I Heart Netflix

I am so loving my Netflix subscription lately.  My hubby and daughter have been picking some really great movies lately (I have a bunch on our “list” but somehow they keep getting lower and lower on the list).  I am not complaining, just wanting to give props to the pickers.  In the last few weeks, we have watched:

Idiocracy- a great Luke Wilson straight to DVD movie about an average Joe who is frozen for 500 years and when he wakes up, he’s the smartest man on the planet.  It describes the dumbing down of our society and how we would probably look in 500 years if we aren’t careful.  It also has great quotes (It has electrolytes,  it’s got what plants crave, go away…Batin’) to be used quite frequently around our house.

Charlie Bartlett- Charlie is kicked out of another private school and mom decides to send him to public school.  He still wears his private school uniform, and gets his ass kicked the first day of school.  Charlie’s family has a shrink on call and provides Charlie with a smorgasboard of drugs to treat his growing list of symptoms….all fake, since Charlie is then selling the drugs and his advice in the boy’s restroom stall.  You would think that since all this is some heavy subject matter that the story would have a bad ending, but it stays pretty light.  The kids and parents in this movie are all played by great actors (Robert Downey Jr is the alcoholic principal), and all is well in the end for Charlie and his friends.

Little Miss Sunshine- What can I say, we were a little behind on this one.  I remember all the hype about it from the Oscars and Sundance, which to be honest was the reason I skipped over it a few times, but now that I have actually seen it (and laughed and cried through it twice), I have decided all the hype was definitely deserved.  A hilarious family, with everyone having issues, travels from New Mexico to California so that the youngest, Olive, can enter the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest.  On the trip, they encounter many obsticals, but they manage to get everyone there in one piece, more or or less (can’t say any more without giving out huge plot lines).  This is a great movie to watch if you need a little reminder that YOUR life ain’t so bad.

Garden State is our newest pick.  We are saving it or Sunday, since we all have busywork tomorrow.  I love Zach Braff (Scrubs), and have been waiting for this movie.  I’ll let ya’ll know how it was after Sunday.

Have a great weekend!

She’s Crafty

Last week was the Albion Fair.  Over the last year, I have been busy crocheting, crafting, cross-stitching, weaving to the point where when I went to submit my items to the craft barn on Tuesday, I had 32 entries.  Wednesday morning was the judging, so Wednesday evening, we went back over to the fairgrounds to see what the judges had to say.  I placed in 28 out of 32 entries!  Below are the pictures of my entires.  I was very happy, and my goal next year is to place “best in show”, so I am looking for a project that just screams, “WOW”.

My fair Premium check was $52.50!  That’s definitely a record for me.  Now that the Fair is over, it’s time to start on Christmas gifts.  Woohoo!

This is one I haven’t seen before, a decent coach

If anyone around here follows high school football, Northwestern had a banner evening last night, defeating Reynolds 16-6.  The football game was unusually exciting, considering last year’s season.  The one thing I found wonderfully refreshing is that our new Head Coach, Shaw, wasn’t screaming at the football players (something we all witnessed at EVERY game last year with the old coach), nor was he using expletives (another thing we had to witness last year with the old coach).  The most impressive part of all, was that when the football players had their post game huddle, Coach Shaw was pumping his arm, thanking the Marching Band for their support!  Such a difference from last year.  In particular, I remember one half-time performance the band was running a tad behind.  Instead of waiting for the band to finish, the players just started walking on the field, VERY disrespectful.  It is my understanding that Coach Shaw warned his players to always be respectful of the cheerleaders AND the band.  I just want to give Coach Shaw a big shout out from one impressed band mom.

Solo Riding this morning

The kids started school today.  It was kind of wierd waking up and they were gone (15 and 17 year olds refuse a kiss goodbye or a first day breakfast).  So I got up, changed into a pair of yoga pants, a hoody (it was chilly this morning), and a pair of running shoes.  I filled a water bottle and off I went, riding my new bike.  I rode about 2 miles today and the verdict is official.  I need a wider seat.  My tailbone hurts.  I haven’t heard from my friend, Christine, about her son’s first day of kindergarten.  I know that he will be fine, I am more worried about her.  Happy Wednesday.

I want to ride my bicycle

Friday, Joshua was actually off work for a change and we got to spend some time together running errands.  On our way out of Albion, we came upon a yard sale with 2 bikes parked in the front yard.  We stopped.  I have been trying to figure out a way to incorporate a bike purchase into our already stretched budget, so when we saw 2 decent looking ones, I knew we had to stop.  They were his and hers mountain bikes.  The gentleman bought them for himself and his wife from Competitive Gear 2 years ago.  He was asking $50 each.  SOLD.  We couldn’t even get a Wal-Mart special for that price, let alone 2 bikes.  I was VERY happy. 

