the bird whisperer?

On Monday Mark came home from work and told me there was an abandoned baby bird in our driveway. Being the animal freak I am, I well, I freaked out. So we googled. There are lots of theories about birds and their young and blablity-blah-blah. So, we sort of combined all of the advice.


First of all, we wore gloves to rule out the widely disputed "birds will stop coming back to their young if they can smell human scent on them" theory. Then we had to catch him. ( I nicknamed him Rex.) He obviously wasn't hurt, but he couldn't really fly yet. He must have gotten lucky when he fell out of the nest!

After I caught him, Mark located his nest. Rex's mom was pretty pissed at me. She kept swooping over my head and WEEP!ing at me the whole time I was holding him. Rex just wanted some food! He kept opening his mouth!

Mark returned Rex to his nest. He was almost flogged by mama bird in the process, but Rex seemed happy enough to be back at home.

*I decided to wait on the posting to make sure Rex made it OK. I checked on him this afternoon, and he is doing well. His mama must be still feeding him. So, Ha! Take that bird theories! You can save them!

tears for fears

The only thing worse than crying over something sad is crying while you're alone. Yesterday after some unsettling news I tried my best to shake off the fact that I was sad. I watched reruns of Grey's Anatomy, I ate half a bag of Starburst...rinse, repeat. You get the idea. Nothing worked, so I succumbed to the tears. When Mark got home from work, he came into the bedroom sat down on the edge of the bed and gently asked me what was going on. Turns out, having him there was probably best, because as soon as he dragged me into his lap I began to wail. And wail. And wail. It was the ugly kind of crying. The kind where you get snot all over everything within a ten foot radius and can't speak or make any words come out of your mouth other than WAHRGRAWRAGHHHHHHH. (Which I firmly believe means please put me out of my misery-and the sooner the better.) Anyway, he waited patiently for me to come to my senses and snap out of my crying fit to ask me again "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?"

After a few minutes of sobbing and snotting, I was able to talk to him about what was wrong and he gave me the best reply I could have ever hoped for. He said, "What matters is this: You and Me. Us. Our family of 2. We can be supportive and always love our families, but we can't make them normal. Just like they can't make us normal. I love you and you love me. That's all you ever need to worry about. "

Man, is he good or what? I'm not saying that his words swept all of my fears away, but they were more comfort to me than I can explain. He words were loaded with underlying understanding of me and my problems. That's what made my fears subside so quickly. Being understood should never be underestimated.

Mark, I love you more than I could ever say. Thank you for turning my tears and fears with patience and understanding.

heartbreaker

Isn't he darling?

Kisses, baby boy. Love you!

Aunt Hedda

a story, very little raving, and ranting

Last night my good friends Jackson and Kyle went with me to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The picture you see was taken around 3:00Am... we were tired! What's really crazy were the DROVES of people waiting to see the 3:15Am showing after we got out. (And here I thought I was the Potter Nerd!) Thanks to to Jackson and Kyle for going with me. I totally owe you both a "Sac Snack." : ) Thanks for going.


It took me a while to gather my thoughts on the latest installment of Harry Potter (and the Half Blood Prince) and while I can't actually say I hated the movie, I can't say I didn't like it either. I am going to try and be subjective and diplomatic about my thoughts, but I must advise: there will be spoilers in this post. So if you haven't seen it and want to, now is the time for you to click back on your browser.



Once Upon a time...


My love affair with Harry Potter began about 2 and a half years ago, when upon my fathers' request, I picked up the first book. You see, my dad was an electrician. A union man. A guy who drank Pabst Blue Ribbon and smoked 2 packs of Marlboro Reds a day. I give you this background, because the only reading I ever saw him do was in work study books and all of those had math in them. The man didn't read for fun. He saw the first two Harry Potter movies and loved them. At this point I had never watched the movies or read any of the books, refusing to become wrapped up in a children's literature. He knew my LOVE for reading- having busted me with a flashlight under the covers reading "just one more chapter!" numerous times as a child, and told me he wished that I would give them a try. I borrowed the first book (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) from a friend. I never read it, lost it in a move, and had to buy her a new one. Before I gave the new (and hardback!) book back to her, I read it. This was after my dad passed, and it took me all of about a day to finish it. I was hooked. That summer I read all of the books, quickly finishing the last one on the day I started it. (The last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is 759 pages long.) That's some serious reading, if I do say so myself. The day I picked up that first book I thought to myself, OK Dad, since you asked me to, I will read them. Funnily enough, it was the coolest advice my dad ever gave me.





So yeah, the series is pretty fraking important to me. For my own reasons. It is for those reasons alone that I didn't hate the movie. Because he would have never read the books and would have loved it. He would have loved the magic itself, and the beauty, and the teenage kissing and hormones. The funny jokes. The beautiful shots like the long winding one of Ron and Lavender snogging to Draco Malfoy up on the tower, brooding ominously. So this first part of the post is for him. : )





The second part (in three, two, one..) is for anyone who thinks the movie sucked balls because they have read the books. (Here's where the spoilers start.) The biggest problem I have with this movie is the fact that someone (JK Rowling, maybe?) allowed Steve Kloves, the screenwriter, to write in scenes that weren't part of the book at all. This would include but is not limited to Death Eaters setting fire to the Burrow (where the Weasley's live). Kloves also leaves out Dumbledore's visit to Privet Drive to pick Harry up, Dumbledore and Harry talking in the broom shed on their arrival at the Burrow, and of course, Dumbledore's funeral. How can you leave out Dumbledore's funeral?? There are countless other things that I and other Potter fanatics were missing, that I won't drone on about. Just know this, if you read the books with any kind of passion at all, don't be surprised if you are really disappointed. I totally was.

One of our own

I recently read a blog by the lovely Maggie Mason about her Mighty Life list: (100 things she's going to do before she goes) and decided it was pertinent to share hers and make a list of my own. Maggie's list is so good, she's being sponsored by Intel to do a few things from her list! Way to go Maggie! Right now she's swimming with semiluminescent Plankton in Puerto Rico. Cool, huh? Check out Maggie's list HERE. Maggie's list inspired Mark and I so much, we are making one of our own. I will post as soon as it's finished. You won't be disappointed! (I hope.)

Happy Birthday Kyle Face

I had to make the picture Large and in Charge, for such an event. Kyle Finnell turned 21 today! I don't know who duct taped that Colt45 to his hand, but I must say it was genius!

Kyle, I hope you had a wonderful birthday! (I also hope you weren't too miserable today, too!)

Love you!

another fourth of July: come and gone..

Normally, on the Fourth of July, Mark and I head to the great outdoors. For the past several years we have been camping on some property deeded to the families that live on his parent's street. This year, however we were thwarted by meth heads. have I explained this before? Maybe not. While the families have access to the lake lot, the road to get the their is a public road, meaning we can't really put up a gate. Last year when we went, we had about 7 or 8 tents set up, a netted gazebo for food and another one for coolers. It was wonderful, except for the riffraff that showed up. Since the property is TVA's, we can't really kick them out. We must share. This effectively put a stop to the times before when Mark could leave me alone down there while he drove over the hill to use his parents bathroom. This year, we tried to enlist the help of some people on the street to put up a gate. We found a loophole in the agreement and found a way to do it. No one wanted to help though. In the end, time ran short and we had to forgo our usual camping trip. We are hoping to get a gate built sometime this summer.


We didn't let this dishearten our fireworks experience in the least. If you have ever done fireworks with Mark, his family, or anyone who lives on their street, you would know that the Ellis' celebrate the Fourth of July like most people celebrate Christmas. BIG! Here is a picture of Mark and Eric returning from Bimbo's with their loot. There was also another box, bigger, full of mortars. : ) like I said. BIG.
On Saturday morning I made the trip to Bill and Beth's to help them get ready for their "throw down" Kyle's 21st Birthday started at midnight, and Beth turned 50 this year, so they thought they would really THROWDOWN! Bill deep fried 2 turkeys and smoked 4 Boston Butts. Beth and I Picked them and got the food ready for that night. I wish I had more pics of the spread, but I was running around like a mad woman trying to get everything ready, so there was no time for photos! I did manage to get one of Bill playing Corn Hole though!

I also figured out the fireworks setting on my Camera. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. BANG!BOOM!CRASH!POW!

The best one I captured all night long. Thanks honey, (and Eric and Joey and JT) for another amazing fireworks show. They were amazing and fantastic!

After the fireworks, Mark drove me and JT home, where we met up with Joey and Jane to hang out for a bit. We got home just in the nick of time, because it started pouring when we pulled into the driveway! Today Mark and I recovered by eating subway, watching movies and napping on the couch. Today also started our countdown to the beach! Exactly 8 weeks from today, my toes will be in sand!