A Bunch

I have a new post up at OpenSalon. I'm sorry I haven't posted here, it's just that the picture thing is so much easier over there! I promise to post something for just this little space soon, like tomorrow.... Until then:

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=52913

Thankful Twilight

I believe it all started with my Mom watching “Dark Shadows” at her babysitters house as a child. Somehow, that vampire fascination was transferred to me in utero, and fostered later by R.L. Stine and Anne Rice. Passing the heritage on to my children has been successful as well; their favorite Halloween book is Vunce Upon A Time . But through all of my reading, nothing has captured the undead compartment of my heart quite like Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer, and her accompanying series. And now, as if to propel me into full blown “fangirl” mode, the big screen adaptation of Meyer’s phenomenal first book is coming to theatres on Friday.

This culmination of Twilight’s cultural coup has people of all ages breathlessly awaiting there chance in the theater. With the release date so close to Thanksgiving, I think the coming together around this movie will end up being an interesting pre-cursor to Thanksgiving. Many of us will be blushing over Edward Cullen while simultaneously planning our turkey dinners. Although I would probably have to rework my menu if the Cullens actually came to supper; they are vegetarians after all.

The morally driven family that compose “The Cullens” has been cast perfectly for their upcoming debut. Ashley Greene, as the dark-haired, prophetic, tinkerbell Alice, is the spitting image of Stephanie Meyer’s description. Kellen Lutz, who Meyer fought to have cast as Emmett, fits the construct created throughout the Twilight Saga perfectly. As the list goes on we have Jackson Rathbone as Jasper, whose beauty in this role forces me to squelch my own squeals when I think about it. Nikki Reed’s portrayal as Rosalie has slowly grown on me, and I’ve come to think her casting spot on as well. Carlisle and Esme, the vampire parents of the Cullen brood are as warm and loving in the movie clips as they are in written word. Finally, though, we have Robert Pattison as Edward Cullen. I will admit more than my fair share of gawking when it comes to him in character as the beloved Edward. Some fans were slow to see his devastatingly flawless transition from Harry Potter’s Cedric to Twilight’s Edward, but I was enamored from the start. Stephanie Meyer even allowed him inside access into her writing, so that his character could be as exact as possible.

As far as Bella Swan is concerned, the casting director took the illustration out of my mind and made it reality. Kristen Stewart’s face is the actual picture I saw as I read her heart-wrenching love story. The Mamapop review of Twilight describes her interpretation of Bella saying, “Stewart's Bella was [n]either wimp nor precocious teen; she was just as Meyer wrote her and was desperately in love without coming off as desperate “.

The one casting choice I have a problem with is that of Jacob Black. His character is the one I love the most in Meyer’s books, so his mis-casting hurts more than any of the others could have. When they opened up Jacob’s role for the movie, the itinerary suggested that a Native American would definitely fill the slot. The announcement that Solomon Trimble, a Native American from Oregon, would take on the part of Sam Uley was encouraging. Even so, the very young and very un-Native Taylor Lautner was chosen to play Jacob. My disappointment isn’t unfounded, there are many fans that still aren’t happy with his characterization. I don’t know what Meyer’s stance on Taylor’s ethnicity is, but he lacks the ingrained knowledge that growing up in those traditions gives someone like Solomon. It does, however, give me an opportunity to involve my boys in my obsession even further than their Halloween costumes (They were Edward and Jacob to my Bella), as I can explain the misrepresentation of the First Americans in the Thanksgiving story through a Twilight-colored lens.

Even though the Cullens can't actually celebrate Thanksgiving in the customary fashion, their sense of family is very much in tact. Their love for Bella, and subsequently her father, Charlie, is a wonderful example to us all in accepting people in our hearts who we don't expect to find a seat there. Alice and Bella's friendship is the deepest representation of this outside of Bella's relationship with Edward. It helps that Alice could "see" them becoming family before Bella even knew she existed, but their love for each other is healing in a world where women are expected to compete with each other in everything.

