The Paris Wife

Not that I need to point this out, but I haven't blogged in a long time. It's not that I haven't wanted to, but inspiration just hasn't been there. Even recapping day to day things seems to be too bland. But - I miss it. So I'm going to excite you with one of my scintillating book reviews.

I don't read much anymore - and life's busyness (not to mention an insufferably short attention span) prevents me from finishing significantly fewer than I manage to start. But now and then I run across a book that I just absolutely fall in love with - nigh devour.

I was liesurely flipping through the Sunday paper last weekend when I caught a little writeup on The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. The story focuses on the events surrounding the meeting, courtship, and marriage of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley - long before Hemingway was famous, and their life in Paris and other cities as his writing career blossomed and took off.

I don't normally go for this sort of book. I'm more of a ghosts and serial killers type, actually. But this one intrigued me. Perhaps it was that it is written in Hadley's voice, and I do enjoy stories told from the perspective of the less usual subjects (a la "Mary Reilly"). Mostly I think it's because the story is based upon letters she had written to Ernest. The first of his four wives - and only for five years, Hadley is remembered as little more than a footnote in Hemingway's mainstream biographical information - but he had kept all of her letters his entire life - a tidbit I find heartwrenching.

I will confess, I don't think I've ever read a word of Hemingway's writings, and was not familiar with Ms. McLain's work. But this book - oh, this book. It's written so beautifully ... such as you want to hold phrases on your mind's tongue to savor their sweetness. Devastatingly romantic. Not just regarding young love, but the passion of writing, of creating, of chasing muses. The naivete of believing anything can happen from merely wanting it so much. All of this speckled with wisps of bittersweet hindsight which makes it so accessible and relative to one's own experiences and life lessons.

It makes me, on numerous levels, long for the writer I always wanted to be but have never quite achieved.

While I realize it is largely fictional and not a true biography, it has sparked my interest in reading some of the works of Hemingway and other writers mentioned therein. Maybe my muse is being serenaded awake by those gone before me. Inspiration, much like the Lord, moves in mysterious ways.

Still here!

Still here, my friends - just been running crazy. I'll update soon - until then I'll bore you with some medical stuff.

I had a physical last week - and of the many tests run, I had a cholesterol reading. I've never had a cholesterol test in my life, and knowing that I have always loved to eat junk (LOL) I really didn't know what to expect.

The nurse called me with my results and said everything was just where they want it to be. My LDL is 97, HDL is 48 and overall reading is 159.

I'll be honest - I don't know what those numbers mean. And since I'm all factoidy, I looked it up.

For LDL, less than 100 is optimal. (I am 97)
For HDL, 40-59 is optimal. (I am 48)
For overall reading, less than 200 is optimal. (I am 159)

So - science confirms what we already know. I am pretty close to perfect. ;)

Riding in Proverbial Cars with Boys

The fellas camped out on the boat this weekend so I treated myself to a chick movie Saturday night. Not to be confused with a chick flick - a chick movie in Clew's language is one that involves hot men in some sort of period wear (gladiators, pirates, cowboys, etc.) and some sort of fantastical storyline. Anyway, I went to see Prince of Persia and had a grand old time. The story is fun, there was little violence or swearing that wasn't pertinent to the plot and setting (there is some violence, but hey, they're Persians), the special effects were cool, everybody spoke in an ambiguous British accent (chicks dig that), and Jake Gyllenhaal is smoking hot in it.

Based on that last point alone, there's not much more this girl could ask for in a chick movie. I mean look at that. Come on.

The Hub likes to tease me. He will sometimes suggest that he wears his Captain Jack wig to bed. (Hmmm ...) I think he considers my modest (ahem) collection of chick movies akin to a porn stash. I fail to see his point.

Is it so wrong for us girls to slobber over appreciate hot men of the big screen? We get made fun of - called cougars and desperate housewives. But why should men get a corner on the market of ogling beautiful members of the opposite sex? THAT'S the burning question of the modern age, my friends.

Personally, I consider it simply appreciating the art of the human form. If you have a chest and/or face that seems carved out of marble by the angels, it's practically a crime against nature NOT to notice. Don't you think?

I'm just doing my civic duty.

Obviously these poor boys are crying out for attention.

I'm just the girl to help them out with that. I figure it's the least I can do.

Stickin' It to the Man

I don't plug too much stuff on my blog, but this is something good. And since you're my best friend, I had to tell you about it!

I don't know about you, but saving some money always gives me a kick. Since you can often find better deals this way (and a little because I live in what the upper crust might refer to as "BFE" and sometimes it's just easier to shop while I'm sitting on the couch than driving all over creation), I often order online.

A while back I heard about this site called "Retail Me Not". It's a user-contribution site, where people from all over can share their coupon codes. You simply plug in the site name or URL in the search bar and it will pull up all the available codes in its database. Some are for free or upgraded shipping. Some are for incentive goodies or services. Some are worth a percentage off certain products, or even your entire order. You can also find grocery and other printable coupons here. Expiration dates are usually provided, and there is user feedback so you can see how successful the codes worked and how much savings others had using the codes.

Most often I refer to this site for my insatiable scrapbook supply hoarding requirements, but I've also found awesome savings for clothes, photo orders, and gifts, among other things. I have saved tons on shipping expenses and by taking percentages off the cost my orders. Just last night I saved 20% on my antivirus subscription renewal. Whoda thought you could even get that?

If you ever order anything on line, I just wanted to pass this little reference on to you. Bookmark it and check it next time you want to buy something - you just might find some free money. What's better than saving some cash in the process of whatever you're doing? :)

My First Thursday Thunk!

I'm trying a new group participation thing today, just for fun. My dear friend Ace did it before me, and since we are practically doppelgangers, she already took all my answers. I'll try to come up with new stuff. But I tell ya, it was pretty rude of her to do that, don't you think?

Anyway ....

Welcome to this week's (and my first) episode of Thursday Thunks! They pick a subject, and my job is to interpret it anyway I want. This week is going to be easy... just one question. Ok, well maybe not so easy. Take each letter of the alphabet and describe something in your life... don't skip any!


Arbitrary. To the outsider, I probably seem like I'm really big on free-association. I'll relate things that will make total sense to me but I'm probably the only one - and I usually won't bother to explain why because it's too time-consuming to find a descriptive bridge for it before my busy brain moves on to the next thing.

Boys. With a husband, son, and male dog - as well as working in a heavily male-dominated business - my life is chock full of boys. Which is fine with me because boys are totally fun to hang out with anyway.

Caribbean. I would just love to rot away on the island of St. Somewhere in the Caribbean for the rest of my life. Breeze in my hair, rum and fresh pineapple juice in my glass, butt in a hammock between two palm trees, steel drums making up the soundtrack of my days and nights. Plus the off-chance that I might run into this guy ----------->. Ohhhh, my. *Sigh*. That'd be the life, baby.

Dog. Everybody knows how much my Most Beautiful Dog means to me. He's the furry peg of my heart.

Embellishments. I love to scrapbook, and what's scrapbooking without embellishments? Just a photo album, that's what! For those who aren't into it, embellishments are all the little extra things you add to a page to make it pretty and shiny and artsy. Stickers, fibers, brads, whatever. Fun stuff! Pretty stuff! YAY!

Frogs. Incrediboy is really into frogs right now, which means that by default I have frogs on my mind all the time. Which is cool, because I think frogs are pretty cute too.

Graveyards. I enjoy exploring old graveyards and seeing the awesome craftsmanship of stone carvers past. I detest visiting the gravesite of someone I knew - in fact I'll avoid it at almost all cost. But apart from that, graveyards can be serene places.

Humor. I can be a real snarky smartarse - er, sarcastic pain - I mean, um, silly girl. Life's not always easy, but if you can find a way to make your own fun and laugh about it all, it helps a lot.

Ink. When I got my first tattoo 20+ years ago, not too many women had them. Now they're everywhere. That's kind of a bummer, because it takes my rebel edge off. But I still love my ink.

Jeopardy. I need to go on this show, or else my huge collection of useless knowledge and trivial facts & statistics will have no value whatsoever.

KISS. My favorite band since I was 6 years old. Sophisticated?
Not a bit. Good, fun, old fashioned rock 'n' roll and good times? That's my guys.

Lake. I love the water. Always have. We live less than a mile from a lake and there is where we spend as much time as we can in the fair weather months. "There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." ~ Kenneth Grahame

Music. My life's always been heavily entrenched in music. More than any other cultural influence. Music has the power to become one with places, emotions, and experiences - providing instantaneous recollection and time travel. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. But I wouldn't trade it.

Nachos. Man, I love Mexican food. I'm not even sure if nachos are "real" Mexican food, or they're just Mexican food-associated. You know, how they say pizza isn't really Italian, even though you think of it as Italian? But you know what I'm sayin'.

Outside. I like to go outside and explore the big world with my boy. We are lucky to have a nature preserve near our home and we love to go for walks there. I'm also a bit of a shutterbug, and I love photographing nature's little details. Outside is a good place to be.

Patriotism. I love my country. I love freedom.

Quiet. As a general life rule, I love it loud. But since becoming a wife and mom, I really relish quiet. When anyone else is in the house, there are televisions, radios, video games and toys making all kinds of racket. If I get a rare chunk of time to myself, it all goes off and I bask in the sweet sound of silence for a while. Funny how you don't appreciate the simple things until they are gone. ;)

Restless. I always have these thoughts banging around in my head - about what I want to be doing, what I should be doing, what I want to get to next. It's actually kind of counterproductive most of the time. Right about now is when that quiet thing would come in handy.

