Revolutionary

I have been participating in two book clubs for about a year now. The first book club was started by an old friend from high school and our general theme is books that are made into movies, the idea being that we'll read a book and then go together to watch the movie and afterwards have dinner and discuss. I'll be honest with you, its more of an excuse for the girls to get out and not so much of a book club.

My second book club however is legit. It was started my Mini Me's best friend's mom, who is also a good friend of mine. She is a midwife and so the book club is mom's who love to read. We can bring our kids and they can play while we talk about our books. We have a general theme of historical fiction.

Before I go into my review let me tell you my general GoodReads star rating system so you have an idea of how I rate books.

1 star - I didn't like the book - I found the subject matter to be flat and uninteresting and the writing style just didn't do anything for me (I give very few books this kind of rating because I generally like to be encouraging to writers since I am a fledgling one myself)

2 stars - The book was okay - I didn't like but I didn't hate it either. Sometimes this comes if the subject matter wasn't of interest or if the plot was interesting but the execution was lacking. 

3 stars - I liked it - The plot was pretty good, the writing was pretty good. Generally I'd classify it as a good book (The majority of books I read get this rating)

4 stars - Really liked it - I found the plot engaging and thought provoking, the writing was spot on and did a good job getting the message across. This is a book I would read again and would definitely recommend to friends.

5 stars- Loved it, need to own it - Very few books make it into this category but the books that fall into here are ones that really spoke to me, really got my mind going and I would read over and over again. Usually books that fall into this category I want to own my own copy of and would highly recommend to friends.

This month's book was Revolutionary by Alex Meyers. I gave it a 2 out of 5 starts rating. I will warn you now that this review may have some spoilers in it so if you don't want to know anymore about the book then stop reading now. Revolutionary tells the story of Deborah Samson, a woman living during the period of the Revolutionary War who struggles with the lines drawn in the sand depicting the role of gender in daily life. Deborah does not like the restrictions of being female in the late 1700s and decides to dress like a man and enlist to serve as a soldier in the Continental Army during the war, under the name of Robert Shurtliff.

As the book begins, we get the sense that Deborah is a woman who is really just dissatisfied with the lack of freedoms a woman was afforded during that time period. She wants more for her life than what was traditionally offered to a woman then, which was basically to become a wife and raise children and keep a home. They had little rights and were in essence the servants of their husbands. When Deborah puts on the mask of Robert and enters the army she is given a glimpse at the freedoms and the differences between men and women. 

But something happens within the book that for me led to some awkwardness and muddled the direction of the plot for me. In about the middle of the book it almost seems as if Deborah begins to question her gender identity bringing into mind transgender issues that we see and hear about today. However, this question does not seem to be developed enough for me to find it an interesting and compelling plot point as Deborah seems to slip back into being female again. It was this slight touching on the subject but not really delving into it that made me confused. I think the overall plot would have been far more successful had the story gone one way or the other; either this is the story of a transgender person struggling to fit into the gender constraints within their society, or it is the story of a woman dressing as a man to acquire more freedom for herself. Personally, I would have found the plot very compelling if Alex Meyers had taken the transgender approach and explored that individuals battles in a time period very different from our own.

The gender plot confusion aside, the rest of the book was a little blah. There were a few good scenes with fighting but not much happened. In fact, it almost felt as if Deborah's ruse was too easy. It was based on a real woman who did such a thing but I still felt as if it was a little unbelievable. I kept waiting for some conflict to happen, someone to find her out and for her to be held accountable for her actions, but nothing like that happened. I found the ending to be rather disappointing and inconsistent with the character of Deborah. But perhaps that is more of disappointment with the gender roles of women in general during that time period.

Color Run 3.0

The Color Run has become a tradition in my family for three years running now. For those of you who don't know The Color Run is a 5K run/walk where participants pass through color stations and get covered in a corn starch based colored paint. Its a huge mess and a lot of fun.

The first year we did it I did it with Mini Me, my cousin and her daughter and friend. It was the first 5K Mini Me had ever done and we had a blast.

Last year, we added my son, My Bug, to the mix. It was a little tougher on him since he was only four. We also joined up with my best friend and again, had an absolutely wonderful time.

This year was no exception. The Geek's daughter happened to be here this time for it so she was involved in the festivities. She was excited to experience what we had been talking about the last two years.

This year was The Color Run Shine, which meant they added a sparkle station. So we went through blue first.

