Atlanta 2010

So we are home from our grand odyssey to Atlanta.  It was quite a time indeed!!!  I’m going to try and remember as many details as possible as I write up my little travelogue here, but Mike, Mike and Lesley will probably have things I’ve already forgotten—so feel free to chime in, guys! :-)

First off, flying to Atlanta was fine, but the tickets were a challenge.  Can someone explain to me why I could buy a round trip ticket to Atlanta for $300 each ($600 total) or I could buy a round trip ticket to Orlando with a layover in Atlanta each way for $117 each ($234 total)?  Needless to say, I decided to buy the Orlando tickets and just not get on the plane to Florida.  This meant we had to pack everything carry ons.  Plus, our airline raised its baggage rates the very day we started flying, and I wasn’t about to pay for it anyway.  Still, we couldn’t check anything through because everything would have been in Florida.

Fine, I spent plenty of time cramming everything into the two smallest bags we owned, and then we headed to Richmond!  Got through security pretty well, everyone was exceedingly nice although Leah’s formula did have to be tested and scanned twice.  But it really was no big deal, the TSA employees were extremely nice and helpful with Michael (one of the guards was a former Marine and was tres impressed Michael worked at Quantico!), so we did fine.  Got everything packed back up, shoes on, etc. and head down to our gate.  We got a gate claim ticket for the stroller and car seat, both of which said Orlando, but since I was the one to pick them both up at the gate and transport them to the supposed next plane, I knew that wouldn’t be a problem.  Again, no problems until we got on the plane and the flight attendant says, “Sorry, that bag is too big for the bins, we’re going to have to check it.”

HEART ATTACK!!!!  I start incomprehensibly spewing, “But we need this bag in Atlanta!  WE NEED THIS BAG IN ATLANTA!”  The flight attendant is saying, “Where is your final destination?” and I’m picturing our underwear circling the airport in Orlando and us with no way to get it, totally freaking out.  Michael steps in and says, “Atlanta.”  The flight attendant says, “Ok, we’re going to check this through to Atlanta for you.”  So I relinquish the bag and we go sit in our seat.  I proceeded to panic for the next 90 minutes, praying to God our bag turned up in Atlanta.  Our flight was early, so we then got to navigate the airport, which is HUGE and very crowded.  Ultimately, rather than try to drag a suitcase, push a stroller, and leave an arm for Michael, what we found worked was he would hold onto the stroller the normal way, and I would stand up front and pull it from the car seat handle while dragging the suitcase behind me.  This was very satisfactory and we managed very well.

We got onto the little train system and made it over to the main terminal and then I had to sort out which baggage claim to go to, praying all the way that our bag would be there.  I found the correct belt and there was our suitcase waiting for us!  VICTORY!!!!  Just as I snatched it up, my cell phone buzzed and it was Lesley, asking where we were.  I told her we were at baggage claim and heading outside, gathered up my little caravan, and off we went.  And just like that, lickety split, she pulled up to the curb and off we went!  It was like all the pieces just fell into place.  Awesome.

We headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then Walmart to pick up diapers and formula (we had to make allowances for packing, so I knew we could pick things up while we were away) and then made it to the Williams household.  Mike arrived home a short time later and that was pretty much the last I saw of Leah for 5 days :)  Then we headed out for trivia night at the Mellow Mushroom!!!!

Mike and Lesley have a sweet deal there, they are friends with a big cheese at Mellow Mushroom so all the food is free.  The trivia is run totally differently than the trivia at the Fredericksburg Pub, but it was a lot of fun.  They also have a regular round and a music thing going at the same time, the questions are weighted differently points-wise and you turn in your answers individually and the question-asker keeps your score.  It was a lot of fun, although our luck held and we weren’t able to help the Fuzzy Navels any better than we did The Destroyers.  The pizza was great, though.  YUM! 

Thursday morning, Mike and Lesley took off to do their workouts and then when they got back, Lesley and I headed to check out the library where she works and then to tea at the Holly Cottage Tearoom.  A sweet little old British lady greeted us at the door, and the servers are dressed in traditional maid’s attire (long black dress, white frilly apron) and everyone is quite polite and the whole thing is a real sanctuary from 2010.  Lesley and I each wore a hat, she in a festive brown felt festooned with leaves or petals of some sort and me in my traditional maroon felt with roses.  We were there 3 1/2 hours and went through 3 pots of tea (Monk’s Blend (YUMMMMM), Bella Coola, and Yorkshire Harrogate), a Holly Cottage record.  We discussed life, literature, and love seated under a portrait of the Brontes. 

Can I just say, “God, I love having tea.  I want to have tea much more regularly.  Anyone want to join me for tea sometime?”  I am noodling with the idea of starting my own tea business, which would be a tea-on-the-go type thing.  We would cater bridal and baby showers, birthday parties, luncheons, etc.  I have been toying with this idea all fall and winter.  I throw a beautiful tea and I think it could be a great way to make some money doing something I absolutely love.

Anyway, we went back to the house and the boys had had a grand ole time with Leah.  She did not appear to have missed me one bit.  Sincerely.  She is madly in love with her Uncle Mike, and Mike and Lesley have two things in their house that we don’t have and apparently she finds sorely lacking:  cats.  My God, Leah loved those cats.  Unfortunately for her, the feeling was less than mutual and they gave her wide berth as they avoided her a whole lot.

That night we dined on Lesley’s famous turkey burgers, and then Lesley and I headed out to her church book club while the guys and Leah relaxed.  The club discussed Same Kind of Different as Me and I was really interested to see how the club runs and the differences from my own book club.  It was a lot of fun.  Everyone was very friendly and the discussion was quite animated and lively. 

Friday was going to be a busy day!  Mike and Lesley did their work out and then we headed into Atlanta for the day.  We went to an Indian buffet for lunch (YUM!) and then headed over to the Martin Luther King Jr. national historic site.  We all thought about poo-pooing it when we first got there, because we couldn’t figure out where to park, but eventually we decided to go for it, and were we ever glad!  None of us had ever been there before and so it was a neat experience.  Plus it turns out that we were there on MLK’s actual birthday (January 15), so that was even better!  Someone even hung up a Happy Birthday banner and balloons by his picture.

We started out by watching a film at the visitors center and then went across the street to see the burial site.  We walked up to the Freedom Center and saw Dr. King’s Nobel Prize (first time I’d ever seen one), his clothes and personal items, some of his wife’s personal items, and then went in the rooms dedicated to Ghandi and Rosa Parks.  As Michael and I visited the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis while I lived in Little Rock, and as he was born right there in Atlanta and we drove past the house where he was born, and I’ve now seen his grave, I’ve been to where it all started and where it all ended.  Pretty cool.  We weren’t able to go into Ebenezer Church because they were doing some construction on it, and we elected not to sign up for the house tour, as they only take 15 people at a time.  Nonetheless, it was a great time.

Afterwards, we went over to Barnes and Noble to scope out the situation for the book signing and then went to a nearby pizza joint to meet up with Mike’s niece and nephew and kill some time.  Michael had a pizza since he is not a huge fan of Indian food, and the rest of us just had drinks and relaxed.  Around about 6:00, we went back to the book store and Lesley staked out a claim in the second row of the signing area and then we all browsed books for a while.  Leah started getting real crabby in about 45 minutes, so Mike and I spent the rest of the night in shifts.  He would walk her around for a while, then I would walk her around for a while.  Then he’d take her, then I’d take her.  I finally took her over to Publix to see if I could buy some pacifiers since I hadn’t brought one, but the kind they had were not the right kind, as evidenced by the fact that they did NADA to silence her after I paid $4 for them. 

Eventually I just took her back over to the book store and Mike and I kept swapping.  At one point, Leah let out a bellow and Jasper Fforde paused and said, “Ah, my biggest fan!” Everyone laughed, but of course I was mortified.  Eventually he quit with the talking (seemed like forever to me, but Lesley assures me it flew by; Michael fell asleep during the talk so who knows how long it seemed to him?) and the line was forming.  Now, I will give BIG CREDIT to Barnes and Noble’s staff.  A bunch of crowd jumpers staked out a place in front of the signing table, but the staff would have none of it and allowed the people who had gotten there early and were seated in the first couple of rows to go up first and get their books signed.  Consequently, Lesley was one of the first 10 people to get her books signed and I stood at the ready, armed with a camera, and took pictures.  Then we headed home.  Leah screamed most of the way back.  Unfortunately, she elected not to sleep most of that night, as my Facebooks statuses attest.

Saturday, Lesley had to work, so Mike, Michael, Leah and I went over to IHOP for breakfast and then to Walmart so I could get decent diapers (the cheapies were not up to the task, go figure).  He went to the bike store, but couldn’t get the bike he wants, and so we went home, and Leah and I passed out cold for 3 hours.  By that time, it was 5:00 and time to head out to meet up with Donna at Fox Bros. BBQ.  Donna and I were in Scouts together and hadn’t seen each other in 20 years, but alas it was not meant to be.  Just as we got on the road, she called to cancel.  She had gotten an adoption match that day, and was freaking out and couldn’t meet us.  I was disappointed, but understood, and we proceeded to Fox Bros. anyway, where we ate some of the greatest BBQ I have ever had the privilege of eating.  It was amazing.  I don’t think I’ve had it that good since I lived in Arkansas, seriously.

