Another book recommendation from the pigpen

The start of school has brought a bit of structure back to our lives, but it is still a work in progress as evidenced by my recent lack of blogging.  Although I haven't had much time to blog, I did some how manage to find time to read a book which is something I haven't done in a very long time and I love to read.  The book I read is actually the book of the month of the book club I recently joined.  Now, I realize I have no business adding a new activity to my already full schedule, but I thought a book club was just what I needed.
The club meets once a month to discuss the recent book and to socialize.  I figured that was a commitment I could make to myself in this busy world.

September's book is Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  I was very apprehensive about reading this book as it deals with early onset Alzheimer's.  Although my Gramma didn't have early onset Alzheimer's, I didn't know if I could read a book dealing with Alzheimer's at all as it has been indescribable to watch my Gramma slip away.  (My Gramma is currently 91 and has lived in Alzheimer's unit of the nursing home for over 2 years now.  She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in her 80s.) I debated whether I should read this book or not especially since I can't make the September book club meeting when they will discuss this book.

Well after much thought, I decided to check it out from the county library and give it a go.  Needless to say I was hooked after the first chapter and finished the almost 300 page book in 3 days.

It is hard to say a book about Alzheimer's was good, but it truly was an excellent book as it was told from the perspective of the patient with Alzheimer's.  Although it is a fiction book, I truly believe it accurately depicted life as an Alzheimer's patient and gave me some great insight into what Alzheimer's has been like for my Gramma.

I shed many tears while reading this book for both the main character, Dr. Alice Howland, and for my Gramma.  Despite the tears, I would recommend this book as Alzheimer's truly is like no other disease.

Our Bucket List for the Summer

Even though I'm a full-time, off-farm working momma that still has to go to work 5 days a week despite the fact that the kids are on summer break , I've tried to craft a pretty good bucket list for our summer.  This will be our last summer for many years that no one at this pigpen is in 4-H.  Big Sissy will be a first year 4-H member next year and in Indiana you can be a 4-H member for 10 years.  So needless to say our summers are going to get real busy after this year.

So that being said, I'm trying to squeeze in as much as my work schedule will allow as summer is about spending time with the family and letting the kids truly be kids.

Swimming lessons, vacation bible school, 4th of July with my family, the county fair, the State Fair, and soccer camp have been on our list the last couple years; although, this will be the first year Bubby can attend soccer camp.  (It is just a one week program for 1 1/2 hours each night about 5 minutes from our house.)

This year we also have a pretty exciting family vacation planned; however, The Farmer and I have only told the kids that we are going on vacation.  They don't know where or when, but let me just say we may or may not be visiting a mouse and his friends.

So, I'm pretty pumped about this year's bucket list which is why I was excited we started working on one of our items today.  Another one of our annual summer bucket list items is our county library's summer reading program.  Growing up I loved the summer reading program and I have tried to instill this love of the library and in particular the summer reading program with Big Sissy, Bubby, and Little Sissy.

Today we made the first of many trips this summer, I hope, to the library to officially sign up for the summer reading program and enjoy the library.

Big Sissy hit the computers.

Bubby loves looking for books and movies about farming, building, and trains.

Little Sissy lined up the dinosaurs.

So here's to reading this summer and enjoying our summer bucket list.

What's on your summer bucket list?

A Book Review or Two from the pig pen

Buying good presents isn't always one of The Farmer's good traits.  Now I love him just the same, but he either knocks it out of the park like he has several times with jewelry and we all know diamonds are a girl's best friend or it can often be a big dud.

Well, this Christmas, he really knocked it out of the park and I was completely surprised.

Since Martini introduced me to her Kindle 2 years ago, I have secretly wanted one.  I never really discussed it with anyone but her and I just kept telling myself that my reading binges didn't justify me buying a Kindle.  Plus when I do read, I usually check the book out from our county library as opposed to buying one.  

Well much to my surprise, I opened up a Kindle on Christmas morning from The Farmer.   I was in complete shock especially since we had just given one to his mom the day before for Christmas from us and his younger brother and his girlfriend.

