The Reliable Wife

A Reliable Wife

By Robert Goolrick

This was our book club book for this month...and that's why I finished it.  My friend Christina called me before I even started to say she had abandoned it.  I decided to gut through it.  It did get more interesting as the story went on and some twists were thrown in but overall I wasn't sure who to root for and it was hard to relate to the characters.  It's about a wealthy man in Wisconsin who puts an ad in the paper for a wife.  There are all sorts of weird twists and turns after that but, honestly, none worth reading about...but that's just my opinion.  It'll be interesting to see what my book club friends say, I already talked with my Barnes and Noble friend who didn't really like it either and have heard from many people that it was a dud.  Bummer.

The Lemonade War

The Lemonade War

By Jacqueline Davies

I have fallen in love with this book.  It's a great late elementary read so it was pretty easy to zoom through but a great story.  There's something about stories that just can break my heart when I can relate to them and this one did just that.  It's not a sappy book, but the boy in the book just has to deal with some disappointments and it just reminds me of little disappointments in my life...I was remembering the time we went to the zoo with summer camp and my mom gave me $10 to spend at the zoo.  We had to pack brown bag lunches and we ate at tables at the zoo.  After lunch, I packed everything up and threw my lunch away...with the $10 bill inside of my lunch sack.  I was devastated later in the day when a counselor was taking kids to buy ice cream and I realized I had thrown my $10 away.  And I was remembering the time when I was in the spelling bee at school.  All the 5th grade classes came to watch the spelling bee and there were tons of parents there, including my mom who got off of work to come see me in the spelling bee.  My first time up at the microphone and my word is "bicycle".  I proudly spelled it, "bycicle".  I was crushed when I realized I had spelled it wrong, went back to my seat, and then watched my mom sneak out the back since I wasn't in the competition any more.

Anyway, I feel strongly that those little disappointments in life can be hard and they are moments that stick with me still.  This book is about a brother and sister who end up dueling to see who can make the most money at their lemonade stands.  It's a great sibling story, it's a great story about running a business, it's a great story about surviving disappointments in life.  I loved it!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had to take this picture when I saw how Wonder Woman had been haphazardly discarded on our kitchen table near a tree craft project Jordan brought home from day care. Mother's Day is tomorrow and sometimes I feel like moms feel like they have to be super heroes like Wonder Woman but it's just not gonna happen...we may have moments of greatness, but mom's are people, too. I know that I will always do my best and do anything for Jordan and our baby on the way but I also have to accept that I'm not perfect and I'll make mistakes.

"There is no way to be a perfect mother,

and a million ways to be a good one."

-Jill Churchill

Just last night, Jordan woke up not able to breathe. I heard him struggling on the monitor, jumped up, grabbed the glass of water I keep by my bed and ran into his room.

"God can't be everywhere, so he created mothers."

-Jewish proverb

I don't think I did much for keeping calm at first but was able to calm him down after he was screaming and crying and coughing. The water didn't really help. I, of course, had no idea what was wrong...I sprinted back into our room to hysterically scream at Chad to get up and help me figure out what was going on. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was wrong, if I needed to call an ambulance, if I needed to call the doctor, if I needed to call my mom...he was calmed down enough and I knew he was actually getting air so I opted for my mom first. She said to take him into the bathroom to breathe the steam from the hot water running and to call the doctor. I held my sweet boy who was clinging to me with his little arms in the muggy bathroom.

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others

but whose place no one else can take."

-Cardinal Mermillod

Chad ran to the computer to figure out what to do about croup. He came upstairs telling me he was gonna take Jordan out in the cool air because that's what it said would be good for a croupy spell. All I was thinking was, oh yeah, croup...it does seem like it could be croup...why didn't I think of that?

He finally did seem to be breathing better and we snuggled him up in bed next to me with the humidifier and he was able to sleep the rest of the night okay. I woke up this morning feeling like I wasn't cool, collected, or clue-ful as far as last night went, and right before Mother's Day, but I did my best and that's all I can expect from myself.

I strongly believe that mom's aren't perfect and we shouldn't expect ourselves to be perfect 24/7. I also believe mother's need to take care of themselves and treat themselves to massages or Starbucks or online shopping once in a while in order to stay sane enough to take care of their kids.

So to all the moms out there and moms-to-be: you have the most wonderful job in the world but it's not always easy and it's not always fun and you're not always going to know exactly what to do, but that's okay. Keep it up, do your best, be true to yourself and know that you mean so much to your little (or big) munchkins! I wish everyone a great Mother's Day!

The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez

The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez

Most Recently Read Book:

The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodgriguez

By Judy Goldschmidt

How is it that I have kind of forgotten what it was like to be in middle school? I think it's because I work with just a handful of middle school kids and I do work with them in a school setting versus outside of school and I'm a teacher versus someone they would confide any crushes in, but I kind of forgot how boy-crazy, fashion-crazy, friend-crazy middle school girls can be! Well, this book really helped remind me. Raisin Rodriguez is a girl who moves to a new middle school and writes about everything that is going on in her blog. If I tell you it kind of reminds me of Harriet The Spy can you guess what happens? I love how the author truly channeled a middle school as far as the character's voice. It's awesome.

Here's my favorite line, because I still struggle with hair issues today as an almost (gulp) 30-year-old!

"...I went to her bathroom to collect myself. It's a good thing too because when I looked in the mirror, my hair was all out of whack. You know how you leave the house thinking you look gorgeous and then when you check yourself out later in the day, you look like Gollum from Lord of the Rings? I couldn't have CJ seeing me like this."

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Most Recently Read Book:

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

By Maggie O'Farrell

This book might have been as confusing as Time Traveler's Wife when it comes to jumping back and forth between present time and flashbacks and from one character to another. At least TTW gives you some guidelines as to who is talking and when they are talking. I finally got into the rhythm of this book though, and I was eager to figure out how all the stories fit into place. It reminded me a little bit of 1000 White Women, because it's about a woman who has been in an institution until her great niece finds out she exists and is being released from the institution. It's amazing how people were treated for how they acted and what they thought. Maybe that's why we have crazy people running around these days...because we don't automatically lock people up...interesting. Anyway, even though this was a little confusing at first, I thought it was worthwhile read!