WWW Wednesdays – May 16, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West. So far I’m enjoying it, especially since I have no idea where the story is going.

 

- What I recently finished reading

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. What a wonderful book, mixing  words, detailed pencil illustrations, even a few photographs so well. What a beautiful story, where strangers find out they’re all connected in one way or another. What a great mystery to be solved, piece by piece, just like the gears of the automaton Hugo tries to fix. And what great homage to the history of cinema. I recommend this amazing works of art to all children from 8 to 99.

 

 - What I think I’ll read next

My to-read bookshelf is almost empty so I’ll have to see if something new arrived at the library or if I need to pick a book from my own collection.

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
- Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. We LOVE this book as it is simply hilarious! Floyd’s kite gets stuck in a tree, so the boy tries to knock it down by throwing increasingly larger and more outrageous things. You’d think when he grabs a ladder, and later on a saw, he’d finally use them right. But no, he keeps throwing them up the tree!
- Bedhead by Margie Palatini. This book is for anyone who’s ever had a bad hair day, and forgot it was picture day…
- Bad Boys Get Cookie! by Margie Palitini. The Bad Boys are back! Wolves Willy and Wally try to satisfy their sweet-tooth craving by chasing down a runaway gingerbread man. Unfortunately they try to attract it by dressing up as Hansel and Gretel, only to run into a witch in front of her gingerbread house who offers them to come inside for some sweets. Very funny!

- What they recently finished reading
I’d like to recommend a few books for the younger crowd (age 2-4) we recently read because we really liked them, even though my kids are getting too old for them.
- Jazzy in the Jungle by Lucy Cousins. In this book full of die-cut pages, the jungle animals help Mama JoJo find her baby lemur Jazzy.
- Wow City! and Wow School! by Robert Neubecker. We’ve read them before so this was a request for seconds (probably thirds). In Wow City! Izzy takes a trip to the big city with her father, and in Wow School! she starts her first day at school. In both books, a yellow dog is hiding somewhere in the picture on every spread. My kids just requested Wow America! again and I just saw that a brand new Wow Ocean! is coming out tomorrow. I’ll have to check my library for this one…

- What I think they’ll read next
I ordered a whole bunch of early reader books so we’ll find out if they’re any good soon enough. What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

If you enjoyed reading this post and would like to receive future postings, please enter your email address and click the Sign Up button at the top right of this page. Thank you for reading!

Oops, did I just hear the F word?

A few days ago my four-year old got in trouble at preschool for bossing the other kids around. The teacher was getting the classroom ready for an obstacle course and the kids were being pretty loud and rambunctious. So my son decided to take the matter in his own hands and tell his classmates to “shut up!”. I don’t know if he was effective but it didn’t go well with his teacher, who relayed the incident to me. He seems to be going through a “testing” stage right now and likes to assume his individuality and test boundaries, which can get on my nerves but I know he’ll eventually get over it.

I figured out the best thing to do would be to have him apologize to his teacher about telling the other kids to shut up. So we walked into the classroom the next morning while the teacher was alone and the other kids were standing outside. I asked my son what he had to say to his teacher.

“Sorry,” he said in a shy voice.

“Sorry for what?” I asked.

“Sorry for saying f&*^%ing.”

Oops, did I just hear the F word? Fortunately his teacher seems to have a good sense of humor because she couldn’t help but burst out laughing. As for me, I thought it was pretty f&*^%ing funny too! What can I say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree… This one will definitely make it to my Kids Say the Darndest Things list.

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!

Catching up on a few blog awards

You like me, you really like me!

Sally Field giving her Oscar acceptance speech

I’m always thankful when a fellow blogger enjoys my blog enough to offer me an award. Well, that’s until I realize I have write an acceptance speech and disclose my four-number ATM pin (don’t scroll down and look for it, you won’t find it). On top of that I have to pass the award on to other bloggers who haven’t received the same one already.

I’ll admit it, my favorite part about blog awards is reading the blogger’s response to the required exercise. Since they spend some time doing it, why couldn’t I do the same? Here are the two blog awards I received recently.

The Liebster Blog Award

Thank you, Vivian at Positive Parental Parenting for rewarding me. Let me share five things you may not know about me:

1) My #1 favorite food is Nutella and if I could live off it, I would. I like it on bread, pancakes, waffles, crepes, bananas, and my favorite, by the spoonful. Nutella is to French kids what peanut butter is to American kids. Let me tell you a secret. Nutella wins hands down.

2) I haven’t eaten beef (or pork, or lamb, or other read meats) for almost 25 years and I don’t miss it. I think it’s quite appropriate for someone who likes to blog about cows almost every day.

