Simplicity by Sabrina

It was Travis's turn to pick the book this time around and he gave me a few to pick from to see what I would like to read with him. He picked out solely science fiction and nonfiction books because the last two books we had read together were fiction. Ha ha.

He settled on Speaker for the Dead since I wasn't too excited about any of the prospects. Speaker for the Dead is the second book in a series written by Orson Scott Card. The first book is called Ender's Game. In order to put into context what I thought about Speaker for the Dead, I will refer to my thoughts on Ender's Game.

There will be SPOILERS, so if you just want to know what I thought of the books, then scroll down to the bottom to see!

Two years ago I was looking for a book recommendation and Travis suggested I read one of his favorites: Ender's Game. It sounded interesting enough, even though Science Fiction is usually not my genre of choice. However, when I was reading it I was surprised by how DARK the novel was. It is centered around a family who lives on earth in the future where population is controlled and earth is in a war against an alien species named "the buggers". They were essentially trying to breed and select a military master to obliterate this alien species. In the Wiggin family, there was Peter, who was ultimately not chosen probably because he was a little psychotic, Valentine, who was not chosen either, but was closer to what was needed, so the family was given permission to procreate one more time and then comes Ender, who was ultimately chosen. Ender had to leave his family at a young age to go to military school where he was manipulated beyond belief so the leaders could get exactly what they wanted from him. They isolated him, made him try impossible tasks, and definitely had some weird psychology games going on with Ender. In the end, Ender was able to defeat the buggers, however it was unknowingly because he was led to believe that everything was a simulation.

I thought Ender's Game was a little dark and twisted considering that most of the characters in the novel were children. So there was definitely a flare of dystopia in the book, however the character of Ender was very admirable. His friends were also some fun characters. Ender is redeemed at the end for being driven to kill an entire species unknowingly by writing a book called The Hive Queen where he tells the story of the buggers from their point of view, making them seem more understandable, and therefore, less threatening. He authors the book under the pseudonym Speaker for the Dead. He decides to go from world to world and do the same thing for others. His older brother Peter, who became a ruthless leader on earth asked Ender to write his story as well and Ender wrote a second book called The Hegemon for his brother's story.

The book Speaker for the Dead picks up when Ender is 35 years old, although 3,000 years has passed since the bugger wars. Ender and his sister Valentine have been traveling through space to different planets, never staying anywhere for longer than 6 months. Ender speaks people's deaths while Valentine writes histories of the planets. On the planet of Lusitania another species of alien has been encountered. Instead of making the same mistake again, humans have decided to back off and not interfere with this species, but only observe them. They refer to the species as "piggies" since they look like little pigs. Ender is summoned by a girl named Novinha to the colony of Lusitania when the piggies murder one of the xenologers (people that observe them).

Ender decides to go without Valentine (who has married and is pregnant with her first child on the planet of Trondheim) and it takes him 22 years to travel there (however it was only a week for Ender). When Ender arrives, he finds he was summoned to speak the death for two other people. While only being there four days, he finds out a lot of secrets, meets the piggies, and understands more about the piggies' way of life in a few hours than the xenologers who had been observing them had discovered in years of interaction.

In the end, Ender is able to build a treaty with the piggies so that the humans and piggies can co-exist on the planet without misunderstandings.



What I thought

I liked the Speaker for the Dead book better than Ender's Game because it was a lot lighter in terms of content. Although there were a few murders from an alien species, there was a lot more hope in this book and it is a pretty big theme, which I liked.

Other themes that I liked were: tolerance, understanding, redemption, community, and love. There were some pretty powerful characters in this book and I liked a lot of their attributes, even though pretty much everyone was flawed. Ender becomes close to the Ribeira family and takes on a fatherly role, which I thought was cool to see.

Something that appealed to me specifically about this book is that the colony of Lusitania was founded by Brazilians, more specifically brazilian catholics. There was some Portuguese in the book and all of them had Portuguese names, which I liked because I served my mission in Portugal and since worked for years teaching Brazilian Portuguese. It has a place near and dear to my heart and it was fun to read little parts of Portuguese and see the culture on this futuristic planet.

I also thought it was interesting to encounter another alien species in this book. I do have to admit that the piggies were so ALIEN. According to Travis (who has read a mountain of science fiction compared to me), in some science fiction there are alien species, but they do not seem so alien because they interact with humans and are so similar. It was interesting to see the humans interact with the piggies because they were able to communicate (the piggies easily learned the human language), however they did not understand each other in so many ways, thus leading to deaths, assumptions, and fear.

Ultimately the humans realized that just sitting and observing the species of the piggies was not leading them to understanding about the species, although they did not want to influence them by giving them technology they would otherwise not have developed themselves. Therefore, at the end of the novel, a treaty was needed so that they could make trades and live in harmony and understanding.

One theme that Travis and I talked about a lot in the book is the theme of community. One thing that is important for humanity is to belong to a community. Everyone needs it in order to feel accepted. However, something interesting that was addressed in this book is that sometimes the community you feel like you belong to can be a very small one, and that is still sufficient. Also, in the book it talks about how it is more important for you to realize what communities you are a part of instead of focusing on proclaiming the ones you are not a part of.


