Poll - Costco Versus Sam's Club

Right now I have a free Costco membership that expires at the end of the year. Without starting any commenting arguments, I'm looking for calm opinions from those who have used both Costco and Sam's Club in their shopping endeavors. How would you compare the two? Which do you prefer?

My situation is that Costco is across town and is $50 per year. Sam's Club is very close and $35 per year. It seems like a no brainer, but I'm not sure... Costco has awesome chicken, my new favorite lettuce wraps, delicious fruits, great-priced milk, etc., and I hear that the warehouse is bigger, though they both just seem ginormous to me. What about Sam's?

Then again, maybe next year I'll be back into full blown couponing and have no use for either place, but that's not a guarantee :) So help a girl out!!

Tanner's Fancy Feet

Did you see Tanner's fancy feet below? I thought Justin just wanted his little guy's tootsies to be warm, but apparently he keeps forcing socks onto his feet because he's embarassed of his pedicure. Go figure :)

New Skill, No Picture

Yesterday before Tanner fell asleep for his afternoon nap, Justin heard him jumping in his crib, squealing with delight. Justin went to his room to tell him to settle down and go to sleep. As expected, Tanner was jumping around his crib like a kangaroo. Unexpectedly, that kangaroo had taken off his pants and his diaper and was jumping around the crib completely commando.

Sigh...new skills every day.

Enlightenment

The day is done, the children are in bed, Justin is at Danny's playing Xbox, and I'm considering the implications of my day's activities. Justin worked from home today. Which meant he monopolized the computer the entire day. Which meant that I had no access whatsoever to the internet until late this afternoon. Which meant that my day was almost alarmingly productive. That is so embarassing. "My name is Megan and I'm an email/blogging addict." I'm almost tempted to change my ways...

Finger Food

Today we had a special "finger food lunch". Someone took it to a whole new level.

Fancy Feet

Justin, please forgive the pretty little feet on the left. Someone was feeling left out and became quite insistent...

Simon Says, "Be a Train!"

The girls were crazy awesome this week. We're missing one sweet little student-face from this picture, but aren't our Joy School girls so cute?? I honestly get a kick out of teaching when it's my turn, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm sneakily satisfied to get a 5-week break before my next rotation!

Three Words

"Costco lettuce wraps".

YUM!!

Wednesday Warrior

Tonight we had a great YW activity. We took the girls to BYU campus where we had to use maps and race to find one of the study rooms that we had reserved in the massive library. I, of course, led my team completely astray and we arrived dead last. There we discussed different vocations and talked about various options for after high school, including trade schools, universities, etc. and what it takes to get into various colleges.

Then we went to the Benson building where the 2nd counselor in our bishopric is a chemistry professor. I wish more of my professors at BYU had been like him. He was completely entertaining and I think he really inspired the girls. It would take too long to really explain the entire presentation, but suffice it to say that it was spiritual, practical, and since we were in a chemistry lab, he blew up a bunch of stuff for our entertainment. Between the whirlwind tour of a little bit of the library, our discussion on the practical side of getting into the college of your choice, and the amazing presentation on education in the Benson building, it was an awesome night. Hopefully our girls are more motivated to get their grades and their study habits up.

We finished the night with a trip to the creamery for ice cream. We got the girls home late, but hopefully their parents will forgive us.

Our file folders are finally done and I'm ready to face the laundry. I should say that Justin is really ready for me to face the laundry. Tonight a great mission/school friend of ours was in town, and we had him over for dinner. It was so nice to see him, but I had to jet out early to go to YW. I'm excited to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

This is my week to teach Joy School and Tuesday went much much better than I had anticipated. They little girls were absolutely delightful. I was prepared for the worst, so it was very nice. Now that I'm thinking they'll be so great, they'll undoubtedly be little demons tomorrow. I love Joy School this year. I love that I only have to teach one week in 5. And my schedule is so much better this year. Last year I worked on Mondays and Wednesdays and Joy School was on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, then my kids napped in the afternoons. That left Fridays for pretty much... everything. This feels so much better.

