Oh, yeah!

I was getting caught up on my Facebook (after being gone for only a night) and I heard my husband say, in the most disgusted voice ever, "Oh my god, the Baby-sitters Club is back in session."

I ran in (yeah, I really did run) to see what he was talking about. It was this article about the prequel. Then he said, "Didn't you get this book?"

YES, YES I DID!

Look for a post on it in a few days.

Holy moly, have I really been gone THIS long??

I hang my head in shame.

I could go into a long, convoluted BSC plot story giving you myriad reasons for not posting. But I won't. Or maybe I will.

I was planning to take a summer hiatus, knowing it would be hard to get back to the swing of things in the fall, and I absolutely didn't mean to abandon my blog and anyone who still took the time to read it. I just didn't get around to posting that I wouldn't be posting.

I was enjoying the summer (except that it was a kinda on the cool side for summer), when my mother-in-law died at the end of July. So from July to December, my husband and I were dealing with the wonders of her estate, cleaning out and selling her house, and all the fun stuff that goes along with that. There for a while, I hardly had time to do the dishes, let alone read books and then blog about them. But that's all settled now.

We had a very very yucky winter here, and I should have made time for blogging, but I didn't. I picked up quilting from my mother-in-law last spring when I found out one of my nieces was pregnant, and so I did a lot of quilting over the winter so I could still feel close to her. She died before she could really teach me anything, but every time I sit down at the sewing machine I inherited from her, I think about her, and hope she's helping me get my stitches right and my seams straight.

Ok, sorry, starting to ramble. I logged into the blog this afternoon because I just happened to stop at the public library here, and they are having a book sale! I scored some BSCs, and I knew my book list here was so outdated I had to change it. Then I thought I'd better do some 'splainin'.

I still have a PaperbackSwap account, so come find me there. My handle is bananabomb. I still have my double BSCs listed there, and as always, if you're not on PBS, you can just email me if I have a book you want.

As for blogging, I still don't know when/if I'll do a new post.

Edited to change my PBS name, which is just bananabomb. I got it confused with my ebay name, which is bananabomb3231.

Happy Birthday, Jessi

I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. I've just been incredibly negligent about blogging. And since I haven't been keeping up with my blog, I haven't been keeping up with everyone else's. Truth be told, I got pretty burned out on reading nothing but BSC for who knows how long, and the blog got the short end of the stick. I had planned to put up a post about a summer hiatus, but I just didn't. So, in order to [hopefully] redeem myself, it's Jessi's birthday, so....Starring Jessi!!

A while back, I read #14 Hello, Mallory, and this is Mallory's description of the "new girl":

Jessica Ramsey sat next to me, a mystery. I kept looking at her long legs. Maybe she was a dancer or a gymnast or something. Of course, I looked at her face, too. Jessica's eyes were huge and dark. Her lashes were so long I wondered if they were fake. Probably not, if her mother was anything like mine, and I decided that was a distinct possibility, since Jessica wore glasses and didn't have pierced ears, either.

What happened to the glasses? (It turns out that she only wears them for reading.) That's one for the continuity beast, I guess. She also tells a lot of corny jokes and Mal thinks they're hilarious. And she's got the dancing thing going on.

I don't remember exactly the first BSC book I ever read. I know others do, and I applaud your memory. I don't know if I started reading them before or after Jessi joined. I'm pretty sure I read them in order, and I know I had all of them up to the late 70s before I moved on to slightly more mature reading. (RL Stine, I'm looking at you.)

I do know that I was okay with Jessi in the beginning. I said in a different post when and why my Jessi-toleration turned sour. After that, she turned into a stereotype. It got worse after the shipwreck book, when Jessi's parents leave her in charge of her sister and brother for the weekend. HELLO YOUR DAUGHTER IS 11, SHE IS NOT OLD ENOUGH!!! Where's CPS when you need them? I hated when she harped about how her parents didn't trust her. Well, look what happened when they did.

Ok, good points about Jessi...
*She was dedicated to ballet.
*She was a good friend to Mallory (most of the time).
*She was good with kids, mostly.
Oh, what else? Feel free to add your thoughts to mine.

