photo editing

Hi all!
I'm trying to make a picture book (written by my mom...in many pieces), with photos by Nathan and me...but we have no photo editing program. We're thinking a good plan would be to get Adobe Photoshop...you can get it online for $89.99...but do any of you have any other advice, or is that the way to go? Hope everyone is doing well and is planning on having a wonderful night of crazy partying! :c) Riiiight.

Happy Birthday to Brooke yesterday!!! Sorry I didn't say it on the phone yesterday, Jared - I wasn't 100% sure if I had the right day so I didn't say it. Anyway...we hope she had a wonderful birthday and that it is a purely fantastic year for her!

We had a wonderful Christmas...getting to see both the Palmer family and the Rozen family on the same day! Lots of amazing food...Christmas Eve and Christmas...and then my mom made lasagna for my Dad's birthday (the 26th). We had a lot of fun. I took down the tree and all the Christmas decorations yesterday. That was pretty sad...we seem to have acquired a lot more this year, which is exciting! However, we're hoping we'll be able to store them in Lafayette...so hopefully we'll be allowed that much more space!

Happy New Year everyone - any cool resolutions anyone wants to share with us all?

Love from the both of us,
Manda (and Nathan)

From Emily

I finished the Book of Mormon. I just read the last two chapters. Later, Trina and I are going to do some shopping.

I've been having a good time in D.C. On the first day, we saw the Archives, which has a lot of records -- military records, patents, and the Declaration of Independence. It was very neat. And yesterday, in the evening, Adam took me to see Georgetown, and then later we went to see the D.C. Temple. There are hundreds of thousands of lights on all the trees and bushes, and there are even flowers made of lights. And they have trees decorated with dolls from different countries, and nativity scenes from all over the world, and there was a harp ensemble performing that night. Then we drove downtown to see the national Christmas tree, and there are trees for all the states. I had my picture taken beside the Oregon tree.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve, wherever you are!

What's up with Mom and Dad

Sorry we haven't taken the time to write sooner. When we arrived at Cheryl's very late Sunday night, Eric and Laurel and Baby Stevie were there waiting for us. He is such a beautiful sweet baby. We've really been enjoying him. On Monday we visited at Cheryl's and then Eric took us out to his place. On Tuesday we went to the Getty and enjoyed the art there. On Wednesday morning, Cheryl and Jenny came out and joined us on our trip to the Newport Beach Temple. (I made my goal of 25 endowments in one year.) Later that evening we went to Ikea to look around at the furniture. Also, Eric stopped and bought a new DVD player because his wasn't working. Today we took a hike at the Newport Back Bay where they have a bird sanctuary. Then this evening, Eric and Laurel went out to a movie while we watch Stevie. Of course, in between all the other things we've been doing, we've been playing with our Baby Stevie, in fact I've had to stop 3 or 4 times while writing this to take care of him. I've loved every minute of it.

I love you all,
MOM

Happy Birthday, Emily!!!

Hi Emily. Happy Birthday!! Sorry I did not call you. I hope that you had the best birthday anyways. ok bye. oh yeah.... just because you were in the airport does not mean you visited the state. If that were the case I have been to all 50 states. But happy birthday and eat a hamburger for me.

love,
Nathan

waiting

Well, this is my 3rd post in the last 10 on the blog ... I've been waiting for something like, oh, a report on Stevie's first Christmas or some new Stevie pictures since Eric hasn't posted any on his calendar for nearly a month. Or a quick comment from Mom and Dad on meeting Stevie for the first time or seeing Aunt Cheryl or the Newport Temple or something about their trip. But nooooo ... so we sit and twiddle our thumbs and wonder what we did so wrong to be neglected like this.

We went to the National Archives today so Emily could see the originals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Did you know there were originally 12 amendments in the Bill of Rights? 2 of them didn't get ratified.

Posting

Okay, someone besides Emily and Mindy needs to post now.

I've put in the January calendar, and I also was playing with the Chaos website today.

a small update

So far in my webpage updating I have my latest portrait on there .. it isn't the completed project, just what they put under the tree to represent what it's going to be. In the end there will be twice as many children, and much less sketchy-looking. I'll be working more on updating my page in the next few days, while I'm not working, so check back soon.

D.C.

So, yesterday morning JoAnne took me to the airport. I got there, and the man at the desk noticed that I had a flight to Salt Lake City then to Cincinnati and then to Baltimore. He asked if I would like to skip Salt Lake, so I flew from Portland to Cincinnati. I had what I consider to be the worst seat. It was an aisle seat, and even when I did glance out the window, I could only see the wing or clouds. We finally got to the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport. So I've added another state -- only ten more to go. Then I got on my next flight, and I ended up sitting next to an LDS couple. We talked a little bit. And this time I could look out the window and see all the lights of the city, and I could see the Chesapeake Bay. Trina and Adam picked me up, and we drove to their homes. There are some interesting looking houses in D.C., and the street system is, as Adam described it, a bicycle wheel set over a grid.

We're back!

Tawnia and I are back in Provo, safe and sound. We would have loved to stay in Oregon, but since everyone else left, it wasn't any fun. This way we can still be relaxing, and yet get stuff done. I'm hoping to update my webpage, and now is a good time to get started on it. The good news is, I finished the Book of Mormon today on the airplain. Yippee! And there really isn't bad news .. it was just fun to put "good news".

Packing

Hello, family.

I hope you all had a merry Christmas. I got a lot of stuff, most of which is now in my suitcases awaiting my departure tomorrow morning. I also packed all my new clothes. Yesterday, I went shopping with Tawnia, Clarissa, Mindy, Sarah, and Amber. At Ross, they would pick clothes off the rack and I would try them on, and we decided on our favorite items. I spent $100 on clothes yesterday. (And that doesn't count the jeans or coat I bought earlier -- if we count that, I've spent close to $300 just on clothes. I've never done that before.)

I will be leaving for the airport in about 18 hours. And it will take the entire day to get to the other side of the country.

Emily

box inventory

Hey ERIC. And JARED. Did the boxes ever arrive with the gifts for the kids? You still haven't said. Everything else has been accounted for.

I'm working today and tomorrow, and Adam is at home doing his chores ... which include listing a whole ton of his school books online to sell off, and finishing his law school applications. If we don't have the books gone in the next month or 2, we're going to haul them to a used bookstore and drop them off. Hopefully get some money, but if not, oh well. We just need to get them OUT. I started working on cleaning out closets yesterday, and packing away non-maternity clothes for the next 6 months. Emily will probably end up with some of them if they fit her.

I'm amazed at how much stuff has accumulated as we've combined our belongings and gotten more (like our kitchen - we started with nothing there) ... and I'm amazed at how much stuff is required for a little baby. I started looking at registry items for the baby, and it's very overwhelming just to think about the STUFF. Just the bottles: multiple bottles and nipples and the screw cap thingies, and scrubbers and sanitizer stuff because we don't have a dishwasher, and formula and storage containers for extra milk (as well as the scary looking pumps), and bibs and spit cloths, and it just keeps going ... and this is just to feed Summer for part of the day while I'm at work. What the heck. We need a bigger apartment.

We are home

Okay, we made it safely home to Houston. We had quite an eventful trip. We stopped by Wal-Mart on our way out, and Brooke got lost. Fortunately, she knew what to do. By the time we got to the manger to ask them to make an announcement, they already had her in their designated area. We went off on our way, but blew out a tire halfway to Dallas. We had to backtrack 20 miles to get the tire replaced (after calling the tire shop and begging them to remain open for us), so we were delayed about three hours in getting to Michelle's parents. Fortunately the rest of the vacation went well. We just got back tonight, so if anyone wants to call or anything, you know where to find us.

one more sleep till Christmas

I don't know who all will read this in the next couple of days, but ...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It's Christmas Eve morning and I'm up a little earlier than Adam - I'm going to get started on my desserts (fudge, apple crisp, etc.) for our Christmas Eve dinner with the missionaries. We already seem to have adopted Mom and Dad's newer twist on Christmas scheduling, which is to have the big dinner on Christmas Eve so everyone can take it easy on Christmas Day and eat leftovers. We also had the missionaries join us for Christmas Eve last year.

We really enjoyed the Joseph Smith broadcast last night. If you missed it, we hope that you'll watch the video archive of it when it pops up on lds.org. It was really good. The Tabernacle Choir sang between every talk - it was A LOT of music. And fantastic of course. During some of the songs, they showed clips of the new Joseph Smith movie that's being introduced in the Legacy Theater in Salt Lake this month. We're happy about that too, because we don't have to go to Salt Lake to see it - it's being shown right here at the DC Temple visitor's center (and some others too - I don't know about the LA Temple VC.) It will definitely be here for a while so Emily can see it here, and likely Mom and Dad when they come in June.

If there's a group online to talk later this morning (it's 8:30 here now, so 5:30 out west), give me a call and I'll get on the computer for a bit. I can't get on for very long because I also have some cleaning to do besides all the cooking we've got going, but I'll stick my head in and see what's up. Just let me know when to sign on.

Vacation

It is so weird to have time to sit back and relax... I almost don't know what to do with myself. (Key word: almost). It is nice to be home, to relax and take the time to read, play the piano, and post on the blog. Then I'll head back to Utah and focus on school stuff for the rest of the "vacation"... but for now I'm going to relax... something I think I've forgotten how to do.

I hope that everyone else has a chance to relax and enjoy the holidays.
Love,
T

Updates again

I have made a few small updates to the movie page. Particularly, you may want to click on the letter "C". Emily, I think you will like one of my other updates.

School is OUT!

My first post from Tawnia's computer at school .. not that you could tell, but since I just told you, you can think it is cool. I'm VERY happy that school is over .. but now I'm waiting for Tawnia to do a few things and then we'll move the mice to the car, and head home. Then I need to do laundry and pack, so I can be ready for flying to Oregon tomorrow. YIPPEEEE! I'm so happy! And exhausted.

