Banned Books Week

Celebrate the Freedom to Read! Go read a banned or challenged book! Open your mind.

Honestly, some of the reasons for challenging books are just ridiculous and petty. Others come from people who have never even read the books but jumped to snap conclusions.

According to the ALA,

"Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom:

1. The material was considered to be "sexually explicit"
2. The material contained "offensive language"
3. The material was "unsuited to any age group"'

But it's my job as a parent to protect my child. It's my job to look at anything questionable and decide if I want her to be reading it. But it is NOT my job to police other children's reading. And it's not your job either.

I read plenty of things that I'm sure my mother would have had fits about had she known. As a pre-teen I read "Forever" by Judy Blume (my mother knew the author's name, but not the subject of the book, and needless to say I never shared that with her!) and found in a stack of my older sister's college books the story of Linda Lovelace. I can't say I would want my daughter to read the Lovelace book right now, but they didn't turn me into to some twisted sex fiend ;)

Books, Glee and other unrelated stuff

I love to read. You probably figured that out already from previous posts. My daughter loves to read too. She's 10 and reads at a 12th grade level. Very cool, that. And when her new teacher asked her just before school started if she read over the summer she of course answered, "Yes." He asked her what she'd been reading and she told him "Oz books." She's totally in to the Oz series by the amazing Frank L. Baum.

Recently her teacher surprised her, by checking out a new Wizard of Oz graphic novel at the local library and letting her read it. Very cool, that as well! She devoured it, and is now reading Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (the author of Ella Enchanted). Who knows what she will be reading next!

Anyhoo. Glee. I'm a bit disappointed, because they teased us with competition for Rachel and then got rid of her. Boooo! I wanted Rachel to have the competition. I don't like her. She's a snot and really, I would love to see Mercedes and Kurt get more front time. And I'm sorry, but the whole boob job story line was just over the top. I think I laughed more at Jane Lynch's "Don't be a Sue" advert than I did over Glee tonight :(

And speaking of high school... I totally felt like I was back in high school yesterday thanks to 3 co-workers. Two of them are dating, and I think the third is jealous, so she told the girl half of the couple something about the boy half of the couple and now they aren't friends anymore. Yeah, how old are you all?? I'm just waiting for the first time they all 3 work together again, sheesh.

The crappy unnamed cable company is about to get the boot. We switched the phone already, internet changes tomorrow and hopefully the DirecTv folks will show up soon with our dish and then I will have We tv and get to watch My Fair wedding every week on Sundays, lol.

Ok, enough random babbling. Night!

World of Warcraft Cataclysm expansion

So I finally got my Beta key and between hubby and I, spent a few hours in the game last night.

Originally they said there would be NO huge equipment upgrade, like from original to BC. Really?? 'Cause there sure as heck is.
First green quest reward item I saw was better than a lot of Tier 10 gear. Not that a single bloody piece of equipment for my Balance druid has been offered. Everything is geared to kitties.

I like being able to fly everywhere.

But I don't particularly like that they've put in flight paths everywhere in the old world. WoW in easy mode...

They originally said that it would take as long to go from 80-85 as it took to go from 70-80. Really? 'Cause I'm about to hit 81 after only a few hours of play. Sorry, but 20k+ exp for a quest is tooooooo much. At this rate, I will have no reason to go to the other new areas, I'll hit 85 in Hyjal. Hmmm. At least with Wrath I went to most areas before I hit 80. I've got most of the quest acheivements, except for Icecrown because I was 80 before I ever really spent any time there.

It's pretty. The new underwater zone is lovely. But annoying as hell when trying to get into buildings.

So far, the bad is outweighing the good for me and I'm not seeing a lot to tempt players who have grown bored and left the game to come back, let alone drop another $50 on the expansion. People like me, lol. I'll play the beta, because it's free and different. But grinding levels still bores me and unless the new instance/raid content is really good (not too easy/not too hard) I just don't see myself playing for long.

Is it Friday yet??

Today was just one of those days. I am sooooooooo tired. I went in at 8 AM and clocked out at 6:20 PM. I did manage to get a 15 minute break and a 30 minute lunch, but the rest of the day was just non-stop. And no one had anything easy, lol.

All I can say is thank goodness I dawdled this morning and had to drive to work. I think if I had gotten off work and had to walk home I'd have cried. Or called the hubby and made him come get me ;)

I just want to go to bed now. Night, night.

Fun!

At work we have a regular client who owns a cute little boutique. Every time she comes in she's wearing a different necklace. I finally asked her about them and she told me I had to come in and look because she has a ton of them, and proceeded to pop out the middle of her necklace. It's a magnet. A Magnabilities to be exact.

