family – Page 18 – Peaceful Reader

The wonder of Wonder by R.J. Palacio

“You can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.”

Wonder

R.J. Palacio

{2012}

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school-until now. He’s about to enter fifth grade at Beecher Prep, and if you’ve ever been the new kid, then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie’s just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite appearances? ~inside book flap

This book is the new poster child for anti-bullying, be nice rhetoric we teachers are constantly spewing at the kids that we teach, hoping it will make a difference. This book though has the potential of actually starting a movement. Auggie and his family work hard to maintain normal and even through the very rocky times stay true to what their family means which leads to the extraordinary way that Auggie sees himself. Even though he gets depressed and would love to have an ordinary face he also feels comfortable with how he is.

I loved this book and plan to push several teachers to use it as a read aloud starting in August. Right now all my teachers are just limping toward the end of May, ready to be done. But Auggie will help them start the school year off right as they help their students build community; one that doesn’t judge.

Now that I’ve read and reviewed it I’m putting it back out for students and I have quite a few who are waiting to get their hands on it! Thank you to my friend Verda and Groovy Girl for constantly telling me how great the book was so I had nothing left to do but pick it up and read it.

Weekend Cooking; Fat chocolate chip cups

This has been quite a year for my school book clubs. They’re organic matter constantly changing and shifting. Generally I’ve had two book clubs and they start out large and then dwindle to a small handful of die-hard book fans that didn’t know they were fans when they started. The whole process is amazing to me.

This year has brought new challenges as I started off bold with three groups; two girl groups and one boy group. Luckily another 5th grade teacher has been willing to help me all year with the second girl’s group. She took the stronger reading group and they’ve read a wide variety of challenging fifth grade material. They just finished The Lightning Thief. Now the gaggle of girls I lead is another story. I like have to lead them like little baby lambs to the book. They are much more concerned about drama and excuses. I’m trying to raise them up and they are all like “this is so hard” but yet they keep coming back. I’ve had a few drop out and I’ve asked a few not to come back and yet we’ve had others join up mid-year and this is why is has been a very natural and organic book club year.

This has also been the first year we’ve served snacks consistently for every meeting. Amanda, the 5th grade teacher, and I alternate bringing treats for the Wednesdays that the girls meet and I solely bring treats for the boys. It is MUCH easier to bring treats for the boys!! They about die for anything I bring for them which in turn make me excited to bring them treats. It is a dynamite cycle. The girls tend to be a bit more picky. I made them little cookie cups near Christmas that had a chocolate mint kiss in the middle and several girls threw them away after just one bite because of the mint. Geez!

This week I made these top notch treats from a recipe I found on Pinterest. I love when a pin takes you to to a blog worth reading and Averie Cooks is just such a blog. The Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups were a huge hit at book club and the children I live with were a little upset that the whole pan wasn’t staying home with them. The cool thing was it was such an easy recipe I’m going to surprise them this weekend with more. This board of Averie Cooks is dedicated to recipes she’s made and I’m especially intrigued by this post about her Top Ten Favorite Chocolate Cake recipes. I’m searching this week for an extreme chocolate dessert for College Boy as he turns 18 next Sunday, the 28th. His only requirement is that it be like chocolate heaven.
Any suggestions?

If you need a special treat this week try those chocolate cups!
This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking post-click there for more food-related links.

My own Cinnamon Scones

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I made these for breakfast this morning and they were delicious and flaky. It was my turn to make something for Sunday school treats and our church has been on a Blue Zone kick, trying to bring in healthier options instead of donuts. Even though these had minimum sweetness kids and adults ate them up! I know the title of the post says cinnamon scones which is confusing since the recipe says different but trust me and keep reading…

New Hampshire Maple-Walnut Scones
KAF Baking Companion

3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter or shortening (or a combo)
1 cup finely chopped and toasted walnuts
1 cup milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp maple flavoring

Preheat the oven to 425*F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter or shortening until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Stir in the walnuts.

In a separate bowl, combine the milk, 1/3 cup of the maple syrup, and the maple flavoring. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until you’ve formed a very soft dough.

Flour your work surface generously and scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl onto the floured surface. Divide the dough in half.

