Mommy Brain

Boy, has it been a week. Standardized testing (we homeschool in a state that requires it), orthodontist appointments (for which the reception staff had overbooked and we waited for-ever), driving kids to art class (and photography class, tae kwon do, Awana, the library to pick up books on hold, etc.), and then getting sick. All while trying to re-adjust to normal life after having a completely kid-less weekend last weekend. Re-entry is hard.

It’s been so long since I’ve really written a substantial post – and I don’t have time now, so a bulleted list will have to do:

~ Kevin is still working. He was supposed to be laid off a year ago. Not only is he still working, he works most days from his home office, which saves us oodles on gas. God is good.

~ My freelance writing has slowed way down. Stupid economy.

~ Kids have spring fever. So do I.

~ Someone very close to me is going through a divorce. I’m sad.

~ My mom finally had her surgery, and is recovering, though it’s taking a while – longer than she thinks it should, anyway. I keep telling her that surgery at 60 is very different than surgery at 40 – or even 50.

~ My dad’s thumb is healing well, although he still has no sensation in the tip. He’s heading southwest to Vancouver for my grandmother’s (his mom) 80th birthday this weekend. Happy Birthday, Gramma!

~ Natalie’s voice lessons are going extremely well, and she will be singing at two venues this summer – one is a town festival in the park called Rendezvous, another at the fair.

~ I caught Kevin’s cold and have completely lost my voice. Do you know how hard it is to make kids hear you with no voice? Kevin has encouraged them all to call me “squeaky.” So helpful.

~ We’ve been watching season one of Chuck on DVD – great series. Any other fans out there?

~ I’m hoping to take the kids to see Inkheart Sunday afternoon, if I’m feeling better.

Well, I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, but that’s all my cold-fogged brain can come up with right now. Here are some links to make up for this post’s lack of substance:

~ For all you Twilight fans out there, check out these Twilight cakes. Hat tip to Andrea, who e-mailed me the link because she knows that Natalie and I are both huge Edward and Bella fangirls.

~ The New Yorker had an interesting article on the challenges facing President Obama’s administration when it comes to over-hauling the health care system – “Getting There From Here”. The quote I found appalling (emphasis mine):

Every industrialized nation in the world except the United States has a national system that guarantees affordable health care for all its citizens.

~ The film version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was in jeopardy when Disney dropped out as development studio, but Fox has stepped in and it will be made after all.

~ Stephen Colbert reacts to Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book winning the Newbery Medal. LOL

~ I know this is a little late, since Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, but Sheila has a great post on appropriate books and crafts for the day.

~ Jon Stewart has the best idea for a stimulus package I’ve heard yet.

~ One of my random things was chosen as a Best Random Thing.

~ My review of Testimony by Anita Shreve.

~ My personal list of 55 Must-Read Novels.

~ My review of the movie Pride and Glory.
Have a great weekend – and Happy Valentine’s Day!

The snow has given us a break this week, and I am so extremely grateful. There was one day that I clicked on the weather and saw “Severe Weather Alert” and freaked, but it was only to let us know that the air wasn’t going to move for a while and to watch out for pollution. Which isn’t really a problem for our teeny, rural community. Of course, if the snow continues to hold off, I may not win my bet with Kevin and then I won’t get to collect my foot rub.

This was our week of appointments. Natalie had her 12yo well-child and tetanus booster on Tuesday morning. Wednesday she had her braces tightened. Today, I had my chiropractor appointment – finally! I felt my sacral ileac (I have no idea if that is spelled correctly and I’m too lazy to look it up.) joint pop into place, and he also pushed me around in a bunch of different places. I currently feel like I’ve been mowed over by a steamroller, but my hip doesn’t hurt – yay! – and my mom assures me I’ll feel better by tomorrow. I go back for another adjustment Tuesday – and hopefully that will fix it once and for all, since we’re paying out of pocket.

Tomorrow, Natalie takes her yearly assessment in the morning. Our afternoon looks to be boring, since Michelle’s kids are either just getting or getting over either a bad cold or minor flu, but oh, well, ’tis the season. Saturday, I’m taking the kids to see The Tale of Despereaux, and hoping the film-makers didn’t totally screw it up.

Some links for your weekend:

~ The estate of A.A. Milne has authorized a Pooh sequel. Hmmmm….. Not sure how I feel about this. I guess I’ll reserve judgment until I see the finished product.

~ Writing in the Age of Distraction: a column by Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother.

~ Author Shannon Hale on the value of picture books – and graphic novels – even when we think our kids should have outgrown them.

~ How’d you like $105,000 to be caretaker of a tropical island off the coast of Australia? Apparently, a lot of people really wanted the job.

