What I'm Reading 2012

Here we are with a new year and an ocean of books on my to read list. My reading dropped off a little in 2011, I somehow only made it through 24 books, but I'm back in the saddle and ready to delve into some literature in 2012! As in the past, please feel to leave comments on books you read, opinions on my "reviews" or suggestions.

The Year in Books 2011
The Year in Books 2010
The Year in Books 2009 

Currently Reading 
The Fault in our Stars - John Green


January
Fuzzy Nation - John Scalzi (genre: Science Fiction) My first foray into the world of audio books. I was a sceptic, but I was intrigued by the story premise and I had a few hours to kill. The story begins with Jack Halloway finding a huge deposit of precious jewels on a distant planet, but then he comes into contact with an animal that might be sentient and things get very complicated. Quick, fun read. Grade: A-

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (genre: Science Fiction) Set in a not too distant future where the planet's fossil fuels have been depleted and people literally live inside a virtual world, OASIS, kids go to school there, people work there, fall in love there. When the creator of OASIS dies, himself a product the 1980s, he leaves his entire wealth to whomever can solve a game he created within the virtual reality. A race ensues. Loved this book! Grade: A

Graffiti Moon - Cath Crowley (genre: Young Adult) Remember when one night could mean everything? When you could chase your dreams, and find them, in the space between sunset and sunrise? In Graffiti Moon, we relive one of those nights.

Graffiti Moon is narrated by three characters: Lucy, Ed and Leo. Lucy, who's greatest desire is to meet Shadow, a graffiti artist with such talent and depth, she has fallen in love with him through his art. Ed, who is, of course, secretly Shadow, but because of a disastrous first, and only, date with Lucy, he keeps that from her. And Leo, the other half of Shadow's graffiti team, the Poet. While the boys kill time leading up to planned late night shenanigans, they help Lucy and her friends in an attempt to track down Shadow that leads them all over Melbourne, Australia.

Beyond the principals, this book was full of real, multi-dimensional characters. Lucy's parents were quirky and unpredictable, Ed's late boss was wise and funny; supporting characters Jazz, Leo, Daisy and Dylan were flawed and believable. In fact, everyone in the book, with the exception of the psycopathic villain, were absolutely relatable.

I loved the he said/she said writing style. Being inside the principal characters' heads allows readers to see both sides of the situation. I felt their longing and their anguish. A beautifully written story. Officially my first book of the year and we're off to a banging start. Grade: A+ 

On Deck:
Maine - J. Courtney Sullivan
Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
A Little Wanting Song - Cath Crowley 
A Visit From The Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison:
The Opposite of Me - Sarah Pekkanen
Disquiet - Julia Leigh
Truth - Robin Wasserman
Wake - Lisa McCann
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Blue Bloods - Melissa De La Cruz
Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
Still Alice - Lisa Genova
Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin
Willow - Julia Hoban
Private Life - Jane Smiley
The Domino Men - Jonathan Barnes
Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

Going forward this post will be updated after I read each book and can be reached by clicking the "What's On The Bookshelf" link at the top right of the page. I pick almost all of my books based on suggestions from friends, so please feel free to leave a comment with a recommendation at any time during the year!

Ho ho ho!

Here's hoping your Santas are even half as cute as ours!

Merry Christmas!

Real Women Of Pinterest: Card Holders and Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

As some of you know, there is a special place in my heart for Pinterest. I luff it. I can distract myself endlessly on there. Contained within its bits and bytes are a million and one ideas for projects and decorations and clothes and things that I would like to do. However, after several months of "pinning", I have actually done exactly zero of the projects I have found on there. Pinterest FAIL. I have followed my dear friends mep and E... as they tackle projects as part of their Real Women of Pinterest challenge and every week I am inspired but the busyness of everyday life gets in the way and somehow another week passes without me doing anything.

But that changed this week!

I present my first project:The Card Holder

Majestic, isn't it? I know, I know. You all want one. Every year we get holiday cards from all of our nearest and dearest and they wind up cluttered on every available flat surface: dining table, mantle, bulletin board, refrigerator. I needed some way to display them but I hadn't really settled on anything. My first thought was a french memo board. I've made a few and I quite like them. But I didn't want it to be a permanent installation and we are not exactly overburdened with storage here, so I was reluctant to create something that would take up valuable space the other 11 months of the year. When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I was smitten. The original was hung on a hook over a door, but we don't have a door that would be good for that, they are all either out of the way or see too much use, so I hung it on a nail in the dining room. There are a few things I would change but I'm mostly happy with it, especially considering it was almost entirely constructed of things I had on hand. I would like to point out the level of attention to detail I committed to this: I dyed the clothespins to match the color scheme. Bow to my craftiness, minions.

My next project was a recipe for a cookie exchange: Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

I'll grant you, this recipe isn't exactly rocket surgery. Basically, it's a brownie mix with peanut butter poured on top, but it's peanut butter and chocolate, HELLO two great tastes that taste great together, and they looked cute. I keep trying overly complicated recipes and completely screwing them up, so I wanted something foolproof. Well, as with EVERYTHING in my world, nothing is foolproof, and I'm not overjoyed with how mine turned out. I'm going to blame my oven. (It certainly can't be MY fault. Pfft.) I couldn't seem to get the brownies to the exact right doneness wherein the center collapses and the peanut butter goes in perfectly. But reports were that they tasted good. I doubt I will make them again, but it was a fun experiement.

