Hallo all. I'm searching for a book that was part of my middle school curriculum; I read it in the late '90s. I found it a while back, but I lost it again. I do hope you can help!

There was a game involved: a will had several people together to try to solve a mystery for the inheritance. One of the teams was lead by a younger girl, and their answer to one "riddle" was a monetary value (completely wrong).

I don't remember any more plot wise. I do remember that the cover had a large mansion on it. I want to say that the title has the word "game" in it, but I'm not sure.

Any help will be very much loved, and leading me to this book will end in internet points and e-cookies ♥

I heard about this book on the radio a while ago and its written by a guy who went to a fancy prep school and then an Ivy League University.

Its pretty much all about how he went to the best schools in the nation and learned absolutely nothing and then got out into the real world and realized how useless the educational system is. He got a lot of criticism on the fact that he wrote this after attending Yale, or wherever he went. It stuck in my head because I've always argued that college is overrated most of the time and more people should consider trade schools (no offense, but my university was so "serious" about admissions that I got into Pre-Med after nearly flunking out of high school).

Well, today was a DAY.
It started with Court.  I took my little manila folder full of printouts up to courtroom six on the second floor of the sixties era courthouse and sat while the Commonwealth's Attorney did paperwork, calling up the petitioners before the judge came in.  A couple wanted continuances, and then she called me and two others up.  "Everyone have their compliance summary?" she asked.
The person to the left of me looked sheepish as he said he lost his.
The woman on my right said she'd included hers in the paperwork she'd submitted.
I pulled mine out of the folder.  Of course, the compliance sheet was dated 5/21/09, when I started this project, and not this week.  They like to have an up to date compliance sheet; of course they don't tell you that- anywhere.
"This is all I have- I've been accumulating paperwork."   She takes it,  telling me that she'll see if the judge will accept it.
Twenty minutes later, after he deals with continuances, he does.
He approves my appeal for reinstatement.
It's rubber stamped.  Literally, actually.
That was the first part of the day.
From there P took me to the dmv, where he read Caitlin Kiernan's Low Red Moon, while I ran the gantlet.
Paperwork.  Wait.  Paperwork. Wait.  Take the tests- 10/10 for the sign test, 20/22 for the question test.
Now, all I have to do is take the road test.
You know the sound of a needle sliding across a record?  That "skwareeeeech" noise.
That was my reaction to the revelation I had to take the road test.
I hadn't been behind the wheel of a car in over a decade.  So....
I looked at my Compliance sheet.
Approval by a judge? Check.
Paid the reinstatement fee? Check.
Pass written exam?  Check.
Nothing on the compliance sheet about road exam.
I pointed this out the the DMV test lady.
And to her supervisor.
He figured if the computer let him do it, it'd be ok.
It did, it was.

I am now legally a driver.
I drove about thirty miles today- from Newport News park to a consignment store in Williamsburg and back, a straight shot down 143, so the whole "turn signal thing" never came into play.  Or lights. Or wipers.

But P said that I didn't do too bad, considering the ten year gap between drive times.

Channel surfing last night, we caught the Beautiful People marathon on Logo and were pleasantly surprised. The real life Simon Doonan seems... kinda creepy, while his adolescent tv counterpart is heart warming. Here, Simon-in the Technicolor dream coat- his best friend Kylie, and their classmate Imelda posture for who deserves the lead in the school play, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
The whole series- all six episodes- has talent and production values comparable and is better that most American sit coms.

This is an approachable and fast memoir that most any animal lover would enjoy. Susan Richards had a lot of baggage, but by the time she entered her 40s she regarded herself as an independent woman in control of her life. She had conquered the alcohol addiction that dominated her for decades. She shed an abusive husband and family. But when she agreed to take care of an abused mare and foal, she got more than she bargained for. The mare, Lay Me Down, had every right to hate humans, but she didn't. She looked on Susan with trust and faith, and Susan felt her old protective barriers begin to fall. But barriers exist with a reason, and soon Susan would need to face the truth: with love comes vulnerability, but it is still worthwhile.

I was surprised at how gently this book flowed. It felt like stream-of-consciousness, progressing from memory to memory without me even fully realizing how far the story strayed. Susan had a very difficult life, and she is very honest about what she endured and also what she brought on herself. Her relationship with Lay Me Down and other horses, even the impetuous Morgan Georgia, reveal a lot about her and her maturity. This is really a book about love, life, death, and how a person is never to old to learn and grow wise.

Which means it's been a week since I've started my gift project for my husband.
A decepticon image... time for me to post and update! (it's safe he doesn't have a lj and doesn't read this community either)

( PICTURES! )

Book 72: Storm Glass (Opal Cowan Trilogy Book 1)
Author: Marie V. Snyder
Genre: Fantasy Romance.
Other Details: Paperback. 512 pages.

This new trilogy from Marie V. Snyder is set four years after the closing of Fire Study. Its main character and narrator is glassmaker Opal Cowan, who was first introduced in Magic Study.

Opal is now a magician-in-training at the Magician's Keep and faces her first real test when she is sent on a mission by the Master Magicians of Sitia to discover why the glass orbs of the Stormdance Clan have been shattering, killing storm dancers in the process. This is only the start of Opal's adventures and trials as this book packs a great deal of plot into its pages yet still has time for some romance and reflection.

I really liked Opal when she first appeared and was delighted to find her elevated to leading lady of this new trilogy. Snyder had created such a coherent fantasy world that I had felt immediately at home in from the start of the Study Trilogy. There is the added bonus of pronounceable names! I did wonder how glass-making would carry a plot though I need not have been concerned because it worked out well.

I do think though that although some background is given that this book really needs to be read after the Study Trilogy as many aspects of plot and characters are carried over and it builds on the foundation created there in terms of the world, its peoples and cultures. I loved it and am pleased that the second book, Sea Glass, will be out this autumn.

Chapter 1 of Storm Glass - contains spoilers for conclusion of Fire Study.

Shock is deeper.

I'm really tired and I just wanted to make sure I'm not a total moron today.

I was doing a diaper change on my 16 month old and noticed that she was red and irritated just around and inside her vagina, so I suspect the very early onset of a vaginal yeast infection. I'm completely broke right now and the only yogurt we have in the house is my husband's which is loaded with sugar.

I thought to myself "aha! Our probiotics have the same sorts of bacteria, so that should work!" I carefully cleaned the area with plain water, emptied out one of the capsules all over her undercarriage, and put a clean diaper on her.

That was okay, right? Does it work the same as yogurt? Does she have to eat the probiotics for it to work?

Also, on a related question, I breastfeed her still and was wondering if I should cut sugar out of my diet for the next few days. I'm quite the fan of orange juice and I have a batch of cookie batter in the fridge that's ready to go. I know you should avoid sugar when you have a yeast infection, but what if you are nursing a baby who has a yeast infection?

Many thanks!

EDIT: Oh, hey! Does breastmilk work on vaginal yeast infections?

I've been putting off reporting on The Road by Cormac McCarthy because, oddly enough, I liked it so very much. It's the story of a man and his son wandering mostly aimlessly across a desolate America in the middle of what is probably a nuclear winter. I got it because so many of you were speaking highly of it and because I tend to be drawn to the post-apocalyptic. After I'd finished reading it, I called my father to see if HE'D read it. My father and I have very few books in common, since I like sci-fi and he likes straight fiction that's been well-reviewed by the New York Times. This, I thought, would be a book we might have in common.

"I really like McCarthy," said my dad, "But I've actually avoided reading The Road on purpose. I heard it was... bleak."

"It IS bleak," said I, "But it's beautiful in the bleakness."

It's very very bleak, and pretty disturbing in some spots, but there IS a beauty to it that seems to be held in common by very well-done post-apocalyptic stuff (like World War Z). Oddly, it most reminded me of a play I was in my senior year of highschool, a weird little thing called "A Fable" or something like that.

I was worried that the ending would ruin it, but it didn't. Even the lack of quotation marks didn't bother me for very long, it ended up making the whole thing more... bleak (sorry for over-repetition of this word).

So I think you should read it.

(52/100)

The Warehouse's back-up phone whilst the Sinifone is in drydock is utter shite. It's like a naff eighties toaster, no, wait, it is Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf! D:

Also, I have lost all messages and contacts, so please don't send me incomprehensible text messages, as I don't have any of your numbers!
Poverty strikes - I'd rather be in York, visiting ...Deviation with Hamster and that lot, but it is not to be.
Well, tomorrow, some of you scumbags had better organise my social life and tell me where and when we're meeting for this festival type stuff. Then, films and boozing.

