My Brain is Spilling Over

My head is so full that the words are spilling over and I can’t write or type them in as quickly as I think I’m thinking them. Not to mention that Jenna continues to interrupt my every thought.  School starts tomorrow!  I think much better when I am by myself.

There was too much I had wanted to respond to as I posted a comment to a blog I had read yesterday.  I certainly didn’t wish for my comment to be larger than the post itself and so tried to sum up everything that was going through my mind.  Didn’t work.  I did a copy paste and deleted my original comment and reposted a few paragraphs – though there still exists an epistle in my mind.

I am overwhelmed with ideas for post subjects (though not many titles) and I’ve been brainstorming and adding sentences and moving words around.  Thus far I have at least six different post ideas.  That doesn’t count the fifteen plus ideas that I already have in my files. 

So I have elaborated somewhat on my comment to Jake Abhau (which I won’t post on his blog but my own), but still nowhere complete. 

Just returned from a back-to-school night featuring “the Leader in Me”.  I was so proud of Jenna as she preformed the seven habits. (I have written absolutely nothing about this subject yet)

Another book review

Biff’s major personality adjustment

Analyzing the constant weeping of women (at least this one)

How awesome it is to step outside and pick a fresh tomato

And then there will be the events of whatever today brings.  Jenna’s last day of summer vacation. My head is spilling over.  I’m overwhelmed right now.

I just hope that I do actually go through with what’s in my mind and somehow get it sorted.  I remember Corey had created a post when his head was full and said he would like to create posts for various subjects.  Never happened.  I was so looking forward to reading his thoughts about Jenna’s baptism.  But it never got written.

I suppose I can always delete this.  Right now I seem to be posting this just for the sake of posting.  I’m not really saying anything . . . .

My Take on “Alabama Moon”

         There is always a risk factor involved with selecting videos I have not previously seen or may have never even heard of before.  For the most part I have read the description, visualize the setting of the story and may check it out.  But most often I have made poor selections as there have been many that I cannot be drawn in due to bad acting or poor dialogue or lame writers or what have you.  I actually haven’t been successful in my gambles.  But on Saturday we checked out a video I rather enjoy and will have to look into reading the award winning novel by Watt Key (as books are generally much much better than the movie)

         “Alabama Moon” was great.  I enjoyed watching Moon grow and allow himself to make choices and find strengths in those he associated with.  The story starts off with Moon burying his father, and as he is digging we see the flashbacks in his mind about how and where Moon and his father lived.  When his father realizes that he will soon die, he encourages Moon to remain living out his days in the same manner.

         But the “law” interferes with Moon’s plans – or tries to.  Clinton Howard plays a sleezeball constable who’s out for vengeance.  The more Moon tries to honor the wishes of his father, the more ruthless the constable becomes - so much to the point of satisfying his own egotistical pride rather than upholding the law.

         I LOVE John Goodman’s character.  From the first moment he asks Moon if he’s okay and offers him a sweet roll – which Moon devours.  He does this with genuine concern and is quite careful NOT to help Clinton Howard’s character. 

         Moon learns what it is like to have friends and to be a part of a world his father had kept him from.  There is good and evil – not just evil as his father had led him to believe.  Torn between wanting to honor his father’s wishes and not wanting to continue alone, Moon is faced with a fate that only he can decide.

         That leads us to the climax of the movie.  I could go on, but choose not to so as not to spoil the ending for anyone who wishes to see (or read) it. The end of the movie was more than satisfactory.  I loved the movie as a whole and highly recommend it.

Weekends in Syracuse

       Jenna is loud!  Even when she is quiet for her, she is still loud by definition.  I think that's one reason Biff is gone.

       My eldest son, Biff, has a girlfriend in another county.  He says 45 minutes away.  I haven’t driven it. But it is where he current girlfriend lives.  He drives there on Saturday afternoon and doesn’t return home until late Monday night – I would guess at the same time that Jeanie leaves for work . . .

