Where I proceed to make everyone hungry...

I am SUPER bad about taking pictures and uploading them. So bad. Like I was planning on making a teaching blog around Valentine's Day with all my wonderful plans for 100th day and Valentine's Day celebration and yeah, neveruploaded the pictures. Perhaps that will be a summer project. Anywho, once again I have left the point of what I was saying..

So uploading pictures. In the last month I have taken quite a few kitchen shots of food. (A food blog is always talked about between my husband and me, but like I said, bad photo uploader.) So today you get a plethora of yummy food. I am so hungry and yet, have no idea what I want to make to eat.. Lunch? Breakfast? Eggs don't sound good and the milk is gone. What is a girl to do? I am trying to determine what refried beans, hummus and salsa could do for me ha.

First thing is first.. I won these wonderful Chocolate Cheerios from a giveaway at Trying to Stay Calm..

I got the cheerios, a bowl, and some chocolate soaps.. yummmy..

Chocolate cheerios were a nice change of pace for me and wonderful when mixed with yogurt, Kashi Go Lean and Bananas.. I would say they are a good 'treat' for oneself but, they didn't keep as full as myother breakasts... But I loved the bowl and stuff that came with it, I mean who can't NOT like chocolate??

Now on to some previous breakfast meals...

this yummy breakfast was a fried egg, tomato and cheddar cheese..
it was delicious.

my go to breakfast during the week for most of the month... Kashi Go Lean cereal and bananas.. yum yum

oh this isn't food is it? hehe.. this is one for the adorable heart hats that we made to celebrate the letter H and Valentine's Day. :) my kiddos wore it to the party..

this is a class effort... we took tissue paper and wrapped it around the pencils and viola.. something to hang on the wall.. :)

100th day of school.. 100 pieces of food.. yum yum yum

another wonderful breakfast.. chicken sausage stuffed with spinach and mozz cheese.. grilled the buns.. those are my husbands.. i had sandwich thins..

two eggs sizzling away...

the sandwich toppings...

the finished product...

And now I really need to go find something eat.. Hubby has beer bread in the oven..

Discussion Questions for The Reader

The Reader was our February Group Read. Vote for March's on the sidebar.

From litlovers.com

1. At what point does the signficance of the book's title become clear to you? Who is "The Reader"? Are there others n the story with an equally compelling claim to this role?

2. When does the difference in social class between Hanna and Michael become most clear and painful? Why does Hanna feel uncomfortable staying overnight in Michael's house? Is Hanna angry about her lack of education?

3. In a novel, so suffused with guilt, how is Michael guilty? Does his narrative serve as a way of putting himself on trial? What verdict does he reach? Is he asking readers to examine the evidence he presents and condemn him or exonerate him? Or has he already condemened himself?

4. Do you agree with Michael's judgment that Hanna was sympathetic with the prisoners she chose to read to her, and that she wanted their final month of life to be bearable? Or do you see Hanna in a darker light; do the testimonies out her cruelty and sadism ring true?

5. How does the novel leave you feeling and thinking? Is it hopeful or ultimately despairing? If you have read other Holocaust literature, how does The Reader compare?

PLEASE tell us what you think. Respond in the comments. I can't wait to hear what everyone has to say. Also, if you have any questions, post them in the comments, so we can respond back!

Wedding Wednesday - Bachlorette Party

Now, this was a lot of fun. I was really looking forward to my Bachlorette Party and my friends did not let me down. We did play some silly games, (not a fan) but they weren't too bad.

Our evening started with my ladies coming to my houses for appetizers made by my lovely friends, getting our t-shirts that my friend had made up, and opening some presents that the ladies got me. My mom and MIL were present at the beginning part, where we kept it tame and they had a lot of fun with us. Present were: Matron of Honor, Sarah, Maid of Honor, Lisa, Bridesmaid's Ashley, Amanda and Lane and friend Jen and my husband's cousin Annie.

