The Store Toy

This Saturday, we were kicked out of our house between 10 am to noon, 1 pm to 2 pm and 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm while prospective buyers came to look at the place. We had brunch out, got some supplies for the week at Target, and then went to Frye's Electronics where R bought a router.

There was a huge Easter display at the front of Frye's, complete with eggs in baskets, giant moving bunnies, and a bunch of stuffed ducks. (As an aside, nothing says Happy Easter than an electronics store, right?) Now, Boo Boo's love of ducks is well documented, and sure enough, he pointed and said "duck" about 50 times. I finally handed him a stuffed duck, plopped him in the cart, we went and got what we needed. He hugged and talked to the duck until we were ready to check out. At that point, I pulled him out the cart, put the duck back, distracted him with a sippy cup of water, paid, and left the store.

Which brings me to topic for today: the "store" toy. Do any of you use a toy from the store to distract your kid so you can finish your errand and then not buy it? At the grocery store, I often bring my own stuff for Boo Boo to play with, but I have used a store toy for the same purpose before. The fact that its new will entertain him for much longer than something we already own. The one time Boo Boo drooled on a toy we did buy it, but if there really isn't any sign of wear or use, I just put it back and move on. I don't even feel bad. In a way, its customer service for the other shoppers--he's quiet and happy. Sometimes, its not even because I want to use a store toy. At the grocery store once, Boo Boo grabbed a can of tuna and was content to trace the circle with his finger while I shopped. I didn't need tuna, so I put it back before I paid for my groceries. Can any one else confess to the same thing? If so, do you buy the toy? If not, do you put the item back in the correct place?

18 months!

To celebrate Boo Boo turning 18 months old, we let him have some Oreo cookies and milk. But we never taught him to open the cookie, lick the filling and disregard the rest. Some how, he knew:

Music and Lyrics

Music has always been a big part of my life. I don’t pretend to be super cool about it. I usually listen to what’s on Top 40 radio, and then get interested in other bands because my hipper friends or family introduce me to them. I had never heard of The Killers until I saw them on The O.C. and heard the Mr. Brightside single. I keep meaning to download some Sujfian Stevens, Modest Mouse, and Joss Stone so I can be more with it but I’m usually content to listen to the weird mix of the Indigo Girls, Depeche Mode, the Beatles, Billy Joel, Sarah McLachlan, U2, and Madonna that I have on my Ipod. My husband makes fun of me because I love 50s and 60s music. He rolls his eyes when I can sing along to (and make him watch) the infomercial to Malt Shop Memories.

When I was a teenager, I’d take every song I heard on the radio that I liked and interpret the lyrics to apply to my life. The boy I liked in DECA didn’t seem interested in me? Thanks to Jon Secada, it was Just Another Day Without Him. That guy I kissed at the party who never called me? George Michael taught me that I must have been Kissing a Fool. When I was mad that my mom wouldn’t let me go to the mall or talk on the phone, I’d play the part from Prince’s When Doves Cry when he says “maybe she’s just like my mother, she’s never satisfied…” really loud. I’d earnestly tell my friend that I just disagreed with the whole Wilson Phillips You’re in Love song because honestly, if a guy I was in love with loved another, I wouldn’t want him to be happy with that other person because he was supposed to be with ME. God, it was so meaningful! Before Ally McBeal asked us to pick a theme song for our lives, I already had one—actually two: The Tide is High by Blondie and Man in Motion by John Parr from the St. Elmo’s Fire Soundtrack. And there have been more than a handful of times I’ve quoted Madonna to a friend dating the wrong person: girl, he’s got to lift you to your higher ground, don’t settle for second best! (although I’m not embarrassed about that one).

I think we all interpret the songs we listen to through the lens of what’s going on in our own little world. I’ve noticed that now that I’m a mother, I find myself getting teary over songs about parents and kids. I love the Dixie Chicks’ Godspeed, Little Man and Paul Simon’s Father and Daughter. And Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder and Beautiful Boy by John Lennon have always been favorites. But I’ve reinterpreted some of old classics from over the years to apply to Boo Boo as well, and its funny to me that most of these are about a lover or crush and I now see them as songs about my child. So here are some of the songs I've reinterpreted to apply to me:

1. The Spinners--Could it be I'm Falling in Love? When I first brought Boo Boo home from the hospital and he slept a lot, R and I would look at each other and say things like, we are SO lucky, he’s the cutest newborn ever. And although I felt like I didn’t really know that sleeping lump, I would sing this song, because I was learning to love him each day.

