Order now!

I just found out that Matt's next illustrated book, Mighty Casey, is listed on Amazon. It doesn't come out until March 3, but there it is already! My in laws are in town, so I'll keep this short. Hope everyone is having a good summer!

Wipeout!

Is anybody watching this crappy show Wipeout? It's hilarious. Sort of. I don't know how many more hours of crappy TV I can take this summer. But why do I enjoy it so much? There's a show I'd like to watch on PBS tonight, although that will probably be eclipsed by the OCD hilarity on Bravo's Flipping Out. I am losing many an IQ point this summer.

So I am diligently working on my revisions of my second novel (with my tentative title, Roll for Initiative. I think my editor still wants me to change the title, but I can't think of a better one. Being in summer vacation mode, it's pretty hard to think of anything these days). Anyway, to help me work, Matt and I set up a little writing nook in our bedroom. My house has many surfaces, but they don't help me focus on writing. Usually I go to the public library to work in this little room with no windows, but I can't fathom sitting in a room with no windows forcing myself to work. The surfaces in my house just don't inspire work, though. Outside on my deck, I'm too distracted by bugs and wind and sunblock smells. At the kitchen table I'm too distracted by the lure of food. And my actually computer desk is, well, covered by a computer. So we bought a tiny desk (not that tiny, like still adult sized) desk at Target, set it up next to a window, and I worked there for the first time today. It was quite nice. I could watch cars drive by, my cat hung by me on the floor, yet I wasn't distracted by other things. I'm quite pleased with my nook. And I can't stop using the word nook. That makes me sound a little classier, right?

Not so Swell

Tonight I'm going to see The Swell Season, the duo from the beautiful musical movie, Once. I am sort of excited and must remember to bring binoculars to see their faces. But I am also a tad nervous. You see, I had some turkey chickpea chili for lunch, as well as a fruity salad, and I am, shall we say, a tad gurgley. What if the concert is all quiet and... Well, if you have read my novel, you know what I'm getting at. If you haven't read it, or if you just have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm not about to explain it. Oy. And the Costa Rican food we plan on having for dinner at Irazu won't help, will it?

Not Jonesing

I saw the new Indiana Jones flick this weekend. I was not blown away, but I guess I didn't expect to be. I always liked the movies, Temple of Doom in particular, but I think I've been over them for about twenty years. The movie was fun, although not as fun as the National Treasure movies (not that I use them as a comparison for all movies, but I really did enjoy my movie going experience with the last National Treasure. Plus, they both have that funny/mystery/adventure thing going). My mom agreed. Matt seemed to like the movie and didn't want to say anything bad about it. Sometimes I think he gets mad at me for being critical of movies, even when I'm not being that critical.

I ate some pretzels this morning, and the pretzel bag won't stop making crinkling noises on the counter. It's kind of freaking me out. Like what if a mouse or giant bug crept into the bag and now it's trapped by a Chip Clip? You know what I'm really supposed to be doing right now? Revising my novel. But I'm afraid of it! It's been so long! What if I can't do it? What if I choke, like Brenda did on 90210 last night while auditioning as Maggie the Cat for hotshot director, Roy Robertson? Now how would Brenda deal with this...

Misty Dreams

OMG. I saw the most disturbing movie last night. It was The Mist, based on a Stephen King book. I knew it was somewhat end of the world-ish, and it was about a group of people trapped in a grocery store after a mysterious mist covers the land. But out in the mist-- there are dangerous things. I could have been completely fine with that and the scariness and the goriness if it weren't for the ENDING. I don't want to be a spoiler, but let's just say that it was the most depressing film ending I have ever seen. We watched a truly dorky episode of 90210 afterward just to try and get that yucky feeling out of our heads. But it didn't work because all night I had HORRID dreams. The worst! Every dream! In one dream, I had two cats (they were actually my old cats from childhood) and I gave them these sleeping pill jellybeans so they would die because I planned on killing myself afterward, but then I didn't and I had two, tiny (like really tiny for some reason) dead cats. And there were other bad ones, too, but I am luckily forgetting. I am starting to wonder if there was MSG in my Thai food last night. There better not have been. I tried calling the Thai restaurant this morning, but no answer. I think MSG can contribute to bad dreams. So if you want a good night's sleep, I suggest not eating Thai food before watching The Mist. I'm just saying.

Matt's Graphic Novel

I want to direct all of my readers to my husband, Matt's new graphic novel page on his website. Matt has been working really hard on this teen story of skaters and friendships (and I believe there will even be some unrequited love later on). As he completes them, he will post more chapters. Good stuff!

Stinky America!

I am so upset! The first book of my fabbity fab favorite book series, Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, is being turned into a movie- "Angus, Things and Perfect Snogging" (book title: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging)-- but not in the United States! Nooooooo!!! It looks so funny!
This better at least come out on DVD here. Man! They get Rupert Grint, their money is worth twice as much as ours, and now this! Georgia, I love you!

You Don't Got It, Dude

Someone said something very weird today at work. As of now, I am in a classroom on the top floor of the school because the library has been closed for construction. The room has turned into a bizarre "The Office" scenario, in my opinion. Today we were looking at a People Magazine with Jodie Sweetin on the cover-- you may recognize her as Stephanie from "Full House." That's all I recognize her from, if I even recognize her at all. Anyway, this guy, he's twenty-two and just working until the end of the school year as a technology associate, says, "What red-blooded American boy didn't have a crush on Stephanie Tanner?" Both me and my assistant gave incredulous "Huh?"s to him because this had to be a joke. Stephanie Tanner, the middle child with the jacked-up teeth? No redeeming or even interesting character qualities? We were shocked. But this guy was not kidding. So, I ask you, America, was he right? Being in a small space with a group of people sure teaches me some weird and frightening things.

HAGS

Did you know that stands for "Have a great summer?" That's the new yearbook lingo. We had yearbook day at work yesterday. I always love to get autographs and sign student yearbooks. It's usually only the students who care about the library who ask me for autographs, so then I have to write meaningful or funny things in everyones yearbooks. It's somewhat difficult, but I was on a roll. Here are some of the adorable/bizarre/insanely sweet things kids wrote in my yearbook:

"Thanks for being the coolest librarian ever!"

"The RC [Resource Center= The Library]is HEAVEN...but...with more...paper."

"You are a great librarian and person."

"I love books."

"D&D 4ever."

My favorite because it was total crap (he told me he wrote this in everyones yearbook):
"No words can describe our friendship." That from an eighth grade boy. Hilarious!

HAGS, everyone!

Cousins, but No Pancakes

This weekend we celebrated my Grandma Sylvia's 90th birthday. Cousins and aunts and uncles came in from all over the country. I loved seeing everyone, and I particularly love the relationships I have with my many cousins, whom I rarely get to see since we all live so far away from each other. I set up a cousins breakfast for the day after the birthday party, and every one of the cousins made it (except for Daniel and Leslie, who are home pregnant with twins). We went to a tasty breakfast place, but they didn't have pancakes. I really wanted pancakes. I still want pancakes, in fact, and I saw this ad for a place called Apple Holler, where they have all you can eat strawberry pancakes! It's all I can think about! I am trying to convince the family to go with me this weekend. I think it could work because we're also thinking about going to the Kenosha Outta Site Kite Flight- a kite flying extravaganza- nearby to Apple Holler. I'll let you know how it goes, and if I ever manage to get my pancakes. Yes, this is all I can think to write about these days. Wait until two weeks, when school is over, and I have to start revising my novel again. Hopefully, I'll have had my fill of pancakes by then.