Birds

It was like a scene from The Birds. All these damn gulls just kept making the rounds around the fields near our house and I knew that eventually they would show up right by our house... and sure enough. These pictures were taken from my deck and if I didn't keep myself steady with dreams of a shotgun, I would have freaked the eff out!

Gotta Have Faith

Today on my drive to preschool, my favorite radio morning show took a few minutes to talk very seriously about suicide (in response to the news about Owen Wilson). The DJ told a story about how suicide had touched his life, including the death of his nephew. He quoted his brother as saying 'no father should outlive his son'.

Bring on the tears for me.

Even as hormone riddled as I am, I would have begun crying anyway. Losing one of my children has got to be my biggest and most real fear. So much so that I can't even really discuss it further here, because I'm about to cry as I type.

On the way to work I compose myself and prepare for the next few hours until the weekend. Until I fire up my computer and read an email from Karen. Yesterday was the three year birthday of her twins Gavin and Colin. Unfortunately, yesterday was also the three year anniversary of their death (baby Gavin and baby Colin were born so early that even the sons of two Army Captains couldn't soldier through).

Karen writes:

"Today was the first time in a long time that Gavin & Colin's birthday did not consume me in grief. No. Instead, I decided to remember them, and what could have been. I decided to join the Fight To Save Babies. Together, we can make sure that another family doesn't grieve over the loss of their baby."

Did I mention that I started crying again? After my waterworks earlier, my eyeliner didn't stand a chance. I followed the link and donated to the March of Dimes in honor of two wonderful little boys that I never knew.

In the time since September of 2004, Karen's husband got deployed for another tour in Iraq, she joined my boxing class and became my partner, got pregnant (gotta love those 2 week R&R breaks!) and had an adorable baby girl. Who they aptly named Faith.

In honor of Karen and her family, who have endured my own greatest personal fear, I am trumpeting her cause here. If you have a few extra dollars that you would like to donate to the March of Dimes in memory of two little boys who would have surely been Ella's boyfriends, click here.

Perhaps you have personal experience with a baby being born prematurely. Or perhaps you were one yourself. Or perhaps you have children that made it to full term and are very grateful. Or, even better, you had a wonderful labor and delivery nurse (which Karen is, btw) that helped you or your wife through one of the toughest and most rewarding experiences of your life.

If you don't feel your mouse moving over to the very fast, very easy link (click here!) please keep my plea in the back of your mind the next time that you see a March of Dimes bucket asking for your change or the cashier at the grocery store asks you to add a dollar to your bill for a donation.

The Filipino goddess, big K, with her smoldering husband and beautiful baby Faith.

Play Dating

In Ella's cubby Monday was a note that said:

'Sarah Somebody
Lily's Mom
785-123-4567
To set up a play date! :)'

When David gave this to me (since this is Mom territory, after all) I didn't know what to do/how to respond. My initial reaction was 'I don't even know which kid Lily is, much less who her mom is!' Then I wondered how this play date business goes and what do we do and does this mean that I have to sit and chat with a total stranger while our daughters play?! Then I couldn't figure out what my problem was and why didn't I want to be sociable and possibly make a new friend?

I somehow associated play dates with military wives (set me straight, Karen!). What if Lily's mom is military and perhaps her husband is deployed... Shame on me for not wanting to get together with a woman who could probably use some companionship! But then again, maybe this is something that is absolutely a standard Mom thing and I need to get on board?!

(All the while during my internal struggle with accepting a perfectly friendly invitation and having to make conversation with a total stranger, David is there for me. Laughing. In a mocking way. What a stinkin' turkey.)

Maybe this is how I should be approaching things!

In a moment of weakness...

I must be feeling brave, or just crazy, but here you go. Andria has been very forthcoming with her preggo pics but I just can't manage to stomach it (get it?!).

This cracks my head open!

Scrub-A-Dub-Dub

Scrub a dub dub, a sheep in a tub? Not exactly in a tub, but there were sheep were getting washed Friday evening, nonetheless! Being friendly with the sheep barn manager allows for all kinds of educational and fun activities for a 3 year old girl (remember feeding little lambs?)!

The barn guys are taking a few ewes down to the state fair and needed to get them squeaky clean before their big debut. Ella couldn't resist the opportunity to get dirty and bury her hands in all of that wool! The ewe seemed to like her little massage to boot!

