Book Review

Touchstone, Laurie R. King

I started reading Laurie R. King's work with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice," less than a year ago, when it caught my eye at the bookstore, and quickly read all of the Mary Russell series, and then the Kate Martinelli series, and enjoyed both. So when I found Touchstone at Half Price Books the other day, I decided to give it a try.

The book is set in 1926 London, against a backdrop of tension between the working class and the wealthy, specifically in the time leading up to a strike by coal miners. An American Bureau of Investigation officer is in London, quasi-officially investigating a rising star in England's political scene whom he suspects of traveling to America to set off several bombs, one of which left his brother little more than a vegetable. He finds himself in the company of a WWI veteran who developed an almost psychic ability after a serious war wound, spending a weekend in a country house belonging to one of the oldest aristocratic families in England, watching the Prime Minister play charades, and trying to figure out what his very disturbing liaison in the British government is really using him for.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, although not as much as King's Mary Russell series. When I first started reading it, it reminded me of some of P.D. James' books, although I'm not exactly sure why, other than it just felt similar. Because of the various plots and counterplots and everyone seemingly using someone for one reason or another, I was never entirely sure who was really the bad guy as I was reading. I kept wondering if maybe there would be a major plot twist that would turn everything on its head. There was, but not the one I'd been half expecting throughout the book. I was a little disappointed at the end, which felt anticlimactic, although I suppose that is at least testament to King's ability to keep up the tension throughout the book and keep readers wondering what will happen next. I'd recommend this book to those who like historical mysteries or who are fans of King's work already, but if you haven't read any of her books before, I'm not sure this would be the best introduction to her work.

Cancer Awareness contest

I'm entering a pair of shoes in the Pink Passion contest sponsored by Baylor and Saks Fifth Avenue. I'm actually proud of them, and impressed with how well they turned out. I found a cheap pair of shoes at Payless. Can't imagine why they were on clearance:

So, I glued little tiny seed beads all over it (thank goodness I only needed to decorate one shoe, not the whole pair!) The contest is for breast cancer awareness month, and they encouraged using teal to highlight the link between breast and ovarian cancers. I used pink, teal, clear, and silver beads. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

Totally different now:

Catching Up

So, it's been a while since I wrote anything. I think half my posts probably start out that way. I keep meaning to write more, and I don't really have any excuse not to. Let's see, since the last time I posted, I had my three-month doctor's appointment and found out I'm still cancer-free. That means it's officially been two years I've been cancer free! Obviously, I'm very happy about that. I'll keep going back to the doctor every three months for another year, which he says is pretty aggressive, normally after two years they'd reduce how often I'd go, but he wants to be on the safe side, which is fine with me, since I'm a little paranoid about it anyway.

I'm working from home a lot this month and trying to get stuff straightened up. I really need to clean my kitchen. It's just depressing, and I don't want to cook anything more complicated than a tv dinner because I don't want to spend any time in there.

I'm reading Life of Pi, it's pretty interesting, but I need to sit down and read, which I haven't been doing much. I don't know why, I just don't feel like it. I did order myself some books from Amazon, my birthday present to me, although they'll get here a little early. They were all from the 4 for 3 bargains, so relatively cheap. I got some from a series I'm finishing up, Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, kind of fantasy/sci-fi humor, and some mysteries that looked intriguing. Nothing too deep or complicated, just fun stuff.

Anyway, I've been writing this on commercial breaks as I caption, so I think I'll stop now. The baseball game I was doing went long, they're still doing postgame stuff, and I have to do the news after it, plus I have another news for another station at midnight, assuming that this postgame/news stuff doesn't run so late that I can't do the other one.

Everything's going reasonably well right now. It's been incredibly hot outside lately, and I just don't feel like doing much of anything. Even reading doesn't seem to be holding my attention. So, let's see, what's going on lately? My nephew is officially 2 years old today - Happy Birthday, Kasen! I'm going to see him later today to give him his birthday present - a sit and spin. I remember having one and loving it, so I hope he does too. He likes to spin in circles and make himself dizzy, so I think he will. It's actually a musical sit and spin, couldn't find just a regular one - he'll love it, but my sister and brother-in-law may not appreciate it so much.

I lost 4 lbs last week at Weight Watchers. I'm not sure how that happened, I didn't think I did too well food-wise, and I haven't been exercising, but I'll take it, it helps make up for the last several weeks where I gained a little every week.

I tried a new recipe for a snack that's really good. I found it on SparkRecipes.com, it's basically chickpeas roasted until they're crunchy, flavored with whatever seasonings sound good to you. Lots of fiber & protein, and I used less olive oil than the recipe calls for, so not too much fat. Here's what they look like:

They don't look that great, but they are good, really.

