My Acknowledgments Page

I've been reading a lot this semester.
I won't go into all the books I've read (yet). I'll just say that some I would recommend heartily and others....well, others I would suggest a little less enthusiastically.
But one thing I've noticed myself doing: reading the author's acknowledgments page.
I just finished a novel by Laurie Halse Anderson (Wintergirls) and her "thanks page" was actually three pages long--she even thanked her ex-husband and her ex's new wife. Reading that made me think of the funny comments in author Libba Bray's book that ended her trilogy. There were some random comments in there and a huge spoiler since I stupidly read it before starting the third book; it makes more sense for it to be at the end of the book instead of at the beginning!
But I'm also wondering whether these pages even get read--besides by the people who expect their names to be mentioned. Anyone else care that such-and-such thanked so-and-so for the fantastic copy-editing?
If BJ writes a book someday (which I'm sure he will--who knows whether it'll be the Beer Drinker's Guide to Wine or something more philosophically-minded, though) I wonder what line I'd get. What would I say in an acknowlegments page (even though I'm never going to write more than a few paragraphs in a haphhazard blog)? I guess it would be like writing an Oscars acceptance speech before you've been nominated. Silly. But maybe I'll write a blog post with a bunch of random thanks that only make sense to the people mentioned. Seems like the thing to do. :)

My Mother's Day

Yesterday I had a great Mother's Day. We went to church as a family then came home and enjoyed an abnormal amount of quiet time; both kids napped from 1 to 3:30. So I got to read, watch golf (I'm a Tiger fan, so it is actually something I like to do), and enjoy the sunny day. Then BJ took Toby to a movie so I had some quality time with Norah. She's getting cuter--and more stubborn--every day. BJ cooked a lobster pasta dinner that was so amazing.
I'm blessed with two beautiful children that I am so thankful for!

My Last Episode

Scrubs season finale aired last Wednesday.
Toby watched a little bit of it with me before his bedtime. I tucked him into bed with some stories and told him that I'll read to him in a bit. He (unknowingly) put himself to sleep so I could watch my show. How thoughtful of him!
The finale was great. I made me laugh out loud and the ending made me cry. Scrubs, without a doubt, has the best soundtrack of any show on television. Some of my favorite music (Joshua Radin, Snow Patrol, Coldplay, Kutless) has been used as the background music in episodes over the last 8 years.
Here's a link to a blogger's post over at EW.com. It links to the last 4 minutes of the last episode, in case you want to hear the song that made me cry (and I cried again when I listened to it this morning--I'm a sucker for emo, I guess, or maybe just for Peter Gabriel songs set to Scrubs).


I think I forgot to mention that I watched a Scrubs episode (dubbed into German) while we were in Germany. BJ was at the conference and I was channel surfing at the hotel (which I don't recommend: TV there is a lot racier at 2 in the afternoon than it is even at 2 in the morning here in the States) and I caught an episode--how random is that?

My Friend's Best Advice about parenting

Over a year ago I did something on the advice of my friend Sarah and since I've been complimented on it so many times I have to give credit where it's due. I bought three of the same little plush toy donkeys (or horses) from Pottery Barn Kids for Norah before she was born. They decorated the little corner of the study where we put gifts and diapers before she arrived. For months after she was born they all just hung around on the bookshelf, coming down to join Toby's animal trains or to provide something for baby Norah to look at while I changed her.
After a while Norah was able to grasp toys and since there were three of this little donkey it just seemed to be where she was--in the crib, in the car, on the changing table. As a result, this was the toy that Norah attached to. "Donkey" or something like it will probably be her first word. (Although there are several people who would testify that her first words were "hot dog" I'm ignoring them) She goes to her crib and pulls them out to carry them around when she's tired. The donkey is the only thing that calms her down when she's in the church nursery. They end up going everywhere with her. We're down to two because one of the donkeys was in our luggage that got stolen in January.
My friend Sarah gave me this idea when she realized her daughter, Hannah, had attached to a toy from Pottery Barn Kids. Sarah wanted to go buy a back-up of the toy only to find out they had discontinued it. She had to special order that toy from two other stores to have a back-up. I figured I could go and pick something up and see if Norah attached to one; if not, I'd have two extra toys to give away as baby gifts. Thinking back, I probably should have picked out something cuter than the donkey (I think they had cows and monkeys at the time), but I had no idea that this strategy would actually work.
If you've seen our Christmas picture you'll notice Norah is holding her donkey. When I tell people that she has two donkeys they think it's so clever to have a back-up. I have to give all the credit to Sarah, who gave me the idea. Thanks, friend, it's the best little piece of parenting advice that I pass along to others!

My Favorite night in Germany

This is a quick video of a boys' choir we stumbled upon in our wanderings around Frankfurt's old town one night after the conference. Take a look (sorry it's so blurry). The acoustics of the cathedral made for an awesome sound. We heard it from outside the cathedral and wandered in while the choir was practicing. We heard the concert later that night while we were walking home from dinner.

My Local Beach: Jupiter Point

Here's a picture of us at one of the local beaches, called Jupiter Point. We went on a beautiful Friday--70 degrees and blue skies. Next time we're going to bring our buckets and shovels and have a grand old time digging. This beach is a 10 minute stroll from our house, at the end of an exclusive cul-de-sac of houses (that I'm sure are vacation homes to many across the coast). We're lucky to live so close to the water, and pictures like this serve as a great reminder of fun times.

My Garden

With tons of thanks to my uncle, who spent several hours here on Saturday tilling an old garden, we are beginning to plant a new garden.
Any suggestions? It's now waiting for inspiration, and for me to haul two kids to the local Home Depot garden center. I'm tempted to let Toby have free reign of the whole thing and just let him dump seeds where ever to see what happens. But that seems a bit indulgent when you actually see how big the plot is. So we'll shoot for some sort of order....