How Much Entertainment Does a Family Need?

It's quiet in my house right now. Both kids are on an electronic of their choice, Erin on the iPod touch and Gavin on my iPad. I'm on the iMac and so was Ken until a few minutes ago. We're just a wired family. It keeps us sane sometimes. We all do our own thing. It really gets convoluted when Gavin wants to FaceTime Ken from another room in the house just to be funny instead of walking to talk to him. (I know Ken's family in Florida regularly chat with each other when their each on their separate computers in their rooms doing their own thing.)

We have a choice of laptops, tablets and handhelds, plus one pc. Who needs cable television when we've got all that? Still, Gavin does like cartoons sometimes so we have Netflicks and Hulu. We actually do have Cable TV, but only because we have to have it because of our cable internet.

Believe it or not one of our favorite forms of entertainment does not come from the electronics. Ken and Gavin love to go outside and watch the chickens and I prefer to read books. OK, I have eBooks and paper books both. But the chickens are live entertainment. The guys give the chicken day old bread that we get from one of the restaurants in town and they watch them flock to it. I really don't like to go outside to watch the chickens but to each their own.

Ken actually thinks cooking is a form of entertainment. I just don't see it. Cooking is something one has to do to get food in the belly so as to not go hungry. Also it doesn't have to be fru-fru or special, just plain old food from a box. Ken, however, believes food can be made from recipes and set up nice on a plate.

There might have been a time about 9 or 10 years ago I agreed with him. But in 2003 I had a gastric bypass. Food these days only does one thing for me - fills me up a little and has very little special meaning to me. I can't get excited about entertainment of food because I don't eat enough to get excited about it. It really just makes me pretty disheartened to think about food to be honest about it. I could care less about how things taste. I eat the same things all the time and really don't care about them. So, food as entertainment does not do it for me. I'm afraid to say I really am not a good cheerleader for Ken when it comes to one of his favorite things to do, unfortunately.

Gavin likes to go to the park for entertainment. Sadly the cold weather has really cut down on that for now. There has been a couple of days here and there that he has tried to get bundled up and went to ride his scooter. Then sometimes he'll also go to Centre College and swing on the tire swing they have set up there. Kids are easy to entertain outside. . Inside recently we've given him a few boxes and let him have at it. He's really enjoyed that. Those boxes have been tunnels, tents, houses, water and electric companies - well, you name it. What kid needs toys? Give them the boxes. Oh, I forgot, he plays HayDay on my iPad. He is really into HayDay. Sometimes I can hardly get my iPad away from him to read my books. There are other games he plays too, but HayDay is the main one right now.

I'm pretty sure Erin just listens to music and watches movies on Netflicks. It's what she's doing right now. Music.

As for me, just give me a good book and I'm entertained for hours. It's all I need. I can go on Amazon looking for free books occasionally. I'll go on Facebook to check up on friends and family. But mostly I'll have my nose in a book.

I Have a Confession To Make....

Unbreakable ornaments

I Have a Generic Christmas Tree

My Generic Tree

Yes, it's true, my Christmas tree is so generic it could be one of those kind you find already put together at Wal-Mart advertising to buy their trees. OK, maybe not Wal-Mart... Target. At least they decorate their trees nicer with more ornaments.

Don't get me wrong, my tree is very pretty in my opinion. It just doesn't exude the Christmas feelings that my previous trees have. The difference is in the ornaments. In previous years I've had all the ornaments I've collected throughout the years. The Disney characters, the ones the kids made at school, the ones I got from friends as gifts, the ones I bought to commemorate special occasions, etc. Almost each and every one of them had a story behind it. If it didn't, then it's story was that I bought it just because I needed extra ornaments that year, but I knew why I bought it.

But I did something different this year. My husband bought a new tree and 200 new generic, but pretty, ornaments. I thought that meant he wanted to see the tree in only all those ornaments, leaving no room for my old ones. Now I can see that I was wrong to leave them off and I will certainly not do that again next year. It's too close to Christmas for me to make changes to the tree now so I'll leave it as it is. At least these ornaments are less breakable than my keepsakes and I don't have to worry about the dogs knocking down glass stuff.

DECORATING

Isn't it great to be able to get out the decorations of Christmas and get that old Holiday Spirit back? As you Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly or whatever else you're decorating with you can turn on the holiday music and feel the season flow right through you. When do you get out your decorations? There are so many different things I've been told by different people for different reasons. One starts decorating right after Halloween, Oh My! Another starts decorating the weekend before Christmas - yet another Oh My! Why wait so late?

I like to start decorating really soon after Thanksgiving. That's when the Christmas music gets going really well on the radio and there are more stores than Wal-Mart putting out decorations to buy. More people are talking about Christmas so the excitement just seems to be floating in the air everywhere. When decorating for the holiday it really helps me to be just coming back from some place just bursting with energy, like, the mall. Then I feel the Holiday spirit and actually want to get out that pack of 2,000 bulbs in the 15 degree weather and put all over my house. OK, maybe I'm going too far with that... I hate cold weather and we haven't put up lights this year. But do you understand what I mean the holiday spirit is contagious?

If anyone actually reads this please leave me a comment, say hi, let me know you've stopped by. Especially if I don't know you. Tell me your Christmas tradition.

Have a Very Merry Christmas Everyone!

A Blue So Dark

A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler

This book gave me the title of my blog. There is a quote in it that I think really fits the scatterbrained person I am today. "Sanity is a sonnet with a strict meter and rhyme scheme - and my mind is free verse." You see, I called myself scatterbrained but it's really just "free verse".

By no means am I saying I'm insane. What I'm trying to say is that sometimes I feel that my thoughts are so scrambled everywhere at one time I can hardly focus on one thing at a time. I want to do too many things at once sometimes and all too often I end up doing nothing because I don't know where to start first. On the other hand, maybe I am insane.

ABOUT THE STORY

"Fifteen-year-old Aura Ambrose has been hiding a secret. Her mother, a talented artist and art teacher, is slowly being consumed by schizophrenia, and Aura has been her sole caretaker ever since Aura's dad left them. Convinced that "creative" equals crazy, Aura shuns her own artistic talent. But as her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet draws Aura toward the depths of her imagination. Just as desperation threatens to swallow her whole, Aura discovers that art, love, and family are profoundly linked—and together may offer an escape from her fears." Amazon's description


Aura is in over her head. She's not old enough to be mom to her single mother and still try to be the teenager in the house. She's afraid her mother's mental illness will be passed down to her so she'll go crazy too someday and she's miserable. The mother is a schizophrenic who has been off medications for a long time, either not realizing she needs help or refusing it. That causes some memory loss and occasional episodes when she acts really weird interspersed with other times that she's completely normal. When she's weird she can either be extremely happy or extremely angry for no apparent reason. Aura and her mother thankfully find help and can stay together.

