The Coffin Dancer
The kids and I took a trip to the Evil Empire, aka Wally World this morning. Wally World at 8:30 am on a Monday morning has minimal idiot inhabitants. Of course, the employees must know this too, so instead of having to dodge lost wanderers, I had to dodge loaded cart-thingies and emps stocking shelves.
$200 later, here I am. Got the kids a bunch of hats and gloves, pj's, and rewarded them with books for being so well-behaved. FOr myself, I got a nice, new, desperately needed toaster oven, socks, a bra and two new books to read, as I'm nearing the end of the one I'm currently reading (okay, I'm about halfway through, but it's Jeffery Deaver and I can't put it down so I'll be done with it tomorrow or the day after).
I'm a slave to the Evil Empire. I can't help it, and I know why it's so very, very wrong. I tried to boycott once, about two years ago, but it only lasted like a month. I cannot resist the rollbacks and special buys. I love the kids clothes. The underwear section is irresistible ("Victoria's Secret, their stuff's real nice, but I can buy the same damn thing on a Wal-M@rt shelf half-price" yes, Azelya , I know the song well--Gretchen has made it possible for me to embrace my inner-redneck and celebrate her!). The books are marked down! Can't beat the DVD prices! And home goods GALORE abound at the Evil Empire! And, best of all, it's a 5 minute drive from my house.
The Jeffery Deaver I'm currently reading is "The Coffin Dancer", which is one of his Lincoln Rhyme novels. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs totally rock my world. This is my second Lincoln Rhyme, the first was "The Vanished Man". Next is "The Stone Monkey". I'm going to devour the whole series. Lincoln and Amelia are criminalists, crime scene investigators, like CSI. Only Lincoln, who's incredibly talented and brilliant, is a C-4 quadrepeligic and does most of his work from his home. Amelia does all the crime scene sweeps and stuff. In my mind, Lincoln Rhyme is played by Morgan Freeman, only the decriptions in the book I'm reading right now leads me to believe that Deaver actually means for him to be white and younger, but he's stuck in my head as Morgan Freeman. (I love the internet. I just looked up "The Bone Collector", a Lincoln Rhyme that was made into a movie, and Denzel Washington played Rhyme. Different guy, but I think I prefer Freeman cuz he was on "The Electric Company" and that was my favorite show as a kid).
The other book I bought is a "VC Andrews" sequel to the last one I read. I picked up "Celeste" a few weeks ago, nostalgic for the summer I spent (age 13) devouring "Flowers in the Attic" (the entire series) and "My Sweet Audrina". I wrote about it here, and then Retailharlot clued me in that VC Andrews died long ago and all her books since are written by a ghost writer. Turns out she died in 1986, which is likely why I'd forgotten that little nugget of info, and her family hired a writer to write under her name. It looks as if the only books she wrote herself were the "Flowers" series, "My Sweet Audrina", and "Heaven"(maybe more than one in that series?). I was disappointed, but already halfway through the book, so I read it all the way through. Now, granted, it was certainly not as good as "Flowers" or "Audrina", but it had that aggravating feel to it that I loved in the other books. As in, "Isn't someone going to call fucking DCYF on this mother/father/grandmother already! Get this kid/these kids some help! Someone, please!". So, I bought "Black Cat", cuz I need to know what happens to poor Celeste/Noble and the baby and that wack-job mother.
Much insanity on the homefront yesterday. Butthead returned home from Shauna's and the shit hit the fan between him and Hub. It was awful, and Hub realizes he carries alot more of his bio-dad in him than he'd previously thought. I mean, the kid's attitude can be incredibly infuriating at times. You just want to clock him. It's the attitude AND the ignorance, mixed in with a personality that tends toward aggression. But he's not a bad kid. As far as almost 16 year olds go, we're pretty fortunate. He could be alot worse. He could be alot better too, but let's not harp on the fact that the kid isn't going to graduate at the top of his class (which he has the potential to do), as long as he graduates.
Hub and he just cannot communicate. Period. It's annoying to watch. Hub definitely needs to listen to others more. Especially that boy. Butthead comes to me when he can't talk to Hub. He actually comes to me alot, and that makes me feel good. Because I'm not his mother, and I didn't meet him until he was 11 years old, but I think he trusts me as his mom. He doesn't trust Shauna. I think his feelings for her borderline on disgust, bearing in mind that she is his mother, and he does love her. But I tell the kid the truth, I don't treat him any differently than my own, and I take care of him. And I play mediator between he and Hub. I do alot of mediating for him.
Speaking of Butthead, I still haven't found the stash. It's driving me nuts. I spent some time with him yesterday and learned that he's a lot more ignorant about the drug scene than I first assumed. He actually thought people shoot up acid. Turns out he was watching a movie a few years ago with one of Shauna's myriad of ex-live-in-boyfriends and the guy told him they were shooting up acid. The movie turned out to be "Trainspotting" (one of my all-time favorites). I told the boy that the boyfriend was either stupid or lying to him. I gave him a brief lesson in LSD and shooting up types of drugs.
Of course, my lesson may have been the outdated version, since I haven't been in tune with the scene (aside from the pot scene) in a good 10 years or so.
Well, it's getting to be time for lunch. I'm going to chow down on Taboule salad and tuna (with light mayo) on whole wheat toast. Yummy!
Arrividerci!
Listening to: Currently reading: Thinking about: