A Monkey Plays Percussion In Satan's Orchestra.

Despite the creative title this is not a work of fiction, but an opinion on one of the villains from Pixar's Toy Story 3. For those of you who have seen the film, and I'm sure most of you have, you might remember the cymbal-playing chimp who monitors Sunnyside Daycare after hours. The matted fur, the bulging blood-shot eyes, and that scream that could shatter crystal, were all combined as this freakish little primate crawled out of the bowels of hell and onto our big screen; make this creature about twenty feet tall and we are ready for a truly terrifying experience.

Why do I bother to rant about all this? Because I recently took my three year-old daughter to see this highly anticipated feature. While I loved the rest of the film, having to hold my trembling little girl while she said "Dad, I don't like that monkey, he's a little scary" over and over tarnished the experience a bit. With that first piercing scream she was scared to death that the monkey was going to come back and get her. The only relief she got was the reassurance I gave her that Woody had tied up the monkey and he wouldn't be coming back. Then the devil-ape showed up again in the end and Pixar made a liar out of me. Oh sure they tried to tone it down by putting him in cheezy 1980's sunglasses, but if you put the devil in baggy shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, he's still the devil.

Once again, I have to say that I loved the film overall, and I will probably purchase it for my family after it's release on video; however, I know that, despite the family friendly nature of this picture, I will inevitably hear a shout from the living room "Dad! I want to skip the monkey part! It's a little scary!" then I will stop what I'm doing, and with a sigh wonder why the Pixar animators couldn't have used a He-Man action figure to monitor Sunnyside instead of Bobo the the Hell-spawned Chimp.

Calling All Moms!

Thanks to a little family get-together last week, I recently discovered this fabulous blog that has totally inspired me as a mom, and a person and, of course, Reese's full-time playmate. :0)

You simply must check it out- and get ready to feel like a little kid again. Half of his posts had me going, "Ooh! I want to play with that!" It's full of ideas, instructions, and templates for retro, homemade crafts and toys. They are just plain awesome and oh-so-easy to make.

Check it- you and all your little kiddies will love, love, LOVE!

Missing the 'Party Hat Aisle'

"I have to lay off dairy though. That's what my doctor threw in. As I was leaving his office, 'Oh, and uh, leave off dairy.' What kind of blanket sweep is that? 'And no more happiness! Away with you!' "

— Brian Regan

I'm only on day three of the 'no dairy plan' to help Sam (and, ahem, ourselves) out with the colic situation and I can't help sympathizing.

Ah well, back to my bowl of raisin bran and rice milk.

Frogs

The other day Reese lay on Ry's stomach on the couch. His stomach grumbled against her ear so she popped her head up and said,

"Daddy, there's a froggy in your tummy!"

A few minutes later, after she went back to snuggling, Ry let some gas slip. Again, the curly head popped up and this time pronounced,

"Daddy! That was a BIG froggy!"

Cue the Colic

I can't believe our little Sam is a whole month old today! Time has seriously flown by as we've been caught up in the whirlwind called having two kids. Adorable little sweeties that make our hearts melt on a daily basis. Ooh, little aside here, I am planning on writing a post about our Hypnobaby birth, I promise! I know there are a few of you who have asked about it and are interested in knowing how it went. It's been one of those things nagging me in the back of my mind for several weeks, but I've been a touch busy, so it might be a little longer, however I will definitely get it up here soon. Anyway.

One of those things that have been keeping me incredibly busy was given away by the title up there. Yep, we're getting our first dose of a colicky baby. We lucked out with Reese and thought, hey, wouldn't that stink to have a baby that cried like crazy? Those poor parents of babies with colic! Alas, we've joined the ranks, walking the floor and running the vacuum for hours at a time just like the rest of you. I'm sure our neighbors must think we've become over-night obsessive compulsive clean freaks - no offense to those of you who actually are ocd clean freaks (wink!). Oh well, there are worse things, I guess. Like perhaps the sound of the giant dog upstairs running across the kitchen to fetch his ball in the wee hours of the morning- 'clickety, clickety, clickety, sliiiiiiiide. . . thud!' Oi.

Jump with me now to something deeper. Do you ever feel the need to reclaim yourself? I don't know about the rest of you, but when things change I find myself feeling momentarily lost and wondering who I am in the new role I'm living. I was thinking about it today, thinking about the things that make me feel the most 'Molly'. Things that are yellow, really good books, writing funny incidents on tiny scraps of paper to remember later, and cooking. There's more, but, well. . . it's always been cooking.

It is somehow incredibly soothing to realize that despite the crazy tornado of life changes and frustrations spinning out of control around me I'm really the same as I always was inside. It's grounding. Like, maybe, if I can remain who I am and what I love despite the tidal wave of outside influence, then I have more control over my life and its contents than I ever considered. Throwing myself into some sort of culinary obsession has always been the ultimate calming influence when the stressfulness of life seems too much to bear, and honestly, there's been a lot of that lately. And so, needless to say, there has been quite a lot of late-night activity in the kitchen this week as well.

On that note, if you're in a baking mood yourself, check out a my latest bunch of recipes, experimentations, and other discoveries that are way to good not to share on a new blog. It's just me, doing what soothes me most, and sending the results out into cyberspace.

Who knew?

Tonight I experienced a first: I actually enjoyed watching a John Wayne film.

Ryan's been trying to win me over for a while now, he being a HUGE fan of "The Duke". My dad loves his movies as well, so you'd think I'd follow suit, I mean I love Jean Claude Van Dam and Rocky because of him, so why not the Westerns? Granted we do see more muscle in the aforementioned. . . Hmm, now where was I? Oh yes, Westerns. Never liked 'em. ;)

However, tonight I found myself thoroughly engrossed throughout the entire thing! Shocker.

I was seriously glued! Loved the chuck wagon cook with his booming voice and story-telling presence, stunned to see Anne of Green Gables' beloved Marilla playing the part of a buxom manager of prostitutes, shocked that one of the little boys actually died (somehow that possibility never even entered my mind! I nearly wept.), and freaked out beyond belief at how creepy Bruce Dern could be when threatening that adorable little boy! Up until today I'd only ever seen him in The Burbs, playing the cul-de-sac's resident retired army sergeant. A man who spies on the neighbors with a military-issue night scope and enjoys his animal crackers with a little peace and quiet.

Little aside here, if you haven't seen The Burbs you are Sooooo missing out on one of life's little jewels. Suburban life at it's most ridiculous, and yet, as you watch, you'll easily picture several past (or possibly present?) neighbors who are carbon copies of these crazies. I've already got mine pegged as I write this. Rent it. You'll thank me. You'll laugh yourself to tears. That's all. Ok, sorry- now back to the rave.

I even enjoyed The Duke himself, which I can't say I've done before (please, no hate mail). Couldn't even tell you why, I just liked him. Maybe it was the lack of eye patch, who knows? Anyway, I don't know what else to write except that it was very good, and I wouldn't mind watching it again. Or even owning it, which I'm sure will absolutely make Ryan's day. So, here I am, passing my little film review on to the masses. Watch it. It's great.

And, seriously, get yourself a copy of The Burbs.

the Hospital

Samuel Joseph Badger

born Wednesday September 22, 2010

at 4:27 pm

8 lb 10 oz

20 inches

We love you, little Sam!