In general, I don't condone watching sports on Sunday; however, was that game awesome or what? Didn't watch the whole thing, but holy moly the last quarter was something else. Eli Manning and David Tyree coming through with that totally clutch miraculous pass/reception. What the heck?! How did Manning get away from what looked like practically the entire Patriots defensive line? How did Tyree grab and then hold onto that ball? AMAZING!!!
I'm not a big Giants fan, but I sure like Eli Manning and I sure hate the Patriots. Not a big fan of Tom Brady either, especially not since he pulled a K-Fed and ditched his pregnant actress girlfriend for a bigger name star. Unlike K-Fed, however, he has not gotten much flack for that behavior. I guess if you're a big star and generally thought of as attractive, you can pretty much get away with anything.
I would rant about that some more, but I don't really have enough emotional energy to get worked up about that right now. My emotional energy is pretty much all tied up in things that actually pertain to my life.
Anyway, hoorah to the Giants! Thank you for beating the Patriots.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
You Know You've Been Reading & Watching Too Much 19th Century English Literature When . . .
You start sentences like this, "I should think."
Which is how I have been talking to myself lately.
Which is how I have been talking to myself lately.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Jane Austen, You're My Hero
Well, my storyteller hero.
Last night, my habit of flipping channels was rewarded by happening upon a new Masterpiece Theater version of Northanger Abbey. They're actually doing this series called "The Complete Jane Austen" -- new adaptations of all 6 of her novels, plus a bio about her. I only caught the last 40 minutes or so of Northanger Abbey, but it was quite good. Hopefully, they didn't do anything earlier in the movie to ruin the story.
I'm one of the few who just adore that book. It was after reading NA that I decided I wanted to name a little girl Katherine (although it is Catherine in the book) and a little boy Henry. I just think that book is so funny and I love Miss Moreland. There is only one other version of NA out there that I know of and it is a terrible old BBC movie that probably should be burned. :)
Mansfield Park, another of Austen's lesser-known novels that has a terrible movie version, is on next week. I am hoping that it will be great and I can have at least one good movie of each of her works.
After watching NA last night, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about Jane Austen's works and why I just love them so much. For one thing, they're all funny, even Persuasion, which is, imo, the most serious of all her works. Although Mansfield Park is quite serious, too. But there is always humor.
Secondly, they all end happily. Sorry, I am just not cool or philosophical enough to go in for the sad or ambiguous endings. I want stories built around characters I can root for because they are good human beings and I want them to be rewarded for their goodness in the end. That's the kind of girl I am.
Third, despite the obvious common themes that each of her novels share, they truly are all unqiue, due in large part to Miss Austen's remarkable gift of creating a diversity of characters. No two heroines are alike. They are all good, but they are all good in different ways. Some are outgoing, some are positively timid; there are the innocents, the naives, the wise; the passionate, the reserved; the vain (yes, vain -- I know thee, Emma!), the proud, the gullible, the overly-spontaneous -- they're all flawed, but still good. And the cast of characters who surround the main players are just as diverse and interesting and instructive.
Basically, I love Jane Austen. You probably can tell.
On another note, Katie and Charlie are both sick. Katie has an ear infection and they both have mild (thankfully) RSV. I left work early to help Josh take them to the doctor. That was not fun. But I had no idea Katie had an ear infection (she hasn't complained of any pain or tugged at her ear), so I am glad we went.
I should come up with a good closing line. Jane Austen always has such satisfying closing lines.
Last night, my habit of flipping channels was rewarded by happening upon a new Masterpiece Theater version of Northanger Abbey. They're actually doing this series called "The Complete Jane Austen" -- new adaptations of all 6 of her novels, plus a bio about her. I only caught the last 40 minutes or so of Northanger Abbey, but it was quite good. Hopefully, they didn't do anything earlier in the movie to ruin the story.
I'm one of the few who just adore that book. It was after reading NA that I decided I wanted to name a little girl Katherine (although it is Catherine in the book) and a little boy Henry. I just think that book is so funny and I love Miss Moreland. There is only one other version of NA out there that I know of and it is a terrible old BBC movie that probably should be burned. :)
Mansfield Park, another of Austen's lesser-known novels that has a terrible movie version, is on next week. I am hoping that it will be great and I can have at least one good movie of each of her works.
After watching NA last night, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about Jane Austen's works and why I just love them so much. For one thing, they're all funny, even Persuasion, which is, imo, the most serious of all her works. Although Mansfield Park is quite serious, too. But there is always humor.
