Happy 238th Birthday, Jane Austen! Part II

          Technically, her birthday is over in England. Interestingly enough, the Jane Austen Center in Bath celebrates a festival, not in December, but rather in September (it's not too late to add this to my Christmas list).  We did miss the Jane Austen Society of North America South Carolina Region's celebration on December 14.  I truly thought Google would have some fun little game or design to commemorate her birthday; maybe they are waiting for her 250th.

In case you need a brief biography of Miss Austen, here is one by Carolyn Kellogg of the LA Times:
       

     Jane Austen was born on this day in 1775. Happy 238th birthday, Jane Austen!

Austen, of course, was the author of novels that have endured and delighted for centuries. Her biggest hits are "Pride and Prejudice," "Emma" and "Sense and Sensibility" -- lasting stories of young women coming of age in Edwardian England. Less well-known, but no less Austen-y, are "Mansfield Park," "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion."

Born into an affluent family, Austen had a comfortable upbringing not unlike her characters': She learned to play piano, visited friends, attended dances. She also, from a young age, wrote. Her first published work was "Sense and Sensibility," published in three volumes; it was originally published anonymously, identifying Austen only as "A Lady."

Austen lived to be 41, with two of her books, "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey," published posthumously. She is now buried in Winchester Cathedral and a plaque in her memory is in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Last week, an 1869 watercolor portrait of Austen sold for more than $270,000. In 2016, her face will begin appearing on the 10-pound note in the U.K. Meanwhile, her books grace shelves all over the world.

I have seen her plaque in Poets Corner and rather upset with myself that I didn't get a picture of it.  

In googling "Jane Asuten Birthday," I found a book that looks interesting: Among the Janeites by Deborah Yaffe.  Since the world of Jane Austen fandom fascinates me, I plan on adding this to the Jane Austen shelf.  It will go nicely with What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew.

I must confess that I have not read all her novels <collective gasp of horror>.  I have started Sanditon. So, to honor her 239th birthday, I have set a goal of reading them all before December 16, 2014.  Jane Fairfax is my model, not Emma.

Happy 238th Birthday, Jane Austen! Part One

Last year, I tried to write about one of my favorite authors on her birthday and completely missed it.  This year, I have decided to spend the whole month of December on Miss Austen and the literary accomplishments that have long outlived her, also ensuring that I will not miss her birthday again!

In the 196 years since her death, Jane Austen has managed to become a cottage industry without even trying.  It is quite popular to take her characters and add adventures to their lives, to further their stories and to give readers, and watchers, more of the Austen characters we've grown to love.  The Republic of Pemberley, an all-things-Jane-Austen website, lists sequels to all of Jane's books but is not exhaustive since the book I'm reviewing for this post isn't on the list.  This is the page for Pride and Prejudice. I freely confess to printing out this list and reading several of these books, some so droll as to be painful to finish and others so racy I am quite sure Miss Austen would  not approve.

Searching the virtual shelves on Amazon under "Pride and Prejudice sequels" produced 386 hits and "Pride and Prejudice variations" had 336 results, with several books appearing on both searches.  Googling "pride and prejudice sequels and variations" produced 375,000 hits; it seems Lizzy and Darcy might be the favorites of Jane-Austen-wannabes through the (almost) centuries.

Austenprose.com, another website devoted to Jane and her books and their sequels, is celebrating the bicentenary of P&P, each month reviewing a movie or sequel.  Spend some time clicking around because she has a very comprehensive dictionary listing terms defining the various genres of fan fiction.

The book I'd like to discuss falls under the Contemporary category: "A novel based on Jane Austen, her characters, or plots that is set after 1945."  P.D. James wrote Death comes to Pemberley.  I have never read anything by James; the book jacket describes her as "the queen of mystery" and "the greatest living writer of British crime fiction." (I wonder about this walking-on-eggshells description: are they afraid of offending Agatha Christie fans?)   It was extremely tedious to read the same description in three different chapters, making it seem like the plot stalled in the middle of the book.  I kept wondering how that repetition was important but it never became clear.

This book also seemed to think the Darcys needed therapy to help resolve issues from their courtship and marriage six years earlier.  Elizabeth still carried regret over her attentions to Wickham and Darcy still struggled with how to treat him as a brother-in-law, a situation of his own making due to his love for Elizabeth.