~ Some cool Coraline wallpaper. The kids and I are really looking forward to the film version.

~ My brother-in-law Hans, who is currently taking Biblical Greek in seminary, sent me this hilarious video: All Things Are Better in Koine.

~ The inability of people to recognize satire and sarcasm really scares me. Remember the Where the Hell is Matt video is on YouTube? The one with the adorably dorky guy dancing with people all over the world? Well, apparently, some people thought it was Photoshopped or in some way faked. Which means they really have no idea how Photoshop works, but whatever. Well, Matt made a tongue-in-cheek video “explaining” how it really was an elaborate hoax, everything was done on green screen. That the scene where he dances in weightlessness was accomplished by hollowing out a Boeing 727 and submerging it in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. That the other dancers weren’t really world citizens, but they were an army of animatronic puppets. And you know what? People thought he was serious. They completely missed how ludicrous his presentation was – puppets, people? – and were shocked that the video was a hoax. This satirical “confession” was posted on Digg by someone, and then picked up by a writer on Associated Content and posted as a legitimate news story. Matt then appeared at MacWorld to set the record straight and explain that it really wasn’t a hoax, that he did travel and dance around the world. The fact that he had to explain his false confession because people don’t understand satire just astounds me.

Thanks so much for all the kind thoughts and prayers. After a full day of doing nothing but icing my back and taking meds, I am doing better. It’s still sore, and I’m still moving slowly, but I don’t feel like I want to cry every time I stand up, which is a huge improvement. I’m going to lay low again today, and am cautiousy optimistic about rehearsal tomorrow and the Christmas program Sunday night.

My mom also received some tentatively good news – they may be able to fit her surgery in on the 30th, which would just squeak it in on this year’s deductible. Fingers crossed.

She took all my Christmas gifts home with her, and is going to do my wrapping – isn’t she great? I actually got my Christmas letter written yesterday, since I can’t do much but sit. I love my laptop. So, it looks like I’ll be ready for Christmas, in spite of this little setback.

We’ve been enjoying our break from homeschooling -well, the kids and I have, anyway. Poor Kevin spent at least two hours shoveling yesterday – once in the morning, and again in the evening. That and a lovely confrontation with our neighbors from you-know-where made for an unpleasant evening for him.

The snowfall has been in record proportions – I think there’s about two feet out there right now, with more forecasted for this afternoon. The city of Spokane, which is 60 miles south of us, has completely shut down – the snow ploughs just can’t keep up. Some areas have received 30 inches! Looks like we’ll definitely have a white Christmas.

And now for some links:

~ Six to Eight Black Men: a hilarious holiday essay by David Sedaris. I listened to this on audiobook, but I found it online at Esquire – just don’t click on any of their links, or who knows what you’ll get.

~ The Advent Conspiracy – Hat tip: Donna.

~ The Krusty Sage: Quite Buying Crap You Can’t Afford Just Because It’s Christmas.

~ Author Shannon Hale: Write What You Don’t Know

~ Communication skills course – very funny, and pertinent to those of us who do most of our business correspondence through e-mail.

~ Great list of children’s books that teach truths about God and theology. Hat tip: Tim Challies.

At Books and Movies recently:

~ My review of Twilight, the film version.

~ Join me for the 2009 Essay Reading Challenge.

~ My review of The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.

~ My review of The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland.

~ My review of Blindspot by Jane Kamensky and Jiill Lepore.

So, are you all ready for Christmas?

I didn’t do a Links for Friday post last week, since we were in Portland for the kids’ Tae Kwon Do tournament. Since we got home around 8:30 pm Sunday evening, I feel like I’ve been going nonstop: homeschooling, laundry, articles due, laundry, Awana, homeschool class, and did I mention laundry?

It’s fall here, and I’m loving the colors. This is, far and above, my very favorite time of year.

~ Don’t forget to enter my 100,000th visitor giveaway – it’s open until the end of the month.

~ Remember The Pirates Who Can’t Do Anything? Meet The Homeschool Moms Who Can’t Do Everything.

~ Here’s the Ultimate Telemarketer Prank. (Warning: language a little spicy.)

~ Colin Farrell and Edward Norton talk about their upcoming cop movie, Pride and Glory.

~ Ever wonder where they get all those teen and tween Disney stars? Here’s the answer.

~ Extreme Weather Alert: Meteorologists Predict Intensely Brisk Autumn. I dare you not to laugh. Be sure to read the pop-ups on the bottom of the screen.

~ If you have budding writers who are Harry Potter fans, here’s how to enter an essay contest: The Tales of Beedle the Bard Essay Contest.

