too italicized for my own good

Why hello there. There are some things we need to discuss. Various odds and ends and quite frankly I'm feeling very italicized right now so you will be seeing a lot of emphasis in the next few paragraphs.

You have been warned.

(Something I hate about blogger: the near impossibility of just italicizing as you go --- you always have to go back and italicize which is why I resort to CAPS LOCK in order to keep the emphasis but continue the flow of writing. Ugh.)

First thing: there was this wonderful experiment that the brilliant M took upon herself a while back - she'd read a really great book (Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos) and wrote such a stunning review of it that she proposed we do an online book club, of sorts. One time only - we each read the book and then came to her blog on a specified day to find posted questions that we could then respond to in the comments. It was like reporting to a book club as your schedule allowed instead of having to find a babysitter and arrange for a ride and also stay out way too late and feel so tired you want to spit in the morning. On the flip side, it was something of a tricky business for the dear M to moderate. I loved going in and reading the new comments and thinking of my own responses--- the day went by way too quickly for me.

Right now I'm reading a fantastic book (also suggested by the marvelous M), The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel. It's sweet and touching and incredibly interesting--- all the while being written in the most marvelous way. Kimmel has a way of writing characters that you want to cry over, they're so flawed and human and loveable. This book... has me thinking of questions, it has me formulating answers, it has me pondering over themes and images. AND I DESPERATELY WANT TO TALK TO YOU GUYS ABOUT IT. So here's what I'm thinking: shall we try it? Can we co-opt M's idea and try it here at The Creamery? You guys read this book (I PROMISE YOU WON'T REGRET IT --intended caps lock there, I mean it so much). And then at some day in the coming month (or two?) we'll meet back here and I'll have some questions that we can discuss in the comments. What do you think? Would you be game? I do not make book recommendations lightly (except when I'm recommending that a dear friend's SENSITIVE MOTHER READ A BOOK ABOUT A PRIEST WHO HAs A HORRIFIC TIME ON AN ALIEN PLANET). Amended: I don't make light book recommendations now. So, in earnest: this book is so good. You read it too! (Oh, and if I might make a suggestion: don't read the Amazon book description. Just don't. Read the book and find yourself surprised.)

So that thing up there was the first thing I needed to talk to you about. The second thing is this: I've been thinking about putting the follower's widget somewhere over there on my sidebar. I've been thinking about it for months. Do you know what has me stopped in my tracks? (This is awesome and very patently Whimsy.) What has me sputtering around and not adding the widget is that I don't know what I want to call it, them, um, YOU. You, followers, I don't know what to call you. We at The Creamery take our vocabulary very seriously and we don't think that "followers" works for anyone who has chosen to "follow", um, The Creamery. ANYWAY. So far I've come up with the following (stop saying THAT WORD) possibilities and I thought that maybe you'd like to help me think of a term? Or vote? Or something? Because I can't make up my mind. So far I've got: The Creamies, The Dairy Section, ...are these stupid? Does anyone have an idea? Should I just move on and stop overthinking it? Yes?

Moving on... we're headed out of town this week. Down to Portland and then on to San Francisco. Back in about a week. I am feeling strangely calm about it. Which worries me, because I have this theory that all my FREAKING OUT tends to exhaust the possibilities of BAD STUFF that can happen. Like, if I worry about it, it won't happen. Let's test my theory, shall we?

That's it for me. Some random weird stuff that doesn't fit together but it's swimming here in my noggin and now it's swimming in your noggins.

You're welcome.