I didn't appreciate the sacrifice of a minor character and the deathbed confession of another character.  I would have liked it better if Wickham had, in fact, hanged.  Having to be married to Lydia is not punishment enough.

In the beginning of the novel, James does very well imitating Austen's writing style - sentences that are lines long and pages with no paragraph breaks.  But once past the introduction, which was very well done, her writing reverts to, what I am guessing, is her own mystery/crime writing style.    

I also must say that I did not guess the mystery until I read the deathbed confession, which seems a bit forced, but I did guess one part, which I am sure you will too, if you read this.  It took me about a weekend.

In googling the title, I discovered that this book is to be/has been made into a BBC miniseries.  Kudos to Mrs. James' agent!  It will air on PBS sometime in 2014.  I will be watching!

My First Audiobook/Movie Review Combo (Should that be a pizza?)

*First, the obligatory disclaimer - there will be spoilers of the movie Life of Pi in this post, further down. Sorry to do this to you two posts in a row but that's the way the film lands on the editing room floor.*

I haven't quite fully climbed on the audiobook bandwagon.  An iPod or iPhone with earbuds isn't the same as holding a book and turning the pages. But, on a recent family trip when I knew I would need some distraction from the other occupants of the vehicle, I relented and downloaded my first audiobook,  Life of Pi.

I listened to it mostly while walking on the treadmill and the track.  I found I really enjoyed the reader's voice (Jeff Woodman).  He did a very good Indian accent, changing his voice subtly but necessarily noticeably for each character.  It was almost like being a child and listening to my mom reading a book to me; I had no trouble seeing the action in my mind.  I was forced to pay mental attention to something in a way that I hadn't had to in a long time, so it was very good exercise for my brain.  I listened to the Unabridged version - somehow that is almost like blasphemy to even considering not listening to the full version of any book!

I think for my first true audiobook experience, the choice was a very good one.  However, the hardest part for me was that the prose of the book, the words Woodman was reading to me and penned by Yann Martel, was so beautiful and poignant that I often wanted to hold the book in my hands so I could underline a sentence or phrase because it was worth remembering or just plain lovely.

The movie had come out long before I got the audiobook; remember I'm the book reader/movie watcher who often comes late to the party.  I went to see the movie with my Dear Husband at a watch-a-movie-eat-a-meal kind of theater.  As the movie began, I was expecting Woodman's voice to be Pi's, but, of course, that was not the case, a little unexpected hazard of listening to the book instead of reading it.  As the movie progressed, it did not follow the action of the book, but to be fair, it did come relatively close.  I wish it would have followed exactly but that almost never happens and you'd think I would give up that expectation.  It showed the zebra with the broken leg in the boat, and Orange Juice floating on the bananas rescued by Pi.  It showed the awful hyena.  The film seemed to capture many of the highlights of the book.  However, the scene with Richard Parker and the goat at the zoo was very different between the two.  The movie showed Pi drifting under the water actually watching the ship sink - not in the book, despite it's stunning visual effect.

The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards.  It won four, one of which was for Best Achievement in Visual Effects. This movie absolutely deserved this award.  It was a feast for the eyes: beautiful colors, sunsets, sunrises, night skies, cloudy skies, sea creatures, storms.  Richard Parker was the most beautiful movie tiger I have ever seen.  The flying fish were incredibly realistic.  This was one of the most visually appealing movies I have seen in a long time.

Read or listen to the book and watch the movie!

World War Z: Book and Movie (*SPOILERS*)

*DISCLAIMER*  There will be book and movie spoilers in this post.  So if you intend on reading the book or watching the movie, stop here.  You have been warned.

When we were preparing to go to Alaska, one thing I did was search for a book to read on the plane.  Something that would be engrossing yet didn't require a lot of thinking, something entertaining but not altogether mindless. Since I am a zombie fan, I chose Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.  

In the introduction, we are told: "Although this is primarily a book of memories, it includes many of the details, technological, social, economic, and so on, found in the the original Commission Report, as they are related to the story of these voices featured in these pages.  This is their book, not mine and  I have tried to maintain as invisible a presence as possible" (p. 3).  Earlier we were told that all these stories and information were gathered as a UN investigation done by a single investigator with a cadre of translators and an ability to travel the world over.

