Books I'm looking for

THere is one that was adapted into a Reader's Digest Article called Deliver us From Evil by Henry Hurt about Haitan Orphans and Kathy and Dan BLackburn

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol Pre-Released

So I was at WalMart in Pittsburg California today and they had Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol on the shelf! I was shaking as I picked it up and raced to the cash register. Naturally I knew that I couldn't buy it until Tuesday, but it doesn't hurt to try, right? Well, naturally it rang up "Sell Not Allowed". The cashier called a manager, I think her name was Debbie, who told me that the item had been put on hold and couldn't be sold but she didn't know why. So I told her why. Yes, I probably shouldn't have done it, but if I can't have that book, nobody can. LOL Well, she told someone else and they promptly cleared the shelf of the 10 or so copies that were out. Wow, some stock person sure fucked up last night.

First Day

On my first day of kindergarten, my mother tried to affix a blue Christmas bow to the barette in my hair. I remember her telling me that it was because all little Jewish girls wore bows in their hair on their first day of school. What does that matter I wonder. I was dressed in a little green dress with a white pinafore. I told my brother the correct way to draw a person, with two eyes one nose, one moth two arms and legs. I'm not sure why I felt that it was important for him to know how to do that.

On the first day I was seated at table two in the classroom next to my neighbor, Carrie Asberry. I was in the corner closest to the carpet and the teachers desk. I brought my Mischa bear with me and held it on the carpet during circle time. I sat behind a boy named Shawn Aragon and I remember thinking that I thought he was wearing a diaper, but it was the way his shirt was tucked into his pants.. Mrs. Beasley introduced me to Katy Wells, another girl I wonder what happened to.

Mrs. Caroline Beasley

Mrs. Beasley was my kindergarten and first grade teacher. She had brown hair and was very tolerant of me. While I was very smart, I believe that I would have been diagnosed with ADD had I been going to school at this time. I remember when she told our class she was moving up to teach first grade and had picked some of us to be in her first grade classroom. I worshipped her and it was a relief that I would have the same teacher. She taught kindergarten in room 2 and first grade in room 7 at Heights elementary in Pittsburg.

At that time, our principal was Mr. Goodwin, another man I adored. Mrs. Beasley worked with another teacher named Mrs. Marsh. Mrs. Marsh also moved up to teaching first grade at that time. I believe she taught in room 8. There were two other first grade teacher, Mrs. King and a Spanish woman whose name eludes me at this time.

Memories

Well, I have a lot of memories that I'd like to keep recorded somewhere. I guess I'll do it here simply so it will be available to me forever. So I will resurrect this blog once again to try recording my memories for posterity.

Keeping it Together

So, with three kids I have a hard time remembering everything I want to get done. Needs are another matter, I always remeber those. So, with projects that aren't essential, I keep a notebook next to my chair with a pen shoved in it. In it I write down all the stupid little things that I'd like to get done, but easily get lost in the shuffle.

Shoulder Surgery

So, I was told by my orthopedic doctor that I need rotator cuff surgery. Ugh. I have a negative MRI, but all my tests indicate that I need this surgery. He claims that about 40% of MRI's are wrong. So, should this erode my confidence in what some feel to be an uber medical diagnostic tool, or should this increase my confidence in my doctor that, through exerience, he feels he can do a better job of diagnosing than a machine. I know that the same situation happened with Pat, and the same doctor was right. I don't want to have surgery without a reason for it. Therefore, I certainly hope he's right.



Unfortunately, we don't know when the surgery will be scheduled. The doctor said that he is having surgery in the end of July which may delay mine until November, I hope not. I want my insurance to cough up and authorize this.

Definitions by Mini-Me

Weepy Eye = Onion

Book Review - Curious George

I wish we could return to a simpler time in children literature. It seems that every book nowadays has to be screened over and over to make sure we don't expose our young ones to something that might influence them and the result, to me, is a bland pablum of happy books with nothing to really laugh at. If we look at the older books we get the menage of mischievous characters dealing with exotic situations that are funny and interesting to children because they are not perfect and politically correct.

One of their favorites is Curious George, a perennial classic. But Curious George is not the innocent storybook character that he would appear to be. Some may think that George is simply a curious little monkey, but did you realize that George is a pawn of Philip Morris? GASP. Yes, in the original classic, George displays his loyalties on his first day in the Man with the Yellow Hat's home. He has dinner and then he smokes a pipe, complete with illustrations to show my impressionable children exactly what transpired, just in case they weren't listening closely enough. But, George, in spite of your foibles, I still love you. I will still read your many adventures to my children who manage to overlook your follies. But maybe we should consider a new book, Curious George and the nicorette patch.

