I really miss satellite tv. But here are the books that I've read in the last week that it's been gone.
The Golden Compass
Pride and Prejudice (I started this before but really got into it and finished it after satellite was no longer)
The Subtle Knife
Water for Elephants
and I've started The Amber Spyglass
Not too bad for a week.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
No more satellite for this family...
And here are shows that I'm going to miss.
1. The Graham Norton Show-He may be the funniest person to watch...ever. I laugh out loud so much during this show that my stomach usually hurts afterwards. That usually only happens when I'm out with my girl friends.
2. Jon and Kate plus 8-I like that when I watch this show I realize that they are raising six kids the same age as Monkey. I actually have it pretty easy. It's also inspirational (even if they don't think they are) because they are handling it with 2 7-8 year olds and 6 3-4 year olds. There are times when I'm stressed out about just one of each age group and think, "Jon and Kate do this only so much more." Plus I wish that I was as dedicated as she was to prepare almost every meal at home and for it to be mainly organic fresh food. It's amazing.
3. Flipping Out-I may never know if Jenny and Chris made up with Jeff. Okay so I'll be able to still see their blogs on bravotv.com but it's not the same as watching a whole episode. Also, Jeff has a wicked sense of humor and I really liked watching him. I look at the people he's hired and think, "Man that job would be pretty easy. Why isn't Chris Elwood just doing the things on the list? It's not like any of the items take that much time. And not only that but he gets paid well to do them. I wish my "job" paid. It's practically the same job."
4. Iron Chef America-I <3 Alton Brown and Kevin Brauch. Oooh Oooh Oooh and Michael Symon.
5. The Next Food Network Star-Will the lady with squinty eyes and great fashion sense be "The Next Food Network Star"? At first she annoyed the heck out of me but now I like her and feel that she is the most qualified. I wish I had the money to have her wardrobe. Although I don't think I could chase after Monkey in Jimmy Choos.
6.You Are What You Eat-I wish that I could make money as a nutritionist. I also like the knowledge I got from that show on food nutrition and physiology.
7. Ace of Cakes-That would be one fun job working in a bakery with artsy people joking around and creating cakes.
8. Top Chef-Oh the drama!!!
9. That Mitchell and Webb Look-This is a sketch comedy from Britain that is hilarious. Although when I started watching it I had a hard time watching the real BBC news documentaries on "interesting people with problems". See they had this sketch on a documentary about a man with something like 7 penises. Then through the whole sketch there is a voiceover about "Now you can stare at this person with a deformity without feeling guilty." Of course the deformities they used were always ridiculous but I had trouble watching the real BBC news documentaries that I had recorded and watched religiously after this show. The poor guy with 7 penises had to clean his bathroom more often than I do which was very very sad. ;D
10. Little People, Big World-I like watching this and I'm not really sure why. I've enjoyed watching the kids grow up. I also like to watch the mom. I would like to be as centered as she seems to be when my boys are in their late teens about them growing up.
I can't think of any other shows at the moment so there may be a part 2 in the near future.
1. The Graham Norton Show-He may be the funniest person to watch...ever. I laugh out loud so much during this show that my stomach usually hurts afterwards. That usually only happens when I'm out with my girl friends.
2. Jon and Kate plus 8-I like that when I watch this show I realize that they are raising six kids the same age as Monkey. I actually have it pretty easy. It's also inspirational (even if they don't think they are) because they are handling it with 2 7-8 year olds and 6 3-4 year olds. There are times when I'm stressed out about just one of each age group and think, "Jon and Kate do this only so much more." Plus I wish that I was as dedicated as she was to prepare almost every meal at home and for it to be mainly organic fresh food. It's amazing.
3. Flipping Out-I may never know if Jenny and Chris made up with Jeff. Okay so I'll be able to still see their blogs on bravotv.com but it's not the same as watching a whole episode. Also, Jeff has a wicked sense of humor and I really liked watching him. I look at the people he's hired and think, "Man that job would be pretty easy. Why isn't Chris Elwood just doing the things on the list? It's not like any of the items take that much time. And not only that but he gets paid well to do them. I wish my "job" paid. It's practically the same job."
4. Iron Chef America-I <3 Alton Brown and Kevin Brauch. Oooh Oooh Oooh and Michael Symon.
5. The Next Food Network Star-Will the lady with squinty eyes and great fashion sense be "The Next Food Network Star"? At first she annoyed the heck out of me but now I like her and feel that she is the most qualified. I wish I had the money to have her wardrobe. Although I don't think I could chase after Monkey in Jimmy Choos.
6.You Are What You Eat-I wish that I could make money as a nutritionist. I also like the knowledge I got from that show on food nutrition and physiology.
7. Ace of Cakes-That would be one fun job working in a bakery with artsy people joking around and creating cakes.
8. Top Chef-Oh the drama!!!
9. That Mitchell and Webb Look-This is a sketch comedy from Britain that is hilarious. Although when I started watching it I had a hard time watching the real BBC news documentaries on "interesting people with problems". See they had this sketch on a documentary about a man with something like 7 penises. Then through the whole sketch there is a voiceover about "Now you can stare at this person with a deformity without feeling guilty." Of course the deformities they used were always ridiculous but I had trouble watching the real BBC news documentaries that I had recorded and watched religiously after this show. The poor guy with 7 penises had to clean his bathroom more often than I do which was very very sad. ;D
10. Little People, Big World-I like watching this and I'm not really sure why. I've enjoyed watching the kids grow up. I also like to watch the mom. I would like to be as centered as she seems to be when my boys are in their late teens about them growing up.
I can't think of any other shows at the moment so there may be a part 2 in the near future.
Some local business blogs...
I found out that a local grocery store has a blog found here. But then I didn't want to leave out my neighbors soap and candle business blog found here. And unless I think or find any other local companies that I would like to help promote I'm finished for now. I would add my coffee shop that I haven't been to since summer started, but they don't have a blog just a website.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Camping at Lucky Clover...
We went camping the end of last week at Lucky Clover Camping and RV Resort. Dirty packed and organized everything. He put up camp and kept the boys occupied most of the time we were there. I actually enjoyed myself a majority of the time. For anyone that knows me you will already have an understanding of how much I do not enjoy camping, but with Dirty doing a majority of the work I ended up having a really nice time. Our trip started out with a real traffic pain. A little after Fenton there was extremely slow moving traffic. I had the windows down on the Civic thinking that we would have plenty of airflow but with us barely moving and the sun beating down on us it was unbearable. We ended up getting off at Beaumont and Antire Road and taking back roads to 109 where we hopped back on the highway after a quick bathroom break (I had only factored in a little over an hour in drive time and my bladder was about to burst).
It was a little hot the first day with no water time for me and mainly trying to stay as shaded as possible. Dirty took the boys down to the river to play while I stayed at camp and read Pride And Predjudice. We ate hot dogs, corn on the cob, and ceasar salad for dinner. Dirty had picked up a pack of four different colored glow sticks and gave one to each boy each night. I was surpised how long it kept them occupied the first night. Then they took them to bed as "night lights". Dirty and I didn't sleep too well because it kept raining and were weren't sure how waterproof the tent would prove to be. We all stayed dry through the next morning though so our waterproofing measures from a couple years back have held up.
