"And it's the same world, honey, that made you feel so bad/ That makes you feel so good"

Some things that I am loving right now:

1. The movie The Blind Side. Oh my gosh. I loved this movie. It would be amazing all on its own but the fact that it is based on a true story makes it even better. I really was holding back tears during the entire first half (I think had I been alone and not in a theater full of people, I would have been bawling). Sandra Bullock did an excellent job. I almost forgot it was Miss Congeniality I was watching on the screen. And the little boy, SJ, was hilarious. I mean that kid had some excellent comedic timing considering he is like nine years old. And Tim McGraw was looking good. And the boy playing Michael Oher, Quentin Aaron, did an excellent job. And it was hilarious to see all of the (some formerly) SEC coaches: Saban, Fulmer, Tuberville. If only Richt had been in there. Oh, it was so good. It was funny and sad and happy and just wonderful. It gets an A++++++ from me!

2. The book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I haven't finished it yet (I have about 30 pages to go) but I'm really liking it. Hopefully it stays good because we all know the ending makes or breaks the book. It started off a little slow and since it stays true to the dialect of southern African American women, my first thought was "This book must have been a pain to edit". But once I got use to the style, it was really interesting. I recommend it. Well, for now. I'll let you know if I change my mind.

3. Flashforward. The episode "The Gift" was quite possibly one of the best episodes I have seen of any television show ever. I cried. It was great but at the same time sort of bad cause they just set the bar so high for themselves. The two episodes I've seen since then were pretty good but not as amazing and I'm worried this may be a trend for the rest of the season. But at the same time I have faith in the writers to pull out a few more amazing episodes. Fingers crossed.

I'm not so much loving these things:

1. Second Glance by Jodi Picoult. I should have known I wasn't going to like it because it was the only book by her that I hadn't read because I thought the blurb on the back sounded ridiculous. I'm always willing to suspend disbelief while reading but this plot was just too much: Ghosts, sudden memories that were long forgotten, and "twists" and coincidences that were way too farfetched. I'm glad to have finally read everything by her but this one is definitely at the bottom of the list.

2. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. I was so excited to read this because I loooved The Time Traveler's Wife but this one was nowhere near as good. None of the characters were really likable and the twins, Julia and Valentina, kind of freaked me out. I know twins are suppose to have this special, unique connection but they were twenty and sleeping in the same bed. And they wore matching outfits all the time. I felt like Niffennegger really dumbed the characters down because I don't think any twenty year old would do that, twin sister or not. I also pictured them as being the girls from that IKEA commercial with the double ovens instead of the blonde haired beauties they are suppose to be. Guess it just had to do with the mood and setting. But I was bored for a lot of it and confused by one of the big "reveals". I had to go back and read it a couple of times to understand. So, not too crazy about this one. Maybe next time Audrey.

3. Glee, "Mattress". Don't get me wrong. I LOVE this show but the most recent episode just wasn't as good. But that was following three episodes that made me cry so it would have been a stretch to have four in row do so. Plus I wasn't running to get to my computer after the episode to download a song because none of them were super amazing in my opinion. The mattress commercial was pretty entertaining though. And Matthew Morrison did a great job in the kitchen scene. So yeah it was still pretty good, who am I kidding?

"Christmas children live in a Christmas daydream/ Waiting for the magic to unfold"

Last family post today, I swear. But note I said today, not forever. :)

Last Thursday evening I went to my nieces SD and MG's Christmas program at their school. I heard the program the year before was about two hours long so I was not looking forward to going. But I had already skipped MG's Thanksgiving program so I felt like I had to go. I mean it was good (as good as these things can be) and at the very least I got a blog post out of it so here are my thoughts:

The principal. Now I am sure she is a nice lady but I really wanted her to be quiet and sit down so we could get the show on the road. Plus her little speech was filled with cliches and I mean I use them too but not all in one sentence. And she was also mispronouncing words. And I don't mean names in the Bible with thirteen consonants but regular, average, every day words. Maybe she was just nervous but the amount of time she spent with the mic in her hand, I don't think so. Sorry, that was judgmental.

There was this one girl in the front row of the center and she was just distracting. She was in maybe the fourth or fifth grade, wearing this pink sweater, and she was just moving around, awkwardly bopping to the music. You could try to argue she was overtaken by the music but she wasn't moving in time with the music at all. In fact, she was extremely off and it was distracting.

But man some of those kids could sing! It actually made me hate myself a little because I have no singing talent in comparison to some of those kids in like the second grade.

