The Time Traveler's Wife

Looking for a good read? Then have I a suggestion for you—The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger has moved me to tears several times. I have just finished listening to it as I drive back and forth to work and to school. I can't remember a book that has made me laugh, smile, and cry as much as this one. As I write this I am three or four tracks from the end of the last cd. The climax has happened and we are moving on to the resolution of the story. As readers, we have known about the climax for at least one cd now. I really like the way the story changes from Henry's point of view to Claire's point of view. I didn't want to see the movie, but after seeing who is playing the leads (see below), I might (emphasis on might) be interested in seeing it.

AS I looked up the book at amazon.com to find out the author's name and "borrow" a picture, I couldn't help but read a few reviews. The majority of people (1185 of 2075) liked the book and gave it five stars. There were 174 reviews that only gave it one star. I could see their points: directions and streets given that weren't necessary, some poor development of secondary characters, and jumping into situations that are clear to the reader are just a few.

I also went to imbd to learn about the movie. I saw that Eric Bana was playing Henry and Rachel McAdams was Claire. But what I really noticed was that "Traveler's" is spelled with two "l's" in the UK title. That intrigued me.



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The facts of life

This is my follow up to MckMama's post here.

Marriage is a hard road whether it is the first year or the 21st year, raising one child or many. Anyone who tells you that marriage is a piece of cake is either lying or is not married or living together or ignores the other half of the partnership. That's exactly what marriage is——a partnership. Personally, I forget that sometimes. I go through life a day at a time without thought to others.

When Jeff and I got married we had to meet with Father Jim three times before hand (maybe it was only twice, I don't remember). We heard the "lobster story" three times at least. Father Jim talked a lot about communication between spouses. He said he would rather be with a poor family, who loved each other and communicated with each other, eating pork and beans than with a rich family, who didn't like each other and didn't talk, eating lobster. What he really hoped for was a family who communicated and had the lobster too. When we were first married we laughed about this story all the time.

Because I have stretched myself too thin this semester, I have just now taken a rest from Girl Scouts. It will have to be someone else's problem for awhile. The plates that I was juggling are starting to fall to the floor before I can catch them. Something has to give and my family has already done enough giving. The posts may become even fewer and the crafting even less, in an effort to focus on school, family, and my job.

I opened my classroom door to grab this picture. It is snowing quite fiercely here. You have to look carefully at the white blurs those are snowflakes falling fast and furious from the grey/white sky.



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What a life

Can you imagine living this life? Even if you have been doing it forever, it must be tough.

I saw this story on the net and wondered how the Queen and Prince Philip have managed for 57 years.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – Britain's Queen Elizabeth stunned theater-goers in London this week when she and her husband slipped in to see a play unannounced and at the last minute, newspapers reported.

The queen and Prince Philip apologetically squeezed past other theater-goers to get into their seats for the West End production of World War One play "War Horse" at the New London Theater.

"The Queen and the Duke sat down as the lights dimmed and it was a huge shock when people realized who they were," said a journalist at the show for The Lady magazine. "They were incredibly apologetic for asking people to let them past and there was no hubbub or fuss about it all."

The queen and her husband often make incognito trips to the West End, but are rarely spotted, an aide told London's Evening Standard newspaper.

"The Queen has regularly undertaken similar private visits throughout her reign without any fuss," the aide said. "It allows her to live a bit more of a normal life."

The journalist from The Lady said the queen appeared to enjoy the performance, disappeared during the interval and then reappeared discreetly.

"When they left at the end, they were given a round of applause, which the Queen acknowledged with a wave," she said.

What a strange life some people live and how much we non-celebrities soak up all as much info from the net as possible.

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Pictures of THE game

Getting a pep talk from Victor at the half. He told them to go out in the second half as though it was 0-0.

The other Ephraim team made a sign for the girls to run through as they started the second half. They also made one that hung on the fence and cheered for the girls through-out the entire game. Great support from their friends.

My camera wasn't fast enough to catch when Deirdre fell on top of the ball to prevent Fairview from making a goal. Instead I have before she falls and as she gets up. D stopped quite a few goals.

After the game the team poses with their soccer shirts. They also had real soccer shirts that Victor loaned them for the season. The goalie shirt D is wearing in the other pictures is a real goalie shirt with padding. The noise the girls made when the game was over was so loud. I forget sometimes how loud girls can get when they are excited.

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Oh yeah, we won!

Okay I did no winning, but Deirdre's soccer team did. They beat Fairview 3-1 in the championship game. Oh my gosh were the Fairview parents obnoxious! They didn't like the way one goal went into the net, which our coach was willing to give it back. But when the ref called for a re-kick on a penalty shot, they went ballistic. I did get a few shots, but haven't really looked at them, so I'll have to post them later.

The girls were really excited about winning. Most of them have played on win-less teams for the past several years, so having a winning season (undefeated! one tie) was a real treat.

Great job Victor on coaching!

I'll post again with pics.

AND I got to go see them win, since the U is off this week. Hurrah!

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A teaser :)

The soccer season ends next week. Deirdre's team has been unbeaten this season. I hope I didn't just jinx the rest of playoffs. I, of course, have not seen any of the games as they are all on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This week was an added game on … Monday—the other day I have class. BUT next week is fall break at the U, so no matter what day the game(s) is on, I can go. Hopefully it won't be on Wednesday though, I have Service Unit meeting and since I won't be there next month (Parent/Teacher Conferences), I need to be there next week. AND I am the SU Director and in charge of our next activity.

All the years of going to soccer games and I wait until most likely her last year in soccer to try and get pictures. Not only that, but I have to recruit Jeff into taking said pictures. D has played goalie the majority of this season, which I think is a responsible position. She has always played defense and goalie a few times, but in the last six games at least she has been THE goalie.

About to drop kick the ball. I think that is our silver van in the background. :)

Watching the action at the other end of the field. The tournament has been at Wasatch Academy's fields and the coach and girls hate their fields.

This was just a teaser for everyone. I have tons to "report." I'll be back soon.

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