My Son and The Music Man

Lately, life has been extremely busy and stressful.  I've had a few anxiety attacks in the last couple of weeks.  What with the doctor's appointments, the start of school, being buried under mounds of stuff, and trying to keep up with dance classes, boy and cub scouting, CAP, CWV, Kof C, etc., etc., etc., the stress is culminating in lack of sleep, stomach aches, forgetfulness, and higher blood pressure.

Tonight, however, I had a pleasant evening with my 15 year old son.  He wants to be an actor.  He is presently in competitive acting class at school, although he's already learned an adult lesson--sometimes even what you enjoy can become work.  He doesn't enjoy competitive drama as much as he loved his drama one class last year.  It was more like playing last year.  It is more like work this.  So, when my girlfriend couldn't go to the theater with me this evening, I took my son. 

Patrick Cassidy and Shirley Jones in The Music Man in Concert

What an enjoyable experience.  My son is a genuinely fun person to be around.  He is witty and fun, kind and good-natured.  We went to see The Music Man in Concert.  It stars Shirley Jones and her son, Patrick Cassidy.  If anyone reading this loves musical theater or movies and this comes to your town, go see it! 

My son had never been to the Oklahoma City Civic Center before.  He took in the experience like a true aspiring actor.  He studied the theater.  He enjoyed getting a treat (and sneaking it into the theater).  He enjoyed the wonderful seats we had.  Having grown up on musicals and being the same age as Patrick Cassidy, I had a whole different perspective on the concert.  But, my son's fresh eyes on The Music Man (he'd seen Matthew Broderick's movie version), enjoyed the songs very much.  His favorite song from the musical is Shapoopi.  What teenage boy's wouldn't be?  What teenage boy nowadays knows that song?  Sometimes having older parents can be an advantage.

Musical theater doesn't have the same impact it once had, but it sure can make for a nice break in a stressful world.  And, give a too-busy mom an opportunity to slow down and enjoy being with her son.  God has truly blessed me.

Appreciation

Today, as I was getting my son ready for school.  I had the tv on to "The Breakup".  Now, while I'm not necessarily a big Jennifer Aniston fan, I watched the beginning of the movie.  If you are not familiar with it, the plot is basically that Jennifer's character and Vince Vaugh's character meet, fall in love, and move into a condo they purchase together.  However, soon they have a huge fight after Jennifer's character spends several hours cleaning and preparing dinner for their family members and he did not pick up the lemons she wanted for a center piece, wouldn't set the table, open the door for their guests, or help her wash the dishes afterward.


All Jennifer's character wanted was for her "boy friend" to appreciate her.  She decorated the condo, kept it immaculate, cooked for him, planned outings for them, even stopped going to the ballet because he hated it.  She gave up all that she was and loved to do for a man who not only didn't appreciate her but didn't marry her. 

I see that a lot in our society today, as Judge Judy calls it, "playing house."  She feels it is not her job to sort out the details when a couple plays house (buys a house and furniture, gets a dog, mixes their finances together) and then tries to sue one another when it "doesn't work out."  That is not what courts are for.  What happened to pre-marital classes/counseling, oh yeah, we don't get married any more--we "try it out," maybe have a baby first, see how that works out.  Not only are women not appreciated in these relationships but they never will be.  When women feel all they deserve is to work full time at a career AND work full time on a home that she either doesn't own or owns half of, makes all the effort to make her man happy, she will never be appreciated, valued, or happy.  A man is not going to marry her.  He is waiting for a better deal to come along.  As long as a woman is willing to do all the work, why wouldn't he "let her" do it all.  He can leave whenever he feels like it, even if there is a child(ren) involved, and he often does.

Appreciation starts with you.  You need to have an appreciation not only for your physical looks and abilities, but for your intelligence, your inner beauty, and your power as a woman.  Woman do do all the work in the home, because they see it.  Men simply don't see it.  They step over, step on, or step around anything and everything.  Sometimes it seems they are incapable of bending at the waist.  Their peripheral vision is much much wider than women's.  Waiting for them to pick up after themselves, or to thank you for picking up, cleaning up, or keeping anything clean is pointless.  You must have an appreciation for your own work and be proud of yourself first.  If your "man" ever expresses appreciation don't faint, just thank God that he got it at least once.  Don't devalue yourself by moving in with a man--he wants sex and a maid, not a life partner.  Do yourself a favor and wait for love and wait for a real marriage.  Don't sell yourself short.


