Gone to Carolina Archive: Sabbatical Over. Scenes from Upcoming Episodes

I'm baaaaack! As you all know, I really took a sabbatical from blogging because I wasn't home.  I didn't want to say I would be gone for a month because it seemed silly to advertise that the house would be empty a lot during June. The blogging software wants $40 for EACH COPY and I didn't think my thoughts were worth a buck a day to have it on my laptop. I have many things to tell you all about our trip back to Minnesota. I'll spread it out over the next week or so.  Here are some of the topics I'll cover: Mickey, the washrag-sucking dog Soya's "summer camp" experiences Why Daimler-Chrysler's Customer Care 800 number is so great 10,000 steps Being an insurance agent in a seminar with realtors Golf bad, boat good. Even when it's only 65 degrees exploding bricks what-not-to-do when carrying a load of firewood book reviews, movie reviews Guns are banned on these premises Giant bugs Paul Bunyan and Babe are separating and probably more that I'm just not thinking of. This is the month of Le Tour de France!  So far I've missed one day due to being on the road home. But our leetle beety cable company doesn't carry OLNTV so I might be missing the entire thing. If I do miss it, it'll be the first time since 1985 that I have.  Last summer I purchased digital cable just to get the network so I could watch it.  This week I may very well be switching cable companies altogether to get the Time "Evil Empire"  Warner so I can watch.  I'll have to decide in the next day or so. Either that or become a burglar and break into Cassie's house to watch it each day. See ya tomorrow.  Write me.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Amazing Annoying Racers

I've decided to take a month-long "sabbatical" from blogging. Today will be my last post until after July 4. Click on the envelope anytime to send me emails, though, to keep me posted on your doings. If you know my personal email address, of course that would be good one to use.

I watched "Amazing Race" last night. I really like this show...rooting for people I think are most deserving.  Right now I'm leaning toward the NFL wives. They got a bum rap near the beginning, with some other teams telling a bus driver not to open the doors to let them on.  I'm not sure they made the right decision using their Fast Forward on the first day, considering they had the fat & forty couple and the bimbos on their bus in last place with them. I think they could have beat them easily.

The only thing that really bugs me about the show is how they describe each team.  "Father/Son" or "NFL Wives" are okay. But the fat & forty couple were just labeled "Married Couple" and then we had the gay couple that they labeled "Married".  Considering gay marriage isn't recognized in most states, I think the show might be making a political mistake with that one.  And besides, one would think those couples would have more about them that would be more interesting to describe.  Like the "Air Traffic Controllers" (I thought fer sure they were doomed) and the bimbos, who they labeled "Models".  The "Dating 12 Years/Virgins" title was a bit off-putting too.  Maybe they just want to make a statement to Gen X that being a virgin is cool. That could be a good thing. But to point out that they've been dating 12 years? And he's on camera saying he's afraid of marriage?  Why not just tatoo "Loser" on his forehead? Or her forehead, for that matter!  At first I was worried that maybe their parents were losers...they look like they are only 22. Do the math.  But checking out the "Amazing Race" website, I see they are 28 and 29.  She's an environmental teacher at an Aquarium. That sounds like an interesting job. They could have worked that into their label.

Still on the labels...I just looked up the "Fat & Forty" couple...they have GREAT JOBS...he's a news director for a radio station and she's a director at an ARTIST'S COLONY!  Cool!  I'm sorry to see them go. They really tried hard. I thought his crying over not taking a hotel room right away was a bit weird.  He felt he'd neglected his wifey-poo.  I turned to Mensa Boy and said "sheesh! She should just tell him to get over it!" I'm not much into name calling, never would call Mensa Boy a name, but a well-placed "idiot" might have worked in that situation.

But by far the biggest disappointment to us was the couple from SoDa. All that bleeping while she's on camera...I really wish they'd get the boot soon, if only because listening to her language and the bleeping is Sooo annnnoyyyying.  The least they could do is not "bleep". Why can't they just blank out her f-words? Just leave dead space? She talks fast enough most of us middle-agers wouldn't catch it anyway. 

So that's my review of "Amazing Race".  Click on the envelope and send me an email. I won't be posting any comments, but I'd definitely love to hear from you!

While I'm sabbaticalizing (?), I'll be reading Artemis Fowl, Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel, and my "Cooking Light" and "Fine Cooking" magazines. I'm sure there will be many other items, as these will only last me until Sunday or Monday. I've decided to listen to An Hour Before Daylight and Ghost Soldiers on CD...I've read Ghost Soldiers but Mensa Boy hasn't, so that will be a good one to listen to. I'll also be watching several Netflix. I think "Antwone Fisher" is coming and so is "Amelie" and "The Prisoner, Vol 1".

Cheers! Keep in touch via email. I'll post again in early July!

Gone to Carolina Archive: Beef & Bok Choy

You can remove me from the running for "Dog Owner of the Year".  I pulled a real "bon-er" yesterday.  Soya wanted to go out. The neighbors cats were out, so I clipped on her tie-out and let her out the back door.  A couple minutes later the kids announced they were all greased up and ready to go to the pool. So we went. An hour later...I'm sitting at the pool, reading my book, drinking my ice water, thinking about how the sun was very hot and it dawned on me that I didn't remember letting her back in.  Tried to call the neighbor. No answer.  So I left the kids at the pool (yeah, you can remove me from "Mother of the Year" too) and ran home and there she was...curled up in the tiny spot of shade by the grill. And NO! I did not do it to pay her back for eating my lambswool duster! We had a real kickin' supper last night.  Farmer Sammy gave us a recipe for beef and bok choi that a family friend had prepared for them.  Here's the recipe: 1# ground beef 1 medium onion 1 bunch of boc choi (I used 2 bunches of baby bok choi) garlic (as much as you can get by with) 1 or 2 teaspoons of hot sauce (Texas Pete if you live in the SE) 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire 1 beef boullion (I left this out...I'm too much of a food snob to buy boullion) Brown the beef, onions, garlic. Add hot sauce and worcestershire (and boullion if using), salt and pepper to taste. Add boc choi and 1 cup water. Simmer until ready to serve.  Pour over rice and add more hot sauce to your liking. It was a family hit! Made about 8 servings, too. Mensa Boy took a bunch of it for lunch today. That's always a good sign.  He would never criticize my cooking.  But I do know there are basically 3 levels of "liking it" for him: 1. This was good, but let's not have it again. (I'd probably say it really sucked) 2. This was good, we should have it again sometime. (I'd say "it was nice for a change) 3. This was good, I'll take the leftovers for lunch and we could have it every week if possible. Today is out 21st wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Kreldar!

Gone to Carolina Archive: Food Cures

Twins 30-20  Braves 35-17

Most of you know that one of my favorite topics is food. Frequently my Mom and I begin conversations with "I had the BEST (fill in the blank) last night!"

There are a lot of people who believe in home remedies to cure ills...boiling chicken heads, making tea out of grass...I think a lot of illnesses can be helped out of our lives with good, quality food.

I've been under the weather for several days. Probably just some virus thing...sore throat, headache, tired. Today I feel a lot better. I kind of think some of it has to do with food.

I got my farm share yesterday and there were beets in there, turnips, arugula, broccoli, bok choy, lotsa lettuces.  I got home with it about 12:30 and quick sliced up some beets into a little skillet and braised them in butter slowly while I washed and packaged up the rest of the stuff.  What a magnificent lunch! For supper I took the turnips and sliced them up into a saucepan and braised them in olive oil and garlic until they got all carmelized.  They were good, but would have been better if I'd used butter, I think.

Today I'm going to have arugula tossed on hot pasta for lunch. That peppery taste of arugula just chases away viruses.  And when that kind of stuff is grown without pesticides and other junk, it just packs an even more powerful punch.

I'm still pretty amazed at the stuff I get from the farm. It's MAY for pete's sake and I already have big heads of broccoli! And fully grown carrots! 

I'm also really enjoying this little strawberry pot of herbs my Mom planted while they were here.  Last Saturday, when I felt particularly yucky, I pulled out 3 chicken carcasses I had lanquishing in my freezer. Put them in a pot of water on real low. Then I made a bouquet of Sage, Thyme, Oregano and Rosemary and tied it up with dental floss. Tossed that in the water with the carcasses and simmered until all the collagen had leeched out of those bones. I'd left a bit of meat on the carcasses when I used the chickens, and so I had probably 2 cups of meat in my soup too.  Later, after I pulled the carcasses out and strained the broth, I realized I didn't have any of the usual carrots and celery I like to put in soup. I did find some carrot "chips" left from packing school lunches...they are carrots cut like ripple potato chips. I cut them into slivers and tossed in a head of baby bok choy cut up and some kale and onion. It made a nice, mild soup. Good stuff!

