So . . . What are YOU Eating?

Have you seen this movie? Mom #2 and I watched it last night. It's informative, enlightening, disturbing and unnerving.

All day long today, I've been mulling over the things I saw in the film and I think over the weekend I may watch it one more time before returning it to Netflix.

The ideas introduced in this film are not new and really not even news to me, as I've read The Omnivore's Dilemma (after an enthusiastic recommendation by RegularMom) and seen King Corn along with other informational resources regarding the food we eat. Something about the visual images in this movie, really have me rethinking every. single. thing. I eat and feed to my family.

We already try to stay away from processed foods because Mom #2 has high blood pressure and has also had her gall bladder removed and excess salt and fats are hard for her to digest. What really got to me were the images of the foods that are supposed to be healthy for you, can still really have hidden unnatural substances and just their very being have such an unnatural impact on the world we live in.

I know a lot of people on my blog roll already live an environmentally sensitive lifestyle, so I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but it's been on my mind today, so I couldn't go to bed tonight without posting something about this.

So, I guess this is a movie review, a public service announcement, meaningless meanderings . . . I'm not sure. Watch. Listen. Learn. Discuss.


Eat well.


Until next time . . .

¡Día de la reseña de película!

Hola, all, it's Movie Review Day.


First, a little background. I may have mentioned before, or maybe not, who knows, but Mom #2 is totally Hispanic with a rich traditional bloodline that hails from Spain as well as Mexico. Sometimes people let a lot of prejudices slip in front of her with her deceptively fair complexion, hazel eyes, blond hair, and perfect non-accented English, but that's a different post for a different day. Back to business, as I was saying, a significant portion of her family is Spanish speaking only and the rest has Spanish as their first language. This coupled with the fact that we live in an area of the country that has a large and active Hispanic population, has us speaking, or at least attempting to speak Spanish every single day of our lives.

For our family, we've made it our business to embrace the Hispanic heritage and culture. I have spent several years off and on really attempting to learn Spanish. Since I worked in the social work field for about ten years, I do have a primitive working Spanish vocabulary, but I'd like to make it flow more easily from my lips instead of stuttering through it like a metal grate every time I'm forced to speak it. I want it to be much more natural to me.


Watching movies in Spanish is an amazing way to both learn and perfect that skill. It also allows you to "see" the language spoken in a natural environment instead of in a sanitized stabilized classroom environment.


With all of that pre-production out of the way, I have an excellent movie review/recommendation for you today, it's the Spanish Language movie, Under the Same Moon. America Ferrera is briefly in it, for all you Ugly Betty fans.


It is a Spanish language movie. Spanish speaking, only. No English. You do have the option of adding English subtitles if you are so inclined, but if feel free to give yourself a Spanish language challenge and go at it alone for a while.

The movie is a complicated saga of an illegal immigrant mother attempting to make a better life for herself and her family, who is still in Mexico while she works in the United States. The person she is trusting to watch her beloved son, her mother, passes away suddenly and with their limited communication, the child is alone for several days in his search for his mother, his safety and his freedom. The movie passes no judgment and neither criminalizes nor glorifies the subject of illegal immigration. It simply holds a mirror up to this family's truth and allows you to make your own decisions regarding the situation. I like that. I'm not one to have my movies preaching to me, there are other places to go for that.

The dialogue is simple and straight forward and the plot is a little predictable, but that actually added to the beauty for me. Without a jumpy plot and unnecessary dialogue, you can focus on viewing the beautiful scenery and really understanding and learning the word choice.


If you are learning Spanish in your homeschool program, or if you would like to start, you simply must add this movie to your Netflix homeschool queue (don't act like you don't have one). It's a keeper.



Until next time . . .

Getting Back In The Saddle . . . With A Potpourri Of Topics

Thanks for all the nice emails while I've been taking a break from blogging.


It lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. Turns out, although I thought I was the queen of multi-tasking, sometimes more things get done in real life if you just take a real live cold turkey computer break. Of course, those who know me from some of the home-schooling boards know that I didn't totally go cold turkey, but I did trim it down significantly and I have a lot to show for my time off . . .


