Reading

I just finished Call the Midwife – Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth.  They’re interesting reads (especially if you like the show), but I admit I enjoyed the first one more. The second book doesn’t really have anything to do with midwifery, but focuses more on the workhouses and the lives of the people affected by them, and.  Not really surprising considering the title of the book, but I admit I had hoped for a tad more birthing tales.  I’m about ¼ through Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan and it’s another story where most of the characters are downright annoying.  One girl is incredibly annoying as she can’t seem to realize what an ass her boyfriend is – and he’s not even hiding it.  The matriarch favored her son and helped screw up her daughter because she never seemed to like her (from birth it would seem).  One of those situations where you want to smack half the people and tell them to get over themselves or to grow a backbone or… just something!  Ack!

Watching

Still watching Gilmore Girls now and then, but more as background noise when I’m doing other things because sometimes Lorelai Gilmore (played by Lauren Graham) can actually be quite annoying. The funny thing is that even in Parenthood, Lauren Graham’s character was often quite bothersome too… maybe it’s just Lauren Graham I don’t care for? Anyhoo, sometimes the fast-talking and hyperness can be annoying and other times I just want to smack her because she needs to grow up and get over herself.  Funnily enough I felt the same away about her character in Parenthood, so there you go!

As for movies, we’ve watched a few. Interstellar was really good. It’s almost 3 hours, so leave yourself enough time, but it really didn’t feel like 3 hours at all – this coming from someone who has a hard time staying awake in the evening if we’re watching TV in bed.  The mere fact that I stayed up until 11:00 without even getting sleepy is a testament of just how much I liked this movie. I’m not even sure where to begin… as far as imagery and sound go, this movie is perfect.  It’s thought-provoking and emotional and fulfills my sci-fi needs.  When I was younger I wanted to be an astronaut, but math is my nemesis, so it was never going to happen.  Honestly?  If I didn’t have a family or really bad motion sickness, I would have applied to go to Mars in a heartbeat.

We also watched Birdman, and… not as impressed.  The acting is phenomenal, really, but I was tremendously bored – we both were.  I wonder if the movie would have been better had he actually been a superhero and not just an actor that portrayed one.

If you haven’t watched The Theory of Everything, then do so immediately.  The acting is really, really good and I learned new things about Stephen Hawking.  He is such a brilliant and fascinating man, and it was interesting to get a more personal look into what his life was like when he was younger and the relationship between himself and his wife at the time.

Most importantly, The Avengers: Age of Ultron was AWESOME!  Lots of action, and a lot of humor, perfectly casted… what more can you ask for?

Organizing

We knew we had plenty of stuff to sell at a garage sale, but I think I underestimated just how much.  I’ve gone through at least 8 bins of baby clothes and haven’t even touched toys and other miscellaneous yet. We’re pricing it all to sell, though, so someone is going to score some really good deals.  Plus, we’ll get some much needed storage space back, which is a big bonus.  Now that we’ve started, I’ve begun looking around the house at everything wondering what we can add to the growing pile. It’s so liberating!

Drinking/Eating

Its ice tea weather finally!  I love Tazo’s Iced Passion Tea best and even though I like my tea sweet, this flavor doesn’t need much sweetening.  The kids are also huge fans, and since its herbal, I don’t feel bad sharing.  I plan on making a cake this weekend for my sweet tooth, but otherwise we’ve been grilling lately and trying to stay away from DQ because it’s also so easy to stop when the kids are napping and really not good to do on a weekly basis.

Thinking About

Road tripping! We’re heading out to Colorado this Summer and have opted to drive since we want to hit up a few places and prefer driving to flying. Time will tell whether we’ve chosen poorly or not based on how the kids do. We’re going to do the majority of the driving overnight in the hopes that they’ll sleep for most of the drive and keep from getting too cranky.  We’re crossing our fingers and planning for as many scenarios as we can possibly think of and are not above bribing the kids to keep tantrums at bay.  You can bet I’m bringing M&Ms and movies and whatever else it takes to get through this trip with as few meltdowns as possible.