My 2011 Reading List

I don't think it comes as a surprise to any of my blog readers that my spare time is usually consumed by spending time with my family and friends, watching hockey and reading. I'm also a list maker and it makes me feel good to check things off my list or in this case to look back and see what I have accomplished throughout the year. I think when 2011 began I had a goal of reading one book a week. So that was probably a little too ambitious; like starting a diet and hoping to loose 10 pounds in one week. So I didn't do a book a week but I must say I'm pretty pleased at my list here.

2011 Book List

The Good Thief

In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time

(Disclaimer I did start these two in 2010 but finished in 2011)

Room: A Novel

The Art of Mending
Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess

Flight to Heaven: A Plane Crash...A Lone Survivor...A Journey to Heaven--and Back

I had surgery at the end of January and was out of work for 6 weeks. I thought having all this time off would provide me with ample opportunities to read. It was a good plan yet while I really wanted to read, my body fought me and well I slept A LOT. During those 6 weeks I'm sad to report that I only completed the following 2 books:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close MTI: A Novel

Abide with Me: A Novel

Confession Time: Growing up I loved, loved, loved Little House on the Prairie. The books yes, but also the television show. Turns out 3 of the actresses from Little House all penned books recently and yes, I have completed the trifecta and have listed them in that order (win, place and show)
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated

Prairie Tale: A Memoir

The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House


Two of my friends published books this year. One of my favorites of the year, was written by my friend Eileen Button.

The Waiting Place: Learning to Appreciate Life's Little Delays
The other was written by a faculty couple who I work with.

Cheap Love: Living and Loving on Less

Summer Reads (and probably my favorites of the year) I love summer reading. For some reason, I think it's better than any other time of the year.

Prayers and Lies
The Pilot's Wife
The Sweet Relief of Missing Children: A Novel

Cutting for Stone
Surprised by Oxford: A Memoir

The Book Thief

Maine

I actually read Maine, while I was vacationing in of all places, Maine.

And rounding out the year:
Life Is So Good: One Man's Extraordinary Journey through the 20th Century and How he Learned to Read at Age 98

This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women

Whistling In the Dark

Gilead: A Novel

Man's Search for Meaning Probably the 3rd or 4th time I've read this one. Assigned it to my Freshmen class this year, and a little disappointed that they did not love it as much as I do. Maybe someday they will.)

The Slow Fade: Why You Matter in the Story of Twentysomethings Another college read. This was a faculty read about engaging our students when it comes to matters of faith and mentoring.

And finally

Holidays on Ice I love David Sedaris, but this "holiday" book may be just a little too dark and sarcastic for me. Although I have laughed throughout and then felt a little guilty for laughing.

Well, that's my reading list for the year. Already starting to think about 2012. Shameless plug for comments here but what have you read this year and really enjoyed?

Things that make me smile

I cannot remember a fall semester ever being this busy, I feel like my office is a revolving door of students wanting career advice, and when I'm not in my office I've been speaking in various classes as well as planning some career events that I'm happy to say have gone really, really well. I like it when that happens. It makes me smile.

This past Thursday night a few of my girlfriends and I grabbed dinner together and then my friend Kathy and I made a trip to Lowes. I don't typically hang out at home improvement stores. Truth is I am not that handy, my home improvement talents seem to end at painting the walls. However this Thursday night I had my eye on something very specific, something that will be life changing in my little home.

That's right I bought my self an electric "fireplace" well it's more of a stove than a fireplace but I am giddy with excitement over it. Cold winter days coming up? Bring it! I will be toasty warm by my fire. It actually does admit a very nice amount of heat and the the flames are well, semi realistic. At any rate, it make me smile. A LOT.

At the end of Thursday night I pulled back into my garage and then happened to notice something sticking out from underneath my windshield wipers. My first thought was oh no a parking ticket, Kathy thought it was a political propaganda (tis the season) turns out it wasn't a ticket it was two tickets.
Someone, who has yet to reveal themselves, left me two tickets for the hockey game. Turns out I found the tickets at about 9:00 pm. and the game started at 7:00. Missing the game didn't bother me, and the surprise act of kindness really made me smile. Oh and the Sabres won that night too. Something else to smile about.

