It's time to give away another free book. I have a new, unread, softcover version of John Connolly's "The Book of Lost Things". I bought it for my fantasy book group a few months back, but never read it. Since I just finished listening to the book on CD, I'm giving the actual book away to some lucky reader.

If you would like to have the book, please respond to this post with a comment. Don't list your mailing address in the comment. I'll get that from the winner later.

I will draw the winner at random from all the commenters on Tuesday, July 21. Bon chance!

Walter Cronkite, one of the defining voices of my childhood, has died at age 92.

It's back! My more fun than a barrel of monkeys show is back!

( Cut for Spoilers )

...at jason_stills. Please go vote for your favorites.

I have posted Jenn Gordon's art before, because I just love it. I made the mistake of browsing her site at Etsy today, and I am buying more of her original collages, because I just can't help myself.

I fell in love with this one, Lost At Sea:


Then I decided that I had to have this one, The Sea Captain's Ghost, to go with it:


And then I decided that I kinda wanted ( The Caged Dream ).

Although I am sorely tempted by ( Jealous Antoinette ).

Hell, I may get 'em all.

Go here to see her work (originals and prints) for sale.

The BBC is reporting that ECUSA has voted at the General Convention in Anaheim to end the moratorium on gay bishops. As a result, the Archbishop of Canterbury's eyebrows are going completely nuts.

Now, if only we could address that whole "sacrament of marriage" thing, so our gay bishops could live in chaste sexual relationships. Sigh. We do tend to get the cart ahead of the horse.

Nevertheless, it's a great day to be an American Episcopalian. The cosmos are on me. :-)

HAPPY BASTILLE DAY! HAPPY BASTILLE DAY! HAPPY BASTILLE DAY!

Hum a few bars of the "Marsellaise" in tribute. On my maternal grandmother's side, I, myself, am descended from French Huguenots who emigrated to Ireland in the 16th century and changed their name from Fainyance to Fain in order to sound more Irish. :-)

Simon and Schuster is still giving away copies of "The Crucifix Killer". Go get one here.

There's nothing like accomplishing a task to make one feel, well, accomplished. I hadn't realized what a drag my environment has been on my psyche lately, until I finished with the kitchen last night. I cleared the clutter off the table, washed all the dirty dishes, cleaned the cook surface, hood, and oven door, wiped down the window sill, washed the rugs, and cloroxed the floor. It was incredibly therapeutic, and I kept going back to admire my work, all night long. :-)

Tonight, I will tackle the den, which I can do while I watch the premiere of the second season of "Leverage". The den clutter is epic...I can barely see the couch, the books are starting to breed, and I haven't dusted since Valentine's Day, but I will prevail!

I'm trying to add myself as a remote poster.

Four hours. I can't think which is worse. That I spent my Sunday afternoon and evening standing by an ironing board, or that I allowed my ironing basket to get so full that it took four hours to catch up on all my ironing.

OTOH, I now have an impressive selection of freshly ironed cotton tops, cotton trousers, cotton skirts, vintage handkerchiefs, and linen napkins to choose from.

I have decided that my house, which is a disaster, is too daunting to attempt to fix, all at one time. I am therefore assigning myself one task to complete every day this week. I worked on the living room and dining room, my too least cluttered rooms, on Saturday (because I bought a new occasional table, and I had to mess around with my furniture arrangement to accommodate it), and I did my ironing and caught up on my washing on Sunday. Tonight, I will tackle the kitchen.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I only know this, because Google has a Tesla graphic in honor of the day. :-)

I was supposed to have my evaluation this morning, and I was all psyched up for it. And then I get to work and find out that my supervisor isn't coming to work today and that he has rescheduled it for next Friday. The day I was going to take off.

Sigh.

Part of that is the Fourth of July, because, after Easter, it is my favorite holiday. But more than that, I like this time in July...the 7-10 days right in the middle. It's far enough away from the end of school that I'm not getting any leftover cases, and far enough from the beginning of school that I'm not getting any brand new cases. For that brief week, week and a half, I can finally catch my breath and catch up.

Today, I went through every open file I had. I closed a couple, sent status letters on several, and identified the two that I need to address tomorrow.

I went through every piece of paper on my desk, under my desk, and beside my desk. I pitched some, filed some, made notes on some, made calls on some, and sent emails on some.

I cleaned all the diet Coke cans, dirty coffee cups, scattered pins, and sticky notes off the top of my desk. Tomorrow, I dust.

I did my mileage reports. Early. You have no idea how seldom that happens.

I got home before dark.

Tomorrow, I have my bi-annual evaluation (I'm a little nervous), and then I will follow-up on everything that I identified today as needing action. It will put me in a good place, so that I can start prepping for the suspension hearing I have the week after next and the arbitration hearing that I have the week after that. And then I will start the training/in-service/workshop marathon that will last until two weeks into the new school year.

But for now...it's the middle of July as I know it, and I feel fine. :-)

This is the one that made me LOL:

Runner-Up: Science Fiction

George scratched his head in abject puzzlement as he tried to figure out where he'd parked the rocket this time in the 100-acre parking lot of Nallmart 75B, but then he remembered that a ship-boy had taken his DNA key-but which one, the kelly toned humanoid or the atmosphere-of-Rylak-hued android; scanning the horizon, he at last turned to Babs and asked "How green was my valet"?

I also loved this one, for obvious reasons:

Runner-Up: Fantasy Fiction

Towards the dragon's lair the fellowship marched -- a noble human prince, a fair elf, a surly dwarf, and a disheveled copyright attorney who was frantically trying to find a way to differentiate this story from "Lord of the Rings."


