Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

It feels like it’s been an eventful week already, although I suppose the weekend started that off. On Saturday morning I had the opportunity to go to the temple with my nephew, who’s starting his at-home MTC this month; my lovely in-laws took me, my sister-in-law, and our niece out to lunch; and then we booked it back to my kiddos so that the older girls and I could make it to “Pirates of Penzance Jr.”, featuring their two favorite cousins (at least, on that side!). Afterward I forced myself to hit Walmart–we were out of bunny bedding–and then my youngest and I headed home to my hubby while the older three stayed for cousin sleepovers. (Church felt a little bizarre with just the three of us, but my Sunday School lesson went better than I’d expected, so that was good.) We had dinner in Clearfield, where we retrieved our three, and then on Monday there was child drama with our 12-year-old. (While I think good things came out of it, it wasn’t the hoped-for start to the day.) My son got his second Covid shot after school–thankfully, he barely seems to be sore!–and then yesterday I bit the bullet and CLEANED OUT THE FRIDGE. As in, removed all drawers and most shelves, tossed sketchy food (including the indisputable source of the odor), organized and inventoried, and essentially made the inside look new. Go me! I even turned something that had been in the fridge for a while into dinner, which felt like a definite win. The three younger kids were in bed at a good time, too–we’re prioritizing that because of the upcoming time change–AND I got to finish reading Flight of the Bluebird (The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters, Book 3) with my 12-year-old. Which is what brings us together today…

After successfully surviving Walmart this morning–because apparently BOTH pairs of my son’s sneakers have holes in them, and it’s been snowy again–I have exercised, done a load of wash, eaten lunch, and made Jello, which makes the review of Bluebird the logical next step. It’s proving to be more difficult than I was hoping, however, because I’m of two minds about this one. As a book with far more than a passing nod to “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, it’s hilarious; as the final book in the “Bland Sisters” trilogy, however, I have my doubts about the character arcs. I’m just not sure the path set out in the first book actually leads to where this third book ends. On the other hand, if I ponder it, I feel like there is a psychological case to be made in its favor. (It’s not as strong a case as one might wish, but it’s there.) Either way, I feel like the first book has a different flavor than the other two, and while books 2 and 3 were totally worth it as parodies, I enjoyed the first book the most–and on its own merits. Do with that what you will!