This Land is Your Land...

I really like the verse that was mysteriously left out of Mr. Guthrie's song when we learned it in school:

As I was walkin'  -  I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no trespassin'
But on the other side  .... it didn't say nothin'!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Everything

makes the perfect amount of sense today.

Inspiration & optimism...

...we sucked them down like Coca-Cola.

This happily cramping in bed day has been devoted to reading the stacks of printed things within reach, dog-earing and underlining the parts of books, zines, and magazines that I deem the most valuable, and then copying those parts into various journals, little black books, and lists. Once I've digested and/or re-written the goods, the book, zine, or magazine gets passed on to someone else. This has been my system for awhile. It's usually a slow process, but a lot of progress has been made on "the stacks" today. I'm taking a break from my "work" while Marvin takes a break from his. This break was spent browsing ffffound. It was a good ffffound day, as you can see from the pictures above. I only stumbled upon one vagina. You never know what you might ffffind in someones collection. Today I learned that people who like pictures of bunnies dressed in aprons and Fight Club also might like crotch-shots. Who knew? There was also this:

Marvin has given me permission to marry Robert Downey Jr. in the event that I am widowed. My only other Marvin-approved options are Jorge Garcia and Matt Millard:

GET THEE TO A NUNNERY.

What large children we are here.

Get the cuss out of here, worry.
You's a draining, good-for-nothing, fun-sucker.
I hereby declare the untroubled spirits of four-year-old children for us all.

Yep.

Dorothy Dale Kloss & a Conway hangout.

She just retired at age 86. When asked her secret for all that vitality she replied, "You know, a little vodka never hurts. No, but really, if you love what you do, you can do it as long as you want."

I love what I am doing these days, which is eating big salads, reading big stories, riding a big bicycle, finding not-so-big but pretty swimmin' holes, and working a little on the side. Then there was that hangout where we got drunk and watched "The Crazies" on mute while having a Lady Gaga dance party and playing Cranium simultaneously. (Okay, so it didn't happen exactly like that...but it was still good times.)

Marvin declared an emergency date night for tonight. I've requested a hot tub, sandwiches, and a George Clooney movie.

Wishing you well,
Sarah R.

Meanies.

I got a call from the bank last night saying that some suspicious activity had popped up on my debit card account. The account had been frozen, but not before some mega-douche had spent $922.50 of my hard-earned dollars on sporting goods, putting my checking account balance in the negatives. Bank procedure is a little annoying, but the police officer who filed my report was AWESOME. He was the first cop I'd ever dealt with that was actually helpful. He also made lots of jokes, including ones about doughnuts, which helped my blood pressure return to a healthy level. And he wrote the report up as a felony, even though technically I don't think theft is a felony unless the total is above $1,000. Maybe there are loopholes...maybe the officer was just being nice. The ladies at the bank said credit card numbers are relatively easy to access these days. Lame. I should know by tomorrow the state from which the purchases were made. The only suspects we could come up with were hotel employees at the places we stayed that required our card being kept on file. The only other places I've used the card lately were with online donations to nonprofits and to pay bills. Lame, lame, lame. No more online donations. And I'm buying a paper shredder. Even though unshredded documents are not the cause of this problem, I've always wanted a paper shredder...and now seems like an appropriate time to get one. Hmpht.

If something else like this happens, I am going to live in a cave. Or maybe be one of those fruititarians that only eat fruit as it falls from the tree. Any withdrawl from normal society would do.

I'd planned on hiking and biking and swimming in creeks today, but since this drama came up it didn't happen. My revised plan? Hammock, bikini, cats for company, iced tea, and Doris. And maybe a late-night bike ride once the hikers return from the mountains. It's the next best thing.

Despite the events of the day, I still feel pretty much like this:

[Photo courtesy of Lisa Danger James, who is great.]


Now for some good news: My friend Tamara had her baby. He is healthy and breathing on his own and digesting breast milk, even though he has to be fed through a tube until he learns proper sucking techniques. Pretty impressive for a three pound lil guy! Also, Courtney's boobies are okay! Hooray for boobies! (Isn't that an album title for some '90s band?)

A bulleted list.

