My son, the boy genius, walks into the house crying uncontrollably and Grace asked him, "What's wrong, what happened?" He said, "I,.......I.... (sniff,sniff) don't... wanna... talk about it!" She continued pressing him, "Why are you crying?..." He said, "I was running outside and.........and I....I.....stepped on a raaaaake." Then Grace started laughing uncontrollably and the boy replied, "Shuuuut uuuup." (Sniff, sniff) ..... my..... face huuurts."

Oh the passion, and those smoldering eyes, (Or maybe he's simply still smoldering.) That look of love can only mean one thing. It's another Valentines day with my administrator!

My administrator is actually in California, hanging out at Disney land with our Maria but he sent me a sweet note via Gmail. Fortunately for me, he was able to form a few frilly words into some fine sentences plus -this is an off week for his routine back waxing.

Elizabeth has applied for a job at one of the  Disney studios and they have  responded favorably to her portfolio. They said that she's one of the finalists

 - but then there are probably a lot of finalists.

We've started a nine day novena on Elizabeth's behalf. Our son  has been participating with us, praying as he's never prayed before. He threw his whole heart into it, praying solemnly, slowly and with as much  devotion and passion as his little heart could muster, unlike his usual method of praying like an auctioneer - late for a pig roast. Joseph believes if his sister is hired, she will then mail him a couple of tickets to Disney World or Disney land so if this prayer is answered God would be in essence killing two birds with one stone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Elizabeth was sitting in her office overlooking Paramount studios next door and watching people come and go in their Bentley's, and Mercedes, then as she  turned to gaze at the "Hollywood" sign, she told me she thought to herself, "Is this all there is?" This place is such a joke. How did  it become so iconic. Hollywood has sold us all a bunch of lies.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's another movie, Elizabeth has made.

Please consider praying for our daughter. We need people like her in Hollywood.

Forest Lawn - Hollywood hills.

 I had joked with my daughter Elizabeth and said that when the studios next door were finished with their actors,  they simply threw them over the fence onto Forest Lawn : (

When I read this I thought of our blogger buddies Red and Subvet. They write great stuff like this.

I understand that my skirt wasn't as modest as it could have been but my main concern at the time was  a giant snake hanging above and along the top of the wall behind me.

On the left of your computer screen and behind me were two men  trying to wrangle the anaconda. 

Naturally I didn't stay long and my prayers were abruptly shortened -which discouraged me.... I said to my activity director, "Satan ruins everything!"

My advisor always makes me feel better, he said, "It's okay, everything is okay, you can still pray for him."

(But it's not the same.)

Who wouldn't have said a prayer for Stan as they walked  by?

Dear God, why can't every day be Cinco de mayo?!
~~~~~

Our priest said we're supposed to pray before meals and even in public. Father said, "You shouldn't be ashamed or embarrassed about Jesus, followed by... "You wouldn't want him to be embarrassed about you, now would you!?"

 Well of course not  but I really think it's too late for that since I've been blogging for some time now.

I never pray in public before meals because I don't want to draw attention to myself  and I don't want to appear as self righteous, or haughty and honestly, I don't want to embarrass Jesus,  what if I have to slap one of my children at the table? (I never slap my children, I can't afford the counseling.)

My activity director decided to take us out for lunch yesterday and as you can see I'm having a great time but my  poor director on the other hand, looks as though he's getting ready to part with one of  his favorite dogs or maybe he's scheduled  for some sort of costly, yet painful dental procedure or perhaps he's lost his best friend?

