Literary Update

It occured to me today that I haven't commented on the books I've read or started reading. I'm proud to say that I finished Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series last week. It took me longer than expected to finish the seventh book but then again, it was 800+ pages long. I have to say that the series was excellent. Stephen King created it as his personal "Lord of the Rings" type of story. It was an excellent quest to follow. Parts of the story did get boring at times but I realized at the end that everything was critical....even the dull tidbits. I was truly surprised by the ending though. It was a crafty way to end the series. I bet it angered a lot of Stephen King's readers. He started the series in the 70s and ended it in 2006 I believe. I plan to reread it later in life after all the fine details get fuzzy or forgotten.

I have checked out another Stephen King book called "The Stand". It's only a meer 1135 pages long. I haven't started it yet. I tried reading it a few years ago but it never tripped my trigger. It didn't help that I had no idea what the topic of the book was when I tried back then. My interest was sparked because some scenes from "The Stand" are included in the "Dark Tower" series. King included other portions of numerous novels throughout the series whether it be settings or characters. The premise for "The Stand" is that a superflu hits the world and wipes out mankind for the most part. There is a lot of military mumbo-jumbo in the beginning of the book so I need to get through that (that's what turned me off the first time I tried to read it).

While picking up my latest Stephen King read, another book caught my attention. A librarian had strategically placed it at the end of a shelf of books and the title sucked me in. It's called "The Particular Saddness of Lemon Cake" by Aimee Bender. I'm not sure if the bakery item called to me or what but I grabbed it. I've almost finished it reading it. It starts with a little girl trying her mother's lemon cake and suddenly realizing that she can sense her mother's emotions through her cooking/baking. It really freaks her out of course because she realizes how unhappy her mother is. She adapts and actually has to avoid a lot of her mom's cooking through the years but realizes during adolescence that her mom is having an affair. The book includes a separate story about her older brother but I'm having a hard time getting into that part of the book. It wasn't the best book but it was interesting and a nice little break from the horror genre.

Some other happenings are as follows:

--Gavin started a basketball camp today through the Ames High School Booster Club. He was not pleased to have to go somewhere on his first day of summer vacation. Fortunately he was happy when I picked him up and he enjoyed his time. I was surprised by how ticked he was that he had to go be active this week. His first week of 4H camp begins on June 12.

--I endured more rudeness today at work. I was seriously shocked by a conversation I had with a parent via phone. I had been in communication with the father via email (about the broken pool). His wife sent me an email this morning and asked me to call her. I figured it would be the routine, apologetic discussion and she'd accept the situation. Holy cow I was wrong. She started the conversation by simply asking "When are you going to start doing your job as director and remedy this situation?" I was honestly speechless. She thinks it's beyond unacceptable that I don't have a plan B that allows the kids to swim every day. She wants me to transfer the kids to the Ames Aquatic Center each day. I tried explaining that it would be too expensive....I know darn well that Ames would charge the usual rate for each child. I cannot afford to rent vans or transportation either. And on top of that, I cannot guarantee the proper supervision of all the children since the pool is bombarded with a ton of people each day. She was just pissed off and wasn't willing to think logicially. I really had to bite my tongue since she kept jabbing at my ability to direct the oveall program.

--I've been craving taco pizza for months. I truly miss the Happy Joe's that used to exist less than a mile away. I had a piece of taco pizza from Pizza Hut at a previous Red Cross meeting and didn't mind it so I ordered a medium from them tonight. They actually have a meatless version that tripped my trigger immediately. It was okay but the proportion of "white cheese" to "cheddar cheese" disappointed me.

--Jon and I are planning a trip to Chicago at the end of June. The "Taste of Chicago" is taking place during that week into July. We are trying to figure out if we can stay downtown or if we need to stay in a suburb. I know I'll need a little get-away by that point since it will be the midway point of the summer program at ISU. It will give us a chance to visit with his friend Murph and do some sight-seeing.

--I invested in another bible study that I will be doing in a long distance manner with Tiffany. It's called "Stepping Up" and it utilizes the Psalms portion of the Bible. (Written by Beth Moore) I'm hoping my somewhat self-study will create more peace in my life. It will be fun to discuss parts of the study with Tiffany since she also needs comfort in Maryland. I'm still doing a study called "Crazy Love" through my church but I've never really latched onto it. It's a good book....I need to re-read the first few chapters and I'm sure it would be more meaningful. We've had good discussions at our monthly women's ministry gathering.

I think that's it for now. I'm going to wander off to bed and read more about lemon cake. Take care!