New School Clothes! (Day 1)

Even though Thursday the 11th was the first day of school, we waited till yesterday to go shopping for back-to-school clothes --due to waiting for the paycheck, plus, Ceana already had a couple of new pairs of shorts thanks to a shopping trip with her aunt. Here she is, modelling her first outfit for this week:

Fifth-grader, Ceana on her first Monday of school, all new clothes. There is a tank top under the shirt she is wearing so she won't be breaking any dress codes about bare shoulders if her new shirt moves around too much.

Close up of raccoon hat and zebra-striped sunglasses (that match the frames of her regular glasses)

I wanted a close-up of her pretty blue eyes. It took several shots to get this one--the flash kept making her need to close her eyes. Finally, Ceana got the bright idea (no pun intended) to look to the side.

I Might Have a Problem....

This is not a fictional blog. This is the August theme for NaBloPoMo

Here are the "after" photos I promised from yesterday's post. 

Pretty! The yellow polish on the right was purchased yesterday when I purchased the train case. The polishes in the center section were too tall to fit in the compartments on the sides, which is probably a good thing since it doesn't look like more polishes are going to fit there anyway.

This morning when I went to Walgreen's to pick up some sundry items, a few more colors reeled me in:

I like weird nail polish colors. This has been established. Also, I clearly have a problem because even though my brand new, larger than ever nail polish storage case is filled to the brim, I continue to by more polish.

Right now, I am actually fantasizing about taking pics of each individual polish and putting the name next to it as sort of an inventory. I may have a serious problem. For now, I'll just tell you the names of the four newest colors. From left to right: Gentle Blossom (pearly sea foam green(pale ), Let's Meet (pearly bright yellow), Unicorn (pale butter yellow), Cloud 9 (pearly tangerine orange). Normally, yellows, oranges and sea foam greens are my least favorite color, especially in clothing, but for some reason, I'm really starting to like them for my nails. Oh, and there is also the French manicure pen. I didn't mention it, because I felt like it pretty much spoke for itself.

Currently reading: Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Nail Polish Galore!

This is not a fictional blog. This is the August theme for NaBloPoMo

I finally got the gorgeous case I've been wanting to hold my nail care accessories. My project for today is to go through all of my products and start tossing things, reorganize and fill up the new case. Here are some before shots:

The silver box on the left is my new case. It is also a Caboodles, like the purple one in the photo.

When I'm done, I'll post the "after" photos.

What My Husband and Daughter Did Over the Summer

Two weekends ago my husband wanted us to jump in the car and drive up to Yosemite to see all the extra waterfalls brought on by the extra heavy snows from last winter. As beautiful as Yosemite is, and as much as I love waterfalls, my instincts told me I would be unhappy with the spur of the moment EIGHT HOUR road trip that would include at least one of our children. Our twenty-year-old twins opted out, preferring to spend the weekend with their friends than with their family. Our ten-year-old was up for it, so her father and I decided it would be a daddy/daughter trip, which would also save money. Below are some photos taken from the trip. My daughter too the pictures, with the exception of the photos she is in.

Charley wearing his Simon and Garfunkel concert T-shirt. 

I think they wanted to show the juxtaposition of the snow and the tourists in shorts and tank tops. It was very crowded that day, so I am not sorry I missed the trip.

They actually saw this young buck while they were walking along a trail. There is a better picture somewhere of this, but I couldn't find it. 

What a beautiful view! And Yosemite looks good too! 

Crocheting a Lacy Sweater

So the theme for August is "Fiction" yet, more often than not, I'm writing non-fiction posts. Glad it's optional!

In addition to reading Mockingjay, I'm also working on a crochet-a-long sweater with a pattern from Interweave Crochet.

If you follow the link, you will see photos of how the finished product should look. I am way behind on my sweater. I'm making it for my daughter. She preferred a different color. I'm using Naturally Caron.com SPA, which is a bamboo blend. The color is called "Greensleeves."

Here are some photos of my WIP*
*Work In Progress

The flash kind of washes out the color

I put a standard sized ball point pen here as a size comparison.

This is supposed to be the "wrong" side, but I think I prefer it to the "right" side shown below

The "right" side

Random Thoughts

I know this is a Jerry Seinfeld bit, but really, I thought of it before I heard him say it. Why do I suddenly have to go to the bathroom as soon as I'm inside a bookstore? My bowels just suddenly drop and thank god they have a bathroom!

Starbuck's Protein Bistro Box is the same thing as their Protein Plate, but in a box.

I really like their Berry Hibiscus Refresher. I keep forgetting to get it in a vente instead of a grande.

That is all for today because I'm only 1/3 of the way through with Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Yes, I am 43 39 years old and am reading a young adult novel. What of it? I AM a young adult. I mean, I'm not a senior citizen, right? I am an adult and I'm young (ish).

Starry Night

This counts as a blog post, right? Because normally, I don't go on the computer on Sundays. It isn't a religious thing, it's just that I like to have at least one day where I'm computer-free. Sometimes I skip Saturdays as well. See you Monday!

