One Moment in Time

This article made me feel really old. Twenty years ago? Mary Lou Retton, Mitch Gaylord, Tim Daggett, Bart Conner, Matt Biondi, Rowdy Gaines, Steve Lundquist, Greg Louganis, Flo Jo, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mary Decker Slaney. Did all that really happen twenty years ago?

Like Adam over at Throwing Things, I'm also a big fan of the Olympics. I was in my glory with back-to-back Winter Olympics in '92 and '94, and the free time of a college student to watch maximum hours of coverage. This year, all eyes in our household will be on hometown hero Michael Phelps. It will be interesting to see how the media handles either side of the story - if he wins more than seven medals or if he doesn't. Baltimore Sun columnist Laura Vescey already has her take on it. Ten more days to go!

Niagara Falls Travelogue

As promised, here is the post on our trip to Niagara Falls. As I said, overall it was a wonderful trip, but we probably could have come home on Thursday - I think we were all ready - but, lesson learned. Here's the day-by-day play-by-play:

Sunday, July 18

We hit the road around 9am, but we couldn't seem to get in a good road trip rhythm. We hit the McDonald's drive-thru before breakfast ended at 10:30am, then a bathroom break for M. somewhere else along the way. We had just cruised through Williamsport around 1pm when H. started getting fussy. Thinking she was getting hungry for lunch, we started looking for a place to stop when - blah! - carsickness! Our poor little H. We had to pull over on the side of the road in the rain and change all of her clothes. The carseat was also affected, so I took the pillowcase off my pillow and used it as a cover for it. She was fine for the rest of the ride after that incident, but I think my new-car smell is gone. H. was actually fine for most of the time in the car, thanks to the portable TV/VCR we borrowed from my parents. It was six hours of Barney, with a little Teletubbies thrown in for good measure, and she was occupied.

Just before getting on I-90 outside of Buffalo, M. decides maybe we should ride by the dragway that's in the area, "just to see what it looks like." After some scrambling with the map, I got us there via a detour through the Buffalo suburbs. I think this was the long way, but the last-minuteness of it all threw me off. We did a drive-by and there wasn't much to see. It was kind of a run-down track and they don't race on Sundays. So we finally got on I-90, only to get stuck in a traffic jam to pay a 15-cent toll on the NY Thruway. We burned way more than 15 cents worth of gas waiting in line for a half hour! We crossed the border into Canada without any problems, then proceeded to get stuck in another traffic jam trying to drive the two miles to the hotel. As we found out later, the directions from the hotel website take you the long way. The other problem was that the hotel was in the heart of the tourist district and there were fireworks over the falls Sunday night, so the placed was packed. The only thing I can think to compare it to is the Ocean City (MD) boardwalk on a Saturday night. But we finally made it to the Quality Inn Clifton Hill and checked in. We unloaded the car, then went to get our first unobstructed view of Niagara Falls, just as they were being illuminated for the evening. Very impressive! Then we dined at the Hard Rock Cafe, which may not have been the best choice after our long day. H. was a little overstimulated by all the music and people and barely ate any dinner. That was the first and last night we bought her her own meal from the children's menu - another lesson learned. She ate off of my plate the rest of the trip.

Monday, July 19

Monday dawned a little gray, but not raining, so after a hearty buffet breakfast at the Golden Griddle (which was part of the hotel complex), we walked down to ride the Maid of the Mist. (Our hotel was in a great location - we could walk to most of the major attractions and restaurants.) I had been to Niagara Falls when I was ten years old and one of the few things I remember about the trip was riding the Maid of the Mist and having to wear these smelly rubber raincoats that I'm sure thousands of people had worn before me. Well, welcome to the modern age. Twenty-two years later, visitors are now provided with disposable plastic raincoats. There was even a child size for H. The boat ride was very fun. We laughed the whole time and got soaked. H. wasn't afraid at all, even when the boat was rocking back and forth right next to the falls. She just kept saying, "It's raining, it's raining."


After drying off, we caught the PeopleMover shuttle to go a few miles north to the Botanical Gardens and Butterfly Conservatory. We thought H. would enjoy this, since she loves insects of any kind. But we had to keep her in the stroller most of the time while in the Conservatory because she would try to catch the butterflies (and maim them in the process).

We ate lunch there, too, then headed back to the hotel. After a nap (for all of us), we went to the swimming pool, which I think was H's favorite part of the trip. The outdoor pool was nice, with a big pool and a kiddie pool, both with cool dragon slides. H. got right on the baby slide without even blinking and went down it about a hundred times while we were there.

Dinner Monday night was at the Rainforest Cafe, which I thought H. would like more than she did. She liked the snake in the gift shop, of all things, but not the elephants or gorillas. And thunder is another new word she's added to her vocabulary.

We pretty much followed this schedule for the rest of the week. We would leave the hotel around 9am for activities or sightseeing, then return after lunch for a nap, then a swim in the pool and dinner out. It worked well for trying to keep H. on some kind of schedule.

Tuesday, July 20

On Tuesday we went over the state park on the New York side of the falls, which I thought would be full of trash, graffitti and god knows what else, based on the "the Canadian side is much better than the US side" adage we heard from everyone and from things I had read, too. But the state park area was very nice. It was clean and safe and there was quite a bit to see there. We went to the visitor's center, then walked to both Prospect Point and Goat Island for up-close views of the falls.

We saw plenty of rangers and other park personnel throughout the park and I was rather impressed with it all. I think the US side has made a lot of changes over the years, but hasn't been able to shake the reputation yet. Plus, my overall observation was that there wasn't much to do on the US side in terms of entertainment. We saw plenty of hotels near the falls and the casino, but very few restaurants or shopping choices. Those were definitely all in Clifton Hill.

After the park, we went to the Power Vista Power Plant a little ways up the river for a tour. This was one of the things I picked to do because I thought M. would like it, but I really liked it, too. We practically had the whole place to ourselves and it was very informative. And there was plenty of room for H. to run around instead of being stuck in the stroller.



We were stuck in the indoor pool in the afternoon because of thunder, althought it never actually rained, then we went to dinner at Applebee's, which was uncrowded (yeah!). Afterwards, I went to exchange money at the casino (I had read that they gave a good exchange rate) and the guard at the door made my night. M. stayed outside with H. while I went in and before entering the casino floor, the guard asked, "Age, please?" I said 32 and he said, "Really?" I laughed and said, "Yes, but thank you for asking!"

Wednesday, July 21

On Wednesday we went back and forth across the border several times. We drove to the Buffalo suburbs to visit the Fisher-Price Toystore, based on Wendy's recommendation. I was in heaven! I bought H. a bunch of Christmas presents, plus a new toy for her to play with now. I could have stayed there for hours. There's a toy museum next door, with exhibits featuring the old version of the Little People (oh, how I wish I still had them!), along with other old wooden toys and classic Barbies. I bought two Raggedy Ann items in the gift shop (they were on sale).


In keeping with the children's theme of the day, we went to Explore and More, which H. absolutely loved, of course. She could have spent all day there! But we stayed for a couple of hours, enough time for her to try all of the stations. And I found out from my sister Ness that there's one in Gettysburg, so we'll definitely have to make a trip to that one (and it's inexpensive, too!).



We came back across the border for nap and pool time, then went across again in the evening to the towns of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda, which straddle the Erie Canal. They were having their annual CanalFest the week we were there and on Wednesday night there was a car show.

It was a beautiful area, with all these boats out on the canal, but let me tell you. I have been to a lot of festivals and carnivals in my day and I have never seen anything this crowded (the picture doesn't begin to show how crowded it was out on the closed streets). It was wall-to-wall people, which made it somewhat less enjoyable. But we got some dinner and looked at all the cars, then sat by the canal for awhile to watch the boats and listen to music.

Thursday, July 22

As I said earlier, I think we were all ready to go home on Thursday, so it was a quiet day. We drove up to Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is north of Niagara Falls, right where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario.

It was beautiful! Lots of Victorian B&Bs and quaint shops, bike and walking paths along the river and spectacular scenery. I told M. I'd like to go back there some day for a long weekend, just the two of us. We didn't visit either of the historic forts in the area, just drove by them, but just the drive was pretty enough.