Secondly, they all end happily. Sorry, I am just not cool or philosophical enough to go in for the sad or ambiguous endings. I want stories built around characters I can root for because they are good human beings and I want them to be rewarded for their goodness in the end. That's the kind of girl I am.
Third, despite the obvious common themes that each of her novels share, they truly are all unqiue, due in large part to Miss Austen's remarkable gift of creating a diversity of characters. No two heroines are alike. They are all good, but they are all good in different ways. Some are outgoing, some are positively timid; there are the innocents, the naives, the wise; the passionate, the reserved; the vain (yes, vain -- I know thee, Emma!), the proud, the gullible, the overly-spontaneous -- they're all flawed, but still good. And the cast of characters who surround the main players are just as diverse and interesting and instructive.
Basically, I love Jane Austen. You probably can tell.
On another note, Katie and Charlie are both sick. Katie has an ear infection and they both have mild (thankfully) RSV. I left work early to help Josh take them to the doctor. That was not fun. But I had no idea Katie had an ear infection (she hasn't complained of any pain or tugged at her ear), so I am glad we went.
I should come up with a good closing line. Jane Austen always has such satisfying closing lines.
Friday, January 11, 2008
You'll Just Have to Imagine What We Look Like
I wanted to have a family picture taken so I could post it along with a 2007 year in review. Well, it's now January 11th and we haven't even come close to getting a family photo taken (plus our Christmas decorations are still up, including our tree; maybe I can start a new trend . . .), so I figure it's pointless to wait to blog until I have visual evidence that we still exist.
2007 was an interesting year. Without a doubt, the addition of Charles Richard Barker to our family was the highlight of the year. Not his birth, mind you, although that was awesome, but just having little Charlie around. Our family feels more complete now that he is with us.
2007 has taught me that it truly is a "gift to be simple." I take great joy in the simple moments of my life -- watching Josh, Alek and Katie wrestle on the floor; having Charlie leap out of my arms to join in; dancing with the kiddos; Alek asking me to be quiet so he can say a silent prayer that we won't run out of gas and we'll make it to the airport on time; cuddling on the couch with Josh (I can hear Heather saying, "ewww"); and in general just those moments when life is quiet and everything seems right and my heart wants to burst from the gratitude I feel for everything that I have. And I want to be good, so I can show Heavenly Father that I really do just appreciate my life so much.
Nothing is perfect. This past year wasn't perfect, and 2008 isn't shaping up to be a roaring success to tell you the truth. But there's something perfect about the imperfection of life. All the directions the world tries to push and pull us in, all the storms that rage around us, all the attempts at destroying everything that is good and sacred -- these are the things that reveal who we are, what we are made of. Any of us at any time could choose to give up, just surrender who we are and who we were meant to be and stop fighting because sometimes it just is so exhausting. People do that every day.
But there are other people -- so many that I know and love -- who every day keep doing the right things. They pray, they take care of others, they're kind, they learn from the best books, and they don't lean unto their own understanding. They're my family -- my husband, my kids, my mom, my siblings and their families, my in-laws, and my friends. They're my heroes. They keep me going. Mostly they keep me going back to the Lord and back to the Lord and back to the Lord. And then He keeps me going. He tells me to just bear it a little longer, just bear the hard things I have been given, because they will make me strong. And He tells me I can do it. And I believe Him. So I keep going and I keep going and I keep going.
And when I do that I am stronger. And my family is stronger. And my marriage is stronger. And I am more loving and less selfish. And I am happy.
I wish I could give you a list of great things I accomplished this year. But there's not much to tell. But I am happy and my husband and my kids are happy. So it was a good year.
I don't know where this post came from. I really intended to just do a neat little wrap up of the past 12 months. But that seems so pointless. You all know, don't you? Besides, what happened this year doesn't matter nearly as much as what I've learned and who I am becoming. Some times, I just want to talk about what is essential.
I love all my family so much. I love my friends. I just wish everyone could know, as much as I do in this moment right now, that God loves us, that His Son is our Savior and that our lives have meaning and purpose.
2007 was an interesting year. Without a doubt, the addition of Charles Richard Barker to our family was the highlight of the year. Not his birth, mind you, although that was awesome, but just having little Charlie around. Our family feels more complete now that he is with us.
2007 has taught me that it truly is a "gift to be simple." I take great joy in the simple moments of my life -- watching Josh, Alek and Katie wrestle on the floor; having Charlie leap out of my arms to join in; dancing with the kiddos; Alek asking me to be quiet so he can say a silent prayer that we won't run out of gas and we'll make it to the airport on time; cuddling on the couch with Josh (I can hear Heather saying, "ewww"); and in general just those moments when life is quiet and everything seems right and my heart wants to burst from the gratitude I feel for everything that I have. And I want to be good, so I can show Heavenly Father that I really do just appreciate my life so much.
Nothing is perfect. This past year wasn't perfect, and 2008 isn't shaping up to be a roaring success to tell you the truth. But there's something perfect about the imperfection of life. All the directions the world tries to push and pull us in, all the storms that rage around us, all the attempts at destroying everything that is good and sacred -- these are the things that reveal who we are, what we are made of. Any of us at any time could choose to give up, just surrender who we are and who we were meant to be and stop fighting because sometimes it just is so exhausting. People do that every day.
But there are other people -- so many that I know and love -- who every day keep doing the right things. They pray, they take care of others, they're kind, they learn from the best books, and they don't lean unto their own understanding. They're my family -- my husband, my kids, my mom, my siblings and their families, my in-laws, and my friends. They're my heroes. They keep me going. Mostly they keep me going back to the Lord and back to the Lord and back to the Lord. And then He keeps me going. He tells me to just bear it a little longer, just bear the hard things I have been given, because they will make me strong. And He tells me I can do it. And I believe Him. So I keep going and I keep going and I keep going.
And when I do that I am stronger. And my family is stronger. And my marriage is stronger. And I am more loving and less selfish. And I am happy.
I wish I could give you a list of great things I accomplished this year. But there's not much to tell. But I am happy and my husband and my kids are happy. So it was a good year.
I don't know where this post came from. I really intended to just do a neat little wrap up of the past 12 months. But that seems so pointless. You all know, don't you? Besides, what happened this year doesn't matter nearly as much as what I've learned and who I am becoming. Some times, I just want to talk about what is essential.
I love all my family so much. I love my friends. I just wish everyone could know, as much as I do in this moment right now, that God loves us, that His Son is our Savior and that our lives have meaning and purpose.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Einstein's Riddle
My manager sent this to me right before the holiday break. Reminded me of being in Mr. Herbert's AIA class, although I don't think we ever attempted one of these logic problems that was quite so difficult. For me, this kind of stuff is fun. It was good exercise for my brain, too. Check it out.
http://www.manbottle.com/trivia/einstein_s_riddle
http://www.manbottle.com/trivia/einstein_s_riddle
Now That I'm Here, Now That You're Near . . .
Last night, I went roller skating. My husband's cousins and their kids came to town for the day and there were like 5 million kids at my in-laws' house. The kids were going crazy, someone brave came up with the idea for the 14 of us to go to the roller rink and off we went. Alek had never been on skates and I hadn't been for I don't know how many years, so we were brilliant, naturally.
Alek and I share the unenviable trait of giving up easily. Something doesn't come to us naturally? Not worth doing. Move on. Alek fell down a lot last night. After about one full minute of roller skating, he was near tears and said he didn't want to do it anymore. I thought he was going to sit on a bench all night. But after a little rest, he came back out onto the rink. He used the wall a lot, then he would try skating on his own, then he would fall down. He kept this up for two hours.
He improved over the course of the evening, although I am not sure we can call what he was doing skating. He would run on his skates for several steps and then roll for a while, waving his arms like a crazy person trying to stay balanced. It was one of the most awkward looking things I have ever seen. But he stuck with it. At the end of the evening, he declared the evening "awesome", was anxious to go again and was feeling proud of himself for being such a fast learner. It was fairly adorable. I was proud of him for sticking with it and glad he had a good time.
I had a great time and I'll tell you why -- I love roller skating. I can't do any fancy tricks; I can't even skate backwards, for goodness sake, so you might wonder WHY, why do I love to roll around in a circle for hours on end.
You all know that I'm uncoordinated and can't play any kind of sport worth a darn, right? Roller skating is the only semi-athletic thing I can do. I can balance myself on skates and then propel myself forward. This is an enormous feat for one such as I. It makes me feel like less of a loser that I can do this very simple thing.
Also, I get to listen to music while I skate. Always a plus, although I knew a total of two songs they played last night -- over the course of two hours, two songs. I would have felt old, except I thought that for the most part the music they were playing was overwhelmingly terrible, so I just felt that I have good taste. However, I did get to skate to the rhythm a little bit and that was fun.
Last but not least, there is the Xanadu factor. Xanadu, as you may know, is a classic film starring Olivia Newton-John as a roller skating muse who inspires Sonny (Michael Beck) to give up his steady paycheck painting album cover reproductions and open a roller skating night club with Danny (Gene Kelly -- yes, really). They name the roller skating night club Xanadu, in reference to the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is just one of the many ways in which this movie takes itself way too seriously. As an adult, I can tell you that this movie is just awful. Josh and I watch it occasionally on one of our "bad movie nights." However, I loved this movie as a little girl and (don't tell Josh this) I love it still. And I have to say that I think the music truly is good. I have the entire soundtrack on my MP3 player. Stop laughing.
Whenever I roller skate, I think of Olivia Newton-John in this movie. She looked so graceful when she skated, moving her arms fluidly, every move in perfect harmony with the music. I try to be her when I skate. After my years-long roller skating break, I was a little rusty when the evening started, but after the first hour or so, I was starting to get the hang of it. Eventually, I started swaying my arms, unconsciously mimicking my roller skating idol.
Totally pathetic. :)
On the up side, it turns out roller skating is great exercise. I earned like 12 activity points (it's a Weight Watchers thing) last night.
The other interesting part of the roller skating excursion was when this guy proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of the rink. Had set it all up before hand with the DJ. I don't want to comment too much on this except to say: ooooo-kay.
Digital cameras were being, IMO, overused last night, but that means that eventually I will have pictures of me and Alek in all our roller skating glory to post here. Stay tuned!
Alek and I share the unenviable trait of giving up easily. Something doesn't come to us naturally? Not worth doing. Move on. Alek fell down a lot last night. After about one full minute of roller skating, he was near tears and said he didn't want to do it anymore. I thought he was going to sit on a bench all night. But after a little rest, he came back out onto the rink. He used the wall a lot, then he would try skating on his own, then he would fall down. He kept this up for two hours.
He improved over the course of the evening, although I am not sure we can call what he was doing skating. He would run on his skates for several steps and then roll for a while, waving his arms like a crazy person trying to stay balanced. It was one of the most awkward looking things I have ever seen. But he stuck with it. At the end of the evening, he declared the evening "awesome", was anxious to go again and was feeling proud of himself for being such a fast learner. It was fairly adorable. I was proud of him for sticking with it and glad he had a good time.
I had a great time and I'll tell you why -- I love roller skating. I can't do any fancy tricks; I can't even skate backwards, for goodness sake, so you might wonder WHY, why do I love to roll around in a circle for hours on end.
You all know that I'm uncoordinated and can't play any kind of sport worth a darn, right? Roller skating is the only semi-athletic thing I can do. I can balance myself on skates and then propel myself forward. This is an enormous feat for one such as I. It makes me feel like less of a loser that I can do this very simple thing.
Also, I get to listen to music while I skate. Always a plus, although I knew a total of two songs they played last night -- over the course of two hours, two songs. I would have felt old, except I thought that for the most part the music they were playing was overwhelmingly terrible, so I just felt that I have good taste. However, I did get to skate to the rhythm a little bit and that was fun.
Last but not least, there is the Xanadu factor. Xanadu, as you may know, is a classic film starring Olivia Newton-John as a roller skating muse who inspires Sonny (Michael Beck) to give up his steady paycheck painting album cover reproductions and open a roller skating night club with Danny (Gene Kelly -- yes, really). They name the roller skating night club Xanadu, in reference to the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is just one of the many ways in which this movie takes itself way too seriously. As an adult, I can tell you that this movie is just awful. Josh and I watch it occasionally on one of our "bad movie nights." However, I loved this movie as a little girl and (don't tell Josh this) I love it still. And I have to say that I think the music truly is good. I have the entire soundtrack on my MP3 player. Stop laughing.
Whenever I roller skate, I think of Olivia Newton-John in this movie. She looked so graceful when she skated, moving her arms fluidly, every move in perfect harmony with the music. I try to be her when I skate. After my years-long roller skating break, I was a little rusty when the evening started, but after the first hour or so, I was starting to get the hang of it. Eventually, I started swaying my arms, unconsciously mimicking my roller skating idol.
Totally pathetic. :)
On the up side, it turns out roller skating is great exercise. I earned like 12 activity points (it's a Weight Watchers thing) last night.
The other interesting part of the roller skating excursion was when this guy proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of the rink. Had set it all up before hand with the DJ. I don't want to comment too much on this except to say: ooooo-kay.
Digital cameras were being, IMO, overused last night, but that means that eventually I will have pictures of me and Alek in all our roller skating glory to post here. Stay tuned!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Gigantic Baby
This kid 
is 29 inches long (90th percentile) and 20 pounds (75th percentile). Doctor predicts he will top out at 6'2".
Thursday, December 13, 2007
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