And On the Second Day

there was a great void. Silence filled the house and no cartoons (or game shows) were watched.

Today is the second day of school. I like to think of it as benchmark day. This is the day that will be an indicator of how the rest of the school year will we go. The newness is starting to wear off and the reality of nine months of formal learning will start.

Charles had a good day yesterday. Can I just say I LOVE high school? I L-O-V-E LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it. Charles needed schedule changes. I emailed his counselor and poof they were done - correctly with no gnashing of teeth or swear words. Algebra I and Creative Writing - POOF gone and hello PreAP Geometry and AVID. I LOVE high school. with all the books he's carrying around he's going to bulk up by Christmas.

Tommy had a good first day back. He is so excited to have a locker. There was no homework and his friend saved him a seat on the bus. Really it was a GREAT day.

Joey liked school but did not get to eat his snack and had recess BEFORe lunch - which upset his whole sense of order and justice. He also did NOT get to eat his snack so some one might have to die - he was not amused (proof that the apple does not fall far from it's tree.

What a difference a year makes. Last year on the first day of school, Eric and I walked Joey and Tommy to their classrooms. On the second day, I was prepared to walk Joey to the front door and kiss him goodbye. We got to the cross walk and told me he didn't need any help - he had Tommy and really Tommy was useless so he was good. I kissed him goodbye and watched the boys walk across the street. This year I told Joey i'd help him walk across the street. The he could go in the rest of the way by himself. We crossed the street and I kissed him goodbye and stood and watched as he started up the walk to the front door. Joey kept turning around to make sure I was there. each step he took got shorter and he moved slower. It was a step step - turn and wave at mom. He got the the drive and just stopped and then turn around and came back to me. He needed me to walk him to the school.

Mad About Harry

I need to preface this post with the disclaimer, I am serious about movies based on books I've read. My thoughts are someone took the time to use their talent to write a story a certain way. Major changes to a story are unsettling and disgust me to no end. I understand the need to condense a story to make it fit the time a movie runs I really do BUT when you take a story and make a movie and change the story to make it your own it verges on copywrite infringement in my opinion - don't bastardize a story just because you can.

Angels and Demons did NOT come after the DaVinci Code in Dan Brown's world. it came before - like the horse before the cart. The remaining preferati did NOT remain - he too died and did NOT become Pope, there is this little thing called CERN and Vittoria's father was PRIEST who worked with anti-matter. The assassin was a militant muslim and - well I won't go on.

The wrong sister died in My Sister's Keeper after a court battle to keep her organs and help the ailing sister die because she was tired of the fight. Alec Baldwin as the 30 something badass lawyer - um no the only thing Alec Baldwin says is foulmouthed bombastic blowhard with a weight management issue. Tell the movie like it is written and don't ad lib to make a movie according to your vision - the writer's voice needs to remain the TRUE voice of a film.

Cinematically, the HBP was beautiful to look at. The Hogwarts backdrop stunning. The story itself moved and the dialogue was very well written. However - this was the producer's version of the story and so NOT the story I read numerous times. As a movie for the sake of a movie, i suppose it was good - I'll have to watch it again to say anything about that. I was too mad at what wasn't included and what was added to really watch- as were most of the people around me - many of us were not happy.

STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOLIERS




GO BACK GO BACK SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!

Okay I warned you.

Harry and Dumbledore setting off from the Underground station - um no.

The opening of the HBP was very MUCH needed We needed to know about the two ministers but more importantly, the meeting with Dumbledore , the Dursley's and Harry. There was also Sirius' will and the bequeathment of the House of Black and Kreacher. Kreacher and Dobby played a part in THIS story as well as what is to come in Deadly Hollows.

Dumbledore placed a charm on Harry so that as long as he was underage and could made a visit to his aunt and uncle's he was safe from Volde. Petunia, and to a lesser extent Vernon, had to agree to this.

The sotry of Voldie's mother and father as well as his grandfather was important.

The revelation of some of the Horcux's and the way Riddle finds them was important. Hello - Harry KNEW about the ring that was Marvalo's, the book, the cup that was Hufflepuff's, the necklace that was Slyherin's are important Harry KNEW about these at the close of the book so that he, Ron and hermione had an idea - even though it was vague of what they were looking for.

