Dec 21
2008

Bloggable?

I need to start taking notes throughout the day, because I keep having bloggable moments that I’ve completely forgotten by the time I sit down to blog in the evening.

Not that there was a whole lot that was bloggable today. Okay, I know there was something, because I can’t remember it now, but otherwise it was a pretty uneventful day. I slept late–which is a lovely thing I get to do on the weekends, since my daughter usually climbs into my bed when she wakes up and then goes right back to sleep again. Ahhhhhh… And then Jack took Anna off to church and brunch, so I had about two hours to myself. (It’s beside the point that I spent it cleaning house and folding laundry.)

And now we’re eating pizza and watching Tropic Thunder. Not such a bad day, really. Not bloggable. But not bad.

Dec 20
2008

Despereaux and Seven Pounds (with spoilers)

Heard yesterday: “Louisiana is the only place where you can experience all four seasons in a 24 hour period.” Last week we had snow. Today I’m wearing shorts. Sheesh.

We took Anna to see The Tale of Despereaux. Okay, this is a wonderful story, but how in the name of little green gods can this be rated G?? I mean, there’s a scene where the princess is in mortal peril of being eaten by rats! And it’s pretty obvious what happens to the “King Rat” at the end. At one point my 4 ½ year old was huddled in my lap, telling me she wanted to go home. I’ve never read the book, and I’ll admit that it’s a wonderful and beautiful movie, but I think that it had enough dark themes to get it bumped up to a PG.

Then in the evening, Jack and I utilized a babysitter and went to see Seven Pounds.

Long, ponderous, depressing, and definitely not one of Will Smith’s better projects.

Lots of spoilers below:

Okay, the first time we saw the clipping of the seven people who died in the fiery crash, it was pretty obvious what was going on. And, there were enough flashbacks (god almighty, enough already with the flashbacks!!) that we knew that his wife had been killed as well.

The scene where he donates the bone marrow without anesthesia is apparently supposed to show us that he’s so “tortured and guilt-ridden” that he doesn’t feel he deserves to have any painkillers… But, y’know, we GOT that he’s guilt-ridden. Really. (See above note re flashbacks.)

And THEN, if the woman you’ve fallen in love with supposedly has serious congestive heart failure and supposedly has about a month to live, WHY WOULD YOU FUCK HER??? Why don’t you just take her for a fucking jog around the block while you’re at it?

But the final straw, for me, was when the corneal transplant somehow also changed the recipient’s eyes from blue to brown. I had to restrain my self from shouting, “Oh give me a break!” at the screen, remembering just in time that I was in a theater and not in my living room. Though, if I’d been in my living room and watching it on DVD, then maybe I could have fast forwarded through the interminably slow and plodding middle section.

And… a jellyfish??? Oh come ON! Because, you know, it’s oh so easy to buy a lethal jellyfish so that you can keep it in a tank in your hotel room. Yeah, it would be way too complicated to just take some sort of drug overdose. And, if a couple of the EMS guys got zapped, would he then have to donate a couple of extra organs to atone for those deaths too?? Not that emergency scenes are ever chaotic and it’s not like water got slopped over the edge of the tub that could destroy the warning note or anything, and of course it would be so incredibly easy to SEE a jellyfish in a tub full of ice?

Anyway. On the way home, Jack and I were comparing all of the ways we found the movie lacking. I was relating my dissatisfaction with the way it ended (I kept hoping that they would end it in a non-predictable way,) and Jack said, “No, I was pretty happy with the ending. Because, if the jellyfish hadn’t killed him in the end, we’d still be watching the damn movie.”

Yeah, it’s pretty bad when you’re rooting for the jellyfish.

Dec 19
2008

Boring entry ahead. You’ve been duly warned.

Today was the last day of school for the kid before Christmas vacation, and to add to the mix, today was also the day of her class’s Christmas party, AND they had a half day.