Just Some Sentences

I baked again, today. Shocking I know but my department is trying to make nice with another department who we share a suite with. Actually we all get along quite well, we just rarely take the time to socialize with each other. So tonight, I made my friend's recipe for what she calls "Apple Crack" I'm not crazy about the name but the dessert is oh so good.

It's hockey season again and that makes me oh so very happy.

I'm loving fall in western New York and strangely enough I (the lover of all things light) am actually enjoying the darker evenings, it's a great excuse to my pajamas on early, drink hot cocoa and a good book. I'm currently reading "The Book Thief" which quite frankly is keeping me up at night. Apparently, I'm a bit behind the times because I asked a good friend of mine who is also an avid reader if she had read it yet. "Uh yeah, Mary about 2 years ago, where have you been?" I'm not sure where I've been but I'm certainly glad I found it.

"I think I flushed my keys down the toilet."

I won't identify this person by name but today one of my friends accidentally flushed her keys down the toilet. Now of course this was an accident because who would flush their keys down the toilet on purpose? To make matters worse, these were not really her car keys but the car keys to a rental car that she needed to return to the car dealership this afternoon. She called the facility department on campus to see if they might some how magically be able to pull her keys from the toilet. The conversation went something like this:

"Hello, I'm calling to report a situation" Now by this time several of us had gathered around her trying to figure out a solution to her problem. Calling it a "situation" sent us all into fits of laughter.

"Umm hold on for a second" she said and then looked at us. "They want to know my name." Now it's bad enough to admit to your friends that you have flushed your rental car keys down the toilet, but to admit it to someone else? Well that takes courage. I'm sure the facilities folks will be talking about this for awhile.

Ultimately they were not able to find her keys, she had her rented car towed back to the dealership, picked up her car and unfortunately owes the dealership a hefty sum for the missing key. I bought her a hot fudge sundae tonight for dinner, it was the least I could do.

Surprised by Oxford

I'm sure it is no surprise to any of my blog readers that I am a book fanatic. I've joked in the past about trying to figure out a way to get paid just to sit and read. Well, I still haven't figured that out, but I did learn about a website www.booksneeze.com that does provide free books to bloggers in return for a review on their blog. Sign me up! The first book I picked was Surprised by Oxford a memoir by Carolyn Weber.

I work in student development at a Christian college so a memoir about discovering one's faith during their college years, well that's just right up my alley. Carolyn Weber is a self professed agnostic who from London, Ontario who receives a full scholarship to Oxford University where she plans to study romantic literature. She has spent her life relying on intellect and reason to survive, but it is faith she finds at Oxford. Her book reminded me a lot of another memoir "Girl meets God" which I also loved. Carolyn in just her first few days at Oxford was challenged by fellow students to really think more about her faith, God and what it means to be a Christian.

The fact that Ms. Weber has spent her life relying on her intellect she begins to look at her faith from an intellectual perspective and asking a lot of hard questions. One of my favorite quotes from this book is an interaction she has with one of her friends regarding her spiritual journey " I don't know if I can do this.. It's no use, I think I may need to leave it alone." Her friends response "Friend, you are no longer the person you were when you arrived in Oxford.. Oxford has changed you, or rather, what God is working through you at Oxford has changed you. You have been brought across, over, beyond. You are now in a different place. Of course you will continue to love, to question, to study, to learn, to do everything as before and more, just from a different place, this change, changes everything.

Isn't that the truth? Once we know and understand God's love, mercy and grace we are changed and we can no longer look at things in the same way. Ms Weber's mix of literature, her academic experience along with her spiritual journey make this a book I will share with others and keep for some time.

