New music.

At 8:12am this morning, I had my brand-new copy of the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire soundtrack in my hot little hands! And it is sooo wonderful! So great! I keep saying, "This track is my new favorite!" only to then change it as soon as the next track comes on!

I can't WAIT for the movie! The soundtrack is so good, and the movie will only be BETTER!!

Edited to add: Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the BEST part of the soundtrack! Inside the cover booklet, Draco and Hermione are put next to one another! *squeeee* (Okay, Ron's is there too, but he's BEHIND them.) They're so adorable! :-D

Catch a falling snowflake...

The boys were so excited this morning to wake up to SNOW! It's been snowing lightly all morning, and it's just fast enough, just wet enough and just cold enough to stick a little. I dressed Jack early this morning (usually I wait until after we've taken A.J. to school), and then we headed out to catch snowflakes on our tongues for a few minutes.

( And there are pictures. )

It was time to take A.J. to school then, but we took an opposite route so we'd be heading the right way to get to Wal*Mart right afterwards. A.J. hopped out and ran into the group crowding to get in the doors and out of the falling snow, and Jack and I continued on our way. Wal*Mart was very pleasantly deserted this morning at 8am, and we had no trouble finding a parking spot. We walked straight back to the music aisle and snatched up the HP soundtrack. Yay! (And I unwrapped the CD and put it in the player in the car immediately, of course!)

We listened happily all the way to Vidlak's Family Cafe for breakfast. Jack had his usual scrambled eggs, ham and toast, and I had the same but with biscuits. Their hot cocoa was especially good this morning too, but that might have been due to the snow outside and making me FEEL all cozy. :-)

After breakfast, we went to the bank. Then I had to go to the police station to sign another paper for them. There are still no leads, but it was an extension paper for the report - something like that. It was quick, and we were in and out of the station in under five minutes.

We've been home for a while now, and I don't intend to go back out today. It's snowy and slushy, and I'm don't need anything from anywhere. We've got lots of food and milk, and we'll just enjoy this first snow for however long it lasts. :-)

Accio! dragons.

Have you any idea how difficult it is for me - just a regular person - to act/behave as a dragon? Oh, but I did try.

Yesterday evening, I remembered that I had to pretend to be a dragon for at least three minutes as part of the 'Five Days of Harry Potter FUNTIME!' event. I put on my green hoodie, and I put the hood up. I walked into the living room and began roaring at the boys on the couch. Of course, A.J. asked me what I was doing, and when I told them I was pretending to be a dragon, they wanted to play along as well. So there we were, three 'dragons' all roaring our way around the living room (though I was the only one wearing green - I guess they were different breeds than myself *wink*). I dug into the dinosaur drawer and pulled out one of the dinosaur puzzle eggs and sat down on the floor with it in my lap. A.J. found the other egg, and poor Jack then used a stuffed Bob the Tomato as his dragon egg.

It was fun, but I think today's task is much easier. No, it may not ever work, but I can keep trying all day, right?

*points wand*

Accio, Coke!

*waits for Coke to come whizzing to me from the kitchen*

*looks at keyboard*

Ah, well. That was expected, I suppose.

*puts wand down, posts entry and goes to get Coke myself*

A friend like family.

A very special person passed away. Janet has been a friend of my family's since August 1994. Our family even lived with her in her home - which she very selflessly opened up to us (and it's a big change to add five people and five cats to your life when you're used to living alone) - for a year and a half in West Virginia while my parents were trying to buy a house.

Janet had so much faith, yet she had such a hard life, such a rough road during her time. She'd had Hodgkin's disease for many, many years, but she didn't let it keep her down. She was so frail and thin, but we never let that stop us from hugging her, even though she first had tried to keep emotion at arms' length. She knew me before Philip, before any other person in West Virginia, actually. She met all of my boyfriends, and she welcomed them to her home just as she did our family. She fell in love with our cats - she even gave one a special nickname, and it stuck.

