Childhood of Famous Americans - COFA Books

A third blue item in as many days :) These books arrived in the mail this afternoon and just happened to be blue.

Childhood of Famous Americans, aka COFA, - is a biographical, vintage book series (published in the 40's through the 60's I believe) about the lives of famous Americans like Louisa Alcott, George Washington, Clara Barton, Paul Revere, Abe Lincoln etc.

These are easy-to-read chapter books with black "shadow" illustrations. The stories focus on the lives of the individuals when they were children. In a short time we read through a quarter of the book. Here is a "problem" we have - mom reads a portion of a book aloud one day - with the intention of reading a bit each day. Being that my children are a lot like me - they cannot wait to find out what happens and one or the other will pick up the book later and read a chapter (or two or three) or they might finish the book altogether!


The stories are written in a way that is interesting to both girls and boys regardless of whether the biography is about a girl or boy.

We have read about 1/2 dozen of these books aloud - and I recently bought a set of 10 for only $20 (that included shipping!) A great price being that a lot of these books sell for at least $5 (plus shipping).

The 10 I received today were all about famous females (all the other ones we own are about males) - so I'm sure the girl is happy about that.

Amazon has republished a bunch of these books and I believe a number of famous folk have been added to the series. I prefer the hardcover vintage books.

Blu Italy - Sparkling Mineral Water

Besides blueberries, another blue item caught my eye at Trader Joe's.

Blu Italy - sparkling natural mineral water with natural lime and lemon flavor - a product of Italy that cost $1.29.

As a rule, I generally do NOT buy bottled water. I do keep some on hand for hikes and emergencies - but usually tap water is good enough for me.

But Blu Italy isn't just any bottled water. For one thing it comes in a glass bottle not a plastic bottle - and the bottle is blue. A beautiful colbalt blue!
The weather was so delightfully warm yesterday that we took our lunch outdoors to a nearby park. A great opportunity to try out Blu Italy.

The water tasted just like 7-UP soda - well except for the fact that it wasn't sweet and it had a salty mineralish flavor. The kids and I all drank up our cups of water - but decided it wasn't to our liking.

I plan on saving the empty bottle - though I'm not sure what I'll do with it - just too beautiful to throw away. Any ideas?? Obviously I am not as talented as this.

Blueberries Banish Blahs

1.5 lbs of blueberries. In February. Doesn't sound too frugal does it?

Well the girl wanted the blueberries and as she is a good little money saver and has close to a million $ in her piggy bank by now - she helped finance the blueberry acquisition.

One way we deal with the edible "wants" of our children that may not seem all that frugal or wise to us is that they can use their allowance to finance the purchase or to finance a portion of it.

We forgot to buy cream to eat them with (cream & sugar) so we had to suffice with fat-free milk and sugar (not nearly as decadent!).

If you close your eyes while eating them, maybe, just maybe you can feel like it's 85 degrees outside and the middle of summer.

Root Canal Part Deux

OUCH!

You know part 1 of my root canal wasn't too bad (other than the cost!). There was more pain in the middle of the night but a couple of ibuprofens took care of it. So though I wasn't looking forward to my appointment today - I figured, pain-wise it shouldn't be too bad.

Boy was I wrong!

The dr. kept praising my "poise". Makes me wonder - do other people cry when they are having a root canal - b/c I sure know that I felt like it!

My appointment took 2 hours - and there is still one more appointment - which I'm hoping will be MOSTLY pain free when he fits me for a crown. I'd say after all that pain I deserve a crown!

Well since it's kind of hard to chew I decided I'd just have a Slurpee and a Krispy Kreme donut (albeit from the gas station) for lunch - the best donuts are the custard filled ones! YUM! It doesn't take much for me to resume my pre-marriage, unhealthy eating habits...

Dried Dragon Fruit - Pitaya

For a long time I've wanted to try Dragon Fruit - but I've never seen it in a store.

The pictures I've seen of it are absolutely beautiful!

We finally got a (slight) taste of Dragon Fruit recently. Trader Joe's sold a little bag of DRIED Dragon Fruit for $2.00.

I imagine the fresh fruit is much tastier - the dried fruit was almost totally tasteless...a smattering of sweetness and not much else. There are A LOT of seeds. Check out this site for some photos of this beautiful fruit.

It does remind me of a prickly pear (or what a prickly pear would be like minus the juice)...the brilliant purple/red color and lots of seeds make it similar.

The boy disliked it, the girl loved it - and I thought it was mediocre.

I'm still hoping to come across a fresh Dragon Fruit.

Loft(y) Ambitions...Part 2

Today the kids and dh worked on the second loft bed.

Things are far from finished - but here's a photo anyway. It still needs to be painted etc.l - but I went ahead and put some books on the shelves so I could get an idea of how things will look.

I love the long desk top (hollow core door) and all the book shelves b/c you can never have too many book shelves. On the top of the loft - at the head of the bed - there will be 2 or 3 more shelves. The foot of the bed will have a partial guard rail.

There is plenty of space under the desk top for storing Legos, Playmobil and ammunition.

GroovyGirl's Egg Drop Soup

The other day we were reading a book about some typical Chinese foods.

Mentioned in the book was "Egg Drop Soup".

GroovyGirl thought she'd like to try and make it for lunch.

Very simple recipe...2 cans of chicken broth, 1 T of cornstarch and a little water - added to the broth to thicken it. 1 egg lightly mixed, is added to the broth and is stirred constantly for about 2 minutes.

Bits of green onion added for garnish.

GroovyGirl couldn't eat enough of it! Even the brother liked it!

Twelve Hundred Dollars Later...

Today I had a root canal.

Not sure which is more painful - the actual procedure or knowing that my poor dental hygiene as a youth just cost us $1200. Ouch!

Actually for the most part the procedure was painless - there were a few times when I about jumped out of my seat when the drill touched a still-not-all-together-numb area.

Pendragon Sword of His Father

A couple of weeks ago I read a review in a homeschool newsletter, for a new "Christian" movie - "Pendragon Sword of His Father".

"Set in 411 AD, Pendragon tells the story of young Artos who is raised to believe that God has a purpose for each day. When his family killed and he is taken into slavery by the Saxons, Artos questions his God. Advancing through the military ranks, Artos begins to understand that his father's vision was not based on the strength of man, but on the plan of God. Further betrayal by his friends forces Artos to decide between following God's plan unto certain death or abandoning God to save his own life." (IMDB).

We had recently read about the Saxons in history and as the trailer looked promising, I did something that I very rarely ever do - I bought the DVD. Not only did I buy a DVD but I paid full price for it. I liked the idea that a homeschooling family produced and acted in this movie and that it was billed as a "Christian" movie, and seemed like something my ds would love.

Over the past couple of days the kids and I have watched this movie. The kids thought the movie was great! I'd give it maybe a 2 out of 5.

I thought the costumes and scenery were great and as I stated above I liked the fact that a couple of Christian homeschooling families produced and acted in this movie. Even though the movie had fighting - there was almost no blood shown and there was nothing gruesome about it - as some warfare movies (or documentaries!) tend to be.

The acting was bad. The storyline was mediocre. I generally avoid watching "Christian" movies for those two reasons.

I know this movie, along with other "Christian" movies do not have large budgets - and believe me - it shows!

Will I watch this movie again? I might - preferably without the kids by my side...any movie is hard to watch when you are having to explain things as well as listen to comments from your co-watchers (and listen to them eating crackers!). Or I might just try selling it on eBay to get back some of my $.

Is it worth shelling out $20 for it? I'd say not. But if you think you might be interested in watching it - see if your library carries it or would order it (our library didn't have it), borrow it from a friend or see if you can buy it cheaper on eBay :)

The Lobotomist

Last night I watched an interesting program on PBS - The Lobotomist.

Actually I watched it on the internet b/c by the time I got home - the program was just about over. My dh had watched it and told me about it (knowing how intrigued I would be about the whole thing) - so I went searching online for info about it and lo and behold I found I could watch the whole program online.

I've always been interested in neurological disorders.

The Lobotomist is not for the medically squeamish - as some old film procedures are shown, but if you are interested - you can watch the program here.

The program begins with the question as to whether the doctor who "popularized" the lobotomy was an "Angel of Mercy or Medical Monster". If you do watch it - let me know what you think.

I definitely have mixed feelings about the procedure and the man himself. I think he started out with good intentions but went too far. One thing to remember is that prior to the 1950's - there were no anti-psychotic drugs so there wasn't much that could be done for people suffering from violent and severe forms of mental illness. When Thorazine (an anti-psychotic drug) was marketed in the 1950's - it was marketed as a "chemical lobotomy".

The procedure was barbaric (as were many "treatments" for mental patients in the days of old) and was not always done while the patient was asleep! There was no consent from the patient or the family of the patient. The doctor who performed many of these procedures was not a surgeon...and the procedure did not take place in a sterile operating room.

Near the end of his practice he was willing to lobotomize children and even suggested the procedure as a method to treat severe headaches or bad behaviors in children.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is a book that I have heard about numerous times in the past few months.

Being that I enjoy making bread, I checked the book out from my library a month or so ago and proceeded to...barely read it, let alone make anything from it.

Then the other day I picked up a copy of Mother Earth News and lo and behold they also had a feature article on the Artisan bread book. I read the article (which included a recipe and how-to) and decided to give it a shot.

If you haven't heard of the book or the concept behind it - it's a basic dough (yeast/water/salt/flour) that you can leave in your fridge for up to 2 weeks. No kneading is required! Whenever you want some fresh bread all you do is cut off a hunk of dough, shape it, let it sit for 40 min, pop it in the oven and 40 minutes later it's done!

I've tried the recipe two times...once exactly as the recipe is written, the second time I used part whole wheat flour and part white flour.

The bread was delicious! The boy even thought the whole wheat version was better than the all white version :)

Pros - the recipe is easy to follow, makes fresh bread daily a reality, tastes great, smells great, nice hard crust, chewy inside.

Cons - not everyone has the extra space in their fridge to hold a large container of dough for 2 weeks, the crust is hard so it's not for the weak-0f-teeth, the rounded loaves are pretty small (you're only supposed to cut off a hunk dough the size of a grapefruit for each loaf...not sure what would happen if you used a larger hunk...maybe it wouldn't cook properly??).

Supposedly the longer the dough "ferments" in the fridge - the better it tastes and the better it rises. I did notice that my mixed flour bread didn't rise as well and spread out more on the cookie sheet.

Loft(y) Ambitions...

Guess the piano bench project was just a "warm up" project...this is what dh and the kids were working on Saturday...loft beds for both kids.

The bed is far from finished...the bottom half will have a built-in desk and bookcase...plus it needs to be sanded and painted and tweaked here and there. We did set it up in the girl's bedroom on Saturday and she slept in it as is a couple of nights so that we could see what needs to be added/changed before we declare it ready to paint.

The kids are mighty excited!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cupcakes decorated by the children...

This morning the girl gave me a sweet Valentine she made.

When the girl went off to get the Valentine she made for her brother, the boy whispers to me with a smile, "Mine (my Valentine) is INSIDE me...I'm going to give her a hug and a squeeze." I thought that was very sweet. He also gave similar Valentine's to his father and I. :)

"She gave me a hug and a little squeeze..." Bonus points if you know what song those lyrics are from - but no cheating - you can't Google it!

Tapioca Pearls and Red Beans in Coconut Milk

The kids and I love tapioca pudding - so though we generally do not eat tapioca with beans - we thought we'd give this dish a try.

The picture on the can was deceiving...the picture makes it look like some kind of thick pudding filled with tapioca and beans...whereas the can was mainly filled with coconut milk with only a handful of beans and tapioca. I did love the look of the huge tapioca "pearls". The coconut milk was kind of a pinkish color - I guess from the beans.

The girl is usually eager to be the first taste-tester which works for me b/c I'm usually apprehensive.

Dd - "Mmmmm it's pretty good...very tasty".

Ds - "I don't like it...oh there's some coconut peel in it ...doesn't have a flavor."

Me - I thought it tasted quite bland but not objectionable...almost a musty flavor.

When I removed the plastic outside lid - this little plastic folded spoon was laying on top of the metal lid - how cute!

After we had fished out most of the tapioca and beans - the milk just sat in the can...I planned on dumping it out. Some time later I noticed the can was empty...turns out the girl liked it enough to drink the coconut milk :)

I already threw away the can (outside) - but I'm thinking this was a product of Thailand.

Puffins Cereal - Trader Joe's

When I think of puffins I think of the book by Enid Blyton "The Sea of Adventure" (one of my favorite childhood book series). A British series involving 4 children (I think all cousins) that end up solving mysteries - and in the case of "The Sea of Adventure" they end up on an island with puffins.

This week, on our way to the dentist office, having about 30 minutes to waste b/c I always leave far earlier than I need to b/c I don't know what traffic situation I might find myself in and I HATE being late - I decided to stop at a Trader Joe's that we passed by. I think I had only been in a TJ one other time a couple of years ago. Once inside - I wished I had more than 30 minutes to spare.

