Morphy Meanders Through 2014 - Part 9

Morphy with Big Boyfriend (Age 19-ish years)

This is my fourth 75 Books Challenge. I read about 300 books a year, so I'm not worried about meeting the challenge!

I mostly read fantasy, preferably urban, but also enjoy general and genre fiction, historical romance, classics, popular non-fiction, and will honestly try any genre at least once.

I prefer story over language and my favorite books are the ones I just want to hug after I'm done.

I don't so much review books as leave some sparse comments.

Pounds Lost:



Accountability Thread:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/178093

Books Read in 2014: 228

My best books of 2014 are:

Quiet by Susan Cain
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Bloodchild by Octavia Butler

My best books of 2013 were:

Written in Red by Anne Bishop
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

My best book of 2012 was:

The Fault in Our Stars by Green, John

My best books of 2011 were:

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by McKillip, Patricia
Bridge of Birds by Hughart, Barry
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Wells, Rebecca
Garden Spells by Allen, Sarah Addison
Soulless by Carriger, Gail
What I Eat by Menzel, Peter and D'Aluisio, Faith
Ready Player One by Cline, Ernest

My favorite books from the years before that were:

Essential Spirituality by Roger Walsh
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
The Stand by Stephen King
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Katherine by Anya Seton
Sweet Liar by Jude Deveraux
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Morphy's Mighty Monthly Reads for 2014 (Green Dragon Group Reads)

January (1001 Fantasy) - Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/167618
NO SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/162247

February (111 Science Fiction) - The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/168681
NO SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/167598

March (50 Mystery) - A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/170968
NO SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/170086

April (111 Nonfiction) - Agatha Christie by Agatha Christie
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/171599

May (1001 Fantasy) - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/172825

June (111 Science Fiction) - Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/175247
NO SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/174236

July (50 Mystery) - The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/177196
NO SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/176125

August (111 Nonfiction) - Collapse by Jared Diamond
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/177921

September (1001 Fantasy) - The Prestige by Christopher Priest
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/179914
NO SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/179599

October (111 Science Fiction) - Old Man's War by John Scalzi
SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/181221
NO SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/180577

November (50 Mystery) - Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
SPOILER: TBA
NO SPOILER: http://www.librarything.com/topic/182029

December (111 Nonfiction) - An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks

Group Read Links: http://www.librarything.com/topic/161490

***

The LT Green Dragon Book Club's next meeting is at the Ridgedale Barnes & Noble on Saturday, October 25th at 2pm. We are discussing Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.

The WCC Daytime Book Club is on hiatus.

Current Challenges

(And why I'm not doing a category challenge this year.)

Completed/Total in List (as of 10/24/2014) - Added 33 books since 8/24/2014

Next book by favorite authors - 18/64 (+8) ("reset" when completed)
Next book in series by secondary authors - 13/47 (+1) ("reset" when completed)
TBR 2007 - 6/8
To Read 2009 - 3/5
2009 TBR List (different one) - 8/17 (+1)
2011 TBR Code List - 81/81 DONE (read a book from all my best of lists each year)
2012 TBR Code List - 70/81 (+2)
2013 TBR Code List - 57/81 (+3)
TBR Next - 4/4 DONE
50 Books - 34/50
Misc Books - 11/11 DONE
1001 Fantasy (Green Dragon) - 155/462 (+2)
111 Nonfiction (Green Dragon) - 36/111
111 Science Fiction (Green Dragon) - 53/111 (+1)
50 Mystery (Green Dragon) - 28/74 (+1)
50 States - 93/150 (+1)
Around the World in 80 Sleuths - 19/80 (+1)
888 Challenge - 92/95
12 in 12 Category Challenge - 170/207 (+1)
13 in 13 Category Challenge - 30/48 (+3)
Mercedes Lackey - 80/128 (+7)
Complete RAT - 4/4 DONE
Book Crossing Top 100 - 102/117
Top 100 Fantasy - 122/209 (+1)

*Other challenges*
One book per month from the Green Dragon lists
One Stephen King per month (up to February 2013)
American Authors
Read more books than in 2013
Book Bingo

*Possible other challenges because I'm nuts*
A to Z Titles
Catch up on years of published dates in the last 100 years

I stole this from someone else at LT and tweaked the last few ratings. I can't give credit because I don't remember who I copied it from! Since I started using this I've noticed I've been handing out more 6's and less 7's.

My rating system:

10 stars - The book completely enthralled me. Could not put it down. Got something more out of it than just entertainment -- it enlightened or educated me in some way. Can definitely see myself reading it again. Will keep forever and never loan it out.

9 stars - Not quite perfect but almost so. I will actively push this book on my friends and family.

8 stars - A really great book in all respects with perhaps some minor flaws. Highly recommended.

7 stars - Better than average but with some flaws. Recommended.

6 stars - Average. An entertaining read but probably forgettable. Will not reread. Recommended for entertainment value to readers with similar interest.

5 stars - Slightly lower than average. Some aspects of the story, characters or writing troubled me. Probably will not recommend.

4 stars - Finished but did not like. Would not recommend.

3 stars - Had some redeeming qualities or else I couldn't have finished it. Nothing to recommend it though.

2 star - I can't believe I finished this book. What am I? A masochist?

1 star - No book ever gets this rating. If it's a 1, I can't finish it.

As of August 2014


visited 22 states (9.77%)
Create your own visited map of The World


visited 42 states (84%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

For the moment, I'm using just YA books on the YA card. But later in the year if I'm not filling it up, I reserve the right to go back and do so with adult books.

Regular Bingo:

More than 500 pages: Princeps' Fury by Butcher, Jim
Forgotten Classic: Frederica by Heyer, Georgette
Book that became a movie: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai, Sijie
Published this year: Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
Number in the title: The Second Chance Dog by Jon Katz
Written by someone under 30: Shadow Magic by Patricia Wrede
Book with non-human characters: The Golem and the Jinni by Wecker, Helene
Funny Book: The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Female Author: The Darkest Kiss by Arthur, Keri
Book with a mystery: Dead Simple by James, Peter
One-Word Title: MaddAddam by Atwood, Margaret
Book of short stories: Elementary by Lackey, Mercedes (ed.)
Set on a different continent: Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
Non-Fiction: Evernote for Dummies by Sarna, David E. Y.
First book by a favourite author: Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
Heard about online: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Hoffman, Beth
Best-selling book: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien
Based on a true story: My Own Country by Verghese, Abraham
Book at the bottom of TBR pile: To Touch a Wild Dolphin by Rachel Smolker
Book my friend loves: Furry Logic by Jane Seabrook
Book that scares me: A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer
More than 10 years old: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Cather, Willa
Second book in a series: The Novice by Canavan, Trudi
Blue cover: An Unforgettable Lady by Bird, Jessica (Ward, J. R.)

YA Bingo Card: (10/24/2014)

Book with female heroine: The House of the Four Winds by Mercedes Lackey
Book set in a high school: Little Brother by Doctorow, Cory
Last of a trilogy: City of Glass by Clare, Cassandra
Book with 'color' in the title:
First book in series:
Book set in the future: Cress by Meyer, Marissa
Book with a break-up:
Book without a love triangle: Storm Thief by Wooding, Chris
Book that became a movie:
Book set in Paris:
Book set in the past:
Book with magic: Closer to Home by Mercedes Lackey
Book set in summer:
Book with a dragon:
Book that made you cry:
Graphic novel: Cemetery Girl: The Pretenders by Harris, Charlaine
Book based on a myth:
Classic YA:
Book with a Lion, Witch or Wardrobe:
Book with an incredible fight scene: The Girl with the Iron Touch by Cross, Kady
Book heard about online: Liesl & Po by Oliver, Lauren
Book set in another world: Enna Burning by Hale, Shannon
Book with epic love story:
Book with music: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Is it too soon?

Too soon for what? :D

Morphy! Carrying over from your last thread, you are AWESOME!

Lovely new thread, Morphy!

Dear Morphy, you and Mr. Morphy are very much in my thoughts presently. Good to see that his results were as good as you could have wished for and that you are bearing up admirably.

I am having very real problems with the PayPal as, try as I may, it stubbornly refuses to recognise my telephone numbers in its system and in consequence fails to process my donation. I will send you a PM on this shortly and I hope you'll be able to reply.

Back to your last thread, Gerry Rafferty's 'Right Down the Line' is a particular favourite of mine too and very apropos of your situation. xxx

Happy New Thread, Morphy! Thanks for chiming in on the AAC.

HI Morhphy

Simply stopping by to say you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Happy New Thread, lady!

I laugh at your pictures including "Big Boyfriend". I had a boyfriend my dad used to call "The Big Ox". He was over six feet tall, and played football (but not very well!).

Checking in on the new thread, Morphy!

Happy new thread, Morphy and Happy Friday! Continuing to send positive vibes to you and Mr. Morphy.

Happy Friday, Morphy! Happy New Thread!

Happy New Thread, Morphy! Fun photo up top. I'm probably the Big Boyfriend in a couple of photos out there. I think the woman I married would go with Big Goofball.

I hope it's a good day for you and Mr. Morphy.

>19 jnwelch:

Are you sure you didn't mishear and she said 'Big balled goof'?

>20 lunacat:. No doubt she's said that one and many others, Jenny. :-) Whereas the kids and I call her the Queen of Everything. Go figure.

Happy New Thread, Morphy.

When I first met Judy's parents her mother looked up at me and exclained "The Jolly Green Giant".

(Judy and her parents are not tall.)

Happy new thread Morphy! I hope things are going as well as they possibly can for you at the moment.

Morphy, sending you a load of positive energy and wishing you a lovely weekend.

Happy new thread, Morphy; though I do feel it has some heightist tendencies (you guessed it - I'm not tall, either) ;0)

Dear Morphy, Happy new thread! Love the thread topper pic. You and Mr Morphy stay in my thoughts and I do hope that you will manage to get over this difficult time.

Happy New Thread, Morphy! The picture in your first post is adorable!!

>9 luvamystery65: I'm the hostess with the mostest!

>10 ronincats: >14 scaifea: >16 alcottacre: >18 michigantrumpet: >22 Ameise1: >24 Sakerfalcon: Thanks and welcome to the newest pad!

>11 PaulCranswick: Except now it's become a brain worm...

>12 msf59: I've really been enjoying it. I'm a bit behind, but I will be able to claim the title of Purist by the end of the year.

>13 Whisper1: >17 lkernagh: >25 Ameise1: The continuing support is greatly appreciated.

>15 laytonwoman3rd: >23 magicians_nephew: Looking at the picture, he doesn't seem all that tall. However, I'm 5'10" and was wearing heels. He was 6'5" and wore boots with a 1" heel.

>19 jnwelch: The picture is of Brett, my first serious boyfriend and first husband. That marriage lasted all of two years and made me realize that people really need to live together before marriage no matter how long they date beforehand (4 1/2 years for Brett & I.) He wasn't a bad guy. We were just really bad for each other.

>20 lunacat: I am very grateful I wasn't drinking anything when I read your post or I would have spewed it all over my laptop!

>21 jnwelch: Better than SWMBO. Sorry, Paul!

>26 humouress: *sings* Short people got nobody...

>27 drachenbraut23: >28 connie53: Glad you like the picture. I'm also glad it's getting to the end of the year. I'm running out of pictures I'm willing to post! The next years I start gaining weight and it embarrasses me.

***

We had some people come over and clean the house today. What a change in mood. I feel like I can breathe! Well, mentally anyway. With all the dust kicked up it will be a few hours before I can actually breathe again. LOL. The house hasn't really been cleaned in a year or more. Now it's all sparkly. I wish I could throw open windows too but it's a bit chilly for that. We did crack a couple open for a little while though.

I had my 8th Thingaversary last weekend. As you can imagine, we can't afford the usual book buying spree. Instead I'm doing a "yearly theme" for the year.

Here is my tentative to be read list for my 8th Thingaversary year (contemporary fiction.) First, I'm going by a rule of contemporary author rather than being written about contemporary times. Second, it must have been published in the 1980s or after. Lastly, it had to have a reasonably-sized "literary fiction" tag on it.

