Today we braved the portrait studio in an attempt to capture some Christmas pictures. Part of me thinks I shouldn’t post these, since we will be sending out Christmas cards with these pictures, but I’m not a very patient person so I’ll just post them now. Just pretend like you are in shock and awe when you receive a card from us!

Thankfully my mom came with us today to help me wrangle the kids. Well, Anthony is really the only one who needs wrangling but these days it is a 2 person job. In all honesty I think Anthony could use a whole team of handlers to help keep him in line!

We adorned the kids in their festive holiday attire and headed to the mall for our appointment. We got set up in our room to start the pictures, and decided to do some of Madeline by herself. Of course Madeline did wonderfully. The hardest part was getting her to smile naturally instead of her cheesy smile she likes to do for pictures.

Eventually we decided to add Anthony to the mix and it was at this point that our portrait session quickly started to go downhill! If you haven’t seen Anthony recently, you should know that he is a mover and a shaker. Once he mastered the art of walking he quickly moved on to sprinting. He looks like a wild man when he gets going, but he is a man on a mission…getting away from wherever he needs to be ASAP!

The photographer kept instructing us, “put Anthony next to Madeline, and have their backs facing each other, and Madeline put your arm around Anthony.” By the time I got Anthony on the floor in a sitting position I only had time to quick dive away from the camera so that she could try to get a shot before Anthony jumped up and took off running for the door. There were more exciting things outside of the room, apparently.

I don’t think the photographer understood the urgency of the situation. I would quick throw Anthony on the floor hoping that he would land in some sort of position that would be acceptable to photograph, and the photographer would just sit there waiting for all of the stars to align so she could get the perfect shot. My mom and I were literally doing aerobics trying to wrangle Anthony and in between chasing him we were jumping up and down like fools, shrieking and making all sorts of crazy faces hoping that we could shock Anthony into sitting still for a split second while he tried to figure out why we were acting like such lunatics.

I honestly just wanted to tell the girl to forget it because we could not get Anthony to sit still, I was sweating, and Madeline just wanted to go get a pretzel. We did persevere and by some act of God we ended up with some surprisingly good shots. So here are the highlights of our little session.

Notice Anthony’s signature bruise on his forehead.

He was supposed to sit on this stool. Instead he climbed all over it and picked it up and stomped all over the room acting like some sort of Godzilla-like creature.

Here he is sitting, just seconds away from jumping up and running out of the room.

Madeline stood nice and still, and was so agreeable. What a difference 2 years makes!

Madeline doing her best to hold Anthony down. It was a group effort.

Madeline was not amused by Anthony’s antics at this point. Anthony on the other hand was having a great time torturing us!

Madeline trying to pin him down again.

Anthony almost ready to make a run for it, Madeline with visions of pretzels in her mind.

So that about summarizes our morning at the portrait studio. It wasn’t a complete bust since we did end up with some decent pictures, but my mom and I did need a Diet Coke when it was all said and done. Part of me looks forward to the time when they will both be calm and compliant, but at the same time that is just so boring. There is never a dull moment with these kids, and I like it that way!

Right, I need to get back to blogging. Yes. I will try my very best, starting now.

In a day that is easy to remember negatives I need to jot down a few positives. The things that have made me happy today are:

• Getting an email back from the local newspaper to say they are considering using one of my photographs from an event in town at the weekend.
• Spending time with my 11yr old nephew and teaching him how to use my camera. Seeing his excitement as he took some lovely photographs.
• Hearing Katies portage worker tell me I am a good mum despite Katie being difficult.
• Spending time with my mum, dad and sister. I am lucky to have them.
• My husband being so unbelievably thoughtful and sensitive.
• The lovely cuddle I got from Robyn.

For now I will forget the tears I have shed today. They are gone. Tomorrow is a new day.

Yet again I have copied this from an internet forum where I have lots of wonderful, supportive friends. I need to document the progress that is being made with Katie and it might be of interest to others.

