Pretty Good Weekend.

So... we had a pretty good weekend. Saturday morning at the insane hour of early we woke up and headed out. It was Homecoming you see. And part of that is the annual 5K. I fortuitously opted against running myself as I sprained my ankle/foot really good on Thursday and spent all of Friday hobbling around. It was much better on Saturday but not 5K worthy. Okay and let's be honest, I use the term "running" very loosely. 

So we watched the 5K which was kind of fun, it was a really nice morning anyway. Then... the kids get to run. 0-3 run a .1K and it is just the best thing in the world. If you ever need a pick me up find a .1K to watch. C did so well! Plus we got to see some friends from college. That's never a bad thing. 

Husband and C before the big race!

As a bonus he took a really really good nap too! During the nap we managed to tidy up and that is always a good thing. I always feel more comfortable in a clean house don't you? Then after nap and lunch was over we embarked in a family journey to make ravioli. It started with a new pasta recipe and ended with yum! Husband made the pasta, I made the filling, C put the finished raviolis on a tray to dry. And we ended up with 58 of these bad boys. (Plus some fettuccine.)  

I mean besides the fact that fresh pasta tastes so darn good, there's something especially thrilling about making your own. We are having these for dinner tonight and I am pretty darn excited. 

In other news of the weekend I don't know why Old Navy considered Baby to be through size 5 but I'm pretty glad they do because everything was 40% off. So I picked up the final things to get C through the winter/fall season. PLUS we had a coupon that if we spent $ at Old Navy we'd get a $50 Restaurant.com gift card, which we achieved AND we got Old Navy Super Cash. Win Win Win.

And Sunday Dinner was fresh bread and Dixie Stampede Soup which is just the best best best! Plus I started buying Halloween Candy. Oh and my ankle doesn't hurt anymore unless I go down the steps so that's great too. This blog post has been interrupted for 2 readings of Hipopposites, 1 reading of Happy Hippo Angry Duck and 3 removals of a child from on top of the coffee table since he finally figured out how to climb up there. I should probably get back to the whole learning/literacy thing right? Yeah okay. Have a good Monday. 

Theme Thursday: Out

Yesterday was gorgeous. It was just perfect. So C and I went to the zoo. I know what you're thinking. "Madeline just went to the zoo with C and blogged about how it was perfect and made it her Theme Thursday. That's getting a leetle bit old now."

Now let me add my two cents here for a moment: in August it was 90 and humid as heck. Yesterday it was weather wise perfect. And I took this picture all prepared to make it my Theme Thursday to show you just how nice it was. Lame? Yep. But it was pretty nice there.

Then we left the zoo and entered the parking lot. And... my submission did a 180. You see, I am a nervous parker. I always have been. I can drive and honestly I am a very good driver. But when I learned to drive parking made me very nervous. So I often park far away from other people and make sure I do a good job. 50% of the time I tend to "pull through" park. I will find two empty spots and pull through them so my car will not need to go into reverse in order to leave the spot. (This number used to be closer to 100% but I have done a lot of driving since I was 16.)

Husband and I have a tendency to watch other people park and mock. We are mean. I know. We particularly find it ridiculous when people needlessly back into a spot. I understand that at certain events where there will be a lot of people exiting at the same time you have the edge if you can just drive out of a spot, i.e. your concerts and large sporting events.

That's not what I am talking about here. I'm talking about huge trucks driven by short men who back into spots in the Red Lobster parking lot just to prove.they.can. We tend to refer to that as "D-Bag" parking. (We actually use the phrase D-Bag I am not just taming it down for the internet and I'm sure this even puts me at PG-13 right?)

So when I arrived at the zoo I parked way off in the distance. Because that's what I do. And I considered "pulling through." But I had the stroller in the trunk and if someone parked behind me that could get annoying when I went to leave. So I parked normally and went about my zoo day.

We came out to the parking lot. I loaded the sleepy 16 month old into his seat. Put the diaper bag into the car etc. Loaded up the stroller and sat down in the drivers seat. And I paused. When I parked at the zoo we were the only people in the row you see. And now this was directly in front of me.

Someone D-Bag parked in front of me.

And  I looked around.

Nope the TWO spots next to me were open so this driver could have easily pulled through into either and accomplished the same task of being able to drive out of the spot later.

