BOOK REVIEW: THREE CUPS OF TEA

Title: Three Cups of Tea
Author(s): Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Number of Pages: 349
Number of Stars I'm Giving it: 2.5

This review will be short and sweet, or at least to the point.

I give this book 2.5 stars for content, and zero for context.
The writing was pretty bad.  I know I shouldn't judge because my writing is downright atrocious at times.  The difference is that I don't charge money for my writing.  In fact I hope that most of my "writings" will go unseen from human eyes forever!

This book was an interesting peek into another culture and I enjoyed that.  However I do think he looked at the Pakistani culture with rose colored glasses and was very judgmental towards the American culture.  I respect what it is he is trying to accomplish in an impoverished part of the world and it is a far greater contribution than I may ever achieve.  Politically I doubt I would agree with the author on much, but that is the great thing about agency. It is nice to see that one person can make a difference, and that you can accomplish a lot when you put your mind to it.   If you are just reading it to have something to read then there are endless lists of more entertaining things out there.

BOOK REVIEW: WE TWO

Title: We Two - Victoria and Albert, Rulers, Partners, Rivals
Author: Gillian Gill
Number of Pages: 480 (Closer to 380 of actual reading)
Number of Stars I'm Giving It: 3.5

Let me start off  by saying I think its mean to name your daughter Gillian Gill - or Gill Gill for short.  At least she grew up to be a very successful person.

Having finished this book I still have very mixed feelings about it.  There were parts I loved, and parts I hated.  I do feel a little cheated that I read the entire thing and I won't even be getting any college credits for it.

The first 30% or so of this book I thought was fascinating.   The way in which Victoria was raised was extremely harsh and sad.  It is amazing that someone who was never left alone could actually be so lonely.  I was impressed that although she had such a lack of independence and nurturing love as a child, she grew to be a very powerful leader.

Albert at first I thought was a very impressive person.  The more I read about him though I feel like he had a superiority complex.  He seemed to be a doormat for Victoria and his father because he wouldn't dare stand up to them, but to make up for that he tried to walk all over everybody else.  He came across as very pompous and arrogant.   The thing I like most about Albert was a very loving father, that is if his children met his high standards.

Where I have my most mixed feelings are in the general culture at the time.  I guess in my mind I always imagined life in those times more as a Jane Austin novel than actual fact.  I had an image of most people being God fearing and moral people.  It was a time I envied and wanted to see for myself - all of the true gentlemen and ladies. I was a little disgusted when I read this book.  It seems that affairs and mistresses were the norm.  Infidelity was to be expected and abandonment of a mistress and her children rampant.  I don't know about the lower classes, but it seemed to me that if you were rich, all rules of morals were thrown out the window.  At least Albert was a faithful husband to his wife.
It made me crazy to think that most or all of the European royalty was related and that they were all allotted money and services from the day they were born until the day they died, regardless of if they accomplished anything with their own lives. 
Reading about the medical beliefs at the time made me cringe.  Bloodletting and sleeping in freezing rooms for good health.  Children eating only bread and milk with very little meat. Victoria had 9 children, one almost every 2 years.  She hated being pregnant and I don't blame her at all.  Her husband was unsympathetic and thought she complained for no reason.  She only had chloroform with her last 2 children, and even then it was considered a sin, but she was the queen so who was going to say anything to her?  The hemophiliac son they had was so interesting.  They just tried to ignore medical fact thinking that if they didn't acknowledge it then it wouldn't be true.
It disturbed me how much she disliked her children.  She didn't find joy with them and was even extremely jealous of them when Albert would spend time with them.  It was striking that after her hate for her own mother's "neglect" that she would turn around and do almost the same thing to her children.  She would openly criticize them.  I lost a lot of respect for Victoria in this area.  They had multiple vacation homes, and yachts.  She had an endless supply of money, but I wouldn't trade any day in my life for hers.
I can't imagine being someone lower than the queen at those times.  It must have been unbearable.  Some of her servants never had a day off in their lives.  And most of them worked 14 to 16 hour days 5 to 7 days a week.  How important is a queen that so many people should give up their entire lives to her? I find it disturbing, and it made me proud to think of the beliefs that America was founded on.  A country with no king...I hope it can continue to be strong so that we don't ever have to be in times of oppression like these again.  Victoria was a good queen to her people and she and Albert spawned most of the European royalty even down to today.
I recommend this book if you want a taste of history, but don't expect a romance story wrapped up in it all.

