I Kinda Cheated AND Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

I had made a post a while back about my my Reading Challenge for 2013 from Goodreads HERE. This widget has now updated to point out that I completed my goal of 24 books in 2013!!! Yay!! (I would post the widget again, but I can't find the html for it, and I can't remember how to find it, heh) However, I must admit, I kinda cheated. But hear me out!

I reread the 6 out of the 7 Harry Potter books this year (I still mean to read the last one, but this goal got in my way and I didn't want to fail because to read a book I had already read before), I also read 4 of the 5 Song of Ice and Fire books that are about the length of 3 books each. They would always put me behind schedule and I was playing a game of catch up in order to maintain a reasonable outlook on this reading challenge. You might be thinking "well, if you just counted the Harry Potter books then you would have achieved your goal anyway", but I didn't want to go that route. I wanted to read 24 NEW (to me) books. THAT was MY goal, even if it wasn't stipulated on Goodreads.

So, how I cheated....

Once I finished Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness, I was at 23 books and thus only one book away from beating my goal. I only had 3 days to finish an entire book, the books that I have lined up to read next (Song of Ice and Fire book 5 and the Victoria book club book for February The Orphan Master's Son) would NOT have been completed in this time. So I went to my unread bookshelf and picked a few of my Teen/Young Adult novels... to be honest I wasn't enthused about reading any of them, but in order to finish within the 3 day time limit, I chose the next Percy Jackson book. I had copied the review for the first one from my Visual Bookshelf and posted it in THIS blog post when my blog was in it's infancy. I hadn't really ever intended on reading any more of the Percy Jackson books, but I bought the 2nd book when I bought the first one (*coughAddictioncough*) and had no plan of returning a book to a bookstore! Are you kidding? That's crazy talk... unless I already have it... then I can exchange it for something else... ANYWHOO, getting off topic here.... It was short, the first was an easy read, so I suspected this would be as well, so I figured I could finish it before the new year. And I did! With a few hours to spare... so I KINDA cheated, because I chose a book strictly to finish it in time... but... it still counts... I think...

Anywhoodle! Happy New Year to everyone! Enjoy this book review!

~*~

Percy Jackson's seventh-grade year has been surprisingly quiet. Not a single monster has set foot on his New York prep school campus. But when an innocent game of dodgeball among Percy and his classmates turns into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, things get …well, ugly. And the unexpected arrival of Percy's friend Annabeth brings more bad news: the magical borders that protect Camp Half-Blood have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and unless a cure is found, the only safe haven for demigods will be destroyed. Percy and his friends must journey into the Sea of Monsters to save their beloved camp. But first, Percy will discover a stunning new secret about his family—one that makes him wonder whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor, or simply a cruel joke.

If you read my small review of the first book you may have an idea of what I think of the second book. The book does, once again, really help youngsters to learn about Greek Myths and Mythical creatures and characters, and it is still startlingly similar to Harry Potter, however it deviates a bit more this time which helps. The plotline of the book was not completely parallel to a HP one, but there were still other instances where I thought "This is kind of like Lord of The Rings (or The Hunger Games, or Matched). But it still wasn't as resounding as the first book was, so it gets a slight redemption for that. The biggest issue I had with this installment was the beginning few chapters of this book. Riordan is not good at initial plot development. Situations seemed very contrived and the book introduced us to new characters that Percy had met sometime in between the end of the first book and the beginning of the second. I find this frustrating. I want to meet them as HE meets them and considering this is a first person narrative, I don't think that's too much to ask. 

However Riordan is very good at creating action and tension once the plot has been set up sufficiently. A lot of things happen to Percy and his friends (and not-so-much "friends") in this book but they link smoothly to one another and there were some really fun parts to read. He is a very creative author, I wish he just hadn't bummed so many ideas off of other authors.

Too Much Happiness

Ten superb new stories by one of our most beloved and admired writers—the winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize. 

In the first story a young wife and mother receives release from the unbearable pain of losing her three children from a most surprising source. In another, a young woman, in the aftermath of an unusual and humiliating seduction, reacts in a clever if less-than-admirable fashion. Other stories uncover the “deep-holes” in a marriage, the unsuspected cruelty of children, and how a boy’s disfigured face provides both the good things in his life and the bad. And in the long title story, we accompany Sophia Kovalevsky—a late-nineteenth-century Russian émigré and mathematician—on a winter journey that takes her from the Riviera, where she visits her lover, to Paris, Germany, and, Denmark, where she has a fateful meeting with a local doctor, and finally to Sweden, where she teaches at the only university in Europe willing to employ a female mathematician.

With clarity and ease, Alice Munro once again renders complex, difficult events and emotions into stories that shed light on the unpredictable ways in which men and women accommodate and often transcend what happens in their lives.

Too Much Happiness is a compelling, provocative—even daring—collection.


I find it difficult to review a book of short stories. I would kinda like to review each story individually, especially because each of these stories are so different and not really connected to one another as far as I can tell, but that would probably make my review longer than the book itself, so I'll do what I can as a collection.

Alice Munro is a beautiful, artistic writer, although many of these stories were very anticlimactic. It seemed that if there was going to be a climax in any of these stories, it would always come at the very end, leaving the reader hanging, yet somehow fufilled. It was an interesting experience. I can see why Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year.

I think the stories in this collection progress from being the most modern setting to being earlier in history with each story. So they are chronological backwards, although many do not give a distinct timeline. (But I may be proven wrong on this point, I didn't come to that conclusion until the last story and I was too lazy to go back and check that this was true. Whatevs) The last story is technically Historical Fiction based on the life of Sophia Kovalevsky, I believe this story could have been an entire novel on it's own, but it would have been really boring. Sophia's life was interesting, but not all that action filled, so the story seemed rushed, but was also one of the anticlimactic ones. Interestingly, this is the only story that Munro mentions in her Acknowledgements. 

This book was another pick by the Young Women's Downtown Book Club in Victoria, and the last few books I have really been wondering why they chose what they did. In this case, I have a feeling Alice Munro was picked because of her recent Nobel Prize, however when compared to other books of hers on Goodreads, Too Much Happiness is one of the lowest rated. Perhaps I have a preference for novels over collections of short stories, but it would have seemed prudent to me to pick something higher rated. If any of the Book Club ladies wants to enlighten me on the reason that this one was chosen, it would be greatly appreciated!! 

Although I haven't read anything else by Munro, I would suggest that if you want to pick up something by her in lieu of her recent Nobel, I would suggest grabbing a different title, odds are it would be better rated than this one.

Our Furnace is Out...

Nothing reminds you of just how fortunate you are until one of your "make life livable" appliances takes a break. I mean, I was all ready to whine and complain about how cold I am, but at least I am in an insulated house that will probably remain relatively warm until the furnace people get here...

