1) Why do my children still call for me over and over and over after I've said, "Yes?" to their queries?
2) Why do they continue to wake up between 2 and 4am for any number of given reasons even after days where I literally make them run laps in the back yard?
3) Who on earth wants to eat applesauce at every meal for three days in a row?
4) Why, after taking the dog out to relieve himself (and he does!), does the dog run inside and then instantly poop again indoors?
5) Why do my children only interrupt me ten minutes into a relaxing chick flick, but if I'm doing something boring, they stay in bed?
6) How come my son runs and poops in his pants only after I've put a fresh pull up on him?
7) Why does my daughter respond, "But I doooooo!" when I have told her she has lost a privilege of some sort as consequence to lying, whining, disobeying, etc.?
8) When does a child's logic kick in?
9) What part of "Don't you DARE move!" is not clear?
10) Why do children automatically think that because it's something they like, it somehow magically becomes their property?
11) Why do they insist on climbing into bed with me at 3am and then start doing all manner of gymnastics and asking weird questions and start to whine when I ask them to go to sleep or go back to their bed?
12) Why don't they get the hint when I say, "Do I do that to you?" and they respond, "No." that this means that perhaps they should also NOT do that, as well?
13) Why do children become perfect alternate versions of themselves when Daddy is around?
14) Why do grandparents get to be the fun ones doling out the treats and I'm left with the roll of Mean Mommy, banishing all sugar and movies, toys, etc.?
15) What is with all the repeating of questions- why do they think if they continue to ask the same question over and over that the answer will somehow be different?
16) Why do they beg for something they have had and enjoyed in the past and then once given to them act put out and say they it's not what they wanted or they don't like it?
17) Why do husbands always ask, "Why are you shouting?" when it's obviously done to be heard over all the noise?
18) Doesn't it seem obvious as to why chocolate and flowers are necessary?
19) Why is it so hard to shower when one has small children?
20) And why is it that the second you put on something new or the one nice/clean piece of clothing left, that someone wipes their nose on your sleeve or vomits or touches you with spaghetti sauce on their fingers?
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Into Middle Earth
When it comes to a story that is so epic in scope and creation, there really isn't much, in my opinion, that seems to compare to Tolkien's masterpiece of Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings. It's odd for me to even acknowledge this as I am someone who only dabbles marginally on the fringe (or so I only admit) of the SF and Fantasy genres. Growing up, I was more of a Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie girl, but as I grew, so did my taste in literature. I had read some of The Chronicles of Narnia and the odd "weird" book here and there, but it wasn't until the Harry Potter series came out when I was in college that I got into Fantasy and even took an SF class that truly changed the way I looked at the genre. Tolkien still lay beyond my grasp, however, as someone so far and deep into this whole other world that I didn't even want to touch the idea of possibly reading anything he wrote. The Lord of the Rings, to me, was in the same realm as those dark cloaked figures in basements playing Dungeons and Dragons and playing video games that were too complex to even comprehend. A little dark, a little shady, scary and too much for me to really give much thought. I was wrong.
In 2001, I was dragged to the first installment of the movie version. The trailer looked interesting enough, not my type of movie really, but I liked movies and figured I would go. The funny thing was that I didn't even know until the movie ended that that was only the end of the BEGINNING of the movies. I remember sitting in the theater, shifting in the seat almost two hours in, trying to bring feeling back into my bum and hips thinking, "This doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon. Where the heck is Mount Doom?" Then the movie ended an hour or so later and it wasn't until after that moment of complete confusion that I realized, this is a massive story... just imagine how crazy the book must be. The book is almost always better than the movie! And ever since then, I've wanted to tackle reading this behemoth. It hasn't been until now, almost ten years later that I am getting around to it.
Tolkien was a scholar and knew exactly what he was doing. He didn't just create a thinly veiled alternate world that resembles the world in which we live (Pullman, Rowling, L'Engle, etc.), he went full throttle and created this entirely new earth populated with all manner of myth along with men complete with history and genealogy (Mieville, Clark, etc.) that all writers in the genre can only now aspire to be inspired by. It seems almost impossible not to see his influence in so many of the modern writers. Just having read the intro and first three chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring, I can see the similarities and themes that others must have derived from Tolkien's model. I can't say that I am surprised to read that the writing alone took years and the revisions span decades and even now, there are left discrepancies and faux-historical inaccuracies. How could there not be? Furthermore, as daunting as the task of reading it may be, it was never meant as a trilogy, but published in three parts because of the changes that needed to be made and because of Tolkien's work on appendices and histories and such. What all this entails, I can't quite say as I have only just begun the journey along with Frodo and the others and after hours of reading, we have yet to quit The Shire. Weren't they already quite in harm's way and beyond the edge of their home less than half an hour in the movie? Ah, movie magic.
