Books

One of my favorite smells is the smell of books. I love the musty mixed with wood smell of old books. I love the crisp smell of new books. I anticipate that smell that just envelops you when you walk into a bookstore, of stiff book spines and fresh paper.

There is nothing better to me than waking up early in the morning, never getting out of bed, just reaching over for a book and reading in bed until lunch (so that hasn't happened in over 3 years, but still...).

I love long baths with a good book. I love a good book paired with a blanket and a sunny day.

I just LOVE books, period. Not just the act of reading, but the actual book, the black letters against the white pages, dogged with repeated use; the weight of them on my lap; the collection of them on my bookshelf.

And the words, how they fit together to make something, but then how you can just take them apart, or just a phrase, and well, make poetry of that in itself. I love how wrapped up I can get in those words, how affected I can become.

Which is why I am appalled at the new book, the Kindle. What a vile little creation. Don't we understand that the words are only part of the book? Are we so concerned with convenience and getting what we want exactly when we want that we are forgetting the goodness of permanence? And what about our eyes? I thought computer screens were supposed to be bad for the eyes.

I will not lie and say that I didn't research this little product because even I am seduced by any book in the world at my fingertips. But it only took a few minutes for me to realize what a travesty this could be. In addition, it seems pretty pricey. For $250, you should be able to download books for nominal prices. But a new release is still $10. That seems a little steep. And in the wrong hands (mine!), a very expensive little gadget. I read fast and doubt I could resist downloading at least 1 or 2 new books a week.

So this may be the way of the future, but for now, I will stick to my library and local bookstore. And if I have no choice, I will begrudgingly get one when our world has gone to pot. I suppose my grandkids will have to come over and repeatedly show me how to turn it on and download the books on the thing though.

The world can end now.

Every year, around this time, I buy my first yearly bag of Necco Sweethearts Conversation Hearts. And then I buy my second, third, sometimes fourth bag before the Valentine's holiday is officially over. I look forward to this candy every year, about the time I start getting sick of candy corn.

So this year, I got my first bag. I ripped into it, expecting to be hit with that soft, sweet smell of, what is it, well just subtle sweetness. But it smelled like strawberry, like that strong strawberry bubble bath or something. Peering into the bag, my eyes were accosted by bright blue hearts, neons almost. And did I mention that smell? I started to feel sick. Something was very very wrong here.

And then I took one out of the bag and tasted it. What was that, green apple? And then another, sacrilege- its blue rasberry. AND they were soft, not slightly crunchy like I like them. What happened to my beloved hearts? The subtle hints of wintergreen and banana?

I thought maybe it was the wrong brand because their logo isn't anywhere on the newly designed bag. So I searched like 5 stores and came up with nothing. So to the internet I went and found this....

Here was their reasoning from their website:

*New Sayings & Colors
For the first time in 145 years, Sweethearts® discarded all its previous phrases and asked the American public to tell us how they express their love. The 2010 Sweethearts® are featured in bright and bolder new colors.

*New Flavors & Texture
All new flavors for 2010 Sweethearts® include Strawberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Grape, Orange and Blue Raspberry. The new Sweethearts® have been re-formulated to be softer and more fun to eat.

*New Line Extensions & Innovation
Sweethearts® new line extensions include Sugar-Free, Dazzled Tarts, En Español and Chocolate. This is the first time the company has put a DAZZLED© finish on TARTS.

Let me just go ahead and say it: they have really messed up here . These are truly disgusting. And it better be fixed before next Valentine's Day, or else.

PS- I know this is quite dramatic for a situation that involves candy. But anyone who knows me can tell you, I am pretty passionate about candy.

Really?

So, I admit freely that I read all of the twilight books, and liked them. I was excited about the first movie when it came out. Sadly, I was disappointed in the movie, but it won't stop me from watching the others when they come out.

But, to the point. I am so SICK of the twilight hype. I don't want to know how much the guy who plays the werewolf has to work out to get those abs. I don't care if Kristen and Robert are a real couple or not. And I don't want to buy twilight dinnerware, bed sheets, lawn ornaments or toilet seat covers.

Also, I don't want to go here (a cornfield in Iowa with mazes in the shape of Edward and Jacob)

and my kids certainly won't have these vampire barbies in their stocking this year:

Enough is enough!