October 2014 - A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines DONE 7/10 stars
November 2014 - The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
December 2014 - Chocolat by Joanne Harris
January 2015 - The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
February 2015 - The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
March 2015 - The Red Tent by Anita Diament
April 2015 - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
May 2015 - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
June 2015 - The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
July 2015 - Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
August 2015 - Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
September 2015 - Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

If you are interested in seeing the other years' themes, check out http://www.librarything.com/topic/176863#4746183. They have up to the 20th Thingaversary figured out!

Happy Thingaversary! And clean houses always help me feel so much better. I do random organization or rearranging of my own room every once in a while for that very reason. :)

>30 Morphidae: A good list of books there. I have most of those on my TBR, only actually read one of them - the Kate Atkinson. I've read all of hers - I'm sure you will enjoy it.

>30 Morphidae: Good list. I have read exactly half of them, and enjoyed them all.

>30 Morphidae: Like Water for Chocolate, I'll have to check out the book. My wife and I love the movie, didn't realize it was a book first. Thanx for the reminder.

Hi Morphy! Glad for the good news about Mr Morphy. Here's hoping the next update is just as good, if not better!

Happy Thingaversary! I like your idea of reading a book a month. I've only read 2 of them, and one was kind of a dud, IMHO. But most of the other book club ladies loved it, so ignore me. :)

Is it bad that I'd never heard Right Down the Line before? I grew up listening to all kinds of music, but that one wasn't in the rotation somehow.

Congrats on getting someone else to clean your house! I'm envious! Usually, this is me...

>30 Morphidae: Interesting list, Morphy - I'm eager to see what you think of some of these (I love reading your reviews).

Good morning, Morphy!

>31 Kassilem: Now I'm feeling very protective of the cleanliness and am going around putting stuff away immediately.

>32 catarina1: I was sort of "meh" about Life After Life so I hope you are right.

>33 laytonwoman3rd: Our taste is very similar so I'm glad to hear it!

>34 mahsdad: I saw the movie an age ago. (*checks out Netflix history*) Okay, I gave it 3/5 stars in 2004. Three stars is an enjoyable movie. So, didn't love it, but did like it.

My Netflix ratings:

5/5 stars - Loved it
4/5 stars - Really liked it
3/5 stars - Liked it
2/5 stars - Didn't like it
1/5 stars - Hated it. Why did I watch this?

>35 LauraBrook: The next "update" will be him having the surgery and radiation treatment. So, it's a rather sucky thing. Did you go listen to the song? If not, I can find a link. FYI, MrMorphy and I spent all day Saturday getting the house ready for them to come in to clean it on Sunday. Ha!

>36 scaifea: Awww, thanks! You'll be having a good time in the next day or two. Another one of my huge review bombs is coming shortly. I hate doing so many at once but life keeps getting in the way.

>37 SylviaC: Good morning! Good morning! Aren't we the early birds?

" MrMorphy and I spent all day Saturday getting the house ready for them to come in to clean it on Sunday" HA! My mother used to do that. Never understood what she paid someone for...the house was pretty clean by the time the cleaning lady got there.

It makes perfect sense to a great many of "us" that you clean, and pick up, before the cleaning crew comes. After all, you want them to be able to get to the floor, and other flat surfaces, to clean it.

Hope this coming week provides many opportunities for quiet, peace, and good reading!

We call it 'picking up' for the cleaning lady. SHE does the cleaning. WE just gather up the loose mail, books, magazines,stray clothes and coffee mugs which manage to get strewn everywhere.

Is there a date for the surgery? I had a quick look back and couldn't find it, although something is nagging in my brain that it's the 5th, although I could be entirely imagining that.

Anyway, I hope you'll have some company and support then, and if not that you'll be hereabouts and let LT distract you as much as it can, which obviously isn't much at a time like that but may help slightly.

Sorry if I've completely overlooked it and you already said.

We had friends over on Saturday and had to frantically clean the apartment in preparation, and it definitely makes such a huge difference in how I feel!

It's almost enough to make me do the bedroom as well, where we shoved a bunch of stuff that we had to get out of the way, but not quite ;)

I've got a major cleanup/sorting project in train, though it got stalled for a bit while life got extra-busy. I've got a loft bed, and the under-the-bed space (which is _almost_ tall enough to stand in) was completely full of...stuff. Some of it was boxes of books; there were also lots of boxes of books just outside, and elsewhere in the bedroom, and in the living room... So my project was to empty under the bed, sort the contents of the book boxes so I could _find_ them (including tagging them on LT), and fill up the space with neat boxes of books. And find places for all the other stuff, including not-in-my-life. I got about halfway through - everything out and the space cleaned, a whole bunch of book boxes sorted (by genre and author) and tucked into place...but there's more that need sorting, and I haven't dealt with the other stuff (fabric, and computer stuff, and craft stuff, and...). That's all cluttering my living room now. I need to take another whack at it (not to mention, when I get some of these steps done, I'll clear some red To-dos off HabitRPG and do real damage to a boss monster!).

I don't have a cleaning lady - partly because I can't afford it, partly because my place tends to not be tidy enough to clean (even for me, let alone for someone who can't easily put _this_ stack over _there_ where it belongs...). It would be nice to be able to have one... both for the getting stuff clean, and for the necessary tidying.

>38 Morphidae: Yes! When things actually get clean/tidy, that impulse to protect it is very nice (and useful). Unfortunately it wears off - ideally, not before the space gets cleaned again and the impulse gets renewed.

>38 Morphidae: Okay, so that will be kind of a sucky update. But the one after that? (She says, trying to put a positive spin on it.)

I did listen to the song, and I liked it! I asked my Mom if we ever listened to Mr. Rafferty and she said "Oh my god, I forgot all about that guy! No, I don't think we did, but he was on the radio a lot. Oh, for heavens sakes, talk about a blast from the past!" And then she went online to listen to the song herself. :)

Hope your Monday was as good a one as it could be!

Add me to the tribe of people who have a house too messy for a cleaning lady to enter! Ha ha ha

I have had times when I was able and willing to have cleaners in my home, and I aspire to be that person again. But not just yet.

Coming by for a catch up to check in on you guys. Glad to see that there was some good news for Mr. M.

Sorry to say that his Social Worker at the hospital was crappy. That's NOT a good thing. Is there any way he can request someone else or is he stuck with her?

You may have to do all the calling and nag the snot out of her to get what he needs if she isn't doing what he needs. I hate that!

>35 LauraBrook: Haha, that would be me too!

Hi, Morphy ~ I've been thinking of you and MrMorphy and am sending good vibes your way.

Oh, dear, that's my problem too. I would have to move so much stuff in order for someone to clean the place!!

Happy Thingaversary! I had mine last Friday, but only my 7th.

Thinking of you and Mr. Morphy.

I also gave up on cleaners, it was too much work getting ready for them on a weekly basis. I had two ladies, surface cleaners, who came in and did all the surface cleaning really really well, but I had to have everything clear for them. Many years have past since their last visit.

>39 laytonwoman3rd: Well, things like my craft tables being two feet deep in... stuff? And there is no way that I'm leaving my toilet looking anything other than pristine even if they are there to clean. It's just not right. :D

>40 maggie1944: Yeah, what she says...

>41 michigantrumpet: Her, too. :D

>42 lunacat: Yes. MrMorphy will leave at 1pm on Sunday, November 2nd, to head down to Rochester to stay in a hotel across the street from the hospital. (Special rate for Mayo is less than $60 a night, can you believe it?) He'll call at 8:15pm and they'll tell him when his surgery is on Monday. He'll be in the hospital until Friday when they'll remove the plaque disk and then he'll be discharged. He'll stay in the same hotel overnight and will be brought home on Saturday.

>43 _Zoe_: I wish we could do that! Our house is too small. We don't have a room to stash stuff.

>44 jjmcgaffey: A loft bed? *shudders* I'd be shoving more and more boxes under it to shore it up!

>45 LauraBrook: The one after that will be a check up a month after the surgery. Who knows how that will go!

>46 maggie1944: I would imagine so with your poor back/foot! Hope you feel chipper enough to be a cleaning tornado soon.

>47 TinaV95: I've been working with other resources. She is the oncology social worker. The biggest barrier has been that we make "too much" to get assistance. For almost any help, that amount is less than $1000 a month. My social security is more than that.

>48 Storeetllr: Thank you! Love the vibes.

>49 ronincats: Happy Thingaversary! Year seven's theme is non-fiction. So if you can't afford the 7+1 books, you could read one non-fiction book a month for the year. That's what I'm doing for year eight.

>50 avatiakh: Oh man. I'd LOOOOVE to have someone come in weekly. Love love love. Heck, once a month would be a blessing.

***

Talk to Me Tuesday

It's going to be an easy one this week. Life is too stressful right now. So, what are you doing today? Be specific.

I have a dispatch shift for WeCab this morning from 8:00am to 12:00pm. I'll take calls from any riders who call in for a ride. I'll also call riders if a volunteer driver has accepted a ride, deal with cancellations, questions, etc.

I have to concentrate on getting a bunch of stuff off my to do list*. The last couple of days I've been slacking. At 5pm, I'll put the computer away and read and/or watch a show/DVD for the rest of the evening. I've been reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King and it might be the first one of his I DNFed. Boring. I should also be able to finish Collapse by Jared Diamond today.

MrMorphy is off to run errands - Microcenter to get a new mini-mouse for his netbook (old one broke), the county to renew his driver's license, Target for a pair of jeans and a shirt, then a quick stop at the grocery store.

*
Mini-grocery list for (MrMorphy)
Fill out Social Security form
Call about Mayo pre-cert 507/284-0390
Call Bonnie about people to visit (MrMorphy) at hospital, what floor/section?
Call Ample Stuff for sponges
Call Apria for mask/hose
Confirm hotel
Clean laptop
Clean Maia's Ears
Brush Maia
Return headset
Make Halloween card for (hidden)
Fill in Angel app
Add read books to database and LT
Review goals
Pay RideScheduler
Do a book task (Add to Quit collection in LT)
Fix old journals
Write thank yous for non-LT people
Update TIOLI Challenge

Happy TTMT, Morphy!

WOW! Your list is quite specific. If you accomplish even half of that, I'd be impressed.

Sitting here at my desk in Boston:

Prepare multiple reports on court appearances
Multiple calls attempting to settle some cases.
Finish up my time sheets for accounting
Call Ticket office re: change ticket dates
Print out various reports for meeting tonight
Chair meeting at Church.
Laundry for upcoming trip.

Rinse, repeat!

I hope you manage to get all your stuff done, Morphy!

So far:
Get kids up and going,
Walk dog,
Help pack eggs,
Morning internet check,
Discuss local politics by text with my brother (election was yesterday),

Next:
Dishes,
??? (This applies to the bulk of the day. It's rainy again, so my husband can't work at the harvest. He will probably want to go for a drive somewhere, so he doesn't have to just sit around wondering when he can get back in the field. Will very likely include lunch out somewhere.)
Drive son to work after school,
Watch the Rick Mercer show (He's going to be driving a combine!)
Pick son back up when he's done,
Read,

Things I want to do today, but may or may not get done:
Laundry,
Sort TBR piles to try to prioritize them,
work on shortening curtains for my daughter's room,
Read some more.

This is my Tuesday, so far:

Up at 6:30 a.m. Make coffee; sit in my reading chair with heat pack on lower back and read for 20 minutes. (Sometimes Molly settles on my lap for this; not today.)
Take shower; wake up retired husband; get dressed.
Have breakfast at computer; spend too much time on LT, FB and other places.
Clean cat box
Gather lunch and other "stuff" for the day ahead; kiss husband, boop Molly, drive to town.

Work -- Can't be terribly specific about that; confidentiality, you know

Take break (right now) for more LT, and possibly a game or two of WWF. Coffee is involved.

