The Savvy Reader

Theo Fleury: The Cut

Theo Fleury's bestselling Playing with Fire has been all over the media these past few weeks. Here's the ONLY piece of content we're allowed to put up online. It's Chapter 2 from the book, a piece entitled "The Cut," which tells an utterly compelling story of how Fleury's hockey career was almost stopped short, before it truly began, by a tragic accident on the ice:

Our team, the Russell Rams, had just obliterated the number one team, Portage La Prairie, in the final at a tournament in Minnedosa, Manitoba. Portage could not believe it -- how did this s****y little team of 12- and 13-year-olds from Russell beat them? After all, Portage was a town of 13,000, while Russell was only a tenth the size. They were convinced it was a fluke. So they invited us to a two-day, two-game tournament a couple of weeks later. The first game was held on March 21, 1982. There were eleven seconds left in the second period, and we were coming out of our zone when our defenceman Greg Slywchuck, the same buddy I had been playing with since the first day I laced up, went around the net to break out the puck. I skated up the ice too fast, landing at the blue line far ahead of the play. Because I was not in a good position, I had to turn back to pick up the puck, and when I did, their defender, who had been rushing my way, suddenly tripped and rocketed down the ice toward me on his butt. His skate came straight up and caught me under the right arm...

Read the balance of the excerpt.

Ruby's Extra-Large Wish List

As the star of her own hit reality show, Ruby Gettinger has won over the hearts of so many but her journey towards self-acceptance has not been easy. The plus-sized Southern belle has faced many obstacles and decided to publicly open up about her addiction to food. Her new book, Ruby's Diary, lets readers into her private thoughts, hopes and dreams as she faces her fears and works towards a healthier lifestyle. The following excerpt is Ruby's wish list of all that she set out to accomplish. It's a real eye-opener into how obesity can impact even the most mundane events in one's daily life. Despite all the hardships that Ruby has had to overcome, her effervescent personality and determined spirit have clearly triumphed!

--Sheri

Extra-Large Wish List (Newly Expanded to Include More Fun!)

• I want to be totally INDEPENDENT!
• I want to go to the White House and talk to the president. I want to tell him my ideas about helping America save money in health care costs and about how we should start a program to help our nation break its addiction to obesity. What if all the money we spend on diet pills and diet soda could go to educating people and to finding a real cure. How amazing would that be?
• I want to go through one day of my life believing I can beat the Beast!
• I want to remember my childhood! I really do!
• I want to take a bubble bath.
• I want to go snowboarding.
• I want to ride a bike.
• I want to go horseback riding on the beach.
• I would love to backpack and see life in different countries. Y'all know I want to eat fresh pasta in Rome, but I think I want to see the Eiffel Tower and shop for perfume and sexy undies in Paris, too. I want to visit Japan and learn their health secrets. (I heard the Japanese have the lowest obesity level in the world!) I want to go to New York and see a Broadway show because I have a friend who said it takes your breath away to stand in Times Square in all those lights. And I would also like to bring food to countries where children are starving not because they are on a diet, but because there just isn't a lot of food.
• I would love to get a job helping people or working with children.
• My dad was retired from the air force and one of the things I remember about visiting him on the base was watching the men and women train, climb the walls, run through this maze of tires, and jump rope. I wish I could do the same. I would call it an opportunity course instead of an obstacle course!
• I want to go on a carriage ride. I think they are so romantic!
• I want to ride a bike through Italy (maybe even one of those cute Vespas!).
• I want to go hiking through Australia and scuba diving in Fiji!
• I want to get a body massage and not be "humidified" that I am lying there "neckid". (Y'all know that "humidified" is kinda like a cross between humiliated and horrified, right? Doesn't that say it all?!)
• I want someone to truly fall in love with me and never hear them say, "Ruby, you need to lose weight." or "Ruby, you need to change this or that about you."
• I want to know what it feels like for someone to tell me that I am beautiful and really think I am beautiful.
• I want to lay on a couch with someone and cuddle.
• I want to sit on someone's lap and be held.
• I want to be able to kneel down on my knees to pray (that prayer would be about how grateful I am that wishes really do come true!).
• I want to see a play, concert, basketball or football game and be able to stay because I can fit in a chair. I can't ever go to events I am invited to because all the seats are too small.
• I want to be able to sit in any restaurant. play, movie theater, and car without worrying about inconveniencing anyone.
• I want to go to the beach and sit in a beach chair by myself and not worry about it collapsing under my weight.
• I want to go to an amusement park and ride all the rides-especially the roller coaster.
• I want to shop all day without getting tired. (And I want to fill up my shopping bags with clothes that fit me!)
• I want to sit in one seat on a plane and I want to be able to use the restroom.
• I want to be able to buy an outfit, shoes, and jewelry I like, instead of settling for whatever is available.
• I want to wear cowboy boots and be able to pull them up over my calves.
• I want to wear jeans and a tank top or a flowy little sundress with spaghetti straps and have people stare-not because I look big, but because I look so hot!
• I want to be able to get a haircut without going into the back room to find a chair I am able to fit in.
• I want to be able to get a manicure and pedicure without worrying if they have a chair. (See a pattern here? Even a big gal's gotta sit sometime!)
• I want to watch the sunset while swingin' on a porch swing.
• I want everyone to stop judging other people so harshly because of looks, income, education, color, religion, or anything else that makes them different.
• I want to travel state to state and meet everyone going on this journey with me!
• I want to lose this weight so I can yell at the top of my lungs, "I did it, I really did it, oh my God, I did it!" And then I can look in everyone's eyes and say, "If I can do it, then you can do it!" And they will believe me because I am living proof it can be done!
• I want to be under two hundred pounds for once in my life.
• I want to live. I want to be healthy. And I want to grow old the way people are meant to.