I’m hopeful the projected depiction of Bella’s relationship with her father, Charlie, will hold up to the books. Theirs is a slow-to-warm connection but the love between them in always evident, whether it be through Bella infamous gifted truck, or the dinners she tediously prepares for her single Dad. We are witness to the blossoming of a father/daughter relationship throughout Stephanie's books, at a time in a girl's life when paternal bonds are most often ignored or rebelled against. I can’t wait to see them this weekend.

I feel like part of my mind has been privy so someone else’s extended dream sequence. An entire space inside my skull has been overtaken by these books and movie. To quote Mrs. Meyer herself on the dream that started all of this, she says: “I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire.”. My husband, whose read three out of the four books, is taking me to see the film on Saturday. It’s an early Thanksgiving gift to each other; our second movie night in almost 4 years. I wish everyone would place an extra setting for Bella and Edward, and their love story at their feast this year. Just keep one live gobbler on hand for Edward to consume during your festivities.




P.S. This post would not have been possible without the incredibly clever members of the Twilight Saga Fans Group on Ravelry. They are the most witty and creative bunch you'll ever find on the internet. Thanks lovelies!!



P.S.S. An edited version of this is going up on CrabbyGoLightly this morning, I'll post the link as soon as it's available....  

www.crabbygolightly.com/vampires.html

Not Another One!

I have a fun post up at OpenSalon, and since it's easier to post pictures over there I'm just going to link to it!

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=45793#post_comments

I hope you enjoy...

Holy Turkey Feathers!!!

It's almost Thanksgiving! I was sitting here thinking about doing womit laundry (Winston and I both had stomach stuff last night, blech), and The Mr. reminded me that I might want to order a fried turkey from the place down the street. We do this every year, but I just thought I had more time or something!! ACK!

I also need to nail down my menu so I can get crackin on prep work. So let's look at the current plan, shall we?

Thanksgiving 2008 Menu (so far):

Fried Turkey - I grew up, at least partly, in Louisiana, and this is the best tasting way I've ever eaten turkey.

Oyster Dressing - Same concept. it makes my husband very happy, the boys love it. My mom doesn't like oysters, so I'm think of just leaving some oyster-free at the end of the pan for her. It's a Paula Deen recipe. She's a great resource around the holidays!

Roasted Butternut Squash - I used to make Giada Delaurentis's butternut squash lasagna, but when was nine months pregnant with Wednesday (he was born the Monday after Thanksgiving 2006), I switched to Rachael Ray's butternut squash and I like it much better. The left overs can be used in muffins, alongside your left over cranberry sauce (Catherine Newman recipe from last year). So yummy!

Brussel Sprouts- This is a Giada recipe that I've modified a little bit. Most of what my family considers traditional Thanksgiving food is not what my husband and I grew up eating. I did this on purpose so we;d have our own traditions as a family.

Green Beans - I'm doing these this year too. My brother is coming and I think he might knock me upside the head if I made him try a brussel sprout. The recipe I used last year was a mix of two I found in the 2005 Southern Living Christmas Magazine. I might get my Mom to do these in my un-opened pressure cooker to give us more room on the stove.

Cranberry Sauce- Out of the can. The end. :)

Gravy- I made my own last year and put livers and gizzards to make it taste good. This year I'm leaving out the gizzards. It tastes really good!

Veggie Tray- This is a tradition taken from my Grandmother's Thanksgiving table. A bunch of veggies, black olives, pickles, and ranch dip. I usually offer two dips though.

Dessert- This is where I'm stick this year. I try to change it up but still use traditional flavors. Last year we had grits pie (Paula Deen) and Gingerbread Pudding in the crockpot (Southern Living Slow Cooker cookbook). Since my parents and brother are coming I want to do even more traditional things so they don't miss being at my Grandmother's house too much. Pecan pie? It will never be as good as my Grandmothers...sigh... Maybe some kind of bar with pecans? Something in the crockpot would be good because it's easy and out of the way for the rest of the day. Maybe some kind of crumble in the crockpot. I can go searching through the Crockpot Lady's archives and find something delicious, I'm sure.

