A Sentimental look back ... and meatballs

Compared with some I am barely a baseball fan, but I do root for the Yankees and I am waxing nostalgic about the closing of the old stadium. My favorite tribute:

Made it into a meme

I found this over at Jane Green's blog and as she has it, it isn't quite a meme -- it looks more like a chain email, but it is pretty close to a meme and it feels like it has been soooo long since I've done a meme so I decided to make it into one by changing some of the questions a little bit and omitting just a few as well. So, without further ado...

Getting to know you...in 45 questions

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30 AM

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds all the way.

3. What was the last film that you saw at the cinema? Mama Mia and it was just awful. There hasn't been much I've wanted to see since then.

4. What is your favorite TV show? Project Runway

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Special K at home, French Toast when at a restaurant

6. What is your middle name? Jill

7. What food do you dislike? Seafood and mushrooms

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? The mix I made for the car trip to Cape Cod. It has all my latest favorite songs. In general I don't buy CDs anymore. I just download.

9. What kind of car do you drive? Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, Rocky Mountain Edition, or, as I call her Sandy Wabbit.

10. Favorite sandwich? Peanut butter and jelly -- preferably creamy peanut butter, grape jelly and whole wheat bread.

11. What characteristic do you despise in others? Two-faced-ness

12. Favorite item of clothing? Several pairs of my shoes including the purple Tory Burch ballet flats and the grey suede booties shown here.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? These days I'd really like to go to Barcelona.

14. Where would you retire to? Manhattan.

15. What was your most recent memorable birthday? I'm not usually a person to focus on the negative, but my most recent memorable birthday is my 30th when my husband was supposed to book the party room at a particular restaurant for a particular night, but he waited until that last minute to call and it was too late. Yeah, it was a bad time, but that happens.

16. Favorite sport to watch? Tennis.

17. When is your birthday? January 15

18. Are you a morning person or a night? Definitely a morning person despite myself.

19. What is your shoe size? 7.5 It used to be 7 until I got pregnant. I actually had to get rid of almost all my shoes after Zoe was born and I realized my feet were not going to shrink back -- just like certain other parts of me.

20. Pets? Not any more unless I can count Mike...?

21. What did you want to be when you were little? An artist.

22. What is your favorite flower? Gerbera Daisies

23. What is a day on your calendar that you are looking forward to? This Saturday! Big shopping adventure planned for Saturday.

24. What are you listening to right now? Nothing, but I can hear Sponge Bob Square Pants.

25. What was the last thing you ate? A handful of Mike & Ike's.

26. Do you wish on stars? Yes.

27. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Violet blue

28. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My sister-in-law Joanne

29. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke. I think I am actually partly made of Diet Coke.

30. Last place you ate out Katzenberg's

31. Hair color? Brown with a few persistent strands of grey.

32. What was your favorite toy as a child? Fashion plates

33. Summer or winter? Summer summer summer summer summer summer

34. Hugs or kisses? Both

35. Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla

36. Coffee or tea? Coffee. Tea always makes me think of being sick.

37. Salty or sweet? Sweet...thus the Mike & Ike's

38. What did you do last night? Had dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's house. They made pizza on the grill using a pizza stone and it was really good.

39. What is under your bed? Art supplies, stationery, pens, paper, and computer bits and pieces like spare wires. All neatly packed in plastic bins.

40. How many keys on your ring? 2.

41. How many years at your current job? 3 and a half

42. Favorite day of the week? Thursday.

43. How many towns have you lived in? Rockaway, Stamford, Monroe, Ithaca, Dallas, Westport, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Fairfield

44. Do you make friends easily? I didn't used to, but I find that now I do. Or maybe I've just been really lucky in the last few years.

45. What is the last book you read?
These Three Remain and I am currently reading Vanity Fair.


And now I tag anyone who is longing for a meme like I was.

More aquatic silliness

This may have been the last swim of the season so it seemed necessary to record it on film.

Is this normal?

Tonight as Zoë was getting ready to get into the bathtub my husband turned to me and asked, "Do other kids take a bath like this?"

I looked at Zoë and saw her with her goggles on and digging her piece of rubber tubing out of the basket of other bath toys frankly I and wondered the same thing.

Temptations -- Fall '08

Couldn't sleep so I ended up doing some online browsing (no purchasing). Lots of nice things to look at! Some of my favorites...