The book is not easy to read because it is full of her anguish and pain. There are some lighter moments. I identified with both her and her mother, a little, so this book was especially good for me. Not a joyful ending, but a good one where you know every things going to be alright.

Online Shopping and Stocking Tradition

ONLINE SHOPPING

All hail Amazon! Amazon Prime especially. Since my husband became a Prime member I cannot tell you how many times we have decided to forgo the hassle of going to the store to buy something and do it at Amazon instead. Even when we do go to the store we'll check our Amazon pricing by phone while going through the aisles. Since shipping is free with Prime, even if the price is only a little bit lower I may decide to order it instead of get it right then, if I don't have to have the item right away. For instance, Christmas gifts arriving by UPS during the daytime when Gavin is at school rather than when I'm shopping with him is so much more convenient.

In fact, I don't even bother doing the Black Friday shopping anymore. I use to be one of those die hard get up early stand in line people who would have to try my best to get the sale on SOMETHING at a store just because it was the thing to do. Now, that is Sooooo OUT. Amazon it IN. And I am IN on IT.

GAVIN'S SANTA LIST IS DONE!

So today I did a serious inventory of the wish list I had compiled for Gavin on Amazon. Showed him what it had on it and asked him what else he might put on it before he wrote his Santa list. He and I worked on it together. He added a couple of things I had not thought about but for the most part I'd done pretty good at adding all the stuff he'd mentioned to me he might like to have. Then I asked him which ones would he really want and were the most important that would go on Santa's list. He had to come up with the best of the best, of course, because everything could not possibly go on there. Although Gavin knows Santa can't get him everything anyway, Santa has to know he's not greedy, (like his mommy).

The reason I'm putting this here is because Ken and I immediately took the list and became Santa. We whittled the list down to what was acceptable, because the list was still quite long, and then at AMAZON.com under his wish list we clicked "add to shopping cart" for each item we wanted, then checked out. It was that easy. In my last post I worried about what to get him and seriously I had no worries. It was done.

I still have to go outside the house shopping for other people and for Stocking stuffers.

 STOCKING STUFFERS

Speaking of stocking stuffers, when I was really young I didn't have a stocking. We had paper bags. In those paper bags we each got one apple, banana, orange and candy bar and a handful of hardshell nuts. no toys. I didn't get a real stocking with a toy or two in it until I was around 8 (still had the other stuff in it too). You see, until then my Mom, Dad and I spent Christmas's with my paternal grandparents. Dad was the oldest of 9 kids and most of the rest were still pretty young when I was little. So stocking stuffers like kids get now were out of the question. When I was 8 or so my Aunt Barb crocheted my cousin and I stockings (big ones). The main reason we got them then is 1. All my dad's brothers and sisters had finally gotten too old for Santa and 2. My brother was 1 so mom and dad decided it was time to have Christmas at our own house now. It was still weird to wake up on Christmas morning at our house instead of Grandmas's for a long time.

What is a stocking anyway? Traditionally I mean? I have very little knowledge of what the traditions of stockings are. I remember the christmas cartoon a long time ago about santa putting gifts in the stockings because the stockings hung over the fireplace to dry. How silly is that? The stuff would make socks just rip then where would kids get new socks that, I'm sure were needed more than toys. And, where on earth did we get the traditions that stocking stuffers had to be toys, or candies or fruit or just whatever they are? I'm sure we get them from our ancestors, just as I did. I know of now one else, for instance, that puts only fruits, a candy bar and some nuts in their kids stocking, assuming they have a stocking instead of a paper bag. It just isn't done. I don't think they would even think of put that stuff in there with the other junk they do. Yet, for some reason, every Christmas, I want to. Whether I do or not, I want to. It just doesn't feel right without them. Because I was so ill informed of this tradition I looked it up and found a few stories about it:

• The tradition of hanging stockings is said to have its roots in the 16th century Dutch tradition, where children in Holland used to leave their clogs by the fireplace filled with straw for the reindeers or donkeys of the Saint and a treat for Santa himself in the house. In return, the Santa Claus used to leave treats for children.
• There is a legend about kind Saint Nicholas related to the tradition of Christmas stockings. Once a kind nobleman had a turn of fate. He lost his money and his wife and was left alone to fend off his old days with three daughters of marriage-able age. Once, when St. Nicholas was going on rounds, he heard all four of them crying together for they had little to eat and make merry. Their biggest problem was how to arrange dowries for the daughters so that they can get married.
  The saint knew that these people were too respectable to be offered any charity and so he thought of another way to help them out. He saw that the three daughters had washed their stockings and hung them over their fireplace to dry. So, in the night, he quietly climbed down the chimney and placed three purses of gold in each of the girl's stockings that was enough to marry them off. In the morning, when the family found the money, they were very thankful to God and the kind nobleman who did so much for them.
• According to yet another theory, at about the end of the nineteenth century, Thomas Nast and George Webster cooked up a story about a visit from Santa Claus as an illustrator and writer respectively, which became very popular. It was in this story that Christmas stockings were first mentioned as being hung from a chimney, thus, giving birth to the tradition.

From http://www.worldofchristmas.net/christmas-symbols/stocking.html

Thanksgiving, Christmas and my Birthday

THANKSGIVING

I got to spend Thanksgiving with some of Ken's family in Florida. It was nice. The last few years my family of four have spent Thanksgiving here at home doing nothing. The next day we went to Walt Disney World. That was a treat for our family. Spending money we really couldn't afford to, but doing it anyway because we had a little saved up for a vacation and that's what we chose to do. That was the real reason we were in Florida. The day after that I had a migraine. A serious blown out real migraine. The two days before had ruined me. Luckily we had provided a day of rest in Florida so I was able to sleep all day long at a family members house while the rest of the gang visited family there. I really slept a whole day and night. It was enough to allow me to be refreshed to drive home a third of the way on Sunday. I would have driven more but Ken just happens to like to drive.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas is going to be spent at home, as usual.

