Robert Redford, Hot Grandpa

I watched “The Great Gatsby” over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find that the movie was as about as true to the book as it could get.  Often I feel the directors have not even bothered to read the book before making it into a movie.  To be fair, it is a difficult feat, even if done well. 

Is it disturbing that I find Robert Redford extremely hot and have since I was 15?  Man, I have always made fun of girls who go for grandpas, but if the dudes looked like Robert Redford then I could begin to understand such a disgusting age difference.  Sugar daddies never look like that and gold-digging is inexcusable…….unless it’s Robert Redford or Sean Connery, Rule #1035 in the Book of Brittany.  Anyway, Redford’s birthday is August 18^th, 1936, which makes him exactly 44 years older than me.  That is highly disturbing.  He’s almost 70!  No!  He's almost 80!  Is that right???  He's 75?  Hurry, check my math.  I think my grandpa is 80 and it's freaking me out.

I have posted about “The Great Gatsby” before and it seems to be a button that always gets me talking because I love the book so much.  Those of you who have read the book will understand the correlation that I am making and those of you who haven’t, read it please.  I have a friend who is a little broken-hearted right now.  Her “one that got away” just got engaged and thanks to stupid-ass Facebook torturing herself has become a much easier practice.  She was young, he was young, and the timing has never been quite right.  Over the past ten to twelve years, they’ve had a spark, but now it’s coming to an end out of necessity.  I watched “Gatsby” and thought about her.  I started to think about this notion of “the one who got away” and whether it even exists.  We hear about it, we see it in the movies, but if they got away, well then they weren’t right or something was off, right?  Can we romanticize so much that we forget about what it was that pushed us away to begin with?  Or is it truly as tragic as it can appear to be and “true loves” can be separated?  I think that the romantic in us both wants to and doesn’t want to believe that it’s possible, but in all reality, why doesn’t it work out if it’s “right”?  Sometimes I wonder if memories from our youth play with our memories and distort them into much more pleasant existences than they really were.  Can anything be as sweet, pure, and lovely to us as it was when we were 16?  Gatsby made a life for a girl that existed in his memory and in reality she sucked.  The times that they had together were during the most pure that you are in your life.  I know that teenagers are “bad” and get into trouble, but there’s something so innocent about them and the love that they feel for another is more ideallic than an adult can feel.  Adults know what life is, how hard it is, what marriage really is, that people have faults…..teenagers are able to escape those thoughts, which is what makes them so stupid—innocent, but clueless and ignorant.  Therefore, when looking into your past and remembering the people that you loved, you should remember that “You can’t repeat the past” just like Nick says in “Gatsby”.  You can’t repeat it and you can’t replicate the experiences you had when you were that young.  Chasing your past only gets you into trouble.  Here’s the message to my friend.  (You know who you are.)

Since there’s nothing you can do about it now, remember that back in the day his mom picked up his underwear from off the floor and scraped the globs of toothpaste from his sink……and it would now be your job if you were the one with the rock on your finger.  In fact, he’s probably picked up some more disgusting habits that you would be forced to endure.  Did I cheer you up?

leitmotif \LYT-moh-teef\, noun:

1. In music drama, a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label.
2. A dominant and recurring theme.

Happy Memorial Day!

avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\, noun:

1. Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams).
2. Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois.

Is it just me, or is this a stupid word?

Can you imagine using this word to tell someone that they are sexually attractive?  I think that it would go something like this:

"Hey, man, you're looking awfully toothsome today. Wanna go back to my place and eat some toothsome pie?" says the lady.

"Thank you.  Although your offer is toothsome, I can't because I am due at the Post Office.  I have a package to mail." says the sexy man.

One word that I will continue to never use:

toothsome \TOOTH-suhm\, adjective:
1. Pleasing to the taste; delicious; as, "a toothsome pie."
2. Agreeable; attractive; as, "a toothsome offer."
3. Sexually attractive.

Get this......

The 4^th graders had a party yesterday on the baseball fields and Carson had the time of his life; Dylan slept the entire time in the stroller.  The big kids played with Carson the entire time and he had the biggest smile on his face. Every time that we go to their school the babies are very popular and the kids fight over who gets to play with them.  (Not Logan and Lindsey, their friends.)  The school hired a DJ and some of the kids sang karaoke; the others basically ran around and got rid of their energy for a couple of hours.  When it was almost time to go the 4^th graders lined up and they walked the halls and said goodbye to everyone.  All of the parents and teachers line the walls and take pictures and wave; it’s basically a parade.  It’s a really big deal.  Lindsey and her friends, well, all of the girls that I saw were all in tears.  It was sad.  A lot of them have been together since kindergarten and although they’ll probably graduate from high school together they know that they’ll never be at that school again. 

I got the kids’ report cards and standardized test scores.  They both did extremely well, but I am mostly shocked about Logan’s.  All of his scores were extremely high.  His teacher said that you rarely see a score as high as his science score was.  (I was so shocked that I had to call his teacher to make sure that I understood them correctly.)  In math alone, Logan is in the 97^th percentile nationally and they have suggested that he begin ALGEBRA next year.  His scores are comparable to a ninth grader’s in his 8^th month of school.  His teacher said that she’s always known that he is very bright, but that the ADHD medicine has helped him to focus more and she’s seen a dramatic change.  I guess so!  He got A’s for the year and received a ticket to Six Flags as a special treat.  I’m really proud of him.  And don’t get me wrong, Lindsey did very well—Logan just did better.  I told his teacher that I have already requested that the kids be put in the same “community” next year and she said that he’ll no doubt be in advanced classes.  I told her that the principal already said that he would put them together.  His teacher then said that it wouldn’t hurt Lindsey to be pushed as well and that she’s fully capable of being in advanced classes as well.  She thinks that it would help her to be around focused kids because she socializes so much and she gets distracted.  We’ll see.  I’m floored about Logan’s math scores and I am screwed, too.  I barely passed Algebra!  I just had to brag about him a bit because it’s a nice change from talking about something that he’s done to get into trouble.  We’ve always known he’s bright, that’s perhaps why we get so upset when he does foolish things. 

