A List

Friday brain dump…

1.
Yesterday Big Mama announced the book for her first (and maybe, probably last) blog-based book club. I am not sure if I have the energy to, you know, read an entire book that doesn’t have bullet points or pictures but I’m going to try. I downloaded it to my Kindle and I’ll read while I pump. I’m sure I’ll fall asleep about 3 pages into it each time I sit down, but that’s okay. You can’t fail if you don’t at least try. Or something like that. Click here to read her post. We’ll be reading Half Broke Horses: A True Life Novel by Jeannette Walls. She is also the author of The Glass Castle, which so many of you have recommended. (I own it but have yet to read it.)

2.
I blog. Every day. Which means that I put my business, as well as my family’s business, out on the internet every single day. Sure there are details that I don’t share, but a large portion of me is spread out onto the virtual pages of Roots & Rings. In an effort to keep a small bit of privacy, my husband and I have made an agreement that I would not be Facebook friends with blog friends. It’s not personal, it’s just a small thing I can do for my family. If we cross the lines and become real life friends, then I’d be more than happy to be your Facebook friend. I thought I’d address that because I have no less than 11 friend requests pending from blog readers. I can’t bring myself to push “ignore” because I’m really not ignoring you!

3.
Jansen is still waking up one to three times per night. It’s still an easy fix, just stick the binkie in his mouth and he’s back to sleep. But after a solid 3 months of sleeping soundly through the night, this is not a welcomed change. I think we’re going to attempt our first tummy sleep tonight. He may be too big for the Miracle Blanket and ready to be set free. I’m sure I’ll have updated next week. And I’m sure you’re dying to hear all about it.

4.
Once upon a time there was a hurricane named Ike. It hit my house and downed some trees. It left countless empty plots in my neighborhood. It was a bad hurricanes, as most hurricanes are. It took two restaurants away from us. I blogged about one of them here. I haven’t written about the other. It was a burger joint named Tookie’s. They’d been around forever… circa Adam and Eve. The grill was old and seasoned, the burgers were delicious, and the onion rings were out of this world. The rains came down and wiped the restaurant out. We thought they’d just gut it and reopen at some point. But then word got out that they weren’t going to open. It was a sad day. There was mourning and weeping.

But earlier this week my mom heard that there was a new burger place a bit further away, but it was owned by the chef of Tookie’s. So of course we had to check it out to see if this was just a filthy rumor or if we could get my beloved burger with bacon cooked right in the beef. BACON COOKED IN THE BEEF! I’m happy to report, my friends, that it is practically the same place, just under a new name. Now it’s called Stomp’s. And my Squealer is now called a Hog Wild. So the world my be at peace again.