You guessed it, I'm giving away more books. When I said I wanted to clear the clutter this year, I meant it.
You know what to do, leave a comment claiming the book, then email me your address (VanessaRambles (at) gmail (dot) com) and it's on the way. All books are linked to Amazon for detailed descriptions.
First up:
The Pig and i by Rachel Toor- An adorable story about a girl who falls in love with a series of pets and pets and equally eclectic men.
What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage- This one was part of Oprah's book club a few years back. It's funny, inspirational and shows the strength of the human spirit.Secret Society Girl an Ivy League Novel by Diana Peterfreund- The story of what happens when an ordinary girl is inducted to the most powerful secret society and her struggles to keep up with her newly found group. Congrats to Mandy!
the Wonder Bread Cookbook- Full of the most unusual recipes, ideas and combination.
The Healing Foods by Hausman & Hurley- Exactly as it says, healing foods. This book is broken down by disease and what's best to eat to promote healing and a possible cure.
I also have an unopened copy of Norton Anti-Virus for Mac if anyone would like to have it.
***new post at Aisle Files- Behind Aisle Number Two...
Take It Away Tuesday
You Put That Where?
Her: "Hey, hey, hey?!?!"
Me: "What's up?"
Her: "My fish died!"
Me: "Hmm, well, I guess he's in God's hands now."
Her: "Nope! I put him in the toilet!"
(insert tear inducing laughter here) (kids are an endless source of material)
***new post at Aisle Files
Come Again?
Recently when asking a friend about an address, I queried 2464?
"Yup" came the answer, followed by "Wait! What did you mean?"
"2464?" I asked again.
"Oh wait, I thought you meant 24-7."
Clearly more coffee was needed at the time.
Where the Heck Is She?
Exhaustion? While you are my faithful friend, you can leave any time.
I have driven cross country with ten precious lives in my hands, unloaded a UHaul, met my biological Father on Independence Day no less and so many other things that my eyes cross.
I have had many requests to share the story of meeting my Father for the first time, but at this point I still need time to process the event. For now, color me thrilled beyond belief.
I am on the East Coast for a few more days then headed back to Dallas only to jet off to Chicago for BlogHer. You are coming, right?
For now, I will share another picture from the trip:
LOVE the mountains. MISS the mountains.
***New post up at Aisle Files
Someone Else with the UHaul
A HUGE thank you to K13 for her guest post.
In honor of Vanessa and her friend et. al. traveling the country accompanied by a Uhaul, I come to you with a guest post about my not so great Uhaul experience.
Prior to living in Tennessee, I once lived in Plano, TX. Yes, that's right. The same city that Vanessa lives in right now. In fact, I even lived in the VERY SAME apartment complex that she resides in. What a small world.
My last stint in TX (yes, I lived there twice) was only one year long, from July 2004 to July 2005. I felt like I had nothing going for me there and decided that I wanted to further my education and well, maybe also live close to my parents once again...there were after all (1) getting divorced and (2) getting old. I had been away for 6 years, it was time.
Since I used to move somewhat often, my dad has earned the title of my "Official Uhaul Driver". Back in 2003, he flew from TN to AZ to drive the Uhaul from AZ to Plano, TX. Now in 2005, he flew from TN to TX to drive the Uhaul truck to TN for me, while I drove my car accompanied by my 2 crazy felines.
It was Saturday morning and as is Texas, it was a scorching HOT Summer day. After watching big burly guys loading up the truck, we were finally ready to hit the road. It's about a 12 hour drive from TX to the part of TN I was headed for and so we knew we'd be staying one night on the road due to the Uhaul moving only slightly faster than a snails pace. After driving the majority of the day, we called it quits and stopped at our hotel. We unloaded the crazy felines, grabbed some dinner and relaxed. Thank goodness for an uneventful day. Little did we know what was ahead...
