Suffering today from the effects of some kind of stomach bug, and the additional effects of lost sleep from getting up to take care of children suffering from said stomach bug. Not at my best today. Therefore, 5 things that make me happy right now (and for once, coffee will NOT be on the list):
1. Sims. What can I say, they're like automated paper dolls and appeal to the perennial 12-year-old in me.
2. Veronica got through the night pull-up free! Yay! One less set of pull-ups to buy.
3. Having caught up and gotten back on my regular laundry schedule after our trip! It was a long couple of days filled with constant wash loads, but it's all clean now.
4. Books! The unpacking is moving along - just 22 boxes to go.
5. Summer. So nice to have the time off with nowhere to be and no schedules to stick to.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
book reviews
Tomorrow, I promise, something more substantive! For today, catching up a bit on what I read while on vacation:
Jean Webster, Daddy Long-Legs. This is a really nice little book. Good story, told interestingly through letters, sweet little plot, and the picture of the main character as this girl finding herself through the generosity of an anonymous benefactor is a vivid one.
Hugh Pentecost, Random Killer. Not a bad entry, but not his best. The plot was a bit far-fetched, I thought, and while I liked that the action actually left not only the hotel but the city, for once, there wasn't a lot of point to it. Most of what was learned on the trip could have been learned in phone calls.
Betty MacDonald, The Egg & I. This was my book group's most recent selection. Interestingly, I liked it a lot more than the rest of the group, which is not the norm! While I wasn't overwhelmed by the author, as apparently many have been, I thought it was a good solid book, interesting, vividly written, and amusing.
Albert Jerome Dickson, Covered Wagon Days. This was a very readable, detail-filled memoir of a boy's trip west during the westward migration. He relates clothing styles, food, incidents on the trail, and backs up his work with quotations from elsewhere. Really good read, very informative.
Jean Webster, Daddy Long-Legs. This is a really nice little book. Good story, told interestingly through letters, sweet little plot, and the picture of the main character as this girl finding herself through the generosity of an anonymous benefactor is a vivid one.
Hugh Pentecost, Random Killer. Not a bad entry, but not his best. The plot was a bit far-fetched, I thought, and while I liked that the action actually left not only the hotel but the city, for once, there wasn't a lot of point to it. Most of what was learned on the trip could have been learned in phone calls.
Betty MacDonald, The Egg & I. This was my book group's most recent selection. Interestingly, I liked it a lot more than the rest of the group, which is not the norm! While I wasn't overwhelmed by the author, as apparently many have been, I thought it was a good solid book, interesting, vividly written, and amusing.
Albert Jerome Dickson, Covered Wagon Days. This was a very readable, detail-filled memoir of a boy's trip west during the westward migration. He relates clothing styles, food, incidents on the trail, and backs up his work with quotations from elsewhere. Really good read, very informative.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
book reviews
One more before we head out:
Henri Sorenson, New Hope. This is a children's book about the history of a small town in the upper midwest, started by a single settler. Very nice drawings and detailed history. (Also, may I add how much I dislike spell-check - it's trying to tell me there's something wrong with the word "children's". Please.)
Hugh Pentecost, Walking Dead Man. Interesting premise, having long-term effects on the characters and a nice little twist. Sharply delineated characters, as well. But a muddy plot point that it all hinges on - not sure I understood exactly what the killer's motivation was.
Robert Lawson, Rabbit Hill. This is an old favorite that I've read several times. Just finished reading it to the kids, who were by turns bored to tears and really disturbed. Guess I hadn't realized how dark it is, for one thing, and how wordy it is, for another. I enjoyed it, though!
Hugh Pentecost, Birthday Deathday. I liked this one, too. I didn't see the twist coming at all, liked the approach to the mystery, and really enjoyed the denouement. One of his better offerings.
Henri Sorenson, New Hope. This is a children's book about the history of a small town in the upper midwest, started by a single settler. Very nice drawings and detailed history. (Also, may I add how much I dislike spell-check - it's trying to tell me there's something wrong with the word "children's". Please.)
Hugh Pentecost, Walking Dead Man. Interesting premise, having long-term effects on the characters and a nice little twist. Sharply delineated characters, as well. But a muddy plot point that it all hinges on - not sure I understood exactly what the killer's motivation was.
Robert Lawson, Rabbit Hill. This is an old favorite that I've read several times. Just finished reading it to the kids, who were by turns bored to tears and really disturbed. Guess I hadn't realized how dark it is, for one thing, and how wordy it is, for another. I enjoyed it, though!
