BLINDSIDE

I've been struggling lately with all the excess. Excess clothes. Excess food. Excess apathy. It's just too much! A couple of my children needed some pants that would cover their ankles so we went shopping last week and one of them kept asking for more, more, more. (In an effort to protect her first grade feelings...I won't tell you which child it was.) Anyway, I said no and with an arm-full of soon to be purchased stuff, she pouted "I never get anything!"

I was doing the laundry this morning and somewhere hidden in the huge pile of excess, I found those same pants, tags still attached, unworn and forgotten.

For weeks, we've been planning to see the movie, BLINDSIDE, to entertain us after we gorged ourselves with holiday delights. I was really excited to see this movie for two reasons...one, it looked really good and two, I thought it could illustrate to my children how blessed and lucky they truly are.

The movie is about Michael Oher, a BIG dude who, basically, has no one to take care of him or care about him until, this family (played by Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw) with lots of excess, takes him in. He learns how to study, he learns how to be loved, and he learns how to play football. On the field one day as he is struggling to learn his place, his "new" mother stalks out and shows him how to protect his quarterbacks' BLINDSIDE like he was his "family."

Well, Michael does more for this family, in teaching them about what is truly important than they do for him by buying him some new big & tall clothes. And in so doing, Michael, protects them from their own excess-driven blindsides.

The movie is great! I would recommend it to anyone. There were a few little situational naughties that were too much for small ears but still worth the lesson that can be taught.

See the movie. Let me know what you think.


Picture borrowed from the world wide web! Thanks

crazy busy!

We are all slammed with stuff to do. It's nuts! But I'm excited for Jaren and his family to move back here.

I wonder if he'll get out of bed early enough to work out with me. :)

IZZY RAKES LEAVES

Where the wild things are

I'm on the fence. Maybe, I'm just emotional. There's kind of a lot going on lately. I was talking movies recently with a co-worker when we decided that some movies just should not be seen when emotions are wacko to begin with and maybe this is one of them.

Linc and I disagreed about which movie we should see. Actually, Linc and I disagree about pretty much everything so when we were making plans, he threw a fit and chose to stay home and read instead of going to the movie with me. But I was going to have none of that, so, as punishment for his beligerance I made him attend the movie anyway. I felt hurt, and guilty, and inadequate when we got there.

So, Max, is kind of an angry, lonely, uncontroll-able kid who doesn't know how to express himself. "I'm going to eat you!" And the wild things have all kinds of different issues going on, many of which, I found myself relating to for different reasons. Judith is a perpetual downer. Carol is filled with fear-driven anger. The goat character has an invisibilty complex. (Funny, I can't remember it's name...) Some of them isolate, some of them ignore their own needs, and some of them run away when things get hard. "It's hard to have a family."

Anyway, after all the chaos, sleeping in a pile, and dirt clod fights, Max learns his lesson and goes home to his mother and they have this sweet bonding moment and all becomes right with the world.

I may have to wait longer.

View the movie. See for yourself.


Ummm, I stole this picture from the world wide web! Just so you know.

NEED I SAY MORE?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLIVIA

Tuscon Marathon

I have a brother named Jaren. He's training for his first marathon. Between now and Dec. 13th he will pound out a few hundred miles in preparation for the priviledge of lining up with 1000's of other runners elbowing their way through the streets of Tuscon from one O named place to another. Along the route, he will probably experience some profuse sweating, some serious joint aches, and even some....ahem...stomach disturbances. About mile 22 is when his body will start to REALLY hurt and the mental battle to just. keep. moving. to. that. finish. line. will begin. And when he gets to that little hill located about mile 23.5 and it feels like it might as well be Everest he'll be tempted to walk and it's o.k. if he does. I'm going to tell you right now...at least once he's going to question his whole, "I'm gonna run a marathon" thought process and for a few days afterward he might even pray for some sort of mercy from the heaven's. He'll have to keep reminding himself what it felt like to cross that finish line and to know that he picked a pretty darn challenging goal, worked for it, got tougher, and followed through.

AND HE'S GOING TO PAY FOR THIS EXPERIENCE!!!.




I think I'll do it with him. :)