Here is the breakdown of Speaker for the Dead:

Genre: Science Fiction
Number of pages: 382
Reading endurance: Medium. You do have to read Ender's Game before reading Speaker for the Dead. Ender's Game was a little dark to me, so it was harder for me to personally get through it, but I thought Speaker for the Dead was a better read. Travis and I read it pretty quick--in less than two weeks I think.
Good Moral: Yes. It addresses themes of tolerance, acceptance, love, and community.
Favorite Quote: "What I wanted to hear was the name of what you are instead of the name of all the things that you are not. What you are is the hive queen. What you are is the Speaker for the Dead. It's a very small community, small in numbers, but a great-hearted one. So you chose not to be part of the bands of children who group together for the sole purpose of excluding others, and people look at you and say, poor girl, she's so isolated, but you know a secret, you know who you really are." (pg. 17)
Recommend? Yes

Travis and I recently finished reading this book together. Although we do not devote as much time to reading together as I think either of us would like, we like to steal away minutes here and there enjoying a good book together. This was one that I picked out to read together. I had originally brought it on Christmas vacation to read by myself and after I had started into a few chapters, Travis decided he wanted to read it with me (we had just finished our other book).

I think it is awesome to have a small book club with my favorite person. It has been fun to read more books together and stop and talk about what we have read. Mostly we talk throughout the book, but at the end here are some of the questions we asked each other (with my answers):

Who is your favorite character and why?

My favorite character was the main character Orual. I think she became my favorite throughout the novel because I learned the most about her because the book is written from her point of view. Though she is deeply flawed and uses the art of manipulation to get her younger sister Psyche to do what she wants, as a reader, I understood about her motivations and sadness after she made her mistake, and therefore I feel like I understood her best, flaws and all. She ended up becoming queen of Glome and was a good person in a lot of ways, but the story highlights her mistakes in a big way and how she learned to either overcome them or deal with them throughout her life.

Who is the most admirable character?

I think that Psyche is the most admirable character in the story because she is pure in her motives. She loves her sister and wants her to believe her situation and be happy for her. Psyche spends the rest of her life doing tasks the gods want of her all because she showed distrust, thanks to Orual.

Travis said he thinks Bardia is the most admirable character because of how hard he works for Queen Orual and shows his duty for his country by dedicating himself to his work. He also shows that he cares for his wife and is an upstanding person in all ways.

What does this book teach us about selfish love?

We talked about how essentially the main theme from his book is that selfish love is never OK. It is not right to manipulate someone, even if you love them. I think everyone already knew that even without reading this book, but what I think is interesting is that we as humans are still prone to experience selfish love simply because of our mortality--our imperfection. So the question is: how do we deal with the selfish love that we feel? Some people succumb to it and therefore suffer their whole lives because of it like Orual, but both Travis and I know because of the gospel that it is possible to overcome carnal feelings and desires and practice selfless love.

Why is Orual's ugliness such an important theme to the book?
Because of the title, it lends us to believe that there is significance behind everyone's face in the book. Over and over it states how ugly Orual is as a child and teenager. As a queen, she decides to veil her face, which I think has some significance too. I think it comes down to this quote from the book: "I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?" Travis had to read this out loud to me several times before I started to understand it in the context of the book. I think it means that until we know who we are (until we have figured out our "face"), then how can God (or in the story, gods) speak to us? Orual did not understand who she was because she succumbed to her inner ugliness by manipulating Psyche. She suffered her whole life after that because she was confused and hurt that it did not work. She veiled her physical face to hide her pain and suffering. Once she faced herself and realized who she was, then she could learn and come to terms with everything and even attempt at seeking redemption.

What have we learned about revelation?
There is a part where Psyche tries to convince Orual that she is living in the palace of a god and that he is her husband, but Orual does not believe it. As Orual leaves, she looks back and sees the palace. She never admits to anyone that she sees it because she only caught a glimpse and rationalizes it away. However, she did in actuality see it. I think revelation is a lot like this. We do not see grand big pictures all of the time. It is usually glimpses and if we are not paying attention we will miss it, or miss the importance of what we are spiritually seeing.

In short, here is the breakdown of Till We Have Faces:

Genre: Fiction
Number of pages: 309
Reading endurance: Low to medium. I thought the book was easy to understand and therefore easy to get through, although it took us 2 months to get through it because we don't have much time to devote to reading.
Good Moral: Yes. It addresses themes of selfish love vs. selfless love, beauty vs. ugliness, sacrifice, forgiveness, and redemption.
Favorite Quote: "I was with book, as a woman is with child."
Recommend? Yes

Though Travis and I are Christian and are a members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have found a lot of meaning in celebrating Passover with making the ritualistic Passover Seder.  I don't know if we will do it every year, but this is the third year we have participated and I still really love it.

For those who do not know much about the Passover Seder, it is a symbolic and ritualistic dinner that marks the beginning of Passover (also known as The Feast of the Unleavened Bread and the festival to mark the beginning of spring). It is to commemorate the freeing of the children of Israel from slavery and their journey in the wilderness with Moses. Though we are Christians and believe that the law of Moses was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus, we still have found a lot of meaning in reflecting on the symbolism of this meal and how it turns us toward Christ.


The Seder can be very involved with the prayers, scripture reading, and other parts, but Travis and I have made our own script using parts of the books we have that help us find significance in the symbolism of the meal.

Matzah--The unleavened bread. We have bought matzah in the past, but this year we just decided to use saltines. We have debated whether we should make our own matzah and maybe one day we will, but see this recipe for how it is made and maybe you will see that it is not as easy as it may seem. Though it does not have yeast there are qualifications that matzah has to meet in order to be kosher for the meal. This represents how the children of Israel left quickly and did not have time to make bread with yeast and so we eat it in remembrance of their journey to freedom.

