Little Lies

This is not the one that hurt. Not until my foot started feeling better, anyway. :-P

I've come up with a way to take over the world with. . . soap??? 10 points if you know what movie we watched tonight. 30 more points if you admit it. ;-)

So tell me, what did you think of Pirates of the Caribbean? (No, that's not the movie we watched tonight.) I saw it on DVD way after all the hype and, while it was OK, I just didn't get all orgasmic about it like the rest of the world seemed to. What did I miss? Do I need to see it again? Without SIL's magical heavy blanket and kiss-of-death snuggly dog? (Either of these evil tools of the devil can send you to dreamland effortlessly. In concert, they could take over the entire world while it slept.)

The kids and I have been listening to the audiobook of A House Called Awful End, by Philip Ardagh. Mr. Ardagh is one of those brilliant writers who will get you nodding and chuckling and laughing out loud. Once you're familiar with his style, you'll see something coming and laugh all the harder for it when it appears, and then out of nowhere, he'll blindside you with something even better that you never would have imagined. Even if you haven't got kids, his books are definitely worth checking out. Tell yourself that you're previewing them for that child of your friend's or your niece or nephew if you must. I see they are making a movie of it, and like the Lemony Snicket movie, I can't imagine it will be anywhere near as entertaining as the book.

This week is "Purge Week" at our house. Next week is "Binge Week" LOL! No, not really. This week we're taking a break from schooly stuff (as far as the kids know - heh heh - they don't realise that a lot of the stuff I read to them and the things we do are actually educational) to purge stuff. Not moving for 3 whole years has been nice, but it has also resulted in an unsightly buildup. Call in the "Crelm" car! The not-white car represents another leading brand. And just look at that "Crelm" car go! I really need to clear some shelf space for all these new books, too.

I opened up the latest UW-Alum mag to find an article featuring my mom's cousin. He's not kidding when he says he was the black sheep of the family. When I was in 5th grade, a girl in my class (not knowing the relation) proudly exclaimed to our teacher how her mother had "called that man up and told him he was a sinner!" And, yes, some church members still think he's the Anti-Christ. I have to say that for the Anti-Christ he's a swell and fun-loving guy. :-) Note to all authors: if you don't want to be labeled the Anti-Christ by your church, DO NOT write a book mentioning how your church's prophetess was a plagarist who got her writings not from visions sent from God, but from books with publication dates earlier than her own and with the plagarized passages and illustrations dog-eared and highlighted (all of which were found at her estate.) :-P

As an interesting aside, this cousin has a very bad name for answering the phone. "Hello, Ron Numbers" "Oh, I'm so sorry." *click* So if you ever call him up, don't be surprised to hear you've reached "Nebuchadnezzar's Candle Palace" or whatever strikes his fancy that day.

My dad went through a severe crisis of faith after that little discovery. (the plagarism thing, not the phone-answering thing) If you found out that the church had been lying to you for your whole life about one thing, then why not another? Why not all of it? My dad got over it, eventually. I don't think my cousin ever has. Interestingly enough, an old family friend from Hong Kong (and from the same church) contacted the family not long ago and said that he finally understood some of what my dad had been so upset about. He hadn't really gotten the full impact, I guess, from what my dad had told him, but he ended up at the "prophetess's" estate while doing research for a book of his own about missionaries, and came across a lot of things that really turned his world upside-down. Sadly, my dad was already gone by then, so they they didn't get to talk it over.

Hope you enjoyed this little episode of - Holy Dinah! Is that a Whopper I see before me? (Or just a little White lie?)