The To Do List - Do Not See it if You are Old or Religious

So if you haven't seen this trailer, watch it now.

Now if you were over 50 and on a double date with another 50 year old couple would this be your movie choice? What if you were a couple of 60 year old ladies?

Do people just not know anything about the movies they pay to see?

I went to a 1:00 showing this afternoon. I got there late right as the previews started and the theater was full of other unemployed summer people, mostly old.

When I got up to leave there were only about 10 people left in the theater. I remember seeing a few old peeps get up and walk out, but ALL of them? It was so crazy.
Did they all just randomly pick a movie from the marqee? Did they think it was starring Robert DeNiro? Did they not know it was a highschool movie? I just don't comprehend.
Right there in the trailer is lists, "Blow job, hand job, rim job." Is that not an indication of it's raunchiness?

I personally loved the movie, mostly because I too graduated in 1993 and a lot of the clothes and cultural references were right up my alley. It was funny. It starred funny people and hot guys. It was a girrly sexy movie. They don't make too many of those and I really appreciated it.

I would highly reccommend it as long as you are not over the age of 45 and not a sexually repressed religious person. You won't be able to handle it and you will be missing out.

A Nook, Gwen Stefani, and Chipotle

I sold my Nook. It was a pathetic imitation of my Kindle.

My puppy is almost a dog. Imagine a beagle, but make it shorter and longer like a wiener dog. That's Petey.

I am excited and leery about spending 2 weeks in a car with my children.

I made banana chocolate chip muffins on Sunday.

Every time I write the word 'banana' I think of Gwen Stefani.

I am supposed to start back to work next Monday the 29th, but don't have to thanks to our road trip.

I have almost made it through my summer reading pile. There are 6 books left and I have read 15 so far. The Fountainhead is really going to stall me out for a while.

I scrounged $80 yesterday selling old CD's which I will use today to fuel my wicked Chipotle craving.

My son just broke my Dyson trying clean out the infestation of Kleenex underneath his bed.

I feel the need for a couple of new kittens when we get back in August. I want two sisters and will name them Matilda and Lavender.

I think gymnastics for a 7 year old is awesome. I don't think gymnastics 3 times a week for 3 hours is awesome.

I saw 3 drowned moles on my walk Sunday morning. The big thunderstorm on Saturday night flushed them out. They were big pink and swollen with water. I had never seen anything like it.

What if I took all the big Internet hit words and put them in the title of this post? Would it get more hits?

Pink Houses and Danville Illinois

I spent a majority of my formative years (ages 10-18) in a little tiny town called Danville, Illinois. It is located in central Illinois about 5 miles from the Indiana border. It is very hard for me to summarize my feelings about his town. A lot of shit went down there, good and bad. I went to public middle school there. True I was in the small contained classes with all the gifted kids, but damn if lunch and PE weren't difficult with the masses.
I learned to drive here. I had preteen and teen crushes here. I learned how to shop at the mall here. I had paper routes here. I rode my bike around this town for hours on end. I walked to the corner store to buy Lemonheads and bags of chocolate chips to stash in my room.

But what does John Mellencamp have to do with this? When ever I hear this song, Little Pink Houses, or Small Town I think of dinky little Danville Illinois. Mellencamp is from Indiana and the songs were in pretty heavy rotation in this small town in the 80's. When I think of Danville, the images that are shown in this video play through my head. There are cornfields and highways and trains, small town people and small town houses, but ain't that America? This song makes me feel all patriotic inside and wish for my olden days of 10cent Lemonheads, fireworks at the VW, sitting on picnic tables at the Custard Cup, and putting clothes on layaway at Maurices.

I'm going to stop by in a few weeks while in town for my high school reunion. I went to the fancy high school 30 miles away, so this will be a side trip into the town of my middle school years. The local Danville high school is also having it's reunion that weekend. I hope to see a few familiar faces at the Royal Donut.

