Happy Stewart Sunday! That's in honor of her injuring her foot again, this time for BD2.
So exciting to hear about all the new Rob roles. He is really doing some interesting material. And after 5 Edward movies, I think he's working hard to play against that role as much as sensible, which means avoiding the role of romantic hero as much as possible. Sad. But exciting too. Now I'm ready for some Kris news!
I bought my Nook this week! I went with the regular Touch, rather than the new Glowlight. I thought about it some more, and an extra $40 seemed excessive for a booklight. Also, the Touch was discounted $20 this week for Mother's Day - happy early mother's day to me! I also saw (most of) The Muppets (the new one) with my kids on DVD and laughed my socks off. That was *funny.* And it had "The Rainbow Connection," and "It's Not Easy Being Green," both of which I love. Real flashback time.
Ann Marie - Did you sell any cards? That was yesterday, right? I loved your story about meeting Rob at the WfE premiere, what a wonderful, overwhelming moment. I wonder how I would hold up? I'd probably be lucky to be stammering and blushing, rather than melting right down to the ground.
Ashley - Maybe you can spray deer repellant on your car? Wow. That's not only scary and costly, it's dangerous! Unusually, I will be watching OUaT tonight (recorded), but I will avoid saying anything about it for a while. After your mission trip, I will be interested to hear about those boys' reaction to your mad construction skills.
Caryn - Thanks for explaining your condition a bit better, that sounds like it must be tricky to live with. You're right - that Hollywood.com article makes me want to gnash my teeth. It's amazing that they can be so sucking up and so ignorant at the same time - Rob smiles in a lot of movies - I know, I'm looking for them! People tend to underestimate how extremely hard it is to play a vampire. There was a ton of physical work that Rob did, even though it was about restraining his movements instead of expending energy, and working to get into Edward's head which is a very odd place really, and so many other things. What I'd like to see in movie criticism is not their gut reaction - it's not helpful and really takes very little effort on their part. I'd like a simple analysis of the movie, something that sets aside their personal and idiosyncratic feelings and tells me enough that I know whether or not I will like it.
Grayce - I'm glad you found my work description interesting rather than boring. I like my work, too! People are extremely interesting, and then I like doing my best to help these children I may never meet, through helping their parents. I think of the kids as my clients, even though I am assessing their parents and CPS is footing the bill. It's less like I'm being called to go into non-CPS child custody evals, than like the universe is shoving me in that direction. Thanks for the encouragement! I think I'll settle the kids for the summer, and then get that in place.
Jaclyn - Congratulations Mrs New Bride! I'm glad you like the pillows. I'm glad you had such fun in NYC! Small extra tidbit of lav talk - in the US, commerical plumbing is a wider diameter than residential, which is why toilets flush with more force, same volume of water moving more rapidly through wider pipe. Yeah ... enough of that.
Lynne - I really like your tagline. It is slick, succint, romantic, and still mysterious. I don't remember Edward saying "sole" reason for existence, but I do think "only" distances it further. Count me as part of your platform, especially if you release in e-book! And when your website is up, let us know. I'm really torn between watching Rob and Kris win Best Kiss and them boycotting the awards show, but I suspect they won't boycott, 1 because they are too gracious to their fans and 2 because it would be bad H'wood politics, and they are too savvy for that. While it would be morally pleasing to me to boycott the awards, it won't do anything ... so I will go vote my brains out. I really think Kristen could have been nommed for Best Gut-Wrenching scene for the blood drinking, certainly in my theatre there was a very quiet, very collective "ewww" when she showed up with bloody teeth and lips. Harry is a very pretty doggie. Will he live under the stairs?
Marielle - The right house is out there for you somewhere, just waiting. Keep going!
