New Zealand

Apparently New Zealand has been upgraded from country...

to scent...

I wonder what the "United States" would smell like?

Dead Fraggles

This picture is a little deceiving. These chewing dog ropes are much bigger than a softball but a tad smaller than a soccer ball. Anyway, Davey loves to chew on them. He'll get a section of rope loose and then use it to fling the ball into the air to practice catching it. He also loves to play tug of war with it. An average life span of the ball lasts about 3 weeks.

The balls are good fun and keep him occupied but they're kind of messy. I vacuum almost every day because in reality it looks like Davey got a hold of a Fraggle in the middle of the night and practiced tossing it around for a bit of good fun. Just in case you're not sure what a Fraggle looks like, here's an example:

Almost always the dead Fraggle is scattered across every inch of living room and hallway space and is in small 4 inch carefully separated pieces. It's kind of like waking up to find that every carpet fiber has been carefully decorated with Christmas tinsel. 

Yesterday, I got lucky. This time the stringy wreckage was centrally located in my bedroom and I was able to catch him before his master decorating skills were eagerly employed.

Harry Potter

I suppose it is easier to start in the beginning. Way back in 1998 when Harry Potter was first introduced to the United States, I was 22 and unmarried. Although I was going to school to become a teacher I was focusing on teaching only high school history, so the idea of reading Harry Potter was, for lack of a better word, not in the least bit interesting. I felt the same as each movie was released. I had no interest whatsoever in spending a single penny on a movie adaptation of a children's book. A few years back my dad gave me the Sorcerer's Stone movie as a Christmas present. I said thanks, but I really was less than thrilled. Okay, so flash forward to about a month ago. We haven't had TV service or cable access for more than 2 years now and its been great. Every so often I go through our DVD collection and watch some of the movies I haven't seen in a while. Out of the very back corner I pulled out the movie my dad had given me for Christmas like 4 years ago. It was still in the wrapper. I was super bored and thought that I had nothing to lose. So I watched it and thought it was okay. The next night I went over to Blockbuster and rented the rest right up to HP 7.1. Each movie got better and better but I had lots of questions. The kids that I work with all grew up reading Harry Potter so I thought that they would be the best ones to answer my questions. Well, after 2 whole days of talking about Harry I decided that it was time for me to read the books for myself. My co-worker let me borrow 3 at a time and I made her proud by finishing the entire series in 2 weeks.

Yes, they are that good. So good, in fact, that I'm going to ruin it for anyone reading this whom have not read them yet for themselves. You've been warned. :)

First, I should say that I am extremely impressed by J.K Rowling's writing talent. The Sorcerer's Stone was her first written book. It flows magnificently. The characters have personality and flair and seem so very real. More importantly each book has a wonderful message. My favorite message came at the end of Book 1 when Dumbledore tells Harry that one of the problems of evil is that it fails to recognize how powerful love really is. I couldn't have said it better myself.

It took me a day and a half to read #1. As soon as I closed the cover on the first, I immediately opened the cover on the second. Again, at the end of this one, Harry begins to wonder what the difference between him and Voldemort since they seem to have so much in common and yet one has become so very evil. Dumbledore gently tells Harry that the difference between good and evil is choice. No matter how similar one's background me be we all have a choice to be one way or another. Harry may have been pre-destined and pre-chosen to defeat Voldemort but in the end the reason he is the one is because he makes the decision to be that person. Of course, this becomes much more apparent as the story progresses.

Ooooo.... I really liked the Prisoner of Azkaban too. I liked all the action at the end and of course, Snape getting knocked out but then helping Harry in the end after the Dementors attacked them. The time traveling part was probably my favorite.

I think the books are getting better and better. I think I liked the ending probably the most when Harry fights Voldemort again and when Snape lifts up his sleeve and exposed his Voldemort scar/tattoo and revealed that he was a Death Eater and double agent. I totally didn't see it coming that Moody was actually a bad guy in disguise. I honestly thought that Bragman was the one who put Harry's name in the pot. 