Be Still and Know that He is God

Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is holy
Be still oh restless soul of mine
Bow before the prince of Peace
Let the noise and clamor cease
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is faithful
Consider all that He has done
Stand in awe and be amazed
And know that He will never change
Be still
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is God
Be still
Be speechless
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know He is our Father
Come rest your head upon His breast
Listen to the rhythm of
His unfailing heart of love
Beating for His little ones
Calling each of us to come
Be still
Be still

I love this song, it challenges me in so many ways. While I would never describe myself as an overly active individual I have a very, very hard time being still. And what I mean by that is I cannot just sit and be still. If I'm watching television, I usually have my laptop, a magazine or a book in my lap. If I'm reading, I might also be plugged in to my ipod. Even my prayer life can be somewhat schizophrenic. A prayer for someone may remind that I should really send them a note or at least a phone call, and speaking of phone calls did I pay my cell phone bill this month? Some people might call this multitasking I call it restlessness. Even as I fall asleep each night I need background noise, the television or a white noise machine with crashing waves, a thunderstorm or perhaps the sounds of a babbling brook, although truth be told the babbling brook makes me think I have to pee.

This past week though I was forced to be still. At the end of June I did a back somersault with a half twist down a flight of stairs. The Russian judge gave me a 9.3 because I did not stick the landing. As a result of this tumble I took a trip to the emergency room for a CT scan of my head and some x-rays of my ankle. I left the emergency room thinking I had nothing but a sprained ankle and a lot of bruises. Turns out, I was wrong and the CT scan of my head revealed what my doctor called "suspicious white matter" which I later learned from my neurologist are lesions on my brain. They wanted to do further testing.

I spent the weeks leading up to the MRI stressing out, doing multiple Google searches of what brain lesions could mean and having a few melt downs here and there and praying. A lot of praying. I already have more than one chronic illness and the thought of dealing with another (Multiple Sclerosis) was not something I was ready for. My MRI was Thursday, I've had MRI's done before but I guess I forgot how tight those MRI capsules are, how loud they are and how still one must be during this type of examination. For each new "picture" that the technician would take they would tell me "this one will last about 2 minutes" and then you are put through two minutes of the most annoying noise I can recall. The sound is hard to describe, smoke detector? Air horn? Car Alarm? You get the point. For each new picture the length got longer. "This next one will be 7 minutes" Are you kidding me? At this point I had to come up with someway to avoid the torture that was going on around me. I started signing Don McLean's "American Pie" its an 8 minute song, the longest one I know. And yes it's true I know all the words. Doesn't everybody?

At some point during the MRI Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Be Still" came to me. I may have laughed a little, what choice did I have but to be still. And so I began signing this song to myself to block out the noise going on around me. "Let the noise and clamor cease" And for the first time in weeks amongst all the stress and worrying I had done I felt a sense of peace. His peace. I still do not know the results of the MRI but God does, and I am trusting Him.

Summer Reading

I'm sure it is no big secret to any of my blog readers but I love to read. And summer reading, when I can spend the day outside in my Adirondack chair or on my porch swing reading There really is nothing sweeter than that. My goal for this summer was a book a week, that has not happened but I have been making my way through some good books. Here's what I've accomplished so far.

The Waiting Place: Learning to Appreciate Life's Little Delays by Eileen Button. Now I know I am bias because Eileen happens to be on of my most treasured friends but her book is outstanding and this is a book that should be on everyone's nightstand, whether you read a chapter a night or fly through it as I did and then start over.

Room: A novel by Emma Don0ghue. I'll admit I downloaded this book to my Kindle on Christmas day started reading it and then got side tracked by other books. It is the story of 5 year old Jack who has lived with his ma in "room" his entire life. To Jack room is his world but to his ma it is where they are being kept prisoner. Once I finally took the time to sit down and read this one, it was a real page turner.

Others that I have completed:
The Pilots Wife by Anita Shreve
Prayers and Lies by Sherri Wood Emmons
The Sweet Relief of Missing Children by Sarah Braunstein

Still on my list for the summer:

Maine by Courtney Sullivan
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

If you are looking for me I'll be outside somewhere most likely with my nose in a book. So what are you reading? Comments please!

