Another Confession

      I have been trying to break out of my comfort zone and read some popular fiction instead of just cozy mysteries.  My confession is I feel guilty. While I liked the basic storylines of some books I have recently read, I just can't take reading another book that is sprinkled with language I find offensive and I am going back to cozies.  I tried to overlook that language, but it just isn't me.  The Rachel Joyce books were good but I feel guilty for having suggested them when they contained language really outside of my comfort zone.  Am I weird or do people really feel the need to talk like that? If so, I am happy to be weird.
      Moving on, a few new cozy titles that I thought were really good:
Tagged for Death by Sherry Harris
Drizzled With Death by Jessie Crockett
Bloom and Doom by Beverly Allen
     As for that pain relief gel I wrote about... I think it has done wonders for me and I am going to Sam's for the big bottle.
     I am concerned about my Oklahoma blogger friends ... let us know about the rain in your areas.  I hope you are not dealing with flooding.  I did read that Blake Shelton aided a driver stuck in water.  If I ever need to be rescued I will take Blake Shelton please.
    And finally, I saw on Pinterest a quote that sums up my life :

 

 

My Goodreads List

     Anonymous left a comment that said they would like to see the list of books I have read so far this year.  I am up to 62 books as of today and you can see the titles here... https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/1949868   The book covers should appear and if you click on them you will see what the average rating by readers is and then the number of stars I gave the book.  This year I have only given one title 5 stars out of 5, and that was for A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler.   If my name pops up it won't be Aunt Betsy, but my real name.  The challenge I set for myself for this year was 52 books.  Last year I set my challenge at something like 300 books and I didn't make it so I lowered the bar for myself, knowing if my depression gets bad there will be periods of time when I am incapable of reading a book.   So far I am reading about 3 books a week.   If I would quit playing Words With Friends I would have oh so much more time to read.  :)
     Mostly I read cozy mysteries, what might be referred to as fluff in some circles, a fun and entertaining read in others.   If you aren't familiar with cozies they are mysteries that seldom contain gore, graphic violence, ugly language, or sex.   For me they are just a fun read and "safe" since I don't want to read anything akin to a thriller, anything explicit, anything involving child abuse, anything too intense that is going to keep me up at night.
       I use this site http://www.cozy-mystery.com/cozy-mysteries-new-releases.html to stay on top of titles being released --- most cozies are series --- and then place holds on the titles at my library.  One of my favorite series this year is the Amish Village mysteries by Vanetta Chapman.  The Miss Julia books by Ann B. Ross are always fun and at the top of the list of my favorites.  Number 17 in her series came out this spring.  There is nothing tamer than the Miss Jeffries series by Emily Brightwell.
    One of the things I like about the goodreads site is I can add books to my "want to read" list as I hear about something that sounds like my kind of book and then when I need to place holds on books I don't have to try to remember titles.  I think I have something like 120 books on my want to read list. 
    I am fortunate to live in a city with an excellent library that is well supported with a healthy new book budget.   If you are not familiar with "placing holds" on titles it is simply a service offered by most libraries.  Either in person, over the phone or by clicking "place hold" on online catalog entries you attach your library card number to a book, staff pulls the book off the shelf or catches it when it is turned in, then notifies you when your items are ready for you to pick up.    For me it is like Christmas when the library calls to let me know I have half a dozen or so books to pick up. 
     I need to break out of my current cozy mysteries mold and read a few more books with a little more depth. Do you have any titles to suggest for me?  Not only new books but your old favorites?

Need a Really Good Book to Read?

   Last year I told you how awesome I thought this book was ---

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. 

Well, author Rachel Joyce has written another absolutely wonderful book --- 

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. 

I highly recommend you run to your local library and get both of them.  Read Harold Fry first.  I don't think one would call The Love Song of... a sequel but more like a companion book, but then what do I know.  They are both wonderful stories, his story and her story. 