Hugh Pentecost, Birthday Deathday. I liked this one, too. I didn't see the twist coming at all, liked the approach to the mystery, and really enjoyed the denouement. One of his better offerings.
Monday, July 20, 2009
book reviews
I have quite a few books to get through, and am about to go on vacation and generate more, so here goes another set:
Hugh Pentecost, The Deadly Joke. Not bad. Very late-'60s "youth as a violent anarchic mob"-esque, but the plot was pretty good and the characters fresh.
Hugh Pentecost, Death After Breakfast. I liked the attempt to change things up by having Chambrun removed from the scene for a while ... but I found, overall, the plot "twists" were ridiculously easy to follow and the sleuthing team seemed unusually dim.
Louis L'Amour, The Californios. You know how I love my L'Amour (ha!), but this one was not good. I mean, I guess every great artist has to miss occasionally, but this one felt both careless and stilted - as though it was meant to have been tossed off in a hurry to meet a deadline, but was a battle to get down every word. Uninspired, boring characters, and a subplot of fantasy and mysticism that left me cold. Not a keeper.
Louisa May Alcott, Under the Lilacs. I liked this one. Very Eight Cousins in tone and theme, but with interesting characters, morally ambiguous decisions, and a lot going on under its simple, bucolic storyline. Quite good.
Hugh Pentecost, The Deadly Joke. Not bad. Very late-'60s "youth as a violent anarchic mob"-esque, but the plot was pretty good and the characters fresh.
Hugh Pentecost, Death After Breakfast. I liked the attempt to change things up by having Chambrun removed from the scene for a while ... but I found, overall, the plot "twists" were ridiculously easy to follow and the sleuthing team seemed unusually dim.
Louis L'Amour, The Californios. You know how I love my L'Amour (ha!), but this one was not good. I mean, I guess every great artist has to miss occasionally, but this one felt both careless and stilted - as though it was meant to have been tossed off in a hurry to meet a deadline, but was a battle to get down every word. Uninspired, boring characters, and a subplot of fantasy and mysticism that left me cold. Not a keeper.
Louisa May Alcott, Under the Lilacs. I liked this one. Very Eight Cousins in tone and theme, but with interesting characters, morally ambiguous decisions, and a lot going on under its simple, bucolic storyline. Quite good.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
book reviews
Hugh Pentecost, The Evil That Men Do. A very early entry - the second book in the series, I think. I liked the plot quite a bit, though. Vivid characters, a little bit of twisting and turning - not bad.
Jean Zimmerman, The Women of the House. I picked this one up at the Museum of Natural History last summer. It's the story of a family dynasty in New Amsterdam/early New York. Not only is it an interesting history of this family and of the area, it's extremely detailed - the early chapters especially are incredibly vivid and well depicted.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, On the Banks of Plum Creek. Obviously a reread, although I haven't read this one in a long time. It's not one of my favorites in the series - but of course, a wonderful classic! I find it interesting in rereading the early books of the series to watch the interactions between the characters. Laura clearly felt herself to be Pa's favorite ... I wonder how different the books would have been had Mary written them. And circumstances where the family is separated take their toll on the children, but how much harder it must have been on Ma, as she sat waiting and wondering. You can see only the bare outlines of these feelings, as clearly the children had little to no inkling of the deadly seriousness.
Tom Standage, A History of the World in Six Glasses. Fascinating book, tracing mankind's history through the rise and fall of six beverages, beginning with the early invention of beer and ending with Coke and the globalization it represents. (The appendix adds a seventh - the popularity of and backlash against bottled water.) It's fairly short, but moves along readably and has a lot of very interesting points to make. While I might have liked a bit more to it, I'm pleased with what I got.
Jean Zimmerman, The Women of the House. I picked this one up at the Museum of Natural History last summer. It's the story of a family dynasty in New Amsterdam/early New York. Not only is it an interesting history of this family and of the area, it's extremely detailed - the early chapters especially are incredibly vivid and well depicted.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, On the Banks of Plum Creek. Obviously a reread, although I haven't read this one in a long time. It's not one of my favorites in the series - but of course, a wonderful classic! I find it interesting in rereading the early books of the series to watch the interactions between the characters. Laura clearly felt herself to be Pa's favorite ... I wonder how different the books would have been had Mary written them. And circumstances where the family is separated take their toll on the children, but how much harder it must have been on Ma, as she sat waiting and wondering. You can see only the bare outlines of these feelings, as clearly the children had little to no inkling of the deadly seriousness.
