Survivor Fantasy: Episode 1

I love Survivor

My bloggy friend Molly invited me to join her survivor fantasy team.  I haven't quite figured it out, but I hope I will pretty soon.  Anyway, I am loving this season.  It hasn't been dull or boring--quite the opposite, the players are fairly intelligent and full of character.  The first episode was the best I've ever seen thanks to Philip a former FBI agent.  Episode 2 turned out to be pretty good too with Boston Rob taking charge of the whole show.  Man that guy is smooth and his team is star struck.  Russell is not fairing quite as well and I'm happy to say that the supposedly dumbest guy on the tribe found the immunity idol before Russell.  I think if Boston Rob's team EVER wins a challenge that the guys on Russell's team will unite and vote him off.  They've figured out that Russell is playing the same old game he's always played.  I don't know why they bothered naming the team's some fancy tribal name this season--they are Rob's team and Russell's team.

team captains Russell and Rob

Philip pledging his whole heart and soul to Rob

and how about Kristina, she's the dumbest person who had the potential to do well if she'd just slowed down and done some thinking before she acted.  I can't believe she played the idol.

The scoring for Episode 1 came out last night, this is how my first round picks did:

Andrea, a spunky little cowgirl only scored 3 points
David (the man I pick to go to the end) scored 28 points
Francesca a very smart and fun to listen to person got sucked into a bad alliance and ended up on the wrong side of Rob and so was the first arrival on Redemption Island.  She scored 3 points.
I picked Sarita because she was Jeff's pick to go to the end--she didn't do much on the show but somehow scored 25 points.

I came out with a total of 59 points for Episode 1

Based on the show I made my picks for Episode 2
I stuck with my man David who scored 26 points
I went with Boston Rob who scored 22 points (I thought it would be higher)
I think I picked Mike (or Grant) because they were the two who wanted to get Russell out right away.  I was hoping Boston Rob's team would win the challenge and we would see the end of Russell. (Mike scored  41 so I must have picked Grant who only scored 15)
And I picked Francesca again because I expected the show to go to Redemption Island.  I thought perhaps Francesca would be featured in her duel . . . but that must be in another episode. (She scored 16 points)

High points went to Ralph at 92, he did outplay everybody last night.

Stephanie at 57 (who is she?) and Sarita at 50.  I need to watch the episode again and see what I missed.  And I just wasn't prepared for Phillip's 42 points.

And I did answer the bonus question correctly.

My total score for episode 2 was 93

Book Review: Princess Academy

Princess Academy

by

Shannon Hale

Kindle Edition, 336 pages
Published December 1st 2008 by BLOOMSBURY USA/WALKER (first published 2005)
ASIN: B002UM5BNM
Literary awards: Newbery Honor (2006), Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee (2008), Sunshine State Young Readers Grade 6-8 Nominee (2007)

image,book blurb and author bio courtesy goodreads

About the book:
Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess.  Miri, along with all eligible girls of her village, are sent to an academy to learn how to become a princess.  At the end of the year the Prince will arrive and select his bride from the candidates.

About the Author:
Shannon Hale is the author of six award-winning young adult novels, including the bestselling Newbery Honor book Princess Academy. Austenland is her first book for adults. She and her husband are co-writing a series of graphic novels, and live with their four small children in Salt Lake City, Utah.

My thoughts:
Shannon Hale is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  I love her simple, original and imaginative story lines.  Princess Academy offers the opportunity for every girl in the village to make the most of herself as she prepares to meet the Prince.  Miri is the main character of the story and it is through her that the reader becomes acquainted with the unique life style of the village, its inhabitants and the foreign environment of the Academy.  Through Miri we also become acquainted with the girls at the academy and the rather intimidating head mistress.  This is a delightful story, that is not all sugary and sweet like most princess stories. I like Miri, she is practical and analytical.  She has a quick mind and a kind heart.  This story would be a great read-a-loud to a daughter (or grand-daughter).  But be sure to finish, the reader does not find out who the princess is until the very end of the book!



Book #2

Book #5

Book #12 

Book #12

Saturday Sundries: February

It's time to post the results of the February Photo Scavenger Hunt

1.  Best of the day (2/20)

2.  Black History Month

3.  Canned food month

4.  everyday

5.  hearts

6. macro (leaves in ice)

7. numbers

8. cozy

9. furry

10. red

11.  white

12.  view from above

created by Kristi

guest hosted by Amy

photo's by

Photo's on Friday: Shadow

Goblin Valley in Southern Utah is a great place for shadow play

"Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow.

 Everything has both dark and light.

You have to play with it till you get it exactly right."

