Salad and PARP

The big news of the week is this: Xander ate salad! Yes, he willingly and without complaint ate something that was green. It was a big moment for the Brunos. As you can see, he didn't really have that much he had to eat. We did find out that he doesn't like bacon bits though. Now I wonder what my chances are for broccoli. LOL!

In other news, PARP (Parents As Reading Partners) started this week. Xander's school does it every year. At the end, he gets to join in an ice cream party and gets a coupon for a free book. So what we've been doing is having him read a book to us, and then one of us reads one after. On the first day it was Joe reading The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. The other night he followed that up with How the Grinch Stole Christmas. (Can you tell we're big Dr. Suess fans?)

I'm happy to report that Joe qualifies for unemployment, so that's a relief. (If you didn't know, he was fired last Friday from Hospice.) We've been talking about making some big life changes, but it's all still in flux right now. As always, we Brunos like to keep things interesting! LOL!

Xander in Wonderland

Xander has lately been on an Alice in Wonderland kick. He's been watching the movie we have, which is the 1980s TV miniseries full of people like Sammy Davis Jr., Martha Raye, and Lloyd Bridges. I asked him what he likes so much about the movie, and he says it's the Open Season preview that's on there. What a doof! It's a pretty long movie, and he watches it all. Even knows the songs at this point.

So when I showed him that I had the book, Xander was eager to start reading it. We're reading a chapter each night, and I'm wondering how long that will last because it's a very confusing read. And Xander keeps waiting for the parts from the movie, which aren't always there. Still, I'm glad to see him so interested in classical literature, even if it's mostly to watch the cheesy Jabberwocky! And just because I happen to know that poem, here it is for your classical education today - at no extra charge!

'Twas brillig and the slithy toves

did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

All mimsy were the borogoves,

and the mome raths outgrabe.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son

the jaws the bite, the claws that catch.

Beware the jub-jub bird and shun

the frumious bandersnatch.

So took he vorpol sword in hand.

Long time the manxom foe he sought.

So rested he by the tum-tum tree,

and stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood

the Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

came wiffling through the tulgey wood

and burbled as it came.

One, two, one, two, and through and through

the vorpol blade went snicker snack.

He left it dead and with its head

he went galumphing back.

And hast though slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy.

Oh frabjous day, callou callay!

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogoves,
and the mome raths outgrabe.

I've Become a Bill Bryson Groupie!

Last month, on a whim, I picked up my first Bill Bryson book from my local library. He'd been kind of on my radar since my old Story House days, but I'd never read anything he'd written. Now I have two books under my belt and I'll be adding more to my library queue. Here's why!

Bill Bryson primarily writes travel books (though I'm right now reading a book he wrote about his 1950s childhood in Iowa, and he's done other books on language), and since I can be almost preoccupied with all of the traveling I never get to do I guess it was only a matter of time before we hooked up, so to speak.

Now, these are not your average travel books, laying out specific destinations and telling you which are the better hotels. These are the ramblings of a man who is fortunate enough to get paid to travel the globe, and his stories of these trips are hilarious! I wish I'd found out about Bryson much earlier in my life so I could've been his traveling buddy.

I just finished In A Sunburned Country, about several trips he made to Australia. Bryson really gives you the flavor of the country and the people, particularly since it's one of his favorite destinations. There was a mixture of history, culture and science that really was fascinating and told me more about Australia than I ever knew. Plus this guy is just funny! I'd personally like to know more about his wife, who stays home with their children while he rams around Europe and Australia, sometimes gone for a month or more at a time.

Anyway, if you haven't read any Bill Bryson, you really should. This is good stuff, and now I must go and add more of his work to my library queue before I finish the next book!

My Little Reader

Now, I know that Xander can read a little. He learned a whole lot of that in Kindergarten. But getting him to read even one word at home has always been a struggle. So imagine my surprise when, two nights in a row, he's read me a book!



I picked him up this Level 1 SpongeBob book last weekend. Some of the words have little pictures with them - like everytime it says SpongeBob in the book, there's a little picture of the yellow sponge. And while I've had to help Xander out with some words (know, asked), most he's either just known or been able to sound out.


It's been so much fun to have him reading! And voluntarily! I'm going to have to get more of those books. Thanks, SpongeBob!

It's All About Me Today!

Hey, hey, it's my birthday! I'm closing in on 40, but not there yet. I turned 36 today, and I don't feel a day over 50! LOL!

Seriously, it's been a pretty good birthday so far. Xander sang me Happy Birthday first thing this morning, then remarked how he thinks I've gotten heavier overnight. Nice! When Joe got home, the cards and gifts came out. I scored Mama Mia - the DVD and the soundtrack. Oh, yeah!! Then Joe gave me some money for take-out tonight. Not to be outdone, Xander ran to his room and came back out with his last dollar, which he gave me. Awww!! Am I a lucky woman or what?

Special thanks to everyone for the birthday greetings that were e-mailed to me, or put on Facebook. (Mom and Vikki, your stupid e-cards made me cry! Darn you!) I loves you all!! (Except Mom and Vikki, for making me cry!)

