7 Things I'm Sure You Were Dying to Know

1. My parents are coming to visit this weekend. I am excited! It was a total whim of theirs and I'll take it!

2. We had book club last night to discuss Code Name Verity and Tallgrass. It was not a very well attended meeting but the discussion was actually really good because of it. It's much easier to have a group discussion in a small group. If you're curious about our next book pick, check back on Wednesday for WWRW. We moved past WWII (Though one of the possible choices was still safely in that territory) but it is still connected to war. And spies.

3. If you have ever thought to yourself "Self, I would like to make the potato soup with the recipe on Clover Lane." Well I would like you to know beforehand that it makes a lot of soup. Like a lot of soup.

4. So I would also like you to know that if you make the potato soup and then have a lot leftover. You know, if you have only two adults and a toddler to feed. You might want to freeze the extras. It's possible you will also have the great idea to freeze the soup in muffin tins in little pucks so that when you want to make a bowl, you can defrost as much as you need and not the whole batch.

5. That could be a really bad idea. If you decide to do that you should probably not overfill the muffin tins. Because getting frozen potato soup off the bottom of the freezer isn't challenging but it is a pain.

6. PLUS you should probably plan ahead if you were intending to make banana muffins for a snack. Because your muffin tins will be in the freezer with potato soup in them. Luckily you have a mini muffin tin and that works well too.

7. Have a good weekend!

Theme Thursday: Barn

You're probably expecting something like this:

My mother gave me this pack of note cards for Christmas as a big joke because it's hysterical that I live in Iowa. While I could have planned a field trip to take a picture of a barn... I didn't. I did however go outside on the 3 season porch on a very cold day with wet hair and no shoes so I could get this precursor picture for you.

Because, I Madeline, have a tendency to stretch Cari's themes to the limit. So I will not just give you a picture of note cards. Or even the Fisher Price Little People Barn. (Besides I totes used that for animals last May and while I like to stretch Cari's theme I also try to stretch myself.)

Instead I will give you a lesson on the virtues of Noway and their "Children's Gardens" or, in their native tongue "Barnehage." It's basically their preschool and kindergarten over there in the fjords. It's been pretty cold here and I think it's possible a fjord has developed with all the snow drifts we've had lately. So why not have a Barnehage of my very own?

I have hereby named our home school Murray's House of Learnin'. Okay so it's a line stolen directly from Gilmore Girls but still that is the name of my Barnehage and we are off to a great start. All the cool home school families have named their school and I am a copycat. I don't think we'll be homeschooling for all the years but I still wanted a name. At the very least it's nice to have a name for our pre-preschool curriculum.

I have SLOWLY gathered different things into a few smallish plastic bins and keeping them in a cupboard with all of our learning activities. It's where I am keeping the crayons/markers/watercolors, the math manipulatives, the play-doh and the other "learning things." I creatively call it The Learning Cabinet. (See Below.)

It's organized-ish and the things that would be really bad to just have out and about have an extra layer of security in those bins. Read: Play-Doh in my carpet would not make me happy.

Now, I'm not crazy, I realize that toddlers primarily learn by unschooling because when you can count your age in months you're pretty much going to learn something just by being. And I am a HUGE proponent of free play, exploration and helping me with tasks but we do try to spend about 20 minutes in "learning time" daily.

Some days the activity goes well and we will do it for longer and some days it totally flops. This learning activity is of course separate from what I lovingly call "Literacy"  because it sounds more fun than "Reading the same 6 books over and over and over again."

Thank you for peeking into my barnehage and humoring my flimsy theme participation. Link up your own barns with Cari.

WWRW: Orange Grass

Do you have Netflix?

Have you watched Orange is the New Black? It's intense. It's crazy. It make you laugh. It makes you  cry. It makes you think. And it makes you sick to your stomach. Because it seems so insane that somewhere things like that are going on. The corruption in the name of justice? The crazy? It's just intense. I could go on but you get it. It is not a show for the faint of heart. I can't even believe I watched it all but it sucks you in. 

So I was telling my friend Kathryn about it, and she had some time to kill in Barnes and Noble while she got her oil changed and wound up buying the book it's all based off of. Then after she read it she passed it to me. What book? Well... I know this may surprise you but it's called, wait for it now, Orange is the New Black. 

The book is every bit what you'd expect. There are times when watching the show that you just can't believe that Piper (the main character) would get into such a mess. Situations that seem just a little too ridiculous to actually happen. (The final moments of the season anyone?!) And the book reassures you that in fact, that's just Netflix making it dramatic. 

Piper for real, in the book Piper, acts every bit the way you'd imagine her. Fumbling through minimum-security prison keeping her head down. That's not to say there aren't interesting anecdotes in the book or there aren't moments of injustice that will make you rethink the justice system in America. Quite the contrary. 

