Suzy Q Homemaker

Although it has been difficult to make it through more than two pages at night before falling asleep, I swear I have been reading.  Some nights, I’m so tired that the book ends up dropping to the floor and I wake up around 3:00 a.m. to turn off the bedside lamp.  Other nights, I actually finish a chapter and am able to fold up my glasses neatly, put the bookmark in the book, and put it on the night stand!  It should go without saying that I’m almost always exhausted by the end of an average day.  Nonetheless, it’s part of my routine to read in bed and I do manage to read more than one book a month if the boys haven’t wrecked me (or the house).

Jamie insisted that I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.  I’m about half-way through and it’s really starting to grow on me.  I blame sleep deprivation on my difficulty getting through the first third of the book.  I’ll be honest and say that I really don’t like Palome; I don’t want to get into why I don’t like her just yet, though.  What I hope is that my opinion of her will change by the end of the book.  As for Madame Michel, I’m still on the fence about her character, but I love the analysis of language and grammar.  It’s amusing and probably even more amusing for Jamie since he’s the English Major in the family.

Lined up for reading when I’m done with this are:

• White Teeth by Zadie Smith
• My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
• Nothing but Trouble and Double Trouble by Susan May Warren

Depending on when I receive my copy of Nothing but Trouble, I may have to put Hedgehog on hold for a bit.  I’ll be participating in the blog tour for Double Trouble this month, so I’ve got to get those read!

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at One Person’s Journey Through A World Of Books.

My mother is jealous of my orchid-blooming skillz.  In all honesty, though, this orchid is one from a long line of orchids that I have tried to rebloom over the years.  I have killed numerous plants before I finally figured out what keeps mine alive.  My well water is high in sulfur and lots of other minerals, so it’s really great for watering all my houseplants.  I also just use sphagnum moss instead of an “orchid mix” for potting.  I’m a lazy waterer, but my orchids are forgiving.  This one that my sister bought for me a couple years ago is the only one I’ve successfully re-bloomed twice a year.  I do have a small orchid Jamie bought for me for Mother’s Day last year that is spiking, and in a few weeks, I hope to see some blooms!  In the meantime, when it’s cold and rainy outside like it is today, I have something pretty to look at.

Health has also been the theme of late around here as I have been dragging myself to the gym more these past two weeks than in the past four months.  It has been hard, over the holidays and throughout bouts of illness in the family, to eat well.  Add to that colder-than-usual weather for this part of Georgia, shorter days, and it’s a recipe for disaster–especially since I haven’t lost any of my pregnancy weight.  No, the weight has just redistributed itself into my thighs and face to the point where when I look in the mirror, I see this: