Transformers rocked last night!!!
Our fam went and had a blast.  If you saw the first movie you will love the 2nd.
We went to the midnight showing.  The line wasn't bad for tickets.  We went and got them around 10:30pm and then ran a block down the street to a local coffeehouse and had a quick dinner.  When we got back to the theater there was no line until we got to the snacks.  Gosh.  I've never seen Hollywood Theater so full of people. The best part of the night for me was when we were in that snack line and my son turned to me and said, "I"M LEGAL!"  I said, "Excuse me?"  He repeated, "I"M LEGAL!"  I just looked at him in puzzlement.  He grinned really big and said, “For the first time I'm seeing a PG13 movie and I'm thirteen!” LOL Only my son would be so excited and thrilled about that.
We waited for about 45 minutes and when the movie was supposed to start at 12:15am the manager came in and said there was some kind of digital key that wasn't working and he was sorry but we'd have to move to a different theater(they have 12).  Phew, when he started talking I thought we weren't going to get to see the movie at all last night.  One man jumped up and threw his popcorn and swore at the manager.  The manager offered refunds to anyone who didn't want to move.  I immediately said to my husband, "Run, get there first!"  He grabbed his stuff and took off faster than I'd seen him in a long time.  Z and I got stuck in the long line of people moving down the stairs.  By the time we got there he had perfect seats and was smiling and waiting for us.  Other people complained because they didn't get the same seats they'd had in the first room.  One guy was flaming mad about it.  Said he'd stood in line for an hour and wanted his seat in the same place back.  Well, it didn't work that way.  There was no kindergarten teacher making sure everyone went to their assigned seat.
Finally the movie started and it was an exciting movie. I kept jumping and grabbing my husband. There were funny moments, moments I was in tears but mostly adrenaline pumping moments that kept me on the edge of my seat.
I think that they added a lot of cursing and some sexy stuff so that is why the rating went up to PG13. I thought that wasn't necessary but I wasn't the movie creator.
Loved the movie, definitely recommend it and would see it again.
Did I say they had a car just like Bumblebee parked outside the theater? What a gorgeous car!

edit: I forgot to mention that after the movie was over the manager gave us free tickets to come to the theater again, that is $25 dollars worth of movie!! Whoo hoo!

It is memorial day today. I can't believe how long it has been since I wrote here.
For the most part I was just too discouraged to write about anything.

Tigger has something wrong with him. I can't do anything about it either. I have to wait for the regular vet tomorrow because we can't afford how much it would cost at the Emergency pet clinic. Something is wrong with one of his back legs and he just doesn't want to walk on it at all. I first noticed that he wasn't eating like he usually was. Then I noticed he was limping.
I'm not sure what is wrong. I thought he wasn't eating or drinking but when I take it to him he acts like he is famished and eats it quickly but will only eat wet food right now. He wasn't getting in the kitty litter yesterday and I wondered if it was just to high for him. I took him to the kitten's little box and he got right in and it was like he had been saving it for days. Poor guy. I wish I could just fix whatever it is instantly. I am really hoping and praying that whatever it is is easily fixable and won't take a lot of money. We just don't have extra cash right now.

Did you notice the mention of the new kitten? I'll have to write about her soon or I might just backlog it to the date we got her.

The boys have been fighting a lot. I am sick of being referee. I just don't know what to do to help or make a difference.

I'll try and get back in the groove here. I'm just not sure if I have the energy. I haven't been doing much gathering either.

My big news today was my pump supplies arrived and I am pumping insulin again! You just can't imagine the relief it is to be back on my normal regimen. It will take a little while of normal blood sugars for me to feel a lot better but I am back on track.

Z got some great school work today and the full size Thomas backpack I got on ebay came all the way from Hong Kong today.

When B and Z got home from church I was waiting for Z with my camera ready to go.








Joy and Excitement at our house.
Z's Christmas present from his Papa has arrived!

I had been online doing some moderating and took a moment to take some kitty pictures.

I came back to find my screen looking like this:


Talk about a few minutes of panic!!


I kept trying to call my husband at work but he didn't answer either of his phones. Next I tried my computer savvy friend K and she laughed!! Thought it was a big joke until I told her it wasn't funny and I really needed help. She'd never heard of it happening like this and worried that it was a computer virus and advised me to shut it all done quickly. So I did.

