Jealous?

Here's my favorite spam email I have gotten recently:

The subject of an email from a Facebook application said, "Barack Obama has added you as a cousin on We're Related."

Awesome.

Annacdotes Part 3

Anna turned 3 on Sunday. So to celebrate, here are some more delightful anecdotes.

1. Anna is definitely in the midst of the why phase. It's funny how, maybe 4 months ago, she just didn't ever ask why. But she's learning the concept now for sure. I wouldn't say she has it completely down yet, as I'll illustrate below, but she's on her way.

I love the nonsensical whys.

"Mom, why is this chocolate?" or "Why is this a bird?"

She may not make much sense, but she's definitely got a handle on how soothing it is to everyone around to say it over and over and over and over.

Anna: Why do we eat food?
Me: To help our bodies grow big and strong.
Anna: But why?
Me. To help our bodies grow big and strong.
Anna: Yeah, but why?
Me: Because it tastes good.
Anna: But why do we eat food?

And this will continue for another 3 minutes until I say, totally exasperated, "Just because!" So she's just getting the hang of it.

I also realized that it's my answers that either restate her question or make the least sense that satisfy her the most — and put an end to the incessant asking. Case in point:

Anna: Why do we both have braids in our hair?
Me: Because we both do.

Done. She never asked about that again. I should write a book about confusing your child into silence.

2. "Open up it." A favorite phrase these days. "Mom, I want this yogurt. Can you open up it?"

3. "Lesterday." I think this has made it onto several Annacdote lists, but I realized something else about it just recently. Lesterday, to Anna, can mean the day before today, but it can also mean anytime in the past, such as in this question: "Do you remember when we played in the snow lesterday?" (For the record, she was referring to when we were in Utah over Christmas.)

4. One night, we were eating sweet potatoes for dinner. I thought Anna might like them, as she's usually game to try most foods. But right from the get-go, she said she didn't want it. I kept telling her they were yummy, like carrots, and sweet. (They had butter and brown sugar on them, for heaven's sake.) But she wouldn't have it. I tried several more tactics, and then she finally agreed to try one bite. When she did, I smiled and said, "See? They're sweet and so good!" (I'm really pouring on the persuasion now.) She nodded and smiled in return, saying in a sing-song voice not too different from mine, "Yeah, I think they're good too . . . but they're a little bit bad!" And all was said with a smile. Classic Anna. Out came the bite of sweet potatoes and I surrendered.

5. Anna spent some time with her two cousins Grace (5) and Emme (3) a couple weeks ago, and they schooled her in the art of knock-knock jokes. They told some classics, but Anna most remembered the one where you say "banana" like 17 times and then end with the line, "orange you glad I didn't say banana?" You know the one I'm talking about. Anna got the repetition down but didn't quite remember the ending line, but I was impressed with the ones she came up with. Here was a favorite version:

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Banana Smith!

Good Books, round 2

There were many, many books that didn't make my recent top 10 list, but some of them are still really good ones, so I felt like I should make another list. I couldn't get them off my mind. Here they are, a few more favorites.

The Addendum to My Top 10 List of Favorite Books
Jane Eyre
Cold Sassy Tree
The Time Traveler's Wife (*This is an excellent book, although I had to do a lot of editing the first time through. If you need to borrow my edited copy, riddled with blacked-out words and milder cuss words written in, please feel free. :D I'm also quite excited about the movie adaptation coming out. I hope they didn't mess it up.)
Tisha
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Town Like Alice
To the Lighthouse
The Hiding Place
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Coming Home

Here's another list while I'm at it. These are well-known books that I've seen on the shelves of my home or on lists of suggested reading for years, probably starting with 10th grade Honor's English summer reading. These are books I've always meant to tackle, books that, when I've read them, will make me undoubtedly cultured and well-read and extremely intelligent.

Books I've always been meaning to read:
Catch 22
Crime and Punishment / War and Peace (I'd really be happy with either.)
1984 / Animal Farm
anything by Charles Dickens (I know. How can I even call myself a person if I haven't read any Charles Dickens?)
The Catcher in the Rye
The House of Mirth
A Farewell to Arms
Brideshead Revisited
Atlas Shrugged
The Grapes of Wrath
My Antonia

What's on your To Read list?

The Tantrum Truth Comes Out

Another Anna story. I can't resist.

Today has been a particularly sensitive day for Anna. She has been freaking out over every little thing and was especially crabby at lunch, in a way I've never really seen her before. She was extremely loud about hating everything on her plate, which is so atypical, and even yelled that she hated tomatoes. What?! This girl will eat everything (I blame this kind of defiant behavior on the negative influence she gets from the other kids at church. :D) She finally calmed down enough to eat everything there, but still.

And then when I told her that she needed to go to the bathroom before her nap, she flipped. Tears, flailing, the whole shebang. I've been trying to teach her how to adjust and how to talk about what's bothering her instead of the instant freak out, since it seems like the tantrums come more and more often these days. So here's how our ensuing dialogue went:

Me: Anna, calm down. Just tell me the problem.
Anna: (tantruming)
Me: Anna, sweetheart, I don't know what's bothering you. I can't understand you when you're crying. Just talk to me so that I can help.
Anna: (tantruming, although simmering down a little)
Me: Anna, what's wrong? Just tell me what's bothering you without crying.
Anna: (in a sad, tearful voice) It's you, Mom. You're bothering me.
Me: (laughing)

That explains so much.

