For your summer reading list

My friend Peter has just published his book Peter Pan's NeverWorld. It's currently available on amazon. This has been a long, arduous journey for Peter to get this book out, so hooray for Peter for making his dream a reality at long last! So when you're cruising amazon looking for something to read as the height of summer (and summer heat) approaches, add this to your shopping cart and help a new author (new in terms of entry into the publishing world) take off. You can be one of the first to discover a star!

Some things are just worth more than a dollar

Guilty pleasure confession time: I LOVE the Dollar Tree. It's one of those stores where everything inside costs $1. You can really find some cool stuff in there. I often go there to stock up on cleaning supplies and it's a great place to shop for props for shows. We created an Italian bistro last summer for a show all at the Dollar Tree.

Today, I stopped by the Dollar Tree to look for some 8X10 frames. I have some vintage-style advertisements, such as this one, that I bought several months ago at Target. When I bought them, I didn't really have the space to hang them anywhere, but I sensed that would come in handy and I am such a fan of these vintage ads. Well, now that I'm in my house, I have the space for them. I found 4 lovely black frames that will be perfect for said pictures. Woo hoo!

As I was in the line to check out, I let my eyes wander over the "impulse buys" kept at the register -- stuff like gum and mints and cheesy key chains and . . . . home pregnancy tests. Yes, one of the "impulse buys" at the Dollar Tree was a $1 home pregnancy test. Imagine the woman standing in line at the Dollar Tree with her dish soap and cheap candles and gift wrap. She glances over the impulse buys at the register and thinks to herself, "Ooh! Mint breath spray. Billy Ray might like it if my breath was minty fresh when we go parkin' at the creek. I'll get me some of that. Oh, and look at that! A home pregnancy test. You know, it has been a couple weeks since I last had my monthly visitor. Maybe I'd better pick me up one of them too!"

As the headline of this post says, some things are just worth more than a dollar. And a home pregnancy test is probably at the top of that list.

And the rockets' red glare . . .

I hope everyone out there had a nice 4th of July. I honestly can't complain about mine outside of the fact that my allergies were not playing nice for a good chunk of the day. I got up early to get things ready for today's cook-out before my sis and I headed over to the local multiplex to see Hancock. Long story short: I liked it. Many of the reviews I'd seen were rather scathing, but I think that I saw the same movie that the New York Times saw -- a decent movie that, while "far from perfect," kept me pretty entertained for 95 minutes or so. What more can you want for a 4th of July movie? And honestly, it was so refreshing to see Charlize Theron actually get to play pretty!

After the movie, we hosted a cookout at our house, giving me a chance to break in my new grill. I grilled burgers and brats and despite the copious amounts of smoke I inhaled, I had a good time. We then headed over to a friend's house to watch the fireworks. The friend lives on the edge of town and has a great view of the fireworks out at Lake Storey so that we didn't have to face the throngs trying to get the best spot. We had a great spot with the music being simulcast on a local radio station and homemade ice cream to top it all off. I'm not sure when I've had such a nice 4th of July -- good entertainment, good food, good friends, and fireworks. Yee haw!

Happy Birthday, America!!

Why can't I be an American Girl, too??

Okay, here's the thing. I really want to see the American Girl movie -- Kitt Kittredge, starring Little Miss Sunshine herself, Abigail Breslin. Here's the problem with that: I am a 36-year-old, childless woman. As my sis pointed out, the only thing creepier than me going to see that movie by myself is if she and I went to see it together. Or even better, if she and I went to see it together with our American Girl dolls.* Imagine a theatre full of pre-pubescent girls running around with their dolls and then there are the creepy old ladies sitting in the back row clutching their own, slightly battered from age American Girl dolls. The only way it could be worse is if we were men!

And yet . . . I want to see it! It looks so charming and so fun and so girl power-y! I love those girl power-y movies! I might be the only person in America who was charmed by the recent Nancy Drew movie. And yet, I really don't want to be that creepy old lady sitting in the American Girl movie. So I will patiently wait for the video release of Kitt Kittredge, slyly add it to my Netflix queue, and watch it in my house . . . with my American Girl doll. In the meantime, I guess I'll join those Americans over 12 who will be spending their 4th of July weekend seeing Hancock. And maybe, just maybe, I won't be the only one wishing I were in the next theatre with Kitt Kittredge.

* -- I really don't have an American Girl doll. I was too old for dolls by the time they came out, and I'm not really able to justify spending $100 to own one now. But face it, the thought of me and my sis sitting in the back row of Kitt Kittredge is just a little funnier if you picture us clutching to our own American Girl dolls, isn't it? And to answer your other question, if I WERE to have an American Girl doll, since there doesn't seem to be a ginger American Girl, it would probably be Molly if only because of the glasses and jaunty beret and argyle sweater. I'm also a little miffed that the groovy 70s hippie chick American Girl doll is named Julie . Not fair!!!

Words sort of fail me

This is for Allen. I don't know if he reads this blog or not, but this is still for him.

Take me to the . . . lake

Today, I did one of my favorite summer things. I drove out to the lake that sits on the outskirts of town and took a nice, leisurely, mile-and-a-half stroll. It was a beautiful morning for a walk -- sunny but not too hot, a gentle breeze keeping things comfortable. I had my mp3 player on playing selections from Entertainment Weekly's "100 Greatest Summer Songs." I was in heaven.

Lake Storey is a sort of marvel to me. A friend of mine once got into a small argument about the lake when I made the comment that Lake Storey was a testament to Mother Nature's gift. He argued that Lake Storey was a man-made lake and therefore Mother Nature had nothing to do with it -- almost impugning "man" for trying to create its own beauty. My counterargument was that while humans had indeed dug the hole and planted the trees, Nature had taken it from there and created a truly beautiful little nook sandwiched between the cornfields and the city.

Regardless of whether the lake is a testament to human engineering or Nature's brilliance, it's still a nice way to spend a morning spotting butterflies and dragonflies and all sorts of beautiful flowers and plants as "My Sharona" propels you along the path. After "working" nature for the past couple weeks out in my yard, it was nice to just appreciate the work someone else had done.

And yes, this is an actual picture of Lake Storey, not just some random lake somewhere in America.