 

 It is possible you might want to pick up a box of Puffs as well. 

 

If you need further prodding just go to amazon.com and read the professional blurbs about both books.  If you have read them please share what you thought about them.  I am only on page 161 of the Love Song of... but I plan to finish it tonight. 

A Week Of Rain!

       Monday marked the sixth consecutive day of rainfall in Amarillo.  6 DAYS!  The all-time record was 11 days back in June, 1960.  Since I live within a short distance of the TV station I watch for news I assume I got the same amount they received at the TV station .... 5.20 inches this week!  Remember in 2007 we received only 7.02 inches of precipitation (rain, snow) for the entire year!  At my house I have not even had any hail ... that in itself is amazing.  Usually if we get rain likely as not we get hail with it.
      A little more than 200 miles SW of my town is Roswell, NM.  New Mexico has been receiving rain all week as well. I thought I would share this photo (below).  Because the ground in TX & NM is so hard it just can't absorb all the rain so we have lots of areas that look like this cemetery.  God Bless those 4-H'ers for getting the flags out no matter what.  photo on Facebook via NewsChannel10

      This photo was taken in Roswell this weekend as dedicated 4-H students honored our Veterans. Thanks to Chelsey Eoff for sharing the photo.

    

     I didn't go to any of the numerous Memorial Day activities today.  Because of my severe depression there are some things that I just can't handle.  Hearing Taps, talk of fallen veterans, just seeing the flag, flowers, memorials on TV makes me bawl, in person I just lose it.  I don't mean tears trailing down my cheeks like most everyone else at those type functions, I mean chest heaving sobs.  Hymns effect (or is it affect??) me the same way.  I use to love church so much but I haven't been in years, since that hospital visit of mine.  I  used to be there whenever the doors were open but now I just have to take care of myself and not put myself in the position where I might just fall totally apart.  I am scared I will fall apart that bad again.  I feel bad that I didn't go to any "honor our fallen" events but I would if I could.  A year or two ago when a local soldier died, one that I did not even know, I told my psychiatrist that I had cried and bawled all day for days over his death (as if he were my own child) and asked was that normal (because how would I know what normal is?  as the cartoon says "Normal?? It is just a dryer setting in our house").  She looked at me and said ahh, NO.  So, this is letting you know something that few people know about me.... that I am ashamed to be so weak, and I realize it is an illness I did not ask for, but I wish I could be there putting flags on grave sites, and put my hand over my heart with everyone else, and listen to Taps and just have normal tears like everyone else.  But everybody's got something, right?  Oh, that reminds me, I want to read Robin Roberts new book ... that is the title ... Everybody's Got Something.

I Caught a Cold For My Birthday But I'm Not Complaining

       I am sitting here in my big chair, a dog on my feet, a dog in my lap, sipping on some lemon & honey, and smelling of Vicks VaporRub.  Considering it is cold outside I am just fine where I am.  I'm not complaining but I am getting pretty tired of being sick though.  

    It is going to get colder. No snow yet but the high on Thursday is suppose to be 13 degrees & snow all week so I am glad I have a warm home and don't have to get out in the cold if I don't want to. I hate driving in ice and snow. So far that is one of the best things about retirement.  This is what Amarillo looked like LAST February .... we don't expect anything like this for the coming week.  I hope.

     Since I don't feel like doing anything but napping and blowing my nose I have been delighted to have a series of books to read.  If you haven't read the Dearest Dorothy books by Charlene Baumbich, and you like humorous, clean stories then see if your library has them.  Better yet, purchase them online, enjoy them,  then donate them to your library.  (sorry, 20 years as a librarian causes me to push library use to keep them in business)  There are six titles in the series.  The title of book one is Dearest Dorothy, Are We There Yet? The bad news is there is not a book seven.  The main character is Dorothy and she has been real good company for me this week. I picture her as a combination of Fannie Flagg and Erma Bombeck's grandmothers.  I am reading book 6 and don't want it to end.  I care about these characters and that is a sign of a good author (that can make you care).