I finally got a hold of my husband and told him what it was doing and said HELP!.

THANKFULLY, he didn't say he couldn't help because it was a hardware problem...(have you heard the joke about how many computer programmers it takes to change a light bulb? Answer: none, it's a hardware problem That is his favorite joke so you know what his job is now).

He googled and found me an answer quickly.

You hit CTRL, ALT and the up arrow all at the same time and it switches back.

He then told me how to set it so it won't happen again.

Right click on your on your computer screen, go to graphics properties and then to display settings. Unclick enable rotation and it can't happen again.

Now that you know how to fix it you can play a practical joke on your friends too.

Phew!

I'm glad it was an easy fix!



ps My husband thinks one of the cats walked on the computer and did it!


"Did you spell that word right?" Tigger waiting his turn decided to spell check for me. My son kept him company.

Not a lot going on today. I just can't seem to catch up. Still not feeling real well.
But better days are coming. I will be pumping insulin again by the end of the week.
Yeah!
B took Z to boyscouts and not much more than usual stuff going on besides that.

Now I am not a big football fun. I haven't been to a football game in years. When I do go I enjoy the cheerleaders, the excitement of the crowd, the halftime show and the hot dogs more than I do the actual playing of the game. When we lived in KC my husband won tickets to go see the chiefs play when Z was 1 1/2. It was great fun but I remember shopping for the baby backpack for him to ride in and how much he enjoyed interacting with the people around us more than any part of the game.

So, a few weeks ago, even though we've never watched a game of football on tv in all of his 12 3/4 years in our home, my son out of the blue said, "I want to have a Superbowl Party." We were dumbstruck. I didn't know what to say. He kept repeating this and we had hoped the youth group would have a party he could go to but they didn't. So today after church (I'd stayed home this morning because I was sick) B and Z went to Walmart to brave the pre-Superbowl shoppers and bought stuff for Z's party. He picked food. He picked the drinks. He bought a Superbowl party pack box that had napkins, a tablecloth, cups and plates and even plasticware. He had us leave the room so he could decorate the table. He heated up the food and set it out.
And....we watched. Honesty I loved most of the commercials, and was a little bored during the halftime show.
I loved Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem. Oh my that woman can sing. I think she was the best part of the Superbowl.


Here is a link to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeJLhCjvat8

The only play that stood out to me was the one by the Steelers that was the longest run in Superbowl history? I don't know the name of the player but it was neat to see.
Z was rooting for the Cardinals. Of course they aren't a MO team anymore but since they share the name Z was rooting for them.

After reading about Kirt Warner (read the email going around and the wonderful true story at: http://www.snopes.com/glurge/warner.asp) I wanted the Cardinals to win too.

A friend of mine in KC (thanks Tammy) shared: 'Today at church our minister mentioned that when Kurt, his wife and 7 children go out to eat he has one of his children pick out a family eating at the restaurant. Kurt then tells the wait staff he is picking up the tab for that family's dinner anonymously.
He remembers the days he was working nights in the grocery store and feeding his family on food stamps.'(http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1180481067&ref=name#/note.php?note_id=48511039911&ref=mf)

It ended up the Steelers won but I hope Z enjoyed the evening and all the effort he put into it certainly made it fun for me. I enjoyed seeing how important this was to him and all his work to make it fun for us.

Oh the joys of a preteen or as Z would rather say almost teen boy.

We started slow today and none of us remembered the right time for Z's Basketball game. I asked him and he told me it started at 4pm and he needed to be there 15 minutes early for pictures. Turns out the game was at 3pm so he missed half of it and didn't get to be in his team picture. I feel soooooooo bad about that. When he told me 4pm I just didn't question it. If I had I would have called to verify. None of us could find the schedule.
Oh well. He was upset on the way there (the first time he thought he might have gotten the time wrong) but he went in and played the last half of the game and seemed fine with it, no fussing or anything.

We stopped at the mall to get his kidgit bag and saw a couple of people from church there. If I go in and shop for an hour I rarely see someone I know. I run in with B in the lane waiting for me to run back out and I run into 2 different people! Go figure!
We went to check on the big going out of business sale at Circuit City but they really didn't have things marked down that much. One of our friends was there and he told us that the liquidation company marks everything up before they discount it. We did get a couple of things for Z's ps2 but that was it. I have been hoping to get a flat bed scanner but it needs to have really good quality scan that gets the detail. I wasn't sure anything they had there would work.

I am hoping to be able to scan some old pictures and other genealogy stuff as well as use it for school. It would really help.

Dad had called and invited us to go out to eat with him. We went to the older Little Tokyo. The food was good as usual but our favorite cook was gone. He has probably gone to work at the new Little Tokyo.

We took the morning slow but after B came home with the car and I dropped him back at work we seemed to be running.
We gathered things we don't need around the house to take to the Free Exchange (sponsored by Field Trips Online) and then jumped in the car to pick up K and her girls to take them with us. The exchange was fun. It is basically a homeschool event where you bring everything that you don't want and then pick out anything you do want(we got a lot of clothes for B and Z and they needed them!) and what the homeschoolers don't take is donated to and picked up by the All-Tribal Indian Center(http://alltribalindiancenter.org). It was fun to look and visit with people I haven't seen in a while.

After we left the exchange we raced to the reception for the Unschool Art Contest at the Waverly House(http://waverlyhouse.com/). Z was disappointed that he didn't win a prize BUT I thought the best part was that all 3 of the judges took time to talk to each kid and give details about how to do certain things better etc and Z got some really good comments from them. It was nice to see what other homeschool kids came up with too. It reminded me for the first time of the applied art class I took in highschool and the fun things we made in there. B actually had a fellow worker drop him off so he could see Z's drawing on the wall. That made Z feel pretty special.


We took B back to work and then raced over for the last hour of the celebration of the Philippines reception at Askinosie Chocolate Factory - http://www.askinosie.com/, They have just started making a new chocolate from cocoa beans from the Philippines. What is special about this is that no one has exported these beans from the Philippines for 25 years. That makes this chocolate completely unique and unavailable anywhere else. I thought it was delicious, it is a 77% dark chocolate and has a rich but light fruity taste. The Consulate General of the Philippines from their office in Chicago actually came.

Askinosie ships his chocolate all over the world and it is rare in that it is all one source cocoa bean chocolate. He also has a chocolate from a cocoa bean in Mexico that hasn't been exported from that country for 100 years. I'm excited about the uniqueness of these 2 dark chocolates!
Sean Askinosie is totally unique. You've heard of fair trade? Well Sean goes beyond fair trade and promises a share of the profits to the cocoa bean growers. He actually goes back himself to give them the profits he has promised them. An American who keeps his word to farmers in 3rd world countries!!!
Please support his Chocolate factory, he is making a difference in these countries and his chocolate is world class. http://www.askinosie.com/

The sun came out today and Z had loads of fun with the snow.
Here is my snowy backyard.


And here is Z's snow angel, a present for Mom.


China was a little worried that the snow might be whiter than she is.
I told her she didn't need to worry at all.

We ended up going to Panera for their free coffee day. Thanks Ed for telling me about it. The coffee was delicious and you can't get better than free but they were all out of their free samples of their new breakfast products by the time we got there.

Z had been pleading all day to go sledding at Jordan Valley Park. Several years ago we went with some friends (K and family) and had a wonderful time. They couldn't go with us today and I know Z was disappointed but he had a good time anyway once we got there. He talked to others waiting in line to go down the many hills and didn't stop smiling and laughing even when he tumbled off of his sled.


You've got to love a good snow day.

We had sleet all day. My son was so excited about something white on the ground he went out sledding on the sleet.

This isn't snow. These are little ice pebbles. What was strange was it wasn't slick to walk on at all. It stayed separate little pieces instead of packing like snow. After it snowed this evening I tried to take a picture and slid.


Our car this afternoon covered with sleet and the sleet still coming down.


Me and my son. It is rare to get a picture with us with a white background.



My husband was mainly interested in getting the ice off the car.
However, he did have some fun with Z and the sled first.


The sleet on the deck table yesterday.


Our table on the deck with real snow tonight.


Hours later our car with SNOW! At least there isn't as much ice under the snow now.


The snow coming down this evening.



Of course this made my son's day. He has been waiting for snow since last October and we finally got some and it is still coming down.