         He works on Saturday nights which means he is commuting from Syracuse to Sandy – that’s quite a commute.  And expensive.  Good thing Biff is using his own gas and not mine and Roland’s.  Not that he’d have our permission.  If you’re an avid follower you may recall from this post that Biff is supposed to be out of the house.

         Before he started driving his car again (which I still don’t know whether it’s registered or not) I had a dream that Biff brought Jeanie and her parents came with him – not to drop him off, but to help him move.  Biff introduced Jeanie as his wife and her parents – our new in-laws.  Now, my sister-in-law Sunny would be mortified if one of her children came home and announced he or she was already married.  Sunny would be hurt and heart –broken that she hadn’t been a part of her child’s marriage. 

         In my dream I showed no remorse, but total happiness.  I hugged Jeanie and her parents and welcomed them to the family – each was somewhat taken aback.  Biff went with his new father-in-law to rent a U-Haul and I helped Jeanie and her mom pack Biff’s belongings.

         Our visit was pleasant – as I recall – though I don’t know the exact conversation.  I did tell them about how Roland and I had met and that we were engaged for nine months before we were married and how we had a “reception” a month later.

         I woke up before Biff and his father-in-law returned.

         Roland doesn’t think it is a good idea to start marriage under the same roof as parents – but that is how Sunny and my brother Patrick started out.  Living in the basement of her parents.  Her father helped push Patrick into liking Sunny as much as she liked him.  That is my understanding anyway. Her father had invited Patrick to go with their family to California for their Disneyland vacation.  I believe that is where Patrick developed a love for Sunny.

         Sunny would have never eloped.  I had thought about it.  My mom made me promise that I wouldn’t.  But if we hadn’t already been married when terrorists crashed the planes into the Twin Towers at New York on September 11, 2001, I would have broken that promise.  I would have had Roland drive me to Las Vegas just after I got off work.  I thought the world was coming to an end.  I wanted to be legally married before the end happened.  But we were actually married two days before.

         The world didn’t end in the same sense that I had in mind.  But many of the comforts of the world I had once known were lost.  The economy started its downfall and regardless of oral reports that the economy has gotten better – not everyone sees that it has.  So many still struggle from day to day.  Struggle to put food on the table, to pay bills, to survive.  The world didn’t end but I think a lot of respect for it did.

Communicating In Code

Jenna has always had a fascination with “secret codes”.  She enjoys translating and sending coded messages.  She has rewritten the alphabet and created characters for each letter.  

For a while we were doing picture characters, but drawing an octopus got tiresome after attempting to draw it the last six notes or so. I am okay with stick figures and symbols – but when it comes to drawing, many of my animals end up looking the same.

 

So I changed some of the characters from the code that Jenna had and wrote a note and told her to translate without using the key.  An early introduction to cryptogram.  More clues.  More puzzles.  How fun!

Jenna’s last code was symbols drawn at random – but it’s something I can/could learn.

L 7 O € £ ≠ ÷ © ∞ Ω π × " # % + \ [ ^ ] ¦ ¤ ◊ ∂ √ ∆

for example

I am so grateful for her enthusiasm and her desire and willingness to learn and create. 

Did You See That Red Sun Last Night?

         Jenna and I came out of the library to see a brilliant red ball hanging in the sky.  

         There’ve been a lot of fires in Utah.  Many in the nation. The smoke makes the sun appear to be red.

        

         I’m sorry for the many whose homes have been lost.  

         I enjoyed seeing the sun.

Pixie Sounds and Fairy Ringtones

Most people have heard that “pixie music” whenever a fairy waves her wand or sprinkles her dust – or even when a child knows he or she is supposed to turn the page whenever they hear that magical sound.  Imagine that as a ringtone.

I don’t remember Kayla’s phone bearing anything that resembled fairies – yet when she turned it over to Roland (who is still without SIM card usage on his once-upon-a-t-mobile phone) all those fairy tones were present – an assorted variety of pixie music.  I don’t think there is a normal ringtone included on the phone.  I believe Roland has checked it.

