Scrat Attack

Have you ever seen the movie(s) Ice Age?  If so, you are familiar with the little character known only as "Scrat".

There he is.  Well, several months ago, my 7 year old daughter saw a short episode about how to draw Scrat.  She developed and perfected her own version of Scrat.  I would like to present, for your enjoyment, several of her Scrat characters.

Sherlock Holmes Scrat

Mummy Scrat

The Pink Panther Scrat

Indiana Jones Scrat

Then, today I found one more page of her scrat drawings.  We are Whose Line is it Anyway? fans.  So, finding this page was too funny.  Among the Whose Line Scrats, you can see:

Ryan, who is often seen drinking his glass of water through out the show.

Colin with his amazing crazy shirts.

And Greg with his totally awesome hair.

This daughter has drawn so many of these fantastic scrat characters.  There are princess scrats, grandpa and grandma scrats, a Hobbit scrat, a Spock (Star Trek) scrat, a Sith Lord (Star Wars) scrat, a Boy Scout scrat and many more.  What talent. Who knows... maybe she will do art for animated movies when she grows up.  Until then, she keeps us very entertained with all her many scrats.

(Picture of Ice Age Scrat from http://desktopia.net/cartoons/cute-scrat-ice-age-desktop-wallpaper)

Getting what she wants

I had such a fun birthday.  Having my mother here was great fun.  The fondue was fantastic!  I've tried a lot of cheese fondue recipes, but this years was by far the best one.  And then, you can't beat a chocolate fondue.

Things are going pretty well here.  Keeping very busy, that's for sure.  The calendar just fills up.

Peanut (who is 3 years old) has a remarkable gift of communication.  This girl can talk.  And talk in the most complete, complicated sentences.  She has another talent and I can't find the word for it, but let me see if I can describe this amazing talent.

Last night, as I was letting the cat outside, a birthday package was sitting on the front door for me.  I opened it and found a small purse with a box of Whoppers candy.  It was late at night and we had finished our chocolate fondue not too long before.  Peanut saw the candy and she wanted some.  I promised her that I would share with her tomorrow because it was too late tonight to eat candy.

Her one-track mind wasn't going to take that for an acceptable answer.  Over and over she brought me the small purse and would in her most sweet voice say, "Happy birthday, Mama."  My heart would melt and I would give her hugs and kisses.  Then, she would tell me how much she loved that candy.  "Remember, Mama, when I had this candy?  I loved it, but I lost it.  I need more candy."  She would say something to that effect over and over.

I couldn't help but smile and the incredible way she was trying to manipulate me to give her that candy.  When that didn't work, she tried a new tact.  She brought me the purse.  "Happy birthday, Mama," she would say, while holding out the purse.  "Thank you, baby," I would say and showered her with hugs and kisses.  She looks at me and says, "Now it's your turn.  You give it to me and say, happy birthday."  She figured if I went along with the game, I would give her the candy, say happy birthday, and then she would be the owner of the candy and could eat it.

Oh my, little girl.  What a creative thing for her to come up with. I guess now it could be called manipulation, but I think in 20 or 30 years, she could be a women of high position.  She will be able to use these skills and flatter her employees to do whatever she wants them to do.  That's not a bad thing either.  What an amazing leader she will be.

For now, though, it's funny to hear her try these different tact's with me to give her what she wants.  As promised, this morning, I did share some of the candy with her.  She was so sweet when I did finally give her the long promised candy.  She took her candy, hugged me, and said "thank you, Mama," in the sweetest voice. 

There are days (weeks, years) that being a mom is tough.  But, it's moments like "Thank you, Mama" that make the roughest days worth while.  It's the greatest reward as a mom.

9/11 vs. September 11th or Remembrance Day vs. Party!

As 9/11 approaches, I have a very different take on the day than most people.  For me, the day has always been September 11th.  What's the difference you ask?

9/11 is the awful day that so many people were killed on American soil by terrorists.  It is now also know as Patriot Day and Remembrance Day.

September 11th is my birthday!  PARTY!  Every year for my birthday, I have a fondue.  I love to fondue.  We always do a cheese and a chocolate.  Mmmm.  I'm so excited.  Really, though, I haven't planned it very well this year.  I'll do that tomorrow so I can go shopping for all the necessary ingredients on Friday or Saturday.

This year will be special.  My Mom will be joining us for the first time in, well, I don't remember the last time I celebrated my birthday with her.  It's been a very long time and I'm looking forward to her visit.  Because of her visit, we will be doing lots of fun things and playing tourist around town.  Usually when she visits, it's only for 24 - 48 hours.  Quick trips.  This will be five days and I'm so happy.  Five days to play, five days to stay up until midnight just talking, five days to laugh until my sides ache.  The kids are excited too.  Five days to show off their latest skills, jokes, dance moves or songs on the musical instruments that they play.

This is going to be a great weekend.

Working the textiles

Last week I got the crazy idea that I wanted to sew my daughters some skirts.  I am not a seamstress.  Skirts are fairly easy, though.  I opened the pattern and picked out the size I wanted for my youngest.  With the cat sitting on top of the fabric and Peanut bringing me her own scissors offering to help cut the pieces out, I spread out the fabric on my floor and began to work.

The fabric was awful to cut.  It was only two piece to make the skirt, but they ended up being quite different in size.  A battle with the sewing machine began and after a little trim here and there and I finally made the skirt.  I actually made two.  The girls love them.

The sewing machine was put back into closet!

I've been weaving more.  About a month ago I decided to do a project as big as my loom would hold.  It's been kind of slow.  I don't spend nearly as much time on it as I could.  I have one little complaint, though.  My bobbin's are small and the project is large.  I go through a lot of thread very quickly.  I wind three bobbins at a time.  It's really cool looking, though. 

The loom, fully warped.

See the little white bobbin?  It doesn't hold much thread.

The underside of the loom so you can see the pattern

At the bottom of the picture, you get a glimpse of the

underside of the weaving.  It looks just as good, maybe better.

Last night I pulled out my cross stitching.  I haven't done any in a very long time.  Each of my children have a beautiful, elaborate Christmas stocking that I cross stitched.  Peanut is three and this year will be her 4th Christmas.  Her stocking isn't even halfway done. 

I've got a couple of months. Maybe I can finish it for her this year..... maybe.

To see more pictures of the weaving, go to my weaving blog, The Tangled Weaver.

Happy September 1st

There is a lot going on around here, but nothing to really talk about, yet. So today is going to be a bit of a ramble.

Can you believe it is September already?  What happened to this year?  Well, my favorite time of the year approacheth.  I love September and October!  I'm going to start cooking with pumpkin.  Peanut has been asking when I'm going to take her to the pumpkin patch.  I love going outside and not baking in the 100 degree weather.  Yesterday it got to 100 again.  Today we are only suppose to get into the mid 90's!  This weekend, a major cold front is suppose to come through and we might get into the high 80's! 

Yeah!

My birthday is coming up.  That means in Dallas, Texas, there will be a storm.  Really.  Every year, right around my birthday, either the day before, day after or day of, there is a storm.  Mom told me it stormed the day I was born.  Perhaps that is why I've always loved thunderstorms.

My oldest son, Stonehelm, as he is now known in Blogland, got braces on his top teeth a couple of days ago.  Honestly, the experience was more traumatic for me than him. (But that is a story for another time.)  His mouth hurts a lot right now, poor guy.

As I have mentioned many, many times, I have a million great ideas.  What holds me back from doing many of these great ideas?  Money.  I don't have money.  That's really a bummer, you know?

I've been doing some weaving.

Thanks to instant streaming on Netflix, Peanut has been watching a continuous streaming of Blues Clues.  It's a good thing for me that I find Blues Clues to be a fun kid show.  If I found it half as annoying as some of the other kid shows on, I would be going crazy about now.

An observation:
This year we choose to take the kids to school, rather than putting them on the bus.  I've noticed while passing the various bus stops along the road, that the kids who are waiting on the curb for buses, all have their cell phones, iPhones or some other kind of thing like that.  They are listening to music and texting.  Do you remember back in the not so distant past that kids waiting for the bus would read a book?  Would that texting alternative even cross the minds of kids these days?

OK, I'm rambled enough.  Perhaps I'll think of something interesting to say or something brilliantly funny to share for next time.  Until then, happy September 1st!

Reflecting on the Class

On Saturday morning, I attended an acting workshop.  After being away from acting for the last 17 years, it was so fun to do a little again.  In the workshop, most of the time was spent being talked to by the teacher.  I took four pages of notes.

I was nervous that the class would be filled with young, beautiful, in-shape college aged, theater major students.  I was pleasantly surprised to find among the few college aged men and women, there were people in their thirties and forties and quite a few silver haired folks.  There were thin people and not-so-thin people.  There were people there with a large experience in theater and even some film.  There were people like me who have done very little acting.  We were from all walks of life.

The teacher gave us a sheet to use as a template.  Write your bio, she said.  I read through the sheet.  List your most significant roles.  What have you done recently - acting only.  What are your special skills?  I looked at the list and didn't know what to write.  I sat for a moment in a kind of stunned silence wondering what in the world I could put in my bio.  We were going to have to go before the camera and give our bio, so I had to come up with something fast.

After a few moments of loss, I started to think of some things.  It only had to be 30 seconds long.  I can find enough about my minor theater life to fill 30 seconds.  My hands were kind of clammy as I took my turn before the camera, but I felt at ease overall.  (For me, the worst of my nervousness comes after I've done something, then I get hot and start to fan my face with the paper in my clammy hands).

When we had all had our turn in front of the camera, the teacher, who had taken notes about each of our auditions, started to talk to us, critiquing each of our auditions.  I sat there, listening to each of the critiques.  She wasn't unkind to anyone.  Really, everyone did quite well, but she pointed out the minor things, don't rock back and forth on your feet, don't talk to fast, etc.  I was sure I must have just done terrible.  She would have nothing positive to say and would just say to me, "Molly, give it up.  You stink."  But she didn't.  She told me I did good.  She pointed out several things that I had said about myself that were good because they were unique.

She had us do some more exercises like a director might in an audition.  I was afraid, nervous, and embarrassed to think what she might ask me to do in front of the others.  What if I totally bombed?  But I plucked up my courage and took my place in line.  When she got to me, she decided to try something different.  She asked me and two guys in the class to improvise a scene.  Whew, I can do that.  It was lots of fun.

In the end, we got to watch our "audition" on the big screen in the theater.  I cringed at first when I saw myself, but I watched it and realized, I didn't stink! 

Having attended this workshop will help me next year when I hold the auditions for my children's theater again.  I have a few ideas now on different things I can do with the kids.  I'm very excited about this.

Who knows.... My slightly improved courage and this mini-workshop..... watch out Hollywood!

What am I thinking?

I'll be heading out in a few minutes to go to the acting workshop I signed up for.  I'm excited.  It will be very interesting for me. 

Even though I am excited about this, once in a while the thought will hit me, "What was I thinking to sign up for this?"

