A few funnies from my day...

1. Bob asked me a question today. I don't even remember what the question was, just that I didn't know the answer. So, I told him I didn't know. His reply, "But you're a mommy. Mommies know everything!"

2. We were in the car running an errand. Bob pipes up from the back of the van that he needs to go to the bathroom. Of course we're on the freeway and there is not a bathroom anywhere to be had. I told him just to do his very best to hold it and I would find a bathroom as quickly as I could. Princess Bug and Sunshine Boy were eager to help. They encouraged Bob to think about deserts. A few minutes later I hear Bob say, "My deserts are all fading away."

3. Coming home from Grandma's house we passed a house with a sign out front. We pass this sign fairly often.
Princess Bug: "I saw a sign that says 'Suing Alligators'".
Me: "You mean Sewing Alterations?"

4. Bob is helping Grandpa pick tomatoes in the garden. They picked on with an unusual shape. Bob says, "Grandpa, this one looks like a bum."

A New Link

I can't believe I neglected to add this link to my list of lovelies until now!!

Twisted Chicken Balloons is a personal favorite. The owner, nicknamed Chicken, is a friend of mine whom I love dearly. She came to our house to twist for Princess Bug's birthday last year and everyone had a fantastic time. She's very talented and totally worth booking for your event!

I Am Arbitrary

There. I admit it.

Let me explain...

I was reading Shannon Hale's blog the other day. (Have I said this before? I think I've said this before.) She posted a very thought provoking entry entitled How to be a reader: book evaluation vs. self-evaluation. I'd like to invite my bookwormy friends to pop on over there and give it and the comments that follow a read. (Some of the comments I make here might not make sense without reading the article first.) I found the entry really interesting. It gave me a lot to think about. I still don't know all of what I think. But, I'd love to discuss it with you all.

Here's what I've come up with so far...

1) I like Goodreads because it gives me a chance to get book recomendations from my friends. I like to know what they are reading more than I like to know how they rated something. I love the "To-read" feature so I don't forget the titles of things I want to read but may be too busy for at a given time.

2) I'm always surprised when a friend rates a book radically different than from how I rated it. I have a couple of friends who surprise me regularly. They often seem "difficult to please". I think they demand more from the books they read than I do, though this may not have always been the case. I was a pretty critical reader in college and I suspect I need to become a more critical reader as a writer.

3) How I hand out stars is rather arbitrary. I have given some childrens' picture books and some classics the same number of stars. Do they have equal literary merit, certainly not. It doesn't mean that each isn't great in its own way, ie. "Five stars because it's great fun for my 10 year old" or "Five stars because it was so beautifully written it is haunting my waking thoughts and some of my dreams." A few times I have caught myself rating a book by comparing it to other books in the same series, ie. "I liked this one more than the first one, but not as much as the third one." Occasionally, I'll compare one series to another and realize that although I've given individual books the same number of stars, I much prefer one series to the other. I think I'm okay with being irratic in my rating system.

4) If I have recently read or listened to the book I am much more likely to leave a review as well as a rating. If I remember that I've read a book and add it to my "Read" list in passing, it's not likely to get a review to go with it because the details have become fuzzy. Perhaps I should cease this practice? Someone commented on the article referencing this quote by Bertrand Russel, "There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it." Maybe when I rate without reviewing I am merely bragging that I have read it?

5) Self-evaluation...I have to agree that what we bring to a book as a reader radically affects how we respond that book. For instance, a few years ago I read Memoirs of a Geisha. Chalk it up to naivete, but I didn't know what I was getting into when I picked it up. I remember thinking at the time that it was incredibly well written. However, because of personal issues, I found it a very difficult, often extremely uncomfortable read. I think I'd probably rate it 4 or 5 stars. Would I recommend it to my friends or let my teenaged daughter read it? Hmm...

I fear I'm becoming long winded. If I have anymore deep thoughts, I'll share. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts. :D

What Have I Done?

About a week ago I was reading Shannon Hale's blog. On her blog she mentioned that she was going to be involved with the 2nd Annual Writing for Charity Event to benefit Treehouse Museum in Ogden. I followed the link and read the details. I though it sounded really cool. I told RM about it. He asked me if I wanted to go...I decided to think about it.

Flash forward to last night. I was at the bridal shower of one of my BFFs. One of my good friends from high school, Candy, was also in attendance. Candy is an author about to publish her first book. (Everyone who has previewed it is RAVING about how good it is.) I asked how things were going with her book and chatted with her about writing in general. I mentioned Writing for Charity to her and told her I was thinking about going. She got excited. She looked at me with a gleam in her eye and said, "Let's go together!"

So, late last night Candy registered. Sometime mid-morning, I registered. Not only did I register, but I signed up to have my "work evaluated by one of the event’s participating authors." Here's the real kicker...I HAVEN'T WRITTEN ANYTHING NEW IN YEARS AND I HAVE NO MATERIAL PREPARED!!

What was I thinking??

So, um, I guess I'd better get going and write a first page of a manuscript, huh?

The Super Pill

This amused me, so I just thought I'd share. This is a picture of the antibiotics I was prescribed last week:



Effective against streptococcus bacteria and those pesky symptoms associated with the phases of the moon. :P

Expanded Eights

Ok...so Natalie asked if she's the Natalie I meant when I tagged a Natalie. The answer is YES. She was also kind enough to post a link to the version of 8s she did before I started blogging/reading blogs. Looking at her list made me realize that I had accidentally omitted one of the sections of 8 as it came to me. Also, Natalie's 8's had a fun section that the one that came to me didn't have. So, I've added both of those sections to my original Crazy 8's blog post. So, if you read that one once, you may want to read it again. :D

Lightning

Bob: I wish lightning was blue.

Me: Why do you wish lightning was blue?

Bob: Because I like blue and I wish I saw blue forever when there was lightning.