A heart necklace, just for you!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Photo credit: Bleeding Hearts, from DailyPhoto.org
P.S. Quick, does anyone have a pair of warm boots or a coat I can borrow? I’m headed to Texas today, and wouldn’t you know it, the weatherman just told me I should expect snow. Oh, no! I don’t have a decent winter jacket in my SoCal wardrobe, and the closest I come to cold-weather footwear are these! (Don’t you dare laugh at me; I can’t help it that I’m delicate flower weather wimp who’s better suited for warm climates.)
Act now! Quantities limited!
Last April, I blogged about the panel discussions I attended at the L.A. Times Festival of books. I liked a couple of sessions so much that I bought the DVD recordings. One that might be interesting to some of you is “Young Adult Fiction: Rites of Initiation.” I also have a very entertaining recording of Mitch Albom interviewing Frank McCourt. I’m happy to mail either one to you if you will, in turn, pass it on when you’re finished and/or make copies for other people who might also want to see them. First come, first served; I only have one copy of each.
(In cleaning up my office, I’m discovering all sorts of junk buried treasures! I seriously need to rent a dumpster hold a garage sale.)
UPDATE: ![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
artistq is the lucky first-round winner. She’s agreed, however, to pass them along to you when she’s finished. Interested? Send her an email at the address she’s provided in the comments.
Left to Right: John Green, Per Nilsson, Andreas Steinhöfel, and Markus Zusak
Book buzz for you, support for our troops
Still thinking about giving a Valentine’s Day treat to our men and women in the military? It’s too late to mail off a package on your own, but you can still send an email. You might also consider participating in a project that delivers books directly into the hands of our troops.
Jerry O’Brien, the heart and brain behind this project, is a friend of mine. I can personally vouch for his honesty and generous spirit, so I hope you’ll think seriously about contributing. In Jerry’s own words:
“The troops in Iraq have very little to do when they are not working. They really do enjoy reading. AF Liliya Timonichev, who is stationed in Iraq said in an email:
I’ve heard of (Laurel K. Hamilton) and also read some of her books. Don’t ask exactly what, ’cause I just read so many of them by whom and what … Vampire and time travel are the ones I really love. Christine Feehan wrote a good series, but I already own that, but any other of her books I’m waiting to put my hands on.
In my newsletter The Panache Experience, I mentioned that I collected over 120 CDs to send to two U.S. Air Force Personnel, Liliya Timonichev and Stephen Bretzinger, in Iraq. The CDs will be shared among the personnel and any donated books will also be shared and read and shared and read and shared and read and so on.
Help the troops and help to build your reading base. This is a great way to get the most bang for your book.* One book being circulated has to be worth at least two sitting on a shelf gathering dust.
Send your book (s) to Jerry O’Brien at 2808 E. Imperial Highway Brea, CA 92821, and he will pack and ship them to our service personnel. If you have a question about the project, send an email to [email protected]. I obtained the names of these AF personnel and contact information from www.troopcarepackage.com“
*If you write children’s books, or if you haven’t yet published a book of your own, you can instead donate books from your favorite grown-up authors, of course!
Come play in my yard!
If you would have a mind at peace, and a heart that cannot harden,
Go find a door that opens wide upon a lovely garden.
author unknown
It’s definitely springtime here: goldfinches are fighting for space at the feeder outside our dining room window; doves are cooing and nuzzling on the back fence; and mischievous mockingbirds are dive-bombing the wrens on the lawn, trying as always to instigate trouble. Best of all, everything’s coming into bloom.
I ate a picnic lunch in my backyard today. It felt so good to be outside, soaking up the afternoon sun! Afterward, I took a walk through my garden, which I like to do when I need time for reflection, a sanctuary for quieting my spirit. And hey, look what I brought back for you — a bouquet of pretty flowers! 
Left to Right, top row: grapefruit; pansies and violets, Marie Bracie camillias
Left to Right, middle row: Nucco’s Gold white camillia, Nucco’s Gold pink camillia; campanula and sea coral
Left to Right, third row: sun azalea; pansies in vintage Red Flyer wagon, with Posy’s sculpture, “Gus” in back; Japanese magnolia
Left to Right, bottom row: lace-leafed lavender; geranium; cyclamen in pot, with plenty of bistro table seating for anyone who wants to join me for a cup of tea!
Defying Gravity
First things first: I’m jumping for joy because I won 3rd place in Robyn Schneider’s Better Than Yesterday Prank Contest! If you missed my ribbeting entry, you can catch it in re-runs here.
There’s no suitable segue for this next little tidbit, except to say that it was the original reason I wrote the title for this post. It’s not a joke, I promise…
A few days ago, I was slouched on my couch, memoir-writing manual in one hand, pink highlighter pen in the other. The mid-afternoon drowsies were kicking in, so I reached for my t.v. remote and turned on Oprah. I sorta heard her say “Spanx,” but when I caught the phrase, “anti-liposuction, cellulite fix,” I sat bolt upright and cranked up the volume.
On and on, Oprah extolled the magical powers of this sleekifying garment, while her audience (me, included) sat transfixed. I swear, it was like watching a tent revival meeting one of those Sunday morning infomercials! Ten pounds, gone in the twinkling of an eye? Yea, verily and where’s my Visa? I belieeeeve!
I logged on to Nordstrom.com and typed in my order. At the last screen, however, I was second-guessing my size selection, so I clicked the Live Chat with Customer Service link.
