Week in Review: Summer ‘10

I love movies, almost as much as I love books. I remember the very first movie I saw in the theater with my parents: a screening of the classic Gone with the Wind. I don’t remember for sure how old I was, but I’m pretty sure we saw the film in the Alexandria Theater, located across from Kyle’s Funeral Home. The cool thing about that theater was the soundproof room where parents could take their crying babies so they didn’t disturb the other patrons.

After the last couple screenings I’ve been to here in Utah, I would pay extra to have one of those soundproof rooms so I could hear the movie over the whimpering, chattering, and out-right talking I’ve sat through recently—and most of that was from the parents!

Sorry, I stray away from the purpose of this blog. I’m here to tell you about the movies I’ve seen so far this summer. Since I tend to find myself spending a lot of hours during the summer sitting in the local movie theaters, and since I’ve been known to express my opinions on things a time or two, I thought I should share. I’ll be careful not to include spoilers, but I’m also warning you—I WILL be honest.

So far, I’ve seen ten movies. Of those ten, I’ll likely buy eight to add to our home movie collection. The other two, I won’t even rent. One time watching them was painful enough, or at least satisfied my curiosity. So, here we go, starting with the best movie I’ve seen so far in the summer of 2010.

Letters to Juliet. I am a hopeless romantic. I have had a passion for Shakespeare since I first saw Leonard Whiting walk onto the screen as Romeo. I’ve taught Romeo & Juliet now for 31 years, and the biggest regret I have from my trip to Europe was that our train only passed through Verona on our way to Venice. I had heard the story before about the ladies who write letters to Juliet and leave them under her balcony, so the story premise made sense to me from the very beginning, and since Venice was my favorite stop on my own trip, I was absolutely in love with the scenery. Add all of these together with a totally clean and incredibly romantic plot, and Letters to Juliet was a perfect date night movie with my husband. We both loved it, and shed a tear or two in joy.

Toy Story 3. In 1999, my husband and I were blessed to welcome into our home two little boys to be ours forever. Chan was 6 and Kent was 5, and they loved, loved, loved movies (How appropriate in a home like ours where my husband works on film sets, and I write scripts). One of their favorite movies was Toy Story, and one of the first movies we took them to the theater to see was Toy Story 2. Woody and Buzz dominated everything in our house from toys to Halloween costumes, birthday cakes to home video nights for the next couple years. “Reach for the sky” and “Are you mocking me?” became family institutions. Is it any wonder that the boys have been non-too-anxiously awaiting the premiere this weekend? Today we went to see the movie in 3D, and although Tommy and Zach went with us, I don’t think they quite understood why Mom and Dad blubbered like babies toward the end of the film. These characters are indelibly linked to our years with Chan and Kent, and the idea of Andy moving out to go to college struck a chord that soon we would be seeing our own little boys moving on with their lives as adults. Where did those little boys years go?

Shrek Forever After. After a forgettable Shrek the Third, I didn’t think I’d be able to drag my kids to see this one, but Zach and I went and I actually liked it—a lot! Enough that Chan and Kent decided to finally go see it as well, and the consensus is in—they ALL liked it. Maybe because this one takes us back to the beginning and lets viewers see an alternate outcome, what might have been in Shrek had never made it to rescue Fiona in the first place. The humor still shines for both kids and adults, the romance makes sparks fly, and the ending was truly satisfying at saying, at last Shrek feels like it’s over, and that’s okay. Of course, I cried a tear or two at this one as well. Are we seeing a pattern?

The Karate Kid. Okay, I told myself there was no way I was going to see this movie in remake. How could you possibly get better than Ralph Macchio and Pat Morika as Mr. Miyagi? Besides, why would I want to go see Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s spoiled son Jaden in a role he got simply because Mommy and Daddy were the executive producers for the film? Okay, okay, so it also stars Jackie Chan and his comedies always make me laugh, so off I went. And, WOW, was I surprised. I was on the edge of my seat during the final match, terrified that Dre Parker (the new name for the Karate Kid) wouldn’t make it back onto the mat. And Jackie Chan showed a whole new depth to his acting that totally sold me on him being the new Mr. Miyagi (So he was renamed Mr. Han) I LOVED the new version, and, you guessed it, I even cried!

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I’m not a huge fan of video games, and think some of my kids have wasted too many hours of their lives attached to the PS 3, but what the heck, I decided to go see what the screenwriters came up with in their quest to turn a mindless video game scenario into a two hour film, and I liked it! Jake Gyllenhaal was funny, agile, and even a little cute in his role of Dastan.  I had Ben Kingsley pegged from the very beginning, but his acting was, as always, superb. The movie was filled with action, adventure, and humor, and so you won’t be disappointed, yes, I even found a moment to cry.

The A-Team. You know, I was thinking it was my dad who used to watch The A-Team on television then I checked the air dates on IMBD and realized, my dad was already dead by the time the show was on, so The A-Team fan in my house had to have been my MOM! This strikes me as pretty funny, until I consider how much I liked the movie. The cast provide a perfect bridge between the original actors and today’s action, adventure movies. I loved the humor, and I wasn’t offended by any of the violence. I wanted to stand up and cheer at the end, and hoped that someone in Washington would get a clue and hire this group to work for the defense of our country. I can’t remember if there were any tears on this one, but I do know I left the theater hoping there would be a sequel to this one.

Iron Man 2: If I can keep the theme song out of my head long enough so that I can think, I’ll tell you that I did like Iron Man 2. Oh, maybe not as much as Iron Man 1, but enough that I would recommend it. Once again, Robert Downey, Jr. is looking fine, and it’s great to see him holding his life together to make the string of movies he’s been in the past two years. I loved the romantic elements that continue to develop between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. The only negative about this film was that I thought Tony’s health issues got solved a little too quickly and without enough difficult to sustain the angst the audience needed, but hey, what can I say other than there were still a couple of minutes that made me cry!

Marmaduke. I have a ten-year-old son. That’s what got me to the theater to see this movie, based on a cartoon character I once hated, and that’s why I’m so surprised I actually thought the movie was cute. Okay, cheesy romance and gang fights between talking dogs doesn’t make for high quality entertainment, but Owen Wilson and pleasant memories of Marley & Me helped me get past the faults and see the fun. I’m sure Zach will want to own a copy, which means I’ll probably have to sit through at least parts of this one again. At least it won’t be totally painful!

Killers. I loved the premise. Some of the romantic and action scenes between Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl were enjoyable, but there was much to be disappointed in with this one. I usually love Tom Selleck, but I never really connected with   him in this one. The look was wrong, the lines didn’t seem to fit him, and the usual charisma he shows in his other films was simply missing. My biggest complaint was that it seemed like the producers were worried about running out of money and chopped the movie into ill-fitting pieces. The story arc was missing, and the resolution didn’t feel well developed. If they had added another ten minutes after the wedding in the beginning and after the climax in the end, I think the story would have been better crafted and worth seeing again (this time without the giggling grandmas who could hardly contain themselves every time Kutcher was on the screen!) As it stands now, I’m hoping that Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz bring me a film that is much better at putting it all together.

Robin Hood. By far the biggest disappointment of the summer. Russell Crowe’s mumbling was rarely understandable. Cate Blanchett was the ugliest Maid Marion I’ve ever seen. If I hadn’t already known the back story, I would have been completely lost for the entire three hour movie (it only seemed like it lasted three days!) And, despite its length, never once did we get around to Robin Hood taking from the rich to give to the poor, seeing the Merry Men as his Merry Men, or ever finding Robin Hood to be the kind of hero I would trust to do anything. Boring, boring, boring, and the only tears I cried were those of joy that this painful movie was finally over.