Maror--The bitter herbs. We eat this in the meal to remind us of the bitterness the children of Israel endured in Ancient Egypt and likewise, we experience bitterness in this life. We used horseradish for this part.

Haroseth/Charoset--The mortar. This can be a mixture of apples, fruits, and nuts or mashed potatoes and is used to remind us of the mortar the children of Israel used (along with bricks) in Ancient Egypt to build storehouses.

Karpas-- The vegetable. It can be parsley or lettuce that is used to dip into salt-water or vinegar at the beginning of the meal. We used spinach.

Zeroa--The roasted lamb. This is to remember the sacrifice given on the night of the last plague in Egypt and today it reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all of us.

Beitzah--The hard-boiled egg. This is also to remember the sacrifice known as korban chagigah. I like to think of it as a reminder of the resurrection and new life during the meal.

Wine--We used grape juice and we drink it during the meal several times after saying a prayer of thanksgiving.


My Favorite Part

The part that I always love is when we sing Dayenu. Dayenu means "it would have been enough" and we read different things about the story of the children of Israel that helps me to see how God took care of them. It helps us see how He will continue to take care of us too.

"Had He divided the sea for us, and not brought us through it dry-shod, it should have been enough! Dayenu!

Had He brought us through it dry-shod and not drowned our oppressors in it, it would have been enough! Dayenu!

Had He drowned our oppressors in it and not sustained us in the wilderness for forty years, it would have been enough! Dayenu!..."

I think of this in my life and the many blessings I have had. After we did the Seder and were just eating our lamb, potatoes, eggs, and spinach, Travis and I were reflecting on our blessings this year, and I thought to myself "Dayenu" many times.

Had we been given our health and not financial security, it would have been enough.
Had we been given financial security and not our warm house to live in, it would have been enough.
Had we been given our warm house to live in and not our beautiful baby girl, it would have been enough.

I feel like I could go on all day, but essentially it is good to step back every once in awhile and just think, "Dayenu!" It would have been enough to have one or two blessings, but how great is God that I am given many blessings!

"How much more so, multiplied many times, are the blessings that God has bestowed upon us!"

He brought the children of Israel out from Egypt, into the Land of Israel--a promised land.

I know of a surety he is leading me to my personal promised land.

I love how at the end we say, "Next year in Jerusalem" because I believe it is a symbol of looking forward and having hope. Maybe we feel like slaves right now to a lot of different things. Maybe we feel like we aren't quite in the promised land, but we can look forward and hope that next year, we may be in Jerusalem.

In this week leading up to Easter, celebrating Passover has helped me see and understand so many blessings that we have and to think of Jesus Christ. In the crazy vicissitudes of life, it is hard to remember the things that matter most or to remember that God loves us, but I am grateful for this reminder we have every year.

And if you are needing a little pick-me-up, I say to you, "Next year in Jerusalem!"

When I was a sophomore in college, one of my best friends (Kim) gave me this recipe for cookie bars and it has changed my life! I don't think I ever get so many compliments on any other recipe compared to this one. This is also the recipe that I am pretty sure made Travis start liking me back in college when I actually made them for his roommate.


The funny thing is that this recipe is so easy! Even if you don't like baking, this recipe is very easy to pull out in not that much time--from start to finish it can be done in 30 minutes, including bake time! Now that is what I am talking about! We have used this recipe so many times when we think, "Oh, we should take something. We don't have that much time because we waited until the last minute...Let's whip out some cookie bars." Works. Every. Time.


If you want that cookie taste, but don't want to spoon out individual cookies and if you want a cross between blondies and still have chocolate in there, this recipe is for you! The other great thing about this recipe is that you probably have most of the ingredients in your house right now if you do any sort of baking on a regular basis. When we go to the store, we just pick up a cake mix and whip these up when we get home.

Tips and Tricks:

Since I have made this recipe close to probably 50 times, I have perfected the thickness and baking of these bars. For me, I like thicker bars, even though there won't be as many. So I use a 7x11 dish to bake these and they usually take 27 minutes in the oven. However, I have baked them in a 9x13 pan as well and they come out thinner and take less time in the oven (around 20 minutes). You can also use a 9x9 square cake pan to bake these and they will come out super thick, so they take around 30 minutes in the oven. I know that not everyone has a 7x11 glass pan, but they are perfect for these!


The batter should be pretty wet, like a cake or brownie batter. When pouring into the glass pan use the rubber spatula to spread to the edges to get more even baking.

You know they are done when they have a browning on the top and a fork comes out clean.

Children's novels are probably one of my favorite genres. No joke. I could read books like this all day. They are usually fun, engaging, and light. Lately I feel like young adult fiction has gotten trashy, so I have started going back to my tried and true favorite children's books and they don't disappoint! I thought I would share with you some of these great books! Enjoy reading!


10. The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
Louis Sachar is better known for his book Holes, which is absolutely fabulous and I would recommend reading to anyone, however, I really like this newer book about the card game of Bridge. A boy named Alton who becomes the cardturner for his blind uncle who is very good at Bridge and while turning cards, Alton learns the game and learns things about himself as he grows up a little and even ends up winning a tournament and meeting a girl while doing it.


9. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
I have to admit that this book is the only one on this list that I have not actually finished reading. I have started this book more than once and I just can't finish it for some reason, but I include it on this list because Travis loves it. It is very much a book for him: survival, living in the woods, using a hatchet for everything, endless camping, wilderness survival skills, etc. For me, even though there was a lot of action happening: a boy gets stranded in the wilderness after the pilot of the plane has a heart attack and dies and has to learn to survive with basically nothing but a hatchet he brought (very pre-9/11), I thought the storyline moved surprisingly slow. However, Travis thinks it is an exciting book, so because he thinks so I would recommend this one.


8. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The title of the first book kind of describes this book very well in a nutshell: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. If you liked Little Women or have a little one that would like the storyline but needs a little simpler reading, then this is is a great series! Skye, Jane, Rosalind, and Batty all move to a cottage with their father and dog one summer. They meet a boy named Jeffrey and the first book is about their adventures of the summer from chasing runaway rabbits to the girls helping Jeffrey stand up for what he wants.


7. Once Upon a Marigold
I was recently reminded of this book by a friend who read it and asked if I had, and I did many years ago, but I had forgotten how cute this story is. This book is about a boy named Christian who spies on the royal family and ends up helping Princess Marigold find out the wicked plot of the Queen. This book is downright funny in parts, although a little transparent about the Queen being evil. But, altogether a very fun read that I would highly recommend if you want some light reading.


6. My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
This book has a funny storyline and interesting plot twists. It follows a girl named Savannah who gets dumped by her boyfriend for her older sister and wants to find prince charming to take her to prom. Enter a godmother-in-training who wears high heels, has pink hair, and chews gum. Savannah's "fair" godmother grants her wishes, but not in the way she wants. On her last wish, Savannah finds herself and three friends stuck in the Middle Ages. While trying to solve a mystery and break the spell, Savannah resorts to 21st century tricks and tries to get her happily ever after. This is technically more of a tween novel, but it is fun, clean, and easy to read.


5. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
I read this book a few years ago at the suggestion of my sister-in-law and I liked it. I thought Travis would like it and afterward he read it. Reynie, an orphan, finds an interesting ad in a newspaper asking for brilliant kids to take a series of tests and afterward to go on a mission. Reynie passes all of the tests, as do three other children who are also orphans or estranged from their parents: Sticky, Kate, and Constance. They are each inducted into the Benedict Society, formed by a Mr. Benedict who asks them to infiltrate a facility that is a school for gifted children, that is run by an evil Mr. Curtain. This was an interesting book because there were puzzles, dilemmas, morse code, secret plots, and interesting twists.


4. Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
One of my all-time favorite books is this first novel in a quartet by Shannon Hale. The story is an adaptation to an older tale by the Brother Grimm, The Goose Girl, but I love what Shannon Hale has done with it. It follows a princess Anidori who has the special talent of speaking to animals. She does not relate well to people because of this and has a hard time connecting with others. She is close to her father, however, but one day he unexpectedly dies from falling off a horse while riding with Ani. The queen decides to send her to Bayern to become the princess bride to their prince. Along the way Ani has quite an adventure with her maiden trying to usurp her title, encounters with new friends, meeting a palace guard named Geric, and figuring out her way back to being a princess all while first becoming a goose girl. This is a fun read, as are the other books in the series. I think this also is more of a tween novel, but I would read it with young kids.


3. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
This is one of my favorite mystery books. I first read it when I was in the 5th grade and I read it slow to try to understand all of it, thinking I would be able to solve it before I reached the end, but I totally didn't. Very much a surprise ending. Sixteen different individuals were invited to the will reading of Sam Westing and they are all there for specific reasons, although some know and some do not. The person who can solve the mystery will win all of his inheritance, but at what price? This book still gives me a thrill reading and I absolutely love it.


2. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
This is Travis's favorite children's novel and I agree that it is very good. It has some pretty deep themes of tolerance, friendship, differences, acceptance, coming-of-age, homelessness, etc. But, it also has some funny parts like how Maniac Magee is allergic to pizza (of all things!) and how he can outrun anyone. We have this book on CD and have listened to it a few times in the car and probably will continue to do so on many road trips to come. Jeffrey Magee enters and leaves the town of Two Mills in the same way: running. He is a phenomenon to the people of Two Mills because of his athletic abilities, running capabilities, and his ignorance of the racial duality and clear boundaries of the town. Travis says, "It is hilarious, memorable, and deeply moving." I would have to agree.


1. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
So this may be my all-time favorite book. I read it every time I visit my parents' house, even if it is just for the weekend. I think I grew up with three copies and tore through the binding on every. single. one. This fairytale Cinderella story has spunk. Ella of Frell is cursed with obedience from the foolish fairy Lucinda, however she is blessed with a fairy godmother and a loving mother. Her mother passes away from sickness and she is left practically an orphan because her father is so distant and aloof. Her father quickly marries Dame Olga, who brings her two daughters, Hattie and Olive, who are silly, shallow, and mean. Ella is shipped off to boarding school and embarks on many grand adventures from meeting Areida, an Ayorthan friend, having encounters with elves, ogres, a prince and his men, a giant wedding, and more. Ella is not what Cinderella is normally portrayed to be, but has personality, a love for languages and reading, is spunky, and learns a lot on her adventures about life, curses, magic, and love. While written simplistically, it is a fun read that you will want to read again and again. Travis helped me rank these books and even he agreed to put Ella Enchanted as number one because, "Ella is so relatable." I agree. She is not perfect, but she learns so much along the way about standing up for yourself, for those you love, and agency.