3) I’ve bitten my nails my whole life. I’ve tried and failed to stop many times. Kristen at Motherese shared her similar struggle but she seems to breaking the habit and offered a few tips. I have to make changes to my 101 in 1001 list and it may be time to put this one on there…

4) I hate spiders. As in, I really, really hate spiders. Nothing you can say will change my mind about those ugly, creepy-crawly creatures, especially when they suddenly appear on my bathroom or bedroom ceiling. I clearly couldn’t convert to Buddhism.

5) I don’t have cable TV and I like it. I unplugged almost three years ago and watch a few shows online instead. None of them are reality TV, and no, I don’t miss a thing.

Passing this award to other bloggers who haven’t already received it is tough, but here are a few blogs I enjoy reading and I encourage you to visit them:
- Sarsm’s Blog – she has my crazy life + 2 more kids (yikes!)
- Smile, kiddo - great thoughts on meditating and enjoying life’s great little moments
- Pseu’s blog – beautiful photos and lovely writings
- jmgoyder – sorry, I missed you in my original post… I really like this blog about peacocks, emus and the ups and downs of life and how a debilitating disease can affect a whole family

The Awsome Blog Content Award (ABC)

Thanks, Carrie at The Write Transition for this award. I encourage you to visit Carrie’s blog if you’re not a fan yet – she’s hilarious, in her own special way.

As a recipient of the ABC award, I’m supposed describe myself using every letter of the alphabet. Instead I thought I’d share my favorite American/English words. Here we go!

Amaze. I love stumbling upon the big and little moments that amaze me.

Brownie. My favorite American dessert (at least until I get to the letter I)

Crickey! (R.I.P. Steve Irwin, my favorite crocodile hunter)

Delicious. Just the sound of it makes me salivate.

Epiphany. We could all use one of these once in a while.

F*&k. Sorry if I offend you but it’s my favorite swear word. There’s no other f*&cking word you can use in any f*&cking sentence and people understand what it f*&cking means.

Gobbledygook. I dare you to say this word with a straight face.

Hug. A short and simple word for something that feels so good.

Ice Cream. My other favorite American dessert. Rocky Road is yummy but anything with brownie pieces (letter B) in there is delicious (letter D).

Joy. As when I watch my kids playing together and laughing. Pure joy.

Kindness. This world would be a much better place with a little more kindness going around.

Life. Life is beautiful, magical and precious. Let’s enjoy the ride.

Mama. I never get tired of hearing it (unless it comes with a whining intonation).

Nincompoop. The funniest sounding insult and I couldn’t use it without giggling, so I don’t.

Oxymoron. A nice word when you don’t want to directly call someone a moron, and instead pretend to just target their words.

Please. One of the most powerful magic words.

Quiet. I wish I had more of it once in a while, but I enjoy every bit I get.

Reading. One of my favorite activities, especially when it’s quiet.

Superfragilisticexpialidocious. I’m a Mary Poppins fan, even though I can’t say the damn word.

Thanks. The other most powerful magic word.

Unique. Everyone, starting early on in school, tries to force us into fitting a set mold. What’s wrong with each of us embracing our uniqueness and making the world more diverse and interesting?

Voila. A French word 99% of Americans actually understand and use properly.

Wonder. Never stop wondering, what if?

Xerox. One of those company names that eventually entered the dictionary as a common name to describe the action of photocopying. Take that, Google!

Yes. One word that tends to open doors of opportunity.

Zigzag. A word that sounds just like what it means.

Here are the bloggers I’m punishing I’m rewarding by offering this award:
- Sarsm’s Blog – yes, I already gave her the Liebster award but she deserves more than one for everything she puts up with every day.
- Motherese – beautiful writings and thoughts on motherhood.
- Positive Parental Parenting – because she does have really good content.

Congratulations, everyone!

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Unusual

WARNING: Photo below not for the squeamish…

When you have kids, life is anything but usual. As much as you try to establish a routine, things can get off track pretty easily and test your parenting skills. But I believe most of us wouldn’t have it any other way, right?

On top of that, so many things can happen during any given day. Some of them are unexpected, even unusual. One November day last year, an uninvited visitor decided to stick itself right on our sliding window.

I took this picture and then realized my close-up effect made the grasshopper look humongous and quite threatening. My only regret was not to have cleaner windows for the occasion…

Grasshopper visits us on the window

This guy was pretty big (about two inches long) but not as long as the gigantic grasshoppers we sometimes see in our yard. The funny thing is, it wouldn’t get off the window, no matter how hard the kids banged on it. But hey, how often do they get to see a grasshopper up close?

And if this grasshopper’s close-up  is not unusual enough for you, hopefully this will do it – two ducks take a stroll in our backyard… Go ahead, guys, make yourselves at home!

Ducks walking in our backyard