House Cleaning

 

The other day I saw a segment on one of the morning talk shows about a woman who cleans houses for free.  I can't remember if she lives in Finland, or Sweden or some other country because the point is, it's not the USA, where I live.

 

They showed her cleaning houses with some before, a little during and the after and it was pretty amazing.  She said the worse the place was, the better.  She just loves cleaning.

Now, while I can't remember the country she's from, all I could think is I would be willing to pay her airfare for her to come down and clean my house!

While there's some truth to my willingness to pay her to travel to the US to clean my house, I will say this.  A number of years ago I paid a service to organize two of my bedrooms.  The before and after images were incredible.  But here's the thing, I had initially told her I didn't want her throwing anything out.  I told her to put stuff she thought was trash in one area and I'd eventually go through it to determine if it was trash or not.  But she kept coming back and asking if she could please throw some things out.  I finally agreed to let her throw out magazines and "obvious" trash.

She hauled a couple of garbage bags to the garage.  When I went through them - months later (I had been sick and that's why I was paying someone to organize things for me) - she had decided that FRAMED photos were trash!  Books were discarded, even though I had specifically told her NOT to throw out any books.  She also threw out one of my paintings - my favorite at that.  Not to mention that she "kept" a lot of actual trash - filling up boxes and suitcase (yeah, great when I ended up needing them!) with trash.  So yeah, the rooms looked great but they weren't truly organized and, sadly, still aren't all these years later.  It's a project of mine but something that is hard to find time to do.  Someday . . .

In the meantime, I can dream of having someone come and take care of it for me, for free.  😀

Walking the dog

 Over the years I've had a number of dogs and walking has always been a part of that.  For the most part the dogs I have had have been larger dogs - 60 lbs and up.  I had a lab that I sadly lost almost seven years ago.  But when he was young, I took him to obedience training.  I had a harness that went over his shoulders to try to help reign him in when we walked - he was a puller!

 

The trainer told me that a halti, which fits like a bridle fits a horse - over the nose, was better.  It applied pressure to their "nose" like their mothers had and helps train them not to pull.  They still can, but they typically won't.  Max didn't, for the most part.  It made walking with him easier and more enjoyable.  It also kept him from choking when he would pull because the pressure isn't on their necks.  Max weighed as much as 125 at times during his life and I could walk him using the halti without issue.

Then came Oreo.

I met Oreo almost two years ago when the fence between mine and my neighbor's yards fell down after a storm.  He was being crated for 18-20 hours a day and he was only nine months old so I offered to watch him during the day.  (He lives here full time now.  😀)

Part of his "doggy day care" I provided (at no charge), was daily walks.  Well, Oreo is a puller!  He gets excited about the next place he can hike his leg and wants to run to it!  

So I invested in a halti for him as well.

Here's the thing, my 125 lb lab was easy to walk with the halti on him.  He rarely pulled with it on.  Oreo weighs 18 lbs and I feel like I'm running behind him so that my arm doesn't get ripped out of its socket!  I mean, the exercise is good and all but whatever happened to a leisurely walk?

Add to this, Oreo seems to LOVE cold weather.  It really seems to get his juices going.  He goes into high gear when outside when it's cold!  So I go to take him for walks now and it's like the starting gun has gone off and he's off to the races and he's determined to win!  It's crazy!

And he rarely lets me "skip" a walk - he's insistent we go every morning.  Every. Morning.  I figure that since I'm so accommodating about walking him every morning, the least he could do is accommodate me and go a bit slower, right?

Good thing I love this little guy.  💕

Book Review Club - December 2020

 

Okay, so last month I posted an old review I'd written before I joined the book club and well, I'm going to do that again.  I've read several books this month but none I felt compelled to review.  I will say though, I'm currently reading The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalain while simultaneously watching the series on HBO Max.  Like a lot of books made into movies or tv series, a lot of things are different but both are good.  If I were finished with the book, I might have reviewed it this month.  😊

 

With that said, below is the review of Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl I wrote back in July 2009.

Sophie Kinsella has a knack for creating quirky characters that you love. And TWENTIES GIRL is no different.

For me it is kind of a cross between IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE and BRIDGET JONES' DIARY.

