Cerebral Venus Book Club
Folks are asking about the book club and how we will proceed discussing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on August 6th. This is how it will play out - I will put a post out there saying "hey, let's discuss" - the post will sit there for a few days as the only post and I won't post anything else for awhile. I am not doing any questions this time around since even questions can contain spoilers. The post will contain absolutely NO information about the book whatsoever. However, the comments for that post will be laden with spoilers and I will include appropriate warnings in that post. I ask that spoilers only be in the comments in THAT particular post regarding the book club - please don't comment on the book in any other post except the book club post. Sound kosher?? Anyone have any concerns?? Also, if you know of any other sites discussing the book - feel free to mention them here!
Me, Me, ME
Today was my first morning flying solo - X had an early morning meeting and was gone by 7am. It was as bad as expected since the kids woke up within 5 minutes of each other. Fortunately, the solution was simple. I cradled Anju in my right arm while she nursed and then carried Arun in my left. Things could be worse, right? So, it was a bit stressful, but I am ready to get back into our usual routine. X is up to his ears in work and I think it would be best for everyone involved if he can start leaving in the morning to work for awhile before coming back for lunch.
I am very tired of being holed up in the house like its the Alamo. We've gone on a few outings, but Anju and I usually stay in the car. I am trying to use this time at home to get things done so that once I am 100%, we can start running around again. God, I miss the park. I didn't realize how dependent I was on it. Not just for Arun, but for ME - I miss being outside. Anyway, yesterday in a flurry, I got caught up on my paperwork - I paid bills, submitted the paperwork to add Anjali to our insurance, addressed birth announcements, and wrote thank you cards. It was a relief to get that out of the way and now I can sit and just enjoy the kids.
Speaking of thank you cards - is it just me or are they becoming a lost art? Not to point fingers, but it seems to run rampant in the aged 25 and under crowd. You send a gift and never hear a WORD. Like, Hello?? Did you get my card carefully packed with a check? I hope so, because SOMEONE cashed it. I hope it was you. Hello? Anyone out there? One thing I will teach my kids is that you always, always send a thank you card. As a kid, I spent a good chunk of January sweating over writing thank you cards for Christmas gifts. I don't remember if my parents started me out on that, but by the time I was about 9, I was on my own and I felt a self-imposed heat to get them out. Why? Because it was the POLITE thing to do - my relatives took the time to pack me a gift and schlep it to the post office - the least I could do was ACKNOWLEDGE it, right? Good grief. I was only NINE years old and already knew that. What's wrong with people these days?
I think I may turn off the Internet this weekend. If the Harry Potter book gets spoiled for me, I may have to kill someone. And it might be difficult to breastfeed my kid from prison, eh?
11 comments:
Thank you! Yes, I so agree re: thank you notes!! I always send them out anytime a gift is given (exception being Christmas gifts that are exchanged in person where I vocally thank them over and over). I have yet to receive thank you notes from people for wedding and baby presents! Look, I know they're busy but come on. Other times I get a thank you like, 6 months later with the excuse being they were busy. Well maybe next time I'll just be busy when you expect a gift, so obvious from the invitation to your shower, and I'll send it to you 6 months later. GAH!
I'm excited about reading HP but at the same time I have no idea where I'm going to find the time to do it. And I'm terrified of turning on the television or internet without finishing it first. Because if there's one pet peeve I have, it's other people spoiling the end of books and movies before you get a chance to read/see them.
AMEN someone has said their peace about thank you notes. I am starting to refuse to give people gifts if I don't get a thank you from them any more. Once I can understand, but repeating it... NO WAY!
I think thank you notes have sort of disappeared thanks to email. I admit that I am totally guilty of this... I do the thank you email much more often than an actual thank you note or card. I really should do the physical card more often because everyone likes snail mail and it is so rare these days... I know I love getting actual physical thank you cards in the mail, just because they aren't bills. (Although I usually only get them for weddings and showers these days.)
