30 Day Challenge--Day 7: A Picture That Makes Me Laugh

 

When I saw today's challenge, Gary Larson's Far Side was the first thing I thought of. Here's one website that will have you laughing until you cry.

30 Day Challenge Day 6: One person you couldn't imagine your life without

The original question was : Who would you like to trade places with for a day?

You know, I couldn't think of anyone.

My life has its problems, but it's a comfort to know that I wouldn't trade it for anything else. On the other hand, it was making this blog post very boring, so I chose an alternate question.

My friend Susan is one person I couldn't imagine my life without. We're in the same ward, and she lives very close to the church building, while I live about half an hour away.

We're in the process of putting our house on the market so that we can move closer to church. It's a slow process, made slower by our crazy busy lifestyle. But if I were to be totally honest, the real reason our house in not already for sale is how overwhelmed I am at the whole thing.

Eleven years. That's how long I've lived in this house. It's pretty clean--never clean enough, in my opinion, and it's well lived in. We've got the magical kinds of bookshelves where books don't stay still. Wii remotes snake across our floor of their own volition, and marbles and legos multiply and scatter as soon as we turn our backs. It's a great house, but the thought of keeping it clean long enough to sell it makes me want to cry, and cry...and finally pray.

"Heavenly Father, I've never thought of myself as an incompetent person, but this simple thing that everyone has to do at some point in their lives has got me completely frozen. I don't know what to do! There are so many projects that I can't even pick one. I really, truly, from the bottom of my soul, need help."

My prayer started small and built into a silent kind of keening, that grew until it was finally answered by a phone call from Susan. "Melanie, if you want me, I've decided to come over to your house once a week until your house is ready to sell." And she has--for a couple of months now, she spends an entire day at my house. Together we get so much more done than I could ever have done on my own, even with twice the time.

At first I was thoroughly uncomfortable with that level of service. I knew it was something I could probably never repay, and I'm not sure anyone outside of my family has ever given that much to me before. We have a good time, chatting and laughing even while she cleaned out my trash compactor. My eyes still well up with tears when I think about it though, because it touches me on a deeply spiritual level.

For whatever reason, I couldn't do this thing. It didn't seem like it should be as impossible as it was, but I couldn't do it. To me, Susan was a little bit like Jesus Christ, who has given me a gift I quite simply can never repay. I can't do it alone, and so he's with me every step of the way, being the bridge to the places I can't get to on my own.

I feel the same sense of obligation, though on a much smaller scale, to Susan as I do to my Savior--an obligation to go out and make the world a better place, to try and lighten someone's load the way mine has been lightened.

30 Day Challenge: Day 5: This Day in My Life (with a bonus Chuck promo!)

Image courtesy of Ohdeedoh

6:30 I sleep until this late, late hour, and then stumble around the house pretending to be helpful. R, J and D are spending the day skiing at Sugarloaf. Unfortunately, D is acting suspiciously like he might be getting sick. :(

7:30 They are finally off. It's just me, L and J #2 today. Our plans to spend the day with a friend have to be canceled because J #2 has a wicked sore throat. Instead, I critique a story for a friend, try to figure out this enigma called Squidoo and generally waste time until 8:30. Meanwhile, L and J are either sitting on my lap, coloring at the table or playing Wii Fit.

8:30-10:00 My plans for World Laundry Domination have been thwarted by J #1, who left 2 (two!) loads of wet clothes in the laundry room. I have regrouped, however, and now have plans for World Water Usage Domination--all my laundry, plus I didn't turn on the dishwasher last night, plus 1 shower and 2 baths, all (hopefully) before lunch today.

10:00-12:00 World Water Usage Domination is close to being on schedule. One lonely load of laundry left to be washed. I got sidetracked by a bookshelf moving project. In an astonishing turn of events, my bookshelves look very nice. A less astonishing side note--I now have books piled all over my living room floor.

12:00-5:00 All sorts of routine stuff, including boxing up the extra books, lunch, hangman with the kids and bringing wood in from the garage. I exercised! Then I went to my dentist appointment with two kids in tow. Fun, fun, fun!

