The Month of May in Books

May was a highly successful month for reading.
All together I managed six fiction books and a very petite non-fiction book.

That puts me on target to surpass my stated goal of 24 books or more for the year. It has also suggested that May has been a much more organised month than the preceding four, allowing me the time to do these sorts of things.

In brief, the books of May were:

A Death in the Venetian Quarter - Alan Gordon
Every Boy's Got One - Meg Cabot
Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations - Alexander McCall Smith
Jester Leaps In - Alan Gordon
The Lark's Lament - Alan Gordon
The Miracle at Speedy Motors - Alexander McCall Smith

This last fiction book was my birthday present and was devoured in two nights reading. Ah, there is nothing like a nice visit with Precious Ramotswe, even if you do feel the odd need to slap Mme Makutsi.

As you can see I have discovered a new fiction writer that will be joining my stable of regulars. Alan Gordon has leapt in with his Fool's Guild series.

I also dabbled with Meg Cabot, of The Princess Diaries fame. This book was meant to be aimed a little older, with the protagonists in their early thirties. Personally I don't know anyone older than eighteen who would come out with some of the dialogue presented, but like a sore tooth I just had to keep pressing on until it was over. Mushy, cute, chicklet-lit definitely. Emphasis on chicklet. Surprisingly, the guts of the story is based on the author's own elopement to Italy but told from the viewpoint of a rather ditzy best friend/bridesmaid. There's a nice addendum detailing those things that were "true" and those that were not.

How to have kids & stay sane - Nigel Latta

This little book was a gem of a light-hearted read. Written by a kiwi clinical psychologist who actually has children, and illustrated with very un-pc cartoons, it is bound to bring a smile to your face. Or in my case, tears running down my face while reading the chapter entitled "Things they don't tell you: the bath poo."
I'd like to share an example of the writing that doesn't involve baths...

Once you understand that all kids want is to rule the world, then you'll be fine. They don't want much, just total world domination, which is of course completely mad. It's not their fault, that's just the way children are. Some of them grow out of it, some of them become evil criminal geniuses, some become parking wardens, and some of the become President.

So my daughter isn't the only megalomaniac then. Nice to know.

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Full reviews of some of these books may follow.

Goals Update: April

The April review is going to be pretty short. Not much happened. Not much to report.

Parenting
On the parenting front we have been adding a variety of finger food to Miss O's diet. Currently we are happy with firm, dry and slightly crunchy foods like rice crackers.
Try to slip in a slice of kiwifruit or peach and the facial expressions are priceless. You would think we had just offered her a giant lemon to suck on. Still, we will persist and see if she can overcome the "oooh icky, slippy food" attitude and embrace fruit pieces in their whole form as much as she scoffs them mushed up with her baby rice.

Sleeping, as per March's review was still hit and miss. Mostly miss. We decided to try a slightly different approach to sleep time and are hoping this will alter her patterns in a positive way. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Creativity

On the creativity front April was mostly a silent month. To be fair the only real attempts at creativity were pretty much restricted to the few blog entries I made and a small smattering of photographs.
Ah well, perhaps May will provide more good news in that department.

Personal Pleasures, Treasures and Measures

In the Personal Pleasures area I managed to have a better month than March.

Read 24 books or more
Two more Phryne Fisher novels - Death at Victoria Dock and The Green Mill Murder - have been devoured. And one non-fiction book - Great Ideas for Tired Parents - surprise, surprise on the topic of choice there. ;)

Spend some time on family history research and break through one brick wall
I connected with a new family member, through my paternal grandmother's line. Together we have filled in some gaps and discovered the brother and brother marrying the sister and sister phenomenon that seems to occur in smaller communities. So that was really good news.

Work

Work was non-existent in the areas which I had set goals for myself. I went in to work on Thursdays through April in order to catch up on using the Payroll software. This is in anticipation of our Office Manager having a lovely month off in June, travelling through France with family and stopping off to see her new niece in Canada on the way home. It'd be nice to think we would continue to pay everyone even when she's not there. :)
As for the website, nothing further done there yet. I have to admit to finding this particularly demoralizing since I really wanted to get this commitment nailed down quickly and efficiently.

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The wrap-up for April is pretty much the same as March. I managed to do a little bit in some areas and absolutely nothing in others. I still don't have this parenting time management thing sorted out yet and it's starting to wear very, very thin. The sort of thin that socks go just before you declare them to be religious enough to chuck them in the rubbish bin.

On a positive end note, Miss O turned nine months yesterday. We note that as she was a little bit *overdue* it will be next weekend before she has officially been out as long as she was in. How time flies.

Food, Glorious Food

Recently I have been enjoying a website called TasteSpotting, and I thought it was about time that I shared it's existence with you.

It is a site to which people sign up and then submit the next image. The next image is normally associated with a blog entry and recipe. I have found it to be a great way to find new food related blogs.
I know, I know, I'm such a glutton.

You can vote for each post by giving it a star and you can sort the recipes/entries by date or ratings. If you just want to browse you can use the site's randomizer.

The only complaint that I have about the site is the sheer quantity of daily entries. You should carefully consider how you are going to enjoy the glorious array of food and recipes that come through it's portals. I kid you not, I have received somewhere in the region of 1600 entries through my RSS reader since the beginning of April.

So why would I recommend it then?

Because we all eat with our eyes and there is certainly no lack of talent in the food photography department. For those who may have difficulty "seeing" the end result of recipes, this is a good visual helpmate.
And where else will you come across such diverse entries in one place:

• Sushi Art - Entry #13682


• Vitelotte Noir - Entry #8408


• Easter Cheese - Entry #11095


• Fanesca - Entry #10716

Go on, take a look. Honest, you can't get fat just by looking.

Bon appétit

My birthday present from Miss O

The material things in life came in the form of the latest Ella Fitzgerald compilation CD and a birthday card with Miss O's own inimitable scribbles.

The more important, and intangible, things in life came in the form of trying to stand up on her own for the very first time.

Mr O was the first to experience this as his daughter used him as a climbing frame only to let go once she had reached her full height. An exciting moment passed as father and daughter stared at each other, and then - plop - down she sat. Naturally this was accompanied by frantic calling out to Ms O, who was in another part of the room at the time. Unfortunately the moment passed swiftly and I did not see this first attempt.

But little Miss O is not one to do things once. The evening was littered with attempts to stand alone, using either parent as a climbing frame, or casually letting go of the ottoman with that lightly touching hand.

What a wonderful birthday gift that was. I really couldn't think of anything better.