My Kind of Town

It was college graduation this weekend, I skipped it! I think in my 19 years of working for the college this is only the 2nd commencement that I have missed. I'm okay with that though. Instead of sitting through another commencement ceremony I was road tripping west to Chicago. I was hoping to be a part of one of Oprah's final episodes, but instead I settled for shopping trips to Crate and Barrel and IKEA neither which are located in my little city.

The real reason for the trip was to spend a few days with my brother, his girlfriend and my parents. I'm blogging about this now so that in a year I have a written reminder to never, ever take a 9 hour road trip with my parents again, EVER! They invited me along saying how much Matt and Kim wanted to see me and how we could all share driving responsibilities. Share driving responsibilities? Apparently sharing driving responsibilities to my parents means on a 9 hour trip my mom will drive 3 hours, my dad will drive for 27 minutes and I will drive the rest. So yes, I guess technically we shared driving responsibilities.

Other things that Chicago has that my city doesn't? Well these two.

My brother and his girlfriend, who I keep reminded him needs to be his wife. I'm pretty certain that it is going to happen, I just like to pressure him to make it happen soon. She does not seem to be too worried about though. They are in fact planning a future together. Our time at IKEA proved that, they are talking about what their next kitchen is going to look like.

Other things Chicago has? Well yes I have already mentioned Crate and Barrel and IKEA but also Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Costco and oh yeah a sweet little diner called the Honey Jam that has of all things on the menu white chocolate, raspberry waffles and pancakes and did I mention deep dish pizza? Yes, we shopped a lot and we ate a lot and we laughed a lot. And the weather there? It's a lot like the weather here but it seemed like the spring flowers there were a few days ahead of ours. I think I've mentioned before maybe once or twice how much I love spring. Look at these beauties.


And these. I think pink trees prove that God loves beauty and that he also has a sense of humor. I don't think I would have ever thought to create a pink tree. Both these trees are located on the grounds of the country club where my brother is a golf professional. He was extra excited this week because the day before we arrive he spent the day golfing with two players from the Chicago Blackhawks. They both sent him text messages afterwords saying what a great time they had with him. For a hockey fanatic this was huge, he referred to his new bff's several times while were there, and every time it made us all smile. Kind of the way pink trees make me smile.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I once read that Kirstie Alley spent as much on flowers as she had previously spent on her expensive drug habit. I don't have an expensive drug habit, well I don't have a drug habit but I have decided that having a few flowers throughout the house makes me a much happier person. And because spring has arrived I have been able to take advantage of picking a few blooms from my own garden. My hyacinths smell amazing, it's the little things that make me happy.

Oh and for me right now it is the most wonderful time of the year! Spring has arrived and so have the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hockey every night from now until June! It's hard not to be giddy with excitement. Of course I'm cheering for the home team, the Sabres and it would make me oh so happy if they could actually make it out of the first round. I like their chances this year, new owner with lots of enthusiasm. Let's Go Buffalo!

Adventures in the Kitchen part 4

If you have read my blog since it's inception you know that I was quite adamant that while plenty of great food blogs exist out there, this would not be one of them. And while I insisted that I wouldn't be blogging about my "expertise" in the kitchen, I lied. You can look back to June 2010 to see the original adventures in the kitchen.

While I may be pretty inept when it comes to cooking, I am a "little" better at baking but I could crush anyone when it comes to using the microwave. Imagine my surprise when I learned I could actually bake something in the microwave. This turned out so good that I couldn't resist the opportunity to pass it along. Did you know that you could "bake" brownies in the microwave? Now I know some of you are thinking, warming up a frozen pre-packaged is not baking but I'm not taking about those. I'm talking about baking brownies in a coffee mug.

Here's what you'll need.
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil

Mix all the dry ingredients and then spoon in an egg and then add the milk and the oil. Now you're ready to "bake" your brownie. Bake for approximately 3 minutes, if you have a powerful microwave like I do, you may only need to bake for 2 - 2 1/2 minutes. Enjoy!

Spring!

This picture has absolutely nothing do to with spring, except for the fact that it was for sale at the flower show I went to yesterday. The flower show was a bit of a disappointment, seems this year's theme "Rock the Garden" was more about rocks then it was about gardens. Lots of landscape companies highlighting all the ways they can create a fabulous backyard oasis using stonework. Truth is I'd rather see more flowers.

