A Weekend of Unprecedented Knitting.

After handing in what ended up being an emotionally exhaustive paper for me (the first academic paper I've done in 17 years), I decided to take a couple of days off and knit myself into a soothing coma. What follows is the results of my weekend.

First, I finally bought buttons for the Celtic Cable Neckwarmer from Storm Moon Knits - I was giving it to a friend for her birthday, and handing her a half-completed project would probably look a tad gauche. I found some beautiful Celtic buttons at Joanne's Fabric on a jaunt with Stacey a few weeks ago, so on they went. The buttons may be a bit heavy for the baby alpaca, but I'm hoping it stands up well. I was so happy with how this neckwarmer came out that I want to make more for myself and my mom.


My stepsister is due with her third baby (and first son!) next month, and since I've been trying to be a little more receptive to that side of the fam, I decided to make a couple of gifts for the baby. I figured what would be cooler that a pair of Baby Chuck Taylors? I haven't made a pair since the pair I did for Lauren's baby shower last year, so I was worried - but I needn't have; the pattern still knits up as easily as ever and they just looked so darn cute.

I also had some cotton yarn, so I worked up a quick washcloth.

And there's no baby gift from me without an Umbilical Cord Hat, a baby shower mainstay since Stitch & Bitch taught me to knit in the round a few years ago. It's just an adorable hat, and I can practically knit it in my sleep these days. I used yarn left over from a project I did for Heartbreaker's teacher, who I made a baby blanket (yes, and an Umbilical Cord Hat) for earlier this year; I think it's a fun take on the 'baby boys get blue' theme.

I also worked up a Doctor Who Jelly Baby after watching The Next Doctor episode, which got me all geeked up. I won't post a picture of that until I finish it, though.

Speaking of the good Doctor, who else is counting down until Planet of the Dead airs on July 26th? As it stands, my DVR lets me set up to record shows 6 days ahead, so tomorrow is the first day I'll be able to set up to get Torchwood's Children of Earth. Whoo hoo! I'm also looking forward to checking out Being Human. Telly for all!

Back on the American side of sci fi (NOT 'ScyFy'), anyone watch Warehouse 13? Thoughts? I enjoyed it; granted, it's very "X-Files" meets the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I think it's going to ramp up if it's done right. I'm also happily awaiting the return of Sanctuary in October. It's a great time to be a sci fi fan.

Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging.

Okay, so after my little brush with idiocy on the 'Net...


I finally finished my first 'big' paper of the semester. The first two were smaller, really reviews; first of a library periodical and then of a library association. This time up, I had to write a paper on Valuing the Information Professional. I had to research salaries, take a good look at what the profession does and means to people, and put a price tag on what I'm worth. Never having to look at what I've made, but feeling free to bitch about it all the time, this was a challenge to me and I do feel, having spent the last two weeks of my life devoted to this, that I've learned quite a bit and come away with even more respect for this profession.


Naturally, I hope I did well enough in my professor's eyes, but I do feel like I've learned something from this assignment. I also had a crash course in learning a new writing style, which took years off my life as I formatted my paper last night. Lord, the reference list always destroys me. I've already started getting the research together for my next paper, due in a few weeks; something tells me I'll be creating the reference list first - I can always delete sources if I decide not to go with them.


Other than that, there's been reading and knitting like mad. I think I'll refer to this summer as my Summer of Socks since they seem to be my pet project this summer. I finally finished the Circque socks from Spring Knitty, which were so much fun! I loved the heel, I love the twisting cables, and the only complaint I had was that the yarn, while gorgeous, was VERY splitty. Thankfully, it doesn't show up in the socks themselves. LOVE. This yarn is Crystal Palace Soy Silk, and I have to say, I'm loving these new, sustainable fibers. I tried bamboo a few months ago, and fell in love immediately. I may try another soy or silk blend and see if they get splitty again - I'm hoping not.

I also finished sock #2 on Roza's socks from Spring '07 Interweave. I FINALLY used the yarn I bought during our Savannah-versary last year, and this pattern ROCKED. It's so simple, but so pretty when knit up, and the variegated yarn took nothing away from the pattern. The brioche stitch was a perfect variation on the K3, P3 rib; it kept me interested but was easy enough to remember that I didn't need to cart the magazine around to refer to constantly. LOVE.

Roza's Socks

Circque socks

What's next? I started my 'Pay it Forward' projects from Facebook, but the yarn I bought recently apparently does NOT want to be what I had in mind. Back to the drawing board, I guess. The Pay it Forward project was a sweet idea that started when a friend of mine tagged me. You agree to handmake projects for the first five people that respond to your post, with the guarantee that they will do the same. I'm looking forward to my goodies, so I'm going to make these good!

Books, books, books - I've been sneaking some downtime reading in while working on schoolwork so that I don't burn out. I finished off two Jen Lancaster books, Bitter is the New Black and Bright Lights, Big Ass. God, I could read her constantly; she is outright hilarious. From spoiled dot-com princess to newly minted author, she never fails to find the insane side of life.

I finally finished Warriors: Into the Air, and Heartbreaker and I had a great book discussion! He's trying to get me to read The Secrets of Dripping Fang: The Onts, which I'd love to read, but I'm pushing The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, since it's on his summer reading list. Stay tuned to see how this Mexican standoff goes.

Since I'm working on a paper discussing the image of the librarian and the transition from a bun-headed spinster to a tech-savvy cyberpunk, I decided to tap my cyberpunk side and picked up Neuromancer by the Big Daddy of Cyberpunk, William Gibson. It's been a while since I first read it, so it really is all new to me and I find myself enjoying it like I did the first time I stumbled on it. More on it as I go, since I haven't been able to read much the past couple of weeks.

Asshats I Have Encountered.

Okay, I left a cliffhanger the last time I posted; I mentioned encountering an asshat on YouTube. Here's the story in brief. Normally, I am fairly private about my kids' information online. However, since I have a fair amount of family and friends who enjoy them, I have loaded videos on YouTube that I've left public. I do this because the process to friend someone and then get separate access to their videos is a bit cumbersome and it caps at 25. Being in an Italian-Irish-Greek household, 25 people doesn't get me past immediate family. And since I don't tag my videos, my kids aren't likely to come up on a generic search by weirdos.

Or so I thought.

I recently got a message that said someone commented on one of my YouTube videos. Cool, I thought, figuring a family member or friend checked a few out. Instead, I see, "wow lame".

wow lame? Did e.e. cummings just review one of my kids' videos? No such luck. Apparently, some asshat who shall remain nameless so that I don't give him (or her, but most likely a him) any more attention, found Heartbreaker's video from the Nickelodeon slime bus and decided it was lame. I'm so sorry, sir, that you were so offended BY MY KID'S NICKELODEON video that you were compelled to leave such effusive feedback.