I am really writing to rant about presents. How hard it is to buy presents for a 15 year old! It's even getting tougher to buy them for my 6 year old, Gavin. He wants different things all the time. Actually, he wants everything, so how are we to pick out just a couple of things to get him? Things that he'll care for, maybe? That he might not ruin or forget about within a week of Christmas. I know we can get him clothes but thats more of a present for us when it comes to his age. Ha ha Gavin. As far as Erin, I can get her clothes too, but she'd have to pick them out since I know she does not like what I like. I've been shopping with her and what I picked out she totally vetoed. I have gotten her a couple of things, I think she'll like them. She may read this so I won't mention them. There are a few more things I have in mind but I don't know if I'll get them or not. They are not primary gifts as I've already gotten that. Next, there is my husband. He never gives me a hint as to what he wants. I'm thinking outside the box with him but he may think my gift idea too frivolous. Maybe I'll do it anyway and he'll love it. I know he reads this so Ken, you'll just have to wait and see - at least until you give me a better idea. I've already gotten my gift. I got to pick it out. I'm good. I got an upgraded wedding ring. The Celtic weave band is my actual original band, but this makes the third upgrade since then. It's a one Carat tw PPF diamond band, chosen by Ken and myself at Reed's Jewelers. This isn't the best picture but you get the idea.

MY BIRTHDAY

January 3rd is my birthday. I'll be 40. I'm having a hard time with that number for some reason. This whole year all I  could think about was I'm almost 40. That I look 40. I'm looking so much older. The last few years have really taken a toll on me. When I was 36 I looked 32, maybe. Now I look 40. I look my age. 

Birthdays can suck sometimes. Mine does anyway because it's right after Christmas. That's a little selfish because I'm thinking about how I get screwed on presents - usually the Christmas and birthday one get lumped in together. So not fair. Sometimes even Valentines day gets lumped in together with it! At least I didn't get married around that time too! OK, considering my Christmas gift this year I have very little right to complain. I'm a little teensy bit selfish.

Maybe when I turn 41 or 42 for a present I can get a little nip and tuck around my eyes and chin. I think my aunt got her first plastic surgery at 45. I could do a few years better. I'll just start saving up my extra quarters, the ones Gavin doesn't manage to find after I get change. Those can really add up. Besides, the cost of those procedures has really gone down anyway. Hmmm...

Coffee and Tea and New Car

COFFEE and TEA

Why do people drink Coffee and Tea? What made them start to like it in the beginning and why do they continue? For instance, for as long as I can remember my mom and dad have drank coffee completely black. In fact, if someone were to leave the pot on and let it sit all day, my dad would still pour a cup of coffee and say it's the best cup he's ever had. Seriously. He loves it that strong (nasty). Mom likes McDonald's coffee best. I think it's because it is cheap and always fresh. I like both tea and coffee. Usually I will switch out certain times of year that I drink them. I'll go on a tea binge or just get a coffee kick.

This morning as I fired up my Keurig I though about why I wanted to drink coffee in the first place. It has a bitter flavor that is actually not that tempting unless I cover it up with sweet-n-low and cream. So why do it? There are times that I actually drink it every morning and tell myself that it is the best drink I've ever tasted, when I know that there are far better ones out there. . I'll tell you why my friend. It has all to do with that great big word CAFFEINE.

My love affair with caffeine came about many years ago when I started drinking hot tea as a teenager. I had hoped to be able to stay awake longer with it than with Coke because I figured it had more caffeine in it than Coke. I just couldn't stand the thought of drinking coffee at that time. For years I went on drinking only hot tea, or in a pinch, cold tea, to get my caffeine. I knew it didn't compare to coffee in caffeine but the bitter taste of coffee just didn't appeal to me at that time. Ironically I still put sweet-n-low and milk in my tea, to enhance the flavor of the tea, of course. It was said to be the "British"way of doing tea.

Then for a very short time I became a barista at a coffee joint, of all things. I learned a little about the ways that lattes could be made and voila! I now could love coffee! As long as it was milked down enough I could have caffeine all I wanted! But my love waned. Lattes became passé and I was bored of them. Besides my latte maker broke I used it so much.

I really became a friend of coffee when I joined AA. That group of friends really know how to love their coffee. The first thing you do before an AA meeting is get a cup of coffee. That's the ice breaker. It's not always the best cup of coffee in the world but it sure can be a good conversation starter.

There have been times for me that coffee was one of the highlights of my entire day. No joke. Whether or not the coffee was any good in the morning could mean the difference between a good or a not so good day. During those days I also had to make do with whatever I had available to put in my cup of coffee. I might have a little sugar or milk, or if I was lucky that week I had some sweet-n-low and creamer. Coffee can truly be "the best part of waking up" whether it's Folgers in the cup or not.

So now I look at coffee quite differently from when I first began drinking it. I am grateful for having it now when I didn't think about it much before. I don't mind that it might have a little bitter taste because I know I like the caffeine and I sugar it to death anyway. I am thankful that I can do that too. I drink my coffee and I like the stuff. It is what it is and I'm just darn lucky to have it.


NEW CAR

Ken and I got a new car on Saturday. It is a Nissan Versa. A few weeks ago I took the time to research the type of car that would suit our family's needs regarding gas mileage and interior leg room. Also, the price had to be right for our budget. I didn't want a domestic car and I was tired of driving a stick shift so those things were out of the question. The Versa is what I came up with. After looking at the car Ken agreed. It took a little bit of haggling with the dealer but we got the car at the price we wanted and now it's ours! The car has the most backseat legroom of any compact car on the market. It also beats out most mid-size sedans in legroom, including Toyota Corolla and Nissan Altima! I was shocked. THAT, my friends, is why I chose this car. I don't need a sedan as nice and as expensive as the Altima since I can't afford it. Plus, Bob Allen Nissan went all the way to give us the best deal. I really put them through the wringer. I'm pretty good at negotiating a deal and they worked well with me. So, if you want a car and they have it, go there.

I Love eBooks, Book Organization and Book Community

KINDLE

I love my Kindle. Currently I'm using the Kindle app on my iPad (Erin has the Kindle), so I'll just say I love all eBooks and anything that can get a digital book to any of my digital computer type systems. Obviously my love is because I am such a consumer of the written word. BUT..

There is an even better reason to love the format eBook itself that I am proclaiming this love today. It is because I have the ability to find and GET the next book in a series IMMEDIATELY in my hands. If I have the means and am really into a story I no longer have to go to a bookstore and buy the next book in the series before I can find out what happens next to my favorite heroine! Also the Kindle price is often cheaper than the paperback price.

