Recently I was talking to a friend about the magnet schools back home in Texas. I was really excited for Shawn because one of them had a culinary arts program. He would have loved that. And after graduating, he could have gone to Texas Culinary Academy - I was just looking over their website, http://www.tca.edu and it sounds like it might have been just perfect for Shawn. And he would have only been three hours away from us, in Austin, TX. And the magnet high school was actually in our school district! Here in our small town in Alabama, the closest magnet school is six hours away! Six hours?! Yikes! I have a neighbor friend who just sent her son there this year for the first time - he is a sophomore! Send my boy SIX hours away from me in the tenth grade?! That would be so hard - and both of my boys are expressing an interest in going. Oh no! Tell me again - why did I move to Alabama?

That is what my friend, Loretta, said she had just received from Amazon. She had told me that her Amazon order had come in, and I excitedly asked her what all she ordered. And one thing she mentioned that was in her ‘oh-so-fun-I-love-to-get-books-in-the-mail’ package, was a few Needlecraft Mysteries.

“Needlecraft Mysteries?!” I asked, “What the heck are those?”

And that is when she sent me to this Amazon page to check it out: A Murderous Yarn (Needlecraft Mysteries)

Now that’s pretty cool! (Of course, I had to ask her, “Oh, does the person get stabbed with a needle?” Ha!) Really, though, it is neat to have a whole series of books that caters to people who love to work with needles. And does Loretta ever like to work with needles! She is a ’stitching queen’ - she even runs a very active stitching website, complete with message board. You can keep up with what craftiness she’s up to by reading her Craft Blog. She talks about all things crafty there, with a heavy focus on needlecraft, and she even has free cross stitch patterns.

Getting back to the books, though - it is a whole series and I can’t even tell how many of them there are. It looks like a lot! And there is a big crowd of fans, as you can tell from the reviews. Loretta was told, though, that you don’t have to read them in order. So I will be interested to hear back from her how well she liked them.

I just love to learn about new books and the people who love them! It’s all so interesting! I wouldn’t call it new genres, necessarily, because these books would be in the mystery genre. But it divides up further than that, even - I wonder if you could say ’subculture’ in reference to such? You know, like the ‘Harry Potter subculture’.

This could be a whole new post, itself, I suppose - but, just wonder with me for a moment. What would we call the groups of people that like different types of books within one genre? I’m sure there are fantasy book lovers who don’t get into Harry Potter, for example. And I’m sure there are mystery book lovers that don’t like the Needlecraft Mystery books. So you have these sub-groups, and they are almost like a community, sometimes. I know with Harry Potter, it is like that - we went to a celebration of his birthday at a bookstore and it was very much like a community. And I’m sure when people are hanging out at the store until midnight, in full HP gear, they are feeling pretty much a part of the HP crowd!

Anyway, we could philosophize a lot about the different groups I’m sure, but, this post is really about my finding these Needlecraft Mysteries in the first place. And I just think they’re pretty neat!

Do you remember the other day when I talked about how even bookworms need to get moving? It’s so true! It is just so easy, and so natural, for me to just sit around - devouring book after book! But, that is not good for me, especially if I’m not getting in enough physical activity. And all of that sitting around can sure make a bookworm sore! Sometimes we need some topical pain relief to help us out!

I was quite recently introduced to Freeze It and let me tell you - I love it! I had tried some sample packets, and they were great - but, Mark just bought me the roll-on version. And I think that is going to be so handy, quick, and best of all - mess-free! Freeze It seems to work better and faster than any other product that I’ve tried. And the smell is not so overwhelming as some of the others. In fact, I don’t know how they did it, but, they made it so that the smell fades as you’re wearing it. That is a great thing, especially for me, because, a strong smell like that up on my shoulders could easily give me a migraine. I am so happy to have found Freeze It, that’s for sure!


Now ya’ll go ‘get moving‘ and then…

What a great idea! I just learned about this new technique for promoting a new book with video this afternoon. I was over at my friend’s blog, Ami-chan.net, and she had posted about a friend of hers who has recently been published and has created a great video for her new book. The author’s name is Molly Zeng and her new book is called Chasing Byron. Watch the new ‘book trailer’:

Now isn’t that cool for promoting a book? I love the idea! And I thought the trailer was nicely done and that the book sounds pretty good, too!