One item I purchased was a box of cereal called "Puffins" - cinnamon variety (they also had peanut butter and I think one other flavor). Not only was the box interesting (the back has all kinds of info on puffins (as in the seabird) - BUT, and this is the most important aspect, it was high in fiber and low in sugar!...and low in calories.

Over the past year or so we have been revamping our breakfast cereal. We usually would buy whatever cereal we liked or the kids liked...weren't too concerned about the sugar or fiber. Now we have a rule that the cereal must be high in fiber and low in sugar (the sugar content must be 1/3 or less of the total carbohydrates)...not an easy combination to find...especially to find something like that that the kids would like.

In the past the kids have loved various sugarful cereals that also involved cinnamon - so I thought the Puffins might be the thing for them. And it was!

They both said they liked the taste and the girl liked it that the Puffins don't get soggy (whereas the boy and I prefer our cereal soggy). It is pretty heavy on the cinnamon taste - I guess to make up for the lack of sweetness.

This large box (18 0z) cost $2.79.

No Better Way To Celebrate "No Cavities" Than With Some Sugar

The boy had his first dentist check up yesterady and he did great! No cavities... and afterwards he declared that it was great fun going to the dentist!

His sister was also cavity free. We "celebrated" by having a Wendy's Frosty.

Alone in the Wilderness

I have a movie to recommend - "Alone in the Wilderness". Or if you are not a movie-watching kind of person - you can read the book.

It is the story of a man who moved to Alaska in 1968 and lived alone in a cabin he built himself.

"Documentary tells the story of Dick Proenneke who, in the late 1960s, built his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula, in what is now Lake Clark National Park. Using color footage he shot himself, Proenneke traces how he came to this remote area, selected a homestead site and built his log cabin completely by himself. The documentary covers his first year in-country, showing his day-to-day activities and the passing of the seasons as he sought to scratch out a living alone in the wilderness" (from IMDB).

My husband and I watched this movie a few years ago and we were fascinated by it. It's incredible to see what all this one man was able to do with only a few tools - some of which he made himself. He was in his 50's when he moved to Alaska.

Somehow I came across a reference to this movie recently and decided to check it out from the library again - this time with the intention of having the children watch it. They have watched about an hour of it so far and I'm surprised at how much they have enjoyed it.

So whether you are 6 or 66 - you might want to see if your library has this DVD or the book and check it out.

OR

You can get some additional information via a free PDF file (it's large - over 500 pages).

Breath of Spring Air

Today it is very windy out but warm enough to have the kitchen window open! Sure feels good to think of the old house getting a bit of an airing out. I know this weather won't last long - so we'lll enjoy it while we can.

The kids are playing outside before doing some more school work. On the rare beautiful day in winter - it seems almost cruel to make them stay indoors all day.

Piano Bench Project - Complete

We didn't expect to paint and upholster the piano bench until the spring and nicer weather - but with some unusually warm weather today - we (as in the royal "we" being that I didn't do much other than offer moral support and the occasional bit of advice) completed it today.

For the entire project we only spent $3 - the cost of the hinges. Everything else we had on hand...scrap wood, bench padding (cut up an old exercise mat we used for camping but no longer needed), muslin fabric to cover padding (bought years ago for an embroidery project that never got off the ground), jacobean fabric (bought a year or so ago to make a pillow cover - had excess), black paint (left over from a project).

Before

After

Inside

Side View

Hope He Has A Concealed Carry Permit...

No fear walking home from McDonalds in the dark I had my own body guard.

He's only 6 and it's not a real gun - but maybe in the dark "the bad guy" wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

We decided to walk to a new McDonalds late this afternoon. Took us an hour to walk there... After we ate, dad ran on ahead and met us part way home with the car :)

Actually we were only about a 15 min walk from home when he met up with us - so we could have walked the rest of the way...but it was nice for the kids as they were tired.

Speaking of fast food - I'm starting to think that it ain't worth ordering a soda at ff places b/c they are so watered down and taste nasty! I've been noticing in the past few months at all different eateries - the soda has been watery.

In Case You Are Planning a Funeral For a Squirrel

The boy just came in from playing outside..."The girl wants you to print off the words to 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again'...she is having a funeral for a squirrel."

I googled to get the lyrics - not even knowing what they were. Turns out it's a song from "The Phantom of the Opera". And a very appropriate song for a squirrel's funeral (according to a 9 yr old).

"Did she touch the squirrel?" I asked. "Yes" replied the boy. "What did she use?" I continued. "Her hands." I couldn't quite picture that but I talked to her to find out the details..."Well I used a paper towel." she said. I made her go boil her hands and wash them just to be safe!