Come to find out, The Farmer had ordered my Kindle right after Thanksgiving and everyone had been keeping the secret since then even Big Sissy.

Needless to say, I was excited and couldn't wait to start using it on the drive to my mom and aunt's later on Christmas Day.  On the drive there, I downloaded a few free books; however, I didn't start reading on it right away as just before Christmas I had checked out 2 Christmas books from our county library that I wanted to finish first. So I hurried up and read them so I could start reading from my Kindle.  (The books I checked out from the library were The Gift by Nora Roberts and Skipping Christmas by John Grisham.  I would recommend them both for a quick Christmas read.)

Since Christmas, I have read The Potluck Club by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson and Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent on my Kindle.  

The Potluck Club follows a group of women that get together once a month for a potluck lunch to pray; however, things don't always go as planned.  A nice touch to this book is it even includes some of the recipes they make for their potluck lunches.

Fireflies in December is set in 1932 in Virginia during segregation where the Lassiter family, a white family,  takes in Gemma, a black girl, after her parents are killed in a fire and raise her as one of their children.  This decision, which was the right one, changes everyone's life forever.

Although these books were very different, I really liked both of them and would recommend them.  The real extra bonus is both of these books were the first one in a series so I can continue my reading adventure with The Potluck Club and learn more about the Lassiters and Gemma on my Kindle thanks to my in-laws as I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas to buy books for my Kindle from them.

What book recommendations do you have?

Reading... a guilty pleasure at this pig pen

I love to read; however, as a working mom of 3, I feel like it is a guilty pleasure as there is always something else I should be doing like cleaning the house, doing laundry, or catching up on my call notes in our computer system for work.  YUCK!  Who wants to do those things when you could be reading? 

Needless to say, I go in spurts of reading.  I guess you could say I am a binge reader.  For example, this past week I read 2 amazing books and am currently waiting on the the third and final book in the series to arrive in the mail, but I have a feeling after I read that book, it might be a month or two before I have time or make time to read again. 

I even have further proof to this theory.  9 weeks ago, I checked out The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson from our public library.  The series was highly recommended to me by my friend Martini and another colleague.  Any way, I checked them both out and started reading the first one immediately, but only got one chapter into it before my reading plans got sidelined as I didn't touch the book again until last week when it was almost due back to the library.  (I had to renew them the maximum 2 additional times to have them for the maximum 9 weeks.)  So I read the first 150 pages, before the book was due back.  I contemplated keeping it longer and just paying the fine, but decided to do the right thing and return both books on time with the hope that I could re-check them back out; however, when I went back to the library both books were checked out and had an estimated 30 day wait. 

Yikes, I couldn't wait that long, I was now a quarter of the way done.  So I decided that I would buy the first book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, in the small paperback version for $7.99 at Borders as I happened to be near one.  This was Tuesday and by Friday, I had finished the book so it was time to start the second one which I still couldn't get from the library.

So on one of my two trips to Walmart over the weekend, I was able to pick up The Girl Who Played with Fire for $5.97.  I apparently was now hooked on the series because I finished this book on Memorial Day morning.  (I apologize for not linking to Walmart here, but they don't have the version of the book I bought online and they did not provide a review of the book so I linked to Barnes & Noble instead.)

And now I had a decision to make as the third and final book in the series, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest,  was just released in hardback.  (This will be the final book at the author passed away shortly after writing the three books.) 

I really didn't want to spend the money on a hardback book, but our public library hasn't even received a copy of the book yet and I feel like I need to read it now while I am on a reading binge or it may be months.  So what's a girl to do? 

I priced the book on several websites with Amazon being the cheapest; however, I had a Barnes & Noble gift card (I actually think it might have been a birthday present to my husband from my Aunt, but oh well.  He'll forgive me, right?) so Monday night I ordered the book and even got an extra one for my next reading binge, Olive Kitteridge, and free shipping to boot.

I can't wait for these books to arrive.  I'm so excited.

And although, I find reading to be a guilty pleasure, I have decided it isn't all bad as I caught my girls both reading this weekend which really is a great thing.  So maybe I'm a good influence after all.