And here's the semi-bad news. My blogging record these last two months has been sad and pathetic. Unfortunately, it will probably be like that for the rest of the summer. I may throw on something here and there (Claudia's birthday is July 11) but it'll be far from regular. One thing that has been taking a lot of my time is that I've been writing. I used to write a lot of short stories when I was younger, and writing that SVH fanfic kinda got my pen flowing fingers typing again. I've been working on a short story for the last month or so, and I think it's going to be a long short story.

While I'm working on my (officially unofficial) contribution to the VC Andrews Challenge, here's Chapter 2 of The Evil Twin Lives.

Chapter 2

Six Things That Make Me Happy

Sadako gave me this fabulousness. It is:


1. Mention the person who nominated you (above).
2. List six unimportant things that make you happy
3. Tag six blogs, state the rules & notify them with a teeny comment on their blog.

I'm a pretty boring person in reality, but since you guys care enough to read what I write so I'll put myself out there.

1. Seeing the next DVD on our Netflix queue is one I picked out. (My next one is Hairspray.)

2. Getting home and seeing that my husband/kids already took the dogs out.

3. Midweek Madness on Jezebel. It's pretty much the only thing I read on Jez anymore.

4. Getting a call from work saying I don't have to come in.

5. Frozen Hershey bars.

6. Settling into my reading chair with a good book.


Now I'm going to do something different. Instead of tagging other blogs, I'm going to list six things that aggravate the holy shit out of me.

1. Finding dirty socks stuffed into the couch cushions.

2. My husband leaving eleven programs running on his computer and then bitching that it's running so sluggishly.

3. Running out of coffee creamer. (Doesn't happen very often.)

4. The kids recording a bunch of crap to the DVR and then there's no room for the important stuff like CSI and Lost.

5. People who use text-speak in forums.

6. The constant state of chaos that is my (shared) computer desk.

Nikki gave me another setup like this (about what makes my blog so awesome), but I'll have to do that one later.

BSC #69, Mallory Gets the Kissing Disease

I wanted to squeeze in one more post this month, and since my husband was kind enough to give me his cold, I thought I'd skip watching Survivor tonight and instead read about how much Mallory sucks. Besides, May 2 is Mallory's birthday, so this kinda kills two birds with one stone, although I will probably do another Mal post this weekend.


It's the day before Halloween, and Mallory is so tired, she's lounging around on the couch just watching her siblings fight over costumes. She's thinking about all the colds she's had the last few weeks, and how run-down she's been since Dawn left. Ma Pike comes in to announce that her cousins, who live in New York City, have invited the Pike family to the city to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They got tickets for bleacher seats in front of Macy's. Everyone's thrilled and Mal starts daydreaming about her entire family wearing red-and-white striped mufflers while her parents stress about what hotel can take all of them (try Motel 6) and what restaurant can sit them all (how about McDonald's?). Mallory hopes she's still not sick by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.

Mal zonks out on the couch, but when Nicky wakes her up the next morning, she's in her bed and it's almost *gasp* 11:00! She missed breakfast! By the time Mal does her chores and gets the little ones ready for trick-or-treating, she's wiped out. She's planning on helping Jessi take Becca and Squirt out, but Mal calls Jessi and begs off. She then proceeds to sleep right through the three hours out non-stop doorbell ringing.

At the BSC meeting the next day (that's right, Halloween was on a Sunday, mainly because Mallory is too uncool to do anything worthwhile for Halloween), the subplot is born. Kristy gets all sentimental about how there's people out there who don't have families or friends to have Thanksgiving dinner with. She suggests doing something for them, but isn't specific. Mary Anne chimes in that all the kids should be involved, and the gang decides that they will bestow their charms on the innocent old folks at Stoneybrook Manor. Mal drags herself home and barely has the strength to climb the front steps.

Tuesday morning, Mal wakes up and wants desperately to go back to bed.

Everything hurt. I mean, everything. My joints, my skin--even my hair hurt. I stumbled over to look in the mirror above my dresser. I opened my mouth and said, "Ah." My throat was fiery red and burned every time I tried to swallow. Two bumps stuck out of my neck, just under my ears. My glands had swollen to the size of big marbles.