Summer

Bring on the pink and purple and yellow and lace frills! It's a girl!!!

(There was no good pink in the color option, or I would have used that.) Yes, Eric was correct that we were at the doctor's office when he posted that question. The doctor said that it "looks like" a girl, but she never says for sure because the picture is "fuzzy." Whatever. It was fuzzy when she could identify the kidneys. Don't tell me she can't tell what sort of sexual organs are present (or not, as the case may be). That was probably the most clear view she got of the entire thing. Summer wasn't very cooperative when the doctor wanted to look at her spine, and kept moving around.

In one of the ultrasound pictures that we got, she looks rather like a space alien with humongous eye sockets (for the size of her head) and a weird nose and mouth. So much for Adam showing them to people and saying "Isn't she cute!!" I'm going to take the pictures to my office tomorrow and see if our techie will scan them for me.

In other news ... I'm going to suggest to Eric that 7 am is indeed too early for the west coast. Maybe he gets up early and that's fine for him (he has Stevie to take care of anyway), but I'll guess that Tawnia and Mindy are going to want to sleep in. It's Christmas Eve AND a Saturday. I'd say more like 9 or 10 for west coast, which would be 12 or 1 out here and starting to stretch it for us (we're doing dinner around 4). What about Monday the 26th? That's the holiday for everyone to get the day off because of Christmas being on Sunday. And maybe we can get online on Christmas afternoon/evening as well.

Brain cell construction

For the last couple of months I have been working on building brain cells. My psychology professor once told us that there are a few things one could do to build neurons. I believe one of the things was to play a musical instrument. The other thing that can do it is the thing that I have been doing these last few months. When Eric came here I showed him some of the new things I was working on (I've only improved, Eric). It is juggling.

I have w weird way that I go about making sure that I get sufficient amounts of neuron building in. I have to juggle for at least three minutes in a session. Also in order for the juggle to count it has to last no less than a minute. So if I have three one minute juggles I am done. If I have one three minute juggle I am done. If a juggle lasts one minute 59 seconds, it only counts as a one minute juggle. If a juggle lasts 59 seconds, it does not count at all.

Well, I like to keep track of when I juggle for long periods. In October I juggled for something like two minutes and 46 seconds straight. As of November 21, my longest juggle was five minutes 36 seconds. Well today I left all previous records in the dust.

I was doing laundry and the egg timer was set for 60 minutes... no I did not juggle for 60 minutes. It got to 58:30 before I started to juggle. Well I started. Then I kept going, and going, and going. I did not throw any under the legs, or two up at once, because I did not want to mess up. Well I was pretty excited when I got to 6 minutes, because I knew I beat my previous record. But I kept juggling.

When you juggle for a long time you start to get dizzy. At least I did, because it was about 1 in the afternoon and I had just got done doing yoga, and I hadn't eaten lunch yet. Well it was as if nothing could stop me. The juggle bags had brushed against each other a couple of times, and I feared dropping them, but I kept going. Amanda could walk through the door at any second coming home for lunch, but she never appeared.

Well I knew that nothing could last forever. The bags finally hit each other hard enough and cam to a crashing halt. The egg timer read 42:37. That put my new record at 15 minutes 53 seconds, just shy of 16 minutes. I almost tripled my PR. It is PR, right?

I really do not know how much cell building I did in those almost 16 minutes, but I think in the time it took me to write this whole thing... I killed all of that hard work.

Until next time... keep on juggling.

Nathan 12/20/05

Movie Planning Meeting

Jared suggested that we have a family meeting sometime around the holidays. Might I suggest Saturday morning? I know, it's Christmas Eve. What better time for gathering as a family? We can wish each other a Merry Christmas while we chat.

Let me know what you think. I'm figuring we can start around 7 am Pacific time, so 10 am Eastern and 9 am Central. Too early? Too late? Let me know. Also, if you have another day that you think would work better, let me know that too. I'd like to have as many of us online together as possible.

Oh, and do we know the baby's gender yet? I suppose Trina is at the doctor's right now...

Death by Chocolate

So I finally figured out that one of my mice is a boy... but I just couldn't part with him. Instead I got my boy a new cage and another boy mice to live with. I also got a second girl mouse to live with my other girl... I came out to the school and set things up Saturday night. My original boy immediately started chasing after the new boy as soon as I put them in together. I was hoping that they would learn to get along over Sunday and things would be harmonious in the mouse world by Monday morning. Instead I came in Monday morning and I had one dead boy mouse. I disposed of it before any of the kids came in, but it really disgusted me. I haven't told the kids because I really just don't want them to know. The girls are getting along well. My new little white female mouse has been named Energizer. And the boy... he's been renamed also. His name is Chocolate.

comments on the comments

To pull this all out into the light of day ...

the storyboards: In Emily's defense, if you read Tawnia's original post about the storyboards again, it sure LOOKS like Tawnia wanted Emily to make them. I think Dad's idea is cool - to take pictures. You could get out the little people and legos, set them up to be the scenes, and take pictures of those. Maybe?

our digital camera: Dad, I don't know how much video can be shot on it, but we did get a really good memory card. So 20 or 30-second sequences are not out of the question. And if it fills up really fast, we could shoot our bits of footage, download them onto our computer, and email it all right away to Eric and Mom for their editing into the final. That way, we keep our camera clear to take pictures at the reunion, since I, of course, will want many many pictures of our little baby meeting her/his aunts and uncles and cousins for the first time.

Jared's piano question: I don't compose. I used to arrange (before my mission) and did all right at it. I just accompany now, all for church. I can play probably half the hymns, and now I have to start working on the Primary book. It's on my top 100 list to be able to play all the songs in both books. "True to the Faith" is a piece of work, and whoever wrote the bass line to "I hope they call me on a mission" was viciously cruel.

new callings: I can't remember if I said this before or not. I was released about a month ago from teaching Gospel Essentials and being a ward missionary. I now play the piano for Primary. I thought the timing was a little interesting, with taking the baby into Primary straight out of the womb instead of waiting until 18 months old. Also, Adam was "promoted" yesterday at church - he's now the assistant ward mission leader. So I'm back to being an undercover ward missionary, since my activity in that area will obviously continue but back to an unofficial capacity.

26 hours until the ultrasound. Time to make your final bets on if you think the baby is Summer or Michael.

1101

Not only is 1101 binary for lucky 13, also known as hexidecimal D, it's also the decimal form of one thousand one hundred one. This is the 1101st post on this blog.

I have a question for everyone to answer (and I really would like EVERYONE to answer, for unnamed reasons). How would you rate your piano skills? How are you as a composer, arranger, or accompanist? Here's my answer.

I'm self-taught on the pianoforte. I can accompany hymns pretty well as long as it's a song I know how to play. I do like to compose and arrage music, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it. Most of my arrangements thus far have been vocal work, intended to be sung a capella. That means without a piano. I have done a little bit of piano arranging and composing, though.

The Writer's Ranting

I was going to post a few comments, but then I realized, I'd better just say it all up front.

First of all, I do not think there can possibly be a storyboard or anything close to a finalized script finished within the next week. I don't think New Year's is too late to add ideas, Trina. I don't think mid June is too late, and I don't think there will be a finalized script until about the night before we start it. And even then, it could still be edited. So, no storyboard, at least not one made by me. I can't make a storyboard!

And before we could get a finalized script, we would have to do our casting. Let's start with the boys. We have ACME Rent-a-Hero played by Jared, Captain Chaos played by Dad, Torpedo Boy played by Bryan, Skip played by Nathan, Egbert played by Eric, and the lawyer played by Adam. (There is a point in the script where Havoc calls her lawyer; we could change it to a lobbyist or Congressman or something who will say a lot of legal things that no one else understands.)

Jared suggested that the girls play a gang of super heroes led by Havoc (who will be played by Amanda or Clarissa, or someone else -- though if Amanda plays it, it would be silly to have her say that Captain Chaos is her father.)

I know most movies would do the casting after the writing, but I have to do it with certain people in mind. Besides, I don't want to write a part for someone and then have them complain about it. Clarissa is already trying to back out. And I want a bigger part! I don't want to just show up for fifteen seconds at the very end! Dang it, I'm the writer! I want more screen time!

Okay, girls, listen up. You are going to be super heroes. If you don't want to be a hero, you might be cast as a bystander, archivist, or basketball referee. What I was thinking was that you can all have a brief biography of your character. See the ones that Jared has posted.

EXAMPLE: The Righter (pun intended) was an ordinary girl until she got her hands on the Laptop of Extreme Chaos that had a strange program. Now, when she types things on the Laptop of Extreme Chaos, they actually happen. She enjoys writing crazy stories, which may explain many of the bizarre happenings around Palmerville. She can even manipulate the behavior of other super heroes. She enjoys "harmless" practical jokes, but she does have a tendency for getting blamed for everything that goes wrong, and so she may incur the wrath of the angry mob.

So, heroes, let's hear about you. What's your power? Where does it come from? What is your super hero name? (Mom has already declared herself to be Super Mom, and Brooke is called Superhero Girl.)

Oh, Jared mentioned in his description of Palmerville the time that seven Chaoses showed up at one crime scene. That was the time that the local Palmerville First Bank -- okay, the jar of spare change under the desk -- was nearly robbed. This was a short time after ACME Rent-a-hero's surprising rebound from near bankruptcy. It was believed that this was a clerical error in which the call went out to five heroes on ACME's list. When he realized the error, he went there himself, as Chaos. He found six heroes had come; one of them had picked up a friend along the way. The villain attempted to sneak away during the confusion, but he was seen and tackled by the shortest Chaos there who used her special Tickle Attack to keep him down until the others could restrain him.

