A Pleasant Surprise

I just watched a movie I had no desire to see.

Let me preface with the fact that I live in a baseball house. Not a "oh yeah, my kid plays Little League" house, a Baseball House. Husband played, Boy plays, Girl plays (baseball, not softball.) Husband is obsessed, Boy talks stats, Girl knows players by name (I know the names of some of the cute ones.) During baseball season, if you want to watch anything else, find another tv. I have seen every freaking baseball movie out there, and I really haven't enjoyed most of them. There's a lot of root for the underdog, slow motion action shots set to dramatic music crap that I just get so tired of. Except for "Major League." I'm sorry, you have no sense of humor if you do not appreciate the line, "Are you sayin' Jesus Christ can't hit a curveball?" I laugh when I say it, for crying out loud.

But the Husband and Boy wanted to watch "Moneyball," and guilted me into it with, "don't you want to be with us" crap, so there you go. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been caught dead watching a film about another down and out team being built on a shoestring budget, even if it did star Brad Pitt.

It was really freaking good.

It wasn't just building a team, it was playing with numbers and computers and playing with all the stats I don't really get, nor do I care to get. The idea was not to get one or two amazing players to carry the Oakland A's, but to actually build a team who could play together and get the needed numbers, and I, who tend not to stand out in a crowd, could appreciate that as much as anyone. Philip Seymour Hoffman is a phenomenal actor in everything he does, and the little girl who played Casey Beane was charming as can be, but I was thoroughly impressed with Jonah Hill's performance. So many of his characters have been over the top annoying, but his portrayal of Peter Brand is humble and intelligent, and really quite adorable.

I'm a little blown away by the Oscar nomination - it's a baseball movie, afterall. I do agree with the nomination of Jonah Hill for Best Supporting Actor.

And if Rooney Mara doesn't win Best Actress for "Girl With a Dragon Tattoo," I will lose all faith in humanity. Holy crap, people, did you see that? Really amazing movie, but I'll leave it to better writers than myself to tell you about it.

Ok, he is awfully cute, but he spends the whole movie spitting chew, which is beyond disgusting.

Catching up is hard to do.

I've yet again had to be reminded how long it has been since my last post. I really feel guilty posting just to post something. What I write may suck, but I want to suck writing what I want to write. You get me.

The plan is that this will be an eclectic, what I've been up to, type of post. And, since I so love lists complete with headings (a way to organize the chaos that is my mind,) I will include categories:

I. Resolutions
Thus far...yeah, I got nothin'. Ok, not exactly nothin', I haven't gained any weight, I have been drinking more water, and I've been eating a little more produce. But no exercize has been done. No food tracking has been done. Since we are starting a new week, I am putting it out there that I will move a little (with purpose, as in, for exercize) each day this week. Tomorrow I plan to use one of my DVDs, and, weather permitting, go to Zumba. I will also get my full amount of water this week. These are this week's changes. I will update you as the week goes on.

As far as finances are concerned, I haven't been subbing much, but I haven't been spending nearly as much, and I won $110 at a card party last night, which was pretty freaking awesome. I never win anything - how cool was that?

I have been consciously working on my resolution to listen better, which I think is helping me with the parenting and friendship resolutions. Seriously, test me. Come talk to me - I will listen, and ask thoughtful questions, I swear.

And now, to break up all the text, and because I adore George Takei, who posted this on Facebook yesterday:

Heehee. Nothing funnier than Vulcan kittehs.

II. Family Vacation
The fam and I went to visit more fam in Illinois. My husband's paternal grandfather passed away a few weeks ago. There was no memorial, but we wanted to spend some time with husband's dad, so we spent a few days in Peoria visiting him. Then we went to the Chicagoland area to see my family - a few sisters, my dad and his wife. We had a lovely time - games were played, excellent food (Portillo's...mmmm....Homer-style drooling sound) was eaten, and all the girls (three sisters, niece, Girl Child) went to get our hair tinseled/feathered. Totally girly and fun. Great visit, but really great to get home...

III. Relay For Life
In some crazy fit of "I need to volunteer more-itis" I signed up to co-chair our local Relay For Life. We had our Kick-Off event today, complete with lots of information, a little technical difficulty, and way too many hot dogs. We're so excited about the event this year, though - we have moved the location from a local school track to the parking lot of our minor league baseball stadium, and we are theming it "Striking Out Cancer." You'll probably want to skip on over to my page and make a huge donation to the American Cancer Society, or even start a team of your own, so check my side bar over there - I'm going to post a button there.