We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. If you liked the first three, this one will be lots of fun for you. It holds true to the series. If you are looking for a real action movie judged only by today's standards, well, not so much. Baby Boy has a full movie review. I'll have to get him to type it up this weekend and post it later. I really enjoyed it, but frankly, it doesn't take too much to impress me. It also doesn't help that I'm totally infatuated with Shai LaBeouf. He's like an adorable little Ken doll that I want to bring home in my purse and put on a shelf. It's amazing to me that he's the little Brady Bunch Afro-wearing boy from Holes. I'm not sure why, but, well, I've been known to have strange ways.


I went to see my niece's "Self Expression" exhibit at her fancy private school. She made a very cute self portrait. I think it turned out really well.




Speaking of self portraits. Baby Boy and I finally finished the six or eight or however many art lessons on how to draw the parts of the face. Today we did portraits of ourselves in charcoal. Don't laugh, remember, we are not trained artists. Just a mom and son trying to express ourselves a little bit, LOL.

Self Portrait


By Baby Boy

and


By Mom #1

In case you are wondering, YES I did intentionally make my face a lot slimmer in my portrait than it is in real life. I mean, that's the way I see myself, young and thin. I'm not letting reality get in the way of a good fantasy! One thing we couldn't figure out was how to make ourselves black (I mean African American) without making ourselves, you know, black (like the color), so we just left ourselves white (you know, the color, not the race). As you can see, this discussion could go into the wrong direction, so just look and love the art for what it is. HA HA HA!


Actually that is the kind of drawing I like to do. We've pretty much finished all of our subjects but seem to still be hobbling along at geometry. Unfortunately, that means the kind of drawing that I have been doing the most of lately looks like this . . .

. . . and poor Baby Boy has been spending his mornings looking like this . . .

But all of that hard work is really paying off. Recently we experienced something of a miracle around here. In five years of home schooling, we have never - until this week - witnessed this extremely rare phenomenon . . .




A perfect 100% on a math test! Yah! As you can see, stickers are a great currency around here.


In honor of all that hard work, and because we really really felt like we needed a break. We took a little mini vacation to our local water park. We had great big fun, although I am deathly afraid of the water and cannot swim at all. They provide lots of shade, fun slushy drinks, and chairs directly beside all the rides so lazy scary moms can watch their wild and crazy kids. That's where I was at.




So. As you can see, we're all doing fine. Busy, as life always is, but fine. I've enjoyed spending quality time with my family and friends. I'm going to try to find better balance in my life that allows for the real life closeness and the online fun. If anyone has the recipe for that secret formula, please forward it to me. I'm in desperate need! ;-)


Just for kicks, I'm going to round out this post with pictures of our new grand baby. She's still so new and beautiful and perfect in a way only grandmas can appreciate. She's a smidgen over three weeks old. These pictures were taken about a week or so ago when she was about 2 weeks old. She's already making lots of noise and funny faces, so we know she'll fit right in with the rest of our family.




Until next time . . .

Movie Review By My Very Own . . . Baby Boy!

Ami's Say Something Saturday gave me an idea for a writing assignment for Baby Boy.


I usually review all the movies we do for our Movies As Literature curriculum, but I thought it would be a nice change to allow Baby Boy to do the review as his writing assignment. It's a nice way to still get the writing in without getting bogged down in all the outline, five perfect paragraphs and perfect formal writing . . . yadda yadda yadda . . . that we usually do with our writing assignments.


The weather has been so nice here that neither of us really want to do much school work at all. I thought this would be a good compromise. By the way, the movie we watched is Raiders of the Lost Ark.


So this was his assignment:

Unlike a plot summary, a review can be lengthy or not-so-lengthy depending on what your feelings are about the movie. Don’t forget to devise your own rating system and be sure to give your film a rating.

And here is his review. . . Enjoy!

