friends & family too!

friends, they say, are the family that we choose. it's true. i'm lucky to have some amazing friends and wonderful family both.

on sunday, my dear friend, Cindy, came with her son, Alex. The last time we saw them was a little more than 2 years ago. it was WONDERFUL to see them. we've decided that 2 years between visits is just not okay. so we're hoping to find ways to get together every 6 months or so (at least!). irene and rhys got along really quite well with alex (who is delightful and funny and fun). i'm bummed that i didn't have my camera out - argle! we did get ONE picture of rhys and alex when we went to black rock last night for dinner - hopefully it will show up here if i link it correctly...


they both were happy with the sundae. it was irene's turn to pick dessert and the boys were NOT interested in coconut cream pie...

rhys corrupted alex a bit...they played pac man and sonic - oh my!

anyway, it was good for my soul to be with my friend and her wonderful boychild.

cyn & alex had to leave today - tomorrow we get to see more friends! judy and her family will be here for the rib cookoff. in fact, they are watching rhys for me while i sub tomorrow. then on friday, the myers are coming and so is my sister, jolie, and my nephew and niece (jake and karly). YEA YEA YEA! it will be busy and fun and filled with happiness (perhaps a few meltdowns in the children department, but it will be more happiness than not!).

star wars terminology update

another to add to rhys' list of star wars people/places/things...

Swindoo. you know, the guy who is more commonly known as Mace Windu.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

how did i not KNOW about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang?? we netflixed it - i think we must own it.

what i really love is going into movies with no expectations. it was BRILLIANT! if the link in the title worked right, you'll see that it got 9 popcorns out of 10. i think it was robbed. shoulda gotten 11.

i LOVED it with big giant slurpy kisses.

oh...perhaps if you aren't fond of swearing, this movie isn't for you - but golly gee willickers, it was funny!

rent it!

oh - yes, if you want to know, it stars Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer.

BRILLIANT!!!!!!

you're invited for homemade cinnamon rolls and lattes (or mochas or hot chocolate)

i was up much too early this morning - mr wigglesworth was squirming into me and my kidneys on one side and probably doing similar (if not worse things) to his father on the other side. but i woke up with after a million and one water dreams (which of course was b/c i had to pee!) - the last one being more along the nightmare water dream than pleasant water dream - it involved my children and much water and being up high and stormy seas etc....anyway, i realized that i'd left the fan on downstairs - oops! so i was heading down to fix that and scraped/gouged/banged my leg with the corner of my hope chest. so when i got downstairs, i decided that i'd just enjoy the silence. it was lovely. and one of my good friends was online back east so we got to chat a bit.

i made some cinnamon rolls yesterday afternoon, so i got them out of the fridge to rise in a warm-ish oven and relaxed a bit more. irene woke up at 5:30 - i don't think she actually went back to bed, but rather got dressed and then crawled in w/rhys and rob. goodness but the child does wake up early.

i went upstairs hoping to snuggle in and go back to sleep for a wee bit...HAHAHAHAHAHA. um, yeah. that didn't so much work out for me. irene was awake and reading, rhys was wiggling and rob was trying to sleep. so i grabbed the kiddos and downstairs we went. rhys asked for hot chocolate, so i got that started. then i preheated the oven and eventually got to put the cinnamon rolls in the oven. while that was happening, i made regular coffee as well as a mocha - usually i do lattes, but a mocha sounded yummy. i used a different kind of chocolat which is yummy in hot chocolate, but doesn't mix quite as well with mochas. oh well. should have stuck w/my latte and honey. actually, now that it's tasting better - perhaps it just needed to rest for a bit.




so, when should i expect you? i have another batch made - it can be hot for you when you arrive.

because *somebody's* got to win, right?

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

i've got a theory...

i LOVE the answer i got from the superheroine quiz!!!!

You Are Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"We saved the world. I say we have to party."

What Superheroine Are You?

truly - isn't this the coolest??? and i didn't change a single answer anywhere. there weren't any questions over which i vassled (which does happen sometimes and so i go to see what the results would be with xyORz as the answers.

can you tell that i loved loved loved buffy? i was also an angel fan. and, while we're at it, i also enjoyed xena (though i stopped watching at some point - maybe b/c rob's schedule had changed?).

which superheroine are you??

for star wars fans everywhere...

while i was out one day, rob played Battlefront II with Rhys (let me say, i'm not anti star wars - i LOVE star wars...i was just trying to keep the gun violence down in the house for as long as possible). oh my dog. it's all star wars all the time.

and so...here are some snippets from rhys' world of star wars...

episode V may be The Empire Strikes Back (and is clearly the favorite in this household), but Rhys calls it Episode Five

and obviously, A New Hope is actually called "The Vampire Strikes Front!"

and did you know that they guy w/the "Life Saver" with 2 sides is called Dark Mauve?

he will tell you all about General Grievous (though he has not seen any episodes besides the original and empire strikes back). it's really funny to listen to him talk about it all.

friday fill in and friday feast and CAC

so, it's BARELY friday anymore...that's okay - right? :)

I got this from janet over at FondOfSnape (check out her photography - it's quite lovely!)

