My 1 Little World

Book Review: Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff

2012-05-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was so excited to read this book because the previews and reviews indicated this was a book written by someone with an uncanny ability to live life to the fullest, make lemonade out of lemons, and attract unbelievable blessings in his life. The book did not disappoint. Bob Goff clearly lives his faith but he never comes off as preach-y or holier-than-thou, and in fact seems to simply live a life of purpose and grand love for humankind.

This book is filled with easy to read chapters illustrating positive traits with examples from the author's life and discussion about how this relates to living a life of active love. The scriptural examples were pertinent but not overwhelming. The author appears to have a very logical approach to religion and scripture, noting that it is more important to live a good life than to study a good life.

I honestly most admired his parenting, as it seemed to be based around the idea of finding opportunities for his children to learn valuable lessons as well as finding opportunities for them to find their passions. The way he created those lessons is by saying "yes" to life more often than he said "no" or let his own doubts or fears take over. This is a man who believes in himself and believes that the right things will happen to the right people at the right time.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it even to those readers who do not consider themselves particularly religious. There is something to be gained in the ideas of following your passion, saying "yes" to the possibilities of life, and embracing those things that scream of the pursuit of a "good" life and encourage the life lived with great love.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Book Review: The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

2011-10-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was a little unsure of this book since I don't normally like horror or paranormal-type stories, though I do enjoy suspense. I know, it's a fine line. This is a story of a family who moves into an old house with a small barricaded door in its basement. The father of the family has his demons he is fighting after crashing a plane and killing most of the passengers. They thought this new house and new city would be a way to start over. Probably they had something else in mind that what really happened.

I had a hard time putting this book down because I figured the little door in the basement was the big mystery, but that mystery was actually solved quite early on. The bigger mystery is much more complex, and understanding the town herbalists' interest in said door was really the bulk of the book. How the story ties into the father/airline pilots post-traumatic stress was also pretty unique.

I wasn't thrilled with the way the book ended, but in hindsight couldn't imagine a different ending working any better.

Thanks to Read it Forward for the book!

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I am not collecting any more books in my household, so if you are interested in having this book, I will send it to the first commenter who says "I want it!" Either include your email address or make sure it is associated with your blogger profile and I will email you privately for where to send it.

Book Review: Run by Blake Crouch

2011-09-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Run by Blake Crouch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another book I read while on vacation and was one I felt compelled to keep reading, even though this genre is not one I usually enjoy. It reminded me a bit of McCarthy's "The Road" with regards to the sort of "post-apocalyptic" survival story.

It is a story of a family on the run from a population that has mysteriously become ruthlessly murderous. It is a story of survival, a story of a family coming together in peril, and it is a darn good thriller.

I enjoyed the twists and turns to the plot and the mysteries surrounding the characters that were not fully explained until later, like the appearance of the "Aurora" and the role of the forensic scientist. While implausible, this was an enjoyable book overall.

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Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security Review

2011-09-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

I was recently given the opportunity to try Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security through BzzAgent. Being an IT professional, I am pretty hard to please when it comes to technology.

When I agreed to try Trend Micro, I already used another brand of anti-virus and spyware protection and was frankly perfectly happy with them, which is why I was irritated when I installed Trend Micro and it insisted on uninstalling everything I had installed and was using. Intellectually, I understand why it did that, because anti-virus can compete with one another but it was not very graceful the way it happened which made for a less than perfect user experience.

When I installed the software, I also agreed to use the back-up service, SafeSync. Now, there are a few problems with that decision. First, I didn't realize when I agreed to use it, that there is a 10 GB limit for the trial and I have way more data than that. When it hit the limit, it bugged me to death to add more storage or remove files and yet kept trying to sync. I finally had to delete all of my files from the online storage and turn off the service. Now this is a great example of me being picky. I had just finished an evaluation of Enterprise cloud storage and backup at work, so I had already looked at and used the top services on the market and those that didn't make the top tier were quickly identified and eliminated. I do think if a user were able to correctly identify the amount of storage and types of files one needed to back up, this service would work fine, but I have seen way better user interfaces on other products.