Then we have the Man with the Yellow Hat. Dear Man, you're not exactly being an environmentally friendly partner with the Earth. After all, you removed a little monkey from his home with no thought of the consequence. Perhaps George was an endangered species, or maybe he had a family he left behind. Surely he would have been better off in his home territory. For all we know, he never would have gotten into so much trouble had he stayed at home. In the jungle he would have had normal monkey diversions. Hanging from tree limbs, and swinging from vines would have occupied his time as opposed to eating puzzle pieces, and soaring over the city on the tail of a kite, although then we would never have had his adventures to entertain our children.

Father Memories

My dad was a strange man, and simple things amused him. He used to love maps and to plot out the way we were to go on a trip. In 1993 we went on vacation to Las Vegas, mainly to appease my brother who was fascinated with gambling. It was a trip we couldn't afford but we went. As usual, Steve went and got a road atlas and started mapping the trip. As he studied the maps he noticed two, rather unusually named, mountains - Nellie's Nipple and Squaw Tit. I don't remember what we saw on that trip to Sin City, but I remember those two, politically incorrect, peaks seen in the distance as we sped down the highway, and the glee with. which my father looked forward to seeing them

Plastic

I love my crock pot. Pat got it for me for Christmas 1 1/2 years ago, and yes I did ask for it. But the handle on top broke with in a month, and Rival was not exactly willing to work with me to replace it. Well, I broke down and got a knob at the hardware store to give me an easily usable lid. For my 3 dollars I got a plastic bag with a plastic bag in it holding the knob, and a plastic bag holding a screw. Don't you think that's a lot of plastic for what I bought?

Plastic is one of man's curses to Earth. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a "green meanie" as I refer to the diehard environmentalists such as ELF and the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. Plastic is different, it never goes away. Every microgram of plastic that was ever created is still with us today. It gets smaller and smaller, but it's still here. I try to do my part and recycle, but like in the packaging for my crockpot handle, I wish the companies would try to do their part too.

Walpaper

6 years ago, about a week before I found out I was pregnant with Mini-Me, I started pulling the wallpaper off the walls in Pat's kitchen and he grabbed the flooring to pull it up. Now we were in the middle of a kitchen refurbishing. One thing followed another, and, while we finished the kitchen, we never got the wallpaper trim up on the walls. Well, we did that this weekend.


That trim has been languishing in Pat's washroom for 6 years now. This past Friday I decided that we would measure the kitchen then:

1. Install the trim if we had enough.


2. If we didn't have enough we would buy another roll online or chuck it and call it a day.

Well, we had enough, and we got it up on the walls. But then there was the case of the missing blank plate.

Pat has a receptacle on the wall over the door to his washroom. It's wired up and good, but we've never needed it so we put a blank plate over it, then hung a clock over that. Well, Pat was unscrewing the plate so that we could fit the trim around it. He set the plate down and it disappeared. We never found it and, given that he was on a step ladder at the time, there weren't too many places for it to go. So, Pat must be the David Copperfield of the Do It Yourself set, or that switch plate was magic.

Pre-School Graduation

Mini-Me graduated from Pre-School last night. The ceremony was simple. The kindergarden kids came in and presented their parents with flowers to thank them for bringing them to school. Then the pre-school came in with a poem and 2 songs. Mini-Me was hilarious to watch as he kept pulling his shirt up and exposing his belly because he was so nervous. Then awards were presented. To my surprise I was named Parent of the Year for the time I volunteer there. I usually spend about 1 1/2 hours of a 3 1/2 hour day there reading stories and dancing with the kids and so forth. Then the kindergardeners came in in yellow gowns and mortar boards with blue sashes. They were awarded their diplomas and the ceremony concluded.



I will miss the time I spend in the mornings with Alex's class. I hope Miss Tracie will let me continue in the fall. I was never an official volunteer; I just showed up to drop off or pick up Alex, saw where help was needed and did it.

Arthrograms

Arthrograms hurt like hell. They really do. They strap you to a flouroscope table and start imaging your arm. First they injected several shots of lidocaine. I can't imagine how it would have felt had they not provided that initial numbing. Then they thread a thin tube into your shoulder. I had a tablespoon of "contrast" injected into my shoulder and my shoulder felt, and still feels like, it was about to exlode.

I was then stuck in an MRI machine, without my glasses which, as anyone who know me realizes, is tantamount to torture. The MRI wasn't bad. You just lie as still as possible, with headphones on listening to the music they've provided. You have to wear headphones because the machine is very loud inside. They had some Frank Sinatra which was okay. I would have preferred to listen to my I-Pod with its audio books, but they couldn't hook it up to their stereo system.

It was just the injection of the contrast that made it so horrible. It felt like someone was sticking a sharpened soda stray deep into my shoulder and trying to remove a plug. I am crying now just thinking about it. I hope that I actually needed it. I would hate to have endured that pain to be told that my rotator cuff was fine.

It's all over now. I didn't need my husband to be there. Once again I stood on my own and I am a stronger and more independent person for it.

Speech Therapy

Since Mini-Me was 2 years, 7 months old we have been making a weekly pilgrimage to Children's Hospital Oakland in Pleasanton for Speech Therapy. Alex has many speech issues, mostly related to the fact that he was nearly deaf his first year due to ear infections, and also because he was tongue tied. He had ear tubes at 15 months of age, but the damage had been done.



Mini-Me's first speech therapist, Monica, had a hard time working with him. Her idea of therapy was to have him run through picture cards, having him repeat a sound over and over with different pictures illustrating the sound. His reward was, at the end of the session, to play with her toys but it was hard for him waiting for a big payoff at the end of the session. During this time, he also had a frenulectomy, freeing up his tongue to enable more normal sounds.



Ten months later Monica left and we switched to Joyce. Joyce was a Godsend. She knew how to work with Alex by giving him little play times between short bouts of work. His speech started to take off. Now in September Alex will be stopping speech with Joyce, I will be glad to see him graduate, but I will truly miss Joyce.

The Bun

Bun is my youngest son. He has Lawrence Moon Bardet Biedl syndrome. That is hard for me to discuss. He was born with 12 fingers and 11 toes. His toe was amputated at 5 months. His toes 2 weeks before his first birthday. His arm was in a cast on his first birthday. His foot has a weak joint where the inner baby toe was removed. He has a horrible scar on his hand. He has a slow metabolism and so he is over weight and very tall for his age. He could go blind when he gets older, he could have kidney problems, he could need hormone therapy to go into puberty, he could be sterile. He may be mentally retarded. He may not feel pain the way "normal" people do. He is speech delayed. He has autistic tendencies.





These are all the uncertainties that I deal with when I deal with my son. Do you have any more questions. I think this about covers Bun's syndrome and I hope it does because I am so tired of answering people's questions.





Here's a little more about Daniel. He has a great memory. He has beautiful blue eyes and thick curly hair. He is my little helper boy and I love him. He is my Bun.

Spaghetti

Lately I haven't been able to eat enough spaghetti. This has always been one of my comfort food. As a child I would sit at the table long after everyone else was done consuming plates of the magical stuff. Unfortunately, I ate with a child's gusto slurping the noodles over my chin, which would often result in rashes over my face and cortisone creams galore before my parents finally discovered what it was causing them.

My tastes in spaghetti have matured and now I prefer meatless sauces over rotini pasta, sometimes with cream and vodka, sometimes plain with parmesean cheese. My current favorite I got from the book "The Amateur Gourmet" which also has an accompanying blog. Mini-Me helps stir the sauce so he thinks it tastes better because he helped. He also eats it better when he has a part in making it. It's very simple and employs ingredients that are standards in my pantry - canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, thyme. I like it because it's vegetarian. My husband likes it because it has a stronger flavor so he can't tell if I'm using his despised whole wheat pasta or not. It also keeps really well in the freezer so it pays to make the bigger batch.

For those interested, here's a link to my favorite pasta sauce.

Pump it Up

Tomorrow is Mini-Me's pre-school graduation celebratory field trip. We're taking the 20 members of the junior kindergarden and the 10 students in the kindergarden to Pump it Up in Antioch for a morning of jumping and a luncheon of pizza and juice. Alex loves going there. Unfortunately, he also loves me doing all the jumpers with him so I don't know how well I will be able to stay in my supervisory role. On the other hand, we have never gone with friends so this time he'll have someone he knows (other than me of course) to play with.

Pump it up gives me a headache. In one room they have a giant slide, a small obstacle course and a basketball jumper. In the other room they have another obstacle course, a standard jumper and a big round one with with a mushroom like object in the midde which we generally use to play king of the hill. All these objects are powered by omnipresent blowers whining away. Then add 30 crazy kids running and playing and screaming and crying and laughing. And over it all plays an incessant form of muzak seemingly designed to do nothing but encourage you to leave the play area for some peace and quiet.

Yes, being a parent volunteer can be a pain, but it also has its advantages. You see, by helping out at the school, I get certain favors in return. For example, when I need Alex to stay later, or to be dropped off earlier, they can hardly refuse the parent who's there when they need an extra hand, which is something I will use of this Thursday when I have my arthrogram.

Cake Mix Cookies

I love making these cookies with my kids because they are simplicity in itself. One package of cake mix, one stick of butter, two eggs (one per kid) and as much candy as you can get away with. My kids like to make these in a muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes at 350. They make 2 dozen and rarely make it to the second day.

Book Review - Abhorsen

Abhorsen was the third book in the Old Kingdom trilogy. This was my favorite of the bunch simply because it has an ending that kept me spell bound like no other since The Deathly Hallows. In this book justice is served to Nick Sayre, but I didn't like his return from death as I don't think he learned anything from his experience.

Book Review - Lirael

The direct sequel to Sabriel by Garth Nix. This book is about Lirael of the Clayr, a young woman who is seeking something, she knows not what. She was born to the people of glacier, but she is not really one of them as she finds out. I found Liraels obsession with death, her own death in particular, distress, but it becomes apparent why at the end of the book. This book ends rather abruptly. Apparently, it was never meant to stand alone as Sabriel can, but has a sequel, Abhorsen that will finish the story.

Blades of Glory

Well, Pat came home from the grocery store yesterday with this movie. This is his second attempt at buying it. The first time we bought it at Wal Mart. We opened it at home to find an empty case and Wal Mart refused to refund our money or exchange it. Thank you Wal Mart.

Normally, I don't like Will Ferrell. While I like crude humor, he's too crude for me. This movie however engaged me. I actually stayed more involved in it than Pat. It was laugh out loud. The cameos of former skating stars kept me scanning the screen hoping for yet another glimpse of an old hero or heroine.

The best part, however, was in the special features. I make no secret of the fact that I respect and idolize Scott Hamilton. There is a section where he answered 20 questions about skating and kept me laughing the whole time with his quick wit.

You know you're a mom when...

...you have a little boy with a high fever, sleeping in your bed, inches from your face, breathing germs all over you. Poor Mini-Me. He's snuggled into a chair with his bed and a glass of juice with plenty of ice. He's complaining that his tummy hurts, but he isn't vomiting. Oh well, I've just been paged for more juice.

Sunday

So, I don't want to turn this into a rotator cuff blog, but it's what pervades my thoughts right now. It's weird. I have an arm full of cortisone so it doesn't hurt. So, perversely, I wonder if my arm is now healed. I know the cortisone is supposed to stop it hurting, but still I wonder.



With my nephew having been gone for nearly 3 weeks, I find that his wife is finally grieving. I'm angry with her simply for putting Robert through the pain in their relationship. I know that Robert was no angel, however, he didn't move in with someone else like his wife did. I have yet to grieve for Robert. Instead I grieve for his daughter without a father and for his father without a son, and especially for his father having had to see what a father should never see. At least he didn't take Butch with him.

Book Review - Sabriel

Sabriel, by Garth Nix - I recently finished this book, and have been reading the entire series. To me, this appeared to have been a typical fantasy novel about returning a king to his throne with the added delights of an undead leader and his minions. The undead are the salvation of this novel, giving it a more original swing than had they not been present. I do not anticipate rereading this book, but I enjoyed it immensely.

I try to read the books that Pat reads so we can talk about them together. This goes both ways however, as he reads what I reads, but he doesn't always enjoy that reading material.

Rotator Cuff Surgery

Well, since no one reads this I can vent in peace. The orthopod told me I need my rotator cuff repaired. Ugh. I don't know how I feel about this. I'm scared, but I also want this because then my shoulder pain will stop and I can sleep on my right side again. I hope Dr. Jaffin is correct. As I recall, when Pat had this surgery, the doctor just got the MRI to appease the insurance company not for a diagnosis. He diagnosed Pat based on tests done in the office, The same tests I just had done. I go in for an arthrogram soon. I wish the imaging office would just call so I can schedule it.

Mini-Me

When Trouble-Maker came home from school yesterday, Mini-Me wanted to play with him. I told him no, he kept whining. I told him no again. Then he went into his room and decided to pull his chest of drawers down on himself. If I hadn't seen it come down he would be dead right now. As it was, a drawer came out and hit him on the forehead. He had to have 3 stitches and will probably have a big scar. We'll have to see a plastic surgeon is 6 months. I'm scared and I blame myself. I should have told him no and let him down easier. We have to fix that room now.