In fact there were only 3 cars in the entire row. Me. That minivan which did the whole pull through thing I am so fond of. And the guy who D-Bagged parked in front of me. For absolutely no reason. I can't think of one. Not one reason why with all this other parking THAT spot was so much better and required backing into it. Okay unless your child loves that particular spot... nope still doesn't require the aforementioned style in which you parked.

So, Illinois driver... I am calling you out. You'll never see this and that's okay. But seriously, stop it. You need a parking intervention because that is ridiculous.

Later that afternoon we were playing outside and it was just as gorgeous. But I was still shaking my head.

Linking up with Cari. Everyone should. This is your peer pressure to Theme Thursday.

WWRW & 5 Favorites Mash Up

So I am going to do the whole WWRW and Five Favorites mash up this week. Mmmkay?

1.       1. The Read Aloud Handbook. M at JBTC mentioned it a while back and I bought it and consumed it fairly quickly. What can I say about it? Well… it’s not overly earth shattering with the facts. It’s pretty cut and dry really. However it did make me feel inadequate as one of my favorite things to do is read and you know what I hate more than anything? Reading Aloud. It was one of my biggest concerns in parenting if you want to know the truth. And I do read to C, every day. But it is painful for me.

 I didn’t even like reading aloud in school. The first day of classes, when you read the syllabus so that the moron in the back can’t say he didn’t know that the class policy was such? Excruciating. I have always loved reading. Always. And I’ve always been pretty good at it. And I read fast. When we did read alouds I was always chapters ahead. I never got in trouble per say but no teacher I ever had (3rd grade-grad school) was overly kind about the fact when they called on me to read I never knew where we were. (And as someone who went to school for theatre we read aloud a lot because plays are meant to be heard you know.)

Anyway.  This book freaked me out so much that by the end of chapter 2 I started reading it aloud to C and Husband while I read to make sure that I was picking enough varied materials for him. And we’ve started reading Harry Potter now. The book list is a really nice resource and overall I did enjoy this book. I am just a Type A, Virgo, Not-Chinese-therefore-I-can’t-fully-subscribe-to-tiger-mothering-techniques-though-some-of-it-wasn’t-so-bad kind of a person who’s only question to judge people’s character is “What’s Your Favorite Book.” (The ONLY wrong answer is “I don’t read” or a variation. I will even accept Where’s Waldo for a grown adult as long as they name it without being prodded.) Honestly along with all the What to Expect books and how to make your baby sleep/eat/birth the way you want books this should go right along as a book to read while expecting. It’s that important. And not just because I'm who I am but because who doesn't want their child to like reading?

2.       2. Peppa Pig. There’s just something about a British pig having adventures that’s fun. Plus each Peppasode is 5 minutes long. With theme song and credits so… that fits my attention span. C also seems to like it as one of his words (granted the list grows daily so it’s not that ridic) is Peppa.

3.      3..  When your child picks a new book to read over and over and over again. C has taken to shoving books in your face/throat/head when he wants a book NOW. I’m a bad parent and after 3+ days of the same book it may or may not go up on a high shelf take a nap.

This book is possibly currently napping.

4.       4. Rearranging furniture. 2 weeks ago we did an overhaul of our living room because my parents were coming to stay with C while we were in Chicago. This served 2 purposes, deep cleaning and making room for a desk to set up a docking station for a laptop so it would be a desktop as my mom isn’t a fan of laptops. Yada yada yada… this is a long story to get to my point which is I love the new arrangement. The initial newness has since past and now it’s super comfortable. Other than needing to buy a lamp I am a huge fan. It’s fresh and different. And I like it.

5.      5.  Getting ready for Advent. In September. I know. But the Jesse Tree Ornament Swap needs to be planned for. Join in--what a fun way to count down and keep Christ first. 

Finding Hygge

I had kind of a great weekend.

It was one of those weekends where everything fell into place and I accomplished it all. I had family time, alone time, one on one time with both of my men, and time with friends. That is a pretty great feat. And I needed it. The nap. The sunshine. The food. The fun.

I didn't even realize I was in a funk until I was out of it.