The rest of the day will go more or less like this:

Work.
Have lunch at my desk, reading a bit.
Go out to do some banking and shopping errands.

Work 'til 5:00 p.m.

Rush home, change clothes. Grab bowling ball. Head for Idle Hours Lanes. Bowl with my league. Set no records. (A beer and a burger may be consumed.)

Drive home. Play with Molly. Have a cup of tea. Go to bed with a book.

Jane Eyre on audio will accompany me in all the driving parts.

Before I write down my day, thank you for your very sweet PM. I only wish you and Mr. Morphy the best and I continue to keep my fingers crossed.

Anyways...

My husband went to work this morning. I won't see him until Thursday after work. I got up, got ready, packed a lunch, fed the pets and came to work at 8am. It was very foggy this morning, which is kind of odd.

I'm on the reference desk with a cup of coffee until noon and then I am going to eat lunch, catch up on some work and then go teach an hour long class at 2:30. I'm leaving at 4.

This afternoon I am going to go jog for about 30 minutes. I may or may not eat dinner at the fire station with my husband. If not, I am going to eat dinner and watch Once Upon a Time. (Dinner at home will probably be like...cereal or something.) Tonight I am planning to play Skyrim and/or read Lena Dunham's memoir. I can stay up late tonight because I work late tomorrow night.

Pretty uneventful day!

Oh, you know me so well, how I love to write lists:

What I'm doing today:

get up at 4 am, make and drink first cup of coffee, feed dogs, assemble stuff for leaving... Starbucks coffee cup, purse, book, meds, instant oatmeal, etc.

drive to Niece's house, picking up a double tall soy latte on the way there, and then, call and leave message for dentist as I'm feeling some possible infection developing at the site of the implant (oh, no!);

eat breakfast, take meds, and finish coffee while I -

oversee kids getting up, getting dressed, getting stuff put into backpacks, eating breakfast, having a vitamin, and doing a couple of small chores

drive kids to school (normally I walk them, but today my leg/foot hurts too much, and the rain is pouring cats and dogs)

take car seats back to Niece's garage.

Drive home.... receive call from dentist's office, and make appt. for 2 pm, receive call from acupuncturist and cancel next appoint (need the $ for dentist)

make a nest on the sofa so I can elevate my foot for at least 20-30 minutes, do my once a week injection of biologic med for the RA, half heartedly watch TV, and post on Library Thing, read stuff on FB, etc. etc.

From now (10:30 am) until I leave for the dentist I will probably take a nice warm bath, as that makes my foot, and leg feel better, do my 5 minutes lay down on the floor to put back into a neutral position, attempt to clean out refrigerator (due to the long power outage I may have some spoilage). In between I may very well have a few 10-15 minute reading sessions.

After the dentist: nap, fix some dinner, feed dogs, clean up after myself, read, watch TV news, generally do nothing very taxing, go to bed early and have a good long sleep

Thanks Morphy, I figured there must be a plan, just couldn't find where you said exactly when things were occurring.

Today went:

Woken up at 8.20am with my morning mug of tea and pills from best friend. Sit in bed messing around on LT, FB etc.

8.40am Out of bed, gaze in admiration at my incredibly swollen ankle from turning it yesterday. Get dressed and find some old clothes as am painting a fence later.

9.05am Leave house

9.10am Arrive at yard, am greeted by Connie whinnying as I'm a bit late and all her friends have gone out to the field. Decide not to ride as ankle won't fit in boots so Connie does half an hour work with me on the ground.

9.45am Put Connie's rug on and take her down to her field.

9.55am Start cleaning out Connie's stable, sweeping her area, filling her water and haynet and making up her dinner for this evening and breakfast for tomorrow morning.

10.15am Get changed out of horse clothes and into normal clothes. Leave yard.

10.30am Park in town to go and put a cheque in the bank and get an iced bun for my breakfast, keeping an eye out for traffic wardens as I refuse to pay £1.30 for five minutes parking (It's £1.30 for half an hour but I won't be anywhere near that long.)

11am-noon Appointment.

Noon - Drive out of town 10 minutes. Arrive at best friend's work, chat with her for 30 mins and play with foal for 10 mins.

12.45pm Start painting fence.

3.45pm Run out of paint. Get changed into jeans not covered in paint. Leave best friend's work.

4pm Stop off at supermarket. Get bizarre basket of items including alcohol which will be very much needed over the next couple of weeks as it's a bad time of year for me.

4.45pm Get home, put away food shopping, settle on sofa.

Plan for the evening:

Drink copious amounts of tea. Possibly work a bit more on fabric advent calendar. Grab a shower and wash my hair. Early to bed tonight.

Tomorrow:

No plans for the morning, Connie to do in the afternoon.

My day is pretty set:

7:30 - Shower, eat get ready for school
8:30 - Drive to school
9:00 - Microbiology lab class
10:00 - start working on my chemisty lab prework
10:30 - Genetics Class
12:00 - Organic Chemistry class
1:30 - Work (Tutoring)
3:30 - homework
5:00 - Work (Tutoring)
8:45 - Finish work and drive home
9:15 - eat, read or homework
10:30 - go to bed so I can get up at 5:30 tomorrow

The tiny times inbetween classes are me walking to my next classes, or printing work, etc. Mostly I'm sitting in a chair all day doing mental work. :)

Wow, I'm tired just reading everyone's lists!

Let's see:

- Got up, showered and breakfasted. Waved hubby off to work.
- 10:00 doctor appointment
- went to library to pick up a book, bank, grocery store
- came home and put groceries away
- spent some time on the computer until hubby arrived home for lunch
- had lunch with hubby
- have the rest of the afternoon to myself (back on LT), granddaughter is coming over for dinner this evening and luckily dinner is already made as we are having leftovers.
- visit with granddaughter and get caught up with all the drama in her 9 year old life.
- Spend the rest of the evening after she goes home at 8 pm watching TV, reading or on the computer.

Got up, showered, dressed. Read Dracula for a while.
Went for a walk (just in my corridor) to get some steps in because I'm tired of walking 4000 steps in the evening to hit my goal (5000).
Ate breakfast.
Read Sparrow Hill Road.
Got a call from Dad, walked up to join him and Mom at the Farmers Market down the road (we do this every Tuesday). Bought strawberries.
Home, did a little (very little) cleaning, put away the strawberries.
Ate lunch, reading as I ate.
Finished Sparrow Hill Road sitting on the couch. Logged it in the ReadaThing.
(now)
Scan a bunch of book covers, including Sparrow Hill Road and Dry Storeroom No. 1 which are library books due today.
Do the Google Hangout with my family - we get together this way every (nearly every) week.
Drive to the library, return the books. Try not to get any more (I have a stack from a different library to read, not to mention all my owned books...)
If it's not after dark (it happens so early these days!) drive to my community garden plot and water, see if my seedlings have survived the last few days.
Home
Check what I've paid for ads for my business, and if I'm right call the company (tomorrow) and complain about being double-charged.
Call the inspectors in my election precinct, make sure they're all ready to go next week.
Water my balcony pots, work on how I'm going to get them inside when they paint my balcony in a couple weeks. Clean up some in the living room in the process of figuring this out.
Maybe sort some books into boxes (and get them under the loft bed) (this makes more room for stuff that's currently in the living room...).
Enter more books - I've bought quite a few over the last couple weeks (yard sales, library book sale) and have been slow about entering them on LT.
Scan the books I've entered.
Move buttons on the sleeves of a couple shirts (today's, and the one I wore yesterday. Both too big now, yay!)
Read some more, maybe Dracula maybe something else. Dracula is an ebook, I want a physical one as well.
Make sure I've walked enough to hit my goal. Check everything off on HabitRPG.
Go to bed, preferably not too long after midnight.

For the record, my "???" turned out to be:

Helping replace combine harvester knife sections (there are a lot of them),
Driving with husband to machinery dealer to exchange some parts,
Lunch out,
Quick visit to mall (we were in city about an hour from home),
Back just in time to drive son to work.

Today was a quiet at-home day for me:

Woke up late after some sleeplessness in the night.
Mom called with good news about brother's operation.
Had coffee, caught up with my Facebook games (Farmville 2 and Criminal Case)
Finished Bitter Greens.
Ate leftovers for lunch.
Cleaned kitchen, ran dishwasher.
Watered garden beds.
Played bridge with husband.
Set up new thread for LT, monitored LT threads.
Ate supper.
Watched evening news.
Updated games, LT thread.
Getting ready to watch "The Voice".

Hi Morphy! I missed Tuesday list day, but I had a few to be sure. ; ) Congrats on the new thread and please know that I am sending good mojo to you and Mr. Morphy. Hugs!

>30 Morphidae: Oh, and thanks for sharing your LT theme read. I saw you posted on the thread of Anniversary ideas. It made me happy -- You are a good egg!

Belated Thingaversary congrats Morphy! Good for you for being disciplined! :)

My day consists of taking care of the kids....taking care of the kids..oh and did I mention taking care of the kids??

All joking aside, I'm not complaining one bit. Love it and wouldn't trade it for the world. And every so often I do have a few moments to myself...like now for example as I troll the LT threads...haha!

{{{Morphy}}}

Thinking of you in the the runup to the surgery and you being without MrMorphy for the better part of a week,

I am missing my Morphidae. It has been a little while since she's put in an appearance.....

I'm here, I'm here. Just stressed and trying to get stuff together for MrMorphy leaving on Sunday. I'll post soon.

ok. Good to know you are still with us. Best of luck for Mr. M on Sunday.... and all through next week!

I'm going to break a habit and not wish you a great weekend as I appreciate you have a taxing one ahead. The two of you stick together through thick and thin and show your feelings and, God willing, you'll come out the other side stronger. Will be thinking about you both in the coming days. xxx

Thinking of you and Mr. M this upcoming week. Sending good mojo your way!

Yes - I wish you a great weekend, full of nothing but good news.

Thinking of you at the beginning of this weekend.

Thinking of both of you and sending a load of positive energies.

Hi Morphy, thinking about you and Mr Morphy and surrounding you both with good Karma.

We've got your back, Morphy, as much as possible under the circumstances. As a good friend of mine always says in times of stress, "Don't forget to breathe".

Sending my good thoughts along to the two of you.

All crossables crossed for a good outcome for MrMorphy, and all good things for you too.

Wow. I'm impressed by everyone's detailed diaries. I may have to try that some time, at least to keep track of where all my time goes on the weekends!

Keeping you both in my thoughts and prayers and sending all of the mojo that the Pecan Paradisio can muster. We're with you!

MrMorphy has decided we are having Papa Murphy's pizza and watching Night of the Living Dead tonight. Whoo hoo!

Then we are going out for breakfast in the morning. Most everything is done. Just a little bit of packing and need to make the bed.

Date night!

Best wishes to MrMorphy. Hoping everything goes well in the coming week. Hugs to both of you!

yup, I second >80 SylviaC:! Have a great evening.

>79 Morphidae: Wonderful...I like the way he thinks!

I hope you are having a wonderful stress free time with Mr. Morphy!

Stopping by to let you know I will be keeping you and MrMorphy in my thoughts.

Thinking of you two...

Me too! Hope you're having a lovely breakfast - or maybe not quite yet as it's barely after 8 AM our time! Much love goes out to you both. :)

(((hugs))) to you Morphy. Sending my best thoughts to you and Mr. Morphy

Sending you and MrMorphy best wishes and prayers for the week ahead.

Thinking of you today

Thinking of you today, just knowing MrMophy is far away has to be hard, much less worrying about the surgery. May his surgeon(s) be especially gifted today.

{{{Morphy}}}

We didn't get to do breakfast yesterday morning. Maia had horrible diarrhea and we weren't about to leave her in her kennel for several hours. The friend came at 1pm and they had a good trip down. He had a nice dinner out - Caesar Salad, Scallop and Shrimp Scampi, French Fries, Pumpkin Pie. He called in the evening to find out when he surgery was and found out his check-in time was 6:15am this morning. I imagine the surgery would have been within a couple hours of that but I don't know. He'll give me a call after surgery, when he's in his room, and feeling up to talking.