On a side note, I just wanted to talk about Alien Voices. Back in the way back when I worked at Story House, Simon & Schuster put out these totally entertaining CDs, which have a lot of Star Trek people doing a kind of radio show of classic novels. I have The Lost World, which is totally awesome. I listen to it a lot when I'm scrapping or playing on the computer. In fact, I like it so much I've added all the movies and tv show to my Netflix queue, and am awaiting the book from the library.

Unfortunately, I can't find the Alien Voices version of Journey to the Center of the Earth, which I totally covet. There are a couple of cassettes on ebay, which won't do me much good since my stereo eats cassettes for breakfast. So if anyone comes across this, you need to let me know immediately!!

Okay, that's all about me today. Tune in Wednesday for more fun Xander stories (probably).

Darn You, Nora Roberts!!

It's not like I don't know how the book will end, they're all the same.

I certainly didn't need to stay up until after 1am to finish the darn thing. And on a school night!!

I suppose I should be thanking you for wiriting such compelling stories, even if most people pass them off as fluffy romance novels. Sure, the characters have a tendancy to fall in love instantaneously, and are of course complete opposites in almost every way. And your love scenes, while very exciting, have no basis in reality as far as I can tell. And yet...

The characters are fun, I love the mystery wound up with the romance, and I needed to see how the bad guy was dealt with and how the two main characters overcame their personal issues and hooked up. That's some tricky writing!

Darn you, Nora Roberts, for writing these novels! And since I started the next one this morning, I can look forward to another sleepless night tonight. Sigh.

Addicted to the Library

Hi, my name is Cassie and I'm addicted to the library.

I never used to be this way. My whole life I've been a book OWNER, not a book BORROWER. If I read a book and liked it even a little, I had to have it. This is probably why my mother's house had so many bookshelves in it, and there were never enough of those.

Now that I'm older and live in a much smaller place, I don't have the luxury of book ownership. Truth be told, I don't even really want it. There are some series that I keep adding to, and those are generally books that I'll reread a couple times a year. So I have re-discovered the joy of the library and borrowing books. Even better, since the local library is so small, I have discovered the joy of inter-library loan. Woo hoo!

Lately all I do is read. I've been to the library three times this week alone, and will be back again today to drop off four books and pick up two. I stay up way past my bedtime reading, and I gotta say not much housework has been getting done. Scrapping has been suffering as well.

My latest literary finds: Catherine Coulter's FBI series, and the works of Janet Evanovich (this woman is hilarious!).

Good Ole Trixie Belden!

I don't know what you were reading as a kid, but I was totally hooked on the Trixie Belden mystery series. I loved her way more than Nancy Drew! Trixie and her friends regularly solved mysteries, and managed to get themselves out of whatever trouble they got into mostly without adult help.

It took me until after college to get a complete set of the Trixie books, all 39 of them. (And no, Eli, I still don't want to sell them on ebay!) Imagine my surprise when, as a grown-up who still occasionally read through a Trixie mystery from time to time, I found a whole website devoted to the characters! In fact, the characters were living on in fan fiction tales of every kind imaginable, from the Bob-Whites in the Old West to Trixie mixing it up with the boys from Supernatural. And every kind of tale in between.


If you're a like-minded Trixie fan, you can check out all the fun at Jixemitri. Does Trixie hook up with Jim? Or does she go for Dan? Always wish Regan had his own stories? It's all here! So let your inner Trixie geek come out and play!!

Breaking Dawn - Awesome!!

Okay, so Friday night was Midnight Madness at Borders, in anticipation of the midnight release of the fourth book in the Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn. Krissy, her friend Emily, and I hit the mall around 9pm. There wasn't as big of a crowd as expected, but it was still fun.

We took a Twilight Trivia test, got some stickers and pins, and there was even a costume contest, though only a handful of people dressed up. Krissy and I also tried setting Emily up with a cute security guard, but she was too shy. And then it was finally time to buy the book! I spent all day Saturday reading it, and it was awesome!!

Husband Points

I promised Joe I'd give him some husband points on the blog today. Why is he earning husband points? Because he drove all the way to Oneonta yesterday (an hour drive) just to buy me the second and third book in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. And he didn't complain that I spent his night off from work with my nose buried in book 2. And yes, I stayed up until after midnight to finish it.

Dishes? Unwashed.
Husband? Unloved.
CSI? Unwatched.

So thank you, hubby, for your sacrifice and for feeding my current vampire obsession! You're the best!!

Twilight Saga - Awesome!!

Has anyone read the Twilight Saga, by Stephanie Meyer? It's hella-good! I read the first book on Sunday (parts of it several times, I say with embarrassment).

I had known the series existed, but never gave it much thought. But in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (to which I am a subscriber) they featured articles on both the upcoming film and the author of the novels. It peaked my interest. So when I saw the first book at Walmart, I picked it up just to try it out.

If you don't know, this is the story of Edward the vampire and Bella the human, and their very difficult love story. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing anyway, so I was hooked pretty much from the start. The writing itself may not be overly polished, but the story is great! I'm now chomping at the bit to get the next two books in the series - the fourth and final will be out next month in hardcover.

The characters in this series have seriously caught my attention. I'd recommend this series in a heart beat, even if vampires aren't usually your thing. Get it! Read it! Love it! I do!