October overview and winners

In my effort to cover those four months or so that I disappeared, I will now give you my October overview. Really only two things happened, Amy turned 2 on the 20th



and of course Halloween.





Beth couldn't decide between the detective costume and the vampire, so she was a detective at school (easier costume to put on and take off) and a vampire for trick-or-treating. Jo went as a black cat and Amy was a bunny.

Other than that, there was some leaf pile playing,





some swing set playing





and some general goofing around.



On to other business... Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes was selected as my next read and I am in the middle of it now. I decided that although my poll was only open for 24 hours, I would allow the commenters who commented after it closed to be in on the giveaway, since really 24 hours is not that long. So after removing my own comment from the running, the random number generator gave me 6 for my first winner and 5 for my second. So... [checking]... Becky wins Step on a Crack by James Patterson and Flibberty wins Simple Genius by David Baldacci. Winners please email me your shipping info so I can get your books to you.

What should I read next AND a giveaway

First of all, thank you to my FIVE voters even though there were MORE THAN FIVE commenters (Come on, are you AFRAID I will be mad if I don't like the book you pick? Are you too CHICKEN to have an opinion and vote?)** last time. You unanimously selected The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst as my next read. So I am reading it. As a result of feeling too crappy to do anything other than read, blog and watch TV, I am about 15 minutes away from being done with The Dogs of Babel. So it's time to pick my next book. My random grab from my book piles resulted in the following choices:

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes,

The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross,

Step on a Crack by James Patterson [Wait a minute, this was a choice last time. I have ANOTHER copy of this book? It seems I have once again double-purchased a book. I have a paperback AND a hardcover. Hmmm... What should I do with the extra copy? Let me ponder that a moment...]

Paint It Black by Janet Fitch AND

Simple Genius by David Baldacci [Um, I seem to be holding a paperback copy of this book while looking at the spine of a hardcover copy in my book pile... Another troublesome problem.]

OK, so go vote in the poll to the right to determine what I will read next and leave a comment telling me why you chose the book you did. I will then randomly choose two commenters. The first one chosen will win my brand-spanking-new paperback copy of Step on a Crack, and the second one chosen will win my brand-spanking-new copy of Simple Genius. So come on, people... VOTE. You have incentive this time - WIN A FREE BOOK.***

** This is trash talk. I'm not very good at it. It is SUPPOSED to provoke you into doing what I want you to do. We'll see if it works...

*** This compromises the validity of the trash-talk experiment.

Multiple choice questions

1. Which of the following possibly does not qualify for an insurance-covered flu shot, depending on the insurance company?

a) Pregnant women
b) Individuals under the age of 18
c) Individuals over the age of 50
d) Mothers in their thirties with several children who need to be fed and told to bathe and/or bathed and be provided with clean laundry and rushed through busy mornings so they don't miss the bus

2. Which of the following in my house has/have had a flu shot?

a) All individuals under the age of 18
b) The 50-year-old individual
c) The cat
d) The mother in her thirties with several children who need to be fed and told to bathe and/or bathed and be provided with clean laundry and rushed through busy mornings so they don't miss the bus

3. Who in my house has been sick since the end of December?

a) The cat
b) The 14-year-old
c) The fish
d) Everyone else

4. What is the average number of times each sick person has gotten sick WITHOUT more than a single day of feeling better in between?

a) 2
b) 1.5
c) 1.6
d) 3

5. Who, while still on antibiotics for the first illness, has now come down with what is quite possibly the flu?

a) The father
b) One of the kids
c) The cat
d) The mother in her thirties with several children who need to be fed and told to bathe and/or bathed and be provided with clean laundry and rushed through busy mornings so they don't miss the bus

6. Who has determined that priority one is NOT getting the mother better (that is priority TWO), but is rather to NOT get HIM sick?

I'm not even going to give you choices for this one; just take a wild guess.

Awesome gifts

Before the holidays last year, I saw and read a lot of posts on what would be good gifts for husband, wife, kids, etc. None of them (disclaimer: THAT I REMEMBER), however, had much in the way of "have this and it is AWESOME". They were mostly of the "this would be a great gift" variety. So although the holidays are over, there are birthdays, anniversaries and other gift-giving events coming up throughout the year, so I thought I'd tell you that WE HAVE THESE AND THEY ARE AWESOME.