Then, I decided to check this genius out and was completely disgusted. At first, I saw a jerk who favorited videos denying 'roid rage (and said that Chris Benoit, the wrestler who killed his wife, son and then hung himself, was having emotional problems, not 'roid rage), wrestling excerpts, and video game cheats. Generic, jackass geek stuff. But then I noticed some weirder stuff. Lots of videos from Nickelodeon family shows like Double Dare, where people got stuff dumped all over them - but it was all women. He had cheerleaders getting pizza dumped on them, girls getting slimed, and just recently, he appears to have subscribed to a fetish site where this kind of video prevails. The fact that he saw my kid? CREEPS ME THE HELL OUT.

So let's just say I've gotten a little education in the Web, and I may not sleep so soundly tonight. In the meantime, access to my kids online is going to get a lot more difficult.

So It Begins!

Shortly, I will be dashing out to get my children from their half-day of school, so we can begin enjoying their summer vacation! Teacher gifts have been lovingly distributed, hugs and kisses have abounded, and playdates (for me as well as the kids) are in process. Whoo hoo!

I'll talk about books next posting, and an asshat I came across on YouTube. Keep posted.

Graduation!

Thrilled, n'est pas?

Cutie Pie graduated Kindergarten yesterday! I have no more babies. Sniffle. But it's not about me; it's all about him. He ROCKED his first year in full-on school, and I couldn't be more proud. If only first grade knew what was coming for them in September...



I will say that the ceremony was even more psychotic than usual, with the parents acting more horribly than the children. Crawling over one another, standing en masse in other parents' way so that they could get a shot of their child - I was fuming, and not very silently. When I saw one of Cutie's friends, shifting uncomfortably in his seat and I realized it was because the poor kid couldn't actually sit back in his chair because a parent was balancing her elbow there in order to hold her videocamera steady, I blew my stack. Luckily, being a member of the PA Board, my friend noticed me and brought me up to the front row, but that doesn't change anything. Rude is rude, and this was mortifying. Do we have to act like this in front of our kids, folks?



I turned in my second paper today, and got another 10/10. I cheered out loud, and then started looking up when the next paper is due. This class is great, but it is truly a trial by fire. It looks like I've got two weeks to work on this next one, but I'll make sure to devote some time to it every night. I've managed to stay pretty current with the readings and the writings, and I need to stay on track.



Knitting - still working on the Cirque sock; I go to it as stress relief between papers.



Reading - Finished Friends Like These - hilarious and perfect, as I mentioned before, for the Facebook generation. I am tempted to go get more of Danny Wallace's books, he's so accessible as a writer. In the meantime, I'm reading lots of great articles on the history of the library and the image of women in the library, for my paper.



I also finished another good book for the clubs; this one's Hungry by Crystal Renn and Marjorie Ingall. Crystal Renn is a model who started out "straight size" (amusingly enough, that's what they call 'regular' models); she suffered from anorexia for several years in her teens before finally deciding to go the plus-model route and found huge success in doing so. The fact that size 12 is a plus size, especially on a 5'9" woman is just unbelievable, as is the assertion now that size EIGHT women are modeling plus size. An eight?! I'm 5'3" and aspire to getting back into my size 8s. Clearly, the fashion industry is more delusional with each day. Anyway; Renn has revolutionized plus-size in that she does high fashion modeling in addition to the Lane Bryant, mainstream stuff. I even went so far as to Google Image Search her, and she really does have some beautiful stuff in her portfolio. She's even walked the runway for Jean-Paul Gaultier - maybe people are starting to finally wake up in fashion? Doubt it.



Okay, next book. I'm still reading Warriors by Erin Hunter, and Heartbreaker's waiting patiently to discuss it. He's reading book two in the series and just finished a Cornelia Funke book - Ghosthunters and the Gruesome, Invincible Lightning Ghost, which he really enjoyed. He's also working his way through the first book of Secrets of Dripping Fang; it appears he's inherited his parents' choice of fiction.

I'm also sneaking in chapters of another Jennifer Lancaster book, this time, Bitter is the New Black. I'd read Such a Pretty Fat by her last year, and am still laughing. I was kind of surprised by some of the hating going on when I read through her reviews on Amazon, even Publishers Weekly. Yes, she's self-centered; yes, she's brash and a bit shallow - but it's part of the character she's portraying. It's funny, people! Lighten up and laugh, we don't need to be the Greek chorus for everyone. Sometimes it's just funny.

One down...

After much ado about... well, something, I finally turned in my first paper of the semester. And got an A! Well, a 10 out of 10, to be exact, but that's an A, isn't it? To say I was relieved is an understatement, since I'd been beating myself up about whether or not I really belonged in graduate school. I could hug Nancy for letting me use 3 years' worth of Book Links issues so that I could get it done. Next paper is due this Friday; I'm researching the Catholic Library Association this time.

Off to run the kiddies to school for now; more later.

Musings.

Okay, keeping up with the books - finished Listen to the Animals, by a vet named Dr. Bruce Coston. He runs a small veterinary practice in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and the book is his journey from childhood to becoming a vet and his life as a vet and the people he's come into contact with as a result. I'm not normally one for the sappy side of life, but I loved this book. Dr. Coston just comes across as a good man who loves animals and people, and he wants to do everything he can to help everyone he comes into contact with. He didn't go for the cheap sob stories - although be warned, there are some good ones in there - and he's not afraid to laugh at himself, or some of the wacky animals and humans they love.

What am I reading now? Well, take your pick. I've got my trusty Foundations of Library & Information Science for school - and yes, thank you, it is good reading. I'm also reading Friends Like These, by the guy who wrote Yes Man. It's the perfect read for the Facebook Generation, which I include myself in at the moment. Danny Wallace is on the verge of turning 30 (horrors!), and receives a box of stuff from his parents - a bunch of stuff left over from when he was a kid. He finds an old address book, and wonders what his friends are doing these days. And proceeds to go all around the world to find out. So you mean I'm not the only one looking up old St. Bart's associates? Love it! Check out the little video on the Amazon UK site from the link, too.

Heartbreaker's teacher has set goals for him - yes, now the DOE is making sure kids have goals. I thought getting a good grade on a test and not having your parents scream at you was an admirable enough set of goals, but no. One of his goals is to have a family book club, since he's very active in the class book groups. I decided it was a good idea, so I took out a book on his say-so. He's gone completely bonkers for a series by Erin Hunter called Warriors; I'm reading the first book, Into the Wild. It's a series about cats in the wild - not housecats who've run off, feral cats, with clans and a mythos and hierarchies. So far, it's very good; I'm enjoying it. It kind of reminds me of one of my favorite books as a kid, Pyewacket by Rosemary Weir.

You've never heard of Pyewacket? Not surprised; I've yet to find anyone who does. (Nancy?) It's a great book - I think my own copy may have been handed down from my cousin, actually. Anyway, it's a book from the points of view of a group of cats - all residential cats, but who gather together outside - who are the pets of the residents of a group of row-houses in what sounds like a run-down area of town. The houses are going to be demolished, so the people have to move and the cats have to decide whether they're going to stay or go. Pyewacket is an alley cat, no human for him; he's kind of the leader of the group. God, I wish I could find a copy of that book again. I loved that book.

I'll talk more about school next time; I've blathered on enough for now. More tomorrow.

