links for 2008-10-13

Daily Dose /
  • Soup in the Crockpot When You Get Home From Work is a Beautiful Thing | BlogHer
    So maybe you're one of those busy people who hasn't fully embraced the idea of crockpot cooking? Maybe you need just a little more information to convince you to use a crockpot. How's this for encouragement: Dinner. Is. Ready. When. You. Get. Home. From. Work. What could be better!
    (tags: soup recipes crockpot kalyndenny)
  • Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2008: The Best of the Worst Marketing | BlogHer
    I loathe Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Don't get me wrong – the idea of promoting breast health is fantastic. I am in a high risk category for breast cancer. When she was 33 years old, my mother noticed pus oozing out of her left nipple. She immediately went to the doctor, and a biopsy indicated that it was breast cancer. With a five year old and an 10 month old at home, my mom was rushed into surgery for a radical mastectomy. This saved her life, and she has been cancer-free for almost thirty years now. I want all women to have the same success rate as my mom, but what October has turned into is a free-for-all profit center for corporations that exploit women's fears and often even sell products that contain cancer causing chemicals.
    (tags: breastcancer pinkwashing pinkribbon marketing)
  • The Shift of the Mommyblogger | BlogHer
    There's change in the air for the first wave of mommybloggers. They don't complain about their kids much anymore. In fact, they don't write about their kids as much as they used to. Have they lost interest? Lost their edge? Or are their kids just old enough to read?
    (tags: mommyblogging parenting)

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A Spoonful of Poison

2008, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Fiction, Library, Mystery /

Before I blog about A Spoonful of Poison I have to blog about the Glenview Public Library because we got this book from the library. Which isn’t all that surprising BUT what is surprising and interesting is that it cost us $1 to “rent” this book from the Glenview Public Library.

When we picked it up off of the shelf, we didn’t notice the word “rental” on the spine. It was only when we got to the counter and the librarian said “this is a rental, can only be held for seven days, cannot be renewed and costs $1” that we noticed it.

I paid the dollar because I was interested to see just what kind of book the Glenview Public Library considers good enough to slap the word “Rental” on – and charge $1 for. Ummm, I should have put it back on the shelf. It just wasn’t that good. Certainly no better than any other cheesy murder mystery series and possibly worse than most cheesy murder mystery series.

I still don’t understand why some books are given “Rental” status and others are simply given the “7 day book status”. I will be watching for the word “rental” on the spine to see if it becomes clearer to me but I somehow doubt I’ll be paying the $1 again any time soon to “rent” a book.

Anyway, about Spoonful of Poison – errr ok, cheesy murder mystery series, I think TW said it was number 19 in the series. Interesting – never heard of the author, (though the book indicates she’s a NY Times Best Seller), never read any of the other books and I’m guessing if we’d read more of the books we would have understood just why people seem to react so negatively toward Agatha Raisin right off the bat. And also why there were so damn many miscellaneous characters.

Ho hum.

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Surrender

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Don't Read This, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

Aye yi yi Surrender is another one of those books that has been given an award because adults think it’s great writing for kids. I can’t imagine the average teenager enjoying this book or being drawn to reading this book or doing anything except griping about being forced to read this book.

Surely there are better ways to present schizophrenia to teenagers.

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Looking for Alaska

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

It finally happened. I have finally joined the John Green fan club. Not the real one (if there is such a thing) the metaphorically speaking one. I’ll never gush about him or even blog about him as often as sassymonkey does but every time she does it, I’ll be nodding my head. That’s the kind of John Green fan club I’ve joined. I’m going to nod my head a lot. And anytime someone wants a YA recommendation I will say “anything John Green has written”. The man is a YA genius.

Looking for Alaska was the book that put me over the edge and pushed me into joining the John Green fan club. Until then, I could admit that I liked some of his books and LOVED others (Abundance of Catherines anyone?) but I just wasn’t ready to declare him genius.

I’m ready now.

The man is a genius.

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American Born Chinese

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Printz Award Challenge /

I am not a huge graphic novel fan but I do appreciate them because they are quick reads. I read American Born Chinese in less than an hour. Liz read it last weekend – twice. It was good. I liked the lesson of the monkey king, so did Liz.

But then again, Liz IS a huge graphic novel fan. And that’s one of the reasons why I selected the Graphic Novel project from DonorsChoose. There’s a lot of value in getting kids hooked on a story through graphic novels. Not all kids are immediate readers. Some kids are visual. And, I have to say, having some visuals when trying to get kids to read Red Badge of Courage is probably a damn good idea. Go donate $1 to the project (or more if you can) – Red Badge of Courage is worth reading and if it takes some graphic novels to teach the story, then I can support that – can’t you?

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Cinnamon Gardens

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Feminism, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge, Queer, Women /

It took me far too long to read Cinnamon Gardens – too many distractions in my world on top of it not being a page turner. It’s not bad, the characters are pretty darn interesting, it just wasn’t compelling.