Ta Ta Nation

Check out the new Tough Enough to Wear Pink shirts! I think the slogan is great! If you do too, or just want to support breast cancer research, let me know and I will order you a shirt ($10). I think I'm going to have to get two, one to wear on the day of the event and then one that will fit me once I deflate!

Chore Time

Maybe it's time for David to empty the manure bucket? Good grief!

Do you suppose these are 'special' mushrooms?!

Tatt Envy

I indulged in a guilty pleasure the other night and watched LA Ink. One of the artists did this tattoo that I just loved.

I'm not into tattoos for myself but I would love to have this design on a shirt or something!


Kick ass!

Bookworms: Endangered Species?

A recent poll by the Associated Press revealed that 1 in 4 Americans read no books last year. None.

Read the whole msn.com article here.

Can this be right? If it is, what the hell are we all coming to?!

I think this year I will hit the 10+ mark. (What with all of the Harry Potter rereading and such.) David will probably surpass me by at least 5 books to hit the 15+ mark! I just can't believe that one quarter of Americans haven't read a single book in a year! I think I agree with the article that the internet and TV are partially to blame for distracting those with a little free time. But then again, it's the people themselves who aren't cruising Amazon.com, or for goodness sakes the damn library!, looking for a book of interest. COME ON!

Please have mercy on me and tell me that you have read a book. Any book. Trashy bodice ripping romance novel? Great! (The trashier the better, in my opinion!) Dark mystery full of twists and turns? Perfect. Or perhaps a how to? Kids fictional boy wizard? Self improvement? The Bible?

Throw me a bone!

E says...

Happy 3 Day Weekend, Y'all!

Steel Magnolias

Who in the hell, in their infinite wisdom, let me watch the end of Steel Magnolias last night?! You should know that I know better than to do that! I have seen the movie umpteen times and I know what's gonna happen. But I just couldn't resist flipping to it when I saw that there was 45 minutes left. Aaaagghh!

I even thought to myself "Boy, I hope it's past the spaghetti scene, because that always makes me cry" and guess what? It was about 3 minutes before the spaghetti scene and I watched the whole damn thing anyway. I cried* and cried and then cried some more for the next 42 minutes! My only break was the commercials but even they weren't long enough to ebb the flow. Why couldn't I just push the button on the remote and go look for happier programs?! I just sat there thinking 'What if that were me and I was faced with losing one of my girls?' and commenced crying even harder. Somebody. Make. It. Stop.

*When I say cried, I don't mean quiet weeping. I mean almost full out sobs. Steel Magnolias plus raging torrents of pregnancy hormones shouldn't be combined!

One great line from the last few minutes: Clairee to Ouiser "I love you more than my luggage."

Birthday Wishes

Today is my mom's birthday! Yea!

Happy Birthday to you, Mom!

Circular

Ella Grace: "Ha ha ha! That cracks my head open!"

Me: "Baby, it's 'that cracks me up'."

Ella Grace: "That cracks my head up!"

Me: "Sweetie, 'that cracks me up'."

Ella Grace: "Mama! I mean 'that cracks my head open'!"

Me: "I give up."

Man in the Moon

Last night the moon was so surreal looking as it came up. (It wasn't near as dark as the photo looks.) I guess it's related to the eclipse that happened early early yesterday morning?

No Diapers?

I found this article on msn.com and am completely perplexed by it. Babies that go diaper free from day one? What in the hell?!

Diaper Free Baby

What do y'all think?

I can tell you one thing: baby Ashley will have her cute little hiney covered with a poop and pee confining diaper, thankyouverymuch!

Quick Fix of E

E in her new outfit from Grandmama and Miss Lil

Folktson Wedding

OH MY.

Laura sent this to me and I had such a huge fit! It came as a Power Point file which I converted to a movie file. It lost something in the conversion so I apologize for the grainy-ness but it is so worth it!

Folkston Wedding

At first I refused to believe that this was in Georgia, but I'm a rational girl and I can see how this could easily happen.

Big Bad Bruce

We love Bill Peet books at our house. David's parents read them to him when he was little and it has carried over with Ella. David's favorite was Jennifer and Josephine and he drove Jamie and his parents NUTS asking over and over for them to read it to him. (Bill Peet books aren't short, by any means, even if they are great!)

Ella inherited several books from Grandma and Grandpa, including the copy of Jennifer and Josephine. Unlike her daddy, Ella's favorite is Big Bad Bruce. She has large chunks of the aforementioned long book memorized and will correct you if you slip up on a word.

I finally got around to ordering our own copy of BBB instead of checking it out from the library and it arrived today! David is going to give it to her himself since they have a special connection with Peet books.

If you aren't familiar with these books I highly recommend them. The main character of most of them is an animal, which goes over well with Miss E AND they all have a moral. Very cool.

Perhaps you know of a little one who could use a new book? Check 'em out!

Sunset

David called me outside to see the sunset the other night. We just stood there and admired how cool it was.

On The Menu

Served up for supper:

Fried Okra, from the garden

Sliced tomatoes, from the garden

Field peas, from Peggy's garden

Cornbread muffins:

plain

cheese & bacon

cheese & japaleno, from the garden

Ham slice

Baby Beluga

Last night brought more swimming in the tub, which inspired Ella to sing one of the songs that she learned at preschool. As a general rule, I think that whatever Ella does is cute so of course I thought it was video worthy!

Baby Beluga Video

"Baby beluga in the deep blue sea,

Swim so wild and you swim so free.

Heaven above and the sea below,

And a little white whale on the go." (or 'whale of gold' as Ella says)

Ever worn these?

Manhattan may not have an Old Navy, Bed Bath & Beyond or Chick-Fil-A. We may be missing out on the super sales at Kohl's. We may only have one movie theater. But by golly we will soon have a Beer Goggles (although, being a college town, we have long since had beer goggles).

My boxing gym is situated right in between the new BG and a Mexican restaurant with the BEST cheese dip. That sounds like a good recipe for David: "hey, can you get some beer and cheese dip on your way out of class?"!

Where horses drink, we swim

After lots of inquiries from Ella Grace and fair bit of guilt on my part, I agreed to take Ella swimming this weekend. It's shameful how we haven't been to the pool even once this summer! Of course, just like the rest of the country, we are in a major damn heat wave this weekend. Ugh. Oh, and did I mention that going to the pool also requires me in a bathing suit?! Things just keep getting better and better.

I wanted very badly to keep my word to Ella and take her to the pool. So much so that I looked for a maternity suit at Target. 'Puh-lease' I scoffed at the dismal selection and outrageous price. But that paled in comparison to the scoffage that took place when I put on my regular suit from last year. (In all fairness, the suit was too big for me then and actually covered pretty well now.)

Wow. You have only heard stories and rumors of women who look like they are smuggling watermelons until you have seen me in this suit. It was and is a feat of structural engineering the way that lycra/spandex-y material stretched across my midsection. I feared for the eyesight of everyone within a 50 foot radius, should the material give way and take off like a rubber band.

But I wore the damn thing anyway, because I'm cheap and one hell of a mother. I toyed with the idea of actually going into public looking like I had raided a fruit stand but gave that up quickly in favor of the alternative that David came up with. He just so happened to have an empty water tank and would I like to bring that up to the house and splish splash around with Ella in the comfort of my own yard while he grilled up some delish kabobs? Yes I would, thankyouverymuch!

So there we went running water from the outside spigot into the tank. Even though it was 98 degrees at 6:30 last night, that water was COLD. Goosebump inducing, makes your arms steam when they come out, COLD. And I got in. Did I mention that I am the best mama of all time?!

Ok, so maybe I'm not the best mom ever since after the first picture I said "Sweetie, pour the water on your head! Hee hee!" and thus the second picture. Sounds like something my mom would have done to me...! :)

Yallwantsomesweettea?

Um, hell yeah. That's what I'm talking about!

I Wish I Lived in a Land of Lipton

(Thanks to Jamie for sending this over. She knows what it's all about!)

Garden Update, #?

Here are the latest pickings from the garden. Do you notice how I am not showing you what the actual garden looks like?! That'd be because it is a sorry, shameful mess. I don't know if we can dig ourselves out of the weed infestation this time!

Sadly, the squash and cucumbers have given up the ghost. Their lack of endurance is bieng countered by the tomatoes and peppers, however. Salsa, anyone?!

Here and There

No time or brainpower to sit down and compose a well thought out post. Random thoughts or bits of stories that I have been meaning to share is all you're going to get outta me on a Monday!

E's been her usual chatty self lately, coming out with a few gems:

David: "Sweetie, lean back. I'm trying to wash your hair out."
Ella: "I'm busy playing."
David: "I'm busy trying to give you a bath!"
Ella: "Well, that's not my problem!"
That's what I call some sassin'!

I try, as hard as I can, to give Ella some sort of an accent. The bland
Kansanese here is winning the battle, but I will take my victories (no matter
how small) whenever I can get them. The other night all the stars were aligned
just right because she said 'y'all', 'fixin' to' and (drumroll, please) 'THA Wal-
Mart'. I gave her an extra little treat, just because her mama love love loves to
hear that kind of talk!

Is it neccesarily bad if I take my prenatal vitamin with a gulp of beer?

I need my roots touched up, pronto.

I wore a watch with a dead battery all day Friday. I knowingly put it on that way.

I sneezed a sum total of 732 times Sunday. WTF?!

New panties make me happy. And hell no, they're not maternity. Please girls, don't ever do that to yourselves or your husbands! Those things are vile!

How much would it cost for Merry Maids to clean my filty, squalor-ish house? Must investigate.

If I leave David's resume under his pillow, will the job fairy come?

Last week while cruising down a four lane, a guy pulls even with me and starts pointing, trying to talk to me. I'm utterly confused until I see his Georgia G sticker on the back of his vehicle. He had seen my sticker and license plate and wanted to say Go Dawgs! (Yep, we rolled down our windows and chatted while driving down the road. He was from Monroe!)

Preach

As told to me, with a slight alteration:

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."

A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco, and started working east
from there. Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and
making notes.

He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with
a sign which read "$10,000 a minute."

Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The pastor
answered that this golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if
he pays the price he can talk directly to God. The man thanked the pastor
and continued on his way.

As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, Denver, Michigan, Chicago,
Minnesota, and around the United States, he found more phones, with the
same sign, and the same answer from each pastor.

Finally, he arrived in Georgia. Upon entering a church in Athens, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone.

But THIS time, the sign read "Calls: 25 cents."

Fascinated, he asked to talk to the pastor.

"Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I
have found this golden telephone and have been told it is a direct line to
Heaven and that I could talk to God, but, in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 25 cents a call. Why?"

The pastor, smiling benignly, replied, "Son, you're in Georgia now; it's a
local call."

Last Night

A review of last night, in pictures. (I don't know why I got so snap happy, but whateves.)

Ella's zinnias

Life is tough when your name is Maggie Mae

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Ella goes inside to use the bathroom. A few minutes too long later, this is what I find...

Somebody thinks it's bathing suit time!

Then later...

We took these,

and made these.

Remember my offer for serving up a mess o' peas? OK, gonna need to retract that. We finished up the peas last night as well and it only made a pint! If you want some of those then you're going to have to high tail it over, PDQ.

The bell peppers are coming on like mad. I hear that I can chop them up and freeze them too, but I have to be sure to disperse some to Angie Jo. She's had dibs on them since they were planted! Maybe some kabobs are in our future?!

Pea Body

We've been having a pea pickin' good time. If that's what you'd call it.

Tonight we are going to freeze some of the loot for some post summer pea eatin' goodness. Feel free to come visit (in November, perhaps?) and I promise to serve you up a whole mess o' peas!

Pink eyed something or anothers. Direct kin to the Southern staple, black eyed peas.

A.K.?

We have come to an agreement on the name of our new baby girl. I feel pretty sure (!) in saying that the newest sweet baby M will be Miss Ashley Kate. There is the ever so slightest chance that this could change, but I doubt it. Besides, Ella has decided that she likes Ashley and so it will be!

I realize that the name Ashley Kate makes most think of the Olsen twins but I don't care. Waif-ish Olsen twins, be damned! I'm naming my girl whatever I want to! As my mom said, may she have all the money of those two but a little more meat on her bones!

Growing Buddha

This morning I went looking for something that I had dropped in my lap and discovered that I was actually looking for my lap. There was literally a moving of the belly involved. Still didn't find what I was looking for, on both accounts.

Ah, and so it begins.

Who wants a poke... cake?

