Subliminal Messages

I have this weird affliction that is partly due to how my brain works and partly the fact that we are all bombarded with information being shouted at us from newspapers, TV, radio, the internet, etc.  I sometimes get things "stuck in my head" that have no real meaning to me, evidencing that I "hear" a lot of information, but am not really "listening." Years ago it was the name, CC Sabathia, back when he pitched for the Cleveland Indians. I am from Wisconsin and grew up a Brewer's fan and while CC did end up playing in Milwaukee briefly, it was year after I first heard his name that he did so.  Nonetheless, one summer his name would constantly run through my mind. I finally had to ask my husband who he was (though I suppose I could have Googled it!).  We live in New England and are Red Sox fans and I suppose he must have pitched a game against the Sox and it just stuck with me, unknowingly.  A few weeks ago it was the "Vezina Trophy," which (I now know) is the trophy awarded to the NHL's most valuable goaltender.  There's usually an explanation as to why I "hear" these seemingly random names/things, and in this latter case it's because the Boston Bruin's won the Stanley Cup this year and their goaltender, Tim Thomas, was awarded the Vezina Trophy.

 CC Sabathia

 Tim Thomas with the Vezina Trophy

New Year's resolution check-in...

One of the resolutions, or goal really, that I made for myself at the start of 2011 was to read 52 books by the end of the year.  That obviously equates to one a week, and I allowed myself the benefit of including audiobooks towards my total since I spend so much time in my car.  As it is now June 30th and therefore the midpoint of the year, I felt it time to check my progress.  As of today, I have completed the 23 books listed below, all of which have been read/listened to since 1/1/2011 in the order they were read:

(1) I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron
(2) I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron
(3) Heartburn by Nora Ephron
(4) The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
(5) A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
(6) Postcard from the Edge by Carrie Fisher
(7) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
(8) John by Cynthia Lennon
(9) In His Own Write by John Lennon
(10) The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
(11) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
(12) Fade Away (Myron Bolitar series) by Harlan Coben
(13) The Girl Who Play with Fire by Stieg Larsson
(14) Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox
(15) Better Than Life by Daniel Pennac
(16) Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 by Mark Twain
(17) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
(18) On The Road by Jack Kerouac
(19) Promise Me (Myron Bolitar series) by Harlan Coben
(20) Dead Reckoning: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel by Charlaine Harris
(21) The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
(22) Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue
(23) Brave New World: A Novel by Aldous Huxley

Therefore, I am three books shy of where I should be at this mid-point of the year. Stay tuned for a posting late December 2011/early January 2012 to see if I reach my goal!

Birthday party extravaganza!

I found a website/blog today, whose name I am so jealous of: www.littlebirdiesecrets.com.  This is a perfect alternative title for my own blog, as my nickname (thanks to my mom) is "birdie."  Apparently, as a small child I would refuse to eat unless it was by way of picking food off my mom's plate, and then, I still ate very little. Hence, I "ate like a bird." I digress... I stumbled across this website because not only am I always interested in "doing crafts" of various types generally, but this week I am in the throws of preparing for my daughter's birthday party.  My little girl turns 4 on Saturday and we are throwing her a backyard garden party with a princess/fairy and just plain "fancy" theme -- she is obsessed with Sleeping Beauty at present but I am trying to make the decorations, etc. a little more general. Over the course of last weekend I made my family's secret sugar cookie dough, let it chill overnight and then rolled it out and cut the cookies in the shape of the number 4, as well as C-L-A-R-E.  Last night I frosted and froze the cookies as half the batch will go with Clare to school on Friday, and the other half will be for her party at home on Saturday.  We also started making a homemade pinata with a balloon and one layer of newspaper papier-mâché.  Another layer will be added tonight, followed by decorating it tomorrow night with crepe paper and ribbons.  Thursday night I will be making cupcakes for Clare to take to school on Friday, and on Friday morning I will make the "cake" portion of her birthday cake, to be frosted on Saturday morning before her party.  I purchased Sleeping Beauty character cake toppers, so the frosted decorations will be minimal, but I do want to put half a dozen roses on the edges, so between now and then I have to learn how to make them!Wish me luck!

 Birthday balloons to match her dress!

 Gown by Mary Sweeney!

 The cake, minus the roses!

 The pinata was made a little too well!

Room

I got sidetracked from digging up my Russian authored books from the basement due to a friend's post on Facebook, and I am now currently reading (via audiobook) Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue. The uniqueness of the story and the way it is narrated has me hooked but the subject matter is tough - I'm praying for a righteous ending. As a woman and mother myself, it is truly a nightmare. In this novel, 5-year-old Jack and his "Ma," are held captive in a single room, which itself becomes a character in the story as much as Jack and Ma, along with all of its contents: bed, rug, wardrobe, spoon, etc. Jack was born in "room" and thus he knows nothing of the outside world. Ma does an amazing job creating an interesting life for Jack in room, but after he turns five, Jack begins to ask a lot of questions and Ma must slowly explain to him their situation, that the people they watch on TV are real and live outside of room, a concept that is very difficult for Jack to understand. Anyone familiar with the true story of Josef Fritzl who held his daughter, Elisabeth, captive for 24-years in the cellar of his home in Austria and fathered seven children with her, will no doubt find Room an eerie reminder of that sickening true story.

Th physical books I am reading at home these days include: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann, Baby Minds: Brain-building Games Your Baby Will Love by Linda Acredolo, PhD, and The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim.  With an almost 4-year-old and 6.5 month old at home, I am all about enrichment of the mind!

The Namesake

I am currently reading (via audiobook) The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahrir.  The story is about a Bengali couple who emigrate from Calcutta, India to the United States in the 1960s.  Once settled in the Boston area, the couple have a son and there is much explanation regarding the Bengali custom of giving a child a "good" name, as well as a "pet" name.  The couple look to the wife's grandmother who still lives in Calcutta to select the "good" name but her letter fails to arrive before or even shortly after their son's birth.  In fact, even at the point where I am in the book (the son is now 14 years old), the letter has still not been received or found.  The couple is not permitted to take their son home from the hospital until a name is placed on his birth certificate, so they decide to list his "pet" name of "Gogol" on the certificate and to change it later when the grandmother's letter arrives.  Gogol is chosen as the pet name by the father based on his love of the Russian author, Nikolai Gogol. The grandmother eventually has a stroke and cannot communicate to let anyone know the "good" name she selected and as such, Gogol becomes the child's good and pet name, which is very much against Bengali custom.  Early in the book there is much discussion about the author Gogol, as well as the other prominent Russian authors, including Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Don't you know that I happen to have a couple of books by Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov in my basement packed away from my single days that I never got around to reading? Yes, well, I am now sidetracked into digging them up and finally giving them a read.

The Namesake has also given me the idea to write an essay about the meanings behind my own children's names, which I will start here: 

My daughter, Clare Aisling, got her name by way of a combination of influences.  Clare was originally put onto the list of names that my husband and I were considering because of a character by the same name from the TV show "Beverly Hills, 90210."  Then, we realized it was also the name of the restaurant where had our first date, though it was spelled the French way with an "i".  We decided to spell it C-L-A-R-E after County Clare in Ireland.  When it came time to select a middle name, we wanted to keep with the Irish theme as that is where Josh and I became engaged, and because both of our last names are Irish.  While in Gallway, we stayed at a particular Bed & Breakfast for three nights and got to know the proprietor and her young daughter during our stay.  The daughter was the epitome of a young Irish lass with shiny brown/black hair, chubby/rosy cheeks, and a plaid Catholic school uniform.  She absolutely loved Josh's laugh and we often heard her in the kitchen trying to mimic him.  Her name was Aisling, which means "vision," and we felt it would make a lovely middle name for Clare.

My son, Finnbar Patrick, got his name via the 1995 movie The Brother's McMullen, which was written and directed by and starred Edward Burns.  The main character is called "Barry" but in the first scene of the movie you learn it is short for  "Finbar."  Later, a girlfriend says something to the effect of "Come sit next to me, Finn."  This movie was released five years before Josh and I met.  I was aware of it and had seen it, but it was a very important film to Josh and that name, Finbar/Finn, stuck with him.  Before we were even married he said that if we had a son he wanted to name him Finnbar, which obviously we did.  Patrick was selected as a middle name mostly because it flows with Finnbar and our last name.  However, it is also the middle name of Josh's brother, Matt, so there is a familial connection as well.

 Clare & Finnbar

April 2011

 Clare Aisling - age 3 years, 10 mos.

 Finnbar Patrick - age 5 mos.

What is this Blog all about?

As noted in my profile, the alternative title of this Blog was "serial hobbyist" as I am constantly collecting new interests and am desirous of starting new hobbies at regular intervals. 

At present, my active hobbies include reading, creative writing, photography (mostly of my children, but not exclusively) and scrap-booking (again, for my children).  Though, even that last one has been on temporary hold until I get a small desk for the only remaining spot in my small home: this oddly placed nook in my bedroom that serves no real purpose. 

There are a plethora of other hobbies/activities that are of interest to me but which I do not engage in frequently enough these days.  These include: hiking, music (discovering new bands/artists & going to shows), as well as knitting/sewing and other crafts.  To be honest, knitting is something new and really should be included in the category below.

Then, there are the hobbies I want to take up/learn: tennis/golf, running (as in 5k's), gardening, cooking/baking, and music lessons (piano and/or clarinet).

What is missing from my life of course, is time. Before I was married and especially before I had children, I used to think that I did not have enough time to do this, that and the other. I was an idiot.

Besides time, the other problem I have is that I get completely sidetracked; hence the name of this Blog.  This is most evident with reading.  For example, just before I went on maternity leave following the birth of my son in November 2010, I was listening to an audiobook called First Family: Abigail and John Adams by Joseph J. Ellis during my 90-minute round trip commute to/from work.  While on maternity leave, I watched the John Adams TV-miniseries from 2008, starring the talented Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney.  This led me to plan to go back and read a biography about George Washington and continue in succession reading about each past President in order of their presidency.  I planned to do this via audiobooks once I returned to work in early 2011.  It is now late May 2011, and I can reveal that this has not happened.  Instead, in the meantime I started reading Nora Ephron's collections of essays: I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman (thanks to a FB post about it by NPR) and I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections.  Reading Ms. Ephron's collections of essays in turn prompted me to give focus to my own scraps of writing about myself whereby my plan was to write an essay about whatever topic interests me and eventually collect them into some semblance of order and gift the collection to my children when they are adults, as sort of a family history, as well as an outlet for me to write.  I could continue explaining this particular sidetrack, but I think this well illustrates my point and I will leave further examples for future posts.

Definition of sidetracked

1. To divert from a main issue or course.

2. To delay or block the progress of deliberately.