Working with one half at a time, gently pat the dough into a 7-in circle about 7/8 inch thick. Transfer the circle to a parchment-lined or lightly greased cookie sheet or other flat pan; it will be very soft, and if you have a giant spatula, it’s the tool of choice here. Repeat with the remaining dough, placing it in a separate pan.

Using a sharp knife or rolling pizza wheel, dived each dough circle into eight wedges. Gently separate the wedges so that they’re almost touching in the center, but are spaced about an inch apart at the edges. Pierce the tops of the scones with fork tines and brush them with remaining maple syrup.

Bake the scones for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with any remaining maple syrup. Wait a few minutes and then gently separate scones and transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, with jam or maple syrup butter.

Adaption:

This was the recipe I really wanted to make except I didn’t have walnuts and our maple syrup jug was ’bout empty plus it was 10:30 pm. At that point you have to improvise. Last week I’d made this scrumptious cinnamon sugar syrup (The Sisters Cafe) for fun. I still had some left and I used that instead of the maple syrup in the recipe and in the poked holes. I replaced the walnuts with golden raisins which provided a little natural sweetness. My flour was also a mixture of KAF unbleached and whole wheat.

I made only one batch of these but cut those nice wedges into half again and it made plenty for about 30 people. I easily made them in about an hour’s time including baking. Even though it kept me up late it was worth the compliments from both young and old.

Yes, you may ask why I was concocting this so late…and the answer would be busy, busy day. We worked a charity event at a local restaurant from 12:30-4:30 came home and ate dinner quickly with kids, kissed them again and then headed to our local university’s theatre to usher for The Merchant of Venice (Beach) a revised Shakespearean drama. Today we saw another play, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, at the children’s theatre my husband used to run. I’d not seen this, one of my favorite children’s books, brought to life and it was excellent. We had several young friends starring and it lit a fire in Groovy Girl’s belly to try out for next year’s season.

While I’ve been typing this post out my sweet son downloaded a Grateful Dead album onto my computer and I’ve been grooving to Sugar Magnolia-he just made my day as I discovered I can sing the lyrics out with his awesome headphones on which make me feel like I’m in the band. Of course I cleared the room also!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking post. Click her link to find many other food-related posts from all over the globe. The scones in the photo above look delicious also and closely resemble mine. I found the photo at Jenny Steffens Hobick’s website Everyday Occasions and will have to make them the next time I need a perfect breakfast treat.

The Pursuit of happiness through cookies.

I recently finished listening to Bruce Feiler’s audio book, The Secrets of Happy Families and thoroughly enjoyed most of it.

Several points that stood out to me was the chore board, the family mission statement, the deep family conversations, and the variety of new ways to connect with your kids and parents. We’ve always held firm to family dinners around our kitchen table and have fascinating conversations about our days which I always believed gave my kids the idea of empathy towards each other and the world as we discuss politics and events. The family dinner is discussed in the book and Bruce agreed that it is important to gather at the table it is even more important what you talk about the table so I’ve worked harder at discussing family history. With two kids at the table I asked if the kids could think of where their grandparents had gone to school; both high school and college. I was happy that every one enjoyed the conversation which was meant to talk about how each family has had good and bad experiences and all survived better for both experiences.

One of the latter chapters talks about bonding through challenges. The example Bruce uses is through an ex-Navy person who now leads people on grueling challenges which creates a bond between participants. I, myself, am NOT up for that challenge but I came up with a small mini-challenge for my own two-Make cookies together! Didn’t you wonder how I was ever going to pull this around to real food?

Our two younger kids are 7 years apart and have very little in common, their words not mine. Groovy Girl is all dance, glitter, AG dolls, Barbies, and drama while College Boy is all slightly sullen, bossy, king-of-his world attitude and they clash like Kronos’ kids. It was just me and the kids looking for something to do together while Dad was off practicing with his bluegrass band. I casually offered the challenge to them as I handed them the recipe which came attached to a recent purchase of canola oil. While I don’t usually use recipes attached to packages this one appeared easy and kid-friendly.

