Micah's Favorite

It's bowling night again, so we were talking about it in the car on the way to the library. Micah told us he ate a whole hamburger last week at bowling. I was impressed and told him so and he said: "And it wasn't just a plain hamburger either! It was a squish cheese burger!" I laughed so hard I thought I'd run my van right off the road. Micah, of course, had no idea why I was laughing. He then told me: "And it had a toothpick in it, too!"

Channeling California

I've been craving California food lately. No, I'm not talking about oranges and avocados (although I'd love to find *good ones of each here in The Backwoods). I'm talking about In N Out Burger , Del Taco and La Salsa, just to name a few. Since I can't have any of those, I decided to cook a very Californian meal for dinner last night. We had baked salmon and steamed artichokes with Hollandaise sauce. It was so yummy! My boys didn't care for the artichokes, but Marissah was enchanted (she watches a little too much of the Food Network). For dessert I made a huge fruit salad and sangria. Mmmm... The watermelon in my salad is a Mississippi watermelon and if I can't say anything else nice about Mississippi I can say they grow excellent watermelons. Guess it just reinforces my opinion that the only thing worth visiting the South for is the food.....

Micah's New Pastime

My son has become a bowler!! Mike and Micah joined a league for parents and children with a co-worker of Mike's and his son. They bowl every Wednesday night and Micah is having a blast! On his first night he actually got an almost-strike (knocked all 10 pins down, but it was on his second ball). Last night his average was around 40. He told me, with much pride, that he uses a 7-pound ball now, but Dad still won't let him "run and then throw the ball" like he wants to. ;) Stay tuned for more bowling highlights. He's ready for us to buy him shoes and his very own bowling ball, preferably with flames.

Nana's Dad

Aaron is going to be Nana's "dad" when he grows up. Just so you know, I am pretty certain he means he's going to be her husband. Lately he's been very concerned about her marital status. Aside from volunteering himself for the job, he's tried to recruit both Micah and Mike. I'm not sure why this is such a big deal to him, but it is. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to hear him ask total strangers to be his Nana's "dad" and have already warned my mother about it since she's going to have the kids for a few days next month. It's really funny because neither Marissah or Micah has ever questioned Nana not being married.

Of course, Aaron is quite the little ladies' man. Wherever we go I can be certain he'll flirt with females, age not mattering one iota to him. He flirts with the elderly ladies at the commissary as well as the cute little toddlers at the library. He gave the neighbor girl (whom he calls his girlfriend) a flower he picked the other day (I admit to putting him up to that). This is the same "girlfriend" he's had forever. They always meet up by the fence in the backyard and, up until a few months ago, always called each other "Baby." Apparently they are both much too big to be "Baby" anymore and they've moved on to calling each other by their first names. They hug each other (when not encumbered by that pesky fence) and it's so cute to hear her yell "Aaron, come here!" when she sees him. I wonder what sweet little Zyra will have to say when she learns her honey is going to marry his grandma when he grows up????

Books, books and more books!

It's been almost two months since I joined Paperbackswap.com and it's obvious from the looks of my bookshelves that it was a good idea gone bad.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, Paperbackswap.com is exactly what it sounds like. You join (membership is currently free, may not always be) and post the books you have that you're willing to part with. In exchange for joining and posting your first nine books you get three free credits. Each credit is good for a book in the system. Here's the cool part: you pick your book (and there are currently more than half a million listed) and they'll send it to you for FREE. To earn more credits you have to send your books to the people who request them. You pay postage (which is $1.59 for a paperback and $2.07 for a hardback). When that person receives their book from you, you get another credit. It's that simple. I've yet to have a book disappear in the mail (one I sent or one I requested) and, in spite of the fact that the books are mainly sent using Media Mail (cheap), they usually reach their destination in about a week. It's great and I've been able to get several books my library doesn't have and even one book I've been looking for for over FIVE YEARS.

So, yeah, my bookshelf is currently overflowing, but that's a good thing-really! So check out Paperbackswap. And feel free to use me as a reference (ericaintn is my user name). As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as too many books.