Sunday was a hang around day, as we wanted to give Leah time to recover from all the activity.  Mike and Lesley went to work out at separate times (they have seriously drunk the WW kool aid!) and then we just played Scene It on the XBox or Playstation or whatever it is, watched TV, read, and hung out.  Because of Leah’s fascination with the cats, we decided to go to Zoo Atlanta the next Day.  Lesley spent the afternoon preparing us a traditional Jigg’s dinner, which is a traditional Sunday dinner in Newfoundland where she is from.  It was amazing.  They didn’t think I’d like the pease pudding, but in fact, I very much did.  We had lots of good food and then spent the evening continuing to relax, watching the Golden Globes and cheering and jeering the winners.  Mike and Lesley also learned that “little people” (aka dwarves or midgets) give me the creeps.  I’m sure that is offensive, sorry, but I about flip out when I encounter them, which isn’t often.  Mike and Lesley found this hilarious.

Monday morning, we were out the door bright and early at 11:30 and went to Six Feet Under, a restaurant across the street from Oakland Cemetery, where we visited Margaret Mitchell’s grave on our last visit to Atlanta a couple years ago.  The restaurant is famous for its catfish, but instead I opted to try the shrimp po boy, which was very good.  Hilariously, though, we got an appetizer called Spicy Rat Toes, which were jalapenos stuffed with shrimp, wrapped in bacon, and grilled.  I can’t tolerate a whole lot of spicy food, but I was willing to take a crack at it.  There were 3 in the order, Michael didn’t want one, the rest of us had a go.  Lesley and I were fine, but Mike was crying like a little girl when he ate his.  It was kind of hilarious.  He was going on and on about how spicy they were, and I am not going to lie, it was hot, but to me it was no worse than a buffalo wing.  So we came to the conclusion he got a bad pepper.  Honestly, the appetizer wasn’t that great, so I am now on a mission to come up with a different recipe for the same basic idea and we will try it out when we all get together again.

After Six Feet Under, we went to the zoo.  At first, Leah wasn’t too excited by the animals, but she did come around when she saw the meerkats.  Anything that was speedy and moved around she enjoyed.  Anything that didn’t move or was kind of slow, she could not have cared less about.  We went into the parakeet enclosure, thinking with the birds flying around her, she’d be all over it.  Wasn’t the damned place manned by a little person!?  I know Mike was laughing his ass off behind me.  And Leah didn’t give one crap about the birds.  How’s that for poetic justice?

One moment of great excitement was when we walked into the viewing area for the gorilla enclosure and found this guy.  He’s looking mighty pleased with himself, isn’t he?  As well he should, he has just finished getting it on with one of the ladies in full view of about 3 dozen 5-10 year olds.  All over the enclosure you could hear, “Daddy, what’s he doing?” and I am sure more than one parent had some interesting chats with their children that day.

But the true highlight for me was the giant pandas.  Zoo Atlanta has 3 pandas, one of which is about to be returned to China.  Pandas are my favorite wild animal and I was so excited to see them.  I actually got all misty eyed.  They are beautiful creatures, and it has been probably 24 years since I’ve seen them, as I haven’t been to the National Zoo yet since moving to DC.  Imagine!?

  

After the zoo we went to meet Mike’s niece and nephew for dinner at a local Mexican place, which was again a great place to eat!!!  We ate so well in Atlanta, it was awesome.  And then it was time to go home, pack, and ready ourselves for or trip home.  I started getting a little nervous that when we “missed” our flight in Orlando, they wouldn’t let us on the plane back to Richmond, but everything went off without a hitch.  In fact, we had roughly the same wait to get through security in Atlanta as we did in Richmond, which is to say, approximately 5 minutes.  It was incredible.  We were way early, so we had some muffins and just relaxed.  Our flight was delayed getting back, and when we finally got back to the car around 12:30, we discovered a flat tire, but fortunately I had a can of fix-a-flat, so I put that in and figured it would get us home, which it did.

Thank you, Mike and Lesley, for the wonderful time, we so enjoyed it and hope to do it again soon, either here or there!!!!  Words can’t express our love and gratitude for the two of you.  We are so lucky to have you in our lives.

Scenes from Atlanta

After two blog posts tonight, I haven’t got it in me to tackle the subject of our trip to Atlanta.  Suffice it to say, it was amazing.  I will blog about it at length in the next day or two, but until then, I leave with a pictorial essay of sorts to whet your appetite.

 

Ruined By Reading

I finished Lynne Sharon Schwartz's Ruined By Reading while I was in Atlanta, which I found tremendously exciting because A) I was with Lesley while I finished it and it counts towards her challenge and B) it meant another book on the year and I was free to move on to other things!

This is a small little book, just 128 pages long, and the first couple of pages filled me with dread that I had made a terrible mistake and this was going to be a boring book. How pleased I was to be proven wrong in short order!

RBR is a thought-provoking walk down one woman's reading memory lane, and gave me much to think about. For instance, Schwartz talks about what time of day she likes to read. I am a night-time reader. Devotedly. I always have been and always will be. I suppose this stems from the fact that we were allowed to stay up 30 minutes past our bedtime if we spent that 30 minutes reading and so every night I would snuggle down with a book and read. As a young girl, I was often caught up in mysteries, and I vividly remember getting busted one night for reading by the night of the nightlight. I was reading John Bellairs's The House With a Clock In Its Walls and I got so scared I actually screamed, causing my dad to run in and see what was wrong. Busted! But as you can see, even the cover of the book is deliciously creepy!



Schwartz talks about beloved books she had growing up, books which were lost and the replacements just weren't up to par, the minefield that is gifting a book (please don't! The pressure on the recipient to read it immediately and then love the book as much as you do is overwhelming!), what she's learned from books (and consequently what I learned from her reading, including why the Alabama license plates have the stars falling on them), finishing or not finishing a book, being interrupted while reading, and more.

This is a fabulous little book, I gave it a 4 star rating on GoodReads, just because it's not one of my favorites I've ever read, but I greatly enjoyed it. This book counts for the Bibliophilic Books Challenge!

Incidentally, if you are on GoodReads.com and try to friend me, please let me know that you have found me through the blog. I do not add people I don't know, my GoodReads feed was getting cluttered with the reading selections of complete strangers and it was frustrating!

So, What Gives?

If you've been following my updates on Facebook, you'll have seen that I started on a real cleaning tear just before Christmas and it has only continued. To date, I've culled something like 165 books from my shelves, scrubbed and vacuumed and dusted and polished, Freecycled like a maniac. Why?

2010. New decade. New start. As I've said in the past month's blogs, I learned a lot about myself in the past year, and if I go back to 2008, look out, I learned a TON. I have a huge capacity for joy, forgiveness, and hurt. I have somehow come to find myself surrounded by the highest caliber people I could imagine and am fortunate to call them 'friends'. I watch a lot of TV focused on cleaning up, homes and lives both: Hoarders, Clean House, How Clean is Your House, etc. One sentiment came up on a recent episode of Clean House and on several episodes of Hoarders: How you feel on the inside is reflected in how you live on the outside.

On the inside, I often feel confused and at loose ends. In a good way, I have the freedom right now to do a lot of decision making and forward planning for my life. Recently, I've become extremely introspective. And there are some things I've concluded.

I am never going to be a famous book blogger, or even a good book blogger. That is Lesley's role. I am never going to be a great teacher or a fantastic lawyer, that is left to Sara, Melissa, and Elizabeth. I'm not going to be a famous cake maker, I leave that to Amy. I'm never going to be wildly successful with Weight Watchers, I leave that to Annette. I'm never going to run a marathon, heck, I'm not even going to attmept it, I leave that to Sarah. I'm never going to have a hobby about which I know every minute detail, I leave that to Russell. I'm never going to be crazy into music or a great seamstress. I may never finish my book, and I may never be a published writer, and I certainly won't be a prolific writer regardless of what happens. I leave last areas to other friends. I was not a straight-A student, although I came close more than once, because being active in my school was as important to me as academics were. I don't have a cool job traveling all over the world, my Facebook status is overrun with comments about teething, diapers, drool, spit up, housekeeping, while I have friends whose statuses (stati?) talk about the Parthenon, London, Rome, Africa, Broadway, California.

I'm not the world's best daughter or sister or wife or mother (although admittedly, I think I'm doing a damned good job at mothering and wifing and I am choosing to leave sistering and daughtering in God's hands at this point). I try to be a good friend, I aspire to be a great friend, to those who need or want my company. I hope to be a warm and inviting hostess. I hope I have created a home atmosphere that makes you want to sink into the couch with a warm cup of cocoa and feel completely at ease. It's how it makes me feel.

I am the epitome of the phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none." I like doing many things, and I'm good at doing many things, but I'm not amazing at any of them. Crafting, reading, cooking, homemaking, organizing, event planning, heck even tour guiding, I can do it all, and have, and have done it well, but I'm not a specialist in anything. I don't even think I was all that great at my 9-5 job when I was working. I did a good job, no more or less than was expected, I hope I helped people, and I went home at night just the same as anyone else.

