Books I've Read in 2009

Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine

The Shack by William P. Young

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

Grace (Eventually)by Anne Lamott

A Year Without "Made in China"

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss

Go Green, Live Rich by David Bach

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

$64 Tomato by William Alexander

Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer by Tim Stark

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

The Eight by Katherine Neville

Fieldwork: A Novel by Mischa Berlinski

Sleeping Naked Is Green by Vanessa Farquharson

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes by Mark Bittman

Sharing the Harvest by Elizabeth Henderson

The End of Food by Paul Roberts

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton

Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton

The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton

Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton

Burnt Offerings by Laurell K. Hamilton

Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton

Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton, Cynthia Holloway

Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton, Cynthia Holloway

Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton, Cynthia Holloway

1984 by George Orwell

You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore

Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton

Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb

Better Off : Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende

Resolutions Resolved for 2009

Another year nearly gone. I can't believe how fast time goes. Luckily, since I plan to live to be 100 years old, I'm not even halfway there yet. The balance of my life is still before me. It's a good thing too, cause baby I've got PLANS!

As I look over my resolutions and goals for this last year, I can say I've had some successes. Even though I didn't reach or complete all my goals, I've made progress towards them or just decided to change course.

Here's the recap:

Resolutions, Goals and Life Lists
1. Watch less television (really hard for me because I'm a total addict, there should be a 12 step program or a patch).

Check! I made it 40 days this summer without watching television. It was nice but I also realized I REALLY like watching my "Mama shows" as Grace calls them. Basically any show she isn't allowed to watch she calls a "Mama show". You can read the full report if you missed it at http://medley3.blogspot.com/2009/06/true-end-of-tv-drought.html

2. Read 52 books in a year (which would be a lot easier if I watched less television).

Check! as of today, I'm on book number 57! That does not count the dozens of library books I've also read to Grace and numerous magazines. I can't believe I read that many books and should be able to get in one or maybe two more before the end of the year.


3. Eat no fast food for a year (I'm not sure that's even possible).

Nope. Didn't even really try this one. I did manage long stretches between trips to McDonalds, but working out most days of the week made this feel like an impossible task to me. I consider fast food any restaurant with a drive-thru. Something to work on in the future.

4. Plan our family meals a week/month at a time and shop for them accordingly.

Nope, didn't get this accomplished either, however, I am carrying it over to next year and hope to get things organized for a full scale attempt over the Christmas break!

5. Lose 20 pounds...again.

Nope. This is goal number one for me AND Bryon in the coming year. Grace said we should all do pushups together in a line upstairs so we can all be skinny in the middle. Bryon told her that we didn't want to be too skinny or too fat that we should be in the middle. She's going to be a real Drill Sergeant I can already tell.

6. Cut my hair (childhood hair trauma has kept my hair long for the past 25 years, again, I probably need a patch or 12 step program for this one too).

I did get it cut. Nothing drastic. It basically looks the same only shorter but still I got about 4+ inches cut off the back. I like it.



I waited until the end of the year, but it is finally accomplished!

7. Learn some Italian.

Nope.

8. Go to Italy (obviously learning some Italian would help this cause and Dawn and I are going to try to save enough money to go together the summer of 2010)

Nope. We are not going to Italy this summer after all. The economy conspired against Dawn and I. We still hope to go sometime in the future. Hopefully before 2012 when my passport expires!

9. Learn to play my really spectacular Taylor Big Baby guitar (or at least a few recognizable campfire worthy songs).

Nope. I think Grace and I can start taking some lessons together in 2010 because now she knows her LETTERS so she can start learning to read music. I'm hoping we can take lessons together one night a week and plan to go the music store in Marshfield to set things up for us over Christmas break.

10. Raise all of our own meat on the farm.

We were successful in raising all our chicken, eating the pork we raised last year and butchering deer Bryon killed. We still don't have any fencing to raise beef, so I've been buying grass fed burger from The Rockin H Ranch in Norwood. I'm hopeful once again for 2010 and we'll definitely raise meat chickens again and a pig if Bryon doesn't go hog hunting soon!