That’s it for this time. I’m sure I’ll be back soon with another ten movies to review. The calendar is already filling up as we await Knight & Day, Grown Ups, The Last Airbender, Despicable Me, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Inception (my husband worked on this one), Eat Pray Love, The Expendables, and Nanny McPhee Returns.

Book Signings: All a Mystery to Me

Annette Lyon blogged about book signings over on her post today, and included this video from mystery author, Parnell Hall. Like both Annette and Parnell, I've been in similar book signing situations. You just try sitting next to Richard Paul Evans at a signing and see how you do. Parnell's signing next to Mary Higgins Clark all over again.

Anyway, after watching the video, I had to know more about him, so I popped over to Amazon where I discovered he has three book series, comprised of over 40 novels, is an actor/screenwriter/songwriter, and is a former President of the Private Eye Writers of America. I love mysteries. Why have I never heard of this guy before now?

Anyway, good book buyer that I am, I ordered the first of the Crossword Lady series (I love to do the crossword puzzles in the newspaper), and I'm looking forward to discovering if I like his novels as well as I did this song. I'll be sure to let you know.

Ghost-Writer

Okay, so maybe it's not quite so bad for me because I've had full cover credit on both of my published ghost-written books so far, but today's comic in the New Yorker made me laugh. Is this where my writing career is headed?

New Yorker

Wisdom Keys: What You Repeatedly Hear You Will Eventually Believe

Perhaps you’ve heard the line often attributed to Adolph Hitler: “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.” Based on the source alone, you might be hesitant to believe it is true, but, like it or not, the idea is sound.

Politicians use repetition all the time to sway our vote. “Vote for me. I’ll solve all your problems. My opponent believes. . .(insert an option here that the people won’t like). Then the campaign runs that commercial repeatedly on every form of media at their disposal, pounding the negative idea into our heads until there is no way we will vote for the other guy, unless we do because we’ve heard the other candidate’s name so often in the negative campaigning that it’s the one embedded into our memory once we reach the polls.

According to the advertising industry, a potential client needs to see your ads at least seven times before they'll act on it. Only seven times and the new information is in your long-term memory forever. Consider the new song you hear on the radio. The first few times you might hum along, catching a phrase or two that sticks with you. Usually the first words you remember are the oft-repeated chorus. Eventually you learn the rest of the words, sometimes whether you want to or not. I’m sure each of us knows the lyrics to a song we can’t stand–“The Lion Sleeps Tonight”–and finds the words stuck in our heads the rest of the day anytime we run across the song out of happenstance.

The things we hear repeatedly bore into our minds and become a solid part of who we are. Too often the things we hear come from our own minds, and they are usually negative. When we assign ourselves negative labels–You’re fat. You’re too stupid. You can’t do that.–we can be guilty of stopping our own progression toward the goals we want and the potential within us. We become our own worst enemy.

But what can we do to turn our lives around? How can we change that little negative voice with so much power into a force for good within our own minds?

Believe.

Think and Grow Rich author Napoleon Hill once said, “Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.” Protestant preacher and author Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking) said, “Change your thoughts, and you change your world.” We are even told in the New Testament book of Matthew: “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Did you catch that? All things. Not just some things, yet how many times have we been guilty of picking and choosing those scriptures we will believe and those we do not? If we believe part of the scriptures to be true, then why not all? As we learn in Proverbs 3: 4-5, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.”

Change the negative thoughts in your head to those which are more positive, and you will find your life begins to change for the better. Trust and believe that you can lose weight, and you’ll find your actions become more supportive of that goal. Tell yourself you can learn whatever it is you need to know, and you’ll find a sudden hunger for knowledge that can be gained through reading or taking courses. If you want to change an aspect of your life or relationships, you can do that, if you only believe in yourself and you are willing to put forth the effort to do so.

Find those positive affirmations that work best for you and repeat them often. Act as if the things you say are true. Then watch the changes that come about in your life, and perhaps in the lives of the people around you. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish, if you only believe.

Student Book Recommendations

One of the last things I ask my students to do at the end of the school year is to make a list of books they would recommend to their peers. I give a copy of this list to each student as a place to start their summer reading. I'm also happy to share this year's list with all of you. I've read 90 of them already. How did you do?

Recommended Books 2009-2010

13th Reality series – Dashner
39 Clues series – various
Alcatraz and the Librarian series – Sanderson
Alchemist, The series – Scott
Alex Rider series – Horowitz
Aliens series – various
All-American Girl – Cabot
Among the Hidden series – Haddix
Antsy Does Time – Schusterman
Artemis Fowl – Colfer
Bear Dancer – Wyss
Bella at Midnight – Stanley
Body Finder, The – Derting
Breath - Winton
Candy Shop Wars, The – Mull
Charlie Bone series – Nimmo
Chasing Vermeer - Ballitt
Children of the Lamp series – Kerr
Chosen One, The – Williams
Christmas Jar, The – Wright
Christmas List, The – Evans
Christmas Sweater, The – Beck
Chronicles of Vladmire Tod, The series – Brewer
Cirque du Freak – Shan
Cleopatra VI - Gregory
Climbing the Stairs – Venkatraman
Clique series – Harrison
Cold Service – Parker
Counting Stars – Holmes
Courting Miss Lancaster – Eden
Crooked Kind of Perfect – Urban
Cry of the Icemark series – Hill
Cut – McCormick
Daniel X series – Patterson
Dark Hills Divide - Carmer
Darklight – Livingston
Deadly Little Secret – Stolarz
Deathwatch – White
Deep & Dark & Dangerous – Hahn
Deep Down Popular – Stone
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series - Kinney
Don’t Don’t Tell Jokes – Sachar
Double Identity – Haddix
Dragon Keeper - Wilkinson
Dragon Slippers series – George
Dune series – Herbert
Dusty Britches – McClure
Elantris – Sanderson
Ella Enchanted – Levine
Ender’s Game series – Card
Eragon series – Paolini
Esperanza Rising – Ryan
Ever – Levine
Everest series – Korman
Extraordinary Adventures Alfred Kropp – Yancy
Fablehaven series – Mull
Face, The – Koonz
Fairest – Levine
Farworld series – Savage
Giver, The – Lowry
Going Postal – Pratchett
Goose Girl series – Hale
Guardians of Ga’Hoole series – Lasky
Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie – Shaffer
Harry Potter series – Rowling
Heart Only Knows, The – Blair
Heat – Lupica
Heir Apparent – Van Velde
Hoot – Haaisen
Host, The – Meyers
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Ford
Hourglass Door, The series – Mangum
House of Night, The series – Cast
How to Survive Middle School – Gephart
Huckleberry Finn – Twain
Hunger Games, The series – Collins
I’d Tell You I Love You series – Carter
Ice – Durst
Ida B. – Hannigan
Immortals series, The – Noel
Inkheart series – Funke
Island series – Korman
Jinx – Cabot
Just One Wish – Rallison
Kate’s Turn series – Crane
Key to Rondo, The – Rodda
Keys to the Golden Firebird – Johnson
Last Song, The – Sparks
Lean on Me – Weyland
Lemon Tart – Kilpack
Levan Thumps series – Skye
Leviathan – Westerfeld
Lightning Thief, The series – Riordan
Line, The – Hall
Lord of the Rings trilogy – Tolkien
Luxe, The series –Godberson
Magician Trilogy, The – Nimmo
Maximum Ride series – Patterson
Maze Runner, The – Dashner
Missing series – Haddix
Molly Moon series – Byng
Morganville Vampires series - Caine
My Fair Godmother – Rallison
My Life in Pink and Green – Greenwald
Mysterious Benedict Society, The – Stewart
Notebook, The – Sparks
Number the Stars – Lowry
Old Willis Place, The - Hahn
Of Mice and Magic series – Farland
Once Upon a Marigold – Fern
Out of the Dust – Hesse
Peak series – Smith
Pendragon series – MacHale
Persuasion – Austen
Peter and the Starcatchers series – Berry/Pearson
Predator series – various
Prelude to Glory series – Carter
Pride and Prejudice – Austen
Princess Bride, The – Goldman
Princess Diaries, The series – Cabot
Princess of the Midnight Ball – George
Rag and Bone Shop, The – Cormier
Ranger’s Apprentice – Flanagan
Raymond & Graham – Knudson
Rebel Angels – Bray
Rune Lords series Farland
Running Out of Time – Haddix
Sammy Keyes series – Van Draanen
Santa Maybe – Mace
Secret Life of Bees, The – Kidd
Secret, The – Byrne
Shiver – Stiefvater
Silverfin – Higson
Small Gods – Pratchett
Stolen Children – Kehret
Stop Pretending – Sones
Summer Ball – Lupica
Summer of the Monkeys – Rawls
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow – George
Sunflower, The – Evans
Sunrise Over Fallujah – Meyers
Surgeon, The – Gerritsen
Surviving Antarctica 2086 – White
Switch – Horowitz
Tale of Despereaux, The – DiCamillo
Tantalize – Smith
Teens at War – Zullo
Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series – Heimerdinger
Tower of Strength - Lyon
Traitor -Gray
Tunnels – Williams
Two Little Girls in Blue - Clark
Twlight series – Meyers
Uglies series – Westerfeld
Un Lun Dun – Mieville
Undaunted, The – Lund
Uprising – Haddix
Vampire Diaries, The series – Smith
Vampirates series – Somper
Variant – Wells
Walk to Remember, A – Sparks
Walk Two Moons – Creech
Ways to Live Forever – Nicholls
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town – Holt
Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawls
Where the River Runs North – Morton
Witch & Wizard series – Patterson
Witch Child – Rees
Witness – Hesse
Wuthering Heights – Bronte

Press Release: Lu Ann Staheli Wins Best of State: Non-Fiction

Lu Ann Brobst Staheli has been named Utah’s 2010 Best of State Medalist in Literary Arts: Non-Fiction. In the past year, Staheli saw the publication of her first full length book, When Hearts Conjoin, “Which Way—Do-It-Yourself or Traditional?” as a featured cover article for The Writer Magazine, “Bringing the Library Back to Life After the Library Dragon is Slain” in Library Media Connection Magazine, and Fablehaven Teacher’s Guides for Shadow Mountain Publishers. In addition, Lu Ann had articles published in Desert Saints Magazine, Your LDS Neighborhood, and Meridian Magazine, while she continues to write professional book reviews for LMC, The ALAN Review, and The SIGNAL Journal.

A former member of the Spanish Fork City Arts Council and columnist for both the Spanish Fork Press and the Spanish Fork News, Lu Ann is a popular speaker, having delivered workshop presentations for the League of Utah Writers Round-Up, Utah Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, Utah Educator Library Media Association Spring Conference, LDS Storymakers Conference, WriteWise Publishing Book Camp, UELMA Fall Workshop, and two area chapters of the League of Utah Writers in the past year.

Staheli uses her vast knowledge of publication to coach aspiring authors and is a Senior Editor for Precision Editing Group (PEG). Her efforts to teach others the craft of writing has resulted in more than fifty new authors seeing their first books published in the last two years, and a bevy of other authors finding their books best-sellers or as finalists and winners of the Whitney Award since its inception.

Named Best of State Educator K-12 in 2008, Lu Ann recently saw the release of her second biography, Psychic Madman, co-written with Jim Karol. Her upcoming projects include The Business of Marriage with Dino Watt and a biography with entertainer and humanitarian Alan Osmond.

Psychic Madman Released

I am pleased to announce that Psychic Madman is now available on Amazon.com. You can read details about the book and order you copy by clicking on the following link:



Or, if you're feeling lucky, and you don't mind the waiting, we are giving away three copies on Good Reads. See the details on their site:

The Psychic Madman by Jim Karol


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
As the co-author of this book, I learned so much about recognizing inspiration and improving my memorization. Jim is a great guy, and I totally enjoyed having the opportunity to help him tell his story and share his insider secrets to memory and magic skills you can learn as well.

View all my reviews >>

Women of the Book of Mormon: Insights and Inspiration by Heather B. Moore

If you’re looking for a perfect Mother’s Day gift, look no farther than Heather Moore’s new book, Women of the Book of Mormon. Don’t let this slim volume fool you into thinking it is light-weight, because it is not. The information is well-researched and documented, yet easy-to-read and interesting.

Despite the fact I had read the manuscript in its early draft form, I still found myself stopping often to ponder the information and insight Moore had provided into the lives of these women. One striking moment for me was the reason why male children were preferred over females—because females left a family to join the family of their husband, and males remain a part of their father’s household. Suddenly, I understood not just these women, but also the centuries-old preference for male children which still seems to exist around the world today.

Another strength with Moore’s book is the chapters devoted to women who are also in the Bible—Eve, Mary, and Sarah—making this an appropriate gift for your Non-LDS friends and family members as well.

The color illustrations add a new dimension to the text, allowing readers to visualize each of these women in their unique situations.

I know Women of the Book of Mormon is a book I will return to reread again during my scripture study, or when I need a moment to ponder how blessed I am in my own life trials. I know I will buy multiple copies of this book to share with my family members, of all Christian faiths.

Psychic Madman

The new cover for the book I wrote with Jim Karol. This one should be available both online and in stores in a couple of weeks.

Jim is a mentalist who uses his psychic ability, great memory, and mind-over-matter to entertain audiences in his stage shows and TV and film appearances.

Hidden Treasures: Great Books Overlooked by the National Awards

I was a presenter at the Utah Educators Library Media Association (UELMA) conference on Friday. This is the list of books I recommended to the librarians during my presentation. Since readers are always asking me for a list of great books, I thought I'd share this one here for all of you.

Hidden Treasures: Great Books Overlooked by the National Awards

Lu Ann Brobst Staheli, M.Ed.

The 13^th Reality: The Journal of Curious Secrets – James Dashner (Aladdin, 2009)

The 13^th Reality: The Hunt for Dark Infinity – James Dashner (Aladdin, 2010)

The Alchemyst: Secrets of Immortal Nicholas Flamel -- Michael Scott (Del

acorte, 2008)

Antsy Does Time – Neal Schusterman (Dutton Juvenile, 2008)

The Body Finder – Kimberly Dertney (HarperCollins, 2010)

The Chosen One – Carol Lynch Williams (St. Martin's Griffin, 2009)

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X – James Patterson (Grand Central Publishing, 2009)

Dragon Spear – Jessica Day George (Bloomsbury, 2009)

Everything is Fine – Ann Dee Ellis (Little Brown, 2009)

Far World: Water Keep – J. Scott Savage (Shadow Mountain, 2008)

Far World: Land Keep – J. Scott Savage (Shadow Mountain, 2009)

Forest Born – Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury, 2009)

The Hourglass Door – Lisa Mangum (Shadow Mountain, 2009)

How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend – Janette Rallison (Putnam Juvenile, 2007)

Ice – Sarah Beth Durst (Margaret K. McElderry, 2009)

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You – Ally Carter (Hyperion, 2007)

If I Stay – Gayle Forman (Dutton, 2009)

Just One Wish – Janette Rallison (Putnam Juvenile, 2009)

Leviathan – Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse, 2009)

Life as We Know It – Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt, 2008)

Lily Dale: Awakening – Wendy Corsi Staub (Walker Books, 2009)

Lily Dale: Connecting – Wendy Corsi Staub (Walker Books, 2009)

The Line – Teri Hall (Dial, 2010)

The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love: A Novel – A.E. Cannon (Harper Teen, 2008)

The Luxe: Envy – Anna Godberson (Harper Collins, 2009)

The Luxe: Splendor – Anna Godberson (Harper Collins, 2009)

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment – James Patterson (Little Brown, 2007)

Missing: Found – Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2009)

Missing: Sent – Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2009)

My Fair Godmother – Janette Rallison (Walker Books, 2009)

Peter and the Starcatchers – Dave Berry & Ridley Pearson (Disney Editions, 2004)

Pillage – Obert Skye (Shadow Mountain, 2008)

Princess of the Midnight Ball – Jessica Day George (Bloomsbury, 2009)

A Season of Gifts – Richard Peck (Dial, 2009)

The Secret to Teen Power – Paul Harrington (Simon Pulse, 2009)

Shiver – Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic, 2009)

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow – Jessica Day George (Bloomsbury, 2008)

Sunrise Over Fallujah – Walter Dean Meyers (Scholastic, 2009)

This Is What I Did – Ann Dee Ellis (Little Brown, 2009)

Uprising – Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2007)

Wings – Aprilynn Pike (HarperTeen, 2009)

Wonderous Strange – Lesley Livingston (HarperTeen, 2009)

NATIONAL BUZZ

Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, 2009)

The Maze Runner – James Dashner (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2009)

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, 2008)

BONUS: Books that Never Fail to Hook Reluctant Readers

The Christmas Box – Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster, 1995)

Deathwatch – Robb White (Laurel Leaf, 1973)

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp – Richard Yancy (Bloomsbury, 2008)

The Luxe – Anna Godberson (Harper Collins, 2008)

The Luxe: Rumors – Anna Godberson (Harper Collins, 2008)

On Wings of Heroes – Richard Peck (Puffin, 2008)

The Rag and Bone Shop – Robert Cormier (Laurel Leaf, 2003)

Tantalize – Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick, 2008)

The Warrior Heir – Cinda Williams Chima (Hyperion, 2007)

When Santa Fell to Earth – Cornelia Funke (Scholastic. 2009)

Professional Reading

This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save us All – Marilyn Johnson (Harper, 2010)

Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It – Kelly Gallagher (Stenhouse, 2009)

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything – Ken Robinson (Penguin, 2009)

Books for YOU!

Band of Sisters – Annette Lyon (Covenant, 2010)

Christmas Jars Reunion – Jason F. Wright (Shadow Mountain, 2009)

The Christmas List – Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster, 2009)

Courting Miss Lancaster – Sarah M. Eden (Covenant, 2010)

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Schaffer (Dial Press, 2009)

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jamie Ford (Ballentine, 2009)

Lemon Tart: A Culinary Mystery – Josi Kilpack (Deseret Book, 2009)

Sarah’s Key – Tatiana de Rosnay (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008)

Traitor – Sandra Gray (Covenant, 2008)

Lu Ann Brobst Staheli is the author of:

When Hearts Conjoin (Richard Paul Evans Publishing)

Jim Karol: Psychic Madman (Sourced Media)

Coming Soon:

The Business of Marriage with Dino Watt

From Showbiz to Starbiz with Alan Osmond

Make 'Em Laugh

I was watching the film The Secret the other day, and one of the seconds talked about a woman who diagnosed with cancer. This woman decided to forgo the usual treatment and spend her time releasing stress by watching the funniest films she could find.

Now, I'm not suffering from cancer, or any other devastating disease that I'm aware of, but I do place myself under a lot of stress in my daily life, so I decided that maybe I needed to revel in a bit of humor from my own video shelves in the past few weeks. And I've found some doozies! Even after multiple viewings of each of these movies, they make me laugh right out loud every time I see them.

I know I always feel better after watching one of them. Maybe they can do the same for YOU!

Rhinestone



The premise of this one alone is enough to make me start to chuckle. Sylvestor Stallone as a country singer? Add the perfect timing of real-life country singer Dolly Parton and you have a pair you will fall in love with, if you don't laugh yourself to death while Stallone is singing --is that what we call it? And the moment he dons the Rhinestone cowboy outfit and hits the back of a horse straight from The Electric Horseman? Priceless! You gotta watch it! This one's funnier than the auditions for America Idol.

Galaxy Quest



If you enjoyed last year's new Star Trek film, and if you were ever any kind of a fan of the TV show, you'll appreciate the subtle parallels that Tim Allen and crew bring to this movie. Maybe not every fan at World Con is wearing a costume, but when some real aliens show up, Commander Peter Quincy Taggert gets taken on a ride that teaches him more about himself than he ever could have learned alone if he really had traveled the entire universe. I really loved seeing "Snape" play a character perhaps a little too close to Mr. Spock than Nimoy himself would have liked. Laugh out loud at this one without feeling the least bit guilty.

American Dreamz



Wait! If you're really an American Idol and Simon Cowell fan, then you have GOT to see this one! Hugh Grant is dead-right on spot in his Cowell-like personae as the host of American Dreamz--with a Z! Mandy Moore's performance didn't thrill me all that much, but hey, the rest of the movie TOTALLY made up for it!

In & Out



By far the most irreverent, but also the most absolute side-splitting movie in the bunch, Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck can actually make you believe they are gay, even while knowing in your heart they are not. Joan Cusack's performance is perfect, and Debbie Reynolds and Wilford Brimley deliver stellar performances as the parent of the now-outed English teacher played by Kline. Just try not to pee your pants when Howard tries out his manly man tapes by trying to keep himself from dancing a little Y.M.C.A.

Chick Flicks and Valentine's Day

February 14th, the day that used to be the most dreaded day of my life. Back in the days before I was married, I hated Valentine's Day. Why? I didn't have a boyfriend, lover, or special someone--a fact that was brought even more clear into my life and to the eyes of the world every Valentine's Day as flowers, candy, and special presents were delivered to the other girls in my classes starting somewhere when I was in grade school and following through for years of my teaching career.

Of course, all that changed for me when I met and married my husband, but I still found myself feeling the hurt of those girls who didn't get something special during the Valentine delivery parade at school on Friday. Oh, the student council tried to right the wrong by delivering candy-grams to almost everyone in the school (somehow a half dozen kids in my class got missed), but word soon spread who those secret admirer messages came from and those who got them still felt let down.

I understood their pain. Too many years of my own life found me hoping, wishing, praying that things would change. I was 40 before that happened. Even now, I think of al those years of looking for love and find myself ready for a good cry.

That's where a great chick flick comes in handy. If you want a great reason to cry without looking like you need to, find a film and settle in for the evening, tissues at the ready. My husband has been working out of town--although he will be here for the special day--but that hasn't kept me from hitting the video shelves and finding some great chick flicks to remind me just how special love is and how much I miss him.

Here's a quick run-down of the movies I've watched in the last couple weeks. Lucky for me, he was here for a couple to snuggle and remember just how much he loves me.



Who needs to go to a packed theater to enjoy a star-packed romantic comedy? Julie Roberts, Billy Crystal, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and John Cusack headline this hysterically funny film that hits perhaps a little too close to the world of movie-making and celebrity where my husband and I sometimes live. Funny or not, this one will still make the true romantic have a little cry.



Another laugh-out loud comedy, Greek or not, I still identified with screenwriter and star Nia Vardalos in this film as Toula made her search for the perfect man by becoming the perfect woman. Every time I watch the movie, I thank God my family is NOTHING like hers, well. . . almost!



I first saw this movie in the theater with my husband, and we both loved the rich beauty of Italy, mixed with the romance of relationships that don't always work out the way you expect them to.



Okay, so you might ask how does a story about a man who ends up in a "It's a Wonderful Life" scenerio classify itself as a chick flick? Because Tia Leoni makes you want to live her life and love this man so much that when she almost loses him it will break your heart. I had to call my husband late, late at night after watching this one, just to tell him just how much I loved and missed him.



I watched this movie this afternoon in the kitchen with a houseful of boys, and cried like a baby when it looked like all was lost. And no, the tears weren't because I was figuring out the paperwork for taxes at the same time! I knew the problems worked out too easy in this ghost-like relationship between Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, and even though I was seeing the movie for a second time, my heart was broken when I thought, just for a moment, that nothing would work out right in the end. That's probably what hooked two of those boys to sit down and watch the movie with me to the very end. It's a good thing none of us walked away unsatisfied.

So, if you forgot to get your special someone a Valentine, or if your special someone hasn't yet walked into your life, I hope you have a great, romantic time anyway this Valentine's Day, and consider watching a chick flick sometime during the day. It will make you feel good about love, no matter what your current circumstances.

Coming Soon: Jim Karol's Supermind

So many people have been asking me about Supermind, my next book coming soon, that I thought you'd like to discover a little bit about Jim Karol, the man whose story we tell. Check out this clip from NBC's Phenomenon where Jim performs the bear trap segment from his show. The book will be released this spring. Jim's part is about 5 minutes into the clip.

Been There, Done That – The Monkees

In 1966 on a Monday night you would have found me glued to the color television set in my parents’ living room. No one—and I mean NO one—was allowed to make a sound for the half-hour that Mike, Mickey, Davy, and Peter were on the screen, because that was my sacred time to watch and listen to my favorite band, The Monkees.

Back in the day before iTunes, CDs or even VHS, I would sit close to the screen, trying to memorize every move as my reel-to-reel tape recorder saved every word and note that came through the speaker. Once the show was over, I would take my recorder into my bedroom to listen again to the show I had just seen.

Back in those days, Peter Tork was my favorite Monkee, followed closely by Mike Nesmith. Like most girls, I liked Davy with his darling British accent—but that was the problem—most girls already liked Davy. There was too much competition, or confusion, or craziness associated with the mere mention of his name. And speaking of craziness-Mickey was just a little too crazy for me.

Yes, I was hooked on The Monkees. Posters were plastered across my bedroom wall, hours were spent listening to the albums over and over again, Tiger Beat was read religiously, and gossip sessions with my friends all revolved around which guy was really cuter.

In 1966, I would never have imagined I’d have the chance to actually meet any of The Monkees, but in 1986 I got my chance. The place: Las Vegas, but that’s not where this story begins.

Just north of Salt Lake City, there’s an amusement park once made famous in a Beach Boys song, “We'll be coming soon; There's a park near the city, yeah; All the kids dig the Lagoon now.” Although it doesn’t seem like the park continues to have big-name performers there anymore, for some reason they were hosting The Monkees there that year, and a bunch of my Osmond-fan friends all ended up going.

Of course, being the type of fans we were, we had a great time—singing along, snapping photos, and trying to meet guys after the show. (Mike was no longer touring with the band by this time, but seeing three out of four ain’t bad!)

To our disappointment, my friend Jess and I were not successful at tracking down any of The Monkees for autographs after the show, but not to be stopped we came up with the brilliant idea, “Hey, they are performing next weekend in Las Vegas. Let’s go!”

Why not? We were single and had money back then, and a trip to Vegas was just a short drive in the car compared to some of the places we had been on our Osmond treks. But we knew if things worked out and we’d actually get the chance to meet The Monkees, we wanted to have something great—something special for them to sign.

I was thrilled when I got my pictures back from Worldwide Photos and saw the great solo shots I had of each one of the guys. I immediately ordered 9x12 prints to take on my trip to Vegas, just in case.

And that move paid off. Years of experience had taught the group of us about locating the most likely spots for celebrities to arrive at a variety of hotels all over Vegas; we knew where to stand; what to have with us; and how to talk to them to get an autograph, even if we didn’t get to pose for a picture.

And this time, we were in luck. I think Mickey must have been the first one off the bus when they arrived at the hotel, and I rushed right up to him, managing to get a scrawled autograph on my previous picture without too much of a fuss.

Davy was next, and he was so gracious. “Wow! Where did you get this picture?” he asked and he wrote David Jones across the top.

“I took it last week in Utah,” I told him.

He gave me a double-take and said, “How did you get it so fast?”

I just smiled and thanked him. Sometimes it pays to be a regular customer in a business establishment with big bucks to spend.

Now I only had Peter to track down and my autograph collection would be complete. But where was he, anyway? Somehow, during the minutes I spent with Davy, Peter had slipped from the bus and headed toward the outdoor pool and his room somewhere beyond. Once I spotted him, I was on my way.

“Peter! Peter,” I called. He lowered his head and seemed even more determined to get away, but I kept following. When I caught up with him a few seconds later, I said, “Peter can you sign my photo for me?”

He glanced over his shoulder before suddenly slowing down. We had left the entourage behind, and he seemed to relax a little. “Okay,” he said, “but we have to hurry.”

“Okay,” I said, understanding that he didn’t want to get stopped by the rest of the soon-to-follow-us crowd.

He signed his name and handed the photo back to me before giving me a smile and saying, “Enjoy the show.”

“I will,” I assured him. “I will.”

And I certainly did. After all, I had met The Monkees, and twenty-years of Daydream Believing had just come true.

Wisdom Keys: The Secret of Your Future is Hidden in Your Daily Routine

If your life is anything like mine, you hit the floor running the moment you get out of bed, and fall back into bed at the end of the day, exhausted beyond measure. Sometimes you find it hard to remember exactly what you did accomplish on a certain day, or perhaps you even wonder if you managed to really accomplish anything.

It’s hard to imagine finding the time to add anything to our already-busy lives, even if making a simple change might make all the difference in bringing us more satisfaction, greater wealth, or an abundance of spiritual blessings.

We know we should participate in daily scripture reading. Prayer should be a regular part of our lives. Spending quality time with our spouse and children should be a top priority. Giving service to others in our neighborhood, church, and community should be a top priority.

But where on earth will we find the time?

Because I currently balance two full time careers, people often ask me, “How do you do it all? Where do you find the time?”

The fact is, I never find the time—I must MAKE the time.

When I have a specific writing deadline, there is no time for television, playing games on Facebook, or going to movies. If I have an obligation for a conference or other presentation, I shuffle critique group, book club, and reading to other nights or spare moments. When I’m required to give additional hours to my teaching job, no excuses will suffice—I simply must be there.

Should I not do the same to make time for my spiritual growth as well? As the Lord reminds us, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24). If we allow all of our time to be taken up in the pattern of everyday living, promising ourselves we will find the time tomorrow to start daily scripture reading or next week for family prayer, both days will pass and no change will come.

Just as we must do if we want to further our careers, we must also improve our spiritual moments by making the time, scheduling time for prayer, scripture study, attending church meetings, going to the temple.

Look for those brief segments of time throughout the day that could be better utilized. Do you have a commute, wait for appointments, or attend your child’s sporting events? Can you spend a few moments in quiet meditation, memorize an Article of Faith, or study a single chapter from the scriptures while you wait?

I calculated that by reading only three chapters a day, I can complete the entire Old Testament in less than a year. Since the scriptures are online, I can read them at home or at work without carrying the set with me. I can even download a free mp3 version if I prefer to listen. When it comes to prayer, the Lord is used to hearing from me often as I drive to and from my job. The car is quiet, I’m all alone, and I don’t have to worry about lots of interruptions as I talk openly with my Father in Heaven.

Finding time to improve the spiritual me will also pay off when it comes to meeting my temporal needs. If I make the time to develop my testimony, study the scriptures, and talk to the Lord in prayer, I know he will listen and respond when I ask for the things I might need. By making the Lord part of my daily routine, I will become the person He has meant me to be.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:34; 3 Nephi 13:21) and if I want a treasure, the first place I need to look is where I’ve set my heart.

And that is where I’ll find the secret of my future.

Home Cooking: Helen’s Famous 30-Minute Meals

My mother was talented in many ways, but I think one of the most amazing things about her was her ability to make a complete and delicious home-cooked meal in thirty minutes. I suppose this is a talent she developed after all those years of working at the Camera Shop all day long with my dad, then coming home to feed him—and me—a hot meal.

In any case, some of my favorite meal memories are the things she whipped up as though on the spur of a moment, with no pre-planning required. Of course, I now know that she had likely been thinking about her menu since at least Monday night—the day before her weekly trip to the grocery. But when I was still a child, living at home, those meals seemed like a little bit of magic.

Breaded tenderloin, fried potatoes, cornbread and beans, chili soup—the list went on and on of the dishes she prepared and had on the table almost quicker than I could drop off my book bag, turn on the television news, and come to the table.

Sometimes I would sit on the stool next to the stove and watch her work. An electric skillet on one side of me; the stovetop on the other, Mom would pull together a full course meal with hardly an effort. I suppose this is how I really learned to cook, despite the three years of mandatory home economics classes I took in junior high and high school—back in the day when girls were being raised to be housewives.

“Turn the tenderloin, Lu Ann,” Mom would say when the time was right. “Can you help me peel the potatoes?”

I became an expert at using a paring knife. Give me a potato, an apple, or even a pear and I can skin it in almost one smooth curl—something that can’t be accomplished with a potato peeler.

Years before I was old enough to wield the sharpened knife, Mother had taught the same skills to Sue, who eventually taught them to her daughters, just like I’ve been teaching my sons. Society hasn’t changed its rules only for the girls, you know. Boys need to know their way around a kitchen the same way girls should know how to care for their car.

So, while my husband was off at work two weeks ago, my boys were called to duty to assist in the kitchen as I pulled together those thirty-minute meals my mother was so famous for. Pulling out their family favorites, we made biscuits and gravy, macaroni and cheese, tuna and macaroni salad, ham salad sandwiches, tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, chili soup, and potato soup, as well as a few of Sue’s recipes that perhaps took a little longer, but were so good.

This past week my husband has been home and once again taken charge of the cooking. We’ve had some great meals, but somehow I’ve found that cooking the things my mother made was more satisfying to the taste buds, keeping me away from those late-night snacks I always look for after eating steak or chicken. I’m almost convinced my children think so, too. None of my meals had leftovers, with the boys heading back two or three times to refill their plates or bowls.

Yep, those thirty-minute meals my mother taught me have remained successful. Even my youngest has noticed the difference. “Mom,” he said to me one night earlier this week, “it doesn’t take us as long to eat the stuff you make, but it sure is good.”

And I’d have to agree.

Thanks, Mom, for teaching your 30- minute cooking secrets to me.

Been There, Done That – David Cassidy

For along time now, I’ve considered writing a book titled Been There, Done That, Bought the T-Shirt about the crazy times this girl from Indiana has had since she grew up and moved away. With the popularity of the blog messages I’ve already posted in Living in an Osmond World, I thought it was time I started writing this book about my other celebrity adventures, so on Monday you’ll get the chance to read entries that will someday go into the book.

Enjoy!

Meeting David Cassidy

Perhaps you’re old enough to remember the Tiger Beat Magazine centerfold wars. One month it would be Donny Osmond; the next, David Cassidy. For me, it was never a war as to which poster was hanging in my room—the winner was always David Cassidy. (How ironic that I grew up to work for Donny and his brothers.)

I remember the first time I ever saw David. I was cleaning my closet and watching television in my bedroom. My mother had stopped in to talk about something—who knows what—and I stepped out of the walk-in to see what she wanted. I glanced at the set where Marcus Welby, M.D. was playing and this cute guy came onto the screen. From that moment on, I was hooked.

I sat down on the edge of the bed next to my mother, and watched the rest of the show. Wow! I thought, He sure is cute. With a new boy on my mind, is it any wonder I have no idea why my mom had wanted to talk with me in the first place?

As soon as she left, the poster search was on. The closet-cleaning forgotten, I carefully went through my old issues of Tiger Beat, lifting the center staples and withdrawing all the posters of my newest crush—David Cassidy. This ritual went on through his entire career as Keith Partridge, through the time I saw him as a tiny dot onstage at the Indiana State Fair, only stopping because his popularity in the teen mags seemed to dwindle about the same time I was off to college.

But that didn’t mean I’d forgotten about David.

And in 1976, I got the chance to finally meet him.

It was a Sunday morning when my roommate Debbie and I were heading to church in Bloomington, Indiana. We had the radio on and heard WIFE announced that David Cassidy would be live in studio from noon to two promoting his new single, Getting’ It in the Streets, and to “come on down.”

Debbie and I sort of looked at each, shrugged our shoulders, and headed toward Indy instead of the church. Bloomington was less than 50 miles away from Indianapolis, so it took us less than an hour to get there. David had also just arrived.

We stood outside the station in the cold with a couple other girls, and watched through the window as David was greeted by the DJ and took a seat near the mic. The two of them chatted and David gave us a little wave. I could hardly believe how close he was, and how great he looked.

The station had a speaker rigged up so people on the sidewalk could hear the music and talk going on inside, but that didn’t alter the fact it was freezing where we were huddled to watch and listen. After a little while, someone from the station came outside and said David wanted to invite us all in.

For the next hour, we crowded into the on air booth with him. David chatted with us while the songs played and talked on air between them. I don’t remember much of the conversation, but I was in the same room, talking with David Cassidy! My teenage daydreams had come to life.

I do remember I asked him about his interest in being on the Donny & Marie Show, which was still on at the time, and he said he'd love it.

“I’ll let the Osmonds know the next time I see then,” I told him.

(I wasn’t working for the family yet, but I did keep my promise. Is it my fault it took until April 14, 2007 at Wembley Arena for that to happen?)

)

When it was time for David to go, he hugged us—maybe maybe there was a quick brush like a kiss against a cheek (I can't remember!!!!!) then put on his HUGE fur coat (bigger than the one I described Merrill Osmond wearing in Living in an Osmond World Part 1) and went outside into the waiting limo.

Again Debbie and I looked at each other, shrugged, and decided to follow him!

Long before O.J. and the white Bronco, we were involved in a slow speed chase, north on Meridian Street to his hotel. The limo pulled slowly into the drive and entered the covered lane for easy access to the front doors.

