Cremes

It’s unbelievable the craziness that has been happening since the hurricane, that never seems to end. I’m at Starbucks, using my father-in-law’s internet account (Starbucks seriously needs to get on board with the free wi-fi) to do my school work. Luckily I was able to get pretty much everything done that needed getting done until about Tuesday. I have a quiz that rolls out tomorrow so I need to come back sometimes before Tuesday regardless. You may be wondering, why not just use the internet at home? Because we don’t currently have internet, and it may be awhile coming. I guess the “fence guys” that put up our new fence (yay for a fence!) cut our cable so that means no TV, no internet, and, since we have Vonage, no phone. I’m suffering.

In less crappy news, I got a job! You’re looking at the blog of the newest bookseller for a national chain bookstore. I’m not specifying just in case I have bad things to say later on. I’m actually a little conflicted about the whole deal anyways. I just finished reading “Buy, Buy Baby” by Susan Gregory Thomas and I’m thinking that the world is out to turn little kids into materialistic consumers, with the whole “cradle to grave” marketing. It’s definitely changed how I feel about cartoon characters and kids’ programming. I recommend anyone with small children or planning to have children to read it. Anyways, the section on reading and children’s books was shocking. I can’t believe how many kids’ books are pretty much 10 page commercials.

There’s a possibility that I may be in Michigan for a few days next week. It all depends on things here, and how Grandma is. She’s not doing so well, and it seems like it will be just a matter of time. Anyways, my battery life is getting low and my computer is being a pain in the butt anyways, so I’m going to sign off and head home.

Only 3 more months left and that mean only three more recaps until my year is over. I’ve pretty much dropped the ball and I’m only doing these recaps out of habit now. I think for next year I’ll just have a page on the side bar that links to what I’m reading and maybe I’ll have an occasional post on my thoughts on a book. For now, I’ll keep the tradition going, even though it seems to be for naught.

1. PBS Love The One You’re With - Emily Giffin
2. SPT Unauthorized Biography of Tom Cruise - Andrew Morton
3. PBS Inside my Heart - Robin McGraw [audio]

I actually thought I was going to get a lot more reading done this month, but Hurricane Ike threw a wrench into my plans. I am halfway through three library school texts books, so if you count that I’ve been reading like a fool. I also started more books than I could finish this month.

You’ll probably notice that I put the Giffin book up there again this month, since I actually finished it in September, not August. I figured the two other selections would be lonely. I’m up to #73. I could still make it to 100 if I pick up the pace. And I’m actually quite caught up in school related things, so I may even have some extra time for fun reading.

As for this month’s finished books, the Giffin book was subpar as I mentioned. The Tom Cruise book was pretty much a scathing report on his religion. I actually didn’t find it that great. There was lots of dirt, yes, but first you have to wonder if any of it is true because he doesn’t cite any sources (or very few) and only provides a ’selected’ bibliography in the back (what’s up with that?). The Robin McGraw book was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I’m actually considering keeping it instead of trading it back. It was pretty inspirational, and I love her accent. I might even pick up her newer one.

I’ve been thinking that now that I have more time to devote to blogging and reading I might make some website tweaks. It’s not really fleshed out yet, but I would like to spend more time being creative on the web. I’ve been meaning to make some changes for awhile, mostly to the main page of the site, but I just haven’t gotten off my tushy yet.

This month’s recommendations:

• Inside My Heart

My goodness. Ever since Wednesday things have been in total chaos. I’m sure if anyone has been watching the news at all or not completely under a rock (that means you, Sarah) you probably have figured out that I’m either in hiding or I’ve been Hurricane’d. Today is my first day of unfettered internet access although I seem to have lost any semblance of cellular reception in the process. I’ve spent most of the past week either crying, panicking, or travelling somewhere to get away from the hurricane. We stayed Thursday through Monday at our friends’ place in Troup, TX (about 2.5 hours southwest from Dallas) and although we had no power Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon, it was a pretty good time. We got to visit with them and relax. I actually felt pretty good about things until we got closer to Houston. The damage is really scary to see. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to be here when that storm hit.

