NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow

So I will be devoting a lot of my discretionary time to that. My blogging will either take off as I try to update or stagnate as all my time goes into the book. Time will tell.

I'm excited though!

-k

Watching right now

Watching right now: everything we own and writing reviews. Will also help determine which movies it is time to swap.

How to annoy me

How to annoy me: constantly attempt to correct me on things you actually don't know about, teen-aged son of mine.

Latest Aging Milestone

Latest Aging Milestone: Katie is finally willing to sleep in our bed for a while in the morning! She may get up at 5 a.m. consistently, but now she's willing to snuggle and sleep in a little later. Don't worry. Michael will make her stop sleeping in our bed before she leaves for college.

28 Days Later - movie review

Okay, so the premise has been done to death (sorry for the terrible pun). An infection that spreads wildly out of control and threatens to wipe out mankind. But for a low budget movie, this one was actually fairly scary and I don't scare easily.

I LOVE the actor who played Frank, the father figure. I LOVE the actor who played the creepy military commander, Christopher Eccleston. It was well done and enjoyable... and coincidentally basically ruined my sweet Dee forever.

I have the sense memory of watching this with her.

And it's still a bad idea to watch this as the last thing you do in the evening.

-k

The Matrix - movie review

So this is a movie that I think everyone should see. EVERYONE. It's a movie that you can enjoy on a purely visual level if you want. The use of colors and visual images is fantastic and appealing. The acting (and the lovely vacuous beauty that is the confused Keanu Reeves in motion with very little acting ability) is fabulous - with a particular shout out to the woman who plays the Oracle in this first installment as well as the one and only Lawrence Fishburne.

But the point of the movie is the metaphysics. This is a movie that completely challenges what is real. It resonates with me. It's so close to the things that I believe and it makes me want to get out there and do it all and prove it all. It's VERY quotable and leads to great conversations if you let it.

Like the Star Wars movies, this is a iconic movie. So many that followed were influenced by it. It sparked a genre. It will stand up to years and years of repeated viewings. In fact, in my experience, the more you watch it, the better it gets. Every little detail of this first movie is exquisite. So much attention to detail. So rich. This is one of those movies where everything came together... script, director, quality of filming, colors, acting, casting, technology, soundtrack... everything.

I can't even list my favorite lines because there are too many.

LOVE THIS MOVIE. Could teach classes on it. If I taught a class about film as literature, or film as metaphysics, this would be required and heavily studied. You will never look at deja vu the same way again. NEVER.

-k

Reminder

I am such an easy girl to please. I love the little things. I delight in the simple luxuries in life... like the texture of yarn, the colors of yarn, learning a new pattern, seeing new projects that I might do. I love a cup of coffee and I equally enjoy a good hot chocolate. I love cheese. I LOVE cheese. I will try all kinds of new and wonderful flavors and just be thrilled. In fact, when there is a choice, I will choose cheese over dessert. I love a bubble bath. I love watching movies, even the same ones over and over. I love hearing new music that catches my fancy. Right now, I am in love with the background music to Samurai Jack episodes. I want cds of it. I love the idea of arabic desert music with a techno beat. I love paint chips because all those colors appeal to me and make me think of a million creative ways to use them. I love silver.

With so many little ways in life to be happy, why do I let myself get upset or mad? It's up to me.

No one and no thing can make you react.

-k

WHAT a beautiful girl

Katie is a determined little girl. She chooses what she is going to wear, and weather or her mother's opinion be damned. So, when the weather had turned a VERY lovely cool, she insisted on shorts. I was able to shove a sweater on her, and socks that I pulled up to the knee. If we lived somewhere cold enough, I wouldn't care what the protest, I would force her to wear winter clothing. Since we live here, it seemed like a good compromise to just knit her adorable little legwarmers and she could wear shorts if she wanted to.

I knitted them.

She wears them.

Check out where...

Quote I shall Twitter

"God, spare me from the desire for love, approval or appreciation. Amen."

