Hatari!

" 'Hatari' means 'danger' in Swahili, but Hatari! also means a spectacular adventure film," at least according to the DVD box. I found this movie in the Walmart discount bin and wanted to see it because I like the song The Baby Elephant Walk. It was made in 1962 before they started rating films in the US. I'm guessing videos and DVDs of older films are rated in Canada before they are re-released. This Howard Hawks/John Wayne classic about a group of highly skilled professional game hunters in Africa who capture animals with strong ropes and cameras for zoos and circus attractions had a G rating from Canada so I felt ok about showing it to E. It is a very long film however and the dialogue was a bit boring for a 3 year old so he would wander around during the longer animal-free scenes.

At the end of the film the DVD selection screen came up and E announced proudly, "I can spell that!" He carefully read the letters: H. A. T. A. R. I. Eskimo Point.

I love how hard he tries. He had asked me weeks ago what letter an exclamation point was and he remember as best he could.

There are so many rules in English. It's hard to keep track of them all but when you are just learning your letters it seems almost impossible that all the rules will fit in your head. As an example, verb tenses are confusing: past, past perfect, future perfect, past progressive, passive, active.

I wonder if there will be future perfect pronouns: we and us in my vocabulary. Is there such a thing as a future perfect pronoun or is it a perfect future pronoun?

Penance
I went to confession this weekend and was given a most unusual penance, not a set number of Hail Marys, no Our Fathers, no decades of the rosary. I was told I have to look into a social group of some kind where I can meet people. Basically the priest was saying, "you need to get a life." I looked on the parish website and found a single parents group sponsored by my town's health and human services office. AND they offer babysitting during the meetings which are Monday's from 7 to 8:30pm. Dinner's gonna be McDonald's but I may meet people.

A Catholic Child's Prayer

Hail Mary, Mother of Grace
Father of God
As it was in the beginning
Amen

This is the prayer E said while getting his shower this evening.

Last weekend we ate brunch at the Knights of Columbus fundraiser in the Holy Family gym. They sat us at a table with a family of 4 who were nearly finished dining. We said hello and went to get our food from the "buffet" I had to pay $8 as an adult, E, who is 3, eats for free. He ate a lot more than I did so I guess it came out about even, Anywho, he grabbed for a bite of something and I stopped him.

"Uh, uh. What did we forget?" I asked
"To Pray!" was the jubilant response.
We made the sign of the cross and I hesitated at "Holy" he often forgets which shoulder to touch so his sign of the cross always has a bonus "Holy" in it.
Then he proceeded to nearly yell the blessing before meals. He is really good at this in public.

The woman sitting across the table was so impressed and she told me so. I told her he is only 3 and she was even more impressed. "When they learn it at this age it will always be with them," she told me.

I wish the other Catholic prayers would stick as well. For a long time our night time prayer has been a simple "God bless (insert your name and a slew of others here). Keep us all happy, healthy and safe we ask this in Jesus name. Amen" it was close to the kinds of prayers they say at school (asking only in Jesus' name and not in the name of the Father or the Holy Spirit). That when I tried to says the sign of the cross before the Hail Mary a few weeks ago he took over the prayer by talking much louder and proceeded to say the blessing before meals. It was just he two of us in the room but I was kind of embarrassed in front of God that I hadn't taught him better.

Well it's time to go brush the teeth and try the prayer thing again for tonight. Know that you are always in our prayers.

PS; if you would pray for my cousin Jack in Iraq I'd appreciate it.

A most civilized exchange

This evening E didn't want to go to bed. Not a new problem but it's getting more frequent and the time it takes to get him down is increasing, which of course makes mornings just that much harder. Ever since seeing Madagascar he groans, "Five more minutes," when I try to wake him up in the morning. When he doesn't doze off until 10pm those groans will be more frequent. Last night it was the electrical storm and the claims of hunger and thirst. I wish all his problems could be solved with a glass of milk and a banana.

Tonight it was the allure of the plastic train set. Not the wooden tracks or the Lincoln Log tracks but the plastic circle with the sound effects, always a mother's friend, and the people that ride in the 3-seater train. He had several of these people lined up behind the train station facing each other. They appeared ready to square dance. Then he brought in the motorcycle cop and gave them all tickets, perhaps for loitering I don't know.

"Here's your ticket," the policeman said.
"Thank you," replied the bespectacled woman in the straw hat.
"Here's your ticket," the officer said to the woman's twin.
"Thank you," she replied.
"Here's your ticket," he said to Ronald McDonald in his plastic suit of armor.
"Thank you," Sir Ronald answered politely.
"Here's your ticket," he said to the knight holding a shield.
"Thank you," replied Sir Cat (his new name as of tonight, stay tuned it can change at any time).
"Here's your ticket," the officer said to the other Ronald McDonald in his plastic suit of armor.
"Thank you," he replied.

It was a most civilized exchange between the officer and these apparent law breakers. Then E informed me that he, the policeman, was going to take them all to jail. I don't know how he knew policemen give tickets or take people to jail. I have always said that people who were pulled over had a problem or an accident and the police were there to help them. I don't want him to see the police as an enemy of any kind, an attitude that develops when you get a driver's license and don't appreciate the posted speed limits.

