Be Careful What You Wish For.

Always remember that if you pray for patience, you will not one day wake up and find yourself more patient. Actually, you will find yourself (of no fault of your own) in situations where you are forced to be patient whether you like it or not.

If you also pray for a kinder gentler spirit, you will not be amazed one morning to find yourself to be a sweet gentle soul. Oh, no, that isn't how it works at all. You will constantly find yourself in situations that wrestle your conscious into being kind, gentle and sweet even when your first instinct is to be mean, rough, and salty.

I just wanted to let you all know that I am getting all of my prayers answered in abundance these days.

That's all . . . carry on.

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 . . .

Can An Old Sparkly Mom Learn Some Sparkly New Tricks?

I. may. be. getting. old.


Due to some serious grievous irresponsibility, my granddaughter is living with us Monday through Friday and going home to her Mom and Dad on the weekends. We won't get into the "who, what, when, where, and why's." That really is not my story to tell, so I won't.


I'm sure you've seen me post many pictures of said grandchild. She is beautiful and I love her. Her presence is extraordinary.


So this post is not about her. It's about me.


My son is 15. He is very independent. He doesn't like me all over him 24 hours a day. He and I are both sort of loners, we love our independent space. We sort of have a serendipitous ballet we do. We have a smooth and comfortable routine that we have perfected over the years.


That routine does not include mountains of diapers. That routine does not include tiny little bottles. That routine does not include a big heavy car seat. That routine does not include interrupted sleep.


Now. it. does.


This was week one. I appear to be alive. So I guess that technically means that I have survived. But I have not left the house. Next week I have several errands to run. I'm not sure exactly how long this arrangement will last, but several weeks are definitely in my immediate future.

Do all of you Moms of small children spend every living moment of your life in a state of sheer exhaustion? Is there a pill I can take for that?

I would appreciate everyone saying a little prayer for both me and our brand new precious bundle of joy. I think we'll both be needing it.



Until next time . . .

Ultimate Pride!!!!!!

Can I please just brag for one minute. I'll make it brief, I swear.


In case you're wondering who drove herself and Baby Boy to the Ultimate Frisbee game today ~ ME!


It's my very first driving trip since I hurt my back. I've been off prescription drugs for about a week now, just using ibuprofen as needed and lots of warm baths. When I got home from sitting in a lawn chair for 2 hours, I was a little stiff, but I'm mobile and I'm happy about it!


And just as a cherry on top, Baby Boy made the winning catch of the game.


It was about 9 o'clock (I'm sure you can tell from his photos that it would be hard to see him at that time, even in the summer), the field was wet because we're getting a little residual rain from Edouard, and we were all tied up and he jumped about 100 feet off the ground in the in-zone and grabbed the Frisbee right out of the air and landed smooth on his belly and got a face full of dirt, but he held his hand up high and hallelujah the Frisbee was still in his hand.


I'm not sure if you know or not, but when you score a point in Ultimate Frisbee, you hold the Frisbee up in your hand and yell out "Ultimate." Well Baby Boy has a voice that sounds like Barry White, James Earl Jones, and a thunderstorm all wrapped up in one. When he yelled, I thought for sure it would cause an earthquake.


Of course, I am a little biased. ;-)


It was awesome! I would post photos, but I was too busy trying not to jump up and down so I didn't hurt my back, but I was yelling a little bit (well, a lot). No time for photography. I guess that's the hallmark of an amateur.


That's all!


Until next time . . .

Looky Looky What I Got!

A fantabulous blogger, Jason, from The Jason Show, has given me this jazzy award. Can you believe it? I don't care if it's deserved or not, I'm naming it and claiming it. Thanks, Jason!

Of course, nothing in this world is free so this award did come with a few strings attached. So without further ado, here is the pop quiz that goes along with this award:

A. attached or single? Attached.

B. best friend? Mom #2, of course, but my sister is 1st runner up.

C. cake or pie? Cake, yellow with white frosting is my favorite (I know, I'm a Plain Jane when it
comes to food).

D. day of choice? Saturday,because we didn't work today and we're not working tomorrow.

E. essential item? Laptop.

F. favorite color? Red. Well Pink is my signature color, but red is my favorite color.
It's a complicated and ridiculous thing. I can't explain it.

G. gummy bears or worms? Definitely bears, worms would go straight to Baby Boy.

H. hometown? Texarkana (Texas side: Hook-em Horns!)

I. favorite indulgence? 24 lb printer paper . . . oohhh just cover the bed with it on "date night,"
and it's all over. Don't even get me started on cardstock. Yummy!

J. January or July? January. Have you ever been in Texas in July?

K. kids? Yep, just the one.

L. life isn't complete without? Love.

M. marriage date? January 1. . . but it's a spiritual one because . . . well . . . you know why.
No need for a rant right now.

N. number of brothers & sisters? 1 sister.

O. oranges or apples? Apples, both red delicious and granny smith green.

P. phobias? Choking to death in a restaurant because the waitress is taking too long to bring
more water. (Yes, for real)

Q. quotes? We're not broken up until I say we are! Courtesy of Mom #2.

R. reasons to smile? Baby Boy.

S. season of choice? Spring.

T. tag seven peeps! (I did, scroll down a little to see the lucky 7)

U. unknown fact about me? I was a Social Worker (and a darn good one) in my former life.
So I've always been broke.

V. vegetable? Green Beans. Delicious, all day every day. . . I'm addicted.

W. worst habits? Correcting Mom #2's grammar right out loud in public.

X. x-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound, but only if they warm the jelly first.

Y. your favorite food? Mom #2's homemade enchiladas and Spanish rice. Oh, I think I'm
drooling on my keyboard just thinking about them.

Z. zodiac sign? Virgo.

And now for my 7 well deserving winners:

Kitten

Freakmom

Heather

Ami

RegularMom

SabrinaT

And last, but not least, Mom #2, who is debuting her brand spanking new blog.

Thanks for playing along, Ladies.

Until next time . . .