There. Now I'm feeling a little better about the project. But I'm still not making a storyboard.

a Plan B option

Eric, is there a way to edit a video clip from our digital camera into the movie? Because if there is, here's a thought ...

P.S. I guess this is for Eric and Tawnia and Emily, and I am the assistant screen writer. This is one of my formal contributions. Anyway.

Adam is likely not going to be able to make it to the entire reunion festivities next summer. July is one of the busiest times for Congress, as they blitz a lot of stupid things before their summer break (which is all of August). Our thinking is currently that he try to go for the Uncle Max part of the reunion so that he can meet all the cousins and aunts and uncles as well as our family, and that would mean he would NOT be able to participate in making the movie. If someone thinks we should try to plan the other way around with Adam coming for the movie section, well, then I need some feedback, and which weekend for the Palmer reunion. It would have to be on a weekend. Anyway, so let's say Adam does not go to Oregon for the movie. Plan B to still get him in it:

Before I leave, I go to the Capitol with our little digital camera, and take a couple of clips of him working and talking on the phone in his office. Also, some outside shots. Then, in the movie, we have a line where someone says that the movie theft is so terrible that there ought to be a law!! Or something about the regulation of super heros. (Whatever.) So they're going to call their Senator!! They whip out a cell phone and dial. Cut to a shot of the U.S. Capitol building from the outside. Cut to a clip of Adam on the phone in the Judiciary office. I can work on a little bit of scripting with Emily later ...

And voila!! Adam is in the movie!! All compliments of our little digital camera, which has a video feature on it.

I also still think that Jared's idea of the minion relationships (a la "Torpedo Boy is my brother." "Laura Ingalls Wilder is my great grandmother's cousin" etc.) should be added. Jared, I will lobby for this to be added to the script when Emily comes out here to DC. And if anyone says it's too late to work on the script at New Year's, they can just be quiet. It's my job to contribute to the script and I haven't gotten to do anything with the movie yet. So there.

A few items of business

Hi everybody!

I'm very happy that Christmas is so soon, even though it means I'm going to have to hustle to get a few projects done (burning DVDs, reading the Book of Mormon). But that's okay. It's worth it. Tonight Stevie is getting his first sitter and we're going to the temple for the first time since he was born (and to the Newport Beach temple for the first time ever) for a sealing assignment. I'm really looking forward to it.

I finished teaching my last class of the year yesterday, and thus ended a long string of classes that started in mid-October. Two solid months. I wasn't used to that pace, but it actually feels good to be back into the grind of teaching after many months (years?) of writing manuals.

Just a thought on the historic meetings of Tawnia, Emily, Mindy, and Clarissa (as well as others I'm sure) over the holidays. Could we get some of this on tape for the DVD? I'm seeing this time as potentially the most influential on the development of the movie, and I'd be interested to see how it all developed.

I'll be talking with each member of the family who has volunteered to work on the movie (Jared helped me out by calling me last night) and going over your role, what you've done, and what you have in mind for the future. I have a few ideas for the overall scheduling that I think will make this a very smooth and enjoyable experience, which is the whole idea.

Merry Christmas everyone and be on the lookout for the new Baby Stevie DVD!

It is done...

I have finished my Associates Degree. I have also done it getting a 4.0, so I am pretty pleased. I was a little worried a few times about what my grades would be, but I pulled it off. I am not done with the education thing yet though. I am not even close. But all is well in Palmerland, Salem edition.
Amanda is off at a Christmas party right now at 10:30 in the morning on a Wednesday, and then she is going to another one and then out to dinner with her staff. Holy Cow!!! That girl can party. I guess that leaves me with plenty of time to do the laundry, dishes, and clean up the rest of our home.
Tawnia- I am sorry that school live is stressful for you. You are doing a good job and I am sure that those kids adore you. If they don’t I will sit on them.

Nathan

A Break

I am REALLY looking forward to Christmas and having a break from my crazy life. I just don't even have time to breathe sometimes. Things are starting to calm down. I have things pretty much figured out for the rest of this month (all six days of school, hooray!) My big focuses now are grades for this term, and planning lessons for the month of January. Hooray... it's nice to be ahead. My only problem is, I tend to procrastinate. I need to stop doing that.

Anyway, on to a different topic.

As director of the upcoming family event I would like to invite any and all of you who have not been assigned a part, to please let me know which part you would like have. Also, for Emily and Clarissa... I would like to have a meeting on that first day I'm home (ie Dec. 23rd). It would be nice if we could have the story already storyboarded out for me to see. Then we can get a finalized script put together and start working on some other things. I realize that neither of you is a professional artist, but that's okay. We can have stickmen even. I want to start figuring out the different shots.

Anyway, I have to run.
Love,
T

DONE

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the conclusion of The One-Winged Dragon, I am pleased to announce that the story is now complete and ready to be read.

This is the second draft of the story, I might add. And I am already making plans for the third draft. All I really need to do is completely shred three chapters (four from my first draft, but I already dumped one because it was too anticlimactic). Colin is not going to met until chapter seven. Yes, he will be in the prologue, but then you won't see him again for a while. So he won't be jumping in and out of the story either. And I'm changing how they meet. Now it will be in an arena, facing each other during Joshua's trial by combat. Did I mention that he'll be arrested? I love being a writer. And if you think this is crazy, I am planning a sequel to The Sword and the Medallion, which will be about spies, a rebellion, and a soup spoon -- yes, a soup spoon.

Well, now you know what I've been up to lately.

comments option

What's the deal with the comments option for the blogger site here? I posted a comment on Jared's post about the movie page, and I can't see it. In fact, there are THREE comments on that post, not just one. If you click on "post a comment," you can see them ... but you don't know that they're there. Dumb. Anyway, I said that the O page, instead of being "oh no," should be "oops" instead.

Christmas festivities numero uno - tonight was the staff party for the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senator Specter's personal staff at the end of the work day, and I crashed it. I was intending to keep to myself - just meet a couple of people I've talked to on the phone numerous times with and call it good. I mean, I'm not Congressional staff in any way. But no. One of the executive assistants swooped down upon me and insisted that I get my picture taken with Senator Specter. So I did, with Adam too. Senator Specter put me between Adam and himself for the picture, and said I was "the rose between the two thorns."

more additions

I've completed the basic structure for the movie website. Some pages appear in their "finalized" forms, and others include comments about how they will eventually look when they are completed. Some links are dead, but each of the nine leading pages is there. Feel free to poke around and make any comments or suggestions. Remember, this is a "living document" and is open for amendment.

first order of business

Adam has just put together my new computer, so I am posting as one of my first actions on it ... he hasn't even installed all the programs yet, but I'm doing some messing around on the internet to "test" the keyboard and how the monitor works for me. He got it for me to do the medical transcription training this spring - our old computer was needing some major repairs and was just sitting here taking up space while we used his new laptop. (He got it for law school, and has also been using it in meetings down on the Hill.)

Today was a nice day off - I got a bunch of Christmas shopping done and other random errands. I also made dinner for a family in our ward who just had a baby on Friday. The new mommy (this is their 3rd) was one of the people who helped me last year with the miscarriage, so I was happy for the chance to return a similar favor.

Woohoo!

Yay for Nathan being done with his Associates Degree...and only one little technicality (a recommendation letter that is in the mail) away from being accepted at Willamette to start in January!! I am very proud of this wonderful husband of mine and just wanted you all to know it. As for me - life is stressful and crazy and I could fill up many posts describing it...maybe when all the students leave for winter break, I'll fill you in, but I'll see some of you tonight - yay for the Messiah performance, and I'll see more of you at Christmas, so there will be lots of filling in time then!

Well I'm off to wrap some presents so we can bring them over to Christmas Present Central to hopefully get them in the same boxes that will be sent from headquarters to California, Texas, and D.C. I'm sad to not be able to see all of you this Christmas...but only a few months til the reunion :c)

Love to you all,
Mandapandapalmer

belated

Sorry I didn't wish Dad a Happy Birthday on time - I was in Chicago for work, and I spent more time at Kinko's making copies than I did doing anything else. I put it all on my credit card and will get reimbursed for it all ... the director is going to have a FIT when he finds out how much I did. There's a reason we copy everything before going to the conference and ship it - because it's cheaper. (Really.) But I wasn't given all this stuff before we left - I got it in bits and pieces in Chicago (which explains the multiple trips). I was very careful to keep all my originals and mark on each receipt what the copies were for - you better believe I'm going to be pointing fingers back up the chain of command when my reimbursement form gets turned in.

I got home last night and can finally get on with Christmas (I did do a bunch of stuff before I left), but mostly, today I'm just glad that this trip is over and work will ease up for a while.

But regardless of all that ... Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

One left...

I only have one more final to go, and then I am done at Chemeketa... as far as I know. It is tomorrow morning at the Pentacle Theatre. I have a scene I have to do with another classmate. I think I have practiced more with Amanda than with my partner, so I wish Amanda was my partner.

Amanda was gone a lot of this evening shopping for two different giving trees and family and coworkers. That left me at home to do some dishes and watch World's Most Amazing Videos.

Amanda said that she hopes Brooke and Bryan really enjoy their presents because she has had a fun time with them. It is going to be a big pain in the butt to pry them from her fingers.

Nathan

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

So how does it feel being 59? You are a little closer to 60, and a little closer to retirement. I hope that you have a wonderful day today and that everything goes your way. I might write you a birthday poem later, but for now I need to study for my government final.

Love,

Nathan

Um, yeah me too!

I wasn't going to extend birthday wishes until tomorrow, but since Eric already did, so I guess it's all right now. So... happy birthday Dad!

I'm doing a rework of the Pure Chaos webpage. It will be a work in progress over the months until the movie is made, and even after, and I'll probably be asking for input in various forms. I've built the front page, and I've got a basic structure in mind for the subsequent pages. None of the links on that front page go anywhere yet except the letter H. And that one will, of course, change. As far as the music on the page, I want to change it out at some point for the actual theme music from the movie (after I write it, of course!). Does anyone recognize what music is on there right now?

