Book 17 - Living Dead in Dallas

Living Dead in Dallas, by Charlaine Harris. Book # 2 in the Sookie Stackhouse Series. 291 pages. Again, great book. Here is a review from BN:

This is one terrific read. Harris has created a charming and winning character in Sookie Stackhouse-cocktail waitress, telepath, and girlfriend of a vampire. Stackhouse lives in a different world, one where vampires, werewolves, and assorted other mythical beings actually exist. She is beholden to the local Louisiana nest of vampires and is sent by its head, Eric, to help the nest in Dallas. It seems that one of their vamps has disappeared and they need a telepath to track him and possibly save him. She dutifully follows Bill to Dallas where they stay at an interesting vampire hotel complete with windowless rooms and synthetic blood. In Dallas they discover a fanatical religious cult that is vehemently opposed to vampires and is trying to destroy them or, better yet, get them to destroy themselves. Sookie has to dive headlong into this mystery before she gets to try her hand and her mind at solving the murder of a fellow worker back home. Harris creates wonderful characters, an inventive plot, and terrific situations. She has a real feel for the world she has created and allows the willing suspension of disbelief to do its job. Her work is reminiscent of Laurel Hamilton and her Anita Blake series but much less dense. It also reminds a reader of Tanya Huff's work and has the same light touch. There is plenty of sexual tension between Sookie and her boyfriend but also between Sookie and Eric, who also wants her for his own. At the same time there is a joy and an innocence about the work that make it very appealing.

Book Count : 17
Page Count : 4911

Book 16 - Dead Until Dark

Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris. 304 pages. Yes, I finally picked up another book... It's been almost 2 months... And then of course finished it in less than two days... This is the first book in the Southern Vampire Series (The Sookie Stackhouse Novels.) This series is the basis of the HBO show, True Blood. I read through the whole series back when I started watching the first season of True Blood. I love thise books. Seriously. The show is good, but of course, the books are better:) This book is set in a small town in Lousiana, shortly after vampires have "come out" to the public, so to speak. The book has a telepath, the vampires, a shapeshifter, and a string of murders that people come to blame on the main characters brother.

Book Count: 16

Page Count: 4620

Book 15: Nim's Island

Nim's Island, by Wendy Orr. 128 pages. Like most people (I assume), I watched this movie several times before getting the book. So, most of you probably know what it is about. A scientist father and his daughter live alone on a deserted island. The father leaves for a short trip, that ends up lasting much longer, due to a storm hitting. Meanwhile, the daughter is corresponding via e-mail with her favorite author. During her father's absense, the daughter has to defend the island against a crusie ship that would like nothing more than to turn their little island into a vacation spot. Right around this time, the author comes to visit their little island. I thought the movie was really cute, so when I saw the book, I thought the kids would love it. Duh... why do I never consider that movies (some) might have been a book first. The movie and book were very similar, with only a few things different. Zachariah like it, but I think Micah couldn't care less. I enjoyed it though:)

Book Count: 15
Page Count: 4316

Book 14 - Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, by Betty MacDonald. 144 pages. I know this is a children's book, but I have decided that I am going to count the books I am reading to the kids (except picture books...) I really like this book, just as I did when I was a child:) Here is an excerpt from BN:

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house and smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children. She can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.
The incomparable Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle loves children good or bad and never scolds but has positive cures for Answer-Backers, Never-Want-to-Go-to-Bedders, and other boys and girls with strange habits.

Book Count : 14
Page Count : 4188

Book 13 - Let the Right One In

Let The Right One In, by John Ajvide Lindqvist. 472 pages. A while ago, I was looking through my library's new book section, trying to find a few books to read. One of the books I picked up was Lindqvist's Handling the Undead. I mean, *undead?* I thought it was about vampires... Read that it was about zombies... and my interest in reading it vanished:/ Somewhere on the book jacket, this book was mentioned, so I picked it up. Now, when I started reading it, I thought it was *really* good... But I am not sure I feel the same way now that I have finished it. It was a good book, but at the very least, the ending stunk:/ The book is about a young boy, and the strange neighbor he meets. When I began the book, I knew I was not going to LOVE it, cause it started out with quite some child molestation / prostitution type situations... And it was not until a ways into the book that I realized why Eli's *father* was with her:/ The book (imo) could have done without some of that icky molestation stuff... Don't think it added to the plot much... Something that is stilll bugging me is the vampire defenition. Oskar asks if Eli is a vampire, and the response is basically *no, and there is a big difference between myself and a vampire...* So Eli is not a vampire? But the book is supposed to be about vampires... And if Eli is not a vampire... then what? It was okay, but jumpy. It took me probably 3/4 of the book to be able to understand who was talking when the storyline jumped to another scene. I am still confused about some of the people. Lots of people... Right after I got this book from the library (but before I read it) I found the movie, Let The Right One In, at a Blockbuster for 3 bucks, so I bought it. Now that I have read it, I am wondering how *like* the book it will be, and If I even want to watch it... I also just saw that they re-made the movie, Let Me In, last year. There are supposed to be some pretty big differences in the two movies, with the second taking a larger leap from the plot of the actual book... We will see...