I got the big mixer out for them and walked away. Groovy Girl, bless her heart, knew to get all the ingredients out first. College Boy took control of the mixer after his sister turned it to supersonic speed on her first go. They worked together quiet easily. She measured, cracked, and stirred, then handed each ingredient to him to add to the dough.

As they worked I shot a few photos on my phone and listened to them chatter about other baking experiences with me. Groovy Girl felt bad about a recent baking experience with her and I where she blasted the mixer, letting flour fly all over the kitchen and College Boy recounted a similar experience when he was younger, which made her feel better. They even smiled at each other a few times. Food is a great bridge for people of all kinds, We join with our families, sharing recipes, sharing traditions, exchanging recipes, and loving each moment. I know my children will bring cooking into their own homes, remembering the times they spent with me in the kitchen and at the table.

The cookie recipe they created together:

Brown Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup Crisco Shortening (I know-blech)

1/2 cup (unsalted) butter

1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 large (farm fresh) egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups (unbleached) flour (maybe even a mix of wheat and white)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat shortening, butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla in medium bowl of with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Add gradually to creamed mixture, beating on low speed until blended.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place two inches apart on un-greased baking sheet.

Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen.

*I wouldn’t cook them until they get golden brown unless you like your cookies crispy. I took several pans out at about 10 minutes because we prefer a softer cookie. Also to the second half of the batch we added chocolate chips as College Boy feels strongly that there is no true purpose for a cookie to exist with out chips in it. I probably won’t make it again, opting to make our regular chocolate chip recipe instead but the experience was worth it.

Enjoy Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads where you will find many food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking: Easter baskets and pie!

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I can remember to Easters of my past, waking up at my Grandma Bruch’s house with a huge basket next to my bed from the Easter bunny. My basket overflowed with green, shiny grass with chocolate bunnies, oval malted eggs and jelly beans of every color poking through the grass. On top looped on the sides was always something to wear for Easter servies at my grandmother’s Lutheran church. I remember a beautiful Easter bonnet, a pair of white gloves, and black patent leather Mary Janes nesting in my basket in different years.

I loved those baskets filled with simple joy and thought it certainly equaled Mary Magdalene’s thrill at seeing Jesus out of the tomb. I’ve kept this tradition going with my own children although I don’t fill their baskets with as much candy as I remember from my baskets. They do usually have an item in their basket to wear for church although as they get older it is difficult to thrill them. College boy is partial to picking his own clothes which leaves me to stock his basket with a packet of white T’s and AE boxer shorts for the last few years.

Groovy Girl, on the other hand, adores the clothes I pick for her. This year I’ve heard that the Easter bunny is bringing her a pair of {audible gasp} high heel patent leather Mary Janes. She’s 10 and I’ve never really allowed her to wear something with a heal even though she’s begged and pleaded. I think she’s going to love them! I predict she’s going to dance with them on all the way across the hardwood floors at 6:10 a.m. as we prepare to head across town for our sunrise service. She’ll probably have chocolate in her mouth as she twirls

Our Easter celebration will end with this pie because what says Springtime more than bright yellow lemons:

Aunt Betty Jean’s Lemon Pie
Sweety Pies; an uncommon collection of Womanish observations with pie by Patty Pinner

One 9-inch single Flaky Pie Crust, rolled out, fitted into a pie plate, and edge trimmed and crimped

1 cup sugar
1 T unbleached all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup (1/2 stick), unsalted butter, melted
1 T. grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Whipped cream and thinly sliced rinds for garnish

Makes one 9-inch pie

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the pie crust and set aside. (I made the pie crust already but am not including the recipe from the book as it is a pretty standard pie crust recipe-if you really want this one request it in the comments section and I’ll see that you get it)

In a medium-size bowl, combine the sugar and the flour, then add the beaten eggs and corn syrup, mixing well. Stir in the melted butter, lemon rind, and juice. Pour the filling into the crust, place in the oven, and bake until the crust is golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Garnish each serving with a dollop of freshly whipped cream and a thin twist of lemon rind.

Oh, my! Pie.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts to brighten your Easter Weekend.

