It's...

Really Good Books and Rants on Twits

Hi Everybody!

Firstly, I wanted to let you know how much I loved reading 32 Candles. In full disclosure, the author did workshop a few early pages in writing classes I attended. She is also the editor of Fierce And Nerdy, where I post as a Tall Drink of Nerd.

I got to see her writing early and could not WAIT for her book to be released. Now, I had only read about 6 pages before the publication. Ernessa has a writing style that is down-to-earth, but interesting and complex in a very good way.

So the book came in the mail, all pretty in pink (hey, I just got that was another John Hughes reference!) Since the main character is a poor black girl from the south, I was concerned that I wouldn't relate to her, but that worry quickly dissolved. It's just a great story and I was totally in Davie Jones' corner the ENTIRE book (Davie is the main girlie).

I devoured this novel. It was impossible just to put down. If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with volunteering at The Lange Foundation every Saturday. Well, on the Saturday that I was 1/2 way through 32 Candles, I did my level best to give those animals all sorts of love, but couldn't wait to get home to finish the darn book before the sun set.

I highly recommend 32 Candles. If you'd like to see how my taste in books run, check out my blog on FaN about it.

Now for something completely different (A woman with two buttocks)

Because I want to drive people to my blog Moons Over Monument, I started taking Twitter seriously. By taking it seriously, that means posting, following people and hoping they follow you back to drive traffic. Here are the things I discovered in the past 3 days of spending too much time on Twitter:

1. People take it seriously! There are apparently rules to what #MentionMonday, #WriterWednesday and #FollowFriday mean. Honestly, I am not yanking your chain, leg or any other swinging appendage. People take these rules seriously. I, as a newbie, failed and did a #FollowFriday on a #MentionMonday. Twitter-fail.

(I just saw that some very kind followers did a #FollowFriday for MOM. Even with my fail in my pocket, that warmed my heart cockles :-)

2. People take it seriously! One Tweeter from IL, followed me on Friday, then got all kinds of upset because I mentioned her on #mentionmonday. I put an intro: "I think I love these people." before about 5 twitter accounts, including hers (this was before I knew the rules and the difference between #MentionMonday and #FollowFriday) She said "I'm suspicious of you..." and blocked me. DUDE, it's an introduction to you and 4 other people to get followers to you. I am moderately stunned how people take this so seriously. (no, she wasn't 14, she is in her 30's!)

Apparently, I take it too seriously too, after all here I am blathering on about it here, soothing my bruised lettle ego...gonna zen out, and remember it's just Twitter. Also, going to remember that I don't have to tweet every thought that rambles through the corridor between my ears. I jumped into the deep end of the Tweet pool for a couple of days. Seems like a good time to mellow out on the steps in the shallows and sip a lemonade.

And now, The Spanish Inquisition (bet you weren't expecting that.)

Restrictive

When the doctor said "no oranges, no strawberry, no chocolate, NO EGGS, no dairy, no wheat" - two thoughts went through my mind.




1. What in the world am I supposed to eat for breakfast?

2. But I haven't been to Paris yet!! (Food being the highlight of any tourism)

Ginger Ears

I just had to share this somewhere on the cybernets. I have ginger in my ears.

If you've been around me the past 2 years, you know that I've been hit with Benign Positional Puddling Vertigo (It's BPPV, but I don't know what the second P is right now and I'm not looking it up. So there.) Basically, the world spins, I get dizzy and even more unbalanced than usual. I have sort of figured out the triggers; stress and cocoa powder. So, get stressed out, eat a brownie, go on a spin for about 2-6weeks. YAY!

We went to a specialist last week, she's doing blood tests and lots of other tests to check my allergies and hormones and stuff. Her approach is a blend of Western and Holistic medicines. She said that there really is no cure for vertigo. I take ginger supplements daily and she mentioned, off-hand that some people put a slice of ginger in the ear. Wha?

I couldn't find anything about it on the Google, so I just put it in my back-pocket for later use. Well later turned into today, the day after my 41st B-day (thankyouverymuch) I woke up fine, but started feeling tilty. I took some sudafed, my vitamins, ate and had some tea. Still feeling crooked, so I thought "What the heck, might as well give this a try."

So, I whacked off a small piece of ginger from the tiny root we bought last week and stuck a small piece in each ear. It felt cool, then odd, then warm from the ginger oils. I'm not certain it helped much with the dizziness, I'm a smidge more even-keel. It definitely improved my mood. I was laughing at myself for walking around with ginger in my ears.

