My youngest has decided to try making her own spring scented perfume: azlea and lilac. The scent was very organic, although I detected no scent of blossoms.



This mouthful of orthodontia is my drama queen who apparently didn't realize that "break a leg" was hyperbole. We had her ankle x-rayed today and see the orthopedist tomorrow. She will likely have to give up her star dancing role. Which is worse to break: a bone or a heart?

And this great defense is my recently 12 year old son just minutes before he got the wind knocked out of him. Even though he didn't finish the game, he was proud to hear the coach say he had the check of the day. He wears his lacrosse bruises like badges of honor.

Here's my dear friend Julie's cozy Texas home where I ran away to last weekend to catch my breath and rejuvenate. There is a calm about my friend Julie that left me feeling quite rejuvenated. Mostly we talked, never a shortage. Here's one of our weird conversations.


You know how we use the metaphor of luggage to describe our own emotional status: as in, "She's bringing a lot of baggage into that realationship"?
Well, Julie & I were eating our forth Mexican lunch in so many days at the expansive Abilene airport, listening to the repeated warnings about securing luggage and we decided to see if we could extend the metaphor.

We're all on our own journeys. Everyone has baggage. Sometimes it is just a backpack with cartoon characters on it. Sometimes it is a cute little matching set. Some baggage is unwieldy and debilitating. It sure is nice when someone helps you with your luggage. But if they have too much of their own, or just little experience traveling, they can't help.
All of that I knew already about my luggage and my emotional baggage.

But what about if you leave it unattended, like they kept warning us not to? Do we have to guard our emotional baggage like our travel luggage? Can our baggage, in the wrong hands, lead to catastrophe? Hopefully someone would just turn it in so we could reclaim it.

Whaddya think?

Here's some practice with my new camera. I'll try moving objects soon!

My hometown is getting its fifth Starbucks.
I like Starbucks. My teenage daughter is delighted that it is within walking distance.
But this Starbucks feels wrong to me.

Because Starbucks was willing to pay a higher rent, the mall management company chose not to renew the contract for its previoius resident, my vet.

I really liked my vet, Dr. Moore. Not only was she conveniently located, she was a good businesswoman. She was kind and generous.

My children's first kitten, adopted to help with our sorrow over the divorce, was put to sleep in that space. Mojo Jojo had a congential neurological defect that was worsening. It seemed the kind choice for him, even though he was still just a kitten.

And now people will be drinking carmel machiattos, frappachinos, and double shot espressos there. It just doesn't seem right. How much coffee does this town need? And will it still smell like a vet's office in there?

The information on my statcounter is interesting. I can see what google searches have lead unsuspecting surfers to my blog:
mammowipes,
removing luan staples,
idiot girls,
and most recently,
beef tendon balls.

Maybe one day I'll write about something interesting!
Like the new camera I'm learning for my growing career in photojournalism. Hopefully soon I'll have more pictures for you all.

Even though I'm not from Blacksburg, Dan summarized my feelings well. I'm so sad.

http://dant-dant.blogspot.com/

Between my daughters' play rehearsals, my son's lacrosse, and my reporting job, I'm logging in a lot of driving hours. So I have returned to audio books. I love it. Now the driving doesn't seem like such lost time.

I just finished listening to "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. You may remember the hubub about this book. The author said it was a memoir and got on Oprah. After Oprah he admitted it was fiction, pissing off the big O.

whatever.
It is a compelling story that you should avoid if you can't stand cussing. If you think your life is a mess, this is sure to give you some perspective. I'm sure he's got you beat.

The bottom line, whether or not the author meant it, is that a little love goes a long way. Imperfect love, love grudgingly given, weak dependent love, the hope of love, any love at all is worth living for.
Anyone out there read it?

Do you think you can have too much love? I think it is possible. I have declined offers of love because of its dependent and smothering nature. I suppose either extreme can be overwhelming. Maybe some kinds of love are easier to balance than others.

My fingers are dyslexic. I don't seem to transpose letters when handwriting, only when typing. Probably because I'm going too fast. It's annoying! Thank God for spellcheck.