So there we have it. That wasn't so bad. Thank you for letting me use this space to figure out my plans!! Now I just need to start a grocery list of all the stuff I can buy this week so I don't have to fight the crowds next week!!

I've asked for a solo Target trip to get Wednesday's birthday stuff. And I need a trip to Michael's to get craft stuff for Winston's Feast on Friday. I offered to do the craft. I couldn't bring myself to just bring small corn on the cob or cheese squares!!

I may come back later today to add things here. I'd love to know what your Thanksgiving tradition are as well!! Would you share them with me, please?

National Joy After A Long Winter

Although the euphoria Obama’s supporters felt on the night of his election is slowly wearing off, the historical meaning has not. Since Obama’s election win I’ve seen small, passionate groups of people protesting the war on the street, and had strangers speak with such sincerity to me and my children that it makes my heart swell. Despite the war path of the far right and “Sexy Sarah’s” media blitz, there seems to have been an overwhelming surge of sanity in our country since Obama’s victory. Swept up in the celebratory nature of this space in time, even conservatives are acclimating to their forthcoming commander-in-chief.


We all listened on that momentous night, as John McCain shushed his booing supporters and challenged them to accept Barack Obama as their president, as he himself vowed to do. His speech was full of a long-term comprehension of what the occasion meant, but his comments about the election during his interview with Jay Leno are the ones that gave me the most confidence in the future of our country. Toward the very end of their chat, Leno asked him how he felt about the “hostility” toward him in the media. McCain’s gracious response was perfection: “We're supposed to be able to take this kind of stuff, you know. You know, one thing I think Americans don't want is a sore loser.” It was that gentle reminder that the legacy created by Obama’s success out weighed the grubbiness of the campaign that finally won John McCain my respect.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck is also working hard to be a team player. The View’s token Republican may be busy spouting unfounded claims about Proposition 8 now, but her sentiment toward our next president on November 5th came as a great surprise. My vow of celibacy toward The View was broken that morning; I wanted to see what Elizabeth had to say now that her candidate had lost. She explained sitting her daughter, Grace, on her lap to watch Obama’s acceptance speech that morning. Her little girl immediately recognized Barack Obama and Elizabeth encouraged her excitement, telling Grace that he was our new President. When Grace asked who’d lost the election, Elizabeth told her no one had, because our country had gained such a great leader. Impressed, I continued to be baffled when she said she was ready to get in line behind Obama’s supporters, and that she understands his talent for bringing people together and inciting action. She was right to simplify the democratic process for Grace as she did, especially with this all-encompassing election. No one loses when millions of people rise together to speak with their votes. There are no losers when an African American man makes it all the way to the White House.

It appears even Mrs. Palin is willing to set aside her differences with Obama. Just a few days ago she told Wolf Blitzer she’d be glad to assist the Obama administration any way she could, especially when it came to energy policy and special-needs children. She goes onto contradict her seeming acceptance of Obama’s win with more negative words, but the original feeling isn’t lost. I appreciate her helpful offers, even in they’re superficial in nature.

As a whole, our country appears to be embracing the decision that it’s majority made. While we wait out the lame-duck period between leaders, a new Gallup pole shows an increase in the number of conservatives who believe Obama will make an effective president. Since the final votes were counted, conservative morale for our president-elect has increased to 45%, a drastic improvement from it’s original 23% before the election. The feelings of a Twitter-friend who had hoped for a different outcome this year keep re-playing in my mind. She said that although she was saddened by McCain’s loss, she sincerely hoped that the promises Obama made to our nation were kept.

Smiling was painful by the fifth evening of this memorable month, and my happy tears still come easy as I dream of all the wounds that can be healed by this new administration. I know people like Elizabeth Hasselbeck prayed for an alternate American destiny, but I also desire for the hope of this fresh era to continue to be infectious for all her citizens.

