Two Claws Up!

I watched the movie "The Departed" last night. (apparently during the same time it was winning awards for Best Director and Best Film at the Academy Awards)



A most excellent film! It was very involved so if you haven't watched it yet, do not plan on multi tasking while viewing the movie or you'll miss important facts.

I've always loved Leonardo Dicaprio since he played the mentally challenged boy in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape".



And of course, who doesn't love Jack Nicholson?




Matt Damon played his slick, smart, devious self. He's intelligent in that he stays in the roles that match his persona. I can't imagine him being able to ever pull off a scruffy punk villain role.



Alec Baldwin was good. He down played his usually larger then life over the top acting image. He played a strong backup character.



Martin Sheen was good as the Captain. Has he ever acted in anything that's bombed??



Mark Wahlberg aka Markie Mark was (surprisingly)superb as a loud mouth arrogant Sergeant.



There were many more well known actors that played small parts in the movie. Too many to remember and also to list. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I would highly recommend you do so!
**************************************

On a side note. I had to post this picture of Jodi Foster on the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards. Has she EVER looked BETTER?!!

MiniWarrior~ism

Driving to his dental appointment early Saturday morning...

"Mom, did you know that some kid's Mom's die when they are young?"

"Yes, Son."

"That's sad, huh?"

"Yes it is. But you don't have to worry because Mom's going to be around for a long long time."

"I hope so, Mom. But...if you aren't then you'll be in Heaven and when you're in Heaven then you'll be in my heart. That way you'll always be with me, right?"

"Always, Son. Forever and Ever."

"Yeah. You're not in Heaven now so you're in my Love Heart."

"You're in my Love Heart too, MiniWarrior."

ACK! I'm Sorry!!

To all the Spaces bloggers whom I've attempted to leave comments on...I'm sorry!
For some crazy reason it is leaving MULTIPLE copies of my comments to you.
I swear, I'm only hitting ENTER, once!

Daily *Lickable*

Went and saw Daniel Craig in Casino Royale 007 last night (for the second time).



He's just so...mmm mmmm mmm...LICKABLE!

HELP! Invasion of my youth snatcher!

Yesterday after work I built a fire in my fireplace, fixed myself some snackage, nestled with my pillow and blankie on the sofa and prepared to zombie myself in with a marathon of TV watching.

3 hours later I awoke, the fire was dead, my pillow damp from drool and there was cat hair in my snackage.

Remember when we were kids and couldn't WAIT to become an Adult????

We were so majorally ripped off with that wish request.

Where's the complaint department? I want my youth back!!

MiniWarrior~ism

Every Friday I take MiniWarrior to the local pool to go swimming.
Changing from his sweatpants into his swim shorts he paused to stare at the lint clinging to his legs from the sweatpants.

"Mom, look at my legs! What IS that?"

I opened my mouth to answer when he blurted out...

"Oh wait! I know. It's pant crumbs!"

Resolution Number 3,254,000

Thou shall not try to sledge hammer another person into your idea of what you want for the future.

They either want the same future or they don't.

Anyone wanna buy a antique sledge hammer and a banged up dream?

Fang Update

Thanks to all who wished me well on my Fang appointment.
Good news...no more pain.
Bad news...I lost the fang. Apparently I had split it down the middle and the Dentist could not repair it with a crown.
I now have a gaping hole in the middle of my upper molars.
*sigh*

Nothing makes you feel OLD like a Dentist sitting discussing a partial to replace a missing fang.

Ghost Stories, Continued

In order to relieve my mind from operation "Fix-a-Fang" (scheduled for tomorrow--*gulp*) I thought I'd write about another Ghostly experience from my past.

Shortly after I graduated from College, I went to work as a Nanny to a 3 month old baby girl. It was one of those "gotta get a job to pay for new apartment and necessities like FOOD and GAS", jobs that I ended up staying at for 3 years.

The childs home was located in a prestigious neighborhood of Minnesota. The parents were upwordly moving Yuppies who drove BMW's and filled their white washed double decker house with Wedgewood, Berber carpets and a neurotic Golden Retriever.

Money and affluence, I've learned, does not protect one from tragedy. The Father of the child had lost his little sister in a sledding accident in Switzerland when she was 12. His parents (who lived in a Mansion along side their private lake) had an oil painting of her above their marble fireplace. The child, whom I was a nanny to, resembled the dead sister...eerily so.

When I would put the child down for a mid morning nap, I would often times lay on the sofa located outside her nursery and catch a quick kat nap, myself. I discovered, after my first attempt to kat nap, that I must put the neurotic golden retriever downstairs in the Den or he would pace the kitchen and annoy the heck out of me with the clacking of his toenails on the tile floor.

One such kat nap morning, I had locked neurotic dog downstairs, placing the child gate at the top of the stairs so he couldn't escape, then lay down on the sofa. I turned on my side, facing the sofa back and was just drifting off to sleep when I felt warm breath on my neck followed by a firm nudge on my shoulder blade. I moaned sleepily and told the dog to leave me alone. I lay there for a few seconds then heard a panting and more breath on my neck. I rolled over to admonish the dog for escaping from downstairs and saw...nothing.

No dog.

I swung my legs off the sofa and sat pondering this strangeness, feeling my heartbeat start to speed up. I called out to the dog and heard him whine from the top of the stairs in the kitchen. My palms became sweaty and I crept slowly to the kitchen. The neurotic dog stared at me plaintively from behind the child gate at the top of the stairs.

What had been breathing on me?

What the hell had nudged me?

Strangeness, I tell you. Eerie strangeness.

Fang~Badness

One of my upper molars has a boo boo and I'm terrified to call a Dentist.

*sigh*

The pain is getting so I cannot ignore it any longer. I must ring the dreaded pain bringers and make the appointment.

Sometimes it really sucks being an Adult. I wanna curl up with my Hello Kitty's and make this scary thing go away.

Ghost Stories

Bob, who's wonderful blog is at http://ruserious1947.spaces.live.com, wrote about a Ghost experience he had.

I was going to leave a lengthy comment for him about a couple of my Ghost experiences, then nixed the idea and decided to steal his Blog idea and tell my stories here.
(I might have to join a 12 step blog stealing program after this! lol)

Now, let me start off by saying I am an Agnostic. I have studied many religions in college and throughout the years but I do not hold any set belief in an Afterlife. Thus, the idea of "ghosts" would normally be on my "yeah right" side of beliefs...however...

In the early 90's, I was living in an older house I was renting with my 1st husband. It was a two bedroom house with a full cemented in basement where we kept our office and washer/dryer. My ex often hung out in the basement doing laundry or plinking on the computer. One day I was drying my hair, in the bathroom that was located beside the stairs to the basement, when I heard my Ex calling to me from the basement.

I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, so I turned off the blow dryer so I could hear him better. He was still not talking loud enough for me to distinguish what he was saying, so I yelled down the stairway to him.

"What? What did you say?"

I saw a flash of him walking around the corner of the basement towards the washer/dryer area.

"...mumble, mumble..."

"What? I can't hear you. What do you need?" I called out.

"...mumble, mumble..."

I put my foot on the first step to walk down to the basement when my Ex walked around the corner of the kitchen and stood beside me looking down into the basement.

"Who are you talking to?" He asked, peering down the stairs into the basement.

I wheeled around and looked at him, then looked down at the basement in horror.

"OMG! I thought it was YOU down there talking to me!" I shrieked.

I grabbed him and pushed him in front of me towards the basement. "Go down there and see who that is!"

He went hesitantly downstairs and walked around checking every corner.

Nothing.

No one.

It was a few weeks later that I mentioned this to the old lady who lived next door to us.

"Oh. There was an older man who lived there who committed suicide in the basement." She told me, casually.

...

Yeah. Um. We moved out shortly after that conversation!!!

And the *OINK* Award Goes To...

The *Oinkiest* comment (to date) on the changes my diet has wrought.

