So, another Sunday and I’m still fighting a bug.  Lost my voice this week and it is slowly coming back online.   Do you know how hard it is to tell a 2-year-old NO a few dozen times a day with no voice?  Let’s just say I spent much of this week being ignored.  So, this meant that my plans for a book advent with 24 days of activities was curtailed this week.  We managed only two and the first one shouldn’t even count!

We read The Child in the Manger, the first time Gage lasting only a few pages.  Each time we read it we made it a little further and I thought we were ready for the activity.  Telling the story as we put up our nativity.  Seriously, you’d think I don’t live with a two-year old.  I thought (or did I) that I could hand Gage a new toy and he was going to put it in the nativity without playing wildly with it first?  As you may have guessed already, meltdown ensued and nativity had to be removed from sight.  Lesson learned.  Next year get him his own play nativity set.

Next up we read Counting to Christmas which Gage didn’t care for much.  But one of the activities in the book is decorating cards and putting them in the mailbox.  Gage is not a crafter.  In his mommy and me class he is the first one up from the craft table if he sits down at all.  As an easy fix I thought he could help put stickers on a few envelopes and then we could walk down to the mailbox.  He actually helped with more later, but we only started with two.  His favorite part was playing with the stickers and playing with the mailbox.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  The idea of just appreciating what you have and being with people you love, is one we should always strive for not just one November day a year.  I do think the pigging out on fattening foods should be kept to one (or a dozen) special day, but I think gorging on books should be encouraged year round.

I’ve been blogging since the beginning of 2008 and I’ve seen blogger friends come and go, but after all these years I feel a special love for those who are still around and part of my online family.  Comments, emails, cards, and gifts all make this blogger happy and I thank you all for being a part of my life.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I stayed up an extra hour tonight and for the first time in 2 years my Google Reader has no new posts!  Another thing to be thankful for 🙂

Gage showing off some of his fall artwork.  Isn’t he talented?

As I worked on my political quote quiz I realized that I was just sick of it.  Sick of the political vile of this season.  Maybe this was because I took too many breaks to visit Facebook.  Seriously, people are putting some scary and crazy stuff on there.  People I know and love.  Sigh.

I am also feeling defeated by the actions of politicians to suppress the vote.  It makes me mad and sad and it should be a non-partisan issue.  I don’t understand how elected officials can just ignore laws and court orders to try to help their side win.  Let every vote count.  I wish more voters of every affiliation would get more upset by this.  I fear that voter suppression is going to be a major embarrassment here.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could vote for some of the fictional characters we know and love?  Give us Atticus or Strider and I bet we could get out the vote!

What fictional character would have your vote for President?

Go vote (for the real and flawed people) and come back tomorrow for the non-political quiz.

I am a full-time mom.  It’s not something that was a dream of mine growing up, but I sort of fell into the job (haha) and it has proven to be every but as challenging as promised.  This is not a post on motherhood, well, entirely anyway.  When you stay home with a baby/toddler for almost 2 years it’s a little scary how a mind starts to lose its sharpness.  I feel about as interesting as a potato sack most days and with that in mind it is no surprise that I am SO EXCITED to be attending Bouchercon Thursday-Sunday.  My parents are coming up to help with Gage and I am taking some time for me.  I told Jason a few nights ago that it was ridiculous how much I was looking forward to it.  I never get this much time to myself and I am giddy with anticipation.  Yes, there will be over 1000 attendees, but I’m going by myself and can be as social or shy as I want.  It is an early birthday present from Jason and my parents 🙂 And Max will be coming to visit too, bonus!

On Thursday and Friday I’ll go into work with Jason and get to see his new place of employment and co-workers and then I’ll walk a couple of blocks to the conference and get to enjoy milling around with the likes of Mary Higgins Clark, Lee Child (!), Elizabeth George, Robin Cook, Charlaine Harris, Chelsea Cain, Michael Connelly, Michael Koryta, Karin Slaughter, Linwood Barclay, Karen Olsen, and the list goes on…On Saturday and Sunday I’ll drive myself downtown and stay all day and TRY not feel guilty about it.

The opening ceremonies are Thursday night at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Jason and I are really looking forward to it (he’s my +1).  I may try updating everyday on Facebook (let me know if you want to be buds), but most likely it will be one or two posts here on the blog over the weekend.  Look for a related giveaway next week on my birthday.

If you want to see how much fun I’ll be having, check this out.  I’m so excited that I don’t even care our furnace quite working yesterday 🙂

So, I signed up for the IT-along because Jill tempted me with all of her fun clown posts and I happened to have a copy waiting on my shelves.  I do not have time to read such a long book (1090 pages in my paperback edition) but I was feeling the clown love, what can I say?

I did not make it halfway.  The goal was to be done reading 608 pages and I have read 408.  The main reason is that every time I start reading I feel like taking a nap.   I’m not sure what this means yet.  Either I need more sleep (probably) OR King needs an editor (maybe).

A few thoughts/questions-

Did parents really give their kids so much freedom in the 50’s?  I’m guessing that they did and it makes me a little sad that all of our kids now come equipped with gps in the way of cell phones.  Our neighbor’s ten-year old son was the last kid in his class to get a cell phone.  Makes me feel old!  The kids in this book have aware parents (especially love Mike’s dad) but the kids run free.

I have never known anyone named Richie or Eddie and after 400 pages I’m pretty sure I’m still confusing the two and somehow melding them into one chauffeur loving DJ.  There just may be one or two (or 20) extra characters.

