Happily Ever After...

Ever since my post about I am Legend scaring the crap out of me and my realization that I didn't see a movie in 2007 that had a happy ending, I've been more than a little bent on fixing that and seeing a movie with a nice tidy little ending where everyone goes home happy.

Last night I took the kids to dinner and a movie. We saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Thankfully, this choice beat out that chipmunk flick...I had been wanting to see Golden Compass as a glance at my "nerd tendencies" will show you, I'm a bit of a wizard fan and the giant polar bears in this one really had me wanting to see it. But no one else in the group has wanted to see it and so the sequel won out.

We had seen the first movie and it seemed harmless enough. Indiana Jones type adventure with a few cracks and typical jokes along the way. Nice action sequences as the group looks for Cibola, the lost city of gold. The kids liked the movie and it ends all nice and tidy the way I wanted it. Almost amazingly so, in fact. spoiler warning... although, I'm thinking that with my reading audience, I'm safe spoiling this one..

A 32 year estranged relationship is mended, Abigail and Ben are back together, Riley gets his car back, the bad guy dies, the city of gold is found and Ben clears his grandfather's name. The president turns out to be the coolest guy ever and even dismisses the kidnapping charges against Ben and alludes to a third movie. The kiss at the end even fades to a scene with fireworks.

The best part about the movie, in my opinion is the fact that I took three little tweens with me and was never once worried about what they were viewing. No cursing, no nudity, no sex or sexual innuendo, a few scary sequences of action - only scary b/c you didn't know how our heroes would escape, and the action and plot were interesting enough to hold my interest as well. Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney are a good combo for this type of movie - we all know the Pirates of the Caribbean story. And, I'm guessing based on box office stats for both of these movies, they're both happy with their union.

We even got a little bonus from Disney. The movie began with a short little animated Goofy cartoon reminding me of how all Disney movies used to start. A cute little bonus for Disney fans young and old.

Plus, the oldest got to see the Iron man trailer which thanks to his recent acquistion of the Marvel Wii game - thanks, Chemguy - he's now itching to see. And, we got to see the trailer for the new Batman movie. And, I have to say that looks promising as well...even though I've been disappointed by the other Batman movies I've seen.

I'll leave you with a list of movies - in no particular order...only as they pop into my head - I intend to see in 2008. I'll check back mid-year and let you know how many I've actually seen and what (if any) I've added to the list.

Juno
The Dark Knight
Cloverfield
Iron man
Spiderwick Cronicles
Prince Caspian
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - no trailer yet and I don't have the patience right now to wait for imdb to load. I know it's being released around Thanksgiving 2008 and like the rest of those films...I'll be there.

Cell Phones...

The best part about getting the oldest a cell phone for Christmas is sitting next to him on the couch and getting ridiculous texts from him while I work on stuff for school.

The real best part is the fact that I got a text message from him this afternoon when he went to visit a friend down the street letting me know where he was.

I love that kid...

Success!!

We got the oldest a cell phone for Christmas. Hid it in his stocking, called it after he opened all of his other presents and suprised the holy crap out of him. Yesterday, he left the house with his dad to get haircuts (and apparently to purchase my Christmas present), so the little one and I set to work on adding phone numbers to his phone book, taking a picture of the dog and making it his screensaver and selecting just the right ring tone for the oldest to hear resounding from his stocking on Christmas morning. I think he hugged me for 3 whole minutes. We've got it on tape, so I can watch it again and again. Excellent.

The little one was surprised with a Wii and has been in the basement singing along with High School Musical 2 for the past half hour. I've already been for my walk, showered, dressed for the day - yes, I do look hot, if you're wondering - and made a killer breakfast. Literally...there was a whole pound of bacon and 14 link sausages for 4 people. I also made some amazing french toast. Thank you Alton Brown for the recipe. (I did switch out the half and half for skim milk and added cinnamon as well, you know, for my own special touch). Dad is on the couch taking a nap, the sounds of a drowning racoon - the little one singing "All for One" at the top of her lungs - coming up from the basement and the oldest texting his heart out...and, we went to church last night. All of this before noon, and grandma's house awaits for this afternoon's festivities.

It all adds up to a successful Christmas for me. Hope yours is just as great.

You think you've got problems?

When I started to put this blog together it was a total act of narcississm on my part. I have no message, I have no agenda to share...I just have thoughts that roll around in my head. Some are entertaining - at least to me - and others are just things I want to put out there so I have a place to see them again later on. And, if anyone else was interested, they'd find me b/c I comment on nearly every blog I read and this blog is listed in my profile. If they liked what I said and wanted to say something too, awesome - bring it on. By the way, thanks: Chemguy, Craig, Grace and Joey...nice to have you around. If they found what I had to say boring, fine, thanks for lurking...no porn here.

But I kind of had this goal when I started not to make this blog a pulpit of advice for people - ever. So, don't take what I'm about to say as gospel or even think for a moment that I actually know what I'm talking about, but...holy crap, sometimes you need to step away from yourself to realize that you're not all that freaking important in the world and your problems don't mean a damn thing.

I had a really bad day yesterday. I allowed myself to become consumed by one problem emailed to me Thursday night, dwelled on it the way I tend to do, reacted to it a bit, stayed way too late after school and discussed methods to deal with the problem with my most important confidant/best friend/sounding board at school. I also allowed any other issue that presented itself to add to the cascade of problems I seemed to be drowning in...took an email comment too personal, took a chiding by a pseudo-administrator too seriously, let the bad day take hold. A while back, I had been given advice from someone that when this stuff happens, you should just roll with the punches and move on. Yesterday I didn't do this and I should have.

Then, I went to my way too huge family Christmas party. Oh, no...we're talking five generations of people here...freaking huge! I got there late b/c I really needed to exercise after the terrible day and Santa was already giving gifts to the kids. My kids got their little gift, I relaxed and then started to listen to everyone else's problems. Now, I don't want you to think my family is falling apart...but wow...my day wasn't that bad.

There's my dad...three years from retirement who lost an election in November that would have allowed him to quit his job that he hates. He's also being placed on part-time status with that job he hates and is now stuck without benefits.

There's my cousin who is two years younger than me who is dealing with her diagnosis of cervical cancer...

There's my brother who's lost job #2 in the past two years...

There's my sister who's son is in the terrible tantrum phase of his life and WOW is he a screamer.

There's my other sister whose boyfriend has plunged to depths I won't even put into print.

Long story short...I need to deal. And...sorry to all those in my world who had to deal with the funk I was in yesterday...I'll work on this, promise.

Staying with the theme...

...I'm also a big Chad Johnson fan. Now, I'm not going to list a gajillion stats, I'm not going to reference 18 different sports experts and show a video of Jim Rome making him cry or anything like that so if you've found your way here for facts and that stuff...you need to leave. These are the words of a mother of two who has been a Bengal's fan all her life.

This past weekend, my family went to the Bengals game. It was the capper to the Thanksgiving weekend and I looked forward to it for weeks, as did my kids. On Saturday afternoon, I came home from a meeting at school to find my kids and husband happily displaying the new Bengals swag they had purchased for the game. When I asked "What's all this?" as I walked in the door, the little one answered, "Just some Bengals gear for the game tomorrow! We're all ready now!" The air was ripe with anticipation for the game.

On the drive to the game, both the oldest and the little one expressed wanting to see Chad Johnson score a touchdown. My husband warned that Chad had hit a dry streak and the Bengals were playing poorly so not to get their hopes up while I asked why they wanted Chad to score. Both agreed because they wanted to see "what he'll do when he scores..."

Chad Johnson makes football fun. Chad Johnson is entertainment. Moments before the play below, I said to the oldest, "Watch, next play will be a pass to Chad Johnson in the corner of the endzone." You can imagine how pleased I was when this happened:



The oldest was thrilled! He giggled at Chad's antics and was disappointed by the flag. Our seats were behind the Bengals sideline(thanks, Mom) and Chad sat down on a bench right in front of us. He looked at the crowd and pointed...his way of saying he had scored for us...and smiled that Chad Johnson smile.

The oldest sweared Chad looked right at him. Who was I to disagree?

Just a little TO DO list...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'm the cook again this year...and I love it. I enjoy having the family over, getting up early and working on the meal and then watching everyone enjoy what I've put together. Last year, I cooked for 13 in a chalet in Gatlinburg. My mom and dad, my brother, his wife and three kids, my family, my sister and her boyfriend and my mother-in-law all met in Gatlinburg for the holiday and had a pretty decent time living together for 4 days.

This year is very low key. Just my family and my mom and dad...the little sis will be out for dessert and gaming later in the evening and it should be a nice little day for everyone. Here's how the tradition shakes down at my place:

My mom buys the turkey and I cook it. That process starts today b/c the bird has to be taken from the refrigerator and set in the sink as soon as I'm finished here so that it is pretty much thawed by the time I'm ready to brine it tonight. That's tomorrow's post...the perfection of combining science with cooking a Thanksgiving turkey. My mom brings the stuffing - it rocks hardcore. I'm making some killer gravy (thanks again to science),mashed potatoes, oven-roasted brussel sprouts (my dad's favorite), corn, a tossed salad, pillsbury crescent rolls - I know....I considered making my own bread or buying some kind of artisan thing from Panera or any of the fantastic local bakeries around town (yes, another post some day), but there's something kind of traditional about those crescent rolls. Back to the menu: I'll finish out the dinner with three dessert selections: homemade pumpkin pie, homemade pecan pie (I'll make both of those this evening before bed), actual whipped cream - with a dash of almond extract (my secret ingredient that I'm kinda proud of thinking of) and vanilla bean ice cream. I'm hungry just thinking about it. I've also selected a couple of nice, crisp white wines to pair with the turkey and I've got a nice hazelnut coffee for after dinner. Yes, the kids will drink milk, although, the oldest will probably want to pretend he's a grown up and ask for a small glass of wine that he'll taste and not finish. He's a very cultured young man, afterall.

Before all that can go down, though. I'm treating myself today to a pedicure and a new hair style. The house also needs to be cleaned before I even set foot in the kitchen to cook. So, there's a fair amount on my plate for the day before I can serve anything on my family's plates tomorrow.

And, I don't know if you can tell, but I'm kinda geeked about doing all of this today! It's always cool when your TO DO list is all a bunch of stuff you want TO DO!