Our Sunday nights are generally game nights, so today's Awesome Thing included playing a game with a friend. Miss Hollie was pretty sleepy tonight, and she was so good at eating plenty of sweet potatoes (sometimes she decides she hates solid foods and just nurses for multiple days in a row.....that ever happen to anybody else's 6-months-going-on-seven-months-old? [and yes, that was a bad
Sound of Music reference]) that we decided we had better stay in tonight and let the little gal sleep in her own crib rather than on one of our chests at someone else's house. Also, I've been feeling a bit weary today, and a little glum, so I wanted to be a bit of a homebody, in spite of our 30 Awesome Things pact.
Fortunately our good friend Joleen came over and brought
Ticket to Ride,
a game that never fails to make David crazy because there is almost
more risk than strategy in this board game. I love it. I always win.
(Well, almost always. I won tonight—that's what matters.)
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| Baby Hollie sure wished she could hold those trains. Thankfully, she went to bed approx. 30 seconds after I took this picture. |
I also tried out a new
cookie recipe from Martha.
(I think Martha is a hoot. Has she always been this kooky, or did it
start post-prison? Her sense of humor is marvelous, and I love that she
is actually kind of sloppy and imperfect in the crafting and the cooking
that she does on her show. Her guests seem far more capable, and I love
her for so gracefully botching crafts here and there and then telling
her guests that she likes her own imperfect piece better than theirs
anyway. I don't watch a lot of Martha, but the little I've seen lately
has been to that tune. Do you agree?) Her lime meltaways were a hit, and
they were super easy (and I still have another roll of dough to put in
the freezer).
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| I'm pretty sure these cookies will look better if you wait to cool them before shaking them in a bag of powdered sugar. But hey, the Grovers refuse to wait for cooling! It's basically a family rule to never wait. |
In making the cookies, I also got to try out my new microplaner (instead
of using that super-small grating side of the cheese grater). How I
have lived this long without a microplaner?! A game changer, my friends!
A GAME CHANGER! I have never enjoyed grating lime zest before today. I
want to zest everything now. I want to purchase 10 dollars worth of
citrus fruits just so I can zest them.
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| Isn't she a beaut, ladies and gentlemen? It even has a sheath, like a dagger. I basically pull it out like I think I'm Frodo Baggins, and I promise I will stop comparing myself to Tolkien Hobbits after this post. |
So, pretty awesome. We entertained a good friend. And now I think I will eat a few more lime meltaways, drink a Nalgene of water, and curl up to some
Hunger Games (a series I never read, and a film I never watched. I'm finally giving it a go. And you know? I'm actually enjoying myself. This is the kind of summer reading I recall from my youth. And speaking of summer reading, David took a turn about the local libraries yesterday afternoon. Looks like we're going to need a bigger bookshelf [and yes, that was a bad
Jaws reference]).
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| Speaking of books, we watched Matlida today and it reminded me about how uncomfortable I am with a seven-year-old reading Moby Dick and The Pickwick Papers. Furthermore, when Miss Honey leaves The Wind in the Willows for Matilda, wouldn't Matilda find this book a little beneath her? Oh well. On a separate note, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman are great in that film. And whoever plays Trunchbull aces it. Roald Dahl would have been pleased, at least with those three. |
Thing # Lucky 13: Entertain a Friend—
ACCOMPLISHED. Grover out.
11 comments:
You Grovers and your board games! I loved showing up at game night in Louisville because the stakes were so low for me (since I'd never played any of your games before and had nothing to lose [or nothing to prove?]), and it would drive that one guy CRAZY when I would do well/win. Summer 2011 ftw.
I love Ticket to Ride =D
Do you guys know Carcassonne? It's another one of my favorites!
Some things to note: the macaroni and cheese from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is one of my most requested meals. The cauliflower is AWESOME! Also big fans of the cauliflower and cheese soup and the Lasagna. Trevor more so on that latter as it's heavily meat focused, something I am not.
Who read the Incorrigibles? And the Mysterious Benedict Society? I'm a bigger fan of MBS number one than number two, but they are just ideal for younger kids.
And finally, I read Hunger Games aloud to Trevor. I really like Collins. I think you'd enjoy her other series, Gregor the Overlander, quite a bit. It's a play on Alice in Wonderland, but in an urban setting. Very fun.
hallelujher david got a haircut!!!
Sherry, I'm so glad about Jamie Oliver's mac and cheese! I am going to try it this week (it was one of the pages that was already dog-eared in the library's copy, so that must mean something). I do so like that Jamie Oliver.
And David is reading MBS. He read number one last summer and wants to finish the series this summer. I might pick up the first and read it this summer too, though, especially now that you've recommended it!
P.S. Isn't reading out loud to each other the best? Dave and I like reading collections of essays to each other, especially on walks (only you if you're the one listening, you have to remember to walk slowly because it's easy to run out of breath walking and reading at the same time, more so than walking and regular talking.
Liz, no one recognized him at church. I forget how big a difference shaggy bearded Dave is from clean cut Dave.
BAH! Em, I feel like my very universe just collided!!!! My bestest of all best friends in this great state of MD is Raquel KREMIN Bell. Darling sister of Jolleen! I just met her when she came out to DC and thought she was just a doll!
I liked Hunger Games a lot, but I didn't like how I stayed up all night reading them (when I was engaged and busy as heck). I am just finishing up reading the Uglies series...a good young adult read as long as it's summer, right? Well, it's not the best series, but it's kind of like the potato chip of literature. If they're around, you end up eating way more than you wanted, even though they aren't even that good. But still, the plot propelled me through...but if you do read them and hate it, sorry?
oh yeah, and sorry you were feeling glum. And (I don't know how many people read your blog with a child the same age as Hollie??) sometimes David doesn't want to eat solids, but if i make sure it is warm and at least has some kind of tasty fruit or formula/breast milk in it, he will eat it as long as he is hungry.
Mub: I LOVE Carcassonne. We love all geeky games.
Erin: WHAT?!!! You know another Kremin!? Man, this is wild and wonderful. If Joleen's sister is half as great as Joleen, you are lucky to have her in MD! I'm so happy about this!
I'd recommend Penderwicks before the Mysterious Benedict Society. They both came out at the same time and were touted as being a return to old stories (girl story of sisterhood and boy adventure story). Birdsall has excellent characterization and pacing. It's one of my favorites.
I also liked The Uglies. Westerfiel has some interesting social criticisms in there and has real control on his language. He created a believable teenage slang. Not easy.
I think one of the problems with adults reading YA is that they are looking for some sort of resolution to youth, a la A Separate Peace. There's a place for nostalgia, but the most realistic contemporary fiction is YA. The language is real, and the characters are real.
Sara Zarr and John Greene are both excellent YA writers, if you feel like dipping your feet in the waters, and both lament the fact that critics suggest they should move on to writing "real" stories now.
I have many things to say:
1- I love Ticket to Ride and I always win, too. But all I am ever going for is "longest train" (this same strategy is why I always lose at Settlers of Catan, because all I care about is longest road)
2- Buying a microplaner.
3- Martha: I love her and her kookiness (though I never get to watch her show b/c we don't have TV) but LIME MELTAWAYS??? Why?!
4- One of my favorite lines from Matilda is Rita Perlman's, "You're four." "I'm six-and-a-half, Mommy." "Five, then."
5- And Sister Trunchbowl lives in our ward, FYI. I hope neither Allen nor I ever accidentally call her that . . . it's our private nickname.
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