The Ant Bully (2006)

Ten-year-old Lucas has a problem. The neighborhood bully has been picking on him, and Lucas believes he’s powerless to stop it. The bully told him, “I’m big and you’re small, so there’s nothing you can do about it.” Lucas doesn’t feel as if he can talk to his parents about it, so in order to vent his feelings, he takes his aggression out on the ant hill in the front yard. Repeating the bully’s mantra, he takes a garden hose and floods the hill, saying, “I’m big and you’re small.” Destroying the hill makes him feel in control for a small moment, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

Meanwhile, down in the hill, the ants are becoming desperate for a solution. “The Destroyer,” as they call Lucas, has struck again, and they must find a way to make him stop. Zoc, a forward-thinking ant voiced by Nicholas Cage, comes up with a magic elixir that will shrink Lucas down to the size of the ants, and by night, a group of brave scouts sneak into Lucas’s room and administer the elixir. Then they carry him off to the hill, where he is put on trial for crimes against the colony. He is sentenced to live as an ant until he understands just what it is he has done.

At first, Lucas rebels against the assignment. He only does what he must in order to stay out of trouble with the guards, but soon he begins to feel a sense of community with the ants. When the exterminator comes to destroy the ant hill, Lucas comes up with a plan to stop the extermination and to bring peace to the yard once and for all. In the end, Lucas even finds the strength to stand up to the bully.

This film had many good themes. It shows how a person, once bullied, feels the need to act out and vent their own frustration, leading to a cycle that must be stopped. It taught the importance of taking responsibility for our own actions and how we can’t blame others for our bad behavior. I think it’s an excellent springboard for parents to use as they approach their children about bullying and ways to handle conflict.

There were a few moments of mild peril, but nothing I considered actually frightening. I viewed this film with all my children ages 4-12, and we enjoyed it equally.

This movie is rated PG.

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Teaching Our Sons to Be Men

I recently watched a film where the father believed the best way to teach his son how to be a man was to encourage him to drink, use foul language, and to be abusive to women and animals. I contrast that to the examples of the men of God we see in the scriptures and standing before us in the pulpit, who are reverent in their behavior and give God the glory for their successes. Part of being in the world is to face opposing messages and to decide for ourselves which paths we want to take, and our children are being bombarded with messages from both sides and from more middle-of-the-road standpoints as well. How do we best teach our sons what real manhood is? I suggest that we emphasize the following points:

1. True strength does not come from aggression. Television shows and movies would have us believe that men must be aggressive in order to be strong. Real strength is controlled and moderated.

2. You can turn the other cheek without being a wimp, and you can stand up for yourself without becoming a bully.

3. Showing emotion doesn’t make you less masculine. Boys and men need outlets for their emotions too, and if they need to let it out, by all means.

4. Being a leader means to set a positive example and to inspire others to follow, not to browbeat them into submission.

5. Holding your liquor is not a sign of strength. The real sign is how you stand up to temptation and do what you know is right.

As cartoons and movies continue to become more violent, it’s my hope that we as parents can guide our young men toward true examples of manhood and help them differentiate between the “men” they see on the screen and the men who influence them for good in their own lives.

Join me next week as I share my thoughts on teaching our daughters to be women.

YourLDSneighborhood has added exciting new things to its website. Please drop by and take a look, browse around, check out our vendors, our radio station, our authors, our musicians and more.

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It's a Simple Question

Let me pose a story problem:

You live in Washington. Apples are grown in Washington. Lots and lots and lots of apple trees. In fact, Washington is famous for apples. In further fact, you live next door to an apple orchard, and your neighbor, that nice Mr. Jones, will sell them to you for a great price. All you have to do is walk next door, fill your basket, and you're set to go. Nice, fresh apples, great price - sounds pretty good, right?

Would you rather get on a plane and fly to Virginia to buy your apples? They grow apples in Virginia. What's wrong with taking a little plane ride and getting your apples that way?

Well, you have to buy a plane ticket. You spend over three hours on the plane (and that's a direct flight ... if there are layovers, it could take the better part of a day from door to door). You get out to the apple orchard, get your apples, package them to survive the plane ride back, do the actual traveling, and arrive back home with your apples.

Which choice would you make?

I think it's pretty simple. We'd all go next door, wouldn't we?

So can someone please explain to me why we're buying fuel from clear around the world instead of getting it from the state in which we live? If anyone can answer that question for me in as simple of terms as I have asked the question, I would greatly appreciate it.

My Fair Godmother - Janette Rallison

I've known Janette Rallison for several years and have been delighted with her sense of humor and her charm. Despite knowing her, I have to admit, I didn't read one of her young adult books until this last summer, and let me say, I've been regretting that procrastination. All this time I could have been a huge fan, and now I feel like I have to go back and retroactively enjoy all her books. I'm serious - I just came home from the library with four of her titles. I've got to make up for all I've missed!

Click here to read more.

Let's Get Ready to Party!

It should be no secret to anyone here that I adore the LDStorymakers writers conference, held every year in the spring. I love getting together with all my friends and just hanging out for an entire weekend, hearing great writing advice, being encouraged, and just plain having the time of my life. This year the conference is being held on April 24th and 25th at the Provo Marriott hotel, and you can learn all about it and register by clicking here.

One of the advantages of being a party animal (er, conference committee member - it's the same thing) is getting to go check out the facilities ahead of time. That's what I did last Saturday, and I must say, I'm even more stoked now than I was before.

This is the lovely Julie Wright standing in one of the classrooms. I'm not sure if you can tell from this shot, but each of the rooms are huge. For the combined sessions, we can open the dividing doors and create a room of such dynamic proportions, it's unbelievable. We'll be able to fit everyone who wants to come this year.

I swiped this picture from the hotel website - this is the lobby. Isn't that lovely?

Also swiped from the website, this is a picture of a king room at the hotel. You can reserve a room now, but be sure to mention that you need it for the Storymaker conference - otherwise they'll tell you they're full.


And this is part of the awesome conference committee - not everyone was able to make it. L-R: Rachel Nunes, me (in quite possibly one of the worst pictures ever taken of me) BJ Rowley, Julie Wright, Jaime Theler, Crystal Liechty, and our king, Jeff Savage.

