#2839 watching the Oscars

It is Academy Award day. I have long enjoyed the Oscars because I like movies. I like movie stars. I like to see the beautiful gowns, and exquisite make-up and hairstyles. I'm interested in learning what movies and performances the Academy will award with an Oscar.

It used to be a goal of mine to watch all of the films nominated for Best Picture. It was a lot easier to do when there was only five nominees. Now there are ten films nominated in that category, and I think it is too many. Of this year's ten nominees, I have only seen three. I may be interested in a couple of the others, but I haven't made the effort to watch them, even though they are streaming. I have seen Top Gun: Maverick, which was a fun movie, but Best Picture - worthy? No. I saw Women Talking, which I didn't care for at all, and regretted spending movie theater money on. Not Best Picture worthy in my opinion. The other nominee I saw was Everything, Everywhere, All at Once which I saw because my sister raved about it. I felt entertained and confused by the movie, to be honest. It was inventive and entertaining and strange. I'm okay with it's nomination. 

This morning I was talking to T. He was going to his girlfriend's house to celebrate a little kid's birthday (her niece or nephew.) I asked if he'd be back home tonight, and he said that he would because they wanted to watch the season finale of The Last of Us with MT. I said, "But it's Oscar night." 

He shrugged and said, "It is the season finale of The Last of Us. Who f-ing cares about the Oscars?"

My response in the moment was that people care, and he asked if I was one of those people. I've been thinking about that all day. Am I one of those people? I certainly used to be, but now the thought of spending three plus hours watching people thank God, their agents and publicists, and oh yeah, their families, just doesn't seem that appealing. Twitter will be full of the hairstyles, gowns, and winners, so maybe I'll re-watch season two of Ted Lasso. Maybe I'll read or draw or write. Maybe I'll go to bed early to fight off the inevitable Daylight Savings Time weirdness and psyche myself up to go to a cycling class early tomorrow morning. 

Speaking of drawing, I combined my Pinterest project with the art group project this week. From Pinterest, I've been fascinated by zentangle art recently. If you don't know about zentangles, GTS (Google That Shit) and look at some of the cool patterns. The art prompt for the group was to do a selfie, but not the usual kind. My take on it was to close my eyes and draw the profile, features and hair. Then I opened my eyes to do my own take on zentangle for the hair. I'm looking at my drawing in my book right now, and from far away, it looks kind of cool  My version might not be as clean and beautiful as what you find online, but I kinda dig it. What do you think?

#959 using my words to get what he wants

Last night T and I went to Target.

T: What are you getting at Target?

Me: Cereal, saline solution and whatever else strikes my fancy. I love it when my fancy is struck.

T continues to mess around with an electronic device as I tell him what I'm getting at the store. I figure he has tuned me out, so I stop talking.

At the store, I get my things then head to the entertainment section to find the man-child. He usually hangs out in the books/movies/music section.

Me: Let's go.

T: Wait! I have an idea.

Me: Oh boy. How much is that going to cost me?

He leaves for a minute and returns with the book and DVD of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". We just watched the movie on Sunday night. He holds the two items  out to me, silently willing me to put them in my basket.

Me: No.

T: Why not?

Me: I'll get the book.

T: They struck my fancy.

How can you say "No" to that? I bought them both.

#957 family movie night: World War Z

Sorry I didn't check in on Thursday the 20th. I was watching Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and I couldn't/wouldn't/didn't want to get away from the game to write and when the game was over, it was time for bed. I thought about writing last night, but I went to bed early, so here we are.

It's Saturday night, and you know what that means: FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT!

We saw Brad Pitt's zombie movie, World War Z. T's expectations were low, but MT and I were excited to see it. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I'm not really into zombies. I don't watch The Walking Dead; MT and T tell me that I won't like it, so I don't watch it.But I mostly like Brad Pitt a whole bunch, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I thought the movie was fantastic! The zombies were plenty scary. There were times that I jumped in my seat, threw my hands in the air and even squealed (quietly) at times. MT was jumping too. T laughed at us, but I know he thought the zombies were creepy, especially the ones he referred to as "clickers" because they would click their teeth together in a totally bone-chilling fashion.