The number one thing that made me write this post is the kicker of them all. I found a book that was the 2nd book in its series and I really did not want to wait to have to find the first book before getting to read that book. So, I looked it up on Kindle and, low and behold! It was only $2.99 Kindle price! So I bought it and now I don't have to wait to actually try to find a paperback book cheap nor do I have to pay full paperback price! So my thoughts ran rampant. What if I could always find the first book in the series EVERY time I had this dilemma? Sure, the price may not always be right, but I have the world's library at my fingertips! I can always have the book I want right there! OK, I'm obsessed. That's going overboard and would happen only in a perfect world where I might have more money than I have brains.

SHELFARI

"Shelfari is a gathering place for authors, aspiring authors, publishers, and readers, and has many tools and features to help these groups connect with each other in a fun and engaging way. Our mission is to enhance the experience of reading by connecting readers in meaningful conversations about the published word."

I like Shelfari, though it is a community, because it is a place to house my library of books. So far in my Shelfari library I have logged in 3,520 books. Almost all of them are eBooks. Shelfari is linked to Amazon so occasionally after I've racked up a couple dozen books I'll upload them to Shelfari and my count goes higher. Also when I buy them straight out I add them manually. If I remember books I've read in the past I'll add them also. Shelfari is really cool. It lets you separate the books into categories of Owned, Read, Want to read, To be read, Reading Now, Wish to Have, etc... So, the total count may or may not be all the books I actually own or have read. For instance, the total books logged on my Shelfari, 3,656, includes those I have read but do not own. When I remember books I have read in the past I add them to the list.

GOODREADS

"Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world. We have more than 12,000,000 members who have added more than 400,000,000 books to their shelves. A home for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads users recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read, find their next favorite book, form book clubs and much more."

I like Goodreads for the actual community. Yes, they also have a place to keep the library of books but they are not connected to Amazon therefore they are not easy to upload every single book I own to the database. There are many more people that use Goodreads for community than Shelfari. It just makes sense to me to use both. 


For a book lover like me any book tool on the web is a good book tool I say. Happy Reading!

Gross Food

We all have our ideas of food that we refuse to eat. There is just so far we'll go before we'll say "absolutely not, no way no how, I will not eat that." Even the most daring of foodies surely have their drawbacks, though it may be found in another culture or on Survivor. My food no-no's usually are anything I can't recognize or are slimy. I had an incident once where the rice with an entree was black rice, but it resembled a bug on the island I was on, so I just could not eat the rice, though I love rice. I have eaten some things that other people think sound gross. Most people don't think anything bad about. Like Squirrel, rabbit, squid, even tried escargot. They weren't nasty. However I draw the line with parts of animals that are just sickening to look at, much less think about eating, such as brains.

My husband recently bought a recipe book called Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. It says it is "the cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats." (Dictocrats being HER word as it doesn't come up in the dictionary anywhere.) As we were flipping through the pages looking at the recipes we noticed that the recipes were mostly old fashioned recipes and basics. They seemed a little complicated to me since I don't like the kind you have to prepare some ingredients overnight and then cook the meal the next day.

Well, in that book I came along a recipe that included, yep, brains. It seriously grossed me out. Plus it even mentioned making it and not telling your kids what was in it! How mean is that! Then Ken has to go and tell me about the Ponshaus (also called Scrapple) he use to eat as a kid. It uses a whole pig head. I just could not fathom why anyone would do that stuff. So, In honor of these nasty foods I decided to copy the recipes down and let you see how they worked. If you think they sound good, by all means feel free to make them.

Original Ponhaws - Pannhas - Ponhaus - Scrapple

Read more at: http://www.food.com/recipe/original-ponhaws-pannhas-ponhaus-scrapple-265164?oc=linkback

1 pig head

5 quarts water

4 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons pepper

1 teaspoon sage

3 cups cornmeal (amount is approximate)

Directions:

1 Separate pig head into halves.

2 Remove eyes and brains.

3 Scrape head and clean thoroughly.

4 Place in a large kettle, cover with water and simmer gently for 2 or 3 hours (or until meat falls off the bone). 

5 Skim grease from the surface; remove meat, chop finely and return to broth.

6 Season with salt, pepper and sage to taste.

7 Sift in corn meal, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened to the consistency of soft mush.

8 Cook very slowly for one hour over low heat.

9 When sufficiently cooked, pour into greased loaf pans and store in a cool place until ready to use.

10 To serve, cut into 1/2" slices and fry until crisp and brown.

Nutritional Value:

Serving Size: 1 (5140 g)

Servings Per Recipe: 1

Amount Per Serving% Daily ValueCalories 224.7 Calories from Fat 2096%Total Fat 2.2 g3%Saturated Fat 0.3 g1%Cholesterol 0.0 mg0%Sodium 1588.1 mg66%Total Carbohydrate 47.8 g15%Dietary Fiber 4.8 g19%Sugars 0.4 g1%Protein 5.1 g10%

OFFAL Burritos (takes overnight to make)

Makes about 18 burritos

Recipe from Nourishing Traditions

3lbs brisket of beef or game

2 pounds sweetbreads or brains or combination 

Prepare brains:

Brains must be very fresh. Wash brains, cover with cold filtered water to which you have added a little vinegar and soak for about two hours, changing the water once or twice. This extracts the blood and helps remove any impurities. Remove, rinse and place in saucepan. Cover with water or chicken stock. add 1 tsp salt and juice of 1/2 lemon. Bring to a boil, simmer for about 15 min. Remove and allow to cool. Using sharp knife carefully remove all loose tissue, skin, fat and membranes. Place on plate or platter, cover with parchment paper and place weighted flat plate or cookie sheet on top. Let brains flatten or in refrigerator several hours or overnight.

2 cups beefstock

1 small can tomato paste

2 onions finely chopped

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp cumin

4 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed

about 18 sprouted whole wheat tortillas

about 1/2 cup melted butter

about 3 cups melted enchilada sauce

sauerkraut for garnish

sliced avocados for garnish

They’re not awful, they’re good! This is a great way to get organ meats into your children without them knowing it. In this recipe, brains or sweetbreads need no special preparation. Place all ingredients (except garnishes tortillas and butter) into a large pot. Bring to a boil, cover and place in a 300 degree oven overnight or all day until meat is falling apart. Remove top for last hour or so of cooking til sauce thickens. 

Remove brains or sweetbreads and chop finely. Add sauce from the pan to moisten but the mixture should not be runny. Meanwhile heat tortillas briefly in a heavy skillet and brush one side with melted butter. Place about 1/2 cup of the meat mixture in the center of each buttered side. Fold in sides before rolling up and brush outside with butter. May be individually wrapped and frozen. (Remove foil before heating). Heat at 325 degrees in an oiled pyrex dish until steaming. Serve with choice of garnishes. 

