Family Room

The new couch for our family room arrived and it's wonderful! We can all lounge on it at the same time! I can have room to knit and snuggle at the same time. The kids love it. This was definitely the best purchase of the year.

Alas, there's still no knitting. And I don't know when there will be, either. Lots of busy and things to do here.

Right now it's snowing big, heavy wet flakes. Sr. Jr. is off at a friend's birthday sleepover that is supposed to morph into a football game after lunch. It will be a ton of fun for the boys with all that snow and mud! I sense that he will need new sneakers afterward.

Tomorrow is the last cyclocross race of the season, also in the snow and mud. Should be interesting. I'm hoping that no broken bones result.

I haven't done a reading report in a while, have I? I guess I should update here, since I never do update the sidebar.

First up is American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld. This has been on my kindle for a while, but I resisted reading it. It's a portrait of a First Lady based on Laura Bush. I had had quite enough of the Bushes and wasn't sure I could stomach reading about them, even in a fictionalized account. The book is interesting, however, and held my attention. I'm not sure I feel any better after reading it than I did before. It would have been easy for Sittenfeld to either vilify or apologize, but she ends up doing both and neither. The novel postulates a pro-life Democratic First Lady, who keeps her opinions to herself. She never attempts to push her position on her husband or stand up for what she believes in because, she explains, the American people did not elect her. Is this a cop out? As far as I'm concerned, yes. I don't think I could hold my tongue if I were in the same position. I might not succeed in persuading, but at least I would have felt like I had my say. After reading the book, I still can't understand what binds her to her husband, other than physical attraction.

Next up was The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Katherine Howe. It was better than I expected, but it could have been even better. It was entertaining, and I wanted to keep reading it, but it was a little more woo-filled than I would have liked.

I'm currently reading My Life in France, by Julia Child. I've watched enough Julia Child on television that I hear this book in her voice. It's a joy to read. Julia was a woman in love with the world and learning about it, particularly (obviously) food. What fun it must have been to be in Paris and able to indulge in cooking classes, wine tastings, 3 star restaurants, and dinners with Alice B. Toklas! She had a great sense of humor and zest for life which comes shining through the page.

Chanukah starts in less than a week. Jr. Jr. gave us his wishlist, which was two pages long and included things like a television, an iPhone, a trampoline, treehouse building supplies, a Nintendo DS, a camera, a laptop computer, a mini-fridge, apple juice, and toilet paper. ??? We figured out that he has plans to build a snazzy tree house (never mind that we don't have any tree-house appropriate trees). His tree house will also apparently be wired for electricity AND have indoor plumbing. He will be able to watch television and surf the 'net. If he gets thirsty, he can go to his mini-fridge for some apple juice. And clearly, after the apple juice, he will need a bathroom break. A little-boy-cave in a tree :)

Yes, we will be wrapping up some apple juice and toilet paper for him.

I have about a million knitting projects I want to work on. Hopefully I'll have some time to do that soon.