(no subject)

[the_rck]

Scott had Christmas Eve off. There was some possibility that he'd have to work 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. (which work doesn't count as part of the 24th because third shift starts before midnight), but we got lucky, and he didn't have to. That morning, I made the porridge for Christmas morning. It takes about an hour of stirring occasionally, so I'd rather have it done in advance. Scott made an apple pie, also for Christmas.

In the afternoon, we went up to Fenton to Scott's parents' church for a four o'clock service. There was plenty of carol singing, and the sermon didn't go on too long, so that wasn't too unpleasant. Delia insisted on wearing short sleeves, so she must have been freezing. We tried to talk her into a navy blue, long sleeved dress that looks great on her, but she insisted that it looked bad on her. She tends not to like the clothes we like. I think it's just on general principle.

After church, we went to Scott's parents' place for pizza and cake and a little bit of game playing. It was nearly eight when we got out of there, and we had an hour's drive home. We got Delia into bed as promptly as we could. She was protesting that she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. After we thought we'd gotten her into bed, she got up and wandered into the kitchen (she was after the book she'd left in the dining room) and found me filling stockings.

I'd feel worse about that, but she concluded last year that Santa isn't real. Scott's been trying to talk her into believing again, but I think that's wrong to do. Still, Delia cried when I got a bit mad at her. I had to go into her room and hug her and assure her that everything was really okay.

Scott does the present wrapping, so I was able to go to bed earlier than he did. I put labels on the presents he'd already wrapped first, but I got at least an hour more of sleep than he did.

We told Delia she couldn't get us up until eight o'clock (the usual for days off is nine), and she kept that to the second. We seem to have picked good presents for her-- She started playing with them immediately. We added another stuffed panda to her collection. We gave her a couple of barbies with lots of clothes. The clothes were the point because she likes to dress and undress and change clothes on her dolls. Unfortunately, most of the other barbie sized (sort of) dolls she has don't have extra clothes. We're really puzzled as to why Disney doesn't sell extra clothes for its princess dolls. We'd buy them because Delia would play with them.

I got Scott an Amazon gift card. He was saving up to buy an iPod and only wanted Amazon gift cards. For Delia to give him, I got the Phineas and Ferb movie and associated CD. Scott got me a Sony e-reader. He decided to short circuit my dithering and just make a decision. We have some time to return it if I decide I don't like it. He also, for Delia to give me, picked up some of Peggy Cappy's Yoga for the Rest of Us DVDs.

I heated up the porridge while Delia played. She got the date and the almond this year (the tradition is to put an almond in the porridge for luck. That is, whoever finds it will have a lucky year. In years past, we used dates instead of almonds because we thought I was allergic to almonds. Dates have the advantage that they're easy to find-- I could always make sure the date went to Delia. This year, I put in both because Delia expressed a strong preference for having a date, but I had an almond put aside).

Then I made cheese spread. That's the one recipe I learned from Good Eats that I actually use regularly (assuming once a year qualifies as regularly). I'd cut up the cheese on Thursday, so the process was pretty painless.

Then we headed for Scott's sister's house. We took the pie, bacon wrapped dates, cheese spread and a bowl of peas (I'd promised a hot vegetable, and Delia picked peas over green beans and broccoli). When we arrived there was coffee cake (a tradition in Scott's family). Scott's parents were already there. His mother wasn't feeling very good. Scott's sister had had a short lived cold the night before and had apparently passed on the illness.

We opened more presents. Some time after that, Scott's sister's in-laws arrived. We had dinner about four. After dinner, we opened still more presents. Scott's parents went home early because Scott's mother really wasn't up to staying. After that, most of the rest of the adults played Carcassone. Left to my own devices, I made Christmas phone calls to my various relatives. That didn't fill up all the time I had to myself, but it helped. I found myself really wishing I'd brought a book.

Scott had Monday off. We took Delia to Barnes & Noble to spend the $10 gift card she got in her stocking. I also wanted to look around to make a list of books I might consider buying for my e-reader. I was drawing a blank on the subject, and having books to read seems fairly crucial in trying out an e-reader. I didn't find much-- My distaste for urban fantasy and disinclination to try really long books means that 90% of what's on the shelf won't work for me.