But isn't this piano the gaudiest thing you have ever seen? At the same time, it's hard to take your eyes off it. It does not go with the color scheme of my house at all, yet I want it in my living room. Looking at makes me smile and I think had I had this piano as a child I would have practiced more. Perhaps I would have been a concert pianist by now.

At any rate spring arrives here sometime tomorrow and I couldn't be happier. Spring is my absolute favorite season for a number of reason. Each day that we get closer and closer to spring I know that I can once again say good bye to winter. Some of my favorite flowers, hyacinths and tulips bloom in the spring. I can finally put away the heavy sweaters, boots and mittens. New life, iced lattes, Easter, NHL playoffs. What's not to love about Spring?

If You're Irish, Come into the Parlor

And this is where it all began. Well it probably began somewhere before here but this is the family homestead in County Galway, Ireland. My grandfather was born in this house and lived here till he came to the United States as a young adult.

I feel very fortunate that I have been able to travel twice to Ireland, once with my family and a second time with friends. My first trip to Ireland was for a friends wedding, she got married here.

Yes, that's right I have a friend who decided she was so special that she couldn't have just an ordinary wedding, she needed to get married in a castle and not just any castle but a castle in Ireland. It was the most spectacular wedding I have ever been to and I'm pretty sure that no other wedding I ever attend will measure up. This wedding and the two weeks we spent there are some of my most cherished memories.

The funniest part about my first trip to Ireland is that the day after spending a weekend in castle, we moved on to spend a few days with friends who live in Ireland. In the castle I had a bathtub the size of most people's bathrooms and a shower head the size of a small cafe table. Let's just say that I took my fair share of showers and baths while I was there. The friends that we stayed with had built a new home for themselves on their family property, we stayed in the original family cottage. My bedroom there? Well I could sit on the twin bed and basically touch all four walls, and the bathroom? My kitchen sink leaks more water than the shower in that cottage.

I don't normally consider myself to be high maintenance but it really is hard to go from being a princess to Cinderella.

Emails, books and other surprises

After 6 weeks off recuperating from surgery. Countless hours of sleep, lots of television and a few very good books. I returned to work yesterday.

I had 1,732 emails waiting for me. Oh and these. To distract me from the massive amounts of email.



And if you are looking for some good book suggestions may I suggest the following:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Good Thief
Flight to Heaven
Churched One Kids Journey toward God despite a Holy Mess

My Mundane Life

Post surgery life has been a bit mundane. People keep telling me it's okay that I get up at 8:30 in the morning, take a morning nap and an afternoon nap. I feel like a 6 month old. I'm told that sleep is good, that is helping me heal. Quite frankly I'm annoyed by it. I'm not sure why but I envisioned these weeks off of work as being endless hours of reading, I stocked my Kindle with multiple books and I was ready to read. Problem is after about 30 minutes of reading I find myself drifting off to sleep. So instead of reading I have spent more time watching daytime tv.

Confession time - I'm amused by Regis and Kelly (at least their host chat time) what did they do last night while I slept? Regis is 79 years old and is way more active than most people I know. I'm less enchanted by the interviews they do and most likely who ever is on their show has already been on the Today show earlier in the morning or will show up on The View later.

I am not a fan of The View. I think the ladies of The View are quite rude to each other, they are more interested in getting their point across than actually listening to each other. I find them rude and insensitive.

I draw the line at watching soap operas, although my mom is a fan of Days of our Lives and I am embarrassed to admit that when she watched I was able to quickly pick up on what was happening in the lives of the residents of Salem, USA.

At this point in the day, I typically try to read, end up falling asleep and seem to wake up just in time to watch either Oprah or Ellen depending on my mood. I finally have permission to drive which has opened up a whole new set of opportunities for me. Tuesday I went to the post office, Wednesday to the pharmacy to have a prescription refilled and to buy hair color. I'm not sure if this is true or not but I believe the anesthesia they gave me in the hospital made my hair grayer than usual. Today I took my car to the car wash. And tomorrow I am quite excited about actually going out for lunch and spending an hour with my friends, I just hope I don't fall asleep in my soup.