One last visit to the pool, then we just ordered pizza to eat in our room while packing up.

Friday, July 23

Home Sweet Home. We left around 8am and made it home by 3:30pm. An uneventful ride home, thank goodness. H. couldn't wait to visit her little friend, Jenna, up the street, and we gave her the Nemo fish hat we had bought for her. And we gave Jenna's mom a little thank you gift for watering our hanging baskets (although she said she only had to water them twice - it rained every other day while we were gone).

So it was a great first family vacation for the three of us. I'm already looking forward to planning the next one. Where can we go next year??

"Lite," Adult Contemporary, Easy Listening, Whatever You Want to Call It...

I've been listening to the local "lite" station on the radio while at work this week. It seems the radio on my desk will only tune in to few stations now (was someone messing with it while I was on vacation?) and this one was the most tolerable. However, by the third day, it's getting a little stale. The general rotation each hour appears to be:

• Celine Dion
• Elton John
• Whitney Houston
• Elton John
• Movie soundtrack theme song
• Elton John
• Billy Joel
• Elton John
• something from the '70s
• Elton John
• Journey (which I've actually enjoyed. I need to break out my Journey Greatest Hits CD.)
• Elton John
• Lionel Ritchie
• Elton John
• Country cross-over ballad
• Elton John
• Gloria Estefan

I think you get the picture. I'll be purchasing a new radio for my desk over the weekend.

Back from Beyond

No, I didn't drop off the face of the Earth. We were on our first family vacation last week and I'm still recovering. M. and I took H. to Niagara Falls from Sunday through Friday and overall it was a wonderful trip. I'm currently in the middle of writing a massive entry about it, which I hope to have posted by Friday, with pictures (which are the hold-up, of course). So things should return to normal around here soon!

Operation Gatorbait

Large quantities of bread and marshmallows were seized as evidence.

Via the NPS Morning Report

Happy Fourth (On the Sixth)

Yet another busy weekend! Is it time for vacation yet? We had a wedding to go to on Sunday night, believe it or not, so Sunday during the day was kind of a wasted day. M. and I were going to take H. swimming at her Mimi's house, but it was overcast and cloudy all day and we thought it was going to rain at any minute. Well, it never really rained, then it was time to get ready for the wedding, a "black tie optional" affair at 6:15 in the evening.

The wedding was beautiful, once of the best ones we've ever been to. It was a traditional Jewish wedding, but very personal to the bride and groom. The bride was Na's older sister and her groom was someone she knew from her days as a camp counselor who suddenly became more than a friend. The wedding party was small and included a groom's maid. I know this is more common nowadays, but this was the first wedding we had been to that had one. Na and Henry both looked wonderful in their formal attire and everyone was beaming.

At the beginning of the reception, they showed a slide show/video with baby pictures of both the bride and groom, then included video of Alicia getting ready that morning, as well as footage from the actual ceremony. Too cool! When the groom works for IBM, you have connections.

We didn't get home until after midnight, a late night for us. Mimi watched H. for us, but we brought her home with us instead of having her spend the night. I don't know why we didn't, because M. went back to his mom's the next day to take H. swimming. He was the babysitter for the afternoon while I went to the Orioles' game.

I had won the company tickets at work for the day. There were four tickets, but M. didn't want to go. (I believe his exact words were, "I'd rather go to the Wiggles concert than sit through a baseball game.") He likes all sports except for baseball. Na was still busy with wedding activities (an after-wedding brunch before the couple left on their honeymoon), so Wendy & Shane & I went. The seats were awesome - box seats just past first base, about ten rows back from the field. The only bad thing was the heat - game time temp was 94 degrees. But it was a good game - the O's actually won - and we enjoyed some Boog's pit beef sandwiches and stuck it out until the end of the game. It had been several years since I had gone to a game, probably the longest dry spell of my life, so it was nice to go back and enjoy a game. (The dry spell is a long story, but for those of you who don't know it, I used to be a huge Orioles' fan, went to tons of games every year, and worked at Oriole Park while I was in college. Then came the MLB strike of 1994 and I was one of the fans they lost and never really regained.) It felt good to get excited about baseball again and it felt good to hang out with my friends for awhile and it felt good to do the wave with 30,000 other people. All in all, a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

Should He Stay or Should He Go?

Mike Krzyzewski has decided to stay. And in doing so, Coach K has proved himself to be a class act once again. Just read these comments about why he chose to stay at Duke instead of being lured away to the NBA. Most coaches would just have seen the dollar signs and not looked at anything else. He's one of the main reasons I've been a Duke fan for over 15 years.

Movie Meme

Passing along this meme from Natalie. Bold the titles you've seen, add an underline if you own it, then add three more titles that aren't listed at the end. Let it be said that I do not own a lot of movies and the ones I have bought recently have been kid videos or DVDs. And thanks to the vagaries of cable, there are quite a few movies on this list that I've seen good portions of, but have not actually seen the whole movie. So I was being honest when I didn't bold "The American President," "Die Hard" and others.

01. Trainspotting
02. Shrek
03. M
04. Dogma
05. Strictly Ballroom
06. The Princess Bride
07. Love Actually
08. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
09. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
11. Reservoir Dogs
12. Desperado
13. Swordfish
14. Kill Bill Vol. 1
15. Donnie Darko
16. Spirited Away
17. Better Than Sex
18. Sleepy Hollow
19. Pirates of the Caribbean
20. The Eye
21. Requiem for a Dream
22. Dawn of the Dead The original.
23. The Pillow Book
24. The Italian Job
25. The Goonies
26. Basketball
27. The Spice Girls Movie (Spice World)
28. Army of Darkness
29. The Color Purple
30. The Safety of Objects
31. Can't Hardly Wait
32. Mystic Pizza
33. Finding Nemo (Yes, I own this, but have not actually seen it.)
34. Monsters Inc.
35. Circle of Friends
36. Mary Poppins
37. The Bourne Identity
38. Forrest Gump
39. A Clockwork Orange
40. Kindergarten Cop
41. On The Line
42. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
43. Final Destination
44. Sorority Boys
45. Urban Legend
46. Cheaper by the Dozen The original.
47. Fierce Creatures
48. Dude, Where's My Car
49. Ladyhawke
50. Ghostbusters
51. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
52. Back to the Future
53. An Affair To Remember
54. Somewhere In Time
55. North By Northwest
56. Moulin Rouge
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
58. The Wizard of Oz
59. Zoolander
60. A Walk to Remember
61. Chicago (It's on my wishlist)
62. Vanilla Sky
63. The Sweetest Thing
64. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
65. The Nightmare Before Christmas
66. Chasing Amy
67. Edward Scissorhands
68. Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert
69. Muriel's Wedding
70. Croupier
71. Blade Runner
72. Cruel Intentions
73. Ocean's Eleven (the remake, since it didn’t specify)
74. Magnolia
75. Fight Club
76. Beauty and The Beast
77. Much Ado About Nothing
78. Dirty Dancing
79. Gladiator
80. Ever After
81. Braveheart
82. What Lies Beneath
83. Regarding Henry (My least favorite Harrison Ford movie, in case you were wondering.)
84. The Dark Crystal
85. Star Wars
86. The Birds
87. Beaches
88. Cujo
89. Maid In Manhattan
90. Labyrinth
91. Thoroughly Modern Millie
92. His Girl Friday
93. Chocolat
94. Independence Day
95. Singing in the Rain
96. Big Fish
97. The Thomas Crown Affair (the remake)
98. The Matrix
99. Stargate
100. A Hard Day's Night
101. About A Boy
102. Jurassic Park
103. Life of Brian
104. Dune
105. Help!
106. Grease
107. Newsies
108. Gone With The Wind
109. School of Rock
110. TOMMY
111. Yellow Submarine
112. From Hell
113. Benny & Joon
114. Amelie
115. Bridget Jones' Diary
116. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
117. Heavenly Creatures
118. All About Eve
119. The Outsiders
120. Airplane!
121. The Sorcerer
122. The Crying Game
123. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
124. Slap Her, She's French
125. Amadeus
126. Tommy Boy
127. Aladdin
128. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
129. Snatch
130. American History X
131. Jack and Sarah
132. Monkey Bone
133. Rocky Horror Picture Show
134. Kate and Leopold
135. Interview with the Vampire
136. Underworld
137. Truly, Madly, Deeply
138. Tank Girl
139. Boondock Saints
140. Blow Dry
141. Titanic
142. Good Morning Vietnam
143. Save the Last Dance
144. Lost in Translation
145. Willow
146. Legend
147. Van Helsing
148. Troy
149. Nine Girls and a Ghost
150. A Knight's Tale
151. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
152. Beetlejuice
153. E.T. (My very first DVD)
154. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone
155. Spaceballs
156. Young Frankenstein
157. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
158. American President
159. Bad Boys (Which one? Will Smith or Sean Penn? I’ve seen both.)
160. Pecker
161. Pink Floyd: The Wall
161. X-Men
162. Sidewalks of New York
163. The Children of Dune
164. Beyond Borders
165. Life Is Beautiful
166. Good Will Hunting
167. Run Lola Run
168. Blazing Saddles
169. Caligula
170. The Transporter
171. Better Off Dead
172. The Abyss
173. Almost Famous
174. The Red Violin
175. Contact
176. Stand and Deliver
177. Clueless
178. William Shakespeare's Romeo+Juliet
179. Dangerous Liaisons
180. I Am Sam
181. The Usual Suspects
182. U-571
183. Capricorn One
184. The Little Shop of Horrors (the one with Jack Nicholson)
185. Die Hard
186. The Flamingo Kid
187. Night of the Comet
188. Point Break189. Chatterbox
190. Secretary
191. Breakfast at Tiffany's
192. American Beauty
193. Pulp Fiction
194. What About Bob
My additions:
195. Sixteen Candles
196. Under the Tuscan Sun
197. The Parent Trap (the original)

