Thanks, Ned!!!

Ned Vizzini, whose writing I've enjoyed since he was penning screeds on being a nerdy high school student in New York Press when he was all of 15, mentioned the re-release of my book (and items about saving public libraries, etc.) in this wonderful blog entry today. He actually refers to something specific in my book; he has a great memory!

By the way, his second novel, It's Kind of a Funny Story, comes out as a movie in September. One of the stars is Zach Galasdlksdajfldsasflkadfkis. Can't wait to see that!

Quote of the day

"If he's a Yankee fan, we're going to push him back in." -- Anonymous member of my household on the baby

(Not mentioning names.)

Another mystery solved

I used to think that pregnant women walked around with their hands over their tummies & chests in order to bond with the baby. Now I know there is sometimes another reason: hearburn!!

Random stuff

Well, since I'm not really keeping my pregnancy a secret anymore (if you've seen my tum-tum, you'll know it's not much of a secret), I might as well mention some significant things:

1. On Monday someone at work gave me the first baby gift I ever got! I wasn't expecting anything, but she is the sweetest person and it was such a sweet gesture. It's a book called "Guess How Much I Love You" and it's a place I can record things about the baby, before and after birth. It's ADORABLE.

2. My elementary school friend Kathy blogged last year about the first random acknolwedgement of her pregnancy by a stranger - someone who said something to her about it in public. I can't seem to find the entry now, but I think it happened when she went to a store. Anyway, this weekend I was making the rounds at the "citywide gate sale" and a woman asked if I was expecting. (I think people are afraid to take the risk of asking, because if I'm not, I could potentially be insulted...) Anyhoo, she asked because she had some maternity jeans to sell me. I didn't buy 'em, though. I'm sticking with the two pairs I have.

3. I think I am feeling the baby move, finally. It's hard to tell the difference between him kicking me, and all the weird feelings I get after I eat.

4. For a while I was sure I had a gallstone problem. I have had pain after eating right where the gall bladder is. But I got checked out and there was no evidence of stones or liver problems. I guess it's just really bad heartburn that occurs right where my gallbladder is. I even get the pain after I drink water! As a gastrointerologist said, if I'm going to have pain after I drink water, I might as well eat whatever I want, because it's all going to cause me pain. But the truth is, so far I found something that doesn't cause me pain: Hummus. I don't know why, but hummus on pita doesn't bother me. As a result, I'm eating fairly healthily. I'll have to see if I can find some other things that are ok. I'm probably going to eat grilled chicken tonight and I think that should sit well.

Anyway, as for other things...Hi hubby, if you're reading this. Thanks for being patient with what must be a very boring blog entry for you...

Also, I guess I should plug the new edition of Carrie Pilby again, since it's coming out this July 1 in time for summer reading. I sent a lot of emails to people over the weekend who had e-mailed me five or more years ago, after they read the original. I still have their emails, but a lot of them were on aol or hotmail and are no longer at those addresses. Not to mention, many people are not still at the same jobs they were at back in 2003-2005. Oh well! If half of those people get the emails, at least that's something. I'm checking my webpage to see who actually clicks on it. I've emailed people on Facebook who mentioned my book, too. I feel a bit icky wearing the hat of a publicist, but that's what we authors must do.

So far I got into something called Park Place, a publication of NJ Monthly, whom I sent a release to. The story isn't on the internet though.

So that's all the stuff I wish to share publicly on the internet. How's YOUR life goin'?!

Chick lit: Dead or 'undead'?

So there's been an ongoing debate for several years over whether the chick lit genre of women's fiction is "dead." I find it a little silly - There will always be readers for a well-written, good book about a twentysomething/thirtysomething woman's attempts to find her place in the world, but the key is GOOD. What, then, separates a "chick lit" book from women's fiction? Some say humor, some say a focus on dating, some say just a first person voice in women's fiction alone makes it chick lit automatically. Well...

With any genre, a really good book will transcend a simple categorization by having more depth and shading. If you write a book about a woman dating, DON'T just make it about all her bad dates. The reason chick lit is being called "dead" is that there were a million books like this released in the first half of the decade, some very well nuanced and others not so much. Some were great, and some latter ones were copycats that sold to take advantage of the trend. After all, if Bridget Jones did well, publishers had to have their OWN Bridget Jones knockoffs. The glut of those books is what led agents and publishers to suddenly say they weren't going to publish them anymore.