The book opens with a brief status report on postwar conditions in China which had been decimated by zombies.  Then we travel to Tibet, Greece, Brazil and so forth around the world, until we finally land in Colorado.  The author tries very hard to use many different voices to tell this global tale that unfortunately, not all the voices are unique and some even come across as stereotypes.  The narrator, who tries to keep himself out of it, isn't always as invisible as he'd like to be.

This book does have a plot.  It took me a while to find it. The plot is how the zombie plague spread, how the plans to stop it spread, and what worked or didn't work.  The thread is found from one report to the next, each one linked but not always in obvious ways.

Not surprisingly, a zombie apocalypse (or any natural disaster or war) has collateral damage and this fictional conflict was no different.  Feral children, lack of food, cannibalism, the break-down of civility and civilization, and the recovery are all covered.

The zombies were quite similar and yet, different, from the zombies in Walking Dead, for instance.  These zombies can survive underwater - they're the living dead so oxygen isn't necessary.  They freeze in winter, kindly giving humanity a seasonal respite from those who would devour them. Head shots only to take them out, that must be universal, until someone comes along and totally changes the myth like Stephanie Meyer did with vampires; sparkly zombies would never work.

I like zombies.  They are a metaphor for all of humanity's fears and desire for control over that which cannot be controlled.   If you want to know how to prepare for TEOTWAWKI event, then this is a great book to start with.  But don't watch the movie World War Z thinking you'll get the same education.

As for the movie, the Prince Caspian Rule strikes again!  While I didn't necessarily re-read the book before I went to see the movie, it was fresh enough in my mind that I could tell when the movie deviated from the book (not that hard - almost the whole movie).  I also knew from seeing the trailer in other movies that this movie would not be like the book at all and it wasn't.

Truly, I wanted to see Hollywood fx bring to life zombies coming out of the water to attack boats.  I wanted to see the Yonkers battle.  Instead, I got a floating armada with zombies no where near, a man trying to get back to his family in Nova Scotia and  cartoonish computer-generated zombies climbing each other to breach a massive wall.  I got zombies that moved like lightening, never seemed to feast on human flesh, gnash their teeth and growl and go dormant when there's nothing to eat.

I always wonder how an author feels about his or her book being turned into a movie.  When I see that the author has some involvement in the filmmaking process, I feel a little better because I think the movie will be truer to the book than without the author's involvement.  Looks like Max Brooks was not involved in any way, shape or form, and it shows.

The first burning question in your mind now is should I read the book. Absolutely! The second is should I go see this movie or not.  See it, but wait til it comes out on Netflix and don't expect it to be anything like the book.  Bummer because that book, handled by an intelligent screenwriter, should have produced a much better movie.  Maybe in 25 years someone will re-make it since Hollywood can't seem to leave old movies alone (The Dirty Dancing Red Dawn Effect).

The New F Word

Monday, July 8, began 11 weeks of furlough for my Dear Husband and 649,999 of his government service colleagues. Before this red letter day, I had vowed to contact my congressional representatives to voice my frustration and to spur them on to act <ha! so naive in retrospect>.

On Wednesday, July 10, I did just that, and boy howdy! let me tell you what I learned.

My first call was to my Representative. The young man who answered the phone, in all honesty, shouldn't have been.  He stumbled over his words and way overused "Ums" and Uhs."  Poor kid.  I started off asking him what the Representative's position was on the furlough for government defense workers. The staffer or volunteer was silent, and then after a very long pause began to give me a lesson on how the sequestration and the furloughs came to be. That long pause was instructive, and where I learned my first lesson: If the item in question is a done deal, the representative or senator will have no opinion on it.  Duh.   My second lesson followed quickly on the heels of the first:  Think fast, remember your goal, and ask another question.  I proceeded to ask the young man what the representative was going to do to end the furloughs for the government service employees.  After a bunch of political-speak, I took the opportunity to explain how many people who lived in the county I do and commute into the home of the world's largest naval base or work at the shipyard or various other military installations in the nearby state so that the entire region's economy was going to be negatively impacted by these furloughs.  I told the young man my husband was a 20 year veteran of the Navy and now works to make sure ships are safe for sailors; that my husband felt this kind of treatment was a kick in the gut.  The young man said he would pass along my story to the representative.  I then ended the call, with a sinking feeling.

