When Charity Meets Crazy

Excuse my snobbiness for a moment, but I went to a very exclusive charity event this past weekend.  Donors came from miles around to support the Lupus Foundation of America.

That's where the normalcy ends.

The event is Pub and Putt, the place is Calhoun County Illinois. 
See the tiny slice of a county.  That's Calhoun County.  It is quaintly nestled between the Mississippi River and the Illinois River.

There is no Walmart, McDonald's, or chain grocery store in Calhoun County.  That's remote!

Also, to get into Calhoun, your choices are a drawbridge, or ferry.















We opted for the ferry.

Enough background information-let's get to the event!

The 3rd Annual Team Kendall Pub and Putt!

Disclaimer-I am not an organized blogger, and I'm even worse at remembering to take pictures, and even worse at actually taking pictures, and when drinking is involved, forget it.  Let's just say that this post will make you curious for next year!  (Also, Doug and I are on our third camera since our wedding.  One fell in the ocean and another was maced by spray sunscreen.  Doug told me I could buy a nice camera if I wanted, but given our track record, I bought the cheapest one at Walmart, which was a bad idea.)

Pub and Putt is basically mini-golf, in bars.  And most of the holes are made out of plywood.  And one bar just makes a giant horseshoe shape and sets down industrial size cans of stewed tomatoes as obstacles.  I owned that hole!  Every team has four players and a caddy.  The caddy is your designated driver and signs a pledge not to drink until the event is over, and they wear a different color wrist band so the bartenders know not to serve them.  It's all about safety with Pub and Putt!

Then, your team takes off and hits up 10 bars all up and down the county.  We started about one o'clock and finished up around  eight.  It is not a sprint!  It's a marathon!  The first year we tried to drink at every bar and nearly died.  We were drunk by three and hung over by seven and we went and took a nap before the awards were given out.  We are all smarter people now.  (Not to mention old, but whatever).

And now, I give you Pub and Putt in Pictures!

Here I am with the girls-my sis-in-law Kristen, me (but you already knew that) and college girlfriends Laura (who you might remember from this post), Sara (who received a shout-out in this post) and Sam (I'll holler at you later!)

I would like to draw your attention to the shirts.  They say "I'd Tap That".  Now you can take that however you want, but part of the fun of Pub and Putt is the crude jokes.  Our teams were "I'd Tap That" and "I'd Tap That, Too", which I explained to people like this-not the number 2, but I would also like to tap that, please.  (If you want to be really cool, you can order this shirt from Donkey Tees on Etsy!  Just tell them Tiffany sent you.  (actually, they have no idea who I am, so don't say that!)).

So from registration and raffle entering, we hit the bars!

Here's Sara at our first hole at Last Call bar in Brussels.  Now, normally in golf, you want complete silence you so can concentrate, but that was freaking Sara out, so she asked us to talk about anything to distract her.  Which brings up a good  point.  Actual golf skills do not help in Pub and Putt.  Maybe Wii golf skills help, but not real skills.  Like all tailgating games, you actually get better with a couple beers, so golfers, two shots before you first hole will do wonders for your game!

Here I am teeing off at AJ's Bar in Brussels.  I only remember this bar because they had the best Apple Pie Shots!  Look close and you can see the ball flying over the obstacles.  I came in under par on this one!

Here's Doug playing the hole at Main Street bar in Hardin.  You have to get your ball through all the bar stools, and then face the blades of death!

Okay, so it's not exactly blades of death-it's a ceiling fan with two blades set on low, but that's still really fast!  This is not your friendly putt-putt windmill.  I was just trying to get my ball in the hole without losing my head!

Staying hydrated is very important during Pub and Putt, so Kristen and I took a minute for some shots at Straight Home.

This is a Pub and Putt tradition-Doug doing his famous between-the-legs-shot at The Old Fill-in Station in Batchtown.  He would like the record to show that his score was adversely effected by his choice of putting style.  Which really means-I BEAT MY HUSBAND IN PUB AND PUTT!!

