Column No. 3

            A light read for the Halloween Season

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love to dive into my storage boxes and pull out my comfy sweaters, wool socks and fuzzy slippers. It is the time of year that I get out the knitting projects that I did not finish last winter. I bake cookies, cakes and pies. I love the smell in the air of apples and wood smoke. One of my favorite things about fall is the array of book choices!

            I love to read books that are about Salem, Massachusetts. They usually revolve around witches and the history of witches. This week’s book is perfect for this time of year. October is for Halloween and Halloween means witches!

            The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is the kind of book that lets me delve into the world of the supernatural and learn some history as well. The author, Katherine Howe, is an actual descendent of two women who were connected to the Salem witch trials of 1692—Elizabeth Proctor, who survived the witch hunts, and Elizabeth Howe, who did not.            

            Taking a page from the author’s own life, the main character of her book also has roots in that intriguing period of Salem’s history. Connie Goodwin is working hard on finishing her PhD, mastering the scholarship around the Salem witch trials. When she is preparing her deceased grandmother’s home for sale, Connie finds bottles filled with some interesting liquids and powders, a cat who has been in residence for years and a slip of paper with the words “Deliverance Dane” tucked inside a 300-year-old family Bible. Her curiosity piqued, Connie cannot stop until she uncovers the significance of these words.

            When Connie discovers that Deliverance Dane is a woman—an ancestor—she has to unearth the story behind the name, which leads her to a “physick” book of spells and recipes for healing potions. With the help of a new friend, Sam, Connie not only finds the story of Deliverance Dane, but she finds out about part of her heritage that she never knew existed.

            The book alternates between Connie’s modern-day story and the historically based narrative of Deliverance Dane. The historical fiction interspersed throughout the main storyline gives the reader an idea of what things were like for the women accused of witchcraft in the latter part of the seventeenth century.

            With the plot twists, the little mysteries and the wonderful historical background that tells us about what may have really happened during the witch hunt of 1692, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is a book that kept me hooked from the very beginning. It is a light read that does not take a lot of energy to get through. Although the writing is sometimes a little flat, the engaging plot makes up for the lack of eloquence.

            It is the first novel by Howe, and while I would not suggest the book for a book group to discuss, it is definitely a fun read for this time of year.

            I also want to mention a really cool website that I found this week while I was looking for some books. Readinggroupchoices.com is a great site dedicated to making the most of your book club. You can register your book club and receive monthly newsletters about new books that would be a good fit for your group. They also have archives of their old newsletters from the past three years. The newsletters not only have great book choices, but also articles about new authors, different types of book clubs, (have you ever skyped a book club?) and a spotlight on a book club of the month. This is a great source for book clubs and single bookies alike!

            Don’t forget to find me on Goodreads.com to see what I am reading now!

Column No. 2 Sept 15, 2011

            Mystery is my genre of choice. If I ever need a pick-me-up read, I know I can always find a mystery to breeze through. For me, mysteries are like bags of peanut butter M&M’s. They rarely last more than one sitting. Because of this, I have an extensive list of favorite authors I can always count on for a quick read.

        Diane Mott Davidson is a great mystery writer. She writes the Goldy Bear mysteries about a caterer in Colorado who solves mysteries on the side. I am always surprised by how many murders there are in her tiny little town, but I am willing to overlook that because they are so much fun! Her books are serial, so you will want to start with the first, which is Catering to Nobody.

        If you like more historical writers, Charles Todd is a great author to take a look at. He has two series that are most popular. The first is about Inspector Ian Rutledge and the second is Bess Crawford. Bess is my preference because she is a nurse in World War I who is kind of a busybody. She is quite the investigator and is always in the right place at the right time to find clues. The first in her series is A Duty to the Dead.

        One of my current favorites is Terri Reid. She is a self-published author you can only find in e-books right now. If you have an e-reader such as a Nook or Kindle, you can download her books very inexpensively. The first book in Reid’s series is Loose Ends about an ex-cop named Mary Reilly who can see and talk to ghosts. She solves mysteries and helps ghosts to resolve any unfinished business. Love her! I was a big fan of Ghost Whisperer, and this has the same feel.

        Another great mystery is Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, the first of three novels (and counting) about the charming 11-year-old Flavia de Luce, who has a penchant for chemistry and a habit of getting into trouble. The book is written in the voice of Flavia, which gives it such an endearing quality that, with or without the murder mystery, I would want to keep reading the book. My book club read this book several months ago and the consensus was that everyone loved it.

            The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was also the topic for discussion at this week’s meeting of A Close Knit Community at the Madison Library. If you are wondering about A Close Knit Community, they are a group of mostly women who meet at the library Tuesday evenings at 6:00 to discuss knitting, books, and various other topics. They discuss specific books on the second Tuesday of each month. For October they will be reading Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book—appropriate for the month of Halloween. You need not be a knitter to participate.

        Another great event coming to the library this Friday night at 7:00 is Story Time for Grownups. For six weeks the library is reading and discussing the children’s books of Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are. The discussion will center on themes in the books that adult readers may not be aware of.

