Hmm, maybe I should take it down a notch

Movie Reviews

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it would be neat to see the result, but now I wonder if I need to use simpler language to attract a larger audience, hmmm.

AWOL

Some of you know that I am a tax software programmer by day, so to say the least I am swamped right now :( Weekends just roll into the regular week :( You'll be pleased to know though that I have not just sat back twiddling my thumbs :) I rocked the boat, took on the establishment . . . and now I know why most people don't bother :( Ok well that's my alloted time to breathe, I'm going to have to get back to the mine.

A date to remember :) w/ Review

Last night, thanks in very large part to the generosity of a friend and her family, dh and I went on our 2nd date (no kids) in 6 years, YAY!!!! I raced to her house from work to meet dh and we spent quite a bit of time getting lost trying to find the movie theatre, frustrating. (We also got lost trying to find our way back to their house, lol.) Once there we got a large popcorn and a pepsi to share and walked in just as the previews were ending :) There were actually other people there, we were surprised. We enjoyed the movie and were really glad we were not aware of the hype that surrounded the movie. It was not the greatest acting in the world, some stereotypical and others just flat, but overall it was really good. We spent a lot of time laughing and yes there are some parts where I was crying. The thing that struck me the most about this movie was the realistic view of the couple.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Hollywood has spent decades teaching us that love is easy and that a few nice gestures will produce the desired result with a failed love. Reality is that sometimes you can do everything you can to love someone and they will continue to be unreceptive. The main character in the movie discovered that some cheap flowers, candy and a nice dinner cannot erase years of hurt and pain. In fact it is not til the very end of the movie when she finds out that he has spent all the money, he had been saving for a boat, on her mother who suffered a stroke and needed new equipment, that she is able to fully let go of the past hurt and pain and truly forgive him. It's not that she is some kind of gold digger or that she was bought, she realised in that moment that he had truly changed and the things she had seen in him were real. The work involved in making those changes is hard and while it is not possible to really show an audience the ins and outs of it, they made an earnest effort and the audience can feel the frustration. I strongly recommend this movie for anyone who is married, or just thinking about marriage. I would urge all couples to give this 40 day challenge a shot and make it a way of life.

Cheers

Irritation

Well, after a spectacular parent teacher conference 2 weeks ago, I was informed this morning (before coffee) that my down syndrome daughter is making no progress in any of her 3 teachers opinions (a complete about face from 2 weeks ago btw). Shocked and surprised I asked for their suggestion as they have effectively said she is not performing in a classroom setting nor with one on one instruction with a special ed teacher. Then I got it, all of a sudden I was hearing about a wonderful program at another school, and that the teacher had already been by to observe her and felt she could help her learn to read. They had successfully found a way to pawn her off on another school and maintain their precious high test scores :bravo: I decided to roll with this and after commenting on the fact that they were effectively conceding defeat to my child, I went to see the new school. I was really impressed by the teacher, she seems fitting of that title, unlike the women I had previously met with . . . seriously they should consider a new profession or maybe take the extra classes and move to the gifted program. Teaching is not just about helping the average or above average kids, it is supposed to be about helping all kids learn. If you give up the second a kid throws a tantrum, then you are ensuring that that will continue every time you say something they don't like. I think I might need to go get me one of them diploma's, apparently they don't teach them what they used to. The sad/funny thing is that this is probably thanks to the "No Child Left Behind" Act (ironic name), they have taken a great idea and destroyed it. The point was for ALL children, regardless of ability, to get a quality education without the system leaving them behind. It seemed harsh but bad teachers kept passing kids without regard to if they were actually learning and there was a serious problem. Holding teachers accountable is a great idea but how? Testing is probably not the greatest but it's what we've got, it's what we know. The mistake made is that the special ed kids are tested with the reg ed and so test scores became skewed, this created problems as no one wants the low score. The special ed system doesn't retain students it promotes them regardless of their ability and so causes a severe strain on the schools scores. I think, if we are going to use reg ed testing on special ed then the special ed student must be able to do that level of work to move on to the next grade. This will maintain a healthy balance and produce a truer score. Anyway, I'll be getting off my soapbox now. But let me just say this, shame on you teachers, special ed directors, administrators for forgetting the children and only looking at your numbers.

Check it out today :)

A long weekend

Well, let me start with the bad news first. Our dear sweet little Spice has gone to puppy heaven :( She managed to get out of the house and was hiding under the expedition, no one knew she was even out and it was upon dh's return home that she was discovered :( Her sister, Sugar, is still coming to terms with the loss and she, Sammy and the children are working through their grief together.

We had the pleasure of participating in one of the oldest scams (Thank you John Robert Powers) in the book. The radio advertised an audition for kids 4 - 17 this weekend and I took the kids down on Saturday to try out. Sure I don't own a tv but what does that have to do with anything! Anyway, my oldest got the callback but it was not an audition, as advertised, but instead a "school" for aspiring actors/models/singer/dancers. The classes ranged from $2000 - $6000, no payment plans available. At first I was bummed, I was still whirling in the glitter and glamour they promised, then I called my sis for that delightful dash of cynicism I know and love her for and I was better :) Hey, life's tough when you have beautiful kids, lol. Anyway, I called the screen actor's guild today to get a list of legitimate agencies in the area, maybe I'll send out some head shots or something when I have some of that free time people talk about :)

Lot has a really diverse palette, dh and I are really impressed. When he came home I was told he liked pears so we decided to start offering them pears, he was the only taker. The other evening dh left the pig food in the wheelbarrow and Lot discovered the grapes, turns out he really likes those too :) I am very interested to see where this leads, I'll let you know :)