"Whoa! What are you...MAN hunting?"

*snort*

That one (I think) tops the comment made to me after I attempted to dye my hair "strawberry blonde" and ended up with Fire Engine RED.

The comment was...

"Whew! Is the sex with your boyfriend better now?"

Comment to Windows Live (Spaces) Bloggers...

Those of you who use Windows Live (Spaces)to blog--I cannot comment on your blogs. :(
I keep getting "technical error" messages.

Fleeting Images of Time

I cracked open a time capsule of my life the other night.

I was given a request for a picture of me past the age of 18 where it showed me smiling at the camera. Hmm. I peeled through sticky backed pages of old albums and chuckled at old High School things that flitted out from the pages, but I found no such picture.

The closest thing I could come up with were pictures of me with a sly half smile.

It is the strangest feeling looking backwards at images of Oneself. My mind remembers the moments those snapshots were taken but it is like looking back on someone Else's life.

I packed up my time capsule and made a note to my inner self. The next time my image is captured on film, I will let down my wall, look into the eye of Time's recorder and smile fully.

This is a happy time of my life and someday when my son peers into my time capsule...I want him to see the true representation of how I felt at this moment in time.

In The Mind of Autism

MiniWarrior is not as diabled in speech as this Autistic lady is in the video. However, he frames his sentences in a collage of pictures so it's confusing at times to what he exactly means.

Once you understand that he sees words in his head as pictures instead of individual alphabetical letters...you suddenly see in to the window of his beautiful mind.

This movie, created by an Autistic adult and translated in the end of the movie by her own words typed into a speech translator program has deeply moved me and made me understand a little bit more the magical being that is, MiniWarrior--my son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnylM1hI2jc

When I watched this next video, I was reminded of MiniWarrior sitting bravely on the stand in a courtroom being questioned by a Judge to determine if he was competent. If he knew what a truth and a lie was.
He was asked by the Judge, "If I said I was wearing a black robe, would that be a truth or a lie?"

MiniWarrior studied him carefully. He asked politely if he could stand up in order to see the Judge better.

After a few minutes of quiet deliberation, MiniWarrior said, "It would be a lie."

Why did MiniWarrior say this? Because the collar of the Judge's robe was White. So, therefore it was not a BLACK robe. He was not asked to explain. He was referred to by the Defense attorney as retarded and incompetent. The Judge agreed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn70gPukdtY&NR

I wish I could show this video to the Judge and the (may she rot in hell) defense attorney.

MiniWarrior~ism

Last Saturday, the Sun finally flexed it's solar muscles and beamed down on us Washingtonians.

MiniWarrior begged me to go to the park. There was a biting Easterly wind, but I couldn't say "No" to his pleas, so we climbed in my truck and headed out.

MiniWarrior bouncing on the seat behind me, wiggling with happiness, made me smile.

MiniWarrior's happiness is infectious. His eyes sparkle, his mouth stretches wide in an adorable toothy grin, and he "hop hop flap flaps" with a bright energy that radiates around you.

We arrived and MiniWarrior, refusing his coat, raced off on his 9 year old legs towards the play equipment.

I spent an hour pacing the playground, huddled in my coat against the brisk winter wind. A few people were out running their dogs. One paused to show MiniWarrior how to fling a tennis ball to her German Shepard using one of those clawed ball throwers.

MiniWarrior concentrated, clamping his tongue between his teeth, and winged the ball thrower forward--the ball fell with a thud about a foot away.

The German Shepard dutifully picked the ball up and brought it back to MiniWarrior. The dogs owner patiently handed the ball thrower back to MiniWarrior and using her arms around his showed him how to fling it correctly.

MiniWarrior reared back, muscles quivering with concentrated effort, and FLUNG the ball forward. This time it soared across the playground field and the dog lady clapped and hugged MiniWarrior with congratulatory glee.

MiniWarrior flashed a happy grin at the dog lady, handed back the ball thrower and bowed to her, then raced off to play on the monkey bars.