Irrelevant update - out!

how quickly would a yeast rash respond to a vinegar rinse?

the reason i ask, is that im worried the baby and i have thrush...but im pretty much asymptomatic, besides some breast soreness...my nips are just fine...but she has a white coating, had a raised rash on her thigh with some dots nearby...but its all but gone after a vinegar rinse and a switch to disposable diapers...which could mean it was a detergent thing since we've recently switched...and her tongue has always been white...

buuut i just finished a round of abx and im hugely paranoid ive given us thrush...

anyways, those of you with babies who have had yeasty diaper rashes...how quickly did they clear up w/ whatever treatment you used...

i have a ped's appt this afternoon, but im not so sure i want to keep it if i can avoid spending the hundo plus bucks on a 'maybe'...

tia!

Keel's Simple Diary, a genius little book, I think.

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp07102009.shtml

Also, Super Stupor 2 is on pre-order in the stoer - whoo!

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If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com.

I have finished page 2 on her, page 4 just came out today, so still lagging a bit behind. I hope to be able to catch up before the end of the year!

( Read more... )

I'm at the gate posting on my iPhone. Nolagoraphobia fairly well controlled by -pams. The fuckers at security made me toss not just my $1 hairspray, which I didn't care about except now my hair will be all floppy at Alinea, but also my expensive tea rose perfume. Yep, I could have taken out the captain with that shit. Thank you, "terrists."

Any experiences with Patapum carriers? I picked one like this up at a garage sale this morning. It seems similar to an Ergo, at least based on pictures. (I've never seen an Ergo in peson!) I'm just curious if anyone here uses or has used one, and what you can tell me about. Thanks! :)

I need to know what is going to happen after delivery with a baby who's momma has GD. She's determined to BF and she's having a VBAC. Baby is "already measuring" at 6lbs at 36 weeks. She's going to my OB who is a natural friendly OB. She also is going to a "baby friendly" hospital, where I had both mine and they're very BF friendly (rooming in, etc). She also has one of the most knowledgeable doulas in the area.

What does she need to know about BF and the sugar testing and the push for formula/sugar water etc.? I'm not putting this as a protected entry so I can send it to her.

Thanks in advance!

xposted to NB and BF

Title: Mandy
Author: Julie Andrews Edwards
Year: 1971
# of pages: 188
Date read: 4/13/2009
Rating: 3*/5 = good

Description:

A home of her own. For ten-year-old Mandy, the old stone orphanage was the only home she remembered. Matron Bridie was kind to her, but there were thirty children to look after, and sometimes Mandy felt there was something missing. One day Mandy climbed over the high orphanage wall and found a tiny, deserted cottage in the woods. Here at last was her very own home. All through the spring, summer, and fall, Mandy worked to make it truly hers. Sometimes she "borrowed" things she needed from the orphanage. Sometimes to guard her secret, she even lied. Then one stormy night at the cottage, Mandy got sick, and no one knew how to find her -- except a special friend she didn't know she had. -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I enjoyed re-reading this book as it was one of my favorite books growing up. As I read, I smiled at remembering Mandy's climbing over the wall, and even though I knew how it would end, I still worried when she was in the cottage while she was sick.

Date read: 4/13/2009
Book #: 26
Challenge: Childhood Favourites Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Children's Literature

Publisher: Harper & Row
Year: 1971
# of Pages: 188

I realize I am asking this question to a community with a bias towards natural birthing and no interventions when/if possible. But that is okay, because I guess I just want to be reassured and know what you think.
My question is about the necessity of the strep B test. Did you take it? Is it recommendable? I am in Mexico and here it is apparently not standard procedure and my OBGYN (he is totally natural birth friendly- there are no midwives here) will not be prescribing it to me. He told me they don't do it here, but if I wanted to I could. He told me a story about a French couple he had that demanded an amnio-blah blah blah (a screening where they test the amniotic fluid) because they said that was standard procedure in France (I don't know if it truly is, but that's what he said they said). Of course, that sounded absolutely ridiculous to me to have that test done, and so I thought maybe the strep B could be unnecessary as well.
I have one American friend that also gave birth this past year here in Mexico. She told me the reason why the Strep B Test isn't standard procedure is because Mexican women are a lot less prone to having it compared to U.S. women. She vouched for the test and went to a lab to get it done. Of course, she also vouched for an episiotimy and I know that is unnecessary and for me, completly unwanted. So I'd appreciate more opinions on the matter to have or not to have the strep B test done.
Thanks for the help.