I've got a more recent (by recent I mean late '70s) Fannie Farmer that I got when I was married. My mom gave my ex the Joy of Cooking and I actually like that one better, but since it was a present to him I didn't take it when I left. I should pick one up, because I've always felt it did a better job at explaining the mechanics of how to do certain techniques and for beginning cooks or when it's a new skill it comes in very handy. One of the reasons I like CI, too, but all I've got from them are a couple of paperbacks for crockpots and comfort food.

fast/easy stuff

Which is why I eat salad 90% of the time. Mmm, fresh spinach. But then, no one could accuse me of requiring a lot of variety in my diet.

Another good swim tonight.

I love Mark Bittman's book as well. It's my usual consult, although the man does not understand cookies. For cookies I look elsewhere.

We are exhausted and prone to buying Harry Potter movies to make it better.

You should! DH just found a bunch of deals on individual HP DVDs, like 5 or 6 bucks each. Soon we'll own up to HP7.1

Thanks JenP! Steroids are helping. Hopefully we'll all get a full nights sleep.

Sox, hope my dad's answer helped some. Feel free to ask him more, he likes these sort of thought exercises. And since he's retired....

Thank you. It did help. I could keep him occupied with dumb questions for a while...

You should! DH just found a bunch of deals on individual HP DVDs, like 5 or 6 bucks each. Soon we'll own up to HP7.1

We're taking it slow, but hopefully we'll do the same. She needs to read the book before we can watch the movie.

Yeah, we've been reading the books first too, then watching the movies. That way the kids can decide which scenes they want to skip. They haven't watched HP5 yet even though we finished that book a while ago. I think they are worried about how scary the scary parts will be, and I have no desire to push them. So really the purchase today of HP5, HP6, and HP7.1 were for me, not the kids.

Yeah, we've been reading the books first too, then watching the movies. That way the kids can decide which scenes they want to skip. They haven't watched HP5 yet even though we finished that book a while ago. I think they are worried about how scary the scary parts will be,

You're much nicer than me. I took Emmett to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in theaters when he was what...6? He hid behind the chairs when the basilisk came out.

However, he didn't wind up having nightmares or suffering psychological trauma because of it. And we went back to see the movie in theaters several more times. I think by the third time he stopped hiding. So clearly I went with a desensitizing program.

I'm not worried about traumatizing them, it's more about respecting the place where the scares feel very real, and acknowledging that books and movies often ask us to feel very strong emotions. Plus I'm a grown-up version of my kids. I have never seen and never will see a Saw film. It took me 10 years to warm up to the idea of watching Silence of the Lambs. I am a serious gore wimp, so I understand where they are coming from with their fear of the scary scene.

I just read a passage that made me think of Penn State:

“When confronted with a potential emergency, people typically play it cool, adopt a look of nonchalance, and monitor the reactions of others to determine if a crisis is really at hand. No one wants to overreact, after all, if it might not be a true emergency. However, because each individual holds back, looks nonchalant, and monitors the reactions of others, sometimes everyone concludes (perhaps erroneously) that the situation is not an emergency and hence does not require intervention.”

- Gilovich, Medvec and Savitsky from their study of The Illusion of Transparency

Hmm.

I think that sounds like a great gift.

I LOVE it! I get Lucky, Real Simple and BH&G.

And Real Simple, if you have a print subscription, you can also get it on your Nook Color and various other devices for free with the little code thingie number on the mailing label. I read the newest RS on the Nook last night! COOL! Although I love the print mag too, because I rip pages out of things I like, and recipes, and tag gift ideas...and, um, keep a pile of mags in the bathroom.

We have to be careful with the movies M sees. He's okay with cartoon scariness, but live action, there are certain things. He loved watching Ghostbusters, but had a bad dream about the Gozer dogs.

I don't know how much of it is he's really scared, or his mom harps on so much about SCARY MOVIES ARE SCARY! that it psyches him up to be scared of them. She lets him watch Family Guy and South Park, though, and I won't, until he's older.

He's really sensitive and I'm trying to -- I can't say this in a way that doesn't make me sound like an asshole -- toughen him up a little? Give him better coping skills, I guess. I would never, EVER make him watch something that he didn't want to watch, but his mom method of dealing with fear is to complete avoid the source, and I don't think that's the best message to send.

So with the Gozer dogs, he got to sleep with us the first night, and then we talked about FX, and looked at some FX sites on the web, and learned about prosthetics and green screens and stuff, which he thought was cool.

He wanted to sleep with us again the next night because he was worried he'd have bad dreams, but we said no. He kept getting up out of bed for water, or because he thought the cat was in his room, etc. and I read him a couple of stories and checked on him a lot -- my office is right across from his room -- and eventually, he fell asleep, and the next morning, he hadn't had any bad dreams.

(Holy crap, I've become a person that blabs on about their kid! Wow. Huh. Cool.)

ita,

doesn't that refer to why people in groups don't respond well to emergencies? Individuals are supposed to do a lot better.