Happy Birthday, Nancy Drew!

Yesterday was the girl detective's 80th birthday.  She looking pretty good for 80 (or 98 as it were).  I first started reading Nancy Drew when I was in elementary school.  I want to say around 4th grade, but my memory is a bit hazy.  I loved those books and read every one in the library.  There was just something about Nancy.  She was so smart, and bold, and good.  She could solve everyone's problems just like that and she was never smug about it.  I think I can credit her with my love of a good mystery to this day.  I moved from her original mysteries to some of the newer ones and can still remember the ones from when she was in college.  But it's the original Mystery Stories that have my heart forever.
Coincidentally I am partipating in a Nancy Drew Reading Challenge on The Little Bookworm and am trying to read all 56 Mystery Stories this year.  I post about them on Sundays during Sleuthing Sundays along with other fun Nancy Drew movies and shows and I'm up to book 21 right now.  It's so fun reading this old books and remembering them from when I was little.  They are so much fun even if a little formulatic.  They are so funny and awesome to read again.  Nancy never ages.  She is timeless. 

Adorible Photography - The BIG Photo Challenge

Louise from Adori Graphics has posted the BIG Photo Challenge on her photography blog, Adorible Photography.  I'm going to give it a try and see how I do.  I love taking pictures so this will be fun.

Here's how it works:
You will get a week to complete each assignment. The following Thursday you will post your photo on your blog, along with a copy of the meme link below. The meme link will link to this post, so that people can get information on the challenge. I will publish the next week's theme on my blog each Thursday. I will have a McLinky set up here each Thursday so that you can add your blog to the list. You don't need to sign up to this, just note down the theme, start working on it and then make your post and leave your link here next Thursday.

Conversation with Child.

BT: Do you want a brother?
Bub: Yes
Me: Do you want a sister?
Bub: Nope. Brother.

Nice to know he has an opinion.

Bad Mommy

My son just cut his thumb because I stuck him in the shower without looking first.  I feel horrible and guilty about this.  He was crying so much, but he is ok now that it stopped bleeding and he has a Scooby-Doo Band-aid.

In other news, someone stole a book review I wrote.  Really? Really!  So dumb.

Name in Daily Drop Cap letters

"The Last Recruit" (Lost thoughts)

houghts:

We got a double dose of Jack and Claire acknowledging/find out about their relationship. I was glad to see Kate talk Claire down and hopefully some sense into her.  I knew that dumb-as-rocks Kate would find away to get Claire on that boat.  Not that it really matters, probably.


Locke acknowledged being Christian but said it was for Jack's best interest so Jack seems to be important especially at the end when Locke rescues Jack.  Either that or he really does need them all to get off the Island.  Locke's plans seem to be falling apart around him.  With Sawyer taking his boat and Claire deserting him and Sayid not killing Desmond (I can only assume), he is not going to be happy. 

What is up with the meanness to our Lostaways by Widmore's people?  Not cool, not cool at all.  OMG though how touching was Jin and Sun's reunion.  I may have screamed Oh My God in a very very high pitched voice with arms waving.  And then there may have been a few tears.  Love it so very much.  Sigh.

Sideways worlds are converging very quickly.  There was a whole lot of cross-over with Jack operating on John and Sun seeing John (and I think mistaking him for Locke.  I think she was remembering Island world).  Miles and James captured Sayid, and James had a conversation with Kate.  Man, Desmond is a wee bit creepy though in Sideways world.  Still don't exactly know why he ran John over.

 Jack finally takes his leap of faith after questioning the wisdom of getting off the Island to Sawyer (who he called James.  Has it done that before?).  And what happens?  He ends up with Locke.  But he does have a point about if Locke is a monster then why would they give him exactly what he wants.  Besides he wants to kill all of Jacob's replacements so that would be a good reason not to trust him.

I honestly am not sure what is going on anymore.  It's gotten better thought now that things are happening.  I wish though they would finally say who Locke/MIB is.  There are only four episodes left till the finale, but the action is definitely picking up.

"Hell-O" (Glee thoughts)

was so excited for last week's Glee.  I watched it immediately after I finished Lost, staying up way too late.  While I was excited for the music and thought it was great, I was less enthusiastic about the actual episode.  For me it jumped around too much, moving way too fast.  The main plot centered around Rachel and her wanting to date Finn now that he is finally free and moving way too fast so she immediately moved onto the suspicious Jessee, star of the rival Vocal Adrenaline.  I don't know.  I just wished they has slowed it down some.

Also Mr. Shue ends up putting on hold on his relationship with Emma because he hasn't been alone since he was 15 and he needs to figure out who he is as an adult.  This is a very mature thing to do.  But then he also makes out with the coach or whatever of Vocal Adrenaline so whatever.

