And What Did I Think?

Eclipse.

First let me say that I think it is a testament to Chris Weitz that this movie didn't blow my socks off as much as I thought it would. Not that I didn't think it was fantastic, I did. I just recall how totally joyous I was that New Moon was SO much better than Twilight. I have since forgiven Catherine Hardwicke because I think she was really up against it making Twilight and did the best (almost) that she could with what she had to work with. It was partly thanks to her that Chris had so much to work with making New Moon.

Eclipse was, as I expected, more dark and creepy. I expected this of David Slade. I think the change of director was the part that didn't sit comfortably for me at first. This movie was like switching gears from the last one. Not better or worse, different. It took me a while to settle in, if you know what I mean.

One thing I noticed is that the actors all seemed very "at home" in their roles. More than ever before I thought. I guess that's normal being that this was the third time around. Or perhaps it was because they filmed this one right after NM so they were at home in the characters.

As a parent I appreciated the attention to detail they paid to Bella's realization and depth of emotion about how much she was going to miss her own parents.

I knew the scary/creepy factor would be there but I wasn't sure if he could nail the romance and capture the feelings you had (for Edward) (ha!) when reading the books. He did. He REALLY did. In several glorious parts I felt myself swooning as I did when I read it. It was... wonderful.

Stand outs for me were -

Jasper. He was finally able to display his stellar acting ability and seeing more of him made the viewer feel at ease about why exactly Alice loves him so much.

The training and fighting scenes. They could have looked stupid and fake but they actually looked pretty awesome.

The tension was believable between Jacob and Edward. The tent scene was pretty fantastic.

My Favorite:

When Bella tries to seduce Edward (this scene was PERFECTION! I do not exaggerate.)

Tonight

In honor of the movie I'll be seeing tonight, or technically early tomorrow morning...

Safety First or well... at least I'm trying

I've had mixed reactions to my decision to pursue roller derby. Most have been along the lines of "That is SO cool! I think you'll be fantastic at it!" some have been more like "Is that really a good idea?" or "Why in the world are you doing that?" and a few have been "What is roller derby?"

I myself have finally made peace with my decision. I no longer feel sick with worry before going to practice, I'm not laying in bed awake thinking about whether I'm being irresponsible to take up a hobby like this.

I've been to several practices now and I'm doing pretty well. I am in love with skating and with all of the challenging things I can make my body do on skates. I was worried about the risk to my body from doing this (which is still a real and logical concern) but I wasn't expecting the improvement. I can actually feel my knees and ankle becoming stronger and more stable because of the muscles that are targeted to do what I'm doing.

As I improve and am trying more difficult things I felt it was especially important to try and protect myself as much as I can. That's why I ordered these (which I think should be a part of every Fresh Meat package)



as well as these for under my kneepads. See. I'm trying to be safe. I am.

I am also going to watch my first bout this weekend. I have no idea what to expect. I'm actually mostly really excited about spending my first night with out Baby B. Yeah!

Oh and by the way. These are my skates, basically.

Worth It

It's that time of year once again. Summer fair time. So please try to ignore the toque Peter is wearing in several of the photos. It wasn't really cold but last year he was under dressed and learned his lesson.

This was Little B's first time riding. Last year she happily rode around in the stroller, content to simply observe the action. This year, not so much. She was, overall, very well behaved until she started to get tired and totally lost it. It brought back traumatic memories of us taking Miss A to the fair at this age. Apparently, we never learned a thing. Ha.

As usual Miss A was fearless. Little B, being small for her age, couldn't go on many rides which was terribly unfortunate because she loved them ALL. She would often be crying on the ride before it began because the anticipation was horrible for her. The Carnie guys kept saying to us "She doesn't want to ride." but we would explain "She just can't wait for it to start!" they would shake their heads at us until they started the ride and she would shut up and start smiling her head off.

We paid an obscene amount for fair food but really, you're missing out on the experience if you don't pay $5 for a corn. dog. Sigh. She only eats one once a year. Also, did you know that blue cotton candy can turn a child's feces the exact same color? Needless to say Miss A and I were both surprised when she hollered at me to join her in the bathroom to see her "Blue Poop!".

Regardless of the cost, I'm always glad we go because they enjoy it so much. Next year should be even better.

Sleeping

Is there anything more beautiful than a sleeping child? Especially when it's your child. Because when they are sleeping they aren't crying. Or whining. Or sassing. Or turning their nose up at the food you made. Or saying "No". They are just quiet. And their small relaxed faces remind you that perhaps it wasn't the worst idea you ever had to go ahead and make babies.










And these moments are pretty good too.

Contraption

The above is a contraption called a Pigg-o-Stat. Baby B had the opportunity to experience it on Tuesday only she wasn't as complacent as the child in the photo. She managed to force her head forward between the plexiglass. We then had to come out from behind the radiation safe wall (Ha!) and reposition her. Awesome.

Turns out she's fine. Just croup related bronchial narrowing. I wish I had been keeping track of the number of times this kid has had croup. It's ridiculous.

Anyway, I'm a terrible blogger as usual. Facebook has been the ruination of this blog. Tell me please if I have any readers who are not also friends of mine on facebook. Not that a quick status update is in any way as awesome as a blog post but I find I keep thinking, aww I don't need to post people know what's up with me. Do you?

I Have Something to Say. Finally.

It's shocking. I actually do. I've been feeling like a freeloader. Reading blogs, feeling connected to the writers and giving nothing in return. Well, except Twilight related videos. Oh and Elmo too. Anyway, I'm here. I really have been writing. I'm 22 pages into a story I started writing on Easter weekend. I'm really excited about it. Really. It's been very all consuming. Also, I just read this story. Frick. I put it down at one point and yelled at Peter for getting me to read it. I asked him, told him, there had better be a good reason why he begged me to read it. Asked him how much more would I have to endure before the @ss kicking I knew had to be coming? I'm glad I soldiered through.

This is the stuff I would appreciate feedback on. Okay. Here goes.

My TaeKwon Do instructor dropped the bomb on me this week that he thinks I should test for my 3rd Degree Black Belt. In November. This came as a gigantic surprise to me. Prior to my previous Black Belt examinations I had been training regularly. I hadn't had two children. I wasn't training a measly 90 minutes a week. I didn't think testing while training so little was even an option which is why the suggestion caught me so off guard.

On one hand I am flattered, that may be the wrong word but I'll go with it, that he has enough faith in me, in the small amount of time that I have to dedicate to training before November, to think I may be ready to test. He also admitted to me and the whole class that he also had somewhat selfish reasons for wanting his black belts to advance. Regardless, although I didn't expect it, I can't deny I'm interested. Of course I want to advance.

Now the other hand. The idea of actually embarking on this journey of training to 3rd Dan scares the crap out of me. Logistically, I have no idea how I'll be able to do it. How I can possibly be ready to test in amount of time I have to prepare. Another thing that worries me is how I will ever live up to my last test. Testing to my 2nd Dan was one of the things I am most proud of ever doing. Not the getting of the rank but the actual test. It was like an out of body experience. I was so prepared, so tuned in that while I was performing each task, especially my patterns by body took over and my mind was all like "Wow. You're doing awesome. Way to go!" and then I was like "Hey. My body is totally in auto pilot and I'm not even really paying attention to what it's doing." Except I was, or I must have been because I didn't mess up. I did awesome. So awesome that I impressed the Master who tested me and was invited to travel 4 hours to his city to train with him on weekends if I could. (I couldn't.) A part of me is really afraid of replacing that memory with one of me having a terrible test Scraping by. Feeling like I don't deserve the new rank.

So I'm not sure what to do. If I make the decision to do it I know I will commit wholeheartedly. Still, wholehearted now and wholehearted before two kids is different. I am finding the whole idea very daunting and I'm thinking it may be impossible to be as ready as I need to be.

AND... then there is this little matter of ROLLER DERBY starting up in my city. Roller. Derby. How cool is that? And I'm SO interested. But I can't do both. There is no way. I really am interested but I'm also wondering if my wanting doing to do it is just a good way to get out of training for my 3rd Dan.

