Grandma Goes Viral

Well, not exactly, but I won't be surprised if this video does make a few internet rounds. Grandma moved to an assisted living facility in Charlotte last year.  She's close to my uncle and his family and not to far from my sister.  Being the social butterfly that she is, I'm not at all surprised by this clip from the local news station.  My cousin Angela called Grandma "bad ass" after seeing this. (Choose full screen for proper viewing enjoyment.)

WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

I'm not even surprised that there is video of Grandma doing the Harlem Shake before I even knew about this phenomenon.  This is the same woman who when I was maybe ten or eleven years old, came into my room to do the Electric Slide while I was doing my homework and listening to the radio one night.

Of course, my favorite part is that she's been living there for just over a year and is already the Ambassador for the facility (it's capitalized because it's a title, and when Grandma thinks about it, I'm sure she sees it that way).

I just hope when I'm pushing 90 years old, I can still shake it.  Although my sister said we'd probably break a hip shakin' it.  Worth it.

How to Avoid Shovelling Snow

After the storm, Dave and I knew we had a lot of clean up to do.  So after breakfast, we bundled up and went outside.  Dave cleared about half of the driveway in front of the garage using the snow blower.  I helped him clear the Jeeps of snow, and then together we got most of the snow off the snowmobiles and the trailer. 

Let it be know that after this, I went to work continuing to shovel.  I cleared the back steps and the deck from this:

To this:

Do you like how the snow pile is almost level with the deck?

While I was busy with that, Dave decided it was time to play. And by play, I mean start up his snowmobile and run it up and down the street.  Behold (and excuse my shaky camera work):

It didn't take him 5 minutes to load the sled back on the trailer.  It took about 15 minutes worth of trying (I finished shoveling the deck by this point), and then he stopped because he couldn't get the sled lined up and kept sinking into the fluffy snow.  But before he moved on to clear the driveway, I needed to do one thing. 

I attempted to make a snow angel, but once I got on top of the snow, I kind of sunk in a few inches and then couldn't move my arms or legs to make wings.  Dave helped me up, but I think it looks more like the snow version of a chalk body outline in a crime scene than a snow angel.

We went inside, warmed up and grabbed some lunch, then went back out to finish the job.  Dave finally got to work and cleared the drive way (and put the sled back on the trailer), while I cleared the front steps.  I intended to walk towards the front door and then clear the snow backwards, from the door to the driveway.  Unfortunately, I went about 5 steps before I ran into a drift that came up to my hips and I could got any further.  So I started shoveling from there.  Luckily it was light and fluffy snow, so it wasn't hard.  But since there was 2 feet of it, it took multiple shovelfuls in the same spot to get down to the concrete.

A little fun and some mildly back-breaking labor, and we can get our cars up and down the driveway.  More importantly, we were able to get the trailer down the driveway and go snowmobiling in Hollis, NH with our friends Felise and Nick on Sunday.

Photo Op! Nick and Felise

And then Dave and me.

My brother texted me on Sunday if I preferred 2 feet of snow or morning jack hammers from a water main break.  The snow.  Definitely the snow.

Thanks for the snowmobile pictures, Felise!

Time Lapsed Photography (Blizzard 2013)

I owe you updates on our trip to Florida and our adventure in buying a new washing machine, but I'll give you the most timely update first. 

We got a bit of snow. 

Like a couple feet.

The official (according to the news) amount is over 24 inches for our town, but Dave thinks it was closer to 20 inches.  Hard to tell since the wind during this storm was so fierce (and continued to be so after the storm), that the drifting was pretty bad. 

The story goes that while the weather reports indicated early this week that we'd see snow this weekend, it wasn't until Wednesday that things started looking like this would be a storm, then something more than a storm.  Luckily most people took the warnings seriously and on Friday we got down to business.  Knowing the storm was expected to hit during the evening rush hour, most places indicated they'd close business at noon, and my work was no exception.  I took the train into work, left at noon and Dave picked me up since he's be able to navigate the weather in his Jeep fairly well.  Luckily it was just starting to snow heavily, but the roads were still traveled enough that it was just wet on the main highway, and only slight coating on the back roads.  We got home, hunkered down and had lunch and at 1:30 pm on Friday, I sent out this picture:

2/8/13 1:30 pm

Then we watched it accumulate.

2/8/13 2:35 pm

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At about 9:00 pm, Dave wanted to try to clear some of the snow to make it easier on himself for the final clean up.  So he cleared about 8 inches of snow off the driveway, while it was still coming down hard and the wind was blowing at sustained speeds of over 30 mph.