Then I remind myself that it is all for the fun of it. I love theater, I haven't done any acting in 15 years, and I'll get to participate in some today.  It will be lots of fun.

But really, the best part about doing this workshop is an entire morning by myself doing something I want to do!

Very nice.

Jokes, Hair and Shirts

All from this morning:

Presenting for your entertainment and confusion, a knock knock joke from my 5 year old.

Knock knock
Who's there?
School
School who?
Who!

Get it?  School Who!  He laughed and laughed over that one.  I stood still; stunned in my confusion.  What?

As 11 year old son gets ready to head out the door for school, I noticed he was wearing the shirt he wore yesterday.  Go Change!  He changes shirts and I notice his hair.  It's looking slightly wet, like he wiped a wet washcloth over his head.  Did you brush you hair?  Nope, he just wet down his hands and used the palms of his hands to flatten his hair.  Go Brush!

I'm driving 13 year old son to school this morning.  I check the rear view mirror and notice son sitting in the back of the van.  His hair is sticking up in the back with bad bed head.  Did you brush your hair this morning?  No?  Well, it's too late now.

Why is it every morning I have to remind my two sons to brush their hair and change their shirts?  They have been doing the same routine every school morning for many years and yet every single day I have to remind them to change their shirts and brush their hair.

I'm sorry to their future wives.  I tried to teach them.  Maybe you will have better luck.

Our exchange student

We’ve got a sweet 16 year old from Brazil living with us right now as a part of a foreign exchange program.  I will call her CC on the blog.

CC is our 5^th exchange student to have stayed with us over the last 8 years.  The experiences have had their ups and downs.  Our first student was a sweet girl from Japan named Yui.  She was 16.  She was with us for about 6 weeks as a part of a summer language program.  I’m not sure if it was her personality or the Japanese culture, but she was as sweet as could be.  Her English was rough, but we communicated pretty well.  She kept in touch with us for many years, but sadly, we’ve been out of touch for about 4 years now.

Our next student was another 16 year old girl from Russia, Lena.  This girl was smart!  She also loved fashion.  When she joined our family, I was 7 months pregnant with our third baby.  I was hormonal!  Lena’s personality and mine didn’t mix well.  Her manner of dressing was inappropriate around our two very young sons, I felt.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that this wasn’t working out.  I feel bad now, when I look back.  I could have been much more patient and understanding, but blame it on my youth (I was 27 at the time) or blame it on pregnancy hormones, I couldn’t deal with Lena.  She was there for the school year, but she was with us for 3 months.  We were lucky to find a friend who worked at the high school Lena went to, and had lived in Russia for 17 months to take Lena in.

We didn’t plan on having another exchange student when we got our third one.  It was probably a around a year later.  It was the Japanese summer language group again. We got a call from the agency asking if we could take in one girl for a couple of days.  Her host family had an emergency come up and they wouldn’t be home until about 5 days after the students arrived.  So, we had Chie for one week.  She was a sweet girl too and we enjoyed our week with her.  She also kept in touch with us for several years afterwards.

Our fourth student was a one month Christmas holiday student.  She arrived, if I remember correctly, at the beginning of December and left soon after the new year.  She was Emma, an 18 year old from Australia.  She had just graduated from school in Australia.  Honestly, I’m not sure why she did the program.  Her family was quite well off and she had already visited America several times.  She was done with school in her home, so she didn’t come for school experience.  Emma sat on the sofa in the living room most days and just watched the little kids play.  She always helped me with the dishes after dinner and we did a lot of chatting.  We lived in Hawaii during these four students.

Now, six years later, we’ve decided to try it again and now we have CC from Brazil.  (I won’t use her real name while she is here with us.)  It’s still quite an adjustment for our family to take in an extra teen.  I think our 7 year old and I have the biggest adjustments to make.  CC shares a room with the 7 year old and I spend time with her as I take her to and from school and shopping as needed.  My maturity (now in my mid-thirties) has helped me more with this student.  And, CC is really a sweet girl.  She is quiet, like I am.  Our personalities are gelling pretty well.  She is homesick, poor girl.  This is quite the challenge for her.  At home, she is the youngest child and the only one still living at home.  Here in our family, she is the oldest and has to share a room.  It's a big adjustment.  When I first left home for an extended period of time, I was almost 19 and it was when I went away to college.  I was far from home and couldn’t go to visit family whenever I felt like it.  I loved college and was so excited to be there, but even so, I called home twice a week for two years.

I hope CC continues to adjust.  There are days I’m sure she emails her mom and says, “You wouldn’t believe this crazy American family I ended up with!”

Heavy Metal Cactus

Heavy Metal Cactus

Sounds like an awesome name for a rock band, right?

Well, here in the American desert, we have lots of cactus. Prickly Pear, ocotillo, and a lot of other nasty cactus plants that I do my best to avoid at all costs.  This is a land filled with cacti, dirt, rocks and browness.  All the homes, as a city rule, must be some shade of brown.  It is the Southwestern look.

There are, throughout this city, several locations of "art".  What kind of art, you might ask?  Heavy metal cactus.  Isn't there enough cacti in this city without adding rusty metal versions of it in various intersections around the city?

Yes, the one in the middle has been painted green.

Isn't that lovely?  Watch out for that Yucca on the right there.  If you bump into it, you might need a tetanus shot.

