I read Strong Women Stay Young - 5 Stars - This book had been book sitting on my shelf for the longest while. I decided to pick it up once I realized that I was getting tired of feeling that my body was turning to mush. This book has inspired me to start strength training once again. The advice is good, solid, and thoroughly researched. This program was tested among seniors. The exercises are easy to do and are ones that I am already familiar with. There are eight exercises that take about 20 minutes to be done twice a week. It’s suggested to gradually increase the level of weights. There are five additional exercises for those who wish to do more. Adjustable ankle weights and a few dumbbells are needed. I have enough dumbbells, but I will need to order ankle weights. I already have some, but I think I’d like to improve on the ones that I have. My ankles are weak, and I know that it’s important to strengthen them in order to improve balance and to hopefully prevent falls. What I really appreciated was the chart that gave suggestions as to the maximum amount of weight for each exercise according to one’s age group. I love customized charts and suggestions like that! There’s even a chapter and guidelines for men. I would recommend this book to all adult women (and men), but especially to those who are concerned about so many different areas when it comes to aging, including wellness and feeling your best.

I haven't read the replies yet. I've had a hairy upper lip (and dark, mind you) since I was a pre-teen. it comes with my Persian heritage. My dd has had one also. Electrolysis, laser, waxing (in that order, IMHO) - any of these can help. My dd also got us both a device (similar to the one shown above), but not that one. Love that one. I'll have to ask her which one it is later. I would not recommend tweezing.

Sorry, no suggestions. It's so annoying when that happens.

I read Full Dark, No Stars - 4 Stars - This book is dark, harsh, and not for the faint of heart. I don’t usually care for horror and all the creepy, scary stuff at all, whether in books or movies. Nonetheless, King writes fabulously and reading this was the perfect remedy for temporarily getting my mind off things, such as this never-ending pandemic as well as all the recent news events. These are four stories involving people doing horrific things to one another. The stories have an Alfred Hitchcock feel about them. I would recommend this book to any Stephen King fan. Here are the stories and how I rate them: 1922 – 4 Stars (the most disturbing) Big Driver – 4 Stars Fair Extension – 4 Stars A Good Marriage – 5 Stars (my favorite) Here are two of my favorite quotes: “I believe most people are essentially good. I know that I am. It's you I'm not entirely sure of.” “We never cease wanting what we want, whether it's good for us or not.”

I'm not familiar with the 2004/Turn Around Program. I wish that I was. Bumping this in case anyone who knows may have missed it. I lost quite a bit of weight on WW two years ago. Since I stopped following it, I regained. I hope to try it again soon. I keep hearing about DDP Yoga and am curious about it. I need to read up on it more. A 1-2 pound weight loss sounds great! Good for you for sticking with it.

I read Betty Cornell's Teen-Age Popularity Guide - 3 Stars - I love all things vintage and retro and this was a fun read. It was written in 1953 by a teenage fashion model. Parts of it are obviously a bit dated, while other parts are timeless. There were also parts that I skipped and skimmed – such as dating or whatever – things that were not relevant to me. Here is a link to my Good Reads review with a few photos. Oh, one more thing. I love smelling books. This book has the absolute best aroma ever and I couldn’t stop sniffing it! If you are planning on reading “Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek”, this book should be read first. I liked this one more than “Popular”. Here are my favorite quotes: “Someone once told me to stand as if I wore a beautiful jewel that I wanted to show off at my bosom, and I think perhaps it is the best advice that I can pass on to you.” “Maybe you ask, what has this all got to do with popularity? The answer is that popularity depends on your ability to get along with people, all kinds of people, and the better you learn to adjust to each situation the more easily you will make friends. You will find that you can make those adjustments more successfully if you have yourself well in hand. And the only way to get yourself in hand is to know yourself, to analyze yourself, to turn yourself inside and out as you would an old pocketbook--shake out the dust and tidy up the contents.” Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek - 2 Stars - This book should be read after “Betty Cornell’s Teen-age Popularity Guide”. It’s a cute book and the author is amiable and sweet. While reading it, I kept laughing at myself since as a rule I try to avoid memoirs written by anyone younger than their forties. This one was written by an eighth grader! I read it out of curiosity and am happy that I did, although I cannot recommend it to anyone other than girls in that age group. Here is a link to my Good Reads review with a few images. My favorite quote: “Popularity is more than looks. It’s not clothes, hair, or even possessions. When we let go of these labels, we see how flimsy and relative they actually are. Real popularity is kindness and acceptance. It is about who you are, and how you treat others.” MY RATING SYSTEM 5 Stars The book is fantastic. It’s not perfect, since no book is, but it’s definitely a favorite of mine. 4 Stars Really Good 3 Stars Enjoyable 2 Stars Just Okay – nothing to write home about 1 Star Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

