Lynn Raye Harris

I’m too busy for a proper post, so how’s about a little eye candy? George Clooney and a puppy — does it get any better?!

Okay, back to the roller coaster of Revision Land!

What I’ve learned about renovation that differs from HGTV:

1. It takes longer than 30 minutes.

2. There is only one Carter Oosterhouse — and all the other semi-decently good looking carpenters and contracters are also employed by HGTV. Because they aren’t at my house.

My renovation project has officially gone over time. I think. See, I distinctly remember someone telling me it’d be done in a week (it’s not a big project, really). But that was probably before they factored in — what I like to call — the drunken drywall dude.

Oh, I’m not saying he was drunk on site. But he IS a drunk. And that affects how quickly he works, when he shows up for work, and when he has to leave. Because alcoholics need their drinks and they need their recovery time. Take, for instance, the exchange on Friday afternoon when he asked me if he could come at 8AM and work until about noon on Saturday to finish the drywall. And I said sure, because hubby and I don’t typically get motivated to run around town until noonish anyway.

Now, when I tell him it’s okay, I’m looking at him sort of askance and thinking, “Yeah, like you’ll actually be here.” The day I was told he’d be here at noon, he didn’t arrive until almost 3. And it was nearly Friday night and he looked like he needed a drink. Eight AM on a Saturday seemed about as likely as a short trip to the moon and back.

What do you think happened?

Exactly. I’m up at 8, waiting. No dude. Nine comes, no dude. A different dude, not drywall, arrives to put speaker wires in the wall and do some other things. This guy is nice, competent, and a great worker. I like and trust him. If he says he’ll be here, he’ll be here.

Drywall dude never shows. Never calls. Nada. Monday morning, drywall dude arrives with another dude (presumably a babysitter of sorts) and they finish the drywall. Do you think he said a word to me about Saturday?

Nope.

But that’s not my only adventure in renovation yesterday! In the afternoon, a different guy shows up — not with my renovation contractor, I can tell, because he has no company truck. He’s in a green truck, he’s not wearing a shirt (and, alas, he looks nothing like our example above), and I’m thinking he must be at the wrong place. He gets out of the truck, digs around for a shirt, manages to get it on, and comes to my door.

It’s the tile guy from my builder come to finish my backsplash. Did I mention I’ve lived in this house for over a year? That the tile people have made and broken more appointments than I can even remember? He showed up unannounced (good thing I was home!), alone, and with tile that looked suspiciously wrong. After much banging on the tile, frightening the cats, and asking my opinion about the color once he’d sealed it, the backsplash is done and tile dude is gone. I can only hope the color holds out once the sealer dries.

So, that’s my excuse for not having a Monday post. Adventures in reno land, minus the good-looking hunky shirtless guy in a toolbelt and jeans. And that crazy HGTV tries to make it look so easy (and sexy), don’t they? What kind of house project adventures have you had?

I was in the grocery store when someone said to me, “You were in the paper, weren’t you?”

And I said, “Yes, I was.”

She said, “I thought I recognized you.”

OMG! It’s so weird! And cool. I thanked her for reading it, LOL!

I’ve been tagged. Why not have some Friday fun? (I’m too busy and lazy to think of a different topic!)

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Rules:

I am going to list three categories of books: 5 MUST Read Books, 5 Books on Your Nightstand, and 5 Look For These Soon. Anyone I tag should put these same lists on their blog but SUBTRACT one book from each list and ADD one of their own.

Then they should tag at least 5 more bloggers. It will be fun to see how the lists change as it goes around the blogosphere.

Please come back to this post and leave a comment so I can see how the lists are changing as they go around the blogosphere.

Since this is Book Buzz…please keep your lists to titles released in 2007-2009.

5 MUST Read Books:
1. Now You Die by Roxanne St. Claire
2. Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey
3. A Mile in My Flip-Flops by Melody Carlson
4. Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward
5. What Mattered Most by Linda Winfree

5 Books on the Nightstand:
1. The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox
2. Nick’s New Heart by Susan May
3. Crazy in Love by Lani Diane Rich
4. Pleasure by Eric Jerome Dickey
5. From Harvey River by Lorna Goodison

5 Look For These Soon:
1. The Sheikh’s Defiant Bride by Sandra Marton
2. Evernight by Claudia Gray
3. Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins
4. The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward
5. Truth and Consequences by Linda Winfree

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Now here’s where I have trouble. Tagging others. I don’t like to tag anyone, so I won’t. But if you think it would be fun, steal this tag and use it. Then let me know if you did.

