The reason this is so sad? I’m the Publicity Chair/Coordinator for the whole shebang.

Dang it!

Here’s a snippet (which I wrote) of the official press release for the program:

Owlsome Readers is a five-week intensive reading program for all first graders at Goldsmith-Schiffman Elementary. The program focuses on fostering a lifelong love of reading by providing incentives for chapters and books read during the program.

Incentives for the program include a t-shirt, books and goody bags. Each Friday, students receive a donated treat (like a bookmark) and a poem for encouragement and to recognize their efforts. Guest readers, from the community, read to the students each week.

I originally started putting this list together for Owlsome Readers but figured you might find it useful, too. Feel free to like Owlsome Readers on Facebook and check out the Owlsome Readers site!

Because you’re an awesome person. 

A little note on why I included AR information: the kids at our school take AR (Accelerated Reader) tests. My reasoning (Cara approved) is that if the kids are going to be reading anyway, why not make sure the books they’ve read are books they can take their AR quizzes on. This is by no means a requirement of a program…just something Cara and I think is a nifty idea.

Even if your kid’s school doesn’t administer AR tests, you have a bunch of books to choose from if you’re looking for Valentine’s Day themed books. 

Info on the AR Reading Levels if you’re not familiar with the numbers, 1.0 correlates to first grade at the first month of first grade. 3.8 would correlate to third grade, eight month. Make sense? 

Onto the lists! Woo hoo! 

AR Reading Level .8 – 1.9

• Clifford’s Valentines AR Level: .8 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 59502 EN
• Big Heart!: A Valentine’s Day Tale AR Level: .9 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 159245 EN
• Melvin’s Valentine AR Level: 1.0 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 158366 EN
• One Heart: A Valentine Counting Book AR Level: 1.2 AR Pts: .5  AR Quiz No. 136327 EN
• Valentine Mice! AR Level:1.2 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 44125 EN
• Mouse’s First Valentine AR Level: 1.3 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 57725 EN
• A Circle Is Not a Valentine AR Level: 1.4 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 42061 EN
• Lilly’s Chocolate Heart AR Level: 1.4 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 86227 EN
• Biscuit’s Valentine’s Day AR Level: 1.5 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 64471 EN
• Dragon Happy Valentine’s Day! AR Level: 1.7 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 141465 EN
• Too Many Valentines AR Level: 1.8 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 66581 EN
• Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! (If You Give…) AR Level: 1.8 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 135820 EN
• Happy Valentine’s Day, Curious George AR Level: 1.9 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 141464 EN         

AR Reading Level 2.0 – 2.9

• Fancy Nancy: Heart to Heart AR Level: 2.0 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 135820 EN
• A Valentine for Ms. Vanilla AR Level: 2.1 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 105358 EN
• Fluffy’s Valentine’s Day AR Level: 2.2 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 62247 EN
• Snow Valentines AR Level: 2.3 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 43687 EN
• Mia: The Sweetest Valentine AR Level: 2.4 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 156399 EN
• No Valentines for Katie AR Level: 2.5 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 138151 EN
• First Grade Valentines AR Level: 2.6 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 32011 EN
• Valentine AR Level: 2.7 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 45899 EN
• Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day Is Cool AR Level: 2.8 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 163542 EN
• Guess How Much I Love You AR Level: 2.8 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 20235 EN
• Franklin’s Valentines AR Level: 2.9 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 30710 EN