I like the dual storylines – the older man, the young girl – I didn’t expect to like the jump back and forth but I did. And, I liked the ending for both of them.

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links for 2008-10-10

Daily Dose /
  • Overwhelmed moms confess | BlogHer
    If one of the names you answer to is "mom," chances are good that you live a decent portion of your life feeling overwhelmed. As if the responsibility of caring for another person's (or people's) every need isn't enough, you most likely also have a house to maintain, bills to pay, perhaps a job to go to or a business to run, a blog (or two or three) to keep up, a partner to cheer on, organizations to volunteer for, classes, activities or meetings to attend or to shlep kids to, and the list goes on and on and on.
    (tags: mom parenting stress)
  • Are You Depressed? Do You Know Someone Who Is? | BlogHer
    There is a difference between feeling depressed, and being clinically depressed. We all feel depressed from time to time. But, how do we know when our feelings of anxiety or sadness, has crossed into something more serious? That's what Depression Screening is all about, and October is Depression Screening Month.
    (tags: mentalhealth depression depressionscreening)
  • How Much Do You Tell Your Kids About the Financial Crisis? | BlogHer
    there has been considerably more economic sky-falling. Parents are having dinner-table discussions with their kids about what this means for them. Instead of just steering kids away from designer clothes and purses, many parents are considering cut-backs of a more drastic nature, ones more noticeable to kids. So, parents wonder, how much information is too much? How do you paint a realistic picture of the situation for your children, without creating fear?
    (tags: parenting economy money rocksinmydryer)
  • Need Advice? Ask the Internet! | BlogHer
    Often when I speak to friends and they pour out their heart to me, I try to remember to ask if they want advice or for me to just listen. My natural inclination is to try and fix things but that is not what everyone wants. Others do and sometimes it is easier to get advice from an impartial stranger rather than from a friend. That's why newspaper syndicates created advice columns. And now that tradition carries over into the blog world.
    (tags: advice internet)

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links for 2008-10-09

Daily Dose /
  • Foreclosure Pets: Furry Victims of Financial Crisis | BlogHer
    As capitalism implodes, a related item in today’s Denver Post caught my eye. Apparently, Greeley resident Paula Harding could no longer afford the vet bills for her sick 15-year-old dog and, after trying OD him on anti-anxiety pills, she shot him. (Ironically, The Humane Society offers euthanasia starting at $35 and Harding is being held on a $5,000 bond.) This sad story is yet another facet in this desperate financial crisis and a new term is born: "foreclosure pet."
    (tags: pets economy foreclosurepets)
  • October 11th Is National Coming Out Day | BlogHer
    Saturday, October 11th, is National Coming Out Day. National Coming Out Day has been celebrated every October 11 since 1988, as a way commemorate the first March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights, which was in October of 1987. The primary goal of National Coming Out Day is to gain visibility of GLBT people in the communities we live in, and to promote awareness of GLBT issues. Cities across the country are holding events to celebrate the day.
    (tags: glbt nationalcomingoutday HRC comingout)
  • Another Way to Get Your Brown Rice: Gluten-Free and Nutritious Brown Rice Tortillas | BlogHer
    On Sunday I wrote about how brown rice has been added to the list of whole grains and urged BlogHer readers to eat more brown rice. Today I'm back with another idea featuring brown rice. Brown rice tortillas are a lower-glycemic index alternative to corn or flour tortillas, as well as being a perfect idea for anyone who needs to avoid gluten in their diet.
    (tags: brownrice glutenfree kalyndenny)

links for 2008-10-09 Read More »

links for 2008-10-08

1 Comment / Daily Dose /

links for 2008-10-08 Read More »

An oldest child update

2 Comments / Family Funk, Kid Talk /

I’d better hurry and update you on the goings on of the oldest child, the one I tend to call the bad daughter, before her siblings arrive at O’Hare in a few hours.

First, she is getting married (and if Prince J was here, he’d be yelling PATRIARCHY – darn I love that boy.) The date has been set. March 21, 2009. A location has been chosen. It will be an outdoor wedding, at some place in Monks Corner, SC. (I’ve got a link here somewhere and I’ll post it another time.)

They’d planned to do an indoor wedding at this place but the stuffed dead animals were a turn off. Apparently they aren’t thrilled with a full sized dead bear being in all of their wedding photos?

Also, her bank hasn’t failed and they’re doing a thriving business due to MY poor bank’s failure.

And, she tossed in the fact that she had a abnormal pap smear a few months ago that she completely forgot to mention, and was heading to the doctor for a colposcopy this afternoon. My kids never tell me anything important.

Oh, one more thing about the wedding – she’s not having anything pink. Weird. This is the bad daughter who loves, loves, loves pink. She’s thinking “olive green”? The kid has gone nuts. Patriarchy does bad things to people. Remember that.

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