December 2007

links for 2007-12-14

1 Comment / Daily Dose /

links for 2007-12-14 Read More »

Sweet Swan of Avon

1 Comment / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

Another book I should have read ages ago. It’s been living on my bookshelf since BlogHerCon06, thanks Blogher and Robin! Sorry it took me so long to read but Sweet Swan of Avon was worth waiting for.

I enjoyed it.

But I would since I totally don’t think Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. I’m not sure Mary Sidney wrote Shakespeare either but it’s a heck of a lot more possible than Shakespeare writing Shakespeare.

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The Christmas Meme

1 Comment / Christmas, Family Funk /

Just cause Mata said so.

1.Real tree or artificial or treeless? Any special traditions with the tree?

Well, I would prefer a real tree but TW’s allergic so we have artificial. A new Martha Steward artificial this year. The only special traditions with the tree are to get out of the way when a zillion kids try and decorate it with every single ornament we have, just as fast as they can.

2. Eggnog or Cider or Mulled Wine?

Uh no. Never. Thanks for offering, though.

3. Spiritual or Secular celebration?

Both? Heh.

4. Favorite Christmas music?

Silver Bells. Though the middle schooler playing Good King Wenceslas has been a pleasure this year. I remember when I learned to play it on the piano. I’m guessing I drove my mother a little nuts.

5. One special holiday memory.

Errrr. The year Santa didn’t wrap any gifts when I was like 5? I was sick and grouchy. That was totally special ’cause today I can annoy my mother by whining about that. Heh. Or the year Santa brought Teddy Ruxpin to Jenn, that was awesome. Santa was one cool dude.

Your turn. And if you do it, you should let Mata know.

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Endymion Spring

2 Comments / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Look! Another YA book! And, another book I own but have never read! And, another book I meant to read a year ago! I’m so glad I put Endymion Spring on my A to Z list. And extra glad that I’m making a final last ditch attempt to finish the A to Z list. Otherwise, I might never have found time for Endymion Spring and it would have sat quietly unobserved on RJ’s book shelf where it’s been for a year. Heh.

It was good. I wee bit of a slow start but right about the time (chapter 3) that I mentioned it was starting slow, it picked up and didn’t quit til the end.

Awesome. And I’m so glad I knew who the “shadow” was. I like it when I’m right – which is always, ya know.

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I’m all about the bling…

6 Comments / Christmas, Daily Dose, Day to Day, Family Funk, Love or Sex, Memories /

Ha. Not. So totally not about the bling.

The car for Christmas wasn’t inexpensive and it was nice but it wasn’t the best gift TW has given me.

The really expensive and very special 40th birthday party was fantastic (even if I did end up having to do all of the work for it, ahem) but again not the best present (sorry Melissa and travelers from far away.)

I’m not sure I know what the best gift was, there have been so many…

1) The photographs from the newspaper, printed and framed, that TW described to me in those very early days. (want to see a picture?)

2) The carved jack-o-lantern she sent to me via USPS for Halloween.

4) A little pillow book with TW marshmallowy sentiments tucked inside.

5) The quilt, oh lord the quilt. TW doesn’t sew – or even cut straight – but I have a tiny practice quilt and a full sized quilt made by her own little hands.

6) The little book of, well, more marshmallow fluffy conversations that she and I have had. Very sweet.

7) The socks. Errr. So I don’t actually have those yet. She’s been working on them for 9 months because, again, she doesn’t knit. Or she didn’t ’til she decided she needed to knit me a pair of socks. But, she’s working on them and I might have one sock by Valentine’s Day. And I will love that one sock a lot more than any piece of jewelry, not because I don’t really like jewelry but because it really IS the thought that counts.

Forget the bling, give me a sock instead.

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IKEA Orlando

Daily Dose, Day to Day /

I just realized that I never blogged about our visit(s) to IKEA Orlando. Oops, my bad. I got really distracted by Jenn’s visit, TW’s trip to Atlanta and my own hectic work week. So let me try and hit the highlights for you.

