GCC: Allison Winn Scotch

lostnfound.jpegAllison Winn Scotch is the author of the very excellent THE DEPARTMENT OF LOST AND FOUND. Wait till you read this summary.

Natalie Miller has a bright future ahead of her and is using her determination and smarts to get her—and the senator she works for—where they need to be, regardless of whom they step on along the way. Until, on the very same day, her doctor gives her the shocking news that she has breast cancer and her boyfriend dumps her.

She decides to take on her cancer the way she does everything—with steely determination. But as she becomes a slave to the whims of chemo, her body forces her to take a time out. She gets a dog, becomes addicted to The Price is Right and embarks on a mission: She is going to track down the Five Lost Loves of her Life and figure out what went wrong… here are some reviews.

Cosmopolitan calls it, "too good to pass up. You'll laugh a lot (and cry just a little) as Natalie rebounds from the big C and reinvents her life."
"Scotch handles the topic of cancer with humor and hope, never dipping into the maudlin. The changes and realizations that the characters make are profound and moving. An impressive debut." – Booklist

"A bonbon of a book." - Publishers Weekly
About Allison Winn Scotch
Scotch has contributed to American Baby, American Way, Cooking Light, Family Circle, Glamour, InStyle Weddings, Men’s Health, Parents, Prevention, Redbook, Self, Shape, Women’s Health and Woman’s Day, among others. She lives in New York with her husband and their son and daughter.
The book sounds terrific and you can buy it
A bientot
love,
becky
http://www.statcounter.com/

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Best Bloopers of 2007

Well, okay, SOME of the best. Okay okay, I only have four here, but they are good ones. Ready?




"Not everyone has the lechery of sitting around and not working."

"Hillary Clinton's champagne is winning over voters."

"Societal morays are causing this problem."

"A lot of people complain about the immortality of the death penalty."




In addition, we are at the point in the semester where the Undead start to appear. People I haven't seen in weeks show up in class.

I'M SORRY--WHAT WAS YOUR NAME?

RABKJDKSLJF. SPELLED WITH A "Y". REMEMBER?

OH YES. I THINK I DO REMEMBER YOU. DID YOU STOP BY JUST BECAUSE IT WAS THE HOLIDAYS?

WELL NO.

I HOPE YOU AT LEAST BROUGHT COOKIES.

NO, I DON'T HAVE COOKIES. I WANT TO DO ALL THE WORK I MISSED AND MORE.

[they always add this "and more." It reminds me of a retail ad--"Towels, washcloths, bedspreads, and more!!"]

MORE?

YES. I WANT TO DO MORE WORK THAN ANYONE HAS EVER DONE.

COOKIES WOULD BE BETTER.

I WANT TO SHOW MY SINCERITY BY COMPOSING A HUGE ENORMOUS RESEARCH PAPER FOR YOU TO READ.

I SEE.

IT WILL BE TREMENDOUS. IT WILL PUT YOU TO SLEEP IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH.

OH GOOD.

AND I'M WILLING TO DO ANY EXTRA CREDIT PROJECTS YOU HAVE.

I DON'T GIVE EXTRA CREDIT.

OH.

I must close the curtain on this interview, dear reader, because now is when it gets painful and the poor little student turns into Betsy Wetsy, or is it Chatty Cathy, and cries REAL TEARS.

I think Betsy Wetsy actually wet herself and I haven't seen that yet from a student AND I DON'T WANT TO.

Let's grit our teeth, friends.
Be Here Now.

A bientot
love,
becky

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Table Manners


It was fun to watch Maeve taste her first blueberry pie. Mmmmm. Her mom says if Maeve sees something on her tray that she likes better than what she's already eating, she will spit out what's in her mouth in favor of the good stuff waiting. I like this attitude and think it portends greatness and high standards for my grandchild.
My point is this. Babies aren't supposed to have manners.
Everyone else is.
So let's kick off the official holiday season here at CFTE with something truly prissy and bitchy. Here are some dining faux pas of the more egregious variety and, as it happens, ones that I personally cannot stand.

Keeping your napkin on the table instead of your lap. We do not want to watch you wipe your fingers on the napkin between bites and then have to KEEP looking at it while you eat. Gross.
Soup slurping. If it's too hot, stare straight ahead and count to 50. Or 250. Or try an olive. Just spare us from the slurp. [applies to coffee as well]


Use of toothpicks is meant to be private. If we wanted to watch Deliverance, we would call it up on the Tivo. Did I say that right?


Talking with your mouth full or hamster-style, food stored off somewhere on the side while you speak. Ick. I have to watch out for this myself because of my propensity to, um, talk too much. I know you find that hard to believe, dear reader. Cough. Gag.

Selfishness. Do we think greed can only be seen on the floor of the stock exchange? Nay nay, creamed onions breath. I used to eat holiday meals with someone who would wait until the prime moment before serving to make his move. Just when the table was groaning with all the dishes, steaming and ready to be served, this gentleman (loosely defined) would move around the room with his plate, taking the first serving off the top of each platter. His hostess said to him a couple of times, "Farnsworth, I think there will be enough for everyone," to which he replied, "I don't want to take the chance." I'm pretty sure everyone there wanted to stab him.

Everyone worries about which fork to use and truly that should be the least of our concerns. Unless you are using some great huge serving fork, no one is going to notice. And even if you were forced to eat with such a utensil, no one would care, as long as you were hygienic about it. Pick a fork and stick with it. This is what I tell my students about verb tenses and the advice works in both contexts. Just be sure to use one, okay? If you're going to eat with your fingers, you need to be at another table.
And everyone, EVERYONE, should wait for the hostess to take the first bite. God, if you can't do that, why didn't you stop at Wendy's?
All right. That's enough for today.
We're ready for, oh god, we're sort of ready for....I can't say it. With a hearty Freakin' Fa La La....
A bientot
love,
becky

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Square or Round

It happens when you aren't looking. Styles change. You were hammering away on the curtains or changing the toilet seat (next weekend, I promise). I always thought this was the perfect look.
do it yourself french manicure

But it isn't. It's square now. Who would have guessed?

You can buy this stuff at www.Montpellier-Beauty.co.uk
French Manicured Nails

They ask you now, those manicurists, square? You want square? Well, no. I've been saying no for a while, but I confess I'm being drawn in. I think I want to try.....I think I do.....
GIVE ME SQUARE NAILS!!!!
I'M READY!!!

But will this be next?



How will my students see me?


My family?

Is that better than....well...

I'm just not sure, dear reader. I'm deliberating.
But I think you know what I'm going to do.
A bientot
love,
becky

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Men Killing Wasps


Don't look away, gentlemen. You KNOW this is your favored technique for killing insects. Don't pretend you've never sprayed an entire can of this stuff at a one-inch hornet in the corner of the bedroom.

I'm going to tell you something right now. The hornet, the wasp, LOVES hairspray. It LOVES it. It's Chanel Number Five to the wasp, okay? It's like breathing in pure oxygen. This of course raises the somewhat elementary question of whether a wasp actually breathes. Do they have lungs, wasps? Little tiny bellows/alveoli inside a little tiny thorax? Oh Christ, they probably do. I'm sorry I brought it up.

Anyway, this was a topic of a girlfriends' conversation recently. In a group of women I am usually one of the brave ones where bugs and spiders and wasps are concerned. You can hire me to protect you from them. You can watch me kill one with my thumb on the kitchen table (though not the wasp).

And this led to the subject of why a man thinks spraying an entire can of Raid or Pam or Right Guard onto a bug will kill it. You whack it with a magazine and get back to reading your book, that's what you do. I am John Wayne when it comes to this.

On the other side of the spectrum, I am so terrified of snakes that I start crying when I see one. The thought of seeing one will keep me away from a lovely walk in a lovely setting. There is a sign near where I have my hair done that says REPTILES AND BEYOND. It gives me a shiver when I drive by. Whatever would be beyond reptiles would be in the realm of horror movie or true and actual Hell.

I'm seeing a play today, so putting off hammer and toilet seat purchase until tomorrow.

Fan Shee Tong Sui


Have accepted sweet potato casserole and sweet-and-sour carrots as Thanksgiving assignments.

Getting to the end of the Bone Crushing Semester.
A bientot
love,
becky
http://www.statcounter.com/

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What if I Changed My Own Toilet Seat?

Am I capable? The old toilet seat, which I will not show, is screwed in. I hate to think of what is turning those screws rusty and which I never noticed until now. More than twenty years of male visitors/children/neighbors/relatives doing their utmost (ahem) to, um, discolor the hardware. The seat also has scratches and marks on it which probably look very suspect to first-time visitors. Oh, the shame.

