{Not} Living Vicariously

Barren Among the Fruitful

So my friend is writing a book and even though I'm late to the party I wanted everyone to see her book cover and read the story of how it came about. It is truly amazing to me the gifts God has given Amanda and I'm thrilled to watch her share this with the world. I hope you keep an eye on both this book and Amanda's career.

Newest Blog Addiction - Personal Finance

I have a new weakness in my Feedly reader - blogs about personal finance. I'm not sure why I'm addicted to them all of a sudden but I am. Aaron and I did the Financial Peace University about two years ago, courtesy of my employers. We don't have a lot of types of debt, however between student loans and owning two houses when we got married (we've never been able to sell one), we do have more debt that I would like, especially since Uncle Sam will only let us deduct so much interest each year on taxes. We've been whittling away on it and got rid of the car payments and the HVAC unit fairly quickly - gazelle intensity at its finest. However everything we have left requires a marathon and not a sprint which makes it hard for me to stay excited. I think that might be where the PF blogs come into play. I find it fun to see how others are attacking debt or what they are doing post debt in a fiscally responsible way. Some of my favorites because they employ lots of humor are Budgets are Sexy written by the sexy J. Money, Punch Debt in the Face written by Ninja, and Red Debted Stepchild written by erin. If you know of any other funny blogs about finance, send me a suggestion please. I'd love to feed my addiction!

Repeat Business

Not often do I finish a book and immediately want to start it from the beginning again. In fact, I can't remember the last time I felt that way. However . . . this past week it happened to me. I had all these good intentions of reading lots for pleasure in between feeding Tadpole and naps while I was home. That definitely did NOT happen. However over the course of two dentist appointments, I did manage to read Code Name Verity (9781423152194) and all I can say is WOW!

I am not talented enough to write a review of this book without giving away the twist so I'm just going to state that the twist at the end is so well done, I immediately wanted to start it again so I could watch for all the clues as the plot progressed. I highly recommend the novel and am glad it has won the awards it did (and I don't always feel that way).While I did not immediately start the book over, I'm definitely getting a copy for my "keep" shelf (and it will be the hardcover because I like this cover much better than the paperback edition).

PS - the only other product I can think of that made me feel this way right now is the movie The Usual Suspects. This has that same feel of clues sprinkled through the story.

Murfreesboro Little Theater - Crimes of the Heart

Last night Aaron and I had a fun little date night. We went to see one of my co-workers in the play Crimes of the Heart at the Murfreesboro Little Theater. I had no clue this theater even existed and the prices are definitely reasonable. We're going to have to consider more of their shows for future date nights. A tiny little theater (it seats about 30?), this was a cozy, intimate evening where we were right there able to catch every detail. In the audience of about 30, almost 1/3 of us were affiliated with Jenny through work in some way. However, in the non-co-worker category? Of course Aaron found someone he knew. It cracks me up that I'm still shocked by the small town closeness even after living here in Tennessee for ten plus years.

There are only six characters in this production and I'm not sure where there would have been room for any more. Crimes of the Heart is a fun "Southern tragi-comedy" with three sisters, their cousin, a lawyer, and an ex-boyfried. Jenny played cousin Chick and did a fantastic job. I also have to mention co-worker Dana who was the stage manager. It is always so much fun to see a peer's "hidden" talents! And in this case, it was both of them.

Recent Reading Material

I've had some interesting books cross my desk recently - thought I'd share two with you.