Looking forward to tonight's Madonna episode though.

Social Justice Challenge - quitting

I feel like a bit of a failure and I know it is still early, but I'm quitting the Social Justice Challenge.  I feel bad, but I just can't seem to remember to do anything for it.


Sorry.

I feel like I should be apologizing

You know lately there's been a lot of posts about someone stealing this or not behaving in the correct way.  Mostly on book blogs, but some other places too.  And the thing is each and every time I wonder do they mean me?  Even though I've never even done the things they are talking about (i.e. plagiarism) or stealing of any kind (that I was aware of) or leaving mean comments.  I mean if I have, then I didn't know or wasn't thinking.  I don't like causing people distress, but I get distressed when I keep seeing these blog posts.  I mean I'm sorry that happened to you, but the majority of your followers/commenters will be shocked and appalled.  I'd hope that you had dealt with the situation privately as well as publicly.  It just makes me feel awkward to have to hear about it.

And now I feel mean that I've said this.

So in case I've done anything wrong to anybody anywhere, I'm sorry I did it.  That is all.

On naming blogs and other things

Sometimes I spend my time thinking of blog names which is funny since I had such a hard time deciding on a name for this blog.  It's been called Five x Five after one of my favorite Buffy characters,  Half Asleep in Plaid Pajamas after one of my favorite Tom Robbins books among other things that I can't remember now.  I honestly have no idea what I originally titled it.  Now Annie, I think seems like the perfect name as it encompasses a title of one of my favorite books (Alice, I Think) and also the fact that this blog is very often just a collection of my random thoughts and whims.  So cool, love it, mark it, fine.

I've acquired a Tumblr and had to go through the whole thing again, finally settling on Never Fully Dressed after my favorite Annie song.  (Yes, Virginia there is a pattern).  I feel good about this name.  And now I've thought of a couple of new names for blogs but I'm not about to start blogging in 5 different places.  Let's not get crazy.

But when I think of new names I wonder how many other people have thought of the same name.  So on Blogger I'll start putting in blog addresses that I would use for these names and seeing what I get.  Most often it turns out that, yes, someone else has thought of it too.  But most of these blogs haven't been updated or really used at all.  I see a lot of "My first blog post, more to come" and then nothing.  I wonder what happens to these people.  Do they get new blogs somewhere else?  Did they just not like blogging that one blog?  Are they lazy?  Do they just like thinking of names for things like me?  I'll never know.  But in the meantime, they are taking up perfectly good urls.  Hrmpf.

"Everybody loves Hugo" (Lost thoughts)

ambling Thoughts:

A Hurley episode! Whee. One of my top 5 favorite characters, tied with number one with Charlie.

Also MICHAEL! HAI, long time no see. Interesting that the whispering is people who can't move on. Like purgatory or something? So that is one minor mystery solved sort of.

Libby and Hugo are soul mates. So sweet. I got a little teary when they kissed and he remembered. They are so awesome. So the secret is to kiss your soul mate in Sideways world and then you will remember Island world. Or have a near death experience which is no fun.

There were a lot of explosions. Ilana, didn't see that one coming. Shocking, but she was always a redshirt anyway. And the Black Rock, oh well. I'm sorry to see Richard gone. I hope the Island isn't done with anyone in his party yet. I'd like to see him back. I'm sure we will.

Desmond is looking very placid now. I wonder what he knows. Is he still experiencing Sideways world? Is that what inspired him to mow down substitute John? I'm guessing it was either to awaken his Island memories or he is pissed off that Locke threw him down a well. Who didn't see that Locke was about to push Desmond into the well? Did Desmond? Anyone with the crazy eyes who is suppose to be dead should never be allowed close enough to kill you. I think Desmond might know who Locke really is and that scares Locke. He looked a little afraid himself.

Locke also had a weird look in his eye when he said hello to Jack. And Jack looked so shocked. Did he really not believe that Locke was walking around?

The words are colliding and will merge soon, maybe? Desmond is pushing everyone towards the Island which is funny since he hated it so much in Island world.

Oooh, I almost forgot blonde kid and his freaking out of Locke.  Desmond saw him too and the whole thing made Locke so angry.  And his angry seemed to amuse the kid.  I'm guessing Jacob?  Or he is the original body of the MIB or ... something?

And Jack actually admitted that when he was in charge nothing ever went right so he is letting the others take the lead.  Which is hard on him, but he is trying.  Way to be smart for once, Jack.

Also next week's previews were awesome/creepy with the Gene Hackman/Chocolate Factory voiceover.

