My mother-in-law likes to do a lot of shopping. She and her sister both do. They will go to all these cool antique shops and gift shops and also they can garage sale shop like no one can! LOL One thing my mother-in-law found recently that really piqued my interest was a Himalayan salt lamp. They are so pretty. The light they give off just gives a warm feeling to the air.

Salt Lamps are said to give off healthy negative ions and that’s really good for you, but, I don’t really understand what that’s all about. I’ve heard it compared to the air at the sea and the air after a good rain. All I know is I really like the looks of them and the peaceful feeling that they give me. My favorite ones are the ones like I have pictured here, just kind of a blob. They do, however, come in all kinds of shapes – spheres, cats, crosses, you name it, basically. I love the rough look and natural feel of the ‘blob’ ones, though. And they come in pinks, oranges, and reds.

I think I might have to do a little shopping of my own! It would be really nice to have one on my desk, to keep me feeling peaceful and unworried through the day. Or maybe when I want to take a break, I could just sit back and stare at it! You know how people always say to count to 10 when you’re upset to help you calm down? I could count to ten while staring at my salt lamp. That might just do the trick when I get all wound up about something!

It is so interesting nowadays how people are coming into fame in ways that never would have happened even ten years ago. Like the little boy, David, who just went to the dentist. His dad takes a video of him on the medicine given to him for the procedure, because it was funny – uploads it to YouTube…and boom bam bing! Fame! And a full time income for the dad! Wow!

GAWD I JUST LOVE THE INTERNET!!!

Ok, so I thought this just happened a couple weeks ago, but, actually – it happened back at the end of July. This guy named Antoine (who really goes by his first name, Kevin, at home) heard his sister screaming in the middle of the night and ran into her room to help her. A strange man was in there, who had climbed in the window, and was trying to violently assault her. Antoine stepped in and the dude ran back out the same way he came in, leaving behind a t-shirt and fingerprints.

The next morning, Antoine and his sister were trying to get some attention to the issue, but, no one would listen to them. They live in the projects and so they just were not taken seriously. The housing authority actually laughed at them. Geez! Eventually one of the TV stations got wind of it and went out to the apartments to check things out. And the following interview is what transpired:
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1. They’re fun! You can cater them to the person’s likes and hobbies.

2. They’re easy! You just go to the site and put them all together – or choose one that’s already put together for you!

3. Someone else is putting all the stuff together for you!

4. You don’t have to mess with the shipping – they do that for you, too!

5. I love receiving gift baskets! And I bet lots and lots of other people feel the same way!

My two favorite gift baskets that I’ve received have both been from my mother. The first one was years ago when I had to work on Easter Sunday – I was so terribly bummed about it!! I was going to get off in the afternoon and get to spend time with the family, but, I was missing all of the fun morning stuff. So my mom decided to cheer me up! It was the funniest thing ever! Not the gift basket itself but the delivery dude! He was dressed as a bunny and was just the most hysterical dude! I was working as a receptionist and so there was a tall desk in between myself and the bunny man. He did something close to ‘jazz hands’ and said, “If there wasn’t this desk here between us, I would just hug you!!!” It was absolutely hysterical! Whenever I happen to see the guy that I was working with that morning, we still laugh about that – and it was over 20 years ago!! The only thing that I remember being in the basket was this cute little duck with a straw hat on – and I still have it. The best part, though, was definitely the delivery! My mom – and ‘Bunny Dude’ – definitely made my day!

My other favorite was a gift basket she sent me in May for my 40th birthday. It was a big, short basket with four different plants in it. Even after leaving the plants for a month to go to Dallas, I still have three of them alive and strong! I just love it when I get plants that I can keep for presents! I think it is absolutely the coolest thing! Flowers – like roses – are fun to get and all…. but, I would so rather have something that I can keep! And four plants in one – well, that was just totally cool!!

Woohoo! All three of my kiddos are now in the high school marching band! Together! How freaking cool is that? See, people think we’re crazy to have had our kids so close together, but, seriously! How neat is it that they all get to march together – for two years! I just love that!

And last Friday was our first official football game and the first time that Sammie marched on the field with the band. If I tell you that I didn’t dissolve into a MESS of tears and sobs in the bathroom – would you believe me?

Seriously – these kids are just amazing! I guess I never really thought about the level of difficulty of marching in a band. I’m so amazed and impressed – by all of them. It’s funny, you see them when they’re not marching – and they’re just goofy, silly, run-around, regular kids. But then you hear the director or the drum majors say ‘the thing’* and they all STOP! what they’re doing and holler “BLUE!” and stand at attention – and then it’s game time! And it’s ON! All business – it really just blows me away!

