Random Fact Thursday?

Let's do a little random fact post, shall we?

Easter was a success!  Despite the rain, which led to the big EB hiding eggs and baskets in the house, the kids had a lot of fun and my family enjoyed a nice visit.  It was Russ' first time at my parent's house, as well as his first Easter with us, and I think he enjoyed himself.  A nice highlight was going to the cute downtown they live near to eat some lunch, browse some shops and enjoy some ice cream.  That afternoon brought me more peace then I've felt in a while.

Still job hunting!  I do have a few good leads, and am arranging interviews, but for now I'm really enjoying my time at home with my kids.  They're on spring break this week and it's nice being off with them.  Eventually responsibility will lead me back to an office and high heels, but until then, I'm all about the stay at home mom biz.

Speaking of spring break -- we went to the beach yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and water.  (Me the sunshine and Noelle the water.)  The insane highlight of that trip was when a pesky seagull, who'd been circling me and my delicious sandwich for a bit, actually leapt up from behind me and took the 2nd half of my sandwich!  It was heavy so he fell, and I got up too fast and fell, so we really looked like a couple of fools.  In the end, he took off with the bread and I was left with a sandy BLT.  That was the end of that.  He heard me exclaim as he flew out of sight, "This just reinforces my hatred for all of you!"

 

 

Meet the Parents.  This weekend I'm meeting the parents of a friend that I really like.  They actually want to meet me because they've met Russ and they want to meet the girl that is hopefully good enough for him.  I'm always good with parents, so I'm sure it will be a delight to meet me.  ;)  I kid.  But seriously, you can take me anywhere.  Now to offer to bring dessert, and after that, figure out what to make!

Reviews!  I've been doing a lot of reviews lately for my friend Jen at The Mom Reviews.  ("A lot" is actually not that many compared to what she does full time, but for little me, it's a lot!)  Here are some faves, in case you're interested.

"Must. Have. Wine.  A Toast to Motherhood."  Book review (The writer actually sent me a thank you note for the review!)

Plus Motif tablet cases - love them!

There are more (a few of them possibly involving alcoholic beverages) which you can find if you look around on her awesome review blog.

I'm off to enjoy some girl time with my girl now.  She's feeling a little punk so we're going to put a firelog in the fireplace and watch a chick flick.  I LOVE having a girl (most days.)

DreamWorks "The Croods" -- Preview (Giveaway Closed)

"THE CROODS is a 3D comedy adventure that follows the world's first modern family through the journey of a lifetime. When the cave that has always been their home is destroyed – with the rest of their world not far behind it – The Croods are forced to set off on the first family road (or path) trip. Rocked by generational clashes and seismic shifts, The Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures, and a future beyond any they imagined.

The Crood family dynamics, though unfolding a few million years ago, feel like they could come from your own household.  Like most fathers, family patriarch Grug (Nicolas Cage) is fiercely protective of his wife and three kids. His hyper-vigilance has kept his cave-bound family safe, secure and....super- bored.  Grug’s strong and dutiful better half, Ugga (Catherine Keener), accepts her husband's "fear is good; change is bad" mentality, as does their son Thunk (Clark Duke), who’s content with the static status quo.  Feisty mother-in-law Gran (Cloris Leachman) never tires of needling (or sometimes assaulting) Grug; and stone-tough toddler Sandy might be the fiercest Crood yet.

But leave it to a rebellious teenager (is there any other kind?) to stand up to parental authority.  Grug's sole focus is survival, but Eep (Emma Stone) wants to actually live, and her curiosity about the world outside their cave collides with her dad's primitive rules. 

A cataclysmic event forces the Croods to venture into parts unknown and rethink their way of living.  En route, they encounter Guy (Ryan Reynolds), whose dazzling new discoveries – like fire...and shoes – shake up the Croods in unexpected ways. Most of the family (especially Eep) is smitten by Guy’s vision of a new place called “tomorrow,” but Grug sees the biggest calamity yet: a charming teenage boy from which he must “protect” Eep.