As for the movie, Vince's character finally does learn what it is to show appreciation to someone else.  He works with two of his brothers in a tour company and finally says thank you to his older brother by putting his own books straight and giving him a big hug.  It is too late for his relationship, though.  At the end of the movie, the couple meet on the street one day and share an awkward moment of hellos. Then they walk away from each other.  Sad.  I hate sad endings. 

Now, off to do some thankless jobs around the house.

Happy Halloween!

I know, I know, it's All Saints' Day now, but it was so fun I had to share.  My kids dressed up and went to the carnival at our parish school Saturday night.  There were all kinds of games.  My youngest son's favorite was candy corn bowling--he is obsessed with bowling.  He was, after all, dressed as a bowling ball! (The costume probably cost $4!)  He was devastated when we returned to the game after having gone to the costume contest and they had switched out candy corn bowling for a cone ring toss game.  I'll have to find one of those darn things for him.  He was surprisingly good at the tossing games.  I can only guess that is because he has a basketball hoop, and he has been playing catch with his dad.

Speaking of costumes...my oldest went as a "Steam punk" scientist, costing around $6 for a vest from the second hand store and a pair of spats made of white felt.  The rest of the costume he already had on hand.  My second son was the joker.  His was the most expensive.  I bought a shirt, tie, and 2 green shirts that I cut up to make Joker's green vest.  It cost around $15.  My third son was some sort of gaming character, costing around $10.  My daughter's hippie costume cost me around $5.  Her costume won second place in her category (6-8 grades).  So, all in all not a bad Halloween, and everyone got to dress up as the character they wanted.  They all got their pictures taken as a souvenir of the night--they were free!

Trick or treating tonight was interesting.  I would say about 1 house in 10 had its porch light on, and of those on, 1 in 4 did not answer the door.  It is hard to explain all that to an anxious 6yo bowling ball.  His older sister wanted to go another street but he just wanted to go home.  I got him to compromise, but he complain half-way round the loop home.  Just so you all know...don't sit in your dark driveway in a black hooded robe if you actually want the kids to come to your house.  I don't know about other people's kids, but mine don't particularly want to be scared by a complete stranger in the dark.

Oh, and one neighbor said, "And don't forget to celebrate Christmas."  Huh?  Does one exclude the other?  Not really.  Halloween is actually the Eve of All Saints' Day and has been a Christian celebration for centuries--not always with costumes and candy mind you but a celebration none-the-less.  It was similar to Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas, when people get together, eat a big meal then go to midnight Mass for Christmas and open presents in the wee hours of the morning.  The man's comment just struck me as rather silly.  Halloween was never a celebration of witches and monsters.  It is actually a way of making fun of them and contrasting the silliness of them with the wonderful lives of the holy people we call saints.  Anyway, a Christian CAN celebrate both.  It is perfectly legitimate and perfectly alright.

It struck me as kind of silly, too, that I was carrying about 2-3 pounds of candy in my son's sack, while at home my husband was passing out about the same amount at home.  Silly custom, isn't it?  But the children have such a good time, I haven't the heart to not go.

I found Ben & Jerry's site tonight and got obsessed with some of the fun games on the site.  They have a Halloween section but I'm not sure if it will still be there tomorrow.  I'm going to watch out for Thanksgiving or Christmas games.  Thanks Ben & Jerry's!

Now--Don't forget to go to Mass tomorrow (today).  It IS a holy day of obligation.  That means all good Catholics must attend Mass.  You do realize it is for your own soul's health.  Jesus loves you and wants to see you there!  God bless!  Have a blessed All Saints Day!

