Archive for » January, 2010 «

January

Welcome to Flashback Friday!

Once, a long time ago, Big D saved his older sister’s life. I have heard this story many times over the years, but just recently came across a fun visual to go along with the story.

My sister and Indiana Mimi were on the phone, and for fun, were googling all of our names to see what came up. Well, when they googled Big D’s name, they found this…

What you’re looking at is page 41 of Boy’s Life Magazine (a publication of the Boy Scouts of America), the February 1980 edition. Big D vaguely remembered that this was printed but did not have a copy. Big D’s mom is a little unsure if they ever had a copy of it since they were being transferred from overseas back to the States near the time of the publication. So everyone had a lot of fun looking this over and remembering that eventful day.

I was unsuccessful at being able to copy the pictures, even though the page provides you with a copyable URL and an embed code, so being the technological wizard that I am, I simply photographed my computer screen. The quality is probably a little off, but I think you get the general idea of what happened….

First, Amy’s (who is looking an awfully lot like Bonny Annie with short hair instead of her usual long, brown, straight self) poncho caught fire, which is strongly emphasized by the publication.

Then, Damon, using his Boy Scout instincts, went to help.

He successfully put out the fire by rolling her on the ground and beating the tar out of her…something every eight year-old boy dreams of being able to do to his older sister.

In the end, that cute kid was awarded the Medal of Merit.

Every time this story ever comes up, though, Amy always maintains that Big D kept thumping her long after the flames died away. She always says it with a chuckle since, after all, she is still alive and not charred like a crisp piece of bacon.

Good job, Little Damon….er…I mean Big D!

Category: Admiral Big D, Flashback Fridays Tags: 1980, Boy Scouts of America, Boys' Life Magazine, fire safety, Medal of Merit 5 Comments

Nice Pirates

January

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An oxymoron? I think not.

Nice pirates are out there. The Veggie Tale pirates are nice…albeit a bit lazy.

Captain Feathersword, of the Wiggles, is nice.

Now, don’t tell anyone this, okay? But Indiana Mimi kinda has a thing for Captain Feathersword. Shhhh….

Smee was almost nice.

And, then of course, there’s Jack Sparrow…

He’s nice…nice looking anyway. At least that’s what Bonny Annie tells me. I only have eyes for Admiral Big D.

I’m nice. Most of the time. My kids are laughing right now, and I don’t know why. Excuse me while I go make them walk the plank.

But do you know who is the nicest of all pirates? Do you know who wins the Nice Pirate of the Day Award?

The pirates over at the restaurant, Queen Anne’s Revenge, that I blogged about here a couple of weeks ago! After I published that blog entry, do you know what they did? They sent me that tee shirt I was pining for. Can you believe that?!

Thank you soooooo much to everyone at Queen Anne’s on Daniel’s Island, SC (especially Lorraine)! Now, I truly do feel like a….

Category: The Pirate Mom Speaks Tags: Jack Sparrow, pirate princess tee-shirt, pirates, Queen Anne's Revenge, Veggie Tales 8 Comments

Pants on the Ground, My Version

January

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The other day when Cap’n Jack Henry was playing in the living room, I had an inspiration for a ground-breaking new song.

Here’s how it goes…

“Pants on the ground…

pants on the ground, …

lookin’ kinda’ cool with your pants on the ground…

New teeth in your mouth…

Your little frown turned sideways…

You’re lookin’ kinda cool with your pants on the ground…”

You know, I have the strangest feeling this song could be a hit!

(…and if you are one of the few Americans left that have no idea what I’m talking about and think I’ve actually lost my mind, here ya’ go…

Or, if you prefer, here is the formerly Super Bowl-bound Brett Farve singing it in the locker room…

Unfortunately, that little ditty didn’t help his performance against the Saints.)

Category: Cap'n Jack Henry, The Pirate Mom Speaks Tags: American Idol, Brett Favre, Pants on the Ground 4 Comments

Meet My Pastor

January

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…and his wife. They are David and Natanya.

They are a nice, sweet, quiet couple who are doing an excellent job leading our church. They have five children under the age of seven. That has nothing to do with this post really, but I just thought you should know that.

Last Saturday our church held a variety show. We do that every few years. Some acts are serious and quite good. Other acts are hysterical. Many acts are a combination of the two.

The last time our church had a variety show was when this couple was candidating at our church. I guess we felt like they should know what they were possibly getting themselves into. They smiled politely at the acts and chuckled when appropriate, and then they took the job. That was a little over three years ago.

Well, the Variety Show 2010 was almost over. The final act was announced. The lights were dimmed, and then this is what we all saw…

What makes the skit even more amusing…and valid…is that David’s family was actually Amish until he was about eight years-old.

So, if you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods, come visit my church…if you dare.

Category: The Pirate Mom Speaks Tags: Amish, church, variety shows. Weird Al 9 Comments

The GOOD Toy: Usborne’s “That’s Not My_______ ” Books

January

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I know that technically books are not toys, but they are if you are fourteen months old, and these books have demonstrated excellent qualities as both books AND toys in our household.