In short, I am distressingly average. And just writing that makes me giggle.

So the cleaning has been to help me cull out a lot of the "stuff" being a jack of all trades entails. I have things I've accumulated thinking, "Oh, this would make a great project!" and then I never did anything with the ideas or the items. For instance, when I was growing up, my parents used a set of china that had blue roses on them. A few years ago, I saw a craft project in which you take a large photo, crop it in a circle and decoupage it onto a plate to use as a display piece. Easy enough and wouldn't they make great Christmas presents for my family?! So I went on Ebay and ordered the exact same blue rose plates we grew up using. And they are still sitting in the box in my scary closet. Looking at them made me sad. And I talked myself out of the project thinking everyone else would either be sad or would think it was stupid or not care about those blue rose plates.

The books. I have tons of books from the last 4 or 5 years of collecting, I guess since we moved to this house. I suppose my thought process was something to do with my friends who were readers would be impressed with the number of books I had hanging around. And that I would someday get around to reading them all. Well, I am quite sure that none of them is going to like me 165-books-worth-less now that I've gotten rid of that many books. But there used to be a part of me that believed that the more books I had, the more people would like me if they were readers. I need to give people slightly more credit than that.

The biggie is that I've been culling out my Princess Diana, Jackie O, and Princess Grace items. Why? Well, for one thing, again on Clean House, they pointed out that a collection only has value if someone is willing to pay for it. Many things I was holding onto only because I hoped that someday they would have monetary value. But honestly, is anyone going to pay for the TV section of the Watertown Daily Times just because it happens to have Diana's picture on it? No. They are not. There was a time all the Diana stuff brought me a lot of joy. I am increasingly finding that it is just taking up space and making me cranky. So I found someone in Fredericksburg who is a big fan, and I shuffled off everything I no longer wanted or that I felt would be of no or little value. One hard thing to decide was the Royal Diana "barbie doll" things I had. They were so unappealing, honestly, but they are selling on Ebay right now for $20. And I had 4 of them. But just the idea of hanging onto them in the hope that someday I might get around to putting them up for sale was depressing me. So Michael decided for me that I'd give them to the lady to whom I was giving everything else. And you know what? I have not regretted it for a minute. There was a time and a place and a reason I bought and collected all those items, but those reasons, times, and places have passed. I kept the things I still want and to an extent feel I "need", and all the rest is gone or in the process of going.

As for Jackie and Grace, well, I feel as if I only have room for one princess in my life right now, and they have both lost. Princess Grace is entirely gone, I've kept 3 books on Jackie, and a book I had signed by her daughter when I met her at the now-defunct Olson's Books a few years ago. I will probably sell off my Jackie O bride doll and wipe the slate clean. No more tragic heroines need apply.

This spring I will have a big yard sale and unload things that are bogging down the house and my life. I want to simplify and feel free. For a long while, my house became a dumping ground for unwanted furniture, family keepsakes, and my own sentimental holding onto of bric-a-brac. Thank you kindly, but I think I'm fine. Please don't buy me any more books, any more angels, any more "stuff". I want to unclutter and unfetter.

And I will quit buying. If this experience with the books has taught me anything it's that if I am not going to read something immediately or in the very short term future, I shouldn't purchase the book to begin with. 6 months or a year from now, I may not have any interest in that book and there would be no point in wasting a PBS credit or money on it. Ditto stuff for projects. I have had those blue plates for 3 years minimum and have never done a thing with them. I have unopened packages of Christmas ornaments that I bought and never made. I have empty scrapbooks sitting on my shelves and tons of papers and stickers and so forth in my craft cabinet. When I get ideas, I'd like to sit on them for a while and see if they really take hold or if it's a passing fancy. My dad dated a woman who shared a love of rubber stamping with me. I now have an entire drawer full of rubber stamps that I haven't used since I lived in Centreville. They were expensive, the inks and cards were expensive and the results looked like a project a 7 year old could have done. I don't want to invest in things that I can't be proud of.

So that's a bit of where I'm coming from. I've shed a few tears over things I've gotten rid of, but I feel so great, I can't help but know it's the right move. It makes me happy to see organized shelves, and things put away and know that there aren't other things stashed in and around and amongst it. I am keeping on top of my chores, so that even though I know my in-laws are due on Saturday, for once I'm not in a total panic about cleaning the house in preparation for their arrival. I've put into practice something the wonderful Dr. Kevin suggested, which is do what I have to do first so I can do what I want to do without worrying about the have-to's later. The amount of stress this has erased from my life is astounding. Bedtimes I am no longer racing around trying to get lunch packed for Michael and get Leah's bottles ready before I can go upstairs and climb into bed with a book for a few minutes and then fall asleep. I just calmly go upstairs and everything's done. I no longer look at piles of clothes to be put away, and clothes to be picked up, and see the dust on the furniture, and think "Crap I am so behind!" The FLY Lady system is seeing to it that it's all done. Even with having been gone a week, I caught up on one of the two zones I missed out on by doing it today and I'll do the other tomorrow. The 15 minute timer is my new friend. I really can get things done in 15 minutes. And having put in the work on the first week makes the subsequent weeks that much easier.

I don't have all the answers, and I don't have it altogether yet, but I'm getting there. Slowly but surely, I'm getting it done.

Culling Books

This week has been my first full week of doing the FLY Lady system in a couple of years.  The house looks amazing.  I’m not killing myself, as she says, if you overdo it in the first week, you will quickly burn out and give up.  Still, I have filled 4 or 5 trash bags with stuff for the dump, and gotten rid of tons of dust, trash, and debris.

My goal is to attack one shelf, drawer, or closet per week to get it totally organized.  This gives me time to really sort through things, give some thought to what I’m doing, and not stress myself out over how much I’ve got.

Today I attacked the to-be-read shelf in my bedroom.  I had a ton of books saved up from the past 4 years of book shopping, and the time had come to get realistic about what could stay, what could go, what I would actually read.

I think my reading tastes may have changed dramatically.  I had no problem getting rid of mysteries and thrillers.  I kept one Dean Koontz book that sounds great “just in case” but the rest are goners.  I also got rid of 99% of the books in which the main character “is struck by a sudden and senseless tragedy.”  Life’s hard enough, I have enough drama going on right now, I guess I don’t want to read about other people’s dramas.

The things I kept were either quirky, new acquisitions, favorite authors, sounded like good stories, or were follow ups to books I have previously read and loved.

I agonized over some choices.  I kept a book called A Taxonomy of Barnacles.  I can’t decide if I’ll love it or hate it, but ultimately I decided I just have to give it a try.  I got rid of a Jodi Piccoult book.  She is one of my favorite authors and I think I must have gone through a phase of just collecting her books, but one of them just didn’t appeal to me, and I made the decision to let it go.  Two authors whose books I had several of went on the goodbye pile—they are not authors I’d ever read, and the fact that I had several different books by them indicated to me I would probably enjoy their stuff.  However, apparently they hadn’t appealed to me sufficiently in the past several years to actually get started, so they went on the pile.  Books that I didn’t have any real attachment to other than the fact I bought them in Maryland while we were waiting for Leah to be born last year went in the pile.

It feels like I have gotten rid of potential friends—I’m sure there are at least a couple of books in that pile that I really would have enjoyed.  I’m sure there are some that I really would have enjoyed a year or two ago.  But their time is past and better they should go to new homes that appreciate them.  In all, I posted 58 books, mostly fiction, to Paperback Swap, and already 13 of them are on hold.  It does my heart good that they will be read and loved and cared for and not just languish on my shelf.  Even better news is that I’ll be able to do the same to my non-fiction shelves in the future and make room for my ever growing collection of fiction books I just have to keep.  But not today.  I’m too worn out.  That was tough, real tough.

An Open Letter to Borders

Dear Borders:

Before I even get into the true purpose of this letter, let me state unequivocally that prior to last night (January 5, 2009), my family was a Borders family. My sister (nee Judy Cherepon) was a Borders keyholder at Reagan Airport for over a year and during that time met one Lucas Szabo, also an employee of the store. Romance blossomed amongst the stacks and they are now married with 2 babies. We love Borders books.

Or I did, until last night. I have never been so aggravated by customer service, or lack thereof, in my life. I went into the Borders in Central Park, Fredericksburg, Virginia to return some DVD’s I’d received as a Christmas present. A certain family member is a bit forgetful and had gotten me these DVD’s no fewer than 3 times, and I wanted to return them. As they were a Christmas gift, I did not have a receipt.

Judy and Lucas had been to Borders in Springfield VA several days before to return some merchandise that they had received duplicates of. They also did not have a receipt. They were told that without a receipt, they could only receive store credit and were issued it via a gift card which they could use later. They both told me it would be no problem to return my DVD’s in a similar fashion, stating that as long as Borders carries a particular item, their policy is to provide store credit.

Ok, so I get to Borders and I take my DVD’s and get in line at the cashier. When I reach the front, there is one person working and she tells me that the store will only do an exchange without a receipt and I will have to go into the store and pick out the equivalent amount in merchandise. I said, “Seriously?” and it was confirmed. So, again, please remember, these DVD’s were a Christmas present, I said, “How much are they worth?” And she wasn’t too happy about having to look it up, but there was no price tag on the set! I was told $59.99. I was like, “So you’re telling me I have to walk around and gather up $59.99 worth of materials?” “Yup. Next in line!” and she hands me back my DVD set.

