Big Red at Walgreens

I was in Walgreens today returning one of the packs of gel heel liners I bought (I’ve am over-buyer. You need 3? I buy 5. It’s a problem).First I went to the slightly intelligent looking kid in checkout #1. This was a mistake.

“Duuuur, errr… I think Betty can help you,” he stuttered, pointing to Betty.

Betty did not smile. Betty rolled her eyes. “Go to photo,” she barked. “And someone will be with you.”

I swear she muttered “maybe” under her breath but I’m probably just projecting. So I wander over to photo and Betty picks up the intercom and calls for the manager. At least, I think she calls for the manager. I can’t really understand her sixty year-old smoker’s voice. At photo the girl actually smiles at me.

“Manager will be right out,” Photo Girl said and returned to sorting photos.

I can’t help but wonder how often she comes across inappropriate photos. Every time I pick up one hour, I think about Birdie in Hope Floats and how the manager of the one hour photo booth had a special drawer where duplicates of dirty photos were kept. I bet Walgreens has a drawer like that. So there I am, just waiting around and thinking innocently of what kind of pictures are deemed worthy enough to put in that mythical drawer when a woman in her mid-thirties comes barreling up to the desk. Her hair is an unnatural shade of vivid red and sticking up in curly corkscrews all over her head. A row of silver and gold colored bracelets jangle on her wrists with a plastic-like clink

“Yes, ma’am?” Photo Girls asks, every so politely.

Red shoves a box at Photo Girl. “Is this considered a disposable camera? I’ve never seen one used before.”

I look at the box. Photo Girl looks at the box. Inside are two disposable cameras. Which the box clearly states.

“Yes, ma’am, they sure are.” Photo Girl smiles and tries not to look at me. I study the candy display in front of me intently.

Red waves the box around, jiggling the cameras inside. “How do I use ‘em?”

The Junior Mints box I’m looking at is getting blurry because I’m trying to focus too hard. If I look at Photo Girl, I’m going to laugh. I can’t resist a peek. Red is leaning over the desk now, eyes boring into Photo Girl. Photo Girl is trying to keep her eyes on Red’s face but Red’s tank top has stretched to the max and at any second her goodies are going to spill all over the counter.

Photo Girl scratches at her neck and focuses at a point over Red’s curls. “Just point and click.” 

“All right then.” Red eases off the counter, pushes back her bracelets and turns the box over in her hands. The strap on her tank slips off one shoulder. She ignores it. “And then what? There aren’t any directions.”

I’ve given up on the Junior Mints box completely and look at Red. She’s uber confused as she squints at the box.

Photo Girl, bless her patience, takes the cameras gently from Red. “You just bring them back here, camera and all after you’ve taken the pictures and we’ll develop them for you.”

“Huh.” Red finally snaps her tank top strap into place and reaches for the cameras which Photo Girls hands over, still studying the point over Red’s head. Meanwhile I am in near convulsions and my bladder is starting to hurt. My eyes are actually watering.

“It’s so simple,” Red marvels.

Photo Girl nods. Then she hesitates, as though she is not sure she should offer up this next bit of information. I’m all for hesitating. I don’t think Red can handle any more “simpleness”. Nor can I for that matter. But Photo Girl shrugs and plows on.  “When we develop them for you, we can put them on a CD so you can upload them to your computer.”

A line appears between Red’s eyes. “Wow. Really?”

“For $2.99.”

Red’s face wobbles a bit. “Oh. That’s not part of the development, huh?”

“No, ma’am.” Photo Girls shakes her head regretfully.

“That would be really cool. Darrell would love it. Darrell loves to take photos.” Red pushes out her lower lip and then brightens. “S’alright, I don’t have a computer anyway. Thanks!” And she walks away. Photo Girl and I stare after her. She bumps into a candy display and drops the cameras. “Shhhhhhhhh-it.”

