The Devil in the White City

Remember when Lisa gave us a list of books her trusted ward members loved? This was on the list. It was a fascinating read. I own it, so if anyone wants to read it, you can borrow mine. It's partly about a real-live murderer, so it's a bit disturbing, but it's a really interesting slice of our nation's history.

September Book Club- A Future For Tomorrow

Okay Ladies, If you haven't read the book yet, you've got to get started on this great read! I just finished the book today. I can't wait to hear what you all thought about it. What Haley went through and survived was an amazing miracle. I can't wait to get together with her at the end of the month so we can all meet her and discuss her book! Those of you that got a copy don't forget to bring your books and she will sign and personalize each one. I have talked to Sarah and Alisa who have also finished the book and loved it. It will make a great conversation so don't miss book club September 28th at my house!

basic crochet

I told Liz I'd scan some basic crochet instructions and post them for you. I was all set to do that, but then I realized that I probably shouldn't do that with copy-righted material.

However, since I did scan them already, if you are interested in having these instructions, please email me and I will send them to you. They are in pdf format.

Or, if you feel like buying a fantastic needlework reference book, I highly recommend this one.

There may be a more recent version, but this is the one I have, and it is by far the best reference I've ever seen for all kinds of needlework. The projects are a little dated (this was published in 1979) but the step-by-step line-drawn instructions are awesome.

I'd offer to loan this out, but I don't let it out of my hands.

Love & Respect

I don't know this person at all, but I happened upon her book review and thought it was worth sharing. Click here.

You Just Don't Duct Tape a Baby!

This is a really interesting book of "true tales and sensible suggestions from a veteran pediatrician." I wanted this doctor for my own! He was always trying to improve his practice. For instance, when he finally got his dream office, he had a separate waiting area for adolescents, sick children and well children. Doesn't that make sense? Have you ever taken your kid in for their yearly check and there's another kid coughing all over the place--and you fear you're going to take home that other kid's malady? He also had a consultation room just for talking about issues going on in the families. And he apparently talked to the families a lot--not like my (very nice) pediatrician who always seems in a bit of a hurry. Dr. Weinberger (the pediatrician from the book) almost seemed too good to be true.

Anyway, the book is basically just entertaining stories of how families deal with the struggles of raising children. It really affirmed for me my conviction that my time is best spent at home with my children. Some of its philosophies are things like how important family dinner time is, how children shouldn't have so many structured activities that they aren't allowed to be kids, how you can't have it all (dual long-hour careers) and expect your children to thrive, how children may need counseling during times of stress like divorce and death, etc. (made me want to go to counseling too, it sounded so good), how parents need to view their children objectively in order to cope with learning disabilities and serious illness and just get the children every care they need.

There were two parts that resonated most with me. The first is where it talked about sibling rivalry. I realized I need to be paying more attention to what goes on when O bullies A and A retreats in tears. I need to give A the tools to deal with those situations, and I need to make sure that her self-esteem is healthy. The second part is about discipline, and it's where I received confirmation that I'm a really great mom, from this quote, "A mother of one of my patients was telling me she doesn't think she's doing a good job as a mother unless her eleven-year-old daughter tells her she hates her at least once a week." Check. Except it's almost daily from O. Maybe that's a little excessive?