Check This One Out!

First Five Gimme Gimme

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! my choice. for you. this offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2. what I create will be just for you.

3. it’ll be done this year. {translation: you may be waiting a little while}

4. you have no clue what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a poem, a bookmark, something yummy or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows? not you, that’s for sure!

5. i reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

6. most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog (or if you do not have a blog, facebook) get something made by YOU! the first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me …

I found this new game at Ellie's blog (she's my cool cousin on my husband's side) and thought it would be tons of fun. She offered the option of service rather than something tangible, if you're that kind of person, so there's that idea. Me? I'm totally a tangible, make something kind of gal. So have at it!

PS If by some small chance I actually have more than 5 readers, send me a plea. I can be convinced to misremember how to count!

My Favorite Recipe Book

I love this book!

As mentioned a hundred times previously, I hate baking. But I love to eat baked things. So this book and I are best friends. It means I can make amazing cakes and other stuff without measuring out flour, baking powder, and all those other annoying messy thing. All I have to do is mix in a few "special" ingredients, and eggs (always) and voila! Unlike most of my recipe books (which I enjoy collecting, reading, and collecting) this one has many of those slightly crumpled or stained pages from being left open on the counter in the hazardous baking zone.

Oh yeah. I'm proud of the used pages.

Here is a picture of one of the cakes I made recently.It was amazing. But my favorite is the Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting on page 64. Even more amazing. And this book has also taught me that those frostings in the baking aisle at the store are really gross. Well, I still use them for emergencies and stuff, but really, the frostings in the book are so much better. And they are usually easy with no cooking involved.

I love also this version. It hasn't been used as much becuase, while my world revolves around chocolate, my husband's does not. I try to keep the peace. But fortunately, the chocolateless cakes are so good I hardly notice!!!

Review: West From Home & On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Way Home
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Non-fiction, Journal
112 pages
published: 1962

3 of 5 stars

This book contains the journal entries made by Laura on her journey with Almanzo and Rose from De Smet, SD to what would be their permanent home in Mansfield, Missouri. It also contains some anecdotes written by Rose, a map, and many photographs.

The actual journal entries were interesting and quick paced, which made for quick reading, and made up for the occasional stretch of monotony. I enjoyed most of this book, but especially the anecdotes written by Rose at the end. She tells the story of her parents being unable to find the $100 dollar bill that was their entire savings and meant as a down payment on their new land. That part of the book was actually suspenseful!

I think that fans of Laura, who are perhaps a little older, would like the further insight into her life that this book provides. Younger readers would quickly become bored. I'm happy to have this addition to my collection.

West From Home
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Non-fiction, Letters
192 pages
published: 1974

2 of 5 stars

This is a book of the letters written by Laura (and a few by Rose) back to Almanzo from San Fransisco. Why would Laura be on the west coast? Well, these letters were written when Laura was considerably older and visiting her daughter, Rose, who then lived in San Fransisco. Rose was a writer/reporter and had begged her mother to visit for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915.

These letter were interesting and educational, unfortunately, that didn't mean it was a page-turner, or exciting, or fun. My patience for the endless description waned about half way through. In fact, towards the end, the book became drudgery. That is very sad to admit.

However, I did like the glimpses of Laura and Almanzo's relationship, the references to Laura's beginning writing career, and the pictures of old San Fransisco and the amazing fair.

Recommended For: Die-hard fans of Laura, those who like that non-fiction sort of thing

Books I Read in 2008

I'm cleaning up and reorganizing and such to my blogs, and I found this list tucked away on my sidebar. I can't vouch for its completeness, but these are all books I read in 2008.