Sunday morning, we are up early and back on the road. We absolutely had to arrive to my new apartment today as I already had movers scheduled to unload as well as the cable/internet guy coming on Monday morning...priorities, you know!! So at this point we are on I-40 which is probably the straightest and most BORING highway ever, not to mention the most heavily driven by those lovely semi tractor trailers. At this point in the commute my dad was driving in front of me when all of a sudden I begin to notice some strange liquid substance splashing on my windshield. As I try to clean my windshield, it is not coming off very well and it is streaking -my first clue that it wasn't water or rain- oh great...any other liquid CANNOT be a good sign. I see a Rest Area coming up and flash my lights to my dad to signal that I need to stop there, although I really didn't, but he had no idea that the Uhaul was spewing something all over my car.
Now, let me preface this by saying that my dad is pretty much clueless when it comes to vehicles or any sort of auto repair. So we sort of look at the truck, it's no longer leaking now that we stopped, so we decide we should try to get to a gas station that may have a garage there in hopes that it could be repaired and we'd be on our way. So we drive a few miles up the road to the next "big" town and stop at a gas station to call Uhaul. Let me remind you it was Sunday. Let me also say that if you are driving a Uhaul you really and truly believe that Uhaul should have 24 hour maintenance repair. They don't! At least they didn't in 2005!!! To make a long story short, no one could come repair the truck on Sunday, so we were forced to stay ANOTHER night on the road. Did I mention that we were only 2 hours from our destination when all of this happened?!?! I made countless phone calls to make the necessary changes, i.e. movers, cable guy, my mom etc. On the bright side, we treated ourselves to dinner at Red Lobster and guess who picked up the tab albeit a month or so later?
Monday morning - Uhaul finally comes and fixes the truck and we are on our way. I'm not sure how long they took, but I'm certain it wasn't fast enough for my liking. We finally arrived at our destination and were able to unload and return the truck. I had a great conversation with the unfortunate very nice Uhaul manager. In the end, I got alot of my money back and they paid for the hotel and our dinner at Red Lobster. Would I have rather arrived a day sooner than have dealt with all of this?? Of course, but then I wouldn't have this great Uhaul moving disaster story for you.
And I will save you from the part where we unloaded all my stuff into what was a very NON-RENTABLE second floor apartment (with a sinking bathtub) only to load it back up again and move 1.5 miles away to a much nicer apartment complex.
Let's See How Tomorrow Goes
Its 4:44 am West Coast time and I have been up since 6am Central time which means I have been up for a full 24 hours. What happens at this point in time folks?
You guessed it, level of functioning goes WAY down. Fast. Exponentially even.
Guess what I pull out?
Yes, bullet points.
- dropped furkids of at day care
- made it to airport for check in only to be told by American Airlines the flight was delayed by more than an hour
- watched my bestie make three trips around the airport with a UHaul before she could pick me up
- squeezed into the Subaru Forester with three kids in THREE car seats, a 160 pound Mastiff, a cat, a African Grey, 2 fish, C, myself and a Uhaul trailer
- I gave her belated birthday gifts and drove while she opened them
- we intended to get from Seattle to Spokane by 10:30 and get to bed so we could get up early to drive
- instead while I was driving, there was a sudden problem with car in which it felt like a metal object flew off from underneath then the engine seemed to seize and we lost power as I coasted to the side of the road with the trailer with the dash lit up like a Christmas Tree
- we narrowly avoided a 18 car pile up with a semi trailer by having lost power
- then we sat on the side of the road shaking in disbelief while we waited for AAA for more than 2 hours, realizing how close we had come to being part of that 18 car pile up, kids crying non-stop (for good reason, it was way past their bedtime)
- finally the tow truck showed and I made a hypocrite of myself by riding holding small children with none of us wearing seatbelts (3 adults, 3 kids, you do the math)
- the night/morning ended with this:
Yes, that's right, she's putting the bird to bed in a dresser drawer. I would think I'm hallucinating, but I have photo proof.
Sometimes Dreams Really Do Come True
***Before you read any further, I know I have had quite a few lurkers in the past weeks and months and not the friendly kind (St Augustine, FL, I'm looking at you). Please keep in mind that the internet is analogous to television, if you don't like one channel, there are hundreds of others to watch.
