Saturday, December 31, 2011

Books

I spent some time updating my reading blog last night...and this morning, because I couldn't remember the names of the not-public-library books I was reading (they're upstairs). Anyway, now that it's totally updated, you can see that I'm totally insane. Here's what I've currently got going:
* Don't Shoot : One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America, by David M. Kennedy
criminology

* From the Kingdom of Memory, by Elie Wiesel
essays/memoir

* Down These Strange Streets (ed. by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
short stories/fantasy

* An Echo in the Bone, by Diana Gabaldon (on CD)
historical fiction

* The Secret Life of Cowboys, by Tom Groneberg
memoir

* The Evolution of Faith : How God is Creating a Better Christianity, by Philip Gulley
theology

* Amos Walker : The Complete Story Collection, by Loren Estleman (on Nook)
short stories/mystery
Could I possibly be more spread out on the map of potential reading options? I guess I could throw some science or poetry in there...but then again, I do a lot of reading online--blogs, etc.--that falls into some of the subjects I'm not (currently) covering in books.

Ugh. I need to finish some of these!!
Friday, December 30, 2011

Local News

19-year-old killed in accidental shooting

Just absolutely bloody horrifying. Another realization that Mom was right when she told me that once I became a parent, I'd worry about everything to do with Sparky, all the time, for the rest of my life.*

While I don't know any of the people named in this story, it just tears me up inside knowing how heartbroken they all are.

And I send a plea up to God: "Please God, not me, not us, not Sparky."



*what she actually said was I'd never sleep as deeply again--but I sleep just fine, usually
Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Critical mass

I've reached it. So angry I can hardly type.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Probably related to last night's angst...

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY, MOM!
[she always wanted a bright blue door on our house in the mountains....]

Miss you.
Love you.
Monday, December 26, 2011

It's too early to go to bed

I woke up this morning at 9:15, so it's far too early for me to hit the sheets. However, the rest of the humans are already in bed, and even the guinea pigs are eerily quiet. I'm a little bored. A little antsy. And little...piqued.

My mouth hurts. I wasn't able to get hold of the dentist today, even to leave a message, because their phone tripped right over into that fast busy signal that indicates problems on the line.

I can feel several things hanging off my shoulder to be worried about soon: new insurance in 6 days, new prescriptions need to written and sent for mail-order delivery, new schedule at work, family arriving this weekend. And there are the more immediate worries that I'm adamantly trying not to dwell on because they are more serious than any of the above, with no real good solutions. I'm in a quandary about some stuff and don't like any of the outcomes I see. The fact that I can't control any of it, not really, is making me cranky, bitter, sad, and defeated. And it's all just in time for the onset of the worst part of the year in terms of SAD. This must be the part of middle age that just sucks: the reality that the easiest years of life are over and everything to come is complicated and potentially difficult, with traps and mires everywhere both visible and sneaky. I don't like it.

This week is going to be a little bumpy at work as well. There are quite a few people on vacation, so I'll be pulling more public hours. The boss is probably back in more regularly after several weeks off on vacation and then ill, so she'll need hand-holding as she gets up to speed. My desk is a mess--I haven't properly cleared it off and cleaned it in months, possibly over a year, and it is making me a little nuts. {And let's not even discuss the state of my desk at home...because it's at the point that a lit match may be the only way to deal with it...}

I want to get my plane ticket and hotel sorted out for ALA Midwinter next month. It's another one of those things hanging off my right shoulder about ear level, floating, waiting to pounce and cause a total mental meltdown.

I miss my dad today, too, and Beast's dad. And, more unusually, my mom. There are a lot of days that I think of her--this is one of them--and wonder how the hell she did it. As fraught as our relationship was, I knew she didn't have a particularly easy life. How did she manage to keep her body and soul together when things were falling apart around her so often? That is something I never thought to ask her, and now, when I need to know the answer, it's a little hard to hear her voice. Yeah, right: my tooth hurts, so I want my mommy, OK?

And all of this on a day when I actually accomplished some stuff: Sparky has two new pairs of shoes (Christmas presents) purchased at Famous Footwear this morning, I have 'provisions' in for the week, I actually cooked dinner tonight using a new recipe for something I can't find my old standby recipe for--and even though I boiled over the white sauce in the microwave, I managed to salvage dinner well enough for it to be edible--and we watched Harry Potter...Hallows...2 so I can return it to the library tomorrow FINALLY. It's only 2 weeks-ish overdue!

Perhaps it is time for me to go to bed. I think two Tylenol PMs should help me immeasurably: take away the tooth pain and relax me enough to banish the bogeymen (i.e. worries) for a few hours.

Merry (belated) Christmas

...and happy Kwanzaa and Boxing Day.

Sparky and I are going shoe-shopping (for him) today, and we need some groceries. The shoes are part of his Xmas prezzies, but I don't buy shoes unless the wearer has tried them on. So...off we go, in a bit.

Meanwhile, I'll just write that yesterday was a most excellent day. Lots of very good presents for me, Beast and Sparky both seemed happy with their haul, and we didn't do ANYthing all day. Skyped with the Tennesseeans for a bit, noshed our way around the kitchen, I took a nap, we all played with our new toys and read and lounged. The Packers beat the Bears in the evening, and we all headed to bed feeling that all was right with the world.

Then I brushed my teeth and ended up with tiny pieces of molar floating around my mouth. Yup: broken back tooth, basically one of the cusps on one of my 12-year molars sheared right off. So, I get to go to the dentist this week (once they get their phones fixed--right now, I just get the 'out-of-service' honking noise when I call--and I can't eat any of the candy Santa brought, or much of anything else, really.

So, off we go to the store to distract myself from a mildly achy mouth. If this is the price I have to pay for a really superb day, I'm ok with it.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas with no broken body parts.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
As posted elsewhere, my list of things to do today looked like this:
  • Make cookies
  • Wash bedspread
  • Wash lingerie
  • Finish wrapping presents
  • Christmas cards
  • Clean our bathroom (the one in our bedroom)
I could probably send a few last Christmas cards, but otherwise every single thing is done, and done well. This is unusual; I usually have an unrealistic view of my time and energy and create lists that are insane. I wasn't sure I'd actually finish all 6 things today, but I did. Yes, there are still a few gifts to wrap, but the recipient won't be around tomorrow, so I did procrastinate on those. And technically, Sparky made the cookies--throwing two kinds of prepackaged chips in a graham cracker crust, sprinkling with coconut and baking them for a half hour hardly constitutes "making cookies."

All that's left to do is get my hair sorted out (post-shower) and then the evening's activities can commence: Chinese food, Christmas-light viewing, and church. I should be in bed by 12:30ish. I just asked Sparky if he's leaving a note for Santa, and got a negative-sounding grunt in response.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Book title drama

First four books to catalog this evening:
  • The Everything Guide to Narcissistic Personality Disorder
  • When the War Never Ends*: the Voices of Military Members with PTSD and Their Families
  • Tea Leaf Reading for Beginners
  • The Vampire Defanged: How the Embodiment of Evil Became a Romantic Hero
All have holds on them. I'm hoping the holds are for four different people, but I wouldn't bet on it.

____________
*Originally published as "Wenn der Krieg nicht endet"--yes, really....


| Top ↑ |