Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back…And How You Can Too by Shauna James Ahern

This is the first book I read after going gluten free and it really helped me cope with a very difficult transition. Unless you have had the experience of being sick your whole life and then finding out that you must make such a drastic lifestyle change to save your health, it might be hard for you to apprecite the true value of this book. But the experiences Shauna writes about so well are shared by thousands of people (1 in 100 people has this disease!)

Going gluten free is overwhelming and terriifying at first. It feels impossible. The toxic substance which is slowly and painfully killing us (celiacs have an increased risk of cancer and other autoimmune disorders, just to name a couple of things) is everywhere every day– bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, licorice, barbeque sauce, salad dressing, soda pop…. the list in endless. It is even in our shampoo, toothpaste, soap, medicine and vitamins. It is in gumballs, for goodness sake! When you first go gluten free, the world feels like a very dangerous place indeed.
And many celiacs get depressed, eat a very limited diet of things they know are safe and they have breakdowns over never being able to eat a sandwich again, or never being able to eat a big old cinnamon roll again.

They cry. It happens to all of us. It is a stage of coping with the disease.

We also must all learn how to cook gluten free food. Restaurants become dangerous places. Packaged food must be scrutinized. Companies must be called and every item in your shopping cart is questioned. The joy goes out of eating.

That’s where this book comes in.

Shauna throws open the windows and lets the sunshine in. She embraces the restriction (yes!) and sends us the message to look at it as an opportunity to explore a new world. She invites us to learn how to cook and rejoice in our new life.

In her hands, going gluten free is far from being the life sentence that many celiacs feel it is. Rather, it becomes a marvelous adventure of trying exotic and wonderful new flavors. She brings the joy back to the food. Rather than looking at the things we cannot have, she lets us eat and enjoy the things we can. When you read her book, you no longer think in terms of a restriction. You look forward to eating.

Hers was the first book I read after going gluten free and she infused me with a positive attitude towards the diet and this made all the difference in the world for me and my experience of this new life. I will carry this attitude forward with me and do my best to pass it on. Shauna deserves major good karma points.

So you can go ahead and criticize the book if you like, but you are really missing the point. The book is not about childhood packaged foods or a particular writing style. It is about coping with a terribly difficult thing in a truly positive way and helping other people do the same thing. And this she has accomplished with style and attitude.

Shauna has inspired a lot of people and given all of us hope.

Bunny Tales by Izabella St. James

I don’t know whether to be intrigued or appalled by this book.

The illusion of Hefner and the seven girlfriends that he has in tow, and how the whole arrangement works. She takes potshots at him in every way possible, and yet tempers that with yet he did pay for my goldfish tank.

Clearly, Ms St James made a choice to be his girlfriend even though she was not physically attracted. She disses this 80 year old man’s bedroom performance, and claims he is a manipulator of their affections. All this may be so, but manipulation is a two way street, and the author knows how to work the game.

Hef paid each of these women a cash allowance of $1,000 a week, free facials and beauty work at a Hollywood salon, free medical, free room and board, a $2,000 fashion allowance each for special events, free plastic surgery, usually $10 k for a pair of boobs. In fact Hef must easily be paying close to $500k a year to promote his image.

Hef despite what the author says, appears to be a kind hearted and extremely generous man, giving birthday gifts of $2,000 and giving these ladies lavish cars. Some girls volunteered to be his girlfriend just to get the plastic surgery for free. Whaat?

In fact Ms St James does little else but complain about life with Hef, how she could not always get what she asked for, and when he broke up with girls did not continue to look after them. Insecurity was rampant among the women, and there was continuous plotting to force those who posed a threat to the pecking order out of the house.

If anything Hef was unbelievably generous.

Yet, if they were not paid enough, then why were these women able to buy their own condos and then break up with Hef.

Clearly, the author can never get enough to make herself happy, bigger car , bigger boobs whatever. Now, she uses him to make money by writing a tellall book.

She is appalled that the other girls are scouring around for another sugar daddy, and one of them wants Donald Trump because he complimented her at a party. She sees the other girl’s behavior as wrong, yet is doing the same thing herself. Is the pot calling the kettle black?

Hef is not diminished in my eyes by reading this. As for who or what Ms St James is, I allow the reader to draw their own conclusions.

If you find this review helpful, please click yes.

“… As soon as we go to the elevator, Shauna Sand, Playmate and former wife of actor Lorenzo Lamas, and I …”

The Encyclopedia of Non-Sport & Entertainment Trading Cards Volume 1: 1985-2006 by Todd Jordan

I highly recommend this book if you are a nonsport card collector. It provides a wealth of useful information on nonsport cards and promo cards,too. The full color galleries are most impressive and I really enjoyed looking through them. This is definitely a must-have book!

