Our Favorite Reads For March 2010-"The Help" & "Homer's Odyssey"

Karen's Favorite:

Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper was better than I expected! It’s about her life with her three cats, Scarlet, Vashti and Homer, the eyeless kitten no one wanted with a big heart and love for exploring, playing and adventure. I found her tales of flying to New York with her cats, being separated from them for days when the terrorist attack happened 9/11, chasing off the burglar and how people who didn’t even particularly like cats warmed up to Homer particularly interesting. She shares how she learned from Homer to be brave and take risks, to live life as an adventure. Her great love for her cats shines through the whole book and as a cat lover, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and closely identified with her.

Gerard liked this one a lot too and here's what he had to say about it:

This is a must read!  I loved Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper!  It's just AWESOME!  Gwen Cooper has two cats and that's it until she gets a call from a vet friend regarding a blind kitten that nobody wants.  This book works in so many ways:  funny, touching, loving.  You will just love Homer and Gwen is fantastic!  I felt the love she has for her cats (she reminded me a lot of my wife that way)!  Please read this book, you will be so glad you did!  The best part is that Homer does not die!  Yea!  Thanks for sharing, Gwen!  Awesome job!!!  If you go on www.gwencooper.com you can actually see Homer in action--way cool! (5+++ stars) 

Gerard's Favorite:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett has been on the best sellers list for a long time so I just had to find out for myself if it was that good--it is! The writing is superb! This is a novel, but you would think that the characters were actually real. It is about the early 60s when white people in the south had black maids and a young girl decides to write a book from the maid's perspective.

I enjoyed this book very much! It went fast and I was into it from beginning to end. I'd love to see this book made into a movie--it would be outstanding! Read this one, you won't be disappointed! (5+++ stars)

To see all our book reviews, check out our Zemek's Updates at http://karen.pnn.com.

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Look What's In My Purse

I came across a few posts about showing what people have in their purse. Unfortunately, I don't remember where they were or I would share the link with you, but one said you can tell a lot about a person by what they carry in their purse. Now, I use a big bag when I go to work because I bring my lunch every day, the newspaper and a book but also my purse. I keep my bus card and work ID card in the pocket on the side of my big bag for easy access. I numbered the items in the picture above and will explain why I carry them.

1) That's the purse itself. It contains more junk. My Sunday purse has completely different contents in it, but that I'll save for a separate post and only if you really want to know. If you'd like to know what I carry on Sundays in Spotty, include it in a comment on here.

2) This is my cell phone instruction booklet. I put it in to read when I first got the cell phone to learn all about it and just never removed it.

3) Advil for headaches. I don't get headaches very often, but now and then I do and Advil works very good for me. I can't take Aspirin because of interaction with my other meds.

4) Our checkbook. I keep the bills to be paid in there too. It's a small space so that way I pay them quickly.

5) My list of the books I sell directly to people so I can keep track to send in the State sales tax. Another thing to fuss with! I only have two on hand at the moment, one is mine and the other is to send to someone who requests it through www.paperbackswap.com. (It's available on amazon.com and bn.com.)

6) "My Funny Dad, Harry" bookmark which tells a little about the book on the back with the Outskirts Press website and on the front is the picture that is on the cover of the book. I have a bunch of these that I give to people.

7) Bag of Halls cough drops. Even though I don't currently have a cold or cough, I carry them in my purse to give to others on the bus who start coughing.

8) NIV New Testament with salvation verses marked in red to be ready to share with someone should the opportunity arise.

9) A pen that I've used to complete a complaint card on the bus or to have in case someone needs to borrow one.

10) Stamps for mailing personal letters or bills.

11) Tracts that I carry for the same reason as mentioned above for item 8. If I give money to the beggars downtown, which I will on occasion, I'll give them a tract with it.

12) Small change purse that I keep a little money in just in case I need it or want to go to lunch or participate in the football pool at work as well as my bus tickets for the month.

My ID and credit cards I keep in my pocket in case you are wondering. I love pockets! So there you have it. How many things do we match on? What strange things reside in your purse? Here's another post about purses you might enjoy: What Does Your Handbag Say About Your Personality? You can see Spotty here too!

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A Useful Gift--Thanks, Phyllis & Dale!

One of our wedding gifts that we used when we were first married is a breakfast tray with legs to use for breakfast in bed. Gerard used to get up before me on Saturdays and bring me breakfast in bed on this tray. I had cereal which was kind of hard to eat in bed. The tray was nice, but I had to be careful not to raise my knees so I wouldn’t bump the tray. Breakfast in bed isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’d much rather eat at a table so we never got much use out of the tray with legs until we got our dog.

Shortly after our dog, Abby, came to live with us, we used the tray with the legs on it for her water bowl and food. It gets used every day now!

Last year Gerard and I started a new routine for breakfast on Saturdays—Hometown Buffet! We both like this very much because there is a wide selection of food, we can have as much as we want, and no cleaning up needed. It gives Gerard a break from doing dishes at least one day which he looks forward to every week.

Do you have any wedding presents you use every day or any you have that aren't useful at all? Do you like to have breakfast in bed?

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Another Computer Mystery--Why Is That?

It seems as though almost every day something goofy happens with this computer of mine. Now, this morning the time is running off the screen in the bottom right corner. Why is that? Also sometimes, not always, when I open something the right side scroll bar is off the screen. I didn't adjust any sizes anywhere, maybe one of my cats did.

Oh well, minor things. Just another little puzzle to keep me from getting bored.

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8 Things I Learned This Week-#64

People & Their Pets

70% of people sign their pet's name on greeting and holiday cards. I learned this when playing my trivia game to feed cats and dogs. Gerard and I do this.

Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper made me aware that even blind cats (Homer had no eyes at all) can function well and be great pets. Homer could jump 5 feet in the air and catch a fly! He could map his house and find his food, water and litter box with no trouble at all. Both Gerard and I read and enjoyed this book. Read our reviews at What We've Just Read.

Boys Town

Boys Town is actually a real village with their own school system, fire department and police department. They also encourage visits and actually give tours of their village. This is one charity we support monthly.

Computer Tools--Downloads

I should really check out all those menus at the top of the screen some day. I just found out there's actually a folder for downloads that I never knew about before and when I'm in my document directory, if I click on the icon folders, it shows me a whole list of all my folders including some I didn't even know I had! I've had this computer now for 3 1/2 years now and I'm still finding new things!

5th Grade Boys

While teaching my Sunday School class of 5th grade boys I learned the expression "hunky dory" was entirely new to them and they thought it was very funny. I also learned when I had them to my home for a party, they liked shooting pool and could actually play well. I'm thinking maybe we could have a pool tournament.

Death Threats over Health Care Votes

I was shocked to learn from a post titled Horrified by An Italian Mama Gone Crazy that congressman who voted for the Health Care bill are actually receiving death threats! Then I read about it in the paper too. What is America coming to? This is outrageous!

Sweet Life Cafe--Women's Retreat

There will be a women's retreat at Parma Heights Baptist Church where we are members for $20 on April 16 & 17. I liked the Sweet Saturdays they had four times a year last year but they discontinued them because this year they're having this retreat instead. I don't think I want to spend most of my weekend away from Gerard--it's really the only time we have to do things together.

Parma Community Hospital

In the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER this week I saw that Parma Community Hospital is named among the top 20 best community hospitals. That's where I had my lumpectomy done and now where I go for my mammograms. They were very nice and took good care of me. My brother-in-law had a stroke and was in very bad shape when we went to visit him in the hospital, but he recovered and is doing well. He even got his speech back. My grandma had a stroke and never did fully recover from it. I wrote a post about her on my other blog. Here's the link for you convenience: "Loving Memories Of My Grandma Arlettaz." This is a picture of my grandma and me riding the train at the Cleveland zoo a way long time ago.

Bravenet

I just discovered this week that I can actually see where my blog visitors are coming from in the Bravenet stats. (Not that I spend much time looking at these.)

Visit Half Past Kissin' Time for for more Friday Fragments.

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