Book Count : 13
Page Count : 4044

Book 12 - The Midwife's Apprentice

The Midwife's Apprentice. Written by Karen Cushman. 128 pages. From BN.com:

Like Cushman's 1995 Newbery Honor Book, Catherine, Called Birdy, this novel is about a strong young woman in medieval England who finds her own way home. This is a world, like Chaucer's, that's . . . dangerous, primitive and raucous. From the first page you're caught by the spirit of the homeless, nameless waif, somewhere around 12 years old. She gets the village midwife to take her in, befriends a cat, names herself Alyce, and learns something about delivering babies. When she fails, she runs away, but she picks herself up again and returns to work and independence.

I am pretty sure that this in the only book that I have read (so far this year) that has received any sort of award. But I was not super impressed:/ I thought I would like the book, based solely on the title. Some of the word usage was so foreign to me, and I had to re-read several passages to understand what the HECK was going on... Meh... Oh well:/

Book Count : 12
Page Count : 3572

Book 11 - The Gift

The Gift. Written by James Patterson. #2 in the Witch and Wizard Series. 341 pages. Snippet from BN.com:



When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order.
But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is "The One Who Has the Gift." While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty's suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion: the highly-anticipated fulfillment of the heart-pounding opening prologue of book one... The Execution of the Allgoods.

Meh... I am not really sure what I think of this book. I mean, I picked up the first book because the title and cover looked good. And I really only read this one cause I already read the second one, and I was HOPING that this one would be better. IDK... The author has created such an alternate reality, and uses SO many fictitious terms, that I often had a hard time keeping up. I also feel like there is not enough back story. I don't understand alot of why these two kids had NO idea of their powers, or how this organization (the N.O.) came to be in power... I think that might have been helpful to include. This book just left me confused. OF COURSE I will read another book in this series if it comes out, but only cause I just want to know what the heck is going on....

Book Count : 11
Word Count : 3444

Meal Plan : 3/14-20

I love meal planning. I love the organization of making up my little lists and menus... And using CookingTF just makes is sooooo much easier. I still manage to take an hour or so to tweak my weeks plan though...lol:-) I write out what we are having each day, and then make a list of what need to be prepared/defrosted/etc... each morning/evening. The mailer I get includes this info, but since I have different meals on different days, I get to tweak it:) And then the best part... making my pretty menu for the fridge:) Yeah...dorky... but i love it! Check it out:

I know... gorgeous, right? And I just know you are dying to have your very own little toy story magnets...right? Today (monday) is not on the menu because we had leftovers tonight. I love leftovers. And I still have leftovers from last week in the fridge AND the freezer... I suppose I should have planned for a few leftover nights this week, but everything looked so darn good, I could not choose:/ So, like I have mentioned before, I have yet to try a CookingTF recipe that I do not like, so let's see how this week is!

Traditional Foods

  So... for several years now, I have been intrigued by those following a "Traditional Foods" diet. What are "Traditional Foods?" Kerry Ann Foster at CookingTF says this:
So, this is what TF looks like for us (as far as the food is concerned):

Simply put, Traditional Foods are foods consumed in the way our ancestors ate them.  The basis of Traditional Foods is that the food you consume be as nutrient dense and nourishing as possible.  Traditional Foods (TF) goes beyond just avoiding packaged and processed foods.  It is about choosing the best food options available for your budget, individual chemistry & location and consuming it in a way that allows your body to extract the maximum nutrition from that item.  