The other downfall that became readily apparent is the fact that I have a probably five year old laptop. Yes, an IT professional with old, crappy hardware...what can I say? The online backup bogged me down like nobody's business. I actually started looking for a new laptop after using this because it made me so crazy.

Now that I've complained, let me tell you what I loved. I was sync'ing my iPad and uploading all my music to Google Music (beta) and somehow ran out of room on my hard drive (shocking!). Trend Micro has this fantastic tool that realizes your hard drive is bogged down and offers to clean it up for you. Magically, I recovered over a Gig of space using this tool. I was back in business!

Here's the stats according to Trend Micro...

Titanium™ Maximum Security has all the bases covered when it comes to protecting you online. Check out the product's key features:

Set and forget
Titanium™ Maximum Security is extremely easy to activate, and once it's done, you don't have to do a thing. Not only is the software non-intrusive, but it takes up less than half the disk space and memory of other security products — so your computer runs faster (and you avoid stress). From the main console, you can access easy-to-read security reports with all the details about the Internet threats that attack your computer. Talk about no worries!

Maximize your PC's performance
The System Tuner feature of Titanium™ Maximum Security can help you recover disk space, make Windows run faster and optimize your computer's performance.

Keep your files private
Imagine if you lost your laptop— your laptop with hundreds of important files you want to keep private. What would you do? With Titanium™ Maximum Security, you can locate and lock your files remotely, and even wipe the data if necessary. So no one will ever see those photos of you in skin-tight leather...

Social networking security
Titanium™ Maximum Security automatically scans your Facebook, Twitter or MySpace wall to visually show you what links are safe or malicious. You never have to click a bad link again! Just think of all the crazy videos and offers you're saving yourself from...

If you want to try Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security yourself, use the discount code "BZZ30" at trendmicro.com or use this downloadable coupon at Best Buy.

Stay tuned. I just installed the product on my son's computer and activated the Parental Controls. I'll let you know how it goes.

Just to cover all the bases, I am a BzzAgent and was provided this software to review and this post reflects my opinion.

Book Review: The Ultimate Choice by Lisa C Hinsley

2011-09-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

The Ultimate Choice by Lisa Hinsley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book while on vacation, so was able to plow through it pretty quickly without interruption. Given that, it was a fast read and reminded me a bit of "The Hunger Games" combined with Orwell, as the description reads.

While an interesting examination of a future humanity, the will to survive in light of government control, and a mother's love, the book lacks the complexity to be anything other than a young adult novel. That said, the book is thoroughly entertaining and gives one the opportunity to ponder how government comes to power over the lives of its citizens and how we value human life.

From the perspective of school curriculum, this would be a good companion to "The Hunger Games" and Shirley Jackson's "Lottery."

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Book Review: One More Theory About Happiness: A Memoir by Paul Guest

2011-05-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

Paul Guest was a normal 12-year-old, fascinated with the old firecrackers
his grandfather kept in a jar. He'd break them up and set fire to the rupture,
creating showers of sparks. The day after he graduated from grade
school, he borrowed a bicycle, lost control, and flipped it. Lying on the
ground, unable to feel his body below his neck, what he thought was blood
running from his nose was, in fact, spinal fluid.

Guest would never again have the use of his arms or legs. Even so, he
says he was lucky: "If I couldn't lift my arms I could breathe. I could feel... I no longer had to be, or even could be, who I once was. What I once was. I was broken. And new."

One More Theory About Happiness: A Memoir by Paul Guest

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is Paul Guest's memoir about his life after becoming a paraplegic after a bicycle accident at age twelve. I was in a car accident as a teenager, where I broke a vertebrae and spent much of my senior year of high school in a body cast. That said, Guest's description of that ethereal separation when you know you are hurt, but don't yet know how badly, was spot-on. I loved his poetic, yet factual, descriptions of the events of his life and appreciated the lack of self-pity. The story was sparse on details in many places, but the overall effect of the book was stunning.

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Book Review: Please Stop Laughing at Me... by Jodee Blanco

2011-04-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Please Stop Laughing at Me... One Woman's Inspirational Story by Jodee Blanco

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I currently work for a public school district and bullying really is a big deal to anyone who works with kids. I also have a son who will enter school next year and I want to make sure he is neither a bully nor a victim. I wanted to like this book. I wanted to learn some really insightful things about preventing or dealing with bullying, but for me, this book did not deliver.

