When you give a dad a Barbie book.....

There comes a time in every man's life when he is solicited to read a girly book by one of the most treasured females in his life: his daughter.

Tonight was such a night for Nathan.

The book was entitled Glam and Glitz. It is a highly fashion conscious book about Barbie and her best friend Emily (I personally don't know where she keeps digging up all of these new "best friends") and they "...can't believe it! They won tickets to the Mega Music Awards!" And then, "Barbie and Emily couldn't believe their ears!", Ken is assistant to the director and is going to introduce them to the Mega Music Award stars! Now Barbie really has to get a glam gown!!!!! Well, in this happy version of the story Barbie and Emily are best friends forever and Barbie lands on the front page of the newspaper because her gown was the most "glam" even after she had to make last minute sewing repairs because the dress suddenly tore!

Nate's version of the story was a bit different....It involved Ken shamlessly flirting with Emily, Emily deciding to ditch Barbie for Ken, and Barbie buying some new friends and then trying to show them off to Ken and Emily. Emily didn't want to hang out with Barbie's new friends because they were prettier than she was. Then Emily was dismayed because Barbie picked out the same dress to wear to the Awards. Barbie said, "I like it too!" Barbie's dress mysteriously tore (I think she secretly blamed Emily) and she wasn't quite able to fix it. It turned out okay though because everyone thought it was ripped on purpose and it started a new trend in formal wear!

I was laughing my head off! Ellie kept asking me, as she is OFTEN wont to do, "What's so funny mommy?" I just kept telling her that Daddy is funny.

After the book was over, Ellie said, "Sometimes daddies do it wrong. But mommies don't. Mommies always read it right." Then she proceeded to hand Daddy the Clifford book so that daddy could read that one "wrong" as well.

That Hideous Strength

I like to read the works of C.S. Lewis...usually. I can't say I enjoyed every chapter of his Narnia series, but a lot of that was good. If any of you want to catch some more of his science fiction/fantasy books, he has a trilogy for "grown-up" readers. Here is a link for those of you interested in looking into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransom_Trilogy

I was drawn to the series through Iron Maiden. Yes, that Iron Maiden. They actually do a lot of songs about great works of literature. One of those songs I particularly like is Out of the Silent Planet. I figured I might just like the book too. While researching it, I learned that it was part of a trilogy. True to form, for those who know me, I decided to read the last book of the series first. The last book is called, That Hideous Strength.

I liked a lot of things about it. I'd probably give it an 8.5 out of 10. Some of the science in it was cheesy, and the ending is pretty weird. In some instances, I thought the author was going for that The Man Who Was Thursday feel without really attaining it. Other than that though, it was a good read.

It has a lot of insights into good vs. evil, secret societies, and human nature.

Word Verification

So, I know you all have been wondering what happened to me. "Where did she go?", I'm sure has been your first thought before bed and your last thought before waking up. I assure you that I've been here, in my house.....doing junk.....quite happily most of the the time...

To answer a request, I shall now post pictures of what I've been doing, and I do this at the risk of revealing that I like to read YA fiction, fairytales, and sometimes books that are a *tiny* bit cheesy:

This book was awesome, not cheesy, and mostly clean. It's great book for young adults and older adults alike. 4 and 1/2 stars out of five. In other words: I think you should read this book.


This is actually a children's book, but really very good for what it was. I enjoyed it.


One of my favorite Lori Wick books of all time. Perhaps unrealistic in a few ways, and maybe even cheesy sounding, but good. It's about an arranged marriage that works out--Another weakness of mine is books about arranged marriages that work out.

I've also been reading various other books, but not all of them worth mentioning so moving on....

Nate and I have been obsessed with this two player card game:I've been working on blog designs for various people, here is one example:

I've been working on belated birthday cards which I will NOT post because it will give away the long awaited punch line to the the three of you who have been waiting for them.

I've slowly begun a few sewing projects which are not completed, and therefore impossible to post pictures of.

We had Abigail and Peyton come over to play and I captured this video, delightfully illustrating that kids are funny even when they aren't really funny at all:

OKAY, actually it won't load! Blankity, blank, blank. (I mean....ah shucks!) So I will just have to tell you: The kids were telling knock-knock jokes that weren't funny, but then that in actual fact made them funny, if you know what I mean. You'll have to come to my house to watch it, or check back later.

And, we had fantabulous Valentine's Day where I gave Nate (and me) this:

And I gave the kids this, plastic bags of chocolate chips (yes, somewhat pathetic but they enjoyed it):
Nate and I went out to lunch on Friday AND Saturday. Very delicious and fun. Nate found a Gautemalan restaurant that is very good, and I got a Gyro sandwich from another restaurant that is obviously NOT Gautemalan but Greek. I don't get those often because Nate doesn't like Greek food or baklava that much for that matter. And then we got root beer floats, which we thought were only going to be 99 cents each. But if you want to to have them in the Frosty mug they are $2.19. And, I mean, what is an A&W rootbeer float without the frosty mug?!?! Hello.

And now for all of you that are still with us and awake, you must be dying to know what the title "Word Verification" means. "What is the significance of the title?", you ask? Well I'll tell you: almost nothing....except for the fact that while I've been trying to catch up on your blogs and post comments, I've noticed that my sweet computer has been trying to help me accomplish the tricky task of "word verification". For example, your blog requests that I type in the letters: "blaqdn". Then, I type in the letter "b" and my poor sad computer, so willing to help, gives me a list of "word verification" tasks previously entered in such as: bksljf, buijaiiun, banpli, etc. Little does the computer know that it is missing the point entirely. And so in order to help it maintain it's self esteem, I say to it (in my head): "Good job computer! That's great work!"

Ok, I can't wait anymore

Meridy has had a slide show of our Disneyland trip prepared for a few days now, but she can't seem to get around to posting it. I've decided that enough is enough. I've chosen a song and posted the show myself.

Here it is:

Make a Smilebox slideshow