11. Learn to make cheese and bread.

Check on both. I can make rolls, ricotta and mozzerella now. I don't make cheese very often because it's so time consuming but we eat my homemade rolls weekly. Loaf bread is next on list.

12. Finish the last 12 mile section of the Ozarks Highland Trail in Arkansas (I have already hiked 153 miles of it).

Nope. I keep wimping out. Turns out I'm in terrible shape, I don't like the rain or cold and I just can't find the motivation to get this done....maybe next year.

13. Print last year's photos so I can scrapbook them.

Check! I printed them all out and now they are in a nice pile upstairs and suddenly I'm a year behind again. Oh well.

14. Scrapbook them.

Nope. I haven't "scrapbooked" in months. It seems the blog has become my scrapbook. I do have a nice pdf file of all my blogs to date that I hope to make into a book at some point if I can figure out how to make all the photos download correctly. So I figure that's better than nothing.

For 2010 I already have some things on my list that I'd like to accomplish and a few will carry over from last year of course. I just can't help myself.

A girl's just got to have a plan.

O' Organic!

I am an Organic adulterer. I want to be married to Organic, but it's just too big a commitment. Organic is an expensive date. He's hard to find sometimes and keep track of. He's not always what he seems. So when he's feeling easy and available, I'm all over him. The other times...not so much.

I've had affairs on him with McDonalds and several, okay, EVERY other restaurant I've ever eaten at. I want to do better, but I just don't have the will power.

I've been trying to buy more organic foods for our family and incorporate them into out diet. It's not easy. There aren't very many choices in our little town, although the local Summer Fresh grocery store IS trying with a small little dedicated section. I try to buy SOMETHING from that section every time I go in the store, but I feel sorry for them because several of their dairy items have already expired by the time I'm there to consider buying them. I know that is not encouraging to them and they are likely losing money.

Walmart makes me mad too. They do have some organic products and produce but they are interspersed around the store and not easy to find. AND when I do find something I like, for example Del Monte organic tomato sauce, then the next time I go to stock up, it's not on the shelf anymore.

I can't, or more, WON'T go to the only "natural foods" store in Springfield to buy my groceries on a regular basis. I know it would be at LEAST twice as much, not to mention a HUGE inconvenience. My friend Liz kindly picks up the things I order from the Mt. Vernon Coop and delivers them to me on a regular basis. This is WONDERFUL! Especially for dry goods, health and body products etc. but I'm hesitant to buy dairy, refrigerated or frozen goods with close expiration dates because I KNOW I won't and can't make that hour trip to pick them up in a timely manner.

One of my goals for this year was to raise all our own meat on the farm. That still hasn't happened and since it's only 28 days until 2010, it's not looking hopeful. We did, however, raise all our own chicken this year, and have eaten almost all of the pig we butchered last January. Our sausage has been gone for months. Next time, more sausage!

Since we weren't able to get our fencing in AGAIN this year, I bought grass fed burger from the Rocking H Ranch in Norwood all summer. I plan to keep doing that until we have our OWN beef.

We supplement with deer as well. Bryon got two this year and our friends bought one of them (paid for the processing). We had it made into breakfast sausage this time which has turned out suprisingly well. It could have been a bit spicier but we'll know next time. We were eating it in ziti the other night and Bryon pointed out that our deer was most likely NOT organic.

I hadn't even thought about that but he's right. The WILD deer he killed that has foraged off the land for the past two to five years has more than likely eaten a goodly quantity of Monsanto genetically modified and Roundup Ready corn and soybeans from our neighbors fields. In fact, our closest neighbor is BEGGING hunters to come and kill his deer. He figures they've eaten close to four entire rows from one field which accounts for several bushels of corn which to a small farmer translates into dollars lost.

I think that's just nuts. A WILD and NATURAL animal that could not even be stamped organic because it's diet has been corrupted by Monsanto.

