My Blog  

Here's one thing you won't hear in the mass media. I heard it on Mississippi's Public Radio station and nowhere else.

J. D. Salinger died yesterday at age 91.

Catcher in the Rye is one of "my" books. There are books that I read casually, and then there are what I call my "personal" books. These are books that I relate to from my inmost being. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is uniquely uninhibited, which is what I like in a character - he lets us see absolutely into his mind.

Mr. Salinger had been a recluse for a number of decades. I like to think that he has finally found what he was looking for.

Rest in peace, Mr. Salinger - thank you for what you have left us.
 

I am reading Advise and Consent, one page at the time. It is actually pretty interesting, believe it or not.

My dryer has an extremely loud squeak when it is running, which is excrutiatingly irritating.

Last year my principal fussed at me for teaching the multiplication tables. Yesterday she fussed at me for NOT teaching them. This is how she is - she acts this way toward everybody.

I cleaned my refrigerator out. We had roast pork or ham sandwiches and homemade soup for supper, and now I have a clean refrigerator. A cleaned-out refrigerator is an exquisitely satisfying thing to me.

We may have a snow-day Thursday. I have my fingers crossed.

 

I tell you what I most sincerely can't stand:

1. People who will NOT quit talking. Especially boring people who will not quit talking.

2. People who take a hard attitude toward children.

3. Dumb movies.

4. Dumb commercials.

5. Dumb anything, for that matter.

6. Those GEICO cavemen.

7. Snow when it falls on Saturday or Sunday. It needs to fall on a weekday so the school where I work can declare a snow day.

8. Men who comb their three strands of hair over their bald head.

9. Women who wear too much jewelry or too much lipstick or too much perfume.

10. Parents who allow their kids to run over them. Weak-willed parents make strong willed children, and a hard head makes a soft behind.
 

Happy birthday to me! Number 40, if you please. Here is what hubby and the kids gave me this morning - they spoiled me:

Some chocolates in a pretty box (you notice what I listed first).

A mug and keychain about being a librarian.

A Webkins giraffe, which I had been wanting. I love giraffes! They are my favorite animal. Now I can have a Webkins page and see what my kids have been talking about.

A musical card that plays Unchained Melody. Oddly enough, it came on the radio a few minutes later. We thought that a remarkable coincidence.

A pin that depicts my family in snowmen - a big fiddle-playing snowman, which is my husband, and three short snowmen, which are my kids.

A Christmas ornament in the shape of a cross.

And the denoument: a watch! It has a button I can push that lights up the face for telling time when it's dark.

So: now I have the big head for getting so many nice presents!
 

We decided to go to Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. To get to the entrance, we rode a thousand miles up a road with so many twists and turns that we got dizzy. There was a sheer drop off right outside our car window. The altitude was making our ears pop. However, when we got there, we were immediately rewarded, for our very first view on top of Lookout Mountain was that of a . . . Starbucks.
 

I am in Chattanooga, TN. Tomorrow we are getting up and driving the rest of the way to Gatlinburg where we have a cabin. Hooray! We are going to Lookout Mountain before we leave.

My mother and grandmother are with us, as well as PsychoPuppy, my mother's poodle. Lord have mercy.

I'll let you know whether I survive.

I have to admit I've been looking forward to the Halloween decorations on WdC.

Matt, my six-year-old, took a pair of his socks and put them on his bear's feet. Well, they were cold! He's been feeling puny lately - I imagine it's sinus drainage - so we are going to the doctor, if they would ever call me back. I imagine they are extra busy today - it took several minutes for me to get a call in because of a busy signal.

They have hired a new assistant at work. She has been obnoxious to everybody. We don't know what her problem is, but I do know that we got a lot of stress relief by standing around outside by the portables the other day and talking bad about her.

I have a wicker chest that I keep my blankets in. The top had something or the other wrong with it, so we took it off. My dogs take turns crawling in there among all the blankets and going to sleep. Wimzy is in there now, asleep, and a precious thing she is too.

I'm glad we have made it around to October - one of my favorite months of the year.
 

Captain Underpants

Super Diaper Baby

Goosebumps

Spongebob Squarepants

All of the above are serialized in book form. In my official position as a snob about what I read, I wouldn't so much as read one word of any of these - wouldn't dream of it. Why? Because they are trash. Before, all I had to pick on were Harleqiun Romances. Now I have quite a diverse selection of books to look down on.

However, I wouldn't do away with these books. Oh, no, not at all. Because they do serve a purpose. If Super Diaper Baby will get a child's eyeballs glued to a page, I am all for it. Reading is reading. If the choice is trashy or nothing, I'm all for trashy. Because reading is like anything else - the more you practice, the better you get. These trashy things will improve a child's reading level, even if it is in spectacularly small increments, and that is better than nothing. Or, God forbid, wasting away in front of the television.

Ever heard a mom say that her child NEVER read? Not anything? Not for money? Not for double chocolate chip cookies? No reading for ANY reason? And then about thirty more minutes into the conversation, when you've exchanged recipes, talked bad about both your relatives, and compared ailments, she will mention that all her son ever wants to do is work on his car. All mechanic, all the time. She will say "He even has a car magazine that he subscribes to, and reads it from cover to cover as soon as it comes in. I can't get him to do anything for the next couple of days. He even keeps back issues in the bathroom in a basket."

Wait a minute. I thought this kid didn't read.

Guess what? Magazines count as reading. Comic books count. The horoscope in the paper counts. The back of the cereal box counts.

Being snobby about a child's reading material will not get the job done, I assure you. Let your child read whenever and whatever. Please!

Thank you . . .
 

I'm ba-ack! How are y'all?

What has been happening:

My father-in-law died last Thursday. He had been a diabetic and heart patient for years, and just had bypass surgery in July. A friend of his was talking to him on the phone and thought he didn't sound right. He lived five miles away, and by the time the friend got there, his heart had given out, due to his blood sugar having dropped to 30. He has finally been reunited with my mother-in-law after 14 years.

I'm working at the same school I was last year - you know, the one where the principal told me the kids didn't need to know the fifty states. She has pretty much left me alone this year, so it's going pretty good so far.

Emily and Matt are still playing soccer. Anna Claire is playing soccer this year too - she switched from dance. Sometimes we meet ourselves driving to and from the soccer field. Fortunately, it's only a couple of minutes away.

What I'm reading:

The Last Convertible by Anton Myrer.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Some Can Whistle by Larry McMurtry
Maggie-Now by Betty Smith

Some opinions thrown in for good measure

I'm sick of seeing Michael Jackson on the television. Let the man rest, please.

Yeah, Kanye was a jack . . . , but it seems like the president should have better things to think about.

Didn't we already go through this whole health care thing with Hill and Billy? And didn't it flop?

What's the difference in Jay Leno's current show and the old one?

I miss Patrick Swayze - I've had a crush on him since Dirty Dancing.

And now you know what I know. Bye!
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