Toddler Tales

It was an eventful weekend in Toddlerville, both good and bad. On Saturday, we went to the 40th birthday party for M's brother-in-law. It was at his aunt's house, and she has this wonderful in-ground pool that's heated. It was heaven, especially since the air was kind of cool Saturday evening. Surprisingly, both H's bathing suit and baby inner tube from last summer still fit, so we were able to get a little more mileage out of them so far this year. H. loved the pool! We stayed in for about an hour, with H. kicking her legs and putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles. I needed a break, so we got out for a little while, then M. got back in with her and I was able to take some pictures.



When she wasn't in the pool, H. spent the rest of the party chasing after the dogs that were there, yelling, "Doggie, doggie," at the top of her lungs. We didn't leave the party until 9pm and H. was out like a light. I let her sleep in her clothes once we got home and she slept until 7:30am Sunday morning.

Also, before we went to the party, we went and ordered a big wooden swing set, the likes of which you have never seen before. M. talked me into getting the "deluxe" model, which is pretty cool. I'm glad we ordered it now, because it takes 4-5 weeks to come in, so we'll have it well before her birthday party.


(This could almost be our backyard, with the cornfield in the background, but it's really just the picture from the brochure.)

Saturday was the good day. Sunday, not so good. Around noon, I put H. down for her nap. After awhile, I could hear her in her room, not yelling or fussing, just making noise, so I went in to check on her. She was standing up in her crib, pointing at a piece of paper on the floor. When I picked it up, I realized it was a piece of wallpaper border from the wall next to her crib. She had ripped off two pieces of border and pulled down the corner of another! So Sunday became the first day that H. was punished. I scolded her (I had written "yelled" but it sounded really mean) for ripping the wallpaper and explained that it was very, very bad. She wanted to get out of her crib, but I told her she had to stay in her crib and take her nap, no matter what. I pulled the crib away from the wall and left her alone. She was crying, but I stuck to my guns and eventually she fell asleep. When she woke up an hour or so later, she remembered that she had done something wrong. She was looking at the wall and saying "Uh, oh!" How can you stay mad at someone so cute! I fixed the piece that was just pulled down, but I don't know what to do about the other piece that was torn.

Since she liked the pool so much, I set up the blow-up pool early Sunday morning so the water would have a chance to warm up by the afternoon. After her nap and lunch, I covered H. with sunscreen and put on a swim diaper and her bathing suit. Before we had a chance to go outside, she was sitting on the chair in the living room and peed. Well, apparently those swim diapers don't work very well outside the pool. My chair cushion was soaked! So I changed her and into the pool we went. Even sitting in the sun, the water didn't warm up very much. "Cold, cold," she kept saying. Hayley spent most of the time outside the pool, putting her plastic fish in to swim. Then she pooped and back inside we went to change the swim diaper yet again. This was hardly worth all the effort! After about an hour, I gave up and got her dressed, then we went up the street to visit her friend Jenna. By the time M. got home from racing, I was exhausted.



On the subject of racing, M. did really well on Sunday, going four rounds before losing with a red light. He did win back his money, which was pretty good. He didn't get home until about 9:30pm, which is late. Both his brother and friend Tim each called about three times to see if he was home yet, saying, "That must mean he's doing well." Of course, I'm always thinking the opposite, that there's been a big wreck or something, but everything was fine. However, my worst fears were confirmed that night when we were watching the professional NHRA dragracers on ESPN. One of the top-fuel dragster drivers, Darrell Russell, was killed in a crash during the event in St. Louis. He was only 35 years old and had just won an NHRA event in Columbus a few weeks ago. I realize that these guys race at a completely different level than M., but there's always that thought in the back of your head about the element of danger involved with this sport/hobby.

PS - Happy B-Day to BFF Na. I left her a funny message on her answering machine tonight to make sure her family didn't forget her birthday, a la Sixteen Candles. Her sister is getting married on Sunday and it's going to be quite the bash, with people coming from out of town and events running from Friday through Monday.

I love Sarah Weinman and "Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind!" I'm sorry I've only just discovered her this month. I killed a good two hours this morning reading all the links to this past weekend's coverage of mystery and crime books. I added four new books to my "To Read" list and found a new series to check out - Lynne Heitman's "Alex Shanahan" series.

One of these days, I'll write a long post about all the mystery/crime/thriller series I'm addicted to, but for now, I need to make up for lost time from this morning. It's the end of our fiscal year and actually quite busy. A longer post about the weekend (many delightful and not-so-delightful toddler stories to share) to come as well.

National Park Soapbox

I've been receiving this e-mail newsletter from the National Park Trust for the past few weeks and it is very informative. If you are interested in learning what is happening in our national parks, sign up!

The New York Times article on how both political parties are using the parks in this election year was eye-opening. It also discusses the current crisis in the parks related to lack of funding from the current administration and potential budget cuts that could cause parks to be closed one or two days a week this summer - during the height of visitation.

"It's sort of like going to the grocery store and having only one checkout line open," Mr. Laitner said in an interview.

If the current and future state of our national parks is an important issue to you, TAKE ACTION! Other ways to stay informed include the National Parks Conservation Association, which offers easy-to-use e-mail action alerts for notifying your elected officials of issues, and the NPS's own Morning Report.

Classic Books

Passing along this meme from Tiny Little Librarian. The titles in bold are the ones I have read. I'll let you come to your own conclusions about what this says regarding my public school education and very expensive, small, private liberal arts college degree. And this is coming from someone who loves to read and took extra literature classes in college as my electives. However, I do remember that some of the other English classes in high school having to read The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath, so these books were taught in the Baltimore County public school system, just not in the classes I was taking.

Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice (No, but Emma. This is actually next on my Project Gutenberg reading list.)
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte - Jane Eyre (I wrote my high school senior English term paper on this)
Brontë, Emily - Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert - The Stranger
Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
Dante - Inferno (I vaguely remember reading sections of this for a unit in H.S.)
de Cervantes, Miguel - Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities (H.S. required reading was Great Expectations instead.)
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays (college)
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry - Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - Faust
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies (H.S. and college. We were reading this in H.S. when the version of the movie starring Balthazar Getty came out.)
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to Arms
Homer - The Iliad
Homer - The Odyssey (I seem to remember spending a lot of time on both of these in H.S.)
Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll’s House
James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis (college)
Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird (H.S.)
Lewis, Sinclair - Babbitt
London, Jack - The Call of the Wild (H.S.)
Mann, Thomas - The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener (Actually reading this is questionable, however, I do distinctly remember watching the movie of this, featuring a v. young Barry "Greg Brady" Williams as one of the office assistants. I would prefer not to.)
Melville, Herman - Moby Dick (No, but I had to read Billy Budd in both H.S. and college)
Miller, Arthur - The Crucible (H.S.)
Morrison, Toni - Beloved
O’Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find (Another H.S. term paper topic)
O’Neill, Eugene - Long Day’s Journey into Night
Orwell, George - Animal Farm (H.S. and college)
Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar (read on my own while in college)
Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales (Poe was big in Maryland schools. We read different stories every year.)
Proust, Marcel - Swann’s Way
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front (H.S.)
Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry - Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye (also read on my own in college)
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet (As well as Julius Caesar for us in H.S.)
Shaw, George Bernard - Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary – Frankenstein (college)
Silko, Leslie Marmon - Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles - Antigone
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex (H.S.)
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath (No, but The Red Pony and The Pearl. And I read East of Eden on my own pre-Oprah.)
Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom’s Cabin (just read this on my own last year)
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver’s Travels (college)
Thackeray, William - Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David – Walden (college)
Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (H.S. and college. And Tom Sawyer, too.)
Voltaire - Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five (No, but I read Cat’s Cradle in college.)
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith - The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories (No, but I have read Delta Wedding.)
Whitman, Walt - Leaves of Grass (college)
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard - Native Son

Walmart Update

In the interest of fair reporting, I feel I must mention this news story from yesterday, since I ranted about it back in December. However, yesterday's announcement was much more low-key than the build-up to the Feb. 1 debit-card cut-off. I'll let you know if I run into any problems when I try to use my card there later this week.

Top Celebrities

My random comments on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list:

It's awesome that the three women from the cast of FRIENDS - Jennifer Aniston (17), Courteney Cox (65) and Lisa Kudrow (74) - all made the Top 100, with nary a mention of the three men. You go, girls!

How did Johnny Depp (10) sneak into the Top 10? He must have had a good royalty arrangement for PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN.

I'm sure Phil Mickelson (62) loves being ranked just below "one-year wonder" Jessica Simpson (61) and miles behind Tiger (2).

Is being a magician really such a lucrative profession? It must be, for David Copperfield (35), Siegfried & Roy (58) and David Blaine (89) to all make the list.

Authors in the Top 100: J.K. Rowling (6) - of course, Nora Roberts (43); Dan Brown (44) - hopefully another "one-year wonder"; James Patterson (47); and John Grisham (73).

Only one NASCAR driver in the Top 100? - Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (59).

Even though he didn't make the list, I thought the accompanying article on Tony Hawk was very interesting.

Noticably missing from this year's list after making it into the Top 10 of 2003's list - Eminem & Dr. Dre (2), Jennifer Lopez (5) and Ben Affleck (7).

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day this year. First, we celebrated with my side of the family on Saturday, since we were all getting together for K&K's ballet recital (which was absolutely adorable). We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and enjoyed the wonderful weather. We also celebrated my mother's birthday, which is Tuesday, so there were lots of presents to open and cake, too! And I think my dad received the best Father's Day present of all - a whole day to himself to sit and watch the last round of the U.S. Open without anyone running in front of the TV or asking to watch a movie in the middle of golf. My sister and her family were leaving for Myrtle Beach early Sunday morning, so it's peace and quiet for the whole week.

With the early get-together on Saturday, M. and H. and I were free to have our own little family celebration on Sunday. H. and I went along to watch Mark race his car at the drag strip. I hadn't been to watch him for a couple of summers, since it's not exactly my favorite activity, but it was his day and the whole thing was actually my idea. We all had a great time! The weather was spectacular - warm and sunny, but no humidity, not a cloud in the sky. So we tailgated in the new van, which was perfect, and put M's Father's Day gift - a thermo-electric cooler - immediately to good use. H. really seemed to enjoy herself and watching her Daddy race his car, and there were even some other kids there her age that she could play with during the down time. I think we'll probably end up going a couple of more times this year as a family, as long as it isn't 95 degrees and 100% humidity!

Library "Bestsellers"

This is such a great idea, I can't believe someone didn't think of it sooner! I'm usually about six months to a year behind what's tops on the bestseller list (just take a look at the sidebar), since I rarely buy new hardbacks, instead placing holds at the library. I originally found out about the list from an article in today's USA Today.

Speaking of libraries, my local library is closed for two weeks as they prepare to move into a brand new building. The current library is in a very small, two-story building that used to be a bank and there are only about five street parking spaces available. I'm sorry if it sounds incredibly geekly, but I'm very excited about the opening of the new library on June 26th. In the meantime, I'm visiting another local branch in the area which is also in a fairly new building and it's saving me on books I normally would have ordered (for a $1 each with the new fee system) via ILL, so I don't mind the wait until the 26th.

Random

Somehow, I can't quite picture this.

I updated my cross-stitch gallery with a Work In Progress - a Christmas stocking for Big H. that I hope to have finished by December.

You'll notice a new banner ad on the site over on the right. Pay Sticker Planet a visit. They have lots of cool stuff for scrapbooking and I get a $10 gift certificate for placing the ad.

"Cow in the Road, Swerve to the Left..."

I hit a duck on my way home from work yesterday. It was awful. I saw it in the road up ahead and thought it was a bird and kept waiting for it to fly away. By the time I was close enough to see it was a small duck (not a duckling) instead of a bird, and that it wasn't flying away, it was too late to swerve. I've never felt so awful in my entire life. I saw it on the road in my rearview mirror and wanted to cry. I've learned my lesson the hard way now - I have to slow down when driving on the windy part of the road near the pond. I already drive slow on part of one road near our house where people let their pet rabbits hop free around the yard and into the street. These are not small, brown, fast wild rabbits, but giant, fat white and black Cadbury-bunny type pet rabbits that are set free at various times of the day, usually early in the morning.

And this coming a week after Mark grazed a deer with the car in the dark. The only damage was to the passenger-side parking light and he never saw the deer before or after it happened. We're going to have to up our care and feeding of the squirrels and birds in our backyard to reverse this bad animal karma.

Monday Morning Blogging

Via Throwing Things, I learned that June 4 marked the 20th anniversary of the release of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album. In the continuing effort to expose my geekdom here on this site, I will admit that at the tender age of 12, this was one of the very first cassettes I ever bought with my own money (I had bought "albums" previously, then moved onto cassettes and a boombox of my own). I distinctly remember a trip to Kmart with my parents (my older sister was a cashier there at the time, her very first job) and along with Born in the U.S.A., I also purchased Huey Lewis and the News' "Sports" and Lionel Richie's "Can't Slow Down." [Insert laugher and/or your own joke here.] In the interest of full disclosure, all of these cassettes are still in my possession.

I didn't realize it until this morning, but June 4 was also the first anniversary of this online journal/blog, so Happy Anniversary to me! It's been quite a fascinating experience so far and I think just in the past few months I've really started to get the hang of it - posting more often, on a variety of topics, with a little more depth. It's been hard to gauge how much to reveal and how much to keep private. Just the other day, I posted a short little link to my bank's website with a comment about the picture on the home page, then that night, while trying to fall asleep, I thought, "Now anyone reading this knows where I do my banking! What if I'm the victim of identity theft?" So I took the entry down the next day. For the start of year #2, I've taken advantage of the new comments feature Blogger now offers, so please feel free to share your thoughts with me. You can also e-mail me at anytime. And I hope you continue to enjoy this as much as I have!

Anyhoo, I was pleasantly surprised not to see mention of the term "chick lit" in this article {RegReq}, even though The Second Assistant clearly falls into this "category."

