Monday Melange

Main Entry: mé·lange
Pronunciation: \mā-ˈläⁿzh, -ˈlänj\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Middle French, from mesler, meler to mix — more at meddle
Date: 1653
: a mixture often of incongruous elements

What? It's Monday again?

Stuff to tell you:

Staying up way too late to read: The Restorer's Son, by Sharon Hinck. It's the second in the Sword of Lyric series--the first was The Restorer, which was the first book since The Chronicles of Narnia to make me realize I could really enjoy the fantasy genre. (You can hear soundclips from my interview with Sharon Hinck here.)

I honestly think this book is even better than the first one. It's set in an alternate reality that's something like the-children-of-Israel-meet-13th-century- Scottish-clans, with technology like transport vehicles, venblades, light walls and syncbeams thrown in.

I'm loving Kieran, the main character of this book (I picture him as looking kind of like Eric Bana.) He's an initially unwilling Restorer (a person similar to the Old Testament judges, but with cool powers). Sound a little farfetched? Of course it does, it's fantasy. But somehow reading it makes you love The One (their name for God) even more than you did before.

Haven't finished it yet, but hope to sometime today.

Fit Friday, a few days late--Sorry for not posting a "Fit Friday" update on, of course, Friday. Here's my report: after the abrupt closing of my other gym due to bankruptcy, I have found a new one that I really like. It's called "Cardinal Fitness."

I'm paying less for both me and my daughter, per month, than I was for just myself at the other place. It's clean and nice, and has all the same weight machines I was using at TruEssence. It also has an amazing elliptical that mimics climbing, and burns off calories like there's no tomorrow.

The downside: yes, there are guys there, and I prefer a women-only place. However, no one seems to pay a lot of attention to anyone else. It's not like there are Arnold Schwarnegger types running around hitting on girls who look like Jamie Lee Curtis did in that movie where she was an aerobics chick. In fact, a lot of the people are old and/or out of shape, so I feel right at home. :)

Also, the really heavy, dude-type weights are in the very back, and I don't even have to go there.

So I'm excited. I went there three times last week, but I normally go 4 to 5 times.

--Exercises You Can Do At Your Desk--hat tip to Mel at the Diet Naked Blog.

--Won't you wear a sweater?--March 20th is Sweater Day in honor of Mr. Rogers. I don't know about you, but when my kids were little, I loved that his show was so relaxed and quiet. And how kids were able to use their imaginations and pretend that King Friday the Thirteenth and Queen Sarah Saturday were real, even though they were puppets whose mouths didn't even move.

--An interesting article about Anita Renfroe, the Christian comedienne responsible for the very funny Momsense video.

“It was easier for me to submit myself to him [her husband] when I was younger and thinner. . . . But then I got older and gained weight, and it’s harder for me to submit to him. Because basically I think I can take him.”