Decisions, Decisions.....

Comfy Chairs

Recently I've had the need for a new chair. Not just any chair, a reading chair. Looking for such an important chair was a serious thing because I spend a lot of time in my reading chair. This chair was going to have to be comfortable, yet supportive, durable, but cosy, and still somehow fit in with the schematics of my other living room furniture.

My current reading chair is a completely broken down chair that Ken has had for many years, so I didn't choose it and wouldn't have if I'd had my way. So I had to think about what kind of chair I wanted instead of the one I have. What makes a good comfy chair in my opinion? I had to also take into account how I like to sit when I read because I vetoed certain features based on that. Here are a few pictures of chairs that others on the internet posted as "comfy chairs". A few I think may be too.

This one is just cool. Maybe the form is comfy but I bet it's itchy.

This is more than a chair but certainly comfy!

I totally love this one, though I wouldn't choose it for myself.

This one would be great for anyone that reads with their kids or likes to prop their legs up sometimes.  

Mod Comfy?

Comfy with class

Caveman Comfy

 I ended up buying one at a furniture store in Danville. It wasn't my first choice. The first one was out of my budget range. Oh, but it was perfect! However, the one I'm getting is good too. The design is funky, not tame at all, but should still go with the rest of my living room. Since I had to order it I will not get it in for a few weeks! NO instant gratification darn it!

Truly comfy, I believe. The one I chose comes close to this one

Deciding on a chair wasn't easy. There was a limited number of stores in Danville to check out the stock and there was a certain criteria I had in mind. But I found something in a relatively normal amount of time with little stress.

DUVET's

Believe it or not there are numerous websites that sell duvets online. Of course, I want the right one for my bed. I would like to have had one already, before my pretty white down comforter got stains on it, but too late. Now I NEED one and I'm unhappy that I can't seem to choose one out of the hundreds or thousands available online. Oh, I can forget about going to the actual stores to try to get one. I've done that. Apparently the stores don't keep those in stock. At least the ones I went to don't. Those are catalog or online only. OR they are sold out or just plain don't have what I want. 

My choice was from JC Penney. 

My solution? Today I spent some time really checking out the online sites for duvets and narrowed it down to the one that I can live with. I really did. I mean, there comes a time when you just have to go for it and make a commitment. Just like with my chair. I had to just go for it and do it. Otherwise I'd end up with nothing but a broken down chair and stains on my comforter. 

Ramblings

FREE BOOK LISTS

I love to get free books. Rarely do I pay for a book. If I so it's only because it is a sequel to something that I'm reading and the "want to know" about the character outweighs my purse strings. 

So I have a few book lists I get e-mails from. These are: admin@ereadernewstoday.com, freeebooksdailyblog@gmail.com and anthonywessel@digitalbooktoday.com. All of those yield great free books of all genres. They can bee good for anyone that doesn't take the time to go to Amazon and look at the free book list themselves to find what they want. 

Truly, those lists just get their info from the top 100 free book list list at Amazon. If I want to get free books I just go to Amazon and look them up myself. It may take me 30 minutes a day to look at the few genre lists I prefer but assuming I want to get some quality free books that what I have to do. 

There are other websites to get free books. But I don't deal with them. Honestly, I get so much from Amazon I don't have the time or need to go to the other places. Maybe I'm missing out, I don't know. I do have a few authors and author critics I am friends with on Facebook that give me leads to free books so sometimes I get sent to those places for free books and get some quality stuff. It's rare. 

FACEBOOK

The computer, to me, is not the way to live a life. Once upon a time I was addicted to being on it. That was a long time ago. Now I can take it or leave it. I am so sporadic on Facebook I can't tell you how often I miss important stuff in my friends and families lives. Something happens and my husband tells me something, then I'm mad at myself for not paying attention. I get obsessed with reading books in a series, or watching a tv series or just plain doing something else that keeps me away from the computer so I stay away from it for days at a time and I don't even look at my e-mail unless it's important - and it never is. So please, if I seemingly don't notice what's going on with your lives it has nothing to do with you personally. It's because I'm just not around to be looking. I promise I will try to catch up and read backlogs when I get on the computer again after having been off of it for a while though. 

PICKLES

I've recently become totally into eating pickles again. No, I'm not pregnant. At least, I'd better not be. What is it about pickles that just makes a person either want them or not want them? I'll eat them straight from the jar then drink the juice. Hmmmmm...

Is that random enough?

Birthdays and Parties

Yesterday was my daughter Erin's 15th birthday. We spent ALOT of time together: time shopping at Wal-mart, walking around town and just hanging around the house without the guys. It was altogether a good daytime spent for us. We talked each others ears off. I'd say it was the most we've talked together in a LONG time without yelling and lecturing.

Of course, it being her birthday I did the typical remembrances of her birth. Just a few. I may have even embellished a little. Things like "at this time 15 years ago I was screaming at the top of my lungs GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME" and stuff like that. In actuality I had a really good epidural and, although uncomfortable, I didn't have much pain until the actual pushing and I WAS too busy to yell. I did eventually tell her that too. I told her the facts like time of birth - 6:29pm, height and weight - 8lbs 14ozs, 21inches. Every year I tell her these things and she wonders how I remember them. Of course they're just what mom's keep embedded in their brain forever. I can forget so many things but there are some things that are just THERE.

One thing that ties her together with Gavin's birth is that she was there to witness it. YES, she was 9 years old, but I deemed she was old enough and mature enough to watch the birth. I figured she would then decide that she would never want to have a child of her own. Isn't that cool! Seriously, I just wanted the family to all have part of the birth. My mom, Ken and Erin were all there. Gavin was Born October 4th, 2006. But today we are having his birthday party.

I'm being a little bit pouty right now. Only one person in Gavin's Kindergarten class has RSVP'd. Do people not do that anymore or is no other child out of 27 children going to come to his party? I'm so worried about this. This is the first real school party I've thrown for Gavin and I'm this anxious about it. I never had this much anxiety about Erin's parties. We had enough friends in Lexington that I knew almost exactly how many people would be at her parties, plus people RSVP'd. I'm out of my element here. Ken and I haven't been here long enough to have made many friends with the people in the area, especially the ones with kids Gavin's age. I have a few kids coming, including family so I know the party won't be empty. But it's Gav's first REAL party away from the house and I wanted it to be special. I'm sort of living vicariously through my children. I never had a party away from my house, EVER. I lived in the mountains where there was not many choices of places, if any, for parties away from home. Now I get excited about giving my kids fun times when I can. I just want them to have the most fun they can have. Gavin probably doesn't care one way or another. It's just me.

