A tiny world away

I discovered this little Playmobil world Velina created on top of the dresser:

I had to take a closer look, especially at this young woman in recovery with plenty of fluids in reach and a bird keeping a close eye at the foot of the bed:

This guy in the center (holding the flowers) is her boyfriend:

This guy was overcome by a plethora of bunnies:

And these Poohs in costume are moms guarding the tower:

Sometimes I really enjoy the girl's imagination. (I enjoy it less when she's trying to make excuses for not doing her chores.)

One Dollar Book Store

Over the weekend, I explored the One Dollar Bookstore in Orange with my mother-in-law (aka Nana). She's a pretty voracious reader and I love going to book stores, though I'm drawn more to non-fiction and reference books. She heard some good buzz about this store where each book, whether hardback or softcover, bestseller or not, was one dollar each. It turns out a lot of Yelp reviewers were accurate in describing it like an abandoned grocery store filled with bookcases:

It was a bit overwhelming. I don't know if you can make out the sign that says "Mixed Books" over these shelves, but that says it all:

A lot of reviewers complained that a lot of the books were old (guide to Word 2.0, anyone?) and that you really have to dig around. Again, pretty accurate. Though there were some attempts at having sections, like a brief Computer section and Children's area, for the most part everything was "Mixed Books".

This was one of the better groupings as this was all fiction in the last decade (for the most part):

But going through the rest of the shelves was kind of a mental challenge. As my eye scanned the spines, the titles would jump from "The Lovely Bones" to "Introducing Microwave Cookery" to "Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopedia Volume 24" to "This is the Cocker Spaniel" right after each other. One book was titled "Come Out Fighting". Was this a book on the history of say, boxing? Or a professional fighter's biography? A witty novel? Or an exercise book? Turns out it was a book about coming out as a gay/lesbian.

In the end, I scored a couple of old crafting books as well as this retro school book (I'm totally drawn to these illustrations):

Overall, Nana and I were glad to have fed our curiosity but we're not dying to go back. Our favorite used book store right now is Bookman in Orange--the books cost more but they are really well organized. After the trip to this place, we appreciate that even more.

Commit2Fit - Week 5

I know I say this every week, but this week's healthy habit of Commit2Fit seems very reachable. I say this after struggling to earn 11 points out of a possible 28 last week (we get a point for each healthy habit we do each day). Anyhoo, this week's challenge is getting in 1000mg of Omega-3 and eating no trans fats. Getting the Omega-3s in capsules counts, so that is easy for me. Eating no trans fats means no fried food (e.g., chips) and no food that contains partially hydrogenated oils, which sadly includes my WW Cookies and Cream bars. That's going to hurt a little.

But I managed to earn 5 out of 5 points yesterday so I'll keep hope alive...

Playing it Old School

Last night, we blew the dust off this game:

The girl was working me:

And she won:

But honestly, I think this is a game I can play like, once. When she asked if I wanted to play it again right after she won, I told her it was time for bed. I'm pretty sure I would have rather eaten all those red and white pegs then spend another 40 minutes calling out coordinates that were worth nothing. I hope this isn't sore-loser talk.

Break glass in case of feeding

This weekend was a blur. I literally slept, woke up to eat, and went back to sleep. I was kind of like those fire axes or hoses where they tell you to "break the glass in case of emergency", but the emergency was to stuff my face.

Needless to say, no decluttering was done. Even, the old man and the girl are starting to comment about when I'm going to put the stuff away...

Happy Father's Day

Fortunately, Paul is fairly easy to please on Father's Day. Here is one of his dream meals: Buffalo burgers with all the fixings and dessert. Dessert happened to be a mini Swedish Almond Sugar Cake (made by my friend Karen) and a big Strawberry Flan with Rice Pudding. I was fortunate to be a guest of my friend Karen at a fundraiser for Men Alive last night and I won the flan at the dessert auction. I don't know which was sweeter, the dessert or the timing.


As for gifts, Paul scored a book (The Lost City of Z) and See's Candy from his mom, a card and painted heart-shaped rock from the girl, and from me a movie theater size box of Mike & Ikes and these:

I downed a BK value meal to score this full set of these snazzy Star Trek glasses.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Father's Day!

Goodbye Fourth Grade

Well, someone was happy for the last day of school.

Man, time is flying.
Can I put her on pause?