        I like to play Farkle and Words With Friends but this week I discovered a new way to exercise my brain (and that's my story) at http://www.craniumcrunches.com/

      My daughter made me the most delicious thing.  Our local grocery store had boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale recently so I bought a bunch and cooked them in the crockpot.  Once they were done I shredded the meat and frozen them in bags holding about 2 cups.  My daughter took a bag of frozen veggies, thawed (corn, peas, carrots, green beans), some canned chicken broth, a can of cream of chicken soup, a package of shredded chicken, some pepper, some sauteed celery and combined all that in a dutch oven with just enough water to the soup mixture and heated it up.  Then she took Pioneer Baking Mix and made dumplings to cook on top of the soup.  Oh my goodness, that was good!  It made a dutch oven full, and it was just to the two of us so even though we ate every one of the dumplings I still had a huge bowl of the soup left.  You know how the broth thickens up after you make dumplings?  Well, it was thick like that as you can sort of see in the photo, and even thicker after being in the fridge for 24 hours so the next night I ate the leftovers over biscuits.  Yum!

       

The Blue Fugates of Kentucky & The Best Book of the Month

        This month I read mostly cozy mysteries except for one bio, The World's Strongest Librarian. Cozy mysteries are about as "deep" as my brain can handle most of the time, and especially the past few weeks. This week I also read some inspirational fiction that I loved and I plan to get more books by their authors.  The Promise of Lumby and Dearest Dorothy, Are We There Yet? were really good.  I cared about the characters and I wanted to live in their little towns.  I seldom read inspirational books but I am so glad I found these.  I can hardly wait to get more in their series.
       A day or two ago I finished reading Poisoned Prose by Ellery Adams.  It is the fifth in her Books by the Bay series.  On Goodreads I gave it 4 stars.  I am going to give it "the best of the bunch for the month."  Ellery Adams never disappoints me. 

       It really is a good read, but for me it was especially interesting because it involves a group of storytellers.  It brought back fond memories of when I was able to attend Tejas Storytelling Festival in Denton, Texas many years ago, and the numerous times I attended storytelling events at WTAMU in Canyon, Texas down the road from home.  Last night I dreamt about being back at my old job and telling stories to a group of kids at the library.  It was a very pleasant dream. 

       What was really interesting in Poisoned Prose, and something I had never heard of, was a condition one of the characters in the book had called Methemoglobinemia.  The woman in the book, Violet, had skin the color of a rotten plum, a blue/purple.   

        Since I had never heard of this disorder I googled it and discovered it is a real thing. I found it fascinating.  If you have this genetic disorder your blood is the color of chocolate and your skin will be a shade of blue or purple.  Not just occasionally but permanently.   
       When I did a search on this disorder numerous articles on the Fugate family popped up.  The disorder has been passed through 6 generations of the Fugate's in a small area of Kentucky.  The following is from one of the internet articles: "They're known simply as the "blue people" in the hills and hollows around Troublesome and Ball Creeks. Most lived to their 80s and 90s without serious illness associated with the skin discoloration. For some, though, there was a pain not seen in lab tests. That was the pain of being blue in a world that is mostly shades of white to black."
         I thought about those last two sentences for quite a while. 
       

I Feel Like The People In NyQuil Commercials

Quick! Run to the grocery store and buy all of the boxes of Swiss Miss Candy Cane Hot Chocolate mix you can before it disappears since it is a seasonal item (I am guessing).  It is awesome.  Tastes so good and I am not really that big a fan of peppermint.  Seriously good stuff. (LOL! NOT a paid advertisement. You know me, when I find something I think is good I want to tell you about it so you can have some too.)

Bad  #1 & #2 from my less than cheerful Christmas day post (Dear Norman)?  Both my son and I feel even worse, and one of my daughters now has it, plus her stepmom. We are just hoping we all get well soon. We are praying the 8 week old baby boy in our life does not get it nor his 3 year old sister since they have been around all of us.  And praying it is not the swine flu.

