Six Word Saturday (3/2/13)

Reading More Books and Typing Too

The website of the public library has a feature where you "order" a book (or books) and you input your library card number and the library workers get the books off the shelves for you and have them ready at the desk for you to check out when you get there.  Maybe I'm old, but I think that's really cool.  That's what I did Monday just to try it out and it worked.  I was so thrilled, but my husband (who is the computer guy for the university library) said that their library has the same feature and that I needed to get out more, LOL.  Anyway, I got two books:  "Enjoy Every Sandwich" by Dr. Lee Lipsenthal and "Ten Thousand Charms" by Allison Pittman.

Enjoy Every Sandwich:

I originally only wanted to read this book to see if the author gives Warren Zevon the credit for the book's title.  (He does.)  I also read an excerpt of this book online in an article about Dr. Lipsenthal some years ago and had wanted to read the entire thing sometime.  About halfway through the book, I could clearly see that I wasn't living life to the fullest extent that I could, like he was.  So just for that eye-opening thought, I am definitely glad I read this book.  The only negative thing I could say about the book is knowing that certain people will dismiss the entire book after reading the few pages where he pens his thoughts about his past lives, and certain other people out there will dismiss the entire book after reading his thoughts about God, heaven, and forgiveness.  I discussed the book with my therapist this week and I decided I try to just "coast" through my life waiting for the day I could go to heaven and see all the people I've been missing.  But I have been watching since then to see which parts of my life I do feel fully present in (so far, because I'm trying to do better):

• I love washing dishes by hand and feeling the warm water because it feels very calming.
• I love listening to music, especially my favorite songs because it almost seems like I can "feel" the music too.
• I love watching a good movie and snuggling with a dog or two because I feel happy watching something familiar and knowing what's going to happen and what jokes are coming up.
• I love reading because I have to be fully present in order to read, and with fiction I end up getting sucked into the plot and characters.
• I love typing (transcription) because I feel my fingers fly over the keyboard as I'm listening to the voice on the tape, and working makes me happy and I also know that I'm good at my job.

Ten Thousand Charms:  

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed "Saturdays With Stella" by the same author.  This book takes place during the 1800s and feels a little like the Little House on the Prairie books.  It's about a woman named Gloria who worked in a brothel until she had a baby and about a man who had been in prison but was now a Christian and his wife died giving birth to their daughter.  So just as a convenience, he takes Gloria along with him to move to Oregon and she nurses and takes care of both babies.  I'm about halfway through the book.  I guess I can relate to them (well, especially her) because I feel like my past is always going to follow me and that people will always be judging me for it, yes, even Christian people.  At any rate, apparently this is the first book of a series, which is welcome news to me because even right now I don't want the story to end.

This week for work I had eight assignments!  I give all the glory to God, for blessing me with it, and I am just so grateful.

And on a funny note to end this post, on Thursday the electricity went off on some outlets in our house.  It was weird that I was listening to something on YouTube and all of a sudden my whole computer shut off instantly.  My daughter said her TV and charger weren't working and my son said his video game wasn't working.  I figured out it must be the circuit breaker box because the ceiling lights were still on.  So my daughter found the key for the circuit box and flipped some switches and the power came back.  The funny part is, she came into my office all sheepish and told me she knew why the circuit got tripped.  She has a string of purple Christmas lights around her bedroom door frame.  When she got mad that night about something, she went in her room and slammed her door (like usual, lovely habit she has).  Part of the lights' wire got caught in the door when it was slammed and it broke her lights.  That tripped the breaker.