And Saturday night was the best night ever. No really. We ordered really good stuffed pizza and baked a cake while we waited. C was already asleep at this point. Then the pizza came and we watched Notting Hill, which is my all time favorite movie. Plus I was in sweatpants with the windows open letting all the wonderful Fall night air in. Oh. I could gush on and on. But I won't .

I will say that I felt all warm, squishy, fed and loved and that is a great feeling that. The Danes have a word for all of this rolled into one: hygge. If you look it up it a word that can't quite be described the same because nobody feels it exactly the same. But there is it. My hyggeligt weekend.

And now that goodness has seeped into my Monday where I am preparing a cozy Fall dinner of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls. Well I hope there are rolls. Husband is the baker and I try really I do. But he doesn't mark the yeasts in the fridge because he just knows. And I was trying to surprise him so I didn't ask. And I am not 100% sure I picked the right yeast for the recipe. (I'm cheating and making the dough in the bread machine because they're still from scratch even if I don't do the kneading and rising part.)

Got to go check on the dough now.

7 Quick Takes: Getting Ready for Fall

1. Last weekend some of our good friends got married. Well... church married. Kind of a long story really. Anyway, we went out to dinner with them the night before and they were telling us everything that was going to go down because I missed the rehearsal. Anyway... as it turns out they warned us about a family that would be there that only eats fried chicken. KFC preferably. I thought they were kidding. They weren't. After the mass I distinctly heard the "will you have chicken there?" from one member to the father of the bride. (The food and merriment was at his home.) I'll make a long story short: There wasn't friend chicken until they brought it in. And one family member had not one other food item other than the 10 pieces of fried chicken. It was ridiculous.

2. I can begin decorating the house for Fall/Halloween on Sunday. It has always been Husband's rule that I can't start decorating for holidays too soon, so for Fall I have to wait for Fall. Since this time last year we were for sure moving at the end of October I never really got anything out of boxes at all. But this year... oh man. I am excited. PLUS we live in THE neighborhood for trick or treating so I am bringing my A game on the decorations. Now to ask BIL for a hay bale... since really who wants to pay $50 for one am.i.right?

3. We were supposed to be going on a mini-vacation next weekend but I don't think that's happening anymore. But we've been traveling a lot lately. A lot. So I understand Husband's hesitation. But still it would be fun to go somewhere just the 3 of us. What I am unsure of is whether it is being rescheduled or if it's not happening at all.

4. Still yet to come this fall season is going to the orchard and then a fall family day at a pumpkin patch. I really really really wanted to go last year but see #2 about moving. It didn't happen. But it will this year. So let it be written, so let it be done. This farm close to us has a pumpkin patch with wagon rides, a corn maze and a whole lot of other things to do. I cannot wait.

5. I know that it's just not even Fall yet but I am totally into Christmas already. I have my shopping list almost ready to go. And I have lots of C activities I would like to have sorted out, and that takes some major planning. I really want to make him a felt tree so that he can decorate that instead of un-decorating our tree. (I have no proof he'll do that, just a really safe guess.) And if you are interested in a Jesse Tree Ornament Exchange... you should totally sign up!

6. With all this planning ahead for the rest of 2013 (Because seriously that's what it's turning out to be.) I am definitely letting things go. I wanted to can apple sauce and apple pie filling--but based on all the stuff I'd have to buy it's just not going to happen. I am not going to purchase any decorations at all this year. If we don't already have it that's just going to have to be okay.

7. I am fresh out of things to talk about. And one certain one year old is pushing a book into my face so clearly it's reading time.

Theme Thursday: Store

I went out to take pictures for this week. I looked like a creeper. And even after devoting an hour to looking like a creeper I hated all the pictures. But never you fear, I am dedicated to the Theme Thursday cause and I wasn't about to quit because I hated all the pictures. 

Oh no. No I was not. 

Instead you get this lovely piece of photography genius. 

One time I was going through the Drive-Thru and was waiting behind someone for a minute or two. And I was utterly perplexed by this molded plastic sign to my immediate left. I understand that the little gouge in the yellow underneath the D is the final point of the two golden arches coming together but it looks so sad up close. Like some bored teenager took a lighter and melted the sign like it was any old piece of playground equipment. (I've been to some really nice parks in my life that have been previously frequented by upstanding members of society so I speak from experience.)