 

• 50% of the omelets I made tonight were flawless.
• I can't stop eating salted and peppered avocados. 
• Marvin is demanding desserts. 
• I haven't had a dessert in two days. (This is monumental.) 
• I named Bob's kitten Darlene so I could yell at her very Rosanne-ly. 
• Bilberries are not the same as blueberries...but they are cousins. 
• We had planned to go watch a documentary about dirt tonight, but the thought of climbing all those stairs at the library after doing too much stretching yesterday didn't sound like fun and I would be embarrassed to take the elevator to a film about sustainability. 
• I want to know more about the British League of Pessimists.
• I got an invitation that was printed on paper that contained native wildflowers of Arkansas. That made my week. 
• Fantastic Mr. Fox was...fantastic. 
• I started keeping a dream diary. There are three entries so far: a race war, a baby pooping on the carpet, and my friend making a movie about her horrible mother. 
• One of the best dreams I ever had involved singing and dancing cartoon popsicles. 
• I just figured out that popsicle is a combination of  "lollipop" and "icicle."
• Dumb. 

Bring on the weekend, please. 

That foreign noise.

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.  - Psalm 4:8

It was so strange to wake up to the sound of an alarm today. After all the fun-havings, I am suddenly very productive. Cleaning, reading, Netflixing, embroidering, returning phone calls, making plans, preparing food...checking things off of lists like crazy. Hopefully my return to work tomorrow will feel just as nice.

After 7.5 months of being happily Facebookless, I started up a new account so I could keep in touch with Marvin's family. I got really attached to all of them over the past week. I'm no good with telephones; they're no good with e-mail...so...Facebook it is. I've already been "found" by a few Russellville kids...which is okay. I just don't want to catch myself wasting precious hours of my life browsing through the picture albums of people I barely know or would probably never choose to spend an afternoon with. 

Watching Amelie does a body good.

So does eating fruit.
And dancing to your new records....
....with a cat.

Love,
Sarah

P.S. - A big congratulations to Derek and Stephanie who did a wonderful job of making a baby! Marv & I are honored to share our anniversary with Ingrid's birthday. Also, I really like her mini-Derek-ear. Well done. I can't wait to meet this great little girl in person...one of these days.

Savannah

We vacationed.

^Here I am being pale on the beach with two of my sisters-in-law.

^ These are the Reillys...minus Brandi, seven dogs, four cats, a ferret, two rats, and a goldfish.

^ This is my very cute husband, eating what he claimed to be the best sandwich of his life.

^Our crusty retro motel. "All we need is love and a moonpie."

^ Great tile.

^This cupcake made me want to weep tears of joy.

^My favorite grave at Bonaventure Cemetery.

Trip summary: a lengthy wrong turn, fireworks on River Street, cookout, lots-o-sparklers, beach bumming, piña coladas, quality time with mongoose and friends, lots of VH1 & Food Network, chocolate overdose at Lulu's Chocolate bar (...where EVERYTHING is chocolate...even the beer), cappuccino brownies, found a new favorite bakery and a new favorite clothing store, finally found the perfect pair of rain boots, played an intense game of volleyball in the pool, scored great records galore at a secondhand shop, definitely had too many fancy drinks and probably talked my mother-in-law's ear off, learned all about stop-motion animation, spent many hours discussing food, cute animals, and placenta art with Vanessa...and finally got to meet her goats (!), got a haircut from Brooke, hung out in a beautiful cemetery, rode bicycles a little, stayed very sweaty and didn't entirely want to come home.

Things I've learned that I love a lot more than I'd realized: cobblestone, Spanish moss, cypress trees, air conditioning, laying out with tropical drink in hand, pop music, ferrets, hangouts, meat, splurging on expensive desserts. I'm not sure whether I've been ruined or repaired. I'm glad to be either.

Let me show you.

Function, function, function. Gotta get a better motto.

There's a stray (or'nge) cat that climbed in our kitchen window. I named him Bones 'cause that's what he's a bag of. Can't keep him, but I plan to feed him and hang out with him in the alley. Me and Bones. A couple of old souls.

My friend Tamara (not to be confused with my cousin Tamra) is in the hospital. Her water broke and the baby isn't due for two more months. They'll be at the hospital until September and she's one who thrives on rolling around in grass, playing in dirt, and sleeping with fresh air blowing in the window, so I imagine long-term hospitalization will be tough on her. Ultrasounds showed the baby looking incredibly healthy, but still...please think of them and say a prayer if that's what you do.

Courtney deposited a bunch of hand-me-downs in my car yesterday. (Or would they be hand-me-ups, since I'm bigger than she is?) I laughed that some of the things were items that I had handed down to her years ago. I laughed again because some of the clothes reminded me of Mac walking around virtually naked all the time. (I miss you, Laura Mac!) And then I laughed because my favorite item was a pair of tie-dyed underwear that I suspect Courtney tie-dyed herself.

Dirty pseudo-hippies.

I need a cup of tea.