Outside My Window: It’s pretty cold out there with a windchill of even colder. I heard that several schools cancelled today due to cold weather. Luckily for us we already had the day off because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We will have to brave the elements in a couple of hours to go to Parent Teacher conferences though.

I Am Thinking: that my new shampoo for my new red hair might be irritating my skin. There are other suspects (possibly my winter hat or pillowcase?) but the more I think about it, the more the shampoo seems like the most obvious suspect. So I’m planning to try using my old shampoo next time I shower to see if the problem goes away. Cross your fingers for me!

I Just Watched: Galavant last night and I continue to adore the heck out of that show. The actors are all so talented and somehow I’m never annoyed when the singing starts. I was bummed when I thought it got cancelled after one season and I’m disappointed that this season won’t be very long but just trying to enjoy it while it lasts. I think every night I say, “Can you believe that’s the same guy who played Lassiter on Psych????” We’re also loving Big Bang Theory and Modern Family and terribly missing Doctor Who and Sherlock.

I Just Read: Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia. It took me awhile to warm up this one, largely because I had to get used to each narrator and accept the fact that the author doesn’t always tell the truth right away sometimes even in the same sentence it seemed she would write in one direction and then be like jk that didn’t happen. But eventually the characters began to find little corns of my heart to nestle themselves in and the mystery itself became enticing enough that I found myself wanting to follow it through to the other side and I was pleasantly surprised when I found that NONE of my suspicions were correct and the author had managed to write a mystery that I could not predict the outcome to.

I Am Hearing: The dishwasher do it’s humming little dance of reassurance that something is in fact getting cleaned around here. The kids are rather plugged into their kindles this morning but after I finish this post, I’m planning to go rally the troups and do something more active.

Weekend Wrap Up: The kids worked on decorating their cars for the Pinewood Derby next weekend. MM’s car looks very futuristic and sleek. BB’s car looks like a disco ball of silver glitter. Obviously. It was also my last day of work at Target Optical on Saturday as I am planning to switch to just subbing now which I think will work a lot better for my family’s schedule.

We went out to dinner at PF Changs on Saturday after a moment of hesitation because everything on the menu is chinese food, including the kids menu. But Dan had this moment of like “Nope, I’m done catering to their whims!” which we’ve said before in a “This is your dinner, eat it or go suck an egg,” kind of way (but kinder, I promise). But that night he had this genius moment of ah ha where he came up with an Adventurous Eater Contest. Whichever kid tried the most new things without complaining would get to pick a dessert and even where that dessert would happen. They were so game for this and ended up trying all sorts of new things that they never would have touched like crab rangoon, mongolian beef, lo mein, crispy honey chicken and rice (which probably only sounds impressive in my household but seriously guys, my daughter ate and enjoyed RICE) and egg drop soup.

So last night we took them to Culvers for ice cream as a reward for their incredibly adventurous and successful dining experience the night before. We’re planning to make this a regular occurrence.

Plans For The Week: Parent Teacher conferences today. I’m going to Team Trivia on Wednesday and the kids will be weighing their cars that night for the Pinewood Derby so we’ll probably want to put wheels on them and stuff. I need to majorly clean the house and maybe cook an actual meal at some point.

Picture Thoughts: 

Another moment of genius that is working like magic in our house right now.