Are you kidding me??

This just turns my stomach.
On Thursday, November 1, 2007, US Magazine reported the following, based on recently-released court documents concerning the Britney Spears/Kevin Federline train-wreck. My comments are in puke green due to my disgust over these circumstances.

• Spears earns $737,000 a month
• "earns" must be applied loosely
  

• She spends an average of $102,000 on entertainment, gifts and vacations; $16,000 on clothes; $4,758 on dining; and $2,500 on phone bills a month. She spends $49,267 on mortgage payments
• I don't even know where to start for this one... What does she eat that costs $4,758 per month?

• Spears contributes $500 a month to her charity, the Britney Spears Foundation
• How kind of her.

• There were no reports of any savings or investments within the court documents.
• Stupid.
  

And, as the picture to the right demonstrates, Spears has no regard for those handicapped patrons of her tanning salon.

Moreover, US Magazine reports today that Spears has missed eight of 14 court-ordered drug tests. I'm no legal expert, but doesn't it seem like she should be thrown in jail for contempt-of-court?

Sign of the apocalypse

If you have bought this toy for your kid, THROW IT OUT. To cut costs, the manufacturer used a different chemical in the production of the beads... That chemical? GHB, aka, "date rape drug." For the full scoop, click here.

Keeping busy

I haven't been stitching much lately. Not really sure why. I'm in a bit of a funk with it getting dark so early. I am thinking about getting one of those lights that simulates sunlight. I have been working lots of Sudoku's and reading. One that I started last night is pretty interesting. It's called Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea. It follows the lives of four young (upper-class) Saudi women as they try to balance modern Western notions of womanhood with the traditional Islamic view. Not the best book I've ever read, but not too shabby either.
As for the best book I've ever read... Well, at least in my top 5 best books ever read... That would be Trials of the Earth: The Autobiography of Mary Hamilton (edited by Helen Dick Davis). Sadly, the book is difficult to come by; I think it might even be out of print. Nevertheless, this book, if you can get a copy, will have you hooked at the first page. This book is the story of Mary Hamilton, who was born in Missouri in 1867, and her experiences in the Mississippi Delta. She was married at age 18 (while living in Arkansas) to a man 12 years older than she (and who had a "mysterious" past that he never revealed). She tells of cooking for dozens of men at the various lumber camps her husband worked at, as well as raising her own brood of kids. I think she was the first white woman settler in the area we now know as Parchman. The NYT book section has a good write-up of the book if you're interested in knowing more.
W's favorite book these days is Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, by Al Perkins. It's hilariously illustrated (by Eric Gurney) with monkeys that look like beatniks. The book is actually mine from childhood, so it's sort of worn, but W doesn't care.
It got down below freezing last night. My impatiens finally kicked the bucket. I'll pull them out of their pots this weekend; it's too depressing to look out on the porch and see their little wilted stems.

Wondering what to read?

We went to the library today. I got a (so far) great book from the new releases shelf. It's called Dandelion (by Catherine James). It's a woman's memoir of growing up in a dysfunctional family, setting out on her own at age 13, and includes run-in's with a who's who of 60's and 70's pop culture. I'm only 50 pages into it, but it's fantastic thus far.

Good Stuff

November is here, and has brought with it appropriate weather. We've fired up the heat a few times at night and we've changed to a warmer blanket on the bed. W is sleeping in footed sleepers (don't you love those??). Mike and I are envious of his oh-so-fashionable jambos and want our own sets of them. Halloween has come and gone and everyone at our house still has their teeth--not a small feat when you consider how much candy has been around! W was a monkey. Very appropriate, if you ask me.

I've put the finishing touches on the cross stitch items that are going to Japan for Christmas.


This is for my niece. The earmuffs are little green pom pom's that I hot glued to the ornament.
The design is Lizzie Kate; it's part of one of the Tiny Tidings series.



This is for my nephew. He was born in March. The design is by Lizzie Kate.
This is for the whole family. It says "We wish you a Merry Christmas". You can't really tell from the picture, but there are little Christmas lights stitched for the "H" and a holly vine for the "S". The "I" is a candy cane stick. The design is Shepherd's Bush.

This is for my sister-in-law. It says "Who are these kids and why are they calling me mom?" It's a Dolly Mama's design by Janlynn.