I spent most of today trying to get my schoolwork under control but it’s difficult considering I can’t hook my own laptop up to the internet and have to use someone else’s computer. So my notes are on mine and I have to look things up on this one - very inefficient. I’d go somewhere to hook up to the internet but at this point I just don’t know where to go. I don’t even know if I have an appointment tomorrow with a doctor since I have no way to get ahold of anyone. Very frustrating.

I mostly just wish that Mike and I had our own place to go to since we’re staying with his grandmother and I just feel weird about the whole thing. It would be nice to have our own private space to be in. Of course this storm has probably made our house even farther from its completion date. We’ll be lucky to be in there by Christmas. I know I sound discouraged and mopey and I kind of am, although I do feel relieved and happy that the damage wasn’t worse and everyone I know made it through safely. Some more breathing room would be nice though.

Man, where did the time go?

1. PBS So Much for My Happy Ending - Kyra Davis
2. PBS Over Her Dead Body - Kate White
3. PBS Playing For Pizza - John Grisham
4. GFT The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini [audio]
5. PBS Love The One You’re With - Emily Giffin

So I didn’t read very much but at this point I will be amazed if I make it to the end of the year with 100. So Much for My Happy Ending was sort of bizarre but very unique. After I finished the Emily Giffin book (check out her first two novels, Something Borrowed and Something Blue for the best reading experience EVER), I felt like they were pretty much two sides of the same story. Girl meets boy, girl loves boy, girl marries boy, boy turns out to be a weirdo, other boy comes into the mix… They just ended differently. Over Her Dead Body was a little murder mystery that is apparently several books along in a series (but it worked well as a stand alone) and Playing For Pizza was about a washed-up NFL player who has a little Italian adventure, a la Eat Pray Love. (Grisham said in an interview on The Colbert Report that there were no lawyers in it - lies.) And my one audio book this month was a pretty famous one. The Kite Runner was a solid story, but sort of depressing. Khaled Hosseini’s books are probably better in audio form because you get the real gist of the story through the accent.

All of my books this month were fiction. I’ve changed it up this month; first book I started was the unauthorized biography of Mr Cruise. I should probably finish off those books that have been collecting dust on my “currently reading” section on the page about my reading resolution. Like that cosmetics encycopedia. Yeesh. With all of my school reading, I don’t even know where I find the time.

I just realized that the last book I only finished yesterday, not in August. Whatever. I may include it again next month just for giggles.

This month’s recommendations:

• The Kite Runner

Since we are moving out of this apartment to who-knows-where in less than three weeks, I’ve had to be a little creative with dinner. I decided on Sunday that I would not do a traditional grocery shop (including for lunches) until after we were settled into our new digs, whether that be at the in-laws’ or the new house (I’m praying we’ll have a place to settle before mid-October). So that meant taking all of my frozen meat out of the freezer and searching for recipes by ingredient on Allrecipes.com. I searched for about 30 minutes and came up wanting (found some things I definitely want to try, though!), so I headed to the kitchen and started throwing things into a pan. Here’s what came out of it:

Meags’ Fly-by-the-Seat-of-My-Jeans Goulash

• 1/2 lb ground beef (freezer burnt optional)
• 1 tsp minced garlic (about 1-2 cloves)
• 3/4 cup diced onion (or a handful)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced sweet green and red pepper
• all the elbow macaroni you have (about 3 cups)
• 2 14.5oz cans diced tomatoes (don’t drain)
• 6oz can tomato paste
• 5oz can mushrooms (drained)
• dash salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (grated by husband - trust me, it tastes better this way)

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Brown the beef in the oil at about medium-high heat, tossing in the garlic and onions at first, then add the sweet peppers when the meat is almost browned. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions. Once the beef is browned and the veggies sauteed, add the tomatoes and the paste. Stir around so that it becomes a thick sauce. Add the mushroom and the seasonings, then simmer for a few minutes, until heated through.

After the pasta is nice and al dente, drain it and put it in a casserole dish. I used my 2-1/2 quart corningware dish and it was brimming over - so maybe a lasagna pan. Then pour the sauce over top and stir it in so that noodles are all covered in the sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese and bake until the cheese melts (about 10 minutes). Serve!