Happy Birthday Dad!

I know it's early, but I wanted to be the first to wish Dad a happy birthday (on the blog anyway) and I am going to bed right now with a sore throat. I took some medicine and I'm going to try to get a lot of sleep tonight. I hope it works.

Well, we sure do love you Dad, and we're looking forward to your visit in a little less than three weeks. Stephen Frank (as one of our friends insists on calling him) is looking forward to meeting you. At least, I can only assume that he is.

Thanks for taking good care of us. Becoming a father has made me appreciate my Mom and Dad much more, and especially the role that you filled so well in taking care of our physical and spiritual needs. Thanks for doing all those "little" things that make such a difference in my life and I'm sure in the lives of all your children (and grandchildren).

Happy Birthday!

Update!

Hi all.

I just wanted to let you know that the Stevie Calendar has been updated. Check it out!

And, of course, there's more to come.

going for milk

So Tawnia and I were going out to get some milk. Instead of turning towards the store, she turned the other direction. I thought we were going to WalMart, but instead we went to the mall. We bought tickets for Harry Potter 4, and then went to take our pictures in the little photo booth thing that prints out strips of pictures. We needed dollar bills for that, but we only had change. No luck at the stores, so we just went ahead to see the movie. It was very good, so we were inspired to buy tickets for another movie - Pride and Prejudice. Between the two shows we found some girls who would give us some bills for the quarters, and we went and got our pictures done. Very fun and giggly. When we stepped out of the booth, Tawnia noticed that her phone was broken, even more than it had been before. We happened to walk past a T-Mobile stand, and within 15 minutes we had new phones. (I emailed the numbers to everyone earlier.) The movie was starting, so we ran to the theater, and sat and enjoyed another excellant movie. I reccommend both. By the time that movie ended it was 2 minutes after midnight, so we slid out to the car (it had snowed and iced over) and went home. We didn't end up getting milk.

Me Too

I added some pictures from our Thanksgiving celebration. They are in my digital pictures section. I'm working on a few other pages when I have the time, but I have lots of projects to finish up this month so I don't know when I'll get more pages ready to post. Can anyone think of a good Christmas question?

Love ya,
MOM

More updates

I have posted the next two chapters of "One-Winged Dragon" on my site. Enjoy reading them. More will soon follow.

Yesterday, JoAnne called and said she would like to me to read to her mother, so I went over there, and I read her "Firestone." She really enjoyed it. So I may go over there sometimes.

Addition to webpages...

I added a story to the stories section of my website. I am letting you know because Mom wanted to know when this happened.

Nathan

happy birthday

In honor of your birthday, Laurel, I have a small addition to my website .. my newest piggy bank! It is a small addition, but I'm hoping to have more after Christmas. Hope everyone is doing well - I'm off to work again today.

ditto

Happy birthday to Laurel from the Caudles! I hope you have a good day and that Stevie isn't too fussy.

Speaking of Stevie ... has everyone seen Eric's calendar on the Birdhouse page? Since he didn't mention it on the blog (and hasn't posted for ... however long), I just came across it myself. My new favorite picture is the one on Nov. 24. Could that double as one of Eric's baby pictures or WHAT??? And the one of Nov. 25 where he's looking over Eric's shoulder - Stevie's expression cracks me up. The calendar is a great idea for baby pictures, especially when they're changing so fast.

Emily, I like Jared's additions for the script - the phone call addition is good. "I'm busy" but playing computer solitaire ... we should add a couple of instant messenger windows as well so he can be chatting with people at the same time. REALLY not busy.

Also, the minions wouldn't just be singing ABOUT wanna-be super heros, they would BE wanna-be super heros. And introduce themselves. That would actually give the song a point for existing instead of just some random thing stuck in there. I hate the type of song in a musical that does nothing for the plot line. And when naming the "Captain Chaos is my dad" and Laura Ingalls Wilder and all those connections, don't forget to add "My grandpa was Shirley Temple's bodyguard."

Happy Birthday, Laurel!!!

Laurel,

I was hoping to be the first to post a happy birthday message at midnight last night, but I guess I can still be first, but at 11:55 instead. I hope that you have a happy birthday and eat lots of cake when Eric is back with you.

The Palmers

In response to Jared's suggestions

I like the suggestions and will see if they can fit into the script. However, I would not have the minions singing about the wannabe super heroes, just the actual ones like Havoc and Torpedo Boy. That was my thought.

Thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming, folks.

Chaotic thoughts

I had a few changes/additions I wanted to suggest for the movie script.

When Captain Chaos is on the phone with ACME Rent-a-Hero, asking about Invisible Girl, Super Runner, etc.

Chaos: Well what about you, can you come?

ACME: I uh.. I've got a lot of admistrative work I need to take care of here. Schedules, billing, that sort of thing. You know how it is.

Meanwhile the camera shows ACME playing computer solitaire or something.

When Skip and Torpedo Boy meet Havoc, I still liked Skip dressing up as Captain Chaos and pretending to be him.

Havoc: Who are you supposed to be?

Skip (doing Chaos's dramatic pose): I'm Captain Chaos.

Havoc: Nice try buddy. You can't fool me. I am Havoc! (pose) And Captain Chaos is my father.

Skip: Well, Super Funny is my, uh, roommate.

The other minions (I'm visualizing them as a gang of wannabe superheroes) start citing relationships to other superheroes, like "Green Lantern is my uncle" and "Underdog is my sister's pool guy"

Minion played by Mom: Laura Ingalls Wilder is my grandmother's cousin.

Minion played by Brooke: Torpedo Boy is my little brother.

Torpedo Boy: Hi! (He runs to give her a hug. She screams and runs away.)

Then the music starts and song and dance begins, introducing each of the wannabe superheroes in turn. Yes, I can even throw in "Skip to my Lou" at the end so fake Captain Chaos doesn't feel left out.

So what do you think? Good, bad, indifferent? What suggestions do other people have?

It's almost December

Mom reminded me that I needed to get my calendar updated... so I did. I also updated my and Michelle's Christmas lists. Some people have said they were still trying to decide what to get people. Don't worry, we really do have affordable things on our lists.

And More Snow

Today the only reason I find the snow significant is because I had to go out and stand in it in order to put kids in their cars.

My mice have been renamed. The tan one, formerly Sally Sue, is now named Ginger. The grey one, formerly called Betty, is now named Saphira. Saphira really likes her new home... especially the wheel for running around in. Ginger has been a lot more lethargic since moving in here. Hopefully she's doing okay. I really don't want to have a mouse funeral.

Anyway, I was feeling awful last night, but I'm feeling better today. I'm still at work and have tons to do... and I want to be out of here before it gets dark at 5:00.

Have a nice Tuesday everyone.
Love,
Tawnia

Yay!

Yay for having my own account! :c) Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving - I know we all have so much to be thankful for.

Love you all!
Manda

The ultrasound ...

... is scheduled for December 20. So when people say, "Do you know if it's a boy or girl?" you can answer that we will find out on Dec. 20. I still say it's a girl and refer to the baby as "she" and "her" (rather than "it") and I will be genuinely surprised if "she" turns out to be a boy. Our friends John and Muriel are due about 3 weeks before us, and they just found out that they're having a girl. Taylor says "That's what you think ..." because their ultrasound reading was "we think it's a girl but the cord is partially in the way." Heh. They have Ethan now, born in April. Not a girl.

I had another check-up this morning ... the baby's heartbeat came through strong and clear. She's doing fine. My sciatic nerve and right hip are not happy campers and I've already been in pain for about a week. The doctor said that sciatic pain is normal, but not usually this early. Lovely. It hurts to walk, particularly up stairs, and it really hurts when I'm going from standing to sitting or vice versa. I had to stop wearing my CTR ring this week - it's already left a mark on my finger. My wedding ring has been fine so far - it was a little loose anyway, so now it fits.

In other news, I have a new calling as of yesterday. I've been released as a ward missionary and Sunday School teacher, and now I'm the Primary pianist. There are 2 of us and we switch off, and the ward music director plays sometimes to help as well. So I'll actually have to play only one Sunday in December, because we're having only sacrament meeting on Christmas Day.

Mice

It has been a nice Thanksgiving weekend. Monday and Tuesday we had school. Wednesday I was able to sleep in, do a little bit of work for school, and then spent the evening making chocolate covered pretzels and playing cards. Thursday was turkey day. I woke up early, read my scriptures, watched the Macey's Thanksgiving Day parade and then had dinner over at the Bishop's. It was a lot of fun, and good food. Friday I spent a lot of money... but I only have a few more presents to buy, so that's good. Saturday I spent the day at the school getting ready for this next week. I am feeling a lot more prepared now, so that's good... and then I went to PetCo and bought my class petS. Yes, I bought TWO mice. They are female mice and they are very cute. One is tan and the other is grey. I currently call the tan one Sally Sue, and the grey one Betty.... but the kids will be giving them their official names on Monday. They are very tiny and fun to play with.

So there is the run down of my weekend. It was nice... but now I'm ready to get on with the next month so I can have Christmas break!!

Love,
T

Update

Hello, family.

I spent a lot of today working on my computer. I have added the first part of my latest story -- "The One-Winged Dragon" -- to my page. I hope you like reading it.

Emily

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving, I went to the movies with Sarah, Amber, and Jaron. We saw "Chicken Little," which is a pretty good movie, but what was more important was spending time with my cousins. I am grateful for all my family, for the good times that we are able to have, times when we visit, feast, and play games.

Yesterday, we went shopping, and Clarissa and I sang all the way down to Salem. I got some presents. I also bought a new winter coat, a really nice one. I'll post pictures soon. I will need it in Virginia. I am so thankful that I am going. I leave in a month.