2. 'til Tuesday--Voice Carry I sing this one to Boo Boo softly when we are at a grocery store or a restuarant and he is crying. "Hush, hush, keep it down now, voices carry." It works sometimes.

3. Blue October--Hate Me Today Boo Boo hates getting his ears cleaned and his fingernails and toenails cut. But these things have to be done, so I just hold him down and do it. When he howls I just grin and sing "Hate Me Today." It's not the last time he'll hate me.

4. Herman's Hermits--Baby Baby, Can't You Hear My Heart Beat? When When Boo Boo is being especially cute, I sing this song

5. Jimmy Buffet--Come Monday The days in the lyrics of this song never match the days that I have business trips but I always sing this one to myself when I want to get home to my little one after traveling for work.

6. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles--You Really Got a Hold on Me I usually sing this song when Boo Boo is eating and making a giant mess. There are days I cannot bear the thought of cleaning that freaking high chair one more time. But he's just a sweetie. The best lines from this song are the opening ones--"I don't like you, but I love you, I don't want you, but I need you, though you treat me badly, I love you madly"

7. Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell--Ain't No Mountain High Enough This is our song to sing as I'm dropping him off to daycare. I'm sure one day he'll think I'm sooo embarrassing, but for now, he claps along and grins.

And we do have "our" song: Give Your Mama One Smile (Madeleine Peyroux, lyrics can be found here). As cheesy as all this is, you can sleep easy knowing that I have drawn the line at singing Amy Grant’s Baby Baby to Boo Boo. But I can neither confirm nor deny that I know all the words.

Mama's little wordsmith

Boo Boo turns 18 months old this week and is going to the pediatrician for his well-baby check up and some shots on Friday. At his 15 month visit, he could speak only 2 words other than mama and dada (ball, cheese). Although everyone told me there was nothing to worry about, that boys under 2 often develop language skills more slowly than girls, and that he was such an early walker and climber his speech would be delayed a bit, I was worried. He had so many months when he couldn't hear well with the ear infections and I was concerned there might be something bigger going on, even though everything seemed fine. Well, Boo Boo has made some great progress. Although he does not have the 20 words that 18 month olds are "supposed" to have by now, here's what we do have:

1. Expressive language: Boo Boo can say mama, dada, ball, cheese, baby, duck, bird, bye, bus, dump truck, shoes, eyes and drop. At least ten good words.

2. Receptive language: he understands much more than he can say. He can follow commands like "put that away, please," or "bring me the shoe, please." And he knows all his books. So if I ask for the book where Paul and Judy do lots of things, he can bring me Pat the Bunny, or if I ask for the book where a moose and goose together have juice, he can bring me But Not the Hippopotamus. He points and shakes his head for no, and grins and has a happy shriek for yes. He can identify 5 body parts and various pictures in his books, even though he can't say all the words.

3. Other communication: he can make the sign for "more" and "all done".

And with that, I am "all done" worrying. He's getting there at his own pace. Writing it out like this on my blog has really forced me to see how far he has come and how well he is doing.

This and That

I have a bunch of thoughts swirling in my head for a post and no cute transitions or segues to link them together, so today's post is in list form:

1. If you type my name into google.com and hit search, several hits come up. The letter to the editor I wrote to my college paper comes up first. The (pathetic for runners, but amazing to me) times for the 5K's I have run usually show up in a bunch at the end. And in between is all the legal stuff: my firm's web page, the articles I have written, my name on the bar pass list from years ago. Every few months, I'll type my name into Google and be amazed at how someone/something out there on the Internet is keeping track of all this information. But internet searches are important for more than just vanity googling yourself. My sister routinely googles the guys she goes out with as a way to get background information on her dates just to make sure they are legitimate and not crazy. And who can resist looking at a Myspace page or a site like Friendster or Facebook to see what your old colleague or crush is up to? But what happens if the information that pops up on the search is not true? Read this article about a law student who discovered she wasn't getting job offers because of some disparaging comments made on an online message board whose threads were pulled up on a google search. This is just sad to me. For most of us, law school is tough, like a boot camp or other rite of passage. You should be nice to your classmates not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because they will be your colleagues, bar committee chairs and future judges. Law students are full of uncertainty and nervousness, which can lead to gossip and cliques, but there is no excuse for this kind of behavior.