Have a great weekend!

vertiginous \vur-TIJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective:

1. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy.
2. Causing or tending to cause dizziness.
3. Turning round; whirling; revolving.
4. Inclined to change quickly or frequently; inconstant.

Last Day

I am going to Logan and Lindsey’s end of the year parties today.  They are also doing a walk-through.  All of the graduates walk the halls and say good-bye to everyone.  Some of the kids give their old teachers roses; Logan has made a card for every single teacher that he’s had over the years.  I almost cried when I read them.  Man, that kid can write a sweet letter.  Not only are they sweet, they are funny too.  He said to his science teacher “I used to think that the stomach was just a giant pool of acid, but thanks to you, I now understand how the intestines work.”  He thanked one teacher for not getting irritated when she had to get the ball from over the fence like 20 times a day at recess.  He ended some of his letters “I’ll never forget you, you’ll be in my memories, and you’ll walk through my mind from time to time” and other cute little things like that.  I liked “You’ll walk through my mind from time to time”, clever for a nine-year-old. 

I’m sure that today will bring many tears for the girls.  Logan said that every single year the girls bawl their eyes out.  Not much has changed.  I remember that, don’t you, girls?  I especially had a hard time with the end of the year.  For one thing, I never liked change as a child and had a really hard time letting go of the present.  Also, I always left my friends during the summer because I went to Florida to visit my dad.  I loved going, but I missed everyone and felt left out because they were all still getting together before the next year started back up.  I remember when I graduated from high school—it was so painful that I blew it off so I wouldn’t feel the sadness and I also didn’t want anyone to see how sad I was.  I would have been happier staying in high school because I had a good experience and I had my friends.  I was devastated that my friends all had plans and were leaving me, so I guess I did the dumbest thing that I possibly could have done.  I followed an idiot boyfriend to the beach.  I wish I had explained to someone how I felt at the time, but it felt so ridiculous because what kid wants to stay in high school-the kid who doesn’t like change and the one who has absolutely no idea where she’s headed. One of my main goals for my kids is to help them figure out who they are and where they are going.  On the day that they graduate, they will have a place on the planet to be happy other than high school.  I figured it all out in the end and I wouldn’t change a thing, but I don’t want my kids to feel like everyone is spinning their tires in front of them and they are left behind coughing on their dust—that’s how I felt, but I am the one who couldn’t pay attention in school and talked constantly.  It was my fault.  I was in school to socialize, not study.  Oops.

I went off on a rant that I hadn’t planned!  Have a great day!  Here’s your Word of the Day:

dudgeon \DUH-juhn\, noun:

A state or fit of intense indignation; resentment; ill humor -- often used in the phrase "in high dudgeon."

Graduates!

This morning I went to Logan and Lindsey’s 4th grade graduation ceremony, which was bittersweet.  They’ve been at the same school since kindergarten and it’s crazy to me that they’ve grown so much and gotten so much older, but of course I am so proud of how they’ve turned out so far.  It’s so cliché, but time really does fly by and they grow up faster than you can ever imagine.  To those of you with small children, savor every moment.  It is gone before you can blink!

We had cake and coffee and they were awarded their pins and announced on stage.  Logan got an All A Honor Roll pin, Math pin, Reading pin, WBOB pin (for the news), and I think he got one for outstanding attendance.  Lindsey got a Music pin, WBOB pin, A/B Honor Roll pin, and Talent Show pin. 

After the ceremony the babies and I went to their classrooms for slideshows, coffee, and breakfast.  I was sneaking out going back and forth between rooms.  I’ll tell you the truth; it would be a lot easier if they were in the same class!  Luckily their classrooms were back to back this year.  I talked to Henry’s parents—Henry is Lindsey’s “friend” who she swears she doesn’t like, yet she wants to marry one day.  He’s the one that she went to see in “The Secret Garden” a few weeks ago.  Anyway, his parents are very nice people and he is such a sweet kid.  She is not a boy-crazy little girl, but if she is going to like a boy I am relieved that she likes a nice one.  His mother and I were talking about the two of them and how they like each other and she said that she hopes that they DO NOT get married today because Lindsey is almost guaranteed to have twins!  I then told her that Lindsey wasn’t even allowed to date until she’s at least 25.  No, but seriously, 18 is the earliest!  I plan on having a wall of pictures in the foyer.  The pictures will be of all of the sets of twins in our family.  When Lindsey’s dates pick her up and see that she has a 99% chance of having twins or triplets, I’m sure that he’ll think first before getting too serious with her!    I am not raising twins again in 5 or 6 years, that’s for sure.  If I have to home school her, I will!  If I have to chain her up in the basement, well so be it!  And you think I’m kidding!  Ok, I’m kidding about the basement, but I am serious about home schooling her!  I should just check her into a convent for 10 years.  That would be awesome if you could do that!

Anyway, I checked Lindsey out after the little party because they weren’t doing anything important and she wants to go swimming with the babies.  Logan chose to stay at school with his buddies.  I am so proud of both of them.  They are such amazing kids and I am so blessed that God gave me such precious children.  I can’t believe that they are growing up so quickly. 

Tomorrow is their last day of school and I am going to their party around noon.  Not much going on other than the end of the year stuff.  Hope everyone is doing well.  Here’s the Word of the Day:

clinquant \KLING-kunt\, adjective:

1. Glittering with gold or silver; tinseled.

One more thing for Wednesday.....