The Southern Clan

Pat's whole family is coming up to visit this weekend starting today. They're coming to escape the mess the Robert left behind him when he killed himself. It's going to be an awkward time. Nephew hasn't been up here since Pat and I got married. Niece has never been up here. Brother and his wife haven't been up here in a year. They're going to rent a van and drive up together. Trouble-Maker won't be here. He prefers to spend time with his sea scout troop as opposed to seeing his family. Mini-Me can't wait to see them, he has such a strong attachment to Brother even though he's only seen him a handful of times.

Diet Coke

When I was about 10, I suppose. Coke ran an ad campaign with Max Headroom. It was basically a way to lambast Pepsi, which they referred to as "The P-Word". In me, that campaign stuck. To do this day I hate Pepsi, and will not drink it. I will also not drink regular soda, or Coke Zero. I want my Diet Coke, my drink of choice. What I hate most is when I go to a restaurant, ask for Diet Coke, then get Diet Pepsi. I can tell the difference and I have beaten every taste test I've taken on them. What can I say, I love my Diet Coke.

Onions and Mushrooms

Hamburgers are cheap, easy and kid friendly. However, that doesn't mean they can't be adult tasty either. One of my ways to dress them up is by topping Pat's and mine with carmelized onions and mushrooms.



These are easy to make, you just can't rush them. As in making good barbeque, low and slow is the rule. I cut the Then I add a generous amount of olive oil to a pan, heat it up then dump in the mushrooms and onions with some salt to get them sweating. After they start sizzling and dropping some juice I drop the heat to low then just stir them every 5 minutes or so until they get as brown as I like. I make a bunch at a time to keep on hand for stews, soups, omelettes, and the like.

New Computer

We bought a new computer. Pat came home from Lake Elsinore and we went out to dinner and bought a new computer. We ate at Chilis. The food sucked. It was a hard call on the computer. Pat wanted Windows XP for his backgammon game, so we could either buy an old computer or build one. Building would cost a lot of money so we bought one with XP on it. Pat is happy, he still has his XP games. The kids are happy, their games load again. They are happy, I am happy.

Pat is Coming Home

Pat called and said he is coming back today. Today is also Robert's funeral. I want him back and I'm glad he's coming back but I'm confused because I also want him to be there for Butch. I can't wait to see him.

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. Trouble-Maker was with his friends. He called and told me that he was going to do stuff for Mother's day with Lisa and Nate's mom because they deserve a special Mother's day. Then he told me "It's not like it's a special day for you Mom". He loves to hurt me. That was really mean.

Pat is still down is SoCal with no end in site. I don't want to call them because I don't want to talk to them. Pat doesn't answer the cell phone. I need him and I hate him for not being here but he's needed down there.

Robert

My nephew killed himself last night. I had to call Pat at work and tell him. Trouble-Maker still went to to Sea Scouts. He doesn't care about his family. His friends always come first. Pat is driving down now to be with them for who knows how long. I am mad at Robert for what he did to Butch. I will miss Pat. We've not been separated like this in the course of our marriage. I feel selfish for wanting him when I know Butch needs him.

Book Review - Reagan and Thatcher

I'm a conservative, which is a daring statement to make nowadays. I have been since I my father explained Democrats and Republicans to me during the 1984 presidential race. No he did not influence me. My brother, who got the talk at the same time, is more liberal than Kruschev.

While Reagan is not my pick for number one president of all time (ask and you'll be shocked) He is in my top 5. So I wanted to read this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Reagan and Thatcher, A Political Marriage was a survey of their relationship during their respective times in power as well as providing a background of their lives before they came to power. The information is taken from speeches, documents, events of the time, and phone conversation records between the two leaders. While their relationship was mainly political, they shared a close personal bond as well that was broken only by Reagan's diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease. This book engaged me, but I don't think I'd buy a copy for my personal library.

Kipper the Dog

This kids show has entranced my youngest son Bun. It is the story of Kipper, a brown dog, and his various friends. His best friend is Tiger, a grey dog, and he also has, for friends, Jake, Pig and Arnold. Mouse lives with Pig, and he had pet gerbil named Roly Poly in one episode.

Kipper is an unusual show for kids. It's very quiet and nothing too bad ever happens. Pat has a problem with one episode, when Mouse joins the cast, and Mouse is seen washing her bottom with Kipper's toothbrush. Later on Kipper brushes his teeth with the brush. Pat always watches it, the squirms and complains about the affair. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I enjoy reading the books to the kids because the illustrations are simple and to the point. The pictures focus on Kipper and whatever he is interacting with at the moment. No backgrounds and no borders. My kids follow along with the story better this way because there's nothing to confuse them with.

