A very social weekend

(This post is probably typed with sticky fingers, as my company's December "Gluttonfest" is underway. Every day someone brings in any manner of food item for us to gorge on. It's shameful really, but also really delicious. I have done well in avoiding giving into my baser instincts so far today. I hope to remain reasonable in my gluttony--even though that is a contradiction.)

This past weekend was an unusually social one for my family. Normally we go home on Friday, eat, get the kids to bed, Tegan and I watch some TV--usually ST: Enterprise, and then go sleep.
On Saturday's we slouch around in pajamas, watch cartoons, and try to clean parts of the house, begin the weekend's laundry, and (if the weather is nice) get outside and do something memorable and utterly fabulous with the kids.

(The intense desire to ACCOMPLISH great things with the kids is always strongest on weekends. This is a syndrome of modern parents that entrust their children to daycare during the week and might attempt to overcome residual guilt on weekends. Not that I feel guilty about using daycare, because I really don't. I think our kids are better socially adjusted and learn more due to daycare than they would if either Tegan or I were home with them.)

On Sunday, we go to church, continue cleaning, laundry, children activities, etc.

But THIS past weekend was a whole 'nother ballgame. Friday night we met up with another couple with kids Ariel and Ruth's age. We ate dinner out (yummy Greek food) and then went to see all the Christmas lights at the local zoo. The weather was not too cold and Ariel had fun. We got to be outside, get walking exercise, get in the holiday spirit, etc.

On Saturday, Tegan and I got to have fun. We joined up with other friends for a Christmas party and this time, we got a babysitter to look after the kids. THAT was a good time also and a nice opportunity to be adult (as best I can be sometimes) as opposed to being parents.

Yesterday we put some nice Christmas lights outside--no inflatable Santa's or mechanical reindeer--and successfully figured out how to set them up to timers that the previous owners left behind. Now we won't get glares from the other neighbors around us that had already lit up their houses.

(In another aside, we noticed that in our neighborhood there are definite "zones" of Christmas decorations. Some streets are almost completely--or at least half--lit, while some others are almost completely dark. Is that the Jewish part of our neighborhood?)

So, we had an enjoyable weekend, but last night as the kids' bedtimes approached, Tegan and I were both zombies, sitting down while the kids cavorted around us.

Being socially active can be rewarding, but it can also be exhausting.

A new Omnimedia post

Is anyone reading "WWYG Omnimedia?"

Do you find it useful, interesting? I would appreciate a bit of feedback when you have the time.

And for those of you who are members of Omnimedia, please post a review of a recent movie, or something that you want to share. I know that Spec has his own page, so I don't want to discourage what he is putting on there, nor do I want Flipper to stop doing her thing, or Lulu hers.

But, some other of you regular readers don't have their own blog, so feel free to take advantage of this one.

My most recent addition is here and it involves someone else's opinions and fears regarding Lost. (Twin Peaks fans might feel the anxiety.)

Morning difficulties

Few things can spin a morning out of control and totally sap your spirits like young children in a bad mood.

unfortunately, Tegan and I were on the receiving end of one of these ill-timed fits today.

Lately Ariel and Ruth have been holding onto a coughed that they just can't get rid of. It usually strikes at night and it makes it difficult for them to go down for sleep or it wakes them up at inconvenient hours of the morning.

But last night, Ruth slept very well (much better than the night before). When I came back upstairs from eating my bowl of cereal, I heard her calling out for someone. Her default request is usually for Mommy, especially since she often calls me Mommy as well.
I sometimes don't know how to take that--either I do a pretty good job of parenting, so that she doesn't distinguish (which I know isn't really true) or it is another example of rule 7B (sorry--that's a work joke).

Anyway, I went in there to pick Ruth up and everything was fine at first. I was picking out an outfit for her to wear and I laid her down on the changing pad to begin taking off her pajamas and the diaper. Complicating the issue was the fact that Ruth was continuing to hold onto a blanket, a stuffed Pooh Bear doll and a stuffed Eeyore doll. So, I got Eeyore away from her so I could negotiate the pj zipper.

She wasn't happy about THAT, and she let me know quickly. But I still couldn't successfully get the pjs off. So, next I took the blanket. This made her madder and now Ruth is starting to twist this way and that to get off of the changing pad to get to her items that I took away. Needless to say, this made taking the diaper off rather complicated.

By now she is in full wailing mode, clearly pissed off at me. I backtrack a bit and return the blanket to her, but it is FAR too late for any reconciliation on my part.

Tegan appears, after hearing the wailing (along with several of our neighbors, maybe.) She takes over, hoping a change of parent (and the insertion of Mommy) might soothe things. But even that won't work. I retreat to get Sarah out of bed and in some clothes, but the wailing continues, as it did for just about the entire rest of the morning's preparations and most of the drive to the daycare.

But its not all bad. I've got great little girls who are very intelligent, happy (mostly), spectacularly blessed with so many things. Quickly vent on the negative and then resume focusing on the positive.

Hell NO I don't want fries with that!

(Click on the post title to go to the film's website.)

So, tonight I settled down after dinner and getting Ruth to bed. I had a beer and a small (snack size) bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. I warmed up the DVD and popped in Lulu's copy of Super Size Me, a film that I have been really wanting to watch for a while now and she graciously lent to me.

Dude . . .

I had previously seen interviews with film-maker and guinea pig Morgan Spurlock. So I knew the basic premise of the movie:

• Morgan sets out to eat nothing but food from McDonald's for 30 days.
• He will eat everything on the menu at least once and will only Super Size if the employee asks him.
• He gets a full physical and dietary advice from three doctors before he starts out and has weekly weigh-ins and regular blood tests, etc.

None of the doctors could foresee what would occur--I won't get into all of the details because it is better if you see it for yourself and much of it went by quickly so I can't remember it all, but suffice it to say--DON'T EVER CONSIDER EATING LIKE THIS!!

The film itself is extremely effective and Spurlock does a great job. I wasn't prepared for how personable and funny he is. It helps that he has no shame and will discuss anything, including how this diet negatively affected his sex life--even though his girlfriend (the good soldier Vegan, who remained concerned about this entire affair) insisted that the experience remained good even if he got tired faster.

One of the best moments--about day 2, I think--he eats a Double Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese and acquiesces on the request to Super Size. The 1/2 lb. of french fries (!) is just massive as well as the huge soda. It takes him about 30 minutes to eat this meal. I swear he got the meat sweats half way through--and then he threw it all up when he was done.

Clearly, his healthy stomach wasn't ready to accept all that stuff quite yet.

Spurlock targets McDonald's but makes sure that he implicates all of the fast food places equally, along with the food lobbyists of all shapes and sizes that keep whatever government radicals that might hope to do something about this in check. He cautions that McDonald's is targeting children and programming consumers. He also places equal responsibility on everyone (including me) that doesn't have the will power to resist the Big Mac attack and then wonders why they aren't as healthy or as slim as they might want to be.

The film is excellent, provocative, thought-provoking, VERY funny, educational and motivational.

Trust me, I am gonna remember stuff from this film the next time I want to eat at a fast food joint.

It'll be worth millions someday

This is another picture from my incredibly artistic daughter Ariel.

As you can tell, this is a green, spotted, underwater dragon. It is determined to breathe its toxic, highly flammable breath all over the fish of this underwater kingdom.
Bravely confronting this green dragon is either a highly anthropomorphic fish or a ballerina with gills.
And that thing down below is either a Christmas tree or a strangely-shaped spongiform plant. Any further interpretations are welcomed.