Bouquets of Newly Sharpened Pencils.

I was getting record hits--into the teens--on my last few posts, and then I had to go and post a recipe! I'll never do that again. Thanks for your token comment forecast. I guess in your case that chicken would really be "to die for." Sorry for the sick humor. But definitely try the limeaid.

I just realized that my blog is over a year old. So, Nomad, here is a happy belated birthday wish! I can hardly believe how well I've kept up with this when I've gotten to be such a shockingly poor journal writer in recent years.

I didn't have much to post on today, but here is a picture of Scallywag's missing teeth. What happened to my little boy!? We meet his teacher on Thursday and then next Tuesday he'll be at school every day. Why do the years always seem so much longer when we look forward than when we look back? Hmm . . . any ideas?

As long as I'm posting about nothing in particular, I will tell you about the weather. Upper 60's, lower 70's. A cool breeze from the North. It must be from the North, it has a definite bite to it. Today is like a perfect spring day. I wish we had a kite. I sense the beginning of Autumn in the air; it is the time of year I feel the greatest sense of change, probably because of the school thing. The year never seems old to me in December, but in late August. Nothing says "change is imminent" like thoughts of school supplies, cool nights and orange leaves. This year especially. I'm embarking on an entirely new adventure this year. What will the year hold in store for us?

I've Never Posted a Recipe So Here Is a Meal to Die For

Okay, dying for almost anything seems a little ridiculous, but this was so yummy. I wish I could be more specific on the amount of everything to use, but I think it would be hard to mess up.

Thai Stir Fry with Crispy Chicken


Wisk together about 2/3 cup of coconut milk, 2-3 Tbsp Peanut Butter, a couple of teaspoons sugar and curry powder. (Curry powder is a mix of several spices and comes in varying degrees of heat; there is also curry paste. Each curry will have a slightly different mix of flavors. I use about a tablespoon of the McCormick brand.)

In a pan, saute vegetables in the following order, cooking each veggie for just a minute or two on high heat: onion, carrots (I like carrot shreds in stir fry; they are a lot faster), celery, fresh green beans (best if boiled for a minute or two before stir-fried), and red and/or yellow sweet peppers (green ones tend to get slightly bitter when cooked).

Reduce heat to low. Wisk sauce again to get PB and spices off the bottom of your dish and pour it over the vegetables stiring well until all PB is melted. For added heat, add red pepper flakes to taste (a little goes a long way) and stir well. About a minute before serving, stir in a generous sprinkle of fresh, chopped basil and a handful of cashews.

You can also add grilled or pan cooked chicken to the mix--very good. However, the night we had this , we cut chicken into small chunks, dipped them in egg and corn starch and then fried the pieces in oil. It is so crispy and tender at the same time with a melt in your mouth texture.

For serving, put the Thai vegetables over brown rice and put the chicken on the side. My kids loved the chicken dipped in honey; my husband made a mixture of soy sauce, honey and brown mustard for his chicken; I just used the left over sauce from the vegetables for mine. It was good any way. To make it easier for little kids to eat the veggies, only use veggies they like (heavy on the carrots, in other words) and scale back on the curry and don't use red pepper flakes.

And now for our favorite summer drink. It is divine with Mexican food but was also a fabulous compliment to the recipe above.

Plantboy's Brazilian Lime-Aid

You need a cup of fresh squeezed lime for this, so you shouldn't make it unless you can find really big limes--the small ones take forever to get this much juice from.

Add a cup of cold water and a cup of lime juice to your blender. Put in a quarter cup of sugar and blend on low for about 20 seconds. Add 1/3 a cup of sweetened condensed milk (the secret ingredient to Brazilian fruit juices) and blend for a few seconds. Fill the blender with ice and blend until all ice is slushed up. Taste. If it is not sweet enough for you, add a couple of Tbsp of sugar at a time until it tastes right. If it seems like it needs to be creamier, add more sc milk. Do NOT add these two at the same time without tasting in between--you don't want it to get it too sweet.

Happy eating!

Also, the Poopy Pirate lost TWO teeth yesterday. And, I'm happy to report that the tooth fairy knows where our house is.

30 Minutes and I'm Taking Every One of Them

If you aren't a mom this post will hold very little interest for you. Sorry for the terribly unpromising start, but my kids are watching a Baby Einstein video and I NEED to blog.

I hate nursing. I have tried very hard not to hate it. And I probably don't hate it every single day. I've tried every method of nursing--on demand, schedules, two sides per feeding, one side each time, pumping . . . you get the idea. I've also taken herbal supplements, counted every ounce of water and timed feedings. No matter what I do, I just don't make enough milk, especially when my babies go through growth spurts. So as I just gnash my teeth here for a few minutes, I promise, I am NOT looking for advice. I've had it all.

My first two boys each looked at me like "where has THIS been all my life?" the first time they had mush on a spoon. I am sure that boy #3 will be no exception. He is three months this week and I am counting the hours until he is four months and we can do mush. Yes, I know, the latest research is SIX months. But I am not willing to turn my sweet little baby into a monster because he is hungry all the time.

If it didn't feel like the biggest rip off ever, I would just quit and formula feed. It wouldn't be hard. If I went to formula today, my milk would be dried up by Thursday with little discomfort on my part. As it is, the baby's hunger has caused me to supplement several times over the past week. I know, I know, this is supposed to be bad for nursing. But nursing every 90 minutes because of hunger never causes me to make more milk, it only causes me increasing pain.

Oh, and I'm on an antibiotic for mastitis.

I can't complain entirely, my baby started sleeping through the night all on his own a few weeks ago, but he has hardly napped at all in the afternoon for three days. Even now, I'm letting him cry in the next bedroom and I just have to do it for a few minutes because I'm just not dealing. And there is no one to call and no one to take my big kids for an hour so I can nap . . . with circumstances what they are, this has been my most difficult post-partum of the three. I still feel like I'm not quite together. Not even close.

I'm a real piece of work, I tell you what. My house is filled with half-finished projects that I'm finding nearly impossible with three kids and I'm having a hard time feeling settled yet. There are so many things needed (and un-needed) when you move into a new house and the money is always stretched thin. But what do I want the most? Just somebody to talk about books with.

On the upside, kids are hilarious. Captain Scallywag's two little bottom teeth that he's had since he was just a wee four months old are loose. I nearly got the giggles in Sacrament Meeting when I suddenly had a vision of just ONE big tooth coming in behind both of these little guys. His mouth is so tiny and cute. Grown up teeth already? All I can think is BRACES. Yikes! He has been full of questions about the toothfairy. Wondering if there were lots of toothfairies and if boy toothfairies came for the boy teeth. He is very averse to anything girly these days. He also wanted to know if his tooth fairy would carry a magic wand.

Captain Scallywag gave his first talk on Sunday and I was a very good mommy. I wrote a sweet little talk about the Holy Ghost complete with a multitude of pictures so that he could remember many of the words on his own. There was a picture with a big yellow smiley face, corresponding words, "The Holy Ghost makes us feel happy." Simple, to the point. While practicing the talk Sunday, Captain Scallywag holds up the smiley picture and the Poopy Pirate pipes up and points, "Look Mommy, its the Holy Ghost!" So now, every time a see a smiley face, I'm sure I'll be thinking, "Hey, look, its the Holy Ghost!" I'm sure at some point I'll need to correct said false doctrine, but I'm hoping he'll outgrow this one naturally.

Oh, friends, far and wide! I wish you were all living down the street. I'd invite you over this afternoon and we'd sit on the patio in the lovely, cool weather. There would be chips and salsa for Forecastcallsforrain and homemade pesto or bruschetta on ciabatta bread for Karatemommy and brownies for everyone else. Have I ever told you forecast, how much you'd love Karatemommy if you met her? And Desmama, how I'd love to hear first hand about your moving. And Kimberly Bluestocking--I'm sure you'd be just as charming in person. How could you not be? We'd let the kids run wild and give them all a popsicle if they got sweaty enough. We would talk of "shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings," or whatever random silliness came to mind. I would forget for a couple of delicious hours that life is really not like the story books, and that REAL happily ever after is a daily slog interspersed with moments of perfect.

Words I Hate and a Few Pet Peeves While I'm At It

Its my blog and I'll whine if I want to . . . .

Words I hate:

Uranus--Yesterday my kids were watching a Blue's Clues all about planets. Steve is singing, "Saturn's got those icy rings and Uranus spins on it side." Nice. They can hold a whole forum that bumps Pluto from planet status and they can't even rename one.

Crap and Sucks--You know, these two have become so common it is hardly even worth bringing them up. Growing up, I'd have been in trouble for either of these, especially the second. They slipped fairly regularly into my vocabulary during college and stayed firmly planted there until I had kids. Suddenly I began thinking, how nice are these words popping out of a 2 year old's mouth? (I mean, other than the first time, which would probably be funny.) I'd rather hear an occasional damn or hell than these two.

Omygosh--I never thought much about this expression until my six year old began using it about ten times a day. I've realized that I'm using this expression a plethora of times every day myself. What am I, a valley girl? Like omyheck.

Forward--Why such a tame word with such a nice message? When I was in elementary school, I made it to the district spelling bee. They said there would be no homonyms and then gave me the word "forward" which I spelled f-o-r-e-w-o-r-d. Excuse me for being a third grader who thinks outside the box! Could they have really made this mistake? Maybe it is my memory that is mistaken.

Blog and all variations to change its part of speech--It sounds like you are puking. And okay, I have to admit that blogging is often little more than word spew. I read some blogs that are almost incoherent; as if someone really has just strung together a bunch of random words. Are they being cute or clever? Am I missing some kind of joke?

Gay--Not in the sense that it describes two homosexual men; I mean you have to have a word to call things, right? But in the sense that teenage boys this word, "Dude, that is so gay." Whatever the thing is they don't approve of, it is gay.

Okay, on to the pet peeves.

Alec Baldwin (and anything else from his gene pool, though the brothers aren't worth a mention)--With the possible exception of Hunt for Red October and some narration work in the Thomas the Tank Engine movies, this guy just bugs me. If you have boys who like trains you have no doubt seen Thomas and the Magic Railroad. If not, click on the link. I don't think any more discussion into Alec Baldwin will be necessary.

The Little Mermaid--She dresses like a slut, acts like a brat, attracts stupid men and sells her soul to the sea witch. The consequences of all this? She GETS EVERYTHING SHE WANTS. I love the way Disney helps to teach family values.

Rachael Ray's man hands--Have you ever seen her mix ground meat by hand? Enough said.

Wal-Mart--I will admit that this store is an occassional necessary evil, but I hate in on principal. I will not go into the diatribe here. I'm sure this could be a post all on its own.

Toby Keith--"We'll put a boot up your *** its the American way." Charming.

Flip-flops and chicken hair at church--The flip flops because of what that GA said about beach attire being taboo at a church a couple of conferences ago, and the chicken hair . . . .wait, what do I mean by chicken hair. You know, the pony tail only incomplete pulled through that stands on end--sometimes very strategically. C'mon, people, it is church! Get out of bed 15 minutes earlier and DO something with that mop. Is sloppy the new semi-formal?

Shirts-that-look-like-lingerie-over-a-sucking-tight-top-so-I'm-modest--Maybe this one explains itself? Regardless of the modesty shirt underneath, this look is still reallly suggestive. And it really isn't even that cute. When mothers let their daughters dress this way (again, especially to church!) I just want to know WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?????

You may have noticed, that as I've worn on here I'm getting grouchier. So to end on a happy note:

Words I love--joy, peace, lover, chocolate, date, onamotapeia, grace, teacher, felicity, zap, goofy, hokey, salubrious, plethora, zing, twerp, doofus, zygomatic process, gastrocnemius, salamander, ocean . . . . there are a lot.