Bad Poetry Day

So the other day I was watching a TV show and the poetry form of Haiku came up.  The person on TV didn't seem to know what a Haiku was and I just kind of laughed because I am not a poet in anyway, shape or form.  My 5th grade teacher had us write a lot of poetry and make a poetry notebook.  I still have mine.  I'm terribly embarrassed by mine because I can not write poetry.  I think the teacher gave me a decent grade because I attempted the poems required and put forth some effort, even though the poems stunk.

So, back to the Haiku.  That night after seeing that TV show, my mind composed a Haiku in my sleep!  It was amazing.  It followed the 5-7-5 pattern and it actually made sense. That morning I told my hubby my poem that I so brilliantly composed while sleeping.  He was impressed.  Now, several days later, I can't for the life of me remember the poem or even what it was about.  It was either outer space or waterfalls. 

This morning, while listening to the radio, I heard that today, August 18, is Bad Poetry Day!  If I could remember my Haiku, I would share it, but I can't.  Instead, I will share with you a poem I composed while in elementary school.  It is your lucky day!

The Moss Boss

I went to camp one day
Walking along the sandy bay
Along the way, I saw some soft moss
It was a pretty green and I was soon the boss

Of moldy moss
Then I was now Molly the Moss Boss
Most people said it was gross
But you know me, I'm very verbose

It would have been good if we used it in salad to toss
They all said no, but it's still no loss
I can have a TV show called
Molly's Green Moss

I was interview by two girls, not by the name of Ross
I could make Zucchini Zoss, or Lasagna Yoss,
or Spanish Woss, Broccoli Poss and other recipes
Made of moss

You can taste the food for me
cause I'm not going to
There's no more moss for me
But it's still fun to be
The Moss Boss

Feeling brave, but not too much

Molly the Fearless?  Hardly.  Molly the More Brave Than Before?  Yes.

My theater experience from this summer has boosted my confidence in myself.  I’ve got to be careful.  Even though I have more confidence, I still have an extraordinary lack of experience in anything.

As I have said before, I’ve got a million ideas for projects, books, businesses, education and the list goes on and on.  My trouble is taking one idea (or two or three) and focusing on that particular project.   I have a million ideas and I want to do a million things and I want to do them all now!

Focus, Molly, focus!

I’ve always loved writing and I’ve probably written just about everything at some point or other in my life.  I’ve written novels, plays, poetry, children’s books, young adult books, essays, journals and of course, this blog.  I’ve even tried writing music.  I have no talent for music or poetry, though.  In my computer, I’ve got the beginnings of three excellent chick-flick novels.  I work on them a little at a time as the muse strikes me.  There is no dead-line on them so I can take as long as I want on them.  However, one story in particular I have had a very hard time writing out.

This is frustrating to me because I’ve seen the entire story play out in my head like a movie, but I cannot translate that story into a book.  I’ve tried several times.  Then I realized, wait, I’ve seen the entire story play out in my head like a movie, why not write it like a movie?  I’ve never tried writing a screenplay before.  Ooooo….

After having this thought about writing a screenplay I looked up “How to write a screenplay” on my favorite search engine (The internet  is so amazing!) and it came up with thousands of pages that teach how to write a screenplay.  One site even had early drafts of movie scripts.  I had a great time reading one of my favorite movies in one of its earliest drafts.  I’ve got everything I need to do this.  I’ve got my idea, I’ve got my Internet how-to site, and I’ve got my computer with a word document program.  I’m ready to go!!

Don’t expect to ever see this movie or even the screenplay.   I’m not looking to really turn it into a movie, but it’s the idea of writing a screenplay that has me excited.  It’s something new I’ve never done before.  I have no deadlines.  No one is waiting for the first draft.  It’s just me and my idea.  I’m excited.

Back to this confidence boost I’ve been having, I signed up for an acting workshop in two weeks.  It’s actually how to audition for film.  I don’t want to audition for film, but I figured any experience that I have in the acting world, will help me do my children’s theater in the future.  What have I got to lose?  It’s just for one morning.  It will be a new experience.  I’m just going to go and have fun.

Watch out, I’m Molly, the More Brave than Before and I’m treading new territory!! (From the comfort and security of my own home.)

Philosophy by Molly: The Sphere

I graduated from college at the age of 21.  I was young, yes, but I was married and had two college degrees.  I knew all I needed to know.


Or so I thought.

At that time, I knew I wanted a Master’s degree in library science.  I wasn’t able to do that school of study at the time and it has waited until now.  I still want that degree, but since then, I have found there are so many awesome things out in the world to study and learn about.  Areas of study that I never knew about when I was 21.  Since then, I’ve learned about linguistics and the fascinating history and evolution of languages.  I wish I had known about that in college.  I would have taken a class to learn more about it.

I now realize that I was very limited in my “sphere” of knowledge.  My mother was a teacher.  My parents are smart people.  They taught me many things.  But I got to college and met someone who was going to study Interpersonal Communications.  I had no idea what that meant.  How did he find out about that kind of degree? His sphere of experiences was quite different from my own.  My parents taught me what they could from their sphere of knowledge and experience and that is what I went out into the wide world with.

Mom and Dad aren’t into spicy foods.  So, most of the foods I ate fit into the “mild” category.  I met my husband, who loved extra sharp cheddar cheese and spicy foods.  I found a new side to food I had never known and liked it!  Hubby had never listened to The Beatles growing up.  His parent’s weren’t Beatles people.  Mine were, so I grew up with The Beatles.  I had never heard of Pink Floyd until my husband introduced me to it.  Now, we are both Beatles and Pink Floyd fans.  We shared our favorite books with each other.  Hubby had never read The Never Ending Story and I had never read The Lord of the Rings.  Now we have.