Okay, something is still not right with the blog layout, but I'm powerless to figure it out at the moment. I'll keep at it.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, which makes me scratch my head that so much can have happened in that time.

School officially starts on Monday, but I've been working since my head start two and a half weeks ago. It took me four libraries and two boroughs, but I've managed to get all four books I'll need this semester, saving me $156 plus shipping. Whew! I love the reading so far, since much of it is focused on the history of the library - take me back to Alexandria! I'm looking forward to reading about the monastic libraries, since my love for anything Medieval is well-known. I'm excited about school, so I'm hoping my enthusiasm propels me through the FOUR PAPERS I have to get done in EIGHT WEEKS.

My baby boy turned 10 last week - how did that go so quickly? He was in my arms for the first time not so long ago, and now he's pushing for more and more freedoms. His own set of keys, the ability to walk home by himself - it's all moving so much faster than I want it to. I know you can't stop progress, but I'd really appreciate it if progress would slow down its speed for Mommies.

Talking animal movies no longer holds him in thrall... Mike's relieved (and we do still have Cutie Pie, who has already stated his intention to see "G-Force" on opening day), but again, it's one more piece of babyhood falling away. I miss the days where he'd curl into my lap - only for about 10 minutes, since his attention span usually demanded he wander around the rows of the movie theatre every 20 minutes or so - and watch horses, gorillas, bears and moose all talk about their latest adventures.

On the other hand, I can talk comic books with him, and we've just read our first Edgar Allen Poe stories together. As he grows and our relationship evolves, I guess it's just finding a way to make our favorite pasttimes change enough to fit his comfort zone.

So now, I'll be first in line to watch a covert team of guinea pig operatives save the world, with Cutie Pie giggling next to me - until it's time to wander up and down the stairs of the theatre. And I'll do it gladly, remembering that when I wake up tomorrow, he may be 10, too.

I've been knitting and reading, as usual. I finished Ghosts and Lightning, and to be honest, it wasn't my thing. It wasn't horrible, just not my speed for fiction. It was very much in the vein of Trainspotting - good movie, just not my thing.

I also finished I Am Legend, and read with superb timing as Queens is dealing with outbreaks of swine flu that are shutting schools down right and left. The book is much different compared to the movie, and I enjoyed the movie. It's two very different works; the book seemed to have inspired the cinematic retelling more than anything else (a la Blade Runner). The book takes place in suburban California as opposed to Will Smith's post-apocalypse Brooklyn; the diseases differ between the book and the movie - okay, suffice to say that the only common ground between book and movie is a character named Robert Neville. The book also had a small short story collection by Matheson, many of which read like Twilight Zone episodes. Good stuff.

What's on the needles? Socks, perusual. It's the quickest thing I can stash in a bag and I don't usually stress as much about getting gauge. I've got two pairs half done - does that make sense? Pictures forthcoming with more yammering about gauge, soft silky soy yarn, and gorgeous merino wool.

augh.

Apparently, something has buggered up my blog. I'm trying to figure it out.

Books, Blogs, and School...

Still reading - the latest two are probably about 180-degrees from one another, but that's how I roll. I finished Bad to the Bone, an autobiography of a 'rebel dog' named Bo. It's cute, he's no Marley, and it went down quickly and easily. After that, I started reading Ghosts and Lightning, which is an Irish novel about a guy in his 20s who comes back to Dublin after his mom dies. Right now, it's kind of just "we did this... and then, we did this...", so I'm hoping an actual plot forms soon. It's not unpleasant reading, it's just that I want to see if this will go somewhere since I have to write about it.

Just finished my first Battletar Galactica novel, Unity - great stuff. It reads just like a good episode of the show. Cylons implant an airborne virus into a prisoner and send him back to Galactica. Illness and religious panic ensue.

The job search panic continues, so I decided to head to the alma mater to check out their alumni resources. Turns out, they actually had a lot of services in place, so I've joined up and hopefully something will come through. The Alumni Resources office were wonderful; they even gave me a goodie bag for coming in and confirming my information! (They still had my original address down - I haven't lived there in 14 years!) I got two baseball caps (I updated Mike's info as well), two wallets, two bookmarks and a copy of their alumni mag. Needless to say, the kids swarmed, and it was all I could do to hold on to one baseball cap for Mike.

I've gotten a jump start on the Summer Semester - the ivory tower awaits, looking at the coursework I've got ahead of me, but it's all good. I managed to get two of the four textbooks I'll need from libraries here in Queens, and I've requested the other two from NYPL, so hopefully they'll come in SOON. Heck, I may even find myself at the hallowed halls of Queens College again in the near future to see what Rosenthal Library has.

I've also been applying to scholarships right and left, and I came across one that I could promote here - so, if you guys wouldn't mind, at least look at the site and consider giving me a hand? It's through a site called BrickFish.com, and the theme is "What Team Do You Play For?" You can check out my entry here, because for some reason, the code they're giving me to paste the entry here isn't working.

6/11/09 - Editing this post to delete the pictures, in hopes that my blog layout returns to normal. Sorry!

Chocolate Parties!

I had the luck of being invited to a chocolate party. Yes, a chocolate party. Nancy had a Werther's Party through HouseParties, so we turned up to get some free snacks. BAGS greeted us. Not little snack-size, 100 calorie bags. BAGS. Like, grocery-store, full-on purchase sized bags. Of Werther's caramel chocolates. Dark AND Milk. Bliss.

The verdict: Chocolate good. Caramel chocolate better. Dark caramel chocolate BEST.

I've been reading obsessively these days. I finished another book for review, The Boy from Baby House 10, by Alan Philps and John Lahutsky. What an amazing story. John was born as Ivan, nicknamed Vanya, and spent 9 of the first 10 years of his life in a 'baby house' - basically, a baby gulag in Moscow where he and the other children were sent if the state or their parents determined that they were not able to be cared for in the home. Because being stripped of belongings and abused and neglected by your so-called 'carers' is MUCH better. As a human being, I was mortified. As a parent, I was furious. But it's a book people need to read. It's coming out in a few months, keep an eye out for it.

I'm almost done with another Doctor Who novel, The Wishing Well. Martha Jones is the companion in this one, and I have to keep reminding myself it's not taking place in the American Old West but a British village. Love the story, but my American brain is just having a hard time imagining a little old British town with a wishing well as opposed to an old Western gulch town - you can thank television, I guess, for that one. I should be done and onto the next one shortly.

I'm also reading another one for review, House of Cards, about a card writer/editor's time at Hallmark. More to come on that one, but it is as hilarious as the narrator is tedious and irksome. I think it's hilarious BECAUSE he's tedious and irksome, because I don't think he realizes that he actually comes off like a narcissistic jackass. Ever experience that?

Oh, and I haven't given up on Canticle for Leibowitz by any stretch. I'm off to renew it at the library today. I'm off, and since we're expecting a 91-degree day, I'll be filling up a big bottle of water to accompany me.

Spring Break!


