Ortho! Work! Books!

This morning was an orthodontist appointment for both Houston and Katrina.

Houston, who has had his weird metal devices, rubber bands, and a retainer for over half a year now, got some new little brackets added to his teeth. These are on the canine teeth (i think), and instead of wearing his retainer/rubber bands all day and night, he now has instructions to only wear them for about 12 hours a day. Otherwise, apparently, the teeth with the brackets might start to twist or move weirdly. So. Progress is being made! Next month: actual braces!

Katrina had her "Let us check if she has all of her permanent teeth now" appointment (she does), and so next month she's going to get ... something done. Braces? Some weird device like Houston's? I don't know. They were going to still decide. But she's all signed up now, which means that we've got two kids for whom braces are forthcoming! Kids are expensive!

Zane, meanwhile spent the entire day - from first light until bedtime - at his friend Justin's house. I saw him for about 30 seconds this morning before he left with Juanito and then again for about 30 seconds when i got home, after he should have been asleep. But he seems to have had fun.

I worked this afternoon, and usually work is lovely and at least relatively quiet for most of the time, because it IS a library, after all. But today? There is something in the air today, because people were kind of insane. For the first time since i've worked there, we actually kicked out a group of kids, because they were TERRIBLE. There were 4 of them, and they were there for like...hours...and they were screaming and pushing each other and throwing the kids' toys all over the place and screaming some more, and eventually my co-worker was like, "Okay. That's it. I've given them multiple warnings, and they are just finished." Hallelujah. Oh, and also, someone was looking at porn on one of the computers that's right in the middle of the library, and we have no idea who it was, so that's fun.

And then tonight i had book club. We read "The Nightingale," which was both well-liked by all and also was good for discussion, and that is both rare and awesome. It seems like most of the time, either a book has a lot of discussion but people hate it, or people love it but there's not much to discuss. Yay! 

Books

I'm currently reading three different books with the kids. (I'm also reading 3 books on my own, because apparently i'm stupid.) Most of the time i'm only reading one book with the kids. Maybe two, if it's around someone's birthday and i'm reading Harry Potter with just them or something.

But right now, there are three. So first of all, i started reading "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" to the boys, because Katrina was ... somewhere. I'd only read a chapter or two, and told Katrina that she could totally catch up before i read the next part, but she decided that she wanted to read that one on her own, so i'm reading that book with just Houston and Zane.

And then i had been reading "Masterminds," which the kids all loved, and when we finished it, everyone wanted to read the sequel...but there weren't any available copies. So i put it on hold at the library, and we waited.

In the meantime, Zane has been begging to read the next Harry Potter book, because his birthday is nearly here, and it's just easier to read more often during the summer, so we started on "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

And then today, the next "Masterminds" book came in, and all of the kids NEEDED to read it immediately.

AND SO. Reading time has gotten significantly longer than it usually is. Which...is honestly okay with me.

December 14, 15, and 16

Zane discovered Calvin and Hobbes this year, and has been absolutely loving the comic strip. Of course, Bill Watterson has completely forbidden the use of Calvin and Hobbes in any kind of merchandising, so buying stuffed animals or anything else with Calvin and/or Hobbes (besides the books) is impossible. And so i went around that by making a Hobbes myself. He's obviously the real version of Hobbes, not the imaginary one, because i figured that if that's what Calvin had, that's what Zane should have. Here's hoping that Zane likes him.

The past few days were really busy, and ultimately we ended up not doing the Advent activity on Wednesday OR Thursday, which actually ended up working out quite well for today. Today's activity was meant to be going to an outdoor Christmas celebration in a little town nearby, but it was SO cold and we were all ready for a night in, so we just did Wednesday's activity tonight. It was to do Mad Libs, which is always one of the kids' favorite activities (weirdly). We did pizza-movie night and watched "Fred Claus," which is one of my favorite Christmas movies. (I have kind of a lot of favorite Christmas movies.)

