Sushi Go! Star Realms Archaelogy Bohnanza Saboteur

With my first child, my favorite OB/GYN was Dr. Gerber. I loved her. Unfortunately, she worked with a practice so the doctor who ended up delivering my first child was her very jerky colleague, Dr. Wiener.

When my youngest was only eating bread (and mostly banana bread) I would sub 25-40% of the flour with ground oats, oat brain, wheat bran, or a mixture of those. Oats are really mild when ground down and weren't noticeable by him. I'd sometimes add TVP (texturized vegetable protein, a soy product). That turned out pretty well. Again, subbed for flour in that 25-40% group of the total flour group. He didn't notice it if I kept it under 1/2 cup. Cutting butter in half doesn't hurt, but I wouldn't go under 1/2 cup. If you do cut it down good add an extra banana or applesauce to help the moisture.

I've got an anti-spooky read right now to keep things balanced...Eleanor & Park on audio. Great readers. A charming Romeo & Juliet tale set in Nebraska in the mid-'80s.

I forgot about the Stephen King question. I read a few in late junior high/early high school because everyone else was. Firestarter. Some collection when he wrote as Richard Bachman. Cujo. Cujo was kind of the last straw. It was so terrible, and boring. I went several years making fun of him as a writer based on my memory of Cujo. Post college I was stuck at my SIL/BIL's home with nothing to do. BIL is a big fan and has every novel. Not much else was on the shelves, so I pulled out The Stand (extended '90s version) because it seemed the least horror-ific and read some. He let me take it home because I'd just moved to the area and didn't have anything else to read. I enjoyed that (it has some ending issues) but I was still unsure about King. I thought he could write a decent short story but he was tinny as a novelist. I think I changed after reading On Writing, The Green Mile, It, and Different Seasons, the process of a decade or so. He's definitely prolific. That can work both for and against someone. He definitely got better after he sobered up. He's not a character writer generally so I don't expect that of him. I don't go out of my way to read him because horror is not my genre, but if I hear enough good things about something I'll give it a try. "The Body" is a beautiful read. I did give his son (Joe Hill) a try once and couldn't do it.

I like Childhood's End. It's the idea, more than the execution. There's a part in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test where Ken Kesey, the author, and others have all-night discussions about the cultural changing cultural viewpoints and religious significance of CE and Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. It's interesting the number of other books and shows that have used the ideas from that novel. I loved The October Country. I read that last October. It was great weekend vacation drive reading. I listened to Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands on Librivox. The reader was good. Mary Seacole was a Jamaician woman who went to the Crimean to nurse many of the British soldiers she knew in Jamaica. She also spent time in New Grenada (Panama) and did a lot of work with cholera. I liked her style. She was both feisty and very lady-like. Racial issues. Panama/early-American Gold rush stuff. Difficulty with running a hotel in Crimea. Soldier highjinks. And I'm doing a chapter of Blood Meridian every morning. Yesterday I realized how much it's like Heart of Darkness mixed a bit with the Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away. So much atmosphere. So much creepy gothic hell dream. I have to read slowly because it's not plot or character. It's language, symbol, tone, everything painted in detail.

Praying for all of you in Hurricaneland. Have you read any Studs Terkel? The format is similar. I really enjoyed that aspect. I agree, even though I was the opposite (I made it through the Dan Wells book and couldn't make it through the Shriver book because I didn't like the mother). The Wells book is a pretty basic thriller. Finished a graphic novel my dh picked up for me from a library sale, another Quebecois. Jane, the Fox, & Me. A good parallel to my own experience, so impactful to me, but the finish was a little simple. Enjoyed. This will by my 3rd graphic novel based on Quebec this year, so I guess that's a thing for me now. :001_huh: Working on Rewards & Fairies by Kipling. I cleaned out my children's shelf last month (a sad day) and I put the keepers in storage. I'm reading a few I hadn't gotten to yet. I liked the fairy tale/English history/epic poetry of Puck of Pook's Hill when I read it last month. Not as magical as E. Nesbit, but I like the history and poetry. BTW, Kipling's famous poem "If" is in Rewards... If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! I picked up Blood Meridian and perused the part I read before. I've decided to make note of words I don't know (Spanish, English) but not stop. That's what got me last time. I call this my Umberto Eco strategy (since that's they only way I make it through an Eco novel). :rolleyes: There should be a term for the vocabulary drag on a novel when you have to keep looking things up.

