So.

I have already written but am still adding pictures to the posts i wrote about my sweet boys on their birthdays.  I have observed many a friend writing thoughtful posts about their children on their birthdays, and I have taken note of the wisdom in this.  There is no better time to reflect on your sweet ones and what they mean to you than on their birthdays.

So i did that.  but i also really wanted to include their pictures....but i also had BSF tonight, which required that all of my free time on monday and tuesday would be dedicated to my weekly Bible study cramming sessions.  these would not exist if i would just start my lessons sooner, but that is just how it is.  so anyway, there are therefore no pictures of sweet ford's birthday on my computer yet.
to tell the truth, i actually have most of frank's birthday post completed, but i felt it would be strange to post frank's birthday post on ford's birthday. 

so instead, i will discuss Movies.

we have lucked out in our movie watching lately and thought i should share.
i also fully expect and hope that you would share good movie recommendations with me.

Note: (to see if we are movie compatible) i do accept violence, cursing, and brief nudity in movies.  I don't love them by any means, but they won't make me turn the movie off.  I do not, however, accept any violence towards women, and i really hate prison movies - especially violence related to prison living - those get turned off right away.)

Here are some that we liked over the past 4 - 5 months in no particular order:

-The Road.  michael accidentally rented two post-apocalyptic movies back to back.  this was by far superior to The Book of Eli, with Denzel (though i did enjoy the reverence to the Bible in that one).  The Road has Viggo Mortenson and it is so disturbing in so many ways.  It feels real, and makes you want to start hoarding canned goods and fuel.  After studying Isaiah in BSF, I have been amazed at how much this movie reminds me of what the actual apocalypse might be like for people who don't know the Lord.  pretty heavy, but worth watching.  

-The Secret in Their Eyes. it is in Spanish and it is terrific.  one of those movies that you forget you are reading subtitles


-Harry Brown.  michael caine kickin' some young dudes' ass.  violent and british and good.


-Rocket Science.  it is a strange indie comedy.  i recommend it not because it is the best movie i have ever seen, but because we watched it in bed late at night on the computer and we both stayed wide awake with fascination.  for sure one of us usually falls asleep in 10 minutes or less.


-Bound for Glory.  david carradine plays Woody Guthrie.  I probably should read a book about Woody Guthrie's life, but until that time comes, I was glad to see the movie about someone whose music i so admire. 

-Predators.  i don't actually recommend this movie.  i just wanted you to know that i watched this sequel or third or fourth or whatever number of predator this was.  i am that good of a wife.  


others that i have seen and loved since that last list so long ago:
 Shutter Island
Rebecca 
Good Hair
Lonesome Dove
The Young Victoria
True Stories. michael had the idea one night to go back and re-watch this one.  i am so glad he did.  it was like re-watching Harold and Maude again, it felt good.  
Pressure Cooker


and lastly, on the PBS American Experience website, you must check out the one on the Civilian Conservation Corps.  My grandfather was a part of this organization, so that is why i watched it, but it was a really great documentary.  It reminded me of the great things we are capable of, and how God can use people and ideas to really bless a nation.  If you ever go hiking and notice steps on your trail or stones that mark your way, it is very possible that these are the guys who put them there.


it is late, but i am about to watch Coal Miner's Daughter the movie about Loretta Lynn's life.  I heard her interview on Fresh Air and was hooked.  It was one of the few times I could not turn off the radio.  I made my kids be quiet when they came in the kitchen, and i think i even made dinner late, just so i could finish listening to the show.  She seems like the real deal.
 

I am very opinionated this week

A few nights ago, I saw a movie that i loved, Moon, with Sam Rockwell.  Why wasn't he nominated for an academy award?!  I am a little outraged.  Does he have enemies in the academy or something?  He was awesome and unquestionably better than George Clooney.  The movie was made with very little CGI, and the sets were done the old fashioned way, like in Star Wars.  i thought it was great. 

This leads me to a movie that i hated: District 9.  Good heavens i hated this.  it made both michael and i nauseous after about an hour of watching.  we had to turn it off.  disturbing visually and emotionally.  maybe it got better in the last half.

While i am at it, let me just review some good ones from our recent Netflix history:
 -500 days of summer.  so good.  so good.
 
-Public Enemies.  A michael mann film with Johnny Depp as John Dilinger - i loved this so much, i watched it one and a half times in two days.  (i like michael mann.  i really like johnny depp.)  

-Ricky Gervais: Out of england.  if you are a ricky gervais fan, you will like this.  a bit dirty, but he makes me laugh out loud.  i love anything that makes me laugh out loud.

-Julie and Julia.  enough has been said about this one.

-Earth.  we enjoyed watching this with frank.  i was more upset by the lost elephant and hungry polar bear than he was.  He doesn't apply human emotions to the animals like I do.

-Grey Gardens.  i recently re-watched the original documentary.  and while it is not a riveting, edge of your seat thriller kind of film - it is still fascinating to see into those two women's lives.  The daughter had such style despite their circumstances.  i look forward to watching the HBO movie based on them.

-Au Hasard Balthazar.  a very strange and sad french movie from 1966.  not sure if i can recommend...do you like black and white movies about an abused, forlorn girl and her pet donkey?

That's all that is worth mention from my past few months, not very exciting.  But as I scrolled back through the Netflix history, here are the ones worth mentioning from the last few years:

-The Counterfeiters.  this was terrific.  a true story.  
-Eastern Promises
-It Happened One Night
-the Apartment
-Apocalypto
-To Sir, With Love
-John Adams
-The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
-The Butterfly
-The Painted Veil
-Spirited Away

And just for the sake of completion, my most favorites (same as my fb favorites):
-Gone with the Wind
-Rear Window
-Kitchen Stories
-3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada
-The Princess and the Warrior
-Philadelphia Story
-Breakfast at Tiffany's
-Talk to Her
-Harvey
-Babette's Feast
-The Godfather
-Oh Brother Where Art Though?
-Sunset Boulevard
-Home for the Holidays

i would love more recommendations.  i've got some movie watching to do in the next few months.

things you may or may not be interested in

I wanted to do some non-paid advertisements for a few of my favorite things.  I am like oprah, except not at all.  no one gets any money and no one gets anything for free. 

1.  Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day All Pupose Cleaner in Lavender.  I've talked about it before, but i love this big 32 oz. bottle so much, i think it deserves more praise.  i use it to clean my floors, and i make my counter top cleaner out of it.  It only takes 2 Tb. mixed with water in a spray bottle and you have enough cleaner for months.  Saves money, smells good, plus no chemical-induced headaches. 

 

2.  This is the second terrific cupcake that i have made this week.  It is from the pioneer woman.  It is really stinkin' good.  the picture doesn't do it justice, which is why i don't usually take pictures of my food.  i made it for a most special friend and i can only recommend that you save it for your most special, chocolate loving friends, too.  and i will eat one if you have extras. 

 

3.  Maybelline Colossal Volume Express.  

I think this stuff is amazing.  I have sucky eyelashes.  I need mascara.  the lastest mascara i tried smells just like the bat guano that it is very likely made from.  (of i course i still use it in a pinch.)  but - if i can help it, i will buy this stuff because it gives me eyelashes.  i really do think that it is magical.  Here is proof of how it works:

though, now that i see these pictures, i am not sure that i should post them.  can you believe those wrinkles on my forehead between my eyes?  good heavens i must stop frowning. 

4.  The Contigo Auto Seal stainless travel mug.  

 

For all of you who are coffee drinkers/coffee spillers, this mug has revolutionized my life.  it cannot leak or spill.  i can put it in my purse.  i can wash the whole thing in the dishwasher.  it is amazing.  my carpets and my husband are very grateful for this mug.  did i mention it keeps your coffee hot for 4 hours and it doesn't spill?!  i got a two pack at Costco.  Perhaps i should move into a Costco.  

well.  that's all there is time for.  this has proven to take much longer than i envisioned in my mind. 

Rotting your brain

We watch project runway.  On VHS tapes that are delivered in my mailbox each week by Maggie.  We don't get Lifetime.  I return one tape and she replaces it weekly with the new one...That said, I am a little behind, but am still bothered by the pregnancy episode when Malvin was kicked off for his chicken and egg look.  Yes it was weird, but his mind was really out there, and I enjoyed watching him.  

On Top Chef, I feel sorry for the younger brother who is always so close to winning, but just can't seem to catch up to big brother in the elimination challenges.  It feels hard to measure up when your older sibling is good at everything.  Can I get an amen from all the babies of the family?  I like Kevin, too.  He reminds me of a jolly leprechaun.  Did you see him play horseshoes?  Couldn't help but think of our wedding, wish I had gotten to play that day.

I loved loved loved last week's Mad Men.  Don't ever get me started on the current state of childbirth procedures in the U.S., but in comparison to the 1960s, I must admit that some things have improved.  And why didn't the prison guard awknoledge Don on the way out of the hospital?  Was he embarrassed, because he knew he was going to go back to his old ways after his drunken declaration of becoming a better man?  I was not loving this season after the first and second episode, but I am hooked again. 

And lastly, did you see the Curious George episode on composting?  I suppose that if a monkey can compost, then I should be able to as well.  Thanks Kristin...and george...for the tips.
 

