Back in 2006, I think, I joined Weight Watchers, lost some pounds and then I dropped out. So those pounds returned and bought along many of their cousins. Too many.

So for the last 8 months or so, I’ve tried to lose weight. But not a fervent effort. Not even strong or diligent. It’s been more of a talk and daydream weight loss effort.

But alas, I need to get it together. I look like Free Willy. And that’s not acceptable.

I watch The Biggest Loser and know I could never go on that show because if you thought Bob cussed Joelle out, he would have ripped me from limb to limb.

I dare not have Jillian as my trainer. I don’t believe I have enough vomit in me to spew on TV after she kills me in the non-last chance workout. Stand on me? Get out of here.

So this past Thursday, 1.22.09, I walked back in to Weight Watchers. I need to be there. I need their help. I have weight that I need to lose and I want to do it the right way that works for me.

But God bless my fellow Weight Watcher meeting attenders, especially the two women who would.not.shut.up.talking. the other night. I mean seriously ladies. It is a meeting for all of us. You’re not on Oprah’s couch. Let the leader talk. I am a talkative person. I freely admit this. But I have a magnetic personality and make my stories interesting and entertaining. [img]http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/lachen/laughing-smiley-002.gif[/img] These two women didn’t.

I thought about doing the online version of Weight Watchers, but I need accountability and I need to attend the meetings even with Chatty Cathy and Talkative Tara in my presence.

So count on a blog each week charting my progress through the help of Weight Watchers.

If you too are on the weight loss road, please share your progress and things that work for you that might work for me.

I am a picky eater and have some dietary restrictions that wouldn’t allow me to do Atkins and several other diets that are out there.

If you want to read a book about a woman’s weight loss efforts, I recommend Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster. It is hilarious. She did Jenny and Weight Watchers as well, but she has such a funny way of looking at things and approaching weight loss as well as the gym that for me, it felt like we are kindred spirits. Minus the pearls.

So I know you are curious, just how much do you weigh? None of your business. I will say that my goal is to lose 30 pounds by June 20th.

I will share starting this Thursday how much I lose each week and some of the things I learn via the meetings and just my own trial and error.

But here is a picture of me from the cruise I went on in September. It gives a great indication of what I look like.

Established in 2000, RAWSistaz (Reading and Writing Sistaz) Literary Group is committed to the support and promotion of books by, for and about African-Americans. Every year, RAWSistaz presents an annual gathering for the members of their online group in various cities.  In addition to being a reunion for the group’s members, The RAWSistaz Affair spotlights authors and focuses on various topics as it relates to literature and increasing the appreciation of the written word.  This year, the RAW Affair will be held online.  As a matter of fact, it is taking place this week beginning December 8 – 13, 2008.

Although primarily a promoter of adult literature of all genres, RAWSistaz is a Brown Bookshelf partner. They’ve wholeheartedly supported our mission to increase exposure of children’s books written and illustrated by African Americans to parents, librarians, teachers and other gatekeepers in a young reader’s life.  On Wednesday, December 10, 2008, visit the RAW event to talk to the members of The Brown Bookshelf as we discuss the best ways to get young readers excited about books, overcoming the required reading slump, and supporting literary balance as the influx of YA street literature increases.  Join Paula, Varian, Don, Kelly, and Carla throughout the day on December 10^th in a great discussion about children’s literature.  To visit our panel, or any other, click on the panel topic and submit a comment or question.

Dear ABC Family,

I have love for you as you aid in my television entertainment throughout the week and on the weekends, but in 2006 you captured my heart when you introduced me to the Sutton family living in Lincoln Heights.  From the start, I connected with this family who really are committed to each other and their community.  That first season as they faced trials and tribulations of a good neighborhood gone bad, I often pondered why not just leave.  There were many episodes where I telepathically implored the matriarch Jen Sutton to just pack up her things along with Cassie, Lizzie, and Tay’s things and leave Eddie to his quest to save Lincoln Heights.

But I was wrong to do that.

While the Sutton family hasn’t changed everyone, they are good for Lincoln Heights and Lincoln Heights are good for them.

So here we are in the third season and I can’t help but feel the need to sit myself down and let you, the powers that be at ABC Family, know how I feel about this season.

First of all, I noticed how short this season is.  Tonight is the season finale?!!?  Seriously?!?!?!  ABC Family, this is the 10th episode.  That is not a season, if this was on ABC, CBS, or NBC, this would be just the first half of the season.  The first season according to IMDB was 13 episodes.  Last season and this season only have 10 episodes.  We must fix that for the fourth season.  I want nothing less than 15 episodes.

Maybe President Elect Barack Obama can help me resolve this matter with you.  Hmmm.

That’s just a joke, good people.  I wouldn’t involve President Elect Barack Obama just yet.

Now the third season started off with a bang, you know Cassie and Charles being held hostage in their own house and discovering a secret attic after living there for about two years.  Or is it just one year?  I really can’t tell.  For all I know this is all happening in a matter of 6 months.  Well, I guess we can say for sure at least one year has passed since Sage was in a coma for forever.

And FYI, you could have just killed her.  No loss THERE.

So yes, the third season started with a bang, great tension, and such.  Loved it.

Then you introduce a new family, the Kingstons, who I can tell right away aren’t on the up and up.  Something in the water just wasn’t clean with them.  I wish Rev. Hammond’s wife had did a more thorough check on their background.  Rev. Kingston is nothing like Rev. Hammond.  Nothing, especially after last week’s episode.  The only character in the Kingston family that I like is the daughter who goes to school with Charles and Cassie.

And then in episode 6, they killed him.  Should have killed Devin Kingston instead, but noooooo, they killed Johnny, the mockingbird of Lincoln Heights.

I almost caught a spasm when I saw that Juanita Bynum was the guest star, but since she was without that dreadful light pink lipstick, I will keep pressing my way.

And I loved the Glass’ back story and what happened to them living in what is now the Sutton’s house.  That was a really powerful scene with the woman who used to live there who showed up and had a flashback to a deadly night.

So to recap, I love Lincoln Heights.  It is on my Must See TV list and I am thankful that ABC Family puts out such a great show, but I believe that the seasons can be and should be longer.  10 episodes is robbery to us, the fans, of this show.

I trust you have heard my grievances.  Also if there is a way to bring back Johnny Nightingale, I hope you will work on that for season 4.

I will tune in today to catch the 9 episode marathon starting at 12:00PM today.

Best regards,

Carla

For months now, I have not been able to write a blog post or a page for my next book.  I know part of it is a mental block, another part is me not tapping into my own creative energy, and another bigger part is laziness.

Today, I can speak.  Today, I am compelled to write.  Today, I have reason to celebrate.  Yesterday, on my TV screen, I saw so much beauty.  I saw love.  I saw hope.  Change being birthed.  Family.  Yesterday showcased the preamble to what months of campaigning will finally translate into for Americans.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

I have hope.  I have love for my fellow Americans.  I am embracing the potential that lies within me and everyone who walks the earth.

People said he couldn’t do it.  Many told him he shouldn’t do it, that he’s not ready to lead a nation.  But I believe that Obama was born, cultivated, educated for “such a time as this.”  He’s the one to lead us past this season in American history.  He will be the one to usher in this new season of hope, promise, and dreams deferred.

I won’t put all of my hope and trust in Obama.  After all he is only human.  My hope is still resting in God’s will.  I pray that Obama listens to God today and everyday.  I pray that he picks a staff that will have Americans’ best interests at heart and will truly take care of America first.  I pray that Obama and his family are protected from hurt, harm, and danger.

For the first time, I am compelled to pray for a government official and his family.  Last night, I watched Obama and his daughter hold hands and I got misty at that sight of father/daughter love, of Black love, of the weight that is on his shoulders for him as a husband, a father, a brother, a man, a Black man, and now, the 44th President of the United States of America.

I charge us all to be committed to America’s future, to not expect President Obama to save us in a matter of days, or to do everything we wish he would do.  Pray that he makes the right decisions.  Let your voices be heard by writing your elected officials, as in your mayor, governor, Congressmen, and Senators.  Be proactive.  Be a part of the change.

God bless Barack Hussein Obama II, Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, Malia Obama, and the United States of America.

Eh, I missed blogging so here is just a random one as I wait for Bridezillas to come on, then Design Star, and finally Army Wives.

The title of today’s blog is due in part to Jen Lancaster’s newest memoir Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist’s Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie Is Not the Answer which I finished reading today.  Thanks to my cyber pal Gridiron Goddess who introduced me to Jen’s first memoir, the popular, snarky, and laugh out loud Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office.  In between Bitter and Such a Pretty Fat is the snarkalicious Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl’s Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?

Reading Jen’s memoirs, you will often laugh out loud as I did Friday while reading Bright Lights, Big Ass at work, you will agree with her thoughts on life and weight loss attempts via Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, or you will be reading about her neighbors, only to drive home and see a teenager riding his bike by sitting on his handlebars and doggedly refusing to get out of your way after working a 12 hour day.  Whooo saaaaaaaaaah.

So today’s blog will be a poem of sorts, umm not really but it will be about the word Sunday since it is written on a Sunday.

S

is for siblings as I sit here waiting for my sole sibling to place his weekly call unto me.  I missed last week’s call so I am eager to talk to him but I hope he calls before 9:00.  I would love to hear how his comedy show went last week at the Juneteenth Festival.  He’s an up and coming Christian comic.  And he’s bonafied thanks to YouTube.

U

is for the umpteen hours of TV I will watch, books I will read, and naps I will take on a Sunday.   And for the umpteenth time I want to know, why didn’t they just use a set of real twins when making The Parent Trap?  And then to do that same concept twice?  Okay, I get that the budget might have been smaller when the original was first made, but the most recent version surely had a bigger budget and the Olsen twins at their beck and call.  Yesterday they showed the original on Hallmark and now the Lindsay Lohan version is on ABC Family.

N

is for the neighbors who are seriously make me contemplate moving this year after living here for 6 years.  All of them leave trash outside their doors, but the ones next door left one newspaper outside the only door we have, the door they walk past at least 6 times a day per person, especially that youngest daughter who loves to slam the bleeping door.  The newest neighbors on my floor put the bumper sticker that belongs on their car that proclaims their child is a good student at No Child Left Behind Elementary School on their door.  They’ve had a plant outside their door for almost two months.  It’s dead.  It’s really just a pot with dirt that they keep putting water in. They also eat at McDonald’s a lot and leave that bag outside their door as well.  They seem to have a strong dislike for real trash bags and seem able to only have trash in Wal Mart bags that they leave outside for days on end.  The ones next door to them drink a lot and leave that trash outside.  I don’t even speak to none of these people.  Well I did to the dad of the No Child Left Behind Elementary School Achiever one day when he decided to hammer the bottle tops from countless bottles of Heineken purportedly for NCLBESA’s homework assisgnment outside my door.