This morning

Every year since 9/11/01 my mother, my husband and I go to the 9/11 memorial at Sherwood Island on the morning of 9/11. This year was no exception. Every year there are fewer and fewer people there, but it makes it no less poignant especially when there are people there clearly grieving someone who's name is carved into the memorial.

This morning there was a man there who's face was the absolute picture of grief-stricken. Just looking at his face made me well up with tears and I was once again struck by just how lucky I was that day -- how lucky I am. My mother was in the WTC when it happened and she (obviously) escaped. Every year when I see the mourners at the 9/11 memorial at Sherwood Island or on TV at "Ground Zero" I am reminded just how close I was to becoming one of them.

Coincidentally on my way into the office this afternoon I heard a song I've never heard before by a singer I've never heard of before and that song really spoke to me along these same lines. The song is There Is So Much More by Brett Dennen. The particular lyrics that struck me:

In a world with suffering,
Why should I be so blessed?

If I were athletic

If I were athletic I think I'd like to be like Serena Williams. She's an incredibly talented player who clearly takes her game seriously, but she also knows herself so well. I've watched her play for years now and I can usually tell what kind of match it will be just by looking at her.

Watching her play last night I knew by the second game of the first set that she was going to win. How did I know? you may ask. Well even if you didn't I am going to tell you anyway.

There was this moment right after a somewhat tricky rally that had each player running hard. It was just a tiny, tiny moment. Serena won the point and just after she saw that she won it, she looked down at her hand to check her manicure. It is an unmistakable gesture so I know that is what she was doing. It was as if she wasn't even worried about that last point and she was so relaxed and ready for the next point that she didn't have to worry about that either. She knew she had this.

To be fair Jelena Jankovic played a strong match and Serena did not trample her, but there was never a moment where I felt that Serena thought she wouldn't win. That manicure check moment was just awe-inspiring to me.

Just can't get enough

Last night, after dinner, dishes, laundry and putting Zoe to bed I sat down to watch some TV. There were a lot of good choices last night including the latest episode of "Project Runway," Serena v. Venus in the U.S. Open Quarter finals, and some sort of convention. My day had ended on a bit of a down note and I really wanted to just sit and not think.

And then it happened.

As I sat there innocently trying to relax a commercial came on which I never would have noticed if it weren't for the song. It was Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough." I loved that song in its day and it still had a place in my heart until I realized just what was happening. Payless Shoes was using the song to advertise their "BOGO" sale (Buy One, Get One half off). To my utter shock I realized that Depeche Mode have sold out!

I have nothing against Payless Shoes. In my more broke days they fulfilled many shoe urgings. However, I do hate hate hate when songs are used in commercials and I especially hate it when it is a song I like! Of course this could be one of those cases when someone else actually owns the music catalog as was done to the Beatles, but it doesn't matter. Those are my teenage memories being exploited for a "BOGO" sale. Oy.

Why do the women have to grind the corn?

I showed signs of being a feminist very early on when in 6th grade, along with my partner in crime, Heather, demanded of our Social Studies teacher, Mr. Corica, "Why do only the women have to grind the corn? Why didn't men also grind the corn?" We were studying Native Americans (or as we called them back then, Indians). Of course the answer to that question is long and complex, but you would think he could have given us some kind of answer. Instead we got no answer which only made us both ask more insistently. I am sure it was annoying to be harangued by 2 13 year-old girls, but wasn't it also interesting that we were even asking the question? I still find it sad that instead of an answer we got into trouble. Both Heather and I ended up with notes home to our parents, but we never forgot that moment. And, for the most part, I don't think it has made us stop asking the question.

That is why I am sharing this image of women grinding corn which I came upon in a project I am currently working on at my job. I didn't need it to remind me of the "incident" from 6th grade, but it made me laugh. Hopefully it makes Heather laugh too.

Four young Hopi women grinding corn. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Edward S. Curtis Collection.

American Wife

I received the book American Wife as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. It is the latest novel by Prep author Curtis Sittenfeld and draws on the life of Laura Bush for much of the formation of the main characters and events. It is a long and detailed story of how a reserved (but not conservative), intelligent woman ended up the wife of the President of the United States.

The books starts off strong with a compelling description of teenage life in the early 1960s in middle America. I was drawn in by the dramatic events of most of the first part and quite interested to see how these events would shape and drive this young woman -- as I was sure they would.

I will admit I was not a big fan of Prep. I wanted very much to like it and by the description it sounded very much like a book I would definitely like, but it had one fatal flaw -- the main character. I had no empathy or even sympathy for her. American Wife suffers from the same problem. I can't find many reasons to warm up to Alice. She's so reserved and so rigid and so downright prissy that I just couldn't care about her. I can't help thinking that Ms. Sittenfeld was so afraid of having her novel referred to as "chick lit" that she stripped out all the humor, all the passion and all the foibles of Alice -- in other words all the things that make us root for the women who star in all those "chick lit" novels. If I could have cared about Alice more, and rooted for her then this story might have been a lot more human.

Alice never really overcomes, she never really shows passion and she doesn't even stand behind her husband or her own convictions. So, for me, the book, like Alice herself, slowly stagnates after the first part. If Alice had been passionate about her husband, rather than accepting, had thrown herself into supporting him, or thrown herself into motherhood or really anything it would have been a much more interesting story. Instead we ended up with story of how a rather stilted woman came to be. For Laura Bush's sake I hope the similarities between her life and Alice's are limited to the major events only.

08/30/08 Update: As I could have predicted this book is the cover review in the NY Times book review section this week. It is reviewed by Joyce Carol Oates no less, who must be an incredibly kind reviewer because although she doesn't say she enjoyed the book she doesn't pan it either. She just talks around it. I don't know who Ms. Sittenfeld knows at the NY Times, but she sure is lucky to know them.

Throwing rocks

I am just starting to get a handle on all the cool things I can do with my digital SLR. I had some fun with it this weekend while we were in Cape Cod.

Tracie will love this!

I was just catching up with Emily's blog where she had a very accurate post about the lack of activity in the blogosphere right now. Check it out for yourself. The best part about the post is the quiz at the end called "What Font are You?" I, of course, had to click right through and find out for myself ...

You Are Helvetica

Your life is ultra modern and ultra streamlined. You don't get bogged down in details or decoration. You like to think that you're the epitome of style and taste. People either totally get you - or they think you're boring and generic.

What Font Are You?

I would say that sounds about right except for the details and decoration part. I am not a knick knack person, but details definitely make a difference to me. Overall, however, I must admit I am proud to be considered Helvetica.

My new favorite charity

I just happened upon what I consider to be an awesome charity. I haven't checked out their financials, but they do file all the right paperwork. They are called Soles4Souls and they facilitate the donation of shoes to needy people worldwide. Individuals, organizations, shoes stores can all donate shoes or (of course) money.

I came across this charity on the Piperlime website (one of my favorite shoe-shopping websites) and I can't wait to fill up a box and ship it off. I will then have more room in my closet for new shoes and feel like I've done one small thing to help someone else in the world. What could be better? The fact that it is all about shoes, of course!

Speaking of shoes that need room in my closet, last week before I started my new hiatus I bought these gorgeous shoes and I haven't worn them yet, but I still want to show them off:
from Nine West

Definitely a Happy Camper

Friday was Zoe's last day of camp for the summer. When she got off the bus she came running to me and said, "Mom, can I go to camp again next year?"

"Of course," I said.

"Can I go every year until I am 13?"

"Sure."

That was how I knew the 6 weeks she spent at Camp Tepee were a success.

Here's a picture of her the morning of her last day. I would say she looks tanner and bit shaggier than her first day, but just as happy.

Not tired?

A brief outline of my day:

5:00 AM Get up, get dressed, head to the gym, workout
6:30 AM Shower and dress
7:00 AM Make breakfast for Zoe, pack her camp bag, start a load of laundry
7:30 AM Eat breakfast (Special K), drink coffee, read for 10 minutes
8:05 AM Wave good-bye to Zoe on the camp bus
8:25 AM CVS stop for some things I need for my upcoming trip
8:45 AM Arrive at work, turn on computer and begin reading email and other work
9:30 AM Drink large iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts, continue working
10:00 AM Meeting
10:30 AM Meeting
12:00 PM Lunch at The Burger Bar with friends-- eat too much, but don't really regret it
1:30 PM Return to office
2:11 PM Remember and go to 2pm meeting to discuss upcoming trip
3:15 PM Finalize presentation for upcoming trip
5:10 PM Leave work and go home
5:45 PM Have a long talk with Zoe about the bully at her camp. Conversation ends with a smile, hug and kiss.
6:25 PM Put washed clothes in dryer and add new load of dirty clothes to the washer
6:30 PM Head out for dinner in Milford with friends and manage to not eat too much.
9:30 PM Return home, bring out recycling, fold dry clothes and put clean clothes from washer into the dryer
9:45 PM Pack 2 lunches for Zoe, pick out 2 outfits
10:15 PM Sit down and watch Michael Phelps break the all-time gold medal record. Wow, butterfly is so hard!
10:25 PM Get clothes out of dryer, fold and put away
10:30 PM Pack for trip, clean up clutter so cleaning lady can clean tomorrow
11:45 PM Can't do the one thing I really want to do -- sleep.

OK, I haven't been trying for very long, but I would think after the day I've had, I would have been passed out by now.

Dramatic fashion

I have been watching coverage of the Olympic Games and it seems to me that the commentary is so overly-dramatic. I realize this is an incredible moment of potential achievement for these athletes who have probably worked most of their lives for this moment, but even so it seems that the stakes have been raised. Some phrases I've heard tonight include:

"That's a major mistake. Definitely a half a point there."
"There is no safety net for this team."
"The race of his life."

Much more importantly, let's discuss Olympic fashion:

I think Ralph Lauren did a nice job outfitting the team this year. The athletes all looked good at the opening ceremony and I think a lot of the warm-ups and other clothing they provided are quite nice. Looks like Nike has provide most of the actual performance gear.

It was a very nice change to see the men's gymnastic teams not in white stirrup pants. The dark, flat red is a much better choice for tight pants on men. Keeps the emphasis on those nice arms and upper bodies. The Chinese men's outfits are really nice too.

I don't think red satin was the best choice for the women's gymnastics team, but at least they aren't spraying their hair with glitter this year.

The women's beach volleyball team outfits look like something that should be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but the men's regular volleyball team look good.

All the women archers look awesome. Tough as nails.

That's all my comments for now, but I will be sure to keep my eye on the Olympic fashions and report back.

Finish-the-Sentence

So I know I haven't written a real post in awhile now, but things have been a little hectic and at least this meme came from the Queen herself.

THE FORTY FINISH-THE-SENTENCES MEME

1. My uncle once yelled at me for touching the window of his car. He is compulsively clean and neat and especially about his cars.

2. Never in my life have I eaten lobster. I don't think I ever will either.

3. When I was five I loved Snoopy. I carried my Snoopy doll with me everywhere, I wanted to own anything with Snoopy on it and I lived for the Snoopy holiday specials -- especially "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

4. High School was too long. Those were the 4 longest years of my life.

5. I will never forget 9/11.

6. I once met Tom Brokaw at a restaurant in NYC called the West Bank Cafe where some friends were doing a show. I had had several drinks and was sitting with my back to his table so I didn't know he was there. For some reason I decided it was good time to show my friends the different kinds of hats one can make with a dinner napkin. At one point my friend across the table said, "Tom Brokaw is laughing at you right now." I turned around to see him laughing right at me. He then came over to our table introduced himself and bought us all a round of drinks.

7. There's this girl I know who is coming to visit me (and her family) tomorrow and I can't wait to see her.

8. Once, at a bar I met Joe Torre's son Michael. He was a nice guy and I would have given him my number if he'd asked, but he didn't. And not just for the potential Yankees tickets.

9. By noon, I'm usually hungry on weekdays and feeling like the day is slipping away from me if it is a weekend.

10. Last night I had dinner with Becky. We went to Acqua in Westport and it was half-price wine night yet somehow we restrained ourselves and only had one bottle.

11. If I only had more time in a day.

12. Next time I go to church someone will be getting married, baptized or buried.

13. Terry Shiavo makes me think how insane the world can be and how much I need a living will. Just in case -- tell Rob to pull the plug and get on with it.

14. What worries me most is different on any given day.

15. When I turn my head left, I see my mother sitting next to me on the couch.

16. When I turn my head right, I see my deck, the table and umbrella on it, and part of my pool.

17. You know I'm lying when I...wait -- why would I give away my own "tell"? Actually, I try not to lie because I used to do it terribly often as a kid and it always got me in trouble and I don't know what my "tell" is, but I am sure I have one.