Tom Standage, A History of the World in Six Glasses. Fascinating book, tracing mankind's history through the rise and fall of six beverages, beginning with the early invention of beer and ending with Coke and the globalization it represents. (The appendix adds a seventh - the popularity of and backlash against bottled water.) It's fairly short, but moves along readably and has a lot of very interesting points to make. While I might have liked a bit more to it, I'm pleased with what I got.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
self-conscious literature
I try really hard not to be a book snob. I approach each book that people give me as though I'm going to like it, and each book from my book club with the attitude that the members have generally good taste.
But here's the problem that I find, over and over again: so many of the books written today that are read and enthused over by large numbers of people are so painfully aware of themselves as being literature that they simply aren't enjoyable. Take Out Stealing Horses, for example. Very popular book, and the author has a legitimate talent. But the various literary devices employed to make the book "literature" took away the story and left a jumble of times and people and places that was impossible to put together. I just read Peace Like a River (Leif Enger), which has a certain narrative flow. But the characters are unbelievable, it reads like modern Christian fantasy (which is a legitimate genre, but not one I choose to read in, and I like some warning when I'm about to approach it), and you can feel the author thinking "how am I going to make this important?"
When did it become so "not done" to write a good story? Take some interesting people, have interesting things happen to them, come to a resolution, and bam! you're done. Dickens, now - Dickens is a heck of a story teller. And when he has morals to put across, he comes right out and puts them across, either directly or in terms of a portrait of pathos so real you can't help but see what he means. It seems like a large number of modern authors just aren't able to do that - they're so anxious to be writing "literature" that they forget to be storytellers, and bury everything they have to say in layers of symbolism so deep that they obscure the narrative and leave you wondering exactly what it is that you're supposed to be reading.
So it seems that I am, despite my best intentions, a book snob ... but when the author makes it so painfully obvious how hard he/she tried to write something "important", the reading of the book, by extension, is equally hard and equally painful. Give me a great story any day.
But here's the problem that I find, over and over again: so many of the books written today that are read and enthused over by large numbers of people are so painfully aware of themselves as being literature that they simply aren't enjoyable. Take Out Stealing Horses, for example. Very popular book, and the author has a legitimate talent. But the various literary devices employed to make the book "literature" took away the story and left a jumble of times and people and places that was impossible to put together. I just read Peace Like a River (Leif Enger), which has a certain narrative flow. But the characters are unbelievable, it reads like modern Christian fantasy (which is a legitimate genre, but not one I choose to read in, and I like some warning when I'm about to approach it), and you can feel the author thinking "how am I going to make this important?"
When did it become so "not done" to write a good story? Take some interesting people, have interesting things happen to them, come to a resolution, and bam! you're done. Dickens, now - Dickens is a heck of a story teller. And when he has morals to put across, he comes right out and puts them across, either directly or in terms of a portrait of pathos so real you can't help but see what he means. It seems like a large number of modern authors just aren't able to do that - they're so anxious to be writing "literature" that they forget to be storytellers, and bury everything they have to say in layers of symbolism so deep that they obscure the narrative and leave you wondering exactly what it is that you're supposed to be reading.
So it seems that I am, despite my best intentions, a book snob ... but when the author makes it so painfully obvious how hard he/she tried to write something "important", the reading of the book, by extension, is equally hard and equally painful. Give me a great story any day.
Monday, July 13, 2009
book reviews
Hugh Pentecost, Time of Terror. Not a bad one. The denouement wasn't that great - I'd have liked to see a little bit more foreshadowing, and I wasn't entirely clear on the ultimate goal of the perps, but the journey was good. I find the protagonist's susceptibility to beautiful women (they're like a drug for him, clouding his mind and taking over his good judgment - this book actually made him seem like a bit of a jerk because of it) does get a bit wearing.
Hugh Pentecost, Girl Watcher's Funeral. This one was pretty good. Well-drawn characters, interesting plot (a little less grandiose than usual, which was nice). Less surprises, maybe, but an enjoyable read, nonetheless.
