Hello, Strangers!

Oh, that's right. I'm the stranger. You know what? It's difficult to blog when you have a baby to take care of. When she's sleeping or playing by herself, I usually use that time to get up and move around rather than sit at the computer.

Here's what I do while holding her:
*Read
*Watch TV
*Watch movies
*Look at the internet on a laptop, but rarely type anything because I'm holding the baby
*Look at the internet on my smartphone
*Eat things that don't require silverware
*Try to cut her magically fast-growing fingernails (luckily I haven't had to cut her toenails yet since she somehow files them down by rubbing her feet inside her socks)

Here's what I do when she lets me put her down:
*Exercise -- how I miss the days when I could do as much as I wanted! Right now I would love to spend about two hours a day, including weights or cardio + yoga + a walk. Some days I only get 10 minutes and on a few rare days I've actually managed the above-mentioned 2 hours!
*Prepare food, eat, and wash dishes
*Take a shower or bath (I'm lucky if this happens every other day, and I really prefer to shower EVERY day)
*Spot-clean the house. One day I clean a bathroom and the next maybe I finally put away laundry (I am able to wash, dry, and fold clothes almost daily but putting them away is another story)

Violet's now 4 months old and she has discovered the joy of playing with toys, which is awesome! I used to be her only toy but now she can be awake and happy without me holding her. Don't get me wrong, I love to hold her and still do it for hours every day (especially in the evenings, when she simply MUST be held by her mama). I know some day she will be horrified at the thought of spending time with me and I am enjoying it while it lasts! But I do enjoy having a couple of hours each day when I can do something else.

Now, on to the book list. Here are the books I've been reading:
(and sorry if I don't have time to add links. I know that sucks, but I'm afraid I might have to half-ass it or not do it a-tall.)

1. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. A really nice-sized little book about decluttering. I like it. I'll keep it and re-read parts of it later, when I have more time to sort things. I would really like to do another sweep of all my stuff (I did one about a year ago and got rid of a lot of stuff and it felt great. Once I lose some more pregnancy weight I want to try on all my clothes and get rid of stuff that's too small or that I don't like or that I think I'll never wear. I've got 13 pounds to go!)

2. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. This was recommended (and given to me) by my friends Joe and Emily and it is a great, funny novel about the end of the world. A demon and an angel who are both stationed on earth and who have become friends over many, many years are the main protagonists. I must point out that it is BRITISH humor, so if you don't like that, do not read this book.

3-7. The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins. Shit, these are good books. They're for teens or tweens or 11-year-olds and are about a seemingly normal kid who gets sucked into an underground land where he is thought to be The Warrior of their prophecies. He's brave and kind and good. Don't we love epic quests with pure-hearted heros? If you do, read this series. The individual titles are: Gregor the Overlander, Gregor and the Prophecy of the Bane, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Marks of Secret, Gregor and the Code of Claw. WARNING: if you start reading the first one, you probably will not stop reading until you've completed all five.

8 & 9. If Books Could Kill and Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle. These are cozies (light mysteries) with a heroine who is a bookbinder. They're fun, light reads but I won't insist that you read them.

10. If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler. I love Anne Tyler and her quirky, thoughtful characters. Sometimes there's just no point to the story, and it's more of a character study, and I think this is one of those. Here are some things that I liked:
"A tune began in his head, hummed nonchalantly by that sexless, anonymous voice that lived inside him and always spoke words as he read them and thoughts as he thought them."
and
"He never could have the feeling that the whole family was under one roof and taken care of; one always had to be out wandering around somewhere beyond his jurisdiction." What a great use of that word!

11. I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron. This is a collection of essays about this and that and aging. I'm 34 and found it very funny and relevant. You don't have to be Nora's age to enjoy it. Here are a couple things I particularly liked:
She's at a movie theater and the movie isn't properly centered on the screen. She's the only one who will go and complain about it. "By the time I got back to my seat, the image on-screen had been reframed, although not perfectly, but by then I was too exhausted by my heroism to complain further."
and
She finds an online game called Scrabble Blitz and says, "I began playing it without a clue that within one day -- I am not exaggerating -- it would fry my brain."

12. The Great Fitness Experiment by Charlotte Hilton Andersen. Well, I wouldn't call it "great" but it was kind of fun. Each month for a year, she and some friends tried a new style of working out and/or a new eating style to see what results they'd get. That's fun for someone like me, because I like to work out and I like trying new stuff. BUT, it would have been more useful if she had done the programs for more like 2 months, since 1 month is too short to really know if it's going to work. AND sometimes she didn't really do the program. Like, she'd read about it but instead of buying the DVD or the program, she'd just make up something that she thought was close enough. Um, if you're writing a book, try to get the publisher to pay for the DVDs you need to write the book! So, kind of fun but not quite good enough.

13. Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott. This is subtitled, "A Journal of My Son's First Year." This woman raised her son as a single mother and it sounds like hell. I can't imagine being alone with a newborn ALL THE TIME. Her entries are funny and sad and I read it while Violet was a newborn and was so grateful to have my husband! She had a bunch of great friends who helped her and I guess that's what you have to do if you are a single mom -- let people help you or hire people to help you. Anyway, I recommend this book if you think it sounds at all appealing, or if you are about to be a parent so you will be able to think, "man, this is really hard but at least I'm not a single mom." or "fuck, it's really hard being a single mom, but if that crazy Anne Lamott with her author photo of herself with white-lady dreads can do it, so can I!" (Plus I just Googled her and she wears those crazy white-lady dreads still, apparently. That must be her thing.)

14. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell. A good Swedish detective novel. There is a whole series starring police inspector Kurt Wallander, who is separated from his wife and semi-estranged from his father and daughter and keeps getting a little fatter and less together. He's likable and you root for him to get his shit together. I like the writing and the glimpse into Swedish life.

15. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Why did I decide to read this? I don't know. Partly because Raj read it on "Big Bang Theory." Partly because sometimes I just need a little life-affirming influence in my life and I don't live in Boulder anymore so I can't get it from hippies. It's what you would expect: uplifting and funny and also sad. But it also has cussing! And it was fun to read about Italy, and an ashram in India, and what it's like in Indonesia. I have to admit that I really enjoyed it and maybe I don't care if you think I'm a dork.

16. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I really liked this one! It covers three different time periods and sets of characters. Nell was a lost little girl who showed up alone on a ship in Australia. Her granddaughter tries to find out how that happened after Nell has died. The granddaughter uncovers the story of Nell's parents and her very early childhood. It's really good. I did feel a tiny bit befuddled sometimes with the switching back and forth between times, but I really believe that was because I was so sleep-deprived and distracted. I think you'll keep up just fine and really like it.

17. Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Well, I love these guys for their Pendergast novels, and this is a new series with a new character: Gideon Crew. I don't like him as much as Pendergast, but he might grow on me in future adventures. He's smart and handy and has good reasons to be a loose cannon. Overall, not as much of a page-turner for me as some of their other novels, but appealing enough that I will check out the next one in the series.

18. Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan. This mystery felt like something new. It wasn't a comforting novel following the usual pattern, and I felt like I could not predict what was going to happen. It's smart, well-written, with interesting and mysterious characters (is the main guy good or bad? do we like him? can we readers trust him?) and a strong plot. I definitely recommend it.

I read some more on my kindle, but I'll report on those next time.

See you soon, hopefully!