I never blog twice in one day, but I have to report that Dylan went potty again!  I asked him if he wanted to try, he said yes and he went as soon as I sat him on the toilet.  I am so proud of him! 

I also forgot to mention that I bought the boys two new fish a couple of days ago.  They are Beta fish and are in the same bowl, but it has a divider so they won't kill each other.  Carson and Dylan hug the bowl and love watching their fishies, as they call them.  Carson named his "Blue" because he is blue and Dylan hasn't named his yet.  They love feeding them.  They're really excited to see them in the morning.

Please, Oprah! Don't Go!

I know that some of you probably don’t like Oprah (which I can’t understand) and some of you don’t watch her show, but I love her and I always watch the show and I am really sad that today is the last of the last.  I have watched it since I was in high school and I even went to see it filmed when I went to Columbia in Chicago.  I saw a live broadcast right after “shock and awe”.  They put me in the front row because “my skirt was cute” which was sort of funny to me.  Condoleezza Rice was interviewed via satellite—extremely exciting to a journalism major.  A lot of the viewers wished that someone famous had been there or that they would get something free, but I love the serious shows and was happy that I came for something news worthy.  After Oprah interviewed Rice she interviewed two more guests.  One of the guests was an American mother and had a son fighting in Iraq.  Her neighbor was from Iraq and had a son still living in the most dangerous part of Iraq, where we were fighting.  They were both stressed out and terrified every day, as any mother would be, and by becoming friends they were able to deal with the fear that they were forced to endure.  They prayed together and supported each other and it proved that we’re all just people at the end of the day and that we’re all capable of being friends.  It was inspiring, as most Oprah shows are.  I wondered though, could that happen between men?  My friend Katie has a theory that if women ruled the world we wouldn’t go to war with a country that misbehaved or violated a trade agreement, we’d just leave them out and give them the silent treatment.  I love that—so funny and probably true.

I think that the thing I will miss the most are the informative shows because she often unveiled a lot of secretive and hush-hush material.  I remember a show on the Congo that made me cry because I didn’t understand why the media didn’t cover it more and I not only felt grateful for the life I lead, I wanted to change their situation.  Of course, I haven’t done that, but she inspired me to change things and when the right people are inspired it can be such a beautiful thing.  I know that there are better people than me who are out there doing the things that I only think about and I am glad.  I also remember a show on puppy mills that was so awful that it changed my mind about pet stores altogether.  Her show has changed the way that I think and changed some of the decisions that I make.  For example, I won’t ever buy a puppy from a pet store again because of the way that they are treated.  I watched “Food, Inc” because of the show and it has changed the way that I think about food.  These are just a few examples of how many important issues Oprah has brought to my attention and now who will do this?  Not the evening news, that’s for sure!  I have learned in the past ten years that the Golden Rule of local news, “If It Bleeds, It Leads” is usually true for most news sources. Unfortunately it usually has to be our blood or they don’t cover it enough and the viewers don’t care enough.  If it doesn’t affect our family or pocketbook, people don’t pay attention enough to bring about change and that is what’s different about Oprah’s approach.  For one hour she humanized the news and made people feel, not JUST think.  Oprah is different than the news media because she is interested in the people and how they feel, not just the grit of the story and I think that people react more to that because once we realize that we’re all just people the fear melts away and change is possible.  I know she has a network now, but I don’t know if it’ll ever be the same.  I hope it will be as good as the past 25 years! 

Here’s the Word of the Day:

sojourn \SOH-juhrn; so-JURN\, intransitive verb:
1. To stay as a temporary resident; to dwell for a time.

My Geniuses

A few days ago I was drying my hair and Carson disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door.  I went in to check on him and he had taken off his shorts and diaper and was sitting on the potty with a few squares of toilet paper.  It was so adorable, considering the fact that I haven’t pushed potty training or talked about it much.  He didn’t go to the bathroom, but I still made a big deal about it because he tried.  Dylan looked very curious, but wasn’t ready to try.

Dylan came to me last night and said that he had to “pee”.  I took his diaper off and sat him on the potty.  Sure enough, he went!  We were cheering for him and making a big deal about it and he was the most excited and proud that I have ever seen him.  He was running around, spinning in circles, laughing….it was adorable.  Carson didn’t like it at all.  He was very upset that he hadn’t gone too.  He tried a little later, but he didn’t go. 

I’m really not “potty training” because they just turned 2.  I will start toying with the idea, but I am not pushing it down their throats.  We’ll just see what happens.  I shouldn't push them too much; I don't want them to resent the fact that they're geniuses.  Heehee. 

Here’s a picture of my adorable sister, Ashli, on graduation day.  (She’s the crazy of the two on the right, haha.  Just kidding, Ash!)  Your Word of the Day is below the picture.  Have a great Tuesday!

prink \PRINGK\, transitive verb:

1. To dress up; to deck for show.

The Sleepwalker

Lindsey is a sleepwalker and it is getting more and more bizarre by the night.  This is something that I am pretty sure I have never written about even though it happens pretty consistently.  Actually, she sleepwalks in cycles.  She won’t do it for months and then all of a sudden she does it every night for months.  She’s peed on floors (this has even happened when she’s been at someone else’s house), she yells out strange things and she gets up to ask us things that make absolutely no sense.   One night Don and I heard a loud noise and we went in her room to find her climbing her dresser drawers as if they were a mountain.   I am not letting her go camping this month with her Girl Scout troop because last time she went she put on her boots and tried to leave the cabin in the middle of the night—that would scare any mother to death!  Of course, like many sleepwalkers she remembers nothing in the morning and she thinks that it's funny, unless she pees somewhere strange.

