the elephant went to Venus, Willoughby Wallaby Wuranus, the elephant saw Uranus.
Yeah, we've been having too much fun with that song. I laughed so hard I nearly wrecked the car on the way to the co-op, and I can't even remember what we came up with that set me off.
Tonight's Little Kid class was pandelirium. 23 kids. Oy! Actually, it was fun, and not too crazy. I don't think I screwed anyone up, and I remembered everyone's name, so that's good. :) To be honest, kid names are easy for me; it's the parents' I can never remember. It was also the traditional Monday night DadFest, which it hasn't really been pretty much since I mentioned here how I enjoyed perving at them. So obviously they found my blog and were horrified and made a pact to mostly stay away until now. Bummer.
I also kicked one of the fathers in the butt tonight. I don't know what came over me. It was just a reaction. He put out his hand for a high 5, and thinking it odd, but not wanting to snub him I went for it, so of course he pulled it away (shoulda seen that coming) and my natural reaction was to smack him and kick him in the butt. (lightly! lightly! Not hard. I'm not mean like that.) Yikes. I don't think I offended him, though. I hope not anyway.
I watched PS I Love You last night, which, while being a glorious ManFest (including some full backal nudity) and pretty entertaining, probably did not garner the sympathy from me that it was supposed to for the main character. She was just such a high maintenance, neurotic bitch that I thought her hubby was better off dead. But there were bits that reminded me of my dad (the knowing the end is nigh stuff) so they were a little tear-jerky. Harry Connick Jr.'s character was bloody entertaining, too. ^_^
I got a new book called Garden Spells that I'm loving, and I finished The Camel Club, which was fantastic. The twist on the terrorist attack was brilliant. I'm also listening to Twilight, so I'm finally finding out what all the hoopla is about.
Oh, and the Master taught us a new Black Belt one-step sparring tonight. I can't wait to show MuNKi. It's cool!
Showing posts with label good books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good books. Show all posts
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Bookses
The Friday Night Knitting Club: Very well-written, but I have a thing or two to say to the author because, well I can't say if you're going to read it.
Labyrinth: Worth the read. Kind of Da Vinci Code-y, but different. Also, it made me wonder about when we decided that it wasn't OK to burn people alive and why it was OK back in the 1200s. That seems like a black and white issue to me: no, it's never OK to burn people alive. Doesn't it?
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: I'm listening to this one now. It's. . . interesting. . . So far.
Wicked: off to a great (if surreal) start!
Also, the lovely and talented Frank called and said he's downsizing his library rather extravagantly and I could pick from whatever was available. Is that orgasmic or what? I'm pretty sure I spoke very loudly and at a higher than normal pitch for the rest of the conversation. ^_^ How weird is it that this Musical Theatre workshop Frank attended was directed by the guy who wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked (the musical)? How much weirder is it that a young guy in my class told me tonight that he's going to see Wicked in Chicago in a few weeks? Pretty Dirk Gently, huh?
We got pretty thrashed in class tonight, so that is all for now. I thought abuse week was last week, but I guess I was wrong. :-P
Labyrinth: Worth the read. Kind of Da Vinci Code-y, but different. Also, it made me wonder about when we decided that it wasn't OK to burn people alive and why it was OK back in the 1200s. That seems like a black and white issue to me: no, it's never OK to burn people alive. Doesn't it?
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: I'm listening to this one now. It's. . . interesting. . . So far.
Wicked: off to a great (if surreal) start!
Also, the lovely and talented Frank called and said he's downsizing his library rather extravagantly and I could pick from whatever was available. Is that orgasmic or what? I'm pretty sure I spoke very loudly and at a higher than normal pitch for the rest of the conversation. ^_^ How weird is it that this Musical Theatre workshop Frank attended was directed by the guy who wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked (the musical)? How much weirder is it that a young guy in my class told me tonight that he's going to see Wicked in Chicago in a few weeks? Pretty Dirk Gently, huh?
We got pretty thrashed in class tonight, so that is all for now. I thought abuse week was last week, but I guess I was wrong. :-P
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
A Girl and Her Raven
Or maybe he's a rook.
Anyway, Joan Aiken's books about Arabel and Mortimer have got to be the funniest kids' books ever written. I had forgotten just how precisely delightful they are until we started reading them again last night.
TKD is closed through Saturday because the Master has a nasty flu. The only exception is the kids' after-school club, which must go on (because where else are they gonna go?) so I'm handling that. The kids were very good for me today, but when the last one's mom came to pick him up, he turned into a complete snot. I couldn't believe what a brat he became. She let him walk all over her, too, which was both embarrassing and frustrating to watch. I need to talk to the Master about the idea of adding some sort of off-the-mat behaviour tip as a testing requirement.
Speaking of testing, black belt testing time has rolled around again, and our test is in a little over 3 weeks. This will be the first of 6 bi-annual tests toward my 2nd Dan. Not looking forward. :-P But I'll probably live through it. MuNKi, Mollusc and Sluggie are testing too.