For the most part I am not even aware that his phone is going off. The ringtones are hidden by any other sound that may be going – the air conditioning, the humming from the laptop, Highness snoring . . . sounds that I don’t even notice usually.  They all blend in to our atmosphere.

          When I am aware that Roland’s phone going off and actually hear the very soft fairy music, I laugh. It’s just so unlike anything that Roland would purposely choose of his own free will.  I think we need to find a more masculine (or at least powerful) sounding phone.  Or Roland needs to work harder at finding the volume and perhaps another tune.  One that doesn’t sound like a wish is being granted.  Though it would be really awesome if our wishes were granted every time that phone plays this “happy dusty”  tune

He found her through an Accidental text messaging

Roland ended up picking Biff up at the airport – which really didn’t do him any favors.  There have been many times that I have told Roland to stop holding his hand, but yet he continues.  Unfortunately Biff has remained clueless and it has been damaging to his persona.

Biff has struggled with being short, being slow and being single.  Hard to watch both of his brothers get their driver’s licenses while they were still sophomores and he did not even take drivers ed. until his senior year.  Hard to see them both marry before he even had a girlfriend.

He had posted on Facebook that he was in a relationship.  He was referring to Hailey from this post.  But now he is saying he wants to marry Jeanie who is only 45 minutes away instead of 18 hours.  

 Roland doesn’t want to discourage him, but sat him down yesterday and laid down the facts – although it is still Biff’s decision.  And as Roland told Biff that he wants him out of the house, he may just be pushing him further into Jeanie’s arms.  But I don’t know.  I wasn’t here.  I just got Roland’s side of the story.

I was still single and living with my mom when Roland met me.  But I was also doing chores on a daily basis.  Each person that I lived to prior to my marriage was responsible for cleaning up after himself or herself.  We didn’t just leave things where they landed – well, occasionally my mom did with shoes. 

Kayla and I once found twelve pairs of shoes in the back room – granted they didn’t all belong to mom – just most of them.  We set the shoes next to one another and made a circle of shoes.  That was the extent of our “naughtiness” Overall we’ve always been a tidy family.  "Tidy" is just not a part of my current family’s vocabulary.  If Randy and I had our way, our rooms would always be spotless  - but after nearly twelve years, I realize that it’s just a pipe dream.  Roland and Biff are too set in their ways to pick up after themselves (let alone anybody else). I’m still working on Jenna, but it’s frustrating.

Anyway, Biff has been borrowing our cars because his is still not registered (oh, there’s a surprise for you – NOT) and on Friday Roland asked Biff to mow the lawn and he put up a big stink about it and I couldn’t believe he could be so disrespectful when we have control over his ability to drive (legally) and haven’t had to house him since he turned eighteen and Roland told him he had to move out.

He’s still here.  I think he may have taken the car last night (without permission).  Or perhaps Jeanie dropped him off and picked him up this morning and drove him to our house.  I don’t know if he and Roland will work things out or if he plans on moving in with Jeanie and her parents (Roland says he doesn’t encourage going in that direction) Roland had also told me that he wanted all three boys out of the house when they turned 26.  He told them that before they had even met me.

And Biff says he wants to marry Jeanie – who he didn’t even know when he went to Texas less than two months ago.  Not that Roland has set a really great example in that department either – he had met me three days before he proposed.  Of course Roland and I were both older – perhaps for him it was old hat.  I still say it was too quickly on his part.  But then maybe it wasn’t his part.  We believe that God had a large hand in our getting together.

Kayla and Bill had known each other for only three weeks.  And Bill is constantly thanking Roland, as his proposal happened in little more lengthy time frame - when compared to ours. Randy had only known Carrie for less than four months when he asked her.  And according to Carrie, she thought Randy kind of nerdy when she first met him and was probably less thrilled about his extraverted behavior than I was with Roland’s.

I don’t know what the answers are.  Nor can I decide for my children.  If I could, my house would be immaculate and a lot more spacious.