Excuse me for bragging, but my wonderful brother-in-law, Tony, husband to my sister-in-law, the Amazing Niki, has written a children's book! Tony's an animator, who has worked on lots of kids shows, most notably Stanley, but this is the first time he's written and illustrated a book, so we're all pretty excited.
The book is called I Once Met a Monster On My Way To School! by T.D. Snoggins (Tony's pseudonym)...
It's absolutely charming and silly, just like Tony, and the main character, Talbot, was based on JUDE!
The story answers the age old question of where all those socks end up when they disappear out of the dryer. Why, to Phil the Sock-Eating Monster, of course!
Please, PLEASE, check out the book! And BUY it! I never ask y'all to do this kind of stuff, but it's really a great and FUNNY book, and it would mean so much for our family!
“And [he] sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him and it was still hot”
- Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
RIP Maurice Sendak
Born - June 10, 1928
Died - May 8, 2012
“But the wild things cried, “Oh please don't go- We'll eat you up- we love you so!”
Look at what I have FINALLY figured out how to do?! On the sidebar to the right...scroll down...past Gus, past the Thespian Avenger...past my Spin button...see it?! You can now subscribe to Second Blooming via email! Just type in your email address, and presto chango! You will be sent an email every time I publish a new post! So...do that! Ain't technology grand?
Please let me know if you want to sign up for a Weekly Spin Cycle Subject email. I'll be sending out an email every Friday (or maybe Saturday, we'll see how on top of things I stay), reminding you of the next week's Spin Subject. Don't miss out!
It's not too late to take my Spin Survey. It's already proving extremely helpful! I greatly value your feedback, and I'm grateful for your help! Click here to take survey
Whew. That's done.
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I realized yesterday that I had missed the fact that the new season of Who Do You Think You Are? was back on, and I'd already missed the first FOUR episodes. Luckily, NBC had all four of them available for viewing on their website, so instead of doing any of the many, many things I need to do around our house, I sat and obsessively watched all four episodes back to back, knitting and drinking tea. I LOVE this show - all that ancestry stuff gets to me. I was a teary mess! The Reba McEntire and the Blair Underwood episodes were particularly excellent. If you missed out also, then head over to the NBC website and watch - DO IT NOW!
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Okay, which one of you told me about Craftgawker? I read about it on somebody's blog, but of course I can't remember where it was, so I don't know who to give credit to. Or should I say...I don't know who to BLAME! I can't stop going there! Not that I'll ever actually MAKE any of the crafts they share there, I just keep pinning them on Pinterest. Things like this...
And this...
Cute, right? I could make those! If I...you know...did.
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Hunger Games!! Why on earth did it take me so damned long to read these books?! I'm stubborn. I guess I've always been a bit of a rebel when it comes to reading the popular books. I always refused to read any of those Oprah's Book Club books until they'd been out for years. I hate a bandwagon. But I started that first Hunger Game book and I can't stop reading! The other morning, I had to make an emergency book run to the book store closest to us to get the second book, Catching Fire. I had called ahead to make sure they had it in stock. When I got there, I told the woman behind the counter that I can put something on hold. She pulled the book out and started ringing it up and I started hemming and hawing and making embarrassed excuses for my frantic search for this Young Adult book, and she looked me in the eye and in a hushed voice told me "I know. I did the same thing." When I got home, I immediately ordered the third book, Mockingjay, from Amazon so I wouldn't have to make another crazy book run. Now I can't wait for the movie!!
So are y'all on Team Peeta or Team Gale?!
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Wait! Don't go yet...you still have to run over to Stacy's to check out the other randomizers.
We will be eating the traditional pancakes for dinner tonight here in the Second Blooming house. So while everybody is preparing your jambalaya and King's Cake, why don't you listen to some Professor Longhair...
...and I'll try to entertain you with some Random Tuesday Thoughts...
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And since today is Fat Tuesday, that means tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the dreaded Lent. I have come to the painful and frightening decision to give up computer games for Lent. Now, I realize that for most people over the age of 16, this is perhaps not a serious sacrifice, but I'm ashamed to say that for me...it is. I spend a ridiculous amount of time playing Facebook and Pogo games. I'm totally and completely addicted. It's really very stupid. I try to justify this silliness by saying that the gaming is my rest and relaxation time. But when I think about what I used to do before I started obsessing over Gardens of Time or Pogo Addiction Solitaire, my rest and relaxation time involved doing things like reading, and knitting. Which I miss. Plus, I find myself easily distracted from doing things like WRITING because I find a sudden pressing need to check and see if the Silver Arrow I was crafting in Castleville was completed, or if it's time to feed the geese again. So no games it is. I'm afraid my little Castleville villagers will just have to fight off the gloom without me for 40 days. Wish them luck.