In other words, no writing this morning or this afternoon. I’ve also been going through my usual pre-Christmas stress-out/cranky-fest, and I wasn’t in the best mood to deal with a wired-up four year old. So, when Jack finally made it home I was more than ready to throw him the reins to the kid and take off on my own for a little while. I grabbed my purse and laptop and headed to the coffee shop–since my Lair wasn’t far enough away from the house. I’d told Jack I would be gone about two hours, but within an hour I’d put down 1200 words and a large hot chocolate. And, I felt sane(r) again.

I’m at about the 2/3 point of the draft of this project, and I’m starting to feel like I’m in the home stretch. I’m at that point where I can see all of the plot threads pulling together, and am starting to believe that I’ll actually be able to turn this into a real Book.

Told ya. Boring entry. I didn’t write, then I did write. Blah blah blah.

Dec 18
2008

Letters to Santa

My sister came over late this afternoon, mostly because she had to bring her son back to his school early this evening, and she really didn’t want to have to drive all the way home and then back to the school. (She lives about half an hour away from the school.) Made perfect sense to me, and the deal was even sweeter when she offered to pick my daughter up from school and bring her home. Worked for me! This meant I was able to start finish shopping for her teacher’s presents!

While my sister was here, she asked me about my laptop. I have a Panasonic CF-W7 Toughbook. It’s a tough little mini that does everything I could possibly want a computer to do, with the added bonus of having a full-sized keyboard–which was vitally important to me when I was shopping for a new and small laptop, since I intended to do all of my writing on it. (Just so you know, I’ve had it for close to nine months now, and I LOVE it.)

She was impressed at the feel of the keyboard, as well as the positioning of the touchpad (i.e. it’s placed in such a way that it’s a rare thing to accidentally mouse while typing–which, as we all know, can be a real pain in the ass.) I opened up a blank Word document for her so that she could play around with it. She typed for a little bit, then handed it back to me. I looked at the screen and saw:

Dear Santa,

Please give me 2 hours of time alone for Christmas. I am not sure it will fit under the tree, but please try.

I couldn’t resist. I typed the following and handed the laptop to her.

Dear Sherry,

I’m only Santa, not God. Gimme a fucking break. Why don’t you just ask for a pony?

Santa

Dec 17
2008

A bit more about my cold hard heart, plus some other cool news

This morning:

Husband picks up the picture of the dog: “Sure is a nice-looking dog.”
Me: “So, babe, how many times have you scooped the cat boxes this past week? You know, after your promise to me that you were going to scoop them out every other day?”
Husband: “Um.” [brief silence] “Once.”
Me: “WOO! GAME, DIANA! Go Me! Go Me!”
Husband: “Did I mention that this dog cleans cat boxes too?”
Me: “Nice try. Now admit your defeat.”

***

Part one of the other cool news is that yesterday’s blog entry was selected as a “Best of Holidailies.” Way cool!

Part two of the other cool news is to be found at Fantasy Book Critic, where some very nice things are said about Mark of the Demon.

Yeah, I’m smiling.

Dec 16
2008

Where it is revealed that my heart is cold and hard

The husband called me this afternoon: “Honey? There’s a lady I work with whose mother is going into hospice, and she has dogs, and there’s this one dog that showed up at their–”
Me: “No.”
Husband: “Aw, come on. It’s housebroken, and it’s a sweet–”
Me: “No.”
Husband: “But this–”
Me: “No.”
Husband: “–woman’s mother is–”
Me: “No.”
Husband: “Okay, I’ll give you some time to think about it.”
Me: “No.”

About an hour later.

Husband calls: “You should see the pictures of this dog. He’s adorable and–”
Me: “Great! Then I’m sure he’ll find an awesome home!”
Husband: “Did I mention he’s housebroken?”
Me: “Who’s going to walk him, feed him, and clean up after him? Me!”
Husband: “But he’s housebroken!”
Me: “We don’t have a fenced yard. Who’s going to walk him, feed him–”
Husband: [hangs up, laughing]

Later still, Husband and I meet at Kid’s school to trade cars. I get into his car and see a picture of a yellow lab-type dog propped in the center console. I grab the picture and get out.