• Vaporizer going? check  
• Vicks on my feet? check  
• Lemon & honey by my bedside? check  
• Orange juice & lots of ice water & cups of this wonderful Candy Cane Hot Chocolate? check (I'm working on my 2nd box and I am the only one here) 

I  have started reading The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom, but can't stay awake long enough to get beyond page 6 then have to start over because I can't remember what is going on.  My brain is a little fuzzy.   Hope you are well.   

Dinner With The Smileys

If you go to Betsy's Book Bag you can see the titles I read in October.  Most of them are cozy mysteries ~ my go to for escaping life.  My favorite cozy this month was The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry but really, I liked them all.  Well, except for that one I listed that I started and did not finish.  Diane Mott Davidson's The Whole Enchilada was really good too. Best Book Of The Month was Dinner With The Smileys.   This mom came up with a great idea.  While her husband was deployed for 13 months she and her 3 sons invited someone to come to dinner to fill his empty chair once a week. Truthfully, and please don't throw rocks at me, but I had to remind myself I raised boys, my boys did not always act appropriately, and boys are not adults, but I was a little disturbed when the youngest mooned, yes, mooned the Governor of Maine, and over how the oldest acted at a children's hospital.  A time or two I thought she was a little whiney/needy but that is probably because I have been on my own so long and used to having to deal with everything by myself.  I have to hand it to this woman though.  She wrote it as it really happened.   She kept it real.  I really liked her idea that they would not do anything out of the ordinary.....as far as hiding the lived in look of her house, or trying to cook elaborate meals.  Mrs. Smiley writes honestly, frankly and surely made me feel like a fly on the wall.  All in all, I really enjoyed this book and thought she had a fabulous idea.

      The runner up Best Book was The Wednesday Sisters.  This book is one of the most well written books I have read in a long time.  The story is about 5 women who meet in the park and the friendship that develops. The support and encouragement  they give each other through illnesses, racism, bumps in marriages, rejection letters, as well as the good times made me ache for friends such as these. Great book, really well written.   This book should have been my Best Book pick except for those tugging of the heartstrings in Dinner With the Smileys.

You KNOW I Love a Bargain!!!!!!!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I love, love, love when I stubble across a great bargain.  I have purchased, counting what I have put back for Christmas, probably 80 board books for my granddaughter.  Why yes, she is just two years old, why do you ask?  For my DIL's baby shower I collected a clear plastic tub full of board books as my gift.  I started reading to my granddaughter when she was about 6 months old, when I started babysitting. Her parents started reading to her before then.  Her aunt, her parents, and I have read to her every day.  Multiple times a day.  The only thing she likes better than books is going to the library to get more books.  Anyway, because I have purchased so many board books for her I know what they cost.  I was at Wal-Mart today... yes, I know I told you I would not be going back to Wal-Mart or anywhere else until after Christmas but I realized I needed a haircut and I get it cut at Wal-Mart.  No one can mess up a short pixie cut....almost.  There is this one woman that I don't want to ever cut my hair again so I wandered over to the book section so I could glance over to the haircut place and see if she was the one working today.  Since I was standing in the book section I couldn't help but see this wonder of all wonders...a box of 8, yes eight, lift the flap Karen Kratz books for ... drumroll please ...$7.97. SEVEN DOLLARS & NINETY SEVEN cents for EIGHT books! If you have not had a toddler in your life in a while this might not be so exciting to you but it is to me!  After I got the box set home I went online and added up what the 8 books would have cost at Amazon prices  ...  $49.42 !!! A savings of over $41!  My granddaughter has just one of Ms. Kratz' books but she loved it so much she wore the flaps out.  My granddaughter is looking forward to a baby brother being born any second now, he is a week late, so this set is for him.  I will put it in the closet and will probably keep them until his first birthday.  If there is a toddler in your life, check your Wal-Mart because this is quite a deal on books toddlers love!

