Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

When I sat down at the computer this morning with a bowl of cereal in hand, ready to do my morning reading, I went to today's Dear Abby. It opened with an oddly familiar letter that I frowned at, and it wasn't until I had read the following letters that I realized why.

It was because "Very, Very Happy Wife in Texas" is... me.

*laughs and blushes*

Hey, it was a letter written in early September by a woman in Hawaii that made me do it!!

Of course, I immediately emailed the Husbandly One a link and waited to see what he would say, and of course, he was all, "That's about me??? I LOVE YOU!!!" and a very goofy and yet entirely affectionate series of texts followed!

I very much appreciate the fact that the Husbandly One is "fun-sized." So am I, if it comes to that. I like the fact that I don't have to get a crick in my neck to look up at him, or cramps in my legs from standing up on tippy toes just to kiss him. Been there, done that.

*is full of mischief*

The kids are back in school after having missed a few days earlier in the week, thanks to a sinus infection (the Impertinent One) and an upper respiratory infection with a high fever (the Impossible One). I'm glad they're better, because having two limp noodle people around the house is no fun. Not to mention the amount of ice tea and soup we go through!


*still has her mind on her fun-sized husband*

Oh, and hey, luvscharlie, guess what? I just finished The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. It's awesome!! You're going to love it!!

*squees*

And I also want to thank kathrynthegr8 for the toy car!! VROOM VROOM!!! Just what I needed!! It's AWESOME!! How'd you know??

Oh, I'm too scattered tonight to make a substantial post, so, I'll close now. Goodnight, all!!

Okay, Char, you were right.

You were right, you were right, you were right.

It's totally your fault that I got hooked on the Harry Potter series in the first place, you know that, right?

Now it's totally your fault that I'm apparently getting hooked on Thursday Next.

I'm three fourths of the way through The Eyre Affair, and I'm ... hooked. You're right, it's a slightly rough read, but still good, and since you've assured me that the following books are better, I'm depending on that, and I apologize for taking such a long time to start reading them. Blame it on the fact that I thought they were still in a box in my closet, and instead, the Husbandly One had put them on the bookshelf in the living room where he thought I would be sure to see them.

He really should know me better than that!

Anyhow, I thought you would like to know, and that every time I see you for the next year or so, I'll be bowing my head and muttering, "You were right, you were right, you were right," until you are satisfied that I have suitably humbled myself to your far superior knowledge of my reading habits.

I should have learned my lesson by now, right?

*sighs*

You were right, you were right, you were right...

I read to the Impossible Son at night. We go through books much more slowly than I did with the Impertinent Daughter. He goes to sleep, lulled by the sound of my voice, whereas she wanted very much to know how the chapter ended, and often would beg for more.

I was like the Impossible Son, lulled to sleep by the sound of my mother's or my Uncle James' voices, no matter how interested I was in the story.

This is why we are on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and taking our time through it. I feel like I'm letting him down, though. I've been reading to him since he was a baby, just like I did with Miss Priss, and by this time, Miss Priss and I had gotten through The Wizard of Oz, Charlotte's Web, Alice in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass, all the Harry Potter books that had been written up to 2004, all of the Narnia books, The Back of the North Wind, many, many fairy tales, The Black Arrow, The Secret Garden, The Light Princess, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach...

Whereas the Impossible Son and I have gotten through from Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone to The Half-Blood Prince.

I think we shall take a break from Harry Potter after we finish this one and maybe start on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a change of pace!

Tonight, however, I did something different. I told him a story, a story my mother used to read to me when I was very small, and the cadence of it entranced me so much... that I memorized it. It was the story of The Old Woman and the Pig, and I have told him this story before, as I have told it to his sister many, many times, and I always tell it a little different, though the cadence part remains the same. And as he listened to me go from, "Cat, cat, kill rat, rat won't gnaw rope, rope won't hang butcher, butcher won't kill ox, ox won't drink water, water won't quench fire, fire won't burn stick, stick won't beat dog, dog won't bite pig, pig won't jump over the sty, and I shan't get home tonight," to "The cat began to kill the rat, the rat began to gnaw the rope, the rope began to hang the butcher, the butcher began to kill the ox, the ox began to drink the water, the water began to quench the fire, the fire began to burn the stick, the stick began to beat the dog, the dog began to bite the pig, the pig began to jump the sty and she FINALLY got home..." he blinked and said, "It's like a song, isn't it?"

And I said, "Yes, yes, it is, it's very like a song!"

He said, "That's what helps you remember it all, right? Because it's like a song, it has a rhythm and a flow, and you tell it like a song, just... not singing it?"

"Yes, that's it exactly!" I said, very pleased. "A lot of the old fairy tales are like that. Like the Three Little Pigs tale, you know, little pig, little pig, let me in, not by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin, then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in?"

"Yeah!" he said sleepily. "Just like that! Are there any more like that?"

"Oh, lots and lots," I said with a smile. "Want me to tell them to you?"

"Sure, but not now. For now, I just want to know what happens to Harry on his first day back at Hogwarts."

It's not like he hasn't seen the movies. But, he knows the books are different, and has learned to appreciate that.

Meanwhile, my head is filled with the stories and rhymes my mother and sisters and uncles and aunts read to me. And I can hear my mother softly saying...

Wind, wind, gently sway
Blow Curdken's hat away
Let him chase o'er field and wold
Till my locks of ruddy gold
Now astray and hanging down
Be combed and plaited in a crown...

*goes off to bed with visions of goose-girls, talking horses, ravens and swans flying, and glass mountains in her head*

This morning...

*curled up on bed, nose buried in book, cat at feet, cup of tea on table slowly growing cold*

Later this morning...