2. Boo Boo doesn't watch much TV but he really does like this show called The Backyardigans on Nick Jr. It's a musical cartoon where the characters break out into song and dance at least 4 times in a 30 minute episode. I really like it a lot too. The Mission to Mars episode is a personal favorite. For Valentine's Day, I bought Boo Boo the 5 animals from the show that were on sale. They are small stuffed dolls, beanie baby sized. I said the name of each doll, explaining that this one was Tyrone, this one was Tasha, this one was Uniqua, this one was Austin, and then I gave him Pablo. I think Pablo and Austin are the cutest ones on the show, but Pablo is more huggable, so I told him to hug Pablo several times that day. "You looove Pablo!" I reminded him. The very next day, he wanted the Pablo doll and not the others. We have a game now. I ask him, "do you want Tasha?" and he pushes her away, and does the same for all the other dolls until he gets to Pablo. And what amazes me, is that he now likes Pablo best BECAUSE I TOLD HIM TO. He won't always listen to me or believe me, but for a while, I can tell him mayo is yummier than mustard, Jennifer Anniston was better for Brad Pitt than Angelina Jolie, and that he's okay and doesn't have to cry after that minor fall, and he will trust that I'm right. But before I get too excited about using this power for evil instead of good, I will tell you that Boo Boo has definitely mastered the violent head shake and NO when he doesn't want something.

3.We have had 7 people come by to look at our house in the last 10 days that it has been on the market but have no second lookers or offers yet. The whole keeping the house spotless thing is getting very old very fast. It's so hard to make all the beds, put every single thing, including toothbrushes, dish racks, and shoes away before we leave in case potential buyers come look at the place while we are gone. The new house is also kind a pain in the ass now. The workers just do what they want to do, and it's annoying to anal me. There's a clear drawing on where a tile accent row is supposed to go in the shower, but because they didn't want to cut one row, they just put it where it was more convenient. They put in medicine cabinets in our bathroom but switched the right and left cabinet so the medicine cabinet opens to hit the user in the face, instead of opening away from the user. And they couldn't find where a closet light was wired so they punched about 20 holes in the ceiling until the wire was located. It's annoying because they'll probably mess up more things when they "fix" these others. So many people I've talked to recently have said building a house was the biggest headache they've ever dealt with. Still, it will be lovely when its done and it will be great to have the extra space. But in dealing with punch lists, comparing mortgage rates, coordinating showings and making sure our listing pictures have the correct captions, I have probably worked 3 full 8 hour days in the last two weeks. I have a boring speech and paper I need to write for a partner due in a week, and I haven't started yet. But this week will be no different. Tomorrow, we have to walk the new house with the builder. I'm getting my teeth cleaned Thursday, and Boo Boo has a well baby on Friday.

4. I took a deposition last week involving a man who was losing his eyesight rapidly and eventually lost all vision in his right eye. He wrote a note that said "I cannot see on my right side at all unless I turn my head." To me, that means he lost or was losing his peripheral vision. I was deposing a nurse, and she was adamant that the note meant he did have peripheral vision, and not that he was losing it. I tried about 4 different ways to get her to admit that the note meant the plaintiff was losing his peripheral vision but she didn't budge. In retrospect, I should have asked her to define what peripheral vision meant to her. I hate realizing what I should have done after the fact.

5. Yesterday, Boo Boo came home with a bite mark on his arm, but no note from the school. They are looking into it today. He has also started a new annoying habit. He takes a piece of chicken, cantaloupe or whatever is on his plate, chews it, swallows the juice and spits it out and throws it on the floor that I'm trying to keep clean for new buyers. I've started giving him dinner in the bath tub just to avoid the problem. I know its a bad practice to start, but whatever gets you through the night, right?

I feel like I have so many things on my plate that I'm doing nothing well. I think its time to scrape my plate. But how?

