Summer Reading Challenge

My friend Kristen started a summer reading challenge on her blog, http://lostpiecesofmymind.blogspot.com and I decided not only to join in, but to copy and paste her entry into my blog for anyone else interested in taking the challenge.  (Blatant copyright infringement and plagiarism.)

If you'd like to accept and/or add to the challenge, just reply and it will find it's way onto her blog, too.  Hey, you may want to check out her blog, it's very entertaining.

(Also, I want my readers to see just how very famous I am because I have now shown up on TWO different blogs.  Maybe more than two blogs, I can't remember.  But I can definitely document  Kristen AND Holly!  Can you believe you know me?)

SUMMER READING CHALLENGE

'Tis the season for summer reading. The libraries always have a program for kids that turns out pretty well, but if they do anything for adults, it is lame. So here is the challenge to my friends (all one of you basically):


Read a book that fits these five categories and make up five more categories of your own. Either make your own post for me to steal your five categories off of or email the list. Together that's ten books. We know that ten books is a small fraction of the amount that we will read this summer. Make a list you plan to read now, but it can change at any time. You can start reading now, because half of my kids are done with school and already crying bored, even if summer reading at every library technically doesn't start until June 1. We are old enough we can make our own rules, so here we go


Friends Kristen & Jeri Challenge

1. Read the book that has been on your goodreads TBR shelf the longest.
2. Read a classic - Grownup or childrens book.
3. Read a book about summer. It can have summer in the title or take place in the summer.
4. Read a book with a color word in the title.
5. Read a book that won a Newbery Award or Honor Award during the years that you have been alive.
6. Read a book that you picked apart until it made you scream in High School English that you haven't read since.
7. Read a book that teaches you something you didn't know before.
8. Read an "Old Friend" that you've read a million times, but never tire of.
9. Read a "Reader's Choice Award" book.
10. Read a book that is on display at the library, i.e. recommended by a librarian.

We have to finish by the time all of our kids return to school.  On a day to be determined later (and after the first day of school), we will call each other on the phone with a lovely dessert at our elbow and talk. Maybe even about the books we read.


Kristen's List

1. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
2. Pygmalian by George Bernard Shaw
3. Mud, Sweat, and Gears by  Joe Kurmaskie
4. Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy
5. Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer Holm (2000)
6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Which I picked apart in high school, but never actually read, yet still got the best grade up to that point on the essay, hence encouraging me to not read any more books for that class.)
7. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
8. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
9. Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan
10. ?

Jeri's List

1. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphey
2. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
3. Beyond Summer by Lisa Wingate
4.  Love, Ruby Lavendar by Deborah Wiles
5. (Here's where I stretch it a little) The Trouble With May Amelia by Jennifer Holm - #5 isn't a newbery, but it's the sequel and I wanna read it.
6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
7. The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean (I'm re-reading it with the hopes that I understand it more the 2nd time.)
8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
9. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
10. I don't know

My Beef

So, I just had the horrible varicose veins in my legs obliterated with lasers and multiple injections of caustic materials.  This was the funnest thing EVER, and I highly recommend it if you're bored.

Anyway, I had a little (very little) time on my hands to lay around with my legs propped up and watch Netflix.

Found this sweet little Australian series about teenagers at a National Dance Academy.  Amazing talent.  Sweet kids.

 Just about the time I got really involved, two of the teens kissed.  No biggie, except they were both MALE!  UGH.  End of that one.

Then, I decided to go for a little bit more high-class.  Much Ado About Nothing.  Shakespeare, right?  Plus, it starred Nanny McPhee.  Can't go wrong there.



Until the opening scene ended and everyone started stripping.  Naked booties EVERYWHERE!  What!?!  I get it, it's a costume change.  Why do I have to see it?  I don't.

OK.  How about a PBS Masterpiece Theatre set in the 1920s?  This one's got Professor McGonagol.  Bingo!


AND, it also has the Footman kissing the Duke.  Bleck.

WHY, PEOPLE!?!  WHY, WHY, WHY?


Is Phineas and Ferb gonna be the most intellectual movie destination for me?  Am I doomed to watch the Backyardigans for the rest of my life?  (I have to admit, though, that I LOVED the Muppet Movie!)

AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

And it's not just the movies.  Why do entertainers have to cram sleaze and dreck into EVERYTHING?

I'm hollerin' 'NUF!  Already!

Gimme a break!!!

It really doesn't matter too much, I guess.  I don't have time to watch...

Also, since I'm griping anyway, I would just like to mention that if there is a Dr. out there who is willing to actually use anesthesia on his vein patients, count me in.  That procedure...YOW!

Here are my before and after pictures:  (Kidding)

After

   

Before

Backyard Bees

Last night Lil' Mama said, "Hey!  Look at the rabble of bees in the yard!"

"Honey, no one cares about the erst of bees in the yard."  I snarked.  (I might be a little grouch, lately.  Or all the time.)  And then, "OH!!!  Run for your lives!"  It was an Alfred Hitchcock movie.


Huge clusters of bees swirling around one of our trees.  Handsome Prince bravely walked among them as I huddled the children inside and ran to call the realtor--we obviously can't live here anymore--there are BEES!!!  (A whole bike of them!)

"Come in, quick!  You're gonna get stung!!!"  But even as I was hollering at the Prince through a tiny crack in the door, the balloon of bees slowly grew smaller and more compact until they all settled into a family bee-ball on one of the branches.

I gathered matches, newspaper and kindling.  We were gonna have to sacrifice the poor tree for the common good.  Can't have bees in the yard!  Bees!  (Seriously, a game of them!)

I began to alert the neighbors and the local fire department.

My little fantasy--no worries!

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and HP said, "They're honey bees.  Let's see if we can find a beekeeper who would want them."  Oh.  Plus, he really wasn't getting stung.  

I googled it.  Who knew?  There was an entire web site with a gajillion names to call.  Crazy people who were begging for us to let them have our stand of killer bees.

So, we called one beekeeper and he gleefully abandoned his cart at Home Depot and raced over with three of his kids and a cute little beehive box.

 Then, he just held the box under the tree and sort of gently knocked the entire cast of bees into it.  The sections in the center of the box were covered in bee's wax. This made the bees very happy. They rejoiced in their new little bee villa.  We were all just standing right there, watching the little buggies move in.  They ignored us completely.

Then all 10,000 of them (more or less--that's what the beekeeper estimated) stuck their little bee butts up in the air and started fanning and buzzing informative pheromone messages to all the scouts out there, uh, scouting around for a new home.  It was beautiful!

Did I mention that we all just stood around, really, really close, and watched the entire thing.

No one got stung!!!

Our bee guy explained that when a bee colony gets too large, they create another queen and split up.  Then, the ones moving out have a gigantic Thanksgiving dinner--honey--and they swarm away.  This group of fat and friendly little buzzers had decided to call it a night after shopping around all day,  and thought our tree looked like a nice enough place.  They had just settled in when a better opportunity just popped up out of thin air.  (Imagine finding one the right size AND it already had wax!  Honey, quick!  Make an offer!)

When most of the stragglers were gathered, our beekeeper gently helped them to get into the box.

 He recommend that they use the front door from now on, and to emphasize the point, he put the roof on.

The glove got a few stings.

 He told us that one hive like this could produce about 5 gallons of honey.  It takes two of these to feed the bees for the winter, so he'll stack 4 or 5 on top of each other, leave the first two for the bees, and then harvest the rest.  Fascinating.  The beekeeper called them low maintenance pets that keep on giving.

 When the roof was on, he left for about an hour, so that any little lost bees could join the group before he carted them home.

I now have a Handsome Prince who would like to start a new hobby. I told him he could do whatever he wants when I am six feet under...

**Wikipedia, the ultimate source of all knowledge states that a group of bees can be called the following:

A bike of bees. 

A cluster of bees. 
A cast of bees. 
A drift of bees. 
An erst of bees. 
A game of bees. 
A rabble of bees. 
A stand of bees.

** Little factoids from our bee expert:

Boy bees can't sting.

When a bee stings, it dies.

A queen bee costs $40-$50 because you have to overnight it.

Our elementary school had a swarm like ours happen a couple of years ago and he had to cut down part of the tree to get them--they were a bit more excited that day.  (Several children were stung.)

Mr. Lamadingdong: Our Hope of America, and Great American 5th-Grader!

Mr. Lamadingdong (hereafter referred to as Mr. L) is the middle child, and thus sometimes under-appreciated.

Since joining scouts on his birthday last September, he has earned his Tenderfoot rank; Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the Community, Family Life, Personal Fitness, Collections, and Coin Collecting Merit Badges.

Seriously, SIX Merit Badges!

He's also been busy earning the Great American Challenge award--he finally earned it yesterday.  

To do this, he must:

1.  Recite the Gettysburg Address

2.  Recite the names of the 44 American Presidents in order by date office was held (he can do it so quickly that it makes my head spin!)

3.  Locate and spell correctly the States and Capitals on a map.

4.  Recite or sing the National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner"

5.  Recite the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States

6.  Write the Pledge of Allegiance

This is spectacularly amazing!!!  But, he's the middle child, so...

Mr. L, we are so proud of you!  That was a lot of stuff to memorize!


He also participated in the Hope of America program that was staged in the Marriot Center at BYU with all of the 5th-graders in the area.  It was a patriotic program, and their T-shirts were colored to make a human flag.





The entire stadium was filled, and our favorite part was when they were doing the wave.



Mr. L has had a great school year with an amazing teacher.  But more than that, he is self-motivated, a hard worker, a good friend and brother.


I can't imagine life without him!

Everyone Needs a Marianne!

My sister Marianne sent me this thought-provoking poem in response to my earlier post, "Long Lost Poem."  Unfortunately, it was in the form of an attachment.  I smell a complication.

First of all, it took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to open the blasted thing.  Then it took me another ten to conclude that I can't simply copy and paste it into the blog.  So...



(Sigh, I wish I were as smart as Marianne, who is probably fully capable of copying and pasting and would never need to manually type poems into her blog...Plus her attachment had a cute little border around it.  I shudder to even think about it.)

I Didn't Want to Be Me

Author Unknown

All my life, I didn't want to be me.

I wanted to be like Harriet Wimpleton.

So I walked like Harriet Wimpleton

And I talked like Harriet Wimpleton.

And then one day I noticed a strange thing.

Harriet Wimpleton wanted to be like 

Connie Savorson.

She talked like Connie Savorson

And Connie Savorson was walking and talking like

Donna Heberson.

And so here I was walking and talking like

Harriet Wimpleton's version of Connie Savorson

Acting like Donna Heberson

And guess who Donna Heberson was imitating...

That pesky kid, Wanda Droolsen

Who walks and talks like

me.

This is, in my opinion, not as brilliant as good ole D.H. Lawrence, but still makes me pause.

The thing that gets me about this poem and its source is the irony involved.  Here's where I am turning serious for a short moment.  (No worries, it won't last.)

I've known Marianne since I was about 15 years old, four years before I married her good-looking brother. One of my first memories of her involves sitting on the floor next to her little sister (one of my best buddies since forever) watching her cut out and iron together a flannel-board story for one of her education classes.
 (She was a COLLEGE STUDENT.  Waaaayyy older than we were!)

She was (and still is) beautiful and creative and smart and funny and SO NICE!!!

I've observed her with her amazing husband as they worked hard to finish years and years of school, raise amazing, beautiful children, serve others around them, follow our Savior, and just basically set a good example.  She's always been a few steps ahead of me, and I'm watching her more than she knows.  I still feel in awe of her.  I'm still trying to be like her.  (In spite of the well-meant poem.)

So I like the poem, I really do.  And I get it.  I need to be myself.


But, some of the best parts of me are the ones I became as I tried to be like her.  

What a blessing to have a Marianne!  If you don't have one, I highly recommend mine.  Thank you, sweet sister.

(Next time you send me something, will you just copy and paste?  I'm sure you know how.)

Prom Part II

Well, this year's prom theme at our house could almost be called "Less is More."

The practice 'do was swell, but maybe not enough, so we added flowers.  (Also, Grandma shopped four different parlors for the right hair product.  It really worked!  That hair's not goin' anywhere tonight!)

Bling!!!

 You can never have too much jewelry, so we added a bracelet and ring to the ensemble.

I decided to go with her to help her, so I changed into my sweats and housecoat...Just kidding.  ;)

My favorite.

Too many pictures?  No way!

 Right about now, a herd of girls burst in to announce that the date had arrived.

This is who answered the door. 

There will be "Real" pictures, but I needed just one.  (Note the little sister.)

 I hurried them a little--should have let them get their flowers on and pose.  Oh, I should have taken a picture of the corsage.  Dang.  Nice boutonniere, though.  

 Less is more...

My favorite part of the story is where I asked my mom earlier today if she was very involved in my dances.  She just sighed and rolled her eyes.  As the night progressed, I sort of remembered her grabbing stuff and running around and offering ideas, and running around.  The only difference here was that I was quite possibly a tiny bit moody and hard to please, whereas Nellie was agreeable and pleasant and fun.

Well, not to worry, the Mother's Curse will still have a chance to manifest itself in the next 5 girlies.  (Plus, it's bitten me in the butt so many other times, enough's enough!)

PROM

New shoes for Cinderella.

It's prom time!

L Nellie and I looked online and started to make a shopping plan, when by chance we passed a hole-in-the- wall consignment store with some dresses in the window.  On a whim, we stopped.

Shazam!!!  It was the "Miracle of the Budget Prom Dress."  (I always pray before we shop for a big-ticket item and the Lord always comes through!)

We were able to find TWO dresses for a lot less than we planned on spending for just one.

Grandma provided the bling, and here is the dress-rehearsal hair I gave her.  (I can do fabulous hair with amazing humility, and I have 6 girls, but NO ONE lets me fix them, and NO ONE wants to wear "hair-pretties".  Sigh.  L Nellie will let me do it now, but I don't have time and she's old enough to do it herself...)

This is the dress she'll wear this time. 

I think when I do the real hair, I'll get rid of the part--it's too pronounced.

I french braided upside down.

Bonus prom dress for another day.

The "Evil Queen" look with Mr. Cool being, well, cool.

Reflections of an Evil Queen