Mercifully, my children aren't at the age where Spring Break is synonymous with "South Beach" or "MTV". For Spring Break this year, we escaped the Concrete Jungle and headed to literally greener pastures - Amish Country, in Lancaster, PA. We took my mom along, who really needed a break herself.

Let's hear it for Waffle House!

There is something very relaxing about waking up and seeing green everywhere. Our EconoLodge was right next to a farm, so we got to see (yes, and smell) the cows every morning. No alarm clocks, no work stress, no e-mail - it was bliss.


I was blown away by the amount of craftsmanship that still exists in Lancaster. There are handcrafted gifts in every store, from the beautiful quilts that Amish Country is known for, to the incredible amount of woodworked gifts - I treated myself to a little tin star (so many of the homes have the beautiful bigger ones on their doors - where am I putting that? My living room?) that's hanging in my kitchen, and the cutest little sheep - I've recently gotten little sheep figures in a couple of my knitting swaps, so I've kind of fallen into collecting them.


I also went to the Lancaster Yarn Shop, which was just gorgeous. I could have bought every single thing they had, if there wasn't that whole money thing involved. Just amazing yarns. I did have great deal of restraint - I didn't buy a thing. Lately, I've found that just increasing my stash hasn't helped when I go to find something to knit. I take part in a few swaps, so I love getting my stash increased that way, and it also helps me knit things for me - if I buy my stash, I end up knitting for everyone else.


Speaking of knitting, I had started a Stargazer sweater over the drive - figured the stockinette sleeves would make for good car knitting. For some reason, though, I got about halfway through one sleeve and I just noticed several little holes - I thought I was knitting evenly, but they were really on my nerves, so I frogged the sleeve. Yes, the whole sleeve. Augh.


I'm still working on the Cirque sock, but that required a completely different level of attention, so it ended up languishing in my knitting bag for the trip.

I'm still reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which I'm enjoying much more than I thought I would originally would. But I've got to say, it's completely different from Blade Runner, the movie - in a good way. I'm looking forward to reading the supplement which details more about the making of the movie, because I'm thinking Ridley Scott used Dick's novel as a jumping-off point for telling his own story using Rick Deckard and the idea of retiring replicants. I think I'll watch the movie just after finishing the book, so it's fresh in my mind and I can get a full picture.

Back to Amish Country. We visited Kitchen Kettle Village, a shopping village where we got to take the kids and Mom on a buggy ride and wander around enjoying the beautiful day. We ate fresh kettle corn - I may never be able to eat the 99% fat-free microwaved stuff again - and Mike and the boys enjoyed freshly made ice cream.

The FOOD. I can't even describe it. We went to a few Amish-type places, where we had corn fritters with powdered sugar (heavenly!), homemade noodles in a chicken pot pie, brown buttered noodles (caramelizing the butter at the bottom to give it extra flavor) - I could go on and on and on. Heartbreaker managed to find macaroni and cheese everywhere we went, and Cutie Pie actually ate - at one point, after polishing his third hot dog off at Jakey's Amish Barbecue, Mike and I considered a move to Lancaster County, since we finally found a place he'd eat.

We also found several petting zoos, which I enjoyed as much as the boys did. Kitchen Kettle Village even had a llama, which I was desperate to shear and spin. ;) As you can see from the picture below, he was quite interested in being fed - right after this picture was taken, he managed to lean over enough to headbutt my Mom as she got the feed out!

Heartbreaker was looking forward to his funnel cake, so when he finally got a chance to have it, he expressed his glee. And that funnel cake was HUGE.

All in all, the boys thoroughly enjoyed having Nana spend three days with them. And the feeling was more than mutual.

I Finished Two Books...

I finally finished To Heaven by Water. While it wasn't as bad as I feared it was going to be, it's not my literary cup of tea. But I did enjoy the way the author layered his story - I cringed, thinking it was going to be one particular storyline, but that was only the opening scene. The novel unfolded, and seeing how each of the main characters struggled to move on after the death of their mother/wife drew me in quite a bit. Good stuff.

I also finished a re-read of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You know when you're in the mood to revisit an old book friend? I'd gotten a jonesing to reread H2G2 a few weeks ago, so I hit the library and ended up with that, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - I've been on a Blade Runner kick since I got my suitcase of DVDs a couple of weeks ago.

I have to say, I enjoyed re-reading H2G2, but the re-read didn't make it any clearer than it was the first time I read it almost two decades ago. Which, I guess, is the point. It was a lot of fun, and I still love Marvin the manically depressed android. Having Alan Rickman voice him in the movie was an example of perfection in casting. I think I want to sit down and watch the movie again, having the book fresher in my mind now. I do remember them covering a bit more in the movie than the book had, so I may have to check out Restaurant at the End of the Universe sooner rather than later. I've only ever read the first book in the series. Feedback, anyone?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and/or Passover!

Ah... Spring.

Today kicked off the boys' Spring Break, and it couldn't have arrived on a more perfect day. We woke up, relaxed, played some video games, ate breakfast, and finally, headed out to the playground - I was going to be damned if I made us sit indoors on a beautiful day like today. Loaded up a big bag with snacks, drinks, some knitting for me, baseball mitts for the boys, and we were off. Cutie Pie ended up meeting a friend at the playground, so Heartbreaker and I threw the baseball back and forth for a while. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun being out with my boys. Is the secret actually getting in there and playing with them, rather than sitting on the sidelines, waiting for some other kid to bump yours?

We were off to McDonald's for the boys to have lunch, then I treated them to Baskin-Robbins ice cream. I was tempted, but held off. Cutie Pie proceeded to wear the better part of his ice cream - and I didn't even sweat it. Being dirty is part of being a little boy, isn't it?

We headed home so I could eat my own lunch, and then I dropped them off at a friend's house. I offered to stick around, but was told to go enjoy myself. Sweet! So I came home and finally watched The Amazing Screw-On Head, loaned to me by my friend Chuck ages ago. How did it take me this long to catch this? It's like Hellboy (same creator) but further back in time. It's good, solid steampunk - but taking place in the U.S. rather than the U.K. Paul Giamatti voices the Screw-On Head, and David Hyde-Pierce takes voiceover duties for Emperor Zombie, Head's nemesis. It's surrealistic, it's dark comedy - it's just freaking great.

And it was only one episode. The hell? Sci-Fi, you let the updated Flash Gordon abomination run for an entire season, but only let a pilot episode of this show slip through your fingers? Cartoon Network - Adult Swim needs this in their lineup. Take a look.

I also got some time with Blade Runner today - Hubs surprised me with the Blade Runner suitcase as an early Easter gift, so I've been jonesing to watch it for a couple of weeks now. It holds up nicely, considering it's 27 years old. Wow.

Off I go to get the kidlings...

And I've Been Reading, Too...

So during my blogging hiatus, I've been doing more than Twittering/Facebooking. I managed to polish off Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking in about two hours - wow, Princess Leia has issues. It's a quick read because it's pretty much a stream-of-consciousness look back at the life she's had that hasn't been wiped out by electro-convulsive therapy. Getting glimpses of the life she had with her parents (can you say car wreck?), the madness of Star Wars, and her relationships is kind of like reading Star Magazine, but the stories are all real. Wow.


Still sticking with the Mary Todd Lincoln fictional bio, in between book reviews. Currently, I'm in the home stretch with a book called To Heaven By Water, which is a story about the lives of a retired British journalist and his grown kids after his wife dies. The hard part about books like this? There are flashes of interest between parts that slog along. I have to push this one through because I want to be done with it; I've got two more manuscripts on the on-deck circle and am in a serious sci-fi mood, so I want to get to some of MY books.

I've been knitting, too, although for a little bit, my knitting mojo seemed to have followed my blogging mojo out the window. I tried to cast on for a warm winter hat for winter's last gasp, but ripped it out because I couldn't get gauge. I tried to cast on for two different spring sweaters, but they fell upon the same fate as the hat. Finally, I just did what I normally do when I can't get it together - I picked up some sock yarn and went to what's become my 'go-to' project - socks.



I'm working up the Cirque pattern from the Spring 2009 Knitty issue, and I love it so far. I love cabled socks, but I've never made a pair for myself; this pair has little circular cables all the way down the leg and through the instep, so it should look nice when it's done. I'm working it up in Panda Soy Silk, which I believe also has a little bamboo to it. It feels so soft; I hope it washes up nicely.



Okay, so back to books. When I was growing up, my Uncle Billy had the greatest room in the world. It had several bookshelves lining the walls, and I remember how I'd sit on his couch/bed and look through them constantly. I remember his various Time/Life series, his encyclopedia, and most of all, I remember the paperback novels. Science Fiction, fantasy, some horror, all for me to browse. Uncle Billy's the person that introduced me to Tolkien as a child; he, along with my father (believe it or not!) imbued me with a love of science fiction and fantasy, which ended up forming a lot of the person I am today.

Anyway, recently Uncle Bill handed off a box - a BIG box - of those paperbacks. Digging through the box, I saw covers from 30 years ago that I remembered like it was yesterday. I've posted a picture above of two of the books - how '60s/'70s sci fi are they? So awesome.

I even tried to dig into one of them right away. The Gray Prince, the book on the right, is a Jack Vance novel. When I looked Vance up on Wikipedia, I discovered that he's a pretty heavy hitter in the sci fi arena, so I dug right in. Holy. Crap.

As my friend Keith put it, when I brought the book to him, "pre-Star Wars sci fi and post-Star Wars sci fi are two VERY different things." Talk about psychadelics. After two weeks and a total of nine pages, I waved a white flag. I'll have to try this another time, when I don't have Star Trek on the brain. In the meantime, the books are safe and cozy and awaiting my leisure. I feel like I've got a nice little piece of my childhood back.



My on-deck circle... soon, my sweet Doctor Who books, soon... (yes, there are other books there - notably, Cryptonomicon and a Battlestar Galactica novel called Unity, not to mention the Torchwood books) And yes, that is Daniel from Sandman standing guard in front of the books.

I Got an Award!


So despite my blog mojo having gone missing for several weeks, I still managed to garner an award from one of my knitting sisters, UrbanZooKnitter. Not only is she a kickass knitter, she's an all-around great person. I'll gush more about her below, as I'm awarding her right back, but I just wanted to thank her here.

We've got some rules here, so let me post them and move along:

- Put the logo on your blog or post.

- Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude! (holy crap, 10?!)

- Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

- Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

So I nominate:

1. A.J., author of the UrbanZoo, who not only knits beautiful things, but is a devoted pet mom, gardener, and spouse.

2. Stacey, my co-Geek Sisterhood blogger and author of the Stacey's Stream of Consciousness blog; she finds some of the coolest links on the Internet and is lethal in a craft store.

3. Linda, at Coffee n Danish, has been my friend for eons, and is one of the calmest, most together people I've ever met. She hasn't blogged for a little while, so I hope this entry gently reminds her how much I miss her on the blogosphere.

4. Lauren, another Geek Sister who has taken a little hiatus from her blog at I Was Thinking of an Unreleated Thing to enjoy her little squish, has left New York for somewhat greener pastures. We miss her here, but thank goodness for e-mail and webcams.

5. Nancy over at Bronx Girl Knits knits, loves sci fi, and also writes for Pink Raygun, which makes my girlie geek brain happy. Oh, and she loves herself some Doctor Who - love ya!

6. Peg, the Chaos Mommy, is another mom who makes it all look good - an armed forces wife, three kids, assorted pets and all.

7. Piera, fellow coffee and rage fanatic over at There's Just Not Enough Coffee, is coming back from a blogging hiatus - welcome back, Piera!

8. Snowflake, over at Snowflake Submerged, is another mom with whom I share way too many things - our kids, for instance, are very close in birth months and years; we both have an unabashed love of Tolkien, original Star Wars, and Watership Down; and we're both Catholic school refugees, to start. She's also an armed forces wife, holding down the homefront.

9. Marly, podcaster, blogger and needlewear designer extraordinaire over at Yarn Thing, is another example of the cool people you meet online. She's got a great knitting and crochet podcast, and is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Check out her site and her podcast, even if you don't knit or crochet; she's hilarious and her laugh is infectious.

10. Karen over at The Knitting Patch is a knitter and spinner who makes some of the most beautiful socks I've ever seen. I miss our Pret Knit nights, and hope we get to have one soon. She also does an incredible amount of charity work with New York Cares, so she's an all-around awesome person.

Wow, coming up with 10 bloggers was not nearly as difficult as I thought - I feel like I've left people out! So to everyone who may have felt left out, I apologize - there are more awards out in the ether to be had, right?

Jeez, Have I Been Remiss.

Wow, it's been over two weeks. Poor neglected li'l blog. Let's see what I can do to catch up.

Books - just finished Caryl Phillips' "In the Falling Snow," which was a bit of a struggle for me. Man goes through midlife crisis, gets divorced, has a teenage son he's struggling to keep a relationship with, and makes stupid decisions that get him put on administrative leave. It's a very nutshell summary of the book, but that's the main idea. Not really my bag, fictionwise, but it's coming out in September, so judge for yourself. I'm still running back to the Mary Todd Lincoln book in between book assignments, and I am enjoying it greatly.

My Uncle Bill is one of the reasons I became such a sci fi nut. As a kid, I can remember the bookshelves lining his room, with the greatest paperbacks. Well, he's been cleaning out his basement, and guess what I have? A box of those same paperbacks. Thankfully, my friend Chuck is as big a sci fi fan as I am, so I have someone to share these with or I'd be facing a divorce court. He's taking some, then we're swapping. I've never read Jack Vance, but he's got a bunch of novels in there, so I'm looking forward to checking some stuff out.

Knitting: Working on a pair of socks for Will, and still need to finish Baby Boyd's birthday gift. Sleeves are not cooperating. ARGH. I even e-mailed the designer, who gave me some helpful feedback, but now there's another problem on the horizon. Is it too late for me to just frog the thing and make something else? I may have to.

365 Photo project: That's going to be on hold until I remember to actually take the camera out with me every day. Who would have thought it was that difficult to remember?

