g'bye september

Dearest September,
We certainly had our ups and downs. It's been...long. Thank you for the outings and the many walks. As for the cold and lingering throat thing...I'm not so thankful.

I could probably have better handled our time together, but, well, I'm ready to move on.

Let's give it another go in about, oh, a year, shall we?

v

a little look at language and a wee bit of wondering

Let me ask: When someone prefaces or follows a statement with "honestly," do you tend to believe that person's statement? Is that term a tip-off that the person isn't being completely honest? Is it akin to certain body language (not meeting someone's eyes, for example) that belies untruths?

I have this reflex, at least when reading something, to question the term and the writer's truthfulness. For whatever reason, I feel so much better if the word is just omitted. At the same time, I don't buy all of those tricks for spotting "tells." I don't believe that everyone who uses the phrase "honestly" or "to be completely honest" and so on is lying. Also, I recently read an article listing signs that someone is lying and I didn't buy the list. Okay, so maybe some people clear their throats often or become shifty-eyed when lying, but almost every item on the list was something I do when talking to people one-on-one -- not because I'm lying but because I don't possess a lot of confidence.

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I have been watching a lot of Friends lately. It's one of the two series we own in full and I was bored one day and put it on. Now, it's like a challenge to finish the series although I lost interest about seven hundred episodes ago. Anyhow, I could go on and on about Friends stuff, but I won't, I promise. I will ask, though, why didn't they recognize the 9/11 attacks in some way on the show? It's hard for me to understand why there was never a mention at all. I can understand why they didn't make it a major part of the plot, considering the show is a comedy, however, why not a mention at the end of the show before the credits rolled? Hmm...

ww

a bit on lit

A couple of quick things:

Happy Banned Books Week! I'm still trying to figure out which book to read to celebrate this. One for me, one for Pic, actually.

I'm disappointed that I won't be able to attend the "I Read Banned Books" event at UNR tonight. It's at 6 in the Knowledge Center, if anyone else can/wants to go.

Upcoming: Booksale Bonanza! October 28-November 6. I cannot wait, although, yes, I have to. I wonder if homeschoolers count as teachers for the last day?

this weekend in five acts: food edition

* mushroom-bean burger at 5th St.

* chocolate-chip-cookie s'more

* roasted marshmallows

* grilled pineapple (!)

* sincronizadas

monday music: in a chorus every day

"Toots and the Maytals - 'Bla bla bla'"

{this moment}

{inspiration: SouleMama}

plans for the weekend

* eat 9,000 blackened marshmallows...and nothing else (oh, buddy, am I going to be sick)

* work on puzzle-book puzzles (because, yes, I am a nerd)

* take the dog to the carwash that has a dog-cleaning station (phew, she stinks!)

* read and write (no arithmetic...I don't think)

from the mouth of the babe

Testament to my cooking prowess:

Last night, I made (as in heated some frozen) garlic bread. I left it in the oven a tad too long and the edges were black. All was okay because, of course, you can just scrape the blackened parts off.

This morning, as I was making myself breakfast, I was putting more bread in the oven* and asked Pic if she wanted another piece. She told me, "Yes, but please scrape off the black part."

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*I had roasted broccoli and cauliflower and a piece of garlic bread.

picture pages

I am having a somewhat difficult time around the pond these days. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to get around to posting in a fashion that doesn't seem to jerk along -- start and stop, start and stop.

It's not as if I've been up to so much lately that I can't manage to take a few moments out and post. It's actually that I have so much stuff to post, so many things saved up (nothing earth-moving, but things I wrote months ago) that I feel like I shouldn't post until I get all that up.

Anyhow, I'm working on it. (Some version of that should be, like, my motto or something: I'm working on it, or, I'll work on it.)

For today: pictures. I missed Wordless Wednesday yesterday, so I'll post my pictures today and (obviously) forego that whole wordless thing.

Some moments from the past couple of weeks:

a bit of lit: a multiplicity of chat

Currently, Cardo and I are very slowly working our way through Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present, edited by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler.

We're still in the Revolutionary War era.

First, why did I never know that small pox was such a big problem during the Revolutionary War? Did I know that at some point and forget it?

Second, I love reading these letters.

There're a couple by Sally Wister, a teen, to her friend Deborah Norris. Sally is writing about the soldiers quartered at her home. In the second of Sally's letter included, she goes on for a bit, detailing both a soldier's and her side of a conversation, before she admits that she can't detail the entire conversation. She says to Debby, as she calls her, "'Tis impossible to write a regular account of our conversation. Be it sufficient to say that we had a multiplicity of chat."

I'm working that last phrase into my lexicon.