After, everyone arrived from far and near we car pooled into town to have a dinner at Applebee's. Yum girly cocktails. We had a lot of fun and I had a sparkly hat to wear, what can be bad about that? (Oh yeah, the sweat from dancing in a couple more hours. That was a Bridesmaid idea FAIL. Ugh.. It got sooo hot and sweaty and I couldn't take it off because my hair was soo gross oh and I also had the worst ever stress acne around wedding time. yay fun. ha )

After that we went back to my BFF's house to drop off our belongings and condense in cars even more. We walked into the kitchen to a giant blow up penis hanging from the light. Oh lordy. My friend was mortified because she forgot my MIL was coming. ha ha..

Then we went downtown to our local bars. Did I mention my BFF was about 7 months pregnant at this point? Yeah not fun. Anyway, we went to this bar first mainly because they had outdoor seating, and my other friend's bachelorette party was that night so we saw her and her ladies for a bit and had pictures taken together.

After this bar, we went to the one bar in town where people go to dance and said goodbye to my mom and MIL. We spent the rest of the night here boogieing down and met up with a bachelor party where the bachelor was a bit strange and I got dared to dance with him. UGHHHH ew. And there was the token married guy who kept giving me advice "to keep doing what I had been doing" before marriage and don't withhold afterwards. Holy hysterical conversation there.

Around closing, we walked across the road to the "quiet bar" and danced to the band they had, quite ridiculously and closed down that place. At that point we called my BFF'S husband to come pick us up because the original idea of walking, sounded bad and we all smashed into the 5 block car ride. :)

I would have to say the highlight would the the random guys who followed us to all three bars, whose names none of us good remember, yet we remember them taking photos with us and telling us to find them on myspace. I am sure they are very special photos. The other highlight? A great night of dancing and laughing with my girlfriends.

What's the craziest bachelorette party you've been to or witnessed?? I SOO cannot wait until my SIL's bachelorette party.. :)

Spooky Little Girl Blog Tour

I mentioned here about how I received an ARC in the mail from goodreads.com for Spooky Little Girl. I asked around for those who would be interested in a Blog Tour in anticipation of its April 13th release. I had interest and I think there will be at least four stops for the book. If anyone still would like to participate feel free to send me your email address, but I can't guarantee that you will get it before the book comes out. As it is, I am not sure all four of our stops will happen before the book gets out!

I am sending the book out to its first stop today, hopefully everyone will write up a little post that I can share here. Look back on April 13th for my review!

PS... I think you're going to like it!!!

McFatty Monday

Woot Woot, lost another pound. :)

Tuesday my legs were feeling sore from the weekend and the yoga the day before because I am soo not flexible people. So I only got about 11 minutes on the bike and just over a mile on the treadmill. Still pretty solid.

Wednesday I took the day off for dinner out with my friend.

Thursday I rocked out 2 miles. Now I am soo proud of myself here. I did my first mile in around 12:30 or something like that. Okay, not great but THAT IS THE BEST I HAVE TIMED MYSELF DOING SINCE LIKE FOREVER AGO. Like my entire 20s ha. The last time I was timed doing a mile was 9:52 in 9th grade. The best is that I only walked 3 minutes of that mile. Wooooo. (FYI before last summer I could barely ever run because I couldn't get breathing down so this is huge for me.. anyone who is a runner can just STFU about my lameness hehe..) The second mile my goal was to try to use incline again without killing my calves because I am still trying to concentrate on running properly on the treadmill. I realized that is why I've been sore after running on the treadmill. I've been running weird and it hurts. Thanks to my beautiful friend I had dinner with last week I realized this. So for my second mile I added some incline, ran a minute, walked a minute and what not and I was not sore afterwards, so I called it success. Then I did the 1 mile Walk Away the Pounds video with my mama. It was a nice cool down after the treadmill and nice to use some weights while working out.

Friday - Sunday off. Lame I know.

