The unbearable lightness of being random

Just random observations and happenings for you today:

• I think the grocery stores are employing some kind of aversion therapy (aside from rising prices... youch!). At the commissary the other day, every single time I reached for an item, I got shocked. Too bad it didn't stop me from buying the stuff... I guess the aversion therapy didn't work. Just annoyed the heck outta me.
  
• It was a crazy busy week of running back and forth and here and there last week. This week promises to be more of the same. Between baseball practices, Emily's play rehearsals, AWANA, and music lessons, there is always somewhere to be and go.
  
• Tonight we have the chance to see Trout Fishing in America here on base (FREE!). Just have to get Noah away from his baseball practice early enough.
• Major spring cleaning around here this past weekend. Brian and I worked on the garage together and it is SPIFFY. Our back porch/patio area is rockin', too. Still need to take a backhoe to the boys' room, but not sure how to get it in the house and up the stairs. I don't even want to think about a certain teenager's room.
  
• Trying to plan a major road trip back east (Missouri/Alabama) for June... experienced RVers tell us we won't be able to drive as many miles in a day as we would like to. They say no more than 3-400 miles a day. That will mean almost 6 days of driving each way with no time for sightseeing. :( Oh well, perhaps later on in the year we will be able to do a sightseeing kind of trip.
• Halle and I went to see Nim's Island yesterday. It was a pretty good movie. I'd like to read the book now and see how it compares. I have heard the movie was fairly true to it. Jodie Foster was fun to watch as an agoraphobic adventure novelist, and Gerard Butler was quite endearing as a widowed marine biologist raising his 11yo daughter (played by the always-adorable Abigail Breslin) on a remote island in the South Pacific.
• I wish someone would invent a dust-repellent I could spray over my entire house. I cannot get rid of the stuff. It is back 10 seconds after I wipe it away.

The mother of all bulleted lists

My infrequency of posting has left many to wonder if I am still alive. The answer is unequivocally yes.... although with the schedule we'll be keeping this spring, that may not hold true for long! There is much I haven't mentioned here, but not for lack of wanting to; I just haven't found the time. But here I sit, hubby out of town, oldest daughter spending the night away, and the other three happily entertaining themselves a few steps away. This may just be the perfect time to get everything all out in the open. What better way to do it than with bullets???

• We joined the ranks of Wii owners this Christmas. It was the surprise hit of the day. As a testimony to its appeal, I saw more of Emily in the 3 days following Christmas Day than I did in the 3 weeks prior! Favorite games are Wii Sports (Joel has actually bowled a perfect 300!), Wii Play, and Carnival Games. Emily is lobbying to get Guitar Hero III after playing it on a friend's PlayStation; she says she RULES it. That probably means I would *not* rule it. I would like to wait and see if Rock Band is going to be made for Wii; my sister says it is a lot of fun. According to Wikipedia, EA announced plans for a Wii version on Jan. 31, so we'll have to wait and see if that plays out.
  
• I think I mentioned that the boys will be playing baseball this spring. Noah started practice this week. He had practice Monday and Wednesday from 5-6, Friday for about 1/2 of that, but only because we had to leave early for Celebrate Recovery, and today from 9-11. So far, it looks like the same schedule for next week, but it may change. Got the call from Joel's coach today, and his first practice is this Thursday from 5-6, with a 15-min parent meeting before that. This will be very interesting, having 2 in sports at the same time; it's a first for us. No word yet on what days the actual games will be. To complicate matters, Noah's team will have to travel to some surrounding towns 30 minutes or so away to play, and possibly even to one about 2 hours away. And then there is coordinating all this with Emily's play rehearsals, which for now are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after school until around 4. Thankfully, many of Noah's team members live here in our neighborhood, less than a block away, even.
  