But it's still not a very pleasant realization to come to in the morning.

Interestingly enough, I kinda noticed right when I got out of bed, but sometimes it's just the fact that I was all nicely bundled in my covers and that the outside-of-the-covers world always pales in comparison. It wasn't until I came down stairs poured Rosalie some juice and then went to use the bathroom that I noticed that the vent was blowing cold air at my butt.

So I went and checked the thermostat and although our temperature is set to be 73˚ (we like it a little on the toasty side), it was showing this...

I went downstairs hoping that I could just push a button and the pilot light would just come on, but apparently it's not that simple. I read the instructions on the cover and found out how to turn off the gas, but there was no indication of how to light the pilot or turn off the fan.

So I called my Dad, he came over and looked at it to see if there was something that I had missed, but when it was determined that there was not, he called a furnace guy. His #1 choice said that they had no one available and no openings for today. But another company said sometime this afternoon.

So now we wait...

At least it's not -1 million today!

This looks totally livable to me. For a while anyway.

Now we just need to play the waiting game...

11:45am UPDATE: It's fixed... sorta. There is some duct cleaning that we really need to do. We've known about it since we bought the house, but we didn't think it was THAT dire. Plus Roland "knows a guy" and we all know how that goes. My wifey-ness will have to nag a bit more (and don't think I haven't already)

Reasons I think I'm having a Boy...

This pregnancy has been very similar to my last one, but there are a few distinct differences. And for those differences I think I am having a boy, and these are the reasons and my justifications...

1) I am nauseated this time, but not nearly as bad as I was last time. Last time I was throwing up regularly in the morning. This time, I feel nauseous all the time, but rarely throw up (fun fact: "rarely" was "only once" before yesterday. Then I got all pukey... guh! Could have gone without that on Christmas Day). I have had several girlfriends that had boys that were not sick at all with them, or got the dry heaves or nauseated feeling without the actual puking. My girlfriend that was sick the worst had a baby girl... the difference must mean it's a boy...

2) I have a moustache. I have determined that this is because my boy is getting his gonads this week and that has influxed the testosterone in my system. Thus the development of this moustache... I have yet to determine how to deal with it...

3) This is probably in the TMI area, but my farts and poops STINK! Like, REALLY bad...There is no way that this kind of a smell could be made by a girl, so there must be some male involvement.


Roland and I have determined that we are not going to find out at the ultrasound whether it's a boy or a girl this time (technically this is mostly just me, I think Roland would rather find out, but I have vetoed it). This is for a few reasons. Last time, I really wanted a girl and Roland said that he only had Y-sperms. Looking at his family, I wouldn't necessarily doubt this, but my argument was that it took us 9 months to get pregnant because my eggs were waiting for that one X-sperm. And I was right. Booya.

This time, it doesn't really matter to me. I have lots of cute little girl clothes that I would love to pull out again, some of which Rosalie never got to wear because of the season she fit certain sized clothes. We certainly have enough girl things that it would save us a lot of money to not have to go out and buy stuff that we already have, but need it not in pink. Having another girl might make my daughters better playmates than if I have one boy and one girl... However there is a certain appeal to having a little boy. I feel that it would make it that much easier to love all of my kids very differently. Brayden, being the oldest is completely different from Rose and the new baby. If Rose is my only girl her and I will do girly things together and she can be her dad's little grease monkey in pink coveralls. Then the little boy will be my baby, my little mamma's boy. So different from Rosalie how could you ever compare them? Whereas two little girls will be forever compared to one another, like me and my sister were. Another appealing point to having a boy would be that Brayden's mother wouldn't have that over me. I know it seems silly, but I wouldn't like the fact that she had been able to give Roland a son, where I couldn't. Slightly competitive? Yes. Totally ridiculous? Absolutely.

Under the Weather...

I've been dogging it on the reading front. I really don't have an excuse other than lately I've been wanting to go to bed at about 9:00pm rather than read for an hour and go to bed at the far more "adult hour" of 10:00pm.... And I still wake up super tired. I have a feeling that on the days that I work at 7:00am this week, I may end up going to bed at 7:00pm...

Funny thing is that when I started reading this book of short stories, I was like "Sweet! This will take me no time at all! One story a night = 10 nights. Bingo-bango-bongo DONE!" But no... no, no, no, no, no...

I'm not totally sure if I am sick or just exhaused by the season, or if the super cold temperatures have just kept me inside so much that I now am starting to hibernate, or something else.... who knows...

So, FILLER POST! Another BOOKFESSION!

THIS is the story of my University life. If there was a book I REALLY wanted, such as a sequel to something I had already read, a favourite author's next book, or a REALLY enticing back cover synopsis, I would plan to eat at my parents' or live on the crappy iciban or KD that we had sitting around our house. And sometimes this wasn't necessarily a monetary issue so much as a time issue. I would often opt to read rather than go grocery shopping. For example if it's 9:00pm, and the grocery store closes in an hour, and there is no food in the house, BUT there is a possibility I might be able to finish the book I am reading tonight to start a NEW book right after. DONE! No contest.

Book beats food every time!

Now, not so much... must feed family and such. Family beats book...

Oh how things have changed :)

The Diplomat's Wife

How have I been lucky enough to come here, to be alive, when so many others are not? I should have died.... But I am here.

1945. Surviving the brutality of a Nazi prison camp, Marta Nederman is lucky to have escaped with her life. Recovering from the horror, she meets Paul, an American soldier who gives her hope of a happier future. But their plans to meet in London are dashed when Paul's plane crashes.

Devastated and pregnant, Marta marries Simon, a caring British diplomat, and glimpses the joy that home and family can bring. But her happiness is threatened when she learns of a Communist spy in British intelligence, and that the one person who can expose the traitor is connected to her past.

This book was a breath of fresh air... not so much because of the plot or story or anything but because it is an ACTUAL BOOK! Like with pages and stuff. I have been reading far too many things on my ereader lately. I mean, the ereader is convienient and all, but it's just not the same.

I picked this book up way back when I was working at McNally because I had read another of Pam Jenoff's books and really quite enjoyed it. She writes historical fiction, although they are a slightly lighter read than most Holocaust/WWII stories because generally they take place after, in the recovery phase of the trauma suffered by victims and veterans rather than deeply immersed in the horrific events that took place from 1939-45. In The Diplomat's Wife, we get a slight glimpse of Marta in a Nazi prison, but within the first chapter she was rescued and into a hospital by the second. 

