crumbs

I just wrote a post I’m not going to publish. So there went one hour of my day.

***

Digging in the freezer for chickens, I tore a bunch of skin off the back of my pinky. Shuffling frozen bags of ground beef, green beans, and bread around in a pit of white ice is the same as fingers scraping down a blackboard. I hate, hate, hate it.

***

First thing this morning, the kids and I watched this youtube video of how to cut up a chicken. Then we cut up a chicken, watched the video again, and cut up another one. Three or four more chickens and I’ll be a pro.

***

Then we ate breakfast.

***

I finally finished Middlesex. It was a good book, but I’m glad to be done with it.

***

Speaking of books…

A. For many months now, I’ve been racking my brain, trying to remember the title of a book my mother read to me and my brothers when we were young. All I could remember is that the kids lived in the mountains and put an onion poultice on some man, possibly while he was in a bathtub. Neither Google nor the librarian were any help, and my mother had no idea what I was talking about. And then one evening when I was leisurely perusing the stacks at the library, I saw it! The book was sitting there, centered on the shelf, screaming my name. I snatched it up before the title—Where the Lilies Bloom—even had a chance to register. It’s as good as I remember it, too.

B. I’ve recently discovered Johanna Hurwitz’s books and we’ve been cruising through them, one right after the other. The books are geared towards kids ages 4-8, but the older two love to listen in. In fact, my oldest child is the one who laughs the hardest at the funny parts.

***

My kids had their first-ever (as far as I know) Little Debbie cakes: Peppermint Swiss Rolls. It was a big deal. However, their enthusiasm quickly faded. “They’re not very good,” they said, confused by their disappointment.

***

Note to self: never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever buy Stayman apples again. In 2010 you said you didn’t like them and in 2011 you still didn’t like them. 2012 is no different.

***

After watching a Jackie Chan movie—The Spy Next Door—my youngest said, “If I was a Chinese person, I could kill anyone I wanted!” There were so many things wrong with that statement that I had no idea how to respond so I just said, “No.”

***
I stayed up late the other night to watch True Grit with my husband. Most of the time I had my head under a blanket. But that scene in the cabin where that guy had his hand on the table caught me totally off-guard.  Ouch.

***

Tootsie just came in the mail. It’s more my style. (I think.) (I don’t really remember what it was about.) (Darn, maybe I’ll hate it.)

***

 Are you supposed to italicize movie titles anymore? It’s suddenly looking kind of weird.

***

And no, we don’t watch movies all the time, though it may appear that way.

***

I’m dismal bored, so now it’s your turn. Throw me some crumbs, pretty please?

This same time, years previous: rum raisin shortbread,

23 Comments

  • Anonymous

    Yes, italicize movies. Thus says Chicago. (which I would have italicized, but can't)

    -Jodi
    (who has become more intimate with The Chicago Manual of Style than she'd ever imagined)

  • Carol S-B

    Oh yeah, Misty of Chincoteague. I was always perplexed about how to pronounce it. (Misty. Is the stress on the first syllable? JK!! Of course it was Chincoteague I didn't know about.) Funny how thinking about one book can lead to others: King of the Wind! Oh, and Blue Willow. (I do wish I could italicize in the comments field, too, Margo.)
    Jennifer Jo, I so appreciate you taking the time to chat with me each and every day. I've been remiss in not replying, but it's not because I don't enjoy your voice. Keep 'er going, kiddo! -CSB (YYC)

  • jennifer

    Have you tried honey crisp apples? They're pretty tasty, though I don't know if it is recommended to do anything but eat them raw…though I have a friend who would say that she doesn't like to follow rules.
    I'm curious about what made you delete an entire post. A few lines I can see, but a whole post?
    One more thing, I definitely recommend using circular knitting needles, even when the project doesn't call for them. I love them!!! Just dig right in and use 'em, I say.

  • Melissa @ thelittlegrayhouse

    The thing I most couldn't handle in True Grit was the horse dying, broke my heart.

    Trying to start my daily walks back in the middle of winter makes me question my sanity.

    Those are the only crumbs that come to mind at the meaning.

  • katie

    I'd been meaning to ask you how your knitting in the round has been going and whether you've yet tried using a pair of circular needles rather than double points?

