Amy's First School Award

I already knew she was terrific, but today Amy received the Terrific Kids award for "doing a great job." Her teacher is back now after over two weeks absence, so hopefully things will stabilize. Amy said that someone asked her teacher why she was gone and she said that she bought a new house, had to decorate it, and then had to rest. Personally, I think she had a nervous breakdown and this was her euphamistic answer. I guess we'll never know because I know I won't ask! Anyway, I'm proud of Amy, and she gets to get a free kid's meal from Chick-fil-a. "Eat more chickin!"

Mind Reading

You may have noticed that I was playing around with my blog today and made it more colorful. And I know what you all are thinking: "Shelley really needs to get a life."

Couch Potato Confessions

Here are some television series we have enjoyed lately on DVD that I highly recommend. I know I am very behind the times, so maybe you all have seen these, but I am slowly catching up to the rest of the world. Actually, I should accept that I will probably always be behind.

Monk - I have always wanted to watch this show because I love Tony Shalhoub, and I was not disappointed! We laughed so hard watching the first three episodes of Season One. If anyone is not familiar with this show, Tony Shalhoub plays a detective with OCD who is trying to get his police job back. We should be getting the next disc soon-I can't wait--I hope the rest are as good.

Northern Exposure - I know this show is ancient, but when it came on originally, I used to go to bed at 8:00 or 9:00 so I didn't see much of anything. It used to come on channel 5 when Kaylynn was a baby, and I saw some of them then. So now I'm catching up. I love the way they put each show together and the main idea comes full circle. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I don't know how else to describe it. And I love it's quirkiness. If somethings is "quirky," you can bet I'm going to love it.

The Office - Speaking of quirkiness . . . This is more recent but I wasn't really aware of it until Christina was raving about it, and she lent us the first two seasons. The first season I thought was just fairly funny, but I liked the originality of it and the way the people just look like regular people. It's so refreshing to see normal teeth. My favorite episode was the Survivor-like spoof. Then we got into Season Two, which has been absolutely laugh-out-loud funny, and I'm addicted. We watch a few episodes every night. Hey Christina, do you have Season Three??? You've created a monster!

Catching a Wave

Yesterday we ventured out to Huntington Beach for an afternoon of fun and sun, cold and wind, and sand, sand, and more sand. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about--the showers at the beach don't quite wash all the sand away. Kaylynn's friend Brandi went with us, and they did a lot of boogie boarding. Anna and Amy played in the waves and drew pictures in the sand. Jeremy did a little bit of everything. Here's a video of the highlights:

Manchester United Vs. The Hurricanes-Game 1

In the first game of the season, Jeremy's team, Manchester United, lost 2-1, but Jeremy played great defense. He was center defender, and likes cheese. (I wasn't sure what to write, so Jeremy typed in the cheese comment.)

Like Sands Through the Hourglass . . .

There hasn't been much going on here worth blogging about, so I took a few pictures this afternoon of usual everyday stuff, just to give a glimpse of the quirky "days of our lives" here in our home:



This is Jeremy's new homework spot. It should help reduce the dust.



This is what happens when you ask Kaylynn to smile. She is making Little Cheddar Meatloaves for us for dinner. It's so great to have a good cook for a daughter!



Here's Amy at the computer. By the time I got the camera, she had already closed Barbie.com, one of her favorite sites.



Whose/who's (Lara, tell me which one is correct) homework do you think this is? Amy's? This is actually the homework of my third grade GATE student! It must be more creative to ignore the lines.

We came, we saw, we just about died!

This morning my friend, Sara, and I hiked six miles up to the Cleveland National Forest to this Doppler radar structure (or whatever you call it). What you can't see is the big ball on top, the sweat dripping down our faces, and our swollen hands! But this is proof that we did it. What a great feeling! The hardest part for me was the six miles back--my big toes are black and blue. There was also a group of others that Sara has gone with before, sometimes a few times a week, but since I'm pretty slow, we started a half hour before them, and they still beat us back. Oh, well, you have to start somewhere. Now it's time for me to lay down and not move for the rest of the day.

Amy's First Day of Kindergarten - Last Wednesday

Famous First Lines

• "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . ." (A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens)
• "Call me Ishmael." (Moby Dick by Herman Melville)
• "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." (Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy)
• "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of Number Four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling)

Thus begins the epic series of Harry Potter, which over the last ten years has earned its place among the great works of literature . . . Okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but it has been a thrilling ride! Last night, a group of us Potterheads (Lara, Christina, Cherie, Dan, Kaylynn, Jeremy and myself) met together and discussed, questioned, analyzed, complained about, and rejoiced in the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (Incidentally, we also ate junk food.) We even critiqued the artwork of the cover--was it accurate, and what the heck are the curtains all about? We decided some kind of a flow chart would be best to fully comprehend the passing of the Elder wand from wizard to wizard, but didn't actually make one. For me the best part of the book--I think here a spoiler warning is unnecessary because I believe I can safely divide readers of this into those who have already read it, and those who never will--was when Snape told Harry just before he died, "Look . . . at . . . me." He wanted to see Harry's eyes, which were just like Lily's. He had sacrificed so much because of this love for her. Drama at its best! All in all, the series is so compelling because of the powerful themes throughout: that it is our choices that determine who we are, that the master of death is not the one who has power over it, but the one who accepts it, and that love conquers all. And of course there are suspense, laughter, and tears all along the way. As they would commonly put it in England, it's just "brilliant!"

Quote of the Day

"A clean house is evidence of a misspent life."

Book Review: The Razor's Edge

Well, it was only a matter of time before I got to my other obsession in life--books. This morning I finished The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham just in time to get to the library to discuss it with the Classics Discussion Group, of which I am the only one under the age of 60. Here's a rundown of the people in the group:

• Dottie - the leader of the group, a librarian, almost always smiles

• Margaret - looks at least 70, very sharp mind, frail looking, just recovered from breaking her collarbone due to a fall

• Cathy - has a PhD in Classic literature, has been a college professor and teacher at an all-girls prep school, recently visited Poland

• Frantz - the only man in the group, as far as I can tell never been married, almost never likes the book, always has a bottle of Coke with him, and usually brings the movie adaptation of the book

• Dauris and Donna - I don't know much about these two, I may even have there names wrong.

Anyway, you get the idea. When we watch movies from the 1940's, most of them actually saw them when they came out!

The book tells the story of Larry Darrell, a man on a quest to learn the meaning of life and why there is suffering in the world, and how his quest affects those who know him. He has come back from WWI having seen death, and the expectations of the society he has returned to have no meaning for him. Actually, the story is almost more about the people who associate with Larry, and what is going on in their lives over the years as Larry wanders around the world seeking knowledge. There's not really much of a plot. It's more of a character analysis and deals with selfishness, self-sacrifice, duty to society, the nature of evil, and covers some different religious ideas. An interesting thing about this book is that the narrator is the author and he makes himself a character, as if the events of the book really happened and he was part of it. All in all, it was a very good book. I think even Frantz liked it--at least he didn't hate it. I bought it, so if anyone wants to borrow it, just ask! Here's a passage that I liked that is not really very important to the book:
"I think your an excellent mother. You see that they're well and happy. You watch over their diet and take care that their bowels act regularly. . ." Am I that excellent of a mother? I'll have to watch my children's bowel activity more closely from now on.

Videomania!

If you look to the right you will notice that I figured out how to get the single videos I wanted! Yay! So I added a very small portion of my favorites. If any of them look interesting to you give them a click. I'm so passionate about them that I watch almost all of them every time I experiment with my blog. I should probably be spending my time cleaning up the house, enriching my mind with study, or making homemade marshmallows, but Molly Mormon has checked out for a while. (Or actually was never a part of my true nature.) Ever since I can remember I have been obsessed with music, so I probably always will be! If you like/dislike anything, let me know! I love opposing viewpoints--it makes life interesting!
P.S. Sometimes the videos are temperamental and don't work, you just have to try again later--I don't know what the secret is.

Fourth of July and Beyond

I'm backtracking a bit and posting some earlier pictures from the Fourth of July and the following weekend spent with family.

Bowling With Bumpers

Here are some photos of our afternoon at the bowling alley. We had a lot of granny shots, slow-moving balls, loud bounces, a ball coming back to us (thanks to Jeremy), and even a few strikes.

Top Ten Reasons to Go On A Road Trip to North Dakota and Back