Oh and smart move who ever staged the nativity scene in the center of the stage and had half of the kids sit on chairs or stools and therefore blocking 45% of the other kids on stage. Glad the parents of those nine kids got a good look the entire time, and the parents of like twenty-five other kids missed out on filming opportunities during their kids' single one minute long song.

Now I'm not a parent and maybe I'll be the same way but you just have to laugh at some of them. Especially when you look around the room at all these video camera displays that are zoomed really close in on their kid, but their kid is just standing there, staring off into space, or picking their nose. Really? You aren't going to film the kid singing a solo or reciting a bible verse but your kid just standing there? At the very least film the whole stage.

This one little girl, she was probably in the first or second grade, was dressed to the nines. Sparkly outfit, bows in her hair, and I think she had on quite a bit of makeup since I could make out her features from the third row from the back. But she sang her little line in the song and as she is walking back to her spot (in the middle of a song) her family broke out into whoops and hollers and then it all made sense why she was so dressed up. I wouldn't be surprised if she has been featured on a season of Toddlers and Tiaras.

We were required to stand and sing carols while the classes changed on the stage. I did not enjoy being forced to engage in the christmas program. But this old man behind me, boy oh boy could he sing! It was like he took it upon himself to carry the slack of everyone else like me who refused to do anything beyond mouthing the words.

And I have good things to say about it too: The 7th and 8th grade did a nice little rendition of "Silent Night" (at least I think that is what it was. I don't remember and I didn't receive a program upon arrival so my memory will just have to do). And I remember thinking "Man there is one girl up there who can really sing!" And they had probably eight or ten kids do little mini solos and some of them sounded really good but none were this great voice I was hearing in the background. I kept wondering why they didn't give that girl a solo and so I made it my mission to figure out which one it was. After several minutes I realized it was the adult piano player chiming in. I felt so cheated.

They did a cute little number of the twelve days of christmas. And got creative like when it was "four calling birds" they had a girl yapping on a cell phone with a feather boa. Little things like that, it was cute. And the kid giving out all of the stuff to his "true love" totally reminded me of my friend AW and was probably like him when he was eleven. It was a little mindtrippy.

Oh they also used a real baby for baby Jesus in the nativity scene. "Jesus" was pretty upset towards the end. She was crying a lot. And the angel definitely wasn't supporting her neck when lifting her out of the manager. I cringed and I bet her mom did too.

And of course my nieces did a great job. As did family friend LRT, a fellow kindergartner in MG's class. SD knew all of the motions to "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and she has memorized a long, and I mean LONG, Christmas Bible verse so I don't know why she wasn't chosen to recite a line. I might have to place some calls tomorrow. And niece MG did a great job ringing the "magenta not purple" bell whenever her teacher held up a sign telling her to do so. Oh and they both looked adorable in their dresses and tights and cute shoes. And it was only a little longer than an hour so a win for everybody!

"And I'll be perfect in my own way/ When you cry I will be there/ I'll sing to you and comb your hair/ All your troubles I will share"

Because of Thanksgiving break and since she is only in school until 12, I've been spending a lot of time with my niece MG. And I gotta say she is a cute, funny kid. And here are some reasons why:

MG scared the crap out of me the other day. I was in my room with the door open and my back was to the door. I had my music playing on my laptop so I was blissfully unaware of little MG creeping up behind me. As I am dancing along to the Glee soundtrack in my chair, she got just out of my peripheral vision and yelled "Boo!" I turned and I processed "Oh it's just MG. She's six. She's not an axe murderer" but I still screamed like a little girl. MG found this to be hilarious.

So hilarious that she was bragging to Gran a little bit later. I told MG I was going to get even but she said she was just going to "keep [her] eyes on the door" of the playroom. So, she was in the bathroom that connects the playroom and my sister's room so I snuck into my sister's room, listening to MG brag to Gran how she scared me. I started to yell but it came out in a laugh but she still got upset. Well, she claims she wasn't crying, but rather "[her] eyes were just wet".

My mom got MG and her sister SD each an advent calendar for Christmas. You know, the little calendars where you open a little slot/opening/box each day and get a piece of chocolate in a fun christmas shape. I love em! And so MG explained that she accidentally opened the 21st slot on the 2nd because "I didn't see the one". So then my mom asked if she was going to open the 2nd on the 21st and MG gave a very "You're a silly Gran" look as she said "No, I'm going to open the three". I think she thought Gran was asking what she was going to open next as opposed to how she was going to correct her mistake.