The classification of this book bothered me a bit because it was shelved in Romance when I bought it, but I knew if it was anything like Jenoff's first book, The Kommandant's Girl, it would be unfair to genre it as Romance. In my humble opinion, Romance novels generally have a very unrealistic expectations of what Romance is. With muscly men sweeping damsels off of their feet in fits of passion, and such. They are really meant to be a form of escapsim (I want say "for lonely housewives", but I don't want to sound prejudice... but really, that's what I am thinking... so... I guess I am prejudice. HELLO BOOK SNOB ANNIE!). The Diplomat's Wife really didn't have that unrealistic aspect. Paul and Marta's courtship, although short, was (what I understand to be) typical of the time. With much of the world still reeling from the war, many young couples took the "carpe diem" approach to life, because they had lived the fact that any day could be their last. Also, the relationship between Marta and Simon was interesting because of her pregnancy and was completely unromantic, but very realistic, and I am sure happened often to those left pregnant and unmarried or widowed at the time.

FACT CHECK! Once the war was officially declared over in the book Fireworks lit up all of Paris, and that made me think "when were fireworks invented, anyway?". To my surprise, 7th Century China, but by the 15th century, their use was common in Europe and apparently the place to get good fireworks was from Italy. I love it when fact checking leads me to learn things, and supports the book I read insofar as that the author did their research. :)

I would recommend this book to people who like Chick Lit AND Historical Fiction. It seems she had her facts right and the plot was light and enjoyable. I was also slightly concerned mid way through the book that I knew how it was going to end, but was pleasantly surprised by the route the plot took. Great story, great ending, pretty solid read. 

Leather Anniversary

Wow. Three years has kinda flown by, but at the same time so many things have happened that it seems like we got married an eternity ago.

SO! Third Anniversaries are either Leather (Traditional) or Crystal/Glass (Modern)... and well, I don't think that Roland would appreciate much Glass/Crystal stuff, so Leather it is! I had a few ideas right away, some were just fun to think about (think 50 Shades of Grey style. HA! No never, but it was funny to think about), others were too practical. I was considering a good pair of winter gloves or mitts, but I couldn't find any that I liked in my price range that were actually leather and not some plastic version. Then I thought about a belt, but that's not very fun... so I wandered in to The Cutting Edge in The Centre Mall, thinking that maybe I could get him a case for his utility knife, but they weren't really nice. I did like the Zombie Apocalypse Knives/Swords they had... but they weren't leather (maybe for our 6th Anniversary, which is Iron for the traditional gifts?), but I did get sold on this little beauty...

So... I know... It's kinda cheating. But the brand is LEATHERman! I think it kinda works...

BUT, it does have a leather case... or at least it looks leathery... I'm not totally sure it's actual leather... but whatever...

So, if you didn't know what it was from the previous picture, all folded up... it's a Multitool!

It's no sword, but I'm sure it will still be useful in a Zombie Apocalypse. Nothing says love like something you can easily carry around with you should Zombies attack.

A Bit of Preggo Rage...

I have always loved hearing about my preggo friends' Momma Bear moments that happen oh-so often during pregnancy, although I didn't think I had any particularly interesting ones myself. Even comments on Facebook sometimes are instantly recognizable as preggo rage, and I love them! Not only because it shows generally non-aggressive women really pulling out the big guns, but also because sometimes they are a tad on the "overkill" side.

I have two particular favourite stories. I heard this first one from one of the girls I work with, right after she found out I was pregnant and asked me if I had gotten mad at Roland for anything yet, and I think I told her about how I wanted to kick him out of the house for not doing dishes or something, but I never actually raged on him, just got really mad all by myself until I simmered and realized I was overreacting. She told me about how when she was pregnant (I can't remember if she was pregnant with her first or second, but I think it was her first), she was on the verge of packing up all of her stuff and moving back into her mother's house because they were out of milk.

The second story is from Shauna (http://insatiableblatherings.blogspot.ca/), I'm not totally sure if she blogged about this story, but it was freakin' hilarious, and I still think of this from time to time when dealing with less than courteous people. She was in the grocery store and popped into the checkout line behind a woman who had very few things, but just as she got to the front of the line, the woman waved over her family that had an overfilling cart (maybe two?), and then asked Shauna to move aside so her family could get through to which Shauna responded "This is bullshit. And YOU are a bitch!" and then moved to another till. I think this is the greatest response ever to any situation and I do not think it was one iota of an overreaction. I often think these words to myself while in difficult situations (regularly while driving).

This second time around I am realizing that I believe my preggo rage happens mostly at the very early onset of my pregnancy, and unfortunately it seems to happen to those who are closest to me. Roland gets the brunt of it, but I realize now that last time it spilled over onto my friends too. I remember a particularly cringe-worthy overreaction to a situation with a group of friends when I pointed out some "blatant favoritism" that may or may not have actually been there. Accidents happen, but I got so wound up about it I wasn't remotely reasonable, I made a big public display on the wall of facebook that probably still has people convinced that I need to be committed. I also think it set me up for these friends assuming I want to start a fight when I really don't, they read my posts with an angry voice when I don't mean to sound angry... but thus, is the preggo rage. I think I was about 5.5 weeks pregnant when that one happened...

My connection I made to this previous situation was from my reaction to EVERYTHING at costco today. Now, it is Tuesday, not a weekend, so although Costco was busy today, it was not SATURDAY busy. Everything made me mad. First in the parkinglot ("Why on EARTH do you think you need to take up 2 parking spots for your stupid van?), people stopping their carts in the middle of the aisle ("seriously people! Just because YOU have stopped moving does not mean that all traffic has stopped moving), the couple in front of me in line not moving their cart to the side so I could start loading when they were done ("REALLY?! Why does your EMPTY CART need to be at the end of the conveyer?")... I seriously got so mad that I may have almost had an aneurysm.

So I apologize for any instances in the past, and also any in the furture, where I may have preggo raged on you. It is not personal, and it has/had more to do with me than with you. Realizing this aspect of myself will hopefully make me able to complete this first trimester without any casualties of war... please be patient with me if I forget this and don't hold it against me forever?

Other Book Blogs...

I knew when I started thinking of using a blog to post book reviews that I wasn't coming up with anything new, but I had also never gone looking for one before. So although I knew they existed, I had never seen one myself. Like a platypus. I have never seen a real, live platypus, but I know they exist...

So every so often I will happen upon a link to a book blog and be excited at first, but then a bit worried that it will be better than mine and make me question whether or not I should continue to post book blog posts.

Fortunately, any of the book themed blogs I have found are either entirely different from my own (like Bookfessions, see the link to the right), or I haven't liked for one reason or another (I'm not gunna lie, sometimes it's just because I'm a snob). But I still think that my blog is the best for several reasons.

