Wordless Wednesday- Goof Pig
Simple Sunday- Nerds Unite!
“Nerds are far more interesting humans in later life.”-Alyson Hannigan
“In society at large, nerds are law-abiding, caring, fundamentally good folk who keep the wheels of civilization grinding.”-Alexandra Petri
“I want to be the poster girl for engineers and computer nerds.”-Alessandra Torresani
“Evanescence fans aren’t the popular kids in school. They aren’t the cheerleaders. It’s the art kids and the nerds and the kids who grow up to be the most interesting creative people.”-Amy Lee
“No longer is a geek identifiable by a pale complexion, black-rimmed glasses, a bowling shirt that says ‘Nerd World Order.’ No, geeks are everywhere. And they’re cool!”-Faith Salie
“Geeks are people who love something so much that all the details matter.”-Marissa Mayer
Wordless Wednesday- Harvard Natural History Museum
Here are some more fun pics from the Harvard Natural History Museum. We spent a lot of time there as it rained that day and we were on foot.
Simple Sunday- Favorite Reading Challenge Quotes 2023
“Sometimes a family was a mischievous magical boss, her magical rival turned friend, a magical girl who used to be a babysitter and now was like an older sister, and the person you didn’t understand in the beginning but liked so much now. And sometimes it was arguments and sometimes it was hugs and sometimes it was banding together to fight a morally corrupt government body and sometimes it was just existing in the same space together as friends. But whatever this family was right now, whatever it was going to be, and however it would turn out, it was mine. And I knew that I belonged.”― F.T. Lukens, Spell Bound
“Once I had him in the book club, I’d seduce him the only way I knew how. Through books.”― Juliette Cross, Grim and Bear It
“He looked at her like she was both his salvation and his anguish. Like he had been searching for her for a lifetime.”― T. K. Tucker, The Coven of Ruin
“The story of disabled success has never been a story about one solitary disabled person overcoming limitations—despite the fact that’s the narrative we so often read in the media. The narrative trajectory of a disabled person’s life is necessarily webbed. We are often only as strong as our friends and family make us, only as strong as our community, only as strong as the resources and privileges we have.”
― Alice Wong, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century
“You expect heroes to survive terrible things. If you give them a medal, then you don’t ever have to ask why the terrible thing happened in the first place. Or try to fix it.”
― T. Kingfisher, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
“It is fascinating to note how clothing so often played a role in resistance, as life-saving warmth, a heart-warming gift, a hiding place or a disguise.”
― Lucy Adlington, The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive
Favorite Fictional Kids’ Books of 2023
Hi there! Whew. I don’t know about you, but the end of the year has been a whirlwind. I finished my 100 Book Reading Challenge this year and it took a little longer than I thought it would. I think I read more “quality” over “quantity” this year and that made it harder to just mow through fluffy books. Last year I was just downing silly books because it was all I could concentrate on.
This year I deliberately tried to spread out to different types of books, genres, and topics. I read traditional style with physical books, audio books, and with the Kindle App. I also tried to read a variety of different age ranges. I’m working on stocking my office with more books for my kid readers.
I didn’t force myself to finish books I didn’t like for one reason or another. I’m proud of myself for that, but I did forget to keep track of them in some way, so I had to go back quickly and try to remember which ones those were.
Viking in Love by Doug Cenko: This is the cutest little book ever about conquering your fears to look for true love. I adore it and gifted it as part of a 12 Books of Christmas present for K1’s kids. I received word that they also loved it. Stig proves that you can challenge yourself to work through your fears and still be yourself.
My Brain is a Racecar by Nell Harris: I have this book in my office and I love it for explaining ADHD to younger kids. The author was inspired by her own journey with ADHD and offers ideas and skills for other kids to help them give their race care brain a break. I especially enjoyed it because I recognized some of the things she says her brain does and actively do some of the rest techniques mentioned. I liked that it normalized neurodivergent brains in a fun way.
A Day With No Words by Tiffany Hammond: This book tells the story of Tiffany and her Autistic son Aiden and their day using only their AAC (Augmented and Assistive Communication) devices and apps to communicate. It’s a beautiful book that I think should be in all the libraries and read to all the kids. Tiffany has such a lovely way with the storytelling (You can check her out on Facebook as Fidgets and Fries too) and the love that’s evident in the book between them both is just wonderful. I love books like this that normalize all sorts of communication and families. This book was gifted to a few friends and also is in my office.
Middle Grade– Most of the Middle Grade books, I read because I was looking at them for the office and also because it was fun to see a new style and grade level of book.
Speak Up by Rebecca Burgess: The main character in this graphic novel, with the help of her friend, transforms into an internet pop star sensation on the weekends and is a shy student during the school day. She is Autistic and loves music and writing her own songs. Dressing up in costumes makes her feel invincible and able to get her feelings out. Eventually she has to learn not only the value of friendship, but the value and strengths in speaking up for herself. I really liked it. It was a super easy read and was pretty fast paced. I liked how there was conflict but also showed the resolution. I would definitely recommend this for middle readers.
Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry: Calliope June is the main character who is a middle school attempting to hide her Tourette’s Syndrome because she’s gotten teased about it before. The book goes into detail about symptoms she experiences and emotions relating to them. This one is a little heavier I’d say, with appropriate themes, but you’d probably want to talk about it with your kids when reading it or after reading it. Themes included friendship, first love, bullying, moving, and different family dynamics.
Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos: What a beautiful graphic novel! The colors are stunning as you can see by the cover, but then they also used black and white to evoke emotions without having to use words. The story is about Isla, a Cuban immigrant girl who came to the alone US as part of a refugee program in the 1960’s. This program was real and the graphic novel tells a fictional story of Operation Pedro Pan that was based on real experiences. I thought this was super immersive and it was a good read.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher: This book was probably my favorite Middle Grade book I read last year. I discovered T. Kingfisher only in the last couple of years and it’s a Nome de plume for Ursula Veron. I loved this book! For such a short books, I lost track of the times I was cackling on the couch loudly enough to scare both the Husband and Piggy. It is about a girl with an unusual magic that only works on bread and a struggle for her city.
If you have kiddos in any of these age ranges, I would highly recommend all these books. You will not regret it! I have several more that I didn’t get to read last year that will make it on my list this year, I’m sure. Now, go find a fuzzy friend, a warm beverage of choice and get reading with your kids!
Wordless Wednesday- Shiny Rocks!
These were all taken at the Harvard National History Museum.
Simple Sunday- Goals
“I don’t focus on what I’m up against. I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest.”-Venus Williams
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”-Zig Ziglar
“Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.”-Viktor E. Frankl
“My life has always been about making certain I accrue the skills necessary to make my ambitions real.”-Stacey Abrams
“Pursuit of perfection is futile. Instead, I prioritize and often realize goals or tasks I’ve been aiming for just aren’t that important.”-Aisha Tyler
Simple Sunday- Experience
“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”- Douglas Adams
“Some days are just bad days, that’s all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that’s just the way it is!”- Dita Von Teese
“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”-Oscar Wilde
“Our uniqueness, our individuality, and our life experience molds us into fascinating beings. I hope we can embrace that. I pray we may all challenge ourselves to delve into the deepest resources of our hearts to cultivate an atmosphere of understanding, acceptance, tolerance, and compassion. We are all in this life together.”-Linda Thompson
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'”-Eleanor Roosevelt
“Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is. People lose their capacity to walk, run, travel, think, and experience life. I realize how important it is to use the time I have.”-Viggo Mortensen
Disney Costume Exhibit
Here’s another catch up/throwback post. These were all at a Disney costume exhibit at the Henry Ford forever a go now. I thought it would still be fun to post it though. The detail on the costumes was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed getting a glimpse behind the scenes. From a seamstress’ point of view it was wild to see the techniques and craftsmanship that went into these costumes.
Here’s the Fairy Godmother’s costume from the 2015 live action remake of Cinderella. Isn’t it gorgeous? It’s so fluffy and sparkly. I loved the different fabric textures and sewing techniques and how it all worked together.
And here’s the Cinderella dress from the same movie. They used a couple of different fabrics to create the shimmer, as well as using some CGI to help things look even cooler in the movie. If you look closely at the bottom, you can see the different layers and colors of shiny tulle that was used.
These are the day dresses for Cinderella’s stepsisters in the live action remake. If I remember correctly, they primarily in these color palettes for most of the movie.
Here’s another live action remake- This one is Beauty and the Beast. This is the village dress that Belle wears until she gets to the castle. The costume designers were trying for French countryside to pay homage to the story’s origins.
Here’s Gaston’s costume. The color was so bright and vibrant. There were a lot of military elements involved in the costume.
Here is Belle’s famous ball gown. This one was really cool because it was very fluttery and they had silk screened the print and bejeweled it. I really enjoyed the cool shaping on the bodice as well.
This was from the live action Maleficent movie. Look how cool the shiny vinyl is! This is supposed to be the dragon part of the costume. The big puffy white thing in the corner is Aurora’s dress. I believe it was from a wedding scene.
Here are the Mary Poppins dresses- original and remake, and the original carpetbag. I really enjoyed spotting the differences between the two costumes and finding the nods they made to the original. How many can you find?
Look out! Here comes the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. I absolutely loved these costumes! The patchwork is fantastic and lovely. All the colors and textures for the fabric make them look especially rich and fancy even though they are supposed to look old fashioned.
There were some guy costumes too, but I wasn’t as interested in them. They had similar colors and not as much embellishment. Jack Sparrow’s costume was one of the most interesting ones with all the colors and details.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little glimpse of some adventures! Maybe we can all find an adventure of our own!
Simple Sundays- Merry Christmas!
“I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.” – Fred Rogers
“Christmas Day is in our grasp, as long as we have hands to clasp! Christmas Day will always be, just as long, as we have we! Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart, and hand in hand!” –Dr. Seuss
“When we remember a special Christmas, it is not the presents that made it special, but the laughter, the feeling of love, and the togetherness of friends and family that made that Christmas special.” – Catherine Pulsifer
“Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.” – Charles M. Schulz
“Christmas is a togethery sort of holiday. That’s my favorite kind.” – A. A. Milne