Today I shoveled my driveway for 20 minutes as my workout. I was just exhausted when I got home and the thought of making my body work anymore today was not doing. So I was productive and cleared the heavy snow from my driveway. My gut and back and legs enjoyed it. ;)

My goals for this week Tuesday = off or bonus workout depending on the plans with my one friend.. Wednesday = 2 miles on the treadmill, either 1 mile or 2mile Walk Away the Pounds video with my mama. Thursday = 2 miles on the treadmill, probably 15 minutes or so on the bike.

What is your favorite healthy lunch to pack? I like packing veggies and hummus. I really love salads but something about them being packed in my lunch sometimes loses it's awesomeness on me.

March Group Read Suggestions

Anyone have any suggestions for what we should read in March?

Books we have already read are:
I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

If you've thought about joining us before but have not, why not use the inspiration that March is Reading Month to join in!!

Just leave a comment with 1 or 2 book selections by Tuesday, February 23rd to have yours be included in the poll that will be posted Wednesday morning in the sidebar of my blog. That poll will be up until the 27th with the winner being announced next Sunday, February 28th.

Can't wait to read another book with you ladies!

Review: The Reader

I am going to start this by telling you that I typed up the most amazing, probably my best review ever and then it got deleted. So not only am I not thrilled to type this again, it was SO good the first time and I am afraid now it will fall flat. You have been warned.

I really really liked this book. I felt that it brought up very good questions, not only through the text via Michael's thoughts but through your own ponderings as you read. What is personal responsibility? Does someones actions NOT speak for them? Things to ponder.

Michael Berg, 15, falls ill one day on his way home from school. An older woman (he later learns her name is Hanna) helps him clean himself up and gets him home. Three months later he comes to thank her and sees her naked leg as she is putting on stockings. Needless to say this begins an affair between Michael and the 30 something Hanna. It lasts for about 6 months and during it, you can see Hanna acting very oddly throughout it. Michael refers to a class at school as idiotic and she reams him so much about it that he buckles down and does the best work of his life. He also begins reading to her every time they get together. Their relationship continues until the day Hanna leaves town without word.

Fast forward a few years and Michael is studying to be a lawyer and has to spend time in a courtroom listening to a trial involving SS officers during the Holocaust. Hanna is one of them. Michael goes to court EVERY day. While watching the trial and Hanna's bad defense of herself he realizes that she is illiterate. He struggles with what to do with this information. Does he tell the judge what he knows or shall he let Hanna determine her own fate. He even consults his father who is a philosophy professor on the matter. Eventually, the trial ends and Hanna is sentenced to prison.

"Her sense of self was worth more than the years in prison to her.
But has it was it really worth all that?" pg. 138

Michael marries and has a child but his whole life is colored by Hanna. His wife doesn't smell like Hanna and every thing she does he compares to her. They get divorced and Michael begins recording himself reading and sends it to Hanna in prison. In prison, Hanna learns to read sends him letters in return.

"My own diagnosis is that the numbness had to overwhelm my body before it
would let go of me, before I could let go of it." pg. 168

Michael's entire life is shaped by his relationship with Hanna. He struggles with his guilt over what he should with the knowledge he has of her illiteracy, he struggles with the guilt over what he should do for her and he compares every single woman in his life to her. For a first love, he most definitely did not get over her. I'm sure some could argue it was because the power she had over him because of her older age, but I think it was more of it being his first relationship with a woman and how many secrets and unknowns there was in that relationship. There really hadn't been closure and without that closure he couldn't lose off that part of his life.

I am a strong believer in personal responsibility. What you do has consequences. However, are we guilty of the sins of our fathers? If we stand silently while horrors occur are we guilty? How do we make amends if we are? I think that Hanna should have taken responsibility for her actions during the Holocaust and she did. In court, she admitted the things that she did and denied others. However, I don't think she deserved the sentence she got compared to the others. But that had a lot to do with her hiding the fact that she couldn't read or write. Also, I think Hanna was most definitely partly responsible for not saving the women in the church, BUT I also think that was a horrible position for her to be in. Yes, she willingly joined. But most would argue she did that to hide her secret. When she was there she had to do what she had to do to survive. Yes, she was kind and helped the weaker ones, but she still sent them off to death. But if she didn't, what would have happened to her? I think that if you are NOT in that exact same position at that exact same time you cannot judge her actions. At that church in the middle of the night when you know you are going to be left alone with more people than you, with little back up, what do you do? If you are told one thing by your superiors, whose orders do you follow? When you are in that thick, you are in a total different mentality.

I also believe that Hanna's obsession with cleanliness had a lot to do with her time in the SS. I think she may have been taken advantage of by men guards. Or that may be part of her early history since NOTHING is said of her family. I think Hanna had issues but I also don't think she was a monster. I think circumstances forced her. However, at any time you do have free will, and she decided keeping her secret was the most important thing.

"There's no need to talk, because the truth of what one says lies in what
one does." pg. 174

Beautiful Blogger

The wonderful Julie over at Book Hooked was gracious enough to bestow upon me the Beautiful Blogger Award. THANK YOU JULIE!

The instructions that go along with this award are as follows:

- Thank the person who nominated you for this award.-

Copy the award and place it in your blog.

- Link the person who nominated you for this award.-

Tell us 7 interesting things about you.

- Nominate 7 bloggers

- Post the links to the 7 bloggers you nominate.

1. I only drink cocktails when I'm out with the ladies. If I am out with the guys / husband it is strictly whiskey, rum or beer.

2. I prefer failing over and over than dealing with tough stuff.

3. I get my straightforwardness from my grandma, who was a VERY blunt lady. Man I miss her.

4. I would move to a warmer climate / bigger city area in a heart beat. I love my big yard but I miss the culture and restaurants and what not that bigger cities have.

5. I cannot wait for my summer off from work.

6. I get distracted by blogs and keep adding more and more to my "to read list" and it takes away from book reading time. Whoops.

7. I get annoyed with people who constantly complain about situations that arise from choices they made in their life with them knowing the downfalls.

Now here are seven ladies that are very beautiful to me. ;)

1. Lisa

2. Amber Tidd Murphy

3. Girl With The Red Hair (Amber) (I apparently read a lot of blogs by Amber's ha..)

4. Kelly

5. Amber ( A little Pink in the Cornfields)

6. Blair

7. Erin

Wedding Wednesday - Planning the Ceremony

When you aren't getting married in a church and your uncle who gets ordained is the person marrying you, you pretty much have to plan the ceremony by the minute. If it were not for google and the many random Internet sources, I'm sure I would have gone crazy. I also had collected a bunch of programs from other weddings, and used them to follow the order around and what not. I would say it took me a couple hours total planning everything. This is how our ceremony went down.

Prelude (Bach)
Seating of the Grandparents
Order: Grandma D (Seated by Groom)
Grandma V (Seated by Best Man)
Grandma G (Seated by Groom)
Grandma N (Seated by Bride's Brother)

Seating of the Parents
Order: MIL (Seated by GROOM) he then goes to front
Bride's Mom (Seated by Bride's Brother) he walks back out (after everyone is seated mom and MIL will go and light the unity candle) - Except we didn't end up lighting it because it was slightly windy. I think we ended up having it at our head table.

Bridal Party Processional –Jesu of Man’s Desiring
Order: yada yada yada

Bride – Uncle Jeff sings “She” by Elvis Costello (dad walks me down and then sits down next to mom then we do the welcoming)

Welcoming - Friends, we have been invited here today to share with Emily and Anthony, a very important moment in their lives. In the years they have been together, their love and understanding of each other has grown and matured, and now they have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife. At this time they would like their friend Jenny to read a special poem. ( I found this online and probably copied it word for word with a few changes.)
Reading (By Jen)

