pulled everything out of it.  The paper sorting set up on the desk there is for my papers.  I set the painting I found with others behind the file cabinet to block the ugly view as that is what I gaze at when I look up from the screen.

In the cupboard, bottom right is a boot box full of books I pulled out of one of Mom's boxes that had papers laid on top.  On the left are some fragile items I'll need to find better homes for or leave here if I can't.  The middle shelf right is a stack of empty three-ring binders.  Some were already in this cupboard but the bulk I'd pulled out of the one of the bigger boxes weeks ago, emptying them of the 'Alphabet Soup' papers destined for the recycle.  The left side contains a stack of empty file folders, pocket folders, three-ring binder tabbed dividers and report covers.  Same story.

'Mom's Alphabet Soup' was my affectionate name for all the councils, boards, advisory committee, and support groups that Mom participated in throughout the 80s, 90s, and right up until her broken hip and stroke in late 2008.  Tho she had slowed way down after Dad's cancer diagnosis in 2004.

I meant no disrespect by that nickname, it was my admission that I could not keep up.  I remember only BVI and AARP.  That last needs no explanation.  BVI was the Blind and Visually Impaired Support Group for which Mom was President for awhile and I acted as her secretary.  I created a database of members on my recently acquired multi-media computer in 1996 and maintained it until I left Longview in 1999.

I just realized something that is making me sad.  I've just made this room entirely my own with this makeover.  Tho Mom's stuff is still in here, little of it is on display.  None of it is where she left it except what is in her desk drawers, file cabinet and the long wooden cabinet my Great Books set sits atop.  But that's only because I haven't gotten to them yet.

My sister said that if what happened to any of the stuff in here mattered to me I should take responsibility for sorting it because no one else in the family is going to have the patience.  She like Dad before her envisions a dumpster when the time comes.

I imagine that for every bushel I sort through I might find a shoe box full of stuff worth saving and even that is a matter of opinion.  Mom was a collector like me.  She collected a lot of clippings from newspapers and magazines.  She was also an inveterate greeting card sender and receiver--still is.

But seeing it boxed up like this now makes too real the fast approaching time in which all of the things that mattered to Mom and few others will be boxed up...

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Workstation WOW

I Think She's Got It

I'm sure there is going to be a lot of tweaking of small stuff over the next weeks but the large pieces are in place and working well.

I like being back on the tray table for my computer desk as it is moveable and adjustable in height which makes it possible to make changes easily according to what project I'm working on and thus which things need to be in arms reach.  I can even spin it around to face the mini-tramp which is smack against the right hand stack of boxes so I can watch video while working out.

The six boxes creating shelf space for my reference books and notebooks are all my stuff.  At least four of them contain things I'm going to need access too off and on so I intend to switch them out with boxes I won't need until I move back to Oregon as I find homes for the things I need accessible.

Desk Work-Space aka Clutter Magnate

Five minutes or less after this picture was taken the little blue basket of crochet and sewing misc with my Blue Mews kitty aka pin cushion sitting atop it which is sitting on the Ott lamp's base, fell off and spilled across the printer below and the floor below that.  I gathered it all up into a tray-box that now sits on that desk.  I'm wondering how long it will sit there like that.  I don't have time to finesse the small stuff right now.  I must get the stuff off Mom's bed and the floor beside it and the couch and Mom's recliner in the living room before I can fiddle with minutia.

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Assembling the Puzzle

Family Photos

Finally starting to bring stuff back into this room and assigning new homes.  I'm trying to keep like with like this time.  In the knee cubby of Mom's desk I have placed 3/4 of the family photos.  These are the ones I've already scanned but I left them in a shameful mess and it should be my responsibility to get them put back in order.

There is another largish box in the back corner on the far side of the filing cabinet which still needs scanning.  They are the photos from my paternal grandfather's sister's collection spanning her life and the history of the Myers family.

