Jenny Smith

Favorite Vacation?

Anywhere with bad weather and broken internet access. :)

Other Interests/Oddities

• travel
• travel
• travel
• Our family is teaching ourselves Spanish, because DH and I told the kids we'd take them to Mexico if they learned to speak Spanish. (DH is already fluent, so that helps.)
• Church history
• Obscure Church doctrine - Sometimes I wish I could attend High Priests.
• I hate housework and will buy anything that resembles a robot to clean my house.
• Gardening ... Well, it's sort of a necessary evil.... I really love cut flowers, and I have to support my tomato addiction.
• Family history, especially as relates to TRAVEL
• Facebook
• Amateur Radio Operator: KC5FTK (a lowly no-code tech)
• Member of the Potawameck Indian Tribe, of Pocahontas fame.
• I'm a (reluctant) member of the Overwharton Parish Chapter of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution).
• Total band nerd: played clarinet and was flag corps captain.
• Didn't think Twilight was that great. But I'll read the others jic it gets better.
• I know from first hand experience you should never get "Old Swamp Super Hot Sauce" in your eyes.

Books I've ReadHeard Lately

I've decided to keep a list of books I've read, just for my own reference. Our Library sold a number of used Star Trek books for 25 cents each (gasp!), so I rescued them from the recycle bin and will read through them in between other books.....

The ones at the top are most recent:

1. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Despite the incredibly juvenile dialog and predictable story line, the pacing was impeccable. I had no idea that was so essential to a story. Good yarn, can't wait to read the others. A-)
2. Mansfield Park (free Librivox audio book) by Jane Austen (I love this story. Decent readings. A-)
3. Jane Eyre (free Librivox audio book) by Charlotte Brontë (Husband downloaded this by accident. I've always disliked this story, but somehow hearing it as an audio book made all the difference. At first the multiple readers were weird, but it grew on me. Awesome. A+)
4. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (Maybe it was the hype, but this story was a lame letdown. "I love you because you smell good!" Please. This type of literature is to girls what sci-fi is to adolescent boys. Thinly veiled teen-p*rn isn't my thing. Unfortunately, the whole point of this story was titillation without release. Lame. It also irritated me that Meyer tried so hard to prove the main character wasn't a Mormon: "Will I wear the strapless gown or the spaghetti strap one?" Sorry, but only a Mormon would ask that question. Anyone else would say, "should I wear the pink one or the blue one?" Not the worst book I ever read, but nowhere near worth the hype. B-)
5. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (audio book) by Douglas Adams (Very good. Love this "trilogy". A)
6. Sherlock Holmes Collection (AudioBooksForFree.com audio book) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Phenomenal. I wouldn't have believed that such fantastic readings could be for free! Got me excited about audio books. A+)
7. I am America and So Can You by Stephen Colbert (Made me laugh and was a good airplane travel read. B+)
8. The Parenting Breakthrough: Real-Life Plan to Teach Kids to Work, Save Money, and Be Truly Independent by Merrilee Browne Boyack (The arrogant tone of this book, written by a maid-hiring kid slave driver irritated me in the extreme. Not all of us can be lawyers that hire maids and make our kids do most of the housework. I'd give it an F, but we are using her idea of the monthly allowance and matching savings with success. D+)
9. Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (Disappointing sequel to Inkheart. Hopefully the third book is better. Still a good read, just not as spectacular as the first book. A-)
10. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber (The comic strip style is silly, but helpful in visualizing a conversation between parents and children. Am trying to implement many of the practical helps in this great book. A)
11. Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids by Keeping Your Cool by Hal Edward Runkel (Very good book, has some great help. The conversational tone is a little "Men are from Mars" for me, but the core idea--that children are looking for parents to keep cool in a crisis--strikes a chord with me. I wanted more practical step-by-step information, and less self-congratulatory hype. B+)
12. Harry Potter VII by JK Rowling (I honestly can't believe what a perfect ending to this series this book was. Wow. Rowling is a Master. A++)
13. Alex Rider: Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz (Recommended by a kid in the ward. Great preteen action novel. A-)
14. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Bought this for my son, but when he refused to read it, I did. After hearing me talk, now he's begging to read it. Excellent book; appropriate for kids but interesting enough for grownups. A book lover's book. A+}
15. ST: Voyager The Black Shore by Greg Cox (This book seems to capture the Voyager characters better than many ST books do. A-)
16. ST:TNG The Forgotten War by William R. Forstchen (Typical overused ST plot: someone from the past screws up the future; peace made but war still being fought in backwaters of the galaxy. Boring. C+)
17. ST:TNG Dragon's Honor by Kij Johnson and Greg Cox (I laughed out loud in places -- hard to do in scifi. A-)
18. ST:TNG The Last Stand by Brad Ferguson (Got better as it went along. A-)
19. ST:TNG The Peacekeepers by Gene DeWeese (Pretty good; ending was a little abrupt for ST. B+)
20. Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition Edited by Rich Horton (Got me excited
    about reading SciFi again. Good collection of short stories. A-)
21. The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes by James L. Ferrel (A call to
    repentance. I had to take it slowly... Ignore the girlie description on the dustjacket
    and buy it. Great book. A+)
22. Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (Seriously the best fantasy book I have ever read by
    an insanely long shot, and I'm no fantasy fan. Awesome. Not my favorite ending -- I was left wanting more. A)
23. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Good; characters were believable; some nastiness that
    my pure minded husband didn't get. Wish I didn't.... B+)
24. Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin Andersen (Unusually predictable for Science Fiction/Fantasy. Too bad
    I read the prequels that made the ending so obvious. Horrible dialogue. D)
25. If Life Were Easy It Wouldn't Be Hard by Sherri Dew (I STILL just don't like this sort of book. Put all the
    things you learned on a 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper and spare me the cute stories. B)
26. Mere Christianity by CS Lewis (I love this one. A+)
27. Harry Potter VI by JK Rowling (Pretty good, better than V and not as good as IV. Will be sad to see it all end. A-)
28. No One Can Take Your Place by Sherri Dew (I just don't like this sort of book. B-)
29. Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, Prophet's Wife, Elect Lady, Polygamy's Foe by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery
    (I'm not a scholar, but this book had some obviously bad scholarship -- rumors quoted alongside known facts, references marked
    only in the footnotes, which I always read. Some shocking stuff not for the faint-hearted, but I did understand Emma
    better. C)
30. Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society by by Janeth Russell Cannon (Overly detailed history, but not dull. A-)
31. Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman (Great biography. Easy read, but not full of cutesy stories.
    Don't miss the footnotes! A+)
32. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (About the millionth read... I always enjoy this. A+)
33. Photoshop: Restoration and Retouching by Katrin Eismann (Didn't read it all. Good reference tho. Uses Mac screen captures. A-)
34. The Dune PreQuels (House Harkonnen, House Atreides, and House Corrino) by Brian Herbert and Kevin Andersen (Enjoyed
    them for the most part. I'm glad I haven't read the originals so I don't have anything to compare them to. A
    fair amount of nastiness. Not for the kids. B to A-)

Bill

I have a car named Bill. Bill is a 1980 Chevrolet Citation--red/orange in color. Mostly orange
now that he's been sitting out in the sun for so many years. Sweet thing still cranks first
try every time. Don't try to drive him far though--power steering pump leaks like a sieve.
I took a picture of Bill the other day to post here, but since then my camera broke.... we'll see if
I ever get around to posting it.

UPDATE: Bill didn't make the move to Virginia. He is now scrap metal that was donated to
our local cancer society. I still miss him, but he went for a good cause....