The kids and I went over to Almond's house a few weeks ago to have dinner with her and her parents. She had made steaks for the adults and hot dogs for the kids. Xander of course made a mess of the catsup and it was all over his face and hands and shirt.
I turned to him and asked him to wipe a few layers of gross off of his face. I said "Let's don't act like you guys were born in a barn."
Xander thought about this for a brief moment then said "You mean like Jesus was?"
Touche Xander. Touche.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Things that do not make you a bad parent
1. Having a (just turned) 5 year old that can't write much more than his/her own name.
2. Having children share a bedroom (especially if they're under the age of 10).
3. Having these children take a bath together (still under the age of 10).
4. Letting your 5 year old watch t.v. (mostly education movies) or play on the computer (again, going to educational sites) or play on his/her DS without doing a ton of homework or chores first.
5. Moving again - because you are renting the house you're in and you want to buy a house instead.
Unfortunately, there are some people in the world (usually those who do not have children residing with them) who believe that this does make you a bad parent.
Let me point out some things that do make you a bad parent:
1. Abusing your children.
2. Not providing adequately for your children or putting your wants above their needs.
3. Being a lush or an addict.
4. Ignoring the kids.
5. Not doing whatever it takes to make sure that they are getting all they need (and maybe some of what they want).
I'm a damn good parent. (I don't say that out loud in front of the kids - that's cause I'm a damn good parent.) :)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Its been a long time....
So I haven't updated in awhile. I'm surprised I haven't been chewed out about this. However, most of the people who read this I talk to pretty often as well so maybe its not TOO surprising.
I do need to have a bit of a rant though. A rant about Twilight. I will probably go on about this some more in another post, but here are some things that are bothering me about this book and the phenomenon its created.
**Warning - Spoiler Alert**
1. The first book is obviously written about a teen to be read by teens. The following books become less and less teenage-specific and more and more adult novels. This is bad because the teens are attracted to the story from the first book but in order to find out what happens are exposed to a story line that is more adult than I'd prefer my own kids reading even if they were teenagers.
2. Its not written all that well. But for some reason, several girls and women have ignored this fact and have fallen in love with the Twilight world. Granted, the story line is interesting to a certain extent (until its ruined in the fourth book) but its still not a superb series. Too many phrases are repeated throughout the books ("my favorite crooked smile" made me want to pull my hair out each time I read it). There are also a few gaps in the story that make me wonder who edited the stupid things. For instance, Alice tells Aro that he can let Bella go without killing her because of a vision she sees and shares with him. He indicates that her visions are sometimes faulty but she insists that this particular event (or events) WILL happen. What he saw is never explained and its not even plausible. In the fourth book, he has NO idea how or why Bella was turned into a vampire or else he would have know that Reneesmalwoeruoing (the crazy named daughter of Bella and Edward) was not a true vampire baby that he was so angry about. So what exactly did he see about her that made him decide to let her go without hurting her? Dunno. And that's a big problem for me.
3. The series is completely predictable. Except for the end in which you think something is going to happen...and then it doesn't. Predictability would have been preferable to that ending.
4. Grown women are falling in love with a man that COULD NOT POSSIBLY EXIST! Is he perfect in almost every way? Well, except for that little vampire problem, yes. This bothers me very much. Flawed characters are more interesting as well as believable. On top of this, in my opinion its not healthy for any woman to expect their significant other to be anything like Edward. Is there any normal looking woman who thinks that its a good thing for men to want to only marry super models? We women have to fight this thinking everyday, both with ourselves and with the male population. We don't like being told through the media and society that we're not good enough because we don't look as beautiful or that even though we're smart and witty and fun to be with its not good enough. Why should it be acceptable to do the same thing to men? They have a bit of this to fight with as well and to add Edward to the pot just makes things worse. Human men (that actually exist) cannot possibly live up to this standard. Its a bad lesson to teach girls that they will only be completely in love if their boyfriends act, look, and talk like Edward. Now can men take a few notes from Edward on how to treat a woman? Absolutely. If you men actually want to know what women want, please pay attention to how Edward treats Bella. But I don't expect any man to be able to be that perfect at all times no matter how in love he is with someone.
5. The movie was bad. It was poorly directed and poorly acted. I understand that there wasn't a big budget for it. But you'd think that with as big a hit as the books were that just a bit more budget would have been given for this project. I don't have time to go over all the reasons it was bad except for one reason - skin should not make twinkling noises when the sun's light hits it even if it does sparkle. That's just stupid.
6. Even though the movie was obviously stupid, there are many MANY women who defend it! Ladies, I can appreciate the story line to a certain extent and this movie did NOT do it justice! I was actually looking forward to the movie because I wouldn't have to hear the constant dialogue of Bella's brain putting herself down and being ooey gooey about Edward and his stupid crooked smile. The first part was promising, but then it felt like the director gave up and said "We're gonna make a butt-load of money no matter how bad this is, so lets just not put a lot of effort into it, shall we?" The scene where Edward is turned into a vampire? Horrifyingly bad! Could it look more like a love scene between two men? No. It couldn't. It was that bad. Please don't defend this film to me ladies. I have a hard time continuing to respect your taste in film.
So there's my rant. I have more to say about it, but I'm tired. And unlike some fictional characters, I have to get up and go to work tomorrow, rain or shine.
I do need to have a bit of a rant though. A rant about Twilight. I will probably go on about this some more in another post, but here are some things that are bothering me about this book and the phenomenon its created.
**Warning - Spoiler Alert**
1. The first book is obviously written about a teen to be read by teens. The following books become less and less teenage-specific and more and more adult novels. This is bad because the teens are attracted to the story from the first book but in order to find out what happens are exposed to a story line that is more adult than I'd prefer my own kids reading even if they were teenagers.
2. Its not written all that well. But for some reason, several girls and women have ignored this fact and have fallen in love with the Twilight world. Granted, the story line is interesting to a certain extent (until its ruined in the fourth book) but its still not a superb series. Too many phrases are repeated throughout the books ("my favorite crooked smile" made me want to pull my hair out each time I read it). There are also a few gaps in the story that make me wonder who edited the stupid things. For instance, Alice tells Aro that he can let Bella go without killing her because of a vision she sees and shares with him. He indicates that her visions are sometimes faulty but she insists that this particular event (or events) WILL happen. What he saw is never explained and its not even plausible. In the fourth book, he has NO idea how or why Bella was turned into a vampire or else he would have know that Reneesmalwoeruoing (the crazy named daughter of Bella and Edward) was not a true vampire baby that he was so angry about. So what exactly did he see about her that made him decide to let her go without hurting her? Dunno. And that's a big problem for me.
3. The series is completely predictable. Except for the end in which you think something is going to happen...and then it doesn't. Predictability would have been preferable to that ending.
4. Grown women are falling in love with a man that COULD NOT POSSIBLY EXIST! Is he perfect in almost every way? Well, except for that little vampire problem, yes. This bothers me very much. Flawed characters are more interesting as well as believable. On top of this, in my opinion its not healthy for any woman to expect their significant other to be anything like Edward. Is there any normal looking woman who thinks that its a good thing for men to want to only marry super models? We women have to fight this thinking everyday, both with ourselves and with the male population. We don't like being told through the media and society that we're not good enough because we don't look as beautiful or that even though we're smart and witty and fun to be with its not good enough. Why should it be acceptable to do the same thing to men? They have a bit of this to fight with as well and to add Edward to the pot just makes things worse. Human men (that actually exist) cannot possibly live up to this standard. Its a bad lesson to teach girls that they will only be completely in love if their boyfriends act, look, and talk like Edward. Now can men take a few notes from Edward on how to treat a woman? Absolutely. If you men actually want to know what women want, please pay attention to how Edward treats Bella. But I don't expect any man to be able to be that perfect at all times no matter how in love he is with someone.
5. The movie was bad. It was poorly directed and poorly acted. I understand that there wasn't a big budget for it. But you'd think that with as big a hit as the books were that just a bit more budget would have been given for this project. I don't have time to go over all the reasons it was bad except for one reason - skin should not make twinkling noises when the sun's light hits it even if it does sparkle. That's just stupid.
6. Even though the movie was obviously stupid, there are many MANY women who defend it! Ladies, I can appreciate the story line to a certain extent and this movie did NOT do it justice! I was actually looking forward to the movie because I wouldn't have to hear the constant dialogue of Bella's brain putting herself down and being ooey gooey about Edward and his stupid crooked smile. The first part was promising, but then it felt like the director gave up and said "We're gonna make a butt-load of money no matter how bad this is, so lets just not put a lot of effort into it, shall we?" The scene where Edward is turned into a vampire? Horrifyingly bad! Could it look more like a love scene between two men? No. It couldn't. It was that bad. Please don't defend this film to me ladies. I have a hard time continuing to respect your taste in film.
So there's my rant. I have more to say about it, but I'm tired. And unlike some fictional characters, I have to get up and go to work tomorrow, rain or shine.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
My Brother is the most Awesome!
For all of you who are not "in the know", my brother is a genius. The great thing about this is that he actually proves his geniusness all the time by doing things that take lots of brains and know-how.
One of the things he did for my blog is that all of my comments will now look different from everyone else's. (See below where I leave a comment) It may look extremely simple, but I watched the process and it took a lot of doing.
I love my brother. He can do the coolest things ever! That's cause he is the coolest thing ever!
One of the things he did for my blog is that all of my comments will now look different from everyone else's. (See below where I leave a comment) It may look extremely simple, but I watched the process and it took a lot of doing.
I love my brother. He can do the coolest things ever! That's cause he is the coolest thing ever!
Monday, December 22, 2008
And the snowperson's name is......
Fifi!
Tiffany - I swear that I let Belinda choose the name without any persuasion at all to choose that name. :)
I've got to do a couple of modifications to the snowman now that she's a woman. Ha-ha!
Tiffany - I swear that I let Belinda choose the name without any persuasion at all to choose that name. :)
I've got to do a couple of modifications to the snowman now that she's a woman. Ha-ha!
For Belinda
I have a friend/co-worker that lives down in Australia. She's never seen snow before in real life. Unfortunately, these pictures won't change that status, but at least she'll get to see it on something other than pretty pictures and movies. I made her a snowman. She gets to name it. I think the lens of the camera got wet so some of these are a little fuzzy. Sorry!
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| The beginnings of a snowman. I love how my hat is sitting precariously on top of my head. It wouldn't stay on! |
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| You can see a little of the grass underneath. Its still green! |
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| The kids next door came over to help. |
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| All done! |
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| I'm cold. |
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| Here s/he is! Name to be determined! |
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| Belinda, you owe me a sand castle! |
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