Blanco tells an interesting story about her junior high and high school experiences being bullied, but there seemed to be a lack of resolution. In several places in the book, Blanco criticizes her parents for their advice about ignoring the bullies and not letting them see that they're getting to her. Then, when she fights back, she acknowledges that doesn't work either. So what is the answer?

Blanco identified that she was bullied because she was different from her classmates, but also says that she wasn't willing to change for anyone. One of her big issues was with "standing up for what is right," which is noble, however, calling a teacher out in the middle of class for saying something politically incorrect about developmentally disabled students, probably isn't the best way to deal with it, either.

The conclusion to the book, with Ms. Blanco attending a class reunion and finding all the bullies believed they were just "kids being kids" and now they were all such nice people, never realizing they had hurt her was supremely disappointing. It's great that she "overcame" but I just couldn't get the real,employable strategies against bullying from this book.

I received a free review copy from Booksneeze.com

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Bedside Tray Makeover

2011-04-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering this little bedside tray for some time now. I keep this in my bedroom and The Boy uses it quite regularly on weekends when he gets to sit in Mama's bed and watch cartoons and eat cereal or what not. It's a handy little tray, but what you can't really see in the picture is that the top is pretty pitted and ratty looking. I mean, the thing is pretty cheap to begin with, and when you start mistreating it it just doesn't hold up very well.

I started out by taping the top and sides off and painting the wood in a lovely shade of pale green. This is Glidden Spring Green, to be exact, and was part of a free sample that I received several months ago. The piece sat in my dining room for some time as I pondered the decoration for the top.

As what usually happens, inspiration struck in the form of The Boy deciding he wanted to be a part of this project. Gramma (my mom) had left her Cricut cutter at my house after bringing it over to play with The Boy. She brought a bunch of cartridges over last week and then just left them all here. In a fit of Easter morning boredom, The Boy decided he wanted to make some creatures and create a scene on the tray. We used the Cricut Cartridge, Create a Critter and made several animals, following the colors and such on the booklet as closely as possible.

When it came time to do the layout, I put some pale blue for the sky and brown and green for the "land" on the tray and the set The Boy up with all of the Critters, trees, grass, and bamboo that we had cut out with the Cricut.

He chose where he wanted all the Critters to hang out, where the trees, the water, and all should be. I covered the whole project with a liberal coating of Mod Podge to start with.

I gave the whole project three liberal coats of Mod Podge and let it dry overnight. Finally, I sprayed it with a clear acrylic sealer to protect it from spills.

There are a few wrinkles here and there, but I must say, The Boy is pretty darn pleased with himself for putting together this little jungle scene. He can't wait to use the table!

Book Review: Poke the Box by Seth Godin

2011-04-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

Poke the Box by Seth Godin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really needed this book. I have been stuck in the hunker-down, "don't create a ruckus"-mode for quite awhile. I need to get out and start poking the box or nothing will change. Poking the Box is the concept of pushing, prodding, and trying things out to see what works.

I love Godin's take on the concept of failure. You can't be afraid to fail--everyone who tries something fails sometimes. It's easy to make excuses and never try because you're afraid to fail. The description of the guy who carries around a notebook of ideas but never starts...that could be me. He never starts because it is easier to talk about all his great ideas than to risk failure.

If this book sounds interesting to you, and you don't yet subscribe to Seth Godin's blog, go do it now. He has awesome daily insights that never fail to make me think.

I subscribed to The Domino Project via Amazon, so got a free pre-release Kindle download and then later signed up for the BzzAgent Campaign related to the project, as well. This book is a great start to The Domino Project and I can't wait to read the other books in the set.

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Book Review: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

2011-03-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Looking through my "read" bookshelf, you'll see I have read a lot of Jodi Picoult's novels, and if you delve deeper into that, you will see that I started out liking them a lot and slowly degraded into being annoyed with the formula that each seemed to copy.

That said, there is still some of her trademark formula in this book, but the characters and events in "Sing You Home" really carried the book for me. Picoult does such a great job of researching and then presenting her topics, so I always feel like I learned something after finishing a book.

