Sometimes I think I need a cell phone booster for my brain. I’ve been staring at the same paragraph for an hour, trying to focus on the article I’m trying to write. It’s not difficult material. It’s material I’ve already written at least twice, and merely need to rephrase, in essence plagiarizing myself, but the words swim on the page, and nothing resolves into coherence, and I feel lost…

It’s not the writing. It’s that my head is killing me and my mother left a message that a woman, a family friend from our Modesto days, who was very much a surrogate grandmother to my stepbrother and me, who taught me piano, whose husband introduced me to art concepts I never knew existed, who always talked to me like an adult, and encouraged me to keep writing when I was ready to never type another word, is in a nursing home, hooked up to Oxygen, close to death, and she’s in Palm Springs, so it’s not like I can go visit.

I’m having a bit of a personal melt-down today. I literally was in tears on the phone to Fuzzy, begging for a cheeseburger and a holiday blast from Sonic. “It’s the kind of day only junk food can fix,” I said. .

“Can’t I fix it?” he offered sweetly.

“Yes,” I said. “You can bring me the stupid cheeseburger.”

Yeah, it’s been that kind of a day.

The EasyWriter from Writer’s Blog tagged me with a meme, the purpose of which is to list seven things about myself and then tag a few others to participate. Since EW is always supportive, how can I say no?

1. Fashion: At the age of thirty-seven I am finally at the point where, while I appreciate fashion, I’m fine with my own tastes dictating what I wear. And yes, sometimes that means pink sneakers, black jeans, and rock star graphic tee-shirts.
2. Eyes: Mine are brown. I’ve never wanted them to be another color, never really fantasized about wearing colored lenses. I like my eyes. I’ve always liked my eyes. Most days, I like my eyebrows as well.
3. Musical Crushes: I’m totally in love with my husband, but I still have crushes on people, generally musicians. I’ve blogged about my giddy love of Jason Robert Brown’s work, before, but what’s truly disturbing is that I had James Marsters’ “A Civilized Man” pumping through my iPod shuffle (pink, of course) on walkies today, and I just ordered his newest cd.
4. Violets and Roses: Neither is among my favorite flowers, but lately I’ve been really intrigued by perfumes that have violet and rose elements. I’m also shifting my love of BPAL a little, because Possets is speaking to me more just now.
5. Cheese: I like chocolate, but cheese is my favorite thing in life. It’s the hardest thing for me to limit, too. My grandfather used to call me a cheese fiend. He was not wrong.
6. Brick and Tile: I love the way brick feels when it’s sun-warmed or rain-slicked. I love the way ceramic tile feels cold under my bare feet even on the hottest day. Brick and tile are two of my favorite construction/decor elements.
7. Coffee: It’s not just a drink for me, it’s a lifestyle. Even on days when I don’t actually drink any. (This actually happens more often than you might think.)

I am now required to tag people. Most of my friends are anti-tag, but there are a few people who might be willing to play along, so , I tag:
Janet
Rana
Becca
CajunVegan

And anyone else who cares to participate.

Oh, and if you’re here for Wordless Wednesday, scroll down to the next post.

While Fuzzy has no real need for beach wedding attire, my parents live on the beach in Baja, and since Fuzzy and my step-father Ira are the same size, I pressed Fuzzy into service as a model, when given an opportunity to accept and review a shirt from FridayShirts.com.

The website has far more choices than I thought were possible in a button-down shirt, each with subtly different fabric options, or stitching, but with my mother’s advice, we selected a black shirt. I was surprised when, a few days later, I got a live phone call from one of the company’s representatives, Yeoh, (which I’m probably misspelling, for which I apologize) to confirm my order, and also ask what color thread I wanted the embroidery in, how many pockets I wanted, and whether or not we wanted embroidery on the collar as well. After answering all her questions, she told me I’d be receiving the shirt in about four weeks.

It came on Friday, almost exactly four weeks later, and it’s beautiful. Rich cotton, hand-stitched detailed embroidery, pockets placed near the bottom, which is traditional for this kind of shirt – all are exactly as expected. There are also buttoned side vents that can be opened for a bit more ease around the hips, if necessary.

I took my goofy husband’s picture in it (below), but I’m really looking forward to seeing Ira wear it, when we present it at Christmas. With his darker complexion, it will be amazing.

FridayShirts hand makes each garment (they’re made in Nicaragua) to order, so the delivery time of four weeks is typical, but they’re so friendly and informative, and the shirts are so well made, that it’s completely worth the wait.

Or maybe it doesn’t. But Meg of MegFowler.com is all about sharing the love, so she’s created this Love List. Yes, it’s a meme. Meme’s are fun. My answers are below. The blank meme resides below the fold for ease of snippage. Do share. But credit Meg as the Source.

Things YOU Love: Hats, jewelry, books, my various computers. Shoes.

Song you love: A perennial favorite is Joy to the World (the Three Dog Night tune, not the carol.)

Food you love: Pumpkin ravioli

Thing you love to look at: Stormy skies

Sound you love: Wind chimes on a blustery day

Thing you love to laugh at: The antics of my dogs

Gadget you love: Does an mp3 player count? No? Then my garlic press.

Person you love: Fuzzy.

Software you love: NeoOffice and OpenOffice

Word you love: Twilight

Thing you love on the internet: the ability to make friends in far away places. Or PostSecret.com

Place you love to go on vacation: Mexico. France. The beach.