Friday night she got up and I immediately heard her walking around.  I sat up in my bed and saw her come in.  She said “Let me get my yearbook so you can sign it.”  Next thing I know I’m running into the bathroom to help her get to the toilet, but I was too late.  She was in the shower peeing with her underwear on.  I washed her off, changed her clothes, and put her back to bed.  She had no recollection of the incident the next morning, of course.  Last night she got up around midnight and told me that she couldn’t sleep, which wasn’t true because she was already asleep!  I said “Go back to bed, Lindsey.  You’re sleepwalking.”  She grabbed her ChapStick that she had left in my room and went back to bed.  At that moment I thought that maybe she really was awake and I had mistaken her for sleepwalking because it seemed like such a conscious thing to do, picking up something that she’d left on my dresser, but I was wrong.  She came back in with her “ChapStick” (which I realize now was really a very tinted, frosted Lip Smacker) ALL over her mouth.  When I say all over her mouth I mean that she was probably wearing more than Bozo the Clown wore in the 80's.  I took her to the bathroom and I wiped it off.  She said “Um, can I go back to bed now?”  I just laughed and walked her back to bed.  Five minutes later I heard a loud noise.  I went to her room and she was in the middle of taking all of her pillows off of her bed and putting them on the floor in the doorway.  I put them all back and picked her up and put her back into bed.  That was all that happened last night, thankfully.  Geez!  If it isn’t the boys waking me up it’s my ten-year-old! 

I used to sleepwalk.  I used to have nightmares and I'd get up crying while trying to explain them to my parents.  Like Lindsey, I often said strange things that didn’t make sense.  One night I went out the backdoor and woke up long enough to realize what I was doing, which was very scary.  I went back into the house and my mom was standing there about to beat me over the head with a crowbar because she thought that I was a burglar, but I had fallen back asleep and just went to bed.  The difference between me and Lindsey is that although I wasn’t in control of myself while I was sleepwalking, I often remembered having done it once someone reminded me.  Lindsey never remembers.  Sleepwalking can be very scary.  I remember being afraid to go to sleep every night because I was afraid that I would wander outside and get hit by a car.  It made going to slumber parties a scary experience as well. 

I am sure that some of you, (Mom, Dad, and Katie) remember me sleepwalking or talking in my sleep.  Katie, didn't I do something really weird when I was a teenager?  I don't know why I think that, but I remember something happening and you made fun of me.  Sometimes I still talk in my sleep and wake myself up, or Don will ask me what I said and I get frustrated trying to remember.  When I was in college I would often fall asleep on the couch.  When Don would try to move me to the bed I would throw my fist up like I was going to punch him in the face.  His laughing woke me and I would then realize what I was doing.   I haven't done anything like that since I've had the boys because I never sleep that sound.  I know that I only did it when I was very tired and I am sure that's what's going on with Lindsey.   I hope that she grows out of it.  However, it's a good excuse to keep her at home, especially when she is a teenager!   

Here's the Word of the Day:

longueur \long-GUR\, noun:
A dull and tedious passage in a book, play, musical composition, or the like.

Extreme Ass

We’re all still here!  The crazy nut-job was wrong once again!  Of course I’m referring to the crazy man, Harold Camping, who predicted that the world would end at 6:10 last night.  He predicted that it would end in ’94 as well.  What an idiot.   The Bible says that no one, not even the angels, will know the day or hour that the world will end.  Why do people waste their time making themselves look like extreme asses?  What kind of ego do you have to have in order to claim that you know what only God  knows? 

slaver \SLAV-uhr; SLAY-vuhr\, intransitive verb:

1. To slobber; to drool.

Congratulations, Ashie!

My sister is graduating from college today; she’s officially a nurse.  Congratulations, Ashli!  I am sorry that I can’t be there.  I love you and I miss you every day!  I’m so proud of you and all that you have accomplished.  It isn’t easy getting through school with a child and you did it very well!  Amie is lucky to have you as a mother and I am lucky to have you as a sister, Chester.

Today is also our anniversary!  Happy anniversary, Don!  I love you!

Today is looking like a very crazy day; a lot of errands to run.  I hope that you all have a great weekend! 

Here’s the Word of the Day:

physiognomy \fiz-ee-OG-nuh-mee; -ON-uh-mee\, noun:

1. The art of discovering temperament and other characteristic qualities of the mind from the outward appearance, especially by the features of the face.
2. The face or facial features, especially when regarded as indicating character.
3. The general appearance or aspect of a thing.

Little Devils

I went to the kids’ new school last night for a parent meeting.  It’s an intermediate school and although the kids are only in 5^th and 6^th grade, it was a little scary—scary in the sense that they are clearly not babies anymore and that it will be a big change.  There are 1200 kids in the school and they switch classes; I believe they have 7 periods.  Up until this point they have been with the same kids since kindergarten and there are now children from 3 other elementary schools joining them.  I know that it will be good for them because I think they have all been pretty sheltered, but I’m a little sad that my babies are not babies anymore.  Before I know it they’ll be in high school.  Peyton will be in the 8^th grade next year and I almost can’t comprehend that! 

Last night at the meeting I had a hard time hearing because this lady brought her 6 obnoxious, loud children with her.  Ok, fine, they were loud and obnoxious and maybe she doesn’t have a dad to watch them or a sitter…..I understand that and I feel for her if that was the case because I have been there.  But when your children are disturbing others SAY SOMETHING to them!  Tell them to shut up!  She just allowed them to behave badly and I finally had to turn around and say “Sweethearts?  I can’t hear.”  What I really meant was “Little rotten devils, shut up before I smack your mother for being an idiot!”  Don’t you hate that?  How can you completely ignore your kids when they are clearly disturbing others?  The lady sitting next to me kept looking back to let the lady know that she heard her little monsters—it made no difference, that’s when I said something.  These were not small children either.  I would say that the youngest was 5 or 6 and the eldest was maybe 12.  Geeez.   Ridiculous.  At least try to shut them up!


