An oldie but a goodie

Why haven't you fixed the A/C?
Originally uploaded by bbackprple

I know I've posted this picture before, but the theme over at I Heart Faces this week is pouting, and if I have a more perfect pouting picture, I don't know about it, so I'm posting it again. I just really discovered I <3 Faces, and am seeing right now that all my commercial breaks tonight are going to be occupied.

If you've got a picture, you've got to post it tonight, so head on over to I Heart Faces to play along.

MBSM: Off the rails

When Youngest Nephew went through his Thomas the Tank Engine stage, I learned to hate those twisted curvy tracks with a twisted curvy passion. Now that Lil Girl is going through a similar stage, I've decided that trains don't need to stay on their tracks. Our trains are rogue trains: going wherever they want, however they want. Rebels.



After lunch the other day, Lil Girl took her trains to a trip to the zoo, when she noticed that her cup had animals all around it. Here's part of the story she told me:

"This is Lady. She's a magic engine. And she likes monkeys at the zoo. Zebras are not like monkeys, but they're at the zoo too. You are Donald" (I'm always Donald, and he was not included in the photo shoot, unfortunately) "and Donald doesn't have magic, but he can play with the monkeys if Lady says so. Did you know monkeys throw poo?"

Tracks: who needs them? Would I have ever learned that monkeys throw poo - as part of a totally normal conversation that veered way off its tracks - if we had stayed on the stupid tracks in the first place? I think not. (I have no idea where she learned that... although if I were the betting type I'd put money on her big brother.)


That's My Best Shot for today... I'm going to head over to Tracey's and see what other people have been up to.

Tomorrow I have to make phone calls

which I hate. I also have my 'breathing lesson' session (which I have to remember to post about, because I keep forgetting), I should try to pack up something and my parents are having a house inspected in case we want to buy it.

All this house buying is beyond stressful - for all of us - and I can't think about it anymore tonight. Tonight I'm going to watch The Amazing Race and a really geeky Family Guy and then I'm going to listen to my audiobook some more. (Am in love with audiobooks: this is very dangerous!)

Anyways, I know the posting around here has been link heavy lately, but that's just because there are so many interesting things that other people are saying that I think you should see. Hopefully, this week, I will also say interesting things my own self, which would be a nice change of pace, I'm sure.

Hope your weekend was as you wanted it to be. Talk to you tomorrow!

Roundup

I'm sorry: what?

Parrot honored for saving toddler. really.

Yes, he really did paint that on his parents' roof.

Toddlers do listen: they just do it later than we'd like.

Tell me that is not awesome. Dare you.

Quotable

"But it seemed to me that this was the way we all lived: full to the brim with gratitude and joy one day, wrecked on the rocks the next. Finding the balance between the two was the art and the salvation.”

Elizabeth Berg, Year of Pleasures

Quotable is hosted by Bookish Ruth every Friday, so if you'd like to see what other people have found inspiring this week, I recommend heading on over there.

Happy Friday, all.

Blasts from the past

more win Etch A Sketch Animator - Got one for my 11th Birthday, promptly realized I am not a talented animator. This did not mean I was willing to share with my sisters, however.

Let the wild rumpus start!

One of each...

Inspired by Peonies & Polaroids, a simple meme:

One picture, one poem, one song, one quote, one item of clothing, one place and one disney princess.

One Picture


One Poem

A Poem for Emily
Miller Williams

Small fact and fingers and farthest one from me,
a hand's width and two generations away,
in this still present I am fifty-three.
You are not yet a full day.

When I am sixty-three, when you are ten,
and you are neither closer nor as far,
your arms will fill with what you know by then,
the arithmetic and love we do and are.

When I by blood and luck am eighty--six
and you are someplace else and thirty-three
believing in sex and god and politics
with children who look not at all like me,

sometime I know you will have read them this
so they will know I love them and say so
and love their mother. Child, whatever is
is always or never was. Long ago,

a day I watched awhile beside your bed,
I wrote this down, a thing that might be kept
awhile, to tell you what I would have said
when you were who knows what and I was dead
which is I stood and loved you while you slept.

