Book Review: The Secret Lives of the Four Wives by Lola Shoneyin

Recently, I had the pleasure of reading the Secret Lives of the Four Wives  by Lola Shoneyin. This novel is about a modern polygamist family in Nigeria.  The story begins at the union between Baba Segi and his fourth wife, Bolanle. Her arrival into the somewhat tension filled utopia brings anger and ill intentions into the household.    The wives are intimidated by her education, youth, and beauty. Throughout the book, you learn more about each wife and how they found comfort in a polygamist union during a time where polygamy in Nigeria was  becoming obsolete. As tempers and frustrations  start to spin out of control the secrets of the women are released page by page in this tailwind drama.

Lola Shoneyin, does a excellent job weaving together the literary structure of the book that holds true to her first love, poetry. Her poetic storytelling of this realistic portrayal of women and a family is clear, concise, and cross-cultural. This novel  will make you feel  sympathy and yet triumph for each woman, find humor in the irony, and feel the underlying heartache.  As you near the end of the book you  are waiting for the proverbial stuff to hit the fan with  the turn of every page.  You begin to feel as though you are watching the Real Housewives of a Polygamist Family In Nigeria, but not as commercialized but just as much drama.

Overall, the book  is not as deep as  I thought it would be, but strong enough to understand the universal impact of life, gender, and hardships of being a woman. I would HIGHLY suggest that everyone reads this book.

Tracking Your Health

 Lately, I have been using this wonderful website Fitday.com to track my caloric intake and output.
 At first I was not sure that I would be down for journaling any part of my life, due to the uncontrollable amount of tracking and calculation that I did with Weight Watchers, which made eating a lot more complicated then it should be. Even though, I was not really interested in WW points concept, I did enjoy being able to keep record of what I was consuming. I understand now, more then ever that when trying to get in shape and eat healthy it is important to journal and keep track of food intake activities.



Fitday.com Screenshot



Pros's The website is very user friendly and simple...........and plus it is FREE. (I love free)
You can track your weight, BMI, Calorie intake and output, and mood.

You are able to share and reflect on your wellness daily on dissussion boards, in your online journal and set goals. journal, disscusion boards, and goals, Which are all helpful in the wellness process.

Also,  there is an Iphone app, yo make this tracker a lot more accesible.
Con's
It may be too simple for those who want a more attractive  and interactive layout.

There are a lot of ads, that may be distracting, which you can  pay for a  the Fitday Premium package, that has no advertisement, it is is a problem.


Overall, I really enjoy this website and  would recommend it to any one who is looking for a cost effective way to  track your wellness initiatives.

Yum...Yum... Rice Krispy Cupcakes

By Carolyn Harris
Guest Blogger


For valentines day this year, I was in one of my graduate  for six hours straight and with that length of time in any classroom, with no food usually comes paralyzing hunger. So, in attempts to mediate the potential  opportunity for starvation,  the week before my  classmates and I prepared in advance a potluck sign-up sheet, so we could feed our stomachs as we fed our minds. I signed up  to bring some  Rice Krispy Cupcakes, a recipe I found on Pinterest  that was worth trying out.


These cupcakes were fairly easy to make.  I used my cupcake tins to press the  rice crispy cupcakes to form and a piping bag with a fancy tip for the frosting. I died the frosting with purple food coloring and used some fun silver sprinkles to finish them off. It was as simple as that.

They disappeared very quickly. Everyone loved the Rice Krispy Treats cupcakes!!!

Cabinet Clutter.....Fixed

   

The Danger Zone



After many times of opening my overly packed and always dangerous lower kitchen cabinet (pictured above on a tamed day... missing about three more sauce pans) and  nearly being amputated by one of my heavy pans, I decided to fix it. 



Julia Child in her infamous kitchen



                                                                       

I scoured the web looking for quick and easy  fixes, which I came to find the always so classic, Julia Child's kitchen inspired pegboard.



The Construction Zone





 

The Chow.com  tutorial DIY: Kitchen Fixes: Peg yourself a Pot Holder. This tutorial is pretty simple for those who are skilled  home DIY'ers. But, for a crafting sewing novice like myself,  I need a little more assistance. So I went to my trusted source.... older gentlemen at Home Depot with worker hands.  I always look for the older guys who look like they are spending there long awaited retirement at Home Depot dispensing their infinite construction wisdom.

After consulting one of these knowledgeable people, I walked out of there with everything I needed to install this pegboard. Midway through this project I realized that this was not a one person  job. Espcially, one person like myself ,with a bum arm.  So, the pegboard project was put on hold for about two weeks until my wonderful husband and  I found some time to do it together.



Today, we were able to finish the long awaited Pegboard Pot and Pan Holder. For my first real project with a drill and some wood, I think I did great!

But for all you home construction prefectionist, I know that it s crooked. Just turn your head slightly to the left and you'll be alright.

This project I would recommend to everyone. My kitchen feels a lot more organized, livable, and spacious. Not only is it fairly easy to do, it  is cost effective as well and would only run you about $30. 

Now, I am going to work on scrubbing the bottom of those pots. : ( 



 What a beautiful  Pegboard Pot Holder

I just want to run....

So, I have been at this whole weight loss thing for awhile. I mean for about 14 years out of my 26 years of life. For the first time in long time, I actually feel like I can do this. Not like in the past were I was temporally inspired and I started writing a blog about my healthy lifestyle and fell off after two weeks. (I have been there are done that)

In the past, I tried to lose weight for the following reasons,

• Vanity
• To be noticed for a boy
• Bragging rights
• The thought if i lost weight my size 11W feet would get smaller (in a perfect world)
• The desire to go to the mall and be able to buy clothes from all the stores in the mall, not just two Lane Bryant and Macy's. ( Which now that I think about it would not have been good for my shopaholic tendencies)

All for the wrong reasons.

In all honesty,  'til this day my motivations to lose weight has never really been about  improving my health, even though I tried to convince myself that it was.  Because, really I am pretty healthy. Everytime, I go to the doctors and they take my vitals, they are amazed by the medical miracle of  how healthy I am compared to my weight. (Thank God)

But this time my motivation is to run. For some reason for the last couple of years, I have had this desire to hit the track or trail and move my legs as fast as they can go. I am talking about that type of Olympic graceful  run, where it looks like you are just gliding across the ground. Long distance running especially, is something I have always struggled with and I look forward to running and completing mile without  stopping. There is something about the liberation of being able to move through the air at such a speed uninhibited, with the wind blowing through my Afro (Yes, I plan to be in full  fro)

So this year, no diets, no crazy exercise plans,  and no lofty goals. I am just going to build my endurance to run and with that everything else will fall into place.

Wish me luck! 

Hello World!!!

Hello Everyone,

I am still scratching my head about his whole blogging thing, because I never thought this would be my outlet of expression. I have never been the strongest writer, so as you peruse my post and commentary you will come across many grammatical errors and typos... Get over it... its my blog. As I begin on the journey to express my deepest desires, thoughts, creativity, and opinions I plan to always stay true to myself and my followers.

I look forward to this journey as blogger. Its about to get REAL!!!