What's next?

Goodbye Turkey, Hello Ham!

We had a great trip to Nebraska for Thanksgiving this year. Grace was the best traveler the whole trip and Gary and Norma Jean went along as well. Gary hadn't been back since he moved here last February and was glad to see the family again.

Grace got spoiled by Aunt Jan and Uncle Kelly and I did some shopping on Black Friday (AFTER the craziness calmed down) and the Huskers beat Colorado so all was right with the world.

We got home Sat. night about 6 pm and I'd been telling Grace we would put up our Christmas stuff when we got home. Of course by the time we actually GOT home, my ambition had waned. Hers, however, had not!

I dug out her little tree and ornaments and she decorated it up last night.



Today I got out EVERY DECORATION WE OWN and went to putting them all up and out and around the house. We skipped church, slept in, fixed breakfast and then just messed around all day. It was GREAT! I wish I had another week to keep doing it!

I got everything up except for some outside decorations around the porch. Grace has been asking for outside Christmas lights and Bryon decided he'd do some for her. He couldn't find what he wanted at Walmart today so he'll have to go on the great light hunt this week. He wants those old fashioned, fat colored bulbs.

I finally got him to put up icicle lights the first year we were in the house and had the big FAMILY Christmas gathering. He cussed and grumbled the whole time, finally got them up, plugged them in and then only half of them worked. He was NOT happy. Then to top it off, squirrels ate the plugs off the ends. Hopefully we'll have better luck this time. Of course now it will probably just be Ruger eating the lights.

I have SEVEN Christmas trees up in the house! Last year we got four topiary trees with lights on them the day after Christmas and we thought we could put out on the front porch instead of lights on the house. Good idea, but NOW we have Ruger who is a one dog destruction crew. He'd destroy those trees in no time I'm sure. So I put them up around the house instead. I decided anything that's NOT used this year, goes to the garage sale pile.







It pretty much looks like Christmas exploded at the Medley house right now, but I figure this will be one of Grace's best years for remembering Christmas.

I told her the other day, I sure hope Santa brings her some new socks for Christmas. She asked me why and I told her because she REALLY needs some. She said, "Well I'm not going to tell him!" I guess she didn't want to use up her gift luck on socks! Oh well, Santa already found a few. I think I'll have her open that box first!

Bruuuhaaahahahahahaha!

Deer Season 2009

I just realized I didn't get any mention in about Bryon's deer season this year. He and his Dad both got button bucks (which didn't even count as bucks because the only thing that proved they were boys were testicles!) opening morning, then on Sunday of the first weekend he got a nice 8 point.

His friend Chris got a huge 11 point that same weekend.

Vamped Out

First of all, sorry I've been delinquent in blogging. I spent a week in Rolla working and staying at the Hampton Inn, then that SATURDAY at an all day mandatory meeting for work as well. NOT FUN! Last week I pretty much spent catching up on everything.

Bryon and Grace did a great job keeping the house clean and all the animals alive, so I suppose they CAN live without me after all :) But I still don't like being gone. The next big college drive is February 2-5 so I've already got my reservation made.

I have to admit it WAS nice sleeping in a king sized bed, and having my evening snackage ready and waiting for me when I got back to the hotel. The staff at the Hampton is AWESOME and they had breakfast every morning which was GREAT and FREE! I certainly am NOT complaining about that.

I also got the rest of the Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series read. Yeah, there were 17 books in the series. It was the longest series of books I've ever read. The next book is Flirt and it comes out in February (AFTER the blood drive unfortunately) and then another this summer. I'll read them because I'm in too deep now to quit, but I think I'm pretty vamped out for now.

I'm looking forward to getting through some of my tower of texts in the next few weeks that have been piling up while I gave my attention to the vampires.

So many books, so little time.

No Gift Christmas ... Too Much Stuff .. and Fun with Nature

The family is all in. No gifts are being exchanged again this year. I'm VERY happy about that! That means...NO SHOPPING! NO fighting the crowds in the brain sucking flourescent lights. No Made in China, lead based crap that's going to break and fall apart in ten minutes. No lame junk that people don't really want and NOT spending $1200 on all that STUFF.