She came to our wedding, and she loved our boys like her own nieces and nephews. She kept a framed photo of our wedding on her mantle, and she always had the latest pictures of the boys in frames as well. She couldn't email or write much (though she used voice software for what she did do), but I would hear from her every few months, and I always continued to send her pictures, letters and emails as often as I could.

She loved to collect Christmas villages and houses, and she lived a simple life. Her dad died years ago, and her mother moved in with her to help her in her daily routines. Janet battled cancer as well as Hodgkin's, and though she went into remission once, she lost all function in her arms due to the two diseases. In the last year or so, the cancer came back and spread to her bones this time, and eventually succeeded in killing her.

She was in an intensive care unit for the last four weeks of her life, grappling to overcome a fluid build-up that was slowly suffocating her. She lost, and it makes me just so sad. For someone so wonderful - someone who'd already lived such a hard life - I only had hoped that when her time came, her death would be painless and quick... and it was anything but.

Philip's mom called me on my birthday. After wishing me a happy day, she had to tell me the news. She'd read Janet's obituary in the local newspaper (though Janet had moved away shortly after we left West Virginia), and she wanted to make sure I knew. I didn't, and I was so sad to hear the news. What made it even worse was that she had died on Oct. 23rd - exactly three weeks prior, but no one had even tried to contact my family yet. I couldn't have made it in time, but my family in Virginia (where Janet lived then) would definitely have been there. Not only that, but my mother would have been at Janet's side in the hospital... if we'd only just known.

*Jack just came in and gave me a hug because he sees that I'm crying*

Janet didn't like people to feel sorry for her, and she hated to be pitied. She never wanted other people to be upset, and I'm sure that's why she didn't let us know it was the end. Still, I loved her and so did my family, and we wish we'd had one more chance to tell her that.

(53) Dr. Janet Jean Lozar of Manassas, Virginia, died Sunday, October 23, 2005 at Washington Hospital, Washington, D.C. Dr. Lozar, a former resident of Bridgeport was formerly a professor of Salem-Teikyo University in the sports medicine program, and was a member of Bridgeport Presbyterian Church, where she sang in the choir. Dr. Lozar was a member of the Manassas Presbyterian Church, where she was active in the Stephen ministry. She was a professor at George Mason University, Prince William campus. She was preceded in death by her father, Frank Lozar. Survivors include her mother, Rowena of Manassas, one sister and one brother.

Services were held at Manassas Presbyterian Church. Interment will be at the convenience of the family.

Janet Jean Lozar

Toys that should NEVER be on Santa's list.

Toys NOT to Get Your Child for Christmas

Exhibit A: Scooby-Doo Rumble/Shake 'n Race Van (I can't exactly remember the title). It's the Mystery Machine van, and it's about a foot long or so. When you push it, it rumbles and shakes and makes noise, and it came with a couple Shaggy and Scooby, I think (though we already had an entire separate set of those as well). The doors are hinged very lightly, though, and they fall off ALL the time, and I hate putting them back on. And when I go to put it on the shelf, I inevitably push it somehow, and it rumbles for a while.

And, actually, I think WE are the ones who gave A.J. this super-annoying toy two years ago for Christmas. Of course, both boys love it, but trust me - you don't want this toy in your house.

Exhibit B: Blue's Clues Karaoke. Some of you might recall me posting about this karaoke machine in the past, and well... that post pretty much sums up why you should never buy this toy. It's another one of those possessed toys, too - it'll just go off spontaneously long after the kids are in bed, and it'll scare the crap out of me to hear Steve say, "Let's play again later!" with Blue's resounding, "Bar-buh-barrooo."

Again, I think we are the ones who bought this toy for Jack, and I think it was Christmas two or three years ago (I'm not sure). Be warned, though: you do not want it in your house.

So... what are the most annoying toys that you have? Help me to avoid toy insanity!