10 things that should be left behind in 2010

So here we are on the cusp of a new year - and by some methods of counting, a new decade. Here are the top 10 things that we continue to hold on to from the 20th century that I think we should be letting go of now that we're 10 years into the 21st ...

1. Smoking. It's gross, smelly, and obscenely expensive, and we've known for 30 years now that it kills. This habit needs to go.

2. Fax machines. They're blurry, require specialized equipment, and don't work nearly as well as emailing a pdf.

3. Having to a) be told where to sign on a credit card slip and b) hand your card to the cashier after swiping it yourself. Everyone ought to know by now what to do when they use a credit card. And if you're going to make use of the time-saving device that is the automatic swiper, then don't pretend that you're actually caring who just used the card.

4. Internet paranoia. The days when the Internet meant scary stalkers and people out to steal your personal information are over. Scary stalkers still exist, and your personal information is everywhere ... but the Internet is a vital tool for the 21st century, and being scared of it is so Y2K.

5. Vista. 'Nuff said. Let's move on to the next bug-filled operating system, please.

6. Bratz dollz and the rest of the slut culture. Let's let our little girls be little girls and stop asking them to wear words on their butts at the age of 6. We all saw where Britney Spears went. Let's learn from her example and let our girls grow up more slowly.

7. No Child Left Behind. (Okay, that may not be 20th century, but the thought process behind it certainly is.) Let's find a more up-to-date educational method, one that allows our children to take their place in the global village that is the 21st-century world. No more money wasted on reams of paperwork, no more reliance on "standardized" testing to measure individual achievement. (It's true, I don't have a good answer ... but I know a bad one when I see it.)

8. The National Enquirer and its ilk. (Pipe dream, yeah yeah yeah.) Let's give celebrities some space and some privacy to be human beings. The saddest part of this Tiger Woods debacle, to me, is that his attempt to retain his privacy has failed so epically. A person's private life should be just that.

9. Suggested questions in the back of books. Come on, people - how old are we? I applaud the rise of book clubs ... but please. Do people really need to be told how to talk about books? I don't think so.

10. Implicit belief in the news. By this point, the mainstream news media exists for pretty much one reason: to raise ratings and earn money by creating widespread fear and panic. The sooner we realize this and stop listening to all these sensationalistic stories, the sooner we reclaim our lives. Let's stop allowing sound bytes and ridiculous headlines and slogans to affect the way we live our lives.

So that's my list. I'm sure you have others, or disagree with some of the above. Let's hope that 2010 sees us all moving forward into the new millennium and letting go of some of the traps of the past.

whittling away

... at the to-do list, that is. No messing around with knives and wood shavings for me! I'm working on getting through three journals, one backed-up email account (also the Facebook messages), a very messy office, and a stack of boxes that need to be refilled with Christmas decorations. Plus several social networking sites that require various amounts of my attention, two books that I'm hoping to have finished by the end of the year (closing in fast) ... and of course three children and one husband that seem to need relatively constant attention when taken in the aggregate.

time flies

Here it is, already two days after Christmas. One week left of Christmas vacation - less than two weeks until our trip to Florida and Disney. When did all that happen?!

5 days (4 1/2, really) until the first day of 2010 ... only that many to try and finish at least two more books. Dragon Age has really slowed my reading rate (ok, basically halted said reading rate), in concert with the fact that the Chelsea Quinn Yarbro novel I'm reading is boring, dense, and formulaic. I'm wrestling with the idea of not finishing it, but haven't made an official decision yet.

Less than a month until kindergarten switchover, and of that month, only one morning that is unscheduled. Wah! How I will miss my free time and my quiet house ... although I won't mind the naptimes with Charles in school and no longer popping in every 15 minutes to ask how much longer his two-hour time will be, or sneaking around to watch my shows from a corner somewhere. (I catch him sometimes, but not all the time. If he grows up warped from too many episodes of Cold Case, I will have only myself to blame!)

