Finding Our Way Home- The Story of Me Too

It has been a long time dear readers since I have posted anything here. I am happy to say that I am back on the Blogging for Books bandwagon after some months away. A lot has happened and that is another entry for another day. So on with the review!

In this wonderfully written, honest book by Charlene Ann Baumbich we find two strong women who are miles apart in their lives. Sasha, who is a wonderfully talented ballet dancer who was recently in a horrific accident that ended her dancing career early and Evelyn who is 19 years old, engaged and happy go lucky as can be.

As the story opens it has been a while since Sasha’s accident, but she is still recovering and not making much progress. Evelyn comes into the story as her assistant and home health care worker. Sasha is not acting like her usual self at this point being that she is depressed and cranky.

Evelyn comes in and turns everything upside down in Sasha’s life. She starts to understand that she was depressed and she needed to take her anti-depressants for the time being. When she takes that small but important step she is amazed at how things change in her life from being dark and dreary to being bright and happy.

Evelyn on the other hand is having trouble with her parents over her fiancée Jorden. Her father in particular does not really life him and in fact no one in Evelyn’s family is impressed with him, which of course makes Evelyn hang on even tighter to him. Eventually she does start to see things about him that she has not seen before, especially when she is the one paying for dinner more than usual.

Jorden begins to press Evelyn to get married before the two years she had planned on. Of course he has good reasons to get married soon and ups the ante when his family decides to move. It is at this point that something happens to Jorden and he breaks up with Evelyn which destroys her.

Evelyn eventually finds her way and gets her life back on track with the help of her parents, her grandfather, and of course Sasha. In the midst of all of this Sasha is trying to reconnect with her husband of 13 years whom she abandoned after the accident.

All in all, this book is wonderfully written and it reminds me that I too recently have found my way home. What a wonderful thing grace is. This book connected with me on so many levels and it was just what I needed at this time of my life.

As always, I got this book free from WalterBrook Multnomah for the sole purpose of this review.

Been MIA

In some cases, that would be bad. However in mine, it was good. It has been difficult since December and apparently when things are getting better now they are falling apart again. School has been good, got through my math class with a B. Took me almost three to four hours of studying a night to do so, but it is over now. I am in to an Abnormal Psychology class now and it is just starting so we will see where that goes.

I have myself a new soldier that I adopted. His name is Michael and right now he is in Georgia at Ft. Benning. His company is getting ready to deploy to Kuwait in the next few months. So, I know I will be busy with that. He is a nice guy, very humble. Sometimes, I feel as though I go through the deployments with these guys. In a way, I guess I do.

I can not believe it is April already! I am wondering where the time went!! Hope this finds everyone well. I am good.. Just busy with school mostly and life. I hope to be back posting here regularly but we will see.

Ciao!!

Today is Blah.

Not weather-wise of course. Weather wise it is sunny with a few clouds, rather nice considering it has rained a lot lately here in my little corner of the world. It is still cool probably cold, but the sun is shining and while it did snow here a little bit the other day, and yes it stuck for a while on the cars and such, it is rather nice today I think.

It is me that is blah. I woke up in a blah mood. Not really sure why. School is going well. Oh yes, just figured it out. Doug’s sister has invited us to a Hanukkah party the day after Christmas. As far as I know, the one person I do not like will not be there. But Doug’s Aunt and Uncle will be and I want to see them. So, I am going. I know I should sound more happy and excited, but honestly, I can’t. Not until I know for sure that the ‘person from hell’ will absolutely not be there. I know it sounds childish even to me, but after what I went through with this person, I have no desire to set eyes on her ever again and if I see her before she or I dies, it will be way too soon. There is no hatred there or any kind of feeling.

She does not rent space in my head that way. I have no desire to see her or be in the same room with her. I have my boundaries and that is a HUGE one for me. His sister already tried to cross it once and it did not work well for her.

Sunday was Doug’s Christmas party for work and we went. I have to say that honestly it was not as good as last year’s and a lot of people were disappointed I think. It was still kind of fun and the food was good, so all in all a win I would say. It was in the same place as last year and I was okay with that. Because it was a bowling alley and I did not have to get all dressed up, so again a win. I see these people once a year and this is it. LOL. Of course there are one or two that I see more than that, but really, once a year is good.

Doug has been really looking for another job because of the crap Home Depot put him through while he was on medical leave. On the store level, mind you, not the corporate level.  When he went back last Thursday, everyone seemed to have missed him and at the Christmas party a lot of people asked about his foot. He is still in a walking shoe and they are still doing the soft cast thing on his foot, but he is at the foot doctor today so we will see what happens next. The doctor themselves moved him down to the wound care center, where they are aggressively treating his foot. I am not sure why they waited so long to do that myself, but I am not a doctor.  But at least he is back to work and that is important.

I think this is it for now. Ciao.