Brad Pitt was great. I can't even imagine another actor in the role of Gerry. At first I was a bit put off by his "man-bob" hairstyle, but he pulled it off. It worked for me. I liked his scruffiness, too. No time to shave during the zombie apocalypse, you know. The man is still F.I.N.E. fine!

The special effects were awesome. The scene where the zombies are climbing the wall into Jerusalem was epic. That scene is shown in the previews and I thought it looked cool, but T thought it looked way CGI. It really works in the movie. You know it's just a matter of time before the zombies make it over the wall and then even Jerusalem isn't safe. Zombies are attracted to loud noises, even joyous singing, so remember that during the zombie apocalypse, people.

All three of us liked this movie. T said, "My expectations were here," and held his hand around his waist level. "But the movie surpassed it to like here," and he held his hand around the top of his head. That's pretty good. I liked pretty much everything about this movie. The story was solid, the acting was good, the effects were great, it was scary without being overly scary and it had Brad Pitt.

Bottom line, zombies scare the bejeezus out of me.

#792 family night at the movies - Chasing Mavericks

All three of us enjoy watching movies and we especially like to see movies on the big screen at our favorite local cinema. Throughout the year, you can regularly find us over at the cineplex. We don't take turns picking movies; usually at least one of us has a show that we really want to see, and even if the other two aren't really passionate about it, we will all go see it. I will decline on shows that I think are too violent or just flat-out don't look good to me. For example, I passed on Savages earlier this summer. so the boys went to see it themselves. MT recently passed on Argo, which T and I really wanted to see (and it was good, too!).

This weekend, only one movie came out that was on our list. Actually, it was on MT's list, and he was excited about it and the previews looked good enough, so T and I went along. We went to see Chasing Mavericks. It's a movie about about surfing but also about having goals and being true to yourself and will-power and self-discipline and friendship. I liked it. MT loved it. The surfing shots were pretty amazing. Those waves were massive walls of water.

After the movie, I asked T if the show made him want to learn to surf. He said, "No, but it made me want to learn to swim." Smart kid!

#765 what we have in common

A couple of months ago I wrote about T's collection habits. At that time, it was DVDs. He still likes movies a whole bunch, and we usually get a new DVD or blu-ray once a week or so. But there's a new love in his life, one that I've been trying to cultivate for years, but as usual, T does everything on his own time. What he's into right now is music.(YAY!)

I can't even tell you how much money he's spent on iTunes getting every song by the artists he likes. The music he really likes right now is Green Day. He has also going through a lengthy rap phase, in which he discovered his love for Eminem, Kanye West, and Jay-Z. He also loves Drake.

There are some old songs he's getting into. From seeing the preview of the film Flight, T now loves the song Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones. (That is also one of my favorite songs.) From the preview of the film Argo, he's digging the Aerosmith classic Dream On.

Before any of the rap or Green Day came along, T liked Maroon 5. I think he may have a little man-crush on Adam Levine. Really, who can blame him? In T's words, "Adam Levine is attractive dude." Now, for my pleasure, here's a cute pic of Adam:

I don't really blame the kid for getting into music. I was probably his age when I started getting really into music, too. Back then, I was addicted to American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. Remember that? Because I am a list-making nerd, I made a list of the each week top 40. The radio station that I listened to the countdown on always had a question about the show during the top 10 songs. I always, always knew the answer. The prize was an album from a local record store. I won the prize many times in a row. I was at that record store every week for six or eight weeks until the radio station people told me I couldn't play anymore. (They really did!) They told me I could only win once a month or something.

T and I also have something else in common: we learn the words to songs. You might be thinking, "Well duh!" but not everyone does that. For example, when MT hears a song, he doesn't really hear the words. He just hears the music. I don't think I have ever heard MT burst into song. T and I, on the other hand, will burst into song at any given moment. Just about anything will set us off. We've got a song for nearly every occasion. I love that about my son. The first time I heard him spontaneously burst into song, it brought a tear to my eye.

This year T is in the show choir at his school. He had to audition for the part, and I was so proud that he made it! He says he was sure he'd get in because there aren't many boys who tried out, but still. They had their first performance today. They sang and danced to Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. Oh Glee, thanks for bringing Journey to a new generation. By the way, that song was on the album Escape, and that was one of the LPs I got from my radio station winning.

Speaking of Glee, did you watch the season premier tonight? I love Glee! I thought the episode was good. I like the new people, especially Kate Hudson. I really like her; she's pretty. She was so supremely bitchy and beautiful in the episode, I can't wait for more!

Well, this post has kind of been all over the place. I didn't know what to write about when I first sat down. T suggested I write about his musical likes and then it just took off from there.

~~~

One more thing...to follow up from yesterday, I didn't have to chose between Dan and Kelly this morning. After I took T to school, I came home and went back to bed. I got home around 7:30 and I slept until 10:30. I must have been plain wore out and needed the rest. The body always knows best.

Good night!

#760 "The Words" and Bradley Cooper

T and I went to see the movie The Words this afternoon. We both really liked it. The acting was good and the story was very good.

T likes almost all types of movies. He likes movies with action, but he appreciates a good plot. He can totally get into movies where there isn't any action sequences and he gets involved with the characters. We talked about movies a little on our way home. He said he was kind of surprised by how much he liked The Words. I said that there are so many different kinds of movies. Some are big and full of action; some are quiet and thoughtful and make you feel quiet and thoughtful and it's good to have the variety.

Now can we talk about Bradley Cooper for a minute please?

Look at him. He's cute, right? Pretty blue eyes, nice smile, good hair. The thing is, I always look at his chin and it's not good for me. It's too pointy. Call me crazy, but I like a chin that's a little more square. But he's good. People magazine named Bradley Cooper as the Sexiest Man Alive this year and they would know, right?

Then I remember how Bradley looked in the film I saw last weekend, Hit and Run. Not a pretty sight. Not sexy.

How is this even possible? Keep it clean, Bradley!

#757 doing the heel prop and making wishes come true

I think I over-did it yesterday. I've been pretty much worthless today. Most of the afternoon, I was sitting still with ice on my knee, watching tennis. Later, I was laying on my bed doing the "heel prop" and watching football. How do you learn to pace yourself? I'd like to work on that.

But first, I must explain the heel prop. It may be my least favorite of the stretches, and therefore, of course, the most beneficial. It's very important that my knee be able to be completely flat when the leg is stretched out straight. Currently, I have about a four degree bend in it and the goal is to make it zero degrees (that would be completely flat.) In order to achieve this goal, I do the heel prop. I put something - a folded pillow, a rolled up yoga mat, a rolled up beach towel - under my right heel, then gravity takes over and pulls the knee down. It's like trying to hyper-extend the knee to get it to zero. I'm supposed to hold the position for five to eight minutes. I can barely make it through two minutes right now. The position becomes extremely uncomfortable and I squirm around and whimper a little bit. Then I pull myself together and try again.

Enough about me...let's talk about T! MT and I made his wish come true today. T told me last night that all he wanted on Wednesday was to get NetFlix and to have Panda Express for dinner. We made that wish a reality. I signed up for NetFlix and the kid is on cloud nine. I don't get it. He rarely watches TV, but now he wants NetFlix to watch old TV shows. There are many Nickelodeon shows available and he squealed with delight as he found them. "I'm reliving my childhood!" he exclaimed happily.

NetFlix and orange chicken. Simple pleasures are the best.

#746 all about T (mostly)

MT's alarm goes off at 4 AM, and usually I sleep through it, but not today. I didn't sleep well anyway last night, so I wasn't surprised when the alarm woke me up. I tried to fall back to sleep, but when MT saw that I was sort of awake, he started chatting with me about a couple of houses he had looked at on Thursday night. Finally, I decided I would just get up and go over to the gym for a little walk.

When I passed T's room, I saw that he was playing with his phone or iPod, texting or tweeting or something. I asked him why he wasn't asleep (he also had trouble sleeping last night), so I jokingly asked him if he wanted to come to the gym to release some energy. He's been sitting home for days playing video games, going to bed really late/really early in the morning. Maybe a little physical activity would wear him out. I was pretty sure he would say no and go to sleep; instead, he tapped on the bathroom door while I was brushing my teeth and said he'd come along.