The second day Dirty woke up really early and made us coffee in our new 5 cup percolator coffee maker. It was more work than it should normally be because we didn't have many coals left after the rain. He could have maybe dug a little deeper and put the percolator further in the ground but didn't think of it until later. The boys got up and we packed up our floating essentials. It was a beautiful day on the river. The sun was hot which made getting in the river enjoyable. There weren't too many people out since it was Friday morning (There were a ton of people floating Saturday so we were glad we weren't going out that day). We took our time and stopped often. We also stayed places longer than we normally would have. We usually put in around 8 or 9 in the morning and are done by noon. We didn't finish this time until nearly 4 or 5 p.m. Near the end of the float Monkey lost a paddle. There was a hole in the paddle part and had been filling with water all day. When he dropped it it sank to the bottom immediately, and we never found it. After the float we went back to camp and started dinner. We had marinated chicken, more corn on the cob, and apples. Monkey ended up throwing fit after fit so he was sent to bed. Yellow Belt stayed up until after 11 when he protested that he was going to stay up as late as Dirty...even though he'd fallen asleep in my chair.
The next morning Dirty made us coffee again. The boys fished for a while. Then we packed up camp and headed for home. We came home and brought everything in, took baths and showers, and finally we collapsed. After resting for a while we worked on unpacking and trying to clean what needed to be cleaned. Everyone was in bed by 9 except for me. I tried to stay up and finish Pride and Predjudice but couldn't make it through the last chapter without having to reread everything a few times finally deciding to put it away and finish it when I woke up.
It was a little hot the first day with no water time for me and mainly trying to stay as shaded as possible. Dirty took the boys down to the river to play while I stayed at camp and read Pride And Predjudice. We ate hot dogs, corn on the cob, and ceasar salad for dinner. Dirty had picked up a pack of four different colored glow sticks and gave one to each boy each night. I was surpised how long it kept them occupied the first night. Then they took them to bed as "night lights". Dirty and I didn't sleep too well because it kept raining and were weren't sure how waterproof the tent would prove to be. We all stayed dry through the next morning though so our waterproofing measures from a couple years back have held up.
The second day Dirty woke up really early and made us coffee in our new 5 cup percolator coffee maker. It was more work than it should normally be because we didn't have many coals left after the rain. He could have maybe dug a little deeper and put the percolator further in the ground but didn't think of it until later. The boys got up and we packed up our floating essentials. It was a beautiful day on the river. The sun was hot which made getting in the river enjoyable. There weren't too many people out since it was Friday morning (There were a ton of people floating Saturday so we were glad we weren't going out that day). We took our time and stopped often. We also stayed places longer than we normally would have. We usually put in around 8 or 9 in the morning and are done by noon. We didn't finish this time until nearly 4 or 5 p.m. Near the end of the float Monkey lost a paddle. There was a hole in the paddle part and had been filling with water all day. When he dropped it it sank to the bottom immediately, and we never found it. After the float we went back to camp and started dinner. We had marinated chicken, more corn on the cob, and apples. Monkey ended up throwing fit after fit so he was sent to bed. Yellow Belt stayed up until after 11 when he protested that he was going to stay up as late as Dirty...even though he'd fallen asleep in my chair.
The next morning Dirty made us coffee again. The boys fished for a while. Then we packed up camp and headed for home. We came home and brought everything in, took baths and showers, and finally we collapsed. After resting for a while we worked on unpacking and trying to clean what needed to be cleaned. Everyone was in bed by 9 except for me. I tried to stay up and finish Pride and Predjudice but couldn't make it through the last chapter without having to reread everything a few times finally deciding to put it away and finish it when I woke up.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
What exactly have we been doing...
I was asked by my dad what the boys and I had been doing the last two weeks and I went completely blank. Now this is pretty common. There are more than some days that I can't remember what we've done all day. I think my forgetfulness has to do with dehydration. I think most times every physical issue can be traced to dehydration or lack of nutrients in one's diet. Because really I could go on and on about what I know about signs of vitamin and mineral deficiencies and the foods to eat to counteract these deficiencies. However, for the sake of anyone reading this, I digress.
