It is Tuesday, the day before my big weekly deadline and a little less than 20 hours before I have a 5-day weekend. And this would typically mean I’m trying to finishing my stories before the morning of production day. Tonight, however, I’m blogging before I get to that because my mom wants an update.

The short version? I’ve been working. And stressing myself out over a freakin’ Meet the Candidates section that eventually figured itself out (before I had to open the vodka, but it was very close). And procrastinating laundry and dishes. Visiting with friends. Stressing over my business. Raising silly little children. Reading. That kind of thing.

The long version?

Work. Trying to practice the “if you don’t have anything nice to say” rule here, but it’s going. And today I learned how to do something new at work (dummying out the layout sheets) and learned about a lot of alleged corruption. It’s been an interesting day. Last week my favorite two co-workers were out of town and things were a little hairy between the hellacious Meet the Candidates section, vacations and deadlines not being met because of the aforementioned factors. It was, quite simply, ridiculous.

A few weeks ago I covered the discovery of a probable Trilophodon (dinosaur) jaw in someone’s backyard (above). Pretty awesome! This discovery may rewrite the history of these animals because of where in the dirt it was found (depth, I mean). The story went global, my people. GLOBAL. (Not my story, but the story in general.) Also? The Pink Palace Museum in Memphis asked for my photos. I haven’t seen them on their site yet, though.

I miss my old gig, where I just wrote stories. Now I have more responsibilities and they’re wearing down my resolve, my patience, me. I am finding I need an outlet for the stress, so I’ve been running and walking a little bit.

Tomatoes. Tonight I sliced some tomatoes for dinner (BLTs) and ate a chunk. Delish! There’s nothing better than fresh-from-the-farm tomatoes, right?

Books, books, books. Over the weekend I stopped into Books-A-Million and bought Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café and To Kill a Mockingbird. Fried Green Tomatoes was AWESOME! I always had some unanswered questions about the movie and the book answered them. Actually, as much as I loved the movie, I love the book even more because the writing is wonderful and hello, the movie left out a lot. Bad, bad 1992 Hollywood! Ruth and Idgie are lesbians, people. (That had to be changed in the movie.)

I finished that book in about 8 hours or so. And BAWLED so much when I finished. You HAVE to read it. And if you do/have, the Dot Weems column? We have those (not Dot, other community correspondents) in our paper every single week. I like them more now after reading Dot Weems. And like Dot, many of our correspondents talk a lot about their better halves.

I started To Kill a Mockingbird yesterday. I wanted to read it again just to do it, but it is also the first pick for our book club (three members: me, Dara, Christa!). I told Darin it was no wonder I just picked up the Cliff’s Notes in high school because, dude, BIG WORDS! And I’m a writer. Also, I had the word taciturn. It’s awkward to pronounce. Can we just say shy? I mean, really, Harper Lee.

I am at the part where Dill is daring Jem to knock on the door or something like that.

The other night Darin and I had a conversation that went like this:

I sit on the bed, with a snack and To Kill a Mockingbird. Darin was watching Monster Fish or something equally boring on TV.

“Wait, you’re reading two books?”

“Um, no,” I say nonchalantly as I flex my muscle (okay, brain), smile and crack open the cover, creasing the binding. “I am not reading two books. I finished Fried Green Tomatoes yesterday. I’m only reading Eat, Pray, Love, the Laura Bush bio and this book, so three books.”

“THREE BOOKS? What? How do you keep them straight?”

Oh, Darin, Darin, Darin. “Just the same way you keep all of your sports straight – I just do.”

And yes, I was being snobby. (So mean, Echo Day! So mean.)

I have to point out how funny it would be if they were confused. Laura Bush traveling to Italy, Indonesia and India to release her true passion, spirituality and have gelato with Georgie Boy as he attempts to lure Boo Radley from his home. Just wonderful.

Anyway.

