Monday, February 13, 2023

Weekly Roundup: Let Me Be Frank With You

 

A weekly roundup: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  I'm here to tell you this n'that about my week and then to gush about the book Loving Frank.


Eats

I don't have anything earth shattering to report.  Scout stuff is ramping up so I've been doing more of the family cooking.  There was another round of chicken burritos, and then I got us steak and wowed the fam by roasting frozen broccoli in the air fryer.  I gave the frozen pieces a quick spritz of oil, a dash of seasoned salt, and then put them in the air fryer for 20 minutes at 390, flipping every once in a while.

Over the weekend I replenished my freezer staples - more breakfast burritos, more veggie burritos, and something for lunches that I'll show you next week if it pans out.

I whipped up Shepherd's Pie for Sunday dinner at the hubby's request.

Workouts

Eh, Epic III continues to be a mixed bag. When it's good it's good and when it's not it feels sooo long and repetitive.  I have 3 more weeks but there are enough workouts that I know I don't want to do (all of the HIIT, the 40 minute all pushup workout, and a full body calisthenics workout) that I think I can condense it into 2 weeks and move on.  Or maybe give it one more week and then move on, since it's not like there's a reward for finishing and my time might be better spent elsewhere.  I think from there I'll do the Advent series since they're all short workouts that I've heard are very effective, then check out Epic Heat (30 minute workouts), and then go back to a rotation of Iron and Beast Mode.  I think that the reason why Iron is so popular is that (1) it's tough/effective, (2) it's accessible to all fitness levels - no funky moves like all of that HIIT crap that I hate and the stupid "bending over backwards" stuff like cobra pushups, basically everything that I'm skipping in the workouts now, and (3) it's all 30 minute workouts.  So that's where I'd recommend starting (and possibly staying) with Caroline Girvan if you're interested.  And yes there's so much good stuff there to check out so don't let my whining put you off.

On the plus side, I'm still doing the Peak Fitness workout (sprinting) and 7.0 is starting to feel a little comfortable for the sprints so I bumped it up to 7.2.  As soon as there is enough light in the mornings to go outside I'll be interested to see what my sprinting speed is without the treadmill.

Watching

Nothing much.  I'm still slowly savoring Fauda.  I really don't want it to end.

Reading

🚨🚨🚨Good Book Alert🚨🚨🚨Good Book Alert🚨🚨🚨Good Book Alert🚨🚨🚨

I stayed up late last night to finish Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.  This is a novel based on the real life affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick - they met when her husband hired him to build a house, sparks flew, eventually they both left their spouses and ran off to Europe, later they came back to the US, and what happened next falls under the heading of "you can't make this stuff up".  

If the story was just "they had the hots for each other and then a hell of a thing happened" that's not a plot so you know there's something else that has me raving about this book.  I'll just say that it's not about him, it's about her and I'll let the author take it from here:

The next thing to talk about is that there is one heck of a story here to tell BUT the ending sucks.  The problem with historical fiction is that you're stuck with the hand that the real life people were dealt.  Horan handles the mess so well and doesn't let it get in the way of the story that she wanted to tell (you may notice that she doesn't say one word about it in the video).  But I think that what happened is so unexpected and so "WHAT THE HELL DUDE???" that I benefited from knowing about it beforehand.  If you're interested in reading this book I'd recommend taking 30 seconds to let Google tell you or if you want to take the journey the same way that I did the first 5 minutes of this 12 minute video will get you there.

The last thing to say is I often have trouble with historical fiction and sci-fi because I feel like most authors pack in a bunch of details that clutter up the story just to make sure that you're clear that the book isn't of this time or this place.  But Horan doesn't do that.  She's able to paint the world and tell the story without getting bogged down in details about corsets and having to hand crank your car to start it and all of that.  Loving Frank was her first book but not her last so I plan on being a repeat customer.

That's all for now!!!  I'm feverishly plotting to figure out which FLW house to visit next and oh shoot now I have to find something else to read.

19 comments:

  1. I love shepherds pie, yum. And I had no idea there were so many Frank Lloyd Wright houses. I clicked over to the link and thought, "wow, they're all over the place!"

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    1. I know! And it's such an awesome experience to tour one of them (at least the houses that I've been to so far). This new hobby of mine is going to keep me busy for some time.

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  2. Thanks for the video link! It's better than just reading a Wikipedia page. What a story!!!
    I can imagine that the book must be fascinating and gripping. You're right, knowing the end helps when reading this type of book. This would make for a fantastic film, too. Or a series. What's Netflix waiting for?!

