Books and Food

I finally finished The Glass Castle. I'm glad I read it. Wouldn't read it again. It's appalling and depressing, I don't care if the kids did overcome adversity. I don't care if they feel they're stronger because of their upbringing. Anyway you paint it, that was some BAD parenting, even for the 60's and 70's. And the book was depressing so much of the time. I probably would've enjoyed it had it been fiction but knowing it was true just horrified me. Despite how awful these parents were, I did find myself respecting them for some of their values. But through most of the book I just longed for the happy ending.

:::::::::::::::::::::

This morning I was soooo tired that Erick let me sleep in until 10:30am. Which means we skipped church. I'm actually sad we did because I really enjoy going to church together as a family. But that's ok, church meets every week so it's not like we missed our one opportunity. ; )

After I got up, we took the girls to the park. It was a beautiful, sunny day. It's amazing to see Kyla running all over the playground by herself now. She's just growing up so much!

Then we went to lunch at Lucille's. I love this place. Good ol' fashioned Southern BBQ. I had BBQ Brisket, garlic mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese and biscuits w/honey butter. It was so good. I told Erick that when we have a house, I think every Memorial day we should have a big Southern BBQ at our house. He agrees. No takebacksies.

Then we stopped at Borders because there was a book I saw in Pregnancy Magazine that I thought looked good. It's a Jennifer Weiner book (she wrote In Her Shoes) and it's about 3 women going through pregnancy and how it affects their lives. I thought that looked kind of fun so I thought I'd bump it to the front of my reading que:



I also saw this David Sedaris book for only $4.99 so I had to grab it:



McKenna picked out this. She's really into "big girl" books right now. She likes going through the chapters with me but without fail, everytime I finish a chapter and tell her "Ok, we're gonna read more tomorrow." she whines and says "Awww, that's not fair!" LOL! They pick up on that phrase quick don't they? So we got this, read two chapters tonight and yes, we wear our tiaras whilst we read it ; )



Kyla picked out this book. She'd shown interest in this and one other book. Erick held both up and asked her "Which one do you choose?" She pointed to this and said "Dory." Aw, she knows her name! (Sort of):



There was one other book that McKenna and I both really loved and for the life of me I don't know why we didn't buy it on the spot. I think I was trying to be frugal but this book was REALLY special. It's written like a diary of someone who is on a quest for proof of fairies. It's the neatest book (Cheryl S. you'd LOVE this if you don't already have it!) There's a little sample of fairy gossamer, fairy dust, info on the trees they prefer, the food they eat, the clothes they wear. It's a must-have for any fairy lover. And it's so beautifully illustrated. I'm a sucker for books with exceptional illustrations.:



Came home after that and Erick put the girls down for naps but I headed right out to grocery shop. I bought a TON of fresh fruit - cantaloupe, strawberries, raspberries, watermelon (Kyla's favorite...her eyes light up when she sees it), bananas, peaches, apples....of course thanks to that California Frost we had last winter, that made my grocery bill astronomical. *Sigh* Oh well, better to spend money than get diabetes from junk food, right? Ok, that's extreme but let's go with it. LOL! Anyway, I am loving our menu plan for this week. Lots of yummy stuff:



Oh AND guess what? Erick bought us tickets to see......

BRAD PAISLEY!!! We're both big fans so we're both pretty stoked. It's June 30th and our seats are awesome, something like the 8th row I think? Woo!! I can't wait! I wonder if we'll be able to spot his wife from where we're sitting!

Anyway, off to sleep I go. Tomorrow we're going to my sister's for a Memorial Day BBQ. I'm bringing a yummy potato salad that I just spent hours making. It's got red potatoes, sour cream, dill, bacon, eggs, green onions....I wish I could have some NOW but it has to marinate overnight. And tomorrow I gotta get up early to make a Chocolate Cheesecake Pie. It should be fun. I got the kids some water balloons and Mel picked up a new pool for her backyard:



They're gonna have a blast! I'll try to remember to snap some pics! I hope you all have a nice Memorial Day!!