He wants to make plans to go sledding at the park with the best hills in town tomorrow because it may all be melting and gone on Thursday. We just listened to the weather forecast.

That is the way weather goes in MO.

My husband drove to Walmart for food after work. A lot of people were having accidents but he said he drove 1/2 the speed limit and did okay. He and Z played in the ice for a while. You would have thought it was snow but they were skidding up and down the driveway and came in totally soaked.

The news is saying the major ice storm hasn't even gotten here yet.

We are snuggled in and hoping that our electricity won't turn off. Warm and safe and hopefully we'll stay that way.

I can hear the ice hitting the window.


The ice drops reflect the light from my flash.


China keeps looking out different windows. She seems bewildered by the white stuff outside.


Here is what she is looking at: ice on the deck that looks like snow.


Here is my patio table covered with little tiny ice granules.

I woke up feeling good and actually had a normal blood sugar!
Things are set to go to get to church.
Z argued a little about going to his Sunday School class but he went and actually said he enjoyed it. It is a class he took last year on "Holiness" and he said that he learned new things he didn't hear last year.

I went with Z looking in the sanctuary but we couldn't find someone for him to sit with and after much searching in the balcony he found a spot(after I pointed it out) where he was comfortable sitting by himself.

I'm so glad we made it today. Our Family Matters class was absolutely awesome.
Dr Bob Burbee taught on communication and I think we learned some things we could use.
I will type out my notes later in the week. Patrick and Theodora actually were a practice couple and with Dr Burbee coaching showed us how not to communicate and a better way to make it work. We shall see.
We are all supposed to practice this at least once this week.

They had another set up in the foyer to show off all the small groups for this quarter. A lot of interesting choices. I just wish more of them were interest based instead of age based. The age bias thing at church really bothers me and closes a lot of doors.

In the afternoon I heard an ice storm was coming and I am concerned. I thought B could run to the store but all he wanted to do was watch Battlestar Galactica on his laptop because "it is one of the few things in his life that make him feel joy."
So we don't have enough food if we are frozen in here with non electricity. I just couldn't do it myself because my back has been so bad all weekend. I was pretty mad about that and Z and I stayed up and watched a movie and he made cookies.

Z had a ball game this afternoon so that was our main thought to get done.
It was a great game and B actually got footage of Z making a basket.

We raced to get food for our church class friends who just had a baby but by the time we got it there they were eating something else. So, I just handed it to them and said, "Put it in the Refrigerator for another meal." The baby was sweet. The kids were funny. I felt kind of stupid but oh well we tried.
The hard part was they didn't need the meal that night and we could have used the money to buy supplies and brought them something on a different night, but hindsight doesn't help.

I was going to upload the video of the game but it is 5 minutes long and LJ had trouble uploading it. When I get it edited I will put it on here!

I woke up with way too high blood sugars and the whole day was spent working on getting them down.
I did do some Freecycle moderating and Z got some school work done.
By mid afternoon I felt better but was entirely wiped out from the episode.

Have I mentioned how sweet my kitties are?
Tigger has become a snuggle bunny, he leaps into my arms and lets me hold him like a baby.
China has started coming and sitting right next to me and asking for pets.
I love my kitties.

It started off slow. My blood sugars were off again and still not right when B brought the car home for me. Z and I dropped him off and then took off to meet my friend Melissa and her daughter Sarah for lunch. Sarah's hair was in pigtails! She looked so cute! We sat and talked and ate for 1 1/2 hours!! I hadn't seen her since before Christmas just great fun. I needed a girl's night out, or rather lunch out!
Z and I went geocaching after our long lunch. What an awesome day for a geocache! It was a lot warmer than it has been today. It was supposed to get up to 65 but I don't know if we made that and I can't find a high temp listed anywhere for today. We were able to geocache with no coats or jackets though and it was really comfortable.
My favorite geocache today was No Bridge over Troubled Water. It was a great find. I drove down a street and walked on trails I didn't even know existed in my city. There aren't many places I don't know about here in town or at least I used to think that.
As we were about to leave for some odd reason Z took his cell phone out of his pocket and set it on the front of the car and forgot about it. We got in and drove away. Guess when he remembered?
When we got to Kum and Go we got out and he noticed it still sitting on the front of the car. I told him that was just a miracle. No way should it still have been there. Good thing though. PHew!

