Labor Day Weekend in Chattanooga

We took a very last minute trip to Chattanooga just for the heck of it this weekend - we went to a Lookouts (Double A Baseball) game, the Tennessee Aquarium, a 3-D Imax movie about the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, and we enjoyed the hotel amenities. Sometimes it's nice to just get away for a while.

Daniel and the obligatory foam finger.

Nothing says "I'm cool" like 3-D glasses.
The amazing carpeted aquarium.Daniel, Ben, and one ginormous turtle shell.

Ben had wings for dinner. Gees.

Out With the Olds

In with the new!

My eleven-year-old Cutlass has driven us to our last ball game. We were way overdue for a new car, and took advantage of the GM Employee Pricing offer. I am now the proud owner of a 2008 Impala. Victory Red. Good times.

Still More Movie Quotes

I hope you're enjoying this. Again, one actor spoke all of these quotes. You name the actor, then each movie and character. Ready?

1. "When I die, and I stand before before God awaiting judgement and he asks me why I let one of His miracles die, what am I gonna say? That it was my job?"

2. "Oh, she's beautiful, but she's a pill."

3. "Hey, you want to hear something funny? My dentist's name is James Spaulding."

4. "Sergeant, establish a recon post downstairs. Code Red. You know what to do."

5. "You know it's funny what a young man recollects. Cause I don't remember being born. I don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don't know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But I do remember the first time I heard the sweetest voice in the whole wide world."

6. "Gentlemen, it's been a privilege flying with you."

7. "Earn this."

8. "Three dimes, a hundred dollar bill, and eighty-seven ones."

Thanks Uncle Paul and Aunt Natalie!

Ben had a very nice surprise waiting for him when he got home today - a belated birthday gift from Uncle Paul and Aunt Natalie! He got two smokin' cool rock n' roll t-shirts (one pictured below) and an i-tunes gift card. He also got a card that plays Willie Nelson's You Were Always On My Mind, and a picture of Cousin Sam (which I stole).

Thanks Uncle Paul and Aunt Natalie! Let's get rockin'!

Wide World of Sports

It's beginning to look a lot like a really busy fall....

Ben is playing Fall Baseball for the first time ever. I was against it, just for the hectic factor, but I was voted down. And I have to say, I've been pleasantly surprised. One of his assistant coaches was his first instructional league coach a few years back, and we love him. It's been very laid back, and Ben is actually getting more individual attention than he does during the regular season. I'm really liking the program, and Ben is juggling his schedule pretty well.

Daniel has just started playing soccer. He is "playing up" this year, which means he plays with kids one age level above him. We were against this at first - his coach (Coach T) from last year made the offer, and we turned it down because we thought he wouldn't get as much playing time, being the youngest and the smallest on the team. So we signed him up for the 8-9 year olds. And we never got a call from a coach. Other teams were practicing, ordering jerseys, and in general getting ready for the season to start, but on our end, nothing. So I call Parks and Rec, and find out who the coach is and get his number. When I call him, I get his mother-in-law, as the coach is actually in Hawaii. After several conversations with the mother-in-law, we determine that Daniel is not on this guy's roster, even though my new best friend at Parks and Rec says he is. Meanwhile, a good friend of ours whose kid is NOT on this guy's team, keeps getting calls from him (from Hawaii, apparently) about practices, games, etc. After three days of this insanity, I call our friend Coach T and say "look, I don't get a good feeling about this new coach, and I really don't like his mother-in-law, is it too late to change our minds and get DP on your team?" Turns, out, he only has one sixth grader on the team - all the other players played on D's team last year, and he only has eleven players on the roster, which means he has no subs and really needs more players. So D will be getting tons of playing time. And Coach T is the bomb. The BOMB. D absolutely loves playing for him. (He says D is his "X Factor".) Suffice it to say, D is "playing up" and we couldn't be happier.

D's first game is Tuesday night, and Ben's is Saturday the 6th. We can hardly wait!!

