Writer Scams

I've been doing some freelance writing to earn a few bucks here and there.

I did some articles three weeks ago for this editor named Tom Francis. The offer was $12 each for some keyword rich articles on mortgage banking and construction positions. I knew enough about both of these that I agreed to do them. I had the seven articles done in a little over two hours, he loved them and told me that he was sending money immediately.

He never did.

This is a topic that I see more and more. The writer doesn't get paid, the person who owes disappears, and then posting his name becomes the only way to spread word. So watch out for Tom Francis.

It's a shame there are not better ways to protect against scam artists like him.

Breast Cancer

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of author Miriam Engelberg today. Miriam lost her lengthy battle against the dreaded disease. If you missed my review of her book - http://www.roundtablereviews.com/roundtable/Archives/engelbergmiriam62206.htm

Please, if you can, continue to donate to any breast cancer fund. Every little bit counts!

Tracy

Delivery people...

I get shipments almost daily. I also happen to have this odd driver for one of the large overnight services who yesterday truly crossed the boundaries. So while this isn't book related, per se, I hope some publishers out there who read this might begin to think carefully about whom they choose.

The company in question is Fedex. And I do have complaints in with the company and hope they will be dealing with the matter immediately, they said they'd contact me as soon as they'd discussed the situation... haven't heard a word, yet.

Anyway, there are three drivers in this area. Two are really nice, the other is also really nice, but he's a letch. Flat out, he is a sick pervert who should NOT be delivering packages to women.

When he first took the route, he would tell me how he had close ties to the local courthouse because of his former military career in which he was pretty high up. But he'd retired and wanted a part-time job with flexibility that allowed him to be out and about, Fedex fit his needs.

A few months later, he told me how he was a major league umpire. He then proceeded to tell me that he'd been on the field during the Curt Schilling bloody sock game, that I could check out - we have that game on DVD. It was no surprise, he wasn't there, so my husband and I started to realize that this guy had an issue. Later he told me that he and another driver were always fighting over who got to come see me. It was odd again, but I still figured it was all him bragging over silly things.

The end of August, my hubby had the first full week of school off. The Fed Ex guy came and didn't see Dave putting in a new kitchen light. He made a comment that sounded suggestive about quickies but I wasn't sure if I just was taking it wrong or hearing it wrong, when Dave came out and made it known he was home, the FedEx guy took off faster than I've ever seen him move. That's when I realized that maybe it wasn't all must my making something more of it. Dave made a comment back that he didn't want to see this guy on our route anymore and that he'd be watching.

A full month went by and never saw the Fed Ex guy again. So I figured it was over. Until yesterday, he came right up and started asking how I'd been. I tried to blow him off by saying I was busy and had to get back inside. His response, "Turn around and I'll show you busy honey." I am 99.9% certain that there is no other way that that statement could be taken. It was suggestive. Thankfully, Dave is home for his birthday and he immediately contacted Fedex and told them that this guy is just not mentally stable and shouldn't be driving a route where women are home alone working. He also suggested going outside with a bat, but I told him as sweet as his wanting to defend me is - that's not the solution.

I'm hoping Fedex takes immediate action and either fires or at least puts this guy on a route where he has to enter fully staffed businesses. He's certainly not fit to be delivering to any establishment where a woman is by herself. In the meantime, I'll be locking my doors all day again and making sure that I have my 9-iron next to the door just in case. Again, the 9 iron isn't a great answer, but it's that or a really mean dog... with kids I don't like the dog aspect. Though I'm truly starting to think otherwise.

Books and food

I was discussing the link between books and food with another reviewer. Oddly enough, my daughter came home that same day and was looking over my shoulder at emails. She saw that and said, "Everyone knows you read a book with tea and biscuits."

That led me to wonder, if my ten year old knows it, is it something that she picked up because my mom is British or is it just as common here in the U.S. So I asked her why she said that. Her response was that in all the television shows she sees where a character is having tea, there is always a plate of cookies. (Cookies are biscuits in England). This led me to believe that the practice may be just as common over here.

