Rough Draft

Spring Cleaning and Cleaning and Cleaning

Building a big house with a big ole yard seemed like such a good idea before.

...Which is what I said to Larry as we painstakingly worked in the backyard for a good six hours and only made a dent in what needs to be done.

For weeks now we have spent every weekend cleaning, purging, organizing (CPO).

Everything.

Everywhere.

In every drawer, closet, cabinet, room.

We took it room by room, cleaning and taking everything out of every space and organizing/purging.

Room by room.

Dear Gawd. We have a lot of crap.  And a lot of rooms.  And a lot of cabinets.  And a lot of drawers.

Over the course of a month we managed to CPO the garage, the workbench, shed (filled with a dozen+ boxes still packed from our move back to Idaho), and our entire 18 room house.  Whew.

We have a few little minor things to do...like clean our cabinets (they look fine as long as you: a) don't look too close as you open a cabinet; b) don't look at them as the sun is streaming in the window and onto the cabinets...ew), a shelf and drawer or two in the nook desk, baseboards (again, I am not sure I have even thought of the baseboards since we moved in almost eight years ago and the dust that has formed on them make that point clearly obvious), and the pantry (you know, take everything out, clean the shelves, put it all back...I'm obsessed like that).

Sigh.

I'm tired.

Last weekend I planted my vegetable garden and for the past two days my entire backside from waist to heel is in pain which pisses me off considering I'm not eighty!

Meanwhile, things around here have been busy (as they normally are this time of year)...I have been working everyday on my writing projects/assignments; preparing for my mom to visit in a couple of days; a very busy weekend coming up with more visitors; and the end of school year busyness of parties, teacher gifts, musical performances, finals, grades, assignments, reading, blah, blah, blah.

I also have only 6.5 days left of my crossing guard job (but who's counting?).  I told them that I would be done at the end of this school year and next year I can hardly wait to have a quiet house by 7:30 as two head to high school and one heads to middle school and I don't have to stand outside in the freezing cold worrying about shoes, jackets, scarves, snow, rain, ice, fast drivers, kids on bikes, unflattering florescent vests, and watching the clock twice a day.

But, I digress a bit.

Last year at this time I was making a list to do all these little spring cleaning jobs one task a day.  This year we got in there and got it all done in less than a month.  I will say that I love to purge.  I love getting rid of crap.  I love having every cabinet or drawer I open organized.  I love having cabinets and drawers that are empty.  I love starting the lazy days of summer with nothing more on my list than basic upkeep, gardening, and reading.

Nice.

Bring it on.  I'm ready and so is my entire friggin house.

Twenty-One Years

 

I wonder what special thing signifies the 21st wedding anniversary? Crystal? Glass? Dynamite? (I just googled it and I guess it stands for nothing.  It goes fourteen, fifteen, and then jumps to twenty and then twenty-five.  Whatev!)

Today marks our 21st wedding anniversary and similar to watching children grow, the years seem to flash in a blink of an eye.  Twenty one years.  My God.  That's a long time and if you ask my husband he will vehemently agree (and probably say something like it feels much longer than twenty one years).

I'm not sure there is anything magical about staying together and yet I realize we are kind of the exception not the rule.

We work at it...although I don't think we even know at times we are working at it...but marriage never seems o be a walk in the park.  There are days when we both feel like pulling our hair out or hitting a wall or throwing a brick against his head the wall.

We talk a lot.  (Okay, I talk a lot.  He talks enough-ish and listens really well.)  We talk about everything...little, big, medium, difficult, happy, sad, depressing, upsetting, thrilling, exciting, scary, frustrating, joyful, stressful.

We laugh a lot.  We joke around.  We are silly and we (okay, me) sing stupid kinda-rhyming songs.  We  blame everything on the dog.  We tease.  We have inside jokes. We discuss and discuss and over-analyze (okay, I over-analyze and he tells me I'm over-analyzing).  He listens to all my crazy ideas and I excitedly listen to all his electronic ramblings. 

He has things that are just his, like golf and fixing anything that doesn't work around here (and killing spiders).  And, I have my things like scrapbooking and book club.  I am a firm believer that we don't need to do everything together and that it is OKAY to have our own passions and time away.  We also have many things that we enjoy together too, which is equally important.

At the end of the day we have mutual respect for one another.  We aren't mean to one another.  We respect each others dreams and goals and we don't shoot each other down at every curve.