Whether you lean to the right or the left of the gay rights/gay marriage issue, you will find yourself alternating between "oh yeahs!" and pure fury as the chapters move back and forth between the perspective of each character. The author did a great job of characterizing the the main character, Zoe's desire for motherhood, as well as her feelings of eventual loss. It was difficult for me to read about Zoe's loss--it was that well written. And I will have to admit that I did shed a tear at the final chapter.

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Book Review: Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry

2011-02-27T17:51:00.000-08:00

Learning to Swim: A Novel by Sara J. Henry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I heard about this book from Read it Forward and was lucky enough to win a signed copy in a blogger's giveaway.

"If I'd blinked, I would have missed it. But I didn't, and I saw something fall from the rear deck of the opposite ferry: a small, wide-eyed human face, in one tiny frozen moment, as it plummeted toward the water."

If those two sentences grab you like they did me, go out immediately and buy this book! It is well-written, captivating, and ultimately an overall satisfying read. I love the way the author, Sara J. Henry, developed the protagonist, Troy Chance. Troy's comments about being single, sleeping with dogs, and preferring male roommates made her seem like someone I'd hang out with. As a mother myself, I totally understood her quick and deep devotion to the boy she saved and her observation that all of it "seemed to make sense at the time."

I read this book in a little over 24 hours, in between working a full-time job and taking care of a four year old. Yes, it was that engrossing. In the world of TV episodes, this book could have ended at chapter 15, but knowing it was only halfway done, I could only wait for the other shoe to drop. On that note, I could totally see this book as a movie. (But would hate that because they always ruin books that way.) I've been talking about this book so much, that I already have three friends lined up to borrow it now that I've finished!

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Booking Through Thursday

2011-02-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

I am linking up to Booking Through Thursday's question of the week, which is a new weekly meme that I will try to participate in. Here is this week's question:

All other things being equal–do you prefer used books? Or new books? (The physical speciman, that is, not the title.) Does your preference differentiate between a standard kind of used book, and a pristine, leather-bound copy?

I am a book hoarder. For whatever reason, I have until recently, had a really hard time giving up books that I've read. Now, most book lovers would understand wanting to keep a beloved book written by a favorite author in which you've scribbled notes, underlined passages, and dog-eared important pages. For me, this book is By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of Forgiveness by Paulo Coelho, but that is another story. But no, I am talking about random books, purchased and read and then stuck on a shelf never to be picked up again. The worst ones for me are those big hardcovers that I just HAD TO HAVE and couldn't wait for the paperback to come out. By golly, I spent a good $20 on that book and I just will NOT give it up.

Fast forward now several years to encompass the birth of The Boy and the accumulation of more books, in the form of picture books and easy readers, the breeding of legos and cars, the tiny dinosaurs that have migrated under the sofa, and I am feeling the strain of too much junk. So recently, I have started to read books and immediately list them for swap on GoodReads if they didn't fall into the "River Piedra" category or something like it. The other exceptions to this rule are my signed books or books that have some special meaning to me other than being in the "River Piedra" category. I've started to cull my bookshelves of books that I know I will never read again, or in some cases never got through the first time.

For Christmas, hubby bought me a Kindle, which has been freeing in another way in that I don't ever have to accumulate the books in the first place. I thought I would miss holding the paper, turning the pages, marking my place with an old postcard, but I don't. Don't get me wrong, I still pick up fifty-cent books at the library sale and borrow/loan books with friends, but I'm not inclined to spend money on new books anymore in their paper form because I have such a hard time parting with them.

Scrappy Scarf: A sewing project

2011-02-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

I've been saving The Boy's old t-shirts for quite awhile, thinking I would someday make a t-shirt quilt or something. However, seeing as how I am not much of a seamstress, I figured I had better get in a little practice before tackling something like a quilt.

I ran across this post at "Living with Punks" about making a boy's scarf using old t-shirts with an added fleece backing. Inspiration was born! A scarf I could handle.....I think. Go check out the link above for the tutorial...it was perfect.

Here is the finished scarf, with orange fleece on the reverse.

