Gage has always had a soft spot for Hawaii, who doesn’t? We started by reading through the book and then I chose some 5-10 minute activities over the next week. My goal is really just two activities for each of the three days and then a book or two.

He traced the state map and marked the capital.
He made this very cool state flag out of colored tape. I did the rough cutting ahead of time and then he had to use the picture from the book to recreate it.

3. I wanted to make a lei, but decided instead that we would learn about deconstructing. So, we deconstructed a lei and tried to put it back together again. Well, the joke was on me because the wire they used was way too hard for 4-year-old hands to work with, so I had to come up with an alternate plan the next day. We used pipe cleaners because that’s what we had. He really didn’t like this activity and even with me helping him it was a struggle to finish – not that you can tell from the ‘after’ pic!

4. And, of course, no Hawaii project would be fun without making a volcano!

(we used 2/3 cup water, 3-4 TB baking soda, 1 tsp dish soap, paint to color and stir. Add 1 cup of vinegar to erupt)

Dog-of-the-Sea-Waves by James Rumford was a great book on the settling of Hawaii. Although fictional, the story of the brothers, Hoku, Na’ale, Opua, Makani and Manu featured animals unique to Hawaii on every page and a story that could have taken place. The Polynesian brothers explored and Manu found a friend in the Monk Seal and his friend would eventually save his life. There are scary parts but everything is okay in the end. Loved this book and it’s sure to please animal lovers. It even told the story in Hawaiin at the end, provided a glossary of all of the animals in the book and the story of the Islands. 40 pages.

Keep sending me ideas for your state – especially book ideas!

Our Arizona activities. Indiana activities. Michigan activities. Ohio activities. Pennsylvania activities. West Virginia activities.

October’s Movies and $ for Charity

October 2, 2015April 8, 20173 Comments

Another month and another chance to contribute money to charity. Add your 5 words (or less!) to mine in a comment and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and the other reviews you can add to. Anyone is welcome to join in at any time.

We’re at $9.

I hope that you will take a few minutes to participate when you can each month. It’s fun for me and for everyone else who reads it. I’m not looking for a critical review, just a few words about how you felt about the movie. This is ongoing so you can leave your 5 words anytime.

Begin Again, 2014 (Cast-Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailey Steinfeld, James Corden, Catherine Keener) Grade A

Lovely take on musical dreams.

Unbroken, 2014 (Cast-JackO’Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund, Finn Wittlock) Grade B

Inspiring athlete goes to war.

The Martian, 2015 (Cast-Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejofor, Kristen Wiig, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara) Grade B

Upbeat astronaut left for dead.

great movie, book way funnier! (Sheree)

The Ghost Writer, 2010 (cast-Ewan MacGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson) Grade C+

Complicated political thriller turns deadly.

Snowpiercer, 2013 (Cast-Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt, Ed Harris) Grade F

A bloody train going nowhere.

October is the bestest month of the year

October 2, 2015October 2, 201512 Comments

Oh, how I love October in Ohio. The leaves change color, the air turns crisp, and sweaters and jeans are brought to the front of the closet. But there are a few other very important reasons that October is the jam. On the 11th, since the day I was born people celebrated ME!! Woo Hoo! I have my own day. And then 27 years later on the 17th I married the greatest guy and people came out to celebrate then too. And, of course, the love of my life was born on the 19th to much fanfare by the family who loves him. It is a month of celebration around here! I already have 15 kids rsvp’d for Gage’s party and the only reason I’m not freaking out is that we’re having it somewhere else 😉

These are the things that were happening the week I was born. Wanna take a guess on how old I’ll be this month?

The French Connection with Gene Hackman was the #1 movie in theaters.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty was atop the New York Bestseller list.

The #1 album was Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart and the #1 song was Maggie May from the album.

Ike and Tina Turner were on the cover of Rolling Stone.

What year do you think I was born? There’s a small prize in it for the first person who guesses correctly 🙂

September’s Movies & $ for charity

September 30, 2015September 30, 20154 Comments

I caught a few old movies on TV as I’ve been cleaning and decluttering this month. The movie Straight Outta Compton was good but I question its complete accuracy since the men who it’s about are also the producers and they all came off looking just like they wanted to. Hope to see some better movies in October!