Daniel Craig in Chaps/Catching Fire

I just came back from watching Cowboys and Aliens. It was freaking awesome! I would pay full price to see it again! I don't want to give you any more spoilers than you'll get from going to the Official Movie Page, but lookee here:

(You're welcome.)

I'm going to be a bit flaky and not write much because I am so engrossed in the second book of the Hunger Games Series, Catching Fire. I have less than 100 pages to go, then on to the third and final book in the series, Mockingjay. So....um...bye for now....

  

Nothing Comes to Mind...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....
That is the only opening line that immediately comes to mind*. Obviously, it isn't my creation. My own opening line? I can't think of any offhand. I've been sitting here for several minutes and still, nothing comes to mind.

What does keep coming to my mind recently is how I have apparently been watching too much BBCAmerica because there I was watching a program where one of the characters is supposed to be from London, but I turn to my daughter, and say, "Actually, she sounds more like she's from Wales, doesn't she?" My daughter looks at me like she has no idea what I am talking about. That would be due to the fact that she had no idea what I was talking about.  But then, she doesn't watch as many programs on BBCAmerica as I do. I am now beginning to differentiate a few UK dialects from each other. Possibly around the same amount of US dialects that I could tell apart from each other--and I was born and raised here, in Southern California! Maybe I should start watching some telenovellas on Univision and see what happens?



*NaBloPoMo's writing prompt for today is: What is the best first sentence you can think of off the top of your head?

Is There a Doctor in the House?

NaBloPoMo's writing prompt for the day: Which character would you most like to meet?

Here's my answer:

And just to make things perfectly clear:

Clear enough?

Yes, I Do Realize There is No One Else in the Room

I am reading a novel and really getting into it. The writer has done an excellent job of making me feel outraged at the behavior of one of the antagonists. I don't realize quite how outraged I am until my daughter walks in the room and asks, "Who are you talking to, mom?"

"Um...no one," I reply, while attempting to avoid eye contact with my fifth grader.

"Then why did I hear you talking?" 

That's when she notices my book.

"Oh, are mad at your book again?"

"Yes..." I'm still avoiding eye contact, while uselessly attempting to stifle a grin. 

My daughter just laughs quietly and rolls her eyes on her way out of the room. She knows she can't say much because she has been caught talking to empty rooms on many occasions; though I have yet to catch her telling off a troublesome fictional character --this does not mean it hasn't happened-- just that she hasn't yet been caught!

I have been known to spend a good fifteen minutes or more (at least until the back light in my NOOK Color times out) having heated conversations with some character, attempting to verbally rip them a new one for all the horrible things they are doing to the protagonist. I hoped that my sharp tongued lectures would shame Jane Eyre's wicked aunt, Mrs. Reed into decency. I fantasized about having Miss Scatcherd drawn and quartered.

When I was younger, I wanted in on all the action in the Chronicles of Narnia. I seriously wanted to meet Reepicheep. I didn't realize that I might also like to meet Mr. Tumnus, though until I saw him portrayed by James McAvoy, but then, that's another story...

(Rawr!) 

Should Be Reading's Teaser Tuesdays/ Favorite author?

This morning I learned about Teaser Tuesdays from the NaBloPoMo site. I am supposed to take the book I am currently reading, turn to a random page, share 2 teaser sentences (no spoilers) and post them to your blog along with the title of the book and author, sharing the link in the comments section of the Teaser Tuesday's post on the Should Be Reading blog. If you don't have a blog, then post the information directly in the comments of the Teaser Tuesdays post.

The book I am reading, I downloaded to my NOOK Color, so I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to "turn" to a random page. It doesn't seem to have a feature for that, so I'm bookmarking the page I'm on, closing my eyes and turning pages back for a few seconds. Hopefully I will find a good couple of teasers when I land. I don't know if the rule is that the sentences have to be consecutive, or just on the same page. I'm going with "on the same page, but in the same paragraph."

Here goes:

"One kiss equals one pot of broth....To say my thoughts aloud would be tipping off the audience that the romance had been fabricated to play on their sympathies and that would result in no food at all."


Pg. 209, "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

I don't know if it is against the rules to post a second teaser from another book, but I also happen to be reading another book --this time a book with actual pages, so turning to a random page feels a bit more random. Here ya go:

"I guess the world isn't perfect. If it was, Milky Ways would only have one gram of fat and Tim Burton never would have made a musical."


Pg. 101, "It Looked Different on the Model" by Laurie Notaro


My Favorite Author


NaBloPoMo's writing prompt for the day asks, "Who is your favorite author?" Like, I'm supposed to choose one?

I'm looking at my bookshelves, and "Koontz" and "King" seem to be standing out. Also, some Michael Crichton, Elmore Leonard and Dick Francis. So far, I haven't read any Elmore Leonard or Dick Francis, but a local used bookstore was having a going out of business sale, so I stocked up.

Growing up, Judy Blume, Madeleine L'Engle, and C.S. Lewis were favorites. When I was a bit younger, I read and loved all the "Little House on The Prairie" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I tired to get into "Nancy Drew" and liked that series a bit, but never quite got as excited about them as the generations before me.  My 6th grade teacher read the "Great Brain" series by John Dennis Fitzgerald.

