Sunday, November 21, 2010

Netflix is the Shizzz

Recently I restarted my Netflix account. Back in the day we were the first people we knew who got it. Other people signed up because we raved about how totally awesome it was. Then we canceled it when we moved to Korea. And did without when we came back, not really giving it a second thought.

Well, my friend gave me the password to his account but I felt too guilty to use it all the time so I just set mine back up. I had been wanting to for awhile anyway. Best idea EVER. Back in the day there was no online instant queue, or streaming to your PS3 or Wii or Xbox. So, we paid the 17 bucks a month for 3 DVDs at a time. Now I'm paying 9 for 1 at a time, but we can watch unlimited instant movies. And we have been. (I have it set up for the Wii and PS3 so that I don't have to move my laptop and hook it up to the TV every time we want to watch a movie. It's awesome. No wonder Blockbuster is going under. I feel kind of bad for them.)

We have watched nature documentaries to supplement science and geography schoolwork, movies to entertain while Mommy tries to take a shower in peace, and gotten an introduction to classic movies that I never thought about watching with my kids (it's been ages since I've seen them, I never thought about them until I saw the titles). I can watch a movie and relax after putting the kids to bed without having to make the effort to go out and rent something earlier in the day. It's niiiice.

They watched The Black Stallion. At first they didn't want to watch it, halfway through they were intrigued. They asked if they could watch a movie and were disagreeing over what to watch (not arguing, but not agreeing), so I made the executive decision (I often do as I am skimming over titles because I see it and think "Oh, heck YEAH!") to make them watch The Land Before Time. The original one. Not the franchise of crappy sequels (I hate franchises of crappy sequels). About 3 minutes into it they are hooked. (Adrienne immediately recognized Sharp Tooth as a T-rex.) The other day they wanted to watch something so I turned on a documentary about ancient Egypt. Another time I put on one about fish. We've watched Man vs. Wild together.

I. Love. Netflix.

Monday, November 15, 2010

My kids crack me up

Adrienne said to me a little while ago, "If we go somewhere for Christmas I am going to leave Santa a note."

"Why?" I asked, "To tell him where we're going?"

"Yeah," she said. "I will write 'me and my sisters and my brother and my mom are at my aunt's house' so that he knows where to leave our presents."

I let the kids play with scissors and construction paper. I think this is really the first time I have ever let Charlotte and Genevieve use scissors. They were a little clumsy with them. But, Genevieve successfully made herself a paper dog by cutting out shapes and strips and gluing them together. It was pretty darn cute. She even made it a paper leash so she could "walk" it.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

When parents don't see eye to eye.

Not Matt and I. Other parents. And me.

Today I talked to the neighbor's daughter because she made fun of Adrienne and told her she sound like a big fat horse. (A has a cold and her voice is all raspy.) I told her it was unkind and she needed to apologize, and that if it happened again Adrienne wouldn't be allowed to play with her anymore and I'd have to have a talk with her mother. (This is the second incident, before Halloween this same girl told my children that if they went trick or treating the devil was going to come take them away.) (Adrienne and her friends had been upset because these other kids "stole" a pile of sticks they had gathered... the other kids didn't know and I told Adrienne it wasn't a big deal, there is plenty more sticks and wood int he world that she can gather later.)

So Mama comes walking over to have a word with me and "get to the bottom" of the situation. Basically all she can say to me is that my kid keeps bringing up the Halloween incident, which I admit is inappropriate of her, but also note that she's a worrier and she's afraid that the devil will come and take her away now. I told Mama that I don't allow my kids to name call and that they get in trouble for it, and if they can't play nicely together I tell them to walk away. There will only be just so many times my child comes home in tears before I go say something. If they can't play nicely they will be on restriction and not allowed to play with the kids who can't be nice to each other.

At this point Mama's daughter says how one of the other boys had teased Mama's son and Adrienne said "haha." I made Adrienne apologize immediately.

Mama points to other kids in the neighborhood and says how "they all" seem to be able to dish it out but not take it. Sorry bitch, my kids aren't the ones calling names and condemning others to hell. That'd be your children. I may think it's dumb of my kids to beat the dead horse, but mine have not been the ones name calling. Hate to say it, but for all my kids faults, they aren't the bad ones in this scenario. I get so sick of neighborhood brats. I want to smack all of them.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

It has struck me that my life is boring.

I feel like tonight is a good night to blog. I've got music playing, my kids are in bed, I'm drinking vodka. Life is good.

Forget the fact that I flipped out on my 3 year old today, and yesterday she royally pissed me off by jabbing a pen into the arm of my leather sofa repeatedly. Life is still good.

Because even when I flip my shit somehow they still love me. I can hug and say I'm sorry and explain myself calmly and they apologize and say they love me. I dunno why. They totally got the short end of the stick.

I've started some Christmas shopping... still a few things I need to get. Adrienne has grown inches since last year and looks like a total nerd in almost all her pants. Those same pants can't even be passed down to Genevieve because Adrienne beats the hell out of her clothing, so I need to buy new clothing for both of them. It's always something.

I returned Matt's Christmas present that wasn't the right size today and the proper size should be arriving tomorrow. I am really stoked about this gift because I know how much he wants it. He's a hard person to shop for, he never wants anything and if he does he's probably already bought it. This is the first thing I've been able to get for him in a long time that I knew he really wanted and was excited about. He knows what he's getting, but I am still completely thrilled over it.

I've been sitting here waiting for the next words to flow and I just realized that my life sounds totally boring. I feel like I never stop, but when I go to put it down into words there is nothing particularly exciting to relay. Xander has a runny nose, I have been coughing for two days... had errands to run this morning and an FRG meeting this evening, Adrienne has a dentist appointment Thursday... it's not exactly thrilling but I always have something going on. After I sent the girls to bed I wrote a good morning note to them on the dry erase board that hangs over the table. They will see it when they get up for breakfast. Adrienne can read it to them. I am looking forward to hearing the things they say when they see it. It's the little things that make daily life delightful. :)

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Things that must be dealt with.

Today Adrienne asked me what the pictures of children at the entrance to Walmart are for. I almost started crying in the middle of the store when I tried to explain it to them.

I have told them so many times that they always need to stay close to me so they don't get lost. We have told them that there are bad people in the world who steal children and I never want my children to be stolen; that that is why they MUST listen to us and obey us. We always want them to be safe.

I see that cork board every time I walk through those doors. I wasn't really prepared for Adrienne to notice it today. It kind of broke my heart that, more than just telling them in a vague way that there are bad people in the world, they saw the faces of those innocents who have been the victims of the bad people.

I wonder how many people heard me telling my kids about that board today, how many of them realized that I was struggling not to cry, and how many of them have had these kinds of talks with their kids.

Evil people suck.

Monday, November 01, 2010

Conversations over dinner

Genevieve: Adrienne, what if you were 22?

Adrienne: I might get kids.

Genevieve: What if you were 23?

Adrienne: Then I would get kids.

Me: How would you get kids?

Adrienne: I'd get married!