Just when I was about to do a really meaty post about Dewey Decimal Classification...

...I stumbled onto this article. How, you might ask, did I go from my work email (a Publisher's weekly newsletter) to a New York Magazine article about Sex and the City?

Easy--PW blog post about Dumbledore's sexual orientation announcement to
NYM list of other characters whose outing wouldn't surprise to
NYM list of characters who need to die to
NYM Article about Mr. Big to
NYM Article about SATC movie.

Talk amongst yourselves. I'll come back and dissect the article about SATC later.

I have bits of things to blog about running around in my head, like the t-shirt I saw today at Mother Goose (on a 2 year old): "I still live at home with my parents." A few weeks ago I saw one that said "The tiara makes me taller."

A book I checked out today: Pass it down: 5 picturebook families make their mark by Leonard Marcus, children's lit researcher extraordinaire. (will link later.)

Our dept. won the 5th annual pumpkin decorating contest!! Which means we get free lunch at our restaurant of choice. I think it will be Red Lobster. The theme was Wizard of Oz.

Of course, there are other things, like I keep walking up to other blue cars, and realizing they are not my rental.

And my folks are going to help pay for the rental which makes me a little less in the category of abject and on the way to the poorhouse and needing to buy a car, any car, today or tomorrow. Max said, it's a luxury to have parents that can help out. Yes, I said, and I'm glad we both have that luxury. He's off to visit the folks for a few days. I'll miss him, but I'm going ice skating Saturday night, cuz he won't go with me, so I'll go by myself. You're invited, btw, details are here (link this later.)

Also have been working on the evite for my birthday party. I am an end of November baby, but anyone that is born between Nov 10 and January 15 or so can attest, birthdays are often Birthday-Christmas celebrations. So I celebrate all of November, as much as I can get away with.

As soon as I hit publish, I know I'll remember something else I was meaning to mention, something about...

I don't want to work, I just want to bang on the drums all day...

or just get out there and test-drive some cars...

"and when October goes..." *

Oh am I ever so glad to see this month out the door and say, "buh-bye!"

Next year I plan to take a vacation in October to combat its vileness. But this year, I merely say, "Good riddance, scram, and ciao!"

I feel the depression lifting off my shoulders as I think about my upcoming birthday (which I pretty much celebrate the whole month of November), and the holiday season. Having worked "retail Christmas" for 7 years, I get a thrill when the holidays come...

But two articles on Beliefnet.com spoke to me today. One, by Tony Campolo, talks about how Christians need to pay attention to depression, not just say, pray and it will be better. Another, "Halloween Blues" speaks to tomorrow, and fleshes out why I have plans already to spend Halloween with a friend. As a single woman without children, Halloween can be worse than Valentine's Day, because most women married or single have issues with VD. But if you have a child in your life, you will be giving out candy or dressing them up. I do not want to be someone's mom today, or tomorrow. Thanks but no thanks. But Halloween stands as an undeniable reminder that I am not in that particular "club."

I thought I had more, but I guess not. I will rejoice, tomorrow, in ushering out the month that begins with the letter O.

______________________
*Barry Manilow/Johnny Mercer

and there was much rejoicing...

No, I didn't get a car. I just got the news that the most recent one I heard about is about $2-3K out of my range. (But it was nice of my friend to ask his dad about it for me...)

The rejoicing is about my new (not just new to me, but actually new) VCR/DVD player combo that works! I had to get a RF modulator at Radio Shack and then I had to CALL Radio Shack for instructions on how to make it work, but hey, it works now!

I'm ready for a nap, dinner, or something...

Oh, and NH Sally and I looked at my budget. Tight times are here. It's not pretty, but I have to cut out stuff so that I can squeeze in a car payment. (Meanwhile, I need to find TIME to look for one...)

I think it must be time for Veggie Taa-a-aa-a-aa-a-aa-a-ales! (NH Sally lent me the one with Esther.)

*************

Am watching Monsters Inc. How I adore that movie!!

Scary Books (2nd ed.)

Have never read Stephen King. But this post* reminds me of the Friends episode when Rachel finds The Shining in the freezer. "Why is this book in the freezer?" And so Joey explains that it got too scary. And that he rereads it. And the only book Rach has reread is Little Women, and so Joey starts to read it and at one point when it's getting scary, Rach asks Joey if he wants to put it in the freezer.

Due to Bab's having finished The Haunting of Hill House (or as my cover reads, b/c of the eight year old movie, The Haunting), I re-started that last Sunday afternoon. Yeah, I see no reason to read Stephen King, Shirley Jackson is scary enough.

And talk about scary, Max and I are going to a dealership this afternoon to look at cars.

Revision to 1st ed: Car dealerships don't seem to be open on Sundays in Pittsburgh. Go figure. I haven't decided which to do: take a nap, bath, or a walk.

________________________________
*Babs writes about scary stuff, very seasonal, ghosts in houses and other places and how Stephen King has molded her imagination regarding bathrooms at night.

Call me Mara...* (Edition 3.5)

Okay, I am almost at the point of bitterness here.

Which may seem surprising, since I was so upbeat last post.

Well, I still have this cold, I still don't have a car, I'm still paying $200 a week for a rental until I get one of my own. (And then I'll have a car payment, but at least it won't be WEEKLY.)

I don't have a working VCR or DVD player (and hello, movies and TV reruns on DVD are my drug of choice main comfort source?)

I have given myself 7 minutes to blog b/c I have to haul myself to work. I'm sick of working every Saturday. And I'll be working at least part of every Monday until Christmas to obliterate my "negative comp time." I would rather take a cut in pay!! (and that's saying a lot, see above.)

One of bobbie's blogger friends, Anj, has a blog called best/worst. So you just got my worst. Lemme see if I can come up with some "bests" before my chicken time clock runs out.

