Family Movie Night: INKHEART & Roadtrip book

B and I LOVED the book (see the earlier post here)and waited anxiously for the movie to come from Netflix. It was often VERY different from the book--but for once some of the changes were cute! Overall, it seemed very, very rushed, but not unenjoyable. Probably won't watch it again. Brendan Fraser, who plays Mo, is "reading" us the 2nd boo on cd. We both really, really miss Lynn Redgrave who read Inkheart!



Columbine,a non-fiction thriller so compelling even P was listening attentively, is making short work of our long drives to Church Camp the next few weeks. P and I drove over yesterday [B spent the night with a friend] and then I have to go back and get him Friday, then teach Saturday, and turn around and drive B Sunday afternoon [and go back on Friday for her]. It lets them keep up with their Southern Indiana friends and was the one "non-negotiable" demand they both had when we moved! We got thru about 4 hours Sunday. The author sets the stage well, drawing out the personalities of not only Dylan and Eric [the shooters] but a school Coach, the principal and a few others. [I could SO imagine either of my kid's saying they "weren't scared because Mr. [Principal] was there--instantly thought of Rhonda, Larry (v.p,) Steve and Rob who have been "our" great Principals]. We stopped the cd to even talk about them for a few minutes--and about the air conditioning guy who happened to be there for a service call that day--somehow it reminded us of Chris, our Indiana youth pastor, who loved to show up for lunch with the kids [and tried SO MANY times to have lunch with P--each time finding him in "lunch time detention"!!!]. I knew the story would grab P--he is obsessed with school--not with anything academic, but with "fitting in" and all the social stuff. What was really fun was when he asked if this was a "novel" or the true story and I said it was the dreaded "non-fiction." "But, it's really good." I bit my tongue hard to not say "I told you so!" and just agreed.

Soccer Camp

B loves soccer! She hasn't played for a few years, but is enjoying being back in the game now. Our local rec league goes till 8th grade, but it's based on birthdays so this is her last year. [She is in 7th, not 8th, this year, but due to Ukraine starting school at a later age she is a year behind by birthday.] Her new contacts make all the difference in soccer--no more clumsy glasses!! I love the fact that she can't simply wear a t-shirt! If it's not a girly-style one then she has to modify it! A tail and no sleeves are de rigueur!!

What We're Reading & Listening To This Week

One Thousand White Women I'm hanging on with this one in spite of the problems I already see!! A book set in the Grant Administration (mid 1870s) with characters holding VERY 21st century opinions and a cast that could have been selected by a corporate diversity trainer. The Chicago History is a bit "ify" too. I'll give it one more disc and see how it goes. The "Brides for Indians" program is an interesting idea. I found this book thru Book Club lists--a source of some very good books I would never have read otherwise.

I'm still reading Crazy for God that I posted about earlier. Saturday, I finished the Madonnas of Leningrad, which was worth the read if not fabulous, "destined to be a classic literature." I can't remember if I posted this one before or not, but so far it's delightful:

A Very Small Farm--I'm not very far into it, but I will definitely finish it, although not this weekend--we've got to take P to Church Camp in Southern Indiana. I think we'll all listen to this one in the car--I think even P will stay awake:

Columbine sounds like the stuff P has enjoyed reading. If I forget to mention it's non-fiction we may get to listen to it!

If not, B and I can listen to more of Inkspell while P sleeps!



B is RELUCTANTLY reading this summer. [In fact she's being nearly as big of a pain about reading as P always is]. She is currently reading (only when forced)Wind in the Door



P is doing his normal "exhaust Mom to stuff reading" thing. I make him go to work with me occasionally so he MAY get one book finished in spite of himself. I just love the whole IEP approach to school--"court ordered slackerdom." Ridiculous. He is way, way smart, but because he knows how to disrupt any situation he gets out of doing any school work but the barest minimum. He knows it and uses it to his advantage--like with reading.

4th of July Weekend

We spent the dry part of the 4th at a charity car show. My brother and sil work with this charity year-round, to raise money for Kamp Dovetail, a camp for special needs kids. P and B go every year as "helpers" for the campers. The car show is a very fun event! My brother, who does hog roasts as a side job, provides the bbq to help raise more money. We had some of his great pulled pork as well as roast corn and the usual hotdogs & hamburgers. [Note the hat Jeanne! It was one of the few we saw--in fact ALL the hats were this style or motorcycle "dew rags" and on guys!!]