"In closing", I must say that I love Tar-jay. We totally scored in the fall/winter clothing situation yesterday for my growing kids.

I'm tired tonight because I didn't sleep well last night, so I had better get to bed. My lover brought me a much-appreciated Diet Pepsi home from work tonight so that I could make it through dinner and YW. It's true love. I think I'll keep him.

We Finished!

You aren't allowed to think I'm a freak. Books just happen to be my thing. I'm passionate about reading and I enjoy sharing my obsessions with my children, foisting my manias into their laps whenever possible.

I am so thrilled! It took almost a month, but we have officially finished our very first night time chapter book together! I can't believe how much I enjoyed it personally, and I am still just a little surprised at how much both of the children look forward to it every night.

I kept thinking that it would eventually get boring for Tanner, but he proved me wrong. He jumps into his crib at night and points to the book so that I'll go sit by the door and read it. He sits or lays in his crib just as quiet as a mouse, sometimes just staring at the wall or ceiling, other times appearing engrossed in what I'm reading. I can't imagine that he actually understands most of what we're reading, but he sure does make an impressive effort to appear attentive.

I have to put in a plug for chapter books. This is a brand new development for us. I love them because they don't have many pictures, not in spite of that fact. I love it when Kinley tells me what she is seeing in her head (and sometimes those illustrations in her head are...um...quite creative.) So for imaginative development, it's a great tool. But equally nice are the logistics of having no pictures. The kids stay in bed and don't try to climb all over me to see what the pictures are, never settling down. Every once in a while if there is an especially interesting picture, I'll invite them over to have a peek.

I did this because #1 I love reading and I have such fond memories of my grandmother reading to me endlessly over the summers. The kids and I often read picture books together, so I was wondering whether Kinley would be "ready" for such a thing as a chapter book. I was somewhat skeptical about Kinley's interest, and it never occurred to me that it would be of much benefit or interest whatsoever to my little Tanner. They both love it more than my very wildest of hopes. Thank you, Heather, so much for encouraging me to start this amazing tradition in our family and setting such a great example!

We weren't able to read every single night, and sometimes all I had tolerance for was 3 or 4 pages, but we kept plugging away at it and now Kinley is so excited to start book number 2 tomorrow night! Now that I know we can do it and that we can enjoy it so thoroughly, the sky is the limit! We can read anything together!

All Call for DIGITAL File Folder Exchange!

A few of us have decided to do another round of file folder games, but THIS TIME IT WILL BE DIGITAL ONLY. We will each pick a few games/activities and color them digitally, then email them out to the team members. Then we will each have the files digitally and can print, cut, laminate, etc, when we have time in the future for our own families, picking and choosing what we want to complete and when. There is NO PHYSICAL EXCHANGE involved.

We still have many dozens of activities and games to choose from, both of the pre-school/early education and Primary variety. If you are interested in participating, please let me know ASAP and invite anyone you feel may be interested in participating as well. Since it will all take place over email, location is not important. Let me know if you want to join in the fun and I will email you some pages for you to color.

Worst case scenario, you will have a huge file of possible activities to use for FHE, primary, quiet time, or any other time. You can choose to laminate or not, etc.

Please let me know if you are interested ASAP! Thanks!

Making Rainbows

We've been talking a fair amount lately about how you make different colors. You know, like "yellow and blue make green", etc. Last night after dinner, Justin gave Kinley an otter pop for dessert. She came running to me a few minutes later with her arms crossed over her chest and a gleam of accomplishment in her eye. She said, "Mommy, do you know what red and white make?"

"What do they make, Kiks?"

(Opening her arms wide) "PINK!! Look!! I spilled red popsicle on my white pajamas and now they are PINK!! Isn't that awesome?!!"

No, that's not awesome, but she sure is.

Hallelujah!!

They are done! And I am free at last of this particular monkey on my back! "All" I had left for today was to finish cutting, laminating, recutting, and magnetizing the little reverence children for my second kit. Good grief, they were almost the death of me. They took a lot more time than the alphabet folder, with those nice, simple lines. There were neck crevices, elbows, etc. And little Miss Purple Reverant Chick? I cursed her every single one of the 14 times I had to cut around those little afro puffs.

