Carol's Notebook – Page 682

Musing Monday

March 2, 2009March 2, 2009 by Carol3 Comments

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about boys and reading… When reading do you read every word? Do you ever skip chapters or skim over parts? It does depend on the book, but I’m horrible about skipping ahead and reading the ending or a portion of the book that’s ahead of where I am. I usually go back, though, and read the parts I missed, but sometimes I skim through them, since I already have a pretty good idea of what is happening. Some book are just overly-wordy, too, and I find myself skimming through paragraphs or, occasionally, even pages. I don’t know why this questions is about “boys and reading,” but my husband always complains when I read the ending early. I don’t know why he cares; it’s not like he reads the same books I do or anything. Head over to Just one more page… to share your thoughts. ...

Game Night

February 27, 2009February 27, 2009 by Carol2 Comments

Rat-a-Tat Cat designed by Ann and Monty Stambler, published by Gamewright Description: A game of suspense, strategy, and anticipation. Get rid of the rats and go for the cats! Sneak a peek, draw two, or swap cards for an added twist. In Rat-a-Tat Cat, less is always better, and you want to go out with the lowest score. Can you remember the numbers on the other players' cards? Can you keep a poker face, but notice when another player looks pleased? Sharpen your memory and your timing, and have fun with the cool cats and bad rats of Rat-a-Tat Cat. My thoughts: This is a great family game, recommended for ages 6 and up. Basically at the beginning, each player is dealt four face-down cards. You can only look at two of them though. By drawing and replacing the cards, swapping, and peeking, each player tries to get the lowest score they can. When someone calls Rat-a-Tat Cat at the end of their turn, each...

My Goodness: My Kids

February 27, 2009March 4, 2009 by Carol1 Comment

My Goodness: My Kids by Nesta A. Aharoni published: April 1, 2008 by Grassroots Publishing Group, Inc. From back: Raise good kids and save the world! Kids who are raised to be good—above and beyond any other characteristic—mature into adults who display honor and integrity in their daily lives. Children who value goodness don't cheat on a test to get into the college of their choice. They don't steal candy from the grocery or grow into adults who steal office supplies from the workplace. They treat others with respect and kindness, and they don't hurt innocent people through violence, manipulation, or cruelty. My thoughts: Aharoni doesn't claim to be an expert on child-rearing, but she is a mom who raised three kids, devoping ideas and strategies along the way. The book is divided into 30 chapters, each dealing with some aspect of raising children, like punishment, food and friends. These chapters have good solid advice in them and would definitely be helpful to people trying...

Walking with Dinosaurs

February 25, 2009February 25, 2009 by Carol3 Comments

Caite at a lovely shore breeze... tagged me for this photo meme. The rule is to find your 5th photo file folder, then the 5th photo in that file folder. Here's my photo: This was taken at the Walking with Dinosaurs exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA about a year ago. That's my husband and daughter looking at the stegasaurus in the remodeled dinosaur exhibit. The museum is one of my daughter's favorite places and we visit it several times a year. I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to share a picture, please do so and let me know....

Second Glance

February 22, 2009February 23, 2009 by Carol2 Comments

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult From the dustjacket: An intricate tale of love, haunting memories, and renewal, Second Glance begins in current-day Vermont, where an old man puts a piece of land up for sale and unintentionally raises protest from the local Abenaki Indian tribe, who insist it's a burial ground. When odd, supernatural events plague the town of Comtosook, a ghost hunter is hired by the developer to help convince the residents that there's nothing spiritual about the property. Enter Ross Wakeman, a suicidal drifter who has put himself in mortal danger time and again. Yet despite his best efforts, life clings to him and pulls him ever deeper into the empty existence he cannot bear since his fiancée's death in a car crash eight years ago. Ross now lives only for the moment he might once again encounter the woman he loves. But in Comtosook, the only discovery Ross can lay claim to is that of Lia Beaumont, a skittsh, mysterious woman who,...

Game Night

February 20, 2009February 23, 2009 by CarolNo Comments

Puerto Rico designed by Andreas Seyfarth, published by Rio Grande Games Description: The players are plantation owners in Puerto Rico in the days when ships had sails. Growing up to five different kind of crops: Corn, Indigo, Coffee, Sugar and Tobacco, they must try to run their business more efficiently than their close competitors; growing crops and storing them efficiently, developing San Juan with useful buildings, deploying their colonists to best effect, selling crops at the right time, and most importantly, shipping their goods back to Europe for maximum benefit. A novel game system lets players choose the order of the phases in each turn by allowing each player to choose a role from those remaining when it is their turn. No role can be selected twice in the same round. The player who selects the best roles to advance their position during the game will win. My thoughts: Puerto Rico is one of our go-to games on nights when we have five players. We have...