I took another picture before bed.

2/8/13 10:39 pm

However, I knew it would be a much different sight in the morning.

2/9/13 8:32 am

Finally, at about 11 am, the snow stopped falling, clouds actually began to part, and the winds slowed down to just big gusts.

2/9/13 9:43 am

2/9/13 11:02 am

So we had a lot of clean up to do, but that's it's own story.  Of course.

Wanted: Cleaning Person and Slightly Warmer Temperatures

It's been cold in the Northeast (and much of the country) this week.  Bitter cold.  It was -2 when I left the house yesterday morning, but my car's thermometer refused to go below 0.  As though it decided that 0 was cold enough and really, is there a difference between 0 and -2? 

The house has a sunroom that is basically an enclosed deck with nice walls and a floor.  It's raised in the yard, so there is no foundation under the floor (it's where we store the kayaks and the lawn furniture!), it's got three exterior walls and a glass slider that opens to the kitchen.  A nice cool place with a cross breeze in the summer, and what we refer to as a walk in cooler in the winter.  The kegirator lives there and at New Year's we decided to put all the drinks (sodas, champagne, bottled water) out there so they'd stay cool without needing to by bags of ice for coolers or take up awkward space in the fridge. 

And since then, we've been lazy and haven't brought said beverages back into the kitchen, just bundling up to go out in what is essentially arctic temperatures just to get a caffeine fix. 

Last night Dave was doing paperwork in the office and I was playing video games in the living room.  The kitchen is in between and sunroom is off the back of the kitchen.  Dave came in to the living room and asked, "What fell?"

Me: Huh?

Dave:  I thought I heard something fall in the kitchen.

Me:  I didn't hear a thing.

Dave went out the kitchen and poked around but didn't see anything out of place.  This morning, I received the following:

So since we didn't have any plans for the weekend, I guess now we'll be spending the morning clean the soda off of the floors, walls and ceiling in the sunroom.  At least it will still be frozen so it'll be less sticky.  But of course, that also means we'll be cold while we clean.  Lesson learned--bring in the soda when the temperatures dip below freezing or you too can be cleaning Coke Zero off your walls.

Riddle Me This

I just got off a flight to Florida to visit my friend Lisa and her husband and meet their sweet baby girl.  I needed to use the restroom on the plan. Explain to me why if smoking is illegal on a plane, the why is there an ashtray on the door about a foot and a half below the no smoking sign?

Sleds & Snow

On Sunday morning, Dave and I got our stuff together and drove again up to Hollis, NH, to take our snowmobiles out for a little drive.  We belong to a group called Hollis No'Easters, a group of snowmobilers who maintain the trails in the Hollis area.  We went to Silver Lake again and this time, we went on a different set of trails, a little wider, a little more rolling, and as it turned out, a little more fun.

Shortly after getting on the trail, we found ourselves in an apple orchard, which was pretty cool.  Then a little while later, we were in a town park.  The trails are multi-use, meaning they aren't just reserved for snowmobilers.  Again, we saw people hiking with their dogs, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  This was a pretty popular area because the trail cuts through the park, but either side of the trail is restricted and snowmobiles aren't allowed, so people can play with their dogs, make snow angels, etc.

We ended up going almost 9 miles out on this trail, crossing roads and bridges, going around some quick turns and bumpy patches.  It's starting to get a little warm for January so some spots were sparse with snow, but it was still fun.  After a little break, we turned around a headed back.  Dave and I can't figure out why, but the trail was a lot more fun on the way back.  Maybe it was because we were familiar with it. Maybe because we were going uphill.  Or maybe because we were a little more comfortable with our snowmobiles.  Regardless, we had a good time. 

Then we got back to the orchard.  There were a few other snowmobilers out, but not many and the orchard was empty.  Even though we couldn't talk to each other, apparently Dave and I both had the same idea: Time to open this sucker up.  I hit the throttle and just went for it.  When I did look down and see that I was just shy of 30 mph, I laughed and let off a bit, pleased that I had the guts to do it.  Dave had a similar experience, but his sled was a little quick on the gas and he shot forward, getting up to 30 pretty quickly.

We had a great day out. It'll be too warm to be any fun this weekend, but hopefully over the next few week's New Hampshire will get a little more snow (notice how I qualified where I wanted the snow to be?) and we can go play some more before the end of the month.