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To help me get through this difficult lenten time, my first errand this morning will be to the yarn store to start a new knitting project. Have y'all been to Ravelry? It's the best knitting website (thank you Aimee!!). I found a pattern there for a throw blanket I really like...
I like the pattern because it's complex enough to look interesting, but easy enough for tv knitting. I can't decide what color yarn to go with. I'm thinking either a taupe or eggplant or maybe a kind of moss green. I'll keep you abreast of my progress.
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And speaking of finding ways to occupy myself for the next 40 days...
I have done something a little shocking and out of character. I can count the number of books I have stopped reading mid-stream on one hand - I always just plow through them to the end, no matter how little I am enjoying them. It's an issue I have, and I'm afraid it's become a bit of an issue between Jude and I - I always make him finish any book he's started. But now...
Several years ago, I bought Stephen King's then-new hardback, Under the Dome. I don't know exactly why, but I think I thought it would be fun, and I used to love reading stuff like The Shining and The Stand, back in the day. This book is 1074 pages long, and weighs about 20 pounds. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but the thing is damned heavy. I started reading it a couple of years ago, and stopped when I got vertigo, and couldn't hold the book up. I then, stubbornly, started it over again a couple of weeks ago, determined to finish it this time. I'm about a quarter of the way through it, and I just can't take it. It's too damned heavy. I love to read in the bathtub, and I just can't do it with this thing. This is the PERFECT BOOK FOR A KINDLE. But I fear I can't take it any more. And also, it's kind of gruesome and mean-spirited (it is a horror novel, after all) and after the third rape and the thirtieth time I stopped all feeling in my hands trying to hold the thing up, I have cast it aside.
I have instead started The Hunger Games, which I'm really excited about. I know, I know, I'm way behind here, but I want to read it quickly before the movie comes out. I've just started it, but I'm loving it!
But yesterday, Jude noticed me with new new book, did a double-take and walked over to me with a questioning, accusatory look. "Why are you not reading Stephen King's Under the Dome?" And yes, that is exactly the way he said it. I hemmed and hawed and told him something about how heavy the book was, and how it was hurting my back...But I don't think he bought it. The kid was on to me.
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Like many of you, I am presently mourning the end of the season of Downton Abbey, though I am VERY EXCITED about the way the season ended, and I'm looking forward to the arrival of Shirley Maclaine as Grandmama (pronounced Grand Mah-Mah, with the emphasis on the last Mah, please). But in the meantime, I'm thinking I am liking this Smash show. It's like Glee for grownups. I'm loving the music and the acting is terrific. And truly, I would watch it just to see Debra Messing clothes. She's just smashing (pun intended) in everything...
God, I love that pulled together, sophisticated New Yorker look!
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I just watched the HBO documentary The Union, and absolutely loved it. It's about the making of the album of the same name in which Elton John got together with his idol Leon Russell, basically dragging him out of retirement. It's a beautiful film about music and love and respect and friendship and aging. Definitely watch it if you get the chance. Anyway, I can't get The Border Song out of my head. And since it's not a bad song to have stuck in your head, I'll leave you with this...
Our Christmas tree is up! I'm so excited. This is an absolute first for me - a Christmas tree up BEFORE December 1st. Never before happened. I got all in the spirit, and Aunt Grace has never seen our tree, which I personally think is very beautiful, so I got busy. It makes the house so very happy! Grace left this morning at 5:30 am - eek! I must say, we really do enjoy having her with us. We wish she'd come for Christmas some time, but she won't leave Mommy with all the work. Sweet.
