{Not} Living Vicariously

For the Love of Picture Books - Patricelli

Yay for Leslie Patricelli and another adorable story with her unnamed little girl. Following up on Higher! Higher! (9780763632410), Faster! Faster! (9780763654733) has Little Girl and Daddy back in the park. When Daddy gives her a ride on his back, she asks for Fast! An active imagination offers Daddy as a slew of animals from dogs to eagles to dolphins always going faster and faster. However when poor Daddy wears out and becomes a turtle, the little girl gives her Daddy a break. “You’re fast, Daddy!” With the repetitive text Patricelli does so well, eager toddlers will “read” this one along with you and then be happy to home to “read” it to you and others. Cheery acrylic illustrations carry well. Bottom line is, if you have a toddler and don’t know Leslie Patricelli’s work, you owe it to yourself to take a look. You will have a new friend.

Standard disclaimer: I get to see advance copies of books through my job, however this review was unsolicited and unpaid for . . . opinions are completely my own.

After five years and one month

I decided it was finally time for that face lift I've been promising NLV. And that would be one of the reasons my posting has been light lately. Most of my computer time has been spent playing around with the different designs. Now that I realize how fun it is, I just might have to switch it up more often.

Here's to more time spent {Not} Living Vicariously!

Branford Marsalis at the Schermerhorn

Last night we fulfilled one of my long time wishes - to see Branford Marsalis play live. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment. The caberet style seating was overcrowded on the main floor, people came and went all through the evening (which is disturbing when seating is as close as it was), and he really wasn't good at interacting with the audience from stage. In fact, half the time we couldn't even understand what he was saying. And while the music was great, selections were rarely announced and were not the ones I would have preferred. Overall, I'm glad we went and I don't feel the need to see him again.

At least we had a "date" night. Something we really need to do more often . . .

Visiting old friends - Garion and company

Even though I firmly agree "there are so many books" and "so little time" I can't help but revisit favorites from years past on a regular basis. Recently I've been back in the world of The Belgariad and The Malloreon. While these books are not considered Fine Literature, the world building done by David and Leigh Eddings was well done and the characters are quickly and competently drawn. While most of my adult friends will only admit to "having liked it back when I was young" and "this is a good entry for young teens to the genre" even they tend to agree that they enjoyed watching the characters move along this story. (They also admit that yes they did read all ten books in the original series PLUS the additional ones that came after about the world.)

I don't bring this up only to talk about the characters and world building though. A certain passage caught my eye this time around that I had to laugh about. This one comes from King of the Murgos, book two of The Malloreon. Belgariad and Garion end up in a library looking for a piece of information and Belgarath compliments the librarian, Master Jeebers.

"I'll have to admit that he's a very competent scholar." "Isn't he just a librarian?" Garion asked, "somebody who looks after books?" "That's where all the rest of scholarship starts, Garion. All the books in the world won't help you if they're just piled up in a heap."

In a world in which we don't know where books are going or what the landscape will look like when we get there, I do know these two things: All the information available in the world will do no good if we don't know how to use it. and There will always be a place for storytelling in our lives.

So I shall continue to re-read favorites from years past . . . while finding new treasures as well.

For the Love of Picture Books - Wolff

Bright colors? Check. Detailed illustrations? Check. Cozy creatures? Check. Exploration of the world at the level of a toddler? Check check check check!!!! Ashley Wolff’s newest title, Baby Bear Sees Blue (9781442413061) takes a mama and baby bear throughout their day in which Baby Bear sees and enjoys all the colors nature has to offer. With picture perfect questions and answers, we get to go along. “In the den’s dark wall, an opening slowly fills with light. A glow creeps in. ‘Who is warming me, Mama?’ asks Baby Bear. ‘That is the sun,’ Mama says.” And with the turn of a page “Baby Bear sees yellow.” With the cozy relationship between mother and child, I kept thinking about McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal. Imagine my delight when reading the author’s note I realize Sal was an inspiration for this delightful gem. I'm recommending this one for ages 2 to 5.

Standard disclaimer: I get to see advance copies of books through my job, however this review was unsolicited and unpaid for . . . opinions are completely my own.

Word 2012

So my word and I didn't do too well last year. We had some stuff happen in the Spring that caused me to forget about celebrating. Disappointments happen though and I finally recognized that what was holding me back was me. I don't know why I've chosen this year's word - at least not yet. However when I started thinking about how I was going to approach 2012, the word that came immediately to mind was abundance.

From dictionary.com it means:

1. an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply
2. overflowing fullness
3. affluence; wealth
4. the number of atoms of one isotope of an element divided by the total number of atoms in a mixture of the isotopes

I plan to focus on meaning number 2. While I haven't posted any Words of Wisdom in a while, this one is how I want to think, act, and feel this year. "Even if you do nothing else God, you have done enough."