And in other news, Heartbreaker kind of walked to school by himself today. I say kind of, because I let him go a half block ahead of Cutie Pie and me. I didn't scream out every time he walked in front of a garage (he did stop and look both ways each time), and I managed to not have a full-on cardiac arrest each time he crossed the street - 3 of them. He looked both ways each time, and jogged across. He looked back a couple of times, which made me feel good - at least he wanted to make sure I was there, right?

He crossed the final street, stood on the corner where the school is, and waved, saying, "'Bye, Mom!" He turned around and jogged through the playground to his entrance. My heart broke just a little more. When did I have a baby old enough to cross a street without me?

Cutie Pie informed me that I get "six kisses" in the morning, "and that's THAT." He also runs into the school building now, no last kiss at the door. My heart broke just a little more.

Being Mommy aches sometimes.

As Promised, Pictures!

Hat for Baby Park (Heartbreaker's teacher's upcoming baby). Yup, it's my baby shower fave, the Umbilical Cord Hat from SnB. I used the last of my Adrienne Vittadini yarn, with baby alpaca goodness.

Square on the garter stitch baby blanket. I ran out of my main color yarn, the yarn store was closed, so I improvised and ended up pretty happy with the effect.

Full shot of the blanket; I even got crazy and did some crochet on the border.

Another Book Down, Another Knitting Project Complete.

I just finished another book for the book clubs. This one, called On The Divinity of Second Chances by Kaya McLaren, was practically written to be a Lifetime Movie for Women. Great if you like that sort of thing, not so much my cup of tea. It's a dysfunctional family comes back together with the help of wacky outsider help-type of story.

Granted, I am partial to space battles and zombies and not so much the women's books, so I'm not the audience it was written for, but sometimes it came off as a bit TOO much. The youngest daughter is an Earth Mother-type, complete with bare feet and spirit guide/imaginary friend. But we discover there's more to it - she’s a reincarnated African-American preacher who died in a KKK-fueled church fire and was reborn into the body of a white girl; her constant canine companion was a dog who died in the church fire, and her spirit guide was a parishoner. The eldest daughter is the overachieving, power exec who lives with a loser slacker, only to dump him, discover she’s pregnant, and head off to live in a mud house she creates on her grandmother’s property. The brother is hiding a horrible secret, so he took off at the age of 14 to go live in a tree. In the woods. And then we have the tap-dancing troupe of elderly women – it’s the Red Hat Society in tights and taps. It just feels like it was constructed to have all the major elements of a ‘women’s book’ – it’s a good story that just tries a bit too hard to appeal to its audience. But like I said, I'm not the audience for this book, so I'm pretty sure I'm reading too harshly.

I've also finally finished a knitting project, after endless starts and pauses. Pictures to come, but it's a blanket for one of Heartbreaker's former teachers, who I always thought highly of and whose baby is due in a few short weeks. It was a pretty garter stitch (easy to work on while watching TV!) pattern that I put some color work into, and I think the end result was nice. I even tested by crochet mettle by putting a little border onto it.

Still trying to get an answer on the issue I've come up against with the Baby Boyd birthday gift - I e-mailed Interweave about it, but have yet to hear. Normally, when I've contacted a magazine about a problem with a pattern, I've heard right away - anyone have any experiences with Interweave?

My Ravelry queue/projects/stash is just a mess. I need to do a lot of updating. I've been spending entirely too much time on Facebook; need to get a lot of stuff buttoned down when the boys go back to school on Monday. I haven't even been spending much time on Ravelry, so I totally feel out of the loop.

Being home for this long is starting to weigh on me. Thankfully the weather's starting to perk up, because I find myself settling into this daze that takes up most of the day. I need to start moving around more, because I'm beginning to notice that it's all too easy for me to spend an entire day just zoning out at the computer. I need to give myself things to do and not tell myself they'll take too long - where am I gong?

And Now, For Something Completely Different.

I'm pretty lucky. I've got the best family and friends in the world, I'm grooming my children for world domination, I've always got a good book and fresh yarn ready, and I've even managed to carve out my own little space on the Web. I'm thankful every day for that, no matter how grudgingly it may sound at times.

Recently, my friend Jen mentioned that a woman I went to high school with had been diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. There were no symptoms, no signs, no warning. She was tired - she's got a 3 year old daughter, of course she's tired! But that was the only sign. She's had several abdominal surgeries and bouts with chemotherapy, and she's looking at another big fight coming up. This is someone I went through high school and college with, and although we moved in separate social circles, I always thought well of. The fact that anyone's got to go through this is awful. That I know her just makes it worse.

I may not be able to do much, but I can use my little corner of the Web to let you know about this. Jen and another friend from high school are putting together a "Celebrate Life" benefit to raise awareness about colon cancer, and to raise money not only to provide support to Alanna and her family but to the Colon Cancer Alliance (CCA). The Celebrate Life benefit will be taking place on March 21. For details on attending or perhaps donating a raffle prize, shoot an e-mail on over to celebratelife.benefit@yahoo.com. I'll be getting some raffle tickets from Jen shortly, so if you're interested, leave me a comment and I'll contact you. I don't know yet what all the prizes are, but I do know one is a huge hi-def television. I've offered my knitting services for one of the auction prizes; hopefully, my project will be done in time!

There is also a Facebook group for the benefit, which you can check out here and learn more. I'll also have the link posted on my Facebook page.

More on ComicCon

The boys even got some role-playing in at ComicCon, with a Wizards of the Coast booth where they had gaming tables set up to teach the basic Dungeons & Dragons game and Magic the Gathering card games. They've been playing D&D with Mike for a while now, so they thoroughly enjoyed that, and I have to say that despite all of us being a bit confused with Magic, we dug it. We got sample decks and will be trying to play. The guy running the game was really thorough and nice in explaining the game. He also told me that Cutie Pie is actually at a great age to start learning the game, which really surprised me; I guess I never thought of a CCD as a kids' kind of thing. But it incorporates reasoning, planning and math skills; not bad, when you think of it.

Heartbreaker and I also found a great booth, Lerner Publishing, where they publish Choose Your Own Adventure-type graphic novels. Heartbreaker loved it, and as I checked out the books and information they had there, so did I. The rep at the booth was really personable, too, which always helps. We ended up completing a scavenger hunt that took us to a few more cool publishers' booths, and he got a free book out of the deal. And I bought him one of the graphic novels.

We've been fans of the Sci Fi Channel show, Who Wants to be a Superhero? for the two seasons it's run so far (I've heard that Sci Fi only contracted to do two seasons of the show - come ON, we need a third season!). The first season runner up, Fat Momma, was always Heartbreaker's fave to win. And she was at ComicCon! We saw her table as we were on the way out, so we made sure to stop over and say hello.

She is the nicest person! She signed her comics, gave Cutie Pie and Heartbreaker each an autographed postcard, and took a picture with them. The boys loved it and I thought she was really great.


