7 (Super) Quick Takes

1.  They are *super* quick this week because it's already Saturday and I was supposed to do this yesterday date night tonight!!  WOOT  WOOT!!!  I scored some free movie tickets at Mom's Coffee Break back in December, and this is the night I'm planning to use them. I think we are going to see The Impossible.  

First, it looks like an amazing story.  I was almost in tears just watching the trailer.  My family used to vacation in Koh Samui when we lived in Thailand, and I went to boarding school in Penang.  When the '04 tsunami hit, it felt very personal to me, even though by then I was thousands of miles away, because the places and people affected were very near and dear to me.

And second, I love Ewan McGregor! (Okay, Naomi Watts is pretty alright, too.)  So excited!

2.  For once, I guess because it's January, there is actually not just one but several a few movies I would pay to see in the theater.  Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, and I saw Les Miserables a couple weeks ago.

3.  Movie options are about the only good thing about January.  Well, no, that's not really true at all  because a very special birthday is coming up next week.  But it's FREEZING here, and not snowy, and I'm getting annoyed.  It feels like we've already been cold a long time and it's still forever till it gets warm again.  I would love to take another week in Hawaii right now... *sigh*  I know what you're thinking, Wouldn't we all?  Ah well, misery loves company.

4.  But seriously, if it's going to be this cold, it needs to snow again.  This afternoon we took a family bike ride just to make our thirteen-year-old squirm with embarrassment.  It was 31 F.  I actually don't know what we were thinking.  My face hurt like I had a sinus infection, except the pain came from the outside.  I will say it was an invigorating thirty minutes, but there were real and understandable tears from people who got too cold even being bundled up.

5.  I learned, on this bike ride, that ice makes a really weird sound when you throw rocks on it.  It may be/ probably is no surprise to you.  However, this is one of those things you don't know if you grew up in Bangladesh and Thailand.

6.  I am reading Simplicity Parenting right now by Kim John Payne.  It was highly recommended by two great bloggers I follow, and I totally understand why.  I'm about 3/4's of the way through it, so maybe it's too soon to comment like this, but I would put it definitely on my list of top-ten parenting books to read, probably on my top-five.  I don't want to puff myself up, but most of what I've read is what my instincts always told me.  So it's been encouraging and affirming to realize there are very valid reasons for my thinking the way I do and choosing to raise and direct our family the way I do.  *HIGHLY recommend!!*

7.  And I'll just close with these cute pics of Wyatt pounding a green smoothie yesterday.

It looks like sludge in his sippy cup, but it's so nice to know he's getting some vitamin-packed goodness -- and enjoying it! Love, love, love my Vitamix!!

Have a great rest-of-the-weekend! :-)