Interesting that Harry is so angry in this book. It might be the age. Last semester I encountered quite a few 15 year old boys that were angry and some of them couldn't really put it into words why only that they just were. So kudos to Rowlings for placing Harry's rage in the right age group. Cho was a little annoying, but whatever. Totally enjoyed Ginny putting Harry in check. She's definitely a good match for him but that won't come until later. A friend at work told me that Rowling's actually meant to kill off Mr. Weasley in this book for some reason never did. I LOVED the action scenes in the end of the book starting with Harry breaking into Umbridge's office and getting caught all the way up to his raging against Dumbledore. I stayed up until 1:30 am to finish this one.

Ahh... the Half-Blood Prince. I think out of all of them, this may be my least favorite. I wanted more Snape or Snape-like training or secrets or something. The Ron-Hermione Harry-Ginny infatuation got a little old and I think it made the story drag a little. I won't deny it- I cried at Dumbledore's funeral. At this point, I can't imagine the story going on without him. He has been such an essential part of the story that its hard to imagine Harry without him.

Finally, the last book. I didn't pick this one up immediately after finishing the previous one like I did with all the others. Honestly, its because I wasn't ready for the story to end quite yet. Reluctantly and yet with high anxiety, I picked it up about 2 hours later and began the final journey. So as you probably all know, Harry 'camps' for about 400 pages. Most of it wasn't a surprise since I had already seen the movie. The last 300+ pages, on the other hand, were fantastic! My desire to know more about Snape was easily satisfied. I cried- alot- during the last part of the book. Dobby dies. Fred dies. Tonks and Lupin die. Neville's grandmother is finally proud of him. Snapes memories are heart-breaking. Oh! and when Mrs. Weasley starts fighting Bellatrix the hairs on my arms stood up. Who would have guessed that she was such a bad-ass this whole time?! It was so cool to see the teachers go from teacher-mode to warrior-mode. My last and final tear came at the very end when Harry tells his youngest son that he was named after Hogwort's 2 finest Headmasters and that Severus was the bravest man he had ever known. Lots of tears there.

So it's official that I LOVE Harry Potter. I'm actually a little sorry that I waited so long to read it. Unfortunately in the during the last 2 weeks of HP adventure I have failed to wash a single load of laundry, wash a dish, or sweep a floor. If only I had a wand and a good cleaning charm, I might be set for life.

May Movies

With classes officially over, Alex and I have begun a new summer season of going to the movies every Monday night. On May 5th, we started with the 5th installation of the Fast and the Furious. So far I think it's the best one. It was entertaining, funny, had good action, and a pretty decent plot. Even though its the 5th one, it's actually the 4th part to the story. Hang out past the initial credits because there is a sneak peak/extra footage.

Next, on May 9th, was Alex's pick. I'm truly indifferent about Thor. I had no desire to see it to begin with. It was an okay movie. If you really, really want to see it, wait for it to be released at Blockbuster or Redbox. It's not that it was bad, but I'm glad I only paid matinee price to watch it.

On May 16th, I got to pick. I like vampire movies that have a slightly different take on the usual. Like Daybreakers instead of Interview With a Vampire. Anyway, I'm not sure this particular movie will do so well in Wichita since it has such a huge Catholic population. I can't imagine anyone truly watching this movie and saying, 'Yep, that's how it is in the church.' But it does have a controversial tone- like for instance the Priests are trained vampire killers who happen to be celibate. It was a decent intro movie but I'm not sure they'll make another one.

On May 23rd, for Alex's 37th birthday, he wanted to go have lunch at the Carriage Crossing in Yoder, Kansas and then go see Pirates 4. We woke up, ate breakfast, took Davey to Swanson Park (a wonderful park by the way) for a long walk, came home, bathed, got in the car and drove a half hour to Yoder. Yoder is the closest Amish community to Wichita. It was started in the late 1800s and currently has less residents then when it began but more businesses than ever. Go figure. Anyway, Carriage Crossing is run by some Amish folk and has really great food and amazing pies and cinnamon rolls. It was well worth the drive. Then we headed back to Wichita to catch the 5 pm showing of Pirates. I liked the movie. It was completely different from the last 3. I really liked the mermaids, probably because when I was 6 or 7 years old I really wanted to be one, but mostly because they weren't very nice. I'm not sure if there will be a 5th movie. I'm completely okay with them stopping at 4. Hang out to the end of the credits. There's another sneak peak for you.

We missed seeing a movie on May 30th because we both had to work, but no worries- we have the rest of the summer to make up for it!