Life: It Goes On - June 29

Happy Sunday from (for now) sunny Omaha! The past couple of weeks, we have had grey days, loads of rain and many thunderstorms walking us up at night, with another one forecast for tonight. I haven't had to water outside at all but the high temps and rain have also kept us inside and unable to enjoy patio dinners. Thinking we're finally going to get to do that this evening.

Last Week I: 

Listened To: Long Island Compromise, which I just finished today. It took me longer to finish that than I expected so, with only five days left on my loan for 11/22/63, I returned that without starting it. Now I'll wait six months again for it. And I have nothing else ready so I'll probably listen to podcasts for the next little bit. 

Watched: I watched a movie Friday night that was so forgettable that I literally cannot remember the name of it. But last night we watched three episodes for Only Murders In The Building, so that was a good night of t.v. viewing. 

Read: Guys, I absolutely cannot find the book that will keep my interest long enough for me to finish it. What a rut I'm in! 

Made: Egg roll in a bowl (from Jessica of applesauce and adhd), nachos, and a quick and easy ditali pasta dish. 

Enjoyed: We went to a new-to-us place (Tupelo Honey) for dinner last night with friends and all of us really enjoyed our food, followed by ice cream at Coneflower Creamery. I would happily drive across town (and do) for their butter brickle ice cream. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: On continuing putzing away at decluttering, despite the fierce fight the Big Guy is putting up about getting rid of anything. Emptied two bins in the basement today and every bin out of there is a victory. 

Thinking About: Politics. It's all my anti-depressant can do to keep up with the news. 

Feeling: I'm so ready for a couple of long weekends in a row. I've definitely reached a state of burnout at work and need to recharge my battery. 

Looking forward to: A quick trip to see Miss H. 

Question of the week: How will you be celebrating the Fourth of July? 

The Tell by Amy Griffin

The Tell by Amy Griffin

288 pages

Published March 2025 by Random House Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

For decades, Amy ran. Through the dirt roads of Amarillo, Texas, where she grew up; to the campus of the University of Virginia, as a student athlete; on the streets of New York, where she built her adult life; through marriage, motherhood, and a thriving career. To outsiders, it all looked, in many ways, perfect. But Amy was running from something—a secret she was keeping not only from her family and friends, but unconsciously from herself. “You’re here, but you’re not here,” her daughter said to her one night. “Where are you, Mom?” So began Amy’s quest to solve a mystery trapped in the deep recesses of her own memory—a journey that would take her into the burgeoning field of psychedelic therapy, to the limits of the judicial system, and ultimately, home to the Texas panhandle, where her story began.

In her search for the truth, to understand and begin to recover from buried childhood trauma, Griffin interrogates the pursuit of perfectionism, control, and maintaining appearances that drives so many women, asking, when, in our path from girlhood to womanhood, did we learn to look outside ourselves for validation? What kind of freedom is possible if we accept the whole story and embrace who we really are? With hope, heart, and relentless honesty, she points a way forward for all of us, revealing the power of radical truth-telling to deepen our connections—with others and ourselves.

My Thoughts:

Yikes - I just realized that I'd started this review more than a week ago, left it open when I went off to switch laundry (or whatever it was that I went off to do) and never came back to it. So I'm going to make this quick. 

• Read about this one in the New York Times book section...I think. I doubt it appealed to me because of the Oprah label - I tend to steer away from that label after years of reading her selections that depressed me.
• Of course, you will have a pretty good idea of what happened to Amy almost from the start. It's more a matter of who did it, than whether or not it happened. But what always amazes me is the people can bury something like this so deeply that they forget it even happened. 
• Have you ever heard of someone using MDMA for therapy? It was legal when Griffin used it but it's a godsend that she discovered it, even if it meant a lot of pain and years of learning to deal with what happened to her. She finally understood why she couldn't stop running, both literally and figuratively. Finding out allowed her to finally heal other relationships as well. 
• It's a tough read, but uplifting to know that there's hope for healing. For Griffin, at least, her life would never have been as complete had she not been able to face what happened and heal. 
• There were parts where I felt that it got a little repetitive. Although it's not a long book, I still felt it would have benefitted from more editing. 
• As ever, when it comes to situations like what happened to Griffin, our judicial system and our patriarchal system made me so angry. For her and for all of the other women who suffered at this person's hands and for all of the other women who suffer at the hands of abusers, especially the young girls. 

Life: It Goes On - June 24

Happy Tuesday! I hadn't realized how long I'd gone without blogging until I just finished up a review that I'd left hanging open and found out I lasted posted on the 8th! I've been feeling down lately, maybe more down than I realized. 