Busy

I'm still writing and therefore, neglecting... In the meantime.

Squeeee!!!!

Good Excuse...

for my blogging laziness. I've been writing! A story. And I think it might be pretty good. So while I'm busy with that, please enjoy this very, very funny video courtesy of Sesame Street.

I Haven't Done This Sort of Thing in a While

Right... Important Stuff

I mentioned our trip to the city and the reason for the appointment, B's eye, and then never said how it went. I'll be perfectly honest, I felt it was a complete waste of time. We went in the night before to avoid bad weather that didn't actually happen and we spent $100 on a hotel room. Our appointment was all of maybe 15 minutes and she was barely looked at. He seems satisfied that she is seeing well and thinks the droop will become less obvious as she gets older. I hope this is all true but is difficult for me to believe that he can determine this with minimal examination.

When complaining to someone else about this they pointed out that her doctor is a specialist and he likely doesn't need to do such a thorough examination in subsequent visits because he can see improvement just by looking and without measuring or using any instruments. Perhaps this is true but I would appreciate it if he spent a little more time, just to humor me and make me feel like it was worth a two hour drive and the cost of a hotel room.

He also said he'd see us "one more time" in six months. Maybe I was reading too much into his tone but it sounded like he thought it would be a waste of time, but he'd look at her again anyway. All I could think was, Dude, if you think it's a waste of time don't waste our time by getting us to come.

I should be happy right? Happy that he thinks it's really nothing, barely worth his time. I just feel like I need a bit more reassurance that everything is indeed okay. I might not get that in six months but I really hope to.

Thank You Notes

I don't know if I've mentioned how much I love Jimmy Fallon before. I do. I love him. He had me at the first sketch he giggled through on SNL. I loved him in 'Fever Pitch' when Drew Barrymore's character wakes up from her flu induced coma to see him brushing her dogs teeth. So it's not a surprise that I enjoy his talk show also. One of my favorite bits that he does is 'thank you notes'. Here is a sample.



So lately I've been coming up with a few of my own...

Thank you to the makers of cheap garbage bags because there is nothing I look for more in a garbage bag than one which rips open when you are taking it to the dumpster leaking various garbagy debris on me, my clothes and or my property.

Thank you preschool for having my child do crafts with sequins stuck to glue, except there is never enough glue so those damn sequins get everywhere, the road, the car, the backpack, MY HOUSE. Don't you know that they are a chocking hazzard!? (I still love you preschool!)

Thank you people who hang 'Truck Nuts' on your vehicles for confirming that you really are the douche bags that I suspected you to be.



Thank you facebook for helping me to reconnect with so many people that I never really knew in the first place but for some reason they've decided that we should be 'facebook friends'.

Thank you guilty conscious for not allowing me to reject people on facebook who I recognize but never knew then and don't really want to know now.

That's all I've got for now. Feel free to leave yours in the comments.

Long Overdue (as usual)

It's me. Remember me? I've been wanting to write. Really. I have. And I've been wanting to comment but I'm really behind. Now I'm just going to write a lengthly, photo filled post instead of several more focused posts.

The Olympics are over. Thank goodness. I have my life back. Oh, and I'm sorry about the closing ceremonies. Pitiful, just pitiful.

Other than that, life has been crazy lately. Have you heard of the Doodlebops? They are the stars of a Canadian kids television show. I found out that they were coming to our city and although Miss A hasn't watched the show in some time I was certain she'd enjoy going. I was not wrong. Here is some photo evidence of the fun.





Isn't it hilarious how crazed she looks here. I LOVE this photo.





Then we traveled into the city for B's eye appointment. We decided we'd better go in the night before to hopefully avoid the freezing rain forecasted when had planned to travel. By the time we decided to go it was pretty late. B slept most of the way and then when we arrived at the hotel she was all NEW PLACE, NOT TIRED despite the fact that Peter and I were very tired indeed.

Note the time on the clock.