4 Years Ago

Pat had rotator cuff surgery on May 5 2005. That was a very hard day for him. Not only did he have surgery, obviously, he almost died. He given muscle relaxants during the course of surgery. His surgery took longer than expected so naturally he was given more of the relaxants. He woke up and they sent him home within 1/2 hour. His surgery was at the end of the day at the surgicenter and the nurses and attendants were anxious to go home. His doctor called in the evening to check on Pat, and to have him start doing some exercises to prevent scar tissue from building up. We raised his hand over his head, and his heart rate plummeted. He started going into shock and I raced him to the emergency room. In the truck he fell into my lap. I had to get the emergency room people to get a gurney to get him into the room. His heart rate was 30 BPM. Yes, thats what it was. They gave him medicine to counteract the muscle relaxant, to raise his heart rate and to get him out of shock. A few hours later we brought him home.

Shoemaker's Children

"A shoemaker's children go barefoot", the old proverb goes, "and doctor's wives die young." I would like to ammend this. LAN administrators wives go computerless. Our computer has been on the fritz for well over a year. It started when Norton did an update on our anti-virus program. We were running a firewall and the new Norton was incompatible with the firewall program. To fix the program Pat had to uninstall the firewall, uninstall the anti-virus, go through the registry to manually remove all instances of the Norton program, then reinstall the anti-virus. Understandably, he didn't want to have ANYTHING to do with fixing the computer after this and it's now suffering from a terminal illness. The blue screen of death comes up hourly, and most of the children's games wont load because it says they aren't compatible with windows, even though they were a year ago. I would like to kill the computer, to take the 22 rifle and put a slug though its mother board. Perhaps then Pat would get a new one.

Garbanzo Beans

So while I am not a vegan, or even a vegetarian, I like to add these options to our menu. I don't like to snack on chips or cookies that much, with the exception of Cheetos Hot Chips. What fills the need for snack food for me, at the moment, are these garbanzo beans whose recipe I got from Vive Le Vegan. I always keep a bowl of these in the refrigerator. I make them 3 cans at a time and they last two to three days. I add a teaspoon of pepper to the mix to spice them up a bit.

Book Review - Shopaholic

I don't know why I wanted to Confessions of a Shopaholic. I admit that I do - GASP - read "chick-lit". Still, this book didn't seem to be in my normal reading area. All I know is that it's popular. Well I was right, it wasn't my book. The main character is Becky Bloomwood, a shopaholic. Bex keeps me from identifying with this book. She would rather shop than work, and cannot accept the consequences of her actions in the form of credit card bills from hell. Her bank manager keeps trying to contact her regarding her outstanding balance and she keeps avoiding him. When her neighbors are treated poorly in a business deal, she writes an article for a tabloid exposing the insurance companies scam. This leads to a television appearance which leads to a job which will get her out of debt. No, Becky doesn't have to learn her lesson and she gets a boy friend out of it as well. This book seemed too fantastic, even for escape literature. I won't be reading it again.

My Library

The Pittsburg library is a location where I have spent a good percentage of my life. I can easily claim to have been going there for 30 years, but it may be more, but not that much more. From the story book section as a child to teen romance and Anne of Green Gables as an adolescent, to the research section as an undergrad, I know my library in and out.

Right now, I can thank my library for saving me a small fortune in audio books. Pat has a long commute, two hours a day. He has an I-Pod that I keep filled with audiobooks to ease his time. Considering that the average cost of an audiobook on I-Tunes is $20 and Pat goes through two to three a week, I save about $60 a week, just on audiobooks.

I also save on my books. How many times have you bought a book, brought it home, and by the time you get around to reading it you find that you really don't like the book at all. Now I check any new books that I might want to buy out of the library first, a test drive so to speak. Then, after I return it, if I want to read it again I will add it to my library

Also, I save a lot on movie rentals. Not only do I try to get new releases, but also the classics that we feel we should see. This allows us to take chances without financial risk. We don't have to question if we really want to spend our money on said book / movie, we just get it free.

Now I find myself going full circle back to the children's room. I love watching Mini-Me and Bun listening to story time and checking out books just as I used to do. The city wanted to move the library a while back, but the funding for a new building fell through. I'm glad because I live my old library.