On Wednesday, Katrina had her Heart and Sole end-of-season party after school. They'll have their 5K on Sunday, unless it's below zero (which is entirely possible). She's been asking me if we can go shopping for her to buy Christmas presents, so when i picked her up, we went straight to Meijer and walked around looking for things that Houston, Zane, and Juanito would like. We both agreed that Juanito is one of the hardest people in the world to find presents for. He has things that he likes, but they're either things he likes but not the stuff that goes with it (Zumba) or stuff he likes, but it has to be really specific and nobody else understands his qualifications (bits to make speakers). Her: "He likes art....?" Me: "Yes. But i've bought him art supplies in the past, and he just never uses them." Her: "Books?" Me: "Yes. But he only reads them on his phone." Etc.

Yesterday evening i had book club. By yesterday morning, i had read approximately 30 pages of a 330ish page book. It was a combination of being busy with Christmas stuff and being uninterested in the first 30 pages of the book, so i kept picking it up and then putting it down immediately. Needless to say, i spent nearly all of my time reading it right up until book club started. I ended up finishing all but about 10 pages, and i don't think anything vital happened in those last 10 pages, so it was fine. Nobody really liked the book a lot ("Code Name Verity"), but it did end up being a fairly good book for discussion. It's weird how that goes - sometimes the books we love and i think will have great discussion end up being us all just going, "Yup." And then books that are just "meh" end up being the ones with the easiest talking points. 

A Very Back to School-type day

This morning was orientation for City High. High school!!!

I obsessively checked and rechecked and re-rechecked the list of things we needed to bring with us to orientation. I'm way more nervous about Houston starting at City than he is! But i'm happy to report that i did manage to bring everything we needed. Birth certificate - check. Immunization record - check. Proof of residency, medical form, receipt for the photographer - check, check, and check. I had everything filled out and the money for his locker and activity pass and the PTSA all neatly clipped together and ready to go. And then we got there and went to the new students meeting, and i watched all of the other parents filling out the paperwork while the principal was talking. I might be a bit overly anxious. Or i'm just organized!

The very first station we went to was for locker assignment, and they totally didn't have Houston's name. We went to the photographer, who ALSO didn't have Houston's name. Thankfully, the office did have his schedule, so we know that he IS actually registered! (Of course, his schedule will be changing, because he's switching from band to art, but still! He's registered!) (Also, he's taking Honor Physics! PHYSICS!)

This afternoon we went to Target for school supplies. School supply shopping! The kids have been asking me when we would go ever since literally the first week of summer vacation. This year, of course, Houston's at a new school, and he wasn't given a list of needed supplies, so for the first time, we had to wing it. Katrina and Zane's teachers gave them lists, some of the things completely reasonable, like pens and pencils and notebooks and folders. Some of the things seem unnecessarily picky, like Katrina's "Mead 5-Star 8 1/2 X 11 notebook." And some of the things make me sigh a little bit, like "At least 10 large glue sticks." (They NEVER use all of the glue sticks! Never!!!) Nevertheless, the kids are all supplied up and ready to go!

While we were there, we looked for new school outfits too. Houston's uniform is black or khaki pants and a blue, red, black, white, or grey collared shirt, so he picked out a red polo shirt and some black pants that he liked. He tried them on and then was waiting by the dressing room to show me, and a lady came by and asked him, "Can i try these on?" Houston was all, "Um, sure?" And then, as he explained it to me, "I was really confused about why she'd ask me, and then i looked down and realized what i was wearing...." She totally thought he worked there.

Tonight was book club. Yay! Beth and i went out for dinner together beforehand, and it was fun to get to hang out with her. The two of us don't get much time with just us very often. Book club was fun - we had 6 of us there, which is a good number. There was some discussion of the actual book (The Storied Life of A.J. Fickry), and much laughter and talking about everything else under the sun. It was a good end to the day!

Home again, home again!

Yesterday we left Pittsburgh, Karen, and baby Amiya. We were all sad to say goodbye, but there is always something happy about getting home to your own house (and bed!).

Before we left town, we stopped at the Water Steps and the Mr. Rogers statue. We've gone to both before - we've actually gone to the water steps just about every time we've gone to Pittsburgh, and i keep thinking that this time, my kids will  have outgrown it...but no. They still really love to leap around (so dangerous!!!!) and splash and find spots to lie down in the water. At first, Katrina was all, "I'm not going to actually get wet. Just my feet." But by the time we left, she was soaked from head to toe.

