Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen is a very popular young adult author and after watching her name and books show up in every possible location (the bookstore! the library! blogs! book lists!) I finally picked Lock and Key up at the library.

And then I let it sit on my bedside table for weeks. Because obviously I wanted the book to feel at home.

It's narrated by Ruby, a seventeen year old girl who has been living with her mom, on the verge of poverty, until she comes home one day from school to find her mom is gone. Her mom is a bit of an alcoholic and pretty unpredictable, so Ruby isn't terribly sad. In fact, she'd been planning to move out as soon as she turned eighteen, so she just figured things have started a little early.

She manages okay for a while, keeping her mom's job (delivering lost luggage for airlines) and mostly paying the bills, until the dryer breaks and the landlord comes to check it out and turns her into social services.

Ruby's older sister, Cora, and her husband take Ruby in, much to Ruby's displeasure. She and Cora were very close growing up, but then Cora went off to college and made no effort to stay in touch, not even inviting them to her wedding.

Life changes drastically when she moves in with them, since it turns out that Jamie (Cora's husband) started UMe.com (basically like MySpace) and is fabulously wealthy. She is enrolled in a private high school, lives in their big mansion, and carpools to school each day with the popular and handsome boy next door.

But Ruby is used to being on her own and is uncomfortable accepting help or getting close to anyone, whether it's Cora or Jamie or the new kids at her school.

It's not a particularly complicated plot and it was fairly predictable too, but the character development was good enough that I didn't even really notice until it was all over.

My one complaint was the time line pacing. A ton of stuff would happen and then she'd say something about how she'd now been living with Jamie and Cora for two weeks. And then there would be two pages and a bit saying that it'd been six weeks since Christmas. That sort of thing makes me a little bit crazy (Twilight does it too and each time I've reread it, I've ground my teeth together a little (just kidding, Dad, I would never ever grind my teeth on purpose).

I wouldn't say she's shot to the top of my favorite author list or anything, but it was a very enjoyable read and I'll certainly be reading more of her books. In my mind, she deserves most of the hype.

Happiness

This semester, I'm doing my capstone project, which includes being an intern at an elementary school library in town.

This was my first week going to the school, and today, now that some of the uncertainty of a new location, new people, and new responsibilities has worn off a bit, I find myself wanting to skip and sing with joy.

It is a little bit scary to get a degree in something you don't have a lot of experience in. It's kind of frightening to pay thousands of dollars to go to school, without knowing for absolute certain that you'll love what you're going to do when you've finished paying all that money and going to all those classes.

Now I know.

I love working in a school library.

Today I checked in books, helped kids find the King Tut biographies they wanted, participated in three or four story times, filled out a book order (could anything be more awesome than placing an order for 155 books? No), and read several books. I enjoyed every moment of the three hours I spent in the library this morning.

It's my first week, of course. I know there will be days when I want to tear my hair out, but over all, I am brimming with joy, more anxious than ever to graduate and to get to work.

Twitter

I'm curious. . .do any of you use Twitter?

I heard about it for a long time before I finally signed up for an account and even then it took me months to stop thinking "I don't get this. What in the world is the point?"

If you aren't familiar with Twitter, it's just a web application where you write status updates, limited to 140 characters or less. And yes, it does seem kind of pointless to have a spot solely for the purpose of saying "Traffic is making me tear my hair out" or "My cheerios got soggy too quickly today, and it made me sad."

On the other hand, though, it is very handy for writing things that need to be shared but don't necessarily warrant an entire blog post: "I found $20 in my coat pocket. Indian take-out tonight!" (Sadly, that was an example; I did not find $20 in my coat pocket. On the upside, I'm not wearing a coat either).

People also use it as a place to notify their followers when they've posted on their blogs or to find other people with similar interests or to ask "Who is that guy in that one movie about that girl with a cat?" and get an almost instant response.

Yesterday, the ALA Youth Media awards (Newberys, etc.) had a live Twitter feed, so you could refresh it every few seconds and see what had won. This was very handy, since I was sort of in class while they were being announced. It also would have been more handy if the Twitter feed hadn't died half way through.

While the awards were being announced, many book bloggers/tweeters were firing off updates about their thoughts on the awards: "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks got a Printz nod. Hooray!" or "Can you believe The Hunger Games got zero love?" It was all sorts of fun.