AR Reading Level 3.0 – 3.9

• The Very Fairy Princess Follows Her Heart AR Level: 3.0 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 156302 EN
• The Biggest Valentine Ever AR Level: 3.0 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 105025 EN
• Love, Splat AR Level: 3.1 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 127426 EN
• Amelia Bedelia’s First Valentine AR Level: 3.2 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 134575 EN
• The Day It Rained Hearts AR Level: 3.3 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 10467 EN
• Queen of Hearts AR Level: 3.3 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 84664 EN
• Snowy Valentine AR Level: 3.4 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 148410 EN
• Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink AR Level: 3.4 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 19592 EN
• Valentine’s Day Disaster AR Level: 3.5 AR Pts: 1.0 AR Quiz No. 105174 EN
• Valentine’s Day Is… AR Level: 3.6 AR Pts: .5 AR Quiz No. 102214 EN
• Valentine’s Day Can Be Murder AR Level: 3.7 AR Pts: 3.0 AR Quiz No. 83381 EN
• Geronimo’s Valentine AR Level: 3.8 AR Pts: 1.0 AR Quiz No. 127909 EN
• The Valentine Cat AR Level: 3.9 AR Pts: 3.0 AR Quiz No. 126376 EN

The links contained in this post are my Amazon Affiliate links. You buy something via one of the links and I get pennies. Pennies are shiny. 

No? Just me? Liar. 

It’s not that I necessarily expect the book to suck. My writer friends are pretty awesome writers so I expect what they send me to be at least decent. Maybe even awesome.  But that dread? It’s from the anxiety the book just might suck. Then I’ll have to tell them it sucks. And that sucks. 

Luckily for me (I guess my friend, Jessica Rosenberg, too.), Aloha Also Means Goodbye doesn’t suck.

In fact, the book is great. 

It’s a quick read and though some might classify it as a “beach read” or even “chic lit” (if they are having a rude day), this isn’t a book just for women. Guys, you’ll dig this book, too. Unless you’re the type who only reads Clancy. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say Aloha Also Means Goodbye probably ain’t for you. 

The physical/paper version is coming but the Kindle version is already available for $6.99. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow the book. For. Free. 

No risk so no excuses!

Book description via Amazon.com:

Jo and Jordan tied the knot five years ago in a mud hut in the middle of Zambia far from all their friends and family. Now they’re in Hawaii for a big wedding vow renewal ceremony elaborately planned by Jo’s mother. There’s just one small issue, something’s wrong with the wedding license issued in Africa and only Jo knows that she wasn’t legally married in Zambia.

Enter her old flame, the man she was running from when she met Jordan. He’s on the island and with his two kids, both of whom are named after her. Coming face to face with her past, just as she’s trying to brave her future, forces Jo to make some big decisions. It might even force her to grow up. Luckily she doesn’t have to do any of it on her own; her two best friends are there to hold her hand and help her down the right path. But what path will she choose? 

Despite all the upheaval and complications, Jo will eventually walk down the aisle to say “I do” to the man who completes her. But will the wedding be the one Jo’s mother planned? Or will it be something much, much better?

Now for the meat of the review.

This is a…different kind of review. In fact, I’m not quite sure I’ve ever seen one like it. What follows is actually an email I sent to Jessica right after I finished Aloha Also Means Goodbye so the book was very fresh on my mind. 

For the record, I got Jessica’s permission before posting this. In fact, she had to forward it back to me since my email got all borked and I had no record of the original email.

Note: I’ve added a “spoiler” for this since, now that I’ve reread the email, it’s kinda spoilerish.

Remember I was providing my most awesome friend the feedback she asked for. Also note I was a little…honest at times. So don’t go thinking I’m feeding you a line of BS with this since shame on you if you think I’d do that. You’ve been well warned about the spoilerishness.

Read at your own risk. 

Also, also note: what I read was basically an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of an ARC. Because of that, a professional editor hadn’t had at the manuscript. Just felt the need to explain the first part of the email/review as to not scare you away of a most awesome book. 

Now to the “review.”  

Spoilerish Alert! Click if you DARE!

I was going to take all of these notes and then realized that the majority of what I would write down is copy editing stuff the editor is going to fix and there weren’t even that many of those.

You didn’t go too far into the Capitalist pig thing when dealing w/the Zambia part and for that I’m grateful.

My biggest thing is the first 40 pages or so–just about up until Jo meets Kona for the first time–drug for me. I had to keep making myself go back to the book.

Lord knows I’m glad I did.