We stopped at Kum and Go for a snack and a bathroom break just before sunset. When we came out and got in the car we just happened to look up and notice the pink starting in the sky. I said, "Grab your camera Z!" I grabbed mine and we spent a good 10 minutes in their parking lot running around getting shots of that amazing pink in the sky. What a wow sky it was tonight and we were just at the right place at the right time.
As I was taking pictures a guy in a car waiting for the light to turn green started up a conversation about taking pictures and the amazing sky. I thought that was fun. Sometimes people just dive in and start talking and I'm always fascinated when they do. Friendly people are more and more becoming a very rare thing.
Isn't that amazing?


Z nabbing a sky shot as traffic whizzes by.

Just because I was awake. Let me explain. I went to bed around 11pm on Monday night and woke up about 2:30am because I was low. When I tested I was 45. I treated and for some odd reason I don't understand could never go back to sleep. I was awake all day after waking up at 2:30am.
It made it an odd day because I was tired but couldn't rest.

When I was starting to get ready for church I was dropping again so I ended up not going again.
It was just a really really long day.


Tigger thinks I am taking too many pictures of China these days. I can't resist his sweet baby blues. There is a certain time of day when the light is best for his eyes to look their best. I caught it today.

Zachary and I watched the inauguration together, listened to every word, the music, the prayers, the vows and the gosh I almost want to call it a sermon. We talked about it and pondered and I hope I helped him see it and remember it in a positive light. I really debated whether or not to watch but when it came down to it, our disagreeing with his politics doesn't matter today. Today is an amazing day in American history. We are inaugurating our first African American President, Barak Obama, who I would like to point out is really just an American unless I am going to have to start calling myself a Canadian Irish English American every time I say what country I belong to. Anyway, back to my point. Today is an important day in American History. It is long past time for someone besides an old rich white man to be President. I told my son I hope soon there will be a person of Asian heritage who will be President and someone whose ancestors were Native Americans (those who I was taught to call Indians when I was growing up but I think people should be called what they want and again I repeat we are all Americans, bottom line.) Even more important I told my son I hope soon and very soon an American woman will be President. Why? Because here in the USA it should all be possible.
As far as politics go I think I am going to watch and listen, make a stand for what I believe is right and work for justice and hope for us all. Now what those words mean to me as the moderate conservative type that I am may be very different from those in charge of our country at the moment but that doesn't mean I can't talk about what I believe is the truth. It also doesn't mean that I can't make a difference in our lives and the lives of the people I know and care about and people right here in my community. I can start here. Right here where I live, the nitty gritty, where the rubber meets the road. I want my life to make a difference and I want to raise my son eager to make a difference with his life too.
Do I expect only bad things from the new administration. No, not really. I'm not sure what to expect. I'm hoping he will be closer to centrist than the far left that I've heard his track record is but we will all see what he does in the coming days.
In the mean time I am going to live my life and explore my options and believe in truth and justice and hope. I do believe all that starts with Jesus Christ.
I loved the two prayers during the inauguration more than any of the rest of it. Rick Warren's prayer was exactly what I'd hoped he'd do and Joseph Lowery's benediction was thoughtful as well as leaving us with laughter in his rhymes at the end. I really liked that.

The rest of the day.
Let's see.
I took Zachary and Talitha to EDISON Science Club where they studied worms and actually dissected them. I heard some 'EWWW' about that. I was impressed with how in depth this was and how less for little kids and more right for Z's age group it was.
We kept Erin through the evening. I took Z and Erin to his basketball practice and then picked B up from work and we can home and fixed dinner together while the kids played games on the computer.
After we ate I was doing dishes and had B turned on the radio. B said, "Hey, that song is disco!" and I said, "What did you say?" and started disco dancing with the pan I was drying and the dish towel. Next thing I knew the 2 kids were dancing disco in the kitchen with me and the pan! It was great fun and I think that from now on dishes will be done to disco just to make it more fun! I've tried doing it to classical music and it just didn't give me that umph of energy I needed to get through the task. Disco dishes just sounds fun.

We got to bed late but it was a good day.

China getting the job done while the sun shines.