Random Reads

Friday was my oldest baby's birthday--I can barely believe he is FOUR! We had a really fun party at the park after having spent a sort of stressful morning at home trying to bake the cake, cookies to decorate, etc. I overplanned a bit and should have probably chosen one activity instead of having "decorate your own cookie," paint a plaster Halloween magnet (I made the plaster things earlier), make a foamie Halloween guy, have a pinata, eat cake, open presents. It was a little much. L loved his Darth Vader costume and looked really cute in it. The helmet I got is really cool.

Anyway, I didn't blog on his birthday, so I'm breaking my "post only on Fridays" schedule and posting today instead. I know it is kind of weird to have *nothing* posted and then suddenly a big rash of posts all on one day, so I'm considering saving a bunch of "drafts" each Friday and then releasing them throughout the week, so that content is new more than just on Fridays....

This past week I read a variety of random books, mostly courtesy of the recent book sale I went to (and these were some non-sellers, so I read 'em).

Most recently, I finished The Coffin Quilt, historical, young adult fiction about the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys. I gobbled it down, but then after I stayed up way too late finishing it, I didn't actually like it very much. This is one reason why I don't read much fiction--I have no self control and gobble them up regardless of quality! The book is by Ann Rinaldi who also wrote Wolf by the Ears (historical fiction about the children of Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemmings). In a small bit of personal history, Wolf by the Ears was the first book I ever reviewed in my life. I was 15 and wrote a review of it for our short lived homeschooler publication "Prism."

Earlier, I also read The Power of a Penny. This was quick read of a short little inspirational book about the power of small things to make a real difference. I found a lot of it to be sort of trite or obvious and didn't learn anything new--it was not particularly creative or imaginative or fresh at all.