The Croods soon realize that if they don’t evolve…they’re history."

My kids and I watched the trailer for the movie to get a stronger sense of the characters, all of which I can't wait to see on the big screen.  The actors who participated in the film are a lot of favorites at our house, making it that much more appealing to see.  You can view the trailer here, and visit The Croods movie website here.

To celebrate the upcoming film (that we will be FIRST in line to see!) I'm pleased to be giving away both a movie poster and a plush toy of the sloth character, Belt.  My kids are crazy about both!

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 To Enter:

Leave a comment on my blog and share with me your favorite character from any DreamWorks movie that your family loves, and be sure to include your email address.

** For an additional entry, follow my blog and leave a 2nd comment verifying that you did.


 --> Contest ends March 18, 2013 at midnight PT. You must include your email address or your entry will not be counted. Open to US and Canada only. Winner will be contacted and have 24 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen.

 Good luck!

I received related products in compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Job Schmob

So much for the new job!

Obviously I feel the need to be careful about what I share online, but the basics are easy.

The new boss was a lying thief.  Does it get any clearer than that?  He came about that title in various ways, including not paying employees (for months!), convincing them to leave their jobs and homes to work for him (when there was no way to pay them), and the final highlight was watching him skip out on his current landlord to avoid paying the rent he owes.  I mean that literally -- she was out on a Tuesday, so he arranged for movers to come and move his office on a Tuesday.  No word, no courtesy call, no nothing. 

I do NOT work for people like that.  So I left.  And I don't mean I turned in my notice and gave him time to replace me.  If he isn't going to show anyone any respect in this world, why should he receive any?  So I did something I have NEVER done in my working life.  I waited until mid-day, after one co-worker had quit and another was about to, and while the boss was picking someone up about 10 minutes away, I left.

I was courteous enough to leave a note, my files and my key, but after that I packed up my personal stuff and walked out.  By the time he returned, I was nowhere to be found. At the same time he was discovering my exit, he was served with papers from the last employee exit of the day.  In my opinion. a well deserved triple hit.

The few times in my life I've been around scheming underhanded selfish people, I've managed to remove them from my life.  There is no room for them in my world, and the same goes for this business owner.  Thankfully, I was "temporary" and worked through an agency, so I was paid for the month that I was there.  No such luck for the other folks.  He talked to the agency after I notified them, and was just sick about my leaving.  Asked if there was anything he could do - money, flexibility, etc, in order to get me back.  Yeah, that'll happen.  Three words come to mind:

I'm.  Not.  Stupid.

So now I'm enjoying a little time at home with the kids, and hoping that we can spend spring break together, whilst I hunt for the next best job.  Of course, now I'll be a little less trustworthy and a little more jaded about the people I work for.  That's really the biggest downside of the situation.

The upside?  Meeting the other people that I quit with.  We agreed that we shared something with each other that none of us will ever forget.  And hopefully we learned to ask all the right questions and do all the right research before we walk into the unknown.  Because unfortunately, the unknown doesn't always pay the bills!

Oz the Great and Powerful

Lucky me, along with my boy, had the opportunity this week to preview the movie "Oz the Great and Powerful," thanks to my friend The Mom Jen.  You can read my thoughts here, and then when you're done, go out and SEE it!

Thanks again, Jen!

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

It's been a bit of a whirlwind, job wise.

Last summer I quit the company I had been with from the start because the CEO was an unpleasant person to work for.  She didn't do anything that I couldn't live with (aside from trying to humiliate me in front of my co-workers, badmouthing me behind my back and generally just hating me for being younger and taller), but in the end I wanted to be paid what I was worth and her opinion of my worth was different from mine.

It didn't take me long to find the right job to leave the last one for, and there was a lot of fake surprise and disappointment when I resigned.  Sure.  Never mind that I gave them three weeks notice, helped them for a few months with the transition and STILL get phone calls from our VP with problems that they can't solve.  I was obviously not a valuable employee.

Oh, and never mind that they FIRED the CEO a week after I left.  Clearly I was the one who wasn't a good fit there, eh?

