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.