First of all, I think I have a pretty eclectic mixture of books that I have posted about this far. A few of the blogs I have found have been very genre centered. Now, sometimes, this does have a certain advantage to readers as well as the bloggers. For example, if I wanted to know exactly how good a book (or series) like Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire) is, I think I would get a far more accurate representation from someone who only reads Fantasy novels. They will have a greater "test group" of Fantasy novels to compare it to, whereas someone else who only reads, say, Romance novels may review it really harshly because it's not full of boobs, ripply muscles, and sex (... oh wait... yes it is... But not the right KIND of boobs, muscles and sex) OR they might LOVE it just because it is WAY better than any Romance novel ever written. However, that being said, these single genre sites would have certain biases, and may not reflect accurately in the whole scheme of books in the world anyway. The advantage to writing this type of blog seems to be the free books. I SO wish I could get popular enough to have distributors, publishers, and authors would just send me free stuff. That seriously happens on these blogs sometimes. I have seen it. And it makes me green with envy...

The second thing, I aim for in this blog is a lack of spoilers, which I have commented on before. I have been extremely disappointed by bloggers that blog about the entire plot of a book and then flippantly throw out a mark out of ten, or a star rating or whatever at the end, after telling you exactly what happened in the entire plot of the book, including the climax and conclusion. I mean, seriously? Why would I want to read your blog about books only to have them spoiled for me? That's worse than reading the Coles/Cliff/Spark Notes of a book. Personally, if I were to read an entire blog post that spoiled a book I wanted to read, I probably wouldn't want to read it anymore, and then it defeats the purpose of me continuing to read that blog anyway.

If my blog has a failing, I think that sometimes I am too harsh on books, and even books I love I find things that might bother some people, even if they don't bother me. I worry that it gives people the impression that I hate everything, or that I wouldn't recommend any of the books I review. I want to give at least a positive and negative point in every book that I read, even if they are far reaching. I hope that people who come and read my blog for the book reviews choose whether or not to read a book depending on what I say, and that if they do read it, they aren't disappointed. But I am also worried that I deter people from reading books that they might really like because I am too harsh on them, or the negative point I choose to include (that may be far reaching and not really that big of an issue) seems to be a bigger deal than it actually is in the book.

I loved the two comments I received about my Great Gatsby review, because I felt that those comments proved that I was succeeding at doing exactly what I wanted to do. In Erin's case, my review encouraged her towards reading a book that she has been meaning to read for years, yet in Meghan's case, she agreed with me about the content and themes in the book, but it made her dislike, rather than enjoy it, like I did. I feel it proves that I'm good at finding the important deterrents or incentives to read a book (Thanks for those comments Meghan and Erin!!)

I LOVE talking about books! So even if you disagree with me, I love to hear about it! Also if you have ever been drawn towards or pushed away from any of the books I review, I would love to hear it! If you have any other book themed blogs you think I should take a look at, please point me in the right direction!

Changes in Prenatal Care...

... even since the last time I was pregnant, it's slightly mind boggling. I don't know how people with children 5 years and up don't stand cringing at the things we do, or how we don't stand gaping at our parents upon hearing the things that they did to us.

Actually, I know that some people do this. But I have vowed not to be one of them.

I've heard about a bunch of things that were definite "Do Nots" when I was pregnant, that have been adjusted to "Only Do Ifs". I almost feel like my copy of  What to Expect When You're Expecting is out of date (but I did check, and it is the latest edition).

At my first prenatal appointment today, I was told I did not need to come back for another appointment until I was 10 weeks. Last time I am pretty sure I went back at 8 weeks too (this may have been my fault though, she told me that I should come back in 5 weeks and that would make me 9.5 weeks, and I asked if that would be my heartbeat appointment, and she said it's too early for that, so she said just wait until 10-12 weeks to book, then we can get the heartbeat in there.. so, that may have been my fault)

Also, she told me this time that it is now common to do two ultrasounds rather than one. Now they generally do one at 10-11 weeks for "dating" purposes and then the usual 18-20 week one. This surprised me because so little research has been done on the effects of ultrasounds on fetuses. I'm worried that it'll be some situation like in the 80s, when the number of kids with leukemia skyrocketed and when Dr Alice Stewart figured out that it was because of xrays done on pregnant women, there was such a resistance to change it that it went on for YEARS before it stopped becoming a common practice (if you want to watch the first few minutes of the TEDtalks I posted in THIS blog post you can get a quick 'coles notes' version of events and reasons as to why this happend)... You can still call me paranoid if you'd like. However, I do realize it can't be anything THAT bad because I am pretty sure a high majority of babies in the western world have ultrasounds done on them for years and as far as I know our childhood cancers are not on the rise, but still. I think that more research needs to be done. And I do recognize that under certain circumstances ultrasounds can be more helpful than any thing that I could possibly fathom that they could possibly be causing, but if I have no reason to need one, I am pretty confident in my dates, then I have no intention of doing more than I need. Now, that could change at a moment's notice, should some cramping or bleeding or something happen, but as of right now, I consider myself to be having a completely normal pregnancy, and it would be completely unnecessary.

Coming Out...

Deciding when to tell people about this pregnancy is tough.

Last time, we told our parents and my siblings almost right after we found out. This time, I asked if we could keep it to ourselves for a bit. Sometimes secrets are fun ;)

We are hoping that telling Brayden this time will be far better and easier than last time. We decided not to tell him until after the heartbeat appointment last time (which is basically when everyone else heard), because we figured he would be choked because of his reaction to our wedding. Roland told him when I wasn't around so that he would have an honest reaction, and choked he was. He has 7 other siblings and life did not get better for him each time a new one came around. But once Rosalie was actually born, and he was smitten almost instantly, and after a while when he realized he didn't have to parent her, he has been much more receptive to the idea of us having another baby. And we ensured him there will only be one more, then we are done. (He's hoping for a boy ;) ) So this time we are going to tell him first. Once I have my first doctor's appointment under my belt, we are gunna tell him. Here's hoping it goes over as well as we hope this time!

Everyone else is still kinda up in the air. Parents will still find out next... but after that, who knows! I guess we will tell when the time seems right.

DING! DING!! DING!!! *Round Two!*

So... there it is. That second blessed little line.

I am so excited, I don't have words. And slightly trepedatious at the same time. I have had so many friends come this far only to have their babies miscarry on them. So I am a reserved excited. But I am allowed to be. These little home tests are amazing.

I was slightly nervous about doing this test today. My period has not really been consistant since I got my IUD removed and I have done a couple of tests that came back negative only to start my period the next day. It was kinda frustrating... and a waste of perfectly good pregnancy tests.

I told Roland last night that if my period didn't start this morning I was going to do a test today, but when he came home and asked about it I still hadn't done it. But once he occupied the kids I scooted upstairs to my bathroom... and voila!