Songbird - Thanks for your good wishes about my daughter's ear pain. It seems to have helped, because the pain disappeared quickly, and she's fine now. For my taste the best ever brownies are the Ghiradelli ones, unless you like frosted brownies. The recipe doesn't seem to be on the website (probably because they sell a mix now), but it used to be on the bags of chocolate chips. I'll look for it for you. And of course, it's hard to beat the Kraft marshmallow fluff recipe for fudge. Have I mentioned I like chocolate? It sounds like you have been a good support to your friend, who has reacted very well to her daughter's marijuana use. If her dad was an addict, she may have a genetic component to her desire to use, and may eventually need more support. Lots of urban high schools have Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups, and they might be helpful too. Water shirts are very popular for kids in the States, and come in adult sizes too. They are snug, stretchy, water repellant shirts designed to be worn swimming and provide better protection from the sun. Your cupcake workshop idea sounds like a lot of fun, but I don't know if you should ditch the idea of a bakery - it sounds like a great, underexploited market. The people I know here who cook professionally for their own small business rent time/space in a commercial kitchen, which gives them access to everything they need with the hygienic state demanded by law. Do they have commercial kitchen space for rent in the Netherlands? Maybe you know someone who works in a restaurant where you could rent time during hours they are closed? I have a very moist banana bread recipe that friends and family love - it is a combination of Betty Crocker, family knowledge of tropical fruits, and a little twist. I think it should modify well with strawberry puree. Here it is, in a different color so others can skip if desired:
1 C sugar
1/3 C softened margarine or butter
2 eggs
3-4 mashed ripe* bananas (I prefer 4 medium)
1/3 C water, or orange juice, or frozen orange concentrate
1 2/3 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking powder
Mix sugar and butter together. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas and water; mix. Stir in remaining ingrediants until moistened. Pour into greased pan and bake at 350 for about 1 hour.
*Bananas sweeten and de-texturize as they mature. Perfect banana bread bananas are solidly black and shriveled with no funny looking white spots. Bananas mature best in a warm spot - in a cold climate, you might try the top of your fridge.
The OJ is the kicker to this recipe. It will be very dense, like pound cake. Banana bread holds up great to frozen concentrate, but for strawberry bread, OJ is probably better, and a nice light touch to the strawberries. Good luck!
Susie - You have been a busy girl this week! I agree with
Caryn, I don't think Rob and Kris will feel personally insulted by the MTV diss. They're too smart for that. It's not personal, it's about the franchise and what they think will bring in the ching.
Suzan - It sounds like you had a great time at the cocktail making party. It was certainly fun to read your description.
Tonise - I love hearing about how much you enjoy your activities. You are a great fun planner ... which is probably both why you enjoy teaching so much and why you are doing such a great job with HHCon! Thank you!
Tracy - Rob does seem to gravitate towards book adaptations - I remember him saying somewhere (around the time Bel Ami wrapped) that he preferred book adaptations because there was less debate over the script during filming. Of course, it's a nice bonus for us readers, because we can then read the book while imagining him in the role. *sigh*
Hello to
Kayla, Desiree, JennJenn, Christina, Ginnie, Sean, and anyone else I missed!
It seems the mission trip for the youth group this year may be going to a Japanese church on the west side of Chicago for a week to do construction work and paint. Should be interesting as one, it's the only Japanese church of its kinda in the US, and two, we've never done construction work for missions before. It's always food pantry work, or door-to-door/vbs type stuff. Even more, is that even though most of the group that will probably end up going are boys, I'm pretty much the only one who knows how to do most of the things that will be required of us on the trip. Though as I said, nothing is set in stone yet, but this is starting to look more and more like what we will be doing for missions this year.
I enjoyed relaxing Friday evening with six of my cowokers at a local winery called 
The game "rounders" you described did sound very similar to baseball, although I don't know whether players use gloves or mitts as they do in baseball. You mentioned something about softball....the main differences between softball and baseball include softball using a larger ball, the pitcher pitching the ball to the batter underhanded (as opposed to throwing it overhanded like in baseball), and the bases and pitcher's mound are usually closer together than in baseball (also depending upon the age group playing, I guess).
Hope all is well with you and the boys. Will they be out of school for the summer soon?
I think that's one of the downsides of having so much computer access through Facebook, Twitter and other sites....things can almost become too personal and too intrusive at times.