I grew up in a big city with plenty of opportunities for culture – symphonies, theater, art and museums.  My husband grew up in a tiny town in the western USA.  He knew about camping in the wilderness and not in a state park.  We each had our spheres and when we married, we combined those spheres into a much larger one.

I look at my children.  They have had experiences that I never could have imagined.  We’ve moved around the country and have lived on the East Coast, the western desert, and a Pacific island.  We’ve hosted five exchange students from four different countries.  We’ve explored new foods, talked about many areas of study, and introduced them to a wide variety of music. I believe my children’s sphere of knowledge and experience when they leave home is going to be much larger than mine was when I left home.

Still, I have no doubt that my children will get out in the world and discover new things.  I hope their sphere will continue to grow.  It’s an amazing world out there.

Surfing on Camera

My children have enjoyed playing with my computers video camera this summer.  They have created many music videos.  One day, I sat down to do some surfing on the Internet.  I was reading email, checking what was up with my friends on Facebook, and checking the local classifieds for a chest of drawers.  What I didn’t realize until a bit later was that the computer camera was on and recording.  When I realized this, I quickly turned off the camera and deleted the video.

Know what?  I look really goofy while surfing the ‘net.  No one will know it though.  The evidence is gone.

Now when I sit down at the computer, I take a look at the camera and make sure the light is NOT on.  It’s not a pretty picture.

Toilet Paper

My children are a major source of my personal entertainment.  They are also the source of my biggest frustrations.  What is really incredible, though, is how the kids can be entertaining and frustrating at the same time.

Do you know how much water 5 brand new rolls of toilet paper can hold?
A LOT!
How do I know this?  I found 5 new rolls of toilet paper, heavily laden with water, resting at the bottom of a full bath tub after my youngest son’s last bath.

It was so funny and so frustrating at the same time.  I hate the waste of all that toilet paper, but I certainly found it amusing enough to take a picture of it.

Enjoy!

Four of the rolls have had most of their water squeezed out, one is still full.

Can you guess which one?

Entry #500 and a guest blogger

After thinking about how I could celebrate my 500^th blog entry, I decided to have a guest blogger – my 13 year old son. 

As I’ve mentioned before this son is funny.  A natural ham.  His is also very smart.  I hope that as he continues to grow and learn, he will use his talents and brain for good.  I’m proud of his accomplishments.  He just gets funner to be with each year he grows older.  So, without further ado, I’m happy to present my son, whom will now be known as Stonehelm the Wise.

Philosophy of Life according to me:

When doing a maze begin at the end and go on till you come to the beginning; then cheer like a lunatic.

Believe in yourself when seeking the truth.  Party when you find it.

When the student is not ready, then school appears.

If you think you're free, do not get caught by the cops!

If you chase two rabbits, be sure to bring a gun.

The 4 elements of summer: 1. Cook-offs 2. Watermelon 3. Root beer 4. Sunburns.

The best things in life are groovy.

Music energizes the soul. Silence is just plain creepy.

Ninjas are good, pirates are bad!

Irish Oxter Song

(To the tune of “Rubber Ducky”)

Irish spring, you're the one!
You make oxters so much fun!
You make me smell like
beer and bacon toooo!

Irish Spring, for a bit
You make me smell like armpit
I like it so that makes
It okkkkkkkkk!

HEY!

(Molly here: Oxter is the Gaelic word for armpit, and son’s favorite deodorant is Irish Spring)

Stonehelm the Wise just started his own blog.  Take a look and enjoy the laugh you are sure to get.

Almost there.....

This post is #499!

Well, a few things have been on my mind, including some deep, deep philosophical thoughts.  I'll share those later.  Don't worry, it's not as boring as it sounds.

Before this day is over, we will leave to go to the airport to pick up our exchange student.  This young lady will be staying with us for one full school year.  She is 16 and coming to us from Brazil.  I will refer to her as "C".  We are excited and nervous for C's arrival.  Her room, which she will share with our 7 year old daughter is ready for it's new occupant.  Monday or Tuesday we will take her to the local high school to get her enrolled in her classes.  C left her home last night at 9:45 pm.  She will arrive here today in the afternoon.  I'll bet she is exhausted.

For dinner, we are planning the All-American BBQ!  Hot dogs, hamburgers, potatoes, watermelon.... mmmmm.  Welcome to America!

I have to say, I'm nervous about this.  It isn't the first time we've had an exchange student, but this one will be the longest one stays with us.  The first couple of months are probably going to be the most difficult as she adjusts to being away from home, speaking another language exclusively, and living with a lot of little kids.  It will be an adjustment for us too as we learn to have a stranger fit into our normal routines, schedules and activities.

Still, it is exciting!  My youngest is bouncing off the walls with excitement.

So, since the next post is #500, be prepared.  I might have 500 tidbits about me or 500 ways to avoid laundry or 500 recipes for tater tots or 500 pictures of the rocks that make up my front yard or......

Well, just wait and see!

sharing a memory

Sandrina the Sprite

Yep, that's me about a million years ago.  Well, maybe not a million, but it feels like a million years and several life times ago that I was Sandrina.  I loved that costume.  I felt so elegant.  That is a unicorn at my feet.  The play was called The Unicorn of Zer.  I don't remember what the unicorn had to do with the story at all since there was no unicorn in the show.  There were some witches, some warlocks, a king, queen and princess, ladies in waiting, lords of the land, several trolls, a dragon, a bunch of kids, and four sprites.

