Love Thy Neighbor by Mark Gilleo

SYNOPSIS:  Clark Hayden is a graduate student trying to help his mother navigate through the loss of his father while she continues to live in their house near Washington DC. With his mother’s diminishing mental capacity becoming the norm, Clark expects a certain amount of craziness as he heads home for the holidays. What he couldn’t possibly anticipate, though, is that he would find himself catapulted into the middle of a terrorist operation. As the holiday festivities reach a crescendo, a terrorist cell – which happens to be across the street – is activated. Suddenly Clark is discovering things he never knew about deadly chemicals, secret government operations, suspiciously missing neighbors, and the intentions of a gorgeous IRS auditor. Clark’s quiet suburban neighborhood is about to become one of the most deadly places on the planet, and it’s up to Clark to prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in the nation’s capital.

Review: This book took me almost two full months to read.  The story/action were great, but I was not a fan of the writing and some of the cruder language used and I am a crude language user! It just seemed unnecessary and distracting from the very exciting story that was playing out.  As in, did the writer NEED to say, "he shook his friend when he was done????" The answer is no, he did not.

Maybe I went into this with more expectations, but the writing style just wasn't my thing.  The story? intriguing and I loved the terrorist on U.S. soil aspect.  It was a good story.  I was fascinated by how Ariana (terrorist) was able to stay 'underground' for so many years and quietly and smartly plan out an impressive task. Also, scary and interesting how they were planning on carrying out the attack. And for a first book? Impressive.  But overall? It was just a little on the meh side for me. 

If you are looking for a fast-paced suspense novel this is for you.  Don't listen to me ramble about me taking forever to read this, I got aggravated with the writing and made it take longer than necessary, but this is a quick read.

Giveaway - Now for those of you intrigued by this book or who have already read and enjoyed this book, I've got a surprise for you! I have one copy of Mark Gilleo's new book, Sweat, to give to one lucky person!  If you are interested in the book, just leave a comment on this post before 11:59 pm on May 31st.  I will be announcing the winner on June 1st.  If you would like increase your chance of winning a copy of Sweat by Mark Gilleo, tweet / link whatever and just post a link in the comments! Only one tweet/link/whatever per day.  Thank you!

From Mark's website - Sweat is what happens when a US senator, a third world seamstress, a hit man, an arms dealer and a spy collide with a young man who is trying to do the right thing.

Sounds interesting! ;)

I received this book from Partners In Crime Tours.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Discussion 2 - Winter Garden

This book was so heavy.  Definitely not a light read for the beach, which is where I read it.  Kristin Hannah has such a way with words and I feel like I am repeating myself from the last time, but it's truth.

I felt so much during this book.  Heartache, anger, frustration... Real feelings for real characters.

I cannot fathom how people survived the Nazis.  I suppose you just did it.  But how broken they must have been.  So strong, tough and silent.

As a mother, I would have wanted death, much like Anya tried to accomplish.  What pure torture to go on and have more children. 

1. Anya Whitson is color blind and cannot see the colors in her winter garden. Why do you think the author gave the character this particular trait? In what ways is it a metaphor for what Anya has gone through in her life? Do you believe it is a physiological blindness or a psychological one?
2. Memory is an important theme in Winter Garden. Meredith often regrets--when looking at old family photos taken without her--that she was often off organizing or obsessing over details, while everyone else was living in the moment, creating memories. How common is this for women and mothers? What memories keep your family together?
3. Jeff tells Meredith that “words matter.” What are some examples of this throughout the story? How have words saved and harmed each of these characters’ lives? How has silence saved and harmed each of these characters’ lives? How do words—the telling of the fairy tale—change their individual and collective perceptions of who they are?
4. Anya is an unsympathetic character throughout much of the book. How did your perception of her change as the fairy tale unfolded? Did you end up sympathizing with her, or even liking her? Or do you feel that her treatment of her daughters was inexcusable, regardless of the hardships she had faced in her life? How do you think you would have fared in Leningrad under the siege? Was Anya heroic in Leningrad, or a failure?
5. How did you feel about the ending? Why do you think the author chose the surprising meeting in Sitka?
Thanks for participating!!