~~~~~~

Nope, he still has his best friend!

~~~~~~

Dental repairs are waaaay more painful than poison ivy, I'd better make my  administrator some chocolate pudding but thinned down so he can slurp it through a straw and though  he's getting rather expensive, I'll probably still keep him..... for now.

A close up of cherry blossoms from Elizabeth's thesis film, "The Seven Rooms of the Soul."

This is a sample of one of Elizabeth's earlier practice projects from 3 years ago.
 She said these clips are time consuming and not easy to produce.

Dear Elizabeth,
Happy Valentines day sweetheart. You know what some people are calling Valentines day don't you?
Single Awareness Day or S.A.D. for short. :(  I made chicken florentine for dinner for your dad and brother and sisters, then we drank sparkling wine and got drunk with the children.  They're really funny when they're tipsy but of course you know I'm totally kidding about the chicken florentine. Your dad bought chocolates for your siblings who ate them as  if tomorrow were "The day after" except that Ana had made a grievous error in judgement when she decided to eat some of Josephs candy there by causing the boy to have a melt down. Do you know how hard it is for a 7 year old  with cash flow problems and no vehicle to score chocolates ? Someone owes him some candy  after school today or my life will be a living hell - and that's the only thing I haven't exaggerated about. XOXOX Mom

BTW. You might want to start cleaning your room, I'll be there sometime in  May  ;)  That is if I make it though the airport security without being touched otherwise I'll be in the L.A. county jail - can I call you?

While some men may not look like toads, they may actually be toads on the inside.

What were the chances?......apparently slim to none. Scooby dooby dooo......

I haven't seen our daughter Elizabeth's movie yet and I can hardly wait!

Elizabeth said  to me after schmoozing with the finest quality of people last weekend,  "It has become increasingly clear to me that everyone needs redemption- everyone needs Christ because everyone - all of us suck."
These are photos of her at around age 4. (1987)
-She was born an artist.

 Elizabeth's animated  film segment "opened" last weekend in Miami.

She had worked on a section of the movie while other artists worked on other parts of the film. Her section of the movie was favored most by the critics and she said that she had mailed the reviews to us by snail mail and I can hardly wait to receive them. My activity director and I didn't go to the premiere because we had to chose between braces for Maria's teeth or Elizabeth's movie and Maria won!
Elizabeth said she bought a dress at Nordstroms but most women wore designer gowns so she was still under dressed and worse yet people thought the animators were "The help" and even though they wore name tags specifying that they were the artists.

People who are in charge of us don't think about us, we are not even a consideration. If you wonder if people ever think about you - they don't.

- Elizabeth.

Aw, I just read that Jack Lalanne died on Sunday evening but I had  prayed for him last Thursday so I'm not too worried about him.  I'm thinking about "offering up"  my work out for his soul today but then again maybe I'll offer up a workout for him tomorrow or perhaps on Thursday. Okay I will positively offer up a work for him sometime next week.

I remember  when Jack said his goal was to live to be a hundred and I thought darn!, at 96 he was so close!

And Jack- about that sugar rant of yours, I had tapioca pudding for breakfast so maybe you could pray for me too?

Please, Please pray for our daughter Elizabeth who is stranded beside a highway with a broken car right  at this very moment. Her dad - my blog administrator has called for a tow truck and has arranged for it to be serviced. I'm so very worried. I can't stand the thought of my child- well she's 27 standing beside the road in a broken car, six states away and upset. She's probably stuck in Watts and she's a very pasty white girl with really red hair... She doesn't blend in very well at all. I'm so worried!



She's on the far left. Did I mention that I'm really worried?

My steam punk children.

Our son said to me, "WHERE'S LUCY?! WHICH WAY IS LUCY?!  HURRY, WHICH WAY IS LUCY?!

I said, "What in the world are you talking about?  He said, Dad told me - righty tighty - lefty loosey so which way do I turn the wrench because I don't know my left and right.

Sadly, after about a dozen double "A's" the poor boy still  couldn't get his homemade train to work properly and not even after his brainiac sister Maria helped him.