Today was pretty horrendous

It started with attempting to get her to playgroup this morning. She screamed as soon as we went out of the door and I had to carry her the whole way there kicking and screaming.
When we got there her keyworker had to peel her off my leg. I left to come home again in tears.

When I picked her up she did the same thing the whole way home. Got indoors and she threw juice all over my OU course notes, kicked me, spat at me, pinched me and threw anything she could get hold of.
I put her in her bedroom for 5mins to calm us both down as by this point I was in tears and totally losing my rag with her.

Janice, our portage worker, came round just as she was calming down and played some games with her before working with me to do a general assessment of her. It’s totally all over the place. On some sections of the forms she is quite advanced for her age, on others she is very immature. There was no one area of learning that is “conclusive” on what needs working on.

Janice said she thinks I have the “patience of a saint”. She said it is clear for her to see I am struggling but she doesnt know what to say to help. She said anything she would normally suggest as a strategy to parents I am already doing.
I told her my worries that people think I’m being melodramatic and attention seeking as they dont see this side to her and she said she totally understands why I feel like that. She reassured me that although to some people I might come across as a “Needy parent” I certainly am not needy for no reason. She said “You are a parent in need of support not because you do things wrong, but because Katie is a very very demanding and difficult child”.

Janice is going into playgroup next Tuesday to speak to the staff and observe her there. At parents evening tonight I had it confirmed that she is good as gold there. Playgroup are really great. Her keyworker loves her to bits (which is a relief, I do worry that people dont like Katie).
If Janice feels that she is fine at playgroup then she will just concentrate on giving support at home. She doesnt quite know what support that will be yet but she is speaking to her manager (the person who came and did the initial home visit) and ensuring that we are not left on our own.

In the mean time I have asked playgroup if there are any more sessions that Katie could do. I want to increase her to 4 full days. I’m feeling a tremendous amount of guilt with this but at the end of the day if she is happy there and not at home then I need to go with it for my sanitys sake!

When Anthony got home from work I escaped to my mum and dads house for 3 hours! I was at the end of my tether with Katie. He fed the girls, tidied up, cooked mine and Anthonys dinner (a yummy beef stroganoff) and then put Katie to bed.

I love that man  

Well done if you have got to the end of this!

My posting has been lacking lately, mostly because nothing all that interesting has been going on for us lately. David’s been busy hunting (he shot a buck with his bow, and a doe with his gun…so far!), and besides Madeline’s new preschool it’s just been business as usual for me and the kids.

Madeline continues to love her new preschool. Every day when I pick her up she is excited to tell me all about what they did in class, and spends a great deal of time at home playing preschool, singing the new songs she has learned, and doing art projects. I’ve been loving the new schedule, even though it makes our mornings a little more hectic.

I end up battling with Madeline about brushing her hair pretty much every day that she has preschool. One morning last week she ran out of our bedroom upstairs when I tried to brush her hair and it took me a solid 5 minutes to find where she was hiding. She is generally not a good hider and comes running out of her hiding spot the moment you walk into the room she is hiding in. This particular morning she did a REALLY good job, and I could not find her. I searched the house probably 3 times, calling out for her, even looking outside and in the garage to see if she had gone out. I was finally starting to think I might need to call for some help when I heard the faintest snicker coming from behind the recliner. I ended up finding her and giving her a lecture on how if she is hiding and hears mommy yell in a very mean/unpleasant voice that it is not funny anymore that she’d better come out next time.

I can now understand why so many of my friends have chopped their daughter’s hair off in an attempt to make peace with the daily hair-maintenance drama. Unfortunately I don’t think a haircut will solve our problem since Madeline is a chronic hair-twirler. It’s her own form of self-soothing and it makes me nuts, but I can’t convince her to stop. She literally twirls huge knots into 1 side of her head.