I read some Angela Carter earlier this year and really enjoyed her. She can pack a punch, so I stopped after one book of short stories, but I look forward to that one. For my spooky book, I've decided finish Cormac MacCarthy's Blood Meridian (the evil, evil, so much bloody evil choice) or Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove (the come on, you only have 1 more story left choice). Recently I finished: The End of the Affair (I was fooled by the '90s movie, this was more than a ill-fated love story...it even had some good lines I should go back and copy into my notebook.) Lost Worlds: rewriting prehistory ice age mariners archaeology kind of thing (more information dense than I was expecting and well explained but needed a different organization I think) Struggling with: The Master and the Margarita (I don't dislike it, but struggle to make myself read it. I'm about ready to return it and try again later.)

It's not unusual in the Midwest to have an extra toilet or block shower in the the basement or utility area (washer/dryer). This is most likely if it's a 1 bathroom home. I think it was planned to help with the bathroom overflow of a small family home. If you were desperate enough, to the basement you go. We have both and they are right across from the canning kitchen...no extra walls and toilet is a tiny concrete closet with saloon doors. Thank you 1950s. My grandmother had her utility toilet on a platform next to her washer. It had a flowery green shower curtain you could pull in a circle around you. It always gave me the creeps but my Grampa kept all his soda in an old latch pull fridge down there so there were snacks.

Go to the JCPenney website. Several brands of men's jeans start at 26" waist and and have up to a 36" inseam. Back in the day ('90s) my youngest brother was a 27x34 in high school (yeah...he's now a 29x34 :rolleyes: ). My mom would call Penneys and they would order his size and have it delivered to the store. They just wanted to know someone would actually purchase the size. It was never in stock otherwise.

I am a reader, always have been, and remember well the curiosity and mental craving that started me reading at age 3/4. I was not surrounded by books. We had one tiny bookshelf which was mostly filled by my father's accounting textbooks. Now I have shelves and shelves. When dh and I got married, Bro2 shook dh's hand and said, "congratulations! Now I never have to move her books again. Thank you." My mom isn't a reader. She's very good with her hands and fills her time with making things. My dad will read but always has to have an practical reason to read something. Siblings: Bro1: Never was a reader. Considered it a waste of time. Very intelligent. I'm not sure if it was the books available in grade school or how slow reading felt to him, but it didn't click. Now, as an adult, Bro2 got him hooked on Robert Jordan and other monstrous fantasy novels. I'm not sure I would call him a reader (he lacks some of the craving of a reader IMO), but he does read at least a few books a year. Sis: Never was a reader. Very social. Too busy. But her daughter is a huge reader. I love buying her books. Bro2: Six years younger than me. I read to this kid for ages. Is a reader. Loves fantasy and light science fiction. At least several books a year. Family: DH: Wasn't a reader when we met. Asked me to recommend 2 books he had to read before we married. (Be still my heart.) Loves to be read to. Has concentration issues but has found he likes to fall asleep reading. Slow progress. Sort of a reader. DS1: Early reader but usually can't be bothered. DS2: Reader! DS3: Very active and social. Started out hating reading but I believe I've brought him around. Picky about books. Needs external motivation. DS4: Cognitive disabilities but loves to be read to.

