My Life as a Novel

For as long as I've known that it's possible to adopt babies from China, I've thought that that's something I'd want to do. And if Kyle ever warms up to the idea, I'll have this little girl to thank.

Labels: Friends, The Hubby

I'm going to be a member of the Polyphonic Spree one day. No, not really, but it would be a lot of fun.

Which reminds me of a story. One time, we saw John Vanderslice play at the Map Room. His opening act was St. Vincent. It was fantastic. Her name is Annie Clark. She is awesome. She played along on a couple of songs during John's set. (This seems so personal. No, we're not on a first-name basis at this point, but Vanderslice is not an easy name to type, so ... John it is.)

Anyway. She was still on stage with bass guitar in hand during the song when he invited everyone up on stage to sing his last song with him. And the following non-monumental but funny conversation ensued.

Kyle (to friend, Andrew): Crazy! All these people! It's like the Polyphonic Spree.
Annie Clark (having overheard that comment): Oh, did you play with the Polyphonic Spree?
Kyle: Ha! No.
Annie: Oh. I did.

And then we were later watching this movie and saw her on there. Which struck us as odd, since she'd downplayed the connection, like "Yeh, once back in the day ... "

Labels: Music

My husband hates the local news. HATES it. When we watch anything on Fox, if it goes off at 10, he jumps up and turns the TV off before he has a chance to hear anything that might make him upset -- aggravated, mad, nervous, scared. Any of the emotions that a 30 minute segment of the local news tends to bring up.

Well tonight, he fell asleep during the American Idol finale, and I left the TV on as I came into the kitchen to get on twitter and say something like "Whoo hoo! Yay, David Cook! I'd have voted for you if I could've gotten through the busy phone lines last night!" in 140 characters or less.

So I vaguely overheard as they spoke of a body found up the street from my house. And in the back of my head, I kind of remember overhearing the name Burbage and registered sex offender and such.

And then my phone rang. It was my mom. "Are you watching the news? I recognize the man whose picture they were showing just now. I think he's been in your office before."

So I googled the information she was able to give me. And though I try not to get worked-up over potentially dramatic things like this, this is creepy.

This guy - a registered sex offender turned murderer (MURDERER!) - was in my office last week. And that, my friends, will keep me up tonight. I really feel like I might be sick.

Labels: flowers, home, photo

Do yourself a favor and go to this website and listen to the first song in the player on the right. Do it now. Thank me later.

Labels: Friends, Music

Typically I reserve "Recommended Reading" for books and not for blogs. (Much the same as I would reserve "films" for actual films and not movies. Similar concept.)

But Andrew's post today is kinda like a book.
Sermony is the word he used, I believe.

I completely identified with this part:

Anymore, if I pray it is because I seek to strongarm God into conforming to my will. If I study Scripture, it is to prove my interpretation is correct. If I eat, it is in my car, on the run, as a necessity, not a holy act, not as thanksgiving and communion; eating has become equivalent to urinating or defecating — something I merely must do to satiate an urge and keep from dying. I’m just too busy to prepare a meal and enjoy it with God or with friends. I’m just too busy to be still and know God. I’m just too busy…

The entire post is definitely a worthwhile read. And I may heed his Recommended Reading (an actual book) once again -- even though the last book he recommended ended up being used for toilet paper during a near-crisis at the Polk house.

Just kidding. (Or am I?) (Of course I am.)

(Part 1)

Another hate of mine? Misuse of the word "film" in discussing movies.

When you are a pretentious person, as my husband and I are prone to be, you often find yourself in the company of other pretentious people. And some of these people like to make themselves sound smart by using "cool" versions of words to describe things they're discussing.

Case in point: Using the word "film" in place of the word "movie".

Now, I can appreciate this tendency. I frequently use words to illustrate ideas and the only reason I chose that word is simply to make myself look smarter. (However, I always struggle with the word "aversion". Would someone please use that word in a sentence successfully so that I can do so in the future without having to pause, mid-sentence to figure out how to complete my thought?)

The only problem with the word "film" is this:
In the American sense of the words, there is a big difference between a film and a movie.

For instance, when discussing Drillbit Taylor, one would certainly not use the word "film". However, when discussing The Darjeeling Limited, feel free.

Actually, let's discuss that one now. I love it.