So please do forgive me. You may find that, assuming this pregnancy goes well, this blog may become dominated by pregnancy things rather than booky things.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Sorry this post is coming a couple of days later than expected. I finished the book on Monday, but wanted to think on it a day before writing a post. And then yesterday I was out of commission due to being ill and lying in bed most of the day being entirely useless. Back at it today though! 

Flavia de Luce, 11, is an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. In the summer of 1950, a series of inexplicable events strikes her home, Buckshaw, a decaying English mansion. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. 

For Flavia, both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw.

I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.

To Flavia the investigation is the stuff of science: full of possibilities, contradictions, and connections. Soon her father, a man raising his three daughters alone, is jailed for murder. He tells Flavia an astounding story of a schoolboy friendship turned ugly, a stolen priceless object, and a Latin teacher who flung himself to his death from the school tower thirty years before. Flavia ties tie two distant deaths together, examines new suspects, and follows the search to the King of England himself.



I was not overly enthused with this one. It was a very typical mystery novel, and as I am not really a mystery fan myself, I didn't enjoy it very much.

I also think that having the main character be a 11-year old gave it a very juvenile feeling. If it weren't for the adult vocabulary (It's a good thing I read this on my ereader because I was using the dictionary tool constantly for this book, and I'm an English major!), I would have thought it would be a young adult or teen novel. And don't get me wrong, I love me a good YA book, but when it's not what I expected it's kind of a let down. This book might be great for an advanced younger reader though.

I really don't have much to say about this one. I struggled to get through it and not much stuck with me as being interesting or all that creative. Flavia is an interesting young girl, if you like arrogant, yet brilliant young people...

One positive thing I can say about it is that it was wrapped up pretty nicely. No loose ends at the end of this mystery. Yet our protagonist is young, so I'm not surprised that this book is the first in a series, but I have a feeling the books will be sufficient on their own and won't matter what order you read them in. Kind of like Nancy Drew's. Yes. This is definitely an adult version of Nancy Drew.

Otherwise the book was pretty "Meh". Not really a recommendation. If you enjoy mysteries, you have probably read a bunch that are better than this one. If you are not into mysteries and want to get into them, do not start with this one, I think it will turn you off of the genre.

4am Wake Up Call

Last night was rough. I was cramping and completely uncomfortable thoughout a lot of the night last night. Eventually, at 5:30 I stumbled to the bathroom and puked my guts out. Then I felt a bit better.... morning sickness?

I'm probably kidding myself again. Last time my morning sickness wasn't anything like this.

And then there was the diarrhea in the morning. That made me think I was miscarrying the baby I didn't know that I had yet. But I googled it and the undeniable google said that diarrhea can be a sign of pregnancy! The hormone fluctuations get ya every time...

Anywhoo, I'll find out in the next few days in any matter. Expectin' Ol' Aunt Flow on Friday or summat...

Sparks Fly

Angelina Morgan is a beautiful consultant who practices an ancient art form called Feng Shui. Will Scott is an all-business CEO who doesn't believe anything he can't see and touch. With the help of a meddling ex-wife, a well-meaning best friend, and a matchmaking mother, Angelina and Will are about to find out what happens when opposites attract...and sparks fly.


This was kinda an accidental read. 

When I first got the Kobo App on my iPhone, before I got my ereader, I downloaded a bunch of free books. Songs for a Teenage Nomad was one, and this was another one... I'm not even sure which other ones I had downloaded. Anywhoodle, I was waiting for some appointment or another and I didn't have my ereader, so I just decided to start reading this one. I only read it while I was waiting for appointments or was in some situation where I had a few minutes and didn't have anything else to do. SO it has really taken me about 2 months to read, even though it's only about 200 pages long.... PLUS my kobo app said that I was only 85% done when it ended, because there was a couple chapters from another of her books at the end... so I finished it without meaning to.

If anyone follows me on Goodreads, you may have noticed that this one just popped up on my "read" shelf without being on my "currently reading" shelf. That's because I wasn't even sure I was going to bother reviewing this one, just because it was so... romance-y?... but I figured if I can review 50 Shades of Grey I should be able to shamelessly review this one too. (Not even close to any erotica in this one! ;) )

This book is bordering the Romance/Chick-lit line. The subtitle on the Kobo app called it "a fun romance about the 'magic' of falling in love", and I thought it could be fun, and for free, why not? I think generally Romance novels have at least a little bit of nooky in them, and this one was totally g-rated, but it was still a bit fun.

The writing left quite a bit to be desired, and the plot was totally predictable, in fact, I often thought of how it followed the exact [thin] plot of 50 Shades without any sex... and that is probably why it was only about 200 pages instead of 500.

Nothing really to get excited about. Can't really say I'd recommend it unless you like romance novels, but it was still better than The DaVinci Code. 

Song of Ice and Fire: Book 4 - A Feast for Crows

After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

Wow. That was a tough one...

This was a really difficult book to finish because it was so bloody tedious. I liken it to the reason I didn't get very far into Lord of the Rings before I gave up. There is a lot of walking and looking for crap in the woods and not really much going on. The only reason this one differed from LotR is that I had already committed to three (fabulous) books and I heard the fifth one is good, I just had to get over this hurdle and then I could continue one with a GOOD book. 

Slight Tangent: Someone had posted a Game of Thrones vs. Star Wars thing on Facebook and I kept being reminded of this picture as I was reading this book...

I 100% agree. FFC is the Phantom Menace of the series thus far...

But I digress (that kinda happens often in my blog....),

Another one of the problems with this book is that many of the chapters are hosted (told from the perspective of) some very minor characters that I don't give a crap about what happens to. I mean, Asha Greyjoy? PAH!

I understand that Martin may be setting up for the next (or other future) books, but this one was just painful. At the end of this book he posts a little disclaimer about how the book he intended to write ended up being too long so he split half the story into this book, and the next book will take place at the same time, but with all of the characters that aren't in this one. Fair enough. But my question is  WHY DID HE PUT ALL OF THE CRAPPY CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK?? Couldn't he at least had one or two of the good ones? To me, it seems fair to put Tyrion in one book, and Daenerys in the other one. Ya know, just to keep it fair. But no. Neither of them, or Jon Snow, or anyone particularly interesting is in this book... at least Bran wasn't in this one. He may up the boredom factor in the next one...

Anywhoo, I am reading one of the book club books before reading the next (and latest published) book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, so those who are not interested will have a slight reprieve. I just downloaded the book onto my ereader and it's only, like, 250 pages long, so it shouldn't be too long until my next review.

Ta-ta for now!

Constantly Kidding Myself

I keep finding signs of pregnancy in myself every month, and now I am becoming totally disappointed when I'm not. Not, like, totally devistated. Just disappointed.

