Rescuemefromurbanhell's Blog

1001 Books To Read January Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:53:28 +0000

Again, I’m late with the update, but I have stellar news to report! I read 4 books for the challenge in January. Welcome back to me!

The first book To Have or Have Not by Ernest Hemingway. It wasn’t terrible, but certainly not my favorite. I’m not a big fan of him. I really don’t care for the slang he uses. Sure its authentic and typical of the period speech, but I find it detracts from the story. So with that book read, Hemingway is completed from my list! I will never read another.

The second book was An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro. This was also the final book on my list by him. He’s a gifted author, I love his style, but some of his books were quite dry, The Remains of the Day and another was quite confusing and anticlimatic The Unconsoled. Then there was A Pale View of the Hills which was a lovely tale and Never Let Me Go which is one of the best books I’ve ever read. So I’m on the fence about him. He’s a hit or miss.

The third book The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan. This is the sixth book I’ve read by him. He’s amazing, Saturday was worth reading just for the last chapter. Atonement was sublime. Then he get’s creepy, The comfort of Strangers is mind blowing, let me say I did not see that coming. This book followed in that vein. It was a good read and it did make me think a bit.

The fourth book was The Breast by Philip Roth. All I can say was this must have been creepy book month for me. A man is turned into a breast, the chances of it! But it was a thinking book and an amusing tale. Philip Roth is a gifted writer, I’ve immensely enjoyed his books The Human Stain has been my favorite, with The Plot Against America following.

I’m currently reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Its divine and I can’t get enough of it. I will be finished with it by the end of the day. Then I will be continuing on with The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy.

I stand at the end of January with 52 books read, I’m 33 books behind my goal. At this point, I’m plugging along and still trying to hit my goal of 5 books a month and not sweating it when I don’t. will finish this list though! Happy reading!

101 Things in 1001 Days January Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:35:29 +0000

Well, late again with my update. The foot of snow on the ground and a sick fiance have me going stir crazy. I’ve been disinfecting the house and trying to keep from catching his Valentine’s gift to me.

I made no progress in January. Its a real bummer. But I have plans to tackle several goals for February. Wish me luck on getting back on the horse!

1001 Books to Read December Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:57:53 +0000

I’m behind as usual, this time with updating my blog. Though I’m pleased to report that I am back. In December I started to read To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway. It was the last book by him on my challenge list. It was also the hardest book to find!

I’ll have good progress to report in the January update. I have gotten my wind back and I’m cruising. I have a huge cushion of books that I have purchased at my favorite second hand bookstore. I went to the library today for the first time in several months and lo and behold they were having a book sale! $4 a bag! Well I filled the bag. I wasn’t too lucky in finding much for my list, but I found some great books to read in my spare moments.

My fiance and I were talking today in the car about electronic books. He’s all for them, I think they’re great, too. Just not for me, I’m old school I have to have the real thing in my hands. I like, no make that love being surrounded by books. I’m well on my way! I will continue to keep the real books alive!

101 Things in 1001 Days December Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:48:08 +0000

I’m pretty behind on updating my blog this month, January’s nearly over! But i had some progress for December. I completed two goals.

I paid off my car, which feels amazing!! Especially considering money has been tight in this rough economy.

I also volunteered at three USO events. My fiance provided a random number for me, when I changed this goal. I love helping our troops so this will be a cause I will devote myself to for the rest of my life. I would love to help our deployed troops in the future.

I’m not sure where I’m going to focus my attention to next. I would really love to get a new faucet for the kitchen. It would also wrap up the home improvement goals.

Many of my goals are outside and with the amount of snow on the ground its not possible to tackle those until spring. I now have an ice cream maker, so I’ll look at the recipe booklet and make my own ice cream. I also have recipes that I’ve gathered from the internet that I’m dying to try.

Lately I haven’t been able to cook anything well. I think too much stress and too much going on in my head. I managed to screw up box mac and cheese. That takes skill. So I’m not going to attempt my gourmet meal goal. =)

I need to look over my list and make a plan of attack. I learned on this list what I will do different for the next list. I like goals that have a number of times or a certain amount that needs to be done. I’ll have to work on more of those as they give me a sense of accomplishment.

As of right now, I have no progress to report for January. Dog licenses will be purchased this coming week so there goes most of the disposable income. I love having the dogs, but having six the costs add up.

1001 Books to Read October Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:34:21 +0000

Not much progress to report, I’m afraid. I’ve been so distracted and focused on the move, I’ve been reading books that I’d forgotten I had and loved. I have a lot, I mean a lot of books and with the organizing I’ve had to shuffle and pack books. I have 17 large boxes of books in the garage. This was just from my porch and one table in the house. I finally have all of my books together for the book challenge though. They were rather scattered here and there. I have picked up 48 books and currently have 14 from the library.

I’m currently slowly picking my way through Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Its not bad, I’m just not into reading it at the moment. I have also started reading Uncle Toms cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. That is a difficult book to read. I’m not sure why, it might be because the pain is plainly written.

