Self-matching Socks Would Change My Life

A family of six creates a lot of laundry. Heaping tons of undies, t-shirts and *shudder* socks. I swear the absolute worst time of the week is sock time. That moment when there is no hiding from mountain of mismatched foot covers and my young boys are whining, "I've got no socks."

Nobody wants to deal with the mound of hosiery. I beg and cajole the kids into taking a stack and attempting to find partners for each sock. Together we must spend hours at this chore. Each week I find myself daydreaming of tossing out the works and just buying new. Socks are one of the main reasons I must kill people on paper.

Forget sending people to live on Mars. Forget discovering a new efficient fuel source. If someone invents self folding socks now THAT would change my life.

How about you? Are you waiting for an invention to save you hours of frustration?

Ahhh Europe

On July 5th I leave for Europe for 25 days. I've never been across the big pond. The itinerary involves England, France, Italy, Spain & Portugal.

Yesterday someone asked me to do something in the middle of July and I said,"I can't. I'll be in Florence." I said it with a straight face but after a few seconds I started to giggle like a fool.

I always knew one day I'd get to the classic cities...Paris, London, Rome. In my dreams I've always imagined myself sauntering through open markets, sipping coffee at open cafes and visiting classic works of art.

I don't know how my dreams will hold up doing the trip with hubby and four kids.

I know many of you are world travelers and have experience in Euorpe, so any advice? Those who have never been (like me) is there something specific you've always dreamed of doing in Europe?

Bitten by Books

You're the winner of Diana's great book Rites of Spring (Break).

Email me at wendy at wendyroberts dot com to give me your snail mail addy.

This Weeks' Ghost & a Contest

Denise Russell took this picture of her grandmother in 1997. Behind the old woman is the image of her husband. Grandpa died 12 years before this picture was taken.

Summer has finally come to the West Coast. It's not the warmer weather that's convinced me, it's the fact the kids are officially out of school tomorrow.

To celebrate beach reads and warm weather thoughts I'm giving away a copy of Diana Peterfreund's newest book, Rites of Spring Break. Diana is a good friend and fabulous writer and I know I can't wait to start off my summer reading with her newest release!

So go ahead and post a comment to have your name entered to win :)

This Little Piggie Went to the Ocean...

In my neck of the woods we've had a bit of a problem with feet. They keep getting washed ashore with no body attached to them. Seriously. In the last year 5 bodiless feet have washed ashore, each one clad in a running shoe and sock. Four of these have been right feet. As you can imagine, the entire situation has sparked a lot of curiosity. It even prompted a hoax foot to turn up, this one a dog's paw stuffed in a shoe.

As a mystery writer, I'm fascinated by the entire thing. I mean, who's cutting off feet and tossing them into the ocean? Mass murderer? But where are the rest of the remains?

A Seattle oceanographer told The Times that disarticulated feet do show up in oceans from time to time. Really? I gotta say, that really makes me re-think the idea of going to the beach with my kids.

All experts involved from the coroner to the RCMP have been quick to point out that there is no evidence of foul play here. As far as they can figure, the DNA from feet isn't from missing persons or victims of an air crash. So what then?

One of the most popular theories is that the feet are the natural decomposition of people who have drowned in Georgia Strait. I can almost by this except for one thing, why only feet? Four of the right. No other body parts. Sounds more like a foot fetish to me.

So there's a real live (or dead) mystery floating about the coast of British Columbia these days. Do any of you, my wise readers, have opinions on why feet would wash ashore?

Junuary

The calendar says it's June 16th but the weather around here does not agree. Sure it's sunny outside but the temperature this morning was only 12 degrees! For my U.S. friends that's about 53 *brrrrr* So the kids have started calling it Junary and that feels about right. I haven't even managed to plant many flowers this year and my vegetable garden is really more of a postage stamp. It's just too darn cold to feel like gardening.

That being said, I'm probably writing more than I usually do in June. Without the usual distraction of planting and weeding I'm cozied up more next to my toasty computer screen :)

How's the weather where you are?

Mix Mash of Dumb Criminals & Wonder Woman

You'll be relieved to know these guys are off the street:

-> The Thong Bandits of Aryada, Colorado have turned themselves in. This strange duo wore thongs to barely cover their faces while robbing a convenience store and stuffing the loot into a pink backpack.

-> In Arizona a man walked into a local Kwik Shop and asked for all the money in the cash drawer. Unfortunately, there wasn't as much cash as he would've liked so he tied up the clerk and worked the counter himself for three hours until police showed up and arrested him.

-> Two men tried to pull the front off a cash machine in Kentucky. They attached a chain to the machine and to the bumper of their truck but they only succeeded in pulling the bumper off their truck. They gave up and left the scene. They also left the chain attached to the machine, their bumper attached to the chain and their vehicle's license plate still attached to the bumper. Cops found them at home.

In other news, did you hear that Wonder Woman found a body floating in the Potomac River? Of course I feel awful for Helen Johnstone (victim) but I'm still dumbfounded by this situation. Since I heard this story I've had that darn theme song going through my head!

Sometimes you just need a push

In San Antonio there is a haunted railroad intersection where some children were killed in a tragic accident when a train smashed into their bus. This picture was supposedly taken at that scene and shows a ghostly child.

Legend has it that ghostly children hang out at the scene and any car stopped near the tracks will be pushed out of harms way by unseen hands. Stop a few yards away and your car is pushed (up hill!) and across the tracks. The story goes on to say that if a powder is sprinkled over your vehicle's bumpers, handprints will appear.

To sleep, perchance to dream...

Like most people, I don't give a lot of thought to sleep unless I'm not getting enough. Like lately. It's not insomnia, I just have a lot on my plate so I'm up far too late and awake far too early with a lot of go go go between.

I know I'm sleep deprived when my very first thought when the alarm goes off is, 'today I'm going to have a nap'. The thought jumps into my head immediately and I want to laugh at the ridiculous nature of the idea because I NEVER nap. Not ever. Well, extremely rarely. I didn't nap when I had newborn babies in the house and everyone said oh you must nap when they do or you'll be exhausted. When I had 4 kids under age 6 and they were all napping I couldn't nap either. Napping just isn't part of who I am. The odd time when I happen to doze off for some weird reason (usually because I'm extremely sick), I've woken up feeling disconcerted, headachy, and just worse off.

I have friends who nap. They can nap for five minutes and be raring to go. I confess to nap envy. Do you ever nap?