The new company that I joined was great!  A view of the ocean from my desk...a commute that was practically cut in half...a boss that actually LIKED me and saw my worth.

And then three weeks after I started, the CEO died.

Really?

Maybe I'm bad luck.

Anyway, the company carried on for some time, but by the end of the year decided to dissolve. 

Goodbye view of the ocean!

My goal for my next job was to see if I could stay near the coast.  After all, that commute isn't bad, and it's near Russ, which is a perk.  I looked and hoped but didn't see any opportunities, until a good friend in the area came across a job and sent it to me.  It was a perfect fit!

I got myself an interview within a week, and within a few days after that I had the job on a "temp/trial" basis.  The new CEO was nervous that my bad luck might extend his way.

Which brings us to now.  I've been temping part time for a month to "prove myself," which it seems I have, so I'll be starting full time on Monday.

My new CEO is an older gentleman who has done a lot of good in the world and is doing more good for women's health with this company.  His major downfall?  Short temper and quick to yell.

I think the next time I encounter that, I'll give him a wink and remind him of my luck with CEO's.  He might want to re-think getting so worked up.  It's not good for his health.  ;)

2012 Wrap Up

2013 is really going well at our house.

It didn't hurt that we had a very nice Christmas.

Two, actually.

The first was with family, and while it only lasted about 24 hours, it was enough to cover all the important stuff -- Christmas cookie baking, big dinner eating, Santa visiting, presents enjoyed and stockings stuffed.  Or maybe that's "stockings unstuffed." 

There wasn't a lot of magic for me to be had in that 24 hours.  I stayed up past everyone else and baked the breakfast casserole, stuffed the stockings, ate the cookies and poured out the milk.  (You will never see me drink milk, especially after it's been sitting out for hours.  Blech.)  With few surprises to be had, I mostly enjoyed the joy that came from my little ones as they discovered their gifts. 

Our 2nd Christmas was celebrated with just us and my boyfriend, Russ, who was previously in Montana with family over the holiday.  We started with a delicious meal that turned out to be a hit with all of us -- even the kids!  (They hadn't enjoyed the Christmas prime rib, but the beef fillet with cracked pepper?  Amazing!)  After the kitchen was cleaned up, we played a game that Charlie had gotten in his stocking -- Left Center Right.  It was fun and had us all laughing and enjoying one another a lot.  Finally we opened presents, but I love that it wasn't the first priority for any of us.  I think the kids are finally getting to an age where they appreciate the anticipation a bit more, which I'm glad for.  I love the fun of not knowing and wondering when it comes to gift giving.

That said, I think we all made out like bandits.  I knew what the kids would be receiving, and everything was as much of a success as I had suspected it would be.  Another high point was the anticipation that I finally got to have in wondering what Russ would be gifting me.  He successfully shocked the life out of me when I opened the iPad 3 that he bought me.  (I'm still not over the shock.)  I half surprised him -- he knew I was giving him one of two watches that I had him pick out, but he didn't know that I would be giving him a DVD of one of the best movies of all time, "Amazon Women on the Moon."  We had talked about it some time back and we both loved it, but neither of us owned it for some reason, so I remedied that.

Still, I think his gift wins.

Now into 2013 we are going.  So far, so good.  And I can say that despite the fact that I will officially be out of a job in 3 weeks.  See?  Glass half full!

The Aftermath

The sickening tragedy in Connecticut last week touched everyone on some level.  I haven't talked to one person who wasn't affected in some way.  For me, as a mom, it hit home on a very personal and vulnerable level, knowing that my own kids' schools could be just one moment away from some disturbed person walking on campus to do harm.  All I wanted to do on Friday was get in my car, drive to their schools and pick them up.  Or just sit in the back corner of the classroom where I could see them.  Whatever works.

Unfortunately I have a boss without kids who didn't quite get that, so it was not a very early day for me.  So I texted my sitter and asked her not to turn on the television that afternoon, so that we could avoid the terror from entering my home.

