Pleased To Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are by Bill Sullivan

August 12, 2019August 12, 20196 Comments

Pleased To Meet Me. Finished 8-7-19, 4.5/5 stars, 335 pages, pub. 2019

I want to thank TLC Book Tours for asking me to participate and apologize for not getting this up last week when I should have.

Why are you attracted to a certain “type?” Why are you a morning person? Why do you vote the way you do? From a witty new voice in popular science comes a life-changing look at what makes you.

“I can’t believe I just said that.” “What possessed me to do that?” “What’s wrong with me?” We’re constantly seeking answers to these fundamental human questions, and now, science has the answers. Clever, relatable, and revealing, this eye-opening narrative from Indiana University School of Medicine professor Bill Sullivan explores why we do the things we do through the lens of genetics, microbiology, psychology, neurology, and family history. From what we love (and hate) to eat and who we vote for in political elections to when we lose our virginity and why some people find drugs so addicting, this illuminating book uses the latest scientific research to unveil the secrets of what makes us tick. Filled with fascinating insights–including how experiences that haunted our grandparents echo in our DNA, why the bacteria in our guts mess with our minds, and whether there really is a “murder gene”–this revolutionary book explains the hidden forces shaping who we are, pointing us on a path to how we might become our best selves. from Goodreads

There is so much to unpack in this book. First, I need to mention that it’s written with a lot of humor to make it more readable, especially the first half or so. Second, any book that tells of the Kenny Rogers Seinfeld episode has already won me over. Just so you know there is a scientific reason why I agree with Newman that broccoli is a vile weed. Third, there’s a lot of information in here that I think women should be aware of BEFORE they get pregnant. For reals, I felt that I failed Gage in so many ways just by what I ate or didn’t eat in pregnancy. And lastly, this book attempts to make scientific studies fun and does a really good job.

I love when mainstream books make the gut-brain connection and that showed up here. Your gut is your brain people. This is an issue that I’ve studied quite a lot for Gage. Many kids on the spectrum have compromised guts and healing them can go a long way in their future diagnosis. And autism isn’t the only brain condition that this applies to, so I was glad to see it featured. Grumpy old men is a real thing – who knew? There was an interesting idea on the Chicago violence (hint-lead). In the last bit of the book he talked about politically leanings and I was intrigued. Just by looking at someone’s brain scan they can predict with 72% accuracy their political leanings. (hint-conservatives scare more easily than liberals) But both sides, once entrenched find it almost impossible to change because of the way our brains work. Interesting stuff that explains a lot of what’s happening today.

This is a fun book with something for everyone.

This Week in Nightmares

August 9, 20197 Comments

Fave Pic

There weren’t many rides at the fair, but the swings made him happy.

Highlights of the week This was the last full week Gage has at home before he starts 3rd grade. He’s got Lego camp next week and a few more days and then, poof! School starts. Last weekend I had the 24 hour read-a-thon and it was a lot of fun. And the fundraiser for DBSA Solon was a wonderful afternoon at a renovated home in Shaker Heights. I’m sharing a few photos because it really was hard to believe that people lived here!

We also went to the Cuyahoga County Fair for the first time and I fell in love with pretty much every animal in the rabbit and chicken barn, lol. I’m a city girl and was amazed at the variety.

Could’ve been better Well, for the past few weeks Gage has been waking up with nightmares every few nights, completely out of the blue. And then he woke up and got sick two nights in a row. So, we headed to a doctor who was lovely, but mentioned sleep seizures as a possibility and ‘as a mother’ would recommend being in the room with him when he sleeps. And to touch base with her on Monday. So, sleep is…tricky. It’s only been two nights so we’ll see. Prayers are always appreciated.

Finished reading… Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the RootÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂ¦ Just Who Will You Be? by Maria Shriver Elevation by Stephen King The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez Indeh by Ethan Hawke and Sound Bites:Life Lessons By a Boy Who Ha Autism.

Continued reading Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and tÃ¢ÂÂ¦ as part of a TLC book tour I was supposed to have this review up days ago, but I still have two chapters left that I’ll finish when I take over bed duties from Jason in a bit.

Plans for the weekend As part of house renovations we now have a room ready for Gage to use for Lego City so his #1 goal this weekend is to go and buy all of the necessary tables. As for me, I’d love to go see a movie. Have you seen a good movie at the theater lately?

Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh

August 5, 2019August 5, 20193 Comments

Peace Is Every Step. Finished 7-17-19, 5/5 stars, buddhism, 134 pages, pub. 1991

Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Nhat Hanh’s experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader. It begins where the reader already is—in the kitchen, office, driving a car, walking a part—and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices. the deceptively simple practices of Peace Is Every Step encourage the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the “mindless” into the mindFUL. from Goodreads

I have been reading Thich Nhat Hanh for my daily meditation this year. This is the second book I finished and it’s my favorite of all his books that I’ve read so far. He is a Vietnam monk who coined the phrase ‘engaged Buddhism’. Engaged Buddhism refers to Buddhists who are seeking ways to apply the insights from meditation practice and dharma teachings to situations of social, political, environmental and economic suffering and injustice. (wikipedia) Because of his peaceful protest belief he influenced Martin Luther King Jr. during the Vietnam War and was actually nominated by King for the Nobel Peace Prize that year.

Here’s a link to some quotes from the book. They might not be the ones that touched me the most, but they will give you a sense of his writing. I was raised from birth in the Christian church. I’m still a Christian. But if we all took to heart what Hanh has to say this world be a much better place.

This week in wineries

August 2, 20194 Comments

Fave pic of the week

I didn’t post last weekend because I was at my family ‘girls’ weekend. We were in Madison, Ohio, only 40 minutes from me, and our rented house was within 10 minutes of at least 4 wineries, probably more but that’s all we managed to visit. I always appreciate the time and effort from everyone to make this happen every year. Next year my mom and I are in charge of planning.

Highlights of the week This week Gage didn’t have camp (next week either) so we picked up Grandma and headed to the President McKinley Library & Museum and Memorial. It was 55 minutes from home and was a full day affair after we stopped at Aladdin’s for a very late lunch and a quick stop in Books a Million where Gage bought a Lego set and I bought up the board game Labyrinth. It was a fun day. Also, Gage was so proud of himself for completing the library Summer Reading Challenge. We made a special trip to the library so he could get his free book.

Could’ve been better They have started ripping up our side of the street so it’s 2 more weeks of parking on the cul-de-sac and walking through our neighbor’s yard. But at least we got front row seats to how it was done.

Finished reading Airs Above the Ground and listening I Know Who You Are both of which I reviewed here on the blog.

Still reading Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the RootÃ¢ÂÂ¦ and Started reading Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and tâ¦ .

On the Small Screen We wrapped up season 3 of Stranger Things and I finally finished the last season of New Girl. And we’ve starting watching a few shows a week of Justified. I love Timothy Olyphant so I’m a fan.

Plans for the weekend We have a wedding tonight at 5:30 and then there’s this

On the way home from the reception (whatever time that will be) we’ll start listening to a Stephen King Book in the car and then I’ll see if I can make it the rest of the 24. I’ll post updates in IG. I’m stacybuckeye if you want to follow. Here’s my stack to choose from

Anyone else giving the reverse readathon a try?

July’s Movies and $ for charity

August 1, 20193 Comments

Is it possible I only saw one movie this month? I guess so. We finished up season 4 of Game of Thrones and Stranger Things season 3 and that’s been our screen time for the month. So, what have you seen? Please add your words – it makes it so much more fun!

You know the drill, add your 5 words (or less!) to mine in a comment and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and the other reviews you can add to. Anyone is welcome to join in at any time.

We’re at $15 right now. Your charity could be next

John Wick 3: Parabellum, 2019 (Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Angelica Huston, Mark Dacascos, Asia Dillon, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick) Grade C+

Wanted more story less headshots.

I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney

July 30, 2019July 30, 20193 Comments

I Know Who You Are. Finished 7-26-19, 3.5/5 stars, suspense, pub. 2019

Unabridged audio read by Stephanie Racine. 9 CDs

l Know Who You Are is the brilliant tale of two stories. One is about Aimee Sinclair—well-known actress on the verge of being full-on famous. If you saw her, you’d think you knew her. One day towards the near-end of her shoot on her latest film, Aimee comes home from filming to find her husband’s cell phone and wallet on the dining room table. He never goes anywhere without them. But he’s nowhere to be found. She’s not too concerned—they had a huge fight the night before. They both said things they didn’t mean. He might have done things he didn’t mean, things she can’t forget. Even though she has a history of supposedly forgetting. After all, she’s a very good actress.