What a major f'up. MrMorphy was all set to go into surgery - in his gown, IV in. Then they realized they forgot to order the radioactive seeds! It would take days to order them. The doctor said MrMorphy could come back Friday but by then he was so furious that he refused and said he would just have the eye taken out up here. He'll be back home this afternoon. What a f'ing mess.

What a mess.

{{{Morphy}}}
{{{MrMorphy}}}

OMG, what a nightmare. I'm so so so sorry. I hope you make a huge fuss and complaint. And please send my thoughts to MrMorphy as well for the cock-up. You'd think a big place like Mayo would be able to get these things right.

Oh, Morphy! That is terrible - so sorry that happened. How incredibly frustrating for the both of you. There are just no words...

Sending hugs.

Oh, that's unbelievable! :(

OMG this is a nightmare. I'm so sorry that such a mess must have happened to you. Sending you a load of comfortingly vibes. xx

Arggh. So sorry for you and Mr. Morphy, Morphy. Unbelievable bungling.

Ugh, I can't believe that! I don't even know what to say.

That is terrible!

Oh, sh*t! That is so stupid. I certainly hope they do not send us a bill for what they did do. Stupid place. I hope the guilty party is made to do 100 laps around the hospital in the snow, and blowing ice, storms.

Hugs to you both!!! I hope both of you can take deep breaths and not make any decisions while you are still totally upset and angry. I know you know decisions made in the heat of the moment sometimes are not the best.

Oh, that's AWFUL! You go to a place of superb reputation, and they can't get their paperwork straight. What a bummer!

Hugs to you and MrMorphy, especially having to cope with this stupidity.

Ugh, that's ridiculous. Unbelievable that things could get that far before they realised they'd forgotten the key part. Sending calming thoughts to you both.

Oh, s--t! Okay, you've got an airtight documentary of all the time,effort and costs that went into getting set up for this. Time to make lawyerly or small claims court noises about getting recompense for what their f--k-up cost you all, plus no charge from them!

No need. They won't be charging us anything and they will be reimbursing for travel costs and the overnight hotel. They were very apologetic. At least if you are going to screw up, they did it politely.

I'm glad to hear that they're reimbursing you at least! Is there any chance that MrMorphy will change his mind and go up there again? I hate the thought of him losing his eye :(

Oh, good, I'm so relieved they are treating you right!

He's been see-sawing on which treatment he wanted to do. Both are considered acceptable and it's left up to the patient which they want. He was leaning toward having it removed but I was nudging him toward the radiation so he'd keep his sight longer. This was just the last straw for him. He hates having to drive down to Mayo all the time. This, at least, will be all local.

That's great that they were apologetic about their screw up, it's the very least they could do I should think! How awful that it's ended up like this having psyched himself up for the radiation but hopefully there will be as clear a path as possible now.

>105 Morphidae: I am glad they not only owned up to the mistake but understand what a huge impact that travel had on your lives and are reimbursing you accordingly. Doesn't help with the emotional and psychological impact, but at least it lessens the financial impact. And acknowledging that something routine to them is a huge deal for you and MrMorphy is a very good thing.

Have you mentioned checklists to them to prevent this in the future?

Seems like mostly this is the best I can do for you all these past months...
{{{Morphy}}
{{{MrMorphy}}}

* wanders off to look for a magic wand *

Some things are just beyond belief. What an awful upheaval and letdown for both of you. I hope somebody's head rolls right off the staff roster at Mayo...nobody should get a second chance to make another mistake like that one.

Morphy I am so sorry they screwed up royally. Mr. Morphy went through all that hell and then they pulled the rug out from under him.

I know it is very difficult but hang in there. Sending you all my most restful and peaceful thoughts to you both.

We are here for you to vent, vent, and vent!

Oh Morphy, I am speechless. North of the border we are used to hearing stories about the efficiencies of the US medical system compared to our waiting lists, especially given the costs patients incur so I am horrified that something like this could have happened. Not charging and reimbursing for the travel time and overnight hotel costs is the very least they could do to try and appease you for their 'oversight'.

Sending hugs to both you and MrMorphy.

Just utterly baffled and speechless. How witless does an organization have to be to manage this?? Ugh ugh ugh ugh. I hope that this is the nadir, at least, and that things only start moving uphill from here...

I hope he gave them some radioactive seeds to ponder....

Still, at least they understand they were at fault. I suppose it could have been exponentially worse had they chosen to make it so. Sigh.

>92 Morphidae: What a major f'up.
What a complete and utter *unprintable* screwup. This is world class Mayo? Reimbursement’s the least they can do.

Agreed with everything everyone has said. I'm sorry to both of you for all of this, that all of the anxiety, fear, worry, panic, phone calls, organization, etc, has all been for naught. Well, crap. You're right, they at least did what they should do for this kind of major screw-up. And at least MrMorphy will be home soon, and everything else will be done locally.

Enjoy the evening, you two, as much as you can!

So sorry to hear about the screwup, Morphy. I find it extra horrifying as it is the widely respected Mayo Clinic that made the mistake.

Wow- I can't blame MrM; I'd be angry, too, even though at least the hospital took the financial responsibility. My guess is that the surgeon will make sure that **NEVER** happens again!

But, if it's a matter of MrM keeping his eyesight a bit longer, I can see why you encouraged that particular surgery. I hope MrM can get away from the situation a bit and think about the decision in peace. If he changes his mind and decides to go back to Mayo, my guess is that his surgeon will make sure he is treated very, very well.

{{{Morphy}}}

I'm, well, I'm just speechless. Dang it. All sorts of hugs for you both, Morphy.

What a mess!

What a mess! Thank goodness both you and Mr. M are people with strong fortitude and character. Hopefully it will all work out! *Hugs*

Also adding my best wishes Morphy to you both. If you could turn this into a novel you'd be rich if people would only believe it. xx

My wishes are that Ken goes back and has the procedure and keeps the eye, at least for the now.

But my deepest wishes are that everything works out for the best for both of you.

with all good wishes

Oh, Morphy! I just read what happened yesterday and am speechless. Hard to believe a hospital with the kind of rep that Mayo has could have done something so stupid. I'm so sorry you both had to go through that, and sorry he's given up on the procedure that would allow him to keep his eye for a longer time, though I can understand his frustration and reasoning. I just hope whatever decision he makes works out well. {{{hugs}}}

Hello Morphy,

I am so sorry to hear of all the stress you and Mr Morphy are going through again and it definitely shouldn't have happened that the essential part for the surgery wasn't there. They had enough time to organise and check all this. However, as your husband wasn't quite comfortable with the idea of the radiation seeds anyway, maybe this just was meant to be and this will help him to recover quicker, even if this means he has lost his eye sight sooner.

On a lighter note. Love your booklist. >30 Morphidae: I read The Red Tent years ago and loved it. Like Water for chocolate brilliant book, but absolutely hated the movie. The movie was so incredible tacky and badly done that I was almost on the edge of furious when I watched it in 1999. Olive Kitteridge, The Song of Achilles, and The Memory Keeper's Daughter are still collecting dust on mount TBR.

(((hugs))) to you Morphy

Words. Fail. WTH is it with hospitals? How could something like that happen? Thank goodness they are reimbursing you money spent, but the time and anguish.. that's another thing.

So very sorry :(

Take care

It boggles the mind! What a mess. I'm so sorry for Mr. Morphy, and for you. Sending prayers and good wishes to you both!

Karen O.

{{{Morphy}}}
{{{MrMorphy}}}

Thinking of you both.

So very sorry about what happened earlier this week. How disappointing. Very much thinking of you....

Just want you to know I'm thinking of you and MrMorphy. Hope the rest of your week went better than the first part.

{{{Morphy}}} {{{MrMorphy}}

Hugs for you and yours, Morphy.

Morpy, I hope you can relax this weekend.

thinking about you two . . . . .

>52 michigantrumpet: So, are you a lawyer or a paralegal? Where are you going on your trip?

>53 SylviaC: I read, "Help pack eggs," and got very confused before I remembered you lived on a farm! I wondered what in the world you were packing eggs for! LOL!

>54 laytonwoman3rd: Loved the "boop Molly." We don't "boop" Maia but we do give her a scratch under the chin before closing up her kennel.

>55 RosyLibrarian: Is your husband a volunteer firefighter or is it his job?

>56 maggie1944: Won't ask you any questions about your post since I know this is your first day in Hawaii! I didn't know you gave yourself shots every week. Ouchie.

>57 lunacat: You skipping out on paying the parking meter makes me giggle. And I have to know what was in the "bizarre basket of items."

>58 Kassilem: Ahhh, the lovely life of a student. What year are you in?

>59 DeltaQueen50: What is this - "went to library to pick up a book?" You know we won't let you get away with that type of thing here. What book?!?

>136 Morphidae: It's his job. He's a firefighter in the Air Force.

>136 Morphidae: Nice to see you back posting! I'm an attorney. My trip was back to Michigan to visit with family and to attend Homecoming for my college. Played trumpet in the Alumni Band, too!

Hope all's well.

>60 jjmcgaffey: What did you think of Sparrow Hill Road? I thought it was decent but not as fun as InCryptid series.

>61 SylviaC: Where did you go for lunch? What did you have? I love hearing about stuff like that.

>62 ronincats: As much as I enjoyed playing Facebook games, I had to quit. They were taking up hours of my day!

>63 Berly: I love the whole idea of Thingaversary themes. I just wish more people were on board with it.

>64 jolerie: But do you take care of any kids?

>65 MDGentleReader: >68 maggie1944: And what a mess THAT turned out to be!

>69 PaulCranswick: We do and have. MrMorphy is in a much better place right now, surprisingly.

>139 Morphidae: Yes. I really like it, and would like to see more of Rose, but it's certainly on the darker side, not as funny/fun as Incryptid. About the same level as later Toby Daye - Rose is dealing with the "life" changing choices as soon as we meet her. Definitely worth reading, and now I want to own it (read it from the library).

>136 Morphidae: I'm in my last semester now actually. I graduate in December. Year wise, I'm a fifth year senior - wanted to get a minor in. :)

>70 Berly: Thanks for the mojo. We needed it!

>71 jjmcgaffey: It seems to have been a mixed blessing.

>72 lunacat: >73 Ameise1: >74 Carmenere: >75 laytonwoman3rd: >76 DeltaQueen50: >77 ffortsa: >78 Crazymamie: >84 lkernagh: >85 scaifea: >87 luvamystery65: >88 Sakerfalcon: >89 lunacat: >90 MDGentleReader: Thanks!

>80 SylviaC: >81 maggie1944: >82 laytonwoman3rd: I thought the movie was pretty dumb, but it was his choice and I wasn't going to say a word!

>83 jolerie: Well, I wouldn't call it stress free but thanks!

>86 LauraBrook: Had to reschedule the breakfast to this Thursday. Pecan pancakes, here I come!

>142 Morphidae: Can't say that was good news, so I guess my wish didn't come true. It could have been worse...but it could also have been a _lot_ better!

>93 MDGentleReader: >94 lunacat: >95 Crazymamie: >96 drneutron: >97 Ameise1: >98 jnwelch: >99 _Zoe_: >100 SylviaC: >101 maggie1944: >102 ffortsa: >103 Sakerfalcon: >106 _Zoe_: >111 laytonwoman3rd: >112 luvamystery65: >116 LauraBrook: >117 DeltaQueen50: >118 streamsong: >119 MDGentleReader: >120 scaifea: >121 connie53: >122 jolerie: >123 PaulCranswick: >124 magicians_nephew: >125 Storeetllr: >126 drachenbraut23: >127 luvamystery65: >128 mckait: >129 klobrien2: >130 MDGentleReader: >131 michigantrumpet: >132 Storeetllr: >133 MickyFine: >134 Ameise1: >135 magicians_nephew: It's working out for the best. MrMorphy is in a much better mood. I don't think he was really happy with the idea of radiation. I wouldn't say he's *happy* to have the eye removed but he's his old self again. His anger level has gone WAY down and he's playful again. I think he just wants the cancer OUT of his body.

