Friday, June 29, 2012

Bits of Random

My husband experienced a rather violent episode of vertigo. One part of me felt terrible as he has dealt with horrible nausea and wild spinning in his head. The other part of me thought while thinking of my own bouts of   uncontrollable nausea and wild spinning in my head (never officially diagnosed), "see I wasn't faking it!" Terrible, I know. But that little imp inside of me wouldn't quit.


It requires a lot of creative energy to manage 5 kids home from school. We are having fun, working hard, and playing. But all that takes time and energy, which leaves little left over for other projects, like writing posts for my blog. I have a couple of posts I need to write, which are not being written, spinning instead forever in my head. But I can be patient, they'll come when it is time.


Now that I'm used to hitting shift and enter to go to a new paragraph for FaceBook, I can't break the habit in my other writing. Weird.

I like to go out and explore places and see people. But I always come home drained and fatigued. When my 5 kids are home for the summer, I want to go out, but I dread it at the same time. It requires even more energy to make sure all the children are safe and keeping up as we walk along. And then, of course, I'm exhausted when we get home, and cranky. Have I mentioned what a terrible person I am when I am cranky? Anyone else face this dilemma with shopping and going out?

My husband was on a business trip for 5 days. I think it was the first business trip he's ever taken where we haven't had a major disaster back home. I'm good with that, but not really sure that the good luck will hold in the future.

I really, really want to go to Petra. The question is, would it be better to go in the fall when it isn't as hot?

I also really, really want to go to Egypt. Can't the people/government just get it together so I can visit without worrying about safety? Shouldn't my tourism needs be top priority? Right?

I adore swimming at night. And Riyadh is much more attractive at night.



I wish my 2-year old would keep taking his naps. 'Cuz falling asleep at 5 p.m. and then waking up at 6:30 p.m., and then staying awake till I go to bed, is really not working for me. 

Who knew that a canister of beads would keep ALL my children entertained for hours--even the 12-year old? I didn't. I based my guess on the fact that my boys didn't really enjoy those beads when they were smaller. But now, they are almost addicted. 

I really appreciate a hot fudge sundae. It's the little things in life that keep us going.

I wrote a very negative review about a book I read recently on Goodreads and the author responded to my comments. She was very civil and made some interesting points. Her comments didn't change my opinion of the book, though I could understand what she was trying to do. I never really thought that an author would respond to my little comments about a book made on Goodreads. Who knew?

Just finished The Paris Wife  by Paula McLain, a semi-fictional novel about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson. I read with the same kind of horrified fascination you devote to watching a car wreck take place. You are powerless to stop it, it scares you silly, and yet you can't stop looking. In spite of that, I thought the book was very interesting. The descriptions of American artists like Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and others living Paris during the 1920's were fascinating. I was simultaneously appalled at the way they experimented with marriages and relationships and also curious how that affected their creative processes. Sorry, I thought this was going to be short, but evidently I have more to say. I'll save that for Goodreads.

Some friends loaned us the extended version of the 3 Lord of the Rings Movies. We've been watching them and I am reminded again of the complexity of  the Tolkien stories, characters, and themes. My son is finally interested in reading the books. I continue to be impressed with Peter Jackson's ability to bring to life, so magnificently, the books. Very powerful.







1 comment:

  1. Tolkien was my introduction to fantasy back in H.S. and in a sense spoiled the genre for life for me since so few works by anyone else can compete with it. I tend to read SciFi or Horror instead. Regarding the movies, A. found them too dark but I liked them. It is perhaps one of Tolkien's few flaws that he did not portray "evil" very conviningly or scarily. Modern books tend to go the other extreme with too much detail on gore, and mayhem and evil deeds.

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