Books I've Read Recently

I have a stack of books on my desk that I have read in the last couple months. Some of them I read to myself and others I read to William for school. I just wanted to list them on here so that I can file them.

• Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
• The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds
• Art Auction Mystery by Anna Nilsen
• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
• Powers by Ursula K Le Guin
• Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg
• The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• A Decembered Grief by Harold Ivan Smith
• Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey
• The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine
• Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller

and the first few books in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith:

1. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998)
2. Tears Of The Giraffe (2000)
3. Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001)
4. The Kalahari Typing School for Men (2002)
5. The Full Cupboard of Life (2003)
6. In The Company of Cheerful Ladies
   
7. Blue Shoes and Happiness

Charleston Visit April 2010

I am trying something new for this post. I uploaded my photos to Picasa and I am going to try to post them using links. Let's see how it goes.

From Charleston Visit

Michael and William accompanied Drew and I to Illinois Friday for our monthly visit to June and George.

From Charleston Visit

We had our tea/coffee party of McDonald's coffees, both hot and cold, hot cocoa, and teas, also both hot and cold. June always gets the table ready for us to talk and drink around. We looked at recent photos on Drew's new iPad. They are easier to see than on his little phone screen.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

Next we went to visit George at the nursing home. He had had a shower that morning and was in a good mood and awake. He kept talking about First Class postage and needing to send a letter.

From Charleston Visit

On our way back to June's Drew stopped at Taco Bell to buy lunch for us. We ate at home around the table.

From Charleston Visit

Michael had made arrangements ahead of time to buy Grandma's 2006 PT Cruiser during this visit. He was very excited to have a newer vehicle and June (who can't drive any longer due to her eyesight) is happy to have kept the car in the family and not have to go to the expense of advertising it for sale this summer or keeping up on the insurance.

From Charleston Visit

Their transaction completed, we moved on to the next job at hand. June has been storing memorabilia in a U-Store-It facility and the monthly fee was dear. In addition to our visiting, we came to move the boxes and furniture to her garage, which Drew and his sister and I had organized the month before just for that reason. We borrowed cousin Travis' pickup truck and worked for two and a half hours. Everything fit in the garage. Drew turned in the lock for the storage unit and that chapter is finished.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

At the nursing home there was a large glass cage with birds. The turtle doves were taking turns sitting on their nest. The finches were beautiful.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

The view along Lincoln was beautiful with the trees in bloom. And the clouds were fluffy and white.

Portabella Pizzettas

Recently I downloaded an iPhone application called Big Oven (http://www.bigoven.com/). It is really just another recipe site but I like my app in my iPhone where I can surf while watching TV or while I'm away from home. The other night I found an interesting "pizza" recipe using portabello mushrooms for the "crust." Drew and I were especially interested in trying it because we are attempting to lower our carbohydrate intake; bread/pizza dough are high in carbs. Tonight I prepared the recipe and we found it to be very tasty and filling. I forgot to take a picture before we ate the mushrooms so you will have to just take my word for it or look at the photo at Big Oven. You can make alterations to the toppings if you like to add meat or other veggies.



Ingredients

5 oz. frozen chopped spinach
1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 t. dried basil, crushed

1/4 t. coarsely ground pepper

12 portabello mushrooms, 3 to 4 in diameter

4 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 T butter or margarine, melted

1/2 t. salt


Preparation

1. Thaw spinach and press out liquid, finely chop.

2. Combine spinach, cheese basil, and pepper in a mixing bowl.

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Clean mushrooms (remember to only wash the tops and not get water into the spore areas), remove stems.

5. Place mushroom caps top side down on a lightly greased cookie sheet, brush with butter or margarine.

6. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of spinach mixture into each cap.

7. Place four tomato slices on each mushroom and salt.

8. Bake for 12 minutes or till heated through. OR Place on the unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil 4 inches from the heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

9. Cut into quarters and serve. Happy healthful eating!

Drew and Sue Visited New
Grandbaby Boy in Minnesota



Grandpa with Gregory John Mann and Matthew.




Matthew showing his K'Nex creation to his mommy.



Matthew building his Lego police car present from Joey, Carrie and the twins.
He built the entire car by looking at the printed instructions without help from anyone.



Great step grandma Ann with Gregory for his first out-to-eat dining experience;
great grandpa Robert treated the family to dinner at the "Good Earth" restaurant.
The food was wonderfully organic and delicious.



Bobbe had been using an empty carseat box as an end table next to her rocking chair
so Drew and Sue bought her a real cabinet and Drew put it together with the help of Matthew.



The finished product shown by the assemblers.



Drew and Gregory resting. Gregory was a very quiet baby until he had his diaper changed.
He has a very pleasing disposition and he eats lots of milk.
By the end of the week he was over 9.5 pounds.



Drew helped Justin install white wire shelves in all the closets.
Matthew received the Colts jersey from his grandpa
Drew just in time for the playoffs. Go Colts!!



Drew also helped Justin install bookshelves in the office room.



Gregory wearing the 3 mo. outfit from Joey and Carrie.



Proud daddy Justin with one-week-old Gregory.

Matthew holding Gregory

Gregory John with Great Grandparents

New Boy Grandbaby

Bobbe and Justin are the proud parents of a new baby boy, Gregory John. Big brother Matthew is excited (as are mommy and daddy). Gregory was born at 2:20 a.m. this morning (January 10, 2010) in Minnesota. He weighed 9 lbs and was 20.5 inches long. His mommy is doing well, too. They plan to return home Tuesday.

Grandma and Grandpa have planned a trip to Minnesota later in the week to hold their eighth grandchild and celebrate Christmas and Matthew's sixth birthday.

Gregory John showing off his hair.

Trying to peek out.

Where's that food? I know it's somewhere around here.

Peacefully sleeping.