Karaoke Madness, 2009 edition

My living room at 4:45 a.m. on Sunday Feb. 8: Two party-goers are about to leave, one has stumbled down from the guest bedroom where she was napping, and eight are still singing into the microphones, voices shot.

I'm one of those eight people. At times my eyes drift off into a thousand-yard stare, but I'm still going. Miraculously. I'm 12-weeks pregnant at this time and haven't been able to stay up past 10 p.m. on most nights, but no one there except me and my husband know this little secret yet.

Everyone is singing along to Africa by Toto. Why? I don't know. I mean it's Toto. Sure, the theme of the party is Bad '70s Karaoke, but I'm pretty sure Toto isn't '70s. Oh well, I'm too tired to care. We all keep singing. It's what we've been doing for the past eight hours or so. We've forgotten how to stop.

5 a.m.: Two more people have left. We're down to seven total. Everyone quit drinking hours ago. Empty wine glasses and water bottles litter the room. The stereo is blaring American Pie, which is our official last song of the evening. We always end on American Pie.

Midway through the song, we see car lights on the street. Are the police issuing parking tickets? Not sure.

Near the end of the song, a big white light shines through the drapes of our front window, illuminating the room. Yep. I'm pretty sure that's the police.

I walk over and turn the volume way down. We finish singing. The police go away. They didn't even ring the doorbell. Turning down the volume must have been enough. I don't even think the neighbors called to complain. Must have been a routine patrol.


Post-party after 5 a.m.: The clean-up crew kicks into action. Recyclables are collected. Glassware is carried into the kitchen. Food is put away.

Three people head out to find $5 parking tickets on their cars. (Oh, those wacky suburbs and their middle-of-the-night, on-street parking laws!) The remainder of us stumble up to our respective beds and guest beds.

The party is declared a success.

So what is this karaoke madness?

It's a party we've thrown three years in a row now. We set up a computer with iTunes and use a shareware program called MiniLyrics that will scroll the song lyrics on the computer. We borrow a mixing board, microphones and speakers from our friend Rod, and go crazy with the singing. Really crazy.

Oh, the evening starts out orderly enough. The hosts and the brave guests start with some songs we've prepared. The more reserved quickly discover they can act as backup singers. By the time the night is through, just about everyone has ventured onto the stage in some way, shape or form. It's silliness. Some people choose to sing pure karaoke, most choose to sing along to the popular version of a song, two people have even brought instruments and truly serenaded the group.

Some people have a lot of fun because they love performing and watching the performances. Some people have fun because the atmosphere is an automatic ice-breaker -- you don't have to work hard to make conversation.

My favorite memories of the night? 

All the fun costumes people showed up wearing. Mark, Mike, Brian and Angie in some vintage thrift-store finds, Kelly and Gene in their love-child hippie ware, Michelle in her glittery hat, Jules in her Ring of Fire boots, JC in her Mary Tyler Moore outfit and updo, Hilly in his pirate shirt and wig, Dave in his cowboy hat and John Denver shirt. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few.

There was the number where Dave kept putting different hats on Mario while he sang. It was totally spontaneous, and Mario kept soldiering through the song, being a good sport about the silliness.



Dave's outrage when Hilly's Superstitious performance was rated the best of the night (even though he'd won the title for the same song last year, and Superstitious didn't even fit the '70s theme.)

Mark pulling out his flute to play along to Jethro Tull (really late in the night).

The fact that just about every girl managed to talk Mark into singing a duet.

The dogs wanting to be underfoot all the time. Thor eventually finding a hiding spot under the DJ table so he could be near me.

The three 28-year-olds working so hard to pull us out of our 70s mellow-song rut and livening things up with some Baby Got Back and Fresh Prince.

Hilly and Paul dancing with anyone and everyone.

Jaye taking video from her comfy spot on the wing-back chair in the bar, scolding anyone who stepped in front of her.



Jaye and Mario trying to make Kyle jealous by posing for photos on the wing-back chair.

Dave talking wrong lyrics into my ear as I'm trying to sing You're My Best Friend.

That's what comes to mind in the five minutes I took to think it over. I'm sure I'm missing other fun moments. (If you were at the party, feel free to remind me of other moments in the blog comments.)

Need photographic and video evidence?

Check out the 176 photos and 20 videos we uploaded to Flickr. Evidence is collected from cameras belonging to Kelly, the Hillys, Mike and me (thanks Jules and eveyone else who picked up one of these cameras and snapped off some photos). Also thanks to Dave and Jaye for the video. 

What did we sing for all those many hours?

Here's the official list as transcribed from our notes.

