B Events

Books

I finally finished Blame it on Paris. I was a bit worried after the build up I gave it looking for it for so long it wouldn't be as good as I'd hoped, but I ended up really loving it. It was sweet and witty and funny and poignant. And I definitely got a great big French fix from it. Go run out and buy it, read it, right away.

I didn't quite manage to finish it by the end of the second week. I finished it last night. Well, this morning if you want to get technical, at about 2:30 am. To stay on my a-book-a-week schedule, I need to find something shorter then the sixth Harry Potter (600 plus pages) for my next read. I'm in the mood for a good mystery, or maybe I'll finally get around to reading Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, which I've meant to read and kept forgetting I had for about seven months now.

Y'know, I thought it would be easy peasy to read a book a week. I mean, I read almost that much last year, and that was without any effort beyond my desire to read. But I didn't plan on having such a busy start to my year, either. I'm certain I read faster then a snail, but I'm coming across folks who seem to read A LOT MORE BOOKS then me without any effort at all! One friend mentioned casually, and this was on January 12, that she'd read fourteen books already this year. And when I expressed amazement, she casually says "Oh, it's not really that much - it's only about a book a day." *Jaw Drop* Another friend says she averages a couple books a week but wants to read more. Gad, and here I am plodding along, making difficulty noises at this book-a-week goal I've set for myself.

Birds

I saw a kingfisher yesterday. It was on an electric wire above the river as I drove along Riverside Road midday. As I came up along where it was perched, it took off, swung over the river, and dove down behind the bushes and, I can only presume, into the water. It was so pretty, with it's pointed headdress and the black and white contrast of it's feathers.

Also, did anyone see on the news about the flock of starlings in San Rafael, California? It's amazing! Here's a wonderful Youtube video of the air ballet. And here's a news article about it.

Bathroom windows

I opened the bathroom window a crack yesterday because it was getting too wet in there. Only thing, I forgot to go back and close it and last night I discovered it frozen open. It took hot washcloths and a bit of banging but I finally got it closed.

Boys

Y'know, boys are odd creatures. You never know what sort of behavior to expect from them. Last night I heard a bunch of unusual shuffling and bumping-into-things and ripping noises from William's room, so I went and investigated. Well, maybe not so unusual. I'm always hearing crashing, bumping, and other assorted loud sounds from William's room. Usually when I open the door and ask "What's going on?" I get "Nothing" from one or more teenagers, all with deadpan faces. Far too deadpan to be "nothing." This time I discovered William had wrapped his friend James up in packing tape. They thought it was hysterically funny. They marched off to show another friend and James' mother.


They came back a while later with aluminum foil added to the outfit. "To keep the aliens from reading his brain" they announced as they marched through the living room. Oh. Of course. How could I have not realized.

These are NOT ransom photos, I swear.

A short time later James had shed his protective garb and, taking their chances with alien abduction, decided to cook themselves a shrimp dinner. And they did, too. Which is as odd as the whole packing tape and aluminum foil thing if you knew - I didn't know William even knew where our oven was located.

And we've reached a new low in communication ability. Or would that be a new high? The phone rang. I was sitting on the couch, I had to get up, walk to the dining room, pick up the cordless phone...

"Hello?"

"How do you cook shrimp?"

"William? Is this you? Where are you?" (I thought maybe they'd gone back to James' house and I hadn't noticed.)

"In my bedroom."

Apparently it was too much work to open the door and walk the entire eight feet down the hallway and through the dining room to find me. Sigh.

Blueberries

Actually, oranges. But blueberries starts with a B and oranges starts with an O. But the oranges I'm talking about might be like big "blue" fruit because they are so COLD from the deep freeze that all of California is battling. As I sat on the couch last night eating a lovely orange, I saw videos on the news of oranges covered in icicles and frost. I wonder how long I'll be able to afford fresh fruit before this extreme weather impacts produce prices. They did say however, that the ruined fruit could still be sold to make orange juice. I guess so, it's already fresh frozen. Ha! Okay, not so funny for the poor farmers.

Boxes

I got a bunch of boxes in the mail from my mom today. Full of goodies. Some cute kids' clothes for the grandkids, some wonderful soaps, tons of ribbons to use for wrapping gifts and for sewing projects. Anyone got any good project ideas for using lots and lots of ribbons? I also got a box from Amazon today - the second half of my Yule/Birthday gift - the second season of Doctor Who! YAH!

And speaking of boxes, I've put it off long enough. I have to drag in all the holiday boxes, sort them out, pack up the rest of the decorations, and get them back out into the garage. I'll start tonight. I promise. Why is my hand behind my back? No. Don't look behind me. I'm not crossing my fingers! I'm not!!

Bare belly

Suddenly all my shirts are too small on me. Now, don't go jumping to any rude conclusions. I have not gained weight. True. Pinky swear. But it's also true that I haven't suddenly gone through a growth spurt and gotten taller at fifty. The only other possibility is that my washing machine has suddenly decided to shrink, selectively, all my shirts?

I've noticed that the style for women's shirts has suddenly gone from waist to hip length. So perhaps it just seems like my shirts are shorter? Maybe, but that still doesn't explain the skin that's now showing. I'm .... confused. And that's not a good thing at my age. It's worrisome.

It might be a good thing for all my shirts to shrink if I didn't like my clothes and needed an excuse to buy some new things for my wardrobe, but it's new shirts and old alike that have suddenly been replaced with smaller sizes overnight. By fairies. While I slept. Yeeeeah. That's it. It's the only logical explanation.