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
   
2. Artemis Fowl 4 by Eoin Colfer
   
3. Artemis Fowl 3 by Eoin Colfer
4. Artemis Fowl 2 by Eoin Colfer
5. Artemis Fowl 1 by Eoin Colfer
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
   
7. The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
   
8. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
   
9. House and Home by Kathleen McCleary
   
10. Love's Enduring Promise by Janette Oke
    
11. Touch of Sage by Marcia Lynn McClure
    
12. Raising Your Spirited Child by
    
13. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
    
14. Leven Thumps by Obert Skye
    
15. Trapped in Ice by Marin Sandler
    
16. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
    
17. Host by Stephenie Meyer
    
18. Physik by Angie Sage
    
19. Flyte by Angie Sage
20. Magyk by Angie Sage
21. Sabriel by Garth Nix
    
22. River Secrets by Shannon Hale
    
23. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
    
24. The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura C. Shlessinger
    
25. Specials by Scott Westerfeld
    
26. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
    
27. The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
    
28. The Novice by Trudi Canavan
29. The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan
30. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
    
31. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
32. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
33. Turnabout Margaret Peterson Haddix
34. Sisters Grimm: Tales from the Hood by Michael Buckley
35. Sisters Grimm: Magic and Other Misdemeanors by Michael Buckley
    
36. Sisters Grimm: Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley
37. Sisters Grimm: The Problem Child by Michael Buckley
38. Sisters Grimm: The Unusual Suspects by Michael Buckley
39. Sisters Grimm: Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley
40. Spiderwick: The Wrath of Mulgarath by Holly Black & Tony Di'Terlizzi
41. Spiderwick: The Ironwood Tree by Holly Black & Tony Di'Terlizzi
42. Spiderwick: Lucinda's Secret by Holly Black & Tony Di'Terlizzi
43. Spiderwick: The Seeing Stone by Holly Black & Tony Di'Terlizzi
44. Spiderwick: The Field Guide by Holly Black & Tony Di'Terlizzi
    
45. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
    
46. The Secret Lives of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
    
47. Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
    
48. Austenland by Shannon Hale
49. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
    

Weekly Geeks 2009-6 What's in a Name?

I've been thinking about this and after following enough links found that anyone can jump on, so I'm jumpin' on.

This is the origin page. Here is copy of this week's assignment:

For this week's edition of Weekly Geeks, we're going to take a closer look at character names. What are some of your favorite character names?

Go to Google or a baby name site like this one or this one, and look up a favorite character's name. What does their name mean? Do you think the meaning fits the character? Why or why not?

If you'd like, look up your own name as well and share the meaning.

I'm jumpin' on this week because I loved this assignment so much. I am focusing on one of my favorite fantasy series by David Eddings. Why? Probably because I've actually considered using the first 2 male names for my children.

Garion (the main hero of the Belgaraid, and as previous mentioned, one of my fictional crushes): I first found a site that stated the meaning was "gelding," which so does not apply that I continued searching. Every other site said that it derived from French and means "to guard" or "guardian." That was more like it. That meaning fits and makes me happy. The other site needs to go jump in a lake. Garion has never been popular and is often counted in the single digits.

Gareth (another favorite character from the Belgaraid): "gentle" and "watchful." This is another good match for the character who had the assignment of watching certain families for generations to make sure nothing went wrong and that eventually the chosen children would be born. This name has historical been much more popular than Garion, even making it occasionally to the top 1,000.

I looked up several of the girl names from that series, like Polgara, Liselle, and Ce'Nedra, but I couldn't find anything and am fairly sure they were made up.

Fantasy Names that I Love for Which I Did Not Attempt to Find Meanings For:
Tasslehoff Burfoot
Panamon Creel
Lauralanthalassa
Galadriel
Gilthanas
Zandramas

Something I had fun pondering was how fun and convenient it is, as a writer, to pick a meaningful name for your character as opposed to when you name your children. A writer knows what the character will turn out to be - parents don't have that luxury!

Review: Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Hitler Youth
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Non-fiction, War, WWII
176 pages
published: 2006
5 of 5 stars

This take on WWII was through the focus of the children of Germany. For me it was refreshing, satisfying, educational, terrifying, and heart-breaking. Though I have read dozens of WWII books, there were many things I had never heard about. There were also many photographs that were fascinating and beautiful and horrible.

The books followed several specific teenagers: some whose actions haunted them for the rest of their lives, some whose stories ended abruptly, and some whose bravery inspired generations. All were given their fair chance to share their views and the reasons they did what they did when they did it. There was no judgment, only understanding and compassion for all the different paths that the teenagers took. Compassion for the brainwashed generation and a logical look at how Hitler used the youth as a tool.

It was an amazing read that didn't feel like "non-fiction" to me. It deserved the awards it received.

