Book Reviews & The Hunger Games Book Giveaway

I buy books so rarely, but I did pick up a copy of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins recently.

I'll do my full review in my first quarter review for 2012, but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced book. Who doesn't love a good dystopia book? Now I want to share the love and send it on to one of you. So the sponsor for this giveaway is MOI.

To enter to win a copy of The Hunger Games, just leave a comment on this post telling me anything.  However, if you WANT a prompt then how something like telling me the name of a book you've read in the last year or what you plan to eat for lunch or who on Grey's Anatomy you would do it with in the on-call room since I'm just now working my way through Grey's on Netflix.  No need to do all 3 prompts. Basically, I'm just saying comment with whatever. I'm flexible, yo. Contest will end on Friday, March 9 at midnight CST. (And I would do McDreamy. In a flexible manner.)

Quarter 3 & 4 Book Reviews for 2011

I've still been reading away this whole time since Oliver was born. Books and I are BFFs forever and ever, amen, and ain't nothin' gonna breaka our stride. However, I did have to alter how and what and how often I was reading given the whole baby sitch. So most of these books were read on my iPhone while nursing and I was at the mercy of what was available from the digital selection at the library - often that meant biographies (the fiction & non-fiction are a pain to search through).  Also, I feel like I need to say that my reviews might be a little skewed from the past eight months given my own personal crazy-pants life since Oliver was born. So take my reviews with a grain of sleep-deprived salt. Any negative reviews might just be from crabbiness.

36. Getting to Happy by Terry McMillan This was her sequel to Waiting to Exhale. Not her best work. Read my full BlogHer review. C- 

37. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Fun period piece about 20-somethings in 1930s NYC. A definite recommend. Read my full BlogHer review. A-

38. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I'd been meaning to read this book forever and I have to say I was disappointed. The good: I was interested in the characters and their plight as immigrants and the parallels to today's horrifying meat packing problems were interesting. The bad: I was really confused and bored when the book turned into a pro-Socialist lecture. Sinclair's political agendas should have been woven in more gently instead of launching into them at the end like he did. Seemed really weird. B+ for the first part of the book, D for the remainder .

39. The Goodbye Summer by Patricia Gaffney While I liked this author's voice, the 30-something protagonist annoyed me with her excessive naivete and tendency to escape life by surrounding herself with elderly people. This was a gentle and very slow paced book. C+

40. Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy. This is the book that came from a blog by the same name. The concept is "How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)" and the author's fame came from her controversial decision to let her 9-year-old ride the subway alone in NYC. The book presents arguments about why we need to let go of some of the fears we have with modern parenting, citing statistics and facts and opening our eyes to how the media skews the data. I have mixed feelings about some of the situations and examples she gives for free range parenting, but I think the overall message has merit. The concept sticks with me, but I can say for certain that I would never be able to jump on board with letting a 9-year-old ride the subway. But that's just me. B- for good content, but somewhat messy compilation information.

40.5. Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor by Rick Marin Only read half of this before giving up. Marin is a tool and likes weird, creepy, emotionally labile women. The book is embarrassing and just off. F for icky.

41. The Old Romantic by Louise Dean I kept getting confused about what was going on with this book because of the way she presented new characters. Kind of a sleepy novel. Maybe my lack of connection to it was a British culture thing? B-

42. Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert I think it's funny that I read this. Prairie Tale is the true Hollywood story of Laura from Little House on the Prairie. Unfortunately for Ms Gilbert, I don't think this book did her any favors. She came across as very egotistical and somewhat foolish. I wish I hadn't read it in some way and preserved my idea of "Laura." However, I think that is exactly the kind of thing that drives her and other child stars bonkers, so maybe it's a good thing that I can see her in a more multi-dimensional and flawed and REAL way. Interesting read for Little House fans. I totes want to read Rob Lowe's book now. And you will see below (#51) that I read "Nellie Oleson's" (Alison Arngrim) auto-biography, too. I would recommend reading Arngrim's book first if you were to read both as it's higher quality. B

43. Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, A Love Story by Ree Drummond I had already read most of her love story on her blog Pioneer Woman, so this was a repeat for the first 2/3 of the book and then there wasn't anything too exciting in the new stuff. I don't really care for the overly cutesy way she talks about Marlboro Man (ugh, the tingly hiney stuff is just cringe-worthy), but obviously she inspired me to write out my own love story and I think she has talent. The book is worth a look if you never read her love story on her blog, otherwise I would say skip it or check it out from the library if you are really into Pioneer Woman. B-

44. Rescue by Anita Shreve The story of a young couple who have a kid and the woman disappears for many years and then returns. Where oh where has my beloved Anita Shreve gone? I adore some of her early books. They really struck a chord with me. Her past several books? No. The characters in this one once again rubbed me the wrong way and I felt disappointed in the story line. Sorry to say I give it a C. (I grade harshly on this because I KNOW she can do better.)

45. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. A re-read for me, last read when I was in college and home for Spring Break. MY what a difference 10-ish years make in the reading and interpretation of this novel. Prodigal Summer is the story of a woman who lives a solitary life in Appalachia. Lots of characters stories are weaved together and, as always, Kingsolver's work has a strong connection to nature. This book is intricate and has so many levels. Really brilliant. I love being a re-reader and seeing how I've grown as a person and observing the differences in my own response. One interesting self-observation was that I was more harsh in my judgement of the woman protagonist...I'm going to pop-psychology myself and guess that it's because I'm closer in age to her now and therefore can relate to her more and am actually judging myself. Or something. Ha! A

46. The Happiness Project or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin On the surface, this book seemed right up my alley: a type-A approach to happiness - lists and charts and research, woo hoo! But the actual book came up short. Ms. Rubin comes across as a bit of a bored rich lady and not so much an everyday person trying to find happiness amid the chaos (in other words, expect to roll your eyes quite a bit). However, there were still some interesting thoughts and research to make this book a worthwhile read. B-

47. Yoga Bitch: One Woman's Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment by Suzanne Morrison
There is definitely some good book fodder within the yoga world, especially the consumer yoga world. The author is honest and sarcastic and at times a bit of an idiot (but aren't we all?) and I thought this book was amusing. I think it also does some good to shed light on the disconnect between yoga as a business and yoga as a quiet act of solitude for self-improvement and self-awareness. There's the possibility for the two to co-exist, but it gets really murky, really quickly (just like big medicine). B

48. Slow Love Dominique Brown This book marks the end of a non-purposeful trilogy of journey-to-happiness-and-awareness books. Read my full BlogHer Book Review here, but as a spoiler, I rate it a B. I should dock her down to a B- for giving her boyfriend the moniker of "Stroller", however. 

49. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield
OOH, I was happy when this one popped up on my digital library list. This is the fictionalized story of Laura Bush (as in, George's wife). The book started out strong and had me doing all sorts of googling about the real Laura Bush. I think she is a fascinating woman and her life choices and current place in life are so curious. But that curiosity and seeming mismatch in her choice of a spouse made the book confusing once she met her husband-to-be. Why would she choose him? Why was she willing to go along with him and his life? That question was never quite answered for me (and made the book less compelling), but I suspect maybe that's the point. B

50. Don't Kill the Birthday Girl by Sandra Beasley
A memoir about someone with severe food allergies. Really well written and funny and interesting and educational. I want to be her friend. A

51. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated by Alison Arngrim
There was a lot more to Nellie than I ever guessed. Alison Arngrim's a tough cookie and seems like a really good person. A witty, revealing and smart book that still contains plenty of Hollywood gossip. A-

52. Eggs in the Coffee, Sheep in the Corn: My 17 Years as a Farmwife by Marjorie M Douglas
The memoir of an accidental farmwife in Minnesota during the 1940s and 1950s. Interesting perspective, but I felt sad for the author and how stuck she must have felt at times. Ms. Douglas is remarkably restrained in talking about her father-in-law and his somewhat manipulative ways. B+

53. The Big Love by Sarah Dunn
An ABC Family rom-com of a novel. Took me awhile to finish it as it didn't hold my interest. Protagonist is a bit of an odd duck, made it hard to relate much to her. C