Mom and Dad bought a new Christmas tree, one with lights already on it, but we haven't put the ornaments on it. We did put up the Christmas village and the Nativity scene. We'll finish decorating this evening.

thanksgiving 2005

On Thanksgiving morning, for the first time, I felt the baby move. I've felt it a couple of more times since then, always when I'm lying on my back very still. Yay! We are, of course, very thankful this year for each other, for all of you and the Caudle extended family, and for the gospel and the temple and the scriptures. It's also actually kind of nice when people ask us about our Christmas list, to be able to say that we don't NEED anything. We're not well-off by any stretch of the imagination, but we're comfortable and we were even able to pay off most of our debt this year. (Everything except student loans.) It's a good life. It's going to change A LOT in the next 12 months - I hope the next phase can be just as nice as this one.

I am thankful for ...

This weekend I was very thankful to be in Utah with Tawnia. This was the first time I celebrated Thanksgiving with a family member since 2001 (and that was with Tawnia too!). I wouldn't have tried to make pumpkin pie if I hadn't been here, and I wouldn't have had help making chocolate covered pretzels either. (By the way Tawnia, we need more pretzels and more colored chocolate.) And I'm thankful for the snow that is falling right now, to make it really feel like Christmas is coming soon!

So who is doing the costumes?

Vacation Update

I was going to give you a vacation report with my last post, but we were getting ready to leave for downtown Dallas. We visited Thanksgiving Square and also went up Reunion Tower. On Tuesday, we drove from Houston to Grand Prairie, and made stops in Huntsville and Corsicana along the way. In Huntsville we saw the gigantic statue of Sam Houston, and also the prison museum. The kids loved playing in the prison cell replica. In Corsicana we bought some candy at the Russell Stover factory, the went to the pioneer village. Again, the kids' favorite part was playing in the jail cell and the paddy wagon. Should I be worried?

Today most of Michelle's family is here. Three of her siblings are missing. Anthony's sub launched yesterday, and Trevor left the MTC yesyerday to go to Salt Lake City. Diana stayed in North Carolina; her husband is in the army there. Jeremy brought his fiance Diane to dinner today, but unfortunately we're not going to be able to make it to the wedding. They're getting married on Monday afternoon.

I don't know yet what we'll be doing the rest of the weekend. We plan to go to Fort Worth tomorrow or Saturday, but other than that we're pretty open. We'll be driving home on Sunday after church.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good morning my wonderful family,

I am very thankful for each of you and the special and unique part of my life that each of you are. This year I have a lot to be thankful for. A year ago I was unemployed, in school, and childless. This year I have a good job, a Master's degree, and the sweetest baby in the whole world. I am astounded at my blessings. I'm very grateful to be home for the holidays and to have everyone safe and healthy.

Today we're going to Whittier to have Thanksgiving with the Palmers. It should be a delight as always. We're looking forward to Christmas and New Year's, culminating in Mom and Dad's visit and Stevie's blessing day.

Again, we love all of you and hope that you'll be safe and happy.

Eric and Laurel

Happy Thanksgiving

Let me be the first to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! It's not quite Thanksgiving day here but it is for some of you. I hope you are all having a wonderful celebration and enjoying yourselves with friends and family. We're going to Deb's and there will be between 20 and 25 people there. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time.

In thinking of the holiday I'd like to mention a few of the things that I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for each of you, my family, for Frank and for each of my children and their spouses and my beautiful grandchildren and the new little one who will soon be with us. I'm thankful for the opportunity to keep in touch with each of you through the blog, email, the phone and in person. You keep me going. I'm thankful for the church and its teachings and I'm especially thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and all that he has done for me. I'm thankful to be an American and for the freedom we enjoy here in our country. I good go on and on but I need to get some sleep so we can celebrate this very special holiday.

Love always,
MOM

Good morning!

So here's the cast so far:
Captain Chaos - Dad
Archivist -
ACME Rent-a-Hero - Jared
Torpedo Boy - Bryan
Skip - Nathan
Havoc - Amanda
Minions -
Lawyer - Adam
other lawyers -
Egbert - Eric
Writer - Emily
Super Cute Babies - Stevie, Baby Caudle

Is that it?

Happy Anniversary, and so forth

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

Sorry you didn't hear from me since I left the homestead Sunday afternoon.

I had a nice time in Seattle (pronounced Sea-tull), but my flight to Denver was delayed in Alaska and I didn't get there until around midnight on Monday. Early this morning I guess.

But I survived and the classes went well today. Actually among the best I've had so far, surprising for the amount of sleep and food I've had since Sunday (not much). And the weather in Denver was beautiful, clear and 65 degrees.

The flight from Denver to Santa Ana was delayed on the ground, mechanical problems or something, but we made good time and Laurel had gone off to fuel up the car anyway, so the timing turned out to be perfect. I sat by Stevie on the way home and we stopped by Burger King and got Whoppers and Star Wars watches.

Jared

I saw on your Rita Relief page each paragraph began with a letter from the word Rita. Very clever.

Nathan

HAMD

Translation: Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

As far as I'm concerned, the Christmas season has begun. Thanksgiving is the first day of Christmas, and we're getting ready for it. Adam went grocery shopping this morning for the weekend, and I'm looking out my office window at the decorations on Union Station. There are 3 big arches on the front, and they put a HUGE wreath in each arch. They're really pretty at night because they're full of lights, so they become rings of light with a bow. We haven't walked around to see all the decorations inside yet - they have a really nice miniature train set in Union Station that apparently was a gift to the US from Norway. For FHE activities in December, we'll go see the lights and displays at the temple visitor's center and at the White House. The lighting ceremonies for both will be next week after Thanksgiving. The temple usually has an ambassador of another country throw the switch for their lights.

I just came across a press release on LDS.org - the Church is releasing a new movie about Joseph Smith to be shown at the Legacy Theater in Salt Lake. It will start on Dec. 17. AND, on Christmas Eve, it will be shown at temple and historic site visitor's centers all over the place, including here in DC. So maybe we'll head up there for Christmas Eve instead of staying home.

Updated Script

Hello, family.

After a discussion with the Producer of the family movie, I have rewritten the script. You may notice that there are some additional characters, and the ending has been changed. Please note that we still need to finalize the casting. I hope you enjoy it.

Mom and Dad, have a good anniversary and have fun with your new toy.

Emily
Writer and Mastermind of 2006 Palmer Family Movie

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

Ma and Pa-

Happy anniversary. I am sorry that it is happening on a Monday, but that isn't going to stop it from being a nice one, I hope. Go out to dinner or something, or make Clarissa make you something. Emily could make you something too. Don't you love how I volunteer others? Have a good last night with The Kitty formerly known as Phantom because we are taking him tomorrow.

Love,
Nathan

oh I forgot a couple of things on my list:
Soundtracks~
Labyrinth
Corpse Bride

Happy Family Time

Hi all,

I'm at the Palmer house in Oregon right now. I'm training in Seattle on Monday, so I came in for the weekend. I flew in last night. Today we had a meeting about the movie with Mom, Dad, Clarissa and Emily. We came up with some good ideas for the script.

We went to the Fry's store in Wilsonville and then to Costco. Mom and Dad bought a new video camera. Then we came home and Mom and Nathan and Amanda taught me how to play Settlers of Zarahemla. It was pretty fun, even though I lost. Amanda won, by the way.

I've been on the road all week. I was in Phoenix and Vegas, and this week I'll be in Seattle and Denver. I miss Laurel and Stevie, but I'll see them for Thanksgiving.

I'm going over to Nathan's house now. Gotta go. Bye.

addendum

While I was at work this evening, I realized that I did want a few specific games - like Boggle, Scrabble, and any other word type games.

my Christmas wish

My Christmas wish is that we will be able to schedule the ultrasound for the week before Christmas, and find out what the baby is so we can get on with the business of REALLY planning for the baby. We do finally have a boy name on the table - Michael William (not going back to Matthew - it doesn't feel right). We're sticking with Summer Marie for a girl. My other Christmas wish is that whatever this child is, he/she will let me go 10 minutes without feeling like I'm going to die if I don't eat something RIGHT NOW. It must be growth spurt week, because I haven't been able to get enough to eat for about 4 days now. I'm not avoiding food, and I am eating healthy stuff rather than empty calorie junk. We made a whole ton of spaghetti the other night so we'd have leftovers, and I polished it off within 24 hours. I just had a baked potato for lunch and now I'm eating applesauce straight from the jar.

As for gifts to wrap and put under the tree, I still don't know. I have plenty of things on a list to get for Adam - enough that he's not going to get them all. But I have no ideas of what to get for me, and Adam is at a bit of loss too. I'll think about it some more, and try to come up with something by this weekend.

Mindy's Wish List

DVDs -
  Pirates of the Caribbean
  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  Sweet Home Alabama
  Importance of Being Earnest
  Spirited Away
  Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
  Monsters Inc
  The Grinch That Stole Christmas (live action)
  Paycheck
  How To Steal a Million
  Much Ado About Nothing

CDs -
  Sountracks -
   While You Were Sleeping
   Legally Blonde
   Coyote Ugly
  Anything by -
   Mandy Moore
   Michelle Branch
   Hillary Duff
   Kelly Clarkson

Books -
  Any church books (I only have Teachings of Gordon B Hinckley and Miracle of Forgiveness
  Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series (all of it!)
  Phantom of the Opera
  Anything you've enjoyed and would like to share

Games -
  Group games, trivia games, board games, card games - I'm not too picky

Victoria Secret Vanilla lotion
Vanilla Musk perfume
Little bottles of lotion to go in my purse
New set of drawing pencils
Mechanical pencils (good idea Clarissa)
Nice pencil case
Flat Screen Computer Monitor

Posting, posting

1, 2, 3 (hehe... you know, instead of testing, testing, 1,2,3)

Okay, so we had pajama day today... I should have just forgotten about teaching math because the kids were WAY to hyper for that. I'm going to have to reteach these concepts next week or the week after anyway.... oh, well. That's life. We did have some good reaing moments though. It made the day REALLY long though. I'm not sure why.