Bedwarmers

People think I'm crazy when I tell them that I have actually trained my cats. Molly and Moses came to live with me 8 years ago. I like the idea of having a dog, but with out all the work and extra care required of dog ownership. So I set out to train the cats as if they were dogs and it has worked. Moses and Molly (almost always) come when I call them. Moses responds specifically to whistling but not just any whistling my whistling and he is especially fond of the tun "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" typically I get a 95% response rate with that tune. Molly will fetch a small cloth ball and return it to me and both of them are more than happy to oblige me when I ask them to come sit with me and keep me warm.

I've also trained them to go to bed at night, typically around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. I will say "time for bed" or "let's go up" they then follow me upstairs to the office, where they hunker down for the evening. All this training has gone to pot since my hospital stay. I was gone for 10 days and while my mom lovingly cared for them she did not try to put them to bed each night.

My first night home from the hospital was horrible, I felt lousy and they were very aware of my intense pain and quite frankly my lack of interest in them. I didn't try to instill my bed time rules but instead have allowed something I know I will be sorry for. The cats are now sleeping in bed with me. I had always said my bedroom would be a cat free zone, but as I sit here in bed, Molly is warming my left side and Moses is taking care of keeping my feet cozy. I actually find their purring to be soothing and their snoring to be a bit amusing.

It is still up for a debate how long I will allow this to go on, I'm also wondering how easy it is to retrain a cat.

Food Glorious Food!

I ate a scrambled egg today, that's big news considering my last "real" meal was January 25th the day before my surgery. After surgery I went home with the instructions of staying on a liquid diet for a couple days and then begin introducing soft foods into my diet. Turns out that pesky little bowel obstruction happened before anything other than lemon ice passed my lips.

When I left hospital number 2 they too advised just liquid until I see the doctor again. That appointment happened this afternoon and he deferred to my surgeon who I meet with tomorrow. So for the last week I have had a diet of broth, yogurt, oatmeal and get ready for it, milkshakes; which really is not that exciting. I am craving something salty in a big way. Yesterday was Superbowl Sunday, besides Thanksgiving, I can't think of any other day when food seems to take center stage. My mom has been here taking care of me while I recover and my friends have been incredibly amazing at blessing her with meals each night. Last night my friend Laura brought my mom all the fixings for submarine sandwiches, chicken wing dip and chips and chopped veggies for dipping. It was all I could do to not just stick my finger in that dip and taste real food again.

I was an emotional wreck today, I blame it on pain, exhaustion and a lack of protein. I cried on the way home from the doctor today, I am desperate for a tuna fish sandwich or something that I actually have to chew. As my mom and I pulled into the garage I looked at her and asked "A soft boiled egg could be considered liquid right?" She agreed of course and quickly got to boiling water for me. When she handed it to me I asked her to stick it in the microwave for 30 more seconds to make it just a bit hotter. In that time it turned from soft boiled to scrambled and quite frankly I have never tasted something so good. Tomorrow after I meet the surgeon I am really hoping for a tuna sandwich or maybe some mac and cheese.

A Tale of Two Hospitals

I checked into one of my city's large urban hospitals on January 26 for a scheduled hiatal hernia surgery. This larger hernia had been giving me problems, lots of problems for some time so my doctor and I decided it needed to be repaired. She recommend a surgeon and while I have had previous surgery with another I went with her suggestion because she seemed so adamant and well quite frankly I do trust her opinion.