Lucky for you and me, the little gouge of plastic provoked my thoughts long enough that I returned to the place with the $1 Fountain Coke and captured this picture for all eternity. Because I couldn't bear the idea that my thoughts on the tiny indentation under the D go unrecorded and unshared. You are welcome. 

Linking up with Cari for Stores. 

Next week's theme is Out. Thinking cap is already on for that one folks. Godspeed. 

WWRW: Legend and Prodigy

I think I am going to quit my book club. No. I am probably not. It's a totally empty threat because I like socializing and reading even though I so rarely like or even enjoy the book.

This month we are reading Legend by Marie Lu. I went ahead and got it's sequel at the same time because I like to just read books in one fell swoop. In this case... Legend was bad. Really bad. It was disjointed. The plot was unbearable. Just so uninteresting.

Basically there is a North Korea like version of the Western United States--called the Republic. Day is almost a Disney Aladdin/Robin Hood-esque teenager on the streets and June is the exact opposite as a Republic prodigy. They of course wind up in cahoots, though for entirely different reasons and just as quickly as they meet they wind up sharing a kiss. Like all bad YA books. I mean it is a very G-Rated kiss but why do authors suppose that teenagers are so willing to just kiss whoever without so much as 3 conversations? Anyway just as you adjust your mindset that they have feelings for each other the major plot twist comes. Only because the book is written from 2 perspectives you know the plot twist is coming.

Luckily I finished Legend quickly. I was all set to write about how authors should just stop trying to write dysotopian trilogies because they're just getting bad. The Hunger Games I enjoyed. Matched was just okay. Divergent was probably the concept that was the most thought provoking to me. Legend was terrible. It really was. And I had the second book already? I figured if I had it, I might as well read it. And Prodigy was SO much better.

It's honestly too bad that in the world Lu created, her story had to start where it did. All that is interesting starts in Prodigy. And second novels in trilogies historically have been the weakest. I am here to tell you this is not the case. I read them on my Kindle so I'm not sure of the exact page amount but I do wonder if she pitched her idea and the publisher it was decided it was a trilogy so instead of writing one or two cohesive books we were forced to read Legend on it's own?

I don't even want to try to summarize what happens in Prodigy because so much does. It is better than Legend. Way better. But it's still not as good as some of the other series. Because it really doesn't take much to be better than it's predecessor.

The third book, Champion comes out the same day as an another book and I don't have to tell you which one I am going to read first. Though I will eventually get around to Champion because I want to see if it improves or not. And though this is easily the weakest series of the bunch I am sure the movie rights are just around the corner--but who knows? All this dysotopia is really starting to blur together, all these tests and medical manipulations. If I were a slightly more conspiracy theorist... nope I'm not even going to go there. Oh this will be the new Scary Movie format to mock me thinks.

Okay yes. The movie rights have been sold already. Read it. Or don't. You're not missing a whole lot. But if you do dive in--try to have Prodigy at the ready... it redeems it's older brother.

Linking up with Jessica for WWRW. What have you read lately? What's your book club reading lately?

Theme Thursday: Text

The theme is text. 

I think this week I am going to let the picture speak for itself mostly. 

f/5.6, 1/60, ISO-125

Well I will add that 5 has a bad rep but it is my favorite.

Linking up with Cari. You should too. 

WWRW: Someday Someday, Maybe

I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. Since I first heard about it. I am a huge Lauren Graham fan. I love Girlmore Girls. Seriously, I honestly don't know anyone who loves that show on my level. And for those of you who would like to try to compete: if you're a Jess don't even bother. But I can remove Lauren from Lorelai. I know that she is NOT Lorelai Gilmore but I do like her as an actress. So I thought--hey why not read the book? And then I got gift cards for my birthday and it was like the stars aligned and I bought it and dove right in.

So a little rundown on the book itself: Franny is trying to make it in New York. She is an actor/waitress and throughout the plot she rises, she falls and she figures out what makes her tick. She grows as a person, as an actor and realizes that sometimes life changes without your permission but that can be okay.

Okay now that I've told you what the book is about, I'll let you in on my thoughts. But before I do here's a few things I should tell you about me that you may or may not already know.

