Still Alice (book review)

I just read this book for my book club.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish this book in time for our next meeting, but I stayed up late reading every night and finished it in 3 days.  I don't remember the last time a book sucked me in like that.  If my children didn't require so much attention during the day, I probably would have finished sooner, but my reading time is generally limited to after 10PM when I get in bed.  Since the baby still isn't sleeping through the night, it's rare that I'll stay up super late to read.

Still Alice
by Lisa Genova
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the story of Alice, a 50-year old professor at Harvard, who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's.  The story is told from Alice's perspective, and that is what drew me in.  I felt completely connected to Alice, and I was frustrated right along with her when she struggled to find the right words, or follow a conversation, or remember what she was supposed to be doing.  The story was heart-wrenching and heartwarming at the same time.  I could. not. put. it. down.  I cried through a good portion of this book, and when I finished it (at 1AM), I cried myself to sleep.  There was so much tragedy and beauty in the way her relationships with her family members evolved throughout the course of her disease.  The book was also educational for me, as I previously didn't know a lot about Alzheimer's.  The progression of the disease, especially in an early-onset case, is frightening.  Put this at the top of your "to-read" list.

Breaking Night: A Memoir (Book Review)

I think I'm going to begin sharing some of my book reviews here.  I don't write a book review on everything I read, but I'll try to be better about that and at least write a quick paragraph.


Breaking Night: A Memoir
by Liz Murray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wavered between 3 and 4 stars on this one.  I wish I could give it 3.5 stars.  I really enjoyed the book, but a 4-star book usually has to be gripping, and I don't know if I would call this one gripping.  Nevertheless, the author's story is certainly inspirational.  I struggled with the first half of the book, because it was hard to read about her living conditions.  I question how a situation like this can slip through the CPS radar, and it saddens me to think that there are probably many children in similar situations today.  She went through so many details of her childhood that, at times, I wondered how she could remember so many details.  I felt like the story became a bit rushed once she went back to high school, and it really had a different feel.  I preferred the pace of the first half of the book.  Overall, a great read, and I sincerely admire the author's courage and determination.

Final Kitchen Pictures

In hindsight, it was was probably a bad idea to paint my living room, hallway, and kitchen in December.  If not a bad idea, it was at least a selfish one.  My Christmas shopping has taken a back seat to my decorating.  My Christmas cards have also taken a back seat.  Like a way-in-the-back-of-the-van seat.  In fact, I don't even think that back seat is even in the vehicle, because they're just not happening this year.  A wise friend suggested New Year's cards, and I might do that, but everyone will know that I'm only doing it because I missed the Christmas deadline.  Especially now that I've announced it on my blog.  I do have 15 followers, after all.

I'm still working on a lot of finishing touches with the painting/redecorating, but I think I'm ready to share pictures of the kitchen.  If you missed the FULL kitchen renovation, you should look at this post first, so you can fully appreciate the transformation.

Here is the renovated, but unpainted, kitchen.  (If you look carefully, you may spy Artie the elf, who made snow angels on the island the night before.  Anyone who is familiar with the "elf on the shelf" will understand why I could not move the elf, or the snow angel he created.)

And here are the "after" pictures.

I was hoping that the color would be a bit more butterscotchy (yes, I made up that word), but this color is really growing on me, and maybe it's best that it provides some contrast to the floor (which it wouldn't do if it was butterscotchy).  Painting the trim and door white really made a big difference too.  I have a collection of vintage plates that I'm planning to display on that far wall in the second picture.

In my (Nearly) Final Kitchen Redo post, I mentioned that we still needed to install a backsplash, and then I never shared pictures of it once it was installed.  Here is a close-up of the backsplash, which is travertine tile.

I probably won't share pictures of the living room until after the Christmas decorations come down, and my curtains go up.  Of course, I have to make the curtains first.  The fabric just arrived on Monday, and I'm not sure when I'm going to sew them.  I'd love to work on them this weekend, but I have a feeling that Christmas shopping, baking, wrapping presents, and regular errands/chores are going to consume all of my time.  Fa la la la la, la la la la.

On the 9th day, I rested

I mentioned in my last post that I was itching to do some home re-decorating.  Well, I have been a busy girl ever since I posted.  Sometimes, I am a major procrastinator, and other times, I jump in with both feet. Without looking.  And without a net.  It's quite impressive, really.  This doesn't always work out well for me, because I sometimes find myself in over my head after it's too late.  Therein lies the reason I have so many unfinished projects around the house.  I am happy to report, however, that this is not one of those instances.  Starting with last Wednesday, this is what I have been doing...

Day 1:  Chose living room paint color, purchased paint and supplies, did some prep work (removed pictures and switch plates, washed walls, taped ceiling and trim, etc.)
Day 2:  one coat of tinted primer applied to living room and hallway
Day 3:  first and second coat of paint applied
Day 4:  touched up crown molding, trim, and doors in living room and hallway, put furniture back in place, completed 2 jewelry orders
Day 5:  chose kitchen paint color, shopped for fabric for living room curtains
Day 6:  purchased kitchen paint, did prep work in kitchen, ordered fabric for living room curtains
Day 7:  applied 3 coats of paint to kitchen (the third coat was really light and mostly a touch-up), applied 1 coat of paint to kitchen trim
Day 8: 2 more coats of paint on kitchen trim and door (to garage), painted 2 picture frames (I purchased a collection of picture frames at Savers and plan to do a shabby chic collage in the living room)
Day 9:  applied a fourth (!) coat of paint to the kitchen trim and door

So now, on the evening of day 9, I am doing absolutely nothing.  The prep work and clean-up that goes along with painting is more exhausting than the painting itself.  I should really try to hang some of my pictures, and clean a little bit, but I just don't have it in me tonight.  Instead, I'm sitting here watching DVR'd episodes of Ellen and Christmas movies on TBS.

I'm really pleased with the painting results.  Oh, and my wonderful husband patched the hole in my kitchen ceiling, so that is a big improvement as well.  I will share pictures after I finish some of the final details...hang artwork and curtains, etc.  My curtain fabric is arriving next Monday, so I will have to wipe the dust off my sewing machine, and see if I can still remember how to use it.  We're hoping to get our Christmas tree this weekend, so the holiday decorating may delay my home decorating projects for a while.

It doesn't look like I will be creating and listing any new jewelry before the holidays, but I have a few orders to keep me busy.  I am thankful that the baby napped well for me most of the week, which allowed me to accomplish as much as I did.  But now, I'm tired and I don't want to see a paintbrush or blue tape for a while.  And at some point, I just want to sit back and enjoy my newly-decorated home.  I didn't make it to the gym as much as usual over the past week, but I'm pretty happy about everything else I accomplished.

You may have noticed that I changed the design of my blog a little bit.  (I'm changing everything this week.  I just had my hair done a few weeks ago.  Otherwise, I'd be changing that too.)  The truth is, I was playing around with the layout and colors, and then I couldn't figure out how to get it back to the way it was.  I also added the new "follow by email" feature.  What do you think of the new look?