WWW Wednesdays – May 23, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
I’m still reading Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West. I’ve been busy working on several projects at night and I’ve had little time to read. The book’s font size is also a little small for me, which doesn’t help with the reading speed.

 

- What I recently finished reading

Nothing new since last week. :-(

 

 - What I think I’ll read next

Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan and  Bret Witter. With almost 600 five-star ratings on Amazon, I have a feeling this book is quite special. It tells the true story of a decorated U.S. soldier who came back from Iraq physically and emotionally injured, and how a golden retriever helped with his recovery. Tissues, please…

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
- Wild & Woolly by Mary Jessie Parker. Wild, a bighorn sheep, and Wooly, a ranch sheep, decide to try each other’s lives for a day but find out they prefer their own after all. At the end of the story, I love asking my kids which sheep’s life they’d prefer to have and why. It gives me great insight on their thinking patterns and personal tastes.
-  Little Monkey Lost by Keith DuQuette. Little Monkey is bored and decides to find adventure in the jungle. There he meets nine different kinds of monkeys who teach him fun new things. The end of the book features many facts about the New World Monkeys pictured and my kids like sharing the names and facts of each monkey type.
- The Birdwatchers by Simon James. “When I go birdwatching, things happen,” Grandad says. After hearing so many stories about birdwatching from her grandfather, Jess decides to join him one day. By the end of the day, she’s had the opportunity to seen plenty of birds, including a pair of dancing penguins! A very sweet story teaching respect about nature.

- What they recently finished reading
- Dinorella : A Prehistoric Fairy Tale by Pamela Duncan Edwards. What a wacky and funny story: imagine Cinderella but featuring dinosaurs. And I hope you don’t have a problem enunciating the letter D because this book is full of Ds! As in, “Dinorella is dying to go to the dance, but her dreadful stepsisters, Doris and Dora, declare she’s too dowdy and dull.” Fairy-Dactyl to the rescue!
- I Dream of Trains by Angela Johnson. This is the poignant story of the son of a sharecropper who dreams of leaving Mississippi on a train with the legendary engineer Casey Jones and his black fireman Sim Webb. My kids are a little too young to grasp all the concepts in this book (slavery, cotton picker, the great migration, etc) but it was a great introduction. I also had no idea who Casey Jones was until then, but the last page of the book gives a lot of information about him and the themes in general, so this was a good lesson for all of us.

- What I think they’ll read next
I got so many books from the library this past week, you wouldn’t believe. I’m sure there’s some good stuff in there! What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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I love you, Mama!

My early Mother’s Day card from art class

In honor of this upcoming Mother’s Day, I’d like to share a funny story about my personal journey through motherhood.

I love hugging, kissing and cuddling my kids throughout the day. And without prompting they often will do the same to me, even to each other. Watching these two brothers hugging will always be my favorite part! Every night before the kids go to sleep, I spend a few minutes in each bed, cuddling with them individually.

Here’s how things usually go with my four-year old when I’m about to leave his bed for the night. 

“Je t’aime beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup,” I’ll say.

If you don’t speak any French, this means I love you very, very, very much. 

To which my son will always (ALWAYS) respond, “I love you, caca liquide.” 

Again, if you don’t speak French you may need me to translate this one. Are you ready for it? It means, I love you, liquid poop. Lovely.

To his defense, you have to understand that over the years we’ve endured many bouts of digestive problems, stomach viruses and gross toilet stories. Diarrhea has been one of the many symptoms, but caca liquide is a lot easier to pronounce for a little one. And so it’s stuck with him as a “tender” term to call his own mother. It’s one of those jokes we’re both in on. Er, I think…

A couple of days ago though, the routine suddenly changed. Maybe my son was very tired and had already put his funny hat down for the night.

“Je t’aime beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup,” I told him.

“I love you, Mama,” he replied.

Say what? Oh my gosh, I love this kid! He finally admits he loves me, just me, no toilet jokes included. Ah, it felt so good.

So last night, I got myself ready for a repeat. I know, I do have high expectations for him, but it’s good to try to reach for the stars.

As I was leaving his bed, I whispered “Je t’aime beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup.”

That’s when I heard, “Je t’aime beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup, caca liquide.”

What can I say? The kid said it all in French! I’m a proud, beaming Mama…

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms around the world, whether you’re celebrating this weekend, or did earlier this week (year) or will do so later this month.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Sun

Since I live in San Diego, CA, I get to see a lot of sun. More sun than many people in other parts of the world. And even more sun than the people who live by the beach in San Diego and experience the thick marine layer that won’t lift off many days of the year.

Even though it can get pretty hot in the summer (90 degrees and up in the middle of the day is common, 35 degrees and up for those of you outside of the U.S.) and we go through a lot of sunscreen, hats and sunglasses, I can’t complain. It doesn’t as hot as the rest of the Southwest (boiling Arizona, anyone?) and I never experience “lack-of-sunlight” caused depression, i.e. seasonal affective disorder, in the winter.

The weather is the main reason I moved to San Diego 14 years ago and I don’t regret my choice. It’s also a great place to raise little kids, with so many attractions to visit and a wide variety of landscapes. Am I making you want to move here yet? Wait, gas is at least $4.25 a gallon now, always one of the highest prices in the country. How does that sound?