D

is for quotes about dreams.  This week, someone cheered me up and reminded me of my focus in life by sharing with me two quotes about dreams.   “Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you.” ~ Marsha Norman

“To dream anything that you want to dream. That’s the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.” ~ Bernard Edmonds

A

is for the amazing wonder that is Aldi.  For no real reason, I never shopped there until sometime in May.  I was such a novice that I didn’t even know about the shopping carts for a quarter thing.  Today I went just to get some water so no need for a bag, just the $.25 cart, but they had some dried fruit on sale so I grabbed several packs, paid 10 cents for a bag and then I might have did the next part wrong.  My cart was in the way as I tried to bag and pay at the same time.  So feeling slightly embarrassed, I left the store.   I just need them to have 2 sets of car by both doors so I don’t have to walk around the corner to return the cart and get my $.25 back.  Otherwise, Aldi rocks!  Bread for $1.19/loaf?

Y

is for me saying, “You heffas are crazy/trippping/bleeping nuts” as I watch Bridezillas.  I watched like 3 episodes last season and am currently on the third episode of the new season and I seriously shake my head at these brides with their “This is MY day/It’s all about the bride” mentality and have the nerve to want to be Big Willys when they’re broke.  I would love to do a longitudinal study (psych degree put to use) and see how many of the married couples from the past 2 seasons and the present season lasts beyond 1, 3, 5, and 10 years.  50 years from now if any of them are still married to each other, I say they receive a Nobel Peace Prize.

This summer, the Brown Bookshelf will be hosting three chats on our MySpace forum looking at various aspects of children’s literature.

This week we will examine the state of children’s literature with literary agent Jennifer Carlson.

Jen will answer questions posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 from 10AM - 11AM.  Stop by and inquire about children’s literature, present and future.

A time to gather, a time to celebrate, a time to uplift, a time to embrace . . .

Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, and Sigma Gamma Rho will gather at the Marriott Charlotte City Center in Uptown Charlotte to celebrate sisterhood, not just within, but across, their respective organizations.

I will be at the Sister II Sister Sorority Luncheon on June 28, 2008 in Charlotte, NC selling autographed copies of Freshman Focus and Just Be.

A few weeks ago my mom sent me an article from The Plain Dealer announcing that today, June 12^th, would be the day that Randall Park Mall officially closes minus Sears, Burlington Coat Factory, a sports complex of some sort and the movie theater.  Reading the article, I grew nostalgic for the place that I spent many Saturdays during my adolescence.

I grew up in North Randall which is a tiny village outside of Cleveland, Ohio.  North Randall neighbors Warrensville Heights and I lived up the street from the Brown Derby (long gone), Dunkin Donuts (gone), Bob Evans (still in business), Baker’s Square (gone), Denny’s (gone), Best (fare thee well), the Holiday Inn (resting in useless peace), Thistledown, and Randall Park Mall (dying a slow death).

Farther down the street away from the mall used to be the Miles Drive In, a place we went as a family when I was a kid and later a place to go on a date as a teenager.  That too has closed.  So much good, so many possibilities, and a whole lot of memories are now gone like dust in the wind.

The grand opening of Randall Park Mall was 1976, when I was a toddler to be, and was the mall that many in Cuyahoga County flocked to that year and for many years. 

But like time, things change.

I no longer live in the area, but every time I go home, I see that something else has disappeared.  When I learned that Geauga Lake, the amusement park closest to my home, easiest and most affordable to go to, and the site of Grad Night in 1993, closed in 2007, I was crushed.  How could a park that opened in 1888 just close?  So many people worked there during high school and college.  Couples and friends used to go there dressed alike and stand in line with their hands in each other’s back pockets, lol.  The home of the Double Loop, the first roller coaster that I ever rode in 1986, Geauga Lake was a fun place for me as a kid and a teen.  Plus I loved to get the cotton candy, salt water taffy, and funnel cake sold there.

Next door to Randall Park Mall used to be Children’s Palace which later closed and then reopened as Circuit City which is also now closed.  Before I knew about Toys’R'Us and KB Toys, there was Children’s Palace for all of my toy shopping needs.   For my 8^th birthday, I got a Ms. Pac Man handheld game that was the center of my world until my brother ruined the game in his quest to make the joystick move faster.  He used to pour water on the joysticks not realizing that he was destroying my game.

If someone had told me in the 90s that one day this popular mall would one day resemble a ghost town, I would have laughed in their faces.  But I was young and dumb and didn’t realize that changes do come. 

In this day and age of high gas prices, high unemployment, what used to thrill us, doesn’t anymore.  The spaces that used to be occupied by May Company (later Kaufmann’s and then Macy’s), Higbee’s (later Dillards), and JC Penney’s (later Burlington Coat Factory) would one day stand empty or hold less appealing merchandise.

On the Saturdays I was at the mall, I entered through Sears, where my first stop was Petrie’s, the place where I purchased many cute outfits, including my Sweet Sixteen party outfit.  I used to buy my music at Camelot.  Back then I purchased tapes or cassette singles like Guy’s debut LP with one of my favorite songs, “Piece of My Love.”

I guess even in the 90s, the mall was declining, but in my eyes it was just fine.  I remember seeing Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Lean on Me, Candy Man and a plethora of other movies there in the theater that used to be on the second floor, long before the Magic Johnson theater arrived on the scene.

