Mother-Talk blog tour: Naptime is the New Happy Hour

I had heard a lot of good things about Stephanie Wilder-Taylor’s book “Sippy Cups are Not for Chardonnay” so I decided to check it out. It was funny, written much like one of those blogs we all love, but I never really got into it because it was discussing mostly the first year with your baby, and since I’ve never had a baby that little, I couldn’t really relate.

But when I found out Mother-Talk was doing a blog tour for her new book “Naptime is the New Happy Hour,” I was really excited because this book focused on the toddler years. The book doesn’t disappoint. It is funny and makes you feel better about your parenting styles. Granted, it doesn’t dish out a lot of practical advice, so if you are looking for an owner’s manual for your two year old, this isn’t the best choice. But I found myself laughing and nodding with a lot of what was said. It is the type of book that you read when your toddler has been screaming for the past thirty minutes because you dared to give them a piece of carrot.

I liked the book even better once I discovered that Stephanie Wilder-Taylor is a blogger, not the kind of blogger who becomes a blogger because she has book coming out, but an “actual” blogger. Her blog is funny too, and worth checking out.

The only issue I had with the book came at the very end, just two little lines..

“But this is not a book about pregnancy. You’ve all been pregnant…”

Actually, no, we all haven’t. Some of us became mothers through ways other than pregnancy. But besides that one little slip-up, “Naptime is the New Happy Hour” really does hit the mark on what being a parent to a little person is like.

See what other bloggers are saying at Mother-Talk.

Mother-Talk blog tour: The Right Words at the Right Time

The Right Words at the Right Time: Volume 2 by Marlo Thomas and New Friends is a collection of short essays submitted by “regular people.” Although these people are not celebrities, like in Volume One, they each have a special story to tell of a time where someone spoke the right words to them at the right time.

I’ve always liked books like these, full of short inspirational stories. There are 101 stories from all people of all walks of life, so it was easy to find stories that touched me in some way. I found myself saying, “Just one more..Just one more story” until I realized I had read the whole book. The collection of stories is inspiring, but very rarely ventures into “cheesy” stories where everything is sunshine and roses.

Even better, all royalties from the sale of this book will be contributed to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is an organization that I frequently donate money to.

Get this book, read it, then pass it on to someone who could use a little inspiration in their lives.

See what other bloggers are saying at Mother-Talk.

Deceptively Delicious Sweepstakes

The publisher of Deceptively Delicious is running a sweepstakes! Win a free copy of the book!

Enter here!

Mother-Talk blog tour: Deceptively Delicious

If you’ve been reading for awhile, you know that cooking for Geo has always been somewhat of a struggle. The man doesn’t like vegetables. Corn on the cob, yes. Salad is ok. But veggies in food? He’ll pick out every last onion and pepper.

Bug and Bubba can be just as bad and trying to make sure that everyone is eating healthy and getting enough vegetables can seem like a never ending battle.

Enter Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (Yes, Jerry’s wife.) Oh, how I love this book.

Deceptively Delicious is all about sneaking veggies into foods that you eat all the time. You whip up these purees which are then added to foods like chicken salad sandwiches and burgers. Mmmmm..that chicken salad! I made it one Sunday afternoon. Geo ate four or five sandwiches. He raved about how good they were. Never once did he guess that there was a cauliflower puree mixed in.

And then, I made burgers. And I didn’t even have cauliflower like the author says to use, so I used green pepper puree. And again, nobody knew and everyone loved it. It is almost too easy.

This book has about month’s worth of food, which includes desserts like chocolate pudding (with avocado) and chocolate chip cupcakes (with pumpkin and yellow squash). Yummy!

One thing I’ve always disliked about cookbooks is that the recipes and cooking techniques always seem too difficult. But Seinfeld does an excellent job of making it easy for you. First, she gives you all the equipment you might want to have. Most of it you already have in your kitchen, even if you aren’t a cooking goddess. (And the rest of the the “would be nice to have” items are going on my Christmas list.) Then she gives you a list of staples that you should have in your pantry. Next, you get step by step directions on how to cook the purees. And you might be thinking that making purees is too difficult and would add too much time to your already busy life. But really, it doesn’t. When I whipped up the cauliflower puree, I just threw it in the rice cooker steaming basket while I was getting the rest of the stuff ready. Then you just dump it in the blender with a tiny bit of water, and you are done. And the best part? You can make all the purees in advance and freeze them. Seinfeld says she takes about an hour each week to make them and I can see how that is completely realistic.

Man, I love this book. I love the design of it (it’s pink and I dig that), the spiral bound pages which lay flat, the nutritional information, the beautiful photographs, and the fact that I served up an entire head of cauliflower and no one knew. Now that is awesome.

You can catch Jessica Seinfeld on Oprah today! (October 8th)

Buy the book here.

Official book website.

See what other bloggers are saying at Mother-Talk!

Mother-Talk blog tour: The Reincarnationist

Back when I was stationed in North Carolina, my then-boyfriend and I had gone out to eat in a restaurant that had a rack of brochures near the door. We picked up a few and in the car, we both were drawn to visiting a historical mansion not far from where we were.

If I remember correctly, the mansion had belonged to a governor and there had been a fire there at some point.

The strange part was, I had an overwhelming feeling that I had been there before. The way the place smelled, the layout of the rooms-it was all familiar to me.

I’ve had feelings like that in other historical homes as well. A feeling of familiarity where there should be none.

In The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose, the main character, Josh, is overwhelmed by similar feelings. Josh’s feelings are a lot more intense than simple dejavu, however.

The story goes back and forth between modern day and ancient Rome. The connections to Rome and the Vestal Virgins made this books particularly intriguing to me, as I took Latin for five years and am extremely interested in visiting Rome one day.

But even without that personal connection, I would have enjoyed The Reincarnationist. It is a mystery that winds through time and place but its not as simple as that. Can we trust what Josh is thinking and remembering? How are the other characters that are introduced connected? Is Josh remembering past lives or is he suffering from some sort of mental breakdown?

The Reincarnationist is the type of story that you won’t be able to put down. It is sexy, suspenseful, historical, and will keep you wondering”Who did it?” but also whether it is possible that this is not the first time we are walking on this Earth.

See what other bloggers are saying at Mother-Talk.

Mother Talk: BOB Books

In our house we have two favorite sets of books. The first are the “Nana” books which are a group of books my mom sent the kids. The second are “Bob” books.

Bob Books are a set of small, short paperback books. I got Set 1: Beginning Readers which contained 12 books. Like I mentioned, these are short books. Each one is only about 10 pages and each page has very simple sentences such as “Mat sat.”

The books are designed for children four and older and they isolate the letter sounds so that children can quickly figure out the words and read a whole book on their own. New sounds are added as the books go along.

Now my children are not yet four and aren’t nearly ready to read, but because they both have language delays, I found these books quite valuable. They like to repeat back stories to me, but a lot of words and sentences are too long or too complex for them to repeat. But as I read the Bob books, both children were able to repeat back the simple sentences and this really enhanced their enjoyment of the stories.

These definitely aren’t books you would read for their fascinating plot lines, but in terms of helping children learn simple words and learn how to read, the BOB books are a great choice. As a bonus, the little illustrations are really cute too.

I’m excited to see how the children react to them once they are old enough to read along, as they really enjoy repeating the stories back to me now.

See what other bloggers are saying at MotherTalk.

Mother-Talk blog tour: Interred With Their Bones

Really, what can I say about Jennifer Lee Carrell’s novel Interred with Their Bones?

That it is intelligent? That I paid the older kids to watch the younger kids so I could finish it because I HAD to know what happened? That it scared me, made me laugh, and kept me turning page after page? That I’m going to give it to my brother because I know he will love it?

This is a historical fiction mystery story (although more of it is true than you might suspect..the author includes a section in the back that tells you what is real and what isn’t) and I loved it. I’m worried about giving away too much so I’ll give you this brief synopsis: 

A long-lost work of Shakespeare, newly found.
A killer who stages the Bard’s extravagant murders as flesh-and-blood realities.
A desperate race to find literary gold, and just to stay alive . . . 

If you’ve enjoyed other books in this genre, if you are a Shakespeare fan, or if you are just looking for a quality book to get you through a long flight, definitely pick this one up. 

See what other bloggers are saying at Mother-Talk.

Mother-Talk blog tour: Money for Nothing

Do you tend to stick to the same type of book?

I do. Most of the books I read seem to follow the same type of writing, although since I’ve started reviewing books I’ve got to read some great things that I normally wouldn’t pick up at the bookstore.

Money for Nothing is one of those books. The author, Edward Ugel worked for a company who bought winnings from lottery winners. You know how when you win the lottery, you can get your payments in a lump sum or in annual payments? Well, believe it or not, when people get the annual payments, they often run out of money!

They money is coming, but not until their next payment, and they’ve already gotten used to a certain lifestyle or have bills piling up. So they would call the Firm and the Firm would give them money up front in exchange for their annual payments. Of course, the Firm made a lot of money of the winners that way.

This book was really fascinating to me. First, I have this idea of what I would do if I won the lottery (buy underwear!!) and it seems ridiculous to think that I would run out. But really it is no different than if you get a raise at work. You are doing fine making $75,000 a year. Then suddenly you are making $100,000. So instead of socking that $25,000 into savings, or your kid’s college fund, or your retirement fund, you increase your expenses and lifestyle to match the $100,000 income. It is no different for lottery winners in a lot of cases. Most people who win the lottery do not have a lot of financial background. We think about how we could be happy if we just had $20,000 more a year, but suddenly we have $520,000 more a year and it is still not enough.

This book could be a dull inquiry into the lottery and how it can hurt people, but it isn’t. Ugel is funny. He is very self-aware and talks about his own issues with gambling and women. In the end, you get the idea that he wasn’t much better off than some of the lottery winners he was dealing with.

Even if this isn’t the type of book that you’d normally pick up, give it a try. It is an enjoyable read which might make you think twice before picking up your next Powerball ticket. It’s also a rather interesting glimpse into the life of a man who wants desperately to succeed in life, but isn’t sure how far he is willing to go to get there.
Buy Money for Nothing here.

See what other bloggers are saying about Money for Nothing at Mother-Talk.

On Borrowed Wings

When Mother Talk gave me the opportunity to review On Borrowed Wings, I was thrilled. The novel is set in the 1930s and centers around a young girl who assumes the identity of her brother after he dies so that she can attend Yale.

I’ve always loved stories that center around a female who impersonates a male. On Borrowed Wings was no exception. I really enjoyed the character of Adele, the sixteen year old whose story is at the center of the novel. The author, Chandra Prasad, does an excellent job of developing Adele’s character and her interaction with those around her. The story is not simply one of a girl deceiving others in order to obtain the same rights as a male, but also a story of racism and classism. More than that, Prasad’s writing style makes you feel that you are in the dorms in 1930, which I loved. She makes you care about her characters, which is always important to me when reading fiction. The “girl pretending to be a male” issue is not just a gimmick for a laugh. Prasad carefully examines how different the Adele’s world and that of her brother is, yet how effortlessly she is able to adapt to what should have been his world.

The end wraps up a little too quickly and a little too neatly, but this is still a great read, especially for those who enjoy historical fiction.

See what other bloggers thought at Mother Talk.

Want to read it yourself? Purchase it here.