Book Review: The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable FIB

I have always prided myself on being a "Cool" teacher; I try to dress hip, know the current slang and always know the trends of our current times. And being an English teacher, I always want to know the current trends in the book market. My specialty is high school and the college years as this is where I have spent over fifteen years of my career. So, when I was volunteering this past week at the elementary school library and a young, hip boy approached me and asked, "Mrs. G, what book should I read?" I never assume anything--it has gotten me into trouble--and asked him what he liked. He told me and my wheels were a'turning. AH-HA! This kid would love Percy Jackson and if he liked the first one there was a plethora more where that came from, but alas, this little guy was nine. He could read Percy Jackson as he is a high level reader, but the maturity and some of the themes would be too mature for this young lad....but thanks to Adam Shaughnessy, this nine year old boy has a new series with adventure, Norse Myth, higher level reading with a nosey eleven year protagonist with the release of The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable FIB. 

Pru, short for Prudence, has an eye for solving a mystery and her new friend, ABE, has a knack for solving riddles. Together these two have to solve the mystery of the Eye of Odin and why Thor is locked in THEIR towns jail. The character development through the story creates a mystery within the mystery. It was a thrilling adventure to try to stay ahead of the plot and predict the ending. I am ready to recommend this book to any 3rd - 7th grader as it is appealing to all of these levels. Told from the perspective of an eleven year old helps this age connect to the main character. She is a sass mouth and defies authority landing her in weeks of detention, but this does not sway her belief system to do what is right.

I learned more about Mythology than I realized. Thanks to Marvel I know about Thor and Loki, but I did not know the extent of their relationship. Because I am just so hip I have watched all of the Marvel movies and I think this also helps the ability to relate to this book and want to keep reading. Having a baseline of knowledge helps reluctant readers and thanks to Hollywood most of us have this knowledge.

I'm thrilled to see Mister Fox, owner of the Norse Detective agency, might make another appearance needing the aid of Pru and ABE. Since Loki is a sly, shape shifter, he may return to seek for the Eye of Odin and the only people who held it last remain in middle school in Middleton. 

You can see the full review at Books and WhatNot

Kitchen Redo

So, I haven't blogged much this past week because I was up to my ears in fluid. Honest. I finally went to the doctor and was told I have so much fluid on my ear she couldn't even see my ear drum. My goodness. I figured the dentist had just left a whole in my mouth from the root canal and crown I got earlier in the week, but no, I have a solid ear infection and I have so much fluid it has flooded down my throat and I have pus pockets of fluid on my throat. FOR THE LOVE OF PETE. Geez Louise. Because Mommys cannot call in sick, I have been blowing off the gym, but for everything else in life, I have been goin' and doin'. I must say it has been nice because Prince Charming has been home every day this past week, so that was helpful. ESPECIALLY since I decided to redo the scrapbook room this week and redo the kitchen this week.
















I promised him I would not start on the kitchen until the scrapbooking room was done. We have a tendency (in my family) to start something and not quite finish it....just saying!

So here is my diarrhea kitchen. It wasn't bad. I just felt it was dark and boding. The whole house was freshly painted when we moved in. Most people would have been thankful and sat on their ass. BUT NOT ME. Color is important. It sets the mood of the house. And boy is my mood important to the people who reside in this house. I also ADORE painting. Now that my dear ol' dad taught me the proper way to tape, paint and not make a mess of ceilings and door knobs I am much better.

Prince Charming still likes to tell people about how I painted door knobs. In my defense, HE was supposed to replace said doorknobs so it didn't matter that I painted them because they were supposed to go in the trash. ARG.

Anyways, I got the kitchen done in time to lay with my head full of liquid on a pillow and watch endless amounts of Gilmore Girls. I'm in love with that show.

Before & After -- same spot for picture taking!

Scrapbook Room Redo!

I don't know why, but I feel compelled to always have a project going. I wish I could be someone who was content with status quo and could sit blissfully reading ignoring all the things to do in my house, but tis not so in my world. I have NOT been happy with my scrapbooking (craft or should I say CRAP) room. I wanted it to be a happy place where creativity would flow into my mind and out through my hands. Not happening! It was a dingy light taupe color. It was a shade of yellow with poop mixed in. It was not pleasant. I get that it was neutral and painted thus to ensure the sale of my house, but I am not moving ANY time soon and I needed to get the funk-shew right.

