Random Tuesday Thoughts

Woo hoo!  Hello there!

Um, yeah, you know what day it is.  Though I seem to have skipped a few.

First thought that crossed my mind this weekend.  When did we become a four computer family?  I was typing away on my laptop in the dining room, while each child was in the office, a computer for each to command, running back and forth sharing what each was doing on his or her own machine.  I thought, lucky we have all these.  Then it dawned on me.  I had one more computer, not hooked up to the internet up in dear son's room.  It is plugged in and can be used for the educational preschool games we still have loaded on it.  But, it really doesn't get used.  I can't part with it, though.  I'm not sure what sensitive material may still be on it and I cannot throw it in the trash for any reason.  I have no desire to figure out how to dispose of it, because not only will the disposing be a long and arduous process, but so will the finding out how to do it properly.

Anyone read a really good book for 4th-7th graders lately?  If so, please forward me the title and author.  I am trying to get a better sense of literature for this age group.  I know I need to read "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."  But what else is out there today?  I enjoyed Judy Blume, but I know there is more recent and popular stuff these days.  Laura Ingalls Wilder and Beverly Cleary are old standbys, but we're looking for recent good pieces.

I learned something new from Wikipedia.  The book club I belong to is reading "A Confederacy of Dunces."  According to Wikipedia, it is a picaresque novel. Which means: "The picaresque novel (Spanish: "picaresca", from "pícaro", for "rogue" or "rascal") is a popular sub-genre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts, in realistic and often humorous detail, the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society. As indicated by its name, this style of novel originated in Spain, where it was possibly influenced by Arabic literature (specifically the maqama genre, which also featured the episodic exploits of a rogue character), flourished in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and continues to influence modern literature."  (Picaresque novel. (2010, March 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:09, March 9, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Picaresque_novel&oldid=348427668).  I find the novel perhaps satirical, maybe too realistic, but have yet to find the humor.  I may only be 20 pages in, but perhaps my 21st century oversensitivity to very unpolitical correctness is making it hard for me to get into it.  I understand it was written in the 60s and published in the 80s, so it will not sound the same as it did to he who wrote it and those who read it first.  Verdict is still out and I have a week and a few days to render a more solid judgment.

My son is quite literally on a growth spurt.  The whole last week he was waking up grouchy.  Super grouchy.  Unusually grouchy.  He was going to bed at the same time he always did: in bed at 8 pm, read a book until 8:30 (maybe 8:45), then lights out.  But he couldn't haul himself out of bed aqt 6:45 am like he used to.  He used to bounce out and rush downstairs.  Now he just whines and stays in bed.  We were afraid he was sick, but he wasn't.  He's just lacking sleep.  We sent him to sleep earlier, about 7:45 lights out and he was still grouchy.  When the weekend came, he slept 12 hours straight the first night and 11 hours the second night.  Then he started eating a lot.   More dinner, needing more snacks, still hungry.  Tonight he had a lot of rice and chicken.  After supper, he still demanded more.  Half a banana and two peanut butter toast sandwiches later he was finally full.  This morning, I thought I would check his height, just to see.  I had just measured him on February 25th.  I had marked both kids' heights as an update for this year.  Low and behold from February 25th to March 8, he had grown a half inch.  I AM SERIOUS!  It was amazing to see.  At the end of dinner, as he complained about being hungry, Mr. Wild and I looked at each other saying, "Is this a prelude of what we're in for in the next few years?"  That boy is going to have to quit being picky, cause there's only so many peanut butter sandwiches one can eat in a lifetime.

Here's some photos of the tea party I held in honor of me and the gals watching Jane Austen's Emma from Masterpiece Classic (I recorded it on DVR and we finally found the time to get together).  As you see the large white cake, that is the new favorite cake I like to make.  This one had the three sticks of butter and orange flavoring in the frosting on the yellow cake.  We also had spotted dick, strawberries and cream, lemon poppy seed bread, asparagus and prosciutto sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, seafood and chive sandwiches, and scones with lemon curd, gooseberry jam, and strawberry rhubarb jam.  Of course, I served tea with milk, sugar or lemon.  I take it with just milk most times, but I had quite a bit with just lemon and it was soothing to my throat, having been irritated by this cough!

 

  

  

 

I should mention, because you probably will ask, the silver colored serving trays, the three tier and the one you see holding the tea-cozy-covered teapot you see there.  Those are part of our aluminumware collection.  We have it all out for display on our plate rail that surrounds our dining room, when not in use.  When our kids were small, it was more unknown and a cheaper antique.  We could pick it up at garage sales for a steal.  Then I think people got wise to its collectibility and the prices went up.  We had tea actually as a luncheon and it was quite filling.  We had such a good time, we've decided we need to do it again.  Can't wait.


I should also give a shout out to Mr. Wild for putting together and cutting most of the sandwiches and artfully arranging them and the lemon slices while I frantically finished up the scones so they'd be warm just out of the oven.  He also did a bang up job of cleaning the dirty dishes I made, though I swore I would clean them.  What a sweetie!

If you need more randomness, check out Keely's blog by clicking on the button in this post.