The Forgotten Garden Kate Morton Review

There are books that send you to a magical place. You forget you are reading. You experience what is going on around the protagonist. When you stop reading, you blink and look around you, your own environment looks foreign for just a few moments.

The Forgotten Garden is this type of book.

The book opens with little Nell aged four on a ship waiting for The Authoress to return. This boat journey turns into a century long mystery that Nell's granddaughter Cassandra will finish.

The book explores several themes. The first one that I really felt was the theme of writers fictionalizing their own lives. I felt at times as though Kate Morton were here conversing with me, telling me her view and thoughts on life. The book deviates from the story to explore different ideas that I wonder if the author has thought.  At one point one of the characters echoes that sentiment regarding The Authoress who turned her greatest story into a fairy tale. Kate Morton also did fictionalize the story of her grandmother to tell the story of Nell.

The story is non-linear which I greatly enjoyed. Not many stories have a clear start and finish. Life does not often have a clear start and finish. Being a bit of a Whovian I m going to turn the 10th Doctor to explain:


(image is from http://www.fimfiction.net/story/244628/6/foreknowledge-2/chapter-5-wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey)

The theme of siblings is also explored. We see several groups of siblings. We see young Eliza and Sammy who struggle for a fair life in the dark times of Jack the Ripper's London. Through flashbacks we see the dysfunctional relationship of Linus and Georgianna. We see the cousins who became sisters, Eliza and Rose. How far would you go for the love of a sibling? Would you make an ultimate sacrifice?

We also see parent/child relationships. Nell and her absent Momma open the book. Then we meet Nell's quasi-adoptive parents.  If you lost a child, or your wife lost a child, how far would you go to fill that void? Are you filling it to help the child, or help you deal with your own sense of loss?  We see Rose with her overbearing Momma Adeline and her emotionally distant father Linus.  We see the adult Nell and her daughter, and her granddaughter Cassandra.

I have suffered a few miscarriages now and I know the painful hollow feeling that accompanies the loss of a child after the exhilarating happiness of finding out you are expecting. To what ends would someone who has also felt that loss go?

This book is a magical read. If you believe in the power of storytelling, I highly recommend this book.

If you do read it, I definitely suggest you read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. That book is similar in feel and tone to this book.

Thoughts on this weekend's trip.

Hi everyone! Oh wow does it feel great to be home! How was everyone's weekend?

I wanted to share how our little weekend adventure went.

My step-father has two girls, L and J from a previous marriage. They live out of state and L has three children; a newborn boy, J.H. a girl who is 14 days older than my son and D a boy who is 8. J has three children as well; C a girl who is 18, M a girl who is 8, and J.M a boy who is 3.  L and her husband just had a baby and I wanted to go to to meet him and bring my son whom no one in their branch of the family has met yet.

My parents showed up with their RV around 9 am on Saturday. I let my little man sleep until they texted that they were on their way. When my parents arrived it was snowing so we quickly loaded up and went to our first stop; breakfast.  My son and I shared an omelet and homefries. When the food first got there he was so excited he tried to grab a fistfull of potatoes. Being the learn by example mother that I am, I let him do it. They were too hot and he started crying. This did teach him that maybe we needed to wait a bit and it will be ok.  I gave him a hearty portion and he decided all the food on the table was his. He reached far in his highchair and grabbed my stepfather's toast. We need to work on being grabby.

When breakfast was done, we got back in the RV. It is a five hour road trip to where we were headed so I was prepared for crabbiness, but he was really good. He slept most of the way up. I did bring a few books and one toy for him for the trip. He greatly enjoyed his books.

When we got to L's house she was holding the newborn. After I said my greetings, I attempted to point out the baby to my son. He glanced at the baby, my mom started saying something cute, then he ran past everyone into the living room. All the children, except C who was at work were in the living room, so I thought he would play with one of them. All the kids but D, who was having a bad day, tried to talk to my son. He ignored all of them.

J.H who is 14 days older than my son played like a toddler. She engaged in parallel play with her cousins, climbed on footstools and furniture, talked in actual words not all baby babble. She listened and responded to her parents and the other children. She played with toys like they are toys. She used toys for their intended purpose.

Inside, I was frustrated. Not with my son, but with myself. Obviously I am the worst parent ever. I know my son has limitations, but they are never as apparent as they are when around other kids. Instead of engaging with the children, my son busied himself with taking magnetic letters off the fridge and tossing them to the ground. Except for J, L and either M or W. Those letters he took turns walking around and babbling to. My son wore a path from the newborn's room, through the kitchen, around the living room, then back again.  What am I doing so horribly wrong that he won't even acknowledge the other children? He walks around our tiny apartment clutching things and babbling to them. I took him on this roadtrip to see his cousins. After all, aren't cousins our first friends? I kept trying to redirect him to play with the kids. I sat him on the couch next to J.H who was watching Dora and playing on a tablet. He sat there very confused. I pushed him in the path of the friendly J.M and he walked past him. M asked me if he could talk. I said he has his own way of talking but he likes to sing and dance. I showed M  his way of dancing and he liked it. M was his favorite of the kids. He "hugged" her a few times. His way of hugging is to touch you on the leg and gently press his forehead into you. I felt horrible because since he was ignoring the younger kids, they ignored him. They tried to engage him, but he blew them off. I really would have felt better if they were mean to him, or teased him, or excluded him. They really tried to play with him. How I have failed him. I don't ever view his behavior as his behavior, I view it as me being a terrible mom. Obviously other kids his age who don't live with me are fine. He would not have delays if he had a better mother. Maybe it is those four days I missed my prenatal vitamins. Maybe its that 3 ounces of beer I had when pregnant. Maybe it is because I ate too many carbs, got gestational diabetes. It was the high blood sugar coursing through his veins in utero.  I made him this way. Yes, these are irrational thoughts. I know that on one level, but on another level, this is what my brain tells me at night when I am alone with my thoughts.

When J.H. was climbing on the footstool, and jumping off, my mother made a comment that my son would imitate her. I was so hopeful that he would. He doesn't climb yet, another area his is behind in.  He ignored her. The only attention he paid her was at some point, they had a baby babble conversation, a few lines back and forth. They also took turns following each other a little bit. Watching him with her though, it was not like watching two kids that were two weeks apart, it was like watching a 2 year old with a 9 month old. Her skills are where they should be.

My son did engage a little with L. She sat on the floor and read to the kids. She has medium/long hair and my son stroked it gently. He walked all around her several times caressing her hair.

I hope we can keep working on his skillset to help bring him to where he should be. This is too hard for me to handle sometimes. At least he is happy. He had a blast walking around by himself with the letters. His contentment is the most important thing.

I feel that he might have autism.  My mother has been reading books by Temple Godin and pacing is a way for autistic children to calm themselves down, to center themselves.  He also has low muscle town, which is a characteristic of autistic children.

I love my little guy more than I can ever put into words. He is my whole world.  I know he has some shortcomings, but to me that is his charm. When he looks at me and smiles, he is the most perfect little guy who ever lived. I just hope one day he chooses to let more people into his world of one.

I will continue to post about our journey.

EUREKA!!!

Today for lunch, I made my son a simple meal. It was just spinach, tomato, and chicken nuggets. I put him down so he could hand feed himself the majority of the meal. When he was down to just little pieces, I got a spoon. As is our routine, I gave him the spoon to see what he would do with it.