Alternating with Aimee’s story is that of a little girl who wandered away from home. We always tell our kids not to talk to strangers or bad things will happen. Well, bad things happen. from Goodreads

Aimee is one of those characters you can’t quite trust. Yes, she’s an actress but she’s acting all wrong and you’re not sure why. Her husband goes missing and obviously they had their problems and she’s lying to police, but why? She’s not quite likable enough to pull it off. You also get the story of the little girl and it’s no surprise that it’s Aimee’s story and it helps explain why she seems so off. The police are sniffing around and she is totally unconcerned.

Honestly, I really didn’t really care one way or another but it was just interesting enough to continue listening and I’m glad that I did. For any fireworks that were missing for most of the story they all showed themselves in the last part of the book and they were worthy of a grand finale. I think the end will shock you, maybe even more than once. So, if you are willing to go slow and wait for he payoff this is your book.

Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart

July 25, 20197 Comments

Airs Above the Ground. Finished 7-22-19, 3.25/5 stars, suspense, 373 pages, pub. 1965

Lovely Vanessa March, two years married and very much in love, did not think it was a strange for her husband to take a business trip to Stockholm. What was strange was the silence that followed. She never thought to look for her missing husband in Vienna — until she saw him in a newsreel shot there at the scene of a deadly fire. Then she caught a glimpse of him in a newsreel shot of a crowd near a mysterious circus fire and knew it was more than strange. It was downright sinister.

Vanessa is propelled to Vienna by the shocking discovery. In her charge is young Timothy Lacy, who also has urgent problems to solve. But her hunt for answers only leads to more sinister questions in a mysterious world of white stallions of Vienna. But what promises to be no more than a delicate personal mission turns out to involve the security forces of three countries, two dead men, a circus and its colourful personnel. And what waits for Vanessa in the shadows is more terrifying than anything she has ever encountered. from Goodreads

I’ve been wanting to try a Mary Stewart book for years since I knew she was one of the first writers of romantic mystery. Although over 50 years old, the characters and dialogue hold up remarkable well. I enjoyed Vanessa and Tim and their adventures across parts of Europe. There was a twist not quite in the middle that I loved, but I don’t want to spoil it by telling you any more about it. There was some brief romance, but I’d have a hard time characterizing this as romantic suspense by today’s standards.

As much as those things worked for me, just when the story hit its peak, there was a long, drawn out chase scene that bored me to tears. And there is a lot of horse in this story. If you like horses I’d guess that you would get way more out of the story than I did. I learned a lot about the Spanish Riding School and it’s not something that drew me into the story, but might someone else.

Overall, I thought it felt fresh even though it was written in a time when people watched their news at the movie theater 🙂

This Week of no camp

July 21, 2019July 21, 20198 Comments

I’ve been absent this week, because Gage had a rare week of no camps so we were able to spend lots of quality time together. It was a really good week even though the heat has been a bit unbearable the last few days.

Fave pic of the week

This may be a pic that that only a mom can love, but every time I look at it I crack up. Gage got a haircut this week and because she offered I told her to spike it up into a mohawk. Gage doesn’t like gel in his hair so his reaction was priceless. He proudly showed it off the rest of the day 🙂

Highlights of the week We did go to the Tall Ship Festival last weekend with my parents. The ships were cool, but the lines were long and there wasn’t as much for Gage to do as I was led to believe from the promotions. It was still fun and I have a new favorite shot of dad and son… IMG_0722 (3) . On Friday we visited the Botanical Garden with Grandma and we spent a very hot few hours there. It’s one of our favorite places and we hadn’t been in awhile… IMG_0833 (2) It was so hot he had the sand box to himself for 30 minutes (at least it was in the shade) We had a fun play date with an old friend on Tuesday and yesterday Gage and Jason went swimming at another friend’s house (the highlight here is that I got some alone time in the house 🙂 )

Could’ve been better No real complaints this week. Even a doctor’s appointment that involved taking blood and a hand x-ray turned out just fine. It was routine and not a big deal.