Indulgences (or what is the opposite of a pet peeve?)--Chocolate, pictures of my kids, Keith Urban, blogging, cooking, baby-doll shirts, curls, flavored lip gloss, eye makeup, reading on a rainy day, fresh paint on my walls and toes . . . .there are a lot of these too.

Musings From the Mother of Boys (and a Book Review)

When I was growing up, my mother had this marvelous tradition of taking each of her four children school shopping individually. We'd spend the day with her and she'd take us to lunch. I cannot tell you how much I looked forward to this. I decided, with my oldest about to enter kindergarten this year, that I would begin this tradition myself. With a nursing baby, I knew we couldn't take a whole day, but I could do a couple of hours after Plantboy gets home from work and take Scallywag to dinner. I have been looking forward to this all week.

Well, the best laid plans often fall apart, and last night I found myself at Fred Meyer with my whole family doing some school shopping. Scallywag whines about trying on shoes, so I say "That's okay, we'll find shoes later." We head over the clothing section; I have a fairly good idea about what we want, but I would at least like Scallywag to choose colors, styles, etc. And despite being almost six a lot of his 4T clothes still fit so I'm trying to get an idea of sizing, etc. I'm also trying to hurry because the Poopy Pirate and Scallywag are sitting in the race car cart hitting each other and Captain Tootypants is spitting up all over Plantboy. I wave two shirts in front of Scallywag's face because his attention has totally wandered and say, "I want to buy you one of these but you need to choose the color."

He looks at me with this strange expression I can't read, kind of laughs and says,

"I just don't care, Mom."

And in that moment it absolutely hits me. I am a mother of boys. (I know, I know, you are thinking "Duh!" but bear with me.) We left the clothing section immediately, finished getting the other things we came to purchase and shuffled the boys in the car. The whole time time I was completely distracted. I suddenly felt like I wanted to cry.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love each of my little boys for very different reasons. I love their unique personalities and the breath of life they give my daily activities. I love their moods and their cuddles. I love their energy and their intensity.

But I doubt very much that I'll ever scrapbook with one of them. Hah! Many of you out there will say, "That is no big loss!" But what I'm trying to say with that trivial statement is that there are things that are a part of me that I may never get to pass on. Some things are just inherently girly. I love to read. Most of the books I read would hold NO interest for boys. I've collected hundreds of books over the years knowing that one day I'd share these tender gifts with a daughter the way my mother shared them with me. My boys will never want to know who Anne, Heidi, Meg, Aerin and Elizabeth are. I will also write books they will have no interest in reading. I like to buy and put together clothes and shoes. I like to arrange flowers. I love chick flicks.

My husband was attempting to understand my mood last night. I think he caught a little bit of a vision when I said, "What if you were had a whole household of people who had no interest in helping you with your yardwork, camping with you or learning about your projects? What if there were important parts of your personality that you had no chance of sharing with the people you loved most because they just weren't interested?" Plantboy had a hard time even imagining a houseful of women.

I think of the relationship I now enjoy with my mom and it pains me to think that I will not have a similar relationship one day. Ha! You say! You are a Mormon girl with just THREE kids, there are plenty more coming down the pipe!

Hmm . . . . having a baby just under three months doesn't really put me in a good mode for making that decision. And there is plenty of time for such a decision. But if I cannot get to a point where I'd be just as happy with four boys, and boy number four would never feel mom's disappointment that he is not a girl, then it is probably the wrong reason to have another baby.

Okay, enough wallowing. On to the book review. I've just finished Jane Eyre and I think it is brilliant. In our society of decaying morals, however, I think you are going to find fewer and fewer young people who can relate to its message. It is unfortunate. My greatest impression from the book this time was the reason Jane leaves Rochester in the first place. Although it is partly for the sake of her soul, she believes it is really for the sake of HIS soul. She sees herself as the greatest object of his temptation and fears to be the source of his damnation. Despite her own heartbreak she flees Thornfield with just 20 shillings to her name so that she will not succumb to his entreaties and drag him down to Hell with her.