UltraTouch Heated Toilet SeatLet's face it. Men are the ones who cause the damage. I'm not going any further because delicacy forbids.
But I'm feeling brave. I'm feeling that I ought to head out to WalMart or Aubuchon for a new seat. What about a new color that doesn't match the rest of the toilet? That would look tacky, wouldn't it? Or would it be quirky and witty?
I'm in the mood for improvements.
I'm also going to buy curtain hardware for my bedroom drapes that fell down last summer. I've been crouching in the hallway as I undress (because I can't undress in front of my de-curtained window) for these many months and I'm sick of it.
Here is part of what my purchase will include:
HammerYes, it's true and here's another fact. Somewhere in my house lurks a hammer. A real one, big and clunky. Comforting yet menacing. Menacing yet comforting. I have looked high and low for it, all to no avail. But soon I'm going to find it. Know how I know? Because I'm GOING TO BUY A NEW ONE.
The two of them can be friends. Perhaps even lovers.
Hammer lovers (title?)
But THIS hammer I will take care of and won't lose. I know just where it will always live and I will never deviate from that location, as I must have with the old one. I must have leaned back in my repose and said oh what the frig, let me enjoy a few bonbons before I return this hammer to its rightful place. And then I never got around to it. Oh, I was slothful, but no more, dear reader. I am a careful hammer owner from now on.
Off to shop
love,
becky

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The Long Slide

Yes, it has started. In truth, the slide begins around Labor Day.



School starts WHIZ


then fall foliage WHIZ WE'RE GOING FAST


followed by Halloween OH MY GOD CAN ANYONE STOP THIS THING


then Thanksgiving HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!




I'm not going to say where it ends because it's too early for that. The month of December is traditionally dedicated to holiday bitching at CFTE and that will be soon enough.




Doesn't the track look lovely? It's cold enough that it almost deters me from getting out there. But of course, once I do, it warms up and feels great to log those laps.








Last year it didn't really snow until March. Do you ever notice how people love to make dire predictions that don't come true? In August, all you hear is, "they say it's going to be a brutal winter this year." The Farmer's Almanac says blah blah blah.


Screw the Farmer's Almanac. Or Poor Richard's Almanac or whatever it is. I'd rather read Little Richard's Almanac: WIDE OPEN, BABY. NADINE!!! GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!!!


CFTE prediction: NO SNOW UNTIL 08.
NO BAD SNOWSTORMS
NO PLOW GUY NEEDED
I'm basing these statements on the fact that the Patriots are undefeated and the Red Sox won everything.
How far can our luck go?
Be here now, dear reader. It's all good.
A bientot
love,
becky

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Three Day Zest

At last!!!! Veterans Day weekend!!!! Of course what I really mean is God bless America and all the soldiers and I will even bless the grouchy one who deleted my google picture of a Marine. Don't use our Marine pictures, it says or something like that. And it didn't show up until three days later. Kinda creepy.


But whatever. We're not messing with the Marines here at CFTE.

What can be accomplished in three days?

Well, some say the Big Guy Upstairs managed to create heaven and earth, water, and dry ground in that amount of time. That sets the bar pretty high, I admit.

Three-day bender

Three-day growth of beard (this would be for a man or a way way postmenopausal woman)

Three Days of the Condor (never saw this movie)

Three Day Work Week (this deserves serious thought, especially in higher education)

Three Day Diet (ugh)

Three Day Virus (see Three Day Diet)

Three-Day Romance (see Item #1)


And the winner is? Hmmmmm. Let's think that one over while we enjoy our
F
R
I
D
A
Y

Z
E
S
T
!!!!!

A bientot,
love,
becky

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GCC Hot Pick: Jackie Kessler

Want to see a really hot book trailer? Try this one here. It's from my buddy Jackie Kessler's new offering, THE ROAD TO HELL and well, it is HOT. The first book in this series ...
jackiek.jpgwas HELL'S BELLES, about a succubus named Jezebel who runs away from Hell, hides on Earth as an exotic dancer, and learns the hard way about true love. Sex, strippers, demons—what’s not to like? The second book, THE ROAD TO HELL, is about how Jezebel—now the human Jesse Harris—has to return to Hell to save the lives of those she loves…and somehow make sure it’s not a one-way trip. (If she’d known love was this tough, she never would have turned her back on lust.)
Check out Jackie's website and you could win an iPod Nano!)