We are certainly not perfect and we aren't uber rich and we don't drive fancy cars but I can honestly say that we have a good, happy life.  We have fun.  We laugh at ourselves and our situations.  We reminisce about things that only him and I share.  We go over our life to this point and talk about what we could have done differently if we had the chance, what went really well, and what was just a crazy time (like our stint in Pennsylvania).  We raise our kids in a loving, stable home and hopefully we are teaching them something positive.

A nice glass of wine, maybe the barbecue fired up, sitting outside talking, and him agreeing to all my crazy ideas on a very long to-do list.  It certainly doesn't take much.  And, his motto:  "A happy wife is a happy life."  Amen.

The picture was one I posted on Facebook today and was an easy one to grab right now...my parents and Larry's parents at the alter of our church. 1991.

Two Quick Tips

 

Because nothing says riveting blog post like sharing a couple of tips that have rocked my world.  Okay, maybe not rocked but gently swayed in a cool breeze on a summer day.  Let's throw in a rainbow too.

Tip #1:  Baking Soda.  Is this not the magical ingredient for EVERYTHING? And, for what? PENNIES!?  Amazing.  I have a couple of items of clothing that over time has developed some funky smell.  Not sure what happens to flannel after millions of washings but I decided to try adding baking soda not only to the washing machine along with the laundry soap but also directly on the clothes that stink.  And guess what? The smell went away. 

Tip #2:  Hard-boiled eggs.  My nemesis, those pesky eggs!  I have tried everything...boil for 20 minutes, take off heat, cover; boil for 15 minutes; bring to boil, turn off stove, cover; bring to boil, remove from heat, cover for 10 minutes...and so on.  Nothing seemed to work in making those eggs peel easily!  (Okay, I tried adding baking soda to the water to see if that made a difference and despite my new love affair with The Baking Soda, it didn't do squat to improve the peeling of the hard-boiled egg.)  Then, I got it.  I boil the eggs for 10 minutes (sometimes when I forget it boils for 15, maybe 20 but that doesn't seem to really make too big of a difference) and then immediately drain in cold water.  After a few rinses I fill the pot back up with cold water, add ice cubes, and let the eggs hang out, freezing. 

Voila.

That's it.  A 10 minute hard boil and an ice bath.  You're welcome, folks.  The perfect freakin egg.  The yoke is yellow and the peel comes off in five seconds.

Hard-boiled eggs and smelly clothes.  Yep, that is apparently all I've got for you today.

The End Of The School Year

I don't even need a calendar in front of me to know that it is almost the end of the school year.  I swear, I think the teachers wake up in April and say, "Oh no! We forgot to cover WWII, discuss predicates, assign twenty page reports on igneous rocks, and introduce them to trigonometry..."

Jennifer easily has two hours of homework tonight and so far she has had three meltdowns.  I finally had to take her to another room (or, away from her older brother) to have a word with her about what was going on.  Apparently she has so much homework she is feeling overwhelmed.  My God, it is the fifth grade!

Josh has to build a castle for his military history class.  A. Castle.  Are you kidding me?  And Harrison has to finish his book for a book project he has to do. 

Meanwhile, everyone is off their rockers.  There is fighting and arguing and this one is being mean to that one and the other one is now crying...how did a nice little dinner turn into such chaos within seconds?

This is the time of year that I can't count the days down fast enough.  Summer vacation is within reach...a few more weeks...a few more weeks...19 more days...

Sigh.

But first we have to get through books and projects and homework...and castle construction.

Give me strength.

The Quest For Less

A couple times a year I suddenly get the bug to start purging and re-organizing.  I like holding on to some memorable items but I am far from hoarder-dom.

When we moved to Idaho we moved about eleven thousand pounds.  When we moved to Pennsylvania five years later we had twenty one thousand pounds.  Could a leather sectional, refrigerator, a couple of beds, a few pieces of new furniture, and a BBQ really add up to that big of a difference??  Oh. My. Gawd.  I guess since it happened the answer is YES.

Sigh.

When we moved BACK to Idaho a year later we shed a ton and moved nineteen thousand pounds.

Some days I feel those nineteen thousand pounds are on my back and I need to shake like a wet dog and get rid of it all......................................

My mind says, "embrace a minimal/simplistic lifestyle" but my reality is that I have a 4000+ square foot house, a three car garage, and a shed and while we are far from bursting from the seams, I still want LESS.  Less stuff.  Less boxes.  Less CRAP.

