The Things We Think And Do Not Say...

OK...that title is so stolen from Jerry MaGuire but it just popped into my head so I am going with it.

I know you all were on the edge of your seat wondering if I had survived the day with Walker, Texas Ranger and the Tazmanian Devil. I did...just barely. There was screaming, crying, fits thrown, refusal to eat, wanting to eat or drink what we did not have and fighting sleep...and that was just me! The kids also had some issues...

Many thanks to my best friend for coming over and hanging out with me. It added 3 additional kids to the mix but at least they entertained each other...when not fighting. Actually, the kids played together fine and we had lunch at Mickey D's (I HATE that place) and then went to the park. Being that I am not a stay at home mom, it seems odd that so many people hang out at the park during the day. Is this what goes on while I save the world daily at my job? OK...I don't save the world but commerical aviation is very important people!

Funny story...I was with all the kids at the Mickey D's while my friend went to grab straws, napkins or the like. I was helping all the kids and this guy that is walking by stops and stares at me. He then asks if all those kids were mine. Six kids! I laughed that really crazy laugh that mothers on the edge have and told him no...I didn't know any of them! No...I did claim two of them but I didn't point out which two since mine were engaged in a fight at that moment and it would have reflected poorly on my mothering skills! More power to those that have 6 or more kids. I think they are nuts...but it is their right to be nuts.

Seems like I am digging a deep hole here in mommyville so I better sign off before DHS tracks my IP address and comes for Walker and Texas Ranger!

Life As Seen At Age 8...

I happen to be off today and hanging out with Walker, Texas Ranger (TR) and my niece which shall be referred to as the Tasmanian Devil (TD) due to the fact that she has almost limitless energy.

What is it like having three kids in the house? Well, it is like trying to herd cats that are mad. They all are going in different directions with the intent to do great harm to something...me at times. I hope this isn't my last post but one of them has spotted me and is looking at me like they can take me out and then rule like on Lord of the Flies.

While sorting through some of Walker's school stuff (yes, I know he got out in May and I should have sorted through it before now...back off...I am on the edge here people!) I found a journal that he had to write in for school. Some of the entries are priceless. I thought I would share a couple. Spelling has been left as he wrote it so you may have to "sound out" some of this but that is part of the charm!

What I would like to be when I grow up (I made up this title since it seems this is what he was asked to write about.)
"I would like to be a principal cause I would be in charg of the scool. Would that be fun. I would let the kids take off from scool for three years that would be fun. And no homework that would be awsom. And no teachers. And there would be partys everyday and peiza every daytime and chees stiks. Yumy. I would get to sit in the ofice all day long. I would get to talk on the inercom. That would be fun! Well thats the end of my story. Good by."

Not so sure Walker has a future in education but with these promises, politics is looking like a career option! He is good looking and can be very persuasive so he might be President one day. Of course, I did see another sheet where he was asked if he thought he would make a good President. He said no because he doesn't like to work. Great! He will be living with me for the rest of his life. WAIT...politics is still an option with that work ethic so I may be OK!

If I Were President - This works out great because Walker actually had to write about what he would do if he was President (can you tell it was an election year). Here is what he wrote.
"If I were Presedent I wold stop football and on the football chanel I wold put cartoon network. I would make bacougan (this is a interesting spelling for a toy he likes called Bakugan) for free. I would stop scool. I would make candy free. I wold let every one have a giny pig that wanted one. (That comment is SO directed at me!) I would give the poor mony. I wold stop poloution. I wold make flying for free. (WHAT! He just put Mom out of a job! Crap!)

OK...what have we got here...lots of empty promises that will never happen. Yes, he could be President. I will start picking out my Inaugural Ball gown. Come to think of it, I think TR would make a great Secretary of Defense because he would follow the "He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue" policy. Harsh? Yes...but effective.

Well, it has only taken me about an hour to type this since I have been herding those cats the entire time. Better go and hope I can defend myself for the remainder of the day. If I lose the good fight, then it has been nice knowing you all...

Venting 101...

Had a bad day? I just heard of a great solution! Write it all down in an email and send it to someone that will just delete it! See how many problems this could solve?! Absolute genius!

By the way...in case you guys didn't notice, I have a new little email alert thing off to the left (yes, just look to the left...no, the other left...under the picture...yes, there it is). Just plug in your email address and it will let you know when I have put up some new bit of craziness. I know, you can hardly wait! Don't worry...it will not give me your email address or anything so I can't stalk you. A big thanks to Luke Wood for allowing me to steal his idea! Your blog rocks, Luke! (See...I shamelessly marketed your blog on mine!)

No new movies folks. Although I am really wanting to see Public Enemies with Depp. If I can figure out a way to see it, (ditch work on Thursday and take a long lunch...it could happen) then I will give you my review.

Bigger and Louder Doesn't Always Mean Better...

Saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen last night. A big thanks to the gang we went with to the movie and dinner. We had a great time and we need to do it again soon!

The movie delivered on the robots...lots of them. It delivered on action...lots of it! What it was a little short on was the character interaction that made the first one so good. Sam just didn't get to be Sam enough and the new character they added (his college roommate) was just annoying. It was also a bit long but that is just being pickey.

There were also more sexual references, a drug reference thrown in and some language that could have been left out. I am ticked off at this because my boys REALLY wanted to see it and I don't think it is one that they should see. They might look over the things that I just mentioned but I don't really want to take the chance. I don't mind robots doing each other in...I just don't want them seeing/hearing the rest of it. Michael Bay...I am disappointed that you thought you had to throw that junk in...OK, it was probably the screenwriters but Bay is the BOSS so he gets the blame! You could have just had things blow up and cool robots and you still would have made a killing at the box office!

Overall, I would give this one a B. It could have been better but things did blow up and the robots were really cool.

Bridges...

A couple of weeks ago I posted a quote in my never-ending Facebook movie quote game. The quote was this:

"When a woman makes the choice to marry, to have children; in one way her life begins but in another way it stops. You build a life of details. You become a mother, a wife and you stop and stay steady so that your children can move. And when they leave they take your life of details with them. And then you're expected move again only you don't remember what moves you because no-one has asked in so long. Not even yourself."

I had just pulled a movie out of my head, found a quote and threw it out there for my Facebook friends to play along in my little game. What I discovered was that women love this movie/book and men absolutely hate it. I had never gotten such a polarized response to a quote before so it got me to thinking. Why?

Ever read The Bridges of Madison County? I have...a long time ago in what seems like another life. I saw the movie too but it didn't measure up to the book...as is often the case. If you have never read the book or seen the movie, I will give you a little "Cliff Notes" version I found on imdb.com that was for the movie but it works for the book too:

The path of Francesca Johnson's future seems destined when an unexpected fork in the road causes her to question everything she had come to expect from life. While her husband and children are away at the Illinois state fair in the Summer of 1965, Robert Kincaid happens upon the Johnson farm and asks Francesca for directions to Rosamunde Bridge. He explains that he is on assignment from National Geographic magazine to photograph the bridges of Madison County. She agrees to show him to the bridges and thus begins the bittersweet and all-too-brief romance of her life. Through the pain of separation from her secret love and the stark isolation she feels as the details of her life consume her, she writes down the story of this four-day love affair in a 3-volume diary. The diary is found by her children among her possessions and alongside Robert Kincaid's possessions after Francesca is dead. The message they take from the diaries is one of hope that they will do what is necessary to find happiness in their lives -- whatever is necessary. After learning that Robert Kincaid's cremated remains were scattered off Rosamunde Bridge and that their mother requested a similar disposition for her own ashes, the children must decide whether to honor their mother's final wishes or bury her alongside their father as the family had planned.

So, what have we got here? A story about a woman who cheated on her husband? Yep. A story about a woman who thought of leaving her children behind for the love of her life? Yep. A story about a 4 day encounter that changed the course of two people's lives forever? Yep.

I have a theory on why women love this story. We relate to it. There comes a time in our lives...mother's especially...when we fell overwhelmed, overworked and underappreciated. Add to that fact that mother nature has begun to rob us of our youth and we find ourselves in a very dark place. The question..."is this all there is to life?" starts being pondered and we think of all the things that could be different...

I also have a theory why men hate this story. They don't understand it. The men almost always identify with the husband in the story and feel that the story's lead, Francesca, is terrible for being unfaithful to her husband. Is she unfaithful. Yep. Is it wrong. Most definately. However, what men know somewhere deep down is that the husband is not entirely innocent in this story. Did he drive her to it? No...the blame shouldn't lie on him because it was her choice. BUT...why did she make the choice? Was she happy? No. Did she feel loved, appreciated, precious to her husband? No again. So, when that photographer came knocking at her door, the stage was more than set.

Imagine...all this coming from me just putting out a movie quote on Facebook! Social Media strikes again!

As I told my loyal Facebook game players, this whole issue could be wiped away using another quote I used....it comes from Thelma and Louise. It is from a scene where Thelma and Louise are pulled over (after the shooting) by a State Trooper who happens to be a huge jerk. He talks down to the "little ladies" and then the "little ladies" get the drop on him and pull a gun. Here is what happens next:

State Trooper: [Sobbing] Please! I have a wife and kids.
Thelma: Oh really, well, you're lucky. You be sweet to them, especially your wife. My husband wasn't sweet to me. Look how I turned out.

Oh well, guess Francesca's husband wasn't sweet to her and look how she turned out!

I know...let the comments come on how terrible I am!

You Never Know What's Comin' For Ya.

I find that some movies...for whatever reason...reach out and touch me more than others. This was the case with what I watched last night. While one person turns off the TV with a "that movie was odd" thought, I ponder it and absorb it. Such was the case of the movie discussed below...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - High profile movie with lots of Oscar nods. It deserved every Oscar nomination it got!

The story is unusual. It is told in flashbacks....but that is not what makes it unusual. It begins with an old woman dying in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina bears down on the city. The woman asks her daughter to get and read from a diary. The diary is written by Benjamin who tells his story. (This is why the flashbacks are needed.) It begins with his birth on the night WWI ends. Baby Benjamin just happens to exhibit all the traits of someone around 85 years old. His biological mother dies in childbirth and his father, overwhelmed by grief and fear of the unusual baby, abandons him. A woman finds him and takes him in thinking that he will die very soon based on his condition. He doesn't die. Instead, he grows younger day by day. His aging in reserve occurs in the same time frame the other characters aging occurs with forward motion. His adoptive mother works as a housekeeper in a retirement home in New Orleans. This is where Benjamin grows up...among people that look a lot like him in that they are old. His body is old, but his mind is moving at the pace it should have for a child. He may look 70 or 80 something, but he plays with little army men like a 5 year old.

The actress that plays his adoptive mother is wonderful. If I am not mistaken, she got an Oscar nod for this role. The title line of this blog is one she says often to Benjamin..."You never know what's comin' for ya." True words...

Benjamin meets a young girl who comes to visit her grandmother on the weekends. He makes it clear in his diary that she is special from the moment he sees her. She shows up off and on and grows older while he is growing younger. Benjamin also leaves home to seek adventures and finds them with a cast of characters who make for interesting friends, lovers, etc. It is always the girl, however, that draws him back. Her name is Daisy. As you might have guessed, Daisy is the old woman dying as Katrina hits New Orleans.

The story is one of love...love for a mother, love for friends and love for someone so important that time itself is pushed aside for the sake of love.

This movie has wonderful cinematography and captures all the eras between the end of WWI and present day beautifully. The acting is top notch with not one actor being the weak link.

The Oscar for Best Picture went to Slumdog Millionaire. Having seen both, it should have gone to this movie...and I really loved Slumdog.

I would give this one an A edging toward A+. I loved it that much.

To end I would like to leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes from the movie. If you play along with me on Facebook with my movie quote posts, you may get a heads up with the following...

"Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance."

"Your life is defined by its opportunities... even the ones you miss."

"Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it. Whether it's by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it."

"You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go."

This one may be my personal favorite...it is written by Benjamin to his daughter...

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

Until the next movie...

My Fake German Accent Is Better Than His...

No time to go hit the big screen so it has been DVD rentals of late. In case you haven't seen these, I will give you my highly sought after opinion. (Don't ask who highly seeks my opinion because that is a secret.)

He's Just Not That Into You - based on a book by the same title, this movie follows the lives of several people who are either in relationships or would like to be. There is the girl who stalks any guy who gives her his number, the guy who never gets serious with anyone, another girl who is looking but is thwarted by all the technology that one can now get dumped by (voicemail, text, MySpace, Facebook, tweeting...), the married couple who are growing apart, the living together couple who aren't getting married and the single girl who doesn't care if she is hitting on a married man. All of these folks either know each other or are friends of friends. It sounds a bit complicated but it works just fine. Some of the people end up in great relationships and others end up on their own. The how and why of how they end up in these places are the crux of the movie and makes for a reasonably enjoyable movie watching experience. Not my highest praise for a movie but it holds it's own. I would give it a B...maybe a B-.

Valkyrie - This big budget Tom Cruise flick centers around a plot near the end of WWII to kill Hitler by high-ranking members of the German army. Cruise doesn't even attempt to sound German. I think he should have given it a shot but maybe my fake German accent is better than his so perhaps it was for the best.

I love most movies based on historical events and this one is decent despite the lake of German accents. I knew that there were multiple plots (15 according to the movie) to kill Hitler but I did not know the ins and outs of Valkyrie. Valkyrie was actually a plan developed to ensure that Hitler’s Germany would survive even if the government was compromised or Hitler himself was killed. The reserve army...like a National Guard of sorts...was to be activated and take control of the country in 6 hours lest Germany fall back into the hands of sane people. Cruise and cast decides to not only kill off Hitler but also enact Valkyrie and take the government. Good plan. Did it work? ARE YOU SERIOUS? Hitler killed himself in a bunker as the Allies were advancing on him...you folks should go back to history class. So, no...plot for movie is good but plot to kill Hitler and take the government failed. Fifteen attempts on Hitler and he ends up killing himself. Those Germans should have gotten someone from the Middle East to take him out...just saying...

One of the things that I liked about this movie was the costumes. I know...I should say action here! I love the way women dressed in the 40s. Dresses, gloves, hats...they all looked, well, feminine. I actually saw this nightgown during a recent girls night out that looked like one of the dresses from that bygone era. I put the hanger over my head to "try" the gown on. (If you are a guy, you probably have never hung a hangar over your neck to "try" something on but it sort of works...anyway...) The gown was long and satin...white just edging toward ivory. I could just see myself in it with my hair piled on top of my head (don't mention that my hair is too short for that) and maybe a silk flower in the hairdo. Oh well, born too late for all that so I shall just throw on a pair of jeans and t-shirt and look like a boy...

Would I recommend Cruise's turn as a German? Yes. It isn't great but the historical story keeps you on the edge of your seat...even if Cruise's acting skills don't... This one gets a B+.

Now that I think about it, maybe I will go back for that nightgown...I might be able to pull that look off...