At this point I should explain that we have a couple of dogs who, among other things and for whatever reason, think they should eat our clothes. So for this project I had a couple of pajama tops that belonged to The Boy, some pajama bottoms from The Boy, and some sleep shorts that were mine. I'll bet you can figure out which were mine.

I like how the bottom hems from some of the fabric gave a little extra detail, like the last two pictures. As you can see, I didn't get too crazy with the angles and diagonals. I didn't want to have to deal too much with geometry when I was trying just to get a straight seam.

One thing that would have been cute is if I'd had some other bright colored thread to randomly stitch some zigzag stitch accents...but right now I have black and off-white thread. Like I said, I'm not much of a seamstress, so my stash is low. In essence, I hem pants and that's about it. However, I have a few bucks left on a gift card, so I will probably go buy some more thread so the next project will be a little more creative.

The Boy likes it! As a side note, that humdinger red spot under his nose is from tape or something they used on the breathing tube for his recent oral surgery. It bugs him, so it's taking a long time to heal. And the black spot on his chin is a tattoo :) He looks a little beat up except for that classy scarf, huh?

I won "Learning to Swim" by Sara J. Henry!

2011-02-18T21:10:00.000-08:00

While standing on the deck of the Lake Champlain ferry bound for Vermont, Troy Chance sees a small boy tossed over the side of a ferry going the opposite direction. Without thinking, she jumps to his rescue, setting off a chain of events that see her embroiled in a kidnapping plot with tendrils in the Adirondacks and Vermont as well as Ottawa and Montreal.

I quickly realized that I needed to have this book when I first got an email from Read it Forward with their awesome contest to win an early release book. I downloaded the first chapter excerpt and I was hooked! Go check it out....I'll wait.

Of course, I added the book to my GoodReads wishlist and then ran across the author, Sara J. Henry's blog. From there, I found a whole bunch of bloggers that were hosting giveaways, too. Of course, I entered every single one I could find and thanks to Deb, who blogs at Punctuality Rules and Booking Through Thursday and of course, thanks to the author Sara J. Henry, I WON!!!!

Stay tuned for a review and if you just can't wait, head over to your favorite bookstore and pick up the book yourself. There are still a bunch of giveaways open on various blogs...check out Sara's post here for links.

Book Review: Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons

2011-02-11T20:42:00.001-08:00

Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A well-written, engaging book but I gave it only three stars because it didn't have a compelling plot for me. Granted, I had just come off an intense series with a very direct and intense plot, so maybe I wasn't ready for the "chick lit" easy reading that this offered. It was good, but not GREAT. I liked the characters and have no direct criticism, but I didn't find the book exceptionally compelling.

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Book Review: Just Let Me Lie Down by Kristin van Ogtrop

2011-02-06T20:08:00.001-08:00

Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom by Kristin van Ogtrop

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kristin van Ogtrop has compiled a charming and funny collection of "dictionary terms" for the working mother, illustrated using her own half-insane working life as a magazine editor and mother of three. While there are not a lot of laugh-out-loud stories in this book, there are a lot of poignant and difficult stories that any working mother (and probably some working fathers) can relate to in a way that makes you nod your head in understanding while reading the book. The author masters the snarky one-liners as well as the well wrought retelling of personal stories in such a way that it made me feel like I was gossiping over coffee with a good friend.

I won this book (a long time ago) from Chrissy's World of Books and have only now finally read it. Thanks Chrissy :)

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When Your Baby is sick....

2011-02-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

If you're anything like me, you'll do pretty much anything in hopes they'll feel better, and you don't want to do anything that makes them feel worse, like forcing medicine and the like. Yeah, I hate that.

I was browsing through my local Walgreens the other day and ran across these Fever Bugz Stick-On Fever Indicators and just had to buy some. They were $4.99 for a pack of 8 at my local store.

Maybe I've been living in a cave, but I'd never seen these before, and as (bad) luck would have it, The Boy got sick today and I had to use one. By golly, they work! And I don't have to pester him all the time with a thermometer to find out how his fever is doing and whether I need to give him more medicine. These continue to work for up to 48 hours, so I can even leave it on overnight. I am seriously smitten. Honestly, the fact that they are bugs, is just a bonus. The Boy still enjoyed picking out the bug sticker he got to wear, even if he didn't feel good.