Ok, I was not really happy about having to use the money immediately, particularly since I was told by two former employees that I should be able to get a gift card, but also it is typically not a problem for me to spend $60 in the book store. I am an avid reader. I run a book club, I have been featured in my local newspaper for nothing more than the fact that I read a LOT of books every year, I volunteer at the library and I blog about what I read on my own blog and at Goodreads.com I am not a casual reader, and I buy a lot of books. I had my book club list roughly in my head, and so I set about finding one of the books, I came up with a DVD I wanted, I snooped around in the bargain bins, I even thought of a book a friend read and picked that up. Doing the math in my head (which admittedly, I’m not a math genius or anything, but I do hold a master’s degree, so I’m no slouch either), I figured I had roughly $59.99 worth of merchandise. I go back and get on line and when I finally reach the front, a new cashier tells me that he is not authorized to do an exchange, I have to wait for a manager and please go to the end of the counter. (I have since found out from my sister that this is also complete nonsense.)

So I go to the end of the counter and wait and Ron, the manager comes up, and says, “What do you want to do?” I had hand him my DVD’s and say, “I received these for Christmas, I already have them and I wanted to return them. However, I was told I could only do an exchange, so these are my exchange books.” At which point, Ron starts examining the package and says, “These didn’t come from Borders, we don’t use this kind of sticker. I don’t think I can accept these, are you sure they’re from here?”

Ok, honestly, no, I don’t seeing as I didn’t buy them, but I do know that Borders policy is to take back DVD’s if Borders sells them, and there was an entire rack of the exact same DVD behind the cashier’s station. At this point, if I hadn’t just wasted an hour of my time finding books and stuff I was willing to take in exchange, I would have walked out, but then I’d have been out the DVD’s and the books and DVD I did want, so I was determined to hang in there. So Ron decides to look the DVD up in the computer, and fortunately the cashier next to him, the first girl I spoke to, says, “We carry these, there’s a whole shelf of them right here.”

So Ron scans it and sure enough! It’s a miracle! It’s in the system! So he scans the merchandise I did choose and damn my eyes, I only picked out $54.78 worth of goods, so Ron says, “Well, I can’t issue you cash without a receipt, you will have to go buy another $4.22 worth of books.” I said, “Do you even sell anything for $4.22 in here?” and he said, “Well, how about this book? It’s the book we’re recommending this month, it’s very good!” I turn the book over and it is FIFTEEN DOLLARS! I said, “That’s fifteen dollars,” and Ron replies, “Well you can just pay the difference.” LIKE HELL I AM GIVING THIS STORE ANY MORE THAN I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO! So I was like, “No thanks” so he tells me that I can go look around and when I’m done come back and he’ll finish the transaction.

So I go to the bargain books section again and pick out a hardcover for $5.99, which was about $2.00 more than I wanted to spend and I take it back to the front, only to discover that there is exactly ONE person working now, Josh, the second clerk I spoke to. He says, “Ok, I think I can ring you up” and we go back down to the end of the counter and guess what!? No he can’t! He needs a manager’s ID! Meanwhile, a lady behind me says, “there is no one at the information desk” (a fact I can confirm because while I was attempting to find one of the books I wanted, there was NO ONE to help me find it—and by the way, the self-help section was a mess. What’s even more confusing is why Jerramy Fine’s Someday My Prince Will Come is shelved as self-help) and Josh says, and I quote, “I’m the only one working at the moment. The manager is out back taking a delivery, but I’ll have him come out as soon as I can.”

Manager? As in the manager I need to see? Right you are! Fortunately, Ron came back and swished his manager’s ID so my transaction could be completed, and I wound up paying $2.07, which didn’t thrill me, but I put it on my credit card, so I can only assume any potential profit you might have seen from that transaction was eaten up in fees to the credit card company. Then I had to sign a damned form and then, finally, mercifully, I was free to go. From the time I walked into the store to the time I left, 1 hour and 45 minutes had elapsed.

I have never been so happy to get out of a store in my life. And between an excellent local bookstore and Amazon.com I will not go back in there again. In fact, to prove my point, please find enclosed my Borders Rewards card. If the rumors are true and Fredericksburg is soon to get a Barnes and Noble, I will conduct most of my book-buying business there and at the other locales mentioned. It’s little wonder to me that Borders is in so much trouble.

Sincerely yours,


Susan C. Kosior, Former Borders Customer

The Toys are Getting to Me...

...I am starting to crack.

Last night, I dreamed that I was attempting to take a nap and I was in a room that had been boobytrapped with Fisher Price toys. There were 3 other people in the room, and every time they moved, another toy started singing. I was cursing a blue streak at all of them. It was the worst dream I've had in a long time.

Year End Meme

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? Adopted a baby

2. Did anyone close to you die? My mom's neighbor John, who we were just getting close to as our surrogate grandpa

3. What was the best thing you bought? Mental health counseling

4. Where did most of your money go? The adoption

5. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The adoption

6. What song will always remind you of 2009? My Life Would Suck Without You (Kelly Clarkson)

7. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? - happier

ii. thinner or fatter? - I would guess the same?

iii. richer or poorer? - Poorer

8. What was your favorite TV program? Lost, Project Runway

9. What was the best book you read this year? Home From the Vinyl Cafe (Stuart McLean)--best book I read this year that I hadn't read before!

10. What was your favorite film of this year? I only saw one movie this year, Revolutionary Road

11. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 34 and I don't remember

12. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I can't say it on this blog, but suffice it to say, if you know me, you can probably figure it out pretty quickly

13. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Stay-at-home-mom comfortable

14. What kept you sane? My husband, my daughter

15. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Tom Brady

16. Who was the best new person you met in 2009? Landry and Meredith

17. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009? I am not a bad daughter

18. What was your job this year? Rehabilitation teacher and mom

19. Did you have any encounters with the police in 2009? Nope

20. Have you run into anybody you graduated high school with? Nope

21. Describe your birthday. Apparently, forgettable.

22.) Any new additions to your family? Yes, my daughter Leah!

23.) What from pop culture will you remember 2009 by? Susan Boyle, the death of Michael Jackson

24.) How do you plan to ring in 2010? I rang it in with friends

25.) What's something you learned about yourself? I have a lot more willpower than I gave myself credit for

Resolutions and Revolutions

So here we are, 2010, a new decade and a new year. A lot of people were happy to see 2009 go, but as I thought about it, I really couldn't count myself among their number. Apart from my dad's heart attack and all the subsequent craziness stemming from that, 2009 was a great year for me. Of course, first and foremost, my daughter was born. She is my favorite person in the world, the true love and light of my life. I am blessed beyond measure to be able to spend every day with her, even the days I don't feel like being a mom she brightens with her brilliant smile.

I've also taken some serious steps in getting my mental house in order, getting my head screwed on tight. With the help of a truly great counselor, I spent the last 3 months of 2009 talking, hashing through a lot of issues, and ultimately triumphing over a lot of things that previously held me back. Notably, interpersonal communication and anxiety. I will always be on the quiet side, but I'm not going to be a doormat any more. I am still struggling a bit with how I will take better care of myself versus everyone else, but at least I'm more in touch with my personal needs even if I ignore them half the time. I've been more or less discharged from the sessions, will be going about once a month now instead of weekly, and I'm excited about that. It's been a really interesting process, I did a lot better than I would have expected, but it turns out I was a lot more motivated than I thought I was.

To that end, I'll be working on 2 day planner/journal type things. I bought a day planner called Listopia that gives you a list per week to make, some serious (this week's was *duh* what I want to accomplish this year; there is one week you list every movie you could watch over and over again), and I intend to keep a gratitude list on each day in addition to jotting down events as they arise. (How exciting is it to look less than 2 weeks ahead and see "Leave for Atlanta" written down?) I've also picked up The Happy Book, as one of the themes from my counselor is a need for me to figure out exactly what makes me happy and increase the happiness in my life. Not that I'm not happy, but couldn't we all be happier? This sweet little book has prompts, activities, journaling space, etc. I'll be working on that.

I also have a lot of "What's next?" questions floating around in my mind, so part of my goals for this year will be to think about a personal 5 year plan and a family 5 year plan. I know that Leah will not need me in this capacity forever, and the first year of her life is already almost behind us, so I need to think forward. What do I want to do? Do I want to go back to school? Re-enter the workforce? Switch careers? It's exciting, confusing, and a bit frightening all at once. I'm mostly excited to think about it, however.

