These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

"Sound of Music" is on our DVR and has been for a couple of months.  I love this movie and am looking forward to watching it.  I just haven't had a three hour block of time to just sit and enjoy.  Still, simply seeing the title is there- waiting for me- brings me great comfort and joy.  Watching good, classic, musical movies is one of my favorite things.  Here are a few more . . .

. . . The Genius Button- On iTunes.  Hear a song you like.  Hit the Genius button.  iTunes makes a whole new playlist from your library based on that one song. I've always enjoyed music, but quickly tire of hearing the same thing over and over again.  With this genius button, I hear songs I love, but forgot I love.  It's super simple to set a mood for reading and writing, or to inspire a dance party with your kids.  

 

. . . "Euro" Games- I use this term to refer to board games that originated overseas before immigrating over here.  Now I use it for any game I can't find at Walmart or Toys R Us.  My favorites are Settlers of Catan, Bohnanza, Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, and Race for the Galaxy.  Jason, Ty, Emily and I try to get at least one game in on a Sunday.  Randy loves to play games too.  His favorites are Book of Mormon Battles, any form of Uno, and Killer Bunnies- which I haven't decided if I like or not yet.  I feel like my game closet is the only organized closet in the house.  I go berserk when kids get in there and I find pieces all over the floor.  

. . . Rain-  Even though Houston has never been threatened by drought since we've moved here, I still sigh with relieved gratitude when it rains.  I think this must come from living in the Sonora Desert for 15 long, dry years.  Since moving here in 2001, you would think I would have become accustomed to the plentiful precipitation.  But I still feel giddy when rain is in the forecast.  Especially if I get to stay home and bake cookies.  Rain and cookies just go together.  (Hmmmm, maybe that's why I like rain so much.)

. . . Zoe Keating- First of all, the cello is the most amazing musical instrument ever.  Yes, I listen to Yo-Yo Ma, but this is a completely original sound.  She "layers" tracks of cello on top of each other, much like KD Tunstall does with the acoustic guitar.  I discovered Zoe while listening to Radio Lab, my favorite podcast.  Listening to Zoe transports me to a new place- a relaxing, reviving, rejuvenating place.  

So, yes, a perfect day for me is a rainy day playing games with my family, listening to a Zoe Keating inspired Genius list.   

And, hopefully, eating some cookies.  

Chili?

(Mom, don't laugh too hard when you read this.)

My amazing in-laws gave me a cook book for Christmas.  No, they weren't dropping hints.  They know I love Cook's Illustrated's cook books and that I didn't have "The Best Make-Ahead Recipe" yet.  (I now own eleven of their books.  I think I may have an obsession.)  

I loooooooooooooove this cook book.  And here's why.  On Christmas morning, we ate sticky buns that I had prepared three days earlier and froze.  Take them out of the freezer, stick in oven, eat.  I didn't know you could do that!  A couple of days later, I made some rolls.  We ate some that night, but the rest went into the freezer.  Now I can have hot and fresh homemade rolls in twenty minutes.  Heaven!!!

But my infatuation was complete when I decided to make chili.  This cookbook tells you how to make this recipe for 20!  When I added the final ingredient and set it to simmering, a weird, giddy sensation came over me and I started to giggle.  It was so beautiful and smelled unbelievable.  I had to grab the camera.  

I now have an extra lasagna, two meals of tortilla soup and chili in my freezer along with the rolls.  I have a strangely satisfying sensation when I open it and see tons of meals all ready prepared and waiting for those days when I just can't bring myself to cook.  But I'm having so much fun, I don't know when that day will be.  

(This picture is of what we had after I took some chili to a family for compassionate service and we ate our own dinner- three more suppers and two lunches!  Woo-hoo!)

Vacation Finale

On the day before school restarted, I planned to take Randy and Lucy to the Children's Museum to make up for Randy's disappointing field-trip.  One small problem- the Children's Museum isn't open on Monday.  And we didn't figure that out until driving 30 minutes to the museum district.  So we went to the Health Museum instead.  

We visited that museum when we first moved here and we weren't very impressed.  The exhibits were showing some wear and tear, and they seemed simplistic and infantile.  Tyler and Emily were very disappointed by the whole experience.  They would much rather visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science over and over.  Randy was only two at our first visit and Lucy had never been to the Health museum.  So I felt it was time to give it another shot.

The same dated exhibits were there, but they've added a new section that was much more up-to-date.  Randy and Lucy had a great time running around pushing buttons.  They don't sit and study the exhibits they way my oldest like to.  Randy was still disappointed that he didn't get to do the Children's Museum ("Maybe next break?") but we still had a good time.

New New Year's Tradition

I agree with my brother, Robert (Yeah!  He has a blog!) about New Year's resolutions.  Why wait for a certain calendar day to make changes in your life?  But I don't think I am hypocritical using the start of a new year to start a new tradition.  At the breakfast table, I interviewed each kid to see what's the same and different about them.  We'll do this every year to chart some of the changes they've made as they grow up (way too quickly, for my taste!)  Of course, the kids wanted to know about Jason and me,too.  So here are the results, along with some embarrassing pictures, to keep things interesting.