I don’t dislike birds, but yesterday soon after I read about Mike’s encounter with that bird-beast, I brought Gage back from a walk and there was a bird flying around our garage, trying to get out.  I don’t know who was more upset, me or the confused bird.

My favorite character is Ben.

I’m liking IT so far and am pretty sure I’ll be able to catch up and finish by next month.  I’m still working on an IT quiz but it’s proving to be quite a challenge.

So, have you read IT?

This weekend my parents came and stayed with Gage while Jason and I snuck away for a night.  We didn’t go very far, but we had a free hotel stay and a night out planned.  I made a check on my bucket list.  We attended a local theater’s yearly fundraiser, Murder  by the Falls.  Let me tell you how fun it was.  It started with drinks and appetizers, we then went into the theater for Act 1 (surprise, surprise someone got murdered).  They then sent us out into the streets to find clues.  There were four clues in storefronts (we found them all) and there were four actors around the village that were available for questioning, but you had to figure out who they were.  We then met at town hall, grabbed some dessert and found our table with six other ‘detectives’.  We all had to come up with one answer and our team did pretty well even if we didn’t win.  We knew the who and the how, but missed most of the why.  The village is a popular place on the weekends and we had more than one person ask us what was going on since there were several hundred ‘detective’ combing the streeets.

The play.

Offering clues on the street.

Aha!  I think I have it! (Otherwise known as the goofiest picture I’ve taken in awhile so I had to add it)

It was a fun night and we can’t wait to put on our detective badges again next year.  Since this is supposed to be about Gage, here’s how he felt about us leaving for the night.  He’s a cool kid 🙂

I love comments, all comments.  Okay, maybe not the 50 at a day I get from lista de mail, but all comments from real people.  I don’t always respond in a timely fashion, but I LOVE to read them.  It makes me feel like I’m not typing into a black hole, you know?

Sometimes I even find a comment left on a review from the author.  In honor of Thrill Week I wanted to tell you about an author who has left a blog comment on 3 of the 4 books of hers that I’ve reviewed (and I’m sure the fourth was just an oversight ;)).  Karen E Olson, author of the Tattoo Shop series, is a blogger’s dream.  She never offered me a free book, but she offered me something better, feedback.  Isn’t that awesome?  I am psyched to meet her when I attend Bouchercon next month. (the 3 reviews-Ink Flamingos, Driven to Ink, Pretty in Ink)

So, tell me, what authors are good about leaving comments on your blog?  Let’s give them a shout out where it’s due.  And to start I should say that Beth Hoffman, author of Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt, stops by and comments often.  Love her 🙂

Mandy (The Well-Read Wife) started a book club and I am happy to participate in reading the book America, You Sexy Bitch by Michael Ian Black And Meghan McCain.  Here’s a link to my first discussion post and here’s one to the discussion over at Mandy’s.  I’m going to list all of Mandy’s questions just to give you a sense of the book but I’m only going to answer 5.

The following questions cover pages 32 – 134 of the book:

1. In the Las Vegas chapter Michael and Meghan tour the Zappos headquarters.Would you like to work there? Why? Why not?
2. While in Vegas Micheal, Meghan, and co. go on a strip club tour of Vegas. Michael points out that in Vegas exotic dancers actually pay a fee to the clubs where they work for the opportunity to dance at the clubs. What do you think of this system?
3. What did you think of Michael’s sneak attack lap dance from Phoenix?  Gross.  As was Meghan’s obsession with getting a married man and father of two out of his comfort zone by buying lap dances for him. 
4. Towards the end of the Vegas chapter Meghan writes: “”would it be necessary for strip clubs to even exist if there were less rampant repression in this country?” Sexual repression in the U.S., thoughts? 
5. In the Salt Lake City chapter Michael writes the following: “I would prefer that my political leaders practiced their religion however they see fit in private and shut the hell up about it in public.” Agree? Disagree?  I don’t have a problem with politicians talking about their faith, it does speak about the person they are and we all want to know who we’re getting.  I have a huge problem with the way that churches are preaching politics from the pulpit.  Preach your beliefs and let the people figure it out for themselves.  God gave us all free will.  Encouraging congregations to buy chicken sandwiches to ‘vote’ makes me sad.
6. In the Austin chapter Meghan’s friend Cargill calls himself a philosophical Republican and says that he does not support any of the current Republican candidates. Cargill remarks that he will probably vote for the president in the next election. Michael writes. “Yet he would never call himself a Democrat.” Do you agree with Michael that people are afraid of being labeled a “liberal” or a “Democrat”? Do you think people are also just as afraid of being labeled “conservative”?  I find the way that those on the right side (and Fox News) spit out the word liberal disconcerting.  It’s like it’s a bad word or something. I don’t get it.
7. Cousin John. Discuss.
8. In New Orleans, Meghan and Michael argue about health care. Whose side are you on? Meghan? Michael? Neither?  Their ‘argument’ wasn’t really a reasoned discussion.  Meghan stomped off when she couldn’t get Michael to agree with her.  This happened a lot.
9. Meghan and Michael smoke marijuana during one of their nights out in New Orleans. Meghan even writes that she believes marijuana should be legal. Do you agree? Disagree?
10. Were you surprised that Meghan, a Republican thinks marijuana should be legalized?  This issue never really seemed like a partisan one to me, so no.
11. What are your thoughts concerning the section in the New Orleans chapter where Meghan writes about her tour of the Lower Ninth Ward?