Weekend Cooking; Warm soup for cold weather

Mighty blasts of cold air-that’s what I’ve felt all Spring Break. No tropical sun or sand sifting through my toes. We spent Spring Break right here in Iowa with a little weekend getaway to Minneapolis which was just as cold. A freezing Spring Break gave me plenty of inspiration for soup, reading, and writing but zero inspiration for spring cleaning. I cleaned one room over break.

College Boy (formerly Teenage Boy) -he does turn 18 this April and is almost finished with his freshman year so I think a name change is in order-anyway he spent most of the week enjoying Colorado so it was just Groovy Girl, Big Daddy, and me, all freezing together. I whipped up two fantastic soup recipes to combat the cold.

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Chicken and Green Chili Stew
adapted from Super Suppers Cookbook 2
Judie Byrd

2 whole chicken (organic or farm-raised) breasts or a small whole chicken
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tsp minced fresh garlic
1 T cooking oil
1 4-oz can chopped green chilies, undrained
1 14 1/2-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup chopped carrot
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp black pepper (to taste)

1. Place chicken in a Dutch oven; add enough water to cover chicken. Simmer, covered, 30 to 45 minutes or until meat is falling off the bone. Remove chicken from the pan. When cool, shred the chicken meat, set aside. Reserve the cooking liquid. I had two leftover breasts from another recipe that I’d tossed in the freezer so I just used those and skipped this step altogether.

2. In a large saucepan cook and stir onion, bell pepper, and garlic in hot oil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Add the chicken, undrained chills, undrained tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots, simmer covered, 20 minutes. Stir in enough reserved cooking liquid to reach desired consistency. Add salt and black pepper.

My other alteration was to skip the green chilies because I had a half a can of green enchilada sauce from a Mexican dish I made last week so I added that instead. It was perfect. Groovy Girl will eat the mild enchilada sauce so I thought this was a safe yet flavorful trade-off.

Suggested sides: Tortillas, shredded lettuce, cheese, chips, or salsa.
We had a salad and some fresh bread from my mom. All three of us loved this soup and the leftovers made an easy lunch the next day.

(Potato soup )

Because it stayed cold all week and I had time on my hands I made a potato soup two days later that was out-of-this-world delicious. With a velvety texture this soup, served with more fresh toasted bread, kept us warm while the temperatures dropped outside. Yes, the temps actually dropped during our break! The potato soup recipe can be found here at Cooking from the seat of our pants website.

I could eat soup several times a week and I’ll definitely make both of these again.

In other news it’s my husband’s birthday and I cooked up a storm for him today. We started our morning off with homemade biscuits and gravy from Bev Cooks blog. Biscuits and gravy are my husband’s total weak spot and if we happen upon a diner this is exactly what he orders. I’ve done the biscuits before for him and this time I made the gravy myself which was far superior (of course!) than the jarred stuff. I need a bigger biscuit cutter but other than that the recipe was a huge hit.

My mom and step-dad made him a Guinness chocolate cake on St. Patrick’s Day so I made him chocolate chip cookies for an afternoon treat today. I tried a new recipe and I loved how soft and chewy they were. I found it on Pinterest and was happy to see it originally came from KA Flour.

Spring Break comes to an end this weekend (Groovy Girl is already sobbing about this) but I’m cool with it. There are still so many activities to do with my students and hopefully Spring is around the corner…although the word on the street is that snow is predicted for tonight and tomorrow. Seriously.

Have a mighty peaceful day!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click over and find many other food related posts like this one.

Weekend Cooking; A little of this, A little of that…

(chickpea mixture)

It’s been a crazy week here what with the book fair which meant two late conference nights at school. I’ve survived though and did have the gift of Friday off to recover. For two weeks I’ve worked on one recipe though which is pretty much too long of a turn around time for me. When I ordered magazines this year for school I ordered two family friendly magazines; Family Fun and Kiwi. Family Fun is more geared toward crafting and is quite popular with students. Myself, I LOVE Kiwi magazine though but probably won’t order it again for the library. It is really more of a serious organic parenting magazine; great for me, not so great for students as they don’t need to read articles about best methods for breast feeding! I had to cut that article out censoring myself.

