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.