There's no earthly way of knowing / Which direction we are going / There's no knowing where we're rowing / Or which way the river's flowing / Is it raining? / Is it snowing? / Is a hurricane a-blowing? /
Not a speck of light is showing / So the danger must be growing / Are the fires of hell a-glowing? / Is the grisly reaper mowing? / Yes! The danger must be growing /
For the rowers keep on rowing / And they're certainly not showing / Any signs that they are slowing!

is bored.

I am bored.
And I don't have anything to write about right now.

I got a Tumblr to follow Cleolinda and have finally gotten around to using it.  Now I'm following my youngest sister-in-law too.  Both ladies are better at posting than me.  I'm not too sure what I want to do with it.  Anyway, right now it's just quotes mostly which I love.  I've called it Never Fully Dressed after my favorite Annie song, but my husband seems to feel that title is misleading to others.  He is weird.  I don't care what people think.

Apparently my ex-coworkers from my last job are recommending my book blog to each other and nodding yes, that I recommend good books.  That warms my little heart.  I try.  I think I'm a YA Librarian trapped in an Academic Librarian's job.  There are no good YA jobs around here and the thought of working public library again makes my skin crawl anyway.

Next week is potty training week.  My mom is taking a week off to potty train the little man so hopefully he will be out of diapers by Disney World in June.  At least it will be a consistent start.  I'm trying at night and on the weekends at home, but she thinks he will benefit from something more regular at first.  I think she was just ready to take a week off.  I also think by Thursday she will be ready for him to go back to school.  But I appreciate her doing this.  We were going to do the same, but now with the Disney vacation I can't take the time off to do it.  So here's hoping.

Writing it down

It's funny.  I find myself wanting to write a blog post because I am frustrated.  But it is not something that I actually want to talk about on the internet or, indeed, to anyone who is not my husband.  So it's crazy that one of my instincts is to write a post about the thing that is frustrating me.  There is something cathatric about complaining on the internet.  Not many people read my blog though I know some do and I know who some of them are (Hey!) which is fine.  That's what this is for.  If I don't want something read or I don't want someone to know something about me, then the last thing I do is post a blog about it.  Because it is unreasonable to think that no one is going to read it.  But just the act of writing it down feels good which is why a lot of people keep journals.  I use to do that, maybe I should go back to it for these things that are not internet appropriate.  It's just so easy to type something up.  I mean, I have Twitter, I have this blog, I have a Tumbler, I have Facebook.  I am all over the place.  But I trying to share out the savvy bits of me while withholding the parts of me that belong to the private world. 

Being a parent means having to say things that you never thought you'd have to say

I find myself the mother of a very creative and occasionally wild 3 year old.  And I find myself having to say things that common sense says should never really need to be said.  But 3 year old.
My new current favorites are:

"Don't put your [naked] booty on the dog."

"Don't put your cheese on the door. No, you can't eat it now. It's been on the door."

Have you ever had to say something to your child that, when you stepped back, you thought "I never thought I'd have to say THAT aloud?"  Tell me about it.

"Happily Ever After" (Lost thoughts)

houghts:

DESMOND! DESMOND!

CHARLIE! CHARLIE!

DANIEL! DANIEL!

Ok, sorry, geeked out for a minute.  Let's see.  I'm assuming Sideways world is the result of the nuclear explosion.  Daniel pretty much said so.  So this reality is not really real?  Certain people seem to know that it's not.  Charlie had a near death experience that lead to him seeing Claire and realizing that is who he loves in every reality (awww, love that so much).  (I loved seeing Charlie, even suicidal weird Charlie.  I hope he shows up in Claire's sideways and they fall in love.)  Desmond saw his Island reality with Penny.  Eloise/Mrs. Hawking seems to know since she tried to stop Desmond from meeting Penny, saying he wasn't ready.  And apparently this new reality gave Desmond the thing he really wanted which was Widmore's approval.  It seems to have done that with everyone except maybe Kate but she said she was innocent whereas in the old reality she was guility.  So maybe that is what she wanted, and Sawyer chose to be a good guy, Jack a good father, Sayid a loving and selfless brother, Jin and Sun...something, John a loving "husband" and son, Ben a good guy.  They all got what they wanted except maybe Jin and Sun but then we haven't seen the end of their story yet.  They are the only couple to survive Sideways and Island.  MIB's new reality or something else?

Also it occurred to me that everyone on that flight ended up in the hospital at some point sooner or later.  Charlie was looking for Claire but she was probably in the hospital.  Sayid with his brother, Jack is a doctor, Kate with Claire, Sawyer? maybe that is where that falls through.  Oh well I didn't know the significance of that anyway.

Widmore put Desmond in the big electromagnetic thing and it proved that Desmond can only exist in one reality or another, yes?  Like when he was jumping in time in "The Constant."  And so he wasn't really there when he was expereincing the other reality.  Also what's up with the chauffeur?

