Sensitive soul

This morning Carmen and I were sitting on the couch enjoying our respective literature, when all of a sudden I heard some sniffling. I looked over and Carmen had tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong, honey?" I asked, concerned.

"I'm a little bit sad," she said.

"What happened?" I thought she must be feeling sick, since she'd seemed so happy before.

"This," she said, pointing to her book:

She then turned the page, wiped her eyes, and smiled contentedly. "He got away."

Forgive me, Mr. Mitchell

Ah, the folly of youth. I just started re-reading Great Expectations (I love, love, love my Kindle). WHY, oh why did I not appreciate the genius of Charles Dickens before? Even as a high school freshman, one would think I could enjoy the comedic value in these gems:

Pip's guilt as he goes to feed an escaped convict:

and his fictional description of his play date at Miss Havisham's:

I love Joe the blacksmith, and can identify so well with Pip's description of his childhood perceptions and feelings. It's just masterful. Such a far cry from the junk reading I download from the Kindle top 100 free list (some time I'll have to blog about my exposure to Christian romance novels - also comedic gems, in a much less intended way).

Alikes Attract: or Why I Didn’t Marry an Abercrombie Guy

The last couple of nights I have been devouring a book by Mary Roberts Rinehart called K. Oh, my, it’s good. And it’s in the public domain, so you can get it free online!

Anyway, last night, I couldn’t wait to get back to it. The kids were in bed and I’d just cleaned the kitchen. I jumped into bed and snuggled up with my kindle and started to enjoy.

Just then I was struck by how lucky I am to be married to Steven. You know those metrosexual guys with the pomade hair and creatine-chests who like hanging out with their buddies? There’s no way that someone like me could enjoy being with a guy like that. What would we talk about? How could we be comfortable being together and saying nothing? Steven is the perfect husband for a girl who can’t wait to cuddle up at night with a book that’s 100 years old and 300 pages long (and him). He’s the kind of guy who would (and did) get his own book and cuddle up next to me so we could snuggle up and play footsies while we read. He’d rather go to the symphony with me than go jet skiing with his buddies. When he comes home from work, instead of heading off for the gym, he becomes a jungle gym for our kids. Rather than protein shakes, he eats the homemade falafel pitas and cucumber sauce I made for dinner, and enjoys trying new things. He has a soft, calming voice that sings beautifully and says intelligent, kind, and honest things – never crude, harsh, or demeaning words. He has big, sexy hands that are perfect for playing the piano, writing code, making things with wood, stroking my hair, and unscrewing baby food jars. From this description, you’d think I’d made him up, but he’s real and really mine, and I really like him.

Moral of the story: it’s nice to be married to someone who appreciates the same quiet things. And, you should all read K, especially if you’re related to me.

Grab bag

Olivia just said, "Mommy, you are so nice." It made me feel great.

I ordered a new car seat for Carmen on Amazon at 2:00 pm on Friday, and it arrived at around 9:00 on Saturday. Now THAT's service! (And this was with the free shipping option!) The car seat is purple. We have 2 girls, and I'm through with buying unisex stuff for them (at least for now).

My poor little Carmen is having a rough time with her last few molars. She didn't sleep much last night and, after exhausting other appropriate means of inflicting unconsciousness, I finally had to let her cry herself to sleep this afternoon. She was just so tired and so uncomfortable with her runny nose. I'm glad she's finally getting some rest.

We just read "The Communist Manifesto" for book group, and I loved reading it. No one should ever attempt to discuss government, especially communism, without having read it (this means you, former Amber).

Tropical Storm season is fun for me.

Last week, in honor of Independence Day, I decided to start learning the official Armed Forces songs. They're fun. My favorite line comes from "Anchors Aweigh":

and sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!

Crazy Navy.