My next call was to the senator listed first in the directory.  This time, the phone was answered in a very professional manner by another young man.  He then transferred me to the Senator's staffer who handled military issues.  This was my third lesson:  Senators have staffers assigned to various areas of governmental concerns.  The staffer was not in, so I left a message, briefly explaining what I wanted to discuss.  I have not heard back from this person, but I will be calling her back <insert evil laugh>.  After doing some research on Senate staff positions, it appears that some senators also have assistants to deal with veterans' issues, Liaisons they are dubbed.  Furloughs are affecting many veterans so this might be the tack I take in my next round of calls to my congressional representatives.

The final call was to my other senator and was the most productive one as far as learning things.  Since I had learned about staffers, I asked the young man who answered the phone if the Senator had a staffer who dealt with military issues and could I please speak to him or her.  The young man said yes, inquired as what I was calling about and then transferred me.  This young lady was very soft-spoken and kind.  She listened to me, again trying to give me a lesson on the sequester and how the furloughs came to be.  Here is where I learned it is possible to wait too long to voice an opinion to a congressional representative; I should have been calling back when sequestration was first being discussed.  The staffer also informed me this senator had voted against the bill to reduce the furloughs because it contained cuts to other entitlements.  That did not make me happy and I expressed to the staffer that there is no need for entitlements if our nation cannot be defended.  I'll be the first to admit there is wasteful spending in the military AND in the government all around, local, state and federal levels.  For example, the $3.5 million dollars used to buy land around a base to protect a gopher species that isn't even endangered might only be a drop in the bucket, but it's as good a place as any to start!  If we could, somehow, recover even a portion of the $8 BILLION dollars that has "been lost to fraud and corruption" in Iraq alone, we might not have had to even have furloughs.

This staffer repeatedly said that she understood when I repeated to her what I had told the first staffer regarding my husband's situation.  While I appreciate the sentiment, she does not understand and she couldn't, unless her spouse or another family member  is a victim of the furlough OR she herself was furloughed from her job. Depending on her position, that could be a drop in the bucket or the difference between cat food and real meat.  It is quite interesting that the leaders of our country did not try to trim their office budgets first or take pay cuts themselves before they passed the buck down to the little people.  It is quite hollow for a man whose net worth is between $2.4 million to $10.9 million in 2009, to take a 20% pay cut in solidarity.

I also asked this young lady if The Powers That Be were aware of how tax revenues for the government would go down since people aren't being paid and are, therefore paying taxes on lesser incomes. I asked her if COngress was aware of the trickle down effect: that if people are not earning, that is money that cannot be spent in the economy - business will close, people will not eat out or shop or buy anything because their bills will have to be paid first and all discretionary spending put on hold.  She agreed with me but offered no insights or solutions except her understanding.

I also learned from this young lady that at the end of July there may or may not be a vote on the National Defense Authorization Act or such amendments thereto which may or may not end furlough.  Perhaps that is what Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was referring to: "In his memo today [May 14, 2013], Hagel said if the budget situation eases, he would strongly prefer to end the furloughs early. “That is a decision I will make later in the year,” he added. 

I questioned this young lady about who I should contact regarding this vote.  She indicated Harry Reid but cautioned his office might not take my call since I am not a constituent of his.  Nice.

So I went back to cleaning out my oldest Dear Son's bedroom, and alternating between raging and crying.  Dear Son's room got cleaned but I sure didn't accomplish anything else worthy of Wonder Woman.

Final take-aways:
I am resigned to the fact that in all probability, nothing will be done to end furloughs.   And that according to an eight page letter written by Chuck Hagel to the Senate Armed Services committee, furloughs would be replaced by lay-offs and reductions in force (RIF) meaning people would be fired. 

Government waste, fraud and abuse will continue.  The IRS will still get their bonuses.  The Obamas will continue to take extravagant trips at taxpayer expense. Many government employees will continue to use their government credit cards to fund their own selfish desires.