Given the fact that my middle name can be Grace, Joshua insisted I not ride until I bought a helmet.  So Friday evening when Mike and I went grocery shopping, I bought a helmet.  I rode the bike Friday evening with Mike around the Fairgrounds (3 loops = 1 mile).  It felt pretty good riding a bike, fun the way exercise should be.  Saturday, I packed up my backpack with Joshua’s books that needed returned, and Mike and I rode up to the Albion library.  Thanks to Blisschick’s list of great books for inspiration, I checked out White Oleander by Janet Fitch, a new crochet book for babies, and a few books for Mike.  We rode home and again, I was happy with my newest exercise tool.

It’s Monday, and I didn’t get to ride today.  I love my new bike.

The Beginning and the End

Starting next week, my son will be a senior in high school.  He is registered for college classes (Gannon) on Tues and Thur as part of a federal grant given to the school to facilitate courses for high school AND college credit.  He has his books, his favorite (expensive) pens, he is ready.  I am not.

Starting next week, my best friend, Christine, will be sending her oldest child to kindergarten.  Billy is a very bright little boy, with a vocabulary way beyond his 5 years.  He did pre-school last year, so he knows the ins and outs of classtime.  Billy is ready for Kindergarten.  Christine is not.

It amazes me how our paths can be so similar and yet so very different.

There is so much change going on in my house, I am a little flustered.  Mike’s a senior, counting down the months until he is college bound.  Melanie is in full band competition mode AND she has a new boyfriend.  She went to his house this evening to eat dinner and meet his parents.  She changed her clothes 4 times today in anticipation of the visit.

Joshua is working WAY too many hours, so when he gets home, he is very tired and generally wants a beer a cigarette and the computer.  I am not sleeping again (even with meds), and it’s starting to affect my thinking and coping with all this.

Next week will be difficult for both Christine and I.  I just hope that we can support each other the way we always have, get thru it and laugh about how scared and agitated we were later on.

Mom, can’t you SEE that?

Saturday I was having a good, productive day.  During the morning, I had cleaned out the washer (who knew varnish does NOT come out of clothes), and ran 6 loads of laundry.  On my last load, Melanie comes down into the basement to pass along some more dirty clothes, and she screams, “Holy shit, Mom.  What the hell is that?”  I look over behind our son’s weight bench, and there he is…..Asia our 14 foot burmese python.  What the hell was he doing in the main part of the basement?  His cage and room are supposed to be escape proof.  Since moving into this house, this is the first escape.  So I go into the snake room, and see that his cage is open about 6 inches, and there is shed everywhere.  I follow the shed into the corner beside the chimney base, and there is a hole about 3 inches tall.  Asia at his roundest is about 8 inches thick.  That damn snake crawled thru that hole and that’s how he got into the main part of the basement.  So I am a little freaked out since Asia weighs over 100 pounds and there is NO WAY I can put him back by myself (Joshua was at work and therefore useless to me in this situation).  So I call a friend who also has snakes and ask him to come over and help me.  I swear Asia heard me, because as soon as I got off the phone, he decided to “explore” more of the basement.  He was trying to get into the corner where Joshua keeps his tool boxes.  I was afraid he would stab himself on a tool or a nail or whatever, so I go back into the snake room and grab the hook.  It basically looks like and upsidedown cane and you use it to handle snakes.  So I am hooking him every 30 seconds to keep him from getting any further into the tool boxes.  This, of course pisses him off, so he starts to hiss at me.  Now, we have had Asia for over 4 years (we rescued him from an abusive home), and he has never bitten any of us.  But the way I saw it, there was a first time for everything.  So after what seemed like a half an hour (he got stuck by a train), Jim shows up and gallantly assists me in getting Asia back into his cage.  All the while, I am calling and texting Joshua about his escapee, and I am getting no response (which added to my general irritation).  So, all’s well in the Vadney reptile room.  The best we can guess is Asia used his nose to slide open the door, and in the process of freeing himself, he shed his skin.  Perfectly natural occurance (the shed, not the escape).  Now that we know the little bastard can open his cage, we put locking shims against the glass so he can’t do this again.  Just when I think I am ok about Joshua’s hobby, something like this reminds me that I have a husband who loves snakes.  Lucky me.  I was trying to upload a picture of Asia taken last year but I can’t seem to get it to work.  If anyone is interested in seeing it, I can email it to you.

