Wednesday, March 21, 2012

what I'm not doing...and what I'm doing instead...

Holy freakin' crap! I am alone. I have approximately 1 1/4 hours all to myself here. Completely alone. Can't remember when this last happened. *happy sigh*

Yep, Rich is taking his vertebrate zoology class off on a field trip, so he picked up Gray and Annie to go along, and I have a little over an hour before I have to go pick up Maxidoodle.

So. I should be emailing Chris. I should be emailing Ana. I should finally be catching up on blog reading/commenting. Heck, all these things are even fun things.

And then there's the not quite so fun things. I should be working on school stuff since I could probably accomplish six times as much with no one here to interrupt every three minutes. I definitely should be doing our taxes. I should be making a list of of the practical shit we'll need to do in the next couple weeks as we move into our new house (you know, the utilities, school registration, etc.). I should be doing a load of laundry.

But instead I'm sitting here giddy over the fact that Once Upon a Time VI has started. Yep, Mr. Awesome Challenge Host/Mr. Great Guy/Carl has officially put smiles on faces around the world yet again.

I love this banner. Love. Love. Love. All the beautiful artwork that Carl is using is by Melissa Nucera. As a cool (to me) aside, I noticed, while I was drooling over all the beautiful artwork at her Etsy shop, that's she lives in Rich's hometown. (Yeah...I'm rambling...what's new...)

So, yes. Once Upon a Time. In its sixth year! Which means it was six years ago that I was meeting some of the people who have become my dearest, most loved friends. :D Oops, I guess that means it was actually five years ago that the first OUaT challenge began...right? Oh, whatever. Anyway Carl, the wonderful "bringer together of people" that he is, again wants us to remember to focus on having fun and sharing that fun with others. Seriously, how can this be beat--fantasy, folktales, fairy tales, mythology, old friends, new friends, growing wish lists...yeah, sort of heavenly, wouldn't you say?

As in the past, Carl has a variety of ways to join in the fun. I think I'm wimping out and just committing myself to The Journey...this way anything above and beyond that first book gives me a false sense of accomplishment. :P

Sad fact: Our books are in storage. Happy fact: I was to the library today.

And from the library, I picked out one book to fit neatly into each subcategory. For fairy tales, there's Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde, who, incidentally, is a local author that Annie has met a few times. This book is a collection of short stories all based on "Little Red Riding Hood." For fantasy, I picked up Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce, a book I actually own (thanks to Ana and Kelly) but haven't yet read. For folktales, The Girl Who Married A Lion and Other Tales From Africa, which is a collection of folktales from Zimbabwe and Botswana retold by Alexander McCall Smith. And for mythology, there's Girl Meets Boy: The Myth of Iphis by Ali Smith (another book first brought to my attention by Ana!)...this is the third time I've checked this book out, let's hope this time I actually get around to reading it.

When we finally get to move into our new house and get all our lovely books out of storage, I will likely make a whopping big pile of books to tantalize me through the rest of OUaT. And I'm probably post all about it here. Which is probably not necessary. But since this is my blog, I can do whatever the fuck I want, right? (Including just gratuitously throwing out the word "fuck" apparently.)

Well, that hour+ sure flew by. Time to just wish you all a HAPPY SPRING!!!! And a HAPPY ONCE UPON A TIME!!!!

Thanks yet again, Carl. :D

14 comments:

raidergirl3 said...

hey Deb! I usually end up 'paralysed into inactivity' when I realize I have an hour at home to myself. I think of all the things I could do, all the things I want to do, and usually do none. Oh, well, it's still an hour to myself.

Enjoy your books!

Heather said...

um...and why can you be emailing me? :D

That was my favorite banner for the challenge this year too. I am so glad it's here! Daffodils, robins, pollen, and Once Upon a time. SPRING IS HERE!!! WOOO HOOO!

This reminds me; I need to read Flora Segunda too. It was only list from Ana. Ooooopsssss....

And gratuitous cursing! Just another reason I adore you Debi!

Kailana said...

I make all sorts of plans for when I have time to myself, but most of the time I accomplish basically nothing. I did get the dishes tonight, though. That was an accomplishment! haha!

We are having summer weather this week. It's crazy! It's almost too hot in the house at times.

I hope you get lots of wonderful reading done, Debi! I really need to read the sequel to Flora Segunda. And, Girls Meets Boy was really great.

Jean said...

Sounds as if the new house is a definite if you're thinking school registration. I hope Maxidoodle handles the transition okay. I'm glad you got some time to yourself. The whole hotel room living does sometimes get to you. [Ask me how I know this :-) ] As for a happy spring, I'm going to miss it this year, though perhaps two weeks of autumn in Australia will be close to spring in Virginia. Otherwise, it's summer heat plus here, and I'm about to head out into it.

DesLily said...

ohhhh ! did you say phuck? LOL LOL

Flora Segunda I read long time ago and vaguely remember it was very enjoyable! ..ummm, the others I've not read... can't wait for you to move into your new home !!you will be working your "buttski" off!

I sent you and email.. i need to talk to you (nothing dire!)

Debi said...

Raidergirl3,
LOL--it's sort of funny how that goes, isn't it? :D

Heather,
Well of course--I should have been emailing you too!!! And I know, don't you just want to pop right into that picture and lie in the grass and pet that too-cute-for-words little fox and watch butterflies flutter around. Yep, sounds pretty darn perfect. :D

Kelly,
I know! Isn't this weather just freakin' crazy! We don't usually have the temps we've had this week until June! Totally nuts.

Jean,
Yep, I hate to sound to sure of things for fear of jinxing it all, but everything is supposedly on schedule for us to close on the 30th! :D
I'm not sure what to think of spring this year...we've been having spring on and off all winter long, and now we seem to have hopped right into summer. Just bizarre. But I do hope the weather in Australia is fabulous for you while you're there!

Pat,
I shall go check email right now!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I can't explain how BIG the smile on my face is after reading this post. (And I do happy dances to when I'm found with 1.15 hours to myself...though I usually waste all my "free" time figuring out what I want to do).

I've been wanting to read Boy Meets Girl for years (thanks to Ana's review).

Yay for Spring!!! :D

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

D'oh. Girl Meets Boy. ;)

Cath said...

The African Folk Tales sound fascinating - will keep an eye out for your review if you get to it.

Susan said...

I want to read Flora Segunda and can't find it anywhere! I may have to special order it.....it sounds so fun. You have a lovely collection there, I like that Red Riding Hood collection too, it sounds interesting.

As for the hour free - it's such a treat, and like everyone else who commented here, it usually flies by with me not accomplishing anything either :-) the sad fact of free time + mothers = not enough free time! lol I like Pat's 'phuck' as well. I'll have to try that!!!

Yaaay for OUaT 6!!!!

kreed said...

Holy Shit!!! I didn't realize I was so far behind on blog reading until I came here and saw everything that has gone on with y'all in the past month! Totally sending you an email!!!

Cheryl @ Tales of the Marvelous said...

Ooh, I love Cloaked in Red! You should also read The Rumpelstiltskin Problem. Vivian Vande Velde did six different variations on Rumpelstiltskin too. I think I like it a bit better, though they're both great books. Have fun with the challenge, and smart planning on getting one for each category right at the beginning! I had trouble last year with Folklore...

Care said...

I have never participated in OUAT but it sure gets awesome cheerleaders. (and I'm still laughing with DesLily's charming respellings.)

Gavin said...

I love the fact that OUAT gets everyone so excited and that each year I discover new to me blogs to follow! Happy reading...