Life of Katya

Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants

2009-09-15T10:52:00.004-05:00

We're enjoying listening to (and watching) the new TMBG CD/DVD kids' album, Here Comes Science! Tommy is very much into the songs, which is pretty cool. We actually bought it for ourselves, as this is meant for older kids than the Here Come the ABCs and Here Come the 123s albums. Some of the "science" is a bit dodgy ("Science is Real" is a fairly ridiculous song, for example), but it's TMBG - I couldn't imagine there NOT being some dodgy science.

Listening to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett (in Outer Space)" right now. My favorites so far are "Electric Car" and "What is a Shooting Star?" Rock, rock on, TMBG.

Killer Bunnies

2009-09-14T16:04:00.001-05:00

Must play this game again, it was a lot of fun.

Also Bohnanza.

Nero Wolfe

2009-09-14T15:59:00.002-05:00

I've been reading as many Nero Wolfe novels as I can get my hands on. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to get my hands on all of them. I got interested in them from watching the Nero Wolfe mystery series that aired, I believe, on A&E. I watched them on DVD - awesome show. I especially love Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin, though I suspect that stems largely from my love for AG himself. I've read several classic AG lines out loud to C, and (despite having read only one NW novel himself) he obliged me by laughing. Highly recommended - though I prefer the later ones to the earliest ones.

The wee one's development

2009-09-14T15:52:00.002-05:00

Baby R went to the doctor today for a well-baby visit. She's 6 weeks old, weighs 12 lbs, 10 oz, and is 22 1/2 inches long. That puts her in the 90s for weight and height percentiles. She has some issues with blocked tear ducts, so we're giving her eye drops to clear that up. Aside from that, she's a healthy little girl.

The cloth diapers (BumGenius) are in their second week in our house, and we've been doing really well with them (read: actually using them!). I like that they don't have all the nasty chemicals in diapers, and I like to coordinate the covers with her outfits. The washing process isn't bad, so I'm pretty happy about the whole thing, really.

Ranger's Apprentice

2009-02-25T12:59:00.000-05:00

Recently finished reading the Ranger's Apprentice books (five out, a couple more to come). Pretty awesome books. I always hate reading a series currently being written, because then I have to wait to find out how everything turns out. But in a good way.

2009-02-09T15:29:00.002-05:00

I may not have been posting lately (which I blame on Spike #2 and the accompanying nausea), but I've been reading like mad. We finally managed to get T-Man to sleep without sitting in the dark next to his bed for eons. Now I get to sit down the hall in the sun room, in a comfy recliner with good lighting. Oh, and lots of books. Our sun room is also our library. :) [Note: It holds less than half our books. We might need an intervention at some point about our book buying habits...]

Since it normally takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and a half for T to fall asleep, and since C works in the evenings, I get some cherished time to myself. (I usually need it by then...eight hours straight of three-year-old energy leaves me a little overwhelmed at times.)

People who know me well also know how very addicted I am to children's books. Now, I'm not talking Sesame Street and Animorphs and Sweet Valley High. I'm talking about the classics, and fantasy, and historical fiction, and mythology. I'm a sucker for a good kids' book. In fact, I spent a lot of time during my year at library school (where I got a master's degree, so don't be fooled by my fond way of referring to the program) reading and re-reading some of the greatest children's literature. The Little House on the Prairie series. The Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon series. The Lord of the Rings. Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series. Almost everything I could get my hands on that was written by Louisa May Alcott.

Sadly, having read so much awesomeness in that year, I often find myself disappointed with what's left to read. Not that re-reading isn't great, but every once in a while I like to have that AHA! moment of discovering a story and characters that really get to me, and that I can't stop thinking about and wondering about.

As I said, I've been reading up a storm this past two months. Lots of shorter classic kids' books. The Indian in the Cupboard series. Some books by John Bellairs (must read further - awesome stuff). But the best, in my opinion, was the series I just finished. The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. I love the characters, especially Gen. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. The plot twists were unbelievable. So I'm pretty excited about the entire series, but I'm also sad there's no more of it. And that the author hasn't written any other novels.

Recent Reads

2008-12-10T10:58:00.003-05:00

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by JK Rowling - short, easy read, and some illumination on the world of Harry Potter, but I'd recommend for fans of the series only.

The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner - excellent. I'm looking forward to reading the two follow-ups.

Here Lies Arthur, by Philip Reeve - interesting, but I wouldn't recommend. There are so many Arthur stories out there, and frankly (this could be just me, since this story is so common), it's not compelling to me.

Halloween Party Menu

2008-11-18T09:10:00.002-05:00

This is a bit late, but I thought I'd post it anyway so I'd have a chance of finding it next year:

-Wormy Orange Punch
-Constricting Snake Bites
-Bloodshot Deviled Eyeballs (we made to look like bloodshot eyes with red food coloring instead of pimento)
-Spiderweb Nacho Spread: layered Mexican dip with sour cream spiderweb drizzled on top
-Broccoli Boo Salad
-Spider Pretzels
-Cat Cookies 1 or Cat Cookies 2
-Ghosts in the Graveyard
-Popcorn Gloves

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

2008-11-17T14:11:00.004-05:00

Dr. Seuss is awesome. My favorite book is The Lorax. I recently checked it out from the library and read it with T, who's almost three and beginning to read. Yes, really.

Green Eggs and Ham has been a favorite with him for some time - he likes to flip through and try to remember the lines as he looks at the pages. This morning, however, I caught him trying to read another Beginner Book, Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? He was getting most of the words. Even though I'm around him all the time, I was surprised at how well he got some of the more difficult words, and how well he guessed at some he clearly didn't know by sight.

On an inspiration, I sliced up some of the ham Meme sent us home with yesterday, and colored a small batch of scrambled eggs green with blue food coloring. (They looked like they should taste minty, but I suppose that's just the food industry tainting my taste buds again.) He was so excited to eat them, and he ran and got the book to look at after lunch.

When he proceeded to read practically the whole thing to me. He got a little frustrated at the end by some of the longer pages, which are basically all repetition anyway - I think he was just used to it going a little faster. But seriously - I've tried to teach a young child to read before, and it was not this easy. I am absolutely stunned that he is picking this up with seemingly little interference on my (or anyone's) part.