Of course, there is the Grace exemption. Bryon and I and the rest of the family are allowed to buy gifts for Grace, but honestly, after her birthday and having SEVENTEEN guests who brought gifts... I just can't really think of much she needs.

I finally cleaned off her desk in her room last week and organized all her art supplies into a container and she has A LOT of stuff! Seriously. We are one box away from a Dateline episode on HOARDING.

I'm afraid she has some of that RICE HOARDING in her genes because she wants to keep every little piece of EVERYTHING. I have to hide things and wait until she forgets about them then throw them out. Same thing with artwork from school. She wants to keep everything including empty Kleenex boxes (with pretty designs) etc. No, I say, NO!

Do NOT however, look at my own little collection of scrapbooking and crafting paraphenallia upstairs. Mine of course is much more sophisticated. It is. Really.

She also collects TONS of rocks. And leaves. And sticks. And pine cones. And shells. And nuts. And berries. And EVERYTHING. I finally cleaned up all her little piles and stashes and put them into a bucket.



It was a LOT of stuff. Of course, it's hard to argue with collecting "stuff" from nature. It costs nothing and gives her lots of pleasure.

On vacation she picked up a TON of rocks and stuff. We stuffed them into the Pacifica under the tire and forgot all about them until I vacuumed out Bryon's car last weekend and found them again. She had a whole gallon ziplock full of things. She sat out on the back deck organizing them into a pencil box and came in asking for more containers. I had just bought two little containers for the art supplies reorganization so I gave those to her... here is what she came up with... all on her own.



I'm thinking she's a naturalist in the making.

Candy Negotiations

Grace turned 5 on Oct. 23 and of course immediately started collecting more candy. It is so the Candy Season. I'm afraid she totally has my sweet tooth. Fortunately for me she's EXTREMELY generous AND prefers the hard, sweet and sour candies to the gooey chocolate that I love.

She also knows I like the "YELLOW" candies (not banana though). She constantly scours through her birthday and Halloween stash to trick or treat me with chocolate. Is that a good deal or WHAT!

I've always told her she can have TWO pieces of candy a day and many mornings she'll go to her stash and pick out what she's going to have after school and lay it out on the counter. We Medley girls don't miss many meals OR snacks and like to plan ahead!

A few days after her birthday I was on the computer and she came in and said, "Mama, I have a good idea, how about now since I'm FIVE, I get THREE pieces of candy a day...since now I'M FIVE!?!"

How can you argue with that logic?

I said yes. Daddy says he would have said NO but I figure for one thing she's using good negotiation skills and for two, the candy will just be gone that much faster. It's the same logic that allows me to justify eating an entire box of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies in a day. I asked Bryon one time if it was bad if I just ate the entire row of cookies. He said, "You're going to eat them sometime right?".

Yes, Yes I am.

Naked Day

Grace has really been playing with all her birthday Barbies and accessories. We moved her Barbie Dream House upstairs to the playroom so she wouldn't have to pick it all up every night... you can probably see why...



Of course, like all Barbies, they are mostly naked. She has trouble getting their little clothes on and off still.

I went upstairs to check on her and she had almost ALL of them naked and I asked her why. She said Barbie was going to school naked... because it was Naked Day. I told her I hope we never have that at my work :)

ABC Song Gets 10 Toes Up!

Grace wanted to show off her new official preschool skills the other night and regaled us with the ABC Song AND her new nursery rhymes she just learned.



We went to her first ever parent teacher night last week too and of course we were told she was wonderful :) As if it could be any other way! She got "G's" for Good on everything except for two for which she got "W's" for Working On. Well her W's were for a forward somersault and tying her shoes which of course she can TOTALLY do! Hello, two years of gymnastics already AND video proof of shoe tying!

We just let it slide...it is only preschool right!