The Mr. Rogers statue is sort of cool - there's a whole circle thing behind it that plays Mr. Rogers singing songs on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, which i actually really liked. And i love that they have a statue. But the statue itself? Kind of weird, and - in my kids' opinion - creepy.

The ride home was uneventful. I read nearly the entire book "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry" out loud to everyone. I started reading it just to Juanito, so he could be entertained while he was driving, but then a few chapters in, i realized that Katrina was listening, and before long, Houston was listening, and they were all completely sucked in. We got home when there were only a few chapters left, and they were all, "Oh. We're home. Sigh."

Emma was SO happy to see us. Ever since we got home, she's been carrying her toy chicken around with her everywhere she goes, and at first we were all, "Huh. That's cute. And weird." And then we realized that that's the last thing i gave her before we left, and it seems to have become sort of her security toy of sorts, and now i'm all, "That's so SAD! And cute. And sad!"

Books, books, books

A couple of years ago, i had a GIANT list of books that i'd been meaning to read, that i wanted to read. I kept not reading it, though, because i'd finish a book and think, "What should i read next?" and then not remember what any of those books was, so i'd search Goodreads for books that looked interesting, add them to my list, and choose one of those to read. So my list kept getting longer and longer, and i was never, ever going to read them all.

And so i decided that i would stop the madness, and i made it my New Year's resolution to read (or admit that i never would read) all of those books before i added any new ones to my list. And i started reading, and first i read all of the books that i recognized the names of. And then i started re-looking up the books and trying to remember what they were, and reading the ones that immediately made me interested again. And the year ended, and i made it my New Year's resolution AGAIN to continue doing the same thing.

And in about November of this past year, i got down to about 30 books left on the list and looked at them and thought, "I just...don't feel like i even remotely want to read most of these." So i scratched off all but about 10. And then i thought, "I probably want to read these? Eventually?" But i also just really missed reading books that i really wanted to read. And so i just decided to throw the rest out for the time being. 

All through December, i barely even looked at a book. It was kind of sad. But after Christmas, i started reading again. I've turned to my "list of books that i really want to read that weren't on that list from two years ago," and i've started reading those books, and it is glorious to be reading books that i'm really excited about reading again. I look at my books and think, "I could read THIS! Or THIS! OR THIS!"

The obvious lesson here is this: I need to actually read the books on my list when i first get them, rather than adding and adding and adding.  Now we'll see how good i am at learning from past mistakes....

Veteran's Day

Today was the Veteran's Day assembly at the kids' school. Houston (and the 8th grade band) was playing a song for the assembly, and he really wanted me to come. And Zane, as a Boy Scout, was helping escort the veterans to their seats. And so i went.

I don't usually think of myself as being particularly patriotic. I mean, i'm really happy that i live in the United States, and i'm super-thankful for all of the rights and privileges involved. I'm totally a pacifist - not a fan of war, ever - but at the same time, i totally respect people who are willing to sacrifice for their beliefs and for the good of the country, and i'm thankful for them. So Veteran's Day is always kind of a weird day for me. I'm totally thankful for the soldiers and their sacrifice, but i totally wish that there wasn't ever a need for soldiers. (I know i'm completely ridiculous. I do.)

So ANYHOW. I was at the assembly today, and the veterans all came in to the gym with all of the kids from the entire school, from young 5's to 8th grade, and then we stood up to do the Pledge, and halfway through the Pledge my eyes kind of welled up. There were the little kids all yelling the Pledge because they know it, and then there was this WWII veteran right in front of me, and...sniff. And then we sat down and the band played and we sang along for the second time through, and i was fine. And then they played parts of all of the official songs of each branch, and the veterans from each branch stood during their song...and i got all teary again. (I did NOT, however, get remotely teary during the "touching" poems. Poetry. Bleh.)

I seriously teared up like, 3-4 times. I'm kind of a dork.

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We finally revived book club after about 3 months. Maybe 4. A ridiculously long time, anyhow.

And then we hardly talked about the book. Which is fine, except i felt a little bit bad for Katie, who was there for the first time. 

The Giraffe Story

We got to church today, and Stacy yelled across the parking lot, "Hello, the Moores! I have something for you!!!" And he led us to his giant green van, opened a giant box in the back of it, and handed us six copies of the book that Juanito and i made years ago.