So, an idea is born: theme meals. We've been working on T eating more variety (as previously mentioned, he likes everything sweet - breakfast foods, desserts, fruits...and not so much meat and veggies). He's already pretty clear on not liking beef very much, and he just won't give non-French fry-potatoes a fair shake. But other than that, we've been doing pretty well with the "you have to try a bite of everything on your plate" rule.

So, why not have a "letter of the day" like Sesame Street, and plan some part of the meal to revolve around that letter? Zucchini for Z Day, for example, or Cauliflower for C Day (except then I'd have to eat cauliflower, blech - one of the few veggies I do NOT like).

I'm pretty psyched about this idea, and about expanding his palate. He's surprised us already - who knew a picky 2-year-old could begin to like jicama (or spell it?), or black beans? He's got definite potential, this kid. Now, if I could just get him to like black beans and rice, or soup. So far, mixtures are beyond him. And yet, I have hope.

Currently Pondering: Upcoming Birthday Party for a Three-Year-Old Boy

2008-11-16T23:23:00.005-05:00

Possible Themes:
Teddy Bears (something of an obsession with him)
ABCs and/or 123s (also something of an obsession, but I did this last year, so...)
Dinosaurs

It's a work-in-progress. I've still got to decide on a cake, menu, and decorations. Also, make the thank-you cards.

Which reminds me that I need to get started making my Christmas cards. Argh! And I thought I was catching up...

Update: This morning we chose a theme (based on a cake I found in one of my books). We're going to have a football theme, complete with a football field cake sporting teddy graham bear football players and goalposts made out of white-chocolate dipped pretzel rods. So awesome!

Now, I'll have to think carefully about the menu. How to balance the taste of a choosy 3-year-old who likes mostly sweet foods (when asked what he wants to eat for the meal at his birthday party, he responded "cake!") with the tastes of a group of mainly adults, some of whom don't like "breakfast for dinner" (one of my favorite meal strategies). I'll probably be trying to decide between a brunch menu vs. spaghetti or pizza. (Update: pulled pork sandwiches and cheese ball shaped like a football, and cobb salad! Exciting!)

Decor: I'm hoping I can find some blue and gold balloons and streamers. There are, after all, lots of big ND fans around here, my son included.

I'm still working on the thank-you cards. There's got to be something original I can do with them. (Update: I got blue and gold note cards and stenciled footballs on them in one corner, and stamped "Thank You" on them. They are, I think, fairly appropriate for a kid's thank-you note.)

Currently Making: Poncho

2008-11-16T23:21:00.001-05:00

Navy/Gold/Slate Blue vertical stripes. No fringe. Crochet.

I haven't crocheted much in awhile, mainly due to my wrists hurting, but I decided to go for it with a gusto, and so far, aside from a little pain, my wrists are holding up. I'm liking what I've got so far. I'll post pics when I'm done.

Currently Reading: The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon

2008-11-16T23:16:00.003-05:00

I've finished Book 1, The Naming, and have started Book 2, The Riddle.

The reviews I read compare the work to Tolkien's, and it's clear the author gave a great deal of thought about languages, customs, clothing, history, etc. (Not nearly so much as Tolkien did, but he was really in a class of his own. Who spends most of a lifetime creating mythology, history, and languages for a fictitious world? Tolkien.) There is a richness in the details in this world, and I'm excited to learn what happens to the characters.

Update:

I've now finished books two and three, and I'm eager for book four, which comes out next year. I did have some funny moments during reading; in book two, the death of one character made me laugh. No joke. As the main character laments, I found myself impatient and bored, with no sympathy for her loss. Why? I knew that the character wasn't dead.

However, I was completely blindsided by the death of a character in book three. I can't say more about that without giving away major plot points, but I was pretty ticked off when it was revealed. What a cheap plot device.

And no, that's not how I feel about the series in general. I really do enjoy the story, it's just that sometimes I feel that the author gets lazy with some of her plots, and it frustrates me. Also, the lack of emotion on the part of some of her characters at certain points makes me angry. They seem to forget about those they hold most dear when they're not in sight; it's bizarre.

Books to Read

2008-11-09T09:16:00.003-05:00

Sigrid Undset: Kristin Lavransdatter
Ann Rinaldi: A Ride into Morning, the Story of Tempe Wick
Ann Rinaldi: Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons (Phillis Wheatley)
Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Lost Prince
Ian McEwan: Atonement
Lloyd Alexander: The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio
Michael Gruber: The book of Air and Shadows
Nancy Farmer: The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm
Nancy Farmer: The House of the Scorpion
Lauren Groff: The Monsters of Templeton
Diana Wynne Jones: Drowned Ammet
Divakaruni: The Conch Bearer
Jonathon Stroud: The Golem's Eye and Ptolemy's Gate (Bartimaeus Trilogy)
Thompson: The Last of the High Kings
Robin McKinley: Chalice
Eva Ibbotson: The Dragonfly Pool
Septimus Heap: Magyk
Sharon Creech: The Castle Corona
Adam Gopnik: The King in the Window
Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book

Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel

2008-11-08T22:14:00.001-05:00

This graphic novel confused the heck out of me. I can't really even explain what's going on with the story line, as there are two parallel stories that are so interwoven that I don't really even understand who the characters are.

Baffling and intriguing - I wish I could make heads or tails of it.

Thornspell by Helen Lowe

2008-11-08T22:06:00.003-05:00

Ah, fairy tales. This book I picked up on a whim (okay, it was on display at the library, face-out, and the cover drew me in. And the title. And the description on the back..."A forbidden wood, an enchanted castle, a sleeping princess...and the prince destined to break the spell." Ooh!).

So, as you might guess, this is really the story of Sleeping Beauty - or rather, the prince who wakes her up. It begins well before he wakes her, and revolves around the efforts of his caretakers to keep him both alive and free from the control of Margravine zu Malvolin (pretty awesome name, btw). She's the evil witch (really of the Faie) who cast the original spell on Princess Aurora.

Anyway, this book is great. I loved every minute of it. The main character is both believable and flawed, brilliant and, at times, completely idiotic. In short, very human. He's surrounded by a cast of interesting characters, the most significant of which is Balisan, his master-at-arms, who teaches him everything a prince needs to know about defending himself - from understanding who your enemy's family is, to knowing how to swordfight. He's totally awesome.

Of course, fairy tales re-told can be awfully predictable - but this one is fresh and full of little details to keep the reader's interest. I can't wait to read more from this author (this is her first novel).

