The Brattychick

"If what I think is happening is happening...it better not be." -Mrs. Fox from Fantastic Mr. Fox

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." -Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , by J. K. Rowling

about the movie Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas that a clueless babysitter let him watch... "I did NOT understand. So confused by the guy smoking the cigarette, and then there were dinosaurs."

Cole is off at a friends house, Miles is out with his Daddy , Dexy and I made an igloo...just like Max .

Thomas , David, & Melanie were raving about the movie Where the Wild Things Are . So last night I went to the movies all by myself, for the first time ever, I think. For those of you that are not familiar, Where the Wild Things Are is a well loved children's picture book by Maurice Sendak. The book is certainly less than 100 words long, and so Max and The Wild Things are not given their full personalities by literature alone. The pictures, and what your imagination does with them, fill in the gaps and reach places that words cannot. I was really curious as to how writers Spike Jonze and David Eggers were going to go about stretching this short book into a movie. Especially a book that wasn't theirs. Not one of The Wild Things in the book says anything that isn't in unison with the other Wild Things. I would be terrified to expand on a character that was another writer's vision with only illustrations to go by. And they had to create several in addition to fleshing...

The last 24 hours went a little something like this: I had The Fear. I bought a carton of milk, 2 boxes of chocolates, 3 Barbie dolls and 1 book of logic puzzles in hopes of quelling It. Then off to another family's house, where, against my instincts, I let my three children cavort off with their children unsupervised. Dexy (my 6 year old) came back with the biggest bump on his head I've ever seen as the result of "a fighting game". On the way home it was nearly impossible to keep him awake. ER, concussion, vomit, cat scan, IV, draw blood, anti-emetic, hydration. The Worst Night. Kill me. I got him home and to bed and cried for a good hour or so. I kept him home from school today and we had The Best Day. Pancake House, Clay Cafe Studios, Panera, Hollywood Video, Penelope . He's all better. I'm getting there. The moral: I need to trust my instincts. And if you try to talk me out of them I'll f-ing slam you.

"What's all this?" -George Banks from Mary Poppins I don't know why but this quote cracks me the freak up. You probably don't feel the same way, but since when has my blog been about you? Unless you are, like, anybody I know. In any case, I've decided to incorporate this phrase into my vocab. If you care to listen to a blast from your childhood:

"Fools aren't born, Pongo, pretty girls make them in their spare time." -Roger 101 Dalmations

I took Cole to see Surf's Up today. It's a cute kids movie about surfing penguins. There was an old washed up surfer penguin who had faked his own death because he didn't knew he was going to lose a surfing contest and he didn't want to disappoint his fans. He became a fat hermit in the woods. So his biggest idol is this novice surfing penguin and of course they meet. They end up at the hermit penguins old beach shack. The old penguin begins reminiscing and he looked so sad as he touched his old surf boards and picked up his ukulele out of the sand. I understood how he felt. I feel old and washed up and fat too. There are memories from my past that I miss so much . I probably spend way too much time visiting those memories. I can play them back like movies in my mind. Things have been different for me. I got pregnant immediately after high school, and within a year I was married with a family. Even after all this time, every once in a while I grieve over the lost car...

David: Ian McKellen is gay? Thomas : You didn't know this? Heidi: I don't even know who that is. Thomas: He's Gandalf and Magneto. Heidi: [blink, blink] Thomas: You don't know this? David: Obviously not since I just said! Thomas: He's the bad guy in X-Men and the wizard in Lord of the Rings. Heidi: Wait, isn't he like 900 pounds, I mean 900 years old? David: Yes. Heidi: Do people allow you to be gay if you are 900 years old? Thomas: Yeah, you're allowed to be but I don't know if you can practice. Jamie : By that time you don't need any more practice.

This movie theater near us is playing free kid's movies on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at ten. They're all old, but we sure don't care. We went to see Fat Albert last week. This teenaged girl cries a teardrop onto the remote control while watching a Fat Albert rerun and the characters all come through the TV to help her out. Initially it seems that she is upset 'cause she doesn't have any friends and because her foster sister is cuter and more popular. Then the movie took an unexpected turn. We find out that the girl's grandfather has died and she hasn't been the same since. Then Fat Albert visits Bill Cosby who tells Fat Albert that his character is based on her grandfather. At this point the movie starts hitting a nerve inside of me that I wasn't prepared to protect with my Walls That Defend Sensitive Things. One of these Sensitive Things being that when all the pieces go together to make up me there's one missing where fatherly love goes. I ...