Smekday Questions Answered

A few of you were wondering about the book "The True Meaning of Smekday" by Adam Rex. I just finished reading it and can now tell you a little more about it.

Eleven year old Gratuity Tucci has been given the class assignment of writting an essay titled "The True Meaning of Smekday" to be placed in a national time capsule. The book is basically broken up into 3 sections. The first section contains her first attempt at the essay which recieves a C+ and a strong suggestion from her teacher to try again.

The second section contains an essay that is actually selected to be in the time capsule. The letter confirming Gratutity's selection also comes with a suggestion that she write the "rest of the story."

The third section of the book is the rest of the story.

Earth has been invaded by the Boov who were looking for a new planet after theirs was invaded by the "Takers." The Boov consider humans savages and use whatever means necessary to bring them a "better" way of life. They offer all US humans the state of Florida, then change their mind and select Arizona.

Gratuity begins her journey by car to Florida on the appointed "Moving Day" with her cat Pig in tow, and runs into a Boov named J. Lo. Fate makes them traveling companions and they make their way to Florida. Once in Florida, Gratuity learns that the moving place has been changed and she and J. Lo begin their journey to Arizona.

Along the way they meet some interesting folks in Orlando, Florida (at Happy Mouse Kingdom) and Roswell, New Mexico. They also learn that Earth is now in the midst of another invasion by the same aliens who took over the Boov planet, the Takers (Also known as the Gorg.) Page 183 contains a lovely illustration titled "8 Things You Always Wanted to Know About the Gorg But Were Afraid to Ask the Gorg Because the Gorg Might Punch You In the Face," which is very instructive. (Thing #3 says the Gorg smell like a bouquet of lilacs sprinkled with cinnamon and burried under a shoulder-high pile of rancid dogmeat.)

Together Gratuity and J. Lo attempt to save the world (I don't want to give anything away) from a seemingly undefeatable alien foe.

There are a whole lot of levels to this book. I read somewhere that it has similarities to Huckleberry Finn, and I agree with that. However, "The True Meaning of Smekday" has more pictures than HF and a lot more laughs.

If you want to know more about "The True Meaning of Smekday" you can check out these sites:

An illustrated list by J. Lo titled, "Gratuity and J. Lo Present 10 Reasons to read The True Meaning of Smekday." (Good stuff!)

Adam Rex's (the author) Smekday website.

A short book review by The Book Club Shelf.

Adam Rex's regular website.

What do you think?

Is it too distracting to have this funky background? I'd like to change items in the foreground too, but...one thing at a time. I'm taking "HTML for the Technically Challenged" from Living Room University.

Under the Bed

I asked Ethan to clean his room last night before bed, then again this morning. He ran upstairs and down again in a suspiciously small amount of time so I went to inspect. Ethan's cleaning method had been to shove everything underneath his bed so that it was slightly less visible. I was tired of asking him to clean his room, so decided to do it myself and give him another job in exchange.

Here is what I found under his bed:

1 dirty sock
4 gum wrappers
2 permission slips for school
24 "cootie catchers" stacked 4 inches high
5 origami fish
his spelling list from last week
7 other unidentifiable origami creations
a thing of scotch tape
the outstanding bill for his piano lessons
all 5 of his piano books
a blue patch silly putty that fused to the carpet
a box of Sponge Bob Square pants Legos
a box of Dragon Legos
4 pencils (one mechanical)
2 Pokemon cards
A Nintendo DS car charger
Headphones for Nintendo DS
An empty case for a Nintendo game cartridge
A Palm Pilot

Just for the record, this represents a 3 day's accumulation of stuff. Monday it was clean enough under the bed for me to vacuum there. I know...pretty impressive.

What I'm Reading Now

I feel the need for a short post, so here is a little video that kind of might go along with the book I'm about to read. Enjoy!

Bye-Bye Boots

Regular readers of this blog may remember that I’m in search of an elusive beast known as the “swanky boots.” I’m too cheap to pay full price for swanky boots in the fall, too tall to buy anything with more than a 2 inch heel, and too ignorant to fully understand how a good boot is supposed to fit and these issues have riddled my quest with obstacles.

Last Saturday I went in search of new bedding to replace the bedding I got for my birthday and had to return because it was the wrong size. As I walked into Macy’s I decided to take a detour past the shoe section. Suddenly I remembered my boot quest and thought I could substitute boots for bedding. Plus, all the boots were on extreme markdown, so I could substitute boots, new skirt, top and jacket for bedding, which made the idea even more appealing.