    • Jennifer Jo

      My knitting is at a standstill. I'm waiting for the next step and all the potential knitting instructors have been missing from church lately. It's sad. I have circular needles, but I haven't used them yet.

    • katie

      And herein lies the reason to "reply" to as many comments as possible: then the commenters can comment back!

      Do, as someone else said, try those circulars ASAP. They'll rock your world. It might take you some tries, but its worth it. I'll tell you, my first time using circulars, i thought you still had to turn the work and purl the next row and i probably did the first thirty rows like that (genius, right?)… but I STILL loved the circulars!

  • Suburban Correspondent

    Tootsie is still awesome! 12 and up can watch it. Very funny. Also, York apples are the way to go. Our applesauce tasted like candy, only better.

  • Margo

    I had read True Grit first, so I wasn't too scared – and now I'm re-reading the book. He's a fabulous writer, in my opinion. And I did like the movie very much.

    I just watched the newest Jane Eyre – I LOVED it. And I was pleased to discover that my husband has never read or watched Jane Eyre and doesn't know a thing about the plot! And he's agreed to watch the movie with me – I am thrilled.

    (I usually italicize movie titles, same as books, but I can't in comment boxes)

    I never read the other books you mentioned, that I can recall. So I'm adding them to my list.

    I love Stayman Winesaps! Maybe ours are different in PA? or is that different from just a Stayman? My very favorite apples are Cameos.

    • Jennifer Jo

      I keep hearing PA people say good things about Staymans. That's why I tried them again. VA Staymans must be a different strand. They're tremendously disappointing every. single. time.

  • Karen

    Well now, I'm curious what the post was about that you wrote and aren't going to publish….. Maybe you'll change your mind?

    Speaking of movies, I watched a documentary that I can't stop thinking about & I plan to write a blog post about. It's called The Wild and Wonderful World of the Whites. It's the story of an impoverished, dysfunctional family that lives in West Virginia & at first glance it appears to exploit every stereotype about 'hill folk'. But by the end, I was moved & saddened & wondering what my next response should be. It's definitely not for the faint of heart though. It includes foul language & profanity throughout, real life drug use, some nudity.

  • teekaroo

    The hand on the table thing caught me off guard too. I've been trying to sweep up my crumbs today. Lots of almost finished things that just need cleaned up and put away. Oh and I hate digging in the freezer too, just to find that I really am completely out of ground beef. I always mean to keep track of those things on paper, so this doesn't happen, but I'm full of those kinds of intentions.

  • You Can Call Me Jane

    My head is full of crumbs- stuff I need to do and want to do, things I'm worried about, things I'm trying not to be worried about…. The crumbs are endless and I am at a major loss as to how to sweep them up. Your crumbs were entertaining. Thank you.

  • Anonymous

    oh, so many quotables in Tootsie! Teri Garr is a scream. i love the scene in which Jessica Lange is sleepily recalling how her mother helped her pick out her bedroom wallpaper.

    i think i read WTLB in fifth grade, maybe? and then again not too long ago. is there an older sister who unexpectedly marries a man that the main character doesn't like? i'm thinking it's the same guy that they save with an onion poultice…he doesn't bathe very often or something else, too, if i recall. yuck. lol!

    don't recall much about True Grit except that Matt Damon was in it. *swoon* i much preferred The Adjustment Bureau; if you haven't seen it, you should.

    Birdy

  • Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig

    I LOVED Where the Lilies Bloom…thank you for the reminder. I need to read it again!! As a matter of fact…it very well may be the book I borrowed from the Bookmobile that came to my neighborhood when I was around 9 and it was SO GOOD I read it in one day. It was either that one…or Misty of Chincoteague. Can't quite remember…

  • Mama Pea

    A crumb: I was right with you in True Grit (which we just watched last week) with the scene of the hand on the table.

    Can't throw any more crumbs (sorry) right now. Have two pots of soup burbling on the stove, a very dirty bathroom I *must* get to this afternoon and a pile of dirty dishes on the kitchen counter that would choke a horse. (Wait. Why the heck would a horse try to swallow a pile of dirty dishes???)

Leave a Reply to teekarooCancel reply