 

Have a great Friday!  Here’s the Word of the Day:

foofaraw \FOO-fuh-raw\, noun:

1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration.
2. A fuss over a matter of little importance.

Blahhhhhhh

Have you ever felt like “Blahhhhh” before?  Not tired, not sad or depressed, but a little uninspired?  I guess to a writer it’s known as “writer’s block”.  That’s what I have this morning.  I am usually not at a loss for words, but I am so BLAHHHHH because it’s the end of the school year and I am just trying to make through the next couple of weeks.  I haven’t read anything good lately, I haven’t seen anything good lately—I am just blahhhhh.  The kids are going a little haywire because it’s the end of the year and they think that it’s summer already, which means that any kind of routine is completely out of place.  I don’t function the same without routines.

Today I am driving the kids to school early because they have to purchase their yearbooks and these things fly off the shelves like hot potatoes.  Then I am going to the gym (which I don’t even feel like doing, which is really bizarre) and cleaning the house a bit.  At 2:30 I am reading to Logan’s class and at 6:30 I have parent orientation for their new school. 

Today is my niece’s birthday.  Happy 11^th Birthday, Lanie!  And I should also note that my sister, Ashli, is graduating on Saturday and will officially be a nurse.  Congratulations, Ashie!  I’m sad that I can’t be there, but you will be in my thoughts all week.  Love you! 

Here’s the Word of the Day:

fungible \FUHN-juh-buhl\, adjective:

1. (Law) Freely exchangeable for or replaceable by another of like nature or kind in the satisfaction of an obligation.
2. Interchangeable.

A Good Laugh

Lindsey’s last performance of “Willy Wonka” was last night and the end of the year party was this morning.  I am sort of relieved that it is the end of the year.  I am excited to hang out with the kids and not have to run around as much I usually do.  I woke up this morning and made Don’s lunch and a batch of muffins.  I drank my coffee, checked my email and braided Lindsey’s hair.  I did French-braided pigtails—she looks so cute in them.  She said that it would be easier to spray paint at school if it was pulled back.  The kids have themed days this week.  Monday was “Crazy Hair Day” and I don’t know what yesterday was because they didn’t participate.  Today they can get their hair spray-painted for 50 cents.  Each color is in support for a different kind of cancer.  Lindsey is getting blue for Ms. Wagner, who was Logan’s first grade teacher.  She has ovarian cancer.  Logan didn’t want his hair painted.  Tomorrow is red, white and blue day and I’m not sure what Friday is yet.  

I was watching “Today” this morning and saw this clip of model, Lindsay Wixon, falling on a runway in Cannes.  It was funnier on “Today” because the guys in the studio were all laughing and shouting “OH!” in the background, like guys do.  It sounded more like the SportsCenter studio.  I wonder how high and/or skinny your heels have to be to fall this many times!  I should feel sorry for the girl, but how bad can you really feel when she gets to look the way she does?  No broken bones, so we can laugh at her! 

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2011/05/17/2011-05-17_model_lindsay_wixson_falls_on_runway_in_cannes_model_trips_on_dress_gives_thumbs.html

Here’s your Word of the Day:

iota \eye-OH-tuh\, noun:

1. The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to the English i.
2. A very small quantity or degree; a jot; a bit.

Moving Forward and Enjoying the Moment

Yesterday was not a great morning because everyone was very tired from not getting enough sleep; we got back from Birmingham pretty late.  Lindsey had a stomach ache and stayed home from school and Logan went in late.  I think that they both ate too much junk at the movies and in the car.  Last night we made a delicious dinner for Don and a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting—he loves anything with cream cheese.  I think that he had a pretty good birthday!  We gave him his presents and he seemed very happy. 

This morning I have to take Lindsey to school for her last Music Makers practice.  The last Willy Wonka performance is tonight and tomorrow morning they are having a party to celebrate the end of the year and all of their hard work.  The kids only have this week and next week and then they are FIFTH graders!  They are growing up way too quickly.  I don’t know where the time has gone.  It doesn’t seem that long ago that Logan only liked one thing, Spiderman, and used to say “spida mannnnnn” every other second.  Lindsey used to come home from kindergarten and complain that someone “bees mean to her”.  She would say “I like her because she bees sweet to me” and “I don’t like her because she bees mean to me.”  I used to correct her constantly and now I’ll never hear her say that again.  It makes me a little sad.  I also remember the day that we told Logan that there was more than one super hero and that it would be ok for him to like someone else too.  I don’t think Spiderman was ever the same again to Logan.  As parents we correct them constantly because it’s our job, but sometimes you miss those things that make them little.  Lindsey used to say “Lamby” and not “Grammy” and I am not sure why I ever corrected her on that one because it was so adorable.  One of my English professors once quoted a writer (and I can't remember who it was) who said that no two children has the same set of parents.  This couldn't be more true.  We are different parents with Carson and Dylan than we were with Lindsey and Logan, and learning to appreciate the age that they are is one lesson that we have learned.  You are excited about every stage with your first and you are always looking forward.  Even if you are enjoying the present, you are looking ahead constantly.  With your last you know that it's coming and even though you are excited for it, you are standing still and enjoying the moment that you are in.  For me, that is one of the hardest things to balance in life.....moving forward while enjoying the moment that you are in.  It's especially important to practice with your kids because they grow up so quickly. 

Can you believe this craziness about Arnold Schwarzenegger?  He fathered a kid 10 years ago, and Maria Shriver is not the mother?  The woman worked in his home!  I don’t know why this shocks me, nor do I know why ANYTHING shocks me anymore.  I was broken the day that Reese and Ryan broke up.  They were the absolute cutest family. 

