3 Strikes in an Otherwise Enjoyable Evening

Jon and I enjoy watching movies after the boys have gone to bed at night. Jon will watch anything, and he remembers everything. I am a little more selective in what I'll watch (no horror or monsterquest for me), but occassionally I'll try something just for the heck of it. After a couple of years pass I have a hard time remembering if I've seen something - especially if it didn't make a big impression the first time around.

Somewhere I'd recently seen a review for Fireproof and thought it would be a good one to pick up from Redbox. It sat in my purse for a couple of days and then Jon suggested watching it Tuesday night. We made it through about the first 20 minutes of the thing.

If you've had to endure watching seminary movies, you have witnessed better acting in a Christian film than this thing possesses. I now understand that this movie is a plug for the book The Love Dare, but boy is it transparent! Maybe we would have liked it more if we'd stuck it out, but in the best interest of our marriage it had to be removed.

Next we tried one of the movies I checked out at the library (what's better than a free DVD that you get to keep for a week?!). I checked out Gross Pointe Blank (which is one of my all time favorite movies. We've seen it multiple times but will watch it repeatedly. Last night just wasn't a GPB-type of night), Little Miss Sunshine, and Conversation(s) with Other Women.

I put in Conversation(s) with Other Women. It looked somewhat quirky, and it definitely lived up to that expectation. We made it about half an hour into this thing and could no longer handle the split screen.

I suppose that may feed into why we don't like picture-in-picture or scrolling text while watching TV either. If you're watching TV to relax, how much stimulation do you need to force on your brain? Wait - let's also flashback in one of the splitscreens (and flash forward in at least one instance). You gotta be at the top of your game to keep up! How can you do that when the dialogue is very quietly delivered, sometimes under a breath, and not all that stimulating anyway?

We ended up watching the news and had a heated discussion about the benefits of applying dead carp as fertilizer (that's right I did say C-A-R-P). I have an involved history with carp (well, my younger brother does), and Jon grew up across the street from the brother of man using the carp. This morning I can't believe how stupid we were to even be arguing over the topic - we were obviously not in the best spot after watching the beginnings of two doozies. It was not a pretty end to our evening.

Some Curious Things Happened as I Started My Day

This morning I stumbled out of bed while being reminded that "Parents and Pastries" started at 7:30. CJ & ED really wanted me to go. I walked them to their bathroom, flipped on the light, and pointed at CJ's watch and then the mirror. There was a simultaneous "Oh", and we turned out the light.

Now that I'm letting my hair grow out (it's near shoulder length!) I face the mirror as Medusa each morning. This is something new for me, and I don't really know how to tame it other than to pull it back in a scrunchy until I can start my morning ablutions.

Anyway. I continued to stumble downstairs and could hear G rumbling about. He typically sleeps in so I was surprised to hear him that early. He bum-slid down the stairs as I was measuring the milk & water for Germade, walked into the kitch with one eye closed and his nose all crinkled up. I turned around to look at him, and he goes, "Wow! I think we both got visited by the hair fairy!" A few weeks ago he & a friend decided to cut their bangs. Jon and I decided to force him to wear his actions instead of fixing them for him. But that's gone on long enough, and the kid is in serious need of a trim-ala-Jon.

So - I stirred the germade into the warm milk & water. ED got out some bowls, and I looked out the window to see Jon out poop-scooping. Snow melt reveals the staggering amount of crud produced by Kona & Hilo over the past few months. They use one particular part of the yard (affectionately known as the mine field by the boys), and varying snow layers tend to cover the deposits. When the snow is gone - boy howdy! Problem is that you can't just go out there to scoop - you have to wait for slight dessication. You also can't do it too early in the week. You need garbage day to be tomorrow. Today was apparently the day. My knight-in-camo-armor just trudged out there without saying anything to anyone. Geesh - and I was having hair concerns!