I'm on a roll of seemingly getting nothing done at home, so I'll probably be scarce for a while.
Later, taters!
Anyway, Joan Aiken's books about Arabel and Mortimer have got to be the funniest kids' books ever written. I had forgotten just how precisely delightful they are until we started reading them again last night.
TKD is closed through Saturday because the Master has a nasty flu. The only exception is the kids' after-school club, which must go on (because where else are they gonna go?) so I'm handling that. The kids were very good for me today, but when the last one's mom came to pick him up, he turned into a complete snot. I couldn't believe what a brat he became. She let him walk all over her, too, which was both embarrassing and frustrating to watch. I need to talk to the Master about the idea of adding some sort of off-the-mat behaviour tip as a testing requirement.
Speaking of testing, black belt testing time has rolled around again, and our test is in a little over 3 weeks. This will be the first of 6 bi-annual tests toward my 2nd Dan. Not looking forward. :-P But I'll probably live through it. MuNKi, Mollusc and Sluggie are testing too.
I'm on a roll of seemingly getting nothing done at home, so I'll probably be scarce for a while.
Later, taters!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
For Your Eyes Only
I think this will be the last year I'll be able to make something for The Prawn in plain view without arousing her suspicions. It probably helps that she's used to seeing me make a mess with scrappy stuff on the table. It also helps that there has been such an incredible scrappy mess on the table that she probably can't even see what I'm up to. :) I think I've finished the recipe books. All that remains is to load the recipe pages into the little albums. Yes albums, plural, because there are an ungodly number of them and I had to break them down into Stove Recipes, Blender Recipes, and Sandwich Maker Recipes. This will mean nothing to those of you whose households are not graced by the presence of fuzzy little Webkinz, but they will mean the world to Prawn. I hope. :)
So now, in my weird and strangely pleasure-delaying ways, I have put the very last disk of Going Postal on pause, stepped away from the final stage of the project, and sat down with my computer to blog. The kids are in the basement with a friend, playing some strange and exciting Pirate Ship game they've invented. I know there are swashes being buckled, because I saw an armory load of wooden swords and shields getting dragged down there. Hopefully there won't be any severed limbs to deal with. The crew ate lemons just before going to sea, so at least scurvy isn't going to be a concern.
I could take this opportunity to make some secret things with lovely secret fabric I bought the other day, but I fear that the crew will likely pop upsatirs to dry land at the most Inopportune Moments, and unlike The Prawn, the others suffer from Insatiable Curiosity whenever I'm sewing. So it will have to be a matter of Secret Midnight Sewing, I think. In the meantime I'll make more Christmas gift bags. I seem to have given away rather a lot of them, and I'd rather be flayed and hung from the yard arm than resort to paper.
We've started reading Swallows and Amazons again, which I don't think Fishy and Prawnie remember much at all. The Bigs are enjoying it more than ever, as am I. I think the combo of S&A and watching Pirates III is what spawned this latest seafaring game. If you haven't read it, all I can say is that this is a series I wish every child could read. One of my Desert Island picks for sure. (you know - if you were stranded on a desert island and could only take X books - perish the thought!)
Enough pleasure-delaying for now. I'm off to see what finally becomes of Mr. Moist Lipwig.
So now, in my weird and strangely pleasure-delaying ways, I have put the very last disk of Going Postal on pause, stepped away from the final stage of the project, and sat down with my computer to blog. The kids are in the basement with a friend, playing some strange and exciting Pirate Ship game they've invented. I know there are swashes being buckled, because I saw an armory load of wooden swords and shields getting dragged down there. Hopefully there won't be any severed limbs to deal with. The crew ate lemons just before going to sea, so at least scurvy isn't going to be a concern.
I could take this opportunity to make some secret things with lovely secret fabric I bought the other day, but I fear that the crew will likely pop upsatirs to dry land at the most Inopportune Moments, and unlike The Prawn, the others suffer from Insatiable Curiosity whenever I'm sewing. So it will have to be a matter of Secret Midnight Sewing, I think. In the meantime I'll make more Christmas gift bags. I seem to have given away rather a lot of them, and I'd rather be flayed and hung from the yard arm than resort to paper.
We've started reading Swallows and Amazons again, which I don't think Fishy and Prawnie remember much at all. The Bigs are enjoying it more than ever, as am I. I think the combo of S&A and watching Pirates III is what spawned this latest seafaring game. If you haven't read it, all I can say is that this is a series I wish every child could read. One of my Desert Island picks for sure. (you know - if you were stranded on a desert island and could only take X books - perish the thought!)
Enough pleasure-delaying for now. I'm off to see what finally becomes of Mr. Moist Lipwig.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Life is What Happens. . .
