Notes from the Chore Girl

I spent the entire afternoon cleaning out my nests. There are so many of them! One in my kitchen office, two in the living room (one on either side of my chair), one in my bedroom, and that is just one level of this house. I am my mother's daughter; she makes nests too, but hers are small, organized, neat and they make sense. Mine are chaotic and disgusting.Today's dig was downright nasty: I found pieces of cat treats mixed in with crumbs of candy and other snacks I've enjoyed in each of these locations, and almost popped some Fancy Feast into my mouth at one point. I know, gag. My Waterloo is baskets: I have many and have recently acquired more. They are just dandy for carrying things around - at night (or so I planned when I got my last batch) I'd take a basket to my bedroom, like Dorothy with Toto, all tricked out with my glasses, my journal, a good pen, my Kindle, a glue stick, my inhaler, a small flashlight, a bookmark, a pick comb and my cell phone. What do you suppose I encountered today in said basket? Newspaper clippings, backings from strips of Velcro, candy wrappers, innards of pens, a Chinese takeout menu, capless markers, a pencil with gum stuck to it, expired coupons for LubePros (which no longer exists), RegisterStar rubber bands, random pieces of My Twinn white ribbon (you collectors know what I'm talking about), Beauregard's rabies shot certificate, a floppy disc (we have NO computers in this house that use floppy discs) and a tape cassette. A TAPE CASSETTE! This is recent, too. And we won't even talk about all the AARP magazines and catalogs that accumulate to be read "one of these days."

Take heart, Paul Dale Anderson - at least I found my TGI Fridays November and December Deals coupons. I think. Right now, I only see one.

Gone Girl, Part 2

I finished rereading Gone Girl and reviewed it for Goodreads. It gave me a lot to think about. I'm sure I missed the point, but what I got out of it was the fact that the quest for self-identity is still painful for me, and it became corrupt for Amy. Again - a superb read by a talented author.

Elizabeth Flygare's review

Oct 17, 14  ·  edit

5 of 5 stars

Read from September 30 to October 17, 2014

Warning: Spoilers.
So glad I reread it. I saw the movie and absolutely had to revisit the book. I found myself having much more sympathy for Amy in the book - in the movie she is depicted as so evil and twisted that there is nothing redeemable about her. In the book, I thought about what it would be like to be the only child of academics who created a book series starring their idealized version of me, and what it might do to my self-identity. Amy was able to assume different personas, and I know that I'm able to do that as well - certainly not to the extent that Amy did, and certainly not with her motives. But even as a "senior citizen," I find myself pausing to wonder who the real Elizabeth is. I will add here that I realize how tiresome it is to listen to someone go on and on about "who am I." But if Jean Valjean did it, so can I.

Currently I've branded myself as a 64-year-old selective extrovert who writes incessantly, is in love with a horror writer whose career is taking off big time, collects lifelike dolls, seeks serenity and does not drink alcohol. I go places and am told that I present as a "party girl;" other times, I seem unapproachable and even snobbish. Some people find me elitist; some see me as down to earth. I see myself as rather vain and self-centered, obsessed with having long hair that hasn't yet turned gray, and intellectual. I've added "artist" recently to my profile. I can remember in the recent past when I thought of myself as melancholy, angry, and frightened.

I walked through that book with Amy - it was very interesting how the loss of her money was her turning point with regard to returning home. I liked the way the pregnancy twist was done in the movie better than the book's version. No, I didn't hate Amy. Was I supposed to? The movie certainly said we were supposed to, but I think the book lets you make up your own mind. Jury is still out, but the last thing Nick says to Amy, at the end, will always haunt me. He says, "I feel sorry for you..because you every morning you have to wake up and be you." That is powerful stuff. Five stars.

Gone Girl: Not Amazed by Amy

Warning: Spoilers!

Last Tuesday, Paul and I saw the much-anticipated movie Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. It was essentially a disturbing yet brilliant neo-noir portrayal of the very dysfunctional marriage of Amy and Nick Dunne, opening with Amy’s disappearance on their fifth wedding anniversary. We learn the backstories of both characters - Amy’s angst is revealed via journal entries; Nick’s tale seems to introduce a somewhat well-meaning guy. We get into Amy’s head; alternately, we learn that Nick is admittedly clueless about Amy; he doesn’t know her blood type; in fact he had no idea who her friends are. It’s obvious that he’s going to be framed for her abduction and murder, although the state of Nick’s house when he returns to find Amy gone is obviously staged. If you’ve read the book, you know that Amy has faked her own disappearance; the movie doesn’t spell out her motives as clearly as the book does.

