That's my Boy

IMG_5850, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

What I'm watching, What I'm going to See, Maybe

Movies have been a wasteland lately. I can't remember such a yawn-inducing summer.

We watched The Green Zone, a Matt Damon movie about the decided lack of WMDs in Iraq. It was ok. The thing that impressed me most about the movie was Brendan Gleeson's American accent. Oh, and Greg Kinnear could make a career out of playing dicks.

Jon's mom is coming for a week long visit today. I hope Jon and I can sneak away one day and watch a movie while she babysits Brenden - I'm thinking Toy Story III though maybe B can watch that one. I totally admit I want to see the A-Team, too.

I'll eventually end up watching Christopher Nolan's Inception. His Batman movies have been decent, but I still remember how mindbending Memento is.

I commented on Facebook about Bruce Willis' movie, Red, featuring Helen Mirren firing guns plus Willis and Karl Urban beating the shit out of each other. It comes out in October and I'll be there.

But Predators? Despicable Me? The Expendables? I can't decide if these will be must sees or avoid like the plague.

Other than that I can't work up any kind of enthusiasm for anything. The next Star Trek won't be out until 2012.

Pool Party

IMG_5804, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I'd better update - the weekend before last Nancy, Mark, and Anthony came for a visit. It was good to see them again - I was happy that Nancy wasn't allergied out of the house by 3 cats. Matter of fact Zoe Mal Owen, the black and white kitty, charmed Nancy and purred into her ear for a long time. And Anthony enjoyed the pool! I inflicted an old MST3K on them - The Pod People - which is breathtakingly sucky.

We left Tuesday for a visit with my Dad and Ilu in Oklahoma. Holy crap was it hot! Nonetheless we had plenty to do including 4 wheeling, fishing, swimming in Sardis lake, and eating and more eating (thank you dad and Ilu!). We visited a ranch and Brenden got to pet some horses and colts. I avoided all horse contact.

I'm always amazed at the variety of animals in Oklahoma. We saw baby deer, turtles, frogs, the fish we yanked out of the water, wild turkeys, hawks, vultures, and some I'm forgetting. Oh yeah, bugs. A very kind neighbor of theirs brought Brenden a bag of goodies for his birthday that included a butterfly net and an insect cage so we bughunted and caught all sorts of bugs including some unintentionally. Boy I hate ticks.

I'm still recovering - I developed a cold 2 weeks ago and I'm still plagued by congestion, stuffy head and plugged ears. Photos soon come!

Fish Day

IMG_5577, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

This past Saturday I surprised Brenden by setting up a 2 1/2 gallon aquarium in his bedroom. It's a nice starter system and fairly durable. I had it up and running, complete with gravel and some Spongebob-related decorations. It was all set up execpt for fish. When we did our traditional Saturday grocery run, I let him pick out 2 tiny goldfish at the local Petsmart. He has named them both 'Sandy', which is adorable. I nicknamed them Ben and Hurley just for kicks.

I took Brenden to Dairy Queen for dinner ( I was scoping out birthday cakes) and he played in the enclosed play yard with a little girl who was maybe a year younger than him. I was pleased to see they were playing 'tag' and he didn't run as fast as he could and he let him catch her. He would run after her when he was it and not go all out. He was very disappointed when she left.

Sunday was his birthday day; Jon, Brenden and I picked up Sierra and Andrew and we drove to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Brenden is finally old enough to appreciate the aquarium and he loved it. It wasn't that crowded and I'm impressed with how that area looks considering its age (the aquarium is 18 years old). The kids had fun and Brenden needs to work on his quiet voice because he let the entire aquarium know what he was looking at ("WOW LOOK AT THE FISH!").

After we dropped off Sierra and Andrew later that day we opened presents. See the entry below for what that was like.

We held a pool party Monday afternoon after work with the neighbor and her two boys as well as Andrew and his mom (Stacey had vacation bible school). I was amused with how crowded the pool got with 4 boys and 4 adults. We grilled hotdogs and hamburgers and the cake was a Dairy Queen Oreo cookie blizzard cake. YUM.

A Million Parts

A Million Parts, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I'll blog a bit later about my Precious Snowflake's birthday celebrations, but I wanted to blog this picture. It's a K'NEX rollercoaster and had about a million parts. The K'NEX system is like an ultra-sophisticated tinker-toy set and the directions are surprisingly easy to follow, but *DAMN*.

I put it together Sunday afternoon for Brenden. From now on Jon has to buy Brenden toys within a year or so of the age recommendation or put it together himself.

The cats like nomming on it, curse their fuzzy hides.

Happy Birthday

IMG_5611, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Happy Birthday, my beloved son! *Muah!* It's been 5 years. It feels like 5 minutes sometimes.

I'm Rich!!111!!!!

My Swimming Son, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Woo-hoo! I got this spam unsolicited email today:

Greetings,

I understand that through Internet is not the best way to link up with you because of the confidentiality which my proposal demands.

However, I have already sent you this same letter one month ago,but I am not sure if it did get to you since I have not heard from you, hence i am constrain to reach you through the Internet which has been abused over the years.

I wish to notify you again that You were listed as a Heir to the total sum of (Three Million Six Hundred Thousand British Pounds) in the codicil and last testament of the deceased.(Name now withheld since this is our second letter to you). We contacted you because you bear the surname identity and therefore can present you as the Heir to the inheritance funds.

etc. etc. etc.

No con man ever went broke overestimating people's greed.

What I'm Reading

IMG_3936, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I decided not to bring my Kindle on vacation and ended up re-reading Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos and they hold up to a second reading. I will be reading them again sometime down the road. I recall reading a review of one of Simmons' books (Black Hills), where the reviewer can't get past all the fantastic elements in his novels but she loves his books and reads them compulsively. I think the strong point of all his novels are the great characters. He puts believable characters in unbelievable situations, all the time. Actually, I'll buy into anything if you give me people to like.

That's pretty much a pattern for me: I love totally loopy stories with people I can empathize with. I don't understand people who don't like fantastic elements in their novels. As far as I'm concerned once I hear "Once upon a time" all bets are off with reality no matter how "true to life" the story is.

Currently I'm reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the third of the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson who unfortunately died after writing these three books (the other two: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire). They were originally written in Swedish and the direct translation of the first book's title is Men who Hate Women. Larsson has some interesting things to say about violence against women, and does it in a story about a woman named Lisbeth Salander who is a fantastic crazy-awesome character. I've heard the movie version out of Sweden is worthwhile too. I shall have to rent it on DVD when it comes out.

when I have nothing to read I'm reading trashy mystery/detective novels. Unfortunately none of them hold a candle to Dan Simmons' trashy Joe Kurtz novels. I hope he writes some more. Hell, I'll read his grocery lists if he publishes them. I'm sure they would make me cry.