Probably going to see this on Saturday with my niece - whom I promised I would take when it opened but didn’t get to.  I’m all about the 3-D goodness (I loved seeing Avatar in 3-D) so I’m excited!  Not sure how it is going to be with a 7 year old though heh, never took a dwarf to a movie before.  Maybe we’ll see if Toni wants to hang with Isa and I, hey if I can stand 1 seven year old twin, why not have the other…..right?  I’m sure mom and Brandy won’t mind having the little darlings out of their hair for a couple of hours….who knows, maybe we’ll even do lunch before/after the movie!!  The weather is supposed to be beautiful on Saturday!

Need to check out Fandango and see where it is playing and when – Chuck hates, HATES waiting in line for his tickets and will gladly pay the additional convenience fee to make sure that I don’t have to wander through those maze things like some cow in a pen.

Well, we’re not quite that picturesque (we’re MUCH better dressed – though my fondness for plaid is certainly up there with Grandpa Walton’s and there aren’t that many of us) but, there is a certain je ne sais quoi about our arrangement to have our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter move in with us for a year.  We offered to let the kids move in to A) Be able to pay down some debt and get their credit cleaned up and B) Save some money during the year to hopefully have enough for a down payment on their first house.

We (Keith and I) weren’t really in a position to be able to stroke a check to make all their debt go away and, frankly, I don’t know if we would have done so if we were in a position to do it – sometimes life lessons have to be lived through in order to learn from them.  What we did have is a bit of extra room in the house so we were able to accommodate them moving in, it just took a bit of re-arranging things.

We turned the TV room into their bedroom (we brought the TV downstairs to the living room) and turned the spare bedroom into Audrey’s (the granddaughter) room.  It gave us an excuse to get rid of some of the furniture we were no longer fond of anyway hehehe.  So we’re a bit more ‘snug’ than we were with just the two of us and the dogs/cats but hey, we’re able to help them out and as an added bonus, we get to see the baby more – YAY!

I think the flip side is that everyone is having to make adjustments for the lifestyle they were previously accustomed to.  I guess everything is all about compromise and finding common ground and all that.

Oh what adventures I’m/we’re/you’re in store for oh vastness that is the internet!

I love my mom, I really do.

Recently, after seeing her lug around a CD Walkman (OMG HOW absolutely archaic is THAT) and those big ole padded headphones for far too long, my father broke down and bought my mom a nice Sony MP3 player.  I guess he got tired of seeing her with that sac purse – yes she bought a sack purse to carry around the house with her to hold her CD walkman in while she cleaned the house – God love her.  So, now she has this thing and doesn’t quite know how to work it.  She asks my ‘never without her iPod’ niece to help her with it.  Amber apparently explains that she doesn’t know how to work anything but an iPod, wow so young and already in that Apple Cult I guess, and cannot help her grandmother.

Mom calls me, the son, Jr. – cause well….I’m kinda a big deal …… in Japan.  Nah, I am the only one in the family that really knows much about technology.  Wait…isn’t that my 13 year old nephew Alex in there on his wirelessly connected laptop surfing MySpace?  And…and….isn’t that my 6 year old nephew Antonio rocking that DS game? Hmmmm I guess she just has more confidence in my…cause…well…I’m the shit….. in my mind.

Back on topic.  So mom wants me to come over because she has this mp3 player but cannot get anyone to help her actually get music onto it (makes for a really swank paperweight I reckon) and can I help her.  SURE!  I’ve had an mp3 player, I know how to read instructions that come with electronic merchandise, I’m sure I can figure it out.  After arriving at moms place, I quickly show her just how fast it is to rip her own CDs onto the laptop that I gave her and then sync her mp3 player to her music library.  Color her stunned.  She’s amazed at how fast it is.  Before long we have all of her Travis Tritt, Elvis, and other music I know nothing about on her mp3 player and she’s THRILLED.

No more going around the house with a bag around your neck holding your CD walkman, the 8 foot cord, and other accessories – just stick the little mp3 player in your pocket and away you go.

I love my mom.  It’s so great seeing her get so amazed at things that I sort of take for granted.  Is this a glimpse of what it will be like as she and dad move further into their golden years – me the parent and they the child marveling at the wonders of … well….stuff?

Who knows – I just know it makes me feel needed by my parents and it’s a way of letting me feel like I’m able to help them out, even if it is only something as silly as loading songs onto a music player.  *shrug*

My Heaven on Earth.

I know that sounds quite unappetizing but to me it is/was a WONDERFUL combination.  This time of year I start reminiscing about Easters and Spring Break in the Outer Banks (OBX for those that know) of North Carolina.  When my sisters and I were young, our paternal grandparents would take us to Nags Head for Easter.  I remember thinking at the time it was a HUGE deal because, if I recall correctly, we usually got out of school a day or two early.  I just remember thinking how neat it was that we got to miss school to go to the beach.