Jane also has the sense to see that by allowing him to keep her as a mistress, he would eventually feel the same contempt for her that he felt for those other women. In turn, Jane would have resented Edward for turning her back, not on society which she had not use for, but on God whom she believed in wholeheartedly. Ultimately, the way we feel about others is a reflection of how we view ourselves.

In modern days, the situation is so easily rectified--Rochester should divorce wife #1. If he feels guilty about it then he can just pay for her support and move on with his life. A novel with such a theme of guilt and societal mores could never take place in our time. The great message is that despite trial and difficulty, they are together in the end because Jane stuck to her guns.

One last thing as everyone is reviewing Eclipse these days . . . Mr. Rochester is a much more interesting Edward than vampire-boy. He is so HUMAN. He is moody, but still strong. His beauty is only in the eye of his beholder. He is not young, nor does he even have the appearance of youth; in fact he his quite old (Jane puts him near 35--scandalous!). And while he has money, he has no exciting powers. His intellect is all his own, gathered over the course of a normal lifetime.

One thing both Edwards have going for them is the Darcy Effect. Many of you have heard my favorite literature theory, so you can stop right now. ;) The Darcy effect is simply this--what is most appealing to a woman about any man is that he is willing to change for her. Money, looks, power, material possessions, habits, interests are all very nice, but what a woman really wants is a man who looks at her and says, "You make me want to be a better man." She wants to know that there is some inherent part of her personality that gives her influence over him. His desire to change for her gives her more validation than a chest full of jewels and pages filled with sonnets.

"I've been a selfish being all my life . . . such I might still have been, but for you, dearest, lovliest Elizabeth."

"I've been a soulless blood-sucking vampire my whole life . . . such I might still have been, but for you, dearest, whiniest Bella."

"I've been a sinful, God rejecting grouch all my life . . . such I might still have been but for you dearest, plainest Jane."

The Darcy Effect.

So Our Oregon Journey Begins

We've been in Oregon for a couple of weeks now. I thought I'd finally download some pictures and give a little insight into what we've been up to. There are no pictures of our road trip here because it is basically 5 hours of nothing and then Boise. Another 6 hours of nothing and then Bend. Finally 2 hours of mountain roads and then Eugene. If you like scenery of all kinds, you should definitely hop in your car and come to Oregon.

When we arrived at our home, we were immediately greeted by a terrible smell emanating from the fridge. Although brand new, and loaded with groceries by Plantboy the day it arrived, it actually never worked. It took a week and a half to get a replacement.

The picture just above is a dozen pints of homemade freezer jam, which Plantboy also picked the berries for. It was more like raspberry wine when we found it--runny and fermented. This was the main source of the smell. If you have ever had Plantboy's jam, you'll understand why we were so disappointed by this turn of events. The second raspberry crop is due in early September.

This is a before shot. This front wall will eventually be green. The ceiling in our main room as large skylights which we really love.

This is a picture of one of the back bedrooms showing the paint color. This back bedroom has toys and our computer. We are actually putting all three boys to sleep in the same room. So far, so good. The baby is even sleeping through the night. Jeff calls their bedroom "the dormitory." I'm just grateful they don't smell like teenage boys yet.

Isn't Captain Tootypants adorable?

Plantboy MADE this shelf last week. I was so impressed. His project came in UNDER budget and he finished in a single day. This is a huge leap forward for us. He is going to put in another one next week. Our realtor said Oregonians don't need basements because there aren't any tornados. I said, "Where do you put all your stuff?" "In the garage." Uh, okay, "where do you put your cars." "In the driveway." The shelves may allow us to keep ONE car in the garage anyway. Sounds like Texas, hey? Except in Texas they throw in an old sofa, a junky TV and a rebel flag on the wall to complete the man-room. Anyway, a job well done, Plantboy. If the girls can't call you handsome, at least they can call you handy. (Or handsy in Plantboy's case.)