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

2008-11-02T01:19:00.004-05:00

I loved Inkheart and Inkspell. Meggie and Farid, Mo and Resa - funnily enough, it is the everyday characters from our world that speak to me the most, despite their being surrounded by the fantastical creatures of the Inkworld. (Okay, okay, so Farid is technically from A Thousand and One Nights, or something, whatever.) This world is breathtaking - Funke is truly a master artist. The world she paints is vivid and shocking, at once beguilingly innocent and treacherously evil. Meggie is just a beautiful character - of course, we see a lot of her point of view; she's just the age of the target audience for this book. And it's really a story about how she grows up in the completely frightening world inside a book. Her father, Mo/Silvertongue/Blujay, has the power of reading aloud and making characters from books appear in our world. And of making things from our world disappear into books - which is what happens numerous times to various characters during this series.

But back to Meggie. I could listen to her thoughts all day. She's strong and brave (quality character traits for a young girl, and she wears them well). She's fiercely loyal and loving. People seem to act differently around her. She's special - I can't seem to put it any other way.

Yes, terrible things happen. Though Meggie is in love with Farid, his feelings are unknown. He clearly likes Meggie a good deal; but then, he doesn't seem to mind kissing the maids terribly much. His motives are beyond my ken. (I love that expression.) I hope to find a happily-ever-after for Meggie and Farid, Mo and Resa, but I'm not exactly holding my breath. The Inkworld is fraught with peril and bloodshed, and I'm a little nervous that not everyone will make it out alive.

Update: Yes, there is a happily-ever-after (of sorts). The resolution with Farid made me sad, but he should have seen it coming. It was really his decisions that led to the outcome.

Funnily enough, though, I can't really see this story as a happily-ever-after that way. I wonder if the author has some more Inkworld tales up her sleeve, perhaps to do with Meggie's little brother...I'd read them.

Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman

2008-11-02T01:06:00.003-05:00

I read Climbing the Stairs this week. The time period is so fascinating - around the time when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese, but in British-occupied India. The main character is a girl named Vidya. Her family is progressive and open-minded; her father even tells her he plans to send her to college. But a terrible accident causes her father to become mentally incapacitated. Her family goes to live at the home of the very traditional grandfather and his sons' families. There, the men live upstairs, and the women live downstairs. The women cook and clean and tend to children, while the men work and study and listen to the wireless. Only during festivals do the sexes mingle.

There, Vidya discovers her grandfather's off-limits (to the women) library, and meets a young man named Raman. In a fairly predictable fashion, Vidya pushes her boundaries and receives permission to study in the library, and Raman falls in love with her.

The setting is what is so intriguing and beguiling about this book. The customs and culture of this place - so completely foreign to the world I live in - are so fascinating. I couldn't get enough. The ending is fairly conventional, in terms of coming-of-age stories, but it is the richness of India itself that will remain with me long after the names and circumstances of the characters fade away from my memory.

One caveat: I wanted Raman to be the man Vidya expected him to be, and I was a little disappointed by some of his ideas and expectations. But I loved that he was willing to consider himself in the wrong - that he allowed his ideas to change - based on his friendship with Vidya. It is so rare that a strong female character can have that kind of influence on a male character, especially given the time period.

I'd love to find more interesting books set in India. Got any suggestions?

Howl's Moving Castle

2008-11-02T00:51:00.002-05:00

I recently read Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I very much liked the characters and the setting. Sophie is the eldest daughter of a hatmaker, who dies and leaves the girls - and their mother - without adequate funds to live on. The two younger sisters apprentice out, and Sophie stays at home to make hats for her mother's shop. One day, the Witch of the Waste comes into the shop and turns Sophie into an old woman. Sophie, realizing she can't continue her narrow, confined existence any longer, sets out to make her way in the world. She marches off, and finds a job - actually, forces her way into a job - cleaning castle for Wizard Howl. He may be infamous for eating the hearts of young, beautiful girls, but Sophie thinks she'll be safe with him, since she now has the body of a ninety-year-old woman (and she wasn't much to look on in the first place).

I really dug these characters. Sophie goes from a quiet little mouse of a girl who can only make hats to a strong, determined, fierce woman. Michael, Howl's apprentice, is a hoot. He seems as baffled by his master as Sophie. Calcifer, the fire demon who is bound to serve Howl, is amazingly developed for such a being - he has personality, likes and dislikes, and he definitely has a heart, whatever the story says.

The secondary characters and storylines are also compelling. Lettie and Martha as Sophie's sisters develop from cardboard cutouts into interesting people, and Howl's mysterious past could merit another book. (I'd love to find out about his life in Wales before he became Wizard Howl.) Everything eventually gets woven together into a big, confusing, mysterious story that, ultimately, makes sense together. It's fun to read. Also, there's a hint of romance and some very keen scenes wherein Sophie realizes something very important about herself.

I took a look at the manga based on the novel, and I was disappointed. The characters are all jumbled up, the story line has been muddied with some kind of bizarre modern warfare that completely destroys the bucolic setting of the novel, and it's just weird. Starting and ending at the same place as the novel, but completely going off the rails on a crazy train in the middle. If I get a chance, I'll watch the movie the manga is based on, but I'm not expecting anything much from it.

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy

2008-11-02T00:35:00.003-05:00

I recently finished books two and three of the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray. I really, really enjoyed book one (A Great and Terrible Beauty), and was so pleased that book two (Rebel Angels) continued to shine. However, I was so disappointed with the ending of the story (as told in The Sweet Far Thing), that it fairly ruined the series for me.

Okay, so I always had some serious misgivings about certain aspects of the stories. Such as how Gemma and her friends seem extremely cavalier about how they use the magic, both within the Realms and in our own world. Also, Gemma and her friends are shockingly unsupervised for young ladies of breeding in Victorian England. Don't even get me started about the implausibility of some of the things they do.

Here's my major problem, though: I'm just a sucker for a good coming-of-age love story, and this one had a doozy. Gemma and Kartik are lovely characters, and their developing romance is sweet and real. The fact that any relationship between them is impossible in the society in which they live - Indians at that time being considered by the English as lowly, inferior beings fit only for service - makes it forbidden and dangerous. But, as with so much in the Realms, anything seems possible. SPOILER ALERT! I so dearly wanted them to end up together. The climax of the book, when they go to the Winterlands to destroy the Tree of All Souls, made me feel cheated and betrayed by the author. Seriously - I don't know how she can consider that an acceptable ending. It doesn't even make sense.

In short, I can't recommend this book. I wanted so very much to like it, but in the end, I was disappointed by the completely bizarre ending.

The Tapestry trilogy

2008-10-24T13:26:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading the second book in The Tapestry trilogy, The Second Siege (the third book is due next year). I had a lengthy discussion with C about whether or not the series was a Harry Potter rip-off. While I have to say that there are many similarities, there are a number of differences.

The major difference, to me, anyway, is that The Tapestry books are rooted firmly in mythology. Now, don't get me wrong - Rowling is also clearly a student of mythology, and she draws on that knowledge. But The Tapestry books draw on these myths for major characters and story lines. The main character, Max McDaniels, is Cuchulain reborn, and he's frequently referred to as "the Hound of Rowan" (also the name of book one of the series). He and his roommate at Rowan, an academy for "gifted" students (really those with a talent for magic), get themselves caught up in incredible and very dangerous adventures to protect their school and the world at large from the Demon Astaroth.

Although some of the characters come across as stock characters, these are pretty good reads, and I enjoyed them. I'll be looking forward to book three.

Movie Review: Persuasion (BBC)

2008-10-24T13:04:00.004-05:00

I watched Jane Austen's Persuasion the other night - the 2007 version that was shown on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre this past year. I also saw recently another version (1995), with Ciarin Hinds as Captain Wentworth.

I definitely liked the 2007 version better, and this mainly revolves around my dislike of Hinds as a romantic lead. Anyone who's seen a film adaptation of an Austen novel knows that the male lead is inevitably brooding. Hinds just comes across as antagonistic - something that I also found watching him play Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre. He doesn't even really come across as likable at the end of the story.

Twilight series

2008-10-24T12:44:00.003-05:00

I just re-read the first two books in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, Twilight and New Moon. I certainly don't classify this series as classic literature or anything like that - even I was a little freaked out that I was reading a romance story that revolved around vampires and werewolves. But I do have to say that Meyer definitely tells a good story and gives you realistic characters to sink your teeth into. (Har.)

I've read some reviews that really pull Bella apart as a character, claiming she's not a believable character and that she's selfish and lets Edward tell her what to do. (This is actually why I re-read these books - I didn't remember feeling that Bella was such a whiny push-over.) And I have to say that while the Bella in New Moon is definitely a complete basket case over Edward, it's not without reason - he did leave her, and manage to convince her that he'd never come back. Other than that, I found Bella to be a very strong, believable character. She continually holds her own against vampires and werewolves, and her plan for escaping James in Twilight is way more realistic than any of the vampires'.

Edward, however, does tick me off in New Moon. I mean, for a guy who professes undying love for Bella, what the hell is he doing leaving her all alone and completely undefended? Even if he felt he had to leave, he definitely should have had some sort of contingency plan for keeping an eye on Bella, who is, after all, incapable of going anywhere or doing anything without falling down and hurting herself. Oh yeah - and some vampires have already tried to kill her.

I keep thinking back to my reading of the last two books in the series as well (I read the fourth book when it came out in August, so that's pretty fresh in my mind). Two comments: first, what the hell is with the name Reneesme?!? Second, Jacob imprinting on Reneesme still freaks me out. Not even just that he'd been all about Bella until R. showed up (by being born), but just the fact that she's an infant. I mean, come on. I know it's not even necessarily supposed to be a romantic thing on the werewolf's part, but it's still icky.

But, all criticisms aside, I loved these books. Stephenie Meyer is an amazing storyteller, and Bella and Edward are great characters. I could wish that they weren't quite so inward-oriented, since that leads to bad things; and also, the pace of Twilight is almost laughable. They dance around one another for months, barely speaking and brooding almost continuously, and then suddenly they declare that they're beyond boyfriend/girlfriend and Bella is part of the Cullen family. And then, practically the next minute, they're racing to save Bella from the tracker James. But then, it's fiction - which many reviewers don't seem to have a strong grasp on.

My Favorites

2008-10-22T07:30:00.002-05:00

Everyone who loves books has a list in their head of their "favorite" books. Sometimes they're books that they come back to again and again, and some are books that struck a chord at a certain stage of their life. Here's my list of favorites:

JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings trilogy
JK Rowling, The Harry Potter series
CS Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia series
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
LM Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables series and Emily of New Moon series
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Emma
Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising series

Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

I can remember my first reading of each of these books or series very vividly. It's amazing how just thinking about a certain book can spark a flood of memories about what was going on in my life when I was reading it.

The Sisters Grimm

2008-10-20T10:51:00.003-05:00

I just finished the fifth and sixth books in the series The Sisters Grimm, called Magic and Other Misdemeanors and Tales from the Hood. Each of the books in this series (there are six already published, with at least two more to come) is a fast read. There's lots of action, mystery, suspense, and fairy tale characters who turn out to be real. The Sisters Grimm are two young girls (Sabrina and Daphne) who are descendants of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, who wrote the fairy tales.

Some of the characterizations within the series can be a bit one-dimensional, but at least some of this is due to point of view issues (the main character is Sabrina, and she's got some serious issues with trust and her inability to allow certain other people to have an opinion or make a contribution). I really enjoy this series, and I especially love when fairy tales are "twisted" and you get to see an alternate version of what might have happened in the story.

These are fun reads, and I definitely recommend them. I have enjoyed reading these books as a bit of a break from some of the more serious fare that I read.

The Manchurian Candidate

2008-10-20T10:37:00.004-05:00

Last night, we watched The Manchurian Candidate. C was watching it for a class, and I was just along for the ride.

The story is of a group of American soldiers that gets captured in Korea (in 1952) and gets brainwashed. One member of the group becomes an assassin, and upon their return to the United States after an 18-month tour, he gets introduced to his American operative.

I was really impressed with how this story unfolded. It was absolutely chilling at times - and Angela Lansbury (as the assassin's mother) is amazing. Plus, who doesn't like getting to watch Frank Sinatra thinking he's losing his mind? Old Blue Eyes is just fun to watch.

Verdict: Watch it! I'm pretty squeamish about over-the-top violence, but this movie is fairly low on the gore factor - though there are at least half-a-dozen on-screen deaths. Having said that, this is definitely a PG-13 movie. Younger children would just find it disturbing and confusing.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2008-10-20T10:29:00.002-05:00

I'm playing around a bit with the design/layout and also the color scheme. I'd like to get more of an ochre-colored background than the yellowish color I've got right now.

