1. What kind of love and sex stuff would you like to read about in your favorite ladies’ magazine? I ask because I’ll be pitching my favorite ladies’ mag soon with some topics.

2. What should I do Valentine’s Day? The Spouse AND the Son will both be away, and I am pondering:

a. watching historical dramas and drinking wine by myself
b. going to the movies by myself
c. trying to find another similarly alone friend and hanging with them. Wine and historical dramas probably not optional.
d. crying myself to sleep

3. I can’t seem to get writing; what should I try to motivate myself?

4. Have you pre-ordered Carolyn Jewel’s Scandal yet?

5. Do you want to follow me on Twitter?: http://twitter.com/meganf

6. What book are you reading now?

7. What’s your favorite zany, albeit also serious, contemporary?

8. When will it stop being cold?

9. Is Wanted, with Angelina and James McAvoy, a good cheesy movie or too godawful even to laugh through?

10. What are you most excited about lately? Not necessarily any one topic, just . . . anything.

So I still can’t quite afford a haircut, and by now, my hair is so long I am considering just letting it grow, maybe trying a new, longer style. But right now, it looks ghastly.

I was pondering wearing a snood for that inbetween stage; you know, that medieval/Orthodox Jew/food service worker headgear that gathers your loose ends into one neat package.

What do you think?

We live in a nice, diverse neighborhood. And so my son’s class is equally diverse (not as diverse as when he had a classmate named Jihad, but anyway). So I am walking my son to school today, and he tells me that his friend–the son of a white Belgian man and a black Jamaican woman, both from their points of origin, not second generation or anything–doesn’t like another classmate to play with them because he’s a vegan (never mind, by the way, that this kid is a gluten-free vegan; I have no idea, besides rice, what he’s eating. He looks healthy, though).

Oy. I asked my son what he was going to do about it, because it was wrong, and he said he told his friend that it wasn’t fair to discriminate against someone. I pointed out that it was just as wrong if someone told his friend they didn’t want to know him because he was black.

We’ll see what happens with that one.

Angie at Nice Mommy Evil Editor brings up a topic that has crossed my mind as well: Do you comment on your comments?

 I try to, but I don’t always. I do always feel bad when I don’t, however.

I love it when people comment here, and it does bother me when I comment elsewhere, and the blog poster doesn’t reply back. Thanks to Angie for reminding me to be more consistent about it. What do you think? Go comment at Angie’s blog, if you’ve got a blog and thoughts about it.

So thanks for speaking up. It’s so nice to hear from you.

Has anyone ever noticed that we have not one, but TWO cartoon character birds as spokesanimals for kids’ breakfast cereal?

What’s up with that?

Of what I hate:

People who take the time and effort to make recommendation lists on Amazon, then say things like “really good,” “sexy novel,” or “Magical. I couldn’t put it down.”

How, exactly, Ms. List-Maker, do you think you’re actually adding to anybody’s life or reading list with those vague phrases? Incredibly unhelpful. I regret clicking through to your stupid list, never mind that some of you have the SAME DAMN AUTHOR listed many times over in the same list. If I wanted that kind of list, I would check out an author’s backlist.

Not helpful, I repeat; even Carla Kelly and Loretta Chase have written duds in their day.

Okay, so this might be the most inane one I’ve seen thus far: “As soon as I started this, I couldn’t stop till I was done.”

EKM tagged me:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

8 Random Things About Me:

1. When I was about nine, I went to Sunday School and asked the teacher if God was so good, why did He let Watergate happen?

2. I can pick things up with my toes.
3. I have flat feet.

4. I am recommended in The Complete Idiot’s Guide To The Ultimate Reading List (see below post).

5. I learned how to raise one eyebrow because Scarlett O’Hara did it so much in Gone With The Wind.

6. I hate the cotton balls in medicine bottles. Regular cotton balls don’t bother me.
7. I make perfect rice.
8. I’ve seen The Last Waltz over 50 times.

If you haven’t done this yet, and you are Tara Marie, Arlene, Abby, Jennie, Amanda, Colleen, Jenna, or Kristie, have at it!

So today I was walking down the street. A guy was coming from the other direction on the sidewalk. As he approached me, he said:

In MY eyes, you’re a beautiful woman.

I was startled, said ‘thank you,’ continued on my way. But of course then I thought, who said I wasn’t? I mean, the way he said ‘In MY eyes,’ it sounded like he was disagreeing with someone else. Although there was no-one else there. And of course I couldn’t necessarily trust his judgment; he was wearing a Mets shirt (sorry, Picky Vegetarian), unbuttoned to the waist, and those dorky man jean shorts.

But it was nice to hear anyway, even if there was an unseen mass of people insisting I was dog-ugly around the corner.

Megan