Haley & Jaye, Yesterday's Once More (Carpenters)
Dave & Haley, Billy Don't Be a Hero (PaperLace)
Mark, Band on the Run (Paul McCartney & Wings)
Mike, Jackie Blue (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
Kelly, I Feel the Earth Move (Carol King)
Tom, You Take My Breath Away (Rex Smith?)
Brian & Michelle, Whenever I Call You Friend (Loggins & Nicks)
Mario, You May Be Right (Billy Joel)
Jennifer, You're So Vain (Carly Simon)
Stacy, Coin-Operated Boy
Gene & Kelly, Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Elton John & Keiki Dee)
Mike, What's So 'Bout Peace, Love And Understanding (Elvis Costello)
Hilly & Paul, Wildfire (Mike Murphy)
Dave, Mandy (Barry Manilow)
Michelle, Get Right Back to Where We Started From (Maxine Nightengale)
Amber, Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkle)
Joanne, Beautiful (Christina Aigulara)
Jennifer & Mark, Summer Lovin' (John Travolta & Olivia Newton John)
Hilly, Rock With You (Michael Jackson)
Mario, Lola Live (The Kinks)
Mike & Kelly, Do That To Me One More Time (Captain & Tenille)
Amber, This is How we Do It (Montel Jordan)
Jennifer & Jaye, Delta Dawn (Helen Reddy)
Haley, Rock the Boat (The Hues Corporation)
Stan, Locomotion (Grand Funk)
Dave, Jaye, Mark & Haley, The Rose (Bette Midler)
Amber, Blister in the Sun (Violent Femmes)
Gene, I Saw the Light (Todd Rundgren)
Rod & Tesha, You Dropped a Bomb on Me (The Gap Band)
Mark, After the Loving (Engleburt Humperdink)
Hilly, The Joker (Steve Miller Band)
Joanne, You Make Me Feel (Aretha Franklin)
Stacy, Bring Me Some Water (Melissa Ethridge)
Mike, It's Too Late (Carol King)
Kelly, You Are Everything (Stylistics)
Amber & Shannon (& April???), Fresh Prince Theme Song (Will Smith)
Mario, Me and Julio Down by the School Yard (Paul Simon)
Mark, Reminiscing (Little River Band)
Hilly & Mark, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (Leo Sayer)
Tom, Vehicle (The Ides of March)
Gene, Moondance (Van Morrison)
Rod & Tesha & Angie, Baby Got Back (Sir Mixalot)
Hilly, Superstition (Stevie Wonder) -- reprise from last year
Mike, Brother Louis (Stories?)
Haley, I Am Woman (Helen Reddy)
Dave, Little Willy (Sweet)
Joanne & Mark, You Don't Bring Me Flowers (Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand)
Mario, Hard Luck Woman (Kiss)
Angie & Tesha, Schoop (Salt N' Pepa)
Amber, I Wish (Skeelo)
Stacy, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves (Cher)
Mark, Aqualung (Jethro Tull)
Haley, You're My Best Friend (Queen)
Mike, Brandy (Looking Glass)
Mario, Weekend in New England (Barry Manilow)
Stacy, Wig, Wham, Bam (Sweet)
Angie, Come Through My Window (Melissa Ethridge)
Haley & Mark, Top of the World (Carpenters)
Mike, Kung Fu Fighting (Karl Douglas)
Dave, Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver)'
Paul, Wichita Lineman (Glenn Campbell)'
Mario, Radio, Radio (Elvis Costello)
Amber, The Next to Be with You (Mr. Big)
Mark, Coming to America (Neil Diamond)
The Gay Pirate Duo (Dave & Hilly), I Want to Be Your Everything (Andy Gibb)
Joanne, If I Ain't Got You (Alicia Keys)
Mike, Laughter in the Rain (Neil Sadaka)
Mark, Carefree Highway (Gordon Lightfoot)
Stacy & Mark, The Impression that I Get (Might Boss Tones)
Mario, Everything I Own (Bread)
Mike, Sometimes When We Touch (Dan Hill)
Mark, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)
Stacy, Only the Lonely (The Motels)
Dave & Chris, Escape (The Pina Colada Song), (Rupert Holmes)
Mario, Burning Love (Elvis Presley)
Mike, Highway to Hell (AC/DC)
Tom, I Can't Hold Back (Survivor)
Haley & Angie, 3 a.m. (Matchbox 20)
Angie, It's in His Kiss (Cher)
Stacy, Angel from Montgomery (Bonnie Wrait)
Mark (aka Panfir) on the flute, Bouree (Jehtro Tull)
GROUP SINGALONG
Afternoon Delight
Don't Stop (Fleetwood Mac)
Renegade (Styx)
Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees)
Paradise by the Dashboard Lights (MeatLoaf)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
This Beat Goes On/Switchin to Glide (The Kings)
Fox on the Run
Don't Stop Believin'
Carry on Wayward Son (Kansas)
Beth (Kiss)
Turning Japanese
Africa (Toto)
I've Done Everything for You
Love is Alright Tonite
American Pie (Don McLean)

Tea* Cup meme

Laura at That Grrl posed this question: What's your favourite cup for coffee or tea? Post a photo if you can. Let's make it a meme. Post your cup photo and pass it on to someone else.

