This is a public service announcement that despite what it feels like, it is still not Friday.
Which means tomorrow is not Saturday.
Which means you still have to show up to work tomorrow.
Unless you are reading this on Friday. In which case, enjoy your three day weekend.
I picked up a new kettle at Costco so I could boil water for tea…and realized it came with a built in tea infuser!
I can add tea leaves and bring to the desired temperature based on the type of tea, seep, and share with others…all from one pot.
This is a very good discovery. Now the entire office will have to drink spearmint tea with me three times a day.
When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops and gathered 20 million hardcover donations. In 1943, the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million small, lightweight paperbacks, for troops to carry in their pockets and their rucksacks, in every theater of war.
5/5 stars
A couple things particularly stand out:
1. This is a little taught, little known area of history and Manning fleshes it out beautifully. She kicks off with Nazi book burning and the backlash within the United States, then focuses on the nationwide efforts to provide reading material to the soldiers.
2. Manning isn’t repetitive. She doesn’t re-use quotes or insert herself into the narrative. She simply tells the story and I loved it. I was not at all surprised to read in her author bio that she is an appellate attorney. She is a good writer.
3. While the book does occasionally veer off from the books themselves (for example, with the measures taken by the book publishers to oppose censorship or the response of academia to the Nazi book burning), it generally does so in support of a theme. You get a lot in these 267 pages.
I originally tried this one as an audio and it didn’t really capture my fancy. But in physical form, with pictures and everything, I recommend giving this fascinating history about the power of books a try.
After two grueling months of working full time and doing school full time, LB has completed two senior level courses yesterday with a 100 and an 89.
But does she get a break?
No.
She woke up to 14 assignments. 251 more days to go.
This is really not convincing anyone else in this house to do more school.
The spice-off has not ended. LB bought the spicy sauce collection from Hot Ones Season 21. (You can see our past adventures here.) Then we all tried a dollop of each sauce. I only teared up once so that was progress.
How does everyone else feel about this choice of activity for the evening?
LB: I thought it was fun. I did better than I thought I was going to.
DJ: It was a rollercoaster and it ended in a fiery crash.
TG: My Mom used to use the line on me ‘if all your friends jumped off a cliff…’
* sniffs her peppermint oil *
TG: I’m waiting for that cliff.
#stayspicy
Today I went to AutoZone, purchased a replacement brake light bulb, drove home, and replaced it.
DJ helped.
Between the two of us, we did it in ten minutes. And I have to say, this whole strong, independent woman thing?
Not always all it is cracked up to be.
AB: “TG! Look at these photos from when I was at camp in high school. Your brother-in-law was there.”
TG: “I will never recognize him.”
* seconds later *
TG: “THAT’S HIS ARM.”
* she immediately pulls out her phone, zooms in, and takes a picture *
AB: “I was not expecting that reaction.”
TG: “That’s because you are an older sibling.”
* proceeds to send several creeper photos to her family chat of her brother-in-law *
TG: “…he just asked if AB can get him a restraining order for whoever took those photos.”
Overheard from the other room.
TG: “I love our house. I have a personal couch.” (We do have, like, 6 couches.)
LB: “It is even better than that! We have a library. A communal library.”
TG: “We have a communal library and personal libraries. So I have a personal couch and a personal library. This is a good house.” (We do have around 25 bookshelves between the four of us.)
A pause while all consider this.
TG: “But our communal library doesn’t have any of my books because you put it together before I moved in.”
LB: “We don’t have room for your books.”
TG: “Well, I think we need more shelves.”
LB: “We could put some hanging shelves over the couch.”
TG: “I do need more room for my books.”
LB: “I could use more room too.”
They proceed to discuss how to do this.
In case you missed it, I found my people. It is just dangerous to let us live together.
When it comes to spice, my townhouse is firmly divided between Those Who Can Handle It and Those Who Can’t. An off comment by me about how I would have thrown jalapeños in the spaghetti sauce somehow escalated into LB pulling out her 12 international hot sauce bottles from Costco’s Culinary Passport Collection and making everyone try a drop.
Unfortunately, this was not a great test since we’re pretty sure this collection was made for people who can’t handle spice. Even DJ made it to the spiciest bottle without breaking into a sweat.
The bottles look really cool but that might be about it with this set.
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