Monday Reading, Snowy December Edition Redux

So.

It's Monday again, and there's snow on the ground. It snowed all day yesterday - big, fluffy, cotton ball flakes that conjure all the winter daydreams you've ever had and make the world suddenly seem so perfect, and so beautiful. It snowed all last night, too. And when we woke this morning, the sun was bright and everything was crystalline.

 It was dazzlingly beautiful. Or pulchritudinous, if you're like the Daddy and are a walking thesaurus.

School was canceled today, and SURPRISE! It's canceled tomorrow, too. Not that that matters for us, because we homeschool, but still. Fun to know.

The girls had a blast yesterday afternoon and this morning playing in the inch or two of snow that we got... The Daddy and I stayed inside, bundled and warm, and watched them lick snow off of every imaginable surface. Yum. I call it "immune-system-building" and am sure not to watch if I can possibly help it. Although it seemed like every time I looked at them they were licking snow off of something else. Including, but not limited to, the rocks on the GROUND.

But they had fun. Crazy, running around, snow-throwing, miniature-snowman-building (does that make it a "munchkinman" - think "Wizard of Oz" or some such thing?), I'm-too-cold-because-I-didn't-put-on-enough-clothes FUN.

Anyway, I'll get to the "reading" portion of this post, as I had a major allergic reaction to something yesterday and am still not fully recovered and will therefore, be going to bed SOON.

Books

I finished Hood last night. It was good. The writing was good, the historical setting were obviously thoroughly researched, the characters pretty well-developed, and the twists on the age-old story interesting, although there were too many ideas that were "rejected outright," in my opinion. Lawhead, find another way of having your characters reject an idea. Four-to-six times, even over 450 pages, is simply too much redundancy for me. Other than that, no gripes. 

My favorite character was Tuck, who is, to put it simply, AWESOME. Totally my kind of priest. 

It leaves you hanging, though, so off to the library for me in a few days, to grab the other two in the trilogy and start devouring them. It is definitely worth picking the other two up. Not the most riveting book I've ever read, to be sure, but solidly well-written historical fiction, certainly. Out of five stars, I'd give it a 3.5. 

In the meantime, Illuminated has arrived, and I started it immediately after putting Hood down. I'm only 20-ish pages into it, but so far, so good. The story has already grabbed my attention, and in my drugged-out state last night, that's a feat in and of itself. I'll expand more on this after I finish it. 

I ordered the first three of the Books of Ember (link is to The City of Ember, the first book in the series) for KayKay for Christmas... And it's all I can do not to snatch them up and start reading them now, before she even has a chance to look at them. But I can't. I'll be a good mommy this time... But the movie was SO GOOD that I was thrilled to discover that it was based on a whole series of books! If you haven't seen the movie, City of Ember, please do. It is such a good, captivating and wholesome story! If the books are anywhere near as good, they will prove to be fantastic. 

So yeah, after she opens them, all bets are off. She may have to wait in line to read them then (not that I think she'll mind - she has a pile of books as high as my own on her nightstand, and she's currently, and happily, immersed in the Happy Hollisters series by Jerry West...).

And speaking of the Happy Hollisters, which are from the 40's and 50's, are generally sweet, happy little mystery stories (think Nancy Drew for younger ones)... Yeah. So let me give you the back story. (I know, I know, we'll get back to the "reading" part in a minute!)

My mom discovered the Happy Hollisters series when I was a kid. Being the voracious reader that I was, she could hardly keep me stocked in books. Our local library was pitiful, and as she liked to screen most everything I read, but couldn't keep up with me, we would often frequent the local thrift stores. There, I would find whole, entire sets of old children's books from the turn-of-the-century through to the 50's and 60's for TEN CENTS EACH. Mom figured that they wouldn't have anything objectionable in them (and she was right!), and they kept me occupied for many happy hours. And then when I was done, she would donate them right back to the thrift store.

Nowadays, that thought makes me ill. IF I can find any of those books at all, it's on Ebay, and the cheapest ones are generally no less than $1.50/book. Many of them are impossible to find, or impossible to find complete sets of.

So when KayKay was a toddler, I found a nearly complete set of the Happy Hollisters on Ebay for, I think, around $25 for 26 books... And promptly bought them. I didn't do much more than flip through them when I got them, because they were intended for KayKay and the Ladybug to read, and as I'd already read them, there was no need... Well, I wish I'd paid greater attention at the time.

