Day One Hundred Fifty-Seven: A Wrinkle in Time

Last week we went to the library to look for a book that Max had started but had left behind at one of our stops during the holidays. The library didn't have it, so I jumped on Amazon then and there to see if I could find it. It happened to be a Newberry Medal winner, and my search turned up a boxed set of Newberry books which was only a couple of dollars more expensive than the single book. Thinking these would be great books to have in our personal library, I immediately purchased the set. A Wrinkle in Time was one of the books in the set (though not the one Max had been looking for), and though I had vague memories of reading it as a child, I couldn't come up with any of the plot. My older kids have read the book in the last few years and were so excited to see it among the new books. Since we want to see the movie based on the book when it comes out this spring, and since we have a general household rule that you have to read the book before you can see the movie, I plucked the book out of the set and brought it with me to pass the time at Ruth's horse show today. I had remembered nothing, except for the names of some of the main characters, so I think it definitely counts as a First. And, I haven't read a children's book for my own enjoyment in quite a while, so there's that. It's such a great story about good versus evil and using both your perceived strengths and weaknesses to lead you through trials to the place you're meant to be.

Day One Hundred Fifty-Six: Acorn Squash

I have cooked and eaten many kinds of squash, but today was my first time to prepare acorn squash, which Clay saw in the store a few days ago and begged for exactly because we had never had them before.

We rubbed them with coconut oil and
sprinkled some cinnamon and nutmeg on top.

Day One Hundred Fifty-Five: Legoland Discovery Center

We have been talking about taking the kids to Legoland Discovery Center since we moved here, but it never has worked out. This morning, for his birthday, we surprised Max with tickets and a day off from school to go hang out there. We all had a blast!

Lego Dallas

Kingdom Quest ride with my crazy guys

 

4D Movie Time

Day One Hundred Fifty-Four: Gigantic Ice Cream Sandwich

I always love to hear what the kids come up with for their perfect birthday cake each year, and I try my best to make their birthday cake dreams into realities. A few days ago I asked Max, whose birthday is tomorrow, what kind of cake he wanted. He thought for a minute and then declared, "I think I want an ice cream cake." A minute later, he changed his mind, "No. I think I want a cookie cake." And, then a light bulb came on and his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "What about an ice cream cookie cake?!" The best of everything. So today, I made my first ever ice cream cookie cake, aka a gigantic ice cream sandwich. I think Max will be pleased.

The biggest ice cream sandwich I've ever seen

When it comes to birthday cakes, size definitely matters!

Day One Hundred Fifty-Three: Writing Day

In my heart, I'm a writer. But, in my head, I'm a hot mess! I seem to get distracted by every single thing, and I seem to require more than 5-10 minute chunks of time to put together coherent thoughts or sentences. And you might as well forget about whole ideas because there is no space in there for them to even get off the ground. And after the distractions kids go to bed, there are always other things waiting to be done and begging for my attention. I don't really communicate all that well through spoken words, and Jeff and I both agree I'm a better person when I'm writing, even if I'm just writing things that I don't ever intend for anyone else to read. It's really the best way for me to clear the gunk out of my head and make things make sense. And, frankly, it's been a long time since I've done much writing of any kind. So, this year, we made a joint resolution to put an away-from-the-house writing day for me on our calendar. Our household absolutely runs in accordance with our overpacked calendar, so putting a writing day on the calendar makes it totally legit. It's a real thing that has to be done. Because there it is on the calendar. So, today after my Meals on Wheels deliveries were finished, a reminder popped up that insisted my next activity was Writing Day. And you can't argue with the calendar. I took myself over to the library for several hours and put pen to paper. It's a First, but when I entered it into my calendar, I clicked the button that said, "Repeat weekly," so I know and am thankful it won't be a one-time thing.

Day One Hundred Fifty-Two: New Tool

Because not all Firsts are glamorous:

Day One Hundred Fifty-One: Do What You Are

A couple of months ago, I took an online personality test. Since then, I have been curious about exploring this topic further. So when I was in the library the other day, I picked up Do What You Are, a guide for matching career choices with personality traits. I finished it this evening, and it has definitely given me some things to think about. The personality type I got in the book was slightly different from what I got online, which isn't unusual given that the traits appear on a sliding scale and a person can sometimes be right on the border between traits. The personality type from the book (ISFJ) was pretty accurate, and the careers recommended would probably be reasonable for me to consider, and indeed, align with many of the things that I have already done or thought about doing.