Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

That’s how December’s going to be, folks–we’re just going to call it a win every time I post. Of course, it would ALSO be a win if all my kiddos could make it to school…my youngest developed a rash yesterday evening that bloomed SPECTACULARLY overnight, meaning I had to take her to the doctor’s before sending her to school (turns out it was an immune response to Augmentin with a scientific name) and my son STILL didn’t go to school today. He coughs and he coughs, but there’s nothing else really wrong with him. (Okay, lower appetite and higher tired levels, but that’s not necessarily shocking under the circumstances.) I told him he has to GO tomorrow and then if it’s bad he can call me, so we’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, today I worked on our Christmas card (by which I mean I found pictures and sent them to Britt to work on), made homemade tomato soup with the majority of what’s left of the garden tomatoes, sorted the dirty clothes and managed one load of laundry, played chauffeur, and didn’t get tacos for dinner. Last night, however, I finished listening to Linda Holmes’ Evvie Drake Starts Over, and if I review it tonight, I can put it in a “leaving my house” pile, and what’s not to love about that?

Anyway. Evvie Drake has a totally engaging premise–widow rents space to a major league pitcher with the ‘yips’ and their initial “don’t talk about the husband or baseball” agreement doesn’t stick–and parts of it were impressive. Evvie’s dead husband manages to be more than two dimensional–although not likable–and Dean’s baseball struggles gave me a glimpse into a world I know very little about. The number of f-words bothered me enough that I didn’t even consider keeping the ex-library copy I picked up for cheap, however, and while Holmes got Maine geographically right, she missed the feel of it–at least for me. To be fair, non-New Englanders who are less bothered by language probably won’t care, and Holmes is at her most impressive in her portrayal of Evvie’s marriage and subsequent widowhood, so it’s a worthwhile read if that describes you. If it doesn’t, however, I’d skip this one, although not without regret.