She eventually did go to sleep and we all had a relatively good, albeit not at all long enough, sleep. We took B to the pool which was perfect for kids. I felt a twinge of guilt that Miss A was not with us to enjoy. (We plan to take her there in the future.) I marveled at the difference between B and Miss A, pool wise. I am used to A's reckless abandon. How she runs and jumps and gives me fifty heart attacks when we are near/in water. B is excited, yet cautious. She climbs the ladder, carefully sits down and then wiggles down the slide. She hits the water and looks mildly annoyed. She dragged me along to the bigger slides which we only went down a couple of times. Miss A wouldn't go back to the little slides after experiencing the bigger better ones. It's interesting.

I was able to do some shopping for the girls at Old Navy, which I can't do here, so that was nice. I bought them the cutest navy and white gingham dresses. I also bought myself a new bathing suit. Another item which is difficult to buy here. It's actually a mastectomy suit which sounds weird but it turns out it is excellent for me and my need of extreme support. I'm hoping the streamline design is going to help me swim faster and beat my time at the next mini triathlon!

We also were able to briefly get together with an old friend of mine. Due to distance, kids and life we haven't seen each other in a long time. Yet, it always feels like home when I'm with her.

Wow. I've been working on this post for a week. I'm just going to post it and move on.

On Behalf of Canada

So have you been watching the Olympics? I felt I needed to write something about this since it's my country that is hosting.

First, let me speak about the Olympics themselves. I personally love the Olympics. I greatly admire the athletes and the time they devote to their sport. I feel a small fraction of the devastation they must feel when they fail to meet their goals or feel as though they've let their country down. In a society which projects a narrow, cookie cutter image of what physical fitness looks like I appreciate how Olympic athletes show true physical fitness in all its many shapes and sizes. As an individual who struggles with body image I always have a sense of peace and satisfaction seeing athletes who's bodies are similar to my own.

Not unlike any other Olympics, there has been a great deal of protesting. Being anti-poverty and anti-globalization isn't a bad thing. I'm not convinced that vandalizing cars or smashing store windows accomplishes this. It seems misguided and ineffective, at least as far as the goal of the protest is concerned.

Truthfully, I did not watch all of the Opening Ceremonies. I taped them and fast forwarded through the dull parts. We thought Miss A might enjoy watching some of them. She did. She was especially excited when Sarah McLachlan performed "Ordinary Miracle" from Charlotte's Web. Also, being the brilliant child that she is, she recognized the part when the messy haired kid who appeared to be running through a prairie wheat field which was projected on the floor and then started flying through the air as being total crap. That's my girl. Sadly, this was the part which was supposed to represent the particular area of Canada where we live.

I was both amused and confused by the 'Ravers' all dressed in white which lined the aisle when each countries athletes entered. I found them very distracting and also ridiculous. I tried to find video of it for those of you who did not experience the wonder yourselves but no dice. I'd be curious to know who thought that was a good idea. However, I thought K.D. Lang's performance was pure brilliance. I would kill to be able to sing those sliding notes she can. Being a huge fan of both Wayne Gretzky and Steve Nash I totally approved of them being chosen to be that last of the flame carriers. I don't blame either of them for the terribly awkward facial expressions they continually made while the waited for the technical difficulties re: lighting the dang cauldron to either resolve themselves or for someone, anyone, to tell them what the crap they were supposed to do now. I'm going to link this article because it's far better writing than my own and it's also very amusing.

While looking for video of the ceremonies I was horrified to find one of pictures compiled from the luge accident, including one of the poor young man as the paramedics worked on him. I felt compelled to leave a comment for the person who posted it telling them I thought it was in poor taste and that if I was the athlete's mother I would be horrified to discover that someone posted something like that for any reason. As for the accident, I think there is obviously great risk of bodily injury or even death in that particular sport. I sincerely hope that it was not caused by a fault in the track/human error and that it was just a freak accident. Either way, I would hate to have been involved in the construction of that track and I wouldn't be able to feel at ease until all competition on it was complete.

As for the weather. It is laughable. Vancouver is notorious for getting terrible, unpredictable weather. Choosing Vancouver to host means choosing potentially awful weather conditions. Why is anyone (in this country) surprised by this?