. . .when you're making blog posts. :-P
Like Amanda, I've been devoting a little more time to life than blogging, but I'm still alive. :-)
I missed Picture Book Thursday, but that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about it. My earliest bookstore memories revolve around the hours I spent standing in Swindon's, reading the Mr. Men books. I'm sure a lot of you English types will remember those. :-) I remember looking repeatedly at the Tintin books and wanting to like them, but just not being able to get into them (though of course now we have almost all of them :-) ) I always ended up defaulting to the Mr. Mens. Yesterday I tried to buy one for Prawn at Borders, but they're out of print again. I think my favourites were Mr. Bump and Mr. Tickle. We have a pretty decent collection of the books, and some of the Little Misses as well, since they were available in bookstores up until last year, but several of them have fallen apart from too much love.
We're almost through the audio version of Peter Pan in Scarlet and in spite of my fear of hoping for too much from this book, it has turned out to be one that I wish I had written myself. It's fantastic! I can't believe something this delightful and imaginitive got published. I know that sounds snooty, but if you check it out for yourself and see some of the very nontraditional concepts and turns of phrase, I think you'll understand what I mean.
Speaking of scarlet, last night our Red Belt (and up) class consisted of forms, and Feats of Tae Kwon Do. My favourite kind of class. ^_^ For some reason, though, I could kick a bottle hanging from the ceiling when I ran and jumped off the floor, but not when I ran and jumped off a chair. Go figure.
I've been listening to the BBC radio dramatisation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and loving it. And I took a bunch of pictures over the week that I'll try to post.
Have a great weekend!
Like Amanda, I've been devoting a little more time to life than blogging, but I'm still alive. :-)
I missed Picture Book Thursday, but that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about it. My earliest bookstore memories revolve around the hours I spent standing in Swindon's, reading the Mr. Men books. I'm sure a lot of you English types will remember those. :-) I remember looking repeatedly at the Tintin books and wanting to like them, but just not being able to get into them (though of course now we have almost all of them :-) ) I always ended up defaulting to the Mr. Mens. Yesterday I tried to buy one for Prawn at Borders, but they're out of print again. I think my favourites were Mr. Bump and Mr. Tickle. We have a pretty decent collection of the books, and some of the Little Misses as well, since they were available in bookstores up until last year, but several of them have fallen apart from too much love.
We're almost through the audio version of Peter Pan in Scarlet and in spite of my fear of hoping for too much from this book, it has turned out to be one that I wish I had written myself. It's fantastic! I can't believe something this delightful and imaginitive got published. I know that sounds snooty, but if you check it out for yourself and see some of the very nontraditional concepts and turns of phrase, I think you'll understand what I mean.
Speaking of scarlet, last night our Red Belt (and up) class consisted of forms, and Feats of Tae Kwon Do. My favourite kind of class. ^_^ For some reason, though, I could kick a bottle hanging from the ceiling when I ran and jumped off the floor, but not when I ran and jumped off a chair. Go figure.
I've been listening to the BBC radio dramatisation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and loving it. And I took a bunch of pictures over the week that I'll try to post.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Picture Book Thursday
So yesterday I was at the library and I thought I'd snag some picture books for Prawn. How can I accurately describe the mood in which that put me? I'll try by saying that I would LOVE to find books that are real STORIES that I want to read to my five-year-old for the purpose of enjoyment, as opposed to thinly veiled MESSAGES. But I'm afraid that the Otts Children's Publishing Theme Song would be "We're Bringin' Didact Back." :-P
I can't tell you how unlikely it is that if you pull a random book out of the hundreds on our library's shelves it will be an actual story book. I'm fed up with "Little Johnny is Sad," and "Merwin Recycles a Can." I've had it with "Hattie's Grandma Got Diagnosed With Cancer and then Got Run Over by a Bus," and "Jory Ate a Day-Old Chicken Sandwich and Died." Enough, please of "Charles Was Petrified of Going to School, but it Turned Out not to Kill Him After All," and "The Dentist is My Friend in Spite of all the Horrifying Instruments of Torture He Keeps On Hand" and "Harry Finds a Dead Frog," and "My Fish Died, but He Makes Great Fertilizer."
Granted, there is a time and a place for some of these, but more often than not, parents are looking for something to read that will delight their little ones and feed their imaginations -- something that makes their kids giggle or "oooh" and "aah," and then run off to build castles and dance with fairies and paint pictures and pretend they can fly. And also preferably something they can read more than once without barfing. This is getting increasingly harder to do.
So I was delighted yesterday to find "I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean." It's a simple book with a great punchline and a couple of cute little gags for the visually observant. It made all my kids laugh, and BG and me, too. I found a few others that look Less Than Awful as well. I'll keep you posted.