I didn't get anything for doing this post and no one asked me to do one, I just ran across these in the store and tried them out. If you want more information about them, here is the manufacturer's site.

Book Review: Why Great Teachers Quit by Katy Farber

2011-01-30T17:09:00.001-08:00

Why Great Teachers Quit: And How We Might Stop the Exodus by Katy Farber

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I won this book in a GoodReads First Reads giveaway...yay! I work in a public school district (I am NOT a teacher), so I knew the book would be interesting to me from that perspective. The author is a 10-year teaching veteran who interviewed and garnered input from many current and former teachers. The book was divided into some main topics that appear to be the biggest factors in teacher attrition, namely standardized testing, working conditions/safety, bureaucracy, compensation, parents, administrators, and school boards, among others.

The nice thing about this book is that it had some concrete suggestions from successful veteran teachers about how to cope, as well as "to do" lists for administrators and teacher leaders to avoid many of the pitfalls that Farber identifies.

In my own experience, the author is right on with much of her observations about what is bad in the public school system. For me, this book was a well-researched, non-fiction version of the book "Up the Down Staircase," which profiled the work of a new teacher in an inner-city school. And while I know there are great teachers just trying to get by and do the best for their students, sadly there are also the stereotypical teachers who are milking the system and should really find another career. There are also a lot of administrators who should have stayed in the classroom because they have no business managing people or a school building. Maybe if enough superintendents, school board members, and administrators read books like this, that would begin to change.

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Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

2011-01-22T09:59:00.000-08:00

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know from reading other reviews that many fans of this series did not really like this final book. I understand why that is, but overall I liked how the series wrapped up. I did have a harder time getting into this last book than I did the others.

In this final book, it seemed as though Katniss was a much more reluctant hero and she struggled with a lot of personal demons. I liken it to the Harry Potter book (was it #5 or #6?) when Harry was fully into teenager-hood and was sullen and petulant most of the time. It took awhile for Katniss to fully embrace her role, and honestly, I am not convinced she ever did.

That said, the ongoing themes of man's inhumanity to man, the references to the past horrors which brought them all to this place, and the growing threat of the Capitol are all brought to life. I know there are a lot of Middle Schools that use this series (or at least the first book) in classes and if I think of this series with that in mind, I was satisfied with the ending.

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Wordless Wednesday: The Boy at the Seashore

2011-01-19T20:55:00.000-08:00

Book Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

2011-01-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second installment in The Hunger Games series was equally enthralling for me as the first. This book focuses more on the Tributes' and Districts' rising discontent with the governance from The Capitol. I thought there were more twists to this book and more unexpected events.

This is one of those series that is going to go in my arsenal to read with my son when he is old enough, along with Harry Potter, Madeline L'Engle, and the Eragon series. Just really great young adult fiction.

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Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2011-01-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a great young adult novel that is written well enough for an adult to enjoy, as well. Set in a world where the Capitol forces each of it's twelve districts to send two of their children (a boy and a girl) to the Hunger Games, where each Tribute is forced to fight to the death, with the survivor being named the Victor.

The dark concepts and sometimes violent activity that is a given with a storyline like this made me think of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, which is a similarly themed short story that I read back in my days at school. The themes of man's inhumanity to man, the power of the government, and the helplessness of those being ruled are well wrought.

I read this on my Kindle while on vacation and had to download the second book in the airport during a short wait for our second plane. I absolutely couldn't wait to get started on the next installment.

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Book Review: Follow the Money by Ross Cavins

2011-01-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

Follow The Money by Ross Cavins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Any book that gives a vampire disclaimer, and notes that while I wouldn't read the book with my mother, but may recommend it to her, gets a thumbs up right out of the chute!

This was a highly entertaining book that had me shaking my head at times at the sheer idiocy of the characters. I think most of the characters would fit in well with those named on the year-end "dumbest criminals" lists. I loved the comparisons to "The Walmarts" in Chapter 3...all I could think of was the "People of Walmart" website. The way the characters re-appear in subsequent chapters is well thought out and overall I found it a very satisfying read.