Finally - ED & CJ had left to catch the bus - each trying to kiss me first so that they could be the first one out the door. I was a titch mean and held CJ back so that ED could have a head start. Really, I just don't get as many kisses from CJ these days so it was an excuse to lay some on him. I'm sure I forgot to mention that I got him some new shoes this week, and he's wearing a men's size 8! That's my size! Gack.

G & Jon were gearing up to head out the door, and all that was missing was G's socks. I just folded some last night so I grabbed them off the laundry room shelf. G stared at me in amazement. "Mom, you're magic!" The poor child doesn't know that socks should just be pulled out of a drawer each day instead of having to hunt through stacks of unfolded clothes every time the sun comes up.

My reward? G grabbed a Diet Coke out of the garage fridge and handed it over while he kissed his dad's woman.

And that was all before 8:00!

Smile and wave boys. Smile and wave...

Boys are gonna be boys I suppose. I know there are adventures ahead that will result in me hiding in my bathroom, curled up in a ball, practicing deep breathing techniques and rocking back and forth while repeating, "They will live to get older!" I mean their father sets up BB-Gun shooting ranges in the basement for heaven's sake. Things are definitely going to happen.

My boys really aren't bad kids. They're roudy and restless and physical, but they are pretty good about staying out of trouble. I've heard all kinds of stories about what happened when men were younger, and I know that Wednesday's episode is just the tip of the iceberg around here.

I went into the office on Wednesday and left Carson in charge of the other two monkeys. It was a rather quiet day - I actually had to call and check on them because they weren't calling me every 12 minutes to complain or call each other names while they're in separate rooms on separate phones. That's always fun, and I'm sure my cube neighbors love those calls. Anyway I was mistakenly thinking that maybe they really could be trusted to stay home by themselves...

I was finishing up some things online Wednesday night, and Griffin came in to tell me what a great kid he'd been. He said that while Carson and Evan were out climbing on the roof he stayed inside the window just like Carson had told him. I blinked a few times, and the mom-demon came out to play.

Apparently they were practicing Christmas Eve trap avoidance maneuvers (OK - at least I've taught them to be prepared). Evan was on his stomach holding on to Carson, who was hanging off the side of roof (a little further to the left of this photo)while trying to climb to the ground or directly onto the front porch. Huh - funny thing is that while there may not be snow out there now, it's typically there in December. Wouldn't that be a fun one to explain to Santa...

Anyway. Jon explained why he and I were so upset, and the boys were sufficiently humbled through disciplinary action. I may not survive the next week without X-box, but they'll understand that we are serious about their safety - at least for a couple of days.

Today is another beautiful day so they are outside. This morning I found them scaling the bricks under the living room windows. They also managed to cut down an entire limb from the tree that our neighbors park under. (To their credit, the limb is low enough that trucks, SUVs, and mail vehicles frequently get snarled up in it) They are now having dueling wars with their scooters. This is where one of them parks perpendicular to the driveway and the others coast down without turning and see who can hit the one at the bottom. When one of them manages to hit the parker, the two colliders hop off and swing their scooters in circles until the scooters smack together. I haven't figured out who wins this game, but it sure keeps them busy...

About now I'm figuring out that the happy pill Rx I renewed yesterday is well worth the cost. Those pills are definitely working...

From This ... To This ... A Valentine Sneek Peek

Last year I went public with my valentine's gift for Jon. This year I'm gonna keep it just between us - well except for this little snippet.

Here's the cover of the book I'm making him:











Page one:











Page two:

(BTW - after scanning this and previewing it here I saw a way to vamp her up a bit. If you use your imagination, I think you'll see baby doll to teddy...










Amazing huh?

Page two started out as this






and went to that ^. I was looking through my scrap paper, and this idea just popped in. She's not quite as sexy as I'd imagined, but I do have some artistic limitations.




Oh - and Happy Valentine's Night to you, too!

Scratchin My Head

I know that I just posted a bunch of questions from G that make me think, HUH?!, but Ev may have topped him in the stupify-your-mother contest.