Madeleine L'Engle, Two-Part Invention. I won this one in a contest online, so it wasn't my choice, but I did enjoy reading it. I like L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series and am always up for a house story. Sadly, this one was much less about a house than about a marriage and the way it ended with the death of one partner. Interesting, well-written, thought-provoking, but not something I'm likely to ever read again.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, The First Four Years. I've never been as fond of this one as the others in the series, largely because it was a first draft and therefore much more bare-bones than the others. There's so much there, it would have been nice to see what she would have done with it, had she been able to finish it. Nonetheless, it's impossible to have the series without the capper.
Hugh Pentecost, Girl Watcher's Funeral. This one was pretty good. Well-drawn characters, interesting plot (a little less grandiose than usual, which was nice). Less surprises, maybe, but an enjoyable read, nonetheless.
Madeleine L'Engle, Two-Part Invention. I won this one in a contest online, so it wasn't my choice, but I did enjoy reading it. I like L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series and am always up for a house story. Sadly, this one was much less about a house than about a marriage and the way it ended with the death of one partner. Interesting, well-written, thought-provoking, but not something I'm likely to ever read again.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, The First Four Years. I've never been as fond of this one as the others in the series, largely because it was a first draft and therefore much more bare-bones than the others. There's so much there, it would have been nice to see what she would have done with it, had she been able to finish it. Nonetheless, it's impossible to have the series without the capper.
Friday, July 10, 2009
social styles
I think I've noted before that I find my children's differences and similarities (both from/to each other and us and previous generations) fascinating. One difference I have noted between my two boys is the way they approach their peers.
For example, at the end of his last year of preschool, Charles was still referring to some of his classmates as "... you know, that boy ... the one with the tall brother?" Greyson, at the same point of his life, knew everyone ... even the girls. Now, you might think this is just a difference in their ability to remember names (and it might be ... although Charles can remember the name of every centaur he's ever heard about, so I somehow doubt it). But I think it's really a difference in the necessity of other people in their little brains. For the same reason that Charles can spend hours by himself playing with just his toys and Greyson can be surrounded by every electronic game device (and several nonelectronic) known to man and still has to come talk to me every 10 minutes I think Charles finds other kids useful to be around at the time he's around them, and then stops thinking about them as soon as he isn't with them anymore. For Greyson, it's much more important to have people in the world he can label "friend" - it provides him a sense of security. Charles labels people "friend" whom he's never met before and then promptly forgets who they are once he's done playing with them.
I have no idea where Veronica is likely to fall in this spectrum. She gushes with awed pleasure whenever she talks about "my friends" or "my playgroup", but I think that's as much the pride of having friends and playgroup of her own as it is any interest in the individuals. They're only just getting to the age where they recognize each other and want to play together.
I'll be interested to see if the boys' friendship styles grow towards each other or if they remain different as they get older - and especially as Charles goes off to Kindergarten in Greyson's school, where Greyson is the 'leader'.
For example, at the end of his last year of preschool, Charles was still referring to some of his classmates as "... you know, that boy ... the one with the tall brother?" Greyson, at the same point of his life, knew everyone ... even the girls. Now, you might think this is just a difference in their ability to remember names (and it might be ... although Charles can remember the name of every centaur he's ever heard about, so I somehow doubt it). But I think it's really a difference in the necessity of other people in their little brains. For the same reason that Charles can spend hours by himself playing with just his toys and Greyson can be surrounded by every electronic game device (and several nonelectronic) known to man and still has to come talk to me every 10 minutes I think Charles finds other kids useful to be around at the time he's around them, and then stops thinking about them as soon as he isn't with them anymore. For Greyson, it's much more important to have people in the world he can label "friend" - it provides him a sense of security. Charles labels people "friend" whom he's never met before and then promptly forgets who they are once he's done playing with them.
I have no idea where Veronica is likely to fall in this spectrum. She gushes with awed pleasure whenever she talks about "my friends" or "my playgroup", but I think that's as much the pride of having friends and playgroup of her own as it is any interest in the individuals. They're only just getting to the age where they recognize each other and want to play together.
I'll be interested to see if the boys' friendship styles grow towards each other or if they remain different as they get older - and especially as Charles goes off to Kindergarten in Greyson's school, where Greyson is the 'leader'.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
book reviews
Hugh Pentecost, The Fourteen Dilemma. I liked this entry in the Chambrun series - the denouement was somewhat unexpected, and utilized a character that had been mentioned but wasn't central to the plot. The family from the beginning of the book, for whom you felt a great deal of sympathy, kind of disappeared after a while, and Pentecost doesn't do a wrap-up of how the characters resolve themselves, but otherwise it was a good read.