Stacy works with an organization that is trying to educate and get books to kids in Haiti, and he was over at our house one time and saw the book that we'd made for Katrina for Christmas. He was all, "This is exactly the kind of thing we need!!! Can we use this?" To which Juanito and i immediately agreed, of course. So they got their editor to make it better and their translator to translate it into Haitian Creole, and now it's an actual book. Crazy. The cool thing is that for every hardcover book sold here, they send five paperback books to Haiti. Yay!

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We spent the afternoon at my parents' house. It was a gorgeous, sunny day today, so the boys were outside for hours. Meanwhile Katrina and her cousin played with American Girl dolls upstairs in the quiet, enjoying having a lot of time to just hang out together.

After Fifty6 and the Element (our church's student ministry), as we were driving home, Katrina said, "This was just the best day i've had in a long time. I got to have my book published, which is really exciting. We got to stay extra-long at Grandma's house. It's a clear night, so i can see the stars. And we got snacks at church."

She was really excited about the book. She showed pretty much everyone she saw, and she's planning to bring it to school tomorrow as well. Happy girl.

Furiously Happy

However many years ago that Jenny Lawson's book "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" came out, Juanito and the kids were awesome enough to know i wanted it like crazy, so they got it for me for mother's day, and i proceeded to laugh out loud while reading it. A lot. Her new book, "Furiously Happy" just came out a month ago, and i immediately got it from the library and read it and laughed a lot again.

This time, Houston and Katrina were both all, "Can we read it?!" And...i'm not a fan of banning books, like...at all. If you want to read something, you may read it. (I might make you have a lot of discussion about it afterwards, though.) But i DID say, "Um...well, there's a lot of swearing....." And they both got sad faces and said, "Oh. Okay."

And so i started reading it to them out loud, editing what needed to be edited.

It is the WEIRDEST book i've ever read out loud to my kids. It's all about her struggle with mental illness, but it's told in the funniest way possible, and there are a lot of times when i have to pause in my reading because they are both laughing SO LOUD that they wouldn't even be able to hear me. They are loving it. 

Lazy day

I remember my dad reading this book to us, and i always loved it. And i know that it's all controversial and often banned now, but i still love these stories. And my kids love them too. So i'm either an awesome mom for passing on this fantastic book or a horrible mom for exposing my kids to this crazy-racist book.

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We were all tired today, so we had the laziest day ever. We slept in, watched some America's Got Talent, read, took a nap, and generally just relaxed. 

A trip to the library

We made a trip to the library today. Zane spent the entire time reading books but insisted that he didn't want to take any home. "I just don't like reading books more than once," says the boy who listens to Harry Potter on repeat day and night.

I found a book about how to be a spy and showed Katrina, and she promptly disappeared into it and didn't stick her nose out from it again until we left. "It says that women make better spies than men. Because we're more trustworthy. Also, that dishonesty is a spy's best friend...." (Me: "Yes. But if you're dishonest around people who know you, then that doesn't work. And we'll stop trusting you." Her: "Oh." Sad face.) She also decided to buy a used book to make a secret compartment. Her first choice was a pink and purple book with a giant rose on it with the title, "Guilty Pleasures." I laughed and told her that that book was completely not appropriate for an 11-year-old to even pretend to be reading.

Houston looked on Goodreads, found dozens of books that he's interested in reading, and looked up every single one of them to see if he could check them out. He came home with five. He's had his nose buried deep in a book ever since.

Tonight i got to go to Beth's house to have dinner and hang out with Beth, Karla, and Diana. I just really like my friends. 

Rainy Saturday

Emma is usually the fastest eater on the planet. The general routine is this:
Me: "Emma? Are you hungry?"
Her: Ears perk up.
Me: Walks toward the basement door, behind which we keep her food.
Her: Follows hopefully.
Me: Opens door.
Her: Sprints to her crate, where she stands inside expectantly. If i take too long, she starts drooling.
Me: Scoop dog food into bowl, set down in crate.
Her: Immediately gobble up every morsel within about 30 seconds.

Today she wasn't very hungry. We gave her her breakfast and she basically ignored it for half of the day, and then ate it a little at a time, finishing it just around dinnertime.

