COLD & HUNGRY

The weather has been cold and rainy and windy all week long. The sort of weather that makes you want to go to bed early and wear woolly socks all day long. It is not close to how cold it will get this winter, but sometimes the first couple of days or weeks are hard to get used to. In this kind of weather, my mood swings back and forth between "Do I want to stay inside, all warm and cozy, read a bit, watch a little television, bake or make a big dinner?" to "I am losing my mind, I need to get out of this house, I don't care if it is to go to the post office and look at Most Wanted posters." Today was one of these days. I already feel the walls closing in, probably due to my ever enlarging bum. Why do we head for the refrigerator every time we are bored? It is a known fact that people do it mostly during commercials on television, so obviously, when there is a break in the action, time to head for the fridge. I do it in the evening when I am lying on my bed reading. I get a little cramp in my side from my changing of positions or I reach the end of a chapter and I think, "Well, let's go see what is happening in the kitchen/refrigerator." (same thing). This can go on all evening long and since I am a well known 'Night Eater', all it takes is a snore or shove from The Husband and I am wide awake, wondering what is going on in the refrigerator. The kids used do do it quite a bit when they were young, the boredom/looking in the fridge thing. I didn't have the affliction back then, being quite skinny from chasing their little butts around all day. But it irritated me because I was in charge of the meals. So after the fifth time one of them would stand letting the cold air out, I'd say, "Nothing has changed since the last four times you looked." (And they usually muttered, "That's because we never have any good food.")
So back to my specific boredom/foodie problem, I thought about putting a lidded jar in the refrigerator with little notes inside such as 'Clean me!' or 'Fold the laundry!' But those are more like commands. I need something like 'Play with the dog' or 'Ask The Husband if he has heard any good jokes'. Nooooo...this would never work. I'll have to think about this.


So in the spirit of keeping myself from going stir crazy this afternoon, I went to Borders. I really didn't need to buy any books, but it sure beat the post office. I'm in the middle of one book and have a small stack. I cannot go to the library as I have, er...abused my card. So, I parked as far away as I could to get exercise, which I personally think would have added up by now and I could just jog to the book store. The whole time I chanted under my breath, "Just one book. Just one book." I don't do well with rules, especially ones I make myself, for myself. But I was determined. Like eating from the fridge when I am bored, buying books is like feeding my appetite another way. However, I did really well. I picked books up, read the front, back, inside jacket, about the author, the reviews, and then judiciously made my decision. And above is the prized book. This is a debut novel written by an author from Jackson, Mississippi, who went to the University of Alabama and now lives in Atlanta. And it has to do with a young woman who graduates in 1962 and comes home to find that her beloved maid is missing. The story also involves two other black maids living in hardship and "...Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk....because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times." One of the reviews called this book a "...button pushing , soon to be wildly popular novel." So I think I did well. And sometimes when your appetite is big, you just have to have one thing, but make it the best. I will let all of you know what I think of the book if I have it finished by next week. But I'll give no hints to ruin it!
My appetite for books was also fed this week with the arrival of the above book and an email from my good friend, Brenda, at A Cozy Little House. She is just the best. I don't think she knows how much I enjoy reading cookbooks! And this is a good one to read because I did spend a bit of time going through it. And I saw it displayed at Borders today, so it must be new and selling well. Thanks so much Brenda!!
And finally, I won a giveaway that I am so pleased with. Sandi from Small Town Living At It's Best pulled my name out of the hat and I won a copy of Mary Carol Garrity's, O Christmas Tree! How excited I was! Best of all, you can see, the book is autographed by the author! How cool is that? Sandi did the tour of Nell Hill's last summer and had two copies signed. She is SO generous! So I have a lot of reading on my hands, a lot to whet my appetite. Now if I can just stay out of the refrigerator...