Now with Randall Park Mall closing, I cannot imagine what they are going to put in its place.  I have ideas of what needs to be done to revitalize, rejuvenate the area, but I am not in a position to make my ideas known beyond phone calls with my family and this here blog so here goes.

The area needs economy, but it also needs a place for the residents of Warrensville Heights, North Randall, and Cleveland to go.  There used to be a Ponderosa and all sorts of restaurants there in the area that no longer exists.

Recently another company, United Church Builders, purchased Randall to save it from its pending close.  While the 2 million square foot mall is in desperate need of something being done to it, becoming a church or a group of churches is not the answer.  The last thing that area needs is a place of worship.  There are enough churches in Cuyahoga County that the corner of Miles and Northfield does not need to join the crowd.

The area needs places for people to have a job, a bookstore, a gym, and more shopping choices.  There was recently a Super Wal Mart built about 5 - 7 miles from where the mall is now so they can scratch that off the list of possibilities.  But a Borders, Joseph Beth, Barnes and Noble along side an affordable gym (meaning less than $20/month membership fees) with a few stores would be a great addition.  Allow the people in the area the opportunity to work and shop in their communities.

Living in Columbus, Ohio and Charlotte, North Carolina has caused me to grow accustomed to having many choices of food and shopping near by.  There are so many stores that Cleveland doesn’t have or only has one located thirty miles or more away from where you live.

Put some sort of gaming complex there like Dave n Busters, Jillians, or a skating rink in the area.  Increase the attractiveness and the appeal of what is now a huge eyesore.

So much could be done to revitalize the area, but churches are not the answer.  North Randall mayor promises that the area will not become a church, but in my non-mayoral opinion, the name United Church Builders seems to suggest otherwise.

I know I can’t bring back all of the stores and places from my childhood nor am I trying to do that.  I just want a place that has the possibilities to regain its potential.  In 2004, I was devastated to read that my hometown was ranked as the #1 Poorest City in the United States.  Building more churches won’t help improve that classification.

I love my hometown and want to see it rise out of the miry clay.

I rock!  That’s just in case you didn’t already know.  I came home yesterday from a long day at work to find out that my hard work reading paid off this weekend and I earned a 2nd place prize with the 48 Hour Reading Challenge!

There were approximately 40 participants this weekend who read thousands upon thousands of pages.  One impressive participant read 6479 pages.  Can you imagine?  She rocks too!

Bibliophile, the reader of 6479 pages, who slept like 5 hours this whole weekend, spent her 48 hours reading series books, including  Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series. 

Jen Robinson and I both read 11 books, but I think I didn’t count my time as accurately so it might be less than 30 hours that I read, but we live and we learn.  Completing this challenge has revved Jen up to where she might do a 24 hour challenge once a month.

Becky of Becky’s Book Reviews announced on her site a YA Romance Reading Challenge that starts July 1 and ends February 28, 2009.  That’s way longer than 48 hours so sign up and fall in love with books again.  Becky also participated this weekend with the challenge and read a book by one of childhood faves, Lois Lowry. 

To check out all of the participants’ blogs, visit Mother Reader and hop away.  I’m sure once you’re done reading and skimming blogs, you’ll find new blogs and books to read.

Well, I came to the library, I saw tons of books on the shelves, I read many of the ones I checked out.

I started at 11:00AM on Friday and while it’s not quite 11:00 AM again, I know none of the books I have will be finished in an hour.

I guess it is fitting that I started at 11:00 as I read 11 books in 48 hours.  And I had fun.  Reading these books, I was able to travel to rural NC in the 70s during the Vietnam War and experience a mother teaching her daughter about pride and honoring her word to others.  I saw a homeless girl fight to get her family out of a car and into a house even if it meant doing wrong.  I journeyed with an 8th grade girl in Los Angeles as she battled lymphoma.  I even got to go to Iraq and be the silent passenger in a Humvee during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Thanks to 11 books, I learned, I laughed, I grew.  I saw the good side of life, the bad side of life, and everything in between.  I learned about other cultures and have a couple of authors to add to my favorites list.  Helen Exley once said, “Books can be dangerous.  The best ones should be labeled ‘This could change your life.’”

It was peaceful to tune out most of the world for 48 hours and just get my read on.

Funny thing about the number 11.  I still have 11 books on my table’s to be read pile.  I checked out 22 books over the course of the last week in preparation for this weekend, this challenge.

To Be Read Pile
Copper Sun by Sharon Draper
Life is Fine by Allison Whittenberg
Lucy the Giant by Sherri L. Smith
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley
Game by Walter Dean Myers
Out of Patience by Brian Meehl
A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It by Sundee T. Frazier
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall by Wendy Mass

As you can see, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy on the treadmill for the next few weeks.

I’ve enjoyed this experience and will definitely do it again next year — shut out the world and read.  Maybe next year, I will reach my goal of 16 books.  I just need to not go to sleep at night.  Silly me, lol.

I’ll never know what it is like to be biracial, but in Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, author Sherri L. Smith paints a portrait of a biracial family through the eyes of Ana Shen.  Living in Los Angeles, Ana is the salutatorian of her 8th grade class.  Graduation day is hectic enough when a water main breaks right as Ana begins her speech, but now that the graduation dance is cancelled, Ana will have to spend more time than expected with her African American and Chinese grandparents.

Previous events where both sides of the family gathered together were disastrous.  Ana is determined to make today perfect and have her grandparents, especially the grandmothers, make peace.

Primarily set in the Shen’s kitchen, Ana is in charge of making pot stickers, Grandma White will make gumbo, and Grandma Shen will make lion’s head.  Plus there’s a boy involved — Japanese student Jamie Tabata who is the class valedictorian.

The day is filled with tension and at the meal with Ana’s family, Jamie’s family, and two other families, things come to an explosive head.

The story is a winner because it offers an honest look at a family that combines two cultures who try to get along for the sake of the children.  The title describes the meal that the family is preparing to celebrate Ana’s graduation, but I think it describes her family as well.  No family is all good or all bad.  It takes a bit of the hot, the sour, the salty, and the sweet to really make a family.  Ana learns that lesson on graduation day.

In 2003, I was in Karibu books in Maryland happily having a book shopping spree.  One of the books I picked up was Chill Wind by Janet McDonald.  It took me a couple of years before I actually read it, but I loved it when I did.

Today I picked up her novel Spellbound which is the story of Raven, a young girl in the projects who has accidentally become a teen mother after an unintentional one night stand.  Joined by her friend Aisha, the protagonist in Chill Wind, who is also a teen mother, McDonald paints a story of startling contrasts between Raven and Aisha.

Aisha is content to be a teen mother on welfare living in the projects, but Raven’s dreams are bigger than that.  Aisha’s daughter’s father is not an active part of their life, and initially neither is Jesse, the father of Raven’s son, but that’s because he never called her back after that one night stand.

Author Janet McDonald passed away in 2007 of cancer while living in Paris, France.  At the close of Spellbound, she wrote, “Spellbound is a pun, a conundrum, and a cautionary tale.  Raven, held by the magic of words — their spelling, their meaning, and their power to liberate — confronts and resolves the most intimidating predicament a teenage girl can face: sudden motherhood.  The teenaged single mother is so familiar a phenomenon that to many she might appear ordinary.  But when a baby bursts forth in the midst of a young life, for that girl, that mother, her very singular, unique, and promising journey is altered, and in many ways truncated, forever.  Her choice is existential — strive or glide.  Raven strives.  Aisha glides.  And that is where their friendship diverges.”

Spellbound is the story of more than just another teenage girl who becomes pregnant.  Spellbound is the story of determination, perseverance, and taking the road less traveled. 

I first learned of Sheila P. Moses through my involvement with The Brown Bookshelf.  The author of The Legend of Buddy Bush, Moses was raised in Rich Square, North Carolina as the ninth of tenth children.

Set on Cumbo Road in rural North Carolina, Sheila P. Moses uses her own childhood as the inspiration of the story of Sallie Gal, her cousin Wild Cat, and their adventures as a sharecropping family.  While Papa’s off fighting in the Vietnam War, Sallie Gal and Momma pick cotton.  Sallie Gal yearns for pretty hair ribbons like her cousin Wild Cat with the pretty green eyes wears.

Momma instills in Sallie Gal a strong work ethic and sense of pride.  Refusing to accept charity from anyone including family, Sallie Gal and Wild Cat come up with ways to earn money to buy hair ribbons from the Wall-a-kee Man like selling lemonade on Cumbo Road and doing chores for Miss Dottie.

The story is an easy read, filled with wonderful illustrations from Niki Daly, and told in a way that teaches about life in the rural south where families have to work hard for the things they need all while maintaining a sense of pride and passing it on to their children.

I grew up reading Lurlene McDaniel books and I remember crying hard as the protagonists battled cancer, mainly leukemia if my memory serves correctly.

I recently read My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.  An amazing book by the way and it will be a movie in 2009 with Abigail Breslin.

I saw the movie Stepmom and any Lifetime movies that deal with cancer.

Last year, my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Daily I work with breast cancer patients.

So it is safe to say that I am familiar with cancer.

I discovered Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss this morning at the library by happenstance.  I wanted some thinner books to read to balance out the 200 and 300 plus page books that I am reading this weekend for the readers challenge.

This is a great book.  Izzy is diagnosed with lymphoma in the opening chapter, but if you expect her to be weepy and philosophical and brave in the face of this disaster, forget about it.

Her form of therapy to stay sane in the face of nine rounds of chemo, her mother’s tears, her best friend’s mood swings, and people in general being sympathetic to her illness is to draw her way through it.

If you’ve seen the movie Juno, I can totally see Ellen Page being Izzy.  She’s snarky, honest, and outspoken, but at times she keeps those thoughts from her weepy mother and just shares them with us  the reader.

I won’t tell you the final outcome, but I will say that I didn’t cry.

It’s not easy being poor.  And it’s even harder when you’re a kid who has been evicted from her home and has to live in her car with her mother and brother.  Georgina Hayes washes up for school in the gas station bathrooms in the mornings before school as her mother works two jobs.  It’s hard to keep this all a secret in a small town in North Carolina especially from her best friend. 

Until one day Georgina comes up with a plan — steal a dog, get the reward for the missing dog, and move into a house.  She scouts around for the perfect dog to steal and finally founds lovable and smart Willy.

Stealing a dog is a bit more complicated than Georgina counts on even if she did create a step by step guide.  Author Barbara O’Connor tells a poignant story that has you rooting for Georgina even if she does something wrong to make things in her life right.   She doesn’t wrap up the story by making the family financial problems magically go away either.  Georgina grows up in the course of  this story and learns a good rule from an unexpected teacher:  Sometimes, the more you stir it, the worse it stinks.