Our assumptions (hopes) are that either she's sick from eating Katrina chapstick yesterday or she's just not feeling well from some random dog flu. Either way, besides the not eating and not being quite as energetic as usual, she's not actually sick enough for us to be terribly concerned. (I did have to assure Houston that it's not his fault - he was all, "Sorry, Emma! I gave you my flu!")

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It rained nearly all day. It didn't pour or thunderstorm, but it just came down steadily all day. Houston and i played Phase 10. Katrina, Houston, and i played Skip-bo. I started reading "Anastasia Krupnik" to the kids and accidentally read about half of it. We watched "America's Got Talent." I read a little bit of "Call the Midwife" to Houston and then later a few other chapters to Juanito (who was busy drawing Katrina's teacher as a superhero).

So it was a good stay-inside kind of a day. 

Lots of random things.

Emma seems to think that it's her duty to keep me from actually folding the laundry. She sits in it, and then, when i start folding it in piles, she walks all over the piles and knocks everything over. I don't like doing laundry on the best days - it's not my favorite chore - so having to fold things multiple times is just...annoying. It's a good thing that she's so stinking cute. And cuddly. And sweet.

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We had book club tonight, with only four of us actually there. Beth, my mom, my sister, and me. Our book this month was a good enough book, especially compared to other books we've read for book club, but it wasn't one we could actually get a lot of discussion from. So we talked about it a little bit, and then veered off-topic and talked about everything else under the sun for a couple of hours. I like my people. I like that we can talk about books and religion and other books and random stuff for a long time.

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Katrina came home today, weepy because her arm with her tetanus shot still hurt. "I can't raise it any higher than this without it hurting!" And i inwardly rolled my eyes a little bit at her drama, but i also patted her back gently and sympathized, because tetanus shots DO hurt really bad.

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One of the things that our pediatrician said yesterday is that neither of the kids has started puberty yet. What that means for Houston is that he's probably going to be 6'2 or 6'3. (Houston was pretty happy about that.) (It also means that Houston still has absolutely no interest in girls as anything beyond friends. I'm sure that this is somewhat disappointing to the girls that he's good friends with.)

When we were at the concert last night, it was so obvious that Katrina is still just kind of a little girl, while some of her classmates are clearly more mature. She moves and thinks and sits and dresses and acts like a little girl yet, while some of the other girls in her class are wearing makeup and flirting with boys and wearing more grown-up dresses and acting like they're teenagers. And...i'm really okay with her holding off on that puberty thing.

And as long as i'm adding stuff that the pediatrician said: He was all, "Well, Katrina. You're tall. But i'm sure you already know that!" And she and i both said, "Um...kind of?" Because the majority of her friends are taller than she is. He predicts that she'll be around 5'6. The perfect height, in my opinion! Short, but not too short.

Breakfast with my mom; The dog park

My mom and i went out for breakfast this morning to celebrate our birthdays...although, since she paid, i feel like we were celebrating my birthday more than hers, so ... Thanks, Mom! We went to a place that just opened yesterday, and it was adorable. I would want the person who decorated it to come and decorate my entire house. The food was fine. Neither of us was overly impressed with what we got, but maybe we just chose things that aren't the best? But the conversation was superb. I love hanging out with my mom!

Emma was completely hyper and desperate for someone to play with this afternoon, so i took her to the dog park. She flitted from one dog to another - wrestled with this one under the picnic table, chased that one around the park, sniffed noses with every dog in the place. (As an aside, i was watching, and she didn't jump up on a single person. Progress!!!)

Meanwhile, i watched the people. Most of the people who bring their dogs to the dog park are pretty laid back and friendly. There's the odd person who comes in a suit, crosses their arms, and glares around, but most people either just sit and watch the dogs or chat with other people or some combination of the two. And then there's this one girl who's been there many, many of the times that i've been there. She has a giant dog named "Boo," and she's kind of ... loud. She'll talk to the dogs, but she's obviously actually wanting other people to hear her, even from across the park. I'm not sure if she's a really socially awkward extrovert or if there's another explanation, but man, she's loud.

