Powdered Milk Products and the Literary Life

My parents taught me three things.
1. Books are good.
2. Powdered milk tastes like cardboard that has been left in the rain, dried out, and then used as a floor mat for a 8 1/2 days--Mom
3. Cats are dumb--Dad

The good news is, I went to a library book sale today.
The bad news, well, Mom, Dad, I hope you're not disappointed. BUT I promise to keep the maggots out of the milk and to use the pooper scooper every single day.

I suppose the milk's not all that important, except that it's probably the first time I've ever veered from my mother's excellent cullinary advice.

But the cat, I fear, may be another issue.

We found ten-week-old Emile at the Greenville Humane Society today.
We brought him home, left him there, alone, for a two-hour-buy-him-all-manner-of-obscenely-overpriced-kitty-products shopping trip. I came home expecting a mess, a stink, and a shredded kitchen.

Nothing. Except Emile, hiding under the wire kitchen cart (guess he's used to cages). To our wonder and extreme satisfaction, he jumped in the litter box before I even finished filling it, and did his mess in there. Whew. No housebreaking this cat!

Of course we've had an evening of fun and games--mostly involving *free* toys (he likes those better than the one toy we bought), and now new baby Emile is sleeping on my lap as I type.

So, Mom, Dad. Thanks for all of your advice. I hope you know I have followed most of it. My kitchen table is covered with new used books. You'd be proud ;)

Some of my favorite finds of the day?

Hercule Poirot's Casebook (The complete Poirot mysteries)--Agatha Christie 50c.

I Never Came to You in White (a novel about Emily Dickinson)--Judith Farr 25c.

I Never Told Anybody: Teaching Poetry Writing in a Nursing Home--Kenneth Koch 50c.

Several novels, a smattering of poetry, a Somerset Maugham anthology with a teeny tiny snippet of the one Sommerset Maugham book I really want to read but cannot find, biographies, children's books, and, of course, Emile in the middle of it all.

*picture to be posted soon, as in, after I quit watching my cute cat and wash the pile of dishes in the sink*

Okay, so I didn't get the dishes all the way done. But I'm working on it. Really.

Posted by stephanie at August 6, 2005 07:54 PM | TrackBack