This, that, and the other thing
Right, so it's been awhile, which means I have lots to talk about (right?). However, I woke up nauseous at 3am and kept the kids home today because Zack got sick in the wee hours so I didn't want to be the jerk who takes her sick kid to school to get all the other kids sick and figured better safe than sorry with Becky (okay, technically I figured if she got sick later I didn't want to have to go back out and get her, but whatever). Um, I think where I was going to go with that was that this was going to be a short post because I'm tired, but clearly, being tired just makes me more verbose. Sorry about that in advance.
Thanks to Michelle and Merri for additional teen book selections. I will add them to my recommend list for the niece.
Kids are funny. Ours are currently playing with an art easel, and Zack likes to shake it, which we tell him not to do. Becky is a little narc and will come running into another room to tell us that "Zack is shaking the weasel!" Oh, and also, Zack is walking now. Not a huge lot, but all by himself, and he'll toddle from here to there of his own volition. So that's awesome. And hey, look, they're still cute!
Also, I have just realized this very second that I should start putting this year's pics into a Becky_Zack 2009 album. It only took me two months. Erg.
Fan Girl needs your help. Neil Gaiman, who I
may have mentioned before, is going to be doing a book signing in NYC in a few weeks, and I don't know if I should go or not. I mean really, all I have to say is "love your work" and do I really need to stand in what I'm sure will be a very long line just for that? Really? Maybe if I knitted him a hat or baked him some cookies or something...but then I feel like that's over the edge into "crazy stalker fan girl" territory. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Your opinion matters!
Leg Warmers are the new...something. Over in the sidebar there, you'll see that I'm doing something called "Sock Knitters Anonymous" which is basically a monthly sock knit-along with a different "theme" for each month. I have not managed to actually participate in this all year (since September), so I was trying to do it for January (or possibly February -- who knows at this point) and the "theme" was a pattern from an online magazine. So I was perusing
Knitty and came across a pattern for legwarmers, which, if you know me, are not really me. But for some reason, I
had to have them now now now! so, ignoring the 53 other projects I need to be working on, I knitted them up. See?
I think they're right cute. I even wore them last week when I went
Yarning with the Ladies, which is what Becky calls it when I go out to a knitting event. There's this group on Ravelry that I just found a few weeks ago but is full of My People, if you know what I mean, so I met up with a bunch of them in the city for drinks, shopping, etc. Now, y'all know how super-shy I am, and it did take me a little while to get loosened up, but after that I had a fan-freakin-tastic time, and look forward to going yarning with the ladies again soon! Thanks for such a great time (you know who you are!).
And then, to top it all off, when I got home from a day of leaving Kit with the kids essentially all day (I left right after breakfast, which he fed them because I was getting ready, and didn't get home until after bedtime), this was waiting for me:
I then proceeded to do something I have never done before (and don't plan on doing again), even with brownies: I ate the entire thing, basically by myself -- the kids had about 1/8" wide slice -- in about 36 hours. I am both ashamed of and impressed by this. ZOMG, it was so yummy! My husband is amazing and wonderful and also a very, very bad man.
Okay. I think that gets us all caught up for now. I'm going to go fix some dinner for the kids now, and wait impatiently for Kit, who is fixing his Cheesy Garlic Tortellini speciality this evening for me. Have I mentioned that my husband is awesome? Because he is.
I thought it was zombies that ate brains, not vampires
So a few months ago there was a family event, and my darling, intelligent 14 year old niece was reading
Twilight. Now, I know she's pretty bright, and actually likes to read for pleasure, so I was a little surprised, because I had not heard good things. I expressed my surprise, and possibly a little derision, and she said it wasn't bad and I should try it. Since I get all bent out of shape when people criticize things without trying them, I agreed that I would, if she would agree to read some books that I would provide at a later time. She said fine. I was certainly not going to
buy the book -- really, I had heard quite bad things about it -- but all of the copies in the library system were checked out. Finally, a couple days ago I stopped by the library to check out a book on game theory (it's a long story) and while they didn't have that, they did have a copy of Twilight on the shelves so I grabbed it.
The good: It's a quick read, and it's really no worse than 90% of the books out there for 14 year old girls.
The bad: Dear lord, what dreck. If you were ever a 14 year old girl who liked to read, it's exactly like most of the crap out there for that age group, only with vampires instead of cheerleaders or babysitters (my personal poisons at that age were the Sweet Valley High series and the Cheerleader series, and please remember that I was also reading Robert Heinlein, Robert Asprin, Piers Anthony, Douglas Adams, etc. at this time so don't judge me too harshly). (I will also note here thaat there now appear to be whole series of books about cheerleader vampires, so that's interesting.) Stephen King summed it up nicely in
this interview, though I'm not sure that I agree that the vampire thing is an intentional substitute for sexual tension. I mean, it works as that, but frankly, the book doesn't seem well planned enough for the author to have thought that out.
If you're a teen girl and you're reading this, please go out and get some
good books so you'll know the difference. There is nothing wrong with choosing to read the occasional crap -- it can be fun -- but you really should be doing it as a conscious choice (sort of like eating deep fried food -- it's fun every once in awhile, but you really should be able to identify that you are eating something that's not particularly healthy). Here's the list of books I'm going to take to my niece next time I see her:
- Interworld and Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss (this is not written for teens specifically, but it's actually mostly about a teenager and there's no real questionable content in it. Also, the writing is amazing -- it's actually what I'm (re)reading to get the Twilight taste out of my brain).
- I think she's read the Harry Potter series, but if not, I'll take those to her.
- Possibly The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, though she might be at that age where she thinks she's too old for them.
- I don't think the Hitchhiker's series is her taste, but I'd put that on the list of good books appropriate for a 14 year old.
Were she
my 14 year old daughter, there are some others I would consider giving her, like the Rap series by Dave Duncan and maybe the Dresden books by Jim Butcher. Oh, and Gaiman's
Stardust, which I think is totally appropriate for a 14 year old, but there is a sex scene in it and she's not my kid so I'm not comfortable giving it to her.
So if you really have your heart set on reading
Twilight, or if you read it and loved it, that's fine. Just please, please read some stuff that's well written, too (by which I mean the sentences are well-constructed; things that need to be researched have been researched; characters are well-developed; relationships between characters make sense and are explored/explained/developed within the story; etc.)
Pictures are worth how many words now?
Okay, I've been hanging on to these pics and now I'm just gonna post 'em. I don't really have the time or inclination to write a big huge post today -- I've been using my writing fu to work on the supersecret project that some of you know about but is not for public consumption yet. So without further ado:
Baby sweaters, which have (finally) been delivered to their respective babies:
For the adorable Christopher, aka AJ's little brother, aka David (Becky thinks his name is David for some reason, and will correct me if I call him Christopher.)
For the equally adorable, if much newer, McKenna.Kids, just because they're so darn cute:
She looked so cute sitting there with her hood up that I just had to take a picture. Then she noticed me with the camera and this happened:
Great. Another bibliophile. Someday there will be so many books in this house that there will be no room for the people. Because I am a major contributor to this problem is no reason for me not to bitch about it.
