Stuff Every Woman Should Know

Do you know how to slow dance or check your oil? How to flirt or dress for your body type? How to give or accept a compliment or perform a breast self-exam?

 

According to this little blue book I picked up at BEA2013, this is just some of the "Stuff Every Woman Should Know" (by Alanna Kalb).  

 

Do you know how to change your oil, sew on a button?

It's a catchy title and a purse-sized book and of course, I wanted to make sure that I knew what I'm supposed to - especially by now, at my age, I figured I should have this stuff down. As I looked over the list, I realized that most of the items, I was a little iffy. 

 

Change a tire? When I used to drive my dad's small 2-door Japanese car, I could. Before I could even go for my driver's test, he made sure I knew how to take the flat tire off and put on a new one. But now that I drive a behemoth of a vehicle that carries 4 kids, their bookbags and sports gear, a dog, and a couple of friends - I don't even try.  The one time my tire blew out - on the highway, on my way to a meeting - my friend had her AAA card out without even a discussion of us trying to change it.  The big auto-repair dude working hard to jack up my car on the hydraulic jack and power tool off the tire, pretty much confirmed that that was not only the best, but only choice.   

 

How to slow dance. Okay, dancing is one of my major weaknesses. On a good night, if I've had a good mojito and no-one's talking to me too much, I can keep up with the Cupid Shuffle, but don't ask for much more than that. But slow dancing, that's pretty simple. Hand on the waist, hand in hand, smile, and follow along with your guy. I can do that. Keep it simple, no swinging, no spinning, no cheek-to-cheek tango (that requires at least another mojito and a shot of tequila).   

 

How to pick a signature scent. Apparently I'm not good at this, because I don't have one, I don't generally wear perfume.  

 

Self-defense techniques - this is a good one. Although I have a white belt in Tae Kwan Do (I quit after my brother jammed my finger with a really good roundhouse kick), I couldn't fight my way out of a wrestling match with my 8-year old. I've never been in a fist fight and my only defense mechanism is to scream and cry and swing my arms like a girl.

 

Hmm. Surprisingly, at my age, there's still a lot of things for me to learn. But I do know how to sew on a button and fix a hem, wear colors that look good on me (why I never wear blue), cook a few good recipes, and give a compliment. But it's nice to know there's things I still have yet to learn. Otherwise, where would we be if we've learned it all?

     

 

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Diversity in Kids' Books: Twins and Island Hunters

Name a children's book, any book. Or pick up the last book your kid read.  What race were the kids in the book (assuming they were not animals or aliens or fish)?  If your kids' books are like mine, most likely those characters were White.  Maybe, by some small chance, they were Asian or Black; by a smaller chance, they were Hispanic or Native American.  Now think - what was the last book your child read that had main characters of color?  Not the side-kick friend, but the main character on the cover.  While you think, continue to read.

The diversity - or lack of - in children's books

We all like to see and read about people that look like us. Whether "looks like" means by gender or race, ability or disability, culture or heritage. It helps to validate us as who we are. It proves that we are important.  It allows us to say, "hey, I'm not the only one."  For our children, it says, "you, too, are beautiful and belong in this world."  And aside from all of that, it's fun to see and read about other people who are just like us.  My kids love "Little Bill" on TV; although the older ones may groan when my daughter turns it on, they still sit and watch it.  Its one of the few TV shows, animated at that, that features little kids that look like them and the grand-dad looks like their grand-dad. It's fun to see your own life reflected in stories.

So it is with books. And that's why I get excited when I see children's books that represent the diverse culture of our world. We have books about Black, Korean, Latino, and Aleutian children on our shelves, along with White children.

Now I've found a couple more.

Twindollicious by Natasha Danna

Twin-doll-icious by Natasha Danna is the story of twin girls who love dressing alike.  It has bright, cute pictures and younger elementary level writing.  I gave it to my 8-year old to read and for her review. She thought it was funny and a good story.  Her summary: it was about twin sisters who liked to dress alike until a new girl came to school and made fun of them. Then they didn't dress alike and everything went wrong.  The new girl lost the class guinea pig and the twins helped her find it and then they were all friends.  From a parent perspective, it emphasized how the twins were the same in that they looked and dressed alike, but were unique in their different strengths and personalities. The message I liked was knowing who you are and not letting other people tell you who you should be.  It wasn't a story that focused on race, but about growing up, and the girls happened to be brown.

The Island Hunters series by N.E. Walford

The Island Hunters by N.E. Walford is a series of chapter books I thought my son would enjoy.  First, I was impressed that it was written and illustrated by a mother of five boys!  Beyond that, the books are all boyhood adventure. There's pirates and maps and islands and brothers fussing with each other and plotting together to find treasures and running from the bad guys.  Walford includes cultural hints and historical references as the boys wander through the Caribbean and the island of Jamaica.  My son commented that there were some "vocabulary" words in the writing; he knew them, but I think it slowed him down a little bit.  If the writing is too old for your kid, it would be a fun read-together book, if your son will allow it.

Enjoy!

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Let the Kids Cook - Rugelach

How many times have you read this suggestion as a great way to spend time and bond with your kids:  cook together.

How many times does it turn from a great idea to an argument over who gets to measure the sugar, split milk, dough all over the kitchen, and you looking for the wine (and not because it's called for in the recipe)?

That's why I'm not going to tell you to cook with your kids. I'm going to tell you to let the kids cook by themselves.

Kids need the experience of being in the kitchen and learning to cook. My mother had me scrambling eggs and making spaghetti since I was a kid. (Although I think I was a teenager before I was allowed the privilege of cooking the rice for dinner.)  Just like they need to learn to clean their room, fold their laundry and budget their money, kids need to learn how to feed themselves.  I get my little folks in the kitchen because as much as I love them, I really do want them one day to be independent beings who can boil water and make themselves some toast. I'm kinda proud that they can do a little bit more than that already.

At BookExpo America, I found HandStand Kids Cookbook Company. Each one of the colorful, easy-to-read cookbooks contains international recipes from Italy, Mexico, or China, and the Baking Around the World book includes recipes from various countries. And since my kids, like their mother, love anything baked, we tried out a sample of this last book.

Each recipe in the cookbooks has illustrations showing the ingredients and tools that are needed and is  marked by a 1-4 cupcake key to indicate how much involvement is needed from the parent.  My clan, ranging in age from 8 to 14 years old chose the recipe for Raspberry Rugelach (a 3-cupcake recipe).

My oldest lead the project and my youngest could read along and participate with everyone else.  And since they are their mother's children, they made their own substitutions in the recipe to their own taste and what we had on hand (see the note on the filling.) I sat back and let them try it out themselves. And by the time my coffee had brewed, there was a delicious plate of hot rugelach ready for tasting.

The filling: strawberry jelly, chopped Hershey bar as substitute for chocolate chips

Roll out the dough and cut in wedges using a pizza cutter.

Add filling and roll up each wedge.

Wash with eggs.

Enjoy!

Try these out at your house and then check their website at www.handstandkids.com for more information on how to order your own.  When you order by Sept. 1, be sure to use the special coupon code for 20% off, especially for Just Piddlin’ readers: HSK20.

Publishing & Power Reading

This post perhaps should be titled "Books I'm Carrying Around to the nth degree."  Yesterday I went to the Book Expo America in New York City and am going home with a whole bunch of books.  I mean, as in 2 big tote bags, and that's after leaving a few with my friends New York. 

 

Just some of my BEA2013-swag haul

Although, as I purused my inventory, I realized that a majority of the books are for the kids, so they'll be excited and we've got a start for our summer reading. They can even have that New Yorker with Will Smith and little Will Smith on the cover. 

 

Something for the girls

I attended the Expo wearing two hats. As a new author, I went to the uPublishu Conference. There were sessions all-day about building your author platform, engaging in social media (a must these days), and the pros/cons of self-publishing.  It was useful and I'll get into more details on my author site.

 

As an avid reader and blogger, I got a PowerReader Pass. For $49, a regular person (I.e. not a book industry professional) can get access to the Exhibit floor on Saturday, the closing day. Worked out for me that both of these events were on Saturday, so I went up and down the escalators all day, between the exhibits and conference sessions.

 

And the exhibit floor was huge! Late in the afternoon, as I felt about as weighed down as a pack mule, I realized that I had only made it through half the booths.  On the side I missed was the autographing area and the PowerReader lounge.  If only I had actually looked at the map they handed out with registration.  What a concept, right? One of the books I picked up that is available for free is the Buzz Books 2013, a compilation of samples of books due out in the fall, published by Publishers Lunch - available in the digital versions from B&N and Amazon. 

 

Excerpts of books-to-come - available for FREE in eBook formats

If you are a reader and need an excuse to go to New York for the day, this is a good one. My 10 tips if you go.

• The day is short enough that you could attend and return home if you don't want to stay over in NYC (well, obviously that only applies to those in a couple hours of NYC or own private jets)
• There is a bag check, so you can drop off luggage or totes of books that you've collected through the day (wheeled carts are not allowed)
• Look at the map, check the schedule, and make a plan so you don't miss the signing authors or special sessions you really want to see.
• Use the mobile app for the Expo. I used it to note all the conference sessions I wanted to go to - found that to be useful in keeping me on task. But, even by Saturday, there were some features that were still "coming soon".
• Wear comfortable walking shoes.
• A lot of the vendors gave out reusable totes, but I still brought my own. I like those canvas tote bags and use them all the time for travel and carrying all my stuff.
• Bloggers - aside from books, there are product booths - let them know you are a blogger and have a conversation about products you like and would like to mention or review (if you do that kind of thing) 
• Book Bloggers - there is a separate conference day for you specifically, check it out. (Or if you went, let me know how it was.)
• Bring a bottle of water, some snacks.
• Enjoy your haul of books!  

My lanyard marks about as far as I got thru BEA2013