Weekend!

We have had a really nice weekend.  Yesterday we didn't have to go anywhere so we spent most of the day just laying around and reading books and spending time together.  I'm proud to say that the television didn't even get turned on until last night after the kids were in bed.  It might surprise people to know that we really don't watch very much television.  Most days, unless I have daycare kids that really want to watch cartoons (and those are carefully picked and chosen), our television doesn't come on until after the kids go to bed. And then Jeff and I either watch a movie with mom and dad, or we catch up on a couple of shows on our dvr.   Last night we watched Inception.  I really liked it, though I was a little bit disappointed.  There was so much hype about this movie and its twists and turns and how people couldn't figure out what was going on that I guess I expected too much.  However, I did really enjoy it and it's nice to see a movie with orginality because that is so rare these days.  Everyone is taking old ideas and trying to make them new again, and I imagine that I am not the only one that finds this annoying.  Doesn't anyone have original ideas anymore?
Anyway, I got some new books for my NOOKcolor and I read one last night/today.  "Dead in the Family" is the latest installment of the Charlaine Harris written Sookie Stackhouse series.  I love this series.  Its original and funny and full of thought provoking ideas.  I have only seen the first season of "True Blood" and would like to watch the rest because I really love the characters.  Maybe I will get to that this summer.  The next book that I will be starting on my NOOKcolor is "Awakened"  which is the 8th book in the House of Night Series by P.C. and Kristen Cast.  I love reading series of books because I really like seeing characters develop.  I love vampire stories, too.  Ever since Ann Rice and her vampires and witches, I love reading about the supernatural.  I think if you are going to read and suspend disbelief and immerse yourself in a different world for a while, why not make it one where just about anything is possible and the characters are larger than life.  I also loved the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.  My sisters got me reading those.  Actually, there isn't very much that I won't read.  I love stories of just about any kind.  I just love reading.  I always have.  I still own books that I read and treasured as a child.  Most of them are worn from so much reading.  My copy of "Charlotte's Web" is barely held together and if you opened it, I think that most of the pages would fall out.  I hope my children will treasure their books as much as I have every one of mine.
We were eating dinner last night and the kids were talking about stuff that they learned, especially about monuments around the world.  We were quizzing them about famous landmarks and monuments and Jeff asked them what was in China.  Cebelle shouted very enthusiastically, "Food!"  I guess that since we are fans of Chinese food and she hasn't gotten to that part of the world in her history yet, that was the first thing that came to her mind.  It was pretty hysterical.  We finally got them to say the Great Wall of China after referencing Mulan.....
The kids are mostly just running around and enjoying being kids.  Jeff is out of school this week for break, so we are all happy about that.  It's unfortunate that he has to be gone every night this week because his show at the Paramount goes up on Wednesday.  But we are all happy to have him here during the day.
I finished knitting the two wristers that I was working on and I had enough yarn left over that I decided to make a matching cowl to go with them.  So that's what I'm working on now.  It's about a third of the way finished.  I'm sure I will be able to complete it in the next couple of days since we don't have much going on.  I've been looking at some new patterns and I ordered a couple of new books.  I always love to learn new techniques in knit and crochet.  And truthfully, I use patterns mostly like a recipe...as a kind of guideline.  I take something that I like and usually make something different out of it.  I just like to be inspired by other peoples' creativity.
I'm getting ready to put some dinner on the table.  Kielbasa and macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight.  It's pretty much the kids favorite.  I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes last night for my dad.  He's a big fan.  Then the kids are off to bed and I think that Jeff and I are going to watch "Going the Distance" with mom and dad.  It's the last Netflix movie we have here and since Jeff will be gone every evening this week, we need to watch it tonight.  I was watching an episode of Fringe a few nights ago and Joshua Jackson had this line that reminded me so much of his Dawson's Creek days that I was thinking maybe I should get all the seasons of that on our instant queue and watch it while he's away all week.  Should be good for some laughs at the very least!  Anyway-I will let you know how it goes!  Have a wonderfully adventurous week!