In the wake of my nudie photo happy birthday post, David still managed to be friends with me. It might have been out of pure greed since I had yet to give him a couple of birthday presents and who wants to miss out on goodies?! (I jokingly told David that I was going to label the nudie pic as him striking the pose which I then realized that it's best that I didn't.)

We celebrated the big 2-9 with steaks, beer and the company of the Wallace fam. Quite a nice evening, overall. The twice baked potatoes that I made, which contained cayenne pepper, had enough heat that I found myself saying "Is is hot in here?!". Mercifully, I was not the only one having a hot flash as the pepper had heated us all up! We found that birthday cake is an excellent flame putter outter even if you are full to the breaking point of steak, potatoes, salad and beer (or baby).

I made David a poke cake which is oh-so-good. I had never had one until Angie Jo introduced me a few years ago. It's a really nice summer alternative to a traditional cake with heavy frosting and it's got fruit on it so it has to be good for you. It's good enough to share with you here, so that you can make your own damn cake, because I'm not sharing the real thing.

"You won't need a plate, I can tell you that. Just dig in with a fork and go."

Stawberry Poke Cake

1 box white cake mix, plus ingredients to make the cake

1 small box strawberry jello

3/4 cup hot water

1 container Cool Whip

1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut into bite sized pieces

Prepare cake in a greased 9 x 13 dish and while hot poke lots of holes with a toothpick. Dissolve jello mix in hot water and pour (or spoon) over cake. Let cool and top with Cool Whip, then strawberries.

Let me know if you make this and how long it hangs around!

Happy Birthday!

Today is the birthday of two of my favorite people! Big Daddy David turns 29 and Sarah Kate Cato is 28! Wow, I really do like the ring of Kate...

Much like my birthday wishes for Ashley (gosh, I really like the name Ashley, too), I tried to find a picture of something that both Katie and David would appreciate. Umm... In case you don't know both Katie and David, there's not a whole helluva lot that they have in common, other than some love for me. The two things I could think of are Harry Potter and beer.

Unlike the birthday post for Ashley, I actually did try a search for HP and beer. I didn't find what I was after but I did stumble across this photo of the boy wizard in Equus. Not that David would appreciate this, at all, but I know me some Katie Cato and I don't think she's one to turn down a peek. :)

Happy Birthday, Kids!

Cuteness

** If you are a Harry Potter fan, be sure to head over to Ashley's new blog, Post Potter, for discussion and group therapy. If you are not a Pottermaniac, be glad that I will take further Potter discussions to the new blog and will leave you alone!**

I thought that Ella's outfit today was so cute. I found the capris on clearance and they matched the little green stripe in the tank perfectly!

Me: "Smile, sweetie! One more, I didn't get your shoes." E: "I'll point at them!"

I asked to see her face. I guess technically she obliged!

Is it really over?

Friday was a day of sheer anticipation. I almost didn't make it to the midnight release party due to a 'quick nap' on the couch but alas! I make it. No butterbeer, though. I stayed up until 4 am getting a good jump and then throughout Saturday managed to while away some time reading. I closed the book at 1 am on Sunday to little fanfare.

Below is my review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I tried to come up with a way to review it without giving away pivotal points, but I can't think of any. Read below at your own risk!!











I can't say that I have ever reviewed a book before but certainly our fine friend Harry deserves the honors. I apologize for my ineptitude in advance. I tried to compose thought out paragraphs to help wrangle my thoughts and let them flow seamlessly, but bulleted points is all I got.

* Wow, it starts out with a really dark scene and murder. I think it really sets the tone for the whole book. It's a lot darker than I expected, although I guess it has to be.

* I really was surprised that all we hear from the Dursely's is their departing. After all the hubub about Petunia and then nothing?!

* Didn't Hedwig deserve a little more ceremonious death than that?!

* A noticeable mention of "God". And prayer later on.

* I was flabbergasted that the first death was on page 78! So soon!

* There was a marked maturation of Ron, Hermione and Harry. Almost a little too much, too soon for me. It seemed like Rowling realized "Oh yeah! They are 17!" and started making them act 17, cussing and all.

* How did Harry get access to Voldemort's mind again? I thought that Voldemort was using occulemency against him?