We’re at $9.

Straight Outta Compton, 2015 (Cast-Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Paul Giamatti, Neil Brown Jr, Aldis Hodge) Grade B

Compelling tale of hip hop.

Runaway Bride, 1999 (Cast-Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Joan Cusack, Rita Wilson) Grade B

Love the Gere-Roberts chemistry.

A Walk in the Woods, 2015 (Cast-Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen) Grade C+

Quiet, meandering oldies road trip.

The Terminator, 1984 (Cast-Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn) Grade C

Future killer will be back.

Liked Arnold – loved Michael Biehn! (Kay)

Just Friends, 2005 (Cast-Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Anna Faris, Chris Klein, Christopher Marquette) Grade D

A jerk, skinny or heavy.

Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb

September 29, 2015September 29, 20154 Comments

Best Boy. Finished 9-25-15, rating 4.5/5, fiction, 246 pages, pub. 2015

Sent to a “therapeutic community” for autism at the age of eleven, Todd Aaron, now in his fifties, is the “Old Fox” of Payton LivingCenter. A joyous man who rereads the encyclopedia compulsively, he is unnerved by the sudden arrivals of a menacing new staffer and a disruptive, brain-injured roommate. His equilibrium is further worsened by Martine, a one-eyed new resident who has romantic intentions and convinces him to go off his meds to feel “normal” again. Undone by these pressures, Todd attempts an escape to return “home” to his younger brother and to a childhood that now inhabits only his dreams. from Goodreads

Okay, let’s start with the ways that this book was a difficult read for me. Autism communities, like the one in the book, are both reassuring and frightening for a parent. I know someone who works at a community home, similar but on a much smaller scale, and he said because of the pay the staff turnover was high and the quality of employees was sometimes so bad that the residents were robbed of the money their families sent. This is something I pray about every night, Gage’s independence. But the surprising thing for me was how hard I was hit by Todd’s love for his dead mother. Todd still needed his mother and she had been the only one who really looked out for his best interests, so I shed a few tears at those points of the book that I’m sure wouldn’t affect someone else the same way. I need to live forever, guys!

To the story, I love that this was told from Todd’s first person perspective. Todd is a higher functioning man in his 50’s and this is not a character I’ve seen before. Todd loves his routine, oldies music and to be helpful. He works around the center and even goes to the local school to help serve lunch. But Todd’s routine was disrupted by a hateful roommate, a girl who makes him ‘have wind in his pants’, and new staffer who uses Todd to cover for his extracurricular activities. Those three people leave Todd unsettled and wanting to return home to his brother so he does something drastic.

Gottlieb, whose autistic brother lives in a community not unlike Todd, gets the voice just right. Every person on the spectrum is different, with different abilities, but Todd is a fair representation of many of the commonalities of those on the spectrum. I enjoyed my time with Todd even it was tinged with apprehension. If you’ve never spent time with an adult on the autism spectrum then I think this book would give a great perspective with a great story too. The end was very satisfying and left Todd and the reader in a good place.

Thanks for sending me a copy Golda! I also enjoyed meeting the author when he was on tour last month and he wrote this article in the Washington Post about his real life experiences with his 57 year old brother. I highly recommend it.

Sundays with Gage – a new era

September 27, 2015September 27, 20159 Comments

Gage started all day Pre-K last month, 6.5 hours 4 days a week, and he is doing well. He has one class in the morning and one in the afternoon, so two different teachers and friends, and he seems to have adjusted. He loves eating lunch in the cafeteria with the big kids and has even managed to embrace ‘rest time’ on his cot, a thing I cannot even picture since he has not had a nap in well over a year (oh how I miss those naps!). He is learning to draw new things and his morning class even cooks once a week, usually something that Gage can’t eat. The food is the bane of my existence right now. I have to send in snack for both classes and send his lunch and if I want him to be able to cook I have to send in alternative ingredients. I admit I’ve been grumbling about them cooking in class, but he has turned into my little helper at dinnertime, always wanting to help me with a recipe, so I should probably quiet the complaints.