So the marketing term of "chick lit" is not widely used anymore. However, books about confused women post-college can still be written and published. I just read a novel called "Falling is Like This" by Kate Rockland, who lives in my town, that St. Martin's just published. It's a really good book, and it's still in first person and about a woman in her early twenties navigating her romantic relationships.

Here is a point/counterpoint on the whole "chick lit is dead" issue.

Jenny Bent, an agent who has handled a lot of the genre, has heard many times from publishers and book buyers that it is 'dead'.

But the women at a blog called chicklitisnotdead.com, feel that it's not...well, that's obvious from the title!

Anyway, have I mentioned that my book (published by a chick lit imprint in 2003) is coming out again this summer for teens, this July, in fact? By Harlequin Teen. Read more about it and see the new teen cover by clicking HERE!

Hmmm...

People keep telling me I don't look like I've gained much weight, being prego and all.

I have a solution for that!

We moms are so willing to sacrifice for our little ones.

Eatin' and readin'

Eatin'

Hubby and I did some eatin' on Friday night so I can write a food review (well, more like a restaurant profile). Here's a photo of the "pound cake French toast" for dessert. I had never heard of this item, but it was delicious. Apparently there are recipes for it on the 'net, as well. I told my dad about it, as he's a big French toast fan. Maybe I'll be able to lure him up for some.

That's heavy cream and hazlenut ice cream in the middle, which I largely skipped.

Readin'

Most of us unfamous writers know that it's very rare for your publisher to do a lot on the publicity side - they are busy with many books. It's important for the author to promote his/her book him/herself, even if bold self-promotion is not the hat we're used to wearing. (Most of us prefer to stay inside looking out the window at the other self-promoters.)

I've finished working on a press release for the new edition of Carrie Pilby, as well as a publicity kit that goes with it, including an excerpt from the first two pages, some articles, and even Carrie Pilby Post-It notes. I bought fluorescent blue and yellow envelopes to mail it out in. Even if one person is looking at the release on the bus, someone else may see it over their shoulder. And who knows who that next person may be?

Today I sent out four packets to four major consumer mags. It's not like I'm gonna spend a ton of time on this, but now's the time to spend a little bit, so I'm glad I got these out.

Happy Mother's Day!

Blizzard warning today!!!*

*...on planet Saturn

Puppy wub

This gigantic dog, whose name is Sophie, just plunked herself down on the sidewalk today so she could get a belly rub. I think the Basset got jealous!

Made the beast with two backs

How come kids today use "get some ass" to mean "have sex"? I don't think I like that expression. It sounds like they slipped or took a wrong turn somewhere.

On Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax

Two weeks ago, Hubby and I went to try the Dumpling Man in the East Village. It was a really neat place, and fun to watch the chefs prepare those delish dumplings before our eyes.

Anyway, when we walked in, there was a guy kind of standing up on the sidewalk outside, looking like he was about to fall one way or the other. His eyes weren't focused on anything or particular. He was on drugs or very drunk or maybe very sick, but it wasn't normal. He was maybe in his forties or fifties, with ripped, dirty jeans, so he was probably homeless.

Most people see things like this and ignore it. But the guy could have fallen backwards and cracked his head open.

The cashier was debating whether to call, and then he did. I am glad he did that. He may have saved a life. And even if you think it was the guy's fault for being drunk/stoned/unemployed, whatever, think of the relatives who may have lost contact with him and wondered for years on end where he is. Or maybe the relatives right in the city who have been trying to push him to get help and be productive like he was when he was a kid.

Yes, this is conjecture, but why take the chance?

When the ambulance showed up, the cashier couldn't leave his post, so I showed the men in the ambulance where the guy was standing. One of the men said to me, "Did you ask him if he needs help?" I said, "No, but he's a danger to himself." The man kinda looked defeated, because that's one of the standards where you can force someone to get treatment. (He was also, as the cashier had said on the phone, a danger to others, because he was blocking the sidewalk.)

Anyway, I was glad the cashier called, because most people think "Ah, it's just a homeless guy" and ignore someone like that. But you know...everyone comes from two parents. Everyone has or had someone who loved them.

