Friday, March 21, 2008

Sweetness in the Belly - Camilla Gibb

This is the second book we received from Sunriver Books as part of the Book of the Month club. I loved it, Pat wasn't quite as enthusiastic.

The setting goes back and forth between Ethiopia in the '70's and England in the 80-90's. The main character is a European white female Muslim who was raised in a mosque in Morocco after her parents are killed in an accident. She is forced to leave and ends up with a family in Ethiopia. I've never read a book about Ethiopia before, so it was new information, but also familiar to other books related to Muslim nations.

Lilly, the main character, is then forced to leave Ethiopia and ends up in England helping refugees find their friends and family, all the while, looking for her lover's name to appear on one of the lists of refugees.

Great book!

What Got You Here Won't Get You There - Marshall Goldsmith


I've been on a reading plan lately. Each day at the gym, Pat and I read our self-help books, shared spiritual book, and novel of our choice.
I recently finished this great business related book. The author is an executive coach and the premise is that even though you may be successful, there could be flaws in your character that keep you from moving to the next level. He starts with a list of 20 common flaws. One I'm working on is listening without interrupting or rebutting. It's interesting to be aware of other people's behavior in this regard. Some people just can't help disagreeing with everything. It's not a pleasant personality trait.
Highly recommended.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Book Group: Then We Came to the End - Joshua Ferris

Thank goodness I'm done. This was definitely not one of my favorite books. I do not need to read about people who work in an office and about all their gossiping and peculiarities. None of the characters was likable, which doesn't help matters.

Not recommended.

Sacred Romance - John Eldridge

I've been thinking about how to write this review. I loved the book (Thanks Nathan!!). As I looked it up on Amazon to provide the link, I read through some of the reviews and copied part of one. This is why I liked it so much:

"The authors guide the reader to remember that God is up to something big. He is working out in history His own big story. Each of our lives is a little story within that big story. However, so many people get caught up in their own little story, that they forget that God has a role for them in His big story. This causes us to lose heart along the way. Our problems overwhelm us when we forget God's big story.
Okay, but why is this book so good at reminding us of that?
The authors paint the picture of a wild God - the Lover of our souls who pursues us restlessly. They look thoroughly at both the Old Testament and the New Testament. But, this book isn't preachy. The authors go beyond Scripture, while staying Scriptural. They look at Literature and Cinema, old and new. What is this longing presented to us throughout history - why all the stories of the lost love pursued by her lover? Because, deep down inside, we all want to be loved and pursued. The authors show us that the Bible presents us with the story of the Lover of our souls pursuing us. God longs to meet our deepest needs."

Another bathroom remodel

We've demolished another bathroom! The upstairs bathroom had lovely white tile with rose accent on the counter and shower and pink and gray linoleum. We ripped out the counter, linoleum and the pink tiles from the shower.

Before....







So far, we've laid the counter and backsplash with tumbled stone and travertine. The floor will be 16" travertine tiles and the accent in the shower will be the same as the piece we used for the top of the backsplash.

Almost after...

Poor Sassy

The girls got into a fight last Friday and we didn't provide the proper first aid to poor Sassy's leg, Rosie's usually biting spot. By Monday, it was quite swollen and required a trip to the vet. She was given antibiotic pills and shots and the vet said to put hot packs on it so it would drain (yuk!) Sassy has a heart murmur and the doctor felt uncomfortable anesthetizing her for surgery. Well, no sooner did we put on the hot pack than a bunch of icky fluid drained out and a huge crater opened. A call to the vet told us to leave it alone, they would look at it again on Thursday. In the meantime, the swelling went down and the redness went away, but the gaping hole in Sassy's leg remained. Back to the vet on Thursday and Friday and Saturday. Poor girl has to have it bandaged every day to every 2 days until it heals.





Joel's birthday

We had a nice birthday dinner for Joel a few weeks ago, where we served the yummy lasagna I showed on an earlier post. Here are a few pictures from the event.








Friday, March 07, 2008

Spring Has Sprung!!!


Daffodil in the backyard.

Family Photos


My parents shortly after they were married.


My older brother and sister.


Me