Post #255!

Hey, wow, I actually wrote that many blog entries?! Who knew I had that much to say. And boy am I glad I decided not to celebrate this milestone by writing about the idea I had last week: a restaurant called "Extremes." People would say, "Hey, let's go to Extremes!" and when they get there, the healthy people sit on one side and eat mangos and drink green tea and those less interested in eating right (i.e. "the husbands") sit on the other side and eat hamburgers that weigh more than a Honda Civic and drink beer in frosted lard mugs, maybe start off with an app of egg-battered deep fried salt balls. They'll have yoga mats and massage on one side, defibrillators and 'nap cots' on the other.

Feel free to steal that idea.

So I spent the day filthy and unkempt, because I had four events this weekend, and all that emphasis on not looking or smelling like a troll really takes it out of you. Right now my hair is so filthy it's kind of standing at attention, saluting all of you in its greasy glory. (But those of you reading this on Wednesday, don't worry, I'll totally have showered by then. That or J will take me in the yard and turn the hose on me.)

Anyway, I kicked things off on Saturday with a reading at the lovely Oshkosh Public Library (thank you Lisa and Ruth!), and I'm pleased to report that only one person nodded off briefly during my presentation. Later that day I hawked my wares at the Dragon Boat Races (thank you Mary!), sponsored by the UW bookstore. On Sunday I attended the PKD walk in Milwaukee for more ware-hawking (thank you Kara and Jason!)--this time for a good cause, as all proceeds were donated to the foundation. I wrapped it all up in Cedarburg yesterday afternoon for Wine and Harvest Fest (thank you Glen!), and am thrilled to report we sold out of every copy of Driving Sideways in Creekside Books!

I did get to see my family and cute lil' nephew yesterday at the Harvest Fest, which was delightful as always. The kid was trying to drink wine with a plastic fork--such a beautiful milestone, no matter how old a child is when he achieves it. I didn't have the heart to tell him you get drunk way faster when you use a plastic spoon.* My mother said some hilarious things she's forbidden me to blog about, and there was a very attractive man singing and playing guitar for the Harvest Fest crowd near a coffee shop. I leaned in and whispered to my sister, "Look at that guy. I bet he gets a ton of action." And then I saw he was wearing those plastic 'croc' shoes that look like ice cream tubs with holes punched in them and added, "Nevermind."

Also, I rented a movie on Friday that totally made me cry because I am PMSing and also because I drank three pumpkin beers before and during the film. The movie is Then She Found Me, starring Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, and Colin Firth. It's based on an Elinor Lipman novel and is terribly charming. I oversold it to my husband who kindly watched it with me the next night, adding, "It wasn't nearly as good as you made it sound."

The next time I want someone to really watch a particular movie, I'm just going to say, "Meh, maybe you'll like it. I mean, it's a movie for intelligent people with a good sense of humor, really smart and hip, so you might not like it. I mean, the dialogue is much more clever and quick than you're used to, and nothing blows up except an awesome story line, right there on the screen. Give it a look, see what you think. But you probably won't like it."

Okay, I have to go prepare for a work meeting tomorrow. Whee!

*I'm totally kidding about all of this. Most of it, anyway.