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    1. Congratulations Catrina, I think you've just solved Netflix's revenue problems! I'd be watching that show if they made it for sure.

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  3. I love your thing with FLW! I have to admit I know almost nothing about him, and everything I know I've been learning from your blog. His life sounds very juicy! I think I'll put that book on my TBR list!

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    1. I've gone from zero to barely scratching the surface on FLW. All I know is that it's such an awesome experience to visit one of his houses. The book is a winner as well.

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  4. OOOH! I so excited now- I'm definitely planning to visit the FLW house this summer when I take my daughter up to Tallahassee, and I'll wait and read this book in a few months. I might just read it and be prepared for the fact that I won't like the ending, rather than goggling it beforehand.
    I just did an Iron Series workout this morning- I agree, they're good, solid, SHORTER workouts. The only other one of hers I've done is leg day from Tempo week, and I liked that too. Based on your reviews I'll probably just stick with Iron- the other ones seem to complicated for me, and my wrist would never make it through a 40 minute all-pushups workout!

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    1. Look, maybe I'd feel differently if I *could* do 40 minutes of pushups, but seriously what's the point?

      I feel like visiting an FLW house before reading the book is the way to go. I'm excited for your trip!

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  5. I haven't had Shepherd's Pie is soooo long. My kids used to love it and then started hating it (what gives?), but I think it's time to try again. I always find it a lot of work up front...but then it is so filling and leftovers seem to last forever (and it freezes well, too).

    Now I'm craving Shepherd's Pie!

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    1. The leftovers used to last forever when the boys were smaller (and one of them went through an anti-Shepherd's Pie phase). Now it's only one and a half meals for us. I tried doubling the recipe once but it was just too much food to work with at one time and ended up being an ordeal. But yes, it's a good one.

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  6. I love an enthusiastic book review! But I admit that I will probably just look up the spoilers per your suggestion and then not read the book. I still want to visit one (or more) of his homes, though!

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    1. What I'd say is visit one of his homes and then you'll almost certainly want to read the book!

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  7. I kind of like the dumbbell cardio workouts in Fuel, but I am super upset by the number of burpees and pushups. I have BRUISES on my legs from the pushup situation. So many bruises everywhere.

    I don't know if I've ever had shepherd's pie in my life. It looks like a really easy thing to do. Hm. Maybe I'll run it by my husband and see how he feels about a heavy carb dinner.

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    1. I loved Fuel at first because of the novelty but I got mighty tired of burpees by the end. I don't remember a lot of pushups but maybe I've blocked it out. My issue apart from the fact that my pushup game is weak is that her workouts will go weeks without a single pushup and then BAM you'll get one with a ton of pushups. The workout that I did on Monday was supposed to be sets of ONE pushup that lasted 45 seconds...the 40 minute workout became 20 minutes after all of the stuff that I had to skip. But still, there's lots of other stuff in the workouts that I like, I've just got beef with a few things.

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  8. I have a serious love-hate relationship with push-ups. Granted, I've been on a 2 (or is it 3?) year streak of doing them daily, but still. I don't think they ever get easier, per se, because one can always go deeper or hold them longer or do more reps, etc. I'm gonna check out that video about Frank...that book really has me intrigued!

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    1. Pushups and I are in the hate side of the relationship. I love them when I can get into a streak of doing them consistently. But my body just doesn't seem to want to do them right now. Oh well, there are lots of other exercises out there to do.

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  9. Wow, I have not had Shepard's pie in ages! My mom used to make that when we were kids but I was not a huge fan of it. However, given all of the separate elements, which I like, I feel like I would like it now. I also really liked Loving Frank; I read it several years ago so I do not remember all of the details but I learned a lot from it and got a better feel for who FLW was. We hear so much about him but before reading that, I only knew that he designed weird houses/buildings. It was nice to get more of a personal sense of him.

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  10. I loved "Loving Frank." I read the ending while I was at the airport waiting to board a plane and I cried... I usually do not cry when I read books but that one really hit me. I've toured his home and studio in Oak Park, IL twice and would highly recommend doing that! There are lots of FLW homes in the neighborhood, too, so it's fun to walk around and see lots of homes he designed.

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  11. Like I said... time to come to Taliesin! :) There's also this interesting neighborhood in Madison that is based on FLW's style. I have my opinions on it - but if you visit Taliesin, you might be interested in wandering over this way to see it, if you're so inclined. :)

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