And then i read and read and read. "Ender's Game" with Houston. "The Last Present" with all three kids. "Harry Potter" with Katrina. By the time i finished, Katrina was all, "Would you read more?!" and i just couldn't. We're so close to being finished with both Ender's Game and Harry Potter, and both of them are to the really sad, stressful parts. Sniff!

Book club, Carnival, and Movie night.

On Thursday, we had book club. This month's book was "The Pearl That Broke Its Shell," and it has the distinction of possibly being the first book we've done that everyone has finished AND really liked.

The funny thing is, i was totally dreading reading it. I knew it was coming up, and i just thought, "Bleh!!! It's going to be all depressing and slow to read!" Except that it wasn't! I read it fairly quickly, and although it WAS fairly devastating at times, it had just enough hope to keep me from being completely depressed.

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On Friday, the kids' school had their yearly carnival, which we ... hate. It's just loud and crowded and the games are lame and it's just the worst. Several years ago, in a desperate move, i said, "What if we have our own carnival!? At our house! Just for us!" And the kids loved it. So now, when the school has their carnival, we have our own carnival.

We made our own pizzas and played silly little games (Hit the ping pong ball with a nerf gun! Roll the marble onto the target! Stack dinosaurs into the tallest tower!) for tickets. And then they can use their tickets to get prizes that i've picked out - things that they'd actually probably like and use, like post-it notes and that cord that they use to make bracelets. They're happy. We don't have to go to the carnival. It's all good.

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Tonight was movie night. It was Juanito's turn to choose, and he chose "The Room."

I think this movie actually just beat out "Luggage of the gods" as the worst movie i've ever seen. It was cringe-worthy at times, and completely hilarious (unintentionally), but just so awful that it almost defies description. We all laughed and laughed and also had to look around awkwardly because.... It was So! Wrong!

Even taking the movie out of the equation, though, it was a fun night. We grilled using the grill that i dragged home from someone's trash last fall. Juanito fixed it up, and it works great. We have a propane grill! One that's big enough to do more than a teensy bit of stuff on! YAY!

Linda and Andrew and their kids and Stephanie and Beth all came over, and i really love my friends. I love that my kids love their kids. I even love that they all like Emma, which means that she's so much calmer than when people try to keep her away from them. 

Bittersweet

Katrina and i are nearing the end of the last book in the Harry Potter series. It's my favorite book in one of my favorite series, and i'm both really happy about reading it and really sad that it's almost over. Plus, it's such a great, amazing book, but also really sad, so there's a whole bittersweet feeling on so many levels. (And, once i'm finished reading it with Katrina, there's only Zane left to read it with, and then it's finished. And that's also pretty bittersweet.)

At the same time, Houston and i are nearing the end of Ender's Game, which is another of my favorite books. I really love reading the books i love with my kids, and getting to share that experience with them. I feel like, in the near future, they're going to just be finished with having me read out loud to them, and i want to read to them as many of my favorites as i can before that happens.

Beth enlisted my help for one of her projects for work tonight, so we got to sit and brainstorm for a couple of hours. At one point, sports came up peripherally, and Juanito said, "No, an ump is for baseball!" Beth said, "I'm so glad that we have a man around!" and without thinking i completely burst out laughing. Because...as far as "manly men" go, Juanito isn't exactly the poster boy. Especially when it comes to sports. (And almost immediately, i realized that i'm really mean and started to apologize, just as Juanito yelled, "Yeah! Bring me a beer!" So he wasn't too traumatized.)

My teenager

We were at the library today, and Houston was looking for books to read. I pulled the first book of the Gallagher Girl series off the shelf and told him, "You should read this! I really liked these books! They're about a girl who goes to a school for spies!" He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, said, "FINE," took the book, and walked away.

A few minutes later, i was sitting next to him as he was starting to read that book, and he quietly got up and walked away. I thought, "Well, okay. I guess he doesn't like it." And then he came back with the entire series. And tried to play it off as not a big deal.

That was at about 3:00. He had the first one two-thirds finished by bedtime.

Update on "The illness:" Katrina threw up from midnight until 2:00, and then woke up at 10:00 happy! Feeling great! Totally fine!

She wilted a little bit as the day went on, and spent most of the day on the couch, but there was no further throwing up, and she did seem to be mostly okay. So at least, if we all get sick, we can hopefully look forward to a short-lived illness. Yay?