Crazy Summer

Wow!  I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted last.  It has been a crazy summer.  I am taking classes to complete my bachelor's degree.  I took my final last Tuesday, and turned in my 7 page term paper just a week before that.  All the kids went to at least one camp.  We had swimming lessons and lots of trips to the pool.  My oldest took his SAT and ACT in June.  We've had day camps and driving lessons (again my oldest).  We've had very few days of doing nothing--especially on the weekend when my husband is home.  I'm not allowed to sleep in, even on Saturday, that's when my husband does all the yard work with the older boys before the heat gets here. 


http://www.gwpark.org/



But summer hasn't been without its high points.  My daughter and I went on a girl's only weekend this past weekend.  We spent too much money but boy did we have a good time.  We stayed in a "cottage" in Sulphur, OK a little over an hour and a half drive away.  She wanted to visit the Little Niagara falls.  Swim, have fun, goof off.  That's kind of hard when the "falls" are a tiny, stagnate green pool.  The falls were a bust.  We found other things to delight.  We went to the lake there but my daughter was freaked out by all the fish that were curious and poked her legs.  So, we didn't do much swimming. We spent some time at the local museum.  Saturday night we enjoyed a movie on the "plaza" in town.  They showed "Remember the Titans" a movie you wouldn't think would appeal much to a 10 yo girl, but we had a terrific time watching and munching popcorn outdoors.  The stars were beautiful.  We went to church on Sunday morning but what an odd church.  They had the tabernacle veiled still, flanked by seraphim, so I thought there was hope of an orthodox Mass.  Everything was okay except for the altar girls and one of THEM preparing the altar--which is the PRIEST'S (or deacon's) job, not the altar girl's.  I was truly disappointed by that.  During Mass I tried hard not to think about it.  Then I used their restroom...guess what, another pet peeve of mine.  They had the WRONG ten commandments posted on the wall.  Why are Catholics so ignorant of the history of the protestant ten commandments?  That will be my next post.  Despite the faults of St. Francis Xavier parish we did get to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord, so it was worth the unorthodoxys in their church.  Anyway, we took another route home and stopped at G.W. Exotic Animal Park.  I guess they just want to get some revenue that day so only charged the two of us $20 to get in.  If it wasn't soooo darned hot out (around 105 degrees) it would have been the highlight of our trip.  It was amusing to see several tigers laying in the tin tubs provided for them--several with bubbles.  My youngest is obsessed with bowling.  He would have enjoyed seeing the many bowling balls and pins in the cages for the tigers' amusement.  I felt sorriest for the bears.  This Oklahoma hot spell has to be torture for a creature with dark thick fur, who belongs on a mountain somewhere far North of here.  We didn't stay as long cooing and ahing over the animals as we would have liked because we were both melting--like in that Perrier commercial.  It was pleasant, though.  I really didn't want to come home.  I would have enjoyed another couple of days in that cottage and exploring more of Oklahoma on the way home. 

Early Morning Meanderings

Last night we had a "slumber" party for my daughter.  She being the only girl (with four brothers) compensates by being the one who brings friends home frequently.  This would be fine if the friends, when they came over for a slumber party, slept.  One of the girls wandered the house and woke me up more than once.  Finally she said she wanted to go home--at 5:30AM.  I talked her into waiting until it was light out at least, and turned cartoons on.  So she has settled in for corn flakes and hot cocoa until the others wake up.

Now, I think about all the times I've wanted to write.  I am so busy, though, that I can't take the time to sit down and write...

For instance, my son and I are reading "Paradise Lost" by John Milton.  Most people I know groan when they hear the title.  It has a really bad reputation.  I remember my college fiance talking about it.  It sounded dreadful.  I had vowed never to read it.  Well, guess what?  Here I am reading Milton with my high school junior, and I am enjoying it.  Since I grew up reading the King James Bible (I am a former Baptist, after all), the language really isn't that hard for me, with the exception of  a few outdated words that are, thankfully, explained in the footnotes.  Also, we've read a lot of Shakespeare and my son had enjoyed it, so I thought my junior would have no problems with Milton.  Actually, I think it bores him.  I'm a little frustrated by that.  However, I am have a great time reading this book.  Yes, Milton slips in some snide anti-Catholic nonsense every once in a while, but for the most part it is a fascinating look at the beginning of the world, Satan, and sin.  May be I'm just weird.

I'm also taking a theology class this trimester called God, Man, and the Universe.  The final paper we have to write is scaring me a little, mostly because I don't have a lot of free time right now to write--I don't even seem to be able to make time to keep this blog up to date.  Also, I haven't written a term paper in decades.  However, I am learning so much from the class, the stress is worth it.  Just learning about atheism, polytheism, and heresies in the past and modern ages is helping to better equip me as a Catholic apologist.  It also helps me see that most of the heretics I "talk to" online have nothing new to say.  Every false and silly they have to say about God, His Church, the Bible, salvation, etc. has been around before--and defended against and defeated before.  So, it is really nice to get some more ammo in the arsenal against heresies.

For instance, their is a silly woman on one of my debate forums who claims that the Church's belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist can't be true because Jesus is on His throne in Heaven.  She says He cannot be in Heaven and everywhere in the Eucharist at the same time.  She still hasn't given me a straight answer on whether she believe Jesus is God or not.  This particular heresy, modalism, that is one God manifesting Himself in different modes, has actually popped up more than once in Church history--In Manicheism, fought against by St. Augustine, Sabellianism, and now by crazy lady home 'churches' apparently.  Oh, and she also believes the "Word" in St. John's Gospel chapter one is the Bible and not Jesus, and that the Holy Spirit is just God's soul, so to speak--really?  I don't understand where people get their crazy ideas.  That is the danger of "Sola Scriptura" or Scripture as the final authority.  If there is no one authority to steer you in the right direction concerning Scripture, you get screwy ideas like hers (or even Mr. Camping's).

Studying factual Church history and theology will (and did for me) lead one to the true Church, the one Our Jesus Christ established through His apostles.  He gave those men His authority and gave the leadership to it to St. Peter--that is not only clear in Church Tradition, which predates the Scriptures, but is clearly seen in Scripture.  I thank the Baptist church for the upbringing in the Scriptures and for my love of Our Lord Jesus.  I praise the Holy Spirit for leading me to His true Church and giving me Tradition, history, an appreciation and admiration for the Mother of God (a reference to Jesus' Divine Nature-PERIOD), St. Mary, and most especially for giving me Jesus Christ Himself in the Eucharist.  He said, "This is My Body...this is the cup of My Blood."  I believe Him.  I can't say enough about the Eucharist.  I can't believe I lived over 35 years without it.  Now I get to have Him the rest of my life--then eternity.  Praise God!

Well, time to take my son to his SAT.  I'm sure he can't wait--ha, ha!

Looking for some good reading this summer?

I found a good list on Catholic Summer Reading.com.  It is sponsored by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.  The reading list includes some wonderful adult Catholic books, both fiction and non-fiction, teen books, and children's books.  I had been looking for some good books for my kids to read this summer.  I am grateful to find a Catholic list.  I am also happy to find an adult list.  If I have extra time this summer, I plan to hit one or two of the books listed.  I would really like to read "The Godless Delusion" by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley, "Kristin Lavransdatter" by Sigrid Unset, or "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" by Thornton Wilder (actually from the teen list).  So, if you have some time and the inclination, read some good Catholic literature this summer--and get the kids involved.

Link for the reading program will be on the right column throughout the summer.

Innocents--The Kingdom of Heaven Belongs to These

Carl Bloch

"MYTH NUMBER FOUR: If an Annulment is Granted the Children will be Illegitimate"

"The truth is that an ecclesiastical annulment is concerned only with the spouses, and not the children. An annulment has no effect at all on the legitimacy of children, or other arrangements regarding children, such as custody or support. These are all concerns of the civil law, and an ecclesiastical annulment has absolutely no effects under civil law. It is a myth that granting an annulment makes the children illegitimate."   
http://www.hbgdiocese.org/Admin/Uploads/Tribunal%20&%20Annulments/Documents/12_m\yths.pdf

Why is it that anti-Catholics are so angry and bitter that they must bring children into the argument?  After all, Jesus did say, "Suffer not the children to come unto Me."  Why?  Because He would hold them responsible for their parents guilt?  I don't think so.  In fact, He performed many of His miracles just to prove this erroneous notion, held by many Jews, wrong.  Why else would He say, "Your sins are forgiven" to the lame man who then walked.  Being born crippled or blind was seen as punishment for the parents' sins.  Jesus proved that wrong.

