An old friend

I have a friend. I call her Louisa May. We used to play all the time. Then I grew up a little, and didn't have time for her.

Recently I began to read again. I read Stephenie Meyer (Twilight series), Ann Rinaldi (Time Enough for Drums, The Last Silk Dress), Patricia Clapp (Constance), and Joan Lowry Nixon (The Ellis Island trilogy). Finding myself enjoying reading very much, and wanting to read some more, I returned to my old friend: Louisa May Alcott. I read Eight Cousins. I had read it many years ago, but for the life of me didn't really remember anything about the story, except that Mac almost went blind. Then I read the sequel, A Rose in Bloom. Again, didn't remember much about this one, except for the fate of poor Charlie. Now I am reading An Old-Fashioned Girl. I apparently have read my copy of the book several times, as it is quite worn out, but I cannot for the life of me remember anything about the story! I feel like I am discovering it for the first time. It is so splendid. Next, I want to go to the library and check out the Little Women books. And then I want to watch the movie. You know, the one with Winona Ryder and Christian Bale (oh how I love to watch him in movies, particularly this one...and Newsies...and Batman)?

Anyway, I have rediscovered an old friend, and thought I would share. Who are some of your favorite authors? What books are you reading, or have you read that you go back to time and time again? As I have recently rediscovered the joy of reading, I hope that at some point this holiday season you all can find some small time to yourself to read and enjoy a good book too!

Have you heard??

What?! You haven't heard?! Then you need to watch this clip and become enlightened! :)

Hope you are all successfully recovering from Turkey day and Black Friday shopping!

What happens when you impulse shop on Black Friday in the Little Car

We went to McDonald's for lunch. Mike thought "we've already eaten, so let's go walk around Sam's Club for a bit and see if we can see Elmo!" Of course, Elmo was sold out. Fortunately, we already bought one. And of course, they had Kota the Triceratops on display. Oh how cool was he! Marsh loved him. Mike pulled him out of the cart and let him play with it.
We bought him. He was over half off (a better deal than anywhere else, including Amazon). It was an awesome deal. We got him out to the Saturn (a 2 door sports coupe. yeah.) and moved things around 50 different ways. He didn't fit. I put him back in the cart, and stood over next to the building while Mike and Marsh went home to get the trailblazer. They came back about 30 minutes later, and still Kota didn't fit in the car. What the heck?! Mike had to take all of his stuff out of the back of the car, put it in the front by me and Marsh, and then open the back hatch window so we could fit Kota in.

It's no wonder Kota didn't fit in! The box is almost 30 inches tall! It says some assembly required, so we didn't think to take it out of the box. When we got him home, we took him out to assemble him for Christmas and found that, except for his tail, Kota was totally put together! DUH! We so could have just pulled him out of the box and put him in the Trailblazer!

Well, we learned our lesson at least. Now we know to always take the trailblazer when there is a chance we could be impulse shopping! :)

A Happy Thanksgiving

We had such a happy Thanksgiving yesterday. After eating lots and LOTS and LOTS of food, we all disperesed for various activities.

The kids colored Christmas ornaments, and Marshy played with Magnetix pieces.

The boys and girls gathered around the computer for some pre-Black Friday window-shopping. Some of the other boys gathered around the TV to watch the Seattle/Dallas game. Some of the others went into the basement to watch WALL-E on the home theater system.

Gabby colored a really pretty angel for their Christmas tree.

When it was time for pie, Marshy quietly sat in his chair drinking his "Coke" (it's really root beer) with his Phant and puppy. He loved the Snickers pie the best. Pumpkin was not so much a favorite.

Soon the newspaper was pulled out, and the ads spread around to everyone.

And of course, pie was present.

And what kind of Peterson family party would it be without some form or wrestling? If it isn't UFC style, then of course it better be TICKLE WRESTLING!

After the pie, families started to depart for 2nd Thanksgivings. We didn't have to go up to my parents', becase we went on Sunday, for which we were indeed thankful because we could hardly move.

