Book Review

This was the weirdest Christmas year. I think I got two books! This is unheard of--and the books were: Tasha Tudor's dollhouse (a coffee table book) and The Injured Horse--a reference book for owners. Not exactly your bedside comfort tome.

Weird! I did get 37 calendars, though. Currently we have three calendars in the kitchen--the absolutely required Welsh Corgi calendar (had to get it at Petsmart AFTER Christmas!), the Pioneer Woman calendar (http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/), and the free horse calendar that you get from your enquine vet after you spend thousands of dollars with him. So no matter which way I turn in the kitchen, I cannot escape the date and the mammals that are relying on me for food and manure removal.

We still have a rooster calendar from my mom, a "Mom" calendar by Boynton that has thousands of little slots to write your responsibilities each month, and a three month revolving calendar from my dad, who apparently thinks I need to get a firmer grasp on the passage of time. I think I still owe him for that last load of sawdust. I also picked up one of those mini-calendars for my office, of Caribbean beaches. The pictures are fabulous and just what I need to get through midwestern winters, except now that it's up, I cannot make out the dates from across the room--and my office is not more than 10' across.

Oh, and #2 got a sweet little mousie lady calendar. Speaking of little mousies, there was one in the chicken scratch bag yesterday, taking a little snooze. Did I mention we have a cat that must weigh 15 lbs? Perhaps his time at the buffet bar is interrupting his predatory responsibilities...but I digress.

Book reviews: Handyman brought home for me, around my birthday time, Tony Dungy's book, Quiet Strength. I had considered getting it from the library, but hadn't made the effort yet, what with the $687 fine hanging over my head for a video called Tone Your Thighs in 30 Days or something. Anyway, he brought it home and I was bogged down in a biography of Queen Elizabeth II, so I picked it up, in the "reading room". It has been very enjoyable, especially if you know any names in football in the last 20 years or so. Tony has worked with lots of the big names and many of the very successful ones.

His philosophies are practical and not preachy at all. One of his main priorities is doing the routine stuff better than anyone else does it, the little things, the simple things. That's surely something I could apply here...

...like putting the laundry AWAY before anymore shows up. Like sweeping the floor before a backhoe is necessary. This, of course, will require WALKING AWAY from the computer before the food burns, etc. Gotta go hay.