I also love Laurie Notaro, Douglas Adams, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Sylvia Plath, Dave Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs.
How can I choose just one??

And Here I am Whining About a Broken Air-Conditioning Unit

In Barbara Kingslover's "The Poisonwood Bible," she tells the story of a family brought to the Congo in 1959 by their missionary father. It is told from alternating points of view of the four sisters and their mother. What stood out for me were the many hardships they faced, simply trying to stay alive and how their situation affected each of them differently, in most cases helping to build their characters for the better.

Here I am in my 1900 sq foot tract home, and I'm getting ancy and have been complaining because our A/C went out this weekend. The guy is coming out today to fix it, but I've been complaining because I'm feeling suffocated in my home where temperatures have shot up all the way to 84 degrees (it's 91 degrees outside today). Yet here is this family --albeit, fictional--who are living in the CONGO with NO CENTRAL AIR. They get to have the excitement of lizards climbing on the walls, worrying about black mambas and an ant attack that makes The Naked Jungle look like a cake walk. Mmmmm.... cake.

We have a new kitten so I am not getting much sleep lately.

Yep.

I thought if I didn't mention NaBloPoMo, maybe I wouldn't jinx it and maybe I'd remember to post everyday, or at least not forget to post on the very second day of the month. Nope.

I Will Call This "New Post"

Not sure what I want to write for this first post of the month. Just sitting here in pain from over doing it yesterday cleaning my room. I'm watching "Mr. And Mrs. Smith." Haven't seen it since I saw it at the movies. Hilarious! Now that I'm recovering from yesterday, Charley is taking his turn at the room. Apparently I take all of my stressors and soak them into my body. I wish I knew how to release them.

Ugh

Why?? Why do I forget about NaBloPoMo on the very second day?? And of course, once I forget that, is there any point trying to continue? Okay, sure, I might do the occasional blog post this month, but I guess I don't see any point in making the daily effort.

My daughter went to a slumber party, so my husband and I went out to dinner and a movie. We saw Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal. We thought it was fantastic and will be a catalyst for many interesting theoretical discussions.  We ate at Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ. The food was delicious. Too delicious. When we got home, we writhed on the bed groaning, "Why?...Why?...Why?" This was April 2nd and I still hadn't thought about NaBloPoMo despite my post on April 1st.

The next morning we picked up our daughter, had an early lunch at Denny's then drove down to San Diego --Coronado Island actually and rented a bicycle surrey at the Coronado Ferry Landing and pedaled around a little bike path a little bit past the bridge and then back to the Bikes and Beyond shop.  This is basically what it looked like:

After that, we had a snack at the Coronado Cupcakery. I had a Black Bottom Betty:

which was DELICIOUS!!  Here is the description: Chocolate cupcake with cheesecake and chocolate chips baked into it and cream cheese frosting. It was so moist and flavorful!  Charley and Ceana shared a Coconut Carla:

I didn't taste that so I can't say how it was, but Charley ate the whole thing. Ceana actually didn't share much of it because she thought it was too sweet and just had the muffin (we aren't sure what kind of muffin, but she finished almost the whole thing and it was pretty big.)

After that, we went to Seaport Village, had dinner at Marion's Fish Market. Charley and I had the Two Fish Tacos Combo --meaning it came with a choice of soup. I had the clam chowder and Charley had the seafood gumbo. Ceana got the kid's meal of popcorn shrimp and chips. The fish tacos weren't the best I've ever had, but not the worst. The clam chowder was very tasty. I'd go there again just for the clam chowder.

Then Ceana and I made our way to shops that I wanted to visit. The first stop was The Mugger. Ceana got the Joe Cool mug:

And I got the Beatles Anthology mug:

I also wanted the Yellow Submarine mug: 

 but we still had two more shops to visit....

So off we went to The Upstart Crow. This is my most favorite shop in Seaport Village. This shop makes me want to move walking distance to the village just so I can go here daily. Ceana got one of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books that she hasn't read yet, some gum that contained Shakespearian insults inside the little boxes they in which they were packaged, and pad with a form to fill out that says "I Tried It!" to record new things she has tried.

I got "The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath" and I bought Charley the book, "This is Your Brain on Music."

   

Finally, we went to the California Candle Gallery. They don't have a webpage but the woman making the candles (Angie) does beautiful work. We bought a small candle for $15. The large ones are $25, but I figured we'd already overspent for the day. Here are a couple of pics of Ceana's candle:

Until next time!

Should I Even Say It?

Though I did better with NaBloPoMo last month than I have in a long time, I still failed to post something on my blog every day in March. There was no excuse for this since I can even post from my phone by sending a text. The only solution is to keep trying it every month until I succeed and then continue to continue....

I'm watching Rachel Ray right now while I type, so I will try to not worry that I'm feeling too distracted right now to come up with anything to write about. Later this month, maybe even tomorrow I'll be writing about our trip to Disneyland and California Adventure.
Cheers!