12 Week Reading Challenge

Calling all Bibliophiles!! I am challenging myself to read 12 good books in 12 weeks. Anyone is welcome to join in the challenge and post your progress. I was re-reading Honey for a Woman's Heart and there were so many books mentioned that I started a list and from there decided to challenge myself to read 12 of them. Your reading challenge will be different--fiction or non-fiction, new or old, long or short--just post your progress and a thumbs up or down about each book. Have to see which are available from our local library and which I may have to get through Interlibrary Loan, and if all else fails get used from Amazon.com.

Here's my list:
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
Something by Van Reid
Kristen Lavranhsdatter by Sigrid Undst
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Number the Stars by Lois Lowery
The Ark by Margot Benary-Isbert
Scarlet Music by Joan Ohannesson
Something More by Catherine Marshall
A Beacon at Alexandria by Gillian Bradshaw
Rowan Farm by Margot Benary-Isbert
The Journal of Hildegard of Bingen by Barbara Lachman

I'll be starting my challenge today, April 25, 2010 with Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen. Join in the challenge or just post what you reading.

The Latest Quilt

I promised that I would learn how to add pictures to my blog when I finished the quilt and here it is. The pattern originally was an Amish Cross but I had so much trouble with the tiny pieces that I modified it out of all recognition as an Amish Cross. It is a lap size quilt.

The current project is a set of placemats and napkins. I bought the fabric last fall but never got around to making them. I prefer to think of them now as being early for next fall rather than late from last year.

I'm tired of angry people.

Somewhere along the way civility seems to have lost out to anger. Respect loses out to rudness and I am sick of it. I suppose it is more mentally taxing to listen to what someone else has to say and give a rational, reasoned, courteous response.




Quote for the Day:

“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”
~ St. Basil quotes

My Fair Share

It's April 15 and my taxes have long ago been filed and the small refund deposited and used to finish paying off our house. We are not among the 47% of my fellow countrymen who paid no income tax. You know what? That's fine with me. I use the services and believe in paying for goods and services received. I use the interstate highway system, I am protected by the military, my food and medicines are monitored by the FDA, and on and on. I am also willing to pay for the common good such as public health and education. I do not begrudge the 47% who paid no taxes at all but I do wonder about the economic policies that have led us to where 47% of our people are too poor to pay taxes. And I also think that when people do not pay they become less inclined to care how the money is spent. That's why I think that a bill should be sent to every American household for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan each year. If we really believe in the wars, we should be willing to pay for them in cash and with our own children.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

I loved this book. I love the scope and breadth of it as much as the detail and intricacy of it. The people were real and the story just enveloped me. I could listen to the readers voice all day. Well worth reading (or listening to).

Dangerous Words

When I was a young mother, I learned that it was tempting fate to utter the words, "No child of mine will ever..." because it was almost guaranteed that the child would whatever it was. Now I am learning that it is just as tempting to fate to say the words, "When I am old I will never..." I used to listen to my elders talking about their various ailments and doctors and I thought to myself "I will never sit around talking about my latest bodily malfunction." Well, I had no idea that falling apart really consumes a lot of your mental energy and time and that one spends so much time, thought, and effort in trying to figure out what is wrong and how to fix it. I will spare you the details of my 4 month GI adventure involving a trip to the ER, a colonoscopy, various over the counter medications, and an on-going relationship with the GI doc's nurse, Linda. I think in a previous life Linda was a defensive lineman for the Packers because absolutely nothing gets past Linda--you want to talk to the doc--you have to get past Linda, you want a prescription--Linda again. Anyway, I was so miserable Tuesday night I googled my symptoms and ouila, there it was: symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Since Wednesday morning I have been skirmishing with Linda for a prescription, I have met all her requirements but so far she has not deigned it necessary to call me back. However, in researching this on the Internet, I found that probiotics were helpful so yesterday I started on Phillips Colon Health capsules twice a day. I am amazed--it has relieved my symptoms by about 80%. I still want the prescription but at least I am not so miserable while I dance to Linda's tune. Life is looking better.