Catching Up

"One day in summer Frog was not feeling well. Toad said, 'Frog, you are looking quite green.' 'But I always look green,' said Frog. 'I am a frog.' 'Today you look very green even for a frog,' said Toad."

We're on the mend now, I think. I had a relapse last night and Ben threw up in the middle of the night--ick, thrown up formula in all those neck crevices. But the house smells great now after a thorough Clorox, Lysol, and Febreeze dousing with the windows wide open.

I love the Frog and Toad books and I'm really glad that Rebekah is into them now. Our favorite is the Cookie story when Frog and Toad need will power to stop eating cookies. I love Toad's final lines after the birds have eaten the rest of the cookies and Frog triumphantly states, "We have lots and lots of will power." Toad says, "You may keep it all, Frog. I am going home now to bake a cake." Dave just told me to not buy cookies for a while since he's weak and Rebekah's still sucking her thumb and I just can't keep my mouth shut. Maybe I'll bake a cake.

We watched The Departed last night which might have contributed to the indigestion. Maybe I had seen too many clips since the movie came out so long ago but very few things surprised me. (Spoiler alert--if there IS any one left who is further behind in movies than me! I knew Mark Walhberg had to come back at some point.) And while the overall plot wasn't as terrific or twisted as I expected, I really enjoyed some individual scenes for the acting, a few one-liners, and some depth.

Onto books. Last book club selection was The Memory Keeper's Daughter. The premise is very interesting: A doctor must deliver his own child in the middle of a snow storm. One baby is born healthy, perfect. His twin sister bears the tell-tale signs of Down Syndrome. In an instantaneous decision, the doctor/father gives the baby girl to the assisting nurse to take to a home for the mentally handicapped. The mother is told she delivered a blue baby. She even holds a memorial service for her dead daughter. But the nurse takes the baby girl to raise on her own instead. The rest of the novel chronicles what happens to the family with a lie like a wall comes between them. While we found some faults with the author's storytelling and character development, possibly attributed to this being her first novel when she's previously written short stories, overall we found it interesting. I usually like the books more after we discuss them anyway.

So then I read our next selection, The Glass Castle, in two days. Horrifying! I was dumbfounded. The author is a contributor for MSNBC.com who grew up in the most devestating level of poverty. I was amazed that not only did all 4 children physically survive the malnourishment, filth, lack of medical/dental/hygenic attention, accidents, sexual abuse, but that they all got out! Also very interesting to compare to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

The next book in my pile is A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion which I've been wanting to read for a while but I need something a bit lighter first. So Mom is bringing One Mississippi to me this weekend.

Yea! My mom is coming. Only for the weekend--Benjamin is being baptized on Sunday--but it will be a bit of a break. We've already planned coffee out on Friday night. And Rebekah is taking Granddad golfing in the backyard.