Sandier Pastures

Ever wondered what goes on inside the minds of creative children, what sort of environment these children thrive or how talented artists spent their childhood?

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to review the book, a wonderful parenting book, Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative and Naturally Curious Children (Wonder Collection) by Ginger Carlson courtesy of The Opinionated Parent. I have a daughter who will be 5 years old this year and this book is a treasure I will never let go.

The growing years of children are the most critical time to nurture the creativity within and the environment that we parents create at this early stage can draw the line of how creative they’ll become as adults. If you are a parent wanting to develop that inner creativity among your child/children, this book will help you plan for activities that makes everyday unique and never boring. I have my day off every Thursday afternoon and Fridays and because my husband works and won’t be home until 7 pm on Thursdays, Thursday afternoon are mine and my daughter’s mommy and me time. I schedule activities to do with great help of the book. I couldn’t praise the author enough and I suggest you check it out. It’s a great read and like a treasure trove, it is filled with unending precious ideas page after page.

You can check out my review here. Also, do grab a chance to win an autographed copy of the book by leaving a comment at The Opinionated Parent! Contest ends on June 5, 2008.

Paperback: 584 pages

Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (May 8, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0300113242

ISBN-13: 978-0300113242

Just to make it clear, I am NOT pregnant but had the pleasure to read The Working Woman’s Pregnancy Book to be prepared because I won’t be quitting my job when that happens (soon).

Written by Dr. Marjorie Greenfield, the book covers wide range of topics from the decision to have a baby, through getting pregnant, fertility treatments, the experiences of each trimester, birth, bringing home the baby, and the return to the workplace, all aimed at working moms. Dr. Greenfield is an obstetrician-gynecologist who draws from her experiences as a working mom and from interviews with women from various fields.

I was working full time when I was pregnant with my first child 5 years ago. I worked until three weeks before my due date in the computer industry and every single day, I carried all those questions and doubts as to whether the workplace is safe for my developing baby. After all, there are plenty of special aprons in the market that promises to cut harmful unseen electronic waves/radiation from PC’s. Although I was lucky enough not to have any nausea or vomiting and to have a boss who saw that my brain cells never ceased functioning even with a burgeoning belly, there were changes in the company I was working with. They were making another branch in another country and the top management want me to move there (they wanted me to make a decision when I was on my 7th month) two months after giving birth or I won’t have anything to go back to. There was a certain point when I was climbing stairs and catching trains in busy and fast paced Tokyo just to meet with the executives regarding the move. The meeting itself was depressing and I had to control my emotions because I know I am faced with the elevated risk of premature birth.

I faced the pressure of having to make a major life changing decision, deal with my overactive tear ducts and some unpredictable mood swings alone. That time, I felt, working is already tough but working and pregnant at the same time? I wish I had read a book like this, it might have cut my worries and anxiety to half.

All in all, it was a smooth sailing pregnancy except for the 40-hour labor but that is another story. Every pregnancy and birth is different and I am employed in another company now. The Working Woman’s Pregnancy Book includes checklists for multitasking moms-to-be, helpful illustrations, stories and advice from experienced mothers and information on everything  from planning a pregnancy to balancing life after the baby is born.

I find the book very useful and timely now that I am seriously considering having another baby. I also have decided to give pregnant friends books about pregnancy instead of baby booties and this book is on top of my mind because it will walk you through the whole pregnancy experience like a mom, sister or close friend would.

This was part of the Mother Talk Blog Tour.

Author: Christopher Gavigan

Hardcover: 336 pages

Publisher: Dutton Adult (April 17, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0525950478

ISBN-13: 978-0525950479

Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home has helped me understand and inspired me to focus on my most important role as a parent - keeping my child healthy.

The easy to read book is filled with easy steps and easy to follow solution to improve family home living without greatly affecting our schedules or budgets. There are so many ideas for eco-friendly cleaning methods to those who decide to go a little green in their home. I know parenting is challenging enough and going green at home sounds like a lot more difficult but this book provides great tips to start with practical and effective solutions to guide parents in their mission. 

I am glad to be educated about easy, budget friendly cleaners and choosing healthier food and learn about the risks of today’s toys for my child.

I highly recommend this book to my friends who are also moms but they have to get their own copy because I am not giving up my own! It will stay in my bookshelf because I am sure I’d be going back to it again and again.

About the Author
Christopher Gavigan is the CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World, a national non-profit dedicated to protecting the health and well-being of children and families through cleaner, greener, and safer lifestyle changes.

This was part of the Mother Talk blog tour.

Author: Felicia C. Sullivan

Hardcover: 255 pages

Publisher: Algonquin Books (February 5, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1565125150

ISBN-13: 978-1565125155

Even without Mother Talk asking me to review this book, I was inspired to write a review as soon as I finished the last page.

The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here: Scenes from a Life is author Felicia Sullivan’s first book. It is a powerful memoir, a true recollection of life scenes she experienced growing up in the rough neighborhood of Brooklyn without someone to protect her other than herself. At a young age, she was her mother’s keeper other than what normally would be the other way around. At the same age, while I was going to school and enjoying my youth, Felicia had to take her mother to the hospital when she overdosed, conspire for her to steal or put up with her numerous stepfathers.

As a mother myself, I never ceased to wonder how a mother can do so much to her child. How a mother can love herself more. Isn’t a mother and daughter relationship or any among family members should be of love unconditional? I had so many questions while reading the book including going back to the first page to check if this was fiction. I wished it was fiction, especially for Felicia.

The book is written raw and straight, one could get the picture so well. In fact, I had most of the breath taking scenes playing in my mind as I turned it page after page. Felicia Sullivan’s book offers a direct and empowering perspective of love that should be shared by mother and daughters, or the lack of it. Compelling topics include accounts of addiction, alcohol dependency and the life in the dark streets of Brooklyn. A powerful book, one that would make you wonder how one child survived the emotional, physical and verbal abuse and still go on finish college, be a writer or simply go on with her life.

My mother also read the book and we are talking about the story almost everyday at home. We are touched and inspired by the book and appreciated what we have right now, a seemingly normal and loving mother and daughter relationship, despite some occasional disagreements. We will be passing this book to my sister.

If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it. Read it and see how you’ll appreciate the mother you have in your side right now, no matter how she nags at about almost everything in your life. All in all, a great memoir, something that would linger in your memories for some time.

One last note, Felicia and her mother have not seen each other for years but with all the raves and reviews of this book and the effectivitiy of blogs as information mediums, it could be possible that her estranged mom is somewhere reading her daughter’s memoir right now. It could even be possible that she would just appear one day. I guess I just have to check Felicia’s blog every now and then.

After stolen moments of reading in between working (sshhhh don’t tell my boss!) and sneaking in the middle of the night to read in the kitchen (hush, hush, don’t tell my other boss!), I am finally done with Harry Potter. I mean done with the book, that is.

Time for some review. Spoilers ahead so this post is protected. Proceed with caution and don’t tell me I did not warn you.

I felt like I was a part of the story, even dreaming about it some nights in a row. Moving on…

My sweet and short review of the book: Harry Potter survived exactly as I hoped!

THE DEATHS

• SEVERUS SNAPE - the emotionally repressed, unloved and unloving (except for Lily) Snape was killed by Lord Voldemort! After reading A Prince’s Tale chapter, I thought, how hurtful can it be? To have the love of your life marry someone you loathe? His last words pierced my heart “Look…at…me…” addressing to Harry, begging Harry to give him one last look. The green eyes met the black - - he was looking into Lily’s eyes as he died- -  that line is like a dagger. JK Rowling has reiterated on every book how Harry had Lily’s eyes. Everything just fell into place.

• DOBBY - OMG Dobby!! I cried for a long time for that one, which is weird because I never knew how much I loved him until he died! How am I going to explain to my young daughter when the movie is out a couple of years from now? Pristine adores Dobby in the Chamber of Secrets. The phrase Harry wrote on Dobby’s grave: “Here lies Dobby, a free elf” stuck on me even pages after that episode.

• FRED - The Weasley twins Fred and George was an image of fun and lightness amidst darkness. Fred’s death was just too much!! How will George and his family ever cope? I’d be happier if it had been Percy.

• REMUS LUPIN & TONKS - how devastating after they just had a baby. Lupin has to join his bunch of friends at the other side of the veil but Tonks?

LOVED QUOTES

• Harry’s line as he walked to his death, “Will it hurt?” was so pure and so sad. It hurt me.

• Molly Weasley to Bellatrix Lestrange: “Not my daughter, you BITCH!”

• Viktor Krum: “Vot is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?”

• Another favorite line from Albus Dumbledore: “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all, pity those who live without love.”

• “It is our choices, far more than our abilities, that show who we truly are.”

MOMENT I ENJOYED

• Molly Weasley called Bellatrix a BITCH and killed her. Mrs. Weasley finally put down her cooking pots and knitting needles to kick some major butt. That was so satisfying!

• It broke my heart to see Ron leaving his two dear friends and overjoyed when he came back.

• Loved the whole chapter about Snape and how I found out that he was not the bad one.

• Lots of motherly love displayed: Narcissa Malfoy saving Harry just to see Draco again and that one hell magic performance Mrs. Molly Weasley made to take down the wicked Bellatrix Lestrange. Yay, Molly! I love the way she shouted “Not my daughter, you BITCH!”

• According to my imagination interpretation, Ginny’s birthday kiss to Harry overshadowed Harry’s first kiss with ex-girlfriend Cho Chang.

• Luna’s painting of his Hogwarts friends in her room gave me the chills. Happy chills.

• How heart wrenching was Harry’s death march when passing by all the friends he wouldn’t be saying goodbye to!

• Ron and Hermione’s kiss! Hermione and Ron only kiss after he has expressed his sincere concern over the house elves, thus demonstrating the completion of his moral education, proving his worthiness of Hermione’s love.

• Now I also know that Harry only loved Hermione as a sister and she’d end up with red-haired kiddos.

• Neville finally had his major moment by killing Nagini, Voldemort’s snake in the battle.

• Real, core audience of the Harry Potter series are no longer limited to children. The people who read the first book ten years ago have grown with Harry thus the last book as more case in point and more cursing.

Surely there are still so many lovely moments, please fill free to fill me in!

THE EPILOGUE

Some readers are pleased while others are bothered. I’d say JKR wrote it fairly. The epilogue was a bit cheesy but I guess the fans would just be equally pissed if JKR did not write that.

It’s a clean break right after all the nerve-wracking excitement that it might feel too tranquil, so simple with a child-like touch.

I did not finish reading the 6th HP book so I have no idea that there is something special going on between Harry and his bestfriend’s sister, Ginny. I am glad Harry finally got what he wished for all throughout his orphan life: a normal and peaceful life filled with love and contentment, what he craved for all along. Harry’s worked so hard, he deserves all the things he always wanted: family, love and a bit of normalcy.

The epilogue is resolutely domestic, with squabbling kids and dads talking about parking. It is a short tale straight out of a typical family life, plus wands.

Harry and Ginny have three kids named after people who played very important part in their lives. The first born, James, was named after of course, Harry’s father, next is Albus Severus, named after the greatest wizard in the history of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape, who sacrificed himself for the woman he loved, even beyond the grave. The last kid is a girl named Lily, who was named after Harry’s mom.

Ron and Hermione have two kids, albeit with flaming red hair: Hugo and Rose.

However, the readers are left on their own to use their imagination to question how George survived Fred’s death, or who Draco married or the careers Harry, Ron and Hermione took after that last battle with You-Know-Who. But I guess it just makes us crave for more HP frenzy in the years to come!

JKR is the only fantastic author Britain produced after Tolkien. I would so follow another book series as she has so much imagination.

Above this is the password protected post regarding my review of the last HP book. It contains so many details (spoilers) of the story. Post a comment in this post if you are a muggle wanting to know what happened to Harry.

Seriously, shout a password request if:

• you have finished reading the book and want to discuss!

• you are midway and don’t want to proceed and yet want to know what happened

• you are not into the great work of J.K. Rowling and still want a piece of the pie. I’d say it’s still better you read the book, though.

Post me your comment and I will lift the shield charm.

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night and I am still reeling with the effects. The emotion of the story was incredible; with so many surprising twists and turns during the last 6 installments, the talented J.K. Rowling finally fit the pieces of the puzzle together.

It was such a drastic emotional switch and the tone, compared to the other 6 books, was different in all those 750 intense pages. A small hint, there was closure in Harry’s story but not in the secondary characters. J.K. Rowling left the fan community with an opportunity, a gift! We have so much to imagine, so much to discuss and we never have to say goodbye to this magical world.

A great ending to a great series. Truly remarkable!

I am posting a password protected post about the book. It contains lots of information from the story. Almost two weeks has passed since the release of the book and there are still people who have not read it and I am not going to spoil the fun.  

I am off today afternoon to take my mother to the airport for her flight to Muscat. The HP book should be my respite for the hours I have to spend waiting for her there. It’s too expensive to take the taxi back home and get on it again when I pick her up so I will wait for at least 5 hours and the key to eliminating boredom is in the hands, the pages of my HP book.

But we have a problem, mate.

I am on Chapter 34 already. A few more minutes and I’m done. I know I should have saved my reading time and postponed it for later. Could I postpone reading time for later especially after I dreamed about being inside the story and woke up at 5am? My mother got up at 5 am too, although because of a different dream, non-Potter related. She cooked breakfast and what did I do? I read for an hour and a half and landed at Chapter 34.

Now I hope I can find some magazines to read at the airport or maybe go back home and doze off. I hope there’s no more dream about being in Hogwarts again. It’s just not cool to be the oldest witch there.

I am 12 chapters ahead since the last time I touched the HP book last night before I slept. Wow, 10 more chapters excluding the last “unnumbered ending chapter” and I am done.

Don’t worry, I will not be spilling any spoilers here.

I hope to finish the book tonight or maybe tomorrow afternoon while I wait for my mother to come back from her trip to Muscat, Oman. Changes have been made for her visa run* and instead of all of us going to the UAE-Oman border at Hatta, my mother has to board the plane alone, go to Muscat and then come back within 2 hours. She has to physically leave UAE to get another 60 days visa as her application for residency was denied last week.

So tomorrow afternoon, while I wait for her to board the plane and then come back from Oman, I will be reading the book and hoping not to read it too fast and find myself bored inside the airport.

* Visa run - leaving the UAE by driving through the border or getting a quick flight out to neighbouring Doha or Muscat and re-entering Dubai on a new visit visa, which is valid for 60 days.

I made a big leap from Chapter 3 yesterday by eating my lunch for less than 10 minutes and reading for the rest of my one hour lunch break.

Spent about an hour reading last night and then again on lunch break today - in the dark. Lights come off at lunch, to conserve electricity. I would be happier if they lowered the a/c setting and just left some of the lights on.

Anyway, it looks like I am 1/3 of my way to finishing the last book. A couple more days of reading time in between normal living and I’ll know the fate of Harry and his friends.