My idea of a great time

Okay, so everybody has their own idea of a great time. I find mine to be much "tamer" than many folks. In fact, I'm sure many will find my "good time" activities completely boring. But that's alright. I know what makes me happy. And I know what keeps me sane.

Last night I come home feeling pretty yucky as it the first day of TTOM. It was also a fairly stressful day at work full of people problems and lots of negotiating. I'm kind of tired, achey, and very much in need of chocolate and comfort. So I treat myself.

It's a very nice, cool night so I open up all of the windows. I set up the kitchen CD player with my current audio book, The Thirteen Tale. I put my kitty in her bed up on a stool in the kitchen so she can watch me. And then I start making chocolate chip cookies. I'm a stress baker, and making chocolate chip cookies is completely therapeutic to me. I enjoy my book, smell the wonderful scent of the outdoors with the freshly cut grass as well as the freshly baked cookies, and every few minutes scratch my feline friend's adorable head. And of course I'm eating lots of cookie dough batter as well as a couple of baked cookies.

Nothing is better for my mental well-being and relieving stress than a night like this. I felt so much better and was ready for a blissful night's sleep afterwards.

Take your shrinks and group therapy. Take your Prozac and Paxil and whatever else the pharmaceutical companies are pushing now (I can't keep up with all of the crap out there.). Take your nights on the town, bar-hopping, night clubs, cigarettes, and booze. I'm perfectly content in my kitchen, and there's not much in life that can't be fixed with the addition of chocolate chip cookies, a feline, and books!

What I'm Reading (Listening!) to Now

Ahhh.....I love our library. Although our branch is probably one of the smaller ones (set in a beautiful park setting away from the main roads), it is tied into one of the greatest library systems in the country. I'm so thankful for that it's only a mile away. Recently I got a HUGE stack of audio and regular books to keep me busy for the next month or so.

I've been listening to Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult, and it is excellent. This is a relatively long one (16 cassettes - 19.25 hours), but the narration is really good and I listen to it every chance I get.

I seem to be on a Jodi Picoult kick lately. I also checked out of the library the following Picoult books:

• Plain Truth (unabridged audio, but only 12 cassettes!)
  
• Mercy
• Vanishing Acts
• The Tenth Circle

I'm not sure what makes her so good, but she definitely has some compelling plots. I just wish I had a few more hours in the day to read!

What I'm Reading (Listening to!) Now

So, I've been in the mood for a little Chick-Lit. I probably need a fix six or seven times a year. Ever since Bridget Jones' Diary, I've been hooked but have been careful not to indulge too often.
I've picked up Momzillas (audiobook) by Jill Kargman from the library awhile ago, and it's been sitting on my TBR pile. I really didn't think I was going to get to it, but I started listening to it Friday. I hate to admit it, but I'm really enjoying it. It underscores a major detriment to me for having kids: Mommy Wars.

Raising kids isn't just about giving birth and bringing them up to the best of your ability anymore. It's all about who has the smartest, best-dressed, most talented, most beautiful child. And the book tries to make it out like this is a Manhattan phenomenon. Trust me, it's not. I see it a lot in my middle-class Midwestern city and in the rural area where I was raised. Parents are desperate to give their kids every advantage that they did not have. Little League bully-parents and competing soccer moms are just the beginning. Getting your kids into the right pre-pre-school so that they have a shot of getting into the right prep school and ultimate the right Ivy League school makes parenthood more and more of a competition.

I noticed how my boss and his wife are players (or pawns) in this game. Both are busy professionals. He is the managing partner of our mid-sized accounting firm. She is a partner in her large law firm. Yet they are so completely wrapped up and involved in their kids' lives it's mind-boggling. They have their kids in the best private girls' school. They are in countless activities which keeps the parents and the nanny running around constantly shuttling the kids from one event to the next. Ice-skating starts at 6:30 a.m., so the kids have be up and dressed and out the door by 6:00. School begins after that. Each exam the kids take seem to be analyzed by the parents and discussed with the teachers. Each disagreement or conflict the kids are having with their friends or rivals is micromanaged. Then the after-school activities are carefully planned so that the children are sure to have every advantage and will ultimately be accepted into the Ivy League school of their choice.

