Today is my anniversary. Bubblehead and I have been married 14 years today. I remember the day I met him. I was at (high) school, walking down the hall with my best friend, and we walked past him and he said hi to her. They had algebra together, and I teased her about him. She grinned, denying all my accusations profusely, and we giggled and forgot all about it. (We were 16 - that's what 16 year old girls do, you know.) Labels: mushy stuff
And here we are. We've come a lot of miles together. We've done everything together, because let's face it - we grew up together for all intents and purposes. He's my very best friend - even if he drives me crazy, and that sense of humor that I loved him for then now gets on my nerves more times than not. He is... well, he's my whole world.
So if you'll humor me for a moment, I'd like to direct my humble little blog toward just one person now. A, Happy Anniversary. We've had so much fun, and I can't wait to see what comes next. (Just please don't let it be another move!) Who knew it would last this long? We did - that's who. Thank you for always playing my games, and killing spiders, and putting me before yourself. I don't deserve you. I love you EIGHT!!
So I hear you all wondering... how did we celebrate our 14th anniversary? Bubblehead is wrapping up a 3 week business trip to Asia, and I am going in for my yearly pap test! (Was that TMI? Well, you shouldn't have asked.) Yes, we like to do these occasions up big here. Besides, you don't really think I'd tell you all the details, do you?
This meme brought to you by my complete lack of energy and inspiration, and Google. Surprisingly many of these are fairly accurate!
The men in my family are coffee aficionados. (Coffee snobs, we call them.) They go beyond searching out the best gourmet coffee - oh no. These guys have coffee roasters. They buy green beans, and carefully roast the beans to get the perfect cup of coffee. They have about every coffee maker known to man, from your basic drip pots, french presses, vacuum pots, Turkish pots, etc. They know their coffee.
So for my dad's birthday my brother got him some very rare, very expensive "kopi luwak" coffee. Do you know about this stuff? Basically it is made from coffee beans that have been eaten and passed through the digestive tract of the luwak, or Asian Palm Civet. Apparently while being "passed through", many of the proteins that make coffee bitter are pulled out. "Luwak Coffee is indisputably the world's rarest and most exclusive coffee." Ummm, okay.
Even though they like to roast their coffee beans themselves, my brother got my dad pre-roasted beans, because if you buy the luwak beans green, you have to, er... clean them first. Nice.
I'm not a coffee lover anyway, so I can't imagine trying this. My parents, brother, and SIL (who is squeamish) tried it. They said it was good. "It didn't taste at all poopish!"
I just find it so funny. Who first thought of trying coffee that first went through an animal's digestive system? Was there a coffee shortage? And would you get the same effect if you fed the coffee cherries to say your dog or cat? Or perhaps coffee cherries are tasty, and would make a nice snack for yourself - like the day before you wanted to brew up some "homemade" gourmet coffee! Talk about recycling!!
Brave enough to give it a try? You can find it here.
When I started my blog it was just for me - I told no one about it. Slowly but surely I've been outed. Bubblehead of course knows about it, as does my family. Not too long ago my IRL (in real life) friends have learned about it, and I'm not quiet sure how that happened. I guess I'm just used to talking about it now and it came up. I think the only people in my life who don't know about it are my in-laws, and lets face it - it's just a matter of time.
But none of my IRL friends ever make a comment here. My family doesn't stop by with birthday wishes - no "Hello, I'm here" from anyone at all. I think MAYBE once my brother left me a cryptic comment on a post that probably pertained to him, but that's it.
So my first question is if your IRL friends and family know about your blog do they read and comment there? And if not, why is that? Is there a perception that you have to be a blogger to comment on a blog? Even Bubblehead, who was a blogger, doesn't comment here. (Although I'm not sure he reads MM anymore - busy backpacking, or planning a trip, or dreaming of a trip, or talking about a trip.)
So fess up - you know about my blog. If you're lurking here, say hello! (It would make me smile, and isn't that a nice thing to do for a friend/sister/daughter/niece/wife/granddaughter/aunt?)
**updated to note that no sooner had I written this post, and saved it to publish later on, did Bubblehead stop by and leave me a comment. Thanks, Baby!
Ella: "Daddy's a silly head!" Labels: quips
Me: "Is that where you get your silliness from?"
Ella: "Yes!:
Me: "What do you get from me?"
Ella: "Love...... and meaness."
I receive about a book a week from writers and publishers wanting me to review their work. (It's difficult to keep up - don't these people know that I'm lucky to read 3 or 4 books a year!)
One chilly morning after dropping my daughter off at school and watching her wander into her kindergarten class, I was loitering outside with a few of the other moms, desperate for a little adult conversation, when I learned that a friend of mine had a book coming out.
Kari Grady Grossman is the mother of one of Gabriella's classmates. She has written Bones That Float about her journey to adopt her son, and how it has changed her life. She turned down a major publisher and chose to start a publishing company called Wild Heaven Press, so that the proceeds can go to the school that she and her husband started in Chrauk Tiek, Cambodia.
Needless to say that Kari's book (which I purchased myself) is at the top of my pile now, and I can't wait to read it. (I have to finish this Harry Potter book I started you know. If I don't read it I can't see the movie this summer! :) From everything I've heard it is an enthralling, haunting story of love and family, and the history and future of Cambodia.
I am so very happy to be able to help her out in this small way, by putting her story out there for you, and introducing her to all my wonderful readers and friends. She and I sat down over coffee and pastries so I could ask her some questions about her book. (Okay, that's not entirely true. We are both busy moms. We sat down over the glow of our computers between play dates and bedtime stories and had a just-as-lovely conversation. The coffee and pastries were made up.)
(while opening his birthday presents) Labels: quips
Alex: AWESOME!!!
Me: What did you get?
Alex: I don't know!