Right Now...

A compilation CD is playing on the stereo.  The girls are off chasing lizards.  Wave is on the couch.  Des & I are enjoying the deck. Aaaaah....

jen.
-- Sent from my Palm Pre

The Best Salad Ever

I ♥ you, arugula.

I had the best salad ever today.  I can't stop thinking about it.  It was so, so good.

Today we had brunch at a little place in Davis called Ciocolat.  Some other people ordered some other things, but I ordered a salad.  A spinach & arugula salad to be exact.

Spinach & arugula are two of my favorite things.  I eat spinach several times a week.  Arugula is more of a luxury.  It's not available all the time or in every grocery store.  I get it when I can.

But I digress...  Back to the salad.   Mmmm...

Picture a good sized plateful of the aforementioned leaves, cubed mozzarella, shaved parmesan, hearts of palm, a drizzle of olive oil, salt & pepper.  It was so good, I ate it without the dressing.  I also ate it without thinking to take a picture.  You'll have to enjoy the arugula field instead.

Thanks for lunch, Mom.  Good find!

7:54 am

So far this morning...

Bunnies escaped from their backyard cage.
Desmond pooped on the floor.
Captured rabbits. Got scratched.
Desmond pooped on the floor again.
Smoke detector went off.
I'm out of coffee.

It had better get better...

I ♥ Books

I love books.  I  L-O-V-E books.  I ♥♥♥♥ books.  I won't go so far as to say I luv books, though.  That's just wrong.

Lydia had an assignment recently to estimate the number of books in her house.  (Incidentally, completing that assignment  earned 5 free books!)  She did this by counting the number of books on a few shelves and getting an average number.  Since all our shelves aren't the same size, she used a tape measure for the length.  Working together, we came up with this equation.  23 inches = 25 books.  It took some time, but she came up with 1250 as her answer.

Since then, I've been looking around and realizing that we missed some books.  There are books on tables, in tables, under tables and in baskets.  There are books ALL OVER Lydia's floor and under her pillows.  I have stacks of books in my room.  Rowan & Desmond sleep with books in their beds.

Still, it's not enough.  I need more books.  I can't enter the library (which we do at least once per week) without perusing the sale shelf.  Most of my coins go into the mouth of that hungry, metal box.

I've recently discovered PaperBackSwap. It's a site where members can list books they are willing to part with.  If someone else wants one of your books, they'll request it.  You then send the book to them.  You can even buy and print out postage right from the site.  For each book you mail out, you get to choose a book from someone else's list.  You earn bonus books for listing your first 10 books for trade and for signing up new members.  (Use that link up there to help me get more books! :)

I'm actually a pretty picky reader, so most of the books I want are not available on PaperBackSwap.  They do have a lot of books that Lydia wants, though.  She's been reading an average of 2 books per day, so I need all the help I can get to keep her in books!

My new source for my books is Borders.com.  They have an amazing selection of used books at truly amazing prices.  With the $10 gift cards Matt send Desmond & I for our birthdays, I was able to get 14 books!  Yes, really.  Fourteen books for $20.  I'm a Borders Rewards Plus member, so I don't have to pay shipping ever.  (That's really worth it, by the way.  It's $20 per year.  You get $10 back in Borders Bucks to spend + free shipping + and extra 10% off a lot of things in the store.)

Another book site I like is The Book Depository.  They have a good selection and shipping is always free.  They also have a really cool map that shows what people around the world are buying.

It is so exciting to me that, at this very moment, 16 books are speeding their way to us through the mail. (I got 2 yesterday.)  Even more exciting, I spent hardly any money on those books!

Yay, books!