And I feel I should post script this thought with this.
I have never heard the word "tender" more in my life than I do these days. And it's typically followed by, "Ha! Remember how you hate that word?!" Indeed I do remember. But, even if you use the word tender -- even if your heart is in the wrong place and you are doing it only out of spite -- and even if you use the word "film" in your discussion of Napolean Dynamite ... we can still be friends.

Labels: Good for a laugh, Things I Hate

Since we last blogged, we have begun a new series called Comebacks. This week, through discussing the life of Jacob, we talked about coming back from family dysfunction. I've got to admit that this week's "Comeback" was less dramatic than the one from the week before. In preparing to lead small group discussion, I really struggled with how to connect with this one. I mean, the week before a 90 year old lady had a baby. That's ... wow, that's really something! That's a MIRACLE! (more ... )

I don't think a person could love flowers more than me. It's an inherited trait - one that I got from my mom's transferred DNA. Other, more practical ladies are overheard saying, "Don't buy me flowers. They're just going to die!" I assure you, you will never hear that statement come out of my mouth. I LOVE getting flowers. (And I'm going to continue typing this paragraph until my husband gets the message. Just kidding!)

And since this is a characteristic of my mom that we've all grown up knowing, Mendy and Derek decided a nice Mother's Day gift would be some pretty flowers. So they ordered them online.

Surprise! Mendy had surgery and Momma went down to tend to her for a while and Momma's flowers were delivered to our office while she was in Georgia with Mendy. Oops! So I got in touch with Mendy to tell her, "Hey! Thanks for the nice flowers."

To make a potentially long story short, she'd called to delay the delivery and apparently the florist didn't get the message. So they re-did the arrangement and delivered some new ones on Friday. And when Momma got home, she told me I could keep the old ones -- those that were still alive.

Lilies are my favorite. (Though, for the benefit of my husband, I also like tulips and irises, and sunflowers are my super-favorite!) So, thanks again, Mendy! :) Happy Mother's Day to you too!

Labels: flowers, photo

Labels: Christianity, Good for a laugh

Are Americans the only ones who celebrate Cinco de Mayo? And do we only call it Cinco de Mayo to make it seem like an authentic Mexican holiday? Is it really just an excuse to eat tacos and drink margaritas and Coronas? Probably.

That's what we did that at my house! Kenny brought the limes and a few Coronas. Kyle mixed up his famous margaritas. Maegen, Suzanne, and I prepared a taco/burrito feast - complete with some really sketchy-looking cheese that still managed to be edible and almost completely gone! And Clay brought the dessert -- which we ate after he left! (It was delicious, man! Thanks!)

Friday was a great day off. Kyle had the day off too and we spent the afternoon propped up by the pool at our friend Katherine's apartment. Slathered with SPF15, I managed to delay the inevitable First Burn of the Season. But only for 24 hours.

Working in the yard on Saturday morning turned into an all-day chore. (The weeds!! Where do they come from!? Do they ever stop?!) Stooped over for four hours in a tank top gave me quite a burn on my back. And it also left an interesting burn-pattern on my legs:

Labels: home

This week in the life of Rita Polk has been a bit chaotic. I am a person who loves to at least think she's in control of her stuff. The family calendar stays current. The house is never _too_ messy. The A/C filters are changed and the dogs are given their medicine on the same day each month so that I remember to do them both. (There's a term for that: Anal Retentive. And yes, I am. Thank you very much.)

This week, Andrew moved out and our two new roommates moved in. (Did I say "Chaos"?) To their credit, they each kinda did their own thing with little help from us. So, in that sense, it hasn't been a bad transition for any one. But my house? Oy, it has definitely seen better days. For some reason I felt like, with all this other stuff going on, this week would be the perfect time to start a "sort and purge" maneuver on my entire house.

All said and done, I have taken four large bags of clothes to Goodwill, and I dropped off a broken laundry sorter and a small bag of stuff at the recycling place on Monday afternoon. Big steps in returning my house to "order". But there are several big steps left! (Like a bookshelf. I need one of those badly. But where to put it? Ah! I don' t know!)

But the point of this post is this:

1. New Roommates! Yay!
2. My house is going to be clean soon! And, like I always say, it'll stay that way this time!
   

Labels: home, Roommate