What to wear, what to wear

Plus some fun words to disgust and delight!

Feb 20, 2025

Hey Hi hello! How is your February going? Texas weather cannot make up its mind and so I have to be prepared with both shorts and my winter coat. It happens every winter and yet, even after being here for 15 years, I am always flabbergasted. How (and why?) can it be 80 degrees on Tuesday, and then 20 degrees on Wednesday? How does one utilize their tiny amount of closet space with that kind of drastic swing in temperature? Today it was 22 degrees on my morning walk with a windchill making it seem like 11 and I think my tears froze. Nothing compared to my Minnesotan family, but extreme for us, especially considering we have a high of 76 in the forecast for next week.

Once I told my friend who was coming in March to bring her swimsuit and her puffy coat. She laughed like I was joking.

On a completely different (and more literary) note, do you have words you hate? Words you love? I could make a larger list but the ones jumping to my brain this morning are specific to my day. I am reading a romance novel, classic Enemy turned Lover trope, and the man spends his days speaking to the main character in a “drawl” and I swear, it is my least favorite thing about the genre. Can nobody just speak? Must everyone drawl? The image it brings to mind is a mouth like a rotting banana peel, limp and twisted, sneering and leering out the words. I hate it. I want to punch the drawl in its banana peel mouth.

a peeled banana sitting on top of a green surface — “he drawled”

For less hate and more love, lets tell a different story. My kids often narrate their own lives when they are playing. Have you noticed your kids doing that? It is so fun to listen to them tell their stories as they go about their day. This morning my littlest was pretending her room was her house and she invited me in. As I sat enjoying her “small but cozy” (her words) home, she “clambered into her bed” (again her words) and I sat there on the purple couch thinking about how immensely proud I am to have a three-year-old who correctly uses the word clambered.

Love them or hate them I relish, revel in, adore (see what I did there?) expanding my and my kids’ vocabulary. You know the not-so-secret way to do that? Exposure to a large vocabulary will help your burgeoning readers with their confidence as they will never attempt to conquer a word they haven’t met. Keep on reading!

FROM THE STAX

ONCE UPON A FOREST by Pam Fong

An adorable Marmot (apparently) and bird see smoke off in the distance and head off to see what is the source and what they can do to help. Not only is this book adorable, as you can clearly see, but there are themes of community solutions, reforestation, and being proud of the hard work accomplished over time, which requires patience.

Ironically, this is a book without words. Which doesn’t mean it doesn’t provide the opportunity to introduce your kids to new and exciting words. In fact, you get to make up your own narrative here so go ahead and sprinkle in some of your favorite and most exciting words and you describe the action in these adorable pictures.

ALSO by E.B. Goodale

The author is telling the story of what is happening now, and telling the story of what she remembers. A book featuring three generations of women and spanning time, this book teaches us to hold on to the moment and remember the past and the connections we had and memories we made with one another. It invites us to recognize how the now becomes the stories of later, and to remember people through the legacy of their lives.

SNOW FRIENDS by M. Christina Butler and Tina Macnaughton

Bear can’t find any friends, so he starts to make a snowman and when he starts doing something fun, the friends appear to help and have fun along the way.

You may remember me saying an “enthusiastic YES” to reading outside of my kids reading level, but I am going to level with you: I actively tried to persuade my child to NOT bring home this board book from the library. I gave her a good pitch for why we shouldn’t, and then begrudgingly brought it home anyway.

Turns out, we love it. Every time we read the first page where bear wakes up and there is snow my liuttles loves to tell me about how the same thing happened to us! (“Remember?”) Finding friends out in the wild was basically how our snow day went down and it is a true delight to see my child remembering the best moments of her snow day while reading this book.

GHOST CAT by Eve Bunting Illustrated by Kevin M Barry

A little old lady and her ghost cat (the narrator of this story) live in and operate a light house. When a storm hits while a niece is visiting, the ghost cat has to save the day.

A truly bizarre story, but there you have it. Not at all scary, sort of a fun introduction to ghost stories with a loveable cute kitty protagonist, so what if they are a ghost.

THE HOT CROSS BUNNY by Carys Bexington and Mark Chambers

Steve the bunny can’t seem to grow any eggs so he creates his own bizarre recipe as a last ditch effort and then, an unexpected beast hatches out and things get weird (again)! A rollicking rhyming book that is a little bit Easter meets the Grinch meets dragons meets potty humor (so its a lot) and I can’t say I personally loved it but my kids sure did, so that makes it a win. Even if it did make me say poo more than I wanted to. I know Easter is a ways away, but if the box stores have their eggs out (and they sure do) then you know its not too early to start celebrating.

CRICK CRACK CROW by Janet Lord Illustrated by Julie Paschkis

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own

Crows are freaking awesome and this book really highlights their incredible and mischeveous ways. Emphasizing their more destructive nature, the fun and changing rhyme refrain follows Crow through an exciting and adventurous day getting into trouble and causing a ruckus. When he gets into more than a little trouble, it is his large family that comes to the rescue. Encouraging exploration and a sense of security in family, we love to celebrate the crow and all our corvid friends with this one!

I had a boyfriend a different lifetime ago who wanted to have a crow for a pet. Sounds like he might have also worn a cape, but to my knowledge, he did not. My stepmom fed the crows that came with the house they bought. I have heard that if you leave them treasure they will bring some back for you. We don’t really have crows in Texas — we have Grackles, a strange and bizarre bird. Maybe I’ll look for a book on grackles next!

One of these days I will sit down and do the research, write the cohesive piece, and finish one of the drafts in my ever-growing draft pile. Promise. Until then, enjoy thinking about your favorite and least favorite words. If you have any you want to share, brighten my day with those you hate or love and why.