Go. Read. Laugh your ass off.

Well, sure, but I really need this day in the office.

I'm wearing green today. I love green. Green is my favorite color. Unfortunately, green does not really like me. Fortunately, this is a very bright, summery green, so it makes me look less jaundiced than most greens do. Plus, I get to wear my fabulous green bangles...one new wooden bangle painted with palm trees and three vintage lucite bangles in graduated shades of green that were my mother's.

I'm going back on the Weight Watcher Core Plan today. I'm fat as a tick, and I simply must drop some weight in anticipation of Dragon*con. Hopefully, I will have time to lose 12-15 pounds before Labor Day weekend.

The Sarah Palin Three Ring Circus continues to baffle me. What the hell was she thinking? Of course, that presumes that she thinks, at all.

Is the Michael Jackson Exploitation Extravaganza over yet? Because I was bored with it the day after he died.

Min's PSA:
Go vote in the third challenge at jason_stills. We desperately need more participation, and, besides...Jason deserves it just for being the smart, funny, talented hottie that he is. :-)

...and it was burning my pocket, so I spent it on used copies of the following books from Amazon.com Marketplace:

Vicious Circle, Mike Carey
Sequel to the excellent The Devil You Know.

Fangland, John Marks
I'm a sucker for genderbender vampire fiction.

The Mark of Ran: Book One of the Sea Beggars, Paul Kearney
PW starred review.

Dark Light, Randy Wayne White
Unabridged on CD. I just discovered the Doc Ford adventure novels.

Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn, and Beans: How the Foods of the Americas Changed Eating Around the World, Sylvia A. Johnson
Because everyone needs an occasional break from paranormal fiction.

Total out-of-pocket cost to me...$2.64. w00t!

We had a fantastic Fourth...except for the fact that my sister-in-law was conspicuously absent. But other than that, it was a classic southern Independence Day celebration.

Joe brought the kids over to my parents, and we had a very southern supper together...pork ribs, baked beans, tater tots, slaw, and blackberry pie with ice cream. Then, after the dishes were done, we trooped outside and had a water gun fight--Me, Joe, my mother, Mariann, and Andrew--until we were all soaked. We changed to dry clothes, and then I set off fireworks in the backyard...some Roman candles, a cake of Carolina gamecocks, and a cake of starbursts. They didn't last very long (I have promised the kids more next year), but they were pretty cool. Then the kids caught fireflies, while the adults sat on the second story deck, which has a 280 degree view of the surrounding ridges, and watched the various fireworks displays above the ridges until after 10.

The next day, I went to church with my folks, and they were having this huge God and country service. They had invited policemen, firefighters, and first responders from the community to attend the service, in uniform, and to be recognized and honored. I actually got a little teary during the 9/11 montage. The choir sang all the military songs--Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Marines--and my father stood up during "Anchors Away", which is the first time he's ever acknowledged his naval service in this kind of setting. Then there was a medley of Bible School songs--"Do Lord", "This Little Light of Mine", "If You're Happy and You Know It", and the like--and everyone sang along, including the cops, firemen, and EMTs. My niece Mariann sang a solo of "Jesus Loves Me", and she did a great job. The congregation sang the National Anthem and said the Pledge of Allegiance as the Firefighter Color Guard presented the colors, and the choir's big finale was "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory", complete with trumpets and trombones and drums. Then, the whole church gathered in the fellowship hall for pork barbecue, which one of the church members, who is also a policeman, had spent all night cooking, along with his family (they compete as a team in barbecue contests). My family and I ate at a table with an assistant fire chief, who was very sharp in his full dress uniform, and his wife. Out in the church parking lot, there was a Lifestar helicopter (which the kids got to see land and later take off), a fire engine, and a pair of trucks that had been painted with all the names of policemen who had died in the line of duty.

It was a big, honkin' deal, let me tell you. :-)

Afterwards, when we went home, Joe and my father took a nap, I gave Daddy his birthday present (today is actually his birthday), and then we ate July 4th leftovers, cut a watermelon, and played Rook until after 11. We finally had to stop, because I had an early client meeting this morning.

All in all, a most sucessful holiday weekend.

Sarah Palin is resigning as governor of Alaska. I kid you not. She's stepping down and transferring power to the Lt. Governor. Since it's a little too early to start stumping for a 2012 presidential bid, I have to wonder what scandal is about to break.

ETA: Okay. Let me get this straight. Assuming this isn’t a sex scandal, and I haven’t yet given up hope that it is, Palin thinks that resigning her current elected office, the office to which the Alaskan people duly elected her and for which she still has a year to serve during a time of economic turmoil, to run for another elected position, the election for which will not occur for another 3 1/2 years, is supposed to recommend her as a candidate for president?

What kind of Alaskan whacky weed is she smoking?

Just in time for the holiday, they're giving away a free book. Go post an entry!

Let me correct that oversight right now.



Yum.

I received a nice compliment on my hair last night. I took tpod out for belated birthday margaritas and dinner, and, as we were leaving, someone complimented the cashier's hair, which had been professionally dyed with blonde and auburn streaks. So tpod says to me, "I don't die my hair." I looked at her, and she said, "I'm 36, and I don't dye my hair. I think that's pretty good." And I was thinking, "I'm 48, and I don't dye mine, either", so I said to her, "I don't dye my hair." And she looked at me in surprise and said, "You don't?"

Apparently, my gray isn't as noticeable as I thought. :-)