Jo: She’s a believable character full of flaws and I dig that.
Andy: Dug him. He’s definitely atoned for the–assumed–sins of his past.
Jordan: You made him into such a boring tool at the beginning I almost didn’t want them to get back together. He didn’t become even a tiny bit likable until after his blow-up with Andy and then Andy talking Jordan down.

Having said that, I really dug his speech at Jo. Particularly this part: “…but everything is okay now because you saw the love of your life again, only he’s not really the lover of your life any more, I am?”

I’ve been both that selfish and self-absorbed and have also had to say close to the same thing to someone else so that fight definitely rang true.

For some reason I’d like to hear and/or see some of his relationship with his mom. Not sure why. Just piqued my interest when Jo, I think, mentioned something about his mom.
Sadie: Please write a book just about her? I enjoyed her immensely. And a whole bunch, too. She’s flawed in ways different from Jo and somehow feels both more whole and more broken. Not sure how to put that any other way. Maybe they’re just broken in different ways?
Kona: Yes, please. More. Right now. I was pretty sure you were going to jerk me around and make him a scumbag so I was expecting it and then you turned that expectation all around on me and I wanted to kick you in the shin since you executed it so well.
Roxie: I would have liked to have seen more character development with her. All the characters make her out to be a man-eater, but other than that brief episode w/Kona, I wasn’t picking up that vibe. And all the man-eaters I’ve ever know were heinous bitches and Roxie was actually quite nice.

So, maybe a bit more hoochie before she starts playing house with Andy? Or something? Or not. Trying to figure out how I would do that in this book and it kind of makes my head hurt.
Maryanne: I wanted to punch her several times during the book so obviously, you did your job. Enjoyed the way you worked some growth into her character and brought in the Richard dude.

Andy’s kids and Amber: Didn’t love or hate the kids. They were just an accessory for me to show me Andy’s growth and Amber just made me want to stab her in the neck.

I don’t do book reviews. I do impressions and I sure as hell don’t take the book out to go through the pages to look up quotes. SO I OBVIOUSLY very much, a whole lot, jump up and down on the bed, humping, singing, tweeting, Facebook sharing, pinning, Good Reads sharing and reviewing, Amazon and Barnes & Nobling loved this book.

Oh! And, hey! The links in this post? They’re all Amazon affiliate links. If you end up clicking on one of those links and then you buy something? (You BUY JESSICA’S BOOK!!!) I’ll make some pennies off of that purchase. Unless you buy a car or a really big TV or something on Amazon.

Then I’d make dollars. 

This post contains spoilers, quotes from The Silver Linings Playbook book and I discuss the movie in detail.

If you haven’t read the book and/or seen the movie and you don’t want to know what’s gonna happen, I suggest you go read other awesome things I’ve written.

For instance, you might check out “My Favorites” where you can find at least 12 posts for each year this site has been around and kicking.

Consider yourself warned.

I read The Silver Linings Playbook a couple of months after the movie was released.

I have this rule where I read the book first. Maybe it’s an underlying hipster compulsion I’m not quite willing to acknowledge.

The book was very…raw.

And honest.

I hate those two words in reference to a book. They sound pretentious much like when a writer calls himself a “storyteller.”

Unfortunately, for me, those aforementioned adjectives fit The Silver Linings Playbook perfectly.

Two very broken people who broke their families and who manage to be less broken together.

If the movie had been as raw as the book, would it have received as many awards? I would like to think so but I suspect I’m being a bit too hopeful.

I wish I could go to some parallel place where I could have read the book and have seen the movie and simultaneously have no knowledge the other existed.

My Gripes About the Differences Between The Silver Linings Playbook Book and Movie

1. Drastically shortening Pat’s stay in the mental hospital.

Reducing Pat’s stay in the “neurology hospital” from four years to eight months minimized not only the severity of Pat’s sickness and the amount of damage he inflicted on Nicki’s lover but also took away Pat having to deal with the fact he spent four years in his head and hardly knew who he was anymore.

2. Letting Pat know why he was hospitalized from the very beginning.

I think the first mention of why Pat was committed happens in like the first ten minutes or something of the movie. Want to know how long it is before Pat knows why he was institutionalized? Almost the entire book.

