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Movie Reviews

Previously, my blog reading level was high school. So, with one short entry, I have raised the bar another whole educational level.

Thank you for reading.

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Trying to Raise the Reading Level of My Blog

My articulate, computer-savvy male offspring evocatively expanded upon the particular computer-based thought-journal I continually rejuvenate and renew.

The singular reading level analysis bestows an educational level grade for the reading level of a blog. We have wondered cogently whether said analysis looks for sentence length, or perhaps the degree of difficulty for words contained herein.

Now that I have added a clearly superior and educationally outstanding post, we shall re-analyze.

I am compelled to admit some bemusement about the reading level analysis. I enjoy using imperfect grammar and spelling in a playful manner. Perhaps grammar and spelling play parts in the analysis.

Stay tuned for the exciting results.

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Taking Care of Oneself

This is an idea that has gotten a lot of press in recent times. As we've "evolved" into higher consciousness beings, we have "realized" that what REALLY matters is taking care of No. 1.

In my weekly therapy group tonight, I brought this concept up because I don't think I'm all that good at "taking care of myself." Probably on the continuum, I am somewhere more in the middle, because I neither deprive myself of sleep in order to vacuum, nor indulge my whims at the expense of others. (And there you see how I see this whole thing).

One helpful idea that was shared. Making a choice to take care of someone else, when that someone else is CHILDREN, is different that making a choice to take care of another adult who is capable of taking care of him- or herself. Nevertheless, it is surely challenging to figure out a balance between doing what's best for the kiddos and doing what's best for myself. Would be nice if there wasn't a difference, but sometimes there is.

Take basketball, for instance. Basketball, a sport I am deeply committed to on behalf of my children, requires a great deal of time, energy, money, and did I say time. We decided earlier this year to take off from sports until basketball starts "next fall." Whoops, the new coach and new venue are so excited and exciting, respectively, that we've actually got the option of starting basketball NOW!

I love the sport. I love watching my kids. I know they love playing. Even Kepler is very enthusiastic about basketball. My only other kid who isn't playing has some really good buds who are also little sibs of players. This new home court is GREAT and we will all be able to get almost free memberships to this health facility as players and families of players. There's a pool, tennis courts, basketball court, personal trainers, classes, racquetball courts, a running/walking track, a great kids' care facility, and some SWEET locker rooms. But the new place is about a 25-minute drive from home. And, there will be plenty of driving to do with three kids on teams. So, I am faced with a decision here. Is it best for the kids and/or me to go ahead and get involved during the summer, thinking of the benefits for all of us? Or is it better to wait until fall and have more downtime in the summer.

There are pros and cons to every choice and every decision. I haven't made a decision about basketball yet, but I have decided that one thing that is extremely important in taking care of myself is to begin to set aside time every morning to have some quiet moments to THINK, to LISTEN, to PRAY, and to get clear direction about my day and the days of the kids. I made the commitment to my group tonight that I will take some time every morning this week and I asked them to ask me about it next week. Accountability!

I just have this really full plate, and it is so full of good stuff. I suppose my plate does have limitations, and I just have to figure out what I REALLY want on the plate.

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I Make a Hecque of a Pizza

One of the positives about being low on funds is that you have to be a little more creative in the kitchen. When it comes to pizza, my favorite pizza is LaRosa's. I can order online (oh, bliss), we can run and pick it up in less than 10 minutes, and it is dern good. Oh, but it probably contains, at the very least, high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils and a few other baddie cats, and, oh yeah, it takes a chunk out of the budget ($26-$38). My second choice when it comes to pizza is DiGiorno's frozen pizza. Pretty good, actually, but also contains the baddie cats. Third best is my own crust with jarred spaghetti sauce, and various toppings. Since I was trying hard to be frugal AND healthy tonight, I made a pizza that didn't have ANY baddie cats in it at all, and no prepared foods.

Organic whole wheat flour.
Yeast (with a little honey for an extra oomph)
A little oil, a little salt, a little more honey (grown locally)

The sauce consisted of some garlic, an onion, a can of tomato sauce, and some spices.

The topping was hand-grated low-moisture, part skim, mozzarella cheese.

It definitely took longer. It surely cost way less than our typical LaRosa's order. But the best part -- I knew there was absolutely nothing in this pizza that I had to feel guilty about (I don't get guilty about cheese).

The photo above is the ACTUAL pizza. (That's my thumb there!) I watched my carb hounds (aka my children) chewing and swallowing healthy, homemade pizza. Dinner's over and there's no guilt to be seen!

Now that's a nice ending to dinner.

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Oh, Pshaw, Part II

Well, one must be on one's toes in these days of apostasy.

At my FINE bank, when one makes a deposit, one is entitled to $100 of that deposit right now, but the rest of it only becomes available when thine deposited checks clear their bank of origin.

One would think that one would know this since one has banked at this bank for nigh only nine years. But one is not in the habit of double-crossing oneself and overdrawing one's account, now is one?

My FINE bank tellers did confirm in fact this morning that had I been a sly enough banking customer to have deposited ONE check yesterday and ONE check today, I would have indeed had $100 available yesterday and $100 available today, which adds up to $200, which is twice as much as the $100 that is available to me today since I alertly deposited all of the checks together.

So, NOW I know. In the meantime, Kepler better not need too many diaper changes today! And I guess it's beet pancakes for lunch too!

Never a dull moment.

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Everybody Ought to Know

My dearest author, Adrian Plass, is quite probably the funniest man on earth. While we lived in Australia in 1990, this book was published and I saw it there first. However, I was at first unimpressed as it reminded me of some book I had heard of by Adrian Mole, which I know nothing about, but was unimpressed anyway. That is, I was unimpressed until I cracked open the cover of the book.

The cast of characters (below) is just chock full of loveable humans. But Adrian himself is the piece de resistance. He does amazing things in his quest to be a good Christian, including (but not limited to) attempting to make a paper clip move on his desk, in response to the verse about being able to move a mountain if you have the faith of a mustard seed.

Greg and I read this book to each other even now, 18 years later. Adrian has a wonderful way of capturing the foibles and wonderfulness of us imperfect Christians. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone, although someone who has been in the evangelical "culture" will certainly get a lot more of it.

Do yourself a favor. Read this book. You will love it. Guaranteed.

For more info on Adrian, visit his website

* Adrian Plass appears as himself as the main protagonist.
* Anne Plass, Adrian's wife.
* Gerald Plass, Adrian and Anne's son. His quirky and teasing sense of humour frequently offends the religious sensibilities of some of the more staid and conservative members of the church (notably Doreen Cook and Victoria Flushpool), and he has a minor obsession with anagrams, frequently announcing entertaining rearrangements of the letters in the names of various notable Christian personalities.
* Leonard Thynn, a close friend of the Plass family, whose eccentric personality and tendency to misunderstand social situations are a frequent source of both entertainment and frustration for the other members of the church. He struggles with alcoholism and lives at home with his elderly, deaf and similarly eccentric mother, Mrs Thynn.
* Everett Glander, Adrian's nemesis - a non-Christian who works at the next desk to him at work. He is constantly telling dirty jokes, about which Adrian admits to feeling guilty about the fact that he finds them funny.
* Victoria Flushpool, a rigid, doctrinaire and intimidating woman who considers balsa wood models to be evil on the grounds that the number of letters in "balsa wood" is a factor of 666, the Number of the Beast. Towards the end of The Theatrical Tapes of Leonard Thynn, she is brought to repentance and becomes much friendlier and more approachable. She and her husband later go to Africa as missionaries.
* Stenneth Flushpool, Victoria Flushpool's long-suffering husband and closet balsa wood modelling enthusiast.
* Edwin Burlesford, the patient and wise pastor of the church.
* Elsie Burlesford, Edwin's teenage daughter, an obstinate, headstrong character who considers the mildest, most tentative constructive criticism imaginable to be akin to Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu.
* Andromeda Veal, the rabidly feminist seven year old daughter of a Greenham Common woman.
* Richard Cook, a staunch and literally minded but enthusiastic church member, who frequently shares surreal "visions" and "pictures" with the rest of the group.
* Doreen Cook, Richard's equally staunch and rather more doctrinaire wife who insists that everything must be evangelically correct.
* Charles Cook, an enthusiastic Bible College student who manages to quote twelve Scripture verses for each word of "I hope you get better soon."
* Vernon Rawlings, a friend of Charles Cook with grandiose visions of himself in ministry and a habit of peppering his prayers with "really just".
* Frank Braddock, the Plass's laid-back, pipe-smoking next door neighbour.
* Percy Brain, the Plass's next door neighbour on the other side: a lonely, retired thespian who views himself as another Laurence Olivier.

(Cast of characters retrieved from Wikipedia.)

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State of the Union

Well, pshaw.

Greg took the [one phone charger we can find] off on his business trip (at my suggestion and with my blessing) and my phone is doing that desperate gulping thing it does as it slowly fades into oblivion.

We have cinched the belt really tight over the past week cause we sort of overspent and there was no room for foolishness since the mortgage was to be deducted yesterday. So we are down to a can of beets in the pantry, some really old leftovers in the fridge, and not a crumb in the snack cabinet. Imagine my SURPRISE!! when I discovered this morning in my daily online banking session that I had alertly and secretly arranged for the rest of Valerie's camp fee to be deducted yesterday! So all our hard work to avoid being overdrawn by the mortgage was all for naught. And to that, I utilize a swear word I learned from my father -- Fat!!

And this silly yearbook that I foolishly agreed to single-handedly create on a program I do not know how to use? Foolish, foolish. Why? Why did I agree to this? Just because there is one senior who wishes to have a yearbook. Good reason? I think not. But nevertheless I have alertly committed myself to the "little" project.

The good news is I know there is another phone charger if I can just unearth it; I have two checks to deposit and being overdrawn in the morning but not in the evening is just like not being overdrawn at all, so I will be waiting at the drive-through at 9:00 sharp; and somehow this yearbook will get done even if I have to use Microsoft Word. So, don't cry for me, Argentina! I still have the best deal around when it comes to an outstanding hubby, and fine children who are strong and brave. I just hope they don't mind beet pancakes for breakfast.

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