Whatever happens today for the adults I am positive the kids will have a good time. I'm now heading off to get the cake for Gavin and the party is in less than two hours. I'll update this later.

UPDATE:

Of course Gavin loved his party. What  kid wouldn't love skating, playing video and token games, getting to ride around in a giant skate and eating pizza and ice cream? He got plenty of well wishes and lots of hugs. That's all he needed to give him plenty of a rush and keep him up later than I would have liked. He did eventually go to sleep, but it was a good day and night altogether. His favorite gifts were his razor scooter and light saber. Now he can ride his scooter with the neighbors without borrowing one of theirs. The light saber is neat as it is a light up that does the sound and clash stuff. So, I'm pleased anyway that he has fun no matter what my hang ups are.

Dreams

Dreams in the course of a life are a natural thing. Dreaming at night, dreaming during the day, and then there are the long term DREAMS. Those we have that we want to DO. Our obsessions. What we want to do besides our careers. What we wish were our careers.

One of my husbands and my friends opened their family's restaurant last night. I am so very happy for his family. They went for their dream and made it real. It took time and courage. There will still be lots of heartache and worry because a venture like that is never completely solid. But it is a dream come true. I envy that. It's amazing and wonderful. Congratulations to Nash and Dijuana at Pescara's Pizza.

I've had many dreams. I've wanted to be in space, an author, a hotel manager and a business owner. This, I'm sure are just a few, but they stand out among the crowd. I never really went to much effort in becoming any one of these things, except get the assoc. degree in business. It was mostly talk and dreams. I went through my life working my jobs, not even careers, thinking I've got plenty of time to work on this. I can still do things later (except for the  being in space thing of course). Life gets in the way. The there came even more life than I expected, stuff that I got into that I hadn't planned on, but did anyway and years passed without me even noticing. Now here I am and I'll be 40 in a few months. What have I done with my life? I feel as if I do not have time to do anything else with it.

But the fact is I am only 39 and I still have plenty of time to work on other dreams. No one says I can't think small and work my way up. Author doesn't have to mean book. It can mean short story.Business owner doesn't have to mean brick and mortar, it can mean selling my typing services from home, or something like that. I just have to think smaller. I don't need to make myself fail before I even begin to do something that might actually become something good.

Now if I can just make myself truly believe that all the time I'll be good to go.

Politics and Other Ramblings

I'm already sick of hearing about anything having to do with politics. I am NOT into politics at all. I never really participated much in the elections in my past. I would try to go out in the presidential elections and "make my voice heard." Truth is, I probably did an "eeny meeny miney mo" on most of the other candidates. Or I selected the one I actually remembered hearing their name somewhere (good advertising is critical). Now, for a personal reason, I cannot vote and am pretty happy about it. I have a good excuse to stay away from the polls.

My husband, however, is somewhat political. I think he does pay attention to things going on around us but we don't talk about it. It's not a topic of conversation in our household because I could not care less. I haven't even asked him who he'd choose as president. He would probably tell me but I'm certain the reasons why would not come after that answer. He knows I'd zone out.

Facebook is a fount of information about the candidates. Even a few of my friends have been waging their own war of words. I will not unfriend them, nor will I shut them out just because they are pushing through stuff I don't want to see. I've been quite guilty of that kind of thing in the recent past. I got heavily into trying to win eBooks or other prizes and had to "like" a bunch of things and people as well as post ads for books and such. Sorry about that by the way. I often wonder how many people put me on their no show list because of that. I even got tired of doing that stuff myself. It was too time consuming, taking me away from my real love - reading books.

On a happier note, my daughter and I spent time together today and at no point did I want to strangle her (just a matter of speech, not a death threat people). I was frustrated a few times, rolled my eyes a whole lot, and flat out told her the truth of my disappointment with her recent bad behaviors (I will not write about), but I still kept cool. That is something to celebrate for me, a real breakthrough.

We were at an appointment most of the morning but afterwards we went to the mall to pick out her birthday gift. She turns 15 at the end of the month. I wanted to get her a small Coach purse but she wanted special shoes. I got her both. A Coach wristlet and Nike hightops. The shoes are where we disagreed. She wanted men's shoes and I think men's shoes are too bulky. Not to mention they were more expensive. In the end she got her way as it was her birthday present. Sometimes she can manipulate me into anything. She is, after all, my daughter.

IKEA, the PlayPlace of Adults

Ken and I have decided to go to IKEA to get a set of bookshelves. These are not just any bookshelves because IKEA is not just any store. The Billy Bookcases can be bought in little pieces so they are so customizable we can set them up any way we need them to fit in our house. We can put glass on the front of one or two shelves or on a whole wall unit. We can put drawers in some, and doors on some, or choose not to. I LOVE it. All we need when we go there is the dimensions of the area we're putting the bookcases in and we can start designing.

Oh, and even better is that the parts all come flat and ready to assemble with easy instructions so we'll be able to do it ourselves. I know we can because I've put together an IKEA bunk bed frame before and it was a snap. The furniture is all supposed to be made like that. I just need to ask my mom if I can borrow her truck. How about it mom? You can drive our car.

I call IKEA the PlayPlace of adults because you have little to no stress while shopping since they provide childcare and a place to eat if you get hungry. Then of course there is the stuff they sell. It is amazing! You have to have a map to get through it. They sell everything there, all created for living in smaller spaces, with a minimalistic look and higher efficiency. IKEA is a foreign company so they do things differently as far as furniture and decor. I like it. I could stay and play with the stuff there all day long! Oh, the really best part is that the stuff is really affordable! Totally within a normal person's price range. Like, the duvet cover I need to keep my lovely cloud feeling comforter from getting dirty is going to cost at least half if not less than that if I had gone anywhere else.

Unfortunately there is a time limit on the childcare so I will have to check out, hmmm, unless Mom will take care of Gavin too, giving us longer time to shop... How about it Mom? Please? I'll owe you one. I never get to have fun anymore and really need this playdate.

Here's the kicker: I can't go there often because the closest IKEA is in West Chester, OH, 127 miles from here. It's still worth the drive. The only other time I went to an IKEA is when we were in Orlando, FL visiting Ken's family. That's when I fell in LOVE.

