Five Random things this week

1. My oldest child, the Pirate, turned 11 yesterday.  Noah will be 8 on Sunday. How are either of these things possible? We got him a skateboard, and they all took turns on it. I spent the entire time imagining broken arms.

2. Our washing machine has stopped draining completely, and on Sunday (ie. Laundry Day) it stopped altogether. We are the sort of people who like to break things worse fix it ourselves, so we took it apart. Last night we discovered a sock in the water pump. Thinking this was likely our problem, we reassembled and ran a small load. Turns out, it was not our problem. It is back to working poorly now tho, instead of not working at all.

3.Mini review! I've had Charles Duhigg's first book, The Power of Habit, on my TBR forever because it's gotten such good reviews, so when I say Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business on NetGalley I was quick to snatch it up.  This one starts out strong and interesting, but after the first two chapters it kind of peters out and seems to lose focus. I was really hoping for some insights to productivity at work, but they weren't here.  I can't recommend it.

4. We have a birthday party tomorrow at our house. I have done zero cleaning and my planning extends to ordering a cake. Can I just throw them on the trampoline and offer them some koolaid? Cause that's the current plan.

5. Mike and I are running a half marathon on April 23rd. I did not run ONCE this week. It could be ugly.  I really need summer to get here so days are longer and we aren't trying to keep a decent schedule for the sake of school!

Monstrously Funny Cartoons by Christopher Hart

The Pirate, who is 9 now if you're keeping track, is absolutely obsessed with comics and drawing. Every single worksheet or test from school comes home covered in doodles. He's drawn entire reams of papers of comic books with chapters and plots and plenty of poop humor. This is often at the detriment of his schoolwork, so Mike and I are looking for ways to encourage his artistic habits at times it won't harm his grades. So when Blogging for Books offered me the chance to review Monstrously Funny Cartoons, I had to say yes. Guys, *I* want to sit and read this cover to cover.

Each chapter is broken down into monster type. You have zombies, vampires, mummies, aliens, etc.  The chapters start with the basics of the monster and progresses into details of how to make the monster your own. For example, the zombie page starts with an entire page of eyes, including comparing them to human eyes. By the end of the chapter you've learned how zombie heads lean far back, and easy ways to draw that, to zombie families, to caffeine zombies ("Caffeine zombies are part of a quiet epidemic affecting major metropolitan areas across the nation. You can see them every weekday morning at 6 a.m.- a mindless mob piling into subway stations."), to cheerleader zombies, to zombie sisters ("The only way to tell she's a zombie is when her fingers are too stiff to text.")

Now, I admit, I did not attempt to draw anything from the book, and I'm waiting until Christmas to actually give it to him, but it certainly looks like this would teach him well. I'd go so far as to look for other art books by Hart as he's both thorough and funny and I'm looking forward to hearing Tristan crack up as he reads the accompanying text. Highly Recommended.

Source: Review copy provided by Blogging for Books.

First Day of School! (One Month Ago Today)

I'm a bit behind in sharing what the kids are up to these days, so I thought I'd start off easy. Now that everyone else is done sharing back to school pictures, and your inevitable burnout on them from Facebook is over- here's mine!











It's hard to tell, but one of my children was more excited to get on with the first day than he was to take pictures of it...

Dead bones and deadly animals, oh my!

One of the things I think the Nook would be terrific for is introducing my reluctant reader to other forms of media. He's already quite proficient at looking things up online and reading about what he wants to know (namely about Wizard101, but whatever). I think that reading on the Nook color might get him a bit more interested than a "boring" paper book. To that end, I keep an eye out for books on NetGalley that he might enjoy. He's not a fan of a lot of fiction his age, and we're not really interested in pushing a religious theme on him, so I mainly look to NetGalley for non-fiction.  I have recently requested two books that I hoped he'd enjoy. Sadly, he wasn't interested in either one, but you might be.

Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History's Mysteries by Elizabeth MacLeod had lots of promise. As most boys (I assume), he's fascinated by creepy things and actual bones fit that bill. I had thought that he might be able to push past the more mature theme in order to read cool things about bones, but he has little interest.  This doesn't mean that *I* didn't sit and read half the book one evening. So many interesting things about ancient bones, Napoleon, crime scenes, forensics, etc. This is clearly written for a younger audience, but I still found it incredibly interesting and would recommend it to slightly older kids. Bones Never Lie was released on February 4, 2013.

I hoped that his fascination with mythological creatures would allow him to enjoy Deadly Adorable Animals , but turns out he has zero interest in real animals. Duh. Not the same thing, MOM. This one is probably more his age level (he is 8) but I could not interest him at ALL. I admit, this one didn't interest me much either, and I didn't read the entire book. Deadly Adorable Animals was released on March 5, 2013.

Part of the problem with both of these books is that the pictures, which are vital, did not show up on the Nook. The NetGalley format is not a great choice for books with pictures, as to really read them you have to sit at a laptop. You would assume this would make make my computer loving kid more interested, but in the end it did not.  I may try again with Bones, as I do think he'd enjoy it, but for now we'll go back to pushing the paper version.