I'm often disturbed by the lack of true coffeehouses/Used book stores in this area. We can go to Borders or Barnes and Noble and have a cup of coffee and a tart or something similar while you read, but I want a place like I've seen in smaller English towns where the coffee shop has racks of used books or is very close to a used book store and they invite you with comfy chairs to come sit down and read while you enjoy your coffee.

Some day that is my dream. I'm going to open up a small cafe type establishment with coffee served a special manner that I'm not posting with book shelves full of used books. Kind of a home away from home where you know the service will be friendly and the treats are always exquisite.

Hidden Gifts Of The Introverted Child

A month or so ago, I had the opportunity to review a book about introverted children. http://www.roundtablereviews.com/roundtable/Archives/laneymartiolsen82906.htm

Now this book really made an impression as I tend to be introverted, and I've noticed both of my children are the same way. One of my sticking points in school was the teacher who always insisted on calling on the shyer children--the ones who wouldn't make eye contact or raise their hand. That was me!

In this book it suggests that forcing an introverted child to answer a question before they have had time to think an answer through is actually damaging to their self-esteem. I would again agree. Mr. Carney, my 8th grade history teacher, did this to me. I will never forget the question, "In the 1970s, the US came up with stricter regulations allowing the entry of these people into our country?" History was never my subject. He called on me and I said the first thing that came to my head, "aliens". Meaning illegal immigrants. The class and Mr. Carney spent a good 15 minutes laughing hysterically over my answer. Carney admitted he knew what I was saying, but he still had images of the spacemen in his head. Meanwhile, I was humiliated and it reinforced my thoughts that calling on students who do not want to be called on is rather destructive.

This leads me to a question for teachers. Why can't you lead a class without calling on others in a sneak attack mode? The night before, announce to all the students that tomorrow's discussion will be on whatever subject. Everyone will be expected to give their opinion on ... and that they will be taking turns offering their thoughts. This gives the introverted kids a night to prepare their arguments. It takes some of the stress off the sneak attack that many teachers currently use.

My son's science teacher last night said my son's biggest thing is that he doesn't always raise his hand to volunteer an answer. SO WHAT. He is pulling straight A's so they know the material is being learned. Try a different approach and you may find he jumps right in - IF he's had time to plan things out.

Favorite Authors

Every year, a huge harvest market is held very close to my childhood home. We will drive to my parents' home, park for the day and walk to the harvest market festivities. This year the Harvest Market was a bit of a bust, due to the weather (I think) many booths were absent or missing completely.

At the Harvest Market, local libraries, preschools, and other organizations hold huge flea markets, book sales, and food booths. So we all go to eat french fries, fried dough, onion rings, and various other bad for you foods. Then I always look for cookbooks and a few other goodies that I feel the urge to purchase for a ridiculous amount. This year I was looking for two books specifically - both by Diane Mott Davidson.

Now if you are unfamiliar with this author, she writes a series based on a caterer (Goldie) who always seems to stumble across a dead body. Diane Mott Davidson was my introduction to the world of the culinary mystery and all of her books sit in my kitchen where I am always game to try out her recipes from time to time. Unfortunately, I had not been keeping up and I'd not purchased her last two books until recently. Now I have some catching up to do.

Since my introduction to Diane Mott Davidson, I have found so many other delightful culinary mystery writers - Joanne Fluke is another I can't live without.

To me, getting hooked is what it is all about!

Rainy Days

While it may have started out relatively clear, it is now pouring rain. I have to admit, even when it is dreary and gray, the sound of rain falling on my back roof is also so relaxing.

Today is one of those days when I got my freelance writing done, so now I'm just waiting to hear if I will need to do rewrites or not. The rest of the day, I can get some reading done. I have a bunch of books pulled out. I'm not sure where to start first, but with it so grim outside, I am in the mood for a glowing, scented candle, and then a number of books. Hey, I may even pull out some more classics... the stuff I HATED reading in high school. Quite a few of them are rather intriguing now that I have a little more experience in the world. :-)

Children and Reading

A reviewer and I were talking about school imposed reading. Adults will remember those high school days when you were handed a book and told READ IT. This was followed by essays, tests, and lengthy discussions about symbolism, themes, metaphors, etc. I hated being told what to read. Shakespeare--I had no use for him and his speech that always ended with -eth. What he did sayeth never meanteth much to me.

