Half Broke Horses Meeting

January 28, 2014

Book Club members present:  Me, Gina, Marie, Teri, Terrie, Cindi, Annette, Lauren.  A great showing given the snowy weather!  But well worth it to get to see Teri and eat Gina's cooking!

Venue:  Gina's lovely home in Boones Mill.  Marie also made a 5 layer red velvet cake that was actually 3 layers but still a very big cake.  And I think other people brought stuff but it took me so long to get there that I don't know who brought what. 

Noteworthy news:

- Baby news:  Lauren is pregnant!  Teri's daughter is due in 4 weeks!  Teri made baby sock cupcakes and a diaper cake!  And she learned baby sign language!  And Terrie made up some new baby sign language  words, which will be demonstrated in an upcoming Youtube video!  Expect it to go viral!  We also discussed the possibility that all of the crazy restrictions about what you can and cannot eat while pregnant could be contributing to the rise in peanut and gluten allergies.  Many book members had mothers who drank and/or smoked while pregnant and turned out relatively normal. 

- Latest gossip:  Steve has a 4.0 women's team so we trashed talked about him some.  We updated everyone on who is playing what team for 7.0 mixed, 8.0 mixed, 18 and over women 3.5 and 4.0, 40 and over women 3.5 and 4.0, 7.5 combo, and projected teams for 2015. No verbal commitments or written contracts were made at this time for next year's teams.   Ladder matches and weekly court times were also discussed.  Rumor has it that Charlie is putting in a new ceiling at NDor.  No more asbestos!  Terrie and Gina are contemplating offering Charlie a barter exchange:  cleaning/decorating for free court time.  He'd be a fool to pass that deal up.

- Writer's update:  Annette went to a writer's conference and is contemplating what her first writing project will be.  I am still writing my blog but have attracted a few stalkers, some of whom make jokes about wanting to kill people as a way to find a wife.  Since most of you have Google + accounts, you can read the comment first-hand under the post In Need.

- Relationship statuses:  Brian finally broke up with his girlfriend!  And he got into med school!  I forgot to tell everyone but I have a gay boyfriend!  You can see his comments under almost anything I post on FB these days.  He's great for intellectual conversation but told me that he did not believe in Valentine's Day and he would tell me the truth if he thought my outfit made me look fat, so we may be breaking up soon.

- Job updates:  Marie is retiring in May and I'm making jewelry again. So I'm hiring Marie to run my jewelry business.  I didn't tell her this but instead of paying her, she can have all the jewelry she wants for free.  This will give her something to do just in case she gets sick of spending more time with Mark.

Book Club Discussion:

We didn't do a synopsis of the book so I think everyone read at least some of it except Lauren.  But this was her first meeting and she's pregnant, so she was given a light punishment of having to sit at a separate table from the rest of us while we discussed the book.

While we all thought Lily was an interesting character, most of us liked Glass Castles better. So we basically talked about Glass Castles again and how crazy Janette Wells' parents are.  We could find some personality traits that were passed down from generation to generation to explain some of the craziness  (e.g., Lily's mom with a fainting couch in a mud hut, Lily's dad writing all those crazy letters and spelling things phonetically, Lily's dad using the money for Lily's education on great danes).  But for the most part, Lily's story did not help us to understand what was wrong with her parents.

I guess we didn't think that the book would make a good movie because once again, there was no discussion of potential casting choices.  We did discuss some of the movies nominated for Oscars.  And Teri and I loved Frozen.  Annette tried to make a compelling argument for Her, but it just sounds too creepy for most of us.

Finally, our next book will be The Book Thief, which is also a movie.  By the time we have our next meeting, it might be out on DVD.  If so, we thought we'd watch it during our next meeting. 

While I have tried to be as accurate as possible, please feel free to make any corrections to the minutes.