Mondaze Report: In need of a Pick-Me-Up

Good Monday morning to you all! (or is it?)

Yet more evidence that Mondays suck. At this moment, the headlining story over at MSNBC is of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in China said to have killed at least 5,000 so far and collapsing hospitals, schools, factories and more. They know of at least 900 children trapped in one school alone. Coming off Mother's Day weekend (and being a mom myself), this seems especially tragic and we know that the worst news is yet to come. Please keep these frightened people and affected families in your thoughts and prayers!

This comes after last week's tornadoes in the southeastern US (and Yours Truly was in the path, spending all of Thursday evening glued to the stormcast reports. Everyone else in the area got walloped but we didn't even get so much as a good show), the ongoing aftermath in Myanmar, and other weather events around the world that have put so many people in harm's way.

After all that bad news, I actually didn't mind reading the sugary sweet recap of Jenna Bush's weekend wedding. I was going to blatantly steal a few pics for this post but then thought better of it... well, you can view them here. I'm not a Dubya fan at all, but seeing him as the proud Papa made me melt just a wee bit. This is what happens when I'm hit with hard news: I turn into the biggest sap ever.

This Friday I'm taking my daughter to opening night of Narnia: Prince Caspian. That's enough momentum for me to slog through this week, and then some of you will see me at this month's muchly anticipated Toronto ShopCrawl - whoo hoo! If it warrants, I'll give you my 2¢ on the movie next Monday.

Still feeling a little crotchety though. My Peeve of the Week goes out to all of you who misuse quotation marks. Recent radar hits:

~ "Please", cash only. "Thanks" (@ the local corner store) - um, what? Is this a substitute for saying it out loud? What are the quotes for?

~ an obnoxious person at the soccer field using airquotes during a gabfest, but bracketing every word with them. I just wish I would have been sitting downwind 'cuz I would've gotten a nice breeze. And what am I to make of the conversation? That either everything she was saying was a citation of someone else's work, or that she is being ironic? Or that she doesn't know how to use airquotes?

~ Abusers of apostrophes beware: you're probably on the chopping block next week, so clean up your act! Contractions and possessives only please. Plurals should never be apostrophized. Ya been told.

Whew, I'm glad I got that off my chest.

Ciao, chickies!