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is an action/adventure movie made in 1981, directed by Steven Spielberg, and is rated PG (Parental Guidance). This movie is about an archaeologist who explores lost temples and finds buried treasures. His name is Indiana Jones. He hears about an artifact called the Ark of the Covenant and he seeks it out. He must face countless obstacles, supernatural powers, and a bitter rival. What happens next? Well sorry pals, but my information is limited and you will have to watch the movie to learn the rest!

I loved this movie beginning to end! There were tense parts, scary parts, and all out action! The acting could’ve been a little better, but I still loved it! The story is a little confounding in the beginning, but about half way through the movie, it should be all clear. This movie does have some mild language and lots of dead people, heavy alcohol usage, and evil spirits. Oh, and I can’t forget the truckload of snakes, there are tons of them! If any of these negativities conflict you, you probably shouldn’t watch this movie.

On a scale of 1-10, this movie is an 8!!

RATING SYSTEM

1. Boring beyond all reasons!!!

2. Mega boring

3. Kind of boring

4. Didn’t like it much

5. Alright

6. Liked it a little

7. Liked it

8. Liked it a lot

9. Super awesome

10. Best movie in history!!!

I have to say, I agree with pretty much everything he said. I'm not exactly sure why the movie is rated PG, I'm sure it should be PG-13 because they are straight boozing it up in several parts and when the spirits were released from the Ark of the Covenant, it was too scarey for me. I covered my eyes. Oh, well, I'm really working on leaving Baby Boy's work alone and not always feeling the need to add my two cents to it. So, there's the review above. LOL.


Until next time . . .

Movie Review Day!

Well, I know I've been behind in posting our Movies as Literature movie reviews, but today I'm going to get caught up right quick.


I have two movies to discuss.


The movie we watched a few weeks ago is called The Journey of August King. Let me give you my short version first - Hated it! (Unregulated flashback to Men on Film)


I guess I need to give a more detailed review, so here ya go.


The movie is about a widow, August King, who is on the way home, a three day journey, from the general store where he has purchased his annual supplies for his home and farm. Along the way he discovers a run away slave girl and reluctantly decides to help her get to the freedom trail so she can get to the North and be free. Ok, that sounds nice, even noble, but this movie is dry as a bone. It seems like it goes on forever even though it's only a hour and a half long. The dialog is silly and barely understandable due to the overly emphasized "native dialect" that both the white man and the slave girl use. Both Baby Boy and I spent most of the time asking each other what was going on. It also has one extremely violent scene that had me covering my eyes. I wasn't expecting it and it took me quite by surprise. I think that given the fact that this movie is rated PG-13, it could have been handled in a more subtle way. There are lots of other things implied in the movie where it doesn't go into graphic detail. They should have followed suite with this scene. I don't know, maybe I was having a bad day, maybe I have just seen my fill of slave movies for the year. Believe me, black people have more to contribute to American history than the fact that we were once slaves. (hopping down from soapbox, sorry) The movie does show that even common every-day people can make a difference in the world, like August King did for the slave girl. That's the message I emphasized to Baby Boy, but the movie simply was not very entertaining or engaging. For it to be considered good by me, it would have to be at least one of those, and preferably both.


The movie we watched last week, A Raisin in the Sun, was magnificent. Ok, I will admit, I love Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee, so I may come off a little biased. Actually, I may come off a lot biased. It's the story of a multi-generational family, (Mom, her daughter, and her son along with his wife and child) living in a tenement where they share a bathroom with several other families. The father has recently passed away and they are waiting for his life insurance check to come in. Once it comes in, there are many twists and turns as they decide what to do with the money that will be best for everyone in the family. The mom is a hard working old fashioned woman, the sister is a free spirit artistic girl, and the son is a hard working man with big dreams regarding his future and the future of his family. They deal with financial struggles, class struggles, and racial struggles even though there is no slavery, there is still segregation and racial tensions. This story is so cleverly written and acted. It's really great to see Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier in their youth. I don't want to give too much of it away, so I'll just say that it's highly recommended.