Aw Shucks- A poem

When I was in second grade

and came to fully understand the meaning of

disgusting,

I incorporated into my vocabulary completely.

It took me almost 20 years to find a new word.

If I typed the way I talk

my most resounding word would be

ridiculous.

At least I don't say

"shush up" and "shucks" like I used to.

Now my curses usually start with "God ..."

And end with " ... you"

It's ridiculous.

Sorry guys, I couldn't sleep until I wrote it out.  It's meant to be sarcastic and funny :o)!!!!

A Hasselfree Kind of View

Since Obama’s election win I’ve seen small passionate groups of people protesting the war on the street, and had strangers speak with such sincerity to me and my children that it makes my heart swell. There seems to have been an overwhelming surge of sanity in our country since Obama’s win. My strongest example of this is Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s words on the November 5th airing of The View.

Now I know Mrs. Hasselbeck has already gone back into defense mode to some extent. Spouting unfounded claims about Proposition 8 doesn’t improve anyone’s mental capacity. But her sentiment toward our next president was a pleasant surprise. I purposefully watched The View on November 5th. I wanted to see what Elizabeth had to say now that her candidate had lost. She explained sitting her daughter, Grace, on her lap to watch Obama’s acceptance speech that morning. Her little girl immediately recognized Barack Obama and Elizabeth encouraged her excitement, telling Grace that he was our new President. When Grace asked who’d lost the election, Elizabeth told her no one had, because our country had gained such a great leader. Impressed, I continued to be baffled when she said she was ready to get in line behind Obama’s supporters, and that she feels like he has a talent for bringing people together and inciting action.


The relief that the election was over was evident on everyone’s face, but especially Mrs. Hasselbeck’s. It was almost as if she had gone back to her previously non-GOP-crazy self. That version of Elizabeth is one I have always liked. She first came under my radar on the Style Network, where she hosted a really entertaining show called “The Look For Less”. When she began her co-hosting duties on The View I was excited. Not knowing she was a Republican, I saw her as a supremely creative and intelligent young woman. She has a degree in Fine Arts and shared words with the audience after her daughter was born that I still take to heart. Incidentally, they were about remembering to do something creative everyday to preserve that part of one self as a new mother. When the slightly-psychotic behavior over an invite to W’s ball at the White House started I knew she was in trouble. With her intense behavior during the last two elections, not many of her opposing party see her as the clever and inspired anymore.

I’m hoping that the ladies of The View can allow Elizabeth to reclaim her place as the creative leader of the group; exemplifying the bridge between their political parties that we know Obama himself intends to build. As a mother, I think Elizabeth does a fantastic job, and that part of her needs to shine right now. She shouldn’t be demonized for her beliefs, even though she’s more than a little over the top. The View benefits greatly from her argumentative personality; she has brought her show worldwide news coverage more than any other host in the last couple of years.
I smiled so much on November 5th that my face hurt by bedtime, and even now, whenever I think of the places our country will be able to go now I almost cry. I know people like Elizabeth prayed for a different outcome in this election, but I also desire for the hope of this time in America to continue to be infectious for all her citizens.

That Boy

Hunter S. Thompson killed himself on Kurt Cobain's birthday, when I was pregnant with my first child, on the day the men came to fix the air conditioner. Only one of them knew who he was. I ate tostadas and talked to my stomach. He knew who Kurt Cobain was, at least.

When they brought that boy into my room the nurses started talking but I couldn't hear them. He was crying, and I said "Shhh, baby. It's ok..." and he stopped. It was magic. They finally put him in my arms because I was too drugged to pick him up myself. The nurse thought I said I was overwhelmed when I suddenly couldn't talk. What I said was that I was overjoyed. He was born with a mohawk.

He is devastatingly handsome, even at three. He looks so much like his father, acts so much like his father. I catch myself saying, "He is YOUR child", because they are so similar. My heart knows that when his Papa does leave, I'll be able to see him in that boy's face. It's reassuring to know my favorite eyebrows will be preserved for another generation.