Gone to Carolina Archive: On Their Own Time

Call me crazy but I just don't think that Chicago area school has the right to expell those girls for hazing.  The event did not take place on school grounds or on school time.

One may say this would be no different than if basketball players went out drinking and carousing the night before the state basketball tournament. I disagree.  I think that would have to do with whether students agreed to refrain from drinking while on the basketball team. If so, they should be kicked off the team.  But not expelled from school.  Unless....

Say the students rode a bus from Little Falls to St. Paul for the hockey tournament. Say arrangements were made through the school for the bus ride and there were parent sponsors on the bus and they all stayed together in the same hotel for the tournament.  And students snuck out the night before to hang out in a bar.  THEN it seems to me they could be expelled.  That sounds like a school-sponsored outing.

I don't think the school has any more jurisdiction over this hazing event than an employer would have over a bunch of employees who go paint the town red on Thirsty Thursday.  Seems like the employer could only hold sway over the employees if they had difficulty showing up for work or performing their jobs adequately the next day.

And I kind of wonder if the school, deep down, recognizes that.  They are expelling the students and keeping them from attending classes, but they are going to award them their diplomas on time.  So basically, a bunch of girls go out, drink while underage, sling some poop and guts and then get to take the rest of the year off from school and still get their diplomas. 

Doesn't sound like much of a deterrent to me.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Belair Library

Thanks be to God and the Mc family for helping me get the church library done! We are now open for business.  When I ever-so-blithely offered to perhaps do a tiny bit of organizing in there, I had no idea how hard it would be to get it all done!  It wasn't really hard work, but there were illnesses and visitors and things to do and somehow it just was hard to schedule time. But it's open now, all 180 volumes.  Thanks to Faith United Methodist in Farmington, MN and Minnehaha United Methodist in Minneapolis for their gifts of books and advice. And to Jack, Peggy, Harold, Cassie, Margaret and Laura for the time they spent gluing and labeling and alphabetizing.    5:38:06 PM

Gone to Carolina Archive: Marathon Training

I didn't write yesterday because I was in training for the marathon. The Alton Brown marathon was on FoodTV today from 2-8pm. I was a bit worried that I couldn't make it that long. So yesterday I practiced by watching 5 hours of FoodTV yesterday. I'm proud to say I stayed with the pack today from start to finish. The Nyquil helped me stay put.

Gone to Carolina Archive: First Day of Summer Speech

Twins 27-19  Braves 32-15 5 inches of rain yesterday.  We woke up in the rain and went to bed in the rain.  We've got great drainage on our property and it looks like most of the houses in our neighborhood don't have standing water problems.  So flooding isn't really a concern for us here in our neighborhood. But our county has been under flood warnings and watches for the better part of the last week. Yesterday they postponed the NASCAR races because of the rain. I guess that doesn't happen very often.  The guys are helping with housework this summer. Yesterday Taylor cleaned the downstairs bathroom and dusted the family room and living room. Nate vacuumed the entire lower floor so I could wash the tile floors.  They were fairly cheerful about helping.  I had my "first day of summer" speech with them Wednesday afternoon...'you help me with my work, I spend more time helping you do what you want to do...yada yada yada.' How about that Annika Sorenstam? I'm not really a golf fan. But I might have to tune in for a while today.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Sleeping Late

Twins 26-19  Braves 31-15

Comment from yesterday:

From Tony: I agree with Taylor. Tell her she is dumb. It works for me. (Ha, Ha)

Well, summer vacation started yesterday afternoon. I'm glad.  All winter I've been looking forward to summer vacation so I wouldn't have to get up before 6 to get Taylor ready for the bus.

Settled in to bed last night, looking forward to sleeping late this morning.

Woke up at 6:10.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Just Tell Her She's Dumb

Twins 25-19  Braves 31-14

Overheard in the car yesterday:

Nate: "So, you think I should just try to keep blowing her off?"

Ryan: "huh, yeah, but that's not likely to work. She's pretty hard to shake off."

Nate: "Yeah, she'll probably just say something like 'Every relationship has it's ups and downs.'"

Tayor: "Why don't you just tell her she's dumb?"

Gone to Carolina Archive: Girl Magnet

Twins 25-18  Braves 31-13

Nate's friend Ryan is a girl-magnet.  Looking at him, I can see why. He has this great, dark curly hair. He's tall and skinny like Nate and just exudes confidence.

Nate is getting caught in the web by association.  So far, we are not getting a lot of phone calls from girls. I guess Ryan's family had to tell the girls they could call only once each day and they've put a limit on how long the conversation can go. 

But Ryan's most ardent admirers live in OUR neighborhood.  Ryan does not.  Ryan comes over most weekends for a few hours, and the girls come over here for him.  If he's not here, they will talk to Nate. For quite a while.

It's going to be an interesting summer. I have a feeling I'm going to be sitting at the pool a lot, rolling my eyes over the top of whatever the book of the moment is.  And I'm going to need to find little guys to take to the pool so Taylor isn't ditched.

It'll be fun.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Fixed Or Repaired Daily

This will be short. More of a confession, actually.

I have a FORD parked in my driveway. Yes Dad, I tried to explain to the dealer that I really wasn't sure I could drive a FORD rental, but they didn't have any Chysler rentals left.  I drove the 10 miles home and didn't have to get out and push...not even once.

My trusty Dodge should be back this afternoon.  It's in for it's 60,000 mile service. I can't believe it's already been 60k. I remember when it was just a baby of 13 miles...seems like only yesterday.

A Mighty Wind

Twins 23-18  Braves 29-13

I just finished reading The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee.  It was kind of a struggle to get through. A lot of the book is devoted to Mr. Frank's work with publishers to get the diary translated and published, then a play was done and there were efforts to do a movie.  The author never deviates from the notion that Mr. Frank's motives were totally pure. He took very little money from the proceeds of the work, leaving  most of the money to non-profits that he founded to preserve the house in Amsterdam, etc. 

The other on-going theme of the book is about who betrayed the Frank family. There was always one person that most people thought had done it, and the book talks a lot about that person's life.

Last night Mensa Boy and I went to dinner at "Firebirds" in South Charlotte and then to see the movie "A Mighty Wind". We met Cassie and Randy at the theatre for the movie. "Firebirds" was excellent, if loud. The portions were way too large, too.  I'm a person that would just as soon pay half as much and get half as much food. I had a pecan-crusted trout with tortilla slaw. Mensa Boy had pork loin. Dinner and a movie is expensive now, with a $60+ dinner bill...and neither of us have alcohol and then $16 for movie tix.

"A Mighty Wind" was absolutely hilarious. Definitely a movie that would be worth owning...and we aren't even movie buyers. Aside from the requisite Disney movies we buy for the kids and a few Alton Brown "Good Eats" videos, the only adult movie we own is "The Scarlet Pimpernel".

"Wind" is about 3 folk groups that are brought together for a reunion concert in honor of a dead promoter.  If you were ever a fan of folk music, as my mom and I always were, this movie will bring you to nirvana as it reminisces about those kinds of performers and provides ample opportunity for the moviegoer to enjoy that special kind of sound again.  I just know my mom is going go home after this movie and pull out her old "Smothers Brothers",  "New Christy Minstrels", and "Peter, Paul and Mary" albums and play them turned up loud!

Twins 22-18  Braves 28-13

So...it took KC 14 innings to beat the Twins last night. Huh.

Comments from yesterday:

Julia writes about the two half days we have of school next week-2 half days? Moline goes to school for 1 hour on the first and last day of school. How stoopid is that? (Julia and I spell stupid that way when something seems REALLY stupid...and we usually say 'that was really stoooopid...s-t-o-o-p-i-d".)Kristen B says-In NY, the school districts got money for a full day if the kids were there until lunch. The last two days are worthless anyway, so they'd make 'em half days. They still got the dough, and they only had expenses for a half day.

I kind of doubt our county is doing half days to collect lunch money. The elementary kids dismiss at 10:30 and the middle school kids go at 11:30.  I still don't have an answer to this question.