Let's see, let's see, let's see...kids are doing well, and it would behoove me to start taking some freaking pictures again to post here - I will endeavor to do a little more documenting, and maybe a little less senseless babbling. Heh. The Girl is playing basketball and she wants to play softball, but we are having some trouble finding a decent league for her. The Boy has finished academic team season, and has started conditioning workouts for baseball. He'll try out for the high school team in February - please wish him luck. Both are doing well in school, although with a teenage boy and tween-aged girl, the mood swings are killing me. Add in my own actual, diagnosed mental issues, and we have a house of crazy. It's ok that I say that because I'm talking about myself.
It's past my bedtime, so I must adjourn. If I don't hop on here soon, have a great week. Kisses...

Resolutions 2012

The resolutions list - the ultimate in annual list-making fun. What have I accomplished and what do I need to change to make myself over into a person I can respect? I love making resolutions. Last year I tried the whole healthy mindset - ease up on myself, not make the resolutions so I don't kick myself when I fail - and I still kicked myself when I failed with the resolutions I didn't make but really did in my head. I like writing them down for the whole world (or just my little corner of cyberspace) can see. It is a concrete way to take stock and see where I want to go. The resolutions haven't really changed over the past 14 years, but I am writing them down, anyway.

1. Health.
Of course, the health. I am an obese woman. I don't want to be an obese woman, but each time I've made a healthy change, I've quit before I've made any legitimate progress. I am well on my way toward my 40's, though, and my luck is not going to hold out forever - sooner or later I will start suffering some major health issues.
I find the "one small change at a time" method works best for me, so that is what I will do. I will begin with 4 small changes and add one a week. My 4 changes for this week are:

a. Drink my 8 glasses of water a day.
b. Go to bed by 11 each night.
c. Move each day. Period. Even if it's just a 10 minute walk, I will move each day. Once it's a habit
I'll add in rest days, but for now, I need to do it everyday to make it stick.
d. Write down everything I eat. No excuses on this one - I slack on it each time, and each time I fail.

2. Finances
Ugh. There is no reason for us to be in debt, and I'd like to get out before we have to start borrowing money to send the kids to college. And one goes in 3 1/2 years.

a. Start looking again in earnest for a full time job.
b. Sub more often. I was lazy last month.
c. Budget. Figure how much, exactly, is coming in and out of this house each month, and plan accordingly. Make lists for grocery and other shopping, and stick to them.

3. Personal life
Ok, obviously, my health is pretty personal, but this kind of covers those vague personality-based quirks I'd like to work on.

a. Be a better mom. I do ok, but I need to pay more attention, and add my kiddles into my health plan - cook better meals for them, make sure they're moving.
b. Be a better friend. This one deserves a post all its own. I have a trait that drives me crazy, but I haven't really changed it. I talk way too much, and I don't feel like I'm a good enough listener. On top of that, when I'm slightly uncomfortable or out of my element (essentially, I feel like I'm back in high school and I don't have any friends - which wasn't true then or now, but I have a touch of paranoia) I get louder and more talkative. It's annoying, and I spend hours later thinking about what a dork I was. Which, maybe, nobody even noticed, but I did. Anyway, at the church I've been attending, the minister recently spoke about leadership, and how being an effective leader means asking the right questions - the hard questions, the vague, open-ended, thought-provoking questions. It was a really great sermon, but what I really took from it was the questions issue. Because I tend to ask the basic stuff, listen to the answers, and compare it, aloud to my own life, which comes across as selfish. Which isn't really necessarily true, I truly care about what you think and feel, but I feel like an unintelligent dweeb if I'm not adding to the conversation. Ok, so my goals for this year are to ask the right questions, and to truly listen to the answers. My friend L is one of the most interesting, fun people I know, and she's actually really quiet. She asks intuitive, interesting questions, she listens and seems to care about your answers. I plan to emulate L. But I will never be quiet. I can't be quiet in my sleep.
c. whew, I didn't plan to go off on a tangent like that. Ok, next one. Learn something new each month. On purpose. Our library has some great classes, and so does our Extension Center. Plus, I can check out language learning stuff from the library - maybe brush up on my Spanish?
d. This one is fun: I'm challenging myself to read 60 books in the next year. I'm not sure if it's really a challenge, I may have read 60 books last year, but I'm going to list them here so you all can keep me honest.

