Watched The Piano with Adam (spoilers)

Here is a movie that my sister-in-law really liked, so I figured it was perfectly safe to watch with Adam. She had walked out during Pulp Fiction, so I figured this movie would be pretty tame. First there was the naked sex scene and Adam asked me, "Why is that guy climbing on top of her?" I simply replied, "Let's just fast forward through this part." Then later, when she gets her finger chopped off, I tried to fast forward, but still there was the aftermath. He told me, "She hurt her finger." I just said yes. And finally, there was the imagined drowning scene at the end, and I had to explain how you can die if you get stuck underwater. Way too much to explain to a 4-year-old!! He was absolutely glued to the TV, didn't want me to turn it off.

Timber!!

Adam loves it when I let him do things like dump over the snowman we just built! He completely demolished it, not a trace of it left afterwards.

IFC (Independent Film Channel)

I keep getting burned watching films on this channel. Maybe my tolerance for violence has dropped over the years, but some of the stuff is just too much. These two were both unbelievable true stories.

First it was Soldier's Girl (here is some possibly biased background info). This was a made for Showtime movie, so it really hard to find the title, but Google came through. Doug was first drawn in by the transvestite, he wanted to see how good he/she was (very convincing), but then we got sucked in and shocked by the extremely violent outcome.

Then there was Boys Don't Cry. I knew nothing about this movie except for the blurb from the digital cable. And I didn't even know that Hilary Swank won an Oscar for the role. She was just incredible. Again, had to fast forward through the violent rape scene, and Doug simply couldn't watch her being blown away at the end.

OK, I will now read up on the movies before I watch them!!

Books books books

After a busy period where I couldn't get a single book read and had a hard time even keeping up with my Time magazine, I've finally been able to get some books read this year. Here they are:

1. Angels and Demons. My mom bought this after reading The DaVinci Code. Same type of fast-paced Catholic themed action mystery thriller. Near the end, I had 200 pages left and tried to read it in one sitting. Got too tired and left 50 pages to read while the kids buzzed around me the next day.
2. Morning, Noon and Night. Spalding Gray finally settles down and finds some kind of happiness in family life. Of course this is the guy's version where he has free time to do yoga, take a bike ride and read the newspaper, with 3 kids around!
3. Yiddish with Dick and Jane. Gift for Doug from his sister. Very funny, and it's amazing how many words we use in everyday language are Yiddish!
4. Jack of Diamonds. OK, I probably started this last year, but finally finished it. Very well crafted stories, but not the same caliber as Joyce Carol Oates (still finishing up Heat at the moment). Good stories, but didn't have that hook that would make you want more.
5. Swimming to Cambodia. Probably Spalding's most famous work. I enjoyed it immensely. Had remembered seeing snippets of it before, especially the Bangkok shows (shooting the banana out of the vagina scene).

Dova is SO BIG!

When Dova was first born, I had forgotten how small babies were. I was used to Adam's size and this tiny infant (albeit a big one compared to most at 8 lb. 11 oz.) was so small in comparison. I vowed to take note of her size as she grew so I could remember how small she was.

At first her tiny folded legs could fit into the palm of my hand. Her whole body would fit on my forearm, as she often needed to airplane around during her colicky periods. When she nursed, she fit snugly against me with her legs folded at my belly. As she got bigger, only her thighs would fit into the palm of my hand. She would still fit against me which she nursed, but her legs would sometimes stretch out along my thighs, but still a perfect fit. Now, she like to drape her legs over my thighs. Her legs are very long, already wearing Adam's 24 months pants. And now her upper arms are the only thing that fit in the palm of my hand.

Adam is growing by leaps and bounds as well. Thankfully, I got rid of those hole-ridden jeans that I was tired of fixing the patches on, as he easily transitioned into his size 5 pants. He is so handsome that I said he should be a movie star. I told him that he could play a race car driver. He thinks he will get a lot of toys if he is a movie star.

Gas mileage? Who cares!

When it is all of 4°F outside while I am dropping Adam off at school, I leave the car running with the heat and the heated seats on. It is wonderful to return to a warm car!! This is no longer the environmentally conscious Angela we all know. Last few tanks have been only 21.7 mpg, with the price per gallon getting over 10 cents. Ouch!