54. Innocent Spouse by Carol Ross Joynt
True story of a woman who learned of her husband's tax fraud (in the millions) after his sudden death. Interesting read, but something felt off to me. I struggled to see what her attraction to her husband would have been in the first place - he sounded like quite a a-hole to me. And that makes me question her and what she really did or did not know. I wanted to have more compassion for her, but it wasn't there. C+

55. A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand
Would classify this one as a good beach read. The protagonist is a 40-something mom and artist who starts making some highly questionable choices in her life. Read it quickly because I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next. B

56. Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller
The interwoven story of complex and nuanced characters, mostly centered around a playwright and her current play. Sue Miller is a quality author and has that ability to paint flawed characters that you somehow still root for. I liked this and need to remember to figure out which Sue Miller books I haven't read yet. A-

57. Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye by Lois Lowry
Taking it back to the old school here. I must have read this for the first time more than 15 years ago. The story of an adopted girl who wants to find her birth mom. A poignant and sometimes melancholy book. Quality teen lit. A-

58. Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman
Stumbled on this book randomly searching the digital book database and enjoyed it. Heart of the book is the story of two very different sisters - one a CEO for a tech business and the other a grad student who works at a bookstore. Kept my attention and I enjoyed the twists and turns. B+

59. Intuition by Allegra Goodman
After enjoying Cookbook Collector, I read another book by her. This book centered around a research lab. Again she had interesting characters and a well-thought-out storyline, but the details about research involving mice were very off-putting for me - to the point of distraction. B-

Still looking for something to read? Check out my past reviews:  First Quarter 2011, Second Quarter 2011, 2010 Book Reviews

Project 52:8 Fun

 Learn more about my Project 52 here and check out styleberry BLOG for links to more Project 52s.

This picture is quite the misrepresentation of this past week, but it did happen 7 days ago. There were some good moments sprinkled in among the tiring and challenging ones and I'm glad I captured one.

So what's my drama now? (Swear I'm not normally so spazzy on the drama front - I'm becoming a train wreck right before your very eyes!) Oliver caught the nasty bug that Bella had. Just when life was getting back to normal, when we had finally curbed those insane toddler tantrums that followed Bella's week-long illness, when I had one day when I felt energized and competent, then BOOM: Oliver gets a high fever for the next 3 days. His fever seems to have passed, but he is one congested and unhappy and ZOMG not sleeping baby.

My little engine that could is starting to putter out and I am having some serious fantasies about running away to a tropical island by myself (no offense, Husbo) and just sitting and staring at the water for 7 days. While drinking vats of Blue Hawaiians. Realistically, I think I might book a hotel for the night somewhere close by and stare at a book. Also? This month will have two mornings per week of babysitting help. Also also? Therapy. More therapy, for sure. I will survive.

And when all these storms have passed and life is filled with regular-strength drama, then I will do a "Good job, Good job" dance for myself.

Now I'm off to sleep for a couple hours because the babysitter is here and cue the chorus of angels because Hallelujah!

Swiper, No Swiping!

There a millz things I should/could/would blog about, but meh. Later. Tonight I want to tell you about my fox friend.

As a reminder, I live one bridge walk away from downtown Minneapolis in a townhome, so hardly your typical fox habitat. We are more squirrel folk, round these parts. And yet Sir Foxy has been coming around for years.

Oh, MAN!

THE END

The Dreamfeed

I fix the bottle of formula. There is something so familiar about this process, which doesn't make sense. I never supplemented your sister, not once, and breastfed her for 21 months. Why I feel this familiarity I don't know, although maybe I am remembering all those bottles I prepared for NICU babies back when I was 21 years old and working in a hospital. How careful I was and scared that I might make a mistake. I don't worry about you, though. I scoop and dump and shake and stick the prepared bottle in some hot water to heat it up a bit and that's it.

When the bottle seems warm enough that you will suck it down quickly, I bring it upstairs. I push the door open enough to let the hall light fill the room. I lift your heavy, solid weight from the crib, from your sound slumber.

The cat - the blind, cleft-palated, nosy gray cat that you will probably never have a memory of (except perhaps you will have many memories of him as he's bound to live for 25 years, sneezing kitty snot all over us for a quarter of a century) - comes in to the room and begins to wake you up. I nudge him out with my foot and push the door closed. I grab the bottle from where I left it on the nightstand and sit with you in the glider.