Well, I have less than two minutes:

Last night when Max came home, he woke me out of my Ben & Jerry's induced stupor. I had NOT taken my bedtime pills, and he reminded me to do so (which I did) and then I called him back and said, "can I come down for a hug?" I'm sure I looked like the bride of Frankenstein, hair falling out of my ponytail, pillow marks on my face, but he gave me a hug nonetheless.

It's fall here. I think our Indian Summer is over. Last night, coming out of work, was just like the foliage looked on the day I had my interview, five years ago. I remember thinking, I could like working here. And part of that thought was based only on the beautiful foliage.

Well, the chicken just rang, but I'll tell you one more. I'm reading a wonderful book called Alison's Automotive Repair Manual. (The US hardcover cover picture is more fun than the paperback.) (And it's the one I'm reading.) It's about a widow who decides that before she gets her life in order, she has to fix the sports car that is in her brother-in-law's garage. Each chapter starts off with a quote from the Haynes Automotive Repair Manual: Chevrolet Corvette, 1968 through 1982. I'm a little over halfway through. One of the characters I love (besides Alison) is her new beau, Max (well, I'm sort of attached to that name, but still): a guy who blows things up for a living. (He's a munitions guy.) The theme song for this book could be "Don't fall in love with a dreamer**," since that's what her late husband was, and she is faced with her brother-in-law who nails pomegranetes to the house for fertility, and Max's dad, who has the whole town convinced that when they drain the town's lake they're going to find a car that he escaped from as it sank to the bottom. The theme of truth telling and dreaming your dream, no matter how much it costs, run through this book. I'm a little more than half way through (blame it on not having a VCR or DVD player.)

Well, it is now officially (my cell phone doesn't lie--all the rest of the clocks in this garett do) 7:56. So I better get my rear in the shower and on with my day. I think when my first alarm sounded I had a fantasy of getting to work at 8:30 and taking an hour and a half for lunch. Dream on.

**********
Note: all linkages were done after the first edition went to press. I strongly recommend the Ben and Jerry's link as it has fun stuff--what do you expect from guys whose motto is "If it's not fun, why do it?"

Also, I think on my lunch I may just go to Targét and buy their cheapest VCR. Credit, it's the American way... DONE!!
________________
*Naomi, in the book of Ruth (who, by the end of the book was a grandma) (Have you met a grandma lately? They are pretty un-bitter people.)
**the lyrics to this song are pretty dire, but when I think of this song, I think of someone who keeps letting you down, not necessarily who leaves you. Maybe I'm thinking of a different song, like "Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys"

You know you have too many books when...

Searching for ANY copy of Dicey's Song, the paperback or the hardcover, you come upon two paperback copies of The Runner, the paperback and hardcover of A Solitary Blue, and at least two copies of Breathing Lessons. (They're for gifts...she says, covering her red face...)

Anyways, there's a passage in Dicey's Song where Jeff (Dicey's eventually beau) offers Dicey and Sammy a ride home from Dicey's job at the grocery store. Sammy pouts, and Dicey says, "This boy is saving me a trip from carrying your hulking body on the back of my bike, you be nice now." (or something to that effect.)

Something like that happened to me today. I was offered something like gold (or its equivalent in my situation, an OPTION, something that might give me CHOICES and TIME) and when I shared this information with a dear one (not Max), the response was, well, lackluster. And I wanted to say, "This boy is saving me a trip from carrying my hulking body on the back of my bike, you be nice now." But I didn't.

Update on the car search: test-drove a Ford that had clunking noises in the drivers tire area and verah high mileage. Max and I will go looking at dealerships on Sunday.

Monday, NH Sally and I will comb a few months of bank statements to see where there's fat that we can turn into a car payment (so I don't have to eat PB&J for the next three to four years....). THEN I will go looking for a car loan. (No, I'm not buying a car Sunday, I just want to see what is out there.)

So things are looking up. And I wanted someone to celebrate. But that's the thing about people. You can't manufacture their responses for them.

Hmmph.

So let's throw a party, you and me. Because I have OPTIONS and a community. And after all, a car is just a hunk of metal.

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all shall be well, no matter what. (Lady Julian of Norwich , "no matter what" added on by Madeleine L'Engle at her granddaugter's insistance.)

Dishwater hands...

I just washed the entire contents of my silverware (pardon, cutlery) drawer.

When will this vile month end???

I'm getting ready to send out "save the date" emails for my yearly fête marking my entrance into the world.

Perhaps I'll do that now. Or perhaps, I will become a laundress for a bit, and throw a load of dirty shirts...

I love laundry in the sense that it DOES itself. Except for the folding part...oh, and the coin-op part, and the basement part...

I don my laundress hat...

MTC,

SL

A stolen moment...

Read this bit from my cousin and tell me if it does not sound lovely. It's a rainy Tuesday in da Burgh, and when I leave the house in a little bit, I won't return until after 9pm. I love re-reading, even blogs. Take it away, Kiki!

Anyway, I relaxed on the porch, the breeze was blowing, I had a book in hand. (A Phillip Craig Martha's Vineyard mystery if you must know) and I leaned back. There were no car alarms going off. The screaming children were safely packed away in various hallowed walls of education. The people-who-try-to-drive-big-trucks-with-obnoxious-back-up-songs-
and/or-tones were not making their frequent, feeble and repetitive attempts to parallel park, it was good. Then softly, I heard the sounds of the strings of a chamber orchestra. It was quiet and soothing (and yes, recorded not live) and they were playing Braham's Lullaby.

All was right with the world, at least during those few moments on the porch.

Back to your regularly scheduled life...

Interesting...

My rental car doesn't trust me if I use the key to unlock the door. It does the whole beep beep I'm being robbed until I put the key in the ignition and turn it on. This has happened 2x so far.

Monday morning...

The cough is still here. Ugh.

Traveled around the world via blog, visiting Canada, Taiwan, Brazil, England, Pittsburgh, Turkey. Please visit daysgoby for her clip (well, 60 minutes) on the new food Doctors without Borders has developed for malnutritioned children.

I think I'll go for a wee walk before my day starts.