What are your favorite children's novels?

For more ideas and suggestions, check out this awesome list of 100 Top Children's Novels made by School Library Journal. I made my list before I found this one and pretty much all of my fav books are on it!

The first time that Travis made this recipe I think I ate an entire loaf myself! This stuff is good! I could probably eat this everyday of my life and not get tired of it. Because of the amount of sugar, it comes off pretty sweet, but the moistness (is that a word?) is balanced perfectly between the oil, zucchini, and carrots. We love to make a few loaves of this and take it on car trips to eat or plan to eat for breakfast when we camp.

I am always so impressed with Travis's ability to make up recipes. He usually likes to just throw things together and when it is amazing afterward, I ask, "How did you cook that?" And he will say, "Oh, I just added this and this together." I will ask for a recipe (I love a good recipe) and he will say, "Oh, I don't know exactly how much of everything I added, I just sort of did it." But, he has been kind enough to start writing down the things he is making so that I can recreate them.

I am definitely a recipe maker when it comes to cooking and baking. I like being able to recreate the same thing every time and be confident that it is good. On the one hand this is great because most things I attempt can be good when following the recipe, but on the other hand, if the recipe is bad, I don't catch it until it is too late because I don't have that intuition.

Travis is a recipe inventor. He loves to make up recipes and try new things. He takes recipes he has never made before and changes them as he is cooking and knows by looking at a recipe if it will be good or what he can do to make it better. This means that sometimes he makes AMAZING food! But, when he gets too adventurous he sometimes makes some interesting food...haha. So I guess there are some trade offs to our respective cooking styles.

Travis would only give this recipe 4 stars because he thinks he can improve it to be even better and to come out more consistent every time, but I think it is 5 stars! Like I said before, I could eat all three loaves by myself!


This recipe takes a little bit longer to make because you have to prep the zucchini and carrots. Two and a half cups of zucchini usually comes out to 2 medium-sized store bought zucchinis. For the carrots, I usually use 2 medium sized carrots and peel and dice them. I put 3 or 4 teaspoons of cinnamon and 5 or 6 teaspoons of vanilla extract because we usually love cinnamon and vanilla in all of the things, but you can choose what your preference is.


Tips and Tricks:

Use a mixer on the wet ingredients and add dry ingredients a half a cup at a time to get even mixture before adding zucchini and carrots.

When we use our mixer after adding zucchini and carrots, it really fills it up! So, use a rubber spatula to make sure everything is even throughout the batter before pouring into the bread pans.

When I say grease those pans, I really mean grease them! I use Crisco and just lather it on and put a little flour in to help the bread come out easy.


Be vigilant while baking! I usually start checking every five minutes after 55 minutes in the oven. Make sure a toothpick comes out completely clean before removing from the oven. I usually poke a few different spots because it has happened that I thought it was evenly cooked throughout only to cut later and see part of the top wasn't cooked all the way through!

Allow time to for breads to cool on their sides in the pans before trying to remove them.


Enjoy!

Since it is always birthday season for someone, I thought it would be a good idea to share what I usually do for coworkers, friends, and children.


For my coworkers and friends I usually get lotion, soap, bubble bath, or bath salts. It can be so simple, but very cute. When I was younger, my mom, sister, and I kept a basket full of lotions and soaps and when it was someone's birthday that we knew and wanted to give them a quick gift (because we lived far away from any sort of store you can get those things in, even Walmart) we would just reach in the basket and grab one or two things and wrap it up cute. The tradition has carried on today and I have a basket of lotions and soaps in our house and it is one of the best things when I need a gift or when I want some lotion myself!


For kids ranging from ages 1-5 I always give them something that is so simple (not to mention cheap!): BUBBLES! Travis and I were called as nursery workers for our church last year for a few months and we always had "bubble time" at the end of class while we finished cleaning up and waiting for parents to come pick kids up. I was amazed at how much fun the little toddlers in our class had at chasing bubbles. Then I went to Walmart shortly after that in their party favor aisle and saw that they have so many bubble options, so I bought up some bubbles and whenever a child I know has a birthday, I go to the bubble drawer and wrap some up!


For kids ranging from ages 6-11 I usually like to give books. I find tons of used books at garage sales, library sales, and second-hand stores. When I was a teacher, I would have the students pick from a bucket of used books for their birthday and they were always so excited to get a book that was new to them that they didn't even care they were used!


Another idea is to make a homemade coloring book and give crayons with it as a gift. As a teacher, there would always be kids every year who would beg me to stay in from recess so they could color. Here is an example of an ABC coloring book for free!


What are your favorite gift ideas?

Since my husband is a budding economist, I decided to branch out from my usual book preference and read this book. I actually think I might have "borrowed" this from my sister, who is also studying economics. I say "borrowed" because sometimes I look in my closet and at my bookshelf and realize that I had every intention of borrowing these items from my sister, but somehow they became mine. She is such a good soul for sharing, even if it is unknowingly. In most families it is the younger sister who borrows, but in ours it is the opposite. Summer always did have better fashion, music, and taste in books than I did.