I’m not an expert or anything, but I am willing to bet that there is no other school on Earth like Wayside School.  At the beginning of the book, we learn that Wayside was closed for 242 days.  Why?  I have no idea.  I might need to read Sideways Stories from Wayside School or Wayside School is Falling Down to get the backstory.

After reading Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, I know the following:

• the school has 30 floors
• there is no 19th floor
• there is only one classroom on each floor
• the principal Mr. Kidswatter is a little bit off
• the students love Mrs. Jewls and Louis, the playground teacher

Once Mrs. Jewls goes on maternity leave, the students get a series of weird substitute teachers who turn the classroom on the 30th floor upside down with funny voices, old grudges, and a teacher who can hear what others think and uses that against them. 

The author of Holes, Louis Sachar tells a fun story about a funny school.  We have Allison who has to write a poem about the color purple yet doesn’t know any words that rhyme with purple.  Her best friend Rondi knows tons of words that rhyme with blue but never quite gets that poem written.

Kids will enjoy the wackiness found within the classroom and the playground at Wayside School.

I watched Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  I’ve read Sarah Mlynowski’s Bras and Broomsticks trilogy.  I’ve lived vicariously through these TV and book witches imagining my ability to zap myself places, fly on a broomstick, freeze time, make myself invisible and all of the other cool things that witches could do.

But reading Kelly McClymer’s The Salem Witch Tryouts, I found myself sympathizing with Prudence as she is uprooted from the life she knows and loves in Beverly Hills to Salem, Massachusetts where she is now free to live her life as a witch.  For her entire life, she has walked a fine line of being half-witch, half-mortal, but now her mother wants to fully immerse her in the life of a fully practicing witch. 

She’s at witch school where everyone is a witch or warlock.  The cheerleading team has ways of kicking up the stunts in cheers due to their magic.  Think Bring It On’s national cheerleading competition, but even better.

Pru has a lot to learn in Salem, at witch school, and about what it really means to be a witch.  There’s a whole other way of life for her to live.  Why cook when you can just zap up a fully cooked roast beef, potatoes, and peas?  There’s no need to brave the cold weather of Salem, Massachusetts when you can just pop from your house to your school in mere seconds.

I wish being a witch was possible because it would have made my high school years so much more fun.  Spill something on your clothes that you can’t wash out?  Zap up a new and better outfit.  Presto chango!

After finishing Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers, I had to follow it up with a frivolous, light read so I grabbed Jen Calonita’s Secrets of My Hollywood Life:  Family Affairs.  The third title in the Secret series, Calonita gives us an inside peek at Hollywood life from the eyes of a teenage actress.

I first discovered Calonita in 2006 and remember reading the first book on a Saturday afternoon rooting for Kaitlin Burke as she sought to have a normal teenage life in the midst of Hollywood with best friend Liz at her side and battling her antagonistic co-star Sky.

In this third title, Kaitlin’s back and so is Liz, Sky, boyfriend Austin, younger brother Matty, and the rest of Team Burke.  But trouble is brewing on the set of Family Affairs, the television show that Kaitlin has been a member of the cast since she was four years old.  New cast member Alexis is making trouble with her back stabbing ways and is so evil she makes Sky look like a saint.  Kind of.

Kaitlin is trying hard to be Zen thanks to a book she read, but it’s hard when she keeps hearing rumors about the future of Family Affairs which impacts her future as an actress.  Plus she’s feeling that she’s missing out on some of the typical teen milestones — driver’s ed, SATs, looking forward to college — but she’s not sure if she wants to go to college at the risk of jeopardizing her career.

Things come to a head on the set and sparks fly.  I won’t spoil it for you, but trust me when I say that Secrets of My Hollywood Life keeps the reader hooked throughout the 300+ page story.

Emotionally, this was a difficult read for me.  Walter Dean Myers put the initial days and months of Operation Iraqi Freedom into words through they eyes of Robin “Birdy” Perry.

I’ve never been in the military so I am very removed from war and what it is like.  My father served in the Navy and I have a cousin and her husband who have been a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  She’s told me stories and shared with me brief details of what it’s like over there.  She’s shared with me what it’s like once you leave and have to readjust to this life in America.

We’ve seen reports on the news, read articles about the war and those who lose their lives, but today for several hours I read a detailed account of it.  As I read it, I hoped that this character and that character, those who were connected with the protagonist, would survive and get to come back home to live out their dreams, raise their kids, and just simply live their lives with their friends and family.

282 pages is more than enough to share what can happen in a war, but at the same time, it isn’t enough.  Reading about the different places that the soldiers went to and the maneuvers they did as well as the need to be on alert as they moved throughout Iraq was well captured by Myers.   I can only imagine the number of soldiers that he interviewed as well as articles and news clips that he watched in order to write this story.  The details and imagery are very vivid and it encaptured me to the point where I felt that I was riding in the Humvee with Birdie, Ahmed, Marla, Captain Coles, and Jonesy.  I could hear Jonesy sing his beloved blues songs while Birdie tried to figure out Marla. 

Sunrise Over Fallujah is a wonderfully told story by an author who has told so many stories in the course of my lifetime.  It’s a mature YA read that gives a very detailed account of war through the eyes of American soldiers who don’t understand the real purpose of the war nor what exactly is the prize that will go to the victor.

