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Fish may get us kicked out of this hotel

January 19, 2012

It would surprise many of you to know, that no, my family does not often (read ever) get kicked out of places. In fact, the last TWO times I was kicked out of somewhere they weren’t involved in the slightest.

The most recent time was several years ago at a Gap in Birmingham when I called an employee gay and the manager said we don’t allow that kind of talk. Despite the fact that the employee had said to me he was “a big old fag” and agreed with me that yes, jeans should not be cut so low that your clitoris hangs out. The Gap is not as hip and understanding as they would like you to believe. The employee was not at ALL offended and probably would have defended me had he not been collapsed in giggles in the fitting room next to a mountain of unsuitable, clitoris exposing jeans.

The time before that I was kicked out of a country western bar in Huntsville while I was in college and my sister was in high school and dating a boy I liked to call Rodeo Bob. This was the kind of bar they let teenagers go to and I got in trouble for (barely) underage drinking. (How else do you make a country western bar with old people line dancing and 16 year olds thinking they’re cool bearable?) I’m pleased as spiked punch to say she broke up with him not too long after as, hi we called him Rodeo Bob TO HIS FACE and he was clueless. He actually thought he was going to be invited to my wedding-the first one at any rate. I am sure by the second he had given up any delusions or I would hope so as I never liked him in the first place. (My sister should have listened to me. She should also set up a blog.)

Regardless, I am fairly certain we may be well on our way to being kicked out of the hotel we are currently inhabiting. I love hotel life. I work in the morning, screw off on the internet, ride the stationary bike, get in the hot tub and schedule my activities around what time the hotel puts out the fresh cookies and what time the manager’s reception with free wine starts. I could totally live in a hotel. They have people to change your sheets. If they just had someone to come blowdry my hair I wouldn’t have to want a sister-wife anymore. They even have people to DRIVE me places-if I wasn’t so much of a control freak I could stand to schedule the courtesy shuttle.

Last night I had to miss the free cookies and wine because I was hiding from a super annoying person and, no, I am not married to him. I should see if they will deliver to my room…

This hotel also has a fish pond which bratchild loves. Also? Children will do anything for money. This is important to know going into this.

J: I will give you $10 if you can catch one of those fish.
Bratchild: Really? I totally will.
J: Really. Catch a fish and I will give you the cash.
Bratchild: general squeals of excitement.
Me: You know she’s totally going to fall in the pond trying to catch a fish with her bare hands.
J: Uh, yeah. She’s going to have to get in the pond to catch the fish. That’s kind of the point.
Me: We’re totally going to get kicked out of this hotel.
J: And it will be well worth it…and the ten dollars.

Stay tuned…the fish are circling like they know something is up.

 How does my spellcheck not recognize sister-wife and bratchild at this point in time? My phone totally does. Plus, it can text predict Nordstrom for me…

What I’ve been reading…Also? Hooray for the possibility of prizes

January 16, 2012

I’m a big reader. Always have been. As a child, I strongly preferred sitting and reading or doing something imaginative to playing sports or attempting to catch a ball. My proclivity to nosebleeds and inability to catch things had nothing whatsoever to do with my choice in activities.

Prior to the end of the year, a friend invited me to the Madison Mega-Marathon; an event I promptly ignored because yuck sports, see above, and yuck sweating. But then I looked at it and realized it was a reading marathon-so no sweating and no ridiculous sports bras or ugly shoes. And today I realized there are prizes so…competitive reading? I am all over that.

At 35, oh jeebus when did I turn 35? Right. Last week. More on that later. Anyhoo-I still am all about prizes and bribes totally work on me as well.

Since January 1, I have read The Family Fang, Fiction Ruined My Family, Beautiful People, Water for Elephants and am working my way through Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I enjoyed The Family Fang-it wasn’t as funny as I had hoped but I enjoyed it. It’s the tale of a family where the parents are ridiculous and create “art” which is basically chaos in public places. I manage to do that most times when I leave the house…I just never knew I could call it art and apply for grants. Already today I called a kid an f-ing idiot because he was using lemon tongs to pick melted ice out of the bowl of lemons instead of using a scoop and getting ice from the giant receptacle marked “ice.” Also? He was blocking my access to my first diet coke of the morning which makes me stabby.

Fiction Ruined My Family is a memoir and, also not as funny as I expected/hoped. Of course, since the title talks about a ruined family and it’s all about alcoholism and dysfunctional families, I’m not super sure why I expected it to be a laugh a minute but I did. And it wasn’t. And it made me question my desire to be a writer and convinced me F. Scott Fitzgerald was a total asshat and made me love The Great Gatsby a little less.

Beautiful People was an easy read by a British author I like named Wendy Holden. That’s about all I can say about it. Funny, easy, don’t really have to think. Good for the beach or cold gray days inside.

Water for Elephants is a book I fought reading because I couldn’t take a book seriously that was made into a movie starring a vampire and Reese Witherspoon and animal stories make me cry and I am scared of clowns. (This is true-I almost had a complete breakdown watching Bambi–why is it a kids movie–and Free Willy.) But I read it anyways and I just adored it-mainly because there weren’t so many clowns.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me is hilarious. I picked it because Amazon kept shoving it in my face. Having never seen The Office, the fact that the author wrote for the show or was on the show or something wasn’t exactly a glowing recommendation. BUT so far, I love it and have been laughing out loud. Sometimes Amazon knows me so well. Of course, Amazon also keeps recommending Crafting With Cat Hair and in light of my extreme cat allergy, I don’t think I will be picking it up. I am also questioning what I have possibly searched for to create this recommendation. (Dog lovers don’t despair-you’re not left out of the crazy craft craze. Pick up Knitting With Dog Hair: Better a Sweater from a Dog You Know and Love than a Sheep You’ll Never Meet.)

Sidenote: it totally pisses me off when Kindle books are more expensive than the actual book. And I have to get a library card to be eligible for prizes.

What have you read lately?

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