Monthly Archives: February 2015

Akarnae by Lynette Noni

The evening I finished Akarnae I sat down in front of the fire to write, unordered thoughts swirling in my head.

Do I go with the, “It’s like Harry Potter mixed with X-Men and The Chronicles of Narnia” quote?  Can I describe the pure awesomeness of Alex without giving things away? Characters, focus on characters. No friendships? The ways it’s better than typical young adult fantasy? The fun alternate world? The fantasticness that it is the first of a series…

Stymied by my enthusiasm, I decided to start at the beginning – the title.

People are going to need to know how to pronounce the title so they can find it and then tell all their friends about it.

I pulled the book out and started skimming through the first chapter knowing the phonetic spelling was hiding in it somewhere. Soon the skimming turned to reading, the pronunciation forgotten, and before I knew it I’d read the first quarter of the book again. 

Would I recommend it? Just in case that wasn’t clear, let me tell you again. The evening I finished the book I sat down and accidentally re-read the first quarter of the book- after reading the entire thing in less than two days.

I really liked this book and, because I know you’re still wondering, it’s pronounced Ah-kar-nay.

Now you can go find it, tell your friends about it and then, this is the really important part, after you read it tell me so we can sit down and talk about all the things that make it awesome!

 

Today’s Fashion

Today fashionista Jane recommends full princess attire. Jane princessCrown, (any type) and dress are, of course, mandatory to attend any indoor events. Sparkly shoes are a must but may be taken off if you are planning on sitting on the table to play Legos. And, while wielding double wands is preferable, she is willing to overlook the lack of them if only because she already has the only two in the house.

Jane also cautions that this ensemble is completely unsuitable for outdoor wear.

For that she recommends complete snow attire, minus hat, (hats are completely out this season)…Jane snowsuit and fairy wings

… and a simple pair of wings.

 

Kids, Keeping Me Humble Since 2007

Jane fell asleep the way only small children who shouldn’t take a nap can fall asleep, suddenly and completely – just as we pulled into the grocery store parking lot.  No problem, I thought, I’ll just pick her up, carry her in and she’ll wake up.

By the time I checked out my three bags of groceries, my left bicep was cramping from the strain of hauling a sleeping three-year old through the store in one arm while pushing a cart and shopping with the other. But I was pretty convinced I was Super (strong) Mom. After all, I just grocery shopped with my thirty plus pound kid in one arm. And while it’s true that I was rapidly passing from uncomfortable, squarely into the realm of what one would call pain- I did it.

It was extra justification for all that working out, all those push-ups and lunges. All that time that I take for myself. Time away from the kids.

Time spent on myself that, no matter how much I know is the right thing to do, still brings on a bit of guilt. But look at me now!  Not only does working out keep me a sane, happy person but look how much better of a mom I can be with my muscles! My girl can get an, apparently, much needed nap while I shop and it doesn’t even phase me to squat down and get something off the bottom shelf- repeatedly. While it’s true I cheated the express line people and sailed on through with my load of kid and over ten items.  I carried them all out to the parking lot by myself. Me and my rapidly failing left bicep were awesome!

And with that smug thought I gently set Jane back in her car seat as she woke up saying, “Where are we?” ” Are we goin’ to the grocery store?” “I didn’t fall asleep!” “Why are we going home?” “I want to go to the grocery store!”

It was long before she saw the toilet paper sitting next to her and exclaimed in surprise, “We do have toilet paper now!” finally accepting our trip to the store had indeed occurred, that my smugness evaporated.

It was disappointing to be brought back down to the level of ordinary human, but despite my fall I’ll keep working out.

I’ll keep working out because I love it and because it makes me a happier, healthier person. And all that makes me a better mom. But after that ride home I shall forever leave my grocery store prowess out of the equation!

 

 

The Devil in Montmartre by Gary Inbinder (& Pinterest)

For years I’ve kept an ongoing lists of books to read on numerous pieces of scrap paper tucked into the pages of a journal of books I have read.

It was a semi-functional system.

Recently I decided to embrace both technology and organization and upgraded to Pinterest.

I’m loving it.

It’s often just as easy to pin a book as it is to jot it down on a piece of paper and it’s much harder to lose. Then, when I’m in need of a new book, I scan through my “books to read” board, hop on my favorite inter-library loan system and request a few books.

It’s a significant upgrade from lost scraps of paper and I love that my new “list” shows me the collection of covers rather than just titles. books to readSince my upgrade I have been known to hone in on a book cover that looks familiar at book stores, libraries and friends bookshelves, finding what I would never have remembered had I relied on my list of titles. And when the miracles of inter-library loan puts a copy in my hand, the title may still be unfamiliar but the cover will often remind me why I wanted to read it in the first place.

Often, but not always…

Sometimes I get a book I have requested from the library and wonder things like, ” Why on earth was I planning on reading a book titled The Devil in Montmartre?” 

But I read it anyway because I wouldn’t have pinned it and then requested it from the library without reason, even if I couldn’t for the life of me remember why I would have wanted to read such a terrifying sounding and looking book.

Which was good because once I read it I discovered that the reason I must have requested it was that it was focused on the 1889 forensic techniques used to solve a murder in Montmartre Paris, and that was pretty darn cool.

Would I recommend it? This is set in Montmartre at the time of the Moulin Rouge. And yes, everything illicit that comes to mind is in here, plus a bit more, as well as a really irritating doormat of a wife and a rather gruesome murder. So it’s not for the feminist, squeamish, prudish or my mother because sometimes there are books that you’d rather your mother didn’t also read no matter how old you are.

But the forensic stuff was good…

Do You Like Barbies?

Once upon a time Jane was talking to a young male friend of her’s on our way home.

Jane: “Do you like Barbies?”Jane

YMF: “No.”

Jane: “But what kind of Barbies do you like?”

YMF: “I don’t like ANY Barbies.”

Jane: “But you like Ken?”

YMF: “No.”

Jane: “You like princess Barbies?”Jane

YMF: “No.”

Jane: “But you like Merida.”

YMF: “No.”

Jane: “You like Jasmine?”

YMF: “What?”

Jane: “But you like Jasmine!”

YMF: “BATMAN?!”

Jane: “No. Jasmine.”

YMF: “Oh. No.”

Jane: “But you like Barbies!?”

YMF: “I don’t like Barbies!”Jane

Jane: “But you like…”

…

It was an impressive conversation. Jane’s persistence and complete unwillingness to accept given answers as fact had met it’s match with her friend’s polite refusal.

The conversation continued on into the house…

Jane: “You wanna play Barbies now?!”

YMF: “No.”

It was time for me to stop hiding my giggles and step in.

Me: “Hey guys, how about Legos? Should we get the Legos out?”

YMF: “Are they Barbie Legos?”

Fortunately I was able to assure him that there were no Barbie Legos and they played happily ever after.