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So besides being somewhat bored at work, playing the most excellent Left 4 Dead 2 in the evenings, and being generally appalled at some of the shit in the news these days*, I’ve been reading – A LOT.

*OK seriously, I don’t want to talk about it, but I just have to say that these hypocritical assholes who are using this Park 51 community center (aka the not-actually-at-Ground-Zero, not-actually-a-mosque, “Ground Zero Mosque”) as the new wedge issue to drive the rednecks crazy need to stop it. Are these yahoos out of their fucking minds? Don’t we have enough hate in this country? Hasn’t the Bill of Rights been trampled on enough over the last decade? Sheesh.

So, um, where was I? Oh yeah, reading. Yeah I’ve been reading a lot, and I think it’s all because of my Kindle. Having that thing makes is so ridiculously easy to take books with me wherever. And I’ve also learned to love the Kindle apps for iPhone, PC, and Mac. With them, I’m able to keep my library completely synced and read whatever I want, pretty much wherever I want. BIG WIN, Amazon. You rock.

Here’s all the fantastic things I’ve read this summer on my Kindle:

The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta: interesting read, although I did not like the [spoiler] abrupt ending. Great character development though.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson: whoa, this took FOREVER to get going, but once it did I couldn’t put it down. Read lots of it on a road trip to West Virginia, making the trip that much more surreal. I’ve got some more Stephenson lurking in my library, and I’ll be starting on it this fall for sure.

Blockade Billy by Stephen King: you’d probably get more out of this than I did if you’re a baseball fan. I don’t mind baseball, but I’m not obsessed with it. That said, I still enjoyed this yarn. Typical King – there’s a twist that you can sort of see coming for pages and pages before it happens, but when it does you still kind of go “OMGWTF!!”

Dead and Gone and Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris: oh these horrible, trashy, poorly written, incredibly entertaining Sookie Stackhouse novels. I wish I could quit  you!

The Descent by Jeff Long: this was a re-read. I read it first several years ago, loved it then, loved it this time too. That movie “The Descent” is loosely based on the basic concept of this book, but if you ask me, the book is so much better. Especially enjoyable if, like me, you’re fascinated by hidden places and cities buried deep underground, the kind of stuff just strewn all over H.P. Lovecraft.

Fly Away Home: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner: Jen has been in the news a bit recently because she, along with Jodi Picoult, had the nerve to suggest that maybe the New York Times’ fawning coverage of heavy tomes by white male literary darlings wasn’t serving their dwindling readership all that well. I love Jen’s books. This wasn’t my favorite, but it was still pretty darn good.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo/The Girl Who Played With Fire/The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson: who hasn’t read at least the first of these by now? I was late to the party but I really enjoyed them a lot. After reading the first book, I watched the Swedish  movie on Netflix streaming. It was great! Why does Hollywood need to remake this? Anyway, all three of these books were real page-turners – even the long section on shopping at Ikea (really!).

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: I guess technically this is supposed to be young adult fiction? Doesn’t matter, I loved it. I had it sitting in my Kindle for months before I finally got around to cracking it open and I have to say I wish I’d read it sooner.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells: one of the many books that are now public domain and available in e-format for free. I’d never read this classic, though of course I had seen both the 1960 and 2002 film versions. Guess what? It was much better than either film. That Wells, he knew what he was doing.

And that’s just in the last few months! I’ve recently started reading another classic (free) e-book, Dracula by Bram Stoker. I have read it before, but it’s been years. I’m enjoying reading it again. I also have King’s The Stand queued up for a re-read; I re-read it every few years or so but this will be the first time I’ve read it in digital format. The version I bought for my Kindle supposedly includes those wonderful illustrations that appear in the unabridged hardback, and I’m really looking forward to reading it again.

I read some dismissive comment about e-books last week (was it Roger Ebert? I don’t want to believe that, but it might have been) making reference to the fact that you can’t see what people are reading when they’re reading on their Kindles, which deprives you of the opportunity of knowing other people’s business, I suppose, and then deciding based on their reading taste if you maybe want to harass them on the Metro or something. WHATEVER, OLDS! Personally, I love the fact that nobody can see what I’m reading. If I want people to know what I’m reading, I’ll write a blog post about it (like this), or Tweet about it, or post on Facebook about it. I don’t feel the need to make an ostentatious display to people on public transportation that I’m reading War and Peace, or try to hide the fact that I’m re-reading that last Harry Potter book AGAIN.