(Note to self: pictures, post some pictures!) I think I may have figured out how to link my Picasa pictures to a web format, so maybe I'll do that one of these days.

The car search has started. If you know me and know of a car (<$6K, used, good condition) and live in/near Pittsburgh, send a note. (Otherwise it's too complex.) This week is crazy for me.

The depression broke last night--I did some de-cluttering and found a few treasures. But morning is here and thinking about a car...well, I think I'd better go take that mini-walk. Today is a long day.

Musings on a Sunday evening...

So last week I made a big fuss about taking some days off and I did, but in the end, I didn't do anything "special" with the time not blogging except visit everyone else's blogs, send longer emails to friends...but now that I'm back, it's like Woo hoo, I'm back, and I think I've been posting every day. And twice, today!

I came home from John's ordination (woo hoo) to watch the last bit of the Playstation Pros.

A word about the ordination: it was wonderful and worshipful. John, we love you!! It was sheer poetry when we all sang "Did you hear the mountains tremble?" which is how we got our name as "Open Door." I love that song with such a love...

So, little known fact but the secret is now out, I love watching BMX bike tricks and skate park tricks. Daniel Dhers, of Venezuela, won the bike part. Here's a clip of "best of moments" from last year. (It's too soon for 2007 footage to be on YouTube...)



I love this stuff. I really do. I hope in heaven to spend a lot of time doing tricks like this in both the BMX and skate park divisions...Here on earth, I have to relearn how to ride a bike every time I get on one, as I didn't properly learn as a child. Oh well.

The thing about the ordination, I told NH Sally on the phone, was that the folks that were there were folks that are in our lives because John is. So Marlaena was there, and John's parents, and Alyssa's parents, and folks from the Presbytery...it was like old home day. I was in my element. And I have a lead on one car and a lead on a person to talk to and some sound advice on"It's just a car, who cares what color it is!"

I've been dealing with a slight cold and depression so I had to force myself to fix dinner* (which means I have to go shopping tomorrow, I've eaten all the ready made food in the house.) I guess I don't have breakfast...drat. And it was so good to hear NH Sally say, "but it's October" and give me a chance to give myself some grace. (Neither of us had done any homework for Tuesday's study. As soon as I post this, that's what I'm gonna start...)

Well, this WOULD be the best time to go shopping (the game is on) but Max will be back from work in the next half hour to hour and I need to do some Beth Moore homework, haven't done any this week yet. Tomorrow is packed with dr. appts and meetings. Oh, and calling the car rental folks to renew for another week.

Just me, chatting...I'm working on a post about church soon. For now, go read Biscotti's.


_________________
*Take the feta and cheese sandwich out of the box and put it in the microwave...

Surfin da net...

I found it!

(dancing the Snoopy dance as only a coughing depressed librarian in her nightgown can.)

Last night we watched Spaceballs. Very funny. (I'd seen it before, of course.) And I wanted to go to bed at 8:45. WQED is doing a fund drive so the Brit Comedies weren't on, so I was lulled to sleep by "Celtic Woman."



You gotta love the 'net. I went to Google, hoping for the Wikipedia page on Spaceballs (they are so much more detailed than imdb.com) and that led me to the page on "Michigan J. Frog." I'm ready to make some tea and go back to bed, but happy surfing.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness...

Darn that James! (James 1:1-3, ESV)

Sometimes I'm super clued in. Oh, I'm sleeping more, am I depressed? Oh, I'm sleeping less, am I bordering on hypo-mania?

Sometimes I am dumb as a doornail. Like today. It took reading Caro's post and comments to realize that generally I would laugh at these misfortunes, as we all do, knowing that they are funny once shared, that sharing them makes them funny.

So let's review: (oh, this is too depressing. I've edited it for humor.)

• 1 car, totalled. (Thank you, full coverage.)
• 1 car which must be found and procured (draw me a treasure map, someone PLEASE, x marks the spot...)
• 1 woman who thinks 42 is YOUNG but 36 is old (guess how old I'll be on my birthday?)
• 1 allergic-to-dust woman (You could totally write a novel on the tops of my bookcases, using your fingertips)
• 1 full sink. I need a dishwasher. And a maid. Or a wife. MOMMY!

(The list goes on. But honestly, it's too depressing.)

(And yes, I know I am über-lucky. But a gal has to vent...)

Hopefully something here has made you smile. I am so ready to just throw in the towel and go home early. But I need the hours. So I guess I'll go slap some security tags on some DVDs and try to review some series and oh, import two records...I think I'll go over and play that Wilco song Babs put up. (Did I mention: 1 home computer with sound issues?)

*******

So the update: the song on Babs' site didn't do the trick and THEN, I thought, well, Christmas with "Hey Ya" Charlie Brown will do the trick and I get "this video is no longer available."

Hitting my head against wall--ouch!

The security tags were already on, I don't understand the first note, but I did import two records!! 30 mins to go...

R.I.P. Melody Louise

It's time to start car shopping. 'Nuff said.

Happy Birthday...

to John Lithgow, and to Amy Carter, who is 40. I still remember clearly meeting her when she and her dad (and mom?) visited our church in Bonn, Germany when I was 7.

Oh, and I got mentioned in the chickens yesterday...

A library near me had an exciting visitor... (because my name is SL and you have no idea where I work.) (shhh, don't tell!)

Messy...

