Mommy Brain

Two more days, and we’re off to the Oregon Coast! I’m not sure who is more excited – Kevin, or the kids. I’m excited, too, but I haven’t quite reached their level yet. I’m too worried that I’m going to forget something important. Whenever I’m preparing for something – concert at church, start of a new school year, packing for a trip – I start having one of three dreams. Either it’s opening night (I was a theater major) and I don’t know my lines – or often, even what play we’re performing, or I’m back in high school and I can’t remember my locker combination or my class schedule, or I’m back in college and it’s time for an exam and I haven’t even read the text. Am I the only one that has these dreams? Tell me I’m not crazy.

This may be the last post for a while. We’re going to a hotel that has wireless, but my wireless card isn’t the best, and who knows if I’ll have time to blog. If I don’t find time, I’ll have lots to tell you when we get back.

Wanna know what books I’m packing?

Guernica by Dave Boling

Waiting to Surface by Emily Listfield

Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna

Stealing Athena by Karen Essex

This Charming Man by Marian Keyes

All of these are ARCs or publisher’s copies I’ve been sent to review – and one I won in a giveaway at Musings of a Bookish Kitty. Hopefully, I’ll have some time to read on vacation.

Here are a few links for your weekend surfing:

~ Jelly Telly is the next big thing from Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales. It looks pretty cool.

~ There’s no way around it, this guy is a complete and utter idiot.

~ Remember Improv Everywhere, the group who staged the freeze-in in Central Station? They also staged a musical in a Food Court. Hat tip: Just a (Reading) Fool.

~ This video is inspiring and really cool. Hat tip: Mental Multivitamin.

Well, we had a little excitement in our neck of the woods yesterday. Winds that were 55 to 60 miles per hour hit our town. We were lucky – we still have power, and we don’t have any trees down in our yard. Others weren’t that lucky – including our city park, where a few trees were uprooted by the wind. Here are some pictures, if you’re interested – click on slideshow.

While the winds were dying down, and our husbands had the kids at Tae Kwon Do, Michelle and I went to see The Incredible Hulk. Not the usual chick flick for a girls’ night out – in fact, I think we might have been the only women there who weren’t accompanying children of the male gender. But, we both needed a night out, and we both like Edward Norton, so…

No big plans for the weekend, other than sending my only daughter off to sleep-away camp for the first time. Sniff. Any of you done this before? How do you not worry?

At Books and Movies this week:

~ Thoughts on the film Into the Wild.

~ Review of Booked to Die, the first of the Cliff “Bookman” Janeway mysteries.

Other links:

~ Anyone else excited about TNT’s The Closer returning Monday night? Here’s an interview with Kyra Sedgewick.

~ William-Adolphe Bouguereau is an incredible artist – I love his paintings of children:

~ I may not agree with Christopher Hitchen’s views on religion, but this article he wrote for Vanity Fair about the interrogation practice of water-boarding is chilling. He agreed to undergo the procedure for research – but be warned: the video is disturbing.

~ On a completely unrelated and much lighter note – I scored 15 out of 20 on this Candy Bar Identification Quiz. Not sure if I should be proud of that, however.

~ This video of a new instrument called an Air Piano is pretty cool.

~ Stephen King’s advice to aspiring writers.

~ A scene from the BBC’s Black Books about responding to a rejection letter from a publisher. Hilarious!

Have a great weekend!

Our week of endless VBS is almost at an end. I must admit that the free time in the mornings and evenings has been very nice, but I’m not sure it’s worth the over-tired and cranky-from-too-much-sugar kids. Next year will be different, since Natalie will have finished 6th grade, and therefore aged out of the VBS they’ve been attending for the past several years. I’ll have a daughter entering junior high next August – how did that happen?

Our weekend is looking to be much slower and quieter than our week, and that’s just fine with me. We need a quiet week to gear up for Independence Day weekend, when my sister and her family will be visiting, and we’ll be spending the bulk of our time at Mom and Dad’s. The following weekend we take Natalie to Bible camp. She comes home on Thursday the 17th, and on Saturday the 19th, the kids will participate in a Tae Kwon Do tournament. The following weekend, we leave on our trip. When we get back, it will be three weeks until school starts again. When I look at it like that, the summer’s almost over already!

From the news:

~ This is scary and ridiculous: a Canadian court rules that a father cannot discpline his daughter by grounding her from a school camping trip. The judge said that the punishment was excessive. The father was attempting to discipline his 12-year-old daughter for posting her information on an internet dating site and for fighting with her step-mother. The girl took her unhappiness with the situation to court – and won.

~ Owners of a family plantation in Maryland discovered a treasure trove of documents in their attic – dating from the 1660s through World War II.