Something is just not right about this

So, let me get this straight. If I pay off my credit card balance each month, just like a good consumer should, I will be punished with higher annual fees and termination of my rewards program?

This really makes me angry. I understand this proposed bill (already passed by the senate I believe) would be helping those who are in debt up to their eyeballs, that it protects those who have debt from being blasted with high rates without proper notice or from fees from going over the limit or being late on payments, but at whose expense? It is downright insulting to me that this bill is proposing to offset these protection strategies by punishing those who are being financially responsible.

I fear this is only the beginning.

This bothers me

and I know it shouldn't.

But, in OK Magazine, Jessica Alba and her baby's daddy were talking about her birth to daughter Honor, saying:

"I didn't scream," Jessica tells OK! in an exclusive interview and photoshoot. "It was really Zen." And Cash could only marvel at his wife's quiet strength when she gave birth. "She didn't make a sound," he says. "It was amazing."

I just don't like it and I am not sure why. Does anyone else get the vibe or I am just being too critical?

While I am at it, another thing I don't like, is Minnie Driver on her impending labor and delivery from Celebrity Baby Blog:

Her old fashioned approach extends to her preferred method of delivery -- Minnie says that a C-section is "antithetical to what I believe in every cell of my body." She adds,
"I'd have this baby in the sea if it wasn't so polluted."

I am all for natural childbirth, water births, quiet births, c-section births, hynobirths, epidural births...whatever needs to be done, but it seems whenever celebrities start talking about childbirth, I start feeling annoyed.

I also get annoyed when celebrites mention breastfeeding in their interviews. It always seems awkward, like they are dropping into the conversation intentionally to let the public know they are doing it.

While we are at it, all these photo-shoots they do with the tabloids irks me too- they look so well rested and content with sickeningly sweet smiles on their faces and they talk about being up all night with the baby but they don't mind because its so wonderful and beautiful and on and so on. Oh, don't forget the line all new celebrity moms use (note the breastfeeding line drop in there too)- "I'm not exercising at all, but the weight is coming off from breastfeeding."

Oh, but they leave out the whole, "I have a night nanny who wakes up with the baby and then a day nanny who takes care of the baby while I am at the trainer or napping or buying clothes. Oh, and the caterer brings all our meals to us and I don't have one other thing to do but gaze sweetly at my newborn baby for the next 6 months until I start work on my new movie and my new fragrance comes out."

I really don't know why I am feeling bitter today.

I do have to add that I am sure there are celebrities out there who do not deserve this lash out and to them, I am sorry. You are normal.

Grrrrrr

So, I found out today that our morgage is going up $110 a month. Apparently, our house was re-assessed and valued higher than on file, so our property taxes are off the charts now. On top of that, our home insurance policy had a dramatic rate increase.

I am pretty aggravated right now. Everything is costing so much money these days. It is almost impossible to live in America anymore on one income. At the rate we are going, not only will I need to find a job, but I am going to have to get some baby modeling and acting gigs for Adler too.

Disgusted.

Disturbed, on many levels

So, I picked up babycouture magazine the other day, because I like to look at the advertisements so I can get good internet browsing materia (sad, I know) but this was the first time I have seen this one so I grabbed it.



Okay, so granted, there were some really cute toys and clothes featured in the magazine; but the toddler models really disturbed me. They were these totally hip, attitude wearing kids that probably knew more about life than I did, the girls wearing bright makeup and hailing cabs in the pictures, the boys looking like James Dean with their turned up collars and leather jackets. I wish that I could post some pics, but I can't find any.

The second issue I had was a lot of the toys were just, well, too hip, too modern, too grown up. Here's an example:

I mean, who buys these kinds of ride-along toys for their toddlers? I am all for the simple, no bells and whistle type toys because I think they allow children to use their imagination, but this is just, well, it sucks the joy out of my soul when I look at it.

Anyway, I guess I should have known better than to pick up a magazine that had the words baby and couture bunched together like that, but still.

I will add that there were some cute toys in there, like these:

(note- the lamb rocker can be found at http://www.babystyle.com/ and the sock puppy at http://www.sok-o.com/)

Anyway, so that's that.