One Song


One Quote

Pushing myself to appear to be perfect is unnecessary. I don't have to have all the answers to solve other's problems, and I don't have to be constantly available for others. I just have to be real.-- J Austen

One Item of Clothing
From Etsy Seller Terrygraziano

One Place

Ken Hayden Photo
Originally uploaded by coco+kelley

One Disney Princess

Virgin Snow
Originally uploaded by boopsie.daisy

"The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new." Beckett's Murphy

Resting again. A lot. Try back tomorrow, why don't we?

Yeah, my best shot?

had better still be in my camera, because otherwise? I got nothing.

I'll try to get it out of its metallic cage and onto an electronic one tomorrow. Am still really, really wiped out.

So, as Scarlett might say "Tomorrow is another day."

Are you kidding me?

I am still recuperating from my Dr. appointment, and a weekend spend packing/wrangling the family as they move things into the storage unit, so I'm just going to give you a few high/lowlights from my draft folder:


-------------------------------------------------------

How ridiculous is this? A mother in England is given a ticket because she parked illegally to revive her child after he turned blue. That's absurd.

--------------------------------------------------------------

In their defense, these books taught the girls the cardinal rule of womanhood– when choosing between a handsome, wealthy, and open-minded duke who will still respect you in the morning and a pimply faced teenage boy whose hands have been god-knows-where, always choose the duke. Even if he only exists in the pages of a book.

If You Like Julia Quinn over at dearauthor.

---------------------------------------------------------------

from Forgrace.org



Determination & Perseverance
We, with steadfastness and a “never-give-up”
attitude, work diligently to meet the promise of this
organization. “No” does not stand in our way, nor make us timid. Climbing the highest peak is a challenge we take on with great vitality and vigor. (from their philosophy)

Is it really a Barbie world?

What's up with all the animals turning pink lately? Here's a pink elephant and a pink dolphin. (They're both actually rare albinos of their species that appear pink, but aren't they so cute?)

I've got an appointment today

So go play at TV Tropes instead, ok, peoples? Thanks.

Possible starting places: Crowning Moment of Awesome vs. Awesome Moment of Crowning vs Dethroning Moment of Suck

At least I've never made anybody drive into a lake

Tomorrow I have an appointment with Zack (my not-primary care doctor), and it's been a while so, while I have no earthly idea what we had planned on talking about at this appointment, I am quite looking forward to it. Things I now think should be on the agenda? Give me pain meds that work or explain to me why crack is not a reasonable alternative. (Mostly kidding.) But that's not what I'm supposed to be writing about right now... Today's post is all about how I have no idea how to get there.

I have been seeing Zack now for at least 6 years, mostly at his current office, so you'd think it would be a no-brainer. However, tomorrow's appointment is going to be a little bit different because Mum is off her feet - she had toe surgery yesterday and is suffering: I feel so bad! - and my uncle is going to drive me to the appointment instead. He stopped by today for an unrelated reason, and wondered if I would be needing him for tomorrow (originally, because Mum thinks she is invincible and would be fine two days after foot surgery on both feet, he was just our backup plan), and I said that I thought so. So then he asked me if I knew how to get there and I rolled my eyes and said "Of course." After which he asked me to give him some idea of how we get there.

He wanted oral directions, and I could not give them to him.

Because I do not pay attention to the names of streets or numbers of routes. It's not what I focus on while we're driving, because I don't have to focus on that. I'm not doing the driving.

When we're in the car? I can, for sure, tell you where to turn, or how many Dunkin Donuts we have to pass before we get to the right street. I can tell you to go past the Cambridge Public Library (the branch that's hiding on an off street), till you get to the crossroads with the electric buses, across from the cemetery, and then drive by the Shaws that still has its Star Market sign up. I know you take a left at this fork in the road, and a right at the next one. I can explain how we drive past a certain hospital, only you can't see the hospital from the road anymore because they just built a subdivision in front of it. I can show you a good place to stop if you need to buy a mini Christmas tree, and tell you that the name of the local high school baseball team is the Devil Dogs.