Hans Christian Andersen, Andersen's Fairy Tales. What can you say? These are classics. I think Andersen and Grimm are about equal, as far as I'm concerned, and I certainly don't think you can be too old to read these in their classic form.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals. I admit I was daunted by this one when I took it out of the wrapping paper at Christmas. Politics aren't my field of interest (to put it mildly), even 1860s-style. But when I got started, I found this to be a fascinating read. You really got a good view into the lives and personalities of Lincoln's cabinet and how they affected the course of the war. I'm interested in the glossing over of the marital problems between the Lincolns - Goodwin treated Mary Lincoln very, very gently - but was overall very pleased with the new insights and understandings that came from the book. Good job, honey!
Kristen Iversen, Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth. Like many people, I'm familiar with the "unsinkable" Molly Brown, and loved the movie. This book has relegated both to the fiction pile, setting straight a lot of misconceptions and bringing the true Margaret Brown forward into the light - where she richly deserves to be. A free thinker (in the best way), a firm supporter of the rights of ordinary people to have some say over their life, a person devoted to finding the "right thing to do" and then seeing that it got done, she was clearly a force to be reckoned with. If there's a fault to be found with the book, I felt that the Titanic experience was overemphasized - there were points where I felt the author had been less interested in writing a biography than an account of the sinking - and the focus of the ending on the Titanic experience failed to underscore the points of the rest of the book ... but those are minor quibbles in what was a very informative and enjoyable read.
Hans Christian Andersen, Andersen's Fairy Tales. What can you say? These are classics. I think Andersen and Grimm are about equal, as far as I'm concerned, and I certainly don't think you can be too old to read these in their classic form.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals. I admit I was daunted by this one when I took it out of the wrapping paper at Christmas. Politics aren't my field of interest (to put it mildly), even 1860s-style. But when I got started, I found this to be a fascinating read. You really got a good view into the lives and personalities of Lincoln's cabinet and how they affected the course of the war. I'm interested in the glossing over of the marital problems between the Lincolns - Goodwin treated Mary Lincoln very, very gently - but was overall very pleased with the new insights and understandings that came from the book. Good job, honey!
Kristen Iversen, Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth. Like many people, I'm familiar with the "unsinkable" Molly Brown, and loved the movie. This book has relegated both to the fiction pile, setting straight a lot of misconceptions and bringing the true Margaret Brown forward into the light - where she richly deserves to be. A free thinker (in the best way), a firm supporter of the rights of ordinary people to have some say over their life, a person devoted to finding the "right thing to do" and then seeing that it got done, she was clearly a force to be reckoned with. If there's a fault to be found with the book, I felt that the Titanic experience was overemphasized - there were points where I felt the author had been less interested in writing a biography than an account of the sinking - and the focus of the ending on the Titanic experience failed to underscore the points of the rest of the book ... but those are minor quibbles in what was a very informative and enjoyable read.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Green!
That was my reaction to being out and about today. You see, New England spent the month of June under a siege of constant rain, with grey, chilly day following grey, chilly day. This weekend, at last, the curtain seems to have been lifted and now there is green everywhere!
I basked in it on the Fourth, as we sat here in our quiet, hushed enclave, surrounded by the huge trees swaying in the wind. I drank it in today, as I drove around (in a return to a more normal activity level - we spent last week basically hunkered down and went almost nowhere) the area, enjoying the sense of revitalization that the combination of sun, warmth, and greenness gave me.
All hail the return of Greenness!
I basked in it on the Fourth, as we sat here in our quiet, hushed enclave, surrounded by the huge trees swaying in the wind. I drank it in today, as I drove around (in a return to a more normal activity level - we spent last week basically hunkered down and went almost nowhere) the area, enjoying the sense of revitalization that the combination of sun, warmth, and greenness gave me.
All hail the return of Greenness!
Sunday, July 05, 2009
book reviews
Hugh Pentecost, Bargain with Death. So I start reading this book, but I realize something has clearly happened between this one and the previous one. Come to find out, even though I thought I had the entire series, I was missing 9 books! That has now been rectified. Meanwhile, Bargain with Death was a pretty good entry. There's a fair amount of formula in the series, but it's enjoyable like a fine '80s primetime soap opera.
Hugh Pentecost, The Golden Trap. I particularly liked the characters in this one. The people were realistic and their problems at least somewhat relatable. (It's a luxury hotel. Most of the problems are very different from what you would normally see.)