We pulled our car into the adjacent parking lot and stopped. David got out of the car, turned and waved at us. We waved back. Then he walked into the hotel where a few others girls seemed to be camped out at the door, waiting for him as we drove away.

It would be a long time before I again got to see David in person—September 1, 2004, in Orem, Utah, at the Scera Shell Summer Concert series—but even though this time I could actually see his face during the concert, it still wasn’t quite as memorable as the hour I spent in the radio station studio chatting with David like the old friends I often wish we were.

Ah, one can’t have everything they want from life, can they?

Wisdom Keys: Never Complain About What You Permit

I habitually stay up too late. I’ve always got a million things going which keeps me running from place to place and task to task almost every night. All too often I find myself just making it into the bedroom to settle down for the night well after ten o’clock, and often more like eleven.

If I were to go to sleep immediately, then some nights I would get eight hours of sleep before the six o’clock alarm rang. But, I’m one of those people who needs at least thirty minutes of time to wind down before I can even think about sleeping. The best way for me to relax is to read, so I pick up a book and begin.

Unfortunately I get involved in the story and suddenly realize it’s nearly midnight and going to sleep is an absolute necessity, so I close the book, turn off the light and drift off. In the morning, if I’m tired, I can’t complain too much because it’s something I brought on myself.

But what about those other times I want to complain? Am I running late because I didn’t plan ahead? Did I allow someone to annoy me? Do I bring on stress because I didn’t take care of something I should have in the first place?

How many times do we find ourselves in a situation we wish we could change? Do we prefer to take care of the problem, or are we happier when we sit and complain?

Complaining seems to have become a way of life for some people. Just listen when a group of friends or even strangers sit around together. What do you hear? “I wish my boss would let me take a few extra days off. My kids never do what I ask them to do. My husband always leaves his dirty socks on the floor. My bills are astronomical.” On and on and on. . . the same ideas come through no matter who you seem to talk to these days.

How did we get to be such a complaining people? Elder Richard G. Scott says, “We should never complain, when we are living worthily, about what happens in our lives.”

So what are we doing that causes us to complain? President Gordon B. Hinckley says, “By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.”

Ouch!

Life really is pretty good, when you think about it. We have people we care about and who care for us all around us. Our basic needs are being met, even if our sometimes outrageous wants are not. We have the power to change our lives and the world around us for good if we only take the steps to do so.

Are we complaining about the very things we permit? Are they things we could probably change? Where might we begin?

President Spencer W. Kimball used to keep a little sign on his desk that simply read, “Do it.”

The idea might not seem too simple, but in reality it’s not. If you’re unhappy with something that is happening in your home, talk it over with your spouse, siblings, children or others who are directly involved and see if a compromise can be reached. If you don’t like your job, what are you doing to prepare for a different job? Have you done anything to curb your spending?

If we are permitting situations into our lives that cause us to complain, then we have to be the one to make whatever changes necessary to remove the reason to complain. We need to “Do it.”

If you want more money—spend less and make more. If you want the members of your family to help you with the chores—make your wishes and the consequences clear. If you need to find a better job—set your goals, get yourself educated then take the plunge.

And as for me—if I want to get a better night’s sleep I need to rearrange my daily schedule so I have my thirty minutes to relax before it’s time to drift off to sleep.

Wisdom Keys: Wisdom Keys and the Gospel

Perhaps because I wasn’t raised LDS, I have a soft spot in my heart for listening to what other people have to say about the gospel, through both spoken word and music. It’s interesting to hear their viewpoints, glean from them words of wisdom, and consider how their teachings compare with what I know to be true.
In April 1996, President Gordon B. Hinckley, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, advised the members of the church to “Look for the good in those about you, add emphasize on that good. Other churches also do much good, but this is the ‘true and living church’ of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose name it bears (see D&C 1:30).” (Stand True and Faithful. Ensign, May 1996) So I look and I listen.
Just last night I stopped and watched a few minutes of a Gaither Homecoming being aired on CMT. I grew up listening to the music of Bill and Gloria Gaither—literally. They sometimes attended the Church of God in Alexandria, Indiana, where I was a regular member in my youth. (On a side-note, Joey Martin—you probably know her as Joey + Rory—was also raised attending in that same church, where her mother June used to sing as well.)
The Gaithers might present a special number, or sometimes Bill’s brother Danny or his sister Mary Anne would perform. Bill used to be an English teacher at my high school, but by the time I got there, he was traveling full time, spreading the word around the world through his gospel music.
One of my favorite songs written by Bill was “He Touched Me,” a song that came to the attention of the King himself—Elvis—who came to my little home town to record the song for one of his albums.
Yes, I love old-time gospel music, but I also enjoy listening to a great preacher once in awhile. Oh, I love hearing the word spoken from the General Authories during conference, but there is just something that still captures my attention about those TV evangelists and the messages they deliver that makes me perk up and take notice, looking at where their beliefs and mine meet on a common road.
Among my two favorites are Dr. Joyce Meyer and Dr. Mike Murdock. In her down home folksy way, Dr. Meyer helps me look at things from a whole new light and give me a greater understanding when I read the scriptures on my own—all the scriptures, Book of Mormon included. Dr. Murdock has a similar tone of delivery, one that draws me in and makes me think—really think.
One of Dr. Murdock’s main topics has to do with what he calls “Wisdom Keys.” I have a copy of his little book that lists 101 of them. Over the next few weeks, I thought I might write about them here on the Sunday blog, considering how each key might apply to my life in relation to my LDS beliefs. Perhaps these few words will also entice you to consider what you believe.
Like President Hinckley said, “I believe that there are millions who are prayerful, faithful, strong people who are doing their best to rear their families in truth and righteousness, to live as citizens with honesty and integrity and to make a contribution of their lives.”
Whether you’re a member of the LDS church or not, you and I have the same basis for our beliefs—we know the word of God to be true.
And that is the gospel wisdom within us all.

Home Cooking: Cooking with Susie B.

My over-indulgence recently with Julie Powell and her grand blog experiment with cooking her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking must have influenced my sudden desire to cook.

Now you have to know that cooking has not ever been one of my passions. As I’ve mentioned before, my mother taught me how to make several dishes, but she did most of the cooking. It’s not that I can’t cook, because I can. The meals I make are very simple. Most of them can be pulled together in less than half-an-hour, a trick my mother learned because she worked at the Camera Shop with my dad, closed the store at 5:00, and had a full meal on the table no later than 5:45 each evening.

Of course, growing up with Miss Betty Crocker as an older sister didn’t give me much room to experiment in the kitchen either—although I do remember a few huge messes I made at Grandma Heffner’s kitchen, learning how to make pie crust with lard, peeling apples from the trees in her yard for pie, and smashing others through the colander to make homemade applesauce with Red Hearts candy.



You think I’m kidding about Sue being Betty Crocker, don’t you? Well, I’m not. When she was a senior in high school—the year I turned ONE—she passed a test in her high school home economics class and was awarded the “The Betty Crocker Award.” And she deserved it—I’ve never known anyone who could bake as well as my sister. Her desserts were to die for!

So, here I am—completely possessed with the idea of cooking, and having the ability to do it since my Grand Chef Master and former Craft-Service husband is working out of town—considering the recipes from Sue’s own repertoire, organized into a family cookbook by her daughters, Connie and Melissa, to honor their mother after her death in 2003.

