How I named my car (pictures forthcoming I promise)

A. "the germ of an idea"
Mary Chapin Carpenter is one of my favorite singer/songwriters.

B. "how we got there, part I"
My new car has a cassette not CD player. (I only just got a CD player in my car last year for Christmas, and it increased the value of the car when I got the insurance settlement...)

C. "how we got there, part II"
So this morning on the way out the door, I fortuitously grabbed one of my favorite tapes, MCC's album, "Come on, come on." The first song is "The Hard Way" which summarizes my life, getting my Master's degree in Hard Knocks.

The last stanza goes like this:

Caught up in our little lives, there's not a lot left over
I see what's missing in your eyes; you're searching for that field of clover
So show a little inspiration, show a little spark
Show the world a little light when you show it your heart
We've got two lives, one we're given and the other one we make
And the world won't stop, and actions speak louder
Listen to your heart, and your heart might say
Everything we got, we got the hard (everything we got, we got the hard way)
Everything we got, we got the hard way
(Because the world won't stop) hang on, baby...

Complete lyrics here, at cowboylyrics.com.

Well, I thought, this album is what this journey to this car has been. (Another song on the album is "The Bug:"

Because sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug
Sometimes it all falls together baby, sometimes you're a fool in love
Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger baby, sometimes you're the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby, sometimes you're gonna lose it all

D. "The name."
And on the flip side, the first track is "Passionate Kisses," which I first heard sung by (also the writer of said song) Lucinda Williams back in 1989. Which is also around the time this car was being put together. "Passionate Kisses" also sums up my current journey:

Is it too much to ask?
I want a comfortable bed that won't hurt my back
Food to fill me up
And warm clothes and all that stuff

Shouldn't I have this,
Shouldn't I have this?
Shouldn't I have all of this, and

Passionate kisses
Passionate kisses, whoa oh oh
Passionate kisses from you

Is it too much to demand...
Pens that won't run out of ink
And cool quiet and time to think

So as I meandered down Rte. 8, listening to MCC, and thinking I didn't want to name my car Mary, I thought, Lucinda is a nice name, and Lucy is a good nickname. Plus, Lucy is a name full of connotations, including the Charles Schultz Peanuts character. And a dear friend from when I worked at Fox Books has a daughter named Lucy.

E. "Google confirmation."
And having chosen the name, I had to Google its meaning. Lucy means light, so that's a good name. Lucinda has something to do with the Roman goddess that brings light to newborns, I'm not touching THAT with a ten foot pole.

Happy Arriving Day, Lucinda dear!

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.

Reminder to self: Post photos!!

Still not dead

So I've been reading.

On vacation, I read:

Never have your dog stuffed by Alan Alda. It's supposed to be a funny memoir, but it's really sort of sad. A good read though, and I think it would have meant more to me if I was a true blue die-hard M*A*S*H fan.

Broken on the Back Row by Sandi Patty: all about the changes in her life when her marriage broke up due to her affair. She is now after much soul searching happily re-married and living with a blended family of his kids, her kids. No sordid details here, but a great story of redemption. Also, an explanation of why her name is now spelled Patty not Patti. (Patti was a typo that looked cute and when her life came crashing down in 1996-7, she decided enough is enough, SPELL IT RIGHT.)

Dairy Queen and its sequel, The Off Season by Catherine Murdock. These books feature a football loving high school girl who falls in love with a player on the rival team. That part never happened to me, but some of the other stuff did, and I was crying when the second book ended. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Thanks to kids lit blogger Tasha for the recommend. (Of course I can't find the link to her posts, but at least I can give her credit--THANKS TASHA!)

Piano Lessons by Noah Adams, where at 52, Noah decides he wants to learn the piano and does everything BUT get a teacher. He does finally go to piano camp and for Christmas learns a piece for his wife, Schumann's Traumerei. I read Adam's book when it came out (over ten years ago, when I worked at Fox Books) and it made me think that I wanted to pick up piano playing again. On vacation I could play badly one handed "Lightly Row." I no longer harbor resentment that in fourth to fifth grade I had three piano teachers: one moved, another stopped teaching, and the third got pregnant (my mom.) Thus ended my childhood piano career. Recently I've been told with my finger span I could play ninths, which is unusual for a girl. I do want to learn some more songs, though. I think it will work out eventually.

Right now I'm rereading (piecemeal) Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Holler, Dicey's Song, Blue Like Jazz, and dipping into the Bible as I do my Beth Moore Breaking Free homework. I got a little off track this week--life took over, as it tends to do.

AND AND AND

The audio to HP #7 awaits my pickup. (I read the book, but this will give me the humor, etc, that I miss when I skim read fat books.) I heart Jim Dale.

You have been so good about waiting for pictures...I promise they are coming.

Another short post

...so you don't think I've stopped blogging.

Girlfriends are the best!

So the wicked insomnia gave me 6.5 hours of sleep. Yuk. And of course then my moods were all wonked and no one was home, but one of my friends with caller ID called me back and we talked for like two hours. So all my plans of paying the bills, GOING TO THE POST OFFICE, are naught. But I needed that girl time. SO BADLY.

And now it's time to get ready for work!

But first, take a visit to Kiki's for a fabulous You-Tube. I can't figure how to embed it (I know how, but they seem to have changed how you do it...anyways, this is the coolest thing I've seen.)

Off to check Dewey numbers, then help children sign up for Summer Reading...the glam life of a librarian, I'm telling ya.

You're what? (Tin roof--RUSTED!)

Tomorrow starts the library's summer hours. Which means we close at 5 on Fridays. Which means I start at 9. Which means I won't have time to blog before work tomorrow.

And it's not like I have tons to talk about, except that (this just in) there will be ONE more blushing bride this summer than expected. So, my party will be postponed until July. (Yes, the next wedding, just announced, is in two weekends, the day before my party was gonna be...)

But YAY! I get to go to the "Best Books for Babies" event sponsored by Beginning with Books on the South Side this Saturday. (Try to say that five times fast...) Thanks to Janice, who is forgoing her last day of being a soccer mom so that I can go. Thanks, Janice!!

I need to do laundry AND send some off...and pay bills. And get a haircut. And continue to stock up on small gifts...I think I forgot to get something for the shower I'm not attending this weekend. But I found something for the shower I'm not attending NEXT week, does that count? Well, um, sure. But I still need something for tomorrow's, unless I wait to gift at the event. Which I might do. Because tomorrow is DAY TWO and folks, that's not necessarily pretty. Plus, I have a cookout to go to tomorrow eve.

Plus, did I mention that my appetite hasn't stopped? Lucky for me, I have guacamole in the fridge. Hmmm...I don't think I'm getting a full night's sleep tonight...

My mother's comment when I relayed the happy news, "she's Sunny's roommate, who's getting married in two months," my mother, the one who NEVER pressures me to find a man, says, "Oh, you should move in there." Like getting a fiancé is contagious--thanks Mom.

I want them to have grandchildren. I really do. The guy on Sunday who gave the message, he's 60 and has grandchildren. My parents are 64 and going on 65. Besides, Christmas isn't fun anymore--we're all adults giving each other grown up gifts. At least when my Grandma was living, she added something to Christmas--she was very childlike her last three years of life.

I am happy to be 35. I am happy with my life for the most part. But pretty soon all my single friends are going to be married...I need a new crowd!! (And I don't really want a new crowd...I think I need some guacamole and chips and some Miranda, Carrie, Samantha, and Charlotte.)

ACK!!!

Today was a day for retail therapy. I'll fill yins in on that next time. Maybe by then I'll have figured out how to post NEW pictures. I went to Goodwill and got pants and books and after work to Targét and got shirts and paper towels.

In which Sarah Louise wonders what all this technology is for if it DOESN'T WORK????

Okay, so today or tomorrow will be Day Two. (I'm just saying.) I think I'll see if I can schedule a haircut. (Yes, at my regular place...)

Oh, I promised you morning walk pix, didn't I? Oh, and I'm not stupid, I know that posts with pictures get more comments. I should adopt a child just so I can post baby pictures...NO!

Yes, I'm a little loopy. You'll have that.

And yes, today (toady?) I'm going to send emails to decide which neighborhood computer guy I'm gonna use for the "Official Changeover of Sarah Louise's Computer--Goodbye ME, Hello XP!"

Maybe that should be the raison d'etre of the upcoming party I'm throwing. Yes, SL is tired of answering everyone else's e-vites. And yes, I'll be sending one of my own, but it is easier, and I don't have people's mailing address...and and and.