First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever met an Usborne book that I haven’t liked. We own TONS of Usborne books thanks to our main school curriculum Sonlight. They use a lot of their books, especially for science. So the Usborne reputation preceded the arrival of this line of books to our home.

My sister bought two of the above for Cap’n Jack Henry for his birthday in November and then another one for Christmas, and there is not another book in this house that entertains him more.

Let’s take a look….

The cover is the first page of the story. Every page then goes through a series of four or five things that are not ours. In essence we are looking for our thing…whatever it is. In this case, it’s our pirate, and as you can see, the one on the cover is not ours because his scarf is too rough. You can then touch the scarf and feel for yourself. Yep, too rough. Not our pirate. (Not to mention that guy is waaaaaay too wimpy looking to be our pirate.)

Page after chunky page we look for our pirate, but there’s always some tactical clue that the pirate is an imposter. This one has a shiny cutlass, but from the look of his cheek, I’d say it was perhaps too sharp.

And then, finally, on the last page, we find what we are looking for…

Our very own pirate…

We know he’s ours because his beard is so fluffy (and he has a skull and crossbones on his hat…always a sure sign). *Contented sigh*

As far as quality, they are superior to most board books. First of all, the textured pieces are very secure. Your baby or toddler will not be able to rip off the beard or make scratches in the cutlass or whatever. Secondly, the pages are very thick. Jack Henry can turn them on his own very easily, and his little razor-teeth can’t, no matter how hard he tries, bite off a chunk.

The other books we own are…

and…

They run about $9 a piece, would entertain up to about a four or five year-old and can be purchased here or here or here.

I am definitely going to be adding to our collection soon. I can’t wait to find out who our monster is and which snowman belongs to us. Compelling stuff, indeed!

Category: Books, The GOOD Toy (toy reviews), The Pirate Mom Speaks Tags: books, cutlass, pirates, Usborne 5 Comments

Bonny Annie’s Dream-Come-True

January

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Last week Bonny Annie went to a weekend camp with our church. She was soooooo excited.

Why was she excited? Well, there were many reasons. The fact that this was her first time to go away to camp was at the top of the list. Other reasons included…

Being able to meet new friends…

Praise and worship sessions…

The challenge to draw closer to God…

Hanging out with and getting to know better some of the adult volunteers from our church…

Getting to be on the same Foosball team with Pastor David…

Yes, all of these reasons caused her to anticipate the trip. But do you know what she was most excited about? What she was most looking forward to experiencing?

Her first ride on a REAL school bus!

I tell ya’…these home schooled kids are so deprived…

…and weird.

(A special thanks to Big D for going on the retreat too and providing all the photographs seen here. There’s nothing quite like going to youth camp with your photographer dad trailing you like the papparazzi.)

Category: Bonny Annie, homeschooling Tags: Foosball, God, school bus, youth camp 7 Comments

Spaghetti…Oh!

January

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Okay, I get it now.

We’ve all seen them. Pictures of kids eating spaghetti. Making a total and complete mess. Getting more food on themselves and their surroundings than actually in their mouths.

I never understood the concept. I would just look at those pictures and think, “Well, yeah. Cute kid and all, but that is a bona fide mess. I’ll never let my kid do that.”

And I didn’t. But then Bonny Annie and Dirty Harry have never liked spaghetti. Never. So the opportunities for a noodle-and-sauce-free-for-all were limited. Not that I cared or thought I was missing anything.

Until now…

Oh…when you have a kid who likes spaghetti, and is really getting into it at dinner time…well, it is kinda cute.

You find yourself unconcerned about the stains and the fingernails and the sauce that’s now matted into his eyebrows. You just keep laughing and snapping pictures and ladling more spaghetti onto the highchair tray. Like an idiot.

All for the sake of cute. Sheesh.

And then you wonder, as he slurps noodle after noodle through his rosebud little lips, “Whose the real “sucker” here? Me or him?”

Don’t answer that, okay?

Category: Cap'n Jack Henry, Grub Tags: eyebrows, idiot, mess, spaghetti 6 Comments

Shop Class

January

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Last Thursday turned out to be a doozy of a day at our house.

Thursdays are always a bit of a challenge anyway because it’s Bonny Annie’s long tutorial day, so I can never plan much for her school-wise since she’s gone from the house from about 9:00am until about 1:30. But on this particular Thursday, our friend, Mr. Vern, was showing up to work on our dining room floor, and since the dining room is also our classroom, I thought serious schoolin’ for that day was going to be a wash.

But I was wrong.

We’ve known Mr. Vern for a number of years. He goes to our church. And he recognized Dirty Harry’s interest in the job right away, and he tapped into it. He casually just started giving him little jobs, running him back and forth to his truck for odds and ends, even taking him on a quick run to Lowe’s. The next thing I knew Dirty Harry was chest deep into our crawl space, thinking that this was even better than Legos, and my plans for attempting a math lesson on the living room floor were abandoned.

