Library Day, the Stinky Edition

We are a library lovin' family.  On Sunday's trip the Little One and I happily lugged home 14 books and 5 dvds for her to enjoy.  It wasn't until we were already checking out that I thought perhaps I need to start double-checking Tesfu's library picks?

Oh my.  I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to giggle or be grossed out while reading this book tonight.  Even worse?  While looking up the title online to get this picture, I realized there is a whole Walter farting series out there.

Oh my indeed.

Good news is, this totally confirms my secret thoughts I could write children's books.

Walter farted thoughtfully.

Peace.

(P.S. to TORP - I totally know a certain tiny little someone who is getting one of these come February.)

re-read.

I have found reading the travel guides (see this post) a bit... annoying.  I realize I've never been there, but come on, it can't be that magical.  Unless perhaps they dope everybody as you walk through the gate?  These people talk like taking a Disney vacation is like reaching some sort of Nirvana - and it is apparently a path to Heaven that you must maticulously plot and plan out every little detail.

Heck, I'm not even sure we'll be able to afford to go, let along plan 180 days in advance where we'd dine for dinner.  Besides, we are more of a 'pack your own pbj' kind of family.

That's just how we roll.
'Cause we're cheap frugal cheap.

Yikes.  I needed a break.
I was forced to raid my own bookshelf.  Randomly, I pulled out 'Slapstick' by Kurt Vonnegut.

How refreshing - I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed this book.

"I was those seeds,
"I am this meat,
"This meat hates pain,
"This meat must eat.
"This meat must sleep,
"This meat must dream,
"This meat must laugh,
"This meat must scream.
"But when, as meat,
"It's had its fill,
"Please plant it as
"A Daffodil."

Here is another :

... "In case nobody has told you," she said, "this is the United States of America, where nobody has a right to rely on anybody else-where everybody learns to make his or her own way" ...

Hi ho.

I know a lot of people just don't like Vonnegut (I'm looking at you, Brad)*.  All I can say to that is... well, I just don't understand.

Oh - and you must suck.
Big time.

Hi ho, indeed.

* He also cliams to find no humor in Monty Python.  Please feel free to use the comment section to mock him however you see fit.


Peace.

Current Reads & Sickness

My lastest library pick-up :

We are pondering it.  Perhaps late next year.  Trying to see if we could work it into the budget.  Perhaps not.

But honestly, I'm okay with that.

Really, if that is a money consideration I have to worry about - if we are able to afford to take Tes to DisneyWorld or not - than I'd say we can count ourselves pretty damn lucky.

In other news, my what I thought was flu-shot sickness?  It is still lingering.  After both my kiddo and I being sick for a few days now, I finally decide to google the dreaded H1N1 symptoms tonight.  Hmmm... interesting.  I won't tell you what my symptoms are, in case I've seen you in the last two days and you now try to run me over with your car in a drastic fit of revenge or something like that.

Anyway, the CDC webpage states you only have to avoid the public like you are carrying the plague of the century for 24 hours after a fever - and we are both past that.  So please put down your pitch-forks and quit blaming your sore throat on me, you could have picked that up anywhere.

Especially with that nasty habit of licking door handles you have.

Yeah, I know all about it.

Its okay, I still love you.

Peace.

Reading Request

Since I am still waiting for the library's copy of The Kite Runner (recommended by a blogging pal), I was forced to raid my sister's bookshelf in the meantime and picked up Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres. Very fast read, wonderfully written, heavy... and incredibly sad. Oy, the kind of book that makes you feel a little empty after finishing it.

So, in essence, I need to fill back up - Any light and fluffy book recommendations out there? Read anything worthy lately that does not involve AIDS, poverty, incest, transracial families, or child abuse? I'd love to hear about it!




Peace.

all the cool kids read.

Throughout school and college, reading was always a big part of my life. It refueled me. Then I married an extrovert, and book perusing took a back seat to spending time with my family, and that was not being huddled up at home with a good read.

Then came along Tes, and if there was a burner further back than 'the back burner' - my old hobby would have been there. Except, of course, for the old adoption / parenting standbys, which brought me back from more than a few tearful moments.

But I've made an effort to put away the parenting books for awhile, and am trying to ease back into reading for enjoyment to see if it still has the same energizing affect it did for me 10 years ago. I made a promise to myself, no more The Connected Child, or Parenting the Hurt Child, or anything with the words 'parenting', 'child', or 'just lock yourself in the bathroom and plug your ears for 2 minutes, everyone will eventually stop tantruming' anywhere in the title.

I had a whole, well-stocked library system to chose from (yea Minneapolis libraries!) - what did I pick?

28: Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen

I know, not quite the 'rejuvenator' I was originally thinking. But this book is seriously... altering. As if I needed more fuel to my 'citizen of the world' fire, this work of non-fiction made me want to reach out and hug the author. And, even more-so, the individuals in the book.

It is exactly what I want to say when I try to talk to people about how we, as citizens of a very wealthy and powerful nation, can stand up and truly make a difference to people whose lives you can't even imagine living - but I can never get it to come out right. If this was happening in your backyard, you would be screaming from the tree tops. But, it is. Expand your idea of your backyard, and it is happening.

An excerpt from the prologue :

... Bono launched the Red campaign-a marketing effort that soon had people snapping up iPods and T-shirts from The Gap in support of the Global Fund-and suddenly the crisis was trendy.
And yet the response remains muted. Few people outside Africa seem to understand the scale or the epic gravity of what is happening there. When I talk to people at home about the pandemic, I get the sense that they feel a dying African is somehow different from a dying Canadian, American or German-that Africans have lower expectations or place less value on their lives. That to be an orphaned fifteen-year-old thrust into caring for four bewildered siblings, or a teacher thrown out of her house after she tells her husband she is infected-that somehow this would be less terrifying or strange for a person in Zambia or Mozambique than it would be for someone in the United States or Britain.

28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, by Stephanie Nolen

Yes. Yes. One hundred times yes.

In other words, I recommend this book.
And taking action.

A few personal recommendations, though there is a world of opportunities out there :
http://www.ahopeforchildren.org/
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
http://www.kiva.org/


Oh - and I really did enjoy getting back into reading. Actively seeking the next text!

Peace.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi