You'll Be a Song I'll Sing

Finished another book yesterday.

Late Thursday people started trickling in the house behind us. We saw them yesterday on the beach. Last night I went to bed early since we're on the road today. There is a table with chairs on the porch (ours has chairs with side tables) and they were up talking and playing cards. At first I was a little annoyed but there are worse sounds than laughter/people enjoying themselves to hear.

Speaking of which... one of the nephews just woke up fussy. Not sure what makes a young one start crying so early in the morning. I can't tell if he went back to bed or not.

Today is the last full day at the beach house. We have to be out tomorrow by 10am. We'll drive to Durham for lunch and then head back to Ohio.

My in-laws kept asking me if I was doing what I wanted to be doing which I thought was a little weird at first. But they did the same thing last year when my husband was with us (he's at home with Sammy).

Mostly we've stayed here in the surrounding area - Topsail Beach, Surf City and Sneads Ferry. The other day we went to the NC Aquarium at Fort Bliss and it was perfect for my nephews. It was hands-on and they got to touch starfish, stingrays and horseshoe crabs.

I haven't done any fishing although we did rent a pole this year. My bro-in-law has done that. He caught a few small fish and a stingray.

Because I only see my nephews a few times a year it takes them several days to warm up to me. Yesterday I was a construction worker who rebuilt their home, got to play in some pillow fights, played hide and seek and read them a story. Last night we went to Nikki's Chinese and Sushi for dinner to celebrate my sis-in-law getting her Master's. I ordered the California and Spicy Tuna rolls which was too much with my General Tso's combo (which included Hot and Sour soup). When the menu said two rolls I thought it meant 2 - 4 pieces of each. I got something like 12 of each. My nephews were chowing down on the edamame beforehand (which I haven't had in years thanks to the Crohn's but seems to be okay to have now) and practically ate all of their parents' sushi. They got my extras.

~C~ wanted to try the spicy tuna and I told him it was spicy but I didn't taste the sauce so I didn't think it was spicy. He wanted to try it so I gave him a piece. While he ate it I asked how he liked it. Then I realized he was still chewing and apologized for asking him while his mouth was full. When ~C~ could respond he just reached for his glass of water and began drinking it. Very funny.

My little nephew likes to play the "block" game with his food. Someone will pretend to reach for a piece and ~W~ will put his hands over his food in a protective gesture like he's blocking the person from it. It's pretty funny. He did that unprompted last night with the dish of edamame set in front of him.

I never got pictures from anyone else last year so I'm hoping that this year I do. Even though we take a lot of the same pictures it's nice to get some different angles or to get the pictures for the times we missed (like the beach time I've missed because of my sunburn).

I've read several books while here (The Accidental Demon Slayer, The Pharmacist's Mate, A Change in Altitude, Walking in Circles Before Lying Down), finished one (The Shimmer) and started 3 others.

Friday - drove to North Carolina.  Okay, I slept most of the way and someone else did the driving.
Saturday - had breakfast at Elmo's and drove the rest of the way to the beach.  Got pizza and went grocery shopping.  Finished The Shimmer and started A Change in Altitude.
Sunday - woke up to the sounds of children walking around on the floor above me. Surprised to hear news of Polanski's arrest.  Caught up on internet land. About to have breakfast.

At least in the US... http://www.freecomicbookday.com/

Friday I called into work because I had a huge lump in my throat.  Didn't feel great at all.  I slept most of the morning and made myself get out of bed at 1:30pm.  A few hours later I discovered the hose to our ice maker came out and water was all over the counter between the stove and the refrigerator.  And of course water ended up in the basement.  I had no idea how to fix it.  Hubby came home early from work.  As it turns out, the hose won't stay so we either have to get it fixed or not have ice from the machine.

Saturday watched Tin Man and the last two episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season Three.  The reveal of four (possibly five) more cylons was exciting to say the least.  I remember in the first season there was a blood test to determine if a person was a cylon or not.  Wonder if some of them got missed or had a different type of chemical makeup.

Hubby came in from the morning walk to say our garage had been tagged.  Makes me want to knock some skulls together.  I want to help hubby clean it but I know he'll refuse the help.