1. The theatre community is incredibly inbred, close-knit and SMALL. In degrees of Kevin Bacon (I'm a one btw.) the theatre world doesn't need 6, they need 3.

2. I have been in theater my whole life. In 3 different states. I went to an arts high school for theater all the way through my masters degree. This being said, I know a lot of theater people.

I wanted to like this book. I did. But I know too many Franny's. I know people struggling in New York, who work at restaurants to pay the bills, or they temp. I know these people. I also know people who are struggling to make it in Chicago, Minneapolis and LA. To be fair, I know people who are fairly successful in most of those areas. And by fairly successful I mean that acting is their primary profession and they are not working as waiters or anything on the side.

The book is not poorly written, it was actually really good. Lauren Graham gets it. She's been there for all of it. She's gone through it. So she knows and writes accordingly. She also has a great voice. It reads like people talk and there's never any ridiculous "he said" "She replied" nonsense. I just wasn't interested. It wasn't a novel to me. There was nothing novel about it. It was like a biography of so many people that I know. It is set up for the sequel that wasn't officially coming when the book was published but is apparently coming now. There's talk of it even becoming a television show. Oh the poetic justice of that. A book about an unknown finding herself and making an acting career will probably launch someone's career.

The book probably would have been more compelling to me if Franny had let her deadline pass and moved on with her life. I'd love to see what happens then. The people I know are too stubborn to ever just stop. Maybe that's the point of the book? But Lauren Graham doesn't know anything about that since clearly she's getting work on the stage and screen.

So my overall opinion on this book was not thrilled. But in this case please please do not just listen to me and not read it. The book is not bad I just couldn't get over it. I am genuinely curious what someone who doesn't love Lauren Graham or know people in this world would think. The reviews on Amazon are mostly good which makes me think it's worth a read. Maybe a library book?

Linking up with Jessica this week. I actually read a lot this week so I have next week's post all ready to go! I'd love to know what you're reading, I love a good suggestion.

Catching Up with My Life.

You know when you get out of a pattern of regular blogging and things happen and you're like "I'll make sure I write about that." Then a lot of time passes and your list of things is long. And you think "I don't have time for that." But then almost a month passes and you realize that you haven't written a sentence about life except for linkups? 

So hold on to your hats for a brain dump post where I recap all the good stuff of August and the first 10 days of September. So I last left off at C’s first haircut. That was pretty great. Okay technically I left off at our 3 year anniversary. We went out to dinner just the two of us. That was snazzy, except Husband dropped his ring and it got so far under the booth our waitress had to come lay down and get it for us. His ring is too big. I bought him a new one this spring after he lost a bunch a weight but it looks like we’ll be getting another one. (Titanium can’t be sized.)

At home in August was filled with much playing and learning. Somewhere between July 26 and August 26 C exploded with the verbal and the listening and just all around grew up. He’s so big now. It was overnight, now nothing on the edge of the counters are safe! He's such a good little dude. And for what we lack in communication (because gosh while I'd love to understand all of his words they're still mostly gobbledygook to me) he more than makes up for in listening. He is a great listener. He follows instructions really well. I'm impressed. But I'm the momma so my standards are pretty low.

C and I spent a glorious 10 days in Minnesota to round up August. My broseph went to college! Which makes me old and sad. He is going to a great Catholic all boys school and there is a Priest on every floor of the dorms. And a Monastery right in the middle of campus. But while I am sure he’s having a great time at school my mom is an empty nester for the first time and since it was her birthday we went up to keep her company. Nothing like a running one year old to keep you occupied!

My good friend is having a baby on Friday! And her baby shower was while we in town too so that was a bonus. Living out of state just far enough that I don’t get to go to everything I missed her wedding shower and bachelorette party so I was happy to be there. We also got to go visit my Grandpa at his new digs in a senior living complex. It's like college basically. They all live on their own but there's activities and a dining hall where they do your dishes. I can't wait to move in!

C and I kept busy during the day while my parents worked. We went a big indoor playground with tunnels and things. C LOVED climbing and giggled his way down every single slide. He had a blast. I had fun too—it was definitely a workout. We also went to the zoo and it was perfect. We did most everything. We skipped the farm because my BIL has a farm and even though it’s not zoo-ified and cleanish C will have lots of access as he grows to actually experience farm life if he’d like.