Photo Girl looks at me. “I agree,” she mumbles and turns on heel for the backroom just as the manager approaches. He rings up my exchange without a smile or word. I’m ok with this. I think I’ve heard it all now anyway. And I wonder … what would Red think of a digital camera? I think she and Darrell would have a lot of fun with a digital camera. And I bet Photo Girl is going to get some interesting photos for that drawer. 

And Heeeeere's Jack

This is Jack. He looks sweet. Looks can be decieving. As I type this he is doing what I like to call his "porn star roll". He rolls around on the floor with his legs in all directions giving me come-hither looks. I've tried to photograph this but he's wiley. He knows I want a picture of it so of course as soon as I make a move toward the camera, he moves. Anyway, without further ado, Jack:

The First Day

Jack and Coke (at five months he's already addicted ... the boy loves coke boxes, and beer boxes and bascially any kind of box he can use as a hide-out. The boxes have the added benefit of being made of cardboard, so when he gets hungry, he can just chew)

Sleeping Kitty Looks Harmless (its all part of his master plan)

Jack at Christmas (the lights call to him)

Fat Cat Jack (he refuses to believe he's getting fat)

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things ~ 10/03

This week my favorite things list is a little slim. I haven't had much time to pay attention to the world around me because ... well, there are many reasons. But if you read further, past the favorite things stuff, you'll run into a little confession not unlike those made by Becky in the Shopaholic series. 

My Favorite New Book ~ It’s very, very sad. I do not have a favorite read this week. I am reading Sense and Sensibility but since it isn’t “new” to me I don’t feel right in calling it a favorite new read. Just a read.

My Favorite Blog Entry ~ Clever Blog Name Here. Actually it’s not so much as an entry as it is an entire blog. While coasting through some blog rolls of the blogs I follow, I stumbled across this one by Ashley, an awesome photographer who posts various pictures from her daily life and job. The blog is like a crab-leg feast for your eyes! (Because crab legs are my favorite food. Insert your own foods into that description and you’ll be just as satisfied as I am). http://ashleyforrette.blogspot.com/ 

I wish she could have photographed my wedding because let me tell you, I had an EXPERIENCE with my photographers. Half the pictures were blurry, one half of the duo spent the entire time flirting with my sister’s boyfriend, there was a nasty moment when we thought they wouldn’t show up … Anyway, maybe that’s a post for another day.

… and ACTUALLY! I just noticed that the fabulous Ashley commented on my very first blog post. It looks as though we found the other’s blog on the exact same day. So Ashley, if you are reading this, thank you for the great new blog to follow!

My Favorite Pop Culture News ~ Sophie Kinsella's fabulous Shopaholic series has been options and made into a movie starring Ilsa Fisher. I love Becky ~ she's the girl that reminds us that no matter how much we screw up, some way, some how, there is hope. 

My Favorite Song ~ Taylor Swift's Love Song from her upcoming album, Fearless. The song and accompanying video embodies every high school's girls most romantic dream. Listening to it takes me back to all the notions I had of love between the ages of 14 and 18. It's nice to go back. Waaay back. 

And now on to the confession ...

My Favorite Buy ~ Shoes from Charlotte Russe

I have a slight problem. I am not much of a shopper but occasionally I see something that I MUST HAVE NOW. It happens at the most inopportune times too, mostly when Husband and I are trying to keep to our money diet. Or when I get to the store only to realize they don’t have my size. This time it happened with a pair of shoes.