I didn't ask how he knew police officers gave tickets. His standard answer for a question of this kind is, "I just knowed it by myself." Which is much better than the other less frequent answer, "It's a secret."

Well mommy needs to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a treat with so many people gone and I'm going to need to be alert -- our department needs more LERTS.

St Therese and the Red Ferrari

I may be in the midst of a midlife crisis. I took a Children's Writing Course and learned a most valuable lesson -- that's not what I want to do with my time/life. On the last day I realized it was my version of a red Ferrari. It was a lot cheaper and I got to share it with my friends Goo and the Brown.

I really feel like I am in crisis mode. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I am searching for myself, for my calling, for my purpose. I try to listen for the voice of God to help guide me, (One benefit of this crisis is an increase in my faith in Christ and the Catholic Church) but I not used to listening for God and I'm not sure what he sounds like. Does he sound like Donald Hayne, Cecil B. DeMille's assistant that was tapped to be the voice of God as the Pillar of Fire, in The Ten Commandments? Or is God's voice more like Alanis Morissette in Dogma or George Burns in the Oh God! movies?

I have been trying to follow the example of Saint Therese of Lisieux the Carmelite novice who trusted in Jesus to make her holy and relied on small daily sacrifices instead of great deeds. I do not love washing dishes but when I think of it as a small sacrifice for my son and God's son it's not so bad. It's almost therapeutic to reflect on Jesus' sacrifice while trying to scrub off the burnt on mess or to think about the benefits of baptism while your hands are immersed in scalding dish water.

I was on vacation last week and had what I thought were modest goals for my time. I didn't realize what a "time suck" shopping for a used car and getting a quote on a bath tub replacement was going to be or how exhausting used car guys would be. I didn't even get the house cleaned let alone the windows washed or the mattresses flipped or any annuals planted. (Ok I got the herbs planted but you can't go through the summer without the "crops".)

This week has been a bit hectic already. I went back to work on Tuesday and found we are really short staffed and we have early deadlines because of the Memorial Day holiday. I was also informed that we will only have three people in the office on Friday when everything is due! Three! Until a month ago a full staff was nine people. Then my friend "the Brown" was transferred and we've been making due with eight. Friday it will be three! I'm still stunned.

Home life this week has not been perfect either, last night I singed my hair and burnt a knuckle on the NEW grill (thanks Bobert!) Monday I twisted my ankle (nothing serious, thank God) playing soccer/kick ball with E and the neighbor kids. Getting E down has been a challenge and I have been exhausted all last week and the first couple of days of this week but still unable to sleep. But tonight I've been awake and fairly energetic. We had reworked leftovers which weren't bad and I got the kitchen cleaned up -- it's a miracle. I feel tired but not exhausted, satisfied and not too overwhelmed, I may be able to sleep tonight. If I can't sleep I know there are 2 baskets of clothes at the foot of the bed that I can get up and fold. Always want to feel like I'm accomplishing something.

I could rant about dissatisfaction but I'm going to save that for another day when I've got more time and can really do the subject justice.

"Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out:
O Jesus, my Love...my vocation, at last I have found it...
My vocation is Love!"
- Saint Therese of Lisieux

TR & Jim won!

I have to confess, I was addicted to Survival of the Richest and now it is over. Sad to see it go but so happy with the outcome. TR learned a lot, changed for the better and I hope the lessons last and he really does get his butt out there and help people. He alluded to this in the final episode when he had to plead his case to the others on the cast.

You haven't watched Survival of the Richest well here is the set up (copied from their web site): "SURVIVAL OF THE RICHEST matches people from opposite ends of the American dream to see if rich and poor can work together. Hosted by Hal Sparks (Queer as Folk), the six-episode series takes a group of seven wealthy young people, with a combined worth of over $3 billion, and pairs them with seven working class individuals who have a collective debt of $150,000. Forced to live together, the well-to-do contestants have the chance to prove they can survive without their parents' money for the first time in their lives. For the working class folks, the experience is a chance to dramatically improve their lives. Challenges vary from living richly at the race track to cleaning up the spectator stands following the event, as well as contributing to the construction of a house for Habitat for Humanity. Each week, one team will be eliminated until the final team walks away with a large cash prize."

The cash prize was $100,000 to each member of the winning team. The poor boy (Jim) made a pact with 2 others saying he would share with them. Those who didn't win will get $5000, which isn't bad for losing.

I don't remember seeing anything about a Habitat for Humanity House -- but they did renovate a youth center in South Central LA which as one of them said on the show "supposed to be worse than the Marine Corp". The other challenges included...

1. working as wait staff at Medieval Times
2. cleaning up at the track
3. picking peppers in the hot sun (TR suffered heat stroke and Jim still picked more peppers than some other teams)
4. working on a commercial fishing boat
5. Marine mini-boot camp and a military obstacle course

It was great fun to see the rich working hard and hilarious to heart warming to hear their comments about having to do things the rest of us just do because they gotta get done: housekeeping, grocery shopping etc.

The online profile says TR now lives in Chicago. Doubt we will ever see each other -- we run in different circle. : )

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This was a nice test and good learning experience in html.