Blech!

Today I feel useless and crabby and like a crappy parent. I could tell you all the things I haven't done (like folding the laundry and making my kids play outside - it's 100º!), but instead I think it would help me for you to know all the things I have done recently.

This is a big one - I took my kids to see 2 movies in the past week (or so). Well, Pete saw 2, and Lulu saw 1, but for a person who prefers to watch movies at home, this is definitely outside my box. And I initiated the movie Pete and I went to by inviting Pete's BFF and her mom to go with us instead of waiting to hear from them. Also outside my box... Then Pete and Lulu and I talked Husbandguy into skipping out on his last 2 hours of work one day and all went to a movie together. Trying to talk HG into skipping out of work isn't outside my box, but it does make for a fun afternoon!

Then, yesterday, I took Pete's spelling workbook from last year and spent an hour building 13 crossword puzzles for her to take to the beach with us. I should share those with her friends...

And in the past week (or so) my girls and I have tie-dyed and painted pottery (twice) and made a fairy wand and watched "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" (which didn't scare Lulu).

And I've discovered that my Follies-writing niche is actually multimedia, not so much dialogue or whatever. I am a lover of high praise for me, and my projects for this year's Follies, which are Powerpoint shows (and VERY funny) have elicited high praise for me. Yay me!!

Honesty, I don't feel that much better, but thanks for reading anyway.

Oh, I did have another featured post at Write With Pictures last week. But I was the only entry that day...

The Black

Pete and her BFF had a sleepover this past weekend (BFF came here). They watched The Black Stallion, which Pete got for Christmas. Have you seen it? It had been a while since I had. I had forgotten that the movie is kind of light on dialogue, which isn't necessarily a good thing when you're 6 and 7, so I was keeping an eye out for first grade boredom and was surprised to see that neither little girl lost interest. They watched were swept up in the whole movie. BFF even took it upon herself to explain the parts that she thought Lulu or I might not understand ("The ship is tipping over." "The horse is going to save him." "There was a storm. That's why the ship tipped over."). I was worried for a moment because there is potential for the movie to have a very sad ending, and I wasn't sure how my not-quite-emotionally-savvy 7 year-old would handle that, but it didn't. But here's the thing: She cried anyway! Moomie, she's got it too! That Super Empathy you and I share, you know? Poor kid. I've learned to squelch mine because Husbandguy just laughs at me, but she broke down when the credits finished and crawled into his lap and he hugged her and rubbed her back and didn't laugh at all. What, you ask, did I do? I left the room. Seriously. Because it breaks my heart to see my girls honestly emotional (crocodile tears don't get to me), and I had to busy myself seeking out a pillow for BFF so I didn't get all weepy too. She said she liked the movie, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to watch it again, but I bet we do...