Fun With Celebrities

I thought this was so fun on Corinne's blog so I thought I'd give it a try. Yeah, I wish I really looked like these people, but it was so funny to see what famous people popped up. Adrian did one too - Hugh Jackman popped up in his list of celebrites! But he was most proud of the fact that some really famous hacker (his name escapes me now) popped up. What are the odds that they would have a famous computer geek in their celebrity face files and then have it pop up for Adrian?!! I'll have to try to post his later.

BTW the photo is courtesy of Adrian's new macbook with built in camera. I'll have to post about the whole laptop buying odyssey later - it involves his old laptop over-heating while he tried to run his homework on it, a bought and returned Toshiba laptop, and our eventual trip to the Apple store. Sounds intriguing, eh?!

Oscars Sadness

Right now I am seriously almost at the point of crying because I missed the Barbara Walters Oscar special and now, right now, I am missing the Oscars - I can't even Tivo it because our DirecTV service is out!! AHHHH!!! I love my DirecTV, but I am hating it right now with our seriously overcast weather!!! I've been searching all over for a way to watch the Oscars online, but sadly they only broadcast the red carpet stuff online and I missed that too. This is such a bummer. Adrian and I had planned on having a cozy little Oscar viewing night. We printed out Oscar ballot forms and filled them out; we were going to see who got the most right. This was the first year we were both excited to watch - its usually just me. BUMMER BUMMER... Well anyways just had to briefly blog about my pain. I guess I'll find out later online who won everything and we'll still be able to see who guessed right, but its just not the same.....

Book Tag

Rules of the Game:

1. Find the nearest book to you.
2. Name the book and author.
3. Turn to page 123.
4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page.
5. Copy out the next 3 sentences and post to your blog.
6. Tag three other people.

Anne of Green Gables

L. M. Montgomery

"I imagined how perfectly thrilling it would be to take it to Idlewild and play I was the Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald. It would be so much easier to imagine I was the Lady Cordelia if I had a real amethyst brooch on. Diana and I make necklaces of roseberries, but what are roseberries compared to amethysts?"

Cami tagged me on her blog and Anne was on the shelf closest to me. Don't you just love Anne??! I plan on reading this one to Sophie soon. She might be a little young, but I hope that she'll want to watch the movies with me - its been forever since I watched them. I remember thinking Gilbert was hot when I was 12!! :)

Okay, I tag Ashlee, Jen, and Lynette!!

Minivans and Rice Krispy Treats

Yesterday I had a most harrowing waiting-for-Sophie-while-she-had-her-piano-lesson experience!! First, I had given the kids rice krispy treats to eat in the car because I take Sophie to her piano lesson right after school. Well Benjamin kind of played with the krispy treat for a while. This is after Sophie had gone into to her lesson and we were just kind of hanging out in the car and watching Shrek because as always Nina had fallen asleep on the ride over. I started to get a little annoyed that Ben wasn't eating his rice krispy treat because it was the kind that had the chocolate drizzle on it and it was melting and getting all over his jacket and carseat. I asked Ben if he was all done with his snack and of course he said "NO!". So I followed that up with "well you need to start eating it because you're getting all messy."

So here is what Benjamin did: he took 2 small bites and then shoved the whole thing in his mouth!! I'm yelling at him not to do it which in turn, of course, makes him shove it in faster (this is a pretty big sized rice krispy treat). I start getting out of my seat ready for what ever may happen next and Benjamin starts choking. He couldn't breath. It was one of those horrible moments you fear as a mother. Nina by this time has started screaming because of all the commotion. I sweep Ben's mouth and yank out the krispy treat which had molded itself to the shape of his mouth and he starts breathing and screaming and sputtering and wants his rice krispy treat back!! And he wants Shrek too because in the race to his seat I had pushed up the DVD screen with my head ( I think it kind of hurt 10 minutes later after the adrenaline subsided). So right after choking Ben is only concerned about getting his treat back and watching his video. I wish I could transition like that! So as soon as I am sure he's okay and has calmed down I flipped back down the screen and give him the mangled, mushy treat with the promise that he will only take LITTLE bites. And he did take very measured tiny bites so I am hopeful we all learned something from this experience. He to take smaller bites and me to never feed Benjamin anything remotely like a rice krispy treat when I am not right next to him ready to do a mouth sweep. AHHH!!!