Michael and I have also discussed adding to the family down the line, and we've both agreed we'd like to give foster care a shot in the future. To that end, we decided we needed to get some experience with teenagers and we have applied to host an exchange student this fall. We have our eye on a 15 year old from Germany named Caroline, and we have applied to host her for a year. What appeals to me most about her is that she is an avid reader and says she will read anything. Providing we are matched, I'll be bringing her to book club :-)

Of course the big elephant in the room, will I get back to my fitness and weight loss goals? The short answer is YES I WILL! My goal is to return to Weight Watchers on January 23rd, which will allow me to have a final fling in Atlanta without worrying about counting points, etc. while on vacation (although Mike and Lesley have turned into such fitness gurus, maybe I won't have to count so much as just eat what they eat!) and then get back to it. I would like to try and lose 50 pounds this year. I know have gained some back since becoming a SAHM, it's very easy to just sort of graze through the days, but I really would like to get back on track and get going again. I will be returning to the Saturday morning meetings, as that worked very well for me, but I won't go back at 6:30am, I'll probably go to the 8:30 meetings. Michael is back on board too, so we'll both be working out together after Leah's bedtime, which is good, because it's much easier to have a partner to support you locally in addition to all the wonderful support I've received from friends far and wide!

Of course I've already outlined my reading goals for the year. In terms of a number, well, I read 69 books last year, I would like to hit 75 this year. It could be tricky because Leah is already TONS more active than she used to be, and I know it will only get crazier as she is really close to being mobile and I'll be plucking her off the stairs and chasing her down the driveway in no time flat, I'm sure. But I've taken up watching a lot more TV, which I really don't like--I've never considered myself a TV watcher--so I'm going to limit my viewing to 4 shows (LOST, Project Runway, Clean House, and Hoarders) and the TV will be off the rest of the time. Adding in exercise time and more reading time will take up most of my free time in the evenings anyway.

Travel for the year? Atlanta in January, North Carolina in February, New York in March (reuniting with my best friends from high school! That should be interesting!), hopefully Myrtle Beach in May, probably back to NY for a quick trip in June for my dad's retirement, Rhode Island in August, Florida in October (my mom's turning 60!). With Caroline in tow, hopefully we will make it so she can see most of the east coast during her year here, and maybe we'll get somewhere a little more exciting as well (maybe for her spring break in 2011). We hope to see Russell and Amy and Annette someday somewhere in 2010, and lots of visits with Mike and Lesley again.

And finally, I will be re-instating the FLY Lady system into our lives. I want to be able to walk into a clean house all the time, and the system really worked when we lived in Centreville. The idea of not going into a total panic when company is due really appeals to me. Just keeping on top of everything is what I need to do. And I will do it!

So that's how 2010 is shaping up! Today we will drop off Joe at home and then I will start getting the house cleaned up from the holidays--I am really looking forward to getting my house back! I can't believe the amount of cleaning I did pre-Christmas and it looks like I did NOTHING. UGH. But in 15 minute increments, we'll get it done for sure. :-) Michael's hard at work with the laundry, Leah is napping, and I'm going to go get dressed!

Happy New Year Everyone!

A Bit of Fun

So the holidays were stressful to say the least.  By Saturday, I was so strung out I couldn’t sleep.  We went to bed after some lengthy family discussions and I just laid there, playing with the iPod, until Michael busted me with it (yeah, I was immediately hooked on the thing for sure!) and it turned out that he couldn’t sleep either.

We had had a big lunch in DC during the day, so I hadn’t bothered to cook dinner and by 11:30, The General was HUNGRY.  We got to talking about what would taste good and he was like, “Man, I could go for some double quarter pounders right about now.  I’m starving!”

Now, I have eaten at McD’s since I joined WW, but I have largely forgone my former fave food, the chicken mcnugget, in favor of the 5 point hamburger.  But man, when he got to talking about McD’s, I could taste a damned McNugget a mile away.

So I said, “I’m going to go get us some!” and we both started giggling.  “How are you going to do that?” he asked, pointing out rightly that our car was blocked in at the top of the driveway.  “I don’t know, but I’m getting us some food!” I whispered back.  The two of us were giggling hysterically at this point.  I think it was the whole prospect of sneaking out of the house while my parents were there, “borrowing a car” and going to get some yummies.

I didn’t even bother to get dressed.  I jammed my feet into some shoes, grabbed my mini flashlight from my bedside table, and crept downstairs in my nightgown, on the prowl for car keys.  Bingo!  I found my mom’s bright yellow coat hanging on the back of a chair in the dining room and quickly put that on.  And double bingo, I found her car keys hiding in her purse (Sorry, Mom!).  I was cackling like a madwoman as I crept to the back door and slipped out.  I strutted down the driveway and hopped in the car, careful not to move the seat or the mirrors lest I give myself away.  Fortunately McD’s was open at that hour and I went through the drive through in my nightie and yellow coat and they looked at me like this was the most normal thing in the world to do, so must be a lot of people do it.

I made our order, got our food (after what seemed like an interminable 10 minute wait) and drove back to the house.  I put the coat and keys back (Thanks again, Mom, and if you were wondering why your car smelled like french fries, now you know!) and hauled butt upstairs with our white bags of contraband.

Michael was laughing and saying he felt like he was in college again when they’d make midnight pizza runs.  I felt like I was 16, finally sneaking out and stealing my parents’ car!!!!  I never did that when I was younger, it felt so hilariously forbidden (sorry, Mom!).

We made ourselves a little picnic on the bed, munching on fries, burgers, and McNuggets, slurping caffeine free drinks, and giggling like a couple of kids.

It was the perfect antidote to all the sadness and angry feelings I was having.  The McNuggets were the best I’ve ever eaten :-)

2009 Reading Wrap Up!

Today I finished Katrina Kittle’s The Kindness of Strangers.  It was book #69 of the year, and while I am disappointed I didn’t hit 70, there are still 2 days left in the year, so if I can find a quick and easy read, I still might make it.  The Kindness of Strangers was a hard read, but unputdownable.  I’ve been sneaking in a sentence here, half a page there, a chapter somewhere else every chance I could.  And boy did I snuggle my daughter tight and promise to kill anyone who ever hurt her after I finished it.

The book also counted as my letter K for the 2009 Alphabet challenge.  I don’t know if it formally exists, my sister has put me up to it and I worked hard at it.  Unfortunately not hard enough, as there were 4 letters I didn’t get to this year:  N, O, X, and Z.  Oddly enough, I do have books starting with N, O, and Z, just not X.  I just didn’t get around to them.  The full list is as follows:

• A - Aprons on a Clothesline (Traci Depree)
• B - Bet Me (Jennifer Crusie)
• C - A Can of Peas (Traci Depree)
• D - Dandelions in a Jelly Jar (Traci Depree)
• E - Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume (Jennifer O'Connell, ed.)
• F - Friendship Cake (Lynn Hinton)
• G - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows)
• H - Home from the Vinyl Cafe (Stuart McLean)
• I - I Love You, Beth Cooper (Larry Doyle)
• J - Julie & Julia (Julie Powell)
• K - The Kindness of Strangers (Katrina Kittle)
• L - The Lace Reader (Brunonia Barry)
• M - The Mistress's Daughter (A.M. Homes)
• N -
• O -
• P - Plum Spooky (Janet Evanovich)
• Q - The Quality of Life Report (Meghan Daum)
• R - Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates), The Reader (Bernhard Schlink)
• S - Salem's Lot (Stephen King)
• T - To My Dearest Friends (Patricia Volk)
• U - Up the Down Staircase (Bel Kaufman)
• V - The View from Mount Joy (Lorna Landvik)
• W- Where the Broken Heart Still Beats (Carolyn Meyer)
• X -
• Y- You Can't Curl Your Hair With Holy Rollers (Nolan & Sarrett)
• Z -

Some literary highlights of the year:

Well the granddaddy highlight of them all was meeting Janet Evanovich back in June.  That road trip and meeting Janet was an absolute highlight of my life.  Many thanks to Melissa, Russell and Amy for helping make such a dream come true a real dream come true.

I also got to meet Annie Barrows this year, an awesome author of one of my new favorite books, Guernsey, which I have gushed over quite enough.  I got to meet Judy Blume this year, something I never dreamed would happen as a girl writing in her Judy Blume diary.  It was a brief meeting, but it was a true thrill.  I also met Franz Wisner this year, who was a lot of fun.  I didn’t get to too many signings this year, but the ones I did get to were quality.

I also found a new author to love, Stuart McLean and his Vinyl Cafe books.  Two books this year made me laugh until I cried, the first being I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle and the second being In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd.

So we’ll see what the new year brings.  Lesley and I are cooking up a little project that I will keep under wraps for right now, but I’m excited to talk with her about it when I visit in January.  The National Book Festival is a given again.  The Philip Gulley Weekend in North Carolina in February is happening and I have no doubt will be an incredible experience (hopefully I don’t freeze like I did with Janet E.). 

So happy reading everyone! :-)  And I’ll be trying to blog much more regularly in 2010!

Am I Becoming an Addict?

I was reading through Melissa's new book blog today and discovered all the challenges she is signing up for. Wow, she's going to have a busy reading year! :-) Anyway, I stumbled upon the Twenty-Ten Challenge, which I'd read up on before, and somehow it has struck my fancy, so I'm going to sign up for that one as well. That will make 4 reading challenges this year, and I'm thinking that's a good number, or at least until someone else comes up with something I'll love. Fortunately, all the challenges allow you to cross-count your books across other challenges, so I'm sure I'll have some duplicates.

The rules from the Twenty-Ten blog:

The aim is to read a total 20 books, over ten categories, in 2010. (Was this challenge based solely around the name? I’ll let you decide!)