I always hate to compare movies with books because movies are so limiting in a manner to a story and in most cases, I rarely see a movie before reading the book, but having seen all the movies a number of times and having been so impressed by the scope of the movie's interpretation, I am blown away by the book. Only just now getting into this novel, I find that there is so much more that we didn't get and couldn't get in a film version. I am compelled to keep reading...
More later.
In 2001, I was dragged to the first installment of the movie version. The trailer looked interesting enough, not my type of movie really, but I liked movies and figured I would go. The funny thing was that I didn't even know until the movie ended that that was only the end of the BEGINNING of the movies. I remember sitting in the theater, shifting in the seat almost two hours in, trying to bring feeling back into my bum and hips thinking, "This doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon. Where the heck is Mount Doom?" Then the movie ended an hour or so later and it wasn't until after that moment of complete confusion that I realized, this is a massive story... just imagine how crazy the book must be. The book is almost always better than the movie! And ever since then, I've wanted to tackle reading this behemoth. It hasn't been until now, almost ten years later that I am getting around to it.
Tolkien was a scholar and knew exactly what he was doing. He didn't just create a thinly veiled alternate world that resembles the world in which we live (Pullman, Rowling, L'Engle, etc.), he went full throttle and created this entirely new earth populated with all manner of myth along with men complete with history and genealogy (Mieville, Clark, etc.) that all writers in the genre can only now aspire to be inspired by. It seems almost impossible not to see his influence in so many of the modern writers. Just having read the intro and first three chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring, I can see the similarities and themes that others must have derived from Tolkien's model. I can't say that I am surprised to read that the writing alone took years and the revisions span decades and even now, there are left discrepancies and faux-historical inaccuracies. How could there not be? Furthermore, as daunting as the task of reading it may be, it was never meant as a trilogy, but published in three parts because of the changes that needed to be made and because of Tolkien's work on appendices and histories and such. What all this entails, I can't quite say as I have only just begun the journey along with Frodo and the others and after hours of reading, we have yet to quit The Shire. Weren't they already quite in harm's way and beyond the edge of their home less than half an hour in the movie? Ah, movie magic.
I always hate to compare movies with books because movies are so limiting in a manner to a story and in most cases, I rarely see a movie before reading the book, but having seen all the movies a number of times and having been so impressed by the scope of the movie's interpretation, I am blown away by the book. Only just now getting into this novel, I find that there is so much more that we didn't get and couldn't get in a film version. I am compelled to keep reading...
More later.
Friday, June 3, 2011
28 Days
No, I am not in rehab...
...my husband is! Just kidding. He's in his Fancy Pants Plane training class (yes, that's the official title!), no seriously, he is training to fly a new aircraft for his job. So, that means, I am on full-time double duty! Which, all in all, even though just an hour ago I was yelling at the top of my lungs to be heard over my children's whining and screaming when Finding Nemo ended and no one wanted to calm down for dinner, hasn't been too bad. I know as crazy as that sounds, let me explain. I knew it was coming and knowing is half the battle. It's the lengthy trips that get extended without any notice that really cause me to go berserk. This was planned and I know he will be coming back and if I can get through these crazy training times, I can get through his regular job which is easy enough when he's gone for a few days back for a day or two, then out again. Those become a picnic in a flower filled meadow! This is Day 12 and there is still a busy week of school ahead and pre-school outings planned and then another week and things will start to settle into more of his in and out routine when training is over.
