Plugging the Guest Post

I wrote a guest post for Living Philanthropic in support of Carlo Garcia's August project, Stand Up to Cancer.  You can find it here.

And if you are interested, you can make a donation at his Crowdrise page.

Goings on at the Refuge

I am taking a short sabbatical from my onsite duties at the parrot rescue, so I figure the least I
can do is let everyone know about some goings-on over there:

First, we were featured in Ana Belaval’s Around Town segment on WGN Morning News. There
were two segments, actually. WGN’s website doesn’t seem to have an Embed button and I am
not savvy enough to figure out how to do it myself, so here are the links:

http://www.wgntv.com/videogallery/64357966/Food/Around-Town:-Wildlife-Refuge-in-
Northbrook-(part-1)

http://www.wgntv.com/videobeta/f8a3061d-3916-4505-a239-d465725f7ff8/Food/Around-Town-
Wildlife-Refuge-in-Northbrook-part-2-

Also, the Refuge is revamping its website, so if you haven’t visited lately, please visit us at:

www.rescuethebirds.org 

Along those same lines, we established an organization page on Facebook a few months back
and expect to be posting there more regularly. I have a button for it on down the right-hand side
of this page, and you can also Like it through this link.

We recently established a Twitter account. We haven’t been posting there regularly, but if that
is your preferred method of communication, here is the link.

Finally, Niles Animal Hospital is holding a Yard Sale in their parking lot on Sunday, September
18 to raise funds for the benefit of the Refuge from 8am to 2pm. Their address is 7278 N.
Milwaukee Avenue, Niles, IL 60714 and there will be plenty of parking available in nearby lots.

And here is a gratuitous pic because they just make blog posts better.  This is Leo:

Blankets 44, 45 and 46

When I had that marathon session of finishing that audio book, I did three fleece blankets:

That splatter paint looking pattern is really flowers.  With Lion Brand Pound of Love Yarn in white, which I am thinking I will avoid buying again because it has a tendency to get really tangled and I can't stand unknotting yarn.

This is a Strawberry Shortcake pattern that I believe was on clearance at Hancock Fabric.  My friend Jenny wouldn't like it because she prefers the Old School Strawberry Shortcake with the bonnet.  I like it because I found a use for that one skein of yarn that was on clearance at Michael's.  I think it was called Deep Rose.

And this was a random piece from Penny's stash with the same white yarn.  It was a really small fleece, only suitable for a toddler.  But Alex was a sports fan as a toddler, so I am sure it'll fly.

Gratuitous Dog Pic

Gibbs is not the first of my dogs to do this.  When he wakes up from a nap, he has to take his time stretching before getting up.  Like an old man.  In this case, I wanted him to go downstairs, outside and potty.  He stuck out his big tongue and yawned, so I got the camera.  He gave me this look, and didn't move:

I am Charlotte Simmons, by Tom Wolfe

Book 39

For my summer epic, I dove into I am Charlotte Simmons, the 2004 university novel by Tom Wolfe. It isn't really an epic, but since it is 25 discs long, I decided that it counts.

Charlotte Simmons is the valedictorian of her rural North Carolina high school and is off to the fictional DuPont College.  It is meant to be Ivy League-ish, but with a national champion basketball team.  Wolfe maintains that it is not modeled after any one school.

What Charlotte sees at DuPont is a host of lascivious New England private-school brats that think themselves sophisticated, but just like to look down on everyone else.  She thinks of them as the "cashmere" set.  She starts dating an older, particularly popular frat boy.  It seems that he thought of her as a sexual challenge and she thought of him as a brilliant way to make the cashmere set jealous.

You can imagine how that turned out.

I am sorry to say I never came to have any empathy for Charlotte.   Or any other character except for, of all people, the basketball star embroiled in a sub-plot involving plagiarism.  I spent the entire novel trying to figure out why I liked him.  Then Charlotte told me - he was guileless and without irony.

So, except for Mr. Basketball star, the rest of the jocks were rather cliche, as were the frat boys and sorority girls.  The nerds reminded me of the Facebook crowd from The Social Network.