Mensa boy and I, and Cassie and spouse Randy are all going to see "A Mighty Wind" tonight, after a meal out.  I'm glad my mom released us from an obligation to see it with her in June.  She was worried it might not be around that long, and I'm thinking she's right. As it is, it's already not available at one of the two theatres we frequent.

I'm about half-way done with The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee. Otto Frank was the father of Anne Frank.  It's not a bad book, but the title kind of leads one to think there might be some explosive revelations about him. There aren't really any.

Book Opinions

Twins 22-17  Braves 27-13

Comments from yesterday:

Kristen B says, in response to my mentioning I have several "Marys" in my life,

I guess, "There's Something About Mary." Sorry, couldn't resist.

I'd still put in a vote for the Edmund Morris Roosevelt books. If you could find "The Rise of Theo. Roosevelt" on tape, that would be better than Theo. Rex. The former talks about his youth, early politics and Rough Rider days. Both are very interesting in light of the world situation. It's not bad for something written by a Mensa Boy kinda guy.

Any Lil weighed in with an audiobook suggestion:

my friend Char who drove out to Arizona by herself last year took along John Adams and she said it was great. It was the unabridged version. I was with her when she bought it and it was quite a large box, maybe enough listening for the round trip.
Yes, I'd been thinking of the John Adams book. I got it out of the library right when it came out, but was unable to really get into it before it was due again. Since there were 480+ requests for it, I didn't re-request. Keep those audiobook suggestions coming!
Only 4 more school days left. Oddly, the last two days of school are half days. Whyzat? I don't understand why they'd want to trot out those big, expensive buses for two days for only half days of school? Why not just make Tuesday a whole day and be done with it?  I think I'll write to the Lancaster News and ask.

Mary Mary MARY!!!

Twins 21-17  Braves 27-12

Yesterday I went to the farm to help prepare the shareholder's boxes of food.  Sammy also supplies a few restaurants on Tuesdays, so we mixed enough mesclun salad mix for 25 shareholders to get 1 1/2 lbs each and three restaurants got 4 lbs each.  We also got some baby bok choi and some cute little baby turnips, along with more of the stuff we got last week.

Sammy has some very nice kids, and three of them were helping yesterday.  One of them said their favorite meal is a concoction of baby bok choi and beef over rice.  I'm going to do some serious googling to find a recipe similar to that. I've emailed Melinda, but I think with 7 kids and one of the way and a farm to run, she's probably busy enough...

I also met our newest Mary yesterday. Actually she's Mary Jean. Not just Mary.  So I've got Mary R, Mary P and Mary Jean all living right around me. Then I've got Mary M from mensa boy's work and my mother Mary...and of course my old high school/college buddy Mary F. I'm surrounded by Marys!

I finished Devil in the White City last night.  Now I need to get back to The Hidden Life of Otto Frank. It's due this Friday.  If anyone wants to suggest books on tape for mensa boy and me to listen to on our drive back to Minnesota, send them along.  Remember he doesn't care for fiction or gore. I find history is a good topic.  That's what brought us together in college.

Reviewing them All

Twins 20-17  Braves 26-12

Last night Nate's Boy Scout Troup, had its Court of Honor. Nate received his Tenderfoot Badge and First Aid Merit Badge. Nate is a year behind his normal age group, because he sat out of Cub Scouts during the Webelos 2nd year with his troup in Minneapolis.  This actually worked out just fine for him, as this troup put him in a patrol with a bunch of 6th graders. There is only one other 7th grader, who is also in his patrol. If he'd not sat out 2nd year Webelos, he would have been put in a patrol with the 8th graders and so would have been the youngest in his patrol.  I kind of think Nate wouldn't do "youngest" very well.

I'm almost done reading Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson.  The absolute only regret I have about reading this book is now it will not be a good candidate to listen to on tape on the way back to Minnesota, since I've read it now. I really think Bob would have enjoyed it. 

"Devil" is, of course, about the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.  The book centers around two men...the architect who headed the planning commission for the fair, and the serial-killer-doctor who built his own hotel and took only young, impressionable women as boarders.  His hotel was complete with a dissection table, gas chamber and 3,000 degree crematorium. 