Rules:

*Read 2 books from each category, making a requirement of 20 books total.
*The categories are intended to be loose guidelines only, if you decide it fits, then it fits. (Apart from those marked **)
*Categories marked with ** have tighter rules, and these must be followed.
*Each book can only qualify for one category.
*Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.
*Books read from 01/01/2010 to 31/12/2010 are eligible.

The categories (and my choices, where I know what they are) are as follows:

1. Young Adult (Any book classified as young adult or featuring a teenage protagonist counts for this category)

* 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
* Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

2.T.B.R. ** (Intended to help reduce the old T.B.R. pile. Books for this category must be already residents of your bookshelves as of 1/11/09)

* Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky (Since Melissa inspired me to join this one, and I saw this as one of her selections, I'm selecting it!)
* Learning to Breathe by Karen White (I have a couple of Karen White books on my TBR shelf and I suspect she's an author I'm going to love, but I've never sat down and read them! Now's my chance!)

3.Shiny & New (Bought a book NEW during 2010 from a bookstore, online, or a supermarket? Then it counts for this category. Second-hand books do not count for this one, but, for those on book-buying bans, books bought for you as gifts or won in a giveaway also count!)

* Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
* Someday My Prince Will Come by Jerramy Fine

4.Bad Blogger’s *** (Books in this category, should be ones you’ve picked up purely on the recommendation of another blogger count for this category [any reviews you post should also link to the post that convinced you give the book ago].)

Both my books in this category have come from reviews I've read on Lesley's blog. Now, odds are good I'm going to wind up hating one of these, and I suspect I know which it will be, due to the fact that until recently Lesley and I could never agree on the books we liked and hated.
* The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
* Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

5. Charity (Support your local charity shops with this category, by picking up books from one of their shops)

Library book sales, here I come!

6. New in 2010 (This category is for those books newly published in 2010 [whether it be the first time it is has been released, or you had to wait for it to be published in your country, it counts for this one!])

We'll see what comes out in the New Year that I MUST read!

7.Older Than You (Read two books that were published before you were born, whether that be the day before or 100 years prior!)

* Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith (this was one of my mom's favorite books, and she gave it to me a couple of years ago when I decided to tackle A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; it's about time I cracked it open!)
* The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

8.Win! Win! (Have a couple of books you need to read for another challenge? Then this is the category to use, as long that is, you don’t break the rules of the other challenge by doing so!)

* Shelf Life by Suzanne Strempek Shea (selected for the BBC Reading Challenge)
* Songs In Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris (this is a long book, if I'm going to read it, damn sure I'm counting it twice! I've selected this for the What's In a Name Challenge)

9.Who Are You Again? (This one isn’t just for authors you’ve never read before, this is for those authors you have never even heard of before!)

* How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson
* Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

10.Up to You! (The requirements for this category are up to you! Want to challenge yourself to read some graphic novels? A genre outside your comfort zone? Something completely wild and wacky? Then this is the category to you. The only requirement is that you state it in your sign-up post.)

For some reason, I have a lot of books on addiction--perhaps because I've been watching a lot of Intervention lately or something. So I've decided my Up to You! category will be addiction. I have all of the following books and will select two of them to count for this challenge.

* Parched by Heather King
* Beautiful Boy by David Sheff
* Addicted Like Me by Karen Franklin and Lauren King
* Crackhouse: Notes from the End of the Line by Terry Wiliams

So there you have it, my latest round of books for this wonderful challenge. I am looking forward to it and now have an awesome selection of books stacked by the bedside table, all ready for the clock to roll over on 1/1/10!

Do I need to start a book blog?

One More Book Challenge

I was all excited to go on Lesley's blog today and see there is a book challenge called the Typically British Reading Challenge. I'm going to sign up for this one as well, as I am a total Anglophile and am super-excited to do some English reading this year. I usually read at least a couple of books by British authors each year, and the smallest number I'd have to read is 2, which I'm sure is totally manageable.

I'm not sure which books exactly I'll read except for one, which is Carrie Adams's The Stepmother. Other than that, we'll see! :-) Thanks for a great challenge and see you in the stacks!

A Blizzard of Happiness

So yesterday was the big blizzard, and I admit, I scoffed.  I really thought all those weathermen were getting their panties in a bunch over a whole lot of nothing, again.  I went to the store, yes, but all I got were ingredients for cookies.  I didn’t stock up on tuna and TP or anything like that.  I just got the essentials for baking and went home.

However, it turns out they were right.  There was a doozy of a storm yesterday, you may have heard.  And we got A PILE of snow.  I don’t know if weather affects babies the way it affects animals, but let me tell you, my baby was CRANKY yesterday.  So I stuffed her up in the office with her father and I baked.  Because really, what else is there to do?

I made a bunch of different kinds of cookies—chocolate raspberry bars, regular raspberry bars, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, and Santa’s thumbprints (Hershey Kiss cookies).  Cookies galore!  They covered every inch of our table and a good part of the counters.  I tried not to make too much of a mess on account of the fact that I had just cleaned up the kitchen in a big way and I didn’t want to mess it all up again. 

So we got to 6:00 last night, the computer, Nintendo, reading, and Christmas music had all lost their appeal.  So I grabbed some cookie tins I’d gotten at Walmart a few weeks ago, loaded them up with goodies, topped each with a bow and a card, bundled up my family, and we headed out.

Let me tell you people something, it is NOT easy to guide a blind person in 14 inches of snow when you yourself are not exactly sure what you are stepping into.  Our neighbors all live in pretty good proximity to us, we weren’t walking that far, but darn it, it was HARD GOING.  I had a bag of cookie tins and Leah on one arm and Mike on the other.  I very nearly had second thoughts about the entire enterprise.

But we made it to the first house, our neighbors Jett and Mary Katherine.  Jett has been Michael’s back up chauffeur and also has helped us around the house when things break, most recently with my toilet which decided to run continuously.  Mary Katherine’s son Michael opened the door, and his look of surprise that anyone was dumb enough to be out in that weather was only the first of several such looks we got :0D  I said, “Merry Christmas!  We’re delivering cookies!” and handed him some cookies.  He invited us in, but we didn’t go further than the foyer, because we were covered in snow.  He hollered down to Jett and MK, who came up to see who the heck was dumb enough to be out in that weather, and SURPRISE!  It was us :-)  Leah was quickly liberated from my arms to play “Let’s make faces in the mirror” and we chatted and discussed the snow, the toilet, the possibility of no work on Monday, if our neighbor is going to plow us out, etc.  I had never spoken with Mary Katherine other than to say “Hi!” or “Good morning!” so it was nice to visit and get to know her better as well as meet her son and chat with Jett (yeah, we’ve lived here 4+ years, your point is??).

So we soon headed off and went across the street.  We were going to stop in at Peggy and Jim’s, as Jim always plows us out when it snows, but there didn’t seem to be any lights on and since I have never met either of them, we figured we’d go directly across the street to the Slacks’ house and see if they could tell us if they thought Peggy and Jim would be up and we could visit.  Fortunately, Manfred (Mr. Slack) had shoveled, so his driveway and front walk were much easier to navigate for us.  We rang the bell and waited a few minutes and all of a sudden Manfred peered out at us in shock!  Same “Merry Christmas!  We brought cookies!” routine and he invited us in as well.  He called his wife Bobbie upstairs, and we visited with them and their grandchildren Summer and Wade who had been over to spend the night on Friday and were stranded there till probably today.  Wade entertained Leah as we got to know the Slacks better—we learned how they met, they learned how we met, chatted about work, travel, etc.  We were there for a good bit, but it was getting close to bedtime for Leah, so we didn’t want to overstay.  We inquired about next door, but Bobbie said they probably wouldn’t answer, so if Jim comes over and plows us out today, I will snag him and give him his cookies.  Otherwise, I’ll put them in their mailbox!

We said adieu and headed to the final house of the evening, our neighbors Aaron and Jeannie.  Aaron is Michael’s chief chauffeur.  We rang the bell and it took a few minutes but eventually Jeannie peeked out and was surprised!  She opened the door and I handed her their tin with my “Merry Christmas!  We brought cookies!” speech and she invited us in so she could play with Leah for a bit.  Aaron was actually out back in his workshop, so Mike tried calling him but there was no answer.  He did finally come in, but Leah was freaking out.  It was 8:00, an hour past her bedtime and she was totally over the Christmas spirit.  So we met Jeannie’s son and then we bundled Leah back into her snowsuit and came home.  I fed Leah and changed her for bed and she was asleep in about 30 seconds.  At which point, doesn’t the phone ring?

Well, it was Scott, the kid who cuts our grass and lives behind us.  He wanted to talk to Michael and turns out, he wanted to come over to do some computer stuff.  So Michael told him to come on over!  So I quickly fixed a plate for Scott and his family, wrote out a card, and slapped a bow on it, and when he and Michael were geeked out, I sent him home with a treat from the Kosiors.

We are extremely fortunate to have such nice people who live near us and it was such a nice way to spend a snowy evening, visiting everyone getting to know them.  No one turned us away or didn’t invite us in, we really enjoyed ourselves.  It was absolutely the perfect, perfect Christmas thing to do.  Maybe we’ll do it again next year—no, we WILL do it again next year.  I’ve always had an image of suburbia where all the neighbors were friendly and meeting at the mailbox for chatter, etc.  While that hasn’t been the case here and probably isn’t the case anywhere except on TV, the neighborhood did get a little smaller and a whole lot warmer for us last night. 