Also, a Kindle is so versatile and just works for my lifestyle so well. In combination with the Kindle app on the platforms I mentioned above, it’s perfect for me. Also – saving me money, because if I didn’t have one I probably would have bought an iPad.

Thanks again, Amazon!

Last night, my contribution to dinner was a salad. I used several weird things that we just happened to have on hand, things that you wouldn’t normally think go together, but even the hubz commented that the salad was delicious!

Start with some greens, a cup to a cup and a half per salad. I like Wegmans Organic Spring Mix:

Then get some baby beets and slice them up, about 3/4 cup for two salads. I use these Melissa’s baby beets, which are steamed and peeled:

Add about a tablespoon per salad of marinated, roasted garlic cloves. I get mine off Wegmans olive bar:

Toss all of that together. Because of the olive oil and stuff on the garlic cloves, and the beet juice, you won’t need any dressing at all. Finally, top with about a teaspoon per salad of slivered, honey roasted almonds:

Sounds strange, tastes delicious, full of healthy things that are good for you (and negligible amounts of things that aren’t).

Wherein I give you unsolicited advice on all manner of products and services. Hey, FTC! I received nothing from anybody! All products reviewed were purchased by me, with real (not imaginary) money.

True Lemon – True Lemon is actually not just lemon – it also comes in orange and lime! What is it? It’s basically crystallized citrus that you can carry with you anywhere, and add to water to give it a little kick. It has no calories! The flavor is fantastic! It’s all-natural! I think the orange is my favorite, though lime is close. I add it to bottled water and also to plain seltzer, but there are lots of other ways you can use this stuff: in recipes, sprinkled on salads and other food, in plain iced tea, etc. You can find True Lemon (and True Orange, and True Lime) at some grocery stores, though I haven’t had much luck and had to order mine from their online store. (They also have two varieties of lemonade mix where are really good, but only available online.) Find them on Facebook for coupons and free offers.

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer SPF 15 – My skin tends to get oily, especially in the T-zone and especially in the summer. I’m also obsessed with protecting my skin from the sun, and wear sunscreen religiously. I’ve struggled trying to find the right tinted sunscreen (to wear alone) or moisturizer with sunscreen (to wear under other makeup) that doesn’t make my T-zone a shiny mess by 10am. I’ve tried so many, I had just about given up and resigned myself to the fact that I was just going to have to blot my face several times a day (these work great, by the way). Then I ordered something from Sephora (I don’t even remember what it was anymore), and along with it came a sample of this primer from Hourglass. Whoa – it’s a miracle! I ordered a full size bottle right away. Super pricey ($52), but one bottle will last a very long time (at least until the hot weather subsides, which should be around November). The texture is thin and liquid-like, and you can definitely feel the silicone in it. It’s nice and slippery, yet dried to a matte finish, giving you a nice canvas for makeup application. Best of all, it helps keep the oil at bay for much of the day, and I often don’t need to blot or apply additional powder until late afternoon. The sunscreen is an effective combination of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, so it does give full-spectrum (UVA and UVB) protection. I know, I KNOW it’s a lot to spend on a primer/sunscreen/moisturizer, but I couldn’t help myself. It just feels so elegant on the skin, and it’s doing its job perfectly. To me, that is the definition of a good investment.

Clarisonic Mia – And now, the negative review. Not so much negative, as “meh.” People seemed to be raving about this powered facial brush from Clarisonic, so I decided to give it a try. And…I wasn’t impressed. Did it give me a “silky-smooth, fresh complexion”? Not so much. Actually, I think my complexion is pretty good but I chalk that up to the regular exfoliation I do on my own (scrub and washcloth), regular facials (every six weeks), and common-sense products (BHA for breakouts, retinol for anti-aging). However, I might have been willing to stick with the brush if it hadn’t been so darned inconvenient. Maybe I’m just a klutz, but every night when I used it (exactly as instructed, by the way), I ended up spraying water all over the mirror, the sink, and my shirt. Then after I was done, it had to be cleaned, and I usually had to leave it out overnight in order to dry completely (and I loathe counter top clutter). Overall, it just didn’t seem worth it, so I’ve ordered a new cleaning head and will be putting that bad boy (girl?) up on eBay this week.

Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino 2008 – Ah, booze. You make every dinner better! This is by far my favorite white wine ever, and in fact may have somewhat converted me from the red-wine-loving snob that I used to be. This lovely white is made from the Vermentino grape, courtesy of Sardinia, and it is fabulous. Seriously – if you see a bottle of this, buy it! It’s sold out on Wine.com, but I know for a fact that they still have bottles at Wegman’s. That is, unless the hubz and I have gone over there and bought them all already!