Summer songs

I have been wanting to share my summertime playlist that I made a few weeks back, but I didn't know how to link songs to the blog, and I would rather give you a way to hear the songs than just list them. But I didn't know how to do that because I am slow with learning how to write a blog.

I almost wrote just now that "I didn't do that because "I am retarded." That is a phrase we used when we were in elementary and middle school, and for some reason, I have never been able to break myself of that phrase. It is not a nice thing to say, and I wanted to publicly confess that I have been wrong in saying it. When we were in Albuquerque last week, I was getting up from the table of Weck's restaurant, talking to michael accross the room and i was commenting on something dumb that I had done and said, "I am so..." and then I looked and directly behind him was this precious boy who obviously had a developmental disability. And he was beautiful and had the sweetest family. They were all enjoying themselves at their lunch, and I almost said that offensive comment right in their ears. I was convicted that the Lord was trying to show me how wrong of a statement that is, and that I have said it way too much. So... I am telling you - so that you can remind me if I say it in front of you, that I don't want to say that anymore.

anyway.

here are some of the songs that I have been enjoying this summer:

• Kodachrome by Paul Simon
• Sunny Afternoon by the Kinks
• Fly Me to the Moon by Julie London
• The One on the Right is the One on the Left by Johnny Cash
• Johnny Cash's entire children's album
• Sky Blue Sky, Heavy Metal Drummer, and You Never Know by Wilco
• Green Summer Lawn by the Vigilantes of Love
• Jorom/Monkey Yanga on The Rough Guide to the Music of Nigeria and Ghana
  
• Cuban Pete by Tito Puente
• John the Revelator by Blind Willie Johnson
  
• Solider by the Blind Boys of Alabama
• Girl by Beck
• I'll Fly Away by Etta James

and look...I figured out how to link some of them to YouTube. I am gettin' smarter all the time.

Giving thanks

Here are things I am thankful for today:

1. Costco fruit. Mangoes, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple, oh my!
It is so reasonably priced, so good, and sold in just big enough amounts that you can eat a lot and not feel like you are stealing all the healthy food from your son.

2. Hopscotch.
Frank wanted to play. I looked up the rules. Can't believe I got to be 31 and did not know how to play hopscotch. It is actually hard and fun. Frank isn't really old or coordinated enough to play by the real rules, so I am now looking for some grown-ups who will play with me.

3. Shower caps.

4. That Sesame Street falls during Ford's morning nap. I am 2 for 2 on showering this week.

5. Curbside recycling.

6. Breeze today. (Usually there is none.)

7. Coupons that matched what I actually needed to buy today. That never happens!

8. Grace.

Good morning

frank celebrating heavy trash day

a happier picture...i took that depressing one off

delicious...easy...http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/03/dads-buttermilk-biscuits/

Here is something that I just hate: finding weavels in your flour right before you are about to bake something.

There are a few things I hate today, so I think it is time for the second, Frank inspired, "Things that I am into" and "Things that I am not into" lists.

Things that I am into:

• my husband. that is hokey - but so be it - i like him. (HBTY...keeping it on the downlow)
  
• Myrna's photography: http://dulcefoto-myrna.blogspot.com/
  
• Mrs. Meyer's products - thank you, Amy, for introducing me to her. She and I have cleaned many a sticky table and chair, suckey thumb boo-boo, and counter top together - we are starting to be tight, Mrs. Meyer and I
  
• cooking with my cast iron skillet
• whole food's fresh flowers. They are remarkable - every time
  
• my small groups - awesomely awesome women
  
• the Sartorialist blog - thank you Stephanie
• baby noises
• biscuits
• coffee ice cream. Double shot espresso ice cream from the Chocolate Bar. dang-it that stuff was good
• Frank using the phrase, "mama - i want to show you how powerful my new water gun is...it has 5 pounds of powerful." I have no idea what that means, but I want 5 pounds of powerful
  

Things I am not into:

• loosing hair - it continues to happen. It is gross and makes me get a lump of anxiety in my throat.
  