Sensation you love: Cool rain on sun-heated skin.

Animal you love: Dogs.

Book you love: Bread Alone, by Judith Ryan Hendricks

Emotion you love: Giddy joy

Occasion you love: Christmas. I’m still a kid on that day.

Quality you love in people: Generosity, passion, intelligence, humor.

Thing you most love to shop for: Books, stationery, and clothes.

And finally…

What you love about today: It’s cool and misty, and the twinkle lights are shining, and there’s a salty tang in the air even though we’re hundreds of miles from the sea.

GO!

LOVE!

Continue reading →

Welcome to December everyone. Please note that there are new prompts available at CafeWriting.

It’s a cold gray day here in Texas, and I needed something cheery, so I put on last year’s Christmas mix cd that I made, an entire cd of women singing Christmas songs, and forwarded to this lovely non-soprano, belty version of O Holy Night. I was singing along, rocking the proverbial rafters, waiting for my tea kettle to commence whistling, when a flash of color outside caught my eye.

I turned toward it, and was caught, breathless, watching a pair of cardinals feeding from the tray of wild bird food we keep on the picnic table (with a smaller table positioned over it as a concession to weather. The female was eating, the male, in his crimson glory, was perched on the top table, guarding her and waiting his turn.

I watched at the window, and he turned as if he could see through the glass and mesh and see me. For a heart-beat it seemed as if we communicated, and then the female left, and he moved down to the food, sampled a few seeds, looked toward me once more, nodded his little bird head, and disappeared.

Only after that did I think, “Damn, I should have grabbed the camera.”

Appetizer
What is your favorite carnival/amusement park ride?
When I was a very little girl, I was completely in loved with the nausea-inducing fun that is the Tilt-a-Whirl. Later, I fell in love with the vintage wooden roller coaster at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I still love them both, in a nostalgic sort of way.

Soup
How do you react in uncomfortable social situations?
It depends. I’m only a situational extrovert, so I tend to avoid huge gatherings as much as possible. When I do have to go, I tend to observe for a while, and then be extremely selective about who I talk to. When I’m very nervous, I clam up. On the other hand, if I’m watching someone mistreat someone else, I’ll generally speak up.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy discussing deep, philosophical topics?
With the right people, I enjoy it immensely – a strong 9 or weak 10 – with the wrong crowd, the sorts of people who take such conversations personally, about a 2.

Main Course
Did you get a flu shot this year? If not, do you plan to?
No. And no. The one time I did, I had a very bad reaction.

Dessert
Approximately how many hours per week do you spend watching television?
I have DVD’s or Bravo or whatever movie seems vaguely interesting playing all the time while I write, but I’m not really watching anything as much as using it for background noise. Television I pay attention to is maybe – MAYBE – an hour a night. But at least half the time I let stuff pile up on the DVR or TiVo and watch a mini marathon when I really need to escape.

There’s nothing better on a cold evening than a basic black turtleneck, but when you’re five feet tall, a mock turtle is a better choice. In a world where clothing – and especially women’s clothing in non-traditional sizes – can be either horribly expensive or difficult to find (at least basic pieces) it’s good that there are companies like Clothing4All, where the prices are reasonable, the sizes are realistic, and the quality is excellent.

I ordered my black mock turtleneck just before Thanksgiving, and it arrived fairly quickly. I had the option of having it monogrammed, or having my name embroidered on it, but with the exception of graphic t-shirts, I don’t really like clothing with writing on it, so I chose to skip that option. Since I’m busty and round, I ordered a men’s extra large, and really, just a large would have been fine, since this one fits me like a dress.

It’s so soft that I really didn’t need the tank top under it when I tried it on, and the neck is loose enough not to feel choke-y, but snappy enough to retain it’s shape.

The ordering process was simple – a few clicks to select the color and style and I was on my way, and I received an email notification when the garment had shipped. The price was reasonable, too – under $20.

I’ve been buying a lot of clothing lately, because I’ve lost 32 pounds (and still have more to go), and I suspect I’ll be shopping at Clothing4All again.

You should definitely check them out.

Last night, chatting with the Divine Ms. J, she mentioned that she planned to go backpacking through Europe with friends next spring. “They’re good at it,” she said, “they have all the necessary camping gear, and everything.”

I know that this is supposed to be a romantic thing – backpacking through the woods, hiking around foreign countries, meeting people and staying in hostels, but the thing is, to me it sounds utterly awful. Give me a hot shower and a tour bus with a bathroom. Give me indoor plumbing and soft cotton sheets.

Don’t get me wrong. I like nature – I do. I prefer it to be aquatic, however, not woodsy. Also, I have no desire to sleep with it. I’ve often said that my idea of roughing it is a hotel without room service. And I repeated this to Julia during our conversation.

She laughed, and said she liked to try new things.

So do I, actually.
I just prefer them to end after dinner, and include indoor sleeping accommodations. And free wifi.

Still, I have to admit, I like camping stores. I like the smell of leather boots and suede jackets, and I think hunters’ caps are hot on the right guy. (So is flannel, if it’s woodsman flannel, and not unwashed geek flannel.)

It’s just…if I want to sleep in a tent, it will be the kind that is built from pillows and blankets and is located on the living room floor.