HE PUT IT IN THE BOWL, GOT FOOD ON IT AND FED HIMSELF WITH THE SPOON!!!

This is a huge breakthrough. I am overjoyed with this progress. It was hit or miss, sometimes he didn't get food on the spoon, sometimes the food was too far back in the spoon for him to get it in his mouth, but practice makes perfect. He is 23 months and this is the first time he did this.

We have been doing hand over hand with utensils for about a year now. I can't wait to tell EI and OT what he did today!

Packing

Packing isn't going as terrible as I thought.  My mom bought some juice boxes and snacks. I bought nuts and dark chocolate pomegranate things for the adults.  My son has Cheerios and I am bringing a few small meals for him.  To keep him entertained on the ride, I am bringing a few books and one toy. I will also have my tablet so I figure we can watch an episode of Daniel Tiger.

I never bought him boots this winter because of how late he started walking.  Then we got over 100 inches of snow and most days it was too cold for my delicate little man to be outside.  We went frantically shopping for boots last night. Shopping for kids boots at the end of March was quite the scavenger hunt.

Last night we also were shopping for gifts for his cousins.  The reason we are going on this adventure is my step-sister had a baby last month and we are driving up to meet him. My two step-sisters have six kids between them and we didn't want anyone to feel left out that the baby was getting something,  so we got little gifts for all the kids. The kids range in age from 23 months to 17 years so that was a project. I am excited we are going because my son has a cousin that is 14 days older than him so he will have someone his age to play with.

Still have a lot to do. It is not awful, but there is just a lot of decision making to do. I still have a sink full of dishes that isn't going to wash itself and laundry to fold.

The Next Four Days

My son and I are going on a five hour road trip to visit family on Saturday.  We will be back either late Saturday night or Sunday evening.

I have lots to do to prepare.  I need to make at least 4 meals and gather 2 days worth of toddler supplies. I also need to pack for myself. 

I also need to clean my apartment,  which right now entails washing a sink full of dishes and folding 5 loads of laundry.  I also need to run out and pick up gifts for a newborn and 2 eight year olds.

Unfortunately,  this all means posting will be light the next few days. I promise posts will pick up again after the weekend.

HUGE HUG AND THANK YOU!!!

Thank you everyone who is reading my blog. 900 views in a week and a half smile emoticon I love writing and hope you are enjoying what I am doing.  I wanted to share things I enjoy and to write about my son because I think a lot of people are going through what we are going through. I hope to keep this up for a while. Thank you all again :)

In Praise of Melissa & Doug

We have a collection of Melissa & Doug toys as you can see from above. We also have this:



But when my son realized that the point was to pound the pegs through the hole, he went to level two by removing all the pegs, tossing them under the loveseat, and hammering the floor. We had bought the peg pounder on the recommendation of the pediatrician to hone his fine motor skills.

I have previously written about this puzzle, also not pictured:

I love Melissa & Doug toys. They can be pricey. I did not pay full price for any of our toys. Most were hand me down, and I bought some on sale. The rest came from Bluum boxes (http://bluum.me/16QJhAC).

I love them mostly because they are durable. They are made from wood and whatever paint is being used has lasted for years on the hand-me-down puzzles and almost two years on the turtle, giraffe, and penguin. The colors are very vivid and enticing. My son is not gentle on his toys. They get tossed everywhere and they lasted. The puzzles were gifts from his daycare so they have seen many years of rough play.

The other reason I like them is, they help with motor skills. So many toys now are electronic it is disheartening. All you have to do is push a button and the toy plays with itself. We even have an electronic toy that all you do is turn it on and it never shuts off and it  plays without being touched.  Having a child who needed help with motor skills it was hard to look for toys. The giraffe in particular is one of my favorite toys. It is easy to manipulate and you can move it into several different poses. My son has some problems with the lock puzzle, but it is helping him to move his hands correctly. Children like looking under things which make the lock puzzle, and the farm puzzle particularly fun.

The toys are pricey, so if you want to purchase them, I suggest sales and yard sales. Benny's often has the toys on sale and from time to time so does Toys R Us. They are worth the price and they will withstand anything your child puts them through.

Star Wars:Threads of Destiny review

"Revenge is never as satisfying as we think it will be, Raven. You think it ends a conflict, settles a score, but in fact it only internalizes it."-- Jedi Master Soren Darr

This is a Swedish made fan film from 2014. You can view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40IDc3rQfU&feature=youtu.be.

The cast and crew list can be viewed here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2275656/

The movie takes place 94 years after the Battle of Yavin. Although peace is prevalent throughout the galaxy, a new threat, the Skenvi Empire has emerged.  The New Republic sends Jedi Master Soren Darr and Padawan Raven Darkham to the planet Coreign in hopes they will join the republic. The negotiations appear to be over when Princess Arianna is kidnapped in a bloody attack. Will the Jedi prevail?

This was an incredibly satisfying movie. It was both a great stand alone story and a loving homage to Star Wars. The opening scene is reminiscent of the opening scene of A New Hope. There is a roguish pilot who may have a shady past and is ruggedly handsome. One of my favorite scenes takes place in an establishment reminiscent of the Mos Eisley cantina. There is even a thrilling chase scene through an asteroid field.  I felt as if I were watching the actual sequel to Return of the Jedi. The outdoor scenes are beautifully filmed. The landscape is stunning. The story is easy to follow, the dialog harkens back to the original trilogy, and the action scenes are wonderfully choreographed. The side plot of the burgeoning romance between Princess Arianna and Padawan Raven Darkham is a lot more convincing than the onscreen portrayal of Anakin and Amidala's romance. I have to say, I thought this was better than all three prequels combined. It is easy to lose yourself in the story. I eagerly await part two.

One of this blog's readers suggested I watch and review this movie. Please, if have any suggestions/recommendations, let me know. You can reach me here on the blog by commenting, or here on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Google+.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D "Love in the Time of Hydra"

**Full disclosure, I love the movies and the show, but I only read classic issues of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and classic Avengers. I never read the inhuman or Ultron stories.  This review is of the perspective of the tv show fan.**


Let me start by saying Love in the Time of Cholera is a fantastic book. Highly recommend. Anything that references it gets my attention.

To me, this was a lackluster episode. Not much action at all. The plot advances, kinda.

Edward James Olmos guest starred tonight.

This was an Inhumans light episode. Instead, we see some old friends. Grant Ward is helping Agent 33 find herself. Literally. They go on a road trip to do so.

Side note: Does everyone who works in/goes to restaurants in this universe expect to see really odd looking people. Remember the post credits scene in the Avengers? And last weeks episode? I went to a Burger King after Comic Con dressed and made up like Barriss Offee and people looked at me like I was an escapee from a mental institution. How can someone with an incredibly noticeable facial scar that takes up half their face and weird robot voice not get some looks? Or are people in the Marvel universe just that much more open minded than we are here on Earth prime?

We also meet the "real" S.H.I.E.L.D. Does anyone in Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D detect something is amiss with the absence of Mac, Hunter, and Bobbi?

How do we solve a problem like Skye? Coulson comes up with a solution, of sorts. Fitz is not very happy with what the resolution is and expresses frustration with Simmons.  Mac and Bobbi feel it is time to end all of Coulson's secrets.

Overall, this episode could have probably been combined with another one. There was a lot of fat that could have been trimmed. I am not sure if the filler is because they are trying to stretch out the season to coincide with the release of Age of Ultron. It wasn't a terrible episode, but it could have been better.

Occupational Therapy Evaluation 04/24/15

H. came from the same company that provides early intervention services for our son.

He was very excited to meet H. He was all smiles when she came over. The first thing he did after hugging her was to try to open her bags and he managed to rip a Post-It from deep within her bag and throw it on the rug. Being quite pleased with himself, he began diving deeper into H's bags. I told him he can't be doing that but she laughed and said its fine.

H. then handed me a questionnaire that was several pages long. The first section was demographic information about my son. The question that stuck out the most was about getting upset when their nails are cut. Every single time that is an issue.

While I was doing the questionnaire, H. attempted the test for my son. Parts of the test involved making a block tower. My son picked up one of the blocks and tried to eat it. Then he walked around the living room ignoring H. while giggling and trying to lick the block. There was also a puzzle of three simple shapes: a star, a square, a circle. He wanted to play with the pieces. She tried to direct him to put the shapes in the right place, but he got extremely agitated and started to cry because he wanted to play with the shapes. She then handed him a book and told him to turn the pages. He grabbed the book, sat with his back to her and started turning pages and looking at the book. She asked me if he likes to color. I told her that I can no longer give him round crayons because he likes to shove them up his nose but I will demonstrate what happens when he is given triangular shaped crayons. I set him up with some paper and his crayons. I already knew what would happen, but I wanted her to see this. My son took all the crayons out individually, held them up, and stared at them while rotating them and babbling to himself. I asked him to make me a picture and showed him how to make a squiggle. He dove into the pile of crayons again and started sorting them. H. said maybe we should only give him one. Then she and I made lines and squiggles and I attempted to help my son make a squiggle doing hand over hand. He was upset and just wanted to sort the crayons.  She told me that she could no longer do the evaluation because my son does not take direction or respond to verbal direction. I have known this for a while. She also said developmentally, he should be in the cause/effect and problem solving stage, but he is still in the exploratory stage. He does not understand that objects have an intended purpose or what they are. It is true. I can't argue or disprove that. 

We discussed my son's sleeping patterns. I know this is an issue. Right now he is "napping" which to him means laughing and bouncing on his back in the crib. I put him to bed every night at 8 pm. He then bounces on his back, or jumps up and down while laughing/babbling or lays in bed and babble/laughs. Sometimes he sings. He stays up until midnight-2 am. Due to the incredibly tiny apartment we live in, this means I am up till midnight-2 am.  Some mornings he is up between 6 and 8. If he doesn't get up on his own, I make him get up around 9/9:30 in the hopes he will sleep that night. He uses nap time as free play. There is nothing in his crib except a mattress and a crib sheet. He has a sound machine to help soothe. I believe in the cry it out method unless he is sick/screaming. He doesn't want to be in bed so crying is frequent and I make him work it out. She said that the set up I have and my not running in his room for every little whine is what she wants to hear.

My son sucks the index and middle fingers of his left hand.  She will order him an OT tool called a chew tube.

We discussed my son's eating habits next. I told H. that my son has a hearty appetite, but he eats with his hands. She asked if he uses spoons and I said although I put a utensil out with every meal he does not eat with it. It was discussed that I try to make him use utensils by doing hand over hand with him, but that he is not interested in doing it himself. 

According to her report, he has difficulty social referencing, limited joint attention, and inconsistent response to hearing his own name. Again, this is true. He lives in his own little world and doesn't like visiting ours. My son also rocks side to side and back and forth.

In addition to ot 3x a month, it was also recommended that my son get an eye exam and an optometrist was recommended

H. was very friendly and professional. Her assessment was dead on. .In two weeks I will hear from a COTA to start services.  I think we need this.

Ummm?

So I don't know what Little Critter did, but it must have been bad....

My son did this at some point today.

Jennifer Lawrence is no longer playing Mystique

Jennifer Lawrence announced after X-Men Apocalypse she will not return to play Mystique.

In X-Men First Class she gave a decent performance. 

In X-Men Days of Future Past, I felt like she phoned in her performance.  I prefer hamming it up to behaving as though it is a waste of your time to be acting. Her performance was not only wooden, but it was like she was gobbling valium like Tic Tacs. There was no emotion or infection in her voice. She made almost no facial expressions.  For me, the point of going to a movie is paying people to play act. She just wondered around mumbling impassionate phrases.

Hopefully the next actress to play the character emotes better.

So this odd thing happened to me over the weekend.

This is just a side post. It is not related to mom or pop culture.

My husband has someone in his immediate family who is a reggaeton artist. This means he raps in Spanish. He is actually quite famous. Not being bilingual, I don't enjoy his music that much but I like the sound of his voice.

He is also just a man. He is married and has children. He is a brother and a son and grandson. Although his job is a little more fun than most of ours, it is just a job. He travels a lot and he worked really hard to get where he is today.

To me, he is my husband's brother. We hardly see him because in the past he lived in Puerto Rico, now he lives in South America. He also tours all the time so when we go to Puerto Rico we only see him for short periods of time.  To my husband, he is his baby brother. He talks about how he didn't like being followed around all the time by him when he was a toddler. We have pictures of him on the walls of our apartment. He's a nice guy and we enjoy him as that.

I don't know how this even happened, but one of his fangirls attempted to friend me on Facebook. I didn't know who she was or that she was a fangirl until I looked through her pictures. Almost all her pictures were of my brother in law. I asked my husband if she was a cousin or perhaps a niece of his. My husband had no idea who she was either. He logged into his Facebook account and she sent him a friend request, too. I asked my sister in law if she knew the person and she explained to me that this was fangirl and to delete her. I actually blocked her. My husband said he blocked her, but now she is sending requests to tag herself in his pictures that include his brother. None of this is ok. It is not even a little bit ok. I don't even know how much research one has to  do to connect me with him because no where on any of my social media sites do I even indicate we are related. I don't follow him because all his professional updates are in Spanish, and I am not bilingual. I read his official biography on Myspace once and it made me laugh so hard I cried because I don't know who its about but its not really him. He said he didn't even read it as the record company wrote it. After hearing that, I stopped even looking him up online. As for trying to tag herself in my husband's pictures, those are private family moments. These are pictures of my husband and his brother with their mom and other family members including an aunt who passed away. These are not media pictures. They are not concert pictures. These are private moments in time. My husband and I love his brother as the man he is privately, not his public persona. I get a kick out of seeing him on tv, but that is really about it. One time, we saw him Puerto Rico then we went back to our hotel room. I turned on the tv and it happened to be on MTV. My brother in law was in the video that was on tv. That was surreal. I just saw him earlier that day, and now he is on television? How is that even real?

My point is this, don't do stuff like this guys. Its not ok. We are all just people. We all have work a day lives and families. Stick to the media controlled profiles of your favorite celebrities. Trust me, the PR people are really good at hyping their lives and the media created personalities given to your favorite celebrities are much more interesting than their day to day lives.  If you want to follow a celebrity, follow their official social media sites, don't do investigative research to find their private lives.

Star Trek Continues-Pilgrim of Eternity review

http://www.startrekcontinues.com/


Star Trek Continues is a by the fans, for the fans production. It was launched thanks to a Kickstarter campaign. It continues TOS where the third season left off.

How have I never watched this before? Several people have suggested I give this a go because they enjoyed it, but I was always kind of busy.  I was determined to watch it for this blog and I am so pleased that I did.