I’m close to halfway on my goal of reading two dozen books by the end of the year (yay!). You can check out my list here. I am loving the Southern lit (always have) – and these books fit in my 30 Things goals, too (#12 and #17).

I am having a hard time (again!) getting into Eat, Pray, Love. I really want to read it, because of the praise (and now movie), but please tell me it gets better. It does, right?

Visiting. On Friday night we headed to Jackson (Tenn.) to watch our friends’ son and his team play in the state tournament. The Friday night game had a rain delay and wasn’t over until 10 p.m. or so and after we visited with our friends for a bit, we decided to just get a room and stay the night in Jackson, then watch the next day’s games. This, of course, meant a midnight trip to Walmart so I could buy some shirts and toothbrushes and deodorant.

We had a ton of fun and I shot 460-something photos (whew) of the games. The boys, bless their hearts, were eliminated after the most intense game ever. They’d score, then the other team would tie it up, then they’d score again and the other team would tie it up. It was pretty crazy. After 10 innings, the other team put them out, 11-10. Our boys ended up third in the state, though! Pretty fab for 5- and 6-year-olds.

I’ve updated my business site – and I’m still running the giveaway! Hop on over and check those out: www.echodayphotography.com. Oh, and ENTER if you live in West Tennessee!

As for Darin and the children, they’re doing just fine, thank you. We’re going on a mini-vacation this weekend and they’re terribly excited about that. Darin’s been running lately and the kids have enjoyed running on the nature trails near our house. I’ve gone running a few times and have enjoyed it, but sometimes it’s really the last thing I have time for (my waistline is evidence).

For her seventh birthday last year, Jaiden was given a children’s edition of Anne of Green Gables. We read it together over the summer and I realized I was in love with the storyline and was desperate to read the book in its entirety. I purchased a copy and could barely put it down; it was fantastic and addicting.

(That Gilbert Blythe is really something else, isn’t he?)

At Christmas, we purchased the DVD and had a three-night viewing, complete with raspberry cordial. It was really a special thing and lead to Jaiden and I bawling our eyes out at several parts (especially when Diana and Anne could no longer be bosom friends – now how sad is that?!)

Anne also made an appearance this spring when it was “dress like your favorite character day” at school during Dr. Seuss week. Originally Jaiden wanted to dress as Hannah Montana and re-use her Halloween costume, but that morning I remembered an old dress I used to wear was in her closet and we could definitely pull off an Anne Shirley.

Reading that book together was something very simple we did, something we still talk about and it was a great way to bond.

She was given two more of these children’s classic novels at Christmastime – Black Beauty and Little Women – and has chosen to read Black Beauty this summer. She likes horses and has really gotten into the book so far; she has read five chapters without being prompted.

I enjoyed reading along with her last year and this year she doesn’t need too much help with sounding out words, so she reads on own. My sister-in-law, who’s the new librarian in Munford, decided to be kind and tell me there was a copy of the book on the sale table at the library. And it was only a dime, she said, something I could very much afford. But, she lied. It was a quarter. And printed in 1970-something. AND it came free with the purchase of a can of Folgers coffee, so says the cover art, so I am probably being ripped off, but for only a quarter I don’t even care.

During the trip I also purchased a children’s Bible printed in 1968 that some kid named Scott or Michael scribbled all over. The illustrations are kinda cool and we’re in the process of re-doing the nursery at church, so I am planning to rip the brightly-colored pages out for framing. This book was also a quarter.

And I checked out the first Jackie Collins novel I’ve ever read, upon Dara’s recommendation, and I completely devoured its 498 pages in about 36 hours. This is all neither here nor there, I just wanted to share, to basically talk just to hear myself talking.

Anyway. So once I was finished with the billionaire heiresses and real estate tycoons in Manhattan, it was on to my tattered hardcopy edition of Black Beauty, which was printed back when my dad was serving in ‘Nam and my mom was a preteen.