Shameless Plug

My sister The Looney Writer has been writing a book as a serial on her blog. She'd love to have some more people read it and provide feedback. So, I'll refer you to her place and invite you to take a peek. There are 12 chapters now (don't let "chapter" scare you - they're all pretty short. I'm a lazy reader, and even I have time for this.) Let her know what you think!

Literary greats

Even though you may not be very familiar with them, most of you have probably at least heard of the Bobbsey twins.

Did you know that one of them was named Flossie? Flossie Bobbsey.

...

Books!

Every once in a while I have a glimpse memory of a book from my childhood, like: "Oh, yeah, I remember that book...I wonder where I could get a copy?"

So today, while browsing a thrift store, I hit the mother lode! All of these classics from my childhood (plus a few more that were new to me), for a grand total of $3.

Morris and Boris at the Circus
Song and Dance Man
I Can Do It Myself
A Bargain for Frances
Lambert the Sheepish Lion
The Little Engine That Could
Old Hat, New Hat
No Roses for Harry!
Sam, The Firehouse Cat
Little Toot
Pig Will and Pig Won't

It's nice that Olivia was as excited as I was.

Lookalikes

This is something I've been meaning to post for a while:

A couple of characters in some of Olivia's (and my) favorite books remind me quite a bit of some people I know.

First up:



This character from Hop on Pop totally reminds me of Hannah (yes, Hannah, I am talking about you.) Smart, curly blonde hair, two younger brothers, well-traveled (her dad reads "Constantinople" and "Timbuktu") - Hannah, it's you.

Then, in Go, Dog. Go!:


Blunt, hat-hating dog reminds me a lot of my father-in-law. Not because he hates hats or offends poodles; he just kind of looks like the dog to me. In a good way.

I've found one!*

In discussing our relationship with Steven, I always assert that he's the only man in the world for me, in part because he is the only person who doesn't irritate me.** To which he replies that surely, there must be something he does that bothers me, as many others have no trouble finding his annoying characteristics.

Well, last night as I was sitting up brooding over life's injustices, I finally thought of one: something I don't like about Steven, something he does that annoys me. It wasn't too big of a deal, but I was almost proud of myself for discovering something.

Then this morning, I forgot what it was. Oh, well.


*This is a silly line from one of Olivia's favorite books, Spot's First Christmas. It's silly because of it's unnecessary formality: "I [have] found one!"? Pass the crumpets, Mother!

**This does not mean that everyone I meet bothers me - it means that he's the only person I can be around all the time without getting fed up at some point. Really, all of you reading this, you don't bug me, I promise - but if we lived together, we might annoy each other.

Used

This morning I decided to take Olivia to go explore Old Town Humble - that is, Main Street in Humble. I'd heard that there were some shops and it was supposed to be the town's historic district. (Puh-snort.) It turned out to be one of those sad, sun-baked streets lined with crippled store fronts that become occupied intermittently either by unrealistically hopeful boutiqueurs or disappointingly pragmatic bail bondsmen. Most of the shops wore blank expressions and boasted the single accessory of a faded "For Lease" sign.

We ended up strolling down past the railroad tracks (we did get to see a train crossing, the highlight of the morning) and looking around a Latino grocery store before we turned around to walk back on the other side of the street. Being in areas like that always makes me ponder and theorize on ways that one might possibly invigorate the area. What would it take; what kind of store or business or initiative could one possibly bring in to resurrect it? Part of the problem is that people need to have money in order to spend it, and then they need to feel an impetus to spend it, and to spend it in a specified location. And a big problem with me taking on the role of savior for this area is that I don't believe in forcing people to spend money on things they don't need, and I'm no Music-Man-type salesman who wants to create those needs. I look at old shops and houses and feel sad and wistful that they aren't occupied, but the only worthy solutions I can think of are schools and charities and stores that sell useful things, not knickknacks.

We ended our journey at a used book store. It was actually open, so I decided to go in and look around. My mental journey during our walk had almost convinced me that I had to at least try to spend some money in this area, and books, at least, are worthwhile.