One of the main reasons for going to ComicCon this year was so Heartbreaker could meet Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books - I've blogged about them here (and I just finished the third book, The Last Straw) and about how Heartbreaker's such a huge fan. We got on a surprisingly quick line, and he got to meet Mr. Kinney. Not much time for chat or even pictures, which explains why the line moved so quickly, but Mr. Kinney did notice that Heartbreaker's name was the same as his own son's, so Heartbreaker got a kick out of that. And now he has an autographed first edition of his own!

Cutie Pie and I got to sit in on another main reason for attending the Con this year - we got to hear Mo Willems, who writes the Elephant and Piggy, Knuffle Bunny, and my particular favorites, the Pigeon books. Aside from the genius who tried to get him to sign autographs in the middle of his presentation, it was a great time. He read Elephant and Piggy's Are You Ready to Play Outside?, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, and, to my joy, Pigeon Wants a Puppy. I told Mike that I'll never be able to live up to that kind of storytime; the guy is great.



I told you there was a Sleestack. I spent the latter part of the evening trying to call up videos on YouTube and illustrate to the kids how cool the Sleestacks are. Kids today. Harumph.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. The kids got lots of swag and Mike and I got to enjoy being immersed in geek culture again. And ate a lot of carb-filled crap. Convention food at its finest.

ComicCon is Teh Awesome

Where to begin? ComicCon was simply awesome this year. It's the first year I've gone to a Comic Con at Javits since Reed Exhibitions, the company that organizes BookExpo, took it over, and man - they really tidied up the house.

I didn't go on Saturday, where a lot of events were happening, but I went on Sunday - Kids' Day - and the kids' admission was FREE! There were a lot of kids' events set up, so it was a great day for the kids.

Oddly enough, my pictures have posted in the reverse order I'd wanted. Let's review.

Cutie Pie takes lessons in bad-assery from the best. And will one day go on to say, "When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master."

The order of the day was dress-up, and it was quite awesome to see people walking around in various stages of Jedi and stormtrooper dress. We also saw a Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe, several adorable little Boba Fetts, and a Mayor from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Cutie Pie pretty much took his picture with every stormtrooper he could get near; Heartbreaker, who's a 'tween now and eschews such childish foolishness, politely declined. Even when I embraced a Sleestack (more on that later).

Neither of the boys were too cool, however, for lightsaber lessons. It was a moment that would make any mother worth her geek label proud. The New York Jedi were kind enough to conduct lessons for the kids all day long, and were really wonderful in working with them.

No matter what new 'thing' Cutie Pie finds interest in, he always comes back to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He loves these guys. So when we saw all four of them walking around the convention floor, we made sure to get Cutie Pie in there. Look at that face. That's just sheer joy.

Jesus Christ, that's a lot of people.

More in the next post.

Still Reading, Still Knitting...

So the first semester's pretty much in the can for me, and I have to say, school is every bit as great as I hoped it would be. I know things will ratchet up a notch next semester once the papers and research kick in, but for now, it was a wonderful re-entry into the world of college. I've been checking out various webcasts the school has, learning about different areas of study, and have been interested and thrilled to find that library studies has so many great places for me to go. I've said all along that I'd likely go into public librarianship, specializing in children's library studies, and I'm still pretty married to that, but archival studies with an eye toward working in museums is also right up my alley. So for now, who knows? I may specialize in one field but skew my electives toward the backup field. I feel hopeful and excited, which is nice these days.

I'm still reading the Mary Todd Lincoln fictional autobio, which is very good; I do have to wonder how fictional this is - I can't imagine this is very close to the bone, but it's good reading and good fun. The author seems to have Lincoln's bouts of depression down pretty well (from what I've read about Lincoln in the past), and I may be tempted to read an actual biography of Mary Todd Lincoln down the line to see how well the author 'got her'.

I also finished a book for review a couple of weeks ago called The Wisdom Trail, which features profiles of women now ages 73-90. They've been there, done that, and blazed the trail while doing it – women who came of age during the ‘40s and ‘50s, when women’s roles were in transition from Rosie the Riveter back to Donna Reed, and they bucked the trend by getting a college education and using it. Most of them married and became the women who ‘had it all’ – eventually, the model we as women have today. Not a ‘how to’ book, but an important look at where we were and how we got here. The main age range of the women profiled in this book is 73-90, most college educated, all wanted to make a difference.

It's an inspiring book, and an interesting read but I had two glaring issues arise while reading it - first, where were the single women? Most of the women profiled were married, had children, and figured out how to work a career by working around their husbands or by waiting until their children started school. And second, most of the women profiled are Caucasian – where are the African-American voices? Where are the Asian-American women? There is a small handful in here, but I would have liked to see a little more diversity. Other than that, it's an interesting book that I think should open up a dialogue between generations of women.

Okay, I see a cool meme I'm going to pick up, so I'll pause this post for now.

What's on the Night Table This Week

First up - in less than two hours, we get to watch President Obama being sworn in. I cannot tell you how excited I am. I hope the kids are able to see some of it in school, but as the Inauguration is taking place during part of the lunch period, I'm not sure. Since the weather is too cold for recess, I can hope that they will try to show some of it in the auditorium. I'll record it just to be safe, because I know they wanted to see it.

So this week, I've got to finish another book I'm reviewing; The Wisdom Trail by Janet Lieberman and Julie Hungar, both in their late 70s/80s. It's really an interesting read; it's the stories of women who blazed the trail from the Depression and before through the 60s - women who worked, raised families, were active in their communities - very good stuff, very inspiring. I have to devote some serious reading time here so I can get my report in. It's a promising sign when my manuscript is all marked up with notes, though.

I've also been trying to get an idea of what I've got in the way of projects for the next couple of months. I've just cast on for a cute little birthday gift that I can't disclose much about, as the recipient's Mommy reads the blog. I've also got a March gift to start thinking about, another possible March gift - not sure as yet - and two Aprils. So at least I know I'll have stuff to work on - now, I just have to actually settle on projects.

See? Progress.

At Heartbreaker's behest, I've read both Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. I thoroughly enjoyed both books; the mix of cartoons and the story told in the main character's voice was fun to read and I admit to quite a few out-loud giggles while reading them. Heartbreaker assures me that I will enjoy Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw as well; he finished it last night.

I also have to admit to some selfish pride in getting the book for Will the day it came out, because he brought it to school the next day and was surrounded by kids, whose mothers haven't gotten it for them yet. Score one for Mommy.

So today was orientation today for me at SJSU. It's lovely having an online course where I can take my time, because orientations are normally not my thing. So being able to hit 'pause' while I made myself a cup of coffee (this apartment is drafty as all get-out and I'm FREEZING) was awesome. And being able to sit back and knit as I got to know all my future professors was very cool, as you can see:


That's a mitten for Cutie Pie, who isn't a fan of his gloves. He has told me several times that he wishes he had mittens, so when he gets home today, he'll have a nice, warm pair of blue mittens waiting for his cold little fingers.

And yes, that is an old-school Cylon head you see in the background.

And, Some Knitting.

