Book Recommendation: If You Decide to Go to the Moon

Alex and I just finished reading one of our library books, If You Decide to Go to the Moon, By Faith McNulty. What an incredible book! We go through a LOT of library books each week, and it's very rare that I find one that I believe is worthy of purchase, but this one will most certainly be on the shelf soon.

Google has done it again!

If you haven't checked out Google Calendar, DO IT! I'm just amazed. You can export your info from Outlook Calendar, or your PDA (via GooSync) and set up a Google calendar. What's so special about that? Well, for one, you can give family and friends access so they can keep up with your schedule (kids games etc.) AND, if they create their own calendar, there is an option to view their calendar within yours and it's as easy as clicking theirs off and on. Another bonus that I just found is the ability to add other public calendars such as US Holidays, the Netflix new realse schedule, or a Obama's tour schedule. It's all fairly new, so I'm sure in the future we'll have access to all kinds of public calendars. How cool would it be if meetup had the option to put your "yes" rsvps on your google calendar. Now that would be sweet.

Ok, free advertisement for google is over. If any of my family or friends wants access to my calendar, let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Update: After emailing Chris (see comment below) I now have the upgraded version of GooSyc. SCORE! Can't wait to what other cool stuff I can do now! Thanks Chris!

Consumerasaurus

I'm typically a label reader. When I grocery shop I try to compare calories, sodium, sugar, etc., as often as possible. Most days though, I have to admit, I'm rushing in, grabbing my goods and getting out as fast as possible. Lastnight I discovered that I've been in a rush when I've thrown Veggie Chips in my basket. After reading the label for the first time, I have to admit, I'm slightly irritated. The only reason they can call these colored potato chips "Veggie Chips" is because they contain tomato powder and spinich powder, which happen to be two of the last three ingredients. And keep reading the bag and you'll soon find that "We add spinach and tomato powder to some (did ya read that...some) of the chips for a delightful variety of genuine vegetable color and taste."

Ok, so lets move on to the nutrition facts. For giggles, lets compare them to Lays Original Potato Chips.

Serving Size is 1 oz for both products.
Lets hit the negatives for Lays first. Lays has 20 more calories per serving and 3 grams more fat. Veggie Chips have 1g more Protein and 1g more fiber. Move on to Sodium and Veggie Chips have a whopping 280mg of sodium vs. Lays' 180mg. That was a bit surprising to me. Even more surprising is the lack of vitamins and minerals in my "Veggie Chips". (Remember Potatos are considered veggies) The Vitamin section of Veggie Chips reads 0% all the way through, while Lays has at least some Vitamin C and E. We're also getting a little Iron, Thiamin, Niacin, B6, Phosphorus, and Magnesium by going with Lays.

Ok, so this isn't that big of a deal, because typically we aren't big chip eaters but dang it if I'm buying chips, from now on, I'm going straight for the good stuff.

Where's The Poop

Yesterday, Alex and I ate lunch with dad, made a trip to Ready, Set, Play
and afterwards headed over to half price books to play a game of checkers and read a few books. Alex picked out this book called "Where's The Poop" and just had to read it. The next 5 minutes were excruciating. Trying to read this book in a quiet book store was more than I could take. "Baby Penguin, you need to go poop." "Silly momma, I already went poop and I feel much better!"
The best part is folding up the flaps, because yes, this is a flap book, and finding the animals poop. VERY realistic looking poop. Each page had me laughing out loud like a silly little girl. And then we get to the very last page, which is just one big flap with a picture of a door. You open the door and there's the little boy's mom sitting on the toilet, saying "Please close the door, I need privacy while I'm going poop." This book was just too much. After barely making it through the entire book because my sides were hurting, Alex informed me that we just HAD to buy this book. I refused. This was for a little boy trying to learn to use the potty and we don't need it.

Well, here we are almost 24 hours later and I'm realizing that we HAVE to have this book. So I look it up on Amazon just to see how much it is, and if it's worth ordering or if I should just go back to half price books, and then I see the reviews. I read all 12 of the reviews and now feel like the most adolescent mother on the face of this earth. Each one talks about how appropriate this book is and how well written it is with the amazing pictures and great message etc. Not one of them mentioned sitting in the bookstore laughing out loud with their 5 year old son. Ut oh.