*Laura called this the Coffee Cup meme, but I've renamed it the Tea Cup meme, since you'll never find coffee in a cup I'm drinking out of. :P




This is my current favorite tea cup at home. Jules purchased it while on a trip to Germany at Sanssouci, the former estate of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.

She liked it not just because of the pretty estate pictured on it, but also because it shows the "Sans Souci" name, which means "without worry", and "suum cique", which means "to each his own". Plus, it fits her grandmother's definition of a proper tea cup: thinner porcelain with a fluted drinking edge.

The teacup I use at work was a holiday gift from a coworker, which explains its Christmas design. While the porcelain is thicker, it does have a fluted drinking edge that Jules' grandmother would approve of.

Speaking of fluted drinking edges, the teacup below has one too. While I wouldn't call it my favorite, it does amuse me and sometimes I choose it just because I'm feeling a little cheeky. Wilko and Lesley bought it for me after I dared to request some royal memorabilia from the most recent royal wedding. Come on, take a closer look at it and glory in its tackiness -- the grainy photos, the poor aesthetics, the typos. It just makes me warm and tingly sometimes.



Want to participate in this meme? Consider yourself tagged and jump right in. Leave me a comment to let me know you decided to play, or go leave Laura a comment, or leave one for each of us. :P

Rolling up the newspaper and ...

*Smack*

"Bad Blogger! Very Bad Blogger!"

(That's me admonishing myself for neglecting this site.)

*Shuffles to computer
*Licks owie
*Starts typing

Here's something I started to write last Thursday. I thought it could be a Thursday 13 post. Obviously, since it's no longer Thursday, that plan had to be scrapped, but I'm staying with the 13 things theme.

13 Things I did in August

1. I neglected my blog. Yes, but you already know that because you're smart and you read the opening of this post  or you visited this site during the past month and figured that out for yourself.

2. I attended a writers conference. Went to the Romance Writers of America conference in San Francisco where I pitched to an editor and received a request to submit my erotica short story. Also went to all sorts of inspiring workshops and talked with all sorts of creative people (perhaps I'll write about that some more at a future date). I came home much recharged.

3. I worked more on that short story. A lot. There is much erotica in said short story. What's important is that I've been working on my fiction. Yay me!

4. A tornado touched down in my town. It wasn't an overly large tornado -- all we lost was a tree branch -- but it was very scary. I was driving home from work when it hit. I was listening to the radio and knew it was stupid to keep going into the path of the confirmed tornado, so I pulled over at the Oasis rest stop and waited out the storm with a bunch of other cautious (and scared) motorists.

5. I watched the Olympics. A lot of Olympics. It was constantly playing in the background whenever I was home.

6. I finally saw The Dark Knight at the theater. Excellent. I can see what all the hoopla was about. My husband still insists that Iron Man was a much better movie. Me? It's a toss-up.

7. I got to see my friend Wook when he came in for a surprise visit. It was a surprise even to him. The airline canceled his connecting flight at O'Hare, so he stayed the night with us. It took my poor dog Thor a few days to get over this visit from his own personal Satan, but the rest of us were happy to see Wook. :)

8. I enjoyed an afternoon at the racetrack. We celebrated my husband's 40th birthday by inviting a group of friends to go to Arlington Park with us. I bet the $2 minimum on just about every race, losing far more than anything I won, but I had a lot of fun. We all did. We couldn't have ordered up more beautiful weather.

9. I got to be a mock bridesmaid at a friend's mock wedding. Jules celebrated her 20th wedding anniversary by renewing her wedding vows. That's where all the "mock" business comes in. It was a gorgeous night, a very moving ceremony, and I was thrilled to be included in such an honored capacity.

10. I applied for another job within my company. It would be a lateral move to a different tech writing position, but it would be a welcome change. Let's hope I didn't just jinx myself by mentioning it here. There's a lot of interviewing still to be done.

11. I helped to run the draft for my husband's Fantasy Football league. I ran the computer, inputting the selections as players were drafted. I even remembered to wear my referee shirt from last year's Halloween costume. It was a big hit.

12. I saw Alice Cooper in concert. It was a fun show. We drove up to the Genesee Theater in Waukegan. It's an old theater with all sorts of gilded decorations inside, so it made for an interesting setting. I could imagine the society matrons from 75 years ago fainting at the sight of big, burly, inked Harley types filling the red velvet seats of this one-time posh theater. If that didn't get them, I'm sure Alice Cooper killing a babydoll and then mock hanging himself on stage would have done it for them.

I almost forgot No. 13. Seems like it should have ended on an even dozen. But yet, here I am, so...

13. Got the dogs into the vet for their annual checkups. That's actually big news for Miss Loki, who was diagnosed with a cancerous mast cell tumor during last year's checkup. She received a clean bill of health this time. Plus, both dogs were down 10 pounds. Their diets are working. (I can't say so much for mine.)

Now I'm all caught up. My blogging is back to a clean slate. Here's looking forward to a prolific September and no more swatting myself with rolled up newspapers.

A line in life that I will not cross

My friend Jules thinks I should have a pet wedding for Loki and Thor like the weddings described in this article: More dogs are saying 'Fi-Do' to pet weddings.

Scott's clients include pet owners who want to mate their pets and don't want "illegitimate relations" in their home. Others want companionship for their pets, and some pet owners just want a public ceremony to emphasize how esteemed their pets are.

As crazy as I am about my dogs (we do celebrate their birthdays), I am not about to hold a doggie wedding.

Loki and Thor are adopted brother and sister, after all, and letting them marry would be yucky. :P

(Seriously, I would NEVER go there. Their relationship is 100 percent sibling and 0 percent romantic. They just don't have that kind of chemistry. Plus they're both fixed. And mostly, Loki thinks Thor is an extremely annoying little brother.)

At Large: Muffin the Cat -- I mean Simon's Cat

I laughed when I saw this video on Beeker's Words because it reminds me totally of Jules' cat Muffin (see photo at right). Funny thing was, when I emailed the link to Jules, she responded that her son had sent her the link yesterday of the same video for the exact same reason.

Here's a second video by the same artist.

The dead post file

So many things in my drafts folder... So many things that I've meant to blog about, but never did for some reason.

I'm cleaning my virtual desk -- clearing out the aborted blog entries that are just taking up space, and publishing those that were almost finished but just didn't get published for some reason.

Want a "for-instance"?

Way back in November, I meant to post kudos to Starr Toth, who placed second in a Gather.com writing contest, so therefore won a publishing contract with Pocket Books. When they announced the contest winners, Starr's name sounded familiar, so I searched my email. Turns out, she judged a contest entry of mine (a love scene, no less) back in 2003, and liked it a lot. We had a brief email exchange, but didn't keep in contact.

In her email Starr told me: "I want 'Prairie Fire' to get published so I can read the whole thing - you pulled me in and left me hanging!" Unfortunately, I'm still leaving people hanging with Prairie Fire.

Her book, Trust Me, comes out this fall. You know I'll be buying a copy.

Other dead posts?

I meant to link to a Stephen King review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I meant to link to a New York Times article about Magical Thinking: Why Do People Cling to Odd Rituals?.

I meant to link to a discussion on The Watcher's Chicago Tribune blog about her pet peeves in television plots, along with readers pet peeves and industry professionals' pet peeves.

For some forgotten reason, I meant to write about the old Fireside Roller Rink (or is that Rollarena?), which is long gone. I'd Googled it and come up with this link to one of Eric Zorn's columns, which had a relevant comment by someone named Bud Fox.

I'd also meant to write about a blind root-beer tasting that we did with my nephews. All I have to offer, instead, is this cool photo that my sister took.

I meant to write about many excursions I've been on with my girlfriends. Like when Marriott took me to see My Fair Lady a few weeks ago, or when Marriott and I popped into the old Carson Pirie Scott store on State Street right before it closed, tea at Ethel's Chocolate Lounge, going with JC and Jules to make custom purses as 1154 Lill, and other adventures.

What posts were resurrected?

Not all the draft posts were deleted. A few were so close to being finished, I polished them a little and published them anyway.

See:
Anne Lamott
Wook cut his hair!
Lollygagger
S-Factor Afternoon

Things still in draft format?

Yes, a few things still survive in draft format. They aren't finished enough to publish, but I still like the ideas enough that I want to execute them. Notably, the rest of my Australia trip -- which was more than six months ago now.

Who knew tea could be so hot? (Writing Love Scenes)

Writers group topic last night? Writing Love Scenes (aka The First Kiss and How to Ramp up Sexual Tension)

Remember this is a romance writers group, so we're all strongly indoctrinated in traditional romance novel love scenes with its coded language. Many of us have made forays into erotica, but many are not interested.

Favorite quote? Said by Theresa Stevens, managing editor of Red Sage Publishing, who is also a member of my Windy City Romance Writers group.

Context: She's just finished reading an example of an erotica love scene and the discussion is about the explicit level of the language.

"Red Sage is in the tamer end of erotica," she said.

There's murmurs of disbelief in the crowd. How could the language get much more explicit?

It's not the language, she clarifies, it's the situation: "You have one man, one woman, they're both human."

My eyes meet Jules' eyes across the room. We're both thinking of the same Morgan Hawke novel. We laugh. (I love that Morgan Hawke novel, BTW.)

Most educational part of the session? Allie Pleiter reading from her inspirational romances.

