Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry...

So I've done something I hate to do. I started a book that I don't intend to finish. The book is Stephen King's Lisey's Story. For those of you out there who turn up their nose at the very idea of Stephen King, let's not forget that he is the same guy who brought us such stories as Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile. You may not like his typical genre, but you at least have to admit that the guy tells a darn fine story when he writes outside the "horror" box. Granted, it's been some time since I picked up one of his novels. The last one was probably Bag of Bones, which I read during the summer of 1999. A terrifying page-turner, I went into work after only 2 hours of sleep because I refused to go to bed until I finished. Either that or I was too afraid to turn out the lights. Ironically, that was the same summer that King was nearly killed after he was hit by a van while walking near his house in Maine. After a lengthy recovery and a bout of writer's block, he once again returned to his book-making machine and started cranking out novels at his pre-accident break-neck pace. I decided to give Lisey's Story a try because the synopsis sounded pretty similar to that of Bag of Bones. So, this is the first King novel I've (tried to) read in 8 years, and I couldn't make it through 2oo pages. It's pretty sad when you're about 160 pages into a book and find yourself not caring one bit about any of the characters, or even so much as a plot resolution. Most of what I read was written in a secret "husband-wife" language, with all these strange terms like "bool" and "SOWISA" that were not even close to properly explained by the time I was ready to bail. Seriously, it made me feel like I'd just joined in a conversation between a married couple that truly wasn't meant to include anyone else.

Suffice it to say, I don't recommend it and I'm not adding it to my reading list.


In other news, it's been an eventful and exciting weekend for the House of Rut! On Saturday, the House of Rut acted as the staging ground for its first baby shower. Hostesses JenyB and JessicaB did an awesome job with all the planning, invitations, cooking/shopping, flowers, games, gifting, and clean-up! I was totally touched and impressed by the awesome efforts of this shower-throwing tour de force. It was a fun and relaxed shower and Baby Rut got a lot of wonderful gifties. I'll post some pictures and more details later, I just couldn't end the weekend without a shout out to the JBs!


Today we woke up to the pouring rain and Otis cowering under the bed (his preferred thunderstorm hiding place.) Very tempting to just keep our heinies in bed, but we got up and got ready for church. Couldn't read the Sunday paper, unfortch, because it was completely soaked. But I did have some leftover danish from the shower for my breakfast (thanks, JenyB!) so all hope was not lost. Made it to church, then lunched at Perry's Grill in Friendswood with Momma and Poppa Rut and friends. Returned to Church for the United (Methodist)Players' Production of Oklahoma! It was a pretty good show, the first time I'd ever seen it from start to finish. Doug got a little bored, he was much more impressed with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat but I enjoyed hearing the familiar showtunes. My favorite would have to be "Surrey with a Fringe on Top" because it reminds me of that scene in When Harry Met Sally when Harry and Sally are singing that song on the karaoke machine in the Sharper Image. Oooh, that movie is one of my all-time favorites! My freshman roommate and I would leave each other "quote notes" from that movie, such as "I'm Ben Small, of the Coney Island Smalls," on the dry erase board on our door. sigh, sniff.... takes me back.
**I just added WHMS to the top of my Netflix Queue. D tells me he's never seen the entire movie from beginning to end, which is what I call being "cinematically stunted" and must be treated right away.


One last thing before I end this tome-- have I ever mentioned how much I love Amazon.com? One of these I'm going to write "Ode to Amazon.com." Seriously, I have yet to need something that can't be found on that website. Most recently, a great deal on the Baby Bargains book's most highly-recommended crib mattress. I also tacked a request from D onto the order, as he insisted that Baby Rut have the book Go Dog, Go! be part of his nursery library. Of course, D tried to argue that Dr. Seuss wrote it. Um, hello? Who taught Pre-K for 3 years and took two different courses on Children's Literature? Yeah, that's what I thought, P.D. Eastman. By the way, the Dog on the cover looks like our little Otis.