Frigiles--knickknacks and dinnerware 

On the closet floor are all of the breakables.  Most have not been stored safely.  It is like they were taken off the shelves in haste and in expectation of returning them to there places.  I'm wondering if that was when the kitchen and dining room floor had to be replaced after the fridge's ice dispenser flooded those two rooms and the hutch and other shelves in there had to be unloaded to be moved out.

I plan to unpack each of these and get pictures for nostalgic value and then repack with long term storage and possible moving in mind.

Moms's Papers Piled on Couch

Still to find new home's are the boxes of Mom's papers.  I think I've counted ten of various sizes plus three bags and what's left on the shelves in the cupboard over the cubby desk:

More of Mom's Papers

I know where there home is to be but there is room for at most eight bushel sized boxes and so I've got to consolidate.

Although, I've also got my desk (Mom's desk) and computer workstation in a workable setup now I'm saving their pics for tomorrow's post.

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Not Quite Right

Not Quite Right

Just for Now 

In yesterday's post about assembling the Ott Lamp, you caught a glimpse of my Just for Now workstation set up with the bare essentials as soon as the room was dusted and vacced wall to wall and ceiling to floor.

Today I set out to create the vision I had when I began this round of room rearrange.  The concept is good but I got a few things backwards.  The concept being that the boxes could be used to create shelf space lost by the removal of the cardtable and by stacking three high I was reducing their footprint.

But having my reference shelf there in the corner worked as long as I could be within arms reach while sitting but once I'd moved the stacks of boxes in my desk got pushed too far away.  And I do not trust those stacked foldable shelves on the boxes which are not level enough.  So I'm going to switch them out with the crate shelves containing my reference books and notebooks.  Which means moving all those boxes out and back in.

Not tonight.

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Easy-Peasey

My new Tattoo Ott Light
I assembled it myself!!

It took me nearly a month to prepare a spot for my Secret Santa Christmas present.  And when I finally did, I was on my own for getting it assembled.  My husband 300 miles away, my sister 40 miles away and my nephew asleep which amounts to being a million miles away.

So I set out to figure it out for myself.  I had to read the tiny print of the instructions with a magnifying glass which meant a whole lot of putting down other things so I could pick up the paper and magnifier and then putting the down so I could pick up the items referred to.

I even had to repair a washer that was bent before it would work. It was a very small ring with a split in it.  I used a leather hole punch I found in the tool box to squeeze it back flat.  After that I was able to get the bolt on the long screw attaching the arm of the lamp to the base screwed down flush so it wouldn't cause the lamp to wobble nor scratch the furniture.

Even with that snag, in less than an hour I had it working.

Now I can't wait until this room project is done so I 'm free to sit under it and read, write or crochet.

Well, as you can see, I didn't wait.  I got out the crochet just to see what a difference it was going to make.  That just whet my appetite for more.  But I mustn't get too distracted yet...

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Mildew Moratorium

Mildew under cubby desk

When I finally got the last box moved out of the room this evening (the last of the xix crammed under the cubby desk in the back corner behind the stairwell) I was greeted by a huge mildew stain.  It turned out to be live and not just an old stain.

I had no idea how to proceed but realized something would have to be done about it before anything could be put back under there.  And something should be done about it pronto as I often get persistent sore throats and sinus infections from exposure to mildew.

I hated to bother my sister who had just gotten settled at her friend's house where she would be recovering from today's oral surgery and as it turned out, the wreck they got into on the way home that totaled two cars but seriously injured no one tho it was quite jarring and Carri was supposed to avoid exertion and jarring for ten days!!.

But I couldn't just stand there staring at the massive black mess wondering what I should do until she got home next week.  So I fb messaged her and an hour later she finally got back to me.  She decided the best thing to do was spray it with the mildew spray she uses in the bathrooms.  So she texted her son who then brought it up from the basement bathroom for me.

You cans see here a section of the fainter stain running along the floorboard all the way to the far corner behind the desk.