I am going to Pilates this morning, like every Tuesday, and then I have a pretty typical day. 

Here’s the Word of the Day:

connubial \kuh-NOO-bee-ul; -NYOO-\, adjective:

Of or pertaining to marriage, or the marriage state; conjugal; nuptial.

Birthday Weekend

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DON!

Don is 34 today!  We had a great “birthday weekend” and like most other men, he shows no signs of hating the fact that he’s getting older.  If you’re reading, Don, I love you and I hope that you have a great day! 

Friday evening I dropped the kids off at Don’s parents’ house because we knew that we were leaving at 5:30 in the morning.  Don and I had dinner and watched a movie that we had gotten from Netflix.  We watched about 20 or 30 minutes of it and decided to turn it off because it was just TOO bizarre.  Has anyone ever seen “Barbarella?”  First of all, she’s completely naked for the first five or so minutes and it came out in 1968!  I thought that anything before 1969 was like “Leave it to Beaver”.  Apparently not!  Secondly, Jane Fonda was hot!  Wow!  She was so pretty!  I guess I didn’t realize that she is as old as she is, or that she was as hot as she was!  The movie was so stupid though.  She accidentally crashes on another planet and this gang of identical twins kidnaps her and takes her into a cave with 60’s looking fur all over the walls.  They are laughing while these psychotic dolls with no eyes and sharp teeth attack her, ripping her pantyhose in the process.   Then these men come in and save her.  One of them wants to have sex with her and she thinks that it means by placing their wrists together, but he says “no, the real way” and she says that humans don’t do that primitive, disgusting thing anymore but “Ok, if you must.”  Keep in mind that they have known each other for a total of 2 minutes.  They end up having sex (which is does not show) and she lies there in a zombie-like state, singing and smiling afterward.  I think that we turned it off at that point.

Friday night I felt like my right eyeball was sore, which is sort of weird.  I left it alone and by morning my eye was very swollen.  We put some eye drops in it and it burned, but the swelling went down.  Yesterday morning the same thing happened and throughout the day I felt like there was a lump in it.  I think that I remember scratching it about a week ago, but I’m not sure.   As long as it isn’t an eye infection, I’m cool with it!  Pink eye is common with kids and I was very afraid that that’s what it was, but luckily I don’t think so.  Pink eye is so gross!!!

So, here’s the fun stuff…..the drag race.  I was really surprised that I liked it, considering that it’s loud, smelly, and there were more fashion faux pas than I have ever seen in one place.  (There were also people dressed well too, just for the record.)  I saw one lady wearing a pink shirt that said “Lick Breasts”…..not sure what that even meant.  I saw guys wearing shirts that said classy things like “Tell your boobs to stop staring at my face” and “Don’t give a (picture of rat with a leash dragging a donkey)” and “Beer, it’s what’s for breakfast”.  And if I ever doubted that America has a weight problem, I no longer do.  (Not that I ever did.)    I have to say, I like these fans SO much more than Nascar fans.  Nascar fans are the most obnoxious individuals in the entire universe because they are loud, swear a lot, and are usually drunk by noon.  I have hated every experience that I have ever had with Nascar.  Of course, I don’t mean ALL of them.  I am making a lot of enemies right now, but I’m making a generalization….a fair one.  Back to the drag race…..the fans were not drunk and obnoxious, and they were very nice.   The people in front of us were so excited that it was my first time at a race; they turned around and checked to see how I was doing.  You see, ladies, these cars are so stinkin’ fast that your entire body shakes.  Your eyeballs are shaking out of their sockets and you feel like you’re having a heart attack…a cool one, and it’s loud even with earplugs.  I was really scared at first because Don SO prepared me for the feeling, but it was cool.  And the first time that the car took off my jaw dropped.  Remember that part of “Black Sheep” where David Spade and Chris Farley get high on the Nitrous from the boosters?  Roooo-ads!  Rowids!  Limit.  Limit.  Remember that?  Anyway, remember the boosters that made them go really fast?  Well, these cars use Nitrous and if you get too close it smells and burns your eyes.  I actually hated that part. But I guess that’s one reason that they go so fast.  Here's a little info that I got from Don, so you girls can understand:

 

Normal car = 200 horsepower

Sports car = 300 to 500 HP

NASCAR = 750 HP

Supercar (Ferrari, Lambo, etc.) 1200 HP

Top Fuel Dragster = 8000 HP (What we saw)

I married into a family of engineers and over time I have started to appreciate the engineering of various things.  I am telling you, girls, this is amazing.  These cars go from 0 to 330 mph in under 6 or 7 seconds!  You can’t imagine how cool it is.   Here’s some video:

My favorite part of the race was the very first round.  There were all of these suped-up old cars that went like 200 mph in just a few seconds.  Now I want one!  I like the early 50’s Fords and 60’s hot-rods.  These cars were so fun to look at.  I think cars nowadays suck.  Why can’t they make cars like they used to?  Actually, I know why, because I asked Don.  They’ve been engineered for safety and stuff, so they look different.  They are also made of different material.  The old cars were made of really heavy metal. 

We were at the race all day and got back around 11.  I was happy to see my kids and I missed them, but it was nice to have some fun with Don.  (His dad and brother went too, and it was fun hanging out with them too.) 

Yesterday we went to Birmingham to see Peyton.  We had lunch and saw a movie.  It was the boys’ first movie ever!  They loved it, but they fell asleep after about 30 or 45 minutes.  We saw “Rio”.  It was really cute.  I couldn’t believe how much Peyton has grown.  His calf is longer than my thigh and he wears a size 10 shoe!  His voice is a lot deeper than it was the last time we saw him and he looks like a teenager now.  It’s weird.  I’m 5’3, he’s 5’5 and he’s only 13!  So crazy. 