First of all, books. There are lots of good series out there, and I'm not going to go into those here. I want instead to highlight a couple books my middle two kids received for Christmas this year that are really good. First is How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum by Keri Smith. I highly recommend that you click over and do a "look inside this book" thing. It might just be the coolest book I've ever seen. Jo and Beth each received her own copy. I think this would be a good gift for kids from about age 8 - 12. Maybe a little younger depending on the child; Beth is 6 and she loves it.

The second book may make many of you cringe. I did a little at first, but in the grand scheme of things, this is a good option. Many little girls love the whole princess thing. My 6-year-old certainly does. So when she saw How to Be a Princess by Bee Willey in a store, she immediately was drawn to it and coveted it mightily. It was the only copy and was a little beat-up, but I looked through it and saw that I might have misjudged. Indeed, you cannot judge a book by its cover. So I ordered it for her for Christmas. It is one of her favorite gifts. Here's what I like about it: It stresses politeness, courtesy, kindness and good behavior. It covers choosing a prince in such a way as to emphasize that a princess looks beyond appearances when choosing her prince, and instead focuses on his actions and how he treats others. On every page is a little "extra" such as a little story booklet or fold-out or a paper doll and clothing. So if you have to do something princessy, this is a good option. Age range is whatever the princess obsession covers.

Moving on to games... My oldest actually received this game the Christmas before last, but I have to mention it just because it is such a cool game. Dicecapades.

Never heard of it? Neither had I until I was walking through a local Barnes and Noble and saw it on a table. There was only one and although the box looked a little worn, the game looked neat enough to take the plunge and buy it. There are a bazillion dice (exaggeration) and the game involves trivia, motor dexterity, math, wordplay, etc. It is a really cool game for ages 12 and up. I really enjoy it myself.

Another good game for older kids and adults is Buzzword. It's a lot of fun and basically involves coming up with phrases containing a particular word based on clues. There is a lot of tip-of-the-tongue frustration and "oooohhhhh, I KNEW that"s when the answers are revealed.

Two other games were received by Jo. Flinch and Bananagrams. We haven't played them yet, but they look like fun. I'll let you know what we think after playing.

Lastly, I want to show what Amy, my 2-year-old, is enjoying and playing with the most. She loves puzzles and her two favorite gifts by far were Melissa and Doug's See & Spell Puzzles and Infantino Matching Colors and Textures Puzzles.





Finally, MY favorite gift that Amy received was this hat:



I'm really sorry I can't find it anywhere on the web (during the 5 minute effort I made), because I know you all want this hat for your girls now. I bought it at 50% off (couldn't afford it otherwise, it was $36 flippin' dollars for a BABY HAT, which I couldn't justify, but $18, while still a little high for a BABY HAT was justifiable by the sheer adorableness of the item, but still don't tell my husband I spent $18 on a BABY HAT) back in May from a boutique store that was going out of business. I just couldn't resist. The hat is fringed by little hanging pom-poms and each little pom-pom has a different little design stitched onto it. I do now know why, when choosing my pseudonym here, the name "Picklebottom" popped into my head. I had recently purchased this hat, which is made by Petunia Pickle Bottom. Is that not the cutest hat you've EVER seen?

What should I read next?

Every time I finish a book, I then face the dilemma of choosing my next read from a towering pile (actually THREE towering piles) of books I've acquired but not yet read. It's a really hard decision for me because I want to read them ALL. So I've decided to add a new and EXCITING little number here. YOU, yes YOU, get to decide which book I read next. Each time I finish a book, I will grab 3-5 books from my piles and put a poll over to the right, where you can vote on my next read. Since I review the books I read here, you can essentially have me test read the books for you if you think they are ones in which you might be interested.

So anyway, last night I finished Plum Island by Nelson DeMille. This morning I selected for your decision-making pleasure, the following: The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst, Step on a Crack by James Patterson and either Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child OR The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

I need some info on the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child book (I'm looking at YOU Shauna, if you still come by here that is, I know it's been a while since I've been around). You might remember that I read a Preston/Child book a while back entitled The Book of the Dead (reviewed here) that turned out to be the seventh (I think) book in a series revolving around FBI Agent Pendergast. Being the anal retentive individual that I am, I prefer to read series books in order, even when they stand alone perfectly well. Since I also happen to buy most, if not all, of my books from bargain tables and library sales, or get them from Bookmooch, I don't happen to have all of the previous six to choose from, but I do now have two of them (assuming both of them come before The Book of the Dead), and I might as well read them in order. So Shauna or anyone else who might know, which of the two Preston/Child books here comes first?

Okay, now go VOTE. Because I'm drinking my coffee, but I have nothing to read while I am doing so. In the future, I will have to put these polls up the day before I'll finish a book, so there's one on deck. I guess today I'll just clean the house or something, maybe put away Christmas decorations, until the poll time is up. This time, I'm only going to give 12 hours of voting time, since I'm needing a decision NOW, but in the future I'll give 24 hours. Now VOTE!!!

For Nowheymama

This is in response to a question asked by Nowheymama, but since it might interest someone else AND I can get a post out of it, here it is.

Nowheymama asked: Tell me more about Tae Kwan Do, please. Do the girls like it?

Tae Kwon Do is a Korean martial art (it may be THE Korean martial art, but I don't know). Apparently, it is also written as one word, not three like I have been doing forever. It means "the way of the hand and the fist." Wait, that's redundant... FOOT and fist.

Anyway, we originally started the girls in Taekwondo (hmmm, I like three words better, but from here on out it's TKD) when Jo was 5, because she lacked self-confidence and we thought it might help her in that area. Beth started because Jo did and she was the youngest (having just turned 3) ever admitted to our TKD school at the time. They allowed her in because she demonstrated the ability to pay attention and follow instructions. The age limit at the time was four, so Beth paved the way for the three-year-olds that are now admitted.

The sport did seem to help Jo with her self-confidence, though she is by nature fairly quiet and timid, so it is sometimes difficult to discern what is her non-assertive nature and what is a lack of self-confidence. Jo's ability to focus is a huge asset for her in the sport. About 2 1/2 years into it, Jo went through a period when she wanted to quit. I spoke with her instructor, and he talked to her and got her excited about it again. I don't know what he said, but it worked.

Beth turned out to be quite the athlete in all the sports she's tried, and TKD is no exception. She loves it and has never really had a time when she didn't. Both girls are currently enjoying it and are about 3 months away from earning their black belts.

If you are thinking of starting your kids in TKD, make sure you talk to parents whose kids go to various TKD schools to find out which school is right for your kids. There are national chains and mom-and-pop shops. The school we attend is one of the latter, and I think that, particularly for Jo, was the best choice for us. Our school also emphasizes getting out there and giving it all you've got rather than perfection of execution, though the kids are expected to learn all the moves (and some of the forms are long and complicated). No matter what kind of school you decide to go with, it is quite a commitment. We've been going for three years now, which is how long it takes to get to a black belt. It is also not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. On the plus side, at least at the school we go to, the instructors talk to the kids quite a bit about making good decisions, doing their best in all aspects of their lives (school, home, etc.), and so on, so it's not just the sport that they're learning. Overall, it's been a good experience for my kids, and while I'm not sure if Jo will decide to continue on to higher degree black belts after receiving her first degree black belt, I'm fairly certain that Beth will continue.

September synopsis

I promised a September synopsis this week, so a September synopsis ye shall have. Let's see, September began with Labor Day weekend, during which I believe we did NOTHING. Then in one magical day, Meg started high school



(Notice it is dark outside. That is because she catches the bus at zero-dark-thirty.), Jo started second grade



and Beth started kindergarten.



Since Amy naps in the afternoon, I now have approximately TWO WONDERFUL HOURS of peace and quiet every school day. Two hours where I can get things done without constant interruption. It took me about a week for this time to be productive, as I couldn't at first figure out what to do with myself.

Let's see what else... oh, yes. You may remember this little item that I mentioned in this post (which I had to transfer from my old blog in order to link to it, so some of you may have 2 new posts show up in your readers; don't get excited, one of them is an old one):



If not, and you don't feel like clicking to the other post to read about it, it is a little styrofoam cup, decorated by Beth, with pumpkin seeds planted in it that she gave to me for Mother's Day last year. Well, by September one of the little seeds had turned into this:



It always looked a little (OK, a LOT) wilted in the afternoons, but perked up each morning. The yard is all dug up because we had just gotten public water and sewer hook-ups.

Also in September, Jo and Beth tested for and received their senior red belts in Tae Kwon Do.



The belts they are wearing are not their senior red belts, they are just regular red belts, but the shot I have of them wearing their senior red belts is vertical, and unless I go into Ph0t0shop or something and rotate the image, it shows up sideways here. Since I don't feel like doing the Ph0t0shop thing, you get the old belts. Imagine them with a black stripe through the middle.

That's about it, I guess. September in a nut shell. Coming soon - "October overview."