After faltering Memorial Day weekend, I moved forward with my movie watching this past week, checking THE RUNAWAY JURY, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN and MONSTER off my list. I was pleasantly surprised by JURY, especially since a major premise of the book was changed (gun manufacturer liability vs. tobacco company liability), but it worked well. TUSCAN SUN was warm and funny (I watched this one by myself) and MONSTER was pretty much what I expected. Of course, I knew how it ended, but in the various specials I've seen about Aileen Wuornos on A&E, I don't remember much about her relationship with Selby. I think Christina Ricci deserved an Oscar nom as well for Best Supporting Actress.

Amazon World Redux

Since Amazon World is out of commission, I'll post this user review that I stumbled across today for the children's book Dorrie and the Blue Witch.

Books that Pagan parents can feel good about giving to their children are few and far between. The Dorrie books are definitely among these few, portaying a community of witches (largely female, but with some fine male witches too) in a refreshingly positive way. The bad Blue Witch in this particular book is an anomaly and is defeated by Dorrie's ingenuity and Dorrie's mother's magic. These were my favorite books when I was a goofy little witch, and my daughter loves them as much as I once did. Amazon only offers two of the books, but I'm sure if you harass them enough they can find the rest. Wiccan parents will find the effort well worth their time.

Contest

Bookreporter.com is running an intriguing Summer Reading contest. I could only answer four right off the bat. Five others I found very easily on Amazon, and for the last three, I had to do a little searching. I'm off to submit my answers. I would love to win the just-released Lisa Scottoline book.

Goodbye Twenties, Hello Minivan

Well, we finally did it. We broke down and bought a minivan this weekend. We had been thinking about it for a long time and decided on the Kia Sedona, and we thought we could get a good deal over the holiday weekend.



We ended up keeping the trusty Neon, since we were only going to get $1000 for it, so M. will just drive it for the gas mileage until it dies. I drove the new van down to my sister's yesterday and I love it - a smooth, quiet ride, plenty of room and finally, a CD player! I christened the CD player with Tracy Lawrence's new CD Strong.

Van shopping and buying took up most of the day on Saturday. M's mom was kind enough to watch H. while we were gone. We took her with us when we bought the new truck back in November and that was an ordeal, so this worked out well.

Yesterday, we went down to my sister's pool club, even though it was overcast and cool. There were actually some kids in the pool. I don't know how they do it - the water was like ice. I didn't even bring our swim clothes with us.

Today, it is rainy and cold. It's been in the '80s or '90s pretty much the entire month of May, but when we all have the day off of work, it's barely seventy degrees and raining. We did go outside for a little fresh air this afternoon. Since I had the digital camera out to take the picture of the van, here's a gratuitous photo of H. Enjoy what's left of the holiday weekend!

Random Weekend Thoughts

My strep throat lingered into the weekend (and into my right ear), but I felt much better by the time we went out Saturday night to the "Meet Me in Margaritaville" fundraiser event for the local library. It was the perfect night for an outdoor event. We were seated on the back deck with a view of the vineyards (I keep wanting to say orchards, which isn't right) and a lovely breeze blowing, which must have kept the bugs away, because it was a mosquito-free night. The only down side was that we were seated right next to a speaker, which made conversation a little difficult, but it was a great evening out with friends and family. And I cannot explain how wonderful it was to only have a five-minute drive home, when most of our outings involve a trip of about an hour.

We left H. with a new babysitter for the first time, a teenager who lives around the corner. Everything went smoothly and I only called home once, just to make sure she cooperated at bedtime, which she did. (The babysitter's mother called three times, since it was her first time sitting!) It will be great to have a sitter so close by and available - maybe M. and I can go out a little bit more by ourselves.

***

I purchased this facial system from Avon, which I haven't used in years, in the endless hope of finding a cure for my dreadfully uneven, large-pored skin. Should I take before and after photos? Also, have you seen Avon's ad campaign for "Meet Mark?" Since my husband's name is Mark, these commercials have even more double meaning for me than intended. "I met Mark at a party." "I met Mark in the bathroom." I met Mark while working with his sister at the baseball stadium!

***

I'm trying to recall if I watched any TV this weekend and I'm drawing a blank. I think I watched Dateline Friday night, but I watched it last night, too, and every episode runs together anyway. Is Keith Morrison the only reporter for the show nowadays? He reported both stories last night and I know he's done the last few I've paid any attention to lately. I also watched the first half of "Reversible Errors" last night, which was okay. I haven't read that book, but the dialog was very stilted and forced, especially in the opening scenes. Whether or not anything better comes up between now and Tuesday night will decide if I watch part two. And Monica Potter reminds me a bit of Julia Roberts, both her voice and her features, which I never noticed before last night.

***

In unrelated news, I updated my gallery at Cyber Stitchers with a project I started back in March, but just finished last week. I've been more focused on reading than cross-stitching lately, but I finished up that last project and started on H's Christmas stocking, which I hope to finish before December (a work-in-progress photo at the gallery to come soon).

Is It Thursday Already?

The last week has been an illness-induced blur. First, I didn't get to watch any movies this weekend (except for a rerun of Mr. Holland's Opus on Saturday afternoon) because H. was running a fever Friday afternoon. I raced to pick her up and get her home without stopping at the video store. She was cranky and not herself all day Saturday and we finally came to the realization that she's getting her two-year molars. She hasn't drooled this much since she was three-months old. She slept horribly Saturday night and we overslept for meeting my friend Debi and her daughter to go outlet shopping in Lancaster, where we purchased oodles of adorable summer clothes for the little ones.

Tuesday was my turn to feel ill. I came home with a headache and by 10pm, was running a fever. Tuesday night, I had severe chills - I had never been so cold in my life. I woke up at 5:30am yesterday with a 104.1 fever and a sore throat. I called in sick to work, somehow drove H. to daycare, then called the doctor's office. My fever had dropped some by 8am, so they told me to wait it out for 24 hours to see if it stayed down or not. I barely moved at all yesterday, sleeping and getting to watch Dr. Phil and Oprah. By 9pm, I started to feel much better and my fever was gone this morning, even though my throat is still very sore. I only came into work because I have a meeting this afternoon with an outside client, or else I would have stayed home one more day. So I can't believe it's Thursday already. I hope I feel better by Saturday for the "Meet Me in Margaritaville" library fundraiser a bunch of us are going to. More to come...

Movie Madness

I am woefully behind in my movie renting/watching. I just made a list of 40 movies that I want to see - 40! - and that's just movies that have been released on video since last fall. Somehow, M. and I got out of the habit of watching movies on Friday nights, maybe because we're usually asleep by 9:30 or 10:00pm. And because "Grounded for Life" is on Fridays at 9 and that's one of our favorite shows, falling right in the middle of movie time. The last two movies we have watched have been School of Rock and Pirates of the Caribbean, weeks apart. (Don't even ask what the last movie I saw in the movie theater was. Okay, with Mark is was Cast Away in December 2000, and with my girlfriends, it was Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in the summer of 2002, just before H. was born. I'll be glad when H. is old enough to go to the movies; at least I'll get to see a few movies on the big screen.)

But this weekend, I'm going to rent two movies - one for us to watch together on Friday night (like Welcome to Mooseport or Runaway Jury), then one for me to watch on Saturday night while M. is racing, (maybe Mona Lisa Smile or Under the Tuscan Sun, something M. won't care if I watch without him). And with summer reruns set to kick in in the next few weeks, maybe I can sneak a few movies in during the week, too. That's my new mid-year resolution!

Yuck!

Is this not the ugliest thing you've ever seen? It looks like something you would find in prison, not a kid's room.

School Shooting

This story made the national news. Unfortunately, this incident happened at my alma mater.

Slacker Mom

I think I'm going to go out and buy this book now! I'm so in agreement with this. Professional babyproofer?

I Tumble for You

I was actually glad to come into work today, this weekend was so stressful and exhausting. Friday night, we drove up to mall so I could get my replacement camera. I pre-ordered online, so all I had to do was run in and pick it up and all went smoothly. Then I wanted to go to Boscov's to buy a shower gift I needed for next weekend (I'm trying to stay on the ball). This particular store doesn't keep any china in-stock - it all has to be ordered and it takes eight weeks. Eight weeks! So I immediately came home and ordered what I wanted from Barron's for delivery in 7-10 business days. I was a regular Barron's customer in my immediate post-college years when I was attending 4-6 weddings a year and they never let me down. There are dozens of other places where you could get china placesettings and accessories fairly quickly, so who would even bother waiting eight weeks?