I finally got pics of the new trailer (Read:I asked the previous owners for the pics)

Rejoice :)

I am pleased to say that the barter system is indeed alive and well :) Last night we traded the suburban for a 4X7 utility trailer. YAY!!! At first we were a little worried because we couldn't get the suburban started, the poor thing has been sitting for months since the transmission is going out and you can't get up over 40 mph. After charging for a bit it started right up. :) The couple that had come to look at it were very nice, a police officer and his wife looking for a winter project. Apparently he takes on quite a few projects every year. The men took the suburban out for a spin while the ladies stood around chatting. Turns out they have 5 kids too :) Eventually we saw the suburban and just as they pulled into the driveway it died, lol. We laughed so hard, it was excellent timing. He was in love and she was understandably worried about taking it home at that late hour. It occurred to dh that we needed to get the title, that was a very difficult exercise and I am so very thankful that we found it. Dh loves the new trailer and is already dreaming of all the uses he has for it, he'd been wanting/needing one for a while. Well, that's about it for this story, don't you just love a happy ending :) I better get back to work before they notice my happy energy :)

Planning and pondering . . .

Well, it looks like our sweet jersey is in heat (AI has a lower success rate than a live bull ;) ) No matter we have the solution to that little problem already on the payroll, lol :) Though I must say that I don't think dh can deal with her moodiness in the mornings, in addition to her amorous admirer as he tries to join her in the stanchion as he cannot bare the thought of being without her (read: less than 1 foot away separated by the metal bar, lol).

After watching P.S. I Love You this weekend, I decided that we needed to stop waiting for our real lives to start to start living. With that in mind I asked dh to quit his job as it was obvious that things were going nowhere at wal-mart nor the other company (that didn't have the decency to call back). I know that sounds crazy but we talked it over and it has been decided that he will quit in time for spring planting. We will work to grow the food we need and stock up for the year.

We do not delude ourselves to believe this will be easy. We are committed to the fact that it will be very hard and there are deep cuts that will be needed to be made in order to succeed. The thing is we have to give this an honest shot or there's no point. Disclaimer: This plan is subject to change at any moment given that I'm pregnant and completely hormonal :)

Sorry for the silence - for my desk at work

Alright, I have been AWOL for the past few weeks as my busy season has gone into full swing, on top of which my computer at home is temporarily out of commission :(

So let's do a very quick recap:

HG (our middle child) found her self on the wrong end of an oak china cabinet :( The small spider monkey within must have finally taken hold because my sweet princess decided one fine afternoon (while I was on my way home from work) to climb up the old cabinet, left over from the previous owner, and in the process pullet it down on herself :( Fortunately, dh was in the bathroom (less than 10 feet away) and was there to push it off of her within seconds of the fall. Barefoot he scooped her up and got the children in the car as they raced off to the emergency room. The building was locked, he went to the little grocery and they directed him to the correct building. When I got to the hospital they were both covered in blood and she was very tired. Scared does not quite do justice to the feelings I had at that point. With the exception of her going for the x-ray I couldn't leave her side. They determined that nothing was broken but felt that she should be transferred to the bigger hospital in Wichita (an hour away), just to be on the safe side as they do not have a CT Scan machine. We agreed and waited patiently for the ambulance to arrive. The EMS worker noticed that she was not on a spine board while they knew that it was not needed, they didn't want to have to deal with the doctors at the other hospital throwing a fit. I looked on as dh went on ahead of us to pick up food and meet us at the hospital. My little princess was now in pain and I asked how long she would have to endure this, to which the response was: "until they clear her". I said NO!! That was just unacceptable. She was not in pain and they were causing her to be in pain, suddenly they realised that I was serious. They began working to make her more comfortable, imagine, they had that option the whole time. Anyway to make this short, she was fine though the doctors in Wichita couldn't believe it so they kept her for observation. They didn't release he until almost dinner time :( Once she had had a "good" night sleep she was up and about ready to go again. Praise God she escaped this entire ordeal with only a few bruises.
Pic from the hospital:

Pic yesterday:


We did luck out on that trip however as the child life department brought us a nice assortment of costumes for our dress up box. We are still collecting pieces now that Halloween (we don't celebrate) is over :) AR turned 11 in the midst of all this drama and had the pleasure of going to his first ice hockey game, he loved it!!

Lot is finally back home, YAY!!! We missed him, so did the girls. It was a bit of an adventure that can be read here

HG celebrated her 5th birthday this weekend and is in the midst of planning her 6th, lol :)

I found a new doctor and really love his office. For one thing instead of the usual ob office decor a la contraceptive manufacturer, this guy has awesome assortment of NFP posters and reasons to avoid contraceptives. I was really pleased to see an office that was willing to give families information about the effects of contraceptives on the marriage and their correlation with the ever rising divorce rate. *NOTE: we do not use NFP but do consider it the only option should it be truly necessary.

We watched P.S. I love you this weekend *Disclaimer: if you're a guy reading this, you may wish to avoid this movie, lol :) I cried for the whole movie, it was such a beautiful love story.

Not much else, dh had the pleasure of chasing after our cows who had escaped when the barn doors were blown up again :( It worked out alright though, Lot who had stayed with his new main chica Treva, wandered out behind dh and called the girls home - he probably figured that it was time to get some grain and didn't want that held up, lol :)

Well, I'll update again soon. Thanks for the comments and emails. :)