If Star Trek: Of Gods and Men is a love letter to fans, this is a marriage proposal.

If you like TOS or sci fi, watch this web series. It won a Geekie Award for Best Web Series in 2014 and it is easy to see why.

The make up, the special effects, the lighting, the acting, the costumes all harken back to TOS. And the set........oh, the sets.  It is a perfect recreation of our beloved NCC-1701.

The cast is perfect. Not only do they have guest stars from previous Star Trek episodes and movies, they even have James Doohan's son playing Scotty. He nails the accent.

This episode is a part two of sorts to "Who Mourns for Adonais?"  The episode begins with the perfect cold open. Whenever someone appears on the bridge unexpectedly, you know you are in for a fun ride.

Apollo has aged since we have last seen him. He pleads with Kirk for a planet to die on. Kirk is understandably apprehensious. After all, we did see a display of his awe inspiring powers the last time we saw him. While Kirk and the senior officers are debating what is the best way to handle Apollo, Scotty has a problem of his own. There seem to be some bizarre energy fluctuations affecting his ship. Are they related to Apollo's sudden appearance?

This was a very tender homage to one of the best sci fi shows on television. It perfectly captures the mood of the original show. We even have the red shirt death. This was perfectly executed. I eagerly await reviewing the second episode.

Star Trek Renegades Premiere!!

Ok so who is going to Germany May 22-24 who wants to take me with them?

Because Star Trek Renegades is premiering at Fedcon. For more information...........https://www.facebook.com/STRtheSeries?fref=nf

Thanks for the mention Talk Nerdy to Me!

This morning when I opened up my Twitter account, I saw Talk Nerdy To Me retweeted a post and they mentioned me.  Thanks guys!

Here is their website http://www.tntmtheshow.com/ and follow them on Twitter  https://twitter.com/tntmtheshow 

Seeing how new to all this that I am, I am truly appreciative of this. Hopefully you guys are enjoying this little experiment.

Toddler Tested Recipe

Today's toddler tested recipe is cannellini bean florentine. This was my son's lunch today.

This is another cheap, easy, and nutritious meal.

All you need is olive oil,  sage, garlic, a quarter of a yellow onion,  a good sized tomato (or two small ones), half a red pepper.  Saute these ingredients.  Add a cup of diced carrots, add a can of cannellini beans. While the beans are simmering,  add a bag (12 oz) of baby spinach.  Add chicken stock (optional). I did not have chicken stock today, so I added Braggs Liquid Aminos. 

Freeze or refrigerate leftovers.

R.I.P Gregory Walcott

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Walcott

They don't make movies like they used to.

Except for Plan 9 From Outer Space. Thank you, Ed Wood, for helping us realize the power of having a lot of drive, but little money.

Gregory Walcott gave a powerful performance in a much aligned movie. It is almost as if he believed Ed Wood was making a mainstay of the genre.  

He was a more prolific actor than I thought he was. Looking over his impressive filmography I realize I have seen him in many different roles.

Losing the stars of yesterday should make us reflect. They were not only from a different time, but they showed us a stylized version of that time. My Grandmother, from Wales, pictured America being like Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger's movie. Movies no longer have that effect on us, nor do actors.

I watch classic movies more than I watch sci-fi or action because of what they represent.  If you have the chance, watch a movie from before 1965. It might not reflect today's culture, but it will help us connect to the last century.

Lazy Sunday

I promise more posts this week.

I sat down to read because I am feeling a little sick today.

The First Review I Wrote on a Blog. J.J. Abrams' abysmal Star Trek.

(This is a really old post from my first blog on Myspace.

Please Renegades do not make me cry. I am hoping you will be everything you promise to be.

I had to edit this but I kept the tone. The idea is I am trying to improve my writing.........I hope it is getting slightly better as  I get older. I was incredibly upset when I wrote this. By the end of the movie I was literally in the fetal position and crying in my seat at the movie theater. By the time I got home I was livid. Nerd rage is a powerful thing friends.)

I'm not going to bother nit picking over the weak storyline or "red matter" or how a drop of "red matter" can implode a planet and create a black hole, but yet when a ship full of the "red matter" detonates it only explodes one ship. Or how a mining ship has a chain long enough to reach from their ship in space to a planet's  surface.  Or how you can base jump out of a starship to a planet through the atmosphere. Or why if you did and didn't explode in the atmosphere you would need a parachute that also doesn't explode due to well traveling at speed of light. Or how Earth is now four seconds away from Vulcan at warp two when it used to take months at the same speed  (Guess they stole the idea of increasing the speed of light from Futurama.)

The biggest problem is Uhura and Spock were not lovers.  Ever. There are too many reasons for this and I  will not go into them here

Next, in the Star Trek universe ships aren't built  in Iowa. Utopia Planitia on the moon, or Mars, yes, Iowa,  no.
Incidentally, they don't launch ships from Iowa either, they are launched from space docks.
Since I'm upset about the ships right now, lets talk about Enterprise. Kirk was not on NCC 1701's maiden voyage, since he was the third captain of the ship, but it was launched in 2245, or when Kirk was the ripe old age of 12.

Spock doesn't use phasers. There is this thing called the Vulcan nerve pinch. Spock is Vulcan or anti-violence. Oh, and Spock doesn't wear fur. Vulcans don't kill animals.
McCoy was not technologically minded. He was a Doctor dammit. He never ever ever worked at a console on the bridge. He would visit the bridge yes.Work on the bridge, no.
Chekhov was not a wunderkind. He was a bored teenage pilot. He never got excited and ran around the ship solving problems. Hell he never ran.
And   they did not all start on enterprise together. Huge inconsistencies here.

Now lets look at each individual character.

CHRIS PIKE---Took command of Enterprise in 2250 and lead two of the five year missions.He relinquished command to Kirk in 2263. Kirk did not serve under Pike.

SPOCK--Born 2230. As of 2267 he earned the Vulcanian Scientific  Legion of Honor,and had twice been decorated by Starfleet Command. Spock served under Pike for 11 years and 4 months, so roughly say in 2252 Spock went on the Enterprise. Did not create Kobayashi Maru. He was certainly not Kirk's teacher at Starfleet. He was never upset about his mother, Amanda, dying when Vulcan was blown up, because Vulcan was never blown up. That was Alderman from Star Wars and Princess Leia. Maybe J.J. Abrams was really trying to make a Star Wars movie?

JAMES KIRK--Born 2233 in Iowa, not space and by 13 was living on Tarsus IV where he was one of 9 surviving witnesses to the massacre of 4000 colonists by Kodos the Executioner. He served aboard Farragut  in 2254, so Enterprise was not his first ship. He had an older brother, who was born in Iowa, and his dad did not die in space before he was born.

DR. LEONARD MCCOY-- Born 2227, or in other words, he was older than Kirk.  As of 2267 he had earned the Legion of Honor, and had been decorated by Starfleet surgeons. He joined the Enterprise in 2266, three years after Kirk became captain.  He most definitely did not attend Star Fleet Academy with Kirk.

UHURA--Yes, she has a name. It is actually Nyota Uhura and her name is definitely not a mystery. She was born in 2239, or in other words, shes younger than Kirk. Her first appearance was in "The Corbomite Maneuver", or episode 3 which means she joined the Enterprise after Kirk, but before McCoy. She never met Kirk in a bar in Iowa prior to joining the crew.  Sorry to disappoint, but she wasn't Spock's lover.