• During the sports physicals the boys had to prepare for Little League, we found out Noah needed a more thorough vision exam. So now he is sporting glasses. Overall, his vision isn't too bad, but it seems that his right eye had been doing most of the work.
• 
• Halle finished up her first AWANA book this past week. She is starting on the second one now. She probably won't be able to finish it this year, but should get far enough along in it so that she will be able to get through both it and book 3 next year, which will put her right on track with where she should be.
• Still making it to the movies on occasion. Emily and I went to see 27 Dresses a few weeks ago. Just goes to show I cannot listen to any professional movie reviewers. I loved it. Don't want to give anything away for those who haven't seen it, but for those who have, I totally was in tears in the bridal shop scene with the sister. I was feeling Jane's pain.
  
• Halle and I went to see the Hannah Montana 3D movie. I actually missed the Super Bowl to take her. We got home just moments after the last play. Ah well, I think it was worth it.
  
• Tonight, the kids and I went to the base theater to catch The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Halle hadn't been all that keen on seeing it, but even she said it was better than she thought it would be. I appreciated the message of the story: Heroes don't have to be the biggest, bravest, or strongest. They just have to do what's right, even when it isn't easy. Good lesson for our kids to learn, and I can think of a lot of us adults who would do well to learn it as well.
• The dog training is going well. What I find almost inconceivable is how much the dogs actually like wearing their training collars/leashes. This training is not the typical food reward kind of training, so they aren't acting all happy because they know they're getting treats, that's for sure. But when they see me go get the leashes from the leash rack, they both get very excited. One thing we are working on right now is the down stay. They're both pretty good with it; one funny thing is that when I am working with Rory, Campbell will often put himself in a down stay at the same time. Then when he hears me give her the "clear" signal, he'll get up as well. What I really like doing is seeing how softly I can give the command and get a response. I can really almost whisper it. What we really need to work on now is practicing in places away from home (the park, stores... there are a few around here that are dog-friendly, like Home Depot/Lowes). I took Rory to the duck pond park here on base a few days ago and she was quite distracted by the sea gulls! the ducks! the geese! She actually pulled on the leash for the first time in literally months. She was acting more like a Pointer (not June, Anita, or Ruth) than a Great Dane.
• We have a family outing planned for Monday to go to Sacramento to see the Bodies Revealed exhibit. Unfortunately, no picture-taking is allowed. Bummer. I think it is going to be very cool. Halle really doesn't want to see it ("Mom, I'm a girl... I don't want to see dead bodies!"), but she is still coming along; Emily just plain doesn't want to go anywhere with her family unless it is to buy stuff for her, so we'll see if she goes or not.
  
• I never wrote a wrap-up post for the fall reading challenge. Suffice it to say that I did manage to read all that was on my list with the exception of one book that I traded in early on, plus several more. Since the end of the challenge, I haven't had as much opportunity to read; I'm missing it.
• To that end, I am looking forward to the unified study we are starting at church this week. As a church, we will be reading a book by Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith. This will continue through to Easter; the sermons will relate to the book, as will our small group meetings. I've read the first chapter so far and liked what I read.
• Speaking of Easter, rehearsals for Easter choir started this past Monday night. Oops, one more thing to juggle on baseball practice night.
  

There... that's about it, I think. Hopefully you are still awake after all that. If I've left anything of importance out, it will probably come to me around 2am.

HP #5 review; could be a movie weekend

As promised, here is my take on the 5th Harry Potter movie. In short, I liked it; I liked it much more than I thought I was going to. For me, this was a movie that connected more with my emotions than the previous ones. Almost from the beginning (but not quite that early on), I felt very connected to Harry's emotions in the film. Seeing him surrounded by those he loved and who loved him hit me almost as deeply as him.

This had to have been difficult to make, being that this was the longest book in the series so far. But it didn't seem that anything important was left out. Emily was disappointed that more of the humorous episodes from the book weren't used. While this movie wasn't without its funny moments, there definitely weren't as many as in the first four.

Loved Luna Lovegood. The gal who played her was *perfect* for the role. Can't wait to see more of her in the next movie. Oh, and the special effects were great as well. There are plenty to be had... I know that certain scenes were done where everything but the actors was CGI; very realistic CGI!

I'm looking forward to seeing this one when it is out on DVD, to catch anything I might have missed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hoping to catch the 9pm showing of Waitress at the base theater tomorrow night. Can't beat the $3 admission. I've heard good things about the movie and thought I was just going to have to wait to rent it.

