Distracted

I wanted to start a blog in part because I spend too much time reading blogs. Some of the blogs I read are written by people I know well and love dearly. Other blogs are written by complete strangers, and have very little to do with my own life (although I do sometimes get awesome recipes from bloggers I have never met).

Strangely enough, just as I started my own blog, I got so busy that I although I've been racking up things to write about, I haven't actually put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, or somehow emitted little electronic (?) signals that make my words appear on the internet for all two of my blog readers to see.

First, there is that pesky dog to groom. Okay, he's not pesky, he's a little four-legged cloud, according to a local woman who sells soap at the relatively tiny Portage Farmer's Market. (If you're from a large town or small city, you would laugh at the postage stamp sized Portage Farmer's Market that lasts a mere four hours on Thursday afternoons, but if you happen to hail from Beaver Dam, the Portage Farmer's Market just might overwhelm you with all 20 or so of its booths.) (Really, I only spend about 30 minutes a day on Oliver, but dog grooming is still a relatively new phenomenon in my life.) (Like jogging.)

Plus, last week Michael and I noticed a new store in town. It's called Books and Beans, so from the name alone, I was insanely curious, and Michael knew he shouldn't let me near the place unsupervised. I wandered in early last week, just to see what they had, without plans to buy anything (except maybe a cup of coffee . . . ). I felt a little bit silly browsing the Young Adult section, but I'm trying to keep up on the books that are being marketed to my future students (which is why I have a two-month old email from Amazon in my inbox with the subject of "hottest books for teens" or something to that effect, and is also why I'm sort of reluctantly in the middle of the Twilight series). I was, of course, the only customer in the store, and I was afraid the lady behind the counter was going to start looking at me funny, so I moved on to the adult section. (Okay, I also noticed that I had a pile of three books in my arm and I wasn't sure how I'd be able to pay for our wedding limo if I kept going at this rate . . . )

Amid several pieces of fiction that looked like they'd make great book club selections, I found a nonfiction book by the novelist Barbara Kingsolver called "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral." I'm not sure why the book called to me. The shelves were sparse, but there were many other titles that my eyes simply passed right over. (The shelves are sparse because the book store opened on August 1, and the owner thought it would be wise to get some consumer input before stocking her shelves with . . . well, I can't think of a book that I wouldn't want to buy . . . but other customers might be more discriminating.

Anyway, this book is so great I'm going to post about it later . . . right now Michael wants his computer back. And seeing as how it is his computer, I suppose I ought to give it to him. (But I totally won't after we're married - because then it will be my computer too, right?) Just kidding sweetie!!