PAVEL CHEKOV-- Born 2245. He came aboard  the Enterprise in 2267 or, after the rest of the established bridge crew and McCoy.

CHRISTINE CHAPEL--She was in love with Spock. If Spock never dated her, I doubt highly he went after Uhura who wasn't interested in him. She joined Enterprise in 2266 or after Kirk.

HIKARU SULU-- Born 2237.He  came aboard the  Enterprise in 2265, once again after Kirk, and by the way, he was initially a physicist.

MONTGOMERY SCOTT--Born 2222. His engineering career began in 2243 and  he served on 11 ships. Oddly enough he never served on Hoth, and he didn't ever have a weird mutated Greedo as a personal sidekick.

There is so much more wrong with this train wreck of a horrible movie,  but I am very tired now. Plus, my head hurts. Oh by the way, I have the STAR TREK encyclopedia, so I, Alana, wrote all of this. This is not some review or something. I'm just a huge Trekkie and the movie hurt my brain.
This was the worst movie I ever saw.  I saw X Men 3,  Mercury Rising, and all the Look Who's Talking Movies.

New Behaviors

Living with a baby, infant, or toddler is sometimes surreal.  They do things we just don't understand.  Eventually they outgrow the things they are doing and each stage is different.

I wanted to share a little bit of what this stage is bringing.  I don't know how much of it is age appropriate because of the developmental delays.

1. I am not allowed to eat.
  There is something about seeing me put food in my mouth that angers my son in a very profound and personal way.  Even if we are eating the same thing at the same time he becomes very irrate. He throws his food and begins crying and screaming if I eat at the table with him. If I have a snack, he grabs for it while screaming.  My husband can eat around him. He just hates seeing me eat.

2. Kisses
He just loves kissing.  Not people though. He kisses his stuffed animals,  his books, his reflection in his mirror.  He even kisses the remote control. 
3. Biting
This is a new one. He will lean in and hug you, then act like he is going to kiss, but takes a nibble.  Sometimes it truly is a nibble, sometimes its a chomp. He thinks it is funny. Trying to phase this out.

4. Everything in the nose.
It started with crayons.  Instead of drawing,  he would walk away giggling and try to shove it in his nose. Then he tried shoving his nail clippers up there. He likes to see if all his toys will fit up there.

What odd things are your toddlers doing?

In Praise of Sandra Boynton

I wanted my son to have a good collection of books. Being a bit of a bibliophile,  I know that there is no end books being made. It has been a while since I had exposure to children's anything and I didn't want to just nilly willy aquire stacks of books. He has Jules Verne and Dickens and Tolkien for his teenage year.  The Monster at the end of the Book is waiting for him when he is just a little older. Dr. Seuss and the Bearinstein Bears are always appropriate,  but you have to wait for your little one to have a bit of an attention span before you can introduce them. He likes Mr. Brown can Moo, Can You? and There's a Wocket in my Pocket but most Suess is just too long.

We were actually at the pediatrician when I discovered Sandra Boynton. There was a well loved copy of Are you a Cow? in the waiting room.  I was giggling while reading it.  I fell in love instantly with her simple yet goofy style of writing.  Did you know rhinoceros snort and snuff? Have you ever seen a vicuna violinning?

He books are cute without being sappy. They are goofy without being insipid. The illustrations are simple,  yet enjoyable to a young reader.

I am a llittle offbeat and although I enjoy time tested classics, its nice to have an alternative.  We enjoy reading her books together and hope you get the chance to discover her writing. 

Quick thought on Star Trek Renegades

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZPbX2x3Ug Renegades trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgRJWBB12GA Renegades trailer

So does anybody else think that the blue guy (he's a villain but I can't remember his name) looks similar to The Destroyer of Worlds from Doctor Who Battlefield? I giggle every single time I see him. I really want to see Renegades but that distracts the hell out of me.

The Destroyer of Worlds is in the clip below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP6T1wcFwms

Sorry for lack of posts today

I had some personal stuff going on.

I might be moving to a state about 5 hours from where I currently live and just felt kind of stressed all day. Staring at all the junk and baby junk I will have to eventually start going through. I have 8 bins of clothes he outgrew in the basement and 6 bins up here of stuff he has yet to wear. I stare at the changing table and wonder if its even worth taking? What about his old toys and books? Should I pack them on the off chance another baby might be in the mix or dump them?  I have 9 bookcases in the living room and 3 in my bedroom. Antique bedroom furniture.........ugh. I'm giving myself a migraine thinking about it all again.

A friend shared this with me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDjq1m9-jWU. This might have potential......

Will do a post about the first episode of Star Trek Continues and Sandra Boynton books tomorrow. The posts I was going to do today.

New Avengers TV spot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WM915QsOyI


So looking forward to this movie.

Have always loved the Avengers because well they kick butt. Not as do goody as the Justice League. All kind of anti-heroes. Marvel has characters who are  a little more complex than DC.

Anyone else notice Quicksilver's Russian accent? Will his sister have it as well?

I get goose bumps and butterflies when I see Scarlet Witch on screen. How will her hex power be used? Do Quicksilver and her become Avengers in this movie or do they remain villains?

I am definetly going to see this movie. Whose with me?

Possible trigger. This is about my miscarriages.

This is  not a happy article. 

Part of the cathartic writing exercise that is this blog entails writing about the pleasant and the unpleasant.

In October 2011 I found out the best possible news that I could.  After being together eleven years my husband and I were expecting our first child.  I was elated. The beginning of the pregnancy was very stressful.  I didn't have insurance so I went to a practice that is sliding scale depending on income. The fay before my visit,  I took 5 pregnancy tests. Every one of them was positive.  I had a pregnancy test at the office and it was negative.  I told the Doctor I took tje home tests and she told me they can be faulty. I told her I wanted a blood test.  She said there was no need for that because I wasn't pregnant.  I told her that's fine, but I don't feel well (morning sickness) and my chest was sore so I wanted lab work. She finally acquiesced.  After the blood draw, I bought a random sampling of pregnancy tests, they were all positive.  The next day the lab called and confirmed I was 2 to 3 weeks pregnant.  I decided I was not sticking with that Doctor and got a new ob.

Everything felt fine. I had morning sickness,  my belly grew. I loved rubbing my belly and imagining the little person growing inside. I made a count down in the back of one of my work notebooks and ticked off the days.  My mother brought me to Wedgewood and bought a beautiful Beatrice Potter dish set for the baby. I thought about all the lovely things I could teach the baby.

I had my first ultrasound at the beginning of January.  I started crying when I saw the baby.  So tiny! The size of a grain of rice.

The next week I felt what I can only describe as elastics snapping in my lower abdominal region. I was sure it had to be round ligament pain.  I had my routine 12 week visit and the Doctor tried to listen on the doppler. There was no sound. The Doctor attempted to do an ultrasound and there was no heartbeat. The Doctor explained that he is a Doctor not an ultrasound tech so maybe he just could not find the heartbeat.  We went back the next day and although I was trying to be optimistic the inevitable truth came out.

Preparing for the D & C was horrible. Basically I sat around the apartment waiting to have the baby for a week. When that didn't happen, I went to the maternity ward of the local hospital. While I was prepping for surgery a woman gave birth to her child. I wanted to die. Here she was happy and would be leaving with her child, I would be leaving empty handed.