Anyway, I have plans for tonight but no plans for the rest of the weekend. Maybe I'll go see a movie tomorrow.... I don't know. I'll probably end up back out at the school tomorrow... but I'm hoping to avoid it! I can do correcting next week. =) And then it will be Thanksgiving!!!! I'm very excited for the break. Everyone travel safe if they're traveling. Oh, and Mom and Dad... is it weekend minutes on the phone next Thursday?? I hope so, because I'd like to call everyone.

Love,
T

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone's Thanksgiving is nice next week. We are planning on going to my parents' home. Jared took all week off next week. We are hoping to use the first half of the week for a mini vacation, though we are not positive what we want to do yet. It should be a good week.

I sent Brooke back to school today after keeping her home yesterday for stomach flu. She also has ringworm on the back of her left thigh so I needed to treat that with antifungal cream before she could return to school. That is contangious too, of course. We need to treat the fungal infection for about 4 weeks total. Poor Brooke. We are doing good over all. I am excited about Jared being with the family for 9 days straight. Jared is, too. Besides having a cold, Bryan is doing great.

Michelle

a picture

When I read the script and read the part about Captain Chaos crashing into a billboard for Jungle Chicken I thought of a picture I once saw. If this picture is used, Amanda recommended putting an animated picture of Jungle Chicken into it, obviously to make it more Jungle Chicken authentic.

www.insanityinc.net/nathan/images/junglechicken.bmp

Nathan

A new video

This is a video that Amanda put together... It is pretty big, so if it takes up too much room I can take it off. Just let me know. But if it is ok I want to leave it on for a little while to give people (ie family, friends, employees) a chance to see it. Some of the music is by yours truly... that means me (Nathan).

www.insanityinc.net/nathan/images/earlylife.wmv

I hope you enjoy it.

Nathan

Clarissa’s Wish List

Books:
A Little Princess
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Any books based off the Andromeda TV series (I have the first one)

Mangas:
Fruits Basket (there are 12 in English so far)
Cardcaptors Sakura (6 volumes)
Cardcaptors Sakura: Master of the Clow (6 volumes)

Music:
Celtic Woman
Finding Neverland soundtrack
Peter Pan (live action) soundtrack
Phantom of the Opera (special edition movie) soundtrack

Movies:
Phantom of the Opera
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Andromeda

Sketch book
Mechanical pencils
Camera

Emily's Christmas List

Well, since it's time to start shopping, here are a few things I would like.

1. Books. In particular, I want the fourth book of the Star Wars X-Wing series: "The Bacta War" by Michael Stackpole (I have the first three books, and I really like them). And I want "The Tolkien Reader," which has some of his short stories and an essay on writing fantasy. And I want the novelization of the third Star Wars movie: "Revenge of the Sith," so that I'll have the books for all six. I like reading, especially fantasy and history.
2. Music. I would like some church music, such as "Light of the World" or a Michael McLean collection. And I like instrumental music and movie sound tracks. My favorite composer is John Williams.
3. Clothing items. A thick and fluffy scarf. Nice warm gloves. Thick happy socks. Sweaters and sweatshirts. Remember, I am going to be moving to Virginia in January, and I hear it can get very cold.
4. A wall calendar and a day planner.
5. Pictures to hang on the wall of my dorm room. Pictures of the temple would be nice -- my favorites include Portland, Nauvoo, Washington D.C., and L.A. Pictures of family members would also be really nice.
6. A camera. (I don't care at the moment if it's digital or film.)
7. Card games, like Skip-bo, Phase 10, Uno, etc.
8. Movies. I want some of my old favorites like "Willow" and "The Princess Bride" and "Star Wars."

I hope that helps. Merry Christmas!
Emily

New stuff from Jared

I had a very busy weekend as well. I spent all day Saturday in Vidor TX helping clean up from Hurricane Rita. Click on this link to read more about my adventures there.

Also, as Trina already mentioned, we were noticing that the request for Christmas lists was late in coming this year. Which is why I already had this "list"
made up. I hope you all enjoy it.

Brooke has all of Thanksgiving week off from school, so I decided to take that week off work as well. We're going to have a real family vacation, which will of course include visiting Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving dinner. Sorry, that's the otherGrandma and Grandpa.

I've typed a post twice and it didn't show up. SO - I substituted for my teacher today. I was nervous, but the kids were good. I survived.

target=blank

I do not know why this is happening or if it is just happening to me, but sometimes after looking around the family site for a while I will click on someone's link and a new window opens up instead of it opening in the center. I do not like that. I hope that it is just a silly computer thing that will go away soon. So if you did it on purpose, please make it stop. I am referring to the main subsidiary pages. If you do it within your page I am fine with that. I just figure what is the point of the center if it is not going to be used.

Nathan

PS I did look at the "View Source" and it shows that everything except for the pages that aren't subsidiaries should be opening in the center. What is going on?

Is it that time already???

Remember guys. I was called to the YW Presidency the end of July and school started in September with a new teacher, who isn't there anymore, (we have a long-term sub right now). And we've been making plans to see our new grandbabies and trying to figure out what and how to get the editing equipment for our movie. Yeah, I haven't started working on Christmas much, yet. But you're right, it's time to get busy and figure out what everybody wants. We're not going to have a lot of money to spend but we do want to get people what they want. SO SEND ME THOSE LISTS!!!

We've just had a nice three day weekend that was busy every single day. On Friday we were on our way to the temple when a tire blew on the van. We came back home and stopped on the way to look at the price of cars. We've decided to wait on that project. Then Dad took the van in and got the snow tires on, so when it's time to take them off they can just put new tires on it and we won't have to pay the $50. On Saturday we finally made it to the temple, then Costco, then we went to a couple of stores to look for editing stuff. When we got home we finished preparing our talks for Sacrament Meeting.

Today was one of my busier Sundays. I got up and reviewed my talk, and got dinner in the crock pot, then went to a YW Presidency meeting followed by a class presidency meeting. Then it was time for Sacrament meeting. After all the church meetings we had ward choir until nearly 3:00. When I got home it was almost time to get dinner on the table. After dinner we left for Messiah practice and I can finally change my clothes and relax. My sabbaths aren't days of rest lately.

I'm not really complaining about how busy I am. I guess I don't have to be in the choir, let alone two of them, but I love music and singing and it is a break from the stress of every day, because it's something different.

Love to you all,
MOM

lists

Jared and I were talking on the phone a little bit ago, and we were commenting on the same thing - that Mom hasn't asked for lists, and she usually does in September.

Tawnia, the church book you're referring to is called "Lead, Guide, Walk Beside" and it is by Ardeth Kapp. (I can see it on the shelf from where I'm at the computer.) Mom, this would be a good book for you as well in the YW presidency, because it's about good leadership traits.

I don't know that we necessarily have a Christmas list this year except that I'm trying to avoid the movie-book routine all around. We have plenty of both at the moment, and need to clear some things out before we add to the mess. I'm sitting here staring at the wall trying to think of anything that would be a good idea, but I'm totally blank. I'm like that a lot these days ... If you have questions, ask Adam what we want/need for Christmas. I have no idea.

My Christmas List

Well, since the majority of the things I want are priceless (as in, you can't go out to a store and buy them) I will give you the list of the non-priceless items I wouldn't mind getting for Christmas... even though no one has asked for a Christmas list yet (which is crazy since it's almost the end of November and Mom usually asks towards the end of September.)

1. Games! I really like this game called Apples to Apples. I would also like Settlers (either of Cataan or Zarahemla). I also wouldn't mind having Risk (the old school version NOT Lord of the Rings or any of those other ones that are out there.) Ummm... and I like other games too.
2. CDs. I would really like some good Church Music. I also like Disney. I don't have any soundtracks so those would be fun to have. And if Josh Groban has a Christmas CD I would like that. I would like the sound track to "The Majestic."
3. Books. I have a fettish for children's books... but most of mine are now residing at school and getting demolished by my students. I could always use new copies of things (even if I already have them... so don't worry about getting me something I already have.) The only thing I would not get me would be Harry Potter (those did not get taken to school.) I would also love church books. There is one that Trina had and I read back when I was RS president. I think it was by Ardeth Kapp... or something like that. Anyway, It was an easy read, but I really enjoyed it. And my favorite children's book author is Robert Munsch. I would also not mind getting some guitar music (Beginner is best!), piano music (I want the music to Cristifori's Dream), or music I can sing.
4. Movies.... well, there aren't a lot that I want. I don't have a lot of time to watch movies, but I wouldn't mind getting the newer version of Miracle on 34th Street. It's one of my favorites.
5. Food - Yeah, I like food. You could buy me that.
6. Socks (My happy socks got a hole in them. It makes me sad.)
7. Pictures of all my favorite family members
8. A note telling me how much you love me. Yup, that would be nice.
9. A digital camera. I would like to have my own so I don't have to always borrow Mindy's.
10. Tickets to fun events going on in Provo. (Two would be best, so I would have an excuse to get a date.)

Okay, so there you have it. A list of things that you can get for Tawnia. Yes, it was unsolicited, but I figured if I was going to get things I wanted, I should ask.

Love,
ME

Subsidiaries

To answer your question Dad...

http://www.junglechicken.com/animation/logo01.swf

not the Christmas boxes

I just put boxes in the mail this morning to Eric and Laurel, and Tawnia and Mindy. These are NOT the Christmas boxes. I've been meaning to send the box to Tawnia since September but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. For Eric and Laurel, most of the stuff in it is for Stevie - it coulda/woulda been a baby shower gift (if'n you'd told me before the baby shower when it was going to occur!) ... yes, I know I'm a slacker for sending it so late, but I did get sick right around the time he was born and haven't done a whole lot of anything for the last couple of months. AND, if he was born on time instead of jumping the gun so early, I would be on time with the presents. So there! Yes, I will do better with getting the Christmas boxes out on time.

