Hello All!

So It's been almost a month since my last post, but I promise, there's a reason for that, several in fact. Since my last post I've been very busy, whether it's getting up at 4:15 (in the morning) to get in line to get my Wii on the first day (Yes, I got one!!!) or flying back to Texas for Thanksgiving, Seeing a couple of movies, one a Political Propaganda Film disguised as a Kids movie, the other the best action movie not only of the year, but possibly of the decade. or celebrating Jeri's Birthday, or studying for finals, as I've been doing, for what seems like every waking moment for the past 2 weeks.
But finally I'm back, (I'm taking a break from studying for a few minutes, since I've just finished my outline for tomorrow's test and need a few minutes before I start committing 12 pages of legal material to memory), and this one might be a bit long.

Well first off let me just say that the Wii is a blast, although I haven't been able to play it much recently with finals, I did get some great play time in the week before finals started and I love Wii Sports, Bowling and Tennis are my favorites, which is funny because I have Tennis in real life. Also I downloaded the original Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog, Nintendo 64's Mario 64, and Super Bomberman for the Turbographix 16 and they are a blast, all of them are at least a decade old, and still fun to play, I'm looking forward to when Nintendo releases the original Super Mario Brothers and Super Mario 3 for NES, because those were two of my favorite games ever. Thursday after finals are over I'm going to rent a few games one's a racing game the other's the only fighting game out so far (Tony Hawk and Dragonball Z, respectively) and spend the weekend trying out some new genres on the Wii!

Just before Thanksgiving Jeri and I went to see Happy Feet and loved the first hour or so of the movie, and then we were completely pulled out of the movie, to talk about it I'm reposting a comment I made to a guy who was complaining about all the "conservative" media bashing the movie because it's really an environmentalist propaganda film disguised as a kids movie, he said that the environmentalist angle was only "An undercurrent" of the film and this was my response:

"Happy Feet only has "Undercurrent" of Environmentalism????
I must have seen a different cut of the film, because the instant that it cut to the "Humans arguing about commercial fishing montage" I was pulled, no, YANKED right out of the film. When a movie is supposed to be about finding yourself and being an individual about Penguins and then suddenly has a series of scenes one of which features a guy in a UN type forum saying "WE'RE STEALING THEIR FOOD SUPPLY!!!" it doesn't go with the rest of the film, it doesn't make since in the movie and it's there solely to shove a political agenda down the throats of everyone who went to see the movie.
I have no problems with movies that carry a political agenda as long as they say so upfront, or are aimed at adults. But when you make a Film for CHILDREN, aim the entire marketing campaign at CHILDREN, and make the movie appear to be a simple CHILDREN'S Movie, and then 3/4th of the way through the movie you suddenly switch gears and beat people over the head with your message it's disgusting.

This movie was made in one of two ways. Either someone said "How can we force our environmental message onto unsuspecting kids and parents?" and they built an entire movie around the idea that we need to save the food supply of the penguins in the arctic, OR the writers wrote a movie that was to short and they had to find something to fill it out, and they forced this "arc" that in no way fits into the movie to make it longer.

Either way this movie infuriated me and was a waste of my time and money, which is sad because I enjoyed the first hour or so so much. But to say that the message is an undertone to the film, is an out and out lie and anyone who saw this movie should recognize it as such.

The Next night I went to see Casino Royale, the newest Bond film, and was pleasantly surprised. Now I like the Bond films, I don't love them and normally I don't care if I see them opening weekend or not. I used to really love them, I can remember being very young and trying to stay up to watch Goldfinger one night when it started at like 11 and falling asleep, but I just wanted to see another Bond movie. But I think my love of Bond was stifled because of a serious of ridiculous movie starring Pierce Brosnan. Now don't get me wrong, I like Pierce, and I think he was a good Bond, but after Goldeneye, each movie got more and more ridiculous and the gadgets got more and more over the top, until an invisible car just angered me (I mean how dumb can you get)
But Casino Royale looked like a better movie, and it promised to reboot the franchise and get rid of the over the top gadgets and villains. And Boy did it ever. Not only was this the best Bond movie in Decades (I'd say it's as good as some of the Connery Films), but it's also the best Action Movie I've seen this year, if not in the last Decade. This movie has it all, action, suspense, drama, even a love story! And Daniel Craig is James Bond. Craig, who is known only for an independent movie and a small role in Munich, does a fantastic job capturing a young, rough Bond whose only just earned his License to Kill.
If you are looking for an action movie this is the one you have to go see, Casino Royale is one of the Best Movie I've seen all year, and since I've seen somewhere over the 60 range so far this year that saying something (to put that in perspective I read yesterday the average number of movies for a white male in 2005 was around the 7.5 mark)