So that's it for this week! If you aren't already, get thee to Pinterest! If you want to see what I'm pinning, I'm Carabee74. And to see what some other Real Women of Pinterest are creating, check out Not to Brag.

ICE!

I love Christmastime. It is undeniably my favorite holiday. I love the tree and decorations and carols and the convivial spirit that everyone has. There is so much to enjoy. There are all of the little moments that will embody the season for Sophie as she grows older and my hope is that each year we can bring a little extra magic to the holiday for her. That extra this year came in a "cool" package.

The beautiful ladies of Momzshare organized a special event just for local bloggers. We were given the opportunity to visit the Gaylord National Hotel on the National Harbor in Washington DC to view their ICE! attraction. ICE! features ice carvings of all of the characters from Merry Madagascar, the upcoming holiday sequel to the beloved Madagascar films. In addition, within the Gaylord National atrium, a special Christmas village was set up with characters from many of the Dreamworks movies including Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Puss in Boots. Hanging over the village was a 60 foot Christmas tree which, even before it was lit, was dramatic and beautiful.

The view overlooking the Christmas village. He's tough to see, but that's Shrek just underneath the tree.

Our first stop was a milk and cookies reception in the atrium where I sampled the white chocolate and cranberry rice crispy treats (note to self: figure out how to replicate these, STAT) and Sophie sipped on Ogre Milk (presumably not the milk of ogres, but it was green) and nibbled on sugar cookies in between jumping up and down while she waved furiously at Shrek below.

Cutest ogre EVER.

Scheduled for a 3:30 tour of ICE, we took our time strolling around National Harbor before heading over to the enormous white tents that house the famous ice sculptures. Living where we do, National Harbor is a special visit for us and while I visited once a couple years ago, I haven't been back since. It is a wonderful area, many great restaurants, galleries and shops, plus a spectacular view of the Potomac. I would love to get back down there for an afternoon or evening out.
















During the opening film, they told us the tent holding the ice would be cold and I believed them, but I didn't REALLY believe them. As you enter, they give you long, heavy parkas to wear over your own coats. Flattering? Not really. But once you step inside you begin to understand why, because, brother, is it cold in there. So cold that I quickly abandoned taking pictures or attempting to tweet on my iPhone because it was simply too cold to go without gloves for more than a few seconds. But bundled in my extra layers, cap and gloves securely in place, I was cozy enough to take in the amazing ice sculptures. According to the film, more than 2 million pounds of ice were whittled down by 40 international artists to create the wonders we were viewing.

Each room left us more amazed than the next. Giant ice versions of our favorite Madagascar characters greeted us at every turn. Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe, Gloria the hippo, the penguins and, of course, Santa were all there. But it was when we got to the ice slides that Sophie really went crazy. Here is where we were glad to have the extra long coats to cover our behinds when we slid down the ice chutes. Sophie went down by herself and was back in line to go again so fast it made my head spin.

We finished up the ice pavilion and headed back over to the hotel for some dinner at the hotel's sports bar and grill where Neil caught a bit of the Ravens game before a visit with Shrek and the gang. Unfortunately, when it came to actually talking to Shrek, Sophie unexpectedly turned shy. But from a safe perch in mommy or daddy's arms, she met all of her favorites.

We had hoped to stay for the grand lighting of the hanging tree, which includes a light show, singing, dancing fountains and an indoor snow fall, but unfortunately our little bean was just too pooped, so we had to depart. But we left already making plans to come back again to see the lighting on another visit and see all of the wonders again.

Disclosure: We were given tickets to ICE and the other holiday attractions at the Gaylord National in exchange for a post. We paid for our own dinner. All opinions are my own.

What's in a name?

As the parent programmer for Sophie's pre-school co-op, I help out with planning and prep for all holiday parties. When the selection of our ideal class jobs was made, this was top of my list and I was over the moon when I got it. With my background in the service industry, I know a thing or two about putting on a party. For the most part, it's pretty light stuff: a few decorations and favors as well as the snacks that will be served.

Today was her class Thanksgiving celebration, so I was there to help out. All of the parents were asked to bring in an element of the Thanksgiving "dinner" that we would be prepared and served by our little ones. The parents then returned a half hour earlier than usual so the kids could sing songs and we could eat our feast together. As part of the festivities, the kids wore crafts they had made. Among these were a paper headdress and necklace, both of which were Native American inspired. When the teacher welcomed the parents to our party, she introduced her tribe of little "Indians."

When I grew up, the term Indian was in common use to refer to Native Americans. We played cowboys and Indians, we sat Indian-style and, prominently, Thanksgiving was about the pilgrims and the Indians. It hails back to Columbus' expedition more than 500 years ago in search of a westbound route to India and while its fallacy was quickly established, the name stuck.