18. What I miss most about the eighties is the music.

19. If I was a character in Shakespeare, I'd be one of the women in a comedy who dress as a man like Rosalind in "As You Like It." That's just the kind of thing I would think is a good idea.

20. By this time next year Zoe will be 7 and getting ready to enter 2nd grade.

21. A better name for me would be Jill. I was supposed to be Jill and then my great-grandmother Mary died just a couple of weeks before I was born. In the Jewish tradition babies are often named after a relative who died recently. I've never been in love with my name, but I do like Jill which is my middle name. Of course, as a kid I looked just like Marcie from the Peanuts gang so it did seem like I was meant to be a Marcy.

22. I have a hard time understanding boys.

23. If I ever go back to school, I'll go for that semester at the London Centre. What was I thinking??!!

24. You know I like you if I want to go shopping with you.

25. If I ever won an award, the first person I'd thank would be hmmm...my mother or Rob depending on the award.

26. Darwin, Mozart, Slim Pickens & Geraldine Ferraro walk into a bar...

27. Take my advice, never drop a full bottle of wine on your foot -- especially while wearing flip-flops

28. My ideal breakfast is a really fresh everything bagel (not toasted) with butter on one half and cream cheese on the other half, an extra hot latte and a vanilla creme-filled donut for dessert.

29. A song I love, but do not have is "Lean on Me" because I love it for the memory it evokes much more than I love the song itself.

30. If you visit my hometown, I suggest driving right through -- unless you're hungry then go to Country Pizza followed by Dr. Mike's ice cream and then drive right out of town.

31. Tulips, character flaws, microchips & track stars walk into a bar with Darwin, Mozart, Slim Pickens & Geraldine Ferraro

32. Why won't people stop talking on their cell phones while they drive?

33. If you spend the night at my house you'd better hope Rob is home if you want a home cooked meal otherwise we'll probably go out for dinner.

34. I'd stop my wedding for any number of emergencies.

35. The world could do without George Bush.

36. I'd rather lick the belly of a cockroach than go skydiving.

37. My favorite blond is my niece Sophia. But I know several other very nice blonds who do nothing to propagate the stereotype.

38. Paper clips are more useful than decorative soaps.

39. If I do anything well, it's: shop

40. And by the way: Zoe can now do a front flip off the diving board. It is hysterical to watch.

Reading Meme

What kind of book are you most comfortable reading?
Contemporary fiction -- novels or short stories. When left to my own devices I always buy and read contemporary fiction. I have to be prodded somehow or other -- sometimes gently and sometimes with force -- to read just about anything else. I realize I am somewhat limited.

What kind of book do you love to hate?
Oprah's picks! I don't hate Oprah, but there is something about her book club and most of the choices that really irk me. I can't explain it, but something about using the Oprah marketing machine to sell books really bothers me and immediately turns me off. Any other TV Show book club selection is the same kind of turn off for me.


What was the last book you surprised yourself by liking?
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. This was my most recent book club selection and I was interested in it, but only mildly. I ended up really loving this book and I'd like to read more by Achebe. It is really beautifully structured and written. It was a nice surprise.

What was the last book you surprised yourself by disliking?
PopCo by Scarlett Thomas. It sounded like a book I would love, it was recommended to me by a RA librarian, and it was chosen by my book club. It was just incredibly disappointing.

What would be the worst book to be marooned on a desert island with?
Right now I would have to say the book I am currently reading. It is Pretty Little Mistakes and I wasn't sure about it when I bought it, but I took a chance. It is a choose your own adventure type story and I used to love those when I was a kid so I was intrigued by one geared for female adults, but it sucks. I keep dying in 4 pages -- that would not be inspiring on a desert island. Next time I die, I am considering myself finished with the book.

What book would you take with you if you suspected you might be marooned in the near future?
I would have to take one of my husband's many, many survival books. It is one of his favorite genres. And I am not talking about the Worst Case Scenario books either, I am talking serious survival. Probably the one issued by the U.S. Army is the best choice.

What forces you to read outside your comfort zone?
Friends -- especially those who write amazing reviews on their blogs. And book club.

Day at the Museum

Yesterday was an unexpected free day for my little family and since it wasn't much of an outside day due to the rain we decided to go to the Museum of Natural History in NYC. It was a lazy day so we got a late start and, of course, hit traffic going into the city so by the time we got there it was well past lunch time and we were all starving. Luckily we found a great place called Homer's up on Amsterdam and 83rd. It was called something else last time I was there, but it was still the same delicious burgers and fries and the like. Zoë's lunch included a chocolate milkshake that was about as big as she is. After some good, greasy food and a couple of rounds of air hockey (there's an air hockey table and video games in the back of Homer's) we remembered that we were planning to go to the museum.

A quick dash through the raindrops and in no time we were standing in front of some enormous dinosaur bones. Somewhere between the Hall of Vertebrates and the DinoStore we were sitting on a bench and Zoë looked up at me said quietly, "I feel happy."

My heart just about popped right there and then. "I feel happy, too," I said hugging her and smiling.

We finished up looking at the dinosaurs, hit the dioramas (no trip to the Natural History Museum is complete without seeing the dioramas), and then headed home. The smile never left my face.

Backpack (Or why I question my genetic relationship to my daughter)

Just about 2 years ago while shopping for fall clothes Zoë picked out a backpack from Children's Place to use for bringing her things to and from her pre-k class. It is a standard backpack design, a good size and is covered in a rainbow swirly pattern to which Zoe was immediately attracted. She needed a new bag for school and the prices at Children's Place are generally right so I bought it for her and she used it almost every day of pre-k.

About this time last year we were vacationing in Maine and we stopped at The Kittery Outlets to get Zoe all geared up for kindergarten. One store we were in had about a dozen adorable backpacks so I told Zoë to choose one because of course you have to have a new backpack when you start kindergarten, right? Wrong. "I don't want a new backpack," she whined. "I want to use the rainbow one I have." She didn't even want one when we were in L.L. Bean and they literally had a mountain of backpacks in every color and pattern they make on display. That's when I was convinced she really didn't want a new one.

I conceded although I was more than a little surprised. I mean, how could you not want a new backpack? Are you really going to put all those pristine school supplies in your old backpack? But the backpack she had was still in very good shape so I decided not to argue. You have to choose your battles, right? Put that money saved in the pot for a new bag for me Zoë's college fund

By the time kindergarten was wrapping up last month the swirly rainbow backpack was really showing its age. One of the straps is starting to tear and one pocket is ripped so I told Zoë that she could use it for camp, but then she'd have to pick out a new backpack for the start of first grade. "But I don't want a new backpack," she whined. Again. I told her she could use the backpack she has for the rest of the summer, but then it was time to buy a new one. She whined a little more and then we both let it drop.

Several days ago a back-to-school catalog from L.L. Bean arrived and it was showcasing backpacks. Based on the catalog I would guess that their mountain of backpacks is bigger than last year's. I showed the catalog to Zoë and I told her that if she picks one from this catalog we can get her initials on it, but that didn't really spark her interest. So then I told her that one of these backpacks will probably last a lot longer than her Children's Place backpack so she won't have to get a new one again very soon. This interested her and she took the catalog and flipped through it. When I came back in the room the catalog was cast aside and I asked if she had picked one out. "Yes," she said. "I want the blue one."

"Which blue one?" I asked hoping she'd point to a picture in the catalog. No such luck. Its not like there are just one or two blue backpacks. Take a look at the L.L. Bean site's backpack section and you will see what I mean. Part of me wants to just order the blue one I like, but that is a risky strategy since I have already asked her which one she wants. Currently that catalog is missing so I now have to wait for the next one to come in the mail before I can hand Zoë the catalog and a pen to circle the one she wants. Knowing L.L. Bean, I am sure the next catalog will be along any day so it won't be a problem.

The problem for me is quite simply: how can you not want a new backpack? I lived for the years when I was allowed to get a new bag for school along with my regular school supplies. What better way to start off the school year than with perfect new notebooks, brand new pencils, shiny new shoes and that special new backpack (or schoolbag)? Does this mean when Zoe gets older she's not going to want new purses and new shoes too? (I could tell you a very similar story about a pair of blue sneakers, by the way. Couldn't throw them away until you could smell them from across the room.) Can she really be my daughter and not want a new backpack? Strange, but true.