susiej/reviews

I picked up this book at the library, right before we left for the lake, and the facts inside have turned out to be our most used tool, besides our marshmallow sticks, that we use up here. Of course, I never anticipated this much interest in frogs; who could have predicted the lake would have been so abundant with amphibians? Did you know that if a frog’s eardrum is smaller than her eye, she’s a female. Vice versa for a male.

If I had to put my finger on my most valuable, money-saving resource as a Mom, it would have to be our library card. Our family’s first child librarian, Sam, was always quick to set aside books he knew my sons would love. Of course Sam got to know us so well because we did spend quite a bit of time there – sometimes we’d go two times a week for a new pile of “adventures” to plow through. Of course, there was the weekly story times – a built-in playgroup that never leaves your own house dirty. There were the mountains of parenting books, cookbooks and how-to books I’ve devoured — actually books, I still devour. The library has faithfully carried me through each phase of Motherhood.

Children go through a frenzy of fads as they work their way through adulthood. From trains, to Buzz Lightyear and Woody, Batman, Star Wars, and even Madeline, the library has abundantly supplied all the “eye candy” to feed my kids’ curiosity and hunger to know more. The DK books, with their generous diagrams and pictures, have entertained the boys for long stretches of time in the afternoon as they poured over their pages. How awesome that those books never collected dust on my book shelves; because the frenzy for Buzz was all too quickly replaced by an obsession for Pirate Ships. The books are still available at the library, for another child’s obession. If pressed, I don’t think I could put a dollar amount on the books that have passed through our hands at home.

For me, there’s always a movie, a juicy novel, or a magazine to pour over when they kids give me a break. Sometimes, I pinch myself: it’s all free. Still, I do my part to support our local library with our fines — very abundantly.

Of course, you can always pick up some hot blueberries to save your family some money, but be sure to back up your adventure with this great book, Blueberries for Sal.

Still, families need lot of help saving money today. The Parent Bloggers Network is introducing Couponers.com, a tailored on-line coupon service that gives you constant updates for the products you buy the most, at the stores you love the most. Check that site out, and then, grab the kids and head to the library. And, if you’re a blogger, you can join the PBN blog blast too. Thanks PBN, last week, I won $250.

Filed under: kids, parenting by SusieJ - 2 Comments →

Quentins, by Maeve Binchy, is a restaurant that serves as a meeting place in many Binchy novels. In this book, Binchy uncovers some of the clandestine meetings, heartbreaks, and stories of love and loss that have taken place in Quentins. The main character, Ella Brady, pulled me in, and I found Maeve to be a talented novelist, who know how to entertain and delight. Quentins, is nothing short of a delicious, saucy, plot-twisting great book.

For my recent trip to the lake, I picked up Firefly Summer, hoping to pull in the same penetrating characters, drama, and resolution as I found in Quentins.

The story in Firefly summer is also filled with dramatic characters, and Maeve is a master at giving us all the details of a lifetime in just two sentences. But the story here is much harder to bear.. this has been a tough read, full of hearbreak. My husband, watching some tears fall from my face as I read, asked, “Why do you keep reading it if it’s so depressing.”

“Because,” I said, “Maeve delivers not only the heartbreak, but also the lessons, the healing and the transformation that eventually comes as life continues to play itself out. For me, I must wait a lifetime for my own heartbreaks to be healed. Here, I can see almost instantly that time does bring healing, in surprising ways.”

It’s a lovely, lovely read.

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Apparently, there is something highly unusual about a Mom walking around the art museum, baby in sling, with three other little boys at her side.  Never mind the fact that the current exhibit just happened to be $10,000 – $3 million glass Chihuly Vases, standing, uncased, on glass podiums.  There was a hands-on educational program for the kids in the first floor of the art museum.  Part of the assignment was to go upstairs to view the current Chihuly exhibit.  At one moment, I looked up and noticed there were no less than four security guards circling our midst.  One of them, apparently the chief, stood back and talked into his walkie talkie, and said, “I’ve got them covered.”  We had no less than a four-ringed security escort through our entire visit.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.

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