Okay, admittedly it's been 15 years since I've read those books, but from what I remember (and sadly the soup tureen is what sticks out the most in my mind because I hadn't the faintest what a tureen was. And I've still yet to hear anyone ever actually use the word outside of those books.), the Rilla book might as well have been in a different series. It was really unrelated to all the other books in almost every way. That said, it was probably my favorite, in a tie with Anne of the Island. I guess I like weird.

Also, no one likes Shirley. Every family has that guy.

Yeah, the Rilla book was really separate from the rest. And it was also one of my favorites. I also kind of loved how "Don't kiss anybody else until I get back from the war" counted as a marriage proposal. And knitting socks for the soldiers! When I first read that, I was disappointed that there wasn't anything tangible like that that a bunch of teenage girls could do anymore. They knit socks and tore sheets into bandages and sewed shirts and all kinds of things like that.

correct playoff stats

They were having a decent first half of the decade, then, in combo with basketball. I'm assuming their football and baseball sucked.

Ali, I'd go see it with you, if I could get a ride...

Hey, if I were a guy named Shirley, I'd have made myself scarce, too. Maybe he was hanging out with the unmentioned sailors and fishermen?

I woke up this morning with a super-stiff lower back. Sitting down and standing up are suddenly very, um, interesting and difficult maneuvers. But I can't think what the hell I did yesterday to set them off!

I woke up all stiff today, too. I finally realized it was due to Wii boxing, which I played on Sunday. WTF? How does it skip a day like that?

And the Wii totally kicked my ass, too.

Hey, if I were a guy named Shirley, I'd have made myself scarce, too.

I'm still confused by guys called Shir (which becomes more and more common).

The gender of the word (as a noun) in Hebrew is male, but mostly girls are called Shir (for it means poem, or song). And then came the 90's unisex plague of names, yay.

This isn't a good day. But Nilly and ice cream and books will hopefully make it better.

I just opened Anne's House of Dreams, and on the first page, she mentions that you can see the bay from Anne's window at Green Gables. I'm nearly positive that was never mentioned until then, and that's the fifth book.

IIRC, Shirley doesn't go off to war until the very end. Besides, Walter DIES!! Susan's little brown boy can eff off! POOR WALTER!

In checking, Shirley is at Redmond with Una right after Walter dies. I don't think he goes.

Hivemind question:

Has anyone ever used a service to find a missing person? Not missing in the 'I lost him' sense, but in the, 'it's been 15 years and I'd like to talk to him' sense.

I'm leary of just submitting a credit card number to an untested online deal.

Suggestions?

I've not - I've relied on Google, Facebook, and MySpace. However, US Search is pretty reliable. My BF used to be a manager and dept head at their facility in Santa Monica. Them I would trust.