It’s only gotten worse since the arrival of our DVR last month, too!  Now I can record Housewives (I prefer Orange County and New York), America’s Next Top Model, The Millionaire Matchmaker, and so much more!

As embarrassing as it can be to admit this particular addiction, I must defend myself by saying:  there are some really cool people on Reality TV!  Here now are some people I’ve enjoyed spending (screen)time with, and who I would welcome into my home for realsies, too.

Jet and Cord from this season's Amazing Race.

The cowboy brothers from Oklahoma have proved charming, funny, and incredibly resourceful!  I mean, is there anything these guy CAN’T do?  Manuever foreign streets, shoot five tricky soccer goals, bungee jump – whatever it is, these guys take on the challenge with nary a blink or pause, and usually with some hilarious one-liners too!

Janine, from this season's Shear Genius

Honestly, I don’t even know why I’ve gotten into watching Shear Genius, except that Janine is such a perky little ray of light – I love her attitude!  She wins nearly every challenge, whether it be the quickies or the elimination rounds, and she’s always so chipper in addition to being incredibly talented. 

Casey, Alex, Michael; Crystal, Lilly, Didi - from this season's American Idol

I kinda got turned off of American Idol for a while, but these 6 contestants are the reason I’ve been tuning in every week this season.  The girls especially – I love them!  I love how one by one the “Diva Wannabe”s have been voted off, leaving us with some really honest voices and performers.  Michael might be the one singer who doesn’t fit with this group – he a little over the top at times – but he’s won my appreciation for his command of the stage.  I’d love to these these 6 finish in the top spots!

Anthony, from this season's Project Runway

While I’m not in love with Anthony’s design aesthetic (he gets a little “out there” sometimes), I think this guy is absolutely hilarious.  He doesn’t seem to have one contentious bone in his body, and he has an indefatiguable spirit.  As kooky as he seems, he also appears to be earnestly God-fearing, which makes him the post peculiar, delightful mix to me!

Come on – fess up now.  Do you watch Reality TV?  Do you have any favorite contestants that make it all worthwhile for you?  I’d love to know I’m not alone here!

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However, not being from the South, my husband and I laughed our heads off, because we saw it this way:

(inglés is “English” in Spanish….get it?)

Okay, maybe my husband and I are a little odd, but it’s pretty funny the games your brain will play on you from time to time!

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Raven Stole the Moon, by New York Times Bestselling Author Garth Stein

Synopsis:

When Jenna Rosen abandons her comfortable Seattle life to visit Wrangell, Alaska, it’s a wrenching return to her past. The hometown of her Native American grandmother, Wrangell is located near the Thunder Bay Resort, where Jenna’s young son, Bobby, disappeared two years before. His body was never recovered, and Jenna is determined to lay to rest the aching mystery of his death. But whispers of ancient legends begin to suggest a frightening new possibility about Bobby’s fate, and Jenna must sift through the beliefs of her ancestors, the Tlingit, who still tell of powerful, menacing forces at work in the Alaskan wilderness. Armed with nothing but a mother’s protective instincts, Jenna’s quest for the truth behind her son’s disappearance is about to pull her into a terrifying and life-changing abyss.

The Good:

• I admit, I’m a total cover junkie when it comes to books, and the cover of this re-released novel is MUCH better than the cover used for the original 1998 publication.
• The exploration of Native American Tlingit stories and legends.  I found this area of the storyline creepy, mystical, and complex.  Very intriguing.
• The Alaskan setting.  Wrangell becomes a sort of character in itself, with the weather and surrounding forests and water.
• The supporting characters.  I’ll be honest – I think I liked them better than the main characters.  The sheriff, the local fisherman, the shaman – they all had an authenticity that I appreciated.
• The way Stein writes about grief.  I could feel Jenna’s heartache, and that’s what drew me into her story in the first place.
• The first half of this book – Stein starts out very strong and I was immediately invested in the book.
• The trajectory of the story.  I simply *had* to finish the book, because I simply *had* to know how it ended.
• The climax of the story.  Suspenseful, kinda creepy, well-written.

The Pause:

• The language.  Garth Stein explains in the afterword that one of the few revisions he made between the 1998 and 2010 editions was to cut a lot of the language.  In my opinion, he could have cut even more.  It’s just so unnecessary and doesn’t quite fit in with the mystical, moody nature of this book.
• The timeline.  Waffling back and forth between past and present is a tricky proposition, and in this case it didn’t work for me.  I understand why Stein did it, I’m just not sure I like how he did it.  It left me feeling disoriented.
• The storyline and character of the Private Eye.  Was it really necessary?  Could Stein have put pressure on Jenna and brought Robert to Alaska some other way?  This storyline was weak, and it inserted a vulgarity and brutality that disconnected it from the overall mood of the book.
• Robert.  I never did connect with his character, and felt unsympathetic towards him (which makes the ending all the more frustrating…more on that in a minute).
• That Jenna became such an inconsistent, unreliable character.  The book is written from a 3rd-person omniscient point of view, meaning we get to see inside everyone’s head to know what they’re thinking at any time.  There are several key moments when Jenna makes profound realizations about how she feels, only to turn on those feelings and go a completely different direction.  One of the main themes of Raven Stole the Moon is that nothing is inherently good or evil, nothing is either/or.  Maybe that’s what Stein is trying to communicate through Jenna as well, but it just left me feeling confused, and in some cases, totally duped.
• The ending.  OH, THE ENDING.  In at least one respect, I was satisfied.  But on another equally important point, I was absolutely dumbfounded.  And the final scene?  It put an exclamation point to Jenna’s inability to commit to her own feelings and decisions.

The Bottom Line:

I liked this book, but I really wanted to LOVE it.  Stein showed superior talent in The Art of Racing in the Rain, a book I really did love.  I was less impressed with this one, giving it a B- (or 3.5 out of 5 stars).

The Giveaway:

Terra Communications has generously offered a copy of Raven Stole the Moon to one reader of Tree, Root, and Twig.  To enter, please answer in a comment to this post:  what’s the last book you read?  US entries only, please.

For extra entires, do any of the following and leave an extra comment for each entry method used:

• Tweet about this giveaway (leave your Twitter ID in the comment)
• Follow this blog via Google Connect
• Subscribe to this blog via email or reader

All entries are due by 11:59PM CST Tuesday, March 23.  Good luck to everyone!

*Disclosure:  Terra Communications provided me with this copy to review, as well as the copy for giveaway.

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There’s a lot more Mama Drama rolled into this story, but I’ll give you the short version: 

16yo daughter screwed up, I gave her a 2nd chance – with very clear stipulations attached. 

16yo daughter plowed through stipulations and blew it again, I grounded her for 2 weeks.

Too bad, so sad.  The end.  Or was it?

Now, if this had been maybe even 6 months ago, I would know to expect the cold shoulder and silent treatment from my daughter for several days.  And that’s exactly what I got the morning after the grounding, so I wasn’t surprised.  I was, however, surprised by her change in attitude by the afternoon, and especially by the proposition she had for me.

She very maturely, very rationally proposed some compromises on her grounding, seeing that the two weeks included the Much Looked-Forward-To Spring Break.  Rather than not being allowed to go out at all (which were the only terms I had for her grounding), she offered to trade Facebook and cell phone (two items I had not planned to take away from her), sign herself up for any chores or projects I needed her to complete, in exchange for just THREE specific dates in the next two weeks.

Before you cry “Sucker!” at my willingness to accept her terms, let me explain.  It was clear that she had processed the events leading up to her grounding, and she was willing to talk about them at length during our conversation (rather than shut down, like she often does).  She also revealed a very unexpected epiphany she had.  She basically told us: 

“Last night I kept thinking to myself, ‘How can I get back at them?  How can I make them miserable for grounding me?’  But then I realized that whenever I try to do that, it just ends up making ME more miserable.  I figured I could either stay a complete grouch, or I could fix my attitude, come and talk to you maturely, and try to figure out a solution that makes us all happy.”

Um….hello?!  Who are you?!  What have you done with my daughter?!

Was it any coincidence that I had been praying and fasting all day that my daughter’s heart might be touched with a more peaceful Spirit?  The way she explained her change of heart was as if a voice literally interrupted her plans to dig deeper into anger, frustration, and rebellion, and told her that she had a choice to make about how she could feel and react to her circumstances.

I know plenty of parents who say they would never negotiate with their teenager, and I understand that.  I was just too impressed with her change in attitude and commitment to make things better than to turn her away.  Besides, I’m still getting what I want – a chance for her to slow things waaaaay down and think more about her actions – and I’m not opening the flood gates to total freedom (three dates in the next two weeks isn’t outrageous).

I really do feel my daughter’s heart was touched, and I’m grateful for that answer to my prayers.  I hope that she’ll continue to receive those kinds of promptings in relation to life lessons, and to understand that attitude is everything and that a little honey goes a long way.

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• Lysol’s Healthy Touch No-Touch Hand Soap System. 
• Works with 4 AA batteries and automatically senses when your hand is held under the pump, then dispenses just enough soap to apply to your hands. 
• Kills 99.9% of bacteria. 
• Recommended for use in kitchen or bathroom. 
• Soap comes in 3 moisturizing scents:  Soothing Cucumber Splash, Refreshing Grapefruit Essence, and Cleansing Green Tea & Ginger. 
• Starter kit (includes dispenser, one 8.5 oz hand soap refill, and 4 AA batteries) currently retails at Walmart for $9.97, and individual 8.5 oz refills sell for $3.47.  This product will also be carried nationwide at other grocery, drug, and mass stores.

Lysol is a brand my parents trusted for killing germs in our house, and it’s a brand I use in my own home with my own family today.  I have seen this unit in the stores and have wondered how useful it would be for us with FOURTEEN HANDS in our house (and any of them icky at any given moment!) to keep clean.  When Lysol offered to send a unit for me to review (and giveaway – see below), I was happy to say yes.

The Good:

• Easy to set up.
• Simple, attractive design; fits in with any kitchen or bathroom decor.
• Security in knowing that 99.9% of germs are being killed.
• Not having to touch anything with those germs before they’re washed away.
• We received the Soothing Cucumber Splash soap, and it smelled SO GOOD and left our hands very soft.
• The amount of soap dispensed is just the right amount for getting a good clean.
• This dispenser has a SERIOUS “cool factor” – the kids were excited to use it (and keep using it).

The Pause:

• More batteries.  I haven’t seen any information on approximately how long the batteries are meant to last, but this might just be one more thing to create waste in used batteries.
• You will need to stress to your children that ONE PUMP is enough, so they don’t use up the small-ish 8.5 oz bottle right away.
• Be careful how you lift and move this unit – I’ve already slipped a few times and found my hand in the sensor zone, only to have it dispense soap unnecessarily.
• Some people might find the cost prohibitive and opt for the store-brand $1 containers of hand soap.

The Bottom Line:

• We really like having it in our kitchen, and it’s a huge help for washing my hands when they are covered with various meal ingredients (especially if I’ve been handling raw meat!).  Though little kids might go crazy with waving their hand under the sensor, school-aged kids and older will be happy with their one pump, and it may just get them more enthusiastic about washing.  We like it a lot, and I would recommend it.

The Giveaway:

Lysol has provided one No-Touch Handsoap System Starter Kit (dispenser, soap, and batteries) for giveaway.  To enter, please answer in a comment to this post:  aside from keeping hands washed, what is another way you try to prevent sickness during the cold and flu season?

For extra entires, do any of the following and leave an extra comment for each entry method used:

• Tweet about this giveaway (leave your Twitter ID in the comment)
• Follow this blog via Google Connect
• Subscribe to this blog via email or reader

All entries due by 11:59PM CST Saturday, March 13.  US entries only, please.  Good luck to everyone!

*Disclosure:  Lysol provided me with this product for review and an additional product for giveaway.  I was not compensated in any other way for this post.

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