(moist but no tails)

While browsing through the February/March Kiwi, before I defaced it, I found this article, a better burger by Caroline Shannon-Karasik with detailed directions on sprouting chickpeas to make a delicious veggie burger. We’ve sprouted other seeds and nuts so I thought chickpeas would be no big deal. That was two weeks ago. I started them the night of Groovy Girl’s sleepover when we made the snow ice cream and watched the Oscars. I laid them out and kept them moist and those little garbanzos still took their sweet time. At the beginning of this week we noticed tails sprouting out. Hallelujah!

Here’s the recipe:

Sprouted Chickpea vegetable burgers
adapted from Kiwi Feb/March issue

1 cup sprouted chickpeas
6-10 fresh basil leaves
1 large farm fresh egg
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced finely
1 stalk celery, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T flat leaf parsely, chopped
1/4 whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp sea salt
Dash of ground black pepper
1 T olive oil
4 whole grain fresh buns
mayo, ketchup, lettuce, or any other burger toppings.
We had lettuce, tomato, and TJ’s wasabi mayo.

Many of their recipes give hands-on directions for parents and children to do together. Great idea but I’m going to simplify that for space and time. Just know this is a great recipe to have little hands to help.

Fill a steamer pot with an inch of water and steam sprouted peas for 10 minutes or until tender. While the chickpeas steam carefully pull basil leaves off the stems and roughly chop the leaves. Place cooled chickpeas into food processor with egg. (after processing chickpea mixture I added another medium sized egg-it just seemed like it needed it for moisture). Use a spatula to scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. Add the basil, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and parsley to the chickpea mixture. Then add breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper. Stir all ingredients until well-combined.

Take a palm-sized handful in your clean hands and work it into a flat, circular patty. Place it on a plate and repeat to make 3 more burgers. Pour olive oil (I used coconut oil) into skillet and place over medium heat. Add the patties, cooking about 5-6 minutes on each side. Carefully remove the patties and place on whole grain bun.

Sounds easy, right? Hmm maybe, except my burgers didn’t not stay together very well in my skillet. It helped once they started cooking. While I know there are added health benefits from eating sprouted beans that step made the recipe too difficult. Next time I would cook the chickpeas making them softer to work with and more paste-like. And I would add sprouts to the table array of toppings.

What did my family think, you ask? Everyone liked them except Groovy Girl. She thought they tasted sour. She still wanted to eat the bun (carb girl) though but dad wouldn’t let her; he ate her burger bun and all. She ended up making herself a grilled cheese with sprouts on it in the toaster oven. So she still ate something sprouted…win, win! We don’t usually let them eat something else but this seemed like a reasonable trade-off and she was willing to make it herself.

(Our chili)

I also made a meat-less version of Katie Workman’s chili recipe; I did everything she did but I added soaked kidney beans and a large can of rinsed black beans to the pot. We had it for dinner on Sunday night with homemade Angel Biscuits and again we had it on Wednesday with homemade cornbread-I just used the recipe on the side of the corn meal container as I was rushed for time.

I am headed down to my fancy basement yoga studio to get my Namaste on but then after that I am making these Smitten Kitchen brownies. I also made these brownies with this frosting last Sunday to serve at our teacher look-see for the book fair. I left a few at home for my treat-deprived kids and Teenage Boy had this to say after eating one; “While I was eating that brownie mom; I realized you found it, you really found it, the perfect brownie recipe!” Why thank you, son! What a great week. How about you?

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts with wonderful recipes.

Weekend Cooking; The true meaning of brunch…

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We love breakfast at this house and because we are like passing ships on weekday mornings it is great when we can gather for brunch on the weekends. Brunch has such wonderful memories for me; I remember as I child huge meals that my dad would make either on Saturday or Sunday after church, My dad loved making huge skillets of scrambled eggs. He sauteed the onions in butter first while he whisked the eggs together using a fork and then he’d pour the cool egg mix into the hot cast iron creating a sizable sizzle. I remember that sound like it was yesterday but I don’t think it has anything to do with why I love brunch today.