I'm pretty sure that I'm just out of the pregnable stage of my cycle, so there is NO way I can possibly know yet... but I feel like this is the time.

I think it's because Rosalie has been giving me (or I have been legitimizing) signs that she is ready for me to have another baby, and would accept her usurption of the "baby" positing in favour of a new sibling.

Like yesterday while I was holding her with one arm and making lunch with the other, she reached down to lift up my shirt and then kissed my bare belly.

... total sign of pregnancy, right?

I wonder if youngun's can detect pregnancy the way they say dogs can? Because I had a feeling that Boca knew when I was pregnant with Rosalie before I did. So maybe Rosalie knows that I'm pregnant with her brother or sister before I do too?

A Tribute to a Neighbour

Note: This post is really more for myself than for anyone else. So if you don't feel comfortable reading it, don't feel obligated to finish it. I have struggled a bit with how I feel about this whole circumstance, but I think that putting it out into the world will help me move past it, rather than keeping it bottled up. I have talked to a few people about this, but I feel like I am hiding it somehow, and that doesn't seem fair to myself or to Julian. I need to put it out into the world, like that Postsecret Website, even though it's not really a secret. 

This is never a sight you want to see in front of your house. Ever. No matter what the circumstances... although I suppose that having so many emergency response vehicles is a better testament to our western living...

On Monday October 26th, Rosalie and I had been downstairs watching (please don't judge me) The Walking Dead (DVTRed), when Rosalie had had enough of Zombies and decided to come upstairs, it was about 4:00, so I really had to start thinking about supper and stuff, so I turned off the TV and followed her. When I got upstairs my livingroom was flashing with blue and red, and the above image was taken from out our front window. Actually, the first time I looked out the window, the ambulance wasn't there yet, but as I was breaking out my phone, the ambulance drove up, the EMTs sauntered into the house, and shortly after the Firetruck left. It wasn't long before the EMTs also returned to the ambulance and drove off. Being a slightly (who am I kidding, SUPER) nosy person, I watched for a while. I saw an EMT supervisor vehicle come and go, and a Police supervisor vehicle come and go, but nothing indicating what went on.

I had my suspicions, but I didn't know for sure. The thing that really confused me was that the ambulance left without any of our neighbours in it. But if it wasn't anything serious, then why were the cops still there? But if it were SUPER serious, why didn't they pull out a body? Or haul someone out in 'cuffs? To understand the suspicions I had, I need to give a little backstory...

There are three people living in the house next to us: a father, a mother, and their adult son, Julian. I had met the mom once, I was out front in the garden at the beginning of the season and she came to throw something in their black garbage bin, and I made a point of saying hello. She lingered only for a minute and then went back on her way. Another day (which may have been before I met the mom), Julian came over to chat when I was in the front garden too. He stayed longer and chatted, but he was a bit socially awkward, he would give one word answers to my questions and not give me anywhere to go with them. So he stood in a bit of an awkward silence while I continued to garden, and he would eventually think of something else to talk to me about. But he was friendly enough.

Then one night a few weeks later, he showed up and knocked on our back door at about 10:30pm. I was in my PJs sitting on the computer, and was surprised to say the least. I recognized him though, so it wasn't super scary, just startling. I answered the door, but didn't invite him in or anything. He just said he wanted to come talk to me, I told him it wasn't a good time because I was just getting ready to go to bed, but that if he came back tomorrow in the afternoon we could talk then. He said OK and seemed content with that. I asked him why he came to the back door, and he said that he saw a note on our front door saying to come to the back. I had just started putting a note on the door not to ring the doorbell when Rosalie was sleeping because Brayden's friends had woken her up a few too many times, he must have just assumed it was a "Come to the back door" sign. So I told him to come to the front door the next day, just make sure that he knocks instead of ringing the doorbell.

So sure enough, he showed up the next day, and he came into the house and we had a good long chat. He was saying he wasn't employed at the moment because he had quit his job and was looking for something else, but didn't know what. I asked if he was interested in going to school, and he said that he was but he had tried university and he didn't like it. I pointed out that going to SIAST for training in a Trade is never a bad idea. We got into the reason he quit his job and a few other things when it came out that he had been hospitalized in the psych ward at the University Hospital. He said he was talking to someone now, but that all they want to do is drug him and he doesn't like that. I talked to him about how medication can be an important component to recovery, but he said he didn't need it. Feeling I wasn't going to convince him otherwise, so I took it another direction and said that some people use holistic medicine and diet to control anything that they need meds for, but that diets can be really tough to stick to. I didn't ask him directly about what diagnosis he had, but I got the distinct impression that it was something like schizophrenia. After a few silences that I was determined to not be awkward for, he said he really aught to go and I told him that if he ever wanted to come over to chat again to feel free as long as I am home, and not too late at night. He said thanks, and went on his way.

He didn't ever come over to chat again, I think that he was surprised that I was 30 and thought that I was closer to his age (22). I think that he initially wanted to talk to me to find out how we could afford everything that we have being close to his age, when he realized that we were older, I became an "adult" to him and didn't think of me as a peer anymore. More like his parents, so he never came back.

I saw him walk by occasionally to go catch the bus, and once he got a car I would see him coming home or leaving his house, but I didn't really interact with him. I figured if he wanted to come over again he would. I made the earnest offer, he seemed to accept it, I thought if he wanted to talk he would come over. I was almost ready to go over and see him about a month ago when he was in their backyard screaming profanities at the top of his lungs, but I decided against it. If he was that unstable at that moment, it wouldn't be a good time to have him in our house, and he might not listen to me anyway. I still hadn't talked to him again after our visit.

So having a bit of the background story, I came to four different conclusions about the array of emergency vehicles in front of their house. These are in the order of the best to worst cases scenarios.  1) Someone (I thought the Dad) thought he/she had had a heart-attack or something and it was under control, so the ambulance didn't need to pull anyone out. (not likely, but wishful thinking) 2) Julian had gone into a temper, threatened someone and his parents got scared and called 911 for domestic violence. (more likely, and somewhat ideal, because then no one would be hurt) 3) Julian had hurt himself, or 4) Julian had hurt one of his parents.

I had given up on just watching the house by 6:00, most of the time nothing was happening anyway (but MAN the police use a lot of gas! Their vehicles were running from 4:00 until they left. How's THAT for a carbon footprint?) So I made supper and would peek outside occasionally to see if anything had changed. Another couple of unmarked vehicles came and people in street clothes with brief cases and duffle bags came and went, but there was no indication of who these people were (social workers? CSI? More cops? Who knows) I put Rosalie to bed and there were still three police cars there, engines still running, but still no change. Then I came down after getting myself ready for bed and peeked out and there was a Mourning Glory hearse in the driveway, thus eliminating options 1 and 2 from my above list of conclusions. Someone was dead. My heart sunk.