What spurred me to write about this was this story that's in today's New York Post:

(April 24) -- A homeless man who was stabbed while saving a woman from a knife-wielding attacker lay dying in a pool of his own blood for more than an hour while several New Yorkers walked past without calling for help.

Surveillance video obtained by the New York Post shows that some passers-by paused to gawk at Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax early Sunday morning and yet kept on walking.

Some guy even took a photo with his camera phone! Alfredo was only 31 years old.

Now, some of those who kept walking may have assumed help was on the way already. Still, if you're not sure, just call. It's free, you know. If you're afraid of getting involved, call 911, give the info on the location and occurrence, and walk away. You're not doing anything wrong.

(I'm on the right end of the middle row, red pants. Click for larger.)

I was happy

(This story has an interesting visual ending, I promise, so stick with it...)

When I saw this photo on someone’s Facebook page in January, I nearly cried. I have only my kindergarten class photo in my possession, no others. But this one, second grade, was particularly near and dear to me, so I was thrilled when it popped up on the internet. For 30 years, I'd remembered people's names and how much I liked them, but had forgotten what some of them looked like -- particularly since I moved after that year and never saw most of them ever again.

At first I wasn't sure exactly why it struck me so much when I looked at it. But I have a good idea now: I look so genuinely happy.

Things weren’t good after that. I moved to a new school. I made a few friends, but I was an outcast. I didn’t really “get” the kids at my new school. I'm not saying it's their fault, at all. And it wasn’t as if they were from a different background than my previous year, or that my new town was demographically different. Maybe it was that everyone grew up between second and third grade, and I didn’t? Who knows?

I eventually reacted by getting even sillier. Sometimes I tried harder to fit in, with poor results.

Second grade, the one pictured on top of this entry, was the “Enrichment Program”; in other words, the kids with the highest test scores in the previous grade from all five of the district’s elementary schools were bused to one second grade classroom at this particular school. I was lucky because the program was based in the school I already attended, so I didn't have to switch.

In second grade, there were two big fads – the movie “Grease,” and the candy Pop Rocks. Each day at snack time, some lucky kid would bring in Pop Rocks and everyone would ask for some. One girl actually announced, “Okay, these people may have Pop Rocks” and listed the names on a blackboard. Then she had everyone line up to get a few in their hand.

One day, I was in the grocery store with my dad and asked if I could get some. To my surprise, he said yes. The next day in school, a boy saw me with them and he said to another boy, “Oh, she’ll give everyone.”

I overheard that and thought that was the nicest thing anyone had ever said about me, and I was especially moved that a boy had said it, because boys and girls kind of avoided each other then. Of course, he may have just meant I was a pushover, but it was rare insight into what a boy thought of me, and I liked that he thought I would share my Pop Rocks.

I wasn’t perfect. I won’t go into the stupid stuff I did. And my schoolwork was horribly sloppy, even if I always have done well on tests. But I was happy in second grade. Everyone was so nice in that class.

And then...

As I said...I moved. Before third grade.

The kids in my new school in Freehold were more, er, advanced. Some of them were already “going out” with each other. What was up with that? Some (NOT all, just a few) were kinda mean. They’d yell at you if you missed a ball in gym, wore the wrong clothes, just if you stood in the wrong place. They taunted the fat girl...typical stuff.

Did I change between second and third grade? Or did everyone else? Or was it the difference in towns? Or was there a big difference between being in a class of all smarty pantses and being in a "normal" class? I'm not sure.

There were a million things about me that I should have changed, too. But gosh, we were all young. Everyone gets off the hook for who they were in school.

So anyway...yesterday, some later photos popped up on someone's Facebook page of me in school in later years.

I was worried, and rightfully so.

One of them was the dreaded seventh grade, middle school. ACK!!!

I'm on the bottom row, third from left. Click for larger.

Okay, it wasn't so bad. I look normal enough. But then there was this other one they posted, of fifth grade.

At first, I was horribly, terribly embarrassed when I saw this.

Take a close look on the right end of the middle row (click to enlarge)...

And then I thought, you know...maybe I just knew how badly everything sucked.

A great, detailed review of Carrie Pilby

Click here. "Constance Reader" really wrote a lot about my book on her wonderful blog! Looks like the other entries are worth reading, too.

