I feel so out of touch! Not only have I not been blogging, I haven’t been reading any of the riveting, inspiring, hilarious posts of any bloggers on my subscribe list. I miss ya’ll! Last week I marathoned through reading my ‘finished draft’, and while a few things could be tweaked (and then tweaked some more), I’m relatively happy with it. I consider that VERY good news. Then, virtually the moment I was done with it, we were off to Sea World San Antonio for the weekend, and now we’re back, but I’ve come down with something. I had my older son’s Field Day all day today out on the playground at about 96 degrees, and tomorrow I’m a chaperone for my litte one’s field trip. Hopefully I’m feeling a little bit better.

On the drive home from San Antonio, we detoured into Luling so my husband could ‘introduce’ me to some fantastic barbeque. Well, the place he intended to take me was closed, so we walked across the street, and had some pretty good barbeque at another little hole in the wall. The interesting thing about this little unplanned stop was the posters that were hanging in all the shop windows, urging you to vote for one girl or another as ‘Thump Queen’. They were all wholseome high school girls posing with watermelon slices. Now I love watermelon considerably more than the next person, but I’ve never considered going out to hunker down in a field and hold a slab of watermelon up to my face in an attempt to win a seat in a parade. Then again, I grew up in Houston. Luling is somewhat of a watermelon town–they host an annual watermelon festival, and their water tower is painted like a watermelon. But ‘Thump Queen’? Somehow it doesn’t sound all that prestigious. More hillbilly. My husband did assure me that we were back at the end of June for the festival he’d write me in on the ballot. It’s all I can ask for.

My cake wasn’t ‘all that’. It was good…but not moan-inducing, toe-curling, unbelievably good. Perhaps something went wrong. Or maybe I’m just a simple girl, completely satisfied with cake from a Betty Crocker mix. Oh well. I’ll be trying some more Pioneer Woman recipes just as soon as my butter-level drops back down to normal levels.

Thanks very much for all the Mother’s Day wishes. I ended up getting some good stuff. Not that it’s about the gifts…they just happen to be the best part.

I did get a little afternoon break–long enought o finish The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, and I loved it. I highly recommend it. Now I’m on the hunt for the other books she’s written. Dramarama looks very good, and Fly on the Wall has a great premise (a 16-yr-old gets turned into a fly and wakes to find herself in the boys’ locker room). It’s going to be fun catching up!

So…having been tagged by Sara Hantz, I’m going to give you the teeniest little glimpse into TDHoFL-B. Here are the tag rules.

1. Pick up the nearest book.

2. Open to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people and post a comment to the person who tagged you once you’ve posted your three sentences.

So, from The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart…I give you page 123, sentences 6-8:

“I’m not mad.” And she wasn’t. Not exactly.

Admit it…your appetite is well and truly whetted.

Anyway, I tag

Stephanie

Virginia

Sarakastic

Trish

Joanne

Well, thanks to Stephanie’s and Beck’s endorsements of The Pioneer Woman, who I think is a hoot, not to mention Eileen’s somewhat unique but perhaps slightly dubious perspective on butter, I’m going to make the cake. I’ve amassed my ingredients and even bought a special cookie sheet to make sure I have a pan of adequate size. My motto (just for the weekend) is ‘To heck with the butter!–I’m eating cake!’ I will report back. Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there with enough time to read this blog!

Today I got my hair cut for summer. I’d post a picture, but I can’t seem to take one of myself that captures the haircut. It’s odd. I was standing in front of the mirror, admiring myself with my new haircut, and I took a few shots. Then a few more…then still more. I didn’t look good in any of them, and I couldn’t figure out why. How can I like how I look in the mirror but not like a single photograph?? It’s boggling my mind. So…I will post the picture I took in to the salon. Imagine this is me, without the highlights, the eyeshadow, and the celebrity status…

Then this afternoon, I went to help setup the final bookfair of the year at my sons’ school. It’s a Buy One Get One Free, and the kids get to pay with points they’ve earned in reading certain books throughout the year and then being quizzed on them. Kindergarteners don’t earn points, but my older son has enough to buy essentially one paperback. And I, of course, will supplement and stock up on some summertime reading material. I LOVE bookfairs and found sooo many titles I’d like to buy while setting up today. It’s BOGO for me too–I’m so psyched!

Two book recommendations: The Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (I love the Spellmans!)and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. I haven’t finished the latter yet, but I’m really liking it so far.

Have a great weekend!