We're so excited to bring you a new lineup of classes, presenters, and guest speakers. Keep your eyes on the website for the schedule, which will be up soon, and we hope you can join us in April!

Big Girls Need Clothes Too

Those of you who have been following my sidebar know that I've lost twelve pounds since December 15th. (Yay, me!) Even with this loss, I am still a woman of size and probably will be for about another nine to twelve months, depending on what the doctor decides to do with my medications and so forth.

I was walking around Walmart yesterday and had my four children with me. We passed the misses's section and I noticed some darling career wear outfits in gray and plum, two of my favorite colors. They had suits, skirts, blouses, shells, jackets - all adorable. I circled the cart around to the plus size department to see what they had that I might be interested in.

Oddly enough, there was no career wear in the plus size department. They had sweats, T-shirts, and jeans. That was it.

Tell me why it is that the smaller-sized women are being offered the career wear, while the larger women are being offered the "stay at home and look schlumpy" wear? I'm a larger woman, and I am a stay at home mom, but I'm also a professional and I need outfits to wear when I go out and meet other authors, editors, or clients. Is Walmart buying in to the fallacy that larger women can't be professionals, or that we should have no desire to wear professional-looking clothing?

Granted, when I want something nice to wear, I head for C.J. Banks in the mall. They're awesome. But I dislike this message Walmart gave me yesterday - that if I'm fat, I should only be wearing sweats.

My children were treated to a verbal diatribe. Good thing they're used to it.

And Walmart's getting a letter from me on Monday.

Hanging Out with Nancy

Last Thursday night, I had a ton of fun at Provident Book in Pleasant Grove. They have started a ladies' book club and Nancy Campbell Allen was their first guest speaker. A freezing rain was falling, but it was so worth it to head on over and hear what Nancy had to say (she's been one of my favorites for a long time).

Here are some pics from the event:


Sandra, Candace, and Nancy


Eileen, Nancy and me (I just realized this was the top I wore the last time I went to Provident Book. I really do own more clothing than this, I promise)


Karlene and Nancy

The next book club will be on February 26th at 7 pm and will feature author H.B. Moore. You've got to come hang out with us! And get discounts on the featured book! And get discounts on unrelated books with the cool Book Club Discount Card that you can only get if you go to a book club! And have refreshments!

Provident Book is located just south of the Macey's intersection on State Street in Pleasant Grove.

Cooking for Two?

When we first get married, we learn how to cook for two. As little Johnny and Freddy and Marybelle come along and our family expands, so do our recipes. We throw in an extra piece of chicken or another cup of noodles, and as the years go by, the meal that used to serve two people now serves twelve, and we hardly noticed the difference.

But children marry and move away, and they don’t join us at the dinner table forever. I’ve heard many empty nesters say, “I don’t know how to cook for two anymore.” Suddenly, an entire chicken is just too much, and the stockpot full of noodles just goes to waste. How do we make that mental adjustment from twenty people down to two?

I’d like to suggest that we continue to cook large meals, but that we also invest in a set of containers that go from freezer to microwave to dishwasher. My favorite are made by Ziplock and they’re extremely inexpensive. You can take all those extra servings and freeze them, freeing up your time later. If you don’t like reheated frozen noodles, just freeze the sauce and make up the noodles fresh.

Freezing meals will benefit you in the following ways:

1. You’ll be cutting down on food waste. Rather than making meals that are too large and throwing away the leftovers, you’ll be reheating only as much as you need for that particular meal. This results in saving money, as well.

2. If you are called to take a meal in to someone, you can prepare it quickly and easily.

3. You’ll be saving a lot of time. There’s a rumor floating around that retired people have all kinds of time on their hands—but I think I can safely say that retirees are plenty busy. You’ll be able to take that time you would have spent in meal preparation and use it instead in other ways.

4. You can use the meals for lunches as well, when you want something quick and hot.

There’s a movement sweeping the nation to make up an entire month’s worth of meals at one time and putting them in your freezer. This isn’t what I’m suggesting here. I’ve tried that, and while it’s a fabulous idea, it’s exhausting, and I’m hoping to ease your burdens rather than add to them. But if you’re making chicken cacciatore tonight, and you know you’ll have a ton left over, why not plan to freeze those leftovers into meal-sized portions? If you do that regularly whenever you make a large meal, soon you’ll have a freezer full of ready-to-eat meals, and you can use the time saved to do things you really want to do, maybe even things you planned to do once you were retired.

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Down with Love (2003)

It’s not often that you’ll see a negative movie review from me because I choose to focus on the positive and recommend films I feel good about putting my name on. But every so often, a movie so totally irks me, I find I must raise my voice and vent just how irked I am. Such is the case with the 2003 film, “Down with Love.”

I love Ewan McGregor and I love Renee Zellweger. When I saw the description for this film on Netflix, which reads in part, “But love has a way of sneaking up on even the unlikeliest pairs in this tribute to the classic Doris Day-Rock Hudson romantic comedies,” I thought for sure I enjoy the film, also being a fan of Day-Hudson.

We got off to a great start. The credits were even vintage, using the logos that the film companies used in the 1960’s. The costuming was great down to the beehive hairdos and the hats and gloves. And the premise was adorable. Zellweger stars as Barbara Novak, a young lady who has written a book called “Down with Love.” It’s her feeling that women no longer need men in order to be fulfilled, and that women can achieve just as much, and more, as men in the work place. This causes a great stir in New York City as her book hits #1 on the bestseller list and women everywhere become emancipated.

McGregor stars as Catcher Block, hit reporter for Know Magazine and absolute ladies’ man. When he’s assigned to interview Barbara for the magazine, he decides he doesn’t want anything to do with an embittered feminist and puts her off repeatedly. This irritates her, she denounces him on national television, and the battle of wits begins. Catcher decides to write an expose on her and poses as a shy, naïve young man in the hopes of tricking her into falling in love with him. What he doesn’t plan on is falling in love with her, as well.