I managed to get the blue sprayed right in my mouth, not the tastiest thing ever.

After blue was the shine station.

This meant that we got sprayed with shimmery glitter. Since the paint is all powder there are huge clouds and while the stuff does not taste great if you get it in your mouth, the glitter was just kind of nasty to go through. And we were certainly shiny afterwards, unfortunately the pictures don't really show the shine.

Next up was orange. Little Miss Geek decided to get the party started by rolling in the orange.

It was fun to see her really getting into it. She is not the most active child so I was a little concerned how her walking three miles was going to but fortunately, she had a great time.

Yellow was next and since yellow is a hard color to see and have show up against the other colors I decided to join in the fun and I dropped and rolled in the yellow.

This blew Mini Me's mind. I'm not usually I let it fly kind of mom but hey we were having fun.

My participating in the rolling inspired everyone and as it turned out we all rolled in the pink.

The colors were over so it was time to make our way to the finish line.

It was kind of nice in that this year they handed out participation medals so the kids all got a medal for participating.

Of course we wrapped it all up with the celebratory color toss, and shine was added to the mix as well.

At the end of it all we had a successful Color Run.

And we are all looking forward to next year.

Knitting!

In January of this year my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was pretty awful for all of us. I watched my previously strong father wither away before my eyes. The initial appointment with the oncologist told us that his tumor was inoperable, he had a 30% chance of that changing, and our initial course was chemotherapy. This meant that once a week for three weeks (one week off before we repeated the cycle again) he would have to travel to the University of Michigan Cancer Center (about an hour away) for his infusion. I went with him and my mom for most of his infusions. Pancreatic cancer is so often a death sentence that there was no way I was missing what time I had. My dad has since had surgery and they were able to successfully remove the tumor but that is a post for another time.

Now I am typically,being an avid reader, I would just bring a book along with me to pass the time; but anyone who has been through anything like this with a family member knows that it is incredibly difficult to concentrate in such an environment. Quite simply, I could not read. But I knew I needed to find something to do otherwise I'd go crazy with my thoughts. This is when I decided to teach myself to knit.

So, I stopped at JoAnn Fabrics the evening after my dad's first chemotherapy infusion and bought myself a book, a skein of yarn and a pair of knitting needles. Several attempts and YouTube videos later, I was knitting.

Knitting turned out to be exactly what I needed to calm myself through this difficult time with my dad and with the rest of the events in my life as things quickly spiraled out of control. I have since done quite a few projects, including a prayer shawl for my dad, and have picked up many new techniques (thank you YouTube).

One of the things I was most looking forward to knitting when I got started was socks. I am constantly cold in the winter and my feet never seem to get warm so the prospect of knitting warm wool socks appealed greatly to me. Well, it has taken me awhile but I've finally had the chance to knit myself some socks! But it has been an adventure and as of right now, I have one sock, well, that fits anyway.

I have heard from people that you either love to knit socks or you hate them. I wasn't sure where I was going to fall on this spectrum so I decided to start small, baby socks. I figure they are little and cute and if it turns out I don't like it, I won't have wasted a lot of time or yarn discovering this. But I didn't know anyone having a baby so why in the world would I knit baby socks. Then, TA-DAH!, I learn that my college roommate is pregnant and expecting a baby girl. I now had someone to make socks for.

After marveling at the engineering that goes into the stitching of these socks to create toes and heels I had my first pair of socks completed.

I was pretty happy with how they turned out. Now I felt like I was ready to tackle socks for myself. I had found a pattern for a pair of summer socks that had a lace top, making them cooler and lighter for warmer weather. I thought this would be a fun pattern to start with. So I started to knit my socks.

Now, I ran into some difficult as when I was working the foot the pattern said: "Work in pattern until work measures 3" from back of heal when stretched comfortably." This was not particularly useful because a sock that is only about 3" long isn't a very big sock. So I started looking at other people who had made this pattern and comments they had made and discovered that several people used 15 repeats of the pattern for their women's size 9 foot. My foot is a women's size 6 so I thought, I'll try 12 repeats. I tried it on but couldn't tell for sure if this was going to be the right size but I still had the heel to work and knew this would add length (I also managed to snap my wooden circular needles doing this). So I did my heel and finished off the sock. Excited I tried the sock on and:

It was too small. I was heartbroken. I had worked on this sock, my first real sock for myself and it was too small. So I thought, I'll make another one this size and give them to Mini Me because she was eyeing me making this one and liking it. But then I looked at how much yarn I had left and realized I have enough that I could make a new pair.

