Saturday, September 27, 2014

Thursday, September 25, 2014

The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio

Recently I read a fascinating book titled The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.  It is a true story of Evelyn Ryan's life written by her daughter.

Evelyn Ryan is a housewife in the  1950's and 1960's.  Her husband struggles to provide for their family of 10 kids due to his alcoholism.  She keeps their family afloat by entering poetry and jingle contests.

Terry Ryan beautifully captures the love, work, and sacrifice of a mother and the redeeming power they can have on those around her.  She doesn't hide the struggles of a poor family but there is always hope in her writing.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

London Highlight - Jeeves and Wooster


This past summer, the Professor and I had a chance to visit London without our entourage.  It was wonderful.  One night we attended a three man show called Jeeves and Wooster.  I loved it.

The show is based on the books by P G Wodehouse written almost one hundred years ago.  The stories are about a rich, stupid, entertaining young man (Bertie Wooster) and his smart, proper butler (Jeeves) who gets him out of the most convoluted scrapes.

In the show, three actors play Wooster, Jeeves, and one other butler.  The butlers also act out all of the other parts as part of their butler duties.  And, of course, Jeeves provides all of the scenery.

The actors did a fabulous job with the characters.  They captured each personality well.  Considering that at times that meant acting like a proper butler acting like a headstrong girl or an imposing aunt, this was no small feat. 

The show was hilarious.  I laughed until my cheeks were sore.  One of my favorite parts was watching proper Jeeves play both parts of a spunky girl arguing with her strongly opinionated uncle (complete with costumes.)

I found the show to be a perfect ending to a London day.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Food for thought

This morning I listened to yesterday's BYU devotional. (You should be able to watch here.)  Elder Dale G. Renlund spoke about spiritual stability.  I really liked what he had to say and the stories he shared.  He talked about obeying the commandments, being teachable and humble, serving others, and focusing our lives on Christ.  But go watch it.  He says it beautifully and illustrates each point well.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Change

Yesterday I dropped Young T off at his first day of preschool.  He was super excited (to the point of tears shed earlier because he had to wait until after lunch).  Then I drove home with Miss S to put away groceries.

After five or ten minutes in the car, a sad little voice piped up from behind me in the car: "Mom, I miss T..."  A minute later, "Mom, I need to go home and get a binky."  (Her first defense against all that is wrong with the world.)  When I stopped the car to check on her, she was morosely staring out the window, inconsolable.  My heart broke just a little.

I'm grateful that my children are friends.  Young T had a marvelous time and loved every minute of it.  And Miss S survived by spending an afternoon with her beloved binky and Cinderella.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Cookie Clicker

Warning:  This review talks about a ridiculous addictive game that has no point.  You have been warned.

Recently at our home, we have been wasting time playing Cookie Clicker.  This game is silly.  The entire point of the game is to make cookies by clicking a cookie, buying things (with cookies) to make cookies, and upgrading things (again, with cookies) to make even more things.  Achievements are earned along the way.

About the best thing I can say about the game is that it has taught my children how to count by thousands up to octillion.

Unfortunately, the game is a bit fascinating.  It starts out slow, but eventually you can reset and start again, only this time with "Heavenly Chips," which can speed things up quite a bit.

So, if you are in the mood for a mindlessly fun game involving cookies, try it out.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

FIFI


FIFI, the only currently flying B29 bomber, stopped at our nearby airport earlier this summer.  We drug the kids out on a hot, hot day to see this bit of history.  We stood in line in the shade under the wing and visited with a very knowledgeable veteran (I think) about the plane.  While waiting we got to watch a helicopter (Harold's friend, according to Miss S) take off.  For a child obsessed with Thomas and his friends, this was the highlight of the day.


After a very long time standing in the line, we were able to climb up through the bomb bay into the cockpit and look around briefly.  We got our questions answered, heard a few stories, and climbed back down.

All in all we had a great, hot afternoon.