quick book update

So I am in love.  The particular sadness of lemon cake had me in the first chapter.  The language is poetic and visual, and sucks you in with keyholes into the story.  I can't wait to find out what happens, but I never want it to end.  Looking forward to reading some of Aimee Bender's earlier work.

Also reading/skimming Drink This: Wine Made Simple.  Dara is delightful, and makes the most unusual comparisons.  For example, she'll say something like, just because xx wine got a 95 rating doens't mean you will like it.  The person who rated it is saying that of the most perfect steak s/he could imagine, this wine would be a 95 out of 100.  But you don't always want steak.  You might not even like steak.  Find out what wines you like, and you won't need me anymore.

The only down side to this book is that it really should be used as more of a work book, and right now, I don't have/want to spend the money on my wine edification.  I'm focusing on other things.  But she gives you all the steps, all the info, and is witty and irreverant to boot.  Plus, she's local.  Love!!

Three day weekend: will I spend it reading?  Or will I spend it finishing the wrap I mentioned here?  Tune in next time to find out!

web notes

I think this camera simulator is fun to play with.  And it also shows me why I prefer a point-and-shoot camera: I'm lazy. 

 

I saw these at a shop in the Galleria years ago and have wanted some since.  I probably could find a cheat, but when these flower arrangers are so inexpensive, and so easy to story, why mess around with tape grids?

love this

When dealing with individuals, sensitive types who write, one must be kind and delicate. On the Internet though, with a pack of strangers, you can say whatever the hell you like.

                                                                -Wide Lawns

 

updates, books and otherwise

Ok, so Husand and Wife?  No go.  I gave up 100 pages in.  Jen Lancaster? Amazing as always.  However, I've been remiss in starting another book because I've been busy knitting.  Yes, knitting.  So far my list of projects:

scarf - completed
wrap - in progess
market bag - tbd

But truthfully, I only have time for either knitting or reading, so I have to intersperse them.

Also?  Looking at making spirally scarfs for christmas gifts this year.  Hmmm.

Also, also?  I brought truffles to church yesterday for a meeting, trying to restart my cottage industry.  I sold the extra box I brought.  Yay!  And Will Fetzer called me today saying he had an idea to expand my business.  Yay!  Yay! 

And . . I biked 16.5 miles today.  Whew.  That took a little longer than I expected and so I wasn't able to get back to Will.  But I've been noticing that my weight has been creeping back up slightly.  And I'm bound and determined to lose that and more.  So I'm really trying to ratchet it up.  Summer is literally right around the corner.

p.s.  why do the defunct keys on my keyboard keep changing?  First it was c's, then n's, now f's?  WTF.

So excited for this album.

Just finished Bill Bryson's At Home.  For a subject that you'd think would be kind of dull, it was extremely interesting, and pulled you along the way a plot usually does that you rarely find in non-fiction.

Also finished awhile back Still Life with Husband by Lauren Fox, but I forgot to update that.  It was so so good.  And despite the fact that it's about an imploding marriage, it was extremely funny and witty.

Although, I've found I tend to read a lot of fiction about relationships falling apart, and it translates to paranoia about my own marriage, and that's not good.  So we're taking a break with that.  By reading . . Husband and Wife, about an imploding marriage.

Just kidding.

I mean, I do want to read that, but not for a bit.  Instead, I'll be reading Jen Lancaster's latest, Wish You Were Here, which is her first (thinly-veiled)) foray into fiction.  I'm really excited.

Anyone know how many we're at for books read so far?  I've lost track and every time I try and count, I lose track.

thoughts on money and design

My mother-in-law said something interesting to me yesterday.  “If I could just make $30,000 a year, I would be set.  Don’t you think?” 

As a recovering spendthrift, and having made $30,000, or around, for the past several years, I am woefully aware how far that amount of money goes, and how far it doesn’t.  True, my dear MIL has made less than $20,000, sometimes considerably less, for as long as I’ve known her.  But making $30,000 would be just enough that she’d no longer qualify for all the public assistance she gets for her special-needs child, and that she’d have to foot the bill for everything, putting her effectively in the same place she is now.  Then there’s the matter of the loans she’s recently taken out to get her Bachelor’s Degree.

I mention this to her.

“But don’t you think, after all these years of living cheap, I could continue to do that if I made more money?”

I nod.

“I do.  Of course, I would upgrade a few things.  I’d get a nicer apartment, and new dishes, and maybe some new clothes.  I haven’t bought clothes in forever . . . “

We don’t even have to receive our riches before we start to spend them in our minds.  And as we’ve all heard, our thoughts become our words, and our words become our (very telling) actions.

Later on, I’m helping my MIL fix her bedframe.  The two supports running across the frame had fallen, leaving no support for the mattress.  Upon looking at the frame, I noticed that there were holes that were meant to fasten the supports to the top board so that this didn’t happen, but the holes didn’t line up with the supports.

“Talk about manufacturing stupidity!” my MIL says to me.  “It’s obviously a design flaw.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to make sense of the situation.  Being a carpenter’s daughter who is very familiar with IKEA, I’ve never encountered a piece that that is actually manufactured wrong.  It’s usually put together wrong and, as a result, usually falls apart.

“Are you sure the boards aren’t upside down?” I ask.  This is not an unreasonable question.  I just saw her try to fit the support beams into the side panels with the floor padding up instead of down.  Not surprisingly, the holes didn’t fit.

“No.  They’re right.  It’s just manufacturer’s stupidity.”

I find it interesting that when we say “design flaw” or “manufacturer’s stupidity”, what’s really going on is “user error”.  We become so convinced that we are right and that something/someone else is the real problem, that we are unable to see our own mistakes.

This is probably why approximately 85% of drivers would rate themselves as in the top 5% in skill.  Even drivers who have been the cause of accidents.  I will readily admit that I am one of those 85% of drivers and I have caused an accident.  But I learned, see?  So I really still am a good driver.  Really.

It's odd to realize you look essentially the same as you did in high school. Even though, after ten years, you feel completely different.

This sounds amazing.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!

This sounds like a great start to a game night.

fake quotes and punctuation

finds this and this veryy interesting.  It's a shame that one must be noteworthy to be quoted, because I really identified with the sentiment.  I also find it interesting that correctly used punctuation was the cause of this tempest.  On Facebook, no less.  I'll be the first to admit that I've let that bar drop a few pegs.

I'm sitting outside checkpoint 3 at the airport, having deja vu to a past life.

Wow. Just wow. I can't believe they finally caught Osama Bin Laden. I don't know what to think or what I feel. Despite being a bleeding heart liberal, I think this is pride.  Sadly, I also think that, from the outside, our celebrations outside the White House and Ground Zero must look a whole lot like the ones we saw in other countries on 9-11.  This both frightens me, because I wonder how ours will be interpreted, and sobers me, because I think we didn't truly understand them at the time.

never buy the wrong thing again

I should never go clothes shopping with out completing this first.

In fact, I should do it just so I can go shopping.