A Month in Review
I thought having Tyler and Trent back to school, it’d give me some “free” time to dedicate to this blog. But it hasn’t worked out that way. There are so many projects to do around the house and lots of books to read. So I’ve missed a few important dates in September to blog about. Here’s the condensed version of what’s been happening in our neck of the woods.
Birthday:
Tyler blew out 8 candles on 9/4 with his paternal grandparents and cousins in NJ. I can’t believe he’s in 3rd grade and 8 y/o already!! That only means one thing…I’m getting OLDER!!! YIKES!
Tyler has grown into a caring, matured (in some ways), and responsible big brother. It’s heart-warming to see him holds hands with his siblings, reads to them, and helps them with anything. Generosity is in his nature since he was five, when he donated his birthday gifts to the local Children’s Hospital.
Tyler and I spend one day per month (since last Dec.) distributing non-perishable foods to the local Elderly Housing Projects. And he even had a taste of helping out at a local soup kitchen this past summer. His exact words were “this is fun!” and asked to do it again, which I’m glad to oblige.
He’s an adventurous eater as well. He’d try anything twice, like his mama. Would you believe he loves jellyfish, the cold plate that you can get at Chinese restaurants. It is tasty though, you should try it! Oh com’on, don’t give me that face!
I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Tyler in the future, but at the same time…I don’t want to rush it.
Anniversary:
We also had our own celebration, our 11th year anniversary was on 9/13. But we’ve been together for 17 years if you count the 6 years of courtship. And this is where you’ll probably going to throw up, it seems like we’re still on the honeymoon stage after all those years and 4 kids.
I’ve written extensively about my hubbie on this blog in the past, so you’ll probably got a sense that he’s a wonderful guy/husband/dad. There’s no division of work around here, as in “that’s your job, and this is mine”. He has no problem in giving the kids bath, household chores or just about anything that’s asked of him (except for the cooking of course, but if he brings home a bucket of KFC or a box of Popeye’s…I’d be a happy gal!)
We both chuckled when this study came out, I have to tell you that it’s pretty true!!
It would have been nice to have a weekend getaway sans kids. But I couldn’t possibly ask my Mom to babysit since she’s already helping my sister out daily. So we opted for a day out.
What did we do you asked?
My idea of fun was hitting the golf range, the batting cage, and we would have done the formula racing cars but it was too hot that day. And I didn’t want to be wearing B.O. out for dinner. Afterwards we went into Boston for some sushi (boy, the fish was buttery delicious, I could haven eaten half of the restaurant’s inventory, but that would have been a mortgage bill), drinks and finished off at Finale with some ports and ice wine.
Oh how we miss our dates, our DINK days, how we treasure our time together not having to cut anyone’s food, chew and screw or change any diapers at the restaurant or take anyone or all 3 potty in the middle of lunch/dinner. But you know what? Most of our conversations were about our kids. Go figure!
I can’t wait for our next date when this movie comes out. He’s the best Bond after Sean Connery, in my opinion.
Are you smarter than a 5th grader?
I’ve written about how school is much harder now than when I went to school, that was a gazillion years ago. Tyler’s in 3rd grade and I leave the homework checking to my hubbie. I’m in trouble when he’s on business trips, it’s a good thing my brother-in-law lives next store. The math that he’s learning now is what they called “new math” and it involves more analysis, deduction and “sheer persistence”-what the heck is that?
My brother sent this to me, this was a homework from his co-worker’s daughter, she’s 10 y/o and in 5th grade. It took my brother about 1 hr (he’s an engineer) and took me about the same amount of time to figure it out.
Put your thinking cap on and give it your best shot, comment back with the answers and the amount it took you to solve it. And no cheating! If you’ve seen this problem before and knew the answers already, you’re disqualified!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The facts essential to solving the problem-which can indeed be solved by combining analysis, deduction and sheer persistence-are as follows:
1. There are five houses, each of different colors and inhabited by families of different names, with different pets, drinks and automobiles.
2. The Englishes live in the red house.
3. The Smiths own a dog.
4. Coffee is drunk in the green house.
5. The Uptons drink tea.
6. The green house is immediately to the right (your right) of the ivory house.
7. The Ford driver owns snails
8. The Toyota driver lives in the yellow house.
9. Milk is drunk in the middle house.
10. The Nomads live in the first house on the left.
11. The man who drives a Chevy lives in the house next to the man with the fox.
12. A Toyota is parked at the house next to the house where a horse is kept.
13. The Dodge owner drinks orange juice.
14. The Jones own a Porsche.
15. The Nomads live next to the blue house.
NOW, WHO DRINKS WATER? AND WHO OWNS A ZEBRA?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My own book club:
Besides from sewing which I’ve taken on a few projects since summer, my other love is reading. I’d love to have a library set up in my house one day with the ladder that moves back and forth on hinges. Books that are stacked from floor to ceiling and sort out by authors. That’s my dream room right there. But I guess I’d have to settle for this for now.