The surgery itself was fine. Afterwards I just wanted to run out of the hospital, johnny flapping around me. They made me wait until I could drink water and I didn't pass out or vomit.  The days and weeks after area blur. I literally remember nothing. I lost my job and got a new one. I was about a month into my new job when it registered I wasn't at the old company anymore.

I developed a coping mechanism of rubbing my belly as if there was someone in there still. It brought me comfort.

I never understood how I could miss someone so much who I never met.

It also bothered me that it was that final. When my grandfather passed away, there was physical evidence. We had a wake and a funeral. There was a gun salute because he was a World War Two veteran. If I want to, I can visit his grave. But for my baby? All I have is a few ultrasound pictures.

The baby would have been due 07/25/12. I was very emotional around that time. In September 2012 I learned that I was pregnant again. I had conceived a new child in the beginning of July. All I could do was cry. I didn't want this. But on the other hand I did.

I didn't enjoy the pregnancy at all. I kept waiting for the other shoe to fall. I was a mess. I couldn't look at the ultrasounds. When he started moving, I thought it was a miscarriage. I had spotting with him and I became hysterical. No really, hysterical. Crying, screaming. I felt dizzy and faint. I was so relieved that it was nothing and he was fine. I could not sleep throughout the pregnancy. I had dreams it was going to end bad.

I have my lovely son now but I feel pain because when I look at him, I think about had the other baby and how I could never have both of them. If Bean had lived, s/he would have due at the end of July, and my son was conceived at the beginning of July. And then I wonder what Bean would have been like. And then I hate myself because I love my son so much. Its  a bad cycle that never stops.

I finally decided last year that having another baby would be a good idea. My son would make an amazing big brother.  In October, again this is a bad month for me apparently. I found out I was pregnant. It was hard, but I could not get excited. The pregnancy was awful. I was tired all the time. I saw colored lights all the time. I felt nauseous round the clock.  I couldn't poop for weeks. My lower back felt as if there was something stuck in it. I actually indulged by looking at the ultrasound and getting excited. I had the ultrasound when I was 9 weeks pregnant. The ultrasound tech said the baby was 6 weeks. I started panicking. but my husband said its fine. When my blood work came back at 11 weeks, I was told that my hormones were consistent with the baby being six weeks.  As awful as it is to say, I became emotionally detached then. I already knew where this was headed. On January 1 I didn't feel well. I went to the bathroom and there where bright red clots. I went to the ER and they said the baby had a heartbeat and the bloodwork came back confirming the baby was 6 weeks. They sent me home. I had the baby around 10 am January 2nd at home. There is no way for me to describe what that was like. I wanted to lay down and die because of my toxic uterus and my trail of dead children. But I can't stop, because of my son. Everyday for a few weeks after I would drag myself out of bed and almost mechanically provide care for my little man.

I still am not over the last miscarriage.  I have fears I will see what I saw everytime I go to the bathroom.  I feel a little better, but I don't know if I will ever want to be pregnant again. 

What should I write about?

I am having a blast doing my own thing, but I am open to suggestions. 

Anything you would like me write about?

Toddler Tested Recipe

In my I'm back post I shared a quick and easy toddler recipe for black bean soup.

This recipe is cheap, easy to make, and nutritious.

Make one serving of quinoa according to package directions.  Lightly sauté half two bell different color bell peppers, a quarter of a yellow onion,  and one clove garlic (unless your child is like mine and loves flavor,  then make it two.) Cook two cups of frozen peas. When everything is cooked, mix it all up. Freeze any leftovers.  Sometimes I serve with kale.

Follow with a fruit,  pear goes well with this meal.

My son greatly enjoyed this meal.

My Sister in Law

No names because I want to protect the innocent, but this post is about my sister in law.

We actually had a discussion via Facebook messaging about the story I call "If you have to go to the ER at midnight, watching Frozen on a continous loop is the only way to do it OR What do mean no one is allergic to Motrin, why does pinenuts have to be the bad guy?." (No worries I am definetly writing that story up soon.) I was actually writing my ST:Of Gods and Men review when I glanced down and saw this message: "I'm going to get my own blog entry." So I laughed at first because its 12:04 in the morning and I'm a little out of it now, but every single one of us has a story so I am going to share part of her life.  And you can totally sue me in the morning if you want to.

Again, no names.

My sister in law  went through something no one should have to go through. Everyone always says it is a tragedy when parents outlive their children, and it definitely is. But what about when children lose their parents at a young age? Imagine losing your parent during your teenage years, the time filled with the most inner turmoil you ever experienced. You don't know who you are yet, but society only gives you a few years to make life altering decisions in a short timespan. Now imagine while dealing with that, you have a parent who is sick.  Now imagine, you are the power of attorney for said parent. In addition to having to face your own inner conflicts, you have to make the most important decision you could ever be faced with, but for your parent. The person who helped create you, can you end their life?

My sister in law was faced with that question when her father was sick with mesothelioma. She was a teenager, late teens but still a teenager.  She never thought that when her father entered the hospital that was the last bed he would ever sleep in.

I think it took a great deal of strength to make the decision she made.

She misses her father very much and is living life one day at a time without him.

Let me just say, you never truly know what anyone is dealing with. You may see someone is having a rough day and you may take it personally. That person might be struggling with a literal life or death situation. Also, you may not know it, but this could be the last time you ever see someone. We never know what is going to happen one moment to the next. Remember that. Honestly guys, be kind to one another.

Sci-Fi Movie of the week: Star Trek:Of Gods and Men

"It's the perfect tribute to all those who served aboard her..."-Pavel Chekov

Being a nerd is its own reward.  This movie is one of those times that this is true.  It is a fan made movie that has an incredible story. It feels like a gift of love to fans of TOS, but is a such a good stand alone story it will appeal to those not familiar with the show.

Just take a look at the cast http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0835378/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast.  So many fan favorites from Grace Lee Whitney to Ethan Phillips, sans Neelix makeup. A personal favorite of mine makes a guest appearance, The Guardian of Forever. We even see a tribble.

If I ever get fortunate enough to meet any members of the original cast I want it to be Nichelle Nichols.  Growing up seeing her hold her own with Kirk and the members of the bridge crew as Uhura, I wanted to be her.  When you watch how calm, cool, and collected she acts you would have no indication of the turmoil the studio put her through. If you don't know the stories, I suggest looking them up. Frustrated and feeling like she had no where to turn, Nichols almost quit Star Trek, but a very influential person urged her to stay stating how positive her character was to the African-American community. Nichols projects grace and elegance when she is screen. I always knew she was talented as an actress, but I recently saw these rare pictures:  http://www.thegeektwins.com/2015/02/see-uhura-do-ballet-in-rare-behind.html#.VOzp7HzF_Ak and realized just how talented she really is.

The story is not solely about Uhura. We see Pavel Chekov as we have never seen him before. If the time line was altered, would he be the same friendly, easy going navigator we have all grown to love over the years? Walter Koenig brings his own charm back to the role he originally played on TOS.  One of my favorite bits of trivia about his character was that he was brought on to appeal to young women and his wife cut his hair to emulate the hairstyles of The Beatles.

Although not seen, Kirk is talked about. The movie takes place after his death in Generations.  (Side rant: I read Star Trek books so I don't think he is truly dead. The books William Shatner wrote in conjunction with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens explore what might have happened. Great book series, highly recommend.) What would the universe be without Kirk? The theme of "the needs of the many outway the needs of the few" and how important is the life of one man are explored.