And then what? My bet is that the kids (both girls) will go to the Ivy League schools (racking up boatloads of debt for their parents who make a good buck but seem to keep it spent), work for a few years, and then get married (to the RIGHT men, of course) and then have children. And then they will struggle with the decision of being a SAHM or a working mom. And even if they do decide to work (after that huge investment in their educations), they will exhaust themselves with all that comes with it. The cycle will continue. To breastfeed or not breastfeed? To co-sleep or not co-sleep. To send their babies to daycare or get a nanny? To have them attend pre-pre-pre-school (which will certainly be available by that time).

What's the point to all of this? I guess it's something that I'll never understand. So I'm glad to be out of that kind of competition. Because really, where does it get you? Just one more reason (out of thousands) that it will never be for me.

The Wonders of Reading

Okay, after I posted my "gratitude" post yesterday, my mind became flooded with many more things I'm grateful for. One of those things that kept coming up was reading. I love to read. I wish I had more time to do it. And I'm grateful that I do love to do it. It seems reading isn't enjoyed by that many people. Here are some statistics I found, which I find hard to believe:

• 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
• 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
  
• 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
  
• 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
  
• 57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
  
• 70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
  
• 70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.
  (Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)

Frankly, I do find it kind of sad. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I know a great many people myself who never, ever read. I remember a former co-worker said to me that she had never opened a book since high school. She seemed proud of that. I'm not putting down people who don't like to read. I'm sure they have hobbies and interests that I would not enjoy.

When it comes right down to it, reading is probably one of the cheapest hobbies around. Even if you buy a $20 hardback book, the hours of enjoyment you get from it is relatively cheap (and it's not disrupted by commercials). I very, very rarely buy hardbacks, though. I do occasionally buy paperbacks (the small $7.99 versions). And even more often (90% of the time), I borrow from the library. I'm very grateful that we have a wonderful library only a mile from our house. It's part of a bigger system that works with other libraries. I will often go to Amazon to see what looks good, then go to my library's website and request the book. They e-mail me in a few days to say it's ready for pick-up. And it didn't cost me a cent (besides the taxes which I have no choice in).

As if reading isn't fun enough, the emergence of audio books is such a joy to me. I love listening to them when I'm doing the laundry, taking walks, doing the dishes, or just laying in bed before I go to sleep. The narrators are usually performers of some kind, and they make the books come alive. Sometimes there are sound effects, and sometimes they use more than one narrator to give it even more depth and to help you distinguish between characters.

So, yeah....I'm grateful for the authors. I'm grateful for the publishers. I'm grateful for the narrators. I'm grateful for the library. I'm grateful for Amazon! And I'm grateful that there must be lots of other people out there who also enjoy reading (contrary to what those statistics say) or else there wouldn't be the huge plethora of books to choose from!

Nothing beats sitting in front of the fireplace on a cold, snowy day with a brand new book....especially when you open it up and smell the pages! LOVE IT!

EDITED ON 3/8/09 TO ADD: I was just on my library's website and noticed the following quote, which seemed appropriate to add:

Quote of the Week

No entertainment is so cheap as reading,
nor any pleasure so lasting.
- Lady Mary Wortley Montague
(1689 - 1782) Author

What I'm Reading Now

When I don't have my nose in a textbook studying for my HR certification exam, I try to squeeze in as much pleasure reading as possible. On Saturday, I finished T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton. I have read all of her books in order (I'm anal like that!), and I started Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich (again, I've read all of her Stephanie Plum books in order).

What's funny about book series like the Kinsey Millhone (Grafton) and the Stephanie Plum series....I really like all of the characters and the familiarity of the series, but I can never remember an actual story line! I used to be a huge Patricia Cornwell fan and loved the Kay Scarpetta books (until they got just plain bad) and a fan of James Patterson and his Alex Cross series (until I got bored with them as they were way to formulaic). However I found the same thing to be true: I can remember all of the characters, places, etc., but I cannot begin to remember a plot! It's still good pleasure reading.

Also, on Sunday I started When Ghosts Speak by Mary Ann Winkowski, which is really fascinating. I don't know if I buy it all, but I'm enjoying it. It certainly tempts me away from my textbooks regularly.