Saturday was my niece K's First Holy Communion. We got to the church just as the children were proceeding into the church (late because M. had to cut his mother's grass that morning). It was hot and humid on Saturday and I didn't cool off until 7pm that night. The mass and ceremony were lovely. I cried both in the beginning when I first saw K. and at the end when the whole class sang together. It was all so sweet!

A party followed at my parents' house. Luckily, the predicted rain never came and the kids played outside the whole time. I gorged myself on my mom's homemade meatballs and potato salad. My cousin was there with her new baby, only a month old. She was so cute and so good, especially with all strangers around. There was a wonderful breeze blowing through the house, but again, I was sweating all day. We finally left a little after five. H. fell asleep in the car and when we got home, I put her in her crib to let her sleep a little longer and she ended up sleeping through the night! About 13 hours! She didn't even wake up early Sunday morning, just her regular time of about 6:15.

So I took a long shower and finally cooled off to enjoy a quiet evening at home. But my happiness was destroyed with the announcement that Brad Cotter was named the new Nashville Star. To paraphrase Amy, George Canyon was robbed! I was so disappointed - I really thought he had it all the way. I hope he still gets a recording contract out of all of this. I would certainly be more willing to buy an album of his than Brad's. I think it really hurt him that only people in the US could vote by phone.

Sunday turned out to be a not-so-great day. It was a good thing H. had all that sleep the night before. Late in the afternoon, I scrubbed down the patio furniture and we were all getting ready to go inside. I was holding H. when I fell - hard. It all happened so fast, I'm not really sure what happened. I think I tripped on the piece of wood that separates our patio from the grass, but all of the sudden, I was crashing to the ground. I landed on my knees on the concrete and H. pretty much landed on her head. I was stunned for a second, then H. started screaming. I thought for sure the whole front of her face was going to be bloody. I picked her up and she appeared to be fine, but then a scrape and swelling started to appear right in the center of her forehead. It took awhile to get her calmed down and cleaned up. I think I was more upset than she was, I felt so bad. She let me put a cold rag on her bump intermittently, but it was so red and purple. I was convinced she had a concussion. I looked up the symptoms in the baby book and kept an eye on her the rest of the night - she didn't vomit, her pupils were the same size and she was never disoriented.

In the end, she was fine. She ate both a snack and dinner as usual and even went back outside with M. for a little while. She went to bed a little bit earlier than usual, but who could blame her? I was up half the night checking on her, making sure she was still conscious and that she really was fine. She woke up regular time this morning, happy as can be, wanting her cuppy and Elmo.

I, on the other hand, was tempted to call in sick to work. I have major scrapes on both knees that are still oozing and my left ankle was swollen all night. When I woke up at 3am to check on H., I could barely walk. I took some Tylenol and by 6am, it felt much better. My whole left side is sore - the side I was holding H. on - even though I landed straight down on my knees when I fell. I feel like I'm back in elementary school, the tomboy who had scabby knees all summer long. I don't know how I'm going to swing wearing pants to work every day this week!

Dreaming

I had some really strange dreams last night, which I remembered when I woke up this morning. The first one was that I took Pierce Brosnan to my 10-year college reunion (which is this Saturday, but I'm not going because it's my niece's First Communion). Every time I walked by somebody, I would say, "That's right, that's James Bond." Maybe it's a good thing I'm not going.

Somewhere in the middle, but I don't think it was part of the reunion dream, Julianne Moore was my cousin and I was trying to guess her middle name. Obviously, I've seen too many commercials for Laws of Attraction.

Then I dreamt (dreamed?) that I got a speeding ticket for going 31 in a 25. At first, the cop wouldn't tell me how fast I was going, instead telling me that my RPM was this and that my tachometer was this (does that make any sense?). I couldn't believe I was ticketed for such a minor offense, in my dream, but I was extra careful driving through town this morning.

The last dream was about Eric the carpenter from Clean Sweep. We were working on a project that involved trying to gather as many of those blue plastic shopping bags as possible. Huh?

Strange to say the least. Part of this tells me I spend too much time watching TV.

Who Do I Call?

TV shows I would like to see available on DVD:
Any Day Now (Lifetime) - one of the best shows to ever air on TV. Realistic and not afraid to address touchy subjects - race, teenage pregnancy, etc.
State of Grace (ABC Family Channel) - heartwarming and fun, but given the boot by Disney anyway.
Homefront (originally on ABC, I believe) - great cast and wonderful continuing storylines for this period show.
American Dreams (get on the ball, NBC) - I usually cry every week during this show, sometimes just when I hear the theme song.
Relativity (also aired on ABC) - one of the most romantic shows ever. It took me a while to realize Michael on "Miss Match" was the hunky "Leo" from this show.
Higher Ground - post-Dr. Quinn Joe Lando guilty pleasure series (aired on Fox/ABC Family Channel or USA, can't remember)
Wings - one of my all-time favorite comedies that I can't seem to find in reruns very often after it was on USA Network all the time.

Coincidentally, all of these shows, except for American Dreams and Wings, were critically acclaimed and had a strong fan base, but were canceled way too soon. I would love to watch them over and over again on DVD.

Edited to add "Life Goes On" so I'll remember to check for it periodically.

Channeling Larry King

It's been a few weeks since I last updated, so I'll jump back in with thoughts that have been tumbling around in my head recently instead of a long entry about what I've been doing the month of April.

Sleeping with the windows open is overrated. As is drying clothes on the line..."Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is the new "Queen for a Day"...I know I'm a latecomer, but Chappelle's Show is the funniest thing on TV right now...My latest crush is Eric the carpenter on "Clean Sweep"...I really should be reading George Pelecanos...When did "publically" become a word? I've seen it used in two places recently. Shouldn't it be publicly?...Judging from the tans at the CMT Flameworthy Video Awards, no one spends winters in Nashville. And thank you, CMT, for having Joe Nichols and John Corbett present an award together. What more could a girl ask for?...For George Canyon to win Nashville Star, of course. I actually called in and voted this week and last week, the first time I've ever done anything like that before...It amazes me how this show started after AI and is about to pick the final winner, yet AI is limping into sweeps with six contestants still standing.

Breakthrough

WARNING - Graphic Baby Talk Ahead!

We had a breakthrough last night at bathtime - H. used the potty for the first time!! We bought the potty seat awhile back, when she first started showing signs of being ready (which mostly consisted of her pulling her pants off, unsnapping her onesie and taking off her diaper at nap time). I've been slowly introducing her to the seat, just sitting her on it and making sure she knows it's there. My mom kept saying she was ready to start, and maybe she was, but I sure wasn't!

On Sunday, she told me every time her diaper was wet and she wanted to be changed, another good sign that she was ready. So last night, after I underdressed H. for her bath, I sat her on the potty chair with the bath water running. And she peed on the potty! I, of course, was jumping up and down and clapping and yelling, I was so proud of her. She didn't know what to think of it and started crying at all of the commotion.

I tried again this morning when she first woke up, but it was a no-go. I'm trying not to get too excited yet, because I know this is going to be a long process, and I certainly don't want to traumatize her. Perhaps TMI, but I'll notify you of H's progress as it comes.

Trilogy

I'm trying to find the words to express how much I loved both Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler, the first two novels in the Big Stone Gap trilogy by Adriana Trigiani. I finished Big Stone Gap Monday night and practically ran to the library Tuesday afternoon to check out Big Cherry Holler, which I finished last night. Big Stone Gap was funny and endearing, with a happy ending. But Big Cherry Holler really touched me. It was more serious, with very real situations and dialogue. Some of the topics hit very close to home and on so many levels I identify with Ave Maria. I cried in the middle and I cried at the end. Unlike most books I read, I wasn't really sure how it was going to end.

I'm anxious to read Milk Glass Moon, the final book in the series, but I'm also hesitant, because I don't want to lose these characters. That is why I read so many series - fiction, mystery or otherwise. I crave the character development you can't always get from just one novel and I love to follow the characters' lives through the years.

