Good-bye School, Hello Summer

1. So it's Saturday afternoon, and I was just sitting down to write this post when I realized my darling husband, who left at about 7 this morning for a weekend full of VW shows, took the camera with him. So this isn't going to get posted until Monday, because he won't be back until late tomorrow. Ah, well. Happy Father's Day to him.

It was such a busy week around here that on Monday, I did absolutely nothing (beyond the necessary feeding, clothing and herding of the children on and off of their buses) because it was my last chance to be completely lazy before summer vacation started yesterday. Although, so far, they have been fairly happy and cheerful and played together for long periods of time without incident. Even if it doesn't last, it's a good way to start the summer.

I read Baby Blues every day and this week it was particularly appropriate:

2. Tuesday the great baking adventure started as I was making chocolate chip oatmeal bar cookies for all of the aides and it's a tricky recipe to multiply or make in anything other than my pyrex 9 x 13" pan. But I needed 16 small pans of them for all the aides, therapists and bus drivers who worked with Alex & Miranda's. I bought pots of miniature roses for Miranda's teacher and case manager and hydrangea planters for Alex's teachers and case manager.

Here are the flowers on their way to school, shoved into the foot well of the passenger seat:

This is only 2 of the planters; there was another one in the back seat. Costco had really nice hydrangeas this year.

I also printed nice cards for everyone, which Miranda and Alex did sign. It was a 3 day adventure and delivered to the schools in batches but it all got done by Thursday afternoon, just in time for my brother Jonathan to stop buy in between a conference and his flight back to California Friday morning.

3. Now it's Monday morning and I really need to get this blog posted!

My brother came to visit Thursday night. We picked him up at the Trenton train station about 5:30 pm and took him back about 9:30 the next morning, but it was still great to see him.

Miranda and Jon were battling with bubbles, chasing each other around, trying to land their bubbles on the other person. It was really funny, but difficult to photograph.

4. Miranda "graduated" from preschool on Wednesday afternoon. I have a few mediocre pictures to share, but the only one that came out well was of the party afterwards, with chocolate cake on her face. Not surprising, really.

The ceremony was cute and I think Miranda was the only student who only had one family member attend (me). In my opinion, it was a whole lot of fuss over not much, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

That's my girl. :)

5. I've been stitching a lot in the evenings, while watching the whole of the Marple series. I only have 3 episodes left. The women playing Miss Marple are excellent, of course, but it's also wonderful to see favorite actors like Benedict Cumberbatch, John Hannah or Phil Davis be excellent in period pieces like this.

Here's the progress pic:

The more I work on it, the better it goes. But it is a lot of half-stitches. All those angles look pretty on paper but are difficult to reproduce in real life.

6. Here are all of Alex's wonderful Angry Birds plush toys:

The next teeth he pulls out will bring him the helmet pig and the orange bird. Our collection must be complete. Funny boy.

7. And here's my flower bed, looking cool in the fading light of day:

Must run off and do Monday things!

Here's Jen.

All Bad Moody

1. For any Buffy fans out there, the title refers to a line from "Once More, With Feeling," the musical episode, one of the greatest ever. And, since it came to mind, I had to find the quote and listen to the soundtrack while I write this post.

Cut to Spike's crypt. Buffy enters. Spike emerges from his underground lair. 

SPIKE: The sun sets and she appears. (climbs up the rest of the way) Come to serenade me?
BUFFY: So you know what's going on.
SPIKE: Well, I've seen some damn funny things in the last two days. A 600 pound Chirago demon making like Yma Sumac, that one will stay with you. I remain immune, happy to say. (holds up a bottle of whiskey) Drink?
BUFFY: A world of no. (sits) So any idea what's causing this?
SPIKE: (disappointed) Oh. So that's all. You've just come to pump me for information.
BUFFY: What else would I wanna pump you for? (cringes) I really just said that, didn't I?
SPIKE: Yeah, well ... don't wanna bore you with the small talk. 

Spike walks to the door, opens it and turns toward Buffy. 

SPIKE: Don't know a thing.
BUFFY: (frowns) What's up? You're all bad moody.
SPIKE: Nothing. Glad you could stop by. 

He makes a gesture toward the door. Buffy stays seated, looks at him. 

SPIKE: (defensive) It's nothing.
BUFFY: What? 

And for the record, I like Buffy's Season 6.

What was I writing about again? Oh, yeah, all bad moody.

Well, my parents left this morning for Madison (my mother will return in 2 weeks, my father in 4), Marshall's parents are off in Lancaster for the weekend, both kids finish up school for the year next week, an event for which I am not in the least prepared. But, hey, my flowers are blooming:

2. In fact, my butterfly bushes, which I cut back significantly last fall, are just starting to bloom:

And they smell heavenly. I'm sure a rabble of butterflies (or swarm or lek; yes, Google is your friend) will be along soon.

When I bought them several years ago I thought they would stay small and dainty like the one I saw at my sister-in-law's house. Perhaps if I'd read the label more clearly, I wouldn't have planted them in front of a window.

Ah, well, we don't really use that window, anyway.

3. Saw a few movies in the last week: Men in Black III last Friday night with my mother and mother-in-law (we really enjoyed it and Josh Brolin is excellent, as advertised), Avengers again with my mother on Monday afternoon (still good, although it goes by faster the second time) and then Snow White & the Huntsman last night with my husband.

My feelings about that last film can best be described as mixed. Thankfully, Steven Greydanus of Decent Films Guide has a great review of it that explains everything. He also has a review of Wrath of the Titans that explains why I didn't like that film much either. And that would be why he gets paid to review films and I do not.

I planted Stella De Oro day lilies for the first time this year and they opened this week:

4. Got a bit more stitching done this week, while watching the first 2/3 of season 2 of Warehouse 13 and then, Wednesday night, catching up on Thundercats. Of the latter, I watched episodes 14-21, straight through. It's a lot less kid-friendly than I thought it would be but well-written. I still have the last 9 episodes of Clone Wars to watch; I stopped watching sometime over the winter because it's been rather dark lately, and not in a way I enjoy. Still, I'm sure I'll get caught up during the summer dolldrums. Oh, and here's the progress pic:

A lot of this week was spent finishing up the one-over-one work on the symbol for happiness. Here's a great close-up for you:

(The image is sideways. I have rotated it the right direction in 4 different applications and still, it's wrong. Maybe tonight my husband can fix it for me, because I GIVE UP!)

5. The Asiatic lilies that I have were from grab-bags of bulbs, so the fact they are still blooming is rather surprising. So are the occasional color variations.

And these are sideways, too. Yes, I know, I should really learn some basic HTML. I've been a little busy, you know, raising children with ASD. Or this was just one of those tasks I sub-contracted out to my husband. And he's busy you know, like, working. Dang.

BTW, the "Once More, With Feeling" soundtrack ran out 20 minutes ago. It takes me a little while to create these posts, especially when the pictures just won't cooperate.

6. Speaking (writing) of color variation, my hydrangea bushes are just weird.

These are pictures from the same bush:

And here's a picture from my smaller bush, which has never before bloomed, with separate flower clusters of both colors:

And that one is sideways, too. Dang.

The color variation has to do with the fertilizer components but I haven't analyzed what I've been using because the roses have their stuff, the Japanese maples got tree spikes this spring and all the flowering bulb plants get their own bulb food. Too weird.

7. I think I've been lazy this week because it's the calm before the storm. Next week is going to be bonkers because of all the end of the year parties and presents and such. I really need to get to work on those cards. Or go grocery shopping. Or not.

My hostas this year didn't get trimmed; consequently, they are trying to crowd out everything else. If you hadn't noticed already, I plant rather haphazardly and it comes back to bite me later.

Alex's marigolds look really nice, though:

And here's a few more calla pictures for you:

And here's Jen.

Welcome to June! Please Postpone Your Panic; I'm Too Busy.

1. Was it only a week ago I was preparing to leave the house for 48 hours to attend a family wedding in North Jersey? That seems ages ago. I've done scads of stuff since then.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful but the best part was seeing my cousins, who I love dearly, and their kids and catching up on each other's lives. We are all spread out (New York, Fresno, Boston, D.C., although the largest contingent is in the Bay Area in CA, which now includes my youngest brother and his family) but I never tire of spending time with them. My cousins are awesome and their kids are turning out to be really great people. Family is the best!

My hydrangea is just starting to bloom, which means I have to pour enormous amounts of water on it every morning, but it's worth it:

2. Even though I did everything I could to make the weekend at home go smoothly for Alex, he did not appreciate being handed off to a babysitter for 24 hours or that Mommy was away for 48. He wasn't nice to the sitter, he was upset when Marshall returned Sunday night and really upset with me when I returned Monday afternoon. Poor boy; we all hate change.

On a happy note, my callas are in full bloom, so we were able to take a vase full of them to school yesterday afternoon to present to Mrs. Garrett, who is Alex's full-time aide whenever he's outside of his anchor class. She's been working with him for 2 years and an absolute angel; we adore her and wanted her to know how much we appreciate her efforts.

3. Alex isn't smiling wide enough in this picture to show how he lost one of his top teeth this week. I need to get a better picture of him later this weekend. Anyway, he won, from the "tooth fairy," a Pig King plush toy. Miranda, helpful girl that she is, set it up in the castle Alex brought home earlier in the week from Art class:

4. My last MOPS meeting was Tuesday morning. Part of the reason we rushed home Monday (the other was to beat the traffic on the Turnpike) was so that I could bake individual pans of chocolate chip oatmeal bars as gifts for the ladies at my table as well as the women who've been corralling Miranda with the other 5 year old's all year long. It's a tricky recipe from the Campus By the Sea cookbook that was difficult to bake in small, individual pans. I'm hoping I'll get better at it in the weeks to come since this is what I'm making for all the teachers and aides at school and church.

Anyway, it was a lovely meeting and I was able to get up and say, with tears in my voice, what a God-send this MOPS group has been to me for the last 6 years. God has honored the efforts of every leadership team and been honored at every meeting. I'm sure I rambled a bit, (I had meant to write up my remarks ahead of time, but got busy with the weekend planning) but I was careful to give God the glory and bless, in the name of Jesus, the continuing efforts of these women, and that's really what mattered most.

As a "graduating" mom, I was given flowers by the mentor moms at my table, Barbara Randazzo and Peg Montgomery. They are really lovely:

5. I do a lot of surfing between running from here and there (or between laundry loads; I lost count of how many I did on Wednesday, but it was an all day affair) and have been following a couple of interesting writing series online.

Drew McWeeny, who used to write as Moriarty for Ain't It Cool News (which I loved and miss his contributions on the site) and now has his own site, HitFix, is doing a fascinating revisit of all the James Bond films and books. You can start with his first entry here.

I also read The Guardian regularly, mostly to keep up on UK television shows, and have really enjoyed Natalie Haynes Guide to TV detectives. It makes me wonder if I shouldn't find Magnum, P.I., on DVD somewhere. (Short break while I log in to the library and request the DVD box set for season 1!)

And here's some more callas for you:

I love it when one of the flowers "blends into" one of the leaves and makes them both beautiful.

6. Made more progress on Celestial Dragon this week, slowly but surely with only a little frogging (yet another reminder to avoid stitching when you're too tired to count). Here's your progress pic:

That tiny little stitching in the middle of the square, that would be one-over-one. (Here's a diagram; not the best, but it will give you an idea of what I mean). Ugh. By the time I finish this square and all the half-stitches, I'm going to be relieved to return to the dragon body and all the sparklies. Or not.

7. Tonight I'm going to see Men in Black III with my mom and my mother-in-law. It should be fun! Sometime in the next week Marshall and I hope to see Snow White & the Huntsman. And I still need to see The Avengers again. Oh, and the first trailer for Les Miz hit this week; it looks awesome!

I really need to go mow the lawn before it gets hotter outside.

Here's Jen. And a few more flowers for you, Asiatic lilies.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry

1. We had kind of a tough winter around here, what with my ankle and Marshall's surgery and ... everything else. So the backlog of stuff needing to be done is rather epic. Somehow, in the last week, I've wanted to tackle it all. In 5 days.

I know you're thinking, "Well, she did say last week that she was feeling better, but she didn't say she'd gone completely over the edge, did she? Did I miss that part?"

The motivating factor is that tomorrow I am leaving with my parents to spend the weekend in North Jersey at a family wedding. Marshall has a big project at work so he will be in the office until about midnight tonight and then all day Sunday. So, for the first time ever, we are leaving our children with someone not blood-kin overnight. Which means, since I am a control freak, a perfectionist and borderline OCD, I want everything to be perfect!

It does help that my cleaning lady came first thing this morning, so the usual layer of dirt and grime that lays on top of everything has now been wiped away. And I have been going through the piles that have been accumulating since December all throughout the week, recycling loads of paper, tossing anything broken or out of date, setting out clothes to give away, etc. But I haven't made it to the bottom of all the piles yet. Maybe by the end of June I will see all my corners again. Still, it feels good to make significant progress, as well as keep up with all my usual stuff.

2. On the nights I haven't dropped dead from exhaustion, I've been stitching. Here's my progress pic:

As I stitch, I've been watching Rookie Blue, starting in Season 1. It's soapy, but I like the actors and they do have chemistry. It's like the little sister series to Flashpoint, which I have been a fan of since its beginning.

3. All my activity this week has been focused on preparing the children and the house for someone else to be here (our babysitter). As soon as I return from the weekend away, on Monday afternoon, I start baking up a storm to make chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars in miniature disposable baking pans for the millions of people who work with my children as end of the year gifts. Well, it's not millions, but twice a year, when I plan inexpensive, easy-to-duplicate gifts, it feels like it. The list is so long I do it in small chunks so I don't get overwhelmed. For example, next week will be the women who work with Miranda at MOPS (3). Then I'll move on to her teacher, aides, therapist, case manager, and bus driver for school (I think it's 12 but I'll need to recount). And then Alex's two classes at school. And then their buddies at church. Yes, I have a lot of people to be thankful for. And a lot of cookies bars to bake.

4. My calla lilies, the pride of my garden, just started opening today. Here's the first bloom:

5. If you missed it last night, here's my updated movie post.

6. What on earth did I do this week? Clean, stitch, read, play Words with Friends, fill the fridge for Marshall and the babysitter for while I am away.... I guess that will fill up 7 days.

7. My last MOPS meeting is Tuesday morning. I was part of the founding team, six years ago, but now that Miranda will go to full day kindergarten in September, it's time for me to move on as well. I'm actually going to write out a short farewell address to share during our "Tea & Testimony" time and I'm sure I'm going to cry. It's been an awesome group and God has blessed me hugely with the friendships I've built along the way. I'm not sure what God's plan for me in the fall is but what I keep hearing from him is to leave my options open, so for now, that's what I'm doing.

I remain confident of this:
   I will see the goodness of the Lord
   in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
   be strong and take heart
   and wait for the Lord.
             Ps. 27:13-4, NIV


And here's Jen.

That Promised Movie Update

... was awesome! I saw it opening night and hope to see it again next week!

2012 Movies

January 20
Haywire (I didn't manage to see it in theatres so now I'm waiting for DVD.)
Underworld: Awakening (even though the first one was only mildly entertaining and the second one was so problematic I had to refer to Wikipedia's plot summary to figure out what was happening while I was watching the film on cable, Kate Beckinsale is a lot of fun to watch run around in black leather with double pistols. Maybe on DVD.)
Coriolanus (It never came to NJ. I will have to see it on DVD, dang it, in June. I have already been looking forward to this for months, but then I'm a sucker for Shakespeare anything)
February 10
Safe House (because Ryan Reynolds is just so appealing and I like cotton candy action movies. I never managed to see it in theatres so am now waiting for DVD.)
March 9
John Carter (of Mars. It was awesome! You should have seen it. Rumors of its failure were greatly exaggerated.)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (looks really sweet. Maybe on DVD.)
March 16
21 Jump Street (got incredible reviews, which makes me curious, but I'll wait for DVD.)
March 30
Wrath of the Titans (I saw it right before it left theatres; they ran the movie just for me. It was pretty but rather hard to follow if you know a lot about Greek mythology. If you knew nothing about the origins of the characters, I'm sure it was fun. As always, Sam Worthington and Rosamund Pike are very appealing.)
Mirror Mirror (I went to see it with my mother and really liked it.)
April 13
Lock Out (awesome trailer but bad reviews meant it didn't stay in theatres long enough for me to see it, so I'll have to wait for DVD)
April 27
Safe (I did see it in theatres and while it did have plenty of plot holes, Jason Statham is still as appealing as ever)
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (from the makers of Shaun the Sheep, got great reviews but was geared for older kids so we did not see it as a family. Maybe when it comes out on DVD we can watch it together and tackle it in pieces.)
May 4
The Avengers (So excited! I'm not watching the trailer every week, like I did with Star Trek, but I still expect it to be my favorite movie of the summer and worth at least one return trip to the theatre.)
May 18
Battleship (Reviews were better than I expected, but I'm still just going to see The Avengers again, like the rest of America, instead.)

Films still to come


May 25
Men in Black III - (I have a date to see this June 1st with my mother and mother-in-law; we're leaving the boys at home to watch the kids.)
June 1
Snow White & the Huntsman (I was doubtful until I saw the trailer, which makes it look fascinating.)
June 9
Prometheus (this is the movie Marshall is most looking forward to in the summer of 2012; with a cast that includes Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba and Logan Marshall-Green and directed by Ridley Scott, it would be hard for this to fail. Possible, but unlikely.)
June 22
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (I'm curious; I'll wait and see what the reviews say.)
Brave (Pixar's new film that we don't know much about yet.)
July 6
The Amazing Spider-Man (this picture has transfixed me for months.)
July 20
The Dark Knight Rises (Can Christopher Nolan really finish his trilogy well? Is the Pope Catholic?)
August 3
The Bourne Legacy (Basically, I'll watch Jeremy Renner in just about anything.)
Total Recall (maybe; I like Colin Farrell and am not fond of Paul Verhoeven so I might find this version an improvement, maybe.)
August 17
The Expendables 2 (the first one was amusing; I will probably will see this on video.)
September 14
Argo (sounds interesting, although I have yet to watch any of Affleck's director projects)
September 21
Dredd (Karl Urban is a good actor and I've read enough about the project on Wikipedia to read the reviews and think about seeing it.)
September 28
Looper (comparisons to Moon can only be good.)
November 9
Skyfall (new James Bond; end of story. New trailer debuted this week.)
December 7
Les Miserables (love the musical so am curious about the film)
December 14
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (do I have to make any explanation about why I want to see this movie?)
December 28
The Great Gatsby (I am not a big fan of the novel but the trailer was released this week and it's gorgeous!)

Unannounced Date
Much Ado About Nothing (directed by Joss Whedon, cast includes innumerable old favorites--what's not to like?)


Earlier this week, G.I. Joe: Retaliation was moved from June 29 to next March. Here is some speculation as to why that might have occurred. I would still like to see it, regardless, just not in 3D.


And that's my list, so far.

It's A New Day

1. Feeling much more like myself today, thanks to the prayers and support of family and friends. The dark cloud of depression seems to have been removed and I am forging forward. Surging? Foraging? Whatever.

In fact, I am feeling so much better than yesterday, not only did I buy fabbie (cross stitch fabric) for my next project (I use high quality Jazlyn that is only available by mail order), I took out poor old Celestial Dragon and put in several hours of work on it last night.

I posted my future projects on our photo site, sometime in 2005, apparently, but they are still valid. See them here. The dragon is for Marshall and the flowers, collectively known as Connections by John Clayton, I planned to stitch, years ago, for our bedroom. I'm not sure which wall they will hang on but I still want to stitch them, so full steam ahead! (A side note on John Clayton: his Connections series used to have the four flowers in red/brown and the other four in blue. Since I purchased the patterns for day lily, calla lily, tulip and iris, he has recolored the other four--anemone, carnation, freesia and rose--from blue to the same red/brown.)

So, here are shots of Celestial Dragon before and after last night's progress:

Because of the level of difficulty of this pattern, I won't be moving quite as quickly as I did last year when I was working on White Lilies on Red as a gift for my sister-in-law, Stephanie. Still, any movement forwards is a good thing. Hopefully, I will be posting weekly progress shots. Oh, and if you need a reminder of last year's happy dance, here it is:

I am still so pleased with the final product. So pretty!

2. Kimberlee Conway Ireton has another post this week about the fight against child exploitation and slavery and you can read it here. Please, leave a comment and pray for those who work in Jesus' name against these horrors.

My dianthus are in full bloom, so I've included a few pictures of them.

3. My regular readers will recall that Jen Fulwiler, of Conversion Diary, took a break last week from 7 Quick Takes because she had witnessed the horrific death in a motorcycle crash of a neighbor. She writes about it very movingly here.

4. On a lighter note, Simcha Fischer has a hilarious post called "Ten Reasons I'm Doomed This Summer."

My irises and broom are starting to fade, but here are a few photos of their last gasp of beauty. Oh, and Miranda's purple pansies are in the middle and looking very happy. But then, we have had a lot of rain lately.  I do really love my red broom, as opposed to the usual yellow, but one of my neighbors has an orange one that I am slightly jealous of. I do love orange flowers. Must be the hair.

5. I really need to update my 2012 movie review list, but I've been too busy reading my mother's day gift from my husband, Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion: The TV Series, the Movies, the Comic Books and More: The Essential Guide to the Whedonverse. Well done there, Marshall.

6. In the meantime, I looked for something light and fun to watch, so I've started my way through Warehouse 13. I'll catch up on all my other series season finales later.

Also, I am happy to report Marshall and I have made it through episode 10 of Series 6 of Doctor Who. Only 4 more to go and we'll be all caught up for the start of Series 7, which I think is to be broadcast starting in September.

7. Simcha also has a post about robins, which I was reminded of when I climbed up the old pool ladder in the back yard to check on the nest of robins we have in one of our pine trees. Here they are, looking very snug, but growing fast.

And here's Jen.