Review: The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter–One Month at a Time by Jennifer Ashton

The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter–One Month at a Time by Jennifer Ashton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Doctor Jen does her own narration and does a great job of it. She keeps the reader’s interest.

I love the idea she promoted here of attacking one habit a month. I always feel there are so many habits I’d like to form or eliminate, but how does one do that with the hope of success? Ms. Jennifer takes us with her on her own journey, so we see how it all works and occasionally doesn’t work for her.

Since this was a Libby audiobook, I felt I missed the stats and ways to connect with the ideas. So I have ordered the hardback to actually start my own Self-Care odyssey.

Are there some habits easier for a doctor than a person on Social Security to form or banish? Absolutely! But I think her methods could work with any that one would like to try. And the bonus is that by the end of the book, she had learned lessons along the way and kept many habits, and could keep track of those ideas she didn’t want anymore.

I highly recommend this book and these ideas for change.

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Just Jot It January, Resolution

Here we are again, JusJoJan. A fun way to kick the resolution to write every day into gear. See what I did there?

Per Linda:. Your prompt for JusJoJan January 1st 2023, is “resolution.” Use the word “resolution” any way you’d like. Have fun!

I don’t do well with resolutions. It’s a sure fire way to get a couple of days of habit forming the good or eliminating the bad ways to fall on the floor with my inner teen rebel. I prefer seeing the end result in my head. I see if it seems in attunement with my nature. Can I see the possibilities of it working with my passions? If so no other thought is necessary.

That worked quite well for me for a couple of years. My weight had dropped and my blood tests have improved a lot. All from the thought that what my son said about Keto/fasting felt right to me. It had been easy. I don’t work hard at it. I just follow my mind/body. If, as my birthday, I want pizza, I have it with a passion and go back to healthy the next day. See? No resolution. Just keep leaning toward what feels right to my body.

Review: Two Old Broads: Stuff You Need to Know That You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know by Dr. M. E. Hecht

Two Old Broads: Stuff You Need to Know That You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know by Dr. M. E. Hecht
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had high hopes for this book. After all, Whoopi. Need I say more? I hoped for sassy and smart. And I hoped she’d do her own narration. Instead, listed for narration are Devon O’Day and Jackie Schlicher. I don’t know that I heard two different people. They both sounded like teens to thirty years old and spoke without a feeling of relating to the information given.

About that information. We old broads already know most of the suggestions given. We’ve lived long enough to figure it out. The author didn’t get how those with disabilities and low income can follow much of that advice.

Okay, there might be a thing or two to learn, but I wish there were far more discussions about aging while female.

I can remember reading everything about menstruation at twelve. I couldn’t get enough of pregnancy and giving birth. We did have Our Bodies Ourselves to learn about our biology and psychology. But then we are left in a desert of drying parts. Try figuring out what your private bits should look or feel like after a certain age. Go ahead Google it! All you find is a bunch of porn. Not helpful!

So I guess I’m happy someone has done something. Please more. And if Whoopi, please let it be Whoopi!!!!

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Review: Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair

Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many reviews about this book are high, some are low ratings. It’s her life. I don’t think it is up to me to judge it. Her life is far different than mine. Yet, I found a deep dive into another life, another memoir gave me insight into writing my own.

Until I saw Selma Blair on the View, I think it was, I had only heard the name and couldn’t put a face with the name. Not too uncommon for me with anyone. Her movies weren’t my type of movie. But I have known friends and loved ones that had MS. It is such a horrifying disease. I was curious to see how this person handled it.

If you like autobiographies, memoirs, this is for you. If you don’t, you might move forward to another read. Ms. Blair gets personal and honest about many aspects of her life. I found the writing well done. And her voice is actively involved; honest tears are felt when she reads the parts most vulnerable.

Since her life always included pain and depression, it is spelled out quite often. If that is triggering for you, this might not be the read for you. It does help to see how someone else worked through her own darkness. I think it was worth the read.

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Review: Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First of all, don’t read this book before going to sleep. Or you won’t, especially from the part about 9/11 on. Still, it is such an engaging read. And the narrator, Tanya Eby, made the book lively, even though much of it is about death.

If Grey’s Anatomy has taught me anything about the life of a potential surgeon, it is the lack of sleep and how dangerous that lack can be for the doctor and the patient. It is that lack of sleep and trying to be a young mother that the author, Judy Melinek, realized she needed a different path, even though this path was nearly finished for the author. But all that training did lead her to be a Medical Examiner in New York.