But in the meantime, the long winter Sunday afternoon stretches before me. Some constructive things must be accomplished, but I suspect there will also be some Dragon Age play, some child play, some reading and eating and football. How can one afternoon seem endless (in a good way), while so many other things seem so close?

silence!

It's the late afternoon - prime "Snack snack snack" and "Show show show" time, along with other whines and requests - and here I am by myself, surrounded by complete silence! Grandparents are good things. I'm even (relatively) caught up on laundry and to-do list, so I can actually just enjoy the complete lack of sound.

Pardon me while I revel ...

I have nothing to say.

It's true. My brain is a blank canvas currently in the middle of a tug of war between a quite obsession-inducing game and a whole list of things that actually have to get done in my real life (which is quite a bit less interestingly eventful than previously mentioned OIG). Meanwhile my whole plan to burn through books at a rapid pace has been completely derailed, as there's only room for one kind of fiction in my brain at a time, it seems. But the stockings are hung, the presents bought and wrapped, and I managed to get the children off to school this morning with all the proper items. And I'm preparing, albeit not without some wistful sighs, to go an entire day without seeing how things are going in Ferelden. (Yes, I might worry about the OIG being a little too obsessive ... but I've felt the same way about certain books that I've read. They just don't take as long to get to the end of as the OIG.)

5 things I miss ...

about Christmas with my family. Christmases do tend to be a bit bittersweet for me. I always loved them, and I think they were some of our best times together ... but of course, I'm not unconflicted about my family in general, and I'm well aware how much easier it is at the holidays to only have one family to deal with. So a bit of catharsis today:

1. Decorating the tree. My mom never did this one - claimed she was afraid of pine needles - but my dad and I did. We'd pick out the tree together and put on all the ornaments. So many of them had stories. I wish I remembered half of those!

2. Tom and Jerrys! This was my dad's signature Christmas drink. Whiskey and hot milk (mine was - usually - minus the first) with this wonderful sweet creamy nutmeggy foamy topping. I could have eaten just a bowl of the topping. We always had them the night we put up the tree.

3. Sleigh-bells at my Grandma's. Scoff all you want - look for real-world explanations if you must - but I vividly remember two years running waking up in Grandma's bed on Christmas eve (while she and my mom were sleeping on either side of me) and hearing sleigh bells. I can think of real-world explanations, too ... but a small part of me will never be entirely convinced. And wouldn't mind waking up any Christmas eve to that same sound!

4. My mom's vast collection of Christmas records. She had everything. You could play them for a day and never repeat, at least! We loved playing them and singing along.

5. Christmas dinner. (This could be part of a larger category - I just miss the dinners!) My dad was a good cook, and he shone on the meat and gravy category. My mom made good sides and great pies. And then we'd sit around with coffee and whoever was part of the extended family that year and there would be lots of talking.

My job now is to make Christmases for my kids memorable enough that they look back on them later with a similar sense of nostalgia. My pleasure!

5 random thoughts

No book reviews today! Or tomorrow, either, it looks like. But it's been an eventful day already (at 10:20, and without having left the property), so I'm feeling a bit disjointed. Hence, randomness.

1. It's 95 days till the first day of spring. Not that that means actual spring here in Massachusetts, but it's a lot closer to it!

2. Veronica is on her fourth consecutive watching of "Grinchie" this morning. If it makes her happy (and I don't have to watch it with her), I'm fine with it. Especially since it loops back on by itself and doesn't require me to go manipulate the remote.

3. Woohoo! It appears that Project Runway season 7 will be back in January, along with the next season of American Idol. No word on The Amazing Race or Top Chef's next seasons.

4. Woohoo as well for Blogger - I inadvertently closed the browser and when I opened it my draft was still here waiting to be finished. I appreciate that!

5. Tonight I finish reading A Christmas Carol to the boys. It went pretty far over their heads in places, but I think they enjoyed it. Next up? Not sure, really. I have 9 books in the queue for them and am not sure how to choose which one goes next. It might be time to use the dice!

book reviews

(Yes, again! Woohoo, coming to the end of a lot of half-finished books.)

Melissa Wiley, On Tide Mill Lane. The second installment in the Laura's grandmother series. It really pulled no punches about the realities of life in a working man's household during wartime in the early 19th century. It did seem that more of the plot went on around (and over the head of) the main character than in the first book, but I suppose given that she was 5 at the time of the setting, that's to be expected.

Paul Aurandt, More of Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. I suppose Paul Harvey and "The Rest of the Story" are a bit anachronistic now ... and admittedly, between having read the book before and being a lot more historically aware than I used to be (along with the extra 30 years of knowledge gathering since the book's publication) many of the stories have lost their wow factor. Still, they're interesting stories and a good reminder to look at history - and at story-telling - from a different perspective and see what things look like that way.

David Laskin, The Children's Blizzard. A fascinating look at the events of a disastrous Great Plains blizzard in 1888. (I read all 200+ pages in two sittings, about two hours total. It was that good. Plus, I'd never have been able to sleep if I didn't finish it and find out what happened to all the characters.) Good research, a lot of great background on the people involved, what seemed to me to be good science in explaining the weather conditions - altogether, a really good book.

John Greenleaf Whittier, Whittier. The collected works. Not bad, but the section with the hundreds of antislavery poems nearly did me in - how much can you really say about the same topic without losing your audience? And overall, the poetry just didn't grab me.

book reviews

Joseph M. Marshall III, The Journey of Crazy Horse. I found this one very interesting. I haven't read as much about the Native American perspective as I probably should have, given my interest in the history of the American West. Marshall is a tribesman (a few generations removed) of Crazy Horse, and so had that knowledge to draw on when researching and writing the book. I particularly liked that the chapters telling the story of Crazy Horse's life were alternated with chapters detailing Marshall's modern perspective on the events. I don't know that I'm all that interested in reading it again, but I quite enjoyed reading it the first time.

Melissa Wiley, Little House by Boston Bay. The first in a series of books about the childhood of Laura Ingalls Wilder's grandmother, who grew up in Massachusetts in the early 19th century. It has the flavor of Wilder's work, if not the intimacy and immediacy. (And how could it have, really? Wilder knew and loved her characters, while anyone writing today may admire and appreciate, but cannot have the same warmth.) Nonetheless, it's a nice little slice of life tale about a fairly understudied time.

L.M. Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside. As the last book in the Anne series, and one that's about her daughter rather than Anne herself, this could be perceived as lifeless and uninteresting ... if you hadn't read it. Once upon a time when I was young and foolish, I made a list of the top 10 books I've ever read, and Rilla of Ingleside was on it. I don't know if I would or could make such a list today, but I could still make a case for this book. It takes place during World War I, from the perspective of a young girl watching her brothers and sweetheart going off to the war, but without the glossiness that many books of that theme have. This one details the strain of staying home and waiting for the boys who may never come back, the complication of dealing with all the things that have changed, the challenge of learning hard lessons too young and too fast. I read Montgomery's journals for this time period, and realized that many of the scenes in the book are things that occurred during her own life, and I believe that may be what imparts the realism and the true pathos of the book. I think it's her best work by a couple of miles and wish it was more appreciated.

Erle Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason and the Case of the Spurious Spinster. This one was a bit complex, and I think didn't lay the groundwork for the denouement as thoroughly as it could have. Also, the events around the murder seemed to call for more emotion from Mason and his secretary than they showed. Nevertheless, it was an amusing plot with vivid characters.

book reviews

Moving right along!

L.M. Montgomery, Rainbow Valley. Here again, there's a lack of Anne in the book. Frankly, there's not much of Anne's children, either. The real stars of the book are a new family - Anne and her family are just the supporting players. Nonetheless, it's a heart-warming and interesting book well in the Mongtomeryan tradition.

John Grogan, Marley and Me. This was a really enjoyable book. I'm not sure I would want to see all that brutal honesty in a movie - or if the most honest parts made it in there - but I found it refreshing and touching in the book. As a memoir of a modern family and a dog story, it's quite successful and well worth reading. (So much for my inner book snob, which likes to scoff at really popular books. Sometimes, they're popular for the right reasons!)