These last six are from the beach today. It was really marvelous. The beach here isn't warm, but I'm actually glad of that. It keeps the crowds down and there seems to be less muck growing in the tide pools. People also tend to cover themselves a little better when it is cold! The wind blew sea spray and the sky was flawlessly blue. Just to the north of where we stopped, you can see Haceta Head Lighthouse on a small bluff overlooking the ocean. There is something about the ocean that fills my veins with excitement. Despite the sand and the driving and the sunburns, I feel quite rejuvinated. The sense of so much life teeming just below the surface is exciting to me. I'm reminded that my first true ambition was to be a marine biologist. There was something wonderful in the air that makes me want to write again. I hope too much doesn't pass before I can get back.

Nomadic Reflections on My New Place

So much to blog about . . .

We are slowly settling in. Slowly because, of course, I decided that the whole house needed to be repainted after we had all of our stuff in. This project is going at a snail's pace. Pictures will be forthcoming when the boxes are all at least HIDDEN if not unpacked.

The weather here is paradise. I almost hate to write it because I know how many of you are in such hot places right now. Maybe next April, after having endured five months of rain, I will change my tune, but right now it is like springtime every day. We're headed to the beach on Saturday.

The boys are doing great. The baby, with no additional time-to-cry-it-out-training, is sleeping through the night: About nine to six-thirty. Bliss.

I think our budget is going to be highly manageable with one income for the first time in our married life.

Any good times I've had in the past few years feel like the momentary calm between storms. This time, the contentment I feel is more like the calm AFTER the storm. I think we are going to get a break on the trials for a while. I am planning to use the extra energy this gives me in to looking outside myself to see if I can help my neighbors more than I have in the past six months. It won't be hard. Our ward has a very high rate of inactivity and I've heard that I may have as many as six sisters to visit on my VT route. The Elders are assigned up to ten families each.

Many of you know that we thought we had a job all sewn up in Colorado early in the Spring. They had interviewed Plantboy twice and had all but given him an offer in writing. Then, things changed and someone else was hired for the position that he really wanted. When this news came at the end of March, we were fairly devastated. Not long after, our current job opened and Plantboy applied. After his first interview he was flown to Eugene for a second.

Between the two interviews we went to the temple. I felt very calm, though I had few impressions about anything. Plantboy on the other hand, said, "I think the church in Oregon needs us."

He may be right. Even my whole time in Texas I never felt such a need among the members. Lots of people were out of town our first week in church and I hadn't been in a ward so small since serving part of my mission in a little town called Katoomba in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. I'm actually a little bit scared about how living here is going to seriously disrupt my comfort zone. I guess that means it was time for a change!

Plantboy really seems to like his job and we aren't going to make any decisions for a long time about whether or not this is the right place to say. But so far, so good.

Yes We've Moved In, But I'd Rather Do a Book Review

This will be a Harry Potter spoiler if you haven't read it, so you may want to just check back in a few days from now. But if you have read The Deathly Hallows, then keep reading. I really want to know what you think too!

First of all. I loved it. I loved it so much that despite drowning in boxes and nursing and a new neighborhood I've decided to reread all SEVEN of these incredible stories.

Quick revisit of the first six before launching into why I loved the 7th so much

1--She shows us that despite his horrible childhood, he is actually better for it. In one line she sums up why she was so wise to create a character who learns first hand (at home and primary school) what it is to be bullied. Malfoy tells him not to hang out with the Weasleys as they are the "wrong sort." Harry is casual but says, "I think I can figure out what the wrong sort is for myself." This makes him so much better than his father who was a bully himself.

2--Who knows if JK planned to use the Horcrux idea later or not, but the whole Tom Riddle coming out of the diary and the Basilisk fang is so incredibly cool. I actually like in the movie how they really lengthened this part out so there is quite a fight. Now, JK may have kept it snappy because she wasn't quite an international phenom yet at this point and NO editor would have let it go to three hundred pages; it was, after all, seen much as a book for kids at that point.

