Game Night – Mancala

by Carol6 Comments
Mancala Apparently "Mancala" is actually a family of pit-and-pebble games, which I learned today. Play involves scooping up pebbles from a pit and sowing the pebbles, one at a time, into the other pits. These games were probably created in Africa hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago. Apparently the version we play would be better labeled Kalah, but I'm still going to refer to it as Mancala. We've been playing Mancala a lot lately with Amber. It's a two player game, played on a board of 2 rows x 6 pits. The two scoring pits on each end are used in play. You start with 4 pebbles in each pit. If you sow the last pebble onto your side of the board in an empty pit, you capture all of the pebbles on the opponent’s side of the board in the pit opposite of the one you sowed your last pebble...
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Shelf Discovery Challenge Wrap-up

by Carol6 Comments
This challenge officially ended today and I on the one hand I failed miserably. I only read 3 out of the six books I had hoped to read. On the other hand, I read all three of these classics out loud with Amber (10) and sharing them with her was one of my goals for doing the challenge in the first place. The three books we read were: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald We also watched the Harriet the Spy movie from '96 which was really a fun movie, and fairly faithful to the story. Overall this was a really fun challenge, and hopefully I'll read more of the books I remember from my childhood with Amber. Actually, The Gammage Cup, which we're reading right now was one of my favorites when I was in 5th or 6th grade....
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One Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes by the Brothers Grimm

by Carol3 Comments
"One Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Today's fairy tale is another one I had never heard before. The version I read can be found at SurLaLune Fairy Tales. It's an odd little story. There's a woman who has three daughters. The oldest has one eye in the middle of her forward, the middle child has two eyes just like other people, and the youngest has three eyes, two in the regular position and one in the middle of her forehead. It doesn't mention how many eyes the mother has, but Two-Eyes' mother and sisters torment her for not being special. They make her wear rags, give her little to eat and basically make her life miserable. One day, while Two-Eyes is watching the goat in the field and crying, an old woman appears and asks her why she is crying. When Two-Eyes replies that she is always hungry, the woman teaches her a magic chant to say to the...
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The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

by Carol13 Comments
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux I've never actually seen the musical or watched the movie, but I still had some general idea in my head of what the story was like. I had some idea of a romantic love story. Apparently I was wrong. It's more like a horror story. Leroux presents this as a true story, that he has researched in depth. After having spoken with some of the main characters and reviewed the written records, he is ready to present the actual story of the scandal. The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is...
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Green Like God by Jonathan Merritt

by Carol6 Comments
Green Like God by Jonathan Merritt I have to say that I was a little skeptical when I first started this book. Environmentalism and "Go Green" is so politically correct and cool, I guess, that I didn't want want a re-hash of what we've already been told over and over again. But this was so much better than my expectations. I usually use post-its in books, both fiction and non-fiction, to mark passages I find interesting, beautiful, thought -provoking, that strike me in some way. Usually, there's maybe 5 marked pages when I'm finished with a book. This time I think I've got like 20 pages marked, which is pretty impressive for such a short book. It just grabbed my attention. Of all things I've grown to love most about God, topping the list is that He is so unexpected. Parting the Red Sea? Who would have predicted that one? Feeding a crowd from a child's lunch box? No way. Wrapping His...
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