Where had he learned to bow? Crazy kid. I laughed and continued my playground pacing.

The Sun started to sink lower in the sky and I called a halt to that days playground time. MiniWarrior, cheeks painted red from the wind, trotted happily back with me to the truck.

We clambered into the truck, shivering from cold. MiniWarrior's teeth chattered while we waited for the truck heater to belch out warm air.

"Mom" He said, his teeth chattering, "I'm so COLD!"

"I know, Son. You should have worn your coat!"

"Yeah, man. I'm so cold...I'm like a frozen Hans Solo!"

...frozen Hans Solo...

The kid slays me.

Daily Haroomph!

You know, I wish there was a way to keep a public blog yet remove some people's option to viewing it.

I keep my blog public because I enjoy meeting and conversing with new people. I love the community we've created in Blogland.

However, I absolutely despise it when I'm mocked by someone close to me for things I write in my blog.

You know that feeling you got when you were a kid and you discovered something you thought was really cool and wanted to try--and your family slapped you down for your attempts to dare to try and break out of the mold they wanted to keep you in?

I knew when I broke my silence and wrote about my diet and shared with Blogland my excitement about it and the changes it's been making in my life, that I would be mocked. I knew it, but it angers me to be boxed into a mold by people so I wrote it anyway.

The expected mockery occurred.

It transported me back to when I was a kid and excited about vocabulary words I had learned in school and my stupidity in sharing my excitement with my family at the dinner table.

It angered me then and it angers me now.

I don't understand people's need to mock other people's attempt to better themselves. And I don't understand the need to supress a persons excitement. To make them feel stupid for sharing their excitement with others.

Haphazardkat Update

I know, I know. I've been seriously slacking on the Blog front.
I think it's the "post holiday-nothing going on" blah's.

I find myself searching for blog ideas and other then the daily "clipped my toenails, brushed my teeth" routine--there is nothing much to write about lately--except...

I have been on this wonderful diet for the past 29 days. I've lost 20lbs and 6 inches from my waist. It's nothing short of miraculous to me!

It's simple, really. It's called the "Idiot Proof Diet". You eat 4 times a day, 2-3 hour intervals between eating, and you eat mainly fruits, veggies and some proteins.

The diet site has a diet generator that you click on and it spits out 11 days of 4 meals a day menu's. After 11 days you take 3 days off the diet to eat what you wish. It's not expensive, as most of your meals consist of one item...like an Orange, a Salad, Spinach, Bacon or Scrambled eggs...

Without going into too much diet boring detail--let me just say--this WORKS. Google "Idiot Proof Diet" and it should bring you to the site. There is a cost to joining to download the handbook and to have access to the diet generator. Trust me, it's worth every penny.

Years ago I went to a doctor to discuss WHY I couldn't lose weight. I tried the Atkins, the Low Fat...Starvation...Over exercise...etc. I'd lose 10 lbs and then stop. For MONTHS. The doctor asked me to honestly tell her what I had eaten that day. I told her and she shook her head in puzzlement.

She did a thyroid test on me but it came up normal. She then tested my blood and I tested borderline Hypoglycemic. She told me I should be eating small meals every 2 hours to get my metabolism running again. I remember leaving her office feeling very discouraged. I couldn't possibly see how I could focus on eating Food every 2 hours.
It seemed overwhelming to me.

I had no idea what she meant by "Meals".

When I read the handbook for "Idiot Proof Diet" a light clicked. It followed the exact advice my doctor had given me but the difference is...it told me what MEALS meant.

In a short 29 days my outlook has completely changed. I no longer focus on food. I no longer wonder "what shouldn't I eat today". It takes me 15 minutes to grab my food for the entire day and then I can mentally let go. Forget about it.

This past Thursday I emptied two large garbage bags of "Fat clothes" out of my closet and drove them to the charity bin. I stood outside that bin, and as I heard the bags hitting the bottom, I felt a huge weight (literally) fall off me.

You've all read testimonies of people who suddenly "got it". Who discovered the break through to losing weight. This diet, apparently, is my internal light bulb.