At this point my mom would tell you that I have it coming to me, because when I was younger my mom thought I was old enough to take care of brushing my own hair. I had a boar bristle brush, and didn’t realize that it was only supposed to be used for smoothing, not for detangling my hair. After using that brush for a while I ended up with a huge matted knot underneath my hair in the back, near my neck. No one really knew it was there because the top of my hair always looked smooth, and that knotted mess just kept growing. My mom started to refer to it as “the rat’s nest.” One day my best friend’s older sister sat and combed that knotted mess out for a couple of hours. She was very proud of her accomplishment, but I was still young and irresponsible and eventually the knot came back. At that point my mom gave me a do-it-yourself haircut. My mom is not a trained stylist by any means, and I’m pretty sure that was the catalyst that encouraged me to start combing my hair properly. I’m happy to report that I have mastered the art of brushing my hair and there are no more knots hidden in my hair!

So there is hope for Madeline! I’m scared to cut her hair, because I am worried that her curls will go away once it’s cut. She has never had a haircut. I’m pretty sure Anthony will get his hair cut before her, or else maybe I will take them both in together for their first haircut. I’m guessing Anthony’s got a good 4-6 months left before he will need one so maybe by then I will have worked up the courage to get Madeline’s hair cut!

And since no post is complete without pictures here are some from a failed photo shoot at my parents house this past Sunday.

Madeline waiting for us to get our act together.

Anthony didn’t want to sit still.

Jessica tried to get them to sit still.

It was impossible to get them to smile sweetly at the camera at the same time.

(Notice the bruise on Anthony’s head? It’s a common accessory for him these days, it just moves all around his forehead).

Madeline started to get tired of waiting for us to wrangle Anthony.

Finally I decided to try to hold Anthony in place. The expression on my face gives you a good idea of how I was feeling by the end of the weekend.

And then we gave up!

Tomorrow I am taking the kids in for their Christmas pictures. If this weekend is any indication of what we’re in for then our Christmas cards should be pretty interesting this year. I’ve always wanted to put a really funny picture on our Christmas cards, as opposed to ones that make my children look calm and angelic since it’s not really an accurate portrayal of our daily lives so maybe this will be the year!

I’m going on a spree of getting rid of my scrap yarn. I have giant amounts of yarns that I’ll never think of what to make out of them so I think a hat spree will be a good idea. I’m planning on working on them after I’m done with a friend’s Christmas present, and Anthony’s scarf (Thanksgiving weekend I’ll be done, my friend!)

So… 15 dollars for a crocheted hat sound reasonable? I think I’ll start working now and sell them as I make them.

The Elephant Man – 1980

Director – David Lynch

Starring – John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft

Slow, cruel, and beautifully filmed.  These are the main adjectives I would use to describe David Lynch’s, The Elephant Man.  Set during the Victorian era in London, The Elephant Man tells the real life story of John Merrick, a seriously deformed man led from one freak show to another.  Anthony Hopkins stars as Frederick Treves, a doctor who takes it upon himself to rescue Mr. Merrick from the actual freakshow that he is performing in, puts him up in his hospital, and attempts to teach him civilized behavior.  Treves parades Merrick around, using his notoriety to advance his own reputation, all the while claiming to help him.

When word gets around that the “Elephant Man” (called this partially due to his appearance, and partially because his mother was mauled to death by an elephant) has gained a certain popularity with the upper crust, the owner of the freakshow (Bytes) comes back to collect his “treasure”.  Treves and Bytes play a game of tug-of-war with Merrick, neither considering him or his feelings in the least.  In terms of characters, Merrick himself played with a certain amount of humanity and grace by John Hurt, is the only character who really has any redeeming characteristics.  Despite his huge prosthetic make-up appliances, Hurt manages to imbue Merrick with a certain subtlety.

On the brightside, the film looked beautiful.  Shot in silky black and white, each characters shadowy nature plays itself out visually on the backdrop of dreary, foggy London.  Each of the set pieces is crawls with life, some of it unsettling and horrible, and some of it approaching dignity.  As the movie goes on, the mood, as well as the visual tone of the film grows subtly and slowly brighter.