MG and I watched The Wizard of Oz together. I told her little facts like how the horse of a different colors is really painted with Jell-O powder and how in the book the shoes are silver but since it was (one of) the first movie in technicolor they changed the shoes to red so everyone would think they looked really cool. She didn't care for these facts but she did explain to me how the soldiers didn't like the witch and when she melted, they jumped up and down like this (complete with a jumping demonstration since apparently I don't know what it is).

MG is only 6 but she has a real appreciation for word play and I LOVE this. However, sometimes I am unaware of what she picks up on. We were on the way to the Mexican restaurant near our house and niece SD brought a flashlight with her in the car. SD was shinning it in baby sister AJ's eyes and I told her to stop because it was probably hurting AJ's eyes. And then SD said it didn't hurt and starting shining it in her own eyes. I then said "SD, that's not a good idea either" and MG started cracking up next to me in her car seat. "That's funny cause you said EYE-ther and you were talking about eyes. You're funny Aunt Annie". Good to know I am funny even when I am not trying to be.

The other day, I had to go check on Baby AJ to see if her leg was stuck in her crib because she's started rolling over in her crib and she was crying. MG wanted to go with me and I said AJ could not hear us because then she would want to get up and play but she needed to finish her nap. I guess I didn't clarify that AJ couldn't see us either, because MG marched right into AJ's room but she didn't make a peep. I had to grab MG and pull her back but it was all for nothing because AJ saw her and lost it. She eventually fell asleep but not after being really mad that Aunt Annie and sister MG tricked her into thinking she was going to be rescued from her nap.

Randomly, MG told me she had a present for me. She handed me a balled up piece of computer paper that she had decorated with my name and Georgia G's (I told you, I really tell her how much I love UGA). And I unwrapped it to find this little Bernese Mountain dog figurine I had when I was little (I don't remember the company, but my sister and I collected them all so clearly they have been passed down to the nieces by this point). I told her thanks and put the dog down on the table. I guess my mom put in their playroom because several days later, I looked on my nightstand and found the little dog once again. I asked my mom if she put it there and she said no. So then I asked MG and she said yes. Well, she didn't say yes but MG lacks a poker face. You family members know what I am talking about: The shrugged shoulders, the closed mouth smile, the eye roll to the ceiling all as if to say "Gosh darnit, I'm so cute, you can't possibly be mad at adorable me!" Not that I would be mad for any reason, but it's always easy to tell when MG is guilty.

Oh and MG also admitted whenever you have her trapped and are tickling her, she lies and says she "just pooted" so you will let her go. She's a clever girl that one.

So just some little MG stories from the past few days. Don't worry parents of other nieces, your other girls will get a post about them sometime soon. Especially since all 16 of us will be together for Christmas!!! Hooray!

"I feel stupid/ But it's something that comes and goes"

These are two very dumb thoughts that I have every once in a while and I've also made them into little brain teasers for you! Enjoy (my stupidity)!

1. In middle and high school, I wrote in a journal pretty regularly. My logic was that if I died in high school then one day, my daughter would be able to read the stuff that I hadn't told her since I was, you know, no longer living. But don't worry, this isn't confession time: I don't have a daughter. So see if you can figure out my seriously flawed logic in the reasoning for my journal writing.

(Answer: If I died in high school, how could I have a daughter? Not possible! I actually only had this thought once but I cracked up once I realized that it was in fact impossible. At least I can laugh at myself... sometimes.)

2. I'd say at least twice a month I'll be driving in my car and I'll run through a checklist in my head. Do I have my wallet? Check. Cell phone? Check. And then I completely panic, Oh my gosh! I don't know where my keys are! I left them somewhere. Again, see if you can figure out my extremely poor reasoning.

(Answer: I am driving my car. Meaning the keys are in the ignition and therefore not lost. Doh!)

"These thoughts run through my head/ Over and over/ Complaints of violins become my only friends"

Here are some of my issues with MS Word.

- "Flip flops" should not have a hyphen.

- learn that iPod and "earbuds" are real words and get rid of the squiggly red line

- "It's only once a week" is correct. "Its only one a week" is WRONG.

- It's okay to use words like "gotta" and "gonna", we are in the south after all.

- "A dog named" should not be "A dog-named" Seriously, calm down with the hyphen suggestions.

- Woah = a word.

Autocorrection is a whole other issue. When I type --- it's a paragraph break so don't put in a huge line. And sometimes when I want to make a new paragraph let's not indent the entire page. Please.

I am going to start seeing these red and green squiggly lines in my dreams pretty soon. And they will most likely be attacking me.

P.S. Another day, another chapter finished. Who knew the secret to success was a comfy chair?