Fly High

In our house daddy is so much funner than mommy.

Here's one reason why.

 

Even if my legs were strong enough to do that 100 times over, I doubt I would.

Despite the look on Williams face he never gets scared doing this.

After Soungsik raises him up like this he opens his legs really fast and 

lets him drop like a steel ball.

Luckily Soungsik is a good catch, but it never fails to scare me!

This is another reason why kids need a mom and a dad,

A dad to do the dangerous fun things, and a mom 

to make you go to sleep at night.

In Our World: Japan

On March 11, 2011 Japan was hit by the 5th largest earthquake on record followed by a massive tsunami.

My heart and prayers go out to all of the people affected by this.

 

At some places the wall of water in the tsunami was at least 

27 feet high and the water flooded up to 3 miles inland.

 

 

Searching for survivors before they can bring in 

heavy machinery to help clear the debris.

 

 

 

Red Cross workers being checked for radiation exposure.

There is a threat of a nuclear breakdown or explosion at 

one or more nuclear power plants in northern Japan.

Many heroes are working diligently at these plants to do 

all that they can to prevent more loss of life.

 

3 days after the destruction a 4 month old little baby was 

found alive and reunited with her father.

There are still miracles on Earth today. 

Heavenly Father will never leave his precious children alone!

Checked Out.

When Isabelle hurt her arm we were thrown a little, okay a lot, off schedule.  Taekwondo, piano, and gymnastics were all canceled.  It was still freezing cold weather so my emotions had decided to check out weeks ago and it didn't take my brain long to follow suite.  For the last 2 weeks we haven't really gone anywhere except for choir, church, and emergency egg runs to Walmart.  It has been so nice!  The bad thing about being thrown off of our schedule is that we also did very little school, and very very little cleaning of the house. Today is Sunday so as sad as it is at the stroke of midnight tonight the schedule will magically be back in place.  We have much to catch up on this Monday.

Here's Isabelle with a fully functioning arm.
Her dad spoiled her with Hello Kitty paraphernalia just because she flashed him her big brown eyes and said "I love you sooooo much daddy".  What a sucker!

 

When we took off her splint she was so happy she did a little happy dance saying 

"Yay Isabelle, yay Isabelle, yay Isabelle!"

Here's how far off schedule we have been . 

Today Liam woke up from his nap at 6:45.

Which is exactly 15 minutes before his regular bedtime.  Needless to say he won't be going to bed on time tonight.  I also had a nap, which was wonderful. I could have gone back to bed in 15 minutes if my minions would've allowed that.  It is now almost 8:00 and Soungsik and I are beginning to think the kids might want dinner. 

 

Liam is our super shy kid.

He sticks like super glue to me when I take him into nursery.

Hopefully sometime in the near future he will be able to go by himself.

His teachers think he is just this quiet little mild child.

At some point in time they are going to be surprised!

A few days ago there was a massive (almost 9 point) earthquake in Japan.

This was followed by a massive tsunami, and radiation leaks at 2 nuclear plants.

There are at least 10,000 people who have died so far, and that number is expected to rise due to the number of people still missing.

Soungsik's brother was in Japan at the time but fortunately he was farther south than the destruction and he is safe.  They currently have a volcano which may erupt and his brother is closer to that.  We are holding our breath that nothing will come from the volcano threat!

Apparently Earth was moved over 10 centimeters with the earthquake.  The result of this movement is that time will literally move faster.  This could impair my getting back to our old schedule!

