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# 130- He bought my daughter a Farting Fun Kit for making honor roll. Ok, it's not the typical kind of present one would expect for academic achievement, but it's provided HOURS of fun for the entire family.

Of particular amusement: the Remote Control Fart Machine. We were all in complete hysterics the other night at dinner, as various windy noises emitted from the sofa, where the machine was hidden. Then the_webmeister, Daughter and I were watching “Rear Window” and when the ballet dancer woman was lifting her leg, Daughter pressed the remote control button for a perfectly timed fart. We almost had to stop the DVD we were laughing so hard.

This reminds me of an amusing anecdote I forgot to mention in my school visit blog from Friday.

During my author talks, I show a slide of this cunning adaptation by my son when I talk about why I like writing for middle school age kids:



and when I talk about how the way to write better is to WRITE a lot, I tell the story of how my daughter was looking over my shoulder when I blogged about Jane Yolen’s “B-I-C” (Butt in Chair) keynote and designed this:



Then, when I was speaking about revision, I read them the original opening line of my middle grade WIP and then the new opening line after I’d realized I’d started the story in the wrong place. The new opening line has the word “butt” in it.

So this kid raises his hand and asks: “Well, you seem to talk a lot about butts in your presentation. Is there something in your past that makes you so…you know…obsessed?”

After I was able to stop laughing, I told them all about the Farting Fun Kit. I assured them that I really do have a deep intellectual side, but it just wasn’t in evidence at that time.

But, as usual, I digress.

On to #131 of Reasons to love The Webmeister

Yesterday my family came over for latkes and presents. We had a lot of fun with the little ones and then The Webmeister gave me my Chanukah present:

It started with a big box:


In which there were several smaller boxes:



and a bag:



At this point, I start thinking there must be a bag of peanuts at the end, because the day before he’d told me about the time he gave his mother a Tiffany box in a Tiffany bag and she got all excited except that it contained a bag of peanuts.

But I opened the final box or two:



and inside, found something MUCH better than a bag of peanuts:



YES!!!!!

I’ve been coveting The Webmeister’s iPhone since the day he got it, and he obviously noticed. Can you tell I’m excited?



I can’t wait till I get my service transferred from Verizon and I can activate my new present!!!

Anyway, just a few more reasons to add to the ever-growing list.

Color me happy this Friday morning as Hugging the Rock was just named a 2007 Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts! 

From the press release that went out: "This list of thirty books will be presented at the 2007 NCTE and the 2008 IRA conventions as well as featured in the Fall 2007 Journal of Children's Literature and the March 2008 Language Arts. The 2007 list, selection criteria, and links to previous lists can be found at http://www.childrensliteratureassembly.org/notable2007.htm.

There are some great books on that list including one by our own LJer cynthialord

Oooh - isn't it pretty? That's an ALA notable sticker on my book.