This all sounds delightful, doesn’t it? Well, it would have been, but this film was absolutely filled with crass innuendo. They couldn’t just tell the story—they had to fill it with every sexual pun and gag they could come up with. They even took advantage of split screen technology during a phone conversation to place the two characters in some extremely compromising positions that had there not been a split screen would have garnered this film an R rather than a PG-13.

This storyline had such great potential. The stars were all wonderful, the acting was great, and we’re even treated at the end to a musical number starring Zellweger and McGregor, calling upon their talents as shown in their previous films “Chicago” and “Moulin Rouge.” If the writers had left out the never-ending innuendo, the film really would have harked back to the days of Doris and Rock, and it would have been perfectly charming. As it stands, I felt like I was lured in by the promise of a good movie and ended up with a pie in my face instead.

YourLDSneighborhood has added exciting new things to its website. Please drop by and take a look, browse around, check out our vendors, our radio station, our authors, our musicians and more. Check out the Neighborhood.

And while you're there, subscribe to the yourLDSneighborhood Newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the newsletter brings you articles, products, services, resources and interviews from around the world-all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Cookbooks, and Cookbooks, and Cookbooks, Oh My!

Mealtime is a strange affair around here. I have four children who are picky, to choose a gentle word to describe it. Any meal I prepare will generally meet with a fifty percent approval rating (if that), accompanied by any amount of complaining, whining, and general grumpiness. Being a firm mother, I don’t succumb to the threats of impending starvation or poisoning by meatloaf, but being a nice mother, I do try to find recipes my children will find less repugnant than others.

I love cookbooks. I like flipping through them, looking for new recipes, even though no one in my family will eat them. I collect cookbooks (it’s a little bit of a compulsion for me, although I’m working on it) and then I noticed I was tripping over them. As much as I loved to line them all up in neat rows on my shelf, I knew I had to do something. Thus the Tristi Pinkston System of Cookbook Organization was born!

I started with one book and went through it, jotting down the page numbers of all the recipes that a) sounded good to me b) didn’t contain more than two of my children’s less-favorite ingredients and c) didn’t call for me to travel to the ends of the earth to find the perfect kind of mushroom. Then, over the course of the next few months, I incorporated those recipes into our menu. As I tried each recipe, I stuck a Post-It note on that page and wrote down what we thought of the results and what I would do differently next time. When I got to the end of the book, I went through and copied down all the recipes that had enough merit to hang onto, and then I gave the book away. Interestingly enough, the recipes that sounded good to me weren’t always the ones that sounded good to my sisters or neighbors, so no matter who I gave the book to, we all gained some use out of it.

I got some of my cookbooks from the thrift store, for around a dollar each, and I have to say, I really like getting them second-hand. For starters, I can make my notes right on the margins. For books that are spiral-bound, I’ll sometimes rip out pages that don’t hold any use for me, or I’ll trim out the recipe to add to my own collection.

Once I’ve decided to keep a recipe, I’ll either trim it out, as I mentioned above, and glue it onto a sheet of cardstock, or I’ll type it up from the book. I always make note of any substitutions I made and little things I learned during the process that will make the recreation of that recipe a little easier. Then I take that sheet, insert it in a page protector, and put it in a three-ring binder along with my other favorite recipes. In this way, I’m winnowing down twelve thousand recipes into a select few hundred that I know my family will eat (or at least tolerate with less whining and gagging noises than the other recipes.)

I’ve been doing this with every cookbook on my shelf, and now I’m down to about eight (the end is in sight!) I’m creating more shelf space in my kitchen, I’m finding recipes that will actually work for my family, and I’m keeping myself entertained in the kitchen—I can’t stand making the same thing night after night, so this works out perfectly for me.

One cookbook I’m particularly excited to try revolves around food storage and ways to take our wheat and other stored items and actually create real food with it. I admit, I’ve faced this whole “cooking with food storage” idea with a bit of trepidation, but with a guide, I just might survive it.

So what will I do when I’ve worked through those last eight cookbooks? Why, go to the thrift store and get more, of course! (Did I mention this was a compulsion for me?) And what will I look for? Cookbooks that have been compiled by wards or neighborhoods. I’ve found that those simple, homemade cookbooks are often the ones that contain the best recipes. The ingredients are down to earth, the preparation and cooking times are realistic, and they actually taste good.

Cookbooks are fun to collect, but what good are they if they just sit on our shelves? Take them down, dust them off, and give them a whirl. Then pass them along. You never know what treasures you might be sharing with someone else.

YourLDSneighborhood has added exciting new things to its website. Please drop by and take a look, browse around, check out our vendors, our radio station, our authors, our musicians and more. Check out the Neighborhood.

And while you're there, subscribe to the yourLDSneighborhood Newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the newsletter brings you articles, products, services, resources and interviews from around the world-all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Book Review: "Tribunal" by Sandra Grey

I loved Sandra Grey's first novel, "Traitor." In fact, you can read my review of it here. I was honored and thrilled to be asked to endorse "Tribunal," the sequel.

My endorsement reads: "Sandra Grey's writing style is crisp and yet rich, evoking such realistic images of history I felt as though I walked along with the characters and felt their emotions."

It's hard to do justice to a novel with just an endorsement, so now I'd like to share a full review.

Read more ...

Exercising With Your Kids

It’s no surprise that kids imitate what they see. You know how it is—you’ve had a long day and a crisis comes up and a choice word slips out of your mouth. Days go by, your sweet little grandmother comes for a visit, and little Johnny takes that opportunity to parrot what he heard. We’ve all been there.

Thankfully, this also works in reverse. Children will mirror the positive behavior they see as well, although we tend not to notice this trend quite as much. (That’s because our hands are still clapped over our eyes from the last embarrassment we suffered because of little Johnny. That child is such a scamp.)

Right now in America, 58 million adults are overweight. 40 million of those are obese, and 3 million are morbidly obese. Between 16% and 33% of our children and adolescents are obese. These children are growing up to become part of the 58 million overweight adults, or even the 3 million morbidly obese. These are frightening statistics.

So, what are we going to do to help our children avoid falling into this trap?