When we bought our house new a little over eight years ago, the builder installed a French door that had already been fitted and installed into another house into ours, since ours had sold and we had a fast-approaching move-in date, and the other one had not. We had always noticed that the door had some minor problems since we always had to slam it to get it to shut properly, but we didn’t know, until just a couple of years ago, that the seal on the door was faulty and that the floor all around the door had some water damage. Fortunately, the damage was not severe or widespread, but we had reached a point where the floor had to be fixed and the door replaced, or someone was going to fall through into the crawl space. The only family member that possibility appealed to was Dirty Harry, and at under 65 pounds, he was not likely to make that happen.

Here you can see where the floor had gotten spongy all along the door jam…

So, Mr. Vern’s job, along with his trusty helper, Dirty Harry, was to cut a whole in the damaged floor and put in a temporary, but functional, patch of plywood flooring. Eventually we’re going to lay Pergo flooring on the whole downstairs. Maybe over the summer…. (Did you hear that Big D??? The summer???)

Dirty Harry’s favorite job was using the hammer and other various tools to whack away at the damaged flooring.

I love the above picture because, for some reason, Dirty Harry looks five instead of nine. Not that there’s anything wrong with nine, but if you’re a mother reading this, then you probably understand. There’s just something special about five….

I also love that while this project was going on I heard Mr. Vern having Dirty Harry work relevant math problems as it pertained to cutting the floor. I also loved that at one point they were having a scientific conversation about the results of friction. I also loved that Mr. Vern shared a gruesome story about an eye injury he once suffered in an attempt to scare Harrison into leaving on his work googles instead of wearing them on his head. I also loved that Dirty Harry was working so hard at one point that he was sweaty. I also really, really loved that Mr. Vern noticed in time that Dirty Harry was, at one point, pounding away at a non-damaged floor joist and stopped him. And, of course, I love the fact that my floor is temporarily repaired…

…even if it is a bit unsightly at the moment. I love that, even now, Big D is planning the door replacement and permanent flooring project. (Pssst….Big D? Still listening???)

So, the next time your school schedule gets turned upside-down by….whatever….don’t fret! Embrace the situation as a school elective, and let your child learn something of a different nature.

Trust me….they won’t be worse for wear.

Category: Dirty Harry, homeschooling Tags: hammers, home repairs, Pergo floors, shop class, water damage 7 Comments

Movie of the Week: Julie & Julia

January

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I hardly ever go to the theater to see a movie anymore. So, my former endeavor to give you a movie review of a current, in-the-theater-now film, is obviously not working. But since I still love movies and like to talk about them and pretend that I work for World magazine, I’ve just changed my format a bit. I’ll be bringing you “The Pirate Mom’s Movie of the Week,” which will feature my take on a recent movie I’ve seen. It might be, occasionally, one that’s in the theater, or it might be one that’s new to DVD, or it might be Gone with the Wind. You just never know, and that’s fun. Right? Right?!

And with that, I bring you my very first movie of the week….

Julie & Julia is, like the tagline says, based on two true stories: Julia Child’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and how it came to be, and Julie Powell, who blogged about cooking her way through said book in a year and later wrote a book about that experience.

Highlights:

The unique storyline. This is not your tired, predictable romantic comedy. It is quirky, fun and smart, and it draws you in and makes you a part of this story, until you feel like a stick of butter melting over low heat in a skillet. What? Doesn’t everyone want to feel that way? Seriously, the film seamlessly goes back and forth between the pre-famous days of Julia Child and Julie Powell, mirroring their experiences, triumphs and failures alike. While you may find yourself wishing there was a little more Julia and a little less Julie, the story just works…plain and simple.
The acting. Somehow, once again, the amazing Meryl Streep, makes us forget that she even exists and flawlessly pulls off the quirky, lovable essence of Julia Child. She totally deserved her last night’s win of the Golden Globe for this performance. I’m quickly becoming a big Amy Adams fan. She brings a sort of likable, wide-eyed innocence to the characters she plays, and her portrayal of Julie Powell is no exception. Stanley Tucci plays Julia’s husband hysterically and believably.
The portrayal of marriage. Surprising, I know, from a movie about cooking and from Hollywood in general, but the marriages of Julia and Julie with their husbands are portrayed as important and sweet and worth fighting for. The dialogue both couples share are both comical and real, and it made it extra fun that I was watching with my own husband, Big D (who also, by the way, liked this movie a lot, guys!).
The food. Don’t watch this movie when you’re hungry. Before you pop this in your DVD player, make sure you have enough popcorn and Snow Caps on hand to keep your mouth from watering, because the food in this movie is pure, unadulterated sin.
Blogging. I think it’s safe to say that, so far, there are not many movies about blogging. So, it was very poignant and fun for me to see Julie Powell’s journey as a blogger unfold. I could relate some to her struggles and thoughts as she struggled over her entries and reader comments.

Low points:

The brief, strong language and sensuality. The movie is rated PG-13 for such. I feel if they had edited one word, unbelievably uttered by Julia’s husband, and about three minutes of a scene between Julie and her husband, the movie could have been rated PG, and one could have even watched it with their young children.
The influence. You will find that after watching this movie, that you too will want to cook your way through Julia’s book, and if you do, you’re likely to gain about twenty pounds. The character of Julie remains rail-thin through her adventure with no treadmills in sight, and you will think bad thoughts about this while you watch.

Julie & Julia…you butter….er, I mean better…see it!