1. Last weekend, I was thinking that there is a lot going on in the month of august.
2. If the weather continues like this, i might melt. it's been dang hot this month.
3. Will my sweetpeas ever grow? (they are not blooming - just stretching the greenery...i want the flowers! anyone know how i can get the flowers???)
4. Often, on a summer's night, I think "wow it's beautiful. i'd love to sleep under the stars".
5. Right now, I could use a good strong lovely and large iced latte - with honey and whipped cream.
6. My favorite summertime meal is hmmmm - it depends on the meal time. probably pork ribs, watermelon, potato salad or homemade macaroni salad, and a yummy drink.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to perhaps some mojitos, talking to mom (she gets back from a vacation today), listening to Irene read some of her book, and hopefully watching Eureka, tomorrow my plans include taking the kids to gymnastics, cleaning/straightening the house, welcoming Pat and Bob (rob's folks), visiting with them and having hamburgers and Sunday, I want to go to the Atlantis for sushi and visit more with Pat and Bob :)!

do you want to play? let janet (and me too) know in comments :)

the *following* is part of the Friday Feast - i found it over at MissMeliss' blog.

Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?
i try to be quite polite - probably 8ish is about where i usually am. there are times that i'm probably down by the 5s...perhaps even lower. but, you know, sometimes it depends on the company i'm keeping. :)

Soup
What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
okay - it's not the very last thing - but something that made me laugh long and loud was rhys talking about the bad guy from star wars -- you know the one. the one with the double sided light saber? his name, of course, is Dark Mauve. hee hee hee hahahahaha!!!

Salad
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
hmmmm -- well, in old school cartoons, i'd have to say Pinken Panfer (aka The Pink Panther). but online -- HOOPS AND YOYO!!! do you know them? they make me so so so SO happy! my favorite is the mother's day one...what kids say "oh mother, i can't seem to find you. mother, are you here? i think that i will go quietly from room to room looking for you calling your name ever so quietly." and what moms hear "MOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! I CAN'T FIND YOU!!! WHERE ARE YOU??? MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Main Course
Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.
funniest? uh. hmmm. i had some funny teachers, but i'm not sure which was the most funny. perhaps one of my professors in spain (gads! i've blanked his name!) . it was mostly his intonations and phrasology and the fact that we had another student who could mimick him exactly "Fíjense como ese catedral tiene tal y cual"

Dessert
Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that ______________________.

i strongly believe that the world is full of good people doing good things. i think that the news focuses a bit too heavily on all the crap that is happening. i strongly believe that one person really CAN make a difference. by starting small we can all make the world a better place.

and...here's the create a connection from july 17th courtesy of Holly

1) When you were going through a rough time in your life, what did someone do to help get you through that period. (you don't have to tell us about the rough time if you don't want, I just want to hear what helped you through it)

mostly just talking to me and listening to me. one time during a particularly rough period, my mom gave me Lonesome Dove to read - she knew i needed a tome to just lose myself for some time. it was a great help. but really, listening to me and caring about what i'm saying.

2) Have you ever been on the receiving end of a RAK? What was it? How did it make you feel?

yes! :) i've received some special things from special people very randomly. each thing has made me feel special and picked me up when i was feeling down, put a bigger smile on my face even on days when i was already feeling good

3) Have you ever sent out a letter/greeting/bunch of flowers to someone, just to cheer them up? Did you do it anonymously?

yes i have and no it wasn't anonymous. oh! actually, i DO do anonymous things!! i pay for people behind me on bridges. if i had ever won the california lotto, i wanted to pay for all the commuters during rush hour traffic for 1 hour on the golden gate bridge...i didn't win, but it was fun to think about it.

4) If you were not familiar with Random Acts of Kindness before now, are you more inspired to go out and do something nice now?

i was already familiar with them and i still think they are wonderful.

5) If you know of another good website that encourages spreading joy and love, please pass it along.

i hadn't heard of this site before now - but it looks good. it's The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation


and finally.....
don't forget to go and listen to Scott McMorrow and listen to (and hopefully vote for) his 1-minute play here :D

Scott McMorrow

so - i know some pretty cool people. period. it's true. i am darn lucky to know these pretty cool people. one of those pretty cool people is Scott McMorrow.

Scott is a playwright (and he's a fire fighter too!). a few of his plays were even translated and performed in italy - does it get much cooler? NO you say??? well, yes it does!

Scott is a finalist in the Ivey Awards. these are one minute plays. you can hear his play if you go here - go. i'll wait. listen to it. now VOTE for him!!! isn't it brilliant? that one minute play truly tells the whole story. not only that, he's got the 8 year old down perfectly. and mrpertation - that was really quite clever. i've heard malaprops like that from 8 and 10 year olds.

so please go - and vote for him! because, while he's pretty cool now, he'll hit stratospherically cool winning this (which could maybe make me pretty cool just by knowing him -- right?).

seriously - it's a very well done 1-minute play. it deserves to win. period.