Instead she talked about it with her teen daughter in the car while driving my daughter home.  *sigh*

My plan was to follow the advice of the many psychologists weighing in on the situation.  Answer direct questions only, and try not to scare them.  Instead, the second it was mentioned on the radio that evening, my nine year old daughter was all about the facts of what she had gleaned from the sitter's conversation.  Joy.

I kept it simple -- answered the direct questions and didn't go into more detail than she needed.  At nine, she really didn't have a lot of new ideas about what could have led to such an act, or ponder more in-depth questions of how bad things really were.  Once she was situated in the bathtub that evening, her brother was a whole other story.  His sister had come home and immediately told him what she knew, and he's not Mr. Simple Questions.

We talked.
We cried.
We held each other.

He really gave me the comfort that I needed after a day of low level hysteria.  That night they both slept in my room, and I even let them eat Ben & Jerry's ice cream right out of the pint.  That was a first for them. 

One thing that comes from all of this, for our family anyway, is a sense of appreciating each other more.  Not every second, of course.  There's still sass and a little to much of the "I wants" with Christmas right around the corner.  But there's also respect for the families that were planning their celebration, but are now planning funerals.  And it's not lost on them that every day should be appreciated, and even amidst the chaos and the fighting, they are grateful that they are on their Christmas break healthy and happy. 

One comment that brought me comfort today was a blog posted by a pastor I've known since high school.  I knew him when he was a gnarly teenager and a tough Marine, and today he shared words of wisdom, in my humble opinion.

The tragedy is stunning. With all the media outlets and input it is so easy to get saturated in the tragedy that we fail to see the good. Good? Yes. It’s okay to say it. There is good in the midst of this horror. The love, compassion, and acts of service that flow from the hearts of family friends, and neighbors; the prayers of the saints across the country – across the world – as they lift up the broken and hurting to our heavenly Father and awaken to the great need still in our world. There is good happening, and we can’t afford to miss it, or dismiss it. Families, long broken over petty disputes, are brought together and relationships long-lost are healed. Parents in places far away from the event itself are led to re-think their relationship with their own children. Workaholic dads begin to shift their values and priorities. Good can come from tragedy.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Team Edward. There, I said it.

I've seen Breaking Dawn: Part 2.

Twice.

I never thought I would be that person.  When Twilight first came out, I didn't even see it in theaters.  I had no interest.  And I can't quite recall if I had read the book yet or not...  Anyway, the first time I did see it was when a friend, who shall remain nameless, obtained a bootleg copy of it before it ever came out on DVD.  A group of us girls piled onto her couch mid-morning on a week day and watched it.  I do recall that I was really sick and trying very hard not to share my germs with everyone, which wasn't easy on said couch.

Like anyone can tell you, the first movie is the cheesiest with the worst special effects of them all, and waaay too much emo.  I kind of wanted to smack Bella through most of it, and when I finally did read the book, I was so impatient with her.  "He's a VAMPIRE, you idiot!"  No, she was never my favorite character.

Fast forward to the other movies, and I did end up seeing each one in the theater.  By the time the second movie, New Moon, came out I had read all the books and knew what was coming.  More importantly, I already knew that Breaking Dawn was my favorite book, and that THAT was the one I was waiting for.

When Part 1 finally did come out last year, I wasn't one of the "wait in line all night" moms, but I did see it in theaters, and I did love it for how well it portrayed the events of the book.  And I finally liked Bella more.  She was willing to walk down the aisle and managed to do it without looking like she had an ulcer exploding in her gut.  What a nice change!

And then Part 2 finally came along, promising a great battle and a great end to this lotso' years long series.  My cousin and I went to see it together after our annual birthday lunch, and it was as good as I had hoped it would be.  It delivered the ending of my favorite book perfectly, keeping it exciting and surprising.  And it turns out Bella is MUCH easier to take as a confident vampire.  It seems I like her much better cold and dead.