I can't tell you how unlikely it is that if you pull a random book out of the hundreds on our library's shelves it will be an actual story book. I'm fed up with "Little Johnny is Sad," and "Merwin Recycles a Can." I've had it with "Hattie's Grandma Got Diagnosed With Cancer and then Got Run Over by a Bus," and "Jory Ate a Day-Old Chicken Sandwich and Died." Enough, please of "Charles Was Petrified of Going to School, but it Turned Out not to Kill Him After All," and "The Dentist is My Friend in Spite of all the Horrifying Instruments of Torture He Keeps On Hand" and "Harry Finds a Dead Frog," and "My Fish Died, but He Makes Great Fertilizer."
Granted, there is a time and a place for some of these, but more often than not, parents are looking for something to read that will delight their little ones and feed their imaginations -- something that makes their kids giggle or "oooh" and "aah," and then run off to build castles and dance with fairies and paint pictures and pretend they can fly. And also preferably something they can read more than once without barfing. This is getting increasingly harder to do.
So I was delighted yesterday to find "I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean." It's a simple book with a great punchline and a couple of cute little gags for the visually observant. It made all my kids laugh, and BG and me, too. I found a few others that look Less Than Awful as well. I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Entertaining While Inebriated
I found a really fun book at the library today. It's packed with great tips on things like Entertaining the Elderly, including a recipe for "I Remember the War Cube Steak," which invites you to take a cube steak and "bang it with a mallet until it is riddled with pockmarks," and the BRITTLE diet (Bananas, Raisins, Ice milk, Turnips, Tomato juice, Lentils, Escarole.)
The section on children's games had me in stitches, especially the part on Gerneral Party Game Safety, which reads in one breathless paragraph:
"If for any reason a child's clothing catches fire, prevent the child from running because this adds oxygen, causing him to burn more quickly. Roll the smoldering child on the ground or in a rug. If a youngster breaks though the ice, have him kick his feet and wriggle to a solid surface. Kerosene is an accelerant: try not to mix it with an open flame unless an escape route is cleared. Stay in single file. Don't scratch, and don't ever put that in your mouth. The eyes are the most vulnerable part of a wolf. When cornered, jab something pointy into this area."
There are plenty of fun game suggestions (play "Grown-Up" and Social Services), hundreds of off-colour 70's photographs straight out of your grandmother's handy housewife book, and a plethora of recipes. Now, I'm not so sure about these recipes. It's kind of like reading the Onion back when I was a student on the Madison campus during its startup days. I never knew if the coupons were for real, and I was too chicken to ask.
I don't know who Amy Sedaris is, but I have this nagging feeling that I ought to and that perhaps if my television got channels I might. What I do know is that she makes me laugh. A lot. ^_^ Click the pic and check her out.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Click the Pic
Mark my words, this one is the modern day equivalent of Winnie the Pooh. And by "Winnie the Pooh," I mean the A. A. Milne classic, not the Disney tripe. (puh-leeze!)
I can't say enough about this little gem, and we're only about 3/5ths of the way through. Ok, so most of us don't like "shut up" (cringe) or "farty" in a young children's book, but I'll forgive these transgressions because this is such a delightful work. This is the kind of book you read just for sheer enjoyment of the writing. Even Mollusc and Sluggie come in to listen when I'm reading this one, and they're 12 and 10.
In other news, we finished Day Two of the garage sale. Tomorrow is our last day and we'll shut down at about 10:30 am, pull in everything we're taking to resale shops and leave the rest out with FREE signs. Then it's off to the Owl Show at the library, and from there the mamas head to a free quilt exhibit while the daddies ride herd on the ruffians. Actually, since MuNKi has to help ref at sparring, one daddy gets the whole herd at first. Hopefully we'll get back in plenty of time for the daddies to then reward themselves with golf.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
"Makes You Feel Daft"
That's what my friend wrote in the email when he sent along this vid. You have to watch to the end to get it. I felt like I had my Eyes Wide Shut.
In other news, I've been reading books and and watching flicks. We watched The Last Mimsy with the kids the other night. We almost didn't make it much past the beginning, the boy was such a brat, but we stuck it out. It was cute, other than Bratley being such a little jerk which, honestly, was unnecesary.
MuNKi and I watched The Last Time and found it very interesting. It's nice to watch one you don't figure out right at the start these days.
I read Honey Bea and enjoyed it very much, and now I'm reading Walking The Labyrinth which, in spite of the title, is not one of those how-to books.
On Sunday we scored BIG at the library book free-for-all. Michael, I seem to remember promising you a "mystery" book (not an actual mystery book) so if you want it, email me your addy, or the addy of someone you'd like to set up. ;-) Mine is milkmaidenster at gmail dot com. BG (my friend Boobies Galore) helped me pick it out. It's a winner, I think.
We actually descended on the library en masse with 2 other TKD families (in the TKD bus no less, which earned us some pretty strange looks) and then went on to the orchard to pick apples and to repsectively devour and quaff our combined body weights in doughnuts and cider. I've been in a sugar coma since then.
In other news, I've been reading books and and watching flicks. We watched The Last Mimsy with the kids the other night. We almost didn't make it much past the beginning, the boy was such a brat, but we stuck it out. It was cute, other than Bratley being such a little jerk which, honestly, was unnecesary.
MuNKi and I watched The Last Time and found it very interesting. It's nice to watch one you don't figure out right at the start these days.
I read Honey Bea and enjoyed it very much, and now I'm reading Walking The Labyrinth which, in spite of the title, is not one of those how-to books.
On Sunday we scored BIG at the library book free-for-all. Michael, I seem to remember promising you a "mystery" book (not an actual mystery book) so if you want it, email me your addy, or the addy of someone you'd like to set up. ;-) Mine is milkmaidenster at gmail dot com. BG (my friend Boobies Galore) helped me pick it out. It's a winner, I think.
We actually descended on the library en masse with 2 other TKD families (in the TKD bus no less, which earned us some pretty strange looks) and then went on to the orchard to pick apples and to repsectively devour and quaff our combined body weights in doughnuts and cider. I've been in a sugar coma since then.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Those Three Little Words
"Free Books Sunday"
OMG. BG and I went swimming with the kids this morning, then back to her place for lunch (which her husband had made for us) and from there to the Brighton Library.
Lately, BG and I have been "library hopping." Last week we went to Northville's. Wow. Northville is the kind of swanky town with pavers in their main streets. And gazebos. (not in the main streets) Their library is not only hu-normous, it's also jam-packed with goodies. They have a giant foreign language DVD section, but oddly, those are only good for 3 days. All the other films are good for a week. I think with all those subtitles, it would only make sense to let us have the films for more than 7 days, not less.
Today we went to the Brighton library. They have a rather large, reasonably new library with shockingly few books inside and somewhat less friendly librarians than the other libraries we've hit. The good part was that just as I was wondering when they were going to have their annual book sale again, I discovered that it was actually in progress. Today was "everything is $1 or $0.50" day, tomorrow is "fill a bag for $3 day," and Sunday (oh glorious, wonderous Sunday) is "everything left is free" day.
We're gonna need another Billy!
OMG. BG and I went swimming with the kids this morning, then back to her place for lunch (which her husband had made for us) and from there to the Brighton Library.
Lately, BG and I have been "library hopping." Last week we went to Northville's. Wow. Northville is the kind of swanky town with pavers in their main streets. And gazebos. (not in the main streets) Their library is not only hu-normous, it's also jam-packed with goodies. They have a giant foreign language DVD section, but oddly, those are only good for 3 days. All the other films are good for a week. I think with all those subtitles, it would only make sense to let us have the films for more than 7 days, not less.
Today we went to the Brighton library. They have a rather large, reasonably new library with shockingly few books inside and somewhat less friendly librarians than the other libraries we've hit. The good part was that just as I was wondering when they were going to have their annual book sale again, I discovered that it was actually in progress. Today was "everything is $1 or $0.50" day, tomorrow is "fill a bag for $3 day," and Sunday (oh glorious, wonderous Sunday) is "everything left is free" day.
We're gonna need another Billy!
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Very Gently
The latest discovery in my studies of The Interconnectedness of All Things:
How very odd. I almost expected to find that the radio version of Lord Asriel was voiced by Sean Connery or Roger Moore.
Now I just have to figure out how Terence Stamp might relate to James Bond. . .
____
For those of you with no idea what I'm talking about, that first guy is Timothy Dalton, dressed for his role as Lord Asriel in the stage version of Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass.". The second is Daniel Craig, dressed for his role as Lord Asriel in the forthcoming feature film. Oh, and Terence Stamp is the voice of Lord Asriel in the radio version.
For those of you who don't care, fear not. I'll be moving on soon.
How very odd. I almost expected to find that the radio version of Lord Asriel was voiced by Sean Connery or Roger Moore.
Now I just have to figure out how Terence Stamp might relate to James Bond. . .
____
For those of you with no idea what I'm talking about, that first guy is Timothy Dalton, dressed for his role as Lord Asriel in the stage version of Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass.". The second is Daniel Craig, dressed for his role as Lord Asriel in the forthcoming feature film. Oh, and Terence Stamp is the voice of Lord Asriel in the radio version.
For those of you who don't care, fear not. I'll be moving on soon.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Superior Firepower
In spite of requests for pantsless painting pictures (say THAT 3 times fast!) I thought you'd all enjoy this. I was reminded of it by a post over at Michael's.
I actually bought this book for MuNKi after watching the vid. I ♥ Think Geek!
I actually bought this book for MuNKi after watching the vid. I ♥ Think Geek!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Harroin
I dislike drug references. They make me uncomfortable. But I like puns too much to pass up on this title. :-P ^_^
The new Harry is stinking great so far. We bought another copy at Sam's today and things work like this:
Mollusc reads one. Sluggie reads one. I commandeer one, read a chapter or two and give it back, then go steal the other one, read a chapter or two and give it back. I convince Sluggie to play a computer game while I read another chapter or two. I convince her she's having too much fun to quit and read some more. I finally return it and send Mollusc to the shower, stealing her book as soon as she she sets it down.
This book does not have any slow places so far. It's addictive. But to be nice (and here is where you must award me Mother of the Year or perhaps Century) I prise the book from my hand and allow the girls to take it to bed while MuNKi and I watch a movie. This is not easy. This is painful. I find myself shaking and delirious. Is that a dementor in the corner? Hermione is giggling and waving at me from the other couch. She wants me to go and get the book back. No! I can do this!
Who am I kidding? No I can't. Accio book! Accio book! Why isn't it working? Accio book dammit!!
I struggle through the Russell Crowe film. The trembling won't stop and Russell doesn't look nearly as hot as usual. Jeff doesn't get nearly enough lines. That guy who's in everything these days appears, and his wistful ogling of Christie's bum almost distracts me, but I can feel myself sliding back into that pit of desperation. I need the book. Nothing is good without the book. The book makes everything sharper, brighter, and better-smelling.
The stupid film doesn't have a blooper reel. WTF is wrong with directors these days?! How am I supposed to keep going like this? There are 3 Russell Crowe music vids on the menu, and a desperate mashing of buttons on the remote produces 3 songs with pretty good melody, rather decent singing and crap lyrics. Oh the humanity!
One of those kids had better be asleep by now. That's all I can say.
The new Harry is stinking great so far. We bought another copy at Sam's today and things work like this:
Mollusc reads one. Sluggie reads one. I commandeer one, read a chapter or two and give it back, then go steal the other one, read a chapter or two and give it back. I convince Sluggie to play a computer game while I read another chapter or two. I convince her she's having too much fun to quit and read some more. I finally return it and send Mollusc to the shower, stealing her book as soon as she she sets it down.
This book does not have any slow places so far. It's addictive. But to be nice (and here is where you must award me Mother of the Year or perhaps Century) I prise the book from my hand and allow the girls to take it to bed while MuNKi and I watch a movie. This is not easy. This is painful. I find myself shaking and delirious. Is that a dementor in the corner? Hermione is giggling and waving at me from the other couch. She wants me to go and get the book back. No! I can do this!
Who am I kidding? No I can't. Accio book! Accio book! Why isn't it working? Accio book dammit!!
I struggle through the Russell Crowe film. The trembling won't stop and Russell doesn't look nearly as hot as usual. Jeff doesn't get nearly enough lines. That guy who's in everything these days appears, and his wistful ogling of Christie's bum almost distracts me, but I can feel myself sliding back into that pit of desperation. I need the book. Nothing is good without the book. The book makes everything sharper, brighter, and better-smelling.
The stupid film doesn't have a blooper reel. WTF is wrong with directors these days?! How am I supposed to keep going like this? There are 3 Russell Crowe music vids on the menu, and a desperate mashing of buttons on the remote produces 3 songs with pretty good melody, rather decent singing and crap lyrics. Oh the humanity!
One of those kids had better be asleep by now. That's all I can say.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Day Zero!!
OK peeps! Technically, this is Pottergasm day! (it's 12:10pm) Wow, huh?
After a chat with Amanda, I realised that I would need to call the store in the morning and find out more about expected crowd sizes, limitations on customer numbers, etc. Yikes. I think we're going to have to skive off of red-belt classes. We need some of Fred and George's Skiving Snack Boxes. ^_^
It's not so bad if we do. We busted our butts in class today. Bigtime. I got plenty of exercise just laughing during warmups after the guy behind me made a comment during jumping jacks that I immediately misinterpreted. MuNKi joined in the frivolity immediately, realising instantly what I must have heard (or thought I'd heard) and there was some general silliness from there on out. I love this group of people! :)
We had a full house and got paired up on bags and worked so stinking hard! I soaked my entire shirt just in class. Usually it takes class and sparring to do this. Sorry if that's TMI. It just feels really amazingly great to work like that and come out still smiling. ^_^ And then it was on to sparring, where I got paired up with the sweatiest guy in class for drills. He literally rains on the floor. Seriously. That was a good match-up since we both have long legs. We killed ourselves even more, and still managed to have a good time. Somehow the guys paired up beside us both got broken. But they'll be OK. It wasn't anything serious.
Earlier today the sky opened up and just dropped an ocean on us. It was amazing! I love thunderstorms. The Littles and I left the house in dry weather, though there was a bolt of lightning rending the sky in front of us. By the time we got to the stoplight by the library (a block-ish away) it was HAILING. And when we reached the library about a minute later, I could barely see a thing. I let the Littles out and parked (fortunately the closest spot possible was available) and then RAN. Didn't matter. I was drenched. What fun! The wind was blowing like crazy. I gathered the herd, and we watched the wind and rain for a bit, then RAN to the car. Well, some of the girls started running the wrong way (towards where we always park) and by the time we were all in the van, yes, we may as well have been swimming.
When we got home, there was no lightning left, so the Bigs played out in the rain and hail. What fun. :) I love when the weather is hairy like that.
Have a very Harry day. ^_^
After a chat with Amanda, I realised that I would need to call the store in the morning and find out more about expected crowd sizes, limitations on customer numbers, etc. Yikes. I think we're going to have to skive off of red-belt classes. We need some of Fred and George's Skiving Snack Boxes. ^_^
It's not so bad if we do. We busted our butts in class today. Bigtime. I got plenty of exercise just laughing during warmups after the guy behind me made a comment during jumping jacks that I immediately misinterpreted. MuNKi joined in the frivolity immediately, realising instantly what I must have heard (or thought I'd heard) and there was some general silliness from there on out. I love this group of people! :)
We had a full house and got paired up on bags and worked so stinking hard! I soaked my entire shirt just in class. Usually it takes class and sparring to do this. Sorry if that's TMI. It just feels really amazingly great to work like that and come out still smiling. ^_^ And then it was on to sparring, where I got paired up with the sweatiest guy in class for drills. He literally rains on the floor. Seriously. That was a good match-up since we both have long legs. We killed ourselves even more, and still managed to have a good time. Somehow the guys paired up beside us both got broken. But they'll be OK. It wasn't anything serious.
Earlier today the sky opened up and just dropped an ocean on us. It was amazing! I love thunderstorms. The Littles and I left the house in dry weather, though there was a bolt of lightning rending the sky in front of us. By the time we got to the stoplight by the library (a block-ish away) it was HAILING. And when we reached the library about a minute later, I could barely see a thing. I let the Littles out and parked (fortunately the closest spot possible was available) and then RAN. Didn't matter. I was drenched. What fun! The wind was blowing like crazy. I gathered the herd, and we watched the wind and rain for a bit, then RAN to the car. Well, some of the girls started running the wrong way (towards where we always park) and by the time we were all in the van, yes, we may as well have been swimming.
When we got home, there was no lightning left, so the Bigs played out in the rain and hail. What fun. :) I love when the weather is hairy like that.
Have a very Harry day. ^_^
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
7 Things
• I have a bruise on my right bicep and forearm from "string slap*." (I'm left-eyed. And yes, I was holding it wrong. My funky-shaped elbows don't help.)
• I made a little boy cry in class this morning, but I think he still loves me. (Don't worry, I only gave him pushups because he wasn't listening/obeying.)
• Teaching big kid class was a success. (I'm doing all the morning classes this week.)
• We had our first harvest of Perilla leaves, and a yummy lunch of rice and leaves with sauce. Fishy was so excited!
• Class was a big workout, but fun!
• Sparring made me sweat my whole entire shirt up. I love sparring.
• 3 more days!!!
*And archery term that means exactly what it sounds like it would.
• I made a little boy cry in class this morning, but I think he still loves me. (Don't worry, I only gave him pushups because he wasn't listening/obeying.)
• Teaching big kid class was a success. (I'm doing all the morning classes this week.)
• We had our first harvest of Perilla leaves, and a yummy lunch of rice and leaves with sauce. Fishy was so excited!
• Class was a big workout, but fun!
• Sparring made me sweat my whole entire shirt up. I love sparring.
• 3 more days!!!
*And archery term that means exactly what it sounds like it would.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Angelic
Yesterday was exhausting but fun. I don't think we got any fantabulous pictures, but the show was awesome. The Blue Angels are still my favourite demo team, in spite of my loyalty to the Air Force. :) But I think something was wrong with Fat Albert, because last time that part was a lot more spectacular. I don't think the JATO bottles even lit this time. I saw no fire at all, whereas last time I remember it looking exactly like this. But the Fat Albert part is just the warm up, anyway. And it was still cool.
I've been checking out author Bruce Littlefield's site. His book Garage Sale America sounds like a lot of fun. And with our big sale coming up, it should be inspirational reading. If I can get my hands on a copy, I'll be one step closer to World Domination. ^_^ Be sure to head on over to Blondeblogger's blog and enter her contest!
Nothing earth-shattering pic-wise, but at least you can get the idea. . .
Don't try this at home.
No, realli.
In other news, it was haircut day for the boys yesterday, and in a bizarre twist on the usual buzz, I cut an arrow into Fishy's hair. Well, out of it. It's like a mowhak, but shaped like an arrow. Think the Avatar with hair instead of tattoos. I'm not sure how long he'll keep it like that, but it's entertaining. Yeah, I know. I should take a picture.
And in spite of making an effort to slow down, I still finished the 6th Harry Potter book last night. Hope I remember all the details when the new one comes out. After all this Pottering, I find weird words popping randomly into my head. Like "bubotuber pus."
Pics of the decluttered room later today.
No, realli. ^_^
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Reading Rainbow
I realise I may have been even more scarce than usual. It's that darned Harry Potter. I'm going to finish book 4 today and start on book 5. At this rate my greatest fear is not that I'm going to have any trouble finishing before the new one comes out, but that I'll finish them and then read a bunch of other books and forget everything all over again. ^_^ There are so many LOL moments in those books. I'd forgotten. What fun. ^_^
Here are some of the other books on my list:
~Walking the Labyrinth
~Michael Moorcock's Elric books
~The Wizard of Earthsea trilogy (re-read, and then possibly some of the follow ons, but after what TG said, probably not much of them :) )
~A Fine Balance (not really looking forward to this one, but who knows?)
~A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great Grandmother, and the 3rd one if I can get my hands on it (L'Engle)
~The Flame Trees of Thika (re-read, Elspeth Huxley)
~The Hippopatamus (Stephen Fry)
~The Sparrow
~Darcy and Elizabeth
~a bunch of Terry Pratchetts
~a bunch of Wodehouse I've been stocking up
~The Far Pavilions
I have at least 2 shelves of stuff I want to read. Maybe I should just blow my blog in place now. ^_^
Here are some of the other books on my list:
~Walking the Labyrinth
~Michael Moorcock's Elric books
~The Wizard of Earthsea trilogy (re-read, and then possibly some of the follow ons, but after what TG said, probably not much of them :) )
~A Fine Balance (not really looking forward to this one, but who knows?)
~A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great Grandmother, and the 3rd one if I can get my hands on it (L'Engle)
~The Flame Trees of Thika (re-read, Elspeth Huxley)
~The Hippopatamus (Stephen Fry)
~The Sparrow
~Darcy and Elizabeth
~a bunch of Terry Pratchetts
~a bunch of Wodehouse I've been stocking up
~The Far Pavilions
I have at least 2 shelves of stuff I want to read. Maybe I should just blow my blog in place now. ^_^
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Begin the Beguine
Ah, where, in fact, to begin? First of all, a very Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Well done, you! You've made beautiful children (I've seen pictures, you know) and put parts of yourselves into them, and look at how cool they're turning out!
Yesterday MuNKi and I celebrated our 17th anniversary by going to a big party with about 150 people, most of whom we didn't know. There was food and drink and song and dance, and a great time was had by all. Well, yes, it was someone else's wedding reception, but that didn't stop us having a smashing good time. ^_^ I think the happy couple chose a very auspicious date.
The kids were hesitant to dance in public at first, but after they got liquored up a bit (OK, not really) they were shaking their booties with the best of them. I didn't know they had those kinds of moves. I think the part that made me glow the brightest, though, was having several different people come up to us over the course of the evening and compliment us on the children and their behaviour. That is really a wonderful feeling, and I need to remember to make it a point of doing it myself whenever the opportunity arises. :)
My reading spree has grown to nearly heroic proportions as I finished all 979 (oversized) pages of The Fiery Cross and went on to burn through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by the next day. Now I'm on to Harry #2. I'd forgotten just how delightful the books are. So much better than the movies. I mean, the movies aren't bad, but the books are just so much better. Rowling truly is a gifted writer.
Once again I have pictures to post that I need to dink around with first, so maybe I'll get them up next time. Have a gorgeous Sunday!
Yesterday MuNKi and I celebrated our 17th anniversary by going to a big party with about 150 people, most of whom we didn't know. There was food and drink and song and dance, and a great time was had by all. Well, yes, it was someone else's wedding reception, but that didn't stop us having a smashing good time. ^_^ I think the happy couple chose a very auspicious date.
The kids were hesitant to dance in public at first, but after they got liquored up a bit (OK, not really) they were shaking their booties with the best of them. I didn't know they had those kinds of moves. I think the part that made me glow the brightest, though, was having several different people come up to us over the course of the evening and compliment us on the children and their behaviour. That is really a wonderful feeling, and I need to remember to make it a point of doing it myself whenever the opportunity arises. :)
My reading spree has grown to nearly heroic proportions as I finished all 979 (oversized) pages of The Fiery Cross and went on to burn through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by the next day. Now I'm on to Harry #2. I'd forgotten just how delightful the books are. So much better than the movies. I mean, the movies aren't bad, but the books are just so much better. Rowling truly is a gifted writer.
Once again I have pictures to post that I need to dink around with first, so maybe I'll get them up next time. Have a gorgeous Sunday!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Reading Time
The Library Summer Reading program is on again. Hooray!
I'm halfway through The Fiery Cross, have 3 of the Wizard of Earthsea (LeGuin) books queued up for rereading, and am about a third of the way through The Light Fantastic (Terry Pratchett.) I have so many books on my list it's not remotely funny. Maybe I'll try to sort them out and post them.
What are you reading?
I'm halfway through The Fiery Cross, have 3 of the Wizard of Earthsea (LeGuin) books queued up for rereading, and am about a third of the way through The Light Fantastic (Terry Pratchett.) I have so many books on my list it's not remotely funny. Maybe I'll try to sort them out and post them.
What are you reading?
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