books that make us laugh out loud--Mama Makes Up Her Mind

For this month's staff picks list, we were asked about books that make us laugh out loud. I know there have been many books over the years that have made me laugh, but one that sticks out in my mind is Mama Makes Up Her Mind: And Other Dangers of Southern Living by Bailey White. In this nonfiction collection of Southern stories, White, a commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered, delightfully explores the eccentricities of life in the South. Rambling between hilarious tales of her relatives and the world outside her sleepy town in southern Georgia, White gives a humor-filled sneak peek to how the deep South lives. White captures each moment so perfectly, the reader feels they are sitting on the sun porch with her, sipping a mint julep, as she regales with her tales. White left her job as an elementary school teacher—“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach”—to write full time. Besides being entertaining, this book’s stories are often just a few pages long, making it an easy read for those on the go.

I picked up this book when it was new in 1993 (when I was in middle school). Having some Southern roots myself, I was intrigued by this collection of true tales of the South. The first couple of stories grabbed me, and I was hooked. This book is hilarious because it is true. In those days before I could drive myself around, I often read in the car. I remember reading the line, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach," at a gas station and thinking it was so funny.

While I tried reading White's other books, they weren't nearly as good as Mama Makes Up Her Mind. But this book did get me reading short stories, a genre I had always ignored in the past. As a direct result of reading this collection, I picked up Amy Bloom's Come to Me: Stories (which I lost for awhile under our sofa, but that's another story).

why i'm weird

Back in November, I was tagged by Sue to list seven weird things about myself. (Unlike Sue, I asked my husband's help to come up with seven to reveal because I know there are plenty of weird things about myself, I just don't happen to think they are that weird.)


Fact #1--I hate eating hot food. If it's hot, I just have to wait for it to be cool enough to eat without burning my tongue, and normally I'm too hungry to wait. My friends in Topeka used to tease me all the time about how I wouldn't heat up my lunch and would just eat it cold.


Fact #2--When I brush my teeth, I brush them for a really long time. I usually walk around the house because I don't want to be standing in the bathroom alone for all that time. I should time myself sometime.


Fact #3--I used to take naps under my parents' dining room table. In college after I would eat dinner, I would immediately vacate my parents' dining room chairs (because they are so uncomfortable), grab a pillow, and crawl beneath the table, where I had a perfect view of the tv. I would pretend to watch tv until I fell asleep, usually by 9 pm. I blame all those late nights writing papers.


Fact #4--I was once a hair model. At some high school event, I won a free haircut to a salon in NKC. The stylist I just happened to get was promoting some line of product (cannot remember which one now) at a hotel off the Plaza, and needed models to demonstrate the products. I had my makeup professionally done, and then had to sit on a stool while the stylist did my hair. I got lots of free products, but it was hard sitting there, trying to smile, while my hair was constantly being flipped in my face.


Fact #5--During my childhood, we attended lots of different churches. I once tried to keep track but I lost count at 14. They were all Protestant, and ranged from Presbyterian (I was christened at the First Presbyterian Church in North Kansas City) to nondenominational. Add this to the fact that I spent 12+ years attending a Lutheran school, and you can imagine my mix of beliefs. And now I am a member of a Southern Baptist church...


Fact #6--I have had the same email address for 10 years. I came up with it during my senior year seminar. In that class, I talked to people I never hung out with. One guy thought I looked like Katie Holmes, since Dawson's Creek was big at the time (our teacher let us bring in episodes to watch during class--I have no idea why). So when I set up my email address in spring 1999, I chose my nickname, katie_h.


Fact #7--I have to make my bed every day. When I was little, I got into the habit of laying out my sheet and blanket very perfectly with no wrinkles. Now I can't stand the thought of getting into an unmade bed which has had all day to get dirty with the bottom sheet exposed. Sometimes I'm even late to work because I have to make my bed before I leave the house.

unfortunately

time for a game? just do a web search of the phrase "unfortunately, _______" but put your first name in the blank.

from Jenny at allsorts by way of ginger at home

*unfortunately, Kate wound up having a pretty huge whomping allergy attack on the way to the airport

*unfortunately, Kate was taking a shower at the time

*unfortunately, Kate doesn't really seem the neatnik type, does she? (ha! I laughed at this one.)

*unfortunately, Kate is adopted, and he is left alone

*unfortunately, Kate doesn't have built-in syntax color-coding for Markdown (who knew there was a text editor named Kate?)

*unfortunately, Kate didn't make things any better

*unfortunately, Kate is so compulsive about her cleaning (so not true for this Kate)

it always amazes me what people put on the internet

what to do with my time

We have been without tv for six days. We came home from work last Wednesday night to find our satellite cable/DVR box completely busted. It has been giving us fits for awhile, getting stuck when we try to pause live tv and watch things we've recorded, but it finally bit the dust for good. Our lovely satellite company said it would be 2-3 business days before a new box could be delivered. We hoped it would arrive before the weekend...but we got home on Friday to discover the box had not come, and we were faced with a weekend without tv.

I don't know of a time when I have ever been without tv. I've always had basic channels at least; in college I got my first taste of cable, but when I moved into my first apartment, I used rabbit ears because I was too cheap to pay for even basic cable just so I could watch the Gilmore Girls on the WB. We only decided to get cable after we were married because we were tired of fuzzy channels (and it was a welcome distraction during the early baby days after A was born).

Now the antennas are buried in the basement, and we figured we could last a few days...
We didn't watch anything the first two nights. Friday night, I dug out my DVDs, the ones I never have time to watch because I'm always trying to catch up with all the shows I've recorded during the week. I had a nice throwback to my Topeka days, when I watched Chasing Liberty for the first time with Lissa. On Saturday night, I continued the review, starting season one of The O.C. with my husband. We started talking about all the crazy things that happened in just the first season of that show, and now we want to watch all the episodes. (Our rehashing led me to this article, since I didn't even remember that Marissa died when my husband mentioned it.)

And really, now that we've had a few days to go cold-turkey, we don't even miss having tv. Sure, it's nice to easily check out the weather forecast, but we still have the Internet for that. It's nice not to feel like we have to watch tv or we will get behind; we feel free to do other things. It's been a relief, actually.

And it has made me see that I really can live without cable and without a DVR. (Everyone out there is saying "Duh!!") For the past couple of weeks, we have been talking about giving up cable because they are raising their prices (and so we can put the money towards our student loans). This little experience has only renewed our dedication. Once we get our digital conversion boxes, we will be pulling the plug.

Until then, I'll be enjoying my last few days with the DVR...or at least I will be, if it ever arrives. We were supposed to get the box today, but UPS "missed" us. Oh well, maybe tomorrow...

Lessons in Heartbreak

Lessons in Heartbreak by Cathy Kelly

Set in New York City and Tamarin, Ireland, this novel follows the lives of three women: eighty-year-old Lily, Lily’s granddaughter Izzie, a 39-year-old model booking agent, and Izzie’s aunt Anneliese, who is adjusting to life on her own after her husband of 30 years leaves her for her best friend. When Lily suffers a stroke and is in a coma, she utters a name—Jamie—that means nothing to her relatives, but through several flashbacks to her training as a nurse during World War II, readers are swept into the terror of 1940s London, complete with bombings and air raids, to discover the meaning of the name. While Lily lies in a hospital bed, Anneliese struggles with depression, triggered by her husband’s betrayal. In New York City, after being on her own for many years, Izzie falls into a relationship with a charming, earnest millionaire, who turns out to be married and more attached to his family life than Izzie at first realizes. Told in alternating chapters, Lessons in Heartbreak provides three stories of infidelity from both sides of those involved—the married wife and the other woman. Fans of chick lit and Irish novels will be delighted to find another wonderful book filled with strong female relationships and thoroughly explored secondary characters from Cathy Kelly.

This was a great book, the kind of great book that you hope never ends because you just want to keep reading more. I was fascinated by the flashbacks to London during World War II, because I am usually not a historical novel type of reader. Her WWII facts were right on, and actually gave me something to talk about with my husband, an amateur WWII buff (when I mentioned V-2s, I had to admit that I didn’t know what they were, but he was happy to provide an explanation I could understand). Maybe I should try reading more historical fiction.

This novel was a welcome return for me to Cathy Kelly, whose previous book, Always and Forever, I thoroughly enjoyed, and who I discovered in the popular Irish women’s fiction anthology, Irish Girls About Town.