Hiding Between the Pages

It's been a rough week. I've had all sorts of gloomy, philosophical, deep, and yet somehow inspiring, posts swirling around in my brain, waiting for me to WOW you with them. Fortunately for you, I didn't have the energy to actually write them. So you're safe. At least this time 'round.

I've been dealing with .... oh, just nothing. Big things but not big because it's not like I can do anything about them personally. Happy but ignored birthdays and sad but not ignored anniversaries. Smoke. Lots of smoke. From our little backyard forest fire. Just 62,000 plus acres so far. Nothing big.

Mostly I've been hiding in other worlds, other lives. Books. Hey, maybe not tackling my overwhelming to-do list or real world issues but, better to creep off to live vicariously in a book than to hide in drugs or alcohol or .... or.... promiscious sexual encounters or bouts of eating sixty hamburgers at one sitting. Yes?

In fact, being that I'm so overwhelmed and have so many things I'm behind on, I've decided a good use of my time the last couple of days, when my head was not stuck in a book, has been to become immersed in Shelfari, an online "book club". I've been creating a bookshelf, reading other people's book lists, and finding new books and authors I haven't heard of before. A great, fun distraction for a bibliophile like me.

I'd originally heard about Shelfari over on Deb's blog. She'd mentioned both Shelfari and Library Thing, deciding that Library Thing was the better fit for her. I had planned on mosying over there but never got around to it until another friend sent me a Shelfari invite the other day. I checked out both sites and think Shelfari is much more user friendly. I signed up on both, but I've been hanging out over at Shelfari. So, if you're signed up on either, send me a friend invite.

One quick story before I close this laptop and wander around the house aimlessly -

For most of our seventeen years of marriage, my hubby has brought me coffee in bed. There's been a few gaps in that tradition because of work schedules or circumstances. Even a few "strikes". But he still frequently does this very small but amazing act of love for me every morning.

So yesterday morning he comes in the bedroom. "Here's your coffee honey." I look up from my computer and see clenched in his big paw the teensiest cup in our cupboard. It's part of a small tea set. It's about the size of an espresso cup. Two good sized gulps and you're finished. Still, it's the thought that counts, right. Maybe he thought I'd think it was cute.

"Thank you." I take the cup from him.

And then I see he's got something in his other hand, and he's turned a bit unnaturally to avoid showing it to me as he tries to back out of the room.

"What's in your other hand?"

He stops and pulls his coffee mug into view. It's a new one I bought him this summer. A huge oversized 16 oz. BUZZ cup. And it's filled to the top.

We have a lot of coffee and espresso makers, but we most often use a small "four cup" drip brew maker. (which is really only a two mug coffee maker.) It used to be mine back when hubby drank only caffeinated. He owned a ten cup coffee maker and he'd make and drink several pots a day. At the time I only drank decaf, so I bought the little coffee maker for just me. Now that I drink a mix of caf and decaf, and he's broken his caffeine addiction, the big pot is in the pantry, brought out only when we have company, and the small pot serves both of us. But it only pours two regular size mugs of coffee.

"I'm sorry" he muttered sheepishly. "I was feeling greedy."

(Ignore messy nightstand. And this photo makes the wee cup look bigger than it really is!)