Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Envirosax

If anyone would like 3 never used Envirosax bags, leave me a comment and I will mail them out to you. They are an older style, orange, grey and light green.

If a few people leave comments, I'll randomly pick someone.

Edited to add: I will be out of the office for a few days and as Rebecca was so quick to the draw, she'll be getting the bags. :) Enjoy. I'll get them in the mail tomorrow.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Some Peace

Saturday night, Larry and I stayed at a friend's house in a little suburb outside of Tampa. Their house is situated on the fringe of at least 250 acres of conservation land and they benefit by having no neighbors behind them, only woods.

Every evening around 6:00, they take an old coffee can full of corn out to the edge of the woods and scatter it throughout the area. After about five minutes, just enough time for the smell of the corn to waft through the area, deer begin emerging. Our friends said that anywhere from 12 to 15 deer come out every night for the feast.

Unfortunately Saturday night, the heat index was hovering between sauna and the firey pits of hell, so we weren't able to sit out and enjoy the show. In between getting ready for dinner, though, I did peek out the windows and watch the deer slowly make their way to the corn.

I'm not sure I could live somewhere so remote right now, but I do think I would like to someday. A place where I could get away from the world, relax, read a book, feed the deer and have some peace. For now, though, thankfully our friends have a great guest bedroom and anytime we are willing to make the four plus hour drive, I'm sure we will be welcome to take a little of theirs.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Why the Guilt?

My Best budders, Tamara, just got back from a great vacation with her hubby. That's right, just her and her man, the beach and nothing much to do. She wrote a lovely post about it, but then at the end, she rights (or writes, if we are being grammatically correct) "Of course, we felt guilty for not bringing our kids and being selfish, but we both needed this little trip more than we have needed anything before in our marriage." Huh.

I promise I am not picking on my girl, because it's not just her, I see this time and time again with "mommy bloggers" all over the blogosphere. The guilt. The never ending guilt.

Why? Why has this overwhelming blanket of guilt been placed on mothers all over the country to be the perfect parent? When did our children become the number one priority all day, every day of our lives? Please understand, and I think you do, yes, your children are a priority. They need to be loved and fed and treated well, etc. etc. But you know, sometimes other things need to come first and that's ok.

It's no wonder that the divorce rate is so high in our country. It's really no wonder that there are so many unhappy mothers out there who have wrapped themselves up so much in their children's lives that they don't even know who they are anymore.

I know that I am super, super blessed to have family nearby that can watch my boys regularly so that Larry and I have a chance to enjoy being husband and wife, but if I didn't, I hope that I would still find a way to spend time with him alone. Even if it means putting on the tv for an hour and sneaking off to our bedroom. Which, hell, we even do that too.

Anyway, that kinda got away from my original intent, which is don't feel guilty about doing things for yourself! Enjoy that date night, the hour working out, the mani-pedi, or even the vacation. The happier you are as a woman, the better parent you can be to your kids.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Quick Funny

For my high school friends. . .

Last night I dreamed that an old friend from elementary school came back with her cheerleading squad to perform at one of our pep rallies. I noticed though that Jon H was on their squad and in the middle of the routine they started doing ballet! haha So there was Jon H front and center performing a ballet turn with his arms in a circle. I turned to one of my friends in the dream and said, "Cheerleaders should stick with cheerleading!"

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Tuesday . . . Tuesday

Peyton learned over the weekend that he could sneak into our room early in the morning and turn the radio on so that we thought it was the alarm clock. Not funny on Saturday morning and not funny again on Tuesday morning, especially when we had 20 more minutes of sleep coming. If it does it again, I am taking the DS away for a week. I cherish sleep. If I could marry it, I would. I want to hug it and kiss it and love it forever and ever.

*ahem* Anyway, the little turd is losing an arm if he tries that again.

Our two admin have been out this week, so I am going slightly crazy and extremely happy to see this day come to an end.

I actually ran some last night and I thought the itching/burning in my legs was going to drive me mad. Too much lactic acid build-up, which really means waaaayyyy too long since I worked out. Back on the treadmill tonight, so I can burn that acid out. Weighed in this morning at 158, so slowly getting back down. I'm getting more focused on my eating and I've decided that I can eat what I want, I just HAVE to stop when I am satisfied, even if it is only a few bites in. Let's see how that works.

And I'm off . . .

Friday, June 05, 2009

Twilight: Dissecting the Differences between the Book and the Movie

Yes, I know the writing is atrocious and the dialogue is stilted, but I’m hooked on the love, man, the love! Tuesday, when I was home sick, I pulled out my brand new DVD of Twilight and settled in to be swept away by what I think is the love story of the decade. On my second viewing, I definitely enjoyed the movie more than in the theaters and that may be in part because it had been a while since I read the novel. But then of course, watching the movie and then immediately getting on the Internet to watch trailers of New Moon stirred up the obsession within to read the series for a (ahem) third time. Resistance was futile and so while the boys swam, I grabbed my already getting well worn copy of Twilight and hunkered down to quickly read through the horrid opening chapters till I could get to the good stuff. By 11:00 last night when I forced myself to stop, I was already halfway through.

In reading the novel again so soon after viewing the movie, I was struck by all the small differences that actually give the movie a very different emotional tone than the book. In the novel, Bella is, by nature, very insecure, often shying away from crowds, hiding behind her hair and embarrassed by her often clumsiness. Within her insecurities, she is quick to anger and has a biting tongue and while it is often painful to read the conversations between Edward and Bella, it is also very relatable. Even though Bella is written as someone who is supposed to be years ahead of her peers, she actually encompasses the lack of self confidence that can plague humans throughout their lives. With this trait, Bella becomes someone with whom the average reader can sympathize.

Within Bella’s insecurities, the interaction between her and Edward is often halting. Each of the characters is unsure of how much they can reveal about their feelings for each other as well as their true personalities or characteristics. For example, Bella often comments on her ordinariness and wonders how a creature as perfect as Edward could have any interest in her. On the other hand, through conversations with Bella, the reader knows that Edward considers himself dangerous and capable of becoming a monster if he were to let his instincts take over. Although he never speaks of himself as beautiful, he does comment on the attraction his voice, face and smell have on his potential prey. The extreme differences portrayed by Bella and Edward lends to a tension that is palatable throughout the novel.

On the other hand, the screenwriter, director and actors had a difficult time portraying the intense range of emotions that each of the main characters displayed throughout the novel. Bella, in the movie, is shown as aloof, indie and definitely surer of herself. On the same token, Edward is hardly scary at all, and if he didn’t tell us he was a monster or mad, I’m not sure the audience would have known. There were not any scenes that I can recall where he is hesitant in winning Bella’s affections once the initial classroom scene is over. At the same time, I understand that it would be a struggle to portray such a range without dialogue. I guess I felt there were a few key conversations within the novel that may have added to the story if they were translated on the big screen.

Ok, that’s as far as I can go with this without feeling like a total dork. Obviously, I am feeling the nine (!!) years it has been since I graduated from college and wrote a term paper. Maybe it’s reading about teenagers that has me longing for simpler times. Anyone feel free to nerd it out with me and leave a comment.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Weigh In - One Day Late

Well, if there is one thing I can say about being sick for 3 days it's that I am down a pound and a half. Go not having the energy to even eat!

Last night Peyton was being his usual contrary self. I followed The Pioneer Woman's recipe for homemade chicken tenders last night, which were pretty good by the way and the child still complained about dinner. I swear, he will make an excellent attorney one day. So anyway, I was about worn out from arguing with him about dinner and getting over being sick when it came time to fill out his thank you cards. And so, they went out like this . . .

Thank you for coming to are party.

I just didn't have the energy to fight anymore.