In high school, there are a few books I did keep. To Kill A Mockingbird. I loved that story, just as much as I love the movie with Gregory Peck. George Stewart's Earth Abides - can you imagine being one of a handful of survivors to a major plague? I never minded reading Judith Guest's Ordinary People either.

Romeo & Juliet, I've never understood why we had to read it in both Freshman and Junior year. Worse, my grades on the tests given after reading the book never improved! Same goes for MacBeth or Hamlet.

John Steinbeck, I have all of his books and love reading them from time to time. But George Orwell's 1984 - no thanks.

With this my son is starting his 7th grade year. They have to finish 25 books in order to pass the class in June. To my amazement, I actually heard his teacher announce that they get to pick the books they read. She'll do some anthologies with them, but all of their other reading is on their own. Textbooks, magazine subscriptions (a full year of magazines counts as one book)- they all count as reading. It's ABOUT TIME. My son has two magazines that he will not let me miss - Consumer Reports and X-Box Magazine. He does read and reread these magazines all the time. I can't imagine any teacher saying a magazine counts, but I'm glad someone finally acknowledges it!

So far, my son is almost finished the first book in Phillip Pullman's trilogy. (Can't think of the name - but Golden Compass is one of the books - possibly the first, possibly not). He tends to be drawn to sci-fi/fantasy type books. He's working on The Hobbit in another class.

A question arose though - what books would you recommend to fussy readers?

Here are the answers I've come up with:

Romance -

Try Lavyrle Spencer. Her books are gentle enough to be teen friendly, the historical detail won't overwhelm a young woman, but the romances are incredible. Lavyrle is the writer who introduced me to romance.

General Fiction:

I'm hooked on authors like Steinbeck and Salinger. Not everyone agrees though.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy-

C.S. Lewis hands down. George Stewart of course. Stephen King (though he can be horror too). My son will add Eoin Colfer, and JK Rowling to this list.

Lois Duncan, Judy Blume and Ann Rinaldi are winners for the middle school ages in my mind. Lemony Snicket books are another big hit in my house.

Jane Austen

As a romance reader who also loves a wide variety of other genres, I expected to love Jane Austen. She's touted as the genius to invent the romance, so what's not to love?

I dove into Sense & Sensibility and was instantly making cracks about Fanny living up to her name. :-) Unfortunately, as time passed I found myself become bored in a sense with the writing. Jane Austen and her heroines did not rush to do anything. I can understand it perfectly, but it is not in my lifestyle to slow down sadly. I always run from deadline to school function to errands to appointments in a frenzy of activity. Toss in normal every day things and I don't see how single working mom's ever find the time to breathe! I'm happily married with older kids, working from home, and I still struggle to handle everything on my plate.

Does this mean Austen isn't worth reading? No, I don't think so. I thoroughly enjoyed Lady Susan and her disconcern about polite society's rules. It's a dog eat dog world out there and Lady Susan seemed to be a woman with whom I'd enjoy gossiping!

I do think that what has happened is that in my world of having no time to myself, I want that tidbit of time to be fast paced and entertaining. Jane Austen can entertain, of that there is no doubt, but her pacing was just a little too slow for me to be able to connect with it.

New Year - Changes Being Made

Starting today, this blog will only be related to books. I'll update when I can. I do some freelance writing, so on some days I'm busier than others.

Today, I want to talk about reading. The school recently sent home a newsletter discussing reading. Children who read at least 20 minutes per night prove successful in school. Is there truth to that?

My children see me with a book in hand regularly. My son and daughter both read nightly. So I am an advocate of reading to or pushing your child to read. However, there are points where I disagree! It is a big thing at school that the kids should pick a different genre every month. If they start with sci-fi, they can't read a sci-fi again until they've read an award winner, non-fiction, general fiction, adventure, human interest, etc.

