Less of April...

Recently, Blogger extraordinaire Stephanie Faris posted about young adult Novels . This got me thinking of my very favorite: Sweet Valley High series. Oh how I loved those books. I started reading about them when I was about 11 or 12. I devoured them until I was about 14 or so. I just outgrew them. When I started to write this post, I did a little googling. (I love to Google) The last book I remember reading was the 25th installment in the series, “Nowhere to Run”, which came out in 1986. According to the Sweet Valley website, there are a total of 143 books, not including several “Special Editions”. Apparently I gave in to smut pretty early on. I passed on the first 25 novels to my younger cousin. She had just moved to Florida from Haiti and I just new she would love t hem as much as I did. Of course she did. I think I tried to read some of the Sweet Valley High College books, but by then I had moved on to Jackie Collins . Who cares what Liz and Jess are up to, if you can...

Elizabeth Taylor died today. And I feel… a way about it. Not really devastated or anything. But more like… it’s the end of something. The end of an era. (I don’t like that phrase, it is cliché and kind of boring, but it fits.) Like so many other things, they don’t make stars like they used to. Elizabeth Taylor was one of those stars with the untouchable glamour. There was a level of class that you could just see. You looked at her and knew that she was special. She was clearly beautiful, clearly talented, but there was something else about her. She had “legend” written all over her. When do you suppose the legend status got attributed to her? National Velvet ? Butterfield 8 ? North & South ? The Simpson’s ? (Simpson’s, she did the voice of Maggie) So basically somewhere between National Velvet and The Simpson’s she became THE legendary, Dame Elizabeth Taylor. I suppose the question is what makes a legend? Do you have to have been in the game (whatever that game i...

Life sans Facebook and television is hard. I couldn’t really decide what to give up for Lent, so I gave up both. No Facebook and no TV till Easter. I have not had the burst of creativity or desire to be productive at home, or at work for that matter. But it’s only been 4 days. 36 days left. So what have been doing? Ummm not too much, I’ve been on the Internet…a lot. I’m not really looking for anything special, I’ve been looking at scrapbooking stuff and looking for and reading other blogs. I stumbled across Steph in the City . I used to read Steph’s blog on MySpace . (Remember MySpace?) Steph recently had a blog that suggested if you want people to read your blog then you have to read other blogs and comment on them. Totally brill Stephanie. So I’ve been doing that. Reading and commenting other blogs. According to my Blogger stats, I’ve gotten more traffic. Not more followers, but more traffic. I’ve also been reading the archives of An American Mom in Paris . Dear, de...

It’s Lent time again. For those of you who are not Catholic , Lent is the period of time from Ash Wednesday through Easter where each person makes some kind of personal sacrifice. According to the Bible this is the same 40 days and 40 nights where Jesus fasted, and prayed in the desert. I grew up Catholic. I got baptized, received Holy Communion , Confession and Confirmation . I spent 12 long years being educated in the Catholic school system. So I guess that makes me Catholic. I guess. Here is the thing, when I go to church I don’t feel much of anything and I think that I should. This has been an issue for me for years now. I believe that religion should provide you will a sense of peace and contentment. I’m also a pretty leftist person. Meaning—I believe in a woman’s right to choose. I believe that Lesbians and Gays have a place in our society and should be treated just like everyone else. I think that priests and nuns should be able to get married, not necessarily to ea...

Wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin', Planning and dreamin' each night of his charms. That won't get you into his arms. So if you’re looking for love you can share, all you gotta to is hold him, and kiss him, and love him. And show him that you care. Show him that you care, just for him. Do the things that he likes to do. Wear your hair just for him, 'cause, you won't get him, thinkin' and a prayin', Wishin' and hopin'.'Cause wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin', Planning and dreamin' his kisses will start. That won't get you into his heart! So if you're thinking how great true love is, all you gotta to is hold him, and kiss him, and squeeze him, and love him. Yeah, just do it! And after you do, you will be his. You gotta show him that you care just for him. Do the things that he likes to do. Wear your hair just for him, 'cause,You won't get him, thinkin' and a prayin'...

There is a reason why I keep this little blogging project of mine a secret. How could voice my thought on things that might hurt people’s feelings? Seriously. I have a good friend. Who is a single mother to the yummiest baby ever. For lots of reasons, after she had her baby, she moved back into her mother’s apt. The moment this happened I was concerned that it would go wrong. First of all her mother is no longer in her bedroom. My friend and child are in there. Granny’s out in the living room. Grandma cooks, does laundry and takes care of baby. All the time. My friend often goes off and does what she wants, leaving baby behind. Now let me very clear. She is NOT shaking her thing, nor is she drinking or drugging. She is running errands, going shopping etc. Sometimes she goes scrapbooking with me—day crops, weekend crops etc. Basically doing all the things she did BEFORE she had a kid. I don’t have a child and I don’t know the ins and the outs, but I don’t understand th...