As Clear As Mud

Have you ever tried explaining a cliche to a kid? The look of confusion is priceless, and to use a few old cliches, you could see their wheels turning and steam coming out of their ears ;)

I never realized how many old cliches I use in everyday language until I had to start trying to explain them to my kids. Some simply go over their heads and some I struggle to actually remember what the saying even means! Sometimes we simply say things because we've always said them and the kids have forced me to really look at what I say and when I use that saying.

I thought I'd list some of the cliches I use that I've found difficult to explain to my kids:

- Beat around the bush

- The best thing since sliced bread

- You can't teach an old dog new tricks

- Don't look a gift horse in the mouth

- Till the cows come home

- A stick in the mud

- A good rule of thumb

- More than you can shake a stick at

- A snail's pace

- The shoe is on the other foot

- The apple of my eye

- In the doghouse

- Full of vinegar (or full of the dickens)

Do you use these types of expressions? What's your favourite or most used? Have you tried explaining them to your kids?

As for my own use of expressions I think I'll have to filter them a bit more before my kids start thinking I'm nuttier than a fruitcake ;)

The Power of Blankie

Overtired and want some comfort? Green Blankie! Have a boo-boo and need a pick-me-up? Green Blankie!

I find it truly amazing how many children pick an object and become so attached to that object. It seems to be the source of many magical powers that can cure everything and do no wrong. 

Surprisingly our daughter never really became attached to one particular object but our son has a beloved Blankie. He needs it at night to sleep but if he had his way he's carry it around all day like Linus from Charlie Brown.

It made me wonder why and when we give up these things? If they bring us such joy and comfort are they such a bad thing? I understand it's not ideal if they won't go to school without it, or they want to take it to play in the mud but if they can just use it in the comfort of their home do you let them have it whenever they want? We try to restrict the Blankie to just bedtime and instead we're trying to encourage him to use words to describe his feelings rather than just put his head under his Blankie.

I remember having a great affinity for a little pillow when I was young and I kept it until I was around 25 and the pillow disintegrated. Since then I can't say I have an object that I cling to when I'm feeling down. Do you or your kids have something that gives you comfort? Would you let your kid have it whenever or wherever they want?

Part of me feels sad that when my son no longer needs his Blankie he's going to lose a piece of his childhood that has brought him so much comfort.

June & July Book Reviews

Once again I'm behind with my book reviews so here's the books from June and July!

1. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith:  This book takes a few tidbits of the history of Abraham Lincoln and rewrites them to include his efforts to vanquish vampires. It starts from his birth all the way to his assassination. It's an entertaining take on history and a fun way to learn a few facts about that point in US history. After reading the book I took a chance on the movie and was very disappointed to see that only about 5% of the book was in the movie. The book stood well on its own as fast moving and exciting so it's a shame they didn't use more of that premise.

2. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh: This story follows Charles Ryder as he befriends a young aristocrat and his family in the 1920's. Charles becomes ingrained in the family and all his and their trials through divorce, religion, sexuality, love and alcoholism. The writing is smartly done and allows you to fully imagine the era and the eccentricity of the characters. It was enjoyable and I can see why it make the 501 Must Read list.

3. A Secret kept - Tatiana De Rosnay: This is the author of the much beloved Sarah's Key so I thought it was worth a shot. The beginning of the book showed promise but sadly falls short. It is written very much in the same style of Sarah's Key in that you travel back and forth through time but this is achieved through letters from the past. What I found to be an issue with this book is that there are far too many subplots. You follow the story of Antoine and his sister discovering the past of their deceased mother. From there you also follow Antoine's love life, his difficulties with his children/father/ex-wife, and many other little issues. It's just too much to follow and you finally start to lose interest in all his problems. It's still an OK read but don't expect another Sarah's Key.

4. The Forgotten Affairs of Youth - Alexander McCall Smith: This is a typical Isabel Dalhousie novel. It's very formulaic so I won't go into detail as until you've read the first 7 books this one won't mean much to you!

5. King Peggy - Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman: Peggy went from being a secretary in the US to a King in Ghana and this chronicles her journey. Her struggles with being accepted as a female King by her own elders was interesting and informative. It was encouraging to see her prevail and get clean water, better health care and the like to her small village. It's inspirational but at times a little drawn out.


July

Books 1, 2 and 3 of the Josephine B. Trilogy - Sandra Gulland: These novels follow the life of Josephine Bonaparte and the French Revolution.  It was very interesting to learn about her upbringing, her brushes with poverty, her first marriage, her imprisonment, her children and her relationship with Napoleon. The books are all very well written and super hard to put down one you start them.

4. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection - Alexander McCall Smith: again it's another in the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series and it's really predictable. As in most of McCall Smiths books it follows a set formula so it's really much different than all the others in the series. This one follows Precious as she gets to meet her mentor, she helps the matron of the orphanage and a few other side stories.

5. Cosmopolis - Don DeLillo: This is a very odd, disjointed book. I was interested in reading it before the movie comes out and I'm not sure I'm going to be any the wiser when I see it! We get to see a day in the life of Eric, a 28 year old billionaire. His goal in the morning is to go get a haircut but he is waylaid by chance encounters with his new wife, his mistress, a presidential visit, a funeral, a riot and a few other weird scenarios. Throughout the entire day he's conducting business in his limo and trying to assess his impending downfall. The whole book reeks of narcissism and is highly unbelievable. Even with it being that it still offers an element of surprise entertainment like watching a car wreck.

His Allergy, His Life

Have you ever walked into a school classroom or a day camp and noticed one of these signs?

That's my son they're talking about. Well, it's him and usually at least 1 or 2 other kids in the class. In my daughter's class there was 4 kids out of 22 with anaphylactic allergies. It's something that is becoming more common and more talked about and yet I still see people who don't understand how serious it really is.

My son is allergic to Tree Nuts. More specifically he's allergic to pistachios, cashews, hazelnuts and pine nuts. I know, who would have thought pine nuts?! It means he can't eat Nutella, he can never eat pesto sauce, he can't try some of my favourite dishes from the local Indian or Thai restaurants, nor many types of chocolates or ice creams due to cross contamination.

What happens if he comes into contact with his allergy? He goes into anaphylactic shock. The doctors have told us that within minutes (possibly seconds) of his next exposure to any of those nuts means his face and throat will swell to the point where he won't be able to breathe. He will have abdominal pain, a fall in blood pressure and possibly fluid in his lungs. The symptoms are endless. Based on his last exposure, watching his little face swell beyond recognition, it's simply something that we never, ever want to happen again.

What does he need to live after exposure? An ambulance to get him to a hospital. He carries an EpiPen but that will only help to open his airways for 10 - 20 minutes so it's essential he gets immediate medical attention. I had someone ask me if he would need help administering it. YES, he's 4, of course he'll need help but even older kids would need help because they'll likely be in a panic because they can't breathe.

Basically what I'm asking is if you see the above sign, or one like it stating someone has an allergy, please take a moment to ask the instructors what the allergy is. Sometimes you don't have to do anything but sometimes making a few slight modifications on a lunch or snack you would normally send along could mean saving the life of someone like my little Ham.

Is There an App For That?

A while back I was in a meeting and was talking to some other women about keeping our schedules straight. As a joke I started talking about building an app that would take my daughter's school schedule/appointments/special days/library book due dates and it would automatically put it into my phone calendar. The women went nuts with their excitement about this idea and kept talking about how great it would be and that I should develop it.

I was stunned. What no one realized is that I was joking. I had only made the comment in jest because I thought it was crazy that I was too busy to take the time to do it myself. Already the school uses a system to email us each time they make an update of information which includes all the above info. It's convenient and helpful and yet it's still not good enough. I need something EASIER. Isn't that kinda sad?

While I understand that there's many useful apps I also know that many are not necessary. I should make my daughter's schooling enough of a priority that I can take a few moments to check out the email I was sent and put the information in my calendar. It allows me that time to make sure the information actually registers in my mind.

So, though I love social media and technology I also need to take a step back and make sure I'm not getting wrapped up in the hype of making things easier. Instead I need to make sure I'm taking the time to sometimes go the longer route in ensuring my priorities stay a priority.

My Live List

Twice over the past couple weeks I've had people ask me what was on my bucket list. The first time I said I didn't have one and the second time I went into a little more detail about why I don't have one. Basically I think the term is depressing. I understand why people use it and that it can help spur people on to do fun/amazing things in their lives. Now this is JUST me but I find it depressing to think about what I want to do before I die, like it's a giant hourglass and I quickly need to accomplish things before it runs out.

Instead I propose we all have a Live List. Things that help us to live our lives to the fullest every moment we get a chance to. Put skydiving down on that list because you want to LIVE the experience of free-falling, not because you want to cross it off on a list before you die. And then go back and do another dive because you want to re-LIVE that feeling!

To some I'm sure you don't see the difference between a bucket list and a live list but to me it's all in the way it's thought about. When I was much younger and people asked me where I wanted to travel to most in my life I used to say 'I want to see the Sphinx before anymore of its face falls off or it won't be how I picture it', not 'I want to see the Sphinx before I die'. Or when I learned to scuba dive it wasn't because it was on my list of things to accomplish, it was because I wanted to see what life looked like at the bottom of the ocean and to feel the sensation of loosing control over my environment. Basically I want to LIVE these experiences and make them a part of who I am today. I want them to help mold me into a different person who sees and appreciates the world in a different way.