May's Group Read is..

May's selection will be The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond. 

I sady have gotten rid of my copy so I will hopefully be able to pick it up at the library.  I think I read it back in 2008 on our honeymoon (JAMAICA!) and I flew through it.

Discussions will happen on May 11th and May 24th, which is A THURSDAY.  My baby's birthday is the 25th, so I need to post the last discussion on a Thursday. ;) 

If you would like to do a guest post, leave me a comment and we'll talk! ;)

Thanks!

A day in the life of Daysie...

Today we have my friend Daysie.  I met Daysie twoish years ago on a website when we were both trying to get pregnant.  She is a sweetheart, kind, caring and still fighting for her chance to be a mother.  I find it fitting for Daysie to be sharing her day in the life with you today, during National Infertility Awareness Week. 

Infertility affects around 73 million people or about 1 in 8 couples please check out Resolve.org for more information.  Thanks for sharing Days!  You can learn more about her journey on her blog,  My Story. My Family. My Life.

This is going to be pretty boring, but this particular day I had a fever and it was also the day I had my baseline u/s, and my med teaching ...

2:13 am – I wake up because I cannot sleep. I have a fever of 100.7, again. I play on my phone for a little bit.

2:45 am – I try to fall back asleep.

7:13am – I wake up again, this time for the day. I lay in bed for a few extra minutes.

7:50am - I get out of bed, go to the bathroom.

7:51am – I start the shower, find my sudea care shower soother in hopes it will help me feel better.

7:55am – Toss shower soother in the shower and get in.

8:12am – I got to get out the shower. Spending too much time in here and I'm getting dizzy.

8:17am – with the towel on my head, I brush my teeth while I go downstairs to let our dog Winston out.

8:19am – get back up stairs to finish brushing my teeth.

8:20am – Run back downstairs to let our dog back inside.

8:24am – Back upstairs to dry my hair, flipping my head upside down makes me dizzy again.

8:31am – I'm going to wear my glasses today, I don't feel well. Time to put make-up on.

8:40am – Go downstairs pack up my medications to bring into the doctors office, make sure I have everything together. I take some Motrin.

8:50am – I put Winston in his crate, get DH to get the Meds in the car and we leave to go to the doctors together.

9:20am – We arrive at the doctor's office

9:23am – I check in and get sent back to the lab.

9:25am – My blood is drawn.

9:30 am – I get sent into the exam room for my baseline ultrasound and we find out everything is quiet, just as it should be.

9:45am – Both DH and I head into an office with the Pato go over how to administer my medications.

10:21am – Appointment is over and we check out.

10:25 – In the car to head back home.

10:58am – Arrive back home

11am- I gather everything I need for my phone interview I have at 1pm.

11:15am – I finally eat breakfast, a plain bagel with plain cream cheese.

11:30am – I review everything for my phone interview and do some practice questions with DH. (He's home this morning.)

12pm – DH makes me some hot tea with lemon and honey.

12:05pm – DH gathers up some extra pens and paper and sets up the computer for the interview for me.

12:08pm – More practice questions....

12:50pm – I go upstairs and go to the bathroom and change for my phone interview, (yes, I dressed as if I was going to a face to face interview. This helps!)

1:03pm – Phone rings.... "Hello"... Phone interviews begins and DH goes upstairs.

1:22pm – Phone interview Ends. I call for DH to come downstairs. I'm not sure how it went.

1:30pm – DH gets ready for work while I change back into normal clothes.

1:40pm – We both head out the door. DH goes to work, I head out to the pharmacy to drop off one last prescription that needs to be filled before tomorrow.

2pm – I arrive back home and take the dog for a walk and get the mail.

2:10pm- I call my grandmother.

2:20pm – I finish up the phone call.

2:25pm – Reheat leftovers for lunch and watch my DVR recording of 16 and Pregnant (a guilty pleasure of mine)

3:14pm - I'm still enjoying my downtime now. Checking my message boards on my phone and finishing up some DVR'ed show.

3:22pm – Show is over time to turn off the TV and get ready to run back to the pharmacy to pick up the script.

3:28pm – walk out to car and see my neighbor, talk to her about the neighborhood gossip. Today it's about our other neighbors, apparently she left him and filed for divorce....

3:46pm – in the car on my way to the pharmacy.

3:53pm – Arrive

4pm – I finally get the prescriptions.

4:03pm – Back in the car, I take a look at the prescriptions and notice it said, "No Insurance" Ugg... Now I have to walk back inside to find out why they didn't use my insurance.

4:05pm – I have to give my insurance info to the pharmacist assistant again. Only one of the prescriptions is covered. The other isn't, at least it's only $13.00. I walk back to the car.

4:07 – I drive home.

4:15pm- I'm home, I let the dog out of his crate.

4:18pm – Winston starts his ritual of begging for dinner while I record what I'm doing... Hum, I wonder what I should do with the leftover London Broil for dinner tonight...

4:20pm – I take my temperature to make sure the fever I had yesterday and this morning has finally broken

4:23pm- Thermometer beeps: 98.0 Fever has finally broken. Although this is still a little high for me. I still feel like crap and I dread about doing the dishes and mopping the floor. Maybe I'll mop the floor tomorrow along with the laundry...

4:25pm- I get up and clean off the table from the phone interview earlier today. Gather all my meds and needles and syringes. I'll need to start my IVF meds tomorrow. Wow this is really happening. I put everything else I don't need yet aside.

4:41pm – Turn the TV back on and do the dishes, and turn some ta water on.

5:10pm – I think I'll make a stir-fry with the leftover London Broil. It's time to feed the dog...

5:45pm – DH comes home from work.

5:49 pm – Go outside and the dog runs over to the neighbor, I walk over to get him, I begin to talk to him. He wanted to know the latest on the other neighbors, and what's going on with our neighborhood.

6:30pm – Back home, check email, still need to start dinner...

6:35 pm – Start dinner, DH goes downstairs and grabs the last beer, He's kind enough to share it with me.

6:48pm – Let dinner finish up while I sit on the couch with DH.

6:55pm – Still waiting for the rice to finish cooking.

7pm – Dinner Time!

7:30pm – dishes and clean up the stove and counter. While I do this, DH puts up the new cork board I bought the other day.

8:30pm – Sit down and watch 30 Rock.

9pm – I find out instagram is now available on android. I download it while we watch a repeat episode of The Office.

9:09pm – I run upstairs for some lotion, my hands are so dry.

9:30pm – Head upstairs after turning the TV off and get a glass of water.

9:32 pm – hiccups starts.. great... I close the blinds and curtains in the bedroom.

9:33 – Time to brush my teeth and go to the bathroom and take my vitamins.

9:38 pm – DH comes upstairs with the dog. I take my temperature one last time. Fever is definitely gone. My temp is back to my normal 97.5.

9:40pm – I get into my PJ's.

9:43pm – Get into bed, lights off, hope for a better nights sleep tonight and start a new day tomorrow.

Thank you so much Days!

Do you know what your normal body temp is?
Mine is usually around 96.7, though I haven't routinely taken my temp since I was trying to get pregnant!

If you would like to participate in the day in the life series send me an email at pinkflipflops44 at gmail dot com or comment here with your email and I will get back to you!

The Past Week in Bullets...

- Worked my butt off at work and home

- Ate Mexican food 6 of the past 7 days

- Tried unsuccessfully to find a first birthday invite that I love

- Drank less pop than the week before

- Drank more McDonalds coffee than a person should

- Ran a mile

- Got some great ideas for my classroom

- Bought some cute clothes that were not black

- Finally got all of the photos from Florida worth sharing on a computer

- Had great ideas for blog posts since I've been too tired lately

- Forgot about the local library's book sale, again

- Finally started my book for our FIRST in PERSON BOOK CLUB meeting!!!!!

