Little Bird

I was overjoyed to wake up to rain falling outside my window this morning. We are finally up to 40 degrees or so outside and the snow is melting. I have spent the past two weeks driving to and from work, worrying about the weather, and trying to stay alive. Christmas is over, the snow is over and I am alive - what more can I ask for? On Christmas Jonathan was working at the hospital. I went down for a horrible lunch (at least it was free) and then took myself to a movie. Thanks to my work bonus I have quite a few movies (with popcorn!) in my future. I rarely go to movies and when I do I usually don't buy anything from the concession stand. I saw Marley and Me and despite the bad reviews I enjoyed it. I cried through the last 10 minutes or so which prevented me from realizing just how sappy and over the top the ending was. But it was good, and to be honest I would watch it again. We have no phone connection and no Internet and probably won't until the 2nd of January. I

Cold, cold weather is on its way. I'm glad I have Sunday and Monday off - I am hoping I can avoid going outside during the worst of the weather. I hate it when it gets this cold (some news stations are reporting a low of 12 and a high of 20!) but as long as there is no ice I will be fine. I am going to spend my weekend cleaning the house, reading books and wrapping gifts. As long as the power doesn't go out I will be content. Enjoy the cold!

Friday night I learned why I don't try to meet people randomly. The only person who showed up for the group was the person who wanted to start it. She's 21 and after 45 minutes in her company I was more than ready to go home. She didn't seem to understand the difference between an independent bookstore and a chain bookstore and when I asked her what she liked to read her response was ... books. Very enlightening. And she said like every other word, which I cannot stand! At least I tried though and now I can stay at home and do nothing until January or February. I think I'll stick to my other small goal - lose 10 lbs. by June. I can accomplish that, I think, and I can do it alone! I miss college when most everyone was within a 5 block radius. Now we've all moved and there's lots of people I haven't seen since graduation. Thank goodness for Facebook and e-mail, it does make life easier. It's not the same though ... I miss all of you!

I think there should be an award for bravery and I think it should go to me. Nice, huh? I love when things work out like that. The other night (Sunday? Monday?) I was sitting around the house reading while my husband was out playing X-Box with his best friend. Around 9:00 I decided I was tired of sitting at home every weekend while he played X-Box so I decided to make some friends in Salem! This is not as hard as one would think. I contemplated going to a bar, but I didn't think I would want to be friends with anyone I may meet at a bar so I decided to do a bit of craigslist searching instead. Scary fact of the day: people really do put up posts on craigslist that say "Will you be my friend?" I avoided those and clicked on a link about a book group in Salem. The group is just starting up, the first get-to-know each other meeting is on Friday, and I am going! I am determined to see this through. I will not wander into the meeting place, and then sit in a corner by

I had what I would describe as a near ideal day yesterday. I woke up late and stayed in bed for two hours reading a book that was due back at the library. It was a really good young adult novel about a girl who is struggling with her weight. I thought the author handled the issue in a very, very realistic tone. Jonathan brought me something to eat while I was in bed. I think that is the best way to live, food and a book in bed. I don't need much more than that. I got up around 10:30 or 11:00. Jonathan and I were going to go to Twilight on Monday, but I just couldn't wait. We went downtown, grabbed a slice at Straight From New York Pizza and then headed over to the theater. The movie was good, it stayed with the book, but I had a really hard time focusing. I was so busy watching everyone else react to the movie. When Edward walked into the school for the first time a collective sigh rippled across the theater. Jonathan and I glanced at each other and did our best not

I've started taking Thursdays off again for various reasons and I have to say I really enjoy having that extra day to relax, do housework and shop for Christmas presents. I'm trying to get all my Christmas shopping done before December 1st this year. I don't think it's going to happen, but I am remaining optimistic. If you haven't gone shopping lately, go, go now. Everything is on sale - even if it's not advertised as being on sale. Or at least that's how it seems. I bought a couple items at Macy's today and my total was $25.00 below what I thought it should be. I asked the clerk if it was correct and she explained that both of the items were on sale. There was no indication on the packaging that the items were on sale, but I took her word for it. At Old Navy I was nearly accosted when I tried to get out the door without buying something. A saleswoman practically forced me up the stairs to check out their clearance section. I know the economy i

Last Monday I went shopping with my sister. As I was driving home from Portland I started thinking about how monumental our shopping trip was. A year ago we were barely speaking outside of holiday events and now I find myself e-mailing her to see if she wants to hang out. And I'm not hanging out with her because I have to, but because I want to. The shopping trip was a typical day out with my sister and her 2 year old son, Ryan. She tore through store after store, piling shoes on the floor because she couldn't figure out how to reattach them to their display, dropping shoes on a pile of sweaters because she decided she didn't want them after all, and letting my nephew throw his french fries all over the ground. I followed behind, picking things up and apologizing to store clerks left and right. I work in retail; people who treat stores like that are annoying. I spent the day warm, (why do they overheat malls so dang much?!) flustered, and a bit annoyed. After years o

While I am not surprised that Obama won, I am surprised he won so fast. Obama was announced as president around 11:00 Eastern Time. I did not vote for him because he's way too far left for me but since he's been elected I hope he can bring this country back. And I am proud of my country for electing its first African American president. It is wonderful to witness that historical moment. I have to admit he is one hell of a speaker. I was getting a little verklempt listening to him speak and I don't like a lot of his policies! I'm glad the election is over because it was such a long and dreary process. Right now I'm sitting back and waiting to see how things will unfold over the next few months. Hopefully the election of Barack Obama as president will be a step forward for our country.