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Last week (pre-Grace's arrival/Thanksgiving), I had the most horrible bad dream. It was one of those anxiety dreams, where you keep walking and walking and never get to where you need to get. In it, I had a hole in my right knee, and every time I bent my knee, the hole would open up, and I'd get a sharp pain. Jude was just a little guy, and I kept having to carry him, and I was limping along with the hole in my knee opening and shutting. And I was trying to get somewhere, though I don't remember where, walking through hallway after hallway, carrying Jude. People kept asking me if I was okay, and I kept saying "Oh, I'm fine." But I wasn't. And then, I suddenly looked down and realized that there was blood all over me, but it wasn't from my right knee, it was from my OTHER leg. On the thigh of my left leg, there was a giant piece of skin missing, as if someone had cut a giant square of skin off with a knife, and I was trying to hold the piece of skin on, but the blood kept gushing, and I kept walking on and on, carrying Jude, and finally I said " I think I need some help." And a kind man walked up to me and said "I'll help you. Let's get you to a doctor. And I'm going to buy you some flowers too." And I remember feeling so grateful. And then, the alarm went off. When I got out of bed, I actually limped for a good 5 minutes, the dream was so powerful. The worst part? It was so EASY to interpret! Clearly, I was feeling burdened and overwhelmed! Where's the kind man with my flowers?!
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Okay, I am still coveting a Snuggie.
They are making a new Buffalo Plaid print, which I think is rather fetching. So far, nobody has bought me one. I know they are unattractive, and completely 2010, but I don't care. The other day, we saw this ad...
Oh my God! Could you imagine? Do they or do they not look like Teletubbies?
And the butt flap?! At least the Snuggie people aren't suggesting wearing it anywhere but the sofa. Crazy, man.
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On Thanksgiving, Jude and I had a talk about gifts. He's thinking quite a bit about gifts lately, now that it's the countdown to Christmas. He said that Santa gives him his very favorite presents. And then his Uncle Tony and Aunt Niki always give him things he loves (little does he know that Aunt Niki makes me wishlist all of Jude's "wants" on Amazon!). "And you give me nice things too, Mom." Then he got this kind of guilty look on his face and whispered under his breath "And Dad...well...he just gives me socks. But I'm thankful for those too. Because they keep me warm." Which was deliciously sweet, but it made me realize that Jude thinks that all Jimmy gives him is socks! It never occurred to me to give him a nice gift just from us, as opposed to Santa. The poor kid must think Jimmy and I are so terribly cheap! But he's thankful anyway.
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My friend Greg has written the sweetest Christmas book!
It's a sweet story that focuses on the true meaning of Christmas. And it's kind of cool that he's not only written a book (available here at Barnes and Noble), but also at Amazon for the Kindle...
The other night (back before Grace arrived), my best friend Sharon, who lives in Austin, and I talked on the phone. [NOTE OF BEST FRIEND EXPLANATION: I often refer to both my best friend Kaysie, and my best friend Sharon. They are both my best friends. I will not choose.] And I mean, we TALKED on the phone. For THREE hours. I swear, we haven't talked like that in YEARS. It was like high school. On and on we chatted and gossiped and reminisced. She told me long stories about her daughter Lauren's life, and I told her the latest about Jude, and then we got into this long talk about all the men we'd ever been with in our lives, and I started looking them up on Facebook. Hysterical. It was such a joy. It's sad that I just don't seem to do this anymore. MUST REMEMBER THIS!
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Yesterday, when I was driving Jude to school, Journey's Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' came on the radio and at the end part, after "Now it's your turn girl to cry...", I cranked it up REALLY loud and sang along at the top of my lungs. I told Jude that when Aunt Sharon and I were young, and we were cruising around in the car, like we always did, if this song came on the radio, we'd go crazy, turn it way up and sing and sing "NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA". Jude turned to me straight-faced and asked incredulously"Why?". Why?! Why?! I didn't even try to explain why. I figure he'll find out soon enough for himself.
So, in honor of Sharon and my 3 hour phone conversation, and remembering those two young girls who cranked it up and wailed along with Steve Perry...
Oh dear God, did my husband snore last night! It was crazy! I don't know if it's a congestion issue or what, but that man created noises that came out of his head that achieved airplane decibels. I swear. I must have kicked him 280 times. I have a vague recollection of muttering the words "If I had a hatchet, I'd put it through your head right now." But I'm not sure if I actually said this out loud to my beloved husband, or if I just dreamed about saying it to my beloved husband. For those of you who are concerned, I did NOT put a hatchet through his head. But unfortunately, as a result of all the noise, I slept little, and am exhausted. Poor me.
