On the Plus Side

Prime time Monday night, I’m hanging out with one of my fairy goddaughters. We’re watching reruns of Bones, and she’s messing around on the laptop. Out of the blue, she says, “Can you change it to ABC Family?” This news was surprising, as we’re normally one of those close-knit “What do you want to watch?” “I dunno.” “There’s nothing…

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Speed Limit

While I was doing my impromptu pre-summer tour up and down the East Coast and Tennnessee, I was thinking about math. (Yes, I’m a geek even when I’m driving.) So you’re on an interstate for, say, eight hours (give or take pit-stops for gas). The speed limit on said interstate is 70. (Unless you’re on I-81 along the ass-edge…

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Eating Out: M&S Grill

If you’re new to an area, one of the first things you discover is the local dining scene (sometimes not by choice, if you don’t happen to have things like groceries or pots and pans yet). I’m still shiny to this Northern Virginia/DC area, and I’ve been both exploring the area and asking for ideas from folks I know…

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Calling All Junior Arborists

I was going through some old pics to post on my shiny new Facebook Fan Page, and I came across this one. It’s from the tree at Gypsy‘s house, located roughly halfway between Awesome Porch and Awesome Garage, and I love it. Its flowers look and feel like magnolia flowers (apart from being pink), but the leaves are soft…

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Selecting the Strange

Over the years I’ve developed some quirks, as any decent Crotchety-Old-Woman-in-Training worth her salt would do. I value the truth, however brutal. I appreciate the element of surprise and abhor hints. I don’t read the dust jackets of authors I already know I like. I eat dessert first, whenever possible. And I pick the strangest thing on the menu….

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Cool Stuff, Stumbled Upon

It’s nice to trip over something like this in a really obscure Google Alert about some search results done on a health website. Apparently, www.childrensbooksguide.com did a Top 100 Children’s Books of All Time. AlphaOops didn’t make Top 10 on their ABC book listing (DARN YOU, CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM!), but it did make the Honorable Mention. I’m cool…

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Well, That’s Done It

About a month or so ago, I accidentally clicked on the “Facebook Chat” icon, putting myself out there in the intarwebs available for interaction. Within about 15 seconds, I had 10 people open chats with me. Seven of them were from people I hadn’t heard from in a long time, all of whom I wanted to talk to. Three…

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