Last time I went through town a lot had changed and not necessarily for the better. Some of the kids I knew there are still in town and trying to make it work in this small town and I wish the best for them. It's a hard place to make it. Most of the businesses have moved on. I think SOLO cups and Quaker are still in town. Some of my favorite stores and restaurants were gone. Downtown, after trying to revitalize in the 80's and 90's, seemed to have succumbed to most small town's fate: empty buildings and faded signs.

No matter how faded it's glory, I will always love this town. Get ready Danville, I'm coming home.

Where is my guide?

Just yesterday I was feeling that good time summer feeling.

Today it all turned to crap. The weather changed. It has looked like it was going to thunderstorm any second all day. It's colder, only like 70. I didn't have any cool places to go to today. There were no books to pick up at the library, no deposits to make at the bank, no necessary shopping trips, no ice cream cones. NOTHING.

All the kids' neighborhood friends are at camp this week and I can't just let them all play video games all day. When I cut off the games I just got endless whining about how bored they are. It's enough to drive a person insane.

Then my blade on my rug gun broke and the day just tumbled into a bottomless pit from there. I started reading a sad teen angst novel while listening to the Sundays. I ate a few Oreos and burrowed into the couch. It has not been a good day. There is nothing good on TV today. I feel like I have already read too much and I don't want to sink into another book reading couch coma.

Sometimes it feels like when I read I am procrastinating. It makes me feel guilty for doing something that I love. Shouldn't I be living instead of reading awesome stories about people who aren't really living? Should I be crafting clay and glitter and popsicle things with my children? Are they too old for that? Should I be planning and preparing elaborate healthy dinner for my family with all my extra summer time? Should I be writing that novel that is somewhere inside my head? What should I be doing? I need some sort of guide to tell me. What is the best use of my time at this particular stage in my life? Where is my guru? Where is my guide?

That's what kind of day I'm having.

Photos from the 4th

I'm going deep on photos this week since I have so many awesome ones from last week. I don't usually post too many people shots, but this is my family and I'm going to show them off. 

Did your 4th of July parade have a real eagle? I didn't think so.

It's so patriotic it hurts.

The absolute cutest member of the parade.

What's that over there? Is it an eagle? Yeah, it's the one from the parade the other day.

Holy crap he's 13! This is his Mary Poppins photo.

I really am skinny. I just have huge boobs.

There's a little Captain in him.

I'm not very good at forced perspective photos.

The whole dang family. They are a good looking group and I'm glad they're mine.

Summer time Broke

I work for the school district. This means that I do not get paid in the summer. It's been a month since I've gotten paid and it will be another month before I get paid again. This puts us at a deficit of around $2000 every summer. I should be prepared for this, but I'm not.

Sure we run around and do a lot of cool stuff, but most of that stuff is free or is just the cost of gas.

The European adventure was paid with 4 years worth of savings FYI.

So this week and for the next few weeks we are severly cash poor. Sure there is a lot of money coming in, but it goes out pretty fast too. We have money to pay for everything, but nothing extra.

It drives me crazy.

What is there to do to raise a little extra cash when it is needed? Scrounge the couch cushions for change? Sell some CD's? (Those are audio CDs) Donate plasma? I am at a loss.

I want to continue my confortable lifestyle that I live the other 10 months of the year, but how?

Suggestions please.

University Highschool Class of '93 20th Highschool Reunion

This is me from 1993, my senior photo.
I opted for the au natural photo instead of the posed studio shot.
I wish I could still have hair that long and luxurious.

Now what is very weird about this picture is that is was taken at the Grand Canyon. You might not think it strange, but at the time I was living in Illinois with no idea I would someday settle so close to the Grand Canyon.

I got my year book out the other day because my 20th reunion is coming up in a few weeks. I had to freshen my memory on where I stood in our tiny little class of 38 students. Who dated who, who did I fight with, who did I hang out with, who do I want to try and hang out with at the reunion.
With such a small class it was hard to not be a part of the in-crowd. There wasn't really such a thing. We all knew each other inside and out and for better or for worse. Some girls swapped the same boyfriends back and forth several times since the dating pool was so small.

I am excited, but I'm also a little bit nervous. I have a hard time in social situations that involve large numbers of people and serious mingling. I like to just plant myself in one spot and observe, but most of the time that can be interpreted as anti-social. I want to talk to these people. I want to know what they are up to and see what their kids look like. What I don't want to do is have to wriggle my way into conversations and figure out who wants to talk to me. Maybe no one does. It's possible.

Will my old boyfriend be there? Will it be awkward? Will the only two men I have ever loved get along? Will my husband be bored out of his mind? What will I wear and will it make me look fat? Will my children behave? Will I have to drink alcohol? And if I do will they have champagne?
I am really going to start to stress about this as the date draws closer. I can't Xanax this event because then I will just be  a wallflower, too juiced to participate.

If you are reading this and you are one of my fellow Uni High Class of '93, please go easy on me.

Lee's Ferry and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

We've lived in Arizona for almost 10 years and are still discovering places we have never seen.

Yesterday we ventured 120 miles north to Lee's Ferry.

I'd gotten a bug in my ear to head up there after reading Down the Great Unknown, an amazing book about the first trek all the way down the Grand Canyon. We live only about 70 miles south of the south rim, but it's not our favorite place. It really is just a great big hole.

But Lee's Ferry is one of the few places where you can reach the Colorado River and actually cross the river and put your feet in. I thought it might be a cool place to see. It's like historical and stuff.

So we get there and THIS is what we see.

My mind was blown. This is the tip of the Grand Canyon, but the cliffs are low on the north side and we just walked down to one of the most intense rivers in the world and there was this amazing beach. It was softer than a Hawaiian beach and softer than a Florida beach and there was no one there. There were little waves lapping the shore and the water was ice cold. We played here for about  2 hours, looking for rocks, finding drift wood, chasing lizards and exploring the shore. I cannot tell you how amazing this little piece of the world is. It is beyond imagination. 

Just up the river a little bit is where all, and I mean all, the river boats set into the river. If you are going to take a trip down the Colorado River this is the only place where you can put a boat in near the Grand Canyon. There is a boat dock and a ranger station, but not much else.

Usually you can stop in Lee's Ferry on your way to Page, but there was a huge road collapse in February which closed the little connector road from here to civilization, so there is not much in the way of refreshment or supplies. There are a few small motels with little tiny restaurants, but if you are looking for fast food, you are out of luck.

When we finished playing we were hot and exhausted and found a Chevron up the road and bought ice cream sandwiches and sodas. It was still early so we decided to keep driving West. It is a long way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but it was through some of the most beautiful Arizona scenery. The elevation change is immense, from 3200 ft elevation to 8800 ft at the rim of the canyon. So needless to say the vegetation and geology changes are mind bottling.

This is the Navajo Bridge that crosses the Colorado on the way to the North Rim. In the back ground is the start of the Vermillion Cliffs. Very much like the Cliffs of Insanity.

This is the view of the Colorado River from the Navajo Bridge

As you move from the valley at 4000 ft up to the elevation of the Grand Canyon at almost 9000 feet you can look back down at the Valley and the Vermillion Cliffs.

As soon as we entered into Grand Canyon National Park we saw some black specs in the distance that my husband was convinced were cows, but they weren't. I was screaming "Buffalo, Buffalo!"  I made Carl stop the car and I walked as close as I could to snap these pictures. Carl insisted I go no closer because they do have big horns and are gigantic beasts. We read later that they are not in fact buffalo or bison, but in fact are called beefalo, a strange hybrid of a buffalo and a cow. Whatever they are I was so excited to see them.

And here was our final destination of the day: the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

We have been to the south rim about 5-10 times. The kids go there for field trips all the time and we usually go up on the entrance fee-free day every couple of years. We've been there and done that. We had never been to the North Rim before and it was spectacular. It is much more remote to get to. From Flagstaff it's about 230 miles. It's a beautiful drive, but you have to know what you're getting yourself into. The North Rim is only open May 15 through October 15 due to weather conditions. The lodge and the cabins were much more impressive than at the South Rim. The South Rim is more tourist friendly with more dining choices, gift shops and museums. It even has  a bus service that will take you to all the look out points. But the North Rim is for campers and the rugged type. The cabins up there looked right out over the canyon. There are a few more intense walking trails. I recommend the little hike out to Bright Angel Point. It takes you right out into the canyon. It is monsoon season in Northern Arizona so it was clouding up in the afternoon when we were looking out over the canyon. The thunderheads added a different color to the canyon that was dark and foreboding.  We hung around and explored the lodge and the look outs over and around the lodge. 

