Thoughtless...

Last week, as I was cleaning the bathtub, I had a thought that would have been perfect for a blog post. What was it, you ask? I don't remember.

For years, I have recorded all my random thoughts on this blog. I have poured my heart out to friends, family, and random people who stumble across my blog on the internet. And it has been cathartic and good. Now, I have these fleeting thoughts and instead of recording them, I forget them almost immediately. That's kind of bad. What happened?

I think part of it was that I found other outlets for my ranting. I have a few more friends now, and I see them on a regular basis. I also had just over a year of therapy, which helped me deal with some serious issues that had always been bottled up. The Prozac probably helped, as well. But mostly, it's a matter of exhaustion and the fact that I now access the internet almost exclusively through my phone and kindle. How I wish Windows phones supported mobile blogger!

Maybe I'll do a little bit of research on that this afternoon. That would make me more likely to put a few pictures up, as well. I know you miss those, mom!

Since I can't remember what my brilliant blog post idea was, instead I'll wax lyrical about the book I just finished reading for my book club. It was "The Book Thief," by Markus Zusak. I chose it simply because I had seen a trailer for the film and thought it looked really interesting. And I always prefer to read the book first. Typically, if it was deemed good enough to make into a movie, the book is great. Not always the case, I know. But only one time has the book been a disappointment compared to the movie. And that was "Fried Green Tomatoes," because I really wanted to pretend that the two protagonists were just good friends, and you couldn't do that when reading the book!

Anyway, back to "The Book Thief." I read it in just under a week. There were some nights when I couldn't put it down, reading for an hour or two in one stretch. I loved the fact that the narrator is Death, and I loved the fact that it portrayed WWII Germany in a different light. We learned about the "normal" German citizens, and the way that they suffered during the war as well. Their political and military leaders were, in some cases, absolute monsters. But the people were just trying to keep their heads down and survive. It's not a perspective that we think about very often, and I love a book that makes me think.

I also thought it was beautifully written. The words flowed. There were little snippets of German throughout, which was kind of fun. It also dramatically decreased the number of English "swear words" that you had to read (always a concern because of one of our book club members, Bea, who will stop reading the book if the language becomes a bit fruity).The descriptive passages were perfectly balanced between minimal and over the top (always a pet peeve of mine, and I always skip those passages if they are on the flowery side). And, not to be left out, I cried like a baby at the very end. Seriously, great book. Now I can't wait to see the movie!

For a while there, I sort of forgot how much I love to read. My time has been taken up with TV series, streamed on Netflix. But I've recently rediscovered how awesome books are. I will quite happily spend an hour curled up with a book instead of watching old episodes of "The Good Wife." I've even got a reading chair in the front room now, next to the book shelf with a lamp behind it.

In other news, Martin and I just tackled a huge project together. We reupholstered our sofa. We started on Wednesday, and finished the base of the sofa yesterday. It used to be a lovely gold color, but the kids changed all that for us. It had gone pretty brown. Plus, I have been wanting to decorate the front room with a base of gray and accents in heather colors. So instead of forking out £600 for a new sofa, we spent £45 on upholstery fabric from a market in Hull and borrowed my mother-in-law's sewing machine. Add to that the £20 we spent on a staple gun, and it's still a big bargain. I'm even considering button closures instead of zippers for most of the cushions, since we already have loads of buttons.

It's been hard work, and we're not finished yet. But it looks really good, especially for a first attempt. I've learned a few things, sewing-wise, and will probably want to re-do it at some point (shh, don't tell Martin or he will probably cry). But I'm proud of what we've done so far. It's already a big improvement.

Slowly but surely, my house is starting to look the way I want it to. And when it finally gets there, that's probably when someone will want to buy it!

So there it is, my weekly blog update brought to you courtesy of Beck Hill Motors and a computer that is stationary and already up and running. Nice, huh? More next week, when I will try to remember all of my brilliant (but apparently fleeting) thoughts and write about them instead of just filler.

Peace out!