I've been home all week. Usually I caption the House of Representatives and have to go in to the office to do that, but they were off this week, so I've been scheduled for other shows, mostly ones I could do at home. It's been nice. I wouldn't want to work at home all the time, but I like that I get to every now and then.

Anyway, this has been a long, rambling post, so I think I'll stop now and leave you with some new pics of the kitties, just because they were being cute.

Paper Cowgirl

I spent yesterday at the Paper Cowgirl Altered Art Retreat. A couple of friends of mine, Susan & Gail, were going and invited me, and I'm glad they did - I had a great time. We met Friday evening and spent some time looking around at vendor night - they had some really talented and creative people selling some really neat stuff. We had dinner at Chick-Fil-A - can you believe that at a Chick-Fil-A, an employee not only brought our trays of food out to us, but asked Susan if she wanted fresh ground pepper on her salad? Really! They brought out a huge pepper mill and ground some pepper on her salad. Who knew that in Waxahachie, Chick-Fil-A is almost fine dining! And then, when we were done, I was holding two trays, getting ready to throw them away while Susan finished up a project for her swap, and a lady walking by, a fellow customer, said, I'll take those, I'm going that way. She not only took both trays and threw away the trash, but brought back a little gift bag I'd left on mine. I knew there was a good reason I like living in this town!

Anyway, there'd been swaps that people signed up for to do Friday night, I didn't sign up for any because I didn't think I'd be able to come up with anything good enough, but Susan and Gail had signed up for the crown swap, and Gail made and extra crown for me. It's really pretty, lots of blue and green beads and vintage cowgirl pictures. Here's a picture:

She also gave me a necklace:

I went with them back to the hotel for the different swaps, and there were some really cool things people had done. I think next year I want to get involved in some of those - anything I do might not be the very best one out there, but I think I could do something presentable.

We went back to my house afterwards, where Susan finished up the aprons she made for me and Gail to wear in our classes Saturday. They're really cute. Here's mine:

Really adorable! Saturday, we started out in the Peek A Boo Cases class, where we were each given a vintage compact and lots of stuff to decorate it with, including various papers and lots of vintage jewelry and pieces of broken jewelry. There were some gorgeous projects by the time we were done. I'm pretty happy with how mine turned out, especially since I wasn't sure going in if I'd be able to come up with anything or be able to put anything together without gluing my fingers together accidentally - I'm definitely a crafting novice. Here's what I came up with:

After that, we had lunch, provided by The Dove's Nest - if you're ever in Waxahachie, I recommend it, their food is yummy. Then, we did our second class - a Vintage Memory Shadow Box. Basically, wrap a pencil box in pretty papers, and add something to represent a memory from your life, plus a few extra things to dress it up some. Mine's kind of minimalist, compared to what some other people there came up with, but I like it:

It was a lot of fun, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Wordle

I found a new toy - Wordle.net. Actually, I found it a while ago, but I was just playing with it. It makes even grumpiness look more interesting.

May 24, 2009

So, the weight loss is not going so well, but at least I'm not gaining. I just have been having trouble sticking to my diet - I'll do okay for a while, then not so great for a while. But that's okay, I'll get back to it. Really, I will. I haven't been reading much, which is really weird for me, but today I dug out Rick Steves' Europe 101, a sort of summary of European history and art work for travelers. It's just hitting the highlights, nothing too detailed, but it takes the major things you might see while you travel, and puts them into historical context. I'm only up to ancient Greece, but there was a chapter on the stone age and cave art, and mention of standing stones like Stonehenge, and a summary of Egyptian art, since so much of it has ended up in museums across Europe. It's pretty interesting and shows a definite sense of humor, so I expect to keep reading it this week.


I was sitting in my library earlier and had the window open because it was so nice out. The cats were just fascinated by the birds outside. They love sitting in the window and looking out, and I got some decent pictures of them, although mostly they're facing away from the camera. I should have gone outside and shot some through the window, but I was feeling lazy, so I didn't. Anyway, if I can get them uploaded, I'll post a few.


Here's Peanut:

And Cashew:

And finally, can someone explain how they can be so adorable one second, but by the time I snap the picture, I get this?

Well, boys will be boys, I guess.

Good Doctor's Appointment, and weight loss!