So, in walks spring.  And the itch to purge gets stronger.

I have walked around each room (okay, I didn't technically walk around each room, I did it all in my head.  I have special skills, folks) and made a list (or, like my husband likes to say, "Oh. A list.  Goody.") of all that I want to accomplish, purge, get rid of, box up, throw away, and of course organize.

My goal is to get as much completed between now and Labor Day.  A little bit each day and I know we can do it.

So far, we have worked in the garage which still had two unpacked boxes from our move back in August, 2010 (sadly, there are more unpacked boxes in the shed but the common thought of, "if you haven't gone through it in a year, just throw it all away" wouldn't work because I know what are in those boxes: memorabilia and heirloom items that actually need to STAY boxed.  Actually, I want them out of the moving boxes and into labeled totes, but I digress) and we went through the many totes and whittled them down to almost nothing.  We decided that storing three totes for Halloween in the garage is silly because we only get into 2/3 of those totes ONE day a year! They are moving to the shed!

Lastly, the most dreaded of all tasks: the work bench.  Oh holy hell, that thing is and has always been nothing but a mass of tool-and-crap-mess.  Ugh.

We emptied every cabinet and drawer and filled two large tables.  Our next step is going to be sorting it by: 1) what to keep and put back...sorted into like item piles; 2) what goes into the trash (amen!); 3) what goes into a box labeled, "Josh"; 4) what needs to live somewhere else (like the shed).

There is also another problem I need to address.  The work bench is a catch-all.  It has always had this problem.  "Go put it on dad's work bench" is a common phrase.  And, crap piles up constantly, never knowing where exactly to live nor if it needs to bypass the work bench and head straight for the trash!

I am a firm believer in organizing that makes sense and addressing a problem that keeps popping up and trying to fix it.  In this case one problem is the "pile up" situation.

So, I am going to put a covered (NOT see-through) tote on the work bench to catch all those little bits.  When the tote is full, we have to address the contents: put away or throw away.

Another issue is making the drawers and cabinets make logical sense because if they make sense putting stuff away and FINDING items will be one hundred percent easier and better.  So, before we put anything away we will truly stand back a minute and ponder what should go where.

Some may say, "My God, it is Larry's work bench why do you have to get so involved in it?! Leave it to him".  Good point.  However, we have been married for 21 years and for 21 years I have stepped back and let him do his thing and for 21 years I have had to witness a NIGHTMARE of a work bench.  If I wanted to find something, forget it.  It is a MESS.  A piled up, thrown in, crap-infested MESS.

And now I will sorta kinda take over.  There might even be a label maker in the future.  I'm not committing to anything yet, but it could happen.

Times Are Changing...

 It is inevitable really.  Kids don't stay little for long.

This summer marks the first (the FIRST!) that I am not pouring over creative crafty books looking for inspiration to fill the days of my little children.  Boo. 

Granted, Jennifer is only ten, soon to be eleven, and I still have two cabinets full of books and activities and supplies but my summer will be way, way, way less organized and will work on a few fun projects with her and then simply encourage her to be creative a little bit each day.  I probably won't even buy the kids books to help them retain what they learned in school all year but I will encourage them to read at least one book (shouldn't be a problem for Jennifer...in less than a month she has read two of the Twilight books) and maybe play some math games online or something.  For Josh, I want him to read a few books on essay writing and how to study.  That sort of thing.

Am I having withdrawals?  Sorta.  But, I feel relief too.  I did A LOT of really cool stuff with all them for years and years but the method behind my summertime madness was to keep them busy, active, creative, and learning.  We succeeded in doing just that for YEARS!  I hope our summer activities will be something they each remember fondly and who knows, maybe one day I'll be the cool grandma doing crafts and activities with my grandchildren.

Meanwhile, the tides are turning.  Josh is going to try and get a summer job and prepare for his senior year of high school.  Hopefully we will visit a few culinary schools over summer that he hopes to apply to at the end of the year.  The thought of him leaving home is something I almost can't focus on right now because it makes me sad...but I know that he will fly soon and it's all apart of life, blah, blah, blah.

He has a countdown app on his Ipod that tells us how many days until he graduates from high school and therefore will not be forced to live with is little sister anymore.  And, his little sister is counting down the day that his bedroom opens up because she has big plans! For Birds! And Games! And a Cat!  Ah, siblings.

Last weekend Larry and I decided to clean out and purge our way through the garage.  There is something about spring that makes me want to throw out all our crap.  Room by room, drawer by drawer, and box by box.  As we emptied Larry's entire work bench contraption-of-junk I realized that there are tools that we probably have way more of than we/he could ever need.

Of course, my dad's tools I just want boxed up and kept and later when the kids are much older I can pass them along.  But, there are so many tools!

Then I started to think...maybe now would be a good time to label a box (or two) with Josh's name and fill it with kitchen utensils, tools, an extra mixer I have sitting in the shed, and so on...for the day when he will no longer be living with us.

People warned me that it would all go super fast, and boy were they right.  Just yesterday he was a temper-tantrum-throwing-toddler!

Sigh.

Big Yards

One of the things I like about living in Idaho is that gardening only takes place from about April (earlier and earlier each year as the winters are more and more mild) until October.  Therefore, gardening is not a year round occurrence as it was when we lived in Southern California.  Twelve long months a year of constant garden maintenance.  We disliked it then...and it showed by our front and back yards.

Anyhoo.  I love winter because I can hibernate and not even think about my garden for months!  I love gardening nowadays but I also enjoy spending months just gazing out into a yard that is various shades of grey, brown, and light green.

In April I am quickly reminded just how big our friggin yard is.  All five of us are working in the yard and there is no way we could ever get the yard totally cleaned up, fed, weeds pulled, bushes trimmed, etc. etc. in one weekend.

Early spring, for me, is an overwhelming time.  I look outside and the to-do list is so long that I want to crawl back under my comforter and pray for snow.

This year we are adding at least one tree to our backyard and a few fast-growing shrubs in a corner of the yard that before this year looked out into vacant lots.  Now there are three new houses and I am a stickler for privacy.

My vegetable garden will be planned out in the upcoming weeks but I am leaning towards keeping it a little simpler this year.  My freezer is still full of grated zucchini and cucumber so I think I am going to plant only one patio type cucumber and plant my zuccihini out in the rock bed somewhere.  I'm thinking I will plant flowers and herbs only in the pots and keep the raised beds for onions, garlic, tomatoes, leafy greens, and salad greens.  Maybe an eggplant.  And that's it.

As I sit here waiting for Larry to be finished with my trimmers and Josh is mowing the yard and will soon be feeding it too...I am making a mental list of all that needs to be done and how I need a new hose for my garden and we need more rocks to fill in where time has created bald spots..........

Ahhhhhhhh....sometimes the big yard is a bit too big.

My Wittle Blog Here

 

I think the stars are in certain alignment and the sun is arguing with the moon...and that has forced my little ole blog to come under fire from the left, the right, above, and below.  Bang, bang, bang.

First, let me just stop shaking my head and laughing because, really? My blog? Is it possible that every single person I know (except a handful of people and my husband) has had or have some sort of problem with what I write here?

Sigh.

Are you serious, people?  Why?

Look, I write a blog because I love to write.  It is my life.  It is my dream (not the blog, the writing).  It is my platform, albeit inconsequential.  It is my voice...good, bad, ugly, and everything in between.  But, aren't we all allowed to speak our minds in whatever "format" you happen to enjoy?  Good lord, it makes the world go round otherwise we would just be a bunch of robots!

I recently had a conversation with my mother who expressed (mild) horror over what I write and told me that she has had several people tell her likewise.  Honestly, I don't get the problem.  I told my mother...if people don't want to read my blog, guess what? DON'T CLICK ON IT.  I mean, seriously, it is THAT easy! Stop reading if I bug you.  If you think I share too much, too little, too awful, too whatever then STOP READING.  Easy peasy.

I'm kinda tired of defending why I do this (makes me wonder if other people who blog take such friggin heat over what they say!) I'm tired of trying to defend my desire to write and my desire to write on a blog and defend each and every blog post I do.

I had a "conversation" with a once very good friend a week or so ago who read me the riot act dissecting all the areas in which I wrote topics that she felt I was personally writing only about her.

Okay, God, this is exhausting.

I will tell you what I told her: THE THINGS I WRITE ON MY BLOG HERE ARE ABOUT ME!!  MY VIEWS, MY OPINIONS, MY EMOTIONS, MY LIFE.  Period.  If there is anything more than a passing coincidence, perhaps it is just that: a coincidence.  If you feel judged by something I am saying, folks, that is about you, not me.