Also, the base is showing a free preview of the new Hairspray Saturday afternoon, so we may be going to see it. The previews have looked pretty good. If I have to look at a guy dressed like a woman, I'd much rather see John Travolta than Divine any day.

Movie time

We're heading out today to see the latest Harry Potter installment. I'm not expecting as much from this one as the others, mostly because the book was so different from the first 4. I did not reread the book this time, so most of the essential omissions won't be glaringly obvious to me. I'll be sure to post my impressions later today or tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It pays to let companies know when you're not pleased with their service/product. Last week, I opened a package of dog treats (a "Buy One, Get One Free" pack) and found *5* pieces in one package, 13 in the other. I called the number on the back of the package, was able to talk to a live person fairly quickly, and in less than 5 minutes, was promised a coupon for free product to atone for this package that did not meet quality standards. The coupon arrived within the next 2-3 days. Can't beat that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm still planning that giveaway for readers. I just need to dig out from under a little more here before I can get started. There will be a dozen or so titles offered; hopefully a little something for everyone.

Catching my breath

Laws-a-mercy, we've been meeting ourselves coming and going around here, but I think we can stop for a while and just breathe. We spent hours and hours cleaning house yesterday: bleaching the tile counters in the kitchen (I will NEVER willingly install tile counters in any home of mine!), spot cleaning the carpet, cleaning bathrooms and bedrooms.... oh, and having another garage sale (yes, Garage Sale, Part Trois). Not nearly as successful as the first two, but we did get rid of Joel's loft bed. Only one incident to mar the day, involving a smattering of bleach and the carpet outside Emily's bathroom. Oops. Anyone know of a way to disguise/repair a bleach spot on carpet?

Backing up to Friday... Halle and I had fun on our mommy/daughter date. We wound up shopping at the BX and bought matching Crocs. Had I known how comfortable these things were, I swear I would have bought some a lot sooner! Then we went to see Nancy Drew. We both liked it and now Halle would like to try some of the books. I did tell her that the books were set in a different time than now, so it wouldn't be like the movie, but she was still game. Hopefully we'll get a chance to work on this goal this summer.

After Brian got home from work, he wanted to take the kids to see the new Fantastic 4 movie, so we did that. It was a lot of fun. The boys love Michael Chiklis as "The Thing." (I prefer to call him by his name: Ben Grimm.) Of course, the ending left plenty of room for another sequel.

Today we got up and gave Brian his cards and gifts before heading to church. Then we drove down to Walnut Creek to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. It had been several months since we'd eaten there. When we got back, there was just enough time for Brian and the kids to spend about an hour at the base pool.

Nothing else on the agenda for tonight other than just chillin'.

Fantastic Friday

(Post title in honor of today's release of Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer).

It's been a while since I've posted any Friday fun links; let me see what I have saved up:

• There's a trailer out for National Treasure 2. I hope this one is as good as the first. Looks like something fun to do during the Christmas break.
• Have fun playing around with all your friends' and family's names at Anagram Genius. For instance, my husband's name works out to "Narcotic Karen boy."
• Word game fun with Babble. As if I need something else to distract me right now.
• While I was at the orthodontist with Halle on Wednesday, I thumbed through a copy of a PC magazine and came across and article about the top freebies for your PC. Here are a few I thought looked interesting:

1. Meebo: Sign onto several instant messaging services in one place. Not an application, but a website.
2. BackPack: a way to keep your "to-dos, notes, ideas, and schedules online."
3. Pageflakes: customizable homepage... similar to ones you can make with Google and Netscape, but more control over layout.
4. Home-Dock Deluxe: Not for your PC, but for your TV/IPod. If you have a newer video IPod, this cool gadget will help you "Access and enjoy your entire iPod music and movie library right from your sofa". View your videos, listen to your music, and enjoy the album art all on your TV.
5. Jam Jacket: I actually saw this one when I went to look at the Home-Dock. Looks like something Emily could use; she has spent half the car ride to school just untangling her ear bud wires for her IPod. Fits 30GB IPod videos and the 2nd generation IPod Nanos.

