I’m not sure if it’s the elaborate feasts and celebrations, the crazy dresses, the scandalous going-ons, the hands off approach of raising children or the treasonous intrigue but whatever it is I love a good historical fiction full of kings and queens.
Would I recommend it? Even with it’s alternating view points between the two sisters I don’t think it’s quite as good as say something by Phillipa Gregory. But, if you have run out of Gregory’s works this one fits the bill!
Let me just ask you something.
Have you ever looked at a young child while eating and thought, “Hmmm, you know what would be great? If that kid comes over here and smells my food by putting their nose directly on it. Yup, that’d make this meal just about perfect.”?
No, of course you haven’t.
Because nobody wants anybodies nose on their food.
Ever.
The End.
Clara the pirate says “Arrggh Mighty!”
But…
But.
But, we have this food smelling thing going on in our house.
You know, the thing where Clara can’t eat some kinds of food so she just sweetly asks to smell them and then it breaks everyone’s heart so everyone lets her smell her food anyway even though it’s rather odd.
That thing.
Well, now she’s becoming more demanding: “I smell it with my nose on it?”
(The answer to that, in case you were wondering is- NO.)
But, there are times when Clara doesn’t ask, and my food gets nose smelled before I get a say in the matter, which makes me less than happy.
And if a certain sweet girl happens to throw a giant fit over the fact that I will not let her smell anything else with her nose on it and I catch her in the act of nose smelling another of my food items anyway – that’s when it happens:
Yup.
That’s me, raising children one ridiculous edict at a time.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitary
A malfunctioning computer and camera have been making the photo challenges more challenging than I care to take on. But, since the next challenge hasn’t been posted yet I’m posting for the first time by e-mail my late Solitary photo – crossing my fingers and here it goes…
Ivy and I had a chat about what she thinks she might like to do when she grows up.
I was thinking nurse.
I was thinking doctor.
I was thinking ballerina, cowgirl, teacher, farmer, mother…
Ivy was thinking differently.
“Mom, -this is the very best part -when I get older, I’m going to drive your cars. Aaannnnd if you let me drive your cars…. I’m going to…. live with…. YOU GUYS!!!!”
Fortunately she missed my look of horror as she threw herself into my arms for a gigantic hug.
I’m pretty sure that in a few years she’ll change her mind all on her own.
But, just in case, nobody tell her how my debit card works, alright?!
Sorry, I’m afraid my computer and I are still have disagreements so you’ll just have to pretend that there is a super cute picture of Ivy here!
I have admitted before that I always judge a book by it’s cover, and it’s even more true with children’s books. I mean really, the illustrations are at least half the package right? These books are practically begging you to judge by their covers, you woudn’t want to ignore an illistators best efforts now would you?
But sometimes those old sayings turn out to be true.
If you were like me a judged by the cover you would have left passed this book over and sighed when your kids dragged it home from the library the first time.
Then after having brought it home from the library multiple times and read it 5,789 times you would also have to admit to being completely and totally wrong.
The illustrations may not be exactly what I’m drawn to but there are bicycle riding cows, not to mention an egg laying one…
…the phrase “…an almighty commotion in the barnyard…” which is a good phrase if I’ve ever heard it.
And there are “crafty chickens” I personally have never met a crafty chicken but I like the idea of them anyway.
A super fun book and clearly one of Clara’s favorites!
One minute there I was lining up an afternoon of cooking and preserving and the next -wham!- the Nap Monster got me and I was out for a time better measured in hours than in minutes.
These attacks have become a reoccurring issue. You see the problem is that I have a tendency to travel deep into nap monster habitat, completely unprepared for attack. After lunch, I take Jane and we lay down in my bed together to nurse her before nap time: it’s warm, it’s cuddly, it’s the afternoon, it’s Nap Monster habitat if I’ve ever heard it. And my packing for this trip through Nap Monster habitat – it never helps. I’m just not prepared to fend off the Nap Monster with the supplies I bring for my trip. In fact I can’t think of a single instance where my book, my pillow, my sweat pants and a nice big blanket ever really helped me hide from the Nap Monster.
