Wonder Twin Powers, Deactivate!

Okay, I guess I'm really showing my age with this post, but does anybody out there remember the Wonder Twins?

When I was a child, I remember watching a cartoon starring a set of extraterrestrial twin superheroes. During the course of each episode, they would inevitably get into a scrape of some kind. That's when the action happened: Zan and Jayne would touch their fists together (the original 'pound') and chant 'Wonder Twin Powers, Activate!'  Just before they transformed, they'd call out the shape of whatever they wished to become. Zan was usually a form of water or ice, while Jayne would morph into any animal she knew the name of (even if it was from another planet). After saving the day, the twins would transform back into their common forms with another fist pound and the phrase 'Wonder Twin Powers, Deactivate!'

Oh, and they also had a cool pet space-monkey named Gleek :-)

So what, you may ask, caused me to wax reminiscent this morning over a silly cartoon from my youth?

The culprit was Facebook. I try to peruse it about once a day, but it's gotten to the point where I almost dread logging in. Maybe this is just an INFJ thing, but the posts seem to be all cliches and surface stuff. Or daily news. Someone's moving, having a baby, graduating, taking their dog to the vet, etc. Boring! Only once in awhile does a post really move me or pique my interest. It's been this way for about 3 years.

I Can See Clearly Now

Well, the long weekend is over, and I found it enjoyable...with one exception. We opened our pool.

And the nightmare began.

Let me tell you, when we got the cover off that darn thing, I wanted to put it right back on. Holy cow, did that water look awful! Green, green, and more green. You couldn't see more than a few inches down, and it literally looked and smelled like a pond.

UGH.

Pond water - pretty much the color
 of our pool upon opening :-(

That's what we get for opening late after such a mild winter. I admit that I've been lazy at winterizing the pool water before closing it up, because the two previous winters were harsh and protected the water for me. The past couple of summers, the water was almost perfectly clear when we took the cover off.

Not this time. Our work was cut out for us.

MIB3

Just got home from the theater. Took my son to see a late showing of Men in Black 3.

The verdict? Totally worth it!

Will Smith is still funny. Tommy Lee Jones is still stern and quirky. The worms were still...well, worms. The movie was filled with nostalgia, taking us back to the original days of MIB, but new events and today's special effects technology kept it fast-paced, current and entertaining.

We laughed our way through the entire movie. Until the end, where a very poignant event happened that I won't share (in case you haven't seen it). And we left feeling it was money well spent.

But now it's late, I have an early day tomorrow, and my pillow is calling. Perhaps I'll dream tonight of aliens, or a government agency that monitors their activity on Earth...and wake with a strange sense of deja vu ;-)

G'nite,
M.

 

Rough and Buff

Lately my 14-year-old son, Caleb, has shown a strong tendency toward getting in shape.

I'm not sure about the catalyst, but I think it was several weeks ago when we rented a hotel room for the evening so my husband would be close to work (see Vacay, Sleeping In, Russia on Top). The hotel had a fitness room, and Caleb really seemed to enjoy it. When we returned home, he asked if he could set my old treadmill up in the garage and start jogging.  Soon after that, he began picking up dumbbells and lifting them after each run.

I've been very pleased with his motivation and self-discipline in this area. I used to run 3-4 miles a day in college, and I used The Firm workout tapes for years to get in shape after pregnancy. My current circumstances keep from being much of a workout queen, but there are some exercises I still do even while watching my disabled son - like pushups, reverse pushups, abdominals, etc.

P90X Extreme Home Fitness

But today was a milestone day for working out in this family. My respite worker, Johnny, had mentioned trying the P90X workout. I have some friends who are big into it, but I'd never shown interest. Now that Caleb was interested, though, I called Johnny and asked if he'd 'show him the ropes' regarding P90X.

Wow, did that get some attention! Johnny walked through the door with a pull-up bar, free weights, an extra set of clothes, and the first workout session. After running some errands, we prepped the living room with towels, mats and bottles of water. Over an hour later, I had two wringing-wet workout dudes sprawled across the living room floor!

No doubt they'll be pretty sore tomorrow, but this was a great bonding experience for the two of them. They've even planned ahead and are going to work out together three times a week (prior to Johnny's work shifts with my disabled son). Pretty soon they'll be some rough, buff dudes!

And probably with rough, buff appetites - hope my fridge can keep up with them! :-)

The Gelly Project

Well, I woke up this morning a little earlier than expected, thanks to that lovely Eve-blaming monthly cycle we females are required to endure. Ugh! I see a lot of chocolate in my near future...on top of the two Lindt truffles I just scarfed down with my third cup of coffee :-)

But I'm glad it happened today and not over the weekend. My husband I had the pleasure of a mostly kid-free weekend. I always enjoy spending time alone with him - it reminds me why I like him so much. Life around here gets busy and frantic at times, and we often end up tag-teaming to care for our special needs son. Quality time together is easily pushed to the back burner.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to run some errands in a nearby city, and one of our stops was at Prairie Gardens, a very cool garden/nursery/boutique where I wanted to pick up a tomato plant.

Prairie Gardens

The Check Guy

Greetings from the Edge :-)

I'm feeling rather pensive today.  All because of a realization I came to this week.

My faith and trust in God puts a barrier between me and those who don't know Him.

Now some of you out there might be saying...well, duh. You might remind me that Jesus said if the world hates us, it's because it first hated Him. And that's true. However, I'm not talking about hatred. I don't think everyone hates Christians, but I do think they misunderstand us. And the misunderstanding comes because they don't know Him like we do.

Here's the analogy that comes to mind when I wrestle with this difficult issue:

Diplomatic Immunity

A vivid, unsettling dream woke me early this morning. Brought me right up out of a dead sleep and wouldn't let me go back. And though the morning is beautiful, with the friendly sun climbing in the sky and birds frolicking in the green trees outside my window, I can't get the images out of my mind.

Am fairly certain they will haunt me all day.

I need to exorcise this, and I'll try to do it without getting too graphic. In the dream, I was in a small, sterile-looking cafeteria. Everything was white. Nothing decorative or cozy. I was there to meet with some people (can't recall who they were). The workers behind the counter were heckling me a bit. I'd ask for something, they'd yell out what I wanted - when I looked uncomfortable, they would laugh and just tease me some more. They weren't mean, but they seemed...jaded.

So I ask for a Coke, and after some teasing, this guy finally hands me a bottle. Then a cup with no ice. Because I always have a little Coke with my ice (sarcasm intended), I ask him for some. He looks at me, gives me a hard time, tried to overcharge me for the soda, then tells me the ice machine is downstairs, locked away, encased in bullet-proof glass. As he's giving me the 411 on the security procedures, I start to feel a little awkward.

A girl in the cafeteria offers to take me to this uber-secure ice machine. She starts down the stairwell, and I quickly lose her. I peer over the railing and see people sprawled on the stairs below. I spot the girl and continue down, but the crowd is thick, and I'm having trouble not stepping on people. I keep apologizing whenever I accidentally bump someone.