When then flew to Texas and spent Thanksgiving with Jeri's family, which is our yearly tradition. T-Giving is THE BIG HOLIDAY in Jeri's family so we do that every year and spend X-Mas with my Fam. We had a good time, flew there on Monday and came back on Friday. It was a much needed break, and then when we got back we had another 2 days to relax before having to go back to school and work.

Then we celebrated Jeri's birthday. We had a dinner party and our friend Allison's house, which is a beautiful, amazing house with a view that overlooks the ocean. We had about 13 people come over and celebrate with a few Drinks, Strawberry Margaritas and Mai Tais (which were AMAZING!), made by a fabulous Bar Tender (me). When sat around a talked for a while and then had a Mexican Fiesta featuring Tacos, Burritos, and Fajitas. Then the ones of us that could stay went outside and sat around the Fire Pit. All in all it was a great time.

And other than that I've been studying my butt off trying to memorize 10 to 15 pages of material for every test. Tomorrow is test number 4 (of 5) and the last one is open note, so I can relax a bit tomorrow at about 4:30.
This weekend Jeri leaves to go on her family's annual Ladies Weekend, so I'm gonna try to make a time of it, seeing a few movies (with Apacalypto and Eragon at the top of my list), playing as much Wii as humanly possible, and matching some DVDs too (I'm going to try to finish the Back to the Future Trilogy and watch the Indiana Jones Trilogy, I have the scores to both of those trilogies and listen to them as I study so I've been really wanting to watch them, last week after my first test I watched BTTF and later in the week watched about half of part 2, so I've got about half of that one left to watch)

Hope everyone else has had a good month and hopefully during my month off from school I can keep you guys updated a bit more regularly. Have a Great Week!

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

Seriously...it is coming down y'all!! It hasn't rained since about May here...so it is kind of nice. While I don't really like big thunderstorms, and especially not tornadoes (me and my Xanax become great pals in Amarillo) I like that it is raining right now. It might be nice to hear a little thunder tonight, to remind me of Texas.

A Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks is calling my name. MM MM good!!!!!!!! Anyone else like those holiday coffee drinks?? I could drink it all day. Delicious.

Kids are cool, seriously

This is a picture a little girl drew at school this morning.

It is a drawing of the Nativity Scene. You can see the stable there in the middle with the star that guided the wise men on top of it. To the right of the stable is Joseph. To the left is baby Jesus in the manger, and Mary next to him. The squiggley line across the page is the road that they traveled to get to the stable (there is a moon to the left of the road), and the wise men are above the stable. The little girl that drew this picture is barely 4 years old. I hope it makes your day like it made mine.

is it April yet?

I need baseball season. I'm bored. I miss Dodger Stadium and Chavez Ravine. I know this might be blasphemy to some of you...but I do NOT like football. I'd rather poke my eyes out than watch that. Please...hurry up. I need baseball.

Baby It's Cold Outside...

Well, not really today, but it has been cold here lately.

To update...our next door neighboors had their baby last Wednesday. She was smaller than they thought she was going to be and she is so cute!! Anyway, things are good next door!

Question: What in the world is the difference between jam, jelly, preserves and marmalade????? At the market today Travis and I got so confused just trying to get some jelly for a sandwich. I know I could google this, but it would take too long and I don't want to put that much effort into uncovering this mystery. SOOO...you tell me. PLEASE. What in the WORLD is the difference between jam, jelly, preserves and marmalade?? I know my sister will have something to say on this, as she knows many trivial things and something tells me she knows all about jams, and jellies and what not. So, Kay, what is it?? For the love of Pete, someone tell us.