MY LOVE~ Linda Lee Elrod ~
When I met you, I had no idea
how much my life
was about to be changed...
but then, how could I have known?
A love like ours happens
once in a lifetime.
You were a miracle to me,
the one who was everything
I had ever dreamed of,
the one I thought existed
only in my imagination.
And when you came into my life,
I realized that what I
had always thought
was happiness
couldn't compare to the joy
loving you brought me.
You are a part of everything
I think and do and feel,
and with you by my side,
I believe that anything is possible.
(this day) gives me a chance
to thank you for the miracle of you...
you are, and always will be,
the love of my life. (end sappy fest)

Officiant – Discuss seriousness of marriage. How he knows the bride and groom. About our relationship from what he has witnessed.

Wedding Vows –
Anthony says: I (Anthony), take you (Emily) to be my (wife), my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.
Emily says: I (Emily), take you (Anthony) to be my (husband), my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.

Solo – Megan singing “When You Say Nothing At All” by Allison Krause

Lighting of the Unity Candle (while Megan is singing Anthony and I will light it)

Exchange of Rings –
Anthony says: This ring is a token of my love. I marry you with this ring, with all that I have and all that I am.
Emily says: This ring is a token of my love. I marry you with this ring, with all that I have and all that I am.

Solo – Uncle Jeff singing “Looking Through The Eyes of Love” originally by Melissa Manchester

Closing: Because Emily and Anthony have desired each other in marriage, and we have witnessed this, affirming their acceptance of the responsibilities of such a union, and they have pledged their love and faith to each other, sealing their vows in the giving and receiving of rings, I do proclaim that they are husband and wife. Let all people here and everywhere recognize and respect this union, now and forever. Anthony, you may now kiss your bride.

Introduction of the Bride and Groom: It is now my privilege to introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. .....

Recessional: Music “My Best Friend” by Tim McGraw
Reverse Order of the Bridal Party
Anthony and Emily return to greet and dismiss guests

And all of that took around 20 minutes or so.

Anyone else have to write out their whole ceremony? What songs will you/did you have at your wedding? Any particular poems or readings you would want?

The Reader... some thoughts and ponderings..

Sunday, I sat down with the intention of starting The Reader so I could discuss it with those of you who have already finished and to write some questions. I finished it Sunday. Needless to say, after Part One was over, it picked up considerably and I really connected with Michael and a lot of what he was thinking / questioning. The older woman / younger boy relationship did not phase me. Probably, because it wasn't made into a big deal. Probably because he DID tell her he was 17. Which, still isn't great, but it's not like she actually knew he was 15. And he was a willing participant.

Anyway, I have SO much to say about this but I am going to try to space it out in a few posts instead of one huge long one.

Questions Michael posed..

"Why does what was beautiful suddenly shatter in hindsight because it concealed
dark truths? Why does the memory of years of happy marriage turn to gall when
our partner is revealed to have had a lover all those years? Because, such a
situation makes it impossible to be happy? But we were happy!" pg. 37

What do you think?
(For those who don't know this is the part where he is looking back at his youth and wondering why it makes him sad.) In part I do agree with him, how things end do tend to color how we think of the situation as a whole. But sometimes that does our past and our actions a disservice. If you knew you would fail, would you still try? If you know that love can make you miserable and people die, do you not still love?? It is interesting, because I know that I have discolored memories of events / people because of the outcomes. What are your experiences?

"What is law? Is it what is on the books, or what is actually enacted and obeyed
in society? Or is law what must be enacted and obeyed whether or not it is on
the books, if things are to go right?" pg. 91

I found this to be an interesting question. Because really, what is law? Is it what's already in place, or what was in place in the past? Is what is written as law, followed to the T? Or is there interpretations made case by case? To simply answer, I say that law is fluid and ever changing. That is the simple and uncomplicated version at least. What do you think?

I really enjoyed The Reader and the many, many questions it brought to light. Whether Michael is posing them or they naturally pop out as you are reading. What questions that Michael posed stood out to you?