*If you happen to notice the boys toe, he dropped a piece of wood on it when he was helping his Dad build a fire and naturally he didn't have his shoes on at the time. Later on he fell on his face and scraped  his nose   but no matter how much it hurts for me to watch, I'm not going to bubble wrap my boy.

Dear Miss Janet,

 I would like to report something strange I saw at my local Walmart store as part of your new, "If you see something, say something campaign."

I saw something strange here......

                                                                              And again here...

And here......

(I think this guy's the hamburgular, you might wanna arrest him A.S.A.P.)

(Sorry, I stole that joke.....please don't arrest me.)

 I'm pretty sure I found the "Uni bomber" in isle 13.

This woman needed to pick up a few things before she had to catch a flight. (Transparency is paramount.)

Clearly we can see, though nauseating, nothing illegal could be found.

 If fro- hawks aren't illegal , they should be.

Some people were fudging the legal drinking age in Arkansas.

AnTiDePrEsSaNtS for everyone!!

(That can't be legal.)

Congrats, honey... yes you did!

(Did you hear they're hiring at the TSA!)

Managerial approval was needed in lane 24 as Mr.Gold finger requested a price check on an aerosol paint can, but thankfully the Sharpie markers, freon, nail polish, and cement glues were all clearly marked.
(I smell something fishy.)

Eating on the run... that can't be good.

Is fast food still legal?

 

Sister, you can't deny, there's lots of suspicious activity going on over at Walmart, which makes me think all the more, I need to avoid the place entirely.

I'm in the grocery store parking lot and I see this smoking red hot car pull  s l o w l e y  into a handicapped parking slot narrowly missing the "No parking"   fire zone concrete barricades, as I'm thinking, "Geese, some people!  Young people parking in the slot for our handicapped citizens, how lazy!

And while I continued parking my own car "Christine",who by the way is rusting out really badly on one side and the stupid battery light is now permanently stuck on, but then so what, so is the emergency brake light and some other kind of warning light , I forget which one (Ever hear the one about the car who cried wolf ?) but I know at some point in the near future the ol' gal is gonna screw me over big time.

(I hope it's not snowing at the time Lord. I have a feeling that all of those "Nature Hiking" sessions with my activity director are gonna pay off!)

Anyway who should appear from the bright  red sleigh red hot car a month too early  but a jolly ol'  fat man about 80 years old and who probably goes by the name of Junior, talk about a visual let down, but then he had a let down as well when he tried to escape the snug steering column and twist ever so slowly with the drivers door fully extended open as far as possible to provide more radius turning for his legs and girth. Afterwards  he sat there in his seat  for a moment to catch his breath or perhaps he was looking for his walker- not sure which, as I thought to myself in a melodic tone inside of my head..... "~Someones ~ over ~compensaaaaating ~ ~ ~"  I figured he probably has a really small personality  yet he still likes to hang with smokin' hot hip friends  friends with hip fractures but he's gonna have a rude awakening if  he finds out  the economy turns bad and he recognizes - to his great sorrow,  his  immature purchase was  made during a moment  of youthful indiscretion. What self respecting adult  plays with kids toys anyway and besides who's gonna help his cougar girlfriend outta the car not to mention that there wasn't any room for her "Jazzy" scooter?
Dang, life is complicated.

Okay so add forty years and forty pounds to the photo of the man above and I'd say I nailed his look. Isn't it funny how the human

brain sometimes doesn't recognize whats going on with the rest of the body -  It's called denial.

Dear Mr.Eastwood,

I loved your movie "Grand Torinio" except for the God's name in vain parts which I actually find super offensive but the cussing otherwise doesn't bother me - even though it should, as I was raised by a couple of sailors on shore leave. ;)   I loved it when the main character of Grand Torinio died for another person in the end. I also liked how your character created his own family because the one he had was all losery and plus I have a fondness for grumpy people- I like to irritate them until they growl which made your movie all the sweeter, and so because I loved Grand Torinio I took my activity director to see your new movie "Here After."