First, IKEA Orlando does not have Swedish pancakes or lingonberries for sale in its cafeteria – yet. They just have the boring scrambled eggs etc… and cinnamon rolls. HMPH. The cafeteria workers have indicated they will be selling them, they just didn’t know when. I guess maybe they have to be taught how to make Swedish pancakes or something? Though TW made them from an IKEA mix this morning and they tasted exactly like IKEA’s so it doesn’t seem to hard. Whatever. I was disappointed.

Also, going to IKEA Orlando on a Thursday, a week after Thanksgiving, was not as horrible as I was afraid it was going to be. It wasn’t very crowded at all.

IKEA Orlando is either sold out of a bunch of stuff I would like to have had or they never got a shipment of those items in the first place. Not sure which it is but it was slightly troubling. How can they have Billy bookcases in brown/black but not have the height extension units? Annoying!

IKEA Orlando has self-checkout stations – a ton of them and they work OK but not super great, particularly if you purchase something from the “return – as/is” room. IKEA Orlando could use 2 fewer self service lines and 2 more cashiers, particularly on weekends.

IKEA Orlando on the first Sunday in December was frightening…from the parking lot. When we pulled in, there were cars parked in the empty field in front of IKEA. Scared the hell out of me. But as I drove through the parking lot I realized there was a ton of side parking and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. Still more crowded than our Thursday visit but not as bad as I’ve seen IKEA Atlanta on a Saturday.

IKEA Orlando felt smaller than IKEA Atlanta – is it? Or was it just my imagination?

IKEA Orlando changed a ton of “room” displays between the time I visited on a Thursday and the time I visited on Sunday – three days and a ton of rooms were completely different. I was really surprised. How often does IKEA change a room display in general???

IKEA Orlando’s returns & exchanges personnel were very fast and very friendly – BOTH times I had to visit them. On Sunday, there were 11 people ahead of me in line and I was afraid it was going to take hours. Instead, it took about 10 minutes. Amazing.

Overall impressions… pretty darn good and I’m not just saying that because I like the idea of a two hour drive better than a five hour drive.

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On Becoming Fearless

1 Comment / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Women /

Yes, another book I own (thank you Arianna and BlogHer) that I never quite made time to read. On Becoming Fearless was better than I expected.

Better because I’m not a huge Arianna fan. I think she’s interesting. I like her blog. But no fan love here and I didn’t really know what to expect. The chapter on being fearless in relationships was a little flat – the chapters on parenting, money and work were much better.

Overall – a pretty good “self help” type of book.

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I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes

2 Comments / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction, Young Adult /

In the spring of 2006 Sassymonkey started talking about I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes. She talked about it so much that I wanted to read it but it was Canadian or something and of course not available at my library. So, sassymonkey gifted me with it. And it’s been on my TBR pile ever since. I added it to my A to Z list challenge because I thought that would encourage me to get it read… and it did. I finished it last night.

But not before I griped about reading it. (and no I’m not sharing the video TW made of me griping about reading it)

The first 150 pages or so were so confusing and just a little slow. I just could not get into it and could not see why Sassymonkey had been talking about that book. And, I could NOT figure out how or why this was re-titled and published as YA in the US. (The Spell Book of Listen Taylor)

About half-way through, I figured out why Sassymonkey (and TW) enjoyed the book. I am here, grudgingly, to say that it WAS a good book. And it was interesting and different and if I’d have been Cath, I’d have killed the entire Zing family. Dead. OK not Cassie (or Taylor, part of the extended Zing family) ’cause they were kids and not involved. The rest – DEAD, completely DEAD.

I’m still not sure I like the idea of this being a YA book and I’m pretty sure there are huge groups of rabid, over-protective mommies who would hate the idea even more than I do. I just don’t see any of the YAs in my world ever sitting through the first 150 pages of this book, Coyote F*** or no Coyote F***.

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