Trying to Be One of the Guys While Camping

Last weekend we went for a quick 3 day camp trip to start our summer. We found a camp sight without anyone else there,which worked out great since we brought two of our dogs. Dad and sons thing 2 and thing 3 left Thursday and thing 1 and I came up Friday.                                                                  

We had a great time, except I forgot to pack marshmellows so I was severely scolded every evening, though it didn't stop them from eating all the chocolate and graham crackers.

We (meaning I watched because I don't like pain) spent the weekend beating the crap out of each other with these nerf battle swords. I though nerf meant something soft but these were hard rubber and left welts, which they proudly had to show off. The men tried to climb trees like lumber jacks with their flip flops on, not much success there.

We played hide and seek and tag a lot. We also went to the river which was flowing really fast and very high. The men (really all immature toddlers) swam in an eddy and out to this rock, bringing the dogs with them. So the eddy is on one side of this rock and the fast, rapid flowing river on the other side. The men decide this is the prime time to learn how to do back flips - really! From my vantage point it looked like they were smacking their heads on the rock, they all survived, thankfully.

So all in all it was a nice relaxing (somewhat) weekend. I did get a two hour nap on Saturday which was blissful. Glad to be back home and to be back on-line!

Sunday Movies

Invictus - This is a good motivational and inspiring movie. Like all sports films it has its happy ending but along the way you learn a lot about the man Nelson Mandela. I would have liked the movie to focus more on his past story since the rugby theme was a given to be successful. At times the accents make it a bit hard to understand but Morgan Freeman does an outstanding job as well as Matt Damon. I think for me the problem was that while this was a great movie there were alot of smaller characters that you are given a glimpse into their lives that had great stories to be told but they are left incomplete. This movie is age appropriate for everyone and for young kids it is an opening for conversation about history.

Dear John - Another Nichols Sparks book made for  the large screen. If you are a fan of the Notebook I feel you might be disappointed. This lacks the same emotional depth that the Notebook had. It has some good moments enough to see you through to the end but the ending is strange since the time frame is never completely detailed so you are left wondering how much time has gone by and then you are asking where some of the characters are. Overall its ok but not one I would watch again. I did cry a little but it had nothing to do with the two main characters or their story. The father of John stole this film, actor Richard Jenkins does a great job and he is the only one that makes you feel anything. So enjoy this movie but keep it mind it is mostly fluff and time filler.

Routines

I never before realized that I am a creature of my routines. I always thought I was in control free to vary from routine to routine, never tied down to any one pattern in life. I was wrong.


How did I make this startling revelation? I’m working, ok no big deal but I never blogged and worked before. My blog is fairly new and I’ve been a student since I started, which means I would get up before classes and write in blog and read all the wonderful blogs I could. But with this work thing I’m all out of whack!

I get up at different times of the day (instead of the constant 6 am) and I get home at different times as well. I have discovered I don’t like to blog with other people awake in the house and that trying to read blogs while the boys are around is also not productive because I can’t read a whole blog without interruptions or they are reading over my shoulder ( I can’t stand that).

So I am going to have to make some adjustments in my mindset if I am to blog and read blogs this summer because I am not going to let something like a scattered routine steal these moments from me. Though I am going camping this weekend for four days , that might throw me off a bit, so I’ll try again next week. I am after all a very professional procrastinator! (Which has nothing to do with my ability to write and read blogs).

Sunday Movies

Black - I can't say enough about this movie. It is a beautifully told story about a deaf and blind girl coming out of the darkness and into the light. It has a Helen Keller feel about it but still it is touching and heartbreaking. It also instills the desire that we don't work hard enough to accomplish our dreams and that we take a lot of things for granted. There are subtitles but this is an easy movie to follow and appropriate for all ages. I give this movie five gold stars!

The Princess and the Frog - I'm a big Disney fan and so I was very disappointed with this movie. None of the music is catchy, matter of fact at the end of the movie we all tried to remember one song or a line from a song and out of 5 people nothing stuck. The voodo man is scary and when he is taken to the underworld, well this is not something a young child would want to see, I thought it was scary and even my teenage boy thought the demons were creepy. Overall I wouldn't buy this movie or watch it again and nothing about this film will make it a Disney classic.

Shutter Island - I was so pleasantly surprised by this movie. It keeps you guessing with its many twists and turns, We watched it Friday night and Saturday night we were still talking about it. It has a creepy feel to it so this is not a youngster movie. My teenage boys watched it and were fine, matter of fact they are doing most of the talking trying to figure the movie out and what was real and what was imagined. Again not a hugh Leonardo DiCaprio fan but he does a great job in this film. This movie takes place in a psych prison for the worst offenders but it  Leonardo's visions or memories that are the most disturbing. My family wants to watch this again to see if we missed any clues!

Mama Kat's Assignment

Mama Kat has once again posted her writing assignments and this time I had a tough time choosing. I went with prompt number 2: Before I was a mom... (inspired by Loukia from Loulou's Views)




Before I was a mom I was one very confused young girl. I am a single kid who was raised by two gay women, in a small town in the 60’s and early 70’s. I didn’t know my mom was gay until she told me at 13. I suppose the reason it didn’t seem so odd to me was that I never hung around kids my own age but was always in the company of adult gay couples, it was all I knew. It was until we moved to a larger city in my junior high years that I realized that the reason I didn’t have friends was because my parents were gay. In a small town it was frowned upon. I didn’t go to birthday parties and was never invited to anyone’s house. I mention all this because later in my life things would get really out of hand. My mom would leave me with her lover when I was 16 and then I just went wild.

