Hey all

Today marks a year and a half since I got hit by a car.  I'm here in Indiana, my home state, visiting family and friends -- the first time I've traveled since before the accident as well as since separating from my husband.  It's been a tumultuous visit with lots of firsts and lots of sadness, as well as a bit of peace at times and acceptance from others at other times.

I have spent the past week soaking up time with dear friends.  I was able to visit what I consider my "home church" on Sunday and it was a solace.  I feel no desire to go to church in Colorado, but I think if I lived here again, I would be at Assembly every Sunday.

Tomorrow I will see my daughter for the first time in nearly two weeks.  Before that happens, however, I will be visiting my little brother in prison.  My mother and step-father are picking me up bright and early in the morning for that visit.  I haven't seen him for several years and have had only very brief phone conversations.  For a while we weren't sure that I would get visitor clearance in time and I'm so glad I'm able to go -- my mom worked really hard to make it happen and the people at the prison bent a lot of rules, I think, to get me in during my visit.

After our visit to my brother, we will pick up my daughter and go to my aunt and uncle's house to spend time with them.  I'm looking forward to having some relaxed time there and to seeing my cousins as well.  We will be there for several days.

This is some crazy hard stuff, some crazy hard times.  But again I am surrounded by goodness.

I've been working on a cross-stich pattern for my daughter -- beautifully colored butterflies on navy fabric.  I'll try to post a picture at some point, hopefully an "in-progress" shot.  I'm looking forward to giving her the presents I've collected for her here and there, as well as some fun presents from our friend Dara and two new books from our friend Becca.  I'm looking forward to spending time with my mom.  I'm hoping I can get presents wrapped before Christmas morning but I know that right now I need to be getting ready for bed so I can make it through a very full day tomorrow.

Blessings to you all on this cold and dark December night.

Friday 56 & Book Beginnings , a horrific day, and an origami giveaway

Well, I've had many, many better days. (and I don't normally evaluate each day before bed) Today was ludicrously rotten in all kinds of different ways -- but I'll focus on some positives --- I got new nose-pads for my glasses, a nice Craigslist man brought my heavy heavy laundry basket and box inside for me, I was not

Image via Wikipedia

hit by a car (today), my friend Holly is okay, and . . . um . . . Jeremy made me a gin and tonic while I was waiting at the apartment to come home.  There.  Good things.  Now I will probably read with Mark so Amy can get Lilly to sleep and then snuggle into bed myself.  I'm safe, I have comfy pajamas and Nico the cat is curled up with her body between my side and my left arm.  Good stuff.  Here is Mark to read, so I'll do some Friday memes and sign off.

Welcome to The Friday 56, now hosted by Freda’s Voice.
Here’s how it works:
Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it here.

The closing installment likened McCarthy to" a drunk at a party who was funny half an hour ago but now won't go home.  McCarthy is camped in America's front room trying to impress everybody by singing all the dirty songs and using all the four-letter words he knows.  The jokes are pointless, the songs unfunny, the profanity a bore."
~Getting It Wrong:  Ten Misreported Stories in American Journalism by W. Joseph Campbell

(Since my quote was a quote, I took the liberty of including the complete quote.) I'm just starting this one and think it will be very interesting but that it may be one of those books that keeps me very aware, while reading it, that it is non-fiction.  We'll see...

How to participate: All you have to do is share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading (and can go pick up a copy if it sounds good!). Then, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line and whether or not you liked the sentence(s).

"Hello, Gollie," said Bink. "What should we do today?"

~from Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee

This is my latest book crush -- DiCamillo and McGhee have already written many beloved children's books on their own and have now teamed up to write what we can only hope will be the first in a delightful new series.  The quirkiness of this book is right up my alley.  There are three chapters: "Don't You Need a New Pair of Socks?", "P.S. I'll Be Back Soon", and "Give a Fish a Home".   Really -- check this book out -- it's good stuff -- It's the kind of book that has some great quotes you'll find yourself incorporating into your household conversations. (-Do I smell pancakes? -No.  -Will I smell pancakes?)

