fingers crossed

quote of the week

My favorite quote from last week's episode of Project Runway comes from the great Tim Gunn.

"I smell chaos and bedlam!"

(re: a team who did not agree on a color scheme before shopping)

What do you think of the team angle this season?

Who thinks they should design for Thunder from Down Under every week?

P.S. I got this picture from this little mama.

Top Ten Books On My Spring 2013 TBR list!

Happy First Day of Spring! I found this list idea on Avid Reader's Musings and decided to play along.

1. Dead Money by Steve O'Brien - an Early Reviewer

2. Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich - Eclectic Reader Challenge

3. From a Buick 8 by Stephen King - LibraryThing group read

4. The Walking Dead, Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us by Robert Kirkman - love these

5. Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - book 3 in the trilogy (must read during appropriate season)

4. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - been meaning to read this since last year

5. Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom by Jennifer Holland - ABC challenge

6. Zarafa by Michael Allin - ABC challenge

7. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom or Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato - my book club is going to read one of these next

8. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby - What's in a Name Challenge

9. Loving Frank by Nancy Horan - What's in a Name Challenge

10. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - Colorful Reading Challenge

What are your top ten for spring?

P.S. This picture came from red lips and ice cream.

The Midwife by Jennifer Worth a.k.a. Call the Midwife

The Midwife is a memoir about...A Midwife!...in 1950s London helping women deliver their babies. I learned a lot about the world of healthcare before there was healthcare, a new scientific word to describe part of my lady bits, and also a little about workhouses. For instance, I was not aware that families were separated upon entering workhouses. Sad.

My book club read this book and chose it because most of them watch the show, so I thought I would like it a lot. I'm sorry to say that I just thought it was o.k. I think part of the reason is that I never had kids nor do I want to have kids. To me reading about that stuff was gross, especially the chapter when she talked about smelly vaginas. Vomit. I was also surprised to learn how poor the sanitation system was back then, inspiring some more disgusting descriptions of living conditions. Gag me.

The final chapter was the last bummer for me. So the whole time she's living with these nuns. At the beginning she mentions that she's agnostic, at Christmas she mentions how much she likes the holiday church festivities, and then BAM! Last chapter she's a total convert. It bugged me that the whole story was about midwifery and her friends, but secretly it was just a means for her to prosthelytize.

The stories are interesting and move at a good pace, but I would recommend childless agnostics and atheists stick to James Herriot.

P.S. This book fulfills my memoir requirement for the Eclectic Reader Challenge.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today I'm reading Dragons of Winter Night (DragonLance Chronicles, Volume 2) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and it's awesome! It was one of Corey's favorite books in high school.

P.S. Sorry, I can't find where I got this image from on the internet.

musings on a day listening to shuffle on my ipod

I thought I liked Gordon Lightfoot, but every time he comes up on shuffle he bothers me. Time to remove most of his songs. Sorry Gordon, if you're reading this.

Contrarily, I love when AZ band, The Format, comes up on shuffle, but it also makes me sad because they broke up. My big regret is that I didn't go to their show when I had the chance. I couldn't get anyone to go with me and now I wish I had just gone by myself! They were awesome. At least I can still enjoy them on my ipod.

P.S. Fiona Apple on shuffle is always good. Her illustration is by Kareena Zerefos (who I also love) and it came from an interesting interview on Pitchfork.