The other thing that makes a scrapbook room difficult is making sure it is user friendly to other people. I cannot have a room that is just for me. What if we get a GUEST--or like five and we need the use of the room? What if I get mad at Prince Charming and want to sleep somewhere else. I think this is a constant problem with having a craft room. We usually have to share it. When Wichita BF was here she said I should move the bed so I could have two walls devoted to MY area. This was all fine and good, but with my 2 card tables and my HUGE wonky desk this was still going to be a problem. I also have TONS of "STUFF." All of this stuff needs homes. Functioning, organized, homes.

For some stupid reason I didn't take a before picture of all the hodge podge tables I had. I had an 8 ft card table from Sams. A card table in the middle of the room. I had a bed and a 80" desk with two hutch components above it.

I really liked my hot pink curtains, so I kept those and selected everything else to go with them. Funny, huh?

I showed Prince Charming some pictures on Pinterest of what looks awesome, functional and realistic. These three varied to the point of him telling me just design something and he would make it. YEAH, right?!? The boy decided to put it in CATIA--his 3 dimensional Engineering software and model it so I could visually see what we were going to do.

1. Make 3 trips to Micheals, 2 trips to K-Mart, 4 trips to Wal-Mart, 1 trip to Ross, 1 trip to Gordmans, 1 trip to Old Pottery Barn and one trip to Home Depot.
2. Purchase shelving to make a desk--one that has bookcases and storage components.
3. Spend time returning stuff that isn't going to work or was not the right height. (Do you know how many shelves there are and they ALL vary around 1-2"???? I felt like a complete dork when I drug my tape measure from my purse and was measuring random shelves. OMG. I am turning into my mother....)
4. Paint old Hutch to be a nice shade of gray with the interior being yellow.
4.5 Paint room. Make 3 trips to Sherwin Williams to discover the PAINT anniversary sale was coming up and all paint would be 35% off---can we say kitchen???
4.75 Pick the color Innocence from Benjamin Moore paint because it is what Pinterest says goes best with my hot pink curtains. Emma from Sherwin Williams matched it for me and was ever so patient when I ran out of my gallon of paint and had to match a quart of pint the next day---I ended up getting her mess up can for $.50. WOOT. I have a feeling there will be something else painted in my near future....
5. Take everything down and move it into Obe Wan's room. (He refused to vacuum because ALL of my stuff was in his room. Brat.)
6. Bring beers to Prince Charming to keep him focused and driven.
7. Use MainStays Shelf units, a shelf unit from Recollections scrapbooking storage (used 40% off coupon) and two sheets of 5/8 particle board from Home Depot to create a 30" wide desk on one wall and a 18" wide desk on another wall.

It turned out amazing with TONS of storage. The overall cost was under $200. Happy Birthday!

Absolutely loved this picture at Kirklands!
"The Beach is Calling
And I must Go...."

Book Review: Mechanica (Released Aug. 25)

I believe every young girl hopes a prince will come along and rescue her from whatever fate may have in store for her. I never thought it would be possible for a prince to come along and for the girl to deny the possibility of a happily ever after, but in Mechanica by Besty Cornwell, the reader gets exactly that---a girl who simply says no to the boy. A modern day, Steampunk, Cinderella story is the tale of Nicolette, who has been left to a wicked stepmother and two evil stepsisters, but this story has a bit of fairy revolution in it as well.

When Nicolette turns 16 she is given a letter from her deceased Mother; the letter leads her to a secret room in the house where Nicolette meets a tiny, mechanical horse her mother has left her. With a little fairy magic and her Mother's journals, Nicolette is able to invent machines to help with menial chores and later sale them to escape her life of service. Nicolette, renamed Mechanica because of her ability to build mechanical things and her nickname of Nick, befriends two kids in the market who help aspire her to help in the Fey revolution, and encourage her to become more than just a maid to the two insolent stepsisters.

I was thoroughly impressed by the atypical ending to this fairy tale. This book does not give its readers romance or stereo typical characters. It is a cleverly written story about a young girl who figures her happily-ever-after life depends on only one person---and that person is her. 

You can read the entire review at Books & WhatNot

Ms America turns 37

 
I thought this card was perfect! My two Jedi Knights know I have fallen in L-O-V-E with a coffee shop here. It has better coffee than Scooters in Wichita, but I still have a love for Scooters Pina Colada smoothies. Those are amazing!

The boys got me a FitBit Charge HR. I'm not sure I like it. It is funny how you have the simple device and think upgrading it will be better, but I'm not so sure. It tracks my sleep, stairs, steps and heart rate. I wanted it for the heart rate aspect, but I have an amazing Polar Watch that does that as well. How many watches can one person wear, ya know? :)

I was blessed to have lots of phone calls and mail yesterday. It made my day wonderful as it was a bittersweet day. This was the first time in 37 years I haven't seen a member of my family on or around my birthday. Living far away is really sad at times. Ms. Music Teacher made me an amazing scrapbook. I believe it is the first time anyone has ever made me a scrapbook. There was a quote on a page that said,  PERFECT!

My Portland Sister sent me flowers and Ryan also got me flowers. Sister's were way better, but he tried, right? It was great to have someone deliver me flowers. I had the neighbors over and we smoked ribs, drank and had DQ Ice Cream cake. A girl couldn't ask for more....

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful and blessed day!

Old Lady visits the Vet

Gabby was giving me attitude! I told her to look at me and smile and she blatantly looked away. She is no better than the Jedi Knights. I told her to LOOK AT ME. And she did. Thank goodness otherwise we were going to have a serious talk.








We found out Gabby is doing much better than expected! She does not have cushings disease which I was relieved to hear. She has arthritis in her back hips and her back. This explains her severe panting, her small droppings of poop around and her falling down the stairs. Her back is heavy and this puts strain on her. She is going on a daily doggie Ibuprofen to help out with the inflammation. This is typical of older, large dogs. She is going to be 12 this October. CRAZY! She did great with the new doctor. Dr. Hollis in New Albany gave Mulvane Animal Clinic a run for their money as to being amazing! YEAH!

I asked the vet about a new puppy and she encouraged me to do so. Gabby would help train the puppy and this would make life easier on me. I will start researching Golden Retrievers and find a breeder nearby. We have GRRAND, Golden Retriever Rescue & Adoption of Needy Dogs in Southern Indiana, but I have to have a fence. I don't have a working wireless fence and I think I want a puppy. I think I will put a bit more prayer into this venture as I'm not sure I am ready to train a puppy yet. They are SO much work. I don't want a barky, yippy, biting dog. I also have semi-nice carpet in my house, so I don't want them to ruin the carpet either. Oh boy. Always an adventure. I'm just thrilled to know Old Lady is doing great.

Book Review: Leo A Ghost Story

Poor Leo! He just wants his new tenants to feel welcome and at home in HIS house, but they are so disturbed by Leo they order every form of ghost exterminator they can to come over and exorcise him from the premises. In Leo a ghost story by Mac Barnett, Leo only wanted his new house guests to like him when he brought them mint tea and honey toast, but they only said mean things all while Leo was listening. Leo decides if they want him out so badly, he will leave and find a new home; however, this is not as easy as Leo thinks. 

It never is as easy as we think when we hear people say mean and cruel words to our good intentions. Christian Robinson has illustrated this effectively with the use of blues, blacks and gray throughout most of the book. Leo is sad and lonely as he has always been a house ghost and is forced to experience the new and unusual.  Nothing is the same. The city scenes, the people Leo encounters are wonderfully drawn with facial expressions depicting the tone of anger, sadness and blissful ignorance. Leo is forlorn and feeling of complete loss, when he meets a girl coloring on the sidewalk whose name is Jane. 

It is through Jane (and maybe a little bit of her blue smile) we get to see friendship can be found when all seems lost. Jane's parents think Leo is imaginary and he knows he cannot tell Jane his true identity for fear of scaring her family as well. Leo saves the day by locking up a thief in the night. Since an imaginary person cannot lock up a thief, Jane has to ask about Leo's identity. Leo has to confess he is a ghost--which is just excellent because Jane would love to have a ghost friend and not an imaginary one.

I agree with Jane! It is much better to have a real friend than an imaginary one. AND it is even better to have a friend who treats us with respect and saves us from the cruel world. Both of these little people save each other and this is what we need children to learn. The world can be cruel. People can say and do mean things, but don't give up hope. There is always someone who is nice and will be your friend.