Cliff grabs his chin, which lets me know he is going to say something my mother has told him. “Pat, I know how you lost your memory. Everyone does.” He pauses here, gauging my reaction. “And I
think you remember too. Do you?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to tell you how you
lost your memory?”

“No.”

“Why?”

I don’t say anything.

“I know Dr. Timbers used to tell you the story every day as part of your therapy. That’s why I never brought it up. I thought maybe you would talk about it when you were ready, but it’s been almost five months[…]”

For almost the entire book, Pat doesn’t know he’s no longer married and hasn’t been since soon after his institutionalization. He doesn’t remember what he did to cause him to be committed.  Maybe David O. Russell didn’t feel he could fit all of that into a movie and still have a likable character you want to root for?

3. Changing Pat and his father’s relationship.

Turning Pat and his father’s relationship around and making Pat’s father the pursuer in the relationship was wrong. For me, one of the integral struggles in the book was Pat’s desire for his father’s approval.

I enjoyed seeing the father’s character fleshed out but an essential part of the character was changed in the process. I say to the detriment to the story. Yes, there was still an element of shame in their interactions and you can’t deal with mental illness without touching on the shame issue, [I have a post coming up about that soon.] but Pat’s father didn’t spend the movie ignoring Pat like the father in the book did for quite a while. This movie dad begged to spend time with Pat. Brought it up multiple times. Made excuses to spend time with Pat.

Then again, the movie dad was highly superstitious and a bookie and thought Pat was good luck. That might have factored in a bit.

4.I very much dislike the changes made to the dance practice and the dance competition.

Throughout the book, Tiffany is strong and deeply flawed but she’s also driven and this “dance thing” is HER thing. Heck, she uses the “Nikki” letters to blackmail Pat into being her partner.

Turning the competition into a professional level competition when, in the book, it was the Dance Away Depression showcase full of little kids and teens changed the entire feel of what Tiffany was doing. In a way, the Dance Away Depression competition was another way for Tiffany to express her inappropriateness: a woman hell-bent on decimating little depressed children.

With the movie competition having pro competitors, Pat and Tiffany look like fools…like crazy people since they’re going to be going up against people who dance for a living and you know they don’t stand a chance.

The dance practice section of the book showcased Tiffany at her most bossy best and her most dishonest worst.

She choreographed the routine. She figured out the costumes. She manhandled Pat into a dancer. She didn’t need any help. Tiffany wasn’t a bumbling novice who didn’t know where she was going. You don’t see a lot of that in the movie.

You see Pat’s friend, Danny, coaching Pat and Tiffany on how to make their dance better since they have nothing. It was funny and the movie did a good job with it but I hated seeing some of the wind taken out of Book Tiffany’s sails.

5. Making Pat OK with Tiffany writing “Nikki’s” letter. <–Watch out! This is a biggie!

Let’s just get this straight right now. Pat did not appreciate Tiffany writing him letters as Nikki. Not even close. It absolutely crushed Pat on many levels.

This is from near the end of the book:

I sit down under a huge tree—on a dry spot of grass—and wait.

Rain clouds swallowed the sun a long time ago, but when I look at my watch, the numbers officially make it dusk.
My chest starts to feel tight; I notice that I am shaking and breathing heavily. I hold my hand out to see how bad the shakes are, and my hand is flapping like the wing of a bird, or maybe it is as if I am hot and trying to fan myself with my fingers. I try to make it stop, and when I can’t, I shove both hands into my father’s overcoat pockets, hoping Nikki will not notice my nervousness when she shows up.

I smell a woman’s perfume.

I recognize the scent.

I breathe in deeply to ready myself.

I open my eyes.

“I’m fucking sorry, okay?” she says, but it’s not Nikki. “I never thought it would lead to this. So I’m just going to be honest now. My therapist thought you were stuck in a constant state of denial because  you were never afforded closure, and I thought I might afford you closure by pretending to be Nikki. So I made up the whole liaison thing in an effort to provide you closure, hoping you would snap out of your funk and would be able to move on with your life once you understood that being reunited with your ex-wife was an impossibility. I wrote all the letters myself.
Okay? I never even contacted Nikki. She doesn’t even know you’re sitting here. Maybe she doesn’t even know you are out of the neural health facility. She’s not coming, Pat. I’m sorry.”