This was actually J #1's appointment, but it's hard to get your teeth cleaned while skiing down the slopes. Since I had to cancel my appointment last week, I was glad to take her place. By the time I got to the dentist, L was sick again--pale, lying on the floor, miserable-looking sick. The poor kid. I thought she was finally over this. On the other hand, J #2 seems like he's feeling a little bit better.

Now I'm going to fold laundry while I watch Chuck vs The Masquerade. I haven't exactly been working my tail off today, but I think I still deserve a break. My dentist appointment wore both my sickly children out, so they are going to watch Blue's Clues for a while. My kids have a theory that Blue's Clues will cure most types of illness, but if it's REALLY bad, they need Kipper. If Kipper comes on, I might have to ditch Chuck. I love that puppy.

5:00  Chuck is amazing. Here's a promo for next week, you unfortunate people who haven't yet discovered Chuck and Co.:

 

 6:39 Everyone made it home safely and dinner's on the table. The kids are full of stories about half pipes and catching air, and R just reminded me the home teachers will be here in 20 minutes. Have a great night!

30 Day Challenge: Day 4--My Favorite Book

That's like asking me to tell you which child is my favorite. I just can't do it!

Of course there is my all-time favorite as yet unpublished book by that amazingly talented author--Melanie Crouse. The book is called Earth's Gate. And then there are the runners-up:

 

I'm sure there are more, but those are the five that first come to mind.

Book Review: Pathfinder

Pathfinder

by: Orson Scott Card

672 pages

published in 2010

5/5 stars 

Synopsis:

Is this science fiction? Or is it fantasy? I'm not sure. Orson Scott Card twists the two so well that it really doesn't matter. I love Debbie Carton's review of Pathfinder for Booklist, and try as I might, I couldn't do better, so here it is: 

The first in a series, Card’s latest title has much in common with his Ender Wiggins books: precocious teens with complementary special talents, callously manipulative government authorities, endlessly creative worlds, and Card’s refusal to dumb down a plot for a young audience. Here he takes the notions of folding space and time, embracing paradox, “adopting a rule set in which . . . causality . . . controls reality, regardless of where it occurs on the timeline.” Thirteen-year-old Rigg is a Pathfinder, one who sees the paths of others’ pasts. Rigorously trained and thoroughly educated by his demanding father, Rigg is horrified when Father dies unexpectedly after a final order to find the sister he never knew he had. Rigg is accompanied on this journey by a small group of friends who have powers of bending and manipulating the flow of time. Card also skillfully twines a separate story line into the plot, featuring earth’s colonization of distant planets, led by the idealistic young pilot Ram Odin. Fast paced and thoroughly engrossing, the 650-plus pages fly by, challenging readers to care about and grasp sophisticated, confusing, and captivating ideas. As in L’Engle’s Time Quartet, science is secondary to the human need to connect with others, but Card does not shy away from full and fascinating discussions of the paradoxical worlds he has created. Grades 8-12. --Debbie Carton

My review:

You already know how I feel about Orson Scott Card. I think he's a genius--not just sort of a genius, but a Benjamin Franklin, Mensa should be so lucky-type. I think this is one of his best. I was so excited about Lost Gate, but after reading this one I remember what genius is. Debbie Carton was right to compare Rigg to Ender. This book still hasn't toppled my triumvirate of OSC books (Ender's Game, Speaker For The Dead and Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus) but Pastwatch is teetering...

30 Day Challenge: Day 3--My Favorite Television Show

As if you didn't know...

It's Chuck, baby!

If you don't already know, (and I'm always shocked by how many people DON'T already know--obviously they are not my friends on facebook) Chuck is on NBC on Monday nights. It's the action dramedy about Chuck, an underachieving nerd with all of our nations secrets downloaded into his brain. I have loved watching him transition from a clumsy geek to a powerhouse spy. Even better, the clearplay DVD player cleans this television show up seamlessly. Best yet--so far, season 4 barely needs cleaning up.

Don't know what a clearplay DVD player is? Just wait a few more days.
(Ooh...suspense!)

Day 2: 5 Little Things That Make Me Happy

1. The feeling of blankets wrapped around my bare feet at night.

2. When one of my children calls my attention to something because they want to share it with me. This happened last night at 3 a.m.
L: I called you in here to look at the night sky.
Me: (yawning) It's beautiful.
L: I know. I can't take my eyes off it.

