I’m so proud you’d think I’d made a movie. Monica’s movie, Sisters, which is unbelievably fabulous, and get this, it’s going to be shown at the American Black Film Festival in Miami in June. To quote Joe Biden, this is a BFD. Monica has been incredibly supportive of pretty much everyone including me, and she’s so talented. Even more importantly, she’s making the kind of movies we’ve all been dying for. We’ve got to get behind her and make sure she succeeds. Here’s the teaser, pass it along.
Category: Stuff I Like
Thursday I did something really stupid with my ATM card and of course USAA locked me out. I dreaded calling them figuring I’d wind up talking to someone with bad English and they’d put me through some procedure that made no sense. At the very least I expected to have to wait for a new card. Instead I actually had PLEASANT customer service representative, who was actually AMERICAN. After verifying my information she reset my card, no muss, no fuss. Yay USAA!!!
I got a great deal on some sandals for the Luke at Zappos. Unfortunately, I ordered them too small. He just took a growth spurt and now wears a size TWO. Anyway, I called them up and again got an AMERICAN who was unbelievably pleasant. Yes, pleasant. Within minutes she did the exchange, emailed me a label to return the shoes and took my order for another pair. Good customer service isn’t dead y’all. Seriously I’m almost misty eyed.
These may be the most comfortable sandals I’ve ever owned. I don’t think I’ll ever take them off. It’s official. Merrell: The official shoe brand of Roslyn Hardy Holcomb.
You’ve been my imaginary boyfriend for a minute now. We have too few true journalists left and no real war correspondents since CNN has apparently buried Michael Ware somewhere in downtown Atlanta. I just finished reading WAR and can’t wait to see Restrepo. This book horrified me on a level that I haven’t been horrified in a long time. I don’t even know where to begin. As you know I’ve read all your articles in Vanity Fair but they don’t even come close to this. We need these stories, we need to have an understanding of what these young people are going through. We have a generation that’s been fighting wars now for nearly a decade, it’s incumbent upon us to understand their angst and their pain, at least on a visceral level.
Having said all that I’m gonna need you to stop going places where there’s a strong likelihood of you getting blown to kingdom come. Thank you.
I knew this book was going to make me cry going into it, but since Lisa and I are writing a series that takes place in approximately the same area and time period it was crucial that I read. Interestingly enough, I didn’t lose it over the beatings and rapes, brutal as those were. I lost it when the mistress started taking Lizzie’s children to bed with her (not in a sexual way). I thought about the intimacy of that, and how close I feel to my baby boy on those mornings when he climbs into bed with us. The thought of someone being able to take my son away and me not being able to do anything about it, dear God. Of course I’ve read the slave narratives. I know these things and worse things happened, but it’s one thing to read about it in the context of slavery as a whole and a totally different thing to see it through the eyes of a mother.
Both these books will break your heart, but in different ways. I will probably read both numerous times, but right now I’m too heart sore. I need to pick up the latest SEP to give me some comic relief.
As y’all know I’ve been on a quest for a coffee table now for about five years, or at least as long as the Luke’s been walking. We got rid of our old table when he began “cruising” because it was too lightweight and he would end up falling. We have a very large den (12′ x 20′) and needed a fairly good-sized table. Look what I found on Craig’s List for $150!!! That top is slate, and unfortunately it’s still in the back of my van because it’s too heavy for Whit and I to lift. He’s going to get a neighbor to help tonight. But isn’t it gorgeous?
I do love thrifting and buying from consignment stores. I love to find stuff that you don’t see everywhere and of course, I’m always trying to do it on the cheap.
Got an email invite for a consignment store bus tour. It’s only $35 and includes lunch. Whit says I should go. I wish my BFF Marilyn were here. She’s usually my running buddy for thrifting, but I left all my friends behind in Huntsville. It’s a lot harder to make friends here because I’m a SAHM and don’t get out much. I’ll probably go I might meet some fellow thrifting addicts.
Got this great book from Paperback Swap on making window treatments.
It came out nearly 20 years ago, so the pictures are very dated, but the techniques are stellar. The instructions are dead-on. I had it years ago and lost it in one of my moves. It has very good directions for making every type of window treatment on earth. I plan to make a roman shade for our master bath, and linen pinch-pleated draperies for our bedroom.
I can’t decide between the blue and the green, so I might wind up doing both. I plan to make a wing-back headboard, but I haven’t found a print fabric I adore yet. Well, actually I have, but it’s $15 a yard. I need something less than $10 a yard, so I’m still looking. I’ve got to really love this because I need EIGHT 96″ long panels. That’s a helluva lot of sewing, but when I priced linen pinched pleats ready-made they were more than $200 PER PANEL. Pinched-pleats are so elegant, but when you make them out of softened linen it takes on a more casual feel. Of course, linen costs the earth, but I found a fabulous discount linen place, and most of the fabric is less than $7 a yard! SCORE!!!
