Girl in a Boy House

I am obsessed with Ma Wilder. She's more woman...

2012-05-26T09:32:28.014-07:00

I am obsessed with Ma Wilder. She's more woman than I'll ever be. I can't even handle a weekend of camping, for heaven's sake.

For ages now I have been wanting to read The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure - it's the story of her own obsession with the Wilders and her trip around America to visit some of their homesteads. I hear it's really good.

I always wanted to live back in the old days when ...

2012-05-26T06:51:57.214-07:00

I always wanted to live back in the old days when things were so simple and then I reminnd myself once a month how women used to ummm...you know....the Aunt flow?
And how did they entertain their children? How?

I like how Barbara Walker (who wrote the LH cookbo...

2012-05-26T05:30:16.067-07:00

I like how Barbara Walker (who wrote the LH cookbook) says that Farmer Boy is Laura's daydream of a childhood without hunger. Aw.

Oooh, I do like the old-timey prairie romance. Al...

2012-05-25T18:02:30.366-07:00

Oooh, I do like the old-timey prairie romance. All the courting by going for sleigh rides and buggy rides! And then he brings Laura a pin for Christmas. He pinned her! Just like in the 50s! I do like that book, although the poor crazy Mrs Brewster who tries to stab her husband...that's a little weird.

The romance of Almanzo driving out to pick her up on the weekends, for like 24 miles or whatever, pretty much wipes out the creep factor that he's 25 and she's 15...well, maybe not...

I feel fairly confident that your boys, like mine,...

2012-05-25T18:00:10.278-07:00

I feel fairly confident that your boys, like mine, enjoyed the part about the teacher beating the crap out of the "bad boys". AWESOME! they yelled as we were reading it. GO MR CORSE!

Then when it turned out to be Father's whip...colour them thrilled.

It is pretty great. It's nice to read a Laura...

2012-05-25T17:58:58.055-07:00

It is pretty great. It's nice to read a Laura Ingalls Wilder book that isn't about devastating poverty and hunger! I love that part about not eating ALL the sugar.

Farmer Boy is my favourite, too. Although These Ha...

2012-05-25T17:06:12.764-07:00

Farmer Boy is my favourite, too. Although These Happy Golden Years is great because of all the romance. Old-timey prairie homesteader romance, but still.

I really want that hummous recipe now. My boys *love* hummous and I could get in their good books by whipping up a batch this weekend.

I read that book to my boys when they were 3 &...

2012-05-25T16:19:30.277-07:00

I read that book to my boys when they were 3 & 5, and five years later they still talk about it.

I'm chuckling at your comment about bread and molasses and salt pork fat. My father grew up in conditions similar to Farmer Boy (no electricity, no running water, 1 room school house, working manual labour from a young age) and from him I've inherited a love of bread with molasses and salt pork. Though I do enjoy a good pot of hummous on occasion.

We had the whole Little House series when I was a ...

2012-05-25T16:03:34.227-07:00

We had the whole Little House series when I was a child, but I read all but one of the others multiple times before I ever tried Farmer Boy: I'd assumed it would be about boys, and therefore boring. (I assumed Those Happy Golden Years would be about old people and STILL haven't read it.) Then one day in a state of book desperation I read it, and it ended up being my favorite of all of them. Eliza and the boot black brush! We didn't eat ALL the sugar, mother. Watermelons in the ice house! Harvesting the nuts! Trying to save as many hills of some crop as possible from the frost!

I know all about the black hole of renovating. We ...

2012-05-24T08:01:28.554-07:00

I know all about the black hole of renovating. We are currently redoing our downstairs bathroom, the flooring in my office, and a bunch of outside stuff in the yards. It never ends.

Ha, ha, ha. Glad to see it's not only me who g...

2012-05-24T05:10:12.286-07:00

Ha, ha, ha. Glad to see it's not only me who gets up early and then goes through the night in a sleeping state.

LisaDay

Even after all these stressful posts, I am still j...

2012-05-24T04:57:40.592-07:00

Even after all these stressful posts, I am still jealous of your renovation. :)

The song references kill me. I often think of song...

2012-05-23T18:29:53.544-07:00

The song references kill me.
I often think of songs when certain phrases come up.
I'm weird like that.
I also have thoughts early in the morning...which only means that I'm begging for a nap by 10am :)

I always sing Step By Step by Eddie Rabbit! Most p...

2012-05-23T15:51:07.834-07:00

I always sing Step By Step by Eddie Rabbit! Most people seem to have no idea what song that is.

Oh see, I am NOT a morning person so I could never...

2012-05-23T13:49:44.000-07:00

Oh see, I am NOT a morning person so I could never wake up at 430.

I'm usually up at 740 and that's hard enough.

I have no idea what any of the Step songs are, but...

2012-05-23T12:11:37.127-07:00

I have no idea what any of the Step songs are, but now I have I Love a Rainy Night stuck in my head, and I don't even know if Eddie Rabbit actually sings it. You have to be stopped.

We have a relatively new house that just has too much crap in it. Well actually, it has too many books in it, which means the other crap has nowhere to go. I live in a crap library.

Well I don't USUALLY get Step by Step by Eddie...

2012-05-23T12:00:21.640-07:00

Well I don't USUALLY get Step by Step by Eddie Rabbit stuck in my head - in fact had managed to forget all about that song- but NOW it's in there. Damn. Stupid 80s...

The shabby by comparison problem is the reason I put off redoing our (ridiculously crappy and dated) bathroom for years until the toilet leaked, ruined the floors, and we just HAD to fix it (and everything else in there). Now other bathrooms look like ass. Sigh.

Step three, have her open the box... Great! Now I...

2012-05-23T11:41:14.132-07:00

Step three, have her open the box...

Great! Now I also have THAT in my mind!

See? My mind went to the SNL digital short. "...

2012-05-23T10:50:35.675-07:00

See? My mind went to the SNL digital short. "Step one...." So bad. Happy for your new kitchen! Yay!

I did not get a double oven because it just did no...

2012-05-23T10:45:40.426-07:00

I did not get a double oven because it just did not feel right. The bottom opens right onto the floor! But the oven I did really like, and ended up ordering, has a convection option. I didn't really WANT that, but it came with the oven so what the hell. Maybe I will become a total convection oven obsessive!

STEP ONE! We can have lots of fun! STEP TWO! Th...

2012-05-23T10:39:18.473-07:00

STEP ONE! We can have lots of fun! STEP TWO! There's so much we can do! STEP THREE! It's just you and meeeee! STEP FOUR! I can give you more!

See, I can adapt.

I wish I was a morning person. But I love late nig...

2012-05-23T10:36:33.108-07:00

I wish I was a morning person. But I love late nights. And I've given birth to 2 night-owls so I'm doomed to never fall asleep before midnight.

What did you decide about the oven?

Yup, fix one room in an older home and all the oth...

2012-05-23T10:36:24.109-07:00

Yup, fix one room in an older home and all the other rooms start whining about how they want the same cool clothes as the other kids. It's aggravating.

I hear Step by Step and immediately the New Kids on the Block are in my head. I was... a painfully uncool tween.

fun times. can't wait for our own kitchen ren...

2012-05-22T18:02:50.358-07:00

fun times. can't wait for our own kitchen reno.

someday...

I appreciate your stress scale -- it made me laugh...

2012-05-22T13:48:11.093-07:00

I appreciate your stress scale -- it made me laugh.

We are going to "remodel" our kitchen. Or more accurately: fix it because it's a complete tip. Alas I still recall the kitchen remodel my parents did in 1987 and I'm dreading it.