Meanwhile, between sprays, I continued sweeping the carpet on my hands and knees.  I could not vac until I was sure I would not be vaccing up buttons and beads and pins and needles and paper clips and pennies and.....

Last weekend I'd actually found my missing earring! Which motivated me to be thorough about this sweeping and inspection of the dustpan contents.

Seven and a half hours later...

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Sunday Serenity #371

Elegant Lady's Desk

 I'm putting the Bucket List on hiatus this week.  I'm too busy with the big room project that is turning out to be way more involved than I originally intended.

Because I'm going to have a whole week here at Mom's without the normal duties while Mom is at my brother's while my sister is recovering from oral surgery, I decided this would be a good time to do a thorough deep clean and reorganizing of the room I'm using as office, closet and dressing room.

A year ago it was a junk room.  Five or so years before that my sister had cleared enough floor space amid the junk to set up a cardtable for her artwork.  A year or so before that this room had been my Mom's office for half a decade or more and still contained all her papers and books and office supplies etc.  All of which had been gathering dust since her broken hip and stroke in late 2008.

Two pieces of furniture in the room I thought merited some special attention.  Mom's desk pictured above and the small table pictured below.  The desk once belonged to my Great Aunt, sister to Mom's father, and became Mom's desk when I was a teenager.  I remember using Mom's typewriter at this desk and then my own Underwood portable..  It was set up in the living room of the house we lived in until the fall before I turned 18.

It was my job to dust this desk until the move to this house when it was in Mom and Dad's bedroom.  The same room I'm now sharing with Mom.

Handcrafted Wooden Table

This table, I just learned last week, was handmade my by Mom's paternal Grandfather.  Those leaves on either side fold down when the props are swiveled back into their slots.  I'm not sure when this became Mom's.  It may have been after I left home as I don't remember seeing it before that.

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The Big Room Project

Messed

Small room.  Big project.

This time I'm taking it to the wall.  A junk room/office spring clean in January.  Everything but the two largest pieces of furniture will be moved out so I can dust and clean the carpet thoroughly corner to corner wall to wall.

The picture to the right opened the photo essay I did after the false start of this project fizzled last weekend when I was unable to complete it between the time Mom left Friday afternoon and the time she returned Sunday evening.  When my sister left to pick her up I had to rush all the stuff I'd moved into Mom's bedroom back into this room with little thinking about it.  Then I was stuck with the result until Mom left again this weekend.
But because this time she didn't leave until Friday evening and because this time she will be at my brother's for 8 to 10 days while my sister recovers from oral surgery, I didn't start work until late today.

Shelved

Before I could even start on the room project I had to deal with an urgent situation after I'd casually reached out and pushed against the books at the end of this row atop the boxes on top of the bookshelf beside my side of the bed and they started tumbling like dominoes into my arms.

Apparently their weight over the last ten months had weakened the cardboard.  I'd noticed they were leaning away from the wall a bit last fall.

Luckily I'd found a perfect board for the solution while moving things out of Mom's office last weekend.  It was one of two left over from the wood flooring installed in the kitchen and dining room several years before Dad died.  They are about four feet long and six inches wide.

While getting this board in place I realized that I'd need to use the other one on the row of books, including an encyclopedia set, that sits atop the boxes acting as shelves for my Britanica Great Books set in Mom's office.  Even tho those boxes were sturdier and I'd kept the bottom nested inside the lid to strengthen them further, I'd noticed the middle sections dipping last summer and solved it then by laying a book atop the books inside the boxes to prop up the center.

But before I can do that I'll have to get the stuff I piled between that shelf and the doorway last Sunday moved out so I can reach the whole line of books and pull them all down.

Chaired

In the bedroom the board extended beyond the end of the second box by about six inches.  That was enough room to place my small Ott Lamp which I wouldn't be needing in the office once I'd gotten the large one set up in there.  Part of the motivation for this edition of the room rearrange was to make a spot for the large heavy base of the new Tattoo Ott desk lamp I'd gotten for Christmas.