>107 ronincats: >109 lunacat: >110 MDGentleReader: >113 lkernagh: >115 qebo: I need to get back to Mayo, we haven't heard from them in a week.

>114 Chatterbox: LOL! Your post made us laugh. "How witless does an organization have to be to manage this?" "I hope he gave them some radioactive seeds to ponder..."

>137 RosyLibrarian: Ah, that's right. Now I remember that you all move around a lot.

>138 michigantrumpet: MrMorphy is in a better mood but I've been fighting depression. I haven't wanted to do anything but eat and read. My to do list hasn't been touched in a week and I don't even want to know how much weight I've gained. I'm hoping I snap out of this soon.

>140 jjmcgaffey: I read the first Toby Daye and wasn't real thrilled with it but now that I'm hooked on McGuire, I'll have to try that series again.

>141 Kassilem: Oh, I bet you can't wait until the year is over!

>143 jjmcgaffey: See the first response in this post. It really is seeming to work out for the better.

It's nice to see you back with us, Morphy. I'm glad to hear that MrMorphy is feeling more himself, and hope that that the next steps in the process proceed smoothly. I have to say that personally, I would have been more freaked out by the idea of radioactive seeds being implanted than by the removal of an eye, given that the end result would still have been loss of vision in that eye.

>144 Morphidae: Just the two monkeys of mine, but based on the mess they leave behind at the end of the day, you would think it was an army of them.... :)
Still thinking and praying for you and Mr. Morphy!

>145 SylviaC: I wanted him to keep his eye longer, but in the end, it's his decision.

>146 jolerie: How old are the kiddos?

***

Tonight we are going to Benihana's for our semi-annual birthday dinner - this time for MrMorphy. We've been going there since the beginning of our relationship. It was our first "fancy" date though it was called Samurai then. Our friends Philip and Ray will be going with us. The last few years they've joined us. It's Philip's birthday month, too.



A previous year's picture - in counter-clockwise order: Morphy, MrMorphy, Ray, Philip

Hi Morphy. I missed all the drama, but was sorry to read about it. I'm glad MrMorphy is back to normal; I can understand his relief. It's not quite the same thing, but when I was expecting my second, since I was into the curve, age-wise, for a higher risk of having a Down's syndrome child, the doctor highly recommended amniocentesis. I've never been fond of needles, and I wasn't happy at the thought of having one poked into my baby bump. So we did all kinds of other tests, and got a second opinion, and got a 99% clearance (because they'll never give a 100% OK, just to have some wiggle room). That was good enough for me, and I was so relieved not to do the test. As you know, we have a healthy, active, mischievous 5 year old who is even more curious than his brother was at that age.

Hi, Morphy, happy Monday morning. Yes, it is my first day in Hawaii but since I get up so early in the AM I'm having plenty of time to read, and post, on line. It is lovely here weather wise. Not too hot as it is "winter" here so we will put up, happily, with some cloudy days, and some sprinkles of rain, but generally it is lovely, and warm, and happy times!

I hope things in your life begin to settle back down into some sense of normal and that the depressions lift and go away. Fly away, away, away.

Take good care of yourself!

What a lovely picture, Morphy. I hope you have a wonderful evening together - you certainly deserve it after all the recent stress.

I knew he'd get his mojo back! Enjoy Benihana.

Have a very happy celebration, Morphy!! You and MrM certainly deserve it.

Glad MrMorphy is at peace with his decision, and I hope your depression is over and done with soonest!

Talk to Me Tuesday

I just got my Quit, Yuck, Ptooey collection* (http://www.librarything.com/catalog/morphidae/quityuckptooey) updated to include all 31 books in the last 7 years that I've put aside. Almost all of them had to do with the writing style. The latest was Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid by Malcolm Lowry. My comments were: "Didn't get past page 5. Quit after yet another near page long sentence. Plus sentence structure is too dense for me. I'd read a page and have no idea what it meant."

*Feel free to ask me why I quit a book. I didn't want to put them up in the review as some of them might be considered by the sensitive as spoiler-ish.

What was the last book that was "Quick, Yuck, Ptooey" for you?

>154 Morphidae: Ooh, I'm currently reading possibly the worst book I've ever read, but I've gotten far enough that I'm going to finish it even if it takes several more months. So it doesn't quite qualify, but I have to mention it anyway because it's absolutely terrible.

It's the advice book by the "Princeton Mom", who famously suggested that even today, girls at college should focus on finding a husband. The book elaborates with discussions of how, for example, you need to look your best in order to find a husband in college. This means that you should get any necessary plastic surgery done while you're still in high school. And so on.

Unfortunately, most of it isn't so over-the-top ridiculous that it's funny; it's mostly just bad.

>154 Morphidae: I really don't abandon books (unless they have to go back to the library or something) - I'll slog through to the end, and dump it then. A recent one was The Elegance of the Hedgehog - intensely stupid throughout (my review cites "the DEEP THOUGHTS of a pre-teen...") and then a cheating, deus ex machina ending. Bleah. Another, several years ago now, was the cause of my keeping a record of books I'd bought on LT - prior to this one, when I dumped a book I deleted it from LT (because I didn't own it any more). The Blue Devil, unfortunately, had fascinating back cover copy that was not supported by the story at all - I suppose more or less the same events happened, but the writing was really poor. The _third_ time I bought the silly thing (fortunately, at a library book sale, so I didn't pay much), I started tracking my discards on LT.

Oh, I know one I didn't bother to finish - an ER book called Phraseology. Wow was that bad. It was in dictionary form, so you were supposed to dip in and out and find interesting stuff - but there were some totally banal definitions (everyone knows that), some that were rather circular (this is a large that - definition of that: small this), some that didn't explain _anything_ ("above the scroll" - the part of a webpage that you don't have to scroll to see. No mention in the definition of "above the fold" or its derivation), and at least one that was a) completely meaningless and b) lifted wholesale from another book (published in 18-something, so not copyright violation, but it was plagiarism). Bleah and blah. I think I got through the Bs before I quit.

I haven't hit a really bad book in a while, although there have been some humdingers in the past. I did give up on an audio version of An Irish Country Village recently. My mother-in-law and my husband both enjoy this series by Patrick Taylor, but I read the first one, and tried listening to the second---they are just a little too similar to the James Herriot books (with people in place of animals as patients), but not nearly as good. There's a lot of humor, but not enough heart in them for my taste. Not bad, exactly, just very very lightweight. The characters, particularly in the audio rendition I tried, become caricatures.

>156 jjmcgaffey: At last, someone who agrees with me on The Elegance of the Hedgehog! That ending made my blood boil.

Well, I didn't quit it, but the worst book I've read this year was Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. I've enjoyed everything else of his that I've read, and maybe it was my fault for picking up a superhero-type book, which is a subgenre that has never appealed to me. But unlike in his other books, the characters here were flat stereotypes with a distinguishing quirk each rather than actual personalities. And the hero-narrator just irked me in every way. Writing this, I'm not even sure why I did stick it out until the end; probably just because it was Sanderson.

I just quit on The Witches of Eastwick, so I'm sympathetic on your Quit, Yuck, Ptooey Collection, Morphy. I can't believe I finished The Sound and the Fury, which I detested.

You do have one I loved on your list, The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, and one I liked a lot, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. What put you off on those two?

A couple on your list (The Collector, The Name of the Rose) I remember reading with pleasure a long time ago, but many more are books I tried within the last few years with which I agree with you wholeheartedly (Wolf Hall, Kavalier and Clay and Middlemarch are three on which I agree most).

As for my own yuck ptooey list, I pretty much read the first few pages of a book and, if it doesn't appeal to me or if I'm actively repelled by it, I ditch it (unless someone whose reading taste agrees with mine and whose recommendations I trust convinces me it gets really good and I'll really like it or, if it's a series, that it's important to read for the sake of the series). Life's really too short to force myself through anything that doesn't give me pleasure.

Recently, I gave up on Sandman Slim (boring, predictable and constantly violent), The Spellman Files (didn't like the perky writing style) and The Borgias: The Hidden History (so many similar names, so many dates, so much back-and-forth in history, so little readability, though I probably will go back to it as it was an Early Reviewer book I won that I need to review). The one book I most recently forced myself to plow through with very little pleasure was The Passage, which I know a lot of people liked a lot, but I listened to it on audio and hate-hate-stabbity-hated the way the narrator (Scott Brick) read it and couldn't get past that.

The books I have abandoned this year have all been in the New Adult genre. I've found some gems, but a lot of them have been pretty terrible. They usually have poorly written main characters who are so broken. Yawn.

>161 Storeetllr: I gave up on Sandman Slim too, for much the same reason.

I don't think I've ever abandoned a book yet, although I've wanted to on many occasions. Maybe one day I will evolve beyond the guilt and will actually be able to use the "pearl" rule.

>147 Morphidae: The boys are 4 and 1! Fun times. :D

ery glad to see that MrMorphy has his mojo back but sorry to see that you have been battling a bout of depression. Chin up, Morphy!

>144 Morphidae: - Definitely get back to Mayo.... I always get suspicious when an organization says they will do something and then goes radio silence. I know they are busy and all but there must be an admin that could have been tasked with a follow communication with you and MrMorphy.

>154 Morphidae: - Hum, I haven't abandoned any books that I can think of in the past couple of years but I have had some clunkers that I should have abandoned and spared myself the prolonged grief of reading the story. My most recent reading bomb was last year with How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You, which got a generous rating from me.

One of my most recent "give up on it" books was Of Parrots and People which I was reading for my real life book group, last spring. It was so depressing to read of the horrible conditions many parrots were in, the total lack of understanding that many "pet owners" demonstrated which resulted in seemingly driving the parrots crazy. I just could not continue to read it. I think parrot ownership has declined rapidly which I think is a very good thing.

I hope that you are feeling a bit more optimistic, Morphy, and that things are settling down a bit.

>154 Morphidae: Severed Souls by Terry Goodkind was my recent one. I read every word, but was very disappointed in the book. I have no idea what's going on with Goodkind but his latest books are so bad considering how good his first dozen books were.

Like Joe in >160 jnwelch: I abandoned The Witches of Eastwick this month. I dropped it early. It just seemed like the women were selfish and mean spirited. I didn't want to wait and find out more. I also dumped Bernadette 70 pages last year. I couldn't stand again, all the selfish people and the 15 year old caught in the middle of it. I loved the epistolary format. I LOVED it but not enough to deal with those parents and neighbors.

I finished Lolita for a group read but I wish I could get my life back. I knew what it was about but worse than making Lolita unlikeable the endless road trip and H.H. going on and on and on. I'm wasting my life thinking about that book. LOL!

I hardly ever officially abandon a book - I just set them aside to finish later. Some of them sit there for years.

Three from my RL bookclub in 2013:

Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - People actually base their lives on this book
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Several people in my bookclub listed this as a favorite book ever. Magical realism in the jungle satirizing regimes I had no knowledge of.
Team of Rivals - which is actually interesting and well written, but is one that was taking me forever to read. If I ever finish Collapse, I'll try to get back to this one.

Morphy, I bet the depression will pass. You were living on sheer adrenalin for weeks and doing a superwoman's job of getting it all organized. When the immediate crises passed, so did the adrenalin. You have every right to be exhausted at this point.

Has a date for surgery been set? I understand MrM's decision. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I just wanted it gone, out of my body, so long, sayonara, let's get it done. It couldn't happen fast enough. Not having it removed would have been very tough for me.

