Books Read in 2009

Ok, this list may be a bit premature because I have big plans of reading at least ONE book before the year is over, but I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed with my reading list this year. For one thing, I read TEN less books than last year. TEN! And I honestly know why......it's because of Facebook! Whereas I would have spent the evening reading several chapters of a good book, I now spend the evenings in bed goofing off on Facebook and it's put a serious dent in my reading time (well, ok, I'm still technically READING when I'm on Facebook, AND writing, but, really, it does NOT take the place of true literary pleasure!) This year's book club, in my opinion, was a total bust. For one thing, someone came up with the idea of reading "classics". It sounded good in theory but turned out to be painfully boring on many occasions and while slogging through a particularly slow novel, it becomes hard to do any "reading for pleasure" - kind of reminiscent of college when I was not able to read for pleasure because I had to crawl through Dostoevsky and Dickens. Bleh! So, here is my reading list for 2009, along with comments and recommendations (or not!):
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: EXCELLENT book, one of my all time favorites. I've read this before but the re-read was just as good, and I rented the movie after as well. Just great writing, a controversial subject and a bit of mystery. Loved it!
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: Not as wonderful as I remembered. I know I read this as a kid, but then it seemed a lot more magical. This time, the different writing and the constant reusing of metaphors drove me nuts. Honestly, I was bored!
- Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis: This was a 5th grade book club pick which I was participating in with Arlie. I loved this book - it was a great story and even though it was a kids' book, it was very entertaining.
- Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris: Sedaris is sometimes hysterical but sometimes over the top. In this book, I found it started out well, and just got weirder as the book went on. Good humor but sometimes downright stupid. Still, I enjoy his books!
- Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson: This book received SO much hype, perhaps my expectations were too high. While it is well-written and a very compelling story, I found it really slow at times and filled with a lot of extraneous information that didn't add to the story.
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: I had tried (and failed) to read this book twice before. I found out the secret this time - there is a whole introductory part that really has nothing to do with the story, but can deter any would-be reader by it's sheer boring-ness (I know that's not a word, but it fits so well). So, skip the long intro and get right to the story. But don't expect much. The story is painfully slow to read (language) and I figured out the whole story in the beginning so nothing was a surprise - I just wanted it DONE!
- Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner: Funny writer! This story was a mindless read (which I desperately needed after The Scarlet Letter), but a funny and well-written story. I picked up a few more of her books after this.
- Kerplunk by Patrick McManus: This is one of Jeff's favorite authors. McManus hails from Spokane, WA so Jeff can relate to his many stories of that area and North Idaho. Mostly hunting and fishing tales, McManus weaves a colorful cloth of eccentric characters throughout his stories which make for some pretty hilarious reads. Good for laughs.
- The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan: Again, this much-hyped book about a young mother suffering from cancer at the same time her beloved father finds out he also has cancer. Part memoir, part cancer survival guide, this is a compelling read, although it didn't really live up to it's hype. I felt it could have been written by anyone.
- New Moon by Stephenie Meyer: This book was read purely under pressure. My girls are typical Twilight fanatics, so they insisted I read this second in Meyer's four-book series because "it's SO much better than Twilight".....uh, not so much. Meyer won the lotto when it comes to being published without a shred of talent. She is truly one of the worst writers I've read. My girls insist I read the final two books because "it gets so much better" but I'm thinking, if you need four books to finally write an original paragraph or two, you are NOT a writer. Frankly, she sucks. Sorry, Stephenie!
- Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult: I am not sure if I'm a Picoult fan or not at this point. I loved "My Sister's Keeper" but this book was essentially the same story with different characters. Picoult does take her time with research and details, and I love the style of writing where there is a different character telling their point of view throughout the story, but in the end the stories seem similar - tragic character fights uphill battle, battle is won, tragic character dies in unfortunate accident. Something original, please!
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen: This is a kids' book but I have been interested in reading it for years, so I finally picked it up. It was a very good story about survival - a boy is the victim of a plane crash in which the pilot dies and the boy is left with nothing but a hatchet given to him as a gift. He uses this hatchet to create fire, hunt food, make a shelter, and survives several months in the wilderness until he is rescued just as he procures enough supplies to keep him from starving for months.
-Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber: I have seen a lot of this author, so I kind of felt like her books were just a bit of junky chick-lit/romance novels, but this one I had read about in a magazine and decided to give it a try. I enjoyed it, even though it was, essentially, a simple story. I was interested enough to care about the characters and I picked up another Macomber title to give her another try before I decide if I really like her or not!
- One True Thing by Anna Quindlen: I love Quindlen for her compelling and emotional writing. This story was about a college-aged girl who is essentially asked to drop her entire life to take care of her cancer-stricken mother until her final days. The emotional ups and downs and her vivid descriptions of the many stages of dying from cancer were really well-written. There is a bit of a mystery as well, which made it all the more interesting.
- Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns: This book was loaned to me by my friend Amy and I had it for a while before finally deciding to give it a shot. It turned out to be a really great read! An old man, and patriarch of his family, marries a much younger milliner from his general store only three weeks after the passing of his beloved wife. His two daughters are horrified and cannot accept this new woman into their family, nor can they deal with the scandal he has caused. Only his young grandson seems to come to terms with this and befriends the new wife, all the while trying to convince his family that she is acceptable.
- The Shack by Wm. Paul Young: Again, I should learn my lesson about much-hyped books. This was one of the dumbest books I've read! I know, people LOVED it and it changed lives, etc. but all I read was one guy's account of a made-up story of a little girl's kidnapping, and her dad's eventual meeting with God and Heaven and seeing his daughter again. It was just a fantasy work of fiction and a little on the bizarre side, and after reading about Young, I don't even like this guy (he cheated on his wife with her best friend for years, I truly believe this book was his attempt to assauge his own guilt!). I want my $10 back!
- Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos: I really enjoy her writing. This book was a sequel of sorts and intertwined old and new characters with a mysterious twist. I loved the easy way de los Santos writes and how compelling her characters are. And the way she weaves in an entirely different story captures the attention.
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck: This was the one of the few classics my book club read that I enjoyed. And I really enjoyed this book! It had everything in it and was interesting the entire time. Definitely a book everyone must read in their lifetime!
- The Cather in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: I also loved this classic, which was my book club pick. Although it was a lot more depressing than I thought it would be. Still, an interesting read and I loved how it was written in Holden's language - that of a teenage boy.
- Multiple Blessings by Jon and Kate Gosselin: I picked up this book when Jon and Kate were still "plus eight" and not in the ugly controversial split they are in now. The girls wanted to read it and I finally decided to read it, too. It was an interesting account of the sextuplets first few years of life and how the Gosselin's adapted to this new, crazy life with eight kids. Even though I'm Team Kate on this whole split thing, I could see why anyone couldn't stand Kate Gosselin after reading this book. She sounds impossible to live with and way too obsessed with order and cleanliness for her own good.

