When I am king, you will be first against the wall.

I love Mimi Smartypants. Today's “Decaf grande products-of-conception mocha!” is wonderful. I spit tea out my nose.

I also particularly enjoyed Sueeeus’s “consumption receptacle” turn of phrase in her show-and-tell. You all are brilliant writers. Or at least you make me laugh. Same thing.

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I would like to direct your attention to our exciting new feature, the photo homage to our lovely Mimi, on the left sidebar. Mimi was mine as a child, I am responsible for her lovely coiffure, and Segundo discovered her during our move last year. It was love at first sight. (Perhaps we should have the boy's eyes checked...)

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I am LOVING Thorn Birds so much that I do not want it to end, although I know where this “Meggie has a son who she absolutely adores more than anyone in the world except his father, who just happens to be a cardinal in the Roman Catholic church” plotline is heading.

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I am rereading old “Brain, Child” mags. Very entertaining. Reassuring to realize I am not the only conflicted mother.

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I dig polar writing. Fiction, nonfiction, doesn’t matter. And not that I have any interest in exploring the Arctic/Antarctic. I just want to sit on my ass here with a hot mug of tea in my hand and read about other people freezing their asses off. This sentence alone from the above site is enough to make me trust this reviewer: “He wrote like a thesaurus suffering an attack of hysterics in an abattoir, but is still thoroughly readable and enjoyable.” Isn’t that just terrific? I mean, how could you not want to read something this person thinks is good? And apparently, for the complete bibliography of Antarctic works, see this web page: http://www.antarctic-circle.org/fauno.htm. Cool. In so many senses of the word. Ha.
What have I read in this realm? Hmm…Andrea Barrett’s The Voyage of the Narwhal. Ice Blink (botulism killed the radio star…erm, Franklin’s expedition). South. Endurance. Of course I also heartily enjoy survival writings like Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea and its source material, Owen Chase’s The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex so perhaps I am just hopelessly warped. You decide.

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I am vindicated. Jennifer Aniston does indeed rock! Number Seven, people. (Our diaper backpack, purchased when Primo was on his way, is monogrammed not with our last name or his name, but with “Kid A.” Because he was, after all, Kid A. And it’s a terrific album.)

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Yesterday the boys and I met Sarah Louise at the coffee shop for hot chocolate and donuts – in other words, yes, I fed my boys sugar, sugar, and fat for lunch yesterday.
Because it was Veterans’ Day, the public schools were off, and there were two little girls- maybe nine or ten – sitting in one of the big armchairs, reading. One was reading Judy Blume’s Are You There, God, It’s Me, Margaret, a classic, and I will bet every woman could tell you when she read it – I was thirteen and was NOT supposed to read it.
The other was reading Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia, one of my all-time favorite books. I said, “Excuse me, but …you’re reading Bridge to Terabithia…I love that book. I sobbed and sobbed reading it but I love it.” The girl’s eyes lit up. “I love it too. You cried when Leslie dies, right? Me too!” I love that two people twenty-plus years apart in age can bond over a book.

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Phrases I never expected to hear in a Thomas video:
“An angry farmer was telling Mavis just what she could do with her train…”

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Survey from Jess at Garish and Tweed:

First fictional character who made you swoon?
- Nicholas Nickleby, due in great part to Roger Rees in the miniseries - but I did read the book

First fictional character you were SURE you'd meet someday and become friends with?
- Mary Lennox, from The Secret Garden

First book you cried over?
- Bridge to Terabithia

First book you stayed up all night to read?
- Pride and Prejudice

Book you give most often as a gift?
- Ursula Hegi’s Stones from the River

I take the liberty of posting Gina’s answers, from Jess’s comment section:

1. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but Christopher Dollanganger, from Flowers in the Attic. I was *way* too young when I read these books, but OH how I loved him.
2. Harriet the Spy
3. Bridge to Terabithia
4. The Outsiders
5. Naked - David Sedaris

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I see Dar Williams tonight at the Byham. I am so excited! She hasdn't been here since a few months after Primo was born, so...2001. I feel I have been VERY patient...