Book Report: The Glass Castle

When my mother-in-law handed me The Glass Castle she said, "You are not going to be able to put this book down."
She was right.
The memoir of a woman who grew up in abject, absolute poverty and went on to become a writer and journalist, The Glass Castle is captivating from page 1.   The stories are horrific but not in a sad way.  Walls writes of her childhood as a matter-of-fact.  The poverty in the stories is so severe that you find yourself wishing it was a joke.  Example: the family lived in a three-bedroom shack in West Virginia that had no running water so they used a bucket in the middle of the kitchen.  It rarely had electricity and never had heat.  The roof was full of straight-out holes and Brian (the brother) would sleep with a tarp over him to keep dry during the rain.  Still, the four Walls children had an amazing way of always overcoming the life they'd been given.

The Glass Castles is a run, don't walk to get and read this book.  But don't start it until you have a few hours to yourself to read because once you pick it up you will be powerless to put it down.

Menu Plan Monday

Aack!!!  Stay summer!  Don't go!!!  Preparing everyone for another really fun week of swimming and playing with lots of good food to keep our bellies happy.  My mother and father in-law are here visiting for part of the week so I'm hoping that means Drew & I will go out to eat at least once.  I'm Facebook friends with a few local restaurants who post their specials and they always sound so yummy.
Thanks to my awesome cousin Kim I have a new vegetarian recipe to try this week.

M:  Chilaquiles Casserole, salad
T: Grilled chicken, grilled veggies, wilted spinach
W: Grilled steak and fish, Ramen Salad, rice
Th:  pork tenderloin, grilled corn on the cob, mashed potatoes
F: leftovers/out
S:  spaghetti with meat sauce, salad
S: Burgers and fries

Have a great week everyone!

I'm a runner

At least, that's what the coach's voice at the end of today's 20-minute run told me.  I know 20 minutes isn't super long but I ran the whole time without stopping to walk.  I've known for a couple of weeks now that this run was coming.  The longest I'd run to this point was 8 minutes, then walk 3 then run another 8.  I was nervous about this morning, almost as if I was in a race.  I wanted to do it.  I wanted that accomplishment.  I didn't want to let myself down.

It was harder mentally than physically, though make no mistake I was breathing very hard at the end there.  With 8 minutes left I was ready to give up.  But I'd already run 12 minutes so there was no way I was going to let myself stop.  I ended up speeding up.  I changed my speed a little every minute.  Sometimes I'd go at 5.0 mph, sometimes 4.7 sometimes 4.3,  I just wasn't going to give up.

I didn't give up.

At the end of the run the app coach came on and said something to the effect of "you just ran for 20 straight minutes.  You are a runner now." I wanted to cheer out loud and would have except, you know, the breathing.

Tonight I'm a little sore but I'm very happy to have dug deep and found the strength to hang on until the finish.

Reflections on a year soda free

At some point in July I reached my one year anniversary of giving up soda.  I truly cannot believe it.  My addiction to soda runs strong and deep.  I turned to Coke for everything.  Energy, comfort, pain relief, in times of celebration, in times of sadness Coke and his friends Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Pepsi were there for me.
It all changed the day I read an article on the Huffington Post about just how bad those sodas are for your body.  I wish I could find the article but my recent searches proved fruitless.  The gist of the article was that 40% lab animals ingesting the equivalent of one or two sodas a day developed tumors.   Whatever it said was exactly what I needed to see.  I quit right then, cold turkey.
Fortunately I had zero physical withdrawal symptoms.  Mentally it was much harder.  Ice cold Coke is still the most delicious beverage on the planet.  I had to learn to order plain old water everywhere we went.  Saves on the bill but, meh, it's water.  I had to learn to tough out bad days and stomach aches without my fizzy friend.  Even looking at the picture I posted at the top of my blog makes me long for a cold drink.
But I did it.
For "fizz" I drink about one glass of seltzer water a day but I'm off the soda completely.  Unfortunately I can't have just one every couple of months.  If I have one I want one the next day and the next.  I accept that about myself and I don't want to go back to drinking soda so I just stay away.
I don't care if the people around me drink Coke.  Heck, I kept Coke in the house for Megan all the time and wasn't even tempted to touch it.  It's not a "judgement" thing like, oh gross, she drinks soda.  Not at all.  I just can't handle it.
Giving up soda was the hardest thing I've ever done.  I measured my success and resolve in days and weeks and now, having made it an entire year, I'm glad that I've done it.

Menu Plan Monday

Yikes!  August 8th??  Less than a month until the boys are in school.  This summer has just flown by and for the first time in a really really really long time I am loving summer.  I don't mind the hot weather because we're at the pool.  I don't mind the boy driving me nuts because our days are busy and we're having a lot of fun playing together.  I will be so sad to send the boys to preschool (though yes I will absolutely love having 8 hours a week to myself).
Anyway, these menu plans sure seem to come up quickly don't they?  They are so helpful for me though and totally worth the time it takes to do them.
So the Ramen Noodle Salad from last week?  It was a HUGE hit with the husband.  HUGE.  It will be back on the menu again this week for sure!

Monday:Grilled Chicken Alfredo, salad
Tuesday: Grilled steak and veggies over rice
Wednesday:  Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, green beans
Thursday: Grilled chicken and Ramen Salad
Friday:  Sandwiches and chips
Saturday:  Curry shrimp
Sunday: burgers and fries

Have a great week!

Book Report: Island of Lost Girls

I'm bored with TV and playing on the internet so I've been doing a lot of reading.  Here it is, August 5th and I'm turning in my 1st book report for the month.  My wonderful friend Megan sent me Island of Lost Girls promising a quick yet creepy read.

And she was (mostly) right.  It was a very quick read though I have to say I wasn't super creeped out by it.  A general story about an abduction that happens in broad daylight with several side-plots happening both in the past and with another child abduction that takes place several states away, Island of Lost Girls has a decent mystery element to it.  Author Jennifer McMahon seems to go a touch formulaic with the "it's too obvious" bad guy who may or may not really be a bad guy.  A few of the plot "twists" were also  very see-through and written quite shallowly.
And, without giving too much away, this story takes place in an incredibly screwed up little town.  I suspect the Visitors Bureau of Vermont will not include this on a tourism list anytime soon.
The book did manage to hold my interest despite the bizarre, constant Alice in Wonderland imagery.  Worth a quick read, perfect for something to do while waiting for your kids to be done with swim class.

Menu Plan Monday

I can't believe it's August 1st!  Where has the summer gone?  This has been the best summer ever and I'm so sad to watch it slip away.  We have another really fun week planned.  Here is what we'll eat for dinner:

Monday:  Pasta alfredo with shrimp and scallops, salad
Tuesday: Ramen noodle salad with grilled chicken
Wednesday: Quesadillas (vegetarian)
Thursday: baked chicken, mashed potatoes, salad
Friday: Steak, grilled veggies, rice
Saturday: curried chicken (leftover chicken and veggies go in to make this an easy weekend dinner)
Sunday:  surprise surprised burgers and fries

What are you eating this week?  Post it here or link here to your blog!