Here’s the Word of the Day.  Have a good one!

nonplus \non-PLUHS\, transitive verb:

To cause to be at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; to confound; to perplex; to bewilder.

Two Words

I don't have time to write about this weekend yet because we are getting ready to go to Birmingham to visit Peyton.  Don and I left at 5:30 am yesterday to go to a drag race in Commerce and I didn't get back until 10:30 or 11 (after picking up the kids).  Obviously, I was too tired to blog!  I want to write all about this busy weekend tomorrow.  Here are yesterday's and today's words:

misnomer \mis-NO-muhr\, noun:
1. The misnaming of a person in a legal instrument, as in a complaint or indictment.
2. Any misnaming of a person or thing; also, a wrong or inapplicable name or designation.


plangent \PLAN-juhnt\, adjective:
1. Beating with a loud or deep sound, as, "the plangent wave."
2. Expressing sadness; plaintive.

Deep Thoughts, by Brittany Chenault

Note:  This is yesterday's post.  Today's post is below this one, it's called "Bad Dreams and Superstitions".  Blogger did some kind of maintenence and said that they removed Wednesday's posts, when in fact yesterday's post is the one missing.  Weird. 

I added “Cheers” to my Netflix instant queue.  Every single episode that ever aired is in this folder and I started watching from the beginning last night.  I know that it’s strange, but I didn’t watch “Cheers”.   I have seen re-runs, but I didn’t watch it when it was on.  Don was stunned and told me that it’s one of the best shows ever made; we watched 3 episodes last night.  I know the song—who doesn’t—and I have been to the bar in Boston, and now I will finally watch the show……30 years later.  The pilot aired in 1982, which means that I was a year or two old.  Isn’t that crazy????  I’m talking to you, Mom, Libbie, Dad, and Greg.  Can you believe that that show is so old?  It came out before the Challenger blew up and that was a long time ago!  I remember when the Challenger blew up.  It’s the only memory I have of my parents sitting on the same couch.  Seems like an eternity ago.  Alright, I’m finished rambling.  I'm sure that my intellect has left you with plenty to chew on today.  HA!  Deep thoughts, by Brittany Chenault. 

Zeitgeist \TSYT-guyst; ZYT-guyst\, noun:

[Often capitalized] The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time.

Bad Dreams and Superstitions

Do you ever have such a bad dream that you wake up and you’re thankful for the family you have and the reality in which you live?  I had a terrible dream that made me climb into bed with my little girl this morning and snuggle for a few minutes before I had to wake her for school.  I had a dream that someone took her and I was on the phone with the police reporting it.  I was so upset that I couldn’t breathe or talk.  It felt so real; it was so terrifying.  I’m always thankful that the terror in my nightmare wasn’t real, but then I’m always paranoid afterward that the dream will come true—that’s when I start praying, because being a parent is scary business.  I warn my kids constantly about strangers, I always want to know where they are going, what they’re doing, and what time they’ll be back.  I don’t let them have a lot of freedom because I’m scared to let them have it.  I think I’ll probably have a nervous breakdown when they start driving, or I’ll start praying even more.  You know that you’re a mom when you’re in a store and you don’t see your kid for .2 seconds because they’re an inch away from your butt and your stomach leaps from your body.  You start shouting their name and looking around and they look at you like you’re nuts.  Remember when you would wander off, even as a 12-year-old, and you’d come back and your mom was in such a panic that she screamed at you for scaring her to death?  Well, you will feel the same thing if you have a child and if you already have children, I am sure you’ve felt it.  It’s bound to happen to you and it’s the worst feeling in the world.  I am a person with many different qualities and abilities, but I am nothing without my kids.  In fact, I don’t even know the girl that existed before I had my kids.  I don’t mean “I’m a mom now so I don’t have anything else to offer the world” or that I’m the woman that the gals in “Sex and the City” hate, but what I mean is that I would be a shell of a person without them.  Once you love something so much it’s hard to imagine a life without them.  Plus, for a third of my life, I have been a mom.  I’m used to it by now and can’t imagine not being one. 

On another note, have a not-so-scary Friday the 13^th!  I’ve posted a link about Friday the 13^th below the Word of the Day just in case you don’t know what’s so significant about it.  After reading about it on Wikipedia, I’m still not positive about where it came from because it seems that no one is.  There are a lot of theories about the day and a lot of uncertainties about when and where it derived, which I suppose could mean that it’s actually an unlucky day—either that or it’s a coincidence.  I think it’s all silliness.  We could add up all of the bad things that happen on every other day as well. 

One theory suggests that the superstitions come from the fact that the Knights of Templar were arrested on Friday the 13^th.  Another is simply that 13 is an “unlucky” number and Friday is an “unlucky” day.  The number 12 is a good number.  Jesus had 12 apostles; there are 12 months in a year and 12 numbers on the clock.  The number 13 is considered irregular and throws everything off.  Remember the movie "Labyrinth" with David Bowie?  His clock had 13 hours on it and that place was ALL KINDS of messed up! 
Superstitions about the day itself didn’t exist before the 19^th century, but Fridays have been considered unlucky at least since “The Canterbury Tales” which was written in the 14^th century.  Jesus died on Friday, and the stock market crashed in 1929 on "Black Friday".  Actually, it crashed on Thursday, but it hit Europe on Friday and so it's known as "Black Friday."  There’s a lot more to it, so you can just read it yourself if you're interested, or maybe even check out a better site.  Wikipedia is a good starter source, but its info is sometimes diluted or incorrect.  I did find this interesting though and I’ve copied and pasted it from Wikipedia:

A theory by author Charles Panati, one of the leading authorities on the subject of "Origins" maintains that the superstition can be traced back to ancient myth:
The actual origin of the superstition, though, appears also to be a tale in Norse mythology. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil — a gathering of thirteen — and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as "Witches' Sabbath."^[

Today we’re going swimming.  Carson and Dylan call it the “baby pooooooo”.  It’s so stinkin’ adorable!  I have to run now because Carson’s throwing a fit.  He brought me a pair of Don’s socks and wanted me to put them on him. I did, but he’s not happy with HOW I did it because as we all know, there are about 5,000 ways that you can put on a pair of socks.  Right?

