{NEW SHOES & MORE MIGUEL}

Don't you love these ... I got them as a belated birthday present from Chris. I love this style of canvas shoe, think I will wear the soles of them like I do my Levi ones. Thanks Chris, I was beginning to get New Shoe Withdrawal.

Well the last week Miguel and I have been spending the afternoons with my folks. Miguel has decided that he no longer needs his afternoon naps (try convincing me of that fact when I have a grumpy 2 year old at 4.30 in the afternoon) - So Abuelo has taken advantage of this fact and put Miguel into service. Miguel thought he had died and gone to heaven, when he was told that they were going to use the giant wheelbarrow, cement, sand and of course his ultimate favourite water.

He worked beautifully, following instructions very carefully and to the letter. "See Abuelo, I'm big now I can do this. I have a good idea plan .. when we finished this we can go watch Pooh, alright?" Little conman, he can only watch a short movie (30min) at night if he is not tired or if he has been very good that day. But you cant be mad at him when half way through he goes running into the garage and come out with a piece of foam and says 'here Abuelo, use this for your old legs. Tomorrow when you pick me up from my school, we can go to the shops and buy you new ones!' Don't you love him! Tonight he was out by 7.30pm with for him is an incredibly early night. See with every down there has to be an up!

Chris bought me the most intriguing book today called FREAKONOMICS - I cant wait to dive into this one!!

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.