The trouble is that I unabashedly love the naps. Afternoon naps with a baby have been my favorite since I discovered them in 2007 and I’m afraid the number of available opportunities is dwindling. In fact next time Jane and I dive into Nap Monster habitat I might just give him a big “Hallooo” and let him know I’m coming – just so I don’t let another opportunity pass me by.
We’ve got cheeks, what we are lacking is a proper functioning computer/internet.
Unfortunately my technical skills consist of arguing with the computer, turning it off and on and then swearing at it.
Even more unfortunately none of these excellent trouble shooting methods seem to be improving things.
Until I either expand my skill set or professional help is brought in the blog posting may be a bit sparse.
Wish me luck!
Here are a few quotable moments from the last few days that I haven’t shared due to our technical issues:
John: “How come every day when I get in my car there are fresh dog tracks on the windshield?”
Me speaking to Clara: “NO! You have to wipe with toilet paper, ONLY toilet paper.”
Clara: “…fortunately I left my shoes in the truck…”
Ivy: Since we love Ivy I shall decline to share what she has been saying. Suffice it to say while she has been doing great at school the transition has been rough!
Jane: ” I YIA YIA YIA YAA!”
Right now, at this very moment, on our desk we have:
Today Clara looked at the desk and said: “Mom what you eatin’?”
Me: “Nothing.”
Clara points to wrapper: “Noooo, what that from?”
Busted.
Some could look at this situation and think – “Man, that lady sits at her computer surrounded by a gigantic mess and eats peanut butter cups while her kids are sleeping and then tries to deny it.”
John will no doubt look at this situation and think: “A WRAPPER!?” (He hates wrappers not thrown away. I have trouble getting them to the garbage. It’s an issue.)
But not me.
I look at this situation and think – “Wow, Clara has got some excellent observation skills!”
It’s the big question of the week:
How is school going for Ivy?
Ivy will talk your ear off on her own terms, (Please take extra note of the on her own terms.)but unfortunately what she has done at school, what she may be doing tomorrow and what she is supposed to do with things brought home in her folder are not things on her agenda to talk about.
This leaves me with a very vague idea of what she’s doing, if she’s liking it and (on a memorable second day of school) if she has any homework that needs doing. All this makes everyone’s favorite question the week a bit hard to answer.
I feel I can say with confidence that in her first week of school:
-In math they counted to three (no opinion given – just a fact).
-In music they hit a drum one time ( no further information or emotion forthcoming).
-They did a bunny hop (not the dance) in gym (I got a demonstration of this so I think that was a hit).
and
-She had to sit on the red part of the rug one morning (she definitely hated that).
All other stories of the week have been of a highly suspicious nature:
Me: “Ivy how was your bus ride to school.”
Ivy: “Good, I saw a loon and an owl. Isn’t that exciting Mom, those are you favorite birds!?!”
She can be a sweet girl – not informative, but sweet.
What I do know all about is what the other girls in her class are wearing.
I hear about the girl in her class who’s wearing brown boots, jeans with sparkles, a purple shirt and a pony tail… the reports come complete with eye and hair color.
So I listen to my little fashionista (who’s current favorite footwear is mismatched flip flops) and attempt to insert appropriate comments into her fashion review of the day.
As I continue to hear about the fashion world of Kindergarten I keep hoping that one day, if I keep paying attention, she may divulge just a bit more than the color shirt of a girl on the bus.
One day.
How is school going for Ivy?
I have no idea – but she keeps willingly getting on the bus so I think she must be having a good time!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far
Near, Far… it’s all relative, right?
This is Jane sleeping on the far side of the room looking though the keyhole in the door near the camera…
Near and far, yes?
Yes.
Thanks for coming with me on that one.
And I know what you are thinking.
You are thinking this would be so much better with a bit of Jane’s face.
It wasn’t.
Curled sleeping baby hands in sunlight – good.
Parts of sleeping baby face through crib bars – surprisingly creepy.
Crib bars are not good for the complexion.
You can see a few more Near and Far keyhole pictures (arguably more interesting ones since they involve things like faces) I’ve taken in the past in Good News… Bad News… and Sweet Sisters.
Behind the Willows 