3. Puddles!

4. Sitting by the fire reading a good book or watching a good movie.

5. When the lyrics in a song really flow. You know what I'm talking about--when one line in a song gives you happy shivers. It rarely has to do with what the song is saying, it's the way they say it.

Example:
The Eagles singing Desperado:
Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine.
It's hard to tell the night time from the day.
You're losing all your highs and lows,
Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

DAY 1: 15 Things About Me

1. I have four amazing children, a great husband and a cat named Tiger, plus a still-born baby and a golden retriever waiting for us in heaven.

2. Our dog died two months ago, and since then Tiger has been doing her best to drive me crazy--scratching everyone and flicking her tail in my face. Plus she's always on the wrong side of every door, especially at two o'clock in the morning.

3. I'm not really an animal person, so I'm not sure why my first three things involved animals.

4. However, when I was a kid, I did plan to make my living riding whales at Sea World in San Diego.

5. Our house is for sale.

6. I've written several novels--only one is really polished enough to consider trying to sell.

7. I can't seem to make myself try to sell it.

8. Which in a complicated, convoluted way is why I started this blog in the first place. Don't ask.

9. I was raised in Utah, but now I live in a small town in central Maine. I miss the mountains all the time, but if I ever moved back I think I'd miss the lakes at least as much, maybe more.

10. I am a Mormon, and I love every minute of it.

11. I am the young women's president.

12. I'm not very athletic, but I get my best ideas for my novels while I'm hiking, snow shoeing and swimming.

13. I wish I lived near a big enough city that I could take boxing, fencing and zumba lessons.

14. When we hear a song I know in public, my kids all grip my arms and hiss under their breath: "Do Not start singing or dancing" OR, if they are slow on the uptake, then they hiss "Stop it" (and it takes a conscious act of will on my part to obey them. I think I'm alone far too much...)

15. I'm 39 and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but it involves some combination of writing and teaching.

I Am Number Four

I AM NUMBER FOUR
by: Pittacus Lore
440 pages
published in 210

SUMMARY
Oh my goodness. I've got so much to say about this book, I don't want to bother writing a summary. Really, the book's cover says it all..."Three are dead. I am number four."

Doesn't that give you chills? 9 alien children from the planet Lorien are growing up on the planet Earth. They don't have any contact with each other, but they are bound together by a spell. As long as they never meet, they can only be killed in order. And the Mogadorians want them dead. Number Four knows when the first three die because a scar appears on his leg. He knows he is next.

REVIEW
Since Hunger Games, so many authors are trying to write in present tense. When done correctly, it is an amazing way to write action/adventure, because it makes the reader feel like they are right there in the middle of it all. But no one can do present tense like Suzanne Collins, including the mythical Pittacus Lore. His action/adventure is amazing. But he doesn't have the knack for making exposition flow in present tense. It's tough. His slower moments end up reading like this, "In today's game, one of her brothers and her father like one of the teams, while her other brother likes the other team. They argue with each other, taunt each other, cheer and groan depending on what's happening in the game." Yeah. Really.

I also had a difficult time believing some of the characters motivations, especially when he stays in town, although he knows he's putting his girlfriend at risk. Another character completely switches personalities for the last 90 pages of the book. I'm willing to let that one go, pending finding out a really great reason why in the sequel--cause I'll be there for the sequel. Everything I just wrote, and about a dozen other problems with the book, won't stop me from reading The Power of Six when it comes out in August 2011.

As I read, I felt almost like I was reading a very detailed screen play. This was one book that was made to be a movie. And I don't have long to wait. The movie comes out next week. With Alex Pettyfer as the star, no less. It's going to be amazing.


I recommend this book for most teenagers.

Trying something new

Testing, testing...It would be very cool if this worked
http://listen.grooveshark.com/album/The+Wonders+Of+Younger+Out/5243859?src=5 This is the link to the Plain White T's song "The Rythm of Love"

Crouse Family Top 10 List of Retro Songs

It didn't work out the way I expected.

I just assumed that the music I remember loving when I was young would be a part of my life forever. When I got my first mp3 player, Duran Duran was one of the first things I downloaded. We don't get in the mood for that as much as I thought we would. And is it possible for anyone to not like End Of The Road by Boyz II Men? My kids don't.