So, do you use it? Have you heard about it but don't understand the hype? Or are you shaking your head at this post wondering what in the blazes I'm rambling on about today?

Nerd's Christmas

For those of you less nerdy than me, today was the big morning for children and young adult book awards (I hope you're less nerdy than me, because I'm actually shaking with excitement). I was following it on Twitter and refreshing it every few seconds. It was WAY exciting.

So, for 2009. . .cue your drumrolling. . .

Newbery Winner: The Graveyard Book (if it can manage to stay on the library shelf until this evening, I'll be picking it up tonight!)

Newbery Honors:
The Underneath (tolerated this, but didn't love it)
Savvy (yay! I loved this book!)
The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom (never heard of it)
After Tupac and D Foster (also never heard of this book, although I know of the author)

Caldecott Winner: The House in the Night(I've read this and everyone has been buzzing about it for months, but really, I'm surprised that it won).

Caldecott Honors:
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever (never heard of it. Loser).
How I Learned Geography (another one I've never seen or heard of. Minus a hundred).
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (I LOVED this book and when we did our mock Caldecott last semester, I nominated this one. It is SO good).

Printz Winner: Jellicoe Road (haven't read it, but have heard good things about it)

Printz Honors:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves (may have won solely on the basis of having the longest name ever; I read the first one and didn't love it, so I have no intentions of reading this one).
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (If you don't know how much I love this book, you clearly haven't been paying attention).
Nation (Can't wait to read this one - it's been on about fifty bazillion lists).
Tender Morsels (I've seen this around a lot, but I don't know much about it).

Also, A Curse Dark as Gold won the Morris award. Hooray!!!!

Please tell me I wasn't the only one that has been waiting for this all dang year. Time to go to the library and max out my card. Also time to start the countdown for 2010.

Little Brother - Cory Doctorow

I've only read about eight books this year so far (and one of them was Generation Dead which I hated with all my heart and soul), so take this with a grain of salt and all that, but Little Brother is the best book I've read this year so far.

Marcus is a reasonably normal teenager living in San Francisco (I say "reasonably normal" because he's more tech savvy than your average kid). He and his friends ditch school one morning to go into the city and while they are there, the Bay Bridge gets blown up by terrorists. One of the four kids gets stabbed (accidentally, it appears) and while they are trying to find help, the four of them are picked up by the Department of Homeland Security, tossed into a van, and shuttled away to an unknown location where they are separated, questioned extensively and border-line tortured until they give up all their user names and passwords and anything they could possibly know about the terrorist attack (they know nothing about the attack, but it doesn't seem to matter).

Eventually they let them go, after warning Marcus that he's now a "marked man" and that they'll be watching him for the rest of his life. One toe out of line, and they'll make him disappear. He's understandably freaked.

When they arrive back in San Francisco, Marcus is convinced they can't tell anyone about what happen or they'll end up back in prison (or worse), so he lies to his parents about being detained for post-explosion quarantine and tries to go about his normal life.

Except life is so far from normal now, he can hardly believe it. After telling his parents about the "quarantine," he goes up to his room and logs on to his computer, but the power cord keeps tripping. When he looks more closely, he sees the computer case (the hard shell) isn't quite evenly aligned and, since he built the computer himself and has taken it apart a number of times, he knows he didn't leave it that way. When he opens it up, he finds a tiny chip inside connected to the keyboard and the motherboard so that everything he types or looks at on his computer will be monitored. He's rightly horrified.

Even worse, San Francisco has become a sort of police state. For instance, they force almost everyone to get a toll card by increasing the price of paying by cash by about 700% and then they put up card scanners all over the city, so that traffic patterns are monitored every moment of the day. Then, if your traffic patterns look "suspicious" you're questioned and possibly arrested. TV monitors go up in all the classrooms. BART passes are scanned for suspicious movement.

Marcus isn't willing to take this and he starts fighting back, setting up a special Internet (the Xnet) that provides anonymity. Suddenly his online presence - M1k3y - is famous, sort of the leader of the rebellion. Kids are emailing him about what they can do to trip up Homeland Security and he's coming up with new and easy ways for them to do so. International reporters want to interview him (they don't know who he really is outside of the Xnet).

And all the while, Marcus is desperately trying to stay quiet enough to keep from going back to jail or getting shipped of to Siberia. Some of his friends, including the ones that he got arrested with, don't want to be involved, since they fear re-arrest, while other kids are ready to do whatever "M1k3y" tells them to do, including one girl named Ange, who Marcus likes for reasons beyond her willingness to fight DHS (of course there was a romance angle; of course I loved it).