If you choose a word to live by, what is your word this year? And if you choose resolutions, what do you resolve to accomplish? Let me know.

New Year's Eve 2011

So it is only 9 pm here in the Central Time Zone, however fireworks are being shot off regularly. The dog is quivering and trying to find a safe place, but failing miserably.

We've had our homemade pizza with salad dinner (I forgot to take pictures though) and Star Wars is playing in the background. We definitely won't make it through all three tonight - we started too late.

As for the food prep, tomorrow's menu is Greek and Aaron has made a garlic sauce so far. He also has vegetables roasting in the oven for our favorite orzo pasta dish from Barefoot Contessa and black-eyed peas cooking for a new dish we found in our Greek cookbook for a Warm Black-Eyed Pea Salad. After all, this is the South and we must have our black-eyed peas on NYD. He has visions of making homemade pita bread as well. My job in all of this? Stay entertained and entertaining!

All in all, another typical New Year's Eve in the Gallagher household. Be safe and happy!

Pet Peafowl

So the most interesting Christmas story so far this year would be the peafowl up on the farm in KY. Our nephew had asked for peafowl for his birthday a few years back however none had been located until a few weeks ago. G (his grandmother) managed to find some available, about 6 months old, at a reasonable price and with parental permission, contracted to purchase one male and three female for Christmas. As we were up in KY this past week, we became part of the story.

Friday was the day scheduled to go pick up the birds so Thursday evening nephew and friend were informed they were needed on a road trip the next morning. Niece was spending the night at a friend's house. When asked what they were going to be doing, the boys were told that they had to go pick up the Christmas present that G had purchased, and that they were ferrets. When asked "why ferrets?" nephew was informed that he could raise them for the fur, skin them, and sell the pelts for his college fund. (Understand here, this family hunts so the idea of raising animals for pelts is not as farfetched as it might sound.) While nephew was a bit perplexed as to how this would work out, his father and his uncle managed to spin quite a good story as to the value of the pelts, how quickly the animals grew to maturity, and how fast they reproduced. His mother and I threw a few comments in here and there and the biggest obstacle seemed to be how to handle the smell. That night, nephew and friend were overheard to discuss how they didn't want ferrets, but that they could do this and help save for college.

While we were not along for the ride or the discovery . . . there was a very happy boy to find out he was picking up four birds and zero ferrets the next morning. But, the story continues. The guys managed to sell friend's mother on the fact that ferrets were now part of the farm and as this is where niece was spending the night, niece was convinced she was coming home to ferrets. When taken out to the coop to see the ferrets, she confusedly remarked "those are ferrets? no they aren't! those are peafowl!" and the fun continued. Even to the point of telling other grandmother they had received ferrets and causing her to think that G had lost her mind.

So now, everyone knows there are no ferrets on the farm. Just four new birds. Who will turn out to be beautiful and I look forward to seeing them the next time we visit.

The below picture is not of these new peafowl, just happens to be two peacocks visiting from next door. And I really enjoy it when they do . . .

Meal Planning Week of December 18th

You know what? I'm taking a vacation from meal planning this week! We took some time off work to spend with friends and family thus it is not the time to be regimented. We have plenty of ideas on things to eat and some of them will end up on the table while others won't. (I may take next week off as well . . . how decadent . . .) Anyway, I hope you're having a great week leading up to Christmas during this: my favorite time of year!

PS - We've been to the gym three times in the past week as well as walked the dog 2+ miles both yesterday and today. My knee is on the mend!

Molasses Cookies (finally!)

Back on December 3rd, I held my ninth annual cookie exchange. In addition to the standard cherry dots, I made molasses cookies using G.'s recipe (which is a good way to use up any sorghum in the house). My copy of the recipe includes this very important note: Cannot Double in Kitchen Aide!!

• 4 C. flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 1/4 t. baking soda
• 2 t. ground ginger
• 1 1/4 t. ground cloves
• 1 1/4 t. ground cinnamon
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 C. shortening
• 3 C. sugar
• 1/2 C. molasses (or sorghum)
• 2 large eggs
• Pearl Sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, and spices) in a bowl. Cream together butter, shortening, and sugar. Add molasses and eggs. Slowly mix in dry ingredients.

Using a level cookie scoop, roll balls of dough and dip in pearl sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes then remove to a cooling rack.

And for those of you who've not seen pearl sugar, it does go by other names as well. The brand I found actually calls it hail sugar.

It's fun stuff for cookies! I've been told I'm welcome to make more cookies and send them with Aaron off to work.