I did start this book almost two years ago and I just could not finish it. As I started to read this book again, I realized something about the way that I read: I like to understand EVERYTHING that I read. If I don't, it is hard for me to get through it because I can get bogged down by grammar structures, semantics, vocabulary, syntax, etc. Hence, I did not finish it the first time I attempted.  I also realized that I had not taken an economics course since I was in high school (I know, very ironic that I married someone that wants to be an economist yet I never took entry level economics in college, let alone advanced courses.) However, Travis and I do talk about economics--a lot, actually. I just like how Travis talks about it to me. Because I know him, I understand the concepts he talks about with me. He also doesn't address the high level math that is required to understand the nitty gritty (although, I do like math).

In this book, the format is pretty informal as well. However, I had a hard time understanding what I was reading. From marginal costs to cost-benefit analysis to the Indifference Principle, I was having a hard time grasping it all. I think I felt this way because the author seemed to be writing his opinion as if he was speaking for all economists. For me, it was sometimes hard to know what was opinion and what was applicable economic theory since I don't have the background. I think that if I had approached this book a little differently (not caring if I understood every single little thing he was saying), then I probably could have enjoyed it more instead of thinking I was reading a textbook.

Surprisingly, Steven Landsburg, an economist that from the sound of it in his writing is a macroeconomist, writes in an informal style that has more of an air of conversation than lecture. His grammar and syntax are informal, although he throws around some pretty hefty ideas like: Do government deficits matter? Which rich people should be taxed? Who should bear the cost of oil spills?, Why can unemployment be a good thing?, etc.  He also tackles some more fun questions, such as: Why is popcorn so expensive at the movie theater? and Why are seat belts deadly?

As I kept reading, I realized that certain parts of economics really interest me, like when he was talking about funding resources in education. I have felt for awhile that funding in education is a sticky problem and I don't really know the solution. Most everyone would say that more money in schools is a good thing, but what I liked about this book is that it questioned this notion, asking, "Is it better to have more money in schools?" "Would that make it more efficient?" Steven Landsburg addresses the issue of illiteracy more so than education of the illiterate in his book, but I have always wondered why so much money in education is petitioned for the teachers to use in their classrooms and even when that money is received by teachers in the classrooms, do they spend it wisely? Do they even know what to spend it on to actually help with student success? Does buying more books actually help? Or maybe there is the possibility to consider that there are too many books and maybe the money is needed in another way to be more efficient? Since I do not have access to the randomized experiments that could give answers to these questions, I don't know the answers. Instead, teachers are given money and use it on whatever they think is best (and I am not undermining teachers' opinions, because I know their wisdom and experience is important), and somehow test scores still don't improve.

I also realized that there are parts of economics that really do NOT interest me: like taxes (boring...), politics, and price discrimination. For me, those parts were hard to get through. I knew this before I read this book, but it amazes me how much of our lives involves economics, sometimes without our knowledge.

Here is a brief summary of each chapter. Sometimes I have written only a sentence that is a principle of economics taught in that chapter. This might be the boring part for you, especially if you want to read the book, then skip to the end where you can see my short breakdown. If not, then keep reading:

PLOT SUMMARY (as much of a plot that there is in a nonfiction book :)

Chapter 1: People respond to incentives. Likewise, people that have cars with seat belts in them drive less carefully, thus nullifying the safety feature. There are just as many accidents with or without seat belts.

Chapter 2: Economics always assumes that human behavior is rational.

Chapter 3: Smoking may not be such a bad thing; it is probably keeping your insurance rates lower. The best way to choose a movie (or anything) between spouses is to express your preference in dollar terms. (Travis and I have done this frequently in our marriage and it seems to work for us).

Chapter 22: Beware of great thinkers who advertise their conclusions without revealing their assumption.

Chapter 23: When making a model to analyze data, it is important to consider hidden variables that would make the data look different if the rules change.

Chapter 24: Environmentalism targets childhood specifically. (The author is highly opposed to environmentalism, i.e. recycling, conserving resources, etc. He does not like the fact that it is taught in primary grades, and therefore, he has a very snarky ending).

In short, here is the breakdown of The Armchair Economist:

Genre: Nonfiction
Number of pages: 231
Reading endurance: I would say medium-high endurance required. It depends on what kind of reader you are. I am the type of reader that likes to understand everything I read, so it was harder for me to get through.
Good Moral: Somewhat. Some of the "morals" of economics don't really jive with my personal morals, but nonetheless it is interesting to learn more.
Favorite Quote: "When Peter chooses to work 80 hours a week and get rich while Paul chooses to work 3 hours a week and get comfortable in other ways, who is to say which choice is the wiser? I can find nothing in economics, morality, or for that matter my personal instincts that says we should approve more of one than of the other. Unemployment, or a low level of employment, can be a voluntary choice and a good one." (pg. 130)
This quote totally reminds me of my husband, Travis, who has told me on multiple occasions when he was getting his undergrad that his economics professors would not care if he went to class or not, believing that each student optimizes his time according to what he thinks is best and therefore trusting each individual to do so. I was an education major and all of my professors put a BIG emphasis on class attendance because school is life when you are in education. I just thought this quote was funny because you can see maybe the beginnings of the differences Travis and I have and I am happy to be able to understand him a little bit better.
Recommend? Yes. I would recommend this if you want to branch out and read some nonfiction that you normally wouldn't and if you have any interest in economics.