Recommended For: everyone old enough to handle it

Review: Laura Ingalls Wilder Country by William Anderson

Laura Ingalls Wilder Country
by William Anderson
Photobook / Non-fiction
 pages
published: 1990
5 of 5 stars

After going through the Little House on the Prairie series. I found I had a few questions and a lot of interest in what the real people looked like. After doing some research I discovered a few additional books and a whole bunch of scrapbooks, or photobooks, that have been published about Laura. I picked one out and put in a amazon order. (Yes, I probably could have searched out all those pictures, but I'm not that good at it, not that patient, and am very old fashioned about my desires to hold the pictures and look at them without worrying about resolution.)

I loved this book. It is big and beautiful and contains lots of information along with the pictures. I shows what the landscape looked like, what the houses looked like, what the people looked like. I read it cover to cover in one day. It also had such useful things as maps, time lines, and indexes.

Recommended For: every Laura fan - come over and borrow mine

Review: Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Twisted
by Laurie Halse Anderson
YA
256 pages
published: 2007
4 of 5 stars



I got this book from the library because one, I have loved everything I've read by Laurie Halse Anderson, and two, I thought it was a different book that I wanted to use for my dangerous challenge. It wasn't that book. But I'm glad I got it because I really loved it.

Warning. This is not a book for "kids" and I was glad there was such a warning in the beginning of the book. This book goes over some very mature themes, like sex, drinking, and suicide. Why would I like that stuff...well...it was really good.

It's about this poor kid who pulls a stupid prank out of desperation and is sentenced to community service, meaning hard physical labor. This changes his physique and gives him a reputation that changes his situation in the cesspool of High School social life. While dealing with this, the girl, and his dysfunctional family, he also finds himself accused of a crime he didn't commit. The hell his life turns into leads him to contemplate some serious issues and figure out if life is worth living, and if it is, how to go about living it.

I would never have guessed that the book was written by a woman because the voice of this teenage boy felt so right. So right, in fact, that I mentally flinched occasionally at thoughts that I definitely did not relate to. But I felt such compassion for this kid! He was a good kid. A confused kid. A kid that wanted, needed, to grow up but didn't know how to do it - had no example to follow.

I really did love this book and couldn't put it down. And it ended where it should...looking up but without everything fixed.

Recommended For: older YA, High School kids, their parents

Review: Little House in the Big Woods and Sequels by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
Farmer Boy
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake
The Long Winter
Little Town on the Prairie
These Happy Golden Years
The First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder

YA, Autobiography / Historical Fiction
published: 1932 - 1971
6 of 5 stars


I loved these book as a child and they left indelible images in my head. Images of the prairie from the back of a covered wagon; Christmas with only a tin cup, stick of candy, penny, and tiny cake with white sugar; grasshoppers falling from the sky and covering the house; a never-ending winter with hay twisting, wheat grinding, brown bread, and potatoes. These books where the first to pop into my head when I joined the Childhood Favorites Challenge.

Some observations this time around:

• The first book, while still wonderful, didn't have as much story to it as the rest. It was more instructional in nature. It seems Mrs. Wilder hit her stride in the second installment.
• As a child, Ma and Pa where old, of course, and a mite stringent in their work ethic. But as an adult reader I realized how young they were, how dedicated, and even how fun-loving the father was.
• These book would not have been popular or interesting if the narrator had not been Laura. Imagine the story if Mary had been writing it! Yuck. Laura was lovable and interesting because she wasn't the perfect little girl she often wished to be. I loved her because she let her bonnet hand by the strings, was ever so slightly disobedient, loved to run and help her father, loved the wildness of the country and had a sixth sense about it the way her father did. Spirited Laura was the heart of the Little House books.
• While all those things I remembered where still as fascinating and memorable to me, other things stood as just as plainly. Things like Laura teaching school when she was only 15, how close the family came to being murdered by Indians, the love and faith of Ma who followed her restless husband into the middle of nowhere (several times!) to start completely over, the work and preparation necessary to store enough food for winter, and how grateful they were for so little.
• I remember being horrified that Laura married such a old man, 10 years older, when she was only 18. Ironically, I did the exact same thing.
• I remember reading Farmer Boy during free time in my grade school class that was right before lunch. It seemed to me that the book was all about huge quantities of delicious food. It was torture for a hungry kid. The impression held true this time around as well.
• When I thought of the end of the series, it was my memory that there was almost no romance, or even interaction, between Laura and Almanzo. When I began reading them again, I found myself saddened by the idea that I would have no idea about their relationship when I finished. I was wrong! There is quite a bit of interaction and subtle romance. I guess I ust didn't register any of it as a kid, and then mourned the loss only when thinking back on it as an adult.
• The tragedies in the First Four Years hit me much harder this time. I didn't remember diphtheria and near paralyzation, nor failed crops year after years that meant strangling debt. I certainly didn't remember the baby boy that died. That was the most difficult of all the books for me.
• If I had to pick favorites, it would be Little House on the Praire and The Long Winter. Both take you completely out of this world and into situations that we in our sheltered, comfortable lives can't begin to imagine.