In any case, on behalf of Canada I hope that the remainder of the Games are safe, fun, and a demonstration of good sportsmanship and incredible athleticism that they should be.

Nice

Elizasmom passed along a blog award to me. This is awfully nice since I barely consider myself to be a blogger anymore what with all the slacking I've been doing. However...



The rules of this award state that I should list 5 random facts about myself, and then pass it forward to other awesome bloggers.

Very well...

1. I am the last child in a family of five kids. A large family when compared with most people my age. I was born 20 years after my oldest sister and 10 years after my brother who is the closest in age to me. I grew up being closer in age to my nieces and nephews than my siblings. It was kind of strange.

2. When I was in about grade four some friends and I won a lip syncing competition. The funny thing was we were all girls and performed "Fight for your Right" by the Beastie Boys. I had no idea who they were at the time and I think we knew the song from some kind of "Hits" compilation tape. Later I became a huge Beastie Boys fan.

3. I am a pretty athletic person, I have been described as hyper by many people. However I went through a very inactive period during high school which was set in motion by two horrible volleyball coaches who put me on their volleyball team only to cut me after one practice for not picking up game strategies. I am also a stubborn person. This experience made me swear off school sports for the duration of my high school years. (I did make an exception for soccer one year) In my opinion this was a big loss for the school and it was very rewarding to have those two teachers present during my first degree black belt test which I happened to be taking with a coworker of theirs.

4. I have always had very vivid, strange and sometimes horrible dreams. This is seemingly a thing that you can pass down to your children because Miss A suffers from the same thing. Or perhaps it is a coincidence.

5. I met my husband while still dating my high school sweetheart whom I was convinced I was going to marry. I still find it really cool that when I first met him I had absolutely no idea about all the amazing things we were going to do and share together.

And I pass this Kreativ Blogger award on to...

Total Mom Haircut

Life in Sandyland

I love both of these girls. They are both very creative, amazing and deserving.

An Explanation Nonetheless

So. Turns out I am a terrible blogger these days. Can't seem to make it happen. I defend myself by explaining some of the major contributing factors to this. Miss A loves the computer, which in turn means it's not available for me to use. If I do manage to get on it Baby B climbs up with me preventing me from actually getting anything done or turns off the computer or switches off the powerbar all of which make me want to lose my mind with frustration so I tend to just avoid it. Baby B often doesn't go to bed until after 10:30. We've been watching Friday Night Lights. I play the Sims 3 during B's naps instead of writing posts. (Coincidentally, Sim B is much more cooperative than real B. Perhaps that is why I find such pleasure in playing that game.) That pretty much sums it up I think. Some of the excuses I think are quite good and others are rather lame. Ah well...

Here is an interesting discovery that I should have made ages ago. I was watching this video



the other day and it suddenly and strangely (because you can't really see him) occurred to me that Thom Yorke has ptosis just like Baby B. And in the same eye.





I have loved this man for years and have gushed many times about how adorable, what I describe as his squiffy eye, is. How did it take me so long to notice that my sweet baby shares this condition with one of my favorite musicians? It was/is an important discovery for me because somehow knowing this makes me more appreciative of it and less freaked out about it. I almost feel like I can embrace it now. I know this must sound idiotic but it's true. I guess it's knowing that although I noticed his eye when I first saw Thom Yorke in a Radiohead video and wondered why it was the way it was, it soon became yet another quirky thing I loved about him and it in fact made him even more attractive to me because of it. It makes me think that if B doesn't end up having surgery to correct this that it will be a thing that makes her unique and even if people do say things to her about it they will begin to accept it as part of what makes her who she is and that she will be loved regardless of any flaws visible or not.

Ambitious

I think it's safe to say this will be my last post before Christmas. Which I'm sure is a total shock to all of you since I've been posting so often these days...

And because I'm lazy mostly I'm just going to use pictures to catch you up on the goings on around here as well as to entertain you.