There have been some reviews about how it's not a particularly well-written book, but I really didn't care, because I found the story so absolutely fascinating. It has a great deal to say about the conflicts of security and privacy. Does giving up our privacy really make us safer (Doctorow leaves no doubt about his thoughts on this subject)?

It asked the kinds of questions I've asked myself a hundred times - would I fight back against things that are wrong, even if it was dangerous, or would I submit out of fear? Should liberty be curtailed in dangerous times? I like that Marcus isn't some hero-kid who is completely fearless. He's as terrified as I think any of us would be.

The book also talks at length about different sorts of technology. Some reviewers found it to be distracting from the overall story line or just felt like it was over their head, but I absolutely loved learning about how they pulled some of the stunts they did, or how encryption really works, or how the law of false positives makes it necessary to search 200,000 people to catch one or two terrorists. (I think I would have been more likely to skim those sections if I'd been reading, rather than listening on CD, but I found them fascinating to listen to). I really truly don't think you have to be any kind of tech-nerd to enjoy the total coolness of this book.

So yes, I started listening to it on CD (the audio version is very well done) and got about half way through, but was so gripped that I ended up reading the last part online (the whole book has been published online by the author).

One other small thing I loved about this book was the many references to various locations and landmarks in San Francisco. Having just been there this summer, it was fun to know exactly where he was and what those streets looked like.

Anyway, I loved this book - it just worked perfectly for me. There's some swearing and a few mentions of sex, but nothing that detracted from the overall story for me as a reader. I loved every single page.

Blog On

Yesterday, Packrat asked me about why I blog. (Her questions were: What is your point of blogging? Do you want everyone to agree with you, or do you want a little lively conversation once in a while (as long as it isn't mean spirited)? Who do you want looking at your blog?)

Although, technically my earliest posts were at the end of 2006, I didn't really start blogging consistently or telling anyone about my blog until January of 2007, so this is right about the two year mark for me (before this blog, I had a live journal that has all been made completely private, lest I die of shame when you read the sort of idiotic things I wrote during high school and college. I can't even read it without rolling my eyes back into my head).

Originally, I planned to only write book reviews on here, but after approximately six minutes, I found myself wanting to write about other things that were only tangentially related to books and then, whoops, things that weren't at all related to books. Like the time the social security office told me my name was "Jansseb."

And then people started commenting a little more frequently. I started reading more blogs and more people started reading my blog. When I said something, people would chime in to offer opinions, agree or disagree, or expand my thinking on some topic. It was fantastic.

I certainly don't want or need everyone to agree with me (and I love that plenty of people are willing to tell me frankly that they think I'm dead wrong about college tuition or archiving email). I loved the opinons that came out on my post about homeschooling; some had me thinking "Exactly! That is why I want to homeschool!" and others made me think "Hmm, that's a good point. I may send my kids to public school."

In most cases, when I ask for an opinion, I don't really even have an opinion and want to get one or I have an opinion but I want to see how it matches up against other people's views (the other cases are when I need to prove to Bart that no one else says "root BEER" instead of "ROOT beer").

As for who I want looking at my blog, I am happy to have basically anyone read it. I know my parents and grandparents and in-laws read it, so there won't be any "check out this heinous snowman sweater my mother-in-law made me" posts (note: there have been no snowman sweater gifts). Although I don't use my last name on my blog, I know that my blog comes right to the top in Google if you search for my name, so I'm aware that any future employer or library patron or professor could find me in a moment. My blog isn't private and I have zero intentions of ever doing so, as private blogs are a thorn in my Google Reader-loving side.

I hope that what I write here is interesting to people who've known me for years and to people who just stumbled here by Googling "bell bottoms paris blues." I hope that even if you don't particularly like to read, that you won't be bored to tears by the book reviews, and if you mainly came to read a book review, you won't roll your eyes at my talk of LOST and 24 and North & South.

I try to respond by email to comments (if I can find an email address for you); Bart has suggested that I start responding to comments in the comment section (opinions on that?). I try to read most of the blogs that link to me.

Mostly I blog because I like to talk, I like to tell stories, and I like to write. I blog because I want to remember the books I read and enjoyed and want others to read and enjoy. I blog because it's a fun hobby and because I like having a record of my life (that I hopefully will not be forced to roll my eyes at in two or three years).

