On a side note...

Why on a blogger spell check function does it not recognize the word, "blog?"

Brief Respite

Not that anyone here would notice anyway with my sporadic posts that tend to leave out the real life drama of it all, but I'm taking a short hiatus.

Not to worry, it will be brief. I just need a few days of cabana boys bringing me frozen fruity drinks and the smell of sunblock poolside a luxury hotel.

I think this will truly be the perfect medicine even if they can't figure out what ails me.

So, until next week mysterious blog audience, have a wonderful weekend and I'll update soon...

Easter Monday

Easter started out non-traditionally, but we caught up on Sunday morning when the kids woke at the crack of dawn (I can’t get them up at 7 for school, yet they will rise at 6 when chocolate is involved) and found their baskets. Turns out Amy loves jellybeans, and the boys only wanted to microwave the Peeps.

We dressed up and made it to Mass, where they all behaved themselves very well. It was hot, so I only managed a few pictures before they stripped and went straight to the pool. I don’t blame them.

Dad and Maryann were here, and it was a relaxing afternoon before a big dinner with all of the trimmings on the good china. I love those kinds of dinners.

The weekend ended very nicely after a rocky start. The kids are off this week--they are blissfully and finally sleeping in at the moment—but I think we’ll find stuff to do around here for this vacation.

I hope everyone else had a very nice Easter.

At The Car Wash

As more of a treat to my father than to myself; I had the car detailed this morning.

Since he is here for a visit, I thought I’d accomplish multiple goals with this pursuit:

1) Actually make room in the car for additional passengers amongst the juice boxes, toys and Junior Mints, and 2) thwart his ultimate pet peeve--a dirty car.

I should have done before he got here though.

The car spent 45 minutes getting vacuumed. I’m sure the first couple broke down on the absolute quantity of crumbs to deal with. It had to go through the car wash twice to remove the pollen and bird excrement cocktail that layered it. It spent another hour getting the interior wiped down, including the grisly deed of cleaning the cup holders which had to be pried out of their sticky perches with a crow bar.

So, after waiting for at length at the car wash, paying a handsome sum for the deluxe service and tipping an even more handsome sum, we return to the gleaming automobile.

However, as a result from the immense amount of time it took to achieve a passable grade from the Health Department, the battery died in the parking lot.

Oh, the shame.

When will I learn?

That some days, you are best served keeping your mouth shut?

Here She Goes....

I’ve spent the morning enraged.

I’ve taken out this anger in the form of scathing emails to politicians, newspapers and friends (look for it in your inbox soon) whom I hope will share my disgust.

I’m sure that you’ve all heard of the Terri Schiavo case, and if you haven’t, well, congratulations on finding the media vacuum, and please send directions on how I can get there.

This woman has been in this “persistent vegetative state” for 15 years. Her case has been in the Florida courts for the past 7. 19 other judges have contemplated it. The Supreme Court has ruled on it. The hatchet job legislation Jeb Bush tried to pass last year has been overturned by his own lame legislature and the Florida Supreme Court. It has been decidedly debated and deemed that it is time to remove this poor woman’s feeding tube, and let her die according to her wishes.

The religious right has hijacked this woman’s life to force its own agenda. President Bush thought it necessary to conduct this joke piece of legislation in the wee hours of a weekend, (yet he continues to let the war in Iraq smolder) to completely abandon all precepts of checks and balances, separation of church and state, and walk all over the Bill of Rights and any privacy laws that he can warp in the meantime.

I’m sickened by the whole circus. Her husband has insisted from the beginning that she never wanted to be kept alive by artificial means. His story rings true when you consider that he could have relinquished custody to her parents years ago, sparing himself the countless hours of anguish, numerous death threats and thousands in medical care and exhaustive legal costs to fight for her wishes.

No, as a matter of fact, I’m not done, but I will take a break to go sign another online petition.

Saturday

For the most part, I do try to get most of my chores and errands done throughout the week, so that if, by some strange planetary disturbance, we do find a moment on a weekend that isn’t running somewhere (like the baseball fields which have now taken over our lives) then at least we won’t have to worry about housework.

That is not the case today.

You can only go chore-less so many Saturdays before they start to catch up on you, demanding some attention like the other 6 days. After all, it wasn’t Saturday to have claimed to be a day of rest…

So today, we will have to spend some time on the outside tasks, and work on the de-clutter epic which I only attend to on days that start with ‘S.’