My eyes burn. My face flushes. Suddenly I realize that for the past two months I have been completely delusional, that Nikki is never coming back and apart time is going to last forever.

Nikki.

Is.

Never.

Coming.

Back.

Never.

I want to hit Tiffany.

I want to pound her face with my knuckles until the bones in my hands crumble and Tiffany is completely unrecognizable, until she no longer has a face from which she can spew lies.

See what I mean?

Why the hell would he be happy to find out the woman who he has obsessed over for years is never coming back to him? Why would he be happy to be forced to confront his delusions head-on? Even the sanest person has moments when they just want to believe something is possible and Nikki was Pat’s something. Hence a lot of his issues with her since she became a “something” instead of a “someone” but that’s not really the point here. Not only all of that, but Pat was betrayed by one of the very few friends he had and the only woman he’d been attracted to since his wife.

The parts I quoted above are the start of Pat dealing with one of his biggest demons and these moments don’t exist in the movie…not really. Pat’s getting close to his “excelsior” moment and you can feel it in the book. There’s this tension that is almost palpable; you know something big is about to happen. I never got that feeling with the movie.

Pat viewed his entire life as a movie and held the delusional belief if he tried hard enough and cared enough, he would get his “happy ending.” While the book–and the movie–has dark moments, Pat’s optimism–however misplaced–is the thing which holds him together and that’s ripped out from under him when Tiffany finally comes clean.

The only conversation, in the movie, Pat and Tiffany have about the letter [In the book, there are many letters with each one getting more hurtful for Pat.] is at the very end when he gives Tiffany a letter he wrote confessing his love. The only clue you have that Pat knows Tiffany wrote the letter is when she says “reading the signs” and Pat remembers it from “Nikki’s” letter.

BUT, instead of having the compulsion to “pound her face with [his] knuckles until the bones in [his] hands crumble and Tiffany is completely unrecognizable […],” Movie Pat looks back at his parents’ house with a look of awe and wonder like he’s grateful the girl who is supposed to be his friend, impersonated his wife and used the letter as a form a blackmail to get him to dance in her competition.

6. Pat never talks to Nikki. Not one single time. Never.

Near the end of the book, Pat had his brother drive past Pat’s old house and saw Nikki with her new family. This is Pat recounting it to Tiffany right before the end of the book:

“And I squinted hard trying to see Nikki’s face, and even from a block away I could tell she was smiling the whole time and was so very happy, and somehow that was enough for me to officially end apart time and roll the credits of my movie without even confronting Nikki, so I just asked Jake to drive me back to New Jersey, which he did, because he is probably the best brother in the entire
world. So I guess I just want Nikki to be happy, even if her happy life doesn’t include me, because I had my chance and I wasn’t a very good husband and Nikki was a great wife, and …”

In the movie, Nikki decides to come watch the competition and maybe give Pat a second chance. Pat whispers something in Nikki’s ear and chooses Tiffany. Book Pat’s way seems more him. NikkI doesn’t even have to know he’s seen her. He just wants her to be happy even if it’s not with him.

7. They made the ending too sugary sweet.

The ending of the movie bugged me. They changed it into the perfect guy-runs-after-girl-and-professes-his-love scene from many romance movies. The book wasn’t a romance for me; it was journey Pat had to take and Tiffany helped him make that trip. I won’t go so far as to say they “cheapened” it because it was a perfectly GOOD ending but it wasn’t what I was expecting and wasn’t what I wanted.

Last scene of the movie before the epilogue scene [Pat is reciting the letter he just gave to Tiffany.]:

Ending of the book:

She says, “I need you, Pat Peoples; I need you so fucking bad,” and then she begins to cry hot tears onto my skin as she kisses my neck softly and sniffles.

