Reading List for 2010 January 5, 2010

Nonfiction/Opinions:

Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
Last Child In the Woods by Richard Louv 
It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R. Covey

The Minds of Boys by Michael Gurian

The Purpose of Boys by Michael Gurian

Why Gender Matters by Leonard Sax [just loved his book Boys Adrift]

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better by John Holt

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated? By Alfie Kohn

Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality by Henry Cloud

The Mom Factor by Henry Cloud and John Townsend

Enough by Adam Hamilton

Fiction:

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Little French Girl Anne Douglas Sedgwick

Hotel on Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Ida B by Katherine Hannigan

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch

The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

My Antonia – Willa Cather
Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather

The Good Earth – Pearl Buck

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Voyagers’ Stone by Kraske

Tennyson by Lesley M. M. Blume

Airman By Eoin Colfer

Author Louisa May Alcott: Little Women [re-reading], Little Men, Jo’s Boys, Eight Cousins, An Old-Fashioned Girl, and The Inheritance.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamerlain

The Four Seasons by Mary Alice Monroe

Wedding Ring by Emilie Richards

Between the Tides by Patti Callahan Henry

Dogwood by Chris Fabry

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

Sophie Kinsella

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher

Also like to re-read books by John Steinbeck: The Pearl, East of Eden, Sweet Thursday, and Grapes of Wrath.

Finally read aloud to the boys Robin Hood.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard

Evelina by Frances Burney

 

Biographies/Presidential:

Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz
26 Fairmount Avenue by Tomie DePaola
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl
Triangular Road: A Memoir by Paule Marshall
Chewing the Cud by Dick King-Smith

Little Women: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen

Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom

Stones Into School by Greg Mortenson [loved Three Cups of Tea]

Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne C. Heller [probably to be followed by a re-reading of all Ayn Rand’s books]

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

John Adams by John McCullough and also by John McCullough: Truman and Morning on Horseback.

There is No Me Without You by Melissa Faye Greene

U.S. Grant by Joan Waugh

Easy Company Soldier by Don Malarkey

Beyond Band of Brothers by Dick Winters

Woodrow Wilson by John Milton Cooper Jr.

Horse Soldier by Dough Stanton

King of the Mild Frontier by Chris Crutcher

Science Fiction/Fantasy

The Soldier’s Son Trilogy by Robin Hobb

With the Lightnings by David Drake

Glory Road by Robert Heinlein

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Otherness by David Brin

The Robin Hood series by Stephen Lawhead [Hood, Scarlet and Tuck]

Empire and Hidden Empire books by Orson Scott Card

Poetry:

Walt Whitman

Langston Hughes

Robert Frost

Kahlil Gibran

Anna Akhmatova

William Blake

Thoughts on having a baby November 10, 2009

It has been very interesting to have the boys as old as they are: seven and five years old because they understand so much and yet they don’t about pregnancy and the upcoming baby addition to our family.

They are very concern that I eat and do what is good for the baby.  No over doing the desserts Mom as that isn’t good for the baby. 

They have their opinions on names.  Solomon likes Olivia for a girl [no idea where he got that one] and Arthur for a boy [King Arthur and the Round Table story obviously and another "king" name].  Cyrus likes Rosabelle for a girl [I just don't know how to explain that the baby is a person and not a cow] and doesn’t have a name for a boy but likes Arthur when Solomon mentioned it.

They flipflop on whether they want a girl or a boy and know they’ll be able to go with me to the ultrasound appointment to find out though it is hard to wait [around 20 week mark and I am 9 weeks along right now].

Solomon was wondering how the baby was born.  Cyrus thought the baby was cut out which I explained that some moms have c-sections to deliver their babies but I haven’t done that yet.  Then Solomon wondered if the baby came out the “bottom”?  To which I replied, “If you mean the butt then no the baby doesn’t come out that way.”  So I give a brief lesson in boy verses girl parts and that my part can accomodate babies coming out.  It seems to satisfy them for now. 

They are very interested in “watching the baby develop” in the womb.  They love to see the ticker that I have over on the right side of this blog with the picture of the baby this week and a note of what is going on right now.  I am hoping to take them to OMSI soon to show them the pregnancy/fetus development exhibit they have there.  All this has led Solomon to take a higher interest in the body which is good because it could be nice to have a son in the medical profession when grown up.

November 10, 2009

I got the flu after the boys and went to the ER because I got dehydrated.  While I was there I started on antibotics for another issue and the antibotics just wiped me out which is why I haven’t been posting.  I got all the side effects, couldn’t drive or do much of anything since I had zero energy.  I am so fortunate that the boys did the best they could without mom being around so much and enjoyed the best they could of no school for a week.  My brother Steven who lives with us has been a wonderful help- nice to know that even though we fought when we were younger, that we could become supportive friends when we’re adults.  We have been blessed with meals from my wonderful support group that is growing in numbers of friends.  I am truly blessed that even when I am down, others will come in to help care for us.  Thank you for your kindness!

A special announcement October 11, 2009

We’re happy to announce that we’re expecting an addition to our family.  I am pregnant and feeling good so far but it is early still.  D is slowly wrapping his mind around the idea, it is hard when you’re in an alternate reality [Iraq] to fully know and appreciate what is happening here in the states.  The boys kind of get it but since we have been trying for so long that they sort of lost their excitement but I am sure they will be overjoyed about being wonderful brothers to a wee one.  I am due in June and as I know more, I’ll share the details…

October 5, 2009

 

 

Cyrus swinging on the swing as we wait for Solomon to get out of school.

Both Cyrus and Solomon are doing well at their new school in Kindergarten [Cyrus goes half days] and 1st grade.  I am finally getting used to the new schedule and enjoying the time to get some things done and the afternoons with Cyrus.

October 1, 2009

Been raining off and on today with a little chill to the air- I think Fall has arrived and we should all celebrate with some soup!

Quote October 1, 2009

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” –Robert A. Heinlein

 

Words to live by…

Weekly Menu Plan September 29, 2009

Monday: Breakfast: Boys requested cereal and I am having granola 
Lunch: S has hot lunch at school. C and I have our choice of three different soups.
Dinner: Either a roast whole chicken with potatoes and salad or eating out with Grandma.

Tuesday: Carrot-Nut Muffins and eggs 
Leftover soup
Crockpot pinto beans, leftover shredded chicken, and sweet potatoes or yams made into tacos     Well I ended up getting boxes of fresh organic tomatoes so we’re having roasted tomatoes and bacon pasta.

Wednesday: Muffins and eggs
Chicken salad on green salad and crackers on the side for boys 
Taquitos made with beans and leftover chicken with corn on the cob.    Roasted tomatoes and vegetables- plus mac and cheese for the boys.

Thursday: Waffles
Eating out                                                                                                                                                                          Chicken coconut soup with egg noodles [the frozen kind] loaded with veggies

Friday: Green Eggs and Toast
Leftover soup
Artichokes, grilled tri tip, and green salad with lots of tomatoes

Saturday: Probably cereal for boys.
Tri tip sandwiches
Curried rub salmon, broccoli, and rice stuffed in tomatoes.

Sunday: Breakfast sandwich [Biscuits, eggs, and bacon]
Leftovers
Pork shoulder roast, coleslaw, and either steamed carrots or baked sweet potato/yam

Quote September 27, 2009

And she who is parting with her sweetheart today-

Let her forge her pain into strength.

By the children we swear, we swear by the graves,

That no one will force us to submit!

Poet Anna Akhmatova [The Wind Of War Part 1. Vow] written July 1941 in Leningrad

Happy Birthday to my Hero September 27, 2009

Our 15 days together has come to a close and D is back overseas after a lovely and relaxing time together.  He left early Thursday morning and called me last night to say he was in Kuwait- just in time for me to wish him a Happy Birthday as it was already September 26th there.  Now it is September 26 stateside so Happy Birthday Honey again! 

The boys and I will be celebrating with some good things all day:

Popcorn and hot cider [nevermind the sun is shining], ice cream at Cold Stone, a movie with some cuddling, and we started the day off right with cartoons on Saturday morning just like D used to watch when he was a kid.

It is a milestone- 30 years but we’ll do the party next year and really ring in the new decade right then.  Until then I have 364 days to plan it…