What-What?! Week of June 21st

Didn't post on Thursday, because I was broken.  I had a terrible day, and was just really discouraged.  It seemed like everything that is important to me on a day-to-day basis -- schooling the children, working the works, taking the classes, keeping my family healthy -- went wrong.  And I haven't been getting enough sleep, to boot.  So it all just collided into an entire day of wondering where the hell I have gone wrong with my life.  If all the stuff that I have been doing is worth it.  Which is stupid.  Being able to pay the bills is worth it, learning things is worth it, having an educated, healthy family is worth it.

So Thursday, I did the stuff I needed to; schooled the children, worked the works, took the classes, cooked a healthy-ish meal.  Then I watched part of Hot Fuzz, and fell into bed.

Friday wasn't as bad.  Saturday was better.

The husband made a teepee out of bamboo, and an old sheet:

The proud creator with his work.

I fit in it too! :D

It hasn't blown away yet, so that's nice.

Book Review: His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

This is one of Peter's books that I stole off his desk.  I made sure that he'd read it first, though, because I am a nice person like that.  It's a historical fantasy, set in Britain during the Napoleonic Wars.  There are dragons.  The story follows a naval captain, who winds up being the caretaker of a dragon.  I liked pretty well; It was well-written, with an interesting story, and a believable world setting.  The only part that bugged me was some of the pacing; it is a bit slow.  The ending was anticlimactic, and on the verge of being disappointing.  I hit the last page and truly thought "That's it?".  It just felt like there should have been more; a greater sense struggle, a longer description of the final battle and it's fallout, just something.  It's the first in a series though, so it's got that "...and now you'll buy the next one!" feeling a bit.  Otherwise, it is quite enjoyable.  I'm currently going through the Dragonlance trilogy, but when I'm done with them, I'll be reading the sequel to this.

What-What?! Week of February 15th

Happy day after Valentine's Day everyone! :P

The husband and I had a lovely steak dinner at home (first time we've bought beef in months).

Wednesday, Saffron had her first Girl Scouts meeting.  It's a new troop that the leader is forming because the waitlist for a troop was outrageous -- 38 people in Northern Everett alone, not counting any of us in the South end.  Saffron seemed to have fun, and the other adults seem nice enough.  I'm not 100 percent sold on Girl Scouts.  The curriculum activities seem very structured, and the program divides the girls into age groups that don't seem to interact with each other much.  But I've committed myself to sticking it out for a year, unless of course Saffron isn't enjoying it, or something decisively awful happens.

In other news, today is Flag Day in Canada, a holiday declared when they last chose a new flag in 1964.  The National Post has a great article about the process, and the various options that were mailed in.  Some are pretty good, while others are just terrible.  It's an interesting read for sure.

Book Review:  Scoundrels: Star Wars by Timothy Zahn

This story follows Han Solo through an Ocean's 11-type heist adventure.  Rated at 4.3 stars, this book has great reviews on Amazon.  But... I don't know.  There's nothing wrong with this book; the characters are lively and interact well, it's well integrated into the Star Wars universe, and the plot is good.  I didn't dislike it, not at all.  But I was expecting the book to be a Han Solo and Chewbacca show, with Lando thrown in for good measure -- it wasn't.  I was expecting this to be a fast paced romp, like many other Zahn books -- it wasn't.  With those two reservations put aside, it was quite enjoyable.  Like I said, the plot is good, though the pacing is sometimes slow.  The ensemble cast is filled with interesting, nuanced characters, who have believable interactions.  The antagonists are intimidating and powerful.  There is a twist at the end that would have been better either left out or integrated better with some of the other behind-the-scenes events.  I was disappointed that there wasn't more done with certain characters.  I do think this is a 4-star book, but not quite to my taste.

Oh!  My middle son has started getting into Star Wars, and was very interested in this book.  At one point, he begged me to read it to him.  He sat on my bed with me and listened to me read for a good 45 minutes.  This is a kid who can't sit still for a 20 minute TV show.  I was impressed.  I read it to him a few more times, too, which makes me think that I need to find some more Star Wars books to read. :P

What-What?! Week of February 8th

This week wasn't terrible by any means, but it really dragged on.  We had a pretty big storm roll through, and everything's still wet.  I want to go to the park and see the sun.  The husband came home with some California strawberries on Friday as a treat, and they were delicious.  They were from southern California, and weren't as good as Watsonville strawberries, but still a welcome taste of home.

Book Review:  The Mini Farming Handbook by Brett L. Markham

I didn't go looking for this book.  It just so happens that the gardening and farming books are on the same aisle as the cookbooks at the library.  I saw this book, and never made it to the other end to grab a cookbook. :P

Right now, the husband and I are house shopping, and one of the biggest considerations we have for a house (after other important stuff like the condition of the house, neighborhood, etc.) is the outdoor spaces.  It is our goal to have a large garden, and ideally some chickens or something, too.

We have read and own a few different books about small scale homesteading, and I really like The Mini Farming Handbook because it is very unpretentious.  The author is an organic farmer, but yet there is a section in the book about using pesticides.  This is because, as the author points out, if you are dependent upon that crop to feed your family, you are far less able to take a risk on growing organic produce; where an organic farmer can sell their produce at a higher price to make up for low crop yields, someone farming just for themselves will have a much harder time with such problems.

The sections on cheese and wine making are also very well written; the husband has spent more time reading about the wine making section, but I was very pleased with the discussion of cheese making.  I've looked into cheese making before, and have been put off by the exacting nature of it; it's only so practical to hit exact temperatures for long periods of time in your home.  There is a discussion of this very problem, and what can be done to mitigate it.

The husband and I like it enough that this is one book that we're planning on buying for our personal library.  I highly recommend reading it if this sort of thing interests you.

Next week, I'll be reviewing Scoundrels: Star Wars by Timothy Zahn.

What-What?! Week of September 28th

This week was not bad.  The husband was sent home on Tuesday because he was too sick to work.  I cooked food, and it was good (lasagna, oatmeal jam bars, other things...).  It also rained most of the week, which was pretty sad to me.

Lowe's Build and Grow: Fire Truck

Yesterday, I took the two older kids to Lowe's for their monthly Build and Grow clinic.  This is a free event put on by Lowe's, and is a lot of fun.  At the event, you get a free apron and safety goggles, and the wooden project.  The project this month was a fire truck.  My kids had a good time, though the project was just on the edge of their ability to maintain patience, as far as waiting for instructions, wearing the goggles, and so on.  The kit was entirely put together with nails, which the kids hammered together more-or-less successfully.  The assembly was well thought out, and it seems pretty sturdy.  I think that getting the kids interested in working with their hands and giving them some ability to use tools is really good for their sense of independence.  Combine that with how much time they've spent playing with the toys, and you bet we're going back next month.  They are already excited to build their own haunted houses. :)

Book Review: The Green and the Gray by Timothy Zahn

I picked this Zahn book up from the library, based on the good reviews off Amazon, and how much I liked The Icarus Hunt.  I was pretty disappointed.  This story follows the same basic formula as The Icarus Hunt, with the protagonist and his associate stuck with something they don't understand, that everyone else is willing to murder for.

Where the story really goes wrong is the main protagonists -- the married couple's relationship is terribly clichéd, it doesn't feel real at all, and the dialogue is painful.  One of the other big issues is the number of characters is unmanageable.  There are all these sides doing all these things, it's hard to remember who is doing what (and why) at any given time.  So when there are big reveals, they tend to fall flat because it's hard to keep track of the significance.

Book Review: The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn

(A note before you read this:  Do NOT go read the Wikipedia page on The Icarus Hunt unless you want to see spoilers.)

The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn is one of my husband's favorite books.  Despite being married to him for over seven years now, I haven't read it.

Until now.

Truthfully, and I'm not just saying this to preserve my marriage, I quite enjoyed the book.

It follows the story of Jordan McKell, who is a smuggler that is hired to pilot the spaceship Icarus and its cargo to Earth.  Obviously, things go wrong -- there is sabotage, bribery, lies heaped upon lies, and all of this only topped by the fact that the ship is pursued by aliens, governments, and various ne'er-do-wells.

The story has elements similar to some of my favorite TV shows and movies; like Whedon's Firefly, it focuses on a smuggler and his crew of misfits, who'd all rather be doing something else.  Everyone being is after McKell and the ship, both governments and criminals alike, which dominates some of the storylines in Firefly.  The book also made me think of The Fifth Element, because the world setting feels very similar, in it's grittiness and treatment of technology.

What is funny about the things that the book reminds of, is that The Fifth Element was released in 1997, and Firefly was aired starting in 2002.  The Icarus Hunt was published right in the middle of that, in 1999.  So maybe it was just a time of good sci-fi.

(Also, all of those years make me feel terribly old.)

One aspect of the book that I like, is that Zahn doesn't mess around with technical explanations of the science in this science fiction work.  There's hyperspace, plasma guns, aliens doing alien things... and it's all stated as facts and left at that, basically.  I'm fine with this.  I've read other sci-fi books where the technology is described and explained in far too much detail, creating unnecessary lulls in the story.  Yes, sometimes the academic explanation of things is interesting, but my experience is that, most of the time, it really isn't.

Overall, The Icarus Hunt is a good romp.  The pacing is very good, the mystery is interesting, there's no weird forced romance or anything, just action and adventure.  Go read it.