Yes. I do something like this with a homemade white sauce and mix it into egg noodles. I call it homemade hamburger helper. You could also add mushrooms, grated carrot, and/or peas. If you add peas, skip the green pepper. My kids love this kind of thing. I tolerate it.

I haven't finished anything, but I'm reading three things at once, two non-fiction books and Uprooted. Uprooted improved as it went along and has become quite action packed and dramatic, magic spells flying fast and thick, lol. The small (itty bitty so far) romance angle could have been left out, IMO. I've decided to restrict myself to reading only from books currently in my possession, for the month of June.

Crazy busy here, but good crazy. We've been getting ds3 ready for fall college with all the requisite orientations, miles of paperwork, temporary episodes of panic, deadlines, money, etc. I'm also planning/organizing a big (last minute) multi-family vacation to the mountains of North Carolina, because my dad asked if I was coming for a visit this summer and I realized that I better do that, with bells. In the lulls, the two younger boys and I have hit a lot of places with second hand books and I've added to my "to read" stash. I came here to boast about my finds. I hope I live long enough to get to read all of them. Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell Don Camillo and Flock by Giovanni Guareschi The Oxford Book of Ghost Stories (for October) Parnassuss on Wheels by Christopher Morley The Complete Prose Tales of Pushkin Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dineson The Masters of Bow Street by John Creasy I recently organised my stash into low boxes with book spines up so I can see what I have. I feel like a secret addict. But then I keep getting books from the library. 😬

I wish I could say this. For some reason our general area is full of people who think the side of the road is the place to empty their car of fast food containers, beer bottles, and accumulated car trash. It drives me crazy.

This week I read The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman and The Black Cat by Martha Grimes. They were both fairly entertaining. I expected The Golden Compass to be more awesome (?) because of how popular it was. I thought there was some kind of controversy around it. I guess I should go look it up. The story was a little dark because of adults misusing their power over children to their own ends, but it never felt overwhelmingly oppressive, maybe because I'm an adult and could forsee the outcome. I'm currently reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik. To me, it has the characteristics of an adult disney story. The characters seem more like caricatures and there is not much complexity to the story, but it too is entertaining.

My kids quote Hello Dolly: "Women, Barnaby, stuffed, women." "You go your way, I'll go mine." (While pointing the same direction). "Peanuts, unshelled. They are the expensive kind." Being my children they had no choice. 😄 Musical comedy is one of my joys in life. I also like Barbara Streisand's voice.

I've got four boys. The last one just turned 13. What they all hated was being told stuff they already know, because they expected me and their father to be able to read their minds so they shouldn't have to listen to superfluous information. I spent a lot of time telling them there were more polite ways to let people know you that you were aware of stuff. Like, "Thanks, I've got it" Instead of an angry, "l know!" They all went through that stage and came out the other side. The youngest is in it now. 😬 Other than the usual smelly, hungry, growing too fast stages, they were great fun to be around. I don't think I would have ever watched so many goofy youtube videos on my own. I feel like I lucked out. I'm an introvert and so are all three (3 still live at home, one is married) of my boys. We all love to read, take hikes, play games, and do family stuff. They are pretty undemanding kids. One down side is a couple of them also struggle with some social anxiety, like me.

Curry flavoring in a stuffed pepper sounds good to me, I might try that myself.

Hi, I read very little last week. I think I had post statistics class syndrome. It's finally done. My brain still feels tired just thinking about it, but I'm so happy to have made an A. I've currently got two books going, a Georgette Heyer mystery: Detection Unlimited, and DK's The Sociology book, because my next goal is the Sociology CLEP. Today I figured out that I could easily graduate from community college with my 18yo, when he finishes. I currently don't feel ambitious enough to do it faster.

Believe it or not, the Dutch title makes a lot of sense. There is an atombic bomb floating around in the story. The formerly illiterate girl is friendly, extraordinarily adept at math, and is somewhat responsible for the bomb, even though her goal had originally been to find a library. 😄

I absolutely despised A Conferacy of Dunces. It was on so many "to read" lists that I gave it a try. I tried, and tried some more, until I got about halfway through and had one of those "life is too short" moments. To me, it has no redeeming value at all. Right now, I'm reading The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden. I could certainly understand why someone might not like this book, but here is my current review: "This is one wacky, offbeat, deadpan humor story. It is part alternative history, part 20th century tall tale. It takes place during apartheid and nuclear proliferation. Much of the subject matter should not be humorous, but somehow it is. Don't expect to know where the story is going, just give up and let the author lead you around by the nose. If you like The Mouse That Roared, you might like The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden. The girl in the story, Nombeko, seems to parallel Tully Bascomb, in a loose way. I'm only half way through. If my opinion changes, I will revise this review. " I'm pretty sure my sense of humor is atypical, but I think Mark Twain would have enjoyed reading this story.

My mother just had hers done through ancestry.com and her results were similar, showing a clear migration pattern from NorthAfrica/Middle East, through Southern Europe, into Northern Europe. She agreed to let ancestry.com do genetic matching and got a message that she had a grandaughter, a 23% genetic match. This caused quite a kerfluffle because my mom contacted the woman through e-mail right away without thinking about the implications or knowing anything about this person. (For this to be true, the woman would have had to be an unknown child of one of my brothers) Thank goodness she turned out to be some kind of cousin. My mother still doesn't get that she might have caused some serious family issues by just barging ahead.