Me: “Honey! You forgot your picture. You’ll need this to help you find someone to take the dog!”
Husband: “Oh my, did I forget and leave that there? How careless of me! Isn’t that a beautiful dog?”
Me: “Yes, it is! Wow, you should have no trouble finding someone to take it in!”
Husband: [laughing and shaking head] “You’re cold.”
Me: “Yep! And I’m also not picking up dog poop!”

Dec 15
2008

Conversation with the Kid

The Kid: “Mom, can girls marry girls?” [Note: The Kid is 4 ½]
Me: [giving a flip answer] “In some states.”
Kid: “What do you mean?”
Me, looking at her more seriously: “Yes, girls can marry girls. When you’re old enough, you can marry anyone you love.” [It’s a partial lie, but I say it in the hope that by the time she’s old enough she will be able to marry who she wants, regardless of gender.]
Kid: “Okay, because I want to marry you!”
Me, laughing: “You can’t marry ME! I’m your mommy!”
Kid: “But I love you!”
Me: “But I’m already your family. Marriage is about making your family bigger.”
Kid: “Ooooohhhhh.” [pause] “Can kitties marry doggies?”
Me: “In some states.”

Dec 14
2008

Did they change the calendar?

In yesterday’s post I mentioned that, for various reasons, we’ve been putting off getting a Christmas tree. Today we finally had a few hours of uninterrupted time, so we got into the car and trekked on down to Lowes.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but there are still ten days until Christmas, yes? Why, then, were there a grand total of six scrawny trees that would have made the Charlie Brown tree look like it belonged in front of Rockefeller Center?? We were stunned. We knew that we could still find decent trees at some of the big tree lots, but one pays through the nose there.

So, we went inside the store to look at what artificial trees they had, and encountered Shock #2: All of the Christmas stuff had been put up into one shadowed corner and marked at 50% off. I kept thinking that maybe it’s because Christmas keeps starting earlier and earlier, so therefore they must end it earlier as well? I mean, did they go ahead and have Christmas already and just not tell me?

However, we went ahead and took advantage of the 50% off deal, and picked up a decent quality artificial tree. I don’t have too much against the fake trees, as long as you understand that they do eventually need to be retired and only have a realistic lifespan of a few years. (Yes, Mother, I am looking at YOU who recycled the same damn fake tree for at least twenty years until it was a pathetic construction of rusted wires and scraggly needles. :) I mean, srsly!)

But, really, what is the deal with Christmas stuff going on sale before Christmas? How can everything be over when I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping?

Dec 13
2008

Only one foot on the grid

I spent the entire day offline, other than occasionally looking at my blackberry to see what mail came in. Does that count as being offline? Hmmm.. maybe I should say I spent the entire day off of my laptop. Except for now. So, it really wasn’t the entire day. It was all day until 7:30 p.m.

Anyway, you get the idea.

The reason for me being off-laptop–despite being home all day–was the fact that I was hosting the Christmas party for my local writer’s group. We have a good house for parties, and the house was still fairly clean thanks to a small football party last weekend. However, I’ve been feeling pretty lousy most of the week, so I put off most of the party prep until this morning. I also had every intention of getting a Christmas tree before the party, but with the combination of the snowy/sleety weather and my general feelings of bleh-ness, getting the tree got pushed into the category of “Things I’m not going to kill myself over.” Besides, at least a third of the members of my writers group are Jewish.

And, in fact, not a single person made any comment about our lack of the tree, so I’m glad I didn’t exert any sort of extraordinary effort into procuring one in time for the party.

Everything else about the party went quite well, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I’m leaving the cleanup until tomorrow, and am now going to bed early. :)

Dec 12
2008

Barely a post

The entire day was filled with the sound of dripping water as yesterday’s snow melted away, which felt odd since it was bright and sunny outside. However, after I got home from picking Anna up from school, there was still enough snow in shady spots that Jack and Anna and I were able to have a short-but-giggle-filled snowball fight.

I feel an obligation to write more than this and have a far more substantial blog entry, but today has been one of those blah days where I didn’t do a whole lot of anything interesting. If not for Holidailies, I wouldn’t bother to make an entry at all, which begs the question: If an entry is merely a pointless whine about having nothing to post about, does it count as a post?

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