Who knew?

That Tostito's and marshmallows are extra nummy for a 5 year old?   For mom...not so much.

That the spider on her bedroom ceiling "Needs to be dead NOW, dad!"

That Lion dances can be performed with any color and size of blanket, but make sure there are 2 of you to make it work right.

That "pokey one" means Pokeman.

That the dog named "Friday" in the movie Hotel for Dogs is now renamed "Saturday" thanks to said 5 year old.

What I'm reading

Tonight the book club I participate in discussed When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka.  Fiction, fairly quick read, interesting, and I learned a bit about the Japanese interment camps here in the US during WWII.

Our next book is fiction, Replay by Ken Grimwood, which poses the question "What if you could live your life over again, knowing the mistakes you'd made before".

Last week I started reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, and now I'm on Three to Get Deadly).  Again, pretty quick reading, funny, a who-done-it in each book.  

And then I picked up a bunch of $1 clearance books at Half Price Books.  I like the murder mystery's, authors like Heather Graham, Lisa Jackman, Tami Hoag, Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Gardner, some James Patterson, Kathy Reichs, Sandra Brown, John Sanford.

I've had to start keeping a list because I kept picking up the same one's I had already read.  I use the "My List" function on Hennepin County Library's website.  Pretty handy.

I got started on the murder mysteries when local author Tami Hoag came to my attention.  I've read all of her books, most of them are set here in Minnesota, which holds my attention.  I used to read pretty much only non-fiction in my 20's and 30's, so I guess I'm trying to play catch up with fiction.  Got any good ones you like to follow?

Wordless Wednesday

I might be bad

Seems like a struggle lately to get Rose to eat any vegetables.  She will always at least try them, thank goodness, but then insist she doesn't like them.  Tonight I had fresh spinach that I cooked in the microwave, and she peeked over the kitchen counter to see what I was making for myself.  I said "Sorry, it's only for me, you can't have any" knowing darn well she would then want to have some for sure if I said it was only for me...anything that I have she has to have.  If I would have offered some to her, she would have said NO WAY.  Of course, now she HAD to have some too, it's not fair!  So I gave her a little dab, but told her that was all I was willing to part with.

Next scene goes likes this:  Takes a bite, makes a face, grabs her milk and washes it down.  Yum, mom, this is good!  Watches me happily eating mine.  Takes a bite, grabs her milk, washes it down.  Thanks for sharing mom.  Takes a bite, grabs her milk, washes it down.  No comment, not making too happy of a face.  But she never complained and seemed pretty proud that she got some of mom's secret good stuff.  Doug over on couch smiling behind a blanket because he clearly saw my strategy.  I gave the thumbs up signal that she ate it all.

I'm not normally into deceiving children, but I was curious to see what she would do.  My guess was she was going to spit out the first bite, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I do feel a little guilty though...

Viral Valentine's Day

Ugggg.  Not the way I imagined spending a fun planned Valentine's day.  Friday I woke up not feeling so great, went to work anyway.  By afternoon, it was obvious my stomach wasn't going to cooperate, so I quickly made arrangements for Auntie Linda to take Rose on her way home from work.  Thank goodness for Aunties, because sure enough, I was down for the count with the stomach flu.  Finally able to get a little food to stay down this fine Sunday morning but definitely still wobbly.  

What did I miss?  I missed finishing shopping for a gift for Doug.  I missed making and delivering Valentine cards to Rose's neighborhood friends.  Doug stepped in and was able to get a couple of them delivered.  I got a great delivery of flowers, which we tried to keep in the bedroom with me, but any smell good or bad was a trigger for my stomach.  I'm still not able to fully enjoy them yet.  I missed the play The Gruffalo at Children's Theatre last night.  Doug still took Rose, and they had a really good time.  I'm going to see if I can trade in my unused ticket, because I LOVE the plays at CTC.  I missed seeing Rose open her Valentine gift - a cute Webkinz monkey with Valentine hearts all over it.  I heard it was a big hit.

Last winter on a three day weekend I was sick that weekend too.   I was supposed to spend three days scrapbooking away from home, and on Friday when I was almost done packing to go, the stomach flue hit me like a ton of bricks.  Never got well enough to even make one day of it.  I was bummed because it was a chance to spend a weekend with a whole group of women I had never met before, who graciously were allowing me to join them.  I sometimes like adventures like that.

I'm not really complaining, as I know these things happen and it's a small blip on the larger radar of life.  I also know others are dealing with far more serious situations and trials.  But I can surely sympathize with those of you who have gotten dropped by the bugs going around this winter.

Anyways, belated Happy Valentine's Day!

Sixth Picture

My friend and neighbor Julie (rarejule.blogspot.com) tagged me for the Sixth Picture.  Here's my photo, it was taken June 2007 at YMCA Camp DuNord near Ely.  We had a beautiful cabin that 10 of us shared.  Friend Natalie is reading to Rose, while friend Susan (the aunt to 2 of the other kids) knitted.  I thought it was the last hurrah for Rose and I to have quality time together before daughter #2 comes home, but little did we know 2 more summers would come and go since then...

Now I'm tagging 2 friends - Laura  and Jean .  I'm supposed to do four, but I don't know that many people with blogs who know me :)

And I confess, my sixth folder had only 5 photos, so I went to the seventh folder and the seventh photo because the sixth photo was not a good photo.  So there.

Here's the instructions:

1. Find your sixth picture folder and in that folder, the sixth picture
2. Post it on your blog with some of the background of the picture
3. Tag four others and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged.

Thankful Thursday

I don't have anything exciting or interesting to write about lately, so I figured I would do the Thankful Thursday thing.  What am I thankful for?  In no particular order:

1.  My family.  What would life be like without family?  I don't want to ever find out.

2.  My computer.  I do so much with it.  Order library books, look up recipes, email, follow fun blogs, look up medical issues, keep my photos, download CD's, play Webkinz.

3.  Cold weather.  Makes me appreciate sunny "warm" days like today.

4.  Animals.  I'm obsessed with them.  They bring such comfort.  Now I just need one!

5.  Our jobs.  I'm glad that neither Doug nor I have been hit yet with any economic mayhem.

6.  Our home.  I sometimes get frustrated with our house and lack of space, but the idea of moving to a different neighborhood is not an option because we love it here.

7.  Chocolate.  No explanation needed.

8. Diet Coke.  Ditto.

9.  Friends.  I almost didn't put friends because I already wrote family, and friends to me are like family.

10.  China.  Without China, we wouldn't have Rose Rose.  And without Rose Rose I can't imagine life.  

I actually have more to post later - a friend gave me a Friends Love award, and another tagged me with Sixth Photo.  So stay tuned!

Puppy Bowl V !!

Animal Planet has the Puppy Bowl V on in case your aren't Super Bowl crazy like some of us.  It is the cutest thing.  They have a kitty cat half time show hee hee.  Check it out if you get the Animal Planet, it is on all day today.  Here's a link to look it up online.

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/puppy-bowl/puppy-bowl.html