I concede defeat....

Comparing morning coffee activities with my husband the other day, I realized that I had to concede defeat. While drinking my coffee, I usually sit in front of the computer and peruse three newspapers: the Seattle Times, the New York Times and El Pais from Spain. I thought that was doing pretty well--considering I also had kids, etc to take care of as well. He, however, reads FIVE! papers, La Nacion from Costa Rica, Siglo XXI from Guatemala, two local papers and El Pais. I may have to consider adding another paper to my repertoire.... Finished Bad Heir Day. Perfect summer read. Funny, good word play and an ending that had the prettiest pink bow on it...sometimes it's just lovely to take a break from reality. I'm on to The Other Boleyn Girl and then Hunger's Bride (do I detect a hint of procrastination in attempting to tackle a book with over 1300 pages?---perhaps).

Heat Wave....

First, let me make this clear...I'm not complaining-- (My husband insists that all we gringos do is complain about the weather...in the winter it's too cold and in the summer it's too hot. Well, I'm sorry honey, we don't live in the land of eternal spring where every day is a perfect 70 degrees. ) --but it needs to cool down by about 10 degrees. I've finished the back and one sleeve and have moved back to the front on my kids cable sweater. Progress is good...but my wrists have been aching! I also finished A Venom Beneath the Skin by Marcos M. Villatoro which I actually got because it mentioned Guatemala, and although most of the action is in CA, there are some nice regionalisms. I think I need to re-read Francisco Goldman's The Long Night of White Chickens to truly get my fix. Now I'm reading Bad Heir Day by Wendy Holden which I hope to finish today or tomorrow so I can devote my entire beach vacation to Hunger's Brides by Paul Anderson. Ahhh....summer.

Productivity up...

I finished JPod last night. Whenever I find a book I'm enjoying reading, the ending is always somewhat bittersweet. In JPod there were a bunch of extra blank pages at the end of the book, so I thought I had more reading to do before the actual ending. I didn't feel psychologically prepared to end the book. Wah... I have another couple of books in the queue and next week we go on vacation and I get to visit one of my favorite bookstores in the world. It's nothing fancy, but I think it's located over one of those mysterious electromagnetic fields like they have in the show Lost, because every book I buy there instantly becomes my new favorite book. I also finished the back of sweater #1 and am moving onto a sleeve. This is not exactly following the directions, but since the sleeves lack any kind thought-provoking pattern, I decided to alternate interesting knitting with mind-numbing knitting in an effort to keep my interest piqued. Finally, I've been wanting to post this picture...just because it's a reality reminder and I want to be able to refer to it when I get a bit full of McLife in North America. It's from the Guatemalan newspaper Siglo XXI and is about a man who built a house out of chicken wire and water bottles stuffed with plastic sacks. This is not a green eco-choice, but ingenuity born of necessity. Thoughts?

Ahhh...relief in the form of a good summer read

I started JPod last night. Classic Coupland. A much-needed summer read after the disappointment of the previous book. I've also made more progress on the sweater. I'm almost done with the back. If you haven't checked out Joe's Goals yet, give it a try. It's a pretty simple website that allows you to track goals (positive and negative) and then gives you daily, monthly, quarterly reports about progress. I made a humorous profile for my husband--the 21st century version of the Honey-do list I suppose. It would be improved if you could create different profiles for different moods. I mean, I know that's why they call them goals, but really it seems pretty unlikely that you can have the same goals every day. You know, normal day goals would be exercise, walk dog, clean bathroom with bleach and a toothbrush (ha ha) and then you could have goals for those horrible days when you don't even want to get out of bed and just need a push in the right direction (goals could be: brush teeth, shower, speak in sentences). Just a thought.

Book Limbo

Hmmm...book limbo. As much as I dislike it, I gave up on a book this morning. Last week, trolling the shelves of the local library I picked up The Hunted by L.A. Banks. I was in the mood for a quick and silly read and not having read a vampire book for awhile I thought this would be perfect. Yes, yes, we all know that vampires are sensual creatures yada yada yada...but this book was a one-trick pony. After a couple hundred pages I gave up. I still have Guatemalan Journey to finish...but now he's moved on to the cities and villages outlying Guatemala City, so the traces of familiarity do not run as deep and my interest not quite as strong. This being summer, reading comes in fits and starts, interrupted by kids running through sprinklers, etc. I've already been through the Kathy Reichs oeuvre...I wish that Jasper Fforde would come out with a new book...that's what this summer needs. Fortunately, I have a major knitting project to keep me busy. The cable sweater is coming along well. I've been working on it for 2 days now and have made good progress.

First Musings

The idea of publishing my musings is a bit terrifying, really. Not that anyone is going to be reading this. I'm hoping to add Library Thing to my blog, a knitting project tracker (no less than four projects on needles right now---one that must be done within the week), some book reviews of what I'm reading (I've only got three books going right now) and other general thoughts on life, etc. Keep an eye out...