So, that's it for now. I really hope I can get at least one more book in before the close of the year, but I don't know.......however, in 2010 I resolve to read at least as much as I Facebook!

Green Day!

From Jeff's cell phone.......hmmm......I think that's Billie Joe?
Me with the tour bus!

Me and Jeff waiting in line for the show!

Jeff with the tour bus!

Explosions! Actually these were just graphics......

Armstrong, center stage......and Mike.......

Hey, I've seen this picture before......oops!

The first pyrotechnics......

He used many different guitars.....

During the "gay for a day" song.........

Me taking a picture of myself in my new concert t-shirt!

I totally scored on some tickets to Green Day for Jeff's birthday. I didn't even know they were in town, but a woman in my yoga class mentioned she had two extra tickets. It was Thursday, Jeff's actual birthday, and the show was Friday. I thought, perfect! He's a total Green Day fan, and I knew he'd love it. So, I said I'd take them. Well, Jeff was surprised and thrilled to be going. We got down to the Will Call area to meet her for the tickets and they told her they had canceled the order (she already had tickets through someone else!). Lucky for us, there were still tickets available (and cheaper!), and although they were one section higher, we still got a great view of the show. It was amazing! The opening band, The Bravery, left something to be desired, but Green Day took the stage by storm, opening to explosions of pyrotechnics and showers of sparks. Billie Joe Armstrong did not disappoint at all with his amazing vocal range. The guitar, drums, everything was incredible. They did old songs, new stuff, even some "Shout" and "Stand by Me". They started off the show by pulling a little boy about 10 or 11 on stage for some dancing (he was visibly shaking!), then another time pulled both a woman and a man to take their turns at singing "Longview". Later, they got a guy who played guitar to "Jesus of Suburbia" and he was amazing! There was some stage diving and some crowd surfing, but it was a pretty tame concert (and we appeared to be in the "family" section! HA). They tossed t-shirts and drumsticks to the crowd, and squirted the audience with high-powered water guns. The show ended with one of my favorite songs EVER (and the reason I discovered Green Day in the first place), "Good Riddance (Time of your Life)" - and it was incredible! The whole show was just awesome. Definitely a must-see! This was their first date of the new tour (yes, opened in Seattle!) so if they come to your town, GO! The audience ranged in age from young kids to the elderly, so it's amazing the influence they have on every generation. Pretty cool. And a night to remember with my husband on his birthday. He said it was the "best gift ever"! (sorry for the bad photos - we only had cell phones........)