What the book lacks is the disgust and nausea that the dramatic visualization brings, but it is not lacking in heart and insight. I honestly don't know if I would recommend the Netflix Original Show. But the book? I can safely say is for adults only but one worth reading. There are some moments that seem out of place or out of order but I imagine after 13 months of doing literally the same thing it all kind of blends together in the memory and that makes it way into the writing style of this memoir. 

So apparently when I pick Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet for November's book club we got on some sort of WWII kick. The January book (we took December off) was supposed to be Code Name Verity which I wrote about here. 

If you don't want to click over I will sum it up as not a happy book but brilliantly written. Anyhow, our host picked the book without reading it, but it was recommended by the librarians. Apparently it had made the rounds through all the librarians and they could just not stop talking about it. There is a lot to say and discuss. A good book club choice then right?

Nope. When the host read it she realized that a lot of the people wouldn't like it (I'm sure she's right) and picked a second book. So Sandra Dallas' Tallgrass. It has similarities to Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet as it is about the Tallgrass Japanese Interment camp and how it affects the neighboring town. 

I could not get into this book. It usually takes me about a day to read a book. I kept falling asleep when reading this one. (That is about as thumbs down from me as it gets.) It was slow to start and then because Dallas had apparently reached her page count the book wrapped everything up with a bow very quickly. It wasn't terrible and there were some strong moments but for the most part I'm mad that I am stuck with this non-lendable Kindle version that was expensive for a not great Kindle book. ($8.89!!) 

If you're especially a fan of Sandra Dallas you may really like this one. If you were on a long road trip and a companion had a copy/you find it at the library and you've got nothing else to do or read I wouldn't turn you against it. But please don't run right out and buy this, there are so many great books out there, this isn't one of them. If we were handing out grades it's a solid C.

Linking up with Jessica and her snazzy new blog design. Odds are good she's got a snazzy new book to hear about too!

Cold, Princesses and Clay

It's cold here again. School cancelling cold. Can't go anywhere cold.

I am seriously not impressed. Not that we would go anywhere anyway--the homebody that I am. But that is not the point. The point is I can't go anywhere because it is captial C Cold.

But we did go on a field trip last Friday. We went to the museum, specifically to see the Princess Diana exhibit. But we did the whole museum while we were there. It was a good time.

I had it all typed up here. But somehow something went wonky with the internet or blogger or both and now I have to type it all again. I will try to do a good job of it.

C of course, loved  tolerated the Princess section but genuinely had a good time. It's nice to go someplace new and while this museum is definitely skewed to an older age than 1 we still managed to find some things get out of the stroller for.

Okay so he's not out of the stroller yet but he's looking at the taxidermy lion and that was pretty good.
Pigeon came along for our field trip. 

The Native American Drum was a good time. He genuinely enjoyed this whole area to explore.

There's a boat you can climb in. He thought that was good.

So my friends had been to the Diana exhibit before and told me about how long the lines had been. So I was specifically planning a school/work day. After a bout of rescheduling (because we've had a lot of no school due to cold days, tomorrow included) I picked my day and set up my plan. Since I have a toddler and that is really not conducive to long lines/wait times my plan was to be the first ones. 

And we were. We were the first ones by so much that we beat the employee to the Diana exhibit and had to wait for her to open it up and take our ticket. It was just me and a cute little senior citizen who insisted on gettingthisclose to every single picture and sign but we ditched her after room two. One of the benefits of reading quickly I guess. 

Her tiara was amazing. The museum people know how to light it perfectly and this phone picture sure isn't doing it justice because it looks like it's on fire but use your imagination. 

Now I was happy we were the only ones around when it was time to get to the dress. They had an entire room for the wedding and the dress. Sad because you know the marriage ends. But it was pretty cool to see. It was much uglier than I thought it would be. Not especially flattering. 

But when they say the train was 25 feet long, they weren't lying. It was interesting to me how the dress hasn't been preserved as well as some of the other clothing that were on view. When it's the show stopper. But again, it's not like when Harry and William get all the stuff back they're going to be particularly fussed about their mother's wedding dress from their parent's failed marriage. 

 

Anyway we had a nice time, we concluded our outing with a trip to the grocery store and a special lunch. 

Now: a public service announcement. 

Do you have skin? Then you should probably buy the Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay. I get nothing for recommending this product and I am not an Amazon affiliate blog so click away. 

You've already read all the reviews on Amazon but you're a skeptic? A load of hooey? You can't believe that I Madeline, would fall for this gimmick? Fine. But you are missing out. 

It's so easy. Wash your face. Mix equal parts clay with liquid in a non-metal container. Apple Cider Vinegar and Water are recommended. The first time I used only ACV and the second and third I did a half water/half ACV. The mix seemed to garner better results for me. 

So slather on the mud and let it dry. The tub says 10-15 minutes but let it dry. You'll know when it's working. You will feel your face tightening up and then it will start pulsing. This is good. It is all the gross being pulled to the surface and out. 