Larry McMurtry, Books: A Memoir. Interestingly, this book was not at all what I expected. I thought it would be about reading books, collecting books, writing books ... etc. Instead, it was a chronicle of McMurtry's life as a book scout, book buyer, and book seller, with a bit of the rest of it (although really not much at all) thrown in. I found it quite interesting - I realized along the way that there's a whole book world out there that I never knew about and am not that interested in, the world of the rare book collector - but it wasn't exactly the book I wanted to read.

Howard R. Garis, Uncle Wiggily and the Sugar Cookie. I had to buy this - it's one of those books you half-remember from your childhood and feel the need to reown, if only so you can read it again and remember the other half! A very simple book, but spiced with nostalgia was quite enjoyable.

the changing face of the snow day

The wintry white is coming down hard ... and I just put the kids on the bus, rejoicing all the way. Was I happy to say goodbye to them for the day? Not so much. Did I think it was better they stay in school all day instead of staying home and playing outside and throwing snowballs? Not really. Am I happy that at the end of June there'll be one less day to make up? You bet.

Once upon a time, a snow day was a happy thing to contemplate. You wake up and the windows have that certain special white glow, and it just makes you feel happy. But come the end of June, will you still be glad you had that day off? Last year, the kids were one snow-day shy of having to go to school in the week of the 4th of July. That, frankly, is ridiculous, unless you go to a year-round school, which we don't.

So now it's the trade-off - should I be happy over an extra day at home during the winter (a winter that is pretty likely to be filled with snowy days, and which we will be tired of well before it ends) - or sad over a day lost in the summer?

time

I think a lot about time - using time, organizing time, what time is it?, what time do I have to be somewhere?, etc. It's a finite resource, and as such should be used wisely ... but it should also be savored. Used consciously. I remember once reading a pregnancy book that admonished that every time a mom-to-be opened her mouth, she should think, "Is this the best bite I can give my baby?" I scoffed at that particular advice - like pregnancy isn't stressful enough! - but I see the point when applied to time. Is this the best thing I can do with this minute? is a question that can drive you nuts ... but is occasionally useful to contemplate.

"Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, draw and don't waste time."
- last words of Michelangelo

"But dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of."
- Benjamin Franklin

"Time you enjoyed wasting, is not time wasted."
- T.S. Eliot

I think the answer lies somewhere in the midst of those three comments - to use time thoughtfully, to choose what you do with it deliberately, and not to let anyone else define what uses are a "waste".

book reviews

Louis L'Amour, Milo Talon. A western mystery! A tangled, twisted web that had me completely confused and frustrated and glued to the book until I finished it. Something fresh and new from Mr. L'Amour, who rarely fails to satisfy.

Anne Perry, Ashworth Hall. A little too political and conspiracy-theory-riddled for me, and I felt the denouement lacked clarity and was a bit unsatisfying. Also, I thought Charlotte's whole subplot was a distracting tangent that she would not have gone on ... but I liked the focus on the secondary characters and several of the subplots.

L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams. I don't believe I've read this one since Matthew died, and I found the latter half of the book more meaningful than I used to. It's a bit more Anne-focused than many of the other books of the series, and the supporting characters are interesting and well-drawn.

Martin H. Greenberg, ed., Murder Most Confederate. Well, this was a disappointment. I was excited to read it, thinking I might get some interesting ideas for a book I've been toying with, and since I like a good mystery, was hoping there would be a few. Across the board, these stories were just dreadful. Some were poorly written (either way too purple in the prose or simply riddled with bad grammar), many were poorly researched (apparently knowledge of the period wasn't a prerequisite to publish in the book), others were simply unimaginative (one whole story was lifted directly from real life without only the feeblest attempt to disguise it), and, worst of all - very few of them were actually murders! Many were supernatural-esque, others were the trials of war, and only a few had any hint of mystery. SUCH a disappointment.

more random thoughts

It feels like another random thoughts day. I have a fair amount to get done, a lot of things scheduled, and am feeling a bit scattered and disjointed. So here we go ...

I do not understand why some mornings the kids are up and ready to go bright and early, and others I have to drag them out of bed still trying to pry their eyelids open.

Where the heck do Phineas and Ferb go to school that they get 104 days of summer vacation? My kids are lucky if they get more than 65.

The only reason I'm at all looking forward to snow is so it can stabilize the snowman figures in the front yard. Otherwise, it can wait till Christmas Eve and go away in early January, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm feeling pretty good about having the fun family Christmas stuff done, except that now I have to focus on the far less interesting school-related Christmas stuff ... when did it become necessary to gift everyone you come in contact with? So tedious.

I'm reading Larry McMurtry's memoir, Books, and will review it later, but I was particularly struck by one section where he talks about his extremely large library and how he no longer feels intimately connected with it, in large part because he no longer has the possibility of rereading every title contained within. I can see that happening to me someday and will be extremely unhappy when the day arrives.

I've discovered a new definition of luxury - the personal librarian. Imagine having enough money to be able to employ a personal librarian!

I find locked doors in the house infuriating. I don't particularly like closed doors, either. Don't know why.

Honestly, I don't set out to wear matching colors with my daughter every day. Something in my subconscious must go for the same colors as I lay out our clothes at night. When I catch myself, I fix it ... but there are lots of times I don't catch it.

70 in December?!

It's almost surreal. Walking outside the house this morning, the warmth hit us like a newly opened oven. After a near-monsoon overnight, the day has been damp but sunny and the temps nearly summerlike.

(A big pink monster with a mouthful of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is roaring at me. ... Okay, she seems to be done now.)

People seem to be not entirely happy about this - either they're longing for the arrival of the snow (this is not an affliction I'm suffering from this year), or are somewhat bemused and discomfited by the unwinterlike atmosphere.

(The pink monster, having swallowed the Peanut Butter Cup, now appears to be a slightly larger than average 4-year-old girl. Who knew?)

Personally, despite my concern for all the bulbs that are sprouting, I'd be more than happy to hang on to this weather this year. I may be in a hurry to get all my Christmas prep done, but I'm in no hurry to begin the 4- or 5-month siege of cold weather and snow that's due to begin anytime now!

5 things that make me happy today

I believe it's time for a 5 things day. It's Wednesday, my to-do list is full, I'm back to the school routine and completely exhausted, and I started a new diet and exercise regime yesterday. (And no, I'm not talking about it. I'm told the best way to doom a new routine is to talk--or worse, to blog--about it. So I'm not. I might complain, though.)

1. Christmas decorations! Love my tree, love my ornaments, love the lighted decorations on the lawn.

2. Computer games. Not only are they fun, they keep you glued to your seat so you don't get up and have that cookie that you really, really want. Level 72, here we come!

3. Reading to my boys. We just finished Escape to Witch Mountain and are on A Christmas Carol. The language and many of the Britishisms are way over their heads, but they enjoy it anyway. Woohoo! Next up, either Ben and Me or The Princess and the Goblin.

4. Coffee. It is my considered opinion that coffee is good. You heard it here first!

5. Having said good-bye to the infant and toddler stages of life! All my children can feed themselves, dress themselves, buckle themselves into their own carseats, and speak and think for themselves. It just gets better and better as they get older!

hungry

I love food. Have I made that clear already? Right now, I'm sitting here trying to decide what to have for lunch.

Most days, the options are pretty simple. PB&J, ramen, cereal, oatmeal, whatever's in the fridge for leftovers. If I'm especially hungry, not feeling well, or motivated, I could do a frozen meal or scrambled eggs or maybe a bacon sandwich.

Today, however, there are extra options - turkey soup and leftovers from the full turkey dinner extravaganza (except the cranberry sauce, which I finished off yesterday). But having had turkey at least once a day since last Thursday, am I burnt out on it? Hm.