It is a strange thing for her to say, so far removed from a regular woman’s “I love you,” and yet probably more true. It feels good to hold Tiffany close to me, and I remember what my mother said back when I tried to get rid of my friend by asking her to go to the diner with me. Mom said, “You need friends, Pat. Everybody does.”

I also remember that Tiffany lied to me for many weeks; I remember the awful story Ronnie told me about Tiffany’s dismissal from work and what she admitted to in her most recent letter; I remember just how bizarre my friendship with Tiffany has been—but then I remember that no one else but Tiffany could really even come close to understanding how I feel after losing Nikki forever.

I remember that apart time is finally over, and while Nikki is gone for good, I still have a woman in my arms who has suffered greatly and desperately needs to believe once again that she is beautiful.
In my arms is a woman who has given me a Skywatcher’s Cloud Chart, a woman who knows all my secrets, a woman who knows just how messed up my mind is, how many pills I’m on, and yet she allows me to hold her anyway. There’s something honest about all of this, and I cannot imagine any other woman lying in the middle of a frozen soccer field with me—in the middle of a snowstorm even —impossibly hoping to see a single cloud break free of a nimbostratus.

Nikki would not have done this for me, not even on her best day.

So I pull Tiffany a little closer, kiss the hard spot between her perfectly plucked eyebrows, and after a deep breath, I say, “I think I need you too.”

Definitely not as much of splash as in the movie ending but it’s still hopeful. Pat’s making strong progress. He’s not delusional about Nikki; he’s let her go. He acknowledges what Tiffany did to him, but he also makes the conscious choice to move forward with her and a new life. I much prefer this ending. Like lots.

A random rip on the book because this has bothered me since as soon as I read this part: The book does this deus ex machina thing where Pat magically ends up beaten and bloody in front of Danny’s Aunt Jasmine’s house. Pat didn’t know where Aunt Jasmine lived other than North Philly. Never felt good about Quick pulling that fast one.

The movie had several laugh out loud moments where I was very glad it was just me and two other people in the theater. The way Russel managed to take a book which had a whole heck of a lot of internal stuff going on and make a movie that made sense–and won a lot of awards–and was enjoyable is definitely an accomplishment. Especially when you consider the two main characters are crazy.

Even with all of my complaints, I still enjoyed the movie. And that goes back to my original statement way up at the top, “I wish I could go to some parallel place where I could have read the book and have seen the movie and simultaneously have no knowledge the other existed.”

Thoughts?

I stayed up until 3 am and finally drifted off to sleep on a wet pillow.

Tucker and I have been longtime fans of John Green since we first discovered the YouTube channel he has with his brother Hank.

Anyway, I was telling Tucker how I’m dreading reading anymore of the book since I know it’s going to leave me shattered like Sarah’s Key and Room. But there’s a larger part of me which just can’t quit this book. Damn you, John Green!

Tucker asked if Green ever writes happy books or just books about sad things and teenagers.

To paraphrase Tucker, he says the mark of a good artist is someone with range. Like with musicians  he doesn’t want to keep buying the same CD over and over; he wants the artist to evolve. That’s why he doesn’t have all the Clive Cussler books, even though he really likes them, because they’re essentially the same book just with a different setting.

To me, this doesn’t translate well to writing.

A brain surgeon doesn’t have to also be able to preform cardiac surgery to prove he’s a great doctor. Same goes for writers. That’s why there are genres.

Tucker thinks specializing is a form of weakness for a writer.

I say I want to be able to know what I’m getting myself into.

What say you?

Though it’s become this integral part of most of our lives, there’s always more to learn. Things I bet you didn’t even know you wanted to know–like “Hiding updates from a friend” (pg 244).

Including the Index, there are 577 pages and the cover boasts 6 Books in 1 and it’s not joking. There’s a lot of stuff in that bright yellow book!

Six Baby Books

The first three “books” are for the beginner to Facebook and cover everything from why you would even want to join Facebook to using Facebook social plugins.