Housing

This article in today's Baltimore Sun describes the exact situation Mark and I faced five years ago when looking for a home. We both grew up in Baltimore County and would have liked to buy a home in Northern Baltimore County after we got married, but unless we wanted a townhouse, which we didn't, we were pretty much priced out of the market. And we weren't kids in our early twenties just out of college working entry-level jobs. We were both making decent money and had been working for quite a while.

So, like some of the people mentioned in the article, we jumped the border and bought a house in Pennsylvania just over the Maryland line. We have a three-bedroom house with a detached 2-car garage on just over an acre of land that we bought for under $140K. The same house in most areas of Baltimore County would have been atleast $200K five years ago. The decision meant I was left with an hour and a half commute each way into Baltimore City. After a year, I found a new job in Pennsylvania only 15 minutes from home. Mark still has the commute, depending on his current job site, which is now even worse with the price of gas. And everyone in my family is about an hour away, "breaking up the family unit" as the one woman in the article lamented.

But we love where we live. The sacrifice is worth it. The houses are more than five feet apart, we can't see into our neighbors' windows and traffic is practically non-existent. Whenever I visit my parents in Carroll County, Maryland, I feel claustrophobic. There's a red light at every intersection and the houses are built on top of one another. There's a new development near them and every time I drive buy it, the starting price goes up - houses starting in the mid-$150s, $200s, $250s, etc...

Maryland is pricing itself out of the housing market for young homeowners and middle-class homeowners. And in the process, it is losing its citizens (and their dollars) to neighboring states.

Cropping and Shopping

I've been taking a break from cross-stitch for awhile and instead, have been focusing more on reading and scrapbooking. Friday night, Nadine & Wendy and I went to a four-hour "crop" that was a fundraiser for the Leukemia Society. For $10, we got four uninterrupted hours of scrapbooking. There were about 30 people there, some of them major scrapbookers - the big travel suitcases with all of their supplies and scrapbooks that were 4 and 5 inches thick. One woman even had this whole stacked tray set-up for her work area that blew us all away. There was also a representative from Creative Memories on hand and we could use any of her tools, as well as purchase any additional supplies.

It was a very productive evening for me. I finished three pages and started a fourth, which I managed to finish Saturday afternoon. I've been focusing on all of the vacations M. and I have taken together over the past nine years. I only need to finish the trip I'm working on now - our 2000 trip to Kentucky, plus our 2001 trip to GSMNP, then the scrapbook of our "pre-baby" vacations will be complete and I can start a new one of family vacations. I also have about 5 pages of a baby scrapbook complete so far. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

On Saturday, H. and I went shopping and it was extremely stressful. I thought things were supposed to get easier as she got older! First, I tried to have her picture taken at Sears, just on the spur of the moment, but they were completely booked - I guess everyone was having their Spring/Easter pictures taken. Then we went to Penney's to shop for shoes. I did manage to find two pairs of shoes for H. - dress shoes for Easter and a pair of white sandals for summer. I was in search of both black and brown shoes. Most of what was out was spring and summer shoes, so there wasn't much to choose from for standard wear-to-the-office shoes. I bought a pair of brown shoes in the same style of black that I already have. The one pair of black shoes I tried on were way to small and when I asked for a 10 1/2, the male clerk smuggly told me they don't carry anything larger than a 10. Great! Thanks Al Bundy.

Then it was off to shop for jeans, second only to bathing suits on the shopping experience spectrum for me. The only jeans that I have recently worn have been Sears' "Crossroads' brand. Well, since they took over Land's End, they discontinued that line. So I tried on Penney's St. John's Bay brand and I actually liked them and found two pair to buy. I also bought a rather stylish, hip pair of faded, striped stretchy jeans. My sister would be so proud that I bought these all on my own!

But while I was looking through the table of jeans for my size, I sat my purse down on the table. Then we walked away. I didn't realize until 10 or 15 minutes later that I had forgotten my purse. I retraced my steps and when I got back to the jeans, my purse was gone. I asked the clerk in the shoe dept (a different clerk) if anyone had turned in a purse and she said no, but they have a lost and found upstairs. Just as she said that, I hear my name being called on the paging system. I running all over the store trying to find the elevator since H. was in the stroller. I can't find it (nor can I find anyone to ask), so I risk life and limb and take the stroller up the escalator. Customer service has my purse, completely intact. Thank you to the anonymous customer out there who so kindly and honestly turned my purse in! Before they called my name, I was thinking how stranded I was. My wallet, car keys and phone were all in my purse. I didn't even have any change on me to use a pay phone.

At this point, I'm completely exhausted, sweaty and thirsty from our trek through Penney's, so I go to get us both some lunch. When I take H. out of her stroller, she is soaked through. She was so wet I thought she had spilled her cup, but no, it was definitely a diaper leak. And she never said a word or fussed at all. So I inhaled my lunch, spilling ketchup all over the front of my shirt in the process, then hurried back toward Sears to use their dressing room to change H. I changed her head to toe, thinking that I need to start packing an extra outfit for myself, too, in the diaper bag. And I must say, the dressing rooms in Sears are ten-times cleaner than the ones in Penney's, atleast at this particular mall. The ones in Penney's looked like that hadn't been vacuumed in days (or weeks) and there were leftover clothes in every one we went in. And this is the norm whenever I shop there. In Sears, the carpet was very clean, a bonus since I had to change Hayley, and there weren't discarded clothes lying all over the place.

Anyhoo, after all of this, I was ready to go home, but I really wanted to stop by Michael's and get some scrapbook supplies, especially since I had some momentum going from the night before. So we breezed through Michael's and went home. H. fell asleep in the car about 10 minutes before we got there, but miraculously, stayed asleep for her regular nap when I carried her into the house and put her in her crib. I crashed on the couch and watched "Hollywood Baby Boom" on E!. I didn't have the energy to do anything else. I was so tired that night I couldn't even make it through Nashville Star - I fell asleep right after George Canyon sang. I was surprised when they didn't eliminate anyone because of a "technical glitch" - it was a very low-key announcement and no one seemed to mind. I tried to imagine the same situation on American Idol and decided the reaction would be the total opposite.

So Sunday was a day of rest, spent outside with H. running around the yard for most of the day. It looks like spring is truly here now and I'm very thankful for that. All that fresh air for H. and she falls asleep in an instant!

Big Stone Gap

I started reading BIG STONE GAP by Adriana Trigiani earlier this week. I've been wanting to read this trilogy forever and finally checked the first title out of the library. The librarian, who now knows my name, promised I would "really love it." And I have, from the very first sentence. "This will be a good weekend for reading." How can you not love a book with an opening sentence like that?

Weekend Round-Up

Work has been so busy lately, I haven't had time to update. I took a vacation day on Friday. Both H. and I had doctor's appointments. H. weighed just over 24 lbs. and measured 33 inches tall at 18 months. The doctor said her vocabulary is that of a 2-year old, which is typical for girls. She didn't need any shots this visit, which was a blessing. I, on the other hand, had to get a tetanus shot from my doctor. She gave me a full physical and since I hadn't had a tetanus shot since 1990, she felt it was better just to get one. I liked this new doctor very much. She didn't launch into a diatribe about dieting and losing weight and exercising to control my blood pressure. She was very reasonable and felt we should take things one step at a time. Even just exercising without dieting (vs. control of salt intake, etc.) would help high blood pressure because exercise gets more oxygen flowing through the blood. To that end, I did finally decide to join Curves once I ran it past the doctor, so I'm officially a member.

After our doctor appointments, H. and I went to my parents' house to see my aunt, who was visiting from Philly. She hadn't seen H. since last May. Her grandkids are the ones who are close in age to H. - 4 days and 2 weeks apart. My cousin and his wife, who have Luke (the one that's 2 weeks younger than H.), are expecting another baby and are due in October again. A friend of mine from college is also expecting a baby in October, her first.

H. spent the night with my parents, so I was finally able to sleep in on a Saturday! M. and I hadn't spent the night away from her since May, so it was long overdue. I slept in, then cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom, and also cleaned H's room, which is hard to do when she's awake or asleep. My parents brought her back Saturday night and stayed for dinner and to watch the Maryland game (which they lost).