Many goals, but all with concrete steps to take. I would like to point out that I did accomplish two goals I set for myself last year: I did become more involved in community service and I have begun to seriously explore my spirituality. I have been involved in my local Relay For Life (for the American Cancer Society) for a few years. The last few years I've felt the Relays have been less than stellar, so, rather than complaining about it, this year I joined the committee. Actually, I'm co-chairing the committee. I've also found a church that interests me, a Unitarian Universalist church where spiritual exploration is encouraged. I'm excited about these two new steps in my life.

Do you make resolutions? Do you think making resolutions can work? What are some of your resolutions this year? Please, share, we can all cheer each other on!

Breakfast

I woke up to grey and cold this morning. The weather called for muffins. I have made muffins from scratch more than once, but Trader Joe's Pumpkin bread mix makes amazing muffins, and they more than suited my purpose, so as the coffee brewed, I stirred together the batter and put the muffins in to bake. I ate an orange, juicy and sweet, tingly to the tongue as the spicy scent of cinnamon and nutmeg filled the kitchen. I waited to drink my first cup of coffee until the muffins were ready. I pulled the paper from the bottom and split the muffin, inhaling the sweet steam. Cream cheese is best on pumpkin muffins, so I spread the insides with cream cheese, prepared my coffee, light and sweet, and sat to truly enjoy my meal. The muffin was perfect - warm and comforting, tasting both of sugar and spice, with just a slight tang from the cream cheese. I savored the quiet and the content. A perfect beginning to my day. I should have taken a picture, but I was too busy eating my muffin.

I started a new book last night - "The School of Essential Ingredients". The story began slowly, but I became engrossed in the characters and their tales. What I am most enjoying, though, is the way the author describes food. I can taste and smell everything, and I am hungrier at the end of each page, even when the food she is describing is something I don't like. I don't care for sausage or clams, but when she describes making a red sauce with sausage, or Pasta del Mar, it is exactly what I want to smell and taste at that moment. Reading this book made me want to sit and take notice of my breakfast this morning, which is why I decided to write it all down.

Happy New Year! May all your meals be noteworthy!

Quiet celebration

My Girl and I went to a dinner to celebrate the solstice tonight. It was lovely to take a break from all the Christmas craziness to celebrate such a quiet and natural moment as the return of the light. One of the women there read a poem that really spoke to me, and I want to share:

Winter's Pause

by Kaaren Whitney

Dark like the mole's black velvet back,

dark like Gaia's womb,

unwrapped as from deep boroughs of excavated earth,

Winter slows to the pace of a moon white icicle

as sun completes its final exhalation, and stops.

Savouring the pause, the freedom of emptiness,

the solstice half-yearly turning begins again,

revived, breathing in fresh rays of light and life and love.

A very blessed Yule to you all.

Peanuts

The 3rd grade did a wax museum project this past week - they had to choose a historic figure, do research, write a 1-2 minute speech, and costume themselves. The Girl chose George Washington Carver. Fascinating guy - doesn't she look just like him?

I was pretty freaking proud of the mustache, though. I made it my very own self, from felt and elastic. And I made a very nice peanut pin out of felt, because, you know, he discovered over 300 different uses for the peanut.

It was a pretty cool project.

Tonight we had our annual Christmas celebration with one group of relatives, and tomorrow we go up for another annual family gathering. Lots of family fun this weekend. I hope you are all enjoying your's.

Ways to stay warm

Today is cold and dark, with occasional wet, sleety snow. Sometimes this is the sort of day I want to curl up on my couch, under the sage gaze of my Yoda tree topper, snuggling with cats, drinking coffee and reading a good, if mindless, book.

Other gloomy days, however, call for coffee and conversation, and snuggle time with gorgeous, chunky babies. So when A called me over for coffee, how could I resist. She makes the loveliest coffee - light and sweet with vanilla-scented sugar. And these ladies are the snuggliest, most scrumptious babies - and they grin at me like I am the most amusing person on earth.

This was a very nice way to spend the morning.