Cozy Homemade Gifts

This year I made five snuggly blankets for Christmas gifts to share with friends and family.  I was pretty happy with one of the patterns and made three different versions in different color combinations.  It came together pretty quickly--I finished half of one on the flight to Charlotte for Thanksgiving.  I first made a pink and purple one, doublestranded, double crochet V-stiches for Rachel and John to snuggle up when their little girl arrives next month.  I forgot to take a picture, but then I made a brown/beige one for my friends Mere and Nick, and then a third one in browns and greens for Annette.

The next was a repeat pattern from last year, the diagonal blanket I made then for Madaline & Ernie, Jeff & Jo, and Kate & Andy.  This year I used the same cozy Lion Brand Homespun yarn in a royal and a light blue to make the pattern for my friend Stacy. 

Finally, the last blanket I made was again from the cozy Homespun in shades of green for my brother JR and his girlfriend Jen.  It's a little chevron wave and I like how the colors blend together.  JR was very kind when he left me a message that Mom would be proud of the work I did on that afghan.

All three patterns were free from either JoAnn Fabrics or the Lion Brand website.  If you're interested in the specific pattern, leave me a message below and I'd be happy to share it with you (I just don't have them handy right now).

First Run...Almost Made It

So last night, Central Massachusetts got it's first meaningful snow for the season.  We got a dusting for Christmas and about an inch on Friday morning.  But last night, we got about 10 inches of fresh, fluffy snow.  And Dave couldn't be happier.  All night he kept running to the windows,checking the accumulation.  Actually, I'm surprised he didn't wake up and jump up and down on the bed, exclaiming about how much snow we got.  I'm very proud that he didn't.

While we wanted to take our snowmobiles out, we haven't registered them yet and today the agent office was closed.  So we went cross country skiing at Great Brook Ski Touring Center.  It was a great day for it.  The sun came out, the powder was perfect for gliding, and I only fell once (over some ice at the very beginning). 

Dave and I came back home and cleared out some snow from around the house and Dave killed the downspout with the snow blower.

The little dark chunks to the left of the downspout are more pieces of downspout.  Dave is ashamed.

Then we decided to have some real fun.  Even though our snowmobiles aren't registered, we can ride them on our own property.  Behold: Dave turning our backyard into his own private, albeit tiny, snowmobile trail. (My apologies for the sideways-ness of this video...I actually thought I was taking it correctly.)

It was actually pretty fun.  Until we went to put the sled back on the trailer and Dave came up the slight incline only to run out of gas.  We didn't have that much gas in it to begin with, and I'm sure the slight tilt didn't help, but it was pretty funny to see that after going around the yard about 8 times, he didn't have enough in the tank to bring it home.

So close, yet so far.  Dave is again ashamed.

So on Dave's agenda for tomorrow is registering the snow mobiles and stopping for gas on the way home so we can get the sled back on the trailer (and hopefully go out on a real trail later this week).

Harpoon Brewery or Beer at 11:30 am

Dad came up to spend Christmas with Dave and I this year.  So we thought the perfect thing to do would be head to the Harpoon Brewery in Boston and take the tour.  If you remember, Dave and I visited the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT, and took the tour, which resulted in a lot of beer consumption, specifically because another woman on the tour didn't like the beer and kept giving her portion to Dave.

Well, the Boston tour was equally fun.  It happened to be Ugly Sweater Day, so most of the tour guises were dressed in hideous Christmas sweaters which was of course, amazing.  The fun thing about the Harpoon Brewery in Boston is that because of Prohibition, the Harpoon brewery license is noted as 001, the oldest continuously operating brewery in the state of Massachusetts. 

The tour starts with a tasting, this time of their Rye IPA.  Then we got to taste the IPA straight off the line, unfiltered and very cold.  Then later another taste of the filtered IPA for a comparison and finally a free for all at the tasting taps.  I tried the Harpoon Dark, the Raspberry UFO and the UFO White.  Dave tried some of the more dark and unique offerings, and both Dad and Dave tried the Apple Pie, which is the combination of the Winter Warmer and their Apple Cider.  It legitimately tastes like apple pie in a glass.  So we bought a six pack of each of those to enjoy with Christmas dinner (since I didn't make apple pie for dessert, it seemed appropriate. 

Then we had to get lunch, cause we were getting a little tipsy before 1 pm.

This Is What Happens When You Don't Say No

So after last year's Halloween's snowstorm followed up promptly by a winter of, well, no snow, Dave is very anxious to get this winter started and bring on what he predicts will be snow of epic proportions.  I won't lie, I am kind of interested in it snowing so we can go cross-country skiing, since there are trails near our house.  Dave's excited by that prospect as well, but he's more excited about this.