The book gets the reader to side with Amy at first, which I think makes the plot twists much more interesting and the tension more effective. We feel sorry for her as we learn that her academic parents have created a children’s book series entitled Amazing Amy, starring an idealized version of their less-than perfect daughter. We feel her pain as she laments that she is unloved. In the movie, it’s Amy we hate from the get-go; she’s depicted as an arrogant New Yorker who considers it slumming to have to move to Missouri with her husband because of his elderly parents’ illnesses. In the movie, I would have liked to have seen more detail spelled out about Amy’s anger at being transplanted, as well as her ongoing distress, spilled into her diary, over how convinced she is that Nick no longer loves her. I also wish there had been more than just a quick cut to show the audience that Nick had an affair. Yes, these elements are there in the movie, but subtleties are easy to miss when you’re just starting to sort out the characters and pick up the rhythm of the cinematic style. Maybe I’m getting spacy and literal-minded in my old age, but if something major is happening, I want to have a clear sense of the hows and the whys.

The book is better. You don’t want to miss Gillian Flynn’s brilliant prose; it’s written in first person and even Paul, who loathes this POV, pronounces the writing spectacular. Flynn also wrote the screenplay for the movie, which is why I’m so confused by my mixed reactions. As I stated earlier, the film version emphasizes Amy’s vileness from the get go, with subtler references to Nick’s defects of character. The book lets us see what jerks they both are early on. With the exception of the female detective and Nick’s twin sister, Margo (nicknamed “Go”), the characters have no redeeming qualities. I liked the cat, of course, but at the end, I had a feeling that he, too, was in on the whole thing all along. I wonder why Gillian Flynn made this subtle alteration?

I've read articles online stating the percentage of women who, after seeing this film, turn completely against the whole idea of marriage. That just makes me shake my head – there is nothing of love in the marriage between Nick and Amy. I have no problem with the much-criticized ending; in my mind, they deserve each other. I want to see it again, because the opening credits scroll over a backdrop of stills that have relevance to the story.

Dad always used to tell us kids, “I get enough messages that work every day – when I go to a movie, I want to be entertained.” I’ve felt that way at times; however, unlike Dad, I do enjoy a good horror movie or psychological thriller and I don’t mind being shocked. Paul and I both concluded that Gone Girl definitely falls under the category of psychological horror. But this movie is insidious. It crawled inside my head and inside my body. I usually love the genre, but after seeing this twisted, dialogue-ridden film, we both felt almost hypnotized into darkness; it was a hard feeling to shake. We chose to indulge in cheesecake at TGI Friday’s - the perfect antidote to 149 minutes of ugly people doing ugly things.

Final note: Amy’s hair, in the beginning, is obviously a wig – and a bad one. She looks much better after her haircut; I’m sure that the new “do” was Rosamund Pike’s real hair.

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Let's Talk about Books with Lizza

Book talk time! I am reading Ann Tatlock’s Promises to Keep, and I can't say enough about the eloquence of her writing, the plot, and the flawless flow of the story. Paul Anderson, my "significant other," got it as a free download and raved about the beautiful writing; I trust his opinions as he is a published author. We both got free downloads of the book.

Tatlock might be marketing her books as Christian fiction, a genre I normally avoid, but this book doesn't fit the stereotype. In my mind, it is true Christian fiction, unlike the current genre, which seems to be a juxtaposition of 19th century sentimental romance and born-again fundamentalist undertones.  The emphasis here is on racial equality. Langston Hughes, whose work was receiving awards at the time, is mentioned in this book, and there are conversations laced throughout that show the author's strong belief in social justice. The religious references reflect my own Protestant upbringing.  It certainly evokes my old stomping grounds; the book is set in a fictitious town in DuPage County called Mills River, which I sense is based on Wheaton, Illinois, where my family lived from 1964-1970. In addition, author Ann Tatlock is a graduate of Wheaton College.  The story has salience for me because there are so many references to familiar places. 

