The Help

I started to read "100 Days of Solitude" but I am taking a break because my mom gave me "The Help" and I started it on Sunday.  It's so good that I cannot put it down.  I only have about two chapters left and I am dying to write about it, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone.  Whether you decide to read the book first, or just see the movie coming out August 10th, definitely get to this story somehow.  They are comparing it to "To Kill a Mockingbird" and I thought "yeah, right.  That's blasphemy." That's one of my Top 5 favorites and I didn't think that it could compare and found it obnoxious that they were even saying that, but the story really is just as important. 

This book is about segregation in the 60's, more specifically, it's about the maids in Mississippi.  These women do everything in the house, including the raising of the white children. The children love the women and the women love the children like they are their own.  They were "free" but they really weren't, with the Jim Crow Laws still existing.  The white employers are a mix in this book.  Some of them are decent, and some are just absolutely repulsive. There are parts of the book that will churn your stomach and boil your blood.  I just keep thinking "The 60's weren't that long ago".  If it isn't something that you don't think about every day, it is shocking to think about the changes that have been made in such a short amount of time.  I can't even imagine "black schools" and "white schools" and drinking fountains and such.  The book is also very funny at times, and when you get to the Terrible Awful Thing that Minny did......I can't say anymore.  All I can say is that I am VP of the "I Hate Hilly Club" and my mom is President.  She is a hideous person and you will hate her.  Do me a favor.  When you read it, tell me so we can talk about the Terrible Awful!  I'm laughing and you don't know why!  HAHA!

Logan is enjoying football so far; he's tired though.  He was weighed yesterday and he was close to 90 lbs.  There are some boys in the 10/11 group that are so big, I can't believe it.  Apparently one kid is 5'9 and 180 lbs.  The minimum requirement for being red striped is 125, which is more than I weigh!  I can't believe that a child in 5th or 6th grade could tackle me to the ground.  It's weird, isn't it?  And these kids are coming at my kid?  Geez.  Logan is strong though and he always shocks people when he hits them, which isn't surprising to me at all.  Logan has always been hard to manage physically.  That sounds weird, but you know what I mean if you have toddlers who throw temper tantrums.  He'd often go limp and turn to lead if I carried him somewhere that he didn't want to go, mostly in public, and spanking him?  Well, let's just say that it was a nightmare and it didn't work.  I'd try to swat his butt and it was nearly impossible because I'd get beat up in the process.  He'd kick me in the throat and the stomach, punch and scratch my arms, it was awful.  Time-out was painful too because every time that he would get up and I would put him back in the chair, I'd get beat up again.  I was so out of breath after attempting to discipline him that I won't ever forget how strong he is and I don't worry about him getting hurt very much. 

I told the kids that I am taking them to the pool or something today, after I finish a few things around the house. 

Here's the Word of the Day:

hoary \HAWR-ee\, adjective:

1. Tedious from familiarity; stale.
2. Gray or white with age.
3. Ancient or venerable.