Life at the Home20

A glimpse of my heritage - I never thought I would be doing movie reviews but I couldn’t pass up a chance on this one.  “Falling for a Dancer” is a 1998 BBC four hour mini-series filmed in Ireland.  I honestly don’t remember why I put it in my Blockbuster queue but I’m glad I did.  It stars Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh, Dermot Crowley and Liam Cunningham, with a little Colin Ferrell thrown in.  Yes, Colin Ferrell is on the cover and MSN gives him top billing (for obvious reasons, $$$) but he is not the focus or the star of the film.

The story is very good.  I was a little bored at first but 15 minutes into it I was hooked.  Based on a novel by Dierdre Purcell, it is about a young woman “in trouble” in 1937 Ireland who is forced into a marriage with an older, recently widowed countryman who needs help with several small children.  How many times have we seen similar circumstances in our own family histories?  While the ending is predictable, the journey is not.  There are only a couple of scenes that your kids shouldn’t see but they are necessary to set the tone of the story.

But from a genealogist’s standpoint, who has a ton of Scotch-Irish heritage, I can’t pass up a real Irish movie filmed on location.  The scenery was amazing.  The depiction of Irish country life during the war was fascinating.  It was made for Irish television so I would think there is some authenticity to it.  Then again, I am reminded of that painful movie several years ago that featured mountain ranges outside of Houston.  Oh, well.  I can dream.

The reviews I have read have been outstanding.  The only complaint was that the actors were either British or well-healed Irish who couldn’t really master the appropriate dialect for the Irish west coast.  Personally, the accents were so real that I often had a hard time understanding them.  Who would really know that the dialect was off?  Okay, I would be bothered by a bad Texas drawl and yes, there is a difference between an east Texas dialect and a west Texas dialect.  I should shut up before I get carried away.

Anyway, this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to visiting Ireland and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  On the other hand, in 20 years we may be able to tour Ireland’s villages and countryside using Google “real time” satellite maps and images.  Wouldn’t that be a hoot?

(Note:  This was an unsolicited review.)

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I thought I would share something that Sweetpea and I discussed way back when she was about 6 years old.  We were in the car, backing out of my in-law’s driveway when out of the blue she decided to complain about something, which by the way, she has perfected over the years.

Sweetpea:  (Removing her fingers from her mouth.) I don’t like my birthday.  (Fingers put back in her mouth.  You could just see her mind working when she sucked those middle fingers.)

Me:  What do you mean?

Sweetpea:  Why did I have to be born on May 29?  That’s Nanna’s birthday.

Me:  I’m sorry, Baby.  It just happened that way.

Sweetpea:  But why?

Me:  I don’t know, Sweetpea.  Those things just happen.  You have no control over it.

(This went on for awhile and I was losing patience fast.)

Sweetpea:  Well, I want a new birthday.  I don’t like mine.

Me:  I’m sorry but it doesn’t work that way.

Sweetpea:  Not fair.

(Okay, I’m out of things to say at this point.)

Me:  Well, you weren’t supposed to be born until June 26.  But you were a little impatient.

Sweetpea:  Well, I probably couldn’t breathe in there.  (The fingers went back in the mouth, her brain was working overtime, then the fingers came out again.)  I needed some fresh air.

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Why is it that no matter how much I get done in a day, I don’t feel like I got enough done.  Anyway, the genealogy site on Rootsweb Freepages is up to date.  I made some changes and have alot to add but at least it matches the blog now.  Take a look here.

GetAlong got a load out of LA and is headed to Colorado again.  Sweetpea’s party went fine.

Since I worked on the website instead of a post today - I’ll show you GetAlong’s antique tractor.

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When Sweetpea turned 17 last week, I wanted to commemorate the occasion with a nice post about her.  Thing was, when the day came I couldn’t think of a darn thing to say and I felt really bad about that.  I blamed it on writer’s block and I’m still sure that’s what is was but now the Farmer’s Wife has me thinking.

I’m a mom and I have a blog.  That would make me a mommy blogger.  So why don’t I identify with the other mommy bloggers out there?  Because I have a teenager in the house.  And there are very few teen mom blogs.  Maybe I should rephrase that because if you Google “teen mom blogs”  you get a wide variety of blogs about teen moms, i.e. teenage girls with babies.

Personally I don’t frequent too many mommy blogs or dad blogs that focus on their kids.  Like Susanne said, they give me a headache.  I’m so glad I’m past that.  They’re great if you have little kids.  I have a an older kid and we’re winding things down with one year of high school to go.  Please tell me we’re winding down.