We’re going to get ourselves out of the trap. We’re going to change our own eating habits and exercise patterns, and make it a family project. We can’t expect our children to go outside and play if they never see us go outside and play. We can’t expect them to eat their vegetables if we don’t eat ours. We must set the example for our children.

I get a big kick out of exercising with my children. I pop in a Richard Simmons tape and we all boogie. My four-year-old just grooves, no matter what the music. He’s totally unconscious of what others might be thinking. My twelve-year-old gets hung up on “doing it right,” although I keep telling her there’s no such thing as doing it “right,” but to just keep moving and it’s all good. The important thing is that we’re exercising, and the fact that we’re doing it together only makes it more fun. It’s a bonding time, the children are learning that health is important, and it encourages me to exercise on days when I might not feel up to it otherwise.

The examples we set as parents are crucial. We are being watched every minute. Our children are either taking notes for their own future behavior, or they’re making vows to be nothing like us. If we want our children to be healthy, we need to model that for them, and there is no more powerful model than doing it with them. Let’s all be healthier, together.

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Middlemarch (1994)

I stayed up half the night watching the first three quarters of “Middlemarch,” and finishing it up was first on my priority list this morning. It was that good.

It took me a few minutes to get into the story. Rather than following one family or one set of friends, the film takes us into the lives of several families and I didn’t get the threads gathered together for about twenty minutes. From then on, though, I was completely hooked.

Middlemarch is a small English town essentially run by its banker, Mr. Bulstrode. When the new doctor, Mr. Lidgate, comes to town, Mr. Bulstrode takes him aside and tells him that things will go much easier for him if he just does as he’s told. Lidgate is an idealist, full of dreams about his future. He wants to really do some good in the world, find ways to prevent and cure fevers, and Mr. Bulstrode has funded a new hospital primarily for the doctor’s research. But soon word gets around town that Lidgate is in Bulstrode’s pocket, and in the end, this alliance proves bad for both of them.

We go now to the home of Mr. Brooke, a bachelor who raised his two orphaned nieces. The oldest is Dorothea (pictured) a good-hearted, lovely young woman who wants to use her wealth to ease the suffering of others. The younger is Celia, also good-hearted but somewhat more simple and concerned with her own wants and needs. Dorothea has caught the eye of several young men, but it’s not until she meets Mr. Casaubon, a man several years older than herself and completely obsessed with research, that she decides to marry. He appeals to her higher notions of what life should be like, and her greatest wish is to help him with his research, but after they are married, he shuts her out, refusing to allow her to help him or even be involved in his work. She continues to believe in him, even though her marriage is nothing like she’d hoped.

These are the two major threads in the plot, although there are several others. We see Dr. Lidgate fall head over heels in love with a beautiful but silly girl who leads to his disgrace, and yet he never blames her for it. We see Dorothea continue to dream of a better life and a higher standard of living, until she is finally able to pursue the course she’s always wanted. We see others make mistakes and learn from them, while others, unfortunately, don’t learn from them.

This movie is rather along the lines of “Pride and Prejudice,” although in “Middlemarch,” the characters do actually kiss when they fall in love. I just ordered my own copy from Amazon. For those of you subscribed to Netflix, you can watch this film free on your computer.

Return to the Neighborhood.

And while you're there, subscribe to the yourLDSneighborhood.com Newsletter.
In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the newsletter brings you articles, products, services, resources and interviews from around the world-all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

Overheard in My Living Room

Son #1. Mom! He just called me stupid!

Son #2. (sounding indignant) No, I didn't! I called you an idiot.

Tristi Makes an Announcement

I'm quite delighted to inform you that I will have two books coming out this year.

Coming in May: "Faith Beyond Fear." Shannon Tanner is an up-and-coming financial adviser who is about to become engaged to the man of her dreams. When a shocking discovery changes her plans and endangers her life, she must rely on her faith to see her through a terrifying challenge.


Coming in November: "Secret Sisters." Ida Mae Babbitt, Relief Society president of the Omni 2nd Ward, teams with her counselors Arlette and Tansy to solve a mystery that affects the well-being of one of the families in their care.


The release date for "Secret Sisters" has been moved back from May to November, but I'm delighted to have two books out this year and hope you'll keep your eyes peeled for them.

Doing Without Cable

With the recent downward plunge of the economy, we’ve been looking at ways to reduce our spending. Many of our bills are fixed amounts, but one way we decided we could economize was to have our cable television shut off. We’ve got a whole cabinet full of DVDs and videos, and we figured our children would survive. Nice thing is, we’re saving $70.00 a month.

This cutback has produced some surprising results. The children aren’t asking to watch TV as often, and they’re spending more time playing together and being creative with their toys. They aren’t fighting as much, and the shows they do watch are shows we own and have prescreened for content, so they aren’t accidentally seeing things we’d rather they not. We’re not being drenched in commercial advertisements, so their “wants” list has shrunk considerably. They’re handling it very well indeed.

What surprised me the most, however, was my own reaction to the cutback. I’ve never really watched a whole lot of television, but I do have a few favorite shows, and I confess, I’m having withdrawals. I can get some of my favorite sitcoms on DVD through Netflix, but it’s now American Idol season and I’m starting to twitch a little bit. Isn’t it amazing how we can get to the point where we think we need something that really has no bearing on our survival whatsoever? If I never see another season of AI again, I will still be a human and I’ll still breathe oxygen, and yet right now, I couldn’t prove that to you.

I sometimes wonder what our pioneer ancestors would think of us spending so much time staring at a little box. I’m sure they’d think we were out of our minds, and I have to agree. What is this strange power television has over us? I’m hoping to break its hold on me before too much longer. Maybe I need to follow my children’s example and learn to play with my toys instead.

Return to the Neighborhood.

And while you're there, subscribe to the yourLDSneighborhood.com Newsletter.
In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the newsletter brings you articles, products, services, resources and interviews from around the world-all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

WALL-E (2008)

What would happen if the entire earth filled up with trash? Pixar takes a look at this scenario in the release “WALL-E,” a film which has some people up in arms. We’ll take a look at the controversy at the end of the review.

