An IMAX 3D experience

Gary and I had a date last night. We went to see Avatar in IMAX 3D. Gary got the bug to see it after hearing a lot about it from his bosses and a co-worker, who had each seen it three times.

I liked it. Gary didn't. He said it was too predictable.

The story line is not new. One race wants to eradicate another to get something, and there isn't much patience. It's sorrowful that this has happened in history over and over.

But the new twist is the avatar. The scientists have come up with a way to link a human conscience and a native's body (which was cloned and spliced with human DNA, then grown, or something like that.)

The main character, an avatar, is taken in by the natives, the Na'vi, to spy (government) or learn their ways and try to talk to them about moving so that their land can be strip mined (scientists.)

Of course they don't want to move and they shouldn't have to; their rain forest has a highly advanced spiritual design. But humans want what they want, and plan to take it by force. Battles ensue.

Special effects were great, especially in 3D.

I highly recommend seeing it. I plan on seeing again.

A birthday dinner

Tonight is my birthday dinner with my parents, sister and aunt. My dear husband has made me beef stew, homemade bread, and apple crisp.

And I have some confessions. I act all nonchalant that great, beautiful presents come into my home for me. "Oh, that's nice. Presents for me? You shouldn't have." But inside I am just as giddy as Ellie was as she made a grand entrance holding one and exclaiming that such presents were here for me. When I pass them, my head turns as my eyes lock on them and my brain searches to guess what fine things are inside. And although I do feel slightly self-conscience when I hear choruses of "Happy Birthday to You," I would miss hearing them if they were forgotten.

But really all the laud should go to my mother, for I had no say about being born, and she did all the work. She had all the pain and joy of that day (well, I guess Dad had joy too.) I don't remember any of it.

So why do I get all the acclamation?

I love you, mom. Thank you.

Friends

Here I sit at Myrtle's house. She didn't want to be alone. She had a horrible, awful, scary, terrifing day. She was shaking, her heart was racing from all the asthma meds she had to take, she was in pain, couldn't breathe well. She asked a couple friends to come over. They said they were busy. I told her I could come after Gary got home from a meeting.

God worked it that way. Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment during the time she first called me. I had switched my appointment because I didn't feel up to going. I didn't have a car yesterday, also making it more likely I'd be home to receive her calls. My mom was also off today, so she was able to watch the kids. I didn't have anything else planned today that I couldn't do tomorrow, so I was able to come.

She needed me, I came. I know that if she was able and I needed her, she would come.

Start your reading engines!

Ellie and Josh will be doing a lot of reading in the next several months. They have an opportunity to complete three reading levels: Bronze (400 min of reading) - a single dip cone or a game of mini golf, Silver (800 min) - $10.00 gift certificate to a local bike shop, and Gold (1400 min) - $20.00 gift certificate to Texas Roadhouse.

Ellie's revving to go. They both have four blocks already colored in. Ellie wants her ice cream.

Shopping 'til you drop

Mom, the kids and I went shopping today. It was a long day. We finally left around 10:00, over an hour later than planned. We were going to stop at my parents' bank to let Ellie count her change that she collected to send to Ester and Haiti. But we remembered that it was Martin Luther King Jr. day. Banks aren't open. We than headed to Aldi and Wal-Mart.

On the way to the stores, we passed a TD Bank. It was open (they are America's most convenient bank, you know) and they have a free counting machine. Ellie and I went in and counted her money.

We took entirely too long at Aldi and Wal-Mart and needed to get lunch before driving to Wegmans. We had planned to eat at Wegmans' cafe, but with the kids' behavior quickly declining from lack of food, we drove straight away to McDonalds.

Once fed the children were more pleasant to be around. We drove to finish our shopping experience. Wegmans is quite large inside. The kids, though fed, were fed up with shopping. On the way to discipline my dear child, I noticed a kid-like area. Blessedly, Wegmans has a child center, where kids can play and parents can shop in peace. I signed up Josh and Ellie in the blink of an eye. Mom and I finished our shopping in peace, and Josh and Ellie played and watched "Cars" again.

It was 5:00 before we returned home. We were all bushed. We only went to three stores and McDonalds. Really, how could it have taken that long?

