Miscellaneous

I updated the Birthday Party and Ocean City entries with pictures, if you care to take a look.

Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Coloring Book was fun on Saturday. H. really enjoyed it - clapping along and dancing at all the right parts. I think she had just as much fun looking at all the other little kids who were there. She got a little antsy during the last 15 minutes or so, which was fine. That just means she's not ready to go to the movies yet. But now I'll have to consider whether or not to take her to see Nemo on Ice.

Sunday was very relaxing, as I promised myself it would be. We went and finished our grocery shopping early in the morning, then while H. was taking her nap, I made homemade spaghetti sauce. The house smelled wonderful all day! I watched football and the Brady Bunch, and we spent some time outside, since it was such a beautiful day weather-wise. More than I can say for today. We're experiencing the remnants of Hurricane Jeanne and it's been pouring all day and it just started to get very windy.

Brady Bunch Marathon

At 2:36pm this afternoon, I e-mailed this link to Nadine. At 2:37pm, I received the very same e-mail link from Sheila. Yeah, I know, we're really big nerds, but we don't care.

So I'll be watching this most of the weekend instead of anything else I might have had planned.

Reading Update

I read three books since I last updated my "Currently Reading" link. Maybe I should list more than one book there along the lines of current and just finished, but I'm definitely a read-one-book-at-a-time kind of person.

Anyhoo, I read Bloodstream by Tess Gerritsen, a paperback I picked up at the used book sale this summer for 25 cents, mostly as filler in between trips to the library. It's classified as a "medical thriller," but I would categorize it more as horror. All I have to say is, don't read this book if you ever want to eat pork again.

Then I read Carrie Pilby by Caren Lissner, which has been on my to-be-read list every since I started reading her blog. It was a quirky, funny book that I really enjoyed, and more than worth the $1 I had to spend to get it via inter-library loan from another library branch. I'm already looking forward to reading Starting from Square Two.

Finally, I plowed through Journal of the Dead by Jason Kersten in one day. I started it during lunch at work, then stayed up until 11:30 that night to finish it, even though I knew most of the story. I can't remember the last book that made me stay up that late! Journal of the Dead is the true crime account of Raffi Kodikian (who is from Philadelphia) and David Coughlin, friends who got lost in the desert in Carlsbad Caverns National Park in 1999 and one of the friends ended up dead. It's not a black and white case of murder and Kersten fairly presents the facts from both sides of the story. [One note: There was an annoying error in the book that's tough to overlook when you're reading non-fiction because it makes you question what other facts might be incorrect. Kersten is comparing the hometowns of Coughlin and Kodikian - Boston to Philly - and compares the Charles River to the Potomac River. I'm assuming he meant to reference the Schuylkill River, since the Potomac runs through Maryland and DC, not Philly.]

Birthday Party Hangover

I'm still recovering from the birthday party on Sunday, or the house is any way. The weather cooperated and we were able to have the party outside in the yard, complete with a bouncing house.

It was a little windy, but at least the sun was out. All of the kids seemed to have a good time and the "Pin the Cookie on Cookie Monster" game went over pretty well.

The only bad part of the day was right before we were going to sing "Happy Birthday" and cut the cake. H. got stung by a bee right in the center of her thumb. It took us awhile to figure out what was wrong. I had never, ever heard her cry like that before. Her poor little thumb was swollen and red and hard as a rock. We held up the party for a half hour trying to get her calmed down, which wasn't helped by the fact that she hadn't had a nap that day. But she recovered enough for us to sing and open presents, of which she received a wonderfully varied assortment - clothes, toys, baby dolls, computer games, DVDs, etc. We have wonderful family and friends who are very generous! (H's thumb was much better the next morning, no longer swollen and just a little sore by the way she was bending it.)