And all those other board books I have purchased for my granddaughter? How could I afford them?  Most of them came from Hastings Books.  If you have a Hastings Book Store near you look for used books.  They have a forest green strip at the bottom of the spine that says "used."  The price will be a fraction of a "new" copy.  I only bought "used" board books that looked like brand new.  That is because they were.  If it were a board book with flaps you could tell the flaps had never been lifted.   I would never buy a board book that has been chewed on or slobbered on, as babies do.  I gather that Hastings buys out other suppliers and then sells them as used, or people sell back books someone gave their child or something. I don't know. What I do know is I worked in a public library for 20 years, almost entirely in the children's department and I know what books kids like. I know what a board book looks like if it has been used.  So, go to Hastings and check out the used books.  Now, they do have used books that are really used but even so, other than for a baby that will put it in it's mouth, there is nothing wrong with a used book in good condition. What a bargain!
 **** Here comes that disclaimer **** ... No one at Wal-Mart or Hastings Books has asked me to do a plug for them, they have not given me anything, they don't know who I am, I am just a loyal customer of both businesses.  While working at the library I have worked for both Wal-Mart and Hastings at night but both part time jobs were years ago.  Trivia... Hastings Books is headquartered in Amarillo TX and has 136 superstores across the country.   At closing time Hastings plays "Happy Trails To You."  There are 4,759 Wal-Marts in the US.  If Wal-Mart ever closes, like at Christmas maybe, I have no idea if they play a song or what it might be. :)

Life Jambalaya, or This & That

      Today I made a "bed" on the couch for my granddaughter to take a nap. The nap did not work out for her (thus not for me either, dang it) but Andy decided my effort was not wasted. He just needed to get one of the blankets formed into a suitable pillow for himself.  Andy is the resident watchdog that once 9 p.m. hits he lets me know his shift is over, he is ready for me to close my book and turn out the light by moaning and groaning like an old man at me until I do. 

       This evening my sister introduced me to a cooking blog she found, The Southern Lady Cooks ... this is the lady's blog address:   thesouthernladycooks.com   Oh my goodness, I wanted to try every recipe she had on her blog.  In our dreams, my sister and I would be living next door to each other in a very luxurious assisted living place.  You know, the kind where you have a beautiful but small apartment with your own furniture, maid service, medical professionals to check on you, lots of fun activities, a movie theater in the building, water aerobics in the pool, and someone else to cook the meals and do the dishes.  After 59 and 67 years we think it is time someone else did those last two things for us.  Anyway, I told my sister, after looking at The Southern Lady Cooks recipes, that when Publisher's Clearing House visits with the big check we will move to that assisted living place and ask the cook to just fix anything in this lady's recipe index and we will get along just fine.  We would be in high cotton, as we say here in Texas.  If you enjoy southern cooking you just might want to check out her blog. I gained 10 pounds just reading the recipes. I texted my sister that cooler weather just makes me hungry. I wish I had any of The Southern Lady's crockpot recipes ready for dinner tonight. She texted back that it was 84 degrees here today.  Oh.  Well, I told her that it is FALL, and suppose to be cooler, and since last week it was almost 100 then 84 IS cooler. That is my story and I'm stickin' to it.
      My granddaughter is a pretty healthy kid.  She will be 3 next month and other than allergies and one bout of the stomach flu we all suffered through, twice, she has been healthy as can be.  I read today that the probiotics in foods such as yogurt and cottage cheese boost your immune system.  Well, that explains it!  My granddaughter's favorite food from the time she was about a year old has been cottage cheese.  She has some pretty much every day. Me? I wouldn't put cottage cheese in my mouth if I were starving, and I catch every bug that goes through town. 