So what are your must read books? I admit that some of these I’d never heard of. But it made me want to go look them up if someone thought they were worthy of mentioning!

I have workmen in my house, hammering, sawing, and making noise all day — and I’m eyeball deep in revisions. So, nothing new from me. Except I could use a quiet afternoon all to myself…..

Whass up with you?

My pals over at the Writing Playground have invited me into the Sandbox this month! Come on over and read their interview with me. I’ve also put up links to all my interviews (some aren’t strictly interviews so much as me talking about the Harlequin Presents Instant Seduction contest) in the right-hand column of the blog.

Also, check out my post on Literary Louisiana (scroll down) and let me know what you think about books/movies set in the Crescent City.

And, finally, last I heard from my brother about Gustav was that they were without power, a big tree had fallen in the lot across the street, their generator was working, the wind was dying down, and they were doing fine. Thanks for your prayers.

Sunday night, the weather was nice, just a little breezy. He sent an email at 8AM that said it was getting pretty windy, though they still had power. He expects it to go out later in the day. But, he’s got that generator and plenty of supplies. He also said they’d had 6 to 10 inches of rain by about 11 something last night when he sent his first update.

As I write this, I still don’t know where Gustav will hit or at what strength. My brother has chosen to stay; he’s on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, about 4 or 5 blocks from the lakefront. He has a generator, food, and water, and he and his family will ride it out. They don’t expect it to be as bad as Katrina, so that’s the decision. The aunts went to Baton Rouge, Grandma was evacuated a couple of days ago, and I suspect the cousin is with her mother in BR. I’ve been there during the remnants of a hurricane. Can’t remember which one, but it had to be the late 70s or early 80s. I remember a lot of wind and rain, but it wasn’t scary. These days, I’d be terrified — but then Katrina and Gustav are completely different from what I experienced.

When I read that Grand Isle had evacuated voluntarily several days ago, it made me think of a book. So, I stared to think it might be nice to talk about books set in Louisiana.

Naturally, any English major who studied Modern Lit would probably think of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Set almost entirely on Grand Isle and in New Orleans, this book is about a woman’s struggle to define herself as an individual during a time when women were only allowed to be wives and mothers. Edna Pontellier dares to want something more — and society does not approve. Nor did it approve of Kate Chopin for writing such racy stuff.

Then there’s this novel:

Why is this book so famous? Well, here’s where I admit I haven’t read it yet. It’s set entirely in New Orleans, but I think what makes this book so amazing to me is the story of how it came to be. John Kennedy Toole killed himself before it was published. Eleven years before it was published. His mother found the manuscript in his belongings. Then she insisted that a prominent literary professor read it. He did and championed it to publication.

Oh, and did I mention that it won a Pulitzer Prize? John Kennedy Toole wrote a book, committed suicide at the age of 31, and never lived to see his masterpiece in print. It’s still in print, it won the Pulitzer, and it’s considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.

A woman claims to have killed a Cajun farmer, but when the sheriff arrives, several old black men are claiming to have done the deed. It’s the first time these men have stood up for themselves, and they do so in the face of white power and the racism of the day. The book is described as powerful and moving. I own it, but haven’t read it yet. I intend to.

Now, what about James Lee Burke and the Dave Robicheaux novels? I’ve read a couple, and I’m always amazed by Burke’s way with words. He tells a fine story. There’s All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, loosely based on the life of Huey P. Long — this book is another Pulitzer winner.

I realize this isn’t a complete list by any stretch. For instance, there’s also Anne Rice, who lived in New Orleans for many years and set the Vampire Chronicles there. Jennifer Blake, romance writer, is a native Louisianan and sets many books there.

Nora Roberts set at least one book that I know of in New Orleans (probably more as prolific as she is). Tami Hoag set Lucky’s Lady in the bayou. And who can ever forget Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire? Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando are unforgettable in the movie version of the famous play. Stanley Kowalski standing in the rain and bellowing “Stellaaaaa!” — whoa. Was Brando not amazingly gorgeous back then?

Okay, so he wasn’t nice as Stanley, but he was nice to look at.

That’s my Literary Louisiana tour. I’m sure I’ve left things out, so if you know a good one, give me a shout in the comments! Have you read any of these books? Have you seen Streetcar? The Brando/Leigh version or a different one? If you’ve seen the Brando/Leigh version, have you seen the uncut version with the rape scene? I haven’t yet.

Oh, and Happy Labor Day. Can you believe it’s September already? Another year, another birthday. Wow.