The Tent

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The Tent The Tent by Margaret Atwood


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
I just finished reading The Tent by Margaret Atwood. It is a collection of shorts stories, essays and bits of subconsciousness.



I have no idea how to describe this. I think that if I had ever taken drugs, I might have had the same thoughts. (Though I would never be able to say them so well.) It took me a while to get through this which is surprising for the format. I can usually get through collections fairly quickly as I will read when ever I have a moment But this took time to read and digest



That said, I did enjoy The Tent.






View all my reviews.

oh pizza! how have i missed you!

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Pizza is one of my favorite foods. And I missed it. Andy prefers pizza from Pizza Hut. I do too but their pizza isn't the healthiest. And Ryan doesn't like pizza so I just don't get it.

I learned to make a healthier pizza at home. (too bad I can't take a good photo, should have used the tripod)

040109-pizza

• Mama Mary's Gourmet Thin & Crispy Pizza Crusts (serving suggestion says 1/2 of the 6" crust! Right. So a real serving is worth 358 calories, 6g fat, 28g carbs, 6g protein)
• Sargento Classic Mozzarella (serving is 1/4 cup, 80 calories, 5g fat, 1g carbs, 7g protein)
• Dei Fratelli Pizza Sauce (serving suggestion is 1/4 can which is about 1/4 cup; 30 calories, 0 fat, 6g carbs, 1g protein) Good sauce and NO HFCS!
• diced tomato (are there calories is raw veggies?)

I guess you could use reduced fat cheese (horrors!) but I prefer to eat less of the real stuff.

• preheat the stone in the over to 450º
• reduce the temperature to 425º and bake for 10 minutes

So good, and easy and just enough.

Now the trick is to not eat it every night.


why blog?

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What am I passionate/obsessed about?

I was listening to Merlin Mann's & John Gruber's talk at SxSW about blogging. They suggest one should figure out what one is passionate about, maybe even obsessive, and give that idea a voice.

OK, so what am I passionate about? Well, I have been passionate, bordering on obsessive, about a lot of things. See, my obsessions change. Quite often it seems. Since my husband died in 2001, I have been obsessive about keeping house, decorating, gardening, exercising and eating well, cardmaking and scrapbooking, photography, decluttering the house, eating well/exercising, baking, cardmaking, and now... I become interested in something and find out everything I can about it; search the web, buy books, etc. And I get very involved with this for weeks or months and in the case of scrapbooking, years. Then something shiny comes along and catches my interest.

And that leaves me with today. What am I passionate about today? I ran through the things I do and found that while I love photography, I am not obsessed with it right now. And I am still making cards but not every moment I can. And to me, that's where the passion and obsession comes in. I don't think about anything or want to do anything with such fervor, right now.

OK, that is a lie. I feel pretty passionate about blogging right now. Which is why I am asking the question in the first place. What should I blog about?

Maybe I should ask the question, Why do I read blogs? Some are informative. Some keep me in touch with friends. Most entertain.

The Pioneer Woman is a great blogger. It's amazing she finds time in the day to do half of what she does. And though I would not want the responsibility of running such a popular blog, I would like some of it. Just a tiny portion. I think. Or is it that I want a life that is entertaining as hers? Well, we know that isn't going to happen. So what are we left with? Smatterings of my pretty mundane life.

At least until the next obsession comes along.

Our first 24 hours

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We had to go upstairs to an office to get our student ids and our one roll of toilet paper for the month. Yes, one roll. Toilet paper in Poland is a luxury and what they supplied us was more like crepe paper. In fact, I cut off a strip and put it into my journal. We were to carry this one roll of toilet paper each time we went to the toilets. There would be no toilet in there lest we should forget. And towards the end of the month when the rolls were gone, we would find magazines and newspapers left in the toilets. Fortunately, I never had use them.We settled in a bit and had to go to dinner. The Polish students took us to Old Town for pizza. Well, what they think pizza is. It was a dark sort of charming restaurant in the original city walls. The pizza, well, it could best be described as belgium waffle with ketchup and a spot of cheese. Pizza happens to be one of my favorite foods and this was an extreme disappointment. The next morning the Polish students brought us breakfast. Hard dry bread covered with ketchup, cheese and olives. And tonic water with the flavor of the month which happened to be lemon lime. Have I mentioned that I hate ketchup and olives?On to university where we meet our professors and more students. The Polytechnic is in a large old building with large studios full of life. Several of the students knew me by name. I guess they had been previous exchange students.Lunch time came and we were starved. We walked through the snow to a cafe. It smelled good inside and warm. We saw a man eating at the counter and we wanted what he was having. Even though the students' english was great, not everything is easy to translate. Our meals came and we happily dug in to what we thought would be pieces of chicken and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy. I took one bite and knew it was not chicken meat. And if I had not been so hungry after 2 days of airline meals, Polish pizza and breakfast, I would never eat those chicken livers. But they weren't bad, the potatoes were real and the gravy was good. Lori and Teré were not so open minded and would barely touch their potatoes let alone the chicken livers. Needless to say, they bitched and moaned the rest of the day.

sneakers

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• called them tennis shoes though we never played tennis.
• first pair I remember were red canvas with rubber tipped toes. I was proud that they weren't blue like Nancy's but red, which is my favorite color. They were probably keds.
• going into the 9th grade the first time I asked for a brand name. They were addidas and my mom bought them for me grudgingly. I wore them just about everyday and wore them out. I had duct tape wrapped around them for awhile before I got a new pair.
• Tretorns were pretty popular in high school. I was fond of my whiten with plaid detail.
• Reeboks in college. I took them to Europe and wore them out in 4 months. They were plain white shoes, not high tops.
• K-swiss was my next addiction. They were comfortable. Then they got popular with the hip hop crowd and this white nerd had to stop wearing them.
• Keds Slip-ons. I had to have them ordered to fit my huge feet. I got them as long as I could.
• New balance was my next choice. I loved that I could find them in many stores and didn't have to worry about the width. But then they got popular and found cheaper places to make the shoes. They no longer fit consistantly so I stopped buying them.

I got tired of ill fitting shoes so I went to a local running store. I had to take off my shoes and walk around. The verdict: I have flat feet and over pronate. The shoes to help: Brooks Beast. They stabilize the foot and ankle. They feel good. I had never paid so much for a pair of sneakers but they are worth it. So much that I bought 2 more pairs when the former pair wore out.

032709-shoes

I tend to wear out the footbeds before the shoe looks too bad. I knew I needed another pair because my ankle was hurting so much. I hated spending the $120 and put it off for a long time. I finally got to looking for a deal, or at least free shipping. I made a mistake and tried a different shoe. Brooks Addiction is similar to the Beast but made for walkers. Oh and they are $20 cheaper. I ordered a pair and about a week later they arrived. I tried them on but didn't like them. Crap! One of the downfalls to ordering online. I sent them back but have to wait 2-4 weeks for a refund. And I ended up spending an extra $15 on shipping, here and back, so I really didn't save anything afterall. I ordered The Beast and they arrived yesterday. I wore them today and they felt good. No ankle pain! I have to remember to buy a new pair every 6 months, or when the ankle pain returns.