New Feature

I've decided that I am going to start posting books I've recently finished or am currently reading, as well as my opinion of said book. Do with that information what you will. I will try to avoid spoilers.
I will also include W's current "favorite" book.
Just to prepare you, I am bad about reading several books at once. I am also bad about getting halfway through a book, saying to myself "this book is crap" and quitting the book right then and there. I go to the library every Tuesday (usually) so the contents of my bedside table library change pretty frequently.
Books I have recently finished:
The Worthy, by Will Clarke: As the back of the book says, you'll never look at a doughnut the same again. The same can be said for goats. This is a "ghost tale" of sorts that takes place on the campus of LSU. Frat boys run amok (well, more amok than normal). Entertaining and well-written.
Simple Genius, by David Baldacci: I couldn't finish this one. Too many sub-plots can ruin a book.
The Collectors, by David Baldacci: Again, too many sub-plots. I actually finished this one, but it was painful.
Books I am currently reading:
In the Walled Gardens: A Novel, by Anahita Firouz: This book is pretty good, but it's sort of hard to follow, as the names and places are foreign. I'm finding it hard to care much about the main characters. I might have to put this one aside for a week or so.
The Concise Guide to Sounding Smart at Parties, by David Matalon and Chris Woolsey: "An irreverent compendium of must-know info from Sputnik to Smallpox and Marie Curie to Mao." Priceless information for 14+ conversation situations, including The War Conversation, The Sports Conversation, and The New Frontiers Conversation. This sort of book is right up my alley.
W's current favorite:
Barnyard Dance, by Sandra Boynton: In truth, the perennial favorite of W. Mike and I often do a "dramatic interpretation" of this one, much to W's delight.

Beautiful Weather

The weather outside today is delightful. After going to the library, W and I went to the park. He enjoyed running across the soccer fields and climbing on the benches. They have a scaled-down play structure that he enjoys climbing on. After about 45 minutes of playing, I said, "Hey W, let's go bye bye and go home for nap." He got off the play equipment and started walking away from it. No crying, no whining. It was great. On the way to the car he noticed his shadow. This isn't the first time he's noticed it, but it was the first time he's really been mesmerized by it. He started "moon walking" (walking backwards) so that he could watch his shadow. It was pretty cute.
We carved our pumpkins last night. I dug out all the guts before Mike got home. I had one of those "kits" that comes with the "saws" and patterns. I broke one of the "saws" while carving the small pumpkin (the skin was really tough!), and Mike broke the other "saw" while carving the big pumpkin that we got at Terhune. Our "bat" on the big pumpkin doesn't have any eyes. One of the neighborhood kids asked me "What kind of face is that?" and I said, "Well, it's not really a face... It's supposed to be a bat." He looked at me incredulously and shrugged his shoulders and walked off to play with his buddies. This is the kid who isn't allowed to go Trick-or-Treating. At his house they celebrate "Hallow-God". The family of five kids dress up like Biblical characters and swap candy with one another. Oh-kaaaay... As Mike says, fine if you don't want to Trick-or-Treat or ignore Halloween, but it's sort of weird to "celebrate" it but just call it something different. This kid, who's 5, is going to be an angel. He told me that his older brother, who's 10, is going to be Peter. Even though I knew who he meant, I asked him (bad me!) who Peter was. He said, "Um, he's from the Bible... He was friends with Jesus." Ah.
I also made the mistake today of mentioning that W was going to get a "bike" from Santa this year. Kid says to me, "Santa is dead." I'm sure that goes over like a ton of bricks on the playground. I said, "Excuse me?" He responds, "Yeah, Santa is dead. God hands out the presents. Santa died because he was old." Again, don't celebrate that aspect of Christmas (the "surprise" presents) if you don't want to, but don't just celebrate it under another name. It's sort of how we got those holidays to begin with... Started out as Pagan rituals, were commandeered by the Christians, who let the Pagans still have their holidays to keep 'em happy, but added a Christian theme to them to satisfy their own collective conscience.
I finished up several cross stitch projects a few nights ago. These are the items I'm sending to Japan. I have taken pictures of them but haven't uploaded them onto the computer yet. I'll try to get to that tonight.
But I digress.
Here is a picture of a piece I have finished stitching but have not done any finishing work on yet. The cat is part of a group of Halloween images that I'm going to use as part of a Halloween decoration for next year. I've started stitching seasonal ornaments. I've got kits for Halloween and Valentine's Day so far; I have to procure a seasonally-neutral "tree" or ornament display stand to put them on as seasonally appropriate. If anyone knows where I can get one, please let me know.