Two teenagers plus two computers = no chance for me to get online much these days! My apologies to everyone for being a lousy blog visitor as of late but I'm lucky if I can get the time to even check Facebook! Something tells me we're going to have to work out a schedule of some sort for the summer.
So far the girls have managed to more or less get along and there has been no blood-letting or destruction of the house. Fingers are crossed that Amanda and Jamie have reached a new level of maturity and can put their differences aside. Miracle of miracles, they were actually holding a civil conversation in the car the other night on the way home from the movies.
I had a couple of free movie passes so this past Saturday evening we went and used them. Amanda, of course, had wanted to see
Drag Me to Hell while Jamie and I opted for
Night at the Museum II. Even though I liked the first one better, I thought the movie was good and Jamie seemed to enjoy it, too. As for Amanda, she came out gushing about how good her movie was as it contained elements of Bruce Campbell and was just the right kind of cheesy horror movie that she likes. What am I gonna do with that kid?
Speaking of movies, Jen and I watched the 2008 Masterpiece Theater edition of Charlotte Brontë's
Jane Eyre as part of Chick-Flick-Sunday yesterday and I must say that I truly enjoyed it. Having never read the book I wasn't sure if it was going to be as depressing as
Wuthering Heights from the other Brontë sister, Emily, and thankfully it wasn't. It was an excellent tale of love and the hoops that people jump through to not only obtain but keep it and of course I was left with a tear or two in my eye at the end simply because I was so happy for Edward and Jane. Have I ever mentioned that I am a romantic sap and truly do enjoy a good love story?
While on the subject of
Wuthering Heights, I did a blog post about the Ralph Fiennes version of that movie awhile back -
Love and Torment with Ralph Fiennes - and even though I got some good comments on it, I was a bit bummed as I didn't think that most people "got" the post. As a matter of fact, I was seriously considering not writing any more posts where I laid bare my heart for people because I figured most people didn't want to read deep, meaningful posts and preferred lighter fluff n' stuff instead. For awhile there I was wondering why I even bothered to blog at all but then I got a comment from an anonymous reader that made me think that maybe, just maybe, sometimes the drivel I write reaches someone ...
"Your review and own story had me in tears for a long time ...found you randomly, but nothing in this Universe is random ... just got divorced because of the same reason. Thank you for sharing ... always nice to know when what you chose to share touches another soul deeply, isnt it? :-)"
I don't know about the rest of you but it's comments like the one above that make me want to continue blogging and share some of the things that mean a lot to me. I know that a lot of people say that they blog for themselves but truth be told, I like to think that sometimes my blog can be entertaining or amusing or even touching as I do blog for other people and not just myself. I'm never going to be a writer-writer - this blog is as close as I will ever come - but that's okay, especially when I do manage to write something that someone else appreciates.
While on the subject of comments, some of you may have noticed that I don't do the Law Enforcement Line of Duty Death posts anymore. I stopped doing them at the end of last year because, honestly, it was getting to be pretty depressing to have to do them so often and, again, I figured that most people weren't even reading them. I apparently was wrong on that one, too, as I received the following email from the mother of one of those fallen heroes:
I apologize for not seeing your blog early but just found it tonight but wanted to thank you so very much for writing about my son, Sgt. Michael C. Weigand and caring. It's been so very hard and the pain just doesn't seem to have an end. I miss him horribly! But again, thank you for caring!
Respectively,
Kim Weigand
Mom of Sgt. Michael C. Weigand
Wow. Thank you, Mrs. Weigand, for a son who chose to protect and serve his community and in doing so, made the ultimate sacrifice. May you someday find comfort in knowing that he made a difference in this world though I have no doubt you will always, always miss him.
Finally, one more cool thing for my blog ... awhile back I got an email from Emma Williams, Managing Editor of
Schmap Guides informing me that
one of my pictures of the Salem Witch Museum had been selected for inclusion in their newly released sixth edition of the Schmap Boston Guide. You can check it out by clicking
here which will take you to the Schmap for the iPhone version or
here which takes you to their Educational Outing page. Pretty cool, huh? I'll be putting the following widget on my sidebar, too, in case you ever decide you want to visit the Boston area!
It's really an honor to have one of my pictures chosen to be included in something that maybe other people will see!
So, anyway, this started out as what was
supposed to be a short post and, as per usual, I have blathered on way longer than I intended to and now need to consider getting ready to go to work. I will try to get caught up on everyone else's blogs soon as I do have a day off tomorrow and while Amanda is still in school until next week, I think I may be able to get some computer time! I hope!