Of the Lynch films that I’ve seen so far, I would have to say that this is smack in the middle.  It doesn’t reach the fantastic weird heights of films like Mulholland Drive, or Blue Velvet, but it doesn’t quite fall to the un-intelligable depths of Lost Highway, or Inland Empire.  If you’ve seen any of David Lynch’s other films, you will see some similarities but he clearly grew and matured since finishing this film.  Despite, or perhaps because of this, The Elephant Man was one of his more critically successful films and has since allowed him to go on and become a unique independant voice, if only for that reason, this film deserves it’s place on the list of 1001 Movies You Should See Before You Die.

EXPOSED – KEN WEBSTER HYPNOTIST – The TRUTH – What He Truly Feels About ILLEGAL – UNETHICAL – UNINSURED & UNLICENSED wannabe badly trained UK Street Magical Hypnotists….. (Also Comment By Rolye on Anthony Jacquins “Reality Is Plastic” book – The Manchurian Approach DVD’s” etc and how they are DANGEROUS as he personally DOES NOT KNOW THE LAW as evidenced by his ill informed postings on Uncommon forum and other internet sites..

Hi Guys & Girls,

Due to postings I’ve just discovered on the internet illustrating how many INCORRECTLY TRAINED – DANGEROUS & UNINSURED wannabe Street Hypnotists there are I urge you to send this email to every hypnosis and magical mentalism friend you have…

CHECK THIS VIDEO OUT FIRST…

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3249046/street_hypnosis_in_uk_is_illegal_plastic_reality_dangers/

 And then CHECK THIS EXPLOSIVE SITE OUT:

http://roylehypnotist.wordpress.com/the-very-real-dangers-of-street-hypnosis-reality-is-plastic-the-manchurian-approach-anthony-jacquin-zap-street-trance-other-things-such-as-hypno-attack-encouraing-people-sometimes-unk/

And Here’s what KEN WEBSTER (Chairman Of The Federation of Ethical Stage Hypnotists) has to say about it all:

 http://roylehypnotist.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/what-does-ken-webster-the-chairman-of-the-federation-of-ethical-stage-hypnotists-fesh-think-about-illegal-and-dangerous-street-hypnotists/

I’d strongly advise you all to READ EVERY WORD of the above postings and also EVERY COMMENT made about the postings and then decide for yourself….. but REMEMBER THIS…

01) Under 1952 Hypnotism Act you can face a £1,000 Fine…

02) Breaking the Hypnosis Conditions of Licensing Act 2003 could lead to a £10,000 fine and/or six months imprisonment for some involved and ultimately mega bad press and litigation agains the hypnotist….

 03) KEN WEBSTER has issued a statement (see posting above) confirming that my concerns are correct and that these ill trained UNI|NSURED and UNLICENSED wannabe hypnotists are both potentially dangerous whilst also being ILLEGAL….

04) NUmerous UK Councils have issued statements (see above links) confirming this to be correct and that THE UK STREET MAGIC HYPNOTIST’S are ILLEGAL – UNLICENSED AND UNINSURED…

I’d say that also makes them wholly UNETHICAL and IRRESPONSIBLE… But hey what do you expect when your sold a product (say Plastic Book or DVD) which does not cover UK LAWs….

And thats why my Special Xmas offer COVER’S ALL UK HYPNOSIS LAWS (and all loopholes) together with isurance details and such like… So to BE A LEGAL – HONEST AND SAFE ETHICAL HYPNOTIST Secure your Future now by visiting….

 http://roylehypnotist.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/xmas-2009-stage-street-clinical-hypnosis-nlp-life-coaching-mentalism-bumper-training-package-offer/

 Kind Regards

Dr. Jonathan Royle

www.magicalguru.com

I was looking up Edward Cullen on Wikipedia and I saw that it said that Edward was a Byronic hero. Because of that, I clicked on the link that explained what a Byronic hero was. Anyway, as I was reading the characteristics, it did sounds like Edward As I continued down the website, it mentioned that Lestat from the Vampire Chronicles and the Phantom from the Phantom of the Opera were Byronic heros as well, but I digress with the Phantom. That made me think about how much Lestat and Edward were alike in the sense that they are both Byronic heros. I think that’s the reason why I don’t like either character. I mean, it’s not that I hate them, but it’s just that they’re not my favorites characters from their respective series. Anyway, I think that’s the reason why I don’t like Lestat and Edward is the fact that they’re Byronic heros.