This is MY dream car! I splurged and treat the 3 of us to Old Navy 4th of July t-shirts! Hence the red-white-blue perfect for scrapbooking!

B LOVES aqua!


This little guy is a friend of the family and P and B adore him and his big sister! He had a fun time checking out the cars with the big kids while his Mom and big sister ran a game tent. There was face painting and food and "door" prizes and tropheys and gift bags for the participants. Lots of really cool cars! If you are on FACEBOOK you can see the rest of the pictures there.

A solution for struggling single-parent families

The Daily Mail, a British paper, has a story today of 3 single-parent families sharing one home. I have considered this before, but here in the Bible Belt, two women sharing a home with their children would be looked at warily. There would be parents who wouldn't let their kids play with "those" kids because they would decide the women were "in a relationship."I knew two women who did this in the late 80s. They and their kids LOVED the arrangement, but they gave up due to the narrow minded neighbors. Predictably, after the other family moved out, the neighbors were happy to know the remaining family. In spite of this type of stupidity, I think more and more single-parents will be turning to this type of co-housing to provide a better standard of living for themselves and their children.

Need a focus here

With B heading back to public school, likely for good, I'm back to my old problem of no real focus for my blog. Some days my blog feels like the only real conversation I get to have. [And sadly, probably no more than 2 or 3 people read it.]

I WELCOME suggestions for what to focus on now? [Or if I should just give it up!]

Leave a comment with your thoughts!

What I read and watched this weekend

Duggars: 20 and Counting

Much more interesting than I thought it would be. They are amazing in that they are Americans who learned the lessons on DEBT.




Nectar in a Sieve
I wasn't sure what to expect of this. It was written not very long after Independence. It's interesting and pulls you in much like "The Good Earth."


Michael Palin - Himalaya I found this on Netflix and watched the first disc. It made the Three Cups of Tea book come alive.



The kids and I also enjoyed watching "Raising Helen" They remember it as the first "grown up" movie they go to go to the theater and see when it was released. I remember it as such a great parenting movie!! I LOVE the neighbor, Nilma, "Baggy pants diaper boy!!!" swinging her baseball bat and getting the kids to go home!!!

We missed Church--I slept till 3 pm on Sunday. I've been sleeping so much lately.

What i'm reading and Listening to this week!

Since I laughed till I nearly peed reading Frank Schaeffer's hilarious Calvin Becker Trilogy, I knew I'd enjoy his autobiography, Crazy For God. So far [about 60 pages into it] it's great. His parents are true heros of mine--Bible-believing Christians with the good sense to love and enjoy art, good music, and beauty. His mother could have put Martha Stewart out of business, but never lost sight of her goal to win souls to the Lord, even if she did "forget" to homeschool her son! Obviously, he turned out well educated in spite of it! I dreamed of raising my kids with long, beloved read-alouds, dinner table conversation that develed into politics, religion, literature and art [well, at least in my childhood politics was certainly discussed fully] and not just "P stop making that noise when you eat!" Sadly, [Well, ok, HAPPILY] God gave me MY children instead!!


Ok, Glenn is WAY over the top for me, but this is buzzing everywhere so I just have to give it a try. Sounds like the kind of thing my friends and I would have sneered at in College, but we're all adults now so the sneering does have moments of "OMG, he's right!"Common Sense.

This came in our recent shipment of new business books for the library I work in. I'm a frustrated Roosevelt scholar, so I'll read this to see what the Democrats did wrong the last time the country was going to hell in a handbasket and why we are in the mess we're in now...or...something like that. FDR was a GOD in my home growing up. At least according to my Dad. His mother-in-law STILL called him "That Man in the White House" even though he'd been dead nearly 20 years when I was born! I side with Dad--if only in terms of personality and leadership skills. I tend to be a bit more middle-of-the-road politically than Dad who still mourned poor Adali. New Deal or Raw Deal.
First novels can often be amazingly over-hyped. This one is in that class, but still a decent one to take to the pool. The heart-ache of Alzheimer's, the sheer horror of World War II-era Leningrad, and believable [for the most part] characters WILL draw you in. I read half of this in one sitting Saturday, but wouldn't give up my dear "As Time Goes By" on PBS to read more. It's sat since then. The Madonnas of Leningrad.