Customer Service Representative: “Welcome to Nordstrom.com! My name is Jeff. How can I help you?”
Me: I need help figuring out which size Spanx to order. I’m 5’2.
J: That’s a very popular item. Our customers are very satisfied with this product and I’m sure you will be, too.
[J pauses for more typing]
J: I have the size chart in front of me now. Will you please tell me how much you weigh?
M: My goodness gracious, Jeff, what kind of question is that to ask a girl you’ve only just met? *blink blink*
[Long pause, while J reads, then chooses to ignore my pathetic attempt to avert embarrassment Scarlett O’Hara imitation]
J: Would you like to tell me your weight so I can facilitate your order?
M: Well, okay…but once I tell you, I’ll have to kill you, you know.
[Long pause, while M types in the numbers, hesitates over the Enter key, and then sends off her response.]
M: I weigh X. Promise you won’t sneak this information into my customer profile? Promise me, Jeff, promise me now!
J: I see here on the chart that you straddle sizes A and B. Would you like a looser, more comfortable fit? If so, you may want to order size B.
M: Honey, now that would defeat the whole purpose of buying suck-it-all-in leggings, don’t you think?
J: Is there anything else I can help you with? If not, you can close the Customer Representative button and complete your order.
M: No, not unless you sell something that camouflages bruised egos. Oh, and Jeff? You’re dead to me now.
Una palabra, no mas
bluemalibu started this meme — a challenge to our writerly vocabularies because it involves one very restrictive rule. Namely, you’re supposed to leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me.* It can only be one word. No more.
Got that? Now copy & paste this in your journal so that we can drop off a word that describes you.
*Bilingual, I’m not. If I’ve butchered the Spanish in my header, I hope you’ll correct me on my error(s).
Finished? Here’s three more things to think about:
Please hold all good thoughts for our own bostonerin, who’s waiting on some potentially exciting news!
Oh, snap! Brent Hartinger on Brent Hartinger: “I’ve always been a productive writer. I think that’s because I’ve supported myself from my writing since 1989 and if I don’t write, I don’t eat. So when I talk to writers who tell me it takes them three years to write a book, I think, “Really? Um…why?” I mean, maybe if you’re talking War and Peace, but a 250-page teen novel? What exactly do these folks do all day? They always make me feel so guilty, like I’m doing something terribly wrong.”
Poll Limbo, aka How low can you go? President Bush’s approval ratings fell to a new low of 28% today, according to a CBS poll. Other things with 28% approval ratings: boxer briefs, porn, reptiles, body hair on guys, a wall along the Mexican border, and cottage cheese (courtesy of D.C. Confidential).
Spreading the Love
Back in grade school, I was the little girl who never stayed in any school long enough to make many friends. No surprise, then: I nearly always came home empty-handed on Valentine’s Day. I’m not telling you this so you’ll feel sorry for me, but rather, so you’ll understand what I’m about to suggest.
It’s fun to swap cards and candy with one another — sweet, tangible evidence that we’re loving and loveable creatures. But this year, I’m thinking we might also reach out to the American soldiers who’ll find themselves a long way from home on February 14th.
You can donate airline miles to help reunite returning troops with their families, buy calling cards so lonely soldiers can phone home more often, or send healing thoughts to wounded service members. Here, to make it easy for you, is a website that’s chock full of links to over 150 nonprofit, legitimate organizations whose sole purpose is to connect our military men and women with kind-hearted people like you.
If you’re short on cash or time’s an issue, you can surely find a few moments to thank the troops by email. As one contributor noted:
A soldier in Iraq can’t see your ribbon,
Or the flag at your front door.
But a letter they hold in their hands,
To them means so much more.
Let’s work together to make sure none of our troops is forgotten on Valentine’s Day.
Who knew?
Gneri and citycatinwindow tagged me to play the Five Things You Don’t Know about Me meme. Who am I to turn down a party invitation?
- I knew Timothy Leary personally. One piece of evidence: I own an autographed copy of his last book, Flashbacks, in which he inscribed the words, “To my buddy, Melodye…” (The rest of his message is private.)
- I tutored Tito Jackson’s young son, and I also tutored one of John DeLorean‘s children. Matter of fact, I think DeLorean’s former wife, model-cum-talk-show-host Cristina Ferrare, still owes me $25.00.
- A while back I taught at “Gangs ‘r Us” junior high school, in a crime-infested part of the San Fernando Valley. In a hurry to make it to homeroom one morning, I locked my keys in my car, along with my purse. Quick thinker that I am, I hosted an impromptu, “How fast can you break into my Camry?” contest in the parking lot. Faster than you can say “chop shop,” several students stepped forward with contraptions designed just for that purpose. Two seconds from approach to entry, by the way, was the record.
- Like lizzy_lyn, I’ve never gotten a traffic ticket. Not that I haven’t bent and broken the law, understand me: I’ve just managed to avoid being caught.
- In 1994, I witnessed firsthand an historic address to the joint session of Congress and the signing of a peace agreement between Jordan‘s King Hussein and Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
What secrets are you keeping from us? C’mon, kibileri papadan and all the rest of you out there in LJ Land, it’s your turn to dish!
The fine print: Each participant shares five little-known facts about themselves. Those tagged are asked to do the same as well as reiterate this guideline. Each select five folks to be tagged and list their names. (Leave a comment letting them know that you’ve tagged them and that they may see your blog as an example.)