The Ops

 We're looking at a week until the deadline to revise and resubmit that paper about kids reading a weekly news magazine.

Mitzker and I worked on it last weekend and then we worked again during the week and, also, this weekend we'll work yet again.

I'm feeling all kinds of ways about this.  Mostly worried.

Here are some of my burning questions:

Will we make any progress today?
Can we get everything done in one week's time?
Are the revisions improving the paper or making it worse?
Will Mitzker have croissants at her house?

I guess it's time to do my best and forget the rest.

On the good side, today I bought a relatively cheap watch that will arrive tomorrow.  And on the other good side, maybe we'll see a movie tomorrow night after the days of toil and trouble.

BTW, these are screenshots of 20 Something and #1, taken from my computer during a face-time two days ago.  They were in Las Vegas on a special op for the U.S. MILITARY!!!!  I can't tell you more at this point in time.

The Creativity

Sometimes I don't know why I do the things I do.  Take Creativity Thursday for instance.  On Creativity Thursday, we start our day with writing, or knitting, or making stuff.

This has turned into 20 minutes of everyone making things with cups, rubber bands, tin foil, tape, popsicle sticks.  Everyone's crazily making weird useless objects while I'm trying to peacefully collage in my notebook.  When the timer goes off after 20 minutes, guess what? No one feels like ending the creativity and no one wants to clean up. I turn into a grouch and then we start morning meeting with me glaring at everyone while we're singing our morning song.

I'm forced to ask myself that age old question: Are you an idiot, Heffernan?   Why don't you just stop Creativity Thursday?

I walked at recess with a Thirdlander and told him about my frustration with Creativity Thursday.  He suggested we end, rather than begin, the day with Creativity Thursday. Yeah, sounds great, but do you know what it's like to get Thirdlanders to clean up the room at 3:30 in the afternoon after they've put in a full day of getting educated?  Let me tell you something, my friends, I've seen it first hand on the daily and it's far from fun.

I've got to make a change and I will, but for now I'm going to just focus on the good part of Creativity Thursday.  The Thirdlanders love it and today I've got the start of a quite nice collage.

The Dutch

Another Sue Swartz that I love

Last night Husbandman made a tasty carrot soup with chermoula.  I chopped some of the parsley and cilantro for his creation. I don't like to cook, but I'm always here to lend a hand when necessary.  I read a piece in the NYT today by this guy who loves to cook for his pals.  The comments were the best part.  Some people LOVE to cook and many find it "meditative."  Others think cooking is overrated.  Husbandman's a cooking kind of character.  This week he's making Indian Butter Tofu!  Who does that?  AMAZING!  Our adult children take after Husbandman and are also good cooks.  Sometimes I send the 3 of them recipes. I'm more on the research end of the cooking spectrum.  I read about cooking and make cooking suggestions to others. It's an important role. Everyone has their place. Everyone has value.

Our friend Patricia makes a bread that I like quite a lot.  Making this bread requires a dutch oven.  I'm thinking about buying a dutch oven and becoming a bread baker so that I can up my game and become a true member of the Cooking Creatives of High Street. I've talked about this before, but maybe it will actually happen. If it does, you can come over and have some bread and cheese and soup with us sometime if you feel like it. Or maybe, I can bring my bread to your house and we can have some wine and eat my bread with stuff you have in your fridge. 

The Calls

Sue Swartz --- Great exhibit at the Convention Center.  Check it out if you feel like it.

Sometimes I wish phone calls would shut off after 3 minutes.  Kind of like twitter.  Not all the time, but sometimes. I would call people more if that was an option.  If I knew a call was just going to shut down after 3 minutes, I'd share random thoughts and not worry about my old nemesis, TIME.  If I had the 3 minute option today, I'd call 20 Something and #1 Son.  I'd say, "Today I thought I heard a new kind of bird call in the yard.  I listened to it for awhile, wondering what kind of bird it could be.  Then I realized it was the washing machine making a squeaking sound.  We're playing bridge tonight. You doing okay?" 

Not super different than a text, but hearing the person's voice would be the significant benefit of this innovative approach to phone calling.

The JOJO Rabbit

Still brewing in a dreamy pot of JoJo Rabbit stew, the movie we ventured out to see on a cold and cloudy Saturday afternoon.

In short, the film is awesome.  I don't know why I didn't want to see it when it first came out.  Probably Hitler.

When I saw it listed as an Oscar best movie nominee, I sucked it up and headed to the theater.  Husbandman reminded me that this director, Brilliant Taika Waititi also directed one of my other favorite movies, What We Do In the Shadows.

I brought along a pellegrino water and a half sleeve of Ritz crackers. We settled in for a movie that offers one surprise after another, some of them fun and some not fun at all.   I don't really want to tell you anything about the movie because you can just see it if you feel like it.

This morning I've been reading articles and tweets about the movie and the author of the book on which the movie is based and the director and the actors. Also watched a few videos featuring the director.  I'm especially intrigued with a young actor in the film by the name of Archie Yates.  I would like to see that kid around somewhere.

I've now seen 6 of the 10 nominated films.  Maybe I'll see more.  We may never know.

On an unrelated note, we saw a preview of a film that included Tom Wilkinson. I said to Husbandman, "I love Tom Wilkinson.  I'd invite him to dinner any day of the week."
Husbandman countered with, "But probably not Mondays, right?"
"Husbandman," I replied, all solemn seriousness. "Any day of the week.  Even Monday.  That's how much I love Tom Wilkinson."

So, Tom, if you're reading this, you have a standing invite to come over any evening.  Husbandman is making sesame noodles this week, so give us a ring if you're free.  Or just stop by.  We'll always have something here to share with you.

The Wees

During my endodontristy experience yesterday, I was horizontal and above me was a show about home refurbishing. I found it a wee bit distracting.  The wee bit of nitrous I was breathing also helped to distract me from the drilling sounds.  The couple on the show had a wee issue with the backsplash tiles suggested by their contractor.  In the end, they decided the tiles were actually good.

When I got home, I sat on the couch and watched shows, changing the wee bits of blood soaked gauze in my mouth every 5 or 10 minutes.  I highly recommend a documentary called The Minimalists.  I would love to be a minimalist and live in a wee house with Husbandman and our corgi.  Today I'm asking, "Does this object bring even wee value to my life?" as I organize our living space.

In the evening, we finished up Season 3 of Broadchurch.  I like the Scottish detective.  He told his daughter to be careful about what she puts out there on social media.  "You're not a wee girl any more."  Broadchurch is a great show and you should watch it if you feel even a wee bit interested.  I do believe it could bring value to your life.