"And glory they did mightily seek."

Twas' the crest of nightfall with the mighty steeds did ride in. With a thunderous wake, they brought atop them warriors from the furthest stretches of the world to fight this good fight. Wasn't money, nor fame, nor lands they sought...for it was but one thing: GLORY. And glory they did mightily seek.

CRACKKKK! Was heard as a hearty blow from the Silver Knight's sword did unleash the soldiers upon one another. Then Silver Knight II struck, swinging viciously his axe of doom towards anyone within striking distance. The two fierce combatants did at first seem evenly matched, but the age and experience of the Silver Knight did seem to turn the tide until...a puff of smoke. A strange noise. Then the Ninja did appear from mere vapors. Seemingly walking out of the night mist into existence. He carried with him no shield, no armor...only two swords of impeccable make. The moonlight shone off them as they swung. And when they swung, mystical moves and sweeping kicks did follow. The Silver Knight and Silver Knight II were in awe at this odd battle method, which served to the Ninja's advantage.

Until...the Warlord did come. Wielding two heavy longswords of no equal...except for each other. The brute force behind each swing of his mighty blades sent the Silver Knight II into retreat for the moment, with the Silver Knight's parries proving no match for the Warlord's golden armor. All seemed lost for the Knights until...the Ninja, from high atop a mountainous perch, did fly down back to the battlefield and stand at the ready for attack.

There stood four warriors. Tired. Beaten. The temporary and constantly changing alliances with one another coupled with the battle cry of "nuh huh, you didn't get get me, I dodged it" a central theme...who would end up the victor was anyone's guess.

       Cast (in order of appearance)

  The Silver Knight................G

        Silver Knight II...................J-Boy

Ninja...................................E

      Warlord...............................Lil' B

*****

So, yea, did I mention I bought swords and axes and shields and stuff for the boys? That was one of the battles they had, in HD. Funny enough, the girls - except for M who's 13 and probably can't be bothered with these childish nothings - got into battle mode. And they were good. And J-Girl....she's real good. She even killed me a few times. And I'm the Dragon King! So...yea.

yay or yea!!!

The kids are on their way back for Halloween weekend with us! I'm pretty excited! I keep using exclamation marks! See?!!! Yay!!! Or is is yea!!! I've seen both used!!! I'm good with either!!!!

And after that little cruise to the dollar store the other day where I bought a bunch of swords and axes, the kiddos have been chomping at the bit to play again. Well, not the two older girls. TV, as we all know, has a powerful Jedi mind hold on them. But the boys, and Lil' A, they are in like Flynn.

I bought a bunch more swords and stuff today!! Bought the store out!! Let's see how it goes!!!

tiny tot Yoda

So I'm cruising Walgreen's down the street from Mickey D's while I wait for A to meet for a late late lunch/early dinner. Truth be told, I was looking for another pair of Foster Grant plastic aviators that I have seemingly misplaced that were super rockstar awesome. No luck as of yet. But, they're only $10, so the search will definitely continue. I mean, they look okay on me, but on A and E, they are sa-weet! The shareability alone makes the sunglasses. (Is it sad or telling that I used to manage a couple sunglass stores in malls for almost ten years and I think it's okay to buy $10 ones from a drugstore?)

Anyhoo...back to my story. I stroll into the costume aisle and there it is...a Yoda costume for a tiny tot. E's size. I almost bought it on principle alone, but I know he's already set on being Iron Man so I held off. But, rest assured, the mention of this costume will be made to him before Halloween.

Oh...

I have decided what I am gonna be for Halloween...

LOW RENT COWBOY GHOST

what you need: one bed sheet, one pair of scissors (to cut out eye holes), one cowboy hat, one belt with gun & holster, one pair of boots

over the hump and through the woods...

Ok, so Halloween is literally just around the corner. Well...not literally. I don't think days have corners. Neither do weeks for that matter. But they do have humps. Wednesday. And today's Wednesday, so maybe I could say Halloween's just over the hump. I don't know. It's close. So...

I need a costume. I was gonna go as the Lone Ranger, but it's too late to order the only halfway decent costume on the planet that is apparently only available in the UK. How oddly unacceptable is that? He was OUR ranger! Ours! Anyhoo...