KayKay recently started reading them - she'd read the first one about a year ago, but I guess she wasn't ready for them yet, because she didn't want to read any of the others, but now I can't keep her out of them - and mentioned something to me about the girls having things drawn on them. Well, when I go to investigate, I see that in nearly all the illustrations through the book, the girls have BOOBS drawn on them (anatomically correct BOOBS, too.) AND, if that weren't bad enough, in some cases, pubic hair! ACK. Forgive me, Lord, for this, but why the blankity-blank-blank did I go to all the trouble to BUY the darned things if they were going to be practically graffiti-ed into porn? It's not, but that's not the point.

The whole thing smacks of adolescent young boy rebelling in his own "fun" way to me. Argh. Sorry, friends who have boys. I could be judging wrongly, as I only have girls, but from what I know of ten-to-twelve-year-old boys, the theory fits nicely.

Fortunately, KayKay doesn't seem too bothered. Perhaps it's the fact that most of the women in her family are relative nudists, or that her sister runs around in nothing but gloves and high heels half the time, but she actually thinks it's funny and doesn't seem to be uncomfortable with it at all. So, we roll with it. BUT STILL. *Shaking my head* Argh!

ANYWAY. Back to reading.

So that's the books... Not much this week - hopefully more next week!

Links

As to links, there are all kinds of fun things going on... Enjoy! 

Been reading up about Vitamin D deficiency. Very interesting. This article on Dr. Tenpenny's website provides a lot of great information. This is also another very good source for information on the subject. We've already started taking supplements, if that gives you any idea of what I'm thinking. 

This is a pretty hot-button topic for a lot of people, but I've also been doing some more research on non-immunization. I'm not looking to get into a debate about why I should or shouldn't immunize, because my kids are not, and they may never be. I won't say for certain, because I'm not certain, but that's where it is... And the more research I do, the more strongly I feel that I've made the right choice. So my kids aren't immunized. And they're pretty darn healthy. Healthier than many kids I know, actually. There are a lot of reasons for the choice not to immunize, but the main one is personal. I am that one-in-one-hundred-thousand that is severely allergic to immunizations. After multiple hospitalizations as a child, it was finally discovered which one was the most likely culprit for my weeks of lethargy, super-high fevers, and difficulty breathing - the tetanus vaccine in the DTaP. And adverse reactions to immunizations has been known to later cause Type 1 Diabetes in children. And GUESS WHO is a Type 1 Diabetic? I'll give you three guesses, and two don't count. 

But anyway. Been doing research, and came across this article, which is about, interestingly enough - the DTaP, tetanus, and even has a blurb about Diabetes (although not in relation to what I wrote above). It is very interesting reading, whether you agree with it or not. 

This is another article I've started (but not yet finished, ACK!) about the "required" Vitamin K shots they give newborns. I personally, am somewhat horrified by this article, as the Ladybug was given the Vitamin K shot without my consent or knowledge when she was born (my mom witnessed it and had a hissy fit). 

But on to less disturbing stuff... I've been looking at some different ideas for making an Advent calendar for this time next year... I'd hoped to make one this year, but didn't get to it. I found some ADORABLE ideas, as follows: 

Little Birdie Advent: Skip To My Lou (OH. MY. GOODNESS. Do I love these little birds!!)

Advent Calendar Cones: The Red Thread (So beautiful. SO easy. Love.)

Then I found this non-fiction piece that was recommended by a Facebook friend. Very interesting. Worth the read. It has nothing to do with the holidays, but whatever. It's the internet. 

Then, of course, looking around for homeschooling stuff I found this interesting site on teaching reading... I don't know that this would work for us, but it's a unique idea nonetheless.

We recently ordered the Miquon Math (link is to the Yellow Book) set for KayKay... SO EXCITED to get it. I've heard nothing but good things about it. And we already have the Cuisenaire Rods, so that was a total bonus!

I also found this site (on reading, and teaching reading), which has some very useful information.

I've also been looking at this game, Frog Juice (which may or may not make the cut), and I am pretty certain we are going to end up purchasing Sleeping Queens at some point. Sleeping Queens was created by a little girl, and the illustrations are SO CUTE... What's not to love?!?!

A game company we're interested in was reviewed by Homeschoolers Magazine recently. That article is here... We are looking to get the game Erosion (link is to a Power-Point-type narrated overview) from them. It's not quite as heavy as some of their other games, but still very educational, and looks fun.

I've also been reading my dear friend, the brilliant and fiery Collette's blog, Strong Opinions. Don't you just love the sub-title?!?! I do... And I love it, Collette! Although I need more of your hilarious and fabulous witticisms in there!!

Read this - Laundry: Planted By Streams - and remembered... I need to choose joy. So simple. So complex. And of course, she uses LAUNDRY as her example. Of course.

Anyway. It's now MUCH LATER than I anticipated it being when I started this. I wrote much, much, more than I'd intended. Going to sleep. Enjoy your reading, friends!