The Library Shelf: Bud, Not Buddy

Up on the Library Shelf today is "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis.
"Bud, Not Buddy" is a Newberry Medal Winner and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. It's set during the depression of the 1930's in Flint, Michigan. Ten year old Bud, not Buddy, is a motherless boy trying to find his father. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: advertising flyers for a band. Bud decides to hit the road to find him.

The descriptive language makes you feel as if you are there as "a fly on the wall" watching all the goings-on. Some of it even made me laugh out loud.

The hardships of the depression, the Jim Crow laws and discrimination of blacks are entertwined with the journey of Bud through comedic episodes giving a different insight into the life of an orphan on the run.

This book is actually classified as a Young Adult's book, but I think "old" adults would enjoy it too. It's one of the choices given to the middle school students at CAVA to read as part of their literature course. I'm going to be doing online Literature Circles this coming school year. There are quite a few books on the reading lists that I have not read so I figured I'd better get to it if I'm going to be teaching these things. It's a good read!

Adventures in Tie Dye

Yesterday, DD and I tried our hands at tie dying.

Oh What Fun It Was!

Really!

We gathered a couple of old whitish shirts.

We mixed up three colors of dye (yellow, red, and blue) and we went to town.

We dunked,
we stirred,
we even syphoned with a straw.
See....look here....




Here's what DD's shirt looks like now:



And, here's mine (I didn't do the multi-color thing):



It's a very pretty blue. I love it! Only one problem. I accidently got a little tiny bit of red dye on it. DARN! I have to figure out how to hide it. Maybe a little bit of embroidery magic will do the trick....

Wanna See What We Got?

On Friday, we got a new toy for our Bearded Kitty.



Isn't he the cutest!?!?

He was adopted from in front of Von's. We've wanted a Tiger kitty for a long time and now we have one.

In these pictures, he actually looks big, but he's hiding under the bed and I'm laying flat on the floor so that gives you kind of an idea of how small he really is. Compared to Bearded Kitty OH MY!




Speaking of Bearded Kitty. How does he like his new toy? Well, he was a little apprehensive for the first few minutes......



But, they are becoming fast friends. They chase each other up and down the hallway and tumble around and wrestle and just have a good ole time. Yes, I think Bearded Kitty quite likes his new buddy!

They Paid Me Again!

Today, Rite Aid paid me $1.03 to take home a birthday card, another tube of toothpaste and 2 single scoop ice cream cones!

Lovin' it!

Thrifty Thursday

Rite Aid actually paid me money to take Crest toothpaste home yesterday! Yes, that's right. They paid me 26 cents to take toothpaste off their shelf for me to use in my home.

How'd I do that?

Crest Toothpaste on sale $2.49
UP+ Rewards............- $2.00
Coupon.................- $ .75

Equals.................- $ .26

They ended up owing me money. YIPPEE!!!! LOVE FREE STUFF (especially if it's something that I need and use)!

The Library Shelf: Stones into Schools

It's supposed to be Wordless Wednesday, but this is probably the furthest thing from wordless, as the book has 448 pages!

I just looked and my last posting on The Library Shelf was last August. Oh My, that was a long time ago! I told you that I have no time to read for pleasure during the school year. I, myself, even thought I was exaggerating, but I guess that's actually the truth.

So, on the Library Shelf today:


Stones Into Schools:
Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan
by Greg Mortensen

This is a sequel (of sorts) to Greg Mortensen's first book, "Three Cups of Tea".

Several years ago, Greg had a failed attempt to climb the second highest mountain peak in the world, but came to love the people of the countries where he was climbing (Afghanistan and Pakistan).

In his first book, he tells of that "adventure" which included being rescued by the inhabitants of a tiny cliffside village. He bonded with his rescuers and made good on his promise to come back and provide schools for their children, most importantly the girls, who have been forbidden to go to school and learn.

One thing that must be remembered is this is Taliban territory. He has been kidnapped and threatened with death in the pursuit of his cause. Yet, he keeps going back, building more and more schools and bringing knowledge and education to these people. As the subtitle states, he truly believes, "Peace will come through books, not bombs."

In his latest book, he tells of traveling through the remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan with his trusted companions. This is a true account of not only his struggles and triumphs, but those of the citizens of some of the most rugged terrain in the world, all in the quest to get something that we take for granted every day, the opportunity to learn.

The current war in Afghanistan that involves US troops is not a war against the Afghan people, but against the Taliban, who happen to BE in Afghanistan. The majority of the citizens of Afghanistan would like for the Taliban to be gone too.

An enlightening and inspiring book showing just how much one man can do with a lot of sacrafice and determination (and a little help from his friends).

4th of July and Spur of the Moment

We went to the Fresno Grizzlies baseball game on the 4th of July. We went last year too so I guess that's now become our tradition and a great tradition it is. It was an awesome game with some exciting plays! Grizzlies won 5-4.

Afterwards on the 4th, they have the

B-E-S-T

fireworks show ever. The explosions are all set to music and it is so loud and very close. It looks as if they are exploding on top of you as you watch. It is truly spectacular!

As an unexpected day off became available yesterday, we climbed in the car and headed for Monterey for the day to get out of the heat for a little while. It was really windy there which blew out the fog and made for a beautiful sunny 60 degree afternoon. So nice!



The sea lions are usually hanging out at the fisherman's wharf to get all the goodies off the fishing boats, but they keep getting shooed away. It ended up being a nice surprise for us as they have now gathered right on the rocks/beach at the main pier.




See those brown blobs that look like rocks? Those are ALL sea lions. There were probably over 100 of them there basking in the sun. Those that were in the water were having the time of their lives chasing each other and jumping out of the water. They were having such fun! It was like getting a free show and a real treat for sure!