I tried to post this entry and Blogger.com was down for HOURS.  They said that they have removed all of Wednesday’s posts for some reason, so that's why mine is missing now.  I will re-post it, but it will look like I posted twice today.  Now I am wondering if there really is something to Friday the 13^th!  This is just bizarre!  This site has never had issues! 

Word of the Day:

autodidact \aw-toh-DY-dakt\, noun:

One who is self-taught.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th

Unplanned Rant

I’m working on getting pictures and video ready from Lindsey’s play last night AND the talent show, so I am not really posting anything interesting today.  I am determined to get the video off of the camera!  Don says that it takes a long time and that he has to help me.  I will say that the play was very cute and that Lindsey did a great job.  She messed up on one of her very first lines and the only reason that I knew that she did was because she looked really upset afterward.  She had a solo song that was really funny and I think she was pleased with everything except that one line.  I told her that no one else even knew that she had messed up, I only knew because I saw her face afterward.  She has rehearsal today after school for next week’s show and then we have 45 minutes to go home and get dressed and ready for dance pictures.  She usually has to have her hair curled, but luckily she just has to wear a high ponytail this year. 

I am very mad right now.  “Today” is on right now and a mother lost her kids to her husband because she has breast cancer.  I don’t have all of the details yet, but are you kidding me????  As if she’s unfit because she has cancer?  That’s very scary.  Any one of us could get sick.  Can you imagine fighting a disease and then also losing your kids?  I would think that the stress and sadness alone would kill you and that the only pleasure that you get when you’re sick like that IS your children.  Her ex-husband must have no soul.  If I met the judge who took those kids from her I would probably kick him in the balls.  Of course, I’m assuming that it was a man.  A woman certainly would see that that was a wrong and very scary ruling, right???  I’m angry about this!  Wow. I have a friend who lost her mom to cancer last year.  I can guarantee that she would not have been better off without her mother while she was fighting the disease.  So sad.  That judge should be disbarred.  Ok, that was an unplanned rant.  Have a great day! 

Here’s the Word of the Day:

irenic \eye-REN-ik; -REE-nik\, adjective:

Tending to promote peace; conciliatory.

The Deep Thinker and the Silly Heart

Tonight is Lindsey’s play!  I am so excited to see her play Violet Beauregard!  She has practice this morning before school and the play is this evening.  I have to take her to the store to buy some gum, you know, so she can smack on it like Violet.  I woke her up this morning and reminded her that she has to be there early and she had a hard time waking up.  I went downstairs to fix my coffee and Don’s lunch and when I came back up she was hunched over on her bed with her eyes closed “resting”.  I remember how much it sucked to have my mom wake me up; it’s almost worse than an alarm clock because there isn’t coffee to wake you up—you have to depend on your youth!  As for Logan, I wake him up differently every morning.  Sometimes I have to scream and yell at him because he’s dead to the world, and some mornings I can get away with something silly.  This morning his face looked so angelic up above me on the top bunk I just squished his nose to make it look like a pig.  I said “Logan, time to wake up!” And he started laughing because he felt his nose being smashed.  I love being a kid with my kids; it sure beats yelling at them for fighting the rest of the day and we all know about the fighting. 

You know, I didn’t mention this on Mother’s Day but Logan and Lindsey couldn’t even get along on Sunday.  I asked them to be nice to each other since it was Mother’s Day and they were still awful to one another.  I did get some insight into their relationship at church though.  For some reason Lindsey was sitting between me and Logan; I usually have to sit in the middle to keep them away from each other.  Logan reads the Bible at church nowadays and Lindsey “listens” but let’s just say that she isn’t as spiritual as Logan.  She isn’t quite there yet and that’s fine; she isn’t as serious as he is.  So anyway, Lulu brought this teeny tiny rubber cat (called a squishee) with her.  Well, I see her placing the little kitten on Logan’s Bible and giggling silently.  Honestly, it looked funny.  Logan got so irritated that it looked like he was going to scream at her in the middle of church.  She only did it once when I told her not to do it again because she should be paying attention and because Logan didn’t like it.  I told him after church that he needs to lighten up and not get so irritated even when she’s being annoying and I told her not to irritate him so much.  Trust me, sometimes the roles are completely reversed and it’s him being irritating and she’s needing to lighten up.  One thing is for sure though…..as much as Logan gets into trouble, he IS a deep thinker and he’s very serious about certain things whereas Lindsey is a silly heart.  They really couldn’t be more different and it seems that the gap is getting even bigger the older that they get.  I’ll never forget this…..Logan had been talking on the phone with my mom, they were four years old, and when it was Lindsey’s turn he paced around the room listening to their conversation.  Lindsey was saying “Yea, Nonna, I am getting on a plane to see you today!  I’ll be there in like two hours!”  Logan was smiling and nodding his head mumbling to me “You can’t get on a plane just like that.  It takes a long time.  She’s not seeing her today.”  He thought she was silly, and that’s never really changed.  She didn’t know.  She was dancing around the room having fun talking to her Nonna.  She didn’t need logic. 

My mom wrote a really good blog entry yesterday, I think it was yesterday, called “What I know as a Mother” or something similar.  Check it out……

http://myleapingheart.blogspot.com/

Here’s the Word of the Day:

animalcule

an-uh-MAL-kyool \  , noun;

1.

A minute or microscopic animal, nearly or quite invisible to the naked eye.