At some time in the last 25-30 years, there has been a shift towards the politically correct, and more accurate, "Native American." And while I don't consider Indian to be derogatory, its use has certainly fallen out of favor, particularly in schools. Which is why I was a tad surprised when the teacher used that term. This is a non-public school, so we aren't bound by the same rules and practices as our public counterparts, but there is still an expectation that certain conventions will be followed.

Personally, I am not offended by the term Indian. In fact, there are many situations where it feels down right weird to use the PC version. Cowboys and Native Americans? Just doesn't have the same ring for me. I also know that many Native Americans continue to call themselves Indians.

But today I got to thinking. Because there is a little girl in Sophie's class who is actually Indian, as in, born in India, bona-fide Indian, Indian. And I wondered what she thought of the use of the term Indian to refer to Native Americans. Because even at three going on four, she must understand the difference. Does it confuse her?

What do you think? Are we over-sensitive to these things? Not sensitive enough?

Boo

When I was young, we lived in a big old house. Built in the late 1800s, it had history. There were rumors of the families that had lived there. Of tragedy and mystery. But we didn't know anything for sure and at that age, I didn't really think about those sorts of things.

My first floor bedroom was across from the door to the unfinished basement. More of a cellar, really, it had a dirt floor and crumbly brick walls. We almost never went down there. Only in tornadoes. And in Kansas, that was more often than I care to say. Even then, we were none too excited to open that door and descend those steps. None of us had ever had a bad experience down there, it was just a general unpleasant sense that everyone that went down there felt.

The first time something unusual happened to me, I was 8. I lay in my bed. The light in the bathroom across the hall was on and both my door and the bathroom door were open. I don't know what I was thinking, not sure how deep my thoughts were at that age, but I am certain that I was very awake. Quite suddenly, the blankets on my bed were roughly pulled off and under my bed. With the fearlessness of a child certain there are no monsters, I leaned over the edge. My head nearly touching the floor, I looked under my bed, fully expecting to see my sister playing a trick on me. But there was no one there.

After that, I would lay in bed at night staring at the partially cracked door to the basement. A door that wouldn't close all the way, no matter how hard you pushed on it. I stared and I waited. There were no repeats of the sheet snatching but few were the nights that didn't involve troubled dreams and I never truly felt comfortable in that house again. Mercifully, we moved a few years later.

Over the years, a number of other unexplained things have happened to and around me. Shifting shadows, noises, doors opening and closing, objects moving, voices. Some houses have a stronger presence than others. One apartment in a fairly new building I lived in when I first moved to Maryland was particularly active, while some older places have been entirely quiet.

The rational side of me says there are no ghosts, that bumps in the night are no more than settling or wind or little living creatures working their way through walls and floors or perhaps even an over active imagination. But the emotional side. The side that remembers my name clearly whispered into my ear when I sat alone on the sofa watching television. That side says there ARE things we can't explain. And that side will insist on a nightlight this all hallows eve.

As it does every night.

Happy Halloween!

The Little Ballerina

A few years ago, my sister came across this book in the storage room at my parent's house. I have the very fondest of memories of reading it when I was young and I know my sister did too. With the hope that she would enjoy it as much as we did, she set it out for Sophie. I've had it since then, but only recently introduced it into the reading rotation because I was worried that it would be too long or detailed for her. When I finally did bring it out, she absolutely fell in love with it. She asks me to read it every day before bedtime and naptime. She prances around the house doing the ballet moves described in the book.

Unfortunately, the book is more than 30 years old and has been much loved. The pages have fallen out and it is only my careful handling that keeps it together. I can't leave it in her room anymore because she doesn't have the most gentle hands and on more than one occasion I have come in to find its delicate pages strewn about her room.

So I got on Amazon to see if I could find a new one. I'm not sure if I expected it to still be in print, but the answer is that it is not. Which isn't surprising, it is a VERY dated book, a la Fun with Dick and Jane. Amazon does have some copies for sale, but they are in the same age range, or older, as my copy and are now considered historic pieces* and are quite expensive.

When I did a search for the book, I found another book of the same name by a different author. Based on the description, it looks to be similar to my book although not quite the same, but I thought "hey, maybe this one will do." So I scanned down to the reviews. The top review was from a woman who says that what she loves about this book is that the titular ballerina doesn't get the lead and dance in toe shoes, that books with that sort of stuff give kids unrealistic expectations.

The more I think about it, the more that bothers me, because I feel like that sort of attitude is an epidemic these days. Why is telling stories about children who do wonderful things setting them up with unrealistic expectations? True, not every child will be the lead in the recital, but does that mean it's wrong to teach them to dream for that? I just don't understand this attitude. Maybe it's Ayn Rand-y of me to say, but why is teaching excellence bad?

So while I can't quite talk myself into spending $50 for an authentic replacement of my book, I simply can not buy this book that tells my daughter that all she should hope for is mediocrity. Maybe that's good enough for some kids, but not mine. Nobody ever achieved big things by dreaming small. Whether she actually achieves them or not isn't really the issue for me. I just want my daughter to try.

* I also recently saw a toy that I LOVED as a kid in a museum. True story. My age is showing.