Book Club

Some girls in my ward are starting a book club. We had one when I moved into the ward but it has been a long time. We were supposed to come with three or so of our favorite books. We went around in a circle and shared them. We went around in a circle and introduced ourselves and said our favorite genre. I love the middle school books. Easy reading. They then wanted everyone to show their favorite books and we were going to pick books from there. I had to go first. Everyone's favorite genres were things way more intellectual then what I brought so I kind of felt a little silly sharing them. I mean The Thing About Georgie is around a 4th grade level, but I still love it. Anyway, False Prince ended up getting picked for June so we can read a light book for the summer. Haha. Lots of people had read the books suggested. I hadn't read one. Our first book is Tatoos on the Heart. Should be a fun time.

The Boys are Gone

I got to do book club with Preston today. Our book is Ella Enchanted. I love book club. Preston loves it when I come, so it's a win-win. Stockton didn't come home from school today. He went to Gavin's house. He went to the basketball game with Gavin. Gavin is performing with the ballroom team at halftime. The music stopped at the beginning, so they did their number without any music. It seems that has happened more than once. Gavin came over to our house after the performance. The boys are going to the cabin today. Mike came home early and took a nap so he would be rested for the late night drive. Just in case. They decided to go tonight and made it there safely. It's always nice when I see the text from Mike that he is there.

Jorja stayed after school to do something for Chinese and take a foods test. She missed the foods test when she went to Indian Hills with student government to talk about how fun high school is. She also had play practice until six. I picked her up and was driving when I got a phone call. Right now we are planning on taking the kids on an Alaskan cruise. Hank Smith, who Jorja is obsessed with, will be there doing mini events. Alaska is the only state that Stockton, Jorja and Preston haven't been to. I wish the cruise were a month earlier though. Stockton is trying to decide when to serve a mission right now. I hate to throw this in the mix. We figured we could put a deposit on it and pull out in April if something changes. That is how long we have when we can still get our money back. Anyway, we had talked to the guy in charge and he was finally calling back. We gave him some information and we will see if he can find us a cabin. We want an inside cabin because it is a lot cheaper, and that is what we are going for this time. Jorja was pretty excited. I told the guy that Jorja is Hank Smith's biggest fan. I also mentioned that she wanted to be a public speaker and if they were to have any workshops on the itinerary that would be thumbs up.

Jorja and I then went to grab her a hamburger at Freddy's. She hadn't eaten since breakfast. Kenzie, the student body president, was picking her up to take her to the basketball game. We ordered our food and were waiting when Kenzie said she was on her way. Yikes! We were still in line and it was taking forever. Jorja was stressing. Kenzie got to our house before we did. Jorja left with Kenzie and 1% on her phone battery. That stressed me out a little bit. I got a text later saying she was at Target with Dessa and some other people. I'm not sure who, I just remember Brenton. She then went to Dessa's house to watch a movie. I was sure glad when I got her home.

Three Rock Families

I had the last book club with Preston for the book Fuzzy Mud. Preston wanted me to bring strawberry jam sandwiches, so I did. Josh had asked if I would bring Dunford donuts, so I brought those too. Book club was fun. I hope I get to do it again. They are reading a biography next and doing a wax museum. Hopefully we can do a book club after that and hopefully I get picked as a parent volunteer. There were a lot of different rock poems outside his teachers door. Here is Preston's.

Stockton went to a circus performance with Gavin. He went with his family super early. Stockton and Gavin were hoping to work on their pantomime for a bit before the performance. Jorja was a little sad today. She was hoping to watch a movie with her friends, but it didn't work out. We talked her into watching a movie with us. She had to watch a movie about a hero's quest and do a paper on it. I tried to get her to do The Lion King, but she went with Mike's suggestion of A Knight's Quest. I didn't remember seeing the movie before. Mike said I had seen it four times and I had slept through it four times. I did pretty good staying awake today. I think I only slept through fifteen minutes or so. Much better than the other times.

Fuzzy Mud

I get to do book club with Preston again! Today was our first meeting. Preston chose the book Fuzzy Mud. We had a cute little group. Three boys and one girl. We have Preston, Josh and Able. I'm not sure of the girls name. Josh is my brother Mike's old girlfriend's son. So weird! We had a great time talking about the book. After we finished Able said to me, "You are really good at this." Ahhh. That made my day.

I called the seminary to find out what I need to do to get Jorja in early morning seminary. She said that they let almost no freshman in. Maybe only three get in. That's too bad. Jorja wants me to leave her course requests like we have them and hope she gets one of the spots. She figures it will be easier to get in seminary then one of the courses she might have to drop.

Jorja spent a lot of time at Katlyn's house after school. I know Hailey was there, and I think Allison. Katlyn's parents took them out for frozen yogurt. Jorja was thrilled.

Mike, Stockton and I played Codenames. It's kind of hard with four people, but still fun.

