Books and Stuff

I have had a week off of work while the lady I work for takes a vacation. I also haven't started my transcription job yet, so I have had some time to read and do other miscellaneous things that I rarely have time for!

Instead of starting with The Help which was my original plan, I got sidetracked by the Hunger Games series. I found Mockingjay on the "Lucky Day" shelf at the library, and I had heard everyone talking about it, so I checked it out and then had to hurry and read the first 2 books. I really liked the first two, but I thought Mockingjay was depressing. I guess it's supposed to be, that's the point. But I really enjoyed the series overall.

Then, I finally did read The Help. Good book, and very interesting since we spent some time living in the south. I saw that the movie is being made right now and I'm excited to see it.

Generally I really enjoy nonfiction more than fictional novels, so I'm going to go back to my roots and read Rough Stone Rolling which is a biography of Joseph Smith that I started a long time ago and never finished. I have a whole stack of books on my shelf that I've either started or have wanted to start, and now I need to get busy on it!

We had an interesting conversation as a family last night. Not sure how we got on the topic, but we decided that we should decide on where our children would live if something happened to both of us. We did decide this a long time ago, but at the time our children were much younger and we were hesitant to ask anyone if they would be willing to take on 3 more when they already had their young families. Now the dynamic has changed a lot, and while the needs are different we are still pretty much thinking along the same lines. Hopefully it will never become necessary, but we talked about who would most meet our parenting style, have the same values, love our kids, have the time and means to parent 3 more, etc. All of us made a list which included each of our siblings and the grandparents, and surprisingly our top 3 choices were all the same as one another, although in slightly different order. Now we just have to ask these folks if they would be willing. It does bring up some interesting questions when you start talking about this. Who would you have raise your children if you were not able to do it?

One thing it brought out glaringly is that I need to share more with my kids about their extended family. I was shocked and sad when several times my 9-year-old asked "who is that again?" when she was looking at her list. She has lived more than half of her life around these people and seen them on summer vacations and such, but since we moved and there is not that day-to-day contact, she forgets who is who. I feel like I stay in pretty good contact with everyone but I guess I need to show my kids the blogs and such as well so that they know who their cousins are!

Anyway, it is not a popularity contest or anything, and we know that any of our siblings or parents would do it if needed - but there were a few who stood out as being most similar to us in their family dynamics and parenting style. Family: Do not be offended if you don't hear from us about this, lol! (and P.S. while I would gladly take any of your children should there be a need, I also would not be offended if I was not the best fit!)