Finally, here's Team I'd Tap That (the original) outside Longnecker's in Batchtown.  Happily everyone arrived safely with all limbs intact and ready to take on the night.  While we didn't win the coveted green vests (much like the green jackets for the Master's Tournament) or the equally coveted beer can trophy (for the worst score), we had a great time.

Remember, this was all for a cause!  If you want to learn more about Team Kendall and their quest for a cure, click here.  If you want to learn more about Lupus, check out the Lupus Foundation of America.  If you want to be on my Pub and Putt team next year, leave me a comment or email me at misstiffreads at gmail dot com.

Happy Reading (or putting!)

When Anthony Reads

Time for my views to skyrocket!

While I was going through my camera to find pictures for my post tomorrow, I ran across this great pic of Anthony reading to Grandma and Grandpa Tractor.

Anthony reading on the Kindle in July

Yes, he is reading on my Kindle.  No, not a children's book that would interest him.  I usually try to put it on Peter Pan, or something that does not have offense language.  My sister would kill me if I left it on Kitchen Confidential, even though he can't really "read".

Anthony loves to read!  And the funny thing is that he did the same reading-on-the-Kindle thing when we met him November, with one key difference.

 Anthony reading in November at my parent's house.

In November, Anthony started all of his reading with "Once'd apon'd a-time.." followed by a string of Anthony-ese that was way beyond comprehension.

Now, his stories go like this, "Dear God, thank you for Grandpa Tractor and Grandma Tractor and Aunt Wu, and Wucy and Mommy and Daddy.  The End"  Or some variation of this theme that just makes you want to cry and hug him. 

So, in only 8 months, not only can you actually understand 90% of what Anthony says, my sis and bro-in-law have shown him the incredible love of God, and he totally gets it!

Way to go little man!  You can read me a story anytime!

Anthony showing me how it's done!

Happy Reading!

Waiting for November 6

What's so cool about November 6, you ask!  

 It's only the birthday of Ethan Hawke, Lamar Odom, and Emma Stone! 

 Actually, that doesn't matter at all.  I just looked that up on Wikipedia. 

But it is the birthday of my friend Laura!

Happy super-early birthday, Laura!  Don't be mad at me for including this picture in my blog!  If I'm lucky, she'll never see it and this can be our little secret.

Moving on.  Why is November 6 so important?  Because the sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone is released on November 6.

 

Check out that cover!  Haunting, right?

For those of you that have not read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, here are five reasons you should do so immediately:

1.  Karou is completely entrancing.  Karou is a teen living in Prague and attending art school, but she also runs errands for Brimstone, the wish monger.  Brimstone and his chimera brethren are the only family she has ever known, but she loves them completely.  She has bright blue hair, multiple tattoos (including a hamsasa  on each palm) and a necklace made of wish granting stones.  

2.  The art.  While there are no drawings in this book, there is still lot of art.  Karou draws comics of her chimera family for her classmates and draws her classmates for her chimera family, so everyone thinks her other life is fictional.  Also, there is a giant puppet that guides a living marionette, and huge angel wings above Karou's bed.  

3.  The angels.  Now, these are not fallen angels, or angels of death, or any other cliche that is now floating along out there in YA land.  These angels are legit.  The angels are part of an epic battle against the chimera and are closing the portals that Karou uses on Brimstone's errands.  And why does she run these strange errands to collect teeth?  What does he do with the teeth?  See, it's getting crazy already!

4.  The Chimera.  You have to love the chimera.  They are all different parts of animal combined into one, and Taylor does such an amazing job of describing them that you can see them right in front of you, with lion legs and crocodile face and leopard spots.  Trust me, she does a much better job than that.  Plus, these chimera are real, so real that you ache for them.