Lara Lington hears a not-so still small voice in her ear at her great aunt Sadie's funeral. The problem is, the voice is coming from great aunt Sadie's ghost! Sadie wants the funeral stopped until they can locate her favorite necklace and she won't let up on Lara until she successfully stops the funeral. With no warning and no time to come up with a better plan to stop/postpone the funeral, Lara declares that her dear old great aunt (who was 105 at the time of her death) did not die of natural causes, but was in fact murdered. When pressed for specifics, she's hard pressed to come up with details, particularly considering she never really met her great aunt Sadie but the word "murder" was enough to delay the funeral.

As if dealing with the fallout of the declaration of the supposed murder isn't enough, Lara is also dealing with a floundering business and the end of her latest relationship - not to mention her meddlesome aunt's ghost. And in typical Kinsella style, it is hysterical.

As the story unfolds, the relationship between Lara and Sadie grows. Yes, there is a romance thrown in for good measure but, for me, the heart of the story lies with Lara and Sadie.

TWENTIES GIRL is about values, family and leaving your mark on the world - whether you realize you've done so or not. It's a touching, feel good story that had me laughing hysterically (thankfully I read it at home!) and getting emotional about the characters. Not only is it my favorite Kinsella book to date, it is quite possibly my favorite book of all time.

I highly recommend it. 

 

That's what I wrote in 2009 but for more reviews click on the link below.

 

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@Barrie Summy

Dreams

 I've had two weird dreams recently  One was weird and the other has caused a lot of "why would I have done that" thoughts.  The most recent dream I had was the one that had me wondering why I would do some of the things I did.  It had me returning home after an international trip.  I stopped by my step-brother's house to return his luggage.  The waking thought on this is, why would I have borrowed luggage from my step-brother when I haven't spoken to him but a handful of times in the past 30 years and almost all of our conversations were over the phone and a couple by email.  So why would I borrow his luggage (nevermind that I have my own luggage!)? 

 

Anyway, so I go to return it and pull up in a drive with a drop off box.  I'm shoving the luggage into the box and trying to get out of there before anyone sees me.  My waking thought was, I think I came straight from the airport, did I empty them?  And, if I did, where did I empty them?  But so I'm shoving the luggage into this stationary box.

 

I'm about to leave when my step-brother, his wife and their butler (as far as I know they don't actually have a butler) walk out.  My step-brother says I should come in and turns around and his wife follows him.  The butler suggests I come in for some tea.  I thank him and head down the drive.  Waking thought is, didn't I just drive up?  Why is my car now down the drive?  But in any event, I'm heading towards my car, which is now down the drive.

 

I get in my car and what had just been a nice day has turned into a dense fog, pouring rain kind of day and I'm suddenly driving on the highway, which I'd normally avoid under those type of weather conditions.

 

I decide to slow down because I can barely see the front of the car but as I press down on the brake, the car is slowly accelerating.  I realize I must be pressing the accelerator so I press what I now think is the break but I continue to accelerate.  I think the accelerator must be stuck so I try to slide my foot under the accelerator and now the car is moving so fast I fear for my life because I still can't see what I'm coming up on.  I put one foot on the accelerator and one on the brake and both just make me go faster.  I come up on a red something (I assume a car) and I pull sharply to the right on the steering wheel, barely missing the car and driving on the shoulder.  

 

Cars start honking but I can't imagine they're honking at me because I'm not seeing any cars and I'm pulling ahead of everything, but there is honking.  I have the thought that I had envisioned dying that day and freaked out that this might be what would do it.

 

It seems like there was more to the dream but that's all I remember at the moment.

 

But I looked up what a speeding out of control car dream meant.  I was offered two options:

 

1) I feel like things are out of control in my life and I can't find my way.  I don't feel that way but I can see where that might be the case, given things going on in the country right now.

 

or 

 

2) I'm unreliable.  Huh?  That doesn't even make sense to me.  

 

But there you go, either things are out of control in my life or I'm reliable.  So, which is it?