Part of my live list has always been to see as much of the world as I possibly can. I love learning about new cultures and always feel like I bring away so much from each trip.  The other main part of my live list is to volunteer as much as I can for as many charities as I can. Each charity I encounter I learn something new and feel like someone touches my heart in a new way.

My list isn't as easy to write out as a bucket list but instead feels like an ongoing group of things that help drive me to learn and grow in new ways. Next up for me? I'm going to LIVE this birthday to the fullest with cupcakes, yes...plural ;)

April & May Book Reviews

Once again I'm behind in posting my book reviews. But then again I haven't really posted anything of late so it's not a surprise!

April

1. Devil In The White City - Erik Larson:  I really enjoyed this book. It was a good way to learn about two stories that were intertwined about the World Fair and about a serial killer. I learned a great deal about the Fair and about the genius architects who put it on. Amazing piece of history that I knew nothing about!

2. Big Fish - Daniel Wallace:  Now I should state that this is one of my all time favourite movies. The character of the father reminds me so much of how my Grandfather used to tell us stories that the movie made me sob uncontrollably. Now the book was sweet but so much shorter and leaves one with an unfinished feeling. Still, it was a nice little story that everyone could enjoy.

3. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe: HAHA! Just reread my notes on the book and it simply says 'long winded'. I found the book to go into such great detail at times that I found myself skipping lines (which I hate doing). It was one of my 501 books so it had to get crossed off.

4. Behind The Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo: I really enjoyed this book but was shocked when I got to the end and finally realized it's non-fiction! The books follows the lives of several people who live in a shanty town near the Mumbai airport. It's truly incredible to realize how different their lives are from ours and how corrupt their government can be.

5. A Cold Day in Paradise - Steve Hamilton: I decided to read more from this artist after I so thoroughly enjoyed his book The Lock Artist. This story follows an ex-police officer who has turned private investigator and gets mixed up investigating a murder that turns personal. It still has the twists and turns you expect his writing to have but it does not compare to The Lock Artist.


May

1. The Bone Cage - Angie Abdou: I found this to be an interesting read based on the lives of two Olympic hopefuls. I grew up with a girl trying to make it on the Olympic swim team so remember her LIVING at the pool mornings, evenings, and weekends. The story follows a swimmer and wrestler as they train and compete and still try to have lives in between. A decent read from an Albertan author.

2. Gods of Gotham - Lyndsay Faye: This is the story of the conception of the New York Police Department. That alone may not make it sound exciting but it's focuses on their struggle to gain respect and acknowledgement all the while trying to solve the murders of Catholic children. I enjoyed the book and thought it told of an interesting time in history. I do enjoy books that take some fact and build a good piece of fiction around it.

3. Deadlocked - Charlaine Harris: What can I say? It's typical Sookie. I feel obligated to read this series until it finishes but at this point I'm getting tired of the characters and a storyline that really doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Charlaine needs to wrap this series up already.

4. Divergent - Veronica Roth: This is a very Hunger Games-ish series so it's no surprise at it's success. I found it to be very enjoyable with some original ideas. This will be a very popular series that I can definitely see becoming a movie down the road. It is set in the future where people, at age 16,  need to choose factions to live in and lead their life according to the rules/beliefs of that faction. It means possibly leaving your family behind as well as everything you learned/believed as a child. Needless to say there's going to be issues with this type of way of running a society as not all factions are going to get along and you follow the main character as she uncovers a major plot to undo some of the factions. Read it!

5. Insurgent - Veronica Roth: This is the 2nd book in the series. I don't want to give up anything in case you haven't read the 1st one so I'll just say you continue on following the character and her fights and discoveries at the fall of their society as they know it.

6. Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K LeGuin: This story is a classic sci-fi book that was on our 501 list. It's an interesting look at the future where many plants have formed a huge collective agreement and send out emissaries to work with new plants on joining their agreement to trade information, ideas, items, etc. This is about one emissary sent to a planet and his attempts to get the leaders of that planet to listen to his offer or partnership. He's met with many struggles in attempting to deal with people that struggle to believe he is what he says. There's many original ideas and concepts to the book that make it worth a read.

7. The Forgotten Affairs of Youth - Alexander McCall Smith: Now I really enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's books but I'm finding the Isabel Dalhousie series to be getting a tad boring. He's starting to use the books to get so philosophical that I'm finding it dry. The books used to introduce more exciting characters but he seems to have phased those out in favour of long-winded philosophical discussions. I may just have to put this series to bed.