From Ruby's Diary: Reflections on All I've Lost and Gained. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. copyright (c) by E! Entertainment Television Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Why not share your own wish list with us in the forums?

Household Tools 101

Buying the right tools can be a daunting experience. Walking into one of the many huge home improvement stores with brand names blaring their messages at you can alarm even the most experienced tool owner. I myself have collected a huge assortment of gadgets over the years, some of which I have never used. I even have a few hand-me-down items that look more like torture devices than practical tools. So don’t fret if you’re sometimes baffled by a tool’s appearance or function. I’ve compiled a list of the top-ten must-have tools every household should have, whether you are a newcomer to doing it yourself or an old hand

1. Hammer

If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning, at noon, and at night. In fact, the hammer is one of the most used tools in any home. Abraham Maslow, the great psychologist, said, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” Perhaps that’s true, but it would sure be hard to accomplish much around the house without this basic tool. For everyday tasks, I keep a small 7- to 10-ounce household model in my kitchen tool drawer and a midsized, 14- to 16-ounce version on the garage too kit. Depending on your needs, you may also want a large carpenter’s hammer for jobs like deck building or wall framing. Though hammers are simplistic in theory; there are many new hammer technologies on the market, ranging from those with tuning forks in the handle, which cut down the reverberation on your arm, to $200 contractor models made with titanium heads.

Before you buy, visit your local hardware store or home center and try out several types of hammers until you find one that’s a good fit for you, especially if you will be using it frequently. If you’re going to be hammering above your head or in a strange position, look for a hammer with a magnetic nail-holder in the tip that makes a hard-to reach place much more accessible. Specialty hammers such as a rubber mallet and sledgehammer can also be useful for certain projects. Rubber mallets should be used on materials that are easily damaged or broken, such as a brass faucet handle or a tile backsplash. And a sledge hammer is just the ticket when extreme muscle is needed for jobs such as breaking apart a sidewalk or tearing down a wall.

Transform Your Old Clothes and Save

Travel back to the forties when a war-torn Europe was still no excuse to dress shabbily and the one thing you didn′t ration was fashion. In this exclusive reproduction of a genuine archive copy, retro domestic goddess Joanna Chase prescribes ways to avoid fashion faux pas in money-tight scenarios -- whether the cause is a lack of coupons or a credit crunch.  With tips on how to transform the old into new and make the most out of ever last inch of fabric, Sew and Save shows every mother, fashionista, or aspiring DIY-er how to make the most out of the least -- in style.

TO TRANSFORM OLD CLOTHES

If the collar of your dress is worn and greasy, the underarms fluffy and split, the wrists frayed, and yet the skirt is still good, put a new yoke on that dress. Cut the top off just below the underarm, and then cut a new yoke patterned on the one you have just cut off. You’ll need about a yard-and-a-half of material.  Buy a tartan or a dog’s-tooth check or plaid for a plain dress. Try and get a fabric about the same weight as your dress -- a silk top on heavy wool is obviously useless, as the skirt will drag the bodice out of shape. A material of similar weight and texture is easier to handle.

When you have put in the sleeves and joined the small side-seams, put the yoke back on the frock by tacking it straight across the back and front of the dress, keeping it absolutely flat and in a dead-straight line. Then machine-stitch it down about one-sixth of an inch from the edge. Make three or four close lines of machine-stitching each above the other to strengthen the hold of the yoke, and to give it a professional-looking finish.

Waistcoats Give New Life to a Frock

Another way of cheering up a good dress that you may be tired of is to make a couple of waistcoats for it. It takes only a yard of 36-inch material to make a sleeveless waistcoat. Cut it from your basic bodice pattern, making it 22 inches deep at the back and 26 inches deep at the front from top shoulder-line to hem. When you have cut it out, join up the shoulders and the side-seams, and bind the arm-holes, the front, neck-line and hem with braid or coloured tape. You’ll need about 3 ½ yards of this.

Round the corners of the bottom of the bodice pattern at the front before you turn up the hem. A velvet waistcoat looks charming with a plain woolen frock, and will dress it up for special occasions. For morning wear, waistcoats in checks or in a good bold colour look very cheerful and fresh.

Make Your Garden Feed You

In Make your Garden Feed You, a gorgeously reproduced edition of a genuine archive title, horticultural expert E.T. Brown teaches us how to make the most out of our garden while slashing the groceries budget in half. Packed with timeless advice and tips on how to grow anything from berries to tomatoes, prepare an herb bed, and keep birds and bugs away, Make your Garden Feed Youis a must-have handbook for suburbans, city-dwellers, and anyone looking to outgrow the credit crunch.

TO GROW BUMPER ROOT CROPS

The various roots grow well in practically all ordinary soils, but while the soil should be fairly rich it should not be freshly manured. The one exception is in the case of potatoes, and for this crop it is quite in order to apply a good dressing of animal manure or a manure substitute in the autumn. The ground should be quite good enough for carrots, parsnips, and onions, if the rotation of cropping suggested is adopted.

BEETROOTS. – In some households beetroots are eaten as a vegetable; in others the roots are sliced and pickled. Those who like beets boiled and served as a vegetable are advised to make two or three separate sowings from April onwards at intervals of two or three weeks. For pickling beets the whole row should be sown in the first week of May. One ounce of seed is plenty for a 42-ft. row, and the depth of the drill should be 2 in. in light soil or 1 in. in heavy land. Later on the plants should be thinned to 4 in. or 5 in. apart.

The round variety of beet should be chosen if the soil is shallow; the long variety if of sufficient depth, say, 2 ft. of good soil. The soil should be well worked whichever variety is chosen, and if on the poor side guano, 1 oz. per square yard, should be pricked in the surface just before sowing.

During the active growing period the beets may stand in need of a little stimulating food; 1 oz. of sulphate of iron to the gallon of water should be applied, while four weeks later a little poultry manure should be sprinkled along the sides of the rows and pricked in.

Lauren Conrad's L.A. Candy

The star of MTV’s #1 rated show, The Hills, Lauren Conrad has plenty of firsthand knowledge about growing up in the limelight. In L.A. Candy, the first of a deliciously scandalous three-part series, nineteen-year-old Jane Roberts moves to L.A. and unexpectedly becomes the star of a reality T.V. show. With fame comes wealth, hot clothes and even hotter love interests -- but soon, Jane realizes everyone wants something from her, and nothing is what it seems to be. A fast-paced, honest and entertaining fictional account of what it’s like to come of age in Hollywood while starring in a hot reality series, L.A. Candy is the perfect treat to kick off your summer.