Once everything had calmed down and Nina had gone back to sleep, do to the hum of the engine, Sophie finished her piano lesson and came out to the car. Now I need to give some further background for the part coming up.... I had parked in a snow covered parking spot in front of Sophie's teacher's house (my friend Nicole is her teacher). I did not think this was a big deal, we have a mini-van, its heavy, no problem to park in the snow right??

Yes, big problem!!! I had gotten a good start pulling out of the parking spot and everything was going fine, but then all of a sudden there was a car going behind me that I had to stop for...and there it was.... I was stuck. The tires had completely no traction and what I thought was parking in a "snow" covered spot was actually parking in a spot that had about 4 inches of completely hardened ice. I tried to pull forward, the tires spun. I tried to go back, the tires just spun around, not budging the car at all. I just kept going back and forth between drive and reverse trying to rock it, but no. It was horrible. My car was already somewhat in the street and I was completely stuck. It was a sad realization.

I called Adrian on my cel to tell him about my horrible circumstance. Benjamin is now crying that he wants to go home. Sophie keeps telling him over and over in tears herself that we can't go home because we're stuck. I tell them its going to be okay. Nina is surprisingly still sleeping - one little blessing at least. Adrian says he's coming and he'll grab a shovel on the way over to dig out the tires if need be. A man by this time had come out of his house and offered to help me and put some ice melt behind the front tires and started hacking at the back ice with a garden hoe. I try to go again and I'm still stuck. Nicole's wonderful husband comes out also and puts wood slats behind the front tires to see if that will work - it doesn't. These 2 kind men try for about 20 minutes to unstick my stuck car amidst screams from Benjamin saying "NO, stuck over!!!" - his way of saying that he wants what ever it is to stop. So then another of Nicole's wonderful neighbors gives them towels to put behind my front tires and after a few tries it worked!! I can't tell you how grateful and at the same time incredibly embarrassed I was! I am buoyed up to know how kind and helpful people really are. Thanks so much Nicole's husband and Nicole's neighbors!!! I will never park on packed ice again!!!

That's my worst mom-taxi experience ever!! Between the choking and getting stuck I was done last night. After the whole dinner and bedtime routine I went to bed too, skipping my regular Friday night viewing of 20/20 - its gone to pot ever since Barbara Walters left anyway. What a day!

Our Valentines

Yesterday we had a wonderful Valentine's day. I started out the day early with a little surprise for the fam. After getting up to feed Nina at 4am, I snuck downstairs and set out 4 gift bags on the kitchen table, a big valentine, and healthy sprinkling of kisses and candy hearts for Adrian and the kids. I gave everyone a book. Adrian got the Eragon/Eldest box set, Sophie got The Trouble With Tink, Ben got Snuggle Puppy, and Nina got a Peek a Boo Baby book. I accidentally put Nina's bag in front of Ben's spot at the table, but he enjoyed opening the baby book anyway. (I guess my synapsies weren't firing as quickly at 4 in the morning. :) ) By all accounts it was quite the surprise when Adrian and the kids went downstairs for breakfast and the kids quickly downed the kisses and candy hearts before Adrian could even get a picture. Adrian was a wonderful hubby and let me sleep in until 9am, possible because yesterday was a snow day for him and the kids!! Yay -- it was wonderful!!

After we lounged around all morning we decided to brave the roads, which were actually really clear, and we went out to lunch at a French cafe. French food just seemed like a very Valentiney thing and Sophie and Ben thoroughly enjoyed the complimentary bread and jam. It was such delicious food. I had a French dip sandwich and salad, Adrian had a pork and veggie crepe, Sophie had a bowl of chicken Florentine soup, Ben had a bowl of fruit and of course tons of bread, and poor Nina just drooled and tried to pull my plate towards her.

After lunch I took advantage of Adrian being home and we did some grocery shopping. Then for dinner we had spaghetti for probably the third time on Valentine's day. I feel a tradition coming on.... For some reason spaghetti just seems like a romantic dinner too me - maybe its because of Lady and the Tramp. :) Adrian and I had chocolate cheesecake for dessert (after the kids went to bed) and watched the 1968 Romeo and Juliet. I don't know how it could have been a more perfect Valentine's day!! I spent the day with my Valentine and our children and it was wonderful. I love you Adrian, Sophie, Ben and Nina!!