In my search for any Lestat vs. Edward stuff, I found quite a few pictures that made fun of Edward and the Twilight series or making fun of the fact the Twilight series “outshines” the Vampire Chronicles. The one that I found to be the most funny was the one where it showed Edward and Bella together in the first box, and the following three boxes showing Louis, Lestat, and Armand telling their opinions on the series. I found that Lestat’s and Armand’s reactions to be the most funny. Their reactions were classic Lestat and Armand. Anyway, the next one that I thought was funny was the one where Lestat as picking on Edward. I just found those funny. By the way, you can find the originals at this site.

Love that fire, CB

Raptors basketball just wouldn’t be Raptors basketball without the nightly heart attacks, would it? Tonight’s came in the form of a 23-point third quarter lead dwindling to one late in the fourth, but Chris Bosh and Jarrett Jack led a late push en route to a 120-113 win over the Heat in Toronto’s return to the ACC.

Bosh was magnificent tonight, going 10-of-14 and finishing with 29 points and 12 rebounds and Jack made a pair of clutch threes from the corner in the final three minutes, finishing with a season-best 17 in 31 minutes off the bench. Andrea Bargnani had 24 and 10 and Hedo Turkoglu had arguably his best game as a Raptor, scoring 19 points to go with five boards and eight assists.

Of course, this one came with it’s share of second half head-to-wall banging, as the Heat went about 27 possessions in a row late in the third with a bucket. Bargnani was eaten alive by Joel Anthony and Mario Chalmers had a riot at the hands of Jose Calderon, scoring a career-high 30. Even when it looked like the Raps were putting Miami away midway through the fourth, Calderon managed to lose Chalmers on back-to-back possessions for threes to pull the Heat right back in. On the bright side, a handful of Toronto defenders did a commendable job on Dwyane Wade, holding him to 10-of-24.

I know the NBA is a game of runs, but it doesn’t always have to be. With that said, it would be nice to see the boys put it to bed next time they jump to a double digit lead in the second half.

So, a win in the first game back after four straight out west leaves the Raps at 6-7. Superman and the Magic, who beat Toronto at the ACC Nov. 1, are in town Sunday.

Ever since Anthony died, the holidays have pretty much sucked.  We haven’t really celebrated them.  And even when we felt like it, other people seem to have managed to screw up the plans to have the holidays be something other than a cry-fest.  (Yes, Ex.  I am talking about you here.)

But this year, I’m feeling far less nauseated about the whole rigamarole.  The Kid and I are going to visit my brother and his family in December.  We’re really excited to see them, but I’ll confess I’m also relieved that going out-of-town for Xmas gives me my “out” for not decorating the house.  (Bah humbug etc etc)

And we’ve had several offers to join folks for Thanksgiving, although we haven’t quite decided what to do.  I’m letting The Kid make the call.  I’m so exhausted from recent events, that I think I’d like to just stay home.  But in some ways, that seems to be echoing patterns of isolation that I’m trying to shake off.

As long as there’s pumpkin pie — and no shopping — I think I’ll be happy.

I was bored recently and was on my computer I don’t know why but I typed Lestat vs. Edward into Google to see what I would get. Anyway, a lot of stuff that popped up were drawings of people making fun of Edward through Lestat’s point of view, and videos and articles asking who would win in a no-holds bar fight. I immediately thought that Lestat would definitely win. I say that because, after looking up their powers as a refresher, while Edward has super strength, super speed, and can read minds, Lestat can do or has all of that, plus so much more. Lestat also has pyrokinesis, the ability to fly, and he’s telekinetic. Plus, he killed an entire wolf pack by himself, albeit with the help of his two mastiff dogs. Anyway, I really think that Lestat would definitely win the fight against Edward, and that’s assuming Lestat doesn’t fall in love with Edward first, which I doubt would actually happen, and that Lestat doesn’t hurt Bella.