How much of a science fiction geek are you? Do you know what a redshirt is? Written by John Scalzi, this humorous take on the Star Trek cliche of those in a red shirt dying on a mission will have devotees who don't take their show too seriously thoroughly enjoying his latest. Ensign Andrew Dahl joins the flagship "Intrepid" of the Universal Union or the Dub U. He quickly notices that old hands disappear when bridge crew need support members for away missions. He and his friends also notice that not only does someone always die on one of these missions, it is never one of the senior officers. Additionally, they recognize that Lieutenant Kerensky (an astrogator) is always being injured or catching a serious disease while on these missions – yet is always healed in just enough time to lead another charge. Not only do they wonder why the astrogator is being put in these situations, but they also find a hidden crewmember who tells them to "stay out of the narrative." Finally, Dahl and team figure out what the starship really is and a way to save it. The three codas at the end add some seriousness to the fun. We thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

Disaster preparedness is becoming a hot topic. Look around and you will see advertisements in many places about purchasing readymade kits to feed one or a family for a year. And, if a readymade kit doesn’t meet your needs, there are many places with checklists of what you need to survive. However, as Lisa Bedford realized, most of those are written by men and have a male viewpoint. So, she decided to step up and speak up. She launched a blog, thesurvivalmom.com, in 2009 and her book has now been published. Easy to read on a variety of topics, she covers skills one should know, water and food as well as storage, even how to keep kids prepared without scaring them about possible disasters. Not only that, she keeps the reader from being overwhelmed at all the potential “scary stuff” and focuses on an upbeat, positive, you can do this approach which does wonders for creating enthusiasm. You might find yourself stocking up on toilet paper and water as well.

  

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.

 

For the Love of Picture Books - Stowell

Illustrator Adam Stower has published his first (that I can find) title he has also written: Silly Doggy (9780545373234). One day Lily sees something absolutely wonderful in her garden, something with four legs, a tail, and a big, wet nose, something she has always wanted: a dog(!?!) When one is extremely optimistic, it is easy to confuse a bear with a dog, right? Even though Doggy can’t do dog tricks, doesn’t obey Lily, and won’t eat his dog food, Lily is in love. However, Mommy says Lily needs to put up a Lost Dog poster. It turns out there is a hole in the fence at the zoo, some animals have escaped, and the zoo keeper comes looking. However, Lily’s luck holds out as the next morning she discovers a Kitty in the garden. How wonderful to have such a positive outlook on life. 

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.

Thoughts on Pinterest

Confession: I am addicted to blog hopping. I love to surf from blog to blog and have several that are in my Google Reader feed. Most of the blogs I cruise contain crafty ideas for things I’d love to do or make someday, I just don’t know when. However I’m always bookmarking specific blog posts of things I want to emulate.

About two years ago I had a fleeting thought (I was trying to clean out an overfull email account) about how wonderful it would be to have a clean way to organize all these URLs in a visually stimulating way so that I could quickly find specific projects I might want to “do now” when I had some time to be creative. Like many of my thoughts, it floated away because I did not have the time, energy, or technical know-how to accomplish such a task. How very funny that around that time Pinterest got a start. I was not part of the beta test group but I did start hearing about it sometime in 2010. Then, when it became open to others to use, just by requesting an invite, I was very excited to try it out. Imagine my dismay to find out you had to be on Facebook or Twitter to join. Not that I am opposed to either Facebook or Twitter – I just hadn’t joined either of them because I was worried about how much time I might find myself wasting on these sites. I hemmed and hawed for weeks over what to do until I realized that all that time I was worried about wasting, was already being used enjoyably by feeding my blog hopping habit and attempting to keep ideas/projects/etc. organized. So I caved in and joined Twitter just so I could accept my Pinterest invitation. There have been zero regrets since.

As for me on Pinterest? Well, I’m still slowly migrating all those saved ideas from my hard drive to my Pinterest account. Until that project is complete, I’m trying really really hard to not do too much surfing inside the Pinterest site. But boy do I find some lovely ideas every time I open it up and some of them do end up on my own boards. Now if I could just find the time to tear myself away from the boards long enough to actually create some of the items I’m pinning I’d feel just a little bit better about the time I’m spending enjoying the service. (The flip side of that statement is that living vicariously through others has always been a weakness of mine – which might be why I have more fun finding things to do than actually doing them – how’s that for honesty?)

Ben and Team – thanks for creating a place for me to keep all my ideas organized and indulge my dreams! Happy Pinning indeed.

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.

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.