I had no way of telling which of the scenarios I had concluded were true. I did not feel comfortable knocking on their door without having met the dad, only having a slight convo with the mom, and knowing Julian was probably unstable. I also added the other possibility that someone had died of a heart attack or something, but it was already too late when he/she was found, so that's why the paramedics were in no rush. So I watched the newspaper. If Julian had hurt someone to the point of killing them, it would be in the paper. I watched for their last name in the Obituaries.... but there were several days of nothing.

I was returning from work on the Thursday after the happenings, and as I drove past their house I saw someone outside their front door smoking. I couldn't see who it was, they were bundled up because it was cold and they had the porch light on behind them, but it was someone of Julian's build, and I had never seen his parents out smoking, so I parked the car and decided to pop over there to talk to Julian and see if he was ok. However, by the time I parked and got out of my car whoever it was had gone back into the house, and all of the lights were now out, so I didn't want to wake anyone.

Then, in the Friday paper, there it was. Julian's Obituary. Stating he had "passed away suddenly after a long debilitating illness" and I had my answer. Poor Julian had committed suicide. And I hated being right. I was hoping for my new theory of a heart attack to play out.

I didn't know him well, and I feel that I had done what I could. I had welcomed him to come over if he ever wanted to talk, and he chose not to. I harbour no guilt. I don't really think there was anything else I could have done really. I don't have that great of an influence on people, especially those I hardly knew. However it is sad. He was so young, and could have had such an amazing life ahead of him, but mental illness stole that from him. Funny that my mind was so hopeful that nothing had happened to him that I thought I saw him outside of his house. Must have been his dad, or some other male relative or friend come over to help out...

It is also so interesting how small Saskatoon is. If you are at all in doubt about my conclusion that it was a suicide, I went for lunch with a good friend of mine that is a dispatcher for the Fire Department in Saskatoon, and while I was telling her about the scene on that Monday, she asked what the name of my street was again, and I told her and she got this I-already-know-the-end-of-your-story look on her face. I asked her if I was right, and she confirmed that I was. She took the call that day.

If you have gotten this far, thank you for reading. This is just one of those things that leans heavily on one's mind, but does not come up in regular conversation as to relieve from one's soul. I desperately wanted to talk about this young man that left this world too early, but felt I had no method of releasing it. (Yay blogging!!) So thanks again. I hope I haven't left anyone too depressed, but I do feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

Time for a BOOKFESSION!

I try desperately to not have any spoilers in my reviews for this exact reason. I HATE spoilers. One of the great advantages to reading brand new books, or reading books that no one else you know has read is that you can generally avoid having things spoiled for you. (There is a great episode of Big Bang Theory called The Spoiler Alert Segmentation about this, Sheldon spoils a HUGE plot point in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for Leonard, which leads to hilarity, but at the end of the episode he spoils an episode of The Walking Dead and I hadn't seen the episode either so it spoiled it for me too! WTF! Roland just laughed when I freaked out though...)

There is also this big conundrum about how big of a window there is before it is the fault of the viewer (or non-viewer) for not watching in due time. For example, if I say that Old Yeller dies at the end of the book/movie, no one can really be like "UM, HELLO! SPOILER ALERT!! Sheesh." I mean, how can you be mad? The book and the movie are both 60+ years old!!! If you wanted to read the book or see the movie, you should have done it already! Granted, if you were, say, 12 years old, I might not say anything and just tell you to read the book... but that is another point entirely. But, Harry Potter for example, the most recent book is 5 years old, and I still try not to let out any spoilers. So where is the line?

Yes, anywhoo... don't spoil books. Or at least ask if your conversation partner is planning  on reading the book... it's just common courtesy.

I don't even know what to title this post...

I'm a little irrational sometimes when it comes to animals. Just the thought of the day when we will have to put Boca to sleep brings tears to my eyes, and she's only 5 years old and in perfect health. There is no need for me to be thinking about this, but I know it's an inevitable that I will outlive her... the best case scenario is really that we get the opportunity to put her to sleep and not have something awful happen to her that would deprive us of our goodbyes (Yup, started crying typing those last 12 words)

Tonight, while I was driving home from getting groceries I was driving down Kingsmere (close to the first entrance to Christopher if you know the neighbourhood) toward our house and saw a cat that had been hit by a car and was lying in the middle of the road. Like, smack in the middle, on the dotted line. I drove slightly more to the right, slowed down, but kept driving. I had the urge to turn around right after I passed him, but didn't, I had groceries in the car... but by the time I had gotten to our house I had decided to tell the boys to unload the car and take the truck back to check on the cat. So, that's what I did. I drove back to the cat and I pulled over and parked and went to the middle of the road. The cat wasn't moving and his mouth and eyes were wide open, so I was pretty sure he was dead. He was still warm, and wasn't in rigour yet, so I picked him up and took him to the sidewalk. He didn't have a collar or anything, so I didn't know what to do. No collar meant that I couldn't call anyone, but I didn't just want to leave him on someones lawn. That seemed unfair, putting a dead body on someones lawn... that's worse than a flaming bag of poo without any humour attached to it. But as I was standing there with a dead cat in my arms, the guy who's lawn I was standing next to came over, it looked like he was outside for a smoke or something. I automatically said sorry (which I think made him conclude that I hit the cat, but I didn't think of that at the time) and that I saw him when I drove by earlier and I couldn't just leave him there. He said it wasn't his, but he was pretty sure it was from the house across the street. I asked which house, and he pointed. I was about to take the dead cat over there and ring the doorbell, but I think seeing that I was on the verge of tears, he told me to just put down the cat on his lawn and he would go over to the house. I said sorry to the guy again (not sure why, because I was putting the cat on his lawn maybe?) put the cat down, petted him one more time and then got in the truck and cried. I pulled a u-turn to drive home and saw the guy talking to someone at the door of the house I pointed out, but I didn't hang around to find out if it was theirs or not.

I feel a little bit silly. Clearly no one else cared to move the cat, the guy that helped me out clearly didn't want to touch the dead cat... is it normal to move someones dead pet out of the road?  I suppose I would hope someone would do the same if something like that happened to Boca (tears again), so maybe this is a "do unto others..." type thing. It felt right in anycase, and I think the guilt would have effected my sleep if I didn't go back.

This was initially meant to be a facebook status update, but I didn't know how to phrase it so that it didn't sound like I was fishing for complements or something. I just want to know if this is an irrational act, or if you would have done the same, or if you would want someone to do what I did if it was your pet... or was it just weird. PLEASE give me your thoughts!

The Far Side of the Sky

On November 9, 1938—Kristallnacht—the Nazis unleash a night of terror across Germany that paves the way for Hitler’s “Final Solution.” Meanwhile, the Japanese Imperial Army continues to rampage through China and tighten its stranglehold on Shanghai, a besieged and divided city that becomes the last haven for thousands of desperate European Jews.

Dr. Franz Adler, an Austrian Jew and renowned surgeon, is swept up in the wave of anti-Semitic violence washing over Vienna and flees to China with his daughter. There, at a Shanghai refugee hospital, Franz meets an enigmatic nurse, Soon Yi “Sunny” Mah. The chemistry between them is intense and immediate, until Sunny’s life is shattered when a drunken Japanese sailor attempts to rape her and murders her father.

The danger escalates for Shanghai’s Jewish refugee community as the Japanese ally themselves militarily with Germany and attack Pearl Harbor. Soon, the Japanese overrun the European enclaves within Shanghai. Facing starvation, disease and the threat of internment—or worse—Franz struggles to keep the refugee hospital open while protecting his own family and fights to outwit the Nazis and save the city’s Jewish community from a terrible fate.

The Far Side of the Sky focuses on a short but extraordinary period of Chinese, Japanese and Jewish Second World War history, where cultures converged and heroic sacrifices were part of the everyday quest for survival.


I quite liked this book, but I have a predisposition to like almost any historical fiction. I particularly also like historical fiction novels pertaining to World War II and the Holocaust and such. This one was interesting to me because I was unfamiliar with the role that Shanghai played in the war, so that's always fun because I like to learn things. Although, the disadvantage from attempting to learn things from Fiction novels is that in order to ensure accuracy, one must fact check. I don't generally do this unless there are some glaring inconsistencies between what I already know or seems logical to what is presented in the book. The only fact check I felt I needed to do was in regards to an outbreak of Cholera. I already knew it was a water based bacteria that can infect large bodies of water at a time (generally coming from infected fecal matter being dumped into a body of water that drinking water is acquired from). Drinking any water that is infected or food that is not properly sanitized when coming in contact with the bacteria is the way it is generally spread. In this book the Cholera epicentre was a refugee kitchen and a couple of the people that contracted the illness stated that they got it from eating soup made there. That "fact" set off a red flag for me, because most waterborne illnesses can be prevented by boiling the water. I would think it is safe to say that a vast majority of soups are boiled. So, I did a google search of the prevention of cholera and sure enough boiling infected water will kill the bacteria and prevent the illness. So... they couldn't have gotten it from the soup. Just saying...

Otherwise I really found this book enjoyable. I have read so many holocaust stories and stories about European Jews going into hiding to avoid  being sent to concentration camps, but I had never read a story of anyone who was actually able to get away from the Nazis and move to another country, only be confronted with an entirely different set of problems. Clearly, if one had to choose which option in hindsight, Shanghai was a heaven on earth compared to remaining in Austria (or Germany, or Poland, or wherever else) only to be annihilated, but it was still a life of poverty after having lived very affluently. Much of the tension was based on the uncertainty of their family's situation rather than being constantly threatened or harmed, and it worked very effectively at keeping me on the edge of my seat.

This one is a total recommend! (Just try to ignore the gaping hole in the Cholera plot line ;) ) And I'm adding the sequel, Rising Sun, Falling Shadow to my to-read list :)

The Cloth Diaper Adventure Continues!

DAY TWO: October 14th, 2013

Ok... this isn't quite so bad. I have now successfully changed two wet diapers before they leaked... and another one only slightly leaked and did not get on my pjs.

I think the part I am struggling with is how to know exactly when she wets her diaper. With disposables you can always tell because the diaper gets so puffy, and if you can't see it through her pants you could feel it through them. With these cloth covers, I can't see or feel a difference. These times that I changed her before a leak, I actually had to touch the INSIDE of her diaper to know that she was wet... gross... but seriously, it's the only way I can tell.

DAY THREE: October 15th, 2013

Complete bust today. I forgot to do laundry last night after I got back from dodgeball. So no clean diapers (I had a couple of the liners still clean, but whenever she leaks through I HAVE to wash the covers).

I did order a couple of Kushies covers to see if that helps with the leaking problem, then I might go get some of the Capri liners to go with the previous covers I bought (this is also a correction from my previous post, I thought I got Blueberry covers, but when I checked I remembered I went with a slightly cheaper brand, because Blueberries are apparently the Rolls Royce of cloth diapers)

DAY FOUR & FIVE: October 16th & 17th, 2013

This is quite a learning curve and I am still struggling. I find myself using the "All in two" (AI2) diapers in the morning, and then switching to a disposable at nap time, and then using the pockets in the afternoon until bedtime, then disposables overnight. As I have said numerous times, I only intend to use the pockets while being out, but I'm finding I like them better than the AI2s. I'm thinking I might add another step to my transition to potty training. The lovely, fabulous, and knowledgable Shauna says that she will still feel more wet in the pockets than the disposables (thanks for your comment Shauna!!), so I think I might get more of the pockets, use them until she has used the potty (and actually peed in it!), then switch to the AI2s more when she has at least gotten the basics of using the potty...

DAY SIX: October 18th, 2013

The Kushie Diaper covers have arrived!! Unfortunately, they are not what I expected. I was hoping they would be somwhat similar to the Capri ones that I already have, but they are clearly WAY cheaper than those... first of all, the fabric is like nighttime training fitted bed sheets. Ya know, the ones that don't absorb liquid and are basically plastic? Yeah. Those. And I can't imagine them being comfortable at all. Second, They are velcro, not snaps. I should have noticed that when I ordered them. Phoo. Lastly, I ordered two kinda girly ones because I have two gender neutral ones already, so I got one with pink and purple flowers on it, and the other one looked like it was lilac online, and when I took it out of the box it is clearly blue, which is a colour I already have. *sigh* I know, not exactly a third world problem... but... I'm still disappointed. So I think I will only be using those ones when the others get over wet and I need to wash them...

DAY SEVEN and BEYOND: October 19th, 2013 and onward...

I am adjusting. I know that this is a good choice, not only for monetary reasons, but also for environmental ones, but I have still yet to perfect this system. I also only plan on using my new Kushie covers when I have to. And I haven't had any horrible leaks lately, so that's a plus. There are still lots of things I need to learn, and advice will always be graciously accepted, so if you have your own two cents to contribute, please feel free!


AND, because this post is a bit on the boring side, here is a picture of Rosalie sitting on her potty naked... just like dad... ;)

Just for the record, she has not actually gone pee on the potty, but she does like sitting on it while I am on MY potty, and Roland said that she went up there to sit on it while I wasn't home one day. Although he didn't take off her pants and diaper to see if she would actually use it... too bad. Maybe next time ;)