~ Rotten Tomatoes counts down the Top 50 Animated Films.

~ Goodbye to Dissonance from Tonia at Study in Brown. Here’s a taste:

is it possible that we as a body of believers could put away the assumptions and insults and accusations and assume the best of each other? could we look at the person on the other side of the voting line and believe that they are caring, loving individuals doing the best they can, just as we are trying to do?

~ Beautiful pictures from World Animal Day. The flamingo is my new desktop background.

~ Daily Writing Tips has a new Vocabulary Test.

~ Anyone else excited about the upcoming season of Lost? The promo for season 5 is up.

~ Booklovers take note: this is so going on my Christmas list.

At Books and Movies:

~ Review of North River by Pete Hamill.

~ Review of The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

Fall is officially here, and I am loving the cooler weather. Autumn is my favorite season; I’m not quite so crazy about what comes after. If I had my way, it would snow the first week in December, stay through Christmas, and go away on January 2nd. I live in the wrong part of the country for a person who doesn’t like cold, snowy, long winters, and hot, dry, long summers.

The archery tournament was fun, and Josiah won first place! He was pretty excited – this was the first extra-curricular activity he’s gotten involved in, so it was cool that he excelled. Of course, the fact that he beat his sister and brothers – all older than him – made him pretty proud, too.

(more…)

Another busy day, another very late link post. We’re getting into our school routine, which is nice. I’m reading a fantastic book aloud to the kids called The Penderwicks – I highly recommend it. We’re almost done, and I think we’ll start The Mysterious Benedict Society next.

We don’t have plans for the weekend. Some cleaning up tomorrow, maybe a trip to the pool. Church on Sunday, and then the Seahawks play their first official game of the season, so you’ll find me planted firmly in front of the television. Go, ‘Hawks!

~ You may not recognize Don LaFontaine by name, but I’m sure you would recognize his voice. If you’ve ever seen a movie trailer in which the voice over announcer says, “In a world….” – chances are that was Don LaFontaine. He passed away this week at age 68. Movie trailers just won’t be the same.

~ Remember the video I posted last week about the cell phones popping popcorn – the one that turned out to be a hoax? Here’s how – and why – they did it.

~ Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite reads from this year – and now you can read it for free!

~ Who caught the Bones premiere this week? We had to record it and watch it a day late, since the kids have to be picked up from Awana at 8 on Wednesdays. And, I loved it! Agent Booth and Great Britain – two of my favorite things – in one episode! So good. Spoiler alert – scroll down a couple lines if you don’t want it spoiled for you! Except for the Angela/Hodgins break-up. Why did they have to go and do that? Anyway, if you enjoy David Boreanaz, EW has him answering 17 pop culture questions.

~ Still bummed about the postponement of the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Here’s a video of Daniel Radcliffe appearing on Conan O’Brien to help tide you over.

~ My Friend Amy is hosting Book Blogger Appreciation Week – and that means some awards given out for favorite book blogs. Head over to this post and vote for your favorites. Get details on how to register for all the fun here.

~ The Dharma Initiative is looking for new recruits – click over to take their screening test.

~ Speaking of hit television shows (Yes, we were, honest. If you’re a little lost, let me know in the comments. ), Anthony Edwards is due to reprise his role as Dr. Mark Greene on ER in an episode this November – in flashbacks, of course.

Thank you so much for all your insightful comments on my previous post about the presidential election. I am at least convinced that I will definitely be voting in November. That said, I’m still not sure who I’ll be voting for! I’ll continue my research and reading and thinking and discussing and praying and make a decision before I mark my ballot. Along those lines, I’ll be including links every Friday that I have read and that are helping me make my decision.

~ FactCheck.org is a great place to check the facts on speeches, interviews, and campaign ads. You can subscribe to their RSS feed and get updates sent to your Bloglines, Google Reader, or other RSS reader account. Thanks to Sarah at The Mommylogues for pointing it out to me.

~ Speaking of facts, check this list of talking points in the Republican Convention speeches that misrepresented or stretched the truth. And, here’s the fact check list for the Democratic Convention. It’s kind of disheartening to see how much both sides of the political fence exaggerate or dissemble in order to gain poll points.

~ At VoteSmart.org, you can check each candidate’s voting record while they served in Congress. Here’s Barack Obama’s voting record. Here’s John McCain’s voting record.

~ Crunchy Con tells why one soldier, currently serving in Iraq, won’t be voting for John McCain.

~ According to the Presurfer, it’s not McCain/Palin, it’s Tigh/Roslin. (This is not a site I normally read, so please don’t hold me accountable for anything else you might find there.)

