Here we go…answers posted in the comments section later today.

1. You’re like the sun chasing all
of the rain away
2. Everyone you meet, they’re
jamming in the streets
3. I’m not internationally known,
but I’m known to rock microphone
4. Every time I see you falling,
I get down on my knees and pray
5. We’ll take your car, yes we will, we’ll take your car and drive it
6. I said to my reflection “Let’s get out of this place”
7. Easy ready willing overtime
8. The five years we have had have been such good times
9. Didn’t know how lost I was until I found you
10. People of the world today are we looking for a better way of life
11. You in that dress my thoughts I confess verge on dirty
12. I’m about to lose control and I think I like it
13. Write it on a pound note, pound note
14. We are strong, no one can tell us we’re wrong
15. Out on the road today, I saw a deadhead sticker on a Cadillac

you call up your mechanic, give him your name, he immediately recognizes you and says, “Which car is it?”

Argh.

Out and about in town with my three kids, enjoying a Dairy Queen treat after a trip to the library…and our 1997 Caravan dies. Just kind of sighs into nothingness. The radio’s still on, so’s the air conditioner and the power locks and windows work, but the accelerator, brakes, power steering don’t. I try and try and try to start it again; no dice.

We get it towed to our favorite mechanic (we have three cars; two are older and the third one we just made the last payment on today!) and my Music Man went to try to start it, and it starts. No problem.

I’m not surprised. I expected it, ’cause the exact same thing happened exactly a year ago. We got it towed, the car dealer went to look at it, and it was fine.

Unbelievable.

I kept my theme of “comfort” and considered the kind of music I tend to gravitate toward during certain moods or tasks…and included a lovely piece of eye candy just for fun.

And just to prove that I’m slowly coming out from under the rock that I live beneath, I’ll post this pic of the delicious Gerry Butler in Dracula 2000, which I just watched last night. (Unbelievable that I, a vampire author and Gerry fan had no idea this movie existed until last week.)

Thanks Heather. I’m still fanning myself!

I love big purses. I’ve been carrying one the size of a billboard since becoming a mother, and even now that all of my children have been past the diaper/ bottle/bib/ change-of-clothes stage for years, I still haven’t given it up.

The bigger the better.

However, as Stephanie Plum will no doubt agree, a big purse can be hazardous to one’s lifestyle. I may not be fumbling for a gun in the bottom of my purse, but that elusive quarter, lipstick, pen, safety pin, stick of gum, dollar bill, checkbook, cell phone, book weight, ring of keys…you get the picture…can really corrupt the smoothness of my day.

So I recently cleaned out my purse. I’m not going to bore you with the items I found in there, but suffice to say, they were plentiful…and most of it useless, outdated, crumpled, or unrecognizable.

(Especially those receipts they print on the shiny paper nowadays; the ones where the ink wears off or fades after a month or two…I wonder how the IRS views these kinds of receipts–they become fairly worthless after awhile, so is that a good thing or a bad thing for someone trying to find as many writeoffs as possible?)

But I digress.

Anyway, I had recently read somewhere that Hilary Clinton uses these little mesh pouches to organize the contents of her purse, instead of a wallet. One for credit cards, one for cash, one for ID, etc. They’re color-coded, thus making each item easy to find, and I thought, in the spirit of trying to become less of a fumble-around-at-the-cash-register kind of gal and more of a quick- draw-speedy-checkout-customer that the people in line behind me appreciate that I’d give it a try.

So today, I got the four I had ordered, duly organized my stuff, and realized I need about three more little mesh bags…but that’ll come later. I’m going to give it a try and see how it goes.

When’s the last time you cleaned out your purse? What did you find? And if you have any organization tips for the big-baggers like me, will ya share?

So I have an entire box of (free) books that just arrived from National, a looming deadline, and three children underfoot because our babysitter quit (that’s the topic of another post), plus a week’s vacation planned in a week where I won’t get any work done…and last night I picked up Trojan Gold, by Elizabeth Peters–a book I’ve read at least ten times.

I blame Rosario for this. We got to talking about the Vicky Bliss series, by Elizabeth Peters, which is my ultimate, all-time favorite group of books (four; five if you count the first one, which isn’t nearly as fun as the ones with Vicky and John Smythe, and six if you count John’s cameo appearance in yet another Peters book).

Rosario mentioned that she was rereading the series (which officially begins with Borrower of the Night, but it’s not one of my favorites, even though it gives some good backstory), as she often does, and I jumped on that bandwagon, ’cause I do too.

And I started thinking about it, and why–I’ve read these books, particularly the last two, countless times; there are no surprises!–and I realized that they’re my Comfort Reads. I know what I’m going to get, I know how they’re going to make me feel, and I love the characters.

It’s like chicken soup, meatloaf, apple pie, chocolate, fried chicken, pot roast. Comfort food. Comfort reads.
So what’s up with these books that I keep coming back to?

Vicky Bliss is like a chick-lit detective before there was chick-lit. The books are written in her wry, witty first person voice, and she is a gorgeous blond Minnesotan (who self-deprecatingly talks about how she looms over most men due to her Scandinavian genes) with a doctorate in Art History, who lives and works in Germany.

She gets involved in adventures in Rome (Street of the Five Moons), Denmark (Silhouette in Scarlet), Bavaria (Trojan Gold), and Egypt (Night Train to Memphis). She’s got men attracted to her like crazy, especially in Trojan Gold and Night Train, but her heart belongs to an antiquities thief!

These are mysteries with an over arching love story, and while they aren’t romances, as Rosario says, the declaration of love in Trojan Gold is one of the best ever. And Night Train, the last (so far) in the series, is one of the most romantic stories I’ve ever read, even though it’s not a romance.

Peters downplays the love story, keeps it so subtle, covered under wit and disguised by action and mystery, with extremely literate writing, that when it actually bubbles to the surface, it’s so much more effective than many romances that are pure love stories.

Sigh. I just have to revisit Vicky and her friends. And if you’re looking for a good read, try the books. I’ve listed them in order above.

And so now that I’ve babbled on yet again about these books, tell me…what are your comfort reads, and why?