The Trophy Wives' Club

I stumbled on this video last night and couldn't stop laughing. This is absolutely perfect for moms! It's Anita Renfroe, and I love her!


I found an article about Dr. Brian Wansink in this week's Time Magazine. He's written a book called Mindless Eating in which he discusses experiments he did that expose how Americans really eat. We all know that we eat more if served on a larger plate, but did you know that given stale popcorn at a movie theater, those with the jumbo size bucket ate 35% more than those with smaller buckets. He's done studies that are as quirky as they are fascinating, and they say some frightening things about how our brain controls what and how much we eat.

And once again proving that Wisconsin is an amazing state, check out this article from Tuesday's Green Bay Press Gazette. A man shot an alligator in the Milwaukee River. Yes, an alligator in Wisconsin.

The Trophy Wives' Club by Kristin Billerbeck is the story of Haley Cutler's self-discovery. Haley married Jay, a Hollywood producer, when she was only 20 and gave him all that she had for their almost eight years of marriage. Despite troubles between them, she was in it for eternity, just like her marriage vows said. But Jay has other ideas, and just before their eighth anniversary would give her more alimony, he changes the locks, cuts off her credit cards, and kicks her to the curb for a younger actress. Haley flounders trying to figure out what to do next. She gave up all of her dreams for Jay, and due to his constant insults, she questions whether she's capable of accomplishing anything other than being his wife. Jay's lawyer Hamilton introduces her to an ex-wives Bible study group at his church, and soon she starts feeling the Lord moving in her life. Haley makes friends, finds a home, and gets a great job, but most of all she learns to let go of Jay and her anger. I loved this book! Haley's anger toward herself and Jay is so realistic, it's easy to love her, despite her Gwyneth Paltrow looks and size 4 body. Her friends each have their own story of struggle with life after marriage. One of the reasons I loved this book was because of how Billerbeck treated divorce. As a divorcee myself, sometimes the black and white attitude toward divorce and marriage in Christian fiction makes me squirm in my seat. She addresses it as something God doesn't want, but it's not up to anyone else to judge, and sometimes it is the right thing to do. Thank you Kristin for that! Hamilton & Haley's relationship seemed a bit forced and hurried to me. Ideally, this would be a trilogy: part one finds Haley finding herself, part two allows her and Hamilton to fall in love, part three finds them planning the wedding and getting rid of baggage before their new life together. My one true gripe with the book has nothing to do with the writer: it was poorly edited. In one spot, Haley asks a question of Penny which obviously should have been asked of Lily. There are other spots with misspelled words and characters referred to as the wrong name. I do hope that there will be more books featuring these characters; they are too good to let go of.