And, I really like all you people that read and comment. Thanks.

I'm a HATER!!!!

I don't get a lot of mean comments on my blog, mostly because I just don't have a big enough blog to attract a lot of haters.

And yet, when, on very rare occasion, I get some rude or mean comment, I have to admit, it kind of makes my day. They're generally just so ridiculous and silly.

Also, they make me feel like a great and powerful blogger; the post I tapped out between classes on my slow little iBook forced someone to tell me what an idiot I am. And to tell me so with the help of many an exclamation point.

I amuse myself by reading the comments aloud to Bart, emphasizing certain words to make them sound as crazy as possible, and I generally add a little commentary. I mean, why not?

Like this charmer on my Santa post:

Wow Jansen [ah, yes, spell my name wrong, right off the bat. I know you are serious now]. For someone who proclaims to be educated how could you have not heard about St. Nicholas? [right, because choosing not to participate in something is the same as never having heard of it. Much like I have never heard of eggs because I choose not to eat them].
Is there really a fat man that drops down chimneys and leave toys?
No, however it is what he represents.
So because that is History you forgot to read I'll tell you about it...[a quick look at Google lets me know that it's more like "let the St. Nicholas Center tell us about it" but let us not quibble on details.]
The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to the those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

We teach our kids about our Saviors birth and how a man named st. Nicholas put it into practice and that is how we get Santa. [Oh, I have so many things to say here, but they all come off sounding a little unintentionally sacrilegious, so I shall have to refrain. Just rest assured that they are very very witty].

I think that is pretty much it. You can believe in a great example of Christs love for others or you can be a HATER!!! [Ooooh, I choose "HATER!!!" Obviously].

I'm sorry, but I can't even read that comment again without cracking up. It's just so awesomely bad. Also, it conforms to the standards set by the International Federation of Anonymous Troll-y Comments by lacking pretty much any adherence to those rules of grammar that we "proclaim to be educated" folks are always rattling uselessly on about. In fact, that was the main reason I immediately Googled the blurb about St. Nick's background - it had legitimate capitalization and punctuation and so was standing out like a well-punctuated sore thumb.

I won't delete the comment, of course, because I need it around to make me laugh when school gets stressful. In fact, the only comments I've ever deleted are duplicates or ads disgused as comments saying my post is awesome and also come check out these free! new! products! Now!

So, comment away, anonymous friends. Odds are good that your comment will live on in infamy. Odds are also good that I'll forward it along to all my friends. But, please, don't let that deter you.

Today is the Day

I don't think I have ever watched an inauguration before, but I am today.

I'm grateful to live in a country where the transfer of power is peaceful and where I can vote for whomever I want.

I know the Internet is littered with Inauguration posts and the last thing you need is another one, but I want to look back and remember that I watched it. That I lived it.

(image from ABC News)

It's a good day to be an American.

2008 in Review

Inspired by my friend Noelle, here is a overview of the last year (that one that ended 18 days ago? Yes, that one). I sent the questions to Bart and we answered separately. I've resisted the temptation to comment on all his answers.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

J: Started grad school and took out student loans.
B: I taught Sunbeams in Primary. Loved it!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
J: Not very well; this year I will do better.
B: I made a lot of New Year's resolutions but only kept a few. Those I kept were good ones, though! I've made resolutions for 2009 - goals, rather - and I plan to achieve all of them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
J: Holly is the only person I can think of.
B: Yes. James and Angie had their first baby boy, Sam!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
J: Thankfully, no.
B: No.

5. What countries did you visit?
J: Only the good old USA - Texas, Utah, Nevada, California.
B: No foreign countries, sadly. But my parents and brother went to Israel, Egypt, and a few other countries. And Janssen's parents went on a 25 year anniversary cruise in Eastern Europe. So 2008 was a year to be happy for others go to abroad.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
J: Just one single solitary job.
B: A steady paycheck.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
J: May 15th - the day Bart heard back from the UT MBA program and he decided for certain to do accounting.
B: The day I found out I didn't get into the MBA program at UTexas. It confirmed my decision to do the MPA program in a very decisive way.

8. What was your biggest personal achievement of the year?
J: Getting a 4.0 both summer and fall of graduate school.
B: I got the job I wanted in the location I wanted!