“… $12 ^ (Mary Riley) $12 Li (Lisa Garen) $12 ^ (Shauna Sand Lamas) $60 Li (Coco Johnsen) …$12 ^ (Sara Schwartz) … …”

Better Living Through Bad Movies by Scott Clevenger and Sheri Zollinger

If you’re a fan of such obscure,lousy movies as “The Last Sacrifice”,”Ator the Fighting Eagle” and “Mitchell”,this book is perfect for you! Authors Scott Clevenger&Sheri Zollinger show how to find the gold in the silt of bad movies. Instead of gushing about the American Film Institute’s Top 100,Clevenger and Zollinger find insights in the infamous “Waterworld”,relationship advice in “Coyote Ugly” and the grieving process in “The Phantom Menace.”

“Better living through bad movies” is consistently hilarious. It’s hard to read without laughing. “Megaforce” and “Gymkata” are shown as evidence that fey action heroes had their place in the ’80s along with Rambo&the Terminator. “Attack of the Clones” is re-read as an Afterschool Special about the sulking teenager Anakin Skywalker. “Armageddon” is revealed to a chick flick like “Beaches”,but with a great deal more homoeroticism. (Where’s “Deep Impact”?That was a pretentious disaster movie too,but a lot less fun) “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” delightfully skewers Kenneth Branagh’s current pretentiousness (”Hamlet” would fit right in).

“Better living through bad movies” is a gloriously funny book. Watch bad movies…and LEARN.

“… “Evil” (represented by the statutes against copyright infringement). Playboy Playmate Shauna Sand is digging up an ancient tribal talisman that will endow …”

Celebrity Skin: Tattoos, Brands, and Body Adornments of the Stars by Jim Gerard

“Celebrity Skin” is basically a coffee table book full of photos of stars and their tattoos. It covers not just actors, but also sports icons, models and musicians. My two favorites being Bjork and Johnny Depp.

The photos are really nice and ones that I haven’t seen elsewhere. The info was interesting, but I guess I was hoping for more insight on to what the tattoos symbolilze to the people who got them.

While I didn’t dislike this book as much as some of the other reviewers, I should say that this was given to me as a gift and it’s probably not a book I’d have purchased (definitely one to look at in the bookstore). I’m giving it four stars because it was fun to look through and the photos really are nice.

“… were staged at the Elvis chapel in Vegas); and ex-Playmate Shauna Sand, with whom he has two kids, Alexandra Lynne and Victoria. …”

Las Vegas Weddings: A Brief History, Celebrity Gossip, Everything Elvis, and the Complete Chapel Guide by Susan Marg

Last March my wife and I had a renewal of vows ceremony at a Las Vegas wedding chapel with an Elvis impersonator. This book perfectly captures the fun and excitement of our experience. This book makes a perfect souvenir of the occasion. We are giving copies to all our guests who had joined us. For all pop culture buffs this is a perfect book for their personal libraries.

“… When he married his fourth wife, former Playboy Playmate Shauna Sands, he matched his father in number of wives. …”

“… Player) Thomas (Football Player) Sanders New York, NY 10001-5504, USA Sand, Shauna Detroit Lions 9220 Shawnee Trl , Chicago Bears hl d …”

The X-Rated Videotape Guide VIII by Patrick Riley

I would advise you to use this guide as a starting point. Though I am not as harsh in my criticism of the book as the previous reviewer, there are obvious weaknesses in the book. The lack of a rating system is one, for sure, though there are comprehensive descriptions which will enable you to form a view of the content. Riley does have his own standards, and in terms of production quality, those standards can be ridiculously high; his concept of feminine beauty is also an intensely personal one which readers of the guide may not share. As an avid viewer and collector of porn, I view this guide as a tool not as slavishly prescriptive of what I will enjoy - I know what I like, and Riley’s guide can point me in certain direction, but whether I choose to follow his pointers or not is a matter for me.

“… Daphne Duplaix, Jami Ferrell, Shae Marks, Karen McDougal, Barbara Moore, Shauna Sand, Karin Taylor, Pricilla Taylor, Kimber West, Linda O’Neill The girls …”

“… 1996 VICTORIA FULLER KONA CARMACK PRISCILLA TAYLOR GILLIAN BONNER SHAUNA SAND I’M …”

“… Silvstedt’s piece running 40 minutes and a filler piece on Shauna Sand that runs 20. Although the profile is extended, there is …”

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