~ Yellow Science at the Wall Street Journal:

Nevertheless, over the past several decades an increasing number of scientists have shed the restraints imposed by the scientific method and begun to proclaim the truth of man-made global warming. This is a hypothesis that remains untested, makes no predictions that can be tested in the near future, and cannot offer a numerical explanation for the limited evidence to which it clings.

Some great videos:

~ Electric strings group Scala appears on Britain’s Got Talent. These girls are amazing! Hat tip: Angela Hunt.

~ Where the H*ll is Matt? Hat tip: Chris Rice’s blog. Check out Matt’s web site, and his about page that explains how we had the opportunity to travel all over the world to make the video.

~ BBC Worldwide has its own YouTube page. Check out the QI clips – they are hilarious!

Movie stuff:

~ The movie version of Inkheart is coming in January – here’s the trailer. Looks like they made quite a few changes to the plot. I’ll reserve judgment until I actually see it. I guess.

~ Another book to movie: The Tale of Despereaux – coming in December. Here’s the trailer.

Education and learning:

~ Homeschoolers in college can sniff out the BS. Of course they can.

~ David McCullough’s commencement address at Boston College. Hat tip: Mental Multivitamin.

Read. Read, read! Read the classics of American literature that you’ve never opened. Read your country’s history. How can we profess to love our country and take no interest in its history? Read into the history of Greece and Rome. Read about the great turning points in the history of science and medicine and ideas.

Read for pleasure, to be sure. I adore a good thriller or a first-rate murder mystery. But take seriously –read closely –books that have stood the test of time. Study a masterpiece, take it apart, study its architecture, its vocabulary, its intent. Underline, make notes in the margins, and after a few years, go back and read it again.

Make use of the public libraries. Start your own personal library and see it grow. Talk about the books you’re reading. Ask others what they’re reading. You’ll learn a lot.

Win a book:

~ Head over to Puss Reboots for a chance to win Virus Games, the first in a new series geared toward 9 to 12 year olds.

At Books and Movies this week:

~ Review of Anansi Boys

~ Review of Maus

~ Great audiobooks

~ EW’s 100 New Classic Books

I guess that’s it – that’s enough, right? Oh, I also joined Facebook, so let me know if you’re there, too, so I can add you to my friends list.

This week involved a lot of driving: to and from basketball camp every day, to the dentist, grocery shopping, etc. I love my “new” minivan, but I’m hoping not to spend as much time in it next week! That hope is in vain, though, since VBS starts Monday.

I’m sitting in a quiet house right now. Kevin and all three boys are at archery, and Natalie is at a slumber party. Now that Josiah has decided to take archery, too, I will have every Thursday evening all by my lonesome. Woot!

Kevin and the boys are going camping tomorrow. After Nan’s last day of basketball camp tomorrow, she and I will have a girls’ night and watch 27 Dresses. Saturday, we will head to the lake for Noah’s birthday celebration. Monday, VBS starts…. Things don’t look to slow down any time soon. Sigh.

~ How to Recognize a Blond Antelope. Hat tip: Angela Hunt.

~ For all of you who have sons who have ever asked: What Happens When You Go Number Two in Space. Hat tip: Challies.

~ You know how I’ve been raving about Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series? I’m reading her other novel, The Host, right now – and it’s shaping up to be a great read, too. You can enter to win an entire Stephenie Meyer library at Maw Books Blog.

~ A soldier finds a way to stay sane in Iraq.

~ Amazing pictures of ovulation. Hat tip: A Quiet Simple Life.

~ Don’t forget to enter my Gone giveaway.

~ Speaking of giveaways, Booking Mama is giving away a copy of The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton.

~ Video interview with Neil Gaiman, author of Neverwhere, Coraline, and Anansi Boys.

Here’s what I’ve been blogging at Books and Movies this week:

~ Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – the kids and I went to see it over the weekend.

~ I reviewed Life Studies: Stories by Susan Vreeland.

~ The AFI’s 10 Top 10 Special.

How was your week? Mine was busy. Let’s see: two trips to the pool, two trips to the library, one trip to Wal-mart, one orthodontist appointment, minus one boy for a sleepover, plus one girl for a sleepover, one evening out to dinner spending a little bit of our tax stimulus check, rain and cooler temperatures than we’re used to for June. (But at least it didn’t snow!) Oh, and I discovered that Supernatural is a much too scary show to watch; it causes nightmares. Even in grown women. It might even – hypothetically – cause them to sleep with the light on.

Our weekend is shaping up like this: head to Mom and Dad’s tomorrow night to celebrate an early Father’s Day since Dad has to leave Sunday afternoon to be a counselor at Royal Family Kids Camp (did I mention my Dad is awesome?), take the kids to the rodeo on Saturday, and celebrate Dad’s day with Kevin on Sunday. And next week I will put on my chauffeur cap as I ferry Nan and her friend back and forth to basketball camp every day. Phew!