I missed Puff Daddy (or P Diddy, or whoever he is right now) and Phylicia Rashad's remake of A Raisin in the Sun. I recorded it to my DVR, but somehow it got erased before I could see it. It's supposed to be coming on DVD in a few months, so once I get a chance to look at it, I'll try to compare the two. I didn't think Puff Daddy acted that great in Monster's Ball, (I hated that whole movie, so once again, I'm biased) but everyone keeps saying he was really good as Walter Lee Younger, so I'll reserve judgment until I see it for myself.


In news on the home front, we are going on another field trip with the new home school activities group tomorrow. Wish us luck!


Until next time . . .


Smooches!

Still Trying To Find The Groove, Getting Closer.

We've tried to adhere to something like a schedule this week.


We still have lots of settling in to do, but I think we're finding a little rhythm to go with the chaos of our lives. It's still very much a work in progress, but I think it'll have to do for now.


We did find time to watch our homeschool movie, To Kill a Mockingbird. I know most grownups have probably already seen it or at least read the book, myself . . . well . . . this was my first viewing. I was actually extremely impressed that a movie made back in the 60's had so much artistic integrity. Aside from the fact that the movie is very good, I love the opening credits and the interesting camera angles used to shoot the movie. It's not just your normal "head on" shots usually seen in older black and white movies. It may be a funny thing to notice, but with two budding amateur filmmakers in my home, it's impossible for some of it not to rub off on me. Also something else I found interesting was that the movie is almost entirely told from the children's point of view, particularly the daughter's. It is about a small town white attorney who has been appointed to defend a black man against the rape of a white woman. Instead of giving just the "token" defense usually given to accused blacks, he has decided to give the black man a real, thought-out, researched, top-notch defense. I don't want to give away too much by saying this isn't your usual race relations movie (Is a black person allowed to say that?), but an insightful look into the lives of the children of a man trying to do the right thing, and how the entire ordeal affects them. It's a definite "thumbs up." I highly recommend it.


Seeing movies isn't all we had time to do this week. Baby Boy had the chance to "bring home the bacon." Actually, he brought home the catfish on a little fishing trip with my niece and my dad.


Delicious!


And, of course, here are some photos . . . enjoy!

I love my niece, but if you can't take the heat . . .

But I don't want to be a pirate!

Get the hot grease ready!

. . . Until next time . . .



Smooches!

Catch-up Potpourri: Mom's Gonna Live, Salamander Art, A Movie Review, & A Sentimental Field Trip.

It's been such a long time since I blogged. I feel overwhelmed with all of the things I want to talk about. I hate really long posts, especially when they have only a couple of pictures (or worse, none - the horror), so I'll try to just put a quick blurb about each item I want to mention. Being extremely long-winded is my Achilles Heel, so I'll do my best. ;-)


First and foremost - I'M WELL!


Well, I'm mostly well. I have been so under the weather for so long that I finally went to the doctor. For the working poor and uninsured, which is who my family is (all except Baby Boy), this is a major deal. I have to pull out the yellow-pages and find a doctor who will see me, who won't judge me, and who won't price-gouge me because I want to pay cash. I have to find a doctor who will do a thorough exam, yet won't do any unnecessary testing because I'm paying cash. Who will hopefully have a solution, but will have samples of that solution, because I'm paying cash. So I guess it's understood - I had to pay cash. Anyway, I thought for sure that I was infected with the plague all over my body, but the doctor assured me it was an extreme case of cedar fever, gave me a bag full of samples of miscellaneous allergy medications and told me to get on them right away while we're having a short cold front so my body could get ready before the cedar pollen gets back into the air. I will admit, I doubted his diagnosis, but within three days of starting his recommended regime, I'm as good as new! Hurray! My doctor was kind and considerate, expeditious yet thorough, mindful of my financial situation without being condescending, apparently right-on with his diagnosis, and very generous with the Rx samples. I've filed his phone number and office address in my Rolodex for definite future use. A success!


To all who emailed your well wishes, when I say I have not been on the computer AT ALL, believe me. I was miserable and unable to do anyone any good, so I stayed away. So please allow me to say right now, en masse, Thank you so very much. I really appreciate it and it's great to know that people really do care. I've been known to be a cynic, but on this I'll just let that stand.


