HOUSEHOLD NOTES, or notes on things to come (or already have arrived, at least in one unit).

Giani's is going to jail. The comment got some awkward glances and a few that know us pretty well know the one liner. She goes to a prison and teaches inmates the Alternatives to Violence project (AVP), which is a program designed to get inmates to learn how to deal with anger and not throw punches when dealing with a difficult situation.

I could wish that this was taught in schools.

No one could have missed any kind of Harry Potter mania that issued forth at the beginning of the month. Household went to see the film based on the fifth book. Leo complained it was too short. I told him if they filmed the whole book, it would have been thirty hours long. He said, "So...?"

A week later finds me at home , Giani teaching inmates, Leo staying awake all night, doing a marathon watching of SOAP and TITUS on DVD. When the mail arrives the last Potter novel is snuck into the library room (the one where the ceiling fell) and concealed. I finish off about a 150 pages. Leo finds out and removes it from my hands. He falls asleep and by Sunday afternoon, I have finished 555 pages. Leo wakes up and takes the book back. He then proceeds to watch all four previous Harry Potter DVDs and read the book at the same time. I don't get the book until Wednesday.

Spoiler: everyone dies.

Somewhere in that intensity and diversion, Leo gets hungry. He pours out a bowl of frosted flakes. His mind caught up in the book, reaches into the 'fridge and takes out a container and pours it onto the cereal.

It is orange juice.

"It was pretty good," he said.

Probably better than the container of blueberry juice that I had once, that was drained cleaned out and filled with beef broth. Talk about a midnight surprise...