Both books received from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

The Pirate would rather not read.

The Pirate is supposed to read for 100 minutes a week. This works out to 15 a day, or, as we're trying this week, 30 minutes on Monday through Thursday. The Pirate hates it. Yep, I said it, My Second Grader Hates To Read.  As you can imagine, this is horrifying to me.

The problem isn't with the reading itself. He can read. He reads slightly above grade level, officially. He reads Wii instructions easily. He reads Lego descriptions at Amazon.com without issue. But "books are so boring, mom!" The problem is that books for second graders, early reader books, ARE boring. It's like the cartoon "Little Bear" in book form. Yawn.  The problem with chapter books is that he is already huge fans of things like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter- the movies. He wants that in his books too, but Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings both start so slowly, and his comprehension and patience aren't quite there for a long slow buildup. (For a second grader, a long buildup is anything over a couple pages.)

I've spent a lot of time paging through the level three readers finding interesting ones, and I've been compiling a list of potential chapter books for a second grade boy. Here's the list so far:

• The Horrible Harry series by Suzy Kline
• The Mercy Watson series by Kate Dicamillo
• The A to Z Mysteries (our first try here was a no go.)
• Marvin Redpost series by Louis Sacher
• The Geronimo Stilton series by Geronimo Stilton
• Author Daniel Pinkwater (a brief glance makes me think these may be too hard, Second-Grade Ape has potential though)
• Mrs. Noodlekugel, also by Daniel Pinkwater, looks a little young
• The Time Warp Trioby Jon Scieszka
• The Beast Quest series by Adam Blade
• The Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbott
• The My Weird School Daze series by Dan Gutman 

Suggestions from the comments:

• The Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. I think these will be a little hard for him still.
• The Secret Agent Jack Stalwart Book by Elizabeth Singer Hunt
• Ready, Freddy by Abby Klein
• Dragonbreath
• Roscoe Riley Rules by Katherine Applegate
• The Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective series by Donald J. Sobol (I thought these were for older kids, happy to see they are not.

(Please note, most links go to the first book in the series on Amazon.)

Any other suggestions for action packed books for little boys?  I'm not picky at all (reading is reading is reading, there are no trashy kid's books), but I'd rather it be text in linear form and not cartoon/comic/manga style.  I know there is someone out there who is going to suggest books from their youth. I will not argue that the classics aren't any good, but I will argue that the classics are slow. Slow is our problem. If your classic is slow, especially slow to start, he's not gonna enjoy it.

Happy Birthdays!

It was birthday week here in the Books. Lists. Life. Headquarters.  First the Pirate started the ball rolling by turning 7 on Saturday. We were out of town, and I completely failed to take any birthday pictures, unless you could this one, which I don't:

(they are all asleep!)

The Pirate is turning into an adorable, funny, clever boy. He likes to make videos on the iPod, he plays Wii like he's paid to do so, he reads surprisingly well. He tolerates the Bug during the day, and can't sleep without him at night. He adores his baby sister.

A few days later, the Bug turned 4. He woke up to donuts and presents and requested blueberry cake and macaroni and cheese for dinner. The Bug is full of life. He's as high energy as it is possible for a child to be. Fortunately, he's also charming and funny and people universally love him, even as they are happy he does not live with them.

Happy Birthday to both my big boys!

PS. Confidential to the Princess, please don't grow up as fast as your brothers have. I don't think I could bear it.

School Lunch Suggestions?

The Pirate takes his lunch to school every day. He'd be completely happy to eat the hot lunch, but so far he hasn't really complained about having to take it from home, so I continue to pack a lunch. I feel like it saves us so much money compared to the $2.10 a day at school, plus you know he's not going to even touch half of the food on the school tray. The problem is, I'm already running out of original ideas for his lunch. The Pirate doesn't seem to care, but I feel like the more I mix things up, the longer he'll be happy to take my lunches.

We are limited by a couple of factors. First, his school is a nut-free school, and that means ALL nuts. Not all the schools in our system are, just ours. I gather we have at least one severely allergic child in attendance. So, no peanut butter, which is about 75% of his at home diet. Secondly, the Pirate doesn't like crackers. NO crackers, not graham crackers, not Goldfish, not saltines, not Ritz cheese ones, none. No crackers. (He also doesn't like frosting, but I don't often try to send frosting to school.)

They do have a microwave in the lunchroom, and I suppose they must have help with it, because we don't have a microwave at home and I can just see him nuking something for WAY too long.

On a typical day I will send either a ham and cheese sandwich or a cut up hotdog and cheese stick, some kind of fruit of veggie (typically applesauce, apples, grapes or carrots), a carb like chips or dry cereal or pretzels, and a dessert (usually an Oreo.) I do have a little bowl with an icepack and sometimes will send leftovers with him- steak cut into bits or spaghetti or mac n cheese. I've sent bagels with pizza sauce to dip. I think he'd eat a hardboiled egg if I sent one and if we ever have muffins for breakfast I'd send those. I think chicken nuggets would be ok.