(Although I did spend most of my day yesterday doing a pros and cons of paper invites.)

[for you viewers at home, this is where it all went bust...the technology went on strike!]

AND since my software thing for my camera is not working, I've just installed Picasa on my computer. Yes, just like that. So additionally, if you have comments on Picasa or why I should choose Flickr, it's another opportunity to comment.

OR if you know why my stupid computer won't import my stupid pictures...ARGH! Something is broken and I don't know what it is. Which means there will be no NEW pictures from yesterday's walk.

(All that time lapsed was me trying to see if I could figure out how to use Picasa for today's blog picture display and no, it's not intuitive enough for me.)

(And the rest of the time lapsed, yes, it is now 10:00 am, the TIME STAMP is for when I started this post...is for my computer freaking out, me shutting it down, Firefox updating itsself...SOMEBODY STOP THE MADNESS!)

Sorry, I just had to have a shout. (Does anyone else remember that moment from About a Boy, when they're in the restaurant, and the kid shouts Cow a bunga!)

So, no pictures, because not only is my camera and/or my computer not wanting to do import/export of new pictures, "My Pictures" doesn't want to open so I can see what I might be posting to yins n'at.

Oh, and Picasa? Thinks that I had a digital camera in 1980. Some of my 2007 pictures showed up in a folder labeled with that year. Let's see, I was still using my mom's Brownie camera at that time--with 126 film, so that would be a NO! And unlike David (see, I remembered his name) I have not decided yet to scan all my photos to my computer (which seems like a great idea until you have one of the mornings like I've had this morning.) I wonder if it's too late to take a WALK!

Lucky for me, I don't have to be at work until 1 pm. Which is I'm sure a good thing for my co-workers too, considering that I probably have bulging veins at this point in time.

And just in case you are wondering, yes, I already had all those labels. No new labels were created for this post.

Off to email the computer guys...or maybe I'll take that walk...Yes, I think for everyone's sake, I NEED to take that walk.

[This post was brought to you by your local Luddites lodge, who reminds you that a pencil is an amazing invention. It has a writing component and a delete button and neither require batteries or electricity or TECHNOLOGY]

If I had more energy, I'd bring up scads of quotes from You've Got Mail. Instead, I'll just link to some quotes. (And imdb doesn't even have the one I want, which is

"You think that machine is your friend, but it's not."

And that, as they say, is a wrap.

Plunging hormones...

Mutter, mutter, complain a little...

The thing in Moon--was for academic librarians. I was THE ONLY Public Librarian there.

Then I had a tiff with my boss at the end of the day. Thank goodness for 6pm, when I said I was leaving. And I did.

And NH Sally saved me. I called and begged for leftovers and the screaming mimis were calmed by spaghetti, white wine, and girl time on the deck.

Then I went grocery shopping, and Walgreens and spent a lot of money, so it's no wonder I'm not in the best mood.

And my appetite has increased. I'm eating four meals a day. Charlotte and Miranda just had their "this baby shower is going to stink" fight. Right now Carrie and Miranda are sitting on Carrie's stoop and Miranda's talking about how she'll never be a good mother... (I heart SATC!)

There has got to be a sunny side to this all...well, I did get to go to the moon (Moon Twp, PA) today. AND I got free lunch. AND I didn't get lost going from Moon to our library.

Tomorrow I get to see my therapist, YAY! And eat at Cafe Ches Amis in Sewickley for lunch...maybe I'll take pictures...

One more picture. There are more...

In which Sarah Louise goes to Phipps (Pt 1 of ?) [with spelling corrections]

Well, I'm not up for a long post with lotsa pictures, but this was my favorite scene at Phipps and believe me, I took lotsa pictures of this one scene, from many vantage points. But I figured I'd give you a little something. The artist, Chihuly (which I'm sure I spelled wrong) (Thanks CatStevens!), goes from place to place, doing art installations in glass. It's very cool. I was enamored with this boat full of colorful balls. It's just so playful.



And now I'm off to do some laundry. I might take a drive later. Lily and I had a lovely lunch at the Waterfront Pizzeria Unos and then we walked along the river. I'm going to the moon tomorrow. Oh, I mean Moon Twp. For training. And I think free lunch. I better double check on that. I promise more pictures to come.