Friday morning Sammy had a bad start.  We were about half done with our morning walk and he heard the garbage and recycling trucks.  He refused to walk further and  ended up popping out of his collar and leash.  Sammy took off at full speed down the sidewalk.  I walked after him and then called to him.  Luckily he looked at me and then sat down when I told him too.  I called him to me and (what a shocker!) he came.  I put his collar back on and then carried him down the street.  When I set him down again his little legs were going as fast as they could.  When I was making breakfast he was trembling.  Poor little guy. 

I know Sammy is hardwired to listen to his instincts.  That's why he barks and I can't get him to be quiet.  So I was really surprised he came running back to me when I called him.

I was planning on making hamburger buns today.  Now I'm not so certain I feel like doing anything at all.

Read Devil in a Blue Dress and Kitty Goes to Washington this weekend.

I guess I should have gone inside the library.  They had the author reading by candle light.  I'd mentioned to my husband yesterday that I thought candles would be verboten but apparently I was mistaken.

Tonight I set out to do some reading, some reviews and some writing.  For some reason I can't focus on any one task long enough to make a dent.

I just found out three of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallender books were made into 90 minutes for the BBC.  The first one aired 11/30/08.  I've only read the first book (eight of them feature him as the main character and the rest have him as a secondary character) but now I want to really rush through them.  Love me some Swedish thrillers!  It appears I have some time.  They aren't going to be aired on PBS until the spring/summer. 

And Kenneth Branagh stars as Wallender.  Apparently Branagh was in Sweden for an Ingmar Bergman festival last year and met Mankell there and sparks flew.  :)

Hubby is still sick. He has Tuesday off for Veteran's Day. I go in for my annual physical on Monday morning.

Tonight I made an easy thing in the crock pot for dinner. I thought we would have some Bertolli frozen lasagna things for dinner tomorrow but may need to switch that for another day since hubby probably won't be feeling well tomorrow.

Once again we are behind our neighbors. They got a leaf blower or something and did their front yard. I raked a little bit of my red carpet by the red Japanese Maple tree. Our front trees are the prettiest on the street. They're an orangey-yellow and everyone else has green, yellow and brown leaves.

I did not go to the write-in today. I should have since next week we're celebrating Thanksgiving at my parent's house. I know that will be one day lost of writing. I am trying to get ahead to make up for days like that and because rhondaparrish and I are trying to get to 17k by Monday.

I'm way behind on updating my site. bleargh! And rewarding myself for writing.

Lately I've been wanting to make some bread but I can't find the paddle for our bread machine. I remember telling my husband I was taking it with me to the new house or putting it with x item because I did not want him to throw it out or have it break. Still haven't found the darn thing. Good news... we moved here 16 months ago and I finally found the book I was reading when we moved (The Amber Spyglass).

Today we "drove into town".  I think trying to look at all the houses made me car sick.  There is roller skating every night above the post office.  We went to a super cute bookstore (I think it was called Half Quarter Moon), bought superfresh crab legs and shrimp, window shopped at a tacky store (the saltwater taffy in the Top Sail souvenoir box was made in China), and checked out the abandoned arcade.  It looks like the arcade is only staffed during the summer season when all of the tourists are here.  But it takes real quarters!

During yesterday's walk I saw a crab, two stingrays, and a jellyfish washed up on the beach. 

I read Sarah's Key in one day and have started Ever.

We woke up at 5:30am to take hubby to the airport.  Our street was pretty quiet when I took Sammy for his walk.  There was one house that looked like someone was playing a football game.  I bet they were still up and had not gone to bed yet.  The drive to the airport and back was uneventful.

Sammy had a grooming appointment at 8am.  We got there just before the groomer.  Petco isn't open yet so they opened the doors for me and had to let me out later.  I always try to walk Sammy some more before entering a store in case he's not empty but I rushed this time since they were holding the door open for me.  Of course he had to go #1 and #2 in the store which was embarassing but nice they had the stuff there for me to clean it all up.

At home I moved the recycling from the kitchen to the front porch, hacked away at the hydrangeas, weeded the side yard, read more of The Good German, did two loads of laundry, decided to take a nap, spoke to hubby on the phone and then it was time to pick up Sammy.  Moved hubby's car, gushed over Sammy's pretty fur, and did more laundry.  Finished up The Good German and then Sammy and I took a nap from 1:23pm to 4:30pm.  Actually, Sammy didn't wake up until 5pm or so.  Our next door neighbors are building a shed in their backyard.  He and I slept right through the hammering.

Friday night I had my own heater in bed.  Sammy might start off the night at the foot of the bed but before I fall asleep he usually does his army crawl underneath and sometime during the night ends up in his bed in the closet.  For some reason, Sammy stayed by my side all night.  The heat he was giving off made me stick one leg on top of the covers.  He was dead weight.  In the morning he had moved to the end of the bed; it's rare for him to spend a whole night there.

So while I was awake from my nap I watched him sleep in his bed.  Each time I moved his eyes would open, he'd see I wasn't going anywhere, close them again and be asleep.  Seriously.  In seconds his third eye was showing and he'd be in REM sleep.  Whiskers, leg, or ears twitching even.  It wasn't until they dropped something outside that he jumped to his feet sounding the alarm, looking at me and then looking at the direction of the shed.  Silly dog.  I don't get as much alone time when hubby is gone or even when he's here (like I used to water the plants every night and do a little bit of weeding) but it's good to have Sammy around. 

I watched a few episodes of Bones last night and started reading The Headless Cupid.  Sammy and I were still in bed by 11:30pm like usual. 

We woke up early and went back to bed.  At 8am though, Sammy let me know he was ready to start the day.  He smells a little bit like pumpkin pie after his bath yesterday so of course he had to find cat poo to attempt to roll around in; I caught him before he got to it.  My neighbor found some tree stumps in her backyard after she paid someone to get rid of them for her.  Bless her heart... she was out there at 8am with sweat pouring down her face trying to hack away at them.  She didn't want to have to call him back to finish up; she found trees at Oakland nursery on sale and wants to get them in this week.

Today I'm going to start planning things for NaNoWriMo and get started on a writing exercise for The Muse Conference 2008.  I think Sammy got bored while I worked on coupons and got rid of old newspapers; he's sacked out on the chair behind me.

As hubby promised, we got to have breakfast at Northstar. Cloud 9 pancakes and bacon - my favorite! A home game at OSU derailed my visitation plans with the TV. The parking garage was full and it was crazy. Ten minutes before the game started people were running around like crazy fools.

Had a nap this afternoon, got to read a little of The Good German, and played poker for the first time since hubby's grandad died last September. I've been promised brunch at Sage tomorrow. Yum Yum!

Does anyone know where I can view an image of the Baryshnikov Read Poster from the 1980's? I think he's reading Swan Lake but I'm not sure.  I had a READ poster on my wall during high school; I can't remember which one but I think it was his.

Thanks!


Edit: I found an image of the David Bowie poster and that's the one I had.  But I'm still curious about what the Baryshnikov poster looked like.

Jen Forbus interviewed me for Book Blogger Appreciation Week.  The interview can be found jensbookthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/09/bbaw-blogger-interview.html  She's a finalist for the Best Thriller/Mystery/Suspense Blog Award.

My interview with Jen Forbus can be found at www.amberstults.com/

Yesterday wasn't very interesting. I woke up super early so I could call the alarm people. I'm still fighting with them over the problems we've been having. They think because I have a digital phone line that I'm not as important as their customers with analog phone lines. :(

I took a morning nap since I was up so early. Later I went to the $2 movies to see Hellboy II: The Golden Army. It was superdark when I went into the theater and I couldn't see a thing! I walked in while John Hurt's character was telling the story of The Golden Army to a young Hellboy. Eventually I found my way to a seat. Three times during the movie the screen went funny where the film wasn't quite in the right place on the screen. The last time, of course, was during an exciting fight scene so there was their heads at the bottom of the screen, a huge black line in the middle, and their torsos at the top. I waited until the credits were nearly over before leaving. There was a group of 5 women trying to get in to the movie theater. They couldn't see a thing either! It was good knowing it wasn't just me.

I ran some errands (picked up dry cleaning and yummy things at the store I normally don't buy), ate dinner and read. I've borrowed most of the Twilight series from someone at work and I've been trying to get them back to her as soon as possible. I also watched Old Joy. Since hubby hasn't been home I've been staying up until midnight or 1am but I really should be going to bed earlier.

It felt weird to be sitting down on the couch at 7:30pm tonight instead of rushing to get Sammy to his 8pm class.  I think I have to put reminders on my task list to try different commands with him so he'll learn them.  

I have a pair of sisters who have been rattling around my head the last few days.  I think they want to be in this year's NaNoWriMo novel but that remains to be seen.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it or not but I'm fairly certain I managed to kill the hydrangeas this year.  But I can blame some of that on Sammy.  First, I didn't trim them back last fall as I didn't know how to trim them.  Second, the blue set only has a few green branches and the pink set looks completely dried up.  They have not been given enough water.  Last summer after we moved in I would go out after nightfall and water them.  Now I just don't want to get hassled by the corgi so I don't water them except on the weekends.

It appears there is a missing box of my unread books somewhere.  I remember <i>Another Night in Suck City</i> as one of the books in my TBR pile in the apartment and it looks like I went through all of my unread boxes the other day without finding it.  There must be a combined box or something.  We found one box that hadn't been opened but it was books I'd read and wanted to keep.

During the last two weeks I finished a book for a December book review, About Alice by Calvin Trillin, and Gimp by Mark Zupan and Tim Watson.

There is no rhyme or reason as to the order I read books. What is funny is that I read About Alice shortly after watching Bernard and Doris. Calvin Trillin acted in the movie as a board member. Apparently most of the content can be found in Trillin's other books but I'm not familiar with him as a writer. I'm sure I've read some of his pieces in The New Yorker when I used to read it cover to cover on a weekly basis but he's not a household author name like Irving, Roth or Atwood where anything they write gets bought almost immediately. It is a quick book to read and yes, I cried. And I laughed. If you want to read a love letter this is a good book to read.

Note: This is an old post from June I had in my drafts on LochJournal. :)

I'm reading the hardcover of The Rule of Four because it's been on my TBR pile for years so why buy the paperback? I'm nearly through Chapter 10 and while about two hours of Good Friday have passed since the first line of the book and really nothing other than a break-in has happened... I'm loving it.

I was inspired by the post of an acquaintance that gave her mid-year tally. It's a bit interesting to look at the numbers even though some of them are fuzzy. If I'm going to do this at the end of the year I really should keep better track of these things, shouldn't I?

Here it is:

• read 7 books


• saw 58 movies


• wrote 5 book reviews


• wrote 2 poems


• wrote 35 short stories (mainly first drafts)

As you can imagine, I find the number of books I've read appalling. On the downside, I haven't been keeping track of them so I'm pretty sure it's more than that but I don't seem to have a way to find this out. Only one of the two libraries I use keep track of what has been checked out and of course the library I use the least has this information.

So what have I done since tallying the numbers? I've read another book and am well on my way to finishing two more. :)

The first obedience class went well.  Sammy didn't get to attend, and his owners were well behaved, though snickers were heard from their direction.

During yesterday's morning walk I got to see two birds chase a squirrel out of a tree.  There wasn't much noise beyond the fluttering wings in leaves and the thrashing around of the squirrel.

I have my annual appointment with my allergist on Monday.  Last year was the first time I'd seen him in a while.  It's been a great mostly-allergy free year thanks to him.

I've seen a few (older) movies and read some books.  Hubby has spent some time this week exploring Liberty City.  And the zipped file for EverQuest (free play until the end of July) sites in My Documents folder untouched.  

Last night I got some super editing done on a fiction piece, though.  :)

 I found my $70 store credit for Barnes and Noble last weekend and spent some time browsing the tables and some of the aisles.  I was very tempted to splurge but thought better of it since the ole birthday is coming up soon.  All I bought was a magazine.

I've been itching to read something though I'm not certain what that something might be.  The last book I read was ErRatic by N.D. Hansen-Hill.  It was a .pdf version and I have to admit it's nice being able to read a book while waiting in line somewhere without weighing my purse down anymore than necessary.