I'm reading this great book. I'm on page 43, but I already know I'll be buying a copy. (Mine is from the Scott Library.) It's called Messy Spirituality. And it is full of grace. And full of words like the ones I have in my profile. This book, like the Ragamuffin Gospel, which I first encountered my senior year of college, is the kind of book that talks about the life I lead. Messy. So I thought I'd give you a tour through the wording of my profile:

I'm a work in progress librarian. (I'm not Nancy Pearl, nor probably ever will be. I have two bosses, and the one that understands I'm a mess but great at helping patrons is the one I love more. I often feel like I'm a day late and a dollar short. I hate paperwork, and I dislike sitting at desks for long periods of time. I am forever looking for someone to interrupt me with a question like "Can you recommend a good book?" Or "Who wrote Goodnight Moon?" Or "I'm looking for German music."
I love books, Jesus, and apple strudel. (It's true. If you visited me anywhere, in my car, in my house, in my workplace, I have piles of library books, books bought from the library store, books, books, books. I also love Jesus. This is probably less apparent in my life. You would probably only know that I love apple strudel if you asked me or I told you--and now I have.)
I've traveled the world only to discover that I adore Pittsburgh, PA. (This town, of retired steel workers and crumbling buildings, this place where you can get lost even if you know how to get there, this place where the natives have their own foods, language, and allegiances.)
I attempt most days to work out my life with fear and trembling. (Oh, yes.)
I write about books, shoes, Carrie Bradshaw, and an occasional post about the Psalms. (I used to think, how could Imelda Marcos have so many shoes? Then I became one of those women too. I have learned more about healthy relationships from Sex and the City than I have from all the "relationship" books I've read. The Psalms are the most openly honest book of the Bible--and I am grateful to belong to a clan in which the most revered poetry includes "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?")
I also have a dark side, so watch out! ('Nuff said.)
Sarah Louise is a pseudonym, so the names may have been changed to protect the innocent... (My name is NOT Sarah Louise. Neither is my boyfriend's name Max. I don't know anyone named Sally. The only people whose real names are used are those who use those names on the blogosphere. I could be here all night explaining that one, but for simplicity: I am protecting my privacy and the privacy of my friends.)

And I have loved not writing a post every morning this week. I have not quit the blogosphere, as those of you who have seen my comments hither and yon may have seen. I will probably never be a top blogger. I never intended to be one. (Well, I do have my megalomaniac days...) I will probably never have 17 comments on one post. I will probably never win any prizes for all the books I've finished. But I have my little community--you, dear readers, and while I say to those that scoff blogs, "I blog so that I keep my writing muscles sharp," that is not true. I blog because I have something to say and I want someone to hear, someone to read, someone to say, "me too."

The soul selects her own society, Then shuts the door

(Emily Dickinson)

Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

Part One: Life XIII

THE SOUL selects her own society,
Then shuts the door;
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.
Unmoved, she notes the chariot’s pausing	5
At her low gate;
Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.
I ’ve known her from an ample nation
Choose one;	10
Then close the valves of her attention
Like stone.

I'm all jumbled, and when I'm all jumbled, as introvert, I must know myself and retreat into my shell to process. Blogging can so often mimic the shell process since so many of my readers are faceless and far away. And since I do hover on the edges of extrovertedness, I do want to share my struggles, and I know that I'm called as a Believer to share them with my community, that part of my walk is to let people know that I need help so that they can help me and so that we can be real, one to the other. Because it creates a bridge so that they feel they can come to me when they need help. It's a delicate balance, community and relationships...

But so much is happening that I have to "choose my society and close the door." Self-preservation wins out. (A true true introvert I suppose would just shut the door without saying she was. I warned you I can be a drama queen...)

So I'm taking a little bloggy hiatus.

_________
Emily from Bartleby

Is this my birthday?

It's not. But today has been so rich, already, that I'm wondering at the bliss of it, it feels like a birthday.

Watched a mini-opera on Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, about Kitty Cat who wanted a star for her birthday. The sets/costumes/makeup were amazing.

Watched a couple tele-evangelists (well, it's Sunday, what else is on, I don't have cable.) Kevin Copeland did an interesting bit on 1 John 4:7-8 (God is love) where he substituted love for the word God in other verses. For Love so loved the world, that he gave his son (John 3:16) Incidentally, 1 John 4:7&8 is one of the few verses I know by absolute heart because it was a song I learned in my girlhood, and the verse "address" was part of the song.

Finally moved over to the computer, where one of my favorite writers had emailed me to say thanks for including her novel in my list of favorites. I had to do a couple Google searches to see where she might have found me, I suspect through this blog. (Elizabeth Mosier, My Life as A Girl)

Then started the blog rounds, only to discover GLEE! that Nutmeg blogged a post.

It gets better.

But it would take all morning to write about it, and already have been writing comments, so here is a post made up of where I've been, who I've blogged with this morning, and the answer to the question, who is Nikki Sixx?

First, I stopped off at Adrian is Rad. Adrian is a blogger I found via my friend Pat Bird. Adrian is living in Taipei right now, and his posts on life East are fascinating, funny, and with the recent loss of his Red Sox hat, dare I say, poignant.

Then it was, gleefully off to New South Wales to visit Nutmeg. I would have loved ANYTHING from her, even the phone book transcribed, but she wrote about Schlindler and movies vs. books and all sorts of wonderfulness.

Then to check in on Babs of Behind the Stove. If you are thinking of starting a blog, giving it a title at the beginning of the alphabet is a great idea, but I'd check her every day anyways. She's reading some great books, like you're surprised. I commented yesterday, so today I just read what other folks had said.

Then back in the alphabet (and up on my blogroll) to Badger. I'd clicked on the post she wrote Friday a few times but hadn't had a moment to give it my full attention until this morning. It's still hot in Austin, her boy got STRAIGHT A's, and she's still reading Middlesex. I take a side trip to Google and then Wikipedia to find out who Nikki Sixx is.

blackbird writes about chocolate. Need I say more?

Off to Canada to visit Jess at daysgoby, who writes about national anthems and really gets me thinking about the stranger-in-a-strange land life I've lived.

"I forget, sometimes, that my children are Canadian. That they don't have the memories and stranger-in-a-strange-land feelings that I do, that the American flag isn't a comforting, familiar sight to them. That my son doesn't automatically think of The Star Spangled Banner when asked to sing a song for his country."

My comment: "hmmm about the thought of your kids being Canadian. I know part of why I love Pittsburgh is that it seems so much like the America I read about, saw in movies as a girl, when I lived in farflung locales."