There’s something about the San Diego sunlight that makes for great photos. Maybe it’s the latitude we’re at and the way the sun rays hit us, but our sky is often a gorgeous blue. However, if you want to take great pictures of landscapes, you need to do it early in the morning or from the right angle, or in the winter, when the sun rays aren’t so bright. Otherwise, you get something like this:

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Sun

That day I was trying to take a photo of the different types of steam clouds caused by several airplanes in the sky, but no matter how low or high I aimed the camera, I kept getting the sun rays in the lens. The sun was just in the wrong place for me. 

Last year when we went on vacation to Iddylwild, a lovely tiny town in the mountains of Southern California, we got to enjoy several walks in the woods. It was refreshing to see so many large trees, mostly fragrant pine trees, especially since 95% of the trees in the mountains of San Diego County burned down in the wildfires of 2003, and then again in 2008. I took a lot of pictures during our trip, but I like this one especially, showing the imposing height of this pine tree as it hides the sun behind.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Sun behind a pine tree in Idyllwild

Look at this wonderful tree. Nature stands tall in front of me, and I can only bow in admiration.

How to have a memorable start of the week

After a two-week hiatus for Spring break, my boys went back to school this morning. My five-year old starts at 8:15am so his brother and I drove to school to drop him off first. The two of us then go back to my car and read books while waiting for preschool to start 30 minutes later.

I had parked a little far away from the school so I gave my son the option to drive into the school parking lot when the time came. Except, I didn’t plan on my car not to start. Nooooooooooo! I had power and I could hear some electronic noises as I turned the key in the ignition, but it was still a no-go.

So we walked to class while the wheels in my head started spinning. I had planned to stop by my P.O. box to collect an overdue client’s check, bring all of my payments to the bank, stop by the library to drop off books and get new ones, inquire about summer camps, even do some work… Of course it would all have to wait until I found out what was wrong with my car. 

As we were walking, I heard my little guy express some concern. If my car was going to need repair, how would I pick up his brother from school and get everybody home? I loved to see how concerned he was about his brother’s well-being. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he gets picked up two hours before his brother, so I may have a problem…

Back in my car, I called Ford Roadside Assistance. They promised me a tow truck in 45 minutes. It arrives in just 20. The tow truck driver inquired about my car trouble. I demonstrated the no-start feature and he guessed the battery was probably dead. But I still have power, I said! Can you guess I don’t know much about cars? For my defense, the last time I had a dead battery, the car was completely dead – no vital signs whatsoever. The driver brought jumper cables over, connected them to my battery and asked me to start the car. Vrooooom! Halleluyah!

Damn car battery, dead after only 20,000 miles. I’ll blame three people for this. My two kids for leaving the overhead lights on overnight too many times. How many times have I asked you to turn off those lights? You’re going to drain my battery. Well, you’ve done it now! Of course, I should also blame myself for leaving the car doors and trunk open all the time when the car is parked in the garage. And for leaving the radio and fan on every day when I stay in the car with my youngest before preschool.

I thanked Akram, my Middle-Eastern tow truck driver, for saving the day. This guy had the most mesmerizing golden eyes I’ve ever seen. So cool looking I really wanted to take a picture of them. Come on, what’s my chance of meeting someone with such rare eye color ever again? But I didn’t want to look more looney than I already appeared, so I got back in my car and drove off. Instead I took a picture of this very cute rabbit, who was having a feeding frenzy while I was waiting for the tow truck.

White tail jack rabbit in San Diego

I drove to Pepboys and got a new car battery in just 45 minutes, leaving me enough time to run a few of my errands before picking up my four-year old from preschool at noon. Not bad after such a bumpy start.

Happy Monday, everyone!

WWW Wednesdays – April 4, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
Tonight I will start My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire by Michelle Goodman. I’ve read several books on freelancing as a professional writer already, but few of them were written by women, so this one could be interesting.

 

- What I recently finished reading
The Necromancer (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) by Michael Scott. This series just keeps getting better and this book was no exception. I can’t believe they haven’t made movies out of this series.

 

- What I think I’ll read next
Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West. I read Gone with a Handsomer Man a few months ago and loved it. It was definitely one of the funniest murder stories I’ve ever read, so I’m hoping this book won’t disappoint either.

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
Lots of books with an Easter theme!
- Max’s Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells. We love Max & Ruby and this has to be one of our favorite stories. Max and Ruby go on an egg hunt, the prize for the most eggs gathered being a chocolate chicken. Max can’t find any eggs but he really wants the chocolate…
- The Easter Bunny That Overslept by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich. Poor Easter bunny sleepts past Easter so he tries to distribute his eggs on Mother’s Day, the Fourth of July and Halloween. Nobody is interested until dear old Santa Claus manages to get him back on track.
- Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs by Janet Morgan Stoeke. When she notices several unattended, colorful eggs, Minerva Louise decides to gather them and keep them warm. Can you imagine the surprise on the faces of the East egg hunters when they can’t find any eggs?

- What they recently finished reading
- Too busy Marco by Roz Chast. Marco the parrot is way too busy having adventures to go to bed. My five-year old and Marco share the same aspirations: they both want to be deep sea diver artist-inventors when they grow up…
- Where Is The Cake? and Where Is The Cake Now? by T.T. Khing - two wordless books with many stories within the story. And only sharp eyes will figure out what really happened to the cakes in both books.

- What I think they’ll read next
I have no idea but the surprise effect is part of the fun.

What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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