7 Quick Takes Fourth Friday in Lent

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Check out the rolls!  I missed her glorious chub during the winter months. 

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The weather?  It rocks.  Our rink?  It's the single largest mosquito breeding ground in the village.  But it is slowly being pumped out to the sewer.  No, not my toast sewer.  I'm not from here, remember?  Seriously, I got three bites tonight.  I think I love mosquitoes right now.  But check back in June or July.

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I was reading Waltzing Matilda and was delighted to learn about Elizabeth Gaskell.  Never heard of her, but Charlotte says, and I quote, "If you liked DowntonAbbey, you will love these!"  You had me at, "If you liked Downtown Abbey."

I found Cranford and North and South on Netflix streaming, so now you know what I'll be watching while folding laundry for the next several weeks. 

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It's almost too hot to make Irish Soda Bread, but I already bought the quart of buttermilk and the pound of raisins.  Plus, this recipe will knock your socks off.  I said it all before.  I'll say it again:

I'm not that Irish, so I never even heard of Irish soda bread until college. What I experienced then was dry, dusty, and conducive to cotton mouth. In fact, this is what "traditional Irish soda bread" is supposed to be. Let's face it, Ireland: not known for fabulous cuisine. Then I met Aunt Deb, another Kraut married into this Mick family, and she gave me the World's Best But Least Irish Soda Bread Recipe. All of Aunt Deb's recipes are World's Best, such as her Cranberry Salsa, her Margarita, but I'm getting off track. What makes her soda bread so amazing is TWO, count them, that's TWO WHOLE CUPS of Sugar and ONE ENTIRE QUART of Buttermilk. I think that if you add 2 cups of Sugar and 1 qt. of buttermilk to any baked good, it would be better. This recipe yields 3 9x5 loaves of the most cake like raisin studded deliciousness. Tastes great toasted, and buttered. Yes, butter that goodness!

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I'm not sure if it's because it's the fourth week of Lent, or if it's because of Daylight Savings Time, but everything kind of fell apart this week.  It takes me about a month to recover from this bi-annual time change.  I don't even want to know how many tardies my kids got this week because we I can't get out of bed on time.  And dinner?  What dinner?

But this blog post, gave me one tip that I can implement today.  Leila wrote, "my friend hadn't yet told me I just had to know what was for dinner by 10 am."

I love friends like that.  I usually try to know what's for dinner the night before, so I can throw a hunk of frozen meat on the counter and defrost it the old fashioned way.  I'm a risk taker, what can I say.  But 10 am,  I can do that!  Even this week. 

Tonight...ummm...potato soup and a salad.  Done.  Nothing to thaw either.

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The Hunger Games is coming to theaters next Friday.  I wrote a brief review of the book here.

--- 7 ---

My dad is suing the Department of Health and Human Resources.  The news media showed up at his office yesterday, but he had already left.  I had to tell my parents to stop reading nasty comments on news sites.  Prayers for them would be most appreciated.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

More Books for Middle Schoolers and Up

*I am editing this post on 4/27/12 in light of my recent analysis of Beastly.  I have not read all the books Young Critic recommends on this list.  I'm sorry I was not clear about this when I originally posted.  Of the books in the comment below, I have read and recommend  The Lost Hero, Rules and Matched.   I have not read Small Steps or Wish.


I do not recommend A Drowned Maiden's Hair because it is largely about 19th century spiritualism, and the main characters fool the wealthy about of the money by staging seances.  Though, the spiritualism in this book is shown to be a farce, and the heroine forced to participate makes it all right in the end, I steer clear of spiritualism, Ouija, seances and communicating with the dead.  That stuff is dangerous. 
Mea culpa. My sincere apologies.

First, I want to thank the Young Critic for her insightful comment which I am re-posting here:

Hi I am in 8th grade and find that most of the books my mother suggests are boring. So I have come up with a list of books that are not all about sex and despair and they are deemed appropriate for 7th and 8th graders. Enjoy!

1. Beastly- by Alex Finn: a classic romance novel about Beauty and the Beast retold in a modern teenage setting. There are mild curse words.
2. The Lost Hero- by Rick Riordan: Sorta of a sequel to The Lighting Thief but with different characters.
3. Rules-by Cynthia Lord: I enjoyed this book very much. It is about a young girl dealing with a brother who has a disability. You see the characters grow in this story.
4. Matched-by Ally Condle: This book was ok. Similar to the Hunger Games but without all the deaths. It had a good story but it was a little hard to follow.
5. Small Steps- by Louis Sachar: I loved this book. A sequel to Holes though you don't have to read it to understand this book. A story about a boy putting his life together and finding people in his life that truly matter.
6. A Drowned Maiden's Hair-by Laura Schlitz: This is my favorite book besides Harry Potter. It is age appropriate for younger children as well.
7. Wish-by Alexandra Bullen: This book is very fun to read. A girl gets three dresses (three wishes) and finds some surprises along the way. I wouldn't recommend it for 6th and 7th because it has the brief mentioning of gays, drinking, and some slight cursing.

I appreciate the Young Critic's comments regarding #7, and secondly, I'd like to add a few more titles and comments as well.

Flipped by Wendelin Van Drannen: A beautiful story about what I see in my own life as the "real" people and the "plastic" people. I cried. My daughters, 12 and 13 cried. Can't recommend this book enough and the movie was pretty good too.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore: Captivating "alien in human form hiding on earth being hunted by bad aliens" story. Similar to The Dangerous Days of Daniel X. Slight cursing here as well.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Probably deserves its own post.

I have trouble with the violence. My husband notes that I, personally, have trouble with violence in movies and books. But with the Hunger Games, the mercy killing in the end of the Hunger Games is truly disturbing. When Cato is being eaten alive by mutant dogs, is it ok for Catniss to kill him with her bow and arrow? When my teens read this, we had some great discussions on intent. Was it Catniss's intention to kill Cato or was she trying to render him unconscious to spare his suffering? (I think she was guilty of the first.) Why is one wrong and the other right? The Literate Mother provides a detailed analysis of the violence in this book, which seems more disturbing listed than it did as occurring actions within the story, but I digress. In the third book of the trilogy, we see the main characters use violence more and more, to the point where our hero, Catniss, shoots a curious and innocent bystander with reaction, not thinking. These books are definitely for mature readers, high school and up.


Aurelia by Anne Osterlund: Good story of a princess who wants to be an advocate for the people but someone is trying to kill her. In the sequel Exile, she has escaped with the one person she can trust, who happens to be a guy. They are on the run for several weeks together, and though they have feelings for each other, they manage to maintain control of themselves. Barely. Enough steam in the sequel to make me reserve this one for mature readers as well.

Matched by Ally Condie: My teens and I really enjoyed this one. Romance in a dystopian society. Scary without gore, romantic without lust. Cassia is a likable heroine who discovers that that her Society is the opposite of freedom.  I review the sequel, Crossed, here.


Lastly, please, read the books your kids read. I think this becomes more important, the older your children are. At least read parts of the books they are reading, and ask your child what happened later. Discuss motives, actions, characters. Discussions are teaching moments. I impart a lot of teaching in my conversations with children, but I also learn so much about how my children are are maturing, what they like and dislike, how they see the world at this point in their lives, and their understanding of justice, love, romance, war, etc. Share with them what books you enjoyed at their age. Plus, you might just enjoy reading the same kinds of books as your kids.