5.  The writing.  It's incredible.  This book is the perfect balance of plot, character and unbelievable writing.  You are sucked into Karou's world completely and thoroughly and it is painful to leave.  I loved every single word, and even though I was dying to find out what happened, I read every word.  I'm very guilty of skipping description to get to the dialog and move the plot along, but this book makes you read every word and sometimes re-read just to experience that description again.

Seriously, why aren't you reading this book right now?!  Oh, because you're reading this post.  Well, that's fair.  Let me add one more plug for Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  I read a preview of this on NetGalley.  I read 14 chapters, which you would think would get you about half way through the book, but it only took me to the point where the plot gets so intensive, you are begging for more.  It's like getting a taste for a drug and then having it yanked away!  NetGalley was my dealer!  Then, because I was so impatient to get my fix, I pre-ordered it for my Kindle.  (Isn't the Kindle awesome like that?  Talk about instant gratification.  I just pre-order then turn my Kindle on in the morning a book is released and it's there!  Yes, at 12:01 am on November 6, I will be turning on my Kindle.  I may not sleep that night.)  Sometimes when I read on the Kindle, I feel like I am a little removed from the book.  In this case, if I had been any more in tune with this book, I might have started dying my hair blue and wearing combat boots.  As it was, I almost did that for Halloween.  My point is, no matter how you get this book-get it!  

You have your assignment.  Read Daughter of Smoke and Bone today and put your copy of Days of Blood and Starlight on order tomorrow!

 

Happy Reading!

Magic!

I owe you some posts!  I owe you a post about VBS.  My credit card bill reminded me that I haven't turned in all my receipts yet, so I'll get that done and tell you how it went later this week.

I also owe you a post on a crazy charity event I went to this weekend.  Hint, it involved teams, costumes, and crude jokes.  Admit it-you're curious!

But first, here's a rhyme that had one daycare saying "wow, it's magic".  Then they applauded.  Seriously.  It was pretty amazing.

The Rainbow Song!

I like to do this song with a big stock pot and wooden spoon.  I like to wear an apron for storytimes.  I had pockets where I would keep my rhymes and some small props, so I kept my "ingredients" in my apron pockets-usually just the fruit printed on cardstock.  Then, I kept colored squares of paper and the final product in the bottom of the stock pot.  So, just go along with the song and do as it says.  It's a crowd-pleaser!

Take some cherries, put them in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Pour it out and what will it be?
The prettiest red you ever did see. 

Take an orange, put it in the pot.
Stir it stir it, stir it a lot.
Pour it out and what will it be?
The prettiest orange you ever did see.

Take a lemon, put it in the pot.

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.

Pour it out and what will it be?

The prettiest yellow you ever did see.

Take some limes, put them in the pot.

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.

Pour it out and what will it be?

The prettiest green you ever did see.

Take some berries, put them in the pot.

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.

Pour it out and what will it be?

The prettiest blue you ever did see.

Take some grapes, put them in the pot.

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.

Pour it out and what will it be?

The prettiest purple you ever did see.

Red and orange, yellow and green,

Blue and purple colors are seen.
Put them together, what will they be?
The prettiest rainbow you ever did see.

***********************************************************
Just a quick little song for a Tuesday morning.  This rhyme works great for color recognition, storytimes about rain, cooking, imagination.  I'm not a big flannel board person, but this would make a great flannel board.  I prefer props, and for me, I got the most amazement out of using my magic pot.  However you choose to present this song, make sure you do it with enthusiasm and your kids will love it!

Happy Reading!

Books for Adults

  

As a children's librarian, I rarely read books for adults, and even less frequently do I enjoy them.  I joined a book club six months ago thinking that I would start reading just one adult book per month, but instead I skipped meetings and convinced everyone to read children's books for July.  (By the way, I'll let you know how that meeting turns out!)

So, my hubby was very surprised when I started an adult book and he was even more surprised to find out that it was non-fiction!