No child should be forced to read a book. I never agreed that our English teachers got to choose what we read. I hated Shakespeare. Few books ever appealed to me if they were forced into my hands. The only two books that I still keep on my bookshelf - TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and EARTH ABIDES. I love and reread those books constantly. As a note to others, if you loved Stephen King's THE STAND read George Stewart's EARTH ABIDES it is the same premise.

Now that I am no longer forced by teachers to read their choices, I have picked up many classics. TWELVE ANGRY MEN is a great classic - short but entertaining. I'm working my way through the complete collection of Jane Austen novels. Those are taking me a while to get into, but once they hit the key element, I can't put the novel down.

At home, my children can read what they want. I don't limit them. Even though some of their teachers don't like that attitude. To me, my son picking up an Alton Brown cookbook (one of his favorite chefs) counts as reading. He is fascinated by this man and will sit and read the cookbook from cover to cover. He does the same with Giada di Laurentiis cookbooks. In fact, he makes the best Chicken Picatta I've ever had. He loves reading cookbooks and I'm not about to tell him that a cookbook "doesn't count." Some teachers need to get over themselves and change with the times. He's also hooked on Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl books, so it's not like he only reads cookbooks. He has other likes.

My daughter loves Junie B. Jones. She has just about every book out there and reads them over and over. I've had teachers tell me that she needs to broaden her selections. I disagree. She's reading and enjoying it, what more does she need?

I will never understand the education systems push to get children reading a different genre every month. Why? There is plenty of time for them to do that when they enter high school and college. For now, let them be kids!

Back to School with serious hesitation

My children head back to school next week. Neither my fourth or seventh grader is happy about the return to school. This is pretty typical you'd think. Unfortunately, I understand their hesitation.

I received my 7th grader's temporary schedule last year. It seems that with the start of 7th grade, they try to mimic a high school schedule. The schedule is given to them on the first day of school and then any changes have to be made by Monday (they return to school on Thursday.) His big issue is that they are given 15 minutes for lunch this year. Can you imagine? Fifteen minutes to stand in the lunch line, eat your lunch, and then it is a school rule that students at each table clean their own area. So this means the students at the 6-person table have to wipe down chairs and table surfaces, bring up trays, deposit any litter, eat, and get their lunch within 15 minutes. It's absurd. The government blames video games and TV for children's growing waistlines - I have my own ideas about training childen to wolf down an entire meal within at least 10 minutes. Then the 7th graders all go to their student advisor instead of recess where they will discuss bullying, peer pressure, and any educational concerns. My son has already announced that he does not want to bother bringing a lunch to school this year because he doesn't like having to eat it in record time. I can't blame him...

Meanwhile, my 4th grader will have a 20 minute lunch this year and then 10 minutes of recess. Every year, the recess gets shorter and shorter for these kids. Better yet, if they don't get their work done in time they have to skip recess and sit in their classroom and finish any school work instead. This happened last year to my daughter. She'd gone to one of her gifted classes and didn't have time to complete her writing assignment. So she was forced to skip recess. I was ticked and the school had to deal with my wrath. I'm not a popular person at that school - not at all.

Thicker skins

Some people in the world today need to toughen up. I came across an email yesterday that was insulting, poorly writtten in terms of grammar and punctuation, and contained enough bad language that it made the author of said email look childish.

Those who know Jen and I know that we founded Roundtable Reviews on the premise that we would not rate books...we would tell readers what we thought about a book. The question on our mind while reading a book is "Would we be willing to spend the money needed to buy this book?" That is what we ask of our reviewers and ourselves.

Last week, I reviewed a non-fiction title that was okay, but the principle behind the book bothered me. I'm part Irish and am not about to hold my tongue--never have, never will. My review stated that the book was well-written, but the fact that the author (a former police officer sworn to uphold the law) states clearly that he broke many laws he is sworn to uphold bothered me. He waited until the statute of limitations ran out, released this book, and is now profiting. That does bother me regardless of his reasoning for breaking the laws. Sorry, but as a mom, I find anything glorifying breaking laws and stating "To beat a criminal, you must becomea criminal" is not something for which I would be willing to pay money. Hence the answer to my question - "would I be willing to buy this book if I were in a bookstore today?" That is what I based my review on. http://www.roundtablereviews.com/cearobert80106.htm

The author states he is disgusted by my "Dan Rather Gorilla Type" journalism tactics and that I make money by twisting the truth. My response to this - book reviewers are not paid despite what you proclaim. Online review sites do it for the love of books, not for money. I've never profited off my reviews - in fact, I wind up shelling out personal money to cover things like shipping, website fees, etc. So in no way am I biased by money. Secondly, one thing all authors need to realize, and most do, is that reviews are OPINION. This review is MY OPINION of your book. If you don't agree, so be it. That's your right.

I, however, still stick by my first opinion. People got hurt. Laws were broken. And now a profit is being made. I do believe that the author himself stated that his years as an officer provided him with the resources to "pad his pockets". Sure, the author knows what he did was wrong and has turned his life around. I do not debate that. However, if you look at the definition of "padding pockets"...


pad 1 (pd)
n.
1. A thin, cushionlike mass of soft material used to fill, to give shape, or to protect against jarring, scraping, or other injury.
2. A flexible saddle without a frame.
3. An ink-soaked cushion used to ink a rubber stamp.
4. A number of sheets of paper of the same size stacked one on top of the other and glued together at one end; a tablet.
5.
a. The broad floating leaf of an aquatic plant such as the water lily.
b. The flattened fleshy stem of a cactus such as certain varieties of prickly pear. Also called paddle1.
6.
a. The cushionlike flesh on the underpart of the toes and feet of many animals.
b. The foot of such an animal.
7. The fleshy underside of the end of a finger or toe.
8.
a. A launch pad.
b. A helipad.
9. A keypad.
10. Slang One's apartment or room.
tr.v. pad·ded, pad·ding, pads
1. To line or stuff with soft material.
2. To lengthen or increase, especially with extraneous or false information: pad a lecture with jokes; pad an expense account.Idiom:
on the pad Slang
Taking bribes.

This suggests that the author realizes he is now profiting from his past by a. Providing false information or b. taking bribes. Either way, I still find it wrong.

Driving Rules

I have a new rule. This blog entry goes out to the two drivers who beeped and gave me the finger yesterday! Perhaps you'll read this and learn something.

Exit 14 on the interstate has led to some one-lane issues which means the traffic is backed up for a long time. I was on the interstate yesterday and got caught in it. After spending 30 minutes moving from Exit 16 to the bridge over the Winooski River, I was getting hot and tired. My kids were no different. On the bridge, a sign stating "Merge Right. Left Lane closed in 1/2 mile" appeared. That means people had 1/2 mile to get over. So two drivers raced by on the left right when I was about 10 car lengths from the barrier with the lane closing. They then expected to be let in immediately. No one in front of me did and I wasn't about to either.

If you have had plenty of warning that you need to merge, then don't expect those who have merged in advance to suddenly feel sorry for you for ignoring the signs. I'm not about to let you in, not if you wait. If I had my way, you'd be sitting until the wee hours when traffic finally eases enough for you to get over without issue. If you can't follow the signs, you don't get the perk of getting on with your day. Sit and wait like the rest of us had been doing!

Back To School Shopping

My son finally got his back to school list from the school (7th grade). I guessed almost completely wrong. I'd bought him pencils, which were needed, pens (again necessary), notebooks (not needed at all)...

So I get the list - 2 inch binders - four of them. I checked Staples and Walmart. For 2 inch binders, we are looking at at least $5 a piece. Staples has them on sale this week 3 for $21. I'd bought him 1 inch binders, but apparently that won't do. I'm slightly ticked because that's a lot of money to have to spend on binders that he is certain he could have used 1 inch and made do with them by cleaning out the old from time to time and 1 inch are what he's used in the past.

We also have to buy him a scientific calculator, a metric ruler, colored pencils, computer disks (not that they mentioned the size, I'm assuming they mean 3 1/2 inch disks, though blank CDs would be much handier to me as I always have those on hand), reinforcers for the binder, and dividers for the binders. He will not get his schedule until the first day of school, so the rest of the list will be given to us when his full schedule is set. I'm ticked about that. That means parents will have to do a mad dash to get the rest of the items that weekend.

Our daughter, they still haven't sent her list yet.

Kudos

If you read my blog ever, you'll have seen that my children's pool fell victim to some ATV riders. Anyway, there was an article in the local paper a few days later regarding some ATV trails that are being shot down by one of the state agencies. So I fired off a letter to the editor about this...

Would an ATV trail really be that bad?I have to say that the NRPC is wrong. I have no tolerance for ATVs in most cases, but I would much rather have ATV riders on a trail than where they currently ride - my yard. We awoke Wednesday morning to ATV tracks across our yard, and one of the ATVs had run over my children's 10 foot by 6 foot pool, destroying it. Police say that there is little that they can do to prevent these wee hour of the morning ATV activities because there is only so much of a police force to go around throughout Franklin county. Perhaps if ATV users had somewhere to actually go, they'd get off of other people's yards. In the meantime, if anyone has a pool to donate, I'm sure my children would appreciate it. - Georgia, VT - July 23, 2006

I tried to remain civil. And I've been told I didn't sound as witchy as I could have been. So I guess I kept the civil tone throughout. I have an update to this story now!

The local ATV Assocation (the North Country ATV Association) contacted me after seeing my letter. Not only did they find a replacement pool (not an easy feat, I'd gone to four stores and couldn't find a pool that was the same size), but they also went out back and talked to the kid we feel is responsible. His ATV tracks are still visible, they saw them and said it looks like the kid steered for the pool. They warned him that there was going to be more patrolling and ticketing by not only the police, but also by fish and game wardens who now have the authority. They suggested he join their association and get out on the trails where ATVs should be. Since Friday, the kid has not been out ONCE on his ATV. Things have been quiet. I appreciate everything Steve (the president) has done for my children!!

Responsibility

I think I've had it with the kids in my neighborhood who own ATVs. I actually had it a long time ago, but the final straw came some time last night. Two ATVs apparently decided my yard was good for racing and then ran over the pool we purchased for my kids. It wasn't a huge pool, but at 10 feet by 6 feet and then 3 feet deep inflated, it was a good spot for them to cool off during these hot days. This, however, is all that is left.

http://www.roundtablereviews.com/damage.htm

There is no need for ATV riders to be on private property. I'm sick of it and wish the police would do more, however, they have repeatedly ignored neighborhood complaints. Part of me wonders, maybe it is time for taxpayers to stop chipping in to pay for the yearly salary we pay for sheriff patrols!

Cost of Living

I was watching House Hunters last night. I tend to enjoy watching the show to see other houses and see what the market is like in other states. Last night, the home buyer was in Manhattan trying to find a larger flat. OMG! The housing was absurd, but it was the "assocation fees" that shocked me. No wonder rents are so high there.

This home buyer is a voice actress. Not sure what someone in that field makes, but it would have to be a small fortune! She looked at three flats - all around 600 square feet. That's a little over half of my house. It's probably close to my downstairs. She needed one bedroom near her work in Manhattan.

The first place was puny. It was not glamourous and the views were awful. Yet, it was $500k and assocation fees were an addtional $750 a month. Another $750 a month is over my mortgage payment!!! The next place was $485k and the association fees were the same. So the final flat is $495k, association fees are $720 a month. I'm thinking with a mortgage on a flat that costs $500k, you are looking at a mortgage payment of around $2700 if you can afford 20% down. Under 20% down with PMI, I'm sure the payment would be around $3300 - $3500. Add on your association fees and you'll be paying $3400 to 4200 per month. That's absurd! If I realize that the housing prices in many areas are going to force people to work themselves to death, why can't the government???