Here is a top 10 list of oldie songs we do love. This list is in a constant state of flux because we keep remembering new ones.

10. Desperado (LP Version) by the Eagles

9. I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred

8. Mr. Mom by Lonestar.

7.5  What About Now by Lonestar. My kids love it, but it probably wouldn't have made this list except that it's one of my all time favorite songs.

7. Lucille (2006 Digital Remaster) by Kenny Rogers. And The Gambler, and Coward Of The County (2006 Digital Remaster) This list isn't doing a very good job staying at only 10...

6. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce

5. It's My Party by Lesley Gore

4. My Boyfriend's Back by the Angels

3. Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N'Roses (And OK, just about anything by Def Leppard, but I'm running out of space here. And did you see Slash during the halftime show last night??? Good times, good times)

2. Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor (Mainly because of this video...)

This was an outtake--The actor who plays Sam had missed his cue, but no one called "cut!" so

the actor who plays Dean kept going. Isn't he awesome? But I digress...

1.5 I almost forgot!!! My kids adore Elvira by the Oak Ridge Boys.

Drum roll please: The number one oldie song in our family at the moment is:

1. You're So Vain by Carly Simon. You walked into the party, like you were walking onto a yacht... We can't hear it and not sing along. It's impossible.

What are your favorite songs from the "olden days"? 

Josh Turner

Holy mackerel. He has a sexy voice.

In this song, his voice is so decadent that I kept thinking the lyrics had to be sinful. But they're not.

The Lost Gate

THE LOST GATE

by: Orson Scott Card
378 pages
published in 2010
Genre: Fantasy


Summary: 
The trickster god Loki has imprisoned several warring clans of gods on Earth for centuries, where they have forged a fragile truce. Without access to their homeland, their magic has become diluted. Everyone in the North family knows that Danny is a drekka--a god stuck on Earth without any magic at all. But then Danny realizes he is a gatemage, with the power, but not the skill necessary to reopen the gate to their homeland of Westil. As he flees for his life from those who would either kill him or force him to work for them, he discovers that the clans were not the only people stranded on Westil when the gates closed.

This novel is really two stories, set on alternate worlds. Danny's story takes up the majority of the novel, but meanwhile, the story of a boy called Wad is unfolding on Westil. To the average observer, Wad seems like the least important person in the kitchens at the castle, yet his power and influence will determine the destiny of the whole country.


Review:
First of all, Orson Scott Card is such a hero of mine that I nearly find myself tongue-tied at my own audacity. How can I review one of his books when his characters have been the inspiration for so much of my own life? I see other reviewers calling him "Card" and it makes me wince at the disrespect. Crazy, I know. So here goes...



Orson Scott Card's characters are usually super intelligent, but they still make lots of mistakes. They usually learn to screw up more thoughtfully the next time and they never give up. As their ability to achieve their objectives evolves, their ability to empathize with the people around them grows as well, and that is the charm of his books. I love, love, love falling into one of OSC's worlds, and this was no exception.


At first, I was hopeful that OSC had finally created another Ender (Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1)just for me. And then Danny seemed more like Bean (Ender's Shadow (Ender, Book 5) which was also acceptable. But by the end of the book, he was just Danny--still gifted like Ender and Bean, but with his own personality--as sly as Bean, but much more comfortable with his own sense of humor.


Because The Lost Gate takes place in such a complicated world, much of the novel is explanation and exposition. But OSC is a master storyteller. He weaves the physics of gatemaking almost seamlessly into the narrative. I enjoyed every page.


The Lost Gate is a crossover novel--marketed to both teenagers and adults. I recommend it only for very mature teens. The writing is complex and Danny and Wad find themselves in some adult situations. Although my kids loved Ender's Game, I'm not ready to recommend this one to them yet.
 

Cute Video, Creepy Lyrics/Cute Lyrics, Creepy Video

I'm moving away from hip hop this week to talk about some of my favorite country music. I recently discovered Sugarland, the country duo of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush. Their song, Stuck Like Glue is a bouncy, fun love song. The music video features Captain Awesome from Chuck--what's not to love about that??? (Ryan McPartlin)

Well, for one thing, the music video is actually pretty creepy. My kids don't quite understand why I find it so disturbing--but I'd like to think no one would get away with making a cute music video about a man kidnapping a woman, tying her up, getting her drunk and then punching her in the face. Why should a man be any different?