While we're at it, head over to Freda's Voice to enter to win World's Best Origami!  What better way to spend your next rainy/snowy day?

Forward Motion

For me, onward motion was merely a thing to cling to until someone told me to stop.
~Mary Russell in The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

The Simple Woman's Daybook - May 4, 2010

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... wind blowing the new spring buds, bright yellow green leaves, and wind chimes

I am thinking...it's funny I can hear the cat snoring

I am thankful for... bagels and cream cheese in my refrigerator

I am wearing...the shirt my dorm floor had made in college (my name is on the back as one of the "Top Ten reasons to live on Miller 1st :))

I am remembering...what Sartre said about other people

I am creating...a calm heart, a calm heart, a calm heart

I am going...to be okay, be okay.

I am reading... Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

I am hoping...I feel happy in five years about the decisions I make this year

I am hearing...my husband vacuuming up the baking soda we put on the carpet in the corner to absorb the smell...Thanks, Jeremy.  And thanks Felix & Tucker for remembering where your litter box is tomorrow!

Around the house...very clean carpet in the little bedroom  :)

On my mind...appropriate and inappropriate uses of facebook

Noticing that...my water glass doesn't magically become full if I check it again 33 seconds later

Pondering these words... "We are looking to brands for poetry and for spirituality, because we're not getting those things from our communities or from each other."  ~Naomi Klein



One of my favorite things...mild spring nights with a breeze

A few plans for the rest of the week... physical therapy, a five-year-old's birthday party, and some time to myself on Sunday morning

Here is picture for thought I am sharing (from my friend Amy)...

A physician's blog about breastfeeding

I thought this was a great post!

an excerpt:

Now, I have a question: Why do we accept that malfunction of a major part of reproductive physiology is untreatable, and that the acceptable solution is a synthetic substitute and a pat on the head?
Consider that we spend more than $1 billion a year on Viagra to treat another type of reproductive malfunction. I suspect men with erectile dysfunction would not respond well to being told “We’re sorry, we don’t have a treatment for this important aspect of your reproductive and social well-being. But here’s an artificial substitute.”

Blame the Goat

Blame


I wrote such a beautiful book for you
'Bout rainbows and sunshine
And dreams that come true.
But the goat went and ate it
(You knew that he would),
So I wrote you another one
Fast as I could.
Of course it could never be
Nearly as great
As that beautiful book
That silly goat ate.
So if you don't like
This new book I just wrote-
Blame the goat.


~From A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

For many years now, my friend Tamie and I have used this poem as an alibi to excuse the quality of our writing -- to say that it would've been this amazing and marvelous thing if it just hadn't been for that darn goat!  

I find myself thinking of Shel's (he and I are on a first-name basis, did you know?) words whenever I lose an e-mail or a document, especially one that I've particularly toiled over and/or one that was fairly emotionally wrenching to get down in the first place.

Amy, this is the long way of telling you that I wrote such a beautiful facebookmessage for you but that goat went and ate (you knew that he would) so I'm off to try again -- I'd made it all the way up to 1992, too!

Just gettin' my toes wet

I've really enjoyed the writing process of this blog thus far.  I like the colors I've set up (I think I erred at least very slightly on the side of not making it too busy...I think.)  It's interesting to me how much of a different feel blog writing has for me as compared to e-mail or even writing real letters.  As a small example -- I originally put two periods after "busy" up there.  Then I went back and added a third because everyone knows that an ellipsis needs three and only three.  Whereas the definition (at least for me) of how many periods there can be is much, much broader when e-mailing, instant messaging, and, to some extent, writing letters.  Oh and two more examples to prove my point...  In every instance of the word "period" prior to this sentence, I originally had typed "dot" and then realized that, really, period was more accurate.  And when I started the sentence with "Whereas," I immediately thought, "That's probably not the ideal use of that word" but I made myself leave it.  :)

But probably this is a good thing, this being more aware of what I am writing.  I'm enough of a Luddite that I think to myself,(insert crotchety voice)  "This is what's wrong with society today!  Like that school in New Zealand (?) where they let those youngsters use text-ese on their essay tests!  What is this world coming to!?"  So perhaps blogging is one way for me to keep my writing at least somewhat more refined. (Note: This is not a promise from your dear blogger to always have work of the greatest quality posted here.  Please do not return tomorrow morning looking for such.)