M. and I stuck with Nashville Star again this week. I was disappointed to see Stacy Michelle voted off by the viewers in the beginning - I thought she was the strongest of the females. I didn't think any of the other women performed that well Saturday night, as the judges repeatedly said. I was slightly surprised that the Irish guy Mal was eliminated at the end by the judges, not that he's all that great, but a lot of people seemed to want diversity. George Canyon still blows me away with the first few notes of any song he sings - how can he not win? And Brent Keith is growing on me. I thought he did a great job with the Rodney Crowell song he performed.

Sunday was quiet - it was sunny all day, but so windy and cold it was impossible to go outside. H. kept going to the living room and getting her coat, she wanted to go outside so bad. I finally gave in and we bundled up and went out for about 15 minutes, until our cheeks were red and our noses were running.

Stars Over Nashville

Haven't seen much bloggage yet this morning about Episode 2 of Nashville Star, so I'll add my two cents worth. To prove how useless the Warren Brothers are as judges, their comment to Sheila Marshall about the "Alan Jackson" song was completely wrong. They said that at first they were wary of a woman singing an Alan Jackson song - "Who's Cheating Who?" - but that she did a good job with it. That just shows you how much they know. The Alan Jackson version of that song was a remake of a hit by Charley McClain - a woman - in the '80's.

I can't get over how far superior this show is to American Idol. The level of talent is much higher, along with a level of maturity missing from the Idol bunch. I think the judges made the right choice this week by dismissing Gregory DeLang. But I don't know why they are all so high on Jennifer Hicks - she just doesn't do anything for me. I'd like to predict right now that George Canyon will be the next Nashville Star. Even though part of me thinks the judges will choose a woman since a man won last year, I still think he is the strongest vocalist, as well as the one who has the best country personality so far. Even if he doesn't win, I think it will be an Idol-like situation from last year, with the last two finalists fairing equally as well a la Clay and Reuben.

Crazy Morning

The stomach flu is still dogging us. The babysitter called this morning just after I got out of the shower - she was up all night with the bug. (This is the first time she's called us sick in over a year - amazing!) So I called my sister-in-law and she said, "I don't know if you want to bring her here." Both of her kids have it now, too. That made me feel bad, because I'm sure it was probably H. who gave it to them while she was there and not quite fully recovered last week. So my last chance was the back-up sitter, who is usually full on Fridays, but I thought I'd take a chance before I had to call work. What luck! The 9-month-old she usually watches is spending the day with her grandmother, so there was room for H. What a lifesaver!

Blur

Last week is a bit of a blur and I'm just catching up now. Following the Princess Birthday Party, H. came down with the stomach flu. She threw up once and was running a fever as high as 103.2 on Sunday afternoon (a quick call to the on-call pediatrician made us all feel better). Her fever broke Sunday night, but she had messy diapers all week and was generally cranky. On top of all this, the regular babysitter was on vacation this past week, so H. was being shuttled between a couple of different locations and wasn't on her regular routine. I worked out Monday night, had a waste of time computer class for work on Tuesday night, then I finally broke down and took her to the doctor on Wednesday night. I was convinced she had an ear infection, but she didn't, just the lingering effects of the stomach flu. Thursday night was my first night to relax all week and there wasn't even a new episode of Friends on to watch!

I would say she wasn't really herself again until Saturday, so it was a whole week until she was really feeling better. We were so glad to see Miss W. the babysitter yesterday morning! I worked out again at Curves last night (my third trip) and have to make the decision whether or not to join by the end of the week. Can I really commit to it?

We spent a lot of time outside this weekend, enjoying the nice weather, which has since turned cold again. H. loves being outside and cries when we have to go in.

Mark and I watched One Hour Photo Friday night, which was definitely creepy. And I decided I like Michael Vartan better with lighter hair than the dark brown color he had in the movie. I watched Frequency on ABC Saturday night, since I hadn't seen it. It wasn't quite what I thought it would be, but overall I thought it was pretty good. I'll watch anything with Dennis Quaid in it. Then I had to dig out my Garth Brooks' "Scarecrow" CD and listen to "When You Come Back to Me Again" over and over on Sunday.

Princesses

This article in today's edition of USA TODAY is very timely. H. and I attended our first Disney Princesses birthday party on Saturday for my friend Wendy's daughter, Meghan, who turned 3. H. dressed as Snow White for the occasion (I'll upload a photo tonight from home). In my mom's neighborhood, the little girls have been having various types of Princess parties for a couple of years. They all dress to the nines for the event, complete with jewelry, make-up and pretty dresses. And they're all under the age of 5 or 6.

I find myself getting sucked into the marketing ploys for the Disney Princesses and others and there are days I want to buy H. everything I see. THE LITTLE MERMAID and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST are two of my favorite Disney moves. At the tender age of 15 months, H. received the "My First Disney Princesses Spinning Surprise Castle," a Disney Princesses tea set with a million pieces and a "Princess & Pony" for Christmas from Mark and me (although I also bought her the Little Peoples' Gas and Go Station to balance things out and we're already eyeing up Craftsman kiddie tool benches for next year).

As a former (still?) tomboy and a "girls can do anything boys can do" feminist, I sometimes wrestle with my conscious when buying these kinds of toys. I feel even stronger about toy vacuum cleaners and cleaning carts marketed toward little girls. (And don't get me started on other toys marketed (in-your-face) to very young kids like McDonald's - that's a rant for another day.) I don't know how I'm ever going to buy her a Little Dirt Devil and I've already seen her playing with one at daycare. I definitely don't want it engrained in her from an early age that women are the only ones responsible for all of the cleaning in the household. I purposefully painted her nursery red and blue instead of pink and white. But maybe it's all genetic anyway - who knows? All of her toys are spread out around the family room and, other than her Elmo toys, she plays with that Disney tea set the most. Is it too early to enroll her for girls' softball?

Random Thoughts on the Oscars

I didn't take any notes while watching last night, so this is all from memory, but I did manage to stay up for the whole telecast, even though I could predict all the winners. I only stayed up until the end to see if there would be one upset winner - Johnny Depp over Sean Penn. Oh well, he'll always be Tom Hanson to me. And who woulda thunk it - Jeff Spicoli won an Oscar.

**

I flipped back and forth between Joan Rivers and Barbara Walters. I love the Red Carpet, but my tolerance for JR and her inane questions is low. However, I believe that Maria Menounos (I always want to say "Menudo") now wins the prize for being even more annoying than Joan or Melissa Rivers. Is it possible for her to talk without screaming? And who is Billy Bush? Just a Ryan Seacrest wannabe (speaking of annoying).

**

The only hideously horrible outfit I saw was Uma Thurman. Peter Jackson was just sloppy. I loved pregnant Marcia Gay Harden in blue, but not her throwback 'do. I imagine I'll read some bad things about Sandra Bullock's "wedding cake" dress, but I loved it. Diane Lane looked stunning.

**

I liked that the Academy used some different presenters than they have in the past - Oprah, Jamie Lee Curtis, The Pinkett-Smiths.

**

After watching the tribute to Bob Hope and hearing him repeat the same tired jokes and lines year after year as host, I fear Billy Crystal is falling into the same pattern, even after taking a break for a few years.

**

Apparently, I missed the funniest part of the whole show - Will Ferrell and Jack Black. Damn, just like I missed the Janet Jackson incident. I really need to get Tivo.

**

Was the William Zabka nominated for Live Action Short Film the same Billy Zabka from THE KARATE KID?

**

I really didn't want Sofia Coppola to win because I didn't think I could stand listening to her acceptance speech. I haven't seen LOST IN TRANSLATION yet, but I hope she's one hell of a writer, because she has the personality and screen presence of a wet mop.

**

Some strange music choices when presenters walked onto the stage - HAIL TO THE CHIEF for Tom Hanks, LOUIE, LOUIE for Angelina Jolie?

**
I was so happy for Renee Zellweger, my beloved Bridget! I haven't seen this movie yet, either, but I'm just happy that she won. And maybe she'll win Lead Actress next year for BJ2.