Oh my! Two teenagers? What am I going to do with teenagers? Teenagers are trouble, right? There are so many things I need to talk to them about now, and so many things that my husband and I have to look out for in an effort to keep them safe and healthy. And they are often so hard to talk to - they get embarassed, or bored, or just plain shut down when we want to discuss something important. I found a book, though, that might help with some of this. Actually, it is a series of books. The first one I want to get, though, is called Ten Talks Parents Must Have With Their Children About Drugs and Choices by Xenia Becher and Dominic Cappello. So many kids these days wind up in drug rehab, so I think keeping the conversation flowing is a really good idea - before your kids get into any trouble! The reviews on this book at Amazon are very promising to me, because, the people mention that their teen just would not talk to them, but, using some of the conversation starters in the book, their children actually opened up to them! That book is definitely going in my wish list!

Those of us who are hardcore bookworms would just be content to spend all of our free time lounging around reading books. And sometimes we have to work extra hard to get ourselves moving and to get exercising. And while reading is awesome, and books are awesome - physical activity is very important, too! And trust me, I’m preaching at me while I’m preaching at you - I definitely need to hear this! Hey - you know what would be the perfect combination of being a bookworm and getting active, too? Walking to the library! That is a cool idea - the kids and I just might do that next weekend!

Another problem that arises is that while I’m lounging around reading, I like to snack. I like to snack a bit too much! Combine the snacking and the not-moving, and I’m a mess! I’ve always been skeptical of diet pills, but, from what I hear, hoodia is not really bad for you - and very helpful! So I was doing some research on Wikipedia to see what I could learn about it.

I think, though, that getting moving, would in and of itself be a pretty good appetite suppressant!

My kids are alway begging for allowance, but, they don’t have regular chores. And I think a child that’s not ‘pulling his weight’ should not have a regular allowance, either. We keep telling them that when they can show us some more responsibility and not be told every single day, every single thing that they need to do, then, we will reconsider. But we are not going to pay for performance, when there is little to no performance being done. We also are not happy with the grumpy performance of their little bitty jobs we give them. I know, Mom, if you’re reading - I was the grumpiest one of all! Payback, and all that, right? I think I just need to set up a chart and pick chores for each of them. So far, that always winds up uneven, so I guess they’ll have to do like my brothers and I did and swap weeks for certain chores. I mean, feeding the dog or getting the mail are considerably easier than cleaning the kitchen, or vacuuming the house. And I never wind up with ‘three easy chores’ and ‘three harder chores’ - it just never works out that way! So I guess week-swapping is the way to go. I just need to find a chart and decide what all we want done by them.

We had a very involved principal at one of our schools and it was so awesome! Actually, I think we might have a principal who may be just as cool at Sammie’s school, but, I don’t have time to be up there all the time like I was at our last school. The one I was talking about at first, though, was so cool, because he went out of his way to make everyone feel special. I don’t know how he did it, but, he would learn almost all of the children’s names and call them by name when he saw them. And it wasn’t just the kids that he treated special. He was very good to his teachers, as well. Every Friday, he and the assistant principal would go all around the school with popcorn machines, giving the teacher’s a yummy afternoon snack. When a principal gets involved like that, the whole school runs better - and there is a great community feel to the school, too!

There are so many cool things to get involved in at school, and it is so enriching to a student’s school life and really, their life in general. One of my sons is involved in the marching band for the first time this year, and he is getting so much out of it. He is becoming responsible for his own schedule, and he is really learning a lot. And the friendships that are coming out of it are just growing by leaps and bounds. And then, of course, music scholarships for college are just awesome! Speaking of music, I have a friend whose son is in the honor choir at his school and at the end of the year, they are going on a cruise! Now, if the thought of going on cruises isn’t enough to inspire you to get involved in groups and clubs at school, then I’ll just sit back down and shake my head! Get involved!

One of my very favorite parts of running My Very Own Mail, my personalized letters for children business, is shopping for the crafts! I just totally and completely love that part! One of my favorite crafts I picked out for the kids last year was animal jewelry. It was so cute! It was a little pouch necklace and it was in the shape of an animal’s head. I think there were three or four different animals. I wanted to get a picture of Sammie’s for you (she and I always do the crafts I order) but, the little monster hasn’t put that craft together yet! It would even make a cute button graphic for the side of the blog! I will have to get her to hurry up and finish!