Allie explained that when writing these inspirational romances (marketed to a Christian audience), the most explicit she can get is a kiss, and basically the characters have no bodies from the neck down. So that kiss scene has to be saved for the moment of greatest impact to the story.

And since she can't work with any sort of sex scene, she has to find other ways to communicate the emotional connection between the characters that is often such an integral part of a sex scene.

All I have to say is, check out her book The Perfect Blend, because the scene where the hero serves the heroine tea is hot, and, really, all he's doing is serving her tea in a public restaurant.

The limitations that Allie has to deal with in her genre remind me of the limitations that moviemakers had to work with in the 1930s-1960s with the Hays code. Which, ironically, was a time when many of the best romantic movies were made.

Things I knew that were reinforced about writing love scenes?

**A successful love scene, no matter the level of explicitness, is all about the emotions. There has to be something at stake emotionally between the characters, and that love scene had better somehow change them and their relationship. Personally, I find that if any of these elements are missing in a scene, it becomes voyeuristic and boring and I start skimming.

**The concept of "reader foreplay", which is how Theresa Stevens described it. I've always know the concept as building "sexual tension". Basically, it's that the attraction is building between your characters long before anything sexual actually happens.

"There are fantasy elements involved that get you cooking long before the kiss," Teresa said.

**In romance novels, the course of the story often unfolds so that emotional intimacy leads to physical intimacy.

In erotic romance, it's usually the other way around. Sexual, physical intimacy leads to emotional intimacy.

The Queen's Tale

My dear friend and critique partner just had her debut erotic short story published today. The Queen's Tale by Grace d'Otare is available for electronic download from Harlequin Spice Briefs.

I have a vested interest in seeing this short story sell well. Please buy it. :-)

Grace d'Otare.com

I've been helping an author-friend build a website and MySpace page to promote her upcoming release, The Queen's Tale. It's been a great experience for me as I'm learning to use different web publishing tools. I'd love to know what you think.

So, check out Grace's website. Go to her MySpace page and become her friend if you want.

Most importantly, buy her story when it comes out in February. It's a short story sold electronically for only a few dollars. Oh, and be warned, it's erotica.

:)

History lessons

This is one of my favorite photos from a weekend excursion with Jules and JC to the Chicago History Museum. Wait, I can't decide between the one on top or the one at right? There's just something I like about that bronze bull's head. Opinions?

Regardless, we finally visited the museum after it was overhauled, redesigned and renamed a year or so ago. Out the door went the stodgy "Chicago Historical Society" moniker and in came the new "Chicago History Museum".

It was a fun time. The exhibits were interesting, although the Crossroads audio tour got a little bit long at times.

Particularly memorable aspects of the museum? For me, it's the same thing that stuck in my memory after my first visit as a Brownie Girl Scout 30 years ago: the melted glass-and-metal artifacts from the Great Chicago Fire. (To view the rest of my photos from the museum, visit my Chicago set on Flickr.)

S-Factor afternoon

Oprah featured it, so that has to make it safe to write about, doesn't it? I mean, otherwise, why would I want to confess that I'd taken an exercise class based on the arts of pole-dancing and lap-dancing? Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

A few years ago, Jules saw the S-Factor book somewhere and gave it and the accompanying exercise video to me for Christmas. I admit that I'm not very motivated by videos, but I did give it a few tries at home, but no more.

Then last year, Jules treated me and JC to a one-off intro to the S-Factor class at a studio in Chicago. It was lots of fun. An hour of yoga-like exercises, followed by an hour of bruising our legs trying to swing around a pole, and then learning a routine to take home with us.

This year, she treated us to another one-off class, this one called Santa's lap-dance. Again, an hour of yoga-like exercises, followed by an hour of learning how to crawl all over a big armchair.

Lots of fun, but talk about awkward. I mean, it's so totally hard to get into the moment when you're there with friends, because the key seems to be forgetting your fears and letting yourself go.

Now, this seems like the place where I should break into some internal dialog (or real dialog) that was occurring during the class. But I'm not going to go there. I think it's sufficient at this point to admit that I took the class at all.

Perhaps if Jules treats us to a class again next year...

Huh. CVICU has been redecorated. Yea.

It's not really the CVICU itself that was redecorated, nor the waiting room outside the unit, it's the surgical waiting room associated with the unit that's been redecorated.

Why do I care? Well, when Dad had his abdominal aortic aneurysm two-and-a-half years ago, we spent many, many hours sitting in that surgical waiting room during his two surgeries. A tiny little room, probably 12-by-12, no windows, with a little television in the corner and no more than 10 chairs. I'd truthfully hoped to never have to visit that room again.

Then, in September, things went south for JC's husband. Diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are a dangerous cocktail. After a couple weeks in the hospital with a seemingly vague diagnosis of heart failure, it was determined that he needed bypass surgery. Her husband is only 44 years old.