"Canon 1137 Children who are conceived or born of a valid or of a putative marriage are legitimate."  http://www.catholicdoors.com/misc/marriage/canonlaw.htm

Now if children are born to parents who later decide that marriage was a mistake--whether their marriage was annulled and/or they divorced--the children are not to blame.  Not only is the notion that these children are illegitimate ridiculous, it flies in the face of Jesus' love and compassion for all children.  No child is considered illegitimate by His Church.  They are children of God on equal ground with you and me, as they should be. 

"Does annulment make our children illegitimate?"

"No — children of a marriage that's determined to be invalid by a Catholic annulment, are still legitimate. (Code of Canon Law, canon 1137)  When a couple marries, they assume the marriage is valid and was entered into in  good faith. Children conceived under this assumption of a valid marriage, are considered to be legitimate.  This fact does not change even if the marriage is later found to be not valid."

"In the United States, Catholic annulment does not affect any state civil laws.  It is unrelated to civil concerns such as illegitimacy, child custody, alimony, visitation rights, or division of property."  http://www.beginningcatholic.com/catholic-annulment.html

Maybe people in the church had a different idea about this at one time, but that is not true any more.  I believe we have a better perspective on Christ's love and compassion for humans and their frailty.  We should not be so hard on our fellow Christians.  Gone are the days of making children feel ashamed because their parents didn't or wouldn't do the right thing.

****

15 People even brought babies to him, for him to touch them; but when the disciples saw this they scolded them.

16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

17 In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.'  Luke 18:15-17

****

13 Then people brought little children to him, for him to lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples scolded them,

14 but Jesus said, 'Let the little children alone, and do not stop them from coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of Heaven belongs.'

15 Then he laid his hands on them and went on his way.  Matt. 19:13-15

First Sunday of Advent

Wow!  I can't believe it is that time of the year already.  It is actually the new year of the Church calendar.  We start cycle A this year.  Due to illness I did not post this in time.

The readings for the day were:  Isa 2:1-5; Ps. 122: 1-9; Rom. 13: 11-14

Gospel -- Matt 24:  37-44
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Pope John Paul II in his address on Dec. 18, 2002 said, "The liturgy of Advent…helps us to understand fully the value and meaning of the mystery of Christmas. It is not just about commemorating the historical event, which occurred some 2,000 years ago in a little village of Judea. Instead, it is necessary to understand that the whole of our life must be an ‘advent,’ a vigilant awaiting of the final coming of Christ. To predispose our mind to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the Creed, one day will come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize him as present in the events of daily life. Therefore, Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously."  http://www.appleseeds.org/christmas-quotes.htm

Is it just Me?

(Not a post for kiddos)
We really like where we live right now.  It is about a five minute walk to the church.  We love walking to church.  The house is nice.  It is a fairly nice neighborhood, but like all neighborhoods it has its problems. 

One is neighbors who do not clean up after their dogs.  It is sooo aggravating to find dog piles in the front yard.  When I take our dogs for a walk, I always carry a bag.  I always clean up the dog product if there is any.  I guess I can feel superior for being a responsible and considerate pet owner.  I resent those who think it is okay to let there dogs go anywhere. 

Another is a next door neighbor that won't give us the time of day.  The one and only time I have spoken to them is when I caught them getting out of their car in the drive way.  While trying to introduce myself and ask them about overhanging tree limbs, they were rushing toward their front door like cornered animals.  When I did get a tree guy to come cut off the limbs from their pecan trees (my daughter is allergic to pecans) they would not answer their door.  So, I left a note on the door and let the tree guy go at it--in their yard.  Not a word came from their side of the fence.  They are not hermits though.  We know that from the half dozen cars parked in front of our house for their occasional Sunday get-togethers.

My not-so-favorite thing though is what happened yesterday.  After our lovely stroll home from church, I spotted something gold on the lawn.  I thought, "Great more litter on the lawn."  As I bent to pick up the gold thing, I saw exactly what it was--an opened condom wrapper.  I don't know if it was carelessly tossed out some one's car window (this happens frequently, as we live on a corner with a stop sign) or if someone threw it in our yard on purpose.  We don't hide the fact that we are Catholic.  We have a very old statue of Our Lady of Mercy in the front garden.  Were we a target?  I don't know.  But finding such a disgusting item in my front yard on a Sunday coming home from Church is almost too disturbing for words.