WeekEND

It's only Sunday morning, but my weekend just officially ended. Markypoo just left for New York. I'm sad. I miss him already. Three days was just not enough.

Lastnight we went on our Valentines Date to see Making Love in Public at the Dougherty Arts Center I have mixed reviews on the performance. If you can get past the stinch of body odor from half of the two man show, it was mildly entertaining. This romantic comedy portrays 5 couples thoughts and experiences at a relationship retreat. It was sweet, it was funny, it was a reminder of how normal our reltionships really are. The two cast members did an incredible job playing all 10 roles, but the message was not profound. Good, but not profound. Ultimately, we didn't go to watch some smashing performance, we went to be together, to sit in the same room, interlock arms and just enjoy a little adult entertainment. That alone was worth far more than the twenty bucks we spent on tickets.

I miss you Mark.

One for the Money

Last night I finished my first Janet Evanovich novel, One for the Money. This is the first book of many in her Stephanie Plum series. A friend of mine recommended the series, I was very skeptical due to the fact that I've never even picked up a crime fiction novel. This just further proves to me that I need to step outside of myself and try new things. I would have never imagined that I'd be hooked on a crime fiction novel! I can't WAIT to go get my hands on the next book in the series "Two for the Dough".

I've worked over 9 hours today (can you say child neglect) and I have a 5 year old litterally pulling me out of my chair screaming "PLAY-WITH-MEEEEE!" Gotta run.

Cranium Family Fun

A few days ago I mentioned my Latest treasure, a game by Cranium called Family Fun. We played it for the first time tonight, and I have to say, this is our new favorite game. The box says ages 8 and up, but Alex is 5 and did fine with me as a partner. Some of it was a little advanced, but nothing we couldn't work around. Basically, there are four different categories and within each category are several different challenges to be completed as a team. You're either drawing, writing, molding, thinking or acting....possibly more. This game is fun for the whole family. We love Cranium games, but this was the best yet.

A must read

I was up way too late lastnight finishing
Conversations with the Fat Girl Full on chic-lit, but well worth the read. It's very rare that I can come up with enough time to actually finish a book these days, sleep is precious you know, but with this one I had no choice. It called out to me. I couldn't wait to lay in bed and soak up Liza's painfully witty account of life as the "Fat Girl". Of course, we never even find out how fat she really is...for all we know she could have an awful self image and be a size 8. That makes it all the more interesting.

Dear Fox: Please don't cancel this show!

My new Favorite TV show: Til Death

Mark and I finally sat down to watch for the first time last night and we laughed our butts off. Or at least we should have. It took a while before we allowed ourselves to laugh out loud. Secrets were revealed, so some laughter had to be contained in order to protect the innocent. This is an amazingly witty and frighteningly truthful depiction of the comparison between newlyweds and not so newlyweds. Ladies and Gents, the truth is out. PLEASE WATCH, this show CANNOT GET CANCELLED!!



From Fox.com:
Why do they say all that stuff at weddings about “sickness and health, richer or poorer, ‘til death do you part?” They say it because at some point, you’ll both get sick, you very well might be poor, and you’ll never sleep with anyone else ever again … because you’re going to be with each other until you die.

Doesn’t marriage sound fun?

‘TIL DEATH is a comedy about long-married couple EDDIE (Brad Garrett) and JOY STARK (Joely Fisher), who are closing in on day 9,000 of their marriage and have the battle scars to prove it. Their new next-door neighbors are young newlyweds STEPH (Kat Foster) and JEFF WOODCOCK (Eddie Kaye Thomas) – idealistic, passionate, adorable and married for a matter of days. It’s a show about new marriage versus old marriage, about keeping the romance alive – or at least staying together so you have someone to drive you to the hospital for your operations.

Eddie is a cynical realist who considers himself an expert on most topics. A high school history teacher, he’s learned well the lessons of history and applies the basic principles to his marriage: all fights are about power, land and resources. A veteran of the marriage wars, Eddie freely gives his advice to the younger, idealistic Jeff, who’s the new vice principal at Eddie’s school. Of course, Eddie’s little secret all along is that he loves Joy more than anything. And however brash and sardonic Joy herself appears, she loves Eddie right back.

From Sony Pictures Television, ‘TIL DEATH was written by real-life husband and wife Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa (“The King of Queens,” “What Women Want,” “13 Going On 30”), who also serve as executive producers. They look forward to being together ‘TIL DEATH.