I am a big fan of bows. I have been for years and have made quite a collection. I used to have a big basket full of all of my bows (like I did when I was little), however, the bows I was collecting now were a lot smaller and harder to find in a big basket, especially when I would get ready fast in the mornings (I am one of those try to get ready in 20 minutes type of people).

So, I decided to clip them along the fabric insert in the basket that I had. I soon realized that this would only work for the bows I wore most often because I had too many bows for that to work for all of them. I kept thinking and tried to find things online to help inspire me, but I only found organization for headbands for little girls. I know that basically all adult women do not wear bows anymore (I don't know when it is normal to stop wearing bows because I have for basically all of my life), so I realized that I would have to come up with the idea on my own.


While in Hobby Lobby one day, I found a beautiful white frame and I had the perfect idea! So that day I bought it, along with white ribbon, and went home to make my creation.

Here's how to do it:

Materials:

11" x 14" Frame (I chose white, but there are so many options! Mine is similar to this)

Grosgrain ribbon (at least 7/8" wide, but it can be wider, depending on the size of your bows)

Glue gun

Scissors


How to:

1.  Figure out how many rows of bows you want to have. I did 5, but it really depends on how many bows you have and want to store. Mine stores 6 big bows along the bottom and close to 40 medium and small bows on the upper rows. As you can see, they are squished, so you may want 5 rows and spread out the bows among the rows so it is not so overwhelming.


2. Measure out where you want your rows of ribbon to be glued. I actually did not do this part. I totally eyeballed it, but you can tell. I did leave the bottom row higher and closer together to the other rows so that it was easier to store the bigger bows, so that is definitely something to think about!

3. Hot glue one side and stretch the ribbon as taut and you can straight across and glue to the other side. Repeat for as many rows as you want. Tip: I didn't hot glue an end, because I thought it would mean that I would get burned, so I left a tail on both ends and trimmed it after.


4. Let glue dry and trim the ribbon edges to desired length. Clip on those bows and hang in a convenient place! Enjoy the easiness of finding a bow quickly and storing it at the end of the day.



How do you organize your accessories? I am still looking for a good way to organize my jewelry!

Some may not know that The Giver by Lois Lowry, written in 1993 and made into a motion picture in 2014, is actually the first book in a series. I didn't know until two years ago when I decided to reread the book from our bookshelf and Travis mentioned that there were more books in the series. Since then, we have collected all four books and I recently finished the last book called Son.

This will mostly be a review of the last book, but in order to properly review it I will allude to the other three books. There may be a few SPOILERS just to give you fair warning, but if you want to know what I think of the book and the series in general in a gist, just scroll down to the end.

While The Giver follows the story of Jonah who becomes The Receiver and how he eventually escapes the dystopian community he was brought up in with a baby Gabriel, who was going to be put to death because he did not meet the standards of perfection of the community, the story of Son is the culminating story where we learn about the mother of Gabriel.

Plot Summary: 

BEFORE

Her name is Claire and she was designated to be a Birth Mother, which was not a sought after position in the community. While no one ever said it out loud, it was always implied that being a Birth Mother had no prestige, honor, or intellectualism to it. When Claire is 14, she is deemed ready to be have a baby and is impregnated. She soon delivers her baby, but in a strange and scarring way.

They blindfold her during the process of labor and tie her hands to a bed so that she cannot move freely. She is in labor for awhile before they realize something is wrong with her, so they drug her and give her a C-section without telling her ANYTHING that is happening. She wakes up with a huge scar on her belly and never gets to see her baby. Soon after she recovers she is reassigned to work in the fish hatchery instead of having more children (typically each Birth Mother has 3 children and then is reassigned). She is confused and feels shame for wondering what she did wrong that her birth did not go well. Instead of getting answers from the Elders, she finds out the number her child was assigned and that he still lives.

After being at the fish hatchery for awhile, Claire decides to visit the newchildren wing in the childcare center in the community. Her baby (number 36) was there and Claire visited often and got to know him. She felt this bond with him that she could not explain and often dreamed of having him with her. Claire was confused by these dreams and desires because no one else seemed to feel them. You eventually learn that she was not taking "pills" that the rest of the community was taking that help mask emotions and desires.

Claire learns that her baby was not thriving because he was labeled as "difficult" and would not sleep through the night and had a hard time adjusting. He was going to be released to elsewhere (another term for being killed). On the other side, Jonas (from The Giver), had gotten to know the baby and knew his name (Gabriel). He realized what was going to happen to Gabe and decided to take him and run away. He does so and Claire tries to run after him when she realizes Gabe is gone with Jonas, but ends up running onto a supply boat, gets lost in a storm and washes up onto a beach into a completely different culture.

BETWEEN

She suffers from shock and amnesia for awhile, but stays with a kind woman in a hut named Alys. Slowly memories come back to her while she gets to know the people on the island and has experiences (she sees a birth, holds a baby, etc.) Word spreads that Claire had a baby but no husband, which was looked down on by the people of that culture. Claire does not care and realizes that her purpose in life is to try to find her son again, no matter the cost. She does not want to go back by water, but instead decides to climb a mountain and travel out that way.

She befriends the only person that has attempted to climb the mountain, a boy named Einar that lives at the bottom of the mountain as a shepherd. He attempted to climb the mountain before, but became lame and lost a foot on his travels. It is not revealed how this happened at first, but everyone assumes he fell. Claire is determined to not have this happen to her. She trains for years to make sure she is strong enough. Finally when she is ready, Einar reveals the way in which he lost his foot: at the top of the mountain a man approached him and offered to help him. Einar was stubborn and decided to reject his help. The man pulled out an ax and chopped off his foot, so Einar warns Claire to accept help from the man.