WALL-E is a cute little robot somewhat reminiscent of No. 5 from the movie “Short Circuit.” WALL-E is the last of his kind, a mobile trash compactor left on Earth to condense and reduce the trash while all the inhabitants of the planet take an intergalactic cruise. Seven hundred years have gone by since all the people left Earth, and those now living on the ship have no idea what earth life was like.

When the ship sends a probe named Eve to investigate Earth to see if life is now sustainable, WALL-E finds himself smitten with her. Once WALL-E manages to break through her tough exterior, they become friends, and he offers her his most prized possession: a green plant he found growing under the garbage one day. This is the evidence Eve has been looking for, and she takes it back to the ship, WALL-E stowing away.

When the captain sees the plant, he knows the time has come to return to Earth and recolonize, but the ship’s computer has other ideas. Together, WALL-E and Eve help overcome the computer’s programming and return the people to their rightful place.

We enjoyed this film. My sons are all very much into robots and anything technical, and they were glued to the screen the entire time. I’ve spoken with other parents whose children weren’t as entertained, but I think a lot will depend on the interests of your children and their different personality types.

Some people feel that this movie is propaganda put forth by the environmentalists in the hopes of brainwashing our children into recycling. Well, for starters, if the movie did encourage people to recycle more often, what’s so bad about that? It’s hardly a Nazi-regime strategy. Furthermore, you can find an angle in anything, if you look hard enough. I’m sure “Ice Age” was a commentary on global warming and “The Jungle Book” was meant to teach us all how evil it is to own a gun. In fact, if I chose to, I could even take offense at “Horton Hears a Who.” After all, the villainess was a homeschooling mother. I could boycott that film and try to make a whole lot of other homeschooling mothers rise up in rebellion with me. You can take offense at everything, or you can just enjoy the stories for what they are. In my opinion, WALL-E was nothing more than a projection of what some movie makers imagined might happen in the future. As far as I know, it’s not against the law to use your imagination.

This film was rated G.

Trivia Question: What musical does WALL-E watch throughout the movie?

Answer: "Hello, Dolly."


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The Game Plan (2007)

Joe Kingman is living his dream. He’s a pro football player, the hero of his team and an icon in his town. He’s got more money than he knows what to do with, so he spends ridiculous amounts of money in furnishing his way-cool, manly apartment. He’s got a date for every event, an outfit for every mood, and his only worries revolve around how white his teeth look when he’s on TV.

But one day, a little girl shows up on his doorstep and informs him she’s his daughter.

Joe was married for a short time about eight years previously, but things just didn’t work out. When he and his wife split, she was pregnant, but she decided not to tell him, as his NFL career was just taking off and he wasn’t invested in their relationship any more. She has been called away to help with a well-digging project in Africa, and she sent her daughter, along with a note, to Joe, in hopes that he would take care of her for a month.

Joe is completely thrown for a loop, but after he has the chance to get used to the idea, he starts to warm to it. In fact, by the end of the movie, he’s totally in love with his daughter and can’t stand the idea of being away from her. The journey to that point is hysterical as he gets used to having a little girl around, Bedazzling his belongings and dressing his dog in a tutu.

I appreciated the way a positive father/daughter relationship was portrayed in the film. At first I was little concerned—Joe is played by The Rock, who has a very formidable presence, and I feared he might overshadow his young co-star. I don’t know where they found this little girl, but she was excellent. Her name is Madison Pettis, and not only did she act the part well, she gave it back as much as she took it. Her spunk and her personality were a perfect offset to The Rock’s intensity.

Things aren’t perfect in this household, and father and daughter do have their moments of drama and angst. But it all comes together beautifully in the end and I really enjoyed this PG-rated film. Very young viewers might find it a little boring, but children ages six and up, especially little girls, will like it.

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Why Thrift Stores are Cool

We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up, so the bulk of my clothes came from a) my sisters or b) the local Church-owned thrift store. It was the height of embarrassment to have it be known that you shopped at the thrift store, even though several other kids I knew shopped there too (we just never admitted it to each other).

Today, thrift stores are the “in” place to shop—quite a change from the mindset that prevailed when I was a youngster. We have global warming to thank for this shift in perception. People now realize more than ever the effect that industry has on our environment, and they are recycling their goods and seeking to purchase goods that have been recycled. Who knew—I was living green before the phrase was even coined!

This trend toward thrift store shopping doesn’t just extend itself to common, everyday folk like you and me. Celebrities the world over are embracing this lifestyle, going “vintage” and sporting their latest thrift store finds. Rather than spending $1,000 on a new bag, many celebs are now reducing, reusing, and recycling, choosing to carry the bag they found at the thrift store instead.

I can’t tell you how much this delights me. I went from being gauche to being trendy, almost overnight. As for my kids—I’ve always shopped at the thrift store for their play clothes. Why on earth would I pay $20.00 for a pair of size 4T jeans that would be ripped up after one hour on the playground? Instead, I pay $2.00 for them and don’t sweat it if they come back with grass stains. It saves my pocketbook a whole lot of worry, and if I happen to help save the planet at the same time, that’s all the better.

Thrift stores aren’t just a wonderful place to buy clothes. I’ve picked up blankets, cookbooks, extra shoes to send with my daughter to Girls Camp, a CrockPot, furniture (my couch, pictured, lived its former life in a Church lobby, was sent to the thrift store for rips in the arms, was purchased by me for $50.00, mended, and now lives happily in my living room) and toys. Things that still have use in them and yet aren’t useful to the original owners can now be mine at a fraction of the full retail price, and in most cases, so what if they’re a little used? I’m sure that after ten minutes at my house, anything I bought new would look just as used.

Save a tree, stop adding to greenhouse gases, and keep some money in your wallet. That’s what shopping at a thrift store will do for you. And now that it’s cool, there’s really no reason not to!

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Because You've Got to Have Friends ...

I knew when I started out that I was being stupid. It would have been very stupid of me not to know I was being stupid, and I may be stupid, but I'm not that stupid. Snow was falling thick and fast. Slush was being slung around on the roads with more speed than a Slurpee machine. And yet I kept driving. Why? The lure of the critique group was dragging me forward.