~Byron Katie

How to make me laugh

How to make me laugh: Ian says that ducks say "whack whack whack" which totally makes sense if you know Ian.

Movie Reviews

I was thinking it would be a fun project to go back through and watch every movie we own and write a review for each one... as well as making sure to review the movies we go to see and rent. It could really be an entire blog, but since no one reads this one... why have another one?

Okay, I know a few people DO read this. I don't mean to offend my very few but loyal readers. And I do NOT need another project in my life. I don't know what I was thinking, but I've signed up for NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is, it's worth googling. And if you sign up, let me know. We can encourage each other.

I have way more ideas than time and infinitely more than I have money...

Not cool. Not cool.

-k

S.W.A.T. - movie review

You have to go into this movie review knowing that I would watch James Todd Smith aka LL Cool J read the phone book. I love his baby face, his wicked body, and his brat-itude. In fact, the only reason I knew to get this movie to watch is because I was looking over his filmography and saw one I didn't already know. It's a guy movie, so I didn't get any argument from Michael. Throw in Samuel Jackson and even though there is not a single surprise in the entire movie, it was very watchable.

If you are looking for some great lines that will give you a grin, some good action, and a glance or two at the visual beauty that is LL Cool J, this is one I'd recommend.

Worth noting, Josh Charles has been a favorite since Dead Poets Society. I loved Sports Night, and he doesn't disappoint in this movie either.

Again, the bottom line is no surprises, and sometimes that's okay.

-k

Latest Aging Milestone

Latest Aging Milestone: Ian is now officially SIX.

Ian's birthday at school

Tomorrow is Ian's sixth birthday, which is staggering enough in and of itself. However, he got to celebrate it with his kindergarten class today and Michael and I got to join him.

His day starts with a birthday crown that he got to wear all day. How cool is that?!?



Here we are with him, except that clearly the camera adds like 100 pounds. Sigh. My hair looks nice and long though... and this is about Ian, so no comments about my girth units.



We brought brookies, half brownie and half chocolate chip cookies. Each kid got one, except the little girl who primly informed Michael that she didn't eat brownies, thank you anyway.



After his snack, Ian got to go over his "poster about Ian" which tells everyone all about him, including what he wants to be when he grows up. He wants to be a firefighter, and taller than Daddy. One of those is very likely.



I can't believe that this time six years ago I was in labor with this beautiful little man. I had never seen his face, although we'd spent a lot of quality time getting to know each other... which mostly means him kicking the snot out of my ribs and me rubbing my belly and singing to him. Watching Michael change in the hours while I was in labor and the MOMENT that he watched Ian being born was an intense and amazing experience. I watched Michael change before my eyes.

I could go on and on about how much I adore my children and what makes Ian special to me in particular. He's at a HILARIOUS stage in his development and he's also fascinating because I'm watching him learn to read and write everyday. I watch his handwriting get better every day as we work on it together. I watch him "getting" the whole reading thing and I watch how that changes the entire world and his experience of it. It's awesome. I am humbled by my children and the amazing gift of getting to be their mother.

My life rocks.

I just wish it rocked with a better budget.

-k

Warfare

Our senses lie to us all the time. I don't think that they do it intentionally or maliciously most of the time. But they do it all the time. Our eyes show us things that aren't there or don't register things that are (mirages... filling in the letters in misspelled words). So, we can't rely on their obviously flawed testimony to determine the truth of our existence.

So, instead of looking to the five physical senses to tell me what's going on in my life, I am looking to the things that I KNOW to be true. I AM strong. I AM beautiful. I AM flexible, active, fit, and dynamic. I am NOT exhausted. I am NOT overwhelmed or discouraged. I know what's true about me, and I will not accept what my senses may be trying to tell me.

Sometimes the enemy will use propaganda to demoralize us. It will declare that you have been defeated, or that all your allies have deserted you. Realize the source. Consider that it isn't good information, and stick to what you know to be real and true and you will have the victory.

