when life is quite through with

when life is quite through with
and leaves say alas,
much is to do
for the swallow,that closes
a flight in the blue;

when love’s had his tears out,
perhaps shall pass
a million years
(while a bee dozes
on the poppies, the dears;

when all’s done and said,and
under the grass
lies her head
by oaks and roses
deliberated.)

e.e. cummings

Thank you, lovely ladies of the book club, for your input on its structure! I thought that maybe by not assigning specific books each month, it would reduce the stress and limitations offered by other book clubs. But that didn’t seem to be working for our little group so I’m changing it!

Let’s do this monthly. Below, I have laid out a simple list of books for each month for the rest of this year. If you finish the book before the month’s up, go ahead and start the next book or just read one of your own choosing. If you do read one not listed here, would you mind terribly writing up a brief review of your thoughts on said book and emailing it to me to add here? It would be helpful for us all to share our thoughts on lots of books so that we can make better choices at the library or bookstore! So, here’s your list (sorry, no pictures):

June - The Poisonwood Bible
July - The Virgin Suicides
August - Lolita
September - The Good Earth
October - The Dogs of Babel
November - The Center of Everything
December - Three Junes or A Wedding in December

In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I watch so much TV it’s almost nauseating.

I was reading Candace’s post today on the season finale of 24 and it dawned on me that 24 and Lost seem to be two of the only shows I am not currently TiVo’ing!

I just don’t do reality TV. Not mainstream ones anyway. I do like Intervention, Surreal Life and SuperGroup, though. Other than that, not a big fan of American Idol, hate the Apprentice (don’t ask me why!) and Dancing with the Stars annoys the crap outta me.
But, like I said, I do watch just about everything else: Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Medium, Miami Ink, Scrubs, Law and Order: SVU, Will and Grace (not anymore, boo hoo), My Name is Earl, ER, House, Monk, Dog Whisperer, Ellen Degeneres Show, The Daily Show with John Stewart, The Colbert Report…and some syndicated shows I won’t even go into! We’re starting on Lost and 24 via Netflix ASAP.
We don’t have HBO or Showtime but we’re also watching Six Feet Under and Sopranos, and, soon enough, Weeds and Rome, via Netflix, too.

It’s a wonder how I hold down a job or do anything else with my time than watch all this damn TV. Seriously!

I’m just curious…is anyone still playing along in the book club I started here? I’ve strayed from the current book because I just didn’t like it. Has anyone else strayed? Anyone interested in getting back on track or are ya’ll just content with reading your own stuff at your own time?
I’m just wondering if it’s even worth me keeping up with the book club posts or not. I won’t waste my time if no one else is playing!

Mom called this morning and we spent 2.5 hours on the phone. The first half we argued, yelled, accused, attacked and cried a lot. The second half we calmed down and worked out some of our issues together. We caught up with each others’ lives and made plans for lunch and people watching next week. I’m glad we’re on better terms again. Though I hate the fact that we have to shed so many tears and pull up so many weeds in the process. I’m so emotionally exhausted from it that I haven’t done a single thing all day but cross stitch and vegitate. My shoulders hurt now. Wonder why?

I got a new tattoo on Saturday. It’s completely gorgeous! It hurt like hell going on and it still throbs now as its healing. But it’s so pretty! I got a band around my left ankle with three big, gorgeous african violets, in honor of my late (and favorite) grandma. She used to raise african violets and tour the country competing in growers competitions. I have all her awards and articles tucked away in a box in my dad’s basement but unfortunately, I don’t have any surviving flowers of hers. She passed away my freshman year of college and when I took one back to my apartment the following year, I absentmindedly over-watered and killed it. My dad might still have one in his home but I doubt it. So I got this tattoo to honor her and her love for african violets. When the reddness and the shinyness of the A&D Ointment subside, I’ll show you a picture of this beauty. It’s so good that my Honey wants me to submit it in a competition in the tattoo convention that’s coming to Denver next month. We’ll see. Anyway, we both want to put our tattoo artist, Fish, at Th’ink Tank, on retainer! He rocks!

Oh yeah, Honey got new ones too. He got a yin-yang but one half is on one arm and the other half is on the other arm. I’ll show pictures of that too when we’re all healed.