It was hot that day so the bears were swimming.
Brown Bear is one of C's favorite books so we spent a long time waving to the bears.

Of all the gin joints… Hanson was going to be at the Minnesota State Fair. Twice. For Free. Let me repeat. Hanson. I know I’ve written about it before but I love them. They sing my favorite song. And I was going. (They were a contributing factor to going to Minnesota.) Okay so it wasn’t completely free, you had to pay for Fair admission. But $8 with an advanced ticket and the $5 bus ride (WAY cheaper and easier than parking) and that was the cost of the Hanson concert. It was so much fun. It was like 1997 all over again. As I am certain you can imaging most of the people in the bandshell area were about my age and female. Hanson was amazing and even though I didn’t get any MMMHops it was a great night. They have their own craft beer and it’s called MMMHops. It just doesn’t get any better. Except they sang my favorite song so it actually does. 

I got there an hour and a half early and this is all the closer I got. 

I also had an eye appointment. Yeah I know. How exciting. But it was. I was more than a little overdue for one and I need new contacts. As in the ones on my eye balls when I walked in were the last ones I had. At all. But I solved that problem, had the eye exam, ordered contacts and bonus--finally I'm got my free Firmoo glasses.

Then both of my brothers were home for Labor Day, which doesn’t happen all that often anymore. And it was my birthday! I went to the Mall of America and to Ikea. Which was fun. I didn’t get anything but it was fun to walk around. And Husband and I went back to the State Fair because I love it. It was glorious.

Monkeys are the very best. I know you know that.
We put a diaper on our Monkey friend. 

As far as the rest of September at home is concerned mostly we are just doing our normal things. C really enjoys cooking. He stands on his stool and “helps.” (Mostly just watches up close.) Lately he’s made bread, cookies, mac and cheese, cake and meatballs. In fact right this second I have banana bread to take out of the oven so I will go do that. This is basically what we’ve been up to lately. 

Theme Thursday: Recess

Theme Thursday. Recess. Now Immabe honest and I wasn't sure if Cari meant recess like "There's no Theme Thursday this week, you all should go get lives and leave me alone for 7 more days!" Or if she meant like "after lunch playtime in elementary school." 

Then all I could think of was that little cartoon from Saturdays. It was on before or after Pepper Ann which was the cartoon I actually wanted to watch. I can still sing that whole theme song. Man I miss cartoons like that. 

So since the elementary school is a whole whopping 6 houses away we decided to go to the school yard. C played around with Husband and I took some pictures of playground equipment. We of course went after dinner so there were no random children actually having recess because I am not a creeper.

So assuming the theme was actually of recess and NOT a break I am linking up with Cari and the Clan. She really threw some whammies into the mix these next two months... it's going to take a lot of brain power to come up with some of these. I like it. 

WWRW: One of my Standbys

August was awesome. How on earth did it go so fast? There was so much going on I totally dropped of the blogwagon but that’s okay because I was out enjoying. In all my August goodness reading took the back burner. Well, reading new books that is. 

But I did reread some tried and trues because that’s just the kind of girl I am. Including Family Baggage by Monica McInerney--an old staple of mine. I pick it up several times a year. It is engaging and interesting. There’s a lot going on in the story complete with flashbacks but they seem like real people in a real family. Even if the plot is a little farfetched to actually happen I enjoy it.

The basic overview is that this Australian family along with a close family friend owns a travel agency. The MAJOR storyline takes place as Harriet, the youngest, goes on her first tour after a mental breakdown. (I can’t come up with another term that’s better and while mental breakdown makes it seem really ridiculous it truly isn’t.) Harriet’s is leading a bunch of senior citizens on a tour themed for an old English television show, and the senior citizens are the most endearing bunch of characters I’ve read in a long time. I wish they’d jump right off the page and knit me a sweater and keep me company. There’s a lot going on with the family but it all revolves around this one tour.

I can’t honestly say this book will change your life or even make you think but I definitely enjoy it and I keep picking it up over a lot of other books I own so that may be saying something. But it could also be saying I have odd taste in novels and I should probably read something new. I am hoping to jump back on the reading train this week as I settle into unofficial fall. I got a few books from the library so I am hopeful.