Finished reading I finished Title: Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, Author: Thich Nhat Hanh and wrote about it here. Gage and I finished up our months long President studies by finishing Title: Grover Cleveland, Again!: A Treasury of American Presidents, Author: Ken Burns , a great book for kids. Well, okay, we both learned a lot 🙂

Still reading Airs Above the Ground Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the Rootâ¦ and started listening to I Know Who You Are

Watching on the small screen We finished season 4 of Game of Thrones which is where I started watching originally and started the third season of Stranger Things last night.

Plans for the weekend The weekend’s almost over, but Jason took Gage to play tennis. This morning Gage said, “Do I have to go? I don’t see the point of it. It’s just hitting a little ball.” LOL. As you can see he did have to go and Jason just texted me to tell me he did great.

So what did you do this week to escape the heat?

This week of meetings and horses

July 13, 2019July 13, 20193 Comments

Fave pic %5ass46vTmK+LbqoJdgEfA.jpg

Gage was at horse camp this week and he loved it! This was at the therapeutic horse farm that he took lessons from when he was younger. He told me he missed the horses so we signed him up this week. So glad we did. I didn’t think he’d be interested enough for 6 hours a day but they kept the kids busy and he came home a sweaty, happy mess every day 🙂

Highlights of the week Well, I did go the the Author Alley that I mentioned last week and it made me feel good to see so many readers crowding around the 52 authors at the independent bookstore. And on another bookish note, my book group had Christmas in July this week. We met at a restaurant and brought the books that we’d received at out Christmas exchange. I ended up bringing Hillbilly Elegy home in a more than fair trade. Oh, and Jason and I snuck in a weekday date with dinner and a movie (John Wick 3).

Could’ve been better They’ve started work on our street and it’s been disruptive to say the least. They are starting with the cul-de-sac circle, but since we are the next driveway there are always trucks in or blocking our driveway. And because our house wraps around the corner we have the biggest front yard on the street, which means we have the porta john, everyone’s mailboxes, all extra equipment they are not quite ready to use and currently half of the street’s trash cans in our front yard. sigh This may be what shows up in this section every week for a while 🙂

Reading I finished and reviewed The Dinner List and spent time with

Airs Above the Ground Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfuâ¦

Listening I’ve started a few audio books but have abandoned them.

Watching on the small screen I’ve been gone most nights this week. In addition to what I already mentioned I had the library board meeting on Monday. I think Jason and I managed one episode of Game of Thrones and one episode of Justified.

On the big screen Jason gets to pick our movies for a bit longer because he won our March Madness bet this year, but for some reason he chose something I wanted to see (he’s good that way). Why do I like the John Wick movies? I have no idea. I spent much of the movie looking way or closing my eyes in disgust at the violence. I love Keanu Reeves and I liked the story in the first two, but this one not so much.

So, what’s been happening in your neck of the woods?

My Dinner List

July 11, 20194 Comments

Yesterday I shared my thoughts about The Dinner List, a book based on a birthday dinner where the attendees (living or dead) were chosen by the birthday girl.

Jason and I had a date night last night and we discussed our own choices for over an hour. After we filled up our first table, we also started a B table, lol.

My birthday dinner wish list – Jason (I want to be able to talk with someone about the dinner when it’s over!) Jesus, Thich Nhat Hanh, Michelle Obama, Jimmy Stewart. So, I took way too much time considering my table. Seriously. Jimmy Stewart could have been any of my favorite movies stars from the black and white era, but he was chosen because I thought he’d get along with the rest of the table, even now I’m second guessing not choosing Cary Grant. Just typing that makes me laugh. Start this discussion on your next date night with a few glasses of wine and you’ll see how fun it can be.

Jason’s table – me, Clinton Woolsey (Jason’s great-grandfather. Click on his name to read his wiki page), George Washington, Albert Einstein, Warren Buffet.

We started a B table and started with Katherine Hepburn, Raphael Nadal, Stephen King…that’s as far as we got before our movie started.

So, let’s see YOUR list. If you post about it leave a link and I’ll add it to this post. But even if you don’t I still want to hear who is coming to your dinner! Who knows maybe someone on your list will convince me to change mine!

Stacy's Books

books, movies, and boy