Summer Shocker

My kids have been out of school for a month. They return to school in six weeks.

Saturday while I was out filling prescriptions and grocery shopping I saw two things that really blew my mind.

First, Target has the school uniforms (you know, the khaki and blue pants and shorts and white collared shirts) prominently displayed. Second, Walmart has begun setting up the bins in the middle of the aisles that have all the most requested school supplies (pencils, pens, highlighters, glue sticks, crayons, etc.) Neither place has any signage that says anything about school, but the displays say it all.

Random Bits

* Second fastest way to get your kid seen in the ER - severe headache. 30 minutes after our arrival we were ushered to a room, when it looked like some families had been waiting for hours. Less than 20 minutes later they were giving her a CAT scan and we were on our way home before we'd been there 2 hours. Diagnosis: Acute Sinusitis. Treatment: 14 days of the nastiest tasting antibiotic out there.

* Marshall Karp wrote to me!! A few weeks ago I commented on a post on his blog. He read my comment and then responded. And he checked out my blog. The last post in which I talked about his books. How cool is that? I am, however, a bit embarrassed that there were several typos/mistakes in that post.

*J recently went through a bit of separation anxiety - clinging, crying, running after the car when I left. So when he was still asleep when I left for work one day last week, I was prepared to receive a tearful phone call from him. Sure enough, he called when I was half way to work. But instead of the tearful "love ya, miss ya, why didn't you wake me before you left, I didn't get to hug you" I was expecting I got, "When is it my turn on the computer?" I guess we are through with that phase.

* Friday when M couldn't move with the pain in her head causing her to scream, I jokingly asked her if she felt like she was dying. Her reply, "That would be better than this."

Catching up on Books

I am still working on my book resolution. okay, not so much the reading of Dean Koontz, but more the reading of Stuart Woods.

I picked up Chiefs: A Novel (25th Anniversary Edition) at the library*, and I was right. It is a fabulous book. Definitely one I would recommend. I also picked up Shoot Him If He Runs (Stone Barrington) at the library. This is one of the novels by Stuart Woods that I have been tempted to buy, but didn't want to in case is wasn't up to par. While it was no where near the level of Chiefs, it was definitely better than Hot Mahogany. I still need to read Loitering with Intent and Mounting Fears to be caught up with all his new novels, plus Hothouse Orchid will be out in September. (For those who may be counting, that's FOUR novels released in one year.**)


Three books that I did not pick up at the library are the novels by Marshall Karp. I won a signed copy of Karp's third novel Flipping Out from Beth, which meant I really needed to read the first two books so that . . . well I'm just a bit nuts that way, so I purchased The Rabbit Factory and Bloodthirsty from Amazon, which only made sense, because if they were as good as Chris reported they were, then I really was going to want them in my collection and the library didn't have them, I checked. So The Rabbit Factory was excellent - funny, well plotted, great characters. And even though there are reportedly over 200 uses of the F-word, you don't really notice so much because the book is over 600 pages. Bloodthirsty was also a good read, but I was left a little unimpressed with Flipping Out. As the story wrapped up I felt a bit lost as to how Lomax and Biggs had figured it all out. The story also felt a bit flat, with out the great details and humor that had made The Rabbit Factory so enjoyable. Karp is working on a fourth installment which I cannot wait to read.


I also recently read The Mephisto Club (Jane Rizzoli, Book 6) by Tess Gerritsen. I am really enjoying her books. (And not really feeling the need to read them in order, I'm a little late to the party for that.) This one was intriguing with good characters and a very unexpected twist. I will definitely keep Tess on my reading list.

And lastly, my most recent read (just finished it this afternoon), Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter. I won this book over at It's Not All Mary Poppins a few weeks ago. This is a story of a single-by-choice mom who is trying to figure out how to have everything she wants and be the mother her daughter wants her to be without losing herself. I enjoyed this story but felt like the end was a bit rushed. I will be adding Jane Porter to my list for the library.



*As an aside, I'm doing somewhat better about going to the library for books rather than buying everything I want to read. I did buy The Navigator (The Numa Files) by Clive Cussler at the store because it was on the bargain table and really $7 for a hardback book that I'll be able to read at least twice before I remember I'll remember half of the plot.

** For those who may think I'm just picking on Stuart Woods, yes, I know that Clive Cussler has has four books being released this year, but 1) he has co-authors and 2) the quality has not deteriorated as drastically.

The Beach

I'm sitting here watching the wind whip through the palm trees outside my hotel room.

The sky is grey, the ocean is choppy and being pushed parallel to the beach almost as fast as the waves are coming in. It's a bit visually disturbing.

I am tagging along with my husband who is here for a conference. I was hoping for a little sun, a chance to capture new images that would be suitable for my etsy shop, to relax and rejuvenate before the kids get out of school for the summer.

So far I'm only missing the sun.

Little Miss Muffet

Early this morning, when the house was quiet and I was checking my email and reading blogs and enjoying my last few moments of peace before waking the kids for school, a very large daddy-long legs slowly dropped from the ceiling above my keyboard until he came to rest between my typing hands.

I decided that peace and quiet was overrated and Miss Muffet had the right idea.

Now the daddy long legs is camped out on the ceiling above my computer again. I sure he is just waiting to drop in again and make me run away screaming.

Converstation

J and I were talking about age tonight after is bedtime story.

"I'll be 16 on my birthday."

"You'll be 6 on your next birthday." I corrected. "In 10 years you'll be 16."

"How may years will it take for me to be 100?" he asked.

"94 years. How old will I be in 94 years?" I countered.

"Dead." He replied. "You'll be dead."


Well, okay then.

Deprived

About a month ago, the local Chick-fil-A closed for renovations. Not noteworthy, unless your youngest child lives on Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell. And not really a life-changing event considering there are 3 other Chick-fil-As with in 10 miles of my house.

The Chick-fil-A reopened this week. The crowds that have flocked to eat more chicken have been unbelievable. And while the renovation is very nice (they now have what P calls "high tables"), it feels like there are fewer places to sit.

But mostly, I was disappointed that they did not make any changes to the play area. Heck, it would appear that they didn't even CLEAN the play area.