Richard Hooker, M*A*S*H. Yes, the book on which the movie and later, the TV series were based. Neither one got the tone quite right. It's closest to the movie, but the movie is a bit more angry under the zaniness. The later years of the series also come close, but the irreverence is a bit too earnest. At any rate, the book is well worth reading and quite enjoyable.
Andrew Ward, River Run Red: The Fort Pillow Massacre in the American Civil War. I'm glad I read this one, because I don't know much about Fort Pillow, and the book is certainly detailed and has given me a good look into the controversies surrounding the incident. But overall, I wasn't that impressed with the book. It was a bit disjointed, emphasized some details at the expense of others, failed to differentiate some of the pivotal characters enough to be memorable. Overall, worth reading once, but didn't earn itself a place on the shelf.
Hugh Pentecost, The Golden Trap. I particularly liked the characters in this one. The people were realistic and their problems at least somewhat relatable. (It's a luxury hotel. Most of the problems are very different from what you would normally see.)
Richard Hooker, M*A*S*H. Yes, the book on which the movie and later, the TV series were based. Neither one got the tone quite right. It's closest to the movie, but the movie is a bit more angry under the zaniness. The later years of the series also come close, but the irreverence is a bit too earnest. At any rate, the book is well worth reading and quite enjoyable.
Andrew Ward, River Run Red: The Fort Pillow Massacre in the American Civil War. I'm glad I read this one, because I don't know much about Fort Pillow, and the book is certainly detailed and has given me a good look into the controversies surrounding the incident. But overall, I wasn't that impressed with the book. It was a bit disjointed, emphasized some details at the expense of others, failed to differentiate some of the pivotal characters enough to be memorable. Overall, worth reading once, but didn't earn itself a place on the shelf.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Fourth of July
The world today is split into two parts: the part outside, as viewed in glimpses on Facebook/Twitter, where people are going to parties, seeing fireworks, and generally doing things with large crowds of people; and the part inside, where our family has had a quiet day at home. Laundry has been done, games have been played, we have at last opened the pool and had a family swim. But it's all been very peaceful, here on our property where we can't even see other people's houses.
If there has been a negative all day, it's that the book I usually read the Declaration from every Fourth is still in a box somewhere in my office, and I'm not about to dig through two dozen boxes to find it! But I'm sure I can get a copy off the web just as easily.
Shortly there will be grilled foods and strawberry shortcake, and then children to bed. (And all without rain, for once this summer!)
Happy birthday, America. "Thomas Jefferson still lives."
If there has been a negative all day, it's that the book I usually read the Declaration from every Fourth is still in a box somewhere in my office, and I'm not about to dig through two dozen boxes to find it! But I'm sure I can get a copy off the web just as easily.
Shortly there will be grilled foods and strawberry shortcake, and then children to bed. (And all without rain, for once this summer!)
Happy birthday, America. "Thomas Jefferson still lives."
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
screen-free day
This summer, we're trying the experiment of going screen-free on Tuesdays. No Wii, no computer, no TV. This is not because I've become all crunchy "TV is bad for you", but because I think it's a good way to force us to think outside the box (heh heh) and look to each other more for our entertainment.
Yesterday was the first installment, and it went pretty well. The boys remembered when they got up, so they played together. Then once I was up, we made cookies and they played board games together while I did laundry and Veronica played with her Justice League figures.
We had a three-hour pool party in the middle of the afternoon (which helped), then Veronica napped, Charles took a long bath, and Greyson regaled me with stories of how cool it is to have a Death Knight character.
Then there was ATA for Greyson and grocery shopping for the rest of us, followed by dinner and bedtime. (Remaining in the spirit, Daddy forbore from watching TV while he worked, and I read and listened to music until my bedtime.)
All in all, a very peaceful day. Not hoping for as much from next week, but it was a good inauguration of the plan!
Yesterday was the first installment, and it went pretty well. The boys remembered when they got up, so they played together. Then once I was up, we made cookies and they played board games together while I did laundry and Veronica played with her Justice League figures.
We had a three-hour pool party in the middle of the afternoon (which helped), then Veronica napped, Charles took a long bath, and Greyson regaled me with stories of how cool it is to have a Death Knight character.
Then there was ATA for Greyson and grocery shopping for the rest of us, followed by dinner and bedtime. (Remaining in the spirit, Daddy forbore from watching TV while he worked, and I read and listened to music until my bedtime.)
All in all, a very peaceful day. Not hoping for as much from next week, but it was a good inauguration of the plan!
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