I read a book and am making it a big deal

Today I read "Beauty" (a retelling of Beauty and the Beast) by Robin McKinley.  I rarely read but the hot afternoon kept us indoors and the kids claimed all the electrical toys ...aaaaaand this book has been collecting dust on my shelf ever since Darcy recommended it at our favorite little used book store.  (Actually, it's a pretty big used book store.  They have a cat that lives there and a sign on the door to not let it out.)

It some ways I LOVED it and in others I did not.  I'll start my I am very important and should critique books professionally review with the negative.

I'm left with an overall sense that Robin grew more and more weary of writing this book.  As it goes on, there's an increasing laziness as though she (he?) (Robin?) started thinking of her next book, half way through this one, but Robin ain't no quitter so she was all GIT'ER DONE.  Even the end, with the (spoiler alert) happy ending, the writing is rushed and, perhaps, even MORE happy because she's about to send this off to the publishers.  I think, based on the first 75 pages, the book should have been 600 pages instead of 250.  ...OK, Robin is a childrens' book writer, technically, so you could say the length is for the youngers.  phooey.  I'm getting up there and want more book.

I should watermark this post with lines of  IMHO IMHO IMHO IMHO IMHO because yeah, I'm probably wrong.

BUT, let me praise the author a bit.  Robin can write!

OK, here's a fun little taste-

       A miniature staircase, complete with a banister on one side, rolled up to me; I had the feeling that it would have cleared it's throat respectfully if it had had a throat to clear.  "You remind me of our butler in the city," I said to it.  "He stood at attention just the way you're doing now.  Do you clean silver as well as he did?"  It moved in a half circle backwards, and I thought it was probably eyeing me in confusion.  
       "Don't distress it," said the Beast mildly.  "It will try to clean silver to please you, and it isn't built for it."
       I laughed.  "Pardon me, sir," I said to the waiting staircase.  "I do NOT wish you to clean silver."  It settled down on its wheels with the faintest sigh of condensing springs.  "Do you ever get yourself in messes by wishing inappropriate things?" I said to the Beast.
       "No," he replied.  "My orders are obeyed, not my wishes."

Fun, right???  How fun is that writing?!  I know this isn't Tolstoy stuff, but Tolstoy doesn't work when I'm interrupted every 6.5 minutes with kids' popsicle drama.  

I need easy cuz I rarely read and I have 16 kids. 

Also- I've read my share (not really) of heavy books and I prefer my books to be relaxing escapes.  Delightful wastes of time, if you will.  And this one was just right for a hot afternoon.  OH MY GOSH I just thought of one of the funniest moments on King of the Hill.  Know that show?  Cartoon with Hank Hill?  Hank is horrified to see his son Bobby becoming a southern bell when, visiting family in the south, Bobby comes down the veranda, fanning himself and says "I do declare I am wilting like a summer flower" but he says it with a real drawl and doesn't pronounce the 'w' in flower.  OH MY GOSH SO FUNNY.

But back to the book.

It's silly, it's clean, it's lighthearted.  I liked it.  I recommend it!  How lucky is award-winning Robin to have an endorsement from me?  And just 40 years after she wrote it!

Alright.  After 7 months of blog-avoidance this is all I got.  Or wanna got.  When we're old and gray and I read my next book I'll get all self-important and do another review.  Oh, feel free to borrow the book, my fellow sophisticated readers, for I am one of you.

Greeting November in the neighbor's field

my big/little testimony

Just because I should be sleeping, doesn't mean I have to be sleeping.

I know my rights.


Tonight I read a blog post of a gal who is struggling with the LDS faith and has been pulling away over the last year.  Her writing was sincere and passionate.  You could tell that it took some time to write.  ...Or maybe it didn't.  I don't know.

She wrote with an air of defensiveness because she was well aware of the coming backlash of well-meaning folk, calling her back.  ...I thought about commenting.  I wrote and re-wrote and rehearsed comments in my head but, in the end, decided against it.  I would be one of those well-meaning folk and she wasn't open to that, as I could see in some of her responses to other comments.  She wants validation and support, as we all do.

But as I hummed and hawed, wanting to create a magically fantastical comment, I thought about all the words I heard this last weekend during our semiannual LDS conference.  (find it HERE)

just a taste-

I don't know this gal's personal story.  She shares online what she wants to share and the internet is grossly abused as a medium to really know someone.  In my limited understanding of her, I believe she is doing good things, offering good, wanting good...  And just like her, I want validation and support for my beliefs and passions. 

A testimony I have, which was reaffirmed this last weekend is this-   

The grandeur of the Gospel of Jesus Christ vastly exceeds the smallness of... 

the mistakes, the imperfections, the injustices, the misunderstood, the misheard, the misinterpreted, the falsehoods, the pains, the abuses, the problems, the confusion, the unfair and the suffering 

of our earthly existence.

If it didn't, it wouldn't be.



That's all I wanted to say.  ...but putting that as a response on her post didn't feel like the right place.

So I blogged it.

And you just read it.

Hi!

BTW- I LOVE October.  Really, I do.  It's definitely in my top 3 of awesome months.  July and December are the others.  Or February, but that's just for my birthday.  OK it's late.  I really should be sleeping...

**********

"The Son of Man hath descended below them all...

Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less;
therefore, fear not what man can do,
for God shall be with you forever and ever."

 Doctrine and Covenants 122:8-9  

PS- I think chi talk is silly

Yesterday I told Kristen that I've got my chi back, now that the kids are elsewhere being parented 7 hours a day.

I'm playing my running music more.  I mean, not to run, but for my chi.  I'm getting junk done.  You know, something to show for the day, rather than just kids that are still breathing.