The cover she has displayed is the cover of the new version coming out from Harlequin teen this summer, which you can order at Amazon now!

What's a spouse for?

From the internet:

Scathing Amazon Reviewer Revealed as Author's Wife

LONDON (April 19) -- The normally sedate world of British academia erupted in scandal last weekend, as the wife of a top historian admitted attacking her husband's literary rivals in anonymously posted reviews on Amazon.co.uk.

And she's not the only faker: A nonfiction author has told AOL News that many writers -- including himself -- view bogus Web reviews as an "essential part of survival in the Amazon jungle."

Kudos...

To Giuliana and Bill for talking about something that people in Hollywood try to deny...

Copycats!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (a Michael Cera movie coming this summer).

Can it hold a candle to

Carrie Pilby vs. The World? (The British version of my book.)

Go to www.carenlissner.com and decide!

Why?

I just read this headline:

Amid Riots, Protesters Claim to Control Kyrgyzstan

...and wondered why Duke's basketball coach is of such interest to the demonstrators.

The laugh is on me, I guess...

Because now one of those songs from below has been in my head all day.

I guess I deserved that.

Annoyed again at the music industry

I'm annoyed again.

In the past, musicians waited 10 or so years to rip off a song. Now they just wait a year or two!

Love Song by Sara Bareilles (2007):

Seems ripped off by:

Just Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Buble (2010):

and

Gives You Hell by All American Rejects (2009):

Seems ripped off by,

Hey Soul Sister by Train (wait a few beats)

Click and listen!

10 great minor league ballparks

Some of these really sound neat! The article was in USA Today. (Hubby sent it to me.) They're real fields of dreams. Click here to read.

Poll

Does anyone have a right to call the brilliant cinematic masterpiece Sound of Music 'silly'?**

**You are not allowed to vote in this poll if you have a penis. Thank you kindly for your attention to this matter. Anyone with breasts and a vajayjay - in other words, people with superior taste and wit - can answer.

Yuuuuuum

Look what someone in my household got from Coldstone...SEVEN toppings.

Despite my being preggers, it's not mine.

The Carrie Pilby PR effort is in full force!

Three months until it comes out again. Catch the new cover on Amazon by clicking the image of the cover on my updated website.

If you've ever loved a dog...

Check this out.

Congratulations, Newark!!

"Newark has something to celebrate. The city today is recording its first homicide-free month in more than 40 years.

"In New Jersey's largest city, officials say 32 days without a murder is a major accomplishment. Since the 1967 riots, the city has been plagued by one of the highest violent crime rates in the country."

T-shirt of the week

Here.

Hubby dessert announcement

"I'm going to go have my sleeve of Thin Mints."

Awww, go jump in the Pacific

Someone found my blog via Google by typing in the following:

Dogs are filthy they get ticks and fleas they drag their ass

7:55 PM UPDATE:

"How else are they supposed to scratch their ass?" - THE HUBBY

R.I.P., Agent Bill Maxwell

Oh no! Robert Culp died! I'm not old enough to have watched much of "I Spy," but I looooooooooved him in "The Greatest American Hero." It was the funniest show -- about a clueless special-ed teacher (William Katt) who suddenly ran into some aliens and was given a supersuit, but lost the instruction manual. A member of the most stepped-on element of society suddenly had powers, but didn't know how to use them. He would frequently try to fly and would bump into walls.

Then he met FBI agent Bill Maxwell, who was torn between wanting to disbelieve in the super suit...and getting another bust to increase his reputation. Culp played the constantly-hesitating agent with perfect comedic pitch. He nearly spat out every line, grimacing in skepticism.

I'm sorry I never got to meet him when he came around to local comic conventions (she says nerdily.) RIP.

For those who have to pay for it.

Not sure what happened to the skywriter...

Happy spring!

We made it through another winter!

Rain

It's raining out while being completely sunny. People have their umbrellas out. It's kinda beautiful.

Young-adult literature...in yesterday's LA TIMES

Big story about how young-adult literature is popular among adults, and still exploding as a genre, particularly books about "Misfit teens."

Well here, adults, take the re-release of Carrie Pilby to the beach this summer!

Is it too early

...for spring fever?

Awwww

ME: Do you want a LifeSaver?

