Friday, March 20, 2009

A Week in Review

Remember how I like to take some time on Friday to write about things that have happened during the week? Let’s do that again. Here it is, A Week in Review.

Amalia Grace
I have a new niece. She was born on March 6, which makes her two weeks old today. This week Courtney and Andrea posted some pictures on Facebook, which I immediately saved copies of and am posting here.

Eyes wide open.

With her brothers, Spencer and Andrew.
Sleeping - look at all of that hair, and those cheeks! I just want to smooch them.

And here's the whole family.
They live in Rochester, MN, so I haven’t seen her yet, and it’s kind of making me crazy. I’m hoping very much that we’ll get together in June. Having a baby niece again is exciting. Of my 17 nieces and nephews, only 6 are girls, and the last girl we had is now 12 years old. It was time! Time to buy pink and frilly things and to pick out dolls again. The distance might make it hard for me to really spoil her, but I’ll do my best.

For the Baby
My friend Nicole came to Salt Lake to have lunch with me on Wednesday, always fun, and she brought the best thing ever for little Lia, a handmade car seat blanket. It’s made to fit perfectly around the seat, and with straps that attach to the handle to hold it up, off the baby’s face and to keep it in place. Genius. Here’s a picture of the one she made for Lia (I totally stole if off of her website).
I love the Raggedy Ann pattern, it's classic, but so rarely seen that it seems original and new. Very cute. Here’s link to the website. Anyone can order a blanket. It’s a great idea for all of your baby gift needs.
I think that anyone can order a blanket....Hope that wasn't some false advertising.

I did It
After some consideration, I decided to drop out of my current English class and sign up for a History class instead. I think that I mentioned having to read Beowulf, and I did it, and actually thought that it wasn't too bad. But then I got to the writing assignment, which had me finding all of the elements of this and that, and symbolism and "What did this mean..." and I thought, "I can't do this." I love to read books, but hate analyzing them. I can tell you what a book means to me, not to the author or to anyone else, and really, can there be one right answer with something so personal and objective?
I'm signed up for a class on world civilizations from the beginning of time until 1500. The book looks great, and I'm really excited about the class. Should be good.

A Tale of Two Cities
After talking about not wanting to analyze books, I am going to recommend one. Have you ever read A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens? If not, then I want you to drop everything and start right now. It’s brilliant. Most people know the famous first line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” And the last line, “It’s a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” But what most don’t know is all that’s in between. It’s set in London and Paris during the French Revolution, and all of the characters get caught up in that war. There’s a lot going on, but in the end I think that it’s about the character Sydney Carton finally finding purpose and redemption. It’s about redemption. I admit, the first couple of chapters are hard to get through, but once you’ve read about Lucie meeting with her father who she thought was dead but has really been wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years, you’ll be in love. I made that sound too much like a Lifetime tv movie, but trust me, the scene is beautiful. The whole book is beautiful. I don’t know that there’s a writer to match Dickens for depth and feeling, or humor. If I were to pick a favorite book, I think that this would be it.

Well, I that’s all for now. Thanks, as always, for the blogging joy.
You are loved.

2 comments:

Tiffany said...

I understand the not-seeing-the-new-baby crazy feeling. And I have never read A Tale of Two Cities, so I will trust you and begin reading right away!

Kelli said...

I need to meet that baby also! Those cheeks are amazing! I am excited to have such a great recommendation for a book. I will add it to my list! Thanks for the update.