The next three books are either for someone with basic Facebook knowledge who wants to step it up a notch and expand to using Facebook for business or for the person who has studied the first three books and is ready to move to more advanced topics and really master the Facebook monster.

Well Organized and Great for a Quick Reference

One of the things I dig about Facebook All-In-One for Dummies is the structure; it’s easy to find a quick answer to a specific question.

You might not care so much about the business side of Facebook and just need answers on the personal stuff. Or, maybe you’re the type of person who gets all the personal and is confused by the business stuff and you want to learn? Books four through six are going to be more your thing.

Clearly Explains the Rules of Facebook Promotions/Giveaways/Contests

If you have a blog and are running giveaways that involve Facebook, you’re probably doing it wrong. No. Really. Melanie’s book will help you right your wrongs. In fact, this book has app suggestions for running giveaways so you don’t violate Facebook’s TOS. It’s quite the helpful book.

Instructs You On Setting Up Groups and What To Do with Them

I’m in several Facebook groups and do the majority of my Facebook interacting via those groups. This section of Facebook All-In-One for Dummies walks you through all the steps. Once you’re done, you’ll be all like this about Facebook groups.

In Summation

Quite the dry read [It is, after all, a book about Facebook.] but it accomplishes its goal of teaching you about Facebook. I didn’t even fall asleep while I was reading it. I consider that a success.

When you buy Melanie’s book–which you should do since she’s an awesome lady who has fantabulous taste in wine and is an all-around smart woman who knows her way around Facebook and back again and I’m not biased at all–you’re going to get a heck of a lot of information and some of it you might not need.

At least, you don’t think you’re going to need it. That’s OK. Just put it up on your book shelf. You’ll come back to it and be glad you didn’t lose the book.

Disclaimer: I know Melanie and like her bunches and she provided me with a review copy of her book knowing full well I would tell everyone exactly what I thought about the book…even if it sucked. Which it doesn’t. And the picture of the book at the very beginning and all of the links to Melanie’s book go to affiliate links of mine so I get a couple of pennies if you buy the book through Amazon. Or go buy it at Walmart for all I care.

2012 has come to a close and now we’re on to 2013. I can vividly remember it being 1990. I feel quite old all of a sudden. We’ve been in the house a year now. Cara started school. Tucker’s almost done with his. I got offered a job. I found my biological mother and siblings. I got almost 30k words into a book and had no idea where I was going with it. It has been a heck of a year and here are the 12 posts I liked best. My Favorite Posts on Taste Like Crazy from 2012

1. Do You Embrace New Tech At the Expense of Old?–Do you get rid of your old stuff when something better comes out or do you hang onto stuff for sentimental reasons?
2. I Was Scared of My Three Year Old Today–Ollie at three really, really sucked. A lot.
3. Garden Redux, Yo–Pretty pictures of garden stuff. You know…after I killed the first wave of plants.
4. Doctor Who and Donna Complete with Gifs–Donna, I love you. That is all.
5. Game of Thrones Game Review Gif Heavy YAY!–The review is fun to read. Too bad the game sucked so hard.
6. They Didn’t Pick Up Their Toys So I Confiscated Them–They pushed me too far.
7. Mango Tomato Pico de Gallo Recipe–So yummy the recipe made it on this list. That means it’s pretty awesome. Just so you know.
8. My Life In Bullet Points–This was, by far, one of the most painful things I’ve ever written. Damn hard to just lay yourself out there and wait for rejection.
9. Notarized Field Trip Slip?–I’m not especially proud of this post but it got some really good comments which I appreciate a whole bunch.
10. I Killed My Fifth Black Widow Spider Yesterday–If you have a problem with spiders then I would suggest you read this.
11. Crappy Coffee and Shooting–The month of November wasn’t a good month for me.
12. I’m Depressed Maybe Possibly Or Not–Explains the lack of posts for November and December. And there are gifs! Yay for gifs!

I’m depressed. [I got distracted after I wrote that and wandered around the internet before remembering I was supposed to be writing something over here. Oops.]

