That is a sweet gift, Allyson.

I have done jack shit this weekend. OK, maybe groceries and laundry, but....and I haven't seen the sun in 3 days.

Unusual cross-cultural music heard within an hour: That "We will rock you" song popular in stadiums. Done with bagpipes. Then, "Rock the Casbah." In Arabic. Made me blink, then laugh.

Had dreams of kidnapping human children from penguin parents (who were very angry about it) with characters from various tv shows. We settled in rural Alabama and then some of the children turned into penguins and fish was hard to find. I REALLY wonder what radio news stories were on while I was sleeping through my alarm. And Jazz After Hours on sunday morning is really really really making me hate jazz.

I think I need more excitement.

If it's taxes, Erika, the IRS will let you pay them off on a monthly basis. Still sucks, but less painful. The year of my divorce (due to inventive accounting by my ex) I got socked with a $7,000 tax bill and this is when I was making $22,000 a year. They let me pay it off over two years.

Happy Easter, everyone! I made very buttery serbian Kolach bread, which is (so far as I can tell) basically challah. It's braided and then coiled before baking, and turned out very pretty. Hopefully it tastes even better than it looks.

I need to clean my house.

t hugs to you, Erika. I hope things manage to work themselves out somehow.

Rio, I'm going to be in the minority and say I would prefer a simple "No gifts, please" or "Your presence is our present" at the bottom of the invitation to the list. The list feels bossy and overlong to me -- if people ask, then you can say, "If you have to do something, we'd love for you to donate to XYZ charity in our name." But you (obviously) know your friends and family better than I do.

Happy Easter, all.

Hurrah for bestselling Hecubus!

Hurrah for bestselling Hecubus!

I know! Maybe I'll make some money. God knows I could use some.

Batter was fine. Needless worrying. Brunch was delicious and MiL appreciative. She and JZ have toddled off (in the rain) to poke around in Mission antique stores and bookstores. (MiL is a bookstore manager, so that's a busman's holiday for her.)

I'm stuffed with tasty food and feeling very mellow drinking the last of the mimosa and listening to Miles Davis on a rainy afternoon.

I cut out the cloth for my quilt binding and I cut out my pirate vest out of the red-and-gold quilted brocade.

This vest will rock. Mightily.

I'm reasonably impatient with the idea of "no gifts" making someone uncomfortable. Unsympathetic. Buy something and give it to someone else. Make the scenario up in your head. But don't force us to handle your crap when the day is supposed to about us, and what we want.

Yay, Hec! I am glad the book is doing well. I'm also happy to hear that Emmett is doing better.

See, I'm sympathetic, because "no gifts" would make me uncomfortable. I wouldn't be mortally offended by seeing it [ok maybe aesthetically offended], but there is no way I would not give some sort of wedding present no matter what the marrying people tell me.