About four weeks ago (this has been going on for four weeks, I am now in a bit of a frenzy, or was since I just got them) I was at a work party and noticed a pair of black suede ballet slippers on the feet of a friendly co-worker. So I asked her where she got them. Charlotte Russe, she said, in Chicago while shopping with her daughter. Down here in good ole Central Illinois we don’t, much to my dismay, have a Charlotte Russe. So I shrugged, knowing I would never see these shoes, and talked about other things. Except, when I climbed into bed that night, IT started to happen. The overwhelming sensation that I MUST HAVE THESE SHOES NOW. I couldn’t stop thinking about them. They looked so soft, so sleek and really, really great with blue jeans. Somehow I managed to calm myself down and went to work the following Monday with not a thought in my head about those shoes. Except my co-worker? Yeah, you guess it, she wore the shoes again. OK, so now there was no denying, I needed those shoes. When I got back from a meeting I pulled up the CR website and waaaaa-laaaa, there they were, front and center for the bargain price of $18.99 and free shipping. Hello shoes! Just for kicks and giggles I clicked on the location link and what do you know? There was a CR in the next town. The town Husband and I were going to on Wednesday for our anniversary. Bingo! I could just pick them up there. I even called and yes, they had the shoes in stock. So, sure I had to wait until Wednesday to get the shoes but better than waiting with drool running down my chin for the mailman every day, right? Wednesday we had a very lovely dinner. The chicken Marsala was delicious. The conversation was witty and fun. Yet it was creeping up on 9 pm when CR closed. So I tried, ever so subtly, to get Husband to finish up his chocolate mousse (OK, my chocolate mousse, I cannot lie, I am addicted to that stuff). Apparently “Honey, are you done yet?” is not very subtle though because he sighed hugely, paid the bill and off we went. Anticipation started to build. In just a few short minutes I would slip my feet into the delicious feel of cheap suede shoes. Black ones. To match the dress I was wearing. We entered the store. My woman-shopping-radar immediately identified the shoe section. I was off. I frantically searched the shelves, pulling down box after box while Husband tried valiantly to help. He even suggested a rather pretty pair that I might have considered earlier. But finally I had to face facts, THE SHOES WERE NOT THERE. The sales girl on the phone lied to me. She lied! Disappointed and now regretting the amount of chocolate mousse I ate, we left for the long, bitter drive home. Before I went to bed I logged on and ordered the shoes from CR. And waited for the mailman with the drool on my chin. Yesterday they came. Sweet, sweet shoes!

But THEN …

I was on the phone with my husband while randomly walking down an aisle in Target. He ran out to the mailbox for me to see if my CR shoes had arrived and they had! I was so excited I stopped short in the aisle. Only to look down and see a BETTER PAIR OF SHOES. I now must have these:

They’re in black and BROWN. And they are lined with warm looking stuff. Again, I tried to tell myself I didn’t need these shoes (even for the low, low price of $14). I went home, put on my new shoes and danced around a bit. This morning I planned my outfit accordingly and happily stuffed my feet into my brand new shoes (trying not to think about the Target shoes). Except … the CR shoes? Biggest blisters ever! And now all I can think about is how soft and comfortable the other ones would have been.

And one more thing. Over lunch, because I couldn’t stand it anymore, I bought these little gel heel liners. THESE might qualify for the best buy this week. I got them at Walgreens for 5 bucks. Ladies, if your favorite shoes rub uncomfortably against your heels, you can’t go wrong with these little adhesive gel strips.

I have blisters. But I won't show you. Not even if you beg. 

Reading Happy Hour

I'm thinking of starting a recurring thing here called the Reading Happy Hour. Sometimes when I am reading - at least once per book - I come across a certain line or description that makes me want to put down the book and hunt around for someone who is reading the exact same page so I can discuss it. That never happens, sadly. 

So today's Reading Happy Hour comes from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. In chapter 8, Marianne and Elinor are discussing the marital prospects of one Colonel Brandon who at the advanced at of 35 (!) is considered quite the crotchety old man by 17 year-old Marianne. Elinor contends that his age is not so very advanced while Marianne is convinced that romance is not meant for the elderly (apparently those over 25). 

"Perhaps," said Elinor, "thirty-five and seventeen had better not have anything to do with matrimony together. But if there should be any chance happen to be a woman who is single and seven and twenty, I should not think Colonel Brandon's being thirty-five any objection to his marrying her."

“A woman of seven and twenty,” said Marianne after pausing a moment, “can never hope to feel or inspire affection again, and if her home be uncomfortable, or her fortune small, I can suppose that she might bring herself to submit to the offices of a nurse for the sake of the provision and security of a wife. In his marrying such a woman therefore there would be nothing unsuitable. It would be a compact of convenience, and the world would be satisfied. In my eyes it would be no marriage at all, but that would be nothing. To me it would seem only a commercial exchange in which each wished to be benefited at the expense of the other."

Marianne really is the most silly but delightful character. At seventeen in the Regency era, she translates beautifully to teenage girls today. Who, at 13, 15, 17, can ever imagine a person at 35 falling in love? I know at that age I most certainly couldn't. And, like Marianne, I was quite sure that the love of my life was waiting just around the next corner. That's the magic of Austen. She transcends time and her stories are universal. I love Marianne and I love, love, love that at 17, she is the perfect silly match to Colonel Brandon's stodgy 35. For Marianne, love was just around the corner. Her 17 year-old eyes just took awhile to focus on the prize. 

Fall/Winter Reading List or BOOKS I MUST HAVE

For me, the official start of Fall is October 1. Before that date, I still hold on to summer with a white-knuckled grip and persist in wearing flip-flops to the grocery store or driving down the road barefooted. But with the coming of October 1, I give into the red leaves and settle down to enjoy long-sleeved t-shirts and blue jeans (still hate socks though). Bon fires, apple cider (with rum in it of course!), pumpkins, football and looking forward to the first night we can light a bundle of logs in the fireplace. Unfortunately for those of us in Central Illinois, fall only lasts a few weeks and soon enough snow starts to fly. But until then, I can imagine myself in some fictional New England town and take delight in the creepy sensation that the really wild-haired woman down the street MIGHT be a witch. Or perhaps I am the witch. This year I haven’t decided yet.

With October 1 comes another celebrated event: The creation of my Fall/Winter Reading List. This year the pickings are a little thin but that will not diminish my enjoyment in devouring these books while bright fall sunshine filters through the yellow leaves on the maple outside my window or on those gray days when you spot the first falling flakes of snow. So without further ado, the list.

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume ~ Julia Quinn

The second half of Quinn's Wyndham Duke pairings, this book promises to be even better than the first (a hard thing to accomplish, let me assure you). Thomas Cavendish has spent his whole life in preparation of becoming the next Duke of Wyndham. Amelia Willoughby, daughter of a viscount, has spent her entire life preparing to become Thomas' wife (an arrangement made at her birth). But now Thomas has come to the hard conclusion that someone else is, in fact, the duke and Amelia herself, in love with Thomas, has decided she can wait no longer. 

What's exciting about this book is that it's events mirror The Lost Duke of Wyndham, only from the perspective of Thomas and Ameila. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Quinn (a most gifted storyteller) can make the same scenes I just read in Lost Duke interesting without seeming redundant. I have complete faith in her. Due on October 13. Oh, and doesn't it have the most compelling cover? Look! A romance novel without a bare-chested man and bodice straining woman that STILL manages to be sensual. 

The Tales of Beedle the Bard ~ J.K. Rowling

Due out December 4 (just in time for Christmas) is a set of five fairy tales from the creator of Harry Potter. The reviews state that the tales are a mixture of Grimm's Brothers and Aesop Fables. Because I plan on buying this without really knowing anything about the book, let's let Amazon give you a brief overview:

"... tales reveals a lesson befitting children and parents alike: the strength gained with a trusted friendship, the redemptive power of love, and the true magic that exists in the hearts of all of us. Rowling's new introduction also comments on the personal lessons she has taken from the Tales, noting that the characters in Beedle's collection "take their fates into their own hands, rather than taking a prolonged nap or waiting for someone to return a lost shoe," and "that magic causes as much trouble as it cures."

But the true jewel of this new edition is the enlightening and comprehensive commentary (including extensive footnotes!) by Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who brings his unique wizard's-eye perspective to the collection. Discovered "among the many papers which Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives," the venerable wizard's ruminations on the Tales allow today's readers to place them in the context of 16th century Muggle society, even allowing that "Beedle was somewhat out of step with his times in preaching a message of brotherly love for Muggles" during the era of witch hunts that would eventually drive the wizarding community into self-imposed exile. In fact, versions of the same stories told in wizarding households would shock many for their uncharitable treatment of their Muggle characters."