I’m way way behind my goal and I doubt I’ll catch up at this point but I’m still plugging along and that’s all that matters. I have read 48 books to date and I’m 22 books behind. It is what it is. Keep reading, I know I will be.

101 Things to Do in 1001 Days October Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:16:24 +0000

So I’m pretty late in my update for October. We have decided to list our house and move to the country. That has been my foremost concern for the last several weeks. I had no idea I had acquired so much stuff in the few short years we had lived here! So I have been sorting, cleaning and decluttering like crazy to get the house listened soon.

So I am more than completing the freecycle clutter from my home goal. But until I am done organizing I don’t want to check it off.

This week is supposed to be nice, maybe one of the last nice ones so I’m going to try real hard to scrape and paint the porch, another goal and scrape and repaint the foundation, recommended by the Realtor. So please wish me luck.

November will hopefully have more goals reached and progress to report.

1001 Books to Read Before You Die September Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:58:22 +0000

Well, September was a hiatus month for me. I read a lot of books but only two were on my list. I gave myself a vacation to read some new books from a few of my favorite authors. The light reading was a blessing and I rekindled my true passion for reading.

I did read two books this month, The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Both were a bit disturbing. The Comfort of Strangers was the darkest book I’ve read by Ian McEwan and frankly unlike his other books. I’m not sure how to react to the book. I surely won’t be reading it again.

Alice in Wonderland was actually what I expected. It was a bit creepy and I’m not looking forward to the sequel.

I’m not currently reading anything on my list though I will be starting Uncle Tom’s Cabin soon. I also have quite a few books from the library that need to be read. I’ll be getting back to my challenge for the month of October.

As it stands I have 47 books read and I’m 18 books behind my goal. Not great but I’m not sweating it as long as I at least read something a month.

101 Things in 1001 Days

rescuemefromurbanhell — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:47:06 +0000

I know my updates are a bit late this month. Its been a whirlwind few weeks, my parents are moving and my mom is downsizing her stuff. So I’ve been freecycling a lot of it. Her sorting has prompted me to sort and organize my own home. I’ve been freecycling a lot of clutter from my home. Which is one of my goals.

I’ve been doing better on my list. I accomplished one goal this month and it was a doozie! I graduated from college. I am now officially a paralegal. I can put AAB behind my name now. Exciting, now to just find a job.

I’ve been concentrating so much on the clutter in my house this month. I’m really happy to be getting rid of the things we don’t need or use. I’m really hoping that we will be moving in a year or less back to the country for me. I don’t want to move it again!

I’m going to work on my recipe box as that is another thing that I want to wrap up and not move that box again. Its a long wrapping paper roll type storage box filled with loose recipes. I’ve been sorting them by category and copying them as many as I can fit to a page on the printer and then putting that paper into my hanging file folder boxes that serve as recipe boxes. I’m a recipe fiend. I think that’s about where I stand at the moment. One goal closer and a lot less clutter in the house!

1001 Books to Read Before You Die August Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 21:14:23 +0000

August is the first year anniversary of my book challenge! It has been a good month! I read 4 books so I’m bouncing back slowly, still way behind, but not as much as I could be!

I finished two oldies this month, Eupheses:The Anatomy of Wit and The Unfortunate Traveller.

Eupheses by John Lyly was a little hard to take in, it was far too wordy and long winded for my taste. It was a slow read took me about two months to read it.

On the other hand The Unfortunate Traveller by Thomas Nashe was a real fun read, it was light hearted and fun. In the future I’ll look for more of his works to read.

I also read the Island of Dr Moreau by H G Wells. I’m a fan, I love his books. This was deliciously dark and a truly great book to read. I’d love to read it over again!

I also read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It was a divine book and worth all the awards it received. It told a great story and taught wonderful life lessons at the same time. I recommend it far and wide!

Its a great month when I enjoyed three of the four books I read. I’m currently reading

I stand at 46 books read, I’m 14 books behind.

I’m currently reading Ben Hur by Lew Wallace and On Beauty by Zadie Smith.

I’ve had both from the library for a long time, time to read and send back!

101 Things in 1001 Days August Update

rescuemefromurbanhell — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 20:59:19 +0000

A little progress at last! I never gave it a thought but the water bottle I take to work holds about two glasses of water and I drink one a day, so since July 16th, I’ve been drinking two glasses of water a day. I’ve also been busy, so I’ve cut out a lot of snacking and I’ve been making a homemade trail mix that is pretty good for me. I’ve also noticed that my pants are fitting looser so I’m working on my loosing 10 pounds goal as well.

Last weekend we went to another one of the Metro Parks, Oak Openings with two of our dogs, Seranda our Beagle and Viktar our Coonhound. They enjoyed it though it was hotter than we had expected! Tomorrow we are taking a few of the dogs to SideCut Metro Park in Maumee and maybe on Monday since neither of us has to work we’ll head out toward Oregon and go to the small one there as well as Maumee Bay State Park again. So as to going to all the Metro Parks with the dogs, we’re really close on that one. I just checked on the website and we have six more to go, counting the two I hope to go to this weekend. Its good to be making progress again instead of just plans!