Last April, I started meeting weekly with Keith, Kim, Heather and Nichole to read manuscripts and get valuable feedback. Candace has joined us a few times as well, although her schedule has kept her from coming for a while. I knew these four from our conferences and admired their work, and as we met to read, I came to know them as good friends as well. I look forward to our meetings and couldn't fathom the idea of missing out.

Finally I made it to Nichole's, the drive taking about three times longer than it should have due to the weather. We had a good meeting, although we missed Kim who was elsewhere, and then we went out to go home. It appeared that we might have to have a sleepover instead.



This is me standing next to my very snowed-in car in the dark at 9:30 at night, with Heather's car stuck in the background. We took turns for about a half hour pushing each other out. But let me just say, if I'm going to get stuck in the snow, these are the people I want to get stuck with.

Keith -- even though he had four-wheel drive and could have easily gone home all snuggy warm, he stayed until we were dug out and got himself completely drenched in the meantime.

Nichole -- even though she had a sprained wrist and had just recovered from a horrible flu, she was out there pushing on cars, wielding shovels, and taking pictures.

Heather -- even though her car was the first to get free and she could have gone home, she turned right around and came back to help push mine out.

That's what you call friendship, guys. And I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even a four-wheel drive truck that eats ice and snow for breakfast.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

I greatly enjoyed the film adaptation of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” so when “Prince Caspian” came out, I knew I was going to need to see it. We got it from Netflix yesterday and sat down as a family to watch it.

I’ll say right off the bat that this isn’t a movie for the faint-hearted. There are several battles which are somewhat frightening and if you have sensitive viewers in your home, you may want to put them to bed before watching it. However, this film is a must-see for the rest of you.

As we begin the story, we meet Miraz, a man who was brother to the former king of Narnia, Caspian the ninth. Caspian is dead and his son Caspian the tenth is to rule in his stead, but when Miraz’s wife gives birth to a son, Miraz decides to kill the rightful heir, overthrow the kingdom and take it upon itself and his son. The young Caspian is warned by his professor and runs away to the woods.

Hundreds of Narnian years have gone by, although it's just been one year in England. Shortly after Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy left, invaders from another land attacked and took over the government. All the magical creatures have gone into the woods to hide, and Aslan is no longer there. When Caspian goes into the forest, he meets up with some dwarves and a badger who tend to his wounds, and he realizes that all the fables he’s heard from his professor are really true. There is magic in Narnia.

Caspian needs help if he’s to retain his kingdom, and he blows Susan’s magic horn to summon the kings and queens of Narnia to his aid. Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund are attending school in London, but find themselves transported back to Narnia to help Caspian in his attempt to set everything right.

This film was well-acted and produced. The special effects were awesome, and I feel it was a great sequel to the first. It also serves as a chilling, yet inspirational, allegory of Armageddon, although the symbolism isn’t overt and can be enjoyed and appreciated by viewers of all religious beliefs.

This movie was rated PG.

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The Importance of a Good Vacuum

I’ve never had particularly expensive tastes. I’m more of a “do it simply” kind of girl. When it comes to household appliances, I tend to get whatever’s on sale and make do. But when it comes to vacuum cleaners, I’ve changed my tune.

You see, I have really thick hair and I shed, a lot. My daughter inherited my genes and so there are two of us shedding all over the house. We have clogged more vacuums on more occasions than you can shake a hair follicle at. My husband’s regular chores include unclogging the vacuum.

Over the years since we established our household, we’ve gone through several vacuums of lesser quality. It seems this machines only work for six months or so before giving up the ghost entirely, and I’ve become frustrated with never having a floor I felt was really clean.

This last Thanksgiving weekend, all that changed. I asked my husband to get me a new vacuum for Christmas, but I wanted my present early. He agreed, and we headed off to the store.

Meet my Christmas present. It’s an Infinity, and it’s guaranteed never to lose suction. It features much of the same technology as a Dyson, but it’s about $250.00 less. We brought it home, plugged it in, and I’ve been a happy camper ever since.

I knew I would be pleased, having a vacuum that didn’t clog every thirty seconds. But there have been other benefits I didn’t anticipate.

The air in our home is cleaner. Each time we step, we release dust into the air from the carpet, and if you have a good vacuum, that dust is greatly minimized.

We have fewer airborne allergies. I didn’t know we had them until they were reduced, but we’re all feeling a lot better.

The carpet looks … perkier. I know that’s a strange word to apply to a carpet, but it’s true. It’s rejuvenated and looks fluffier.

The texture feels better under our feet, not quite like new, but certainly newer than it felt before.

The overall atmosphere in the home is better, just having that extra level of cleanliness.

I used to think that a vacuum was a vacuum was a vacuum. Well, I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Having a powerful, effective vacuum really will make all the difference, as opposed to a semi-effective vacuum. It’s not just about picking up dirt. It’s about getting the dirt from way beneath, cleaning the air, and making the whole environment seem lighter.

There are many awesome vacuums on the market to choose from. I mention the Infinity because it’s the one I purchased, but head to your local store and check out all the brands. You’re sure to find something that fills the needs of your family.

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What is Body-for-LIFE?

A couple of weeks ago, I commented that I was doing Body-for-LIFE and a few of you asked for more details. Ask and you shall receive. Granted, it may be a few weeks until you receive, but hey, I did get around to it!

Body-for-LIFE is a program developed by Bill Phillips, who is a body builder and a fitness guru. He noticed that his clients weren't losing weight when they followed the high-carb diet that was currently the trend, so after doing some investigating, he came up with this system which balances protein and carbs. Essentially, you eat a carb and a protein together, with a side of vegetables. A sample meal would include a piece of baked chicken breast, a scoop of brown rice, and a portion of steamed broccoli, without heavy sauces. You eat three meals a day and three snacks, and you do this because your meals are rather small. Rather than eating an entire chicken breast, you're only eating a piece of it the size of the palm of your hand. Your portion of rice and of broccoli will only be the size of your fist. In addition to that, you drink a protein drink (I get the Body Fortress brand from Walmart) between meals which helps keep your body strong.