-k

How to make me laugh

How to make me laugh: Katie loves to dance and shake her booty. She even calls it "shaking my booty".

Latest Aging Milestone

Latest Aging Milestone: Katie Rose slept in her BIG GIRL BED for nap today!

How to make me laugh

How to make me laugh: Call the tallest Christmas tree displayed at the hobby store "the Daddy tree" and ask over and over if we can go back "one more time... pleeeeeease? Just one more time?"

How to annoy me

How to annoy me: insist on attacking my ponytail with your very sharp little kitty claws. I will have to start using the water bottle, cat.

Watching right now

Watching right now: Corpse Bride, Nightmare Before Christmas, and It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

What I share with Seal

Your mind fills in the blanks on things for quick comprehension. Sometimes helpful. Sometimes NOT so much. Sometimes hilarious.

For instance, I was sitting here working on emails and the like and saw out of the corner of my eyes "Beware the eraser goblin" on the back of a piece of Ian's schoolwork. My mind ran with that thought and had this entire storyline created about someone in his kindergarten class that was making off with the erasers from their class's chalkboard or something similiar. I looked again... it was "Beware the Grease Goblin" and was a story about not putting grease down the kitchen disposal. They were just recycling paper at school by re-using it for print-outs.

Sigh.

I liked mine better.

Along those lines, Seal said he would never print the lyrics to his songs inside his records because fans come up with much more interesting and clever things that they THINK he said and he never wanted to let someone down with the mundane reality.

-k

Dear Weekend,

I looked forward to you all week. It wasn't the easiest week. So far, the weekend is off to a dismal start. I still have hope, though. Please don't let me down.

-k

Latest Aging Milestone

Latest Aging Milestone: Ian also has learned to recite the Pledge of Allegiance!

Latest Aging Milestone

Latest Aging Milestone: Ian got his first school picture taken. Can't WAIT to see how they come out. Whether they are good or terrible, they will be AWESOME.

How to make me laugh

How to make me laugh: I thought I'd sent a response text to Michael. Instead I twittered it to EVERYONE. And the response? The single word "snackbags". Sure to make my friends wonder.

Fairy Mushroom Ring and the Princess

I thought I had posted these here. I can't believe I didn't. It was the best thing to happen to me in weeks!

A naturally occuring fairy mushroom ring! Took my breath away.

-k

Funny sayings

Katie - "be nice, CAT"

Katie - zicklock bags (made funnier by the fact that Cory called them ziplop bags... which leads to the obvious question what Ian called them. Snackbags. Everything comes back to food with that boy.

-k

Twitter

I love the simplicity and brevity of the tweet. 140 characters. No debating.

I tweet regularly.

Also, I can send them from my phone which is easier than blogging since Her Majesty does not always allow Her humble servant wench the freedom to blog.

I had them linked to post here, but that link broke somehow. I'm bummed because then it would have been like very regular little updates. And I can't bring myself to re-post them all here...

Any suggestions?

-k

Child Sleep Resistance

What IS IT with children resisting naps? Don't they know the precious gift it is to lie down, rest, and recharge your batteries? Don't they realize how much everyone ELSE wants that break?

It's always been a source of confusion for me why children won't nap. What do they think they'd miss? What do they think we DO while they are napping that they just can't miss out on?

-k

How to annoy me

How to annoy me: the over-shoot, then rewind, then overshoot CRAP with the tv remote. You waste more time fast forwarding and rewinding than just watching the stupid commercials.

Watching right now

Watching right now: Dirty Jobs. If Michael ever left me for a man, it would be for Mike Rowe. And they'd be so cute together, I'd have to let him go.

Reading right now

Reading right now: Re-reading the Harry Potter series. Starting Book Four again. Also Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Also Asian cookbooks to learn more about Thai cooking.

How to make me laugh

How to make me laugh: Cory fell off the ottoman and halfway onto the floor... just balancing himself on the coffee table to try to milk the moment. Ian, in total support, pulled the coffee table swiftly away...