When I talked to my kids about this, J called the woman a "creeper," which is such a great description that I had to add it.

 

Moving on to The Band Perry. Kimberly Perry is the lead vocalist in a band with her 2 brothers. When I first heard the song "If I Die Young" I liked everything except the lyrics, which seem to celebrate dying--"And maybe then you'll hear the words I've been singing/Funny when you're dead how people start listening." Since The Band Perry appeals to a young audience, I wasn't impressed by such dark lyrics.

But the music video is amazing! It changed the whole song for me. I'm a big Anne of Green Gables fan. Do you remember the scene where Anne is pretending to be the Lady of Shallott, and her boat starts to sink? Welcome to this music video. She's even holding a book of poems by Tennyson. 

We all like this song, but it's my eight year old who sings (all day long!) about how she wants to be buried in satin and sunk in the river at dawn.

Howl's Moving Castle

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
by: Diana Wynne Jones
429 pages
published in 1986

I was between stacks of reading material this week, so I reread one of my favorites. This book is full of chapters called things like "Chapter 5, Which Is Far Too Full of Washing" and "Chapter 6, In Which Howl Expresses His Feelings With Green Slime". Plus it's got Howl, the consummate talented, vain and charming man with a well-hidden heart of gold. Diana Wynne Jones is a prolific and talented author, and this is probably her best work. No one else could have pulled it off.

Sophie is a beautiful young lady until the Witch of the Waste curses her with old age.To break the curse, she makes a deal with a fire demon named Calcifer--if she can free him from the heartless wizard Howl, Calicifer promises to break the enchantment that makes her old. From the very beginning I wanted this to be a love story--but how could it be, when she calls all the eligible bachelors "young man" and works as Howl's cleaning lady?

I give this my highest recommendation.

Bruno Mars

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

 

Isn't Bruno Mars a cutie? He kind of reminds me of Michael Jackson in his too-perfect-to-be real phase. Just The Way You Are came on the radio at least a dozen times today. I started loving this song in a strange way. I kept hearing the tail end of it on the radio. The sweet lyrics even brought a tear or two to my eyes. I imagined that he was singing the song to a burn victim.

My oldest daughter and I were talking about the importance of loving someone for who they were on the inside, and I used this song as an example of that. And then I contrasted it to that other song I kept hearing on the radio...the one that started, "Her eyes, her eyes, Make the stars look like they're not shining; Her hair, her hair, Looks beautiful without her trying; She's so beautiful..." I would always get disgusted at that point and turn it off.

She looked at me kind of strangely and said, "You know that's the exact same song, don't you?" Google was called on to settle the matter, and as usual, she won. Still, I like this song, even if it's not quite as "beauty is only skin deep" as I'd originally thought it was.

GRENADE

And speaking of Bruno Mars...I love Grenade even better. What a talented guy. Personally, I think these lyrics shine.

The Club Can't Handle Me, pt. 2

A few days ago I posted about dancing in the church parking lot during a snow storm at nighttime. We were waiting for my friend Renee to pick up her daughters and their friend. After reading my version of events, she sent me a message on facebook with her journal entry about the event. It was so amazing that I asked permission to post it here:

And turning quickly I saw them there, 5 perhaps 6, dancing in the moonbeams on a field of white. Fairies I think they were. Some were linked hand-in-hand as in a childhood game of ring-around-the-rosies. Others were solitary, with arms raised in praise to the heavens. Each head was thrown back in joyous laughter. Almost it seemed, in the same instant that I saw them, they were gone, spirited away to another plane. But their brilliance filled my spirit with happiness all the way home.

Even if the soundtrack was a silly hip hop song, this was the exact feeling of it. It was a magical moment. 

A Kiss In Time

A KISS IN TIME

by: Alex Flinn

371 pages

published in 2009

Synopsis:

Talia is your typical Sleeping Beauty. Jack is your typical red blooded American boy. After he breaks the curse that has kept her asleep for 316 years, they flee from the wrath of her father. Where do they go? To Florida of course. Talia has lots to learn about modern day life, and Jack has lots to learn about women.

