Books, the BBC, and Other Things I Have Loved in 2010

You will have to excuse me...I haven't been writing lately. Also, I failed to meet my 100-book goal for 2010. Why, you ask?

No, it isn't because of school. I completed my MBA in September, and up until that point I was on track with 77 pleasure-books read and posting in my blog more-or-less regularly. Work travel? Nope, I have been in my office, working just 8 hour days since the spring.

So, why have I become so neglectful of my commitments? Because I have become distracted by new lovers. There, I said it. It can happen to anyone, and it happened to me...and here I will confess the sordid tale of my 3 new paramours:

1. Purging and Organizing and Generally Retaking Control of My Queendom. My freedom from school and work travel has allowed me to finally notice the MESS my home has become over the last few years. The Villagers in my domain are messy, hoarding souls with no sense of organization. Our nutrition during their rule has consisted mainly of that which can be brought home already prepared in a paper bag. My education and work constraints required me to avert my eyes from the disaster as it formed. Once I refocused, I have needed to repair the chaos, including an 8 hour battle to find the floor of my garage. This war is still a work in process, as the Villagers resist the changes, but I remain convinced I will ultimately prevail.
2. Becoming a Free Believer. I am undergoing a personal transformation. I have spent the last 20 years painfully unlearning and trying to let go of the first 20 years of my life. It left me at a bit of a loss, and I began to fill that place with aggressively trying to convert others to see things my way. However, as I discovered, those actions did not bring me peace. I found myself railing, "Hello, there. I am trying to see things from your point of view. So, tell me...just how did you get your head stuck up there?" This method, most surprisingly, was unbeneficial to me trying to be open, accepting of all beliefs, and loving - as much as it hindered others from opening their eyes to seeing the Truths that I can now see. You see, I was ironically becoming what I had worked so hard to remove myself from. In the midst of my recognizing that I needed change, and with Thanks to a dear life-long friend, I discovered The Free Believers Network. I am now at the beginning of a new life-cycle in discovering the love and peace of God. I still see Truth as proven facts, and eschew dogma, laws, and lies designed to move the masses to assist the elite...but I am finding a new way to live personally within it. I am not a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, or Jew - and yet I am all these things. I am learning the spirit of Namaste. Therefore, a reason I have not written in a long time is because I am learning a new, gentler voice. And a large reason my for-pure-pleasure-reading has dropped off is due to study of this new way of living and being.
3. NetFlix, Wii, and the BBC. Ohmigod. Obsession times a trillion. I have never been a gamer or a TV watcher. Perhaps because I never learned the habits in my childhood, or perhaps because it all has seemed such drivel compared to the joys of reading. No matter; it has changed with the advent of Wii and NetFlix! Super Mario Brothers has given me thumb-blisters. I exercise until my hair is soaked with perspiration on WiiFit. And NetFlix streaming into my TV via the Wii????! Where I can choose my poison? I am lost....80's movies with my daughter (isn't it grand she loves them as much as I do?); real horror movies with both kids, such as The Shining, It, and The (original) Exorcist; Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra; period movies and subtitled movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dangerous Beauty and Jodhaa Akbar; Michael Moore, History Channel, and National Geographic documentaries....and the pièce de résistance? The BBC. Oh, how I love the BBC mini series! Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Sissi, A Man for all Seasons, and so many more! Can I count the movies based on classic books as books read? No, I suppose not.

So, you see why I have been lax. But, I have read some wonderful books! Below is the list of the Books I Have Loved in 2010. Check them out - all 96 books are all well worth the read.