Yes, those our snowmobiles and yes, they are ours.  Because I never told my husband no.  Truth be told, I'm excited about them too.  A few years ago, we took a winter trip to New Hampshire for some cross-country skiing and decided to rent a snowmobile.  It was kind of awesome.  Freezing cold, but awesome.  So when Dave told me he had "the need for speed" (yup, he used those words) and then made his argument, I could find no holes to poke in it, no ill-founded logic, and no reason to say no.  I never actually said yes, but I didn't discourage him.

So now, thanks to Craig's List, we have 2 sleds that will each hold two people (so we can take friends!) and a trailer to pull them with.  We decided to get two sleds so we could each drive (which is really the most fun part) and because on that bitter cold day a few years ago, we realized it's the driver who stays warm, so if we intend to go out for a few hours, we both want the advantages of the hand warmers and foot guards.  (Don't worry, friends.  These sleds actually have heated handle bars and foot guards in the back, so you'll be safe.  We didn't know that was an option until we already decided to get two sleds.  And I'll let you drive.  Maybe Dave will, too.)

November snow in Boston.

Thanks to the snow we got recently, Dave's quite anxious to get on the trails.  I could wait a bit, but yes, I'm looking forward to it too.  Especially looking forward to some snow over Christmas so we can take my Dad out (that sound is my brother getting jealous). 

But for the record, since I didn't say no to snowmobiles and let my husband drive a Lamborghini, I'm still waiting for my medal and/or cash prize (eh, just cash prize) for being the best wife ever. 

I Should've Kicked Her Down the Stairs

With the weekend storm, it was obvious that commuting on Tuesday was going to be a struggle.  Thinking about it and talking it over with Dave, we figured given all the options, the train would still be my best bet because at least then I wouldn't have to deal with unfamiliar detours and crazy drivers.  I might be a little late, but I'd be safe.

I took an early train in and still got to work about 15 minutes late (so about 45 minutes past the regular arrival time for that train).  No big deal--they'd only had an opportunity to work on the rails for about 8 hours, in the dark and it was still windy and rainy.  I figured the evening would be about the same, but hopefully better.  Anticipating a longer trip in both directions, I brought my Kindle and a couple skeins of yarn to work on some crochet projects.

We got off to a good start going home, but at some point came to a pretty abrupt stop.  There were only two conductors (as opposed to three) and they weren't the normal guys for that train.  It had been slow going up to that point, so it wasn't a huge surprise that we stopped.  It happens in good weather sometimes.  We sat for about 15 minutes before the power went out. Now, it was about 5:15 pm or so, still cloudy and becoming stormy, so it was pretty dark.  Ridership was significantly down yesterday (people dealing with power out at home or at work, kids home from school or maybe just decided to drive instead), so there wasn't a huge raucous among the riders.  People were generally of the same opinion--we expected to be delayed.  What was odd, however, is that the conductors weren't making announcements about what was going on, especially since the power went out.

I'll interrupt here to say that on Monday, the MBTA--Boston's public transit--suspended service mid-afternoon,before the brunt of the storm hit us.  One of the statements I read from the MBTA said, "the safety of our employees, customers and infrastructure is our number one priority."  And I was glad to see that part of that safety meant not running trains in hurricane-strength winds.

After another 5 minutes, a conductor walked through the car I was in, but didn't say anything.  When he was almost out, a rider hollered, "What's going on?  Are you going to make an announcement?"  Apparently this guy didn't get the memo because his response (to a complete innocuous, reasonable, and mild-mannered question) was, "We're trying to get the train running!"  The guy, upset and reasonably so at that response, said, "Well an announcement would be nice!"  To which the conductor got the last word of, "We're doing our best."  Well, apparently not because we were still stopped and still in the dark, literally and figuratively.  We had no idea why.  A few minutes later, we learned we were being hooked up to the train behind us when a sudden bump jerked the train, rather abruptly.  Following that, the other conductor came through and made an announcement that we were hooked up and would be pushed to our destination.  But that would require our normally express train (ha!) to make all the local stops.

It took an extra 1 1/2 hours for me to get to my train stop last night.  And frankly, despite almost losing battery in my phone (I was down to 5%), missing an appointment, being hungry and desperately needing to pee, I was ok with it.  Yeah, it sucks, but I knew this was a risk when I chose to ride the train and luckily since the train wasn't crowded people were on their best behavior.

