Oh dear, I am apparently an old sappy sap because I cried when I read The Notebook. I haven't read anything else he wrote. I enjoyed it. It wasn't what I normally pick for myself, but it was my neighborhood book club pick.

There's a black hole of spendiness about that place, I swear.

I call it the $100 store. I can go in there for a package of toilet paper and still spend $100. It's amazing.

Dana, I hope you feel better!

sj, yes! Take a nap, girl!

I call it the $100 store. I can go in there for a package of toilet paper and still spend $100. It's amazing.

Just think how spendy it would be if Target had a fabric department.

The sappiness and intense romanticism doesn't bother me in the slightest, Laura. What DOES bug me is that if a woman had written that same book it would a) be called a romance and not in a good way and b) that's presuming it would have ever been published in the first place.

A female author writes that same book as their first novel and publishers turn their noses up at it in all likelihood. (Debbie Macomber can get away with it, but she's also been published for twenty years.) A male author writes this book and it's sensitive and insightful.

And on top of it, he gets all insulted when his work is referred to as romance and gets all ugly about the genre.

whee! Congrats to the PixDesigns.

I am unexpectedly going to the Phish concert tonight at Fenway Park with some old friends. I am so excited! I could take or leave the concert but am really looking forward to seeing everyone.

Just think how spendy it would be if Target had a fabric department.

Holy cow! That would be very, very dangerous.

Relatedly, kind of, I was in my quilt shop yesterday buying fabric to repair a baby quilt for one of CBD's college friends. I'm actually repairing three quilts for her. Jane, the shop owner, got so excited and asked if she can give people my name and contact info for repairing treasures. Apparently, she gets people into the shop all the time who want things repaired (quilts, teddy bears, etc.--things that wouldn't be appropriate to go to the tailor/alterations bit of a dry cleaner), and she doesn't have anyone to refer them to. So, I gave her a bunch of my cards and will drop more off this week. This just might give me what I need for summer work, while I job hunt. Also, I felt really honored that she trusts me enough to refer me. It was really nice.

am unexpectedly going to the Phish concert tonight at Fenway Park with some old friends. I am so excited! I could take or leave the concert but am really looking forward to seeing everyone.

How fun!

What DOES bug me is that if a woman had written that same book it would a) be called a romance and not in a good way and b) that's presuming it would have ever been published in the first place.

Ah, I can see that completely. When I am considering books to read the gender of the author never enters my mind. Also, shaking tiny ineffective fist at the insanity of that type of bias.

sj, yes! Take a nap, girl!

Too late. Dave's family will be here in an hour and I still need to get dressed. The beans in the soup are not cooking fast enough.

Also, I felt really honored that she trusts me enough to refer me.

Completely! I hope you get lots of extra work that way.

I've been getting some hemming and taking things in work through my job - because I'll do minor repairs to the residents' clothes while I'm sitting there with nothing better to do while everyone is watching tv or in bed. I don't charge the residents, because I'm already getting paid for being there, helping them to have a non-institutional life. But when other staff members notice me doing that, they ask me to work on their clothes - so I get an extra $5 here and there. By and large I do that all by hand.