I still love these books. I would recommend them to everyone. In fact, I gave the first one to my 9 year old daughter to read. Stay tuned for her review!

25 Things

I've lost track of how many tags I got for this one on facebook. But facebook and I don't work that closely together, so I'm doing this here.

1. I grew up swimming in lakes and wading in the ocean, so unlike most people here, I find the chlorine in pools disgusting, the crowds disturbing, and the scenery seriously lacking.
2. I get my nose wet when I eat whole apples. Love apples. Gala and Fuji.
3. I'm as naturally bad as any kid or man at putting things away. I will actually not see the mess until I look for it.
4. I have never been east of Colorado or north of Oregon. (Not counting Yellowstone.) But I love to travel and hope to actually do some of it some day.
5. I knew I wanted to be a writer in 4th grade and have never wavered. At this point I have had 2 poems published (or to-be published) in the national market. Otherwise, it is mostly on hold while my children shred my last brain cells.
6. I have been going to BYU for nearly 12 years. No, I'm still not graduated.
7. My favorite classes have been Creative Writing Picture Books, Adolescent Literature, and Folklore.
8. I learned to crochet during the 4 months I was on bedrest with Xander. Now I can do dresses and probably anything else.
9. I love to decorate and make things beautiful, but the most important design element for me is functionality. You won't find "pretties" just lying around on the floor or couches with 5 million pillows to be arranged.
10. I can't eat chicken. Intolerance thing.
11. I love collecting books. One my biggest space problems is all those books. I dream of some day having a LIBRARY with a couch.
12. I was diabetic during one pregnancy (also Xander) and can count carbs, prick my finger without flinching, and will argue with you about rather corn is a vegetable. (And I'd be right!)
13. I knew I was a mom when I found myself catching vomit rather than letting it get to the couch or the carpet.
14. I used to carry a fully packed diaper bad ready for any contingency into every store or house I entered. Now my kids are lucky if I find a crumpled diaper on the floor of the car. Live Dangerously!
15. I love playing frisbee and baseball.
16. I don't like dogs. Especially small dogs, which I've called Punt Dogs for more years than I can count.
17. I hate the color red.
18. I was a huge tomboy as a kid. No hair combing. No dresses. Dig up dead cats and squish road kill. Fill your pockets with frogs kind of tomboy.
19. I desperately want to write YA/MG novels but am too afraid to start one.
20. I had a "fascinating" older brother and spent much time as a child on military hikes (ask me sometime), learning how to behave according to which body part was shoot, jumping off cliffs, and trying to tackle a much larger person only to be thrown across the room.
21. I love fantasy novels, but could do very well with science fiction. And you can keep your Star Trek.
22. I dislike the cutesy names forsed on small people and have adapted most to have butt, monster, bug, snot or the like in them. Cutie Butt, Cranky Butt, etc...
23. I love music. I love to sing, but not where you can hear me. I love to play the piano, but if anyone asks, I will deny it.
24. I have the best husband in the world.
25. Speaking of tomboy...I loved to collect ladybugs at reces and once filled all my pockets and lunch box with them and took them back to class. Another student opened said lunchbox. *Giggle* I wish my memory didn't short out there. Though my mom remembers being called in to meet with the teachers while they incredulously discussed her "little girl."

I'd tag people, but I'm probably the last one.