"Old Dogs"

Because we wanted to see a movie that was light and happy on Thanksgiving, we went to see “Old Dogs.” It seemed harmless enough – Robin Williams and John Travolta in a family comedy…sounds like fun, right? WRONG!! What a mess of a movie. I don’t think it was good enough to even be on the Disney Channel. I am embarrassed for all the actors involved – even little Ella Bleu Travolta – she is going be so embarrassed when she looks back on this. Please don’t go see this movie – I promise you that it will be on my “Worst of 2009” list.

Thankful

Ron and I have entered a new phase in our “empty-nest-hood.” Our nest has been empty since the Fall of 2006, but this is the first time we ever have been alone on this holiday. Even before we had children, we shared this holiday with family. Our daughters were home at the end of October for our Hallow-giving meal, since we all knew that we wouldn’t be together on Thanksgiving. We knew this day was coming.

Don’t feel sorry for us, though. I’m doing enough of that for us. It’s really not a BIG deal, I guess. It’s just another day. And it’s not that we didn’t receive invitations to go elsewhere, (Thanks, Deb and Kubby!) I’m not sure that I would have been very good company because I don’t know how I will feel tomorrow. So we are going to go to a local restaurant and then spend the rest of the day at the movie theater.

This didn’t all hit me until the girls started calling me for recipes last night and this morning. They will be spending the holiday with the families of their significant others and will be contributing to their meals. I’m glad they will have something to take with them.

At Thanksgiving it is a Beeson Family tradition to go around the table before we eat our meal and tell each other what we are thankful for that year. Everyone says something profound and touching and then we get to Dad who will say something funny to lighten the mood. I am usually the last to speak and almost always get choked up and have to clear my throat and dab my eyes. Then we have a toast and dig in. Since we won’t all be seated around the table tomorrow I will use this moment to say what I am thankful for this year –

I am thankful that Ron and I are both gainfully employed. REALLY thankful for my new job!

I am thankful for friends old and new and family who accept me for the cuckoo I am. You know who you are!

I am thankful for my brilliant, beautiful (inside and out) children who are out there making a difference in the world. I am grateful that they are with good people that really seem to appreciate and love them. I am so thankful that they still like to come home. I really am thankful for my webcam and Skype and all the technology that allows me to stay in touch with my girls.

I am thankful for my Baby Hurricane and all the joy and laughter he brings to our lives.

Most of all, I am thankful for my husband and best friend who has loved and supported me through more drama, ups and downs than a guy should have to deal with in a lifetime! We have a good life and really nothing to complain about...

Yes, I am thankful!

FYI

You may have noticed that I’m not posting as often as I did last month – having difficulty accessing my blog dashboard from home. It’s incredibly frustrating, but hopefully with the 4 day weekend ahead, my I.T. guy (Ron) will have a chance to sort things out. So until we do, I will continue to post to my notes on Facebook. I’ve had to do this with my movie reviews – if you go to http://queenlaurabee.blogspot.com you will notice that there are no recent movie reviews posted there.

I love everything about technology except how smart you have to be to use it!

So I'm not Julia Child

Halloween weekend all the girls came home and we had our Hallow-giving. I was so excited to have my family home, but I got a little stressed out about what food to have in the house for them and what I would cook for the big meal especially since Mandi & Beckie are vegetarians. The thing is I am not a great cook and I don’t know why because I love to eat!

I come from a background of excellent cooks – my mom and at least two of her sisters are amazing cooks. My dad’s mother was a wonderful cook. My cousins, the Fearsome Four (I am one of the 4) are all GREAT cooks and at least one of them is a “Foodie.” My younger sister loves to cook and experiment with new recipes. They are all such great cooks that I have major insecurities about cooking for them. When people visit, we go out to eat a lot.

For me, cooking is a chore. I don’t love it. Don’t get me wrong – I can cook and Ron and the girls didn’t starve. I am ok doing the basics – I’ve just never gotten a thrill out of cooking. Planning meals, shopping for groceries, cooking and cleaning – you can have it! I have to say that I am very lucky to have married a man whose mother wasn’t much of a cook herself. The first time I made mashed potatoes for Ron, he looked at me as though I was a genius! Personally, I didn’t know that you could make mashed potatoes from a box. I can at least thank mom-in-law for that. Well, that and teaching me how to make sausage gravy and biscuits – it’s one of the few things she does well and it’s now one of my specialties! It's Baby Hurricane's favorite!

So even though I’m no Julia Child, when all was said and done and cooked and eaten, I did a respectable job preparing our Hallow-giving feast. We had turkey seasoned with rosemary, sage and lemon, spinach tortellini with olive oil, asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, Spanish olives and parmesan, green beans, sweet potatoes, roasted red potatoes seasoned with Italian herbs and more parmesan. Everything was made from scratch except for the dinner rolls and pies. Everyone ate well and seemed to be happy with the meal. Not too bad for a non-gourmet, non-foodie type of person!

And believe it or not, I actually had a good time preparing it! Go figure!

The Hardest Job You'll Ever Love

Re-posted - sorry if you've already read this one...