So now I'm still trying to clean up the house. There are presents or boxes in every room and dishes that need to be put away. Our trash day is Fridays, so we've been stuck with party trash all week, including a big box that one of the presents came in that is still sitting in the middle of the living room. And I need to get started on thank you notes, too. We're picking up H's photos from Sears tomorrow night, so I'll be able to include those with the thank you notes, which is good timing. But I don't know when I'll have the time to start those since the rest of the week is booked solid. Tumbling class tonight, Sears tomorrow night, Fall Fest in Westminster Friday night and Sesame Street Live Saturday afternoon. My plan for Sunday is to lay in front of the television and watch football for nine or ten hours (and maybe write a few thank you notes).

Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday to H! When she woke up this morning, she was already two, since she was born at 4:30am.

I forgot to mention that we went for her two-year check-up last Friday morning. She weighed 27 lbs., 13 oz., and measured 34 1/2 inches. I asked the doctor about how she seems so much taller than most of the other two-year olds we know, but she said her height, weight and head circumference were all plotting correctly on the growth chart and everything was normal. I guess we can blame me for her big bones.

The weather outlook for Sunday has improved as of this morning. Rain ending by mid-day on Saturday, with Sunday cool and sunny. Let's hope the forecast is correct!

The O.C.

I figured I better post about last weekend, since the coming weekend is descending quickly. That's the only problem with going away for the weekend - you spend the rest of the week catching up on all the stuff you didn't get done around the house.

The girls weekend in Ocean City was terrific. We had a great time and the weather was fairly cooperative. We arrived late Friday, so we didn't get to do anything but get the kids into bed, but we squeezed in a lot of activities on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, we went shopping at the outlets, where I got H. the cutest outfit to wear for her birthday party. Then we went swimming in the afternoon, even though it was somewhat overcast and the water was freezing! The evening included dinner (shrimp for me, since I never get to cook it anymore now that M. is allergic), then the boardwalk. Meghan and H. got on some rides and we walked around a little bit.


On Sunday, we went to the beach in the morning, which I always think is more work than it's worth. I know, I'm not a beach person. I wish I could be, because in theory, it sounds fun, but when your almost two-year old poops while she's wet and covered with sand and you only brought a diaper (no wipes), it's just not that fun. (I stripped H. down and rinsed her off in the ocean as my solution.)

But the girls enjoyed playing in the sand and got to use the new sand toys I bought them. We left around 1:30 in the afternoon, so it was a wonderful but short trip. W.'s condo is awesome and it's in a great location; we're already planning another girls only trip (without the kids this time). I only hope W. and I didn't scare Na off from ever having kids. Spending the whole weekend with a three-and-a-half-year old and an almost two-year old can be a lot to take.

So I've spent the rest of the week catching up - laundry, going to the grocery store, plus party preparations for Sunday. I'm not holding out much hope for the weather. I'm sure the remnants of Ivan will be here by Sunday and I'll be stuck with 15 kids inside the house with only one measly game of "Pin the Cookie on Cookie Monster" to keep them occupied. Atleast I shouldn't have any trouble sticking to my "three-hours max" rule for kiddie parties.

Photo Session

Okay, I couldn't link to the online photos from Sears (you could only send out a mass e-mail for access), so here are two from the photo session. I know, too cute for words. I'll let you come up with your own.

I'm a Woman and I Read Crime Fiction (plus, a mini-book review)

I've had this entry rumbling around in my head for a few days, then I read Sarah Weinman's post about gender and crime fiction and decided to expand, so please bear with me.