What else should I be sending? His palate is fairly limited. He prefers meat to veggies and isn't a giant noodle lover (the Bug would eat noodles at every single meal, given the option.) He doesn't enjoy things with a lot of sauce or gravy.  It can't be too complicated because they only get 20 minutes ( I think), but it doesn't have to stay completely cold either, because they eat at 11. What do your kids do for school lunch? Do they take theirs? Eat at school? What has been a hit for you?

Random Friday: Late again.

• Who turned on the Fall switch this morning?
• I get the Martha Stewart Craft of the Day email every day. I can not tell you how many times I see a cool idea on Pinterest and THEN it shows up on MS a week or two later.
• I'm still doing the 21 Day Challenge, but I haven't been taking photographs. I'm really glad I'm doing it because it's really opened my eyes up to more options in my closet and to what I should be looking for to fill spots. Also, it seems like many of us have this shirt.
• The Pirate is suddenly undergoing a bit of separation anxiety. Yes, the 6 year old. I suspect it has to do with school, but he is incredibly paranoid that I am going to leave him behind somewhere. If I am in the garage for 5 minutes he will check on me 10 times, no exaggeration. If I take the garbage out he will come stand on the sidewalk to make sure I come back. He can no longer fall asleep in his room, he has to come sleep near us. It is crazy making. I wonder what happened to make him nervous.
• My absolutely perfect work at home job is ending in two weeks, a layoff of sorts. I'm scrounging for things to bring in a little income, so expect more sewing posts.
• Starting next week we'll have a little friend staying with us part-time. This will provide a tiny bit of income, but more importantly it will give the Bug someone to play with.
• On Friday I heard the Pirate reading a book outloud to the Bug on the way to school. Awww.
• We've decided to give up the storage unit, which means alllllllll our crap will be in this apartment soon. I've been sorting and selling and donating even more stuff. A few more moves and we'll be able to comfortably live in a one room cabin, I think.
• Preparations for a birthday party are underway, just as soon as I get off this chair.

What I read this week:

• I picked up Divergent again and go sucked way in.
• What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss was a nice little romance. About halfway through I noticed that the cover said "Larger Print" all over it. Yay for Larger Print!

I dread school starting tomorrow

School starts tomorrow for the Pirate. He's fairly unexcited but we met his teacher last night and some of his friends were there which perked him up a bit about it. I'm not overly concerned about the Pirate. I think he'll be ok once he's used to the schedule. I am completely worried about the Bug. The Bug, who is 3, is not starting school tomorrow, despite what he might tell you. He stayed home with dad last night while the Pirate and I went to the open house, and Mike reports that he was devastated. Heartbroken. Unable to breathe because he was crying so hard. I have no idea how we're going to get the Pirate out of the car at school without a huge scene. I have no idea how the Bug will possibly survive without his brother. I'm trying to think up some exciting activities, but sadly there isn't much that the Bug truely loves, besides the Pirate. I'm planning to make a big big deal about how he's the Big Kid at home now! Other than that, I'm stumped. The park won't be enough. I'm not sure McDonalds would do it. Suggestions, cheap ones, welcome.

Meanwhile, I'm still participating in the 21 Day Challenge. I have managed to miss two days of pictures, but I still did the outfit! Today's theme was "monochromatic." Since it's supposed to be 100 here today, I wanted to be cool, so I choose a loose skirt and a tank top (and flip flops, but I didn't put them on for the picture.) Today's picture courtesy of the Bug, age 3.

Tank top: Target
Skirt: Walmart
Flip flips: Sanuks

 I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

On the first day of the 21 Day Challenge

(which was yesterday, but I'm just now getting this posted. See remainder of paragraph for explanation) I woke up tired and lazy on the first day of the challenge. I know, I said I wanted to join so as not to be a sloppy, lazy, stay-at-home mom.  But we camped this weekend, and my baby doesn't sleep, and I didn't get a morning shower and hey, here's another excuse!  So.

The prompt for the first day was to choose an item to remix 3 times in the challenge. For those of you not in the know on fashion blogging, this simply means to wear it in three different ways or outfits.  We were not allowed to choose jeans, but I wouldn't anyway. Instead I choose this straight denim skirt. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it has tiny dark pinstripes to give it a little interest. Today I went with an easy navy tshirt, which matched a lot better in my mind than in this picture.

And speaking of the picture, the Pirate will be serving as official 21 Day Challenge photographer, so there's no guarantee that you'll even be able to SEE my outfits in many of the pictures. This is one of his better compositions. (Hey, he's six and taking pictures with an iPhone, what do you expect?)

I don't plan to do a separate post for each days outfit, I'll probably just add them to the bottom of whatever else I write that day, but for the first day I thought I'd explain myself. Doing it at all feels a little weird, to be taking a daily picture of myself, especially when you consider my tiny wardrobe and my lack of real style, but I'm looking forward to participating.

Wardrobe details:
Skirt: Target
Shirt: Walmart
Bracelet: Life is Good
Shoes: Target (multi-strap flip flops, but the Pirate didn't manage to get them in the picture)

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.