Don't take me the wrong way, I am grateful that this is the only way I'll be effected by this act of God.

   

Yet again there was no rhyme or reason to that post.

It seems that my only consistency with blogging is randomness.

Picasso?

I left William alone for about 2 minutes today. 

Why?  Because it's not humanly possible to watch him all of the time.

He knows how to make a person tired!
He found a marker and colored all over his face and hands.

He was very impressed with his art work.

Luckily it was washable and he limited his art to his body and not furniture, so I guess I can't complain.

 p.s. It doesn't look as bad in the picture as it did in real life.

OUCH!!!

I was thinking I wouldn't have anything to blog about this week because we didn't have anything fun planned.  Isabelle decided to help me out with that.

Last night Nathaniel and Jenny were moving into a new house.  Isabelle and Natalie were playing in the family room having a really great time.  Isabelle was "flying" around being a Pegasus when she slipped and fell.  She hit her elbow on the ground.  We thought is wasn't broken last night but today she really started favoring her arm.  She couldn't even pick up her spoon to eat lunch.  Finally I decided to take her into the instacare.  

Isabelle did pretty good during most of the exam.  It was horrible to see her get her x-ray's taken.  I had to hold her arm down and twist it a little so the technician could go take the x-rays.  I have never heard her cry that bad before.  I felt like I was torturing my own child, she was screaming and saying "Mom, please stop, don't do that!" When she was 2 and broke her arm, she cried, but now that she's older I think it was much more scary for her. The doctor didn't find any fractures on her, but she does have swelling in her arm.  They put a splint on her arm and we will just have to watch her for a while to see if she gets any better. 

 

Fortunately  Isabelle has a big heart and she forgave me for hurting her at the doctors office.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that her arm will heal quickly on its own!

Overheard in the Back of the Van

My sister picked up Isabelle (5) for a playdate
with her cousin Sariah (7).

The conversation in the back of the van on the way home went something like this...

Isabelle:   .....well, I have something even sadder than that.   I had a Great Grandpa die...in real life.  In real life, he just died.  And my mom said when you are in heaven you can't come back to Earth."

Sariah:  "I know...only the bad guys stay on Earth."

Isabelle:  "Well, someday I will be stuck in heaven and I will see Great Grandpa, and I will totally freak my head off!"

Hmmm.  I am pretty sure I have a couple of doctrinal issues to discuss with her regarding our beliefs about life after death.  But seriously it is so funny the way they think!

Why Buy Toys?

Our house is a literal Toyland.  We have heaps and heaps of toys.  We have baskets full of toys, shovels of toys, boxes of toys, shelves of toys, closets full of toys,  dump trucks full of toys, even a dedicated toy room.  Sadly my children have more toys than they should.  And yet with all of these toys they lose interest quickly.  Give them an empty box though, and they can be entertained for hours.

I didn't realize the cat was in the box with Liam

until I saw him in the picture.

Who knew boxes made great cat toys as well?

Isabelle's first box was "stinky box".

Someone had thrown a diaper in there - whoops.

I am not going to name names, because I am afraid my name might be dropped in somehow.

I would never throw a diaper where it isn't supposed to go, never ever.

Liam thought this game was much funner than Isabelle did.

Now that looks comfortable.

Please note the complete lack of fancy furniture in my

 "formal" living room.

We make up for that with stinky cardboard boxes, pretty classy eh?

After a unanimous vote stinky box was exiled faster than the next middle eastern dictator.

We brought in this much better

 (you know it's better because it's bigger) box.

This box had a gang of two stop by and graffiti

on it when I wasn't looking.

There goes the neighborhood!

There's a Sucker Born Every Minute

They say there's a sucker born every minute, but if you ask anyone they will claim that other people must be those suckers.  Certainly you would never consider yourself a sucker.  That's how I felt up until about 8:30 last night.  I went to a neighborhood book club were we discussed the book "The Princess Bride".