Always Look on the Closet Floor First

Jane Roberts leaned against her dresser, studying the way her white silk nightie looked against her sun-kissed skin. Her loose blond curls cascaded softly over her shoulders as she pretended not to be interested in the guy in her bed.

“Come over here -- or am I going to have to come get you?”

Jane smiled mischievously at the ground, then raised her face to him, staring into his chocolate brown eyes. She slinked back to the bed, slid onto the white silk sheets, and nestled next to him.

“Janie, you’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met. I’m so in love with you, it’s crazy,” he said, gazing into her eyes.

“Really, Caleb?” Jane smiled, and reached for him . . . . . . and woke up to find herself lying next to some strange, sweaty guy. Some strange, sweaty, half-naked guy. He smelled like bad cologne and armpits and pot.

He rolled over sleepily in her direction. “Cassandra?” Jane yanked the sheet (not silk) around herself as she sat up -- which was not entirely necessary, since she was wearing her favorite faded baby blue Gap jammies that covered . . . well, everything.

“Who the hell are you?” she yelled.

Book Excerpt: The Scenic Route

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical when I first heard of The Scenic Route – I’ve never been big on romance or tales of friendship. But it’s been getting across-the-board rave reviews, plus it has a great cover (is it possible to look at it and not want to go on a road trip?) So I started reading and, lo and behold, I was immediately hooked. There’s just something about Binnie Kirshenbaum’s writing. My favorite line from the excerpt below is her definition of a lay-off: timely, true, and just so original. Judge for yourself and let me know what you think in the comments. I’d love to hear your opinion.

--Narvan

The Scenic Route

One

Here is the story of Henry and me.

I wish it had a different end.

It had a good beginning.

That’s what I would say. If Ruby would hear me out, I would say, “This is the story of Henry and me,” and no matter that it’s of the recent past, past is past, and to tell Ruby this story now would be to call on memory, to travel back, and, as it was, to be with Henry was never quite of our time but of another time better than all that. A time before my time. Like how it was in New York during the last days of the Automats, when there was still the Biltmore Hotel and that pink place for ice cream, the name of which escapes me, and Henry, he was not quite of our time either.

“I wish it had a different end,” I would say to Ruby. “It had a good beginning.”

A Menu to Welcome the Warm Weather

Laura Calder has single-handedly revolutionalized the way we view French food. With her simple recipes and accessible ingredients, the host of French Food at Home has made steak au poivre a practical option for every dinner table.  Now, Laura Calder has put together a full menu exclusively for her readers. Taken from her most recent bestseller French Taste, each carefully-picked course perfectly complements the next, in this menu designed to welcome the warm weather. Below is the recipe for Laura’s entree choice, Lettuce-Wrapper Halbut with Dill Cream Sauce. Don’t forget to check out our MSN Book Guide for the appetizer, Pernod Mussels on the Half Shell, and French Taste for the Radishes and Peas side dish and a delectable Savarin with Strawberries. Bon appétit!

Lettuce-Wrapped Halibut with Dill Cream Sauce

One spring, I became fixated on perfecting a recipe for lettuce-wrapped fish. Don’t ask me why, but that sort of drive overtakes me sometimes: I make something, and it’s a complete disaster, but I know it has potential, so then I make it again (and again and again) until the recipe finally reveals to me its inner splendor. That was the case with the lettuce-wrapped fish. The reason for lettuce instead of chard leaves or spinach (which you could also use) is that lettuce has that wonderfully promising color of early spring buds, and it wraps itself lightly around the fish like a pretty silk shawl rather than like a wool blanket. Meanwhile, the sauce (which I found in an excellent book by Anthony Worrall-Thompson, called The Elegant Chef ’s Guide to Hors d’Oeuvres and Appetizers) is as simple as boiling water but tastes as sophisticated as something straight out of a Swiss finishing school. Please, please, please serve it with Radishes and Peas (p. 210) on the side. It’s so beautiful that way, and the dishes belong together like violets and dew.