Mal has two tests to take and a sitting job with the Barretts after school, so she attempts to get dressed and makes her way to breakfast. Ma Pike takes one look and tells her to go back to bed. Mal closes her eyes and wakes up at the doctor's office, where she's the lucky recipient of strep throat, a bacterial infection, or mono. Throat culture says it's not strep, but a blood test will give them results in a few days. Mal gets antibiotics just in case.

On Friday, Mal's still sick--the antibiotics haven't done a thing--and they get a phone call from Dr. Dellenkamp. Mal has mono. All they can do is prescribe lots of rest, and sleep, and naps. No activities or Mal could damage her spleen.

Vaguely interesting side note: Ann M Martin had her spleen removed after some accident. From the chapter that I barely remember reading, the main affect it has on her now is that it's harder for her to get rid of colds and such; her immunity isn't what it used to be. And that reminds me of the Little Sister book I just had the misfortune of reading: Karen's Accident, in which Karen falls out of her tree house and, instead of breaking a bone like any other normal child, Karen has to have her spleen out. Maybe, if we're lucky, Karen will get the flu and then she'll go "live on a farm." You know, where there's plenty of room for her to run around and use her outdoor voice as much as she likes. Chickens to chase...bunnies... a sharp rusty nail poking up out the garden soil...rainbows...cows to milk...

Ahem. Back to Mallory.

It kinda goes downhill from here. She sleeps a lot. Doesn't baby-sit, except one job with Margo and Claire, and they baby-sit her more than Mal baby-sits them. She gets so depressed about not being able to sit, she becomes a little bitchy and totally passive-aggressive about getting the other girls to kick her out of the club.

Charlotte Johanssen comes up with the plan for the Thanksgiving party at Stoneybrook Manor. As usual. But they have to raise a bunch of money to buy all the stuff they want to make goody baskets out of. Even after pooling everyone's allowances, baby-sitting money, and treasury money, they're still short. So all the little kids start selling promises. As in, "I promise to shine your shoes for fifty cents." And, "I promise to stay away from your golf clubs for a dollar." Yes, those are really in there.

The kids make all the money they need doing this, and they go shopping at Cost-Club, a place that's never been mentioned before and probably isn't mentioned again ever. Since it's a members-only store, Watson has loaned Kristy his membership card. Prices there are wicked cheap and they buy tons of stuff: fruit, tiny chocolates, paperback books, audio books, and toys like bubbles, Legos, play-doh. Some import store (Mal's words, not mine) has donated all the baskets they need so they're all set.

This stupid subplot just drags on and on. The BSC and the kids take the baskets to the Manor, along with some carnival games. The residents love it. No one has a stroke.

Thanksgiving dinner has rolled around, and needless to say, the Pikes aren't going to the city to watch the parade. They have dinner instead, and to surprise Mallory, the rest of the BSC comes over to give her a basket of stuff, and they've brought the carnival games with them! Yay! And then Kristy points to the phone, and it rings! Another surprise, it's Dawn! Yay again! Yay!

This book ends on kind of a downer though. Claudia has designed a new flier for the holiday season (yeah, I know) with holly and ivy on it and they're putting all their names on it. Except Mallory's. She doesn't even know when she can go back to school, let alone baby-sit. Sad face.


WTF Moments:
*I just realized that although Shannon is listed on the back of this book as the alternate officer, she's mentioned in this book twice: once in Chapter 2 (which doesn't really count), and once while they're making plans for the Manor carnival.

*And while they're making plans, Stacey suggests each BSC member talk to a grocery store to get either a donation or a discount. That means there's at least six grocery stores in Stoneybrook. I don't know about you, but I didn't think Stoneybrook was that big.

Continuity Issues:
*While talking about the possible trip to New York, Mallory says the city is only an hour away by train. I seem to remember Stacey saying the trip is closer to two hours.

*Mal says Kristy's brothers are sixteen and fourteen. Malarkey.

*She also says that Mary Anne's kitten Tigger is black and white striped. We all know the-kitten-who-will-never-grow-up is gray-striped.


I'm not really sure what I'm going to do next. I've got an Abby book that I've never read, so maybe it'll be that. On the other hand, I could do a Flowers in the Attic book-to-movie comparison. (The movie is truly awful.) Any suggestions?