T

Hey Dad - glad to know you're still around.

Emily - I'll have to read the script over the weekend when I actually have time and then I'll let you know my opinion on things.

Was there another question? hmmm... I don't think there was. I was going to try and make it to Stevie's blessing, but I don't think I can afford it. Plane tickets are way to spendy at that time of year (unless you buy them way in advance.) I do have a long weekend in January, with MLK day.... maybe I'll look at going out to Cali then... or during my "spring break". Unless I'm still invited to road trip with Nate and Manda this summer.

Anyway, I do need to get to work. My TA is gone for the rest of this week and all of next week... which means that life is going to be interesting for me.

Love,
T

Updated Script

The second draft of the 2006 movie is now available for your reading pleasure, including a few more details, some changes to the plot, and writer's notes which detail where everyone's suggestion would be welcome. I am the mastermind behind the story, but you are the family, and this is a family project. Also, if anyone wants to volunteer for certain parts, it would be appreciated.

Emily Palmer
Writer of the 2006 movie: "Pure Chaos, " an Insanity Incorporated Production.

Stevie's Blessing

I tried to post a comment but it doesn't seem to be showing up.

Stevie's blessing will be January 1, 2006. Mom and Dad will be in California for it, which is why we're putting it off until then.

money money money!

Over the weekend, I applied at a temp-agency with my neighbor Natalie. We were hoping to get a seasonal job, the one that she had last year, but that hasn't happened yet. Instead, we got a phone call today, for a job for the next three days - which works out good, because I don't work at Subway for the next three days. I leave at four this afternoon, and I'll be back at 2AM .. for the next three days. For $8 an hour (instead of the $5.15 I'm making now), I'll do it! And I don't have to worry about quitting Subway (which I'm strangley hesitant to do), so it works out. It is long hours, but I'm making more money in one night at this job, than I did in the last two weeks at Subway. I'm excited.

And Eric, when is Stevie's blessing?

I finally did it

I beat Adam at Scrabble.

I have to go finish the dishes and Adam is studying for a test. But I just wanted to say that. Thank you.

Change

I haven't answered the question about change yet. I'm one of those people that does not deal well with change. I think the only reason I'm able to make drastic changes is because I feel very strongly prompted by the spirit.

Sorry Mom, I just realized that this is probably to late for you to see before your Young Women's lesson. Oh well.

-T

Good-bye, Kittens

Dad put up a sign at PetCo that we had free kittens, and we got a call from a woman who lives in Dayton, and she came over with her two little girls and she let them each pick a kitten. They took Mr. Teeny and Mousie (who was quickly renamed Fiona). I think the mom might have wanted Yami more, but Mousie is softer and was not as feisty. So, now we have only one more kitten and one mama cat that need homes.

I need to know everyone's T-shirt size. It has to do with your Christmas presents. Please put you response in the comments or e-mail me. I need them as soon as possible. Thank you.

baby

It was Adam that posted the ultrasound picture, so thank him. I can't see it very clearly, so I wouldn't have posted it.

I had my next doctor's appointment today and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was cool! He put a stethescope type thing on my tummy with some kind of gel, and there it was. It would fade in and out - he'd find it, the baby would move, and then he'd have to find it again. It was kinda funny. It was very, very distinct. It looks like I may be able to have the full ultrasound the week before Christmas instead of waiting until after the holidays. We'll see how the scheduling goes. Anyway, hearing the heartbeat makes it a little more real ... because even with my clothes not fitting and getting sick to my stomach at the slightest thing, it's still not quite connected in my brain that I'm actually pregnant.

I'm very happy that Halloween is over so we can get on with the business of Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's - the REAL holidays. It's going to be good this year.

Yes, I hate that

Well Nathan,

There are a lot of companies out there that will register your domain name for you. I've found that it can go for as low as $10 a year, and generally it's less than $20. The one I've used most recently is www.mydomain.com. The site includes a search tool to find out if the domain name you want is available.

The next step is to get a hosting service. You might have some space with your ISP, the domain name registration site might offer hosting services, or you can do what I did and find another company that will provide your hosting. I have used 1dollarhosting, but for insanityinc we use Exist Hosting ( www.existhosting.com ). They have decent rates for lots of space.

The final step is to let your domain registration site know (usually through a web form) where your space is, so they know where to point the name to. Your host will tell you what that information is. It's the name of the proxy servers for web and email.

And that's it. There's probably better explanations on the web of how all that works, but there's my version, composed with less than half a brain (tonight anyway... I'm rapidly shutting down).

Nathan

Changes

I like changes. I look forward to them. My next big change will be going to college in Virginia, and I am really excited about it. I have had changes before -- moving to Salem with my sisters, going to Disney World, and coming home again to go to Chemeketa. I think change is good. The best way to be prepared is to make plans and learn what you are getting in to, but be flexible. Maybe things won't go according to plan, but it can still be good.

hey wait a minute!

I was so happy to get my Christmas box, that I failed to notice that you forgot to put my Christmas CD's in it, which was the whole point of sending it in the first place! If you could send me another package that has my CD's, I'd really appreciate it!

it came already!

Hey Mom and Dad - the package that you put together got here today! I was very happy to see it, especially since I wasn't expecting it yet. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my ornaments just yet, but I'm sure we'll have a Christmas tree in the next few weeks. Gloves and scarves are always good to have too. Thanks! I'm really looking forward to being home for Christmas, it's just a matter of figuring out what to get for people.

Change. Yeah, I've been through that. Getting married, being married, not being married, living with roommates again .. anything that I could have done to better prepare?? Looking back I see so much I could have done, but I think I was too stubborn at the time to really pay attention. My advice? Look to your parents, church leaders, siblings, etc. for guidance. I know I thought I knew everything, but boy I didn't. I don't regret what happened though, because I've learned so much, but it will definately prepare me for the future. Also, stay close to the spirit, for it really really helps you figure things out, even if you think you know what you should do - because sometimes it isn't what you think. And if you experience some change you aren't happy with, then lean even closer on the spirit, and everything will work out in the end. As I like to say, if everything hasn't worked out, it isn't the end.

I hate it how you press enter after typing in the title and the post publishes.

I was just wondering, Eric, how you get a webpage with a certain name. Like you have junglechicken.com, ericpalmertraining.com, laurelpalmer.com, etc. How and where do you acquire these?
Nathan

Eric

Change

I like collecting foreign change. Currency is cool too, but I have always liked the metal more than the paper.

The most that I have changed in my life is my clothes. I change them almost every day. At least part of my ensemble like my hat or socks. Change in life is good, because it teaches us how to live life to its fullest. If Heavenly Father did not want us to change, He would not have created this earth and given us the option of becoming something greater. The world is changing around us, and if we are not willing to change some things, there is no way that we will survive. Even our testimonies should change. They should continuously be growing, because there really is no stagnant part to a testimony. I think that it is either getting greater or smaller.

Nathan

My life is all about change

It's funny too, because I don't handle change well. Probably the biggest change in my life was becoming a mother. I definately could have been better prepared. I guess no one is ever really ready to become a parent. I was only 19 when I got pregnant. I could have been more informed. I had no idea kids got sick this much. It is far harder that I could have ever imagined. I knew babies woke up at night, but I didn't know that continues through the toddler years (only louder and accompanied with middle of the night tantrums). More knowledge of child developement may have helped. I had never even held a baby before Brooke, more or less changed a diaper. It doesn't really matter though, if I knew then what I know now, I would do it again in a heartbeat. There is no words to describe love for my children, the way I felt the first time I held them, or how proud they make me. I think that I could have sought the guidance of the Lord more through prayer and drawn closer to the Savior. After all we are sealed together for eternity. I just don't think it would be heaven without my loved ones. That definately includes all of you.

Michelle

Happy New Month

It's November! Time for a new question? What changes have taken place in your life and could you have been better prepared for them? How? Maybe I'll use some of your answers in my lesson this Sunday, (we always have a combined lesson in YW on fast Sunday.) Our lesson is on preparing for change. You have given others good insight in preparing lessons so now it's time to help Mom.

Thank you Trina for including the ultrasound picture. Isn't technology exciting? I'm really looking forward to seeing her or him, next summer. We're going to have such an exciting year. In less than two months we'll get to go see Stevie. I can't wait. I look for new pictures every day. You don't have any other hiding spots, do you Eric? By the way, that was an interesting commentary on Moby Dick. I don't think I ever read that book.

I sure love all of you and look forward to your answers.

Love ya,
MOM

Happy All Souls' Day

Happy All Souls' Day.

Nate - Bill Frist (R - TN) is the Senate leader under investigation for insider trading. He's also considering a run for President in '08.

The main reasons I don't like Fox News are: 1) They never report anything unfavorable about Republicans, 2) Most of their commentators are political hacks of the ultra-right who aren't very pleasant to listen to. This is quite a bit different than the NYTimes, which, while most of it is left, also has a few right-wing reportors (Judith Miller) and will criticize everyone with equal abandon. The NYTimes isn't known for accuracy anymore, after Judith Miller and Jayson Blair.

Hmmm...

Eric-
Trina posted all of that stuff because I made mention about not knowing everything that was causing a "bad week for Republicans."

Trina-
"The Senate majority leader is under investigation for insider trading on the stock market, which is the same thing that Martha Stewart went to jail for last year."
Who is this exactly?

