10 notables from the past week

Forgive my lack of mirthful thought. I'm kind of in a funk, so I don't feel like I have much to say. I keep daydreaming about my nice, cuddly bed with my favorite pillow and the blanket I stole from Z and won't give back. I should go lay in the tanning bed. I need some sunshine, I think.

A basic list of notables from my past week:

1. Angelina Jolie named her new baby Zahara. She might have just convinced me to not only have more children, but to be pleased if my future children are female.

2. Tom Cruise's kid from "War of the Worlds" is a familiar face. I can't figure out where I have seen him before. Any guidance on this would be appreciated.

3. I made a perfect grade on my last math test. I was kind of proud. I told someone that I should be making perfect grades, I have slept through these classes three or four times in the past. All of my mathematical knowledge was imparted through sombulent osmosis.

4. If I haven't already mentioned it, www.gofugyourself.com is some of the funniest stuff on the web. Specifically go to the catty wenches' posts about Britney Spears. I pee my pants every morning.

5. After almost 5 days away at the cabin, I finally get to see my little girl today. I'm very, very excited. She has been taking swimming lessons, and apparently did really, really well in the lake (Lake Santeetlah if you want reference). She will swim underwater, and swim out for 20 or 30 yards. I'm really proud. I knew I was a fishie - still am, I think: that pisces moon comes in somewhere - but she is swimming much earlier than I ever did. I don't remember being so fearless at FIVE.

6. Chock Full O' Nuts hasn't changed their recipe in the past 10 years or so. When you can't afford the good stuff, it will do just fine.

7. Black N' Tans are pretty good. Not too sweet and not too stout.

8. I've been saving drink recipes for the end of my diet from hell. I've been salivating about alcohol lately....one I would like to recommend is called the Thai Boxer. From the San Francisco Chronicle, contributed by Scott Beattie, bar manager at Cyrus restaurant, Healdsburg.

THAI BOXER

INGREDIENTS:
12 fresh Thai basil leaves (reserve two for garnish)
10 fresh cilantro leaves
10 fresh mint leaves
1 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce Thai coconut milk
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1/2 ounce Charbay Tahitian Vanilla Bean rum
2 to 3 ounces Cock 'n Bull ginger beer
INSTRUCTIONS:
Tear the cilantro, mint and 10 of the basil leaves into small pieces. Add them to a mixing glass with the lime juice, coconut milk and simple syrup. Grind the torn leaves into the liquid with a wooden muddler for a few seconds. Then add the rum plus enough ice to fill the glass two-thirds full and top with the ginger beer. Stir the ingredients together, strain into an ice-filled Collins glass and add the garnish.

TELL ME THAT DOESN"T SOUND INCREDIBLE.

8. I'm at a 24 lb. weight loss and I am kind of stagnant....not really motivated this week. Yes, all of my Ann Taylor separates are calling.

9. On the cover of Jennifer Weiner's "In Her Shoes" (my going to bed read-again until I recover my Michael Connelly novel from Z's car) she has been proclaimed as the author who brings back chick-lit. I don't want to dispute that - I am anticipating the movie, with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette - but I am a little dissatisfied.

I like the stories - I actually liked "Good in Bed" more - but I am not sure that they are spun as well as I would like. A great chick lit book takes up residence in my nightstand, for those vulnerable points when I need one like comfort food. I will pull it out, read it, and put it back for a couple of years or so.

Unfortunately, I am not sure I find "In Her Shoes" comfortable enough to do that with. Somehow, it seems a little underdeveloped, a little unsatisfying. Like taking a man to bed after 6 long months of anticipation and discovering the lovemaking is merely satisfactory.

Need some recommendations for truly appetizing chick lit. No Ya-Yas. No romance novels. Complex, smart and funny.

10. Did I mention the Terry McMillan thing yet? Did I tell you about the court docs available at
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0630052astella1.html ?
She lives in the same subdivision my best friend in California lived in....the gay Jamaican from "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" owns a dog grooming salon a block from my old church. Just based on the geographic locale of her home, I am going to be biased and say I believe him.

Read the court docs. You tell me what you think. I see her as a bitter 40 something who easily fell for a boy toy, and now regrets the implications incurred.