Photo Contest

Not that I'm a great photographer, not even close, but I found a contest I'm going to enter and I though some of you may want to as well! I've seen some great pics out there!

Hello! What is this photo contest you’ve been reading about? Well, I’ll tell ya!

Six times a year - February, April, June, August, October and December - I’ll hold a photo contest based on a specific theme. Participants simply select a photo from their personal stash, post it to their blogs and then leave me a link so others can vote! That’s it! Sound easy? It is! Read on …

Photo Contest Rules

1. Post ONE photo on your blog that best represents the current theme beginning midnight U.S. central time April 11th to 4:00 p.m. central U.S. time April 18th Theme: Spring Time!
2. Include a little something about why you picked that photo.
3. It doesn’t need to be a recent photo but it has to be one taken by you (no “borrowing” photos from other sources, please. Violators will be disqualified).
4, Add your link to the Mr. Linky that will appear in the sticky note on the home page April 11th (A direct link to your photo entry only, please).
5. Vote for your favorite photo. Voting begins at 5:00 p.m. U.S. central time April 18th and will end 8:00 p.m. U.S. central time April 21st.
6. Send your readers over to vote for you. A poll will appear on the entry when it’s time to vote. 7. The winner will be announced shortly after 8:00 p.m. U.S. central time April 21st and will win:

One $25.00 gift certificate to any of the following (winner’s choice!)
Old Navy
JcPenney
Kohl’s
iTunes - (I’m not sure they offer e-certificates, so will probably need winner’s address)
Target
Land’s
End
Amazon.com
Busy Bodies
Life is Good

The winner will also receive the below button to display on his/her blog (if he/she chooses - it’s not a requirement )

Here is the link to her site: Write From Karen

Even if I don't win it will be fun to play. Only two days to find a good picture!

Book Review: Kabul Beauty School

Author: Deborah Rodriguez

Pages: 270

Genre: Non-Fiction

Personal Rating 5

From the back cover:

Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid to this war-torn nation. Surrounded by men and women whose skills–as doctors, nurses, and therapists–seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she soon found she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was eagerly sought out by Westerners desperate for a good haircut and by Afghan women, who have a long and proud tradition of running their own beauty salons. Thus an idea was born.

With the help of corporate and international sponsors, the Kabul Beauty School welcomed its first class in 2003. Well meaning but sometimes brazen, Rodriguez stumbled through language barriers, overstepped cultural customs, and constantly juggled the challenges of a postwar nation even as she learned how to empower her students to become their families’ breadwinners by learning the fundamentals of coloring techniques, haircutting, and makeup.

Yet within the small haven of the beauty school, the line between teacher and student quickly blurred as these vibrant women shared with Rodriguez their stories and their hearts: the newlywed who faked her virginity on her wedding night, the twelve-year-old bride sold into marriage to pay her family’s debts, the Taliban member’s wife who pursued her training despite her husband’s constant beatings. Through these and other stories, Rodriguez found the strength to leave her own unhealthy marriage and allow herself to love again, Afghan style.

With warmth and humor,Rodriguez details the lushness of a seemingly desolate region and reveals the magnificence behind the burqa. Kabul Beauty School is a remarkable tale of an extraordinary community of women who come together and learn the arts of perms, friendship, and freedom.

Yep, a fiver! You know when a book has you scavenging the Internet for places to volunteer overseas that it has made an impact on you. I loved this book for two main reasons. Or I guess i should say for the two glimpses it gives you. The first is the glimpse it gives you into the life of Afghan women and the second is the glimpse it gives you into the life of the woman Debbie Rodriguez. Her dedication of the book tells you a lot about her "style"but leaves a lot of her "style"to be discovered

"This book is dedicated to my father, Junior Turner, who passed away June 5, 2002, while I was on my first trip to Afghanistan. Dad, I never got a chance to tell you about Afghanistan and the school. You left me too soon. I know you would love Sam, my husband--he is just like you, but Afghan style. I know you would be worried, but also very happy that I am following my dream. I miss you."

