My birthday yesterday!

I had a really marvelous time, even though I had to work and I spent the evening alone (Harlan had to work). I treated myself to a new book called Pinkerton's Sister by Peter Rushforth. Here's from the back of the book:

For Alice Pinkerton, trapped in a suffocating life of convention and party chatter, 1903 New York society is enough to make a woman mad--or at least make her a madwoman in the attic. So Alice escapes through the looking glass of literature, finding companionship and inspiration in Shakespeare, Wilde, Hawthorne, Stevenson, Poe, Austen, and the rest of the literary pantheon of her day. Like a character from one of her favorite novels, Alice holds a biting, eccentric view of life, seeing beyond the limitations of her circumstances to create a fascinating portrait of her society.

Heartbreaking and wildly funny, intelligent and dazzling in its range, Pinkerton's Sister is a true celebration of the imagination and a mesmerizing example of the saving power of fiction. Most of of, itis the quintessential novel for readers.

Now I ask you: how could I possibly resist that one? I know, I keep trying to get my tbr under control, but after all, it was my birthday and it gave me something special from my co-workers.

They surprised me yesterday with a cupcake tree (they couldn't find a sugarfree cake anywhere in town for sale) and some Hershey kisses, the ones with cherry in them. They are to DIE for! And then of course some meat and cheese and crackers. And! A gift card for $25. I certainly wasn't expecting any of it. Each cupcake had a plastic ring in it, some with butterflies, some with Easter eggs. I chose a blue butterfly for myself and had fun wearing it all day.

Yesterday had some phone calls after work, too. My sister Mary called and my brother John rattled on for quite a while, too. Michelle, mom to a few of my grandchildren, called last night, too, although she didn't realize what day it was and I didn't remind her. She was having a really bad day and needed an ear more than anything. I'll have to try calling her tonight and see if she is having it any easier in the light of day.

Harlan was home later from work than usual and then had to watch his Mavericks game. Me, I read and fell asleep. All in all, a decent day.

Uncle Sam

I've been working on our income taxes (I know..just prolonging the agony, waiting till now, aren't I?). Of course, Harlan's stuff is in his computer and for some reason, his computer has decided that it doesn't want to let him in. I sure hope it doesn't take till past the 15th to get in there! Life is grand. We're going to have to pay in. I had to sell off a couple of investments (Taxable income) to pay my hospital bill from last year. It's not enough to deduct, but you know how that goes. So it's going to have a little ouch factor this year. I hope I get to see where our bottom line is later on today. I need more coffee before I agonize too much over this.

We have progress!

Harlan had to go to the dentist yesterday and I went along, so we could browse Home Depot afterwards. I love that store. My pretty countertop was still there! Anyway, we ended up getting a door for my sewing room (aptly named Neverland). It has glass panels in it, so I can see into or out of the room. I love it! We need to paint it yet ..it'll be sky blue on the inside of the sewing room..Harlan wants it white on the outside, but that won't work with what I'm going to do with the kitchen. I don't know for sure what color I want, so I'll wait. I can change it later on. Now that you can see into the sewing room, I'd better get my books cleaned up off the floor!

Dates!

Here it is, my birth month eve day. Sound confusing? It can be, unless you realize that I celebrate my birthday all month. Doesn't everyone?

With the day off of work, I'm going to see how much I can clear up around here. The fire ants are trying to invade the house, looking for water (meaning they get in every so often by the sink) so it's time to do something about them. I think they've managed to build a hill under the house somewhere. I hate those things!

It's warmed up a bit, too, and is into the 70s. I have my plants back outside and my geraniums are going very well. I have one I need to repot. My cat ate my pixie lily, so I'm waiting to see if that comes back. She at the impatiens, too, but it's flowering again, happy to be out of her reach. That cat will eat anything!

I've been knitting happily along. I got a dishcloth done in variegated greens the other day. I'll have to dig out my flour sack towels and decide on some designs on those. I may draw my own and personalize a few. Quilting pens are very handy for that.