Also...Aunt Grace is coming to visit again next Monday, and so I am going mad scrubbing our house from stem to stern. Yesterday, I took Jude's room apart (where she'll be sleeping) and put it back together without dust. You'd all be very impressed. I even washed the curtains and shampooed the carpet. So anyway, I doubt I'll be doing much blogging this week. We'll see. In the meantime, here are a few Random Tuesday Thoughts...
So yesterday, as I was leaving Jude's Cub Scout den meeting, I turned in desperation to my friend Amanda, and said "Give me a random thought! I've got nothing!" And Amanda, who has always got something, suggested that I tell y'all about this amazing website - The Everywhereist. This Everywhereist woman is outrageous, and I guess I'm the last person to know about her, because she was voted one of Time Magazine's Top 25 Blogs of 2011. Technically it's a travel blog (and man, does this woman travel). But Amanda was particularly taken by her Friday "The Week..." posts, which are basically a really well-crafted Random Tuesday Thoughts post - weird and excellent tours of cyberspace. For instance, had you read last week's Friday post (11/11/11), you would know that November 11th is Nigel Tufnel Day on honor of the numbers going up to 11. And who wouldn't want to know that? I'm thinking I'm liking this Everywhereist.
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And since I missed celebrating Nigel Tufnel Day last week, I will now share my favorite Spinal Tap moment with you...
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Amanda also told me (as we were walking out of the aforementioned Cub Scouts den meeting) that she thought I was looking particularly slim. LOVE THAT. I tried to do my Weight Watchers weigh in yesterday, and nobody was at the office! A small gang of people accumulated in the hall of the building, but nobody ever showed. I guess I'm going to try to stop by tomorrow. I'm feeling pretty good though, I now fit into all my clothes. Which was my goal, really. And while on one hand, I'm dying to eat a few naughty things (oh baby, Thanksgiving is going to be a free-for-all!), I'm kind of enjoying my high-protein, high-fruit and vegetable, low-carb diet. Here is my favorite WW recipe of the week. I've been on a cauliflower binge...
Cauliflower with Tomatoes and Lemon
1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup red and yellow cherry tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp. grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking pan with parchment paper. Place cauliflower in pan; drizzle with oil and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Toss to coat. Spread cauliflower in single layer in pan. Roast, stirring once, until cauliflower is just tender, 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, stir together tomatoes, garlic, and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and 14 tsp. pepper in a medium bowl. Add tomato mixture to cauliflower and stir to mix well.
Roast until cauliflower is browned and tomatoes are softened, about 15 minutes more. Transfer cauliflower mixture to serving bowl, add parsley and lemon zest, and toss to coat.
Yum.
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I fear that my laptop is on it's last legs. It's only two years old, which just doesn't seem old to me at all, but I'm afraid things are failing quickly. Not only does it "not respond" VERY often, but the other day, Fancy, our little dog, got terribly excited about something or other, and enthusiastically jumped on top of me, and thus on top of the computer. She managed to dislocate THREE keys. The f5 key has completely disappeared, and the "t" is sticky. I keep having to type t's really hard (this last sentence was quite a workout). Anyway, any ideas of how to speed this baby up? I've done all the usual PC cleanup stuff. Can I add memory? Does that help?
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Oh just kill me now. All this dieting has suddenly made me weak for amazing treats such as this...
I mean...this leaves me gasping. Here's the website from which I stole this picture as well as the recipe. Pretty damned amazing. A Tender Crumb.
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Jude's still deeply involved with this obsession with Roald Dahl. He is now on his TENTH Roald Dahl book in a row. I've pretty much given up keeping his little "What Jude's Reading" thingy there on the right sidebar up-to-date. He's been reading one Dahl book at home, and ANOTHER one at school, which he gets from the library there. So I, of course, because I'm always looking for something to worry about, have started to worry about what he's going to read when he gets through the complete works of Roald Dahl. He did read Stuart Littlethe other week, because we'd run out of Roald Dahl over the weekend, and he really loved it, so maybe I can get him on E.B. White. But if that doesn't work out, I did find this rather good list of Great Chapter Books for Boys. While it has many of the usual suspects (Captain Underpants, Stink) I also found some new ideas. Check it out.
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On Saturday, Jimmy and Jude were in the living room watching something Jimmy had recorded. Jude was laughing HYSTERICALLY, crazy, giggles and guffaws. What were they watching? W.C. Fields! Love it.
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Alright. Happy Tuesday to you all. Tomorrow I'm cleaning out the linen closet and organizing the bathroom drawers and cabinets. That is if I'm not too worn out from typing my "t's" so emphatically. Please head over to visit Stacy and her league of random thinkers.
The other day, the lovely, gracious and talented Elizabeth at a moon, worn as if it had been a shell, posted this book questionnaire thingy, and I thought it might be fun to follow suit. Here we go...
1) What author do you own the most books by? Robertson Davies. Closely followed by Anne Tyler and for some reason, Larry McMurtry.
2) What book do you own the most copies of? The dictionary.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? Honestly, the first time it didn't, because I am accepting of a certain amount of the colloquial, but the second time made me fear...ignorance. Nice to know it was deliberate ignorance.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Mr. Rochester. Which I know says something about me that might not be flattering.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)? Charlotte's Web.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?Charlotte's Web.
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year? I've read so few books in the past year (I've only returned to being A Reader a month ago), that I don't have many choices, and I never read anything if I'm not already pretty damned sure that it's good. So I've got nothing.
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?The Women by T.C. Boyle. Novel based on the lives of the women in Frank Lloyd Wright's tumultuous, scandalous life. What a story! I mean, history provided the story, and these larger than life characters, but Boyle took the details and ran with them. Loved it.
9) If you could force everyone here to read one book, what would it be? Well, I started to say To Kill a Mockingbird, but then I realized that everybody IS forced to read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school, right? And it's become so very popular. There's even been a rash of To Kill a Mockingbird baby names - we know several Harpers, Scouts and Atticuses (or would that be Attici?) So I'll go with The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. Because it scares people, but they should read it anyway. Because it's GOOD. And also maybe One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature? Oh who knows? They're always a very international group, aren't they? I often haven't heard of the winners. And they don't hand them out to people after they've died, so a lot of folks missed out - Tennessee Williams never won, neither did Virginia Woolf, James Joyce or Henrik Ibsen (but then the Swedes may be biased against the Norwegians).
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie? I've always wanted to write a screenplay based on the book The Gay Place by Billy Lee Brammer. I know, I know, you've probably never heard ot it, but it's a WONDERFUL book, apparently a cult classic nowadays. And no, it's not about gay people, which may be why nobody reads it anymore, the title scares them away. It's a brilliant novel (well, actually a trilogy of novellas) about Texas politics, written in 1961 by one of LBJ's staff members, and in fact, the character which runs through all 3 stories and ties them together is the Governor, Arthur "Goddam" Fenstemaker, who is almost certainly based on LBJ himself. It's wonderfully funny and wry and smart, and I HIGHLY recommend it. I just found a quote from David Halberstam..."There are two classic American political novels. One is All the King's Men. . . . the other is The Gay Place." So if you don't trust me, trust David. Anyway, it would make a GREAT MOVIE!!
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie? I've read several books by Charles Bukowski, and even though Barfly was a pretty good movie, I just honestly have no interest in seeing any of Bukowski's characters brought to life. Everybody's a disastrous, lowlife, train-wreck of a human being. I like reading about it, but have no need to see it in the flesh.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. Is this something people actually do? Yikes. I'm afraid I remember few of my dreams anyway.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult? Hmmm. Are you ready? Jerry Hall's autobiography, Tall Tales. Naughty good. I must say I do love the story of a gutsy Texan.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?Ulysses by James Joyce. Hands down. In case you haven't read it, at the end there, Molly Bloom speaks two sentences. The first one is 11,282 words long, and the second is 12,931 words long. So...that was fun.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen? I guess Coriolanus. Is Coriolanus obscure? I'm an actor, I've seen most of them at some point.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians? Ugh. I'm so embarrassingly underread in both of these areas. But...Russians.
18) Roth or Updike? Updike.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Sedaris.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? Shakespeare.
21) Austen or Eliot? Austen.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? Uh...French and Russian literature. I've read lots of English and American.
23) What is your favorite novel? I don't think I could possibly pick one. It would be like choosing your favorite child. 24) Play? Again, couldn't choose. Also, my taste in plays is colored ENTIRELY by whether or not it has a good part in it for...me. So I'll just say most anything by Tennessee Williams.
25) Poem?
Resume
by
Dorothy Parker
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful:
You might as well live.