Camp Killoqua

For the Memorial Day weekend we went with two other families, the Micheals and the Churchs and headed to Camp Killoqua. This is a Camp Fire resident camp (all the girls went for a week last year) that holds a family camp over Memorial Day. It's a great time, with "funyaking", boating, fishing, s'mores, climbing wall, rope swing, hiking, trading post and sitting around the campfire whittling sticks. Amazingly, we got six kids (we picked up a couple of extras) and two adults, AND all our crap into our van. We did use the car top carrier, but we were packed to the gills. Arlie said "I don't need my seatbelt! If we crash, I'm not going anywhere!" It was like one of those clown cars when we unpacked and peeled each child from their respective space in the car. We all managed to get along in the cabin (8 bunks -we filled 'em up!) and everyone slept pretty well. Except for Hayley. Who woke me up TWICE to tell me I was snoring!! But I digress.....

Drew (Hannah's guest) caught his first fish (and went fishing for the first time ever) and Arlie, Harrison and Rylie went "funyaking" for the first time. The funyaks are like mini kayaks for kids. Very cool! Jeff and I rowed out on the lake to get some great photos of the kids and we got some awesome group photos (I'll include the five best here since Blogger only lets me add five photos per post!).

The downside? No alcohol! I mean, what's a campfire without a beverage with which to enjoy it? Ah well, we managed. The dogs spent the weekend in the doggy hotel (which cost me three times as much as the cost of the camping trip!) and everyone is home now, and ready to go back to school. Oh wait, I'M ready for the kids to go back to school........

It was a great time. OH, I almost forgot the BEST part - it was sunny the WHOLE TIME! Now, when does that happen around here? Never. So, it was a perfect weekend. Good times and good friends. Good food, too! It really felt like the kickoff to summer.

My babies.....

How cute are they?

Arlie at the Variety Show!

Here is Arlie doing her gymnastics/dance routine to "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen!

Harrison at the Variety Show!

Here's Harrison at the Variety Show, singing "Angels". Enjoy!

Blue Heron

When I got home from yoga this morning I caught a glimpse of the great blue heron that likes to roost in the pond near our house. I decided to seize the opportunity to get some great photos and hurried over (after frantically changing my lens to zoom in) and got these photos. The heron seemed very peaceful, just standing and looking around, while two ducks floated in the pond below him. But a red-winged blackbird apparently took offense to this great intruder and proceeded to flap around the heron's head to shoo him off. It didn't work so the blackbird tried another tactic - pecking the heron on his butt! That worked and he took off over the housetops. Pretty cool!

We Love a Parade!

Well, except in Seattle. Arlie was invited to walk in the Woodinville All Fool's Day Parade over the weekend with her gymnastics center. She was SO excited to be in parade......however...let's just say it definitely rained on our parade! It poured actually. And was cold. And icky. And the whole thing was not very enjoyable. But we managed a few photos anyway. We might sit this one out next year!

Harrison in the talent show!

Harrison performed a song called "Angels". He has a really great voice and gets a lot of audience approval when he sings! Even a sore throat didn't stop him. Future American Idol!

Variety Show!

The day after the concert was the Variety Show at the elementary school. I've been in charge of this show for the past five years and this year went off without a hitch. Those of you who have been reading this blog since it started, which was just about one year ago, will remember that last year's show was cursed - snow, power outages, etc. - kept us rolling from March through May until the show was finally done! This year it couldn't have been smoother, so it was a good night! Here are some random shots of the kids and I'll post video of Harrison and Arlie's performances.

TGIF

Jeff is finally back from his "fun" in the sun, just in time to leave again on the hellish trek to Vantage and back. This roughly twice-monthly adventure takes him about five hours round trip and then he has to do it all over again on Sunday. It really bites. There is just nothing fun about driving over Snoqualmie pass and what lies beyond (nothing) only to turn around and drive back. Jeff and Arlie always want me to go but I just HATE the boring drive and so I decline every time. I told Jeff, I'm a good wife, but not THAT good of a wife. I'd jump in front of a moving vehicle for him, but driving to Vantage? Nah.

So, Jeff worked a lot while in AZ and didn't get enough time to just relax in the sun. But I guess that's what happens when you're laid off and your mind is spinning 24/7 with what to do? He made a lot of contacts and has already had a few phone interviews so that's good news!

He also came back sporting a beard! Or at least the beginnings of one. He says he's not shaving until he gets an interview. I like it! For one thing, I like beards. For another, I like that attitude. I said, you're unemployed, you might as well look the part! And then he got the bright idea that I should make him a sign and he could try his hand at panhandling! Hmmm......not a bad idea! I said why don't you just write to everyone you know and ask them to send you a dollar? Think about it, a dollar anyone can spare and if you have a million friends, well...........too bad we don't have a million friends! HAHA!