I ease the bottle towards your mouth but something is wrong. I push the curtain open, the long red curtain that is right next to the glider since this room is crammed full of furniture and treadmills and life, and the moonlight and city light stream in enough for me to see that I am attempting to feed you with a fragrance-free California Baby lotion.

I exchange the lotion for the bottle and try again. You take it right away and begin to drink. I could never get your sister to do a dreamfeed, but you do it easily and have for months. Except this time I am feeding you from a bottle. And not a bottle of breastmilk.

You don't care what I am feeding you or what I am feeding you with. I'm thankful for that. There is no difficulty in getting you nutrition. But as easy as it is to feed you, it is not easy at all.

I don't know why this is so hard for me, this weaning. I can rationally tell myself the reasons why this makes sense, why it's necessary, why I've gone above and beyond what most sane people would do, but it doesn't stop this drive in me to continue breastfeeding. I can't explain it. It's something bigger and primal and who knows - a relic of cave people or chimpanzee ancestors or just hormones in high gear. Probably just hormones. All I know is that this is hard and that tears are streaming down my face as we rock and you drink.

But as we look at each other, your sleepy eyes shiny in the moonlight, I notice that we are looking at each other. You aren't turned into me and I'm not turned into my iPhone. We are looking at each other and still close and still a mother with her child. Does it really matter - really?

You finish in just five minutes, maybe less, maybe more, and I stand and attempt to ease out a burp that will never come, not when you are half asleep. I lay you back down and creep back out of the room to the bright hallway and noisy cat, my face wet with tears of frustration and the unfairness of what this thrush situation has meant for us.

But it's okay. You are okay and I am okay and we will be more than okay. It's just that it is not as simple as it seems it should be and it is not easy in the slightest.

These are the Days of Our Lives - Winter 2012

You all weren't planning to be productive today, were you? Heh. Go forth and blog hop! Thanks to all that participated this quarter. I'll do this again in May.

The Baby Brain
Michigan

Adventures in Tullyland
Massachusetts

Tales of an Unlikely Mother
Florida

The Blessed Mom
Vermont (but in Florida for this DITL)

The Fun Has Just Begun
Tennessee

Accelerated Baby
Virginia
Morning
Evening

it's all happening!
Minnesota

How Sweet it is!
California
Day 1 (Work Day)

Day 2 (Stay-at-Home Day)

it's a work in progress
North Dakota

This dreamcrossed twilight...
Michigan

The way it is now...for us
Ohio

Frugal Vegan Mom
Minnesota

The Hemborg Wife - Expat in Training
Sweden

Raising Snowpeas
Minnesota

Potatoes and Yams
The Netherlands

The Barr Blog
Minnesota

Hilde Home
Alaska

Sinking into Motherhood
Minnesota

Live Inside My Bubble

Minnesota

Super Telegas

Minnesota

dr. frankenbaby's monsters

Illinois

Day in the Life - Winter 2012

Friday, February 17, 2012

3-something - I hear Oliver wake up and start fussing and I roll off my air mattress on the upper stair landing (don't you worry, I'll be sure to explain this situation later in the day...) and I go downstairs to the master bedroom to nurse him.

3-something-plus-20-minutes - I put Oliver back in his crib and take one of my anti-yeast supplements (Candex) and chug 20 oz of water and go back to my air mattress.

6:30-ish - Baby alarm clock goes off and the day starts. This past night of sleep was actually excellent compared to the previous week as each kid only woke once. Now if I had been smart enough to go to bed earlier than 11 pm the previous evening, perhaps I would feel more refreshed. I nurse Oli once more.

7 AM - Husband gets Bella. She is not in a good mood and is still sick with her flu-cold thing. But no more fever - whew!

7:10 AM - I wrestle my baby alligator into a diaper and clothes in the upstairs hallway and he escapes up the stairs multiple times. He just picked up that trick in the past week and it is proving to be quite the challenge in our stair-heavy townhome.

7:30 AM - Begin getting breakfast organized for the kids and myself. The cats MEOW at me in a harassing manner.