A few books ago, I finished Murder on Ice by Alina Adams, after finding out about her when she guest blogged on Sarah's site. Reading this mystery made me remember why I prefer thrillers (legal, medical, psychological, etc.), police procedurals and even P.I. novels to mysteries that feature "amateur sleuths." The whole premise of an amateur sleuth who is forced into an improbable mystery-solving scenario during the course of their day job is annoying to me. In the case of Murder on Ice, TV researcher Bex is asked by her producer boss to find out who killed a figure skating judge involved in a scoring scandal. And of course, she does. But this just isn't realistic enough for me. There were so many problems with this scenario, I don't even know where to begin (the police were convinced the murder was really an accident, etc.). On top of that, the plot of the book just wasn't very well written. On atleast three separate occasions, the main character Bex paused to reflect on the "clues" by doing the following:

• Chapter 5, p. 89 - "So. It was time to review."
• Chapter 5 (still), p. 94 - "Again, it was time for Bex to summarize what she knew." Did that much really happen in five pages?
• Chapter 11 - "It was time to review."

If the plot is so convoluted (and it wasn't, just lame) that the character needs to actually state that she needs to review everything, than maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board.

Also, this probably would have been a much better book if it had been written in the first person instead of the third. There were lots of conversations taking place inside the main character's head that would have come across better in her own words. But, I'll just chalk this up to a reminder that I don't like cozy or amateur sleuth mysteries and will try not to get sucked into another one again.

All that being said, let's get back to Sarah's thoughts on gender and crime fiction. Most women probably do read cozy and amateur sleuth mysteries more so than other types of crime fiction and may be more drawn to female writers than male writers. Regarding Murder on Ice, there are probably very few men who would be interested in a murder mystery about women's figure skating. I, myself, am often more drawn to female authors such as Nevada Barr, Barbara Parker, Dana Stabenow, Patricia Cornwell, Linda Fairstein, Margaret Maron, Minette Walters, Lisa Scottoline, Kathy Reichs, Val McDermid and others. But I also love James Lee Burke, Harlan Coben, C.J. Box, Richard North Patterson, James Patterson and John Grisham. Take Dana Stabenow for instance. She writes two series, one with a female main character and one with a male. I like them both. I love the dark side of James Lee Burke's books and the fact that Dave Robicheaux is a flawed hero.

But I think the key thing about why I choose to read these types of books is that most of them are much more believable and therefore, more real, to me. It's much more plausible that a police or other type of law enforcement officer (obviously), private detective, lawyer or medical examiner would be involved in solving a crime/murder than a chef who comes across dead bodies every time she leaves her house. Since these seem more real to me, the drama and the character development offer something more as well. I think that's why I also prefer series, which most of the above are, because the characters grow and develop over time and the reader gets to know them. But I'll save my thoughts on all the different series I read for another day!

Holiday Weekend

A fairly quiet holiday weekend (the calm before the storm of being away this coming weekend, followed by H's birthday party on the 19th). M. raced on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, H. and I just hung out together, cleaning and going shopping. While H. napped Saturday afternoon, I relaxed in the hammock, reading my book in the comfortable, breezy weather (insted of cleaning the bathroom). And I did something I swore I would never do - I got H's hair cut at Walmart. Atleast I didn't get my hair cut there! And I was desperate, since my hair salon was closed on Saturday and I wanted to get her two-year picture taken this weekend.

On Sunday, we went to my sister's marina for swimming and a cookout. The pool water was freezing, of course, since the evenings have been so cool lately, but still fun. It's amazing to see how much H's swimming has improved since the beginning of the summer. She really moves her arms and legs and hardly tips over anymore. She'll have an opportunity to practice some more this weekend when we go to Ocean City with the girls.

The only bad part of the day on Sunday was an accident that occurred out on the water. An older man who was sailing with two other people was hit in the head by his sailboat boom, knocked unconscious, then fell in the water and drowned. There was a little bit of news coverage about it Sunday evening, just one of several Labor Day weekend boating accidents in Maryland.

And on Monday, we did go to Sears and have her two-year portrait taken. It takes 48 hours for the proofs to be posted on the Sears website, so check back late Wednesday or Thursday for the link to see her in all her adorableness.

Miscellany

Here are some links I've been hording, if you're interested.

A few about the Grand Canyon, one of my most favorite places, which is why this first story was completely annoying. Here's a link to an article by a guy who was thoroughly unimpressed by the Grand Canyon. He must have a heart and mind made of stone. Luckily, there were others besides me who disagreed with him. (Need a password for the LA Times? Try idahogolfer and mustang or go to BugMeNot, a wonderful resource!) Also from the LA Times, a sad story about being unprepared and not knowing your limits. Definitely worth reading! And finally, sad in another way, an article about how all of the new plans for the Grand Canyon, after the opening of the new visitor's center, have been backburnered, mostly due to lack of funding.

In the late 1990s, after years of debate, the feds agreed on a long-term plan: have people park farther from the rim and build a light-rail system to bring them in, at a cost of something like $170 million. Meanwhile, the Park Service and the foundation would together raise money and build a $31-million "greenway" — more than 70 miles of trails on the South and North rims for walkers, bicyclists, wheelchair users and a few bits for equestrians.

But then, in 2000, came the big detour. Look, said Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee, this is too bold and costly for a park whose visitor figures have gone nearly flat. So, just a few days after Alston arrived as superintendent, Regula's subcommittee gathered at the park and pulled the plug on the light-rail plan.

The bit about visitors is true; from 1994 to 1999, visitor numbers climbed less than 1% per year, and the numbers have since slumped further. But let me tell you, outdoorists, it's a uniquely educational moment to stand amid these fumes and idling engines and consider that, by the reckoning of Congress, this place and its parking lots just aren't crowded enough.

Oh, the irony, when every news story about the national parks for the last five years has been about overcrowding. The Grand Canyon was the 10th most visited National Park Service Unit and the 2nd most visited National Park overall in 2003.

Finally, one more National Park article. I didn't read this article until Monday morning, but the first thing that immediately came to mind was Dick Cheney's speech and political rally at Ellis Island on Sunday. Last time I checked, Ellis Island is still a unit of the Park Service and therefore a federal facility. Once again, the Bush administration is living by its own set of rules.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Work has actually been very busy lately, which is cutting into my time to update! And there's hardly any time at home to update. So here's a quick review of our weekend:

• My mom spent the night on Thursday, then she and H. and I went to Philadelphia on Friday to visit family, with cousins who are the same age as H. We hadn't seen them all in over a year, so it was great to see how much everyone had grown and changed. All the kids played really well together and we had a good visit.
• On Saturday, we were supposed to go to a wedding for M's niece. We drove over an hour for a wedding that was supposed to start at 2pm. (Are you catching on to use of the word supposed?) We arrived at the church at about 1:45 and the parking lot was completely empty. I didn't think too much of it because M's family is usually late for everything, so we waited a few more minutes. Still, no one else had showed up, so we got out of the car and went into the church. It was completely empty, too. We tried calling M's brother's house, but there was no answer, so then we tried his mom. She answered the phone, much to my surprise, and I asked her, "Aren't you on your way to the wedding yet?" Her answer was, "No, it doesn't start until 4pm." Well, the invitation I'm holding in my hand says 2pm. Apparently, M's niece had called her about a week ago and said they were changing the time from 2pm to 4pm. Well, no one ever called us! M. talks to his brother just about every day and had talked to him that morning. Not that it was his responsibility to tell us the time had changed. That would be the bride's. So we left and stopped by my parents' house, since we were nearby. M. was so pissed. He didn't want to go to the wedding in the first place and now we had wasted our entire afternoon. We could have waited at my parents for an hour and a half, then gone back to the church, but M. was so mad that no one had bothered to call us that he refused to go back. I was in complete agreement. So we drove back home and that was that. He talked to both his mom and his brother the next day and the wedding was fine, but we have yet to receive a phone call from the bride with an apology, which I think we're owed. We'll probably never get it, but I just might hold on to my gift until we do.
• More driving on Sunday to a baby shower in Reading. M. watched H. so it didn't feel like she was in the car the whole weekend, taking her swimming at his mom's instead.

Then it was back to work on Monday. I feel like I didn't even have a weekend. I'm looking forward to the long holiday weekend already. H. and I start our "Mom and Me" tumbling class tonight, which will be for the next eight Wednesdays. No, I won't be doing any tumbling, but in this class, the parents are out on the floor with the kids to try and keep them focused, then, when she eventually moves to the 2 1/2 year old class, she'll be out there on her own.

Close Call

H., M. and I went down to M's mom's to go swimming yesterday afternoon. It was warm in the sun, even if the water was a bit chilly, and H. had been talking about "the pool" all weekend, so we didn't want to disappoint her. About five minutes before we left, H. injured herself on the dining room table. It was scary for a little while because Mark's mom has a rectangular, glass-topped dining room table that is right at H's eye level. And of course, she hit the table right in the corner of her left eye. She has a teeny, tiny cut in the very corner of her eye, but we're extremely lucky she didn't injure her eye. (It makes me cringe just thinking about it.) She fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep for awhile once we got there, but when she woke up, she said, "Uh-oh, boo-boo," and pointed to her eye. It was a little bruised and puffy, but her eye was white and clear, which was a big relief. I was ready to take her to the emergency room just to be on the safe side, but she didn't seem to have any trouble with her vision and she wasn't upset or cranky or anything, so M. talked me out of it. She seemed fine this morning and was happy to show her boo-boo to the babysitter when I dropped her off. Whew, a close call!

GOLD?!?

I turned the TV off last night after Paul Hamm fell on his vault attempt and was in 12th place. How surprised was I this morning to learn that he had won the gold? Very! It's a shame NBC feels it's necessary to show the completion of a premier event like this after 11:00pm. This was a true Olympic moment and I wonder how many Americans actually saw it live (or NBC's definition of "live"). I almost gave up before 11pm, when they switched over to swimming and the promo in the corner said 'More Men's Gymnastics in 16 minutes.' I didn't know if I would make it the 16 minutes, but the women's relay was exciting enough to keep me awake. But I can't keep staying up until 11:30pm every night. It's starting to catch up with me.

Sleepy

I stayed up until 11:30pm last night to watch the Men's Gymnastics team finals, which was a little bit of a nailbiter. I think the US team should be proud to take home the silver medal. I fell asleep right away, but then H. woke up at 2:30am and would not go back to sleep. After several attempts to get her to settle down, I finally brought her into bed with us and turned on the TV for a little while. Lo and behold, NBC was re-airing the Men's Gymnastics final. I didn't need to stay up at all earlier! I could have gone to bed at 9pm and watched the finals with H. in the middle of the night. If only there was some way to predict when she is going to have these bad nights!

I never did figure out why she was up and she didn't go back to sleep until 4am. She wasn't warm and wasn't particularly fussy, just wide awake. She might (still) be teething or maybe she just has Olympic fever. I should have nice dark circles under my eyes by the time the Olympics are over.

PS - If you like Sarah Weinman's style, check out her Olympics blog.

Country Music Chat

I just discovered that the Nashville correspondent for USA Today, Brian Mansfield, is conducting online chats on country music. I don't know if this was the first one or not (I find USA Today's chat archives hard to navigate), but I'll definitely be checking in for more.

On Lonestar's CD I'm Already There:
"The album and the single did extremely well. The industry might have perceived it to be a little too similar in nature to 'Amazed' (which won a ton of awards) to give the awards to the band again. I've liked some of those ballads, too, but they pretty much turned into country's REO Speedwagon after they got rid of John Rich (now of Big & Rich)."

Other topics touched on during the chat that are always swirling around in my head: lack of variety on today's country music stations, female country artists earning airplay and raves for one of my faves, Joe Nichols.

(Okay, I just found an archived chat from June 15 that I'll have to go back and read. Maybe it's only once a month for country.)

Andrea's Etiquette

Rule #1

Children's birthday parties should not last longer than three hours. If guests wish to stay longer than three hours, wonderful, but the main events of food, cake and presents should be accomplished within the three-hour timeframe.

We attended a family birthday party on Saturday for a five-year-old. The invitation said the party started at 4pm, so we arrived at 4pm. Chips and pretzels (no dip), pita bread with hummus and a (one) hot hor d'oerve were served. Coke, Diet Coke, water, wine and beer were available (no caffeine-free sodas except for diet). And that was all that was served until dinner was finally served at 7:30pm. 7:30pm!! We were all ready to chew off an arm at this point. And sadly, it became a case of eat and run. As soon as we finished eating, I changed H. into her pajamas and we left. We had driven almost two hours to get to this party (and most of the other guests had driven about an hour), so we had a long drive home. We didn't stay for cake and we didn't get to see the birthday boy open his presents.

There are many things wrong with this scenario. (1) I had to entertain H. for three and a half hours at someone else's house. And H. was not the only toddler or child at the party. There were six or seven others there as well, with no organized games or activities. (2) The party was for a five-year-old, not an adult. What time does he go to bed? It wasn't going to be any time soon, after chowing down on chocolate cake at 9pm. (3) People who bring a gift to a party deserve to see it opened by the receiver. There's no rule that says presents have to be opened after cake. He could have opened his presents while we were waiting for four whole chickens to slow cook on the grill.

This party will now officially be known as The Worst Birthday Party Ever.

Good Luck, Continued...

One of my DVD wishes from my wish list has come true - American Dreams will be out on DVD on September 7. And although it wasn't on my original list (and it should have been) - the first season of 21 Jump St. will be released on October 26. Yeah!

Natalie's Good Luck Must Be Rubbing Off...

Because I actually won something in a contest. Yesterday when I got home from work, there was a package from Time-Life books. I haven't ordered anything in awhile, so I wasn't expecting a package. I opened it and there was a paperback copy of Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook, along with a letter from BookReporter.com. I had won one of their monthly drawings for a free book! Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket tonight.

The Streak

"I hate The Streak.
There. I said it.
I know it's blasphemy. I know I'm going to hell just for thinking it.
But I hate The Streak."
-Eric Neel

I think the very fact that ESPN.com published an article (albeit a negative one) about Cal Ripken's streak almost 10 years after he broke Lou Gehrig's record and almost three years after he has retired speaks volumes about why fans think it was an important accomplishment. And here are a few other things Eric Neel failed to address in his column:

• Cal Ripken was taking the field and "doing his job" everyday in an era where professional athletes from all sports were being paid millions of dollars to simply warm the bench. Sports fans were disillusioned with cry-baby athletes who whined about every ache and pain, and increasingly distanced themselves (or much worse) from the fans, while the fans themselves were paying higher ticket prices to see mediocre talent. Cal Ripken was a true role model, especially for the younger fans. As I'm typing this, I'm having trouble thinking of a current, active professional athlete who I would want my daughter to admire.
• Fans also knew that once Ripken broke The Streak, it would be the end of an era. Never again will we see a consective-game streak from any of today's athletes. Never again will we see an athlete play for one team for his entire career, (especially not his hometown team).
• Ripken's desire to play did not, as Neel believes to be the truth, "cost him, the Orioles and the fans." We have Peter Angelos to thank for that, not Cal Ripken.
• Speaking from very personal experience, I honestly believe that Cal Ripken single-handedly saved baseball in 1995 by pursuing The Streak. How many fans would have tuned in at all following the strike-shortened 1994 season?
• Neel fails to address any of the same criticism or venom toward Lou Gehrig. Does he feel the same way about Gehrig, even though the same thoughts usually come to mind when his name is mentioned?

Baltimore sports columnist Peter Schmuck has his thoughts here (The Baltimore Sun now requires free registration - sorry).

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!