As far as in-person gifts, I'm more of the position that an in-person thank you is sufficient for an in-person gift, unless it is some special occasion (weddings, showers, graduation, etc.). Except when I was little, I did do thank you notes to my friends for coming to my birthday party and bringing presents. But Christmas or getting together with family for birthdays... I don't really expect or give thank you cards for those situations.
Stephanie,
I generally don't send thank you cards for birthday and christmas gifts that I've received in person. When I was little, I did receive a lot of gifts from relatives via mail or ones that were dropped off at my grandma's beforehand, so I didn't necessarily see all my relatives on the actual day (I have a ton of great aunts and uncles, etc.) I'm not that fanatical, I promise. :-)
Umm, this about the time that I have to tell you that I have been so caught up in the tide of everything that has happened since April (include scary stalking) that I haven't even LOOKED at my PO Box. SHITE.
I forget that some people don't see all their relatives on Christmas. My parents grew up around the corner from each other and most of the family stayed in the area (and those who didn't usually travel back), so I see EVERYONE on one day. Our house, then my dad's family, then my mom's family. And everyone gets everyone presents (which I could do without, both from a room in my apartment standpoint and a lack of funds standpoint) so that would be a TON of thank you cards. My grandmother still does them to everyone though, but she sends handwritten notes and letters to practically everyone she's ever met on a fairly regular basis.
Okay, here's the Anti-Thank-You_Note opinion. I don't like getting Thank You cards. I never know what to do with them. Do you keep them? How long? I always feel awful throwing them away.
And let's be truthful, they pretty much say the same thing. "Thanks ever so much for the (insert name of cool gift here). I will use it all the time until it wears out. Thanks!"
I'd much rather have someone send me a simple email (which saves a tree and I can delete without remorse) or just tell me "Thank you" next time you talk to me.
I've been sick, and pretty much out of the loop, so this comment goes for the last few posts I just caught up on -- OH. MY. GAWD. Is she gorgeous or WHAT? And how big does Arun look next to baby sister? Cagey, she is absolutely beautiful!
Next. I am having to avoid all the news outlets -- I accidentally read the NYT book review thinking it was just another article on Harry Potter. If someone spoils it for me, I'm going to put a charm on 'em that gives them boils.
Saw the movie. That's all I'm gonna tell you until you see it and are ready to discuss.
In my family we did Thank You phone calls instead of Thank You cards so I was always sure to thank a person...in person...or call them up and talk to them, thanking them for the gift.
Well, I learned the hard way that isn't good enough as even though I thanked Richard's Aunt profusely for her gifts to Alex for his baby shower, I guess I was supposed to send a Thank You Card. My baby shower was a couple weeks before his birth (right after we moved) and I heard the complaints within days of Alex's birth.
Now I have so many Thank You cards in different types, colors and occasions and I have to say, I think they are so much less personal than a call. But, I think it all depends upon how you grew up and what was important to your family. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
My Mom's sister is huge about Thank You Cards, she sent me one when she came to visit in Dallas for a few days. I thought it was so formal, it made me a little uncomfortable that she thought she had to send a Thank You card for coming to my home.
I have to second Goofy Girl. A part of every gift I try to give is a thank-you card waiver. I don't like writing them - like your Januarys, my Augusts were spent sweating the thank-yous for the 4-H fair (yes, I wrote personal thank-yous to every person who purchased a pig or calf from me). I HATED it. And I don't know what to do with the thank-yous I receive. It seems wrong to just chuck handwritten messages, but I have no idea where they'd be kept either.
I am SO looking forward to Harry too. You don't know the disappointment when I saw an Amazon box on my doorstep yesterday and thought they had screwed up and sent it early, only to find out the hubby had ordered something else. D'oh!
Been thinking of you alot the last few weeks. YOU HAD THE BABY. YEAY. Am off to check your previous posts and catch up.
Congrats!
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