 

 

The other dream I didn't look up its meaning because I don't really care.  In it I was getting ready to pull up stakes and relocate internationally (I guess there could be that connection between the two dreams).  I had packed up my stuff and someone was going to retrieve it so it would be at the destination, waiting for me when I got there.  Something was said about needing socks.  I found one and decided it wasn't worth the effort and went to a cabin on I assume a ship. When I came out of my room, there was all my stuff and we'd set sail.  I asked my assistant (didn't know I had one) and she said she told them not to take it because I needed my sock - one sock - so everything got left on the ship and not sent ahead.  Weird but I don't see any significance.  If anyone else thinks it means anything, let me know.  :)

Book Review Club - November 2020

In the interest of full disclosure, the book I'm reviewing this month is a re-post of a review I wrote in October 2007.  I've read only two books since our last meeting and both were political in nature and while I would have quite a lot to say about the books, I think we've all had enough politics to last us a while.  So, instead, the book I will be reviewing is you had me at halo by Amanda Ashby.  In the review I said I would be keeping an eye out for future books by her and I did - and I've loved all of them.  I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Ashby at the RWA conference in San Francisco in 2008 and she was as nice as she could be (I was her official stalker at the conference - it's okay, she agreed to let me stalk her in advance! 😀).

 

It's been thirteen years since I first read the book but it remains one of my all time favorite books to this day.  It's light.  It's funny.  It's sweet.  On a scale of 1-5, I'd give it 10 stars!  💓 

And now, below is what I wrote about the book thirteen years ago.  And for more reviews go to https://barriesummy.blogspot.com/index.html .

 

 

There is an author who occasionally "promotes" other authors' works. She does nothing more than say this book is out and then give the blurb, which suggests she may not actually be reading the books. At least that's the approach I take when I see a book "promoted" on her blog. Anyway, she recently had Amanda Ashby's debut book, you had me at halo (it's not capitalized on the cover either ;-) ). I thought the title was fun, the cover okay and the blurb "interesting". So I googled Ms. Ashby to find out more. I read the first chapter and wanted to read more, so I ordered the book. I read the whole thing this afternoon. It was fun. And sweet. It's one of those books where when you're done, you realize you have this big smile on your face because it's just that kind of book.

I will definitely keep an eye out for future books by Amanda Ashby.

And now, the blurb:

Holly Evans has just seen her body laid to rest. Now she would like to move onto the afterlife. But apparently she has some mortal baggage to unload first, starting with the matter of how she died. Her heavenly shrink isn't buying that she didn't kill herself and says she must return to earth to straighten things out. The thing is, she needs to borrow the body of computer geek Vince Murphy to do it. Oh, and although Vince was supposed to have vacated the premise, he apparently never got the memo.

Now, Holly has forty-eight hours to resolve her issues while sharing arms, legs, and...other things...with a guy she barely noticed while she was alive. But the real surprise is what life has to offer when you have only two days to live it.

Book Review Club - October 2020

This month I will be reviewing Fifth Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie.  I learned about this book because it was the GMA book selection and since I've read two other of their recommendations and enjoyed them, I figured this one would be good too.

 

Truth is, I have mixed feelings about it.  If I have to choose between a plot driven story and a character driven story, I will choose character driven story every time.  I want to be invested in the characters and care what happens to them.  If a character isn't sympathetic, the best plot doesn't help me care about the story.  And I can forgive a bad plotline if I really care about the characters.

So, having said all that, I was emotionally invested in Nori from the very first paragraph of the Prelude (not prologue - prelude!).  It starts with The first real memory Nori had was pulling up to that house. A couple of sentences later it goes on to describe the house.  My immediate thought was it was reminiscent of Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews.  That first impression proved to be right but in one paragraph the author had drawn me in and I needed to know that Nori was okay.

 

Nori was born into a royal family in Japan after world war I but before world war II.  The legacy of her family was of critical importance to her grandparents.  After the war royalty in Japan lost its power but still had a reputation and the family had their pride.  They still were rich after all.  The problem was that Nori's father was a black american soldier her mother had an affair with while still married to another man.  This made Nori a bastard child that was an embarrassment to the family and threatened their reputation in the community so her existence had to be kept secret at all costs.

 

The things Nori endured were horrible.  I kept asking myself why I was continuing to read and it was because the author had made me care about her and I kept hoping things would get better for her.

 

At the end of the day I found the ending less than satisfying and felt that there were a few loose ends that should've been tied up but the author kept me invested in the character so that I read to the very end. So yeah, mixed feelings about the book overall.  Can't say I would necessarily recommend it but it was compelling, at least for me.

 

For more reviews click on the icon below.

 

 

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@Barrie Summy

Book Review Club - September 2020

To be honest, I'm not 100% certain where I heard about this book.  I'm assuming it was because Good Morning America made it its book of the month recommendation for June.  But whatever it was, I was lucky because I got the ebook from my library quickly (I looked at the "backlog" as I was reading - in early July - and there were 140 people waiting to read the book!).

First let me say, I loved this book!  I'd heard it described as two sisters, one deciding to live as a white woman, the other living as a black woman.  A lot of questions came to mind, why?  How? Among others.  I was curious.

The story covers time from the 1950s until around 1990 and starts in a small town in Louisiana called Mallard.  Mallard is so small, it doesn't even make it onto any map and no one outside of Mallard has ever heard of it.  The sisters who live the "advertised" lives of a black woman and a white woman come from the family that founded Mallard.  It was their great, great, great, great grandfather (give or take a few "greats") that founded the town.  With each generation born, their skin tone gets lighter and that appears to be the goal.  But, even though by the time the sisters (Stella and Desiree) are born they are light enough they could pass for white, they're still known to be black in Mallard and the lines are clearly drawn.

The young sisters watch as white men, who feel their father has cheated them, storm their house, drag their father out of the house by his ankles, beat him and shoot him.  Then when their father somehow  survives that, the men go to the hospital to finish the job of killing him.  How each sister processes that life event determines how they live their life going forward.

I don't want to give too much away but I will say the characters were very complex and interesting. Multi-generational viewpoints were explored and examined.  The "what happens next" wasn't obvious or expected and even addressed the changing times during the 60s and 70s in particular.  I didn't want to put the book down. 

Given the events occurring in this country as I write this (July 9th), it highlights that despite how far we think we've come when it comes to race relations, it shows just how little things have changed for black Americans today.  And sadly it seems like we've been going in the wrong direction in that regard.

Despite that, my recommendation would be the same - I highly recommend it.  Well written, great story, complex characters.  It really covers the full spectrum of life.  It's a great book.

For more great book reviews go to https://barriesummy.blogspot.com/index.html.

Book Review Club - June 2020

This month I will be reviewing Surrender at Canyon Road by Debora Dale. Debbie is a friend of mine and she sent me a copy prior to its release, even though she knew I had already pre-ordered it.  That said, I would not be reviewing it or recommending it if I didn't really like it.  With that, my review is below.

Blake’s sister and nephew have been kidnapped and he will do whatever it takes to save them, even if it means hijacking a car and kidnapping its owner in the process.

Dani is on a tight deadline to enter a contest that, if she wins, will change her life and she believes will allow her to put the ghosts and demons from her past squarely in her past.

When Blake “kidnaps” Dani, she’s determined to do whatever it takes to get him out of her car and out of her life.  If he goes to prison for life, she can live with that.  She’s not buying his story about his sister and nephew’s kidnapping.  That is until she hears the desperate pleas from the nephew when the kidnappers call Blake to give him directions for the ransom drop off.

She finds herself drawn to the man who would put it all on the line for his family, something she feels she lacked in her own family.  It is then that she decides to do whatever she can to help him.

Blake has always been the one in his family to be responsible and make sure everyone else is okay and he’s had to do it on his own so when the woman he’s kidnapped starts actively helping him – even though he derailed her own goals – he finds himself drawn to her.

In a race against time, can Blake and Dani save Blake’s sister and nephew?  Will Dani be able to reach her goal of completing the contest that she feels is essential to her future and putting the past behind her?  And will there be a future for the two or was it all just passion of the moment that can’t withstand daily life?

This is a fast paced story, very well written story.  The author ratchets up the tension and I did not want to put the book down.  Very good story.  I highly recommend it.

For more reviews go to https://barriesummy.blogspot.com/index.html

Book Review Club - April 2020

This month I will be reviewing In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park.  I came to have this book in an odd fashion.  I was recently traveling and because of poor time management of the travel coordinators we had a lot of time to read.  One of the other travelers was reading this book and at first I thought it was The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee that I reviewed here and Barrie reviewed here, which started up a conversation.

When the other traveler was finished reading the book, she gave it to me.  I brought it home and read it.