I finished reading Eclipse about a month, maybe a month and a half ago. The thing that I found most funny was in chapter 18 when Jacob, when he was in wolf form, came up to Bella and licked her. In that same general area, I also liked when Jacob, again in wolf form, looked like he was smiling. I think the reason why I liked those two parts was because it’s typical of Jacob to be happy-go-lucky. Anyway, I just found those two parts to be funny.

Gick genom vad vi gjort och vad vi ska göra tills nästa vecka. Jag ska spela in så mycket av den nya låten som jag hinner på tre timmar.

PS. Andreas, du ska ha klart tre ljud tills ons den 25

tid spenderad: 20min

under veckan har jag gjort klart en låt, dvs, skrivit ner den och funderat ut hur den ska vara.

tid spenderad: 3h

Good deeds Carmelo Antony+LaLa and 50 Cent have both made some big donations to help familes in need this holiday season…

What LaLa had to say about the event

Yesterday we had our annual “Feed the Children” food drive. What an amazing event! So many families came out and collected food for Thanksgiving. It was such a great feeling to make a difference in someone’s holiday. No matter how big or small, giving back is what it’s all about. I’m looking forward to the Christmas holiday to do it all again! Thanks to the Boys and Girls club and all the volunteers for making this event a huge success! We could not have did it without you guys.-LaLa

 

Yestserday 50’s G-Unity Foundation gave out 300 turkeys at the Church of God in Christ Jesus of the Apostles Faith located in South Jamaica, in the neighborhood where 50 threw Forever Young Day in September.
Wednesday November 18th G-Unity will be serving food to homeless shelters that will be bused in by a local church.
Saturday November 21st G-Unity will be at another local church handing out 500 turkeys to families in need as well.

50 aslo donated $25,000.00 to the “You Can Go To College Committee”. The Queens based nonprofit organization was established in 1996 to ensure a smooth transition from high school to college for students. The program includes college tours in state and an annual black historical college bus tour, PSAT and SAT preparation courses, parents financial aid workshops, paid and non paid internships, scholarships and help finding financial assistance programs. In the last 12 years, “The You Can Go To College Committee” has been responsible for over 3000 students enrolled in colleges and universities and more than 1000 graduates all across the country.-Thisis50.com

]]> http://thatswhatimsayingguy.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/nuggets-run-all-over-raps/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:18:57 +0000 Jeremy http://thatswhatimsayingguy.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/nuggets-run-all-over-raps/

Carmelo was a killer tonight

Well, if nothing else, at least this one is done and over with. The Raptors went to Denver tonight and held tough for 24 minutes before what seemed like an inevitable second half collapse, eventually falling 130-112 to the Nuggets.

With Hedo Turkoglu resting with a hip injury, Toronto actually jumped to an 11-point lead late in the second quarter before watching it all fall apart. Carmelo Anthony made quick work of everything the Raps threw at him, finishing with the easiest 32 points you’ll ever see an NBA player score. Anthony was 12-of-15 from the field and 8-of-10 from the line before packing it in and watching his teammates put it to bed with a 33-23 fourth quarter. J.R. Smith also ran wild for Denver, scoring 29 points (on 11-of-17) in just 22 minutes off the bench. The Nuggets shot 61.5% as a team — the second time Toronto has allowed a team to connect at a clip of over 60% this season.

Chris Bosh had a season-low 13 points but grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for the Raptors, who actually had a 48-33 edge on the boards, including 19-3 on the offensive end. DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with a career-high 17 in just 22 minutes, and Jose Calderon had 16 and seven assists. Marco Belinelli and Sonny Weems chipped in off the bench with 16 and 12, respectively.

It’s a shame this one was the first of a back-to-back, since it was as sure a loss as you’ll get going in. The Raptors, who looked gassed enough in the second half tonight, head to Utah to face the Jazz Wednesday before heading home for three, starting Friday against Miami.