Is it just me or are people less considerate than they used to be?  I guess I am too used to living on Air Force bases, and the German countryside, for the 23 years before we bought this house.  I am not used to all the trash, or kids walking through my yard, or some jerk stealing a CD player from my van.  Living in the "real" world takes some getting used to.  I don't like it at all.   

Growing Pains (On a ligther note)

Black Lab-Not D

Wednesday evening we got a new dog.  Boy is our old dog confused!  He just doesn't understand why he is being replaced.  M, our dog, is a purebred, piebald miniture dacshund.  He is 3 years old and extremely laid back.  He is used to sleeping all day during school hours and plays with the kids once or twice a day for about 10-15 minutes, then sleeps some more.

D, our new dog, is a six-month-old, black labra-dacshund puppy.  She has had no training or discipline.  She is rambuncuous and jumps up on people.  She whines to go out and whines to come in.  She had gotten away with this at her old house.  So far she has weed once in the car and once in the house, chewed on a glue stick and a crayon, ticked off M, and jumped on the furniture.



Piebald dacshund-M. lookalike

 M is trying to keep up with D.  M gets between her and anyone else.  He is very jealous and confused.  She (D) will not stay still long enough for him to get a good sniff.  I don't think he's ever had so much exercise in his life.  We let the two out in the back yard.  D just runs and jumps and loves life.  M tries to chase her and assert his 'manhood' but she doesn't care.  D chases M around to get a good sniff of his behind.  M keeps tripping as he tucks his rear end under to keep it away from D's nose.

By Friday, both dogs were exhausted with the effort to play and to assert their place in the "pack."  They are starting to at least tolerate each other.  M still has his own day bed and D lays anywhere she feels like it.  Wednesday night we put her in fenced off section of the garage with a blanket, a training pad, and some water.  She actually behaved herself very well that night.  I was having "Marley and Me" flashbacks, but all went well.  Whe now has a proper kennel bed.  She hops into the kids laps but then hops back off again.  She can't seem to alight anywhere for more than a minute or two.

M has always been Daddy's boy.  D is definitely Mamma's girl.  She is a help to me, too.  She has motivated me to take her for a daily walk.  Hopefully that will kick start my dreamed of weight loss.

Quick Movie Review

Last night my kids and I went to see "The Karate Kid."  My 3 older sons are fans of Jackie Chan.  I quite liked to see him in a less silly role than in the "Rush Hour" movies or "Shanghai Noon/Knights"  movies.  However, I really didn't appreciate the "love interest" part of the movie.  No, not an interest for Jackie Chan, but for twelve year old Jaden Smith's character.  Really?  We have got to sexualize 12 year olds now?   Even my almost 16 year old groaned at seeing Jaden and his 'girl friend' kiss.  I really don't understand why our society is so obsessed with sex.  Does anyone really wonder why we have pregnant 14 year olds?  So, this is a warning for any and all mothers that are a little sensitive to this issue.  Don't take your kids.  My boys and I had a long talk about it on the way home from the theatre.

The rest of the movie was very good.  The boy had to learn about respect for his mother, for his teacher, for a foreign culture.  All that was good.  I like the lesson of karate kid that you need to push through and conquer fear if you are going to live with any kind of self-respect.  The final tournament see was almost exactly the same as the original movie.  One caveat--I do think Jaden Smith is a better actor than Ralph Machio (sp?), however, at least Ralph was a teenager in the first movie and it was the summer before he went to college in the second movie.  The new movie had some good action sequences, but it was a little long for my five year old. 

A Couple of Recipes

On a friend's blog she has a recipe exchange on Mondays and has some stored on her site.  Well, today, I was thinking of a couple of things I like to do, but have not made it on her Monday list, yet.

Today I made the following for dinner.  It is quick (takes about 10-15 minutes depending on how fast your stove boils water) and easy when mom is out of ideas and energy.