One thing I have gotten really used to is the reading time. We all know I love to read, but Official Nighttime Reading Time only became official by default. It became my only option (but we all know that I am beyond fine with that). How did it become my only nighttime option? Simple enough: The children either have bionic hearing (which I doubt because of aforementioned Mommy yelling over screaming and whining) or they have rigged up some device of which I am not aware that alerts them when Mommy sits down to watch a movie, show, or simply turns it on. I am led to believe it's only a movie or show that I've been planning on seeing because it's only when I would LOVE to be interrupted from some mind-numbing inane programming that I cannot even believe I am watching, yet inexplicably am unable to turn off that I am NOT interrupted, so they MUST know when I am wanting to enjoy a specific show or movie. How? I haven't figured out yet. I came to the deciding point when an hour and a half girly movie ended up taking over three hours to get through a mere hour and five minutes because my daughter kept coming into my room asking what I was watching, that she heard a noise from the movie and wanted to know what it was, or to come and say she loved me...again, all while staring intently at the paused screen trying to figure out what Mommy could possibly watch at night without her that is so interesting. So, after all that, I figured, if I just read quietly, 1) I can just re-read the portion during which I may have been interrupted which is easier to do with a book then having to queue up a movie and 2) it's quiet and if I turn a page, I don't think either will run in and want to know what that noise was in the book that I am reading. Now, I know I have other options such as folding laundry, dishes, organizing, writing thank you notes, grocery and meal lists, and so on, but let's face it, that's not what I want to spend my ONLY ALONE TIME doing... so I don't. I try to get those done during the day and get the kids involved the best that I can, so I can enjoy what is now the official nighttime activity.
Needless to say, one can get through some fairly decent sized books in 12 long and quiet evenings when not much interrupted or when sleep doesn't come so quickly because of those lovely bladder kicks and somersault rolls from our little expected Pollywog. So, for the remainder of my nights, I am attempting to see just how far into The Lord of the Rings that I can get... which is the subject for an entirely separate blog.
Here's to reading and letting my blog's randomness rule... and to Middle Earth.
...my husband is! Just kidding. He's in his Fancy Pants Plane training class (yes, that's the official title!), no seriously, he is training to fly a new aircraft for his job. So, that means, I am on full-time double duty! Which, all in all, even though just an hour ago I was yelling at the top of my lungs to be heard over my children's whining and screaming when Finding Nemo ended and no one wanted to calm down for dinner, hasn't been too bad. I know as crazy as that sounds, let me explain. I knew it was coming and knowing is half the battle. It's the lengthy trips that get extended without any notice that really cause me to go berserk. This was planned and I know he will be coming back and if I can get through these crazy training times, I can get through his regular job which is easy enough when he's gone for a few days back for a day or two, then out again. Those become a picnic in a flower filled meadow! This is Day 12 and there is still a busy week of school ahead and pre-school outings planned and then another week and things will start to settle into more of his in and out routine when training is over.
One thing I have gotten really used to is the reading time. We all know I love to read, but Official Nighttime Reading Time only became official by default. It became my only option (but we all know that I am beyond fine with that). How did it become my only nighttime option? Simple enough: The children either have bionic hearing (which I doubt because of aforementioned Mommy yelling over screaming and whining) or they have rigged up some device of which I am not aware that alerts them when Mommy sits down to watch a movie, show, or simply turns it on. I am led to believe it's only a movie or show that I've been planning on seeing because it's only when I would LOVE to be interrupted from some mind-numbing inane programming that I cannot even believe I am watching, yet inexplicably am unable to turn off that I am NOT interrupted, so they MUST know when I am wanting to enjoy a specific show or movie. How? I haven't figured out yet. I came to the deciding point when an hour and a half girly movie ended up taking over three hours to get through a mere hour and five minutes because my daughter kept coming into my room asking what I was watching, that she heard a noise from the movie and wanted to know what it was, or to come and say she loved me...again, all while staring intently at the paused screen trying to figure out what Mommy could possibly watch at night without her that is so interesting. So, after all that, I figured, if I just read quietly, 1) I can just re-read the portion during which I may have been interrupted which is easier to do with a book then having to queue up a movie and 2) it's quiet and if I turn a page, I don't think either will run in and want to know what that noise was in the book that I am reading. Now, I know I have other options such as folding laundry, dishes, organizing, writing thank you notes, grocery and meal lists, and so on, but let's face it, that's not what I want to spend my ONLY ALONE TIME doing... so I don't. I try to get those done during the day and get the kids involved the best that I can, so I can enjoy what is now the official nighttime activity.
Needless to say, one can get through some fairly decent sized books in 12 long and quiet evenings when not much interrupted or when sleep doesn't come so quickly because of those lovely bladder kicks and somersault rolls from our little expected Pollywog. So, for the remainder of my nights, I am attempting to see just how far into The Lord of the Rings that I can get... which is the subject for an entirely separate blog.
Here's to reading and letting my blog's randomness rule... and to Middle Earth.
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