But if you are asking me for street names? Then we are both out of luck.

He looked kind of alarmed when I hesitated to give him even the vaguest of directions, but I assured him that I do know how to get there, and once we're in the car, it's not a problem.

I'm pretty sure he didn't believe me, since my appointment's at 2:30, the office is about 40 minutes away, and he asked me if I wanted him to get here at noon.


I told him no thanks, but promised to bring the GPS along, just in case.

Some people have no faith.

March TBR Challenge

Today is the day for reviews over at the TBR Challenge hosted by avidreader. Here are the books I've read in the last two weeks or so, that I liked enough to talk/write about (there have been more that were definitely not worthy, trust me.)


Book that languished longest in my TBR pile -
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A deeply disturbing novel about a young boy's experiences during the Holocaust. My main problem was the matter-of-fact manner in which the lead character describes the tragedies he witnesses, participates in, and endures. The descriptions are horrifying and graphic, and, because it is semi-autobiographical, you cannot comfort yourself with the idea that these are mere book boogiemen. It's a savage read - the scenes, stories, and narrative are uncomfortable, brutal, vivid and haunting. Even though he's a strong writer, I'd definitely need a Prozac before attempting to read anything by Kosinski again.




Book that never made it to an actual, physical pile, but instead was read as soon as I recieved it:
Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I've yet to read a Crusie book that hasn't made me laugh out loud, and this book is no exception. She's just got my kind of humor, I guess: full of apt movie quotes from out of nowhere, dogs who know more than their owners (and can talk!), and goddesses on antidepressants. This book was good for more than one laugh.



Book I almost didn't get a chance to read because my mother was waiting for it too
Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The second in the Silent in (the Grave & the Moor) series, which find heroine Lady Julia Grey in the most unusual of circumstances. Enjoyed Sanctuary even more than Grave , as Julia seemed to come into her own more, and was able to try to take control over her own life and choices, rather than just being tossed hither and yon by chance and fate. I'm looking forward to Moor, which has just come out this month. So far, both books have been intriguing, had mysterious plots that you couldn't automatically know the ending to, and have contained a compelling cast of characters.



Book that made me look up the author's backlist:
The Sleeping Beauty Proposal by Sarah Strohmeyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
When your boyfriend of 4 years finally proposes on national television, you can only hope that he's proposing to you. Unfortunately for Genie Michaels, her boyfriend wasn't. But since her family, friends & the people she works with already assume it's true... maybe it wouldn't be so bad to pretend for a little while?

I'm a sucker for witty dialogue, and had read something else of Strohmeyer's that made me chuckle, so even though the setup seemed stupid, I decided I'd try this one, and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it was mostly predicable, in that you can see - eventually - it's all going to come crashing down on her, but it was still an enjoyable read.



Series I'm rereading this week:
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and The Masque of the Black Tulip in preparation for my recently acquired copy of The Deception of the Emerald Ring. This is a series I am in love with, although a bit behind on - because of the whole 'I have no money for books' thing, which means I wait until some kind soul posts the next in the series to the PaperBackSwap shelf and swoop in on it. These books have so much to recommend them, I wouldn't know where to start - I love the mix of past and present; I love the first person, 3rd person shifts; I love the heroines who kick ass and the heroes who appreciate them; I love the humor & intelligence that nobody feels they have to hide... I just love them. They're fun reads, and I'm glad to still have so many to look forward to.

Series I am refraining from rereading because I want to make a dent in my TBR pile:
In Deaths by J.D. Robb, which are huge comfort reads for me. And I could use some comfort right about now, what with all the craziness and impending homelessness (I wonder how long we could reasonable live in a hotel?), but I am keeping them on the shelf and am determined that they shall stay there until I pack them up. (At which point I will probably read them as I put them in a box).

