Making Your Own vs. Buying a Greeting Card
Go ahead. Laugh.!!
This book is a terrific instruction on how to create the perfect greeting card for any occasion.
The step-by-step instruction is easy to follow, and there are 35 different designs for you to choose from.
Make sure you have enough time to create your card, since it is indeed a craft.
This isn't something that you can just throw together casually.*****
This book is definitely geared more towards adults or, at least, late teens.
The nice thing about the cards in this book is that you can add your own flare to them.
They give a basic idea with some suggestions on how to add different materials, such as lace, glitter, colored clue, fabric, and other little accents.
By using these different items, you can personalize the cards to the person that you're giving it to.
Or, you can just keep them basic in case you need to give a card at the last minute.
And if you wait until the last minute to create your card and find you don't have the time, definitely make sure you don't wait until the last minute to buy a card.
Otherwise, you will get stuck with the leftovers nobody else wants.
Trying to but the same day as the holiday is definitely a no-no, especially on Valentine's Day.
You'll just have to deal with about three hundred guys lined up in the drug store who had forgotten to mark the date in their calendar would definitely be on "the list" if they went home without a valentine.
If they don't come home with that perfect card they know they won't be rewarded, and this day is all about couples romance and intimate rewards.
No matter how small the gesture it is appreciated on this day.
The card traditionally is the number one gift. Just think about how that loved one would react if you actually gave them a handmade card.
Olivia: A Piglet with Gumption
The cover is what attracted me to this book.
An elegant white cover background, in the center of which you find an adorable pig wearing a red dress and with black and white striped tights.
Yes, pig and white in the same sentence.
And this is a little piggy with an attitude.***
Head high in the air, she knows she can do anything.!!
Olivia lives with her parents, a brother, a dog and a cat.
The brother is a problem though.
He is right behind her all the time, and is copying her in whatever she does.
This can get quite irritating as we all know and Olivia has to chase him away.
An excellent book, this is a must have for little girls.
The illustrations, minimalistic in nature, are very classy and elegant.
Done in black, white and red, the expressions in the faces of all pig people are great.
Moreover, Olivia and her antics will strike a cord with any child, whether a boy or a girl.
I loved the semi-bemused look on the parents' faces in the "family picture".
Another thing that is interesting is that though we know the dog?s and cat's names, the names of the mother, father, and brother are unknown.
The book basically covers a few things that Olivia does in a regular day like brushing her teeth, taking a nap not, singing, trying on make-up, painting etc.
It also talks about some special things that Olivia does like going to the beach and museum as well as her love of clothes.
Though the illustrations are the strength of this book, the few words accompanying them add a gr8 deal to the enjoyment of the book.
The tone of the words is humorous and will bring a smile to most readers and listeners lips.
I wish that some of the troubles that she gets into were handled better by her mommy.
This would have made Olivia a good example for kids as well as being great fun.
However, I think that the book though written from an adult frame of mind, tries to minimize the involvement of adults in the book.*****
Flags of Our Fathers || 'Heroes' Write-off
I don't usually read books about war.
Too often the stories of battles focus on strategies, equipment and the military skills or lack thereof of the opposing generals.
These books are filled with maps criss-crossed with arrows showing the movements of the masses of men, like a diagram of a bloody game of chess.
In short, they are detached from the horror of it all.
They lack emotion.
They lack humanity.
Flags Of Our Fathers focuses on the six men photographed in the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima.
They did nothing more out of the ordinary.
In fact, the flag-raising itself was not important.
But in focusing on six ordinary men, Bradley brilliantly brings the humanity and the horror into a book about the most terrible battle in World War II.
Iwo Jima is just a volcanic speck in the Pacific.
But from Iwo Jima, the Japanese could bring down the American bombers headed for the Japanese mainland.
The Japanese knew that if they lost Iwo Jima they would lose the war.
So they had dug in for a fight to the death. Below the surface of the island, the Japanese had created a labyrinth of caverns and bunkers.
They had stored provisions.
They knew they were never getting off Iwo Jima alive and their jobs were to kill as many Americans as they could before they died.
With the Japanese underground, the Americans couldn't see their enemy.
It was a battle fought in inches.
The Japanese were so well dug in that the last defenders did not come out until 1949...
Upon the end of the book, I honestly felt I had just read one of the best books that I will ever come across.
I also feel that the book should be read by everyone who is a citizen of the USA.
I have not found anything else that provides such an insightful view into such an important part of the history of this country.