A Different Friday

1. My mother's book launch is tomorrow in Madison, WI, and I am so sorry to miss it. My life is just too complicated right now to try to extract myself and leave town, for anything. It was a huge gift to me that my husband took a week off of work in July so I could fly to California for my brother's wedding. The largish consolation prize is that my parents will be here next Saturday, the 20th, for a 2 week visit. So, if you haven't already, order your copy of Bathsheba's Lament now and she'll sign it for you while she's here.

2. Speaking of books you should buy, my dear friend Kimberlee Conway Ireton has a great post today about her excellent book, The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year, which has it's 2 year anniversary today. Or you could post a comment on her blog and have a chance of winning a free copy. It makes a great Christmas gift, or housewarming gift, or birthday gift....

3. Movie Update:

March 12
Green Zone (never managed to see it-we were too sick to go out when my folks were visiting for Easter; just got the DVD from the library and now it is waiting on the server to be watched)
April 2
Clash of the Titans (poor reviews; may see it on video)
April 23
The Losers (saw it by myself and really liked it)
May 7
Iron Man 2 (loved it!)
May 14
Robin Hood (it has received poor reviews so we do not plan to see it)
May 28
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (went to see it by myself and enjoyed it more than I expected to)
June 11
The A-Team (we saw it together and while I liked it, I think I liked The Losers better)
June 18
Toy Story 3 (we liked it but since we were older when the series started, we've rather identified with Andy's mother rather than him, so it did not effect us so much)
June 23
Knight & Day (never managed to sneak out and see it)
July 14
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (I enjoyed it)
July 16
Inception (We both enjoyed it)
July 23
Salt (still would like to see it)
August 13
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (It's now out on DVD so I need to find someone to borrow it from)
October 15
Red (got a sitter this afternoon and went to see it by myself; it was fun but there was a very high body count. The casting was excellent, though.)

Upcoming movies
November 19
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)
December 10
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
December 17
Tron: Legacy

I should probably start arranging for sitters for those last 3 movies because we will want to see them together. 

4. I developed a throat infection this week so am back on medication, a new antibiotic. It seems to be helping a great deal, though, but I am sooooooooo tired of being sick. This is just ridiculous!

5. We had a great time at the Adventure Aquarium last Friday and while I tried to take a bunch of pictures of my children petting baby sharks and sting wrays, watching large sharks and turtles swim by and marveling at the jellyfish, none of them came out. I need to work on how to take photos in a dim setting with a lot of reflective surfaces.

6. For some strange reason, last Saturday I starting watching the British series Being Human which is about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who share a house in Bristol. I was already coming down with whatever new bug is living in my throat and wanted something different. It certainly is that, but it's also well-written. Not as good as Sherlock, but still worth watching.

7. I took Miranda with me to Wegman's the other day and they had cut tulips for sale (which I find almost impossible to resist unless there are live ones blooming in my yard at that exact moment) and we had to have a discussion and compromise over what color flowers to buy. She wanted purple and I wanted orange and so we settled on red. It was a very interesting conversation and not one I had expected to have with her. It's like we can see her verbal and mental skills expand on an almost daily basis.

And here's Jen.