Car Jacked

We were car jacked Monday night.... By this guy.


Photo via Flickr

Ok, so not that guy in particular, but one of his peeps.

I never saw a thing, which is good because I would probably have nightmares if I had. We were taking the kids to Sonic for dessert, driving down Main Street, when I heard and felt this WHAM. I wasn't sure what had happened. We had just passed a park so in my mind I thought wow, some kids just threw a frozen turkey through our windshield. I wasn't totally with it. Ernesto managed to get the car pulled over and I told him that I needed help. (make sure and click on the picture so you get the full effect... and check out all the glass in the bottom right picture)I took almost all of the force. The deer caved in our windshield and roof and then when it rolled off, the window and roof rebounded to some degree. Blake got some glass on him but he was the only one who was physically hurt beside myself. Thank goodness for safety glass!!! I was sitting sort of crossed leg and sideways so I took the impact on the right side of my body. Luckily my sun visor was down so it protected my face. I was really banged up so the am-bu-lance took me to get checked out.

I was covered in so much glass that they had to cut my clothes off and everyone who touched me had to be double gloved (they were getting glass in their hands). I was wearing my favorite green shirt and best fitting pair of pants. *sigh* But nothing is broken and I am only bruised with a million tiny cuts, so no complaints right!Our back yard neighbors were so good, coming to the accident and getting the kids and watching them while I was in the hospital. Jen even bathed Blake to get all the glass off of him and put the kids down to bed. And the man and the lady who stopped were so kind. The woman took Blake and cleaned off his pacifier so that she could give it to him and rocked him and sang him to sleep. The firemen who came to the scene were really kind too, getting the kids' minds off the accident and making them feel special. The kindness and generosity of others is amazing.

Summer Reading List

Did you know that there is a summer reading list for kindergartners? There is, 20 books.

Of the 20 books on the list I own 0 (or maybe 1)
Of the 20 book in the list the library had 1 on the shelf
Of the 20 books on the list I am waiting for 10 to be returned, presumably by the same person since they all have the same return date.
Of the 20 books on the list that I nor the library have, I am trying to figure out if I borrow or buy the other 9Beg, Borrow, or Steal
1, 2, 3, to the Zoo: A Counting Book by Eric Carle
*Billy Dog's Bad Day by Richard Scarry
Buzz said the Bee by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
Clifford and the Big Storm by Norman Birdwell
Corduroy by Don Freeman
*The Foolish Tortoise by Richard Buckley
**Little Quack by Lauren Thompson
The Wildest Brother by Cornelia Funk
Peanut by Lineas Alsenas

* I would really like to borrow these
** I am 99% sure I own this book but I can't find it anywhere!

Thankful Thursday -- The Friday Edition

• Vivian - My aunt Vivian loves my Thankful Thursday posts more than anything else I write. And since I have not been in a very thankful mode lately, I have been slacking on the TT posts. I have been busy and all that stuff... But I figured I could have an attitude adjustment just for Vivian. She is worth it, and she deserves it. (Besides if I miss too many more of these she might call my dad, and I don't want worry the pops.)
• Stuck - And now I am stuck... can I just be thankful for my Aunt Vivian?
  
• Wait! - Oh I do have something to be thankful for... Piperlime. Oh I just love shoes and new ones at that. Is this too shallow?
• Really - Ok now for some seriousness. Seriously I love my Aunt Vivian. I haven't seen her in a few months and would love to go to Texas for a little family time. I love my entire family and I am so thankful for them. My brothers seemed to enjoy the posts I wrote about them. I hope they know I love them with all my heart. I love my Pops and my Brenda Mom too.
• Truth - The truth is I have been feeling the blahs lately and it stinks because it is so contrary to who I really am/ who I really want to be. I haven't had a heart full of gratitude even though I can see that I am richly blessed. I have a fantastic family who loves me whole heartedly and is very good to me even through the mood swings. I have a wonderful home that I enjoy immensely and that is so full of love. My husband loves his career, and a secure job and job satisfaction are biggies, no matter what the economy. I have so many things that bring me joy in my every day life, like really good friends. So just maybe if we can all keep putting up with Her Royal Grumpiness, for hopefully not much longer, I can cget back to being me...
  

Like Mother Like Daughter

She has my fashion sense!!