A Sound Among the Trees- A Review

This novel by Susan Meissner is set in Virginia for the most part. It switches between present time and the 1860’s. I really enjoyed this book because it has it all, romance, loss, perceived betrayal, and redemption. In this book, we see Marielle Bishop, who falls in love with Carter over the internet and on the phone. A very modern way to meet. Marielle is from Phoenix originally and Carter is in Virginia when a mix up with the online dating service that both belong to happens. Marielle is only interested in meeting local Phoenix men, but when Carter’s profile is dropped to her by mistake, she finds that they have so much in common. She emails him and from the beginning she is determined that she will not fall for him. As the emails and later phone calls grow more frequent Marielle finds herself having feelings for Carter and agrees to a meeting.

Carter has lost his wife, Sara four years ago and is living with Sara’s grandmother and his and Sara’s children. When he meets Marielle via online dating service he too is sorry that they do not live closer and is not looking for a long distance relationship. In fact, Carter was pushed into the online dating world by well meaning co-workers and is not sure he is ready for finding someone new. All he knows is that he is lonely and misses loving someone else.

 

Adelaide is Carter’s grandmother-in-law and owner of Holly Oak. She is ninety years old and has a business of sewing Civil War Confederate uniforms for the reenactments. In the beginning she is not sure how she feels about Carter remarrying someone else. She seems to feel like it would be a betrayal of her granddaughter Sara, if she liked this new person. Sara’s mother Caroline, has been in and out of her life but never hanging around too long. Caroline suffers from mental illness that runs through the family.

Holly Oak is the main character of this story, but is not human. It is a centuries old house that has seen a lot of hurt and anger in it’s time. Surviving the Civil War with a cannon ball stuck in the side of it, it is a strong house that was the backdrop to lies, betrayal, love, hurt, death, and in the end is still standing tall.

I read this book quickly and loved it very much! Such an awesome story and enough mystery to keep me turning the pages. I would recommend this book to everyone.

I got this book for free from WalterBrook Multnomah for the express reason of this review.

 

A Sound Among the Trees by Susan Meissner (Chapter 1 Excerpt)

Waiting To Hear

Since my last entry, Doug talked to Nancy in the office of our building and has since written a letter to the management company to get permission to be able to get DirectTV in here. I honestly do not know how one company can have a monopoly on cable in one building, I do understand having a preferred provider and all, but not letting other cable companies in at all, it seems wrong somehow and I know we are not the only ones who are fed up with Nickel and Dime Cable as I call them. So, now we wait to hear back and see what they say. I have a feeling I know what they will say, but I am hoping and praying for good news.

On the other hand, Nickel and Dime Cable came today to pick up their boxes and ask for money from me. I was like, not possible right now. Hence, the off cable service. The guy they sent was really nice and all, but I am frustrated because according to them they are still charging me $7 for a modem lease fee when I returned it in September. So, since I already have a migraine today, I will deal with that whole fuster cluck tomorrow or Monday. Sigh.

I have so had it with them I can’t even begin to describe it. First they continue to charge me for internet service after I had it turned off. Now they are charging me for equipment that I no longer have in my possession. Arrg!!! This is why I did not want to deal with them in the first place. But because my building will not let me have a choice, I was stick with them. And to be honest, their service sucks. The internet, phone and cable is not worth what you end up paying for in the end. So, hopefully I will have DirectTV soon and can be happy once again. If not, well, I will have to think of something else I guess and that will really piss me off.

Stuck and Not In a Good Way

I suppose that this might become kind of a rant, so if you don’t want to read it all, I am okay with that. In my apartment building, they only have Comcast cable, I think I mentioned that before. Now, I have had a lot of issues with Comcast over the last year and little bit that we have lived here. So last night in the grocery fliers, there was a thing for DirectTV. Which we had at the house at one point and the only issue we had with them is that the repair people that came out would not replace the line when we were telling them that there was water in the line.

So, I called last night and I qualified for the deal that they are offering, but the hitch was that I had to talk to the apartment manager about getting this. Doug went down and talked to them and they said no. If it was because they thought that they were going to drill to put the dish up, DirectTV said that they would clip the dish to the ledge outside the window. I asked specifically about that to be sure that they would not drill. It would have been so much less than Comcast and get so much more! I am really mad because I tried Comcast and they really suck. I wanted something better and I feel that I should have the choice. I guess I do have a choice, Comcast or move. I can’t afford to move so I am stuck with no cable now. Sigh.

Well, going to go. Ciao.

Rainy and Chilly

There have been a great many changes in my life in the last couple of months and all of them good, I think. I gave up cable for now. With rabbit ears on my TV I still get CBS which is where most of my programs are in the first place. The only channel I can not get right now, is ABC, which is Castle on Monday nights, but I can watch that online. Actually, I will most likely wait and get the season on DVD. We have so many movies and streaming from Netflix, so it is not like I am actually missing anything. I am not.

This actually helps me because I have more time to dedicate to school. And I don’t feel like I am missing anything at all. Now, don’t get me wrong, I might change that tune after a while and now, when I say there is nothing on TV there really is not. Sacrifices needed to be made and since I need the internet for school and we need a home phone, this was the one thing that we can get by without I think. I am not saying that we will not get cable again, but for now, it is off.

The weather here is cloudy, rainy, and chilly. I think last night they mentioned snow flakes by the middle of the week or so. Not sure. I know it will be in the 20’s for the low this week. Nice day to read and relax, which is what I am doing. Well, back to my book! Ciao!