True Blood!

HBO is doing a series based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. It's called True Blood and it's scheduled to debut in the fall 2007 line-up.

The only time I've ever subscribed to HBO (or any other movie channel) is when we got them all free for the first three months after we got DirecTV. But I'll be signing up in time for this show! The books are great-campy and funny, not too terribly serious. I can't wait!

Overheard

Aaron, picking up about 20 pennies I had cleaned out of my purse: Money! Me and Micah are stinkin' rich now!

Haven't done a meme in a while.......

1. What time do you get up in the morning?
5:30
2. Diamonds or Pearls?
Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Cars
4. What is your favorite TV show?
Anderson Cooper 360 and Larry King Live
5. What do you normally have for breakfast?
Coffee
6. What is your middle name?
Lynne
7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Sushi
8. What food do you most dislike?
Liver
9. What is your favorite chip?
Old Dutch Dill Pickle
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
I don't listen to CDs much. Lately I'm loving Josh Ritter and David Gray.
11. What kind of car do you drive?
Chrysler Town and Country
12. What is your favorite sandwich?
Reuben
13. Qualities I despise most in other people are…
Hypocrisy
14. What are your favorite clothes?
pajamas
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be?
Paris. Well, all of Europe, really
16. What color are your eyes?
Hazel
17. What is your favorite brand of clothing?
Don't have a favorite
18. Where would you want to retire?
San Diego or LA
19. What is your favorite time of day?
afternoon
20. Where were you born?
Litchfield, MN
21. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Baseball
22. Sock Sock, Shoe Shoe or Sock Shoe, Sock Shoe?
sock sock, shoe shoe
23. Cash, credit card or debit card?
debit card. Can't remember the last time I used a credit card.
24. Pepsi or Coke?
Pepsi
25. Cats or Dogs?
Dogs, definitely.
26. Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Night owl
27. Pedicure or manicure?
Manicure.
28. Do you prefer funny or mushy cards?
Funny
29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone?
We're moving back to San Diego!
30. What did you want to be when you were little?
A teacher.
31. What do you have in your trunk right now?
I don't have a "trunk," but in the cargo area of my van is my handy-dandy roadside assistance bag that Mike bought me. As if I'm *ever* going to change my own tire. Ha!
32. What is your best childhood memory?
Going for rides with my mom and dad.
33. What are some of the different jobs you have had in your life?
Nursing assistant, bakery cashier (I also sliced bread and cleaned cases), grocery store cashier, news monitor, library clerk.
34. What is your favorite Holiday?
Christmas
35. What is your favorite dessert?
Brownies
36. Where is your favorite get-away?
My bedroom.
37. Have you ever been to Africa?
No.
38. Glasses or Contacts?
Glasses when I bother to wear them.
39. Have you ever been toilet papering?
Nope.
40. Have you ever been in a car accident?
Once, but I wasn't driving.
41. What is your favorite day of the week?
Monday.
42. What is your favorite restaurant?
Chile Peppers in San Diego.
43. Favorite flower?
home-grown roses and lilacs.
44. Favorite movies?
Lonesome Dove, Top Gun, the Godfather, Good Will Hunting.
45. Favorite Past time?
Reading
46. Favorite ice cream?
Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup
47. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Burger King and In 'N Out Burger
48. How many times did you fail your drivers test?
Once
49. From whom did you get your last email?
Meircee
50. Sandals or tennis shoes?
Sandals
51. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
Barnes and Noble or Target
52. If the speed limit is 60, what is the fastest you normally drive?
70
53. What is your bedtime?
Usually in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 10:30, but sometimes earlier.
54. Whose response to this are you most curious about?
Don't know.....
55. Last person you went to dinner with?
Mike
56. What are you listening to right now?
The Oscars
57. What is your favorite color?
Purple
58. How many tattoos do you have?
None, but next time I go to Hawaii I'm getting a yellow plumeria tattooed *somewhere.
59. Smooth or crunch peanut butter?
crunchy
60. What is your favorite drink?
coffee

Why I Love Thrift Stores

Anyone who knows me knows I love shopping at thrift stores. There was a great one on the Marine Corps base in San Diego I got so many nice things at. The stuff there was extremely cheap (I'm talking yard sale prices), and Meircee and I once walked out of there with two plastic trash bags full of stuff (we bought stuff for our kids, too!).

My love for thrift stores remains and today was a banner day! I got the entire Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. Only one of these was not a signed copy. I also got all but one of the Lily Bard series by the same author and both of the books in her Harper Connelly series (only one signed).

I also snagged myself a cute little pair of It's Happy Bunny pajama bottoms. But my favorite purchase of the day was a Kate Spade handbag. I'd never be able to afford one of these new, but I can have a slightly used one for $10 from the Goodwill! :O) It was a little dirty, but it cleaned right up and it's gorgeous! I'm in love.....

Random Thoughts at the End of a Long Day

Finished a great book by a favorite writer today. The Dead Place is the sixth in the Ben Cooper/Diane Fry series set in the Peak District in England. This series is so incredibly good. If you want the list of titles, check out the author's website Stephen Booth.

The book made me curious enough to do some web searching on green burials. Needless to say, I'm intrigued. Very interesting!

We're spending part of our tax return on a new computer for the kids. I'm thoroughly sick and tired of sharing mine with them. The new computer will reside upstairs in the computer room, while my computer resides here in the living room. Ah, peace and quiet.

The weather has finally warmed up here. We actually hit 60 degrees today! Woo hoo! To celebrate I grilled steaks for dinner. Yum! It's supposed to be nearly 70 tomorrow, but it's also going to rain.

At dinner, Marissah reported that her brothers messed up her room after she cleaned it today. The boys denied it, claiming "the aliens" did it. As I pointed out to Marissah, her brothers look enough like aliens for that to be possible. They didn't deny that!

Tomorrow the big kids go back to school and I can regain some sanity and get my house clean. Happy day!

Back to San Diego

Well, as my little "Where Do You Belong?" link on the right says, I belong in San Diego. Funny thing, when Mike did that quiz he got San Diego, too. So is it any wonder he's taken orders to a ship there?

The USS Makin Island will be Mike's next ship. It's not commissioned yet-still being finished in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

You all know how happy I am to be going back to San Diego. I have missed it so much. No more rednecks, no more extreme heat, no more worthless schools for my poor kids. I can't wait. Still no real idea as to when we'll be leaving, but probably in December.

I smell goooood!

I just got out of the tub, and I smell fantastic thanks to Bathed and Infused. If you've never heard of them, check 'em out. Great smelling products for the bath (body wash, lotion, perfume) at great prices. Who can resist a perfume called Bad Puppy (smells like green grass, dirt and iris petals-much better than it sounds) or Grapenuts (a blend of grapefruit and coconut)? They have hundreds of scents, including designer dupes (the big names like Britney Spears and Prada and places like Bath and Body Works). If you can imagine the scent, they have it. Honest!

I just received my second order since my dear sister got me hooked and I am still impressed. I've loved every scent I've tried, so far. If you're a little more worried there's a discussion forum where users post reviews of the scents they've tried.

If you email me I can refer you and you'll get 10% off your first order (and I'll get some points so I can continue to feed my new addiction).

No Longer Anonymous

I've always been secretly proud of the fact that the staff of my local Starbucks doesn't know me. See, if they don't recognize me when I come in, or have my order already started before I place it, that means I'm not the Starbucks equivalent of a crack ho. Right?

Well, that changed today. Aaron and I were standing in line and the place was packed, plus the drive-thru line was eight cars long (which is why we went inside). I was minding my own business, helping Aaron pick which cookie he wanted, when the barrista came by and said: "Grande Peppermint Mocha, right?" I was stunned, but not so stunned that I couldn't tell her to make it a venti instead (it's cold and sleeting outside).

So that's it. She may have had to ask for my name, but she knew my drink. I'm no longer a nameless, faceless coffee drinker. I'm a regular. An addict. A Starbucks ho. I'm not ashamed, though. I haven't yet started selling my body for a fix so it's all good.

Snip, snip!

Tomorrow Doc is going to the vet to be neutered. Pray for me that this will cure him of his little humping addiction. ;) Marissah's friend, who is an 11-year-old girl, tells me this will rob Doc of his dignity. Bahahahahaha! I don't know which is funnier, the thought of Doc having any dignity (see humping addiction) or the sound of this little 11-year-old lecturing me.

Anywho, when I told Aaron that Doc was going to the vet tomorrow he asked why. I told him the vet was going to cut off Doc's testicles. (Why yes, I am an evil, sick, deranged mother). He asked what testicles were and I told him. And then he said: "I don't wanna go with you then." LMAO! This child always wants to go everywhere with me. Guess not if it involves testicles and scalpels, though.

I was sleeping blissfully this morning when I woke up. I had heard something. And there it was again. My baby, screaming "Mom! Mom!" I jumped out of bed and ran into the boys' room. Aaron was sitting up in bed. I asked him what was wrong.

"Marissah is in our room!" he said.

I looked around, doubtfully. There was no one but Micah in the room with him and he was dead asleep.

"Marissah's not here, honey. Go back to sleep," I told him.

"Will you get me some water?" he whined.

I got him some water. When I brought it back to him he told me Marissah was in Micah's bed, under the covers. This led me to remove all of the blankets (and there were several) covering Micah and showing Aaron that Marissah was not, in fact, in his bed. He seemed satisfied and went back to sleep. I, on the other hand, was up for a good half hour after that, trying to get my heart to beat normally again. Nothing like being woke from a dead sleep by your child screaming to get the blood flowing, huh?

I'm still trying to figure out why on earth he thought Marissah was in their bedroom, much less in Micah's bed. And why would that be so earth-shattering as to wake me at 3:30 a.m.? Did I mention that I was the only one who woke up when he screamed? Everyone else continued to sleep like the dead, including Micah, who was a whole three feet from Aaron.

And as further punishment, Aaron is wide awake as I write this.....at 6:35 a.m. It's going to be a long day.......

Overheard......

Aaron, standing on the couch: Micah! I'm the king of the world! (loses his balance and sits down, hard) Well, I'm almost the king of the world.

January Book Review

Disco for the Departed
by Colin Cotterill
©2006 247 p.
Soho Press

Dr. Siri Paiboun is the reluctant national coroner for the People's Democratic Republic of Laos. Set in 1977, while the country is still acclimating itself to the new communist government, Dr. Siri and his morgue employees attempt to solve the mysteries that come their way. Disco for the Departed is the third book in this wonderful series. Dr. Siri and Nurse Dtui are summoned to the province of Huaphan to investigate a body found buried under concrete. Meanwhile, Mr. Geung, the morgue attendant, has an adventure of his own.

Disco is witty and sly, with a nice dose of mysticism to tantalize and entertain. The characters are wonderfully drawn and readers get a real sense of Laos. Fans of slightly out of the ordinary mysteries should not miss this series, which includes The Coroner's Lunch and Thirty Three Teeth. As always, I recommend reading the series in order.