This has been a good week, after being stressed the first couple of days of it. I went to the doctor and everything looks okay. He won't get the pap test results for a few days, but he said he didn't see anything that I needed to worry about, so that's good. Then, after missing Weight Watchers yesterday due to the dr's appointment, I went today and lost 1.8 lbs for the week, bringing the total to 12 lbs since January.

Therapy and a low-dose antidepressant medicine are really helping me feel better. It's made a big difference in how dedicated I am to really trying to lose weight, too. Well, something has, anyway, and I assume it's that. Plus, I really, really like the Sparkpeople website. I like that I can track my food and see not just the WW Points for each item, but actually see if I'm getting enough fiber (I was actually going back and forth, one day way too much, one day not anywhere near enough - I really don't recommend doing that, especially if you have to be in close proximity to other people a lot), and I've started to pay a little more attention to things like sodium and cholesterol, although mostly I'm still just trying to stay in the calorie and fat ranges it recommends. Plus, the people on there are really supportive and understanding, and it amazes me how often I'll look at someone else's message they've posted or blog entry and think, yes, I do that, that's exactly how I feel! That's one reason I like Weight Watchers in general, going to the meetings and being around other people who are working on a lot of the same stuff, but this way, in addition to that weekly meeting, I have people I can turn to all hours of the day or night. I think the combination is really going to work for me.

Just checking in

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd write something. Weight Watchers is going okay, but not great. I keep losing .8, then gaining .8, then losing it again. I know it's my fault, I'm not following the program as closely as I should, but it's still discouraging. The first time I did WW, way back in that previous lifetime BC (before cancer), I was very good about writing everything down, exercising, everything you're supposed to do. At least for the first year and a half or so, then I got a little lax, but was still mostly following it. Now, I'll follow it a few days, then not for a few days. Makes it hard to lose weight when you undo any good you did every few days. But, I found a new website that I think is going to help some. It's sparkpeople.com. In addition to a food tracker that tracks all nutrients, not just points (I'm not knocking the Points system, I know it works, and in some ways it makes life a lot easier than counting actual calories), SP has much more supportive forums than WW does (theirs can get a little snarky and way, way off topic in a sort of disturbing way as people seem to try to break the rules and get their posts pulled off the boards). I'm going to keep doing WW, and use SP as another tool to try to keep myself on track.

Well, I've got supper cooking in the oven, hopefully it's about done. I'll probably post again in the next few weeks, since I've got a dr's appt coming up on the 22nd of this month. I usually have enough stress in the weeks leading up to those that I find something to write.

March 1, 2009

I was doing pretty well with Weight Watchers until yesterday. Actually, even most of yesterday wasn't too bad. But then I stopped at WalMart on the way home, and even though I knew I shouldn't, I bought a box of coconut crunch mini donuts. I thought I'd eat a few last night, and maybe a few today, you know, spread out over several days. I ate them all yesterday. I'm not even really sure why I did. I certainly wasn't hungry enough to eat two dozen mini donuts in a few hours. I know I've been annoyed and angry the last few days because of some stuff going on with a friend of mine. And part of the time I was eating, I was on the phone with her. I guess it was just a stress reaction. Anyway, I did the, well, since I messed up yesterday, I might as well go ahead and not worry about what I eat today either. I know better than that. Anyway, I've got to stop beating myself up and move on now. I'll do better tomorrow.

February 24, 2009

I realized it's been a while since I posted anything, so I thought I'd just drop by and put in an update. So far, Weight Watchers is going well - I've lost 8 pounds. Not bad, especially considering I still haven't been exercising like I should. I'm going to start soon, I swear. Talking with a counselor every week has been, well, interesting, I guess. I've started to realize that I can be very negative about myself, and that I tend to ignore my feelings a lot. I'm not quite sure how to fix that, but it's only been a few weeks, so hopefully I'll gain more insight and some knowledge of how to fix things in the coming months.

I've been reading a lot, after not reading much at all in January. I've finished a couple of P.D. James' mysteries, a biography of George Washington, another Discworld novel, Coraline by Neil Gaiman (more of a kids' book, really, but the movie looked intriguing and I wanted to read it before I see the movie), and now I'm working on Arabian Nights. I've enjoyed all of them, although the George Washington bio was a little slow starting out and I didn't really get into it until close to halfway through it. I think I'm going to try to go see the movie Coraline sometime this weekend. It doesn't look like it follows the book, but I'm hoping it will still be good. I'm not sure what possessed me to pick up Arabian Nights, except that I was buying some other Barnes & Noble classics, and they were buy two get one free or something like that, so I picked it up as my free one, since I've never read it. I'm enjoying it, but it can get confusing, keeping up with all the stories within stories within stories.

