I've been assimilated

Remember the Borg from Star Trek, who went around turning other races of beings into cyborgs like them? My dad gave me a Bluetooth headset for Christmas. Now I walk around with this piece of hardware in my ear and a flashing blue light that blinds anyone who looks in my direction. The silly part is, only my parents and Hubby ever call me. Yet I know the minute I take it off I'll miss a call.

Hey, if anybody has Cingular/AT&T, email me and we'll exchange numbers. We can talk for free, you know.

We are the Bluetooth. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

Your dog is dying.... or not

We took our dog to the vet Thursday night. She had been very lethargic, not eating or drinking, and was having trouble walking. He examined her and told us she probably had a bleeding tumor that was slowly sapping her energy. Based on her rate of respiration and her heartbeat, he estimated she had less than 24 hours.

So we took her home to say goodbye to the boys. The vet assured us that she wasn't in any pain, she would just get weaker and weaker until she died. We had a very tearful night of farewells, and the boys slept down in the basement with her since she couldn't climb the steps.

That was Thursday. She's still alive. In fact, she's acting almost completely normal - going up and down steps, eating and drinking, even stealing food off the table. Now I'm wondering if I should take her back for a new diagnosis, or just leave well enough alone. I mean, the girl is 14 next week. It's not like I haven't been expecting her to die for the last two years. But if it's something simple we can treat, I want to know about it.

At least the boys don't have to remember their dog dying at Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Girls' morning out

Mom and I went for a girls' morning of shopping today. There's a consignment shop I've been wanting to check out. I've got to do something with all these clothes that don't fit me anymore, and I figured they'd have some nice stuff in my new and improved size, too. Well, I was in the dressing room trying on a few things, and she comes knocking at the door.

"Jana, you have to try this on!" I opened the door and she's holding a leather skirt, size 10. "Okay, sure, why not?" So I tried it on. Wow, it fit like it was made for me. And it's a nice modest length, below the knees. For $7? Yeah, I bought it.

Poetic License - The cinquain

Want this button?
I always liked writing poetry that followed a formula. Of course, the cinquain has several formulas, but that's okay. Sort of like tollhouse cookies, they're all good. Here's my tribute to celebrations:

Parties
Family, friends
Gathering, sharing, laughing
Fellowship of the season
Unity

I. Am. Cold.

Talk about a shock to the system - we had to wear short sleeves the day we left Florida because the temps were in the 80s. Now it's 31 and so windy not even the cat will go outside.

Here's something I've discovered about being thin: I am cold all the time. Hubby bought me a long underwear top because I kept talking about being cold. Don't get me wrong - I still like winter better than summer. But I think I'll be needing my heavy coat this year.

In the week after Thanksgiving...

Before going to Disney, we spent the week after Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house near Tampa. She has an awesome heated pool, so even at night when the temps dipped into the 50s, we were able to go swimming. The boys loved it. One day we spent pretty much the entire day in the pool. That was nice.

We also saw some of the sights around the area that we hadn't seen before. We visited a park that was built around a natural spring.

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and saw all kinds of neat exhibits, including one about shipwrecks and pirates.

We visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which is a small rescue and rehabilitation facility near Clearwater Beach. I learned more there than at any other aquarium I've been to.That's Winter, a dolphin who lost her tail to a crab net. They have a prosthetic tail they put on her periodically so she can learn to swim correctly again. Pretty cool.

So overall we had a fantastic week and got to see lots of amazing things. And that was all before going to Disney World!

We've got character

One thing almost everyone with little kids has to do at Disney World is get pictures taken with the characters. It makes a great souvenir, and the kids love it. Now, the autograph thing I just don't get. Why get somebody dressed in a costume to sign a name that isn't theirs and will never be worth anything? I don't know. But hey, at least they hold up the line nicely for everyone else. So here are some of the characters my kids got to see.

That's Rafiki from The Lion King.