Small Parts

I hate toys with small parts. Now, I don't mind the kids having die cast cars, blocks, card games and the like. They're a part of childhood. What I do mind is when they dump them on the ground then wander off. I don't know if Bun likes the sound or if he just wants to make me mad. It frustrates me because I feel helpless as I want them to play, just not to make a mess. Daniel doesn't understand how to clean up. Alex does, but getting him to do it is like herding cats. I can do it twice as fast when I do it alone. So, I do it myself and feel martyred over it or I ask Pat to do it when I'm putting the kids to bed then get upset when he doesn't. Oh well. They'll grow up eventually.

Reading

I read to Mini-Me and Bun by the hour. We cover armfuls of material from the Berenstain Bears, to Froggy, Dr. Seuss and High-5 Magazine. I usually don't mind reading to the kids, except for the times when Bun starts turning pages in mid read, or when he wants me to read one page then skip 5 then read another. I know this is what's best for their language development. It also gives me a secret sense of pride that my kids listen to the teacher in story time and can answer the questions about what's being read. My only rule is to not get any books that I would hate to read. After all, if I'm not going to read it, why should I frustrate the kids by having those books around to begin with.

Night At The Museum

Pat and I wanted to see this film before the sequel comes out in May. So, since the library didn't have it, we bought it as the price was the same as renting. I was wary of this film since I don't care for Ben Stiller, but seeing Mickey Rooney's and Dick van Dyke's names on the back of the DVD case sold me. I was pleased to see that Mickey Rooney is still acting after over 70 years in the film industry.

Unfortunately, this film lived up to my expectations. It was predictable, and it was boring. The only unique thing about it was setting it in a museum. We have seen the inanimate come to life in The Indian in the Cupboard; stories about robbing a museum are old hat. I don't think we'll be going to see the sequel.

Book Review - Baby Proof

Emily Giffin's novel, Baby Proof, is a very distant sequel to her duology Something Borrowed and Something Blue. How ever, I read it first before the other two. It is the story of Claudia Parr, an editor who does not want children and never has. She was married to Ben who originally agreed with her on children, then grew to change his mind which led to her divorce. Through the course of the book she deals with one sister's infertilty, the indiscretions of her brother-in-law, a new relationship and the resurrection of an older one. On Christmas Day she realizes that there are a lot of things she does not know, but she knows who she wants to learn about them with. This is a good book for escape reading. I checked it out of the library to preview it and finished by buying a copy for my library.

Shoulder Issues

I've had shoulder pain for a long time. Now that I can no longer sleep on my right side, I am finally going to get it looked at. It pops and clicks sometimes and I just want it to stop.

A Guilty Pleasure

I have had a Neopets account for 8 1/2 years. I started this at work when I would have four hours of work in an 8 hour day. Naturally I wanted to do the work when my boss was around so I'd look useful and he'd feel good that he was bringing in enough sales to keep me busy. But what to do the other 4 hours while waiting for the phone to ring. Free Cell and Minesweeper get old quickly. I had to keep the phone lines open so I looked into online gaming and found Neopets. I have played with this account, off and on, for many moons and it still keeps me happy. It keeps me from being depressed by keeping me from dwelling on being alone. It has provided friends through a guild I joined and a way to escape to a colourful, happy world where I don't have to hear Mama being called out constantly, if only for a few minutes a day.

Veganism

I have always flirted with vegetarianism. Off and on through college I would embark on this life style, then go back to my omnivorous ways when the going got too rough and the siren call of chicken and hamburgers would lure me back. However, I can't argue that I do feel healthier on a vegetarian diet. And oddly enough I love reading vegan food blogs. I just wish I had the energy to try one more attempt at a herbivorous life

Book Review - The Amateur Gourmet

This is a book by Adam Roberts that evolved from a blog that turned into a book deal. It is about learning how to cook, in one way, and in another it is about developing a better relationship with different types of cuisines and ingredients. It ends with an enormous feast using all that Adam learned in the course of his blog and subsequent book preparation. It's an okay book. I much preferred the blog. I did get a great spaghetti sauce recipe out of it however.

Uncle Ray

My Great Uncle Ray is one of the few people on this planet that I will listen to. Because he speaks so reasonably and so jovially, it's hard not to go along with him especially as it all makes sense when ut in his unique fashion.

Ray is my grandfather's youngest brother and the middle child in his family. He had 2 older brothers and 2 younger sisters. He is an engineer, a farmer, a soldier and a carpenter. He is both rock and clown. I have a picture of him wearing a suit at his 50th wedding anniversary. He is dressed formally. Yet, by his stance with his hands in his pants with thumbs out, his back arched, and his jacket pushed back, he could be a cowboy.