So there you go. Some stuff to sprinkle in your water, put on your face, drink with dinner, and probably NOT cleanse your skin with. Arrivederci!

Happy Independence Day! Today, my household celebrated our new-found independence…from maid services! Actually, it was a very educational day for me. I learned just how much stuff I had been paying a maid service NOT to do for me every two weeks. Wait, let’s back up a minute.

We started using maid services years ago, long before we had a child. When we were childless and carefree, my husband and I spent a lot of hours working. When we weren’t working, we preferred to spend our free time traveling (mostly to Vegas), playing video games, and generally indulging our shallow, immature, hedonistic desires. SO SUE ME. Those were the salad days, and we could easily afford our maids. And the maid service we had was terrific. They did an amazing job, and “maid day” (every two weeks) quickly became something we looked forward to. First, it forced us to straighten up the night before, but second, I loved coming home and smelling how clean the house smelled, and seeing all the vacuum tracks in the carpet. And, let’s be honest, I did NOT miss cleaning bathrooms, or the inside of the microwave, or any of that stuff.

Eventually, we had to cancel our service. They kept raising the price (though they were, admittedly, worth every penny) and the hubz went through a few months of unemployment, so it seemed prudent to cut back on discretionary expenses like maid service. By this time, we had our daughter, and I really missed those maid visits. We managed to keep the house pretty clean, but it was a little bit of a drag.

Eventually, we decided to start using maids again. Since the last company we were using had gotten pretty expensive, we decided to use a different company. We had an estimate, an initial cleaning, and then they started coming every other week.

(A brief note on why I’m not identifying the actual companies we used. They were both large, national chains. While one was terrific, and one turned out to be awful, these companies are franchises, so each office is independently-owned. I realize that just because we have a terrible outlet of company B in our area, there are probably perfectly good outlets in others. And just because we had a good experience with the local office of company A, that doesn’t mean that they don’t suck elsewhere. So, no names will be used. Though, again, these were very large, national maid companies, whose names you can probably guess without too much trouble.)

At first, I was pretty happy with our new maid service, but a few months into the relationship, things changed. First they started getting kind of erratic, and more than once they didn’t show up on the scheduled day and we had to re-schedule. Then, I started noticing that some jobs weren’t really done all that well – the bathroom mirrors were always streaky, for example. And then there was the day they sprayed a bleach-based mildew remover all over our hall bathroom (where there is no mildew problem to speak of), causing not only an unholy stench of bleach, but covering two dark green throw rugs with large, orange, bleached-out polka dots. I called that day and I was really mad. REALLY mad. The company offered to reimburse me for the cost of new rugs (something which they never actually did, by the way, even though I faxed them a receipt), and also admitted that the same cleaners had generated complaints in other houses, including one where they had ruined not just a throw rug, but the actual carpet. So that didn’t make me feel very good at all.

It was all downhill from there. Last week, I finally talked to my hubz about canceling the service and just doing it ourselves for a while, and he agreed. We figured a.) it gives us a good workout every weekend, b.) we can definitely do a better job than the most recent company was doing, and c.) aside from a small investment in cleaning products, we’ll be saving a good deal of money.

Today was Cleaning Day 1. What an eye-opener! I knew the maids were doing a half-assed job, but I guess I never realized just how half-assed. I quickly learned. Keeping in mind that they were just here last Tuesday, the things we observed today included:

- Layers of gunk around various faucets that would take much longer than five days to accumulate.
- Areas behind doors (laundry room, bathroom, closets) where the floors had obviously never been thoroughly cleaned.
- Completely filthy baseboards (even though their notes indicated that they had cleaned the baseboards at least bi-monthly).
- Thick layers of dust on various surfaces, belying their claims that they dusted on every visit.

And it just goes on and on. Let’s not even talk about the toilets. Let’s not even talk about the dirt hubz found under various objects that had never been moved for cleaning. Was this our own fault? Certainly. I guess I should have been going over everything with a fine-toothed comb after every visit, and then calling to complain about each failing. It’s just, that was never necessary with the previous maid company. They just did an outstanding job, the kind of job I think someone I’m paying to clean my house should do.

Well, live and learn. For now, we’re cleaning junkies, and I have to admit – the workout I got today cleaning three bathrooms was terrific, and also left me with a feeling of accomplishment AND relaxation that can only be achieved through vigorous and thorough cleaning.