And average Americans, who work hard to do their part to ensure our sailors, soldiers, airmen, and guardsmen have what they need to accomplish the mission, will suffer.

BUT my hope is in the Lord not the government.

Shameless Brag

Nothing like being an absent blogger and then picking back up with a shameless brag, huh?!  And I wish I could say that the reason for my absence is because of what I'm going to brag about but, alas, that is not the case.

During the month of April, I, along with my Dear Husband and, at times, my Dear Son, did two different exercise challenges put out by The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans: Fab-Abs January and Oh My Thighs! April.  During the month of April, I did:

1,175 sit-ups
   495 push-ups
     29 minutes of plank 
     24 minutes of wall sit minus the kick
   760 leg circles
   464 squat knees (which I just realized we didn't do quite right but it's all good!)

Unlike my friend Jen, I didn't lose six pounds and one pant size but I certainly firmed up some tummy flab and started myself on a strength training regime that I never would have without the Sisterhood helping me along.  And, for the record, I do have some shadows near my ribs which might, in fact, be my abs!

Shrinking Jeans has put out a different work out for each month and you can find those here if you are interested.

Next week, The Life of Pi and I don't mean apple.

The 7 Deadly Sins are alive and well. . . .

In Washington DC.

On Tuesday, I started a draft of a letter to the President for my blog post.  As all writers do, I laid awake thinking about my post, what I had written and what I wanted to edit and change.

Then it struck me, the problem with Washington is that we have a ruling class of elites who are greedy  to protect their own power.  Their pride and arrogance makes them forget where they came from.  Their lust for power blinds them. Their loyalty to party overrides the needs and desires of their constituents.  They don't care about doing what the people elected them to do any more; they are beholden to their own self-interests.

My senators and congressman do not care that my husband's paycheck will be much less; they don't care that he is a victim of their inability to do what they were elected to do.  My President only wants to see me and mine suffer because his pride makes him think I am too stupid to place the blame where it squarely belongs: on HIS shoulders and his alone.

All of them are guilty of being slothful: avoiding their physical work in Washington, by the people and for the people.  Their anger is misplaced as they hurl insults at each other and probably laugh over brandy at their supposed good show.

The President is somehow envious of failed political systems and wants to punish his country through crazy wealth redistribution campaigns that only serve to further weaken our country.

I am a huge fan of Vince Flynn and his Mitch Rapp character.  What does that have to do with anything?  Well his first novel didn't have Rapp in it but it may be his best.  I hope it never comes down to something similar happening in our country but people are angry.  And when people get angry, revolutions happen.

Do you hear the people sing?Singing a song of angry men?It is the music of a peopleWho will not be slaves again!When the beating of your heartEchoes the beating of the drumsThere is a life about to startWhen tomorrow comes!

Friday Document Dump

Hello Dear Readers!

I have not forgotten about you, despite my lack of posting.  I celebrated my 46th birthday and the one year anniversary of my blog on February 22.  My Dear Husband's birthday is today and my youngest Dear Son's birthday is next week.  It's been quite busy.

I have finished some reading milestones, my first audiobook and my first digital book.  I will be blogging about those in the weeks to come.

The political situation with the sequester, which directly affects my Dear Husband's job, has me fuming and presents a wonderful topic for writing, which I'm sure you were expecting.

In our homeschool, we just finished a novel and I had the brilliant idea of reviewing those.  Better late than never, huh?

For today, I'd like to focus on a weekend field trip we recently took.  We were able to visit The Museum and White House of the Confederacy for the first time, followed the next day by a trip to Appomatox Court House National Historical Park. We had visited Appomatox once before, almost eleven years ago when I was pregnant with Youngest Son. In our homeschool, we had been reading about the Civil War and decided to visit these places since we were in Richmond for another event.

The Museum and White House of the Confederacy are two buildings, one very modern and one very old, right next to each other, nestled in between and overshadowed by stories and stories of two buildings of the VCU hospital complex. These two pictures give you an idea of how the Museum and White house are situated.

(Both images was taken from http://virginiaplantation.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/a-visit-to-the-white-house/.)

