Things I Could Be Doing

when instead I'm playing Bejeweled Blitz and reading trashy romance novels:

Finish recovering the baskets for Nora's dresser ex-changing table
Laundry
Reading The City & The City - which was featured on Unshelved last week and is also sitting on my nightstand
Making arrangements to be elsewhere next weekend
Planning my future
Visiting pumpkin patches
Swimming
Viewing the fall colors/Hiking in the woods
Making popcorn balls
sleeping
Making cute little stuffed birds
Buying/making birthday and Christmas gifts for loved ones
making Nora's appointment with the allergist
turning in 3 mail in rebates totaling over $125 due before the end of the month
figuring out how to use my phone
catching up on the news
updating my blog, twitter and facebook statuses
changing the sheets (okay it's not that bad, I did change them last weekend).
catching up on all that tv I haven't been watching
cleaning the bathroom
getting my flu shot
sending Nora's artwork to her non-local grandparents along with recent photos

Postings

I've been lurking on LibraryThing's forums for several years now (yeah, this blog is not the only place I have problems posting), and today I scrolled through one of my favorite topics - the worst books of this quarter (or whatever time period) where folks share what they couldn't bear to read another page of. Sometimes these posts are places for people to get all snobby about their reading or to take a couple of shots at book club recommendations, but when I read this post I cracked up:

Worst books so far:

The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis. I had been looking forward to reading this book. It was a really boring book. Even a character who can bring people back from the dead couldn't make this book interesting to me.

The Clue of the Missing Bagpipies. Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #41 Typical Nancy Drew. I'm just tired of her being such a know-it-all in every book.

Is Sex Necessary? Or Why You Feel The Way You Do by James Thurber and EB White. I gave this a rating of 2/5 -- my lowest so far. A humour book that was not funny and really outdated.

I feel like I should add The Late Hector Kipling by David Thewlis. I gave it a 3/5 and thought it was well written, but, it was VERY dark and not what I was expecting.

I love Nancy Drew, but I do agree she can be a know it all. Now I'm off to check out the poster's library. I have a feeling I'll enjoy her reviews.

Home Again, Home Again

We're home, exhausted and ready to stay put for awhile, but home. I finished out our final days of the trip fighting a stomach bug (either food poisoning or a stronger version of Nora's ick) and we did a marathon drive from Port Aransas to Hot Springs - 13 hours in the car straight, including a very, very, very long haul through Houston at rush hour. Nora did very well, and Jason and I survived, although we're still recovering. We spent the two nights with Jason's parents, so they got a good look at Nora and then we headed home on Sunday.

One of the things that really made itself clear in my mind after this trip is how little bragging rights Texas really has. Basically, anything good that state has managed to hold on to is due to the work of a bunch of little old ladies, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (both Kathy and Grant are members). While I might not agree with them on everything, I am happy that they are working on preserving whatever they can get their hands on. Everything else, I think the state would be happy to sell off to developers. And they are worse than the city of STL when it comes to signage. I mean, really, I know your a big state, but would it kill you to tell us how far away it is to the next BIG city? There are only signs showing what's 20 miles down the road. When you are traveling for 10 hours in Texas you sort of want to know how far away you are from Houston, Dallas, Austen, San Antonio and Corpus, not necessarily all of them, just the major city that is on the highway you are traveling on - really, would it kill you to tell us? Oh and side of the road picnic areas suck too. At least you have some plaques.

So listen up Arkansas, I don't want to hear anymore of your sad sack stories about your inferiority complex with your big neighbor Texas. Arkansas can run rings around Texas and every other neighboring state (as well as many others) in the state park arena. While Illinois is shutting down state parks, you are opening them! Building new ones! Arkansas has it goin' on. Texas, not so much - the state park we visited on Mustang Island (8$ entry fee) was sad, sad, sad. Facilities from the 60's, falling down and closed up, no brochures, basically, this state's facilities look like they haven't had an update since the Johnson administration (same goes for those visitors centers), and given that they've had two presidents since then to funnel some money back to them, this is pathetic.

Okay, I'm done with that rant. Bye now.

Yearning To Go Anywhere

I've been making all sorts of travel arrangements lately, unfortunately, none of them are for me. Jason is off to Chicago next weekend for the Central APA and then to New York the following weekend, for the BIG sub-conference which is held in the middle of the Economists doing their thing. He's taking the train to Chicago and staying in nicer hotels cheaply thanks to last minute trips. While I know he won't be doing all sorts of touristy wonderful things (instead he'll be sitting inside hotel meeting rooms talking to others of his ilk), and it's north and therefore probably miserable weather anyway, I'm still consumed with jealousy because he is going and I am staying. The only thing on my agenda is a conference at the lake in April (I hate going to Tan Tar A) and possibly the TESOL convention in Devner(which is both up in the air and work). Jason's spring break is the second week of March and while we keep toying with going somewhere, it doesn't seem to be happening. And frankly, multiple days in the car with a three year old who is still potty learning doesn't seem really relaxing. I really need a healthy dose of sunshine right now. Can someone invent one of those easy transporter things and send the three of us to the beach?