Since the 19th of June when we had a sick Monkey, then Yellow Belt caught it, then Dirty and I, being the hypochondriacs that we are, thought we had it as well. The next two weeks I walked us to a lot of places. I've been trying to walk in order to burn off more calories than I take in and to conserve gas. We walk to the wading pool in Tower Grove park. We walk to our friends, the R.'s, across Tower Grove park. We walk to the library at Kingshighway and Vandeventer. We walk to the South Grand shopping district. Then there were places we went but didn't walk. We went to my book club where I didn't really get to talk much about the book, but it was a morning out of the house and the boys had fun. We went to the zoo. We've also had playdates with friends here and at their houses.
I also had the Installation Dinner for MOMS Club. One of our members who lives in Clayton offered up her back yard for us to infiltrate for the evening. She had actually been dealing with a bout of salmonella leading up to the dinner. It was a nice evening and my friend, KL, made a rockin' mojito. It was even better than mine. She didn't have a recipe for it though because she improvised off her original recipe. It was really yummy. For MOMS Club I also finished up my term as Treasurer on the the board. I completed the Financial Report that is required by each chapter at end of year. I'm kind of glad that I won't have as many responsibilities but a little sad that now I'll just have the regular activities to attend. I'm hoping I won't notice as much when I start school and am busier.
The fourth of July we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens which had free admission to the gardens and the Children's Garden. They have the Niki sculpture exhibit which I would like to check out sometime without the boys. I think that if I had more free time I would probably go there on the free mornings for city dwellers and just walk around the different gardens. By the time we walked from our house to the gardens the boys were done walking and didn't want to do anything but go straight to the Children's Garden. We pushed them further than we probably should have which made everyone very crabby. By the time we got home Dirty and I had decided not to do anything else that day. But he called his parent's house and confirmed our plans with them to have dinner at their house. We went and the boys played with his step-mom's niece which I guess is now Dirty's cousin. And of course Grandpa C. bought fireworks and sparklers for the kids. I nearly had a heart attack from the unsafeness of Monkey with fire which was apparently very obvious to all the adults present because after many gasps and cries of "Oh my goodness!" I was asked a few times if I was sure I didn't want a glass of wine. We made it through that and walked home. We saw a few fireworks go off over what seemed like old McRee town which was exciting enough for the boys.
And that pretty much sums up what we've done the last couple of weeks. This week we've already run errands, went to a Monthly Social, had a playdate here, had a playdate at a friends. And later in the week we'll be going camping and on a float trip. I'm thinking of putting a stipulation on marriage that I will only go camping if it's in Hawaii. :D Dirty says that for our 20th anniversary I am obliged to go on a camping trip where we follow the same path that Frodo followed from the Shire to Mordor. I told him he can go alone. I'll be in Hawaii on the North Shore of Oahu. You may have also guessed that I've been spending a lot of time daydreaming about a vacation to Hawaii. If you guessed that you would be correct.
Since the 19th of June when we had a sick Monkey, then Yellow Belt caught it, then Dirty and I, being the hypochondriacs that we are, thought we had it as well. The next two weeks I walked us to a lot of places. I've been trying to walk in order to burn off more calories than I take in and to conserve gas. We walk to the wading pool in Tower Grove park. We walk to our friends, the R.'s, across Tower Grove park. We walk to the library at Kingshighway and Vandeventer. We walk to the South Grand shopping district. Then there were places we went but didn't walk. We went to my book club where I didn't really get to talk much about the book, but it was a morning out of the house and the boys had fun. We went to the zoo. We've also had playdates with friends here and at their houses.
I also had the Installation Dinner for MOMS Club. One of our members who lives in Clayton offered up her back yard for us to infiltrate for the evening. She had actually been dealing with a bout of salmonella leading up to the dinner. It was a nice evening and my friend, KL, made a rockin' mojito. It was even better than mine. She didn't have a recipe for it though because she improvised off her original recipe. It was really yummy. For MOMS Club I also finished up my term as Treasurer on the the board. I completed the Financial Report that is required by each chapter at end of year. I'm kind of glad that I won't have as many responsibilities but a little sad that now I'll just have the regular activities to attend. I'm hoping I won't notice as much when I start school and am busier.
The fourth of July we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens which had free admission to the gardens and the Children's Garden. They have the Niki sculpture exhibit which I would like to check out sometime without the boys. I think that if I had more free time I would probably go there on the free mornings for city dwellers and just walk around the different gardens. By the time we walked from our house to the gardens the boys were done walking and didn't want to do anything but go straight to the Children's Garden. We pushed them further than we probably should have which made everyone very crabby. By the time we got home Dirty and I had decided not to do anything else that day. But he called his parent's house and confirmed our plans with them to have dinner at their house. We went and the boys played with his step-mom's niece which I guess is now Dirty's cousin. And of course Grandpa C. bought fireworks and sparklers for the kids. I nearly had a heart attack from the unsafeness of Monkey with fire which was apparently very obvious to all the adults present because after many gasps and cries of "Oh my goodness!" I was asked a few times if I was sure I didn't want a glass of wine. We made it through that and walked home. We saw a few fireworks go off over what seemed like old McRee town which was exciting enough for the boys.
And that pretty much sums up what we've done the last couple of weeks. This week we've already run errands, went to a Monthly Social, had a playdate here, had a playdate at a friends. And later in the week we'll be going camping and on a float trip. I'm thinking of putting a stipulation on marriage that I will only go camping if it's in Hawaii. :D Dirty says that for our 20th anniversary I am obliged to go on a camping trip where we follow the same path that Frodo followed from the Shire to Mordor. I told him he can go alone. I'll be in Hawaii on the North Shore of Oahu. You may have also guessed that I've been spending a lot of time daydreaming about a vacation to Hawaii. If you guessed that you would be correct.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I told you not to drink the water...
Well it's been awhile since any of us have been sick with fever/vomiting/etc. But after a day at the wading pool Monkey has come down with a medium-grade fever and has thrown up once. He's been on the couch in his bedroom all day and that is totally uncharacteristic for Monkey. He's gotten up a few times to play quietly on the floor and sit by me while I cleaned the kitchen after dinner. He's had no appetite. Also uncharacteristic. He's like a hobbit in that sense that he has a couple breakfasts, elevensies, lunch, mid-day snack, tea, dinner, dessert normally. During the morning he had a bite of cereal and half of a saltine cracker. I didn't know what to do with myself all morning not having to be in the kitchen. Mid-afternoon he had half an apple which he threw up a couple hours later. Through the evening he's eaten maybe 10 more saltines and a few bites of bread. I've also been giving him as much iced water as I can. Mainly he is just holding the sippy cup near his torso and it's probably helping him feel more comfortable.
It's funny because when he is well he wants medicine for all kinds of made up maladies. Just this week there was a "favor" aka fever that he told me started in his head but that it was at that time in his "ankle" aka his calf. Now that he has a real fever though he doesn't want anything. I don't push tylenol or ibuprofen because really it's just to help make him more comfortable. The whole reason for the fever is to trigger the immune system so if he can handle it then there's no reason to push the medicine.
I believe that all of this was caused by drinking water from the wading pool in Tower Grove Park. We went yesterday and spent a couple hours playing. I had brought little craft brushes for the boys to "paint" the planters. They did for at least an hour but I noticed that Monkey was sucking on one of them a few times. I warned him not to suck on the brush or to drink the water because it could make him sick. I always ask them if they want to throw up because neither of them have fond memories of throwing up. Who does? It didn't seem to really click with Monkey yesterday though. He, at one point, washed off a grape in the pool as well. YUCK!!! I really enjoy the wading pool and it's even nicer since they put in fountains, but my friend, AR, put it best, "It's really just a really big foot bath if you think about it." And that it really is. I was glad that I found a toy that would keep the boys occupied in the water and not just running around the fountain. Doing that Yellow Belt wiped out and scraped up half of his torso and his elbow. They did have a lot of fun despite the scrapes and sickness. I'm sure we'll go back. I'll have to reevaluate the craft brushes. It is free afterall. :D
It's funny because when he is well he wants medicine for all kinds of made up maladies. Just this week there was a "favor" aka fever that he told me started in his head but that it was at that time in his "ankle" aka his calf. Now that he has a real fever though he doesn't want anything. I don't push tylenol or ibuprofen because really it's just to help make him more comfortable. The whole reason for the fever is to trigger the immune system so if he can handle it then there's no reason to push the medicine.
I believe that all of this was caused by drinking water from the wading pool in Tower Grove Park. We went yesterday and spent a couple hours playing. I had brought little craft brushes for the boys to "paint" the planters. They did for at least an hour but I noticed that Monkey was sucking on one of them a few times. I warned him not to suck on the brush or to drink the water because it could make him sick. I always ask them if they want to throw up because neither of them have fond memories of throwing up. Who does? It didn't seem to really click with Monkey yesterday though. He, at one point, washed off a grape in the pool as well. YUCK!!! I really enjoy the wading pool and it's even nicer since they put in fountains, but my friend, AR, put it best, "It's really just a really big foot bath if you think about it." And that it really is. I was glad that I found a toy that would keep the boys occupied in the water and not just running around the fountain. Doing that Yellow Belt wiped out and scraped up half of his torso and his elbow. They did have a lot of fun despite the scrapes and sickness. I'm sure we'll go back. I'll have to reevaluate the craft brushes. It is free afterall. :D
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Summer Snail Day...
I've been trying to occupy the days with water play, craft activities, and outside play. One day this week while playing outside in the water Yellow Belt found a worm and a snail. Monkey melted down because he didn't have any and Yellow Belt wasn't sharing. Dirty happened to call (to check in on how the day was going which was not so good at that point) and he let me in on the whereabouts of a snail habitat in our very own backyard with tons of snails. So we went back to the habitat and collected snails, after we created a snail sanctuary on the porch, played with the poor snails for a while, then released the snails back into their habitat (because we are all about animal conservation...just like the Irwins). We went in and had lunch where I thought about what kind of craft we could do to take up some time in the afternoon.
Originally I was going to just make a snail picture but our glue sources are low. Our tape sources are also slightly low so I remembered that we still have a ton of contact paper from a centerpiece that we did for Yellow Belts Blue and Gold Scout Banquet. It was perfect because the pieces of construction paper stick to the sheet of contact paper and you just layer another piece on top. This helps keep all of the construction paper in place in case it's not touching enough contact paper on one side it is on the other. I cut out the snail "shells" which were brown circles and blue snail "bodies" which were blue little finger looking things. I let the boys cut out their own grass and rip their own leaves. So then they put all of their leaves and grass on the contact paper and then placed their snails in and amongst the grass and leaves. After they finished I placed the top sheet of contact paper and cut a border around the sides. They really liked creating their new placemats.
Overall, it was a fun summer day. And now I have to top it. :D
Originally I was going to just make a snail picture but our glue sources are low. Our tape sources are also slightly low so I remembered that we still have a ton of contact paper from a centerpiece that we did for Yellow Belts Blue and Gold Scout Banquet. It was perfect because the pieces of construction paper stick to the sheet of contact paper and you just layer another piece on top. This helps keep all of the construction paper in place in case it's not touching enough contact paper on one side it is on the other. I cut out the snail "shells" which were brown circles and blue snail "bodies" which were blue little finger looking things. I let the boys cut out their own grass and rip their own leaves. So then they put all of their leaves and grass on the contact paper and then placed their snails in and amongst the grass and leaves. After they finished I placed the top sheet of contact paper and cut a border around the sides. They really liked creating their new placemats.
Overall, it was a fun summer day. And now I have to top it. :D
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