Book Club

I was able to go help in Preston's class today.  I am in charge of one of the book club groups.  We are reading The False Prince.  I recommended the book to his teacher.  That and Ordinary Boy.  She was able to get 12 copies of each book.  There are about six kids in my group.  They had to read a third of the book.  It was great!  We only had thirty minutes, but I had the best time!  The kids loved the book and it was so fun to talk with them about it.  I loved listening to their predictions.  I had the best time. I can't wait to go back in two weeks!

I did a book club with Preston last year, but I didn't have access to the book.  Plus, I think the book probably was really boring.  I had set questions to ask the kids, but I had no idea what we were talking about. I loved it this way so much more.  It was such an exciting day!

Yummy

We had our pretend book club today.  There was a lady from the other ward that came to book club at my house last month.  She has lived here four years, but doesn't really know anyone.  She really wanted to host this months book club.  She is a fantastic cook - I'm stuffed!

Anyway, her basement is really cute.  They have a little playhouse built under the stairs.  There is a cute ladder and everything, of course Preston wanted to get to it the hard way.

Eliza

 Preston

They had an amazing doll house.  It was huge!  I guess it is several generations old.

 Dollhouse

Maysen and I were able to find two more pottery pieces.  Yay!  I think there is only one we are still missing.  Matt came over after the kids were in bed to watch Arrested Development.  He was so sick!  He could barely swallow.  Poor guy.  He just finished being sick a few weeks ago.

Notary

Mike is awesome.  We had such a busy day today.  I woke up early this morning and ran to the store to get ingredients for pie.  I made two banana cream pies and two chocolate chip pies this morning.  When the pies were done we ran to the bank.  We needed to get some papers notarized because . . . OUR HOUSE IN GEORGIA SOLD!!!!!  We are so, so, so, so happy.  We lost a lot of money on the house over all, but considering how bad the housing market crashed in Georgia it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Plus, we sold it to some great friends.  I'm glad that if someone got a great deal on our house that it was them.  It was a win/win.

Anyway, we ran to the bank only to find out that their notary wouldn't be in until 11.  We needed to get the paperwork overnighted and didn't want to cut it so close.  Steve's secretary was at work today and she is a notary.  We went to her and was able to get all the paperwork done.  We stopped off at the mail store and got it sent (along with Mallory's sheep that Jorja found last week).  

It felt so good to get all that done.  Now to get ready for my book club! Mike helped me make three more loaves of bread, and straightened up a ton.  I ran to Harmon's to get some lunch meat.  There were already people here by the time I got back.  I don't know what I would have done if Mike wasn't on call today.  Everything was delicious!  Book club was great.  Mike is amazing.

Cake Day?

I have been getting ready for my Book Club tomorrow.  It is at my house. The title Book Club is used very loosely.  We stopped reading books.  We still get together once a month.  Mike calls it my Imaginary Book Club. Anyway, I have planned on having sandwiches.  Mike and I made three loaves of bread today.  I was trying to decide what to make for dessert when Stockton mentioned it was pi day tomorrow!  I couldn't believe I didn't think of that!  If I remembered earlier I could have done pies all around.

I came upstairs from tucking in Stockton and said, "I can't believe I didn't remember it was pi day tomorrow."  Maysen smiled and said, "Funny you should say that."  She then handed me a cake mix with a piece of paper.  This is what her paper said.

Dear Mom,

As you may or may not be aware, tomorrow is Thursday, March 14th, and Pi Day.  I know that you're going to be really busy getting ready for your book club, but do you think that maybe we could bake a cake to celebrate this special day?

Cakes, you see, are far superior to pies.  A recent poll showed that 3.5 out of 6 people (83%) in our family actually dislike pie.  Consequently, cake is a dessert that is liked by everyone.  This is because cake tastes so much better than pie does.  You don't ever see people enjoying a pie on their birthday, do you?  Of course not!  Why would anyone want to eat a fruit-stuffed pie when they could have a delicious, creamy cake instead?

Secondly, pie takes far longer to make than cake does.  You would have to spend an hour on the crust alone as well as three hours on the filling - it has to set for two hours, after all.  A box of French Vanilla cake would be finished in about an hour and a half, including the time it would take to frost it.  You certainly have enough time to bake a cake even with your book club coming over, but can you say the same for pie?

Would you believe that French Vanilla cake has less calories in it than Banana Cream Pie does?  In one pie slice there are 387 calories and 19.58 total grams of fat.  Don't even ask about the cookies and cream flavor!  A piece of cake, on the other hand, contains 160 calories and 1.5 total grams of fat.  You did say that you wanted to lose weight before Spring Break . . . didn't you?

Pi Day has become a fad across the nation, and even the world.  In many homes it is now tradition to bake a pie when March 14th rolls around.  Cake is more delicious, easier to make, and surprisingly even less fattening than pie is.  So this Pi Day, why not be original and bake a cake instead?  You'll definitely be glad you did, and the rest of your family will be too.

