Author: Robin Chartier

If money can solve it — it’s not a *real* problem.

I guess the title should have given it away — a Diary? By a man? That being said, Mr. Knightly’s Diary is a SNOOZE. It’s like reading a condensed version of Emma, without all the interesting parts. And as much as it’s annoying to read Jane Austen knockoffs with all the fake Ye Olde English, it’s more annoying to read one without it. Like I really believe that Mr. Knightly used regular, modern, American English. [I need to figure out HTML for eye rolling smilies because that’s the one I would use most often.]

So I skipped to 1/2 way through the book and now there’s more action, but it’s not fleshed out at all. If you hadn’t read Emma, you wouldn’t understand the significance of Lady Jane Fairfax’s brooding self, or Miss Smith’s simple, but sweet nature.

After reading the books about Mr Darcy where his character was completely fleshed out, the reader was introduced to an entirely new circle of characters, this book is just lazy writing. Blah.

Yes, I read this book. I saw an article on her in Cookie magazine (a mag that generally annoys me, but was a good diversion during baseball practice) and her interview was really funny and witty and made her seem like a real person. They were promoting her new book, Mommywood, but when I saw her first book at the library, I decided to start there.

It was a fast (less than a day), entertaining read. It made me really glad that I’m not her and even if you gave me all of Aaron Spelling’s millions, I still wouldn’t trade places with her. Poor girl has family issues, self esteem issues and has had to work really hard to escape her reputation (and she still hasn’t succeeded in doing that). If I run across her book about being a mom, I’ll certainly read it. It will be interesting to read what sort of a mom she is after having a nightmare of a mom herself.

This was a really great read. I have been skeptical about the Duggars at times and some of their things make me cringe (no hugging before the wedding, clothing choices, and an aversion to dancing, anyone?), but as I’ve watched the show I’ve noticed that they always have a very sweet spirit with each other and with people outside the family. Their joy as a family is evident and “gracious” is the word that comes to mind when I think back on how they treat people — especially people who have different values (like cousin Amy, lol).

A lot of times when you read a book about a tv family or personality, it’s just a rehash of what you see on the show, but the Duggar book goes into great detail about how Jim Bob and Michelle started their lives together, the growing of their business and their family, how they got into politics, and how politics eventually led to their TV show. I loved reading about how God blessed them financially when they were patient and determined not to go into debt: How they lived in 900 square feet on a used car lot with 5 (!) kids. How they wanted to buy a commercial property and God brought them the right property in the right time. How Jim Bob’s ingenuity and frugality helped them turn 2 broken busses into one great vehicle for their family. How they ended up building a house themselves because they couldn’t “afford” one big enough for them. How they started the project with no knowledge and lots of help from the kids (including teaching 12 and 14 year olds how to run a bulldozer).

So I went from being a reluctant viewer (who watched to see how crazy Christians were being portrayed on TV) to a genuine fan. I’m hoping to take away from the book Michelle and Jim’s philosophy on anger: A gentle answer turns away wrath. They interpret this verse as the gentle anger turns away their own wrath! When they feel angry, they resolve to talk *softer* and in doing so, find their anger dissipating. I noticed while watching the show how Michelle always seems to talk sweetly to all of her children and I thought she must be on some serious meds to seem so even tempered all the time, but I’m determined to practice and see if this yeller can tame her tongue. 🙂

So Bob went to play with the girls across the street yesterday and he came home with his nails painted (fingers and toes), eyeliner, eyeshadow, lipstick and hair dyed pink. Yikes!

The problem with his hair is that in addition to coloring it with a washable hair dye, they also put pink lipstick in his hair and glitter nail polish. So he looks like he has and overabundance of glittery pink hair gel in his hair. Picture to follow.

Poor kid was so embarrassed, he wore his hooded sweatshirt all day today so no one could see his hair. I think it’s cause all the girls on the block fussed over him and made a big deal about it.