He wanted to be a carpenter for many years. He even joined the union and made journeyman. Then he was drafted to serve in the Korean Conflict. His work experiences led the Army to assign him to the Corps of Engineers. Over there he somehow managed to knock out a front tooth. He always told the family that it happened when he was clowning around on a tank.



When Ray came marching home he decided that he wanted to be the one designing the buildings instead of building them, so in his early 20's he decided to go to Fresno State University to study engineering. He studied his courses on my grandparents kitchen table with my grandfather, the electrical engineer, helping him over the tough parts.



Of course, being single couldn't last forever. My family arranged for him to spend the summer rebuilding a porch at his brother's wife's family's cabin. They also arranged for his brother's sister-in-law to be up there all alone. They were engaged by Thanksgiving and married between Christmas and New Years.



Ray never stopped being a carpenter even after he obtained a position with Kings County as a civil engineer. He and his wife bought property to build a house. He would go to work during the day, and at night he would go inspect the construction. Always the kibbitzer, he would leave notes telling the carpenters what needed to changed, fixed, or completed. He would continue this habit 40 years later when he put and addition on his house.

Ray has had a couple of heart scares, and his wife is now suffering with Alzheimer's disease. Still he has a courageous smile and he continues to soldier on. He's has a tough life, but a full one and he'll always be a man I respect and love.

A Parent's Identity

As a student I could always identify myself by name and by year in school. In college I could throw my major in for another piece of identification. In corporate America I had a title and an office where I worked to show the world who I was. Now, as a parent to boys with an increasingly large social circle, I have found a new title. At school events I find the introduction going as follows - Hi, I'm Mini-Me's mom, or I'm Stephanie, Bun's mom, how are you. So, now, my identity revolves around my children, perhaps more than I feel comfortable with right now. Still, when I think about it, it's not that bad. I am doing what is most important right now, taking care of people who can't take care of themselves, which described my job in corporate America as well.

Roast Sausage

This is a personal favorite of almost everyone in the family. I take smoked sausage cut it into chunks. Then, per pound of sausage I add two red, orange, or yellow bell peppers, one large onion and two cans of petite diced tomatoes with peppers. Finally I add 1 teaspoon of chicken broth dissolved in 1/2 cup of water. Put in the oven at 425 and roasted for 35 minutes, it's heavenly when served with a loaf of crust bread. It's even better the second day because the bell peppers suck up the juices and become meltingly soft. Me, I just like the juice with some bread as I don't eat that much meat. Pat loves the peppers and onions. Trouble maker eats the sausage, complains about hating peppers and onions and insists that he's being starved even though he eats the lion's share of the meat. Oh well, can't please everyone all the time

Twister

This is one of the movies that I love, but I prefer that nobody knows I love. Well, now the secret's out. I don't like Bill Paxton or Helen Hunt, but I do like the supporting cast and Cary Elwes. The movie is campy, the characters don't make sense (i.e. how the news would know that the first tornado in the movie was an f5 without observing the damage path), and why would a metereologist need corporate sponsorship But I love the cow scene, as well as the scene when they sang Oklahoma at the beginning. It's a feel good film where you don't have to like the characters to enjoy the ride.

Book Review - Ender's Game

I like science fiction. However, I like it better when it's set in familiar settings. Normally I tend to enjoy the works of Ben Bova. When I need to stray out into the stars I prefer Star Trek and Robert Heinlin. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card was an incredible book. It is the story of Andrew (Ender) Wiggin a boy whose parents were allowed to conceive him in the hope that, in Ender, the world might find salvation from the overlurking fear of the "Buggers", an alien race that had twice attempted to take over Earth. Ender and his family are unaware of this as we follow Ender through Battle School and onto his final battle with the Buggers and their queens. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.

This book was written more for teen agers than adults. But, unlike some people, I don't have a problem reading fiction for young adults. After all, wasn't that what Harry Potter was originally set for? A good read is a good read. All that is important for me in a book is that I find it entertaining.

Where everybody knows your name

Pat and I were driving through our local Starbucks (Loveridge and California) the other day. Upon pulling up to the order window, they already had our standard order up on the screen and all we had to do was laughingly agree that, yes, that was all we wanted. I love this place for the simple fact that they greet my husband by name, though I'm not quite sure how they figured that one out. Yes, they're a big name, and, yes, I'm sure they have been responsible for small mom and pop shops closing when they're commerce moves to the more familiar big name, but they brighten up my evenings and make me feel like I have a name other than mom