Just a few days from now, you'll be able to grab a copy of "Dolphin Tale." It will be available on both a DVD and a DVD Blue Ray 3D combo pack.
This family friendly move is about a young dolphin who loses her tail after getting it caught in a crab trap. After being rescued, she is transported to Clearwater Marine hospital and given the name, Winter.
The real Winter, plays herself in this true story. She is seen as a symbol of courage and hope to people -- especially those facing their own physical challenges.
You can't help but be touched by this remarkable story of recovery and rehabilitation. The amazing group of compassionate people who banded together to save Winter's life are portrayed by Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. It's a great movie and I'm sure the kids on your Christmas list would love to have one! Be watching for it on the 20th.
Mitch Albom's little book about faith, properly titled "have a little faith" found its' way to my desk via a request to review and give away this book.
Interestingly enough, the day after the book arrived, the movie version of it was shown on television. I debated watching it or not, but in the end, sat down with the kids and watched it.
The movie was well done - the book even better. It starts out with the author being asked to deliver an eulogy and from there it takes on a life of its' own.
The way Mr. Albom intertwines the stories of the principal characters in the book keeps you easily flowing from one life to another, from the past to the present, from drug dealers to Godly people.
It's not a thick book. But it packs a LOT of thought provoking and awe inspiring factual episodes that in the end show just what amazing things can happen if you just have a little faith.
Anyway - I have a copy to give away. Who wants it? Leave a comment and I'll pick a winner on Sunday.
OK - J Mom - rest assured you aren't the only one out there that was fascinated by this video. We have all tried it and will be using this method in our house from now on. From one T shirt loving family -- THANKS!
is because Mary asked me to. So here it is, Mary -- enjoy and buy one for yourself. You'll love it.
And my new ones are here. And you may think it silly to blog about a peeler, but if I can do my part to make this dreaded chore easier, then I feel it is my duty as an American mom to do it. I gave one to Andi so that means I'll have enough sharp peelers to last me till I'm about 125 or so. That would be my computer when Billski was "fixing" it. Everything has been repaired to some degree except for my email. That was just gone -- and with it a little thing called an address book. Which had hundreds of email addresses in it - and now does not.
So, please just send me a note - empty if you want, just so I can get my address book started again. Thanks.
huddleston@insightbb.com
And to those of you who work and I emailed at work (Susan, Amy, Vicki, Sherie, etc.) -- I'll need one from both addresses -- or at least include the second one in the email. Thanks.
We seldom use the DVD player in our car despite the initial excitement over owning it. Unless we are going to be in the car for at least an hour one way, I don't want it on. I think this is good - the kids think it's bad. I can deal with that.
On the way home from my mom's house after Christmas, they had been watching Dinotopia. I think that's bad - the kids think it's great. I can deal with that.
Dinotopia would not eject from the DVD player upon our arrival home. We all agreed that was bad. Nobody wants to watch Dinotopia over and over again.
Following every suggestion I could find, Dinotopia remained fixed firmly in the DVD player. That was bad.
I took it to the garage this morning to get it removed. I was dreading the bill because as the minutes turned into an hour, I could imagine the bill going up and up to remove this DVD. Why? The car ran out of warranty a couple of thousand miles ago. That is bad.
The guy finally showed up to tell me that nothing they could do was working and the DVD player would have to be replaced. Bad.
The cost of a new one: $1,105.00 -- plus tax. Plus labor to install it. Very, very BAD.
But -- Law Chevrolet in Boonville, Indiana is replacing it as a "goodwill" gesture for FREE. Totally FREE -- plus they will mail me back Dinotopia from the factory when they disassemble the DVD player.
GREAT. I love a story with a good ending.
Order of finish: First Second Third Fourth Fifth
Donkey's name: Don Danny Daphne Dave Dina
Saddle #: 3 5 2 1 4
Jockey's name: Toejam Blueger Gitzer Gorple Samsler
Jockey's species: woodchuck squirrel raccoon badger coyote
We used the brownie pan last night on a lemon poppy seed bread mix - WONDERFUL.