We Americans hide from sex and death. We can talk of taxes until the cows come home. But of the two topics, death seems the least discussed. And that is too bad. We need to know about that part of life for ourselves and our loved ones.

If you are a writer, this book can be quite the reference. I can see many ways the book can be used to write a mystery or lend credence to a fatality in the novel.

I highly recommend this book, especially in audio form. I was lucky to pick it up from the library on Libby.

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One-Liner Wednesday

Welcome to Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday.

Hundreds of miles to see and ‘I can see for miles and miles.’

Thursday

Socks done. Now the hard part, getting them in the mail.

Dragon nearly growling off the page!

Not as much done on the writing. Pretty tired from stress, long drives, actual surgery, so I mostly vegged

Scrappy socks for charity.

Reading. I’m having to learn to track, or figure out which glasses help best. And I won’t know for a month. So Audible and Text-to-speech is still my friends. BUT, standing in front of the mirror winking first right eye then left eye, the surprise is that my left eye sees my reflection better than the old favorite my right eye.

My new big E. At first I couldn’t see the numbers with my left eye. Well, before surgery it was a blotch on the wall. It’s about 10 feet from my recliner. My ‘good’ eye, the right still sees it, even the second hand. But gradually poor weak but refurbished left eye sees the numbers now. YAY! This is quite the adventure!

Health and Happiness

Here’s what made me happy.

A bit of dragon head, wing, background.

Here’s the healthy.

Kali, Chris, and I. 👍

Kali was cute. Last time I tried to take her for a walk she wouldn’t let me put her harness on. She had to stay home.

Today I was putting on my shoes. She let me know she didn’t want to be left behind. She laid still while I put on her harness.

Oh the walk she wanted to jog. So we did a few steps. Then I got winded. She pulled on me.

We went down a street we haven’t walked for a while. I nearly had to pull her. Once we got to our street, she knew where she was and wanted to run. I gave her a few more jogs then back to walking. She pulled me again.

Kali is tuckered out.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, JuJoJan, Resolve

Wow! Can you believe we are back to January in a year that can look like this Y2K22? Beginning Just Jot it January, again, a prompt to write on everyday. Today’s blends with the Stream of Consciousness Saturday with the word prompt appropriate for the day, resolve.

Resolve according to Dar’s silly dictionary is to repeatedly solve. Which is how we all continue an insanity every year. Resolutions have been proven unsuccessful most of the time.

My friend and I choose to sit and write out possibilities. Last year I saw a possibility of getting healthier. It took the whole year adjusting eating habits losing over 30 pounds. And Intermittent Fasting has been the best, easiest method of my life.

This year will mean a possibility of more movement. More music making. More art enjoyments. Of course more knitting. But I’m determined to knit socks on circular needles, flippies  or whatever they call those bendy short ones, and I want to learn to use double pointed needles. Right now, loom knitting is fast and I don’t lose stitches. But I am determined to be able to use any of these methods.

I see myself writing more letters and cards. And speaking of writing, I see those many books edited and finding readers. 

I see people being kinder to each other. So let’s see if we can make this and more come true!

Per Linda of the prompts:

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “resolve.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Have fun!

Review: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The narrator, Shelly Frasier, made this book so exciting and fun. Well, despite this book being about cadavers and all.

The book was nonfiction, but the author’s stories keep a heavy and sad topic intriguing. Mary Roach includes a history of how humans have handled the dead. She also shows the research of what is working and what is actually causing harm to us and the planet.

I feel the blurb says it best, and with it, you may know if this is for you or not. I might have said no, but a friend told me about it, and she’s usually a bit more squeamish, but she loved it.

“A contagiously cheerful exploration of the cruel diligences executed on some of our bodies when, after death, we abandon them on the threshold of their graves, this book shows us cadavers turned into carcasses, and scientific experiments, the deceased who contribute to the progress of medicine with perforated genitals and extracted eyes, flesh flung from airplanes or shot with bullets to verify the efficiency of new weapons, and discards crucified like Jesus or devoured by maggots. Mary Roach has written a book that explores the great beyond in order to show us the more visible and deplorable side of the next life.”

Try it, you might like it, and possibly learn something. By the way, I got my audio copy from Libby. For those that don’t know it is a library lending service for Kindle or Audiobooks.

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