Confessions Of A Shopaholic

I know I'm a loser - no post yesterday. I didn't have time on my lunch hour AND our internet is out again. I am beginning to hate our ISP. Grr.

BUT no internet meant that I had time to finish the book I started last week, Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. It was a great read. The main character, Rebecca Blumwood is in over her head when it comes to her finances. She's maxed out every credit card she owns and has overdrawn her bank account. But despite all of this, can't stop spending money on unnecessary items (i.e. clothes and shoes). Don't get me wrong, I completely think clothes and shoes are NECESSARY items for women, but if I was that in debt I hope I would be able to control my shopping addiction better than Becky did. And it's not that Becky isn't aware that she has a problem. She just can't control it. If there were such a thing as Shopaholics Anonymous, she would be the perfect candidate.

She buys a book on cutting expenses and makes an effort to save where she can. Packing her own lunch, bringing her own coffee to work, making dinner instead of ordering in, visiting parks and museums for entertainment etc. But each attempt leads to spending more than she would have in the first place. For example she had to buy a thermos to hold her coffee from home because of course she didn't have one. When she goes to the museum she finds out it isn't free after all and instead of buying one admission ticket, she charges a season pass! And one of my favorite parts of the book is when she tries to make her own curry (the book claims you can make curry for 2 for under 5 quid). Well, she didn't have any of the spices needed for the recipe or the right type of pans. She also bought a cute apron. In total she ended up spending over 100 quid on this meal and didn't eat it because it was too spicy! Hilarious.

I don't want to give too much else away, but ladies if you haven't read this book yet - you should. I have to say it made me think twice about my own spending habits. When I was living paycheck to paycheck before my current job, I definitely was horrible with my money. I even had an overdraft protection account linked to my checking account that was supposed to be for emergencies, but I would max it out almost every week. At that time I also maxed out the one credit card I have (not counting store ones of course), and I am definitely paying for that now. Not fun. But now I am so much better and proud of myself for the money I've been putting towards my debts. I'll have one card paid off next paycheck and then I'm moving on to whittling down my smaller store cards. Yay!

So, next book on my agenda is Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin. I've heard from a few other bloggers how great it is, so I'm excited to pick it up tonight from the library (I even put it on reserve, I am such a library nerd!). I'm beginning to think we need to start the Bloggers Book Club that CDP mentioned awhile back. Who's in?

Oh, and in light of this post you need to read Libby's great post from yesterday whose title was a spinoff from this book. You can check it out HERE.

The Boy Who Lived

Consider this your warning: If you have not yet read, or finished reading Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows stop reading this blog immediately! I don't want to be held responsible for ruining the ending for an unsuspecting reader :) Now on to my post....

Things that surprised me, the loyal Harry Potter series fan:

• Snape? Really? He was on our side after all?
  
• Narcissa Malfoy not giving up the real "status" of Harry Potter's life
  
• Fred... why Fred? He was such a funny young lad
  
• George losing an ear. Only because I can't stop trying to picture what that would look like. Rowling keeps describing it as a hole on the side of his head, but really how could a person live like that?
  
• Hedwig dying so early in the book
  
• Harry being the 7th Horcrux
  
• Not one main character lost their life in the final book. Rowling, you couldn't bring yourself to do it now could you?
  
• Dumbledore was really dead after all
  

Things that surprisingly didn't surprise me... lol

• Harry marries Ginny and Ron, Hermoine... like duh
  
• Harry names his children after his parents, and Dumbledore
  
• The "heaven" scene where Dumbledore and Harry reunite and everything is "explained" and tied up into neat little Boy Scout-like knots.
  
• Harry lives
  
• Tears were shed, yes tears were shed
  

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED this book. There were just some things about it I found corny, cheesy, and come on -- predictable. I am a huge Harry Potter fan, but I have to admit a little ounce of disappointment (especially with the last chapter). I like happy endings of course, but the last few pages were hard to follow and I found myself rereading them several times -- wait, who the hell is Rosie? -- someone's snogging Teddy, and that would be? -- oh right, the werewolf's kid. Yikes!