Disturbing reports kept coming home from daycare about the Bean:

“She didn’t want to nap so she turned her cot over, hitting another child. She yelled and woke everyone up.”

“She threw her shoes at the teacher, then pushed her and pinched her.”

“She pulled all the books off the bookshelf and threw them at the other kids and the teacher.”

We were baffled. Stern discussions with the Bean herself always had the same result: she said she was sorry, and promised to be better. Her manners at home were good, and tantrums were very rare. We had a hard time reconciling this pleasant, helpful child with the violent demon that seemed to emerge at daycare every day. What was causing these tantrums and outbursts? Daycare was unclear – Bean “didn’t want to nap” or “didn’t want to wait in line” or “didn’t like it when Child X sat next to her.” I suspect it was more a result of bad influences – she certainly didn’t learn pinching at home, where nobody has ever pinched anybody else.

In any case, I solved this problem in three ways: two relatively cheap, and one very expensive.

First, we instituted a new “reward chart.” I had purchased this book of charts from Amazon some time ago, and we’d already used one to help with toilet training with good results. So I pulled out the “good behavior” chart and hung it on the wall where we can see it as soon as we get home from daycare. Then I got special Barbie stickers. Every day that Bean is good at school, meaning there are no reports of tantrums or acting out, we put a sticker in the box. When all the boxes are full, I have promised her we will start planning a trip to Disney World. (We were planning to go anyway, shhhh, don’t tell her!)

Second, I bought this book, “1-2-3 Magic,” based on the recommendation of other parents I consulted with in an online forum. So far, I like it. I’ve read the first half and hubby and I have started putting the “counting” method into practice. I really think it’s helping! It definitely helps cut off tantrums before they escalate at home. Most important to me, it’s keeping to a minimum the amount of yelling that goes on, on both the part of the child and the parents. I have to admit, it’s kind of darkly funny when my husband literally screams at our daughter to “be quiet!” but I also know it’s not effective at all. The techniques described in this book are MUCH more helpful.

Third, we decided that part of Bean’s problem is she’s bored. Take the napping issue: according to state regulations, apparently, all little kids up to Kindergarten have to have a “quiet period of rest” every day. At our daycare, that means everyone, even including the four- and five-year-olds, has to pull out a cot for “nap time” every afternoon. And nap time lasts for over an hour! Bean is so far past napping. She almost never takes a nap at home, unless she is REALLY tired out from some activity. We don’t try to force her to nap, because at this point she can play quietly on her own and she doesn’t need a nap (she goes to sleep every night at 8pm with no problems). In addition, I don’t think she’s being challenged anymore by the activities offered at daycare. Our daycare teachers are nice, but they’re not really teachers, and I think the Bean has out-smarted them at this point.

So we found a new solution that will not only challenge Bean intellectually and physically, but they also don’t force the children to take naps (just 1/2 hour of “quiet time” on mats on the floor). It’s a more structured environment, yet also more self-directed, and I think it will really help prepare her for Kindergarten. Our solution is Montessori pre-school. She’ll be starting in the Fall, and is already excited.

Of course this solution is the crazy expensive one. (I bet you thought the trip to Disney World was the expensive solution!) The tuition for our local Montessori is slightly more than twice what we currently pay for daycare. Think about that for a minute. That’s a whole lot of disposable income suddenly…disposed of! In addition, we have to buy her uniform pieces, and have to give her breakfast each morning and pack her a lunch every day (all currently provided by our daycare center). I’ll be honest – at first I thought it sounded like a big, expensive hassle. But gosh…when we toured that school, I fell in love. Rooms full of calm, happy children, actively engaged in self-directed learning activities. Beautiful, spacious classrooms. A gigantic, well-tended outdoor play area with new-looking equipment and a garden the children help with. Optional ballet, karate, and soccer classes. And unlike many of the other daycare centers near us, it’s not faith-based in any way, which is fairly important to us.

So yeah, we got discipline. We are now the MASTERS of toddler discipline. And starting this fall (well, this month really, when we have a gigantic deposit including a month’s tuition due to enroll her), we’ll hopefully have careful budgeting and cheaping out wherever possible mastered as well! But we justify it to ourselves by saying, “Well it’s only for a year, then she’ll go to public Kindergarten.” And that’s true. Only a year – possibly a slightly challenging year, but just a year. And I think she is SO worth the investment. It may sound corny, but when I filled out that application form, I really felt like I was making a decision that would completely change the Bean’s life, and give her a better start towards better opportunities.

I think I’m right. I think WE’RE right. I just wish being right wasn’t so expensive!