Somehow US Magazine showed up in our mailbox this summer.  If you are not familiar with US, think of Parade magazine and go down ten notches.

At first I was appalled. Each week they feature famous women caught wearing the same dress and then they are judged on who looks best. This is the magazine to read if you want to know everything about nothing. And we all read it!

It was every bit as bonding as The Little Engine That Could.

I want to capture the moment at the table as the young ones were doing battle with the voter's pamphlet. I announce that Brooke Shield's husband was instrumental in the Paris Hilton FunnyorDie retort to John McCain's commercial. She memorized her lines and they only had to do four takes.

"How do you know that, MOM?"

"US!"

Now picture the college girls watching Sex and the City on DVD.  The college boyfriend comes into the room a little too quickly and asks, "Is this the one where Sarah Jessica Parker wears gladiator sandals?"

"How do you know that, JOOORDAN?"

"US!" (addressed to A.K.A Lisa Crunick)

Now it is time for Crime and Punishment. Actually Boomsday was my favorite read this summer. A young woman's anger blogs her generation into outrage over how much the Baby Boomers are costing them in taxes. She gets hooked up with a want-to-be-president, whose platform becomes giving boomers incentives for euthanization to balance the budget.

Watch for this to become a movie. I laughed so hard, my "kids" gave me the eye on the ferry. Oh, what fun it is to be the one acting out.

And while we are on favorites, my favorite hike of the summer was a ten miler in Level 1 wilderness with family members, on the occasion of a fiftieth wedding anniversary.

 One of my favorite moments was hearing the ten-year-old boy cousins call my eighteen-year-old "old!"

I hope your summer has a favorite book, kiss, and lots of laughter.

And while I do not want to be known for this kind of information, if you are inclined to have some chocolate ice cream, I am suggesting you go to Full Tilt in White Center, and have a scoop of Mexican chocolate in a biodegradable bowl.

They make their own ice cream every Sunday.