January 4, 2018 ITCHY TWITCHY FEELIN'

Apparently we are in the middle of a BLIZZARD. Near white out conditions. Winds gusting up to 50 MPH. The meteorologists have been chirping ALL DAY. One things for sure--it's been biting cold lately and my skin is screaming!! Top reason I HATE WINTER--I LITERALLY FEEL LIKE A SNAKE. Pretty sure I'm shedding particles of skin everywhere. I've got--BLOTCHES--BUMPS AND RASH LIKE CONDITIONS EVERYWHERE . Can't even scratch because it hurts and starts to bleed. You would think lathering in copious amounts of Vitamin E cream AND JUMPING in vats of coconut oil would help. APPARENTLY NOT. Reminds my of CHAFE in the summer but different. At least chafe is contained in a specific area.  That's it-- I'm covered with chafe from head to toe. OUCH. My lips are also SOO CHAP they feel like a leather belt AND IF I SMILE THEY'LL SPLIT-- ATTRACTIVE RIGHT?? Seriously, I'm not lying!

If the characters in Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies told the truth, their lives would have been very different. Not sure why it took me so long to pick up this award-winning book that's now an HBO series, but I'm glad I finally did. Moriarty's novels are fun to read because they are about real people in everyday situations. In this novel, three very different women become unlikely friends because their children go to the same school. Madeline, my favorite character, is a hot ticket. She can be vicious, but at the same time, she's also compassionate, honest and the kind of person I would definitely want in my corner. Celeste, the beauty of the trio, seems to have it all. A rich gorgeous husband, twin boys and a lifestyle we all see in magazines. Rounding out the group is Jane. Jane is a single mother new in town with a secret past. We learn at the beginning of the novel that someone has been murdered at  school trivia night but we don't learn who the victim or murderer is until the very end of the story. Moriarty takes us back six months before the murder and into the lives of the people in this Australian suburb-- the husbands, wives, ex-husbands, affairs, schoolyard  scandals and the "lies" both big and small people tell themselves in order to survive. I really enjoyed this book and didn't have a clue who was killed until the very end which made it even more fun.  It's about 500 pages--an easy read--or a 5 mile run that you will not be able to put down.