What? I can't hear you, I have ginger in my ear.

Then, Now and Again, a Dork forever

Howdy!

I really do want to blog more. I do think of something to write everyday, but, thinkin' ain't writin'. Someday the technology will be invented where I will just think the blog and it will appear. Oy, can you imagine how much idiocy would be released on the world if that happened? Um, I don't mean from me, I meant if everybody...nevermind... Here are some dorky pictures of me:




The reason I have these lovely shots up is this: My editor/friend Ernessa over at FierceAndNerdy is celebrating her book release by helping other people. How awesome is that?

Basically, she is asking people (you perhaps? Go HERE! for details) to submit a picture of yourself from high school, a picture of yourself now and answer three questions. For every submission, 32 CANDLES (her forth-coming novel) will make a donation to FFAWN a non-profit organization that promotes good decision-making, problem-solving skills and self-esteem in young girls.

Seriously Awesome. Just when I thought Ernessa couldn't get any effing cooler.

So I found some pix, and Seen said these were adorably nerdy, but the birthday is #11 and the pic with me rockin the red pants is from the first day of 7th grade, so not quite high school. Plus I was still kinda cute here. I'll post the Then and Now project when it's up with my fugly high school pic.

Or maybe you'll see it when you post your own pix!

Do it!

It's fun to look through old photo albums and laugh at the clothes you begged your Mom to buy you.

Snaggle Finds a Home - AKA The System Works

Howdy!

I hope you all read my recent blog on Fierce And Nerdy about volunteering and falling in love at a local animal shelter. Good times...

One of the stars of that blog was Snaggle, a 10-yr old orange tabby, who is overwhelmingly lovable. We skipped last weekend at the shelter, because we were out of town. This morning when we went in, the Feline FIV+ cage was quieter than usual. My husband said "Where is Snaggle?" So I walked back to the big "Adoptions!" white board. Sure enough, his name was up there. Snaggle had found a home.

This is great news! He was/is an amazing cat who deserves a consistent lap and play and family. One of the workers said he was taken in by a couple who have experience dealing with FIV+ cats. So congrats Snaggle.

The news made me happy and sad all in the same moment. I'll miss seeing that rambunctious little rascal every weekend. The other FIV cats seemed a little subdued too, he was a good playmate. It's so rewarding to see that this actually works, that people come in and pass inspection and give these animals a good home. Snaggle's name was about 4th from the bottom of a list of about 25 cats. The dog adoption board had about the same number of adoptions for the month of May. All very good news for pets and peoples.

So Mazel Tov Snaggle! I'll miss you, in a very happy-for-you way.

And now, Andy Rooney

I LOVE Andy Rooney!

I was about to write about my nerdy love of watching this guy complain about random things on my Fierce and Nerdy blog, but I caught the bit on InfoMania which pretty much encapsulates how I feel about Mr. Rooney. Which is AWESOME!! (click on Andy to see the InfoMania piece)

(and thank YOU 60 minutes for letting this guy stay on the air for 60 years.)

Simple Happiness

Truth be told, I get in a funk sometimes. Usually it's related to being a lady and timing and stuff. My recent funkiness is starting to lift and one little girl at Target today illustrated funk-lifting beautifully.

I queued up in the checkout line with a young woman unloading her cart. In the back of the cart, with the paper-towels and fruit snacks, was a 3-4 yr old boy. Seated in the front of the cart was a 2 yr old girl. That girl was distraught, massive shiny wet tears rolled down her red cheeks. Her mouth was open in a yowling grimacing cry. I could see little white teeth and baby tonsils.

Being no help to the mother, I was laughing. Clearly the girl was just mad, the mother didn't seem to distressed by it, the mood wasn't dark at all. The mother turned to her baby and said "Somebody is cranky!" I stuck my tongue out at the girl and smiled, she just stared and continued to wail away.

Then a target cashier came over with a red balloon tied to a white nylon string. She tied it to the handle of the cart and the little girl looked around, looked up at the balloon and her crying turned to shoulder shrugging sighs. Then she smiled.

Seen was waiting for me about 10 ft away, he was smiling too. I pointed at the balloon and said to him, "Remember this trick for the next time I have PMS."

All hail the simple healing power of a red balloon.