Being a fan made production, the special effects may be a little lacking, but this movie has heart. There are some scenery chewing moments from some of the actors, but seriously, what would Star Trek be like without a little overacting? The dialog is reminiscent of the TOS movies. I highly recommend this movie to everyone who likes science fiction.

You can watch it on Youtube here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFqAME7dx58

Some of our favorite toys.

I wanted to share some of my son's favorite toys. It is so hard for me to pick toys for him because it has been a long time since I was a child. (I am in my mid-30s) It has also been a long time since I have been around children. (My youngest brother is in his mid-20s). Also, I am pretty tomboyish but I don't really know what boys like to play with. What are your children's favorite toys?

 Why yes that is a sock. I undressed him the other day and he took the sock from me and has been playing with it non stop for over a week now.

So for this toy, its the ears and string he likes. He likes to spin the ears and fiddle with the end of the string. I keep telling him its a doggie, but he looks at me like I am nuts.

 These are Kohl's Cares stuffed animals. He sings to them.

This toy was what the physical therapist and early intervention coordinator played with when they came this week. Melissa & Doug toys are amazing, I will write about them soon. I paid $1.00 for this because yard sales are awesome.

This is from Ikea. He plays with it for hours.

This is his Little Man. He calls it Daddy. My husband has dark brown hair and olive complexion and we both love he calls the toy Daddy. This guy came with a car but the car is forgotten in the toy box for right now.

Being Multiracial and having a Multiracial Child

I fully understand the rules involved with sharing on the Internet.  Most of you I will never meet and therefore you have no idea about any facet of my life.  If I don't share it, it stays my secret. 

Writing is cathartic to me, it always has been. I started writing my short stories at age 4. My mother found them and tried to do creative writing exercises with me. She would tell me who I had to add and what the characters were going to suddenly decide to do. Or she would find an article in the paper or the Reader's Digest and make me either write a report or expound upon the article.  I am writing this blog as a follow-up to those dreaded exercises.  I have to get the stories in my head out and journaling is not working any longer. Because I need to do this cathartic exercise for myself,  and not for anyone else, I will be as honest as I can be. The more I write, the better I will become.

This entry will be difficult to write because it is so personal. 

Being mixed race is not new to my generation. My family roots in America can be traced to slavery.  I had an ancestor who was a slave of a man whose last name was Page. She ended up having his child. He in turn left her money and land. My family lived in the land as recently as my Grandfather.  My family had another slave who ran away to the Blackfoot Indian tribe. He had a child with an Indian woman. It is not truly multiracial but my Grandfather's parents were from two different regions of Italy.  My Grandfather's mother was from Northern Italy and was so fair they called her the Dane (this was the turn of the 1900s, life was different. ) My Grandfather's father was from Sicily.  This caused a disruption because this was just not done, and the immigrated to America.  My Grandfather was a soldier in World War 2 and was billited at my Great-aunt's house in London.  My Welsh grandmother fell in love with the tall, dark, and handsome Italian American.  He looked like Tyrone Power.

As you can see, my family is pretty open minded. 

My parents dealt with direct opposition,  not from family,  but from the world around them. They were married in the early 70s and the culture of America was not what it is now. They got either flat out denied apartments or evicted. They stayed together long enough to have a child.

I never thought about race really as a child. The first time it even entered my thoughts was when my step-father's mother bought all her granddaughters Barbie dolls. I don't remember my exact thoughts when I opened the gift, but I am pretty sure "Cool! A new Barbie" was the extent of it. She pulled me and my mother into another room and started to apologize that the store didn't have any black Barbies, would this one be ok? I literally had no idea what was going on. A Barbie is a Barbie. My mother was quiet for a moment then said it was fine.

That was the turning point. The damage was done.  Pretty much growing up with a family that looked like a photo negative of my complexion led to many "Are you adopted?" inquires.



I moved to North Carolina when I was 17 to go to Job Corps. Not my proudest achievement, I must admit.  The ratio of African American students to non-African American students was incredibly disproportionate.  I felt I surely had to fit in, I was color coded after all. Being from New England, I am pretty friendly, but not really outgoing. I am pretty guarded against strangers. Something about not seeing the sun for seven months a year makes us shy up here. I didn't fit in because the other students thought I was "stuck up" because I wasn't as outgoing as they were. If only they knew I have pretty bad anxiety.

I eventually came back up here to the frozen tundra. Almost immediately, I met a really cute guy and we started dating.  He was a former skin head, but for a black person I was pretty cool. We did not last.

My biggest issue up here is one that is heavily cliched by the media.  I am not going to rob your store. To the cashier at Homegoods, the heist is not your $3.99 glasses that you accused me of price tag switching on. To the cashier at Bath and Body Works, thank you, I no longer shop at the chain because of you. I do not plan on going to jail for scented hand sanitizer, there was no need to trail me around the store and randomly jump at me from behind displays. To every store ever, please stop following me around the store asking every 10 seconds if I need your help. No, I don't. I know my sizes, I know what I like and if you give me room to breath, I will make a purchase. I went shopping once with my younger brother and he started laughing after the 30th time in five minutes I was asked if I needed "help". He wanted to know why that was happening as he had never seen it before.  Either I have the money on me, or I am browsing.

I now have a child who I love dearly. Because of my mixed heritage, and his father being Puerto Rican, my son is significantly lighter skinned than me.  There is no reason to come up to us and ask me who his mother is. There is no reason for the Pediatrician to ask if I "watch" him.  It bothers me that my son will have to face the same trials I do and did. People assume my 64 year old mother is his mom because they are both olive skinned. When I get asked his ethnicity, I laugh a bit because he is everything. I hope with his generation, we can do away with some of the negativity regarding racial backgrounds in this country.


I have made my own "culture". I don't really like rap, well I like party rap. I actually really like Tori Amos and Regina Spektor. I like alternative, and 80's hits. I read, too. Mostly Dickens, not too many modern authors although I really like Jacqueline Winspear. I like antiques as well. Probably my favorite guilty pleasures are Royal Dalton and anything stamped occupied Japan. It bothers me when people assume I know what a Lil' Wayne is or Beyonce's new song. Pop music doesn't really appeal to me either. I am just not hip like that. I am really comfortable with who I am and the things I like. I don't think of myself as black, I think of myself mostly as just being me. If you get anything out of this, its mostly don't assume. Family comes in many different combinations, always has, always will.  People's likes are not based upon their backgrounds.  If you are curious, ask but don't ask insulting questions......You will find most people would rather clarify if they don't feel insulted or ashamed.

Star Trek: Renegades Music Video (Official)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI3fSiokTsw

http://startrekrenegades.com/home/

Ok, I am such a huge Trek fan this gives me goose bumps. It looks amazing. Every time a clip or a trailer comes out, I giggle a bit, thats how excited I am.

This is from the same production team that brought us Star Trek:Of Gods and Men which I will talk about later today.

You can follow them on Facebook, too.. https://www.facebook.com/STRtheSeries

Please CBS pick this up!!! It could be nerd power night on TV, Big Bang theory followed by Renegades.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D "One of Us"

Full disclosure, I love the movies and the show, but I only read classic issues of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and classic Avengers. I never read the inhuman or Ultron stories.  This review is of the perspective of the tv show fan.