Claire makes the climb and encounters the man at the top. He offers to help her find her son at a steep price: Claire's youth. Claire agrees, remembering Einar's warning.

BEYOND

Claire is transported where Gabe is, but she is an old woman now and feels she cannot tell Gabe who she really is because it would be a burden to him. Gabe is a sprightly young man by now but he is confused about where he comes from and seeks for a family. Jonas is in the same village as Gabe and has his own family (he married Kira from the second book and has two children, one of whom is named Matthew after the hero of the third book), but Jonas watches out for Gabe.

Eventually Claire reveals her story to Jonas, who tells Gabe when Claire is on her deathbed. Jonas tells Gabe that he has to defeat the evil man who took Claire's youth from her. Gabe sets out to do so and finds him close by on the other side of the river from his village. He uses a special gift he has to realize that the man was no man at all but the embodiment of evil. He defeats evil by speaking of hope and happiness, which sucks the life out of evil and he kills himself.

Gabe returns to find that he has broken the spell and Claire is restored to her youthful self.

What I thought: 

I really liked some elements from this book and it was especially poignant to me as I have recently become a mother. Going through a labor like Claire's would have been frightening because she was not told anything and could not see or experience anything. It would be like experiencing all of the scary, weird parts of labor and not enjoying the best part: the baby!

I could also identify with the strong feelings Claire had for Gabe in the beginning. She was alone and could not understand the bond of mother and child, but it is a very deep, biological bond that is hard to explain unless experienced. I thought Lowry did a great job explaining how important these feelings were to Claire.

The book is divided into the three parts: Before, Between, and Beyond. I liked the Before part (what is mentioned above), however the Between part takes a sharp turn in the plot. I like the characters and that it is juxtaposition of two very different cultures and experiences. Claire learns about things like colors, animals, music, and plants. In a way she is still a child in a lot of experiences.

Probably my favorite part of the book is when she decides to look for her son and starts training to climb the mountain. The book talks in detail about the exercises that Claire does to get strong and prepare herself. I particularly enjoyed this part because it is what I am trying to do in my life as well. My motivation for working out and being healthy is my daughter. I want to be strong so that I can lift her in whatever way she needs (she is over 20 lbs, so I have my work cut out for me!), play with her, and just be a good, healthy mother. So I think of her when I lift weights or go running and it helps me try to take care of my body in a better way. Claire does the same thing in the story and it made me think how all parents make sacrifices and try to be motivated for their kids.

The Beyond chapters are interesting because they involve the man who took Claire's youth from her. It also builds up to the climax of Gabe finding out that Claire is his mother. The end where Gabe has to defeat the evil man I thought was a great build up to a rather lame way of defeat. Also, there is no resolution at the end of the story with Claire and Gabe, Claire and Einar (who she proclaimed her love for earlier in the book), or even between Jonas and Claire. I thought there would be more resolution at the end of the series, but we are left hanging on some points, which I did not like as much. Overall, it was a good book and I would recommend the series (although book 2 and book 3 are not as interesting and not quite as necessary to read), however there were some parts that were left to imagination that I wish would have been addressed. I mean, if you have to read four books in order to get to an ending, I feel like there should be a pretty darn good ending! But that is just my personal opinion.

In short, here is the breakdown of Son:

Genre: Dystopian Young Adult Fiction
Number of pages: 393
Reading endurance: You need to read three other books before this one, all of comparable length. Medium reading endurance required.
Good Moral: Yes! It shows the importance of family, relationships, and choosing things for yourself.
Favorite Quote: "If she had not made the trade that had brought her here she would perhaps be back with Einar now, helping him tend his lambs, cooking a stew they would share in their hillside hut, talking together by the fire in the evenings. But she would not have found her son. She would never have seen Gabe again, would not have watched him grow into the lively young man he had become. She knew it was a trade she would make again, given the chance" (pg. 306)
Recommend? Yes

 Around Christmas time when people decorate their trees, some choose to put an angel on top, some put a star, but for some of my life my family has decided to put a bow on the top. I always thought it was cute and I liked the idea, but Travis said that at Christmas a star is what belongs at the top of the tree. I remember sighing and saying that he was probably right, but I like bows SO much.


But now that we have a year round tree, I can put a bow on top of it during the year and still have a star on it during December. I love seeing the daisies and roses popping out of the tree. It makes me think that spring is not too far away.


Happy Valentine's Day!

This year we decided to celebrate by going to our favorite used bookstore in town called Haunted Bookshop. Every time we go there I feel like I could spend a long time there! And I don't think we have ever left empty-handed.


 Here are our spoils for the day:


J is for JumpShot is for Juliet because A Basketball Alphabet is clearly what she needs :) (Travis found it and I thought it was perfect.)

The Agatha Christie novel is for me because it has been a LONG time since I read a murder mystery and this one looked good because it is about a couple who is really into solving crimes and maybe gets in over their heads solving one.

The Jewish Stories was Travis's pick. I admit I was not as excited about this one, but I flipped through a couple of stories and I think it will be cute to read as a family when we celebrate Passover (Yes, we celebrate Passover and yes, I know we are not Jewish, but maybe I will blog about it one day and tell you why we do it!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

And Happy Reading!