BSC #16, Jessi's New...And She's Black, OMG

(Image stolen from Amazon, because I'm having computer issues and my copy is all faded and looks like crap anyway.)

I picked up this book last night because it's been awhile (somewhere around 15 years, give or take a few) since I last read it. It wasn't as bad as her later books, that's for sure.

It starts off with Jessi waking up at 5:29, one minute before her alarm goes off. She explains her family history to us, and announces that she's black.

I know it sounds funny to announce it like that. If we were white, I wouldn't have to, because you would probably assume we were white. But when you're a minority, things are different.

You know, Jessi, I think your picture on the cover kinda tipped me off that you're black.

Moving on, Jessi is having breakfast with her family and her mother reminds her that today's the day for auditions for the ballet her school is putting on, Coppelia. Jessi is somewhat nervous, but explains to Becca the story behind the ballet, which I don't care to type out, but it boils down to a jealous girlfriend and a whole lotta miscommunication, and everything is resolved at the end of course.

After the auditions, which Jessi doesn't bother to tell us about (thank you) she has a BSC meeting. She arrives late, but Kristy is OK with it. And here comes Jessi's thoughts of the other members, which is pretty routine, except that Kristy's new stepdad is "a millionaire or something." This is also the book where the girls are trying to touch their noses with their tongues because if you can, you'll need a very big bra eventually, "like, when you're eighteen." I always thought that being able to do that meant that you'd make a great lesbian, but whatever. Surprise! Kristy is the only one who can do it.

The phone rings, interrupting their nose hair tasting, and it's a new client who has a deaf child. Hello, Braddocks! But their new sitter has to learn sign language. And since Jessi's so great at languages (and is the only one whose schedule permits sitting every Monday and Wednesday for the next month), she gets the gig.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Jessi gets the role of Swanilda, the lead in the ballet. Of course. She worries about being a black Swanilda, but if the teacher doesn't "seem to mind" she won't either. Get over yourself, Jessi. And through some bitchy girls in her class, she assumes incorrectly that her teacher favors new students, not the ones who are actually good dancers or anything.

So, Jessi goes to the Braddocks' house and starts learning American Sign Language. Mrs. B teaches her the most basic signs, and gives her a dictionary to take home and study.

Between learning ASL and practicing for the ballet, Jessi doesn't sit much for any other kids. Which is fine with me. But she's getting to know the Braddock kids, Haley and Matt, better, and there's some sibling rivalry going on. Haley sometimes resents Matt for being different, even while she's sticking up for him. Jessi tells Haley that it's OK to be different, and that she goes through some of the same stuff Haley does, because she's black. OMG.

And now for the sub-subplot. Jessi had an epiphany about even though the kids at Matt's School for the Deaf can't hear it, they can feel the music that's played. It's simple physics, Jessi. She decides that it would be a wonderful experience for the kids in Matt's class to see the ballet. She goes through this whole rigmarole of talking to the authorities at Matt's school and the head at her ballet school and Mrs. B to see if it's a good idea. Why don't you just invite them?

I guess I missed a part of a page, because the reason she did all that is because before each act, Haley narrated what was going to happen, and Mrs. B translated it into sign language.

The ballet performance is fabulous, naturally, and when Jessi takes her curtain call, Matt comes up and gives her a bouquet of roses. The deaf sister of a classmate gives her sister flowers, and the classmate confesses that she's started to take a sign language class. Her family didn't know how to sign, because the deaf one lived at her school, and was rarely home, so they didn't bother to learn.

WTF Moments:
*Kristy not going crazy when someone was late.

*Jessi says her brother Squirt knows four "real" words: mama, dada, ba, and ackaminnie. Um, the spellchecker tells me that only "mama" is not misspelled, so that means dada, ba, and ackaminnie are not real words. "Ackaminnie," FYI, supposedly means ice cream.

Continuity Issues:
*Jessi says she doesn't want to dance professionally.

Don't forget, Jessi's black.

I've been kinda burnin' to do Mallory Gets the Kissing Disease, so I'm pretty sure that'll be the next BSC book. I hadn't planned on doing this book (or a Jessi book, for that matter), but I haven't done a book in a really long time and it was due. Since I read it last night and I'm trying to get out of cleaning out my storage room, I decided why not.