In Memory of Mom...

Today was the 3rd Annual "Let's Go to Salty's for Mom" brunch. This year we expanded the invite list to include the Pantry goat and Mr & Mrs. Braspir. Unfortunately the PantryGoat was sickish (the smell of food made her sick) and Mrs. Braspir was off saving the world with the Red Cross. So that left, Seattle SIL, The Niece, Blueberry, Mr. Braspir and myself to sit and eat like gluttons in memory of mom.

And oh boy did we.

You never can get the full value out of this buffet cuz there's SO MUCH FOOD. But Salty's puts on a fantastic brunch.

Thursday marked 3 years since Mom passed. This year was very different from the last two. The first year was...well, hard. Last year was so so. This year... whoa. Grief is so bizarre.

Usually the week leading up to it is the hard part. I get myself all in a tither when I think about the day that's coming up. Then when the day arrives, nothing.

This year, we had a snow event that took my mind off everything, apparently. Then suddenly on the 16th my mind went, "Ahh yes...I know what today is." and it hit me. Grief.

I miss mom so much. I miss her daily. So many times I have wanted to call her. So many things I've wanted to tell her. She'd be so proud of where I am and what I'm doing. She'd be so proud of all her grandkids too. She is missed by all.

Did I mention we had a snow event? Lord. I hate snow so much. It's pretty and all, but when it hits the streets here the city shuts down. I have zero confidence with driving in the snow and Wroamin just doesn't do well, so I stay home.

Then what happens is I get cabin fever and MUST go out. That happened about the time my boss wanted me in the office so he drove out to pick me up and took me home later. It was good to get out of the house for sure.

The snow is gone now...mostly. There's still some on the ground in big piles where it was plowed. Otherwise it's long gone. I really hope that's all we have for this year.

As for how the year's going...so far so good. I'm still feeling super motivated with My Little Word - "Finish it!". Been working on a decluttering schedule this month. It feels so good to declutter and get rid of stuff. With planning on moving in a year, I need to be prepared to have half the crap I currently have.

Ok. I'm going to spend the rest of the day napping. I'm stuffed beyond belief...super thirsty but can't drink too much because I'm so stuffed.

For the Love of Books

Every year I have a goal to read 50 books. Some years I make it, some I don't. Last year I made it.  I read a total of 54 books. That's more than1 a week!

And in case you're wondering, that's 16,601 pages read!

I had moments where I would finish one book and start another. Then I had moments where I didn't read anything for a month. I have no real rhyme or reason with what, how, and when I read.

I love having the Nook App on my phone because that means I can read at any time. Waiting for a dr. appt...I can read.

So here we are in 2020 and I have a LIST of books I want to read. At the end of the day, I love reading. If I hit my goal, Great! If I don't, so be it.

As a review, here's what I read in 2019 with my opinions on each book.

Let's start with my favorites. Only two that really rose to the top as far as favorites. I read these two one right after another and both of them were so good I've tried to share the word to anyone who would listen.

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes (5+stars - that's how good it was) - This book! I can't even begin to tell you what a wonderful book this was. It's set in WWII and present day. It bounces between a story of two women. You don't fully understand why until towards the end of the book. It's written brilliantly and it comes together so well. I'd reread this book for sure.

Echoes by Maeve Binchy (5+ stars) - I've read a couple of her books and each on stayed with me for a bit. This book stayed with me. In fact, it stayed with me so much when I finished reading it, the next day I wondered what the characters were doing. I fell in love with the characters and the story. Set in Ireland, which I love, it's a story of life in a small town, love, and how people try to avoid their destinies.

Next, the books from the book club, Vines & Spines. We've read some good ones this year, and we've read some duds. I rank my books in stars 0-4 with 4 being great and zero being don't bother.

Bold spirit "Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by Linda Lawrence Hunt (0 stars) - Not my favorite. It's interesting from a historical perspective, but meh.

Boy Erased by Garrand Conley (1 star) - This was my selection. I thought it would be way more interesting than it was. The only interesting part to me was that people are crazy enough to think conversion therapy works.

Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K. Runyah (2 stars) - This book is about the women pilots in WWII. The history was interesting, the story was ok, the ending, not so great.

Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce (1 star) - I had to look up what this book was even about. Guess that tells you how much I liked it.

Glory Over Everything: Beyond the Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom (3 stars) - Last year we read The Kitchen House and this year we read the sequel. Great book. Great writing. The two are a good read.

How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Averez (1 star) - Again, another book that was just meh for me. What was interesting about this book is the look at how immigrants have to deal with life in America.

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman (4 stars) - Probably one of my all time favorites that we've read in book club. Such good writing, such a good story. Sad, happy, thoughtful, it had everything.

Love and Ruin by Paula McLain (4 stars ) - One of the first years of book club we read the Paris Wife about one of Ernest Hemmingway's wives. This book is about one of his other wives. I've gotta say, he was quite a cad. This, however, was a great book. The Paris Wife was one of my favorites for sure and this one was yet another favorite.

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James (4 stars) - This was my pick for January 2020 actually but I read it in December 2019. If you like mysteries, this is the book for you. Not at all gruesome or violent - but a mystery all the same.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (0 stars) - I had high hopes for this book because I'm a fan of fantasy and futuristic stories. The TV show looked interesting too. Yet this book just didn't hit the mark for me.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingle Wilder (2 stars) - This is book 6 of the Little House on the Prairie series. I loved that TV show in the 80's but never read a book of hers. Over all this one wasn't great for me. The LONG Winter just went on and on and on. What was interesting is reading and understanding how people survived back then.

The Silent Wife by Kerry Fisher (2 star) - Yet another I had to look up to see what it was about but once I did I remembered I liked this book. Also a mystery and an easy read.

And lastly...

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (0 star) - Mrs. Braspir decided since we had read two books about his wives we should read one of his books. I wasn't a fan of him in high school and I thought maybe as an adult I'd like him more. Nope! Still don't like his writing. Still don't have a clue what this book is about.

I read two young adult books, or what I consider young adult books, this year.

Paper Towns by John Green (2 stars) - I loved Fault in our Stars so I figured I'd probably love other books by him. This book was good. Interesting. I got a bit tired of one of the main characters, but overall a good, quick read.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (2 stars) - I wish I could tell you how I came across this book. I usually know how books come into my life, but this one I don't have a clue. It's about a high school girl that is an outcast because she called the cops on a high school party. She becomes so isolated she stops speaking all together. In her art class she finds a way to face what happened at the party...she was raped. She begins to heal when she runs into the guy again. This book hits a home run with regards to what high schoolers have to deal with in today's world.

The rest of the books are romance, sci-fi, fantasy, and other...

One self help book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0. Had to read it for a Leadership Foundation Class. Good book. Got some good pointers out of it.

Books by Lynsay Sands - she's one of my favorite authors. Usually writing about vampires.

• A Lady in Disguise
• Bliss
• Sweet Revenge
• The Wrong Highlander: Highland Brides

The Callaway Series by Barbar Freethy - New author for me this year. These are the typical romance books. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. There's an issue. They resolve it. They live happily ever after. 

• On a Night Like This (Callaways #1)
• So This is Love (Callaways #2)
• Falling for a Stranger (Callaways #3)
• Between Now and Forever (Callaways #4)

Books by Katie MacAlister - also one of my favorite authors. Also writes about the other world, vampires, werewolves, etc.

• Bird of Paradise 
• Born Prophesy #1 – Fireborn
• Born Prophesy #2 - Starborn
• Dragon Unbound (Dragon Falls #3.5)

Cassie Scot series by Christine Amsden - stumbled into this series this year. They're young adult type books about the other world. 

• Cassie Scot #1 - Cassie Scot
• Cassie Scot #2 - Secrets and Lies
• Cassie Scot #3 - Mind Games
• Cassie Scot #4 - Stolen Dreams
• Cassie Scot #5 - Madison's Song
• Cassie Scot #6 - Kaitlin's Tale
• Cassie Scot #7 – Frozen

The rest...

