Random Thoughts

WHEW…it is very good to be home!

I slept in many different beds while on the road…

Wait, that didn’t sound right.

I mean I am grateful I had many different beds to sleep in on my road trip.

Um, that didn’t sound much better.

Let me try that again.

Thanks to Merry, Ann, Susan, Sally and Mom for a place to sleep!

Questions for the Volkswagen Beetle engineers:

Shouldn’t the plastic parts withstand freezing temperatures and not break off in a passenger’s hand, i.e. lever to move front seat forward?

Just curious.

Should the small reflective tail light just pop out and hang by the wires when traveling long distances?

I’m just sayin’

If the odometer can track 2,000 miles, why can’t it keep counting up to 3,000?

Holy cow! That translates into over 40 hours in the car.

It really was the longest road trip of my life.

And I am so grateful that the little blue bug started up every single time…

…in the frozen Midwest tundra.

Lest the Volkswagen Beetle engineers think I’m too negative…

The seat warmer feature is a winner!

***********

To recap family life while I was away…

They survived and thrived without me.

PhilBillPaul did an exceptional job taking care of his children.

Scary Baby scored her FIRST basket in a basketball game.

The darling twins were both accepted into different colleges.

The Grunter was helpful and present when Dad needed him.

Here are the darling twins modeling the lovely clearance winter accessories I brought home for them that we rarely need in Georgia.

The looks seriously represent their personalities. Roger Leroy is living up to her code name.

I was too cold to remember to bring anything for Scary Baby so I’m taking her to a movie tonight.

I’ll work on something for The Grunter this weekend.

I’m catching up and looking forward to getting back into a routine next week!

What have you all been up to in these first weeks of 2009 while I was away?

Sunday night I was thinking I should have posted a lovely holiday message last week and said I’ll be back on January 5th.

But that would have required planning.

Which has not been my strength of late.

I wish I had planned a few posts for the coming days because I know it can be a good feeling instead of flying by the seat of your pants.

So now here is my Monday post on Tuesday which will make total sense when you see how doggone busy I’ve been. Busier than the rest of the universe. Sure. Right. That’s me…busy, busy, busy.

Or not.

So…now it’s time to guess what I’ve been busy, busy, busy doing.

Go ahead.

Guess.

I’ll wait.

Look, we don’t have all day.

Hurry up.

GUESS ALREADY. I’M BUSY.

Geez, here’s a hint:

It is something I did with PhilBillPaul for five days IN A ROW.

STOP IT.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

My family reads this blog for goodness sake.

For FIVE DAYS IN A ROW, starting on Christmas Day…

Sort of as a quasi-Christams gift to PhilBillPaul…

I gave him the gift of QUALITY TIME.

Yes, I know what his primary love language and it’s actually not quality time.

But that’s my primary love language so that’s the gift I gave.

Hey now – good manners dictate that you should be gracious and say thank you for any gift you get.

The quality time I bestowed on him was in the form of going to FIVE MOVIES in the last five days.

Side note: See that line in the middle of the ticket stubs that says: Pass $0.00 Oh yeah…

If your teen is ready for a part-time job, check the local movie theatre. Ours allows the immediate family to go to the movies for free. Thus, PhilBillPaul, an avid moviegoer who will sit through bad movies, has informed The Grunter that he must work at the said movie theatre for the rest of his life. Which is not exactly the career choice I was picturing for him. Pun intended.

Here are my very short movie critiques with the disclaimer that I’m a tough critic, don’t necessarily like mainstream, predictable movies and often like non-box office hits. You can click on the movie titles for more movie details like: plots, professional movie critic reviews and Yahoo! movie reviews in case you don’t value my opinion–I don’t take it personally.

Really. To each his own.

• 1. Doubt starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman
  Unusual, different, love, love, love Meryl Streep. Lives up to its title from beginning to end. No tidy ending, made us think and have conversation which I always like.
  A-
• 2. Quantum of Solace starring Daniel Craig
  James Bond, *man* movie, cars, boats, dizzying chase and fight scenes.
  C
• 3. Marley & Me starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson
  Dog lover movie, I’m not a dog lover in spite of the two wiener dogs at our house. Still, I cried remembering our own naughty family dog, Andy, who ate at the table with us but when company came we pretended we were appalled when he sat at the table.
  C+
• 4. Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise
  World War II movie, love the history, love to learn something new during a movie and I did.
  B+
• 5. Seven Pounds starring Will Smith
  Roger Leroy’s words, “It was kinda weird.” Yeah. I’d have to agree. A little too melodramatic for me or maybe it was Will trying to be melodramatic that I didn’t like.
  C

In previous weeks we did see Australia (Hugh Jackman=lovely=A), Slumdog Millionaire (A) and Four Christmases (C).

I’m telling you, if you like movies, get your kid a job at the theatre!

Might go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but at almost three hours, that is a real time investment and I guess I’m not that curious. Anyone want to change my mind?

We’ll definitely see Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood.

So how was your Christmas? See any good movies? Come on, give me your reviews!