Holidays | Book Chatter

My Reading

Happy Sunday! Today is all about relaxing because I made the mistake of going to the mall yesterday to do a little shopping. Good lord! I have no patience for that stuff anymore. People were friendly. Actually, I was surprised how friendly the store clerks were given the amount of people they were assisting, but I was in a foul mood and it just got worse from there.

I hate how regular products are repackaged for Christmas and then marked up a dollar or two just because it’s Christmas. I wore the wrong shoes which made the entire experience more painful and I only picked up one gift, and I was there for over three hours. That’s right. I got overwhelmed with the glitz and the volume of everything. Stores so full of merchandise and people, that I literally could not walk from point A to point B.

I love LUSH, but their stores are too small to have more than ten people working the floor. I need to go back at night, during the week to pick-up what I need because I could not even get to the shelf. But everyone was as happy and perky as can be when they asked me no less than five times if I needed help. Not their fault that I had a case of the grumps.

The holidays, gotta love them.

Oh, and it’s been so cold here!! The mornings have been about 30 degrees and last night, when I left the mall a gust of wind took my breath away. It was so cold. It sort of felt good after being in that stuffy mall but I could not get to the car fast enough.

By the way, I forgot to buy coffee creamer while out so this morning I am without creamer again.

Sunday Salon

What am I reading?

From the photo above, you can see that I am still reading The Abominable. I love it and now I am just prolonging the inevitable, the end of it. It’s a great adventure book but given that it takes place on Mount Everest and the characters brave below freezing temps, I find myself shivering and reaching for my blanket every time I read it. I wonder if it would have the same effect on me if I had read it over the summer months?

What am I cooking?

At the request of The Teen, I am making Potato Cheese soup tonight but guess what? He won’t be here to eat it because he just offered to work a holiday dinner event. That kid is a “yes” man. He needs to learn how to say No. I am hoping to make a big enough batch to eat it more than once this week. Tonight, we’ll pair it with a nice, leafy salad to round it out.

Click on the photo to see the recipe.

What am I watching?

Well, it’s that time of the year. We watched Deck the Halls with Matthew Broderick and I may watch The Family Stone later today. I really wanted to watch White Christmas with a group on Twitter yesterday but the timing didn’t work for me, given that I am on the West coast.

The other day, I heard about CBS airing the lost Christmas episode of I Love Lucy along with her Italian movie episode where she stomped on the grapes. Remember that one? Well on 12/20 both episodes will air in color? Will you watch? I prefer B&W but to see the lost episode for the first time? Yes, I plan to record it. We will be at Disneyland that day so I will have to wait until the next day to see it.

Click here to see a preview. Is it me, or do they look better in color?

Don’t you love the title of this post? So creative, right?

It’s that time of the year where my brain is all over the place. I want to do so many things and the reality of it is, I end up doing very little of it. With all of the schedules we have to pay attention to for choir (three choirs!), ASB (student government) and show rehearsals, I usually only think a week or two ahead before my head explodes.

I just ordered the pics to put in our Christmas card so I am a little behind on that. I had a wonderful photo that I took last year, but The Teen informed me that he had braces in the pic and since he has since had them removed, the jig would be up and everyone would know I used an older picture. But when your oldest refuses to take a picture for you, you have to get creative. So, I had to find another photo to use. Hence, the delay.

I have yet to bake any cookies. That used to be a fun activity for me but now that I cannot eat them, I am so over it. I do it for the family though and the people we see at Christmas time. They are appreciative and I get some joy in seeing them eaten. Some.

There is one book that I promised I would read before the end of the year and that book is Pride and Prejudice. Do I want to read it? No. I have no desire to. I am so sorry to admit that because I know that it is a beloved book for many. What I want to read is weird stuff. Speculative fiction or literary fiction with heavy themes. BUT, I feel as if I can’t be a book blogger without reading it so I am going to push through my hesitation and probably start it this weekend. I can’t promise I’ll finish it but I’ll give it a go.

I still have shopping to do. I am not stressing over it but at some point it has to be done. I am not loving the commercial aspect of the holiday AT ALL. I just want to kick back in PJ’s, drink hot cocoa and make soup. Is that too much to ask?

Grumble.

Anyway, it’s almost Friday. I think I can make it till then.

Chatting with friends about books and life…