Seven Friday Shorts

1. "Makes 10 burritos. So basically can serve 7-10 girls or 5 hungry boys. Depending on the day, I may or may not include myself in the 'hungry boy' category." -- That Married Couple

2. I finished Les Miserables this week! Oh, was that ever a good book! It took me about two months to read it and I loved every minute of it. Victor Hugo was a first-class writer! People say that he digresses horribly but that is a lie used by horrible people to dissuade other people from reading a truly incredible book. If there was ever a book with too many looong tangents that book is War and Peace. Les Miserables is just the right length, with just the right information. I admit, I teared up at the very end. It was so sad when Jean Valjean was dying. Gavroche's death was so heart-breaking-ly pitiful. Saddest thing ever.

3. At the moment I am reading a book called Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. I didn't like the first chapter or two because Alcatraz creeped me out. He reminded me of the boy in The Village who killed Ivy's lover, particularly during the part where he burned down his foster parent's kitchen. It got better after his grandfather entered the scene, he wasn't so self-centered or creepy. I am wondering what the moral of the story is, there is definitely a moral. I can feel it in my bones. B. Sanderson put a moral in it, I know, I just have to figure out what it is.

UPDATE: I finished the book between when I started this post and when I finished it. Official proclamation: four/five stars. (I know, stars: very creative.) I thought the prose was a little mediocre at times, most of the time it was good but occasionally I found myself thinking, "Yes, dear author, I am not stupid." It was like having a book start with two characters talk to each other about recent events, sort of. I loved the ending, the ending after all the cliffhang-y parts. The very last page.
I wish there weren't so many Lemony Snicket like tangents. That was one thing that I really disliked about the two Series of Unfortunate Events books, Snicket was like an old broken record, "This is a sad depressing book. Don't read this! Go be happy! Frolic with the pink unicorns! This is a sad depressing book. Don't read this! Go be happy!" and so on. I also disliked the way the Alcatraz kept saying, while narrating, "I regret, to this day, saving the lives of my companions." He didn't say it in so many words but I felt like that is what he was implying. It was a very typical young adult book.
Besides those compaints, I really enjoyed Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. So much sarcasm! Wow! That book was dripping with snark. Sing is probably my favorite character, he was a sweetie. Hang on a second, the dinosaurs might tie for favorite character.

4. I have discovered the wonders and beauties of cruise control. The first time I used it was the second day I ever drove, when I was on the interstate. I hadn't yet figured out how to maintain a steady speed so Mom had me turn on cruise control. It freaked me out! I wasn't in control and I...it was freaky. I used it once or twice after that and then gave up on it, thinking that it was something I could never get used to. However, recently (last week, specifically) I tried it again. When I say wonders and beauties, I mean wonders and beauties.

5. Oh, me! So much sickness! It's an epidemic! It seems like everyone is getting sick, getting sick again, or just recovering! Unclean, unclean!

6. Today is one of those days when I feel like I am paid way too much. Some days, like the days I carry a 40-50lb. little girl a block or two in the wind chills of February, I feel like I am paid too little. But today is one of those days were I am paid too much. One tends to feel a little unadequate, unworthwhile, etc. when their cooking skills are compared with the works of a culinary arts majorist's; when their activities include doing very little besides reading a half dozen picture books out loud, washing some dishes, and yelling "Bad dog!" every other minute. Oh, these days full of incompetent feelings are so much fun. Maybe I would feel better if I had remembered to make my charge brush her teeth. (Actually, I brush her teeth for her because she, so far, refuses to do it herself.) Maybe today would've been better if it didn't start with not getting much sleep and having my charge cry and scream and wail for the first five minutes after I arrived. Maybe? Do you think?

7. How does bedtime manage to sneak past me without my noticing? I've gotten a little unperceptive over the last few days. I need to re-train myself to be early to bed and early to rise--I keep breaking that habit before I am endowed with health, wealth, and wisdom.