It figures that my light bulb would have the title "Idiot Proof" attached to it.

*smile*

Snack Goodness!

Mentos now come SUGARFREE!

After 23 days of eating healthy crap--this news is GOLD, Baby! GOLD!!

MiniWarrior

MiniWarrior turned 9 this past week.

One moment he's mini-man and then in a blink he snuggles his stuffed cat and is my little boy again.

I was asked once, by someone very close to me, if I had the choice to make again on whether to adopt MiniWarrior or not...would I make the same choice?

My first instinct was to respond with "Yes! Of course!" But...I allowed myself to pause and look back on the past 9 years that MiniWarrior has been in my life.

I felt again the weight of him as his birth mother placed him in my arms when he was 2 days old. The overwhelming feeling of knowing I was a part of the most precious gift one could give to another human being; the absolute bravery of the act of placing your child into an other's arms for them to raise.

Laying on the floor on a mattress in his room listening to him breathe that first night in my house. Waking to the early morning light in his room and knowing my life had become connected to this 7lb being and I would never be the same again.

The busy baby year, little sleep, working full time, laughing as his personality developed. The agony of watching my perfect baby suddenly react to loud sounds and lights with twisted body rage.

The frustration of 3 years searching for answers to something supposedly only I could see as "wrong behavior". The first diagnosis of Autism from a kind and wonderful child psychologist.

The diagnosis of silent epilepsy...and the beginning of medication.

The stunned amazement after the first dose of medication of sitting on the bed with my (then husband) listening in wonderment to our son talk and talk and talk for the first time.

The sight of tears in MiniWarrior's Dad's eyes as he told me how he heard MiniWarrior singing in the backseat of his car as he drove him home from preschool.

The frustration of watching him struggle with school and life. Watching him struggle to keep his little action figure guys from falling as his body flapped and jerked in uncontrolled movement. Feeling my heart break when, after watching them fall for the 10th time, MiniWarrior sobbed and begged me to "fix him" because he didn't want to be Autistic anymore.

MiniWarrior's absolute love for people. His chocolate colored eyes sparkling with delight when a stranger responds kindly to his bazillion questions.

The single thought that has never once changed in the 9 years this little boy has been with me: "He is such an incredible kid".

Would I have changed the decision I made 9 years ago?

Not in this lifetime.

Or the next.

Or the next.

Daily *Snort*

This one cracks me the hell up!



Brought to you by the PostSecret site Http://postsecret.blogspot.com

MiniSnowWarrior

MiniSnowWarrior is mighty pleased that school has been cancelled for 2 days.

Judging from the 3 inches of snow still piled around our house, I'm guessing school will be cancelled tomorrow too.

God
Help
Us
All

Snowy Snow Snow

I am nested in my house today, keeping close to the crackling fire in my fireplace.
The rare occurance of snow in Washington is quickly becoming UN-rare!

Here's a snapshot of Old Man Winter frolicking in my back yard.

Daily *Snort*

I watched this on EBAUM yesterday...3 times! It so captures men and the crazy things they do. :D

** Click HERE**

No Mercy

I'm a big believer in the gift of mercy, however after reading the story of the man who abducted two boys, one whom he kept captive for 4 1/2 years...my belief in mercy is shaken.

I look upon my MiniWarrior and my brain rears in reflex Mom pain away from even the thought of him being taken by someone and held captive.

To lose your child at 11 yrs of age and then regain him when he's 15 has got to be staggering to the mind. The tremendous joy and relief will soon pass, I think, for this family. Then the knowledge that this monster stole the last pieces of your childs boyhood from you, will remain.

To be robbed of watching your son grow into beginning manhood. The fading little boy things slipping into teenage years. My heart aches for this family.

I'm over joyed that he is home and alive. But, I'm horrified for their loss.

If there is any justice, someone in prison will remove that kidnapping monster from this world.

Today's Lesson

Wrongness!

This does not please the Kat.

Daily *Snort*

Daily Snort

How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb?



1. Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid burned out bulb?



2. Border Collie: Just one. And then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to code.



3. Dachshund: You know I can't reach that stupid lamp!



4. Rottweiler: Make me.



5. Boxer: Who cares? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark.



6. Lab: Oh, me, me!!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeze let me change the light bulb! Can I? Can I? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can I? Pleeeeeeeeeze, please, please, please!



7. German Shepherd: I'll change it as soon as I've led these people from the dark, check to make sure I haven't missed any, and make just one more perimeter patrol to see that no one has tried to take advantage of the situation.



8. Jack Russell Terrier: I'll just pop it in while I'm bouncing off the walls and furniture.



9. Old English Sheep Dog: Light bulb? I'm sorry, but I don't see a light bulb!



10. Cocker Spaniel: Why change it? I can still pee on the carpet in the dark.



11. Chihuahua : Yo quiero Taco Bulb. Or "We don't need no stinking light bulb."



12. Greyhound: It isn't moving. Who cares?



13. Australian Shepherd: First, I'll put all the light bulbs in a little circle...



14. Poodle: I'll just blow in the Border Collie's ear and he'll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.


How many cats does it take to change a light bulb?




Cats do not change light bulbs. People change light bulbs. So, the real question is:


"How long will it be before I can expect some light, some dinner, and a massage?"

Happy 2007!

Here's to a brand new year and a fresh start!

I had a big bash at my house New Years Eve. Most excellent way to start out a new year spending it with close friends and my furry loved ones.

Good times. Good times.

I feel good about this new year. I have no new resolutions other then the ones I previously posted. I am just going to enjoy wringing the most fun I possibly can out of this new year.

Cheers, Folks!

2006: May It Rest In Peace

Here it is, Folks. The official last week of 2006. Can you believe it?

I can.

So many big, life changing events have happened this year that it feels like 10 years have been shoved into 1.
I don't wish to repeat it. But I've learned from it.

What have I learned?

I am stronger then I imagined.
I am more vulnerable then I imagined.
I have learned that while I can make it through life independently...
it's much nicer and easier to share my independence with close friends.
I used to cling to my past, marking my years with journals and
photos.
I have discovered that all it has done is weigh me down and prevent
me from living my life as I wish, baggage free.

What have I done?

I have begun to teach myself the art of speaking kindly to myself.
I have begun to teach myself to share burdens.
I have weeded through old journals and old photo's and burned the
one's that have been weighing me down.
I have begun to teach myself how to enjoy life just for today's
happiness and close my mind to future events. Good or bad.

This is my New Years list I have begun several months ago to work upon.

I feel stronger.
I feel more content.
I feel...optimistic.

Here's to the year 2007, Folks.

May it bring you all you need.
All the things you didn't know you wanted.
And the strength and good friends to work through and share
whatever life brings you.

MiniWarrior Christmas Goodness

Nothing says Christmas like Darth Vader kid in Footie Pajamas.



hehehehe

And lest we forget Christmas past...



Mwahahahahaaaa...my Mother's job is complete.

Meowy Christmas!

It's been a Hell-Of-A Year, Folks.

Here's wishing you and yours a very wonderful, fun filled Christmas!

See ya next year!

**** CLICK HERE (click on the word HERE--not the picture, silly people. Must I tell you everything? *snort*) ***




Now Click HERE!

ha ha ha!

MEOWY Christmas!!

Christmas Ship Goodness

Every year, boat owners bedeck their vessels in Christmas finery and parade them up and down the Columbia River for land lubbers to "oooh" and "ahhhh" at.



I, my son and friends, stood on the shore and "Ooh'd" and "Ahh'd".



The kat wagging it's backside was my favorite. *grin*



Grand times. Grand times.

Taking Time Off

I'm taking a bit of a break from blogging.
I'm sure I will return.
After a year and a half of blogging I feel the need to read and play and...step away from the computer for a bit.
I'll be checking in on all my favorite blog people.

Happy Holidays!