I'll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet--

And you know what I tell you is true.
He loved to watch his TV set
Almost as much as you....
He watched till his eyes were frozen wide.
And his bottom turned into a chair.
And his chin turned into a tuning dial.
And antennae grew out of his hair.

That is part of a poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends. It perfectly describes the scene at our house this weekend.

Our TV arrived Friday afternoon in perfect condition. Mark's dad kindly came and installed an outlet behind the TV on the wall so I don't see wires coming down from the TV. We hooked it all up, and it was beautiful. Except Mark was on a boy scout backpack trip and wasn't here to see it. I thought it would be best if we waited for the Blu-ray experience until Mark got home so he could see it with us for the first time, and see the kids's reaction to it.

So Friday night I told the kids we could watch a regular DVD on the big screen, but we would have to save the Netflix Blu-Rays until Mark got home Saturday. I asked which one they wanted to watch. Of all the dozens of DVDs we have, they picked School House Rock. I love my kids. We watched the top 10, and then Jimmy Neutron Rescue Jet Fusion, and went to bed.

Mark came home, and we watched Planet Earth for a while. I have never seen high definition, and I was stunned. It was so incredible. Joel kept saying it looked fake it was so real. Really, really amazing. We watched our 3 Netflix movies all in a row--Waterhorse, Spiderman, and I Am Legend. Wow! I loved I Am Legend. Great story. Mostly I loved every piece of furniture in his house. Now we will mail the movies back tomorrow and get 3 more Wednesday.

My favorite part of this whole thing was when the delivery driver came up to the door and asked me if my mom or dad was home. I told him I was the mom, and he was very embarrased. I was beginning to think I was looking older these days. People are starting to guess I'm 25-27, which is up from the guess of 21 I was stuck at for about a decade. I'll be 36 in just 2 months!

Edward vs. Jacob

I have long held the opinion that the only books worth reading (other than history/biographies and To Kill a Mockingbird) were books with dead authors. Lots of brain candy books have been written in my lifetime, great action adventure stories, but they are just that---stories. Not much deep in symbolism, metaphor, or literary value. A recent reading experience intensified my long-held belief about dead authors.

Many of Mark's cousins were raving about the Twilight books last year. I had to find out just what made this vampire/human love story so enthralling. I needed an easy read, and so I bought the three books. Eagerly I started reading the first one, and I just couldn't get into the writing. Blah blah blah. Boring boring boring. Terrible writing. I adore Mark's cousins, and I did find the storyline interesting, so I kept reading. I wanted to belong to the group of Twilight lovers. I suffered through to the end. The last chase/ballet studio part I will admit had me hooked. But overall, I just didn't get into the story. I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it. It was OK. A really interesting story/idea/plot. The writing just left much to be desired.

I realize that many of you think that Charles Dickens leaves much to be desired--although he is my fave.

I just couldn't crack open the next 2 books. However, Aubrey read all three of them and liked them. I do understand that these books were written for a teen audience, so I try to keep that in mind as I try to convince myself to read the next one. I don't think that will ever happen. I will watch the movie when it comes out this December. I think that the story will make a really good movie. Our friend was very involved with the filming of about 25 scenes, and we got to go walk the sets during filming. I don't expect much chemistry between Edward and Bella in the movie, though. According to our friend, there wasn't much there. Mostly what Kristin Stewart did was pout and sit in her trailer.

Abram was given a list of authors to choose 2 books from for summer reading for his pre-AP english class this fall. Out of 12 authors, only 2 are dead. Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Abram picked Charles Dickens. Good boy. I'm starting him off with A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist.

On the live-author good side, I read These Is My Words on the recommendation of Mark's cousin, the beautiful and amazing Allison. I read this book on the plane to and from Belize, and I really, really liked it. I am sure there are more good fiction books by living authors, but I will mainly stick to the dead ones still. And yet, Harper Lee, you are a genius. David McCullough to also belongs on the short list of living author geniuses. 1776 anyone?

a funny moment

Joel kills me. Really I don't know anyone with a quicker wit than Joel. This occurred in our kitchen tonight while getting dinner ready:

Jake: Mom, can I make some pink lemonade for dinner?
Me: Sure, Jake.
Jake (looking in the cupboard where we keep the pitchers): Mom, I can't find the big one.
Me (seeing the pitcher sitting on the counter right behind him): It's right there.
Jake: It's not in here, Mom. I can't see it. Where is it?
Me: On the counter.
Jake (looking at the counter directly over the cupboard): No, it's not here.
Joel (pointing to the counter behind Jake): Jake, that's the problem. I don't think you are looking at the BIG PITCHER!

Abram

Abram is such a good kid. He went out today to weed-eat in the back 40 just to be nice. Actually, he is working on his muscles and farmer's tan, and this was a good way to work on both of those, and get a trail blazed around the property. He cut down all the grass and weeds in the orchard just to make it look better, too. Such a nice boy. He is just genuinely so sweet, and does whatever he sees that needs to be done.

Abram loves to play basketball with Zack. Mostly he ends up chasing the ball for Zack, but he still has fun with him. Zacky LOVES Abram. He snuggles up to him whenever he can, and he loves to help Abram practice the piano.

Abram got the "Principal's Award" at his 8th grade recongnition night. He wore a very cool outfit, complete with a great hat. When he walked into his classroom that night, his teacher said, "Abram, the High School Musical 3 auditions are in Salt Lake City." The chicks liked his hat that night, which is what it was all about.

Bad Luck Charm, part 2

I really wasn't kidding when I wrote my blog post about how bizarrely common it is for me to buy something that is broken, missing parts, or otherwise needs to be returned.

Our TV has been dying for about 7 months. Around Thanksgiving time we started to have to hit the TV to get it to work when we first turned it on each day. Then it would work pretty well for the rest of the day. By Christmas, it was a little more frequently that we needed to hit the TV, as it would black out at random times throughout the day. By April, you got a regular Tae-Bo workout by getting the TV to work. But it would always come on eventually. We looked at LCD tvs last December, but I knew how much they were coming down in price, and I wanted to get as much use out of our 9-year-old set as possible before buying a new one. Yes, we are the only family in the country with one television set.

Well, the old set finally died. So about 2 weeks ago, Mark and I sat down and ordered a new LCD tv from Crutchfield. Not only are they the most highly-regarded online seller of electronics, they also had the lowest price for our television. We were told it would be here in 5-7 days. That is, 5-7 days for a normal human being. I am the perpetual girl walking under ladders, spilling salt, and meeting black cats wherever I go, so I knew it would be a little bit longer. But I could not imagine what would follow.

I was given a phone number of the local office of the freight company that would deliver the tv. I called them after 5 days, and they told me that the tv would arrive in town no later than June 19th, and we should expect a call that day to schedule delivery on the 20th. That was good news for our TV-starved kids.

Nobody called on the 19th, so I called late that afternoon. The guy told me that he was really sorry, but they had "lost" our TV somewhere between Virginia and Columbus, Ohio. By "lost" he meant it had been likely stolen somewhere along the line. They notified Crutchfield, who shipped out a new TV on the 20th.

On the afternoon of the 21st, I got a call from the freight company that they had indeed found the TV, and it was ready for delivery. They said they would be here first thing today (monday) morning. This was VERY good news for our kids. One TV here, and a back-up replacement on its way already.

The delivery guys came this morning. I expected to see a guy with a very big box on the porch. Instead, it was a very big guy with a clipboard, and a funny look on his face. "Ma'am, I want to show you something in the truck." This box had been punctured so bad that it left 2 dings in the back of the TV. The box was completely mangled. Did I want to accept it anyway? Not a chance. Joel was tearing up as I came back into the house and told him that we weren't getting our TV today.

Supposedly, the new one is going to be in town on Friday, and set up for Saturday delivery. That's the plan for now. What else could go wrong?

Mark

I finally have a picture of him to post here. He is the greatest dad to our kids. I love him so much and am so grateful for him being such a fun, loving, hard-working husband. Nobody can make me laugh like Mark. He spends so much time with the kids. People tell me I'm lucky that he is so good with kids. But my dad was the same way, so that's what I was looking for!

He took 6 of our 7 kids backpacking a couple of weekends ago. When Mark backpacks he goes light, but he does save room for his EOS 5D and 70-200mm lens. You never know what you might see to take pictures of! He took some really great ones of the kids on their trip.

Here's Aubrey all outfitted. She is so dang adorable. Breakfast consisted of Cinnabons and hot chocolate.

Joel by the Salmon RiverNoah is the world's best packpacker and hiker. 100% endurance. 110% energy. 200% enthusiastic.Savanna did a great job on her first backpack adventure. Her pack looks big, but it was very light.

Jake with his gear.AbramZack and I had a good time by ourselves that night. He's such a crazy, fun, snuggly boy.

Happy Birthday, Noah!

This little dude is 7. I say little dude, because he is the only one of my kids to ever weigh in at under 8 pounds. He was 7 lbs 12 oz when he was born, which was more than 2 pounds lighter than Joel had been 2 years before. Noah was an easy delivery.

He has pretty much been easy from the day he was born. He would eat anything, sleep anytime, go anywhere. He was just such a happy baby. He started climbing as soon as he could crawl. He loves to climb, and will do so whenever an opportunity presents itself. When I buy new pants for Noah, I immediately iron some patches onto the inside knee of his pants. He eventually wears through the patches, but it gets us a couple months more wear out of the pants.

For Noah's birthday he got a great toy--the Evel and Robbie Knievel stunt set. Oh, yeah. This is the same wind-up motorcyle jump toy that we had when I was young. Those were the days. When he got it out and started cranking, the sound of it took me back to 1977 all over again. Mark couldn't believe it when we got the toy out of the box. He was having flashbacks, too to the boy across the street who had one of these toys and never let Mark play with it. Everyone wanted one of these back then. And everyone should want one now. A few good cranks can send Evel and Robbie across the entire basement over jumps and crashing through blocks. It's fun for the whole family!