I did have some much-appreciated cutting help from a few insistent neighbors who took pity on me this morning after my scissor-wrist gave out at midnight last night. Considering the weakened condition of my hand as well as my mental state, I didn't dare deny them the blessings of service when I was so in need. I may have to consider giving up my procrastinating ways now that others have had to step in and save my butt on this adventure!

So... tomorrow night I will take my 14 reverence folders and 14 folders for the letters A and B. They are beautiful! I can't wait to exchange them and find out what everyone else made! 28 wonderful new file folder games for my FHE closet. Hoo hoo hoo, haa haa haa!!

Power Tumbling

Last Friday we went with a bunch of friends to open gym at Progressive Power Tumbling. We had an absolutely wonderful time. It's a very large enclosed arena, loaded with tons of fun climbing, swinging, and jumping equipment. Kinley loves to swing from the rope into a veritable sea of foam sponges. Even Tanner fearlessly slid down a big slide into the sponges by the end of our visit. Trampoline jumping was a big draw for all of the kids. Unfortunately, the camera batteries died right after I took the first picture, the one you see above. He's taking a rest from jumping on the tramp to pose for his mama. I guess we'll have to go back again sometime, if only to get more cute postable pictures! :)

Kinley and Her Words

"Moooooooommy! I have a predicament! I need to wipe now and there is no toilet paper!

This comment was followed soon thereafter by this one: "Sigh...Tanner is crying again, Mommy. Let's go see what his predicament is."

File Folder Exchange

The great file folder exchange goes down on Tuesday night! As usual, I have procrastinated to the very last possible moment. BUT!! I'm going to make it! I was a mad woman yesterday while Justin was gone to the game, then I stayed up way too late. I'm actually much farther ahead than I expected to be by tomorrow morning. I wasn't even planning to laminate until tomorrow and 80% of the laminating is done and 90% of what I have laminated is cut out and assembled already.

I'll be glad to be done with them, and yesterday before I printed anything, I pinky swore to Justin that I wouldn't join another one of these exchanges, whether it be file folder activities or FHE kits or anything similar. But now that I'm so close to being done...and they are so cute...and they aren't that time consuming or that expensive...

This is one of the games I'm making. Isn't it so cute??!!

The Big 5-0

Justin just returned home from attending his 50th consecutive home BYU football game. He hasn't missed a single home game since he returned from his mission in 1999.

Bad News, Good News

I totally couldn't wear my favorite capris tonight to the museum and had to change at the last minute. That's the bad news. The good news is why. They were TOO BIG!! I LOVE Slim in 6!! I just started Burn It Up this morning. I'm tired...

Hopefully mentioning it publicly won't jinx my commitment. I just passed the two week mark!

BYU Museum of Art...And Kinley

Tonight we took our YW group to the BYU Museum of Art, specifically to see the Minerva Teichert Exhibit. Katie's great grandmother was the artist and she was able to give us some of the more fascinating inside scoop.

I brought Kinley along for the cultural exposure and she was as well behaved as I could hope. Near the end of our travels we came across a large painting in one of the rooms that was intended to symbolize the spirit, water, and blood of Christ. The name of the painting was Triplus #3 and I was unable to find a rendering online to show you.

There were three bowls on a table linen, one had red (blood) in it, the next one had water in it, and the third was empty. As we were intently examining the details, drinking in the religious tone, Miss Kinley piped up, "Mommy look! It's the three bears story! And someone ate the porridge all up!"

Kudos!!

Major congrats to my awesome sister-in-law Kayla for completing her first marathon this month!

Daddy's Shoes

I found out why Tanner was chanting "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" down the hall.

Changing Tactics

Kinley has been using the phrase "Hey, I have a better idea!" a lot lately, and I think she's realized that it's starting to grate on my nerves. Tonight she got her message across with a fresh approach:

"Hey, Mommy! I have a 'feeling of greatness'! We can have ice cream and brownies while we watch the movie!"

