To Review (Again): 2011 films

I was discussing movies with a friend today and decided it was high time to update my 2011 film to watch list:

January 14
Green Hornet (I actually tried to watch this on DVD, but it was so horrible, I turned it off. I made the horrific mistake of watching the original series in its entirety first, which is decent if a little campy. Like The Avengers movie made years ago, this film seems to miss the point entirely. Ugh.)
April 1
Source Code (Marshall and I were able to go out and see this while my parents were here in April--free babysitting!--and we really liked it. Not as amazing as Moon, but still very good.)
April 29
Fast Five (So much fun! Ridiculous fun, even Rotten Tomatoes gave it an excellent rating. However, you should still listen to the people at How Did This Get Made make fun of it here.)
May 6
Thor (I enjoyed it, but mostly for the actors themselves, especially Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, and, of course, Idris Elba. I did not like Natalie Portman as Jane. I have watched all of Wallander and while he is one of the main characters, Hiddleston didn't seem like anything special in it. But in this, he was fascinating. And, after seeing Cappy and the preview for Avengers, I want to see Thor  again. Coming to DVD on September 13!)
June 3
X-Men: First Class (I enjoyed this, mostly because of Michael Fassbender.)
June 10
Super 8 (We were supposed to see this to celebrate Marshall's birthday, but we both got sick. Waiting for DVD.)
June 17
Green Lantern (I went to see it the weekend Harry opened. While I did like it, I think this review clearly lays out all of the film's problems.)
June 24
Cars 2 (I still have not managed to see it. Sigh. Another for DVD. We considered taking the children to this film as their first film in the theatre experience, but the reviews said the plot was more complicated than the original film, so we decided to wait.)
July 1
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (I saw it opening weekend and while I liked it, the movie was too long!)
July 15
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (We saw it while in San Diego on vacation and it was awesome and I did cry when Harry saw his parents in the woods and cheered for Neville, because he was awesome! I also liked several parts where the film departed from the novel, like when Harry confronted Snape in the Hogwarts main hall.)
July 20
Another Earth (This just looks interesting, but it might be on my "too sad to see" list. Since my home life with special needs children is rather involving, I rarely watch serious or sad movies. I just don't have the emotional energy to spare.)
July 22
Captain America: The First Avenger (It was a fun movie and Chris Evans was awesome, as I knew he would be after seeing him in The Losers and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. But the movie was too short; I wanted more and didn't want to wait until next summer.)
July 29
Cowboys & Aliens (James Bond and Indiana Jones on horseback, fighting aliens. What's not to like?!)

Still Up coming:
August 26
Colombiana (I am planning to see it this weekend.)
August 31
The Debt (I would like to see this, but it probably falls under the "too sad to see" label, as well.)
September 16
Drive (Maybe. It looks interesting. I'll wait for the reviews.)
September 23
Moneyball (We are planning to see it with our baseball-crazed friend.)
Abduction (This looks fun and brainless, just my cup of tea.)
Killer Elite (Ditto.)
October 7
Real Steel (Maybe. I am a Jackman fan.)
The Ides of March (Occasionally, I do watch a serious movie, although I've yet to see Michael Clayton, even though I've heard it's excellent.)
October 21
The Three Musketeers (I know the story's been done to death, but this one looks rather steam punk, which would be an interesting twist to go along with the cool cast.)
October 28
Anonymous (As a fan of Shakespeare, although I turned off Shakespeare in Love after half an hour because I couldn't stand it, I might see this, if it's good enough.)
November 11
Immortals (Fun for fans of Greek Mythology everywhere!)
November 23
The Muppets (Are there any bad Muppet movies? Actually, I haven't seen them all. The Great Muppet Caper is still my favorite, though.
December 16
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (the first one was fun, so perhaps this one will be, as well, though not as good as Sherlock.)
December 21
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (directed by Brad Bird; end of story.)
December 23
The Adventures of Tintin (directed by Steven Spielberg and based on famous comics that I've never read; still, could be fun)

And that's all, folks!

Can the Next Crisis Please Take a Number?!

1. This summer, no, this year has felt like one crisis after another and reminded me this morning of the lines from Hamlet when Gertrude says "One woe doth tread upon another’s heel, / So fast they follow" (IV.vii.159-60); she then proceeds to tell Laertes that his sister, Ophelia, has in her madness, drowned. No, there have been no untimely deaths here; the only dead things have been bed bugs and their deaths are never untimely, just over due. But I am having a very difficult time keeping my chin up and my grateful attitude abounding. (And the bed bugs did not magically starve to death while we were in California, so the spraying of toxic chemicals will continue until morale improves.)

2. Yes, we returned home safely and without incident, although the flights were a little bumpy. If you don't already, fly Southwest. They made traveling with special needs children as painless as possible in this nervous climate and we are very thankful to have been so well cared for by 4 different cabin crews. Even the TSA people were courteous so I didn't mind their extra caution with all my juice boxes and medicines. I still hate flying, but we made it without serious injury or seriously annoying the people sitting around us, the latter of which has to be a miracle unto itself. And Alex and Miranda now know how to do the whole airplane travel process.

3. Yes, it was a lovely vacation in San Diego and the best part was being with family who graciously and enthusiastically helped keep Alex and Miranda fed and entertained. If you haven't seen the pictures, here's another chance.

Oh, alright, I'll post some here.

Having fun at the zoo.

Post-swimming sunning with Daddy.

Best bud Ballou.

Basketball with Mason, cousin Aaron's best friend.

Snuggling and playing with Uncle Brandon.

Snuggling and playing with Uncle Jonathan.

Swimming with Grandma.

Swimming with Grandpa.

You know, I have really adorable children. :) I'm so glad there are only 2 of them.

4. So, on Wednesday, after getting all my thank you's into the mail, I heard through the grapevine that Miranda had been moved from the school she's been attending for the past 2 years back to our sending school. Naturally, this provoked a great deal of upset. Our mail was never delivered upon our return, for no apparent reason; I did go pick it up yesterday morning and all I got in answer to my queries from the Post Office was a dumb look. So the formal notice of the change, which was postmarked Aug. 18, was not formally received until yesterday. I was able to talk to her case manager and Marshall and I quickly wrote a polite but detailed appeal to have her moved back to the classroom where she's been so happily ensconced for the previous 2 years. And since the school administrative offices are closed today and Monday and school starts Tuesday, it was a bit of a rush job and we'll have to wait until next week to discover the result. The programs at either school are equivalent so the CST was well within its right to move her, and if we'd discovered this on Aug. 20th instead of the 31st, I think I could have approached it with more equanimity. But as it is now, it is the source of a great deal of stress. This was so not the way I wanted to return to NJ.

5. I don't quite know what to do with my evenings now that I'm not cross stitching like mad. Well, I could read a book!

Summer Vacation Reading List:

• Moon Called by Patricia Briggs - 336 pages
• Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs - 352 pages
• Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs - 304 pages
• Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs - 304 pages 
• Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs - 304 pages (I am now waiting for book 6 to come in the mail)
• Dead Beat by Jim Butcher - 528 pages
• Fool Moon by Jim Butcher - 352 pages (yes, I realize I started in the wrong order; I plan to start the complete Dresden Files from the beginning, next week)

I'm also part-way through several other books:

• Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War by Michael J. Neufeld - 88 pages (Marshall and I are especially space-mad so this is right up our alley)
• Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books by Lynne Sharon Schwartz - 61 pages
• Naked in Baghdad: The Iraq War as seen by NPR's Correspondent Anne Garrels - 48 pages (I've wanted to read this since listening to her reports in 2002. Now if we can just persuade Sylvia Poggioli to write a book about her time in Kosovo in the late 90's....)
• Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War & Peace by Dominic Lieven - 173 pages (I've never read War & Peace, which is a travesty, I know, but since I spent my California vacation last summer reading about the war from the French perspective, I thought it would be interesting to read it from the Russian perspective. And it is!)
• The Armada by Garrett Mattingly - 251 pages (I know I'm cheating a little here because I started it in the spring, but I picked it up again on the trip)
• Much Ado About Nothing & The Tempest by William Shakespeare - call them 100 pages each (I re-read the plays before seeing the performances at The Old Globe Theatre)

Grand Total: 3,301 pages

Quite satisfactory. Now if I can only finish what I've started....

What I really wanted to find in all those books stores was a copy of Pride & Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. Can anyone loan me a copy?

6. Our house seemed to weather Hurricane Irene without much trouble. Marshall's mother came by to make sure all the hatches were battened down (or, at least, put the garbage cans in the garage so they couldn't blow away) so all that we noticed when we got home were a few branches down in the back yard. Our neighbors were looking out for us, so if anything had gone terribly wrong, I'm sure they would have called. 

7. Okay, people, if you haven't yet purchased a copy of my mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, what is the matter with you? Get with the program! Amazon delivers overnight and so do I. Call me. Email me. Click your way through on Amazon's helpful website. I want to hear those pages turning all over the country! Today, people, Today! :)

And here's Jen. 

Is it Really Friday Again?

1. My dear husband and I left my aunt's house Tuesday at about 11 am and returned last night about 8 pm, spending 2 nights at a B&B called The Keating House near downtown San Diego. It was lovely to be away from our children for almost 3 full days, although Alex got his revenge by getting up for the day at 2:30 this morning. Which explains why I'm still rather wifty and only writing this blog post at 5 pm local time. And missed out on the trip to the beach this morning, because I went back to bed at 7 am, after sharing shifts with Marshall in the wee small hours of the morning. God bless grandparents and aunts and cousins who love my children. They are the reason we have a real vacation.

2. While we were away, the children had a great time at the zoo, the beach and Grandma Helen's pool. Oldest philosophy in the book: keep the children active and they won't have time to whine that Momma is not here.

If you want to see some of the fun we've been having, here are the pictures. There are extensive pictures of the B&B and its plants for those who are interested. The other pictures show the family together, having a good time.

3. If you haven't heard (HA!), there's a hurricane headed up the East coast. It's very strange to be seeing all the activity from a distance of 3,000 miles. I am very glad to be here and miss all the fuss. We don't usually experience flooding in our neighborhood, so we're really not concerned about our own place. And not sad to miss out on any power outages. Everything should be clear for flying home Tuesday. Should.

4. We saw Cowboys & Aliens yesterday and I think it deserved a much better review than Rotten Tomatoes gave it. I enjoyed it. James Bond and Han Solo fighting ugly aliens on horseback--what's not to like?

5. Marshall and I spent a lot of our time away at used bookstores and bought lots more books. So many we may have to ship a box home. I will tally up the titles and number of pages next week, like I did last summer.

6. We didn't get any Doctor Who watched at the B&B (had too much fun reading and seeing The Tempest), but we did watch Space Battleship Yamato with English subtitles. I enjoyed it, although I only have a passing acquaintance of Star Blazers. Marshall was a big fan, growing up.

7. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.

If you've read the book and enjoyed it, won't you please consider writing a review on Amazon for her? Click here.


And here's Jen, who is very funny today. Don't miss it!

Update from San Diego

A few updates from vacation in place of my usual Friday list:

1. Cross stitch was turned over to Stephanie, as planned. I washed it and ironed it and Jonathan packed it in between towels and cardboard to take home to Thousand Oaks to be framed at their convenience.

2. As you can see from the photo above, we had a wonderfully full weekend of visiting with family. So much so, Alex and Miranda were decidedly low-key today. When Alex doesn't want to go swimming, you know he's tired.

3. For my birthday, Marshall took me to see my favorite play, Much Ado About Nothing, at The Old Globe here in San Diego at Balboa Park. It was awesome. It wasn't a perfect production, but Benedick was amazing and I loved the staging and music. What a birthday gift! And we're going to see The Tempest on Wednesday night. Never pass up an opportunity to see Shakespeare.

4. Tomorrow morning Marshall and I leave for 3 days away from everyone else. We're going to take the time to catch up on Doctor Who, Series 6.

5. My cousin Aaron introduced me to a wonderful new book series in a genre I wouldn't usually read, but the protagonist is so compelling, I didn't mind all the vampires and werewolves. Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, and Bone Crossed. I am now looking for books 5 and 6, Silver Borne and River Marked. Ignore the covers; they are as bad as some romance novels. Good writing is worth reading.

6. The children did not adapt to the Western Time Zone as quickly as we had hoped, but we are all 4 of sleeping in one large room, so some disturbances are understandable. The good thing is, there are lots of adults to trade off shifts with, so it isn't always just me at 6 or 7 am.

7. We did see Harry on Saturday and enjoyed it. We hope to see Cowboys and Aliens next Saturday. And I'm wondering about Fright Night. It might be fun to see David Tennant as a vampire slayer.

I think that's all. I may try to update again on Saturday.

If you missed it, Jen was really funny last Friday.

Happy Dance?

Here it is, all finished! I think I would be more pleased if I wasn't so sleep deprived. Alex didn't sleep well Thursday or Saturday night and Miranda woke up at 5 am this morning so I can't remember the last good night of sleep I've had. It's a good thing we're leaving soon for vacation where there will be other people to entertain my children in the early hours of the morning, so I can sleep.

Of course, what with all the bleary eyed days and nights, I haven't started packing yet. But I still have two full days. And my cleaning lady is coming tomorrow afternoon so I will leave a clean house here (and come home to one, too).

The suitcases have just been set up in the garage for me (a bed bug free space) which would be great, if it wasn't raining, or going to rain all day today and tomorrow, like it did yesterday. Did I mention our garage is not attached?

Ah, well. At least White Lilies on Red is finished, which is no small accomplishment. As I was putting everything from this project away last night and retrieving all the supplies for Celestial Dragon, which I put down two years ago to work on the lilies, it was remarkable how much the bright greens and aquas contrasted with the sedate but beautiful colors of the lilies. I promised Marshall I would take a break from stitching after the gung-ho effort of the last few months to make the deadline. September sounds like a good time to pick it up again. I just have to remember where I stashed it.

Before I forget, a big thank you to my father-in-law for scanning, enlarging and re-printing all the pattern pages of White Lilies on Red. Otherwise, I never could have seen enough of the pattern to stitch.

Only 5 More Days

1. The first thought through my head this morning was "Oh, God, I'm going to die!" because it was 3 in the morning and Alex still hadn't fallen asleep. He finally fell asleep on the couch about 3:30 am, at which point Miranda woke up because her pull-up had leaked and I don't think she went back to sleep until after 5 am.  And both children were up and happy and hungry by 8 am. I don't know how to count how many hours of sleep I got or didn't get, but was really not enough. Now, Alex has bad nights like this now and again as a result of his medication, so I don't worry about him, but the result for Marshall and I, trying to doze while keeping tabs on where he is in the house, is usually pretty ugly. Now I'm glad I didn't promise to take the children to the beach today. That really would have killed me. We are meeting friends at the pool later, where I can lounge about and watch them swim. That seems possible, with caffeine.

2. 5 more days until we leave for San Diego and the pieces are falling into place. My main job this weekend is to pack, which, thanks to the bed bugs, is a little more complicated than usual. Every piece of fabric we take with us needs to make a full trip through the dryer on high before moving out to the garage (where we actually store the suitcases, which is good, because we don't have to worry about them being contaminated out there) and into a suitcase. I'm planning to take about 5 days worth of clothes for everyone, since we are staying at my aunt's house where there is a full washer and dryer. Of course, Miranda usually wears about 3 outfits a day with new pajamas every night, so she may have to cut back a little on her changes. I think we will be leaving all the princess dresses at home but bringing the tutus. Miranda gets to bring her blankets with her but I ordered a new one for Alex that is waiting for him in San Diego; he's my cocoon boy and usually sleeps all wrapped up in his brown blanket. The hard decisions are what to bring with us and what to buy there. I am making a grocery list for my parents (my mother travels today and my father on Monday) so that all our special foods can be there waiting for us and Alex won't have to survive on cheese stix and wheat thins (which would probably be his preference, but isn't the best idea) and trying to decide whether to add things like shampoo and lotion to it. Man, I hate packing for an army.

3. I have called Southwest's customer service (if you didn't know, Southwest Airlines is the friendliest, in the continental US, to special needs' families) and now know how to get a special boarding pass and inform the cabin crew of our special challenges. I'm trying to figure out what to do about the TSA. Is it worth calling their customer service or should I just wear a sign on my chest saying "These kids have autism; please give us a break?" I'm not sure which step would be more worthwhile. I was never able to sell Marshall on wearing special Autism t-shirts on the plane, but you can't blame the guy for wanting to at least try to pass for normal. Autism advertising is a mixed blessing. Some people will cut you a break and others will want to talk your ear off. The people who give you dirty looks and just want you to "control" your children won't be mollified by anything, so it's best to ignore them completely.

4. Almost done:

Since I only have a few more days to stitch, I'd better be almost done. Actually, I watched the entire Ellery Queen series this week while stitching, which was perfect. Engaging but not real distracting.

5. I took both children to the dentist, separately, on Wednesday and we all survived. Everyone got tranquilizers, of course, because I'm not stupid, but they are both fine and the only bad news was that our favorite, wonderful dental hygienist is retiring. She is amazing with the kids. Dang. It is a great office, though, so hopefully we'll be able to break in someone new.

6. Yesterday was one of those days when nothing would make Miranda happy for more than 5 minutes at a time and by the time afternoon came around, I didn't want to be around her anymore. I mean, there was one time when she was being so defiant I had to pull her into the house for a time out and she bit me. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but she hasn't done that in more than a year. It was shocking. I think we need a vacation.

7. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.

If you've read the book and enjoyed it, won't you please consider writing a review on Amazon for her? Click here.


And here's Jen. If you don't read her regularly, you should click on it and skip to #7; it's hilarious! You should also read Simcha for another laugh. 

12 Days & Counting

1. We've had a rather full week, which would explain why Marshall is home sick and I haven't seen my brain in a few days.

So, Friday, right after we finished dinner, this scary storm came through our neighborhood, and I mean scary! I looked at the tree outside our bedroom window and I would have sworn it was the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter. It didn't last long but it did considerable damage.

This branch was lying on our driveway, behind the cars, after the storm had stopped. Which was odd because the cars were parked under the tree. It felt like an angel directed the branch to fall where it wouldn't do any damage.

But even more fun than falling branches, the storm knocked out the power for almost 24 hours. The children, power-dependent creatures that they are, were not amused.

We tried pancakes from McDonald's for breakfast, which they refused. And by early afternoon, they were both overheated and grumpy, that we begged Marshall's mother to come crash at her house for dinner so we could recharge the laptops and cell phone batteries and feed the children, since we couldn't figure out what to feed them that didn't require electricity. So they bounced their way around Mimi and Pop-Pop's house for 2 hours until I couldn't bear it anymore and I dragged them home again, to find that the power was back on, earlier than expected. Bless those hard working electricians at PSE&G!

We didn't lose any groceries, thankfully, because our clever neighbor across the street recommended we make a trip to the ice shop for some dry ice to slip into the fridge and deep freezer to keep everything cool, which was very effective.

It was certainly an adventure, one I would prefer to avoid next time around. Yes, I have high-maintenance children. But I knew that.

2. On the bed bug front, we have managed to eradicate them from Miranda's room, but we did so by throwing out her entire bed (keeping the plastic-enclosed mattress) and getting a new one. This is not what I want to do in my room or Alex's, where we are still being annoyed by them. Nevertheless, here's her new "princess" bed:

3. What with all the excitement last weekend (we spent Sunday afternoon swimming and visiting with good friends at their home), the lawns didn't get mowed until Wednesday. Now, what with one thing and another, we hadn't mowed in weeks and weeks, not since my mother did it when she was here in early July. So, while I was able to get the front all done, in the back, I only made a few inroads into the jungle:

Yes, life is rather full.

4. On a happy note, the end of White Lilies on Red gets closer and closer:

I expect to finish it, just in time for...

5. Our trip to San Diego on Aug. 17. My excitement outweighs my terror but the multitude of details to be sussed out before we go is starting to bug me, like counting up everyone's medication or packing Alex's special pancake mix, etc. Or deciding if I'm going to try to write postcards to my HS students while I'm away, or give myself a break. Speaking (writing) of which, my mother cleaned out her massive postcard collection and sent me a huge pile to send to all my Youth Ministry friends, from places like London and Hawaii and everywhere in between, so I'm having a great time sending crazy postcards.

6. While stitching incessantly this week, I watched an excellent new series, Scott & Bailey. It even gripped Marshall's attention. We were thankful to discover it's been picked up again next year with 8 new episodes. And, I discovered that New Tricks had started begun its 8th series in early July, so I am enjoying this again. But the second series of Sherlock was supposed to air in October and has now been pushed off until next year. Dang.

7. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.

If you've read the book and enjoyed it, won't you please consider writing a review on Amazon for her? Click here.


And here's Jen. And you should really read Simcha today, as well.