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Countdown to Disneyland

2010-12-30T21:03:00.000-08:00

We are planning a trip to Disneyland soon and have yet to inform The Boy. Mostly because I didn't want to deal with the daily "when? how long? when?" and I thought with all the excitement of Christmas, I didn't want the two events to compete. So, we are going to tell him soon and I decided that about ten days prior to the trip would be a good place to start.

My hubby thought it would be a good idea to do a countdown calendar, since we had just come off the Christmas Advent calendar. A quick Google search and I found my inspiration! What a great idea to use the Disney paint chip samples!

Tonight I had a few hours without The Boy and other interruptions and I knew it would be my last for quite awhile, so today is the day to make the countdown. I used only what I had on hand, besides the paint chips I picked up this morning.

At this point, I still wasn't completely sure what I was going to end up with, but decided to start with some Mickey crepe paper streamers left over from a birthday party. This is on a 12"x24" or so piece of white cardboard that came out of some sticker packaging.

I knew I wanted to let The Boy take numbers off and put them back on, if necessary, so I used magnets on both the cardboard and the backs of the paint chips. I would have used a piece of metal instead of cardboard backing, but I didn't have one that was big enough (i.e. baking pan) and I didn't want to just use the fridge. The words say "Days 'til Disney" in case you can't tell, and that is a picture of Cinderella's Castle.

And finally, I attached a ribbon to the back so that we could hang the countdown somewhere on the wall where it is accessible to The Boy to be in charge of the numbers.

It's not perfect...I wish I could have bought some bigger numbers and had time to find better clip art, but it will get the job done, and I think The Boy will LOVE the visual of counting down the days to The Happiest Place on Earth!

A game of Holiday Tag

2010-12-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Karen & Gerard from Right Where We Belong visited me the other day...we apparently share a lot of the same book favorites! They had joined in on a game of Holiday Tag and asked their readers to do the same, so if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged. Copy and paste the questions below into your own post and leave a link to your post in my comments. Easy Peasy!

1. When do you usually know and feel that it's finally the holidays?
AFTER we get one or two of the Christmas Trees up and start getting the snowmen out.

2. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Hubby & I are not supposed to buy for each other this year because we are taking a family trip to Disneyland after the holidays! Shhhhhh! The Boy doesn't know yet :)

3. Do you go all out with decorations?
On the inside of the house? Heck yeah! Did you see #1 above?? That would be one or two out of about SEVEN trees we put up. On the outside? Not so much....that is the hubby's domain because I'm too much of a wimp to deal with wet & cold on the roof.

4. What are you doing Christmas eve?
My extended family opens presents on Christmas Eve, so we are hosting this year and my parents, grandmother, sister, brother, and nieces & nephews will all come over for food, family fellowship, and of course presents.

5. What are you doing Christmas day?
Hubby, The Boy, and I open presents on Christmas morning and then we will later go to Hubby's dad's house for Christmas dinner and will go to Hubby's son's (and his wife) place for a kid Christmas with their two boys.

5. It's Christmas time. What are you reading?
I'm not reading a Christmas book, I'm afraid....Check out my Goodreads profile to see what I'm reading. One is for work and one is for pleasure. I will let you guess which is which.

6. Favorite movie to watch during the holidays?
I like a Christmas Story, but since The Boy came along, I have a new appreciation for the cartoon classics like Rudolph, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, and The Year without a Santa Claus.

7. Favorite Christmas song?
"Baby it's Cold Outside".... is that a Christmas song, or just a winter song? I like "Santa Baby", too...surely that is a Christmas song.

8. Favorite holiday drink?
Hot Buttered Rum....mmmm....I only have it during the holidays!

9. How is your Christmas shopping going?
Still working on it...

10. If you could spend Christmas day anywhere else, where would you spend it?
I don't really like to travel for holidays, so I'd prefer to just stay at home. If others want to come to me, that's OK, but I am a homebody.

11. Any holiday traditions?
We are still generating ours since The Boy is still young, but we do an Advent Calendar where The Boy gets a tiny gift each day from a numbered drawer. He LOVES it!

12. Favorite thing about the Holidays?
Holiday baking. I love a cozy, warm, cinnamon scented house!

Tell me about your Christmas/Holiday season!