How the director kept that many kids and teenagers in line, I'll never know.  I went on for the next several years and worked with a couple of these folks a number of times.  A few years after this, I did a Halloween show with two of the cast members here.  I was a vampire.  I had a purple afro wig.   We sang about bats in the belfry.  Good times!

My kids, keeping me laughing

Kids are funny creatures.

Have I mentioned recently how funny my kids are?  They keep me laughing.  I have, over the years, loved to watch each of my children's personalities develop and with that, their sense of humor.  We have some very different personalities in this family.  They are all wonderful.  This summer has been an especially funny one with my kids and I'll share a few examples of why.

My three year old.  She is mature beyond her age in many ways.  I guess that's what happens when you are child #5.  Her ability to communicate is incredible and she has the most interesting things to say.  One new phrase from this summer has been, "That was suppose to be funny."  She uses it when she says something that she thinks we should be laughing at and we don't give her the kind of response she wants.  She will tell us that it was suppose to be funny.   That is funny to hear her say, so  we laugh and she is happy with us.

The five year old son.  This guy is sweet and quiet.   He loves physical comedy.  He doesn't often get word jokes and when he tries to tell jokes, you just have to laugh because they make no sense at all. 
Here is an example:  Why did the chicken cross the road?  To go find the boss (a bad guy in his favorite computer games.)  Yep, not at all funny and yet, hilarious!

The seven year old daughter.  She is a smart, chatty, creative girl.  In the last few months, I started playing some improv acting games with the kids.  They love it.  How often does mom encourage them to be totally goofy? (OK, I admit, these games are so I can be completely goofy.)  The games have really been an eye opener for me, though, and I continue to learn more about the personal character of each of my children through the acting characters they create.  That in itself is a whole other burrito, though.  So, the other day we were playing one of our games.  I let the kids pick any kind of character they want, but if they have trouble coming up with ideas, I have a bowl with strips of paper with ideas, a cowboy, a pirate and such.  So the other day, this daughter started doing her character and we just couldn't figure out what she was doing.  We tried to play along, but finally we asked what she was doing.  She told us she was being her dad when he was a little boy.  We were befuddled at this so she showed us her suggestion: Really Old Person.  Apparently to this 7 year old, my 36 year old Hubby is an incredibly old person.  I about fell to the floor with laughter.  Poor Hubby.  He didn't find it quite as amusing.

The 11 year old son.  Here is another quiet guy.  He doesn't often have much to say, but when he does, he can be quite funny.  He can also pull the funniest faces.  Yesterday, we were at a big shopping center.  He was waiting for a haircut and I was waiting just outside with the little kids hanging out in the shopping basket.  I look over at this son and he peeks around the corner and pulls one of his funny faces.  Of course, that gets me laughing.  So, he does it over and over again, each time with a different face.  I'm laughing and I'm sure everyone around me was thinking that lady is crazy.

The 13 year old boy.  Here is a natural ham if ever I saw one.  Not only is he quick with a joke, he is quick to laugh and I LOVE to make him laugh because his laugh is so funny.  He and I have a few running jokes and more than once, I'm proud to say, I've made him snort his drink through his nose. I would love to tell some of the jokes we have going, but the set up would take so long to write down.  He is just a funny kid and his current lankiness that being a teen in a tall body that he can't seem to control makes him even funnier.  When I did my theater in June, I convinced him to do a pre-show act for me.  Ok, I practically begged.  He finally agreed to do one.  Well, I have to say, he stole the show.  I need to send him to his two uncles, my brothers.  Hams all around.

I could go on and on about the funny things that go on in this house.  I just need to write it all down, then someday I'll have enough material for an awesome humor book.  Then I'll make millions!
Evil laugh: Mwuhaha!!!

More great products for you

 Don't you wish you had this patio?  It's filled with all sorts of amazing things.  Zoom in and you will see all the brilliant things I had to say about this set up.

I hope you enjoyed today's section of the Amazing Products catalog, put together by yours truly.

A trip down memory lane

I was trying to remember the name of someone I went to college with, so I went and pulled out my journals I kept in college.

I was a great journal writer during those years.  I wrote everyday.  I wrote about classes, homework assignments, trips to the library to study or watch movies, going out with friends, leaving the apartment at 10 at night to go to a dance on campus, campouts, band recitals, football games...  I was a busy girl.

It's interesting because every entry ended with my signature and the time that I finished writing.  Most of the times were late, often around 11:30 at night.  It was so amusing to read those entries, especially the ones that I wrote really late, because they are often full of funny sleepy writings.  I would randomly capitalize letters or I would substitute words, instead of saying, "I had a lot of work,"  I would write, "I had a lot of world."  Writing in your sleep can be very funny.  One entry had some random sentence about cranberry sauce.  I later wrote that I had been dreaming about a guy offering me some cranberry sauce.  Let me tell you, it takes talent to write in your sleep!

Every Sunday's entry mentioned if I watched SeaQuest or not.  It came on Sunday evenings and I loved watching it.

I wish I had written the last names of more people.  I wrote about Stephen who did this, and Holly who did that, and how I saw Sean and Kristy on campus.  Now I'm reading these again and wondering who are these people? Still, I'm grateful that I wrote what I did down.  It's been fun to go back and read about my college years.  They were so very, very different from my life now.

One thing I did write down were the names of some of the music we played in band.  This is great! I looked up these songs on YouTube!  There are videos of bands performing these concert songs, so right now, while I'm typing, I'm listening to a recording of a concert band performing "Scenes From the Louvre, Movement 3." The music is familiar.  It's been so very long since I played in the band.  I miss playing my bassoon!  YouTube is great!