Also, I'm going to start posting my recent reads and reviewing them. Yay! I've been keeping a reading journal since I was in high school, but I've always wished that I wrote down more about what I liked/didn't like about a book. I have a pretty hazy memory of some books, and some I can't remember at all. :(

Books to Look For:

2008-07-01T09:11:00.006-05:00

Stuart Hill, Last Battle of the Icemark
Juliet Marillier, Cybele's Secret
Shannon Hale, Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack
Nancy Farmer, Islands of the Blessed
Christopher Paolini, Brisingr
Michael Buckley, The Sisters Grimm: The Everafter War
Alison Croggon, The Singing (Book Four of The Books of Pellinor series)

Favorite Modern Authors

2008-05-18T20:00:00.002-05:00

A short list of several of my current favorite authors. I tend to read a lot of YA (young adult) lit and plenty of fantasy.

Shannon Hale, Princess Academy, Book of a Thousand Days, and Austenland
Juliet Marillier, Wildwood Dancing and others
Nancy Farmer, The Sea of Trolls
Tasha Alexander, And Only to Deceive and A Poisoned Season
Stephenie Meyer, Twilight series
Robin McKinley, Spindle's End and Beauty, many others
Jane Yolen, Briar Rose and Sword of the Rightful King, Wizard's Hall, many others
Susan Cooper, Dark is Rising series, others

New Projects: Baby Blanket and Cross-Stitch

2008-03-17T00:17:00.002-05:00

I recently finished a fairly major project, cross-stitching a pattern I created of 1 Corinthians 13 (Love is patient, love is kind...) for my husband. So, feeling accomplished and slightly restless, I moved on to a counted cross-stitch I've had stashed away for a few years. It's mostly to keep my hands busy, to work on while watching TV or whatnot, but all the better - sometimes it's nice to not work under pressure.

Although I did also start a blanket for a baby shower gift, and that's coming up pretty quickly now, so I should get on that. Blue and yellow for a baby boy, plain crocheted stripes. I think it'll be cute. And, more importantly, warm and toasty.

My Reading List(s) Overfloweth

2008-03-16T23:18:00.003-05:00

I recently finished organizing many of my reading wishlists into one massive list, some 800 titles long. (And that still doesn't include many classics that I'd like to read, but feel pretty intimidated trying to tackle on my own.) In the interests of not losing my mind about how many wonderful books I should be reading, I've decided to methodically chip away at the list. Every month, I'll choose 15 books to attempt to read, from 10 specific categories plus two "fun" "books of my choice." (The quotations are because these selections will probably end up being determined by books I've started and haven't gotten around to finishing, but feel I ought to. Not necessarily fun at all, you see.) The 10 categories are: Caldecott Medal/Honor Books, Newbery Medal Books, Classics, Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Folk/Fairy Tale/Mythology, Poetry/Drama, and Mystery/Historical Fiction.

I plan on choosing 4 Caldecott books each month, because I enjoy them a lot, can share them with my 2-year-old son, and they go really quickly, which gives me a huge sense of accomplishment! I've been plugging away at the Newbery Medal winners since I started library school 5 years ago (sheesh! that long?), and had gotten away from them, so I'm making a new effort. It's not that I don't like them (I can count on one hand the Newbery winners that I've disliked, and I've read several dozen), it's just that, as I may have mentioned, there are so many other tempting books to lose myself in...

The other categories are all either catch-alls (adult fic/non-fic, etc.) or genres that I especially prefer (fantasy, YA, historical fiction). Plus, I was an English major, and will feel until the day I die that I haven't read enough classics, or poetry or drama, for that matter. In fact, when I read too much genre fiction or modern stuff, I begin to feel that I'm letting someone down. I can't think who it might be, but it's a pretty powerful sensation, so I feel I ought to do something about that, too. Oh, dear...

I haven't really any expectation that I'll actually be able to get through 15 books a month, even if 4 of them are picture books. I do plan to limit myself to reading the books from my list before other books, however, and plan to move books to the next month that I haven't finished, or (gulp) even managed to start. I might should make myself tackle those first, even, but that might be too many rules even for me.

On the off-chance that I manage to get through all of my selections, anything is fair game, which I don't expect to happen often.

As I've managed to knock 50 titles off my reading list in the past few months, I'm already down to 750, and I hope I can knock that down another 50 by the end of the year. I'll post updates, but they're mostly for myself, since I can't imagine anyone else finding my Quest to Read Every Book that Looks Interesting (to me) will be compelling to anyone else.

April Reading List

2008-03-16T22:35:00.002-05:00

1. Caldecott - various
2. Newbery - Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
3. Classic - The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4. Adult Fiction - Atonement by Ian McEwan
5. Adult Non-Fiction - The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
6. Young Adult - Alcatraz versus the evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
7. Fantasy - The golden dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander
8. Folk/Fairy Tale/Mythology - The Old wives' fairy tale book by Angela Carter
9. Poetry/Drama - Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
10. Mystery/Historical Fiction - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
11. Choice - The book of air and shadows by Michael Gruber
12. Choice - Route 66 A.D. by Tony Perrottet

March Reading List

2008-03-09T22:10:00.005-05:00

X1. Caldecott - various

X2. Newbery - A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
This was a quick read of a few hours for me, but I enjoyed it. There's something so wholesome about many of the Newbery Medal winners that I find quite appealing, and this book has that quality.

X3. Classic - Persuasion by Jane Austen
I couldn't believe I had never read this book before. I've been reading Austen since middle school, and believe I've re-read P&P somewhere in the 6-8 times range, as well as several read-throughs of S&S and Emma. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've seen Austen movies, either. It's something of an addiction, and no, I can't very well explain it to you. You either get Austen, or you don't. So a new (to me, anyway) Austen book to read was quite a pleasure. I can understand why this is not as popular as the three above-mentioned titles, though it is still perfectly enjoyable. I found the main characters appealing and everything charming, of course; though the Eliots (father and sister) I found flat and trivial beyond belief. Though, to be fair, they were portrayed as completely self-absorbed, so they couldn't be all that interesting, could they?

X4. Adult Fiction - I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
I have to admit that I was disappointed with this book. I'd read a review recently that compared this book positively with Austen's work, and though I should know by now never to get my hopes up so much, I couldn't help myself. I wanted quite badly to like this book, but in the end, it just didn't strike me right. The characters were very odd, and they seemed to fall in (and out) of love with all the wrong people at the drop of a hat. Aside from that, and some bizarre motivations, it was a decent read. Although I'm always left a bit flat by such a bittersweet ending.