Do you ever have a dream, a wish or a hope for so long you wonder if it will ever come true? Maybe it seems so far fetched, like trying to nail Jell-O to the ceiling or just beyond the grasp of anyone’s reach that it can’t possibly ever happen. Yet you continue to believe, even if it’s just that tiny little bit inside you that refuses to give up. You don’t always acknowledge this part of yourself, yet you know it’s still there.
I’ve had a secret of sorts. For 33 years I have carried this secret. I was never supposed to talk about it growing up, unless it was a prearranged conversation, behind closed doors and only with my Mother. The criteria of even speaking about this subject made me feel there was something intrinsically wrong with me, something so horrible we mustn’t let anyone know for fear of being shunned by the community. What is this huge secret you ask?
I am adopted by my Father.
He was always a good provider, made sure we had what we needed, but emotionally cold and unable to express emotion. Growing up it seemed like he was allergic to emotional connection. There were very few hugs, hardly one or two “I love yous” and certainly not any bonding. I came to realize the opposite of love is indifference.
For years I have longed to know my real Dad. My biological Dad. The one I always secretly thought about on Fathers Day. The one I was just so sure, no matter what my Mother said, couldn’t possibly be like the man sitting in the living room, barely speaking. If he ever did speak, it was glacially slow and he would often stop in the middle as if he had forgotten he had ever been speaking in the first place.
Last night, that dream of a lifetime came true. A week previous, on Father’s Day in fact, I did some serious online searching and found the one I was 90% sure was him. I sent a very simple email, that if he was the one, please respond to _______ email address. If he was the one and wanted to not hear from me, that was ok, just let me know, and I would be silent and not bother him again.
Having recently come home from the hospital, I had fallen asleep on the couch around 7pm and when I woke there was the flashing light on the Blackberry. Bleary eyed, I looked at the messages and one was from him.
I was so nervous as I clicked it open, all the possibilities running through my head at once. What if it wasn’t the right person? What if it WAS the right person, but he wanted nothing to do with me? Scariest of all, what if it was the right person and he wanted to talk, to really get to know me and welcomed me back into his life?
This last option is, of course, what I wanted most, but also caused the most terror in me. What would I say? What might he say? How does one bridge a gap of 33 years in one conversation?
As I clicked it open I found a very simple message with a subject line of “Answered Prayers” and the body of the email a simple sentence that shook me to my core:
“My precious child I have waited for a lifetime for this day please call______.”
Mustering my moxie, I nervously dialed the phone and it was like instant word salad. We both had words tumbling about; there were tears and laughter. We both tried to catch each other up as quickly as possible, one story triggering the next. It was late and we agreed to talk again in a few days. I don’t know where it will go from here, but even to have talked on the phone that one time means the world to me. It means I am loved.
Needless to say, my heart, head and spirit were overwhelmed with joy as the dream of a lifetime finally came true.
(photo credit to Dry Icons)
***New Post at The Aisle Files about self check out, your thoughts?
Overheard
Recently I was out and overheard this little gem.
Son: So Dad, there's something I wanted to talk about again.
Father: Son, if you join the Marine Corp, I'll kill you before they can get you.
Obviously this has come up several times between the two of them. I think everyone should be free to do what they want to do with their life (as long as it's legal). This Father obviously feels to the contrary.
***New post at The Aisle Files
***Any takers on the books that are left?
Some Days I Wish...
What do you wish some days?
Some days I wish I could put parts of my life in here and start over.
Some days I wish for rain to get a break from the relentless sun here in Texas.
Some days I wish I was living in the perfect city. I just don't know where that city is right now.
Some days I wish I could play better on the piano.
Some days I wish the car would automatically fill itself with gas.
Some days I wish I could get my youngest dog to sleep past 6am. But how do you resist this face?
What do you wish some days?
***New post at The Aisle Files and still begging requesting submissions for the next week and first part of July.
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