Sincerely,

Maysen

Man she makes me laugh.  I did appreciate her note.  Especially since I was able to use the back of it to write a shopping list for the ingredients of pie.  Pie is delicious, case closed.

Yes, I have been trying to lose weight before Spring Break.  That is only because we are going on a cruise and I wanted to lose five pounds so I could gain ten.  Logical.  I just wasn't able to do it because food is delicious.  Especially pie.

Book Club

Book club was at my house tonight.  Mike took Maysen to pottery.  I was able to get the kids down before everyone came over.  That was nice. Our book was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  I wasn't able to finish the entire thing, but I finished about 3/4 of it.  It was really interesting.  It felt like I was reading a well done research paper.  

I made veggie bars.  It is one of my favorite things from Georgia.  Teresa used to make them.  I'm sure she still does, I just don't get to eat them anymore.  I have asked Teresa for the recipe about ten times.  She keeps giving it to me, and I keep losing them.  Anyway, today was the first time I made them.  It was a success!  We also had these fruit sorbet things from Costco.  My dad took me there this morning.  Rachel and I tried them at Ange's house yesterday.  Yummy!

Veggie Bars

2 tubes crescent rolls (the ones that make 8 per tube)

3/4 cups mayo

1/2 cup sour cream

2 pkgs. 8 oz. very softened cream cheese (let it sit out)

16 oz. dry Ranch dressing mix

3/4 cup of each chopped finely -- red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, carrot, green onion, broccoli (I did about one cup total of the peppers, 3/4 cups each of the green onion and carrot and 2 cups of the broccoli)

3/4 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

Spread crescent rolls flat on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 until slightly brown.

While rolls are cooling, mix mayo, sour cream, cream cheese and dressing mix.  Spread over flat rolls after they have cooled completely.

Mix the veggies and cheese together (make sure cheese is cold or it clumps together and does not mix well).  Then top rolls and cream cheese mixture with the chopped vegies and cheese.

Take plastic wrap and place on top to press down veggies and cheese so they stay in place.  Chill for an hour.

Cut into small squares and serve.  It is a little messy to slice, but ends up looking good.

I wrote Teresa's recipe just as she sent it to me.  I love how she added all the parenthesis.  She knows I need lots of explanation!  I even still messed up.  I was thinking that the cream cheese box probably had 2 packets of cream cheese.  16 oz of cream cheese seamed a lot.  I was wrong.  Whoops.  I made a few adjustments, but it turned out yummy and everyone wanted the recipe.  Whew!

Book Club With Grandpa

I talked my dad into taking Jorja to her book club. She was excited to go with him. She came home with a cute book/box. Decorated with a frog of course. I took Stockton to diving and Mike had scouts. Maysen has been feeling sick for about a week now. I hope she gets better soon because she looks miserable.

I Survived

Book club that is. Not a big deal, but I'm glad it is over with and that it went well. Mike took Maysen to pottery. That was nice. We had book club late because of the caucuses. It worked out great because I had the rest of the kids in bed. When my friends arrived I had several, "Your house is so quiet" comments. Next month we are reading The Blessing of a Skinned Knee - or something like that. It is a parenting book . . . I think. I hear it is interesting - hope so!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

It isn't often that I like a movie more than the book. That was not the case today. For book club this month we read. Extremely Loud and Incredible Close. I hated it. Tonight our book club went to see the movie. I was actually hoping it wouldn't be like the book. One of the previews I saw wasn't in the book. The movie was so much better! The gross parts of the book were taken out. The characters were more sympathetic. The ending was better. I was very pleasantly surprised. Which is good because the movie is incredibly sad. One thing I thought was funny was that they took out completely the part of the book where the title comes from. Before I read the book, I assumed the title came from the World Trade Center disaster. Nope. It comes from a flock of birds. One character hears for the first time in twenty years . . . they pretty much took that out of the book. That's okay. I thought this adaptation was great.

11 Birthdays

Jorja and I went to book club today at the library. We read 11 Birthdays. We finished it yesterday. Book club was pretty fun. The girls got to paint a pot, eat cupcakes and have party treats. My friend since elementary school was there. Melissa Cutler. That made it extra fun for me. Jorja and I also finished Dragon Rider yesterday. That book was long!

The Relief Society presidency called last week and set up an appointment to visit me today. I called them this morning and left a message saying, "It is really snowy up here, you will only make it with a 4-wheel drive. Don't feel bad about canceling." They tried to make it up the hill in a mini-van, but got stuck right below the curve. We spent the next hour getting them unstuck. They never made it to the house. I felt bad for them, but they were really nice about it. Brother Gray came over and helped them get out of the driveway. I told them not to worry, their intentions were noted.