Really? By That Guy? July 25, 2008

In her excitement to get out of the car and walk to the front door (I know! It’s SOOOOO exciting to do that!), Little No Limit tripped and fell down in the driveway.

This resulted in the her screaming out in holy bloody murder terror. She ran in, still screaming and crying, saying “I hurt! I hurt!”, and I rushed forward, ready to save the day.

“Do you need Mommy to kiss it?”

This is not me being a simpleminded-stars-in-her-eyes-over-the-power-of-her-kiss kind of mother. This is our usual routine. She cries, I kiss, all better. But on this occasion, she jerked her arm back from me (which, I might add, was not even bleeding) and said, “Nooooo! Band-Aid! Band-Aid! Band-Aid!”

We went to the bathroom, I tried to reason with her that she wasn’t bleeding, my logic fell on deaf ears and pitiful tears, and then Sponge Bob, not Mommy, saved the day.

I can’t believe I’ve been replaced by this guy! We don’t even watch the show!

My Summer Reading List July 24, 2008

Okay, so there is NO WAY I am going to actually read all of these book in August. But better have to have too many on the list than not enough, right?

1. A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif. I saw this title on one of those bookstore emails and loved it immediately. The storyline sounds good too.
2. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I love Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake so much. I had no idea this book had come out until last week when a friend mentioned that she thought she’d heard Lahiri had come out with something new. I went home and ordered it.
3. Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Jatterson’s. His latest YA. Reading this for a Mother-Talk review. Post forthcoming.
4. A Friendship Test by Elizabeth Noble. I have no idea what this book is about, but it’s my book club selection for August and I’m leading the discussion, so best be prepared (see #10).
5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I get that I’m a couple years behind everyone else, but I never got around to it. I recently read A Thousand Splendid Suns and it renewed my interest.
6. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I bought this book years ago after reading an interview with the author and it has sat on my shelf collecting dust. A friend mentioned she was reading it, and I like to read books with other people are so we can talk about them, so I told her I’d try to read it before the next time we see each other.
7. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Another one of those bought-it-and-shelved-it books. I kind of feel like I’m losing street cred in the writer’s world by admitting I still haven’t read this.
8. Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger. Lawyer Girl loves Salinger and I found all his books at the used book store for cheap and thought, you know, I should finally get around to reading them since she loves so much.
9. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. This has been recommended to me a few friends as and I do like the title.
10. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortenson. Technically, I should have read this for book club last month, but I attended the meeting without having read the book, and participated in the discussion anyway. It was like I was in college, only I said “I have kids” instead of “I was at the bar” as to why I didn’t do my reading.
11. A Gesture Life: A Novel by Chang Rae-Lee. I heard about this through a writing class. WWII, comfort women, Japanese soldiers… it sounds like the book I wanted to write, but set in another country.
12. When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. Ever since I read an interview with Pema, I’ve been enamored with her. And this is her biggie, but I still haven’t read it.
13. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. I bought this book for the title alone. Yes. I am a title junkie.

More lists of thriteen here.

Solvang, California July 23, 2008

If you can’t spell, I’m not buying your souvenirs.

More Wordless Wednesday pix here.

That’s What Friends Are For July 22, 2008

Two months ago, the water dispenser in my friend J’s fridge broke and filled the fridge with water. Upon the door being opened, the water spilled into the kitchen and dining area and seeped under the wood floor. J and her husband R and their two girls have been living without flooring these past two months, waiting on their insurance to assess the damages, approve the cost to fix it, and send them the money to do it.

They were (finally) approved! As a bonus, they were approved for so much money that they were able to re-floor the entire first floor, the stairs, and the upstairs hallway with a nice light colored wood, much nicer than their previous flooring, in fact.

It was installed last week, and the family and I went over last night to ooh and aah.

We brought wine to celebrate.

I pulled out a corkscrew. I opened the bottle. And then I dropped the corkscrew.

Onto their brand spanking new wood floor.

And would you believe it, the corkscrew went straight into the wood like a thumbtack in a corkboard. Seriously. It was like I had thrown a dart into their floor. J stared at the corkscrew and I stared at J, and neither of us spoke.

I finally coughed. “I’m so sorry… um… I’m… really embarrassed.”

J laughed it off, pointing out that the dog had already scratched up the floor over by the sliding glass door. So I’m in company with the dog. But they love the dog, so that’s a good thing, right?

The Prodigal Rainbow Returns July 21, 2008

Years ago, I walked into the Rainbow Sandals store in San Clemente and was taken in by the framed sandals on the wall. Worn-through sandals accompanied by letters from satisfied customers who’d worn these shoes for XX years. I thought to myself, oh, I’m totally getting my shoes on this wall.

I bought a pair of the standard brown leather sandals and my feet took to them as happily as I take to ridiculous teen movies (I just saw High School Musical – Michael Crawford in the fridge, hahahahaha!). The shoes have accompanied every trip I’ve been on since buying them. They’ve touched ground in Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, and French Polynesia. They are well worn and much loved.

And then, disaster struck.

I took them with me on a trip to New Orleans last October, the one where I disabled my rental car in a flash flood. I had my Rainbows on while pushing my car to the land of high ground, and when I returned to my friend’s house, I left the soggy flip flops on her porch so they could dry. Where they stayed.

After getting home and tearing apart my suitcase looking for them (baby, where are you? baby, please come out!), I emailed my friend asked her to mail them to me. They didn’t arrive and I chalked the situation up to “my rainbows have moved on.” It gave me an excuse to buy a new pair, though, and I had been wanting to try out the hemp line.

A couple weeks ago, my friend was in town for the ALA Conference, and I went to her hotel to hang out with her, and what does she pull out of her suitcase—yes, my Rainbows.

And there will be joy!

So, I’ve got them back, my comfy wonderful Rainbow sandals, and my quest to make it to the Wall of Fame is over. I don’t want to part with them again. They can just hang out in my closet and be the oldtimer to all my newbies.

And let’s also not forget my BIG Rainbow:

More on how I got this shoe here.

Jell-O July 20, 2008

Jell-O. I have so many fond memories of it, even though I rarely ate Jell-O but Gelatin Dessert . I remember a family function when someone had put coleslaw in the Jell-O and my parents made me and my brothers and sister eat it to be polite. But it was not polite of said family member to put cole slaw in the Jell-O, now was it? What is the point of mixing things with Jell-O, anyway? It tastes fine on its own. I’ll make the occasional exception for cool whip, but that’s it. Fruits and vegetables are not necessary in Jell-O. If you need to sneak fruits and veggies into your kids diet, I assure you: Jell-O is not the way to go.

I made Gelatin Dessert today with the kids. The brightly colored boxes attracted The Boy like a tractor beam at the store, and he asked if we could get one. He wanted the brand name Jell-O package, but oh no, I saved an entire dollar by buying Stater Bros. Gelatin Dessert.

We brought it home. We opened up the box of the vivid green powder. We boiled water. We mixed. We added cold water. And since popping that baby in the fridge, this conversation has taken place 100 to the 5th power times:

Is it ready yet?

No.

Saturday Funny July 19, 2008

Hilarious.

Wake Up Call July 18, 2008

I slept in today until nine am. I felt deliciously lazy. When was the last time you got out of bed at nine? The kids had no school and Husband got up early with them, so I stayed in bed and grasped at my dreams a little bit longer. I woke up because my friend had called to let me know she was on her way over. She was supposed to arrive at ten, but was running early. I immediately set to straightening the house up—dishes, quick sweep, bathroom check.

They arrived (with bagels – score!) and the reason she came over was for our kids to play while we sampled the Juice Plus chocolate shake mix powder I had just bought. Ironically, she is the actual Juice Plus consultant, but had never tasted the chocolate. She’d only tried vanilla. We blended up a couple drinks and enjoyed our chocolate smoothies while the kids played.

After they left, my daughter had a need to change her underpants and there was only one clean pair left because our washing machine broke almost a week ago, and we were already behind on laundry at the time. She found the final pair of clean underpants unacceptable (she wanted “flower” underpants), and the situation escalated quickly into the kind of face-off/tantrum that can only happen when two females of the same, stubborn mindset are in disagreement with one another (’You will put these one!’ ‘NO!’).

I managed to procure one last final pair (I remembered that I kept a spare pair of clean ones in her backpack and it miraculously had flowers on it), and then decided it was time to do the laundry. It’s been years since I had a need for a Laundromat, so I had no idea where one even would be. I flipped through the phone book and then realized I should call my Sister in Law and use her washing machine. I promptly called her with the words “I need to come to your house and wash underwear.”

Two hours later. I am now at home, and the kids are playing Dora the Explorer and a wave of tire has whooshed over me. How can I be tired when I slept in until 9am?

A realization: I never drank any coffee today. I was busy as soon as I woke up, trying to get ready for my friend’s arrival and then we went straight into chocolate shakes.

No coffee… so this is what it feels like… zzzzzzzzz…

More Link Love July 17, 2008

1. Bits and Bobbins– written by someone I actually know, it’s all about fashion and she is fabulous
2. Breathing Words — she is a beautiful writer and I have no doubt she will one day produce the great work of Chinese American literature and this is your opportunity to say you knew her when (btw, Joyce, are you done yet?)
3. Flutter — there are no words for her beautiful writing, but I’ll try anyways. Striking? Compelling? They really don’t do her justice
4. Sunny Side Up — lives in my neck of the woods, always funny, and surfs more than I dare to dream
5. What Works for Us — what works for her works for me too. Come often, and ready to laugh. She’s always got a new post.
6. The Wild Koba’s Music Box — great music blog. Always learning about some new band. Also written by someone I know.
7. Scribbit - I’m sure you already know who she is, but she’s funny and turns out great recipes and there’s a free giveaway every Saturday of a really cool thing and she does a monthly writing contest that I won once and have failed to remember to enter every month since (maybe I subconsciously want to go out a winner?)

And some new discoveries for me:

8. Compost Mom — I only just came across Daisy this past month, but already I love her blog. Lots of gardening, which is something I’m always claiming I’m going to do more of, so hopefully, the more I read Daisy, the more inspired I’ll become to finally move up a step from what I’ve got going on.
9. Stuff Jen Says - her latest post on Chuck Norris made me laugh, because we all know I’m a glutton for Chuck Norris
10. Cheaper Than Therapy - cheaper than therapy, for me too, because she makes me laugh, and laughter is good for the soul.
11. A Goddess in the Kitchen - A food blog. In her most recent post, she writes “I think that Elvis and JFK are beaming gamma rays down from the Mother Ship on my tomatoes.” Frankly, I can’t imagine why you aren’t clicking over RIGHT NOW to read her.
12. Life on the Edge - another recent discovery that I am enjoying. Clever titles, quick reads.
13. Condo Blues - in a single post, she references John Waters, discusses kitsch, and shows off home decorating jobs she’s pulled off. I am smitten.

Bubbles! July 16, 2008

I guest blogged over at Hayden’s Ferry Review!
Other Wordless Wednesday shots here.