August Happiness Challenge -- Day 24

Look at my happy kitty

Wednesday's happiness: Clean pajamas. OK, so this cold is miserable.

I got up this morning as I always do -- Reynaldo insists on breakfast -- and was just weary down into my bone marrow. I looked out at the gray and clouds and remembered that today was the all-agency picnic and the office would be closing at 12:30 anyway. So I called in, left an "I'm sick" message for my boss and my art director, and crawled back into bed.

And slept and slept until nearly 2:00! I wish I could say I felt 100% better, but I didn't. I felt icky and ooky. So I took a shower, scrubbed myself head to toe, and switched to a fresh nightshirt and clean undies. Yea!

Then I went back to bed for another round of sleeping. 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

If you want to play along, just come back here (meaning to this blog, not this individual post) each day in August, looking for the happy cat. Every day I will try to have a post with the headline: August Happiness Challenge: Day [X]. Leave a comment and then post your own daily happiness, with August Happiness Challenge in the title to make it easy to find. 

WWW.WEDNESDAY

To participate, and to see how others responded, click here. 

1. What are you currently reading? Book, Line and Sinker by Jenn McKinlay. This is book #3 in the "Library Lover's Mystery" series, but it's my first and so far, so good. I'm finding it slow going to start, but that could be because 1) I've got a cold and 2) this is my introduction to established characters and I'm having a little trouble keeping everyone straight.

The feeling I get from this is "cozy." Very Jessica Fletcher/Cabot Cove. Since the prolific author has also written "Cupcake Mysteries," I'm expecting this vibe to continue. (And I'm good with that. If I wanted graphic, I'd reach for the latest Cornwell/Scarpetta.)

2. What did you recently finish reading? Barbara Stanwyck by Al Diorio. I had a strong, negative reaction to this book, one I'm trying to shake so I can go back to enjoying Stanwyck's work.

The book itself isn't the problem, really, though it's superficial and highly apologetic, as if written from a series of press releases. But there's an audience for this sort of glossy biography and, since I knew so little about Stanwyck's personal life when I picked it up, it served as a decent primer about her life and put her work in some context.

It's one of the critical relationships in Stanwyck's life that has upset me. She was a dreadful mother. This woman who I knew first as warm and sacrificing Stella Dallas and then on TV as wise matriarch Victoria Barkley was cold and selfish with her own son.

Once she was ensconced in her second marriage to Robert Taylor, she sent the boy to military or boarding schools. Even though the institutions were nearby, he was never invited home for holidays and summers, instead staying with relatives or -- I'm not kidding -- employees. After her divorce from Taylor, she saw her son once to say goodbye to him before he was inducted into the service. It was an awkward lunch, and they never saw one another again.

What the hell? Stanwyck had a dreadful childhood herself, raised in foster homes and working full time at age 14. I suppose we could say that since she never had a mother, she didn't know how to be one. OK. I understand that, philosophically. But it doesn't excuse/alleviate the pain she inflicted on her son.

Yet this book tries to portray the mother-son breach as 50%/50%. No. The kid had no power in this relationship, at least not in those formative years when he was sent away. So I was appalled by Diorio's attitude. The awesome two-volume bio of Frank Sinatra by James Kaplan shows a good writer can be both clear-eyed and compassionate about his subject. Diorio was neither.

3.  What will you read next? I don't know.

August Happiness Challenge -- Day 23

Look at my happy kitty

Tuesday's happiness: Oh, this Cub Team! I cannot believe how good these kids are.

•  The best record in baseball. Again. Still.

•  Kris Bryant is tied at the top of the league with 33 home runs.*

•  Jake Arrieta leads the league in wins.

•  Kyle Hendricks -- you know, the quiet one I always forget about when I count off the starters -- has the league's lowest ERA.

•  And Joe Maddon, of course, the is the coolest manager in the history of ... people.

I come from a long line of Cub fans. How I wish my father and grandma could see this team.

The only team in baseball over .600

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

If you want to play along, just come back here (meaning to this blog, not this individual post) each day in August, looking for the happy cat. Every day I will try to have a post with the headline: August Happiness Challenge: Day [X]. Leave a comment and then post your own daily happiness, with August Happiness Challenge in the title to make it easy to find. 

*He hit #33 as I was writing this!

If there was an August Annoyance Challenge ...

Little stuff, really. Trying to keep it all in perspective ...

•  I have a cold. It hit me that I didn't feel well as I walked around on a perfectly lovely sunny summer Monday. All I want to do is sleep, and I think longingly about the days when I could breathe easily. (Yes, I'm a big baby.)

•  The credit card I've used a lot this summer was hacked, and now I'm without it. Chase says they should get a replacement to me this week. I'm glad they caught the suspicious activity and that I'm not responsible for the charges. But this is the third hack -- and the second card/bank -- and it's such a drag.  (I know, it happens to everyone sooner or later.)