One of my favorite parts of Sophie spending the night is when she stumbles out of bed in the morning and asks me, "Is it time for Good Morning yet?"
Now, I must go play My Little Pony with Keegan and Sophie. We've been practicing our gymnastics and it's my turn on the balance beam (wooden ruler). Things to do....
****** FIRST and foremost ****** Big Guy wanted me to point out that HE chose this gift and Sophie went along with it. Now that I have that taken care of -- on to the post.
Jacob made some apple crumb coffee cake in the brownie pan today. Here's a picture of the cake batter with the apples on top....
then with the crumbs
I would need to join and would have plenty of socks to wear. When my sock drawerS kept causing the glides to strip out of the drawer because of the weight, I told Bill I would clean them out. I did that just now and Carly ended up with over 50 pair of white socks. I'm pitiful.
Does your town have a huge green tractor tire/wreath held up by a crane? Or are we just the lucky ones around here?
Is putting hair conditioner on your face and apricot facial scrub in your hair a sign of early Alzheimer's? Is it bad that I didn't notice it till I finally wondered why my hair felt gritty when I hadn't been to the beach? Come to think of it, I really liked how smooth my face felt after the hair conditioner had been on it.
What the heck - you can tell me if you know. I'll probably forget it anyway.
Not because the chance to pick your favorite wallpaper border is coming to an end. Not because someone was barfing in the bathroom so loud I couldn't ignore it (not that I've ever done that more than once) Not because I had to go potty -- that quit when I stopped caffeine.
No, this big emergency at 3:12 in the morning can only be described as what seemed to be a pack of coyotes howling in the living room. Instead, it turned out to be Wesley, rocking back and forth, cradling his foot, telling me how much it hurt and that it must be broken.
The exact same foot that he ran through the house on for hours yesterday. My sympathy at being woken for this was probably not at a very tolerant level and I may have said something like, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" and I may have said something else that will go unblogged.
Suffice to say, he got right up and quickly ran - unlimping - to bed on his broken foot and went right back to sleep. Me -- not so much.
I am instituting a new rule to go on the list of "Reasons Why Not to Wake Mom." Based on past experience the previous list included:
1. You do not wake mom if you suddenly remember that it wasn't at Wal-Mart, but it was on Amazon that you saw Roller Coaster Tycoon for sale so cheap it would be a sin to pass it up.
2. You do not wake mom if there is only one package of Raman chicken noodles left and you want to call dibs on it because the beef ones taste nasty and you don't see how anyone in the world could eat them.
3. You do not wake mom if you want to ask me to never buy beef flavor Raman noodles again.
4. You do not wake mom should your toothbrush needs a new battery and there aren't any in the drawer so you need to know if you should you put batteries on the Wal-Mart list.
5. You do not wake mom to tell me there is no Wal-Mart list and you want to know if you need to start one.
6. You do not wake mom to ask if you should put a hyphen in the word Wal-Mart or if you should draw a star instead since that's what is on the building. It doesn't matter. Really. I can figure it out.
7. You do not wake mom to ask how to spell battery.
8 . You do not wake mom to tell me that although somebody ELSE left the toilet paper roll empty and didn't change it, you did it without asking and you want to know if this is the secret chore for the day.
9. You do not wake mom to tell me that you don't like to take pills with water or applesauce so the next time you want your medicine in a liquid. This is something we can discuss at the doctor's office.
and my new rules...
10. You absolutely do not wake mom if you have a broken bone unless said bone is protruding through your skin. In at least 2 spots. And it's snagging your pajamas when you roll over.
Otherwise -- do not wake mom!
OK - well, maybe not all because I'm really enjoying getting new ornaments for my little tree each day but this is something else Billski is getting me -- and yes, I know I'm spoiled. I like it that way. Anyway, I'm going to re-do the wallpaper border in my living room. And paint - if I have to, but I'd really rather not. This is the living room right now. Big, overstuffed, denim couches (thus The Comfy Couch Academy school name). Green paint on the bottom of the wall, tan at the top and this funky border in the middle.