It’s a coming of age story that shows even after you are officially grown, high school diploma in hand, there is still more growing up to be done.

Jerry Spinelli’s been an author since I was a second grader, but I don’t think I’ve ever read any of his books until today.  And I feel that I have cheated myself.

I just finished reading Eggs, the story of David and Primrose, two kids in Perkiomen, Pennsylvania.  David is a nine year old boy whose mother died a year ago and moved to Pennsylvania to live with his grandmother while his father works two hundred miles away.  Immersed in his grief, David struggles to obey all rules in hopes that his mother will return to him.

Primrose is a thirteen year old girl living with her mother, a psychic reader and advisor.  Defiant, Primrose makes her home inside of a 1977 Dodge van mere feet away from where her mother lives inside a garage.

David and Primrose are such an unlikely pair, but they meet sort of at an Easter egg hunt and form a friendship that becomes more like a brother/sister relationship. 

Both of them are emotionally fragile like eggs, missing a parent and being mean to the parent, or parent figure in David’s case, who is there.

A summer of adventure — scavenging neighbors’ trash to find items for Primrose to sell at the local flea market, nights of conversations and arguments at Refrigerator John’s, and a determined trek to Philadelphia is the foundation of this story.

Over the course of this 220 page story, Primrose and David learn some fragile truths about life, themselves, and each other.

One book read in one hour.  I rock!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney picks up where the first diary left off.  The protagonist Greg chronicles more about his love/hate relationship with older brother Rodrick as well as moments of his relationship with younger brother Manny and his somewhat obtuse friend Rowley.

Reading this book puts me in the mind of a season of Everybody Hates Chris.  Every episode of Everybody Hates Chris involves Chris coming up with what seems to be a good plan, but for it all go awry and what should have been the perfect plan falling apart.

Notable moments in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules include Greg’s swim team escapades, the party Rodrick throws while his parents are not home, spending the weekend with Grandpa, and the sleepover with Rowley that is interrupted by a prank.

There are definitely laugh out loud scenes which are due to the cute drawings that show just what Greg is telling the reader.  Young or old will enjoy this kid’s diary of his middle school years and being the middle kid in his family.

I didn’t even know  there was a such thing as National Doughnut Day, but I’ll happily celebrate tomorrow.  I won’t even say much except I will be in line tomorrow to get mine.  Hope you live near one that you can get a free donut too.

On Friday, June 6th, Krispy Kreme will celebrate National Doughnut Day by offering customers a FREE doughnut of their choice in participating stores throughout the U.S.  So, stop by and celebrate National Doughnut Day with Krispy Kreme and have a doughnut on us!

Please call your local Krispy Kreme store to find out if they are participating.

Happy Doughnut Day!

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but I’ve been busy.  Reading other authors’ books.  I’ve stumbled on some great books, i.e. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, Leap Day by Wendy Mass, Cross My Heart, Hope to Spy by Ally Carter, and All American Girl by Meg Cabot. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid was such a fun read, filled with drawings as well as diary entries from a middle school boy’s POV.  

Leap Day showed the day in the life of a girl born on Leap Year as she turns 16, or 4, as well as the POV of everyone she comes in contact with that day.  I’ve never read a book about someone born on Leap Year/Leap Day so it was cool to read what that could be like to be caught in the middle 75% of your birthdays.

So I’ve been reading, even though I know I need to get back to writing and promoting and other things that authors do.  And I will.  I promise.  Once this weekend is over, I will make reading a reward or my activity to do while on the treadmill. 

But this weekend, for 48 hours, I am going to be a reading and reviewing fool, thanks to MotherReader’s 48 Hour Reading Challenge.  It’s somewhat reminiscent for me of the Summer Reading Program that my local library used to have when I was a kid.  I suppose they still have them but I’ve sort of aged out of that program. 

We have 48 hours to read as many books on a fifth grade reading level and up and write a review about them.  So check out my blog starting Friday, June 6^th to see how many books I get through in 48 hours.  I have over 15 books on my table waiting to be read including Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It by Sundee T. Frazier, Copper Sun by Sharon Draper, Eggs by Jerry Spinelli, and The Salem Witch Tryouts by Kelly McClymer. 

My goal for the challenge is to read and review at least 16 books within the 48 hours.   

Every writer needs a good editor and I say without a doubt that my editor Shon Bacon rocks.  She showed me new things to consider as I write my next book, things to look out for, avoid, and better ways of telling my stories.  Recently, she sat down with author Terra Little and shared with writers how to make your editor happy.  

So if you’re a writer, a writer in the making, thinking about writing a book, check out Shon who not only is an editor, but a writer herself.  She recently finished writing her first screenplay and that’s in addition to being a college instructor and edits two magazines, SisterDivas and The Nubian Chronicles.  The Nubian Chronicles is now accepting submissions for their Summer 2008 issue. 

Today’s blog is shortish, lol, but that’s because this weekend will be a frantic pace of reading, reflecting, and reviewing.  I hope to do reviews of 200 words or less.  So have a good week, weekend, try to do something fun in spite of the gas prices and new airline fees. 

It’s been over 72 minutes since the last scene of Ugly Betty left my TV and I am so ready for September already.  Skip Memorial Day, Fathers Day, 4th of July, my birthday even, and get me to season premiere night of Ugly Betty NOOOOOOOOOW!!

I am addicted.

Tis true.

Loved tonight’s ep.