I had hope to listen to this with B, but her schedule is crammed till the start of school and she won't be going to work with me much, if at all, till near the end when homeschool ice skating resumes [she's been invited to come back regardless of her choice for fall!!!] And, since none of the books on cd I've requested have come in I was faced with a long boring, bookless commute!! So, I'm on disc two. This is just as delightful as the first book!! A MUST READ for elementary to middle schoolers. This is a "Melendy Quartet" for today's kids. The Penderwicks play on soccer teams, have saftey rules, homework, all of the usual stuff. The little one, Batty, goes to day care. It's "normal." I adore the Melendy's and "Swallows and Amazons" but they often make todays kids resentful because of all the FREEDOM they had to explore and LIVE that today's kids just don't get. The Penderwicks captures this "spirit" in terms today's kids understand, but in equally rich language.

I finished the Kalahari Typing School for Men--so wonderful!! If you are NOT familiar with the melody, cadence, temper and tone of African speech, or quail at the bizare combonations of letters that form surnames and place names common to Southern Africa, then I highly recommend you get it on tape, cd or mp3. The woman who reads for the cds is "local" and is the PERFECT voice of the whole series of books.

Of last week's books--grab "Children's Blizzard"--if, as I believe, you found "The Long Winter" to be the best of the Little House books, then you will devour this novel-like pleasure read that documents the "rest of the story" of that winter.

Coming up: The Duggars book AND the new Quiverfull Book!!! I love a good expose on an almost cultish religon!!! [Sick, I know. Just plain sick!!!]

What I'm doing during while my kids are away!!

This should be a cool post about the neat stuff I've done for myself! Or the pampering time I've taken in a hot bubble bath or.....but, this is MY blog and that doesn't happen here!!! Instead, I've taught 3 nights straight, done all the pre-class prep, driven to/from the ever dull Dayton, Ohio [don't flame me if you live there--it's probably better than the way I see it!] Still, I've been enjoying another "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" novel on cd. These make me miss Malawi--and it's hard to realize it's TWENTY YEARS ago in August that I landed there as a Peace Corps Volunteer!!

Otherwise, during the brief moments I've actually been awake at home this week I've done the following:

1. Picked up P's dirty clothes from the living room floor
2. Re-impounded his new basketball shoes in my closet pending the fall out from last weeknend [and NO, I won't be blogging about last weekend--go over to Bart's blog and you'll get the general idea, ok?]
3. Sat outside on the back step at 11 pm so my sweet little Cali-cat and her aunt, Candy Cane, could enjoy the fresh air and grass for a few precious minutes. The other two cats don't like to go out much.Cali--our wonderful little buddy!


Candy Cane--aka "Scar"--she's not found of her two little "nieces."


4. Laughed till I cried to read of the demise of J/K+8
5. Enjoyed the leftover pizza dip and breadsticks while watching one of the Williams sisters play at Wimbledon. I haven't watched tennis since the 80s.....

Tonight and Tomorrow--aka my last nights alone [till mid July] I need to:
1. Put actual sheets on the bed. I washed them Sunday and was too tired to care and still am!

[Nobody in this house to give me this nice surprise that Leonie enjoyed when she got home dead tired from a business trip.]
2. Throw out the leftovers in the fridge
3. Sit out on the back steps so Cali & Candy can be outside a little. I hate being a prisoner in my windowless office, so I do understand!

What I'm reading andl listening too

Just finished Tortialla Curtain on my lunch run. It's a contemporary Grapes of Wrath and kind of depressing. If you are an overly-sensitive cat lover, skip it--ok? Not very cheery so I can't say slip it in your pool bag, either. BUT, if you want to think over the issue of Illegal Immigration, this is your book.

Still working on Ivanhoe and Daughter in Time in slow, CM-approve bursts. Going to try to get B to listen to the last little bite of the Penderwicks if I can stay up till her summer bedtime tonight! I'm nearly finished with Barbara Kingsolver's delightful Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I've picked up a few and read a little and put them down. Jury is still out so no verdict or titles yet!

Next audio book:



Morality For Beautiful Girls the next in the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series set in modern-day Botswana. The first two were wonderful, so I hope the whole series will be!

Some duds to return to the library, some others to start. I also hopefully picked up a few books at Barnes/Noble while grabbing our lunch. We'll see if any are worth it or not. I'm thinking, since it's so hot, I'll start with this one:




The Others I grabbed have been on my radar, if not my wishlist, for a while:






I'm a sucker for a Peace Corps book--every time!! Don't know if it can touch Village of Waiting, but I'll see and let you know. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a non-fiction lover.....