A fascinating book...you do have to plow through a lot of semi-dull planning the fair kind of stuff. But once the fair opens, the book rips right along. And you really learn quite a bit about the new stuff that was introduced during the fair, like spray paint, etc.

And now a movie review.  I don't care who you are...how old or young...you have got to see the movie Holes. Based on a Newberry award-winning book, this story is about a youth prison camp where the inmates have to dig a 5 foot deep, 5 foot diameter hole each day in search of buried treasure. This is live action, not animated.  Sigourney Weaver plays the prison warden. We don't see a lot of her, but JON VOIGHT is absolutely hilarious as the head prison guard.  He plays a fantastic Texas "Good Ole Boy". 

And finally, how about a CD review?  As most of you know, we get a lot of free CDs through Bob's job.  They are usually advance copies of CDs that publicists send him in hopes he will ask the artist to write an article or something. 

Sometimes I don't see the CDs for a while. He might bring one home and give it straight to the boys, or he might keep it in his car, etc.  So yesterday I was rooting around in the car for a new CD to listen to and found Chris Rice's new CD "Run the Earth Watch the Sky".  Good one!  Especially the 4th cut, entitled "Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus)".  This song is about the Christian journey, from pre-conversion, through conversion, through learning times, through hard times, to death.  The chorus is:

"Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, come to Jesus and live".

But through each step(each verse) of the journey, he changes the chorus to "Sing to Jesus", "Fall on Jesus", "Cry to Jesus", "Dance for Jesus", "Fly to Jesus".  Excellent song, excellent CD.

That's it! Time to work!

Some Days You Just Need a Little More Rest

Twins 20-16  Braves 25-12

I guess I made a TV viewing mistake last night.  Cassie called me to tell me the Twins would be on TV. At the same time as "Survivor" and "American Dreams".

I elected to tape "Dreams" and watch my least favorite person win "Survivor". And this morning I see the Twins game had a bit of drama, as the Sox turned a 9-1 deficit into a 9-8 deficit in the last 4 innings.  But our dear Twins hung on.

Poor Taylor had a bit of a rough start this morning. I got him up and put some french toast sticks in the toaster oven for him as he did his bathroom duties.  But I didn't know that he was actually NOT doing his bathroom duties. He actually went in there, lay in the rug and fell fast asleep!  I keep verbally prodding him and he wasn't responding. Finally I checked on him and found him asleep with the bus due in 10 minutes.

He got himself together, ate his breakfast, got his shoes tied and was at the door with the bus coming up the street when he started clouding up and crying. I asked what was wrong and he said "I'm sooo thirrrssteeeee".  I told the bus to go on and then gave him some orange juice and had him lay down for half an hour before driving him to school.

Some days, you just need a little more rest.

Single and Looking (to not get shot)

Oferpetesake!
In today's newspaper there's an AP story about mothers in the military. Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, wrote a commentary recently entitled " Does the Military Have the Nerve to Celebrate Mother's Day?" She apparently contends that the women caught in the ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company in Iraq, did not volunteer for the Army with the ambition of serving in combat! She refers to single mothers Lori Piestawa(killed) and Shoshana Johnson(injured). Schlafly says the men in our government need to stand up to feminists and keep single mothers from serving in combat.
Gimme a break! These women, and men, knew what they were getting into when they joined up. They all knew that year after year of peacetime could suddenly end with war.
And just exclude single mothers? What about single fathers? There are plenty of them over there. As of September, there were about 24,000 single mothers on active duty and 65,000 single fathers.

Calm

Twins 19-15 Braves 23-12
Well, today started a little more calmly than yesterday. My newspaper was in the box, there are no buses on Saturdays (ONLY 8 MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL!! YAY!), no one had any computer problems...a nice peaceful Saturday so far.
But at 9:30 this morning two teenage boys come to stay for the day. So I'll be here with 4 boys. Not too bad, actually. They probably will each pick a corner and play gameboy. It's odd, really. Nate's friends come over and the house goes quiet, except for the little tinny sounds of multiple gameboys. Cassie and I have plans to take them to see the movie "HOLES" this afternoon.
I'll do some serious housework this morning and then settle in with my book, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It's about an architect and a serial killer and the World's Columbian Expo in Chicago in 1893. True story. I'll give you a review when I'm done with it.