Sheldon Cooper. My favorite show is The Big Bang Theory, and Sheldon is the absolute funniest straight man ever. When this show first aired, I really didn't have much hope that it'd last. It was too good. You know how great shows get cancelled but stupid crap is on for years? But TBBT beat the odds and is hugely popular. And my little inner nerd couldn't be happier about that.

Titilating. Just because it's fun to say. Yes, I'm immature.

Underdog. I love the underdog. Not the cartoon superhero, but the one who has the odds stacked against him. The one who tries harder because he has to. The one who probably deserves to win more anyway because of that. It might have to do with the fact that I've been the underdog so often in my life, but you didn't hear that from me.

Vroom! I love cars! Classic cars and hot rods especially. I don't know much about them - how they work or what year they are. But I know what I like to look at, and I like classic cars and hot rods.

Weight. I obsess about mine too much. I'm not obese or anything, but I used to be a lot thinner than I am now and didn't even really have to work at it. But then again, I'm not twentysomething anymore, and thank God for that in all other aspects. So I'm working on just loving the best me I can be.

Xanax. I don't take it, but maybe I should. Or maybe not. But hey, there aren't that many X words.

Yarn. I enjoy knitting now and then - it relaxes me and indulges my obsessive-compulsive counting disorder. I also like to spin yarns. As in tell stories. But you probably could figure that out on your own.

Zamboni. Hockey rocks. Go Blue Jackets!

Godspeed, Soldier.

I "adopted" a soldier in Afghanistan in a letter-writing effort last fall. It was a project put together to focus on soldiers who had, for whatever reason, not received any mail from home since their arrival there.

How sad it that thought?

Some might wonder if this lack of comfort from home is due to them being a jerk - but I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I tend to think the best of others. Maybe these guys are buttholes as people and that's why nobody cares enough to write to them. On the other hand, maybe their families are the buttholes. Maybe they just don't have families. Maybe their friends don't write because the art of longhand correspondence is dying out. Whatever the case may be, it's sad to think of these kids fighting for freedom in a distant land, a whole world away from all they know, with seemingly no one who cares enough to say hey. It tugs at the heart to think of his buddies getting letters and packages while he gets nothing at mail call, ever.

How utterly lonely that must feel.

It was made clear that it would probably be a thankless job. The soldiers are crazy-busy over there and may not have the time or the energy to be good return pen pals. Most who take on the adoptions never hear back from their soldiers. But enough word gets back that regardless of whether we hear from them or not, no volunteered letter is ever taken for granted. No heart goes untouched to know that complete strangers care and are praying for their safety.

I knew nothing about my soldier but his name and position in his branch. But since I'm a Chatty Cathy, I just started writing - introducing myself and telling him about things going on back home. From time to time I sent a care package: small games like dice and decks of cards, puzzle books, candy at Halloween, bright pressed leaves during autumn, Girl Scout cookies at Cookie Time. But mostly I just sent letters - always making sure to thank him for his service let him know I was praying for his safety.

The other day, a letter I'd written in April was returned to me. It had been opened, and on the front was written in lovely ladies' penmanship to forward it back to me. No other details were noted.

I wondered if the letter had been sent to the wrong post, but it didn't really make sense that it would be sent back to me and not re-routed to him. I wondered if something had happened to the soldier. I wondered if his tour was over and he'd gotten to come home.

I've decided to think that he's now home.

I'll probably continue to write a few more letters just to make sure it wasn't a fluke - I'd hate to stop writing altogether if he's still over there. But for his sake, I hope he's home.

I hope that my small-talk letters have made his time away from American soil a little less monotonous. I hope I helped him feel appreciated back in the states. I hope the remainder of his life is filled with peace and contentment.

Godspeed, Soldier.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sort-of Update: My good buddy Coffeypot provided me with this link which lists all reported servicemen killed in action related to Project Enduring Freedom. I'm happy to learn my soldier is not on this list! It is heartbreaking, however, to see the names and faces of those who are. There are soooo many. The majority are just babies. Some still have adolescent acne. Please take a moment to pray for the safety of our servicemen each night. They are offering the ultimate sacrifice.

"All gave some - Some gave all."

xo

Back in One (exhausted) Piece!

I'm back in one piece from the big weekend! We had a fabulous time as always. Great food, lots of creativity, generous amounts of alcohol, and tons of hijinks & laughter. We laughed so much I even peed a little at one point. I know, gross. But it was only a little dot of pee. Sometimes you just cant help it, especially when you're with your besties. And you've been drinking a lot of rum. But I digress.

I also accidentally discovered this stuff at a gas station when I stopped for a cup of joe along my road trip to said girls' weekend. It adds an extra turbo-boost of caffeine to your coffee. I snagged a couple extra to take with me and with the weekend now behind me I can officially say I'm addicted to this powerful little additive. I was on line first thing this morning trying to score some for my own private abuse occasional enjoyment.

In case anyone's wondering, I found a case of about 264 of these for $24 on Amazon. I'm jonesin' like a crack addict just thinking about getting my hands on it. I'm nonchalantly looking forward to its arrival.

So happy to be back to work today. Not.

Impishness is Afoot

So this weekend is the semi-annual Blogarita gathering ~ me and my besties getting together under the ruse of for the main purpose of doing some scrapbooking, while really having an excuse to get lit together and find immature mischief to get into having some laughs and quaint girl time in the process.

I absolutely can't wait.

The downside, as I have mentioned in earlier posts, is one of us will not be able to come, as is sometimes the case in our hectic 21st century lives. That's a real bummer ... But I also know that plenty of laughs and great memories are waiting to be had. The 5 pounds of fresh pineapple I have in my fridge, marinating in straight rum, should help assure that.

Cheers ~

Look! An Award!

Awww, my sweet blogfriend Nicole over at Laugh Outloud gave me the Attitude & Gratitude Sisterhood Award! Isn't that great? I feel so honored! And a little surprised, since all my complaining lately doesn't exactly display gratitude. Hm, I must have won based on the attitude part. ...

So anyway, I'm taking a break from Friday Fragments in lieu of sharing and celebrating this exciting turn of events. I mean honestly, isn't this enough? :) Thanks so much, Nicole - you're the best! xoxox

Now it is my distinct honor to pass the gauntlet to ten other deserving blog sisters (in no particular order). Be sure to check them out because I think they're the cat's butt.

• Paint Splotches (Ace) - This lady is sassy and funny and I just love her. We're pretty sure we were separated at birth.


• Blending Ame (Ame) - One of my personal heroes - strong, humble, and wise. I am so blessed to also call her my friend.


• Not a Wonk (Patti) - one of my newest blog haunts - she's smart, sharp witted and loves to talk hot topics with no holds barred.


• Cooking Up Trouble Texas Style (StacieF) - We met on the grounds of a shared love of music, and a lifelong sisterhood germinated & thrived. One of my favorite people ever.


• In the Middle - Mad Hatter (Martie) - My BFF's mom, who has become my second mom, as well as a dear wonderful friend.


• Simply 55 (Danielle) - A candid writer and a beautiful soul, and a friend who has taught me a lot about myself, too.


• Saurly Yours (Saurkraut) - This beautiful lady has the 3 "i"s going for her - Intelligent, Insightful and Interesting. One of the first members of my blogroll and still a favorite.


• Thoughts of Laurel (Lori) - another of my longstanding blogbuddies - a true friend with an eye for the quiet beauty of the world. Visiting her blog is always a salve.


• It's A Pug's Life (Marni) - I'm just getting to know this girl, and it's great fun because we are a LOT alike! Don't you love it when that happens?


• Coffeypot - Okay, technically, he's a mister, not a sister. But he's too great to leave out. Full of piss and vinegar, this one! All kinds of fun on his blog.

Visit my peeps and enjoy the cornucopia of delights they bring to the blogworld!


Now, recipients: with great power comes great responsibility. It's now your turn to pass on the award as you see fit.

1. Proudly display the award on your post and/or blog template.


2. Nominate 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!


3. Be sure to link your nominees within your post, so others can find them.


4. Let them know of their nomination by commenting on their blog.


5. Share the love and link back to me too :)

Sorry to give you homework over the weekend, but at least it's lovey dovey. Have a great day, friends!

More crap that's annoying me

While I'm on the topic of complaining, allow me to continue.

First of all, a state issue passed here yesterday under the guise of stimulating the economy and the job market here. But really all it does is assure more money for the unions. Well I work for a union company, and I can tell you the last people who need money handed to them are the dang unions.

American Idol's theme was Sinatra this week. Which is annoying because hey, I like Sinatra and all, but all the judges do is gripe about how these kids need to be more current and pick younger songs. Really?

One of my BFFs has had to cancel on the girls' weekend coming up, which is really sad for all of us. I miss my girls. All we want is one weekend, twice a year, to hang out and laugh together. Though that's not much to ask, at least half the time it doesn't work out for one of us to be able to join, thanks to life. What the *Insert expletives here* ! :(

I've got a freaking dentist appointment at 7am on Friday. Enough said on that.

My house is an absolute pig pen. So much so that it may be easier to just burn it to the ground and rebuild than to actually clean it. I can't believe my sweet Hub hasn't yelled about it, because frankly, he should. I'm the worst housewife ever and I'm lucky that he loves me. Hopefully he still does.

Thank God it's Cinco de Mayo, because I need a drink.