Heard at my parent's house

Okay...I just found this...It's from months ago...But it's funny!

Over the weekend, I spent some time at my parents' house with my brother's 3 little ones. Here are some tidbits you may enjoy:

Me: "what do you learn about in science?"
B: "we learn about our bodies."
"what do you learn about in math?"
"the animals in the ocean."
"you don't learn about numbers?"
"No..."
"Well, what do you do in music? Do you sing?"
"No, we dance and listen to stories."

Wow...kindergarten is very different than I imagined it.

Currently: April

Currently
Listening	To the sounds of nature, including the birds and the wind blowing through the trees.  And also, the sound of a few unwelcome wasps and bees looking for a place to make their home…
Loving	This 90 degree Spring weather, only 7 days removed from 4” of snow on the ground
Thinking	About how much fun it has been to witness this final new season in our home.  We didn’t move in until the last weekend of April last year, so we didn’t get to see the spring plants cropping up and the buds on our forsythia, pear, and dogwood trees.  I’m still waiting for our enormous cherry tree to blossom.
Wanting	My hubby to return home.  He left at 4:30 AM, and he wasn’t supposed to return today, but he’ll be home in about 1.5 hours!
Needing	To figure out what we’re doing for dinner and finish up my graduate classes.  Only a few more weeks!
Favorite Things	1.    SPRING!!!!  Warm weather is my thing y’all!  Though I also love the snow, so I was very grateful for Mother Nature’s surprise last week. 2.    Lounging around outside with the dog. 3.    Darius Rucker’s version of Wagon Wheel.  I love the Old Crow version, and being a Roanoke College graduate it’s super ingrained in me. Being able to blast it out with the windows down is a great way to spend a few minutes!  Haven’t heard it yet?  Find it here.  The video also features my fave family, the Robertson's from Duck Dynasty.  Check it out!

What's on your Currently??

Age Appropriate Books

Happy Friday Everyone!

This morning I have been having an in depth conversation with a friend, and I want to bring you all into the conversation.

Her nephew has turned 10, and is entering the literary world of JK Rowling. As excited as we both are for him, having grown up with the wonderful series, we are trying to decide how far he should read into the series at his age. Their family is very similar to mine, with rules like, you don't watch PG13 movies until you have turned 13.

So I pose to you a series of questions:

1. How far into Harry Potter should he read this year? Just book 1? Book 2? Or let him go through the whole series?

2. What other books are age-appropriate for a 10 year old boy? I think I was reading Baby Sitter Club then, which he is obviously not going to read. We discussed Narnia, which I haven't read, Animorphs, which she hasn't read, and then, on a tangent, the incredulity we both felt knowing that Hunger Games is being introduced to some students his age.

So help us out, English majors, Elementary School teachers, and anyone who wants to weigh in!!!

How far is to far? What else can he read? What did you love as a pre-teen?

Happy Birthday!!!

Over the weekend, D & I traveled home to celebrate the birthday of a very special little girl.  

There was a cake, and a struggle to blow it out...

  

There were cheesy big brother grins...

There were cards that sang, with the exclamation "My BOOK!!!" when opened...

  

And there was a rather unenthused 3 year old brother, who really wanted a turn with presents...

And there was happiness abundant.  Happy Birthday O!!!!

(Also, there were more pictures, and I'm not sure where they ended up on my computer after transferring them last night.  Hopefully, I'll find them!)

A Day of Silence

Taken from 

Currently: December

Currently
Listening	To the sound of the ticking clock and the heat running (*sigh* there will be a high electric bill in our future)
Loving	My Christmas Decorations
Thinking	About how I need to be in bed, but couldn’t sleep without updating this, because I completely forgot to do one for November
Wanting	A lot of unattainable things, like a restful time for my cousin A, and the pain of losing Uncle C & my Grandma within 2 weeks to go away
Needing	To curl up in bed with D and get some rest, I’ll be in the car for a total of 5+ hours tomorrow
Favorite Things	1.     My giant Christmas Tree! 2.     My icicle lights the hubby hung for me 3.     How my road has become increasingly more and more festive as it nears Christmas

What are you doing Currently?

Meal Mistake Merrymaking

Guys, I have a really terribly pathetic story, that I can't help but share.  My desire to share it probably stems from the fact that it's been a really stressful two weeks, and I need to laugh.  Laugh tonight I did.

I came home from work and thought I had a fantastic plan for supper tonight.

Plan:

1. Filet Mignon
2. Green Beans
3. Baked Potatoes

Isn't that delicious?  And, it's Friday.  We ALWAYS go out on Fridays (and Saturdays, and a lot of Sundays).   In the spirit of trying to save money because I make one quarter significantly less of what I made this time last year, I wanted to have a special dinner, then put up our Christmas tree.

So we multi-tasked.  Big Mistake.  While D was cooking the steaks, I was working on a homemade Christmas present (which is only about 1/2 complete, and needs to be done pronto), and decided to bake the potatoes in the microwave, wrapped in plastic wrap.

Now, usually, my microwaved potatoes come in this plastic-package already, but again, we are trying to save money.  Instead of buying those on my last grocery stop, I bought a 5 pound bag of potatoes.  Our basement is colder than the North Pole well suited for keeping veggies cool, so I thought this was a great solution.

Also, I realize that Filet Mignon isn't anywhere close to cheap, but this summer we ordered a ton of meats at a really cheap price.  They come individually packaged and frozen, so we just get them out when we need them.

We also multi-tasked by beginning to assemble our Christmas tree while we waited for the steaks to cook.  Another Big Mistake.

Result:
1. Tiny, overcooked steaks, which needed Worcestershire Sauce poured over them to be edible.
2. Perfectly fine green beans
3. Rubber potatoes, which I could ball up with my fingers.
4. Meal Addition when I saw the steaks were too dry: leftover biscuits left over from a supper last week.

The BEST part of the meal: the week old, microwaved biscuits.

Lesson:
1. Don't multi-task while cooking.  The cooking suffers.
2. Those steaks need to be marinated, and watched carefully.  Also, D needs 2 steaks of this type.
3. Regular potatoes, when cooked in the microwave, don't take as long as I thought.

OH WELL: at least it was entertaining.

Do you have any entertaining dinner flubs?