Walt Disney World "The Magic Kingdom"

Hold on to your hats folks because we're going to see the mouse! Wait. I didn't say that right. I meant THE MOUSE! MICKEY MOUSE! That's right! This little branch of the Pflug family is going to Walt Disney World in November over Thanksgiving holiday. We're going to brave the roads and drive down, maybe stay one or two nights at one of the economy lodges on the Disney property, and spend a day in the Magic Kingdom. We'll probably just spend the next day in Downtown Disney. Then we'll be spending a couple more days in FL hanging out with family.

The four of us will be going to Disney: me, Ken, Erin and Gavin. Erin and I were there in 2005 to celebrate her 8th birthday, Gav's never been and Ken hasn't been there for close to 25 years. Many things have changed since then. We read up on the parks and decided on the Magic Kingdom as our park since we could only go to one park. I've done a little reading and sort of remember some of the stuff mentioned. It would be great if anyone who might read this comments or writes to me and gives me some inside tips for the Magic Kingdom. Maybe which restaurant is better price for the food, or where to stand for the parade to get the best pictures.

Of course the free guidebook I downloaded lists the main attractions and some of the facts. It really takes a regular attendee or a local person to know the ins and outs of anything going on inside the park. I do know one thing. I'd better make reservations to eat with characters early if I expect any of that to happen.

Wish us luck on getting the trip on it feet, as well as actually getting there.

Little Luxuries and a Birthday Party

I was able to do some special shopping last week and got two luxuries I'd wanted for a long time: a very nice COACH purse and an iPad!

I am actually enjoying my purse more than the iPad right now because the purse is just so new smelling and has so many pockets for everything. Plus I get so many nice compliments on it, etc. I LOVE it! Went to the Coach store with my three potential purses on a list, looked at each and chose one. Easy peasy. Then went to Godiva to get some chocolate to ease my stomach a bit before heading into Apple for the iPad.

It was also easy to get the iPad since I knew exactly what I wanted. Just tell the sales guy and boom, we're outta there. I know I'll enjoy the iPad a whole lot more when I start getting into the apps that are specific for it. Right now I've only downloaded two apps that utilize iPad at it's best. I've mostly been using it to read on or surf the web. Plus it takes the place of both my computer and the Kindle.

I am probably going to let Gavin use the Kindle for more of his games on trips and such. Also he likes the HD talking storeybooks. The Kindle has been useful this week, though, when I didn't want to close a window I would just have both the Kindle and the iPad up using both to do something.

I guess I could use my computer but I prefer mobility. My laptop is such a dinosaur that it's more of a desktop now, non-moveable. I actually have a picture frame back velcroed to the top of my laptop so that when it's open it can stay propped up. Otherwise it would flop all the way open like two halves of a hotdog bun; the joint connection is broken and has been for several years. My computer is 7 years old.

A laptop is a luxury. I can get a really nice desktop for the same price as I can get a halfway nice laptop. But I want to move around. Mobility is important to me. My dining room chairs are not something I like sitting in for long lengths of time and that's where we have our office set up.

Oh yes, a luxury for the iPad luxury came in the form of the iPad case. I believe that some protection is necessary for those things. What I spent was not necessary just for protection, but because I want to be able to read a certain way I have to pay for it. Isn't that always the way it is? Longway or horizontal is the way people are apparently excpected to read their iPads, Kindles and other readers and such. I say that because getting any kind of Portrait or verticle cover is not easy. I found one locally, not cheap at even the cheapest place, Wally world. (finding a good one online for my Kindle was a challenge).

Gavin is having his B-Day party at Windjammers Fun Center

September 30, a Sunday at 1pm, Gavin will be having his birthday party at Windjammers Fun Center at 3846 S. Danville Bypass, Danville, KY 40422. I'll be sending out real invitations to kids but if anyone wants to come let me know. Adults can come but BYOF. I'll supply the cake and drinks.

Gav actually turns 6 on Oct. 4. His sissy Erin turns 15 on September 29 so we'll be singing happy birthday to her too at Gavin's party.

Family Reunion

I went to my family reunion this weekend. It is the first time in over three years I have been to visit the county I grew up in. I was so glad to finally get to go to visit because I really missed my family. It just isn't enough to keep up with people on Facebook.

The reunion I went to is called the Mills, Horn, Crum reunion (104th year) and it is held at My family's old Homestead on Turkey Creek in Martin County KY.  The old homestead is the house my great great grandpa Thomas built (remodeled now) during the civil war when the Confederate soldiers took everything he had at another location and forced him out of his home. So the homestead is where his son, Paw Fed, started his family. His 14 kids and their families are the ones that make up most of the giant reunion we have today. Out of the 14 kids there were at least 45 grandchildren for Paw Fed and his wife (I'd lay money on there being several more). That is my dad's generation. No one has bothered to count my generation and heaven forbid trying to count my daughter and son's generation! That's only 5 generations still living through my grandmothers line. But I know there is a 6th generation living because my grandmother was just one of the youngest siblings. Her oldest sister, who is still alive and comes to the reunion sometimes, has great great grandchildren. My point in all this is that we are a large family. There was around 150 people at the reunion this year and many more just stopping in to chat.

As far as my Grandmother's contribution to the family, she has 9 children. They each have at least on kid, most have two. That's about 19 grandchildren. We are all continuing the tradition by having roughly two babies each. So, soon we're going to just have to branch off and have our own little reunion ourselves.

Completely and totally off the subject....

I once took a finance class that talked about Social Security. I learned that Social Security is an insurance, not a savings account. What we pay in to it is not put back for our use later on. What happens is, the people who come behind is are the ones who are paying into a pool of money for our retirement. Meaning those who are working right now are paying for those who are retired. With the economy having the most retirees EVER because of the baby boom, and I'm at the tail end, or beginning of Gen X (close enough), there just isn't enough money in the work pool going in to the Social Security fund to pay for all these retirees. So that's why they really can't retiree as early as they previously were able to. So, when my generation and the one after mine, gets old enough to retire, We are going to have to make sure there are enough people in the work force paying in to the Social Security fund to keep us living well in our retirement. What are we supposed to do about it? HAVE MORE KIDS! At lease have two kids per household instead of one, maybe even three. It's worth the expense in the long run. They will work their tails off in the work force paying taxes in the future so that we can retire and enjoy our retirement.

My grandmother's generation had it right. Have kids, let them take care of you in your old age. Guilt them into doing it. The baby boomers screwed up. I have two kids. Now I just hope they have a good work ethic and realize they have to have kids to keep them up later in life too.

Just My Fragmented Humble Opinion

OK, Next thought.....