I've been knitting, too. Honest, I'm not just on the computer all day long. Okay, lately I am, but I am knitting, too. I've still been working on the Nutkin socks, which I love - I'm on sock #2 now. It's a short-row heel, which I've never done before, and I'm a little distressed because it looks rather holey. Just means more finishing to be done, since I'll go in and close them up when I'm done. I have to look up how it's done and see where I may have gone wrong. Or maybe I just need more practice.

I haven't spun in a few weeks; again, just frustrated and really in need of someone who can show me, rather than watch a video on YouTube. Nothing, at least for me, beats someone that can show me what I'm doing wrong.

Okay, now I'm off to knit. Seriously.

Let's Hear it for The Wimpy Kid!

Here is a really enjoyable article from USA Today about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid phenomenon - Heartbreaker is a huge fan of these books and I'll be running over to Barnes & Noble today to pick up the newest one, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, so he'll have a little present to come home to today.

I think I'll even take a break from Mary Todd Lincoln to finally read these myself. Heartbreaker's been raving about them (along with many other kids) and telling me how I need to read them as well, and it's been far too long since Will and I have read a book together (other than Inkheart, which we're working through right now). When I helped staff the school's book fair this year, this series sold like hotcakes (as did the Camp Rock novelization, but Heartbreaker's not into that so much). Kids love this stuff. Hey, any book that gets kids excited about reading wins my vote hands-down.

I remember my cousin stressing out to me about her son, who's the same age as Heartbreaker, not wanting to read; I recommended Captain Underpants; a favorite of Heartbreaker's at the time. She proceeded to get all sanctimonious on me about the 'bathroom humor' of the book and how she'd never let her son read that.

Oh, please. Do you want your son to read? Do you think that not reading Captain Underpants, or any 'bathroom humor'-related book is going to stop your son from sniggering at a good fart joke? I'm a 38-year old female that thinks fart jokes are absolutely hilarious, provided they're done well. Drop the pretenses of being Victorian; you live in a split-level in New Jersey.

That said, kudos to teachers and librarians who have championed Captain Underpants and now, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in all their boogers- and fart-related glory. Reading things that are written to speak to kids is the way to get them to read, particularly since we now know that boys learn differently from girls.

And if you have a boy, by the way, check out author Jon Scieszka's site, Guys Read - it's his literacy program to help boys find things they like to read. I first 'met' Scieszka through Nancy, who read The Stinky Cheese Man to Heartbreaker when he was but a toddler. He darn near giggled his Blues Clues socks off, and Scieszka went on to become one of his first favorite writers.

Weighty Thoughts...

After my frustration at not losing the 20 pounds I wanted to by Christmas (I did, however, get down by almost 4 pounds), I got into the whole hopeless bit; you know, where I'll never see my 'real' size again, yet I hate the way I look in pictures. I deliberate stayed away from making a weight-related New Year's resolution, because I'm tired of feeling like I've failed.

I did, however, get back in the Wii Fit after 31 days (as it so sweetly reminded me) today. Surpringly, my weight wasn't that different from my last time on the scale, and considering that normally I'd weigh in before I ate breakfast, and today I weighed in after I ate breakfast, lunch and a small afternoon snack, I was actually kind of hopeful about my starting point. It's not going to be easy, but if I can remember to be kinder and easier on my psyche, and remember that it's all about the baby steps, I'm hoping to see some positive results this year.

Book Blogging

I've decided to blog about the books I read this year. I read a lot of books, and looking back at the end of the year, I'm never able to quite remember everything I've read, for better or worse.

I ended last year and began this year with a book called Strange Nervous Laughter by Bridget McNulty, which'll be coming out in March. I've got to admit, this one left me cold. I'm able to read a book that doesn't necessarily appeal to me and still find something good about it, or pick who it will appeal to, but this one was just on my nerves from about five pages in.

The two biggest issues I had were the shallow characters that the author tried to make deep and a major storylines that just went nowhere. I felt like the author wrote this book to show how literary she is. For instance, one of the most irritating characters in the book is a woman who wears a “corset of cynicism”. Good. Lord. Maybe it's just too experimental or surrealistic for me - that's one genre of literature I've never been able to completely get on board with.

The story begins with an interesting scenario – a robbery at a grocery store in Durban, South Africa. Three of the main characters are in the store being robbed, but the robbery just becomes a throwaway reference point after it's over. The scene was just there to introduce the characters.

And speaking of the characters, there are six main characters, all of whom not only have their own little dysfunctional superpower but who have also had some abysmal childhoods. These six damaged folks end up pairing off and eventually falling apart.

I was frustrated with this book early on, and looking back, I still can't say I found something I truly enjoyed. I'll have to see what the word is on this book when it hits the shelves.

I just picked up a book I got during my BEA 2006 run; I've been dying to read it for ages and just decided to take a break from everything else and grab it. Mary, by Janis Cooke Newman, is a fictional autobiography of Abraham Lincoln's widow, Mary Todd Lincoln. History nerd that I am, I've been interested in her for years and the book is very readable. It's told in the first person from Mary's point of view, right after her commitment for insanity 10 years after President Lincoln's assassination; she's looking back at her life and currently, I'm up to when her father remarries her stepmother, who's apparently a wicked witch. I think I'm going to enjoy this read.

Rant.

Do you want to know what I think is killing the book business? Authors who lie. We all remember the ugly business of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, which brought forth the wrath of Oprah, and right on the heels of that debacle, Harvard student Kaavya Viswanathan's disgrace when it was discovered that she plagiarized sections of her book How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life.

And we have it happening again. A few weeks ago, we found out that Oprah has been burned again (and yes, I admit I get a little giggle out of it) by an author who claimed he met his wife when he was in a concentration camp during World War II - guess what? It didn't happen! And today, I just read an article on USA Today that the author of Conversations with God just got caught trying to pass off another writer's Christmas memories as his own on his blog. His defense? "Wow, I don't know how that happened, I guess I just read it and kind of internalized it as my own memory." (Amusingly similar to Viswanathan's defense, by the way.)

People, what is going on here? If you have a compelling story, do you have to pretend it was your life? Do you not think it's going to sell otherwise? Have we become such a reality TV-crazed nation that we have to think everything is a peek into someone's home before we'll consider looking at it?

The book business is in enough trouble without greedy or just plain stupid people trying to fool the public into buying their stuff.

Just a Sunday rant from me.

Quick Rewind

A brief New Year's recap:

I could have slotted in a picture from any of the past 10 New Year's Eves, and you really wouldn't have known better, would you? I will now refer to this and all similar as the "Annual Guy Shot".

Finally getting Mike to take a shot I can post.

Birthday gift from Stacey and Adam - a Dalek necklace!

Birthday gift from Nancy and Keith - Box O'Hello Kitty!

I'm about to start burning a few years' worth of photos onto disc, something I should have been doing more regularly all along. I do tend to use Snapfish as offsite storage for many photos, but I need to free up computer space for the updates I need to make. Plus, I'm terrified of crashing my entire system and losing my photos. Now, I just have to worry about what to do when my CDs deteriorate. I think I'm going to listen to my friend Chuck and just order prints of everything. Of course, that would mean going back to finding space for all the photo albums. Gah!