Which I actually hadn't put together until I was writing the comment. I've often said that Pittsburgh is the city of my childhood--it has the rivers, like Bonn has the Rhine, and the mountains (or should we say hills), like Tegucigalpa, which means "Silver Hills." And now I can say Pittsburgh has people speaking English, which is the part I longed for when I lived in Teguc. Something to write out, more later.

In about an hour and a half or so, Max will return from his lessons and we'll go walk the South Side hills. GLEE!

Which gives me not very much time to figure out what I'm going to do for NH Sally's birthday, tomorrow. Not having my own car cramps the gift procuring...and we're not necessarily big "on the day" gift givers, the two of us. We're more the "I saw this and thought of you" types. But the combo of her helping me with the car saga and it's her birthday, I kind of feel like I need to do something special. And all at once I'm at a loss, partly because I have too many ideas and all of them require a trip to Borders.

I'm in a "not going to Borders" phase as a part of the Bible Study on Daniel, where Beth Moore has non-legalistically encouraged us to give something up (two more weeks!), the way Daniel didn't eat from the king's food. Some women have decided to not eat "rich meats," others have decided to accessorize less. The idea is NOT that it's a diet, but a reminder, as we're trying to not be influenced by the Babylon we live in. Not having a car is a BIG reminder that I live life too fast if I'm not cognicent of Sally's birthday and have left gift-procuring to the last minute. Part of me wants to do a bouquet of flowers, but that does require a trip to the grocery store, and I think flowers are a good thank you for helping me (so I'll probably get some), but I want something EXTRA for her birthday, because I am all into gift giving. (It's one of the ways I express love, just ask Babs.)

So off I go. I think maybe a framed photo...

Walking isn't a lost art - one must, by some means, get to the garage.

(Evan Esar)

So it's been three days-ish without wheels. I haven't had to walk yet. I am fortunate to have great friends. Tonight I'm bartering a ride home with EE Sally's husband for a babysitting gig.

Max drove me to work Friday--and all the women at the library gave their approval, later in the day, saying, "he's really cute."

I am tired, and sore. A trip to the chiropractor as soon as I can wrangle it!!

But if Max was able to rearrange his students, tomorrow, it's STEPTREK!!

A nap? Well, I think it will have to be coffee...

Oh, did I fail to mention that I forgot to have rental reimbursement on my insurance policy? (Which is why I haven't run out to get a rental, since I have no idea how long this will take.)

But in the grand scheme of things, life is good. Yesterday morning as I was getting ready, I heard Tracy Lawrence's song, "You find out who your friends are." It is true.

You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are...

And mine are coming through. Thanks for all the comments. Mwah!

Nap? Coffee!!

Goobley Gook, Goobley Gook, Goobley Gook

Sorry, couldn't think of a title.

Last night, around 6ish, I was in a car accident.

FAQ
Yes, I'm fine, no, I don't know if my car is going to be.
No, I'm not going to give you more details than that. (I did consider a picture, but it would be too depressing.)
Oh, I will answer the one question everyone asked that seemed to be important: did the airbags deploy? No.

But guess what? I had my car towed to the one place I know, and I just called them (it's 7:40 in the morning here) to let them know that I'd also dropped the key, and they said, "I don't know what we can do about it, you'll probably have to have it go to an auto body shop." Fun. (In the NH, there are so many places that my tow truck driver didn't have any suggestions. Neither did my insurance give me a place.)

NH Sally came to where my beautiful car was and waited with me for the tow truck to arrive. She helped me take stuff out of my car (now I know why I scarfed up those two nice boxes with tops and handles last week--they were empty on the back seat and worked great for the accumulation of dishes and books in my back and front seats.) Sally even found a missing library book, yay!

I even had enough prescense of mind to eject my latest audio tome, Gilead. I was on disc 7 of disc 7.

So NH Sally and Max have met, which they both had wanted, but of course not the circumstances...and Max and I shared two plates of nachos with salsa and cheese (comfort food) before I sent him downstairs so I could sleep.

So today, Max will take me to work, I will try to get a rental, NH Sally can drive me at least into Oakland when I'm done work, as she has a meeting to attend, and I can walk to the Presbymergent conference this evening, b/c I live 5 safe-to-walk-at-night blocks from the seminary.

If I can't get a rental right away, there will probably be all manner of me sleeping in the North Hills Friday night (either at Marian's or NH Sally's) as I do work on Saturday, and so does Max.

And the cell phone and the regular phone will be much used.

The irony here is that my accident occured very near an auto body shop, so I could have nixed on the Triple A tow and left it there. But you know, when your brain is running on adrenoline, and the officer at the scene offers to call Triple A for you, you say yes.

And now I'm off to pack an overnight bag, in case I need it for later. Kisses to you all.

"I got a leg, three breasts, and a wing."

(Monica, on Friends)
Chandler: how do you find clothes that fit?

Got this in an email, wanted to pass it on to yins...

The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors /advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

"When the acorns line the walkways/Then winter can't be far..."

Cheryl Wheeler, "When Fall comes to New England."


Although the sweater weather is SO not here (today's high should be 78 degrees Fahrenheit), the leaves are falling off the trees, which brings to mind that more famous Gerard Manley Hopkins poem:

31. Spring and Fall

to a young child

Márgaret, áre you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves, líke the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Áh! ás the heart grows older	5
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:	10
Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.	15

from Bartleby's, of course.

And another "fall" thought. Got this from Heidi--a spoof piece on Halloween that had me laughing from Kamp Krusty.

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in... (Arthur Schopenhauer)

Got this from Badger.

"What you do is take the following list of books (the top 106 marked most often as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users). Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you started but couldn't finish, strike through the ones you really sort of hated, put an asterisk next to the ones you've read more than once, and underline the ones on your own personal To Be Read list.

Got it? Alrighty then."