Blue cheese dressing is one of my favorite things in the world. For me it ranks right up there with swiss buttercream and pecorino romano cheese, but it’s not quite calamari. (Not too shabby, my husband isn’t even calamari). Anyway, I haven’t had blue cheese dressing in about a decade because it’s so bloody fattening. Don’t even talk to me about lowfat blue cheese–I don’t eat fake food, I’d rather go without. Then the other day I saw it, Bolthouse Farms Yogurt Blue Cheese dressing. By replacing the mayo with yogurt, they kept all the flavor and lost the fat. Y’all this stuff is absolutely, indescribably delicious. I had it with shrimp cocktail this weekend and it absolutely blew my mind. Can’t wait to hit my baked buffalo wings with it.
And check out the nutritional information: 4.5 grams of fat and 50 calories, and that’s in TWO tablespoons. I never eat more than one tablespoon. Yay me.
I saw this on QVC last night. Cool thing is, it’s on Easy Pay so if you’re watching the budge (and who isn’t these days) it might make it a bit more affordable. I still plan to get an iPad, but this is pretty tempting.
Sony E-Reader Pocket Edition w/ Sony Case & AC Adapter – QVC.com.
My second angel baby was a stillbirth at 5 months. I don’t have anything from my other two losses, but a very kind nurse managed to get hand and footprints from the daughter I lost in December 2006. I treasure those prints and am terrified I will lose them. It’s my only proof that my baby ever existed and for a long time I thought about getting them tattooed on me. Then I saw the jewelry at this site. I think it’s beautiful and plan to get this necklace of her hand and footprints. It’s not that I think I’ll forget. My mama lost four and she told me that you never forget, but I want something that commemorates her.
I just realized when I read Monnie’s post about her shoulders bothering her that I never told you guys about this. These foam rollers will change your life. You know how your back gets when you’ve been sitting at the computer all day? All tight and sometimes mine hurts so badly it gives me a headache. Whit and I both have bad backs and our physical therapist taught us how to use these. You wouldn’t believe how much relief rolling on one of these will give you. Roll on it vertically and horizontally a few times and you will wonder how you lived without it. I think I’ve seen it at Target. We got ours from our physical therapist. Truly a life altering device.
OMFG! This stuff is so full of the awesome I don’t even know where to begin. Here’s the thing, if you’ve been following this blog for a minute you know I have PCOS and as a soon-to-be forty-six year old woman I’ve also been dealing with perimenopause. Periods that last for weeks, crazy heavy flow and then nothing for months at a time. Not to mention anti-Christ PMS and homicidal tendencies. I read Dr. John Lee’s book aeons ago and his theories that much of our gynecological distress (including fibroids) is caused by estrogen dominance which can be counteracted by the use of natural progesterone cream. At that time I was trying to get pregnant after fibroid surgery and frankly was dealing with my uterus and so many drugs I just couldn’t waste time experimenting with this. (I’ve found from experience that natural remedies often take longer than the artificial drugs and I was literally trying to beat the clock.) Now I’m done with babymaking, and frankly so miserable from this hormonal crap I gave it a shot.
Can I say OMFG, again? Okay, I started using it two months ago. The first time I screwed up and started using it too soon–Day 8 of my cycle instead of Day 14. If you use it too soon in your cycle it will prevent ovulation altogether, which is what happened to me. This time I started on Day 14 and it worked like a charm. No crazy mood swings and depression, and best of all no sugar/salt cravings. I’ll have you know I baked cupcakes for Easter, 24 of them to be exact and I’ve rationed myself one per day. I’ve had no trouble sticking with that. This house is filled to the brim with candy from TWO Easter baskets (Yeah, I have to make one for Whit, don’t ask), and I haven’t had one piece. And did I mention it’s Midol week? Normally I would’ve eaten a dozen cupcakes and a couple pounds of jelly beans by now. And I’m not depriving myself, I don’t want it. As Luke would say: Inconceivable!
Bottom line is, ladies, if you’re dealing with these issues, you’ve got to try this stuff out. I use this brand because it’s one of the ones Dr. Lee recommends in his book, but you might be able to find it locally. I use Vitacost because shopping in Atlanta is hell on Earth and it’s much easier to just order online. S&H is only $4.99 no matter how much stuff you get, so I usually put together a big order. I also like the single-dose packs so I know I’m getting the right amount. It’s easy to use: Each night before bed, smooth it on the parts of your body that don’t get sun, inner thighs, stomach or breasts. Alternate body parts, and don’t put any cream or lotion on the area before you apply. You start on Day 14 of your cycle (Day 1 is the first day of your period), and stop using it when your period starts again. On the package directions it tells you to use it twice a day, but Dr. Lee says once a day is fine. The only side-effect I’ve found is that it makes me sleepy, which, for an insomniac like me is so not a bad thing.