A rose by any other name...

My good friend J is getting married and has decided not to change her last name. I also kept my own name when I got married. J is pleased with her decision, but women like J and me are definitely the minority. In the late 70s and 80s, the number of women keeping their maiden names was slowly on the rise, but recently, the number of women keeping their name has dropped from 23% in 1990 to 17% in 2000 (see http://www.slate.com/id/2097231 / Blogger won't let me add a hyperlink today). Anecdotally, I think the number has only gone down in the last seven years. The Slate article I linked to suggests that this may be because we are moving toward a more conservative view of marriage and because keeping a maiden name is no longer huge political issue. That's probably true. It's kind of a weird trend for independent, smart women to start changing their names again but I guess it makes sense given the number of options women have today.

As feminism continues to give women more options at work and about taking time off to be with their kids, it also gives them the option to take their husband's name without being billed as some kind of dependant, submissive women. Women in the 70s and 80s fought so hard to be equals in the workforce and partners at home (no Second Shift for me, thank you) that they kept their names. Now they don't have to do that anymore. For the most part, I'm very happy with my decision not to change my name. When I first got married, it was fabulous. It was a way to assert my independence, maintain an identity, and I made it a point to let people know when they addressed their holiday cards incorrectly.

For a long time I thought I would hyphenate my child's last name, but I ended up using my name as his middle name. (He's going to have to get a new question for his security password when he's old enough for credit cards). Ever since Boo Boo was born, it has become so hard to keep correcting his doctors and his teachers. No one seems to care when I tell them what my name is. They just nod and continue with the information they are giving me. And although we make it point to fill out his middle names on forms, people don't really use the middle name. It has become much easier to just answer to Mrs. R's Last Name. Many of the women I have discussed this issue with say that the reason they changed their last names was for the kids. But I go back and forth. Sometimes I wish I'd hyphenated his name so people would be forced to acknowledge my last name, and other times I think that I should have just gone ahead and changed mine.

People always want to know if I kept my name because there were no boys in my family to carry on the lineage or if I was already professionally established when I got married. No and no. I have a boy cousin with my last name, and I was in law school when I got married. I just kept my name because it was mine. I wanted to get married and publicly commit to life with R, but didn't feel that I had to give a part of my identity. And hyphenating was an unsatisfying compromise when R wasn't making a change. So I stayed me. Now that I have a child though, part of me feels like you give up so much of your single self to become a parent, why does the name matter? Your still a mama, regardless of what your business cards say. But if that's the case, I'd rather have my own name. And by the way, what's up with MRS??? We should immediately eliminate all use of that abbreviation as it's completely unecessary: Ms. and Mr. is all you need. Any thoughts on any of this?

By the way, if anyone is wondering how to properly address a holiday card to Ms. Jones, Mr. Smith and their kids without listing everybody's name on the envelope, the correct thing to write on the envelope is "The Jones-Smith Family" (with or without a hyphen doesn't matter). Because whatever our last names may be that's what we really are.

Duck, Duck, Goose

We had a few realtors come by to show our house to prospective buyers this weekend so after cleaning up on Saturday, we headed out to lunch and then met up with some good friends at the Houston Zoo. Boo Boo loved looking at the geese in the Farm section of the Children's Zoo. To him, they are ducks, as he announced to world at least 50 times: duh, duh, duh. I smiled at the people around me and explained that he doesn't know many words yet, but duck is one of the ones he can say. One nice lady replied, "well, he sure has that one down!" Since the "ducks" were such a hit, on Sunday, we went to our neighborhood park which also has some ducks. Some pictures to share:

Boo Boo Stories

Boo Boo says Mama a lot. To be more specific, he says mamamamama a lot. But when he says it, he is not necessarily calling for me. The way he uses the word is like calling for his butler or valet to assist him with a task. If he says mamamamama what he really means is "Hey you, responsible adult of the moment (daddy, mama, grandma, etc.) please fix this now now now because I really really want that toy/ more Cheerios/ to be picked up/ out of this highchair." Interesting that to express his desire to make something happen he uses MAMA and not DADA.

