Good Book

I picked up an interesting book in the aisles of the local library today and didn't put it down until just now, upon finishing it. Great book! In fact, it got an award for being one of the 500 best books written by a woman since the year 1300. It's called:

Princess: A true story of life behind the veil in Saudia Arabia

Featured

Just found myself featured on the front page of Claire Wolfe's Blog. Pretty nifty! You should stop by to read her blog, and perhaps go to the library or bookstore to check out some of her books.

Chocolate

A really good chocolate article

Dancing

Last night's band was amazing! The bands that usually play are always good, but these guys were out of this world! They had the usual instruments and a killer sax player.

Now that I'm becoming a regular there again, the guys have started to hit on me. Last night one guy kept telling me the reason the place was so packed was because they had all come to see me, another guy who was drawing me a map to get to another dance gave me his phone number, and a couple of other guys hit on me as well...one casually remarking on how good a local cafe was, and that that was where he was going after the dance.

I was in such high demand that I didn't get a chance to dance with the nice guy I have at the previous dances. I did feel his hair though. :-) It's only a 1/4" or so and feels exquisite when you run your hand over it. How could anybody resist?

Have you ever heard that joke that goes; "Why can't a girl find a guy who's smart, funny, cute, sensitive and kind? Because all those guys already have boyfriends." Lately all of the guys I've had crushes on are gay. I've got a 12 to 1 bet with myself that this guy at the contra dance is too. I keep meaning to ask, but it's kind of hard to casually sneak it into the conversation...

I drove home in the rain and sleet with my noisy, blown up muffler. I felt pretty wiped out and a little queasy from the nonstop action of the night. A couple of miles from home I started to feel like I was going to puke. When I started to walk across the field to the house, it suddenly hit me - that watering that starts in the back of the throat and signals imminent upchucking. I dropped my stuff and got off the path just in time. Blech! I felt instantly better though.

I slept in till 11 this morning. I'm starting to feel old. I never puke or feel tired! I suppose it's inevitable though...My 21st birthday is in 9 days.

Pinstripes

Somebody has been stealing the gasoline out of our cars. It's been happening off and on for the past couple of weeks. Mom and I now have locking gas caps, and Eric installed a huge hasp and padlock on his gas door.

Yesterday I tried to start my car and got nothing. The spark plugs weren't sparking. These are brand new spark plugs and wires..... I'm starting to think whoever's stealing the gas has been monkeying with other parts of my car. Bastards. Time to buy a shotgun and sit out there at night.

I bought and replaced the distributor cap and almost everything inside it. I'm going to install the new coil tomorrow. When I tried to start my van earlier today, I got nothing except a huge BANG that shook the house and scared Mom. I have to figure that one out tomorrow.

After that excitement, Mom and I went to town for her doc appointment. We brought her motorized wheelchair so she could test drive it around the local mall. While we were there, I went inside a frou-frou clothing store to see what it was like. They were having a sale on suits ... pinstripe suits! I've always had a thing for pinstripe suits and have always wanted one.

I tried on a few to see what I looked like. Snappy! Too bad I never have an occasion to wear something like that. It's not the most practical thing to wear while working in the garden or on my van. Perhaps I'll get an office job this winter as an excuse to get it. I wonder what kind of office drone I'd make? I bet I could have a lot of fun being someone's secretary. Mmmm, office supplies...

My van!

Hallelujah! My van finally has an inspection sticker on it!

I spent 3 hours at the garage, asking a zillion questions of the mechanic as he worked on my van.... "What's this, how's that work, what's that do?"

He tightened up the exhaust, drained, refilled and put a new filter on the transmission, installed a lower balljoint on the right hand side, and inspected it. Total cost: $169.

My van purrs now. According to the nice mechanic, he can't see anything else wrong with it. He says it's in really nice shape. Woohoo!

Contra dancing

The place was packed last night! Great band, lots of people, and it lasted a little longer then usual ... from before 8 to midnight.

The kids and I had a great time! We danced with other people and each other, at one time doing a 4 person waltz with the nice guy I waltzed with last time.

Now we're all in recovery from too much fun :-) My feet hurt, Peter has a headache, and we all slept in late. Charlotte conked out even before we left the parking lot.

Sam kissing Zeke

Water droplets on Maple leaf

I've always loved macro photography. There's something soothing about capturing the beauty in a small object that's often overlooked.