melissa’s Neighborhood

• 12:05 New years day, lying in bed reading recipes, making resolutions for revolution #

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One of the best parts of being in Ohio is that we have reconnected with Ben's (huge) clan of family. I've known them for over 14 years, but from a distance. I was a bit slow on getting all the names right and the spouses and the kids. When I saw one kid I'd known as a little kid (now late teens) I did not recognize him to everyone's amusement.

How could I not know Hunter?

The clan has been together in the same area of Ohio forever. The 14 years Bens been with me in Californa never really took him out of the family loop. Now that he's back here, it's almost like he never left. I have to say I love being part of the "clan".

Today Ben's aunt Bobbie (Barb) had everyone to her home in Mansfield for "pigs in a blanket." (pork and ground beef balls with rice wrapped in cabbage in a soup of tomato and spices and sauerkraut. Thick chunks of bread and butter  and mashed potatoes finished the meal. All served straight from the kitchen to whoever showed up, whenever they showed up. The pot had been cooking for over 10 hours - started the day before and then reheated today so the flavors blended and mellowed. It was so unbelievably good and satisfying. We all ate wherever we could find a spot  while the tv played one of many football games. Ben helped this cousins set up his mom's new speaker system to go with her new tv. Ben and his cousin Lonnie worked together on the project - joking and teasing each other. Honestly they are as different as night and day, but underneath the "types" the connection - the family tie - is obvious. Ben- his tight black jeans, pink and black sneakers, red and black flannel topped with a black biker jacket, tatted and pierced, blue hair, goofy humor - in the snow, Ben makes snow men. In the snow, Lonnie waits for hours with a gun or bow for his prey to pass close enough for a clean kill. Lonnie with his home full of stuffed and mounted animals, deer watch his tv from behind his chair - the black bear comes out of the wall behind the tv. The turkeys and peasants are flattened into wall hangings. Lonnie - in his camo pants and loose muddy boots - hair trimmed short  - buff  - while Ben is a computer whiz who does art for a living. Lonnie works at a correctional facility. He is big and tough. I'm sure on one messes with Lonnie. Different. Wildly different. And yet I've watched them getting closer with each gathering.

Ben's family accepts each other 100%, Can't say they accept everyone - or every type - but once someone is in the family "clan" everyone has their back.

Every time we are with Ben's family - I feel - like I am a part of something.
It's wonderful to feel this much love - from them all and for them all.
 
And Ben.

• 15:54 Well I put away the Christmas decorations but sadly not the Christmas candy. #
• 15:57 @MsRedPen is there a chapter on paying someone else to do it:) #

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Debbiesick

I coughed and wheezed all night long. No more "i'm ok, it's just a cold." I drive my mess down to urgent care.
Yes, I have a cold - and that cold has camped out in my lungs. Now it's bronchitis. I got a whole mess of meds to take and an shiny new inhaler. My script called for me to get a vaporizer and other non rx stuff and then to up my vitamin c, liquids, and REST. He asked if I needed a note for my empoyer so I could get out of working for a few days till the anibotics and steroids - whee.

Once I settled in on my second pot of tea I watched SHAKES THE CLOWN. Wow, I loved it. Bobcat rules.

Nym headed in to the vet today too. Like mommy he has a infection in his ears and in his nose. He's beside me right now on his part of the couch. Me, I'm on my end with my feet up watching tv for the 6th day in a row. But I don't want this to get worse - so - I'm resting with the steam of the humidifier filling the room with the scent of vicks.

The Shack (Special Hardcover Edition)

William P. Young

Based on my two-star rating of The Shack at the Goodreads site, you can probably surmise that I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it, which is why it got two stars instead of one, but I certainly didn't love it.

First, I don't really dig books with overt religious overtones. Wrap Jesus or the church up in a fantasy-fueled metaphor and I'm all yours (e.g. Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials), but put Jesus in a plaid shirt working in his woodshop and you're probably going to lose me.

Second, the book is just not that well-written. Almost everything Mack says is said "sarcastically".

Use a thesaurus! [NB: acerb, acerbic, acid, acrimonious, arrogant, austere, backhanded, biting, bitter, brusque, captious, carping, caustic, chaffing, contemptuous, contumelious, corrosive, cussed, cutting, cynical, derisive, disillusioned, disparaging, disrespectful, evil, hostile, irascible, ironical, mean, mordant, needling, offensive, ornery, salty, sardonic, satirical, saucy, scorching, scornful, scurrilous, severe, sharp, smart-alecky, snarling, sneering, taunting, trenchant, twitting, weisenheiming...]

Or better yet, trust your reader to figure out some of the emotions going through your character's head without spoon-feeding every nuance. The dialog is unnatural and the plot is utterly predictable. I won't add any spoilers, but there were several times that I knew what was going to happen well in advance of the main character.

And third, the author seemed overly obsessed with the planned film version of the book. Which makes me wonder if that's why the novel left a little to be desired - everyone was already jumping ahead to the screenplay?

Really, it would seem I didn't like this book at all. It's certainly not one I would have chosen on my own, but then that's why I like being part of a book club. It gets me to read things I would never have picked up on my own and sometimes I think I'm better for it. I'm just not sure that's true this time around.

2009 in Books

This is probably the last book I'll finish in 2009, which means I've read 30 books this year. Yay, me!!!

This little project of keeping track of my reading was inspired by Kelly (thanks, Kel!) and my own dismal showing of only three books read in 2008 (actually, I'm not even sure if it was three - maybe just two).

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for averaging over two books a month in 2009. This year, I also joined a book club and renewed my life-long love affair with my local public library - which has helped to instill a love of reading in my young son and saved me quite a few bucks at the bookstore. So all-in-all, a pretty good year for reading on my part.  

Next year can only be better!   

• 09:02 @dthalhammer yes, it's lacking a lot... #
• 09:05 @mchaze man, I hope so. #
• 09:06 @TakeoSpikes51 watching the 49ers win the super bowl in 2010 is one of mine:) #
• 17:14 Christmas decorations are down and put away...yay! #
• 17:27 Have you ever noticed that someone driving slower than you is an idiot and anyone driving faster is a maniac. Geo. Carlin #
• 17:43 @MsRedPen yep, I'm thinking I'm done with it for a long time, like forever. #

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