HUBBY: I have you!

Snowstorm!

"When it absolutely, positively...uh...forget it."

"Honey, I found your bike!"

"What? I didn't hear anything about the buses not running!"

Round up the usual suspects. Medium sized breeds only.

Hmmm

Hubby was on the phone with one of those automated things that asks you questions before giving you to a representative. So he was yelling things into the phone like "SAVINGS." "MARCH FIRST." And then all of a sudden he yelled, "GET LAID, YA C---SUCKER!!!" and hung up.

He said it was because the system asked him, "What would you like to do next?"

This has been blogged with his permission.

On porpoise

ME: At the hotel, you can see dolphins swimming from your balcony.

HUBBY: You can see dolphins swimming?

ME: Yeah.

HUBBY: They're called porpoises, by the way.

ME: Maybe we can sit on the balcony and eat tuna and watch the porpoises.

HUBBY: HAHAHAHAHA

ME: What's worse, that I said that or that you're laughing at it?

HUBBY: I think they're both pretty bad.

Kevin Smith responds to the hubbub

From his blog, silentbobspeaks.com:

Lots of folks still telling me to stop crying and lose weight - as if that’s what this was all about. Easier to tell the lie about the whiney Fatso than the truth that someone at Southwest fucked up. “Sure, someone fucked up, Lardo” You’re saying. “You and your fat gut! This is YOUR fault because you’re fat!”

Once again: I know I’m fat. The point of all this? I’m not too fat for Southwest Air, yet someone deemed me so. *sigh*

Mom

My mom called to tell me it's gotten really slippery out. She wants me to call her when I get home to let her know I'm ok.

Awwww. I love moms.

Been a while since I've gotten one of these

Thank you for giving us the chance to consider “Curtains Up” for publication in
The Missouri Review. Though it does not fit our current needs, we appreciate
your interest in our magazine and your commitment to quality writing.
We wish you the best of luck publishing your work and hope you’ll consider
sending us more in the future.
Sincerely,
The Editors

"No, I don't."

Snow

It's gonna snow on Wednesday. A lot.

Finally updated the Blog of my Barometer. It was so neglected.

Wheee, my ship may have come in!

I got this in the mail today:

Seventeen television networks and studios and seven talent agencies have agreed, subject to court approval, to settle age discrimination allegations in connection with the hiring and representation of television writers age 40 or over...for a collective payment of $70,000,000. The settlement defines two classes -- persons age 40 or over who have previously written for television, and other persons age 40 or over who have been interested in writing for television.

Okay, so I'm not 40 or over, and I was a lot younger back when I sent in a few spec scripts...but isn't it funny that even people who wanted to write for TV may be included in the settlement?

The 24 networks, studios, and agencies "deny that they discriminate, but believe it makes sense to end the litigation, which has been pending since 2000. The court did not decide which side was right."

Hey, I want some money just 'cause I didn't have any contacts in TV or film when I got out of school. Why should the privileged get those jobs? Darn it, give me my two dollars!

J.D. Salinger

I'm late in posting about him. Since he's one of my favorite authors, I should post about his death. Really, I have little to say that hasn't been said. I love the way he writes, and of course, his characters. It's a very unique style that can't be imitated, but can be learned from. The sense of detail and non-rushed-ness of the descriptions of goings-on, especially.

I won't comment much on his personal life, but some of it defies explanation. The success of his books, and the fact that he made so much money off of them, is what allowed him to live the way he wanted, and yet he would likely begrudge other writers for publicizing their works in order to even have any hope of selling enough of them to make a few bucks.

He lived to a ripe old age, and of course I would love to read any of his works that he's been hiding all these years. People who knew him have estimated that he had between 2 and 17 manuscripts locked away. More recently, someone said he was merely writing about health issues (he was into all kinds of homeopathic remedies), so maybe it's nothing exciting to read. But the fact that he was reclusive for that long would indicate that he must have been writing SOME fiction. What else could he have been possibly doing with all that free time in his secluded house? Eat, walk the dog, read the papers, read books, watch old movies...he had to have done some Salinger-type writing.

"You didn't post anything today on your blog." -- The Hubby

And...now I have.

New version of Carrie Pilby on Amazon

Well, sort of. I'm sure the new cover will go up soon.