Unfortunately the surgery did not go as I had planned it was open vs. laparoscopic which means a MUCH larger scar and unfortunately more time in the hospital. This is actually where my nightmare began. I was moved to my room about 10 p.m. and spent the rest of the night in a post anesthesia confusion. At times I had scripture verses running through my head providing me comfort and other times I saw strange pictures on the walls and then when I would finally feel the ability to drift to sleep I would be awaken by the nursing staff, they needed blood, or to check my blood pressure and temperature

At 4:00 am the next morning I sensed a strange presence in the room. Turns out it was not an employee of the hospital but the daughter of the 78 year old patient in the bed next to me. Did you see that I said 4:00 am? Turns out this woman is a Nurse Practitioner who had worked at said hospital for 28 years and considered herself a VIP. For the next 4 days she turned into the cruise director and our semi private room was the place to be. Problem is I was in extreme pain, tired and just wanted peace and quiet. The 78 year old patient, her husband, and their 40 something year old son insisted on watching Jerry Springer and Judge Judy every afternoon. Since she and her husband are both in their 70's volume was an issue. I did my best to put my ear phones on and the nursing staff were also kind enough to provide me with a pair of ear plugs. The last straw for me happened on Friday night which apparently was their 60th wedding anniversary, when the whole anniversary party came to visit. At one point in our semi-private room she had 8 visitors at one time. Thankfully at this point two of my dearest friends Kathy and George came by to hold my hand and wipe away my tears of frustration.

I insisted on being discharged the next day, I wanted nothing more than to be in my own home in peace and quiet. This was a mistake. From the moment I arrive home I could not stop dry heaving, from Saturday through Monday afternoon I ate 2 spoonfuls of jello, a bowl of lemon ice and few glasses of cranberry juice. On Monday afternoon when the pain in my stomach and back was so back and the heaving continued I called a good friend with several years of nursing experience. She suggested she meet my mom and I at small community hospital just a few minutes away from me. Turns out all my pain, inability to eat was because of a bowel obstruction. The nurse in the Emergency department quickly conducted what I can only say is the most uncomfortable procedure I have ever experienced the NG tube. The horrible tube is shoved down one of your nostrils to your throat and then eventually empties all the "crap" that has been sitting in your stomach unable to leave your body. I had the NG tube for 3 days and pray that I never have to experience that again. 6 days later after a much for quiet experience at small community hospital I am home resting in bed. Turns out my original surgeon of choice is now practicing at small community hospital as is the father of one of my co-workers. My Physician's Assistant who visited me throughout the week happens to be the best friend of my dear friend Kathy. I am praying that in the future I have no more need for surgery, however if I do, I certainly know where I am going.

Reading Lists

So far 2011 hasn't been that kind to me and I started it the way I finished 2010, sick. Yesterday was my first day back to work in 2011, today was my first sick day of the new year. I probably should have stayed home yesterday, but after 16 days of vacation, I was anxious to get back to work and see my coworkers and hear about everyone's holiday, oh yeah and to get back to work. But as the day went on I could feel myself getting weaker, and I'm pretty sure no one appreciated the fact that I was hacking up a lung all day long. So today I stayed home, I slept till 11:00. Boy did that feel good! And I have spent the rest of the day cozied up in my recliner reading.

I've finished 2 books already in 2011. Granted I started one of them in 2010 and was almost done when the new year rolled around. The first book I finished was "The Good Thief" it is probably not a book that I would normally pick up, but my city has chosen it has an all city read and I actually had it on my bookshelf, a gift from my sister in law from 2009 that I had not gotten to yet. Set in 1800 New England this was a fast moving story that reminded me of a lot of Dickens books.

My second book "In the Neighborhood: The Search For Community One Sleepover at a Time" was my book clubs selection for the month. Based on a true story of a murder/suicide in an upper class neighborhood. The author begins his own sociological experiment of trying to get to know the people in his neighborhood. It was a good start, but I believe more ideas will be brought out in our book club discussions than were talked about in his book. It did make me realize however how thankful I am to be living in the neighborhood that I am. I do know my neighbors and they know me. There is a lot of comfort knowing that you are surrounded by good people who look after one another.

I received a Kindle this year for Christmas, and I am wondering if it wrong to love an inanimate object? Probably, but I really am having fun with my Kindle. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but I like immediate gratification and the Kindle provides that for me. See book, download, start reading. As quick as that. Amazon offers lots of free books (Just like the library) my friend Gale pointed out. But I get to keep them! I pointed out to her and I don't have to wait. Immediate gratification.