My favorite place to browse is at Barnes & Noble bargain shelf, where I’ve found some great read. I’m kind of a snob when it comes to books. I prefer reading hardcover to soft, if you borrow my books, they must be returned in great condition…that means no “dogear”, or coffee stains (right sis!). I want to be able to enjoy the books again in the future, you know.
If you’re a fan of action, spy and assassins…I’d highly recommend Barry Eisler’s John Rain series. I got my hubbie hooked on it (and comes to find out, a movie is coming in 2009). It’s one of those great finds at the bargain shelf, I started with the last book in the series “Requiem for an Assassin” without realizing that it was part of a series. And ended up buying the other 5 books, and now I’m rereading the last one to see what I missed before.
After we read, my hubbie and I would discuss the books at length. How nerdy huh?!
Here are some of my recommendations if you’re into action and mystery genre. No gory thriller please, I won’t be able to sleep at night and will be too afraid to go to the bathroom by myself.
The 47th samurai by Stephen Hunter- fast paced and action packed.
The Religion by Tim Willocks -Great plots, and characters but the author could have condensed it in half from its 3 inch-640 pages. He can describe a person eating an apple for 2 pages, for example. It reminds me of a scene in Seinfeld where Elaine went to see the movie “The English Patient”, it was so long that at one point she shouted out loud “die already, die.”
I’m not into non-fiction, but Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point was very interesting. Blink is next on the list to read.
There are other books in between, but they’re not worth mentioning. Don’t you hate it when you dedicate a whole lot of hours reading a particular book and the ending left you saying “man, that was not worth my time!”.
If you’ve read any great books in my genre above, let me know what they are…I’m always looking for a great series to pick up.
Well, that’s all folks. I hope you’re doing well. Gotta go now, Parker’s at my feet wiping snots on my pants wanting to be held.
I thought having Tyler and Trent back to school, it’d give me some “free” time to dedicate to this blog. But it hasn’t worked out that way. There are so many projects to do around the house and lots of books to read. So I’ve missed a few important dates in September to blog about. Here’s the condensed version of what’s been happening in our neck of the woods.
Birthday:
Tyler blew out 8 candles on 9/4 with his paternal grandparents and cousins in NJ. I can’t believe he’s in 3rd grade and 8 y/o already!! That only means one thing…I’m getting OLDER!!! YIKES!
Tyler has grown into a caring, matured (in some ways), and responsible big brother. It’s heart-warming to see him holds hands with his siblings, reads to them, and helps them with anything. Generosity is in his nature since he was five, when he donated his birthday gifts to the local Children’s Hospital.
Tyler and I spend one day per month (since last Dec.) distributing non-perishable foods to the local Elderly Housing Projects. And he even had a taste of helping out at a local soup kitchen this past summer. His exact words were “this is fun!” and asked to do it again, which I’m glad to oblige.
He’s an adventurous eater as well. He’d try anything twice, like his mama. Would you believe he loves jellyfish, the cold plate that you can get at Chinese restaurants. It is tasty though, you should try it! Oh com’on, don’t give me that face!
I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Tyler in the future, but at the same time…I don’t want to rush it.
Anniversary:
We also had our own celebration, our 11th year anniversary was on 9/13. But we’ve been together for 17 years if you count the 6 years of courtship. And this is where you’ll probably going to throw up, it seems like we’re still on the honeymoon stage after all those years and 4 kids.
I’ve written extensively about my hubbie on this blog in the past, so you’ll probably got a sense that he’s a wonderful guy/husband/dad. There’s no division of work around here, as in “that’s your job, and this is mine”. He has no problem in giving the kids bath, household chores or just about anything that’s asked of him (except for the cooking of course, but if he brings home a bucket of KFC or a box of Popeye’s…I’d be a happy gal!)
We both chuckled when this study came out, I have to tell you that it’s pretty true!!
It would have been nice to have a weekend getaway sans kids. But I couldn’t possibly ask my Mom to babysit since she’s already helping my sister out daily. So we opted for a day out.
What did we do you asked?
My idea of fun was hitting the golf range, the batting cage, and we would have done the formula racing cars but it was too hot that day. And I didn’t want to be wearing B.O. out for dinner. Afterwards we went into Boston for some sushi (boy, the fish was buttery delicious, I could haven eaten half of the restaurant’s inventory, but that would have been a mortgage bill), drinks and finished off at Finale with some ports and ice wine.