Let’s hope it doesn’t take a blizzard for it to happen again.

FREEDOM!

It has taken 12 1/2 years, but official today my student loan is PAID OFF!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Age Meme Stolen From Heather

IN 1999
1. Age: 24

2. Romantic Status: Happily taken, dating Michael

3. Occupation: Started out the year as a substitute teacher, went to grad school and did a bunch of part time jobs to get myself through school—tutoring, housekeeping, babysitting, and worked at the UALR information desk

4. Fun night out:  Hanging out with friends, doing anything but studying!

5. My BFFs: Michael

6. I spent way too much time: Being depressed

7. I spent not enough time: Enjoying where I was

8. I wanted to be when I grew up: A rehabilitation teacher for the blind

9. Biggest concern: My parents’ divorce, long distance romance with Michael, starting graduate school

10. What my biggest concern should have been: Having a good time/blooming where I was planted

11. Where did I live: Started out in Oswegatchie NY, moved to Allston, MA, moved again to North Little Rock AR

12. Dumbest thing I did that year: Blew through a bunch of money unnecessarily

13. If I could go back now and talk to myself I would say: “Quit crying and have some fun!”

14. Picture of myself then:

Now:

1. Age: 34

2. Romantic Status: Happily married

3. Occupation: Domestic goddess

4. Fun night out:   New passion is trivia night at the Fred Pub; close second is dinner out with friends

5. My BFFs: Michael, Mike, Lesley, Melissa, Annette, Russell, and Amy  (just a few!)

6. I spend way too much time: screwing around watching TV

7. I spend not enough time: Cleaning the house

8. I want to be when I grow up: an author

9. Biggest concern:  MONEY! and the other issue in my life… 

10. What my biggest concern should be: Making Leah happy

11. Where do I live: Fredericksburg VA

12. Dumbest thing I have done this year: Got pulled into the drama

13. What I think I would say to myself in 10 years: See?  All that worry was for nothing (yet again!)!!!

14. Picture of me now:

Summary:
1. What do I miss most from 1999: The freedom to make a major life change without giving it more thought than “Well, I’ve never been there, what the hell!”

2. What do I miss least from 1999: All the sorrow from the divorce, all the homesickness, grad school

3. What have I accomplished in 10 years that I am most proud of: An awesome marriage, my beautiful daughter, reconnecting with many friends, deep and meaningful friendships, being recognized for many accomplishments, my home

4. What have I NOT accomplished in 10 years that I wish I had: Finishing my stupid novel and getting it published!

Book MeMe Stolen from Heather

What To Do: Using only books you have read this year (2009), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title. It’s a lot harder than you think!

Describe yourself:  The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)

How do you feel: Touch (Francine Prose)

Describe where you currently live: The View from Mt. Joy (Lorna Landvik)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Imagined London (Anna Quindlen)

Your favorite form of transportation: Dear American Airlines (Jonathan Miles)

Your best friend is: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (Helene Hanff)

You and your friends are: Random Family (Adrian Nicole LeBlanc)

What’s the weather like: Plum Spooky (Janet Evanovich)

You fear: Salem’s Lot (Stephen King)

What is the best advice you have to give:  Everything I Need to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume

Thought for the day: It’s My F---ing Birthday (Merrill Markoe)

How I would like to die: Where the Broken Heart Still Beats (Carolyn Meyer)

My soul’s present condition: Up the Down Staircase (Bel Kaufman)

Christmas MeMe Stolen from Heather

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot chocolate, not a fan of the nog!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Wraps them, of course!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I grew up on multi-colored ones.  One year, my mom and I did white icicle lights which I liked a lot too.  But I think I prefer multicolored ones.  But not multicolored icicle lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Nope

5. When do you put your decorations up?
I start putting them up the first week of December.  The tree goes up at the bitter end, this year will be pretty early, it goes up on the 19th!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Yorkshire pudding!!!!  YUM!  A close second is trifle.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
The giant Christmas tree from out back.  Read back entries of my blog to read the story if you’ve missed it before.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
My mom’s best friend’s daughters told me and my sister that their mom told them there was no Santa Claus.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Nope!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
The normal way: lights, ornaments, garland, and an angel on top.  No tinsel—I hate it!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Both

12. Can you ice skate?
I used to be able to, I doubt I could now.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Not really.  I remember a stereo system being a big hit!

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Being with the ones I love

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Trifle!  YUM!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Hosting a 3 Kings Dinner for friends

17. What tops your tree?
An angel that Michael’s aunt and uncle gave us

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? 
Giving now—I love seeing people’s faces when you give them just the right thing!
 
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
O Holy Night and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Yum, but in moderation.  One or two a year is plenty

Book Challenges for 2010

I was very excited to log on this morning and discover that Lesley is hosting a book challenge. I was even more excited to discover that she's giving us a year to finish it!! A challenge I can totally complete! (Although I failed spectacularly at the alphabet challenge! But I was close, right?)

The idea is that there are quite a few books out there about books and reading and won't it be great to clear some of them off the shelves!? I went through all my shelves this morning during Leah's first nap of the day and came up with 15 books that have something to do with books and reading in some way, shape, or form. I'm going to shoot for the Bibliomaniac level of the challenge, meaning I must read 12 books about books in the coming year. The great thing is, re-reads are acceptable, which is great because at least 2 of the books below I've read and read yearly! I can't say for sure I will read all the books listed below, but these are books I have in my possession that seem to fit:

1. The Book Borrower by Alice Mattison
2. The Fiction Class by Susan Breen
3. The Ladies' Lending Library by Janice Kulyk Keefer
4. Rex Libris: I, Librarian by James Turner
5. The Romance Readers' Book Club by Julie L. Cannon
6. How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom
7. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
8. Ruined by Reading by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
9. Shelf Life by Suzanne Strempek Shea
10. The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton
11. The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
12. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
13. Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
14. The History of Lucy's Love Life in Ten and a Half Chapters by Deborah Wright
15. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Barrows and Annie Shaffer

If you want to join the challenge, visit the BBC Blog at http://2010bbc.blogspot.com/ to sign up!



I also read about another book challenge via Lesley's site and have decided to join up with that one as well. This is the "What's in a Name?" Challenge and also gives you a year to complete 6 books. The books may overlap with other challenges, so it may be I read one for one challenge and count it for the other. There are 6 categories that your book title must fall into for this challenge. My current selections follow the category, although some of these will probably change!

1. A book with a food in the title: Leftovers by Laura Wiess
2. A book with a body of water in the title: Your Oasis on Flame Lake by Lorna Landvik
3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: The Professors' Wives' Club by Joanne Rendell
4. A book with a plant in the title: The Cotton Queen by Pamela Morsi
5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title: A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark
6. A book with a music term in the title: Songs In Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris

To learn more or sign up yourself, visit http://whatsinname3.blogspot.com/.

Happy Reading!

Left Over Christmas Cards

I have approximately 20 left over Christmas cards. I thought I'd send them out to soldiers, but unfortunately, I missed the Red Cross deadline so I can't send them out to soldiers. I did a Google search and nothing has really come up. So if you want a Christmas card from a random person, drop me a line with your email and I'll get your address and send you a card. I'd be interested to see where I can send cards to!

Merry Christmas!

Just Random Stuff

Not much has been going on lately that I really want to blog too much about, the typical family drama rearing its ugly head now and again, but I’m getting through it and I’m frankly tired of dealing with it, so am working on strategies to make it through without destroying myself in the process.

Other than that, life has taken on a pretty even keel.  I cannot believe my little baby is 8 months old already.  I saw a picture of her as a 1 month old and I couldn’t get over it, how she couldn’t sit up on her own, she was just a little mushy lump.  I miss that little mushy lump, but the Leah that is emerging is an absolute joy.  She is my favorite person in the world.  She makes me laugh and she makes me cry tears of joy.

My book club met Monday to discuss The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman.  Most of us didn’t really like it, and I heard “This is not Alice’s best”, which cracks me up because when we read Blackbird House in another book club, we heard, “This is not Alice’s best!”  So, what is Alice’s best?  I have Illumination Night here, but I’m hesitant to read it.  I can get through her books pretty quick, though, so even if it sucks, maybe I’d be OK just to add it to the pile.  I am presently reading In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd, which is this month’s book club selection; we will discuss it on January 4th.  When I get through it, and it’s a Christmas book so it’s a great time to be reading it, I’ll have read 65 books this year.  I am also going to try to plow through Elizabeth Berg’s The Handmaid and the Carpenter, which I wanted to read last Christmas, but didn’t get to.  Otherwise, that will be next year’s Christmas selection.

I got out our Christmas decorations this week and put them up—I don’t know if I have lost things or I have more house or I’m missing a box, or what, but honestly, the house looks pretty bare.  I have a nativity set in the basement and one up in the living room, plus a couple little odds and ends, but I can’t seem to locate a few things I know are ‘somewhere’.  Ahh, the mystical somewhere.  Our tree goes up next week on the 19th, and then the fun begins.  This weekend, Melissa will take Leah for us on Sunday so I can actually really clean and scrub the house from top to bottom and get the Christmas shopping done.  I am so excited to have this time to get things done, and not to have to worry about screaming baby.  She provides good weight training, but it’s hard doing a lot with 18 pounds of extra weight strapped to me!!!

I am also weeding through things and getting rid of a bunch of junk and setting other things aside to have a yard sale this spring.  I would like to get rid of a lot of the junk that has accumulated in the past 4+ years.  With the extra money, I’d like to buy a wardrobe for the basement guest room so people can hang up their clothes when they come visit and buy my sister a couch so I have someplace to sit and sleep when I go visit her.  I suspect I’m going to have to find a lot more things to sell in order to accomplish that.  I’ve found a lot of interesting stuff.  I found a Geocoin I didn’t know I had—this one from something called GeocacheTreasures.com which no longer exists.  It’s a beauty of a coin, I must say.  I also found wedding invitations for 2 of my roommates from Utah.  Armed with the information on one of them, I found the last of the girls I’d lived with for 4 months in 1997.  Facebook is an amazing place!  With that, I’ve now been reunited with all 5 of them, and we are now swapping Christmas cards and emails.  It was a short time, and for me an intensely unhappy time, but they were all an absolute blast to hang out with, and I’m glad to see them and their families.  Funnily enough, Amy (who I actually shared a room with) and I both have daughters with birthdays in April and our roommate Christina is expecting her first baby *drum roll please* next April!    The long lost Jennifer has surfaced in New York, my old home state.  It would be fun to have a reunion sometime.

It hasn’t really sunk in yet that Leah’s officially ours.  In a way, I’ve just lived the past 8 months as if she is—I have loved her fiercely and determinedly.  The visits were not particularly invasive; if anything they were a chance to ask questions and get advice about parenting.  Of course, we are now being asked if we want to/will do it again, and our answer is a firm “Probably” although we both agreed we might like to try foster care next time.  We’ve been incredibly blessed with Leah and her adoption and the process and people we worked with, and it would be nice to work with a child in need of a home who just needs a chance, be it permanently or temporarily.  We have decided to let Leah be in charge of when or if she wants a brother or sister, but neither one of us is in any rush right now to get into another situation immediately.   We just want to enjoy our little girl.

That’s really about it.  I’ve been invited to attend DBVI’s Christmas party on Monday and told not to show up without Leah, so that is our Monday plan.  Monday night, we’ll be going out with Landry and Meredith to trivia night at the Fredericksburg Pub.  We are lucky to have a wonderful babysitter here in town who is great with Leah and very patient.  She even has the foresight to pack earplugs for those times Leah wants her mommy and screams if Mommy doesn’t oblige.

I’m going to be cleaning up my blog sidebar in the new year.  If your blog hasn’t been updated in the past month, I plan to remove it unless it would seriously upset you/hurt your feelings.  Let me know.  I have also decided NOT to post 80 Plates on this blog anymore—it’s really an excuse not to blog about things on this blog and just let the cooking do the talking.  So from here out, you will have to go to the 80 Plates blog if you want to see what’s cooking. 

For now, it’s over and out!  Hope everyone is enjoying the December holidays!

Oswegatchie DC

This past weekend, when I so desperately needed the comforts of home and they were sorely lacking, I was treated to two tastes of the best place in the world: HOME!  It came to me instead of me going to it.

Back when everyone was married and we were young, my parents played cards almost every weekend with their friends the Hickeys, who lived across the street from us for a while and moved around the block when we were a bit older.  My parents divorced and “Uncle Hickey” and “Aunt Joyce” also divorced, my sister and I moved away, and we all got on with our lives.

Uncle Hickey remarried and moved to Pennsylvania and a couple of times per year, his daughter Linette, who graduated with my sister Judy, comes to visit.  I saw her twice this summer while I was up visiting my dad and she asked if they came down for Thanksgiving, would we like to get together?  Well, they did come down and we got together Sunday at Union Station.

Linette now has two children with her husband and of course I have Leah and my sister has Dottie.  We made plans and decided to meet up at Pizzeria Uno’s at 1:00.  Well, we were a trifle bit late getting there due to the wonderful DC traffic situation (let me put it to you this way—I do NOT miss driving to Northern Virginia, but that’s another blog post entirely), but got there around 1:05 and then sat there for 10 minutes wondering where they were.  Meanwhile, they were one floor below us waiting and wondering where we were.  Finally, I told Judy and Michael to wait and I would go around to the stairs and see if I could find them.  I got halfway down the steps when I saw Linette and her son Hayden yelled “There she is!” and they came over to greet me.  Hayden greeted me with, “Can I hold the baby?” so I handed him Leah and grabbed Linette in a big bear hug.  I swear, I have rarely been so happy to see anyone in my life.

As soon as I let go, I turned to look at the rest of the group and was forced to do a double take as I laid eyes on Uncle Hickey for the first time in 10 years.  I honestly did not recognize him.  He was my dad’s best friend for years, and having been missing my dad so much, to lay eyes on Joe was—well, it brought tears to my eyes,  I can tell you that.  I grabbed him and laid a fierce hug on him while attempting to compose myself.  He took one look at Leah and said, “My God, that is a beautiful baby!”  Then he introduced me to his wife, Nancy, and I said hello to Linette’s husband Tom and daughter Hayley.

I told them that Judy and Michael and Dottie were all upstairs and was Uno’s OK for lunch?  We agreed to eat there and surprised the crew at Uno’s with a table for 9!  It was a wonderful lunch.  We reminisced about old times, talked about new times, caught up on each other’s lives.  Hayden and Hayley were madly in love with Leah and Dottie and attended to their every whim so that I could enjoy a grown up lunch.  Leah didn’t scream or cry in the presence of so many new strangers.  We took pictures, we laughed, we all of us chatted, everyone got along so well, even the “newbies”—Nancy, Michael, and Tom.

Leah of course ate about 6 reams of paper and a bunch of bread.

After lunch, we went downstairs to the main hall to try and find something else to do.  There wasn’t much.  I took Hayden and Hayley for their first taste of Godiva Chocolate to thank them for watching the babies so carefully, and then it was 4:00 and we had to head home.  It was with tears I said good-bye, and Judy and I kept saying all the way home, “That was just what I needed” and “That just felt so right, it felt like all the good things about being home again.”

Sunday I had another little taste of home.  Michael and I have been talking for a while about going to church.  We were both raised Catholic so there are no potential “my church” vs. “your church” issues, although we have both been pretty open to attending whatever church the other one has wanted to go to (we were quite active in the UU church in Boston for a while).

Anyway, I do not like the Catholic church here near the house—it is huge and mass takes for-freakin’-ever to get done with.  I think I have mentioned in the blog a few times how I grew up in a small church.  We sang the same 3 hymns every Sunday, loudly and off key with a 900 year old organist pounding away on the ivories while we did our best to keep up, only changing hymns for Christmas Eve.  When my father first started bringing us to the church, the actual church itself had no heating or air conditioning, so in the winters, we met in the local town hall.  We sat on folding chairs while the priest said mass in the kitchen, using the pass through island as an altar.  Since there were no kneelers, we stood through all the parts that required kneeling.  Mass lasted a whopping 30 minutes if Fr. Richard was feeling particularly chatty.  I haven’t been to a mass here at St. Mary’s that lasted less than an hour and 15 minutes.  Anyway, eventually we built a new church in Fine and we didn’t have to go to the town hall anymore in the winter, we just used the church we built.

But while I was working, I went past a church called St. Jude’s.  It was located in a storefront down south of here, and I thought surely it was not affiliated with the big C Catholic church.  I mentioned it to Michael but we kind of put it out of our heads.  Then a few weeks ago, we got talking about it again and so I did a Google search for it and it is, in fact, a big C Catholic church, part of the Archdiocese of Arlington.  So this weekend we finally went.

I had a funny feeling I was in business when I walked in and discovered that everyone sits in folding chairs.  We attended the 8:30 mass, which it turns out is probably a good thing considering it seems like the one at 10:30 is the one with all the hoopla and singing and I don’t go for that.  There was a lone pianist in the front of the room, and a simple altar up on a simple stage.  The priest, Fr. Dave, is a slightly rotund, balding older man who bears a slight resemblance to our beloved Fr. Richard.  The mass was simple and straightforward, Fr. Dave offered a pithy homily which made everyone laugh just a bit and then moved on to the service.  We stood during the kneeling parts because there are no kneelers.  When Leah spit her binky across the room, a little old man happily retrieved it for us and brought to her, pinching her little cheek and making her giggle.  We were out in 45 minutes.  I can live with a 45 minute mass. 

As we left, Fr. Dave shook our hands and of course shook Leah’s hand as well.  We took a bulletin which details such things as pizza parties, potlucks, choir practices, and intriguingly an Advent tea.  And they are working to build a new church, just like my old parish worked to build one.  I don’t want to jump the gun, but I think we may have found a spiritual place to call home.  We’re going to give it another try next week and see what we think.  But all signs are favorable.

Sometimes these things happen with great serendipity, just when you need them most.  I needed them and they were here.  Love that.