Alas, upon walking in I was reminded that only SOME books are worthwhile. Basically, the store's inventory consisted of rows and rows of shelves and stacks of tattered paperback smut. I steered Olivia through hundreds of thousands of bodice-ripping covers to the back of the store, where I sifted through maybe 100 thinner volumes to find a few worthwhile paperbacks: The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Henry Huggins, Shabanu, The Cay, and a few others. All of them were very well worn; several had "DISCARD" stamped on the front covers.

I took them up to the front of the store, where I was informed that the store sold all its books for half of their original publisher's price. All of them. Meaning that I could get my 20-year-old, badly used, DISCARDed copy of Henry Huggins for a mere $2.

I thought about informing the lady that I was absolutely certain that I was the first person who had been in her store all day and could very likely be the only customer she would see all week, and she would be lucky to GIVE me the books just so she could record a transaction. I thought about telling her that her profit margin on these books would exceed just about anyone's if she gave me the whole bunch for a dollar. I thought about telling her that she could bribe a local hoodlum (or a community-minded Boy Scout) to set a match to the whole place, and she could gain almost as much from the insurance company as society would gain from the disappearance of her inventory.

Instead, I told her kindly that thank you very much, but I wasn't interested in paying that much for used books. She replied that if I brought in some of my own books, I could have them for 15%.

I smiled and left. No thanks.

Thoughts

Books

I just bought a bunch of books online. Olivia somehow stuck several of the pages of My First Animal Book - one of her favorites - together, and after trying to steam them apart, I realized that 1) it was taking a long time, 2) I would not be satisfied with the end result, and 3) my hourly rate for freelance work is several times the price of a new book, especially if I can find it online. Which I did, along with several other goodies that I've been wanting for a while: Crictor, Space Witch, and My First Body Book. Actually, that last one isn't something I've craved, but it looks good. The other two are some I remember from my childhood, and I'm excited to have them again. Yesterday at Goodwill I also found a Syd Hoff collection for $2 that included Stanley, Sammy the Seal, and Grizzwold. I don't remember the first two, but I have fond memories of Grizzwold. Now I'm on the lookout for Danny and the Dinosaur, or in fact a complete Syd Hoff collection. I'm not one of those people who can buy (or do much of anything) without guilt, but I feel good about today's purchases.

Friends

Yesterday we had our friend Kimberly and her daughter Rachel over for dinner. Kimberly's husband is out of town for a couple of weeks. We keep meaning to invite them over, but having extended visitors has put a little bit of a damper on many of our social plans. Since Dan and Hyde took the kids to San Antonio for a couple of days, and since I know how hard it is to motivate yourself to cook for one, or one and a half, it was a good time to have them over. Every time I talk to Kimberly I think afterwards how much I like her. It's nice to mutually want to be friends with someone, not out of obligation, but just because you like talking with them.

Heritage

A few days ago Steven was showing me some of his foreign money that he collected as a kid. It was interesting to look at. One thing that struck me was a Brazilian bill - the picture on the back depicted the conquest of native peoples by the Europeans. I thought it was interesting because often today, the offspring of a conquered people feel a kind of resentment toward those ancient conquerers who raped and enslaved their ancestors. The fact is, though, that, like it or not, the conquerers are as much their ancestors and the conquered. You may not approve of what one side of your ancestry did to the other, but they are both equally a part of you. To me, it seemed that this Brazilian currency demonstrated their understanding and acceptance of this.

Pregnant

I am! My due date is February 15th - which also happens to be my birthday. I haven't been sick, which is nice; just tired. And emotional. It's hard to imagine sharing maternal love and care with someone besides Olivia, but I'm also excited. Having a baby grow inside of you is absolutely miraculous, and seeing in Olivia what that baby will grow into - a little person who thinks and reasons and has ideas all their own - is mind-boggling.

Garlic-Stuffed Green Olives

I love them. Love them. Oooooh, man.