New Monday Blog

(Talk about writer's block. Could I possibly have a more uninspired title?)

I did break the blog, but I fixed it. Sorta. (It turns out HTML code is not that difficult a code to crack.) I fixed the main broken things, but the header is not centered and it is driving me slightly crazy- like sticking your head in a beehive crazy. This kind of snafu sends my linear and symmetrical loving brain into an OCD frenzy. I have to fix it, but as I said to my husband last night, "There are a million other really important things that I should be doing. But here I sit. Trying to match the sidebar title background color with the wallpaper colors." Gah.

We did a little bit of yard saling this weekend and we made two major scores. The first is this.

The complete set of Little House on the Prairie books, for five (5!!) dollars. I grabbed it, paid and ran away before the owner realized that I underpaid.

The second is this, a Weber grill.

We went to an estate sale that was being hosted by an estate sale company (Duh. The department of redundancy department called.), and its very snooty employee. They were selling the grill for twenty-five dollars. When I looked in my wallet I realized that I only had twenty-one dollars. So I asked the supervisor if she would take twenty-one dollars because it is all the cash that we have. She looked at me like I asked her for a kidney. From her only child.

I nervously began counting out change and came up with another dollar and fifty cents. I glanced at the woman again and said, "How about $22.50?" She reluctantly said alright. I was trying not to show my irritation. "Throw me a bone, lady." I felt like asserting. "Do you want to unload the grill or do you want to schlep it back into the garage?" On Sunday afternoon, when you are at the end of your garage sale, you should not be so persnickety.

It was so unlike me to not haggle, or just confidently ask if she would take twenty for it. I was a little off my game. Clearly the asymmetrical header upset me more than I originally thought.

Kevin is so happy with his new toy. He was regaling all of us with its finer points last night over dinner. It's stainless steel pan, its east start mechanism, and its low setting wherein he can defrost his Bubba burgers. He is a happy man.

52 Books Challenge

Well, at least I am blogging again in the under two months mark.

I took the challenge last year, but did not read the 52 books, mainly because I started late. So technically we are in the 6th week of the year, and I am on book 5 Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada. So far it is very good. I especially like the way that the characters are being developed in such a detailed manner. I can't wait until tonight when I can hunker down on the couch and get a good hundred pages under my belt.

So far I have read:
Unbroken
Every Last One
The Dogs of Winter
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

All of them were terrific, especially Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

I actually think that I read another book in addition to these, but I can't remember. I am going to go to the library where the librarians can pull up my record of books checked out. It is quite something, the information at their fingertips. I wish they could also tell me when I will lose this last 5 pounds, or where I left my other silver hoop earring. Now that would be noteworthy!

What are you reading?

Back on track

I would have posted yesterday, but I had to re-group. And by "re-group" I mean find my sanity. I am always losing it. Why is that? Why do my children drive me to the edge? What evil pleasure do they derive from seeing me go completely berserk? I don't know. But I do know that if I saw me go berserk, I would not be so eager to witness it again which brings me back to my first question. Why do my children drive to to the edge?

Tuesday I had had it. No one was listening. No one was cooperating. No one was being have. (Translated that is 'behaving'. Being have is one of my favorite southern expressions.) I wanted nothing more than to sit on the couch with a can of Betty Crocker strawberry mist whipped frosting and a spoon eating myself into a stupor from sugar and red dye #40. But I could not do that because I had to be at a Cub Scout meeting at 6:30 and the children needed to be fed.

As soon as we arrived at the church and went into the building, I ran into my good friend and fellow committee member. She saw on my face just how stressed I was and then she saw the shell shocked faces of my children and knew that we were all stressed.

"Awww," she began, compassion oozing from her voice. "Rough day? Do we need to pray?"

Why, yes, yes we do.

She grabbed all of us and just began to pray. She prayed that God's presence would be with us and that we would have a blessed rest of the week. In that moment I felt a huge weight lift, and I believe my boys felt it, too. How thankful I am for Godly friends who are not afraid to address the issues of the heart and storm the gates of heaven for us.

So yesterday was a re-group day. Some days I just need them. I needed to be free of the internet's lure. I needed to saturate myself in reality and enjoy my children instead of wanting to hide from them in the bathroom. It was a good day.

My break from reality yesterday came only in the form of Marina Nemat's book Prisoner of Tehran. Have you read this book? You should. As I read chapter after chapter last night, tears filled my eyes. I was overcome with emotion as I read Marina's story of survival and faith.

We have another busy ahead of us, and we are looking forward to Survivor tonight. I am so over Russell, I really would love to see the rest of the survivors blindside him and knock him off of his self-ordained pedestal. This season has not been the same since they got rid of the Rob Father. What do you think? Will Russell win?

Books from yesteryear

This weekend my faithful partner and youngest boy, Joe, and I hit some garage sales. We scored big! Among Joe's favorites was a familiar book by James Marshall called Miss Nelson is Missing. We bought it, along with some other books, for a quarter each.


