Joy Comes in the Morning

Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch
I listened to it again because it's so good. It's about two old men in Ireland who make cheese. They're getting old and they need to find someone to replace them. There's a bunch of other fun characters too who have conflicts to solve.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
This is an eerie, but good, book. It's the first in a series. The main character, Dexter, is a serial killer who will always have a sort of nagging feeling to kill. He has learned to keep it under control though, by only killing other serial killers. Kind of ridding the world of horrible people. But he's kind of horrible himself. It's somewhat gory, but it also has a strange humor. Dexter feels no real emotions, and his attempts to pretend like he does are funny.

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
This is book one in the Tales of the Otori series. It takes place in Japan a long time ago, but it creates a different history of Japan, and there are fantasy elements as well. The country is divided into tribes that are at war with each other. A young man named Takeo escapes from his village when it is attacked, and he is rescued by Lord Otori Shigeru. Shigeru trains Takeo to fight in the hope that one day, he will be able to sneak across the nightingale floor and kill Iida, the bad guy. Another story going on at the same time is that of Kaede, a girl who has spent most of her life as a hostage/servant at a castle. I really enjoyed this book, and now I'm almost done with the second one in the series.

The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
This is the fourth Isabel Dalhousie book. Isabel is still pondering philosophical issues, and she has yet another small mystery to solve. I can't really tell anything about the story, because I'd be giving away things that happen in previous books. I'll just keep saying that these are really good.

Congratulations to karellieloo on her recent engagement! :D

Ellen is home from school, which is tremendous fun. Tonight I went over to the parents' house and the four of us watched Just My Luck. I think that's a cute movie.

I feel like I have to sleep on my neighbors' schedules and that really annoys me. The downstairs couple usually have their TV on until at least 10:30, sometimes 11:30. I feel tired enough to go to bed now (9:30), but I can't because they're being loud and I don't think my space heater would drown them out. Then the upstairs lady makes all kinds of kitchen racket, sometimes as early as 5:00 AM. Even on a day when I'm allowed to sleep in, I have to move to the couch if I want to get any sleep after 7:00 AM. Why can't people just be quiet like me? :P

I haven't had time to exercise this week except on Tuesday. That's not enough.

Kevin said I could use some vacation days before I left. I have six coming to me, so I'm using two on Monday and Tuesday, and then I'll cash out the other four. Ellen can hang out with me on Monday, and Tuesday we can go see Emily at work because it's her birthday. We'll bring her lunch.

I have a second interview scheduled for Monday! They must really like me! Hoobah!

Also, my Polly soundtrack arrived yesterday! It's everything I hoped it would be. I've been jamming.

Another thing, YouTube has stopped working for me! I can't watch videos on the website because I don't have the latest version of Flash. I keep trying to download and install it, but even when it says it worked, it doesn't work. I don't know what to do. At least I can watch embedded videos, but this is annoying.

I sort of feel like talking about books, even though it's not nearly time for a monthly book list.

I'm currently reading a book by my new favorite Alexander McCall Smith. It's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which I tried to listen to once, but gave up. I think I just didn't like that particular reader, because actually reading it is much more enjoyable.

I recently finished listening to a book called The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It was awesome. I recommend it now, and I'll recommend it again when it wins the Book of the Month Award.

Now I'm listening to a book called The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs. It's really funny. He's trying to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z. At the beginning, he talks about other big schemes he's tried, like his "plan to write a screenplay about a president with Tourette's Syndrome (working title: Hail to the Freakin' Chief)..." Maybe it was just the way the reader said it, but I was laughing SO hard! It struck me funny.

Okay, that's it for books at the moment.

I was supposed to go to the Indians game tomorrow with Elizabeth and her boyfriend, but we're going to reschedule. Elizabeth tends to get sick a lot, so I was hesitant to buy the tickets too early. Good move, since now both of them are sick. :P

You know how the daily crossword puzzles in the newspaper get more difficult as the week goes on? Well, they do. We're usually pretty good at Monday and Tuesday. Passable at Wednesday. Thursday is challenging, and Friday is pretty much impossible. So we made up a new game for Fridays, and sometimes Thursdays. After we're done pretending that we're going to solve it, we just start filling in our names wherever they fit. We put in other co-workers as well. Then, we see what clues correspond to everyone's names. Today, I was "pool owner's nuisance," which was a pretty good one. Marissa was "tendency toward chaos." Kevin's (my boss) was so accurate! His clue was "man."

I either need to find a new job or new medical insurance. They recently switched to a different coverage plan at work, and now I'm paying $160 a month for coverage that doesn't pay for anything until I get past the $3000 deductible. That's insane! Especially for me, who hasn't been to a doctor in years, not counting vision exams, which aren't covered, and dentist visits, which are on a completely different insurance plan. A lot of people have opted out of the plan and found their own. I'm going to do the same. Unless a new job pops up within the next two and a half weeks, I'm going with Medical Mutual.

I've been going to the fitness classes at the Steiner Center, since they're free to members and I like fitness classes. They're a LOT like the ones I used to go to at YSU. Especially Monday, when we did some kickboxing moves. So far, the three I've been to have all been taught by the same woman. She's probably in her 50s, but she's so fit! I like her teaching style too. I'm having a hard time fitting in some swimming training. They don't have Lap Swim available at convenient times for me. I can still swim around as best I can during Open Swim, but even that isn't offered at good times.

Okay, I'm done. Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

P.S. Why hasn't my Polly soundtrack arrived yet?!

Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith
I listened to this one again because I liked it so much the first time. It's very funny! It tells about the various antics of Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, an expert in the field of Portuguese irregular verbs.

Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
This was pretty funny. His style is kind of like Dave Barry's. The story is about a woman who is a little nuts and she gets really upset about a telemarketer who was rude to her on the phone one day. She plans a big scheme to get back at him and teach him some manners. She lures him to Florida where she takes him and his mistress on a kayaking tour of some swamp lands. Her ex-husband and her son are following her. A private eye is following the telemarketer. It's all pretty absurd, but in a good way.

Shakespeare by Bill Bryson
This isn't a travel book, like Bill Bryson's other books, but it's still his witty style. He explains how we don't actually know very much about William Shakespeare. Most of what we think about his life is speculation. Bryson gives the biography of Shakespeare telling what we can be sure of, and what probably happened, and what probably did not happen. It's a good little history, as he also talks about the times and places in which Shakespeare lived.

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith
I finally remembered that I wanted to continue reading The Sunday Philosophy Club series, so I found the second book. I really like it! Isabel Dalhousie is a middle-aged woman who lives in Edinburgh. She thinks about philosophic issues a lot. In this story, she meets a man who has received a heart transplant, and now he has a memory that he believes belonged to the donor. It's sort of like a little mystery that Isabel has to solve. I'm becoming a big fan of this author.

Sex God by Rob Bell
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
Rob Bell's second book. In this one, he talks about sexuality and spirituality, and how they relate to each other. I liked his explanations of all the wedding symbolism in the Bible - things that I didn't even realize had anything to do with weddings. Like when Jesus talked about going to prepare a place for us, in the Jewish tradition, that's what a man would say to a woman when they became engaged. And then the man would go build an addition onto his father's house, so he and his bride would have somewhere to live after they got married. I've heard analogies of the Church being God's bride before, but this book made it more specific, and more personal, as he also talked about how this relates to our lives on a smaller scale. It was really interesting.

Thale's Folly by Dorothy Gilman
This book is simply delightful. Thale's Folly is a big house that was once owned by Harriet Thale. When she died, the house went to her nephew. Andrew is the 26-year-old son of the nephew, and his father sends him to the house to gather information about the house and lands so they can sell it. When Andrew arrives at the house though, he finds four occupants still living there and they don't want to leave. He spends some time with them and finds that he really likes it there and doesn't want to leave either. It's a very pleasant story.

Tomorrow is Opening Day!!!

I'm so excited! I went to the team shop yesterday and got some new gear, so I'm all set for tomorrow. My plan is to be at work at 6 AM (early much?) and work until 11 AM, that way I'll only have to make up three hours. Then I'm going to the Indians game!

The game is supposed to start at 3 PM, but I don't know how the rain is going to factor in. It's supposed to be about 53 degrees, which is warmer than recent days, but rainy. At least it's not snow, like last year, but still. They don't play when it's raining either.

I tried making some of those marble magnets and they are taking a really long time to dry. How long are they supposed to take? It's been about 25 hours.

It's almost bedtime. I have to get up at 4:30! Wheeeee!

Almost Winter
Winter
Still Winter
Construction

We're currently experiencing Still Winter, which is too bad because I would have loved to wear an Easter dress on Sunday. Instead, I'll be looking for an Easter snowsuit.

Do you want to hear about my mouse problem? Maybe you don't. But maybe you do, so I'll go on. I noticed evidence of a mouse in my pantry on Sunday night. Lame. I had to throw out a bunch of food and wash all of the rarely used kitchen gear. (I guess this is one way to clean out a pantry. :P) Giant Eagle didn't have normal mouse traps, so I bought the poison pellets. I've been leaving some out every night this week, and they're always all gone in the morning. This leads me to believe that there is probably more than one mouse, because what kind of mutant mouse could eat all that poison and still be alive? The situation is just very annoying, because I had to throw out two boxes of cereal, brown sugar, powdered sugar, mixed nuts, whole nutmeg, pasta... I can't remember what else. And it ate the rest of my Scottish toffee! That's when I knew it had to die.

It's only ten days until baseball season starts! I've been listening to the spring training games on the radio whenever they're aired, and I've joined another fantasy league. I'm so excited for another season! Now if only we could get some warm weather and sunshine.

And I want everyone else to love her too!

Including Ellen, who gave on the book because she thought Anne was annoying, and Emily, who is currently having a hard time getting into the book because she thinks Anne is annoying. And I thought they were kindred spirits. :P

My neighbor was making all kinds of pots and pans noises in her kitchen at 8:30. That's earlier than I wanted to wake up this morning. :(

50 degrees was nice on Thursday, but we're back to the 30s again. :(

My gallon of milk expired on Monday, but I've had some on my cereal every day this week, including today. And I'm still alive!

I need to go for a jog.

I'm the only kid who will be around to attend the Easter lunch at my parents' house. How did that happen?

I'm in the midst of a terrible snowstorm! It started snowing before noon and it's not supposed to stop until Sunday morning. The roads are awful and most of the cities around here have run out of salt, so there's not much they can do about it. I had to drive in it for three hours today, as Meri and I took a camera to a photographer who had broken his. I'm finally home and I probably won't leave until Sunday morning to go to church.

And that's unfortunate because Abbey has flown in from North Carolina and she wants Emily and I to go visit her at the parents' house. I told her firmly that I am NOT driving out in this weather tonight. She can come over here if she wants to.

We were also supposed to go to a hockey game tomorrow night to see the Lake Erie Monsters, but if it's still bad out, we will have to reschedule for a different game. And I think that's what's going to happen.

Crazy Ohio. It wasn't that bad of a winter until we got to March.