Anyway, I don't really have much to say, so I guess that's it for now.

January 31, 2009

It's a very quiet, boring Saturday. But that's okay, I'm good with boring. I have a million things I ought to be doing now, and I'm just not in the mood for any of it.

Earlier, I tried to put harnesses on the cats. I'd like them to get used to the harnesses, so I could put a leash on them and take them outside. That's the only way I'm going to let them outside, so I can keep an eye on them, and I think they'd like it, but they think the harnesses are torture. Peanut got his twisted around so that the part you attach a leash to was down on his chest instead of up on his back, and Cashew somehow managed to unfasten his, although he couldn't get it completely off. I don't know how either of them managed it.

I had a CT scan Thursday. The doctor had talked to me about it when I was there, and said I didn't have to do one, but that since I've gained weight there's more chance he could miss something important in just a physical exam, so being more than a little paranoid anyway, I said, yes, let's go ahead and do it. I had to drink that yucky barium stuff (berry flavored this time) and I have bruises on both arms now where they tried to put in the IV for the contrast, but the scan was all clear, so it's all okay. Now I can relax and not worry too much, at least until the next appointment in April. It's been 18 months that I've been cancer-free now. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.

So, the weight gain thing. I don't even like to think about it, it's depressing and more than a little embarassing that I've managed to gain this much, this quickly. When I first saw my oncologist back in December of 2006, I weighed 216 lbs and had just spent the last three years losing almost 80 pounds. When I went to see him last week, he pointed out that I've gained 99 lbs since then. The really sad thing is, I had restarted Weight Watchers the week before that appointment and gone for my second meeting the day before that appointment, where I found out I'd lost about three pounds, so I'd really gained a little more than that. I'm not entirely sure what happened. For a while, I just really didn't care what I ate (understandable when you realize that the first thing I thought when I was told I had cancer was, oh my god, I'm gonna die. What does an extra brownie or two matter if on some level you think you're going to die anyway?) Then, no matter how good my intentions were - and I really did intend to be good, and eat organic fruits and veggies, and all that stuff - I just never seemed to be able to follow through on it. I didn't have the energy or the desire to cook anything more difficult than a tv dinner, and even as I got more energy, I just didn't feel like messing with it. I am feeling better now, and I think I'll be able to stick to WW now.

I go see a counselor next week. The first time I see her is for a survey they're doing of cancer survivors, but I am going to talk to her about counseling and how that works and everything. I think that may help some, but I kind of wonder why I didn't do it sooner, because now looking back over the last couple of years, I wonder if it wouldn't have helped to have someone to talk to. I also wonder why no one in the oncologist's office, where they saw me every three weeks while I went through chemo, and every three months once I was done with treatment, ever said, hey, you should go talk to someone. And by the way, did you know you're gaining weight? Is it not part of their job to notice these things? I don't know. I know it's not their fault that I gained weight, after all, I'm the one that was eating the food, but I wonder if they didn't notice, or if they were too polite to say anything, or if they just figured it was my problem and not theirs?

Anyway, I think I've griped enough for one day. I'll try to come up with something more cheerful next time.

I really haven't dropped off the face of the earth

I really haven't dropped off the face of the earth, it's just that every time I've logged on here thinking I'd post something, I haven't had much to say and decided it was better to just skip it.

I went to the doctor yesterday. My CA-125 test came back a 4, well within the normal range, which is anything below 35. But it's still up slightly from three months ago, when it was a 2, so I keep having to tell myself, it's normal, don't worry about it. He asked me if I wanted to do a CT scan, saying there's no reason to think I need one, but since I've put on weight, there's more chance he won't be able to feel if something's not right during the physical exam. I said it made sense to do it, just to make sure there's nothing going on, so I'll go next week for that. I'm not sure why he mentioned it now since he said before, after I was done with treatment and officially cancer-free, that we didn't need to do CT scans regularly, but assuming there really is nothing on the scan, it'll make me feel better, just because I tend to think that checking everything is good so we don't miss anything that's there. Not to mention, I can be a little paranoid, so anything that might calm my (hopefully) irrational fears is good.

Leeza - I haven't read any Anne Lamott, although they look intriguing and I'm going to keep an eye out for them next time I'm at the bookstore. I don't know if you'd like them, but I love Carole Nelson Douglas's Midnight Louie mysteries and her Irene Adler mysteries too. The Aunt Dimity stories by Nancy Atherton are good too, and they're very quick reads.

Anyway, I'll leave you with a picture of my nephew, the cutest 18-month-old in the world, at least in my opinion. He likes to make funny faces now.