I'm a complete emotional wreck right now. I hate when I get like this, but sometimes it happens and I usually have to ride it out. A lot of things have been piling up lately. I've had some frustrating setbacks health-wise, Jonathan and I have been fighting, and my brother found out he's been called up for a third tour in Iraq (He goes in September 2009. Maybe things will change before then ...) So I had a bit of a meltdown in the grocery store yesterday - Fred Meyer to be exact. Part of the problem was PMS related but a lot of it was the frustrations I mentioned above. Yesterday Jonathan and I went to the grocery story after my doctor's appointment where we were told that they don't know what's wrong with me. My heart and lungs checked out fine, which is great. I can exercise without worrying about dying now. I may feel awful but everything is working fine! The doctor told me he thought my Graves Disease may be the cause of all this. Graves Disease is a

This post has been formulating in my mind for a while, but I think I'm finally ready to put it out there. A couple days ago I got an e-mail from my husband asking if I would put together a book list for someone at his work. There are a few people in my life who ask me to do this for them (and I don't mind doing it at all) but this is the first time someone I have never met has asked me to do it. At work recommending books is what I do. I get caught up in other things, other projects but at the end of the day my job title is simple: bookseller. Every now and then I feel a sense of pride because I am good at what I do. I can recommend a book successfully to most people and sometimes those same people come back and ask me if I have another recommendation for them. And before too long a customer becomes a little bit more than a customer. I wouldn't classify them as a friend but they hover somewhere in between friend and customer. Perhaps they are their own category: bo

Today I had to go to the hospital for a cardiac pulmonary stress test. Yeah, it was about as fun as it sounds. I hate, hate, hate hospitals and this test was all the more awkward because I had to go to my husband's department to take it. I'm glad that Jonathan knows people that might be able to help me solve this breathing problem (which has been going on since '05!) but it would be great if his colleagues had never seen me on a treadmill, hooked into all kinds of machines and breathing like I may pass out at any moment. Did I mention the huge clip that gets attached to the nose during all of this? Oh, and how about the fact that they have to venture up your shirt, A LOT, to insert, and then mess with, the cardiac attachments. I know his colleagues don't think anything of it, it's their job etc. etc., but all I can think about is the next Christmas party. "Oh, so this is what you look like when your shirt is in its proper place and you're not sputter

I was driving home today thinking about everything but driving when WHAM a bird smacked into my windshield. This is the second time in the past 3 months I've done this. The last bird I think I killed. It hit my windshield and then bounced onto the roof of the car and then in my rear view mirror I saw it fly away. Either that or it was "flying" off the car in a death spiral, but it's impossible to know for sure. This one I KNOW I killed. I screamed, but managed not to swerve or brake, which I think is pretty impressive. Then I looked up at where the bird hit and saw a big bloody mark on my windshield. Yeah, that's right. I hit a bird so hard (I was going at least 55 mph) it left a bloody streak on my windshield. It took a few seconds before I could pull myself together enough to clean off the windshield. All the while I was still driving and trying not to tailgate the slow, slow, slow person in front of me. I still can't get that huge THUD out of my

Every now and then I read a book that makes me want to do something I wouldn't normally want to do, or even consider doing. A while back I read a book called Labor of Love: A Midwife's Memoir. After reading it I thought, well, when I have kids I'll have a midwife and give birth at home. It sounds fantastic! The next morning I woke up and realized two things: a) I'm not even sure if I want to have kids and b) me having kids without pain medication is never, ever going to happen. I have zero pain tolerance and if possible I want my husband to give me an epidural at home before we leave for the hospital. He's in the medical field, surely he can do it. I'm sure lots, if not most, women go through the process of trying to decide when to have kids, if kids should be had, etc. It just seems like I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I wish I could turn off that portion of my brain, but it seems determined to stay on and active. Maybe thinking about babi

I've been wanting to start a blog for a while but I haven't had the time, or been motivated enough, to do it. After spending most of the day cleaning and organizing the house I decided there is no better time then the present. I stayed up until 3:15 last night reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I haven't stayed up that late, or read a book in one sitting, in a long time but this book was definitely worth it. This is the perfect transition book for people coming off the high of Stephanie Meyer. I was very, very disappointed with Meyer's portrayal of females in her last book and I don't feel I can recommend it anymore. I'm on a bit of a high after reading Graceling (and exhausted) but let me give you an idea of the book. Katsa lives in a world where people with Graces, or special skills are used and feared. Katsa's uncle, king of the Middluns uses Katsa's Grace, killing, to control and exploit her. When Katsa meets Prince Po, who is Graced with