Amazon on YA

Amazon on young adult fiction, which really exploded over the past decade.

The first Carrie Pilby-related Tweet


Thanks to literary agent Janet Reid for Tweeting about my book! It's still set to be re-released in July. I guess I really should update my website fast.


Regarding the Tweet under the one about Carrie Pilby...is there really a cupcake truck? And why would that not surprise me? Do Rachel and Nichelle know about this?!


HOLY CRAP, I just clicked on Rachel and Nichelle's cupcake blog and oh my God look at the key lime cupcake featured on it.

Janet_Reid I didn't know CARRIE PILBY was being re-released! That's GREAT news! I loved that book!7:23 AM Jan 9th from web Janet_Reid It's too bad @susan_adriani doesn't like sushi. I guess we have to lunch at the cupcake truck.#poorpoorpitifulme6:21 PM Jan 8th from web

Hello

I kinda felt like I should post something. It's disappointing when you check a blog and nothing is posted.

So there.

Window of Maine hotel at sunset.

Dear Old Dad

DAD: How old are you going to be on your birthday? 39 or 40?
ME: (sigh) 39.
DAD: So you have a good 25 years left.
ME: Is that when life goes downhill? At 64?
DAD: Well, you look at people who are 10 years older than you, and things don't look that great.

Not just cute puppies

Sometimes you have to appreciate a little kitty now and then, too. So click here.

Combonym

Musician, punster, and friend Michael Lynch writes:

"EXmas"...to take down Christmas decorations.

Recent photos have been sitting on my camera

The next street, after recent snow.

Fire station up the road.

Our first pizzas that Hubby and I made on New Year's Eve. Well, they tasted good! Toppings: Shredded mutz, along with fresh shrooms, onions, and peppers. Hubby is a great veggie picker and chopper. (Thanks, Bridget, for the set of knives.) I didn't roll the dough enough, so mine was like a Chicago pizza. I like Chicago pizza so I was not saddened by the matter.

I kept craving it after we were done, so four days later I made this ricotta and sundried tomato pie. Already the practice came in handy! (It was actually less tasty than the other one though.)

New graffiti added this weekend. Bunch of savages in this town! Notice the Xmas tree in a bag tossed out at the right.

Happy New Year!

I hope 2010 is the best one yet.

A cautionary tale for those of you traveling in wintry weather

"A Reno, Nevada couple got stranded in wintry conditions for three days in the high desert of Eastern Oregon when their SUV's GPS gave them misguided directions and took them down a wrong path. Ask me and I'll tell you that the only wrong path they took was trusting their GPS.
The Klamath County Sheriff, Tim Evinger, clearly a kinder soul than I, was quoted saying "GPS almost did 'em in and GPS saved 'em." Evinger said. "It will give you options to pick the shortest route. You certainly get the shortest route. But it may not be a safe route." After almost three days, they miraculously recovered a weak cellphone signal on a GPS-enabled phone which sent its coordinates to 911.
Actually what saved them was the fact that the couple, both in their mid-to-late 60s, were prepared for winter travel, carrying food, water and warm clothes. Their four-wheel drive Toyota Sequoia was pulled out of the snow with a winch after they were found by a Lake County deputy in the Winema-Fremont National Forest, outside the town of Silver Lake.
John Rhoads, 65, and his wife, Starry Bush-Rhoads, 67, made it home safely to Reno, Nev., Evinger said. "Their statement was, being prepared saved their life," he said."

Awwww, rats!

"(Dec. 28) -- Ready or not, here comes the future of reading. Amazon announced today that it sold more e-books this Christmas than it did the paper variety, a first in its history."

Okay, but...how do you wrap an e-book and give it to a friend?!

Well, so be it. Remember to, uh, download the re-release of Carrie Pilby this coming July!

Oh. My. God.

Someone from elementary school said hello to me on Facebook, I joined a group for my elementary school, and lo and behold there is a 2nd grade class photo that has me in it - and I'm even labeled! The person remembered my name! I loved 2nd grade. I almost cried when I saw this. I remember almost everyone. We spent half the year putting on "Pinocchio" and I was figaro, the cat. I'm on the right below the teacher, standing in red pants. Wow, what memories!

My e-mail to Accuweather today

Hi guys. I commented about this last week too. You have something called Weather Alarms which is pretty cool, but then when I look below at your 5-day forecast, it often contradicts your very own Weather Alarms! For instance, you say Heavy Rain Dec. 25 and 26 for your weather alarms. But in the forecast it says "scattered showers" or "chance of rain" or "partly sunny" for those days. Are your Weather Alarms meant to be hype, or are your 5-day forecasts purposely meeker? I think you should save the Alarms for something more than 'scattered showers' or be more consistent so we know to trust them. Example here.

3 quick things

1. TMZ is reporting that actress Brittany Murphy died!!! She was only 32. That's an unexpected one. It's not like she's in the news all the time doing dangerous stuff like Lindsay Lohan.

2. Michael Lynch sent this combonym:

Carcheology...the act of digging out your car after a snowstorm.

3. Today I learned that making French toast with egg whites and wheat bread may be heart-healthy, but not very tasty. (Surprise!)

PS Hi cutie!

I feel cold just looking at...

THIS.

My favorite months, in order

1. October

2. September

3. August

4. November

5. December

6. July

7. June

8. May

9. January

10. April

11. February

12. March

February and March are the two most boring months ever. The weather is lousy without a holiday coming to justify it. I love the change of the seasons, whatever season it's changing to. But when it's the end of a slushy dull season, that's the worst, and that's why I don't look forward to February or March.

Things at least start to perk up in April, but not much. It rains every weekend. People start complaining about the rain, forgetting that it does that every year.

But right now we're in December, with the gently blinking lights and it's cold without being too too too cold. So rejoice!

Hmmm

I hope the kid is ok, but she is going to have to be in the hospital for months, fighting. I think TLC is putting a real spin on this one.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Dec. 11) -- An Arkansas couple featured on the reality TV show "18 Kids and Counting" now has 19.
Cable network TLC says 43-year-old Michelle Duggar gave birth to a 1-pound, 6-ounce daughter Thursday night during an emergency cesarean section. She'd been due March 18.
TLC says the child is in stable condition at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.
The network airs the show starring Duggar, her 44-year-old husband and their brood. It says the Duggars named their 19th child and ninth daughter Josie Brooklyn. The Duggars' first grandchild was born Oct. 8.

Efficient hubby

My hubby has an idea for what he'd like to name a dog someday. He said today that he'd like to get two dogs and name them BOTH that name.

ME: Well, what happens when you call the name?

HIM: They both come!

Boy, is that efficient.

He did it

Somehow I came upon this blog entry of mine about a 2006 news report about a couple who were driving along a dark road, and somehow both the husband and wife got shot. The husband survived, however. Having heard of cases like this before, it seemed to me that the husband shot her and then injured himself to make it look like an accident.

Here's my blog entry about it.

Well, put their names into Google and you can see the result.

MEN: Something simple to improve your heart health

A public service message from Ned Vizzini about flossing.

Do you think

Do you think the first 30 or 40 years of your life are intended to set a foundation for you to enjoy the second half of your life?
In other words, did you spend all of those years working, dating, and undertaking projects in order to make sure you can enjoy (or at least be stable in) your later years? Or did you simply live in the moment and enjoy it and not think about the future?
I would guess that most people do a little of both.
Well, not when you're a kid. When you're a kid, aside from doing well in school, you're kind of off the hook regarding responsibilities for the future. The people you date at 15, if anyone, are very unlikely to be those you marry. You don't start a career then, either.
So maybe 20s and 30s are the main time to prepare for the rest of your life - starting a retirement fund (although who wants to think about being an old codger), looking for someone for a long-term relationship or marriage, getting involved in different things.
I guess you never really stop preparing, though. Even if you retire, there could still be 40 or more years of life ahead of you. Then a lot of your concerns probably become medical - what can I or can't I eat today, which doctor should I see.
I'm generalizing. I don't actually know the purpose of this entry. I was just kind of randomly thinking about the things you do in life to prepare for the future, and the things you do just for the sake of it.
Childhood was fun because of things done just for the sake of them. It's nice, I guess, when you can still fit those in to your adulthood, but sometimes you can find fun ways to prepare for the future too.
Well, the "Jersey Shore" reality show starts in a few hours. We're planning to watch it, and it will add nothing lasting to our lives!