Ellie giving to others

I was quite stunned and touched, today, when I went in Ellie's room at the end of rest time. The scene that greeted me was Ellie on her bed with the contents of her piggy bank seemingly in piles around her. She informed me that all the shiny coins (quarters, dimes and nickles) were for Ester. Ester is the girl we sponsor through World Vision. She also took the shiny pennies and added them to the pile for Ester.

Last week we received a letter from Ester, and it apparently piqued Ellie's interest, so we told her about Ester. A few days ago she took it upon herself to draw Ester a picture.

At dinner we told her about the devastation in Haiti. We tried to explain what an earthquake was and how much need there is there. We asked if she would like to send her money there instead. She agreed to send some there but really wanted to give some to Ester too.

I love that she decided to take her money and help others. Saturday we need to take her to the post office so she can mail her offerings.

Seems small to worry about boots now.

Boots

I finally saved up enough money and bought a pair of LLBean snow boots. I was so excited. Alas, when I tried them on, I felt like I was wearing Gary's boots. They felt big and bulky and a little heavy. I had one my regular white athletic socks at the time. It was probably not wise to not wear a pair of thick socks instead. My reasoning was that a pair of thick socks would not take up all the space in there. I should have actually checked that theory out. But it is too late, I already sent them back.

I was able to try on a pair of snow boots at a local store, I forgot to try before ordering online. I tried on a size smaller than I had bought. Those were too small in length, but they still felt too roomy elsewhere. Which then leads me to believe that I had ordered the right size after all, and I just need to accept that snow boots feel clunky on and wear really thick socks. Do I reorder the LLBean ones, do I order different brand and maybe they'll feel better, or do I just put up with the clunky feeling?

Updated

Here is Ellie with her tooth coming in. You can sort of see it. She says she has more loose teeth, but I haven't confirmed that yet.


Note: I haven't done much with our photos, since getting our computer back from having it wiped clean. My photos, though not lost on the computer (I hope,) are all lost from Memory Manager program, the photo software I had been using. They are all in Picasa (not our pick) which is not necessarily bad photo software, just not software I know how to use, nor care to take the time to learn right now. So, all my photos are just sitting in Picasa in a haphazard fashion. Just trying to locate one is a pain.

I have done fairly well at not freaking out because all my 5000+ photos are not where they were when I handed over my computer, and the amount of work needed to recreate what I had is quite daunting, to say the least. I mostly just ignore the fact that all my photo organization is lost, and I have to start over.

The scoop on the poop

It seems that not having dairy has helped Josh. His little bottom has not hurt, and I think his diaper filling has lessened and more is produced when he goes. Though there have been days when it seems like that's not so much the case, like today. I know it takes about 2 days to see the results of having cow milk. I can't recall him having any dairy, but it's still a new experience with not giving hin dairy, that I very well may have accidentally given him some. They sometimes sneak milk into things where you might never expect to look.


The best option for plain milk is the lactose free milk. He has a like/dislike relationship with it. One night it's the bee's knees (whatever that means), the next he gags it down. He is just fine with goat cheese and yogurt. Though the cheese has to be cut in the correct shape. I cut it differently once, and he wouldn't eat it.



In case you were pining away about the meaning of the above phrase - "The Bee's Knees" is a term indicating excellence - the highest quality, because bees carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs. The allusion is that the concentrated goodness is found around the bee's knees. It became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s.

A bit of this and that

Today I am wearing my fish oil pants. I am quite pleased that the odor is gone. It took many treatments, but they are wearable now.

Also, I am also, hopefully, able to wear my leather brown shoes again. They hurt my feet whenever I wore them, so I hadn't been wearing them. Not long ago it occurred to me that they could be stretched, since they were leather. I took them in to our local shoe repair place Tuesday and had them back Saturday. I tried them on and could tell they were looser. I am not wearing them today since I am in slippers all day.

The reason for that is because Josh is just getting over a cold, and we didn't think we should share any germs he might still have with the other children in the twos and threes room at church. So instead I told Josh about Jesus helping Peter and friends to catch a boat load of fish by throwing their nets on the other side of the boat after they were out all night and hadn't caught anything. Then the story of when Jesus calmed the storm. Then we watched "Dave and the Giant Pickle", and two "Real Trains" videos.

I also made our dinner of ham and bean soup to sit and cook all day in the slow cooker, and I started a batch of bagels. The bagels of yesterday are a different story.