Monthly Archives for August 2008

Bad Boy Bad Boy, Whatcha Gonna Do?

This was the scene in front of our house at about 1:30 this morning. I was answering email when I noticed that our neighbor’s motion sensor light was on (yes, Nikki, Leah, and Nancy – this was the activity in your driveway while you were asleep). There was a Wayland cop in front of our house, and another Wayland cop and a Framingham cop pulled up about 30 seconds later. They cuffed the two 20-somethings in a car parked in my neighbor’s driveway. The guy got arrested for DUI after refusing the breathalyzer and the girl wandered off, presumably to find a ride home. The car was picked up by a wrecker and the neighborhood is quiet and peaceful once again. I guess I can go to sleep now.

The perp didn’t do as well on his field sobriety test as this guy:

But he passed with flying colors compared to this guy who apparently had a crack problem too:

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They’re Going Back!!!

Today was Aliya’s first day of school (first grade), and parent orientation for Adlani’s Spanish immersion preschool class which starts Tuesday. Back-to-School time is even better this year than last because the kids will all be in the same schools/daycare as last year, so even though they’re transitioning back from summer at home we don’t have to deal with the uncertainty and anxiety of new schools and unfamiliar procedures. I am so PSYCHED to get back into a routine, and it was great to see all of the teachers again. Aliya obsessed about her first-day outfit (note the color-coordinated underwear and Hannah Montana socks) and had a hard time falling asleep, but she came home giddy with excitement. Adlani is insisting that he hates school because of naptime. Aliya told me this morning that I love back-to-school time because I want to get them out of the house and have peace. She’s a smart little bugger. I hope I can disguise my glee until after morning drop-off on Tuesday.

Here’s one of my favorite commercials of all time which captures the essence of back-to-school:

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Loved It!

I don’t know what made me pick up this book other than that it was on the “buy 2, get 1 free” table at Barnes and Noble. It was great! Here’s the review from Publishers Weekly:

Former academic Setterfield pays tribute in her debut to Brontë and du Maurier heroines: a plain girl gets wrapped up in a dark, haunted ruin of a house, which guards family secrets that are not hers and that she must discover at her peril. Margaret Lea, a London bookseller’s daughter, has written an obscure biography that suggests deep understanding of siblings. She is contacted by renowned aging author Vida Winter, who finally wishes to tell her own, long-hidden, life story. Margaret travels to Yorkshire, where she interviews the dying writer, walks the remains of her estate at Angelfield and tries to verify the old woman’s tale of a governess, a ghost and more than one abandoned baby. With the aid of colorful Aurelius Love, Margaret puzzles out generations of Angelfield: destructive Uncle Charlie; his elusive sister, Isabelle; their unhappy parents; Isabelle’s twin daughters, Adeline and Emmeline; and the children’s caretakers. Contending with ghosts and with a (mostly) scary bunch of living people, Setterfield’s sensible heroine is, like Jane Eyre, full of repressed feeling—and is unprepared for both heartache and romance. And like Jane, she’s a real reader and makes a terrific narrator. That’s where the comparisons end, but Setterfield, who lives in Yorkshire, offers graceful storytelling that has its own pleasures.
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Pageturner

My coworker Jeremy showed me this picture on Monday and I’ve been thinking about it all week. He took it while driving 65 on the highway (I won’t go into a lecture on taking photos while driving since there were extenuating circumstances). Now I’ll admit, I’ve tried to read directions while driving and I sometimes put on makeup at red lights, but Danielle Steel in Boston traffic?! Come on!

Surprisingly, one survey reported 26% of respondents had seen another driver reading while driving. How could you live with yourself if you caused an accident because you couldn’t put down your Danielle Steel novel long enough to drive home and pour yourself a glass of wine?

If my brother Brady is reading this he’ll add a comment about when I was in high school and I would make him steer the car while I applied my makeup on the way to school. I also used to slam on the brakes and scream just to see if I could get him to pee his pants. I only went in the ditch one time, but at some point I decided it was time to get serious to avoid killing or maiming anyone. At least until Aliya’s old enough to sit in the front and hold the wheel steady while I’m otherwise occupied.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/05/27/behind_the_wheel_on_the_phone_styling_hair/
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