26) Essay? Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris. Sedaris's adventures as an elf at Macy's in NYC. I laughed so hard I peed myself.
27) Short Story? I'm stumped. I don't read many short stories anymore, I'm afraid. Though I very much enjoyed Raymond Carver's collection Cathedral - stark and profound. I don't know, maybe it's the time of year, but I do always love some good Poe.
28) Work of nonfiction? Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War by William Manchester. Manchester's DEEPLY moving and personal account of the WWII war in the Pacific, which he describes as the last "love war"- fought for love of country and democracy and comrade. And for a memoir, I dearly loved The Liar's Club by Mary Karr. Her depiction of her crazy Louisiana mother is unforgettable. Ooo, that would make a great movie too! Jessica Lange should have played the mother about 10 years ago.
29) Who is your favorite writer? See # 23.
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Not to copy Elizabeth, but I have to say Dan Brown. Based on the simple fact that The DaVinci Code sold 80 million copies, and I thought it was so silly that I skimmed parts of it. I don't mean to be snobby, I guess it was a fun read. But, I mean, "a fun read" shouldn't be the best thing I can find to say about a book that sold 80 MILLION BOOKS.
31) What is your desert island book? Let's go with The Complete Works of Tennessee Williams. That way I can spend my island time staging one-person productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Streetcar Named Desire. I'm one hot Maggie the Cat. But in my little desert island production, I could also get to play Brick and Big Daddy and even that simpering Sister Woman. Oh, this is going to be fun! I could build a set out of twigs and a curtain and costumes out of palm fronds...
32) And... what are you reading right now? Just started Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel. I always enjoy Chabon. So far so good.
If you click on any of the little book picture thingamajigs, you'll find that they are links to Amazon. Handy, yes? And if you happen to purchase any of the books I have kindly provided links to (that was that colloquial preposition thing I was talking about earlier), I, as an Amazon Associate, will earn a teeny-tiny-itsy-bitsy bit of money. So...click away!
Friday, 6:00 pm - Took Jude to his Cub Scout Pack meeting. Three hours in a gym with 40 boys, all screaming and running around. Much chaos.
In new unofficial role as "Cub Scout Leader Who Doesn't Really Have a Position or Any Authority and Refuses to Wear the Ugly Uniform But Seems to Do a Tremendous Amount of the Work" spent much of this time arranging/passing out new scouting t-shirts and handing out achievement beltloops/patches.
Actually achieved 3 patches of my very own as "CSLWDRHAPOAAARTWTUUBSTDATAOTW".
Didn't eat any of the dinner, because the Webelos had made cheeseburgers and Doritos for dinner, and that's not exactly Weight Watchers.
Friday, 9:00 - Returned home and managed to scrounge up some Weight Watchers doable foods.
Couldn't get Jude to go to sleep until 10:00, because he'd started a new book (see sidebar).
10:00 pm -Stupidly started fiddling around with this Pinterest thing everybody is talking about.
12:30 pm - Realized that I was still fiddling around with this Pinterest thing, and that it was 12:30.
Saturday, 6:45 am - Alarm went off.
7:15 am - Arrived with Jude at the soccer field at the time his coaches had told us we needed to arrive for his 8:00 am soccer game.
7:45 am - Everyone else on Jude's soccer team arrived at soccer field, including aforementioned coaches. Sigh...
9:00 am - Painful defeat - 0 - 3. Sadness all around.
Went to grocery store on the way home. Remembered to buy toilet paper, milk and wine. Yea me! Forgot to buy dog food. Sad for Fancy, the dog.
Cleaned house. Did laundry.
1:00 pm - Walked around to the cul-de-sac to help set up for our neighborhood associations yearly fall block party as was asked. Two other neighbors there. No one knows what's going on. We stare at each other for 30 minutes, waiting for someone who knew something to arrive, while Jude flew around the cul-de-sac madly on his scooter with no helmet on. No one who knew anything ever showed up. Went home.
Piddled with this Pinterest thing.
Cooked chicken taquitos and hotdogs to take to the block party.
4:00 pm - Walked around the corner to the block party carrying taquitos and hot dogs. Jude entered the giant blow up slide thingy with all the other neighborhood children.
Hung out with neighbors. Ate one piece of chicken - only Weight Watchers worthy food at block party.
Stared at barbecued ribs and chocolate cake, but didn't eat them.
Felt hungry, but happily pious.
7:30 pm - Jude's friend A.J. arrived at the block party and joined Jude in aforementioned giant blow up slide thingy, from which Jude had yet to emerge.
8:30 pm - Jude and A.J. decided they wanted to exit the giant blow up slide thingy together and I needed to take them back to our house to play to Wii. Jimmy stayed at the party.
Still hadn't bought any dog food, so gave Fancy two hot dogs for dinner.
While boys played Wii, I watched 5 episodes of "Criminal Minds" which I'd taped over the last many weeks. Jimmy called to tell me that he and his little friends Brian and Erick (both other middle-aged dads) were going to go to Erick's garage and "jam" (play guitars and tambourines, sing and...drink tremendous amounts of beer).
Fancy's hot dog induced gas filled the house with a horrid stench.
11:00 pm - Managed to make Jude and A.J. go to sleep. Stayed up watching more "Criminal Minds".
12:00 pm - Tried to go to sleep, but due to excessive "Criminal Minds" viewing, was sure that a serial killer was going to sneak into our house and do something heinous like staple my eyes open, or dip the boys feet in acid.
1:00 am - Time Jimmy claims that he came home, drunk, from Erick's "jam session".
2:30 am - Time Jimmy did, in fact, come home, drunk, from Erick's "jam session", because I heard him.
Sunday, 9:15 am - Woke up, looked at clock and freaked out - needed to be at church, Jude and A.J. in tow, for pre-mass choir practice by 10:00 am.
10:00 am - Tried to leave for church. Made hungover Jimmy get up to move his car, which was blocking my car in the driveway. Jimmy's car wouldn't start.
Jude, A. J. and I, with the help of some random neighbors who happened to be walking by, manage to push Jimmy's car out of the driveway onto the street.
10:30 am - Arrive at church for my 10:00 rehearsal. The large church parking lot is all set up for the annual church carnival, which we were planning to attend after mass. Boys are very excited. About the carnival, not so much about the mass.
12:00 noon - Church is over, and we head out to the carnival. After joining my friend Lynn and her daughters, Julianna and Isabella to set up the church auditorium for our choir hosted bingo, we all hit the rides and amusements.
12:30 pm - Jude's friend A.J. asks for the first time if he can play the "toss the ping pong ball and win a goldfish" game. I tell him "no", as A.J.'s mother, Ronda, won't allow him to have a goldfish because she has cats.
1:30 pm - Jude and A. J. have run through all $40 worth of carnival ride tickets I've purchase for them.
1:35 pm - Jude and A. J. think they may need to vomit from excessive carnival ride riding. No one actually vomits.
I send a frantic text to A. J.'s mother, Ronda, saying "THEY'RE DRIVING ME CRAZY, COME GET THEM!"
1:40 pm - I eat one piece of grilled chicken from the Filipino Food Booth, the only food I can find at the carnival which is Weight Watchers approved.
1:45 pm - Jude's friend A. J. asks me for the 968th time if he can play the "toss the ping pong ball and win a goldfish" game. I say "OH, ALRIGHT, FOR GOD"S SAKE!"
1:55 pm - A. J. spends $6 in game tickets to try to win a $.18 goldfish. Luckily, he's not a winner, and we aren't forced to tote a bag of ill-fated fish around for the rest of the day.
2:30 pm - Ronda arrives and whisks those boys off. Whew.
3:00 pm - Choir Bingo starts up in the auditorium. I work in my new career - Parttime Volunteer Church Bingo Caller. "O - 62!"
8:15 pm - I stop calling bingo.
8:45 pm - I arrive home to find hungover Jimmy asleep, while Jude (whom Ronda had kindly fed and returned home) reads next to him in bed.
8:46 pm - I pour myself a much needed glass of wine. I realize I haven't eaten any dinner, and eat 1 Point worth of smoked turkey and a cheese stick.
8:50 pm - Realized that I still hadn't bought any dog food for Fancy. Gave her 6 dog treats and some smoked turkey for dinner.
Jude doesn't have school today, so we're off for yet another day at Disneyland! Hopefully, armed with my new MouseWait iPhone app, we won't spend too much time doing the line thing, and will get to ride ourselves silly. Jude's all hyped up about Space Mountain. As for me, I have one thought for you - Disneyland on Weight Watchers. Think about it.