Here is my process.  I hear something like, someone mentions how they hate to read and a light bulb flashes in my head and I write it down in my blog notebook to discuss how I feel about people who truly don't enjoy books, which is so different than how I feel.  No judgement, just MY OPINIONS.  Then, I might overhear someone complain about the high price of gas and that might prompt me to write about a time when I remember when I began driving and gas was around eighty cents.  AGAIN, ABOUT ME.  I never know what I hear, what conversation, what tidbit will spark a possible blog post.  I have two notebooks and a bulging folder full of these types of minor and insignificant blog topics.  However, if you happen to be someone who hates to read you can't possibly take it personally that I am writing only to (and about) you to what? Sway you into the dark side of reading?  Come on.  We ALL HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS and DIFFERENT VIEWS.

Basically, the blog posts are developed based around my impression, my opinion, my thoughts on any subject.  Sometimes it appears that I am referring to ONE person but I will say this, unless I specify in a post about a certain person or a very specific event, it is NEVER about ONE PERSON.  Never.  I'll give you an example.  My "friend" complained about a blog post I did regarding people who are "too busy" shuffling kids to five different activities and a calendar that doesn't have any white space.  She felt that blog post was about her and only her.  This is such a great example because: a) as i told her, I know only one other person besides myself that wouldn't fall into the "too busy" category.  That post was probably triggered (who remembers anymore) by overhearing someone who is shuffling her kids everywhere and lives with a calendar on her passenger seat and constant glances at her watch.  Then, it reminded me of, well, half the people I know (more or less)!  And, voila, a blog post about how I FEEL over the topic of being too busy.  b) I also told her that if she was reading that much into my blog post then perhaps you feel down deep that you are too busy and therefore I hit a little too close to the nail on the head. 

I have also been slapped (figuratively) over and over about how personal I get on my blog.  Again, I write how I feel, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes in between but what I try to always be is: REAL.  That is what I aim for.  Believe me, I'm not a ten year old who has absolutely no clue what she is saying.  I delete a whole hellofalot of sentences that never get published because I feel I personally crossed whatever the line may be.  Sometimes the nail hits close, I get that, but I certainly never aim to hurt anyone.

Words are powerful and that is my draw.  I love that.  I love being able to use this blog sometimes as an outlet.  Instead of chewing out my neighbor over wrongly accusing my daughter of doing something she would never do...I write about it here and I vent and I let it go.  If you don't want to hear me vent, don't read. 

Everyone has a different reason for writing...books, blogs, newspaper articles, etc.  And, everyone has a different reason for reading.  If this isn't your thing, by all means don't click on my blog. 

One more request: please stop going to my mother if you have problems with my blog/writing.  I know you mean well (whoever you all are, I don't know because she wouldn't say) and maybe it is just harmless conversation but I am 45 years old and I hate to sound harsh here but she is not going to be able to do anything about what I write, on my blog or otherwise. 

Whew.  I hope that cleared a few things up.

After all that I hope that if you are here and you do enjoy (whether you agree or disagree, both is fine!) my blog and you are a regular reader, THANK YOU! I appreciate all my readers that click on my wittle blog for the sole purpose of reading the words I write.

Missing In Action

I have been rather silent over here.  The onset of spring always seems to bring out the busyness with kids, school projects, garden preparation, house tasks, get together's, taxes, and spring break.

Sigh.

However, besides being overwhelmed by long to-do lists, preparing to head south for spring break (just me and the baby girl...yippie!), and books begging to be read (Gawd, just a week of doing nothing but reading...bliss...is that too much to ask?? Answer: no!) I have been lugging a heavy heart with me everywhere I go.

I will say that sometimes life is extremely tough and absolutely NOTHING that I ever thought it would be (both good and bad).  I wish I could go back to that innocent, clueless, naive little ten year old girl who felt safe at home with her parents....and skipping along lalalalalalalalalalalala.

But, alas, life continues to move forward and I am several decades beyond that little pre-teen girl.  And, I am now faced with real relationships that struggle and have major bumps and have caused me to reflect, cry, and nurse the sadness that seems to be pouring out of me.

My mind is racing, my heart is hurting, and I am tired.

I think I am ready for summer.  Really, really ready.  Ready to be warm.  Ready to have the kids home from school and not deal with lunches and assignments.  Ready to hang up my bright yellow vest and huge stop sign for good.  Ready to have little to do but take the kids to the pool (and, oh my Gawd, perhaps READ all day? I can dream, anyway).