We're still dealing with some fallout of the layoff, mainly that the stupid company didn't make it very easy to switch our insurance over to Cobra. So, they canceled our insurance as of 1/31 and we still haven't received the paperwork to switch over and make it retroactive to 2/1. So, when I went to the dr. on Thursday, I ended up having to pay $45 for my antibiotics! Just another reason to have seething anger towards the company.....

Speaking of which, I know it's for safety reasons and all, but WOW, have companies really gotten paranoid about letting people go. Jeff, the same guy who toiled loyally for this organization for six years, with nary a black mark on his record, had his key card immediately deactivated, was escorted around the building collecting his things, and was appointed a "watcher" in case he decided to go postal or something. It was such a demoralizing experience. Not only did he lose his job, but was treated like a criminal as well. He was reminiscing today about when he worked for Buck Knives. They were going through a tough economic time and instead of handing out pink slips they had everyone reduce their hours to 30 hour workweeks. Hey, any job is better than no job right? It's just too bad companies these days can't see the value in that.

Anyway, a pox on all of them. I hope they get bad rashes in embarrassing places.

An Unwelcome Club

Yesterday we joined an unwelcome club - unemployed families! Jeff lost his job after weeks of suspect activity on the part of managers and after months of working in a position that was essentially a demotion from his former managerial position. He's been looking for a new position for a long time and was hoping to have his salary leverage to negotiate with new, potential employers. But no such luck. He had a meeting with his boss and her boss (both of whom are underqualified in both career skills and personality) and was told his position was being eliminated. To rub salt in the wound, he was handed several boxes and told to have his belongings out by 11 a.m. Ten other employees faced the same fate yesterday.

Obviously, this economic downturn has affected many so we're among millions of other families who are facing the same challenges. Which also means Jeff is among millions of other people looking for work, thus the competition is daunting. His skills are many and he will be an amazing addition to any company lucky enough to have him, but it's going to be a long road. One that, hopefully, lasts less than six months because that's how long we have in severance and insurance. After that, we really don't have a plan.

They say the average family should have four to six months of emergency reserve money set aside for just such an event. But there is just no way we could ever have amassed that amount of money. For one thing, our mortgage is more than one of Jeff's paychecks each month. We'd sell the house, but the market sucks. We are totally willing to relocate and realize the distinct possibility of that happening soon. Change is good. But to be unprepared in the face of such a huge life change is scary. Thankfully, I have a part-time job, but it will pay for groceries at best.

So, off we go on a rocky adventure. Jeff has never been laid off or fired in his entire life so this is all new to him. He's an extremely hard worker and keeps very busy so having entire days to himself will be a new experience. We will make the best of what we have to work with and hope and pray that he finds a position that is interesting and challenging (and heck, let's face it, as long as it's a paycheck!) soon. Both Jeff and I have t-shirts from the "Life is Good" line. Recently, he said "I wish I had a shirt that says 'Life is O.K.'" But we have a lot of blessings and so we'll focus on those for the time being. And keep an eye on the want ads!

Inauguration

Yesterday I got to watch a little bit of the inauguration.....not much, just Obama's speech and the poem and benediction after (which was hysterical at the end - "where brown can stick around, where yellow can be mellow, and where the Red Man can get ahead, man"), and then after that I really couldn't watch more because I was working. So, I missed all the other good stuff. But just from reading posts on my Facebook this morning, it seems the general consensus is that people are pretty happy to have a new president. I'm not much for politics, but I do hope things change for the better. Although in all honesty I think things are going to get worse before they get better, but that is the natural way of things. To turn our economy around will take time and a lot of work. Patience, patience. But it's hard to wait. And we all have our stories of how the economy has affected us. We are personally feeling the effects right now and it's not easy. But today is a new dawn.........go Obama! Make us proud.

Photos!

Indiana, 2007 Ohio, 2007

San Diego 2006 & Harrison's first communion 2006

My sister said she thought blogs were boring unless they had photos. So, I said "well I haven't taken any photos in a while" and she said "what? a week?" She's right, I do take photos often, but I haven't taken any this week, really. Well, except for the dogs. And on Harrison's birthday. Which was just two days ago. Ok, so I do take a lot of photos. But not all of them are blog-worthy. Still, I thought it would be fun to just publish some random photos from time to time. I wish I had the kids' baby pictures on the computer. I need to scan them or something. So, my digital world only goes back a couple of years. But I will post some old photos just for fun.

Resolution!

Look, it's me as a sumo wrestler! Don't I look lovely? How many chins can you see? Have you guessed my resolution yet? Yes, that's right. To have only one (or two) chins by the end of 2009! And perhaps to lose the topknot!