The one question that ran through my mind the entire time I was listening (Dylan Baker, the guy reading in the audio version, was great) was this:

How is it the WB hasn't discovered this thing yet?

About the Beds

Earlier this summer, my back started bothering me.  Not my back actually, more like my hips.  I knew it was muscular because I was walking it off almost before leaving for work each morning.  This led me to believe that it was time for a new bed.  I think that the average mattress is built to last for around 10 years, and I bought mine when I moved back to the house 13 years ago.

I remembered that my mother had also been talking about a new bed, (in fact, she was saving her money for a really good one) and figured we should just go ahead and get them both sooner rather than later.  I asked which she wanted.

The Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Cloud Luxe with the Advanced Ergo Adjustable Base.

Yeah.  Like a hospital bed.  Not cheap.  So I went to the website and built my own.  A basic Tempur-Cloud with a regular base:

Inasmuch as I was ordering two beds, I called to see if that would get me some sort of discount.  No dice.  But they would throw in some free pillows.  

Hm.  I was pretty sure that if I went with a local distributor, I could get a discount for ordering two.  But going direct with Tempur-Pedic got me a few things:

1. Four fancy Tempur-Pedic pillows;
2. Four years, no interest;
3. Free delivery, and the all important;
4. Free take away

I love the free take away of my old stuff.  So I ordered them.  With the special mattress pads at $89 apiece.  That, of all things, just about killed me.  But I wasn't about to spend that much money on a bed and not protect it as prescribed.  Then the guy on the phone told me they were having a BOGO on sheets.  Do standard sheets not work?  Yes, but because Tempur-Pedics are squared-off corners, these fit just a bit better.  I don't even want to tell you what they cost, but what the hell.

And of course, delivery was scheduled for when my mother was in the hospital.  I actually left the hospital just before she went in for a procedure, explaining to my grandfather that she would be much more comfortable when she gets home if her new bed was waiting for her.

My mother agreed with me.

The delivery team window was three hours and the delivery team arrived at the beginning of Hour 3.  They were friendly and efficient and showed me how to work the remote on my mother's hospital bed.  

The damn thing has a massage function.

So, after four nights, I am pleased with my purchase.  I half tested the jumping on the bed with a glass of red wine:  it was a mug of hot chocolate with my dog climbing around.  That worked.  

Only one set of sheets had arrived by the time the beds were delivered, so I let my mother have them and put my own sheets on the new bed.  They worked fine.

One warning that I saw in the reviews was that people that sleep hot might be uncomfortable because some of the mattresses - I think it depends on which model - retain heat.  I do not sleep hot, which is good because I could totally feel the "retained heat" thing.

And that is the scoop on Tempur-Pedic.

Blanket 43

I hadn't seen this fleece pattern before, either.

I did this mostly while watching The Dog Whisperer on hulu.  Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Cherry.  I need to get some more of that stuff.

The Photographic Evidence

Because my mother won't believe it happened.  This was last night:

And tonight:

From the Hospital

My mother has been in the hospital for the better part of the week. My biggest complaint is that it is near impossible to get anyone's attention.

There is a flat screen in her private room and wi fi.

Gibbs has been at doggie day care where he has learned to run with the big dogs and hump labradors three times his size.

Spooky the cat must have figured out something is goofy because he spent most of the night in my room. And Gibbs was so tired that they didn't even start anything.

Our new beds were delivered on Wednesday - more on that later.

Oh! Also - hospitals seem to have a lack of healthy food options for visitors, which I find hilarious. And it is really hard to type on an iPad.

BTT: Reading History

When is the last time you read a history book? Historical biography? You know, something that took place in the past but was REAL.


I read history regularly, but mostly it has been American History.  I was on a Civil War kick for awhile, which included fiction and non-fiction, as well as Ken Burns and Professor Blight's course on Academic Earth.


I've read a bunch of history on American presidents, the most recent being Presidential Courage.  It was a book highlighting decisions made by several different presidents.  I blogged about it briefly here.


I also love a good memoir, regardless of the time period in which it is set.


At my last book club meeting, someone asked what percent of fiction vs. non-fiction people read.  I figure that I am right at the 50/50 mark, but maybe I should tally that up sometime.