— Libba Bray

today's theme is "shadow"

War and Peace: Week 8

Book Three: Chapters 1-7

Background:

The year is 1805 the month November, the story returns to events in St. Petersburg and at Bald Hills, the country estate of Prince Nicholas Bolkonski.

The Peace:

“Prince Vasili was not a man who deliberately thought out his plans. He was merely a man of the world who had got on and to whom getting on had become a habit. Schemes and devices for which he never rightly accounted to himself, but which formed the whole interest of his life, were constantly shaping themselves in his mind, arising from the circumstances and persons he met.”

Location 3601

Pierre is currently occupying Prince Vasili’s mind. Pierre is a bit of dunce and seems to lack the power to reason and think on his own. Unfortunately for him he is now in possession of a large fortune and the vultures are gathering. Prince Vasili is the largest and hungriest of these predators. It doesn’t take long for Prince Vasili to come up with the scheme of having Pierre marry his daughter Helene and then through her he will have access to Pierre’s fortune. Things proceed according to plan and before Pierre knows what is happening he is engaged, his house in St. Petersburg is being refurbished and Prince Vasili has taken charge of the serf’s and is collecting the rent—and pocketing it. I think this all happens in less than two months.

Prince Vasili is on a mission to make sure his children are successfully secured to money. He takes his second son Anatole with him to “visit Prince Nicholas Bolkonski in order to arrange a match for him with the daughter of that rich old man.” (location 3731) The daughter he is referring to is Prince Mary who is expecting this proposal of marriage because she was previously informed of it in a letter from her friend. But bully for the old Prince—he see’s right through Prince Vasili’s plot and recognizes that Anatole could never really love Mary, but would rather spend time with Mary’s hired companion, Madame Bourienne. Mary’s father talks bluntly with her about the Princes insincerity. Mary catches Anatole with the companion and when the time comes she officially rejects the offer of marriage and reconciles herself to the fact that she will live a life of solitude on her father’s estate.

And the War:

In chapter six the Rostov’s finally receive a letter from Nicholas telling them of his injury. The family is beside themselves with grief over the brush with death but is ever so grateful his life was spared. They in turn write personal letters to him and also include a letter of recommendation that will assist him in obtaining a more diplomatic position that will take him from the front lines. Nicholas who is now with the army at Olmutz, does not accept this interference by his parents and throws the letter away. Nicholas has just “celebrated his promotion to a cornetcy” and prefers to stay in the field.

A Character? Actually two--

Anna Pavlovna Scherer - A wealthy St. Petersburg society hostess and matchmaker for the Kuragin family, whose party in 1805 opens the novel.

Princess Anna Mikhaylovna Drubetskaya - A woman from an illustrious old family who is nonetheless impoverished. Anna Mikhaylovna is dominated by thoughts of securing a good future for her son Boris. She extracts a promise from Vasili Kuragin that he will help Boris. She extracts a promise from Vasili Kuragin that he will help Boris get an officer’s position in the army.

Anna Pavlovna— At her first “At Home” party at the beginning of the book she suggested that Prince Vasili arrange a marriage between Anatole and Mary. At her second “At Home” party she is constantly making sure Pierre and Helene are thrown together facilitating their engagement.

Anna Mikhaylovna--is right in the thick of it when Pierre comes out on top in the quest for the old counts fortune.  And then she is back living with the Rostov’s when Nicholas’ letter arrives. She spares the old count the sorrow of reading it to his wife and she herself reads the letter to Nicholas’ mother.

I think these two women are as smart as generals as they scheme for their children and associates. Someone needs to get them out on the front lines—I’m sure they could find a way to defeat Napoleon.




image: Alexandra Perfilyeva, Countess Tolstaya ) 1770's.  I used this picture because the character Anna Pavlovna is a fictitious person but I thought this picture captured what I think she looks like.


Vocabulary:

Sutlers: a person who followed an army and sold provisions to the soldiers.
Ladies’ toilet: the process of washing oneself, dressing and attending to one’s appearance. The word toilet originally denoted a cloth used as a wrapper for clothes; then in the 17th century a cloth cover for a dressing table, the articles used in dressing, and the process of dressing, also of washing oneself.

From War and Peace: “The wax candles burned brightly, the silver and crystal gleamed, so did the ladies’ toilets and the gold and silver of the men’s epaulets;”

revoir la semaine prochaine

Wednesday Wanderings: Snow Day

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.

You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different,

and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?

 ~J.B. Priestley

after a couple of weeks of 40 degree weather I thought spring was here,

but over the weekend we really got pounded with the snow.

photo by

mid-week blues hosted by the Dusty Cellar

Tuesday Teaser and Top Ten Tuesday

Princess Acadmey

by

Shannon Hale

"Miri woke to the sleepy bleating of a goat.  The world was as dark as eyes closed, but perhaps the goats could smell dawn seeping thorugh the cracks in the house's stone walls."

location 89

teaser tuesday's hosted by Miz B at Should be Reading 

Top Ten Tuesday hosted by the broke and the bookish

this weeks list is "Top Ten Books to Movies Adaptations"

1. Coraline
2. Fried Green Tomatoes
3. Patriot Games (or any Tom Clancy)
4. The Hunt for the Red October (also Tom Clancy)
5.  Charlotte's Web
6.  Pride and Prejudice (and most Jane Austen Films)
7. Jane Eyre (and most Bronte Films)
8.  Christmas with the Kranks (John Grisham books translate to screen play's very well)
9.  The Secret of Nimh
10.  My favorite is -- The Secret Life of Bees.

I didn't include the Harry Potter Books but I think they adapted very well and the screen play kept true to the books for the most part.

I also didn't include the Lord of the Rings because even though I absolutely loved them--they were Peter Jackson's creations based on Tolkiens work. He changed a lot of the story but kept key elements so that it felt the same, but there were an awful lot of differences.

I did an in-depth comparison of the movies and books in a previous post if you are interested :)

Book Review: Half Broke Horses

Half Broke Horses

by

Jeannette Walls






Kindle Edition, 288 pages

Published September 26th 2009 by Scribner
ASIN: B002PMVQCW
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2009)

About the book (Goodreads)
"Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did." So begins the story of Lily Casey Smith, in Jeannette Walls's magnificent, true-life novel based on her no-nonsense, resourceful, hard working, and spectacularly compelling grandmother. By age six, Lily was helping her father break horses. At fifteen, she left home to teach in a frontier town -- riding five hundred miles on her pony, all alone, to get to her job. She learned to drive a car ("I loved cars even more than I loved horses. They didn't need to be fed if they weren't working, and they didn't leave big piles of manure all over the place") and fly a plane, and, with her husband, ran a vast ranch in Arizona. She raised two children, one of whom is Jeannette's memorable mother, Rosemary Smith Walls, unforgettably portrayed in The Glass Castle. Lily survived tornadoes, droughts, floods, the Great Depression, and the most heartbreaking personal tragedy. She bristled at prejudice of all kinds -- against women, Native Americans, and anyone else who didn't fit the mold.


About the Author (Goodreads)
Jeannette Walls is a writer and journalist. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated with honors from Barnard College, the women's college affiliated with Columbia University. She published a bestselling memoir, The Glass Castle, in 2005. The book is being made into a film by Paramount.

My thoughts:
Half Broke Horses begins with Lily and her siblings getting caught in a flash flood.  They climb a tree and spend the night clinging to the branches in order to save their lives.  I was immediately sucked into the story and could not get over the fact that Ms. Walls was writing the story of her grandmother's rather remarkable life--and yet it was ordinary for the times.  This story was so well written that I felt very much involved in Lily's life.  I couldn't help thinking I'd sure like someone like Ms. Walls to come along and write my life story--it was very interesting as well as entertaining.  Once I picked the book up I found myself reading into the late hours of the night because I couldn't put it down. 

I liked the title of the book, "Half-broke Horses".  Ms. Walls introduces the title when a neighbor brings 8 mustangs rounded up from the wild in payment for a debt owed to her father.  Lily looks the string of ponies over and says, "The problem with half-broke horses like these was that no one took the time to train them."  Lily uses the phrase "half-broke horses" throughout the book when referring to various people she comes across in her life.  I liked this thread that connected Lily to her upbringing.

book #11

book #11

Author #4

RS Book Club book #2

Saturday Sundries: Families and Quilts

 Every year our family makes a quilt to raffle at the reunion.

this was last years quilt

anyone who wants to contribute is given a large square of fabric and a small square of fabric

of their preferred pattern choice.

And then they can make a block in any design they choose.

As you can see we get a wide variety of blocks,

from simple to intricate.

This is a picture of this year's fabrics

they are very vibrant--I think the quilt will be gorgeous.

My daughters and I get together every year and have a quilt block day,

dividing up the fabrics, going through quilt block patterns and sewing.

for Friday night sew-in I helped my youngest daughter make her very first quilt block

friendship square

Here are the rest

circle of hearts

(K.J.)

drunkard's circle

(H.J.)

4-patch

(A.J.)

ribbons

(mine)

"chinese window"

"pinwheel"

applique butterfly

by Jen

The kids also contribute to a quilt,

this is last years

here are sweetings and little bear hard at work

his mommy traced his hands

I hope I win the raffle this year

my daughter (H.J.) won the kids quilt last year :)

Families are like quilts: Lives pieced together, stitched with memories, and bound by love.

Hosted by handmade by Heidi