Lunch and book club and laundry!

I met Beth for lunch during her lunch hour today. It's always so great to get to sit and talk when there's just the two of us and we don't have kids and a dog and life in general competing for attention. It's good to have an hour of time to just let the conversation flow without interruptions, to talk about whatever we feel like talking about. Today, we mostly wanted to talk about our upcoming trip to Florida. And the cold.

And then tonight we had book club. Our book this month was Jane Eyre, which most of us disliked, so a lot of the time was spent complaining about how unlikable Mr. Rochester was and how many words Bronte used to describe everything and.... The weird thing is, this is my third time reading it, except that i don't even remember reading it the first time, and i apparently quite liked it the second time i read it, because i gave it three stars. I remember it in hindsight as being a better book than it is as i'm reading it, so maybe that played into it? Either way, i need to remember now that i HAVE read it - three times - and i do not want to read it again!

Poor Emma is getting SO restless with this cold weather. Today started out at -3, and it barely got warmer, so it's just plain too cold to go outside for long. So when i folded the laundry today, she drove me crazy by running back and forth through the room, knocking piles over left and right. I think i might need to start folding laundry on my table, even though it's not as ideal. Anything's better than having to re-fold everything i just folded!

Recipes and reading and book club

Many years ago, back when Houston was an infant and i was all, "I will find ALL THE RECIPES and make lots of delicious foods!" i typed lots and lots of recipes into the computer, printed them, and put them into a giant binder. Fast-forward twelve years, and there's now this place (the internet) where i can find new recipes in seconds any time i feel like trying something new. And also, i have never, in the past twelve years, made two thirds of the recipes in the binder. And also, the rings in the binder were falling apart, so you couldn't flip through the pages, so i mostly just shoved all the recipes i ever used loosely into the front of the binder, which made them hard to find and also made them all fall out if you held the binder just wrong.

And so! I bought a newer, prettier binder! And i went through all of the recipes and tossed everything we either didn't like or had never made and added a few things that we like but had lost the recipes for, and BAM! Newer! Better! More organized!

I finished it on Monday (Katrina ooo-ed and ahhh-ed over the pretty dividers i'd made back in the day) and handed it to the kids and told them each to choose 3 or 4 of their favorite meals for me to make. Zane, predictably, chose banana bread and poppyseed muffins (both practically cake), but also, unpredictably, chose beef stew. So Tuesday was beef stew and banana bread, and he was thrilled. As was everyone else about the banana bread. One of Houston's choices was goulash, so Wednesday was goulash. And Houston was thrilled. Katrina and Zane, less so. (They both don't like tomatoes. Sad for them.) One of Katrina's choices was chicken pitas - so that was today's meal. Everyone was the most thrilled yet. So! Three good meals with three happy kids, and i didn't really have to think about what to make this week. Yay!

This afternoon, i was going to read Harry Potter to Katrina up in my bedroom, but we both walked in there and said, "Nope! Too cold!" We couldn't read downstairs, because of Zane. So we went to McDonalds (half a mile away), where i got a $1 drink and we sat in the warmth at a booth and read all about Horace Slughorn. Enjoyable!

And then, tonight, i had book club. I really enjoy having book club. For many, many years, i would think, "Gee, i wish someone would invite me to join a book club!" and then one day, i realized that...hey! *I* could start a book club! With people i like! And so i asked people in my family and Beth, and Beth asked her sister-in-law, and it became a thing! Yay! Except that none of us really knew what we were doing. So the first few months, we'd talk about the book we'd read, and then we'd try to pick the next book. People would mention book titles and people with smart phones would look them up, and eventually we'd all kind of agree on one. It wasn't the best method, so we decided that instead, whoever's house we were at, they would choose the next book. That worked better, but then choosing the book was SO MUCH PRESSURE, because...what if nobody liked it! What if everyone had already read it? What if it was just a dumb book?!

So today, we started a new choosing method. Everyone who wanted to brought 3-5 books, and then everyone voted (with pennies) on their top 10 choices. And then we put the top ten choices on a list, which we'll use for the next year. And we'll see how this works! Fingers crossed!