I've started reading a book called "Religious Literacy" by Stephen Prothero. I saw him interviewed on my favorite show, The Daily Show, and interviewed in a magazine, but I forget which. Anyway, his point is that to be effective citizens, we need to know about Christianity and other major world religions. Religions are not quarantined in their section of the world anymore. Since misunderstandings can be deadly, we should be informed.

Here are some of the questions he asks his college students:
1. Name the four Gospels.
2. List as many of the Ten Commandments as you can.
3. What is the holy book of Islam?
4. Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.
5. Name a sacred text of Hinduism.
6. What are the seven sacraments of Catholicism?
7. What are the two religion clauses in the First Amendment?
8. What is Ramadan?

Even after reading some of the book and taking the quiz at the beginning, there are several questions I cannot answer.
How about you?

Did anyone else enjoy the revelation of the secret of Easter preserved by the secret society, the Hare Club for Men?

Spring cleaning.
It feels so good to get s big project done, but I keep thinking about the other things I'd rather be doing. But at least I have one room in my house that isn't stressing me out entirely. I hauled two big black trash bags pf trash out of my daughter's room, another of clothes, and a box of books. Once I start throwing out, I can really get rid of a lot.

I had thought about taking my kids somewhere over the school break but they just wanted to stay home. Good. They can help. Sometimes there is simply too much Go.

Eggs anyone? I'm thinking this might be a good week for a round of the Atkins diet. Thank God I got my sister to take that cake home. Now all I have to resist are the Peeps, and they are going fast.

Do you remember back in February when I had a houseful of friends and family due to extensive power outages after an ice storm? Well, since my 'fridge and freezer were overflowing with everyone's salvaged foods, one night when we ordered Chinese we just put the leftovers in the rarely used basement 'fridge.

Tonight we remembered those leftovers when I went to use that fridge for Easter overflow.

bblleeeehhh

It poured like crazy this morning and my basement didn't flood. Yippee!

My horoscope yesterday said I was "no stranger to being strange." I guess that is so.


I had a little blizzard of busy-ness last week. I have so much to catch up on! I spent Saturday & Sunday in NYC with my friend I met when I was a Bob's Big Boy waitress at age 17. We were in each other's weddings and, despite our distance, have managed to stay in touch for 25 years. Cool, huh?

My friend, L, was born in Hong Kong and speaks fluent Cantonese, making her the perfect friend to go to Chinatown with. She had her list and an empty roller suitcase to tote her haul of shopping. She is an amazing shopper, haggling, finding better deals. Her heritage and bilingualism got us into back rooms for better deals on the knock-off merchandise lining Canal & Mott Streets.

She took me into the Wen-Wah Market where she was planning to pick up some delicacies. I was amazed with the things that are considered normal to eat by the Chinese. I saw sea cucumbers, which are kinda creepy looking, and bins of baby octopi and teeny tiny shrimp. There were piles of featherless wings and heads and duck feet. There were beef tendon balls and tongue. Other items, labeled in Chinese, were equally curious and queasy to me as a very American gastronomer.

We ate breakfast in the surprisingly large Grand Harmony and ate shrimp rice crepes, pork dumplings, and steamed roast pork buns, which were all delicious. I'd never been in a Chinese restaurant for breakfast and had never considered how their breakfast foods might be different from their lunch and dinner foods. There was little difference that I perceived.


The night before we considered a variety of other ethnicities for dinner, mostly all on 9th Avenue: Pakistani, Thai, Turkish, Spanish, Brazilian, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Mexican, and Indonesian. I had Mexican for lunch, so we passed on that. We were planning on Chinatown in the morning, so I only glanced over the Asian options. I'm saving my first Brazilian restaurant experience for another party. And while we were standing on the corner debating, the John-Corbett-look-alike bass player from the zydeco band in The Delta invited us in. So Cajun it was - and delicious too.

The cutie bass player stopped by our table on his break and introduced himself, Skip. He and I both went to Kent State in the 80's. He is scheduled to appear on David Letterman on the 26th of this month playing bass with Steve Martin on banjo. We told him we expected a shout out on the show. So if you see him, let me know, would you have followed him into The Delta for a margarita?