So what have I been doing? The first week I cleaned house and waited for a call from the teacher to come pick up Gage… which reminds me of a funny story I have to share. During the third week I went to pick him up and kids were filing out of the school with their class and the alarm was ringing. After 10 minutes I finally went and found a teacher and asked what was going on. She said they weren’t allowed back into the building until the firemen had come and checked the building and turned off the alarm and then she said the words that had been what kept me close to the phone that first week. She said that it had been the second time that day that a student had pulled the fire alarm. I nervously laughed and said, “I hope it wasn’t my kid.” She said the first kid had been sent home – I later find out it’s Gage’s friend from his morning class. LOL. I never did find out who the second kid was but as long as they didn’t catch my kid I’m good. He still thinks it’s funny that his friend pulled the alarm. I would be more worried about this if I didn’t know that he hates the piercing sound.

As Gage has gotten more comfortable at school, I have easily adjusted to my free time. That second week I think I came home and took a nap every day. I’ve started decluttering the house, cooking new recipes (none of which Gage really likes), and planned play dates for me and for Gage 🙂 To put it simply, I am in a very good place. I feel more relaxed and myself than I have since before Gage was born. I can credit Gage’s school for much of my comfort. Some of these aides or class therapists have known Gage for over two years now. He is in very good hands and I get to let my body decompress. I think I am going to like this school thing!

A few pics of this first month of the school era

First day of school!His OT intern left after 4 months 🙂We’ve had a few playdates.And he’s still loving horseback riding!

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield

September 24, 201511 Comments

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake. Finished 9-3-15, rating 5/5, southern fiction,344 pages, pub. 2011

Unabridged audio read beautifully by Catherine Taber. 10 hours, 30 minutes

Every first Sunday in June, members of the Moses clan gather for an annual reunion at “the old home place,” a sprawling hundred-acre farm in Arkansas. And every year, Samuel Lake, a vibrant and committed young preacher, brings his beloved wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children back for the festivities. The children embrace the reunion as a welcome escape from the prying eyes of their father’s congregation; for Willadee it’s a precious opportunity to spend time with her mother and father, Calla and John.

Samuel and Willadee’s outspoken eleven-year-old daughter, Swan, is a bright light. Her high spirits and fearlessness have alternately seduced and bedeviled three generations of the family. But it is Blade Ballenger, a traumatized eight-year-old neighbor, who soon captures Swan’s undivided attention. Full of righteous anger, and innocent of the peril facing her and those she loves, Swan makes it her mission to keep the boy safe from his terrifying father. from Goodreads

In 2012 I won this book from the gushing Lisa at Southern Girl Reads and it finally made it to the top of my reading list. Why, oh why, do I wait so long to read the books I win because the blogger loves them so much? (take heart Lloyd, The Language of Flowers will be coming to the top of my reading pile soon :)) I started listening to this because that is how much of my reading happens these days, but there were times that I had to pick up the book and read ahead because I just couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. This is Southern fiction at its best and it’s a debut novel too.

I know that the synopsis from Goodreads focuses on Swan, but I fell in love with this entire family. Set in 1950’s Arkansas it brings to life a simpler, yet harsher time. A time when playing in the woods with your siblings filled the days and men being able to put food on the table made them worry at night. It was a coming of age summer for Swan, her brothers, and neighbor Blade, but even the adults went through a metamorphoses. Swan will win your heart with her spirit, but so will Toy, probably my favorite character. He was the solid and intimidating uncle who was known for killing a man and getting away with it and the kids loved him. Samuel, the preacher without a church, spent much of the book as peripheral character for me, one I didn’t understand much until he too became as sympathetic as Toy.