Mind Power, Steve, Mind Power

Your Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 50%
Visual : 50%
Left : 29%
Right : 70%No matter which side of your brain is dominant,
M i n d W a r e
can strengthen your emotional brain power by helping you understand how
you feel about yourself.

Brandy, you are moderately right-hemisphere dominant and have even preferences between auditory and visual processing, traits that might make people perceive you as “slightly off balance.”You are most likely to be slightly disorganized, a “dreamer” and a person who focuses more on the end result than the immediate task at hand. You are creative and spontaneous if somewhat lacking in direction and focus. You are a learner who is generally patient and a person for whom time is an ally, not an enemy.

You are more passionate than most people with regard to life and learning and recognize your own intuitive abilities. You have sufficient goal-direction to satisfy yourself and guarantee success without being or feeling driven. You are willing to be reflective about yourself and others without getting lost in rumination.

The balance of your sensory modes allows for both learning and expressive capabilities achieved by few. You are active and “seeing” while retaining an equally strong propensity for being reflective which slows you down a little but allows for a more comprehensive perception and analysis of situations and problems. You do not spend excessive time analyzing since you mostly trust your perceptions.

In all likelihood, you have a tendency to overcommit and cannot under- stand why others get upset since you operate on a different “time table” than they do. Your organizational abilities are frequently overwhelmed by the stimulation seeking and active nature of your mind as well as by the tendency to create new categories and gloss over details, making categorization and classification almost impossible at times.

To the extent that your career path allows for creativity and abstraction as well as a bit of disorganization, you should find yourself equipped to handle any learning that is required. Your own personal adjustment to your style should come naturally although you are likely to feel frus- trated by your own limited discipline and often wonder “Why?”

Entering a new place in my family life

It started yesterday.  I picked up Melanie from band practice and she tells me that TJ called her and could he come over tomorrow?  I asked what for.  She tells me he has asked her to be his girlfriend.  WOW, I have been waiting for this, but I was totally unprepared for it actually happening.  She’s 15 and most of her friends have boyfriends.  Melanie just never seemed interested in anyone, so I never asked.  He’s a sweet kid.  What impressed me most is that his dad, Chris, called to make sure that there would be an adult home.  Wow, he sounds like me.  Yes, I assured him, I would be home.  Guests are not allowed in the house without Joshua or I being home. 

We’ll see how this goes.  I think they both are first timers into the teen dating scene.  This just reminds me that she’s not a kid anymore, she’s becoming a responsible young woman.  WOW.

Are you trying to kill your mother?

Mike, my son, has been a personal trainer to 2 friends, once a week for a few months now.  I have not participated for several reasons, the biggest of which is that I have been slowly recovering from gall bladder surgery and its aftermath.  So now, they are WAY ahead of me concerning strength, endurance, and general capability.  I got the go ahead from my doc a few weeks ago to start “normal” physical activity aka start moving your ass.

Mike and I discussed the different alternatives, and we settled on Budokon.  Budokon is a cross between yoga and martial arts taught via DVD by Cameron Shayne.  I have had this DVD for over a year and used it quite often when I first had it.  The 30 minute session is 15 minutes yoga poses (sun salutation, down dog, warrior I & II, proud warrior, child’s pose, etc), and 15 minutes martial arts (single, double and triple punches, squat kicks, side kicks, skipping side kicks, etc).

We agreed we would do the DVD every week day after he got home from work, and then when school starts, when he got home from school.  Yesterday was our first day.  I was gungho, ready to do what I had to do to start getting into a shape that wasn’t round.  We did the entire 30 minutes, and I was fine, only one yoga position gave me trouble.

I wake up this morning and I am SORE.  My legs, stomach, rib cage, even my arms are sore sore sore.  Who knew a little of this and a little of that would produce such a quick result.  So I go about my day, going into Erie for 3 docs appts, running a few errands, etc.  All the while I am thinking, wow, this Budokon really works.  I get home from Erie, and Mike is on his way to a babysitting job.  Whew, I think.  He’s going to be gone most of the evening, he’ll forget all about the “do it every day” agreement.  Unfortunately, Mike’s babysitting gig ended very early and he walks thru the door at 745, and says, “woman, get your workout clothes on, Budokon in 10 minutes”.  Shit….he remembered.  It was harder today, I am a little scared to see how tomorrow’s gig goes.  Well, at least I am moving….