*

He's not quite 18 months old but the power struggles are starting. Last night, we had 2 showings for our house so we ate dinner at Wendy's. He crammed a giant piece of chicken nugget in his mouth and it was so huge he couldn't even chew it, so he took the slobbery piece out of his mouth and insisted on handing it me in a most dignified manner as though it would be such a faux paus to put it on the table, geez. I took the next nugget and broke it into 4 pieces on a napkin so he could take smaller bites and tried to hand him a piece. He shrieked, crumpled into the booth and burst into loud, hysterical tears. So I just handed him the little red sleeve of nuggets, and let him take his own nugget out and the waterworks stopped. He wanted to do it himself, you see. No more eating cut up pieces for him. At least he took bites of that one.

*

Every single day since he started daycare, his morning routine has been pretty much the same: he wakes up, we snuggle a bit in the rocker, read a few books, I change his diaper and his clothes, he eats breakfast, and then gets a little play time while I get ready, and then he heads off to daycare with his dad. I don't understand why changing a diaper has suddenly become such a struggle. He gets it changed 8 times a day at daycare, and every morning by me, so why the wiggling and rolling and escape attempts? There has been many a morning where a naked giggling boy has run through our house with me chasing him with a diaper. I just can't help but laugh when it happens.

Books!

Cagey has a cool meme on her blog all about books, which I love. If you decide to do this on your blog as well, leave me a comment as I'd love to check out your list. Feel free to delete and add in other books, as I have taken that liberty.

Blue means I read it.
Red means it's one of my personal favorites.
Italics for those I'd like to read
* if its on my bookshelf
+ means I've never heard of it

I added random comments too.

1. *The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) Loved the book, hated the movie.
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. * To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. * Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Tolkien). I read The Hobbit, saw all three movies (meh), but for some reason have no real desire to read these books. I'm probably alone on this.
6. * The Little House on the Prarie series (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
7. * Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)
8. *Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
9. + Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10.+ A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. * The Harry Potter series (Rowling) Such a huge fan
12. * Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) not as good as Da Vinci Code
13. * The Tin Drum (Gunter Grass)
14. * The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) I heard this on a book on tape driving to small Texas called Crystal City for a hearing. Does that count? The good thing about hearing this on tape was that I heard the correct pronounciation of some of the words
16. *Woman Hollering Creek (Sandra Cisneros) I always think of this book as I drive over Woman Hollering Creek, a real place on my way to Austin or San Antonio.
17. * Baby 411 (Ari Brown) probably the only book you really need as a new mom
18. * Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neal Hurston)
19. *Sister of My Heart (Divkurani) predictable but I loved it. The sequel is weak.
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. *The Stranger (Camus) LOVE this book
22. *The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger) It was good but I didn't understand the hype
23. *Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. *The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. *Life of Pi (Yann Martel) I own this and have started it but I just can't get through it.
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) I feel like I should have read this but just haven't
27. *Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) I wrote a paper in college juxtaposing Wuthering Heights with Beloved, by Toni Morrison and there are more similarities than you probably realize
28. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) LOVED this book as a child
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. +Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) I started this but got bored
33. +Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. ? The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) I feel like I've heard of this one? But maybe I'm thinking of some Anne of Green Gables type reference
36. +The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. +The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. +I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho). This was a simple and beautiful book. I wouldn't have picked it up had it not been for a now sort of defunct book club I was in, but I'm so glad someone chose it for us to read.
41. +The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. *The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) I really enjoyed reading this book and I couldn't put it down, but I hated the forced foreshadowing: "And that was the last time I saw Hasan smile."
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) I've never read this series. I do read trash, and I like Devil Wears Prada, The Nanny Diaries, The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, etc. but just never read this.
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) Should I read this?
45. *Bible I've read bits and pieces of the new Testament, and the Old Testament.
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)--
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)-- Required reading in highschool so I read it, but don't remember much about it. I loved Steinbeck's The Pearl though.
50. +She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. +The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) I really liked this book. A Tale of Two Cities and To Kill a Mockingbird were both required in my 7th grade English class and the knitting in A Tale of Two Cities and the Mockingbird in To Kill a Mockingbird were the first literary symbols I figured out on my own without a teacher telling me what they meant (or that they were symbols in the first place) and I guess I was meant to be an English major because it was a really exciting day to have the light bulb go on and I couldn't stop telling my parents about how I figured! it! out!
53. +Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)-- I don't know what all the fuss is about the Eggs and Daisy.
56. +The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. *Beloved (Toni Morrison) I liked The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon better
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) My mom loves this book
59. *The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) This is such a well-written, intriguing book. Smartly written in response to the Cold War, I think its very fitting for today's political scene as well.
60. *The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) I really liked this one.
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) Loved it.
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)-- Haven't even tried.
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. +Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. *One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) This was the first book assigned to me in college when I decided to add English to my degree plan. I loved it.
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares) Cute!
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)--
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)-- v.v. good
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)-- did you know it was also a musical?
73. +Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)--
75. *The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) Growing up, I loved this and A Little Princess, especially because the girls start out in India.
76. +The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. +The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. +The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) This book and Trumpet of the Swan were some of my favorites as a little girl.
81. +Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. *Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) a classic
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)--
84. +Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. *Emma (Jane Austen) I liked Sense and Sensibility better
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) I feel like I must have read this in highschool, but it might have been Farenheight 451
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. +Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. +Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. +In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) a classic
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)-- this is one of my mom's favorites, it was a good read but a slow start
94. *The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) I liked it a lot when I read it but now that I look back, it was just okay
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) This was a great movie, but I haven't read the book
96. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. +A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)-
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)--I've read the Odyssey in college.

Ann Coulter channels Isaiah Washington

Ann Coulter spoke at the American Conservative Union on Friday and was making fun of some prominent Democrats. In one of her "jokes," she said she intended to discuss John Edwards, who is seeking the Democratic nomination in the upcoming presidential race, but couldn't talk about him because using the word "faggot" gets you a trip to rehab. You can read the story here, and watch the video here. Both in her speeches and in her writing, Ann Coulter can never argue the issues neutrally with respect for an opposing viewpoint. Even before explaining why her position is correct, she immediately jumps into vile, hateful, shrill and incendiary comments, and is proud of being a "pot-stirrer." Disagree with the man's ideas, tell me you don't like him as a person, but don't use that word as an insult.

A house update

After giving away a bunch of old clothes and shoes and packing things in totes and moving them to storage, behold the Master Bedroom Closet:

It only took 4 days of every spare moment I had. But all will be worth it when the potential buyers walk in and think, ah, I want this closet. The house goes on the market on Tuesday, and we should be ready to close on our new place in late April or early May.

To prepare our current house for showings, we also set the dining table with china and silver, moved some weights and DVDS and old Christmas tree ornaments out of our "formal living room" that never had any furniture in it, and moved all of Boo Boo's toys in to create a play room. A play room without window treatments, because in the 7 plus years we've lived in this house, we've had temporary paper blinds up. Classy. Is it any wonder our closets don't usually look like the pictures?

The new place is coming along nicely. Boo Boo has enjoyed playing in it, and has tried to be helpful as well:

Motivational Thought of the Day

I went to a Continuing Legal Education seminar last week put on the by the Texas Women Lawyers Association and Sarah Weddington was the keynote speaker. She is the lawyer who argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on the pro-choice side in the Roe v. Wade case. One of the questions she that suggested we ask ourselves that stuck with me as she spoke about women, power, and the legal profession is: what can you do today to give yourself more options tomorrow?

And as I posed the question to myself I realized that I'm treading water, but happily. I am not out developing any great new skills. I am not out networking and going to judicial fundraisers. I'll go to an occasional Houston Bar Association function, do the CLE's I need to keep my license, and of course, I learn something new from each case I work on. But the eagerness I had to network and impress and make my mark has quickly waned. I've decided to do nothing about it. When I first took this reduced hours job, I would constantly remind myself to think with my new mindset and turn my ambitition off. And without even realizing it until I had to ask myself that question at the CLE, I realized that it's off. Just as well. I'm happy where I am and cannot do more--the balance between motherhood and work is precarious enough without me trying to add more. And I don't want to make partner and work like that.

So if I do anything to give myself more options, it should be save money and to meet people at corporations or at businesses close to where I live, so if I want to minimize my commute or work corporate hours for less pay, I can do that in 5 years. I don't have a game plan or anything yet, but at least I know to think about it. What are you doing?