So today I went over and looked at her stock and got me a nice chain and pendant and 4 inserts for it. Now I want to get just the round pendant too, lol.

But the best thing is, she has waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more inserts than are available online! (Of which I actually have a small part in the making of, but I'm sworn to secrecy and can't say anymore, haha)

So if you ever happen to be near Centerra, pop into MAXimum Boutique and take a look.

Up until now

I haven't really been interested in using Facebook to reconnect with folks from high school. But today, just for the heck of it, I searched the name of one of my best friends in high school. And I found her. We were best buds until our junior year when I moved away and we lost touch. Now I just have to see if she accepts my friend request. It would be fun to reconnect and catch up a bit.

But I'm still not adding my maiden name to my profile. It's fine if I search people out, but I don't want anyone finding me, hahahaha.

I want to bake this weekend

I don't know why. Maybe it was the chill in the air this morning as I went to work, bringing fall closer, while still holding on to summer during the day. I want to bake a pie of some sort (Well, really I want to bake something pumpkin-y, but my hubby hates anything pumpkin, so I will make something else we can all eat, though it is getting to be time for pumpkin butter again, yum!).

I think it's time for a strawberry pie. I haven't made one in years and it was always my favorite treat when my mother made it. I'm going to cheat and buy a pie crust, purely because I don't have any flour and I can't be bothered to buy any (I don't bake enough to use it before Christmas). Go figure, I will buy corn starch, but not flour...

Anyhoo, here's my family recipe for strawberry pie. I like this pie because it doesn't have the gelatin that so many berry pies have.

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. butter

Directions

Arrange half of strawberries in baked pastry shell. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and with some of the juice from the berries. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into strawberry mixture, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, add lemon juice and butter, stir well. Pour mixture over berries in baked pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving. Eat alone or serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Note: I've found that you need extra cornstarch at higher alitudes or you end up with strawberry soup!

Enjoy!

Edited to add: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Pie crust, baked it and the damned thing slid down in the pie plate. So I baked the other crust, taking care to make sure the dough was stretched and fluted well. Same damned thing. I hate wasting time and money. This is the first time I have ever had a blind baked crust do that, too. I am way peeved :(

Why cable sucks

I went to pay my bill online last night and about peed my pants. $326! WTF?? Why is everything listed under misc. charges?? So I call cable provider and ask what the heck is going on? Why has my bill increased from $90/mo. to $114? And why am I paying for HD when I can't actually receive HD tv? And WHAT THE HELL ARE ALL THE MISC. CHARGES??

After going 'round and 'round for ages, I've decided that the cable company sucks eggs. When we moved, they screwed up our service transfer, and it took hours to get it straightened out over the phone and they hung up on me several times. I let them get away with it that time, because it was easier than switching. But this just takes the cake.

Awfully convenient that my "promotional price" ran out right after we moved. And sadly, the $114 is the cheapest offer they can give me (which after taxes and stuff is actually closer to $150!). Really? 'Cause I still see a bundle advertised for $89.99. So I told them I would be calling DirecTV and she got all, "Oh hold on a second. Do you mind if I put you on hold and see what we can do?"

She came back with, "Well, we could give you a free HD receiver, but the $114 is the best deal we have." Thanks for your time, but I'll be calling DirecTV. I've already contacted the property service we use and the dish is no problem so it's time to call. It's past time.

First it was the trampoline,

then it was dodgeball and tag. Now they are taking away swingsets at elementary schools.

We've become such a litigious society that kids can't even play on the swings anymore! This is getting absolutely ridiculous. I've said it before and I will say it again. Soon recess will be nothing more than children lined up outside (not touching anything or anyone, 'cause they might get hurt) for 5 minutes each day.

How is it the school's fault that your kid decided to play Superman and launch himself from the swing? Are teachers supposed to be mind readers now too? And does your backyard swing set have a "safe" surface for your kid to land on?

Hell, when I was a kid the school playground equipment was surrounded by gravel. Hurt like hell to land on and gave beautiful road rash. But how was it any worse than the rock hard ground around my swing set at home? The squishy rubber surfaces or sand that most play areas have now is brilliant, and if your kid didn't try to fly, maybe he'd have landed on it.

Kids do stupid things. They can't help it (they have no impulse control), it's their job to be stupid and learn from their mistakes. Quit molly-coddling your kids, let them learn and teach them responsibility for their own actions. But most of all...

Parents, let your kids be kids, quit trying to make a fast buck from their childhood.