We would always stay at Travelers Inn, which was right across the street Jeannettes Pier (which was MUCH more impressive back in the day – before a hurricane took most of it away), and it had a swimming pool so we thought we were just the cat’s ass – hey we were KIDS what did we know.  My grandmother would hide those individually wrapped Brach’s marshmallow eggs out in the sand and shrubs around the hotel and the kids would hunt for them – making sure we didn’t step on or grab those evil little spinney seed pod thingees. *shudder*  I would always, ALWAYS try to wake up extra early to run across the street and see if, over night, the tides had brought any cool treasures to the beach that I could collect.  I was usually rewarded with bits of driftwood, some mermaid purses, broken shells and the like but, I vividly remember finding a conch shell that was only slightly chipped.  I don’t know what happened to that shell but, for the longest time, I had it in my bedroom while I was a boy at my parents house.

I think those initial trips to the Outer Banks were what started us on – well my – life long love of the place.  Some people like Virginia Beach; some like Myrtle Beach; some like the Florida coast – me….I’ll take the OBX over all of that.  I know my mom loves the place as much as I do.  Eh, I even remember our very first beach house that we rented in Salvo it was the Wimbledome.  We actually were repeat renters at this particular house but then as the years went by, we tried different homes.  The last one that we rented was the Idler – Keith and I rented that for mom because she had always wanted to stay at a house “on the beach” not 1 lot back, not ‘Ocean Side’ but, ON the beach.

We usually prefer to go down a bit further than Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, and Killdevil Hills to places like Salvo, Waves, Rodanthe (yes the recent Richard Gere movie is about this place), Avon etc..  No matter which house we stay in there are 2 prerequisites for a week long vacation in the OBX, we HAVE to go to The Blue Whale or Jobobs Trading Post- it’s in the rules…we just have to – and it wouldn’t be a summer vacation in the OBX without to me (or mom).

I need to start planning for one or more 2010 OBX trips.  I want to take more trips with my nieces and nephews and my parents and such but, I also want to take vacations with “My” family – us, our son & daughter-in-law and of course our granddaughter.  I’ve decided that it’s going to be part of Audrey’s life too once she gets a bit older – going to the OBX.  I hope she falls in love with it as much as I did.

In the meantime I’ll just wax sentimental with my childhood memories of sun, sand, and easter eggs.

Sand and Eggs and Sand

Happy Valentine's Day

 OR

Happy Birthday to Keith

Actually, it’s BOTH - that’s right!  Today is Valentine’s Day AND it’s Keith’s 51st birthday!  For his birthday, I got him 3 David Austin ‘Jude the Obscure‘ roses – which REALLY do smell like guava – I have NO idea how that happens but, they really, truly do smell like a lush tropical fruit.  I also got him some new Green Pans which are sooooooooo freaking amazing!

Please meet young Master Aden

 Yes, yes, yes – Aden Parker was born at 12:14 AM on Sunday, December 21, 2008 just shy of his original expected due date of 12/26 or 12/27.  Aden is the son of a co-worker/friend or mine, Shannon, and her partner April (they are also neighbors of ours in ‘The ‘Burg’).  After talking to Shannon last night about natural childbirth (the way they chose to go) I have a new-found respect for what April went through – all I have to say is “WOW!”

I, of course, being the super emotional mess that I can be, got all watery eyed listening to how everything went – especially when hearing that April got to finish taking Aden out herself – I can only imagine how that would be an incredible bonding experience.  I told Keith I want a baby – I frequent the AdoptUSKids site on a regular basis as it is – and he proceeded to tell me that I couldn’t have one because I can barely clean the cat box – grrrrrrrrrr.  We have Ian, who I totally regard as my son, but I sometimes think I missed something not having him around until he was about 15 – yay the mouthy years of puberty and teenage angst – FUN!

Not to make the wee lad a political symbol or anything but, its little guys like Aden that make me realize just how important ‘our’ families are and how they are every bit as good and meaningful as any ‘traditional’ family.

I think I’m going to go meet him in person tonight!  I <3 babies!!

Yesterday Amber (my oldest niece) and Ashley (our daughter) went to meet Keith for lunch at Dalat Vietnamese restaurant in the West End.  Keith and Ashley had Pho, I had Grilled Pork and Broken Rice (only mine had cucumbers and pickled carrots, not tomatoes), and Amber – being new to Vietnamese cuisine stuck with a more familiar dish – Chicken with Orange Peel.  After we ate, we shuttled Keith back to work and went out for the day.

We initially went out to Short Pump to go to the mall out there but, after realizing that they’d both been there before, I opted to head to Carytown for the afternoon.  On the way back into Richmond, I had to stop at Whole Foods to pick up some EO Peppermint & Tea Tree hand soap – because IMHO – it is THE BEST! and smells sooooo good.  While we were there I was showing Amber around the place and telling them both that if it was closer to Petersburg, I would probably shop there a bit more often (honestly their prices are not THAT horrible on their store brand stuff).  So, we also each got a drink (Ashley and Amber got Pomegranate soda and I got a TAZO Pomegranate tea) and then we each got a miniature tart/cheesecake and then piled in the car for Carytown.

After getting to Carytown, we parked and walked down one side, stopping in various shops along the way until we got to the end of the strip.  We stopped in Mongrel and I bought a card for Jeffrey and some really neat candles for Amber(pomegranate and something – she’s really into pomegranate now) and Ashley (pineapple, ginger, and tangerine) that they liked.  Ashley picked up a really nice pashmina at Bygones and Amber almost got a pair of sunglasses…except they were scratched up – and of course that was the ONLY pair that they had.  She did end up deciding that for her Sweet 16 that she was going to get a tiara – which I agreed too =).

Carytown shopping area of Richmond

Towards Cary Court Shopping Center

We crossed the street to Ben & Jerry’s to start our way back up the strip where we each enjoyed a small ice cream cup of delicious, yummy ice cream!

Ashley at Ben & Jerry's

Amber at Ben & Jerry's

After finishing our ice cream we headed back to the car but I, of course being the overgrown child that I am, had to stop into World of Mirth to show them one of my favorite stores EVER!  This place has the BEST toys and a lot of other cool stuff for kids of all ages.  Amber and I were playing with the sunglasses and the hats – seems I’m not the only big kid after all LOL.

Amber trys on a tiny, tiny hat

Me in H-U-G-E shades bein' "cool"

We continued back up the street, I showed them where we took Alex (my oldest nephew) for lunch at Galaxy Diner and extolled the glories of the ‘fried pickle’ and that they also offer fried Oreos and Twinkies too.  I think the only other store we stopped into was actually Ten Thousand Villages, a really neat store that sells fair trade items from around the world.  I saw tons of stuff to buy in many of the stores but alas, just coming off of the Christmas season, fundage was a bit on the tight side though, I’m pretty sure they both had a good time.  Then we rode around the Fan a bit and I showed them the various apartments I lived in – Floyd Ave., Lombardy St. & Park Ave., and Monument Ave. before we hit the road back to the Southside.

It was nice to be able to get Amber out and show her around ‘The City’ and I think both she and Ashley had a nice time.  I really don’t get to spend as much time as I like with the nephew and niece monsters and I HAVE to get better about that.  All in all though, I think we had a pretty damned good day!

Side note – I did get a bit annoyed when I uploaded the photos from the past few days only to realize that the date was $%#@& up on my camera so, even though these show 12/23/08, it was actually 12/29/08.

Do your part to protect marriage – sign a petition to prohibit divorce!

JUST so people don’t think I’m totally consumed with being some type of gay activist or something – switching gears =P

Yesterday Keith and I went to Richmond to have lunch at Bottoms Up Pizza with Ashley (our daughter), Ian (our son), Nicky (our daughter-in-law) and of course Audrey (our granddaughter) after we had our fill, we decided to walk up the street to see what was new at LaDifferance (LaDiff).  

Bottoms Up Pizza

Its possible to be TOO wired ya know!

'Pickle' playing with toys in LaDiff

After walking around the store for a while, it became apparent that Audrey was a bit overdue for her nap so we left but, I bought this neat little book called, ‘How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint 365 Simple Ways to Save Energy, Resources, and Money‘ by Joanna Yarrow.  

Great little book - very worth reading

I have to say, I read a good deal of it last night just before bed – some of the things in just seem like common sense things but others are like ‘Wow…REALLY?!?!’  I was really happy to see that some of the things Keith and I have recently started doing were in the book.  Like changing out the incandescent bulbs for CFL (Compact Flourescent Lights); installing a programmable thermostat; putting an insulation blanket on the water heater; composting kitchen scraps; installing weather stripping and draft protection and other little things.  There is still more that we can (and plan to) do but, it’s a start.  It was really sort of eye opening when the book explains that

“the average European emits around 11 tons of CO2 per year while the average American emits over 22 tons – more than 5 times the world average (4 tons).  In contrast, in sub-Saharan Africa the average footprint is less than .08 tons per person.”

that was pretty sad, in my humble opinion.  I was also amazed to read that every two (2) minutes the sun gives the Earth more energy than we use in a year.  Why aren’t we doing more to take advantage of this free energy?  Keith says the big two should really be solar and wind because on days the sun isn’t out, its typically windy and on days when there is no wind, its typically sunny.  He REALLY wants to, as he says, ‘go off the grid’ to the point where we even give back energy and get credit for it – that, I don’t think, will happen here in Petersburg – least not in this house LOL.

I’m also reading the third book in the Inheritance trilogy by Christopher Paolini called BRISINGR.  

3rd book about Eragon & Saphira

I really liked the first two and this third/final chapter in the series is proving just as good.  I’ve even got my nephew, Alex, reading the second book in the series – Eldest, he said they’d read the first book -Eragon in school and he wanted to read the next book.  If he likes it I’ll make sure to let him borrow Brisingr as well.  I cannot imagine having all of this stuff (the material for the 3 books) floating around in my head at the age of 15 when he wrote the first draft of Eragon.  Wow – what a talented young man and a really good auther.  If you like fantasy, it is definately worth the read.