Since You Care About What We Do...

My sister the goddess and I fulfilled our wildest fantasies and attended the 7:00 PM showing of Twilight yesterday. The theater was packed with all ages of the female persuasion with a smattering of self-sacrificing boyfriends and husbands. All in all, we enjoyed the film. Sure, there were some cheesy lines, but as I reminded Candice, those particular lines were lifted right from the book. Thus, the book that we hold so near and dear is slightly cheesy. We can live with this. We felt that the cast had been chosen well, and we appreciated the little subtle nods to the book that someone viewing without any previous Twilight exposure wouldn't understand. The one thing that made our day: Realizing that the hyper adolescent girls directly behind us were sniffling during a particularly emotional scene. They were crying, folks. Candice about hyperventilated from laughing. (I about hyperventilated during the tension-laden make out scene. Upon our arrival back home, I informed my husband that I am going to marry Robert Pattinson. Steve was fairly ambivalent.)

Also, when Candice and I get together, hilarity is destined to ensue. For instance, Candice nearly ran over a carload of Twilighters as we were attempting to park in the crowded movie theater lot, despite my loud shrieking of, "Watch out for that CAR!!" Then she proceeded to park about a mile away from the theater, with her car so uneven and sticking out of the spot that I was sure people were going to accuse us of drug abuse. She snuck two cans of Coke and a bag of her "special trail mix" (turns out it's just regular trail mix with off-brand Cheez-Its and pretzels--real original, Candice) into the theater and then insisted that I cough and clear my throat each time she opened the cans, paranoid that movie theater personnel were going to hear the clack of the opening cans and haul us out for possession of contraband. During the entire movie we talked and snickered (mainly at the girls behind us) loudly, discussing how the movie deviated from the book like the nerds we are. As we were walking out, she accidentally punched me in the face while swooping her scarf around her neck, forcing a laugh and subsequently a loud toot out of my person. I then shrieked, "You just made me FART!"

In short, we are a classy team. Real classy.

Also in short, I still love my sister and think she is great fun. Thanks for the date, Candice.

[Side note: Steve says that Candice and I are like characters in a sitcom. Presumably he means a very stupid, bumbling sitcom that gets canceled halfway through its first season.]

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My dear, sweet friend Katie has started a tradition of coming to visit the kids and me every Thursday afternoon during the one block of time in her week that she isn't working at the library, teaching flute lessons, recording flute performances, taking voice lessons, or practicing either the flute or singing. We cherish her time with us! She is great with the kids, and she and I have so much fun drinking coffee and chatting.

Katie with her boys, 

reading a book she got them when they were new.

Katie is also a Twilighter who regularly borrows books from us and brings books and music of her own to share. Katie, you rock. Here's your shout-out.

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As I prepared coffee and the kids' breakfasts this morning, Steve sat at the kitchen table, racing the speeds of our Mac iBook and his Dell laptop that belongs to the school. (Don't ask why he was doing this. What's important is that he can.) He announced that, once again, Mac won, and then said that often he feels like he is in one of those Mac vs. PC commercials. Following is his own version:

Steve: "OK, Mac and PC, load my email."

PC, voiced by Steve: "Loading your disk drives."

Mac: "Done."

Steve: "No, no, PC. I just need you to open my email."

PC: "OK. Loading disk drives."

Steve: "No, PC. Just the email."

PC: "..."

Stage note: Steve then gives up on the PC in despair and frustration and embraces the wondrous powers of his Mac.

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In blogosphere news, I've officially been linked by someone who isn't a personal friend! The CrockPot lady keeps a blog where she posts a new CrockPot recipe each day of 2008. (Thanks to Denise for introducing me to this blog.) She includes ingredients and instructions for each recipe and tries them all out on her family. Since CrockPotting is a wonderful thing to do if you have a family of five, I have gotten hooked on her blog. A couple days ago I asked if she wanted my mom's crab dip recipe, and she enthusiastically accepted my offer. She changed up a couple things to make it gluten-free, but here is the recipe and her family's verdict--it was a hit!

I'm famous, y'all. 

Or at least the crab dip is.