~ Here are some good book suggestions for the men – or teenaged boys – in your life.

~ Rod Dreher at Crunchy Con had the same thoughts I did when I heard about John McCain’s plans for Mars:

I know it’s obligatory for American politicians to come up with new goals in the space race. It’s also obligatory to tell people who criticize this kind of thing that they’re a bunch of plodders who have no sense of adventure, and who fail to honor something deep in the human spirit.

But you know what? Plodder that I am, I don’t want this country to put a thin dime toward sending a man to Mars until we have figured out what to do about the long-term energy crisis in this country. I know, I know, you could substitute any cause you want to for space exploration (How can we send a man to the moon when there are people going without health care?!, etc.). But get this: oil just closed today a smidge shy of $140 a barrel — up over $10 in a single day. Biggest one-day jump ever.

~ Hopewell Takes on Life has some well-spoken words about trying to be the perfect Christian mother.

~ This amazing baby was born twice.

~ Are you an Overachieving Homeschooler? Take this quiz and find out. I scored a 29. I’m not an overachiever anymore.

~ What do you get when you cross a Rube Goldberg machine and a Cadbury Creme Egg? This. Hat tip: Don’t Try It At Home.

~ Ever felt like The Invisible Woman? Then this video is for you.

~ Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the worst book, movie, and TV endings.

~ If that list isn’t long enough to keep you busy, there’s a whole ‘nother list (with different links) at Books and Movies.

Have a great weekend!

Warner Bros. announced today that the seventh Harry Potter book will be made into two films: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 will be released in November of 2010, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will be released in May of 2011. They will be filmed back to back.

So, what do you think? I have to say I’m very happy about this. I was so disappointed by how much was cut out of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when it was adapted for the screen. The whole storyline about Ron playing Quidditch helped to break up the darkness of the main plot – and we missed that in the film. I just wish we didn’t have to wait so long! Of course, we have Half Blood Prince coming on November 21st of this year.

It has been a good week – but it sure went by quickly! We’ve had some beautiful days, and the snow is slowly melting away. Which is much better than quickly melting away with the amount we still have out there. Dad stopped by today, and we were looking at our backyard wondering how we could have an Easter egg hunt, since it’s still covered in more than a foot of snow. The front yard is a little better, since it gets the afternoon sun. He teased the kids that we should just leave the eggs white and then let them hunt them in the snow!

Friday night, the kids and I are going to see a local production of Annie. For a rural community, we have some great performing arts groups, and I’m glad that the kids are getting some opportunities to see live theater. I just found out that Coeur d’Alene Summer Theater was given permission to perform Les Miserables this summer. I guess a few summer stock programs around the country were given the rights to do it for one summer, before the touring show goes back out on the road. Since Coeur d’Alene is only a couple hours away, I’m hoping I’ll be able to go, and maybe take Natalie. At eleven, I think she’d be able to understand (and get past) some of the more adult themes to see the beauty of the story and the music. Any of you who’ve seen Les Miz – what do you think? Is she old enough?

I haven’t reviewed any books this week, but I have been reading. I finished Heart of Darkness, but still have two short stories to read before I’m done with the book. I really liked the first short story, “Youth,” but I did not like Heart of Darkness – so I’m wondering what the next two stories are like. Conrad is a very detailed writer, however, and I do enjoy reading his descriptions.

Is anyone watching Jericho? We are loving this season, and keeping our fingers crossed that the ratings go up enough to win us a full season starting in the fall. Wasn’t Tuesday’s episode sad? I cried.

I have a few links to share with you to get your weekend started.

~ Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age – I’m pretty sure I saw this article linked at Rock Creek Rumblings.

… remember the Arctic Sea ice? The ice we were told so hysterically last fall had melted to its “lowest levels on record? Never mind that those records only date back as far as 1972 and that there is anthropological and geological evidence of much greater melts in the past.

The ice is back.

Gilles Langis, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa, says the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year.

OK, so one winter does not a climate make. It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.

But if environmentalists and environment reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on Georgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter’s weather stories to wonder whether the alarmists are being a tad premature. (emphasis mine)

~ The kids and I just finished reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman last week, and we enjoyed it very much. It was creepy and scary in a fun way. Kind of like Dean Koontz for the younger set. There’s an animated film in the works.

~ Speaking of Gaiman, you can read his novel American Gods free online – thanks to Harper Collins. I personally have a hard time reading books online, but I love it when one is posted, because I can read the first few chapters and see if it’s worth buying.

~ There’s an official homeschooling community at BlogNetNews now – officiated by Dana at Principled Discovery. Check it out!

~ Girls Just Reading is giving away a copy of Jodi Picoult’s latest, Change of Heart.

~ I thought the dads at Little League were bad, but now we’ve got moms brawling over video games at Chuck E. Cheese’s.

~ Moomin Light has posted a whole slew of links that are perfect when you’re looking for a way to waste time or procrastinate. She also posted this adorable cat cartoon video – get the kids to watch it with you.

~ In spite of the fact that I’m a die-hard Seahawks fan, I’m also a Brett Favre fan. The press conference announcing his retirement had me in tears.

Thank you for all of your prayers and kind thoughts about my previous post. Please continue to pray.

We have some fun things planned for the weekend. Tomorrow is our day to host the Friday play date with Michelle and her boys. Then in the evening, after the kiddos are safely tucked away in bed, Kevin will head to her house to play Game Cube with Don, and Michelle will come over here to watch Becoming Jane. One of the benefits of getting review copies of movies is that they come before the release date! Expect a review sometime this weekend.

Saturday, the kids and I will be attending the Missoula Children’s Theater production of The Little Mermaid. Natalie auditioned Monday, but didn’t get a part. She has a really good attitude about it, though, and wants to try again next year.

Other than that, I have some writing to do – and only 132 pages left in Vanity Fair. I’ll probably finish it this weekend. It’s good, but boy, is it long!

Here are the links I’ve been saving to share with you all:

~ Lawanda posted this funny video about political change.

~ Kris posted about this very helpful site: GetHuman. It’s a database of companies’ phone numbers – and instructions on how to talk to a real live human!

~ Katy at Fallible posted one of the funniest YouTube videos ever. While you’re there, be sure and congratulate her on her big news!

~ Remember all those “stupid American” bits on Jay Leno and YouTube? Well, it turns out we’re not the only ones. According to this news article, one quarter of Brits think that Winston Churchill was a myth. Not only that, but a whole bunch (58%) of them think Sherlock Holmes was real, while nearly half believe Richard the Lionhearted was just a fairy tale.

~ Another funny Zits comic.

~ Lastly, head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to enter their Oreck XL Ultra giveaway.

Well, that’s all. Have a great weekend!

I didn’t post a links post on Friday, but I did have a few things to share, so I’m doing it today. For those of you who were wondering, singing Friday night went fine – in spite of the fact that I came down with the cold the family’s been passing around for the past few weeks. I wasn’t too sick to sing, so that’s good.

Yesterday, we went down to Spokane to meet some new friends at Chuck E. Cheese’s. We met Chris and Carrie at the lake this summer while we were camping, and our kids hit it off right away. We found out that they were just getting started on their homeschooling journey this year. Kevin and Chris have stayed in touch by e-mail, so we met yesterday. We had a great time – visiting for three hours while the kids played and played and played.

This morning we went to church, even though the cold has settled in and I pretty much feel like death. The kids are rehearsing for their Christmas program, so I didn’t want them to miss. This afternoon, I curled up on the couch and watched the Seahawks beat the Bears. Go, ‘Hawks – you’re back!

This is a week off of homeschooling, and we’re all ready for a break. I’m ready to have some good reading time on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday will be spent cleaning, since we’re hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. I haven’t done the whole turkey dinner thing in seven years, so I’m praying it will all turn out all right.

Do you have lots of plans for the holiday week? Will you be brave enough to shop on Friday?

Here are the links I wanted to pass on:

~ I’ve seen this Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List a few different places now, but I first saw it at More Than Fine.

~ If you like word games as much as I do, you’ll want to check out this one. Improve your vocabulary while helping the hungry. My highest score is 43 so far.

~ Here’s a great editorial explaining why the writers are right in the current strike situation.

~ Amazon has set up a Homeschooling Store – how cool is that?

~ Finally, I’ll leave you with another hilarious Baby Blues comic.

You can’t ask me what’s in my pocket, so I decided to post a poem here instead.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~Wendell Berry

~Scientists have discovered that the sun’s astmosphere sings. But, we already knew that, right?

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

Job 38:1-7 NIV

~Think Christian has a humorous post about prayer pet peeves.

~This little boy is amazing!

~We can finally watch a full-length trailer of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!

~Melinda Doolittle is my favorite on American Idol this year – and her song on Tuesday night was outstanding!

~On Wednesday night’s Idol Gives Back show, they featured a hilarious montage of various stars lip-synching to Stayin’ Alive.

Well, that’s it for links. Our weekend will go something like this:

~Play date at Michelle’s this afternoon.

~Movie night tonight – Harry and the Hendersons. I pre-ordered this in January when I heard it was (finally) going to be released on DVD, and it just came this week.

~Clean out the basement tomorrow.

~Possible movie night again Saturday: Night at the Museum.

~Church on Sunday.

Somewhere in there, I’ll find time to practice for the concert next Saturday. Any prayers for that occasion would be gratefully appreciated – specifically, that the sound system will work correctly, that we’ll remember all our words, and that the ladies who attend will be ministered to.

Any big plans for your weekend?