Sparky was so tired he was falling asleep on Nana's lap.

Marshy, tired and grumpy, still had fun playing with his Lightning McQueen lego car.

And Sparky eventually fell asleep. It was a long, fun day, but we were glad to get home so we could pass out on the couch and watch a RedBox movie (we had a free rental code from McDonald's).

Elephant Man

Sunday, in honor of Mike's birthday, we went to the zoo. It was fun. Except that Marshy wouldn't let us put his jacket on. He fought us so hard that we decided we wanted to keep our stomachs and shins and let him have his way. We discovered that we are bigger wusses than he is! We were so cold that we ran into the monkey house, where we spent a lot of time because the monkey came right up to the window! (below)

He was so cute, and followed us across the room. When we turned to look at him, he'd act all shy and hid in the other corner, and then slowly creep back over when we weren't looking. It was funny.

After the monkeys, we went to the elephants. Big mistake. We should have saved it for last! Marsh just loves the elephants, and shouted "Phant! Phant!" the whole time. Then, when we got too cold to stand there watching them eat, we turned to go into the ape house. Marsh got so mad. He cried and cried for the "phants". He wanted nothing to do with the apes. So we went back outside into the cold to see the elephants again.

Then we decided to go to the other monkey house. Again, Marsh cried and cried, and wanted nothing to do with the Mandrill and the Lemurs. We thought maybe the bears would cheer him up, so we walked over in their direction, being quite far away from the elephants at this point. He didn't like the bears. We ran down to the giraffes, knowing they would be inside, and it would be warm and hoping he would like the giraffes.

Unfortunately, they have a large sign posted on the door saying "Please no screaming or loud noises". Well, that counted us out. So we ran up to the Asian Highlands to look at the cats. Marsh didn't want to look at the cats. He wanted the "phants" and was still yelling for us to go back. "PHANT! PHANT! PHANT!" People were looking at us strangely. Probably because sometimes phant sounds not quite right.

We went into the reptile house to get warm. Marsh hated it. We did get to see the porcupines trying to get it on. That was quite comical. Then, they realized the Meerkats, who shared their pen, were asleep and went over to wake them up. We hurried through the reptile house and rushed back over to the elephants one last time before we left the zoo.

Marsh was so happy! He sat there in awe, goosebumps and all, watching the elephants eat their hay. He was so sad when we went to the car, but luckily he has a stuffed elephant, and it was waiting for him.

Marsh had Goodnight Moon in the car, and there is an elephant in the pictures, and he can point it out to you and tell you what it is and what noise it makes. He did this most of the way to my parents' house, where we were eating lunch. He is my sweet little "Elephant Man". :)

Sunday Praises

Since it is Sunday, I thought I would share this worship-tastic video. This is one of my favorite Christian rock songs. I think the puppet is a cute idea. Enjoy!!

Remember this?

Probably not, because I don't think I ever actually posted a picture of this quilt progress on here. Anyway, this is the progress so far on Grandma M's quilt. It is massive! There are 10 rows, and I have only sewn on 2. Then of course there are the borders. And the backing. The 8 yards of backing. Oh! But good news regarding that! I found a store online that sells the 108" wide fabric from the same collection, and it is only $13.49 a yard, and I would only need 3 yards of it. I can't decide between blue or pink, but once I do, I am totally buying it! $40 is a lot easier on the wallet than $72.
Wanna know how it is hanging on my door? Yes, that is my front door. Yes, it is magnetic. Remember those car door advertising magnets I ordered that don't work on my car because Saturn uses fiberglass instead of metal? Yeah, they have been stuck to my door since then, and I have now found a wonderful use for them!

This is the pattern. I'm doing the middle size, so not quite as big as the whole picture shows. But still pretty big. I can only hope I can find the time to get it quilted and bound!! Eek! I keep getting quilts, not that that is a bad thing. It's a good thing. But then I wonder when I will have time to do my quilts. All three of them. I guess what I'll have to do is start easing them into the line. I'm going to have to hurry and get them done because Christmas is coming so soon!