Perhaps the water content of the honey was different than the sorghum? That combined with a drier atmosphere or a slightly off (basically any non-weighing measurement) flour measurement would mean a denser product in general or a longer kneading time to get the same result. If it seems a bit dense while I'm kneading, sometimes I'll incorporate a little water and let it sit. Do you do an autolyse? Sometimes that time really helps prepare the dough for easier kneading.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Gaimin) The Martian (Weir) Ok, main character swears...for humor. He is stuck in on a planet alone and it's part of his coping mechanism but if that's a trigger for your group ignore this one. Howl's Moving Castle (Wynne Jones) fairy tale with strong female empowerment The Kitchen Counter Cooking School (Flinn) nonfiction, foody friendly Gene Luen Yang has some great graphic novels which you may want to look into. Very appropriate (although the Boxer & Saints is about the Boxer Rebellion and might be too violent...Level Up is great for young adult crisis/American Born Chinese is great for minority figuring out how they fit within the dominant culture/

Any winners Onceuponatime? Sometimes feedback helps with suggestions. Oh, and The Avett Brothers. Can't believe I left them off the list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5CMDmxtpbc

Michael Kiwanuka Nick Lowe Fleet Foxes Great Lakes Swimmers The Jayhawks The Head and the Heart The Belle Brigade The Weepies The Living Sisters Band of Horses Real Estate Over the Rhine Darrell Scott or Darrell Scott/Tim O'Brien Gillian Welch Sarah Jarosz

In our house we call it 'the HBO effect.' Several years ago dh and I had a game where we'd call when breasts would be shown...because they were going to be shown. Nudity that would actually fit within the storyline didn't count. Extra points if they were used as 'sexposition' (sex used as exposition...basically weak writing covered by breasts or other female nudity/sexuality). I'm not afraid of nudity, but the use of the female body and sexuality to draw/keep male viewers irks me. I don't care how cool the show is...I just won't watch it.

Laws can be different between state, federal, schooling options, EEOC, etc. My uncle is legally blind and has been since an accident when he was 2. His eyes and their surrounding muscles were physically damaged. He went to a blind school. His wife is blind. He participated in the Paralympics. He can now drive in the state of Indiana with a newer type of corrective lens which corrects enough for at least one eye. It gives him awful headaches but he enjoys a limited amount of daytime driving. He says he'll never move from Indiana because he couldn't get his license anywhere else in the Midwest. (I have no idea how true that is but it is true he couldn't get a license in his home state.) He's still considered legally blind and he can't wear the glasses at work or in daily life. They are that disruptive. So yes, he is legally blind (according to the government, state, his employer, his family) but he can drive, now. (Cue family jokes.) I don't think they even invented those lenses until the late '80s/early '90s.

I read Anna Karenina in high school, so it has been a long time. I liked Anna better than I liked Edna from The Awakening. I think I read the two books the same year. Anna's actions made more sense to me, even while I disagreed with her Tolstoy made me feel her emptiness, her surprised passion, her joy, her sorrow. So often other proto-feminist novels (The Awakening and Madame Bovary for instance) left me feeling completely cut off or frustrated with the main character. The counterpoint with Kitty and Levin was a relief to Anna's story, so she never frustrated me too much. I think the epigraph said it all for me (from the Bible "Vengeance is mine. I will repay."). Human beings have no reason to judge or deal out punishment. Quite often we bring our own punishment upon us. You can see this as a Fate thing or 'what goes around comes around' or even 'we are our own worst enemies.' All of those worked for me in the context of the story.

~driving along the Mississippi River (Laura Ingalls Wilder, LaCrosse, river boat cruise, Wyalusing, Indian mounds) ~driftless area along the WI river (Spring Green, Frank Lloyd Wright, House on the Rock, Cave of the Mounds, Old Wisconsin) ~Madison (farmer's market, State st book stores, picnic pt., free zoo) ~central (Baraboo, Devil's Lake climbing and hiking, the WI Dells (waterparkpalooza), many lakes/fishing/boating/ATVs) ~Door County (Swedish restaurant with the goats on the roof, lighthouses, maritime museum, ferry, Peninsula St. Park) I love northern Wisconsin too, but you need a destination. Lots of woods and lakes and the things that go with them. I would search state parks and regional websites.

I like those two knitting podcasts too, Laura. CogKNITive and Teaching Your Brain to Knit are both interesting too...especially if you're interested in psychology or biology.

Futility Closet Myths and Legends Most Notorious! History of England & The Anglo Saxon podcast (same author) The Rhine What Should I Read Next? Harmonia Early Music

I read that in January and I really liked it too!