*curled up on chair, nose buried in book, cat trying to get in lap, glass of ice tea with melting ice slowly dripping on desk*

Lunchtime...

*sitting at table, nose buried in book, forkful of salad suspended in air and dripping salad dressing on jeans and bare foot, unnoticed until cat starts licking foot*

After lunch...

*nose buried in book, curled on couch on porch, until sense of vague disquiet and the thought that something is being forgotten stirs in occupied brain*

Yes, I remembered to pick up my kids before it was time to pick them up. And in a few minutes, I'm going straight back to Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian. And I'm reading slowly because I want to savour it!! And y'all might actually get some fanart out of this one... maybe...

*curls up on bed again and is lost in book once again*

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian came out.

The Impertinent Daughter bought it last night with some of her birthday money.

She took it with her to school today to read during her breaks, which means I have to wait until she finishes it to read it myself.

Puckernuts.

*sigh*

And... does everyone have a Dreamwidth but me??? *looks around* How'd that happen??

I am not watching the Superbowl. This is because I am that rare anomaly in Texas... I don't like football.

*ducks*

Yeah, yeah, I know, unbelievable. And I was even in marching band and all, right? *laughs* Well, I have to say, our high school football team was... lousy. Once, to raise money for charity, the different organizations at my high school had a football tournament. Did the football team win? You'd think so. You'd think they'd be sure things, right? Wrong. The marching band won. We stomped the football team into the ground, 30-something to 3, and the 3 points were pity points. Our football team was so bad that everyone left games after half-time, because they came to see the band, not the football team. We actually made up a... well, anti-cheer would be the word, I guess. "L-O-S-E-R, yes that's what we are, losers, losers, YAAAYY!!!"

It was rather disheartening.

Anyhow, no, I am not a huge football fan. The Husbandly One is, though, and while sometimes, I have been in the same room with him while he watches a game (because he wants me to hang out with him for some togetherness time), I don't generally watch. Mostly, I'm either curled up next to him with my nose buried in a book, or my eyes are closed and I have my iPod on, or I'm crocheting. Or sewing. Or working on a project. Or writing. Anything but watching the game.

Tonight, though... nah, just... didn't want to do it. And I'm annoyed, because I'm trying to read Inkheart, and Miss Priss was holding the book for me yesterday, and took my things away from me when we were going into the house, and she put them away and thus has no idea where they are. Damn, and it was just getting interesting, too!

So, I cleaned off the computer desk, which was beyond cluttered, and I chatted with my mom on the phone, and tried to work on a few of my writing projects...

All while being regularly interrupted by the people I love.

I do love them. Really. I really do. Just because I want to strangle them at odd intervals does not decrease my love for them. Really.

Did I mention that I love them?

And I am SOOOOO looking forward to this week, because Miss Priss is trying out for track, and she is already nervous, and I know she's going to have a monster fit of the heebie-jeebies each night before the events she's going to try out for. *rolls eyes* She had been upset because she didn't think she could try out for sprinter because she just isn't fast enough, and after listening to all the reasons she didn't think she would make the track team period, I finally said, "Er... but... hon? It's not all sprinting. Remember? There's a lot of long distance running in there too, and..."

"But, whenever we're working on the long distance stuff, everyone passes me up!"

"For how long?"

She blinked. "Er... well, at first!"

"I see. And at the end? Are they all still ahead of you?"

"Well, no. A lot of them sort of... well... they have to stop because... they're all tired. I usually finish second or third..."

"Hmmm, imagine that." And then I nodded as I listened to her explain to me why those fast girls weren't able to maintain their leads, and why she finished so close to the lead... I know, I know, I'm evil, but I do so LOVE to watch my kids' faces when they get exasperated with my questions, and have to explain a situation to stupid old Mama, and then lo, and behold, answer their own questions. And then get mad at me for "tricking" them. Hey, it worked for Socrates, I figure it should work for me at least half as well, right?

So anyway, I then suggested again that she try out for the long distance running, and she again said, "Oh, no, I can't do that..."

I got rather exasperated and said, "My very dear idiot, for the last three years, you have been playing on soccer teams that have barely had enough players to have maybe one or two substitutes a game. And sometimes not even that. You have played the entire game with no breaks. That's a thirty minute half each, some of which you were running almost non-stop. Right?"

She blinked. "Er... right."

"Honey," I said in a softer tone. "I think you can handle the long-distance and possibly the cross-country running. Just... think about it."

So, she did, and now she's more enthusiastic about it, but that doesn't prevent her from getting the willies at the thought of try-outs. She said, "At least if I'm trying out for soccer, I know what to expect, and what I'm doing!"

Well, I have every confidence in her. She's gonna rock their socks off, totally!

Now, if I could just find Inkheart... or Gregor the Overlander... or maybe even What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!...

Wow.  Madeleine L'Engle died today.  She was 88.  Talk about another piece of my childhood gone!  I think  A Wrinkle In Time  was the first science fiction book I'd ever read.  Well, actually, it was either that or Stowaway to the Moon.  Still, that's rather stunning to me.

Of course, I didn't find out Marion Zimmer Bradley had died until two years AFTER she died!  I was sitting there wondering, "So, is her next book going to be another Avalon book?  Or a Darkover book?  And will I want to read either one?"  And being curious, I decided to Google her, and... whoa, no more Darkover, no more Avalon.  Well, not by HER anyway.  

*sigh*

Guess I'll go rifle through my bookshelves and see if I can find "Wrinkle" and read it.  And sniffle a little.

Yeah, I know, I'm a sap.  But y'all knew that already.