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina As in, I started both, but they are HUGE so I couldn't finish, but would like to someday.
Crime and punishment
Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi
The name of the rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey (in high school, compulsary--I'd probly like it more now...)
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre(as in read it too young to understand it, must reread
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner (Oh, I was so mad at the folks that told me this was a "beautiful story of friendship.")
Mrs Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Atlas shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury tales
The Historian : a novel
A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera* (I even wrote a paper on this in high school.)
Brave New World (in high school, compulsory)
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi boys
The once and future king
The grapes of wrath* This is one of my favorite books that I had to read in HS
The Poisonwood Bible* This is probably the only Kingsolver book I've read all the way through. As a TCK (third culture kid--one who grew up b/c their parent's jobs took them overseas) I adored this book.
1984
Angels & demons
The inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
To the lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles* (Love love this book)
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s travels
Les misérables
The corrections
The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Dune
The prince
The sound and the fury
Angela’s ashes
The god of small things
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A confederacy of dunces
A short history of nearly everything
Dubliners* Read in college, loved it.
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon (It took me all summer, one year, but I did finish it.)
Oryx and Crake
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion**** (I own at least four copies of this book and the DVD)
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers (After watching the Charlie Sheen classic from 1993 over 10 times, I read the book on vacation--loved it. Very different from movie, but swashbuckling all the while.)

thinking about smoke...

So remember a few posts ago I talked about Shadrach, Meshach and Abendago? And how they didn't smell like smoke when they came out of the furnace? And how Beth Moore said that should be our goal, to not smell like smoke?

Harder to live than to blog about, as always.

How do you be an authentic person who has a good cry and not become bitter about the joy or pain all around you?

Loving the people around you and letting them love you is KEY.

I used to love the hymn "Ain't nobody seen trouble like me, Glory Hallelujah" because it meant that no one had the pain I did, but also a little bit that no one saw my pain. And then I got really good at being a drama queen so that everyone saw my pain.

(Which is entirely different from those folks that can blog about their pain and make us laugh. That is a talent I do not have--it is a gift and I am ever grateful for those who do have that gift. I just end up whining.) (You know who you are...)

Getting to the other side, to a place where my pain is within my circle of those I love, so it's outside of me but inside my circle, is a LONG trip. But really worth the walk, to have those kinds of people in my circle, because that is half the battle, finding the right folk.

This poem has meant a lot to me, since I first discovered Gerard Manley Hopkins in Modern Poetry taught by Sister Maureen my sophomore year of college. It reminds me to not think of the safety of hiding. It is a poem that Maria Von Trapp* would relate to, I'm sure.

2. Heaven—Haven

A nun takes the veil

I HAVE desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies blow.
And I have asked to be	5
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.

from my new favorite website, Bartelby.com. You can go to the actual page where the poem is, here.

It's morning, and each day falls fresh. May we each see the difference between hiding and coming out and how to be whole.

That is what I wish for you, and for me, dear reader: wholeness.

__________
*I think of this poem as the antithesis of the Reverend Mother singing "Climb every mountain..."

“She is not a fashion plate, she is a monarch; you can't have both.” (Freddie Fox)

Who is Freddie Fox? The current queen of England's hat maker.

And who is the photo of? Perhaps a queen on her way to Mexico.

Reminder to self: Post photos!!

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."

(Groucho Marx)

The rest of the quotes are wonderful too, esp. the one from Johnny Carson about if the TV hadn't been invented, we'd all be eating radio dinners. Go here for the rest.

Unlike Groucho, I love TV. I love me some movies, some hockey, some "Friends," etc. etc. However, I do not have cable. So I get about 4 channels, give or take. NBC, FOX, and PBS have the best reception.

Right now, BOTH my DVD player and VCR are on the fritz. So last night, when a tired Max went downstairs to bed at 8 pm after dinner, I turned on the TV. Nothing good was on until 9, when I watch "As time goes by" with Judi Dench. How I ADORE that show. I do wish PBS had commercials though, I missed some of it because I had to go into the kitchen for more salsa--I was hungry!! (I love me some salsa and chips!!)

On the recommendation of LC, I took out Hens dancing* (which I LOVE!) and another book that happened to be on the shelf nearby--Alison's Automotive Repair Manual. So while waiting for "ATGB" to come on (with the volume muted on the TV so I could watch bits of "The office" and/or "Are you being helped?" I read Hens dancing. WHICH I ADORE.

So, at 10:30, tired, I went to bed. After an evening of READING. (If you know me, this is pretty amazing. I'm pretty addicted to my movies and/or TV shows.)

Note: the reason it took so long to write this post is this--Amazon is very pretty and shiny. It recommends books for me, Sarah Louise (It asks me if I'm not Sarah Louise to click here). It re-introduces me to all the books I've forgotten that I put on my wish list. It recommends new books to me, based on my last search and/or titles on my wish list.

How ever in the world did it get to be 9:30? Oh...right. Amazon. In its defense, bn.com was the one that helped me finally find a horse book for Anita yesterday. Which no library in our county owns, so I had to go OUT OF OUR SYSTEM for it.

__________
*but I love the Australian cover shot best. I could buy the American hardcover for .16 cents, but then I'd have to pay $3 for shipping.

Open Letters

To the parents of the child who says "Can we get this book/video/game?" and the response is, "But you got that one already, why don't you get a different one?":

Children NEED repetition. It makes them feel safe, and they LIKE it. Let them take it out again! Let them watch it again! Read it again! It will not stop them from growing or learning new things, I promise.

yours,

Quiet Librarian, whose name was the only one, eleven times, on Julie Edward's Mandy in elementary school.

********

To the publishing world,

Will you hurry up and publish some more horse books? I have a fourth grade patron, Anita, who has read EVERY book out there.

yours,

Exasperated Librarian, who is falling in love with this exasperating patron. Yes, she owns Seabiscuit, has read Black Beauty 23 times, the Black Stallions, and all of Marguerite Henry.