Until we were in line to finally get off the train at my stop.  A woman (older, maybe 60s?) who I see often and is generally cordial, polite and makes standard "train conversation" (random musings with people you don't know) with other train people (not me--I generally keep to myself) decided to engage me while standing behind me in line.  I was decked in my rain jacket, hood up and tightened.  My hood has a string that lets you adjust the fit of the hood not only around your face, but also through the back, so an elastic band hangs off the back of the hood. 

This woman pulled the string. 

Not once, but repeatedly for several seconds. And she wasn't just pulling the string, she was rocking my head and neck back and forth.

Woman: This is dangerous. (pulling the string, yanking my head)

Me: Yeah....(completely flabbergasted, then pissed) so why don't you stop pulling it.  Because touching someone you don't know is a real good idea.  You don't touch strangers.

Woman (dropping string): I didn't mean...

Me: It is never appropriate to touch a stranger.  Ever.

She didn't say anything else and then it turned out that the door behind us was being opened, necessitating that we turn around and now I was behind her.

How old were you when you learned it wasn't ok to touch a stranger?  Why do people feel it's appropriate to put their hands on someone else?  I have friends who are befuddled when someone they don't know thinks it's ok to touch their baby or child without asking.  I'm not sure which is more shocking--that someone would touch a child they don't know or a grown adult who might just deck them. 

I was completely ok with being stuck on the train for hours, in the dark, but why would another person in that same situation think it's a good idea to doing something so inappropriate and irritating to a complete stranger?  I feel confident that this woman has ridden the train for enough years (I've been on it for 5 1/2 and have seen her often), that she knows the one way train commuters get on edge is dealing with a late train.

All I know is that I hope she was scared as hell knowing I was walking behind her as we exited the train.  Because it was all I could do to not kick her down the stairs.

We Survived

Well, luckily Hurricane Sandy didn't hit Massachusetts nearly as hard as was anticipated.  It was forecast to be so bad that the governor closed all schools, colleges & universities.  Which meant that the university I work at closed for the first time in almost forever. Possibly since World War II.  Basically this place never closes.

Anywho, the storm came and didn't directly hit the coast, instead doing much more damage south of us.  We did go through heavy rain and extreme winds.  I'm pretty sure the wind didn't stop all.day.long.  It was so bad that when we went to bed last night, after things were starting to calm down, I said to Dave that I could no longer tell if the wind was blowing because the sound was so constant I'd become immune to it.

But the best part of the whole thing is that we didn't lose power.  YAY!  After last Halloween's freak snowstorm, I wasn't looking forward to a hurricane damaged version of the same. It was still dark when I left this morning, but I don't think we lost any trees.  Just a lot of leaves and small twigs and branches littered the roads nearby.  A lot of people in our town and towards the coast are dealing with much worse clean up, so my heart goes out to them and I hope they remain safe. 

Thinking of all my friends and family closer to the impact of the storm:  Hope you all are safe and well!

New Rule

When at the gym, if you insist on walking around the locker room buck naked (no towel, no bra/panties, buck.naked.), please have the decency to follow common etiquette of walking on the right in the hallways. 

I would prefer not to turn the corner and run into your boobs.

Really.

This Post Would Be Better With Pictures

Last Saturday, Dave and I went kayaking, but I didn't think to take my camera or my phone, so I have no pictures.  Which would make this story far more interesting.  I'll try with words instead.

We dropped into the Concord River not far from home and thought we'd paddle south toward the Old North Bridge.  We were going against the current and the wind, apparently so we'd have an easier time getting back (HA!) but we never actually considered how far that would be.  Seriously we thought it would be an easy little jaunt down the river.  The day was gorgeous, sunny, and warm with a slight breeze, and the leaves on the trees along the river bank were starting to turn in to pretty yellows and reds.  A few fishermen were out and a couple other kayakers, but for the most part the river was empty.  Empty enough that we saw a few heron at different points, apparently "fishing" for breakfast.  Nice and tranquil.

Until we were paddling for about an hour and still weren't at the bridge.  Three times I thought to myself, "It should be just beyond this bend."  Each time I was wrong.  We reached a fork in the river and Dave, ahead of me, asked me which way.  I honestly thought we were supposed to go to the left and said so.

Again, I was wrong. 

Turns out it was just a large cove. so I turned around, paddled out of the cove and almost made it to the turn to continue back down the river. 