First of all, I'd like to introduce you to our Christmas tree. It's um... huge. I'm kind of the one in charge of picking the tree. My requirement is that it be almost tall enough to touch the ceiling, however, because we have a rather small living room the Christmas tree usually takes up a considerable amount of room. I was sort of in shock after we brought our tree in this year and it began to warm up and the branches began to fall into place. Enormous. It is beautiful though and worth the amount of space it takes up. A has defined it as perfect and B has amazingly left it alone mostly, only pointing, smiling and touching it occasionally. It's a good thing we have two entrances to the room because it fills almost half of one of them.




We taped 'The Polar Express' off of television and Miss A has been watching it once a day. It's pretty astounding to look at even though it's a few years old already. It's also rather frightening in several parts. I still haven't figured out why kids movies always seem to have to have scary stuff in them, it makes no sense to me. As far as I'm concerned if it was that stressful to get to the North Pole I'd rather not go, however it does seem like the kind of dream Miss A would have.

Which reminds me, the other morning she woke up early crying. I went in to see what was wrong. She told me she had a dream that Santa was here and had brought presents and Baby B had opened hers already. I asked her if that upset her. She told me no, that Santa had said B was guilty. I asked her if Santa was angry with B. "Him was." I have to admit that my heart was warmed by the fact that she is protective of her sister, even in her dreams. Even when she had a right to be angry with her. I have no idea where the 'guilty' part came from but it amused me.

Baby B still continues to struggle with sleep and I continue to struggle with having so little of it. I fantasize all the time about the summer when my sister has volunteered to keep them for a couple of nights. Two. whole. night. With uninterrupted sleep. Heaven. Here she is sleeping in each of her beds. Her crib and her playpen. I really don't care which one she sleeps in. I'd just like her to stay in one for the duration of the night.




I can do what you are doing is going strong around here. Which make me insane some days. It seems B is constantly screeching about something that her sister has that she doesn't. Miss A is extremely patient for the most part but occasionally goes in her room, shuts the door and plays by herself. B has recently learned to say her name in her own way and I don't think I'd be giving away to much by sharing it. She stands outside her door and yells "AUDRA!" It took me a while to figure out she was saying her name and not just yelling some random thing because it sounds a lot like other non-words she says. I do think she's on the verge of really talking because she seems to be coming out with several things lately like, shut and gum. (um!) (thanks to my mother, the gum lady.) Anyway, I often repeat a mantra to myself - enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, but when she's crying or screeching yet again it's sometimes difficult not to wish her older and less whiny.



Anyway, hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and enjoy the season rather than stress about it.

More Twilight Related Drivel

So I was sitting at my third viewing (that's right, lets just establish I'm a dork/freak and be done with it, shall we?) of New Moon on Tuesday and couldn't help but notice the kinship I felt with Robert Pattinson. I think it was specifically apparent this time because of my viewing companions. They were heavy with the appreciation on Jacob Black/Taylor Lautner. Not that I didn't appreciate him, and I will say I sympathized with his character in this movie more than I ever did while reading the book where I was all blah, blah, blah, you're nice or whatever but where's Edward? Honestly though, I found his body kind of distracting in a freakish kind of way. His abs looked like six grapes bunched together under his skin and his traps were like, up to his earlobes! I kept whispering to Peter "Dude! His traps are CRAZY!!" which I hope he didn't misconstrue as "which is hot!" because is was more like "He looks like some sort of mutant." Many people have been confessing their guilty (due to his age) love of him and while I think he is adorable if I have to choose a wolf I firmly choose Paul/Alex Meraz (on the far right).

ANYWAY, It really struck me during the Edward reveal part (which after seeing on the big screen I am forced to admit that perhaps his "abs" were enhanced in some way as they were rumored to have been, even so, I don't care!) when my friend muttered "His body just doesn't look as good as Jacob/Taylor's does." to which I replied very defensively - "He's genetically incapable of achieving that physique, and he more than makes up for it with his brilliance in all other areas!" Sensitive? Yes, I do believe I am. On his behalf and mine.