To go along with this, you exercise. I was doing it all wrong before; I was doing aerobics, but as Bill points out in his book, when you do aerobics you might lose weight, but you're not changing the shape of your body. If you started out as a pear, you'll just be a smaller pear. It's through weight training that we change the shape of our bodies by changing the shape of our muscles. He's a body builder, so of course he's doing the fifty-pound weights, but you can start where you are, even with soup cans, and just do the best you can. Over time, you'll see a real difference in your body.

I've been doing the program since December 15th, and so far I've lost ten pounds and almost four inches. I haven't been able to do it 100% faithfully yet--I can't exercise quite as long as recommended (but that's okay) and I have slipped up on the eating part (not quite so okay, but not totally evil, either). I have found, however, that my body is responding. I've tried so many other eating plans and so many other forms of exercise, and I always felt like I was putting in all this effort for no results. Now I feel like my body is listening to me.

If you want to check out the book, you can click here. I got my copy for a penny and just paid for shipping.

I have a lot of weight to lose, so I'm not expecting to wake up thin tomorrow. But come next Christmas morning, I am going to wake up healthy, slender, and just totally dang good-lookin'. That's my goal, and I really need to push it through this time. My doctor says it would be a good idea. You sort of have to pay attention to stuff like that. Keep an eye on my sidebar for updates on my progress.

My Gal Sal (1942)

Adding another installment to our classic movies series, “My Gal Sal” is a lavish musical starring Victor Mature and Rita Hayworth. It’s loosely based on the true story of Paul Dresser, a composer who lived in Indiana at the turn of the twentieth century and wrote the Indiana state song, “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away.”

As the movie begins, Paul is packing to leave for school. His father wants him to become a minister, but Paul has other ideas. He runs off and tries to make it to New York to start a career as a musician, but falls in with a traveling con artist who markets cold remedies. He thinks he’s got it made when he can afford to purchase suits through mail order, but when he encounters some actors and actresses from a real New York stage company and takes in their show, he realizes he’s only been participating in a cheap imitation of real show business.

Sally Elliot heard a snatch of his composition while seeing the sideshow, and she adds her own lyrics to it and puts it in her show. When Paul catches wind of this, he’s furious, but he and Sally soon team up to write several musical numbers together. Before long, Paul is one of the most famous people in New York City, but the fame goes to his head, which was already quite swollen, and he forgets to be grateful for what he has.

In the end, Sally helps him realize that the things he wants most can only be gained as he shows gratitude for them, and the two of them marry.

The movie is full of big production numbers, fancy costumes, and lovely singing—Rita Hayward did have a very nice voice. I didn’t care for the character of Paul Dresser. He was arrogant and self-centered, but I can’t really blame Victor Mature for that—he could only work with the script he was given, and maybe that was an accurate portrayal of Paul’s attitude toward life. At any rate, I found the movie very enjoyable and laughed out loud when Sally takes revenge on Paul by chopping up his beloved custom-tailored suits. It was the perfect pay-back.

This film was not rated.

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I Can’t Live if Livin’ is Without You

It’s hard to be a homemaker. It’s even harder when you have four children, one of whom is a four-year-old bent on destruction, and they’re all into Legos.

I admit, I’m not the world’s best housekeeper. Or Utah’s best, or Orem’s best … you get the picture. But I try, and there are some products I’ve discovered that help me remain just a little bit saner than I otherwise would be, and I don’t think I could live without them. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.)

OxyClean I love OxyClean. This product has saved me so many times, I’ve lost count. Consider the glass of grape juice that was dropped on my beige living room carpet the other day. (You remember the four-year-old, right?) I mixed 1 t. of OxyClean with a cup of hot water, poured it on the juice and blotted it up with a towel. It was like magic—instantly gone, with no trace of juice at all. It’s also excellent for taking care of blood stains, and with another son who gets bloody noses, we’ve had many experiences with this phenomenon. Hydrogen peroxide is also great for blood, just in case you were wondering …

Febreze This is another must-have in my arsenal. I enjoy having fresh-smelling linen all the time, but it’s not realistic to wash every sheet and blanket each morning. There’s enough sheet-and-blanket washing going on as it is. Febreze takes the odors out of fabric and doesn’t cover them up with a heavy perfume. I use it on beds, curtains, couches, and frequently on my carpet as well.

Magic Erasers If you have not yet tried Magic Erasers by Mr. Clean, you are missing out! These incredible gizmos take off crayon, most types of marker, most types of pen, fingerprints—almost anything that lands on your wall, they’ll clean off. There is a caution that children shouldn’t use them, as the chemical might be irritating, but I’ve never had a problem with them personally and my skin is fairly sensitive.

Each of these products has a generic brand alternative, so it really doesn’t matter if you spring for the name brand or not. I tend to lean toward cheaper, myself.

If you’ve got tough stains or tough odors, give these products a try. They just might bail you out—I know they’ve made my life a whole lot easier and I don’t know what I’d do without them.

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Night at the Museum (2006)

If you haven’t yet seen the movie “Night at the Museum,” make sure to add it to your list. You will love it.

Larry Daley is a dreamer. This isn’t always a bad thing, but in his case, he’s lost more jobs than most people usually have in their entire lives and he’s on the brink of being evicted from his apartment. Again. His ex-wife is concerned about his welfare, but more particularly for the emotional well-being of their ten-year-old son, Nick. She feels that perhaps Larry shouldn’t see Nick until he gets his life under control.

Larry knows it’s time to bite the bullet. He visits the employment agency and begs them to send him on any job they have. They’re reluctant, because he’s already turned down so many, but they cave and give him a referral to work at the museum as a night watchman.

Larry’s not sure he wants this job, but he goes to the interview anyway. He meets Cecil, the elderly, retiring watchman, and the two other men who have filled the position. With the museum losing money, they are firing the three men and replacing them with just one, and Larry will be that one. Cecil gives Larry the instruction book and a pat on the back, and Larry is left alone in the building.

He is absolutely shocked that night to discover that everything in the building comes to life, from the dinosaur in the lobby to the little people in the dioramas. Not only is it his job to keep intruders from breaking into the museum, but to keep peace between all the different displays inside the museum as well.