********

To the weather,

Yes, it's nice to have warm sunny days in October. But I just want to play hooky--so can you make it rain?

yours,

Wanting to leave work on a Sunny Saturday Librarian (It doesn't help that I'm the only person in my particular office and my boss just called to say she's not coming in, she's going to play card games with her visiting daughter and son-in-law.)

********

Dear God,

Thank you that I have the frivolity to wish for these things. Thank you that right now for this moment in time, we are happy, healthy, and where we need to be.

Your fidgety child.

Things that make me crack up...

"Your friends weren't active this week. Find more friends." --from the email Shelfari sends me on a weekly basis.

In-active friends=the need for MORE friends. Because, you know, it's the AMERICAN WAY.

(And I know for a fact that my most active Shelfari friend has perhaps been inactive there but very active at home, probably changing diapers quicker than someone could read through a book.)

This, in my email from the NYTimes this morning: "Today's headlines: null." I honestly thought I'd open the email and find that the world had ended or something or it was such a slow news day that there wasn't even a headline that was "fit to print." No such luck--I think my favorite headline, the only one "fit to print" here, is from the Arts section: "Three thugs and a stamp collection." It's a review of an off-broadway showing of "Mauritius," which the critic, Ben Brantley, is convinced is an homage to David Mamet's early play "American Buffalo." If that isn't fit to print, what is?

IT'S FRIDAY!!!

And some lucky souls have an extra day off on Monday: Columbus Day, or what I will always remember as the day I played hooky to try out bridesmaid dresses for EE Sally's wedding. Maybe one of these days I'll be foolish enough to publish the pictures of the dress we didn't use. (The dress, was wonderful. But being tall and willowy, it worked for me. Not so much for the matron of honor, who was pregnant, or the petite other bridesmaid.) I'll see if I can find them. They are pretty funny. Word to the wise: go to a department store, NOT a bridal store, for your bridal party dresses. You can't go to Kaufmann's anymore, which is where we went, but you know, Macy*s or something. Someone remember to remind me this if/when this is an issue for me.

Gotta go cross some rivers...

One more thing: I had a dream about a pelican that once we caught it was more like a human baby, and coughing. I woke up before we decided what to do with it. I guess it was sort of like a fairy tale.

Types of books I try to ignore but they pull me in:

Any book that has LIES in the title:

Lies about money.

Any book that has TRUTH in the title:

The truth about food.

I tend to trust people that want to tell me the truth and not trust people that want to tell me lies (even if by telling me other people's lies they are going to tell me truth, it's usually their version of the truth...) But either way, the book takes longer to cross my desk because I have to see how badly I do or do not trust the folks that use these strong words in their titles.

The other night I had to check the DDC (Dewey Decimal Classification) for a book by a prominant conservative writer. The writer was so full of bile and vile that the message of the book was completely obscured by the anger towards "those other people."

I couldn't understand a thing the writer was trying to communicate.

**********

In other news, I missed a baby sighting this morning!! (My co-worker came by with her newborn son.)

***********

Monday, I drove to Hampton for training. Yesterday I drove to Oakland for doctor's appts. Tomorrow I drive to Mt. Lebanon for a meeting. How grateful am I for my wheels? VERY!!

Oh, and in Pittsburgh, it's all about crossing the rivers. So Monday, I crossed the Allegheny twice, once to go to the North Hills, once to come home. Yesterday, I crossed the Allegheny four times: once to go to the North Hills, once to go to Oakland, again to the North Hills, again to go home. Tomorrow, I will cross two rivers twice: the Mon to go to the South Hills, back again to go to the North Hills, when I'll then cross the Allegheny to go to work and then again the Allegheny to go home.

That is all. Back to checking DDC numbers for me.

Oh, but thrill upon thrills, I got to review the DDC for a book ABOUT the Sputnik, on today, the 50th anniversary. I mentioned that it was the anniversary and one of our computer techs at work said "[sugar], I'm old!" In case you ever need to know, the DDC # for Sputnik is 629.46 (Engineering of unmanned spacecraft).

All [blogging] is a lake...

"Listen to me. All of writing is a huge lake. There are great rivers that feed the lake, like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. And there are mere trickles, like Jean Rhys. All that matters is feeding the lake. I don't matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake."

--Jean Rhys, in the Paris Review, from Madeleine L'Engle's book, Walking on Water.

I am again in awe of blackbird, and I remember that I can't stop blogging just because I think she is so brilliant. I have to keep blogging my own little trickle to the lake.

Happy Thursday, all. Today I'm going to get a couple hairs cut off in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik! (Well, not really, I only just found out it was the Sputnik's anniversary...)

Movie to watch to celebrate the Sputnik's flight: October Sky (from the book Rocket Boys)

Hide it in your heart...

This morning I woke up with my alarm! (Important on Wednesdays, when I must leave the house at or before 8:30 am)

Actually, I woke up before my alarm, fretting.

And at some point, these words, the memory verse for last week, came to me:

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

(Luke 12:6-7)

Oh, so that's why we memorize Bible verses!! To remind us that we shouldn't be afraid...

It's funny, about memorization--today is the second Mother Goose Wednesday in this session. I have the entire routine by heart, because it's all songs and nursery rhymes. One that I'd love to sneak in (we don't have a flannel board picture for it yet) is this one:

Old Mother Hubbard
went to the cupboard,
to fetch her poor dog a bone
but when she got there,
the cupboard was bare
and so the poor dog had none.

The actual rhyme can have up to 13 more verses, ending with these two:

She went to the hosier's
to buy him some hose;
But when she came back
He was dresesed in his clothes.

The dame made a curtsey,
The dog made a bow;
The dame said, Your servant,
The dog said, Bow wow.

Yeah, I don't think we'd do all 13 verses.

One of my favorite parts of the MG repetoire that runs around in my head and then into a room full of children and mommies is this one:

We hit the floor together (repeat 2x) (which means you say it three times)
Because it's fun to do.

We clap our hands together (repeat 2x)
Because it's fun to do.

We stomp our feet together (repeat 2x)
Because it's fun to do.