~ If you’re reading this before midnight PST on Friday, September 5th, there’s still time to enter to win a copy of Guernica by Dave Boling.

Have a great weekend!

I think I’m recovered from our day-long Silverwood extravaganza. Did I mention that we left at 8:30 am and didn’t return until 10 pm? I’m looking forward to Tuesday, which – in spite of being our fifth day of school – will feel like our first day of school and life will begin to return to normal. Whatever that is.

Lots of exciting things happening in the news lately. Obama gives a darn good speech; McCain announces a surprise VP pick. And me? I’m still ambivalent about the whole thing. I’m musing over a post – that will probably be very long – about the whole presidential thing. Probably sometime this week, if I find the time to get the thoughts out of my head and into some kind of organized format.

But, for now, I promised you links – and do I have a bunch!

~ Entertainment Weekly counts down their top 25 Sci-Fi movies and TV series since 1982.

~ Speaking of sci-fi, Battlestar Galactica may be ending, but there are two projects in the planning stages that will continue the franchise.

~ Don’t Try This At Home has posted another hilarious video for her Sunday YouTube, called “Things You Don’t Say to Your Wife.”

~ Regardless of how you feel about either presidential candidate, I think this ad that McCain ran on the night Obama received the nomination was pretty classy.

~ For all of you fellow homeschooling moms who are beginning another year, I give you I Will Survive.

~ Any fans of Nathan Fillion from Firefly? He’s set to appear in a midseason series on ABC.

~ Update: Angie Hunt just commented to let me know that this video is a hoax. Sure looked real! I’m not a big fan of cell phones. Yes, I have one, and I use it very rarely – maybe twice a week. It’s simply a tool for emergencies or cases when I must reach someone and I’m not near a phone. I prepay for my minutes, so I don’t chat away on it. I don’t even know how to send a text message. I think a lot of people are very rude in how they use their cell phones – an opinion that was reinforced at a recent playdate at the park when one of the other moms proceeded to text message her teenage daughter and her mother for the entire hour she was there. She then stood up and informed the rest of us that she had lots to do and had to be going. Sigh. Anyway, this video reinforces my reasoning for not using my cell phone very often – and for not buying one for my tween daughter. It’s frankly a little scary. Hat tip: Angela Hunt.

~ Time has an amazing photo gallery from the Olympics. Some of the pictures are truly stunning.

~ Note to self: If ever in Japan, avoid the trains. Shudder.

At Books and Movies this week:

~ Review of Half-*ssed: A Weight-Loss Memoir

~ Review of The Devil’s Arithmetic

~ Reading Questionnaire

~ Teaser Tuesday

~ The Sunday Salon

~ Review of The Cross-Time Engineer

~ And, there is still time to enter to win Guernica

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.

Is it really Friday already? This week sped by – in spite of the fact that I thought it would last forever, since Natalie was gone for most of it. She is home, exhausted and crabby, but home. And I’m a really mean mom, since I wouldn’t let her spend her first full day home at her friend’s house. Sigh.

Tomorrow is our monster-Tae Kwon Do day. Seminars from 8:30 till 11:30, then a tournament from 1:00 pm until whenever it gets over. Which means I will have lots of time to sit and read between the kids’ events.

Only nine days until we leave on our very first all-family vacation. We’re heading to the Oregon Coast, with a stop in Portland to go to the zoo and visit Kevin’s mom. I’m making lists for packing and hoping I’m not forgetting something hugely important.

I’ve got quite a few links for you today, so here goes.

~ 400-year-old Shakespeare volume recovered 10 years after theft.

~ Historical movies in chronological order. Cool resource – but make sure you check the historical accuracy on a film if you’re using it for homeschooling. Hat tip: Magic and Mayhem.

~ 100 Best Last Lines from Novels. Hat tip: Semicolon.

~ The Darrin Effect: 20 jarring cases of TV recasting. Hat tip: Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?

~ Also from Hey Lady! – Britain’s Got Talent: Great dance duo.

~ Feist’s “1-2-3-4″ song fits in perfectly on Sesame Street.

~ Trailer for the upcoming High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

~ Trailer for next May’s Terminator Salvation starring (the yummy) Christian Bale.

~ One of our favorite Avi books, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, is being made into a film.

~ The Literary Feline is having a huge book giveaway to celebrate her blogaversary.

~ Peter David, the author of Tigerheart, posted the unique story of how he proposed to his fiance.

~ New teaser trailer for the upcoming movie version of Twilight.

Whew – that’s it for this week! Have a great weekend, everyone.

It’s up.