There was no Fleur and Bill wedding being planned. the idea that love, even in the face of dark and dangerous times is a key motif of the story as a whole.

Tonks and Remus were NOT together in this story. TONKS found harry on the train NOT Luna. There were members of the OOP at the school protecting it from Voldemort. There was little in the movie about the fear and terror people felt as the dark lord regained power - parents pulled their children from Hogwarts people disappeared daily.

Slughorn KNEW Sirius - think about it - one of Sluggy's favorite students was Lilly (and wtheck was that fishbowl thing - really?) therefore Sirius would be the contemporary and Sluggy's student NOT Regulus. Regulus WAS Sirius' younger brother.

Draco used Madame Rosemerta as his vehicle for destruction. Dumbledore and Harry took off from and arrived back in Hogsmead BEcAUSE YOU CANNOT - EVEN IF YOU ARE ALBUS PRECIVEL DUMBLEDORE- APPARATE WITHIN HOGWARTS .you just can't .

Volde wanted to teach at Hogwarts and his employment with Borgin and Burke's in order to find items to make his horcruxs.

Then there is the little matter of no fight at Hogwarts when the death eaters came in between the OOP and Volde's flunkies. Bill got bit by Fenrir Greybeck and Fleur and Molly had a moment. Dumbledore would have never left the castle undefended.

Dumbledore's tribute scene with the wands in the air like you don't care version of a bad 80's hair band concert - - deplorable.

Finally, what the hell was the Children of the Corn scene? The scene in the book where the MoM came with Percy to the Burrow at Christmas could have easily and accurately displayed here - It was here that Harry told the Minister that he was through and through loyal to Dumbledore. The Ministry and all of their protective measures were almost as heinous as what Voldemort and his death eaters were doing. Instead we had Bellatrix and Scary McSurly leaving smoke trails through a corn field at Christmas (corn does not grow at Christmas in England ) poor poor choice.

I left the theatre sad about what I had scene - the movie could have been so much more and it wasn't. It was just a movie based loosely on a book.

As for the PG rating - it was fine. Very little in this book was scary, I think that joey could watch and enjoy it - unlike the 4th and 5th installments. this movie was almost light and happy.

So there you have it - that's what i have to say about that

So tonight whilest I worked my husband went to Fry's

THANK GOD he went while I was at work. Seriously, I will never get those hours of my life spent in that store back. For him, Fry's is Nirvana, It 's like the shoe store for me - a new surprise around every corner (though I doubt he'd like to roll around naked on the electronics like I'd like to do among the shoes)

For the "unenlightened - or the blessed as I like to think - Fry's is a place that sells electronics, TV's build your own computers appliances - etc etc etc. It also sells a lot of crappy electronic junk, it's Radio Shack on crack. I hate this place. It makes my head hurt and I want to lay down on the floor and cry at the mere thought of going here.

When I got back from work, the younger boys told me that daddy took them to fry's like it was some secret I was not meant to know. eric told me only spent $30. i wasn't worried. that's about all he spends at that store. he always fonds a gadget or two to buy.

None of it works - but it fills the drawer nicely.

Today's purchase was an adapter that was supposed to plug into our iPods and charge them and transmit the songs over an FM radio station. That grey SUV driving around Little Elm at 10 PM - that was us. Trying out our $30 piece of crap. Mind you, we already have a plug thingy that docks my iPod in the car and plays it out of the auxilliary port. It works and I like it. I also have a car charger for my iPod. Neither of these work on his ipod though.

As I type, he's outside, in the dark trying to make this thing work.

He needen't worry, I threw out a bunch of plug thingy's a few weeks ago when i purged the junk drawer - we have room.

I have found my people

and they are calling me home.

Joey brought home a birthday party invitation yesterday for Saturday and I called to RSVP. The mom informed me that they will be celebrating at the WiggleTown Indoor Center. Would I be staying?

She sensed the hesitation in my voice and informed me that the play center has a liquor license.

This is brilliant - and answers my question - I knew Anthony Wiggle drank.

So now they want to tax sodas because kids are fat

and this will pay for universal health insurance. Seriously Mr. President. Put down Karl Marx and open your eyes.

