I think you can probably guess how I feel when I don’t post daily. Or five times daily. That I’ve disappointed you. Let you down. Left you longing for… something you’re not getting here.

Just know, I have several projects and ideas hanging fire.

my husband: “Maybe you should ask my dad what he thinks?” (My father-in-law, who is a fairly wise and all-knowing, practical and level-headed kind of guy.)

me: “No. Because he’ll say what he always says, ‘Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaance… no, no, no. No!’ Then he tears out what little is left of his hair.”

my husband: “And is he ever wrong?”

me: “No.” (Dammit, don’t people like that make you nuts?)

OK, must go. I have the following things to contemplate…

1) master’s degree? Should I go for it? If so, in what? (Am considering Library Media advanced degree.) (Yes, I know there are no jobs for librarians.) (Because I like books is why! Don’t you?)

2) A soon-to-be-six-year-old’s birthday party. It will involve… rocks. And chocolate cupcakes.

3) My constant clashing of heads with my 8-year-old. (Unlike my father-in-law, she is not always right.) (Nor am I.)

4) Haiku: Why does it exist?

5) Blogs: Will I ever be able to keep up with them again? How about just my own?

6) Book reviews: I need to write some.

7) My husband and one kid went to Denver for spring break. I stayed home with feverish other kid. Should I feel ripped off? No, am too exhausted.

8) It costs fifty bucks every time I fill up my gas tank. I used to coast into the gas station, give the guys two bucks in change and coast out. Ah, youth. Why have you forsaken me?

9) My granny: I never call her. (She never calls me, either, but she’s 87. I need to check on her.)

10) That’s it. Knitting is going well, writing is going not so well, my house is extremely clean after being home for almost a week with a sick kid.

You?

xxox

wm

At first I wasn’t too sure what to make of this Skinny Bitch series by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. I especially have issues with the proposed title for the authors’ new cookbook, “Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven.” (Please tell me this is a joke. Please tell me we are not encouraging pregnant mamas to be skinny. Girls, when you are pregnant and nursing, really, you need to eat. Eat as healthfully as you can, but eat.)

Anyway, their recipes are alright. Especially since you know I’ll go low-fat, but I am not so keen on the vegan cheese. But vegan does not have to be scary! OK, I’ll go for it if you will. You first. Who doesn’t want to “Start Looking Hot!”?? Sure, that’s all of us, right? Blech. Let’s start right here with… (more…)

Reviewed today:

Two memoirs, and a baby book. Happy Saturday to you.

xxox

WM (more…)

Little reviews today. This whole “working outside of the home instead of inside in my home office, blogging, spacing out and watching General Hospital on Tivo…” it’s kinda throwing me. I’ll deal, do not fret, Internets. (more…)

Have you seen this site? It’s a direct way for teachers to get cash donated for specific projects — in this case, copies of “The Stranger,” by Camus, for a class of high school seniors. (Another plug for my family’s neighborhood high school.)

If you have a little to spare, please do. And please pass the website address along to any educators you may know who need a bit of extra help.

ps — it’s still raining here. Happy Thursday.

pss — edited later to say: the kids are getting their books! The project has been fully funded. In one day. Cool. Thank you to all who helped.

Do you want to meet the extremely sassy Melissa Lion, the inimitable Lelo in NoPo and me in person? I know you do. Lelo in NoPo, if you don’t read her blog, is this extremely awesome cook, gardener and apron-maker who also kicks major political ass in lobbying for gay rights. (Equals “equal rights.” Equal rights = good. Just in case any of you out there were wondering.) She is currently undergoing a reinvention and practicing her Spanish. And she, her girlfriend and cats are pretty cute.

And if you don’t know who Melissa is (fiction & freelance writer, blogger at large, cheerleader for North Portland who pretty much singlehandedly convinced us not to move to Beaverton damn this sentence is long), anyway. She’s great. Also her Steve and kid are pretty cute.

Go look at her blog — she’s just as adorable in person. Plus extremely funny and nice and is helping me with my remedial knitting.

(Also, those of you in North/Northeast Portland who knit? We’re hoping to get a knitting circle going at Jefferson High School. If you’re interested, send me an e-mail. The kids want to learn to knit! Who knew. And by the way, did you know there is no Home Ec. — now called Independent Living — or Shop offered at the school? Don’t you think you should e-mail the PPS school board and tell them we need these classes back again? E-mail the super, too.)

Enough school talk; more about us. If you’re in or near Portland, Oregon, here is your chance to have coffee, just like we bloggers are so fond of doing and hang out with us. We’re holding what is known in political circles as a “meet and greet,” this coming Saturday, Jan. 26th, from 10 a.m.-noon at Ladybug Organic Coffee Company, 8438 N. Lombard St.