I'm a little religious freaky in real life so I figured, "Me and the "Here after", hum, probably a good fit!"  So as I nestled into my comfy  red faux leatherette chair without the bed bugs (I checked first)  I noticed a woman who goes to Mass with my activity director and myself and I thought ,  "I should try harder to he a better christian and not ignore her", so  I said, "Hi" to which she replied, "Can I sit with you?  I said, "Ummmmmm, SURE! (I'm hesitant about everything in real life because I have to think things through as I pondered if perhaps this could be a problem for me in some way but I failed to recognize a downside but then I worried that at the very least I would have to chit- chat. (OMGosh - the dreaded chit- chat, but I decided in an instant that I would offer it up - for Jesus:)

This nice woman chit- chatted like crazy so I missed most all of the cool new movie previews but then she finally settled down  when movie began.  I loved how "Here After" started. It was terrifying and super well done. I didn't like much else about the movie and  I thought, as usual the Christians  were  depicted as idiots and although I know a few Christians who actually are idiots we were depicted in an unflattering way which is misleading as there are many Christians who set the gold standard for the rest of humanity to emulate. I wondered why the psychic in your movie had all of the answers and respectability but the Christian didn't?

The movie was slow and I had to assure my activity director that in the end you would pull the story line  together but he became bored. (I also  had trouble keeping  him engaged while watching "The American" with George Clooney but George cheated by throwing naked women into the story line when the dialogue tanked -just for good measure but you didn't sink to George's level- good job!)  During the last scene the  woman sitting next to me begins to cry and all I could think about was , "It's just not that sad!" and "Please dear God, I hate snot and drool." Please, please, Lord,  keep me cootie free as I hoped she brought a Kleenex. Geese, I hate O.C.D. -and snot. 

*****

 Anyway, I wanted to share with you and your movie goers  what God has told us about consulting psychics as I've  noticed that this stuff is very popular now days.

***** 

"Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God" (Leviticus 19:31).

"And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people" (20:6).

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you" (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). The original King James Version renders "medium" as "consulter with familiar spirits."

*****

Even though I hadn't seen anything much after "The outlaw Josey Wales" I will probably go and see your next movie but please don't encourage us to sin. I have enough trouble on my own and without anyone giving me any new ideas.

Posted for my "Smokin' blogger buddies ;) "

*****

My activity director woke up around eleven last night to help to manage a house fire from his telephones and electronic gadgets and when he came back to bed at around two o'clock in the morning, he wanted to chit chat about fire hazards and fire safety. Who wouldn't want to talk about those things in the middle of the night?  I asked him if everyone was okay and he said yes, then I said,  "That's good, I'm going back to sleep now but he continued on and said wood roofs are dangerous! I said to him, "What caused the roof fire -someone smoking?" (As I was thinking- "Ugh,that Willie Nelson!!  - # 29)

But my husband said, no, lightening.
 (My blog administrator rarely if ever thinks I'm funny.)

We visited our daughter Ana at the Benedictine Abbey yesterday and while we were downtown I picked up a brochure about the city's haunted Halloween tours. It's where you can tour real haunted houses while riding in a trolley -just  like Mr.Rogers. I said to Ana, "I wonder if it would be a sin to tour these homes -ask one of your monk friends." She replied, "No, Mom, it's not a sin." "I go to catholic college and I know everything about the catholic faith, I know everything about everything."

(I'm thinking maybe it wouldn't be a good idea anyway.)

Someone should alert NASA and notify the Pope.

They might be able to put to good use Ana's vast wealth of  knowledge ;)

- Ana, one of Americas greatest natural resources to be sure!

After Ana had finished sharing her sizable wealth of catholic knowledge with our pope she then began to dazzle him with her awesome break- dancing skills.  Fortunately for us,  these were talents which she had  pick up while working in the hood -down the street from the Abbey.
*She can run really fast too.

I love you Anastasia!

My blogger buddies crack me up.

Here's a little video of one of 'em caught in a prayerful moment with God.

(I think if he had viewed the Aurora Borealis he'd a had a full blown ecstasy!)