Simmering

I don't hold grudges. It isn't in my chemical make-up.

I do however, stew and vent and stew and vent... and stew and vent some more. Then I am over it and I don't think about it again.

In my life about 92.71% of offenses are in the Minor category. The minor offenses can usually be vented out by a big fat eye roll. A hefty huff. Even a stink-eye glare with a tisking head shake can get the vent out.
The Moderate offenses occur about 6.92% of the time. Those are resolved with a good ranting, usually listened to by poor Ernesto. Yes, he even has to listen to the rants about himself. But don't worry those usually make him laugh. I'm not a very fierce angry person, although my kids might say otherwise.

Then there are the 0.37% of offenses that fall in the ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! category. These kind of offenses get me really "spooled up". My dad loves that expression. When I get really spooled up, everybody gets to hear me vent and rant and rave. They happen rarely, but consume the greatest amount of ranting energy. I tell Ernesto, my family, and my girlfriends about it every single time we talk until I have that one conversation where the steam runs out of my screaming kettle and I am poof, over it.

Lately the numbers have been a little skewed. More like Minor - 75.63% Moderate - 17.15% AYKM - 7.22% I have been decidedly agitate-able. I have been suffering from a serious case of Steroid Simmer. And I am so over it. So is Ernesto, my family, and my girlfriends. But my kids are especially over it. Can you imagine being with a grumpy-upagus (the unhappy version of this guy) all day long.

If you have been on the receiving end of that stink-eye. I apologize. Management has been informed and we are working on a remedy.

Good Read

I read this post this evening and had to share. Enjoy.

If you're happy and you know it...

I've decided

I've decided I am no longer going to feel guilty for not liking to cook...

This is me enjoying not cooking!

But I still reserve the right to demand praise and accolades when I actually get around to cooking.

10 Tips

When it was mentioned in the comments that someone wanted to hit my brother up for some advice on writing a screenplay, I realized that I didn't know the first thing about screenplays. So, I asked for some tips, and here they are!

Sisters,

Here ya go, and remember, everyone is an expert. (wink)

10. Read a screenplay. You would be surprised, for a medium we are so familiar with, the format is a real eye-opener. A great resources is: http://www.dailyscript.com/movie.html This website has professional screenplays from a number of films you know and love.

9. Screenwriting is almost like creative journalism. The only element of your written word that a film going audience will experience is the dialogue. Now, this isn't to say that your action lines shouldn't be artful ie.

A ranch house on the plains

or

A tumbledown ranch house juts out of the broad Texas plain like a stranger.

Photo via Flickr

Just bear in mind that all of your character's emotions and motivations can only be conveyed by what they say. You can write in body language, but action lines are intended to set the scene and regulate flow. The rule I've heard used? "Don't write anything they can't show on screen."

8. Remember a page in a properly formatted screenplay is equivalent to one minute of screen time. If you have one scene approaching ten pages, you might want to consider the length of scenes in movies. They are much shorter than you think.

7. Think about how people talk and then remember that dialogue is hyper real. You have to find that balance between tight dialogue and real conversation. We don't always know what to say as humans, but characters have to still say the most relevant thing.

6. Brevity is key. Screenplays are generally from 90-120 pages. Be smart with your space. A first time writer is going to have a tough go of selling their 290 page masterpiece no matter how good it is.

5. Be prepared to write something bad. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who is a natural, but reading the first draft of the first screenplay is as exhilarating as it is cringe inducing.

4. Love to edit. Live to cut. This is the hardest part for me, but the best analogy I ever got for editing a screenplay is by likening it to whittling. The way you improve a figure you are trying to whittle is by cutting off more. Only then, the important details emerge.

3. Practice.

2. Practice.

1. Practice, practice, practice. Daily dedication is the only way I can really become immersed in the universe I'm trying to create. I also find that in that the daily work, some of the best ideas that never occurred to me manifest themselves in very organic ways. (I know that organic is one of those phony-baloney writer words, but when these moments happen, I feel like a real writer) And as with anything worthwhile in this life, repetition is the content of mastery.

um....yeah.

Hayley Made Me Do It

It's all her fault!!!Just kidding, sort of. I only ended up getting the $20 Dainty's in black because I need them for a wedding. So if you wanted to get me a present for any reason feel free to get one of the others on the list :)