January Instagram

Happy New Year!  We were invited to a child friendly party this year and had a ball.  Last year we played board games and someone had to pinch me every 20 minutes or so in an effort to keep me awake until midnight.  This year we hung out with good friends and the kids ran around like lunatics and the guys played poker and the women tried not to eat the food but did eat the food, which was really good food.

Look!  I’m in a picture!  And on the right is our hostess, Karen, who is modeling that teen favorite, the “duckface”.  Karen pulls that look off like I never could.  And oh, how I’ve tried.

At midnight we all gathered around the t.v. and watched the ball drop.  We found it odd that New York City was a little off this year.  We noticed they were a minute or so late (based on my phone’s time and Karen’s microwave clock), but we all counted down and celebrated…

…which was when someone remembered that Karen had rewound the t.v. during a Justin Bieber concert earlier in the evening (apparently she’s a fan), which meant that we had actually celebrated the countdown a minute or two late.  The neighbors must have been wondering.

Moving on.

Maddie’s birthday…

My birthday…

Dave made me crème brulee, and Jack designed a beautiful sign for my classroom door through Cathy Williams’ business, A Fly on the Wall.  Dave and I went out for dinner and drinks with my birthday twin, Carol, and her husband.  Carol and I share the exact same birthday, same year and everything!  It would be neglectful of me if I didn’t mention, however, that Carol is slightly older than I, being born in the morning hours, whereas I was born in the evening.  Just thought I’d mention it.  Just for the sake of accuracy.

Dave’s dad hosted Jack’s scout troop at LVC for a lesson on bones. The kids had a great time, and Jack was so proud to show off his Papa to everyone!

Basketball has begun!  This is Ben’s first season in basketball, and he’s definitely showing improvement and a lot of natural talent, probably inherited from me, but possibly, though remotely possibly, from Dave (who is helping coach).

Maddie’s swim season is also going strong.  Let me tell you we are always totally riveted on the action in the pool!

Ahem.

(That’s my birthday twin’s husband Dane, then Jack, and two of Carol’s daughters, Maddie and Ellie.  Carol’s other two daughters swim).  That’s an actual, unposed picture, people.  I’m sorry Maddie.

Anywho.  Did you know that swimmers only swim 4 events in the whole meet?  And to remember their events they write them on their hands.  in Permanent marker.  So by the time it all washes off, it’s time for a new meet and a new list!

Apparently using a ballpoint pen or your memory is a ridiculous suggestion.

Do you remember Maddie was in the WITF spelling bee last year?  Well, I’m proud to say she won her school bee again, so she and the other two finalists got to travel to the WITF studios yesterday to take the 100 word test to see who qualifies for the televised bee (they will take the top 36…out of 150 students…scores).

Maddie was chosen to be interviewed ahead of time!  (I think they figure if she made it last year, there’s a good chance she’ll make it this year).  If she does make the bee, she will be in the pre-show!

She was so nervous, but she did so great! 

Parents were ushered out of the testing room and into our own, cold, dark, cave of a room.  Although we couldn’t see the kids, we could hear the pronouncer, and we were given testing sheets of our own.  Here’s my test after the first half:

I only got two wrong on the whole test:  tintinnabulation and aitch (that’s letter “h”, people!  Who knew?!)  I’ll let you know after Friday if she makes it.  Keep your fingers crossed for her!

P.S. School is going great!  I am really and truly loving it!  Of course, I can’t really talk about it here, to protect the privacy of my class, and to protect the privacy of one of my readers, whose son is in my class, how cool is that?  Thank you for asking about it though, Pam!

Book Review Starting From God Only Knows How Long Ago

I just haven’t been reading much. 

I fall asleep after about 20 words!  And now that I’ve discovered Downton Abbey, well, I probably won’t read another word until I’m caught up on that.

I had to look back at my last book review, which was in August, just so I’d know where to start.  And it was so darn long ago, my reviews are going to be full of holes and brief.  Keep your expectations low, people, and you won’t be disappointed, that’s what I always say.

  Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer-  I TOTES HATED THIS.  I only kept reading it because the premise was so good that I thought it had to get better.  It never did.  Basically, the husband is sent on a space mission to see if the moon could be colonized by robots (I think) and the spacecraft ends up having a huge terrible technical issue, and the wife is left behind on earth with her autistic son, and the book kind of flips back and forth between the two.  Now that I’m hearing my description, I don’t think it sounds like a good premise at all and I can’t believe I wasted precious reading time on it.  I hope you don’t either.

 

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones-  Holy cow, two books in a row that I hated with all my heart but kept reading because of the premise.  This book, in the same manner as Shine Shine Shine, never got better.  It’s set in the late 1800’s.  There’s a train wreck.  The survivors of the wreck are sent to the nearby house (which is inhabited by well-to-do people).  [Spoiler Alert to follow]You realize eventually that these people are all ghosts, not survivors.  Doesn’t that sound good?  It isn’t.  Don’t read the bugger.

 

 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern-Finally!  I loved this!  And maybe that’s what made the difference, because, unlike my first two books up there that took me a month and a half to get through, I read this one in about a week.  Maybe my book choices lately just stink. Anywho, it’s hard to explain this one, but I’ll try.  The two main characters are raised from a young age to compete in a magic competition against each other.  The Night Circus has been created just so they’d have a venue.  Neither of them is really ever told what the competition is or how they’d be competing or who their opponent is. And then of course they fall in love.  So, now, reading over my description, I can see that I didn’t do the novel justice and if I were you I would totally NOT read this book based on that description.  So don’t listen to those words, listen to these:  GO READ THAT BOOK. 

 

The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty-this might be one of my favorite books of the year.  The story begins when Evelyn is about 11 years old and is told by her, in an absolutely wonderful, spot-on eleven year old’s voice.  She understands things and talks just like an eleven year old, and we understand everything through her eyes (and as adults, we figure things out that her 11 year old brain hasn’t).  Evelyn ages as the novel moves forward, and it all ends when she is eighteen year old.  Her voice and thoughts age perfectly with her.  Moriarty truly did a beautiful job writing this heartbreaking yet compelling story.  I won’t get into the plot too much, though it basically is a coming-of-age novel.  Please read it.  I’m begging you to read it.  Seriously.  I’m currently on my knees wringing my hands in your general direction.

 

 

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt-here’s another coming-of-age novel that I didn’t hate but still had a hard time reading.  Eh.  It was good.  It wasn’t great.  Read it if you want.  I really don’t care.

 

 

 

 

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling-  That’s right, the Queen of Harry Potter wrote a novel for adults!  I was so excited to read this!  But I hated it with a capital H.  The writing is good.  Rowling really is a good author with a way with words, and a superb ability to weave many different subplots together.  However, there was not a single likeable character in this novel.  Not one.  Everyone is a bigot.  Everyone has secrets.  Everyone is mean.  There are accidental deaths, and snickering behind backs, and child abuse, and rape, and lies, and plotting, and just general hatred spewing from every single stinking page.  Amazingly, when I read over the reviews on Goodreads,most people gave it 5 stars (though remember, I did say it was good writing), however, I can’t say I either liked or enjoyed this book.  Read at your own risk.

 

Happy Reading!

I’ve Got an Abbey on My Back

I am hooked, people.  I have an addiction that can only be eased with more and more and more of the good stuff.  Or should I say the propah stuff.

Back when the rest of the world started watching Downton Abbey back in 2010, I thought, “Hmmm.  That sounds like something I’d really like. Too bad I don’t watch t.v.”  And then last year I heard of more and more people talking about it and I thought, “Hmmm. That really sound like something I’d like.  Too bad I fall asleep at 9:30 pm.”

And then on Facebook last week at some point, three or 4 people listed “Downton Abbey!”  as their status update and I just knew a new season was underway, and I also just knew I wanted in this time.  So thanks to my in-laws who got Jack Amazon Prime for Christmas to go with his Kindle, I have also been able to watch Downton Abbey-Season 1 on my iPad, for free, and let me tell you, my bathrooms are hairy and sticky, and my books have gone unread, and I’m ignoring my sad and bedraggled family, because whenever I get a chance, I stick my earbuds in and watch an episode! I. Love. It.  I can’t believe I’ve waited this long!

Oh my gosh, Maggie Smith!

I live for her zingers. 

I love the clothing!  I love the hats!  I love the accents!  I love the manners!  I love everything about it! Do you watch it?  You have to watch it!

I hate O’Brien and I hate Thomas and I want Mr. Bates and Anna to get together and one of the biggest disappointments I can say I’ve had this week is the fact that when I was looking up those photos above to copy and paste for you (sorry no photo credits, since only, like, 12 of you read me anymore, I’m not taking the time to do it), I saw a spoiler!  I know how Mary ends up and although I’m thrilled, I’M TOTES ANNOYED THAT I KNOW IT AHEAD OF TIME.  And to make matters worse I saw another spoiler regarding Matthew that is killing me.  So I’m not going to get you any more pictures.  Go google them yourselves, you lazy muckabouts.

So there you have it, in a nutshell, what I’ve been up to in my spare time this week. 

That, and polishing my accent and manners:

~“Maddie, dahling, do fetch me a cup of tea and a biscuit. That’s the ticket, dahling.”

~“Whe-ah is my maid when it is evah so late?  Howevah will I put on my frocks without her assistance?”

~“David, dahling, please ask Branson to bring the car around.  I believe a breath of fresh air and a jaunt around the countryside will clear my befuddled brain.”

~“Mr. Cahson, the guinea pig cage is becoming evah so ripe.  Do ask one of the footman to tidy it up a bit.”

Oh YES.  I gotta have me some Downton Abbey.

Thirteen

Today we officially have a teenager in the house!

She decided to have a sleepover, so one night during Christmas break we hosted 5 giggly girls.  They did crafts and played games and watched the movie Pitch Perfect. 

Maddie and I made a rainbow cake, but it didn’t photograph well.  It was totally cute though!

The best craft was this one:

Each of the girls glue-gunned crayons onto a canvas, then they aimed a blow dryer at the tips of the crayons to melt them down. 

We were down to three girls by this point.  I wish we had done it sooner so all of the girls could have made one.

Maddie’s actual birthday is today, but she has swim practice tonight and a meet tomorrow, so except for opening her presents,  we will have our family celebration on Sunday to honor my very favorite teenager in the whole wide world. 

My favorite teen who used to enjoy wearing a Cinderella birthday hat. 

My favorite teenager who is now (only slightly) taller than me.  My favorite teenager who wouldn’t think of playing with Barbies anymore.   My favorite teenager who no longer fits into those tiny little tights or that sweet little Gymboree dress or Winnie the Pooh underwear.

Oh my gosh.  I’d better end this before I need to seek professional help.

Happy Birthday, my sweet, lovely, wonderful, amazing thirteen year old Maddie.