I am so excited we are taking the kiddos trick-or-treating this year. This should be so fun! All of them dressed up in their things with the things and the things. And A with her Sassy Saloon Girl outfit and me...with a bed sheet and two eye holes? Charlie Brown-style!

Back to the kiddos. I love to see their faces light up with nervous excitement. Like when I tell the boys I bought them new toys and they jump up and down and try to peek behind my back...to where the Star Wars toys are. Or like when the girls, um, see that yet another iCarly or Ghost Whisperer hour of power is coming on next to continue the endless marathon of iCarly's and Ghost Whisperers. Go Couch Potatoes! Number one! But...what if I bought them toys or Legos or something? Would they abandon the TV? Um, doubtful. 10 out of 10 on the doubtful scale.

So, yay Halloween! And a continued "yay!" to early Christmas shopping. And to the idea that at this point in the game, for the younger kiddos, it is not so much that we need to spend the same amount on each kid, but moreso that they need to have the same amount of presents under that tree to open come go-time.

the walls have 14 ears

There are no secrets in a house with 7 kids.

G lost a toothy-tooth yesterday so we rang up the Tooth Fairy to make a late night visit. $1. Annnnd...speaking of that one dollar, we were woken up this morning with the question, "Can Brennan take me to the dollar store today?" In the hoopla of the lost tooth coupled with the fact that of course I'll take him to the dollar store, I agreed.

E heard this...well, he was sitting right next to me. And then he repeated verbatim, "Can Brennan take me to the dollar store today?"

No sooner did the guilt coupled with the fact that of course I'll take him to the dollar store, did I agree to take him to the store, too.

One...two...thr- The whole house knows. I devised a plan.

Now originally, this idea was to let G spend his TF money on something cool in celebration of toothloss. (Of course, were it me losing a tooth at 32, the exact opposite of  "celebration" would be happening, but he's 7, so par for the course.) On top of going to the dollar store, he had the choice of riding in A's sports car, or my Jeep. He chose the Jeep. Sweet....

...but now, my SUPERCOOL INCLUSION PLAN involves each of the kiddos getting a "me-and-them" trip to fabulous Family Dollar with the choice of which vehicle I will be chauffeuring them in.

And, hey, don't knock it. If you haven't been to Family Dollar, then you are missing out, my friends. For real.

a couple bucks and a Bible

Hey gang. So A and I decided to take up a cause. Or, rather, we were called upon to begin this cause. We call it: a couple bucks and a Bible. It's mission is to give the homeless two dollars...clipped inside a NIV shirt-pocket New Testament Bible! Ergo, a couple bucks and a Bible. Ta-da!

We will be taking donations for those who wish to give at the following website on IndieGoGo.

http://www.indiegogo.com/a-couple-bucks-and-a-Bible


Oops! So much for me saying this blog would never be about religion...

brains...

I've been under the weather all week...and I just realized I hadn't posted a thing since Monday. Crazy. Is it also crazy that we are already Christmas shopping for the kiddos? In October?

So, zombie me, all week at work, head in a Benadryl-induced haze, stumbling around looking for my brains. Guess I got my Halloween costume all set though.

A got her costume in yesterday. She's going as a feisty lil' Saloon Girl. Maybe I'll be a Zombie Cowboy.

a public service announcement

COBRA COMMANDER WANTS YOU!!!

To Join the Role Model Army Today!!!

Darth Sacrifice

"But I have to save you."

"You already have...my son."

Dun. Dun! DUNNNNN!!!!!

***SPOILER ALERT!!!***

So, yep, we rounded out the Star Wars epic by watching the sixth and final installment, Return of the Jedi. Or ROTJ in chat rooms and comic book conventions. You know, I've never been to a comic book convention. They have a stigma, obviously. Always been afraid of catching whatever they're emitting. And that was wrong. They might be pretty sweet. But, that's a whole different blog post. Let's stick to the game plan. And that plan is ROTJ.

That little back and forth dialogue up top was between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, after Luke almost succumbed to the Dark Side and put a steady beatdown on Vader. His anger got the best of him. It also didn't help matters that Emperor Palpatine was all in his ear provoking him and telling him the Rebellion was about to be crushed along with all his friends. Also, maybe didn't help that Vader was pretty twisted and sparked fear in everyone throughout the galaxy. Yea, all those things, led to a lightsaber whipping and a hand chopping off.