I can't remember giving up on a book (a bit of memoryloss has it's benefits). But I suppose I did do that in the past.

~~~waving hello~~~

Morphy, I wish you a lovely weekend.

{{{Morphy}}}

{{{MrMorphy}}}

Just dropping in to say that I am thinking about you.

Me, too, Morphy. Hope things are going reasonably well.

>148 humouress: I have to say that with all the drama of this year, my feelings about the medical profession are a lot poorer. I feel like half the time they don't know what they are doing.

>149 maggie1944: I see you are having a fabulous time in Hawaii. I am so happy for you!

>150 Sakerfalcon: >151 laytonwoman3rd: >152 connie53: Thank you. I'll get up this year's picture in the next few days.

>153 Storeetllr: It's made a huge difference in his mood. I feel like I have my husband back.

>155 _Zoe_: Oh my. Whatever made you pick that book up?

>156 jjmcgaffey: >158 ffortsa: Intensely stupid fits The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I said, "Honestly, I don't see the appeal of this book at all. It's all philosophy and no story. Maybe a third of the book is story and that is being generous. The rest is pontificating on various philosophical subjects which bores me. I skimmed much of it. Blech." I hated the ending, too. I gave it 4/10 stars.

>157 laytonwoman3rd: I thought the Herroit's were pretty lightweight as well, so you can imagine how I felt about An Irish Country Christmas when I read it a for book group. I said, "A little too episodic for my tastes but otherwise a nice, gentle read. The characters were in general likable and fun to read about but I found the young man's wandering eye a bit off-putting. I especially liked the housekeeper." I gave it 6/10 stars.

>159 Sakerfalcon: Is Steelheart one of Sanderson's older or newer books?

>160 jnwelch: I haven't started Witches yet. Yikes. I got about three pages into The Sound and the Fury. For The Snow Leopard, I just have "Didn't keep my interest." I think I got about a quarter of the way into the book. For The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, "Read about 100 pages. This is simply a matter of being bored with the plot. The characters are somewhat interesting but the story isn't keeping my interest. (Renewed twice from library, returned and renewed again.)"

>161 Storeetllr: I wouldn't have been able to get past the first 10 minutes if I hated a narrator! I don't know how you did it.

>162 RosyLibrarian: Can you name a few?

>161 Storeetllr: >163 drneutron: Have either of you read something by Richard Kadry that you liked? If not, why did you pick up Sandman Slim? I've never heard of it.

>164 jolerie: I'm middle-aged and am busy. I don't have time to waste on books I don't like! I bet you are busy with those young kids - you should start putting down those books, too!

>165 lkernagh: I got back to Mayo and was told we should have a check this week. Haven't seen it, but it's early yet. It covers gas, hotel and the PCA for two days.

>166 maggie1944: I had to quit Bury My Heart on Wounded Knee for the same reason. It didn't have anything to do with the author or writing but rather the subject matter was too upsetting for me.

>167 Kassilem: It may have to do with his early onset Alzheimer's. It's a shame. Oh wait, wrong Terry! I'm thinking Terry Pratchett! I don't know what Goodkind's excuse is. Heh.

>168 luvamystery65: Oh dear. Unlikable characters can kill a book for me. I liked Lolita if only because the author managed to make the horrible Humbert sympathetic. It takes a skillful hand to do that.

>169 streamsong: I liked One Hundred Years of Solitude and gave it 7/10 stars. "I didn't like how depressing it was. I liked the magical parts and the story. It wasn't an easy read but the language, something I don't normally notice, was lovely."

No surgery date yet, but MrMorphy's appointment with the surgeon is next Tuesday the 25th.

>170 connie53: Ah, memory. A thing of the past. "Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?"

>171 maggie1944: *waves vigorously back*

>172 Ameise1: >173 MDGentleReader: >174 Crazymamie: >175 jnwelch: Thanks.

I've been coping with all the stress by eating/binge eating and the scale shows it big time. I've gained a large amount of weight. I called Melrose (Eating Disorder Clinic) and luckily they had a binge eating group starting right away. The first group was last night and I've had two binge free days. However, since I haven't been using my coping mechanism of choice, I've been a bit of a wreck. Life takes and it gives.

I'm struggling with getting anything done. The last month I've been eating + reading and my to do list has gone by the wayside. I had free time today to work on it and every time I looked at it, I felt listless and tired. Ugh, I'm so tired of complaining. I'm hoping eating better and this group will get me turned around. It certainly helps that MrMorphy is in a much better mood.

Thursday we are going to MrMorphy's parents for supper for his 55th birthday. Whoo hoo! From what I've been told we'll be having his dad's "famous" ribs. Yum.

You're going to eat your father-in-law's ribs? Wow - that's bold. Think I'd just nibble a finger or two, and that only if someone had really irritated me. Will you move onto the lungs for dessert, or save them for another visit?

*settles down, hoping for an education in cannabilism*

This conversation is taking an interesting turn...

Hi, Morphy! We continue to have a lovely time. Sunday we checked out a fancy resort which has a Costco vacation package which Robin is interested in doing with her husband in April. (she likes Kaua'i 2X each year). For $3000 she will get airfare for 2, a rental car for two weeks, and a one bedroom condo in the ocean front resort. She and her husband love the beach and all they have to do will be to walk out their front door, and walk over to the beach. Maybe a 2 minute walk.

Later, yesterday, Robin discovers she does not have her phone. We spent quite a few nervous moments hunting for it but because we had a reservation for a tour of an old plantation compound we had to stop the worry and go be tourists. What a cool tour. The compound is self sufficient: chickens, pigs, ducks, gardens and fruit trees. There are little cottages which are rented to people who work for the Museum's Foundation and take care of the grounds and the live stock. We toured the old house which was decorated in the early 20th Century and has not been updated in any way since about 1910. The last remaining family resident died in about 1973, but before that she arranged for a foundation to run the place as a museum.

After all that, we went back to the resort and thank goodness and the kindness of strangers, Robin's cell phone had been turned into the registration desk. Whew!

Today, all we did was get up, have breakfast, go to the beach, return home and take a nap. Ah! "the Life of Riley". Later, we will check out a big sale at Macy's. It is fun to shop here because they have so many island appropriate things which also work for home. I'd like to decorate my home as if it was in Hawaii, but I am downsizing so will be careful what I buy.

Been reading! Check my thread. Right now I'm reading Tina Fey's autobiography. She is funny!

P.S. You know I think of you, and MrM, often and hope things will continue to lighten up for you two. Happy Birthday to him. And enjoy that dinner!

>176 Morphidae: Hehe. I enjoyed Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, because she actually has an interesting story to tell about her controversial opinions. She raised her daughters differently, and with striking results. So somehow this led me to think that I might be generally interested in controversial mother books. Well, no. The Princeton Mom has no interesting personal story to tell; she just spews unfounded opinions as if they were fact.

She did manage to point out that she was earning $300,000 a year from consulting work while her sons were little, though. Because of course she had to fit that helpful tidbit in somewhere.

>176 Morphidae: Steelheart is one of Sanderson's recent titles, but it might be something he wrote earlier and polished up for publication.

Keeping my fingers crossed that you manage to stay binge-free and regain your energy. And enjoy the ribs!

>153 Storeetllr:, >176 Morphidae: So glad to hear that!

>161 Storeetllr:, >177 Morphidae: About my listening to the cringeworthy (to me) narration The Passage, I think by the time I'd truly had it with Scott Brick's voice, I was halfway finished, and it was a long book, so I didn't want to have wasted all that time and not know how it turned out. I thought about reading the last half as a print book, but I was listening to it on my daily commute, and I didn't have any other audiobook on deck, so...

>161 Storeetllr:, >163 drneutron:, >177 Morphidae: I'd heard about Sandman Slim, and then Roni (of Ronincats) reviewed it. She wasn't thrilled with it, but the premise sounded interesting, so I thought I'd try it. I ended up agreeing with Roni's assessment to the point I didn't even bother finishing it.

>178 Morphidae: You have my emphatic empathy on the eating to cope with stress business. I never understood people who lack an appetite when they're under stress or pressure and always sort of envied them. I'm glad you've taken steps to get a handle on the binging, though, and send you copious amounts of healing thoughts. (Lack of energy/motivation seems to go with desire for comfort food when it comes to me coping with stress, too, so I fully understand. And it's not complaining so much as sharing, which is good for you and helpful for those of us who are in the same place.)

Happy birthday to MrM and enjoy the ribs!

>179 lunacat: Ha ha. Don't you know anything? You nibble on lungs and fingers are for dessert. Sheesh.

>180 SylviaC: I told my husband about it and he said, "Those people are weird." Like this is news?

>181 maggie1944: >182 maggie1944: I'm glad you are having such a lovely time. I bet you are taking tons of pictures! I'm really looking forward to dinner tonight.

>183 _Zoe_: Of course. Because somehow making $300,000 a year makes her just like the rest of us.

>184 Sakerfalcon: Three plus days of being binge free. Go me. I'm sure we will enjoy the ribs. We always have! They are MrMorphy's favorite and that's why his dad is making them for his birthday.

>185 Storeetllr: I heartily dislike people who do nothing but complain and I quickly hit the little red star on their threads. On SparkPeople, I scroll past their posts. I think to myself, "Doesn't anything good happen in your life?" This year I feel like I'm *that* person and it makes me feel bad. I'm trying to put some good things in my posts like the dinner tonight and that I'm getting help for the binge eating.

Ah, I do apologise profusely for my ignorance in the best order to consume ones FIL. I can only hope that by the time I get one, I am better informed. And it makes sense that fingers would be dessert and lungs the main course, I clearly wasn't thinking it through logically.

Now, do you start with ears as a canape?

(Moi? Weird? I don't know what on earth you can mean)

Yes, ears as canapes stuffed with finely chopped eyeballs. And MrMorphy suggests braised tongue as well.

ETA: He also says, "Long pig! Whoo hoo!"

How do you save an overwatered plant? My friend who passed away in July gave it to me and I don't want to lose it. She gave it to me because I've killed every plant I've owned and she said I couldn't kill this one! From what I'm reading (limp, yellowed leaves, poor growth, mushy at the bottom) and from what she told me, I think I gave it too much water (only watered once a month like she told me!) It's a mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata) and on its last legs.

I have a green thumb with most plants, but I've never had good luck with any Sansevieria I ever had, so I'm not a good one for suggestions on how to deal with your poor baby. I googled "mother-in-law tongue plant problems" and found, among many others, this article, which may help: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/snake-plant-wilt-old-leaves-30197.html

"(W)hen this houseplant displays wilting, a problem is afoot. Since snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) is such a strong plant, it is commonly recommended to people who tend to have brown thumbs. You can rest assured that the issues plaguing your plant are not a result of a talent-less touch, but more serious pest and disease problems."

Another article mentioned being careful not to water the center of its roseate of leaves as it easily rots.

Also, you might want to try and propogate it, so you continue to have a plant that was descended from the one your friend gave you, even if the mother plant doesn't make it. Here's advice I found on one website:

"Propagation: Division or leaf cuttings. Sansevieria is easy to divide because it has shallow roots. Simply turn the pot on its side and pull out the entire plant. Use a sharp knife to cut through the thick roots and pot each clump separately. To propagate Sansevieria by leaf cuttings, cut leaf into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces and place them right side up (the way they were growing) in moist perlite or cactus potting mix." http://www.guide-to-houseplants.com/mother-in-laws-tongue.html

(I'd probably do the leaf cutting method rather than by cutting up its roots as it's under enough stress as it is without being turned out of its pot.)

Good luck!

>188 Morphidae: Ohh, yum. I foresee some new recipes for Christmas. Now, where to get good quality eyeballs for. And seasoning - I wonder if a spice mix would add a little zing.

And I could garnish with some nostril hair. Or fingernails. I wonder what would be more professional looking.