I'd have a third sock but I could figure out what to do with that later. So I made a new sock this time using 15 repeats and viola!

This sock fit!

Of course, I still have another sock to make but now I'm feeling much more confident in my sock making ability and I love the pattern across the top of my foot.

One sock down! One to go! Still not sure what I'm going to do with that third one though....

A Great Adventure

Mini Me was not a great reader; which, I must confess, left me wondering how I could have produced such a child. I have tried to encourage reading with her but it was never something she really took to. Then one day at the beginning of fourth grade I suggested we start reading Harry Potter. At first Mini Me wasn't too sure about this prospective journey. She had tried to read the books once on her own before but I think got thrown off by words like "Wingardium leviosa" and "Quidditch." However, this time when I suggested that I read them to her she was more interested and so we embarked on our journey.

As we got into the books I watched her excitement and enthusiasm build and build and often times heard, "Please just one more chapter mom!" Many a night we stayed up past bedtime reading "just one more chapter." By the time we had finished the first book she was hooked. I further solidified the deal by suggesting that we watch the movies after finishing the books, which we did. Imagine my pride when she got upset when the movies strayed from the books.

As we proceeded through the series I saw her interest in reading increase and she was reading more on her own. Not as much as I do but it was a marked improvement that made me very happy.

Today we finished our adventure by watching the movies for The Deathly Hallows. I cannot begin to express how magical it was to experience this wonderful tale with her for the first time. I am sad to see it come to a close because while we plan to embark on another reading adventure with another series, nothing comes close to the magic and wonder that is the Harry Potter series.

Beginning Again

It has been awhile since I have blogged. A long while. A lot has happened in my life since the last time I tried and while I wish I could say that everything is neat and tidy and things are going well, that would be a lie. My life is a mess and I am working on getting it sorted out.

So what are my intentions with this blog going forward? Well, I'm not 100% sure myself but I want to avoid complaining about the biggest source of contention and turmoil in my life. I don't want this to be a place where I complain constantly. However, I also don't want to make it seem like everything is rosy and great, because it's not. I want this to be honest and I do want to focus on those things in my life that bring me joy.

That leaves the question of what things will I be blogging about (bear with me as this post is probably more for me than anyone reading now.)

1. My Children - My two children are the greatest source of joy in my life and much of my life revolves around them and their doings.  And for anyone who has read my blog in the past you probably know that my five year old son is quite an amusing little fellow and that has certainly not changed.

2. My Dog - I am the proud owner of a handsome three and half year old Rhodesian Ridgeback, Flint.  He is my second Ridgeback and another source of great joy and companionship in my life.  Some of you will remember my first and faithful friend, Riley.  Flint is proving to be a very fitting follow-up to my beloved Riley.

3. Running - Running is one of my sources of release.  It's been a struggle in recent months to keep things up with some of my health issues but I have picked it back up again and am charging forward with it.  I'm slower and have to walk now but I still have not abandoned my goal of completing a full marathon.  It has just been postponed.

4. Cooking - I love to cook and get great joy out of preparing home cooked meals for my family.  I love to try new recipes and nothing is more satisfying that serving up a tasty meal.

5. My parents - In particular my dad.  He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January of this year and it has been quite a ride with him and undergoing treatment and recently surgery.

6. My Faith Journey - Please don't think this means I will post religious tirades because I won't.  For several years I have been struggling with my call and I'm working on discerning this.  But my faith and my relationship with my church are sources of great joy and strength for me.

7. Books - I love to read and am an avid reader. I'd like to share more of my thoughts and opinions on some of the books that I read. My tastes are wide ranging and being a member of a book club now I get my hands on some stuff I would not necessarily pick up.

8. Knitting - This is a new hobby for me that I picked up in January with my dad's cancer diagnosis.  I taught myself via various YouTube videos and it now supplies for me an important hobby and stress reliever.

I do hope that I can be more consistent with posting. I have found I have missed having an outlet for my thoughts on the events of my life. As I said before, I will try to steer clear of the issues that cause contention with me or make it sound like I am complaining. You won't see me post much about my husband and that fragmented and broken relationship because I have to deal with it everyday and I don't want that pain to be out where the world to see. You also won't see me post on politics because I have no wish to polarize or create tension with readers.

I hope to embark on this as a positive and honest journey and anyone else who might want to come along for the ride is welcome to join in.