Politics, Keith, Books, Grandma and Mom

Bloody hell, I think Trina's posting more often than I am. And that's pathetic, since she actually told us she was taking time off…I'm just lazy and disappear for ages.

I started an entry last Wednesday but didn't get more than three sentences written, so I just scrapped it as not worth the effort. If you know me, you know I was thrilled by last Tuesday's results. I actually stayed up and watched the returns come in and the speeches. I was impressed by McCain's concession speech, typically described as the "old John McCain." Having never stayed up to watch before I was scared that I was going to be subjected to Caribou Barbie, but thankfully, there is no precedence for the losing VP to speak. Praise God. ;-) Of course, she's more than made up for it since then, hasn't she? I was so ready for her to go away!

How many of you watched Countdown with Keith Olbermann last Monday? The reason I mention it is because a woman here in the metropolitan Detroit area had made the news (at least, countrywide) for refusing to give small children candy on Halloween if their parents weren't voting for her candidate. Swear to God, she turned away 4 year olds!!!! Anyway, I just knew that Keith was going to make her the Worst Person in the World and I was right. The sad thing is that I'll bet she still thinks she was right to do it. Did she have the right to do it, heck yes, but was it the "right" thing to do? Hell no! What kind of evil person makes small children cry? Honestly.

Last night's Special Comment was brilliant as he takes on Prop. 8. You can tell that he's very upset, and I think he's *this* close to crying or getting very angry and trying really hard to maintain control. He asks the same questions I've been asking for years, but way better than I ever have.

It's the twelfth day of November and I'm just getting around to telling you what I read and watched last month.

Books

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova – 642 pages - Heather read it a year or so ago and highly recommended it. Soon thereafter I found a hardcover first edition for $6, so I picked it up, but I never got around to reading it because it wasn't a good size for reading on the treadmill. I figured it'd be a good book for the trip to SF and Vegas and while I did do a lot of knitting on the plane, I also read a bit. Normally, I wouldn't say I have any great appreciation for Dracula books, but this book sucked me in and I quite enjoyed it. I've already recommended it to Beth because she talked about vampire books recently. Anyway, it was a very well written book, which is very important.

The Clue of the Dancing Puppet #39 by Carolyn Keene – 177 pages – Classic Nancy Drew and one that I hadn't read a thousand times, so the story wasn't completely familiar to me which was kind of nice.

Book of the Month - The Historian

I'll work on the Movie list soon...I have a stupid headache and just can't think that hard right now. I watched a good five or six movies and even went to a couple of live concerts. Tres exciting. I know you'll be looking forward to that - whenever I freaking get to it.


Grandma Update
She's pretty well ensconced in her old folks' home apartment and I think accepting it a bit more. She held bridge with "the girls" for the first time since March when she broke her tibial plateau this past Monday. Mom, YS and I helped Grandma set up on Sunday and she told me today that it helped immensely as she wasn't sure she would have gotten everything done in time.

Grandma's doing super fabulously, so now I need to ask for your thoughts and prayers for Mom. Her recent mammogram found a very small lump. She's having a biopsy on Monday and they say that if they extract liquid, it's all good and no big deal. If they are unable to extract liquid, they'll use a bigger needle and then if necessary (i.e., no liquid), they'll take three chunks (about the size of a grain of rice). She didn't sound worried when I talked to her, but the YS said that Mom is pretty worried. And then after Mom told me about that, she said, "And Tuesday, I'm having eye surgery." WTF? The woman is impossible! The surgery isn't serious or eyesight threatening, so that's good, but still...so, please keep my Mom in your thoughts, prayers, etc. this coming Monday and Tuesday. I greatly appreciate it.

And now it's time for some Aleve and my bed.