Dude, I so need to knit this…

Fuck Off I’m Trying to Read, from the most recent issue of The AntiCraft.

There are quite a few patterns in here that I really adore.

Run Away!

Wa na na na na na na na Bat Shawl!

It occured to me the other day that I had forgotten to write up my reading list for last year. I typically do this early in the new year. I suppose the fact that I am getting around to this in July somehow indicates what kind of life I’m living this year.

All books are listed in the month in which they were finished. Notice the missing months? First time EVER that I have not finished a book at least once a month. In fact there are two consective months missing a finished book. Baby birthing and moving sure take up a bunch of time. Not to mention the paltry numbers in 2007. Again with the Baby.

January 2007

1. Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck **

2. White Teeth: A Novel by Zadie Smith

March 2007

3. Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott

4. March by Geraldine Brooks **

April 2007

5. The New York Trilogy: City of Glass; Ghosts; The Locked Room by Paul Auster **

May 2007

6. The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

7. Plum Lovin’ (A Stephanie Plum Novel) by Janet Evanovich

August 2007

8. Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen

9. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: A Novel by Michael Chabon

September 2007

10. Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott

11. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

12. Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum Novels) by Janet Evanovich

October 2007

13. Eragon (Inheritance) by Christopher Paolini

14. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer **

November 2007

15. Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair by Laurie Perry

16. The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield **

December 2007

17. The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud **

** books read for bookclub

Past Years

Thar She Reads - 2006 (34 Titles Finished)

Thar She Reads - 2005 (33 Titles Finished)

I didn’t do an entry for 2004 - Stinkers!

2007 stats - 17 titles or 1.42 books a month or about half of my “normal” reading load. Not too bad considering. I am just about back to my normal rate of reading (2.79/month). So far this year I’ve read 14 titles, and I am just about to finish 2 more! Go speed racer go!

We rented a car during our trip to Kentucky.   If you do not already know this, here’s a good car renting tip:  There are VERY few economy cars in a rental fleet.  No one rents them, so the companies do not really buy them.  Chances are if you book one in advance by the time you get to the counter the one or two they have will be out and you’ll get a free upgrade.
Unless, of course, you really need a bigger car but are too cheap / poor to upgrade yourself and pay the extra cash.

At the Nashville Airport, for the first time in my career as a traveller and car renter-er I was not upgraded.  They actually sent us out the door with an Economy. It was fair, I’m not really complaining.  They were nice about it.  According to the guy behind the counter they had “saved” it for us.

Having never actually driven an Economy car I was unprepared for the acrobatics it would take to pack ALL of the baby shit in it and then the surprise of the absolute lack of engineering in the vehicle.  It was, essentially, a glorified golf cart.  For real.  I’m surprised it didn’t come with a set of clubs.  Not that they would fit.

We were coming out of lunch at the local shit mall and I was lamenting our luck and discussing the finer points of the crappy ass vecicle with my brother-in-law.  Just as I finish my rant and older gentleman comes up, all Southern like, and says:

“Oh, how to you like your Aveo?”

Rob, matching the man’s Southern grace, “Oh, it is nice, it is just not well suited for our needs.  It’s a rental and we are traveling with a baby.”

While this conversation goes on my brother-in-law is elbowing me in the ribs whispering - “Go on, tell him what you really think.”

I kick in all twangy like, “Actually, it’s a piece of crap.  A lawn mower with a body.”

“Oh, well me and the wife just bought one, we thought it was great.” whispers the old man.

Ladies - never listen to your brother-in-law.  He knows you are from the North and that you have no social graces.  He does not have your best interest at heart.  He wants to laugh at you.

Someone just shoot me.

We get in the car and Rob says, “In the South you have to learn to say something but not really say anything”.

For crying in the beers.  Give me New York any day.

So you all got me walking down memory lane. I have spent most of the night looking for old pictures. I am missing a box of really old and funny ones. However, I did find a few to entertain.  Lucky for you all Rob got this for his birthday.  I mostly stuck to pictures of Vin and Brian, in celebration of Vin’s wedding.  I had to limit myself somehow….otherwise you would all be bored to tears.