Praise for THE ROAD TO HELL:
"Kessler's sizzling sequel to paranormal debut Hell's Belles puts ex-succubus Jezebel--the now-mortal Jesse Harris, a dancer at a strip club--stage center again. For a month after waking up in a hospital, the former 4,000-year-old, fifth-level succubus who used to seduce humans to claim their souls has been living a happy mortal life in New York with a devoted boyfriend, New York vice cop Paul Hamilton. So when Alecto, a Fury from hell, arrives and demands she return to hell to help Alecto's sister, Megaera (Jesse's former best friend who betrayed her), Jesse balks. Much of the rest of the book is spent convincing her to change her mind, with each sexy escapade topping the last, until (among other things) the demons go after Paul, and Jesse has to "pull an Orpheus." Kessler's raunchy blend of heaven, hell and eros makes for a wild thrill ride, and hot, tough-talking Jesse has gumption and sass." — Publishers Weekly

"Kessler's sassy heroine is back with the scorching-hot book two of the Hell on Earth series. A sharp-tongued succubus writes in first person, telling a deliciously wicked story that mixes romance and humor with dark urban fantasy. The combination of supernatural elements with the mundane realities of life in the big city keeps things real. This is one helluva read--put Kessler on your must-buy list." — Romantic Times (4.5 stars)

"The Road to Hell hints at a vast talent that could alter the romance genre the way Kessler's heroine has altered the landscape of the underworld." — Rose & Thorn

“In The Road to Hell, the second book in the Hell on Earth series, author Jackie Kessler reintroduces us to the cutest, sexiest and most downright foul-mouthed perky ex-demon you're ever likely to run across. Once again, Kessler demolishes my preconceptions about romance novels, eschewing the bursting bustier and the bare-chested hero for a sly nod, a knowing wink and a bawdy smile, and giving the best romance authors a serious run for their places on the best-seller lists.” — Novelspot

JACKIE ON JACKIE:
Some kids want to grow up to be doctors, or movie stars, or political assassins. Me, I wanted to draw comic books. Not Archies, either—superhero comic books. Maybe it was all the heavily muscled guys in spandex…

Around the time I was 15, I realized that as much as I enjoyed drawing (note that I’m saying nothing about the quality of those pics), it was a lot of fun putting words in the characters’ mouths. I didn’t know the term “fanfic” back then, but I started writing stories about the X-Men, Alpha Flight, and the Teen Titans. Didn’t do anything with those stories, other than horrify my mother. She asked why I couldn’t write nice stories, you know, about bunnies. Nope—me, I wanted to write about power. About magic. About hot guys in spandex. And about beating those guys bloody and senseless. (In retrospect, maybe I really did want to horrify my mother. Hey, not my fault. When I was a kid, I busted her doodling on the cover of New Teen Titans Number 6. Argh!)

So maybe it’s ironic that the book I wound up writing had nothing to do with overly muscled men and everything to do with scantily clad women. (Well, temporarily scantily clad.) Oh, right, and demons.
I live in Upstate New York with my Loving Husband, two Precious Little Tax Deductions, two cats, and 8,000 comic books.
A bientot
love,
becky
http://www.statcounter.com/

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Time Changes

This fall-behind thing takes me forever. I get tired really early in the evening, my little eyelids droop down at some ridiculous hour (like 8pm) and then after a short nap I awake at 11pm and spend the rest of the night lying in bed thinking it's time to get up.
I manage to change some of the clocks in my life and not others, so I don't actually know what time it is at ANY time.
IT SAYS 4. OHMYGOD. I'M SCREWED. BUT MAYBE IT'S ONLY 3 AND I'M GOLDEN. JESUS, WHAT IF IT'S REALLY 5? I THINK MY BLOOD PRESSURE IS GOING UP.
New skins in Clock 2.3 preview release 2
One dispiriting part of the change is that when I get out of class at 4:15 on Mon/Wed, it's getting dark. By the time I turn off Rte. 495 (this week only) the sun is directly, and I mean DIRECTLY, in my eyes.
Should I have put a whine alert above?
Let's see. [you have to speak this like my old Phys Ed teacher in college] Ya gotcher alarm clock (better git up and git workin'!) , yer biological clock ([time to hatch them eggs, you gals!) yer doomsday clock (when it's all gonna blow) and the game clock, the thirty-second clock, the cuckoo clock, lord amighty who can keep track?
Her name was Miss Osborne and I think I'm channeling her lately. I keep talking about sensible shoes, though I keep wearing un-sensible ones of course. I have my eye on a black patent leather pair at the mall which I can't wait to buy and never wear.
Let's all have the best time we can.
A bientot
love,
becky