Review:

This is the last book in my stack of overdue library books, and I saved the best for last. This book was complete fun. It was such a fluffy, silly plot, but I love to watch good characters grow.  This is a book for mature teenagers. In one party scene they drink beer and Talia innocently gets drunk from jell-o shots and is nearly taken advantage of. This book could generate some interesting discussions about underage drinking or about how our perceptions of beauty have changed over time, and what beauty really is.

The Club Can't Handle Me

Woo hoo! Such good news in the Crouse world! I LOVE this song. There hasn't been a song this impossible to not dance to since Fire Burning by Sean Kingston. Even my husband has been heard surreptitiously whistling it as he walks down the hall.

Last Saturday I went on a 65 mile (each way) journey with 5 teenagers in the car in a snowstorm at night. We got back to the church to rendezvous with their ride home. We had a few minutes to kill, and Club Can't Handle Me came on the mp3 player. Imagine us with the music up high, dancing around the parking lot with big fluffy snowflakes falling all around us. It was--by far--the best part of the whole night.

But I've been cautious about watching the music video, because I'm leery of anyone who would sing a duet with Ke$ha (They sang Right Round together a couple of years ago.)

But I finally sat down to watch it, and it's the most appropriate clubbing music video I've ever seen. I'm not much of a car girl, but from the start, when Flo Rida is getting out of that AMAZING car and throwing money around, it was just an extravaganza of fun.

A Constant Heart

A CONSTANT HEART
by: Siri Mitchell
381 pages 
published in 2008

Synopsis:
Marget Barnardsen seems to lead a charmed life. She is intelligent, beautiful and bound to marry the Earl of Lytham. But for some reason both her new husband and Queen Elizabeth despise her. Desperate to win her husband's heart, she'll do whatever it takes to discover why and capture the love of a man bound to the queen.  

Review:
Yes, every now and then I do read a book that isn't fantasy. I've been trying to find a good YA historical fiction, and I think this qualifies, though Marget is married, which is unusual in YA. This is a book for mature teens because there are many references to sex, including the consummation of a loveless marriage and several propositions of affairs. However, it is mostly implied and the main characters try very hard to do what is right.
  
As silly as it might seem, the most thrilling parts of this book for me were the face paint and hair products. I couldn't stop reading, I was so desperate for her to realize that the mercury and lead laced products were destroying her health, beauty and even more important things. It made me take a second look at the chemicals in my own life. A Constant Heart is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a courtier during Queen Elizabeth's reign. I look forward to reading more by Siri Mitchell.

Ready, Set

We've been dancing to this song all day.

Radiant Darkness

RADIANT DARKNESS
by: Emily Whitman
270 pages
published in 2009

Synopsis:
All you scholars of ancient myths, listen up! They've been telling Persephone's story wrong for centuries. Her mother is a goddess, and she created a paradise for Persephone, but Persephone was trapped there, doomed to be her mother's child forever. The book begins with the words, "I hate eternity." But then HE comes, and tames her as carefully as he would his wild horses, and makes her the queen of the underworld. But her love for the world of the dead may cause the destruction of the world of the living.

Review:
Another book out of the pile my daughter forced me to read over Christmas vacation. I really ought to start listening to that girl. This is a beautiful book. Too often, I fall in love with the hero of the story, and am left wondering what he sees in the cardboard heroine. But I love Persephone. More often than not, she makes the same decisions I think I would make if my mother was immortal and wanted me to stay twelve years old for eternity. Or if I realized I fell in love with Hades, the god of the underworld. And I'm pretty cool. ;^)

I think this book is appropriate for most teenagers. There is some kissing, but although Persephone and Hades are married, references to anything beyond that are very, very veiled.

My Fair Godmother

MY FAIR GODMOTHER
by: Janette Rallison
311 pages
published by Walker & Co: A Division of Bloomsbury Publishing Co.

