I have a confession to make: I'm scared to take Nora out in public by myself. I don't mind taking her to the park, where she can run around, or taking her on short errands, such as to Walgreen's. What I fear is taking her on a long outing to a place with other adults. I'm afraid that Nora will have a meltdown, and I won't know what to do. Everyone ( Read more... )

I haven't posted since October, so here's a brief view of the books I read to close out the year:

Naked by David Sedaris.  I didn't find this book to be as funny as Me Talk Pretty One Day.  At times, I wasn't sure if Sedaris was going for a dark humorous tone that I just wasn't getting or if he wasn't trying to be funny at all.  I think that I was ( Read more... )

Since we'ce come back from Helen, I've noticed a smell on our foods that I couldn't identify - particularly the buns we brought back and the bread that I bought AFTER we got back.  It isn't a bad smell; in fact, it is an herb smell.  I just found it curious because the bread in question was regular white hamburger buns and Nature's Own Honey Wheat ( Read more... )

 I finished reading Slaughterhouse Five during our mini-vacation at the cabin in Helen, Georgia.  The book was different than I expected, but I still liked it.  In particular, I didn't expect so much dark humor.  Instead, I guess that I thought that it would have a lot of gory details of the aftermath of the bombing of Dresden.  While there is a ( Read more... )

After finishing Amalee, I went right in its sequel Lights, Camera, Amalee.  For ths first third of the book, I didn't like it as much.  It had a good envirnmental message, and it kept me interested enough to keep reading  But it seemed like the story wasn't was lacking conflict.  Then, things started to unfold, and I saw the plot more clearly.   It ( Read more... )

It took only two days on the subway to finish Amalee, and I think it was just what the doctor ordered - an easy, straightforward book that didn't leave me crying during my afternoon commute.  The intended audience is probably a fourth or fifth grade girl, but I still enjoyed it, and I hope that it's a book that Nora will enjoy in 9 or 10 years.  I' ( Read more... )

Other than my grandfather's death and funeral, I also had a busy week, attending Poultry 101 and finishing another book.

Poultry 101 was a two and a half day class held at Auburn University.  It covered most aspects of the poultry business, from production to further processing to packaging.  The professors teaching the class said that it is ( Read more... )

First, my grandfather died last Sunday.  Unfortunately, I did not know him that well.  While most of my cousins grew up in the rural areas near Birmingham, my family grew up mostly in Pensacola, so I only saw my grandparents a few times a year.  Apparently, he referred to us as "those city boys."  I can't speak for my brothers, but for me, the ( Read more... )

 Just a quick post, mostly to remind myself what I've been reading.  This way, at the end of the year I won't have to rely on my memory alone:

Cat's Eye
I did read another Atwood novel, and I was a little disappointed.  It seems that many of the themes in Cat's Eye were retreated (with better results) when she wrote The Blind Assassin.  Perhaps I ( Read more... )

Blair and Nora are in Connecticut until Wednesday, visiting Jessie and Penelope. As the trip approached, everyone told me that I'd finally be able to sleep a lot, and that's true: yesterday I took a long nap, then went to bed at 11.  But there's only so much sleeping that can be done.  It gets boring after a while.  So now I'm caught up on my sleep ( Read more... )