So about three months ago I thought I would start a teen mom blog but do I write about my teen?  Not often.  Why?  Because living with a teen is akin to living on a huge lake covered with thin ice.  To blog about my teen, whether she knows it or not, could put my sanity, or what’s left of it, at risk.  And I believe that is reason No. 1 that there are too few blogs that focus on teenage parenting experiences.  You spend 24 hours a day guarding your teen’s self esteem so why risk it by putting it out there for the world to read, even if you use pseudonyms.  I’m about to cross the line as we speak.  So if I miss out on the free therapy I could get by writing about my frustrations with teen parenting, oh well.

There are some good blogs about teen parenting but they tend to be along the lines of professional advice columns.  That’s not what I’m after.  Anyone can think up some advice and post it on the web but I want to hear about your failures as well as your successes.  I want to share experiences - like how to handle it when….oops, I can’t go there.  Then there was that time that….hum, better not cross that line either.  Man, there’s just nothing I can talk about except visiting colleges and taking small trips to nearby places of interest.  It’s a bit boring.  Or is it?

Well, I CAN talk about how good it feels that I don’t have to take off work on Monday to take Sweetpea to the doctor as she can now drive herself.  (We won’t talk about the fender bender a few months ago….)  And since she is becoming more independent, I have time to blog about other things which is probably what all the other teen moms are doing.  In fact I’m pretty sure that’s what they do, avoid touchy subjects and blog about their hobbies like me.

But really, Sweetpea, you’re a great kid and I wouldn’t trade you for anything.  Your happiness means more to me than anything else.   I know it doesn’t seem that way sometimes but I know that deep down inside you know that.  Sure we get frustrated with each other sometimes and we’ve had some knock down, drag outs but we talk and that’s what’s important.  I can find lots of good stuff to tell everyone about.  I love you.  Happy Birthday!  (Now that’s what I was looking for last week!)

So I challenge all you “post-teenage year” moms to start giving out the advice and sharing your stories because your kids (with their permission) are mature experienced enough to handle it and you won’t be looking over your shoulder all the time, wondering if someone at school called your daughter “Sweetpea” today.

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GetAlong turned 50 last week.  Now he didn’t mind turning 30 and 40 was no big deal either but he seems to have hit 50 pretty hard.  To quote him - “It’s all downhill from here.”  He got home on Saturday and I feel like we’ve been in therapy ever since.  Consequently I have been AWOL here for over a week.

Of course, it didn’t help that the big truck was in the shop for that clutch repair I mentioned earlier.  The estimate was $1620.  It was under warranty the first time it went out.  Obviously they didn’t come up with a better engineered clutch (or spring actually) to replace the faulty one.  The second one has now failed and hopefully something better is taking its place.  I don’t understand mechanical things so don’t ask me.  Big truck repairs can be depressing to say the least, especially when you are still making a truck note.

Anyway, GetAlong has been unusually quiet this time.  I thought he was just tired from the last three weeks.  He ran pretty hard.  The loads were good and he hates to turn anything down that pays well.  Business is picking up somewhat and there are fewer drivers on the road.  But he was worn out when he got home.

Now he suddenly admits to suffering from fatigue while on the road.  Now this is not surprising when you take into consideration the wacky schedule that drivers keep.  You would think that they could drive from 8 - 5, park their rig and be done for the day.  But that is not always the case when they have sat for hours trying to get loaded and need to meet a delivery date and time.  Meeting deadlines and driving “legal” at the same time can be a challenge and often does not lend itself to regular hours.

Eating habits while on the road are irregular to say the least as well.  GetAlong is pretty good about not eating large meals at inappropriate times but the selection available to him is not that great and can contribute to weariness.  He removed the refrigerator from his rig awhile back because he felt it would force him to get out of the truck more.  You just can’t win for losing sometimes.

And with the big truck in the shop he doesn’t have anything to “fiddle” with at the moment.  Of course I could give him plenty to do but I try not to harp on that stuff when he’s home.  I think he’s just down because of the birthday so I’m laying low this week, doing what he wants.   It’s been a long time since we have watched 2 movies in one weekend.  But I feel like I can’t get anything done and then I become down and unmotivated.  My house is a mess and it doesn’t help that his “stuff” is everywhere in the house because the truck is in the shop.

But it’s been a week and he’s returning to normal.  The big truck is back home and hopefully his freshly laundered stuff will be back in its place soon.

Things are looking up.

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