The Gamble Life

Books Books Books

I did a lot of reading in July, but never really got around to writing any reviews.  I enjoyed all the books I read though so I want to spread the word!  Here are some quick reviews.

The Film Club: A True Story of a Father and Son by David Gilmour

David Gilmour's son hates high school so Gilmour lets him drop out with the agreement that they will watch movies (chosen by Gilmour) together a couple of times a week. Oh, and that he not do drugs.

No surprise, the son breaks half the promise.

I really enjoyed this book and while I cannot imagine doing what this family did I also cannot imagine my sons hating school as much as Gilmour's son did. But who does? I'm sure Gilmour wasn't expecting it. Of course there is no way to tell if he made the "right" decision and I don't want to spoil the book for anyone but the book covers several years so a resolution of sorts is reached.

Mostly what I was left with after reading the book was a reminder of how scary it can be to raise children. There are so many things that can go wrong, so many decisions they make without you over which you have no control. I was also impressed with Gilmour's courage in making this choice. It is not one many parents could make.

Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town by Kelly Mcmasters

This is an absolutely wonderful book. The author perfectly combines her sweet and sentimental nostalgia for her childhood (which was idyllic in a uniquely American way) with the story of the poisoning occurring every minute in her town, to her friends and neighbors and to her and her family.

Shirley is a town abutting the Brookhaven National Laboratory and for decades toxic wastes were allowed to drain into the groundwater. This isn't a medical book so she doesn't "prove" that the horrible cancers in her town were caused by the toxic waste, but really, I don't see how anyone could reach any other conclusion.

The story of Shirley should serve as a warning to us all as to how government and money can trump concern for health; how expediency gets chosen over doing what's right. I really recommend this book. I loved it.

Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood by Michael Lewis

Hilarious. I used to read his Salon column and many of the essays in the book are taken from that column but encountering them for the second time does absolutely nothing to diminish them.

If you are a parent definitely give this a read because you will laugh so hard you cry. And it will probably make you feel good about your kids too because, really how many of us have three year old daughters who scream at a resort pool: "Teasing Boys! Mother fucker!" (There's more, but I don't want to spoil it.)? 

I tried to read The Good Rat.  I guess I don't really get Jimmy Breslin's style.  I never finished it.  I did finish the latest Precious Ramotswe installment, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, which hilariously I always thought "tee time" when I read the title.  Because I can just see Precious on the golf course.  I found it just as enjoyable as I have all the books in that series.  Nothing happens, but I sure like reading about it.

I also read Dooce's It Sucked and Then I Cried.  I've read her blog for years so I felt like I already knew the story but she did a good job adding in stuff she hadn't put on her blog.  And I find her hilarious so even though the book is about a very serious and not particularly funny time in her life, the book is really funny.

I hope you've been reading some good stuff too.  And if you're interested in some stuff that isn't so good but is a lot of fun to read check out Laurell K. Hamilton's series on faeries and others.  The series seriously bogs down in the middle books (boring and each book only covers about a day!) but the first few and last few (more to come) are entertaining.

Oh!  Because all I hear about these days is that True Blood is amazing and Sookie Stackhouse the greatest character since whoever your favorite character is I also checked out Dead Until Dark and read it.  I enjoyed it.  I'll read the rest of them too but the wait at the library is crazy long so I'll be reading them slowly.  I also got the first two episodes of True Blood and wasn't real impressed so I think I'll stick with the books.

Shipwrecked

When I saw the pattern for this shawl I knew immediately that I had to knit it.  I spent a little while looking around at different yarns with the shawl in the back of my mind.  I stumbled across Classic Elite's Silky Alpaca lace yarn while visiting in Austin and immediately bought it up!  Unfortunately I didn't read my pattern very carefully because it actually called for fingering weight yarn.  It was okay though, I just bought more yarn and knit the shawl with two strands of yarn held together.

One of my very favorite parts of this shawl is that there are approximately 5000 seed beads knitted into the fagoting portion of the shawl.  Although, I have to say that scooting thousands of beads down the yarn wasn't my favorite part.

Pre-blocking and during-blocking pictures.  When lace first comes off the needles it's a crumpled mess that makes you wonder if you just wasted a month of knitting.  So you get it wet and streeeeeeeeeeeetch and stretch and stretch and then pin it down and let it dry...

And like magic all of lace suddenly appears...lacey!

You can see the sparkles of the beads in this shot.

Now don't ask me when or where I am going to wear this because I have NO IDEA.  Doesn't matter, I love it.  I loved knitting it and am now looking around for my next lace project.