Lelo is bringing a fresh stack of aprons to sell; Melissa will sell books and sign ’em, too; I have a case of kids’ books to give away FREE; we will drink coffee; we will answer all your questions, as in: Why do you think you’re so hot? Do you ever stop talking politics? Who does your hair? Is it too early to plant my garden? etc.

Kids, partners, parents and neighbors welcome, natch. Bring your checkbooks and/or cash — we like money. But if you don’t have any, stop by anyway. Looking forward to meeting y’all.

See you then!

WM

Have I ever run this reading list before? (If I did, I can’t find it on my site.) I love it. Friends shared it when Wacky Girl was a baby — I printed it out and for years carried it in our library bag for our weekly trips to story time.

wm

The following is a list of books for kids that we really enjoyed. (more…)

Reviewed today, in three seconds flat:

Why am I doing three-second book reviews? Because I haven’t written any fiction in, I don’t know, all week?? Most of break? I need to write, Internets. (more…)

Reviewed today:

Now comes Holly Hobbie with a new Toot & Puddle book, complete with four ornaments — “Let It Snow.” The book is the final in the series. (Little, Brown and Company, $16.99.)

“I wish I could take this morning and put it in my pocket and keep it forever,” says Puddle.

Christmas is just around the corner — what should the best friends buy each other? Nice story, lovely drawings. Pigs can ski? Who knew?

Sandra Magsamen just authored two new board books — part of the Snuggle-Me Stories series (LB Kids, $7.99). Both come with their own charming little finger puppet. It’s funny, but even when you have “big kids” living in your house, they are still reluctant to let go of the puppets and the baby books and more than happy to “review” little kid books. (Our tiny puppets and board books are now packed in the attic, waiting for the day my “big kids” might have little kids of their own.) I can see that these two books will be popular — they have bright, candy colors, the pictures are nicely done and the little stories are sweet (“Love bugs are snuggable/and lovable that is true…” and “Bees buzz along/birds sing a love song…”)

(PS — Speaking of board books — I recently came across the Brimax Books series — spectacular. “Bedtime,” “Mealtime,” “Playtime,” “Knowing,” “Doing,” etc. There are a dozen or more of them. They were first published in England in 1976 and have been reprinted off and on since then. Available through eBay or Amazon.)

Perfect picks for belated Christmas gifts for any little ones you may know.

Reviewed today:

The Fed Ex girl was the most popular visitor at our place this week. She arrived with a couple of boxes of books and games from Little, Brown and Company for review, just in time for the holidays. I’ll review three at a time, so no one gets overlooked. We’ll make it a family affair.

“Hug Time,” by Patrick McDonnell, stars Jules, the sweet little tiger kitty. (Click on the Little, Brown link above to hear Patrick McDonnell read from “Hug Time.”) We’re big fans of the Mutts comic strip over here (Grandma likes Mutts, too, especially Jules, aka “Shtinky Puddin'” and his little pink sock). In this artfully painted and written children’s book, Jules travels the world, collecting as many hugs as he can, from as many creatures as he can find along the way, including a wombat, a humu-humu fish, and a polar bear. We’d hug him, too, if he stopped by here.

On to Cranium… If you call yourself “The Ultimate Book of Fantastic Fun & Games,” then you’d better hurry up and live up to your title. This set does. It includes plastic frogs for flipping, an egg timer, a deck of Cranium cards, a dri-erase pen, a spinner, a pull-out game board, and purple modeling clay, so you can sculpt tiny brains or anything else you feel like sculpting.

It’s for ages six and up, but the five-year-old at our house was extremely taken with the set, especially once he figured out that the whole book is rewritable, so you can play the games over and over.

Steve and Wacky Boy, on Ed Emberley’s “Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug!”:

WB: It’s very funny.

Steve: What happens? Can you say, without giving away the end?

WB: No.

Steve: Do you like the Big Bad Bullybug?

WB: No, I like the queen ants and the flying bugs.

Steve: They’re flying bugs, for sure.

WB: They’re queen ants, silly!

The pages are die-cut, with each page revealing a little something from the next page. It’s a clever device for the younger set, as the Big Bad Bullybug is gradually revealed, in all its comical horror.

And now, some big news — I have so many goodies to share that Melissa Lion (who, like me, is a North Portland blogger and writer) and I are going to throw a meet ‘n’ greet. We’ll do it sometime in January. We’re thinking… a coffee house in North Portland. Just for something a little different.

I’ll give away kid books for door prizes! Ms. Lion may bring copies of her young adult novels to sign and sell. I think she should, don’t you? I think once you’re a published author you should just carry a stack of your books with you everywhere. That’s what I’ll do, if and when I get a novel published. I’ll be all, “My name, see? On the cover. Woo!”

Additionally? Melissa managed to teach me what no one else has been able to: I now know how to purl.

Melissa’s books: