Saturday, November 29, 2008

Goings Ons

Wait, what? I have a blog?

It's been a nice holiday vacation with not much goings ons, but I specialize in elaborating on not much.

Last week J's assistant at work, died in his sleep. It seems kind of morbid to sort of start a post with that information, but it is a fact and it did factor into our "nice holiday vacation." He was 56 and he died in his sleep, and we kind of can't help but feel glad for him because that's how he wanted to go. To say the least, it was a very hectic few days for J and while he wasn't wailing and wearing sack cloth to work, he said he felt awful posting the position to replace this man.

Bo had Wednesday off from school and I thoroughly enjoyed my day of puttering around with the three kids. Somehow, that brings me joy. Except when they want things. Or whine.

Bo gets in trouble for saying, "I don't care" in response to something someone tells him. I think it's rude and unkind and unnecessary. And there are like, 500 more creative responses than that--and he will learn to use them. Avee has gotten in on my lecturing Bo about this kind of a response. Usually in the lecture I talk about how it feels when someone says that to him, and about the said 500 other options he has. Well, Avee took matters into her own hands and told Bo, and later, happily reported to me, "If you say 'I don't care' one more time I am going to punch you in the face." It was a matter of fact. It was a necessary form of discipline. And maybe a little bit of a threat. I have to admit, it's pretty funny to hear a teeny little, sweet-faced girl wearing dress shoes (all.the.time) and a dress (every.day) issue this warning.

On Thanksgiving day, J brined the turkey. Get it, get it, he brined it? It was SOOOO good. I may be partial to brining, but it was probably the best turkey I've ever eaten.

We had friends over and it was very relaxing and enjoyable to hang out with everyone. The food was delicious.

One of my friends was gung ho about Black Friday shopping and I had never done it. I got caught up in the moment and decided to do it and then totally got cold feet. I had a really hard time picturing Nobody running down any kind of aisle for any kind of reason. I mean, REALLY hard time. So I chickened out. Then decided to do it. Then chickened out. Ultimately, I decided to do it. But I had worked until 1 am and had to get up at 4:15, without an alarm clock. So it was a fitful 3 hours. Another friend and I made our way to The Walmerts to brave the crowd. It was not as crazy as I thought it would be. First of all, this one was open, so people just came and gathered around whatever electronic item they wanted. So there were random patches of large crowds. Then at 5 am (we got there 10 minutes before) they cut the black plastic wrap off. The best part? The two things I wanted to get (for us and for a friend) were both still available at like 3 pm that day. WOOHOO. I am a rock star. It was totally fun to just check it out and see how completely crazy the residents of this great city are.

I also went and saw Twilight with our 13 year old babysitter. Originally I was going to go with J because this conversation TOTALLY took place in our home, a few days prior:|
Beautiful & Caring Wife (me): Hey, let's get a babysitter and go see Quantum of Solace.
J: You know? I'm not really sure I want to see it, I think I'd actually rather Twilight.
B & C Wife: Really? Wow. Hmm. I guess I wouldn't mind seeing it.

fast forward 2-3 days

Still Beautiful & Caring: So, let's go see Twilight!
J: Mmmmmmmmm, yeah, about that? Not so interested. Sorry.

So I found me a less fickle date.

I enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed it for the very reasons I didn't enjoy the books as much as most of my friends pleasedon'thatemeforsayingthatoutloud.

I thought the books were drawn out and Edward's perfect chiseled marble chest liquid eyes hotness was just annoying to read about over and over. Basically, Bella's thoughts annoyed me. So, since the movie couldn't really dwell on that---I totally enjoyed it. I mean, you gotta admit, the premise of this story is pretty awesome.

So, just a few words of my impression.

Bella: See Tori's post re: Neve Campbell, looked as I expected, no chemistry
Edward: Could have chemistry with tree trunk, speaking of trees, sitting in one made me LOL, eyebrow-wow! Cool eyes, good acting
Jasper: How does it look when a vampire pees his pants? Same expression as Avee when she's waiting to be busted, pretty boy mussed hair--so played
Emmett: oooh baby, the truck jumping also made me LOL (I'm so gonna hook J with that reference, now he'll HAVE to see it. And I'm gonna make him go alone. To a girly movie)
Rosalie: she got some junk in her trunk
Alice: How does one pull off "Pixie Vampire"? She's just likable though. I loved her pitching.
Dr. Cullen: Hi, I'm Dr. Pointy Chin, if you ignore the chin, my acting and other features are quite charming
Esme: I didn't like her in Grey's, I was disappointed to see her here. Although, she was a good actress.
Charlie: Thought he'd be frumpier. Have more of a diner-eating, beer-drinkin' belly.
James: He had dirty fingernails
Victoria: Perfectly evil, beautiful too
Laurent: Whuuuuuu? I didn't expect the dreadlocks. But, I likey.
Jessica: Hilarious
Mike: Annoying (mostly just the bad acting)
Angela: Perfect. Always. Get it, get it? Perfect.

The end.

Now I'm going to go give 100% attention to Bo showing me how fast a snail goes. In real time.
Joy, I tell you---perfect joy.

32 comments:

ucmama said...

get it? get it?

ucmama said...

I guess since the briner joke does belong to you, you can have it. BUT, I think Avee may just be my kid in red-headed disguise if she uses the I'm-going-to-punch-you-in-the-face line

omar said...

Wow. First you take my side on something, now you're saying you didn't like the Twilight books? Yikes. You're brave.

I usually do try to go out shopping on Black Friday, but I couldn't bring myself to do it this year. Glad you got what you were looking for, though.

Adolescent Family said...

If I would have known you were going out, we could have met for starbucks!

Didn't you see me at Walmert? Best Buy? Kohls? Target? Starbucks? Old Navy? sheesh, where were you?

We missed you over here on Turkey day.

Anonymous said...

Nathan brined our turkey and we love it.

Jacob?

Will you be coming to Oregon ever again for Thanksgiving?

S said...

How fast does a snail go?
You did Black Friday. That must have been a sight. I stayed home and told my self over and over. I need nothing I need nothing

omar said...

And J, you're going to need to explain yourself at your local chapter's next Man Club meeting. Saying you'd rather see a chick flick than a Bond movie? Even if you don't like Bond movies, that's grounds for suspension.

I'm sure they'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were joking, though.

Tori :) said...

Angela IS perfect!!!

56 seems really young to die in your sleep. My dad is 55.

Um, James was HOT. You forgot that part. HOT.

I ♥ Emmett. I loved him in the books and I loved him in the movie.

Nothing. Absolutely NOTHING is wrong with junk in the trunk.

Dr. Cullen had on too much makeup. But I liked him.

What about Jacob?

M.Howerton said...

Love all the niceties of thoughts you have.
and yet still very tactful.

I love a brined turkey, but since you weren't here.....

and of course Angela is perfect, always. :)

oh how I strive to be more like you!

Cindy said...

Angela Who??!?

Charlotte said...

I skipped Black Friday doorbustung for the fisrt time in years. Felt almost guilty. Except I wasn't.

There are days I wish I could use the "I am going to punch you" punishment. But I think it might get me in trouble.

I thought the same thing about the movie. I told someone last week- the obsessed fans won't like it because they took out all the awful "I'll die without looking at you" parts of the book. Just wished they'd sprung for makeup on the necks, too.

Bex said...

I love your character run down. It made me laugh. hard. I was once a little one who used to go around threatneining boys that I would beat them up, so she has a inside chance of turning out like me. Take it how you want to, good or bad!
Does a snail move..................................................t....h....i...s.........s....l....o....w......?

ucmama said...

It's just that he'd rather be watching Andy Griffith reruns than Twilight

Bex said...

....i.......s
sssssssssssssssssss.......l......o......w?

Klin said...

Thanks for cheering me up. You are so intuitive when it comes to my having a bad day.

How do you do that?

Anyway, so James had dirty fingernails? Really? I never got to that part of his body :P

Klin said...

I will expect a full report on the snail tomorrow.

Suzanne said...

As far as brining the turkey, even I could have told you that you were a "briner"! ;) No seriously, my in-laws did that too and it was the best turkey I've ever had!

D has been going through a phase too where he says "I don't care." I don't understand why he thinks that response will change anything! ;)

I'm glad you got your good deals. And you survived on three hours of sleep! :)

Kim said...

K
I have to admit
I saw the movie too
And felt the same way I feel about the books....3/4 sleeper....1/4 good...let's talk
I also am ashamed that you went shopping and the rest of the world went shopping and no one called me...hello?? who is the nightowl??? oh yeah...not so much an early bird.......but I would have met at Starbucks FOR SURE!

Code Yellow Mom said...

I knew that if one person just finally said that they didn't much care for the books that other people would feel comfortable admitting it, too. Thank you, Nobody, thank you. I won't get to see the movie though until we get back to the states.

Brining is the only way to do a turkey.

And did you hear about the stampeded in New York that actually killed a Walmerts door worker. THAT is sad. And terrible. Literal doorbusting. Is the 29.99 DVR really worth that?

Also, my middle and your middle children MUST get together. They issue the same style of threats. I wonder if they would do it to each other, and which one would comply with the other's demands. Actually, I already know. Aves would have Henry around her little finger in about two seconds. Without even throwing a punch. And he would love it.

Olivia Meikle said...

I hope it wasn't Big M's mild mocking of Big J's Twilight preference that led to this abrupt about-face. Sorry.

Remember now I'm scared to comment on any of your postings now, lest I be made the butt of a joke? Yeah.

Olivia Meikle said...

Also, Big M went out at 11 o'clock on Black Friday to see if, perhaps, there was one of our desired item left. There was a giant, towering pile of them. Good deal. And a good night's sleep. Ha ha!

Sarah Tilley said...

henry always says "i don't care." i just reply, "too bad."

Anonymous said...

Maurice Sendak wrote a silly little book for children called "Pierre" about a little boy who says "I don't care" all the time. It has a moral and everything. It's pretty cute; you should check it out.

Heffalump said...

I stayed away from the Black Friday shopping, but then, I have experienced it before.
So...did you have to pay the babysitter to go to the movie with you?

InkMom said...

You should read "Midnight Sun" -- it's way less annoying because you're inside Edward's head instead of Bella's. And seeing her through his perspective might actually make you like her better -- seriously, I thought Edward was vampire-blind because she was so whiney, and blah, and why would someone so super fantastic like him choose her? But part of the reason we don't like Bella is that she's not so fast on herself, so Edward's story makes her seem a little more like someone worthy of his awesomeness. (Sorry, I just saw Kung-Fu Panda and I've been using awesomeness way too much . . . even told my husband to put on sunglasses when he entered my presence so he wouldn't be blinded by overexposure to pure awesomeness. Awesome.)

And re: the movie, it's a little hard to see Jacob as Jacob instead of Shark-Boy.

Oh, thank you for giving me a Twilight outlet. I won't abuse/hijack again . . . at least, not about this!

PS Brining rocks. As does Angela.

Plain Jame said...

I get in trouble constantly for saying "I dont care" to my kids.

On that note, I completely agree with your take on Twilight. I loved it because I didn't have to hear Bellas whining, everything made much more sense in the movie.

Busy Bee Lauren said...

"Edward: Could have chemistry with tree trunk, speaking of trees, sitting in one made me LOL, eyebrow-wow! Cool eyes, good acting"

True that.

Becky said...

Shopping was halarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was laughing so hard! Thanks for going. It was an experience! And it was great to get back to bed! Call me anytime you want to go out at 4:30am!
Dessert was a blast! Let's do it again!
Twilight, good. I would see it again. Jasper drove me crazy (in a totally bad way). Richard says Rosalie is not pretty enough. And we really like Alice. Bella and Edward, good together. Hopefully I can survive New Moon when it comes out!

ucmama said...

Where is the follow up comment where you tell everyone how great they are, huhmmmmmm?

Anonymous said...

UCMAMA---You are amazing. I mean that. Not like how I say I love everybody and don't really mean it. You. Amaze. Me.

aubreyannie said...

walmart? you went to walmart? and didn't get trampled. that story still horrifies me..evil americans. quantum of solace is pretty cool...not as cool as casino royale but still cool.

ucmama said...

aw shucks