     I am in the middle of a great book...a cozy mystery by Diane Mott Davidson, The Whole Enchilada.  I believe it is number 17 in her series.  This is the best one yet.  If you like cozies and you have not read this series then get to your library and get the first one, Catering To Nobody. The main character is Goldy Schulz, a small town Colorado caterer. Now I have to get back to reading .... Y'all have a great weekend, and go give somebody a hug, 

Betsy

Have You Read A Good Book Lately?

    I added a page, Betsy's Book Bag, to list the books I read each month.  I can't remember by title, cover or blurb if I have read something or not, so I have been keeping a list so I don't check out the same books. On the up side, I can always find something to read since I don't remember! I have some memory/reading problems from the effects of depression on my brain, and the remaining effects from a concussion I had last year so I have to read a book all at once.  I can not read a few chapters, pick it up the next day and begin where I left off because I won't remember the plot or the characters.  I wasn't always this way.  I have been an avid reader for oh, 54 years or so and never used to have this problem. That I need to read a book cover to cover in one sitting isn't a bad problem, and I have the time usually, but I wish I could remember more. But enough about that....life is constantly changing, isn't it? 

     I intended to post this the last day of September to talk about the best books I read for the month. Life kind of got in the way but here goes. In September  I read 13 books, mostly cozy mysteries but also a couple of novels, biography or two, and an information book.  

      The cozy mysteries were all good.  When you pick up a cozy you know what you are getting, for the most part.  No graphic language, gore or sex, just a fun mystery. My favorite cozy website keeps me on top of new titles being released each month.  Here is the link  http://www.cozy-mystery.com/Cozy-Mysteries-New-Releases.html

      Best book of the Bunch?  I am going to say The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life written by Ruthie's brother, Rod Dreher.  What I learned, more like was reminded, is that being a part of a community is important.  That "community" can be a small town, a neighborhood, family, a group of friends, a church family, coworkers, whatever.  We need each other. (feel free to start singing that Barbra Streisand song "People Who Need People"...because I have been humming it every time I think of this book.)  Here is a link to a better description of the book than I can write...  http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Way-Ruthie-Leming/dp/1455521914

       Love/Hate Award goes to The Butler: A Witness To History  I am glad I read it. I am even happier that I checked it out of the library and did not pay $18.00 for it.  I loved the story, I just adored Helene and Eugene Allen, and Wil Haygood? He is a phenomenal author. I imagine if I had googled the Washington Post story Mr. Haygood wrote about Mr. Allen I would have been just as satisfied as reading the book.  In fact, since only the first slender portion of the book is about Mr. Allen's story maybe it IS the newspaper article.  The rest includes a few pages of photos, and info about the movie.  NOT what I expected.  I thought this would be a book full of stories about Mr. Allen's experiences serving 8 presidents.  Not so. 

     Surprised I Liked It So Much Award goes to Nowhere But Home. I almost gave it "Best book of the Bunch."  A really good story about a young woman who's mother named her Queen Elizabeth.  This is how terrible, and erratic, my memory is. LOL! I wanted to recommend this book to someone else after I read it and had turned it in to the library. (I worked in a library for 20 years. Please support your library before they go away)  When I texted a librarian to see if he could help me come up with the title I could remember a lot of info--especially for me to remember--that it involved a dysfunctional family, a young woman who loses job after job as a chef, ends up back in the home town she never wanted to see again living with her sister and nephew. I remembered she becomes the person who cooks the last meal for inmates on death row. I could remember the title consisted of three words and a girl standing on a ladder was on the cover, but did I remember the main character's name was Queen Elizabeth (and no, not THAT Queen Elizabeth)???  Nooo, that completely slipped my mind!!

      Friendship Bread, and it's sequel, The Avalon Ladies Scrapbook Society.  I enjoyed these so much I hope there is a 3rd book coming next year.  As in life, everything is not happy, but a very good story and characters that I really liked.  I wanted them to be real and I wanted to join them at the tea shop.
      What have you been reading?