(Third paragraph warning for Snozz) And then there is the issue of who will be reading this.  I don't really enjoy self-censoring (a shock, I know, to those of you who know me) and I don't want to self-censor in my own blog.  (At new acquaintances' dinner tables, maybe, but not here!)  There are two aspects about this -- the whole internet safety shebang and the actual content of what I'm writing.  With the former, I basically think that if someone really wants to stalk me, steal my identity, or send me anonymous care packages in the mail, they'll do it even if I never touch a computer keyboard again.  With the latter, I think my approach should be that if somebody doesn't like what I'm saying, they don't need to frequent my blog....  (A greater concern for me isn't them not liking what I'm saying, but them not liking what they *think* I am saying.)   These laid-back approaches are somewhat easier said then done, but in general I'm not a anxious person and the idea of letting fear impact how I live my life doesn't sit well with me.  I think is mostly just beginner's nerves and soon you will all be saying :  "Seriously?  She thinks a 49 line paragraph is a good thing?"  "Why in the world does she think any of us are interested in this ridiculous topic she chose to write about today?"  "I can't believe she's saying that about sea otters/air pollution/Karl Marx/high fructose corn syrup.  That's it, we are no longer friends!"  "Oooh, I think I've finally figured out exactly where she lives and what she looks like.  Time to start filling this priority mail cardboard box with yummy lotions, minty chapstick, fun stationery, awesome socks, and a few issues of Games Magazine."

A More-Than-Slightly Pilfered Book Meme

I slightly pilfered this meme from Bryan at Bryan's Book Blog who appropriated it from Susan at Well-Mannered Frivolity who (according to her) got it from “Ryan at Wordsmithonia, who borrowed it from Alexia's Books and Such..., who borrowed it from Brooke Reviews, and well, you get the idea.”  I've also given myself the liberty to cut a few of the questions because they were hard -- I know, very wimpy of me.  Please assume that none of my answers have been accepted into the canon as of yet.
 

The Rules:
No two answers can be the same book
All books must be fiction

Book Next to Your Bed Right Now:Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party -- What all responsible parents read to their six-year-old daughter at night.

Favorite Series:
Lately I've been especially lovin' on Suzanne Collins Hunger Games trilogy.  (the last one comes out in August)

Book/Series You Would Take With You on a Long Flight:Maybe The Time Traveler's Wife, as I could use a re-read.

Book That Everyone Should Be Made to Read in School:
1984 by George Orwell because, even though I didn't get as much out of it in high school as I did as an adult, it's something that is referenced so often and I'm glad I at least sort of got it.

Book That Everyone Should Be Made to Read, Period:
 Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  (I'm pretty sure I'd have a totally different answer if non-fiction was included.)

Favorite Character:Tie between Harriet the Spy and Miss Marple

Best Villain:  This is the one I've left til last. I think I'm going to go with Draco Malfoy -- I'm attracted to seeing the motivation behind a character's actions and I think we get some of that with Draco. 

Favorite Concept Series:Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series -- I originally had this in favorite series but I think it fits better here....

Favorite Invented World: Gone-Away Lake...  I'm sure there's another one, but Gone-Away is all I can think of right now.

Most Beautifully-Written Book: The Barn Owls by Tony Johnston and Deborah Kogan Ray

Funniest Book:  Couplehood and/or Parenthood by Paul Reiser  -- one of those books where you laugh because it's all so true.