Come again?

Here's one of my favorite Anna stories of late.

A while ago at my parents' house, Anna was playing outside with her cousin Sydnee. Sydnee's older brother Josh went outside to tell Sydnee it was time to go, and Anna beckoned Josh over to the edge of the driveway where she was because she wanted to "show him something." When he got close to the street, he asked her what she wanted to show him. She said, "We have to wait until a car comes."

Uh, what? No, Anna. No we don't.

I have no idea what kind of game she was talking about, but that's not one we play. It simultaneously freaked me out and made me laugh, which is a pretty healthy parental reaction to have, I think.

My top 10 favorite books . . . er, authors

...if you were to ask me today. I love to read, so I think about books a lot. I like to buy books, think about them, look at them, and plan how big my home library will be someday.

And lately, I've been making this list in my head for no particular reason, which makes it a perfect fit for the blog. Random list for no reason.

Though this list could change at any time, here's how I feel about it today. So, in no particular order, my top 10 favorite books/authors:

1. Anna Karenina. This book, though insanely long, is pretty darn amazing. I mean, there's a reason it's considered a classic, if my opinion means anything. Tolstoy is incredibly gifted, weaving meaning and beautiful writing into great storytelling, and I feel like I underlined half the book. Two of my favorite parts: the chapter detailing a horse race that was one of the most vivid, visual reading experiences I've had, and a beautiful section showing one character exhibit true, Christian forgiveness.
2. The Yearling. Though this is considered young adult fiction, I believe, I read this book for the first time only a couple years ago and was quickly caught up in the gripping story. But as soon as I finished it, I realized that it was way out of the ordinary and perhaps even a masterpiece. It quickly made my list of favorites. There are some beautiful, poignant parts in here, too.
3. The Hours. I am a fan of Virginia Woolf, so I was excited to read this book, which is partly about her. How Michael Cunningham weaves the three stories into each other is pretty amazing, but basically I love it because it is just a very well-written book.
4. Pride and Prejudice. I've written about it before, so there's not much more to say here. Love the story, love the writing. Love Jane Austen. Old news, for the blog and the rest of the world.
5. Daniel Martin. This is one book that introduced me to one of my favorite authors, John Fowles. He's amazing, too. I love most of what I have read by him, which is quite a bit. This book is long too, but I just like the way this guy writes.
6. Madeleine L'Engle. I ate up everything this author wrote when I was young. And I mean everything. I read everything they had in the nearest library, I did inter-library loans, and the whole shebang. I loved the Wrinkle in Time series, loved the books about the Austins, and basically everything she has ever written. However, I recently reread A Wrinkle in Time and the second in the series, and I'll admit I wasn't as enthused as I was when I was young. The writing was still good, but it seemed like a better fit for a younger audience. So maybe it's better if they stay in the young adult fiction genre, but I still like them for sentimental reasons.
7. Chaim Potok. Here's another author who has never disappointed. I started with The Chosen and The Promise only a couple years ago, which were excellent, but I've read a few others since then that I have enjoyed almost as much. Excellent, excellent writing. And I loved reading about a religious world that was so different from my own yet still being able to find similarities.
8. Harry Potter. This is totally cheap, but I'm putting it on here anyway. I recently reread books 4 and 5 and I'm partway through 6 again now, and it's just good fun. I can't deny it.
9. Doris Lessing. I first read a short story by this woman when I was in college (To Room Nineteen, which I highly recommend). And since then I have read several books of her short stories and one novel. One of the best living authors, in my opinion, and well-deserving of the 2007 Nobel prize she received for literature.
10. Rosamunde Pilcher. This one is for the less academic crowd as well, but I've read a lot by her and liked them all. She writes very sweet stories — some about love, some about family relationships — but they are so straightforward, so real, and so cozy all at the same time. It says a lot when an author fills you with an intense desire to visit Cornwall and attend a shooting party in Scotland.

So there they are. I just realized half of my list is made up of British authors. Do you think that means anything?

What would make your list of favorites?

An L.A. Minute

Some time ago, both Trevor and I had separate yet stereotypical LA experiences within a few days of each other. It was too serendipitous to avoid writing about.

I had my first celebrity sighting. Remember Jan from The Office? Yes, I ran into Melora Hardin right in Glendale. But the best part is this: I saw her at ... drumroll please ... Jo-Ann Fabrics! Isn't that awesome? She was buying material for a quilt. Ah, when has Jo-Ann's ever let you down?

But Trevor, within a few days of my sighting, witnessed a robbery. Pretty great, huh? I'm not sure if I have all of the details right, but here's how I remember it. As he was walking to his car late one evening after school, he saw some guy walk out of another guy's garage with a table saw, or something. Trevor passed him on the sidewalk, and the thief said, "Hey, how's it going?" Trevor mumbled something in return and then waited until he was out of sight before he knocked on the door and alerted the guy who lived there to the fact that he was just robbed.

Anyway, I thought that was pretty amazing. A celebrity sighting and seeing a robbery take place, up close and personal. Thank you, LA!