Series I am listening to on tape because the tape was $3(!) at the used book store-
Harry Potter by J K Rowling. I can understand that actual cassette tapes are no longer in vogue (it is annoying to not be able to go right to the part you want to get to), but let's not be lazy, here people: it's Harry Potter, read aloud to you by a charming man with a charming British accent and a gift for creating vivid voices to match interesting characters. What could be wrong about that? (And why haven't I read more books on tape? Must add them to my PBS list).


Children's books I was lucky enough to win:
Llama Llama misses Mama and Ladybug Girl & Bumblebee Boy. I won them from the lovely Amanda over at A Patchwork of Books, and Lil Girl and I have been enjoying them immensely. Llama Llama and his Mama have been one of her favorites for a while now, and I just know I'm going to have to add the original Ladybug Girl to our library list. Llama Llama is dealing with his first day of school. Everything's new or different, there's all these strange kids, and his Mama had to leave! He's pretty upset, but Dewdney does a great job of showing that new things don't necessarily mean bad things. As for Lulu/Ladybug Girl she her new insect friends use their imaginations to protect their playground from unknown evils, using their wit, strength and impressive imaginations. I can recommend them both, and not just because I was lucky enough to win them - we would've been buying Llama's book, as we own the two others in the series, and I'm always looking for empowered little girls to read about with our own Lil Girl (To balance out all the Disney princesses, perhaps?), so Ladybug Girl definitely fits the bill.

And that is my first contribution to the TBR Challenge: I'm definitely going to check out what everybody else has been up to, and start thinking about what I've got that might fit next month's theme ("urban fantasy, paranormal, SFR" - which I don't even know what that stands for - "or fantasy").

I didn't even hear the Unicorn song

Nothing Irish happened here at all today. Although both Lil Girl and her daddy were wearing shamrocks, I never changed out of my (black) pajamas. There was no Irish bread (yuck) or even green mashed potatoes (yum). We are planning on corned beef and cabbage over the weekend, but we'll see if we get there or not. No green beer, no parades, no Dropkick Murphys. But there was also no school next door (Evacuation Day, don't ya know?), and so there was blessed quiet this morning, therefore, my St. Patrick's Day pretty pleasant.

Hope yours was great as well.

Pretty pretty princess

Here's my Best Shot for this Monday, a little dancing action from Lil Girl. She's been going to 'gim nas tis' on the weekends, and now does all these little routines, which she then concludes with a full out bow. It's pretty cute, but she got upset at Mum & I the other day, because neither of us knew what she was doing the first time she did it. Our problem was that she was doing the bow before the routine. We did eventually finally figure it out, though: sometimes we're so slow.

As nice as it is

to have the extra month in the house (since we still, you know, have NOWHERE TO LIVE), I could do without the additional PUS time.

Although watching as they drop a big screen tv was certainly a plus.

Happy Pi Day!

I don't have any pies, but I've got some links and quotes and clips for you.

As You Wish

Chloe took it in studiously, matter-of-factly. It wasn’t magic to her. She was a child; everything was magic. All phenomena were at once amazing and just what you’d expect. P301-2 Patricia Gaffney, Mad Dash

(via Office Tally)

MAL: Sure, it’s humiliating. Having to lie there while the better man refuses to spill your blood. Mercy is the mark of a great man. (Stabs Atherton in the side.) Guess I’m just a good man. (Stabs him again.) Well, I’m all right. Firefly

Random Wonderings

- How do people get their scrapbook pages into their computers? Can't scan it (or, at least I can't), because the scanner bed is too small. When I take a picture of it, it doesn't look the same as the ones I see online. So I'm wondering if there is something I'm not considering here? If you know the trick, please share


- Why did I stop watching Smallville? I'm sure it had something to do with timing and programing, but I need to catch up, because there's a lot of interesting things going on there: Green Arrow, Brianiac, Lightening Lad? Fabulous. :D


- A corollary to the above: why do I continue to watch shows I don't actually like/care about: Wife Swap? Really?? You do have a remote control, you know. It allows you to change the channel.


- If my pills are in their little daily dose containers, I have absolutely no problem remembering to take them. And yet, remembering to fill up the little daily containers is near to impossible. Por que?

Outtakes from Sesame Street

Awesome.