Bring your own pail.

What Burns Within by Sandra Ruttan

My friend, Sandra Ruttan sent me the first few chapters of this to read about a year ago. It grabbed me from the first sentence, swept me through the first chapter, then clobbered me on the head with a twist that I still think about and wonder what happened.

Then Sandra did something very mean.

She didn't send me anymore chapters.

But I'll show her. I'm going HERE to order it from Amazon and then I'm going to read.

To the end.

And there's not a damned thing Sandra can do about it.

Better than Zoloft and a whole lot cheaper than gin

Anybody who doesn't make a habit of reading Loretta Sue Ross' blog...really should.

Put down beverages and go HERE.

Reading is Fundamental

But signing a name only takes a second.

A month or so ago, I forwarded some of you an email urging you to urge your representatives in congress to sign a letter in support of continuation of funding for Reading is Fundamental. (Run-on sentence alert!!)

You can check HERE to see if your representatives were co-signers to the letter. The actual letters and signatures are HERE and HERE. (Senator Lautenberg made sure his name was there on THIS addendum)

I found the senatorial letter interesting. Of THREE Senators considered the top contenders in November's Presidental race only ONE signed the letter.

Gee...I wonder which one found time to attach HER name in bipartisan support to fund this very effective program?

We've 10 primaries to go. Keep this in mind. I dunno, funding for RIF looked kinda like a no-brainer to me.

I won't get into how disgusted I am that neither senator from my state (one of whom is running for president) and only one of my state's congressional representives, but not mine, found enough ink in their pens to sign the letter.

And yes, this is about as political as this blog will ever get.

The Shape of Things to Come

This is pretty much how I felt after watching last week's episode of Lost.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

There's a meme I have to do that my friend, Sandra Ruttan tagged me for, but it requires more brain power than I can muster on a Monday morning.

So, maybe tomorrow.

Or the next day.

Rolling the dice with rice

The USDA assures me there is no rice shortage in the United States. This Sacramento paper parrots the same thing, but mentions that wild rice is in short supply because we're exporting a lot of it, which is kind of dumb to mention because wild rice isn't even rice it's a grain that grows on the banks of rivers and is pretty costly to harvest, which is why it usually turns up in mixes and not as a separate side dish on your plate.

Even CNN has been taken over by 'The Voice of Reason' Pods. They kept telling me there was no rice shortage.

Sorry, experts, this is starting to sound like the oft-repeated phrase 'The surge is working.'

Because if there's no rice shortage how come Sam's Club is rationing? They're only letting me buy 80 pounds in a trip. Presuming I could even lift 80 pounds of rice in my grocery cart, Sam's Club wouldn't sell me another 80 pounds of rice until I pay for the first 80 pounds, take it out to my car, load it into my trunk and return with an empty cart to buy another 80 pound bag. I don't know about you folks, but my Prius probably couldn't hold more than three or four of those. That means, in a week, the most I could stock pile would be like...(carry the three, placehold the four, divide by two, add in the cost of gas) 2200 pounds of rice.

That's not even a TON!

I think.

I admit it. I'm in panic mode. My favorite local Thai takeout even wants to charge me a buck if I want the used-to-be-free rice as a side with my order.

What are we supposed to do when our two thousand pounds of rice runs out? Eat potatoes?

I think it's time we let congress know, "Rice is Nice. And we want it at any price."

And for those of you who can still get free rice with your Asian takeout, don't toss it when it gets crusty and hard. Use it to make rice fritters, or rice crackers, or maybe even grind it up to make your own rice flour. Get creative.

Oh my...

How to handle Junior's questions reference the post-advance makeover.

Brought to you by Michael Salzhauer, M.D. of Bal Harbour (but of course...) and those fun loving folks at Big Tent Books.

Hmmm...any chance Dr. Salzhauer tosses the book in with the cost of a consult?

Put down beverages and thank Dana Bunion for this link.

Why everything is smooth sailing once you get the agent

As everybody knows, having an agent is beyond cool. You hand her your manuscript, make whatever spelling and punctuation changes she asks for, then go off on a European vacation while you wait for her to bring in the bucks.

And if you've got an agent as cool as mine you don't mind if she has a few other pesky requirements, like including a plot, having the thing make sense from beginning to end, and maintaining character names throughout. Because then you'll hand it back and you can go off on a European vacation while you wait for her to bring in the bucks.

But I've got an agent so incredibly and totally cool, so committed to quality and possessing so much foresight and faith in me that she assigned me my very own Godsend, a gal I say a rosary for every time I think of her, because she's been amazingly insightful in helping me make my last tweaks.

And as soon as those tweaks are done, I'll hand in the manuscript, then go off on a European vacation while I wait for my agent to bring in the bucks.

I'm also going to name a goldfish after her, and another after the Godsend. And I won't let the cat eat either of them.

The Silver Compass

Holly Kennedy did it again! The Silver Compass is available now. Holly's first two books were fun reads and I'm looking forward to sinking into a tub full of bubbles with Holly's new one. Thanks, Holly!

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day

CNN will have coverage all day featuring lots of Sanjay Gupta.

There's a wealth of information at the American Academy of Pediatrics website, also at the Autism Society of America's website.

Why should you care? Because Autism now affects about 1 in every 150 children in this country. Because chances are you know somebody whose child has autism. Because knowledge is power. Because it's time to put money and resources and great minds on the task of finding the cause and developing a cure.

And because it's good to watch Dr. Gupta.