It's pretty obvious that Robert (and his trainer) put a lot of hard work and time into making him look that great and as he adorably told Ellen DeGeneres it's the best his body has ever looked and he was proud of himself. He'll never achieve the results Taylor has no matter how hard he tries and shouldn't be held up to that standard anyway. I personally feel his pain since my own hard work gives me subtle visible results and I must settle for the knowledge that my heart and lungs are strong even if my body doesn't appear to be 'fit' when compared with the general standard of what that looks like according to society/the media.

In a nutshell, Robert and I are kindred spirits in that we are expected to look different than we were ever designed to and if we held ourselves up to those standards we could never hope to succeed. Also, we are both awesome.

And This is My Review

The first thing I feel I need to say is that Chris Weitz is a genius. Seriously, I feel like tracking him down and embracing him like a long lost loved one. I feel that strongly about him. When I heard that he was going to be directing New Moon I had high hopes because of his film adaptation of this book to this movie which I felt was nothing short of brilliant. (I chose to ignore some of the lower points in his career.) He not only lived up to my hopes but surpassed them infinitely.

It had everything that was lacking in the first installment. It stayed true to the book, rather than feeling like someone picked what they deemed were the best and most interesting parts of the story. It contained mostly dialogue directly from the book but also interspersed new dialogue that was current and sometimes comical.

The attention to detail was impressive except for the odd decision to have Edward driving a black Volvo something or other (looked more like an SUV than a car to me) instead of silver. Peter and I had a lovely moment during the scene when Bella goes to Emily and Sam's place and Emily puts the platter of HUGE muffins on the table. We looked at each other and said "Muffins!", thrilled to see something we'd imagined from the page translate so perfectly to the film.

The special effects were so close to perfect that it's almost not worth mentioning it's tiny short comings. The wolves, all things considered, were pretty awesome. Sam-Wolf in particular looked odd to me at times, I'm not exactly sure why, but the phasing and movement in general was spectacular.

Despite the (expected) lack of Edward in this movie it contained an eternity's worth of beautiful moments between he and Bella which didn't feel rushed at all. This was a huge source of comfort to me as I was nearly devastated by the fact that during Twilight every time it even came close to touching the intensity and passion of their relationship BAM! new scene, moving on to more important things. Um, excuse me, there is no more important thing than that. It's kind of the entire point dudes.

As Bon mentioned in her comment on my previous post, watching it on opening night in a packed theater full of crazed fans is an experience in itself. I refused to be annoyed by any of them, knowing that I'll be seeing it numerous times I couldn't possibly be concerned about missing anything. Peter and I both found it incredibly amusing to hear the whoops and hollers during various parts most of which included any male without their shirt on. (which incidentally is A LOT!) It was a total blast to be in a theater buzzing with so much excitement and energy.

In the risk of building it up too much I venture to say it is about a billion times better than the first and I do believe it is going to break even more records in the money making department. And where Twilight made it's money from the sheer joy fans had seeing their beloved book come to the screen rather than the fact that it deserved to do so well, this movie will deserve every single penny it makes due to its extreme excellence.

The Only 33 Year Old Sobbing in the Theater

In approximately six and a half hours I should be watching the opening credits to New Moon. In all of my excitement leading up to it's release I think I failed to consider one thing. That thing is the emotional devastation I am likely to experience during the film. Somehow the hype had totally distracted me from the memory of first reading the book and how I spent a good 100 pages of it in a weeping, blubbering, sobbing state. I'm not exaggerating. It wasn't until today when I thought about the fact that seeing this all come to life on film may in fact be worse than reading it was. (I do doubt this, but you never know) I am comforted by the fact that I'll likely be surrounded by over one hundred emotionally fragile teenagers who will likely be hysterical. My sobs will almost certainly go unnoticed, except by my husband who will quietly squeeze my hand and wonder to himself how he ended up being dragged into this whole phenomenon. My answer to him would be "Because you are a better man than most." While some people are annoyed by the crowds and the fact that the majority are so young, I find it entertaining. I giggle when I hear the cheers and gasps as the male leads appear on screen. I enjoy the whole experience. I can't wait.

I'm polling my two readers. Shall I write a review? Yes? No? I mean, we all know what happens right so what could I possibly spoil?