Sunday's Snippets

READING:  Ulysses S. Grant's Ulysses S. Grant: Personal Memoirs.  Yes, the one that Mark Twain published all those many years ago.  It's a wonderful read, Grant is a very good writer and battle after battle is recounted in a manner that keeps one interested and moving through the pages quickly, as well as the more personal bits.  I know, I know, you aren't going to probably read it, but trust me, it is worthy. I was able to get the movie called The Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford, that was based on the book I was reading last week about Mary Surratt and the assassination of Lincoln...the movie was good but did not follow the book very closely...told from the point of view of someone who was not featured greatly in the book.  The book is much better and truer to fact.
SWIMMING NEWS:  Plane tickets are purchased and swimmers are gearing up for another swim meet in the Grand Prix series with the Olympians, this time in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Matt swam in this meet last year as well, with his high school team, so now he will enter the meet with his college team.  A nice progression.  Until then, I believe they are just working very hard and training long course after all those months (August to March) of short course swimming. 
COOKING BYTES:  Caught up with my Wednesday with Donna Hay group this week...if you have not made any of her recipes, you are truly missing out.  Fresh ingredients, lower in fat and calories for the most part, no fake ingredients, simple, easy, and most of all, delicious.  Check out her website here and make something!  Don't be put off by the metric measurements as you can google: "how many ounces is 200 grams" and have it in a flash.  After doing it over and over you don't even need to google it sooner than you think.
FAV NEW FIND:  Mark cleaned out the mechanical room...I was always afraid to go in there as it was filled with guy stuff and there didn't seem to be any particular order to it, and it all looked scary and unidentifiable most of the time.  Voila...no more...all the old scout projects, home school projects, bits and pieces of project projects (or whatever) have all been hauled out of there and a trip made to the chemical wasteland place made.  Whew.   A favorite new thing around here indeed.
FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  A dear friend made something very special for me that she knew I would absolutely love and it arrived on my doorstep in a big box of most interesting proportions as she said she was sending me a little something.  It was definitely my favorite thing this past week.  
WEEK IN REVIEW:  A busy work week, some fun time this weekend, some working around the house this weekend, time with friends, a nice phone call from Alex who has a new job, and I leave you with a photo of Steve, Kiernan, and Matt at Xavier as Matt and Steve took a drive over to Cincinnati to visit Kiernan this weekend, to see the campus and where Kiernan hangs out these days, etc.  A fine time was had by all. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO:   At the Indianapolis Children's Museum:  I was talking to someone this week who had no idea that we have a permanent exhibit of the glasswork of Dale Chihuly called Fireworks of Glass, click here for information and go check it out if you haven't...it's all lovely.  This is what's happening at the ISO this coming week:  Vive la France! click here