Just dropping by to say Hi, Morphy. I am a total brown thumb and have managed to kill off just about every houseplant I have ever owned. The exception for me is a Christmas Cactus that is still alive and blooms once a year even though I sometimes go months without watering it.

Sounds like Jenny is planning quite the menu! ;)

Stopping by and unfortunately I don't have much advice on the plant issue. I also have a brown thumb when it comes to house plants. I have a Calathea with the exact same problem you are having with your mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata). I thought it was doing okay when I ignored it for three weeks and then gave it a watering, and resorted to daily spritzing of the leaves but the plant is letting me down. I think I need to stick with herbs.... my rosemary plant absolutely loves me, as does the oregano. Even the basil hasn't abandoned me, but house plants that are not edible herbs are quite the mystery to me. Go figure.

Jenny obviously needs to acquire a Father-In-Law for ingredients!

Hurrah on the binge-free days, Morphy.

About the sanseviera, Mary's given you some good advice--it's probably best to do some leaf cuttings to try and propagate a new plant. Besides not watering the central rosette, be sure not to leave it sitting in water after you've watered it either. It actually looks like you have a sucker (a baby offshoot) on the side of this one--you can cut it off easily to form a new plant.

>190 Storeetllr: >194 ronincats: Thanks for the great advice. Tomorrow MrMorphy will get me a new pot and some cactus soil. Then I'll try cutting off the sucker (love the name). I'm afraid to do the cutting because from the articles I read I think my plant has thrips. I don't have any healthy leaves other than the sucker and don't want to transfer the problem

>191 lunacat: You win! You win! I'm left speechless. LOL!

>192 DeltaQueen50: I've heard cacti are really hard to kill but I don't like the way they look. I want green leaves!

>193 lkernagh: I have an issue of low light which restricts the types of plants I can have. Herbs won't do well in this home.

This made me laugh. It is so... me.

*snork* That made me laugh out loud, Morphy!

LOL...hahahaha! I laugh as I debate..to treadmill or not to treadmill.... :D

>196 Morphidae: I so understand this. I could insert exercise in there just fine, and the debate is exactly the same. Oh, you want me to do that 10 times.... I did it 4 times today. Sigh. Too funny.

>196 Morphidae: Applicable to so many aspects of life!

Oh, Morph. I'm just catching up and seeing the news about the huge screw up at Mayo! I'm so terribly sorry you guys have gone through such a horrible time with all of this and now? One more major setback.

I'm glad that Mr.M's spirits seem a bit lighter, but I am worried about you. You know I'm here for you, even though I'm not on LT much. Just PM me and I'll be here. I'll be thinking about you both. I can't fathom how hard this is for you with everything you've got on your plate already.

(((Morphy)))

Morphy, I love >196 Morphidae: and can see myself in it. I wish you a lovely weekend.

>197 Storeetllr: >198 jolerie: >199 maggie1944: >200 SylviaC: It makes me giggle every time I look at it.

>201 TinaV95: I'm giving the depression until Monday (ha ha!) and then I'm kicking it out. I'm used to it lasting a few days but it's been a couple of weeks now and I've had enough. I'm usually gentle with myself and let the depression ride itself out, but it looks like I'll need to take a deep breath, put a smile on my face and "fake it 'til I make it."

>202 Ameise1: Thanks, you, too!

***

So, Maia has a new "Greenie" today. Greenie is the loofa toy below. It's the size of the blue one. When we originally got her the toy, it was the green color. When a seam ripped, we got her a yellow one, but the name stayed the same. We weren't going to confuse her by changing the name of the toy every time we got her a new one that was a different color.

She plays with/uses it every day. It is a fetch toy and a stress object. When she wants to play she'll bring it to us for fetch or she'll just crouch, pounce and shake it by herself. Sometimes she'll lay down and chew on the squeaky end for a few minutes (squeak, squeak, squeak.) When she's stressed she'll lunge and shake it really hard. It is a necessity, like food. So we bought a supply of them when we got her the third one (blue.) We do NOT want to ever be without one. What if they stop making them? The horror! They last about 6 to 12 months. We let her pick which one she wanted today. Her choices were blue, green, yellow, and red.

Greenie is now yellow.

>203 Morphidae: I love the Greenie! We have a kitten who is quite rough so whenever Feather makes me squeak/bleed, I shove our Reddie (a work sock rolled up within a work sock) at her. It doesn't squeak but neither do I and it gives me get-away time.

Hi Morphy, so glad to hear that Mr. Morphy is getting better, but I am sorry to hear that you yourself struggle quite a bit at present. I hope that the "binge" group will be able to get you back on track with your weight and that it might will help you to snap out of your depression as well.
Loved the photo of you, Mr. Morphy and your friends from last year at the ?Bahina.

Wish you a wonderful weekend :)

>204 nhlsecord: We do the same thing. When Maia is getting annoying, "Where's Greenie? Go get your Greenie!" And off she goes!

>205 drachenbraut23: I'm going to work on getting this year's photo up soon!

***

I love driving by the lake this time of year. On the way out we saw two bald eagles (one yearling, one adult), a trumpeter swan pair and family of trumpeters with both parents and three cygnets. Well, we saw swan butts - they were feeding for the most part. On the way home we saw seven trumpeter swimming in a row and eight eagles! One was flying (adult), five were in one tree (couldn't tell age), and two were in another tree (couldn't tell age). Fun!

One day several years ago I saw twenty-four eagles in five minutes on the ice. Amazing.

That's so cute. What a cute dog she must be.

It reminds me of the children my mum used to mind and the specific comfort toys they needed. It was a nightmare when they got lost. One little girl had a soft bunny that had come from Germany and was essential for getting to sleep - her mother asked anyone going to Europe to look out for one but I don't think they ever came across a duplicate.

Another mother had been very sensible (and her gamble paid off) and her son's comforter was a cotton hankie. Initially it was any cotton hankie, but then it had to be a blue one, and then he came to prefer it really cold so it lived in the fridge in a plastic bag when it wasn't in use. He would clutch it up to his face when sad/stressed/going to sleep. It's name was 'Baddit'. Thankfully any blue, pure cotton, cold hankie was acceptable so between my mum and his mum there were about 20 of them in constant circulation of washing, drying and replacing, and it didn't matter when one got lost.

I think my mum was really glad that my comfort has always been my hair, and so doesn't get lost! I twist a 'lock' of hair, generally on the right towards the front, which has to be a specific length, and the speed of the 'twiddling' indicates how tired or stressed I am. It gets a certain number of twists until it feels right, then pulled out straight, and then I start again. A nurse in the hospital where I was born commented to my mum that I was going to be a hair twister as my hand would go up to my head even though I didn't have any hair. I was premature as well, and was doing it in the incubator! I also turned myself round in my incubator on many occasions, going from lengthways to sleeping across it with my teeny legs up against the side, and I still spin round in bed. My parents came in to see me and mentioned it to the nurse, and she just shrugged and said 'yes, she often does that, we're always having to straighten her up but she works hard and gets herself back there'.

I also have a patchwork blanket that I've had since I was born that I cuddle up to in bed, that either goes over my eyes or I hug. Isn't it funny, the little things that give us comfort, and then it's the same with our animals!

Come to think of it, one of our cats has a comforter as well. See here for video of our stupid adult cat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUEiloL9pbo&list=UU9DZbu4RQQI_UTi9Oc67JUQ

Apologies for the essay! I've been alone in the house all day and need to get my words out.

>206 Morphidae: Wow. I'd love to see an eagle. Sadly not exactly common on these isles! We did see an owl as we were driving home with the horses last night, and there is a resident buzzard pair on the farm where I keep Connie. I often hear tawny owls at night, but the other birds I hear I don't know the calls of.

Wow, Morphy, it's so fantastic that you are able to see such a lot of eagles and all the other birds. We don't have eagles where I live but hawks, red kits and buzzards.

>207 lunacat: I loved the essay! I didn't have any comfort objects but my brother did. He had lamb and "blankie." Both lasted until he grew up but they were in poor shape. I think lamb eventually got thrown away but blankie was kept in a box and may very well be still in his hands.

>208 lunacat: >209 Ameise1: I love seeing unusual birds. Do you have birds that you only see during certain seasons?

***

Has anyone read The Corrections? I'm over 50 pages in and am seriously considering DNFing it. I'm not thrilled with the style but I could get past that if it didn't seem to be a "miserable people being miserable" book. Does it get any better? Is there any happiness, hope, or humor in this book?

>210 Morphidae: We have a lot of storks and swallows which are leaving in late August and September for Africa and returning in March/April.

Wow, Morphy! We only get the very occasional bald eagle around here (Milwaukee) but do see some hawks and kits every once and a while. What a treasure!

I tried reading Corrections a few times and couldn't get past page 20, so I DNFed it. I know others have really liked it, but it wasn't for me - no shame in giving it up! :)

Just catching up here. Sorry the Mayo didn't come through. Glad to hear Mr Morphy is back to his usual self and I wish you both the best of luck with the new course of action. I gave up on The Bartender's Tale this year, although the rest of my bookclub seemed to like it. Hugs!

Firmly on the DNF side of the debate on The Corrections. (I got to the part where Skip was fantasizing at lunch about cutting off his arm at the elbow, then ditched it and have not regretted it for one moment.)

In other news, loved reading about your nature drive! Haven't seen any eagles around here lately, but have seen (and heard) huge flocks of geese heading south/west for the winter. Lovely!

We get a lot of migratory ducks and geese that winter on the marshes and inland mudflats just by the sea to the north of us a bit. They come down from Iceland or across from Russia between October and January - it's estimated about 80,000 of a particular breed, the pink footed goose, come down here.

There are also swallows and swifts that come up here from the south in the spring and nest in the eaves of the barn where I keep Connie and make the most awful racket and mess! It's endearing to begin with but then gets a bit tedious after a while, particularly when the fledglings make suicidal leaps down into the stables.

>210 Morphidae: i had trouble with The Corrections too, but I did finish it. It is tough to read because all the characters seem so unlikable, but for an author to do that deliberately was so interesting a choice that I kept reading. At the end, I thought it was worth it.

>211 Ameise1: The only place I've seen storks is in Florida when I went back to visit my mom. We have swallows all over Minnesota except in winter, especially in summer.

>212 LauraBrook: Seeing the eagles fills me with awe. What amazing creatures they are especially when you see a white-headed one as you know they are mostly likely as least five years old.

>213 Berly: I've never heard of the book or the author! Wow. What didn't you like about it? Why did your group decide on it?

>214 Storeetllr: >215 lunacat: Isn't fall wonderful for seeing migrating birds? >215 lunacat: Reading about the suicidal fledglings made me and MrMorphy laugh!

>212 LauraBrook: Strike one.
>214 Storeetllr: Strike two.
>216 ffortsa: Aaaaaand strike three, it's out! I don't like books where all the characters are unlikable. It's why I DNFed Gone Girl, too.

***

I had a full week of no binge eating and while my eating isn't where I want it to be yet, it has paid off. I've lost five six pounds. Can I get a whoo hoo!?!

Tonight will be the second meeting of the group and I'm looking forward to it.

ETA: Because I can't do math.

Woo Hoo!

Congratulations!

A second Whoo Hoo from me! Way to go, Morphy!

Woot, whoo hoo! The way you climb back is an inspiration.

*Eyeing wagon ruefully* OK, if you can do it, so I can I.

good job, young lady! I'm impressed. I am also looking forward to returning home and getting control over my eating, too, as vacations are hard on staying "clean". Sad to report that also means no more fresh papaya and that I will miss greatly.

I'm cheering you on! I'm glad you are getting some extra support just now as it seems to be helping you get back on the path.

>217 Morphidae: WOOHOO!!!! Awesomesauce!

Woo-hoo and hooray for your weight loss! Good for you for not giving up.

Morphy, it's been way too long since I posted here. Just wanted to wish MrMorphy all the best on his appointment…is it still tomorrow? He seems to be at peace with his decision. I had a friend with a glass eye and we both thought it was pretty cool! I'm so glad your eating is back on track again. Yay! for support groups. Considering all the stress you've been under this year, it's amazing to me how you don't fall apart. Wishing you continued strength and hope as another Thanksgiving approaches. It's good that you have your friends and positive attitude to be thankful for.

