In the midst of math-mania (we are now on either Day 3 or Day 4 of the Summer Math Torture, depending on whether or not you count the day Chickadee was locked out of the system, and I am thinking about chewing off my own leg to escape, but Chickie seems to be holding up pretty well), we are still trying to hold to our general philosophy of summer being the perfect time to devour all of the books you didn't have time to read during the school year. (This is partially to counteract Monkey's philosophy that summer is the perfect time to buy yourself a Zelda game for the Wii and play it for five...
I'm not here right now. Rather, I'm here, but I'm hiding. I am not being my best self right now, and as such I am looking for inspiration elsewhere on how people do the right thing even when, maybe, life is not feeling so right. Do you know what I mean? If you do (or even if you don't), here's three places to go today that I promise will up your good karma: 1) Please visit this post at BlogHer to painlessly donate a book to a child in need. Your comment = a book for a kid. It's that simple. (Bonus points: You blog about it, that's another book, too.) 2) I couldn't be more excited about my...
I usually save the contests for that other little blog o' mine, but today I'm going to do one here. Just because. It's at the end of this post. OH, THE SUSPENSE! Don't hurt yourself! It has long been our dinner tradition to go around the table and have each family member share the best and worst parts of his or her day. It's not only a nice way to reconnect after the hubbub of daily life, but it provides a much-needed break from telling the kids to stop bickering or exhorting them to actually eat some of their food. Of course, some days it's easier than others to come up with something to...
... Reading books is very nice. (You're welcome for sticking this in your head. No need to thank me.) I would love to tell you something really meaningful and life-changing, tonight, but I've got nothing. Well, I have a bunch of laundry that needs to be put away, and NO COOKIES, and a couple of children who probably need a shower, and some parakeets that don't belong to me (oh, don't even ask), but nothing worth going on about. Instead, allow me to revel in my geeky bookworm ways and refer you to other places where I had something to say, earlier... before I realized I was out of cookies. If...
Lookie here, it's another blog book tour, except this one is all INTERACTIVE and stuff. I was sent a copy of Georgeanne Brennan and Frankie Frankeny's Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook to check out, and I fully intended to read it cover to cover, try a multitude of the recipes, and bust into this review thing ready to assure you that I'd gone to the ends of the... errrr... pages... to really assess this thing right. I forgot that life likes to laugh at me when I intend to do something that organized. Whoops. But! I still feel qualified to review the book, because let's be honest: If you're the...
We've arrived again at that point in our program where I wave around I book I read and say "Look! I read this!" This month's Blog Book Tour is for Mary Guterson's We Are All Fine Here. I probably should've realized what I was in for when I noticed this cover blurb (from Amy Tan): "A real winner... full of naked truth." It's not just naked truth; it's sneaky truth. One minute you're giggling (which, by the way, makes fellow passengers at the Atlanta airport just a wee bit nervous) and the next you've been socked in the gut by a piercing view of the human condition. I would like to use...
When Ayun Halliday emailed me to ask if I might be interested in reading and reviewing the U.K. release of The Big Rumpus, renamed Mama Lama Ding Dong, I---like the gigantic dork that I am---mailed back "Ayun? Ayun Halliday? *pinching self*" Despite this auspicious beginning to our correspondence, I was booked for the blog tour. (And even if you aren't interested in the book, go to the end for some bonus material from Ayun.) My shiny copy of Mama Lama Ding Dong arrived and I plowed through it, aware both of my preexisting admiration for Ayun's writing and also of some random past comment...
When I signed up to be part of the Mother Talk book tour, I was excited. I love reading books. I love reviewing books. I couldn't imagine this undertaking being anything other than a bookworm-y good time where I got to metaphorically lounge in a bathtub full of novels. Sometimes, I'm not very bright. This month's tour is for The Ghost in the House: Motherhood, Raising Children, and Struggling with Depression by Tracy Thompson. I cannot think of another book that has been so difficult for me to read. I cannot think of another book that has been so important for me to read. I cannot think of...
I caught Chickadee in a lie this evening; I gave her two more chances to recant--neither of which she took--and then when I revealed that I had evidence to the contrary, she dissolved into tears and demanded to know why I hate her. Having come to this interaction fresh out of trying to make her brother try on his Easter clothes ("Take your pants off and try these on. Take your pants off. TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF! Monkey, please PUT YOUR UNDERWEAR BACK ON."), I did the logical thing. I announced that as soon as they were in bed, I would be phoning the Easter Bunny to tell him to skip our house....
