Colonial House and other sundries

So DH and I watched the first bit of Colonial House last night. I don't like it NEARLY as much as Frontier House. They spent no time at all getting the viewer into the experience with the colonists. We jumped in as they were getting on the boat to the colony. We missed training and any sort of real introduction to the players. We also never got any real tour of the colony or the homes but were told to check things out on the website. It was nice to see the brief tour through Mrs. Vorhees kitchen however brief and string obsessed it was. Colonial House is much harder to get into because it feels very scattered and without any real direction. Plus, the colonists don't really seem to be getting into the experience fully. Maybe it is just too far to go back?

I would love to see a "Fiddler on the Roof" house. Remove the romance of it a bit and at the same time get to see how the ancestors from another prominant culture in our melting pot lived. It is enclosed enough (thanks to the ghetto/shtetl restrictions) to really get a feel for the era unlike trying to replicate Lower East Side tenament house complete with shirtwaist factory. Plus it will be interesting to see Sabbath restrictions enforced there as well. Maybe do from Purim through till Shavuot. Could be interesting.

So I got The Outside World tonight at the library, started and then finished it. I do believe that I will be purchasng this one in hardback. I enjoyed her other book The Ladies Auxiliary very much, but this one just is amazing. I keep reading about how it is funny, etc, and while it is amusing in places, I was just so moved by it and I cannot begin to say how wonderful this book is. Seriously.

DS and I are having some clashes lately, which is adding a lot of stress. He has taken to meowing all the time. And he does it in place of whining when he doesn't get his way, which seems to be happening more and more often. (it doesn't help that the way he isn't getting includes things like pouring apple juice on teh carpets for effect and stuff) And he doesn't want to go to sleep at night and fights it relentlessly.

He also hasn't let anyone but me put him to bed in over a year. Major screaming and hysterics if Michael tries. I'm just at my wit's end.

So my monitor is fried

And luckily I can use DH's computer here and there if I need to. It was a dramatic ending - a lot of fizzling that ended in a going black to the line of light in the middle followed by the little twinkle before total blackness. We're in the market for a new one for me.

The weather here is hot so we've had a lot of pool days, and indoor playdays. We went to the mall to their play area yesterday. We brought our lunch and had a great time with our friends.

I read another book in between the ones I was reading called "Not Much Just Chillin' " and it is WONDEFUL. It is about middle school. It's non-fiction and follows several different kids through their year in middle school. It certainly makes you consider homeschooling if you weren't already. What a hard row to hoe for kids. I was lucky that I went to a small private school ofr elementary through 8th grade and then went stright to high school. I cannot imagine having to go to middle school. Ugh.

Our brakes also went out this week. Well they were seriously grinding metal to metal (no warning squeak or anything) so I eased it back home and called DH to get a ride home and he fixed it the next morning. Ugh. Now that was freaky. DH said the rotors were ground down pretty far.

Now I have to drag DH out of bed (it IS 8:30), get him to work and start getting ready for Shabbat. This weekend is Lag B'Omer, so we have haircuts on our agenda. My long-haired 3yo is going to get his first serious haircut. He has only gotten trims, but he wants it short for the summer and I think it is time. I'll miss the little surfer boy look he has going on though.