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Candy Bar Review

Fun Size Candy Bars




We normally have this festive event before Halloween, boys and girls, but this year, due to heavensent delirious godfearing World Series baseball, we are having it after.

Okay, here goes. Now don't send me hate mail if your fave doesn't get mentioned. Not everybody gets picked, okay?

Let's start with the obvious. In the beginning there was...................










the Hershey Bar. It's still pretty tasty. A steady diet of this will ruin your teeth like no other.



Of course you have your M&M lovers and they are a naive lot since most of them still believe that the red ones taste different from the yellow ones. I didn't say stupid, okay? I didn't.


Now in the category of M&Ms, there are some flavorful subgroups. One of these is the peanut M&M. I like them okay, but they're hard for me to chew and I feel like Bugs Bunny when I try to do it. Plus you get nuts all in your teeth afterwards and who needs that?

A VERY fine new addition to the M&M family, and one that does not get its just due (I'm not going to say "just deserts" because I'M ABOVE THAT) is the peanut butter M&M. Mmmmm, better than Reese's in this humble root canal victim's heart.

Breaking news: raspberry M&Ms. Three words: Oh. My. God.

Moving on.
Milky Way is a boring candy bar. It has nothing special to recommend it, plus it falls into what I call the "airy" category. It's full of air. It's not dense like Hershey or Dove. Know what I'm saying? Another airy bar is....

Three Musketeers is completely airy and a few have been seen levitating off the ground in certain grocery aisles.


Twix and Kit Kat are the same candy bar. When they get sick of putting the Twix wrapper on at the factory, they switch over to Kit Kat. There's no logic to it and probably has to do with what Muzak tunes are coming in over the loudspeaker. You don't want to be there on the day someone sneaks in a Metallica heavy metal selection. The workers go crazy. It's like when those Japanese kids went berserk watching some of those anime cartoons and had seizures or something. That's the kind of thing Twix and Kit Kat can cause.

Sometimes they end up with something really stupid like ....
and
Clark and Butterfingers are also the same. It gets hard keeping these straight and it's a little like Clark Kent turning into Superman. WAIT. ARE WE DOING CLARK TODAY? WHICH ONE ARE WE DOING? DOES ANYONE KNOW ANYTHING?
Nestle's Crunch has always been a stand-up bar. You get what you pay for. It's a little airy and you can really sense and intuit the Rice Krispies inside, but it's satisfying in the end, especially when you have to lick it off your fingers and hands.

True story: I was once in Cancun, Mexico, lounging on the beach with some friends. Somebody had handed me a Crunch bar and I had opened it and forgotten it. It was resting comfortably on my leg and melting into oblivion when someone saw it and screamed. Delicacy forbids further comment.
I am not into Baby Ruth. They are always stale and the peanuts are loose. They're not embedded firmly into the rest of the candy and I call that disappointing.
Has anyone ever heard of Abba Zabba? It sounds like one of those Iraqi prison camps. One of my friends just told me about it and I'm only including it because I never heard of it. It looks evil. I think they give it to you right before the firing squad aims their rifles at you. You can have a cigarette or an Abba Zabba.
Heath Bars are excellent but are one of the few candy bars that are better in ice cream than they are in real life.

Moving toward the best ones now:
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are the # 1 selling candy bar in the United States and the Reese's brand is the most successful brand owned by The Hershey Company.


Reese's was the winner last year and in second place this year only because I am so very fond of the peanut butter M&Ms. Reese's Pieces are ever so slightly plasticky in taste.

But number one this year and I'm letting my students determine this.


That's right, four out of five of Motew's composition students picked Snickers for their top bar. So let's have a round of applause while I call my dentist for a cleaning.

Be here now.
A bientot
love,
becky

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