I was laughing too hard to say no. Ice cream and brownies it is.

Monday, MONDAY

Today the kids and I spent the entire day cleaning the house. And when you involve the kids, it really does take all day! We even scrubbed the kitchen chair legs and washed the bathmats. Tonight after the kids went to bed Justin and I watched Ghost Rider. That's a weird movie.

Life is good, the house is clean, I'm still working out, Mardie is completely converted/addicted to Twilight, the kids and I are almost finished with Little House in the Big Woods, Justin has a hot new haircut, I survived teaching on Sunday, and the girls in our YW program are beyond amazing. The week is shaping up to be a keeper.

I think I'll get up tomorrow morning after all.

P.S. If you haven't read Twilight yet, what are you waiting for? Honestly, stop being ridiculous.

Service

I loved this poem about service from yesterday's YW lesson. I turned it into a bookmark. Kit "Lucky Star" from Gina Huff

Picture of the Year

This was an email forward I received this morning. I thought it was so cute, I had to post it! Thanks, Merritt, for the smile!

Kinley's Opinion Versus Kinley's Fact

Kinley: Ewwwww..... that dinner is disgusting
Mommy: I'm sorry you think so
Kinley: I don't THINK it's disgusting. It IS disgusting.

Conversations with Tanner

Tanner: Uuuuh UUH!
Mommy: Can you say "milk, please?"
Tanner: Back hoe!

More Time Wasters

Good Grief, Jen, Like I need any more time wasters! :)

http://www.myheritage.com

http://www.myheritage.com

http://www.myheritage.com

And on another day...

http://www.myheritage.com

Reading Progress!

Kinley has been reading from her "yellow book". If you don't know what I'm talking about, you must check it out. It's called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We love it; we're total believers. We are only on lesson #32 and this morning she read (and comprehended) without any assistance at all:

"A man sat in the sand. A little ant can see the man. The ant is mad."

She was totally amazing. I am very very proud of the progress she is making. And this book is AWESOME!!

Our Morning

The Truth:
I woke up far earlier than the children, ate a healthy bowl of Fruit Harvest cereal and worked out in the basement, all before the sun came up. Just as I came upstairs, Tanner was waking up, then Kinley, before I was able to smuggle Tanner out of their room undetected. We turned on Nashville's Trek CD and proceeded to collaborate on breakfast.

The two little munchkins stood at the counter and helped me make pancakes. Kinley loves maneuvering the mixer, and Tanner was content to stir a spoon around a big measuring cup. The reason we were making pancakes is because I had promised them real maple syrup, just like Laura's grandpa made in Little House in the Big Woods! I had never tasted maple syrup in my life (odd, considering I grew up in the Adirondack mountains, but it's true) so it was a first for all of us.

After breakfast, Kinley immediately started working on her jobs, got through several, then colored in her preschool book, while Tanner colored in his high chair beside her. Sigh.... what a good morning...

The WHOLE Truth:
The wind caught our bedroom door at 4 in the morning and slammed it closed. I was so startled that I was unable to fall back asleep. I laid there for two hours thinking about the file folders I haven't made any progress on and the lesson I'm supposed to teach in YW this week. Finally, I gave up around 6:00 and got up to exercise. I was in too foul of a mood to make the breakfast of eggs, fresh salsa and toast that I had planned, so Fruit Stinking Harvest it was.

I went to the basement and did Slim in 6, while watching Pollyanna on the other side of the big screen. It took me over an hour to do the 45 minute workout because I kept laying on my face, trying to decide whether I was really going to continue to the end. I did finish, technically, though I wouldn't call it my best effort.

Of course, right when I went to head upstairs to shower, I heard Tanner coughing, a full hour earlier than I was hoping. He's sick now, YEA. Kinley, with her morning bat ears, leaped out of bed as soon as she heard my feet on the carpet. So the whole family was up.

We made breakfast, but the maple syrup was odd. Someone gave us a bottle a year ago, that was opened, and I didn't think to refrigerate it, as indicated on the label. Either I am not a fan of maple syrup, or the bottle has gone rancid.