397 Ways to Save Money

Most of us have been feeling the pinch lately, so Kerry K. Taylor’s advice on money-saving tactics comes at the perfect time. In 397 Ways to Save Money, Taylor shows that by looking in every corner of our house, from the kitchen to the closet, and by considering the needs of every member of your family, from toddler to dog, we can find ways to save thousands of dollars in unexpected places without feeling pinched -- and even have fun. Here are some buying tactics to consider before parting from that hard-earned cash.

Buying Tactics

Before you hit the shops to spend some coin, arm yourself with these budget-saving tips to keep the most money in your pocket

Don’t waste money on brand names. Don’t believe the expensive marketing hype behind many brand-name products. Items carrying a brand are not necessarily better or worth the substantially higher price than the less advertised alternatives. Be wary of companies that spend lots of money on image-oriented advertising, as marketing costs big bucks and you’re paying for that cost in the product. Save 10% to 50% by purchasing quality generic food, clothing, cleaning supplies, toiletries and kitchen supplies.
Bottom line: On a $75 cart of groceries, going generic will save you up to $37.50 -- cash in the bank on every shopping trip.

Ask for a discount. Asking to pay less for a product or service sounds difficult, but it’s not. Just be polite and ask, “Is this the best price you can offer me?” Finding a store manager can usually net good results immediately. Just by asking the question, I’ve walked away saving 10% to 15% on area rugs, mirrors, furniture and a camera. Offering to pay cash for an item rather than using plastic can often help too. Asking for a discount is free. Saving 10% with less than five minutes of work is time well spent.
Bottom line: Ask for a discount on everything you buy. You may just save a few bucks.

The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez

At age 33, Alex Rodriguez is the highest paid player in the history of baseball, a once-in-a-generation talent who is about to break many of the sport’s most hallowed batting records. Yet, he is repeatedly taunted by fans and teammates who cheer when he’s on a streak and jeer as soon as he slumps. Through meticulous reporting and hundreds of interviews, Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts – who broke news of Rodriguez’s steroid use back in February -- analyzes the elements of A-Rod’s freefall, from his strained relationships with teammates to his failure on the field in clutch situations, from his cold business decisions to his steroid use. The first comprehensive biography on Rodriguez, A Rod is a no holds barred look at a lifestyle steeped in lies and contradictions that are finally catching up to baseball’s greatest star.

The Good Son

The back porch of the Emerald Park Retirement Center opens onto a large green lawn with a stone walkway that loops through the neatly trimmed grass and curls by a half-dozen benches. It's not an entirely bucolic scene, though. Over a stucco wall, there is a sprawling strip mall where a pub boasts that it opens "daily at 7 a.m."

Across the road out front there is a trailer park where residents live in single-wides on cinder blocks and aged RVs with broken headlights. A six-lane highway borders the center on the left, which makes this one of the noisier parts of Hollywood, Florida, with sedans, vans and 18-wheelers blasting past the corporate parks and the multiple storefronts for psychics.

Inside Emerald, where Muzak bathes a vast community room of white tile, Victor Rodriguez feels fortunate.

"It's a nice place," Victor says. "I'm taken care of."

He looks sturdier than any of the other residents. Most appear to be at least 10 years older than Victor, who is 79. Behind him, a brittle-looking man in blue shorts, black socks and orthopedic shoes is slumped in a chair asleep, oxygen tubes plugged into his nostrils. A woman with a walker moves slowly across the lobby, asking why the room is so cold -- again and again. Victor sits next to the glass elevator, upright in his chair, dressed in a crisp short-sleeved button-down shirt and brown slacks with a sharp crease. His jaw is still square. He still resembles the ballplayer he once was.

"My son, Alex, he is, let me tell you, a much better player than I was," Victor says. "He is the best, I think. But I am a father, so . . ."