Yesterday was my birthday! I am now closer to 30 than I am to 20 (at 26). Oh well, it doesn't feel any different. So Friday my good friend Alison threw me a fun party at her parent's awesome house. I wish I got pictures of all of the rooms that she decorated, but I didn't so you will have to settle for a description. The bar was set up so fancy with wine glasses and pretty decorations. There were Mai Tais and Strawberry Margaritas and wine and pretty much anything anyone wanted. We had yummy appetizers and sipped our drinks by the fire place (it was cold outside that night). Then we moved into the awesome dining room for our yummy mexican fiesta. After dinner we moved out to the fire pit in the backyard to roast marshmallows and make smores. YUMMY!!! It was so fun!! Here are some pictures from the dinner portion:

Chrissy, Kari and me...with my silly birthday hat.

A toast!!

Cake!

The group (minus a couple that had already left.)

The view from the backyard.

Lullabies and Pumpkin Pies!!

Hello!! Exciting day so far today...our dear friends and next door neighbors (Jay and Hannah) are on their way to the hospital - and will soon bring home a baby (hopefully)!! We helped them get all of their things together this morning after the water broke...she isn't due for another 10 days officially...so they weren't really ready to head to the hospital. Anyway...I am doing some of their laundry right now, waiting for a call to head to Santa Monica and wait in the waiting room (clean clothes in hand). Very exciting.

Also...Thanksgiving is just around the corner. FUN!! It is my favorite. We leave Monday after I get off work to head for LAX, hopefully we will beat the holiday rush.

We went to another dear friends GORGEOUS Malibu house last night for a fall feast. It was so fun. As we sat around the rather long and large dining room table (something you might see in movies) we went around the table to tell what we were thankful for.
So...in the spirit of the Holiday I am thankful for:

1. My geeky (yes, I know this) husband, because he keeps me laughing.

2. Our super families

3. Living in paradise

4. Being healthy

5. Great friends

6. Travis is almost half way through Law School (PRAISE GOD!!)

7. I am a little more than half way through with my masters...though not as daunting as Travis' degree, working full time and doing school stuff makes Jeri and tired girl.

8. The new movie theater in Malibu (it burned down right before we moved here, it opened yesterday and we have already seen a movie there)

9. Christmas decorations. I waited a little bit longer than most stores to put my Christmas stuff out, but to be honest...I LOVE it when I see Christmas stuff out on the stores. It makes me happy.

10. Only about 5 months till opening day at Dodger stadium. Yes, I cannot wait for this. I will be there...on that fine April day, you can bet on that.

On a side note...my aunt and cousin came to visit not long ago. Here are a few pictures.

Wii!!

Wii!!!
I played the Wii (pronounced We) for the first time yesterday and it was amazing!
For those of you who don't know, the Wii is the new gaming console from Nintendo that comes out this Sunday. Now for some of you are probably thinking video games are no big deal and that you don't care, but you're wrong. The entire marketing behind this new system is aimed at non-gamers, especially non-gamers over 40.


Now I know that sounds weird, why would Nintendo spend money marketing towards people who aren't even going to buy this, well once you have seen it you just might.
The Wii is a revolution in gaming, instead of a typical controller you use the Remote, or Wiimote as some are calling it, The Wiimote, as seen below, is shaped like a television remote and is strapped to the wrist, there are about 4 buttons total, two towards the bottom, one big on towards the top, a directional pad, and a trigger in the back. Now all that looks different, but the real revolution is that the controller is motion sensitive. If you're bowling you move your hand just like you're really bowling and the ball will move the same way, if you're playing baseball you pitch or swing the ball much like you would in an actually ballgame and the characters on the screen do the same.


Now if you're playing a game like boxing you can attach the Nunchuk, seen below with the Wiimote, and hold the Wiimote in your dominant hand and the nunchuk in your other hand. Too punch you punch with your hands, to block you pull your hands up to your face, the more force behind you're punch the more powerful the punch on screen.