At first, he was eager to help Widmore when he woke up since it seemed he knew what needed to be done.  I'm still not clear on the plan.  I knew it's to stop the big bad Man in Black/Smokey, but I'm not clear on how that is going to happen.  Then Sayid came along to kill everyone and take Desmond and he trots along after Sayid like whatever, brother.

Are the electromagnetic pockets on the Island keeping MIB contained on the Island?  It seems to be important somehow and I know they use the sonic pylons to stop him.  Is that related?

Next week: HURLEY! Oh Lost there is no way I can abandon you for Glee for sure now.  Hurley beats Glee by a whole lot and that is saying something but I do love me some Glee.

GLEE!!! vs. LOST

I just realized like today that Glee is starting up soon.  GLEE!!  And it is starting on the 13th right up against Lost.  This makes me sad.   Because I'm sorry but as much as I love Glee, I have to watch Lost that night.  Must.  Because it is the last season and I NEED to know.  Thank God for the DVR.

is annoyed.

I'm annoyed.  Someone said something Sunday that, in retrospect, has pissed me off.  Not too mention that it was in the midst of a conversation that I already didn't like and couldn't seem to get a handle on as there were several people talking at once.  Some people need to learn to shut their mouths and have a little tact.  Yes, I want this thing and I'm not too old.  Why is it wrong that I want this thing and why do you want to take it away from me?  Why are you making this decision now anyway?  Why do I even care?  I should know better by now.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter all! 

We had a good one this year.  My in-laws came in on Saturday night and the little boy was so excited to see them.  We woke up this morning and Bub opened his basket and ooh'd and ah'd over his presents which included a lot of bubble things.  We also got him Ponyo and My Neighbor Totoro (I've been looking for it on DVD for year and finally they re-released it or something). 

Then we went to my parent's house to do an Easter egg hunt.  They were all plastic eggs filled with candy or toys.  He throws too hard for real eggs right now. 

BT cooked a great Easter lunch with a crowned roast of pork, crawfish and sausage dressing, roasted asparagus, and a strawberry spinach salad.  Yum!  And we played outside and talked and had a nice visit. 

Then everyone left.  And we put on Ponyo in the bedroom and I fell asleep but no one else did.  So we had a nice quiet afternoon/evening.  Perfect.

Easter non-fun day

Yesterday Bub and I went to a local old-fashioned Cajun village for an Easter day.  But it didn't go as smoothly as I had planned.  He was in a bad mood and I was trying to be patient but finally I lost it. 

We missed the egg hunt.  When they said they started at noon, they meant it.  We were running late and there was a line to pay and it was way in the back of the village.  So that wasn't a great start and I felt really bad about it.  Then we walked around for  a while which was fine, but he was really tired and didn't want to  listen to me.  So I ended up having to drag him out.  I really wanted to have a good day, but it didn't end up that way.  Maybe next year...

Nancy Drew: Troubleshoot and The Hidden Staircase (1939)

There were two more movies starring Bonita Granville as Nancy Drew from 1939.  I liked the first one, Detective, ok but the rest quickly got on my nerves.  Nancy is an idiot, Carson Drew is overbearing and mean, the police chief is a condescending ass, and there is no Hannah or Bess or George.  Though I really like the Ted Nickerson character for some reason.  The resemblance to the books is negligible.  Normally, I like old movies and can make allowances for certain eccentricities of the time period, but not these.  While not the worst movies ever, I found myself saying Nancy Drew you are an idiot over and over and I'm not happy about that.


Nancy Drew: Troubleshooter
Nancy goes with her father to help out an old friend who has been accused of murder.  She meets up with Ted who is down at the lake with his family.  Of course, she ropes him into helping her solve the mystery and clear her family friend's name.  Of all the movies, this was my least favorite.  Nancy is most annoying and she is mean to Ted and there is the casual racism of this era on display in the character of Apollo, the handyman on the farm.  I hate seeing African-American characters like this.  It is one of the main reason I didn't like this movie.

Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase
While you would think that this would have some relation to the book it is titled after, you would be wrong.  There are two sisters named Turnbull and that's about where the similarities end.  Because of some weird stipulation in their father's will, at least one of the sisters has to spend every night in the house for 20 years before they own it.  Nancy sticks her nose where it doesn't belong when a man is murdered at the Turnbull's place.  She blatantly meddles in a police "investigation" when she makes Ted write a suicide note so the sisters will stay in their mansion and not give up their eligibility to outright own it and then give it up for a children's hospital.  She gets Ted in trouble a whole lot and, in the end, he is the one who rescues them both with his cleverness.

cross posted The Little Bookworm