X5. Adult Non-Fiction - My Life as a Furry Red Monster by Kevin Clash
Yes, Elmo. I'm sure some would enjoy this book, but I didn't. I wanted to know more about Muppeteering, and less about how Elmo is the coolest. (Besides, Cookie Monster is way better than Elmo.)

X6. Young Adult - Pearls Before Swine collections by Stephan Pastis
I love PBS. Often irreverent, but just plain funny.

7. Fantasy - The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
Started last night, but too sleepy to continue. I'll try again in a day or two.

8. Folk/Fairy Tale/Mythology - Fairy Tales by Oscar Wilde
I've read some already. I enjoyed the couple I could find in comic form (illustrated by P. Craig Russell), though these were adapted. Very funny and slightly odd to read these stories. I've read several Wilde plays, and of course Dorian Gray, and these are (for the most part) remarkably dissimilar. Though with the same Wilde humor, naturally.

9. Poetry/Drama - The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Not started. Hopefully soon!

X10. Mystery/Historical Fiction - A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander
I can't help but like this book, a sequel to And Only to Deceive (which I loved). Romantic and sexy without being vulgar or crude, great mystery involving multiple characters and a variety of incidents, reference to great literature and a fascination with Greek antiquity, and above all, a heroine so outrageously rebellious against Victorian society as to be almost laughably implausible. I'm looking forward to the next book, which I believe is due out later this year.

X11. Choice - The Professor's Daughter by Guibert & Sfar
This was a recommendation from a library comic I read called Unshelved (check it out: library humor is totally funny to non-librarians! I swear!) They do a "Sunday Book Club" feature where they talk up a book (conveniently called a "book talk"). This one sounded really fascinating, but the interest was all in the possibility, I'm afraid. Short read - 20-30 minutes - but even so, not really worth it. Never lived up to the promising set-up (several-thousand-year-old Egyptian Pharaoh mummy comes to life in Victorian England and falls in love with an antiquarian's daughter).

X12. Choice - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More Roald Dahl
I'm attempting to read through all of Dahl's books, and this is a collection of short stories. Well-written and (at times) funny, but nothing like as compelling as Charlie or Mr. Fox, et al. Not a bad read, overall. This was one of my "must finish" choices.

Scarf-a-Rama

2007-11-08T00:42:00.000-05:00

I'm starting a new scarf. Whenever I finish a knitting project, I feel kind of bereft. So I wanted something new - and hopefully relaxing. Unfortunately, this isn't shaping up that way. It's crochet, which I thought would be a breeze, but it's full of color changing mayhem. Also, there's a right side and a wrong side. I should have realized that was a bad sign. I'm doing pretty well, aside from the yarn twisting like mad. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but it looks pretty. Hopefully I won't lose my marbles and tear it all apart before it starts looking like something wearable.

Next time, maybe I should be less ambitious. But I've always wanted to make one of those hood/scarves. One of those could be mighty handy in the coming months...

Storytime

2007-11-06T14:26:00.001-05:00

T and I went to storytime at the library today. This fall, he has only made it through the entirety of storytime once. He always wants to leave about 5 minutes after we get there. Of course, I usually get to the library pretty late, and he doesn't get time to wander and check things out. So today, we got to the library at 9:40 and wandered around. He was so good during storytime. The librarian always displays books on a table, and he went right up and pointed at A You're Adorable, which he knows from Grandma's house. The librarian read it especially for him, and then she did another one I'd never seen before, based on a song from Guys & Dolls - I Love You A Bushel and a Peck. It was adorable. And then T sang along and did the motions to "Ram Sam Sam!" First time I've heard him do that.

Of course, this just fits right in with what I've been noticing for a long time about T-Man. He responds to music like nothing else. He's always loved Here Come the ABCs by They Might Be Giants, and Dog Train by Sandra Boynton. We're pretty excited about giving him Here Come the 123s, Philadelphia Chickens, and Rhinoceros Tap in the coming months.

But I've found a bunch of board books based on songs at the library, too. They're some of our favorites to read before bed: "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Down By the Bay" from Raffi are both big hits; he also loves "Hush Little Baby" by Marla Frazee.

He loves books and being read to, A LOT, but the music just wins him over. I think he gets it from me. =P

Gift-giving fun

2007-11-06T13:55:00.000-05:00

I have always loved Christmas and birthday celebrations. My family never made a huge deal out of them as a kid, so I really get excited now that I can make a big deal out of them for T-Man. I get so into it, actually, that I tend to be more excited to watch him open his gifts than to open my own. (Not that he has actually managed to open a gift on his own. He might be there in time for his birthday.) With Christmas and his birthday coming up, I am getting very excited about T-Man's gifts.

For his main birthday gift, we bought him a whole set of play food. We also got him a bunch of cooking things: pots & pans, a colander, measuring stuff, utensils. Today I found a little chef's hat, too. Naturally, I'm pretty stoked about the whole thing - I love to cook myself, and my only sadness about the whole thing is that he's much to young to cook with me. We tried it with the cookies the other day, and it wasn't a disaster or anything, he just doesn't get it yet.

For Christmas, I just picked up the Play-Doh creativity center. It's a neat little desk with cool molds and cutting tools, extractors, and the like. Also, it came with a free 24-pack of Play-Doh. Just picking up the boxes at the store brought back memories of playing with Play-Doh when I was little. I don't think we had Play-Doh very often, but I do remember having a lot of fun with it. One cool part of the creativity center is that the top try has a bunch of built-in molds, and the bottom part is a massive storage container for all that Play-Doh and those cool tools.

We're not the kind of parents to really spoil our kid and buy him anything he even glances at twice. We buy him cool toys second-hand sometimes, and we buy him things we think any kid should have (last year, we got him a wagon 'just because'). But we don't just go out all the time and buy him new toys to play with. After all, he's taking over our living room with his toys as it is. He's definitely not lacking in that department. I was a little concerned about adding more toys to that amount, actually. But I'm feeling better about it now. (And planning to play with that Play-Doh, just as soon as he gets it for Christmas.)

So, here's my dilemma. How do I wait a month and a half to watch him open it?

And yes, in case you're wondering, I have most of my Christmas shopping done. I think there are two more gifts I need to pick up (one being an exchange that we haven't yet picked names for), and my husband hasn't done anything much, but that's his concern. Also, I have some really cool handmade gifts that are either all done or mostly done. I do have a scrapbook gift I need to get started on...

