The Book I'm Carrying Around: Wife 22

Where did you go on your first date?

Do you remember? Alice Buckle does. She remembers almost everything about meeting, dating, and marrying her husband. But does that mean she's happily married? She doesn't necessarily think so. When offered the opportunity to participate in an anonymous marriage survey, she enthusiastically accepts and fully answers all the questions. IRL (in real life), she's trying to balance her marriage to her recently laid-off husband, parent her two children who she thinks is gay (her son) and has an eating disorder (her daughter), and hold on to her job as an elementary school drama teacher. What else does she need in this already busy life? How about an online relationship with the survey researcher?

"Wife 22" is amusingly told in prose, alternating with our most common, modern forms of communication - emails, FaceBook statuses, Twitter updates, and phone texts. I immediately related to Alice and her family and felt empathetic to her until the last page. I cheered for her, LOL'ed, and cried a few real tears because I wanted her to be happy and I wanted her marriage to work and I wanted that both could happen concurrently. Because I want that for myself.

If you are married, raising kids, and dared to admit that you aren't sure you're totally, always happy with your life - and especially if you've ever wondered, even just for a moment, whether there's a greener patch of grass elsewhere - you will recognize Alice and be ready to pour her a cup of coffee as you listen to her story. Then you'll sit back and come up with your own answers to the survey, perhaps starting with "give three reasons people should stay married." And then you will go Google yourself.


*This book will be released on May 29. I received an Advanced copy of this book from the Publisher - thanks Random House Publishing & Ballantine Marketing.

Photo challenge - Day 25: crossing the Bay

Photo challenge - day 26: A cup/mug

Drinks by the pool... Be sure to tip the lifeguard on the way out.

Photo challenge - Day 24: Where I went today

Bookclub

Surviving the Family Road Trip

Memorial Day weekend – the unofficial start to summer and the inaugural family road trip.  We’ve done a number of road trips, ranging from a day’s outing to a long weekend to the multi-day on the road variety.  The longest so far has been our trip from Maryland to the Georgia coast – roughly 1700 miles in just over 2 weeks.  See – living proof that one can survive a family road trip.  

Not only survived being on the road with kids, but done so in a super-size SUV that doesn't have a plasma flat screen mounted inside, to the dismay of my children and the surprise of our friends.  Yes, we travel sans video monitor and DVD movies.  I know, who knew that was even possible anymore?  If you are traveling without electronics or would at least like to unplug for part of the ride, here's a few ideas to make sure everyone makes it to the final destination all in one vehicle.

• Everyone pack their own bag of ride entertainment - books (and a nook), coloring and activity books, a pencil box full of crayons, pencils, scissors, and glue sticks, a deck of cards, Barbies, finger puppets; it always amazes me what they stuff in there.  But – also a warning – if your trip involves any type of airplane flight, Smithsonian museum visit, or any other security-checked venue – check your kids’ bags!  They are notorious for carrying contraband.

• Pack a few audio books, sing-along CDs, movie soundtracks.  We get them from our local library, picking a variety of stories – you’d be surprised how long this will hold kids’ attention on a long ride.  And its kinda nice for the driver, too, to get some “reading” done.

• Let the kids navigate.  Give them an old fashioned, paper road map that you will never be able to fold back to how it originally was.  Show the kids the route, teach them how to read the map.  This is a skill that will be lost as we sit back and let the GPS tell us where to go.  I have a road map from Cracker Barrel, with the restaurant locations conveniently marked on it, so that I can plan my drive with stops for fried fish and hash brown casserole.

• Try some of those car games you played as a kid, that pre-electronic entertainment.  Don’t remember any?

• That’s my car – the mobile version.  Each person picks a color, as you ride along, look out for that color car and keep count until you get to 15, 25, 100 – however long you want this to last.
• Eye Spy.  The adult in the car picks two things that might be found on the road, assigning a point value to each – the lower points goes to the more likely item.  Whoever finds the items, gets the points.  For example: a tow truck – 5 points, a truck carrying a house – 20 points.  When both items are found, pick two more.  A motorcycle – 5 points, a Space Shuttle – 100 points.  Again, this can go on as long as you want.  Pick a fun prize, maybe the winner gets to pick dinner or a second scoop of ice cream.

• Feed the natives before they get restless.  Pack a cooler that fits inside the car - juices, waters, bottles of iced coffee, cheese sticks, boiled eggs, fruit, cut up vegetables.  In a separate bag or box, put all your dry goods – chips, pretzels, popcorn.  Include some healthy options, no better time when kids are bored and hungry than to get them to eat a carrot stick.

And when you’ve tried all of these ideas and find that you have only made it 5 miles from your house, turn on the portable DVD.

Have a safe, fun trip!

Every morning...

Every morning I rustle my children out of bed and into the bathroom.
Every morning, someone won't get out the bed.
Every morning, someone runs back upstairs for a pair of socks or the library book that's due today.
Every morning, I scribble my signature on a progress report or field trip permission slip.
Every morning, someone ends up crying over something.
Every morning, I yell "hurry up!"
Every morning, someone is wearing someone else's shirt/hair barrette/socks.
Every morning, someone has forgotten to finish their homework.
Every morning, I rush around the kitchen to pack up a sandwich and a fruit and a juice and a snack.
Every morning, someone can't find their shoes.
Every morning, someone grabs breakfast as they run out the door, with their jacket thrown over their shoulder and a hairbrush shoved in their pocket.
Every morning, we rush rush rush to the bus stop.

Every single morning, I need prayer.

Photo challenge - Day 21: something childish

Photo challenge - Day 20: 9 o'clock

Hair supplies - time for new twists

Photo Challenge - Day 18 & 19: be happy!

Day 18: Something fun

Attaching to the zip-line.

Day 19: Smile!

Is this the most famous smile in the world?

The book I'm carrying around: Home by Toni Morrison

Home by Toni Morrison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, I'm not actually carrying this around anymore - I read it in about 2 days.  I had May 8 marked on my calendar and was in B&N by the end of the day to get Toni Morrison's newest novel.  Its a short novel, but of course, that doesn't mean it's a light and airy read.  It was as expected, as hoped for, full of her trademark thoughtfulness, beautiful language, and surprising turns.

This is what I knew about the book when I picked it up: It was Toni Morrison's newest novel, it was about a Korean War vet, Frank Money.  "Money. Of which we had none." As the character explains his name.

This is what I know now (no spoilers because I hate when I read a review and find out not only that the butler did it, but that there even was a butler):  We all leave home for some reason. We're either pushed or pulled, leaving from or going to.  Frank and his sister, Cee, both pushed themselves away from home, they were leaving to find something else, something hopefully better.  He joined the Army, she got married.  Their lives go on, and then when it seems that they have nowhere else to go, they begin their journey home.

The book is told in chapters that alternate between an interview with Frank and the story behind what he has said.  Its like watching a documentary.  I thought it was amusing when he seems to argue with the interviewer, in one section saying that what was written isn't what he said or meant, and in another, challenging her writing ability.  Speaking of his childhood, he says (and again, no spoiler; I purposely picked these lines because they are not plot-specific), "You don't know what heat is until you cross the border from Texas to Louisiana in the summer.  You can't come up with words that catch it. Trees give up.  Turtles cook in their shells.  Describe that if you know how."

So now, go get your copy and see for yourself if the writer knows how to come up with the words to tell Frank's story.  (I bet you'll agree that she does.)


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