        Find a new mystery author today. If you have never read a mystery, now is the time to try it out. A good mystery is like a sorbet; it will cleanse your palate for another course of meatier literature later on.

            P.S. Don’t forget to invite me to your book club!

Just finished my column for the week.  Got a good reception to the last one, so I hope it continues! It is kind of nice to be a local celebrity.  I worked with a new gal on Saturday and she said, "Oh!  You're Jenny On the Book! I love your column!"  I thought that was really cool.  And so far, it does not seem to be too taxing to write.  I am not a great writer, but I just write what I find interesting, so I think it turns out pretty well.

On another subject, I am a horrible person.  Several weeks ago, I applied for a job that I really wanted.  I really, really wanted it.  My boos, Marlene was retiring and I was so happy that I could apply for her job, I thought it would be just perfect for me.  I mean, I already had experience in the ticket office, and this would be something I could stick with for years to come! I felt pretty confident in my interview. I thought everything was working out perfectly. But I didn't get it. I wanted to just get over it. Just let it go. But I can't. The person who got the job is a 21 year old girl who just graduated from BYU-I in July. She just got married in August. But she has worked for the ticket office as a student for a couple of years. I saw her on Saturday at work and it was awkward for me. I was angry at her. There was no reason for me to be mad at her. It's not her fault they chose her. But I just wanted to grab her hair and pull. I thought I was over this! I mean it was several weeks ago. But I can't let it go. It was really the perfect situation for me. And I keep thinking, that girl needs to get a full-time job! Not take a part-time job from a mom who needs it! Prayer. That is the only solution. I am going to have to pray this hate out of my heart. I have to work with her occasionally and it will not do for me to have these ill feelings. Anyway, now I am on the hunt for a job. It has to be perfect, though. Fat chance, right?

Here it is! Jenny on the Book!

My column

Writing a newspaper column is daunting.  I am scared.  I am worried.  I am totally intimidated.  But I am very excited!  As soon as I find out if it is available online, I will post a link to it...

What we've been doing

The past couple of weeks have been hanging out with our besties, the LeFevres!  Last week we went to Rigby lake.  We rented a canoe from the college and took some sandwiches and snacks and went to the lake to just lounge about for the day.  Of course, I always forget to take pictures...  Landon and Justin took the kids out on the lake with the canoe several times and Erin and I even made our way on our own.  We figured out that neither one of us is very good at navigating a canoe.  But it was really fun!  We spent most of the time just sitting under the umbrella chatting, but when we got really hot, we went in the water to cool off.  Boy, did it cool us off!  That water was cold!  But we got used to it after a while.  The kids spent most of the time in the water or in the canoe.  Except for Lorelai who preferred playing in the sand...  Later, after everyone had showered, eaten a quick dinner, and got settled, we all met up again at G's Dairy for some ice creams and they came to our house to play a mean game of Dominos, which the women, I am happy to say, dominated!

Yesterday was our next adventure.  We went up to Mack's Inn resort up past Island Park to go tubing.  We had this very idealized picture in our minds of what tubing would be...  a lazy day spent lying in the tubes going down the river without a care in the world, maybe getting into a splash fight along the way...  This is not what tubing is in Idaho!  First, when we got there at about 11:00 am, it was only 60 degrees and looked rather over cast.  There was a chance of showers, which made us nervous, but we decided we had driven all the way up there, so we will just do it!  We were all in our swimsuits and a little chilly- but we figured it would warm up.  We took the shuttle up to the top of the river and were given the tubes and off we go, right?  Wrong!!!  The kids did pretty well, getting into the tubes, no real drama.  But right off the bat, Justin was trying to get into his tube and he fell in the water, all the way!  Now, the water was not very deep, maybe 2 feet at the most, but it was ice cold.  No...  colder than you think.  I am talking hypothermia cold.  So cold that he was gasping for breath.  I thought he was literally going to have a heart attack, right there at the boat dock.  But he finally caught his breath, got in his tube, got Lorelai's tube tied to his tube and off he went.  Now it was my turn.  I got in with no real problems except that I could not believe I was doing this because that water was so freakin' cold!  I got maybe 100 yards down the river when I got totally land locked.  The water was too shallow, and I did not steer well enough to stay out of the really shallow part, so I got out of the tube and walked.  I was wearing my crocs in the water, which I thought was the perfect shoe for this occasion, but I had so many rocks in my shoes, I could hardly walk!  I finally got to a point where I thought I could easily get in my tube.  I tried to sit and BAM!!!  I went over!  Completely under water, I was all alone, everyone was way ahead of me, and I truly thought that I might die.  I thought for sure I was going to drown in 2 feet of water in the Snake River.  The water was so cold, it took my breath away. I was gasping for breath.  Now I knew how Justin had felt just minutes earlier!  There is no way to control the gasping.  It is a natural instinct.  Nothing can stop it.  I was so confused that I was floundering around in the water, trying to stand up, but my legs were numb and I thought that everyone was so far ahead of me, I would never catch up... or my dead body would float by them as they were tubing down the river and they would just have to wait until they got to the bottom of the river to do anything about it...  by then, my kids would be a mess!  But, I finally got up and decided to walk a little further.  Justin had seen me fall and stopped his tube and waited for me to get to him.  At that point, we tied our tubes together.  The kids had all tied their tubes to Erin's tube and Landon was going it alone.  I felt much better being tied to Justin and Lorelai.  Soon the river got a little deeper, and we no longer had to keep getting out to get off of the sandbars...  the sun was shining, and it became a nice trip!  We got used to the cold water and all sang and told jokes and watched some funny old ladies who were kayaking and drinking beer.  We looked for beaver dams and searched for moose, (never saw one) and generally had a really enjoyable time!  Lorelai did great until about the last half hour.  By then, she was done.  She was hungry and had to go potty... (She would not go in the tube, no matter how many times we tried to convince her.)  We were on the river from about 11:30 to almost 3.  It was a long trip, but pretty great!  We will definitely go again next year, but Justin and I will do a canoe, next time.  Afterward, we all changed and made our way down to Big Jud's in Ashton where we ate 1 lb burgers, yummy fries and o-rings and the kids got ice cream.  By the time we got home, we were all exhausted.  We all took showers and put on our jammies.  I think I was asleep by 10! That is some kind of record for me.

And now, we gotta think of what to do next week!  Our last week of summer!  ;)

Summer is passing us by!

The summer is whizzing by and I feel like I can't slow it down!  I had such big plans and before you know it, those plans will not have happened because the summer just sped by. 
Right now we are in the middle of swimming lessons...  I am counting down my last days of work for the semester...  Justin has been counting down the days to the end of the semester since the first day it started...  So I feel like things are kind of on hold until next Friday when Graduation is all over and Justin and I can finally plan some family time with the kids! 
Caroline is getting so big!  I think she is in the middle of a growth spurt!  Her feet have grown 1 and 1/2 sizes just since school was out.  Hilton got a big boy hair cut so that he doesn't look like Justin Beiber anymore...  his words...  And Lorelai is acting a lot older too.  She is talking more clearly and has become much more opinionated lately.
So, for now, I will sign off until we can get to the good part of the summer!  The part when we all get to do fun things together.  I want to go to the zoo.  That is my top priority!  Until then... see ya soon.

I just don't have time to blog

I am busy!  It is summer!  I like to spend as much time outside as possible because the summer time here only lasts about 3 days.  We are almost done with those 3 days...  :) 
Our days consists of morning chores, then going to the free school lunch, then we do something fun like either go to the splash park, go to the new awesome pool, do a little shopping, go to the summer movie, or summer bowling or the kids play with friends while I work in the yard, clean the house, or read a book.  I have been lazy about making dinner...  Summer is a great time for salads and such.  Justin promises that we will get a grill this summer!!!  I can't wait for that.  The dogs laze out in the sun or the shade, depending on their mood.  It is great!  This is our first entire summer in our house and we are loving taking care of the yard!  We are now in the process of taking up all the bark and we are going to replace it with river rock.  It is going to look so nice, in addition to being better so the dogs don't spread the bark around all over...  We haven't taken any trips and really have no plans to do so.  But 4th of July we are going to  go to the parade and go roast hot dogs at a local park!  It should be lots of fun!   Not to mention, of course the fireworks at night!  Summer is fun, and we are taking advantage of the short time it lasts here...

This is a test to see if I can blog from my phone!

Long anticipated update...

I know it has been forever since I have updated this blog.  I wish there were a way for me to do it from my phone, maybe there is...  but I would probably update everyday if that were possible!
The summer is finally here!  My kids are at an age where they can all play outside without my being out there with them constantly!  It has been crummy weather here, so far, so they spend a lot of time indoors.  This makes for a lot of fighting.  But it is nice to have the freedom to go where ever I want whenever I want...  if we ever went anywhere. 
Yesterday we went to the PTO summer movie, Shrek Forever After...  it was silly and lame, but it gave us something to do on a cold, cloudy day.  And you can't beat free! 
We have big plans for the summer.  We are going to be doing lots of fun things if the weather ever warms up!  We have a new pool/water park opening the end of the month which we are anticipating!  But if it is as cold as it is right now...  who knows when we will get there.
We want to go see the Bodies exhibit in Idaho Falls.  It shows the insides of real human bodies...  Hilton is fascinated by this and can't wait to go!  We are planning a trip to the zoo...  We would love to go up to Missoula this summer sometime...   just to visit our old stomping grounds.  We also want to go up to Yellowstone and see the water falls at some point.  Not to mention all of our plans to hang out with our awesome friends this summer!
In the mean time... we just have to wait out the crummy weather...  be grateful for the rain... be grateful we don't need air conditioning...  and find things to do that do not require us to be outdoors, like going bowling, going to the movies, going to the library...
Can't wait for some fun times this summer!