And? I am throughly enjoying it thus far. I love the language; I just googled it and found it was written in 1877, which I could deduce just by Anna Sewell’s style.‘Tis fabulous, Anna.

I can’t bring myself to read a synoposis of the plot because I don’t want to know; I want it to be like Christmas and be surprised (I never peek anymore – surprises are much more fun). Jaiden was reading before bed tonight and mentioned a fire; in my head I was screaming, “Don’t tell me! Don’t tell me! I’m not there yet!” Her chapters are a bit shorter and not at all the same as mine, but I am at the part where Ginger is telling Black Beauty why she’s such a jerk, more or less.

Through reading this book at the same time as my seven-year-old, the lines of communication are opening up just a little more. We talk about what we’ve read (which also helps her with comprehension, something her teacher and I were working on these last few months) and it’s something only she and I share; the others can’t read books like these yet, so this is special.

With four children it’s hard to spend time with them individually (which is one reason we likely will not be adding to our brood), but they all crave attention. This is something we can do together that doesn’t involve leaving two or three children at home or spending tons of money somewhere (like I said, it cost a whopping quarter because her book was a gift from my mom).

I hope we can turn this into a book club kind of thing – we read a book, we can chat about it and do something fun related to what we’ve read. (I would also love to have a book club around here that was for women my age, but that’s another topic for another day.) It’s so much fun!

Update on my book challenge
Earlier this year I committed to reading 24 books in 2010. By the end of January I’d read four and I’m sorry to say I’m not too much further with that goal. This is what I’ve read so far:

- 29 Gifts, Cami Walker
- Shooting the Moon, Frances O’Roark Dowell
- The Wednesday Letters, Jason F. Wright
- Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller (one of my new all-time favorites)
- Peeled, Joan Bauer
- By the Time You Read This, Lola Jaye
- Lovers and Players, Joan Collins
- Black Beauty, Anna Sewell (in progress)

In full disclosure, I’ve started two others I’ve not been able to finish because they’re boring. One is a femi-nazi book about why we should embrace our inner housewives and what feminism has done to our country; it’s wordy and the writer is losing me with all of her language, which is probably why it was $3 at the Dollar General. Clearly I need to stick with the quarter books at the library.

I think I want to read the Laura Bush autobiography next. Or more Joan Collins. Or maybe Michael Pollan. Christa has suggested Water for Elephants once upon a time. Perhaps I’ll finish The Kite Runner and My Sister’s Keeper this year? I’m not sure.

First I need to get through Black Beauty with Jaiden because reading with her is so much more fun.

A reader named Amy P. suggested the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller when I asked for recommendations last week.

I stumbled upon it Thursday night and after I realized it was a religious book, I put it back on the shelf. But the name Blue Like Jazz intrigued me. What did it mean?

And so I flipped the book open to dialogue, a discussion between two people where one declares sobriety is the best way to accept God into your life.

Interesting.

So I bought it. And I am hooked.

I’m half through it and I have highlighted sentences, paragraphs, recurring themes, poignant statements and insightful wisdom. I have taken notes in the margins, like “Pat Robertson ruins it for the rest of us!” (Because he totally does and this book confirms that.)

It’s hard to find a book on Christianity that equates faith to the um, reproduction of penguins (Penguin Sex, the chapter is titled) and our lifelong dreams to sexy carrots. And it’s funny (also the writing is great, especially if you love metaphors).

I plan on going more in-depth later, when I finish reading, review my notes and try to make sense of it all. But I did want to take the time to mention this book and suggest it to you as well.

Thanks, Amy P!

Earlier this week I mentioned my goal of reading 24 books this year. I am well on my way, having already completed two and in the middle of the third.

I mostly read chick lit – Nicholas Sparks, for instance (not trashy romance novels, I promise) – but I’ve been gravitating more towards finer work. I mentioned to Dara yesterday that I’d like to finish reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and I am also interested in classic literature.