7:45 AM -  More anti-yeast supplements plus placenta pills for good measure since the weaning thing has me feeling off. There are so, so many supplements lately. We eat. I have plain oatmeal prepared with water with frozen blueberries and black coffee. I don't know what I'm doing with my diet and the yeast/thrush stuff right now, but this particular breakfast is somewhat anti-candida friendly. Bella has some of Husband's kashi w/soy milk and a banana. Oliver has canned prunes with oatmeal.

8:15 AM - Assorted sick-toddler drama. Put on some toddler music on my phone to try to snap her out of it. Notice how random my Pandora stations are.

8:30 AM - I can pretend spring is right around the corner. This winter (non-winter kind of winter) has been awesome.

8:40 AM - Husband takes off for work. He only worked two days this week due to the plague. Many of his co-workers and their families had the same plague. Germ spreaders...

9 AM - Bella perks up a bit after eating and drinking.

Oliver does his super-explorer baby thing.

TRAIN! Very exciting event that happens 30 times a day.

9:30 AM - MORE COFFEE.

9:15 AM - Oliver goes down for his first nap. Back in the olden-I-only-have-one-kid days, this meant I took a nap, too. These days I use this time to catch up on chores or email/blog stuff or shower while B watches a TV show on Netflix. Today I shower but since I get nervous about giving Bella free range in our house - there is too much she could get into - I get her set up with Dora on the iPad. She likes to chillax in Oliver's tub. She also fancies up with some hair accessories and a new shirt.

9:25 AM - This is pretty much it for any beauty routine these days.

I had to get rid of all my make-up because make-up can harbor thrush. A moment of silence for that. My skin is super dry so I don't ever wash my face, I just put oil on it. I also prefer oil to lotion. [Whisper-voice: Weird ass hippies.]

9:30 AM - Get dressed just for you guys. I even wore a bra today. (Thrush treatment means airing out them boobies round the clock.)

My jeans are from 2006 and Bella is concerned about the holes and rips in them.

9:40 AM I make the bed (*cough* cheap air mattress) in my guest-room-slash-office.

I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like the feng shui is off in here just a little bit. Maybe a plant would do the trick? HA. Ha. ha. The real deal: I have been sleeping here for over a month because I just do not sleep well in the same room as Oliver. And we can't move Oliver in with Bella because he still wakes up 1-3 times a night and she is a light sleeper. And our house only has two rooms with doors (not counting the bathrooms - and one of the bathrooms is in the unheated basement) so...yeah. I sleep on an air mattress that is shoved under a desk and surrounded by file cabinets. We need to move soon? Maybe?

10:30 AM - Oli is up. Cute little pumpkin.

We hang out in Bella's room for a bit. Bella still feeling funky and acting funkier. It's funky town.

10:40 AM - Go downstairs to give Oliver a bottle of formula

and give Bella a snack (blueberries, turkey breast, few cheerios). Bella is normal again.

Wait no. Going crazy.

She says she misses Daddy. I text him so he is well aware of how fun Bella is being. He suggests face-time. I love B's expression here.

11 AM - Take advantage of a moment where they are playing together and put away dishes.

If I ever meet the person who designed this kitchen - specifically the dishwasher placement, I'm going to pinch them. One of those painful little pinches.

11:30 AM - We need to drop off some baby food jars that I have saved at my neighbor's request. We bundle up - but not too much -WOOHOO! - and leave the jars on her stoop. Then we take a quick walk. Bella does some crunch, crunch, crunch-ing in the snow, a la The Snowy Day.

12 PM - Lunch. Get all confused about what I should be eating vs. what I want to be eating. Decide to heat up Bella's leftover Chipotle burrito bowl that was in the freezer (brown rice, both beans, mild salsa, a little cheese & sour cream). I put it over lettuce  with some guacamole. B has the same plus some chocolate milk that I bought in a desperate fit to get her to drink something last week.

B asks to see the carton and studies it.

Then she asks the age-old question, "Mama - where does chocolate milk come from?" I love it! Such a classic question. I tell her they come from brown cows to see her reaction. Then I tell her the truth, but she doesn't quite buy that.