These two museums were wonderful treasures, chock full of amazing artifacts from the Civil War. The tour of the White House was lead by a very knowledgeable guide who did not seek to paint the Yankees in a bad light, which was kind of surprising to me.  The tour lasted about 45 minutes.  We got to see Jefferson Davis's office and bedroom, the dining room, parlors and the children's bedroom.  Many of the artifacts on display were owned by the Davises.  That is fascinating to me that so much survived.

Considering the size of ladies' hoop skirts back then, I did not expect the staircases to be so narrow!  The picture above is of the house's main staircase.  Mrs. Varina Davis, the First Lady of the Confederacy, seemed to be quite the character.  I would like to read more about her!

The next day, we traveled the almost two hours from Richmond to Appomatox Court House National Historical Park to see where Lee surrendered to Grant.  At one point, the McLean House, where the trading of letters and terms took place, had been dismantled so it could be rebuilt in another location.  We learned quite a bit of fascinating information.  The brief movie in the Visitor Center is not to be missed.

While we were at Appomatox, Caleb participated in the Junior Ranger Program.  He was given a booklet with several activities to do and things to watch for as he toured the site.  This booklet kept him throughly engaged in the exhibits and buildings.  He was quite busy filling in blanks and looking for things like the Silent Witness and the wagon.

While at Appomatox, I had to ask our tour guide, Mr. Brennan, about James McPherson's book, Battle Cry of Freedom (listed in the sidebar).  He thought it an excellent book and then recommended another, April 1865 by Jay Winik, which I, of course, purchased at the Bookstore.  I was pleased to see the bookstore did carry McPherson's book.

I highly recommend these two historical places. Reading about something in a book and then actually going and visiting those places truly does make history seem so much more real and alive.

Love wins.

A status I recently wrote on a FaceBook thread declared that I "loved" Brendan Coyle, the actor who is currently seen as Mr. Bates in Downton Abbey.

That got me thinking about the word love and how I throw it around, casually and flippantly.  I love chocolate and Starbucks.  I love this book, that movie.  I love those shoes, that scarf, those jeans.  But really, all that stuff I say I love can't love me back.  They are things, inanimate objects.

I need to be more careful how and when I use that word. Since I've been thinking about that, I catch myself deleting "love" and replacing it with "really enjoyed."  Or by saying relish, enchantment, delight, care for, fascinated with, think the world of, or any other synonyms which convey a great liking but stop short at "love."

Love should be reserved for my God, my husband, my children, my parents, my brother,  my extended family, and other people very special to me.  It is a word that describes actions within relationships.  To love means I am treating those around me with patience and kindness instead of arrogance and rudeness.  Love is not selfishness, irritable or resentful.  Love is sad when wrongdoing happens because it understands the consequences, unintended and intended, of the wrongdoing.  Love rejoices in the truth.  It is always hopeful and enduring, believing and bearing all things.  It never ends.

Brendan Coyle's time as Bates on Downton Abbey will end, just like Tom Selleck's did as Magnum PI.  These men will never even know of their adoring fan in the backwoods of northeastern North Carolina.  But my husband and my children will know me and my love for them, forever.

I have a friend whose car sports a sticker which simply states "Love wins."  I used to argue in my head with that sticker because, on the surface, I didn't believe it truly.  But as I pondered what it means to love, deeply, fully and with great abandonment, love does in fact win. So I need to make sure I am loving the right people the right way.

Always, and not just one day of the year.

Yes, Kathy, grown women DO read Twilight.

Twilight.  You know - Team Edward (vampire) or Team Jacob (werewolf).  The series of tween/teen novels written by Stephanie Meyer about a high school girl falling in love with a sparkly vampire, no evil Count Dracula that one.

Kathy Shaidle wrote an article at PJ Media trying to explain what's wrong with America, blaming it on suburban moms who read Twilight. (Good grief, what would she say if she knew I had seen ALL the movies? With my husband to boot?)

According to her: Trouble is: the ladies who need to read this article aren’t on the internet right now; they’re at a “spa,” trying to decide between the “Brazilian” and the “Californian.”  Well Dearie, the two are NOT mutually exclusive and some of us can do both.  Just not at the same time.  Waxing does not equal a decrease in IQ points; breastfeeding does <geesh, insert eye roll, doesn't everyone know THAT?>

She also writes: PJ Media’s female readers are presumably politically engaged, well-informed and — just a guess — not too skanky.  Reading escape fiction and getting waxed does not equal skank in my book.  And don't insult the skank by assuming she isn't politically engaged or well-informed.