I would not advise milk to curb cravings for sweets. My sugar levels went up when I did that. Milk qualifies as a sugar drink, quickly absorbed carbohydrates. Chocolate milk is worse. A piece of raw fruit is a better alternative I will chop up an apple, sprinkle on cinnamon and nuts, then mix in a small dollop of plain yogurt for protein.

I just finished The Bear and the Nightingale, which was thoroughly enchanting. I have a little story to go with it: Part of our local commute is on a ferry. A grizzled old ferry mechanic saw me reading and struck up a conversation about books. He was reading Chesapeake by Michner, he has an e-reader, he has multiple books preordered on Amazon, we discussed the relative prices of old vs new books...I was feeling ashamed and embarrassed because, frankly, I would not have thought he was the type of person to be so into reading. I judged a book by its cover. Then, he astonished me more by telling me the genre he loved was fairy/fey/magical. I shared the title of my book with him. Never assume.

I abandoned Alexander Hamilton. It is well written history but I couldn't see myself interested enough to finish the last 500 pages. Blink of the Screen is finished. It is lovely lighthearted Pratchetty fun, interspersed with pithy insights like: “You fight a war to change the world, and it changes into a world with no place in it for you, the fighter. Those who fight for the bright future are not always, by nature, well fitted to live in it.†I picked up The Elephant's Journey and gave up on page three. The commas, oh the commas. Multiple, lengthy, run on sentences, replete with commas, And capital letters, while changing voices, mid-sentence, was enough to drive me batty. I am now reading The Bear and the Nightingale.

Aw, rats! I came here to find out if anyone has seen the movie yet. I was hoping it was a good one. I've seen other reviews praising it, but I trust you ladies more. Edtied, here not hear.

I finished up The History of Science and am still reading A Blink of the Screen. I've also read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, a Newberry award winner. It is a time travel paradox story.

Stacia, sending hugs and good wishes for peace and a speedy/satisfactory resolution of all trials. I read a big chunk of The Story of Western Science yesterday, then I rummaged through my stacks and found a buried library book that appealed to me: A Blink of the Screen, collected shorter fiction by Terry Pratchett. It's like a historical timeline of Sir Terry's development as writer, starting when he was 13! Light and fun.

I dropped Among Others. Meh. Don't know what I'll pick up next. Maybe I'll just finish up The Story of Western Science.

I just finished My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander Mccall Smith. It was easy,amusing, and pleasant, nothing earth shattering, a great read for outside on the freshly cut lawn. My kids are reading (for fun): 23 yo- Grail by Stephen Lawhead 18yo- I Robot by Asimov 12yo- Loamhedge by Brian Jacques Dh is reading a biography of Patrick O'Brian I'm going to try Among Others by Jo Walton next.

Too bad you can't burn stuff you put on the internet. When my kids start getting online we have multiple discussions about the permanence of words once they are cast out into the web, a fitting word. I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff I wrote, even as an adult, because I've changed. Now it is cringeworthy to me. When I read about historians being disappointed and dismayed that certain famous people burned some of their own past writings, I think "that's why they burnt them." The stuff that didn't get burnt is still often cause for speculation and not so flattering interpretation.

I don't think I have. I'll have to look into them. Thanks for the recommendation.

I just finished The Bookshop on the Corner which should have retained its British title of The Little Shop of Happy-Ever-After. It started out at three stars for me as I read of a librarian in a city where libraries were being shut down and consolidated, rather sad and depressing. Then the book soared to four star reading as the shy librarian got up the gumption to head to Scotland to fulfill a life long dream of owning a small book shop. The descriptions of the contrast of country living to life in the city, and her struggles getting started, were inspring and fun. Then the book sank a little in my estimation as it turned its focus to the main character's romances. All in all, it was still enjoyable. I think I'm beginning to see a pattern in what I gives me the most reading enjoyment recently: country life and descriptions of natural landscapes, humorous sketches and personalities, and an element of nostalgia. Yesterday, I grabbed a book off the library's new arrival shelf that looks like it will fill that need, My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander Mccall Smith. Right now I'm rereading The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart.

Last week I started Alexander Hamilton for my library book club. It is massive. We are expected to take two months on this one. For a history book, it reads pretty smoothly, but it's over 700 pages and smaller than average print. I don't know if I can maintain that much interest in Hamilton at this time in my life. I flew through an Agatha Christie short story collection called Double Sin. Every single story had been read somewhere else. That was a little disappointing. I'm currently reading Madam Will You Talk by Mary Stewart, her debut novel. I think I have found the only Stewart book that I hadn't read yet. It's a quick read, but I haven't found it quite as enjoyable as some of her later stories.

I did abandon The Summer Before the War. Then I remembered the discussion here about what kind of books we like. I asked myself why I couldn't get into that book. Well, I like books that intrigue me, which is kind of a personal taste. They need to have something I want to learn or find out. It could be something about the characters, the plot, or information about the real world: A little mystery, a little magic, a little obscure information, a little teasing by the author, failing that -subtle/cryptic humor will do nicely. The Summer Before the War didn't really fill any of those qualifications for me in the first few chapters. It felt very predictable and formulaic. Of course it could have turned unexpectedly, but I didn't feel like waiting to find out. I'm now reading The Lost Book of the Grail by Charlie Lovett and enjoying it so far. It is so much better than his last book that had Jane Austen as a topic. Like his other books, this is a book about books, this time Arthurian legends, centered around a book missing from a cathedral library. There is not only the mystery associated with the lost book, the grail, and the history of the cathedral, but there is also the clash of the modern electronic age of libraries with conserving antiquities and tradition.