12:30 PM - A little more playing and some potty time for B and then we get her ready for her nap. She insists on wearing fleece pjs and I'm picking my battles on this day so I let her. While changing her she does her "cuckoo naked dance", a game we came up with to ease the dressing & undressing battles.

Oli is ready for his nap, too. I love double nap days when it all works out.

1 PM - Both kids napping - CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES COME ON! Go downstairs quickly and take more supplements. I take them 8 times a day for thrush stuff.

This isn't even all of them.

1:15 PM - I go back upstairs to my creepy pseudo-bedroom and lay down and watch a little Grey's Anatomy before my Internet connection quits working. I decide to take an actual nap.

2:15 PM - Oliver wakes me up. I nurse him and after taking a picture I realize this might be the last one I take of us nursing. Get teary, debate not weaning fully for the twentieth time that day.

2:30 PM - While I'm nursing Oliver, Stevie-the-blind-and-cleft-palated cat climbs up on the changing table. A daily event. Post nursing, Oliver looks out the window hoping to see a train and then fights me when I try to change him.

3 PM - Bella is up. She is in a mood once again. Will this sickness & associated crabbiness ever end? I get her to snap out of it a bit after she has a snack. We do some painting and Oliver crawls around and does his baby thing.

4:15 PM - We all play together until it's time for Oliver's nap.

4:30 PM - B gets cranky again when I won't let her watch a Dora episode. She reluctantly agrees to some reading, but returns to a happy state pretty quickly when I start reading one the many Berenstein Bear books that I gave her from my old collection.

This was my favorite BB book as a kid and OF COURSE it's the one about organizing a messy room. Funny how we really are ourselves from an early age.

4:45 PM - Bella and I are talking about moving to a new house and she tells me that Daddy will have a bicycle and she will have a tricycle and I will have a big tricycle. Ha.

5:00 PM - Daddy's home! Very glad for this. Bella requests a family hug, one of her favorite things. We go and get Oliver up.

5:30 PM -I run out and get some wine and food from  Brasa (local/organic restaurant) for dinner. I'm too tired to cook and still rebounding from that insanely strict diet for the past few weeks. I get their slow-roasted pork, crispy yuca, creamed spinach with jalepeno and corn muffins. It's always fun to run errands that don't include anything to do with carseats.

6:00 PM - I see my 8th grade crush walk in front of me at stop light and then he gives a cop the stink-eye for blocking the crosswalk with his car. I love random moments in life.

6:15 PM - We eat.

6:45 PM - Oliver's bedtime. Daddy gets to wrestle him this time. Bella does her treadmill tricks. I stand and do nothing.

7:00 PM - Bella's bedtime is next. Husband finishes up the cuddling and singing and whatnots while I  slip into something more comfortable as an attempt to lure my mate. (False.)

7:15 PM - I go around and vinegar some of the toys that Oliver did a lot of playing with.

 It's another one of those things with the thrush treatment that I don't know if I should keep it up or be done with it. F***ing thrush. It's enough of a pain to clean up toys and bottles at the end of the day, but then to have to sterilize everything, too? ARG. I also do some straightening up and get the laundry started. I think for the bazillionth time that I cannot wait to move - a place for toys will be awesome.

7:30 PM - Aforementioned mate returns downstairs and gets a beer and then looks at bills or money stuff or houses or something online. I'm drinking wine and start computering and being lazy on the couch. The time after the kids are in bed is like Christmas everyday.

8 PM - I need to switch the laundry, but I'm soooo tired. Laundry: so haaaaaard after 7 pm. Put an excellent offer up on FB but there are no takers. Ponder what the non-kid people think about my status updates and if they feel concern for me. HA.

Finally, Husband agrees to do it if I come with him and watch him. He's pervy like that.

8:30 PM - We eat cake that Husband took home from work. And girl scout cookies. While drinking wine. Anti-candida what? I watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy on my computer and Husband watches something on his computer. I didn't ask what but it likely involved insects or maybe war or possibly a seminar on the latest and greatest medical device.

10:00 PM - Bedtime. I kiss Husband goodnight and we retire to our separate rooms. Very old-fashioned of us. But he keeps denying my overtures to get him to have air-mattress relations. PARTY POOPER.

THE END