- Put together the last day in the life installment I have in my possession, so if you would like to particupate please get at me, even if you've already done one. ;)

- Thought of running a 5k in July

- Wanted to plan a vacation desperately

- Tired

It's been a crazy week and I am so ready to go back to working my part-time hours.  And ready to plan my fun time with my girl this summer.

I've tried vailantly to catch up over the weekend on blogs, but I've fallen asleep twice doing so.  I apologize.

Sum up your week in 3 bullets, please and thank you!

A day in the life of Jamie...

Happy Tuesday! Today, we have Jamie, a super sweet new mom. 

A day in the life of a new mom and competitive gymnastics coach. 

5:30 am- Check phone to see how long until nick’s (husband) alarm will go off.  Don’t want it to wake up our 4 1/2 month old co-sleeping baby, Ava.

5:45 - Repeat

6:00 am - Hand phone to nick and say phone will go off soon

6:15 am - Alarm goes off, tell nick to hurry up turning it off

6:15 - 6:30  am in and out of sleep making sure nick doesn’t fall back asleep

7:30 am - Nick wakes me up to say good bye.  Kiss and tell him to be careful. 

9:15ish am- Wake up. Sneak out of bedroom.  Let out the dogs.  Fill up dogs water bowl.  Peek in on Ava, Shower and put on makeup.  Brush teeth. Grab breast pump parts from kitchen.  Check email and face book.

9:50 am - Ava is up. 

9:50 - 10:00 am - Listen to Ava coo and “talk” . I love that she wakes up happy and I encourage her to self soothe at both going to sleep and waking up. 

10 - 10:10 am Snuggles and diaper change

10:10 - 10:30 am - Nurse and pump (I get better results if I pump while nursing)

10:30 - 10:45 am - Hang out on my bed and talk and play and snuggle

10:45 - 11:30 am - Play time in the living room.  Usually on her piano play mat. I make the bed and let the dogs out again while she plays, then join her.

11:30 - 12:00  - We get ready for nap time.  Nurse, change diaper, swaddle, turn on her radio in her room (country channel) and rock in glider for 1 full song, then hugs and kisses and down in her crib.  (most days she only naps for just under an hour in her crib and then wakes and I move her to her swing to finish her nap, but today she was showing off for the post I think and takes a rockstar crib nap)

12:00 - 2:45 pm - Ava went down for her nap without any fussing at all.  And I am off.  Laundry, dishes, trash, pay bills, check email, prepare crockpot for dinner, talk to my mom.  Several peeks in on Ava because she has never slept this long in her crib!

2:45 - 3:30  pm - Ava wakes up. Change her, and put her cool  vibrating chair.  She is pissed.  Nurse her.  Back on her playmat while I gather up everything for us to go to the gym.  Realize I haven’t eaten.  Grab 2 granola bars. 

3:45 pm - Head out the door.  Off to work.

4:00 - 4:30  pm - Get to the gym.  Walk all the way back to my beam area and drop off all our stuff. Head back up to the front.  Go to my boss’s office and nurse Ava.

4:30 - 5:00 pm - Practice starts. Ava and I watch the team girls stretch and do basics (simple moves meant for working technique and form)  Ava has a blow out and I change her diaper.

5 - 5:40  pm - First group of girls come to beam.  I swaddle Ava and hold her and she is out. Put her in her swing.  Girls have a good beam day.  Yay!

5:40 - 6:20 pm -  Next group comes to beam.  They are hyper today.  Still get some good work in though.  Ava wakes up but she is happy in her swing

6:20 - 7 pm - Ava wants attention.  Pick her up and hold her this rotation.  These are my girls who have a meet coming up. Lots of routines.  Nick comes and picks Ava up during this rotation.  They go home

7 - 7:30 - pm - Girls condition and stretch and then we are done!

7:30 - 7:55 pm - Drive home. Drop off my bff’s daughter at her house (I coach her daughter and they live 2 minutes from me)

8 - 8:30  pm - Nurse Ava and eat dinner. Usually at the same time. She is currently on a month long bottle strike or else Nick would have fed her before I got home.

