Friday night Princess gad a group of friends that wanted to so see Twilight. Of course, this movie was selling out all night. Princess told me that if they couldn’t get tickets they planned to just “walk around” at the outdoor mall where the theatre is located. This was not okay with me as: a) Princess is only 14 and it gets dark at about noon these days, it seems, and b) it was freezing cold Friday night. Therefore, I took her to the theatre about an hour and a half before the movie started and bought 5 tickets for Princess and her friends with the understanding that said friends would give her the cash for the tickets and she would return it to me. I told Princess that in honor of her first “friends only” movie outing, her ticket was on me.

Now, each movie ticket is $9.75, so the total bill was almost $50. I sat with Princess in the parking lot in a heated car until her friends showed up. When I picked her up that night she had no money. Here’s the breakdown of the 4 extra tickets:

1. One friend didn’t show up. 2. One friend bought Princess $10 worth of candy at the concession stand in lieu of giving her the cash. 3 & 4. ???  Arrgh!

By the way, everyone in my family has seen this movie now and we all loved it. It is very rare for me to love a movie if I’ve read the book, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how much this one stuck to the original story. Many of the best quotes are straight from the pages of the book. However, Bucket and I saw a matinee so Ifigure I spent a total of about $60 to see this movie. I’m just not sure ANY movie is worth $60…

Tonight was a mellow night for the Crazykidfamily. We had some spagetti, watched some TV. Everything was going just fine. Then the boys had some ice cream and suddenly all the cushions were off the couch and the loveseat. Forts were being constructed, boys were giggling and yelling. Princess was turning the TV all the way up so she could hear over the ruckus. These are the nights when I go crazy, but also, somehow, the nights that make it worth it.

I rarely write much about Pitcher. Of all of our children, he is the one I struggle to connect with. He’s 16, and has all the attitude to go along with it. Understand that since Bucket works nights and my stepchildren see their biological mom a total of 4 days a month, I am the one that ends up handing down discipline most of the time. Therefore, he has chosen me to rebel against. At least that’s my theory.

Pitcher got a job over the weekend at a local fast food restaurant. This is a beautiful thing for many reasons, not the least of which being that he could use a healthy dose of reality. He’s not a very social person, and I think he struggles a lot with that. Anyway, my point is that ever since he got the call about the job, it seems like he has grown up a bit. He has started getting himself up in the morning, instead of waiting for Bucket to drag him out of bed. Last night he cleaned his room with no prompting. Tonight he went to a high school basketball game with friends. I am hoping this is the beginning of a new era. I’m trying hard not to react to it, and to remember the struggles I had with my dad when I was his age.

I’ve said all along that being a stepmother is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, even harder than being a mother. It is especially hard with a 16-year-old boy as I have never had to relate to such a creature. Keep your fingers crossed that things are going to continue to look up on this front…

I am lucky to have a husband that understands me on a level I didn’t think was possible. I spend five days a week, at a minimum, as a working mom. I tend to the needs of four children pretty much on my own. It’s exhausting, but in many ways extremely fulfilling. But it often leaves me feeling like my whole life revolves around the needs of others. I recognize that this is a part of motherhood, believe me. And most days it doesn’t bother me much. But the last week really got to me and I started to need, desperately need, a little me time. I didn’t have to ask for it. Luckily, tonight my darling Bucket went to get the kids and left me here for three hours of time to myself.

So, instead of doing anything even remotely productive, I am sitting here at the computer downloading music and just zoning out. I’m planning to continue zoning out for another hour, and then take a long shower. I think everyone should have this kind of time. Kids or not, I think women tend to spend a lot of time taking care of the people in their lives. I’m glad I have someone that understands I need to take care of myself sometimes. (As an aside, I am currently listening to Garth Brooks. The song is “Much too young to feel this damn old.” Is that applicable to this post or what?)

Today taking care of myself is nothing but giving my brain a break from thinking about anything but silly online games and daydreams…

Yesterday was a movie day. Theoretically, none of our kids are home this weekend. So Bucket and I, feeling supremely lazy yesterday, spent all day yesterday watching movies and sleeping. We went to the theater to see Zack and Miri make a Porno (Classic Kevin Smith. If you like his stuff, you’ll love this movie. Not for the kids, if the title didn’t tip you off). Then we rented 30 days of darkness and Chapter 27.

30 Days of Darkness is a vampire movie. I have to be honest with you, I thought it was ridiculous. Now, I will grant you that I am currently stuck in the world of Twilight, in which vampires are basically just like people that drink blood. In this movie vampires are monsters. They are somewhat animal-like but also completely cruel. This interpretation just doesn’t make sense to me. First of all, if people are food to you, and you are basically just an animal, why would you have a need to torture your food? I’ve never felt the need to beat up my hamburger before I ate it, or scream at it or anything. Just saying.

Now, on the last movie we saw was about the assassination of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman. I grew up with all things Beatles and I am ashamed to admit that I can’t tell you how much of this movie is real and how much is fiction. I am fairly confident that most of this movie is fictionalized. Either way, it is one of the slowest-moving films I have ever sat all the way through. By the end I was thinking, “Kill him already!”

There are my movie reviews. This weekend I’m going to go see Twilight, of course. I’ll keep you posted.