The Advisory Board sent me a book called Above Suspicion by Lynda La Plante. Looks good! I hope to get to that one this coming week.

Broken Chains

From http://www.brokenchains.us/
This is where one of my sons is:

75 Ad -Seg. prisoners are on hunger strike at the Eastham Unit, in Lovelady,Texas, near Houston, Texas; over a multitude of grievances, between 350 & 400 have already been submitted at this 98.75 % to at-capacityunit. 304 beds shy of overflow, there have been two riots in General Population that have taken place in the past week. The word is out that imminent Unit -Lockdown status is forthcoming.

>One of the hunger strikers, a self-styled Anarchist /Eco / Prison Activist, Ernest Martinez, Jr., #761046, with his Ad-Seg.-cellblock in lockdown, has sent us a list of 14 complaints/grievances from his assessments, and asked us for solidarity, and to publicize this, and also to write letters lodging complaints to theEastham ( called the "HAM" ) administration :
Senior Warden David L.Stacks,
TDCJ Eastham Unit,
P.O. Box 16,
Lovelady, Texas 75851.

The deplorable conditions that exist at the "HAM", are here in the main list of demands:

1. Educational / Library access has been terminated due to budget cuts.

2. Food portions have been cut in half.

3. Food is being served cold / No bread (s) on tray for over a month.

4. Dishwasher broken / several weeks ( increasing hepatitis risk )

5. Many cellblocks with very little or no heat. During rainy weather lower level cells are flooded due to leaks in roofs, walls, vents, and windows.

6. Prisoners who are elligible - are NOT being broughtup for promotions and / or not being allowed to make a 5 - minute phone call every 90 days.

7. There is a chronic staff shortage. ( this includes both medical as well as guards )

8. Due to staff shortage, prisoners are not given alloted recreation periods. Some times we are only given 1 -3 hours of rec. per week.

9. Ad-Seg. rec. yard-kennels are literally caked with bird excrement very unsanitary and a health risk ).

10. Prison officials do not respond to and / or even bother to return requests made by prisoners.

11. Guards are quick to write up disciplinary reports for even the most mundane and / or archaic rule infractions.

12. Sick - Calls go unanswered for up to 2 weeks. (Note: this prisoner has submitted two Sick - Call requests within the last 9 days and still has not been seen. )

13. As of December 13, 2003, U.S Mail is is no longer picked up / distributed on Saturdays.

14. Haircutting implements are not being properly sanitized. On haircut day 20 - 40 prisoners are forced to have their hair cut with the same clippers and blades. ( Increases Hepatitis risk / other skin and scalp infections )

Ernest says..." of course this is just the tip of the adversity iceberg, many other aberrant violations occur behind these walls every day."

Also write a letter to:

TDCJ Region I Director's Office
1225 Avenue G,
Huntsville, Texas 77340

Chris Daughtry

It's been a wild ride on television so far this week! Prison Break is back! And 24 deserves praise for always raising the bar on excitement and surprises. Can you believe what happened with Edgar? Then there's American Idol. Who are they going to vote off? Who will make it to the end? For my money, and especially after that version of Walk the Line, Chris Daughtry deserves to win. He's definitely talented, but then so are many of the others. I like Elliott, I like Taylor, and Lisa, too. But Chris shows the most originality and showcases his talent like a star. Have you seen him? Tune into American Idol on Fox tonight and see who stays and who leaves. Here's a picture of Chris. You should be voting for him!

Procrastination

I was going to start up my spring cleaning yesterday, having the day off of work and no one home to work around, but I didn't. Shame on me! Instead, I did laundry, washed ALL the bedding, including comforter (which is down and takes forever to dry on low), and cleaned up the kitchen and utility room floors.

I also caught up on a few of my Tivoed (how DO you spell that?) items. I still have about two weeks worth of soaps to watch, but I did manage to finally watch the highlights of the Oscars. Course, it ran over and the show ended right as they were going to announce best actress. At least I already know it was Reese Witherspoon. I like her. She seems like a nice person.

I give myself so many things to do. I never get anywhere near done with my list. Why do I do that?

St Patrick's Day was memorable!

Well, for all the wrong reasons it was. I had a dental appointment first thing in the morning for a deep cleaning. Urgh. So, Harlan went along to get some teeth filled. (Which they didn't do.) A productive morning and out to spend the holiday together! That's not quite what happened, though. These deep cleanings take a whole lot longer than I thought (about three hours!) and they decided they wanted Harlan to have a cleaning before they decided where to go from there. He needs a LOT done. So after my cleaning, we went to lunch (which was a total adventure, since my novacaine hadn't worn off) and then back for Harlan to get a deep cleaning. It was almost dinner time when we got out of there. We had spent the whole day there! It would have been a whole lot nicer if I had remembered to take along my book (we were in Harlan's vehicle) so I could read something other than magazines while waiting.

After that we went looking around at Home Depot. I found the kitchen countertop I want! It's black with beautiful silver flakes in it. Silestone was the brand. I must remember that. I love looking around and planning out how we're going to remodel this place as we get the money. My sewing room still needs the doors done.

So we got ourselves an interior decorating program for the computer, came home and had supper and I did get to watch Dr Who on the scifi channel! Very fun! But there was no real carrying on for the holiday, darn it. Maybe next year. At least I don't have a hangover!

Today I'm going to start in on my spring cleaning, I think. I listed it at http://www.43things.com which is a marvelous site! Check it out!

What did you think?

Well, I was surprised at the bottom three on American Idol last night. I'm not surprised that Melissa went, though. I figured after she forgot her lines, it might happen. I do like her, though. Were you surprised Kevin wasn't in the bottom three? I guess he really does have the "cute factor" going for him!

I got three reading group polls put up already this morning and I'm getting ready to leave for work, so I feel pretty accomplished already today! I love watching to see which book is going to get chosen each time.

There's no American Idol on tonight! But! I heard that Alias is coming back next month! Woo hoo! I LOVE that show!

I love American Idol!

Who do you think is going to win? Right now I really like Chris Daughtery (sp?). I like Elliott and some of the others, too, but I think this year it's going to be one of the guys that wins the first spot. Kellie Pickler is sweet, though, isn't she? And Mandisa can sing. Well, they all can pretty well. I liked Bucky's performance tonight, even if Simon didn't. Pbbttt on Simon for that one.

It's cold out there!

I think rather than make this blog about reading, I'll add things here that are going on with my life. At least that's the plan. We'll see how it goes.

I got a letter from Jake yesterday and he sounded occupied. He's figured out a way to make "paint brushes" out of toilet paper and it's giving his work a little more depth. I hope when he gets out he can find something to do with his art. He's very good. I'll try to get a picture or two up of it here if I can figure out how to scan the canvas or get a good enough picture of it.

Phillip (my other son), has been busy with his work. He's a tattoo artist in Denton. He's also very good! Their styles are a bit different, though. I can look at an example of each and tell who did which one.

It's good to find something you love and then find a way to make a living with it.

Where have I been?

I've been so remiss here, but I think it's because I can't decide just what I want to do with this blog. I already have a reading one and it seems silly to have two of them. It would just be duplication.
For those who don't know, I have a son away from home. His name is Jake and he'll be away for a few more years yet. His biggest crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and not choosing his friends wisely. I'll add a picture of him here. If there's anyone who wants his address to write to him, email me at diamondlightfoot at yahoo dot com. I know he could use the moral support.

What is it a person wants to say about things? I already have a blog for what I'm reading over at livejournal, but I wanted to see what this place was all about, too. Why? I don't know! I hardly keep up very well with my other one! But we'll wing it here and see where this goes.