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell isn't your typical dry, fact-laden non-fiction tome.  It's quite entertaining and fascinating.  Basically, Gladwell argues that who you become is based on certain lucky breaks.  What makes a great hockey player?  Practice of course.  But who gets chosen for the most elite teams?  More often than not, the oldest kids on the team, meaning that birth date suddenly becomes a contributing factor to success.

Gladwell looks at the Beatles, Bill Gates, prominent lawyers and athletes to see if they were given some type of advantage.  For instance, all the prominent robber barons-the Rockafellers, JP Morgan, Vandebilts, etc.-were born in the same 10-15 year time period.  This allowed them to be the perfect age when our society was changing and growing.  The same can be said for giants in the software and computing world.  They were too born in the same timeframe, so they were just young and crazy enough to take advantage of the situation.

True, statistics can be bent and manipulated to say nearly anything you want, so maybe take the information with a grain of salt, but it is still very interesting stuff.  No, success isn't random, you do have to work very hard, but their are some lucky breaks and circumstances that can help hard work and ability along.

I really liked Gladwell's writing style.  It was conversational at times, and the stories that he told about individuals painted a very clear picture.  For someone afraid of non-fiction big-kids-books (my term for adult books), this was a great read. Also after reading so much fantasy and messy teen drama, it's nice to read a book at my level, with real facts, and no vampires! 

Malcolm Gladwell has published several other books, which I'll check out when I can.  This might be the perfect break from the world of children's literature. 

Happy Reading

Back to Books-Wake

Yesterday I posted about Adoption Day and received nearly 150 views!  I learned this lesson:  I need to have adorable pictures of my nephew in every post.  Sadly, Anthony has nothing to do with today's topic, so instead I'll link you to a creepy expose on Animal Planet.

Are mermaids real?  According to the new fictional book by Amanda Hocking, no.  But sirens are very real.

Gemma and Harper are sisters living in a small coastal town.  Gemma is obsessed with swimming and the water, while Harper is the responsible one.  But both of their lives become a little more complicated when three strangely beautiful girls-Penn, Lexi, and Thea-start showing an interest in Gemma.  And after a late night swim and a meeting with those girls, Gemma wakes up on the beach with no idea how she got there.

The mystery begins as Gemma tries to remember what happened that night, but also tried to understand what is happening to her now.  She is turning into a siren and must decide between leaving her family and first love, Alex, or wasting away without the sea.

Mermaids, or sirens, are the last mythological fad, and this book capitalizes on this trend.  Like other books, it does add some new twists to the old folklore, and instead of being benign little creatures, these sirens are all trouble.  Gemma and Harper are both likeable, as are their respectively love interests and there is enough romance to please teen readers.  The sirens themselves are rather quickly drawn in this volume, but as this is part of a series, one can only guess that the sirens will be fully drawn out down the road.

While this book is not fully engrossing, it is a light, quick beach read.  I do think that this series shows more promise than Hocking's Trylle series and will attract fans of paranormal fiction.  As far as adult crossover appeal, I'd say this a book best left to the teens.  Larger libraries should stock this book, but cash strapped smaller libraries should think twice.

Now for a librarian's rant.  Harper works at the library in this book, so there are several mentions of other books that she is reading.  While I appreciate the librarian shout-out, I was terribly troubled by one section.  Harper is re-reading Forever by Judy Blume in one section because it is part of the middle school summer reading program and she has to lead a book discussion later, or something to that effect.  Forever is an honest book about a girl losing her virginity.  It's good book, and one that frequently appears on the banned books list.  My problem here is that if a library included Forever in a middle school reading program, they would have angry parents with pitch forks banging down the door.  It's the kind of book that you have to hand out with some stealth.  I would absolutely recommend it to some 13 and 14 year-olds, but to put it on a recommended list for middle school is asking for trouble.  I know, it's a book about mermaids, or sirens, and I'm upset about a mildly inappropriate book being mentioned, but that's my line in the sand.  I'm with an author through mermaids, vampire babies, time-jumping, chimera, all of it, but if you have a librarian that doesn't know her reader's advisory-I'm out!

Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, I received Wake as an Advances Reader's Copy from St. Martin's Press.  Actually that was pretty cool.  I didn't request this book-it just magically appeared at my door, so I feel like I'm gaining some street cred as a reviewer.  I don't have to beg for galleys anymore, they just come to me!  Actually I'm totally willing to beg for galleys--please send them!  I'll review for free!

That being said, I owe you a creepy documentary from Animal Planet.  Did you watch the mermaid show a couple weeks ago?  CRAZY!  My dad says he was with it up until the cell phone video at the end, but I'm not so sure.  I was pretty creeped out myself.

You be the judge.  Maybe Amanda Hocking knows something we don't.
 

Happy Reading!

Adoption Day!

On July 3, 2012, Anthony officially became part of the larger Torbeck family.

 

Check out that silly face.  He's going to fit right in!  

But what makes this family?  Let's go to the archives and find out!

September 2, 1972

These are my parents, Keith and Diane when they got married 40 years ago as babies!  They were 19 and 20!  But they were crazy about each other (or just crazy-we can't decide) so they got hitched, finished up college and lived in a teeny tiny trailer in Carbondale.  Like I said, crazy people.

Along came my sis Kim in 1977 and along came me in 1982 and we were a happy family.  

Until.....

September 14, 2002

Kimberly married Patrick 10 years ago.  No, that was actually quite a happy day and while Patrick did bring some new weirdness to our family, he really just fit right in.  Patrick and Kim met while working together and Patrick's initial reaction to my sis was "I have to work with this hippy".  Kim's not a hippy, she was just wearing a tye-dye shirt.  It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but they are pretty great together.

Patrick and I are actually having a gift feud over flamingos.  We get each other random flamingo stuff for Christmas.  I'm winning right now because last year I scored him these for half price at Dollar General.

Yep, pink lawn flamingos.  And that's my dad's sis Roxie in the background laughing like a hyena.  She's odd too, so it all works.

Anyway, back to the family tree.  We added Patrick to mix things up, because if you go back a little farther, my family tree actually curves back on itself, but we'll discuss that later.  Things were good.

And then...

April 4, 2009

 

I married Doug.  He's also quite strange, so he was a good fit. I'll share the details of how we meet later.  But the short version is we met on eHarmony.  Not really.  That's just less embarrassing than the real story.

So, big happy family, but no kiddos yet.  And that's where Adoption Day comes in.  Kim and Patrick had been trying to adopt for years.  Sixish to be exact and it is a long and heartbreaking process.  They would find out about a child, then hear nothing, then find out they weren't getting him.  They even had two boys placed with them only to be taken away.  Like I said, heartbreaking.

But then came Anthony!

 

He was perfect!  He's very silly, loves to give silly kisses and hugs.  Like animals and being outside.   Loves the farm, fishing, dogs, bow and arrow, everything.  Plus at random he'll just stop what he's doing and say "I love you guys."  Only in Anthony talk it comes out "I wuv you guys".  Melts your heart.

All in all the process with Anthony went pretty well, but everyone still prayed and prayed that he would be fully adopted soon.  That day finally came, and honestly it was a little anticlimactic.   I don't know what I was expecting.  Actually I know exactly what I was expecting.  I thought we would all be in the courtroom and that Anthony would take the stand (as a 4 year-old mind you) and say how much he loved his family and we would all cry, and judge would bang his gavel and we would all cheer and Anthony would run down from the box thingy that you testify in and jump into my sister's arms and then there would be confetti.  Something simple and understated like that.

Instead, it was super fast.  We all walked into a conference room with the judge, attorney, social worker and adoption agency rep.  Kim and Patrick were asked a few questions and the judge said done.  He didn't even have a gavel, which kinda bummed out Anthony.  And then we were back on the road in about 15 minutes.  It was like a drive-through adoption.  

But you can't argue with the results!  Let's just close up this post with a bunch of Anthony pics, shall we?