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

"You were once my one companion . . .
you were all that mattered . . .
You were once a friend and father -
then my world was shattered . . .

Wishing you were somehow here again . . .
wishing you were somehow near . . .
Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed,
somehow you would be here . . .

Wishing I could hear your voice again . . .
knowing that I never would . . .
Dreaming of you won't help me to do
all that you dreamed I could . . .

Passing bells and sculpted angels,
cold and monumental, seem, for you,
the wrong companions - you were warm and gentle . . .

Too many years fighting back tears . . .
Why can't the past just die . . .?

Wishing you were somehow here again . . .
knowing we must say goodbye . . .
Try to forgive . . . teach me to live . . .
give me the strength to try . . .

No more memories, no more silent tears . . .
No more gazing across the wasted years . . .
Help me say goodbye."
-------------------------

Personally - I would have chosen the following song for the squirrel (well if the squirrel had been a good friend that is...rather than a squirrel that was already in rigor mortis when I first came into acquaintance with it - but then again I'm not a soft-hearted 9 yr old). This song is guaranteed to bring tears to the eyes of my sister in PNG...I played it to her over the telephone many years ago before she was about to embark on an overseas mission trip. ...Oh for crying out loud - now I'm getting teary eyed!

And no mom, I don't agree with the "theology" in the song...I just remember hearing it on a tv show many years ago and it seemed appropriate to play to my sister - and appropriate to play at a squirrel funeral. :0

Goodbye My Friend
written by Karla Bonoff

"Oh we never know where life will take us
I know it's just a ride on the wheel
And we never know when death will shake us
And we wonder how it will feel

So goodbye my friend
I know I'll never see you again
But the time together through all the years
Will take away these tears
It's okay now
Goodbye my friend

I've seen a lot things that make me crazy
And I guess I held on to you
We could've run away and left well maybe
But it wasn't time and we both knew

So goodbye my friend
I know I'll never see you again
But the love you gave me through all the years
Will take away these tears
I'm okay now
Goodbye my friend

Life's so fragile and love's so pure
We can't hold on but we try
We watch how quickly it disappears
And we never know why

But I'm okay now
Goodbye my friend
You can go now
Goodbye my friend."

Spring Is On Its Way!

Yesterday I finally got around to clearing out some of the dead flowers in our garden...yeah I know it should have been done a long time ago - but I procrastinate.

As I picked up some dead flowers - I noticed these little bits of green poking up through the soil.

The first sight of growing flowers always brings cheer - knowing that the coldest days are over (hopefully!).

Here's What I Don't Like About "To Do" Lists

I never used to be a list maker. In fact I prided myself on my great memory - why make a list when you can remember what needs to be done. Usually my list (when I was working in an office) consisted of a pile. If it was in the pile - it needed to be done. If it wasn't in the pile - it was finished. I didn't need a list b/c my "list" was staring me in the face every day.

After I had my first child - my memory was shot. Must have been all the months with not enough sleep and suddenly having to be responsible not only for myself but now another little person.

So now I make lists. And have a stack of "to do" stuff in piles on my desk. I'm afraid that if I don't physically see something waiting to be finished - it won't get finished.

So now I get to the problem of having a list. It's always staring up at me. And it shows me things that I need to do but haven't finished. All the items are never completely crossed off. Can you tell that I'm a procrastinator?

My husband lives by lists. He can make a list Friday night of all the stuff he wants to get accomplished over the weekend - and by the end of the weekend the list can be totally crossed off! And they are not easy stuff on his list - it might be something like "build a piano bench" or "do car maintenance on both cars, change the oil, wash the cars, clean-out the garage, clean-out the gutters, take a walk, and bake a cherry pie."

Some of the stuff I add to my list doesn't even need to be on the list but I put it there b/c maybe I'll do it "someday" b/c they are good ideas and I don't want to forget about them...yet obviously they are not important enough for me to ever get around to doing.

This afternoon I finally crossed one of the items off my list - hooray! And I'm thinking of crossing off a couple of the "good ideas to do someday" so my list doesn't look so overwhelming.

So...are you a list maker? Do you actually do all the things on your list or just transfer the unfinished list from one month until the next?

Weight Training

As I lay in bed this morning thinking (I woke up just after 5 - having fallen asleep before 10 last night - so there was lots of time for thinking as I didn't want to leave the warm confines of my bed) - I realized that February marks my one year anniversary of weight training.

