Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING!

Argo Drive-In has changed the movie for this weekend from Monsters and Aliens (Rated G) to Fast and Furious (Rated PG-13). When I called Wednesday, it was Monsters and Aliens. (Rule of Thumb... Always, always call the Drive-In before you head to Argo. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes if they get a new movie in, they will change it in the middle of the week. I'm sorry for the misinformation!)

Well, what will this weekend hold for the Faulkner Five? We will be scattered here and yon. Austin will be doing the work thing. Josh will be doing the yard and friend thing. Roxie and I will be doing the shopping thing. Mikie will be doing the "Honey Do List" thing. And as always happens with a scattered weekend, we'll all meet together Sunday night after church in the den for the Amazing Race thing. It's not my favorite kind of weekend, but it happens from time to time. And since last weekend was a totally, non-stop, 100% family weekend, I can let this one slide.

We're taking Roxie's friend, Kendall, on her Birthday Book date. She'll be with us Saturday night and Sunday completing all the activities we listed in her Book. That will be a lot of fun, and I imagine many of the pics next week will consist of "those things." Tune in to see what we end up doing!

As Graduation draws nigh, it has become Deadline City around here. Each and every day has a new and exciting Deadline! April 26 has five so far! (I haven't looked yet, but I bet that's on a Wednesday. It had better not be on a Thursday. I hate when my Thursdays turn into Wednesdays. Yuck!) Anyway, I'm on pins and needles always making sure I'm sending the right form, check or money order with the right kid to the right place. Yesterday alone, Austin had four deadlines AND the National Honor Society Tapping last night (he's tapping). All I had to do was pick up his new white dress shirt from the store yesterday (it came in Wednesday night... cutting it close), AND make sure his brother gave him the giant envelope with two of the four deadline documents enclosed. (He left them on the kitchen table.) At this point in our lives, two out of four ain't bad!

Add to that Roxie's two "little" deadline things (one of which she left, and I delivered at 1:15), and that's a total of SIX. (Josh may have had one, but he usually takes care of his "stuff" by himself. Can you say favorite child? DO NOT tell Roxie I typed that!)

I'm handling it all with a smile and a gracious attitude. HA! (Actually, I am doing surprisingly well for my personality type. Check with me on the 26th!)

TV Review

The TV shows are winding down. I wouldn't be surprised if they all ended the same week. But I've thought of a solution. I think Mikie, Austin, Josh and I might start watching Heroes over the summer. What do you think? The only problem with that idea would be when the new seasons start up again, we would be watching SEVEN TV shows instead of SIX. That is too much TV! Maybe I'll get a 5,000 piece puzzle and we'll work on that instead.

Amazing Race - I like the little stunt men. I really do. But they are the WORST rules followers I've ever seen. (I bet they spent most of their school days in "time out.") They didn't just break one big rule. They broke one rule after the other. And they didn't just get flustered and break one rule on one leg of the race. They broke multiple rules on two legs of the race. It's like they didn't read the Amazing Race Handbook. Big, big mistake. Even though it was a non-elimination leg of the race, it's almost 100% they will lose next week. So no real surprises there.

The redheaded girl is still the semi-villain. The brother and sister team are working as one so you feel like they've learned something from this experience. And the mother and the deaf young man are starting to wear down. I don't see them going much farther. At this point in the race, I'm willing to pick a winner, and I think it will be the brother/sister team. I like people who can learn from their prior mistakes (unlike me), and they definitely have. (You'll notice I never pick a winner until we get down to the last four or five teams. And even then it's risky. It just takes one team missing a flight to change everything in this game.)

Celebrity Apprentice - This was a tricky show. It was like one and a half shows in a two-hour period. No surprise the R&B singer went. He had lost his desire to win. He didn't try to put up a fight or anything. It was an easy decision. Annie, the female poker player, has come out of the "obnoxious box" again, and this time she started picking on Melissa. When you pick on Melissa, you don't just make one enemy... you make two counting Melissa's mom, Joan Rivers.

On the other hand, although Joan HATED Clint Black last week and NEVER wanted to see him again, this week they made up... sort of. When asked in the Board Room, she even admitted they worked well together, but stated that Clint was stubborn. No surprise there. They did do well, and their team won the task.

Next week will be a great show because they've pitted Annie, obnoxious poker player woman, against Joan Rivers as Project Managers. Personally, I'm ready for Annie to go. She's one of the high metabolism people I was talking about earlier in the week. You know... the people that get on my nerves. I guess I like Joan better because she's 76 years-old... and she doesn't have a metabolism any longer. Much like me!

All in all, it was a very entertaining show.

24 - I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I told Austin when Larry was talking to Tony, and Tony wouldn't make eye contact with him something was up. I told Austin he was going to hijack the helicopter or something. (I wish he had just hijacked the helicopter.) Larry wasn't my favorite character, but I do believe he was a good guy. And I still think it's going to be awhile before Jack catches on to what Tony's up to... You know, with him so sick from being exposed to bio-chemical weapons, and all.

It was good to see Kim, and I was glad she apologized and she admitted she had been looking for her Dad. Because of that, I think Jack will go ahead and let her help him with the treatment. (Because let's face it... If Jack is working on Season 8, that means Kim is working on Season 8. It's a win-win for both of them.)

LOST - I love Hurley. Recapping the only part of LOST I understood, it was hilarious that Hurley was writing the second script for Star Wars and was going to mail it to George Lucas (because in 1977, the second one hadn't been written yet). Simple, yet brilliant. I'm glad Ben and John Locke weren't in the episode. As I stated last week, that always helps. Miles is creeping me out though. And now Dan is back. The one person I wouldn't mind seeing again is Claire. What happened to her again? Oh, yeah! WE HAVE NO IDEA! I think the purpose of the next two episodes is to clear up some of the questions. That's a hoot, isn't it?

Survivor - Bad news. Mike and I were at the Honor Society Tapping, and we left Josh in charge of taping. For some unknown reason, it wasn't there when we returned home, folks! (Josh just lost his "favorite child" status!) We're going to watch it on the computer tomorrow night, so I will talk a little about Survivor on Monday. Yes, I'm breaking my rule about "no review on any day except Friday."

Book of the Week

The Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky is great for middle school age boys. So far, there are 15 books in the series. The first one is The Capture. It is about owls who live in the Forest of Tyto. But there are battles and adventures. (These books are much like the Redwall series which feature woodland creatures... and the battle between good and evil.)

I'll copy a little from the back cover... "Soren is born in the Forest of Tyto, a tranquil kingdom where the Barn Owls dwell. But evil lurks in the owl world, evil that threatens to shatter Tyto's peace and change the course of Soren's life forever. Soren is captured and taken to a dark and forbidding canyon. It is called an orphanage, but Soren believes it is something far worse. He and his friend Gylfie know that the only way out is up. To escape, they will need to do something they have never done before -- fly." And there the adventure begins.

These books are sold at most Books-A-Million for $4.99 in paperback. Both of my guys enjoyed them very much in middle school.

Have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend. Even if your family is scattered doing their own individual things, try to make sure there's a time when you all come together... even if it is just for a little while.

Also, on Monday I've decided to talk about some things that have happened to me, and that I have struggled with in the wake of dealing with Josh's illness. I'll be talking about the difficulties I've experienced not for sympathy or pity, but again, to be honest and open about something many people go through, but few feel free to discuss. It's time to get some of this stuff out in the open, to not be ashamed and to move on.

Take care, and I'll talk to you on Monday.