"When I grow up, I want to be a King and an acrobat!" This announcement came about a month ago. My little brother wanted to be a Lion. Now that he's been in school for a while he's told me he wants to be a doctor. I was disappointed; knowing what a standard answer that was for such a far off dream. He's also learned that the opposite of skinny is fat. That is an awful word. I never use it and am going to force him to say, "rotund" instead. I remember reading somewhere that Sarah Jessica Parker never used that "f word" around her son. She is noble for that.

In Blockbuster, waiting to pay for movies, he read half of the word "gobstopper". He wants to read so badly. It's right there on the tip of his mind and it's amazing to watch. That world is and always has been so important to us, me and that boy. Reading together is something we've always done. Donovan the cat used to get so mad at me for reading to my huge belly. We had to put her on a sedative so I could read You Are My I Love You as often as I required. He can "read" any book that we've read once. He repeats almost every word, in almost perfect order.

I love that boy. He will be taller than me by the first grade, I'm sure. But for right now he still lets me call him my baby. He has my heart in a way no one else does. That boy; my boy. He's never belonged to me, I know that, but I'm glad he was given.

Ramblings

A warning first. There is nothing important being said here. I can't promise any great reward or understanding in my concluding paragraph. My English teacher's would not be happy with this writing. So please, only read if you want to.



I started blogging in my head months before I actually started Cookiemonks. I actually started it and then deleted it once before I finally committed to making it real. I did the same with Twitter. I joined, and tweeted away in my brain, but didn't say very much. I'm still uncomfortable reducing my word count so that I fit in that box and sound somewhat intelligent. Poetry is something I find impossible to pull out of my head. Without an internal tape recorder in there to catch the phrases, they just leap frantically across my vision. Grammar Gazelles. I did write fast enough to capture one for my husband about a month ago. He says he read it, but didn't realize I had written it. He thought I just found it and sent it to him. I kind of did, but my mind formed the words before my hands typed them.



I am feeling rather unclever these days. There are so many others out there who are so much more than I have time to be. With the election over I feel like my air has been let out slightly. Too much important work needs to be done for me to find value in the trivial things I feel lead to write about. I have something pretty well put together that ties True Blood and Miss Louisiana mishaps together. But who cares? I have to care. Music is something I've needed to talk about for a long time. It's so big though; the smell hairspray on Halloween made me want to perform when I haven't since I was pregnant with Winston.

All of my clothes fit again. It matters only in the fact that I recognize myself in the mirror after seeing someone else for a good 3 years. Close pregnancies were wonderful, but a curse at the same time. I think the hormones have finally settled now that the baby will soon be two. With that part closed for now, I want to see myself as a writer, in conjunction with my permanent Mommy mantle. But mostly I just see too many dirty dishes, and mountains of laundry, and gorgeous yarn for projects I can't complete.

I wonder sometimes what experiences I would have gained if I would have stepped outside the geeky-brain-girl box just a little bit sooner. My family, as it is today, would be much the same. These are my only people in the world. But what would I have gained, if I'd stopped caring about grades for just a little while longer. One of these days I'll finish school. I even missed that for a few fleeting moments when I had to bring The Mr. something at work (he is a professor).

Winston forced me up from here to chase him. It was fun, I'm not good at that most of the time. I chased both the boys, and peeled their sweaty jammies off, and gave them pretend Halloween tattoos, and blew bubbles at the cats with them. "Make an ooo and blow through it". At least I taught someone to blow bubbles in my lifetime.


I'm baking a pumpkin with no plans for a pie. That is my wild and crazy side these days. I've never really had one to begin with. I think I'm going to blend it with some cream cheese and brown some marshmallows on top. It will taste good, if nothing else.

I have to keep writing, even with nothing to say. My brain has come back to me in such huge amounts since I've started that it would never forgive me if I stopped.

So here's to vampires and maybe even Elizabeth Hasselbeck. They're coming. If I stop them they'll kill me!