Our show begins in an apartment in New York. We see a lonely woman clumsily eating a steak dinner while watching a classic movie in black and white. She is joined by Skye's father, who is always going to be Agent Cooper to me.  Skye's father has brought some friends with him. We see that the woman has razor blades grafted onto the tips of her fingers. The intent is to bring down S.H.I.E.L.D because if the government and HYDRA can't one crazy guy with a dream and his dangerous, enhanced friends can.

There was a lot of interesting back and forth. One of my favorite lines was from Mockingbird. She told Simmons that they are spies and they lie for a living.  This was said without irony as she and Mac have been lying to the team for months now.

Hunter is being kept by Mac. The intent seems to be to keep him safe and alive. Mockingbird tells Mac that she will arrange for an "extraction". Coulson seems to know that she not only knows where Hunter is but is keeping that information from him.

Skye's father goes on a road trip with people with enhanced abilities. They go to Bryn More Psychiatric Hospital and pick up a man whose voice puts people into comas. They then head to Wisconsin. Coulson knows this to send him a message.

The team brings a psychiatrist on the plane to interview Skye who has ties to Melinda May's past. We know nothing of May's history and this side story plays out wonderfully.

Coulson, May, Skye and Mockingbird all go to Wisconsin to confront Skye's father and his "Slicing Talons". There is a lot of action in this scene.  Not the best fight sequence, but it isn't bad.

We also learn that some of the people on the "Index" are made, but some always had their powers in them laying dormant.

Skye thought that she was suppressing her new powers. Is she really? Where is Hunter being extracted too? What have Mockingbird and Mac been up to? Does Simmons try to wipe out all the Inhumans? These questions are somewhat answered.

I did enjoy the cliffhanger ending, but the agent, double agent, triple agent theme was already explored with Agent Grant.  It would be nice to see the show go in a different direction before it comes as convoluted and plodding as Heroes.

Early Intervention 03/17/15

Today A. the Early Intervention coordinator came. My son just loves her. We went to the door to meet her and he was all smiles.

My son was very vocal today. He sang to her and babbles up a storm. They read the same Bob the Builder book that T. read to him. They talked and throughout the visit A.and I discussed his development.

I told her that he identified a cat for T. yesterday and she was extremely happy. She said that she put in a request for the Speech Therapist to come out but they normally don't until the child is two. He will be two on 4/19 so she thinks later next month or in the summer speech therapy will begin. The Occupational Therapist is coming on April 7th for the o.t. eval and I will definitely be writing about that.

My son actually said a few distinct words to A. He said "Daisy" and "thank you" to A. The Daisy disturbs me a little because I had a miscarriage in January and had the baby been a girl, her name would have been Margarita which is Daisy in english. I nicknamed the baby Daisy but haven't mentioned Daisy as a word since January. He said "thank you" to A. after she handed him a puzzle piece.

We also discussed that soon, around 27 months, we will meet with the school department to discuss my son's needs as e.i ends when he is 3. I cannot believe that we are already discussing school at this point.

It was a good visit.  E.I is not as focused as P.T, its a more general discussion of how my son is growing. We have a good program and I really like the people that come out and work with us.

Why you can't turn your back on a 2 year old

I can't imagine this tasted good. .....

March 2015 Bluum box 22 month old boy

You can view the video here:March 2015 Bluum box

Got my son's Bluum box today! This is always a red letter day.

Pardon my pink J Jill dress. It was super comfy and I didn't want to change. Next month I will be a little more dressed. Lets see what we got!

To start off we have a book with a finger puppet. This looks really cute, but I am not sure how my son will like it. When he wakes up in the morning we will read it. This a British book from Child's Play

Price 5 Pounds 99. This means I have no idea what the price US is. It is midnight exactly and I am not looking up conversion rates. Lets guesstimate $7.00. I would love for someone to tell me the US cost though please.

Melissa & Doug Truck Crayon Set.  I added this to the box this month. The crayons are triangle shaped and supposed to be easy to hold. Also they are not made from wax, but from plastic which makes them more durable. And that is an adorable box.

Price 3.99 (on sale from the Bluum store)

https://www.hellofresh.com/

This is a $40.00 coupon for Hello Fresh. This looks kind of cool. It's premeasured ingredients with recipe cards. I might try this out. 

Value $40.00

Things that Go ABC Crocodile Creek chunky board book. This is super cute, but I think my son may be too old for this. My husband's niece has a month old that this might be perfect for in a few months, or maybe I can gift it to someone else.

Price $11.99 (according to amazon.com. That makes me upset. I would not pay half that for this.)

Numbers Match up Game & Puzzle Peaceable Kingdom. This looks like a lot of fun. The cards are two sided. On one side its a match up game memory game. On the back, its a floor puzzle. Given that my son has developmental delays and this is for ages 2-6 I think this might have to sit in my room for a bit.

Price $7.95

http://eco-armour.com/1-7-bergamot-pink-grapefruit.html 

So according to the product's website this is $12.95 worth of shave foam.  I am assuming it also removes cellulite, stretch marks and will make me have 20/20 vision for that price. I will not be buying this product when the container is out, but it will be fun to try.

Price $12.95

Melissa & Doug Classic Peg Puzzle See Inside Alphabet. Later this week I will sing the praises of Melissa & Doug products. This is going to be fun to play with. Cannot wait for my son to see this in the morning.
Price $6.39 (www.toyrus.com)

Overall not a bad box. I cannot get over the price of the shave foam though.  Anytime Melissa & Doug is in a box I want to jump for joy.  The frog book also looks like it might be a favorite.

Total box price (since the Frog and Me book is in pounds this is an estimate) $90.27. I paid $20.00 for the box. Works for me.

Interested in ordering Bluum? http://bluum.me/16QJhAC

Physical Therapy 3/16/15 as well as another positive development.

The last time T. the Physical Therapist was here, she gave me some things to work on.
     1. My son "W-sits". He has low muscle tone so he sits like this : 

     (This is not my son. This is just a Google image)
I was told to correct this.

     2. My son doesn't like to feed himself. This is another developmental issue we are working on. I don't mean feeding himself with utensils, I mean he doesn't like feeding himself with his hands. I am to encourage self-feeding.

     3. My son has low muscle tone so I was to think of ways to encourage him to use his muscles by making him move in unexpected ways. The example she used was having him sit on pillows and then he would have to use his leg muscles to balance.


When T. came today we had lots to talk about. Since her last visit, we visited friends who have a sunken living room. My son learned that by putting his hands on the step in front of him, he could climb up the stairs. This used problem solving and helped used muscles.  He has been eating the majority of his lunches by himself. Today I made him chicken nuggets, celery bites, avocado and tomato slices for lunch. He usually picks out the chicken and makes me feed him the veggies, but today he ate it all by himself. To work on balance and muscle tone, last week I took him outside and held his hands and had him walk over our slushy, icy backyard. She had only positive feedback and agreed it is hard to think of a lot of outside winter activities for a toddler for pt purposes but soon we will be going to playgrounds for pt.

T. then played with my son. I got him this Melissa & Doug puzzle at a yardsale:

This puzzle is great for him because it develops fine motor skills and language.  They played with the puzzle and then she pointed to the cat and asked him what it was. His response? "meeo". Like "meow". This is the first time ever my son made an association. We both stared at him, then I started clapping. Then he kind of looked at T. and said it again like she should totally know that its a cat.

Then T. and my son read a Bob the Builder counting book. She is really pleased with his progress.

We discussed how we only have a year left of early intervention and then she planned a visit for April. I will share how that visit goes as well.