Big Old Post

I've got a mondo post coming at you since I've been a bad blogger and have not posted anything in almost 2 weeks! I am currently in a delightfully good mood, enjoying the lovely sunshine and cool breeze coming through my living room window. My beloved Patriots are playing right now, as are the Pittsburgh Steelers. Normally I couldn't care less about the Steelers, but given that I've got 4 of their guys on my Fantasy Football team, they are suddenly of great interest!

On today's menu: a super easy, super yummy dip: brown one pound of ground beef in a large pan and drain the grease. Add a jar of Tostitos salsa, a jar of Tostitos salsa con queso, a can of kidney beans, and let that all simmer and mix together. Top it with sliced scallions and dig in with some hearty tortilla chips. Mmmm! I am not supposed to be eating things like this anymore, or certainly not in the quantity I intend to consume, but this weekend my diet has been pretty much nonexistent anyway, so oh well! Tomorrow I start on NutriSystem, so I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts!

I have two more LOSTie birthday cards to share that I received since my last post. The first is from Tracy. It's tough to see in the picture, but next to the flower stem it says imagine and the little charm says the same thing. And the second is from Alyson, complete with a cupcake that looks good enough to lick! Thank you ladies, they're beautiful!

And now the two books that I've read since my last post:

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book! It's got time travel, romance, sex, danger, suspense, comedy, everything you could hope for in a book! This is the first in a series and I can't wait to move on to the next one!


The Next Thing on My List: A Novel by Jill Smolinski

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the latest selection by my book club. It's not a work of literary genius by any means, but it was a fun, quick read. I was trapped home with a flooded parking lot last night, so I read the whole book in one sitting and it was the perfect kind of book for a rainy night. June, the narrator of the story, is in a car accident in which her passenger, a girl she barely knows, is killed. She finds a list that the girl had written of 20 things she wanted to do by her 25th birthday. June decides to complete the list as a way to make amends for the girl's death. The book takes us through the tasks she needs to complete, some easy and some more complicated. It's a sweet story, and a reminder to make the most of your life, as you never know when it will end.

And now my delightful mood is gone! In the time it's taken me to write this post, Tom Brady has gotten hurt, and I am now about to punch my computer because the layout on my post is all messed up. So I'm going to stop here and post whatever else I had to share at a later time when I am much more calm!