But, it was that hand of Vader's getting booted off the show that stopped Luke's descent into darkness. Luke lowered his lightsaber and looked at his own hand - which was a robot hand now also - and was reminded that he was trucking down the same wicked path his father skipped down long ago. Not a good road to travel. No gas stations. Bad restaurants. Heavy traffic. The whole nine.

Needless to say, the Emperor was a tad non-plussed and started Zeus'ing out with the lightning bolts. After a few moments, Vader, with mixed feelings now towards light and dark, after seeing his own son nearly make the same mistakes he did, opted for risking his own life and picking up the Emperor and tossing him into an exhaust shaft. (As we watched this, A remarked that it looked like either screaming demons or lost souls that blew back up from the shaft as the Emperor died. Maybe George Lucas was hinting at something. A little Easter egg for the adults in the audience? Something I certainly never noticed as a kid. Anyhoo...)

So, Vader gave his own life, his life-preserving cybersuit fried State Fair-style due to the Emperor's electricity, to save Luke. Thus, in the end, redeeming himself and becoming one with the Force...

Sacrifice brought him peace. I wonder what I could sacrifice, or let go of, in order to bring on some peace. Hm...

keep the change

Okay. I have been wanting the kiddos to learn that money, she does-a not-a grow-a on-a trees-a. Trips to Target and trips to the dollar store are one and the same to the younger'uns. A dollar Star Wars guy at one store is the same as a $35 Star Wars toy at the next. I mean, why wouldn't they be? They're both the same kinda toy. That's the mentality. Of the kids. And people who have never heard of mark-ups, overhead, monopolies, capitalism and child labor. Can you believe the prices Walgreens and CVS charge for their toys? One word: brainmelt.

So, E always like to vacuum. Pretty sweet, huh? Yea, and he also likes money. The jingly kind mostly. Because two pennies is way better than one dollar. Duh.

If he ever sees change laying around - and sometime just outta the blue - he will ask,"Can you give me money?" To which I usually smile and hand him a dime or quarter or something and off he goes, happy as a clam. (Side note: How does one tell if a clam is actually happy or not?)

Anyhoo...so today. Change on my desk. E spots it. Game over. He wants some. This time, I tell him that money has to be earned. That you must work in order to get money. Trying to lay the groundwork for an honest wage earner in the future here. And since he just vacuumed my office I was like:

"See? And since you just vacuumed in here, you earned this money. Do you understand what I mean?"

To which he sort of nodded and mumbled something, then ran out of the room excitedly yelling out that I gave him money. So...maybe I planted a knowledge seed in there somewhere. He's a smart cookie. He already knows who all the main Star Wars dudes are. Show him a picture, he'll show you a name. Holla.

Lessons with Superheroes

Not sure why we sweat the small stuff. Maybe because it tends to accumulate into a snowball of many small stuffs as we let stuff slide and avoid the issues. But, it's like Superman sweating fraily human guy Lex Luthor. Yea, he means evil business, but Superman can't be worried about Lex 24/7 and him planning a ruckus. That's living in a world of hypotheticals and what-ifs. That's pretty much not living.


      title: "which one of us is the superhero again?"
      medium: pen cap on Samsung Caliber screen

Okay, so we no longer sweat the small stuff. Doesn't mean it won't poke it's small ugly head up now and again. However, this time, you take it as it comes. Don't ignore - or avoid - it. Call out the small stuff before he hollers at his other small stuff buddies and the whole thing turns into a gang war. Then...you punch it in the face - metaphorically speaking - like Batman throwing fists with The Joker. Boom. Pow. Done.


      title: "order 66. knuckle sandwich, plain."
      medium: pen cap on Samsung Caliber screen

I Believe...#11

Do what you love, love what you do.

Flu Talk with Brennan

Well, I got the flu. Joy. Yesterday I wallowed in pain complete with the jimmylegs, but today - today! - I am getting stuff done. First off, I finally got my Boba Fett flash drive that I will store my scripts inside like he's carbonite. Check it out...


...this is him trying to take on Luke Skywalker...


...and this is him after. Bad move, Boba. Notice the usb thingy! Sweet!

And earlier today, I snapped a photo of Kami in her new festive seasonal Halloween shirt, shown here:



She is so a stylish pup. Have you ever seen a better jack o'lantern tshirt model? Then here's her Halloween costume:


Um, excuse me, did someone call for Batgirl?

Yep, even my pup is into superheroes. Speaking of which, not that this is a movie review blog, but the new Batman and Superman: Apocalypse straight-to-video cartoon....not great. Not so much. The drawings were all weird. Their faces had too many lines in them, like the inker was trying to make them look like chronic steroid abusers. Superman's arms looked like tree trunks in blue spandex. How does he explain that as Clark Kent? It just didn't look right. Yea, it's a cartoon, but even then, come on dude!

And the premise? What?! Okay, it was based on some graphic novel that was some fanboy's illicit dream come true, but I mean...I'm a fan, too...and I was waiting for the good stuff to actually happen up until the end credits. And the problem is, I like the DVDs they put out. It just seems lately they are trying too hard. Either way, keep pumping those superhero movies out you producers, you!

Okay, I'm done. Too much Advil and too much time on my hands today. My role model advice: save your cash and take the kids outside. The sun misses them.

a rebuilding weekend

What a weekend. So as a flat tire's on the mend at Discount Tire, and the clock's ticking down to kick-off, we walk into a random Dollar General and see that the only action figure they have in the toy aisle is the exact GI Joe guy I was looking for to give to a friend of mine for his bday because the GI Joe dude's nickname's the same as my buddy's name. It was so random. Like I was willed to go there. I mean because we were getting the flat fixed in the same shopping center as the DG anyway, so we were already placed there.

We thought, "Hey, Dollar General. That's for us." And we went in. It was eerie. I have looked for that toy in three other stores with no luck, and here the dude is, waiting on me. Just chillin'. On the shelf next to a cap gun and a Batman yoyo. (Yes, we already have that yoyo for the kids. Like...three of them.) And, when I scooped the GI Joe dude up...no lie, my and A's fave song by Rob Thomas starts to jam over the speakers. Word.

Speaking of which....drum roll.... It was A's birthday this Saturday - I bought her a Barnes & Noble Nook (she loves it!) - so we celebrated early with drinks and the TX/OU debacle at a buddy's house. Ugh. Could the game have been more disappointing? Let's call it a rebuilding year, my fellow Longhorn fans. We'll call it that and look forward down the road. Never looking back. A. Rebuilding. Year.

Afterwards we headed home with the best intentions of going out to a movie or something - just as long as that "something" was not out into the craziness that was the bar scene in Dallas on Red River Rivalry weekend. The traffic alone...Lord have mercy! And parking? Heaven help me! I've been in the midst of that bar mess many moons ago, and no part of it is and/or was appealing. Anyhoo, that would have been great, catching a movie and a bite, celebrating my girl's big day and all, but...

That night I got a monster - demonic? - headache and it fired off it's torpedo rocket into my brain like Luke on the Death Star and - BOOM! - I was all sorts of out of it. I think A literally performed an exorcism on me to get the pain to go away. It was totally out of left field...no wait. Left space. It was so random, it came from left outer space. Like beyond Pluto outer space.

Sooner than later, with A pulling conduit duty, piping in some Divine intervention, and a couple magic pills called Advil...I was out. Stone cold passed out. I woke up this morning...oddly okay. Like tip-top. No residual aches and pains. Nothing to say I had a hangover attack. Weird stuff.

So, if anyone were to gleam anything from this post...it's that weird stuff can happen - and the Nook from Barnes & Noble is a sweet, sweet gift to give your loved ones. But weird stuff, yes, happens especially when you want to do something good and positive, like take your girlfriend to dinner and a movie for her birthday.

The idea is, keep tossing good and positive into the world anyway. Once enough of that stuff starts to circulate in the air, the bad will start to dissipate. I mean it has to right? Some law somewhere states something about two objects can't occupy the same space at the same time. I either retained that from school - not likely - or I got that from a SuperFriends cartoon - very likely. Gosh, Bruce Wayne is smart.