Oh how we miss our dates, our DINK days, how we treasure our time together not having to cut anyone’s food, chew and screw or change any diapers at the restaurant or take anyone or all 3 potty in the middle of lunch/dinner. But you know what? Most of our conversations were about our kids. Go figure!
I can’t wait for our next date when this movie comes out. He’s the best Bond after Sean Connery, in my opinion.
Are you smarter than a 5th grader?
I’ve written about how school is much harder now than when I went to school, that was a gazillion years ago. Tyler’s in 3rd grade and I leave the homework checking to my hubbie. I’m in trouble when he’s on business trips, it’s a good thing my brother-in-law lives next store. The math that he’s learning now is what they called “new math” and it involves more analysis, deduction and “sheer persistence”-what the heck is that?
My brother sent this to me, this was a homework from his co-worker’s daughter, she’s 10 y/o and in 5th grade. It took my brother about 1 hr (he’s an engineer) and took me about the same amount of time to figure it out.
Put your thinking cap on and give it your best shot, comment back with the answers and the amount it took you to solve it. And no cheating! If you’ve seen this problem before and knew the answers already, you’re disqualified!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The facts essential to solving the problem-which can indeed be solved by combining analysis, deduction and sheer persistence-are as follows:
1. There are five houses, each of different colors and inhabited by families of different names, with different pets, drinks and automobiles.
2. The Englishes live in the red house.
3. The Smiths own a dog.
4. Coffee is drunk in the green house.
5. The Uptons drink tea.
6. The green house is immediately to the right (your right) of the ivory house.
7. The Ford driver owns snails
8. The Toyota driver lives in the yellow house.
9. Milk is drunk in the middle house.
10. The Nomads live in the first house on the left.
11. The man who drives a Chevy lives in the house next to the man with the fox.
12. A Toyota is parked at the house next to the house where a horse is kept.
13. The Dodge owner drinks orange juice.
14. The Jones own a Porsche.
15. The Nomads live next to the blue house.
NOW, WHO DRINKS WATER? AND WHO OWNS A ZEBRA?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My own book club:
Besides from sewing which I’ve taken on a few projects since summer, my other love is reading. I’d love to have a library set up in my house one day with the ladder that moves back and forth on hinges. Books that are stacked from floor to ceiling and sort out by authors. That’s my dream room right there. But I guess I’d have to settle for this for now.
My favorite place to browse is at Barnes & Noble bargain shelf, where I’ve found some great read. I’m kind of a snob when it comes to books. I prefer reading hardcover to soft, if you borrow my books, they must be returned in great condition…that means no “dogear”, or coffee stains (right sis!). I want to be able to enjoy the books again in the future, you know.
If you’re a fan of action, spy and assassins…I’d highly recommend Barry Eisler’s John Rain series. I got my hubbie hooked on it (and comes to find out, a movie is coming in 2009). It’s one of those great finds at the bargain shelf, I started with the last book in the series “Requiem for an Assassin” without realizing that it was part of a series. And ended up buying the other 5 books, and now I’m rereading the last one to see what I missed before.
After we read, my hubbie and I would discuss the books at length. How nerdy huh?!
Here are some of my recommendations if you’re into action and mystery genre. No gory thriller please, I won’t be able to sleep at night and will be too afraid to go to the bathroom by myself.
The 47th samurai by Stephen Hunter- fast paced and action packed.
The Religion by Tim Willocks -Great plots, and characters but the author could have condensed it in half from its 3 inch-640 pages. He can describe a person eating an apple for 2 pages, for example. It reminds me of a scene in Seinfeld where Elaine went to see the movie “The English Patient”, it was so long that at one point she shouted out loud “die already, die.”
I’m not into non-fiction, but Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point was very interesting. Blink is next on the list to read.
There are other books in between, but they’re not worth mentioning. Don’t you hate it when you dedicate a whole lot of hours reading a particular book and the ending left you saying “man, that was not worth my time!”.
If you’ve read any great books in my genre above, let me know what they are…I’m always looking for a great series to pick up.
Well, that’s all folks. I hope you’re doing well. Gotta go now, Parker’s at my feet wiping snots on my pants wanting to be held.
Uh I don’t have the patience to do math right now, but I’m going to save this in my reader to try when I’m bored…which should be in about 18 years or so.
Thanks for the update! Miss “seeing” you around!
The Nomads, for both questions. That was fun! Now I wonder if I was right . . .
Happy Anniversary and Birthday to Tyler!
You got one answer correct Lady M!
Wow, you’ve been busy!
I laughed out loud at the KFC comment. I wish my wife had that reaction. Most of the time I’m like “Hey! Guess what I picked up for dinner…”
One of these days I’ll hear cheers…