Here's Amazon's summary of the book and a link to the page: Promises to Keep

Eleven-year-old Roz (Rosalind) Anthony and her family have just moved to Mills River, Illinois, to escape an abusive situation. Only days after settling into their new home, they are surprised to find the previous owner, Tillie Monroe, on their front porch reading the newspaper. Though her sons have sold the house and sent her to a facility for the aged, she is determined to die in the place she lived her life, and somehow manages to find her way "home" day after day. Feeling sympathy for the elderly woman, Roz's mother allows Tillie to move back in. 

Mara Nightingale becomes Roz's first friend in Mills River. In spite of their many differences, the girls discover they have something in common that binds them together--both are hiding secrets. So they make a promise--"cross my heart and hope to die"--never to tell anyone else. 

When danger stalks the Anthonys, Tillie exhibits unimaginable courage and selfless love in her determination to protect the family she has adopted as her own.

And here are more of my comments:

The book is obviously set in the mid-1950s, as it mentions air raid drills. How I remember those from grade school! Roz and her family have moved to Illinois from Minnesota, a state I consider my "home" even though I've never lived there. My parents were born and raised in Minnesota and met at the U, and I have relatives still living in the area. The only thing in Promises to Keep so far that doesn't ring true is that sadly, ethnic prejudice is still rampant in Minnesota -- especially in the Twin Cities. A personal note: In the early 60s, African Americans were starting to move into Minneapolis near the 2800 block of Park Avenue, where my Grandma Arabelle Flygare lived. Grandma, who was born in 1897, had a bit of a time adjusting to the changes.  So it surprises me that eleven-year-old Roz is unfazed by Mara's being "colored." Perhaps, even then, little kids were innocent when it came to "differences."  

I love Tillie! With regard to faith, two of my favorite scenes in the book so far are (1) where 11-year old Roz asks Tillie how you know you're going to heaven, and she replies, "Well, now, that all depends on who your father is;" and (2) where Tillie teaches The Lord's Prayer to Roz's two-year-old sister Valerie, who hears the first line as "Our Father, it's hot in heaven."  I also feel a sense of kinship with Tillie as she uses the expression "Merciful heavens!" frequently. That phrase has floated around in my family for decades, usually uttered with a Swedish accent.

I'm at the part right now where Mara has disclosed to Roz the secret about her real father, and that Mara's first name is actually "Beatrice." Mara reveals to Roz that her older sister Celia is actually her mother, and that Roz is the offspring of an affair between Celia and William Remmick, a white man. Remmick is an English professor and a book-lover who has a late-night Chicago radio talk show. (I suspect the Remmick character is loosely based on Milt Rosenberg) Mara's family story is that that Celia is her sister--of course, her "parents" are actually her grandparents. Mara wants desperately to meet her real father, and her grandparents agree to take her to Chicago on the train to meet him. I'll leave the aftermath of that visit for anyone who decides to read the book.

I enjoy Roz's siblings: the older Wally and little Valerie. As the story advances, Wally, at age eighteen, decides to enlist in the Army. This doesn't go over too well for the family; at this point, we're into the Vietnam era. It is also heartening to see that Tillie's two older sons, Johnny and Paul, who put her in the nursing home, are ending to up to be decent guys. Tillie's third son, Lyle, is doing some type of missionary work in another country. He has yet to appear. (Note: Lyle is also a name from my family.)

Roz's mother, Janis, is dating a man named Tom Barrows. Roz and Mara can't stand him, and conjure up devious, hilarious means to stop the relationship.  Then - as I knew would happen, Roz's father resurfaces. Roz finds Sugar Daddy candy in her school desk--this creeps me out. He tries to entice Roz back in his good graces, and he's appearing more and more sinister to me. Tom Barrows is soon out of the picture, and not because of Roz and Mara's antics. "Daddy" has obviously made threats because he wants Janis and his family back.

So I think that Daddy Dearest is going to either threaten Roz or actually try to harm her. My guess is that Tillie will come to the rescue. I think Lyle will return to Mills River and Janis will marry him, making Tillie Roz's grandma, and that Tillie will live out her days in her beloved home.

I wish I had written it.

I want to meet the author, and I'm going to read her other books.  Knowing my mother would like Promises to Keep, I checked Amazon and it was back to $6.99. I called Mom and told her about it, and she sounded intrigued. I immediately bought it for her and had it sent to her Kindle.

Back to the concept of Christian fiction: Christy by Catherine Marshall was the book that inspired me to want to write a novel! So, from this former Presbyterian/current Episcopagan rebel, I have three remaining words about Promises to Keep: BUY THIS BOOK!

Google Chrome and Windows 8.1

Well, I took the plunge. Always "old-school," I fought viciously to avoid Google Chrome, but I can't upload photos on Blogger using Internet Explorer. I tried Firefox and loathed it - deleted it immediately - that sucker took over my whole computer. SO.....now, Google Chrome is my default browser - and I admit that I love it! Even my mother likes it, and she's 88 - I will say it works better for people who aren't using Comcast as their E-Mail service provider. If I were willing to change to their default, I'd have a seamless browsing experience, but everyone knows my e-mail address as elizabethaisling@comcast.net, and I don't want to change it.

 In other news, I have tamed Windows 8.1 and am beginning to like it quite a bit. I've discovered some great photo-editing apps, which I've downloaded free from the "Store." A caveat - DO NOT BUY "Windows Essentials." It is free. Go to the Microsoft website and download it - I did - and the editing component of their Photo Gallery is great. It also gives me Microsoft Movie Maker, which I use constantly. Here are links to some of my recent projects:

30 Days of Lists - September 2014
Bristol Renaissance Faire: August 3, 2014
Bristol Renaissance Faire: August 17, 2014
Roadside Shrine

I really ought to devote a blog entry to each one of these! I have another blog on Blogspot that talks about 30 Days of Lists. LizzaLand: 30 Days of Lists for September 2014

Now I'm going to play with DragonLady again.

Voice Recognition Software

I've just installed some new software: Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 13 Premium, an early Christmas present from wonderful Paul. I am psyched! Dragon is speech recognition software that turns your spoken words into text which appears before your eyes in seconds. In other words, you can think out loud.It comes with headphones and a microphone, but you can also use the microphone built into your laptop. You teach it your voice, accent, vocal cadences, words and phrases.....I hope it enjoys meeting Chatty Elizabeth!

Later: We have met. This is my first post. I had the audacity to put it on Facebook!

Good morning to everybody out there in Facebook land. Today’s entry is brought to you by the Dragon Lady- proud owner of nuance Dragon voice recognition software. This post is being dictated into the microphone of my Toshiba, and I’m sitting here drinking my coffee and enjoying the thrill of watching text appear on my screen. I don’t suppose that this software will be Facebook friendly enough to highlight Paul Dale Anderson’s name, but here’s a shout out to him anyway – because he gave the software to me is an early Christmas present. He knows what a chatterbox I am and how much I love to talk, and so this is right up my alley. I wonder what would happen if I tried to talk in a British accent. What’s how we jolly swags? Well, that didn’t work. I was trying to say the phrase what HO, YE jolly swags? Obviously, I have to go back through the instructions and learn how to make corrections. Because I’m lazy, I only read the directions when all else fails. One thing I absolutely have to learn is how to put things in quotation marks. Anyhow, it is 20 minutes after 12 noon which means it’s Sunday afternoon. Marie wants to go to the waffle house for breakfast. Waffle house should be capitalized. Paul, I promise you that next time I use this I will have learned how to capitalize words within a sentence. I’m having my coffee, and I am so excited about having this software! It’s like magic. How I wish I’d had it 40 years ago when I used to sit in my apartment in jabber my innermost thoughts into a cassette player. I still have those tapes, and I suppose I ought to have them digitized for posterity. Now, I will go ahead and paste this into my Facebook status from the word document I’m using; I do have a sneaking suspicion that this wonderful nuance Dragon voice recognition software will probably interface with Facebook. I must have a pretty normal voice, because I’m not making any effort to sound articulate – and Dragon Lady still understands me. Have a deep need to be understood, so I am sure that nuance Dragon, henceforth known as Dragon Lady, will become my partner in crime as well as my friend and soulmate. One moment look up the word henceforth. Yay, I was right – it means in the future. A note: since I’ve joined the ranks of Ville… Boy that sure didn’t make sense… trying to was that not only do I forget what words mean to spell them. I wonder what will next. The software is very patient. I’m not used to that in humans. It actually waits for to take a sip of coffee; it sits there, politely, ready for my jabbering to resume. I hope all of you a scintillating day, and for stars to any of you who actually read this entire post. Signing off now – Elizabeth Aisling lidar, oh dear it thinks fly Gar… LYG a… Oh no what am I going to do? It doesn’t know Swedish. My last name is not DAR, nor is it FLY GA are. Help! I will try one more time. My last name is spelled FLYGARE. Tomorrow, I will train Dragon Lady to spell my last name the capital letter and the rest of the letters in lower case. One more thing. I often go by Liz the. That is not Liz the. The spelling is: LIZ Z a. Trying again – I am frustrated. Lizza! I did it! I taught Dragon Lady my name! I’m certainly glad that it is not Henrietta Margaretta Prudencia Deborah Mundy Biggs Cox. How nice – it did not write cocks.