I was actually quite surprised by how good it was considering how few ingredients I used (not to mention, I’m not really a recipe inventin’ kinda gal). I think in the future, I would add some oregano and basil to the recipe, and maybe some marjoram. Spinach would also taste pretty good in the sauce. We’ll see if I start inventing more recipes as the last few weeks here at Apt 7302 come along.

I’m not sure why I’m even bothering to keep up with this, it’s mostly for my own enjoyment I guess.

1. ARC Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity - Kerry Cohen
2. GFT Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul - edited by Jack Canfield
3. GFT Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom [audio]
4. GFT Getting Things Done - David Allen

But hey, 1 more book than last month! Technically, I only really read 2 of those books in July. Chicken Soup and GTD were finished this month, but I read the bulk of them over the last couple of months. I’m about to start a second Chicken Soup book (great for those random few minutes that break up the day) and I’ve downloaded It’s All Too Much from the Houston library. I also randomly picked up a novel on Saturday and started reading, and I’m already 150 pages in. (Novels go by so much faster than non-fiction.) I wrote a review for Loose Girl and posted it on my Library Thing profile. I was meaning to jazz it up a little bit (make it less review-y) and post it here but never got around to it. It’s on my to-do list. I guess I’m feeling the reading bug more these days, and since I’ve made such great progress on my magazines stack (8 magazines read, scanned and ready to be recycled!) I’ve been wanting to get through my stack of books.

This Month’s Recommendations:

• Tuesdays With Morrie

I just took this quiz thing on The Living to 100 website, and apparently I’ll go when I’m 97 as long as my lifestyle persists. You answer 40 questions on your lifestyle, genetics, and medical history. The neat part is that you can ask for feedback on what would add longevity to your life. Things they recommended for me was better stress management, working fewer hours (amen to that), cutting out coffee (gasp!), taking aspirin once a day, flossing more, exercising more, and getting my blood sugar, blood pressure, and regular check-ups regularly. So, I can definitely work towards some of those things. But nixing the coffee? Forget it!

Source: Better Homes and Gardens, August 2008, p. 170

A subject that is very important to me is the matter of women educating themselves about financial empowerment. Not in the women’s liberation sense, but more of a matter of being responsible about your choices. It seems as though the stereotypical expectations are that women may or may not go to college, possibly establish a career, get married and live largely dependent on their husband while raising kids and enjoying a somewhat “easy” lifestyle. Going between committee meetings, appointments with stylists and personal shoppers, and having the nanny or housekeeper do the heavy lifting does sound pretty pleasant. But the question that always leaves these women stumped is: What will you do if you husband’s income disappears from your life? Whether it be by death, divorce, or job-loss, many women are unprepared to face this possibility. And it’s not just a shot in the dark. The statistical rates for divorce are well-known and also the mortality rate differences between men and women. We are also keenly aware of the economic situation that is going on which greatly affects our job market.

So this is why I was excited about a presentation put on by a financial services company called Primerica. (more…)

Browsing my Google reader this morning I came across this:

20. Coffee
The old cup-o-joe has been thrown on the stands for many a corporeal crime—heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis—but exonerated on all counts. In fact, coffee, which is derived from a bean, contains beneficial antioxidants that protect against free radicals and may actually help thwart heart disease and cancer. While it’s not going to fill you up like the other items on this list, it might make you a lot perkier. When made at home, coffee runs less than 50¢ cents a cup. Source

Huzzah! It’s always nice to have something that you enjoy every day to be actually healthful. Of course, caffeine isn’t always a good choice but it’s better in coffee than it is in soda.

We got some good news on Thursday afternoon - the permit for our lot is in so they are going to start building our house before the end of the month. I still can’t believe this is all happening. It’s very exciting! We’re going to have a meeting with the builder before they start and we’ll hammer our all the fine details then. So it should be this coming Thursday or Friday and then pretty quickly they’ll start the house! We’re hoping it will be completed in November so we can move in before Thanksgiving and get the holidays going. We’re still waiting for some of the paperwork to be finalized but it’s pretty much just a formality at this point. Yay! I’m hoping to have pictures up on Flickr sometime soon, so keep an eye out for that on the sidebar.