Debbie Rodriguez is an spirited, tough, inspirational woman who just doesn't quit. She ends up in Afghanistan as part of a group of humanitarian workers and feels very out of place with the doctors, nurses, teachers, and engineers. She feels like she has no place there. She is just a lowly hair dresser. But when she is introduced with her group for the evening her job title brings down the house and she is instantly surrounded by women (& men) who just want a little pampering! She is needed just as much as the doctors, just in a different way.

Rodriguez comes to learn that her skills are actually very valuable because men cannot enter beauty salons (since women take off their veils and their hair can be seen). If she can teach women how to run their own salons they would ultimately be in control of their own money. Their husbands would never see how much they were actually making since they couldn't enter the salons. The women would for once have some small control over their own lives. They of course would have to turn their money over to their husbands but since he wouldn't know how much they were actually making...

So the book follows Debbie from the beginning of her quest for free donations and her joining of forces with Vogue and Clairol who had already begun to start a Kabul Beauty School, to her marriage to Sam (an Afghan) up until 2006 when her salon and the beauty school are locked up and Kabul is locked down due to political unrest.

I just kept reading and reading this book. I found it very inspirational and moving. I think anyone would enjoy this even if you do not normally enjoy non-fiction. It is just so eye opening to show us how another culture lives.

Wordless Wednesday

A Challenge to Consider...

I Heard It Through the Grapevine Challenge


This challenge is being hosted by Lynne at Lynne's Little Corner of the World.

I'm always looking for new books and new authors. I've gotten quite a few titles from Amazon.com. They always seem to have recommendations for me. I've also found some from other bloggers.

Where do you find new books to read? Do you get recommendations from friends? From the library? From the person next to you on the plane or train or bus? From other book blogs?

The goal of this challenge is to read 3 new-to-you books between June 1 and November 30 that have been recommended to you. Any type of book is OK. It can even be a book by an author you've read before. Cross-overs with other challenges are fine, and you can change books at any time. And there will be a prize at the end of the challenge. You will need to sign up before June 1.Sign up with Mr. Linky with a link to your post listing the books and how they were recommended to you.

When the time gets closer I'll need to see how I'm doing on my other challenges!

I Heard It Through The Grapevine Challenge

Book Review: Messenger

Author: Lois Lowry

Pages: 169

Genre: Fiction/Young Adult

Personal Rating 3.5

From the back cover:

For the past six years, Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man known for his special sight. Once, Village was a place that welcomed newcomers and offered hope and homes to people fleeing poverty and cruelty. But something sinister has seeped into Village, and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. All along, Matty has been invaluable as a messenger between Village and other communities. He hopes someday to earn the name of Messenger. Now he must make one last journey through the increasingly treacherous forest to spread the message of Village’s closing and convince Kira, Seer’s daughter, to return with him. Matty’s only weapon against his dangerous surroundings is a secret power he unexpectedly discovers within himself. He wants to heal the people who have nourished his body and spirit and is willing to offer the greatest gift and pay the ultimate price.

I read Messenger as my third book in the Themed Reading Challenge. My theme is books by the the author Lois Lowry. I've already read The Giver and Gathering Blue. My last book will be Number the Stars.

Messenger is listed as "A companion to the Newbery Award Winner The Giver and to Gathering Blue" and it does incorporate the two together, drawing on characters and experiences from both books. If you haven't read the prior two books I would wait to read Messenger.

I enjoyed Messenger but not nearly as much as The Giver or Gathering Blue. This book was similar to the first two in that the main character Matty exists in a world "similar yet different from ours". It actually seems to be happening simultaneously with the worlds of The Giver and Gathering Blue. While those worlds are (still) existing. When you read The Giver and Gathering Blue it seems that they are there own distinct worlds but you learn in Messenger that they are not.

I guess Lowry has lost a little of her shine for me. Her first two books were so different and surprising. I "sort of" knew what style to expect with Messenger and sure enough I was able to figure out what would be happening. It was still a good book, just not as good as the first two.

Heads or Tails

Here's how to play:

Every week you make a post using that week's theme as your guide. You don't have to use the specific word and can use any form of the word that you choose. (Example: If the word is "chart" you could also use "charting", "charter", etc.) After you make your post, sign in using Mr. Linky.What to do if it's:

HEADS : On these weeks you can have your post be anything you want. Some ideas might include photos, poetry, jokes, videos, recollections, lists.

HEADS *OR* TAILS: The same as HEADS but you have two options to choose from. You can even do both!

TAILS: On these weeks you do what is stated. I may ask for a list or another specific type of post.

This week's theme/prompt is: HEADS - Express. (Remember, you don't have to use the exact word. You can use ANY form of it.)

When I saw that word EXPRESS the first thing I thought of was that I have some great pictures of our dog (Otis) expressing himself in the snow!

Do you think he had fun expressing himself? We had a great time. Plus we are both teachers and school was canceled that day! We just got back from stuffing ourselves at breakfast and he just went nuts!

Manic Monday

Is there any question you can't look up the answer to on the internet?

Why do some people act the way they do?

Invent a new word that you feel would improve the language and define it.

oooo...I always have these and then when I NEED one I draw a blank. I'll be back with this one!

What is your favorite texture?

Soft!

The Saturday Special

insomnia has set in. I'm cruising around looking for memes.

~My Senses Favorites~

1. Favorite Smell?: My husbands aftershave--whatever it is I love it

2. Favorite Landscape View?: Anything green and colorful. After a long gray Pittsburgh winter I'm not picky.

3. Favorite Taste?: SWEET: Chocolate...actually, almost anything sweet. I have a sweet tooth. Cookies, cakes, ice cream, danishes,candies. I'm lucky I'm naturally thin.

How Could I Forget #4???
4. Favorite Sound?: I love the way rain sounds falling on my roof with the soft sound of thunder rumbling in the background early in the morning. Especially if I don't have to get up for work the next day!

Saturday's Photo Scavenger Hunt

This weeks theme: glass

These two pictures were takes from the 43rd floor of a restraunt in Shanghai through a GLASS window. I thoght they looked neat!

Friday Fill In

1. Tonight I saw the inside of a book (Kabul Beauty School)

2. The Chicken Dance (corny...I know) makes me wanna dance!

3. Splitting a few appetizers between friends doesn't happen! We each get our own!!!!!!

4. Kat (another blogger who comes to visit my blog all the time) is someone I'd like to get to know better.

5. The smell of rain reminds me so much of springtime!

6. A kiss and a band-aid and that made it all better.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing a little bit, tomorrow my plans include heading out with hubby to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday and Sunday, I want to plan my lessons for the whole week so I don't have to worry about them!

Thursday Thirteen # 1

On March 4th I twisted my ankle and sheared off part of the bone on the top of my foot. Since then I've been home from work and on crutches. Tomorrow I go back to the orthopedic surgeon for my first check up. So in honor of my broken foot...

13 Things That Stink About Being On Crutches

1. They leave bruises under your arms, on your sides


2. They fall over... a lot


3. Sometimes I fall over (LOL)


4. They are awkward (just watch me trying to get them, then me, into my car)


5. My animals are afraid of them


6. I can't carry anything in my hands with them


7. Turtles lap me (aka I'm slow)


8. If someone moves them, I'm stuck


9. Stairs become mountains


10. I get stuck in swinging doors and have to wait for people to open them for me


11. They are noisy


12. I think the grips may be starting to smell funny (gross)


13. They don't match my outfits!! jk

L. Frank Baum and his Oz Works

The Booking Through Thursday meme got me thinking about "classics" and someone mentioned Baum and how much they enjoyed his works. It brought back a nice memory for me. I was 7 or 8 and we were camping. We had stopped at a flea market and I bought an old copy of the Wizard of Oz for a nickle. I read it the whole way home even though I was car sick and had seen the movie a dozen times. I remember it being the same, yet different, from the movie.

I've decided I'm going to listen to the Oz stories on my Ipod. I've only read the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, so once I'm through listening to that it will all be new to me. With my broken foot I've been tossing and turning a lot at night. I needed a distraction. My new discovery has been audio books. I'm almost done with Dracula so I need something new.

I linked the stories to Librivox where I downloaded them for free. Sometimes the narrator is bad but the keyword for me here is free! A lot of times the narrator is pretty good. It's hit or miss. You never know who you're going to get until that chapter starts.

Oz works
Main: List of Oz books

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) *completed 5.4.08

The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) * completed 5.13.08

Ozma of Oz (1907)

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908)

The Road to Oz (1909)

The Emerald City of Oz (1910)

The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913)

Tik-Tok of Oz (1914)

The Scarecrow of Oz (1915)

Rinkitink in Oz (1916)

The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)

The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918)

The Magic of Oz (1919, posthumously published)

Glinda of Oz (1920, posthumously published)

Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz (1905)

The Woggle-Bug Book (1905)

Little Wizard Stories of Oz (1913)

Lit-Ra-Chur (BTT)

When somebody mentions “literature,” what’s the first thing you think of? (Dickens? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?)

Do you read “literature” (however you define it) for pleasure? Or is it something that you read only when you must?

I do think of the "classics" when I hear the word literature. I'm taken back to my AP English class in high school and our dissection of books for themes and ideas etc...

I have to admit I shy away from the classics as I find them difficult to read. Probably because I'll be waiting to get out my fine tooth comb and start inspecting every little aspect of them as I had to do since 7th grade...some habits die hard. I probably should give them another chance since I'm much older now and can simply read them to enjoy the story.

The God of Small Things

Author: Arundhati Roy

Pages: 321

Genre: Fiction

Personal Rating: 2.5

Awards: Booker Prize

From the back cover:

The story of the tragic decline of an Indian family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love, The God of Small Things is set in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the
invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family — their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

Well, unfortunately I've read another prize winner that has left me shaking my head. While I do admit Roy writes beautifully, I also found her writing tedious and confusing. She often jumped back and forth in time, making it difficult to tell what was going in. In one paragraph Ammu is alive and a few paragraphs later she has been dead for a long time. I found this novel difficult to read. After several chapters I found her writing style to be annoying. "She told me to 'stop it' so i 'stoppited it'". To me she came across as trying to hard to write uniquely.

There were many characters. I didn't really care about any of them. I don't feel Roy developed any of them enough to allow that. Or she jumped around so much you couldn't develop a bond with them. Plus there names were very confusing. Now this may partially be my fault. I started this book over a week ago out of town at a funeral. I got a chapter or two in and put it down in disgust. I re-injured my foot yesterday so I picked it back up for a marathon finish. I was determined to finish it so i could move onto a book I would enjoy more.

It's a little funny, I just went and read a few 5 star reviews and a lot of them even admit they initially had trouble staying interested or found it slow going.

Must read? I don't think so. With so many other books about India out there I would grab something else. Oh yeah, the story line overall is just plain depressing.

ALSO REVIEWED BY

Rebecca at The Inside Cover

Ten On Tuesday

Ten Things You’d Fix in Your Home (if you had the time and money)

Where do I start! We just bought our first house so our list is endless. How to narrow it to ten...

1. Finish the hardwood floors
2. Buy and hang new curtains (that match) for every window
3. Hang a ceiling fan in the bedroom. We have a light bulb hanging now (sexy!)
4. Install central air
5. Lay a stone patio
6. New windows
7. Insulation
8. Paint hubby's study and guest bedroom
9. Actually decorating the house may be nice
10. Unpacking the rest of the boxes from the September move (how do they stay packed like that??????)