Cool Chemistry Concoctions!

As part of summer camp-at-home series Gus and I took a week to perform chemistry experiments, and this book was fabulous.  Cool Chemistry Concoctions by Rhatigan and Gunter is a great book:  full of all the easy and exciting chemistry experiments you vaguely remember from when you were a kid.  Easy to follow instructions and using supplies you probably already have at home or can easily pick up at Target or your grocery store.

This experiment was one of our favorites and in fact we did it over and over again.  Mixing baking soda and vinegar in a bottle capped with a balloon.

The whole book is full of fun, easy experiments like this and we've done lots and have plans to do more (I keep renewing it from the library).  I'm thinking I may buy a copy because I can see coming back to it for Abe and when Gus is older and can do some background learning about the processes involved.  Also, it's just really fun to do thinks like make a balloon fill up on its own (or turn an egg into "rubber")!

Abe enjoying some tomato soup

You can definitely tell when Abe enjoys his food. 

The first week of school is going well--we got the good news that there is a new student in Gus' class who is his same age and his teacher reassured me that he has been thinking about Gus and making separate lesson plans for him, taking into account that he is further along than the other children in his group.  So that has been wonderful.

Abe and I are enjoying our days together.  I've had to switch Abe to one nap a day to fit with Gus' school drop off and pick up schedule but so far so good.  Abe is already so much older than Gus was when he switched to one nap so I'm not too worried about it.

It is time for me to take the messy plunge and let Abe start some painting.  He's ready and interested (judging on his constant forays into Gus' art supplies and the subsequent happy messes created when I'm distracted).

 

Summer...

It's the very last week before Gus heads back to school and I'm feeling all out of sorts about it.  We've really let Gus' bedtime/wake up time creep later and later this summer and that is about to have a big probably unpleasant change. 

I'm always nervous about school and hoping it will be wonderful for him and provide everything he needs but worried that it won't and we'll be wasting what feels like billions of dollars for expensive playground time. 

And Abe is waking up earlier and earlier which has got to stop.  I'm like a zombie stumbling around the house looking for coffee.  Of course, none of my morning misery seems to stop this huge second wind I get right when I should be going to sleep.  So I guess all of us have messed-up sleep schedules right now.

I have lots of things to share:  the end of camp at home, vacation at the beach, hilarious things the kids say, thoughts about how I'm going to feel productive and positive this year with Gus gone most of the day.  But for now I'll just say this:  When Abe starts walking, which will be very, very soon, I am really going to miss his calloused little knees.  They are so rough and sturdy, especially in contrast to his still impossibly-soft skin everywhere else. 

Damn Ants

So we have a really terrible ant infestation.  Little tiny super annoying black ants all over the place.  They seem to be some kind of sugar ant.  They are driving me crazy.  Last year we had them too, but managed to get rid of them with some ant bait/traps and finding the half eaten peppermint pig that had gotten lost in the cabinet and throwing it out.

Not so this year.  This year I completely emptied out all of the cabinets and scrubbed them all down.  I've gotten practically obsessive with wiping up and picking up all spills and smudges and dropped food (this is like a full time job with a one year old and a five year old).  I've used the baits.  I even sprayed ant poison on the outside of the window they were coming in through and I STILL HAVE ANTS.  Millions of them.  I'm going crazy.

I started with vinegar and yesterday was searching the grocery store for more virulent poisons (they were sold out; maybe I'm not the only one with this problem).

If only the ants were as easy to kill as goldfish apparently are.  Yes, the third (and last!) goldfish ("Albany") has passed on.  He's currently decomposing in a cup of water on the counter because Gus is refusing to go and bury him.  I'll spare you a picture.  I'm relieved and also disappointed because I had hatched a fabulous plan.  Fab-u-lous plan.  We're going on vacation and I was going to take the fish back to my friend who handed them out at the party and give it to her to watch while we were gone!  Then I was going to forget to pick it up. 

At least the fish saga is over.

Here's a picture that perfectly encapsulates the recent weeks:  Abe "helping" and Gus reading.

Sorry posting has been so light.  I've been busy and tired.  I've also been doing a lot of reading (I think I read 8 books in July) and knitting (finished four pairs of socks and a lace shawl).  We go on vacation and then a week after that school starts up for Gus again.  It will be an interesting, and hopefully fun, year.  Gus is also going to take tennis lessons, join a soccer team, and wants to take piano lessons (!).  We don't own a piano, neither of us plays the piano.  We're certainly not in a position to buy a piano.  So, I'm not sure how we're going to work that one out.