About moi

Not sure if these are the truest representations of me, but none of them is untrue.

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Five things on Friday

1. I'm tempted to go to one of the Harry Potter midnight release parties even though I'm not buying the book at this time (still haven't finished books 4, 5, & 6!), just because it's such a cultural phenomenon and the whole release party thing will be over after tonight. But I'm not really going since the rest of the family wasn't interested.
   
   
2. My 5-month-old baby is crawling! More like a combination crawl-wriggle-frog flop, but wow, can he get around. We're not prepared for his mobility!
   
   
3. There's nothing to make a nearly-40-year-old feel old like joining Facebook. I'm the only person from my high school class, and out of 63,000+ people from my university, only 29 are from my graduation year. Still, it's worth it if only for the application that allows me to send my husband whatever song happens to pop into my head.
   
   
4. I'm no cook...I can even mess up Hamburger Helper. But lately I've been obsessively watching Top Chef and The Next Food Network Star, and today we checked out a few books on cooking from the library. I think I have at the least decided to be a less picky eater--to experiment with flavors and textures I would usually avoid.
   
   
5. After we toured a cave last week, which intrigued my nearly-9-year-old son, it occurred to me to suggest that he read Jeanne duPrau's novel The City of Ember, which takes place in a world of near-darkness. He finished it today, after 3 days of reading, and loved it! I was so excited about this because I think it's the first book I bought mainly for myself to read (3 years ago) and enjoyed reading myself, that I was able to share with him. It's so neat to share books with my child! Next I have to read Joni Sensel's Reality Leak, which I also bought for myself recently, but which he got to first and also loved! He's eagerly waiting for me to read it and discuss it with him. He won't agree to read much lately that isn't a Star Wars book...so finding these points of common interest has been heartening.

As of today...

As of today, we have been without a second vehicle for one full year. But on the bright side, I didn't have yet another July 3 wreck today, despite my approximately 1 in 20 chance of having one (based on the fact that I had 2 of them in 39 years).

Also, it is now exactly 1 month until I turn 40. My original plan, a couple of years ago, was to celebrate by going to the national SCBWI writing conference, which starts that day, but I didn't expect to have a nursing baby on my 40th birthday! Or my current financial limitations, for that matter. So that's right out, as is any kind of fancy trip like a cruise, and now I don't know what to do instead. I had big parties for myself on my 20th birthday and my 30th birthday, but I don't think I know enough people to invite to one now, nor can I afford to throw much of one. Cake, of course, is non-negotiable, but other than that, I'll have to think of something quickly!

And tomorrow it threatens to rain all day on the 4th of July. It's rained a lot on the 4th in recent years, both here and in Florida where we were last year, but we've never actually had it rain out all the festivities and fireworks. This year, the festival we normally go to has already been cancelled due to flooding in the park, and they say the rain chances are 90% for tomorrow, so there may be no fireworks, either! We'll wait and see. Meanwhile, I stocked up on 4th of July type foods (hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, watermelon, and red, white, & blue popsicles and cupcakes) so we can at least celebrate at home. Happy 4th of July to everyone! (Even nonAmericans--it may only be Independence Day here, but it's still the 4th of July nearly everywhere!)