So the other night was our very first game and we’re not exactly totally ready yet. And even if we were ready, for the first few games, our director always has the band in their shorts and t-shirts because of the heat. But they didn’t get to do all of their songs yet. They’re almost there with them, but, not quite yet.

And a big, major prop was missing – the pirate ship! My husband, Mark – builder extraordinaire – built a pirate ship for them that is so amazingly cool! I can’t wait to see them incorporate it into the show! It has a ramp off of one side of it and at different times during the show, kids will stand on top of it and on the ramp. It’s gonna be so awesome. I think all it is lacking is the sail and the pirate flag – and those should be ready soon.

So now that I’ve blabbed and blabbed, would you like to see the image that sent me to the little girls’ room crying? I suppose I should let you in on that! Just follow me over here….
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We have our first game tonight and this morning, I checked to make sure my band parent shirt was hanging up nicely so it wouldn’t be wrinkled. But I wasn’t in the mood to try it on. I haven’t exactly been so good between last football season and this, so I hope it still fits okay. I was thinking, though, that it would be kind of cool if it didn’t. Why? Because I could order myself a custom-made one from CafePress. I love buying stuff from them! And I could make it a regular t-shirt, as ours are polos, and that freakin’ collar makes me too hot! It’s stiff and uncomfortable and drives me crazy!

And, I could “pirate-ize” my shirt, as that is our show this year. It’s a pirate-themed show, mostly based on Pirates of the Carribean. And the kids’ t-shirts (what they wear on non-uniform days or under their uniforms) have skull and crossbones on them and they are so cool! And the custom t-shirts from Cafepress are so much fun to make! My daughter’s friend has one that her dad made for her and it is so super cute! It has her name on it, her instrument, the band name, and some other stuff. Way cute!

And it would be awesome to custom-make posters, too! It’s my daughter’s first year to march so that would be a really neat gift to make for her I think! And I’m sure the boys would like one, too! It would be really awesome to create several of them and hang them up downstairs in our cool, kid-hang-out basement!

And another thing that I would love for me, and for a gift for the band director (cuz he ROCKS!!) would be band coffee mugs. We could put some ‘pirate-y’ stuff on there and the year and they would make great mementos and a nice spirit item to have on our desk every single day! I’m pretty sure he drinks coffee…hmm…

Well, I know I do!

I recently received a review copy of this DVD/Blu-ray combo set of James and the Giant Peach. I’ve had some internet connection issues (I got a virus! Ack!) so I was not able to blog about it until just now. But let me tell you, this movie was a HIT this summer with my kids and their cousins and their friends! They all loved it!

Here’s a shot, though pretty bad (my camera phone is no good indoors) of two of my kids and two of their cousins completely caught up in the movie:

I know that my daughter also watched it several more times when she had friends over. The funny thing is that when my boys were little, we rented this movie once – and I don’t think they even watched it all the way through. It scared them!! So when Patrick was watching with the girls (above photo), I kept going in there and asking him, “Are you scared?” and driving them all crazy!

(Unrelated note: Patrick also used to be scared of Pappy on Pappyland. Man, I loved that show – it was so cute!! Sam and I had to watch it when Patrick wasn’t around, because, it just freaked him out!)

The story is about a boy named James, who is orphaned when he is young and has to go live with his two aunts, who just treat him horribly! The poor kid has a really sad life with his aunts, Spiker and Sponge, until one day a mysterious stranger gives him some magic crocodile beans and everything turns around. On his way home to his aunts’ house, James trips and drops the beans on the roots of a peach tree. The beans do amazing, magical things to one of the peaches and to some of the critters that live on the tree, who soon become wonderful friends for James. They all wind up going on a great adventure and things really turn out much better for James.

It is a great story, but, there are some dark parts and I can see why the boys were scared when they were little. My nieces didn’t get scared at all, though, but, they are older than the boys were when they first saw it.

The story was originally a book written by Roald Dahl in the 6os. Since we enjoyed the movie so much, I would be really interested to read the book, for sure! I hope I remember to check it out next time we go to the library. This was a great movie and I’m grateful for the chance to have reviewed it!

P. S. If you’re interested in checking this movie out yourself, you can find it on Amazon by clicking right here: James and the Giant Peach