Potty training and Princess Dresses

This what potty-training has turned Pollyanna into:

What's the occasion you ask? Well it's a Monday morning of course! We always wear our super frilly "princess" dresses on Monday mornings! Gosh, where have you been? :)

I actually really dislike this dress. It was given to us by....umm...I think my father-in-law's ex-girlfriend ( My husband's familial connections are mind-boggling at best. Try getting leave for your father's best friend's mother's funeral, because she was " essentially my grandmother" growing up. I promise you will never hear your husband's Chief laugh as hard again! But back to the dress...) and it was one of those pieces of clothing that I was like...it needs work but has some potential. Yah...I never got around to it and it is now one of Pollyanna's favorite pieces of clothing....all because of potty-training!

We've been working with teaching Pollyanna to go on the potty for going on a month now. It all started with this book:

I have the Kindle Version :)

Honestly... I'm not one of those people who would swear by this book. It was more of a jumping off point for us...we took some of the ideas and most of our own common sense and that has lead us to where we are today...Pollyanna now can pee and poo on the potty with no accidents during the day ( except perhaps at nap-time but that is a whole different ball game) but....ONLY if she is wearing a skirt or a dress! Pants just confound the girl!

I don't have a problem with her wearing dresses all the time....except for the fact that we have a limited number of 'casual' every day dresses. I know....I need to take a trip down to my local fabric store and pick some fabric up so that I can make her a few summer dresses...really, I'm gonna do it. Sometime. :)

In any case...I'd say potty-training is a success at this point. Even if the girl does wear dresses all the time. I have no idea what I'm going to do when it comes to potty-training Piglet in a year or so....

I guess kilts are always an option...

Book Review: Semper Cool

Yay! Another book review!!! I've read 3 books with this book club, and I have really enjoyed having an excuse to put a concentrated effort into reading! I used to read a lot before I had children, and some how after...reading was one of the things that got pushed to the wayside as I figured out how to be a Mom. You'll be getting two reviews this week ( exciting huh?)! This one will be for this fantastic book:

Source

Here is the teaser:

Semper Cool is the wrenching, sometimes hilarious and always thought-provoking true story of a mischievous teenager who enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps seeking adventure and his father's approval and finds both, plus more danger than he ever could have imagined. With its vivid imagery, Semper Cool thrusts readers into a grunt's-eye view of the blood, guts, tears and laughter of war, as told by a Marine who returned home a man and a patriot. Be prepared to laugh and cry and ultimately thank God for the men and women willing to risk their lives for the freedoms that so many Americans enjoy.

I have to say, I was VERY surprised by this book. Really...the more that I read it, the more that I realized my exposure to the Vietnam War was pretty much limited to the movie "Forest Gump'! Pitiful huh?? I don't even really remember learning about it in school. I mean...I must have, right?? Perhaps I was zoning out during the day they taught it! This book definitely helped put the Vietnam War into a little bit of perspective for me, and has increased my interest to learn more about it.

I say that, because this book is not a history. Obviously, the author lived through it, so he does mention the historical events he was personally involved in. But it's really just a collection of his memories, and his thoughts on them as he looks back at them. And I was honestly enthralled with his tale. He is a very entertaining writer, and was very young in these memories and you can feel the youthfulness in the way that he writes. I really in particular enjoyed his ongoing theme of  "coolness". From the very title, he sets the tone of his experiences in the war being positive, even when he is surrounded by death and carnage. Honestly, Barry Fixler, the author, comes across to me as a very well adjusted person. His book held back very little in the way of explaining events as he saw them, including the gore, but you come away from the book with a feeling that....yeah, war sucks. And it's bloody and brutal, but you can come away from it a whole person, and maintain a normal life after wards. And I think that is a really important message to get out there, particularly at this frame in time where some of the views of the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars are similar in many ways to Vietnam.

A small word of caution for those who are interesting in reading this book.... it is pretty gory at moments. He doesn't hold back on describing some of the scenes from the war around him. Also...he has very foul language through out the entire book.  I have never had to mentally edit the f-bomb out of a book so many times in my life! I think he wrote it in the language that they actually used during his stint with the Marines, but still....at moments it felt a little excessive. That would probably be my only complaint with the book.

MOST IMPORTANTLY however is, that 100% of the royalties from this book go to wounded combat veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq!!  Barry's goal is to reach 1 Million dollars!! You can find out more by visiting the Barry Fixler Foundation at http://www.sempercool.com/

In my humble opinion, this book deserves:

Book Review: I Am Number 4

So this week I get an opportunity to review my first official book club read with the BBC ( Blog Book Club)! If any of you are interested in joining, see my widget on the side bar of my page, anyone and everyone is welcome!

We recently read this book:

Source

Here is the teaser for the book:

In the beginning they were a group of nine. Nine aliens who left their home planet of Lorien when it fell under attack by the evil Mogadorian. Nine aliens who scattered on Earth. Nine aliens who look like ordinary teenagers living ordinary lives, but who have extraordinary, paranormal skills. Nine aliens who might be sitting next to you now.

The Nine had to separate and go into hiding. The Mogadorian caught Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England, and Number Three in Kenya. All of them were killed. John Smith, of Paradise, Ohio, is Number Four. He knows that he is next.

I AM NUMBER FOUR is the thrilling launch of a series about an exceptional group of teens as they struggle to outrun their past, discover their future—and live a normal life on Earth.

I AM NUMBER FOUR.
I AM NEXT

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It's a typical teen scifi/romance along the lines of Twighlight. I thought that the main characters were strong and well developed. The story was compelling, and it was an easy and enjoyable read. If you like quick paced, the book really only took about three days for me to read ( and that's WITH chasing around a 2 year old and an almost 10 month old!)

Really, I only have two complaints with the book. 
            1) The ending was not satisfying. It was long and drawn out, with what I felt was too much emphasis on the "bad guys" when very little of the rest of the book was centered around them. I really wanted to know what was happening to the main characters, not long descriptions of the Mogadorians and their entourage. 
            2) I felt there was a slightly 'green' or 'save the planet' undertone to the whole book, which was a little surprising to me. Now don't get me wrong....I would say I'm a moderate when it comes to belief in all of the 'save the plant' propaganda that is being fed to us right now. I'm not sure I believe in 'global warming', however, I don't think it's a bad thing if people want to recycle, or use electric cars, or whatever it is your conscious feels necessary. I don't like feeling like I'm being 'fed' a hidden agenda however, and it makes me even more nervous when you realize that this is a book geared towards teens, who we all know have impressionable minds. I kind of feel it's up to the parents to teach their children how to treat things, from how to treat your neighbors right down to how to treat our planet. But who knows....perhaps this is a book that can open up the discussion between a teen and their parents.

I also had the opportunity to take my Dad to go see the movie on Saturday, so I'll give a brief review of that here as well!

I actually kind of wish I had seen the movie first! I'm a little bit of a purist when it comes to books being converted to movies, and while I understand it's impossible for some books to be completely translated correctly to screen just because of their sheer length, this book I don't feel is one that needed to be overly edited. The movie changed dynamics between characters, left out whole huge important sections, and really altered the story line from the book, I think, to make it appeal to a larger audience. My Dad loved the movie, and I probably would have if I hadn't read the book first ( that's typically how it goes with me). The ONE thing I did like about the movie over the book however, was the ending. They were able to capture in the movie what they should have done in the book. So bravo for that.


Overall, I give the book:  

Until later!