Can I do much more than that? This Muggle cannot wait! 

It Happened One Night ~ Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balough, Jacquie D'Alessandro, Candice Hern

An anthology (I love anthologies ... if one story is bad, you still have 3 or 4 more to make up for it) about four very lovely, very proper young misses stranded at an inn, far away from the prying eyes of proper society. And of course, four very handsome, very heroic heroes happen upon this inn. In each story our lovely young misses face the man "who got away". Without the restrictions of society bearing down upon them. What will happen? Available now.

Not completely positive but judging from the cover I assume this is a Christmas anthology. Bonus! 

Just as a side note, Candice Hern has a wonderful website with tons of information for all you aspiring Regency romance writers out there. 

A Bride by Christmas ~ Heather Graham, Jo Beverley, Candance Camp

Here's another Christmas anthology. Nothing gets my attention whilst wandering Borders in October quicker than a Christmas anthology. Especially a WESTERN Christmas anthology. For the most part, Western romances are formula stories but the formula isn't what makes the story, the characters do. I'm just a little wary because I haven't read anything by any of these authors but I am willing to give it a go. I'm a sucker for Christmas stories. Out today. 

The Magic of Christmas ~ Carolyn Davidson, Victoria Bylin, Cheryl St. John

Hmmm ... I realize now I have a lot of Christmas anthologies to go through. This is not a problem. This is a good thing. Except ... as it gets closer and closer to Christmas I seem to have less and less time. THEN there's the little thing I run into when I am suppose to be wrapping presents and find myself picking up these little babies instead. Once I even wrapped a book I was reading without noticing. I only realized the next day when I went hunting for it. 

I adore Davidson who, through Harelquin, has made quite a name for herself as a Western Queen. And you can never go wrong with St. John. I have not read anything by Victoria Bylin but hey, with two good authors on the cover, I bet she has something great to offer. 

The stories in this anthology deal mostly with finding your way home or finding a new home. These are my favorite kind of Christmas stories because who has been given a greater gift than the gift of love, acceptance and a feeling of belonging? Plus, all the men wear cowboy hats. This is a no brainer. And despite the too-sweet cover, it still gives me a little giddy thrill in my heart to look at it. Out now. 

If you want more Christmas Anthologies, or just a Christmas story check out:

Snowy Night With a Stranger ~ Jane Feather, Sabrina Jeffries, Julia London 

One Candlelit Christmas ~ Julia Justiss, Annie Burrows, Terri Brisbin

A Seduction at Christmas ~ Cathy Maxwell

Two more to go. Unfortunately, I haven't mastered the art of putting in pictures so while I got those in (lucky books), the last two will have to go without visuals. 

Heart and Soul ~ Maeve Binchy

Binchy is an auto-buy for me. I have one tiny complaint though in that her last 4 or 5 books have been contemporaries. I find her most interesting books to be set in 1950s/60s Ireland. Anyway, this book, due out in February '09, features a female doctor battling her unruly adult daughters and an ex husband while trying to run an unfunded medical clinic. The clinic features a cast of characters including a Polish girl escaping a bad relationship, a young male doctor with a "special touch", a physical therapist, a annoyingly cheerful nurse and a superb office manager who has difficulties handling her private life. Anyone who has read Circle of Friends, Echoes, or The Glass Lake, will have no trouble in picking up this sure-to-be gem. 

Give Me A Cowboy ~ Linda L. Broday, Jodi Thomas, Dewanna Pace, Phyliss Miranda

Remember what I said about Christmas anthologies that were Westerns? Same deal if they aren't Christmas-themed. It has men with cowboy hats, I'm reading it. Due out in January '09. Again, auto-buy for Jodi Thomas. I haven't heard of the other three but they have a very good chance to pick up a new reader if I like any of the stories.