Tyler-

Favorite Breakfast- Life cereal

Favorite Lunch- Pizza

Favorite Dinner- Ribs

Favorite color- Green

Favorite TV show- "Old" Fairly Odd Parents

Favorite Book from 2008- "Science Fair" by Dave Barry and Ridley Scott

Favorite Fun Thing to Do- Play video games

If Ty had $1,000,000, he would . . . "carefully plan out and buy the small things in life."  (After some clarifying questions, Ty said he wouldn't buy any one big thing just a lot of little things, like video games.)

Best Friend- Austin F.

Best Part of School- Lunch

Worst Part of School- English ("Not my least favorite teacher, though.")

Emily-

Favorite Breakfast- Hashbrowns

Favorite Lunch- Burritos or Tostados

Favorite Dinner- Ribs, Potato Soup, Salad, Steak or Bratwurst

Favorite color- Black

Favorite TV Show- "Anything I can watch with Mom and Dad."  (Bizarre Foods, Game Shows and AFV)

Favorite Book-  She couldn't decide.  Em will read anything and everything.  Her favorites are anything funny or mysterious.  Or mysteriously funny.

Favorite Fun Thing to Do- Play any Animal Crossing video game and "CRAFTS!"

If Emily had $1,000,000, she would . . . go to Disney World, buy video games, crafts, WebKinz, BellaSara cards and "save the rest."

Best Friend(s)- Teya M, Katie D, and Emma P

Best Part of School- Math and Music

Worst Part of School- Science, Social Studies and (!) Reading

Randy-

Favorite Breakfast- Muffins ("Not blueberry")and French Toast

Favorite Lunch- (He couldn't think of anything "favorite" for lunch.)

Favorite Dinner-  Pizza

 and Root Beer

Favorite Color- Red (His favorite color has been purple for years, until he changed it a month ago.)

Favorite TV Show- Any game show

Favorite Book- Comic and joke books

Favorite Fun Thing to Do- Wii, Computer and Video Games

If Randy had $1,000,000 he would . . . "buy Galgammon (Digimon) and a boxing sandbag."

Best Friend- Joshua T

Best Part of School- Math

Worst Part of School-  Science

Lucy- 

Favorite Breakfast- French Toast (with no crusts)

Favorite Lunch- Waffles

Favorite Dinner- Cocoa Krispies (Sense a trend?  And, no, she doesn't eat cereal for dinner.  Very often.)

Favorite color- Pink

Favorite TV show- Tom and Jerry

Favorite Book- "Princess" books

Favorite Fun Thing to Do- "Playing on preschool swings"

If Lucy had $1,000,000, she would . . . "get a camera."

Best Friend- Lydia D

Best Part of School- Puppets

Worst Part of School-  Rest Time

Jason-

Favorite Breakfast- "Homemade Yeast Waffles"

Favorite Lunch- Leftover meatloaf

Favorite Dinner- Meatloaf, Chicken Parmesan, Orange Chicken and Ribs

Favorite Color- Dark Blue

Favorite TV Show- The Office, Life

Favorite Book- "The Book of Mormon, of course," Byzantium by Stephen R. Lawhead

Favorite Fun Thing to Do- Play board games with the family

If Jason had $1,000,000, he would . . . ("Buy a fur coat, but not a real fur coat.  That's cruel.")  Pay off debt and save the rest.  Maybe go back to school.

Best Friend- Karen W

Best Thing about Work- Friday afternoon and a paycheck

Worst Thing about Work- "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning." Stress and uncertainty

Karen- 

Favorite Breakfast- Waffles

Favorite Lunch- Leftovers

Favorite Dinner- Date Night with my husband

Favorite color- Chocolate Brown

Favorite TV Show- The Office, Life and (yes, I'm a geek) Top Gear (on BBC-America)

Favorite Book of 2008- "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom (read again for the zillionth time)

Favorite Fun Thing to Do- Date Night, Crochet and watch TV, play board games

If Karen had $1,000,000, she would . . . buy Jason a motorcycle, take family on cool annual vacations and pay off debt. (In that order!)

Best Friend- Jason W

Best Part of Job- Flexibility

Worst Part of Job- Never "finished"- laundry, dishes, dinner,etc.

And I have too many embarrassing pictures to post.  But here's a pretty embarrassing video of my musical talents.

Holiday Wrap-Up

The husband is back at work.  The kids are back at school.  I have a mile-long list of things to do.  And I sit here and blog.  At least my priorities are in order.

Jason did an excellent job blogging about our Christmas vacation activities.  I won't repeat all that here, except to add one thing.  We took the kids to see Bolt at the theaters after Christmas.  As we were paying for our tickets, we were told we would see it in 3D, and that it would cost extra.  It cost our family $75 to see an afternoon matinee, eat popcorn and drink a couple of drinks.  The movie was great, but I thought the 3D was distracting.  Now that we have a great TV, DVD player and sound system, I don't think we'll be trekking out to the movies very often.  

Our vacation was marvelous, fun and relaxing.  I'm sad it's over, but am ready to get on with the rest of the year.  It's going to be a great one!