Say It Isn't So!

Argh. I am not old enough to be dealing with things like... oh, I don't know: PROM! CLASS RINGS!!! What happened? Did I find a vortex and get sucked into a time-altering reality? Yes, that must be it. Has to be.

My oldest daughter is 15, in 10th grade. She was asked to prom by a senior.

Argh.

And, add small town life. Ready for this?? I go to the florist today to get the boutinerre for the dude. Me: I need a boutinerre.

Old lady: For who?

Me: ~BLINK~ Uhh... for my daughter's date to the prom. White.

Old lady: Rose okay?

Me: Sure.

Old lady: What's your daughter's name?

I tell her my daughter's name.

Old lady: OH! She's going with that tall boy... Andy something.

Me: ~BLINK~ (Insert about 10 seconds of silence here. To really appreciate that, count to 10 slowly and realize what kind of lapse in conversation that is!) Uhh, yes, Andy.

Old lady: He was in here this morning order her flowers! He got white roses with silver ribbon.

Me: Oh! Good! So they can match then.

She shows me out the back door (I had to park in the back - the parking up front is weird) and waves the ticket to a lady making arrangements. "We have Andy's boutinerre order so we can make them match now!"

Me: Still speechless. Small town, I'm a'tellin' ya.

THEN, my daughter comes home today and what does she have? The freakin' order forms to get her senior ring. I swear, it didn't seem that long ago when I was in prom dresses and getting MY senior ring. What the heck happened?!?!

~pout~

Things that make your jaw just drop

On this website are forums were I hang out with a lot of my online buddies. One of them posted this story. This is unbelievable. Seriously. Sitting there watching tv late at night and a HOLE opens in your living room and you die. What the heck? Apparently his home was built over an old mine. Wouldn't someone KNOW this? His pregnant wife was sleeping in another part of the house and okay. The officers say from the outside of the home, it looks totally normal then you walk in and there's this huge, gaping hole in the living room.

Now I'm not a sue-happy kind of person, but it seems to be someone should have known about this. It screams of negligence. And that poor woman.

Of course, I look at it from a writer's viewpoint, and I thought, "No way would an editor go for this for the unbelievability factor" and yet it's REAL. So, so sad.

Three for Three

Shari rocks. Several of you who read here know this already, but I had to reiterate, nonetheless. She was just here for 8 days and my life will not be complete until I convince her to be a Texan. Anyway, we had a crapload of fun, and one of the things we did was go to DFW to meet up with Tanna and Terry, two of our friends from the forum here on the website. We had a BLAST. But while in DFW, amongst the civilized, I got to go to Barnes & Noble and about had an orgasmic fit over being in a real bookstore for the first time in forever (slight exaggeration, but it's been a long, long time.) I was on a mission: DON'T LOOK DOWN by Crusie and Mayer, two of my favorite people, much less novelists. It's sitting on my lap as we speak and I'm digging into it tonight.

Why tonight? Because it's a Crusie. And I know it takes me five to six hours to read a Crusie book. I know this because when I start one, I can't stop til I'm at the end. Even if I've read it before. It's a disease, I think, but one I embrace. So, there ya go. In light of that information, although I picked this up on Wednesday, I have not started it before now because of one reason: Tonight is Saturday night. Therefore, I can stay up ALL NIGHT LONG reading (quiet at night when the heathens are sleeping) and not worry about getting up early in the morning (aside for when Rupert starts going off and demanding that he and his chick-whores be released at 5:30am - I can go right back to sleep afterward.)

While at B&N, though, I got me a little horde of books. They are, as follows:

BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON, by Dean Koontz. This is my first ever of his to buy new. I'm excited by the mere thought.

THE GOODBYE SUMMER by Patricia Gaffney. I have a confession with this one. I've never read Gaffney before. But, because of the Cherry Forums, I felt compelled to do so and saw this one and snagged it up. And it's a first edition, which is always a plus.

BLOW FLY by Patricia Cornwell. I've read one by her, but I can't even remember the name. I remember it had a chick for a detective and some really, really passive dude, and that's about it. I don't like passive guys. I like MANLY MEN, Testosterone-Overdosed-Mega-Alpha-Dudes. Needless to say, I wasn't overly impressed, but I've been drawn to this particular title for awhile now, and decided to give into the feeling. I hope this one gives me more than the other one did. I'll report back to let ya know.

And lastly, but certainly not least, I grabbed up Lani Diane Rich's EX AND THE SINGLE GIRL. I have read both of Rich's other books (TIME OFF FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR and MAYBE BABY) and I loved them both. TIME OFF FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR hit me somewhere deep and personal and made me sob more than once. Add this book to that list. Three for three now, Rich has amazed me and moved me like no one else. In fact, this entire post is because I knew I had to blog about this book - so I started at the beginning of the little journey that put this book into my hand and moved forward to where you're reading now. Her insight into first Wanda and now Portia is ... unbelievable. You cringe with them, you laugh with them, you love with them and you most definitely cry with them. If you want a moving novel, grab it. And grab it fast. To top it all off, Rich is a rockin' cool chick too. That just adds to how great it all is.

Needless to say, I'm a happy girl. A week-long visit with my best friend and a horde of new books. It doesn't get much better than that, let me tell ya.