Now at this point, my arms are sore because I'm not used to paddling for so long against the current and wind.  I'm starting to get blisters on my thumbs from the grip (and because I forgot my gloves and don't have squishy paddle grips,yet).  So I won't lie that I was mildly irritated when Dave called me from the back of the cove.

Dave: Colleen, come here.

Me (muttering to myself): This better be good.

I turned around and just as I started to paddle back, something popped up out of the water. And I swear it looked me in the eye.  We had a moment where I thought, "What the hell is that?" and it thought, "Ahh! I'm gonna die!"

I paddled back to Dave and saw he was looking at some sort of wooden, branch-like plant that was home to probably half a dozen turtles sunning themselves.

Ok, it was good.

There was another smaller plant of the same type of to the right.  It really just looked like leafless tree branches poking out of the water and there were a bunch of 4-7 inch turtles, I think they were painted turtles because they didn't look big enough to be snapping turtles.  Apparently we paddled not into a cove but into a turtle sanctuary!  We probably saw about 30 turtles either on the branches, dropping into the water or poking their heads out of the surface (must've been what I saw when I turned my boat around to come back).  It actually made me nervous to paddle out because I didn't want to hit any of them.

So after spending a little while watching the turtles and getting out of our paddling groove, we decided just to head back since our bodies were communicating their exhaustion.

By the way, I do not think it was easier on the way back.

More Reading: Fall Book List

I work as an administrator for a bunch of faculty and each spring I make sure their course goes off without a hitch.  This includes attending weekly meeting on the upcoming classes.  While I order catering for these meetings, I always supplement with some homemade baked goodies.  It's really just an excuse to bake for the cookie blog and then get the calories out of the house (and not into Dave or I).  As a thank you, I received a very generous Amazon gift certificate which I put towards buying myself a Kindle Fire 7", LCD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB.  I picked it up over the summer and was in love.  I've literally plowed through books (most of them free!) by reading on the train, on the cardio equipment at the gym, and instead of watching the crap TV that was on over the summer.  I also love that because there are so many free books (and the Lending Library through Amazon Prime), I've exposed myself to different genres and if I don't like a book, I don't feel committed to finish reading it.  I just delete it and move on to something else.

There are too many books here to do a review on each, so I've broken it down into how much I liked it.  The "Definitely Read" books are ones that I could not put down and am so glad I downloaded.  The "Good If You're Bored" books were fun, mostly quick, reads that are a good one to grab while your waiting for something from the wait list at the library or waiting for a new month to begin to get something new from the Lending Library.  And for the record, I consider "chick-lit" fun, sexy stories about young women still finding their way in the world and "women's fiction" to be a more mature look on being an adult and the life they lead.  In no particular order, here's what I've been reading.

Definitely Read

• Swimby Jennifer Weiner--short story, chick lit; a prequel to her new novel, The Next Best Thing
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins--fantasy, science fiction, teen fiction (finally on board and I loved it)
• Summer of Firefly Memories by Joan Gables--women's fiction, family relationships
• Golden Lies by Barbara Freethy--women's fiction, mystery, romance, family relationships
• I Think I Love You (a humorous romantic mystery) by Stephanie Bond--chick-lit, mystery, family relationships (Stephanie Bond may be one of my new favorites)
• Crossroads Road: A Novel by Jeff Kay--(disfunctional) family relationships, humor
• Never Buried (Leigh Koslow Mystery Series) by Edie Claire--mystery, slightly chick-lit (and it's set it Pittsburgh!)
• Tales from the Crib by Jennifer Coburn--women's fiction, humor

Good If You're Bored

• Charlie In Love by LC Zingera--chick-lit; romance (I did not expect this to turn into the new generation of Harlequin romance, but it wasn't awful)
• The Enemy's Son by Kristen James--chick-lit, mystery, romance
• The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom by Robyn Harding--women's fiction, mystery
• More by Heidi Marshall--chick-lit, romance, Christian fiction (but in the slightest sense)
• Whispering Hills (Whispering Hills, #1) by Taryn Browning--mystery, teen paranormal fiction (I had no idea, I swear!)
• Sleeping with Paris by Juilette Sobanet--chick-lit, romance
• Welcome to Scranton by Greg Halpin--coming of age
• Chop, Chop (Chop, Chop Series - Book 1) by LN Cronk--Christian fiction, coming of age (I really wanted this book to be more, so I read it through the end but was left unfulfilled.  But it could be good for the right person.)

I can lend most of these books once--leave me a comment with your email address and I'll hook you up!