Random thoughts

The baby shared her recent cold with me.  There's no sore throat, no chest congestion.  Just a lot of snot being produced.  I NEVER take decongestants, but because I'm supposed to sing Sunday, I decided to get some sort of thing that would dry up the snot long enough for me to get through my song.  I hate decongestants because of the way they affect my body.  My eyes dry out and burn, for one thing.  I'd rather blow my nose.  But, this one time, I decided it wouldn't kill me to buy some. 

I must have spent ten minutes trying to find a decongestant that didn't have acetaminophen included as the main ingredient.  Good grief, people, if I had a headache or fever, I'd take a Tylenol.  No wonder people overdose on acetaminophen so often; it's added to cough syrup, cold pills... EVERYTHING associated with colds.  I finally found a store brand allergy relief tablet with an antihistamine as the only active ingredient.  One pill supposedly lasts 24 hours.  I took one just to see if it had the desired effect, and I think it will do the job.   There are 60 of the tiny pills in the bottle, so I now have a lifetime supply of antihistamine.  Several lifetime supplies at the rate I take them.

I recently bought the cheapest Kindle made, even though I have the free Kindle app on my IPad; if you want a Kindle, they are $59 right now .  Cliff received the basic Kindle from the grandson's fiance before Christmas, and I was so impressed with how long it holds a charge that I simply had to have one.  I have a very old basic Kindle, but that one won't let Cliff and me share a library, and I wanted him to be able to access my books.  I wish I knew someone who could use the old one, because it works great.  It isn't a touch screen, but in some ways I like the old style.  If you swipe the new Kindle screen, or touch it too hard, it throws you several pages ahead!  Now that I've figured out the problem, though, I use a very light touch and all is well.   I also have an old-style Nook that I would gladly give someone. 

I recently read "Maude" on the Kindle.  At the time it was 99 cents, and it looked interesting.  I had barely started it when I realized I was going to love it, and recommended it on Facebook.  The friends who read it also loved it.  I talked Cliff into reading it, and he, too, enjoyed the book... if you can enjoy a story based on the life of real woman who just couldn't catch a break.  Cliff's only complaint was that the book was depressing. 

I enjoy books by John Sandford and Michael Connelly, suspense and thriller-type books.  I'm tired of James Patterson's Alex Cross stories.  Honestly, all the thriller and suspense books I read are very forgettable.  I enjoy them as I read them, then forget the whole story line when I'm done.  

It seems as though my favorites are always biographies, or fictionalized stories based on someone's life.  Laura Hillenbrand has hit two home runs for me:  "Seabiscuit" and "Unbroken".  Seabiscuit caused me to buy a horse several years ago.  I remember reading the book aloud to Cliff on a road trip, and while reading the part describing a horse race I got so excited I was reading louder and faster as the race drew to a close.  We both laughed about how caught up I had gotten in the race.  Forget the movie, though.  

If I were going to recommend only one book, it would be Unbroken.  Read it, if you read anything at all.  Don't wait for the movie, if there happens to be one in the future.  Read the book.  

Right now I'm reading a Stephen King book, "The Stand", that I'm not enjoying all that much, just because it was recommended.  I think we need to sometimes read something totally different than what we normally do.  So, just for me, read Unbroken.  It'll do you good.

In the real world, I'm still waiting for my calf suppliers to call with a couple of new babies for me.  

I guess that's all for my morning rambles.