• buying pastured meat directly from the farmer. We found a semi-local source for beef and poultry (minus ground beef, but we can get grass-fed ground beef from several local health food stores...) We drove up to this farm (Rainbow Ranch Farms, if anyone is interested - they also have a facebook page) and picked up a wholesale order of 20 whole chickens and about 75 lbs. of beef a couple weeks ago. We are so excited to have been able to not only get some good quality meat, but to support a small family farm at the same time. Plus, in order to be able to buy all of this meat, we got to buy a chest freezer-lol! Grass fed beef (also called pastured) is soooo much better for you than the "meat" you will find at your local grocery store... And it is tasty. So very, very tasty! Have you seen Food Inc.? ((shudder))  So now, if it is not grass fed/pastured/organic.... I just can't buy it. For other meat products (bacon, lunch meat, BACON...) we really like Applegate Farms:-)
• Organic Dairy. If we are buying milk to drink (which is a rare occasion, we are not milk drinkers) we get raw milk from Organic Pastures. We have some of their raw butter as well, for spreading on toast and things like that. For cooking/baking with, we use non-homogenized whole milk from Straus Family Creamery, and pastured butter from Organic Valley. Taking the fat out of dairy is so yucky:/ Raw dairy is so much healthier for you, but where I live, it is so expensive:/ Hopefully someday we will live somewhere where we have a local, affordable, raw dairy and cream source... But for now, this is a good setup:)
• We recently completely stopped buying cold cereals, even if they are organic. I have learned to love my oatmeal, pancakes, and eggs:) I am always open to new breakfast ideas though!
• Pastured eggs. I have not found a local (enough) source for free-range eggs that are NOT veggie fed... so for now, I buy Chino Valley eggs.
• not a new one for us, but I try to buy anything that we will be putting into our bodies organic. I should have put this one first, as it pretty much applies to everything. I started out, a while ago, trying to buy produce according to the dirty dozen. As our finances allowed, that slowly changed into us just buying everything organic. Produce, body products, the few snack foods that we might buy, nuts, beans, wheat...

I think I got most of it. I have also found several websites that have been full of useful information:

• The big one, that everyone and their mom will tell you about, is the Weston A. Price Foundation. I, personally found this site to be a *nightmare* to navigate, until someone directed me to their guided tours. There is a lot of information here. Oh, and a wiki rundown of the WAPF.
• The Nourishing Gourmet. This is not one that I have spent a lot of time perusing, but it has come highly recommended by friends.
• The Nourished Kitchen. Again, not one I have spent a ton of time on. But, a while back, I followed some one's link to something on the site called the 28-day real food challenge. It piqued my interest in TF, and is full of great info and recipes.
• Some online forums, like MDC have their own Traditional Foods sub-forum. Forums like this are a great way to learn about TF, and talk to others about it.
• The last one I have, and my absolute favorite- CookingTF (which I linked to earlier) and their very own forum, TFRecipes. This site has the basics laid out for your very nicely on the main page. And also, for recipe-deficient folks like myself, they have a nifty menu-mailer. I signed up a couple of weeks ago, and I love it! I have been in such a rut, meal wise, for a looong time. Add in this new way of eating and preparing meals... I was just lost... There are a few things on the menu that I have looked at. and though "meh... not gonna try that..." mostly things with seafood... or butternut squash ((shudder)) But EVERY single recipe that I have tried so far, has been a hit. Seriously yummy! When there is something on the menu that I just can't handle, I can just pull another recipe of hers out. This week we had Teriyaki Chicken, Beef Kabobs (that I could not Kabob properly...), Bacon, Kale and Tomato Soup, Chicken and Wild Rice, and Chili (for the record, I have NEVER been able to make a good chili from scratch. These recipes rock. They are awesome.

I have tried a handful of different *diets* with my family. From your standard american diet (SAD, and it really is sad:/), to one trying to buy more organic products but not really being able to, to going wheat/dairy/egg free along with trying to make everything from scratch, to a week of veganism... None of these felt right for our family, and there was not one where every person in the family actually felt great and enjoyed the food I made. I really feel like I have discovered the way we were meant to eat with TF:-) kinda cheesy sounding, but oh well...

Book 10 - How To Ride a Dragon's Storm

Woo-hoo! I actually went a whole month without posting. Or reading much (for that matter...) On to the book:

How to Ride a Dragon's Storm, by Cressida Cowell. 254 pages. From BN:

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, everyone's favorite reluctant Viking hero, has three months, five days and six hours to discover America, get back to Berk, save his father, battle Polarserpents and win the annual Inter-Tribal Friendly Swimming Race. Can he do it?

The reason it took me soo long to read the next book in this series, was cause I don't own it! And apparently everyone and their uncle's cousin is putting this very book on hold at my local library... But I digress... Having not read much of anything for the past month, this was a nice little dip back into reading. Like the others in the series, this book was just fun to read. I am *into* the series now, and am kinda bummed that I have reached the last one that has been released *in the US* so far:/ Oh well. I've already got another book ready to read! It is The Gift. You know, the sequel to Witch and Wizard, which I read in January. Woohoo! And I think sometime after that (assuming I do not find something that I just MUST read) I will re-read the Sookie Stackhouse Books. Actually, they are called The Southern Vampire Series... OMG they are good! Anyways... off to bed!

Book Count : 10
Page Count : 3103