I’m talking Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck. I’m not exactly talking about Dickens; I remember A Tale of Two Cities to be a horrifying experience my freshman year in high school. I don’t really like the Victorians. Perhaps I should say I like 20th century lit, but I am also interested in more modern works, too.

The Bluest Eye, The Good Earth, East of Eden and Cry, the Beloved Country are some of my favorites. I like books that make me think, that have developed characters and plots and storylines that aren’t too slow. A tall order, perhaps?

And so, I am looking for book recommendations. What are you currently reading? What do you recommend?

At night, after the kids have gone to bed, I run a hot bath and soak until the water cools.

I read – magazines, books, blogs – and enjoy peace, tranquility, silence, solitude.

It’s how I unwind now; I used to listen to music as loud as I could during my evening commute, but I have help with my retrieval duties. I’m the type of person who needs quiet time to relax and so I enjoy the hour to myself. Sometimes it’s the best part of my day (or, like yesterday, the best way to relieve stress).

I’ve been reading more and I’ve set a goal: I want to read 24 books this year. Two each month. So far, I’ve read 29 Gifts, a YA novel called Shooting the Moon and I’m halfway through By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye (good read, love the advice). Only 22 left until I reach my goal (though all of the magazines I read should count towards that somehow).

We’re just arriving home (it’s 11:04 p.m.) from an OUTSTANDING River Kings game and I am worn out, but I thought I would honor my commitment and blog today. And I’m serious when I say it was an outstanding game! Six goals, eight fights (four of them simultaneously!) and a large group of loud, very involved frat boys in the section behind us made for a pretty great night! I always love lots of action at the games and the last few we’ve been to have been a little slow. This definitely made up for it. Thank you, River Kings!

I’m also serious when I say I’m worn out. Aside from the times when I’ve stayed up late working, I haven’t been this tired from nothing in quite a few weeks. Healthwise, things have been looking up lately. I didn’t know if I was getting used to it or getting better, but it was nice. Anyway. I fell asleep on the way to the game, which is unusual (it was before 7 p.m.). We had “Milo and Otis” on for the children and I was mildly entertained, but I couldn’t hold on, so I took a little nap from Memphis to Southaven.

And it’s not like we were actually busy today. I wasn’t! Tyrel, Katie and the kids came up and Tyrel brought his chainsaw. We’ve been talking about him dropping one of our dead trees so he can use it for firewood. See the above photo? This is after Tyrel tried to drop it, when it fell against another tree. lol. Darin decided he’d try to climb it to see if it’d fall. Thank God it didn’t, because going to the emergency room was not on my list of things I wanted to do today! They ended up dropping two trees on purpose and then a few smaller ones and branches when those other two fell. My brother should have plenty of firewood now, right?

We had lunch at a local place called JT’s Burgers & Wings, then came home and put all of the little girls (Emma, Jenna and Khloe) down for naps while we hung out outside. Tyrel and Darin cut up wood and put it in Tyrel’s truck, we played on the trampoline, then played in the front yard. Then Tyrel and Darin went to my parents’ house to use the impact to put Darin’s new hitch on his truck. (I see a trailer in our future, which would certainly be helpful, I can’t lie.)

Then it was off to the hockey game.

I did fit some reading in today. I’m reading a young adult (YA) novel called Peeled, which is about a fledgling high school journalist who has so much passion for it. As far as journalism goes, a lot of books (novels, I mean) pretend they know what they’re talking about, but this book is spot on. I love how the main character, Hildy Biddle, knows the local paper is just trying to sell papers with its fear-mongering headlines and I especially love her dedication to getting the truth out. Can’t wait to finish it.

My mom passed along her copy of Nicholas Sparks’ The Last Song to me tonight, so I read a few chapters on the way home from Mississippi (hockey game). So far, it’s just like every other of his novels. This is a good thing, but also a predictable thing. But I love Nicholas Sparks. This one is between parents and children, though. I’m a little turned off by the fact that Miley Cyrus chose the main character’s name, but whatever. Seems like a good read, as always.