I was the girl that we all hope our teenage girls would not become. I was looking for a hero, a savior to come and rescue me and make it all well. I married the first guy who seemed to fit that bill, but mostly I fell in love with his family, though we did produce a beautiful little girl. I’m grateful that to this day my ex and I, as well as his parents are still very close and friendly. From 21-25 I jumped from the shallows to the deep end. I quit my normal 9-5 job, became a bartender and partied all night long. Quickly I lost all control and drank too much and became addicted to cocaine. Then in October of 1990 I just had enough and knew I had to get my act together. I quit my job and alcohol and drugs cold turkey. In November I met my new husband and we married that December (12-28-90). One year later on November 9 we had our first daughter. Twenty years this December and I can honestly say my life has done a 180. Now I am in college and now I know what I want to accomplish in life. Perhaps life doesn’t go as plan but it is still an adventure and the end has yet to be written.

Communication Breakdowns

Yesterday was our first real day of summer (which means it didn't rain) and when I got to work I thought I'd really like to a have a frappachino. So like a good wife I call my husband who should be leaving work to come home at this time ( I work a block or two away from home) and I of course assume he will be more than willing to stop and get me one and bring it to me.

Me:    Honey are you on your way home? ( Ok I know he is but I don't want to appear pushy)
Him:   Yes why, what do you need? (Not very lovingly)
Me:    Well I was feeling rather tired and I have to work till 11pm, so I was hoping you could stop and     get me a frappachino. I don't care which coffee shop you stop at, any one that's convenient for you! (I thought this was very considerate of me since Starbucks would have been out of his drive home)
Him:    Why don't you just get a coffee drink from the store or a Monster drink?
Me:     But honey they aren't blended!

There is about 2 minutes of him explaining what his plans are and where he is going, then:

Me:    Love muffin, I don't need it right now, just whenever you can get it here (again nice consideration on my part)
Him:   Fine.

About an hour later my son walks in with a coffee but it's an ice coffee not a frappachino. Really, we did have the conversation that I could get an ice coffee from work right? Oh well it's the thought that counts, so I just said thank you and drank my coffee.

Grocery Store Moanings

I'm back to work at our local grocery store ( I worked there 11 years before going to college) and I have some grips about the general population, not anyone reading this blog, of course.

First I think that all stores should get rid of the store cards that the customers are forced to carry in order to get "in store discounts". The cards are meant to instill loyality but all they do is give the checkers headaches. Why not just offer great prices because you are that kind of store? Plus I asked a lady for her card and she pulled out two hugh (really big) stacks, rubber banded togethers and looked through each one for her card.

Second when a checker asks you (realize that you are the bazillion customer who has been asked) for your store card, please, please don't just rattle off your phone number as if you are the fastest speeding train in the world. And then when the checker has stopped what they are doing to find the new screen that you input the number on and asks you to repeat the number, don't talk in slow motion as if they are now stupid.

Third, please take a moment and put the person who you are having a very important phone call about who so and so did last night on hold, That way I can ask you for the store card and you can respond or at least pay in a timely fashion. Besides I don't want to hear about your personal life and who you went home with last night.

Fourth if you are an older (much older) person and can barely write a check and have no clue which buttons to push if you do try to use a debit card and require a half hour just to pay your bill. Plus you shake so bad you can't write or push a button I have some very big concerns about the fact that you drove to my store.

Ok so that's what I have after being back to work for a week. Thankfully I am flaoting around to different departments while people go on vacation otherwise I think I'd get really cranky!

Random Thoughts

I'm working again for the summer at my old job, which is great because being home with three teenage sons all summer - well didn't sound like a great time for me.
What's to eat and where can I drive them, was about the sum of what my summer would have been like. Though really after not working for two years this first week has been hard. I'm tired and cranky which is no excuse for not blogging but its the one I'm going to use. THe funny things is when I don't blog I don't read blogs either, which makes no sense because I think about the blogs I'm missing and it's not like I'm not on the computer or anything.

Have you ever been in a room where two teenage boys and their father are all playing Call of Duty? Well don't, it is heartbreaking to see that all your motherly parenting to be kind and to not use name calling has been completely wasted. I just leave the room, it gets so ugly. Like really! This is a game you are not really blowing off your dad's head and why is it so funny to sneak up behind your son and blow him up? I just don't get it but I must say they seem very happy - for hours!

I did something extrodinary yesterday, I went shopping at Walmart. Now wait it was no ordinary shopping experience, picture this, no kids, no spouse and all the time in the world. I returned an unused battery (car problems) and then I walked up and down every isle of Walmart. Here is what I learned about myself, I'm cheap. Well maybe frugel is a better word. I picked up lots of stuff and went oohhh and ahhh and then put it down. I've been wanting a new purse for years (really) but I couldn't find one I liked. This weekend we are at Macy's and hubby says buy a purse. They were all $80 and up, no way would I spend that kind of money but at Walmart I found a purse for $16 and I was so happy. I need shopping therapy!

So today I will read my favorite blogs and then go to work and I will feel complete!