There was not a false word in this book. It was honesty infused in warmth and it made me smile and it broke my heart. If you like Southern fiction you cannot go wrong with this book. This is not the type of story I usually pass on to my husband, but I did because it is sure to be a favorite at the end of the year and he loved it too. One night he even quoted from it while making a joke. That alone should be recommendation enough 🙂

Postcrossing Train

September 22, 2015September 22, 20158 Comments

At the beginning of the year I started requesting train postcards and people I’ve never met from around the world came through. I couldn’t even get all 37 of the cards in the picture! I still get cards that I like (trees and someone sent me a beautiful one of wine glasses yesterday) but Gage LOVES to check the mailbox everyday for train cards. That Thomas box in the picture is here he keeps them now, but I’m looking for a way to showcase them. It’s a great way to talk about different places and to use our globe.

I’ve received a total of 306 postcards from around the world in the 2+ years I’ve been a member of Postcrossing. AND as you will see a few fellow book bloggers made Gage’s day too, Mouse alone has sent 4. I wish we could get those two together for a playdate 🙂 Let’s take a closer look at Gage’s train…

1-Minnesota, 2-Mouse from California, 3-Germany, 4-Finland, 5-Mouse from California, 6-Connecticut, 7-Taiwan

8-from Grandma& Grandpa, 9-Taiwan, 10-England, 11-Netherlands, 12-Germany, 13-Australia, 14-Germany, 15-Canada

16-Great Britain, 17-Russia, 18-California, 19-Germany, 20-Pennsylvania, 21-Germany, 22-Minnesota

23-Taiwan, 24-Finland, 25-Kay in Texas, 26-Pennsylvania, 27-Mouse from California, 28-Netherlands

29-Latvia, 30-Japan, 31-Mouse from California, 32-California, 33-Ohio, 34-Germany

35-Taiwan, 36-Canada, 37-Virginia

Do you have a favorite? My two favorites are 11 & 14. If you are out and about and see a train postcard I hope you’ll consider putting it in the mail for Gage! Which reminds me that we need to get something in the mail for Mouse 🙂

A winner and a quiz update

September 15, 20155 Comments

Gage started school three weeks ago and I thought all the extra time would allow me to get back into the blogging groove, but that hasn’t happened yet. I have high hope that I’ll get into a rhythm soon. Until then I can’t stress out about Wednesday Quizzes. They WILL be back but probably in October.

And I have a winner to announce. I have a signed ARC Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb. The winner is……

Vicki!

Congratulations, Vicki. It will be in the mail soon 🙂

The Stranger by Harlan Coben

September 9, 201511 Comments

The Stranger. Finished 8-25-15, rating 3.5/5, thriller, pub. 2015

Unabridged audio read by George Newbern. 10 hours.

The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world.

Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream: a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life.

Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all. Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne’s deception, and realizes that if he doesn’t make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he’s stumbled into will not only ruin lives—it will end them from Goodreads

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Harlan Coben fan. He is a master of fast paced thrillers filled with quick wit and sharp dialogue. The storylines always seem to have an element ripped from the headlines; in this case the ruse of the Stranger and his band of merry tech (wo)men seems to mirror the hilarity/debacle of the recent Ashley Madison hack. Coben always has a relatable hero and a common entry into the cat and mouse game his stories share. This was not a favorite of mine for reasons I’ll go into next, but it’s solid and satisfying which is something I can always count on with Coben.

How frightening would t be if someone showed up out of nowhere and revealed a terrible secret held by someone you love? Depending on the nature of the secret it would probably be devastating. The Stranger has a small group who use the internet to track down secrets people didn’t even know were there and then they blackmail them. Pay up or a loved one hears the news. When Adam confronts his wife with what he found out she mysteriously disappears, leaving Adam to ask the wrong questions and make a few missteps. His perfect life in the ‘burbs is threatened but he fears there’s more at stake.

I liked the idea of this one, but it went in so many different directions that it really felt pretty flimsy when it all came together. Even Adam felt flimsy to me and he was supposed to be a sympathetic character! The end was a surprise that I mostly liked so that helped end on a high note. With all of the possibilities of the Stranger I was expecting more.

Stacy's Books

books, movies, and boy

Traveling the States with Gage- Hawaii