You may want to skim down to my last post and read it before you finish this one.

Clearly after reading the book I had some pretty harsh feelings for William Goldman.  It turns out, I found out at book club that there was no S. Morgenstern, no country of Florin (I think), and it was not adapted from an "original" book written along time ago.  There was no boy who struggled in school until his father read him this book.  There was no fat little boy who cried all of the time.  Goldman did end up divorcing his wife, so maybe the part about the loveless marriage was true.

  What I thought was just an enjoyable story turns out to be one of the greatest hoaxes of my lifetime (so far).  I fell for this alter world hook, line, and sinker without even questioning any of it.  I now need to re-read this book with my new hindsight,it will add that much more humor to the story!  Almost 24 hours later my mind is still blown, and I am still laughing.

Well Mr. Goldman, you got me.  You got me good.  I am officially a sucker.  My hat goes off to you!

BOOK REVIEW: THE PRINCESS BRIDE

The Princess Bride
Written By: S. Morgenstern
Abridged By: William Goldman
Number of Pages: 283
Number of Stars I'm Giving It: 5

I have read this book a few times before and enjoyed it, but it has been a long time since I last read it.  I really got more out of it this time.  Last time I read it I skipped a lot of Goldman's abridgment notes.  They actually add a nice side story.  It bothered me that Goldman kept saying how fat and spoiled his son was and how he didn't really love his wife.  I took that he only halfway meant it, but still that would scar me for life if my dad or husband ever said thing like that to me, let alone put it in print for millions of people to read.  Very shameful on his part. This book is a great quick read, it only took me one day to finish it.

So here are some of my thoughts on this book.
The character I felt the most sorry for was Fezzik.  Everyone, including his family and friends were so judgemental and mean to him.  He is loving and kind to all, but that love was never really returned to him.
The character who was most human was Inigo.  He was driven by dreams and love.  He experiences the entire range of emotions. Love, hate, devotion, fear, confidence, depression.  You can understand why he does what he does.
The most annoying character for me is Vezzini.  I really get annoyed with self-righteous know it alls.  Fortunately he gets taken care of pretty early off in the book.
The most perfect character award of course goes to Westley.  He's pretty much every girls dream man I think.  Beautiful, strong, courageous, genius, but of course all he really cares about is true love. 
Buttercup makes me crazy.  I get that she is beautiful, but is there even 1 other reason why Westley loves her?  She is so, so, so stupid!  Every decision she makes is just the worst.  And she ditches Westley the first chance she gets and says "I can live without love".  I just don't understand why he would ever want her back.
Guilty admission for this book - I actually really like the characters of the Count and the Prince.  They are just the biggest jerks.  So bad.  But they are so consistent at being jerks, they are open and honest about being that way, I just couldn't bring myself to hate them.  They are also very gentlemanly in their torture and murder, so I will work on hating them the next time I read it. 

I enjoy the back stories on all of the characters. Now I am off to watch the movie, which I love just as much as the book. I am glad there is less torturing in the movie than the book!  I didn't like the ending in the book very much, so I just substitute the movie ending in my head after I finish reading.  And they all lived happily ever after...

A Moment in Time

First off I have to admit that I am stealing this post idea from my sister in law Jenny.

I am guilty as a kid with my hand in the cookie jar.

That being said, don't do anything creative anywhere I can see it, or I will steal your ideas.

Those of us who can't create, must steal.  It's the circle of creative life.

At this moment:

William: He is finally feeling better after having had a cold for the last week.  He has been upstairs in bed for the last hour and a half and has yet to fall asleep.  All mom's think their kids are special, but seriously I think he might have super powers.  He has super human baby strength, it's amazing to watch the things he can do!  His favorite game right now is run away, preferably while holding a fork or knife he has gotten out of the dishwasher.  "Now why," do you ask "do you leave your dishwasher open?" The answer to that is obviously - I don't!  That little stinker can open anything!  He is still refusing to say "mama" or "mommy" every time I ask him to he says "grandpa, grandpa".  I know he can say "mama", because do you think it's "grandpa" he asks for at 3 in the morning when he is sick? Nope.  Since he is 18 months old now he knows how to have temper tantrums.  And boy oh boy is he ever good at them.  He will throw himself backwards and hit his head on the tile floor and then just lay there and cry for up to an hour sometimes.  We are trying the "ignoring" technique right now.  If that fails I think we may have to up the anti to "a cup of ice water in the face" technique.  I am hoping, for William's sake, that we don't have to go there!

Isabelle: She is feeling much better as well.  She didn't talk or move much the last 3 days while she was sick, so today she had to make up for that.  She was stir crazy, that girl doesn't like to be cooped up in the house for that long.  She didn't stop talking all day.  I don't even think she breathed.  Somehow she managed to eat a little, but it took about an hour to get thru dinner because I had to keep telling her to stop talking for heavens sake!  She informed me today that she wants to be in movies because "I think I would be really great at that, really really great.  I can sound just like Thumper.  Go get your video camera, lets make a movie now!"  She has been staying up a little later each night to read stories by herself in bed.  She just finished a book tonight - I was very impressed.  I am so excited that she is gaining a love for reading!  

Soung Sik and I: I am lumping us together, because when you get married you become one right? That, and we are both pretty boring!  We have both been sick the last couple of days.  Fortunately it's a holiday tomorrow and Soungsik doesn't have work  I can't wait until February is gone, I am just so excited for Spring this year!  Soungsik has been working like crazy still.  I am just cleaning and doing laundry like crazy...that's how exciting the two of us are!  We are considering having some Korean exchange students come and live with us this summer so that might be fun, I will keep you updated. 

Well that's all of us at this moment in time.

Stretch and Son...or Daughter

Isabelle has many stalling techniques before bed.

Never ending hugs and kisses.

Just one more story please.

All inclusive prayers.

Most of the time I can get past all of these fairly quickly.

However because of Soung Sik's work schedule

I have to try hard to get her in bed on time.

If she stalls long enough then Daddy comes home and

messes up the bedtime routine.

You know the Primary song that goes

"we're so glad when daddy comes home, glad as we could be" 

Isabelle is extra extra glad when daddy comes home,
because it's always right before her bedtime.

Me - not so much.

I realize this sounds mean, I should love that he gets to kiss his favorite daughter good night.

I just wish it didn't take an hour to get her
back upstairs and in bed.

Last night he got home and stretched with her
 for about a half an hour.

I would not find this to be funny at all.

Yes, I would prefer to be sleeping.

If she wants to get as flexible as her daddy
then sacrifices must be made,

such as staying up way past your bedtime.

I used to think I was flexible, that was until I met my husband.

When he was a kid he would sit in the splits like that while he
 ate dinner and did homework, or pretended to do homework.

Time will tell if Isabelle has that same level of determination.

Judge Isabelle

Last night Isabelle was being a judge on American Idol.

She's meaner than Simon Cowell ever thought of being.

She even has a gavel.

I think she sent everyone home!

Cough, Cough, Sniffle, Sneeze

Today we are all suffering from colds.

Sadly the kids are worse off than the adults.

I have declared today pajama day.

If you come to my house we will not be answering the door.

If you call, I probably won't be picking up.

Hot baths, orange juice, pajamas, cuddling, blankets, and movies are on the schedule today.

Gymnastics, taekwondo, friends, school, and piano have been banned.

Liam goes back and forth from running and acting fine to this...

Sometimes you only have the energy to get up the first step.

The electronic baby sitter has really helped out with Isabelle.

She is watching "The Guardians of Ga'hoole" for about the

78th time this week.

I wonder what people did with their sick kids before tv and movies were invented?

I am looking beautiful today while sporting one of Soung Siks over sized sweater and no makeup.

I am hoping that this general malaise will only be with us for today and that we can be back to normal tomorrow.  I am not too optimistic about that though!