9. What was your biggest failure?
J: Continuing to lose my temper too easily. And I'm embarrassed to admit how upset I was about my lone A- in my first semester.
B: Wow. That's a little personal. But I'll tell you, nonetheless, for your interest and possible benefit: Day trading.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
J: Nope.
B: Surprisingly, no. Usually (like right now) I get a cold that lasts for at least a couple of weeks. The cough lasts longer. But 2008 was cold and cough free!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
J: Two nights at the Marriott in San Francisco through Priceline.
B: Tickets to San Francisco

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
J: Bart's for picking a career path. Mom's for throwing a giant successful party for my Dad's 50th. And I know you shouldn't toot your own horn, but seriously? I rocked it this fall. Two jobs and a full-time graduate program.
B: Janssen's. She really stepped up to the plate to try to minimize our school debt when I quit my job to do school full-time.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
J: Frankly, every presidential candidate at one point or another.
B: Stockholders everywhere.

14. Where did most of your money go?
J: We just opened our end of year house tax thing. It appears all of our money went to paying interest on our mortgage. Vomit.
B: Tuition

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
J: Getting asked to write for the ALA READ blog (in hindsight, it hasn't been quite so thrilling, but whatever).
B: I don't do really, really, really excited. But I did get really excited about my job offers.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
J: I'm Yours - Jason Mraz.
B: Maybe Bubbly by Colbie Caillat because it was the first my new band decided to cover.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
J: Happier, Thinner (oh my heavens, I just saw a picture of me from last Christmas, and almost died), and poorer.
B: Happier, same physical, poorer (student debt).

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
J: Just closing the computer and going to bed at a reasonable time.
B: Writing

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
J: Stressing about money. But I know I will continue to do it. I will probably be on my death bed at 95 wondering how my 401(k) is doing and worrying that it's dropped half a percentage that day.
B: Arguing

20. Did you fall in love in 2008?
J: With Twilight all over again. I said it.
B: I stayed in love with Janssen and fell in love with camping with family in the Uintas.

21. What was your favorite TV program?
J: 2008 will be remembered as the year of LOST.
B: Heroes.

22. What was the best book you read?
J: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
B: John Adams

23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
J: YouTube, I suppose. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
B: Andrew can play the guitar!

24. What did you want and get?
J: Some grant money. And a denim skirt.
B: Good grades.

25. What did you want and not get?
J: A nice bed frame. Someday.
B: A truck.

26. What was your favorite film of this year?
J: North & South. Love.
B: Iron Man

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
J: I turned 23. We (okay, embarrassingly, I had to look up what we did) went to lunch at an Indian restaurant which has turned into a favorite, saw Get Smart, and had a little cake and ice cream with B and Ralphie.
B: Watched Iron Man the night before and went to lunch with Janssen, Landen, and their dad. 28

28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
J: Getting my own job offer in Boston, like Bart did.
B: Janssen not being worried about money.

29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
J: Old Navy Clearance Rack
B: Jeans, t-shirt, sweater in cooler weather

30. What kept you sane?
J: Kayla. And three trips to Las Vegas.
B: The stability and direction my master's program brought to my future career prospects

It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville

I didn't mention that one of my goals this year is to read one Newbery book every month. Um, hey, one of my goals this year is to read one Newbery book each month.

This month's was It's Like This, Cat which I knew exactly nothing about, but it looked shortish. That was enough for me.

There's really not loads to say about this book - teenage boy, Dave, takes a cat home from his crazy cat-lady neighbor, despite his dad's complaints, and then the cat runs into a basement and he meets another older teenager skulking around down there. They become friends. He meets a girl at the beach. They become friends. He has a childhood friend who thinks the cat is a hassle and he just wants to pick up girls. They become un-friends. He and his dad clash a lot, but Dave matures a little. They become sort-of friends. The end.

I felt like the cat was a bit of a device - it didn't seem necessarily like the cat was the driving story thread the book flap and title were promising (not that I cared; I'm not much of an animal person, in books or in real life). Frankly, the book could have lost the cat character and it would have been almost the same.

That isn't to say it wasn't a good book - I actually quite enjoyed it. It reminded me a bit of a Beverly Cleary book; there wasn't a strong central plot, but more a collection of related episodes focused on one character. Sometimes, that's just the kind of book you need, right?