* Rowling didn't make me really care about the quest for the Deathly Hallows. I felt that it was annoying and got in the way of the Horcurx task.

* The only time I cried was when Dobby died. Poor, sweet Dobby!

* I was a little let down by the revelations about Dumbledore. I wanted him to be as good as we thought!

* Snape! Good all along! Wow, those memories explain a lot, don't they? He's my new favorite character.

* So Voldemort's soul was in 8 pieces, not 7. Hmmm...

* Harry should have died. I wasn't ecstatic that he lived! (How terrible is that?!) I feel that he should have accepted his fate, walked into the woods, been killed and someone else finish off Voldemort. I think Rowling copped out. How could Voldemort's curse only kill the piece of his soul and not Harry? The 'King's Cross' bit was nice for what we learn from Dumbledore but come on...

* Neville does it! Yippee!

* How can you not love Molly Weasley after "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"? Hell yeah.

* The final scene between Harry and Voldemort was anti-climactic. He does use Expelliarmus, which Lupin made fun of him for, and it worked!

* I thought Rowling didn't want to leave the story open for other books? The epilogue being 19 years later? That sounds like a gaping hole for some "fill in" books. I want to know what Harry's job is!!

* Albus Severus. I almost choked.

* So who was the person Rowling said would do magic late in life and under dire circumstances? I must have missed it.

* Does this mean that Harry and Voldemort are related (through the Peverell's)?

Overall, I was very mild about the book. Looking back on my list here, however, it would appear that I hated it! Not true, but I didn't love it like I have the other ones, thus the negativity. I am sure that once I reread it and have more time to think it over it will grow on me. Maybe it came off bad because it wasn't the standard prescription of the prior books that I guess I was secretly hoping for.

I feel bad hammering the book that I have looked forward to like no other. I think I need to go back and think of all of the things I liked about it... I'll update later.

K.O.

Most evenings when I head away from the daily grind I head toward they gym to work out. My gym isn't like most other gyms with a plethora of exercise machines and racquetball courts. It's a boxing gym. I have been boxing for over 2 years and I love it.

I take the adult fitness class in the evening and while we do other 'work out' things, boxing is the mainstay. It is a phenomenal work out and a great stress reliever! (Don't worry! Our class doesn't spar, we just hit the heavy bags. There are people training there who do spar, but I'm too much of a weenie for that... and too vain!)

I have learned the proper names and execution of the 8 punches and the right stance for pulling them off. Also, I know how to defend, block and counter punches coming at me. There is no 'hitting like a girl' going on at K.O.! I think that's pretty damn cool! David thinks it's cool too but I must be somewhat scary because he won't let me hit him (I've asked!). And I don't think he's too keen on making me angry, either :).

K.O. uses red and black as a color theme (like Title) so of course that goes over well with this Bulldog fan! Here's a shot of one of our workout rooms:

and the owner/trainer Lorissa (who is pretty bad ass herself):

Pregnancy has altered my workouts slightly but nothing too drastic so baby M is learning all of the moves too! Maybe she will come out swinging? Sometimes I would swear that she is practicing already...

CinderELLA

Sometimes a girl has to dress up and feel special. Last night was one of those times for Miss Ella Grace. Quite the ensemble, really. A lot of Cinderella with a dab of Snow White, looks like! Once princess-fied she cracked out a microphone that plays music and treated us to lots of dancing and singing. Good times!

What a Fancy Pants

Are you happy now?!

I don't know what it was about the picture of me from the horse show that made me look hardly pregnant. Trick lighting? Camera angles? Smoke and mirrors? Andria and Karen were kind enough to comment on how great I look and they sure are sweet words to hear. But I know the real truth!

Lest any of you agree with Andria about my state of affairs, I present to you a bona fide profile shot. I tried to create definition between heaving bosom and burgeoning belly but it proved difficult. Use your imagination and I'm sure that you will see what I see! Preggie Meggie!

Party Time

I went to Hastings and reserved my book this weekend. Guess what I found while there? Details about the 'really cool' party! David told me that he would never publicly acknowledge me again if I went to it :). I told him that I was going to get a Hungarian Horntail painted on my face along with the obligatory lightning bolt! Ha! Oh, and yes, there will be butterbeer! I'm gonna get some... I bet if Jeff were here he would go with me! (Wouldn't you, Jeff?!)