Month: September 2013

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Book Review: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult…

This is the first time i’m writing a review for a book on the same day i finished it. That shows you how much it has affected me. Usually i like to mull over a book for a bit after finishing to gather my thoughts but i felt this book has so much in it from page 1 that it would take too long and i wanted to pen down my thoughts in its raw form because it has left me reeling.

i have read several of her books but have never reviewed them. Why? Just because at those times i wasn’t writing book reviews at all. So just for the record, i have read Mercy, The Pact, My Sister’s Keeper, Vanishing Acts, Handle with Care, House Rules (the first one i read). The only one i didn’t quite like was Vanishing Acts, i felt that one lacked the usual intensity i have come to expect from Picoult’s stories.

So back to Sing You Home, it is a page-turner indeed! i was captured by her very real characters and the issues they faced. They were issues i have thought about, struggled to maintain a constant viewpoint/opinion and still seek an answer to – issues of infertility (close friends have experienced this), issues of divorce (again close friends), issues of faith, issues of depression, issues of the rights of the fetus (or in this story, the rights of the embryo), the rights of a parent, and in the forefront of the story, issues of gay rights.

i am a Christian and proud of it. My Lord is my Saviour, my Friend, my King, my Brother all in one. i love my Lord and believe His Word is true! But i have wrestled with loving the sinner and hating the sin, showing God’s love to everyone (regardless of who they are, what lifestyle they choose), yet standing firm and naming the sin for what it is – a sin in the eyes of God. i haven’t in practice had to choose sides – yet.

i’m a little sad that Picoult chose to show how un-compassionate the church can be. i’m not saying her portrayal of the church is wrong. There exist in this broken world churches and people just like in the book but i just wished that she had shown some of the church to be true followers of Jesus’ example of loving all. Maybe just one of the characters, Liddy (sister-in-law to the two main characters) showed some of this great love of God but it was vague.

i’m not going to give too much of the story away or the wonderful ending. So i’ll just give a brief outline. Max and Zoe have tried and tried to have a baby and have gone through so many treatments. She became pregnant. She lost the baby. They divorced. Now she has a chance to try again and build a family. But Max, with his new-found faith and religious family, stand in the way.

The other lovely feature about this book is that it has accompanying music, specifically written by Picoult and her friend for each major section of the book. i managed to only listen to a few because the QR reader on my phone didn’t work properly. The music certainly speaks from the heart of Zoe (who, in the story, is a music therapist). i liked what i heard.

This is a book which will leave you thinking and thinking and thinking some more…

syc

PS: i still am puzzling out the issues raised by this book… and maybe i will always do so till i arrive in Heaven. But i hope and pray that in my time on this earth, i will show God’s love to everyone i know rather than judge because who am i to judge, i am but a sinner myself. My role is to reflect God’s love to the world so that all may come to know Him.

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Proud Writer Mummy Moment…

Last Friday i visited Tobias’ class to observe how the class is run and what happens for him in a morning at school. Unfortunately his regular teacher was ill so i observed an irregular class – but all that may be in another post.

This post is about the moment i was so very proud of my little (not so little) boy!

He had written a story, every child was asked to write a story of their own creation. He was supposed to have read it out loud (the grammatically/spelling/punctuation corrected version) on Thursday but he was ill so didn’t and so he got to read it while i was there. Silly me was so wrapped up in observing the class and listening to him that i forgot to video him. He read it so well, with different voices for the characters and different expressions.

Anyhow, here’s the original non-corrected version of his story.

His handwriting, spelling etc... is not great but i LOVE the story!
His handwriting, spelling etc… is not great but i LOVE the story!

And as it is likely his writing is difficult to read and it is in German, i will translate (with as little correction and change to language/tone as possible) it here:

Tirtouga and the Lost Animal

Once a robber (bandit) was looking for the White Cat. “When i have the White Cat, i will control the world! Muhahahaha!”

Today in the forest, all the animals are celebrating the birthday of the White Cat. As always, Tirtouga went to the White Cat’s hut to see if she is there. He knocked on the door. No one opened.

“Hm… normally the White Cat would have answered by now.” said Tirtouga.

He knocked again. No one opened. He pushed on the door. It opened. Then he saw that the White Cat was missing!

“i have to tell the others.” said Tirtouga.

“Everyone, the White Cat is missing!” said Tirtouga. Everyone panicked.

The fox said, “i have seen the robber (bandit). She is dressed in strips.”

“Hm… dressed in strips. i wonder who that could be.”

“i have seen something too.” said the Tiger. “Something big. It came out of the bushes. It was big.”

Everyone yelled, “The Big Mole!”

“There he is carrying on his back the White Cat! We must tie his legs together.” said Tirtouga.

So they all tied the Big Mole’s legs together and the Big Mole fell down!

“Ya!” shouted everyone. “The Big Mole is dead.”

And everything is back to normal. They celebrate the White Cat’s birthday.

The End.

i am such a proud mummy! Don’t you think it is a great story??

i asked him to write another one about this White Cat or Tirtouga. He said he won’t. But we’ll see 😉

syc

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Poo-Free Attempt…

… or if you prefer, Going Shampoo-Free Attempt 1 – abandoned!

That’s right – i’m throwing in the towel on my efforts to go shampoo-free after 2 weeks of trying.

OK let’s back up why do i wanna go shampoo-free?

Well, because a few of my friends were trying it with mixed results and because i read this post from Simple Mom and was inspired. It sounded easy enough, switch from using shampoo which is filled with detergents and chemicals to a natural way of cleaning / conditioning your hair with ingredients which you use to cook with. If you can eat it, it can only do good – yes?

Now i wanna say upfront that i was really very happy using commercial shampoo and conditioner and actually love my fine and quite thick Asian hair, which was soft and easy to manage. The only thing that it lacked was volume or body and it doesn’t hold styles very well without tons of product, which i hate and do not use.

i’m the kind of gal who likes to wash and conditioner every other day and leave to air-dry (don’t believe in using the hair-dryer as the name suggests it would dry your hair literally and leave you with split ends – at least i believe so). i was happy with my easy hair-care routine and didn’t really set out wanting to change the ease of it. i wanted to just improve it and have nice shiny hair which has volume and holds styles better, which looks like the one in this post (another poo-free lady).

(You should read this entry to learn more about going shampoo-free, the whys and how-tos before going on to read the rest of my post.)

This is my unwashed hair before going poo-free.
This is my unwashed hair before going poo-free.

That leads me to the first reason i am abandoning this attempt. Because it is no longer easy hair-care. i have to think and analyse what is going on with my hair. i had to decide if i was using too much baking soda? too much vinegar? should i skip the vinegar rinse today? Why is my hair so greasy? There were days i could not decide if it was too dry or too greasy. Some dry bits stick out when combed through and other oily bits clump together. The oil seems to stay at the top, leaving my ends dry and hard to manage, which, to me, seems ridiculous for this length of hair.

After a week, i decided to change the formula and method of washing a little, that’s when i got white residue which as i read was a result of too much baking soda, the results of which i am still trying to wash out and correct after a week.

The second reason i’m quitting this after 2 weeks: i have suffered 2 weeks of helmet hair! It has been greasy, which i expected (the transition period those blogs pointed out). But i didn’t expect it to feel like wearing a helmet all day. Styling became difficult. After the first wash, i could not pull my brush through my hair easily, there were tangles at the ends which is uncommon for my previously long hair, let alone my currently short hair.

i am used to wash, brush, air-dry and done for the day. i don’t run a comb or a brush through my hair more than a few times a day before going poo-free. Since starting this experiment, i have had to switch from a brush back to a comb so my hair doesn’t sit in greasy clumps and i have had to comb so much more. Because it is greasy, it tends to get messy and stay messy. Before all i do to smooth out messy hair is run my fingers through my hair.

This is my hair after a week poo-free. i don't think the greasiness shows well in the photo. But trust me, it was greasy!
This is my hair after a week poo-free. i don’t think the greasy-ness shows well in the photo. But trust me, it was greasy!

The third reason? Well, all that greasy hair is giving me pimples! My skin is temperamental at best, a T-zone that seems to never go away. But i have had it under control and was able to be pimple free for at least 2.5 weeks of the month. The other 1.5 weeks i blame the hormones. But now, even during what is supposed to be my clear weeks, i have a huge pimple on my nose bridge (nope, not going to show you a picture of that!) and a few on my forehead and temples!

Now i know i am being impatient and that if i stick to it just a few more weeks, i might, i just might, get poo-free beautiful hair. And i was in two minds about giving up… BUT then i read this blog entry from The Herbwife’s Kitchen.

There was another way to poo-free – without the yucky transition period! Sure it would take longer but no helmet hair, no pimples from greasy hair. A gentler way! i say Yes! to that.

So i’m going to stop my current attempt at going shampoo-free, which was stressing me out (my only vanity is my hair – really! i’m not vain about anything else). And i will attempt the gentler way in a few months.

All that said, please if you have tried and were successful, do share below and good for you! And to others who have not tried this and are interested to, please don’t let me put you off. This is just my experience and everyone’s hair is so different. And in my opinion, the less chemicals you have in your life, the better. Which is why i will certainly attempt this again, just using the ease-into-it method.

syc