We clap our hands...

We hit the floor...

The concept of Mother Goose on the Loose is that babies at 6 months have very elastic brains, ready to absorb so much. So MGOL is "reading readiness."

***********

The weather here is unseasonably warm. It's October and I'm still sleeping with the windows open at night!! Only four inches open, but still...

Time escapes me, I gotta go. Oh, but I wanted to share this from yesterday's Beth Moore. It was my favorite story, the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were in the fire because they didn't bow to the 8 story gold statue of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.

Beth pointed this out: they didn't smell like smoke when they came out. And she talked about us not smelling like smoke, that that should be our goal. So like if I complain about every little thing, I smell like smoke. But if I live gracefully, then I won't. If I had more time...

An amazing example of a blogger that smells nothing like smoke: Blackbird.

Happy De-Lurking Day, everyone!

Not to worry...

If you were wondering when Susan Fry would hit the papers again, never fear, she has. If I kept clippings (well, other than my online file), I would have a shoebox full.

I have to say, I am proud of her. Read all about it, here.

Upcoming events!!

November is almost here! (No, not really, I'm ready to enjoy October.)

But here's something I'm stoked about: ice skating!!

11/3/2007 07:30 PM

Nov. 3 101.5 WORD-FM Family Fun Night at Blade Runners Ice Complex -- Warrendale

Join 101.5 WORD-FM's Kenny Woods for a family skate night at Blade Runners Ice Complex in Warrendale, 7:30 - 9:30 pm. WORD-FM listeners can skate to your favorite Christian music for just $5 per person (includes skate rental); there'll be fun, prizes (no purchase necessary) and more. Youth leaders - register for a free skate night for your group of up to 20 kids! A perfect night out for your family or church group. Call for more information: 724-772-0022.

Max is not a skater, so I don't know if I'll be able to convince him...

Hmm, not sure what happened there with the overlap. The info is available if you go here: Wordfm.org

Also, last year was a blast, this event IS in October, on a bye week (no Steelers game, Oct 14): StepTrek!!

I went last year with some friends from the OD and saw Max there! I was like, hey, isn't that the guy who lives on the first floor? I'm hoping to go this year...with Max.

Stuff, n'at

So my landlord finally found some window folks (a la thanks to an email sent to the neighborhood list-serv by Babelbabe's hubby!) and the front windows are gonna be replaced. Which meant I had to move the front room to the side. (I may post pictures for illustration--it's not pretty.) Thankfully, I'm not yet sleeping in the front room (I sleep in the front room fall through spring and spend the summer in the back room*) so it doesn't matter so much that you can't get to the bed really anymore.

I am finally getting rid of a chair that should have gone eons ago and various and sundry other stuff. It is so much easier to get rid of stuff when you are disgusted that you still have it or that you have SO MUCH CRAP!

In other news, I spent the afternoon learning about CIP records (Cataloging in Publication) at a workshop, came home, slept from 4:15 to 9, which is when I did the clean-up bit. I called my mom at 9:50--she's usually still up doing "homework" (teachers never rest!) but she was like, "honey, it's late."

Max just called--he had rehearsal for his regular Monday deal, a kid's choir, then a lesson (also regularly on Monday) and then a rehearsal for a gig on Sunday (not regular.) I'll probably wait up for him since I did sleep all afternoon and am not yet super-tired.

It's bizarre--four months ago I never would have imagined having a boyfriend and now it's old comfortable shoe. We're not in the "firsts" anymore, my friends aren't clamoring for details, and I happen to have someone who calls when he's coming home late.

With all the babies (Alyssa had hers!!) and weddings this summer, and the fact that I'll be 36 on my next birthday, part of me is like, shouldn't I be planning a wedding or decorating a nursery?

NO! I am not ready for that. I used to date men who said "I love you" by the third date and wanted to marry me before we hit four months. Two of those men got married (one divorced pretty quickly...) and I know, I should be watching my biological clock tick, but I don't want to!

So I'm not gonna.

So there.

Any questions?

If you want me, I'll be in my garret, working on baby presents for all these babies and big sister gifts as applicable...

And on Wednesdays, when all the mommies and their babies go home from Mother Goose, I'll say "bye bye babies" and be glad that I'm not a mommy or even a wife...yet.

While I'm on this philosophical bent, there is a song that always makes me think of butterflies, how they must be caterpillars first, then cocoon, then flutter away. I don't know if butterflies are in the song but the lyrics go like this: "In His time, in His time. He makes all things beautiful, in His time..."

May I be restful (oh restless me) in His full rest.

__________
*The front room has a skylight, so unless I wanted to wake up at sunrise (sometimes 5:30 am) in the summer, I sleep in the back room. Also, the backroom has a newer a/c unit and it's a smaller room to keep cool while I sleep. Also, the back room has the TV if I want to fall asleep to Leno or Seinfeld or a movie...Also, I'm just weird like that.

Baby update... (updated again) (updated 9/18) (updated with links 10/1)

Alyssa (3rd church baby) had her baby last Wednesday: boy!

1st church baby born last month: boy

co-worker's baby born last month: boy

2nd church baby born over the weekend: boy

College roommate's baby born Aug 20: boy

Co-worker's first grandbaby, this week: boy (born over the weekend)

Co-worker's first grandbaby, last week: girl

Newlywifed (blogger) Sept 10: girl

Still waiting on another co-worker's first grandbaby (born--not sure if boy or girl), 3rd church baby, 4th church baby (update--how could I forget?) and of course, Babs. But we'll be waiting a while for hers to come. (update) Oh, and also, the neighbor across the street. I think her due date is mid-Oct.

(update 9/17) Also, another one of the Austin bloggers (no, not you Badger!), MyUtopia. She's due in March.

Did I mention I went to three weddings this summer?

Did I mention that I am SO happy to not be having babies or a husband right now? This 35 year old is glad to be dating and NOT worrying about diapers, house payments, or who squeezes the toothpaste tube which way.