I'm so thankful for those late night journal writings.  It's a time in my life that I loved, but as the years go by, those memories become more vague.  I'll always remember my time in college and I'll always remember certain parts of it, but it's those details that are so easily forgotten that I'm grateful for my journals.  The heartaches and celebrations of everyday college life.  What fun it was!

Those crazy kids and their music!

Permit me a little rant here, OK?

The kids have been home for the summer for the last two months.  We've had a lot of fun, but there are a few things that go on each summer that kind of bug me. 

Cue old lady voice: Back when I was young, I respected my elders!

Well, to really know the truth, you would have to ask my mother...
When I was 11 years old, the Monkees were in their 20 year reunion.  I loved watching the show on TV, everyday.  I got the cassette tapes of their albums and listen to and sang along with all the songs.  My parents really didn't like the Monkees.  Wrong generation, I guess.  They were fine with me watching the TV show and listening to the music, but I knew that they didn't like them.  I tried to be considerate of this and I only listened to the music in my room.  I never watched the TV show when they were around and I tried not to talk about them much when my parents were around.

Now, we move ahead 25 years and I've got my own kids.  They have their own music that they like.  I don't like everything they do, but that's OK.  However! They play their music on my computer in the living room, very, very loudly.  Some of the music, I like, but even then, I get tired of it blasting in the living room.  They have music players in their room that they can use, but I guess they just love the sound of the music in the front room.  They know I don't like a lot of their music, but they play it anyway.  The front room opens to the kitchen, so I hear it when I'm in the kitchen.  My loom is in the front room...  You get the idea.  I knew my parents didn't like the Monkees and I respected that.  My kids don't respect the fact that I can't stand most of their music.

Am I sounding old???
Yep, I guess I am.  Old lady voice again: Them youngens and their music.  I just don't understand what those whippersnappers hear in all that noise. 

Alright, rant over.  Thank you for your patience.  Time to go watch some Monkees.

Approaching a milestone

This blog entry will be entry #493.  I have almost reached 500 blog entries!

I'm not sure if that is pathetic or something to be celebrated.  Celebrating is a lot more fun, so that's what I want to do.

How should I celebrate my 500th entry?  What should I write about?  Does anyone have any ideas?  If I don't plan this, I could end up blogging about something mundane, like the kids going back to school in a few weeks.

Any ideas??? 

Philosophical ideas

About a year ago, I discovered the Philosophy and Pop Culture series.  Before then, I had never studied philosophy and really didn't know much about it.  These series of books are essays people have written about the pop culture topic.

I started with The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy.  I loved it.  I didn't understand everything they talked about.  I haven't studied philosophy before and I don't know the different philosophers. Some of the essays I didn't agree with the view of the author.  Some of them really caused me to think deeply about various topics.  I loved those.  I started thinking in a more philosophical way.  Why couldn't Uncle Andrew understand the animals when they spoke, but the children could?  Deep, deep thoughts at work here.

Since then, I've read The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, and I'm currently reading Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy and Pink Floyd and Philosophy.  The next one I want to read is The Beatles and Philosophy!

The Lord of the Rings wasn't quite as good as I had hoped it could be.  The Alice in Wonderland has been challenging to read.  It deals with nonsense and logic, as the Alice stories do.  I'm just not up on all the "great" philosophers and their theories.  I don't understand a lot of it.  It is highly illogical to me, but I'm not sure if it's nonsense or not.  Pink Floyd has been interesting.  I don't know their music that well, but such interesting music with such bizarre words and thoughts have lead to some seriously interesting essays.  I've only read a few, but I've liked them.  One of them discussed how music can form images in our heads.  Sometimes in the form of pictures and sometimes in the form of notes, music, or time.  I have found with me, there are a few specific songs that have the power to form images in my head.  When I tried to explain this to my Hubby, I just sounded dumb. This book has shown me that I'm not the only one who has that experience with music.  Weird and fascinating all at the same time.

We also have in our library Star Wars and Philosophy.  My 13 year old is attempting to read this.  I'll read it when he is done.  I would love to see a NeverEnding Story and Philosophy.  I'm sure that would be very interesting.

I never thought of myself as philosophical until I started reading these books and realized that I do have a tendency to think deeply in a philosophical way sometimes.  For good or for bad, I love to philosophise.  My husband and I are very different in several ways.  I've pondered what it is that makes me obsess about some thing in particular and Hubby doesn't give the same idea a second thought.  Hmmm, deep thinking at work here.  Too bad I'm not articulate enough to explain my ideas here like the authors of the essays in the book.

If you will excuse me, I'm going to go ponder this problem for a while.

The Crazy Week

It's been one of those crazy kind of weeks.  You know the kind, the ones that throw themselves at you and you just deal with.  It wasn't a bad week for me, thank goodness, just kind of crazy.
I won't go into long details of why it was crazy, but let me say that in the last week, we spent 24 hours in the van on the road with five kids.  CRAZY!  Actually, the kids were great.  We couldn't have asked for a better trip with the kids.  There was very little fighting or crying.  No one got car sick.  A lot of snacks were eaten and a lot of Gatorade was drunk.  There was some singing, story telling, word games played, and philosophising of life, the universe and everything.

School starts for the kids in less than a month.  The summer has just flown by.  Soon it will be time to buy school supplies.

I'm having a hard time keeping a train of thought for this blog, so I'll end now before I say something really weird.  Until next time... postcards that fly through the ocean get soggy.   Hmmm, I think I need sleep.

A train of thought moving faster than a speeding bullet

Quickly, before I forget!

