Tag Archives: So many books: So little time

>Save my Sanity, please.

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>Sanity Savers: tips for women to live a balanced life by Dr. Dale Vicky Atkins, is the latest title on the BlogHer Virtual Book Tour. My usual books fall into the categories of escapist fiction, professional reading, and news/current events. Sanity Savers didn’t fit readily into these, but it still caught my attention. When the short preview mentioned the everpresent juggling act, I knew I had to read it.
Sanity Savers is written in a unique format with entries divided into days (five weekday entries plus a weekend) and subject headings that remind me of blog post labels. Readers can approach the book one day or week at a time or search for a particular heading of interest. Subjects include parent, friend, community, well-being, and more.
Most of her advice is concise, rational, and thoughtful. Some entries focus on specific and concrete events (moving with kids) and others are more general or abstract (going through sorrow, creating a peaceful workplace).
Skimming through the headings, I found a few entries on disabilities. Some spoke to the perspective of parenting a disabled child; one offered suggestions for dealing with disabled peers. None, however, spoke to the perspective of being a disabled adult woman. Dr. Atkins deals with so many angles; why not this one? I am a professional (a teacher), a mother, a wife, and hearing impaired. I know I’m not alone as a self-sufficient disabled adult, and I do buy books — lots of books.
Sanity Savers has valuable advice and a positive outlook on life. I hope that Dr. Atkins will consider addressing the lack of disabled and capable adults in future books.

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>Spring Break reading and rain

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>Most of the books I read fall into certain categories: professional books, young adult literature (also a professional task), enrichment, family, and frivolous.

Frivolous is fun. Frivolous is good. It means a book that makes me smile — a book that I’m not obliged to read, but I read just for me. Spring break is a great time for books like this, and Gigi Anders’ Men may come, and men may go, but I’ve still got my Little Pink Raincoat fits the category perfectly.

Priorities. It’s all about priorities. Gigi Anders tells a great story – several, in fact, – connecting fashion with life, specific fashion pieces with the men in her life, the quest for the perfect raincoat with the quest for (you guessed it) the quest for Mr. Right.
The quests made for my favorite parts of the book. Call all over the country for the perfect coat in just the right size? Done that. Dream of the perfect pair of shoes and refuse to go out until they turn up? Done that, too. Covet and eventually buy an overpriced pair of earrings to attract the perfect man? Well, no, I haven’t, but I can totally understand her motivation when she does. Her taste in clothing, accessories, make-up, and more is impeccable. Her taste in men? You’ll have to read the book to find out. Make reading this book a priority – just like that little black dress or the perfect little pink raincoat.

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>Super Mom Saves the World

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>She can bring home the bacon,
Fry it up in the pan,
Get the kids to soccer
In her perfect minivan…

She’s Super Mom, of course. Who else? Unappreciated, overworked, and unable to resist cleaning up after people, Super Mom gives us a peek inside our overachieving selves.
In the midst of myriad work-related crises and home repair, it was a relief to lose myself in Super Mom Saves the World by Melanie Lynne Hauser. Birdie Lee, a.k.a. Super Mom, has her heart in the right place. Saving the world as she knows it, her hometown of Astro Park, involves watching her unathletic son survive Little League baseball, helping her daughter find a prom dress to complement her newly pink-streaked hair, and fighting off a desperate pass by her ex-husband, all while helping the PTA compete with the local Shriners in the quest to raise funds. And that’s just in between shifts ridding the world of injustice!
I identify with Birdie when she’s cautiously teaching her daughter to drive and dealing with her son’s adolescence, an experience that even homebaked cookies doesn’t cure. Her discomfort with the transfer of funds from the arts to Astro Park’s new sports complex is all too real in many school districts. But at the same time, I have to laugh at her motherly reactions.
“Kelly Maria Lee, when I am done keeping the world safe for democracy, you are going to be grounded. Do you understand? You didn’t use your turn signals once!”
And as she and her family frantically separate for the final chase scene: “Be careful, don’t talk to strangers, and look both ways when you’re crossing the street!”
Gotta love it. She’s me, but in spandex, superhero cape, and high heels. Oh, yes, and minus the caffeine addiction.
When I’m done cleaning up rabbit fur (darn those adorable bunnies) with my cool Swiffer duster, I’ll bake some cookies for my oh-so-grown-up children and sit down with a good book. No Apron of Anticipation for me: just the anticipation of a good story that I can read and reread.
Supermoms of the world, take a break and read Super Mom Saves the World. You deserve it.

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