Clap, clap, thumb up :-)

Whoo-hoo!!!

A woo-hoo in triplicate from me too Morphy and plenty of hugs to you and Mr. Morphy.

Way to go, Morphy!!!!

Hi Morphy, quick check in here.

>186 Morphidae: Well, forgive us if we don't know the right way to eat ... oh, for goodness's sakes; Mr M. is right. You people are weird.

>196 Morphidae: No idea what you mean. At all. La la-la la-la ...

Keep on that wagon! Me, I start eating when I'm bored, so when I catch myself opening the fridge too often for no particular reason, I try to switch to fruits or vegetable sticks - something crunchy to keep my jaws working. Chewing gum is a possibility - but we don't get it here.

Best of luck with the surgery. And if Mr. M. gets a wooden eye, make sure the monkey doesn't get hold of it. (Sorry - just watched Pirates of the Caribbean. Again.)

>229 humouress: Boredom is my downfall also.

Morphy, you definitely deserve the woo-hoo chorus! Hard to drag up from the depths and get back on track. I wish MrMorphy the best.

I remember that Peter Falk had a glass eye, and once popped it out and slammed it on someone's desk in the heat of an argument. That must have been pretty funny - at least after the fact

I'm sorry I put the kabosh on The Corrections for you. I ended up very sympathetic to the characters, who are human and struggling, after all. It made sense of the title for me too.

Woohoo, congratulations on getting your eating back on track!

Hurrah! Good job.

I'd lost 5 pounds a few weeks ago, then I twisted my knee and became largely immobile for a week and a half. Gained back 2.5 - but only that much, and I seem to be holding now (and my knee is _almost_ better!). Not as impressive as your efforts, so I can definitely agree you're owed a few Woo hoos!

We've got various birds year-round here - including the very annoying non-migratory Canada geese. They're legally considered migratory birds and have all kinds of legal protections, but they don't _go_ anywhere - they just stay here and eat our plants and poop everywhere. Grr.

But also pelicans (mostly brown, some white), lots of egrets and herons of various sorts (including a Great Blue Heron I see now and then). Avocets, various terns (including Least Terns who nest here). Night Herons, Ospreys, another raptor which is _probably_ a Red-tailed Hawk but I've never seen it clearly enough to be sure - oh, I saw a turkey buzzard sitting on the top of a light post the other day. Very odd! Also lots of mallards (speaking of non-migratory), coots, crows, a few ravens, and of course pigeons, gulls (California, American, and possibly Goliath), and tons of little birds. Finches, wrens, sparrows - some of them are quite bright, if you can get close enough to see. And woodpeckers - they like our wooden electric wire poles. The more I write the more I think of...

>229 humouress: ETA Of course - Woo hoo in spades (sorry - skimmed through too fast that time)

I saw some kind of bird of prey the other day; I suspect it was a fish eagle. Pretty impressive for city-bound Singapore, I thought. I don't see much out of the ordinary (apart from the kamikaze bats that periodically infest visit my garden).

Giving you a gigantic WOOHOO! Celebrate away, Morphy. :D

>217 Morphidae: WHOO-HOO! Way to go, Morphy!

Congrats!!! That's awesome!

I'll add a great big WHOO-HOO too, Morphy. Well done, you.

*does a dance with pom poms*

Woo hoo! (Okay, so I've never actually owned pom poms...but we can pretend.)

>217 Morphidae: WHOOOOHOOOO!!

And on the subject of birds...we drove to Virginia last week, and in one four-hour stretch I counted 16 hawks on sentinel duty in low trees and brush along Interstate 81. I wonder if they parcel out their territory --- I envision a nifty raptor council with the Head Hawk assigning each bird its location, perhaps in weekly rotation.

>210 Morphidae: I finished The Corrections but I can't say I'm any smarter or thinner or better off for having done so

Huge Whooooooooooop from me as well Morphy! great for loosing the weight!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and Mr Morphy! I hope you both have a wonderful day today :)

>218 MDGentleReader: >219 lkernagh: >220 streamsong: >222 scaifea: >223 Sakerfalcon: >225 Ameise1: >226 ronincats: >227 PaulCranswick: >228 SylviaC: >231 _Zoe_: >234 jolerie: >235 Storeetllr: >236 Kassilem: >237 DeltaQueen50: >238 RosyLibrarian: Thanks! The cheers really encourage me.

>221 maggie1944: About the only thing I miss from living in Florida is fresh fruit year round. That and the ocean.

>224 Donna828: We met with the eye surgeon on Tuesday and it went very well. We both like the doctor. He took his time with us, was knowledgeable and cordial. I like that I didn't feel rushed and I hardly had to ask any questions. He went over everything thoroughly and said if he had the two options (radiation or removal), he would have it removed. He also was a doctor down in Mayo. It was just a perfect visit. MrMorphy was very pleased and I haven't seen him in such a good mood in months. He's doing silly things like mooning me that make me laugh. It's so nice to have my playful husband back!

>229 humouress: One thing I've noticed is that I've gotten bored with my desserts so I've had to change them up. Otherwise I keep eating them because nothing satisfies me and I end up eating two or three desserts in a night. I got some new ones and I'm back down to one dessert.

>230 ffortsa: Don't worry about it. I was looking for an excuse to quit The Corrections. I really didn't like it.

>232 jjmcgaffey: I bought a bird book years ago and started checking off a life list. I got above a hundred different birds and then stopped doing it. I may go back to it one day.

>233 humouress: We have bats too but we don't get too many. Just enough that we are happy to have them for pest control.

>239 laytonwoman3rd: That made MrMorphy and I laugh. Hawk Patrol!

>240 magicians_nephew: Well, if it won't make me thinner, just forget about it!

>241 drachenbraut23: Thanks! We picked up our pre-made dinner yesterday and MrMorphy started getting it heated up around 2:45pm today. We ate just after 5:00pm and had turkey, mashed potatoes, sage stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, dinner rolls with butter, and pie (pecan for me, pumpkin for MrMorphy.) We watched the first half of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl.

Happy Thanksgiving, Morphy!

>243 tymfos: Thanks! I hope yours went well!

***

MrMorphy's 55th Benihana's Birthday - My friend, Philip, is behind me and his husband, Ray, is behind Ken.

Lovely picture!

Sounds like you and MrM are having a very nice Thanksgiving. Enjoy yourselves!

I'm so glad the appointment went well, and both of you are comfortable with the surgeon. Do you know when the surgery will be done?

I guess MrMorphy must be telling you that he loves you to the moon and back!

In an extremely trying year your struggles to overcome your difficulties and to face down every kick that life sends you and that Soulmate of yours is a constant source of inspiration to me and others I am sure.

I hope that the holiday weekend is kind to you both. xxx

>245 SylviaC: Well, it's currently scheduled for the 11th, but right after we did that, we realized he needed to move my wheelchair at Christmas and he wouldn't be able to do it that soon after the surgery. So I'm going to try to reach the surgeon's nurse today to reschedule right after the first of the year.

>246 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. That's precious to me.

We've specifically planned to have lots of R&R this weekend.

***

I absolutely LOVE the bathtub test....I must ask my son-in-law, the psychiatrist, if he uses this one!

I would have used the bucket. I always fail those tests!

Morphy, I only stopped binge eating because I started getting stomach aches. Thank goodness for stomach aches ;) However, I did want to cut back gently, because gently is the only way that works for me, so I started eating my vegetables and potatoes and sandwiches (for examples), which I used to pile with butter, by only putting some butter on the last 2 bites. That worked because I still finished with the taste and feeling of that nice salty fat when I finished. And now I don't mind eating some stuff without so much fat. And I switched to eating Pringles chips because I can be satisfied with just the chips I can hook up with my finger if I make sure each chip has the salty side on my tongue and I don't eat too fast. I managed to cut back on sweets just by not having them in the apartment so I had to go to a lot of trouble to get some. Now if I eat very much sugar and fat, I feel sick. Also, if I buy cookies, I buy the ones that leave a really good taste in my mouth for a long time instead of having to eat a lot to feel satisfied.

It helps me. And if I would only get some exercise, it would help a lot more.

Woo Hoo, Happy Belated Bday to MrMorphy, Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you, and I hope you're having a nice and quiet Black Friday, Morphy!

I failed the bathtub test too. I'll take a window bed.

Hi, Morphy ~ Hope you and MrMorphy had a lovely Thanksgiving Day! Good news about MrMorphy's doctor's visit. It's great when doctors treat you like they really do care, and when they are honest and take their time answering your questions. I've been lucky lately with my doctors, but I've had the other kind of treatment in the past, and it's always so upsetting.

I also failed the bathtub test, but there was really never any doubt about my sanity.

Bed near the window sounds about right for me.

>244 Morphidae: Great photo! Looks like a fun time.

I almost made it through today without eating white flour and sugar, but was defeated by my cannister of left over Halloween candy, and the cheese cake my housemate made for Thanksgiving, and brought home to our refrigerator. And yet, I do feel like I'm partially back on my path. Give me another couple of days, and I think I'll be good.

Also, failed the bathtub test.

>244 Morphidae: What a wonderful photo Morphy! It looks like you all had such a great time!

Love the bathtub joke - I guess for me it would be the bed next to the window as well :)

Morphy

I'm ever so sorry for all the struggles you and Mr. Morphy are facing. I've been out of touch and realize how much I've missed.

Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Morphy, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Love the Benihana photo, Morph! Glad to hear you had a nice holiday and a nice birthday celebration with the DH.

>248 laytonwoman3rd: >250 LauraBrook: >251 Storeetllr: >252 jnwelch: >253 maggie1944: >254 drachenbraut23: *I* passed the test just fine. *sniffs, nose in air* I DID! Really! Stop laughing!

>249 nhlsecord: I'm started in baby steps, too. First one was to stop grazing all day - bring it down to 3 meals, 2 snacks. Next was to get control of desserts - ONE per meal/snack. Today I start reducing some portions - a smaller AM snack and no desserts with snacks. Next up will be to reduce take out to once per week and to start journaling my food again.

>251 Storeetllr: It certainly was a contrast to the mess at Mayo.

>253 maggie1944: Psst... candy canes?

>255 Whisper1: Thanks. I've been remiss in visiting some threads. What's going on with your neck?

>256 Ameise1: Thanks.

>257 msf59: We did! They are bright spots during the difficult times for sure.

***

Quiet weekend. I'll be working on the to do list - crafting, reading, volunteer work, binge eating group homework, personal business (finances, insurance). I know it doesn't sound "quiet" but quiet for me means I don't have to go anywhere and can concentrate on tasks.

I'm working my way through The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey and should be done today. Then I'll pick something more fun - perhaps Eyewitness: Africa by Yvonne Ayo. I love Eyewitness books. Pretty pictures!

I'll also watch something - perhaps an episode of Red Band Society or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Sounds like a great weekend. I have much the same planned except I did schedule a haircut for Sunday afternoon. Nice that they are open on Sunday afternoons.

I'm also working on planning my food for this coming week. That should help me get back on the plan, that is .... if you have a plan, you have something to get on. My biggest failing is not planning my food and then the impulses take over. Sugar and white love impulsive acting.

>249 nhlsecord: Thanksgiving was out of control eating for me. My sister-in-law is the best hostess, so there were bloody Marys, crudites with delicious dips, a plentiful roast turkey dinner, two kinds of dessert. By the end, my stomach was none too happy, and I continue to be sluggish and headachy even today, Saturday.

I'm planning a better eating campaign starting pretty much now. And I've ordered a book on anti-inflammatory eating that has helped a friend of mine tremendously, both with weight and energy. It's probably more or less what we all know, but it's helpful to have it written down for guidance.

I've resisted journalling my food for years, and then started recently on the advice of Terri Loeffler, who has had a lot of success with myfitnesspal.com. It sometimes produces a rueful shock to see just how 'expensive' a certain habitual meal or item is. It keeps me honest with myself. sigh.

A healthy and happy year to all! A little early, I know, but I always feel Thanksgiving is the start of the end of the year anyway.

Whoo hoo! I've actually created a new thread BEFORE ending up in the three hundreds!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/183569

A belated Whoohoo and a Whoop too!

Wonderful about Mr. Morphy's doctor visit.

I'm headed to your latest thread now.