Caution: Do Not Mix Black Shirts and Babies

This morning I decided to don my favorite black ribbed turtle-neck, instead of the usual t-shirt, and hoodie. I had a relief society presidency meeting and thought I'd try to look a little nicer, you know. Anyways it is now 4 o'clock and I am reminded why I usually just were black when I'm going out sans children - this shirt is a mess. The mess is mostly on my left shoulder, little surprises from Nina, I usually hold her on the left side. And then there's the pink fluff from her fleece winter bunting also all over and apple/plum baby food on my left sleeve. I feel a bit of invisible to the naked eye stickiness on my right cuff from wiping Ben's face after he ate 2 Valentine suckers before lunch (he had his Valentine party at preschool today). Oh, yes there's also a bit of smooshed banana bread right here - a really kind and ambitious mom made individual mini-banana bread loaves to accompany her child's Valentines - which I ended up eating for lunch (super yummy!) while nursing Nina. Thanks K's mom!! I am reminded of the saying that a face can be the map of the world, well this black sweater is now the visible record of my day.... so far. There's still a few hours to go and a few more spots to collect. :)

What's With Masterpiece Theater Dracula!!!

I'm back after a week. Wow, has it been a week?? Last week we had a huge basement clean out and also a nasty cold running around so I just never seemed to get on the blogger. (I'll have to blog just about the basement purge – ugh, it took much time and effort, but it was worth it!!)

What brought me back to the computer you say – DRACULA!! You may be saying oh no not another vampire post, but I can't help it. The BBC via Masterpiece Theater has managed to mangle beyond recognition Bram Stoker's Dracula. I Tivoed it from PBS last night and just watched it during Nina's nap. I was so excited to watch it thinking it would be Pride and Prejudice meets Dracula, but oh my goodness. Let me just tell you what our favorite Dracula characters were up to in this version (which was and “adaptation” but come on!!!).

Jonathan – dead in the first 10 minutes (Dracula does him in at the castle – no escape, no 3 sisters, just death, poor Jonathan!)

Mina – Depressed WIMP with kind of a weird codependent relationship with Dr. Seward. She had a pained expression the whole movie, can you say OVERACTING. She did have nice hair though.

Dracula – Well psycho-killer (that's a given, I guess) and in appearance a cross between Mr. Darcy and Robert Smith from The Cure. Also the weird love trianglish interest of Lucy and Mina. There was actually a scene were Lucy, Mina and Dracula are chit-chatting in the parlor.

Lucy – Arthur's repressed, needy, Kate Winslet look-alike, wife turn vampire. Her death scene was awful and you just need to fast forward any moment between her and Dracula – thank goodness for our DVR, it was on PBS for Pete's sake!! Do we really need a gratuitous love scene??

Arthur – Get ready for this if you are an original Dracula fan... He's the super-villain who joins a secret Dracula worshipping society. He has syphilis and pays for Dracula's trip to London in hopes that Dracula will cure him!!!! I'm not kidding. It was insane. I kept hitting info to see if they really claimed this was an adaptation of Stoker's original novel... Arthur actually pulls a gun on Dr. Seward!! He does have a slight redemption at the end and tries to kill Dracula, but well Dracula takes him out.

Dr. Van Helsing – Ancient religion scholar kidnapped by Arthur's secret society and held hostage in the basement of their meeting house. He's rescued from his hairy, dirty, half-starved state by Dr. Seward and then helps Dr. Seward to hunt Dracula.

Dr. Seward – Hero, saves the day at the end with Dr. Van Helsing. They kill Dracula in the basement of the secret society place. No chase back to Romania, I'm guessing the budget ran out and they just needed to use a previously built set...

Quincy – Non-existent, the screenplay probably had him set to be the cross-dressing love interest of Dr. Van Helsing, but they couldn't find an actor that would read the lines!!!!