Shaidle goes on to TRY to describe a typical suburban mom who uses a camera as a shield to keep her children at bay and shuttles them around from place to place and activity to activity so she doesn't have to actually deal with her offspring. At the end of a long day doing all that stuff, mom likes nothing more than to curl up with a good book, or maybe a favorite movie.  

I am not a typical suburban mom; living in the country and homeschooling have the tendency to remove one from that category.  But at the end of a long day of pressure canning combined with the reality of educating my child, I rather enjoy escaping into good book, whether that is Twilight or The Hunger Games or Outlander.  Shaidle seems to lump The Hunger Games in with drivel; it certainly is not that, especially in light of the potential for discussion it provides.  That suburban mom could actually use The Hunger Games trilogy as a means of making herself and her children politically engaged and well-informed.  

And then, for her denouement, she encourages us to read JANE AUSTEN (yes, I am yelling).  I love Jane Austen.  I've read her books, seen the movies, had endless discussions about both.  But ya know what, if Kaaathy wants us to be more educated, to rise above the drivel of such novels as Twilight, she should have told women to read ALL the books in The Well-Educated Mind.  That way, we could know the bloodsucking politicians have been around since before Herodutus; the silver bullet for the werewolf is shot from the revolver of timeless themes rooted deeply within humanity; and "real" women can be educated and shallow in turns without politically disengaging or lacking information on what's happening in the world.

Because, let's face it: even Jane Austen is romantic escapism, deeply rooted in the themes of her time, just written in very pretty, but sometimes convoluted, 18th Century British prose.  

One generation's Mr. Darcy is another's Edward.

Celebrating the 4th of July early.

Our nation stands at a crossroads.  To understand that fork in the road better, I highly suggest, if you have not or if it has been a long time, that you read the three most important documents in our country's history:  The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States of America and The Bill of Rights.

I do not agree with Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg; any nation who is interested in freedom should be glad and grateful to use our Constitution as a model for creating their own.  Perhaps if Egypt had used our Constitution, they wouldn't be in the mess they are in now.

Constitutional Law scholars argue over the interpretative status of that venerable document: should it be interpreted based upon the original intent of the framers or is it an evolving document, changing to meet the needs of each generation of Americans living under it?  Since I seem to have a thing for really old books written long ago, deemed antiquated by some, and not really very culturally-malleable,  I'm going with original intent.  (And don't even go down the old -dead-white-men-slavery route.  Reading McPherson's book on the Civil War taught me it was the Republicans who were the ones fighting to free the slaves while the Southern Democrats were fighting to keep slavery. Alice! We've gone down the rabbit hole!)

The potential exists for our nation to be fundamentally transformed into something recognizable only by the failures of previous countries who tried the same experiment.

As Thomas Jefferson said: "A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities. "

He also said: "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."

Hear, hear, Mr. Jefferson! Hear, hear!

Continuing . . . Goals

Lest I be confused with our Congress, these are some more goals and not continuing resolutions!

*Creativity
I love to scrapbook, but in the past 6 months haven't had much time to do so.  Well, really, I've probably had the time but chose to do other things.  Isn't that always how it is?  We make time for the things we really value.  I need to carve out time to do this.  My child is old enough that my tools aren't a danger nor a temptation for him.  Carving out a space is the more challenging part, since scrapbooking is a hobby which requires spreading out - papers, tools, pictures, pages, embellishments, etc.  Creativity is very important for our brains and our souls; we were made in the image of the Creator.

*Novelty
There is a lot of research out that which shows that doing and learning new things is really good for your brain (are you sensing a theme here?).  I have started on this goal even before the New Year began.  You see, I bought my first real audiobook - The Life of Pi, although I got it from iTunes and not Amazon.  Holding a book in my hand, turning the page, smelling it, writing in it - these are the ways I "read" any book.  Listening to it, kind of a read-aloud for adults, is not something I do at all.  So I got this and have started listening to it while I walk on the treadmill.  It will also be an interesting experiment - will I remember more of the story?  What will I like about and dislike about it?  Do I attend better with someone else's voice in my head?  Am I secretly an auditory learner when I thought I was visual all along?