Yesterday's blog post was about how my brain jumps from thought to thought very quickly.  I have a hard time thinking about just one thing sometimes.  Here is an example of what I mean.  I was in the shower this morning after my morning walk.  My mind started thinking and by the time I was done with the shower, I was way off topic of what I was originally thinking about.  I had to back track my thoughts to get back to the original one.

Here is the line of thought:
-Funny how skills can be called two different names depending on their use.  For example: manipulation is considered to be negative, but when turned around, it can be called good leadership skills. Right?
-Peanut, my three year old can be so manipulative.  We've got to get her sleeping through the night in her own bed in in a different room from Hubby and I.  I wish we had more rooms in the house. 
-The number of bedrooms in the house....  We've got too many people, too few bedrooms and five kids who don't want to share their room with anyone else. There is too much fighting is going on over who went into whose bedroom.  This kids have got to learn to share space better.
-The size of the house we are in now vs. the size of the last house we lived in.  Our current home has 500 more square feet than our last home, but the smaller home had two more rooms than this house.  I would rather have the rooms than the space.
-The longest I've ever lived in one house since getting married is 3 years 2 months.  Come December 1, we will have been here for three years and it doesn't look like we are going to move again anytime soon. We might break our record of three years and two months.  That's funny (or not) since I've wanted to get out of this house for the last two years. 
- My Mom lived in one place for 30 years.  She taught in several schools in the city, each year having 25-30 kids in her class.  She knew people from church and civic people. She knew everyone.
-Mom was always running into someone she knew at the grocery store.  I went with her to the grocery store a lot growing up and we could hardly make it through one shopping trip without her running into someone she knew.  I didn't mind, it was just funny.
-I occasionally see people I know at the grocery store, but not too often.  Of course, I don't know many people since I've only lived here for a couple of years.  Do I ever actually look at the people in the grocery store while I shop?  No, I don't think I do.  I'm just there to get my stuff and get out.  Would I notice a friend at the store if a friend was there?  Maybe.  What if one of my favorite celebrities were at the grocery store?  Would I notice?
-I should make it more of a point to look at the people around me at the store.  I might see a friend.

So, that is what ran through my head during my shower.  It wasn't a long shower.  My thoughts just go too fast and change too much.  Maybe I should get a water proof voice recorder to carry around with me all the time.  Then I can just talk while I think.... That might be really funny to listen to.

Now what was I thinking?

Yesterday I thought up about four great blog entries.  I wrote one.  Not sure if it’s really great or not.  The rest I’ve forgotten.  I’m so attention deficit sometimes.  My brain jumps from thought to thought faster than rabbit can jump across the desert.

Well, I’ve just gotten distracted by something else in the house, so I’m not going to finish this thought.  I’ll come back to it later.

Update on the weaving blog

It's been three months, but I finished my last weaving project and have begun a new one!  Check out
my weaving blog

Onomastics

I'm an armchair onomast.  Perhaps amateur onomast sounds better.  An onomast is a person who studies onomastics.  Onomastics is the study of names.  I LOVE names!
I don't blog about names often.  I don't want to offend.  Names are incredibly personal.  I certainly have my favorites and there are names that I really don't like.

I love to read what's popular and I've made some fairly accurate predictions about what might be popular in the future.  However, some of the names that have become popular have really surprised me.  When I was a kid, I had a great name book that talked about name trends.  At the time of publishing, the early 80's, names like Olivia, Ava, Emma, Max, and Owen were considered "Grandparent names."  Who knew they would surface again?  The three girl names I just mentioned are all in the top 10 for 2010 in the United States.  I don't particularly care for these names, but I have always tended to shun the trendy names for my own personal slightly unusual tastes.

Anytime a member of the family finds out they are expecting, I start making up lists for them.  Most of the names are intended as funny jokes, like unpronounceable Celtic names being a favorite category of mine - MacFhlannchaidh for example.  Personally I love Gaelic names and so does America right now.  There are a lot of popular names with  Gaelic origins.  I like the more unusual names.  With each baby, I tried to convince my hubby that we should use the girl name Ailish.  He didn't go for it and neither has anyone else in the family.  I also tried to get him to agree to Moira.  Nope.

Secretly, I would love to have 19 kids like that one family.  I would love the opportunity to pick names nineteen times.  So, if I could pick some names right now, what would I choose?
Ailish, Moira, Freya, Peter, Colin and Richard.  OK, my girl name choices are quite distinctly cultural, two Gaelic and one Scandinavian.  The boy names on the other hand are good ol' names that have fallen out of the top 100.  The are unused enough that they won't have several kids in their class with their name, while remaining familiar, accepted and masculine names.


I just love names.  I've had 7 or so friends have babies in the last 2 months.  I love to hear what name the parents have picked out.  Did they just find the name in a book and like it?  Is it a family name?  Is it a favorite literary or movie character?  Each name has a story and each story is, for me, fascinating.

MORE great products for sale

I love Sky Mall!  It is the greatest catalog with the most amazing things for sale.  Of course, I like to put my own twist on products.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them so you can read all about these great products.

I'm not sure why, but it Blogger won't enlarge this picture.  It's funny, but the best part is the snowman at the bottom of the picture.   A body bag for your snowman!!! What kind of sick and twisted world is this?

Enjoy!

Great products for sale

For years my sister and I have gone through catalogs, cutting out the best of all the products for sale.  We put our own twist on the products and make our own catalog.

Some of these items just make you just wonder WHY?

You'll have to click on each picture to be able to read what they say and what I wrote about each of them.  Wouldn't you just love to get a catalog like this one in the mail?  Enjoy.