I just finished up Go Set a Watchman (Harper Lee's finally released sequel), Death's Acre (forensic anthropology), and Halting State (Charles Stross near-future science fiction). I enjoyed all of them. They all were uneven but had ideas or story-telling which made them fun. Currently working on: a few graphic novels by French-Canadian Michel Rabagliati...none of the usual graphic novel fantasy or sex but tons of enjoyable real-life stuff...extended family life in Quebec, etc. I like it so far. Yes, Please. Amy Poehler's biography, on audio (which she narrates with clips from lots of other people) a folksy crime novel from 1970 called The Friends of Eddie Coyle. This one is for a group but I read some to dh in the car this morning and the character's voices are really fun. The way they speak is character-telling. I enjoy that. 2016 Reading List Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth~memoir, history, ‘50s, England, medical, series. Skunk Hill: a Native Ceremonial Community in Wisconsin by Robert Birmingham~history, archaeology, Native peoples. Uprooted by Naomi Novik~fantasy, fairy tale, magic, Poland * Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel~speculative fiction, pandemic, Midwest, Shakespeare. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel~fiction, history, audiobook. 16th century, England. * Strange Things Still Happen edited by Angela Carter~fantasy, fairy tales, female-focus, Africa, Palestine, Norway, Hungary, Mexico, US, China. Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger~fantasy, steampunk, series. A Guide to Forgetting by Jeffrey Skinner~poetry, sonnets, free. The Scavengers by Michael Perry~youth fiction, post-apocalypse, survival, genetic engineering Zoobiquity by Barbary Horowitz~non-fiction, biology, animals, medicine. The Designer’s Guide to Global Color Combinations by Leslie Carbega~nonfiction, art, color theory,China, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, India, Iran, Europe, Africa, US. The Designer’s Guide to Color by James Stockton~nonfiction, art, color, swatches. Fireworks: Nine Profane Tales by Angela Carter~short stories, fiction, fables and fairy tales. The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson~history, memoir, WWII, Germany. These Is My Words by Nancy Turner~historical fiction, pioneer, epistolary, 19th century. ** The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Philip Hoose~non-fiction, ecology, birds, US, Cuba. Knit Wear Love by Amy Herzog~knitting, sweaters, construction. The Eclectic Sole by Janel Laidman~knitting, socks, patterns. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee~fiction, series, Civil Rights, family. Death’s Acre by Dr. William Bass~non-fiction, forensics, crime. 21. Halting State by Charles Stross~science fiction, future, gaming, Scotland.

I finished some books on color theory, In the Garden of Beasts (Larson's history of Nazi Germany in the '30s through the eyes of the American ambassador and his daughter), and Angela Carter's Fireworks: Nine Profane Tales. I liked Carter's style, but found her topics (incest, rape) a bit rough so I decided to stop with this book and read The Bloody Chamber later. She has an interesting sense awe mixed with hard, dirty reality. This was her first book so she seemed a little more in love with complexity than her fairy tale retellings, but I was impressed with her and look forward to reading more later (a little at a time). In the Garden of Beasts was meh. Like the one about the Chicago World's Fair, this one really seemed broken into 2 subjects which intersected but didn't always work together. I got a bit tired of Martha Dodd's lovelife. I picked up These Is My Words by Nancy Turner and I'm enjoying it. It's a plot-driven novel, very quick moving, and the main character (17 year old girl pioneering with her family through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona) has a fun voice. My dh didn't have anything to read at the dentist so he read the first 35 pages or so and he called it, "an exciting Laura Ingalls." Lots of bad stuff happens to characters...and good things...in general the characters feel historically realistic. The main characters attempts to be herself, and to fit in societies idea of womanhood, and her naivete in things like romance and figuring out what she wants in her life just ring true to me. Anyway, I'm enjoying it a lot, and for those who like historical fiction or the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, you would probably enjoy it too. I heard about it on the What Should I Read Next? podcast.

I found prescription eyeglasses ordered from an online site (like Zenni) worked very well and were an inexpensive (I think mine were $25) choice. You can also choose the frame and the level and color of the tint. I love mine.