Adding to the family - Part II

While it seems like she's been part of our family for a couple of years, last night it became more official: my son proposed to his girlfriend and she accepted. When he called, we were with my parents, sisters and spouses, and my dad's reaction when he talked to my son: "I think you got the better end of the deal." I prefer to think they BOTH got lucky - as did we! A new daughter for us, a new sister for my daughter, an aunt for my granddaughter - all good stuff. Don't know any details, but I'll have to borrow the book on being the mother of the groom I gave my friend Karen when her son was getting married. I hope it gives me better advice than the old, tired saying: "Shut up, show up, and wear beige."

Congratulations, Eric, and best wishes, Holly!

Read my first Harry Potter book!

Okay, it was pretty repetitive, since I saw the movie based on the first book, but now I'm ready to move on to uncharted territory. My son tells me if I read Books Five and Six, then I'll be good to go with Seven. I'll see if I can crank through those two and then savor the last one.

On another note - I HATE ANTS!!! Not as bad as fleas (see Mountain Mama's blog) but annoying nonetheless. This is at the beach - they get on any fragment of food left out - including the cats' food - as well as toothbrushes (yechhhh!) We had an exterminator, but apparently the heat and humidit embolden these little creeps and they laugh - LAUGH, I say - at the various treatments that have worked in the past. So Saturday we'll spray the dickens out of the place so the renters won't be carried off!

I guess the Zen approach is to acknowledge that they have a right to exist, but they just skeeve me out so much.

Another book for nerds

Just finished reading The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs. He worked his way through the Encyclopedia Britannica and wrote commentary on a variety of topics in alphabetical order. He intersperses personal experiences with fun facts that we all appreciate on Quizzo night. Don't buy it - just get it from the lbirary.

A great book for nerds

Okay, it may not sound like an exciting topic, but I bought a really cool book - If You Catch An Adjective, Kill It - by Ben Yagoda. Believe it or not, it's a truly entertaining treatment of the parts of speech; the chapter on articles (a, an, the) is really fun. Understand, of course, that I believe that everyone in the English-speaking world should read Strunk and White's Elements of Style; perhaps I believe that if enough people read this book, the language will be saved.

Anyway, go to the library and get Yagoda's book if you can.