Pocahontas - whose song got stuck in my head and wouldn't get out. Lilo and Stitch - a dream come true for my guys, let me tell you! Woody from Toy Story. Buzz Lightyear was there, too, but his line was crazy long. And I got to meet my girl, Kim Possible and her guy Ron Stoppable. Yeah, we hung out for a bit. Hey, Kim, you can call me or beep me, you know - if you want to reach me.

Pirates are thieves

Time for some pictures from our trip! Naturally, the first ride we went on at the Magic Kingdom was...
There was a cute pirate show outside the ride, starring Captain Jack himself. He ran off at the end of the show, but I managed to grab his sidekick for a picture with the boys. Notice the 8-year-old's shirt:We had an unfortunate incident in the ride, though. You know how pirates are always taking things that aren't theirs? Well, one of those scallywags made off with the 2-year-old's right shoe. Totally gone. Now this was the first ride of our first day at Disney, and he didn't have other shoes with him. But in a clear act of mutiny against the pirate kings, the people operating the ride gave us a voucher for a free pair of shoes from any store in the park. So he got a pair of Buzz Lightyear sneakers, and had fun telling everyone in the park that Captain Jack stole his shoe.

Too much for one post -look for installments

Wow, what a fantabulous vacation! Usually by the end of a trip I'm ready to be back home, but I had such a great time, I could have stayed another week or two easily. However, I will say that I figured out why Disney doesn't charge for under-3s to visit the parks: they know that anybody stupid enough to bring a toddler to Disney World deserves a little break. The 2-year-old (who turned 3 today, by the way!) had major meltdowns at least twice a day. I know it was mostly from too much activity and too little sleep, but no fun for the rest of us!

Some highlights include:
- oldest son riding roller coasters with us and loving it!
- the new Expedition Everest coaster at Disney's Animal Kingdom (it goes backwards through a dark tunnel - awesome!)
- the boys getting to wish Lilo & Stitch a Merry Christmas in Hawaiian (Lilo was mighty impressed)
- seeing Captain Jack in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride - too cool!
- getting picked on in the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
- talking to Crush the sea turtle

More later! And pics to come!

The age-old question

Jana, you've just written a 50,000 word novel to win your third NaNoWriMo in a row! What are you going to do now?

I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!

See you next week - though I might post pics and stuff this week, you never know.

Oh, yeah!

In which I realize I'm more busy on vacation than I was at home

I'm coming into the home stretch now - I'm less than a thousand words away from 50,000. In between writing we've been swimming, seeing the science center, a local aquarium, and today we're going back to the science center (a year membership was the same price as a day so we just got that). And we haven't even gotten to Disney yet! Not to mention I'm expected at the Enterprise Christmas party!

New Johnny Depp movie

It's no secret I'm a big fan of Johnny Depp. Specifically, I love the character of Jack Sparrow and everything he's done with it in the three Pirate films. If I had to pick my favorite Johnny Depp moment, I think it would be between two different Jack Sparrow scenes.

The first is the initial entrance of the character Jack Sparrow in The Curse of the Black Pearl. I love the look on his face as he sails into port on the mast of his little boat, and the camera pulls back to reveal the boat is almost completely underwater. Nonplussed, he walks off the mast onto the dock. You know that here's a guy who's not going to be easily bothered when things go wrong. It's possibly the best introduction to a character ever done in a film.

My other favorite scene is in Dead Man's Chest, when Jack and Elizabeth are discussing doing the right thing. She tries to convince him that a moment will come when he will have to decide whether or not to do the right thing. And he says, "I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by." Again, a quintessential Jack Sparrow moment, and one that truly defines the character. Because you never know, is Jack going to do the right thing? Or is Jack going to do the right thing for him? Just like the scene in the first movie when Elizabeth asks, "Whose side is Jack on?" and Will responds, "At the moment?"

So I guess when it comes right down to it, the second one is my absolute favorite. It foreshadows a lot of the events to come in the second and third movies, and it clearly defines Jack Sparrow and what he's all about.