In my 20’s brunch meant meeting friends for food and beverages at classic little joints from Minneapolis and St Paul to Denver and Boulder, Colorado. These gatherings could take the better part of your day but what an excellent way to relax and enjoy your friends before husbands and children came along. Bloody Mary bars, crispy hash browns fresh off someone else’s griddle, patio dining, and laughing all come to mind when I think of those shared brunches around big round tables. We were free with our time and you only had to pay for what you ate and drank.

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Now as a family it is not only much harder to take the family out for brunch price-wise but also what we can create at home often tastes much better. Our local nature center hosts a maple syrup festival this weekend and I had my heart set on going though but with the snowy week we had I didn’t make it over there until Friday to pick up tickets and once I parked my car and trekked the long winding path to the lodge I was not happy to find the door locked. Searching the assortment of signs I saw they had closed 10 minutes ago. “Aaargh” is how I felt. I told myself it was okay I didn’t really want to go anyway and now I really didn’t plan to go! I got in my car to drive away and 5 beautiful mama deer (does) ran right in front of me through the snowy park path and my mental balance was completely restored. When I got home and explained how I’d screwed up getting the tickets, and the deer running in front of me, my husband and I decided what was most important was the maple syrup after all. For the price of the tickets I would be better off with a big bottle of their syrup anyway.. I broke the news to the kids by telling them I would be hosting my own maple syrup festival in the morning around 10 am. We ate pancakes, fried eggs, pineapple and cups of steaming homemade hot chocolate. There was laughter and good food, which is really all it takes. Bliss.

A new tradition is born; The Holt Family Maple Syrup Festival: to be held any Saturday morning we can all get together.

I followed Katie Workman’s pancake recipe but it is quite similar to this one from the recipe girl. I use whole wheat flour and I don’t add sugar. I couldn’t find Katie’s recipe online and if I keep copying her recipes to my blog they’ll be some kind of copyright issue I’m just sure…You’ll have to buy the book as I’ve done.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekly Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other marvelous food-related posts and lots of lovely conversations.

Have a peaceful Saturday.

Happy March! One month closer to Springtime…

March is finally here and we have at least a foot of snow on the ground. The snow this time is beautiful. It is perfect building snow; you can easily roll it together to make a fort, a snow person, or simply throw some snowballs at your unsuspecting children as I did on Wednesday. It was a snow day for us and Groovy Girl and I played in the snow for like 2 hours. When teenage boy came back from snow blowing the neighbor’s driveway we pegged him with a few hand packed, triple stacked snow balls. It was the most fun I’ve had in weeks! Laughing and playing in the snow is what winter is all about, that and the delicious hot chocolate we drank after.

I’ve been listening to a fantastic audio book, The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler, on my phone as I go back and forth to school. We already have a pretty happy family but I’m always of the mind that things could be better. If I could find some good parenting tricks to get my sweet Groovy Girl to remember her chores without CONSTANT reminders or for her to clean her room BEFORE it became a hazard zone – my life would be more “chill”. This book has many great tips and one that has already left a lasting impact on us has been dinner time conversation. We already make a huge effort to eat dinner together, and we do talk and ask “what was the best/worst part of your day?” but Bruce encourages you to discuss family history at the table. Last night we had the best conversation about where all the grandparents went to college. Research says that kids who know their background are less likely to get in trouble, this seems like an easy first step for us. Over the next couple of weeks we plan to implement more of Bruce’s suggestions.

I found this title on Audible.com while I browsed for a birthday gift for Teenage Boy’s Grandpa Dean. I picked out two excellent fishing titles that I knew he could listen to on his phone or iPad. If I joined Audible I could get a huge discount on both books and it seemed like the thing to do. I’m not as thrilled about this monthly fee now as every time I scroll through their sight I don’t find books that stand out and they are rather expensive. If I’m already paying a monthly fee why would I want to pay $22.00 average for a book? I’m probably going to cancel but it still saved me money on my original purchases. Anybody else have experience with this website?