• Forever My Girl by Heidi McLaughin
• Midnight on the River Grey by Abigail Wilson
• Chronicles of the One #1 - Year One by Nora Roberts
• Chronicles of the One #2 - Of Blood and bone by Nora Roberts
• City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments Series #2) by Cassandra Clare
• Diary of the White Witch by Melissa de la Cruz
• Shades of Wicked (Nicht Rebel #1) by Jeaniene Frost
• Deadman's Cross #1 - Deadmen Walking by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• The League #10 - Born of Vengeance by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Cloak and Silence (Maris from the League) by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Upon the Midnight Clear (Dream-Hunter Series #2) by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• When I fall in Love by Wendy Lindstrom

Temptation's Darling by Johanna Lindsey - Johanna Lindsey has been one of my favorite authors since college. She writes historical romances and I just love all her books and her characters. She died in October 2019 and that makes me sad. No more new books from her.

So yah. I read a wide variety of types of books. Book club makes me read genres I don't normally read, so that's good. But when I want to read quick, I fall into a book from my favorite authors or romance. Now..If you'll excuse me I have 50 books to read by Dec 31, 2020.

Hello 2020!

I didn't stay up to ring in the new year last night, but while I was eating dinner I started thinking about what I thought 2020 would look like to my 25 year old self. And then I realized my 25 year old self wasn't good an dreaming up big ideas for the future. She was busy eating spaghetti O's and trying to pay rent.

25 years old would have been in 1993 for me. I started working for Microsoft in Sept of that year, leaving the family business, Boeing, behind.

Having a computer in my home wasn't a concept at all, let alone a laptop. While Bill Gates believed that one day a computer in every household was possible, I did not.

My 25 year old self probably assumed life would be a lot like it was then. I wasn't very imaginative in that way. I was an early adopter for most technology, but it never crossed my mind what the technology could be.

I sure I didn't have a mobile phone in 1993, we barely had the Internet. Dial up, Netscape or AOL...remember those days? I'm sure I wouldn't have imagined that a small handheld phone would not only act as a phone, but a camera, a place I'll tell the world what I'm doing daily, a calculator, a game player, a communicator by typing, etc. I am not sure I could live without my phone today. How did we do it?

Social media would never have occurred to me. My social media was the actual land line phone. I'd budget in long distance calls to friends. Sometimes, most of the time, I'd go way over my budget. Friends I had then we actually got together and did things. We communicated in person.

I was still recording shows on the VCR then. Wouldn't have imagined a DVR and all the channels you could watch. I had cable, but it wasn't nearly what it is now. Didn't have Food Network, Investigative Discovery, Lifetime, Oxygen, etc. I probably watched way less TV for sure.

I would not have imagined carrying a dozen or more books with me to read at any time. eBooks changed my reading life for sure. Back in the day, getting new books was "hard" for me in that I wasn't focused on going to an actual store to buy them. I didn't do the library then either. I had way more stuff going on to read. I certainly wouldn't have imagined my future self in 2020 would have ready 50+ books in 2019.

My 25 year old self had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Her degree was Foreign Language and Literature, she wanted to be an interpreter. She couldn't pass that test. She wasn't ambitous in that she didn't want to be a CEO or anything like that. She wanted a job she enjoyed and make enough money to live comfortably. She wouldn't have imagined that in 2020 she may become a Vice President. She certainly didn't image she'd be a Director of Professional Services. She probably wouldn't have imagined ever being a Project manager and earning her PMP (Project Manager Professional certification).

I KNOW my 25 year old self would never have imagined chiming in 2020 without Mom and Dad. She would have assumed they would be here forever.

Life is very different these days. 2020 looms before me. I love the new year because it always feels like a clean slate. I have plans. I have goals. I have desires to do/complete certain things. I really want to focus on this year and finish some things I've started over the last several years.

So as you ring in the new year, think about all that has happened to you over the last decade or so. Would you have seen you life unfold the way it did? I think most of us would say no.