Well Mannered Frivolity

The other day Will did something particularly endearing.  Of course, I can't remember exactly what it was he did, but that is beside the point.  After he did his little endearing whatever I scooped him up in my arms and said "I love you, Will."  Will then looked very deeply into my eyes, held my face in his two little hands and proclaimed "Mama, I love .......(long pause as he looked intently into my eyes)......pretzels."   Oh well, it is hard to compete with a tasty snack, I guess.

Katherine is very interested in the Da Vinci Code. Don't worry, she's not into the "Sacred Feminine" or anything like that. She's seen a commercial for the movie, and heard Bill and me talking about it, and seen me reading the book. She told me she wants to read the book or see the movie because "You know, I do like Leonardo Da Vinci and codes." I gave her a brief plot synopsis . She gave me her most incredulous look (which is pretty darn incredulous) and said "That's just nuts." Last night the two of us watched a NGC documentary on The Da Vinci Code. About 1/2 way through Katherine said "Is this movie supposed to be a comedy, or what? Are these people aware of the Bible?" Ah, that's my girl, the voice reason.

Wendy 

Of course, if it's been an very rough day, and I am very tense only one thing will do.......British Chick Lit

That's right. Bill and I watched Brokeback Mountain. We really went back and forth over this one and had it about a week before we took the plunge. In my opinion it only got the Oscar nod because it was gay film, and, let's face it, gay is in right now (at least in Hollyweird, anyway). The main reason Bill didn't want to watch it was because I had read the short story. I tend to take it as a personal affront when a movie veers away from the book it was based on. Apparently, this makes me a less than fun movie viewing partner. Anyway, the main star of BM is the scenery. It is absolutely breathtaking. I was ready to move to Wyoming. Then they had a snowstorm in August, and I came to my senses. The movie, like the short story, was blessedly heavy on relationships and light on man-lovin'. Because let's face it, a little man lovin' goes a looooong way. Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) was very hard to understand. The best I can describe it is he talked like a mumbling Tommy Lee Jones with a wad of tobacco in each cheek. Kind of a cowboy Marlon Brando/Don Corleone.  The short story was heartbreaking.  The movie was sad, but it just didn't capture the sadness the way the book did. But, then again, what movie ever does?        

Tonight, the kids and I are going to watch Chicken Little.  I expect to enjoy it much more the BM.  Oh, what would I do without our   Blockbuster.com  account?  Perhaps eat less of the bread of idleness?  But that is for tomorrow's post.

Wendy 

I read in todays paper that Rosemary's, er, that is, Tom Cruise's and Katie Holmes' little bundle of joy has arrived. I wonder if she held to the tenets of the Proper Scientology Birth of Quietness. Apparently when the mother makes noise during the pain of childbirth it somehow effects the mother and child's "reactive memories." If that is true then my kids' reactive memories must be bursting at the seams. I not only made noise but occasionally uttered oaths not befitting of the Sunday School teacher that I am.

Anyway, I'm not one to follow celebrity gossip or conspiracy theories SPLAT........... SIZZLE.......Sorry that was me dodging a bolt of lightening....I actually follow both more than I should. Here's my theory. I don't think that baby is biologically Tom Cruise's. Stick with me here. Tom was married to Mimi Rogers. They couldn't have a baby. They divorced. She had children with the next husband. Tom married Nicole Kidman. They adopted. They divorced. Now suddenly Mr Cruise has knocked up the lovely Ms Holmes. Tom is acting weirder (than usual). Every time Katie Holmes is pictured she is being shadowed by a Scientology person. It all just smacks of "Rosemary's Baby" to me. (I wonder if she had to drink a lot of tannis root?) I think the baby was concieved with the harvested sperm of the late L Ron Hubbard. Mind you, I came to this earth shattering conclusion while sitting in the emergency room with a wheezing, asthmatic Will at 4:00 AM after about 3 nights of sleep deprivation.

In other celebrity gossip news, I read that Melissa Etheridge's "wife/domestic partner" type person is expecting twins.  I wonder who the bio father is?  I'm betting on Neil Young, although I suppose it could be Stephen Stills.

Wendy 

Here they are--the WMFrivolous Five all ready for church in their Easter best. The girls are wearing their Easter best, anyway. You'll just have to take my word for it that the boys had handsome little outfits, too. I bought them little madras plaid shirts and new khakis to wear. From their reactions you would have thought I was trying to dress them in hair shirts and sandpaper pants. Will has been wearing that Spiderman shirt everyday for 5 straight weeks. Luxkilly we have two, and James has no interest whatsoever in his. James pretty much refuses to get dressed unless at least one article of clothing is camo. So off Bill qne I went to church with three lovely ladies, Spidey, and Larry the Cable Guy in tow. Oh well, three out of five ain't bad.

Our Easter service was awesome. The praise and worship team was on fire. Then some guys acted out the Cruxifiction and Resurrection on platforms with big sticks--think "Stomp Out Loud"--and no dialogue. It's kinda hard to describe, but it was really cool. Even my normally stoic husband had a glisten to his eyes. I, of course, had full on raccoon eyes. Still can't remember to get that water-proof mascara. What's really amazing is that we caught the third service. I can't believe they had the energy to do all that three times in one morning.

Must go now to attend to grouchy twins.  More later.

Wendy 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV)

When my Very Grown-Up and Serious 10 year old daughter was a Very Little and Serious 5 year old she gave us quite a chuckle about Palm Sunday. (I believe this picture was taken that same Easter).

Back then our church offered Mission Friends on Wednesday nights. While Bill and I taught (or rather practiced crowd control upon) the Twos and Threes, Katherine was next door learning real lessons in the Fours and Fives class. Her teachers asked if anyone could tell the class what happened on Palm Sunday. Katherine was the only one who raised their hand, which was suprising because she was a quite shy and quiet child. When called up, Katherine proceeded to tell the story of Palm Sunday in exacting detail. She had all the facts straight, and her teachers were quite impressed with her knowledge. She knew Jesus sent two disciples to find a donkey and her baby, that the disciples were to bring them to Jesus, that they were to lay their clothes upon the donkey and the colt, and set Jesus upon them. Then (here's wher the story gets interesting) as Jesus rode into town the great multitude spread out their clothes, waved their "pom-poms" and shouted "Xanadu!" One of Katherine's teachers happend to be taking a drink of water when Katherine imparted this information. Thus, the teacher proceeded to spew water all over the unsuspecting Fours and Fives. Blasphemous though it may be, I can't help but picture the "great multitudes" wearing roller skates and disco clothes and making X's with their arms ala the 1980s Olivia Newton John flick (all while waving pom poms, of course.) Once they recovered, her teachers came and pulled me into the supply closet (this is where we Sunday School teachers have our best conversations) to tell me what happened. They were so worried they had hurt Kat's feelings by laughing at her, but Katherine was fairly nonplussed by the situation.

BTW--she still occassionally gets the words "Hosanna" and "Xanadu" mixed up.

Wendy

Donna-Calling my mom's cake a chocolate cake is a bit of a misnomer.  It is actually a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting.  It's about 5 or so thin layers--the cake layers are about the same thickness as the frosting layers.  It is cake heaven.  Let me know if you still want the recipe.

Adrienne-The Pretzel girl is my best friend.  She is leary of giving out any info on the internet so out of respect for her I gave her a snappy nickname.  We take Pilates together every Wednesday.  I spend most of the class floundering around like bug stuck on it's back while she gracefully moves from one move to the next, casually throwing her leg behind her head or bending over backwards (okay, I'm "stretching"  (ha-ha) the truth here just a little).   Anyway, I call her The Pretzel Girl because she wants to remain anon. and she can bend like a pretzel.

Wendy