I’m computer-less also (sort of) as my Dell laptop died a few weeks ago and I’m now left with (just) my Kindle Fire and my iPhone. I’m feel blessed to have those two to keep me connected but I have yet to be able to truly blog successfully using either one. Does anyone else blog from phone/tablet without a backup computer. I can’t get pictures to my Kindle and neither are very easy for extensive typing or adding links. Thoughts or suggestions on this process? For now I am using my work laptop on the weekends. I don’t want to rush into buying a new laptop and I don’t want to order from Dell again.

ready for Spring…

That’s all the news here…
Happy March…

January Recap {I know it's February already}

Okay I know it is February 7th-my how time flies, right? I read several good books during January and wanted to give them each a quick little shout-out.

I am J by Cris Beam: A truly amazing book that chronicles the life of a young boy trapped in a girl’s body. The struggled portrayed is heart-wrenching as Jeni tries desperately to shed any part of her person to be just “J”. He hates his thin frame and anything to do with becoming more female. His best friend writes him off as gay and his parents are confused and angry. Spending a few days on the streets, escaping from his parents, he discovers that there are others who feel like him and they are able to take testosterone to persuade the body to become more manly. All J wants is for his body to match what is going on in his head. This was so well-written by Bean that I can’t imagine anyone reading it and not understanding the complexity of how a trans-gender child feels as they struggle against family and friends in order to feel right and happy. (ARC-Little, Brown) Highly recommend.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card: Can’t believe I’d never read this through all my library classes, etc. I did recommend it to my son a few years back and he read it, loved it and tossed it back to me with this to say “best book I ever read, to date, mom. Thanks.” Well, okay then. I promised myself I wouldn’t go another year without reading it as next year he’ll be off doing his own thing. It read pretty quickly as it is a riveting tale of a future world. Ender is ostracized, bullied, and confused at school and at home and then the government chooses him to be part of a special group of space warriors. It reminded me a little of I am the cheese by Robert Cormier in that both have characters that are mentally messed with by the government. I was excited to see a movie is being made of this book, which will be fantastic if it is done well. Highly recommend.

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamont: One of the first adult books I read after finishing my master’s program in L.S. was The Red Tent, which my mother-in-law gave me. I still own the book and plan to go back and read it one of these days. I picked up this title at a used book sale precisely because her name was on it. This one was good and had a very interesting cast of characters, and it did keep me reading but it was not as amazing as The Red Tent. Many of the Dogtown characters have stayed with me though and their resilience in the face of such odd diversity was wonderfully hopeful. Recommend.

Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret: Groovy Girl came home from school one day extremely excited about this book she was reading and when she finished it she said “I really loved this book and I think you will too. Will you read it, Mom?” How can one possibly say no to that? I could not. I read it in a day. It was not literary genius but on the other hand it didn’t suck. Now that I’ve read it I can recommend it to students here as well. Groovy Girl is taking her own sweet path to reading and I’m always delighted when she reads a chapter book from start to finish. Bravo! Thank you Peg Kehret.

Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings: I loved, loved We Can’t All be Rattlesnakes by Jennings but this one let me down in a droopy dog sort of way. Maybe my expectations were too high. I thought Rufus was a fine character with odd parents. His mom substitutes a guinea pig when Rufus really, really wants a dog for a pet. While Rattlesnakes was filled with magical realism in that the book is told from the animals point-of-view this one has just one element…the guinea pig (Fido) is the closest one can come to a dog without actually having a dog-he barks, he follows, he catches frisbees-that is one monster guinea pig! Rufus’s mom is never able to locate the mysterious pet shop where she purchases Fido in the first place. Kids wishing for their own pet might love it.

Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta: As I put books away in the library one day I noticed quite a few baseball fiction titles not getting checked out. Baseball is not the cool thing it once was much to my dismay so I selected a few and plopped them up in a new location and hoped they might get scooped up. They did not but I took a chance and read this one. The young narrator, Roy, has lived in Moundville all of his life and it’s been raining that long as well. The town is cursed through a weird idea that a baseball game jinxed them years ago. Out of the blue (literally) one day the rain just stops and Roy and his dad set out to re-build the old baseball field. I love baseball but this one left me with a lot of questions unanswered which means it would be way confusing for my elementary students.

For me this was a great beginning to 2013. I stuck with my own goals of reading one of my ARC’s from L & B plus reading one off my pile-I read two off the pile and two Highland library books as well. {pat on the back} Now I can breathe and move into February with ease.