digressions: February 2008

lunchtime post regarding astronomy, ballet, and golden statuettes

If these were at all clear, you would see the very cool lunar eclipse from the other night.

We had a perfect view from our back deck, and luckily so because the girls were able to experience the whole thing while I fumbled clumsily with the telescope to no avail (I'm not good).

K had her big ballet recital on Saturday.

We tamed the wild red mane, and achieved the perfect bun.

She did great and had a stage presence that my friend m described as "regal."
The decoration in the high school auditorium however, may give you the false impression that they were dancing at a Bar Mitzvah.

Oscar night low: Juno only won one award

Oscar night high: Hands down seeing Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová performing and then winning for "Falling Slowly"

and their humble inspiring acceptance speeches.

Okay, back to work.

haiku review

Jumper

Jumper

great special effects
hot actors teleporting
plotline way shaky

My personal attempts to jump to Maui have been thus far unsuccessful.

hail to the seven-year-old chief

In honor of President's Day and the presidential primary season, K's class made a snazzy presidential booklet. There were worksheets about the duties of the commander-in-chief, fact sheets about Linclon and Washington, (What? No Franklin Pierce page?!) and the last page asked them to draw a picture of someone they thought would make a good president, and write a sentence telling why. Here was K's page:

If you can't read the text, it says, "Jacqlyn would make a good president because she is really loyal." I tried to think back to being in first grade and wondered how I would have filled out this sheet. Then again, I don't remember being asked my opinion about anything in first grade (Sr. Consolatta was too busy scrunching my ear and instilling terror into my soul) I certianly don't think I would have drawn one of my female contemporaries though. I think I would have said my dad, who IS very presidential (hi Dad!). In light of our current political race, I thought K's choice was pretty cool.

we bought the farm...wait, no!

My son and I MADE a farm- a quaint wooden farm, with little wooden livestock, barn, shed, and (my favorite part) a silo. I really enjoy saying silo, but I digress.

J has been kind of obsessed with playing games on the computer lately. He can navigate many a kid friendly website and rawk hard and take names at just about anything on NickJr. Playtime.com. I feel the requisite mommy guilt when my kids get too much "screen time," and J has seen a lot in the last few weeks. I am busier than I've ever been with the programs I am currently producing. I, too, have been a bit overloaded with screen time between writing, editing, and viewing footage.

But, when J asked my assistance with his foray into miniature agriculture, we had the best time. He was so great at putting things together, arranging the various parts, making animal noises, and ordering me around. I basically got to sit back and take in how cute, smart, and funny he is. What a great toy (thanks to Kar's mom -a.k.a. Auntie Denny). No bells, no whistles- literal or metaphorical, just simple blocks.

It was one of those "you've got to stop and smell the roses" type reminders, and luckily, in this case, I didn't have to smell any actual farm odors.