He was funny, I think because he'd been up for so long and he was a little rummy. He commented on how peaceful it was and how it was nice and warm but not too hot because the sun wasn't out. Then he thought we were going to walk on the outside track around the gym which was totally dark and he thought I was nuts. (We don't walk there in the dark!) When we got into the gym, he was amazed by how few people there were. He talked about the traffic patterns on the walking track - one direction on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; the opposite direction on the remaining days.

He walked with me for awhile, but I'm pretty slow, so he decided to run. He passed me twice while I was on the same lap, then walked along panting beside me. Then he ran around some more. Then he decided to run on a treadmill for awhile. We were there for about 45 minutes or so, and I think he enjoyed it. He was talking about getting over there a few times a week during school to help him wake up and get his mind right for school. We'll see how that goes. I sure didn't call the gym and get him added to my pass yet.

It was fun to have someone else there with me, even if we weren't together the whole time.

When we got home, I got in the shower and he crawled into bed, dead to the world. I tried to call him around noon to get him up, but no response. He woke up just after 1:30. Oh to be a carefree teenager!

Tonight the three of us went to see "The Bourne Legacy." Jeremy Renner is the star. You know, he's not super good-looking, but there is something about him that I really like. I thought he was very good in the last "Mission: Impossible" movie, and of course, he was in "The Avengers." He was the one with the bow and arrow, Hawkeye.












My thoughts on the latest "Bourne" movie: I think T said it best. It's basically a chase-scene movie with some kick-ass fight scenes every now and then. The parts where the people in the CIA or whatever are trying to track him down and pretty boring, but just about every scene with Jeremy Renner are good. Rachel Weisz is in it, too and I really like her.

#548 lines, sandwiches and shoe karma - a day at Disneyland

I'm at my parent's house in Southern California. I got here yesterday evening, and the first thing we did was stop at El Torito for a margarita. It was nice. I don't drink very often, and sometimes it just hits the spot!

Today T and I went to Disneyland. I find that D-land is one of those places that you anticipate going to with joy and enthusiasm, and then you get there and there are so many people and the lines are sooooo long, that some of the joy seeps away.

T and I rode seven rides from about 9 am to 1:30 pm (Pirates, Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain, Astro Blasters, Space Mountain, Big Thunder again, and Haunted Mansion). We rode three rides from about 2:30 to 7 (Pirates, Splash Mountain and Space Mountain). The lines at Space Mountain and Splash Mountain were over one hour long. The Fast Pass at Space Mountain in the afternoon got you on the ride at 11 pm.

Waiting in long lines is kind of a buzz-kill, isn't it? The rides are fun, but they last about two or three minutes. After our last ride on Space Mountain, we were done and ready to come on home. T kept saying, "Carry me, Mom." As if! The dude is 100 lbs and like an inch shorter than me. He'll be carrying me soon!

I have to mention my shoe karma. It's not good. My plan was to wear my Teva hiking shoes. I took them to work with me and left them in my car to change into yesterday to wear on the plane. However, when I went to pick them up, the whole sole fell right off the left shoe! They are totally broken! GRRR. The only shoes I had with me were my Birks, which I wore to work yesterday, and some flip flops. I wore the flip flops to the park today. My feet and knees are sore. They would have been sore anyway, so I don't really blame the shoes, but still.

One more thing about Disneyland. We ate at the Cafe Orleans today. I've never eaten in one of the actual restaurants in the park. We usually eat at the Bear Country place where you can get a quick burger. I splurged on Cafe Orleans because I really wanted to try their famous Monte Cristo sandwich. We started with an order of pommes frites - french fries with garlic, parmesan and parsley. They were delicious. T isn't usually much of a fry eater, but he gobbled these! We each ordered a sandwich, and that was a mistake. The things are huge! There are four big pieces that come with each order. We both ate most of two pieces, and that left us with an entire portion to pack around the park in the afternoon, which is exactly what we did. The sandwiches are huge, but they are also pricey - $17.50/sandwich. Mom and Dad sampled them this evening. They aren't as good cold as they were piping hot. Still tasty, though. My advice: order the pommes frites and and one Monte Cristo to share. It's worth it because the sandwich is tasty and you'll be full.

That's all for today!

#536 the sun halo

On Wednesday June 15, T and I were playing catch in the pool by the beach at the Bahia Principe resort on Cayo Levantado, Dominican Republic. We'd invented this game where we had a soft ball that we tossed back and forth to each other. If one of us missed the ball, the other person scored a point. The ball would get heavy and wet and sometimes it was just plain hard to catch. We had hours of fun playing this little game together.

It was a beautiful day (as most of the days were!) The sky was a brilliant blue, the air was warm, there was just enough of a breeze to keep the temperature comfortable and the humidity didn't seem overpowering.

So there we were, throwing this ball back and forth. T threw the ball to me and it went way over my head (not catch-able) but I jumped up to try to get it. I looked up at the sky and this is what I saw:

There was an incredible "halo" all around the sun in a perfect circle. It was huge. The picture is nice but doesn't do it justice. Imagine the sky outside the circle is bright, bright blue. Then you have the outer circle, the halo, and you can faintly distinguish the colors of the rainbow in the circle. Then the sky inside the halo was a little darker blue and the brilliant shiny sun right in the center. I've never seen anything like it.

I pointed to the sky. "Look at that," I called out to T or to anyone who was listening.

T looked up. "Oh yeah. I've seen that before," he said.

"Really?" I said. "When?"

"In third grade, at lunchtime. I thought it meant the aliens were coming. It freaked me out. You remember stuff like that."

I shook my head. But our conversation had aroused interest from other people in the area. There was a French Canadian couple sitting in the lounge chairs next to ours and they were really excited about the sight. Pretty soon all the people at the pool were looking up at the sky, shading their eyes against the bright sunlight.

I hopped out of the pool and grabbed my camera. It was kind of hard to take a picture of the sun, but I snapped some off.

If you click on the picture, you'll get a bigger image of it. I love how you can see the little sort of furry-looking things around the halo. MT says that is the sun.

None of us could really figure out what the phenomenon was called or what caused it. MT was in the pool having a SCUBA lesson at the time. When he came up, T pointed out the sight. Both MT and the divemaster/instructor said it was a "sun dog" and Bryan, the divemaster, said it was the biggest one he'd ever seen. The French Canadian man sitting near me had an iPod Touch and he Googled something. He said there had been a lunar eclipse that morning, and maybe what we were seeing was the tail-end of the eclipse. Other people were saying that it meant that a big storm was coming. (It did rain, thunder and lightning later that afternoon, but it wasn't a big storm.)

When I got home and looked at the picture on my computer, I thought it looked like a halo around the sun. I Googled "sun halo" and sure enough, there are other images out there that look like mine. It's caused by humidity or moisture in the air or something. I'm not scientific. I don't really care how it got there, I just feel so fortunate that I got to see it. It was there for a pretty long time. I kept checking the sky and watching it. It would fade a little, then come back.

It was really one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in the sky.

I posted the picture on Facebook and a friend of mine, who is a really great photographer, suggested that I submit the photo to National Geographic magazine. They have a feature called "Your Shots." Every week day, the editors select a dozen pictures, the call it the Daily Dozen. People can vote on the pictures and the ones that get the most votes get to be in National Geographic magazine. So far, mine hasn't shown up on the Daily Dozen, but if it does, I will certainly let all seven of you know. Hopefully then you will tell seven friends to vote for me and so on. How wonderful, amazing and cool would it be to have a photo published in National Geographic? There'd be no living with me after that. :-)

That's all I've got for today. Hasta luego!

#527 U2 in SLC

U2 was in town on Tuesday to play at Rice-Eccles Stadium. I should have written last night, but I had to watch American Idol - BTW, that was Bono and The Edge playing toward the end there! - and I was so tired from Tuesday night that I pretty much went right to bed after Idol.

Here's what I thought about the U2 show: IT WAS FANTASTIC!!

Tuesday was MT's 50th birthday, so we went out to dinner before the concert. The opening act was The Fray, which would have been fine to see, but we didn't actually get to see them. We got up to the stadium right as they came on the stage. I know that because we could totally hear them in our car as we were searching for parking. The lot that I thought I might be able to park in was filled with U2's semi-trucks; I read that it takes 115 trucks to transport the pieces of the massive stage. We did eventually find a parking place on a road about a mile or so from the stadium. We heard The Fray as we walked down the hill to the stadium. (You know what that means, right? A mile uphill after the show to get back to the car.)

Fortunately, the weather was terrific. The sky cleared and was bright blue, the temperature was mild. It was beautiful! On the radio on my way home from work, I heard a guy on the radio say, "Well, maybe Bono is God. The weather sure cleared up for his show!"

For those of you wondering, T did decide to come. More about him in a minute.

The stage I mentioned earlier? It is massive. It looked kind of like a bug or a crustacean or a space ship. There was an enormous video screen hanging down from the center of the bug, and before the show, the time from various cities around the world was shown along with interesting and/or disturbing factoids like Amount of Money Spent on Video Games today: $44,536,427 with an ongoing count so the numbers kept changing. Some numbers changed fast like Number of Cigarettes Smoked Today: 9,789,432,081 and some changed slowly like Number of Suicides today: 34,576. There was also factoids about the Number of Years Until Oil Depletion, Number of Births Today, Number of Emails Sent Today, Number of People on the Internet Right Now, Number of U2 Crew Births During This Tour and Number of Google Searches Today. It was an interesting way to spend 45 minutes.

The band came out around 8:50. The sun hadn't set yet, so there was still some light in the stadium. The giant screen showed the image of the band walking out of the building where the Utah football teams comes out. They waved to the 40,000 or so people that were yelling and stamping their feet and clapping and whistling. They came up on the stage - Larry took his place at the drum kit and started banging away. We were clapping and yelling. Adam strapped on his bass and began to play. The Edge was next. He played the opening riff for "Even Better Than the Real Thing" and we went nuts. But when Bono stepped in front of the mic, forget about it. It was madness. I lost my mind just a little. Me and about 40,000 others! They're just so wonderful!

The second song was "I Will Follow" and the third was "Get On Your Boots." And the songs just kept coming. Some of my favorites of the night that I wasn't expecting to like so much: "Magnificent", "Stay", and "I Know I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight." That last one, the one with the longest title ever, I don't love it on the CD, but I loved how they played it in concert. Larry strapped on a bongo-type drum and walked around the giant stage, tap-tap-tapping away. It had more of a Latin rhythm to it that I really loved. To top it off, they included a snippet of one of their most underrated songs (in my opinion) "Discotheque". They just did a snippet, but it worked for me!

Of course, the tried-and-true-bring-down-the-house-U2-music was incredible. The opening riff for "Pride" just makes you remember why you fell in love with this band. I enjoy the first part of the song "Vertigo" when Bono counts in Spanish like this, "Uno, dos, tres, catorce!" He did the first three numbers then everyone screamed "Catorce!" Awesome!! That's one of the coolest things about a U2 show - audience participation. I felt like the participation effect was watered down for me, because I was at the back of the stadium, facing the stage, so I couldn't really hear the crowd singing along. I could see people bouncing around and waving their arms, but I didn't get the full effect of the sing-along. (Last time I saw them I was actually behind the stage so I got blasted by the sound of the crowd singing along. That was cool!)

One of my favorite songs was in the encore, "Where the Streets Have No Name." That's another opening riff that just gives me goosebumps. It actually nearly moves me to tears. (I know! I'm a big baby.) It's true though. I'm putting this out there now, and I've said it before. Please play "Where the Streets Have No Name" at my memorial service, from the beginning, all the way through to the last note. I love that song.

Another favorite part was when Bono sang "Happy Birthday" to MT, um, I mean Bob Dylan. I was teasing MT earlier in the evening that I'd emailed Bono to see if he would sing the birthday song, but I didn't know if he'd be able to squeeze it in. Imagine our surprise when he did sing it! When he got to the part where you say the birthday person's name, of course, Bono said "Bob", but I told MT that was just Bono's pet name for him. We giggled. It was a fun minute.

So how did T like it? Well, I'm not exactly sure. I think he liked some of it, then I think that he got pretty tired. He mentioned as we were walking back up the hill to the car that he didn't think he was a concert guy and that he didn't think he'd ever go to another concert. I'm just making note of this statement now so that in the future when he tells me that he and his buddies want to go see someone in concert, I'll remember the comment he made after the U2 show. Still, today when he got home from school he asked if he could borrow my iPod so he could listen to some U2 songs. Maybe there's hope?

What did I miss?

Back to it...U2 played about 24 songs, with some little snippets that I'm not even counting. The show lasted over two hours. It was bliss. It was worth every bit of tired that I suffered through on Wednesday. I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was absolutely the best concert value I've ever had. The tickets were only $30 each. No, I wasn't anywhere close to the stage, but I was in the building and with the gigantic magical video screen, I could see them perfectly well. The sound was excellent and the music, well, it was a joyful noise!

#420 the beard

Last night I tucked T into bed, then went downstairs to lock the doors and put Osi in her kennel. I heard noises upstairs, and I thought MT was up for some reason, but it wasn't MT, it was T. He was in the bathroom, looking intently at his face.

"Mom! Mom!" he said excitedly. "I think I can feel my beard coming in! Feel it!"

Trying as hard as I could not to burst out laughing, I stroked his cheek. It was rough all right, but not with little hairs; it was dry skin.

I broke the news as gently as I could. "I don't think that's your beard, buddy," I said. "Your skin is really dry. You're going to need some lotion. If you don't moisturize, the dry skin will get worse and it might start to hurt. Plus it will look ugly." He agreed and we smeared some of my moisturizer on his cheeks. His skin was better this morning.

Tonight we had a lesson on skin care. I showed him how to wash his face using the same soap I use (Johnson's Baby Wash - it's really great, very gentle and mild and doesn't bother my eyes, so I like it a lot.) I showed him how to scrub his face and apply the moisturizer. He did a good job, and he didn't seem to mind it.

I like this new self-aware boy!

#367 back to reality

T had a sleepover, actually at stay-up-all-nighter, with two of his friends on Friday. At 6:30 on Saturday morning, just as I was getting ready to go to the gym, he came up to tell me that he'd been able to stay up all night.

T: I did it! I stayed up all night!

me: Hooray! I guess. What's wrong with your face?

The right side of his face was all swollen and weird looking. It pulled his mouth over. It detracted from his beauty for sure.

T: I don't know. It's just like this now.

me: Does your tooth hurt?

T: Yeah, it does.

MT: Uh-oh. ABCESS!! He's gonna need a root canal.

T, looking frightened: What's that?

me: Well, let's let the dentist decide.

I was able to get him into the dentist first thing this morning. His molars are coming up and pushing on the baby molars. That's what is causing the inflammation and pain. We're gonna pull those two baby molars and hopefully that will clear up the problem. No root canal needed this time! HOORAY! Still, it's not that much fun, is it?

#346 I don't want French food

After posting something every day in November, it was a little strange to just stop on December 1. It's not that I planned not to post on Dec. 1. The computer was all fired up and ready to go, but "The Biggest Loser" started and ended an hour later than normal, and by the time I went to the store, made dinner, cleaned the kitchen and watched TV, it was bedtime, so I just shut down the computer for the night and was glad it wasn't still November. Not that I had anything really interesting to say on Tuesday, I was just used to saying something.

Last night we went to T's parent-teacher conference, except here we call them SEP conference. I think it stands for Student-Educator-Parent. I like that the student is involved and listed first in the letter sequence. As I mentioned in an earlier post, T is on the honor roll with a 3.8 GPA. His reading levels are very excellent. He takes a Dibbles (I don't know if that's the right spelling) test to see how fast he can read. He's always had really high levels in all his grades, and he continues to excel; he's way above the standard. Not only can he read quickly, but he understands what he's reading. He took another test to find out his reading retention, it's called the Star test, and he reads at a 12th grade level. He's in sixth grade.

I'm really proud of him. He seems to be enjoying himself and learning this year and he's not literally pulling out his hair. That all makes me happy. :D

I finished reading the book "Julie and Julia" tonight. It was a good enough book. There were times when I giggled out loud while I was reading it, and other times that I thought, "My God! This woman is a nut! Why would she do this to herself?" I have to say that nothing about the book made me want to cook every recipe in any cookbook, much less "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." (I don't even think I want to eat any French food. All that butter! That's a lot of Points!)

What I did like was the thought of finding something to do, just for the heck of it, just because it's there, and then doing it in the timeframe you've allotted yourself. I guess my weight loss journey is a little like that, except I haven't put a deadline on when I'd like to have all the weight lost.

I did set some timeframe goals for myself once, but when I didn't hit the first date, I kinda got down about it, and down on myself. Losing weight is hard enough without putting pressure on myself to do it by a certain day. After that, I just went back to taking it one day at a time, and doing my best each day. I see the results on the scale each week, in the way my clothes fit, and in the way I can push myself a little more each time I go to the gym. That's enough for me.

So, happy December everyone! Let the Christmas countdown and the parties begin!

#313 my new toy, talking to T and hoping for fun in the sun

Guess what? I got my very own cell phone this weekend. I've been carrying a phone, but it's from work and I always felt bad when I took a personal call on it. MT was having an issue with his phone - he washed it and it didn't work anymore - but AT & T wouldn't sell him a cheap phone with the same phone number, so we switched service providers and I decided to get myself a phone. It's not fancy, it's just your basic phone. MT was toying around with the idea of getting an iPhone, but why? it's a cool toy, but nothing we really need.

The reason I went ahead and got a phone for each of us is because I'm thinking of cancelling the land-line. I haven't done it yet though. Wouldn't it be strange not to have a home phone? A lot of people I know don't have a land-line. Maybe I'll "cut the cordless" next week.

Things have been good around here. T has been playing his face off after school with his friends. MT and I are happy that his friends come over here and that he plays outside instead of playing video games all day long.

Last night T and I had a really great conversation about growing up and changing. He was sitting on my lap and just chatting away. It's true that he's getting a bit big to sit on my lap comfortably, but I sure wasn't about to say anything. I just savored the opportunity to listen and talk to him. I think that he has a pretty good head on his shoulders and I'm hopeful that he will make good choices in his teenage years.

We're looking forward to spending time with our friends Rob and LA in Las Vegas this weekend! LA and I always joked about how our favorite day is the day before the day before you leave. We like saying, "We're leaving the day after tomorrow!" I'm not sure how that came about, but she sent me an email today proclaiming that today was our favorite day and I knew exactly what she was talking about.

I probably won't write until we return from our mini-break, so happy weekend everyone!

#208 waiting for "The Big One"

I knew something was wrong when T came around the corner. Usually he's pulling the bells, looking up and smiling at me as I wait for him in the car, but not today. He walked slowly, and sounded kind of sad when he said hello. I asked him how his day was and he said it was fine. He didn't talk much on the way home, also a little unusual.

When we got home, I went inside with him and as I was leaving, he sort of clung to me. He looked up at me with big, sad, brown eyes. "There's going to be an earthquake any day now," he told me.

"Who told you that?" I asked.

"My science teacher. She said it's going to be a big one, a 6, 7, or 8."

I'm thinking, "Darn that science teacher!" I say, "Well, the scientists have been talking about it for many years. There is a possibility that there will be an earthquake because we do live on a big fault. I think you have to be aware of the danger, and we should talk about how we would handle that situation as a family. There are some things we can do to prepare ourselves, but we shouldn't change the way we live."

He nodded gravely. Then he added, "And if the earthquake doesn't come first, there's the meteor that will smash into the earth in 2012 and destroy us all."

GRRR! WTF?

"Well then, " I said. "We better have as much fun as we can in the next three years, right?"

He sighed and went to play with his video games. I did get a really great hug before I went back to work, though.

#206 you don't say THAT to your mom

T was playing NBA2K9 on his PS2. He was telling me about creating his own player, named after himself, and all the attributes of his player. "I can shoot, dunk, and rebound. I'm 7'6" tall. I'm the greatest player in the NBA!"

"Wow!" I reply. "That sounds cool!"

"Yeah!" he says. "Now I'm going to go play with myself!"