8:30 - 10 pm - Family time!  Play on play mat, talk, sing, watch sports (Ava & daddy time says Nick) several diaper changes usually

10 - 10:45 Start bedtime routine.  Nurse, (shower on a shower day), change diaper, lotion, sleep sack, night night song, swaddle, one of us rocks her.  Kisses, turn on humidifier, put her in her rock n play in our room and leave her be.

10:45 - 11:30ish  pm - Watch TV, facebook, forums, talk to Nick, put puppies in crates, wash face, brush teeth

11:30ish pm - Bedtime

Thanks for sharing, Jamie! It sounds like such a great day, a mix of lazy/hanging out/getting stuff done/working.  Perfect! ;)

How many alarms do you have to set in the morning?

Check out the sidebar later this afternoon for the May Group Read Poll!

What I Love On A Monday..

- Eating a lunch my husband packed me..

- My girl waking up happy on her own in the wee hours of the morning...

- A tall coffee w/ two creams from McDonalds...

-  A warm wind...

- Juicy California Strawberries...

- Making candy bracelets/necklaces with my class...

- Left over enchiladas and spanish rice for dinner...

- Only 4 1 /2 more days til my weekend begins...

What do you love today?

May Group Read Suggestions

It's that time again!

What shall we read in May?

We've already read...

Winter Garden
The Violets of March
Rebecca
State of Wonder
The Invisible Bridge
The Postmistress
The Scent of Rain and Lightning
Still Missing
The Sandalwood Tree
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Something Borrowed
The Blue Orchard
Sammy's Hill
In the Woods
Shanghai Girls
The Weight of Water
Water for Elephants
The Color Purple
The One That I Want
The Secret Garden
House Rules
American Wife
Firefly Lane
Middlesex
The Reader
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Awakening
Pride & Prejudice
I See You Everywhere

A poll will go up on the side bar on April 17th!

Winter Garden - Discussion 1

"God help me," she said softly, feeling alone even with Jeff right beside her.  She'd never known before how profoundly a single decision could separate you from other people. "Okay." pg.111

So many times while reading this book, I felt raw.  So many emotions and so many that were held back and need to be pushed through.

Kristin Hannah definitely has a way with words.  The heartbreak seeps through the pages.  I do not know how Meredith and Nina survived their childhood with a parent so emotionally off.  Like, why did the woman reproduce?  Why aren't Mere and Nina in constant therapy???

I feel for Mere but she does need to break.  You can only take on so much and keep trucking and doing it everything for so long until you reach the point of enough.

Everyone needs a break.  Even if you won't be able stop crying, the release does a body good.

1. How do you think the peasant and prince fairy tale ends? If you finished, what were your guesses?

2. Will Nina stay or go?

3.What do you think Mere and Jeff need to do to save their relationship? Is it worth saving?

4. Meredith and Nina are both reluctant to let the men in their lives help them through a difficult time, yet both are suffering from the grief caused by the death of their father. Do you think this is something they’ve inherited from their mother? In what other ways are they similar to their mother? Do you think it’s impossible to avoid becoming like the people who raised you?

5. This novel explores a complicated and strained relationship between two sisters. Do you think Meredith is justified in being so angry with Nina? In what ways are the sisters different and in what ways are they alike?

Thanks for participating! Next/final discussion will be on April 27th!

So not a morning person

I have to get up around 6 am for awhile because I'm working full-time for a bit, and mannnnnnn.  I do not like moving in the morning.  I mean after I pull myself out of bed, I'm good, until the car ride.  Then I get sleeeeeepy.  Then I stop and get my morning coffee and I'm better again.

The worst?

My daycare arrangement means I actually have to get up and leave way earlier than I would really have to be up and out the door.  So I am getting to work a half hour earlier and while it would be nice if that meant I could leave earlier, it does not, since I can't make children leave school earlier.

I should totally be using this time to do some projects / or something.

Instead? I'll sip my coffee while it is still hot and catch up on the Internet.

Clearly, productive important stuff.

Did I mention I am not a morning person? And that Isla and I are used to waking up around 8:30? Yeah, shoot me.