When I finally did get out of bed, I had my personal trainer take my measurements and compare them to my measurements a year ago. Not a whole lot of difference - though I did gain 1 1/2 inches on my biceps. I was happy to see that my neck measurement wasn't much larger :)

Has my affections for weight training grown over the past year? NO - but I'm still pressing on.
I'm just never going to be one of those people that looks FORWARD to physical pain and pushing myself.

My routine has changed over the year from using dumbbells to using a barbell. Also from doing 8 smaller lifts to 4 larger lifts. The lifts I do now are: squat, bench press, barbell row and standing press. I lift 2 to 3 times a week.

In addition to the weight training I also do the NordicTrack daily.

I want to have a mixed exercise routine so once spring arrives hopefully I'll be biking again. I do want to try running again also...I quit last summer after I developed a mysterious side pain that I had for a couple of months - the pain went away when I quit all running and exercise for about a month. When I tried running after the month - the pain returned...so I quit for good. But out of all the exercise stuff I've done - I probably felt the best about running. The NordicTrack is great b/c I do it inside, regardless of weather and I can usually read a book while I'm doing it and it's easy for me to be consistent. But I like running b/c you are outside smelling he fresh morning air, you can hear the birds, see the sunrise...and I really feel like I'm getting a good cardio workout.

But right now b/c I've been typing I've missed my early morning exercise "slot" - and need to go begin school with the kids. When I don't exercise first thing - I think about it all day and can't relax until I've done it. Ugh.

Braided Bread Recipe

The braided bread recipe dd used can be found here.

A couple of alterations she made - she used butter for the shortening. 2 1/4 tsp of yeast instead of a yeast cake.

The recipe doesn't mention kneading the dough - but of course you need to...for about 5 min.

Instead of placing the loaves in greased pans - they were placed on a cookie sheet. You could put them in a bread pan - they'd just be stubby and tall and you wouldn't see the nice braid as well.

The recipe says "frost with icing..." - which makes it sound like you are to put a thick layer on top - the icing ends up very liquid and dd just poured it on top of the still warm bread.

Incidentally all but a small hunk of the bread is gone...dd took one to her girls' club and we almost finished off the other loaf. I'm thinking she might have to make some more tomorrow...

GroovyGirl's Russian Bread

This afternoon the girl made some Braided Russian Bread on her own.

For her girls' club she needed to make a recipe from one of three selected countries - and bring the food to share with the other girls.

I'm not too sure how authentic the recipe is - but Russia was one of the countries and this was called Russian Bread - so we went with it :)

The recipe made 2 large braided loaves - so there was a time of taste-testing...it was wonderful! GroovyGirl is quite the cook!

The bread has a glaze on top (confectioner's sugar, lemon & water)...the bread ends up tasting very similar to a cinnamon roll - though not as sweet.

The girl loved it. The boy - picked out the raisins and ate it :)

Super Bowl Sunday Equals Sleep In Monday

Some get the coveted Super Bowl ring - dh got the coveted Superbowl cookie!

I'm not what you'd call a sports fanatic. I'm not even a sports enthusiast. I've been to baseball games (American), hockey games (Canadian and American) and even one football (Canadian) game - but I've never warmed up to sports watching.

Therefore, I did not watch the Super Bowl last night.

Our church has a fun tradition for Super Bowl Sunday. After the evening church service the men and women separate - the men gather together at someone's home and watch the recorded game (and eat). My son primarily goes so that he can A) stay up later than he has ever stayed up before (he got to bed around 12:30 AM), B) so he can eat an inordinate amount of pizza bites, Doritos and chocolate C) so he can hang out with the men and boys. My dh goes to watch the game. The men and boys have a contest to see who can correctly guess the final score - with the prize being a large football shaped cookie.

The women on the other hand, pick up some fast-food take out, go to another house, and sit around and talk (and eat) and some will watch a portion of the real-time game that is still running.

I read an article on-line that said schools in Pittsburgh will operate on a 2 hr delay so the students (hmmm or perhaps the staff???) can sleep-in after the late game watching night.

In our house, sleeping in means sleeping til about 7:15AM...that is about the latest the boy will sleep so when he wakes up is kind of when the rest of us wake up.

For those who might have been disturbed by the wild-eyed double bladed war axe bearing barbarian boy in the previous photo...I just want to say that he actually is a very sweet little boy (just don't tell him I told you!). Very often he will just come up to me and give me a kiss and or a hug...he generally has very good table manners, has a sensitive little heart and probably loves reading as much as he loves to bear arms.