Movies

Since we had so much time off for Winter Break (Adam 2 weeks, me a week and a half), I paid $14.95 at Blockbuster to rent as many movies as we wanted and to keep them for as long as we wanted for one months time. Well in the first week of the month we have rented at least 6 movies. Napoleon Dynamite was the catalyst in this because I knew we wanted to rent it as soon as it came out and I am horrible at returning moviews on time. I know it's not hard to do, but it is one of my faults that I have come to accept and live with. For any of you who have not seen Napoleon yet and if you enjoy independent films it is definately a must see! Another independant film we rented that day and did not enjoy is Danny Deckchair. Don't waste your time on that. It is an Australian film and very hard to follow. Adam watched what he has dubbed one of the greatest movies he has EVER seen...Anchorman with Will Farrel. I personally can not stand Will Farrel in anything (especially Elf) and stayed in my room while he watched that one. Kathy however, also enjoyed Anchorman. Kathy watched Wimbledon and said it was really good, I think I will watch that tomorrow. Tonight I watched what I feel could be an Oscar WInner The House of Sand and Fog. It is very intense and Ben Kingsley is a remarkable actor. Jennifer Connely plays the female lead, I would have sworn it was Demi Moore. She was really good as well. Adam's next rental goal is Dodgeball. We saw that at the studio before it came out. It is raunchy, but funny. I really enjoy Ben Stiller. Speaking of Ben, on Christmas Day we all went to see Meet the Fockers. I enjoyed that alot but didn't think it was as funny as Meet the Parents. Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman were wonderful! Every once in a while I could see Captain Hook when there was a close up of Dustin Hoffman. My next will be Wicker Park and then not much else is coming out . I will have this until the 23rd of Janaury so if anyone thinks of something good to rent let me know. In the meantime, Happy New Year!

Just Desserts!

We had our annual baseball Holiday gathering last weekend and I was in charge of desserts. Our house smelled so yummy for the three days before it was a wonder the kids and animals from the neighborhood were not flocking to our door.

I made our family standby Cherry Pie Cake, a store bought apple pie (on sale for $2.50 with $1.00 off and then doubled coupon!), Cookies galore, Boston Cream Pie (which melted on the way because it was over 80 degrees outside), cinnamon cupcakes with green apple icing arranged in the shape of a Christmas tree. And the biggest hit of all a peanutbutter gooey cake! OMG! That was the yummiest thing I have eaten in a long time! I would post it as a link if Macs would let me. But if you go to Foodtv.com and look up Pumpkin Gooey cake it will show you the 3 variations. Gretchen, you have got to try this!

The worst part of this job!

We just spent 1 1/2 hours looking for a lost child. Special Ed. 6th grade forgot to return to class after school for tutoring and then couldnt be found in the neighborhood. No cell phone number for mom. Estranged dad is here as well looking and fussing. Me in my brand new shoes (heels no less) walking the neighborhood towards his house. At the end mom calls and says in her broken English "my friend said you are looking Stefan he is here with me". In 5 years this is the longest it has taken to find a misplaced child (other than the runaway).

Civic Duty

I have always willingly served my Jury Duty, even looked forward to it. And I always get picked to sit on a jury. I have sat on 2 civil and 1 criminal and have learned alot of interesting things (one civil involved a Major League Umpire!), and met alot of interesting people. But this time they have gone too far! I am on "call in" every evening after 5pm (according to the summons), I am supposed to call an 800 number and key in my Juror Id Number and it tells me whether I need to report the next day. Well, all was going weel, no reporting Mon or Tues or Wed. Wednesday evening (December 8 mind you), I kept getting a recording that said "This is notice for those who were told to call in on December 7th after 7pm." It went on to say my group number (15) was to call in on December 8 after 7pm to see if they should report. Okay that was my first call at 5:01 p.m. So I waited until 7:02 and called back. Same message. 7:33 same and so on throughout the night to the point where I have my 9-digit JID number memorized and can recite the message by heart. Finally at 5:30 a.m. I am getting up to start getting ready for work (big training today with all the Principals and Secretaries) and now the recording says my group should report at 9a.m. Which I find a little strange, such a late reporting time, but hey, who am I? I arrive at 9:02 (yes, Kathy I got a parking spot and yes it was far!), and the person behind the counter snottily tells me that I was supposed to be there at 7:30. That just got me a little riled. I informed her of my experience the night before and she shifted gears and went to check with the actual court. Came back and said "Oh yeah, I see from the computer that you called 15 times last night and that there was a bit of a problem with the call in system. You will have to come back tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. WHAT!?!?! I am here now, I have a sub at my desk and I am not showing up to a training with the superintendent LATE! So I call Kathy and vent to her because she is a part of the system.

Driving home I had visions of laundry, cleaning and shopping in my head. But alas all I really did was finish my book (In Her Shoes).

11 casinos later...

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful! Gordon always has made the best mashed potatoes. I got to meet all of the adorable children that Melody talks about all the time, and to see their grandma Sandy.

A great trip up to Kewadin, and 5 casino visits. A quick trip down to Indiana and 3 casino visits (and some really nice piggies for Erika!). Back home to moms and 3 more casinos (and a great "Wave" of luck for mom). A very turbulent plane ride and I am back at home. It all went too fast of course, vacations always do. But alas, I am glad to be home, with my dog curled up at my feet.

Thank you to everyone for having me. It was a wonderful trip!

Now begins the countdown to January 19 when Erika, Jackson and Mommy arrive in L.A.! (Only 1 casino trip planned then!)