Monday, January 29, 2007

Happy Birthday, Reece!


Poot
Originally uploaded by Aunt Vanessa.
The Cutest Boy in the World turns NINE years old tomorrow. An aunt couldn’t ask for a better nephew. We were talking on the phone yesterday and he was telling me about his birthday party Saturday, the one where he invites his friends and they play video games and eat lots of junk and open PRESENTS, and how the family is getting together at his favorite Japanese restaurant on Tuesday night to celebrate the second installation of the birthday and he said, “I wish you could be there, Nessa.” Damn this living in Missouri thing sometimes, especially when Darling Boy is having a birthday.

Reecie Boy, as Emily calls you, I hope you are having a great birthday. You are the funniest boy. Your love for cars and video games is almost infectious. Keep making straight-As in school, Sweetheart, because you’re going to have to go to medical school and become a surgeon in order to pay for all the Ferraris you plan to own when you are finally old enough to drive!

Oh, and Reece, don’t forget that you promised you’d come and visit me when I’m really old and living in the nursing home. You said you’d bring cookies.

I love you and am so lucky that I’m your aunt. You make me so very happy. Whenever I hear your voice I feel a hundred times better than I did the minute before. You are an awesome boy and I love you.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

When It Rains It Pours - Except It's Snow Up Here

There's still snow and ice on the ground and we Columbians (I'm one now) are tired of it. It precipitates some sort of frozen substance on our lovely city every weekend. If we make it through this weekend without any snow or ice we will all be out on the streets tomorrow night dancing for joy.

Weekend before last I broke a tooth. When you start to get old, my young readers, beware: it's not just bone and muscle mass you lose. Your teeth start to give out on you, too. Luckily, I'd already made an appointment with a dentist for a cleaning, so when I called them about the tooth they were quick to get me in to take a look at it. The dentist was a delightful little guy who put some sort of patch on my tooth that would protect it (it killed me to open my mouth in the frigid cold wind) and I made an appointment for last Thursday to get fitted for a crown. I would have settled for a diamond tiara, but the nice dentist insisted on a crown.

Monday morning I spent a good twenty minutes getting the ice off my windshields and took off for work, only to realize that I had a flat tire. "I have a can of fix-a-flat!" I thought. Only thing is, the can had been in my car and it was now frozen solid. So, I drove two miles per hour to the nearest store where I could put air in the tire then drove to Sears to buy a new tire. I'd had the same tire repaired twice and I know when I've been beaten and must submit to the purchase of a new tire.

Yes, this has been a wonderful couple of weeks. On the bright side, however, my dear friend, Sandy, introduced me to the best antique mall and some great used book stores where I stocked up on enough paperbacks to get me through the next six months.

I watched "Thank You For Smoking" last weekend. It wasn't too bad. I'm caught up with "The Sopranos" until they release the second part of Season Six on DVD and I hope to have "Little Miss Sunshine" in my mailbox this afternoon. Netflix is one of the best ideas ever!

School's going alright. I have classes on Monday and Thursday nights so I'm pretty wiped by Friday. Weekends, from now on, will require a lot of studying time. Try reading 60 pages of articles about library cataloging and then complain to me about ANYthing being boring. I will have no sympathy for you.

A note to my brother, Dave: you are the best brother, person, man, I know and I hope you get good news at the doctor's office next week. I love you.

Check back on Monday for a birthday surprise for the Cutest Boy in the World.

Love to all,
Vanessa

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Ice Days

The entire city of Columbia, MO is covered in a thick sheet of ice, which means I'm stuck here for the three-day weekend. I'd planned to go to Arkansas to see the family and get some kisses from Reece and spend a couple of hours with Emily on Sunday night when she returned from her softball clinic in Louisiana, but no. I'm iced in and have no plans to venture out onto the treacherous highway until I have to go to work on Tuesday.

I was without internet connection yesterday, so I was forced to watch a lot of TV and do some reading. I'm reading this book, and just want it to be over now. I'm not in love with it like most people have been. It's received such wonderful reviews, but I'm two-thirds into it, and I'm not getting what all the fuss is about. If you want something a little different, try this writer. He's from West Plains, MO, and is considered one of the best writers in the U.S. today. Who'da thunk it? It's definitely Grit Lit and if you're from my region of the country you'll understand every phrase and idiom, but, if not, you'll probably appreciate his characters anyway. They are quite real, rough, and despicable. West Plains is my pitstop on the way to Arkansas and one of these days I'm going to see if I can find the guy. He supposedly walks around town every afternoon and acts like an ordinary fellow, so I'm going to keep a copy of one of his novels in my car and hope one day to get his autograph. Nothing like a literary stalker, huh?

For Christmas, I gave Emily the DVD Steel Magnolias. I told her that there are two chick flicks that I consider crucial to watch if you're a woman, and Steel Magnolias is one of them. I'm planning to give her the other one for her birthday next month. Can you guess what the second one is? I'm not going to say, of course, since I want to surprise her, but I'll reveal it via e-mail if you're really curious. I'd also like your opinions on the subject, of course. What are your favorite chick flicks?

The Golden Globe awards are Monday night and I've not seen but a couple of the movies nominated. Planning to watch it, however. Be sure to read "Go Fug Yourself" on Tuesday for the best in ridicule. Those girls are hilariously clever and mean and I love them.

Okay, time for a nap.

Monday, January 08, 2007

How To Enjoy Christmas Break

It’s been too long, way too long, I know! Lately, every time I planned to sit down and write, something would come up and I’d get distracted and I think that’s a good excuse for not posting anything sooner, right? Let me give you any even better excuse: the “Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency” TV show on the Oxygen channel and its marathon running yesterday afternoon!!! I swear, I spent at least four hours yesterday watching that crap and could not take my eyes away from the television. Why didn’t someone tell me about this show sooner? I hate anything remotely close to being reality TV, but this is different. It’s unreality TV and it’s hilarious. Janice Dickinson is an absolute loon and her “models” are a bunch of anorexic, spoiled brats who are always late to their shoots and I promise you, it’s a laugh a minute. So, try to watch it if you get the opportunity.

In other news, well, let me think.

Auntie Linda came up and spent New Year’s Eve with me and stayed for a few days and we had a great time and I now know that eating cheese dip and pecan pie and drinking magaritas will make your pants fit very, very snug. Who knew?

I’m definitely making the most of my time off from school, huh? I still have the rest of this week and next Monday off (not from work, but from school, so it’s still a holiday) and I’m planning to go to Arkansas on Saturday and return home next Monday. Classes begin next Tuesday and it’ll be busy as hell from then until May. I’m getting nothing accomplished and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

Now, I need to get back to reading and watching reruns of bad TV. I’ll be back later this week!!