As tedious as that sounds, I am thankful for the mindless distraction. Events occurring far away from here are best left up to Fate today, and not to my worrisome mind.

So, here’s to a busy day of welcome diversion, basketball droning in the background, and finishing a book.

The Big Dance

And so the tourney begins…

I’m going to participate in three different pools this year to increase my odds. Although, I did win it all last year despite my Kentucky pick to go all the way (they lost in the second round.) I don’t know if that means I’m that good, or the competition was that bad.

And on a little happy side note, my tiny alma mater, Oakland University, may earn its first invitation ever this year. They will play in a play-in game tomorrow to determine whether or not the Golden Grizzlies (I don’t think they were called that when I went there a million years ago) will earn national college hoop fame.

I’m taking them in all three pools.

In the mean time

A few days after my first review was published and I was an instant local celebrity (I’m not even joking)--I got my first freelance assignment from the editor.

I was to conduct an interview and write a profile on a local resident, and then write a fairly long (900 words) article due in less than a week.

I felt so freelance-esque as I interviewed my subject at an outdoor café on Friday morning. People walked past with their latte grandes, secretly admiring the writer scribbling copious notes while laughing and pausing at all of the right moments. I should have worn a beret to complete the effect.

I finished it yesterday, and I will now send it off to my gracious subject for approval before turning it in (early) to the editor.

It was pretty cool, my friends.

A Must Read

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Absolute inclusion to every reader’s list. It will profoundly move you in ways this humble audience cannot even begin to describe.

…I wondered if that is how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.”

Your soul needs this, people.

And before I go off to ponder this novel even further, I will leave you with an annoying phenomenon occurring in blogoshere…"Donations.” I’ve read this cyber solicitation in numerous places, and for the life of me, I cannot get over the arrogance of this request.

Give you money because you write a blog that costs nothing to maintain? Thanks, but no. I can’t decide if it is merely another extension of narcissism, sheer rudeness, or unabashed lunacy.

So, this unassuming little blog continues to be free of charge.

I suppose you get what you pay for.

No!

Because I must adopt a glass half-full philosophy when it comes to rejections, lest I find myself stuffing rags under the door of the garage with the car running, I’ve received 2 notable rejections in the last 2 days:

1) Yesterday, an actual phone call, from an editor advising me that they had staff writers at the moment, but she would keep my submissions (column) on file.

2) Today, a very nice letter from a local paper with these fine words that sum up to “NO,” but in a suggestive way: ‘…thank you for your submission…Your work is rather attractive.’ It is signed, ‘John.’

Maybe he wants to be my boyfriend.

Anyway, since I am so used to hearing absolutely NOTHING from editors, these no’s are almost refreshing.

Almost.

Friday Round-Up

As part of my voracious reading period, I feel compelled to comment here on every book I read. I apologize. I will be brief.

After picking up John le Carre’s latest, Absolute Friends, and then giving it a brief respite in the middle to read another, I am ultimately glad I resumed as I was handsomely rewarded. Known for his mater spy novels, Absolute Friends was a touch more political--downright bold--in its timely plot and narrative. It was an old colonial war dressed up as a crusade for Western life and liberty, and it was launched by a clique of war-hungry Judeo-Christian geopolitical fantasists who hijacked the media and exploited America’s post-9/11 psychopathy. Did I mention this was a work of fiction? I loved this book.

Other Life Details:

1) Baseball for the boys in full swing. That means nearly every night is spent at the fields. 2 games per week, 1 practice per child. That’s a lot of time in the bleachers. I’m trying to readjust our evening schedule to accommodate. We now eat dinner at 3:30.

2) I’m trying to rid the house of the germ that has permeated the women folk of the family. We’re both on antibiotics, and I’m bleaching everything to spare the boys the hacking and sneezing.

3) My first book review was published this week--and barring some minor editing details--it went well. I’ve got a few more irons in the fire that I’m not banking on, but at least I’m bettering my odds.

Well, that is all for the blog de jour. Have a nice weekend, strangers.

Cookies Cure What Ails You?

How many boxes of Thin Mints can one family eat? It seems between Sean and I, we have purchased at least 27 boxes from every Girl Scout on the East Coast and some rogue Canadian troops.

In other news, Amy and I got antibiotics yesterday, so we may be returning to the land of living shortly, and start making our way through the Trefoils and Samoas.