The Hunger Games

As many of you know I was enthralled with the Twilight books, rereading them many times. I finally broke it off by reading "Pride and Prejudice." I then read nothing for about a week when I received a call from the library that a book I had requested came in. I hadn't even remembered what I requested, it had been such a long time ago. When I picked the book up it was "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.

I vaguely remember asking for it. I have read several book by Ms. Collins and I really like her style of writing. I loved this book. The basic premise is that the United States is no more and instead there is the Capital, which is in the Rockies somewhere and then 12 Districts. The districts lost a war against the capital and now are forced into sending tributes (one boy and one girl, aged between 12 and 18) to the Hunger Games. The tributes are competing to be the last one alive and all of the districts are required to watch them. The main character is a 16 year old girl named Katniss who competes in the games after taking the place of her 12 year old sister whose name was drawn. The boy from her district is Peeta, who had once shown Katniss kindness when she was in great need.

I won't go into any more details because I want all of you to read the book and tell me what you think of it. The only thing I'll say is that at the end it said "the end of book one." It did not say how many books will be in the series but I am totally hooked. I found out that the next book comes out in September.

So, happy reading.

M.I.A.

Grocery shopping is a task that I don't usually mind except when it is really cold or raining and then I would rather avoid the long walk to and fro the store. I sometimes use a list which is really helpful, but other times I think I will remember what we need without the list and end up forgetting something or getting back home and realize I should have gotten something I didn't know we needed. I have been shopping less frequently since Mark has been traveling a lot. I wait until we are out of so many things it is crucial to go . Like this past week when we were so painfully low on chocolate that I resorted to grabbing a hand full of chocolate chips. I mentioned this to a few friends and found that I am not the only person to do this.

So, I went to Giant Eagle (sans list) and bought a heart shaped box of chocolates , 2 bags of peanut M&M's and 1 bag of Hershey Kisses. It was after Valentines Day so they were all marked down which was my rationalization. I also bought some other foods that are too boring to mention.

I then decided to go to Aldi's which is a discount grocery store that has a limited selection but has really good prices on some of the basics. ie; brownie mix, salsa, cereal, graham crackers etc. I hadn't been to Aldi's in months, but I needed some things that I like there and since I had a free afternoon I ventured out even though it was really cold. I was in the last aisle when I realized that I missed something that I normally get, I left my cart and went back to search for said item. I never did find it and when I went back my cart was not where I thought I had left it. I looked around and there were a few carts without owners sitting there, but they weren't mine. I was so frustrated, I didn't want to start again so I walked up the aisle looking at other people carts to see if I could find the person who had taken mine. I found him, the cart thief, I timidly approached him and said," You have my cart." He was so very embarrassed, apologized profusely, claiming that this was one of those "most embarrassing moments". I told him it could have been so much worse and he agreed. I was just happy to have my things back. Has this happened to anyone else?

Enthralled

I read a lot and usually have several books waiting for me at any given time. I have at least four or five sitting there now and a couple from the library that I have already renewed twice. It's not that I haven't been reading it is just that the Twilight series has captivated me so much that I haven't been able to pick up anything else. I have read each of the books several times and can't wait to go back home so I can read some more. The day after Christmas, at my mom's house, we had a party with her side of the family. I was so torn over reading the last book in the series and socializing with my family. I had to tear myself away from the book to hang out with them only to go back to the book when I felt I could make my escape without it seeming so obvious that I would rather be somewhere else. Even now that I have read the last book twice and counting, my obsession doesn't appear to be letting up any.

It is really odd for me to reread any book. I did reread the Harry Potter books but they pretty much are the exception to the rule. I am one of those people that once I start a book I am focused on it and the desire to finish it is so strong. But I have reread the third book 5 times. Yes, 5 times!!! Of course, part of that was that my mom was giving Steph the fourth book for Christmas and I had to wait to read it. Okay, in all honesty I went to Barnes and Noble and read a few chapters Christmas Eve Day. I was so tempted to buy my own copy but my thriftiness came through, I could wait one more day, right?

So, what is it about these books that have me so enthralled? I think that my love of fantasy and being a romantic makes these books seem like they were written especially for me. I find myself smiling when I am reading them and even though I know what is going to happen my enjoyment isn't any less each time. I can relate it to eating good chocolate, only with chocolate you can get full and I don't have my fill of the books yet. I know that I should be doing other things, like laundry, cleaning, etc. but I am really bad with procrastination especially with things I don't like doing. I don't see an end in sight although I am hoping when the TV networks have new shows again I'll be strong enough to tear myself away. I sound like an addict don't I? Is there such a thing as a Twilight intervention?

Inactivity

We had Verizon Fios installed yesterday. Mark thought it would be good since it would save us some money, especially on our phone bill. I didn't really care too much but he told me that we would have the Tennis Channel for a trial 3 months so I was all for it and saving money is a good thing too, right?

Mark agreed to work from home for the day while the installer was there. I was very glad because it makes me nervous to have a strange man in the house alone with me. I realize that this a rather irrational fear and everyone who has worked for us has been completely professional as was the gentleman yesterday, but still it makes me uneasy. I also don't like when I'm asked questions that I have no idea what the answers are. So, it was good for Mark to be there for that as well.

So, we now have Fios and all our TV channels have changed. We have some new channels which Leah was excited about because there are more kid channels for her. Interestingly enough we don't get the Tennis Channel. I tried to go to it last night and it said we hadn't subscribed to it. That is just plain wrong. I complained to Mark and he said jokingly that I should call Comcast to tell them we would go back to them if they would give me the Tennis Channel.

Mark had called Comcast to tell them that we switched. He said that they did mention their own deals that we could have if we aren't completely satisfied with our new provider. So, we'll see.

Later Mark said that we would have to email everyone to let them know that our address had changed from Comcast. He seemed a little panicked about that until I reminded him that we never did change our address from adelphia and it changed itself over to roadrunner a few months ago. We didn't have to do anything and the adelphia and roadrunner addresses both still work. So, my inactivity was a good thing. How rare is that?

Champions

Bethel Park's football team won the WPIAL championship. This is a big deal because it is the first time they have achieved this goal. They beat Gateway 10-6. Mark and I actually watched some of the game. The end to be completely accurate since we went to the theater and arrived home for the last 5 minutes of the game. I was very impressed with Bethel's defense. To keep a team that had been scoring 40+ points a game to a meager 6 points is pretty awesome. Gateway was a nationally ranked team and even though Bethel was undefeated no one gave them much hope to win. That of course, makes the victory so much sweeter.

Mark and I helped some students make it to the game. We were walking to the theater from dinner (McCormick and Schmick's which was fantastic) when we overcame some confused Bethel fans. We overheard one boy say, "maybe we should ask someone." Mark told them they were headed in the wrong direction and needed to cross the river. It is easy to see how they were confused since they had just got off the "T" and with all the tall buildings, you couldn't see the stadium, any rivers or bridges. We were glad to help fellow Bethel Parkians.

So, Congratulations to Bethel Park and good luck with the next game which is against State College High School this Friday.