The holiday foods are here—cranberry salad and creamed eggs, check—and even the world-famous Grandma Brobst’s macaroni & cheese. Breakfast, Main Dish, Salads, Breads, Rolls, and the DESSERTS! Yum!!!! The desserts which somehow managed to fill over half the volume of the cookbook—the same desserts I used to want to start the meal at Sue’s house because there were always so many and every one of them delicious.
And that brings me to my project. Like Julie Powell, I’m going to cook my way through a cookbook—but my cooking will be much more special to me. I’m working my way through a cookbook by Susie B.

This past week we concentrated on soups—the chili and chicken noodle were both homemade, the tomato came thanks to Campbell’s—with a grilled cheese or buttered bread on the side. The boys ate like they had never been fed before, with every pot so clean in the end they already looked liked they’d been washed. I did find it interesting that I wasn’t nearly so hungry later in the evening. Is there something about being homemade that satisfies my appetite in an entirely new way?

My trip to the grocery store this afternoon was planned to help me continue along the planned course. Potato salad, ham salad, Watergate salad, Breakfast Casserole, and Dried Beef Gravy with Biscuits are all on this week’s agenda. I’ll let you know next week how this new fare went over with my houseful of boys.

Onward and upward, as the saying goes—let the challenge officially begin. And if I’m ever going to make it through the cookbook in a year, I’d better get started on those desserts. The plan for tomorrow? Texas Sheet Cake. Double-yum! I can almost already taste it.

But for now, it’s time to stop thinking of food and move on to other things. Oh, but on an interesting side note—I got word this week that I will have a BYU student as an intern next semester in preparation for her becoming my student teacher next year.

Her name? Julia Powell.

It must be kismet!

A Year Book in Review

To know me at all is to know I’m a voracious reader. I’m one of those people who has about ten books going at once. There’s a stack of books on my bedside table big enough to damage my head if we had even a mild earthquake. Five rooms and two hallways in the house have book shelves that are stuffed full. I have cases of books stored in the shed, several audio books on my computer, and even a couple of my iPod. My car usually has at least one audio book to keep me company as I travel. My desk at school will sometimes collect three or four books that are currently “in progress,” and yet I still make regular trips to the public and school libraries.

Okay, so I’m addicted to reading. I know it; my students know it; my sons and husband know it—although they might not always like it. I’ve tried to cut back on the number of books I own, but those little buggers just seem to multiple! I’ve sold books on eBay, given books as gifts, and donated them by the sackful to not only my classroom at school, but to other teachers, public libraries, and charitable causes as well. Yet I never seem to make a real dent on the number of books stashed away in every nook and cranny—oh, and there the chest of drawers stuff with paperbacks I failed to mention.

If I were to retire today from everything I do and spend all my time doing nothing but reading, I doubt I’d make it through them all before my time was through. But that doesn’t stop me from the thrill of pursuing a bookstore, surfing through Amazon, or welcoming books sent to me for review.

With all this reading going on, I often get asked to give my opinion about books, books, and more books. I’ll be speaking in March at the UELMA conference; I review regularly for The ALAN Review, LMC Magazine, and The Signal Journal; and my students, friends, and family as always asking me what they should read. Heck, I even hear from students from years ago: “Mrs. Staheli, Can you tell me a good book to read?” I give them a half-dozen titles and they are off and running.

I were to give a long report on every book I loved this year you’d be here all night reading this blog, so I’m just going to list the best books I’ve read in the past year out of the nearly 150 books I completed. Maybe you’ll find something here you will add to your reading list for this year. As for mine, the list is already full and it’s still only January!

The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love – Ann Cannon

Search and Destroy – Dean Hughes

Legend of the Jewel – N.C. Allen

Wolf Rider – Avi

Might As Well Laugh About It Now – Marie Osmond

The Chosen One – Carol Lynch Williams

Cash in a Flash - Allen & Hansen

Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society - Shaffer

The Christmas List - Evans

Far World: Land Keep - Savage

Christmas Jars Reunion - Wright

Uprising - Haddix

The Hourglass Door - Mangum

Oh, and I can't forget the one that could possible get me out of all this book mess:

Enough Already - Walsh

All My Dead Relatives

It’s my theory that every family has one—a historian—a self-appointed someone who is the collector of family history, stories, trivia, and pictures. I’m that person in my generation of the family.

I remember sitting for hours in my mother’s bedroom, looking through photos albums she had painstakingly put together through all the years of my life. My parents owned a Camera Shop and did photo-finishing back in the day before digital, so you can imagine how many photos we collected over my lifetime. As I would browse through the pictures, Mother would tell me the stories.

I knew all about her baby sister, Ethel Louise who was stillborn; how Grandpa Heffner and his brother, Herb, and sister, Ethel, were left in the Soldier’s and Sailors Orphanage when they were kids and how Grandpa ran away and joined the circus; she told me about Grandma Heffner working in the marshmallow factory in Indianapolis until the doctor said she needed fresh country air and they moved to Hancock’s Chapel where Herb and Ethel were living with the Charley Wolfe family.

I knew stories about the Brobst family, too, because Daddy had lived a half block away from Mother once both families moved to Alexandria, where I grew up. Grandpa Brobst used to be in charge of lighting the gas lamps downtown every evening so he knew how walk on stilts; I heard about how he and Grandma had just come home married one day after being witnesses for a couple of their friends; and about the staring contest Daddy once had with Mother’s cousin Roberta that ended with the payment of a kiss.

Not all those stories are told in pictures, but they were all told while I looked at the pictures, and I remembered them. Many of them well enough that I wrote a book about them—Leona and Me, Helen Marie—an early draft of which I gave to members of my family for Christmas the year after Mother died.

One of the oddities about our family photos are all the pictures those albums contain of my dead relatives. No, you might night have understood me—when I say dead, I mean dead. . . in their caskets. I never considered it an oddity while I was growing up, but I have photos of dead baby Ethel Louise, grandmas and grandpas, and even a few greats, all decked out in their final repose, the walls behind their open coffins filled with flowers. Sometimes the shots are of them alone. Others have various once-living relatives posed beside them in a final family portrait.

Okay, I’ll admit, when I was growing up I never saw this as odd. It was quite normal to me. I’d actually posed in some of those photos. I’d even taken them with my own camera as an adult. It wasn’t until I got married and my husband saw my dead relatives that I found out it was strange.
“Why on earth did your family take pictures of dead people?” he asked me the first time he saw them.

“Doesn’t your family?” I asked.

Apparently not! He thinks it’s gruesome. I think it’s my final memory—a memory I guess he’d rather not have of anyone, not even my beloved dead ancestors. Well, I guess that’s okay with me, but I just took a trip down memory lane, taking one more look at all those dead relatives in yet another album my Mother spent hours putting together, and I found a treasure there. Photos of myself and my parents, poetry my mother had written to commemorate each person upon their death, and clippings from the newspaper and memorial services about those people I loved from so long ago. I found it comforting.

My only concern has been who among my family will care in the future about these people who have always been so important to me. My sons are all adopted, and they are—well—SONS! By the time they might decide perhaps they do care, I could be long dead and gone, and the stories dead with me.

I don’t want these stories to die! Maybe that’s why I’ve been sharing photos with my living relatives the past few weeks via the internet. It’s probably why I wrote the novel in the first place. And maybe even these blogs allow me to record a little history for the posterity of my brothers and sister, nieces and nephews. That way they, too, can know of our history. They can see the photos of our dead ancestors—I’ll save you the trauma of actually seeing the photos of the dead relatives, opting instead to post photos of when they were living.

And I hope all this storytelling will entice someone among my living relatives to become the next keeper, the family historian who will allow our family to live on into the next generation and beyond.