Wednesday, September 30, 2009

FBF Winner, and Proof of the Frozen Lacquered Spider

And the Free Book Friday Winner is...

Kim. (From Idaho)

Email me your top three choices from the pics below. brosam (at) gmail (dot) com

1. Remember Debbie/Cranberry Fries' comment after the spider post? About how her hubby and his roommate froze and lacquered a spider? And how I asked for pictures?
If you think that's awesome, you should check out her blog.

2. I just have to come to terms with the fact that I am the mother of boys. I asked Kid C to tell me about his day. He kept saying, "Nothing happened." When I pressed, he said, "Fine. I played with Bill Bill-o-bean."

I don't know what got into me, but I started to growl at my kid, saying this is not a conversation, and if he doesn't know how to have a conversation, then I'm going to go deaf. (This is always my "go-to" threat. My kids think I really go deaf.)

So I say again, "What did you do today?"

Kid C: "Had lunch with Bill Billobean."

I brought the car to a screeching halt, got out and slammed the door. I stood there, arms folded across my chest, full-on pouting.

Then I realized... Brodi you are one girl in a house of boys. There will be no heart to hearts. You're gonna have to deal with it.

I got back in. With one single tear streaming down his face, his lower lip trembling, Kid C says, "I did Math, Mom. That's what I did at school."

I said, "That'll do, Pig. That'll do."

3. Kid C has a "girlfriend". Her name's Lauren. He says they kissed.

My first question was, "Where?" I was thinking Lips? Cheek?

Kid C: "Recess."

So when he was saying goodnight, I told him to kiss me like he kisses Lauren. He proceeded to kiss my elbow.

I said: "Good job, kid. That's exactly how you kiss."

4. It's Banned Books week.

My own take (I won't wax prolific on this point because others have done a much better job at it): I loathe the idea of people getting together, deciding what books I should or shouldn't be allowed to read. Downright Un-American. Some of the greatest authors of all time have at one point been banned. (Maya Angelou, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Walt Whitman, Harper Lee to name a very few).

Now we can claim a connection to such an author! Writer buddy Emily Wing Smith's book The Way He Lived has made a list of books that are being challenged in a town in Florida. Read her post about it here.

I am so proud of Emily, and this badge of honor she has earned. I told her I'm going to make her a t-shirt with a Scarlet "B" on the chest to celebrate. I also want to thank Lake County Florida for drawing attention to her awesome book. Please go and congratulate Emily in the comments section on her blog. She'll love it.

Tune in for Friday's FBF. I'm anticipating a signed copy of Shannon Hale's newest Forest Born, and a few of Sara Zarr's latest Once Was Lost. They will both be up for grabs in the pool of books.

22 comments:

  1. Brodi, that stuff with Kid C made me laugh so hard I'm choking on my cold cereal. You are hilarious!

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  2. "that'll do pig that'll do"

    lol

    i would hire you just to make me laugh every day.

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  3. We have to hand it to our kid for his creativity. He has two really good friends named Billy Billobean and Brigham Tortilla. I can't wait to meet more of his friends.

    And congrats to Emily for being banned! Now if only they will have a good book burning. You know you have made it in life when they are banning or burning your work.

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  4. Nikki- Thanks!

    Shell- How much would such a gig pay?

    Sam- Let's organize the book burning together... for family home evening.

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  5. I thought we decided there would be no more spider posts. How can I trust you now? ;)

    That's really cool that Emily's book is being challenged. I think banning/challenging books does the exact opposite of what the people who want to ban/challenge books want to happen. Does that make sense?

    In my opinion, censorship is wrong! I agree that there’s a lot of filth out there that I don’t want to be exposed to, but not at the expense of banning books because I don’t agree with something in the book. If you don’t agree with some part of a book, movie, TV show, religion, lifestyle, etc., as long as “it” doesn’t infringe on the rights of another individual, then don’t have anything to do with “it.” Instead, let others choose for themselves if they want “it” in their lives, again, as long as “it” doesn’t infringe on the rights of another individual.

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  6. Jenni- Amen, sister.

    Sorry about the spider pics. To be fair, though, it's not really about a live spider. Does that help?

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  7. Oh my goodness you need to start a new book all about adventures of Kid C and his friends. Seriously the kid knows how to tell a good story (ok you know how to coax out a good story) but he does come up with fantastic characters. :)

    Woot Woot for Emily!

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  8. Debbie- I try not to talk about my kids too much, but man he provides some good material.

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  9. Yeah! Thanks for the Free Book Friday contest.

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  10. I love kid C! His comments bring me joy every time I see him. Just as a side note, Asher has started calling me Erin and then calling Diane, mom. The poor kid is so confused. I can't introduce any more people to him for fear he'll start calling them mom and dad...but then he might actually go home with them too. Maybe not such a bad idea after all.

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  11. He really does provide some good material. Plus you're just a funny story teller but your kid stories crack me. Tell Kid C I'll be his friend if he gives me a cool nickname. I'll even come eat lunch with him. Ok maybe that wouldn't help the cool kid factor, how about I send my cute daughter over. Ha.

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  12. Kim- You're welcome!

    Erin- Small price to pay for a trip to Spain, right? So what if he doesn't know who is mommy is anymore? :)

    Debbie- I'll tell Kid C to get going on a nickname for you.

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  13. Kid C cracks me up! Love him! Congrats to Emily for being banned! Now I am going to go read her book!
    By the way if you really do ever have a book burning invite me!

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  14. Oh Brodi - you are a lone reed in a garden of testosterone. And I just loved your "Babe" reference, it was priceless!!

    The spider pictures were funny - I still find it hard to believe they were able to perfectly freeze him.

    Go Emily! I agree, freedom of literacy all the way! In the freedom to read a book, I am well within my rights to NOT read something. We should all have the choice! *steps off soapbox...okay three soapboxes, I'm short*

    Brodi - I'll bring the smores for the book burning - but can we only burn books I don't like, not the banned ones because I like some of those! Ooh, how about we just burn used notebooks?? It's taking recycling to a whole new level!

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  15. Eliza- You're invited. Una's bringing the smores. I'll bring my guitar and we can all sing Kumbaya.

    Una- "three soapboxes". Funny. Instead of burning books, how about we burn people in effigy? Or we can burn Sweet Valley High books. Especially that one where Jessica and Elizabeth switch places.

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  16. Love Banned Books Week, and yay, Emily for making the list!

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  17. Brodi - that is a fantastic idea, however who should be on our effigy list? What are the parameters?

    Maybe we should just get logs and put a piece of paper on them (with nail or something) and write a person's name on it - we don't want to be environmentally unfriendly. Course, that being the case, we can't burn wood then, can we? Shall we just attach names to the natural gas canister?!?

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  18. Elena- I hear ya.

    Una- Perhaps we should plant a tree, with the offender's name carved in the trunk. Then we wait 20 years for it to mature. Then we chop it down in effigy.

    How's that?

    Or perhaps we could just release a dove in effigy.

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  19. First: that spider is wrong. Yucky, scary, try not to look, wrong.
    Second: Awesome, Emily! I really do think that denotes arrival.
    Third: You are welcome to borrow one of my girls any time. They will talk and talk which will make you affectionately pat your boys heads and enjoy some silence after they leave. We really do have the opposite problem at our house. I actually don't mind too much though. They are pretty cute...most of the time.

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  20. I really like the threat of going deaf--that is perfect. What cute boys you have!

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  21. Keersten- Let's switch just for a week. How about it?

    Shellie- I'm hired!

    Deanna- They definitely keep me on my toes.

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