Genius

We were standing in line at Blockbuster, waiting to pay for our movies. Winston asked what the name of some candy was and I told him I didn't know. I was busy trying to keep Wednesday from grabbing all the candy and making a huge mess. So Winston goes "Guh, Ahh, Buh, Ssss. Gob-sllj;jfihg" He read half a word people. HE READ HALF OF A WORD!!!! HE IS ONLY THREE!!!! The candy was, of course, gobstoppers. Something we have never bought, so he couldn't cheat by just recognizing the box. The lady in front of us turned around and smiled at him. I am so extremely impressed with him. Holy Majolie!!!!!

He's been doing all kind of serious pre-reading stuff forever, and working with "a-t" and various consonants at school. This is the first time that he's sounded things out and then put the sounds together for a word. I am so excited. Reading is like a whole world opening, and it's coming so close for him.

I love you, Winston. You are an incredible boy, and I am so proud to be your Mommy.

Pillow Talk

I hate talking on the telephone. In fact, I hate it so much that I rarely even answer it. When I do pick it up, I've been known to lie, repeatedly, to get off as quickly as possible. Telling a telemarketer they just woke up my sleeping baby is my favorite, but I've accepted magazine offers and fibbed about TV surveys as well. This is exactly why I have no faith in a new study that concludes that teens who watch sexually mature "boob tube" tales are more likely to get pregnant. I realize that has nothing to do with a phone. The exception is that all of the data for this inherently flawed study was gathered in exactly that manner. 12 to 17 year olds were asked by phone, over a 3 year period, to give honest recollections of their sexual behaviors in accordance with the kind shows they prefer. Lying is something that all humans learn to do at an early age, but I think it's perfected during the angsty adolescent years.

According to the study, the kids interviewed were twice as likely to become pregnant when their visual vices tended toward the raunchy than those who watched more wholesome programming. That seems clear enough until you look at the actual numbers in the experiment. After losing an unreported quarter of their participants, more of the 1461 remaining people were dismissed if they didn't share their sexual activity, or were sexually inactive. In total, 64% of the original teenagers are either invisible within the findings, or never finished the process. So the information we've been fed covers 36% of a group of teenagers who spoke on the phone 3 times over the course of 3 years with researchers they didn't know personally. Whether they were honest or not ceases to matter when such an enormous amount of data is thrown away. The statistics are irrevocably skewed with such a small sample size. Would you lie? I might if I knew in doing so I would cause such absurd observations to get so much news coverage .


There was only one saving grace in all of this scientific hullabaloo. It was suggested that parents sit down with their young adults and explain a realistic perspective of the intimate encounters they view. My own Mom spent entire weekends watching "My So Called Life" marathons with me on MTV. She taught sex ed at the time, so that helped. But what was most comforting was just having her there; not so much talking as simply being present to answer questions and appreciate the program for the reasons I loved it, not the reasons I shouldn't be watching it.


I think we have to be smart enough as parents to realize that our kids don't learn everything from us. My 3 year old spends his entire time on the playground at school pretending to be Spider Man or a Power Ranger when the only experience he has with either of those is a pair of baby-sized boxer shorts. Instead of demanding he change his play habits because he's not old enough to watch those cartoons at home, I've tried to explain, as best I can, the most interesting and useful parts of both Peter Parker and the Red Ranger. With that knowledge he can imagine more confidently on the playground and still be the big small boy he's meant to be.

Clarity of mind for anything beyond girl cooties and Mama-love is almost a decade away for me. I don't know exactly how I'll deal with regulating television while remaining open when the time comes. However, I do know I'd rather be sitting on the couch with my boys, watching Degrassi and pointing out the realities and over simplifications, than banning them from watching at all. Intimacy will, as one commenter said, be their choice in the end. I want them to have the most balanced knowledge of any situation possible when they reach it. Maybe I should start watching Gossip Girl for the sake of future research. It would give me a good reason to take the phone off the hook!