That's about it for today. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

What a Wednesday

I spent 4 hours (oops, I almost typed *years*) tonight helping with Emily's school's National Honor Society/CSF/Mu Alpha Theta/Quill and Scroll induction ceremony. The first couple of hours were spent dipping strawberries and pretzels into chocolate; the last couple were keeping the dessert table stocked, listening to the award ceremony, and cleaning up afterwards. Boy, have things changed in the last 25+ years.... when I was inducted into NHS way back in 1980, I think all that was handed out at the ceremony was maybe a pin. Then when I picked up my cap and gown as a senior, I had the extra gold tassel to show I was in NHS. Tonight, these kids got cords, satin collars embroidered with the words National Honor Society, and medals. The seniors were handed their gold tassels tonight as well. I had a chance to chat with Emily's algebra teacher after the ceremony and she told me that she is going to get Emily into Mu Alpha Theta next year if she has "to hog-tie her."

I got home in time to catch the last hour of American Idol. YAY Jordin! Blake showed such class and style in the way he supported her tonight. I'm sad I missed their duet at the beginning, and will have to look for it on YouTube tomorrow. I totally LOVED this year's song; it is PERFECT for the occasion and I can't imagine anyone doing it justice better than Jordin. (OK, Melinda could probably match her.... maybe...) I think it is so cool that Scott Krippayne was one of the guys who co-wrote the song.

We've Fandangoed our tickets for the first showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End tomorrow night. Cannot believe it is nearly 3 hours long. No drinks for me! I don't want to have to get up and miss anything. This is one of those instances where it would be really cool if the rumor of cable companies being able to offer newly-released-in-theater movies on their "On Demand" channels was a reality. At the $40-50 proposed fee, it would still save us some money, as 6 tickets already sets us back that much. Then when you add in the over-priced movie snacks.... cha-ching! Just think of being able to pause it when you need to visit the little girl's room, instead of having to miss a crucial scene (or instead of sitting in your seat with a bladder screaming for release, thinking..."just 10 more minutes...").

There it goes...

Just watching the $$ fly by this weekend... We took the kids to the movies yesterday afternoon to see the latest Shrek installment. Kids loved it. We laughed as well. I liked the music; these guys have a great way of using old songs in the soundtracks. I wonder how many more Shrek films they'll be able to squeeze out before the Shrek gravy train runs out?

Then I bought 2 tickets for Emily and me to go see the American Idols tour when it comes to Sacramento in July. OUCH. That was painful. But Brian pointed out that he has spent that much taking Noah to baseball games, so it was definitely the right thing to do. All the floor seats were taken already (although there were auctions for floor tickets beginning at $90), but we still managed lower level seats that will hopefully give us a decent view.

I also reserved us a room for the homeschool conference in Modesto at the end of July. Thankfully the conference negotiated pretty good room discounts and we'll be staying at a nice place right next to the convention, a Doubletree. The kids will have their own conference to attend, so they will have plenty to keep them busy while we're attending sessions and shopping. I haven't registered them yet... that will be a few more $$ to add to the outgo.

Surprisingly enough, tonight's activity is actually FREE. We're heading out to the local ballpark (which closes at the end of the month due to not enough support) for a free concert. It's actually a full day of concerts that started earlier today, but we are mostly interested in the last 2 performers, Lincoln Brewster and Todd Agnew.

Still kickin'

We're all still alive here; I've just had plenty of other things to distract me from writing since my last post. Nothing bad or exciting, just the usual list of things to accomplish each day. By the time I've had time to write, I've been more in the mood to just see what everyone else has to say rather than post my meager offerings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just 3 weeks left of school for Emily. We may have a little more here at home, trying to finish up things. At any rate, we are going to continue with math through the summer and I also want to focus on writing skills as well. That's something we didn't do enough of at all this year. I think that will be just enough to give us something to do inside during the hottest part of the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know I have to put in my 2 cents on Dancing With the Stars and American Idol. I don't want to say I was happy to see Ian leave DWTS, but I think he was the obvious choice. I am thinking it will come down to Joey and Apolo. I really want Joey to win. I totally agreed with Len's assessment of Apolo's cha-cha: lots of raunch.

