___1___
It’s been a crazy November for publicizing my Advent book. Among the things I never thought to consider: what do you do when you wake up the morning of a book signing with a stomach virus? Do you call it off, to spare exposing your potential readers to a) an unpleasant scene and b) getting sick themselves, or do you struggle through it in order to be professional?
___2___
I chose option 2. And it came together, although I admit that I did have to abandon the signing table in an undignified rush in order to pay an unpleasant visit to the porcelain throne. Ah, well. Things you laugh about later.
___3___
Speaking of books, I’m making an attempt to read The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn. I say an attempt, because although I really want to know what happened to his relatives in the Holocaust, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to make it through his completely undisciplined prose. Sentence after sentence that lasts for twenty lines of lists of descriptive clauses, until I’ve completely lost the train of what he was trying to say in the first place. (And so does he, apparently, because when he’s finally ready to get to the point, he puts an em-dash and repeats the opening of the sentence.) I can’t read like that. I don’t have enough brain power to keep that straight on top of everything else in my life. Has anybody else read this? Is it worth it to struggle on?
___4___
I am making the switch to gmail. Anyone who has me in their email address books, please replace whatever email address you have with kathleenbasi@gmail.com. PLEASE.
___5___
Here’s the level of superhero geekdom to which we aspire in this house: Christian and I just Netflixed in the first disc of Season One of ….
We were on-again, off-again devotees of the series, especially after the kids got to a certain age, and this year when the last season started, we were so lost that we gave up trying to watch it altogether and decided to start from the top. It’s fun, but I must admit I’m already tired, thinking about ten seasons’ worth of watching. Maybe we’ll get it done by the time the Mayan Calendar runs out in a couple of years. 😉
___6___
So I picked up the food section of our local paper the other night, and they were advertising “ways to get out of a rut, to change it up” for Thanksgiving dinner. Their suggestions included rutabega puree. Does anyone else think this sounds positively revolting? I mean really. You eat this meal ONCE per year. Is it even possible to get tired of it? Don’t tell me that people who can eat a Big Mac three dozen times a year need a change of pace on a holiday meal.
___7___
Then again, I suppose if a person was fixing instant “potatoes” and bagged stuffing, it might be a meal worth changing up. But then, somehow, I don’t think they’d be going for rutabegas.
I’m taking the end of next week off, so if you’re not a regular reader, consider this your Happy Thanksgiving!
Kathleen M. Basi 
I’ve never eaten a rutabaga, but somehow or another, when the kids ask “what’s for dinner” a standard answer became “rutabagas and snake meat”. I doubt my kids will ever try either one
Hahahaha! That reminds me of my grandma. Whenever we asked her what was for (dinner, breakfast, you name it), she said, “Pigs feet & cauliflower.”
I had to laugh at “pigs feet and cauliflower” as my mother (and Nana from Ireland) had the exact same answer when we would ask “what’s for supper) Now I do the same to my kids and grandkids yet had never heard anyone else hear that unique answer. I just googled “pig’s feet and cauliflower” and this is what came up. What a small world and truly becoming more so. Thanks for my chuckle of the day.
Awesome! I’m so glad you shared. My grandma is old-school country German, but there is a teeny smidge of Irish in the family somewhere back there.
Actually I think my MIL’s Mapled Turnips are made with rutabaga and its delicious.
Wishing you better health for the rest of your book signings!
It always makes me laugh to see which parts of my takes get the most attention. 🙂 Clearly I need to overcome my snobbish tendencies @ Thanksgiving dinner. LOL
I have never had rutabagas. But I will try them if you made them for me 🙂
And I really like gmail!
I think my kids would be upset if I changed Thanksgiving dinner- I can add to the classics- but not omit
you might like this post of mine-http://remnantofremnant.blogspot.com/2010/10/gift-of-down-syndrome.html
Congratulations on your book! Good for you for making the signing anyway. I always think it’s neat to meet the author. I’ve been told that I should switch to gmail too. Did you hear that groan? 🙂