Maybe this book wasn't a good first choice.  The prose is so captivating that if I were reading it instead of listening to it there would be underlining everywhere.  I can't do that with an audiobook; frustratingly I try to recall those catchy phrases and apt descriptions and all I can come up with is the voice of the reader.  In the previous seven chapters, there were two dramatic instances of foreshadowing, which was probably more an effect of seeing the movie trailer, but, really, those first chapters were full of water - liquids of all kinds really.  It will be quite interesting to watch the movie after I listen to this book.

The novelty extends to lots of other areas.  I might try to ski or snowboard this year.  Since many of my friends knit, and I very basically can, perhaps I should work to encourage my creativity plus improve my skill, a very handy one to have should bartering become necessary.  Traveling to new places is exciting and new (but not necessarily on the Love Boat); I hope to do this quite a bit.  We have neglected our garden and that would be a good thing to pick back up.  Learning a language would really work the old brain over; Caleb has been haphazardly trying to learn Russian so maybe I'll join him.

*Finances
Managing money is a skill, one I am not very good at.  I know there is a spiritual link to money and how one uses it and feels about it and serving God.  I sadly confess I have put my hope in money at times instead of in God.  So one book I have been dreading reading, but know I must if I want to grow in this area, is Money, Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn.  I know that linked page is old (2008!) but I am even more fascinated by the Theology of Money course described under the book!  I want to learn more about this topic - nothing like getting two birds with one stone.

Resolved? Perhaps . . . .

Resolutions.
We resolve.
We succeed for about a week.
We give up.
We set ourselves up for failure.
So, perhaps, setting goals is better.

But before I jump from the frying pan into the fire, I like to define the terms, literally.

Resolve, according to dictionary.com, means: to come to a definite or earnest decision about; determine (to do something); to convert or transform by any process; to separate into constituent or elementary parts; break up; cause or disintegrate.

Goal, aside from points scored in soccer or lacrosse, is defined as the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end; the terminal point in a race.

While I have made an earnest decision about some things in my life, things about myself I would like to transform or even disintegrate, I have aims, ends to which I am directing my efforts, things I would like to achieve.

I, will, therefore, not resolve to do anything but rather set up goals for myself. And they are as follows:

*Waste
I throw away food, far too much.  I spend way too much time on the computer goofing off, following rabbit trails and being generally unproductive.  I use too much shampoo and laundry detergent.  I don't reuse things that probably could be.  I'm not trying to reduce my carbon footprint or anything remotely close to that.  I just don't want to be as wasteful in this New Year as I was.  This goal can be met easily.  Freeze food in smaller portions and don't leave it in the refrigerator.  Set limits for myself on the computer, knowing some days will be better than others.  Use half a squirt of shampoo instead of a whole pump.

*Reading
I am, sadly, characterized by leaving books unfinished, especially in my book club, as you can tell by the side bar.  For someone who loves to read, it's a wonder this is a problem.  If I am reading, I'm not on the computer and I've met two goals at once.  At the end of the year, if all the books started are finished, then my goal has been met.

*Prayer
In this area, I would like to be more deliberate and intentional.  I would like to spend more time in the prayer closet, on my face before the Throne of Grace.  My life needs it but more importantly, the lives of my husband and children need it even more and, unfortunately, I have been negligent in this.

*Health
The past year and a half, I have been on an incredible weight loss journey.  I have eaten better,  exercised more, and been more active since.  I still have quite a few more pounds to go.  Walking is my preferred method of exercising; however, I realize my body and my brain need different.  I plan on doing yoga, spending some time shredding with Jillian and even running <gasp, wheeze>.  Lately I've been doing some interval training where I alternate walking and running.  The running part hasn't been that difficult, yet.  Maybe entering a 5K is in my future - I'm open to that and sometimes the hardest part about making life changes is just to be open to them!

The thing is, I know that some days are going to be 100% days but I also know that some days won't even be close to 1%.  Perhaps, that's really the overarching goal - to give myself more grace, to be more forgiving of my own mistakes and to have realistic expectations.