Life-changing it's not, but it was a pleasant enough way to spend a Sunday morning.

So, what Newbery book should be next on my list?

"Shake Me Up, Judy"

One of the many things I like about Bart is that he's not afraid of BBC movies. You really can't ask for more in a spouse. I find I particularly like to test this in January.

Last year, I forced him to begin the year by watching North & South, followed by Jane Eyre.

This year, Bart's parents introduced us to Cranford (written by the same woman who wrote North and South) and wow, I loved it.

Filled with zeal for all things British, we came home and got Bleak House which some friends had told us we must watch and love. It took a little longer to warm up to (because, lets be honest, most Dickens' things are dark and cold and with a name like "Bleak House," well, you aren't helping us out much, are you, Charlie?), but fortunately it's seven hours long, so there was plenty of time to get into it.

Over the last four days, we've worked our way through the five hours of Wives and Daughters. Those were a pleasant five hours (especially the last hour were we ordered Indian takeout and ate our curry and naan bread in front of the screen).

Despite having watched somewhere in the neighborhood of seventeen hours of BBC dramas in the last two weeks, I'm not ready to move on to lame American action films yet (although, Bart may be).

Ralphie has suggested Nicholas Nickleby and my mom is currently watching and loving Berkeley Square. What else should I run out and find so that I can spend hours more on the LoveSac, pretending to improve my mind?

At Home Vacationing

When we come home from vacation, we often take the absolute last possible flight in order to stretch our vacation as long as possible.

There's a massive downside to that strategy, however, and that is that we usually land in the Austin airport at 11:45 p.m., don't arrive home until well past midnight, and then are expected to leap from bed, ready to jump right back into school and work at 5:50 a.m. the next morning.

Needless to say, we also then end up with nothing to eat, our suitcases sit in our bedroom for several days, and we have no clean clothing to wear. It's a terrific system.

Actually, it gives me a headache just thinking about it.

Every time this happens (which, seriously, is every single vacation or trip), Bart says to me "Next time, let's come home a day early so we can rest up from our vacation, get unpacked, and be ready to get back to real life."

We never do, of course, because vacation time is too precious to use on unpacking!!!!

Then, this Christmas break, I ended up with six weeks off of school and three weeks off of work. And clearly, we weren't going to go on vacation for five weeks (even we have limits, people), so we ended up back in Texas six days before I had to go back to work and two full weeks before school restarted.

We slept in. We watched movies. We unpacked. We sorted through all our closets. We took in old paint cans to be recycled. We donated two laundry baskets of clothing to the Salvation Army. We went out to dinner with friends.

It was oh so glorious.

Of course, it did make returning to work yesterday a little difficult since I was not only in vacation mode, I was in at-home-vacation mode.

But, hey, at least my closets are clean.

Reaching My Goals

For years, my mom has bought each of us children a calendar for Christmas. Sometimes they are just for fun, sometimes they are themed (for instance, everyone gets a movie calendar). This year, Landen got a calendar of London landmarks, since she'll be going on a study abroad program there this spring. Our calendar was a Boston one to celebrate our upcoming move there.

For 2009, I'm using the calendar (which always hangs in our kitchen) to mark off the days I work out so I can see how I'm doing. I found a box of star stickers that we bought some years ago (for this same purpose, actually) and I'm sticking one on the calendar every time I go to the gym.

By the end of the year, when that calendar hangs in some little apartment in Boston, I'm hoping that it is filled with at least 156 (that's three times a week for 52 weeks) of little stars in various colors.

This is what Thursday breakfast looks like

Homemade lemon poppyseed muffins with lemon curd and fresh fruit

For the record, it was somewhat more like lunch, seeing as we ate it at 12:15 in the afternoon.

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

Since I read a lot of books, I'm not particularly surprised that I read quite a lot of non-notable books. It's only to be expected. But I read very few books that leave me in a fury over their absolute badness.

And this book, Generation Dead, left me seething - it was just so so bad.

A little background on the storyline, first, before I rant on about why this book is garbage: in America, dead teenagers are starting to come back to life. Only teenagers and only in America and only some of them. They are returning to school and trying to go about their normal lives, but unsurprisingly, their presence freaks out most of the regular students.

Phoebe and her friends Margi and Adam are regular students, but one of their formerly good friends, Colette, is back from the dead and they can hardly stand to look at her because she's so changed.

Adam is a terrific football player, but things get complicated when Tommy - a dead kid - tries out for the team too. And even more complicated when Phoebe starts to like Tommy (and obviously Adam likes Phoebe because she's the girl next door and he's known her since they were kids - have you never read a book before?).

And also, one of the other football players, Pete, hates the dead kids, apparently because his girlfriend died and DIDN'T come back and he also likes Phoebe and she won't give him the time of day and, you know, he's just full of angst and violence. Lovely.

So, the multitude of reasons I hated the book:

First of all, I so did not understand at all why Phoebe was ever interested in Tommy (and yes, I thought off all you people who could never understand why Edward Cullen in Twilight was so wonderful and perfect (you're wrong to think so, of course)). He just was so weird and it made no sense except that the plot said she was supposed to like him.

Second, there were all these little allusions to things that might be going on that never went anywhere. Like who was sending out the white vans to rekill dead kids? And was the Hunter Institute doing - were they bad? Why in the world did you mention these things and then not have them mean a thing? (I just Googled around and discovered that there is a sequel due out this year, but seriously, you can foreshadow without it being so heavy handed that I want to off myself).

Also, the ending was a big surprise but not in a "wow, I didn't see that coming" sort of way. More in a "wow, that was so not awesome at all" kind of way. The ending was what really killed the book for me (no pun intended).

And there were topics that coming around and around (like Margi and Colette's relationship or lack thereof) with no progress or resolution ever. I sort of wanted to scream "either say something new or stop talking about it!"

Needless to say I will NOT be reading the sequel.

Home is Where You Can Wear Sandals in January

It's easier to leave behind your beloved family members and the fun and relaxation of Christmas break when you're coming home to a location you really love.

Also, when you leave SIX degree Utah and return to 67 degree Austin, well, that eases the pain a surprising amount too.

It was so lovely to not have to take my entire outfit into the bathroom with me when I showered this morning.

It was fantastic to have an entire closet to choose from this morning when I got dressed.

And it was even delightful to go grocery shopping and restock my kitchen today.

I love being home.

And here are a very very few pictures from Christmas break (part of Bart's 2009 goals include taking over picture-taking duties in our household as I am obviously a miserable miserable failure):

With Crawford at the BYU bowl game. We were inside the box where it was snugly and warm.

At the Bellagio indoor gardens. Lovely as always. Yes, I'm wearing almost the exact same thing as in the previous picture. Wait until you see the next picture.

Oh, hello same outfit. Nice to see you again. I met up with Heidikins at the Salt Lake Public Library, where she gave us a lovely informal tour. Also first meeting with an honest-to-goodness Internet stranger. She was awesome.

At the King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake. It was the same day, so yes, I'm wearing exactly the same thing. You're probably wondering why I took two large suitcases home with me, when I appear to have only worn one thing the entire trip.

Home: In-Law Edition

Sometimes (maybe "daily" would be a better word) I talk about how I hate the cold and the winter.

But sometimes it is lovely to be warm and snug with your in-laws, eating a delicious dinner and dessert, wearing long johns and two pairs of socks, and just enjoying a pleasant, quiet evening together while many inches of snow fall outside.

Today I'm glad it's winter.


(The only blight is the sneaking worry about how much our flight home tomorrow might be delayed because of the snow).

2009 Goals

My family doesn't really do resolutions, but we've set goals every year for as long as I can remember. My dad is very serious about setting measurable goals with specific plans of how to achieve them and deadlines. My whole family spent quite a long time discussing and planning our goals for 2009 (in fact, we were asked to speak in church about goal setting last Sunday, so we spent sort of a ridiculous amount of time pondering them).

A few of my goals:

• Read 120 books this year
  
• Write 50 book reviews here
• Eat better
  • Only 2 desserts a week
  • No fast food this year
• Be a better gift giver
  • Keep a list of gift recipients and add gift ideas throughout the year
  • Send cards and gifts at least three days before event
• Run three miles by the end of February
• Work out three days a week all year long (this will be measured with stickers on my kitchen calendar)
  
• Refinish kitchen table and chairs
• Organize closet and weed out clothing

And, my number one goal for the year:

• Get a job in a library (either public or school)

Last year, I made some really awesome goals (I assume) but I never looked at them again. This year I will be printing them out and affixing a copy to my closet mirror and to my dayplanner cover so that I can refer to them often and measure my progress.

Wish me luck!