Jennifer's 15th birthday

Today my daughter, Jennifer, turned 15 years old. I am still reeling over how fast the time flies! She is growing so fast. But I love the person she is growing up to be. She has been so responsible and has really taken charge of her life. She has done so well in school and has enjoyed so many different hobbies. I look forward to seeing what Year 15 will bring to her life!

Since Jennifer’s birthday is on a school day, we decided to have a family party on the day of her birthday and there will be another party with her friends this weekend. I let her pick what she wanted for dinner and she asked for her favorite dinner: Breakfast! Scrambled eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls. (Jesse also likes to have breakfast for dinner but we do not have this very often.) After dinner, we had the cake and ice cream. The cake pictured is the one I bought for the occasion. I bought it only because of the bowtie on it. I saw that and thought, Doctor Who! (If only there was a bakery that sold fandom cakes.) She thought the bowtie was pretty cool. (Well, of course! Bowties are cool.)

Before her birthday month came round, I spent some time deciding what gifts I would buy for her. My husband could decide on his own what to get her, but I wanted to buy her something, too. I eventually settled on two things from her wish list: A Hogwarts team jacket and a Steven Universe character dress. (She loves the show Steven Universe and she wants a Steven Universe cake for her other birthday party.) These things were pricey so I had to budget for them and buy them early. They were sitting in my closet, boxed and wrapped up, for a while there!

Jesse got her a Guns N Roses sweatshirt. He wanted to get her something else but he could not find it. The sweatshirt was another item on her wish list so that is what he got her.

And my husband bought her this electronic device she can connect to the computer and create art with it. She’s been asking for it for years. She was very excited to finally get this thing!

She had a nice family birthday celebration today. It was a good day and I’m so glad that Jennifer was happy on her birthday. Now we prepare for the big “friend party” coming up soon, and then it’s Jesse’s turn for birthday fun!

Blackish? Really?

I had a very interesting dream last night.

There was an awards show going on. A black man came out on the stage and he grabbed a microphone from the stand. In the very far foreground, there were two rows of announcers talking during the show. Most of them were black and this one black woman identified the man on stage as “blackish.” The guy looked in her direction, clearly stunned. There was an uncomfortable silence, something like a loud gasp, after she’d said that word. I guess I should note that most of the people in the audience were black, as well. Then one lady in the top row said “Did you just say blackish?” And another one in the same row said, “You did NOT just say the word blackish.” Meanwhile, the girl who’d said the word was really uncomfortable and started stammering an apology. She was just as stunned by what she’d said as everybody else was. Then one brave soul decided to break the awkward, uncomfortable silence everybody was feeling by getting up from her seat, walking over to the girl who’d said the word, then playfully pulling her hair as she pretended to be mad and raging at her. The girl, meanwhile, was laughing, but it was obvious she was sorry for the mistake. Then everybody settled back in their seats and the show continued and I woke up.

When I woke up from that dream, I thought, Blackish? What the—

I know, dreams are weird. But it’s doubly weird that happened in my dream. I don't even watch awards shows, as it is. 

I have to admit that, as a writer, I find the word “blackish” off-putting. I mean, something or someone is either black or white. There is no in-between. To say that someone or something is “blackish” is like saying that they are not entirely black. They are somewhat black. Myself, if I came across that word in a book I’m reading, I would wonder that if the person or thing, like a cat, is “blackish,” then what’s the other color? In the example of a cat, it would make sense to say that the cat is “blackish and grayish” to indicate the combination of the two colors of the cat’s fur. That’s a better picture of what the cat could look like. Without the supplemental color, however, saying it’s “blackish” would leave me without a clear picture of the cat.

After I got the kids off to school this morning, and I was back at the desk, I decided to Google the word “blackish” to see what came up. The word just bugged me as a standalone word. I was seeing it as an adjective. However, I learned there is a sitcom called Black-ish, so maybe with the awards ceremony in my dream, maybe that was an actor for the show. (I am HORRIBLE at recognizing people – though I can totally recognize Stan Lee in any Marvel film! Hah!) I have not seen the show, so I’m not very clear on that. There is also a game developing company in Australia called Blackish Games. And Dictionary.com said it can be used to describe an African American person (though the people in my dream would disagree).

I have no qualms about adding “-ish” to words. Whovians got a good laugh with one episode of Doctor Who in which the Doctor tells his companion, Clara, “Same place…ish.” To which Clara replies, “Ish? Don’t give me an ish.” And the Doctor says, “These readings are very … um … ishy.”

I even give people an “ish.” Like, “Dinner will be ready at 8ish.” Or “I’ll see you at 3ish.” Sometimes, I’ll say “Some, somewhat” instead, but yes, I do say “ish” a lot if I’m not exactly sure about a time or place. Or I’ll say, “Thereabouts.”

But to use “ish” when describing someone, things can get a little muddled. Saying something like “He had newish clothes” is not all that bad, but calling a cat “blackish” seems a little incomplete.

And as a final thought on that word, perhaps “blackish” could describe something that is exclusively African American. Such as in “He likes to read books written by Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and other blackish books.” I could see how that would work when the word is used in such a way, because people know Angelou was black and Morrison is black.

But I think to describe a person as “blackish” and not add much else is a bit of a no-no. 

Rory on Broadchurch!

If there is one channel we leave the TV on in our home a lot, it’s definitely BBC. Sure, my kids like to watch shows on the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, but it’s the BBC channel we often have the TV turned to for as long as a whole day. There are certainly a lot of shows on there we all like. Doctor Who, Kitchen Nightmares, Sherlock, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Top Gear. We also watched Torchwood, when it was on there. The BBC has definitely got some good ones!

Lately, I have noticed how they’ve really been pushing the forthcoming new episode of their show Broadchurch. I have never seen this one but now I’m going to get in on this and try to catch up on what I’ve missed of it so far! The new episode will air in March, but there has been A LOT of publicity about it on the BBC. Enough to make me take notice.

I certainly took notice when I saw that David Tennant is in this show!

David Tennant was once the Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who. We’ve definitely enjoyed watching Doctor Who episodes with Ten (he’s Jen’s favorite doctor; mine is Eleven) so he’s definitely someone I recognized in another TV show! In fact, when they were showing the previews, when it showed the clip with David Tennant, it aired the review quote “Ten out of ten!” I could only smile and say, “I see what they did there.”

When I told Jen about it, she nodded and said, “I saw Rory, too.”

I was, like, What? Rory? Where did I miss that??

I quickly Googled the show to bring up the cast but didn’t see him there. So I checked Wikipedia and it said that the actor Arthur Darvill (who played Rory Williams in Doctor Who) was added to the new shows.

Cool!

Last night, I DID finally see the preview that included Rory. When that happened, I told Jen, “I saw Rory!” She smiled that said/signed, “First Rory was with Eleven and now he’s with Ten.”

That is so cool! I wonder if Amy (Karen Gillan) will be joining them next. That would be EXTRA cool!!

The funny thing is, I have often wondered whatever happened to Rory and Amy when they were sent back in time, making them “dead” in the present day during the episode “The Angels Take Manhattan.” This was the OFFICIAL death of Rory Williams (after he’d already “died” all those other times!) and, Amy, being the devoted wife and because she loves Rory so much (and we can’t have Rory WITHOUT having Amy, too!) went back to be with him. (She was lucky she went back to the same time he was sent to!) I have always been curious about the lives they lived then. Who they were, how different their lives were during that period of time – and without their Doctor. And, in a sense, Rory being in Broadchurch gives me some kind of glimpse of that. A possibility of what his “past life” must have been like. Now all we need is Amy.

The power of three

This morning, while I was sitting at the table and eating my breakfast, I looked more closely at the discarded pizza box on the table in front of me and saw this:

And all I could see was "POND." Which of course made me think of the character in Doctor Who, Amelia Pond. And suddenly, I had this very distinct image in my mind of a wedge of cheddar attacking Amelia Pond while she was traveling on a boat.

Then, later, while I was reading, I was surprised to see this:

Hm. "The power of three." There is actually an episode of Doctor Who with the title "The Power of Three."

So, of course, after these two things related to Doctor Who happened in my day, I decided to wear this T-shirt:

A very blessed Christmas

I was dreading the approach of Christmas, let alone Christmas Eve. Sure, we were all excited about Christmas coming up, but it’s so hard to get through the holidays with my mom being gone. I keep telling myself that I can STILL “talk” to my mom on Christmas; it’ll just have to be with my heart. But that doesn’t make it any easier. And the fact that I had an emotional breakdown over the weekend and just cried my heart out because I miss my mom so much did not help, either.

But here we are, at Christmas. And I’ve managed okay so far. It has definitely been a big help to have some wonderful friends around who have offered comfort and support. I’m so glad we got to see them in the days leading up to Christmas. Seeing these dear friends again just warmed my heart and it was good to have a shoulder to lean on, too. They are awesome friends and I am so grateful they are in our lives!

I ended up waking up at 4 a.m. today. I ALWAYS wake up first on Christmas, which is a good thing because I usually have extra little gifties to slip into stockings. But the reason why I woke up so early was because I was really thirsty. I got up to get a glass of water, let the dog out and to put the stocking stuffers into their designated stockings. After all that, I went back to bed, hoping to get some more sleep. But a sadness came over my heart as I lied in my darkened bedroom. I whispered to the darkness, “Merry Christmas, Mom.” I stayed still just for a bit, thinking of how much I wished I could hug her, then just as I looked down, I was surprised to see the back of someone walking past my open door! At first, I thought it was Jennifer, because this was a female with short brown hair, but the thing of it was ... this “person” was all white and transparent! A lit-up kind of person! Like an angel.

No way, I thought. It’s Jennifer. Jennifer is awake. That’s it.

I climbed out of bed and walked out of my room. I hurriedly went through the hall and saw no one in the family or living room. I went through the kitchen, the entry way and the other rooms. No one was there.

I went back to bed, thinking this over. Had I really just seen what I thought I’d seen? And had it been who I thought it was?

Well, I liked to think so. That was a nice thought.

Eventually, I did go back to sleep. I had a very disturbing dream, though. I dreamed I walked out to the Christmas tree and saw a woman’s face in one of the ornaments. Her face was very transparent, almost like a ghost. She had short light-colored hair. The image faded then I was back in my room. I was in bed trying to sleep but a strange sensation came over me that kept shaking me. Like something was possessing me. When I awoke from that dream, I saw a red bar on my wall.

Now, I must confess, I have been nervous about the Christmas tree suddenly catching on fire the whole time it’s been there. So I was alarmed when I saw that red light on my wall, thinking that was a reflection from a fire down the hallway! I raced out of my room to look around the house but, thankfully, there was no fire. Phew! Then I thought maybe there was a fire at my neighbor’s house. I opened the blinds to look out the window, but no, no fire! I was relieved but really puzzled. I went back to bed, back to sleep.
 

When I awoke again, I decided I’d gotten enough sleep so I got out of bed for good. And, wouldn’t you know, that was the same time Jesse woke up! We wished each other a Merry Christmas then woke Jennifer up. Then we woke their father up. We all trudged out to the living room (well, Jesse RAN out to the living room!), sat down and decided who would play Santa this year. That decision made, we all proceeded to open our gifts.

If I had any ounce of sadness left, it disappeared as I watched my children open their gifts. There was just so much joy and happiness among us all during that time. We were all excited and happy with our gifts. Jesse got a new bike and Jennifer got a bunch of Doctor Who stuff. I got an espresso machine, JCPenney gift card, chocolates, a wolf picture, new purse and the movie Argo. I was bummed that I didn't get any books or a gift card for books, but later I got free ebooks via Smashwords and that made me happy. Thank you, Smashwords!

After the gift thing and thanking people for our gifts, I made breakfast of bacon and cinnamon rolls. Then I took Jesse next door to give his friend a Christmas gift as well as a tin of cookies to our friends. After that, Jennifer left with her dad to hand out cookies she baked for the homeless.

Last night, Jen and her dad baked a cake for our Christmas dessert, and it’s back to the kitchen for me to make our Christmas dinner of ham, potatoes, corn and dinner rolls. We can’t wait to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special tonight, and I’ll be drinking a delicious espresso while I watch it.


Today turned out to be a good one, filled with family, friends and a little bit of Christmas magic. I am also glad my 20-year-old Chihuahua was able to spend just one more Christmas with us.

Merry Christmas! 

Jennifer's twelfth birthday

Today my daughter turned 12 years old. I can't believe it's been twelve years since I gave birth to this little girl. She has definitely surprised and amazed us all with her talents, her zest for life and her can-do attitude! She has been inspiring and I feel so blessed this wonder kid is my daughter. She's definitely made her mark in art and writing, and now she's moving towards making videos and performing music! And now she is 12. This is her last year of her childhood. The last year she will be a kid. Next year, she becomes a teenager. Wow. How swiftly the years have gone by!

Because Jen's birthday landed on a school day this year, we went with our usual plan: A private, family party on her special day, then a party with her friends on the weekend. Unfortunately, her dad and I are both sick with a cold, so we are trying to figure out how the party with friends is going to turn out. Even so, I gave today my best effort, still going out to buy her gifts and get her cake even though I felt lousy.

Because Jen likes My Little Pony, and because this is her last year of childhood and may think My Little Pony is "too babyish" when she's a teen, I decided to make My Little Pony her party theme this year. Got her a My Little Pony cake and card, and Jesse bought her a My Little Pony movie. But she also got a Hilfiger hoodie, two books, and a gift card to Barnes & Noble. The books were one of the new Warrior Cats books she's been wanting, as well as a new Doctor Who book that is a character encyclopedia. She was sooo excited about the books when she saw them. She said they were "two of my favorite kinds of books." She was very happy with her presents. I'm glad she was happy with her presents. 

It was a nice little private party. I can't wait to see what Year 12 will bring us in the life of this young supergirl who isn't afraid to go after her dreams!

Doctor Who?

For a long time, I have been a big fan of the TV show, Doctor Who. I remember watching it as a kid and I have watched it on and off through the years. But the one thing is that I never saw the very first episode of Doctor Who. Not ever!

Recently, the BBC Network aired a Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, "Doctor Who Revisited." In this program, they aired the very first episode of Doctor Who. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch bits and pieces of it as it aired on TV, being as busy as I am with writing, keeping house, running errands and taking care of the kids. However, I DVRed it, thinking I could watch it later.

But the thing of it is, my life has been so insanely busy lately, later kept becoming later and later!

My husband will occasionally clear out the DVR recordings to make room for other stuff and he was doing that today. In the past, I or Jennifer got upset if he deleted something we had not watched yet. So today he had me and Jennifer watch as he went through everything and started asking if we’d already watched it yet BEFORE deleting it.

The thing of it is, Jennifer is THE huge Doctor Who fan in the family, so of course he asked Jennifer about the “Doctor Who Revisited” program to see if she had seen it. He didn't ask me, he asked her. I was trying to get his attention and trying to tell him that I wanted to watch that and to NOT delete it, but he ignored me. And went ahead and deleted it.

AAAHHH!!!!

I was SO upset. I even cried a little. But my tears were because I had just been brushed off like that. My voice did not matter. What I wanted did not matter.

Later, he told me that Jennifer is the one who watches Doctor Who. I told him I watch it sometimes, too. My life is busy, I hardly EVER have time to watch any TV! And anyway, he and the kids hog up the TV every day. I hardly get to watch anything on TV! And I explained WHY that particular program was important to me. He said it’ll come on again sometime. Uh, no. It won’t. It was the 50th anniversary special. I seriously doubt it will come on again this year! And good luck finding the very first episode of Doctor Who closed captioned on DVD. Sure, they put old TV shows on DVD, but hardly ever do they have captions for the deaf viewers.

Grr! I was so upset. I said I’d never watch TV again AND I went ahead and deleted all the other programs I had saved for the time I HOPED to get to watch TV at some point in this lifetime!!

But now, forget it. I don't care anymore. THEY can have the dang TV. I will just read a book. At least no one can delete books.

...Well, I MIGHT watch TV again. If the program is aired again. And this time, I will cancel EVERYTHING ELSE to sit down and watch the whole thing.

UPDATE! I just checked the listings and this particular program, with the VERY FIRST episode of Doctor Who, will be on again on 2/24!!!

WOO-HOO!!!!!!

Thank you, TV people.

All of this has made me realize I really SHOULD make time to watch an occasional TV program. I know the kids like to watch TV and the husband likes to watch TV, but so do I! And I think I really SHOULD tell everyone, you know, let me see AT LEAST ONE THING on TV each day. Just one thing. Please.

Especially if that one thing is an episode of Doctor Who!    

Jen's Eleventh B-day!

Jennifer turned 11 years old this month. Yay! And because her birthday fell on a school day, we did the same thing this year that happened last year: Gave her two parties! On Wednesday, her official birthday, she had a family-only birthday party. It was a cupcake party. I arranged 11 cupcakes on a tray in the shape of a “J.” She thought that was cool. She also got her family presents. She’d wanted a Monster High School doll for MONTHS and I was able to get her two. She was VERY happy about that! She also got a copy of a Burly & Grum book from our friend in England, author Kate Tenbeth, and from Jesse she got a Furreal Friends pet bunny. It’s so cute! She also got a DVD movie, The Woman in Black. We both saw that movie and it’s VERY scary! From her aunt Millie, she got a Doctor Who Eleventh Doctor Sonic Screwdriver. She was SO excited to get that! 

Thanks, Kate!

For the birthday party with her friends, which was today, she had a Doctor Who party. (She’s a BIG Doctor Who fan!) I printed out a few pics from the 7^th season shows and hung them on the wall. I also made fish fingers and custard (which was actually surprisingly good!).

The cake was the big thing. Earlier this week, when we decided it was going to be a Doctor Who party, I got online to research everything that had to do with Doctor Who parties. The fish fingers and custard were a MUST so that’s why I made those. There were several cakes: the TARDIS, Daleks and Silence. They were all very cool but Jennifer fell in love with the TARDIS cake. I kept wondering how the heck I’d get her a TARDIS cake! All the TARDIS cakes on sale were in ENGLAND! There were some people who made them at home and even though they included directions and pictures, my mind went blank over the whole thing. (I don’t MAKE cakes, I BUY cakes!) So, all week, I was trying to figure out how to get Jennifer a TARDIS cake for her party. One bakery we usually get cakes at said they couldn’t do it, but, finally, I found one who could: The baker at Albertsons. She said it was definitely doable. HOORAY! I printed out several pictures of the TARDIS and showed them to her. We went over them and the specifics of the cake. The best part was that she could have it done in 24 hours, which was a good thing since this was yesterday!

So we got a TARDIS cake for the party. WOO-HOO!!! Thank you, Albertsons. And it’s a nice cake, don’t you think?

And, of course, after eating the cake, we all had blue teeth and tongues! It was funny. 

After the food and cake, Jennifer opened the presents from her friends. She was very happy with everything. 

Then they moved on to watching movie, doing karaoke and playing games. They are all having a great time. 

It’s not so great for Jesse, though. He’s pretty much feeling left out because it’s a girls-only thing. But hubby and I are taking turns spending time with him. 

Happy Birthday, Jennifer!