Once I had the idea I couldn't let it go so I revised my plan to set the green bookshelf I'd had in my closet for shoes across the arms of the lavender chair which had for months been supporting a stack of large boxes containing sweaters and slacks.

The chair had been useless for sitting for ages as the seat had lost its stuffing so sitting in it caused the front board to cut off circulation at the top of the thighs.  But I thought maybe the big cushion I'd used when sitting on the mini-tramp last summer might work.  I went through a bit of gymnastics to get to that pillow on the back wall behind the mini-tramp in order to try it out.  It worked so I took the time to rearrange the things on that wall..

I put Mom's small bedside dresser in the place of the chair which also solved the problem of making it easier for her to get her sweaters out of it.  And once I unbury the green shelf I'll put it on that dresser.

Surfaced

Here I've finally got everything off the card table and the antique wooden table.  Next step is to move the latter to the front of the room and lift the card table off the two stacks of boxes rather than try to slide them out.

The plan this time that is so different from all the times before is to take down that card table and keep it folded except when needed for a project that needs to spread out.  Projects with compact start and finish times.  This will give me more floor space and elbow room.

Floored

This was taken standing in front of the card table and shows the front quarter of the room to the right of the door.  The Great Books set and the Encyclopedias on top are peeking from behind my accessories station.  I have a different plan for these that will, I hope give me easy access to the books again.

Stacked

Showing here is the end of the row of boxes on Mom's side of the bed.  Flush with the door casing it reaches all the way to the head of the bed high as my nose.

Boxed

And here's the view from the foot of the bed on  my side looking diagonally across.

Where am I going to sleep?

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Overbooked

 I have accumulated an overwhelming number of items (new and new-to-me) over the last several months and every one of them is calling to me to pay attention to them.  A few are pictured above and below are the library books I checked out on my birthday in November which have ten days left on them.

I'm hoping that my week here without Mom and Carri and the duties and interruptions of a normal household day will allow me to find the time for some or all of them.

The full* list:

1. The ARC of Hospice Voices in the foreground of 2nd picture.
2. The digital ARC Organic Beauty with Essential Oils
3. The digital ARC Where the Wildflowers Grow
4. Three audio library books (2nd pic)
5. 4 NF library books (2nd pic)
6. 6 library novels (2nd pic)
7. The Tattoo Ott Lamp Christmas gift from sister-in-law. Awaits assembly which awaits creating a spot for it. Fingers crossed for this weekend.  Can't wait to do fiber art under this lamp!!!! (1st pic)
8. The 7 Day Back Pain Cure book bought online (1st pic)
9. The Story Cubes. Christmas gift from sister (1st pic)
10. Smart Draw bought in October (1st pic)
11. Rosetta Stone Russian bought during Cyber Monday week (1st pic)
12. :PDF of Blood Pressure Solutions bought online 1st Wk Dec
13. Cricut Cuttlebug dye cut and embosser bought during Cyber Monday week
14. The Marshal Plan Software acquired as review copies in October
15. PDF of The Marshal Plan book and 6 more writer support books by Evan Marshal packaged with the software
16. The Speech to Text programs on my computer and smartphone dabbled with in late November
17. Several other new programs on my Aspire or Blaze that came with or which I downloaded. I can think of 4 on the Blaze and 6 on the Aspire without looking at the ap lists
18. Dozens of Brain Wave Entrainment digital Mp3 Christmas gift from Ed, bought and acquired free online.
19. The Abundance Code system (digital vid, audio and ebook) bought November 1st
20. The AWAI Copywriter's bought for me by Ed in August
21. The first three issues of my year's subscription ot O Magazine

*Many of the free digital items are missing, including PDF, vid, and BWE music, and speech, lecture, and seminar recordings.  Themes include physical and emotional health, stress, self-improvement, spiritual, marketing, entrepreneurship, and money management.

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