Adam-
You first told us to read NY Times even though it was a "liberal sheet" and then told us not to watch Fox News because it was biased "kinda like the NY Times". As far as I know, most of the blog contributors are Republican and I do not understand why we would then want to read a paper that contradicts what we believe and makes us look bad, and not even think about looking at something that twists the truth (if that is really what it does) in our favor. Perhaps no one should read or watch either.

Mindy-
I went to Subway the other day and I thought of you. I think that you would have done a better job helping us than the people did at the Subway we went to.

Baby Picture!

Isn't she/he so cute?! Yes, this is a picture of the picture of the baby. I hope that it's visible to everyone. This is at nine weeks. She's/he's just so cute! As a way of explanation, the two appendages sticking out (right-center) are the arms, I think. I think that the big blob on the right hand side is the head and egg sack, but I'm not so sure. Anyway, it's very cute!

Darth Tater from the Ghetto

In my defense, I would like to point out that Trina is also very strange.

Monday

We have a Darth Tater Mr. Potato Head, and Adam has just turned Darth Vader's cape into a doo-rag, complete with a rubber band. Oh my. It's Ghetto Mr. Potato Head. He's taking pictures of it with the digital camera. My husband is very strange sometimes.

Tomorrow is the 2-year anniversary of when Adam and I met at Beth's Death By Chocolate party, which we are going to tomorrow night. Adam is going as a ... well, he can't tell you. And he can neither confirm nor deny that he will be at the party. I am going as a media leak, and will very casually listen to conversations while typing on the palm pilot. We have made the super-whammy chocolate cake and added a layer of straight fudge, AND we made the frosting orange colored and orange flavored. It's going to be GREAT!!!! And deadly.

Sunday

Isn't it great that family's can be together forever

info on the world

I'm not sure if Eric was being sarcastic with the "thousands of websites" comment, but here are a few that you might consider reading. Since everyone really should be aware of what the President and the Congress is doing (as it affects YOU personnally), you ought to read at least some of what's going on.

www.cnn.com
New York Times It's a liberal sheet, but sometimes accurate and provides an interesting counterbalance.
Washington Post If you don't read the Wall Street Journal, it's one of the best in the country.
The Economist Always interesting to see how the Brits view us.
Reuters Aside from being a little on the short side, what they do have is fairly accurrate without a lot of spin.
ABC News They're about the only news network without major egg on their face.

Don't read or watch Fox News, as it's about as biased as you're going to get, kinda like the NY Times. And yes, I read all of those websites daily, or close enough. I skim them on the weekends. Why, you ask? My job is to be aware of what's going on in the world and how it relates to Senator Arlen Specter, my boss, and the Judiciary Committee, where I work. You don't have to be so involved, but having a good understanding of what's going on in your government is important. Have fun reading stuff. Be sure to include the op-ed pieces.

Adam

DST

Has everyone set their clocks back?

The Writer Speaks

Thank you for all of your comments and thoughts. I welcome any opinions and suggestions.

Mindy, I realized I had left Super Funny out of the first draft, but he will be there. "He's on vacation." Eric, maybe they could call the Rent-a-Hero again and thus enlist the help of the Super Cute Babies at the end.

I know I have little on the character development, and that needs a lot of work. I just wanted to get the basic structure and plot outline, as well as a few of the jokes we might use. Yes, they are family jokes, but this is a family movie. If we could put other family movies on the DVD, that would be great, especially because that is where a lot of the jokes originate. (The toilet joke comes from "Day at the Beach," and the the idea of renting a hero comes from "Super Kids.")

I know that the end really needs a lot of work, and it will have to be rewritten, but I have not gotten that far with it yet. I didn't want to just abruptly end the script in the middle of the chase scene, so now we have something to work off. I was basing it off the suggestions giving during our chat. (Eric wanted basketball, and Mom wanted an alien named Egbert, and someone suggested that the babies save the day.) We'll figure it out.

More on the Movie

I wrote a few notes for the writers and linked to them on the movie page. Please take a look and let me know if they're helpful.

I loved the kitten movie. Laurel and I watched it together. I think Nathan did a great job on it. Editing video is a lot of fun, hey? I figure that if the folks don't have a new computer yet we can use Nathan's. Of course, they may not need a new computer to make it all work. Anyway, we'll see.

I would be happy to do the animation sequence at the beginning. It'll take some time, and I'll work with everyone else on it (for sound, music, etc.), but it's something I know how to do and would enjoy doing. I'll probably also do some credits and such, but I'll take my cues from the director and wait until the script is in a more final form.

DC recap

To summarize briefly for those who do not understand Adam's "bad week to be Republican" comment, here is what is going on in the city:

1 - the 2000th soldier was killed in Iraq this week. This is a big deal, particularly in the increasing "Bad President Bush for sending our military there!" sentiment which is no longer confined to the "bleeding heart liberal" crowd.

2 - Harriet Miers withdrew from her Supreme Court nomination yesterday. She wasn't particularly impressive in her personal meetings with the Senators, the Senate Judiciary actually asked her to redo her questionaire because it was so full of holes, a lot of people were suspicious because she's Bush's personal attorney, and the far right conservative groups (also known as Bush's base) went ballistic because she was not guaranteed to rule against abortion.

3 - The entire city has been at a fever pitch of speculation because a number of high-ranking White House staff are under investigation for the deliberate naming of an undercover CIA agent in the media, which is a federal felony. This investigation has actually been going on for a year or 2, but this was the week that the indictments would be handed out for criminal behavior. The result: Vice President Cheney's chief of staff was indicted today with 5 charges and immediately resigned. Karl Rove, also known as President Bush's brain, is subject to further investigation. Rumor has it that there's a 3rd person.

Congress is not off the hook either. We have 2 more for you that happened last week.
- The House majority leader had to step down from his leadership position (not resign his seat unless he's convicted) because he was indicted and arrested for money laundering and illegally manipulating campaign funds. He is from Houston, so I'm sure Jared has heard about this one.

- The Senate majority leader is under investigation for insider trading on the stock market, which is the same thing that Martha Stewart went to jail for last year.

So ... yeah. It's a lovely time to live and work in our nation's capitol ... never a more wretched hive of scum and villiany (or however the line goes). My prevailing thought right now is that I'm glad the Supreme Court stuff has been put on hold - even if Bush named a new nominee today, the hearings still wouldn't happen until January. That means that Congress can just finish up the budget stuff in the next couple of weeks and LEAVE for all the holidays and not come back until after New Year's, and we can have some peace and quiet around here.

Amanda says...

Hmmmm...I think I'd like to help Tawnia (and Mindy if she was already planning to also...it could be a directing team!)...I'm not much of an animator. I like editing things...I like acting in things...I like to watch all you silly Palmers do fun things (oh wait...I'm one, too). I explained to Nathan why Adam was saying that it was a bad week for Republicans...he hadn't heard all the craziness that's happened today and in the past couple days. He was just saying his comments to be funny and didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, and thinks it would be just fine for Adam to be the advisor. He also wanted to state that he is still having a good week. As far as my opinion on the inside jokes topic...I didn't get a lot of them, but I don't mind that. I like seeing all you native Palmers laughing about old times, and I think the showing of old movie clips would solve everything! I also don't think the movie is something that I personally would be sharing with a lot of people...more enjoying the wonderful process and laughing with the family when it's over. Sooo because of that, I don't think it's that bad to have a lot of inside jokes! That's what families share when they "reune" anyway, right? :c) Love you all! What did you think of the wonderful Squeakers video? G'bye!

Mom the Gopher?

I didn't have to work today so Dad decided to take the day off, too. We all went to the dentist, then to lunch at Olive Garden. All the soup and breadsticks you want for $4.50 isn't bad. Dad and I went to the temple while the girls hung out at the bookstore. When I called Clarissa she was very excited to learn that "The Forgotten Carols" will be playing in Portland on Nov. 21st. I haven't checked the price or availability of tickets yet.

As for the movie. It sounds like everyone is working hard on it. I can't be the animator because I can't draw very well. I recommend we have one of our artists take on that job. I thought I'd be the gopher and help out wherever I'm needed. Or, I could possibly be the sound editor and help add the music and any voice overs to the final production. I'm not sure how to do that either but we're going to try to get an editing program and whatever hardware we need so we can edit all our old movies onto DVD. Maybe that will be our Christmas present to each other this year. If we're able to do that I'll work on learning how to do the sound. The other possibility is cameraman. Clarissa wants to set up the shots as cinematographer but not necessarily to shoot them. Since I plan on taking a minor roll in this production, I could film it. Tell me where you want me.

Recap

Okay, so now Emily and Trina have plenty of feedback and ideas to work with. I, for one, will now back off from my position as unofficial assistant scriptwriter and let the official assistant scriptwriter step in. I know I'll have plenty to contribute once the script is in place.

Michelle has said she may be willing to step in as choreographer, since she has two years of dance training from high school. I guess that makes her the most qualified. I thought she was very sweet to make the offer. Michelle is such a wonderful person.

Tawnia, I like all your suggestions for the final DVD product. I think including some of the films that the inside jokes come from is a stroke of brilliance. I'm so glad you're the director. Including a "Making of" made me think we should also keep the section of the website devoted to the movie, since it is an Insanity Incorporated production. I'm willing to volunteer as webmaster, or historian, or whatever, for the project. On that note, Emily, could you send me the transcripts of the IM chats we've had, as well as any subsequent ones I'm not involved in? Anything relavent to the filmmaking process, send it to me and we can preserve it for future generations. Maybe the website could fill in for the "How to Make a Movie" idea. I want to make it more than just links to the conversations and script drafts (though those will be there), I am thinking of an indepth look at the process, what went right, what can be done better in future productions, etcetera. No I will not do any of this analysis until after the final product is complete.

Anyway, we still don't have an animator, and Mom and Nate and Amanda have not volunteered for any specific positions. Mindy's name was out there as assistant director, but she hasn't accepted or declined the position... at least not on the blog anyway.