I really think there was no easy decision on AI. I like all 3 of the top 3 for different reasons. I guess I agree with the outcome, mostly because I think Jordin and Blake are just more marketable than Melinda. I have no doubt Melinda will go on to great success, though. She should actually be glad she didn't win, as she'll probably be able to have greater input into her first album than if she had to sign the AI contract. That said, I honestly don't know which one I want to win the whole thing... I'm not a "Blaker girl," but I guess I come close. (I've got his studio version of You Should Be Dancin' on my IPod.) I think I'm leaning towards Jordin. Guess we'll find out in a little less than a week!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We'll probably take the kids to see Shrek 3 tomorrow evening. I'll also be "Fandango-ing" tickets for the 8pm show of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 for next Thursday night. Everyone in the house is looking forward to that one!

Friday fun

Happy Friday to all and welcome to the weekend! It's opening day for the new Disney flick, Meet the Robinsons, and I imagine we will make time to take the kids at some point this weekend. Would love to see the Digital 3D version, but it appears the closest theater for that is about an hour away in Petaluma. We'll have to think on that one.... You know I'll post my review once we do see the film.

We have a fairly full day today, what with the usual school and chores around here. We're invited to a park day in the afternoon, so we will have to work diligently if we hope to go. Then once we get home from picking Emily up from school, Noah and Halle will have piano lessons, and I have an appointment to get the tubing replaced on my hearing aids.

Here are some links for your perusal this weekend:

They didn't study. I don't know if I would have had the guts to try this when I was in school, but it sure makes for some fun reading now.

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a free Dyson vacuum. Not just any Dyson, but a new lightweight version. Sounds like the perfect vac for folks in a 2-story house... something easy to carry upstairs.

This sounds like a great CD. I've already heard a couple of these songs on XM 32, I think. Either that or at the Worship Together website. (If you're a sheet music junkie, register at the WT site... they give free sheet music downloads each week!). Oh, and BooMama is giving away one of the CDs (but don't feel like you need to go give me any more competition for one).

Your daily dose of "Awwww..." You know research has shown that looking at cute is good for your health, so click!

Hi-tech help for lost children. What a very cool idea.

Another Saturday night... (everybody sing!)

Another dad-is-moonlighting weekend here. We've kept busy watching movies (Rocky Balboa for me, Eragon and Everyone's Hero for all of us). Then Halle, Noah, and I played Disney Scene-It. After a couple of games of that, Emily pulled out the regular version of Scene-It and she and I played 4 rounds of it, each winning 2 games.

So now it's a little after 9:30pm and the young ones are bathed and settling in for the night. I didn't do any of the reading I thought I'd do today, nor did I get the laundry folded and put away. Eh, the laundry will keep until tomorrow after church. We're heading back to Crossroads again. The kids are really looking forward to their classes.

You title it

Thanks to my early morning nature, I was able to get in some reading before the kids got up (and some afterwards)... I finished Robin Cook's Crisis and Diane Mott Davidson's Dark Tort. Then it was time to get Halle ready for the birthday party she was attending. I dropped her off and then had almost 2 hours to do a little shopping/browsing. I grabbed a burger and fries at Mel's Diner and then went to the Vacaville Premium Outlets. My mission there was to find a pair of sunglasses to replace my old pair that were bent and looked crooked on my face. Thankfully, there was a Sunglasses World outlet and I found just the thing. I wanted to browse PacSun, but that section of the shopping center was packed... I couldn't find a single open parking spot. So that was about the extent of my shopping. (Grace, I needed you there for some motivation.)

Fast forward to tonight... We've had dinner and the kids are all bathed and ready to settle in for the evening. The kids have a movie to watch: Spymate, and I'm hoping to watch The Second Chance. I also managed to find Disc One of the first season of House, and Memoirs of a Geisha. (I certainly won't watch all those tonight, but I can probably get them done in the next few days.)