Synopsis: 
Savannah is shocked when her boyfriend breaks up with her for her quiet sister Jane. It's even more humiliating when they try to find her a date to prom. Enter Chrysanthemum Everstar, Savannah's teenage diva of a fairy godmother. If only "Chrissy" would pay attention to Savannah's wishes. Instead, Savannah's first two wishes send her back in time, first as Cinderella and then as Snow White. Her last wish is even more disastrous and Savannah must find a way to rescue Tristan, the cute boy from school who gets sent to the middle ages.

Review:
This is completely not my usual kind of book. I bought it for my teenage daughter for Christmas, and she forced me to read it. I'm so glad she did. It is incredibly funny, especially chapter 2, when the top of Savannah's swim suit falls off at the pool. To the chagrin of the rest of my family, my daughter and I have read it out loud to each other twice now. It's hysterical.


The first few chapters are amazing, but Savannah's stints as Cinderella and Snow White are a little dull.  But Savannah is growing and changing, and once she goes to rescue Tristan, it's hard to even set the book down. I love that it was not the studious older sister who needed the fairy godmother, but the beautiful and socially adept Savannah. It was disconcerting but lovely that Savannah was neither the hero of her own story nor the traditional damsel in distress. Instead, she and Tristan have to rescue each other.


The sequel, My Unfair Godmother, is coming out in April. It won't have the same characters, except the airheaded Fair Godmother, Chrissy. I have my fingers crossed that she gets a taste of her own medicine.

The Lost Hero

THE LOST HERO 
by: Rick Riordan
From the Heroes of Olympus series
Pages: 533
Published by Disney/Hyperion Books in 2010

Synopsis:
Jason has a problem: he doesn't remember anything--not his own name, the name of the girl he is holding hands with, or how he wound up on a school bus full of "bad kids". As if that wasn't disorienting enough, monsters attack his school bus and he and his friends are rescued and taken to Camp Half-Blood. Soon, he is leading a quest to rescue Hera--the goddess who stole his memories.

Review:
THE LOST HERO is my favorite book written by Rick Riordan. It is told from the point of view of three demigods. Jason is the son of  Jupiter (the Roman name for Zeus). Piper is the girlfriend he can't remember. Leo is my favorite character. It's both his sense of humor and his tragic life story that raise this story above the Percy Jackson series for me.

Percy is not in this book, but his very absence adds to the suspense. He's vanished, and Annabeth is searching for him. There are so many tantalizing hints about where he's gone that I'm already antsy for book 2, which is coming out in Fall 2011. It's called THE SON OF NEPTUNE, so I've got my fingers crossed that it's the story of what's been happening to Percy while Annabeth is searching for him.

You don't need to have read the PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS series to enjoy this book, although I recommend it. Knowing the backstory definitely adds a sheen to THE LOST HERO.

Knock Three Times

A new year, a new resolution. When I started this blog in 2010, I wasn't sure what I wanted it to be. I think I've figured that out now, thanks to a facebook status update by a friend of mine, Christina Lowe. It said simply, "Because sharing what you love is fun." Such a brilliant A-HA moment for me. I want to share the things I love. 

This will be the place where my values meet up with fun stuff, with a blatant disregard for its age. Did a great song come out in the 1970's? I'm sharing it here. Did I finally read a great book that everyone else was talking about a year ago? I'll tell you all about it.



I promised a friend my first post would be a song called "Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando and Dawn. This song came out the year I was born (1971), and the hairstyles are guaranteed to make you laugh, but I love this song. One of my earliest memories was of my mom making me my own personal cassette tape--back when that was cutting edge technology. We were all alone in the house, and I remember she was very worried that someone would knock on the door while we were making the tape, so it must have been old technology indeed. I can only remember the first 3 songs on the tape--S-A-T  U R-D-A-Y Night, the Monster Mash, and Knock Three Times. I wore that tape out listening to those 3 songs.

Knock Three Times was one of the first songs I bought when I got an mp3 player, and now I have a whole new set of memories set to this song. My kids thought the part that goes, "When you look out your window tonight/Pull in the string with the note that's attached to my heart" was as overly sentimental as a song could get. Whenever they hear it, J pretends to pull on a string and D gasps, grabs his heart and falls to his knees as though she just ripped out his heart.*

*edited to add: J says D doesn't just fall to the floor, he starts screaming, and knocks into the coffee table.