Kids are fat because we make them fat. Taxing each can and bottle of non-healthy beverages isn't going to fix anything. Look at the great State of Texas. Sodas, chips, candy and other sweets have been banned from elementary campuses across the state and yet, The great state has some of the fattest kids in the nation.

Instead look at the guidelines set forth by the federal student lunch program. Those meals - deemed by the government experts of nutrition - are loaded with fat, carbohydrates, sodium and void of any nutritional value. Looking at how mouch kids throw away at lunch time leads me to believe the tatse is foul as well.

Tell me how a baked, breaded regurgitated chicken patty covered in gravy with white rice,corn, canned pears and flavored milk is healthy? Now feed your average kid that crap and then send them back to class. Take away recess and Pe because they are day wasters.

This is why our kids are fat.

If you want to truly make a difference - bring back recess and physical education - make them mandatory. Who cares if a kid is Left Behind when his Behind is as big as a house?

Revamp the federal lunch program with meals like those your daughters consume at their private school cafeteria.

So here we are - three months post having a GIRL

and the changes and differences are mazing.

This little girl has the household wrapped around her sweet dimpled fingers and she knows it and uses it to her cute baby advantage.

Her brothers adore her. They will do anything to make her smile and then argue about who cam=n or who did make her smile or laugh the biggest. This can be blood sport. The competition is fierce. It amazes me to see how the boys will knock each other around and then two seconds later coo and talk to their sister.

She uses this to her advantage. She can roll herself over now. This is an issue because she does not like to be on her tummy. So she rolls over and calls to her brothers - which ever one is closest. She cries - not a real "I'm unhappy and have tears" cry but a "Come help me because I want to see how fast you can dance attendance one me" cry. This works every time - multiple times in a row because she has learned boys are basically stupid when it comes to cute girls.

The relationship between Madaleine and her daddy is amazing as well. He loves her in a way that melts my heart. I dotes on her in ways that he didn't with the boys. She has to match and he cares about her hair (this could be also because she is the first to HAVE hair) and that she wears a diaper cover under her dress because no one can see her diaper - this cracks me up. He spends as much time in the baby girl section as I do - well almost. He told me the other day he was unsure about our world becoming a pink festooned world but it's grown on him.

I have an addiction - to cute little girl outfits - she needs them all - in every size with headbands and hair bows and shoes to match.

She completes us in ways that I didn't know we were missing.

She I think is going to be a lucky little girl. When she's Charles' age she's not going to be one of those girls who seeks out the attention of boys to make herself feel good because she has that from her brothers. She is never going to doubt that she nneds a boy to make her feel good about herself and that she is going to be good enough - rather boys are going to have to be good enough to her. She'll know how to play hard and dirty. She'll be rough and tough and feminine and girly at the same time.

She is indeed a lucky little girl.

So I Went to Hobby Lobby for Book Report Supplies

and while I was picking up some little thingies to go into a the project I started wondering - whatever happened to actually writing a book report? Charles has been in school nine years now and he has never once written a book report. He's made a sandwich out of story elements. He's created a movie poster about a book. He's even made a power point about a book but he has never once written an book report. He also has never written a term paper or essay and he's in the Pre AP program.

How do schools expect students to learn to write coherent thoughts? How does making a sandwich out of the plot, characters, main idea, and climax of a story teach children critical thinking skills? How will this help him get into college? How will he handle having to write that term paper in Freshman Comp?

I sit here and imagine the look on Dr. Pressman or Sister Anne's face as today's high school graduates attempt to turn a "story sandwich on War and Peace or Little Women. It make me laugh - visions of smoke coming out of the tape recorder of death - heh.

This is a Pre AP English class project - not a regular class - I can only imagine what those projects are like. And yet, as I look at the requirements for this summer's Pre AP Engllish project and thinks there are going to be a lot of upset 9th graders come August. How do teacher's expect kids to make a jump from regurgitation to ingurgitation and adaptation in a summer?

Ten years from now (holy crap I'm old) my child's boss is going to want an analysis of whatever and all he's going to be able to do is make a power point on the plot and main idea of his data.

Is the Sun ever going to shine again

How many more grey, humid days can we have? This is DALLAS - not Seattle.