As an avid fan of just about all things zombie, this is a gem of a book. The story of Andy, a new zombie, working through plenty of emotional turmoil (the loss of his wife to death, the loss of his daughter to circumstance, the gain of his parents as legal guardians again and a new found way of life - or unlife, rather) and how he expresses himself through the process of rediscovering himself was a joy to read.

The exploration of the zombie’s perspective was original, humorous, and intelligent, just the way I like my books - be they classics or pulp. Throughout the novel, I felt as though I was connected with Andy and could appreciate his take on the situations. The voice was fresh, even if the descriptions were of rotting flesh.

High praise goes to this debut novel. This is an author I will search out in the future.

One mother’s take on a weary look at motherhood.

Not every garden is a bed of roses, and motherhood is filled with thorns and weeds, most definitely.

Thank you, Julie, for focusing on the beauty of motherhood.

All of us, though, need to remember that those women who can’t (either economically or mentally) be the type of mother you are, are NOT less of a mother. Each of us has to make our own way, meeting the needs of ourselves and our children.

Bravo to you who are stay at homes and have the sanity for it. Bravo to those of you work full time and still make home-cooked meals seven days of the week. And Bravo to us who ask the child, “Please, be okay with Mickey D’s tonight. I don’t have the energy even for Bisquick pancakes.”

If we love the children, and can see highlights from them in our lives, we are mothers to be cherished.

Gabriel is in the middle of an explosion of communication. He’s picking up on words, learning many of their meanings, and parroting almost everything. He understands everything we tell him, though when he’s being difficult he pretends not to.

Today was Gabe’s first joke.

Hayden is a big fan of knock knock jokes, though his form still requires some refinement. Generally his punchline consists of a series of nonsensical words, something about a bathroom and him literally punching himself in the face.

After several of Hayden’s knock knock jokes Gabe decided to chime in:

Gabe: Knock knock!
Me: Who’s there?
Gabe: Moo!

/scene

(google interrupting cow if you don’t think this is funny)

Click for Slideshow

My day was long and hard yesterday, but I did smile a few times, furrow my brow a couple, and then smile some more.

Smile: Met with a head-hunter/temp agent who is helping me to hire a new assistant. Her comment to me, after discussing what my place of employment does: “What a perfect fit for you! You exude naturalism!”

Furrow: throughout the day, as I reconsidered this compliment… wondering if it wasn’t a polite way to simply say I seemed to be less than concerned about my physical appearance. (Which might be true, but still doesn’t seem like something to be said to a near stranger.)

Furrow: I am eating at my desk, because, well, I have a lot to do, and little cash. I am HOLDING my salad, and people keep walking in, talking about nothing, mid-conversation, saying things to the effect of, “Well, I don’t want to keep you from your lunch,” and then continuing to talk about nothing for the next seven minutes. I smile and nod, jostling the salad every 30 seconds or so to let people know I would like to get back to nourishing by body.

Smile: Ordered dinner through a drive through at Skyline. I’m recently having bad luck when it comes to ordering anything Greek (as my bread bowl was out of stock the day before, my salad from the prior week was teeny tiny for the exorbitant price) and the manager’s comment was, “Well, we’re out of our Greek dressing, so the Greek Chicken Wrap would be not such a good idea.” I laughed at his comment and thanked him for the forewarning.

Smile: Got to the window, and noticed said manager was young and hip. (Please read this as he wore his pants’ waist at about his ankles.) When he bent over, and I saw that he was wearing Skyline underwear, I had to smile even bigger. I hope to God that corporate mandates logo-ed underwear for such fashionites.

Smile: When he handed me the two mini-York peppermint patties I had added to the order, he said, “And here’s three. Just because.”

So, moral of the day, being natural gets you an extra piece of candy.