I found these boots. They were the 3rd ones I tried on. Not too high and not too low, they seemed to be perfect. AND, they were 40% off! I asked the sales lady if the boots were supposed to have a tighter fit around the calf. These boots had a good inch and a half of space between the top of the boot and my leg. The sales lady assured me that was exactly how they were supposed to fit, but something felt wrong.

I got home, tried on the boots and e-mailed a picture to several friends and family members. The popular opinion (aside from “don’t listen to mom, she doesn’t know what she is talking about) was that the boots needed to be returned.

So, bye-bye boots. My boot quest will have to end for this season. Frankly I’m becoming slightly disinterested in boots as we move towards spring and besides, I used the extra cash to buy a new pair of black, kitten heeled pumps.

Not Twins

Believe it or not, people ask me all the time if Isaac and Jonah are twins. For the record, Isaac and Jonah are 20 months apart. Also for the record, I don’t normally dress them alike, but sometimes I just can’t resist. I bought these two sweater vests on sale from Hanna Andersson for the boys to wear to church.

I think my idea of matching boys became more of a motherhood fantasy because I clung to it even when Jonah told me he would NEVER wear his sweater vest the same day Isaac did because it would be embarrassing. (My cousin Claire recently had a different motherhood fantasy fulfilled and you can read about it here.)

I became determined to get Jonah and Isaac to wear their sweater vests at least once on the same day. I begged, I pleaded, and I used guilt! (Jonah, remember how you didn’t get me a birthday present last week? Well, this could be it!)

Finally I asked Jonah what it would take. “I will buy you a snack, anything you want!” I pleaded.

Jonah, however, was not interested in food, he was interested in money. “Two dollars,” He said.

A bargain! I thought, but I couldn’t let Isaac out of this deal empty handed and I wasn’t about to give him an extra two dollars. The sweater vests only cost $12, for crying out loud! I asked Jonah if I could give him one dollar and Isaac the other dollar and he agreed.

Sunday morning I told them since this would be the only day they would dress the same, I was owed a nice, loving brother picture. Jonah definitely put up a stink and declared that the picture was NOT part of the original deal.

“You better not put this picture in my scrapbook.” Jonah said.

“No! Of course not! This picture won’t go in your scrapbook, don’t even worry about it.” I assured him.

Jonah then followed up with, “And you better not put it on your blog!”

Uh…

I laughed and told him that I paid a dollar and I could put it on my blog if I wanted to.

In the first set of pictures I took before church, Jonah insisted on putting his arm around Isaac and Isaac insisted on having nothing to do with Jonah’s arm. In a freak accident, while Isaac was trying to avoid Jonah’s arm, the vacuum cleaner handle disengaged and swung down, hitting Isaac SMACK on the back of the head. That pretty much ended that photo session.

After church I was still pretty much working with monkeys. Just one good picture and the motherhood fantasy would be complete! “PLEASE,” I begged, “just one nice picture.”

This was the best one. This was the only one where both were smiling. You will notice, however, that Isaac’s finger seems to be stuck in his pocket. Somehow, he got his finger down in a hole and couldn’t get it out. But at least he was smiling.

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Congratulations and be prosperous. It’s a rainy Oregon day, just how I like it. I thought I’d try to make home made fortune cookies to bring to a Chinese New Year party our neighbors have invited us to on Sunday after church. I bought some factory made fortune cookies at the store, just in case mine didn’t turn out. However, I think my cookies turned out pretty good.

I surveyed everyone here at home for ideas for fortunes. Some of the suggestions were “You like ice cream,” and “We wish you a merry Christmas.” So I made up a few of my own fortunes with the help of Google. I don’t want to give everything away, plus I didn’t save the document, so here are a few of the fortunes I can remember:

Giants 21, Patriots 17

You are unique, just like everyone else.

You will find luck on Flag Day.

You will soon eat a cookie.

I followed the recipe exactly, including sifting the dry ingredients. I made the cookies 4 at a time which was just about right. By the time I got to the fourth cookie, it had started to cool every so slightly and was almost too stiff to fold. So I worked quickly and in batches of 4 cookies. This recipe makes 16 cookies.

2 large egg whites
½ tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond extract
3 TB vegetable oil
½ cup flour
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. corn starch
¼ tsp. salt
3 tsp. water

1. Write fortunes on 3 ½ by ½ inch pieces of paper. Preheat oven to 300. Grease baking sheets.

2. Lightly beat egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.

3. Sift the flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt into a separate bowl. Stir the water into flour mixture.

4. Add flour mix into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.

5. Place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth and from side to side so that each tablespoon of batter forms into a 4 inch circle.

6. Bake until the outer ½ inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14-15 minutes).

7. Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. Fold the cookie in half, and then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass or the edge of a muffin tin. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue quickly with the rest of the cookies.