Who knew:

Diet and exercise works. I lost 5 pounds, David 4.5.

Napkins and Towels

These napkins and towels are 100% cotton, made for my friend Tony for his new apartment. Hope he loves them!

Back to Weight Watchers Today

An embarrassing confession: We quit weight watchers because it was just wearing us down. I've gained all the weight I lost plus some...so now it's back to it. Hopefully for good this time. I don't know how to get over that desperate hump.

Good news: I've been exercising almost daily since the beginning of the year. I hope to actually start seeing some weight loss now that I'll also be watching what I eat.

Reminder to self: Take everything one day at a time...one doesn't move mountains in a day. Sometimes it's just a spoonful towards the goals, but that's a spoonful that wasn't there the day before.

New Computer...

...it isn't quite a love affair, but it's close. This new computer is great. It's so quiet I don't even know I have it on...who knew the other's constant grumbling was getting on my nerves.

It's fast. I can open web-pages without having to wait (and I thought it was our connection! ha!)

It's got all the new updates, and while I fight them in the beginning they are more efficient, thus convenient.

Plus my new monitor dresses everything up in a crisp new picture.

So, I concede. New eras are sometimes good things. You just have to get used to them.

Merry LATE Christmas to My Mama

These placemats are a Christmas gift for my mother. Four of them are from Alyssa and Elizabeth and the other 2 are early mother's day gifts from me. They are 100% cotton in gold, lavendar and a creamy yellow. The pattern is called an "M&W".

Book Review: The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kilogradis

The Borgia Bride follows the life of Sancha of Aragon, princess of Naples during the end of the 1400s. She is a strong willed fearless young woman who is prey to the poltical machinations of her family. Married against her will to an 11 year old, who happens to be the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander, she falls into a world of incest, political intrigue, and murder.

The book pretty much is a whole bunch of horrible accounts of the pope's household and how Sancha has to maneuver her way through it the best she can in the hopes that she'll be able to save herself and her brother. She fails at the latter, but does manage to save her brother's son and escape from the madness that was Rome in 1500.

I liked the book ok. It wasn't great, but it was well-written and did suck the reader into it. I got a little weary of all the horrible accounts...it felt rather repitious towards the end, and I was glad to be done with it.

Recommended.

The End of an Era (sort of)

The computer I've been using for the past four years is on its last legs. It grunts and groans every time I turn it on...it's slow to move around sometimes...it locks up...sometimes it just won't go.

So, it's being replaced, but I'm going to miss it. I don't want to move to a new Windows operating system. I like XP...why did they change it? At least I'm not going to Vista, but I just don't understand why they can't leave a good thing alone.

And I really don't like doing this in the midst of dissertation writing. I mean, so many things can distract me from my mission...and a new computer is certainly one of them.

But change must happen, and so it will. Sometime this weekend all files that I need will be transferred, and the new computer will be operational. The old one will be backed up and then put down (poor thing).

Book Review: Katherine by Anya Seton

Katherine by Anya Seton is a thoughtful, beautifully written book about the love shared between Katherine Swynfod and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The two meet when Katherine is introduced at court after spending her life growing up in a convent. Katherine is quickly married off to Hugh Swynford and finds herself in a miserable life in a miserable "keep" with surly servants, unruly serfs and a crazy mother-in-law.

The love between Katherine and John grows slowly and following the deaths of both of their spouses evolves into an affair that astounds them both and puzzles many of their acquaintances. The book follows all these paths, both positive and negative, and traces the cosequences of such a love.

I liked the book. I thought it was very well researched and evoked the 14th century in amazing detail. You could feel the grit, dirt, and drafts; taste the food; feel the strife of living in a time when communication was so difficult; and find the transcending power of love throughout the whole. I look forward to reading the rest of Seton's repertoire.