3--I love this plot and the timeturner bit is brilliant. I think Professor Lupin is such an exceptional mentor (I think his death in 7 hits me the hardest), but the climax in the Shrieking Shack is a little too wordy. Talk . . . talk . . talk. . . .to explain plot twists you could have NEVER seen coming. The whole Peter Pettigrew thing is the equivalent of "The Butler did it!" or "Zoiks Shaggy! It is the old caretaker. Yeah, it would have worked too if it wasn't for you meddling kids." Still, there are few things better than Harry facing his worst fear and yelling EXPECTO PATRONUM for the whole world to hear.

4--This one brings me to tears at the end. It is so heartwrenching and really dark when Voldemort comes back. I'd really liked Cedric the whole book and then BAM, in one second he is just dead without a second thought. It is shocking, but she really makes you know just how evil Voldy is. But Harry is so strong. It is the first glimpse you get of Harry really trying to get better at magic and FIGHT instead of just getting lucky. The whole wand thing is a bit hokey, but JK can't be killing off her golden boy in book four now can she?

5--This is my least favorite. Maybe because there are few things more difficult in the world than 15 year old boys. I think Harry would have been a hormonal bag of grouchiness with or without the whole Voldemort possession thing. Still, the last couple of chapters sure explain a lot and the reader sees that Harry will not be a little prat forever. It is just temporary madness. Not enough Dumbledore in #5, but Harry's taking on the DA is exceptionally cool.

6--Okay, after 5 years+ just reading about Hogwarts even I wasn't crazy enough to think Harry should be using the Half Blood Prince's chemistry book. I think one of the main purposes of book 6 is to set up book 7. Of all the volumes, this is the one with the least closure and really couldn't stand alone. Almost any of the others could.

7--I first of all want to say I CALLED IT! I've been saying for two years that Dumbledore told Snape to kill him and that Dumbledore wasn't coming back. I thought that Harry would finally realize just how valuable Snape had been to him. Too bad this information was too late to help Snape.

I really loved the way she brought back all the characters and has the last great battle at Hogwarts. I think Neville is almost my new favorite. He stayed at that school all alone, fighting against anybody who was disloyal to Harry despite horrible punishments. Through several volumes (maybe #5 excepted) Neville is just this clumsy, goofy, wishy washy kid. How did he get in Gryffindor? And then, in the end, he is maybe braver than anyone. And like Harry, he too pulls the sword from the sorting hat when it was most important to do so.

I liked how she was able to bring Dumbledore back without having a whole faked death thing. It was always his job to explain everything, and this time is no exception, although Harry finally figured out a little more on his own. The ultimate, powerful objects, were better off in the hands of someone a little less skilled because his common sense didn't overtake his power. In the end, love wins the day again. No doubt the anti-Potter Christian groups who've said all along there is some inherently dark magic lurking in Harry and that he would turn evil will now say the problem is that through his sacrfice, he becomes a Savior-type figure. However, this archetype is found throughout literature, particularly in such epic fantasy type stories. I think the take home lesson there is that sacrificing all we have for the ones we love is the greatest act of charity anyone can show. This is a valuable learning moment for any young person.

I was glad she didn't have Harry destroy all the Horcruxes on his own, but that each of his most important friends had a hand in helping him.

A word of caution, however, I felt like it started slow. Until Ron came back and they got the sword from the bottom of the pool, I didn't think anything really happened. That was almost a third of the way through. It picked up immediately after that though, and it was a really smooth, fast read after the deathly hallows revelation.

And the last thing I really liked is the epilogue of 19 years later. I wanted to know there was some kind of a happily ever after for these folks I've come to love so much. I'm glad Harry and Ginny got married and sent their kids to Hogwarts. I'm glad that Ron and Hermione did the same. I'm gratified to know they could stand next to Draco Malfoy on the train and send their kids to the same school and get past all the pettiness of their childhood. What a great thing for Neville to be teaching Herbology at Hogwarts. Mostly, how wonderful that Harry gave his youngest son the middle name of Severus. A person can learn to finally see the truth and forgive and be stronger than they were before because of it. That single act is maybe as important as defeating the darkest wizard of all time.

Well, if you actually made it through this horrifically long post, let me know what you thought about Book 7. ;)