Last week we had a baby shower for a friend at work who is nearing her big day. Many of us who are moms at the office have children that are almost grown and some of us have adult children. Watching her baby belly grow has made me nostalgic for my own pregnancies and the days when my babies were born. We’ve all been sharing our own delivery stories at work and I’m hoping we haven’t scared her! We are all only too happy to talk about how our own experiences without thinking about how this might frighten this first time mother. Most everyone focuses on how hard the delivery is… “my labor lasted 14 hours and then I had to have a C-section anyway!” “My wife was in labor for over 20 hours, the doctor waited too long to give the epidural and so it didn’t help!” Poor thing hears stories like this every time the subject comes up, and given how she’s blossomed lately – it’s a lot!

I guess it’s a rite of passage we have to go through because I remember people doing the same to me. As soon as people found out that I was having twins, they would tell me about their daughter who was pregnant with twins but went into labor early so the babies didn’t survive or another woman whose sister had boy and girl twins but the boy didn’t survive. These people were obviously still in pain about what had happened to them so I tried not to hold it against them for scaring me and making me worry about what might happen.

What I don’t hear people telling this soon-to-be mama is how hard it is being a parent beyond the delivery. As far as I know, no one has told her about how you spend the first 18 years of your child’s life protecting and teaching him only to then let him go off on his own so that he can learn how to be an adult. My mother would say things to me like “no matter how old you get, you’ll always be my baby.” I would roll my eyes and say ”I know, Mom.” But I didn’t know then. I know now. No matter how old your children get, you NEVER stop worrying about them or trying to protect them. We made it through teething and temper tantrums, chicken pox and broken bones, science projects and overdue homework. All that was a piece of cake compared to what they grapple with as young adults. You raise your children to be independent, responsible people, but when they face adult dilemmas - you just want to fix everything for them. The hard part is that you can’t.

Ron and I admittedly spoiled our girls. For my part, I wanted to give them everything I didn’t have as a child. Daddy just didn’t like to say “no.” We wanted to make things as easy as possible for them. I don’t know if that was right or wrong but it’s what we did. Personally, I think they have all grown into amazing human beings. It goes without saying that I love my daughters, but I can also honestly say that I really LIKE them as well. Each of our daughters is a well adjusted, reasonable human being with political and global awareness and a social conscience. Unfortunately, they are not immune to the woes of adulthood and the horrible things that can happen in the world. Nor can I protect them from broken hearts or the personal trials and tragedies they may someday face. I can offer advice and help them make sound decisions, but then I have to close my mouth and let them decide. That can be painfully difficult. Letting go is just so hard for me on so many levels.

So, to my darling daughters (who are adults but who will always be my babies no matter how old they get), remember that Dad and I are here for you to help anyway we can for whatever you may need....always!

And to my friend who is about to start a new chapter in her life, I hope we haven't frightened you. This is the most exciting time in your life - enjoy every moment and remember that the rewards of parenthood far outweigh the demands.

Movie Review - was on Monday

Having issues creating new posts at home - reposting from another computer. Want to keep all my posts together so I'm re-posting this...

Something is wrong with Blogger.com so I'm going straight to writing a note for this review. Ron and I saw 3 movies over the weekend - The Men Who Stare at Goats, Imagine That and The Taking of Pelham 123. I wanted to see "The Men Who Stare at Goats" because it looked clever and funny, but once again, most of the good, funny stuff was given away in the previews. It's a weird, quirky little movie and I think it's a good thing that George Clooney is so good looking - it makes it a little easier to forgive him when he makes a movie like this one. Well, that and the fact that most of his movies are usually pretty intelligent. I don't know...I don't think I recommend this movie at all - even when it comes out on DVD.

On Saturday we spent most of the day in our pj's but we still saw a couple of movies on pay per view. First we saw "Imagine That" with Eddie Murphy and the cutest little actress named Yara Shahidi. What ever happened to Eddie Murphy anyway? I guess this movie would be good for little 6 & 7 year old girls - no one else would have been able to sit through this movie in the theater. Skip it.

Finally, we watched "The Taking of Pelham 123" with John Travolta as the bad guy and Denzel Washington as the good guy. I liked it! I kept trying to get Ron to see this one while it was in the theaters, but for some reason he just wasn't interested. He liked it, though. John Travolta is excellent at playing a bad guy - remember "Face Off" ? Loved it. So, there's some shooting and blood, but if you put your hands over your eyes it's over before you know it.

Can't wait to see "2012" this week!

Aftermath

It's been over a week since my last post. There has been so much going on around the Old Beeson Homestead and something(s) had to give. Happily, I gave up the pretense of keeping the house straightened up when the kids came home - they really don't care and are quite the mess makers themselves! What I did miss was writing, but I was far too exhausted to mind that much. Besides, when I am that tired, my creativity is all gone.

The important thing is that my girls were all home! Not only did they bring their significant others with them, but they also brought their own particular kinds of messes, laughter and noise. Even their arguing was music to my ears! I think I have finally resigned myself to the fact that these daughters of mine have very distinct personalities and will rarely agree on anything.

Since Jenn won't be able to come back to CA at the traditional Thanksgiving time, she decided to talk her sisters into having our Thanksgiving meal at Halloween. I'm grateful that they agreed, because we had Thanksgiving without her last year and it was difficult. So, we had a very happy Hallow-giving with enough vegetarian faire for Mandi & Beckie and regular food for the rest of us. Besides that, the girls got to take Baby Hurricane trick or treating in his AWESOME astronaut costume! It was all great fun.

The girls are all back at their respective homes in DC and Santa Barbara and I'm left with an empty nest again. It's ok, though. I've got plenty to do keep busy and I have to rest up for their next visit or my next adventure.