Got my hair cut.  Doin' some yoga.  CAUGHT UP WITH LAUNDRY.

  ...I mean, not ALL the laundry.  But, you know.  Lots of it.


Hold on.  Darwin Deez is singing....

I've gained a few piano students and with my chi, I'm an awesome teacher.  Yesterday, I seamlessly went from one student who is getting deeper into classical, to another who is focusing on heavy metal chord structures.  (It's all the same, really.  The only difference is swaying to headbanging.   ...my new haircut headbangs nicely.)

I'm practicing piano and guitar more.  I'm good at the former, sheepish at the latter.  

I killed a big spider this morning.  It came charging at me in the shower.  ...my running music was playing in the background...


Thunderstruck!

I should rename my running playlist to GETJUNKDONEANDKILLSTUFF.

I will be doing more running.  My knee is being weird, even after I told it I've got my chi back.  It'll catch up.

I'm sleeping more.  Hello!  That extra energy goes towards dead insects and ....the rolls I made the other day!  ooohhhhh I got it just right. 

I finally saw the new Beauty and the Beast.  It was ok.  Hermione couldn't fool me.  She's stuck in Hogwarts forever more...

I went rollerskating!  It was on the weekend, with kids, so it doesn't really count towards the chi thing but hey!  I'm not bad!  ...Not good, but not bad!


P.Y.T.  I wonder what was the moment like when MJ said Hey, we need some Alvin and the Chipmunks during the chorus...  I bet nobody questioned because he's freaking Michael Jackson.


While doing dishes today I was watching Carpool Karaoke with James Corden.  The RHCPeppers are hilarious and aging way slower than me.

New dishwasher!  Lots of photo work!  Never enough yard work!

If I had my own narrator, I bet he'd say She could go do yard work now but she's eating biscotti instead.  (My narrator is a guy who sings like Al Green.)

Whelp.  Kids'll be home soon.  I think I'll switch over some laundry and put on some pants.

This post is dedicated to my family who have asked me to post more but they also make fun of my childhood crushes.  So I've held back.  Can't reward such behavior.

Today!

My mom gave me permission to pretend I've done nothing in the last couple months (busiest summer EVER) and just pick up the blog from today.

Today!

I spent AAAAAAAAAAAALL morning (30 minutes) hunting down the contents of my purse after Garret had an all-night hey-hey-mom-left-her-purse-out party.  I could really use some chapstick right now, and do you think Sandwich Express would have mercy on a haggard mommy crying "My punch card was nearly full!  I had bunches of punches!"?

Remember the movie Iron Will?  I couldn't stand it because of the very visual lack of chapstick.


Our cat drama is like The Walking Dead.  Death, violence, pawing at the door... and, of course, the constant change of characters.

Today, it's Shawn, Gubsy and Toula.

Meet sweet Toula (who caught a mouse today!)-

Here's the Gubs (my bro's cat who we've been taking care of.  *whispering* Jokes on bro, 'cause I might not give her back) -

...and you've met Shawn.

What happened to the other cats?  Have you seen Walking Dead?  Mario, Darla, Buster...  They all went out for supplies and didn't return. We got down to one cat (plus Gubsy, who's real name is Shoogadabubs, aka Gubba) and the field mice got together, laughed at our lazy cats, and invaded the house.  So it was move, or bring in another character.  See?  JUST like the tv show.  Toula is now the "Darrel" of our house and we are saved! 

Today I didn't shower, or even get dressed.  Why be fancy when you're stuck to your computer all day? I did, however wear bright pink lipstick.  It was a chapstick substitute and I looked smashing.

Today was some awesome news that a wonderful person is making a miraculous recovery from what doctors believed was, for sure, his end.  I can't describe how happy I am for him and his family.  A true, true miracle!  The news really lifted my day, as dull a day as it was.  I have nothing to do with their story, but we're all connected, right?

So yeah, today was a pretty good day.  :)

how the 4th was won

It's been a few weeks since the school needed a break from raising my children which means I'm in full scramble mode.  What does this look like?  Well,  the last load of laundry I started I had to wash 3 times before I finally remembered to put it in the dryer before it icky-dried in the washer.  I'm not sure how long it's been since I washed my hair and this morning I drove to the grocery store instead of the pediatrician's office.

It's all good.  With McDonalds to the rescue, we will survive.

Hey, there was an opossum right outside our door the other night.  It was digging into a little catfood, not caring that we were 6 inches away, with just a little glass between us.  Nasty, craggly creature of the night...  It was awesome.


To celebrate the somewhat end of my seasonal allergies we went to a fireworks show last night.

For this to work with our entourage, we avoided crowds and stayed within 6 feet of the van.  When the booms began Garret slinked to the front of the van and peeked thru the seats.  Suzie narrated the many colors and shapes.  And Brenda ventriloquisted her dolls with comments of how never before has such a sight been sighted. 

So I've been told a few times, recently, that putting 2 spaces after the period is not proper.    You just put one space.     Just one.       I was born in the 70s and if my science is correct...      

This is AMERICA.      

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!  

Some day my maker may tell me why I got to land in a cushy, blessed, safe, stable country, in it's prime.  Surely it's not based on merit.  Surely I won the lottery when being handed my Earth assignment.  And surely, there's no worthy description of what I owe those who came before.  Those pioneers, warriors and dreamers lived for something so much more than themselves and I don't want to go through what they did.  Heck, I doubt they really wanted to go through what they did.

BUT THANK GOODNESS THEY DID.

Ether 2:14

Happy 4th!