Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka, a review

or Boys Will Be Boys

What? The book, Kuncklehead by Jon Scieszka. A memoir of growing up with five brothers in Flint, MI.


What is this book famous for? Creating the expression, "Boys will be boys." Well, maybe it didn't create it, but it could have. It is full of wild escapades of Jon and his brothers including explosions and fires, tying a little brother to his bed, and sword fighting while peeing/urinating. (There is a joke in the last two words that you will get after you read the book.)

Will it make you laugh or cry?  You will laugh until you cry.

Are all of the outlandish things Scieszka wrote about to be believed? I wasn't there as he was growing up, but according to Ward, Wally, and Theodore, they have done many of the same things. As they listened to the audio version of this book, they sometimes laughed because the situations were really funny and sometimes they laughed because they had done exactly the same thing that Jon and his brothers had done.

Who will enjoy it? The book is targeted for 4th -7th graders, but everyone will enjoy it.
 
Should I read it? Absolutely. 

Makin' Bacon

or Bakin' Bacon

As I was surfing the internet the other day, I found an idea that interested me. Or I should say, I found many ideas that interested me, but one of them I decided to try--cooking bacon in the oven. This seemed like a simple and appealing idea. No more standing over the stove dodging grease splatters or no more overcooking it in the microwave.

As often happens when I'm on the computer, one place leads to another which leads to another and before I know it, I now want to bake bacon instead of figuring out how to fix my washer. Anyway, the point of that is I don't have a credit for the baking idea or remember exactly what the favorite technique was. What I do remember is that it works better with cold bacon and a cold starting oven and should take 15-20 minutes. Also, you should use a pan with sides, so the grease won't run down into the oven.

So, I put bacon slices on my baking pan with sides, put it into the cold oven and set the temperature for 350˚ F. I checked it at 15 minutes and then again at 19 minutes where I found golden, crisp, long strips of bacon. Simple and delicious.

This is definitely something I will use in the future. The bacon can be baking while I am preparing another part of the meal, or if I have the oven on for something else, I can bake some bacon to be frozen for later use.  But the most important part of this experiment is that I got to do a post with the titles, Makin' Bacon and Bakin' Bacon. Once again, I amuse myself.

Thankful Sunday--August 19, 2012

I am thankful that I received a long, handwritten letter in the mail recently.
  

I Spy Orange

Can you find:

1. Leo and Annie's favorite toy

2. A fancy day lily

3. A tea kettle that went on camping trips with me when I was a girl

4. Ear plugs I use when I mow

5. A library summer reading program shirt

6. Tasty summer melon

7. The towel and wash cloth Wally took to college

8. My favorite crafting scissors

9. A flower that the butterflies love

10. A great fantasy novel

11. A word that rhymes with orange

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--August 17, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money.

Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning.

 This Weeks Food Waste.

Two more tomatoes and a potato joined this one in our waste this week.

This was the week that the produce got away from us. We had three tomatoes that got rotten before we used them. Also when I was cleaning out the pantry, I found a rotten potato hidden behind a big box. That explained the smell we couldn't place last week. However with the rest of the tomatoes, Wally and I made spaghetti sauce and salsa that we froze, and Theodore and I made a big pot of potato soup from the rest of the potatoes (for the recipe, see Wally Makes Soup). Both were very good.

Last Minute Addition: A bag of burnt popcorn that is going to the squirrels and birds.

This Week's True Food Confessions

Even though it may not be soup weather, we really liked this potato soup.

We didn't exactly have a good food plan this week, but we made out okay anyway. We had to do some adjusting for the day we didn't have electricity, and we continued to so some catering to Theo's healing mouth. We did most of our meal planning from the produce that Uncle Billy gave us which included squash, tomatoes, and potatoes. We made squash stuffed with sausage, wild rice, and cheese. Everyone liked this even if they weren't big squash fans. It's amazing what a little cheese and sausage will do for a dish. We also made spaghetti and potato soup as mentioned above. One night we had Domino's pizza and it was very good. That's something that we have cut back on a lot since we been trying to eat at home more, so we really enjoyed it.

Now, here's the most important part. For the last couple of weeks, we have been trying to encourage each other to work with what we have at home to eat. When someone is tired or is having a craving for something out, another person tries to "talks them down." It helps that most of the time we have an alternate plan. But you know what, sometimes pizza that has been cooked by someone else just tastes good. I think it's that flexibility that is keeping everyone on board with this effort.