By this time we were starving and looking for something good to eat. We did not find it at the North Rim. There are very few dining options. There was a saloon that sold pizza slices, but it was full, so we walked across to the main restaurant. It was closed until dinner time, but we could have made a reservation for 5:15, but since it was only 4:00 we decided to keep looking. There was a deli that we had no choice but to eat at. Their options were cold pre-made sandwiches or slices of pizza. The place was sad looking with 16 year olds serving and acting like 16 year olds. The chicken tenders had been soaking in a stew of their own juices for who knows how long and looked like shrivelled up penises. There was the option for chili as well, but it is July in Arizona, who eats chili? We had to go with the pre-made pizza by the slice. $35 later we were not starving, but far from satisfied from our dining experience at the North Rim.  That was the only low point of the day.

We plan to go back up again and look around some more. Maybe stay in one of the little cabins, take the Land Rover and explore all the forest service road and remote look out roads and animal preserves. It was a beautiful magical day exploring places of our state we had never seen. We got home at almost 9:00 tired, sunburned, and hungry.

Next time we will pack in all our own food with a cooler full of sandwiches and cookies.

The 4th in Flagstaff

Photo Courtesy of AZ Daily Sun

Tomorrow is my very favorite holiday. There are no presents involved, no familial obligations and no religious overtones. It's all about community and BBQ.

I love my town. We've almost lived here for 10 years in November and it is an awesome town for the 4th of July. The parade is huge. The whole community comes out and a lot of Phoenix people come up for the ability to sit outside for more than 10 minutes. Everybody who is anybody has a float in the parade. The entire town walks by in 2 hours. I love, love, love it. It's all about getting the best spot on the parade route and then waving to all the folks you know while dressed in your very best red, white, and blue. I live for this day.

Tomorrow my daughter will get to walk in the parade for the very first time with her gymnastics class. She is over the moon about it. Photos soon to follow. We'll probably pick up some donuts in the am and then hang out until the parade starts at 9:00 and then cheer everyone on as they walk the parade route. Ohh I'm getting goosebumps already.

Afterwards we will be heading to a light lunch and then a showing of The Lone Ranger with the whole family. Then we head to my parents house for an afternoon BBQ.

Finally we'll top the day off with some illegal fireworks smuggled in from last summer in Nebraska (don't worry they are only sparklers, we don't want to spark the forest on fire), followed by beer and champagne on the back porch.

That is some good all American livin. I love being an American. You can have all your politics and internation issues, but to me I celebrate America by simply celebrating community, parades, BBQ and beer.

Nelson Atkins Art Gallery Cloister

I've been researching our road trip and trying to decide what to see in each of our stops and it just came to me the other day that I must take my children and my husband to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.
I lived in Grandview, Missouri, a suberb of KC, from 1981- 86. Some of my most vivid memories of living there include spending time at this museum. I took art classes there in the summer in real artist's studios and it was in this room that I fell in love with architecture.

The cloister.

 

There is an etherial light in this little room that has stuck in my mind for over 30 years. This space was like nothing I had ever seen or felt when I first came here as a child. It was peaceful, it was beautiful, it was pure architecture and pure art. I fell in love immediately. When I read From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, this was the museum and the room that I imagined that I would run away too.

I still think about this place, but I think I just now realized that this is where I learned to love beautiful buildings. Kansas City if full of art and architecture. The museum itself (minus the modern addition) is gorgeous. I was there for the restoration of Union Station and remember on special occasions heading to the Plaza to eat at a fancy restaurant, usually during Christmas to see the Plaza lights.

I have to share these things with my family. That is what roadtrips are about. I don't think this room will have the same affect on my children, but maybe they will see something that will inspire them.