I read My Reading Life - 4 Stars - for those who may be interested in recent events, if you read nothing else in my review, you may wish to scroll down where I quote him on political correctness. Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors and this one didn’t disappoint. The writing is gorgeous. This book is a memoir of his love of reading and writing. Reading this felt like reading a big book review, a book review of all the writers and poets that shaped and influenced Conroy in some way. I loved how each chapter was aligned with a certain period in his life, and with the people who were there during each time – his mother, his high school English teacher, and so on. One of my favorite chapters was the one about his mother and “Gone with the Wind”. I’d never paid any attention to Pat Conroy until a few years ago when I read that book. Conroy wrote the beautiful introduction. He describes his mother reading him “Gone with the Wind” when he was five, and then she would re-read it to him again every year. “She read the novel aloud to me when I was five years old, and it is from this introductory reading that I absorbed my first lessons in the authority of fiction. There is not a sentence in this book unfamiliar to me since my mother made a fetish of rereading it each year.” It was that intro that got me interested in reading his books. His mother is the one person who influenced him the most and started him on his literary journey. From the time that he was a high school freshman, he set himself a goal of reading 200 pages a day. He wrote that he learned how to be a man through books. He was a military brat growing up in South Carolina. Given his dysfunctional family life, the constant moves, and his abusive father, books were what provided healing for both him and his mother. They provided some form of stability. Another chapter that moved me was the one about his high school English teacher, Mr. Norris. I also thoroughly enjoyed reading about his time spent in Paris when he was writing one of his novels. I doubt that I will be reading most of the books that he loved, the ones that formed and shaped him, but I still loved reading his take on them. I enjoyed the description of him writing using yellow legal pads with classical music playing in the background. If you are a Pat Conroy fan, like I am, you will enjoy this book. Here are some of my favorite quotes: Describing his sister: “If I said that a sky was a pretty shade of blue, she would correct me, saying that it was lapis lazuli and only a simpleton would call it blue. She was ten when she pointed this out.” Describing his favorite bookshop in Atlanta: “When I die, my religion tells me I’ll go to heaven, and I hope someone got that story right. I’ll make a request that I get to live in the Old New York Book Shop on the night of a book party.” Describing friendship with writers: “I’ve spent most of my life avoiding the companionship of writers. I try never to be rude, just seldom available. Though I have met some of the great writers of our time, I’ve become good friends with very few of them. The tribe is contentious, the breed dangerous.” On Political Correctness: “Political correctness is going to kill American liberalism if it is not fought to the death by people like me for the dangers it represents to free speech, to the exchange of ideas, to openheartedness, or to the spirit of art itself. Political correctness has a stranglehold on academia, on feminism, and on the media. It is a form of both madness and maggotry.” On Parisians: “Parisians and polar icecaps have a lot in common except that polar icecaps are warmer to strangers.” “There is something glacial, fishlike, and prodigiously remote about Parisians. At the sound of an approaching foreigner, their faces are as bland and expressionless as salamanders.” On Tolstoy: “Reading Tolstoy makes us strive to be better people: better husbands and wives, children, and friends. He tries to teach us how to live by letting us participate in the brimming, storied experiences of his fictional world. Reading Leo Tolstoy, you will encounter a novelist who fell in love with his world and everything he saw and felt in it.” On reading: “I find myself happiest in the middle of a book in which I forget that I am reading, but am instead immersed in a made-up life lived at the highest pitch.’ “I can’t pass a bookstore without slipping inside, looking for the next book that will burn my hand when I touch its jacket, or hand me over a promissory note of such immense power that it contains the formula that will change everything about me. Here is all I ask of a book—give me everything. Everything, and don’t leave out a single word.”

