Ugh. I have some sort of bug. Worst part is a tickle in my throat. Cough medicine helps keep me from actually coughing, but the tickle remains. Also have a nasty headache, but a mix of headache medicines help with that. I also don't have any appetite. That's OK. I did eat a little. One thing I ate was Alice Sebold half a clove of garlic. I've been reading recently where that will lessen if not totally relieve various bugs. I certainly hope so! I like garlic, but it's rather nasty to eat raw and alone.  I had to have som4e cream cheese and crackers with it. I also put some in my soup, along with a large dowse of hot pepper. I'd like to feel better by tomorrow. I don't know if I caught it soon enough, though.

So I slept in until about 2:30 this afternoon and have been half dozing, half reading in my recliner since then.  I finally finished Unfinished Desires by Gail Godwin and also read The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz. I wrote a quick review of the Koontz novel at LibraryThing, but the other will have to wait until I can think better. Right now I'm looking for something light/easy to read. Much as I love the literary stuff, I'm in no mood for it right now. Literary is usually ponderous and I'm too out if it for that, now. Also, I'd like to reach my goal of 50 books and with 9 more to go, at this time of year they need to be easy reads. I also have three reviews promised, books still to be finished, so I'm torn (though the tiny print of EISJ easily rules that out for now).

And I wonder why it's so hard to read 50 books in a year when I know others read many more than that. It's not like I don't like to read. I do! A lot! Like it a t lot, that is. Obviously I don't actually read a lot. I don't know why. I suspect my disdain of chick lit and romance genres is part of it. I probably should snag some Star Trek novels. I used to read them like eating candy. Not sure If I'd like  them better than the chick lit or romance, though, any more. I was going to read more in the Twilight series, but one of those was enough. The first one was OK, though not well written, but even the previews of the movie for the 2nd is so unenticing. I think badly written teen lit is worse than badly written romance or chick lit... maybe. Maybe not.

I guess I will read either Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King or The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I've already started both of them. It would be good to clear up my "currently reading" list. I can't sit upright here any longer. I'll check back tomorrow. (I need to catch up, again.)

A question for the readers out there, especially those who read a lot (50 or more a year): When do you read? How do you manage to read as much as you do? What are you not doing when you are reading (TV, projects, computer)?


(Not cross posted anywhere)

I am definitely a solar powered person. I woke up with energy, this morning. (Yes! Morning!) I had about five hours of sleep, but I did a lot, for me, today. I haven't had any energy for about a week with full eight hour nights. I know it's the sun. I can tell you the sun is shining even before I open my eyes. It's been normal Oregon weather until today. I wish I knew how to get my solar energy during the normal cloudy/rainy weather.

I don't know if FlyLady would approve or not, but I spent two hours cleaning, today. The fifteen minutes at a time just doesn't work for me for most things. It's a great way to sort through stuff that needs to be taken care of, but I'm too ADDy to get anything done in fifteen minutes, most of the time. It takes me that long to get focused. I may switch all her missions or flight plans to 30 or more minutes. Well, not all. Some things really don't take even fifteen minutes

Anyway, I accomplished what I wanted to do. Yesterday we rearranged the living room furniture a bit. Today, I got the floor steam cleaned. Everything is dusted and the cobwebs are gone. The window sills are cleaned off. HoneyBear helped me put the furniture back. I also tried to get everything out that doesn't belong in there and put away the extra decorative items that just looked cluttery.

It's still not where I want it to be, but it's better. I need to re-do the pictures on the walls. I don't like how they look right now. I'm not sure where everything will go, but the Chinese shell pictures will be flanking the fireplace and the black and white painting on rice paper will be take down. It just doesn't go.

With any luck of energy, I will deep clean the kitchen, tomorrow. We're not having guests, (going to Whimsylady's for T-day), but I want this house ready for them, anyway! Next weekend I want to be able to start my Christmas preparations.

After dinner, I will work on my curtains (except for an hour for House). I might be able to get one pair up before I go to bed (which I hope will be considerably earlier than last night!). I have the one pair cut out. It's just a matter of doing the hems and rod sleeve.

And that's been my exciting day.

 (Posted everywhere)
[Should have been posted on Monday, 11/23/'09, but my computer was being cranky.]

When I was writing this, I was listening to:
張國榮 (LESLIE CHEUNG) - 愛有萬萬千
陳奕迅 (Eason Chan) - 新曲+精選
Yo-Yo Ma: Silk Road Ensemble - Trad: Blue Little Flower
張學友 (Jacky Cheung) - 祝福
劉德華 (Andy Lau) - 峰迴路轉
成龍 (Jackie Chan) - 這個晚上
張國榮 (LESLIE CHEUNG) - 當愛已成往事

I'm not at all thrilled when programs I have taken out of start up get back in. It over crowds my computer and some of them are things I only use occasionally. On the other hand, the icons for some things I need often, like my sound icon, don't bother to show up at all! Bah!

I didn't get much done today. I slept a couple of hours longer than I intended to. In my defense, I didn't sleep well once I finally got to bed, and I have had a back ache since sometime in the night.

When I started this post, I had a purpose. Beats me what it was, now.

Last week, I spent most of my time going to and from Portland and helping to pack and unpack. It was a beautiful week, for which I am grateful because I hate driving in rain. My car's defogger doesn't work well and until it gets fixed, it's a nuisance to drive in rain. I would have liked to have gotten my garden cleaned up. I need to thin out the iris and I'd like to cut the dead tops of flowers, but it'll get done eventually.