After breakfast, Kinley started on her jobs and started making great progress. Then when it was time for preschool pages, she wanted to use markers (with Tanner awake and curious, I don't think so). I convinced her to use crayons, and put Tanner in his high chair and let him choose a crayon. Of course, out of the 64 crayons available, she wanted ONLY the very specific brown shade that Tanner wanted to use. So of course she whined and sulked. Tanner colored all over the surface of his high chair, throwing his paper on the floor so that it didn't get in the way of his art. When I came over to him, he pointed at the mess and said, "NO NO!"

Kinley at this point was complaining because she was tired (code for: I want to use markers, not stupid crayons, but I'll take a cartoon if you're willing). Justin came downstairs, said goodbye just as Tanner started screaming for...honestly, I still don't know what he was screaming for. He just started wailing. Didn't want milk, water, cereal, crayons, Bambi, anything.

So, as Daddy walked out the door, leaving his family in a blissful state of happiness, I put Tanner in timeout until he could stop screaming. My blood was totally boiling at this point because Kinley was whining, Tanner was screaming, and Justin was looking at me like "why do you suck so bad as a mom?" I'm sure that's not the look he was actually giving, but wide-eyed looks of bewilderment are always open to interpretation and that was what I was thinking. So, in a sleep-deprived "no one appreciates my efforts" kind of rage, I stormed into the kitchen, kicked the garbage can into the wall, and slammed the kitchen cupboard closed. Kinley of course took that moment to remind me of "what happened last time" when I slammed the cupboard door (a snowman crashed to his death from the shelf above). Justin wisely made his exit at that point. He suggested, unbelievabley, that I "have a good day."

Tanner ended up in timeout for a record 35 minutes until he calmed down. Kinley shaped up as soon as I kicked the garbage can; she finished all of her jobs without the teensiest additional complaint, and came to comfort me, where I was fuming on my bed.

Ahh... sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.

Spontaneous Communication!

It is finally happening and I couldn't be more thrilled! This little goose is starting to say understandable words without prompting! This is an enormous milestone in this house! He has been saying "Daddy!!!" for the last several months when Justin comes home, and he's been using "more" (excuse me, "mo") appropriately and spontaneously for a few weeks. And he figured out "KOO-KAY!!!" (cookie) weeks ago. Everything else is either a grunt, whine, tantrum, or is repeated after us, "Can you say _____ ?"

But last night he stood up in his crib, pointed across the room and instead of grunting "UH!" he said very clearly, "Ba-bi" (rhymes with Bambi), for his blanket that was on the floor by the door. And just now, when I was posting those pictures of Kinley, he wandered in, pointed at the monitor and yelled in his husky little voice, "Nin-ny!!"

This is huge! I'm so pleased! This will hopefully start cutting down on everyone's frustration. He has so much to say, and hasn't had the words to express it.

First Day of Joy School

Yesterday was the first day of Kinley's second year of Joy School. She has been so excited to get started again. She's such a big girl!

Eclipse Quote

I'm silly enough to be rereading Eclipse at the moment. I had to share one of my favorite quotes from the book. I laughed out loud again, even though I knew it was coming:

Bella: I lie all the time.

Edward: Yes, but you're such a bad liar that it doesn't really count. Nobody believes you.

I don't know why I find that so funny, but I do. :)

Kinley's Job Chart

I have finally found a charting system that seems to work, at least for now. We have been using it for the last week and it is going well so far. We haven't gotten all of the stickers every day, but we are making steady progress.

For the next round, I hope to have colored ink in the printer, so that I can make them cuter, and with pictures! She knows pretty much what is on the list, but it would be easier if she had pictures on it, so that I wouldn't have to point out each section.

I like the things that are on the chart and I think the most important thing on the chart, the thing that makes it the most successful is the slot that says: "Special Mommy Job". That can be anything from playing with Tanner for half an hour, helping with laundry, helping clean the kitchen, bring in the newspapers, checking the mail, helping me make dinner, anything. Things that I wanted to put on the list, but that I don't want/need her to do every single day. I'm convinced that that was the common glitch in all of my previous attempts. I had things on there that I didn't need or want done every day, so I ended up not encouraging her to do her jobs because they at times were more of a hindrance than a help. The "Special Mommy Job" allows her to fill in when I need her to, but doesn't obligate me to allowing her assistance with the same project every day. Thanks, Heather W, for the great suggestion!

Kinley's jobs are: brushing her teeth in the morning, cleaning her bathroom, cleaning her bedroom (neither of which are hard jobs because she does them every day), clear the breakfast table and wipe it, do some preschool pages, read with Mommy from the "yellow book", play independently in the basement for one hour, and do a special mommy job of my choosing. When every single square is filled on the two pages, I will take her immediately to the Pudding Place! Her favorite job, by far, is doing her preschool pages. The job she struggles the most with is playing independently (not surprisingly). I'm trying to decide if I will count putting puzzles together or other coloring activities as playing independently. She strongly prefers that over being banished to the seclusion of the basement, even with Tanner for company.

One great benefit is that she is so busy going through her jobs that she doesn't get around to even asking for a cartoon until near lunch time :) She and Tanner are watching the Swan Princess right now.

Blockhead Buster Total Access

It has happened. We have been sucked into the world of unlimited movie rentals through the mail... I have 46 movies in my queue right now; I can't decide if that's normal, or really what I think about that. I'm very excited though. I have a lot of Veggie Tales movies coming, as well as all the Magic School Bus DVD's that Blockbuster carries. We've also ordered some sign language learning DVD's and a bunch of fun movies we've just never gotten around to before. I'm excited for Kinley to watch some of the movies that fill me with nostalgia, like "The Last Unicorn" and even the animated "Alice in Wonderland".

Sloughing Class Already

In the last ward, Kinley had the most amazing Sunbeam teachers, the beloved Barbers. Kinley has loved them since the very first day. When we merged wards, the Sunbeam class was so big that they broke it into two classes. Though they recalled the Barbers to Sunbeam service, Kinley has been put in the other class, with a new teacher and unfamiliar classmates.

I found out this afternoon that she has been ditching her own class for the last two weeks and running off with the Barbers to theirs ("because they always remember to bring us a snack") and because they are just all around awesome. We had a heart to heart this afternoon about going to the class that she is assigned to. It was a difficult conversation to have because I understood her feelings and her reasoning and actually considered appealing her class assignment, since there are only a few more months left in the year.

In the end, I encouraged her to draw some pictures for her new teacher, thinking that might help her develop more tolerant feelings. It worked, thank goodness, because I wasn't sure what I was going to do if it didn't. Probably just request a change. I think they would have gone along with it, since it seems all of the adults in Primary were aware of her antics. Anyway, she said, "do you know what I thought when I was coloring the first picture? I thought 'I can love BOTH teachers!' Can I have another piece of paper? Sister Howard is a very special teacher and I want to draw another picture for her."

We drove them over to Sister Howard's house this evening; Kinley apologized for not coming to her class and told her she would be there next week. That was the script we agreed on. The original version that Kinley came up with was, "Here is a picture that I drew for you. I will come to your class next week and give you another chance." While it may be accurate, I felt it might exacerbate an already strange situation.

Creativity Unstifled

Kinley brought me a coloring page from the preschool workbook we bought last week. Take a look at the gingerbread house on the right. "Mommy, I colored TWO gingerbread houses, like I was supposed to, see? But I colored this one orange because it's made out of cheese crackers."

Playing Soccer

While the Mommies held a meeting, the kidlets played soccer.

Justin Will Intervene Before Halloween, I Think

This morning Kinley dug around in the dress-up box and found the Buzz Lightyear costume. I helped her put it on, which infuriated Tanner, who grunted in frustration until he gave up and dug around in the dress-up box himself to find his own costume... This is a first for us. We played Red Rover in these costumes and I have to tell you, there was something awfully adorable about Tannerella barrelling down the hall toward me with his tu-tu flying in the wind!

Clean up! Clean up!