2 boxes Mac and Cheese mix (I use two because I have 5 kids-use only one if you have only one or two kids--and only if they are not teenagers.)
margarine, as called for on box(es)
milk, as called for on box(es)
1 bag frozen broccoli baby florets (I really don't like to get a bag full of stems.)
1 to 2 cans Spam

1.  Cook Mac and Cheese as directed.  Put steamer on top of boiling pasta. 
2.  Put Steamer on top of boiling pasta.  If you don't have a steamer pot for your set, us a metal colander on top of your pot.  Put broccoli in steamer/colander.  Cover.  Lower temperature so it doesn't boil over.
3.  While that is cooking, cube Spam.
4.  When pasta is cooked and broccoli is steamed to perfection, mix cheese sauce as directed on box.
5.  Add cooked broccoli and cubed Spam.
6.  Serve.  I can serve my five kids (two of them teenage boys) with this recipe.

How about desert?  Cold S-mores Parfait.

1 or 2 boxes of instant chocolate pudding (depending on how many you want to make)
milk
4-6 graham crackers
mini marshmallows

1.  Crush graham crackers to coarse crumbs
2.  Mix chocolate pudding as directed on package.
3.  Take out desert glasses, parfait glasses, deep cups, anything you got to layer the dessert.
4.  Put in small layer of pudding.
5.  Cover pudding with a layer of graham crackers.
6.  Sprinkle in marshmallows.
7.  Repeat steps 4-6 twice.  Make sure that you end with Marshmallows on top.  I had some that were stars.  It looked great!  Watch out the portions can look small but they really fill you up.
8.  Serve and enjoy.

Voile!  Dinner and desert in 1/2 hour.  Gotta love it.

In the System

Today, I had the dubious pleasure of delving into the dark world of our government-run insurance company.  Let me start off with the preface that my oldest has diabetes melitus (for those who don't know that is type 1 or Juvenile Diabetes).  It is (at this time) incurable, but can be managed with daily monitoring and insulin.  He has to see his endocrinologist four times a year, but in our insurance company's infinite wisdom he is still required to get a referral from his "primary care doctor" once a year.  Well, I just got a bill from his endocrinologist because the insurance company did not pay a red cent to him for my son's care.  What is the first thing I do?  I called the doctor's billing office.  I thought I'd check to make sure that they had submitted the bill to the insurance company before I called.  They don't work on Friday.  So, I called the insurance company directly.  Well, the rude person on the other end of the phone felt it her job to talk to me as if I were five and inform me not only was there no referral "in the system" but that I would need to go to his primary care physician and my local insurance company's office to get one.   I said, "Thank you," and hung up the phone before I said something very unchristian.  Well, after trying several local numbers for the insurance company and the medical clinic where my son's primary physician works, I decided to go there and find a real person to talk to.  First I went to the pediatric clinic where my son's doctor works.  The lady who worked there was very helpful but could not see any reason why there was no referral "in the system" but she could not find it either.  I explained that his last primary doctor said he would take care of it, and in my experience with him, he always did what he said he would.  She had another nice lady check to see if a referral had been ordered and put "in the system."  Well....she produced a piece of paper that said that his doctor had put in the referral. 

Next, I need to go to the insurance company's office down the hall.  I went to "referral management" first but she said I need to go to the other office in the next hallway.  I went to that office and she seemed happy enough to help.  She, condescendingly, told me that there was no referral "in the system."  That piece of paper said that a referral was to be put "in the system" but is not proof that is it indeed was put "in the system."  She would do me the favor of putting in an exception request just for the appointment he had over a month ago, because there was no referral "in the system."  She went on to explain how it was my responsibility to make sure that the referral had gone through.  Let get this straight--I took him to his primary doctor like I was told to do--I filled out all the paperwork I was told to--the doctor put in the request, in April mind you--that request somehow did not get "in the system"-- and I was responsible for it not being "in the system" because I didn't notice that I didn't get a piece of paper in the mail that tells me it went through.  Riiiiigggghhhhtttt.  It is all my fault.  So, after controlling my self very well, I went back to the "referral management" office.  The lady there (thanks Jean, if you ever see this) looked "in the system" to see if it was there.  Apparently, someone had tapped on a keyboard somewhere about the referral because there were "notes" on it "in the system."  However, "for some reason" there was no referral "in the system."  So, she said she will put it "in the system" and make sure it is back dated.  I have her number now to make sure it is "in the system" on Tuesday.  Because, after all, it is my responsibility to see that it is "in the system", even though I did everything I was supposed to do.  If that three hours of mental torture is not good for some time in Purgatory, I don't know what is.  Please God, don't make me ever go there again.