What I read:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was a great read. If you have ever grumbled over filling out medical documents or have any interest in the medical world this book is for you. Henrietta Lacks, dying from cervical cancer in the 1950s, unwittingly gave up her cancer cells to medical science and saved millions of people’s lives over the past fifty years through the polio vaccine, cancer research, and countless other procedures that her “immortal” cells helped along the way. Her cells became known as the HeLa cells that doctors use to this very day in all kinds of research. The story does not stop there. Her family did not see one penny of the billions of dollars that the HeLa cells have generated along the way and more importantly, they were not informed of what exactly they were signing away when they agreed that the doctor could take a sample of Mrs. Lacks tumor. This is a sad tale of poverty, racism, and the reasons behind why we now have medical laws to protect patients.
Emma (16 years old) is reading The Rats of NIMH and The Unwanteds.
Ben (8 years old) is reading The Last Kids on Earth, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
What I watched: Justified and King of the Hill.
Things I am loving lately:
-My library! They offer books, DVDs, and e-books and we have been stocking up lately. The best thing we watched last week was The Never-ending Story (which we borrowed from the library). I hadn’t seen that in years and Ben is currently obsessed with it. We also have been listening to The Chronicles of Narnia on Hoopla while we are doing art in homeschool.
This is the best low carb/gluten free pasta we have tried so far. I cannot tell the difference between the wheat version and this one, so that is saying a lot. We have had macaroni and cheese, lasagna, and baked spaghetti over the past few weeks and it has been so nice to add variety back into our meal plan. **I found it at Kroger on sale for just $1.79
Funny things that happened this week:
-While Ben was watching an episode of Liberty Kids, the date, July 4, 1776 popped up and this of course led my children to start rapping the Hamilton intro. **We are also having a Poetry Tea Party this week and Ben is dressing up as King George:)
-My husband was teasing my son and told him that Miley Cyrus was single again. Ben said, “Eww! She’s like 100 years old.”
Something I was happy to accomplish this week:
-I started making our kittens a cat tree. We still have to add carpet and a rope swing but it is progressing nicely. The best part is that it hasn’t cost us anything so far because I am using wood we saved from a table we took apart last year.
-Oh and we managed to survive another week in this crazy world as gracefully as possible. 2021 has to be better than 2020….right??!!
Best things I saw on social media:
Stay safe and try to keep on laughing!
The Thrifty Educator 