So, I took the day off to keep JC company while her husband had the surgery. Unfortunatley, it's something that I have experience at -- sitting in hospital waiting rooms. Also unfortunately, it was the same hospital where my Dad went for his surgery.

I met JC in the cafeteria, where we had a late breakfast, then we journeyed up to the room. Same set of double doors you had to walk through, same nurses station you had to walk by, same long and empty hallway you had to walk down. But then, the room itself was different. A corner closed in for some sort of air filtration system, new and more comfortable chairs, the television moved, some fancy coffee machine setup installed.

I could handle this. No overwhelming flashbacks.

We talked. We chatted. We went back to the cafeteria for an early lunch. (That's what you do when you wait -- you eat a lot.) Then back to the waiting room.

Then the doctor was there with the results. They'd done quadruple bypass. Things looked good. He was in recovery and it would be over an hour before he was in his CVICU bed and available for visitors.

We took that window of time to collect JC's children from Jules' house, then met up with Marriott, who took JC and the kids back to the hospital.

That was over three weeks ago. I'm happy to report that JC's husband is home recuperating from his quadruple bypass surgery. The diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are still issues, but he has a "remodeled" heart that with proper care should last him a good many more years.

I'd survived my reunion with the CVICU surgical waiting room. Most importantly, I was happy that I'd been available to keep JC company during those long hours.

New release watch: Big Girls Don't Cry

Cathie Linz has a new book out: Big Girls Don't Cry. It has a fabulous cover and I can't wait to read it.

Jules and I went to Cathie's one-and-only planned booksigning on Saturday in Naperville. Cathie had a nice turnout, and it was great to get to see and talk with some other local writers. I've posted a set of photos from the signing on Flickr.

When does one kitten become four?

When that kitten has babies, of course.

OK, so Momma kitten was about nine months old at the time and by some standards no longer a kitten, but for all intents she was still a baby and too young to safely reproduce. So -- four kittens.

Jules' husband brought Momma home from work one day. She'd been hanging around his office in a business park somewhere. A friendly stray.

They brought her in to the vet to have her checked out and vaccinated before introducing her to their other cat Suess.

Surprise! Momma was pregnant and about a week from delivery.

No vaccinations could be given. They'd have to keep the cats separated. They set up a kitten nursery in the bathroom and waited.

Momma went into labor, but things didn't progress well. They ended up bringing her into the vet, who advised them that Momma wouldn't survive without an emergency C-section. About a thousand dollars latter, Momma and the three surviving kittens came home.

There was some hand-feeding and nursing involved, a few bites and scratches, and a lot of TLC. Jules' kids and various guests have enjoyed playing with the kittens for the past 10 weeks.



Last night, Momma and the little girl Cali went home to a new family. The little boys are still there. Jules is looking for a home for the yellow, but thinks they'll end up keeping the gray one. (Me? I have my excuse for not taking one -- horrible cat allergies. But trust me, even with the allergies, it's hard to say no.)

I've posted a set of photos of the kittens on Flickr. Here's one of my favorites:

In praise of my little yellow truck

My little yellow truck just hit 100,000 miles yesterday.

Of course, I managed to miss the grand moment. Saw it 20 miles pre and 30 miles post. It's probably for the best that I missed it, because I might have been tempted to pull out my camera and document the event. Using a cell phone while driving is bad enough, but using a cell phone to take a picture while driving has to be much worse -- and who would want to see that photo anyway?

I'm probably jinxing myself here, but my 2001 Nissan Xterra has spent her working years doing the daily commute in the Chicago area, and shows no signs of even contemplating retirement yet.



Oh, I remember when the little yellow truck was young. She cut her milk teeth on the steep grades of California Street in San Francisco, showing off for all those ancient cable cars chugging alongside her. She wasn't even a teenager yet when she carried Marriott and me cross-country to Chicago. (Am I carrying the metaphor too far? By "wasn't even a teenager yet" I mean she hadn't hit 10,000 miles. Oh, and did you catch the cross-country reference? Xterra. Cross-country. Get it? Talk to me privately if you didn't.)

The little yellow truck is the third vehicle I've gotten to drive past the centenarian mark.

First there was the blue muscle car - a 1972 Pontiac LeMans (350 V-8) that my grandfather used to own. The only thing that would have made her cooler (all the guys told me) was if she had two doors instead of four. But, hey, we all have our faults.

Then there was my little red car - a 1991 Pontiac Sunbird. She had front-wheel drive, a sun roof and a really nice ability to never show her dirt (one of the guys at work was constantly asking if I'd just gotten her washed -- like I could afford to pay for regular car washes while working at a weekly newspaper). In her later years, the little red car developed a few quirks, but she served me well.

I guess I have a thing for thinking about my cars in terms of color, but at least they have color. All my husband's cars over the years have been the "little black car" - how boring. ;-) But, then again, my husband and I don't always agree on nick-names, as he likes to call my Xterra the "big yellow bus", which actually brings to my mind images of those short buses the school district used to drive students with special needs. I digress.



Since this is a post in praise of my little yellow truck, I won't complain about her gas mileage. It's a fault that's not unique to her. Most of her friends on the road are guilty of the same.

Instead, I'll praise her for her virtues. Her faithful service. Her ample passenger and cargo space (Loki and Thor positively adore her). Her stadium seating and rooftop basket that give her a distinctive profile. And her quirky little first-aid kit that gives her such a cute bump on her rear, even if the kit contents are probably out of date now.

I'll stop blathering on now. I know she's just a car. But yet...

Summer reading

Since Harry Potter wasn't out yet, I'm sure you're wondering what I did get to read on my summer vacation this year -- You are, aren't you? ;-)

The first book was J.R. Ward's Dark Lover. Jules suggested this series and I 'm hooked. The Black Dagger Brotherhood. Vampires. I'd started the series by reading the third book, Lover Awakened, last month. Yeah, I know, jump into the middle. But I'm fixing that. Dark Lover is the first book in the series, and now I'll continue in order. There are two other book in the series out and one due for release in October. You bet I'll be reading those soon.

The second book I read was Laurell K. Hamilton's The Harlequin. I've been hooked on this series for a long time -- it's 15th in the Anita Blake series. Vampires. Werewolves. Necromancers. All sorts of paranormal critters. Hamilton is one of the few writers that I always seem to make time for. Love her work.

Those were the only two books I read. Based on those two, you'd think I have a thing for vampires. But it's not the vampires that do it for me -- it's the paranormal settings, and so many paranormal romances these days have vampires. Plus, I like reading strong, alpha male characters, and vampires make good alpha males. (Note: I said I like to read strong, alpha male characters. I could never live with one in real life. Too high maintenance.)

Anne Lamott

Eagle-eye Marriott scored a hot ticket in town yesterday.

The two of us got to go to a recording of WFMT: Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman featuring writer Anne Lamott.

The first time I heard of Anne Lamott, it was 1997 and I was at the national Romance Writers of America conference. I was walking with Jules into the conference bookstore, when suddenly she turned star-struck. Now, you have to understand that Jules doesn't get star-struck easily. No-sir-ee. So this caught my attention.

The star in question wore dreadlocks. "That's Anne Lamott. She wrote Bird by Bird," said Jules, who is by far a much more varocious reader than I am.

"Who? What?" was all I could answer, which happens more often than I'd like to admit when it comes to authors and books.

Dragging me over to prominently displayed table, Jules pointed out the big stack of Bird by Bird books. It was a book about writing. A Bible on the writing experience, so I was to understand.

So, I bought a copy of the book while catching glimpses of the mysterious Anne Lamott. It turns out she was at the conference to speak at the Published Author Network retreat that year. I wasn't (nor am I now) a member of PAN, so I couldn't attend.

Time passed. I read parts of Bird by Bird, and a year or so later, I went with JC and LadyKnyght to see Anne Lamott speak at a nearby community college. She'd just released her book Traveling Mercies, which I hadn't read.

But Anne was an incredible speaker. She had all sorts of funny and witty things to say that I wrote down somewhere (Note to self: Find those notes.) I came out of her talk incredibly inspired to write.

So much so, that a few weeks ago, when Marriott told me Anne Lamott was in town to speak again, I jumped at the chance to hear her. This time she was promoting her latest book Grace (Eventually), which I haven't read (are you noticing a trend?) .

I didn't take notes this time, but, again, I was totally impressed with her. Her talk this time was not about the writing process, but it was entertaining. Let's just say that even if all her latest books have become very Christian and spiritual, she's approaches it from an interesting perspective -- the leftist, f-bomb dropping side.

And the place was packed. They were turning people away at the door, which from what I understand, has never happened with this author series before. Fortunately, the talk is available for listening to over the Internet. (Link to a recording of the show.)

Update 2/19/2008:

Anne Lamott is coming to town again. She'll be speaking at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, 2008, at Koten Chapel, 329 E. School Ave., North Central College, Naperville. She's touring with her paperback edition of Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith. Tickets are $18, include admission to the event, one copy of Grace (Eventually) and booksigning. For information, contact Anderson's Book Store.

Birthday twins and other landmarks

Happy Birthday to Jeff and Bob, who both turn 40 today! And to Uncle Ron, whose birthday is also today. (Three family birthdays on Feb. 7!)

Happy Birthday to Mom, Jules, Aunt Pat, Uncle Dene, Dave's Mom, Cindy, Diane and Steve, who all have birthdays within the past few weeks or in the upcoming few weeks.

It's a busy time of year for birthdays in my family.

And Dad, I'll be thinking of you on the 12th.

Chicago getaway

Just spent a fabulous girls getaway weekend at the swank W Hotel Lakeshore in Chicago. (Unfortunately, this will be a photo-free entry because we all forgot our cameras!)

I started the weekend negotiating the Blue Line from work into the Loop. Having always lived too far out in the suburbs to take the CTA, this was only the second time I've negotiated the system by myself. Sad, I know, but true. (Ironically - and annoyingly - for a good chunk of the ride into the city, I had to listen to some guy flirt with a girl and tell her all about how annoyed he gets with suburban people.)

Anyway, my plan was to catch a cab from the Loop up to the hotel, but since I love walking in the city, I wheeled my travel case the mile and a half from State Street to the hotel. I had to laugh when a couple - their travel guide in hand - asked me for directions to the Magnificent Mile. Sure, ask the woman wheeling a suitcase through the Loop! Fortunately, I, like any good Chicago-area native, could handle that question and pointed the couple toward Michigan Avenue, north of the river.

A good 20 or so minutes later, I was at the hotel, but dripping sweat. (It was the start of an extremely hot weekend.)

The W Hotel is not only swank, but the clientele is young and attractive. And here I was dripping on the reception desk. "Are those cool wet towels over there on the counter, by chance?" I asked the clerk. At her friendly affirmative, I quickly grabbed one of the nicely rolled towels and wiped myself down, then slunk off toward the elevators.

Our hallway had little zen rock-gardens along the walls, and the room numbers printed on the carpet. Inside the room, the beds were already turned down and the television was tuned to the hotel's welcome station. The bathroom had a shuttered pass-through that was open to the room, adding to the posh feel of the place. This was going to be a fun weekend.

I met up with Jules and JC at the Bliss Spa downstairs, where we treated ourselves to milk and almond pedicures and little samplings from the brownie bar. No healthfood here!

Nice and relaxed, we cleaned up and headed for the Wave restaurant for a glass of wine and a tapas-style dinner.

At 10:30 we retired to the room. Yes - 10:30! Three girls alone in the city, we hadn't even left the hotel yet, and we were retiring for the night.

Not really.

Now it was time to snuggle into the hotel's luxurious robes and work. We're writers, working on a project together - see Our erotic project - so we had scenes to share and critique, a bottle of champagne to open, and talking/scheming/planning to commence. The lights didn't go out until at least 2:30 a.m. (I know, it sort of sounds like a girls' slumber party cliche. What can I say? Truthfully, an outsider would have found it incredibly dull.)

We slept in, then after leaving our bags with the concierge and finding a Starbucks for Jules, we had brunch at the West Egg, which was incredibly busy, but incredibly good too.

We walked back to Michigan Avenue, contemplated doing a little shopping, but instead found ourselves at the Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum. The museum opened just over a month ago and is one of those little treasures in the city that can be so easily overlooked. The only reason we found it was because I'd read about it in the Chicago Tribune, then stumbled on it when I was taking a river cruise in June - see Weather unfit for barbecuing and boating. One of the four bridgehouses on the Michigan Avenue bridge has been converted to a museum devoted to the history of the river and its bridges. Starting at river level, you climb the tower, getting to see the gears and machinery inside the bridge and learn the history of the river as you go up. There were some really interesting views through the windows in the tower (especially the port-hole shaped window) that I need to return for some day with my camera.

From there, we headed to Russian Tea Time on Adams for afternoon tea. We agreed that the Highland Tay was the best of those we tried, but the Russian Caravan tasted a little too much like liquid smoke for our tastes. I'd love to go back there sometime and try their Vodka flights, to sample different varieties, but we didn't have time.

Next we were on to the ArchiCenter to pick up the Historic Skyscrapers two-hour walking tour. Again, I wish I'd had my camera. We, being the Chicago history geeks that we are, had a wonderful time learning to differentiate between a Chicago School skyscraper and an Art Deco skyscraper. I can now describe Chicago-style windows, I know the Auditorium Theater at Roosevelt University has perfect acoustics, and that I should repent because Jesus is coming. (OK, that wasn't an official part of the tour. Since the Gay Games were in town, there were a large number or protestors walking around wearing placards and heralding the end of the world.)

From there, it was back to the hotel to collect our bags and Jules' car. On the way home we daydreamed about future getaways and vowed to do this at least once a year. I think we're addicted to walking tours...

Golden Heart and Rita finalists

Golden Heart and Rita finalists were announced by RWA last Friday.

Alas, I am not a finalist. (Jules, you don't have to go to Atlanta with me this year.)

Congratulations to Margaret Watson, who is a Rita finalist for best long contemporary with her book "Hometown Girl", and to Susan Carroll, who is a Rita finalist for best long historical with her book "The Dark Queen". Both are members of my local writers group, Windy City.

Also of note, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, an extremely talented local writer, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from Romance Writers of America in Atlanta this summer.