I'm ready to see the sun again...as I sit here on the eve of the frist day of spring and light snow covers the grass in the backyard with a sheer covering.

I'm also ready to begin to mend relationships and heal my broken heart.  Because the weight of failed relationships are bringing me down...

My Baby, Ms. Kindle

 

Okay.  I succumbed.

I did it.  I took the leap into the digital age of e-reading.  If you recall from a previous post, I had finally been able to justify it.  Well, I still couldn't REALLY justify it because it kept falling into the big ole WANT category.  I wanted one.  Bad.

And I finally got one last week.

Now, let's be clear here:  I got it for research purposes.  I plan to study Gettysburg probably for two solid years, work on some writing about Gettysburg, and therefore my loosely spun justification was born.

I sat with the Kindle for two days before I downloaded anything.  Larry and the kids kept asking me why.  I don't know why.  I was afraid of...I'm not sure what.  I just kept walking around with it and turning it on and looking at it and marveling at it. 

However, on day three I finally downloaded.

And downloaded.

And, someone stop me, I downloaded some more.

I managed to buy a couple of biggies for my Gettysburg research (which I have already read two smaller books and have begun slowly tackling the biggest one, which features nothing but day two of the battle.  I know, riveting.  Shut it) and, well, I decided to buy a couple novels from my list for my trip to San Diego in a couple of weeks.

Then, I discovered (thank you my Book Whore Buddy) the free section.

Oh. Dear. Lord.

I spent a week straight glued onto Amazon, placing books on a wish list, double checking them against Good Reads, searching every genre imaginable for the freebies, even checking books out of not only Amazon's library system but also the public library (which, apparently, they are unaware that I am a total deadbeat library card holder but, alas, this is digital so when the books are due they simply delete the book off my Kindle.  Gawd, where has this baby been all my life?).

140 books and seven days later...

I am hooked.

Like a book junky.  I can't seem to stay off Amazon. 

Yesterday I downloaded a few free books and today they weren't free anymore.  Score!  Then, I spotted a deal through one of my pimps for a book that was only a quarter and today it is back to regular price!  Cha-Ching.

Books, books, books...it is all I am dreaming of. (I want to spend a week just reading.  Can that be arranged somehow?)

I never, ever, EVER thought I would enjoy this thing as much as I have.  I look at regular books now and just sigh...(and then check Amazon to see if I can get them for free or super cheap.  See, I'm a Crazy Whore).

At book club a couple of weeks ago I was talking to a lady who said she is an avid reader and I asked her about how she feels about reading books vs. books-a-la-Kindle and she said something that has made me stop and ponder a bit (I'm going to paraphrase): "I love TO READ! I am a READER and therefore I will read in any form I can!!"

Hmmm.  Interesting point.

I will say that the things I was uncertain about: feeling an actual book before reading it and flipping through it hasn't been a super big deal like I thought it would...and I have discovered that the Kindle gives me prompts as to placement and a bar with a percentage, which I LOVE.  However, I am quite confused over how they arrive at the number associated with the size of the book.  It isn't page numbers...I can't quite figure out the code.  Other than that, there are very few things I dislike about my baby!

Needless to say: I love my Kindle.  I love the color version; the pages, which I changed to a soft ecru tone is easy on the eyes; I love watching the percentage change as I read; I love being able to download a book in two seconds; I love being able to make notes as I read right there on my device; I love being able to highlight and check the dictionary; I love how easy it is to hold and carry.  And, of the issues I don't like that much: battery runs down pretty fast (I would say 8 hours, tops); can't seem to organize my books (I wanted to separate all my Gettysburg books from other history books from novels and I can't seem to do that on the fire); and it doesn't give me indication of chapters (I like to know how close I am to the end of a chapter).  But, these are mere minor snags in the big picture of awesomeness.

I said I would never give up actual books and I suppose that is still a true statement but so far I have only read books ON my Kindle and while there are book-books I possess that I want to read soon, I find I am not gravitating to them at the moment. 

An interesting thing happened to me yesterday: I took Jennifer to a bookstore so she could find a book for our San Diego trip and I happened to find a book that was on my wish list through Amazon.  I picked it up.  Held it.  (Okay, maybe took a whiff.)And put it back on the shelf.  Dammittohell, I would rather have it on the Kindle.

What is happening to me? And, more importantly, what kind of Evil Juice is IN that Kindle, anyway?!?!

(I guess I just love reading no matter the form.  Amen.)