Sunday Salon: Fantasies

Good morning all! I'm coming to you presently from our balcony overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, in Treasure Island, FL. My son had a double-header football game yesterday in St. Petersburg, so we very efficiently turned the two hour haul into a mini-vacation. You'd normally say that you can't get enough of these mini trips but right now, my prevailing fantasy is of sleep and peace and normalcy, something that wasn't present this week.

Not that it was a bad week...it was full of fun! The kids had Monday off for President's Day, so we took in a few hours of Universal. When we hopped over to the Harry Potter side of the park, it got ugly. You couldn't even get in to that part of the park it was so busy. So being the most wonderful mother ever, I took my daughter (with my unhappy son in tow) to see Justin Bieber 3D. As much as the kid makes me crazy, the movie wasn't really all that bad. I always feel like it is my duty to at least keep up with pop culture.

Our weather has been gorgeous, so I did some yard work, and some walking. Then on Wednesday night, Heather (Raging Bibliomania) and I hoofed it down to Disney to spend the evening with Dawn (She Is Too Fond of Books). After a 3 1/2 hour dinner, wine, talk of family, books, corn nuts and food, we declared the evening to be a huge success. Dawn has got it all going on! I'm so glad to have finally met her in person.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Thursday night I saw Heather again at our Books, Babes and Bordeaux meeting, where we discussed the most dreadful "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson. To our credit, we did discuss the book quite a bit, even though only two of the nine of us actually finished it. The most exciting news of the night, besides the excellent wine our host Helen served, was that we decided to read "The Weird Sisters" for next month!

Now comes Friday night, and at this point I feel like I might turn into a pumpkin if I don't get my 8 hours of sleep. Not in the cards yet, however. We had a huge Mardi Gras Gala fundraiser at the school, which involved dressing up, drinking Hurricanes and jello shots, eating Cajun food, and bidding on silent and live auction items. As per my normal behavior, we walked away with a tidy pile of cool things...a round of golf, some spa facials for my wrinkles, various restaurant gift cards, and some movie tickets. It was great fun, but getting to bed at 1:30am was not good for moose and squirrel, since we had to get up at the crack to get to St. Pete.

Sheesh, I'm long-winded today. Sorry. So what of reading you ask? I finished "Year of Wonders" on audio, and it packed quite the emotional punch. I also started listening to "You Know When the Men Are Gone" in the car, an incredible collection of short stories about the men who serve in Iraq and the wives they leave behind. Amazing stuff so far. I'm also in the middle of "Gods Behaving Badly", which is a spoof on Apollo and company in the modern day. It may be my mood, but it is really annoying me it is so goofy. I've considered setting it aside. We'll see.

In print I've been a little bit of a slacker, having only finished "Made From Scratch", a book about a young woman who decides to homestead, raising chickens, bees, rabbits, a garden, and stuff like that. I have a fantasy of living off the land and making sheep and goat cheese, so I was totally into the whole story. Then I have just put a tiny dent in "The Improper Life of Bezillia Grove", a highlight for the UCF Book Fest.

Are things letting up next week? Nada. In fact the whole month of March is going to be a whirlwind I am thinking. Maybe April will be gentle and calm.