Tanner cleaning himself up... You know, because he is such a cheeseball, very rarely can I actually capture the bigness of this little guy's "big brown eyes".

Girls Night Out

Thanks, Jenna, for posting a swipe-able pic of our fun night out on the town. I love Macaroni Grill! It was so much fun, and I too wish we had taken more advantage before you left! We should do it all again in LA now :)

Sanding/Staining Wooden Blocks

This week for our YW activity we participated in a service project to benefit the Church Humanitarian Program. We sanded and stained many dozens of blocks to contribute to the orphanage modules. We had a great night and got plenty of dust in our eyes! It was nice to be able to visit with each other while doing some great service!

Bargaining with the Imp

Quote from Kinley before nap:

"I don't want to take a nap. Mommy, I'll give you a treat if you don't put me to bed. I'm serious."

Bright Copper Kettles and Warm Woolen Mittens

We've had a lot of rain here this week. And with rain sometimes comes a... I took these pictures Monday from our front porch. Beautiful, isn't it? Kinley came completely undone! Thanks, Hilary, for the heads up!

Repeat Recipe

I've posted this recipe before, but it's so (surprising) delicious, so healthy, so easy, and so cheap, that I think it bears repeating. Tanner, who traditionally does not eat anything green, won't leave me in peace to eat this salad. I have to share at least half with him.

Brown Rice Salad
Ingredients
Cooked brown rice (warm is the best!)
Chopped romaine lettuce (I just buy it in bags)
Parmesan cheese
Italian dressing

Combine ingredients to taste and voila!

*Heather recommends toasting the brown rice in the oven with the parmesan cheese. It is quite delicious that way, but easier to forego that step. It's really tasty either way, but the oven-toasted, cheesed-up rice is a special touch!

**I like to add shredded chicken or anything else that suits your fancy!

*** I should mention that I don't like brown rice and I don't like lettuce. So there you go. I LOVE THIS SALAD!!!

If you finally cave in and make this one, you have to let me know what you think!

Taking a Poll

Please tell me: who are your favorite leading men in literature? I'm afraid I'm rather conventional today.

Not necessarily in this order:

Mr. Darcy
Gilbert Blythe
Edward Cullen
*New addition: Jack Elliot

Each of whom, by the way, have a few similarities to that boy I live with...

Brooding, mysterious, observant, stealthily played the role of the harmless "chum" with dignity and patience, charmingly protective, prone to worry, pale skin that sparkles in the sun...oh wait, uh... well, pale skin anyway :)

Eclipse

Great, now I can join the list of lunatics who, much against responsible intentions, stay up until 3:30 in the morning to finish a book. Who does that??!

I'm tired.

But what a great book :)

Oh, and how great! Movie plans are moving forward, and it won't be with MTV!

Changing of the Seasons

Welcome to September! Justin is thrilled that football season is here, I'm happy to know that the weather will be cooling slightly over the next few weeks, and Kinley is excited that Joy School will be starting in just another week. We've started in with a new job chart for her this week and I got up and exercised early this morning. I can feel the autumn coming, though it's not nearly as obvious, nor as long-lived as it was growing up in New England. You have to enjoy it quickly because if you blink, you'll miss it!

We've enjoyed a relaxing weekend of football, food, and video games. The night that Justin was rotating around Danny's basement playing Xbox, Xbox 360, and Wii, I actually stayed up until he got home (in the middle of the night) playing this goofy little Yahoo game called "Alice Greenfingers." It's a simulated gardening game, and more addicting than I'd care to admit.

Not much else to report except that I finally started reading Eclipse late last night, ended up staying up even later, and then had very colorful, action-packed dreams all night. I woke up not quite sure what was imagined and what was actual plot line of the book. I haven't picked it up again yet this morning. I'm going to see how long I can go. If I can make it to bedtime tonight, I'll be thrilled, but that's not very likely. I'll be pleased if I can hold off until the kids' naptime. Justin is home today, after all, and I just don't want to hear, see, and feel the "tsk tsk" if I ignore my children this morning to follow up on the exciting adventures of Edward and Bella. It tends to dampen my enthusiasm.