Lately I haven’t had time to get into too many novels, so me and my ADD stick with magazines. Current recommendations? The latest Diabetic Living, Woman’s Day, Food Network and the new Episcorific, “I Am Am I”.

This is an e-zine geared at 20- and 30-something Episcopalians that my friend Christa and I read. We’ve encouraged one another to submit something in the past and this time I did. The call for submissions related to Advent and the Christmas season, what it meant to us; normally I’d write something, but I sent in one of my all-time favorite photos. Check it out on page 7! (Longtime readers will recognize this photo, which was taken in Dec. 2005.)

On Twitter I joked, “I’m published! Tee hee!” I was thrilled to be published in Episcorific, but of course my photography and writing has been published since February 2007 (a feature story I wrote on a Union University student’s experience during the Super Tuesday tornado was featured in the ARP magazine, also).

Anyhoo.

SportsCenter is about to end, so I gotta get out of here (blogging while the husband watches TV) and get some rest. Tomorrow we’re having a Thanksgiving potluck and I have yet to figure out what I’m bringing! Oops. Gotta get on that. But first, sleep! Goodnight!

With more rain and thunderstorms, today was another dreary spring day, and I didn’t mind it one bit. The workday seemed to pass a little too quickly for my taste, especially since this morning I found myself writing everything I needed to put in the paper.

Needing to escape the madhouse for bit, I took a full lunch today (usually I leave, pick something up and eat at my desk). Headed to Wal-Mart with the intent to look for something to hang on my wall at work (my desk was rearranged on Tuesday), I browsed several different departments and never did find what I’d intended to buy. Instead, I left Wal-Mart with pens, dry erase markers, a load of candy for work and the book But Inside I’m Screaming by Elizabeth Flock. I needed something to busy myself with while Darin’s gone. Tuesday night I read short stories from my old literature text and I fell in love with “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen as well as a few others. Mothers really need to read this story as a simple reminder that we should pay attention to our children and show them we love them, for that is the greatest gift we can ever give them. Darin says it’s weird to sit and read a lit book, but it was either that or a bio on President Clinton. And, when again faced with the choice of Clinton or something else, today I chose to purchase a new book. And I was not disappointed.

Honestly, I picked up But Inside I’m Screaming because it is a story about a broadcast journalist who has a nervous breakdown. Desperate, she tries to kill herself and ends up in a mental institution seeking treatment. I won’t give away the ending, but it’s pretty great. I found that I could relate with a lot of the book (aside from actually being in the loony bin, I mean) and so I’m wondering now if that means that I need shock treatment, too? I started and finished the book tonight, all 320 pages. It was very good, I have to say. Great dialogue, great main character and very interesting. Perhaps that’s because I can relate to being called to a story here and there and everywhere when I would rather be elsewhere or because I can relate to other facets of Isabel and her relationships. I really enjoyed it, though. Based on the reviews on Amazon.com, her book Me & Emma, which I nearly choose over the other one, is supposed to be better; this was also at Wal-Mart and I plan on reading it as well.

Really, though, now I’m wondering if I need to head to my nearest facility to be checked out (or checked in?) because we seem to have some of the same issues, minus the suicidal tendencies. I just don’t have panic attacks or choke on the job (yet). And Elizabeth Flock is a former writer for Time and People, two of my favorite magazines, and was a broadcast journalist for CBS.

Ever since I was a little girl I have been inspired by books, by stories, by anything I could read. When I read I get inspired to write a novel or short story. It seems so easy sometimes. I tell non-fictional stories every day, it’s my job. Why not fiction? I think I could do it. I have started writing books several times here and there, even wrote and illustrated some “children’s books” on typing paper when I was a kid. I guess it’s always been in my blood. I am happy just to create anything – whether that is through writing, photography, painting, crafting, digital scrapbooking.