A couple of nights ago Ev had just gotten out of the tub. He typically takes a while drying off. I think he enjoys standing in the warm humidity - especially when the heater is on and blowing additional warm air into the room. This particular evening he quietly opened the door and snuck into my office behind me. He had his hand over his chin, and he proceeded to tell me that he'd burned his hidden chin on a lightbulb.

I'm not posting this photo so that you can see how blah the boy's bathroom is (although please note how clean the counter was today), how the lightbulbs don't match, how the towel isn't the right color - at least they've got a towel in there!, how the star towel hangers have scratched paint off the wall or how some vinyl lettering also removed paint above said hangers. I'm married to a painter, folks, all of that really is an easy fix. Oh - and the vinyl lettering was really cute - it used to say "Boys don't bathe, they dust off". My boys are getting a bit big and stanky for that kind of saying. They really do need to bathe.

Anyway - Evan - Poor kid. Scorched the top layer of skin right off - it kind of looked like a rug burn. Two questions:

1. Just how did that chin touch a lightbulb? AND


2. What was he doing with his chin at that elevation anyway?

I was working on our taxes, and Evan was sitting on the floor wrapped in a blanket. A while later he said, "Mom, if I was a girl, this is the kind of picture I'd draw." Because girls, chainsaws, and flowers have so much in common?!

In case you're wondering - he is the one who chopped it up with a paper cutter - not me... He said he was making a puzzle for G.





Finally - Evan has a difficult time sitting still during Sacrament Meeting. Last week was not a good one for the boy, and Jon and I were a little anxious about what this week was going to be like. I'm the first one into the chapel because the guys are all tied up in primary. Evan joins me before anyone else, grabs my face in his hands, gives me a kiss on each cheek, looks me directly in the eye and says, "Mom, I'm really sorry if I end up being bad today."

Really?

All right - I asked FarmWife to send these to me. Hopefully this will provide you with a different snippet of my mind/life/me.

1. Given your choice of any single super power, what would you pick? I'd pick something along the lines of 24-yr old body memory so that any time I gained weight, had a kid, etc my body would just pop back to how it was in my mid 20s. I'd want to keep the appreciation that I have now for that 24-yr-old body, so please leave my mind as it is right now.


2. If you had a week with zero responsibilities (no work, no spouse, no children, nada) and an extra $5,000 what would you do?
• Day 1: Wake up early, walk 5 miles in Butterfield Canyon - preferably with walking companions, shower & read the rest of the morning away, take my neighbor Debbi to lunch at Archibalds and walk through Gardner Village for a couple of hours, purchase a kitchen island I've had my eye on for a couple of years at Country Furniture, get it home and in the house, rearrange the kitchen, watch Count of Monte Cristo, and head to bed.
• Day 2:I'd fly to Portland OR very early in the morning, pick up my cousin, Rochelle, and then spend the afternoon walking along Cannon Beach near Haystack Rock and catch up on the past too many years, eat a seafood dinner, drop her off, drive back to Portland and fly to St George to see April
• Day 3:Spend the day in southern Utah with April
• Day 4:Fly to Bozeman for a day with Dixie
• Day 5 would find me in Chicago with Catherine.
• I think I'd be pretty tired of traveling by Day 6, but I'd head back home and spend the afternoon with my mom & Graham. I know I'd be aching for my own bed, so I'd head home before it got too dark.
• Day 7 I'd sleep in then get myself ready for the day, grab my book, and read until I heard my guys in the driveway.


Wouldn't get to see near enough of my friends, but that little break sounds just about fabulous.

3. If you could re-live any one day in your life, what would it be? I think I'd relive my wedding day and be able to really enjoy each person who came to celebrate with me. There were a few people who came a long way, and I know I wasn't nearly appreciative enough.


4. You just got a call from Universal Studios. They're making a motion picture based on your life. They want your input on who could play you. Who do you pick? Honestly? Bonnie Hunt.


5. And last but not least, who would you rather be, Sam from Bewitched or Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie? Sam from Bewitched - see my response to Question 1. I don't think I'd be comfortable in genie garb.

Want to play? Let me know and I'll send some questions your way.