• not knowing how to sew. I need curtains in the worst way and am completely at a loss of how or where to start
• that I missed Tom Waits in concert in Houston about a year ago - it still gets to me
• whining - love the whiner, hate the whining
• the crazy sleeping schedules of babies. They need sleep in their cribs, but sleep in the crib = mama and frank playing Candyland over and over and over - which, let me tell you, is not as fun as it sounds. He has inherited the Ross gene for competitiveness, which leads to more whining when i makes it to the Candy Castle first
• mosquitoes - i told frank that it is okay to use the word stupid in reference to mosquitoes and flies
• that you have to wear a swimsuit to go swimming
• consistent capitalization
  
• cleaning my cast iron skillet
• my fear of composting. i am not green. should i be? yes, I should. but i am not there yet. I do want to compost so that I can feed my pitiful garden for free, but then i think about whether or not to compost only organic stuff or should i compost everything? and then that leads to me thinking that I don't eat nearly enough organic fruits and vegetables, so it would be a waste to start a pile/or box or what have you. And then i think that we should eat more organic, but that is way too expensive, but then i think about cancer and how I don't want us to get it, not that non-organicness is going to give us cancer, but how does anyone know what gives us cancer? probably my antiperspirant is bad for me, too, but I don't want to live without my Degree, because sometimes I forget to put it on, and when you have a tight t-shirt on and no Degree, it is unpleasant to me. and that is why I have not yet started my compost pile/box.
  
• the price of pet medicine - unbelievable
  
• that I can allow my mind to waste hours on thinking of things that I am not into - seems so negative
  

i do like all 12 of you.

Oh no! Its Angus! Cover your mouths!

Super sweet

Okay. are we done now?


It is now 1:30pm, Ford has already spit up 8 times today. Twice on my skirt, once on my shoulder, 8 times on himself. Seriously, how did we get so lucky in the vomit department?

****
Here is how I am going to tackle my laundry/cleaning problem:
1. prayer - my small group is helping me with this
2. punishment...of myself. I have told myself this week that i cannot go to the gym until the kitchen is clean, and that I cannot go shopping until the laundry is put away.
I did not make it to the gym on Monday. I did not make it shopping yesterday because it took so long to do that crappy laundry. But today, my house is almost clean, people. Hooray.

Here is how I am going to concur the sweet tooth:

1. Prayer, (I am just now adding this, because I had not thought to do that before, but as my friend says, God is in the details)
2. I am going to stop before I eat something sweet or junkie and say to myself, "Self?...will you feel better about yourself if you eat that 3rd bag of mini M&Ms? OR will you feel better about yourself if you don't?" (Last night this stopped me from going back for a second ice cream cone.
Dreyer's 1/2 fat Mint Chocolate Cookie. It is tasty stuff.)
3. Eating fruit and drinking lots of water

Random stuff

Ford says, "thanks Aunt Stephanie, for this gift that keeps on giving."

Here are the reasons I hate my hair:

1. I trimmed my bangs myself a few weeks ago...i did okay across the board, except in one key spot that should be longer on the side, creating a "frame" of my face if you will. In order for Joseph to fix it, he must have had to cut them all really short. To sum up: current bangs=mousy, librarian look..

2. All of those pregnancy induced, hair-shining hormones are leaving me, and my hair is falling out in unbearable clumps that make me gag.

3. I have more gray hair than any 31 year old that I know. It is dry and crispy.

4. Due to the weird bangs, I can't wear my hair curly anymore because I look like I am that blond girlfriend in Spinal Tap, and that is worse than mousy librarian.

5. I, therefore, don't wash my hair often because it takes so long to wash, dry, straighten. So in the mornings and evenings, it is just pitiful. To quote my husband upon looking at me at the end of the day last week: "Are you just giving up?"

***
On a different note, Ford will go for a physical therapy evaluation next Wednesday. Though he is the perfect baby in every way, I am afraid that his neck muscles just don't seem right to me. I have compared pictures of him to Frank at this age and it is too big a difference in neck strength for me not to be concerned. He is regularly looking down and still fights looking to the right. So, after many hours of calling to work out the facility and insurance, we will go next week. I am very excited for him.

***
I have many ideas for future entries -- which is the most appealing to you? my battle with laundry - part 2? My new and improved attitude that is going to help me win the fight against my sweet tooth?
or maybe, we should discuss clothing and style for a stay at home mom of 2? What the heck is cool, but practical when you get spit up on 4 times a day? If you know it, tell it to me.

and ham, and green onions, and Topo Chico...

So.... here we are. you and me and my blog. our blog? well i don't have michael's seal of approval. Neither graphically speaking, or at all, so i must just say it is my blog.

I am not entirely certain of the purpose of the blog, but I have some ideas:

1. I can post pictures - assuming of course, i upload them to my computer.

2. I will have a place to keep track of all the silly and mundane things that my children do. If you are not interested, please stop reading now, lest you judge me for boring you.

3. I can share favorite things that I cook - because I cannot resist sharing a good thing. Sadly, I am afraid these shall be infrequent postings

4. I am attempting a creative endeavor. This intimidates me, therefore I feel like I should try it. Fear of blogging sounds stupid.

5. I often think of things that would be good status updates on facebook, but i am not so interested in sharing my thoughts on 100+ people's homepage. if you tune in here, you are probably interested.