There are even more games out there, I played Excite Truck, a racing game, and you turn the Wiimote sideways in your hand and steer like you would a car, if you want to go left you steer left, if you want to go right you steer right, the only button you have to push is for gas, there's even an attachment that comes with a couple of other racing games, shaped like a steering wheel, you place the Wiimote in the center and you only use the steering wheel, to go faster you slant the steering wheel forward, to slow down you pull it back, and the rest is just like steering a car.

Now the Wii comes with one game, Wii Sports, which includes the aforementioned baseball, bowling, and boxing, plus tennis and golf, which are played much like the real sport. I also got to play the new Zelda game, where you use the Wiimote as your sword, slashing and attacking just as you do, and the nunchuk as your shield.

All in all the games were awesome and the whole experience was a gamers Nirvana. Personally I started looking into the Wii last week and changed my X-mas list from money for a Video iPod to money for a Wii. But I've found out that the Wii will likely be hard to find for a while after X-Mas, so I'm going out this Sunday, early morning, to try and find myself a Wii during the opening day rush. If I'm successful, it will be part X-mas gift from Jeri, and part from money I've been saving for this, but ti will remain wrapped under the tree until Christmas (mainly so i actually study for Finals)
So wish me luck this Sunday as I venture out at about 5am to find myself what might possibly be the Greatest Gaming Invention Ever!!!
You can learn more at http://www.wii.com and be sure to watch some of the Wii Experience Videos to see some people actually using the Wii.
Here's a Video:

My New Favorite Video!

That is all!
Travis

Halloween Party

We went to a costume party last night. Here are some pictures.

No, the "tattoo" on my wrist is not real. Just marker.

Just a few things

So, it is almost November. Travis is almost half way finished with Law School (praise God) and I am halfway finished with my masters too. Working full time and going to school wears me out, but it's worth it. And, none of you people can say that you go to work and look at the Pacific Ocean all day.

I have to say, while a good many of my kids at work are spoiled beyond rotten, they are very sweet- all of them. And they are generally very good...none of them are in anger management or play therapy like many of my kids when I work at Head Start. Growing up in Malibu some of them may end up in therapy for most of their adult lives, but that is an entirely different story. :-)

A couple of months before we moved here some of the businesses down by Starbucks were destroyed by a fire (thanfully my dear Starbucks was not harmed). The businesses burned down included a movie theater, Ben and Jerry's, and a "mexican" restraunt - I use the term "mexican" loosely, because I am sorry...but I have yet to taste any good mexican food since moving here. Anyway...today i was asking some of the kids if the Ben and Jerry's was open again, because they have been working on getting those places up and running. One kid said, "No Mrs. Tidmore, it was fired up." :-) Hilarious. One kid has speech problems, and calls my Ms. Tinfore. He just can't say Mrs. Tidmore...but he says Ms. Tinfore at least twice in every sentence he speaks to me.

One little girl's parents both write for TV shows. I won't say which shows on here, if you want to know you can call or something. But the little girl is is quite possibly one of the funniest kids I have ever met, without trying to be funny. Her parents are always telling her jokes, and she comes to school and wants to tell me the jokes. A couple weeks ago, I got this one: "what flowers grow between your nose and your chin?" see, I really didnt know the answer to this, so I was genuinely entertained by this joke, and yes, even if it wasn't really that funny to me I would laugh at a 4 year old's joke...but I liked this one. The answer? You are probably quicker than I and have already figured it out..."two lips." What flowers grow between your nose and your chin? Two lips (tulips). :-)

The kids pack their lunch, no, the parents pack the kids lunch and they bring it to school. Their lunches KILL me.

• Crackers wrapped in sea weed. WHAT??
• Clif bars, which are made of soy beans and what looks to me like poo (I THINK they are supposed to ressemble a granola bar?). I tasted one. I promplty spit it back out. NASTY.
• Ceasar salad. Yes. A three year old with a Ceasar Salad lunch.
• Hummus. PUKE. One little girl (3 yrs old) comes almost ever day with a little container of hummus and various food items to dip in said hummus.
• Avocado sandwiches. While I am completely in favor of any meal involving avocado, I have never seen a 3/4 year old eat an avocado sandwich.