LikeLOL!

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Panera BAD

Dear Panera Bread,

I tried to like you. I wanted to like you! I gave you a second chance today. I took Marie and my mother to you, with a gift certificate for your food from one of my dear FB friends. Oh, Panera Bread - how you disappointed me! You see- the three of us are seniors. That's right - SENIORS - not yuppies who have your menu memorized and just want a cup of joe so they can use their laptops. We wanted a meal. And your confused counter staff simply couldn't comprehend nor compute what we wanted. Oh, Panera! We tried so many times! This is third grade stuff. Mom wanted a half- sized Asian Sesame chicken salad and a cup of hot tea. Marie wanted an Asian Sesame chicken salad and diet Pepsi. And I wanted a Thai chicken salad with no cilantro, and blueberry iced tea. Oh! I need my smelling salts. It was so painful - so difficult for the Young Man At The Counter.

Oh, mercy! Who trains your counter people? How confused this poor young man was. He couldn't keep the half salads and whole salads straight. And it seemed to take forever. And let's not talk about the daunting task of using the cash register. I thought the poor thing was going to cry.

He asked me my name after this, which seemed odd- as I should have at this point asked for HIS name. I told him, though, and he printed an important-looking receipt to give me. There was my name, in all its glory, MISSPELLED -- I kid you not. ELIZEBETH. Cringe cringe cringe.

Went to get my drink. The ice dispenser did not work. They didn't know how to refill the ice, so I ended up scooping dregs from beneath the grate. Poor Mom didn't have her hot tea. Then I heard them calling my name. Oh! That's right. I am a server here. I put in my order, and when it comes up, I must pick it up and take it to the table, and serve my guests. So must Marie, it appears. My goodness! We are waitstaff! Where is Mom's tea? In fact - where is her ENTREE?
Three, no - actually, four----maybe even FIVE trips did Marie and I make to that table with heavy china tableware. Then, I couldn't find a fork. Fortuitously, Marie had an extra. A staff person finally walked by and I said to him that I thought that I should receive a tip for all the waitressing I had done so far at his restaurant.

Can't say the food was bad. But what is this about? Incomprehensible menu. Incompetent staff. Can't even spell the Queen of England's name, yet expects her to get up and get her own order, and the Queen Mother's as well! Well, we all sat and ate. The bread (which they seemed confused about adding) was tasty, and the drinks weren't half bad, but Mom's tea was so hot I had to add some ice cubes to it. We won't discuss the source.

Fast forward. Our meal is over! Happy, happy meal! Now it's time to go home. But WAIT! We have to BUS OUR OWN TABLES! That's right! NO trays, of course. We have to scrape the food off into the trash, sort the plates and cups and silver and ---oh, my! I did not clean off my plate neatly. I was as mannerly as I could be, but I was seething. I don't have delusions of grandeur - at least I don't think... so, but let's see. Panera Bread, you expect us to stand up to a counter and try to explain our orders. Then, we have to carry our entrees to the table. Then, we clean up after ourselves. Is that any way to treat a guest? Oh, I forgot. We aren't guests. We aren't even customers. We are staff, apparently. Unpaid staff. Volunteers, I guess. I think even volunteers get tips at some places. Panera bread, I have a tip for you. You are BAD. I will never patronize you again. And please teach your staff how to spell the name Elizabeth. You never know if HRH might decide to visit you in person.