401K's
If everyone had 401k's or retirement funds Social Security wouldn't be necessary...
Yeah, right. And everyone would drive their own Mercedes (I want one!) and live on Rodeo Drive too. Get real. If EVERYONE could do it, it would be done. It might even be possible, but not likely. It's possible for EVERYONE to stop smoking or drugging, but not likely. I only READ fantasy. I have to LIVE in reality.

Why did I get on the subject of Social Security? Who knows. Thoughts pop into my head sometimes that just get me thinking and I want to write about it. Now you know.

I like Pirates

I like Pirates. I love the romantic idea of pirates. The outfits are cool, the devil may care attitude, the (three sheets to the wind) bravery and the never ending bloodthirsty quests for treasure (stubborn fools) are magnetic to me. I'm a rebel. I take great pleasure in life doing what others say I can't. When I met Ken he told me he shared the same passion for all things pirate as I did. Right then I knew I'd found a potential mate. Someone to at least have fun with. That was before I met him. So our first meeting was at a bookstore after several batches of e-mails. It was not meant to be a date. We fell for each other that night. The rest is history.

I have the one photo that Ken said made him take notice of me and dare to e-mail me asking to get together.

Moving on.... I'm sharing photos from our wedding celebration. We only had immediate family members there and it was held a few days after we were actually married. But, it was PIRATE themed. Take a close look at the cake and see the story behind it. Also, Gavin, the tinniest pirate, was two weeks old in these pics.
  





Today I just happened to be looking for my scrapbook I made during this time so I wanted to post about this stuff.

The next to last picture I'm sharing is a grouping Ken and I did while I was pregnant. They are a foray into photography art for us. We wanted some memories of that time but we didn't want to pay exhorbitant prices so we did them ourselves.





The last picture is what I usually wear on Halloween, which is coming up sooner than we think. Stores already have decorations and candy out! The marketing of holidays is sad these days.

Precious Memories



Erin put her stuff in a much nicer pile



We all have kept them. Precious little bits of things throughout the years that we think we'll want to bring out and reminisce about with someone special or even by ourselves. There are also the ones we keep for our children from the time they are born until the time they are old enough to start their own collection of important junk. That may or may not include a baby book, with every little fart and giggle written in it, to clothing, such as the outfit she wore as a flower girl in some big wigs wedding  and it was a big deal so it was kept.

Today my daughter (14) is shoveling her way through a huge pile of school stuff I kept from her elementary school days. She found her stuff in a clear comforter bag while digging (nosing) through stuff in our basement. It looks like someone had taken a drawer full of paperwork and upended it into a bag, then shook the bag, then stomped on it a few times. That's how I organize things around here. I need another comforter bag for Gavin's school work. If anyone has one I'll take it.

I look at these things and think that my kids would never want this stuff. Why am I keeping it? Am I a hoarder if I keep these things? Will my kids thank me for reminding them their grades in elementary school were not as stellar as they remembered? Too late now for Erin, but not for Gavin. I can begin with his stuff in a real folder labeled by school year. If I can remember where I put the folder each time I want to put his work inside it, I'll be making a good example for him to start organizing as well. Ha! So, I won't need that comforter bag just yet. Give me a couple of years until I have several folders filled up with his work. Then I'll ask around again.

Eggs and Chickens

The other day Ken brought in a small pink egg along with the two normal large brown eggs we usually get. It was our first egg from the new batch of chicks! To day, however, we got the first GREEN egg! It  is about the same size as the other egg, extra small, but they are both perfectly formed and look great. I won't know for a while if that pinkish egg was laid by an Easter egger or by one of the Wyandots. 

The colors of the eggs are going to vary. The Easter eggers are supposed to lay pink, green and blue eggs. Truly, the eggs colors are subjective. They can all look green rather than any looking blue and the others can all look brown rather than any looking pink and such. There are a few here and there that are true blue and true pink. The colorful eggs are just cool because when someone who has never seen them before opens the box they get a nice surprise. The smiles on their faces give me joy.

Speaking of chickens, I am so glad I don't have to deal with so many bird feathers in my house now Gav's in school. Crazy beak just sheds her feathers too much when she visits Gavin in the house during the day. I asked her kindly to stop, but if she won't even stop messing on the floor what makes me think she's going to stop dropping her feathers? Gavin, thankfully is not home for her to be visiting him in the house an hour or so at a time, several times a day. Now they can't sit around and watch TV, being little lazy butts, not picking up after themselves. I feel a little sorry that Crazy has lost her daytime buddy, but she'll get over it. She really needs to make friends with the other chickens and stop thinking she's a human. I believe we've spoiled her.

Very soon we'll have to start selling the eggs just to keep them from piling up on us and spoiling. Even with 10 chickens last year we almost had that problem. I hope we have enough buyers out there willing to shell out $2.50 a dozen to help with that. The money will also help Gavin, my 5 yr. old, fill his Piggy bank. We'll only need enough to feed the chicks.

So remember this folks, nothing beats the taste of

The incredible, edible EGG

Hoarding

I am a hoarder. I have to come right out and admit it to the world. After all, that's the first step to recovery, right? In my case I have been obsessed with hoarding as many eBooks as I can possibly stuff in my cloud and on my Kindle, yet there is still more room! I can't believe it! I must fill up every megabite of space with all those precious free books that are offered out there!

Oh, hold on, let me compose myself.. You see, I have never in my life gotten to own books like this. I've had to go to the library or the yard sales and the trade book stores for all my books. Never could I dream I might be able to read a book over again. But then, with all these freebies available, when would I have time?

If you haven't guessed yet, I'm talking about the availability of tons of free indie books on Amazon and other eBook websites. The catch is, though the books are free, we may never know if the book is going to be good quality or not. We just have to read it and hope it is. I love to read books of any kind and love to read for the story. Indie books typically have more grammatical errors and punctuational errors than the pricier ones. I really like correct English, but I can overlook some problems in lew of a great story.

Another great thing for me about getting all those free books is that I just happen to be a speed reader. I can zoom through a book in an hour or so if I'm interested in it enough, depending on the genre. I recently reviewed a series of 5 young adult paranormal books that only took me an overnight reading. Speedreading takes skill. I takes dedication. It takes a person like me who has sat in bed or on the couch most of her life doing nothing but reading books! I'd never be able to count the amount of books I've read in my lifetime. But I sure can now on my cool Kindle Fire!

The funny thing about me is I rarely like to read a book twice. When I do keep a book to read twice, it's a darn good book. I have a few sets of hard back books that I will read more than once. There are lots of singles I might read again, too. The rest are eBooks now and will always be, unless someone impresses me. My house is not going to truly look like a book hoarders home.