Book recommendations would be appreciated, but I don't how easy it is to figure out my taste. I like almost no urban fantasy. I read middle grade fantasy and SF. I like very few mysteries, and those tend to appeal to me for reasons other than the mystery. I like some romances, but again, that's often for reasons other than the romance. I like some YA fantasy and SF but avoid dystopias. Feel free to ask me more questions about what I like or don't.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Delia had friends over to play. I did very little.

Friday, Scott took as a vacation day. We intended to clean and otherwise get ready for New Year's Eve, but we mostly didn't. Scott did the grocery shopping.

I slept badly that night, waking at five-thirty with a migraine that hadn't gone away completely by the time I got up at nine. Fortunately, more medication kicked it to the curb. I started the day by crisping bread for stuffing. We'd cut it up the night before, but it hadn't had a chance to get stale (one of these years, we'll cut up the bread sooner and not have to resort to the oven), so I had to put it in the oven on low heat, one cookie sheet worth at a time. I melted bacon fat and margarine, quite a lot of margarine. Then I chopped up the portabella mushrooms and added the dried cherries, some rosemary and a lot of sage. Scott chopped the onions for me.

The turkey had mostly thawed. I was able to get the neck and the organs out without too much trouble. It didn't hold very much stuffing, so I put the remainder into two pans and poured on chicken broth. We put off putting the turkey in the oven so that we could cook the stuffing in the pans.

Once the turkey was in, I mashed some sweet potatoes. I added some fruit juice, maple syrup and margarine then microwaved the whole thing.

Then we waited. We should have done more cleaning, but somehow we couldn't get motivated. At about three, cherydactyl and her daughters came over. Delia was thrilled. cherydactyl's husband arrived later.

We had a smaller gathering than usual this year, just cherydactyl and her family.

Dinner ended up on the table about five-thirty, an hour earlier than I expected. Everything came out well. After dinner, the games came out. I sat around and watched some of the playing, but I drifted away because, quite honestly, watching other people play games is kind of dull. If there were conversation about things other than the game, that would be different, but there usually isn't. I did participate when Delia's Apples to Apples Disney game came out. Apples to Apples is one of the few games I can play without freaking out.

cherydactyl's husband went home early with a migraine. The rest of us lasted until midnight. The girls played Wii games up until about five minutes before. Then we turned to one of the channels with a countdown and toasted the New Year with sparkling juice right as the clock turned over.

Yesterday was a day of not doing much. Even Delia slept until ten. In the afternoon, she had a friend over. I successfully borrowed an e-book from our library. Now all I have to do is successfully read it. It keeps crashing every few pages. Possibly the e-reader is not as compatible with Overdrive as it's supposed to be. I hope that's not the case. I suppose I'll see.

Today, Scott has the day off. We're planning a trip to Meijer's for muffin mixes. Beyond that, I don't know what we'll do.

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

Have you read the Imogen Quy mysteries, by Jill Paton Walsh? They're written for adults, but I think they might be to your taste. I liked the "worldbuilding" of an academic community, and the sympathetic characters. The tone isn't dark. (I found them in the library recently, and have no idea if they're available as e-books.) I think they were written in the 1990s. Paton Walsh wrote quite a few children's historical novels that won prizes in the 1970s, and I presume you've already read those.

An e-reader can be good for taking fanfic away from the computer to read elsewhere.

For book recommendations related to what a person might do with a Barnes & Noble gift certificate...
If "Prisoner of Zenda" is not too upsetting or depressing, you might enjoy "Coronets and Steel," by Sherwood Smith. I loved it. (I'm not sure if it's actually fanfic, or if it's just in the ruritanian genre.) It's feminist, reasonably enlightened, self-aware, and neither urban nor dystopian. It's also better-written than Prisoner of Zenda, which mostly gets by on a clever idea and fast pacing.

[the_rck]

I'll look into the Walsh mysteries. If the library has them, I'll try one in print. If I like that, I'll see if I can buy them for the e-reader.

I've got Coronets and Steel and the sequel in print. I plan to read them after I catch up on my print library books (they keep coming in, and I keep falling farther behind).

[chichirinoda]

Have you read any Brandon Sanderson or Scott Westerfeld?

Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy is fantasy, sort of a heist story with magic set in a fantasy setting? I don't think it's precisely dystopian because it's about 1000 years after the bad stuff happened, so there's a tyrant in charge, but the focus is on improving the situation and overthrowing the tyrant.

Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan books are an alternate history set around the time of WW1, where half the world is steampunk with big steam powered walkers and the other half uses genetic manipulation to create biological technology. It's really fascinating. And I think they're YA.

[the_rck]

I like Sanderson's Alcatraz books. They're kids' books. I haven't tried any of his adult titles.

Westerfeld is on my list of things to try, but I haven't yet.

[chichirinoda]

Ooh, cool. I haven't read the Alcatraz ones, so I can't compare. I wouldn't necessarily recommend his Way of Kings for you because it's ridiculously long. It's amazing, but if you don't like long books it's a monster. I'd suggest you try out Mistborn and see how you like it.

I hope you like Westerfeld! I listened to his book on Audible, so I know I missed a lot of the experience, because there are nifty maps and such. I might get them on my ereader now that I have one, and reread them.

[the_rck]

I recommend the Alcatraz books. They're funny and imaginative. Any story that has librarians as the big, evil conspiracy has got something going for it, and this one has more than that.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Merry Christmas! Happy new year! It does sound like it was a pretty good holiday, all things considered! And yes, it is hard when they "stop believing." It happens at all ages and frequently they don't want to say anything because 1) it means no more presents; 2) they are worried mom and dad still believe and don't want to disappoint.

[the_rck]

Last year, she found a stash of presents before Christmas and noted, on the day, that some of them were labeled as coming from Santa. I don't think she worried about no more presents. She mostly seems to be pleased with herself for working it out. She's taken to telling other kids. I had to pull her aside, when she told her three year old friend, and explain why she shouldn't do that. Fortunately, the three year old seems not to have listened to what Delia said.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

This sounds much easier for you than previous holidays. :)

Does the Sony ereader not have access to free public domain works? I'm embarking an Austen reread project this year, with the idea in mind that I will spend NOTHING on the Kindle.

I know you don't like most mysteries, but do you like historically set ones? I think you'd really get a kick out of the Laura Joh Rowland ones, which take place in feudal Japan and have just as much about the time period as they do about the mysteries of the stories themselves.

[kyrielle]

The only issue with free public domain works such as Project Gutenberg is that the formatting may not be up to standards for the device, that is it may work but not as ideally as a commercial product.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

True. I've been assured by friends that Project Gutenberg stuff will work fine on the Kindle, but I have no clue about the other devices and their compatibility.

... Dammit, this is why we can't have nice things (in regards to e-readers!) @_@;;

[the_rck]

I've done a little wandering around at Project Gutenberg. The difficulty is thinking of things to download. It's not dreadfully friendly to browsing. I generally can't tell whether something by an author I don't recognize is worth the bother of downloading. The process is just cumbersome enough that I'm reluctant to do it for things that are completely unknown.

I like some historically set mysteries. A lot depends on the voice in which the story is told. I'll see if the library's e-books include any Rowland. That would be an easy way to try them without putting out money. (Drat. No such luck. I'll look into buying one to try. Eventually.)

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

If you do start with the Rowland series, _Shinju_ is the first title in the series. She also has a series about Charlotte Bronte, but I have no idea if those are good or not.

[kyrielle]

Would a practical reference such as a cookbook be a good test? Are there books you've read before but reread a lot that you could load one or two of on there so you had them in an easier format and could test the reader with a book you know you like, so you know you're just testing the reader?

ETA: do they provide sample chapters the way Amazon does? If so, you could grab sample chapters of some books you know you like just to see how they look on the screen and it wouldn't cost money, though that wouldn't test reading a book fully through.

[the_rck]

I don't know if the Sony store provides samples. I'll have to look and find out.

I've tested out the e-reader with a couple of library e-books (the selection there is quite limited, and the search function for the database defaults to or searches rather than and searches). I've also downloaded a handful of Project Gutenberg titles. They look okay so far, but I'm having filter problems in finding anything on that website. There are so many books by people I've never heard of, and I hesitate just to try everything.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

A book suggestion: I finally read Kendra's favorite book, a young-adult fantasy book called "Ella Enchanted." It's a sweet book, and I think it would probably meet your criteria -- though you're such a voracious reader that it's likely that you've already read it.

[the_rck]

I have Ella Enchanted in paperback but haven't ever read it. I may give it another try if I can find my copy.