It's also been, for us, fairly busy this month. Since I last wrote, we've had visits from my uncle and aunt and from my sister and her husband. Which, of course, means that I've been keeping my house cleaner this month that I might otherwise have been. Father's Day weekend we were busy all weekend with activities. And I had an employee in office from Texas the week before last at the same time that I had a new employee start, which drained my battery every day. 

And last week I spent an hour every day taking care of Mini-him's and Miss C's cats while they were on yet another mini-vacation. Oh to have so many free miles and the ability to work away from home! Luckily, Big Guy is perfectly able to wipe up a dinner while I'm stopping to do that on my way home from work. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: Good Material by Dolly Alderton. This week I started listening to Long Island Compromise, which I had been reading in print until the audiobook became available. 

Watched: All of the College World Series games, including the one BG, Mini-him and I went to on Father's Day. 

Read: I'm floundering when it comes to actually reading a book. I'm back to Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham, but it's slow going for me. 

Made: Spaghetti with meat sauce; roasted tomato and spinach pasta, and egg roll in a bowl. 

Enjoyed: Dinner out with my sister and her husband - I finally found my new favorite restaurant macaroni and cheese. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: Nothing on the calendar for the rest of the week so I'm plugging away and decluttering my office. I've joined a new group on Facebook created around the book, The Swedish Art of Death Cleaning. Because maybe if I join enough groups, I be able to keep myself working on clearing things out. 

Thinking About: Politics. I try to avoid them but have to balance that against wanting to be informed and involved. 

Feeling: Better. I finally admitted to my doctor that I've been struggling with depression and I've started on a medication that seems to be starting to help. 

Looking forward to: A relaxing weekend. Which I hope is cool enough to spend time outside again. Last weekend was ridiculously hot. 

Question of the week: How have you been beating the heat? 

Life: It Goes On - June 8

Happy Sunday! It's grey and rainy here this morning, the kind of morning that makes me want to crawl back into bed and sleep for a while longer. Given the week I have ahead of me, I might just do that! A little self-care, if you will. 

It's been a quiet week here, exactly what I was expecting, which has been really nice. Especially since I haven't been sleeping well, which means I've really been dragging. I can fall asleep in an instant, but I wake up repeatedly during the night. Saw the doctor on Friday and he's given me something that I hope will help with that; I'm so over not having any energy!

Last Week I: 

Listened To: Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. When I checked it out, I fully expected that a book that's 150 years old would be easy to renew so I didn't push to get through the 19 hours of it quickly. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I was unable to renew it because there are two people waiting. Guess I'm finishing that one up in print; fortunately, we have a copy. Next up: Dolly Alderton's Good Material. 

Watched: A lot of college baseball. We really enjoy getting to watch the teams that will be coming to Omaha for the College World Series in a couple of weeks. Friday night I watched Come From Away, a filmed version of the Broadway musical about the town of Gander, Newfoundland welcoming 7,000 people on 9-11-01, when all flights into the U.S. were grounded. Highly recommend it as both a musical and a great story. 

Read: That lack of sleep has also meant a lack of attention span. So I've read a little of this and a little of that. And by "a little," I really mean a little. I'm still working on Peter Graham's Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century, which I just found out was made into a movie years ago, starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey and directed by Peter Jackson. I also started Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise.

Made: Whipped coffee and brown sugar, something a friend had introduced me to some time ago. I'd tried it then but not much enjoyed it. But I saw it again this week and they recommended using it a couple of different ways and now I might be addicted to it. I had a couple of mugs of it yesterday - all that caffeine and I slept better last night than I have all week! Could it be that I'll sleep better if I drink MORE caffeine during the day - lol?! 

Enjoyed: I took Friday off so I could have an extra quiet day before next week's work craziness. It wasn't entirely relaxing as I had my annual physical first thing in the morning, had to go to the DMV in the afternoon, and ended up working 3 hours from home. Still, it was nice to have some extra time to get things done and to just relax.

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: On getting the guest room ready for guests coming in a couple of weeks. BG and Mini-him putting a new ceiling fan up in that room yesterday so there's some cleanup to be done after that. Otherwise, it's going to be a quiet week. 

Thinking About: What's happening in our country, specifically Los Angeles. 

Feeling: Grateful to still have Miss H. Wednesday she was headed to St. Louis and spun out on the interstate and into the median in the pouring rain. She and her friend are sore but injured and her car has only minimal damage to the rear bumper. She was definitely being watched over by a higher power. 

Looking forward to: Things are starting to move forward on our kitchen renovation. I've decided to hold off on decisions on cabinet color and new hardware until after the counter and backsplash are installed so that I can really get a feel for what I want. 

Question of the week: Have you ever done a kitchen renovation? If so, shoot me your ideas on how to survive the mess and the inability to cook for a period of time.