Remember when I wrote that one thing about going off my meds? Well, I did and things were pretty much the way they had been and so whatever, right? Then I started damn NaNoWriMo and felt no urge to write anything over here…which you might have noticed.

That’s actually probably when things started to go downhill. Tons of self-doubt. Family things.

I watched a hell of a lot of Netflix–White Collar–and had numerous inappropriate thoughts about Matt Bomer [I have no regrets.] and read a lot of books.

A lot. Of books.

Bunches.

• Dark Storm
• Dark Nights
• Spell of the Highlander
• Into the Dreaming
• Gabriel’s Inferno
• Gabriel’s Rapture
• Beautiful Disaster
• Providence
• Requiem (The Providence Series #2)
• Eden (The Providence series #3)
• Faking It
• Getting Rid Of Bradley
• Anyone But You -currently reading

What’s funny is I enjoyed all that stuff.

A lot.

The internet and writing and all the drama and bullshit didn’t interest me at all. Does that make me depressed? I still enjoyed something, right? If I’m depressed then I wouldn’t enjoy anything, right? I’m confusing myself.

Then again…

I guess it’s time to make an appointment with my psychologist, huh? Heather isn’t going to leave me alone until I do.

Before anyone asks and for the record and all that, I’m not suicidal. I’m not going to off myself. I’m not even going to run away.

I’m just

After the millionth surgery on the Keurig, it’s dead to me. Tried to make coffee on the stove in a pan. Fail.
Don’t be taken in by the yummy looking coffee; this tastes like dirty water.

NaNoWriMo and I have broken up.

I’m bummed I’m not going to complete the challenge but there was no point in continuing with something I wasn’t ever going to use. Apparently books need these things called plots to be interesting? Have you heard this?

The fact I almost hit 30k words is kind of sad, really. Lots of dialogue. A really bad sex scene. Not much of anything happening. I got bored writing it.

Enough talk of NaNoWriMo.

Guns!

Tomorrow is her party; we’re having it at the local hands-on science center. We’re paying for it but the package includes the cake and ice cream and a present for Cara and party favors and most important? I don’t have to clean anything.

Today ended the second day of NaNoWriMo. And yes, yes I will [probably] mention NaNoWriMo everyday. I’m participating so it’s something I’m interested in and it gives me something to write about. However, I do realize reading about someone else’s word counts is a lot like reading about someone else’s workout: the only person who gives a shit is the person doing the activity.

And now I’m going to talk about my word count some more.

I’m at 6098 words right now. Maybe I’ll write some more tonight. Probably not. Writing was a bitch today. The words just didn’t flow and I know what I’m not enjoying what I’m writing as much as I enjoyed what I wrote of this book before I started on NaNoWriMo. And I realized about 4500 words into NaNoWriMo that I had been writing in the incorrect voice the whole time.

Oops.

Today was also a day when nasty self-doubt started creeping in and I almost tossed in the towel. I’m better for right now but the scope of this novel is exhausting. I told that to Tucker last night and he just shrugged his shoulders. Cause what am I going to do, right? Not write it?

Cara’s party isn’t until 1500 so I plan on holing up in the bedroom for writing sprints until I get my 2k words written tomorrow.

I will do this thang.

I met my writing goal for the day–2k words–and identified a bunch of holes I missed. Like three important characters that didn’t have names and two organizations that also didn’t have names. I fixed the people naming issue but the organizations are going to take some work.

Also? Speculum is Latin for mirror.

Yesterday was Halloween.

I took the kids around the neighborhood while Tucker handed out candy.

We hit up a lot of houses and kept at it until it got full dark. It was time for baths and bed and I sat the candy bowl on a chair on our front porch and hoped the visiting kids would be nice and share.

I came back out about an hour later to a bare bowl. I hope more than one kid got some candy cause there was A LOT of candy in that bowl when I set it out.

And now it’s November and Thanksgiving is coming up fast. I guess that means I have to make a new wreath…even though I just finished our Halloween wreath.

I think the Halloween wreath is going to hang for a bit. I have a book to write or something.