There are a lot of similarities in the two books in that the way they describe life in North Korea is the same - could've been written by the same person.  But what is different is how and why they left North Korea.

Hyenoseo Lee cross the river into China on a whim only planning to stay a few days but ended up staying so long that the government noticed her absence and it became dangerous for her and her family if she were to come back.

Yeonmi Park, her sister and her mother wanted to go to China because they didn't have enough food to eat - their sole purpose in going to China was for food.  They found brokers who were willing to help them get into China and they took advantage of it.  Due to an unexpected health issue, Yeonmi and her mother were held up but the sister didn't want to wait and left before they did.

What they found out was that the brokers who had graciously agreed to help them escape to China actually were human traffickers and they sold Yeonmi and her mother as sex slaves.  Yeonmi was only 13 and she talks about her introduction into sex being watching her mother be raped in front of her.

She went into a lot of detail of what they had to endure and as I read her story I was struck by something that she later admitted as part of her story - as bad as things were for her, she didn't have it as bad as she could have.  She was sold to someone who actually cared about people.  He bought her mother back so that they could be together.  He helped them look for her sister.  And he even made arrangements to have her father brought to China and helped get him medical assistance when he needed it.  That's not to say it wasn't a bad situation, just that it could be worse.

It only took two years for her and her mother to get to South Korea (they hadn't yet found her sister), whereas it took Hyenoseo something like 12 years but it still wasn't easy for them.  She was way behind in her studies and didn't believe the terrible things that were being said about North Korea and their leaders, even despite what she had lived through.  It took a lot of time for her to realize and really believe that North Koreans were essentially brainwashed.  She doesn't hold back in what she experienced and what she felt during this, even though for years she had pushed back any feelings that didn't come across as happy and well adjusted.  It was a very moving story and one I think is important, particularly in these times.

It's worth noting too that when I went to pull the links for the reviews Barrie and I previously did on the other book, Margy had commented that her husband had read this book.    Also, the other traveler took down the information for Hyenoseo Lee's book so she could read that one as well.  :)

For more book reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Book Review Club - February 2020

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@Barrie Summy

This month I will be reviewing Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. 

For those that may be wondering if I'm writing a review on a book I read years ago or on a book that I've read multiple times and needed something to write about this month, the answer is no on all counts.  I've only just now finally read this book.

I've known who Jane Austen was for as long as I can remember but I hadn't read any of her books, even though everyone raved about them - I just couldn't imagine enjoying a book that had been writing 150 years ago.  It wasn't until 2006 that I finally read Pride and Prejudice (my review is here if you're interested).  And I loved it!

I read Emma for a class I was taking in 2010.  For me, that was the easiest read of the books I've read so far by Jane Austen.  It was light and fun, in my opinion.

I started another of her books but I couldn't get into it so I won't mention it here - but I still have others I haven't read but hope to at some point. 

It's not that I don't enjoy her books but they're not the easiest to read because the language is different than we use today.  In my review of Pride and Prejudice I likened the writing to that of a text book because every word is important.  You can't just skim through a Jane Austen book.  But that's also something I like about the books.  Ms. Austen doesn't transport you back to the 1800's describing scenery, clothing or other things - it's done in the language she uses . . . you never doubt what century the story is taking place in and I love that about her books.

When Sense and Sensibility was written, it was not written as a historical romance.  In fact it was a contemporary romance when written.  Which is why, when I was reading it, I found myself comparing it to the historical romances I read today.  So much of the stuff written today glamorizes the time.  Instead of being at the mercy of the men in their lives, today's historicals are written as if it was okay for a woman to headstrong and flighty - as if it was encouraged.  Reading Ms. Austen's novels shows how wrong today's writers get it (although that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the stories - they're just not factually accurate to the time periods they portray, in my opinion).

With all that said, Sense and Sensibility is about two sisters who have lost their father and they, along with their mother, have to depend on the kindness of others for housing and other necessities for survival while they attempt to find suitable matches for marriage.  It doesn't dwell on the unfairness of things they endure because it's just how things were back then and that's the frame of reference that Ms. Austen brings to the story.  It also shows how men have to make concessions as well to get along in life during this period of time.  It's not just a well told story, it's a lesson in history.  I loved the book and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it (and I realize I may have been the last hold out in this regard!  :) ).

For more reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.