Now Johnny's in a new film. I had a chance to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site and I think I'm really going to enjoy him in this role. It sounds like he's using the same accent again, which I love. And any time he gets together with Tim Burton, great things happen. If you get a chance to visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace, you can check out more about the movie there. I'm positive this is going to be another great, memorable role for Johnny Depp!

Dancing in the dark

At 8:50 last night, the power went out. This was, of course, ten minutes before the finale of Dancing was supposed to come on. It did finally come back on a little after ten, so we got to see Helio and Julianne win! Hooray!

My five-year-old was wandering around the house with a flashlight, bemoaning the fact that he couldn't watch the movie he'd been watching. All of a sudden, he got this horrified look on his face. "Oh, no! We'll have to sleep in the dark!"

Is it wrong to laugh at your child's fears?

Dancing with the 8s and 9s

I know I'm on vacation, but I couldn't miss last night's Dancing With the Stars. And naturally, I have my prediction for you. Unless things go horribly wrong, I'm predicting Helio and Julianne as the winners.

Last night, I have to say, was probably the worst finals I've seen on this show. It was great to see the judges wielding their paddles responsibly and not handing out 10s willy-nilly. And while sometimes I disagree with them (for example, back when Mario Lopez was on and they were judging him as if he were a professional), last night they were absolutely right. Helio's footwork was off on the jive, Marie's free-style was definitely not good (though points for lots of cool lifts), and Mel B could have done SOOOO much better on her freestyle.

The reason I'm picking Helio to win is that he came in second last night. I think there will be an outpouring of votes for him that will push him up to the top spot. I really felt bad for Mel B because, just like Laila Ali last season, she could have done so much better, and frankly, Max let her down with his routine. Marie, well, I never thought she had a chance, so if she wins, I will be shocked.

So, all in all, a disappointing final round. When was the last time there were NO 30s awarded for a freestyle? I'm thinking never. Wow.

Poetic License

Want this button?

As if I don't have enough to do with NaNo going on, I thought it would be fun to participate in Robin's Poetic License. So here is my limerick.

My daily routine is quite busy,
The children were making me dizzy
So now we have run
To the state of the sun
And next week we're going to Disney.

Okay, not prize-winning, but there it is.

Serve me with lemon and sugar

Someone told me today that I'm like a cup of chamomile tea - it calms her down just being around me. That just seems really bizarre to me. I certainly don't feel like the calm relaxed person who has everything under control! It's always interesting to see how other people perceive you, isn't it?

This was another mom of four boys, by the way. So she needs all the calm she can get.

Death by pole vaulting?

Yesterday, the main character in my novel got shot with a bow and arrow. I didn't plan it, it just came out that way in the writing. My first Nano novel had a character who got hit by a javelin. I'm beginning to sense I have some sort of deep-rooted fear of track and field events.

Next year I bet I could do a lot of damage with a shotput.

Cultural Literacy

Years ago I got a book called Cultural Literacy by E.D.Hirsch. It contains all those little things you should have learned in school, but might not have, or that you learned and have now forgotten. The idea behind the book is that there are so many references in everyday life to events, people, places, artwork, and literature of world history that anyone not familiar with them ends up being culturally illiterate.

I remember at the time I read it thinking, "This is all well and good, but where's the entertainment category?" People reference popular entertainment of the past all the time without even thinking about it, but if you've never seen that movie or heard that song, it goes right over your head. I was reminded of this recently when my kids listened to a radio play which was a sort of parody of The Wizard of Oz. They had no idea. They had never seen it.

So yesterday, we sat down and watched The Wizard of Oz. They enjoyed it tremendously and we had fun seeing it together. Right after that, since we're heading to Disney in a couple of weeks, we watched Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. And guess what the kids say right after they get shrunk? "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." Funny, huh?

What's your favorite expression that comes from a movie or television show of the past?