As Larry learns how to mediate between the cowboys and the Romans, the Huns and … well, everyone else, he realizes that he does have what it takes to succeed, a lesson taught him by none other than Teddy Roosevelt.

This PG-rated film is wonderful. The moments of peril are fairly mild and I didn’t feel it was too violent for my children. In fact, we’ve watched it together as a family a number of times and we all enjoyed it immensely.

If you’ll excuse me, I’ve just developed a sudden craving for some gum …

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Goals and Guilt

Last January, I headed for the gym and couldn’t find a parking spot. This was unusual; I never had a problem before. I finally found a place to park down the street and decided to count the trot to the building toward my exercise total for the day.

When I checked in, I asked the guy behind the counter why the parking lot was so packed.

“It’s January,” he said. “Everyone made their resolutions. But by March, they give up, so the parking lot will have more room again.” You know what, he was right. Around March, I didn’t have a problem parking any more.

I’ve thought about that on and off ever since. What strange creatures we are! New Year’s comes around and we get all excited. It’s a chance to start over! This year, we’re really going to do it. We’re going to lose weight, get out of debt, get along with our in-laws, and stop chewing our fingernails. It doesn’t matter that we’ve had the same goals year in and year out—this time we’re going to do it!

Then December 1st comes around and we realize we’ve only got one month to lose fifty pounds, pay off all our credit cards, and apologize to Great-aunt Marge … and we know we can’t do it. But next year! Just you wait!

Why do we put ourselves through that? And why do we set aside a day of the year to feel guilty about everything we haven’t gotten done?

I’d like to propose something a little different.

This year, as we make our goals, instead of saying “I’m going to write a novel” and leaving it at that, let’s break it down. Let’s say, “I want to write a novel. It will be about 80,000 words, so I should be writing 6,600 words a month, give or take. That means 1,500 words a week, or 219 words a day.” Can you write 219 words a day? Sure you can! That’s not even as long as most blog posts. (I’m already up to 346 on this one.) And it’s definitely easier to do than trying to cram all 80,000 words into the month of December!

Goals are really only goals if we make a plan for their accomplishment. Otherwise, they’re just dreams. And while I’m a firm believer in dreams, I recognize that dreams require action to become reality. Action needs a plan.

After we’ve broken our goals down into monthly, weekly and daily increments, we should review them daily to make sure we’re on track. Each week we should look at where we are and make adjustments to our goals as needed. Maybe going to the gym every day just wasn’t realistic with our schedule, but we could tweak it a little and go three times a week. We can still reach our goals, but we’ll approach them a little differently if needed.

The point is, don’t let the year go by without revisiting those resolutions. Visit them every day, and your chances of success will increase dramatically.

So, what are my goals for the new year, you may ask? I actually like to set mine on my birthday. It’s a new year for me, personally, on my birthday. We’ll talk about it in March.

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I'm Not Sure What Message We're Sending Here ...

It's been a little while since I ranted. I hope you enjoyed the vacation, 'cause here I go again.

I've recently discovered the Netflix feature that allows you to watch films on your computer. Last night I found "Marnie," an Alfred Hitchcock film starring Sean Connery and Tipi Hedrin. I love Hitchcock films, so I settled in to watch it after the kids were asleep.

Hedrin plays Marnie, a young woman who has mental issues following a traumatic incident in her childhood. She is a predator, going from job to job and stealing money from her employers. When she comes into the employ of Mark, Connery's character, she gets more than she bargained for as Mark falls in love with her and then discovers her past. He is determined to get to the bottom of her disorder and protects her from the law by marrying her and paying back all the money she stole. On their wedding night, Marnie tells him she can't be intimate with him, and he promises he won't touch her. He continues to love her and take care of her, hoping to someday break through her shell and that she'll fall in love with him in return. He's the perfect gentleman - thoughtful, considerate, protective - until one night when he's not anymore and breaks his promise.

Yeah, yeah, I know - in that era, it wasn't considered rape if you were married to the guy, but that's what it was. The next morning, he acts like nothing has happened, seems surprised when she tries to kill herself over it, and continues to seek help for her mental distress. At the end of the movie, she shows signs of having feelings for him and we are left with the impression that they will live happily ever after.

On the soap opera "General Hospital," critics were shocked when character Luke raped Laura and they ended up falling in love. They not only fell in love, but coined the term "supercouple." No soap couple (with the possible exception of Bo and Hope) has received more attention, more sighs of rapture, more accolades for the very romantic-ness of their romance.

I've seen other films and television shows with this same basic premise, and while I won't go into them, I do want to point out that these two cases are not isolated. They are also not limited to the big screen - they take place in real life, all too often.

Now, don't get me wrong. I believe in repentance. I believe we can overcome and be forgiven of the things we've done and we can change our lives and our patterns of behavior. But that's not the topic of this blog. My question is: What message does it send to the viewer when we see an unrepentant rapist become the object of respect in the eyes of his victim?

I believe it sends the following messages:

"He's a wonderful guy. Look how romantic he is. He's absolutely perfect. Okay, so, there was that rape thing, but surely we can overlook the rape because of all the other wonderful things he does."

"You know, my boyfriend did the very same thing to me. Maybe it wasn't really bad because, after all, he did keep treating me kindly in every other way. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing."

"Okay, so he did something she didn't want him to do. But look how it all turned out! They're together now. Maybe if I do the same thing, my girlfriend will realize how much we're meant to be together and everything will turn out all right."

These messages are all dangerous. They de-emphasize the fact that a crime was committed, a human being was violated, and trust was destroyed. They are presenting the idea that a man can retain his honor and his respectability even with this type of behavior in his character. They are giving the idea that there's really nothing wrong with rape, and that from it, the seeds of romance can bloom.

Is it just me, or are these messages a little whacked?

Bottom line: No person should be forced to perform any act they do not feel completely comfortable performing. It does not matter the reason ("We're married!" or "I love her!") it's still wrong. Persons who force other persons are called rapists, and rape is against the law, and is a punishable offense, and should be treated as such. The men in the above-cited stories should not be rewarded with love, true love, but they should be spending time in jail, and to present the case in any other light is to make it all seem to be okay. It's not okay.