I challenge you all to post pictures of your “formal” gowns.   Me first.

Chad  (my date), me, Janine (Vin’s date), and Vin.  1991… 17 years ago.  Wow.  Check out that dress.  It could do double duty as a curtain!

Here we are again - another dress-up event.  This was the perm stage…  1993… 15 years ago.

Me and Bri, Washington DC, class trip, 1990.  There are so many fashion forward elements in this photo - can you spot them all?

I can date most of these pictures by the glasses I’m wearing.  This was 1994… 14 years ago.  We are due to graduate high school in a few months. 

This didn’t scan so great - but it’s one of my favorite pictures of us.  Taken in 2000, at Brian’s engagement party.  Damn I was skinny. 

If I find that damn box I’ll post the really funny ones.  I know there are a few of me and Jolene in there that are blackmail material.

Thanks for humoring me…now I want to see those dresses!!!

I actually put on make-up and did my hair. He was actually ready on time.

July 5, 2008 - Right before Vinnie’s Wedding Ceremony.

This was the start of not only our first night away from baby - but our first date in a looooong time.

Baby was excited to get rid of us - she had a keg hidden in the garage.

Travelling wears me out.  I love it - but man, I will be happy to get home this time around.  Wish us luck as we traverse three airports and three cities tomorrow.  See you on the flip.

I was writing a post about how we were traveling to Kentucky yesterday. How we took forever to get here. How they lost our bag. How Sophia has molars coming in and the tylenol was in the lost bag. How we have to worlds smallest rental car (first time EVER not getting an upgrade at the Nashville Airport). How when I finally got in bed the internet at the hotel didn’t work and I was in bed in my underwear (pjs were in the lost baggage) with Sophia sleeping in the hotel room with me. So I couldn’t do my daily post (I’m back dating this one - I’m not ruining a perfect record just because stupid Kentucky ate me and spit me out a floppy moppy).

It wasn’t a great post.

So I started to tool around in my archives looking for a post about how Rob proposed to me… it doesn’t exist apparently. BUT I did find the post that documents the start of my friendship with Jackie and Elisa. October 15, 2004. I was still on blogger back then and when I migrated to wordpress I never updated the pictures. But there it is…the start of two wonderful friendships. Blogging is so cool. I love that I have this. I am also stunned that I have been doing it for as long as I have. Four years. I started right after I got married. Soon after I started I made some super great friends around the country. I am not sure if I would be able to do that if I started these days (the blogging world has really exploded). How cool that I did what I did when I did that. You know? I feel that way about much of my life!

Sophia swears up and down that she did not eat any strawberries.  Just picked ‘em. 

Photographic evidence says otherwise.

Dribble much?

They were sooo juicy.

She would suck all the juice out and throw the leftovers back in to the basket.

Hands stained red - a sure sign of a good time.

Even with her help we managed to pick 16 lbs of strawberries.  What the heck were we thinking?  We are headed out of town on Tuesday.  So I do not really have time to do much with them. Anyone wanna come eat some strawberries?

I just got out of the shower.  11:49pm.  I’m about to miss the daily post.   Why am I so late tonight?

Baby did not sleep last night.  Screaming, crying, throwing her body across the room.  The morning came with me in her crib with her.  Ever done that?  Desperation I tell you, I had tried everything else.  Including carrying her (she did not want to be in the stroller) around our block about 3 times.

In anycase - I was beat today and we had a full plate of household crap to accomplish.  We did and it wasn’t such a bad day.  The evening ended with fresh local strawberries and homemade vanilla ice cream.  Yum.

We got baby to sleep and I snuck into my car to renedevous with…

…. a bottle return machine.

$44.45 in bottles dropped off at a local grocery store.

That, my friends, is what I call an ass-load of bottles.

Don’t fret.  You too can have a Saturday night just like me.  It is a reachable goal.  Truly - you. can. do. it.

#2 - Well, as I was pulling into my driveway this evening after work I ran over a baby bird.  Didn’t even see it until I got out of the car.  We are pretty sure it was alive before it met my tire.

I am going to hell.