When you're done, I found the best way to get it off is to wet a paper towel with warm water and press it to your face to start to loosen the mask. Plug the drain of your sink and chip off all the major pieces. Then wash off the remainder. It's mud and I assume that wouldn't be good for your drains and it is pretty easy to scoop the chunks out of the sink. 

It got so tight... this is me smiling. Yeah. 

After the first use, my face felt smoother and my pore looked smaller. Some blackheads had disappeared. And my one breakout had noticeably shrunk as well as the redness was gone.  

The second use my face was even smoother and my nose and chin (my problem areas) looked great. Again healed the breakout and the one spot where a new one had popped up (totally normal because the clay pulls the gunk to the surface so it can be removed) was completely gone. (It was small though.) 

The third use and all the same benefits as before but my face looked clearer and less red. 

I love this stuff. And besides giving me something to do when it's too cold to leave the house anyway it really has made my face look good! I highly recommend it! 

Theme Thursday: Unaware

Okay so the theme is "Catching People Unaware" but I thought that would look like a weird title and I don't have a picture of people I have a picture of a person.

And with that here is my person.

He's unaware.

Oh man. I have talked before about our love for Mo. But this kid loves this book so much more than anything else ever. The page he's on? It's when Pigeon finally gets his puppy. (It wasn't all it's cracked up to be.)

So he is clearly unaware because if he was aware, someone would be reading this book to him indeed. Or the book would be hiding on a really high shelf.

It just makes my heart melt that he loves reading so much. He is such a good listener and he reacts so well. He knows to read left to right and we're working on finding the first word of stories.

And I love that onesie. He had the same exact one in 3-6 month size and I liked it so much I went to Old Navy and bought the 18 month size. The only one they had left and it was on super super sale, I'm talking $0.60! It says Kickin' it with Babar. And then Babar is playing soccer.

So here is my standard line about linking up with Cari, a disclaimer for you to take a look at helping with the Quilts for Valor project.

And okay, shameless plug to vote for me! Go here and vote for me in The Most Under Appreciated Blog Category. There are a lot of entries in that category! But it's pretty exciting for my name to be lumped in with some of my favorites so I'll run with it.

Four

It seems like yesterday. It also seems like forever ago.

It's amazing how time marches on yet specific events and catalysts ground you into thinking it has stopped. I know in many ways life has most definitely moved on. Everything, and I really do mean everything has changed.

And today marks four years since my MIL passed away.

Four years. Years full of memories and life. It really is weird. I know that is such an un-eloquent way of explaining my feelings, but somehow that's what I can come up with.

No one expects to get a call that their boyfriend's mom has brain cancer.
And even though I was expecting the call that my fiance's mom had passed away it didn't make it any easier.
Death is not an easy thing.
Visitations and funerals are pretty much the bane of my existence.

And now here we are, four years later. It seems weird marking this day. Not one to celebrate certainly. But it also seems cold to not acknowledge the significance.

It seems like yesterday. It also seems like forever ago.

3 Reasons on MLKJr Day

Well it's my favorite day of the year, Martin Luther King Jr. day. No. I'm joking. It's just kind of any other day for me. Once you no longer get the day off of school it kind of falls by the wayside.

Embarrassing Side Note: Want to know how being Catholic and public schooled sheltered me? I didn't know that Martin Luther was different from Martin Luther King Jr. for a LONG LONG time. Like probably high school. And even then I didn't really know much about Martin Luther. Color me surprised when I really learned about him. True story.

Now, apparently to Husband who was raised Lutheran thinks this is weird and shouldn't I have learned about him during school? Well... I know with certainty Martin Luther did not come up during Religious Education. And my social studies classes were as follows: Geography, Economics, US History, World History, (it is possible he was mentioned but this class went from Ancient Greece/Rome/Egypt through WWII so if he was mentioned it was in passing.) US History 1861-Present. The point is, I didn't know about Martin Luther, I did know a lot about Dr. King however! 

But that is why I love Catholicism, I didn't really need to know about Martin Luther. Besides, his ideas don't really make sense to me. 

Martin Luther just flabbergasts me. So that counts as #1 for my 3 Reasons I Love Catholicism. It may be shallow, but I appreciate that the history of my Church comes from Jesus and not a disgruntled individual. 

#2 We Like to Party! 

There's ALWAYS something to celebrate. I mean every Sunday is a feast. Plus extra feast days. And the liturgical calendar is chock full of celebrations. I just don't know of any other religion that likes to feast and party the way the Catholics do. 

And last but certainly not least #3 The Eucharist. I don't know how to describe the utter joy I get when it is time for communion but I am filled with peace. And when the transubstantiation is complete... chills. I just get chills. I love that. I do. 

So link up with Micaela and her 3 reasons link up about why Catholicism is so great. And as a bonus in case you haven't seen it: