A New Job

No longer work at Piggly Wiggly. New job: Michaels Craft store. More hours, better pay, 25% discount (yah baby!), similar position (floral designer), and I won't be forced to tuck in my shirt like a 12 yr old school girl! Whoooo hoooo!!!  - Lisa

"Gunn's Golden Rules" by Tim Gunn

I finished reading "Gunn's Golden Rules" by Tim Gunn, a collection of chapters detailing the maxims by which he lives his life. I'm sure he is far to the left politically, but his personal philosophy is very conservative, based on personal responsibility and an entrepreneurial spirit. Plus he dishes out some gossip about Vogue and Project Runway. I enjoyed it. Grade: A (book #92 of the year)

True Tho'

Double Feature by Owen King

I've finished reading Double Feature by Owen King (ebook ARC; the on sale date is my bday in March). Sam Nolan is the estranged son of a beloved B-Movie actor (think Bruce Campbell or Vincent Price). Although he chooses to go into film himself, Sam's own work is serious and dour, and when a disaster hits his first major production his life is knocked off the tracks. Now, eight years later, he's trying to figure out what went wrong while also coming to terms with his elderly father.

King is the son of Stephen King and the brother of horror writer Joe Hill, so it's hard not to see the parallels between the father/son dynamic in the novel and his own career (after all, this is a 'literary' novel, not horror or a thriller). I'm not sure those comparisons are apt; sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but their presence lends an extra layer to the novel all the same.

I though the denouement was a bit passe, but I did notice that I 'knew' these characters quite well by the end of the novel, and felt quite attached to them. Overall, a well done book. Grade: A

Book #91 of 2012

I mean, it's obvious, no?

Miguel Cabrera's team made the playoffs, Trout's team did not. He switched to a more difficult position before this season to make room for another All-Star and handled it like a pro. He won the bleeping Triple Crown. If you truly believed Miguel Cabrera wasn't going to win the MVP . . . 

She's cold (always) LOL

A Whole Dang Presidential Term

Today marks 4 yrs since Job Prior and I parted ways

Three Flicks

[REC] 3: Genesis is a continuation of the Spanish film series that uses the ‘found footage’ technique to chronicle a zombie outbreak, this time at an elaborate wedding in the Spanish countryside. In America the series was remade under the title Quarantine, but I think the original series is better, especially since the Spanish sequel incorporated an ingenious twist into zombie folklore. In this installment only part of the film is found footage, with the majority being filmed in standard fashion. Does this remove an integral hallmark of the series? Er, sure, but if the elimination of a gimmick  is enough to kill a series, then the movie was a waste to begin with; happily, I think REC survives the loss just fine. There’s plenty of suspense and gore, some humor, and a splash of genuine romance to make up the difference. Lisa thought it was too gory, but I thought it was just right. She’d grade this an F; I think it deserves a B.

Red Lights has genuine star power on the marquee: Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver headline this story about a long-retired psychic who returns to the stage in time to fuel the obsession of professional skeptic Weaver and her assistant.

 This movie literally ANGERED me. You have major actors on the payroll, what appears to be a decent budget, nice direction and cinematography and you **** it all away on a loose,  poorly plotted script with an amateurish ‘twist’ ending.  This is the kind of film that makes your soul scream at the injustice of it all. Somewhere people are being paid big bucks to write this garbage, while you slosh away at a dead end job and spend your hard earned money on their drivel. Grade: a big F

Your Sister’s Sister is a charming independent film starring Emily Blunt and Mark Duplass. One year after the death of his brother, Duplass’ character is adrift in life, anchored only by the friendship of his brother’s ex-girlfriend, played by Blunt. She sends him on a sabbatical to her family’s summer home, where he unexpectedly finds himself rooming with Blunt’s sister, a lesbian who just broke up with her lover.  From there things get complicated, but the film never loses sight of the strength of the relationship between Duplass and Blunt. I thought the movie was sweet, moving, and fun to watch. I grade this an A.

3 Flicks

The Barrens is a horror film set in the forests of New Jersey. Heath Ledger look-alike Stephen Moyer plays a father who takes his family camping into the Pine Barrens, hoping to foster closeness and unity. Funny thing, though: he forgot to mention that he’s feeling a little under the weather and, oh, I don’t know, may or may not be seeing the Jersey Devil and/or killing some random campers. It’s not a bad movie, but there are some rather unbelievable moments where ‘suspension of disbelief’ just isn’t enough of a panacea for the script. I’d grade this one a C.

An oldie but a goodie, The Boys from Brazil stars Gregory Peck as Nazi doctor Josef Mengele and Lawrence Olivier as his Jewish nemesis. I knew going into the film that it was about the cloning of Adolf Hitler, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how suspense filled and  well developed that plan was in the film. Both of the main actors are grand, and their fistfight (which includes some Tyson like chewing) was worth the theoretical price of admission all by its lonesome. As a side note, I loved Mengele’s home and couldn’t stop talking about it, which, now that I see it in print, sounds creepy. But it’s a lovely home. Grade: B+

Salvation Boulevard features an all-star (well, minor league all star) cast: Pierce Brosnan, Jennifer Connelly, Marisa Tomei, Ed Harris and Greg Kinnear. Kinnear plays a former Deadhead turned Christian family man who witnesses his mega-church pastor cover up the shooting of a well known atheist, and wakes up to find himself framed for the crime. It’s actually a pretty light little comedy, with an aim to satirize religion and evangelical Christianity. I think the satire falls flat, largely because it’s such an obvious target that you see it coming from a distance, and partly because, whatever his sins, it’s obvious the pastor is a true believer torn by guilt about his moment of weakness.  Overall, the movie was so-so. I grade it a C+

ISO - a cooking tip

Anyone know how Olive Garden prepares their broccoli? Lisa and I think it has to be steamed in some kind of broth - chicken is our best guess, but as it's probably used for vegetarian meals we'd concede to vegetable broth. No answer on their website - which, by the way, now features full recipes for nearly their entire menu. Can anyone provide some info?

Silliness

One day last month Lu asked a friend to write the following in permanent marker on the back of her neck: This is My Awesome Neck.  Yes, yes it is. It is also a neck that was scrubbed raw before going back to school leaving a hickey-like bruise behind.

Harper and Trout

Nats OF Bryce Harper wins NL Rookie of the Year Award.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout has won the AL ROY

Not a Good Day

Not a great day. Argued a lot of the morning with Lisa, then sallied forth to get her flowers by way of apology, only to have someone hit our car in the parking lot and f* up the front fender. Naturally they left no note, although the store will look through their video for a license plate. Now the net's acting up too, so it looks like a doozie of a day.

First snow of the year . And a $500 deductible I can't afford. I'm going to go out to the garden and eat some worms.

A Helping Hand - but Worries Too

So, my day continues: @ 5:30 we get an urgent call from a friend asking if she and her children can move in with us; I said we'd take them in for a few nights and "take it from there" but no, I don't this household to grow by 50%, esp. since she has no source of income to help us out. 7 kids, 3 adults here, at least through Wednesday. Oh boy.

Report Cards - Quarter 1

Report card/parent teacher conferences were this past Wednesday. Both of my oldest girls made the Honor Roll, Smiley did much better than I expected given his own assessments of his performance to date (confidence boy, confidence!), and Ginger . . . well, she hasn’t been expelled. Yet.

YaYa:  A’s in: Gym, Science, and Technology (Computers). A-‘s in: Music, Art, Reading (huh? The kid reads nonstop), and Social Studies. B’s in: Religion and Language Arts. B-  in Spanish and a lone C in Math, which her teacher chalks up to her lack of confidence rather than a lack of understanding or skill. Health is not listed as a subject.

GPA: 3.294

LuLu:  A+ in Health.  A’s in: Gym, Art, Spanish, Social Studies. A- in Religion, Technology (Computers) and Music.  B+ in Language Arts.  B in Reading. C+ in Math and a C in Science; neither of the last two are acceptable.

GPA: 3.263

 We have submitted paperwork at the local community center requesting a math tutor for both girls, mainly just to boost their confidence in the subject.

Smiley: No letter grades in 2^nd grade just N (needs improvement) P (progressing) and S (Secure).

P’s in Health, Reading, Religion, Music, Social Studies. S’s in Gym, Science, Math, Art, Spanish, Computer.  A single lone ‘N’ is English, due largely to a series of disastrous spelling tests. No ‘N’s in the behavior section.

Ginger’s class is graded with + (demonstrates consistent understanding and application), / (general understanding) and – (needs more time to develop); there is no overall grade for each subject, just a series of individually assessed skills within each area. For convenience sake I’m going to ‘round up’ using whatever grade appeared most often under that banner.

+’s in: gym, music, math, social studies, Spanish, computer. /’s in language arts, science, religion. Under fine motor skills it’s 2 ‘/’’s and a single ‘-‘ under “prints first name”. She’s been getting into all sorts of trouble for writing her name all goosey-loosey when she knows better.

Under behavior she received N’s (needs improvement) under: demonstrates self control, accepts responsibility for own actions, demonstrates listening skills, and follows directions. She also was given a N  for “speaks clearly using appropriate language patterns”

Good job kids! Mom and Dad are proud of you all! XXOOXXOO

The New Bond Movie

Three days after its opening, Skyfall has earned $518.6 million worldwide...

Our Day

I took advantage of the 60+ temperature day to take a brisk mile walk in the early afternoon, followed by a stroll with LK later. Still later I took LK and OJ to the park to play on the swings, but got caught in a rainstorm and had to hurry home. By morning it should be near freezing here. Sometimes Milwaukee is just depressing.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Yesterday I finished reading "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell. It's an unusual novel that's composed of six separate novellas, each wildly different than the next. Each story is told in a different fashion and is set in wildly varied times and locales (the West Indies of the 1800's, Korea in the the far future, 1931 Europe, etc). Most feature characters that for the most part don't exist outside of the individual tale. Yet all six are connected by a thread of rebellion and struggle that wind through them all, and there are hints that these individuals are the same struggling souls born time and again.

This is not a book I recommend to a casual reader, or someone looking to make the jump from pulp novels to something meatier; I initially found the format confusing and even intimidating, and I'm not exactly a casual reader.

I came to love the book, although a nagging part of me feels that the novel failed to make the final leap and accomplish what it set out to do - the problem is, I'm not 100% sure what that goal was to start.

Grade: A Book# 89 of the year

100 Years Ago Today

100 years ago today the bodies of Robert Scott and his men were discovered in Antarctica, where they had died that March.

YaYa's 11th Birthday Party!

Sunday October 21^st was the date of YaYa’s 11th birthday party.  Before the festivities began we let her open her gifts from us, a Hunger Games nylon back sack and a Katniss Everdeen/Hunger Games Barbie Doll.

Are you sensing a theme yet?  No? Then how about looking at the magnificent Hunger Games cupcakes, complete with fully wearable Mockingjay ring

Or the “May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor” signs we posted at the venue

Or the personalized Hunger Games invites we sent out, or the Hunger Games quotes we put on every straw

Then there’s the gift bags, which featured homemade HG bookmarks, HG necklaces assembled from craft items Lisa bought on Ebay, and a candy assortment of red hots and hot tamales (“Girl on Fire” candy) and the incredibly hard to find candy raspberries, used to represent the poison berries of the first novel.

A Hunger Games party it was, although it was first and foremost a Laser Tag party, held at the same venue where Smiley had his party in March.

(When YaYa broke her wrist we were worried we might have to cancel the party, as the use of the lazer rifle requires one hand to fire and another to activate the sensor, but thankfully when we took her to check the venue showed us rifles modified for just such eventualities, and the party was on!)

YaYa invited a dozen kids from her class, and all twelve showed. I paid for unlimited laser tag, so the kids spent the majority of the time in the arena, safe from our sight except when they showed up on the low-light monitors displayed in the lobby. 

We couldn’t really distinguish anyone on the monitor, with the exception of her friend Romy. Romy was wearing a fedora, and looked like a Capone era gangster on the screen . . .

Dinner was cold-cut sandwiches, chips, and soda. We forgot a candle for the cupcakes (!) so YaYa bluffed her way through that. Then it was time to open her presents.

Georgia gave her a while “I love Finnick” t-shirt

Romy gave her an owl necklace, a hair clip-in, and a gorgeous home-made card

Maura gave her a roll of decorative duct tape and a binder generously decorated with it

Meadow gave her a homemade jewelry tree

XXX gave her a One Direction charm bracelet

Karina gave her Owl knee-highs

Anna gave her a Barnes and Noble gift card

Jayden gave her a Target gift card

Rebecca gave her a Barnes and Noble gift card

Ivan gave her a card and cash

Sofia gave her a Target gift card

Here’s a picture you’ll never see taken at a boys birthday party – the partygoers competing to see how many of them could sit on each other’s laps.

The party was scheduled to end at 5 but ran late when the girls went in for another laser tag adventure. I’d have been ticked off if I was one of the parent’s stuck waiting, but everyone seemed to take it in stride!

I think it was a great party, and I know my girl had a lot of fun! Happy 11^th Birthday YaYa and may you have a hundred more!

P.S. – isn’t she stunning in this picture? My word!

note: the party was the same day there was a mass shooting at a spa in Brookfield (a Milwaukee suburb) and the news of the tragedy dominated the conversation among the kids for the first fifteen minutes or so, a sad testament of our times.