Whats on your nightstand September 2011

This month I am joining with other bloggers to bring you Whats on Your Nightstand.

Since my last book review I read: License to Pawn by Rick Harrison and I Can Make You Sleep by Paul McKenna.

If you like Pawn Stars you will like License to Pawn.  Its delves into the history of all the major stars, has the history of the shop and how they got started doing a reality show.  Its full of funny stories both personal and business.  I enjoyed this book and it was a quick easy read.

Paul McKenna is a hypnotist, the book comes with a cd but I have not had the chance to listen to it.  But as a writer his work is clear and concise.  The directions are simple and easy to understand.  The book worked wonders for me and I highly recommend it.  Quite honestly you aren't gonna be any worse off if you read it, but you can be if you don't.

I also read Decision Points by George W. Bush.  I enjoyed this book, but it was difficult to read. So many bad things happened in the 8 years he was president; from 9/11 to Katrina to the collapse of the economy. It was like reliving all those things.  It was nice to get an inside view as to why he made the decisions he did and how he would have handled things differently.  Overall it was a good book. 

For the month of October I hope to read: The Broken American Male by Rabbi Shmuley Botech, The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived by Dan Karlan, and if I have time Going Rogue by Sarah Palin. Although, I might push Palin's off if I find something more interesting in the meantime (no offense).

The Kids Ban Revisited

Recently the dh and I went out for dinner, alone.  Just the two of us.  It was the first time in about 6 months, the dh and I try to go out once a month on a dinner date but because we had a new born we had to wait till he could take a bottle.  On this night, a mid week night, it was very crowded.  People were waiting outside and every table in the place was full.  It was noisy in there.  There was no music playing, thank goodness.  This is a rather upscale restaurant, well compared to Johnny Rockets where we usually go with the kids, so you would expect it to be a bit quieter.

At first I was a little over whelmed.  I am not used to going out somewhere with that many people.  I told dh, If I had wanted to be around a ton of people where we can't even hear each other across the table, I would have stayed home and had dinner with the kids.  Which brings me back to the Kid ban.  Out of all the people in the restaurant there was 3 kids at 3 different tables near me but they weren't loud or disruptive. And even if they were, I wouldn't be able to hear them over all the other patrons. Which made me think back, every time we have gone out before, without children, I have never once noticed disruptive kids.  Even in our usual place which is very quiet.  So either I am damn lucky to never had a dinner ruined by some unruly child or there are some people who are really unlucky to the point of frequently having their dinner disrupted by kids.  I could be so immune to children that even if there was a terror running rampant I wouldn't notice. Or, and I think this is the correct answer, people don't like kids.  Their mere presence is a disturbance.  Their typical behavior is viewed as disobedience.  I don't doubt there are kids out there that are bad at restaurants.  But are there so many that there is a need for a ban?  How many kids really go out with their parents?  I saw 3 kids in our area, out of probably 30 people.  Most people only have 1 or 2 kids anyway, so  the place isn't going to be over run by kids.

Now, raise your hand if you had dinner ruined by an adult.  Me me, I'm raising my hand.  And you know why I remember those times?  Adults know better, yet their behavior is worse than a kids.  Some of them were drunk.  Which is even worse cause at least kids with no manners can't get drunk and make even more of a scene.

I should clarify ruined.  Ruined my dinner as in: I came in a good mood and left in a bad mood cause I couldn't spend my time unwinding with the dh because someone was so loud or creating such a scene you couldn't ignore it.  I have seen kids do kid stuff, but nothing that was not quickly resolved and taken care of.  I can't say the same for adults.

How are kids ever going to learn how to act in public if they are never allowed out in public.  Oh, never mind, thats how all those adults that annoyed me came to be.

I should have known better

Earlier today I caught my 2 year old in the fridge.

I got him a drink because I thought he was thirsty.  I guess I should have been paying  more attention to what he was getting when he was in the fridge.  Because a little later he came to me all chatty, saying something about how he put it in the bowl and yummy yummy yummy.

Me: What did you eat? You smell like pickles.

Him: Ahhh weegaa loooaahhhh Yummy.

Daughter in the other room: He made himself a bowl of Mustard.

And he thought that was yummy.  It was definitely snack time after that.

Tasting our German Heritage

Today we explored our German heritage with some eierikucken .  My Oma (german for grandmother, but she was actually my great grandmother) used to make these for me all the time.  Thankfully my kids enjoyed them as much as I did.

Add the ingredients to the blender.  For the eggs, crack one in a bowl and add it to the blender, instead of all the eggs to the same batch.  If there is a problem with the eggs you will have to throw the whole thing out and start over.  So be safe and do one at a time in its own bowl. You want to blend at high speeds.

It will look like a shake.  Thats a good thing.  But don't drink it.  Thats a bad thing.

 We started off using oil.  I didn't care for it and switched to butter.  Pour some batter in.  It will be thin. Think Crepe.

 You can roll it up with Nutella or Strawberry Jam or serve it with Syrup.

 Guess which way my kids chose?  I think they are addicted to syrup.

 Hes totally blissed out.