Mom...I am glad you steared clear of very strange lunch choices and stuck to the basics. Although...these kids seem perfectly happy eating their 500% organic meals with 0% taste. So, whatever. But I can't help but think that my kid would stick out like a sore thumb in these parts because I couldn't pack my kid something to eat that would make me puke. So...good ole PB&J wins out for me. A little turkey sandwich, whatever happened to that? I'm all for healthy...but I'm all for taste too. Healthy does not equal nasty to me. I'm less for the cardboard/poo granola bar like items and more for the actual granola bar items. Call me old fashioned, but I like a little food in my food. Have you ever seen the movie "The Breakfast Club?" Well, they are all in detention. It's lunch time, Claire (Molly Ringwald) pulls out her lunch and it is sushi. They all look at her like she is crazy, and she finally says, "Can I eat?" and the guy says, "I don't know, give it a try." Yeah, lunch is an adventure at my place of employment.

Ok...to round off this terribly long post, have you tried Vitamin Water? It's GREAT! At least the grape one I am drinking right now is like an explosion of crazy flavor in my mouth. Seriously, go to the market as soon as you read this and buy one. It's a toned down version of gatorade. YUMMY.

Whoa!! More than one post in one day!!!

So...I wanted to post some pictures of the super fun Dodger's game we went to for my birthday (a couple months early). The game was September 23. It was our last game till next season to attend, and it was great! The seat Travis got were FABULOUS!!!!!

View from our seats.

More of the view from our seats.

Russell Martin!!!

Me, obviously.

Nomar Garciaparra

Jeri's 12 of 12 part 2

here's the rest that wouldn't post.











Friend John.

More overpriced alcohol. Notice all the sale tags. Still not affordable.

Yeah, I don't know.

Bonus!! Happy Halloween!

Jeri's 12 of 12

I haven't had time to post these yet. I took them on the 12th, but posting them on the 14th. Anyway...here they are. (time stamp is 2 hours later than it actually is)









A tiny pepper plant.













Travis pretending to juggle.










'Shrooms.










Us.









Overpriced produce.









My drug of choice.










Tilt your head to the right. I forgot to flip this. A display of tortillas.









Overpriced alcohol.











Lamp post, and tree.

So, blogger won't let me post the rest of my pics. I will make another post for those.

Travis' 12 of 12

12 of 12 is the newest Internet Craze Swiffering the Nation! Take 12 pictures on the 12th day of each month and post them online, so here it goes my first 12 of 12. BTW the time stamps are all 2 hours off for some reason.

I forgot to take the camera with me today so I didn't start until almost 5 o'clock, here's the first one: Jeri curled up in "Her" chair with her beloved Dodgers Blanket.


This is the autograph card I pulled out of a pack of Baseball cards I bought today, It's a player for the Phillies (John Krug I think) and it's his actual autograph. I've gotten back into collecting cards since we started following the Dodgers.


Another card, this one came out of a topps pack I bought today, for some reason Topps has "Signers of the Declaration" and "Signers of the Constitution" cards randomly inserted in with their Baseball cards, maybe as a way to educate the nation.


Bonus Picture: This months Bonus theme is Halloween! This is the Halloween decorations outside of our apartment.

I captured this pic of the sunset from the steps outside out apartment. I like the way the sun and the clouds mix.

Another Sunset this time with a pit og the hills surrounding Pepperdine and the Ocean in the Picture.

Jeri as we get ready to head to the grocery store and to get some coffee.

Some Car's Head and Tail Lights as it passes by the intersection we were sitting at.

Ahh Ralphs, the local (Overpriced) Grocery Store!

I took this Self Portrait in the Rear View Mirror, hence the strange reflection of my hand across my face.

The Sign outside the local starbucks, and incidentally Planet Blue Kids, apparently in Malibu there's enough kids from this strange "Planet Blue" that they have their own store!

Jeri taking the first sip of her Mable Machiatto, this was her first time to try it and apparently it wasn't good. I think this might by my favorite of all the pics I took today!
And Finally a group of deer! These deer are constantly roaming around outside our apartment, at least until you want to take pictures of them, luckily there were several walking around when we came home from Starbucks. This was the best one I got. I really like the intensity of the Glowing eyes, it's slightly spooky.