What got me the most was the love story.  Emo or not, I envy the love between Edward and Bella, because I want it so badly for myself.  The kind of "I would do anything for you and can't stand the thought of life without you" love that doesn't come along all that often.  I do believe in it, and I have experienced it, but I'm impatiently waiting for it again and you know the old story of the watched pot...

My kids were very put out about never having seen any of the Twilight movies in theaters, so after viewing the last one in advance, I decided they could handle it.  We met up with our friend Tiffany at the same exact theater a week later and experienced it all over again.  It was actually fun waiting to see what the reactions would be by the kids at a very key moment, and I enjoyed seeing their happy surprise when it came.  At the end of the movie, my son actually had a tear on his face.  I asked him when that happened, and when he told me, I wasn't surprised.  I love that he could get that wrapped up in something -- empathy is an emotion I like to see in him.

There you have it -- I'm a Twi-hard.  A total nerd.  And I'm not ashamed of it!  While most guys out there (like the one I'm dating) would cringe at the very thought of sitting through one of these films, I like that there are action/romance movies that get our hearts racing and make us want romance and love and passion.  Because frankly, there's nothing better.

Winner & Odd Life of Timothy Green Review

Congrats to my reader, Wendy, who won the two disc Blu-Ray/DVD Combo pack on my blog!!

For those of you thinking about seeing this movie -- I highly recommend it!

I honestly wasn't 100% sure what to expect from The Odd Life of Timothy Green.  I had only seen previews back before it came out, and it had been a little while since then.  To catch you up, here's the trailer from Disney.

One of the things that I love about Disney, but had frankly forgotten in my older age, is that they think outside of the box.  This story isn't ordinary, and you have to conjure up some of the magic you believed in as a child.  It felt so easy at age 6 to believe that Mary Poppins could jump into a chalk drawing or fly with an umbrella, but at 37 I had to remind myself that it was okay for a movie to suggest that a little boy grew from a garden.

This getting older business is for the dogs!

Back to my point -- I fell in love with the entire Green family, and wanted so much for things to work out for them.  They live in a small town, USA, that has a large pencil factory that is the heart and soul of the town's economy.  The parents, played by Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton, had so much love to give and wanted so badly to be parents, that you can't help but be excited for them when this sweet little boy arrives, covered in mud, and calls them mom and dad. 

My kids watched this movie with me, and we all got lost in the story.  The ups and downs of bringing someone new and different into the lives of others -- we laughed and we cried.  We cried a LOT, actually.  Be ready with the tissues!  But in the end, we had a true sense of peace with where things ended up, and we felt like everything that happened had a reason.  No loose ends were left untied -- there is closure and thankfulness and love.  What more can you ask for?

I received a copy of this film to review.  All opinions are my own.

**Giveaway** The Odd Life of Timothy Green

FROM THE MAGICAL WORLD OF DISNEY COMES A FAMILY FILM

WITH HEART, HUMOR AND FUN

 

 



Disney’s “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” one of the year’s most uplifting and enchanting family films, springs up on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD, High Definition Digital and On-Demand platforms on December 4, 2012. It’s the perfect, must-own family-film for audiences of all ages to enjoy and snuggle up to this coming holiday season.
 
From Academy Award-nominated writer/director Peter Hedges (Dan in Real Life, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape), and starring Golden Globe^® winner Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton, Oscar^® winner Dianne Wiest and CJ Adams as Timothy Green, comes this highly imaginative story about a happily married couple who can’t wait to start a family but can only dream about what their child would be like. Then one stormy night young Timothy shows up on their doorstep. Soon they and the small town in which they live learn that sometimes the unexpected can bring some of life’s greatest gifts. The story is written by Ahmet Zappa (“American Gangster,” “Changeling”).

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Now's your chance to receive a copy!

To Enter:

Leave a comment on my blog and share with me your favorite family movie, and be sure to include your email address.

** For an additional entry, follow my blog and leave a 2nd comment verifying that you did.


 --> Contest ends December 1, 2012 at midnight PT. You must include your email address or your entry will not be counted. Open to US and Canada only. Winner will be contacted and have 24 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen.
Good luck!