More Movie Quotes

Same dealio. You name the one actor who spoke all of these quotes, plus the movie and character. Good luck!

1. "Whoever tells the best story wins."

2. "I don't believe a man can consider himself fully content until he has done all he can to be of service to his employer."

3. "When I introduce you, and tell them who you are, I don't think anyone will stay for dinner."

4. "Screw 'em! Screw 'em all!"

5. "Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing, ask: what is it, in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?"

6. "You really need to be nice to me now, Willy."

Race Weekend

No, not that race. I know, I know, you were expecting a good ole East Tennessean to go on and on about Nascar, and the traffic, and the whatever. But it really wasn't that bad this year. Apart from some heavy congestion driving home Friday afternoon, I really didn't notice the race was here. I didn't even know who won until I got to work this morning. (And we had a really fun conversation during our staff meeting about what it would be like if the drivers were forced to race hybrids.)

No, the race weekend I'm talking about was all our own. We went out Saturday morning and invested more money than was sensible in a little game called Mario Kart. Bought the little steering wheels and everything. And I'm loving it. LOVING IT!!!! And I don't like video games all that much.

I like to be Bowser, and I like to drive the off-roader. Daniel is far and away the best player, but the rest of us are gaining on him. I've even come in first a time or two.

My best race ended rather dramatically. Mark and I were running one-two for the whole last lap. The Goodyear-Dupont-Off-Roader was running real good. Right as Mark/Donkey Kong got to the finish line, I hit him with a shell and sailed passed him for the win. Then I jumped up, stood on the coffee table, and sprayed everyone with a coke!

Ok, so not really. But it was a sweet moment. Go Bowser!

Movie Quotes

I'm taking the basic movie quotes game and kicking it up a notch. The following quotes were all spoken by the same actor. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to name the movies from which they come, and the characters who spoke them. Good luck!

1. "I swear, if I hadn't promised Mother on her deathbed that I wouldn't kill you, I would kill you."

2. "I'm a stranger to you. You have no idea what I'm capable of."

3. "Rollo Tamasi."

4. "Detective! You're looking for me."

5. "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn't exist."

6. "Our society cannot condone men who take the law into their own hands."

7. "Lose it? I didn't lose it. It's not like 'Whoops! Where'd my job go?' I quit. Now will someone please pass me the asparagus?"

8. "Billions. Once again the press underestimates me."

God's Joyful Surprise

God's Joyful Surprise is the name of a devotional book by Sue Monk Kidd. I read it when I was in college, and while I don't remember a single devotion, the title has always stayed with me. I think of it when it occurs to me that God has once again taken something bad, and made it a very good thing.

Take, for example, the insane price of gas. It's a bad thing, no doubt about it. Bad, and only getting worse.

But because of the rising cost of gas, Mark and I started doing something this summer we've never done before. We started carpooling. We've always worked in the same office, but our schedules never quite clicked, so we always drove separately. This summer, however, gas prices made us give up our selfish ways. We cut out 30-40 minutes of driving a day, essentially cutting our cost of gas in half. Not to mention wear and tear on the cars.

This carpooling thing has been so lucrative, that we've continued it even with the boys back in school. We drop Ben off at 7:30, D off at 7:45, and we roll into the office at 8:00. I leave in the afternoon and pick up D, then come back for Mark. We stop off on the way home to get Ben. It's a bit of a hassle - sometimes D and I sit in the parking lot for 20 minutes or so while we wait for Mark to wrap things up - but it's worth it.

And here's the really amazing thing. The time we four spend in the car in the morning, and in the afternoon, has been golden. GOLDEN. Nobody's playing video games, or blogging, or watching TV. We're all together. We talk about the day to come, or the day we just had, we practice spelling words, we touch base on our schedules. And we laugh. We laugh a lot. We slow the pace down, and we just enjoy being together. Thirty to forty minutes has made such an amazing difference in my days.

"What you intended for evil, God intended for good." God's joyful surprise.

What's For Dinner?

Mystery Shrimp!

Well, not really Mystery Shrimp, but we're never really clear on what to call it. I got the recipe from a cookbook called Desperation Dinners (which I highly recommend) and they call it BBQ Shrimp. But it isn't really BBQ-y. It's more Cajuny. So we call it Cajun Shrimp, or Spicy Shrimp, or just That Shrimp.

Melt a tablespoon of margarine and a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add three cloves of minced garlic and saute briefly. Add a cup of chicken broth, and crank the heat. Add a half a cup of chili sauce (if you don't keep chili sauce on hand, you should - think of it as jacked up ketchup), half a teaspoon of dried thyme, and a teaspoon of Cajun seasoning (we use Emeril's Essence.) Then add some Worcestershire and Tabasco to taste. Add shrimp and let it boil until the shrimp turns pink. Serve it over rice.

It takes no time to make, and it tastes awesome. You can experiment with seasoning and make it more or less spicy.

This one's a keeper. Don't let the picture fool you.

Still Lovin' These Games

I'm loving that a 38-year-old woman won the 26K. I'm loving that a 41-year-old woman can swim as well as, and better, than women half her age. I'm loving that the Baltimore Bullet actually pulled it off. I'm loving that our women went one-two in the gymnastics all-around for the first time ever. But mostly I'm loving that this is the first Olympic Games that I'm enjoying with my kids. Daniel has really only shown an interest in Michael Phelps, but Ben has been right next to me for all of it. He even corrects me on occasion (on Friday night, I really thought Dara Torres had won gold, and as I was pumping my fist in the air, Ben leaned over and said "Mom, that was just the semi-finals.")

I've LOVED having little boys, but I'm beginning to see how much fun it will be to have young men.

What I Was Reading Before the Olympics Started

Dark Angels by Karleen Koen.

This book is the prequel to a book called Through a Glass Darkly. I read TAGD in high school, and remember next to nothing about it. I remember I picked it up because I like the title, and, at the time, didn't even know it was scriptural. Apparently, there was a sequel as well, which I may look into at a later date, if this one is good.

I started it right before the Olympics started, and have not done any reading since then. I'm sure I'll pick it up again next week some time - it was good - historical English court intrigue. Lots of Ladies-in-Waiting, Dukes, and policital agendas. Good times.

A Sad Realization

I noticed a couple of things in the decor of my home today, and I came to a rather sad realization...

(The Dining Room)

(The Master Bath)

...I might be a redneck.

All the Cool Guys Play Bass

School music programs have come a long way since I was a kid.

Last spring, Ben announced that he wanted to take Orchestra in middle school, and he wanted to play the bass. Yes, that large instrument you see to your left.

My concern was, of course, how an eleven year old who rides the bus might transport such an instrument.

Apparently, for a measly $35 a year, Ben can rent a school-owned instrument to keep at home. He can also use another school-owned instrument in class, and in concerts. So outside of the trip home tonight, where the bass rode shotgun and was almost impaled on my dashboard, the transportation issue will not come up again until May.

Ben also has access, for a mere $25 a year, to a computer program that blew my mind. The teacher uploads music and assignments. The student downloads same. The student can have the computer play the music, and hear it played correctly. The student then plays the same song into a the computer mic. The program takes every note played correctly and turns it green, and takes every note played incorrectly and turns it red. Then student and teacher can look at what is going well, and what needs improvement. A far cry from my days playing clarinet in the band.

I always thought the bass was cool, especially when you pluck it like that bear did in the The Jungle Book. Maybe I'll take advantage and learn to play it myself....

More Olympic Fun

So, did anyone notice that Alain Bernard, the trash-talking French swimmer who was humiliated in the Men's 4X100 relay, set the world record in the semi-finals of the Men's 100M freestyle on Tuesday night? What a great moment for him!!

He held the record for all of about five minutes and then an Australian swimmer broke his world record in the very next semi.

What a great Olympics this guy is having...