But I wanted to share something with y'all that Jude and I discovered last night and he kind of went crazy over.
When Jude was born, my friend Sylva gave him a book called "My Book About Me" by Dr. Seuss. Actually, it's by "ME, Myself with some help from Dr. Seuss". It's a picture book all about you, and the kid fills it in themselves. When Sylva gave it to him, she said that she had had a copy when she was little, and she really treasured it, and that even though he wouldn't be able to fill it in for years, she wanted him to have it. So I stuck it on the shelf and...forgot all about it.
Last night, I happened to pull it out and realized that it was high time he filled it in - in fact, I wish I'd remembered it a couple of years ago. He started looking through it and went CRAZY. He LOVED this book. He ended up staying up until after 10:00 writing the thing.
It starts off with simple fill-in-the-blank questions - "My name is ____", "I live in____". They also have pictures the kid has to complete - "This is how my nose goes...", "My hand is this big...".
But, of course, it is Dr. Seuss, so a certain amount of silliness is included. "My house has____ windows", "There are ____ forks in my house." Jude was running around like a madman counting everything in our house!
This is going to be such a sweet keepsake for him! When I looked it up on Amazon, there were 90-something customer reviews, and almost all of them talked about how they had had a copy when they were little, and their children had always loved looking at it, and now their children had their own copies! Or people who's kids had loved the book, and they were buying it for their grandkids. I think that if you have multiple children, it would be particularly sweet, everybody getting to write their own book about themselves when they are old enough.
So if you don't already have copies for your kids - go get 'em! In fact, I'll help you out here...
If you click on that little book there, it will take you straight to Amazon.com, where you can pick one up. And since I am an Amazon Associate again, if you buy it through my link, I'll get a teeny-weeny bit of a kickback to help fund my child's newfound reading obsession.
So please, click early, and click often.
And enjoy some Seuss.
And think of me on the Indiana Jones Adventure, faint from having eaten nothing but water and bananas. And foraging for vegetables and lean proteins in the land of mouse ear-shaped ice cream and kids meals.
I mentioned a while back how Jude and I have started a nighttime activity I call "Tandem Reading", wherein we each get our own books, lie down next to each other in his bed and read quietly to ourselves.
I can't tell you how much this has changed my life. I am a READER again! You have to understand, people, that for most of my life I was a real reader, just read anything and everything. It was such an incredibly important part of my life. It's how I defined myself.
When Jude was first born, I continued to read quite a bit, because that was my breastfeeding activity. I'd set myself up with my Boppy, a big glass of ice water and my book, and that kid could feed as long as he wanted.
But over the years, it just...dwindled. I found myself wanting to zone out and numb myself at night, so I'd just play silly computer games. Or watch an escapist tv show. Or both at the same time.
Then, at some point, I realized that really...I was reading. I was just reading ALOUD. Every night I'd read for at least 30 to 40 minutes to Jude. Which I loved. And still love. But it wasn't for me.
And now I'm back at it again, and I can't tell you how it feels. I can't stop. In addition to the nighttime tandem reading, I've been going to the gym again, and I always read on the bike. AND Jude has all these stinking afterschool activities, which I am forced to sit through, so I've been bring a book to those...I'd say I'm averaging an hour a day. Which is a HUGE difference. I feel like I'm myself again!
In celebration of this, I have decided to add those little links over on the right sidebar (they each link to Amazon)- one for what I'm reading, one for what Jude's reading, and one for what I'm reading aloud to him. I've been wanting to do this for ages, but I've been too embarrassed to have the same book on my "What I'm reading..." list for...you know...6 months or so. Sigh...
And yes, as you see, I am currently reading Keith Richard's autobiography, which I am LOVING in a guilty kind of way. Reading it makes me feel like I'm sitting in a room with Keith, him smoking a fag with his guitar across his lap, telling me the tales of his nefarious past. He's surprisingly erudite, and powerfully musical, one of those real musicians who sees everything in rhythm and chords. I'm loving it.
I'm also trying to figure out how to make these little links over there more...attractive. The pictures are so small, and they have those ugly blue checkeredy lines. Ugh. I don't know if it's just a Typepad thing, or something to do with the size of my sidebar, but I have posted the question on the Typepad website, and maybe somebody can help me out. Can any of you?
Okay, I'm going to go read some more. Keith just discovered dropping acid! Gotta run.