Traveling was beautiful. I took my camera with me a couple of times and took some pictures. This was done as I was driving, so it was just a quick point and shoot (this is on I-205 around Portland), but I did manage to get a shot of each of the big mountains I passed each day.

It's easy to tell Schnookie is here. This was the living room the day after he moved in:
Great view from the front door. It's a little better now, but things still aren't in order, yet.

We are taking loads of "stuff" to the storage place. He has furniture that we simply have no room (or need) for. I'm also taking some of my stuff and will return it bit by bit and either find a proper place for it or get rid of it. I'm also putting the chairs I want to fix (reupholster) there until I can get to them. The fewer things here taunting me to get them done, the better I will be able to get to what is here. I figure that by the time Schnookie moves out again, I will have my things dealt with.


It's not completely adjusted, yet, so it's a little crooked at the top. I have the other end curtain almost done and the front curtains cut. I now have all I need and I don't need to rush out to Jo-Ann's to get something, so, hopefully, I will get them done tomorrow and plain window curtains are easier than this. Then, finally, I can get to my kitchen curtains.

This is a loft bed, but he decided that, while his room in Portland was so small, he needed to use the floor space under it, he really prefers not to hit his head every time he wakes up at night. Right now the mattress is on the floor under the bed. He will use the top for storage and eventually make a platform about 4-6 inches off the floor for the mattress. The curtains will go around the bed to enclose it. This is (or will be) his "bed fort." He's 25, but still a kid at heart. Takes after his Mom.

It was pouring rain when I woke up, but by the time I headed up to Jo-Ann's the sun was out. Although I didn't really want to go out, I needed the black grosgrain ribbon for the curtains, and the sunshine made it totally worth it. I might not have noticed it if I'd stayed in. I also took advantage of a 70% off sale and got a couple of decorations for my door.

	Unfinished Desires  by Gail Godwin					This was a free book from LibraryThing and although a review isn't absolutely required, I'd like to keep getting free books, so I will review it. (Actually I'm trying to review every book I read.) Good, so far.
	Everybody Is Somebody's Jew  by EminemsRevenge					This I Xanga's own ER.  I'm about ¼ through it and I like it very much, but it's not exactly light reading.
	Nightmares and Dreamscapes  by Stephen King					I picked this up for diversion a while ago. I think I've read one or two stories. It's King. Of course it's good.
	The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson  by Emily Dickinson					I got this and started reading it a year ago. I read a little now and then.
	Poetry as Spiritual Practice: Reading, Writing, and Using Poetry in Your Daily Rituals, Aspirations, and Intentions  by Robert McDowell					I started this on Aug 19, 2008. I don't think I picked up again since then, but I like the title.
	Refuse to Choose!: A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything That You Love  by Barbara Sher					I started to read this because I'm always trying to do too many things and she says that's OK. It was not easy to read. I may or may not get back to it.
	How to See Yourself As You Really Are by His Holiness the Dalai Lama					I thought I had finished reading this one. I like how the Dalai Lama thinks, although I'm not so sure about Buddhism. I tend to ignore anything that doesn't fit in with my Christian beliefs. I will get back to this.
	The Lovely Bones  by Alice Sebold					My son has been nagging me to read this. I started it last night. I will get to this after I finish the first two on this list (or sooner if I need something easier to read).
	1984  by George Orwell					I started this for a book club  back in '06, but it was just too depressing to continue. I don't know if I'll finish it or not. Part of me wants to.
	Mrs. Dalloway  by Virginia Woolf					This is another I picked up a while ago. I got distracted and didn't get back to it. I want to read soon. I'm sure I'll need to restart it.

Originally I had a reason that I was putting all of this here, but I got so caught up in just getting it here (had to make a table and it kept messing up) that I've forgotten my reason. Oh, well. All that work is done, so I'm going to leave it. Maybe I'll remember why another day. I probably have other books that I started and forgot. These are the ones I have on my LibraryThing's "Currently reading" collection. My book sites are getting as numerous as my blogs sites (well, not quite that many!).

Right now I'm going to read some more of Unfinished Desires. I need to try to get to bed early, since Schnookie will be calling me at about 9:30 to go up to Portland and help him move. I have a feeling I'll be dragging tomorrow. Getting to bed doesn't mean getting to sleep.

Here's my long overdue review of 

The Trial of Robert Mugabe by Chielo Zonz Eze

This is an elegantly simple story. However, don't let its simplicity hide its depth. It's a beautiful tale, but an ugly story. The tale is told in what seems to me to be an oral history tradition. It is a true story told fictionally. It has a rhythm to it and it creates a definite aura. It connects to both literature and history.

Robert Mugabe is a dictator, chosen by his people, but who then followed what he wanted despite what his people wanted. As a result, as often happens in such cases, whole peoples were nearly or completely wiped out. This is history. Mugabe still rules today, though still opposed.

Eze has found a way to try him for his crimes. He has found a voice for the dead and he has made them real, believable personalities. These are people we can care about rather than the unknown, voiceless, faceless victims of Mugabe's power. I cannot say who among the witnesses are actual people given voice by Eze and who are "Everyman," since my knowledge of African life is vague and mainly uninformed. However the writers he refers to, Yvonne Vera and Alexander Kanengoni, and their books, are real.

The Trial of Robert Mugabe is a cautionary tale -- specifically for Mugabe, himself, but I can also see it being read or told when Mugabe is buried so far in the past that people aren't sure if he was real or just a creation of Eze's to warn against blind dictatorship. It also serves to make the current reader aware of and care about what is happening in Zimbabwe.