Kindle book on sale today.

Robin, I haven't read this one yet. Thank you for the reminder to put this on my wish list. I read Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books - 4 Stars - This was a fun and quick read. It’s part memoir, partly about books, and part cookbook. The author, Cara Nicoletti, loves to read, and she loves to cook. She spent much of her childhood in her grandfather’s butcher shop. She is a former pastry chef, a butcher, and food blogger. The book is divided into three sections – books that have influenced her during either childhood, adolescence, or adulthood. Each chapter focuses on a different book and includes a recipe that she associates with the story. I was intrigued by the fact that she had paid such close attention to various food scenes and descriptions in books. I thought that I was obsessed with food, and I most definitely am. I often feel hard pressed to find anyone who loves food as much as I do, but with all that said, I have seldom paid attention to food descriptions when I’m reading. I’m sure that from here on out I’ll be noticing all that more than before! I wasn’t too keen on some of Nicoletti’s stories. Some of them seemed slightly contrived, almost as if she was trying too hard. I’m nit-picking here, but I do roll my eyes slightly at memoirs that are written by anyone younger than 40. This author was 28 when this was published, a bit too young for my liking, but that’s fine. I enjoyed it regardless. I also didn’t appreciate the fact that the chapters included spoilers. Spoilers, whether in reviews or in a book such as this, are my pet peeve. Once I realized that she was giving the endings away, I skipped those sections. This was only for the books that I have not yet read but plan on doing so eventually. If you do plan on reading this book, you may wish to skip the chapters of books that you plan to read in the future! The watercolor illustrations are simply delightful! My rule when reviewing cookbooks is to try out some of the recipes, because in all fairness, how can I review a cookbook otherwise? Some of the recipes are a bit daunting for the casual cook. There are a few that require ingredients that I cannot find. I tried out five of the recipes. Four out of the five were absolute hits and one wasn’t that great – that was the Rib Eye Steak (from “Down and Out in Paris and London”). It was just okay. I was going to give this book 3 stars, but because most of the recipes that I tried were so good and unique, I’ve chosen to give it 4 stars. The Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg (from “Emma”) was delicious. I doubt, however, that I will make that one very often. Pricking each egg with thumbtack or needle is a bit too much work for me. The White Garlic Soup (from “Pride and Prejudice”) was wonderful and most of the family loved it. Everyone loved the Black Pepper Parmesan Pasta (from “Strega Nona”). Another one that everyone loved was the scrumptious Honey Poppy Seed Cake (from “The Aeneid”). Oh, my goodness, I’ll be making that one again for sure!

Shawne, thank you. You are too kind. I'll think about it and let you know. I wish that I could be there with you! My Kindle is so convenient. It annoys me that we may need to do all this. Life should not be this way. I know that sounds a bit simplistic. I just miss life being pleasant and simple. I'm too old for all of this.

I have nothing much to add, but ever since I saw your post, I have been quite concerned. I wish that I had hoarded more books. It's expensive and difficult to ship books here. Banning books is bad enough. The cancel culture is just another extreme example of a thirst for control over other people's lives and thoughts. It gives me scary thoughts of life in Iran.

And this.

Kindle book on sale today.

I read The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe - 4 Stars - here is my review.