Thoughtful Thursday

Oh hello. Thanks for stopping by. I'm here to share some not-so-random-thoughts on a rainy Thursday.

1. Both my boys know how to ride a bike. For reals, you guys. Nicklas is 10 so I never thought the day would come. I had just about given up. It started with a Monday where we helped both practice and practice and practice. Seeger took off right away but Nicklas - my cautious, nervous, psych himself out, Nicklas - started slowly. On his bike with training wheels. I would get him started in the grass going down hill. The training wheels didn't last long. He'd be headed down the hill and one tiny wheel would go rolling the other way. I'm proud of Nicklas though because when we took off the training wheels, he kept trying. Sure, he couldn't pedal and steer at the same time and maybe he would use his feet to stop the bike because he couldn't get the hang of braking and yes, he did run into my car and fall off, but he kept trying. YAY NICKLAS! We worked every day after school and by Thursday, they both were riding up and down the street. We took their bikes to the lake this weekend and Nicklas and I took a 3 mile ride. How awesome is that?!

2. We've been wanting the boys to learn to ride their bikes for awhile now. We resorted to bribing them. We told Nickas we would buy him a phone and Seeger a DS. Both were pretty quick to remind us of this when they mastered the bike riding. Nicklas is pretty proud of his phone - I think he'll start texting people soon. He keeps wondering why he can't play games though. Since we are so proud of his determination and desire to keep trying, we told him that if he proves he's responsible enough for a phone (re: not losing it!) we would let him have an iPhone. He's thrilled. It's fun to be a cool parent (for awhile anyway.)

3. My mom is having knee surgery on Monday so I'll be making a trip up north to stay with her. She'll be in the hospital for a few days and then she's coming to stay with me until she starts physical therapy.

4. The other night when the Polack and Nicklas went out to do their fantasy football draft, Seeger and I decided to have a fun night with just the two of us. After he did his homework, we rode bikes together (which means I had to ride Nick's bike because my bike is still in Lafayette), took a long walk, and went on tractor rides. It's fun having the riding mower. I even let Seeger drive a little bit. He wanted to go faster but I was too nervous. Maybe when he's older. It was a really fun evening.

5. The Polack has perfected making a dessert he calls Brownie Surprise. It's SO awesome and I love it when he makes it. It's in my top 3 dessert options. (If you know me well, then you know red velvet cake is on the list too.)

6. When I was in elementary school, I read this book call Fortress. I loved the book and was shocked to find out there was movie made based on the book. I discovered this because back in the early-80's when my family owned our first VCR, my granddad used to tape movies from HBO and give them to us. I saw one labeled Fortress and popped it in to watch. By myself. It was a low budget HBO produced movie that SCARED ME TO NEAR DEATH! Yes, it was based on the book but it was way creepier. I loved it though and in the last few years I've asked people if they remember the book or movie. The Polack hadn't heard of it, my brother didn't remember it, my friends looked at me like I'm crazy, even the friend who GAVE ME the book to read. She has no memory of it. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. The Polack and I are in Louisville for the weekend and I'm reading a newspaper column where a writer asks about movie he remembers watching as a kid that's set in Australian outback and features a man in Father Christmas mask kidnapping a group of school children and their teacher and what was the name of that movie? Of course I was super excited about the mention of Fortress and haven't stopped thinking about this blast from my past. I've now purchased the book (found on some second hand used book website because it's no longer in print) and the DVD I bought from Amazon (which was released by HBO in 2006) is being shipped to me soon. I can't wait to watch it.

If you have read the book or seen the movie, please leave me comment and let me know your thoughts on either.

7. I got to buy a lot of fabric yesterday and I had a gift card so it didn't cost me anything. I'm looking forward to start a new project which will be a baby quilt for my cousin.

8. I volunteered to type up the directory for the boys' school. Let me type that again. I VOLUNTEERED TO TYPE THE SCHOOL DIRECTORY. What was I thinking?? I have to create a list and add every student, with parent names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails. EVERY STUDENT. With 500 students at the school, it's quite the project. It's really cut in to my sewing/reading/tv watching time.

9. Oh that tv watching... now that we have satellite tv, I find myself drawn to the couch more than I care to think about. And of course, even though I have 300 channels I seem to end up watching Friends reruns. Or Keeping Up With the Kardashian's. It's not healthy.

10. IU's first home football game is this weekend. We're tailgating with some friends and I'm looking forward to the season. Sure, we lost to Ball State last weekend, but I'm oh so hopeful for our next game. If we lose again, it will be hard to stay so positive so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! We've opened our home to those who want to come to Bloomington for a game. It's Hotel Casa de Kubatski and we're open for business. We're now taking reservations if you need a weekend getaway. We'd love to have you! We have some weekends already reserved by hey, the more, the merrier, right?