There's also included a pretty great letter from Abigail Adams to her eleven-year-old son, John Quincy, in which she goes on and on about how he should live out good morals and make good choices. He was with his father in Europe. The letter is seven not-short paragraphs long. In the seventh paragraph, she tells her son, "But, to quit political subjects. I have been greatly anxious for your safely, having never heard of the frigate since she sailed, till, about a week ago, a New York paper informed, that she was taken and carried into Plymouth. I did not fully credit this report, though it gave me much uneasiness. I yesterday heard that a French vessel was arrived at Portsmouth, which brought news of the safe arrival of the Boston but this wants confirmation. I hope it will not be long before I shall be assured of your safety. You must write me an account of your voyage, of your situations, and of every thing entertaining you can recollect."

a bit of lit...kind of

Quite a while back, a friend wanted to create a kind of online book club. I'm not sure how it ended up; I read the book, but I never posted anything about it. (Wait, that might not be true. It was so long ago, I can't even remember.)

Anyhow, the book was Sense and Sensibility. I read the book and even took notes, but what I remember most about the experience was the following song being stuck in my head continuously throughout my reading:



"Dion & The Belmonts - A Teenager in Love"

middle o' the dark music

"Amanda Shires: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert"

This is what I'm listening to right this very moment.

There is not enough music in my life. There is also not enough sleep. Both of these are within my power to remedy. Working on one now and thinking about the other.

monday music: "it's the good advice that you just didn't take"

"Alanis Morisette - Ironic (Video)"

This era Alanis Morisette has been stuck in my head for days upon weeks now. Not sure why.

Happy Monday!

running on fumes

So very exhausted.

Every time I think that I'm just about caught up, that I should be able to take a moment to stop, breathe and clean the pet hair from every single surface in my home, I realize that I am nowhere near finished with my obligations. And, at the same time that I'm silently cursing myself for repeatedly doing this, year after year, I am also thankful to have so much to do. I don't do well with too little. I also don't do well with self-imposed dealines. I need the pressure of those who aren't me.

But, I'm trying to shift that focus. As days seem to slip by with so many things left undone, I more and more want time for and with my own family. I'm trying to figure out if this is something I really want or if this is classic me who's all, "Hey grass over there, you certainly look greener than grass over here! Maybe I'll come over and check you out."

Okay, so much to contemplate right now, but absolutely no time for that contemplation to take place. Why is September melting away like a snow cone in Vegas in mid-August?

Twenty-four hours from now, I plan on being much less exhausted and much more coherent. Here's to that, at least.

peace

I don't really know what to say about yesterday's Air Race crash. Pic and I were out most of the day, unconnected from any kind of news. I didn't even know about the crash until Poke called from nowhere near here to ensure we were okay.

My heart and thoughts of peace go out to those who were hurt and their loved ones and also to the loved ones of those who died.

monday music: for poke

"The Beatles - Happy Birthday"

monday(ish) music: just the moon and you and i

"moonlight dancing.wmv"

Another sleepless night. Only three more after this and then I return to my incredibly slow-paced life.

Back to the stacks I go. G'night all.

screen shopping

I don't enjoy clothes shopping. Not since the days Poke and I used to try on the most horrid clothes we could find; now, that was fun.

However, I was thinking clothes "shopping" online could be kind of fun now that Poke has introduced Pinterest into my life. I still have a problem, though: where to look? What are some fun places to look at clothes here on the interweb? If money wasn't an issue, where would you shop for clothes?

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Also, while I'm at it, just because Gap is a clothing store name that comes to mind, can someone please explain to me why people tend to say "the Gap"? Is there some fun, quirky history that goes with that? I never hear people say, "I got it at the Anthropologie" or "I found this at the Abercrombie and Fitch." (I had to look up the spelling for both of those stores.) (I've been into an Abercrombie and Fitch once and it was weird and dark with rave-y music and it smelled like too much cologne. Why?)

sigh of relief followed by a deep breath

Ah, so I've made it through the week. It's eight in the evening and I'm not working and I'm not sleeping (or staring at a wall, unable to form a coherent thought because I'm so exhausted).

It's been a good week because I've been able to spend time with people I don't often see, but whom I thoroughly enjoy. It's been an informative week because I have reinforced what I want and what I right now know is realistic for us.

I've been incredibly embarrassed because a failing of mine has been made apparent to those I love and who worry about me too much as it is.

I've seriously dreamed of hitting the road and traveling already. (I'm actually working on a version of this, but it's been slow going.)

I've had the same thing for breakfast and for lunch each day for the past five days.

I've made it through the week. Now, a moment of rest before I gear up for the next week.