Friday, May 23, 2008

What I Read and The Ants Are Dead

My reading break was a success! I finished two books (click on each image to enlarge for detail -- this works on all but The Lottery by Shirley Jackson):













And, I read bits of three more:













Reviews of Moonstruck and Jeremy Visick are forthcoming.

Only two days post grits feeding, the fire ants appeared to be totally dead and thus far they have not returned. A third hill-kicking produced absolutely no movement or life signs. So, listen to your elderly grandmother when she tells you to feed your fire ants grits. She knows what she's talking about.

Wishes to those in the United States for a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. This weekend is the opening of the City Pool, so kiddo will be busy lifeguarding. The rest of us are going to do whatever house and yard work we can squeeze in, between storms. And, of course, I'll be reading like a mad woman on housekeeping breaks.

Happy Reading!

18 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:24 PM

    I can't wait to read what you thought of "Moonstruck." I've had my eye on this book.

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  2. Wahoo for grits-killed fire ants!

    As far as I'm concerned that's the only thing grits could possibly be good for...ick! :D

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  3. Anonymous5:01 PM

    The Lottery gave me the worst nightmares.

    Have a good weekend! Lifeguarding sounds more fun that it probably will be.

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  4. Glad to hear your fire ants are gone. I always thought grits were a bad idea. Now I know why!!

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  5. We love Cheese Grits in my family. We are going to be doing similar things this weekend. I am helping my Dad move, cleaning, filling out job applications, reading, and hopefully going to see the new Indiana Jones movie. :)

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  6. At least those fire ants died happy!

    And let's hear it for madwoman reading breaks!

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  7. Carrie,

    That's interesting. Usually I'm nightmare-prone, but I just felt like The Lottery (at least the title story) was such a huge let-down. I liked the one story I read, yesterday.

    Thanks, you too. I wouldn't want to be a lifeguard -- it's really a bit like babysitting dozens of kids whose parents believe the pool is a cheap option for childcare -- but I think the kiddo sees it as a natural next step. He'll be teaching swimming, also.

    Stephanie,

    I kind of thought that, myself. Although, to be honest, I liked the three-cheese instant grits. It was a bit like eating a handful of salted grain. Maybe I was craving salt, that day. :)

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  8. Brittanie,

    You've just exposed yourself as a die-hard Southern chick. But, honestly, I did like the cheesy version. It's possible that we were both mice in our former lives.

    Ooooh, I want to see the new Indiana Jones! Have fun! We've been throwing out old clothing, cleaning, doing laundry, and shifting closets all day. It's massively boring but we're making progress and I'm happy. :)

    Debi,

    They probably died happy and very, very full. LOL

    Yeah, here, here! A day of reading madly is extraordinarily therapeutic. It would be even better if life didn't interfere but, you know. Kid has to go to work and occasionally likes to be fed. Hubby is a puppy -- needs attention for at least a few minutes or he'll whine. Some day, I'm going to go on a long vacation by myself and just take long walks with the camera, read, and write. I'll go somewhere with very fresh air and zero mosquitoes :)

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  9. J.Kaye,

    Give in to your urge and buy the book! Yes, yes, I live to enable.

    Kookie,

    And, no poison was used! Wahoo!

    Well, yeah, grits are pretty pointless otherwise, if you ask me, although I've suddenly taken to craving the three-cheese variety. Weird. :)

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  10. Congrats on a successful reading break! Those covers are neat looking. :) And so cool that the grits actually work; yay for less poison in the environment!

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  11. Congrats on such a succesful hiatus! I'm looking forward to your review of Moonstruck.

    I bought and read Dean Koontz's Odd Hours yesterday, from cover to cover. The vertigo is acting up and sitting still is about all I can handle at the moment. Good for reading, not good for much else.

    Happy Memorial Day weekend to you, too!

    cjh

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  12. Eva,

    Thank you! They do look rather nice, don't they? I like the variety on those covers.

    I thought exactly the same thing -- so nice that grits worked and it was unnecessary to add more poison to the environment. We have enough of that, already. :)

    CJ,

    Thanks! I'll try to hurry that review of Moonstruck, but I've got to wrap up my Estella review and my eldest is coming down from Memphis, so there will be a bit of bustle in the house.

    Well, at least you got some reading out of your vertigo. But, vertigo is no fun. If you can get a friend or relative to make a store run, try ginger capsules -- I think about 500 mg is a good starter amount. It's a natural remedy for balance problems. Promethazine (generic for phenergan) is the common prescription written for balance problems and it works very well, also. I keep both on hand. Hope you feel better, soon, and have a terrific weekend! :)

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  13. Wow, the grits worked? That's pretty cool, I'll have to remember it in case I run into any fire ants one day.

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  14. Jeane,

    Yep, they worked. I was a little surprised. We tend to ignore fire ants unless they're in a bad spot. They were definitely in the way.

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  15. Hi: Please check out This Book For Free.

    You won the Haven Kimmel ARC.

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  16. Shoshana,

    Cool, thanks! I'll dash right over. :)

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  17. Anonymous10:31 PM

    Well, I was 13 when I read it.

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  18. Carrie,

    That would probably do it. I read a few more of her stories, yesterday. They weren't all creepy. A couple actually made perfect sense to me.

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