State of the family
Younger Son has been working his way through the Harry Potter books since 4th grade. It's taken him about two years, but he's managed to (as of Saturday), read all seven of the books. He was determined to finish DH before HP7.2 comes out in July. He's proud that, for the first time ever, he'll be able to watch one of the HP movies and know what they did wrong/left out without having to rely on his brother to tell him.
I had errands to run Saturday when he was almost finished and told him to give me a call as soon as he'd finished so he could tell me what he though. Not 30 minutes after leaving the house, my iPhone *love* rang. As soon as I picked up the phone, I asked him what was "wrong" with the first DH movie.
"Well," he said, "they didn't show the pouch that Hagrid gave Harry for his birthday. And they didn't show the Minister for Magic burning a hole in Harry's shirt after the reading of Dumbledore's will. And they didn't show Harry confront Remus at Grimmauld Place when Remus wanted to go with Harry, Ron and Hermoine. And Wormtail was supposed to DIE at Malfoy Manor. And Mom!! They screwed things up all the way back at the 5th movie when they didn't show Sirius giving Harry the mirror!! How can Harry be carrying around a piece of broken mirror in the 7th movie when Sirius never even gave it to him back in the 5th movie?? They really need to explain this, Mom. People are going to be confused."
And this is why I've tried and tried to convince the boys to see the movies and books as two separate stories. I'm sure I'll never convince them of this, yet I still try. *is stubbornly stubborn*
Younger Son's next reading goal is to read the Eragon series. Older Son is finally tackling Tolkien's work. It took some work on my part to convince him not to read them chronologically, starting with Silmarillion. Sometimes reading the backstory first is not the best way to go. Elf-obsessed that he is, I nevertheless convinced him to start with The Hobbit and go from there.
School is out now, and we're waiting for report cards to arrive in the mail. I'm sure Younger Son finished 6th grade with all A's. Older Son probably ended 10th grade with a C in Geometry and a mix of A's and B's in the rest. Pleasing, on the whole. Older Son has one more math (Algebra II) next year and unless requirements force him to take another math his senior year, I'm not forcing him into it. Math is just not his strong area and I see no need to cram something like Trigonometry down is throat if he's not planning to go into a career that's math-heavy. LOL Older Son is happy to hear it; he's thoroughly sick of math.
The excess kittens have all found homes. Momma!Shorty called for her missing babies for a day or so, then settled nicely. Son!Tortie was happy (most times) to soak up the extra attention.
Thanks many times over for the prayers and positive thoughts sent our way after the loss of my father-in-law. Younger Son took it pretty badly (as expected), Older Son was stoic (as expected), but they're both doing much better now.
It seems so many of my posts recently mention tornadoes. *sigh* I was hoping to be able to avoid that for this post, but it just wasn't meant to be. One of my classmates from high school lives in Joplin and lost his home in last night's tornado. He and his family are all well and safe, but the house is a total loss. Positive thoughts, please, for the people of Joplin, Missouri. It seems this season's tornadoes just keep getting more and more destructive. Mother Nature must be really pissed off this year. Here's hoping she calms down sometime soon.
Work is...well, it's work. Not really much to say about that. Lots of sick people means job security for me, but dealing with insurance companies is always a pain in the ass. 'Nuff said there, I'm sure.
*sigh* The yard is a disaster. I need to mow...
I had errands to run Saturday when he was almost finished and told him to give me a call as soon as he'd finished so he could tell me what he though. Not 30 minutes after leaving the house, my iPhone *love* rang. As soon as I picked up the phone, I asked him what was "wrong" with the first DH movie.
"Well," he said, "they didn't show the pouch that Hagrid gave Harry for his birthday. And they didn't show the Minister for Magic burning a hole in Harry's shirt after the reading of Dumbledore's will. And they didn't show Harry confront Remus at Grimmauld Place when Remus wanted to go with Harry, Ron and Hermoine. And Wormtail was supposed to DIE at Malfoy Manor. And Mom!! They screwed things up all the way back at the 5th movie when they didn't show Sirius giving Harry the mirror!! How can Harry be carrying around a piece of broken mirror in the 7th movie when Sirius never even gave it to him back in the 5th movie?? They really need to explain this, Mom. People are going to be confused."
And this is why I've tried and tried to convince the boys to see the movies and books as two separate stories. I'm sure I'll never convince them of this, yet I still try. *is stubbornly stubborn*
Younger Son's next reading goal is to read the Eragon series. Older Son is finally tackling Tolkien's work. It took some work on my part to convince him not to read them chronologically, starting with Silmarillion. Sometimes reading the backstory first is not the best way to go. Elf-obsessed that he is, I nevertheless convinced him to start with The Hobbit and go from there.
School is out now, and we're waiting for report cards to arrive in the mail. I'm sure Younger Son finished 6th grade with all A's. Older Son probably ended 10th grade with a C in Geometry and a mix of A's and B's in the rest. Pleasing, on the whole. Older Son has one more math (Algebra II) next year and unless requirements force him to take another math his senior year, I'm not forcing him into it. Math is just not his strong area and I see no need to cram something like Trigonometry down is throat if he's not planning to go into a career that's math-heavy. LOL Older Son is happy to hear it; he's thoroughly sick of math.
The excess kittens have all found homes. Momma!Shorty called for her missing babies for a day or so, then settled nicely. Son!Tortie was happy (most times) to soak up the extra attention.
Thanks many times over for the prayers and positive thoughts sent our way after the loss of my father-in-law. Younger Son took it pretty badly (as expected), Older Son was stoic (as expected), but they're both doing much better now.
It seems so many of my posts recently mention tornadoes. *sigh* I was hoping to be able to avoid that for this post, but it just wasn't meant to be. One of my classmates from high school lives in Joplin and lost his home in last night's tornado. He and his family are all well and safe, but the house is a total loss. Positive thoughts, please, for the people of Joplin, Missouri. It seems this season's tornadoes just keep getting more and more destructive. Mother Nature must be really pissed off this year. Here's hoping she calms down sometime soon.
Work is...well, it's work. Not really much to say about that. Lots of sick people means job security for me, but dealing with insurance companies is always a pain in the ass. 'Nuff said there, I'm sure.
*sigh* The yard is a disaster. I need to mow...