Who will Betty choose?  Okay, it is very very likely that Betty will go with Gio for the obvious reasons that he is there in NYC after they return from Rome near her family, he doesn’t have a baby making her an instant step mother to be, and a plethora of other reasons, like his muy caliente accent.  I don’t know how to say muy caliente in Italian so you get the Spanish way instead.  I didn’t take it for 6 years for nothing.

So, yeah Gio is the logical choice so she can also stay at Mode and work for Daniel.

But tonight’s scene with Daniel when he PAID for her ENTIRE TRIP TO ROME with another man and then their conversation where there was just so much chemistry and tenderness and undercurrents of a strong friendship leaning heavily on amor?  Yeah, I felt it too and wanted to be Betty so I could just say to him:

Betty:  Daniel (gush) I love you.  Let’s you, me, and your eyeliner wearing son go to Rome, and hey, let’s hop over to Paris so we can both learn French.

That totally could happen.

I think when she got on that plane, she was next to Daniel and Eyeliner Wearing Son (guess I could call him Jr. or DJ) but Eyeliner Wearing Son is more creative.  And hey, I am all about the creative.

So that’s what I want.

But if she has to choose, and Daniel is not a choice until say season 5, let her choose Gio.

But then Betty being the smart, confident, Guadalajara poncho wearing Latino that always comes out on top could have gone somewhere by her dang on self.

Now on to Miss Hilda.  That damn gym teacher is married.  GUH.  Aren’t they always?  And then he didn’t even tell her first.  Dude, wear your wedding band.

Hilda, don’t kiss him anymore until there are some finalized, notarized divorce papers in his hands.

Coach is cute and all, but he is no Santos.

At all.

Oh wait, Miss Wilhemina.  I don’t like you hurting Daniel. 

And poor Claire Meade.  She’s been hurt by her daughter as well and wondering if Alexis will do  this to Daniel, what will she do to her (Claire) and Hot Flash.  Natch.

So last week of September B.K.A. Season Premiere Week of Ugly Betty, COME ON DOWN!

This is the week of the season finale.  We look forward to May every year because of May Sweeps, but with the writers strike last year, the season was shorter and the season finales came faster.

Sunday, I was slightly wowed by the makeovers in New Orleans on Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition, but I can’t help but think that will 18 builders and crews, why not make over more than 2 buildings? Especially in New Orleans, have 18 buildings. Build a recreation center or after school facility. A library. But overall, nicely done. I think for me, anything that improves New Orleans, is a win win for me. I would have loved it if one whole season was nothing but an extreme makeover along the Gulf Coast. Ratings might suffer, but if we really are committed to rebuilding along the Gulf Coast, ratings do not and should not matter. But I’m not in charge and Ty Pennington did not ask me so c’est la vie.

But Desperate Housewives? Wow at all that Catherine’s been through, but I cheered inside when the other housewives rallied to her side. 

Kayla became so evil that it almost made me sick to my stomach as I suppressed my own rage on Lynette’s behalf. Rachel Fox, the actress who plays Kayla,  is very good at giving evil.

I don’t like the name Maynard and surely Susan and Mike could have compromised and named him Conner Maynard Delfino.

Now, that five years later jump that they threw at us was very unexpected and seems like it will rev the show up for many twists and turns.  Another blog Televisionista knew about the 5 year jump in April but I discovered it after the episode was shown.  The blogger has some great questions and possibilities for life on Wisteria Lane in 2013.

In Charlotte, just as Susan walked in the door, our TV screens went black. Booooooooo WSOC TV. Thank God for www.abc.com where I was able to catch those last 13 seconds. USA Today offers a look at what’s in store for Desperate Housewives next season including that Marc Cherry does not plan to be around past season 7. What’s cool is he would like to take it back to the year before Mary Alice kills herself, a DH prequel, if you will. We’ll get more of Mary Alice, Paul, Zach and Rex.

I surely was amused to see how far Gabby has fallen down the All That Totem Pole. I just wished that when Carlos fell down the steps the other night that his sight was restored. It’ll be interesting to see Gabby deal with less than perfect beauty wise daughters will impact her and her storyline. I was really glad not to see her in anything shiny yesterday. Cotton looks good on her.

Now, let’s think about something for a second. Extreme Makeover gets 2 hour season finale. Desperate Housewives gets the same. Ditto for Grey’s Anatomy.

Yet, I only get 60 minutes minus commercials for Ugly Betty. Boooooooooooooooo!

I’m not ready to say goodbye to Ugly Betty and the gang yet. Last week’s episode was wonderful now that Wilhemina and Mark are back at Mode. Loved them getting off the elevator in matching colors last week. Glad to see real drama and tension return to Mode. Look forward to what season 3 brings.

Judith Light is one of my favorite characters especially when she’s maternal to Betty. I want them to bring Yoga (Lorraine Touissant) back as her sidekick as she made the show fun as well.

Now tomorrow’s season finale looks intense with Henry proposing, Gio asking Betty to go to Rio (Gio Rio, lol) and Daniel’s child who looks a bit Latino.

The blog Televisionary reveals that guest star Lindsey Lohan won’t just be in the season finale this week, but she will also be back next season. Seems she used to be a classmate of Betty’s who used to be mean to Betty a la Amanda. Will be interesting to see how this all pans out this week as well as next season.

I’m looking forward to the return of both of these shows in September.  The possibilities of life on Wisteria Lane and at Mode magazine are endless, but I’ll be tuned in for every minute.