The baseboards and this huge board around the top and out into the ceiling area are something I do NOT want to take up, down or repaint.
I've narrowed the choices down to four and will post a poll on my sidebar. This one is the top runner for me because I think I could get away with not painting anything. I think the wall colors may be OK -- always a bonus. We will call this #1
#2 is this lovely quilt pattern - which would require me painting the bottom part of the wall the brick red color. I'm OK with that. 
So - let's talk about something besides Ryan and go vote on your favorite. Then, I'll let you know what I picked.It's almost time to GO! The Diabetes walk is quickly approaching and thanks to people who read my blog, I've raised $700.00. Pretty amazing. Especially considering my initial goal was $100.00 The walk is October 3rd and it's not too late to donate.
I've had 2 stark reminders of the devastating effects diabetes can have on a family in just the last week alone. One was an invitation to go to breakfast to celebrate the birthday of my good friend, Cheryl. Only Cheryl wasn't there because she died last year at the age of 49, from complications of her life long diabetes.
Sunday, another good friend, Amy, was on her way over to the house when instead she called to tell me her brother in law was being life-flighted to Louisville for burns. He had suffered a seizure and fell into a fire of burning shingles at a home remodeling job. Diabetes didn't cause him to have a seizure but his severe diabetes will make his healing from these burns extremely difficult and a much longer process than it would have been otherwise. Bobby could use your prayers.
October 3rd is fast approaching but there are still a few paychecks left between now and then. If you would like to donate, you can just click HERE.
Do not try to adjust your monitor. I went to check out someone who commented on a post yesterday and this is the first paragraph (I think) from their blog. Their entire blog was written in this language - which I'm guessing is Japanese. Of course, I have no idea what it says. For all I know it says something about some fat chick in Indiana.
I just thought it was cool and today when my kids are griping about having to write in cursive, I may just print this off for them to practice instead. That should take care of the griping. Especially this letter. 語 I would hope that was a Z so it's not used very often, but I see it quite a bit below, so I'm guessing not.
そう、なんとこっちでもマンガが図書館でごく普通に読めるようになりました。ひょ〜ぇって感じなんだけど、これが結構イケルんですねぇ。本によっては「ががが〜ん」とかキャラの後ろの音が日本のままだったり、英語の下にはみ出てたりしてそれなりの味わいがあります。いろいろと読みあさってみたのだけど、次の２つが今大変お気に入りです。
Now I have to wonder - does spellcheck recognize other languages? It found no words spelled wrong.
Edited to add: Karina, one of the people who read my blog and actually could read the above language wrote to tell me that the symbol I picked out in my post is actually a whole word -- language. Instead of ABC's, the Japanese write more in symbols, so that's why they are more complex. Interesting stuff.
to bring out the lurkers :-) Who knew there were so many of you guys that I had never heard of before. Thank you all for writing and letting me get to know a bit about you. In case you're just checking in, I'm making my blog by invitation only and if you want to continue reading it, please send me an email at huddleston@insightbb.com.
From my "out of the closet" lurkers, I found a behavior therapist who will give me free advice (it is gonna be free, right, Natalie?) and a woman who married a guy I graduated with, but she didn't realize who I was until she read about daddy dying.
There are social workers, adoptive moms, nurses, pastor's wives and a bunch of others. You guys rock. Now, you guys have got to start commenting so I know you're out there.
By the way, Andi -- I still haven't gotten an email from you. Are you trying to tell me something?
I am changing my blog from public to a by invitation only blog. If you would like to be considered for an invitation, you can email me at huddleston@insightbb.com
I will be doing this in the next few days.
Go here -- Put in your stats and hit reset. Upload a full length picture. Then slide the bar down the graph to see a guesstimate of what you would look like after you've lost weight. It's pretty amazing. You can also make yourself gain weight, but really, who wants to do that? Well, frankly, I did it - just to see why I keep on walking everyday. Have fun with it and go get thinspired today!
