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

Okay, Miss Priss had her hands on the copy of Deathly Hallows that she won, and made me PINKY SWEAR not to snag it the moment she went to sleep, so I had to wait until Amazon delivered the copy we pre-ordered on Saturday.  To  keep me from tearing the house down with nervous cleaning, the Husbandly One took us out shopping again in San Marcos, and for lunch.  By the time we got home, MY copy was waiting for us, so Miss Priss and I disappeared to our respective rooms to read while the boys went off to amuse themselves.  

I finished it in five hours.

There were times when the Husbandly One was in here, sitting at the computer, and he listened to my cries and moments of laughter while shaking his head.  I have to say, he knows me incredibly well, because he could literally guess what was happening by what I said, or how I reacted.   Of course, after 18 years, I guess that's a given.  In fact, I have to say that this week, we will have officially known each other for 18 years.  It was 18 years ago this week that I walked into the wrong algebra class taught by the Geek From Hell and sat in the only empty seat in the room, which was behind... the Husbandly One.  I wonder if he had any idea what he was getting into when he turned around to talk to me?  Nah, probably not.  Good thing he's a bookworm, too, because he UNDERSTANDS!!  Hence, his chasing the kids out of the room while I was reading Deathly Hallows, and fending off the Impertinent Daughter when she would come in and say, "I'm on Chapter 22, what chapter are you on?  Oh?  You're on 17?  OOOOO, have you gotten to the part where they..."

I would slap my hands over my ears and start singing at the top of my lungs, "Lalalalalalalalalalala, I can't hear you, stop trying to spoil me, lalalalalalalalalalalalala!!!!"

Meanwhile, the Husbandly One would walk up behind her and clap his hand over her mouth and say, "Stop it.  Your mother didn't do this to you when y'all were reading The Half Blood Prince.  Return the favor, please."

So, I finished before she did, and oh, my goodness!  "Mom, Mom, what happens?"

Smirk.  "Finish the book and find out for yourself."

I have to say, I was extremely incensed when the Husbandly One talked to Uncle Scientist, and found that he's waiting to order Deathly Hallows later, because... HE READ THE ENTRY IN WIKIPEDIA AND KNOWS HOW IT ENDS ANYWAY!!!  Of COURSE I rushed to Wikipedia and hell-up, YES, someone posted an entire synopsis of the book by SUNDAY!!!  WTF???

Let me tell you, Uncle Scientist DESERVES to be spoiled!!  I love him to pieces, but sometimes, that man tweaks my last nerve!!  One day, vicki_sineis going to have to either throw herself between us as I try to wrap my little hands around his neck to strangle him, or she's going to have to give him the Hairy Eyeball and tell him to back the hell off, or Auntie's going to nut him, and oh, wouldn't Uncle Artist be unhappy about THAT?

I won't post spoilers about Deathly Hallows, but I will say that most of all, I liked it, though I hated some of the deaths.  Some of them I understood, once I sat and thought about it from a writer's point of view, but others... I was rather unhappy about.  Because they were kind of pointless.  But then, that's war, right?  Not all deaths have meaning.  Some of them are pointless, for no reason, and that's what makes it so horrible.  

I'll probably give it a much more leisurely reading later, when the kids aren't driving me nuts.  Man, I am so sleep-deprived right now, it's a miracle I know my own name.  It's Hortense, right?  Or... no... Felicia?  Janet?  Okay, I'm in trouble.  

Caffeine... I need lots and lots of caffeine...

Uh-oh... it's POURING down rain.  It's been raining bucketloads all day, which, is nice on the one hand, because of the drought we had the last four or five years, but... it also sucks, because the kids are all jazzed about the Potter Party in San Marcos and... it looks like we're not going.

Lest you think we are scared of water, might I mention, we are SATURATED.  So, we're under a flash flood warning.  Meaning, flooding is imminent.  The ground is so soaking full of water that it just can't absorb any more.  The weather report says we could get another potential five to ten inches in the next twelve hours.  Yay.  There is a river between us and San Marcos.  The Blanco River.  This river likes to flood, and sweep people down off bridges and drown them.

I love Harry Potter, and I would love to get my hands on a an extra copy, most especially of the British version... but not enough to risk crossing the Blanco River at night.  No thank you.    The kids, and the Husbandly One matter much more to me than the book.  

It's dark, it's raining heavily, and I'm going to have to wrestle the Impertinent Daughter for the copy of Deathly Hallows that is arriving first thing in the morning.  Hmmm.... maybe if I sleep on the doorstep....