You may be cringing to yourself, but I like to plan gifts ahead of time. It's so much fun when you think of or find the perfect thing, and I love thinking about the joy each gift will bring.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, Oh What a Beautiful Day!

2007-11-05T14:55:00.000-05:00

It's been a good day, I'm happy to say, even in spite of the gray skies. T and I have had a quiet morning. We had scrambled eggs for breakfast; we watched Sesame Street (as much as I get tired of Elmo, I love that tricycle song!); I worked on my cross-stitch project while he was engrossed with Cookie and Elmo; he "helped" (mostly watched) as I mixed up the cutout cookie dough, and then helped me pound it flat with a rolling pin before chilling (this was by far his favorite part). We traced his hands a couple of times to make turkeys, which I finished off with legs and comb and beak and he mostly scribbled on. We made one for each set of grandparents. It was grand. And he may be learning his colors; he guessed red and yellow correctly. We had lunch, rolled out the cookie dough, and then cut out and baked cookies. Since he mostly wanted to eat the dough, and I'm hugely paranoid about him getting sick from raw eggs, he didn't get to help too much with that, unfortunately. But we did talk about leaves and pumpkins and sunflowers and turkeys, some of the many cutters we used. We read some stories, and then I cleaned up the kitchen.

Here's the only let-down of the morning: my first disappointment from the King Arthur Flour books. To be fair, it is my fault. I read through the recipe notes (for King Arthur's Special Roll-Out Sugar Cookies) and the ingredients, then scanned through the recipe before beginning. But somehow I failed to absorb that the recipe, if rolled thinly, would produce crisp cookies, and if slightly thicker, crunchy cookies. Now, here's the problem: I'm not a huge fan of crunchy cookies, and crispy cookies might as well be dog biscuits, as far as I'm concerned. Well, as I'm not very consistent in my rolling thickness, I ended up with a mixture of crispy and crunchy. Sigh. However, all is not lost. I think that I'll be mixing up a batch of buttercream frosting this afternoon. I have rarely met a non-burnt crunchy sugar cookie that could not be much improved and softened with the addition of icing. And, really, I'd eat anything with icing on it.

Goal for the afternoon: library and bubbles, and then delicious roast chicken with potatoes, biscuits, and green beans for dinner. We may skip the park, as it's chilly and gray, but we'll see what Dad wants to do about that.

Book Recommendation: The Knitting Circle

2007-11-05T00:41:00.000-05:00

I just finished a book called The Knitting Circle, by Ann Hood. It's the (semi-autobiographical) story of a woman whose only child, a little girl named Stella, dies suddenly at the age of five. This book blew me away. I have never suffered the loss of a child, thank God, and I hope I never will. But I could feel this woman's grief; I could understand her paralyzing fears and inability to move on with her life.

On my better days, I hope that I'm as good a mom as the character in this book. I wish that I could say that every day was a good day; but this book makes me realize what I take for granted: all those little moments that are tiny gifts from God. The way my son smiles and giggles when you tickle him, the way he studies things when he's absorbed, the way he dances, the way he gets so excited to see someone come in, or to go outside and take a walk. His determination that every drink he's given should be juice. The way he clutches his Bear, and the way he sleeps, sprawled.

I have a to-do list on my fridge, and I never get to everything I want to do. For the past few weeks, it's been a struggle for me because I haven't felt well. I get tired easily. But tomorrow, here's my to-do list: Bake cookies (let T help, even if he needs a bath afterwards). Walk to the park and the library. Run around outside and blow bubbles. Trace our hands and make turkeys out of them. Make copies for the grandparents. Read to him whenever he asks.

The Knitting Circle is a good book. Hard to read, but truthful, and though there are some sad endings, there are also happy ones. Oh, and there's lots of knitting. (As if you hadn't guessed.)

Better be Gryffindor!

2007-11-02T11:13:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy with how this scarf turned out. And it looks so cute on him! Whee!

Picture updates

2007-11-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

New pictures posted on flickr, as promised. There are a couple cute Halloween snaps, and the rest are fairly random. T has such cute clothes. I wish I loved my clothing half as much as I love his.

My favorite color is NOT pink

2007-11-02T00:10:00.001-05:00

The Gryffindor scarf is finished, fringe and all. I'll try to post some pics this weekend. Ugh...so many things to do this weekend! Things sure pile up on me when I'm not feeling well. Thankfully, I seem to be fully recovered, although I'm a bit concerned that I may have pinkeye. My left eye is rather violently pink.

Foo Foo

2007-11-01T00:45:00.000-05:00

Tonight was Halloween, and T went out trick-or-treating for the first time. He was dressed as a bunny, and since bunnies don't really make any easily recognizable noise, when T sees bunnies he says "foo foo." As in Little Bunny Foo Foo.

So tonight, T donned a little bunny outfit and wandered down the street with Dad, clutching his teddy bear and a little cloth pumpkin bag. I wish I knew what he thought of it all; it's definitely not a normal kind of activity for him.

Little Bunny Foo Foo,
Hopping down the sidewalk
Scooping up the Snickers bars
And dropping them in his bag.

Under the Weather

2007-11-01T00:35:00.000-05:00

It's hard to post when you don't feel like doing anything. I'm starting to feel better now, but my to-do list for tomorrow is atrocious. Days like that, I wish I had a personal shopper, or a maid. Both would be nice, actually. On the upside, I've got two projects that are about 95% complete, and if I get a chance in the next few days, that'll be a few more things off the list. The Gryffindor scarf is one of them; not surprisingly (since it's for an almost-two-year-old), it works up very quickly. I've decided to fringe it, despite my dislike for fringe in general, mostly because I think it will look nice.

Also on the docket: going outside. No rain forecast, so hopefully T and I will get a chance to run around for awhile.

Harry Potter Mania

2007-10-27T10:21:00.000-05:00

I just found an awesome book at the library, Charmed Knits. It has a bunch of Harry Potter-inspired knitting projects, from descriptions in the books and from the movie costumes. I've already decided to use up some gold yarn I happen to have a mess of, and bought some scarlet yarn to brew up some Gryffindor apparel. I'm currently stitching up a scarf for T-Man, which I'm super excited about. I also want to make him a cape to grow into, and I'm thinking I'll try to make it like Dumbledore's midnight-blue cloak with silver-spangled stars. I've got the blue yarn, I just need to figure out how to knit or crochet little stars to sew on. I'd also like to make a wizard's hat, actually more like Gandalf's than anything I've seen in the HP books, but I don't have a good pattern for that yet. I may end up sewing one instead of knitting or crocheting.

I also think it would be cool to make T-Man a Weasley sweater. I've never attempted to knit a sweater before, though I made T a knitted winter blanket bag for when he was a tiny guy. I'm a little intimidated, but I might give it a go, just for kicks. Plus, who can't resist a little curly-headed kid wearing a handmade sweater? I think I'll make it a little big, though - no telling when I'll finish all these projects!

Family Photo Album

2007-10-24T12:18:00.001-05:00

We're putting our photos up on flickr now. Check the link above to see what we've been up to lately.

Autumn puts me in a baking mood

2007-10-24T11:53:00.000-05:00

Well, okay, I'm usually in a baking mood. It's just that I almost never want to turn my oven on during summer. Ugh.

But, with the return of cooler weather, falling leaves, and autumn winds, every year I re-discover how very much I love to bake. Cookies, bars, bread, rolls, muffins, cakes and pies - and much more. Of course, this addiction doesn't much help me lose weight, but what's fall without pumpkin bars with cream cheese icing? Or warm apple pie?

This summer, I bought three new cookbooks: King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion, and King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. I spent quite a bit of time looking through them (I love to read cookbooks, after all!) and picking out recipes to try.

My first attempt was from the Cookie Companion, two different kinds of oatmeal cookies, one chewy cookie with chocolate chips, raisins and dried cranberries, and one soft cookie with no additions. Both were exquisitely, mouthwateringly good, and there is at least one other kind of oatmeal cookies to try (crisp), not to mention about 10 variations. Since then, I've made the Raisin Bran Muffins from the Baker's Companion, and last night I made the Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread from the Whole Grain Baking book. Both were just delicious, and I'm so impressed with this.

I mean, it's not uncommon to come across some plain delicious recipes every now and then - but this set of books is 4/4, and I'm just getting started. But I don't mean to sound so surprised. Even while looking through these books, before ever measuring out flour and milk and eggs, I could sense the dedication and time put into each one. Sure, there's some overlap between the three books, since they're all from the same company. But surprisingly little - I believe I came across two or three duplicates out of the hundreds in these books, and I looked at every single recipe. There are tips and suggestions and explanations on many pages. And I'm not just talking little wimpy variations or substitutions, though there are those in abundance. I'm talking about why certain flours work better in breads or pastries, what kinds of yeasts there are, and how to use them, in-depth explanations about why baking works, and how to make it work for you. And that's why I bought these books.

My dream (once upon a time) was to be a pastry chef, but I'm sure that will never happen. I have, after all, a family now, and from what I understand, being a professional chef requires a lot of long days and odd hours. Not what I need with a two-year-old running about, growing and learning and hopefully benefiting from me staying at home with him. I bought a textbook on baking & pastry arts, and sure, it has a lot of good information about baking and good recipes to try. But here's what it doesn't have: heart. It gives you formulas, approaching everything scientifically, as if there's a foolproof way to do things right all the time. But the King Arthur Flour books tell you why some things work well and others don't, and encourage creativity in ways my textbook doesn't. And that's why I will learn more cooking at home from a layman's cookbook than I ever will from my professional textbook. It's interesting, creative, and fun, and a lot less like chemistry class.

Next project: making cutout sugar cookies with my son, from the Cookie Companion. Chewy, soft, or crisp? Hmmm... good thing I got out those autumn cookie cutters. We'll be eating leaves and pumpkins in no time. And I bet they're delicious.

Football season

2007-10-24T11:47:00.000-05:00

T just picked up his football and ran to the front door with it. He then spent about 10 minutes calling out for Uncle J, who gave him the football. This same uncle often walks in the door, grabs the football from the basket of balls, and yells "football!" to T.

T, of course, loves this. He will often run around with balls on his own, of course, being almost 2. But when someone runs around with him, throwing the ball around and playing keep-away, kicking the ball and rolling around on the floor after a fake tackle, he's in heaven.

It's fun to watch, but it's even better to be a part of. Touchdown!

Musings on Food @ CIL

2005-03-21T16:25:00.000-05:00

While most people who attend a conference will tell you all about an awesome session they attended, or the awesome tourist sites they visited, I'm not most people. I talk about food. There were many awesome restaurants right around our hotel in Dupont Circle. Here's a rundown:

~Mexican...mmmmmm. Can't remember what it was called, but the portobello quesadillas rocked my world.
~Chipotle! I have been deprived of its goodness for far, far too long. I ate the entire chicken burrito in one sitting (okay, okay...I gave up with about an inch left). Best rice ever.
~The restaurant in our hotel, where I had a plate of tomato, fresh basil and mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil. And then there was the French onion soup with toasted cheese...
~La Tomate had incredibly good fresh bread. (Memories of Europe...) The spinach tagliatelle with chicken, artichokes, asparagus tips and sundried tomato strips (in cream sauce!) was perfection.
~Firehook bakery...and the biggest slab of focaccia bread, with tomatoes, artichokes and delicious toasted cheese.
~Kramerbooks and Afterwords. I had the most amazing spinach/artichoke/mushroom/cheesy goodness quesadilla. Bliss.

I'm noticing a theme. Cheese, anyone?

Hiding under a blanket

2005-03-09T11:24:00.000-05:00

That's not really as kinky as it sounds. I started to crochet an afghan for a family member a few weeks ago at our Craft Night. When I was in the craft store picking out yarn, I showed my choices to Chris, and he asked if I was intending it to be a camouflage afghan. Yes, it's all green. No, it doesn't look like camouflage, although I have started to affectionately refer to it as my "camo afghan."

I picked a really simple ripple pattern, which is the same as the super-awesome blue & purple afghan I did last year. Here is a link to a similar pattern/picture. I really like it, as I only have to pay attention to the pattern for the first two rows, and then I can mindlessly stitch whilst doing other things. Like listening to audiobooks, or watching the third season of West Wing on DVD for hours at a time. (Worthwhile pursuits, I say.) I'm hoping this one doesn't take me six months to finish like the last one, because I have secret plans (translation: everyone knows about them) to crochet more afghans for unwitting family members...I'm a maniac! And soon, everyone will know, because they'll have the afghans to prove it!