The only news you'll need to read!

Yesterday, I logged on to read the news and was assaulted by bad news layered upon more bad news. Tunnels collapsing in Boston. Two more planes crashing this week (Russian, Pakistan, Mexico.) Subways derailing in Chicago. Bombs in some of India's railways. The suspicious death of a Vermont woman. Everything I read was depressing. Today the news was that a woman was found stabbed to death near Safeco Field in Seattle. The Vermont woman appears to have been beaten to death... A local realtor dropped dead while jogging. Nothing is happy anymore. I need the uplift, so I'm going to find some happy news.

Port boy’s battle with rare disease has happy ending By Christopher CamireTHE DAILY NEWS (NEWBURYPORT, Mass.) http://www.athensreview.com

On July 22, Brady O’Donnell will celebrate his third birthday. For his family, the milestone marks a happy ending to a medical ordeal that once had no end in sight.Although Brady looks like a happy, healthy child today, it was not long ago that his family questioned whether he would ever experience a normal life.Brady was born with an extremely rare disease called linear nevus sebaceous syndrome. Doctors said he would probably never be able to walk or speak. Huge birthmarks covered his face, head and neck. The left side of his brain was smaller than the right side, and he was susceptible to seizures that threatened to leave him developmentally disabled.


How about this one - a man missing since WWII has returned to his country. http://www.happynews.com/news/732006/man-missing-since-wwii-returns-to-japan.htm

There is far more at www.happynews.com Enjoy!

Changing Fate...

My daughter yesterday was playing in the backyard. She stopped to check the pond (just a small kit that we put in a few years back) and discovered a baby bird stuck in the water and it was near death. She was so upset, so I decided to go in, grab the bird and see if I could save it. Sometimes, animal rescue shows are a great form of education!!

My husband grabbed a junky towel and we wrapped the bird up. It wasn't acting scared, never made a move to peck me, it was shaking something fierce though, so my daughter and I took shifts and held it against us wrapped in the blanket hoping to get it warmed back up. Eventually she grew tired of it, so I took over and used the towel to dry off as much of the bird's feathers as possible. It was a small grackle and the mother sat watching me from the tree, not attacking, so I'm guessing she'd figured her baby was a lost cause.

Two hours passed and suddenly the little guy started squirming just a little. So I moved him/her to a sunny spot on the deck (hawks are common around here and two were overhead, so I made sure he was hidden from sight). Another hour passed and he suddenly stood up by himself and started watching us. He still made no move to attack, so I figure all was well and my husband and I sat back and watched him.

At this point, Jess was excited because his breathing seemed back to normal and he'd stopped shaking. He started squawking about 20 minutes later and his mom flew to the bird feeders, repeated his noises, flew off to the tree and kept repeating that pattern. To our amazement this little bird that I figured was going to die, stretched his wings and flew over the deck rail to join his mom in the tree.

I know they say if you see a wild animal in trouble - leave it be. I guess it isn't in my nature to just let something like a bird die. Jess is overjoyed that she saved this bird's life and I have to say, it is an amazing feeling to see something go from limp and gasping for air to alert and flying.

Click

We went to see Click last night. Now I am a fan of Adam Sandler. Sure he's goofy, but there is something about him that comes off as extremely sexy - maybe his grin...

I think Click is one of his better movies. He's a family man this time... he's also a workaholic. The bratty kid next door is always rubbing it in how his family has better technology, cars, lifestyle... So in desperation one night, Sandler heads off to Bed, Bath & Beyond to at least get a universal remote so that he'll be capable of turning on his television. Christopher Walken gives him a brand new product-- a self programming remote - just point and click. The thing is the remote works on anything and anyone. Suddenly, Sandler has the power to control his life - fast-forwarding through the bad and freezing the screen when things are good!

While this is a great comedy, there is also the emotional drama aspect when he finds he is using the remote so much that life is whizzing buy. I found myself laughing, shedding a tear or two, and then knowing by the end that this is a movie I'll have to own. I could watch it again and again without tiring of it.