Oreo chocolate candy bar

Good evening to all! It is that time of the week for my latest Thursday Rundown. No small talk today, let’s get right to it…

Empty Bowls – Today I covered and enjoyed a cool event at Coastal Carolina University. Each year, our Department of Visual Arts puts on a fundraiser called Empty Bowls. Ceramic bowls are handmade and glazed by faculty and students. The bowls are presented on a table in the Edwards Courtyard and attendees can purchase whatever one appeals to them (average cost per bowl is around $5). Once a bowl is purchased, individuals can take it to another table that is covered with crockpots filled with soup. You can enjoy as many refills as you want! I bought my own bowl and filled it with butternut squash soup. All proceeds benefited local homeless charities.

I attended the Empty Bowls event at Coastal Carolina University this morning. I sampled the butternut squash soup.

Pope Francis Tweet – If you only follow one person on Twitter, make sure it is Pope Francis (@Pontifex). He tweets out the most humble and relevant guidance every day. His latest tweet was an excellent reminder to us all, especially me! Many of us make plans to attend church every weekend but once we leave the pew, we neglect to apply the gospel message at all times. As Lent approaches, I want to do better at being the servant that God calls us all to be.

Do yourself a favor and follow Pope Francis (@Pontifex) on Twitter.

Blinded Him With Science – Sidney is an incredible aunt! For Christmas, we gave our nephew a couple of educational science kits. One was a volcano assembly activity and the other was an experiment guide. On Monday, I watched as Sid helped Harrison build his volcano and then aided him with the classic “CO2 balloon on a bottle” demonstration. With his custom-made lab coat on, Sidney not only helped Harrison execute the experiment but she also used her teaching skills to help him (and me) learn something. She clearly explained to him that the vinegar and baking soda combined to create a chemical reaction that produced a gas that was capable of inflating the balloon. It was cool to watch.

It was a holiday but Sidney didn’t take the day off from teaching. She helped Harrison with a science experiment and explained the results to him.

Sloan at 44 Weeks – If you read my blog last night, you know Sloan turned 10 months on Wednesday. Tomorrow she will turn 44 weeks (or 308 days). The biggest accomplishment from this week was when she clearly said MAMA. It was so incredibly cute. She is also waving “bye bye” constantly. We took her to a church dinner on Monday evening and the people at our table couldn’t get enough of her. She attended a birthday party for one of her “friends” on Saturday and behaved admirably, allowing Stevie Blair to have the spotlight.

Sloan will turn 44 weeks tomorrow.

Curious Food Choices – On Friday night, I splurged at Dollar General by purchasing a couple treats I had never tried or heard of before. I bought an Oreo chocolate candy bar and a pint of Hostess Sno-balls ice cream. The candy was decent but the ice cream was a little sketchy. Besides the fact that a frozen dessert made with a Hostess product is a little weird to begin with, it didn’t help that it was two months out of date. Yes, I ate some of it before realizing that it was expired.