We have not done much school work in the past couple of weeks since I last posted. We have been sort of hit and missing our lesson plan. Baby Boy has done a lot of work on his own, but the fun stuff we usually do together has been sort of lacking. We did finally get an art lesson off the ground. We studied analogous colors - using drawings of salamanders to illustrate our point. Have a look, why don't you . . .

Analogous Colors

By Baby Boy

and

By Mom #1

Also, we finally did get around to watching The Philadelphia Story. It has youthful Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Katharine Hepburn. What's not to like, the eye candy alone is worth the viewing time. One thing I have learned about older movies, in order for me to really appreciate them, I have to watch them at least twice. They don't spoon-feed you the plot like movies do today. They are complex and complicated and witty and sly and you have to really pay attention to both the brazen and the innuendo to really get a good grip on the story. Baby Boy and I have viewed it a few times in answering our discussion questions, and it is simply an amazing story. It's so sharply and humorously written and acted. It's so amazing how the beautiful people just acted in the movie instead of walking around like they are always in a full length mirror. They seem so uninhibited by their breathtaking appearances. Actors today could really learn a lesson in class from this trio. Actually it was a foursome. Ruth Hussey is second billed, but just as beautiful and equally good in this movie. I won't give away too much about the film other than to say, it's a hilarious comedy of errors . . . what Three's Company could have been if Chrissy had stayed dressed more often. Definitely a must-see.


I do have some sad news. My great-grandmother passed away last week. She was a fiery pistol of a woman and so stubborn that I thought for sure she would outlive us all. Although her health had been declining for a few months now, I was honestly shocked and saddened by her passing. We took a few days last week to drive the 7 hours home and visit with family and attend her memorial services. It was a sad yet pleasant occasion. No one is foolish enough to harbor ill-will regarding the passing of such a long and fruitful life. She worked and retired from her government job, while raising livestock and also growing, preserving and selling vegetables every year. And she didn't have a little hobby garden, we are talking about a farm! She was a well rounded woman who did it all and never apologized for any of it. I know that I am blessed; not many people in their mid 30's live to see their great grandmother. I am glad that my son, her great, great, grandson got to know and appreciate her into his teenage years before she passed away. She even lived to see some of her great, great, great grandchildren. Long lifelines run in my family, (I sure hope to have one) and the older generations harbor history lessons that cannot be taught in books or found on websites; it has to lived, cherished, and passed down. So I am honored to be one of the loved by my great grandmother, and I am sure she is resting in peace right now. She certainly has earned it.


Oh, my goodness, I could go on and on, but I think I'll call it quits for today. We do have some other things in the works right now, but I am not level headed enough to comment gracefully right now. And really grace is key for a lady.


I have SO MANY blogs that I haven't visited in a couple of weeks, so I'll be trying to stop by all of those in the next few days. Missed you all!


Smooches!

First Few Days Back To Business, Baby Boy's Accomplishment, and ONE SICK MAMA!

I've been meaning to post regarding how the weekend and first couple of days of school have gone, but I have been feeling pretty icky the last few days. I've been trying to go on as if I'm fine, and in a way I am, but not really. You know, Mom sick. It's not a pretty sight. It goes something like this:

The anatomy of my Mom illness . . .

• Woke up Sunday Morning feeling congested and scratchy throat, but mostly all right. Took a mucus breaker-upper pill and Tylenol. Went about the day as usual.
• Went to bed Sunday night, got minimal rest. Head and chest congestion doesn't like the laying down position.
  
• Woke up Monday morning and felt like a truck ran over me. Took another mucus breaker-upper and Tylenol, pretended to feel fine, but really felt yucky.
  
• Went to bed Monday night and got ABSOLUTELY NO REST. Head and chest congestion continues to insist I sit up.
  
• Woke up Tuesday morning practically obliterated. Drug around the house all day. Still have not admitted I'm sick. In fact, to all who ask, I insist Mommy's fine and continue to do household chores, cook dinner, and take Baby Boy to tae kwon do practice.
  
• Let's not discuss last night. The words are not PG. I'll just say this, I actually had tears.
  
• This morning, I am admitting to all who will listen, I AM SICK. Luckily I have the best kid in the whole wide world, because he woke up by himself on time, got dressed, fixed himself breakfast, helped me set up the humidifier, reminded me when it was time to take my medicine, and got ALL of his his schoolwork done without me even looking up today. He ROCKS!
  

I think I'm taking the rest of the week off, but I did want to post a few of this weeks accomplishments. I'll keep them brief less I become contagious via cyberspace. Mom #2 called and said her mom is sick and so is her brother, my mom's also under the weather, so whatever it is must be ricocheting from the heavens. Don't inhale while you read this. And don't say you weren't warned.


On Friday, Baby Boy got his blue belt in tae kwon do. He was the only person in the whole martial arts studio working on his particular form, so he got to show it off all by himself in front of all the other students and their families. I was really concerned he would be too nervous and mess it up, but he performed like a champ. I was such a proud mom. I would post a picture, but my camera's batteries died right in the middle of filming. I was so upset with myself for not packing extras that I cried all night about it, but Baby Boy said he forgives me and he'll remember it forever anyway because he was so scared. He was raised well. ;-)


On Sunday, in preparation for the week that apparently is not meant to be, we watched our movie from our Movies as Literature curriculum. This week was Emma. I have to tell you, this is not a good one for me. In fact, excuse my language, but it sucked. Now I have said many times, that I am not a big lover of classics simply because they're classics. If a movie is good, it's good for all time. If not, well, it never will be. This movie falls into the latter category. The language didn't sound like poetry, it just went too fast and I didn't know what was going on half the time. I hear it's based on a novel, so perhaps I should have read it first, then I would have known what to expect. Needless to say, Baby Boy and I were not amused. I didn't get the original of this one and the remake was frankly wasted on my entire family. I reviewed the literary elements we are supposed to learn from this film, determined we can learn them another way, and made the executive decision to ditch it. I know quitters never win, but this time it simply could not be helped. I told Baby Boy it's probably because I'm feeling a little under the weather. In a better frame of mind, I probably would have toughed it out. He didn't waste one minute hopping on his bicycle and getting it to the mailbox before I changed my mind. Oh well, I couldn't even help him with the discussion questions, because I had no idea what we had looked at for two hours either. So sad.

Anyway, next week we're on to The Philadelphia Story. Wish us luck.


This is getting too long, especially since there are no pretty pictures to look at, so I'm going to sign off, make a call about a meal, and relax my pain away.


I hope you all are well. I hope soon I am too.


Smooches!

Got Well Soon and Back To School . . . Hitchcock Anyone?

Just wanted to report that we are all well. Baby Boy is still on the mend, but taking it slowly. We're getting back into our routine. I'm one of those anal schedule type people, so, you know how it is.


We usually watch our homeschool movies every other Sunday afternoon, but since Baby Boy was under the weather this weekend, we watched it last night. The movie was Rear Window, a 1954 thriller by Alfred Hitchcock. It was actually very good. I'll be the first to admit that a lot of the movies in the Movies as Literature curriculum are not exactly my cup of tea. I guess I'm not very appreciative of the classics. I like things that are bright, shiny, and new. Sorry, I know that hurts a lot of homeschooling moms to hear, but it's me - open and honest. On more than one occasion I've threatened to throw the whole curriculum out the window, but quitters never win, right? Anyway, back to my movie review: Rear Window has Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelley, what a cast. It's all about the interesting things an invalid sees out of his rear window, hence the title.


Baby Boy found it interesting and entertaining as well. Alfred Hitchcock always did have a way of telling a scary story without actually making it scary. Am I making any sense? Probably not, but I'll just leave you with this final thought . . . rent it, it's good.

Now on to parallel lines. Geometry anyone?

Oh, just in case you are wondering....it's warm today. We reached 80 degrees. Yesterday we only reached 43 degrees. Tomorrow it's supposed to be a high of 40 again. Perfect pneumonia weather.


Smooches!