It was the most mutilated adaptation I've ever seen!!! Maybe there's an MTV adaptation is the works – I'm thinking self-tanning Malibu Dracula would be just as close to the book as this one!! I'm going to quote myself here... About a week ago I was talking with Adrian about my favorite vampire books and trying to explain that I only enjoy good vampire books, but it came out, “Not all evil vampires are good.” Well I was right... this evil vampire movie was a stinker!!

Important Note – I do not hold anyone who referred this movie to me responsible. How could any of us have known this was possible?? We are all victims here.... :)

Long Post About Something Unpleasant

So this is not going to be a pleasant, sunshiny, post - just a fair warning. For the last little while I have been going through a little internal struggle, which has completely co-existed with my normal routine. (It really is amazing how we can compartmentalize things.) Background, I tend to be far too sensitive, it really hurts me and I tend to obsess about criticisms. This is something that I am really trying to work on, but it takes a lot for me to pull myself out of thinking about negative stuff.

I should just come out and explain.... okay so I had an acquaintance (nobody that anyone would know) recently tell me I was basically "just a 30 year old mom who sat around all day and had all the time in the world to do anything I want and if he/she were me they would be able to do all sorts of wonderful things with their time, but they worked..." This seriously took my breath away and I've been thinking, obsessing more like, about this. I don't think there was a whole lot of malice (okay, maybe a tiny bit) in this person's intention, but it hurt. Deep down, I've been wondering if its true and this is what people actually think about me and I just have been naively thinking that my role as a stay at home mom is valued in society (on days other than mothers day). Do I really not do enough?? I try to make it to story time... I really do! I wanted to yell back to this person (though I couldn't imagine myself doing it) that am a person with real feelings and I DO work. I know its more like nursing Nina, taking kids to and from school/preschool/activities, making dinner, and cleaning when I get around to it, but it is work. I'm worn out at the days end from the time-outs, negotiations, homework checking, and baby - carrying etc. etc. Its emotional work too. I know what foods Nina eats and when to give her prunes for lunch.... I know if Ben has a snack after 4pm he will just pick at his dinner. I know how to encourage Sophie with her homework. I set the family schedule and know all the events for everyone coming up. And believe me, I wouldn't have it any other way, but this is just all the stuff that goes along with my job.

It hurts that ever since this confrontation I have been keeping a mental tally of the stuff I do as if I need to justify my existence. I don't know if anyone else out there has been told that they are a loser for staying at home, but with all my neurosis about not finishing my degree this just killed me. Just that another human being felt this way and made this judgement about me. Do I matter? I know that I matter to my kids, I really do know that and you would think that would have been enough for me to just let this whole thing slide off my back.... But sometimes I think I would be a more valued stay-at-home-mom, to society I guess, if I had left a high-paying corporate job to stay at home. In that way my value could be measured by what I had given up... I was just a bank teller and student before having my children. Of course with my first child I had no idea at the time that my pregnancy would be really hard and that I would have to go on bed rest. I had planned on finishing my degree, but life happens. One of my most favorite song lyrics and quotes is "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Its true. I know some day it will be my season to finish my degree, but its just not right now.

Just typing this is making me shake with... I don't know.... frustration... sadness?? I really am not writing this as a means of fishing for validation, but more because I just had to acknowledge that this really happened, it hurt me, and I need to just get over it. I really believe that no matter what decision we make as women and mothers, we should support each other and try not to judge... All our experiences are so different and I have yet to know a stay at home mom that sits around all day, watching soaps, eating bon bons - though they all truly deserve a day like that!! :) (Of course work-outside-the-home-moms deserve a day like that too!! We all deserve to dive into an chocolate induced stupor now and then!!)

There, so it was a bit of a rant and I'm really sorry. Thank you for reading and allowing me my vent. I think I feel better....

Potter 7

It's been over a week...let's do the dance of joy again!! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is going to be released on July 21st!!! Yay!! I've been growing more and more irritated not knowing when it was coming out and now I've forgiven J. K. Rowling and just look forward to this last installment. Adrian and I have differing opinions about possible endings and especially good old Snape. We should post our predictions and see who's closer to the book...that would be fun. Well, I'm just so excited. Now if Stephanie Meyers would just hurry up with that Midnight Sun book I could have complete literary relief!(Aren't these little guys cute! I especially love Neville!)