1. Anonymous, Primary Colors
2. Tate Halloway, Dead if I Do (Garnet Lacy, #4)
3. Terry Garey, A Match Made in Hell (Nikki Styx, #2)
4. Kathy Reichs, 206 Bones (Tempe Brennan, #12)
5. Anya Seton, Katherine
6. Thomas Perry, Runner (Jane Whitfield, #6)
7. Carola Dunn, The Winter Garden Mystery (Daisy Dalrymple, #2)
8. Deanna Raybourn, Silent in the Sanctuary (Lady Julia Grey, #2)
9. Julie Kramer, Stalking Susan
10. Barbara Seranella, Unfinished Business (Munch Mancini, #4)
11. Robert Everz, Burning Garbo (Nina Zero, #3)
12. Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
13. C.J. Sansom, Dissolution: A Novel of Tudor England (Matthew Shardlake, #1)
14. Michael Byrnes, The Sacred Bones
15. Elaine Viets, The Fashion Hound Murders (Josie Marcus, #5)
16. Elaine Viets, Killer Cuts (Dead End Jobs, #8)
17. Josephine Tey, Brat Farrar
18. Michelle Moran, Nefertiti
19. Kimberly Raye, Your Coffin or Mine? (Dead End Dating, #3)
20. Carola Dunn, Requiem for a Mezzo (Daisy Dalrymple, #3)
21. Gregory Maguire, Mirror, Mirror
22. Julie Powell, Julie & Julia
23. Stephanie Bond, Body Movers
24. C.J. Sansom, Dark Fire (Matthew Shardlake, #2)
25. Jane Austin & Seth Graham-Smith, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
26. Don Winslow, California Fire and Life
27. Barak Obama, The Audacity of Hope
28. C.J. Sansom, Sovereign (Matthew Shardlake, #3)
29. Barbara Seranella, No Man Standing (Munch Mancini, #5)
30. Barbara Seranella, Unpaid Dues (Munch Mancini, #6)
31. Yann Martel, The Life of Pi
32. Nancy Martin, Our Lady of Immaculate Deception (Roxy Abruzzo, #1)
33. Carola Dunn, Murder on the Flying Scotsman (Daisy Dalrymple, #4)
34. Laurie Notaro, Spooky Little Girl
35. John Faunce, Lucrezia Borgia
36. Colin Cotterill, Disco for the Departed (Dr. Siri, #3)
37. Alison Weir, Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley
38. Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. (Josephine Bonaparte Trilogy, #1)
39. Stephen Evens, The Marriage of True Minds
40. Candace Bushnell, Sex and the City
41. Alison Weir, Eleanor of Aquitaine
42. Mary Janice Davidson, Undead and Unwelcome (Queen Betsy, #8)
43. Anthology, My Little Red Book
44. Harley Jane Kozak, A Date You Can’t Refuse (Wollie Shelley, #4)
45. Fatima Mernissi, Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World
46. Sandra Gulland, Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe (Josephine B. Trilogy, #2)
47. Sandra Gulland, The Last Great Dance on Earth (Josephine B. Trilogy, #3)
48. Carola Dunn, Damsel in Distress (Daisy Dalrymple, #5)
49. Michelle Moran, The Heretic Queen
50. Charlaine Harris, Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, #10)
51. Jeanne Kalogridis, The Borgia Bride
52. Barbara Seranella, Unwilling Accomplice (Munch Mancini, #7)
53. Zoe Ferraris, Finding Nouf
54. Alison Weir, The Children of Henry VIII
55. Gregory Maguire, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
56. Cara Black, Murder in Monmarte (Aimee Leduc, #6)
57. Carola Dunn, Dead in the Water (Daisy Dalrymple, #6)
58. Michael Byrnes, The Sacred Blood (Charlotte Hennessy, #2)
59. Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father
60. Terri Garey, You’re the One That I Haunt (Nikki Styx, #3)
61. Barbara Seranella, An Unacceptable Death (Munch Mancini, #8)
62. Diana Joseph, I’m Sorry You Feel that Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother and Friend to Man and Dog
63. Diane Johnson, Lulu in Marrakech
64. Sophie Littlefield, A Bad Day for Sorry (Stella Hardesty, #1)
65. Kate Jacobs, The Friday Night Knitting Club (Knitting Club, #1)
66. Janet Evanovich, Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum)
67. Carola Dunn, Styx and Stones (Daisy Dalrymple, #7)
68. Frank Philippi Ryan, Prime Time (Charlotte McNally, #1)
69. Sandra Gulland, Mistress of the Sun
70. Cara Black, Murder on the Ill Saint-Louis (Aimee Leduc, #7)
71. Maureen Johnson, 13 Little Blue Envelopes
72. Justin Halpern, Sh*t My Dad Says
73. Antonia Frasier, Marie Antoinette
74. Carola Dunn, Rattle His Bones (Daisy Dalrymple, #8)
75. Laurie R. King, The God of the Hive (Mary Russell, #10)
76. Frank Philippi Ryan, Face Time (Charlotte McNally, #2)
77. Ruth Downie, Medicus
78. Carolyn Haines, Bone Appetite (Sarah Booth Delaney, #10)
79. Lisa Lutz, The Spellmans Strike Again (Spellman Files, #4)
80. William Gladstone, The Twelve
81. Kathy Reichs, Spider Bones (Temperance Brennan, #13)
82. Deanna Raybourn, Silent in the Moor (Lady Julia Grey, #3)
83. Kyra Davis, Vows,Vendettas, and a Little Black Dress (Sophie Katz, #5)
84. Phillipa Gregory, The Red Queen (Cousin’s War, #2)
85. Alison Weir, The Princes in the Tower
86. P.C Cast and Kristin Cast, Marked (House of Night, #1)
87. P.C Cast and Kristin Cast, Betrayed (House of Night, #2)
88. Nicholas Fraser, et al., Aristotle Onassis
89. Chelsea Handler, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea
90. Elizabeth Gilbert, eat, pray, love
91. Ken Follett, World Without End
92. P.C Cast and Kristin Cast, Chosen (House of Night, #3)
93. P.C Cast and Kristin Cast, Untamed (House of Night, #4)
94. Candace Bushnell, The Carrie Diaries
95. Carola Dunn, To Davy Jones Below (Daisy Dalrymple, #9)
96. Meg Cabot, Size 12 is Not Fat (Heather Wells, #1)

The World's Easiest Homemade Lentil Soup

Last week I made up a recipe using stuff from my cupboard. Not an uncommon occurrence, to be sure - but this one was actually GOOD! I know it was good because every last bite was eaten, and one of my co-workers copied my recipe and she liked it too! :::beam:::

So, I shall share with you my recipe for The World's Easiest Homemade Lentil Soup (whatta' mouthful, huh?)

Pour the following into a large crock pot:

1 bag dry lentil beans (yes, you should rinse them and pick out the icky ones first-duh!)

2 cans Cajun Stewed Tomatoes (fyi...my friend couldn't find them at her store, so she used Mexican-style stewed tomatoes and said they were delicious.)

4 cans of water (What measurement is that, you ask? The empty stewed tomato can will do quite nicely.)


Spicy sausage, sliced (so cool - other than picking out shrivelled beans and opening cans, slicing the sausage is the only prep required!)


Put the lid on the pot, set it on high, and let it cook all day!

That's it - no salt or any spices needs to be added because the spicy sausage and stewed tomatoes provide all the flavor you need.

You are amazed. Admit it. You know you are....

Where Has Our Respect Gone?

The following was emailed to me as one of those ubiquitous chain fowards. I have no idea who the author is, but I think the message bears repeating...and thinking about. I have often wondered with annoyance why people don't refer to him as President Obama, as the author describes in pargraph 4.

Arrogance of being President while being Black

I don't think anyone was under some real illusion that the election of Barack Obama actually means the end of racism in America . I'm pretty sure that the president-elect knew it better than anyone. After all, he saw it every day, from the moment he announced his candidacy. To some degree, he saw it within his own party during the primaries. And he saw it in all ugliness during the general election. For half of this country, he was "That One". No matter how big and clear his victory was. No matter how smart he is. No matter how decent he is. No matter what a true patriot he is. No matter how optimistic and positive his vision for America was. All that didn't matter. Because at the end of the day, he was still black.

I'm quite old. I remember, vaguely, where my parents were on November 22, 1963. I've seen so many presidents. Some were feared, some were hated, some were adored, some popular and some not. But all of them, without exception, were treated with the highest respect deserving the office of the president of the United States.

That is until a black man won the right to occupy this office. It's been 13 months now, and in the eyes of so many, Barack Obama is still that one. He is being disrespected and at the same time being held to the highest standard of any president I've ever seen – and not just by the Republican side! He has to perform three times better than any president in history, and even that may not be enough.

For the media, he is many more times just "Obama" than "President Obama". They create scandals out of nothing issues. It took them at least 6 years to start giving Bush a small part of the shit he deserved. It took them 6 months to begin crap all over Obama because he's yet to fix the catastrophe that was left for him.

They use condescending tones when they talk about him, and only mildly less condescending when they talk TO him. With anyone else, CNN wouldn't dare go to commercials every time the president speaks, like they did during that summit on Thursday. They wouldn't dare be counting how many minutes George Bush or Bill Clinton were talking. Chris Mathews wouldn't dare make an issue out of Ronald Regan calling members of congress by their first name, like he is not actually the president. They fully cooperate with the Right-Wing smear machine when it comes to president Obama's national security performance – even if almost every independent and military expert actually thinks that he's a terrific Commander-in-Chief. You'll never see them on TV, and virtually no one from the Left, in congress and outside, defend the president on this matter.

I don't care about the Far-Right. They're just crazy ignorant Neanderthals. It's the way the beltway and the mainstream treats this president that is shocking. On Thursday, almost every Republican had no trouble interrupting him in the middle of a sentence. They looked like they're going to vomit every time they had to say "Mr. President". They all had this Eric-Cantor-Smirk whenever he spoke. Then they went out and started to spit their stupid talking points, to the delight of the media. Sarah Palin, a woman who can hardly read, thinks that he was "arrogant" towards John McCain, and somehow this is an important news. Because you see, "Obama's Arrogance" is the talking point of the day.

Oh, those talking points. He is arrogant (because he knows the facts better than all of them combined). He is an elitist (because he uses big words that they don't understand). He is weak on national security (because he actually thinks about the consequences). He divides the country (well, he did that the day he had the audacity to win the election). Worst of all, he actually thinks that he's the President. He even dared to say so on Thursday. How arrogant of him. You'd think that previous presidents didn't have any ego. Somehow it turned out that the one president who treats even his biggest opponents with the utmost respect – is the arrogant one. I wonder why?

I expected that his winning the Presidency would bring out some ugliness, but it's been far worse than I imagined. The racism coming from the Right is obviously clear and shameless, but there's also some hidden and maybe subconscious and disturbing underline tone behind some of the things that I read here and throughout the Left blogosphere, even before the end of Obama's first year - 'He's weak, he's spineless, he's got no balls, primary him in 2012'. It'll be dishonest to deny that.

The fact is that for millions in America , Barack Obama is this uppity black man (Not even a "real" black), who received good education only due to affirmative action, and has no right to litter the sacred Oval Office with his skin color. They just can't accept the fact that the president is a black man, who unlike his predecessor, was actually legally elected. But what's really sad is that it's not just the fringe, its deep deep in mainstream America.

Barack Obama's ability to remain above all this slob, to keep his optimism and his strange and mostly unjustified faith in people, while continuing to gracefully deal with an endless shitstorm – is one of the most inspiring displays of human quality I have ever seen. And I can only hope that the Cosmos is on his side because God is and He never makes a mistake.

-Author Unknown - but speaks for me

Just wondering...

...why are the bigoted people who rant about being morally right usually grammatically so wrong? Does that mean that the lack of education equals moral superiority?

...why do people call themselves the "tea party?" The original club was about taxation without representation. You are represented.

...why do those same people "want their country back?" Who took it? I bet Ireland, England, or wherever else their ancestors are really from is still there....Why don't they just go back?

...why do people complain about taxes when the US already pays less than other industrialized nations? Do we want equality with third world countries?

...why is the connotation of the word "liberal" so bad? Wasn't a driving force of the emergence of our country the mottos "Don't Tread on Me," and "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death?" Liberty: Good. Oppression: Bad. Right?

...why do the same people who want to take no social responsibility for those with less privileges also want to control the (marriage, childbirth, religious...insert your issue here) rights of others? If they don't care about the less fortunate, can't they just leave them alone??? I swear, gay marriage, abortion, and Islam aren't contagious....really.

...also, continuing on the above thought - why are the people who want control over the rights of others also the ones who want the freedom to own as many guns as they choose? Last I checked, the presence of guns do affect other people; whereas, gay marriage does not.

Things that make me go hmmm.....

Expendable Me

Stolen Shoes!

What???!!!! They were on the floor of my dining room this morning!

I say that makes them Fair Game!

Minimum Wage Shoes

I am making Federal Minimum Wage today, courtesy of my ever-lovin' Governator. By my calculations, I owe the State about 12 minutes an hour worth of Auditing work based upon the $7.25 an hour wage.

I was thinking I could maybe E-bay off some of my shoes to delay the time my family might end up homeless on the street at that wage.

Then, I thought, "No...if I must be a bag lady, gosh-darn-it, I am at least going to be one with cute shoes!!"

Hmmm....I wonder if I have a pair to accessorize a shopping cart?