Tootsie

My sister Courtney's fun blog had a great post about all of her favorite (shame) movies, including "School Ties", "Newsies" and ... "Stargate". She's a big one for the personal VHS collection! (Check it out at theyodelingyoungquists.blogspot.com).

It got me thinking about one of my all time favorites: "Tootsie".



Sydney Pollack, that film's director, recently passed away, and I was touched by several of the life-summary articles about him in major newspapers. He was skilled, said the NY Times, at creating commercial pictures that did not offend art. Or something like that.

I think it's a funny, funny show - very silly, goofy and enjoyable. I like that it stars regular looking people for the most part: Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Teri Garr, even Sydney Pollack as Michael Dorsey's agent.

What are some of your favorites?

Service auction

Relief, relief! Our YW Service Auction is over ... and it was a success!



This past semester has been a busy one, and I was looking forward to May as a *relaxing* month. That never really happened, for a variety of reasons: home, family, swimming lessons, life, yard, Blinn, church, etc. What spare time I might have had at the end of the month was eaten by our service auction fundraiser. But we were enormously blessed. The YW in our ward worked hard and worked creatively.

On a personal note, I was thrilled to win the bid for 2 hours of having my clothes ironed (this will be fun!) and an inside-n-out car cleaning. In fact, I've been letting the van crumbs pile up, knowing that I would bid on someone cleaning my van.

Of course, now that the service auction is over, summer school begins.

My pursuit of caught-up-ed-ness continues!

Mother's Day Tea

Annie's preschool class had its Mother's Day Tea this morning. You're probably wondering where you can buy a fancy newspaper hat like the one Annie made!



Her class performed several songs, including Annie's favorite "You are Loved". It brought tears to my eyes.

They also sang "Eggs, Eggs, Eggs" and "Boom Chicka."

Ever since Graham started PreK with Mrs. Sagong (and then 1.5 years with Mrs. Davidson and several months with Mrs. Skow + Annie's year in Beginners with Mrs. Altendorf), I've felt such a cozy, happy feeling at St. Thomas ELC. The schedule, the attitude, the grounds & plants, the tools & toys ... it's all just right for young children. Deciding to send Graham there was one of the best decisions I ever made! It really created a family vibe that I hope to continue well into the future. We've made wonderful friends there, adults & children alike. We've spent many hours on the playground, enjoyed festivities like Spring Festival, and learned at the summer VBS. Third only to our home and our church (and the gourmet truffle shop that opened a few blocks from us) St. Thomas is my favorite place in B/CS.

This year, with Mrs. Lawrence and Mrs. Flynn as Annie's teacher, has been a great way to end our time at St. Thomas. Annie truly is in a happy place there ... even the times of separation anxiety are handled appropriately. She's learned a bunch, like how to hold baby chicks, the life cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly, how to use a hammer & nail ... and so much more.

This line of backpack hooks caught my eye, as did the wooden boards underneath the outside paint station.

Fitness

While rereading my posts tonight I had an epiphany ... I spend all of my 'exercise' time reading the New York Times online.

Well, that explains a lot.

Unfortunately, I'd rather read than work out. And it shows and it shows. But I have made a personal commitment to incorporate fitness into my life this summer. A serious, binding, real commitment that I'm making to Leslie Sansone ... and myself.

Leslie, you know who you are. Hills, you know who she is too. The problem is that Leslie does not yet know who I am.

Stay tuned.

How could I forget?

I ADORE the Weddings/Celebrations section of www.nytimes.com.

If I'm up late on a Saturday night, I also read the "Vows" story; each week, this column profiles a different couple's courtship & wedding, with all the charming, quirky and endearing details included. Some of the brides and grooms are famous, others noteworthy, others just plain interesting.

The Weddings/Celebrations section also lists regular wedding announcements, but I mostly like the profiles, naturally.

Sometimes a reporter writes a follow-up story on a couple previously showcased in "Vows"; these Where Are They Now? stories are called "State of the Union". Yeah, I love those too.

Website autopilot

I'm curious if other people do this too ...
Every day, when I wake up, I have certain websites I just seem to check automatically to make sure all is right with the world. My day doesn't feel right unless I wake up before everyone else and get a few minutes on the web by myself. This pattern is so ingrained it's like my fingers type in the URLs by themselves.

So what do I check in the morning?

1) www.nytimes.com

On Monday, I like to read Metropolitan Diary; on Wednesday, I check out the Dining section; on Thursday, I go straight to Fashion & Style and Home & Garden; on Saturday, I go to Real Estate (see my posts about fav column archives!); on Saturday night, I usually make a sneak peak of the weekend Style section; on Sunday morning (before my children wake up), I skim the weekend Times magazine, especially "The Ethicist". I vow here that I will do a separate posting about Randy Cohen. I LOVE his columns. They help jump-start my early Sunday mornings in a very ethical way. Ha ha!

I usually check Opinion and Health in the evenings and Education postings on Sunday evenings. I have no idea why I do that ... but it works.

2) I also have to check out www.theeagle.com , my local newspaper, and www.stcloudtimes.com , my hometown newspaper. I may not even read any stories on these sites, but I like to feel as though I have my finger on the pulse of both B/CS and the Granite City!

3) I like to check www.lds.org as well, especially my ward website. I find it helpful, too, to read my scriptures online. Thanks, Gospel Library.

4) Last and least, in terms of significance/value/effective use of time, I go to www.people.com. What can I say? Old habits die hard. Keeping one's mind full of celebrity trivia requires daily maintenance.

Food fun

It's Friday night and I'm not feeling well. I've been sick for a week with a nagging fever, congestion and sore throat. Argh. I was supposed to get productive when my Blinn semester was over, but my body seems to be saying, 'Hey, wait a minute! I'm taking a break.' I tried to fold loads & loads of laundry today but kept having to sit down and read chapters out of a David Sedaris book to recover my strength. (Note: in defense of self & time management, when the Ensign arrived late afternoon, I sat down and read President Monson's Sunday afternoon talk to recover my strength. Of course, by then I had finished Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.)

So I've been enjoying some comfort food this past week (not that I need illness as a reason to enjoy yummy food). Since this blog is also my journal (kind of), I wanted to make a list of tasty yum-yums that have helped nourish me. When future generations open the time capsule that is blogspot.com, this little record will be a cyber-shard from my kitchen.

On Monday - Cinco de Mayo - I wanted to make some Mexican food. When I tried to stand up and work in the kitchen, I felt faint. For real. Instead of eating homemade Mexican food, we went to Ninfa's.


I enjoyed my favorite: tortilla soup. I think the hot soup and garlic-laden sauce helped my cold a little bit!


Other things I've enjoyed:
Amy's canned soups, especially the lentil soup and the black bean & vegetable soup. I want to fill my food storage with cans of Amy's soup. In case of an emergency, I could happily eat these soups straight out of the can. Cold. They are that tasty. I dressed up the black bean soup one day with spinach at the bottom of the bowl (pre soup pour) and a sprinkling of pepper jack cheese on top. So, so good. The best canned soup I've ever had.


Butter lettuce. Hey, it's grown hydroponically. That sounds scientific and slightly back-to-the-future. I like how creamy the leaves are. You don't expect that from lettuce.


My favorite cereal is Corn Chex, but I can only eat this with 2% milk. It's the contrast between the milk fat and the corn crunch that makes this a yummy night-time treat.


Lindt has done a bad, bad thing. They've added Peanut Butter & Chocolate truffles to their line up. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups cower in the presence of these truffles. I, however, was not intimidated and easily defeated the bag. Not in one sitting, mind you. But the bag did not last long.


I also bought ingredients to make some guacamole this weekend. Nothing soothes a sore throat like avocado all mashed up (except a Ricola cough drop).


Orbit gum, with those absurd ads and mint combo flavors, has won me over. I keep several packs in my teaching bag so I'll always have a minty-fresh taste in class. I also discovered that they make my throat feel a bit better.

Red pears are worth their price. Annie and I love them. 1) They're beautiful and 2) they're scrumptious.


So what do you like to eat when you're sick, bored or hungry?