As we snuggled up together on Sunday morning to read it, memories flooded my mind. I used to sit with my older boys to read this same book. Joe was not even a thought in our minds yet when John and Jeremy first discovered this gem. John loved Detective McSmogg, and Jeremy loved the descriptions of the children flying paper airplanes around the room. To this day he has a penchant for paper airplanes.

One of the reasons that my boys loved this book so much, I think, is because I told them that I used to read it when I was a little girl. With a copyright of 1977, I was only 6 when this book was published. I have memories of seeing this book on my public school teachers' shelves, and of borrowing this book from the library.

Many times I will assign reading to the boys and they will give me the I don't want to read a girl book face. I have to explain to them that I am a girl who read the book, yes, but that does not make it a girl book exclusively. They took Charlotte's Web, and Little House on the Prairie, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and Ramona the Pest and read them. A chapter or two into the book and all complaints ceased. Good writing is like that. It captures your attention and holds you, makes you yearn for more.

It fills me with pride and joy to see my boys enjoying the books that I enjoyed as a child. And, between you and me, I still do some of them as read alouds because I love them so much. Although they are still amused when I am boo-hooing it up at the end of Charlotte's Web.

What books have you read as a child that your children now enjoy?

The Well and the Mine

This weekend I finished Gin Miller's book The Well and the Mine. It was a moving, engaging and thoughtful book. I highly recommend it. It made me, yet again, long to be a better writer.

I recently borrowed a bunch of books on writing from the library. I am devouring them! The question I have though, is- are good writers born good writers or are the made? Is it like the Cicero quote I frequently share with my children-the skill to do comes from the doing. I am still trying to figure it out. I think that is it a little of both.

I am moving on to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I can't wait to jump in to Sara's world of circus life.

Save the Library! Save the Library!

One of our towns greatest assets is the public library. It is a very small library, but the librarians are top notch. We are on a first name basis. They know us, and they treat us well. They put books aside that they think might further our home school studies. They offer creative suggestions, and point us in the right direction when we are confused. Furthermore, as home schoolers, the library is one of our most precious resources, and I do not take the access to it lightly.

Last week, when I went in to pick up my weekly slew of books, I was met with some disturbing news. The New Jersey libraries are under threat of proposed budget cuts to be manifested in the form of library closures, elimination of state aid, and elimination of the inter library loan system, or ILL. As I said previously, our library is very small and because of that they do not offer the largest selection of materials. This fact never really concerned me because 90% of my library patronage comes from ILL. So you can well imagine my consternation over the proposed cuts.

I fully understand that times in New Jersey are tough. People are out of work, and losing their homes. Taxes are too high, and people are fleeing the state at an alarming rate. Cuts need to be made, and drastic changes need to occur. But. Leave the libraries alone. There must be a better way to trim the budget.

I am going to go all Back to the Future and start running around town screaming, "SAVE THE LIBRARY! SAVE THE LIBRARY!"

File under: Stupid government tricks.

Lion Taming and Book Thievery

Today is our first day back to school after a two week hiatus. Spring break and sickness have wreaked havoc on my schedule, and I am a going to pay today. I am afraid that the boys are going to stage a coup, and I am thinking that a preemptive strike might be in order. Something involving a whip and a chair perhaps?

I am also participating in the 52 books in 52 weeks. I am currently reading a book that I inadvertently "stole" from the library. Normally I am quite disciplined when it comes to returning books to the library, and I take very good care of the books that we borrow. So when I went to the library and the librarian informed me that The Well and the Mine was overdue, I was surprised. I explained to her that I returned it and she checked again. She said that it was not returned and would I please check at home for it, just in case.

I checked at home and it was not here. I simply could not find it, and I looked under and behind things, even. I could not locate the book, until I went to pack for Florida, in February. The book was in my suitcase!

I completely forgot that I packed the book last fall. We traveled out of town for a wedding and I planned on reading at night in the comfort of our hotel room. And then I remembered that my boys were going to be in the hotel room with me, and there would be no reading. Or comfort. Or quiet.

I called the library and they were, as usual, kind and forgiving. They absolved me of all fines and asked me to return the book when I am done.

So this week I am reading The Well and the Mine by Gin Miller. It drew me in from the first sentence and has kept me riveted since. I wish that I could read it right now, but my children are waiting for me to slap some larnin' on 'em.

Off to school, and to find the whip.

P.S. I know that book titles need to be underlined, but I can't figure out the code to accomplish this. Help?

52 Books in 52 Weeks

Found this at Amy's blog. My personal reading has been pushed to the back burner lately. This presents me with a great opportunity to make it a priority again.

Anyone care to join me?

And, more importantly, what are you reading? I need suggestions.


2010
A Girl of the Limberlost
Blue Like Jazz
Going Rogue
Wisconsin Death Trip
Lost
The Swan House
The Glass Castle
Walking Home
Slow Fire
The Help
A Reliable Wife
Infidel
Prisoner of Tehran
The Well and the Mine
Water for Elephants
Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Writing Down the Bones
Words Fail Me
The Writing Life
Breathing Lessons
To Kill a Mockingbird
Band of Sisters
The Girl Who Chased the Moon
Left for Dead