New Movies Set in the Harry Potter Universe

Harry Potter cosplayers from the D*C 2007 Parade

It was announced today that new movies set in the Harry Potter universe have been green lit by Warner Bros. The movies will be based on one of the textbooks, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with the story supposedly following the author, Newt Scamander, as he writes the book.

While I love Harry Potter, both the books and the movies, I’m not sure how I feel about this. It seems like a money grab a bit, but on the other hand I’d love more from the Harry Potter Universe.

I’m sure I’ll go see the movies though, since I am a geek. Hopefully they will be as soon as the other movies in the Harry Potter Universe.

What do you all think of the news of new movies?

One Month Until Disney!

Dressed as Sophia & ready for Disney World!

Today is a special day for me that doesn't have anything to do with the events of 12 years ago today. Today is exactly one month until we go to Walt Disney World!

I've talked about my previous trips and I’ll finish up my write up of my Disney honeymoon soon. Disney World is my favorite place in the whole world. It was only three months after we got back from our last trip that I became pregnant with Emily.

Since I was pregnant, I've been dreaming about taking her to the World. When we were on our honeymoon, Todd and I both decided that we wanted to wait until our child was old enough to walk on her own and be potty trained. We originally thought about waiting until her 6^th birthday.

Because of the way the school cut-off falls in NC, Emily is still in preschool this year. Because of that, I convinced Todd that we should go this year instead of next year because she wouldn't be missing actual school. My logic won out and I started planning our trip in earnest in March of 2012.

I've been working with a great travel agent over at MouseFan Travel to get everything set. My travel agent, Sara, was able to get us the coveted Be Our Guest reservation as well as a great early reservation for the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We are also lucky enough to get to try out the new Magic Bands!

There have been several things that nearly derailed our trip. First, Emily had to have dental surgery back in

May and we weren't sure if we could afford both.  We were able to come up with the money and Emily’s teeth have been very healthy since her surgery.

Then about a month ago, things got very bad for Todd at his job forcing him to find a new job. Thankfully he

found a new job that he likes a whole lot better right away, but it made me a little nervous for a while there.

But here we are, one month away and everything is all set. Our trip is paid off and mostly I just need to pack. I got Emily a Sophia the First dress last week for the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and even made her a countdown chain.

She’s excited but I know I’m more excited than she is. It’s been a heck of year but in 30 days I’ll be in my favorite place in the whole world and that will make everything better.

9/11 Memories

Image: Wikipedia.org

Since today is 9/11, I thought I post some memories I have of that day in 2001.

I was still in college at that point and living with some friends. I didn't have any early classes that day so I had been in my room playing a video game all morning. My door had been open and one of my roommates popped his head in to tell me that there was an attack in New York.

Classes ended up being canceled so I spent most of the day watching the news in shocked horror. A bunch of people ended up coming over to our apartment but we didn't talk much.

I did end up on the phone with my mom, who told me to go get gas in my car. I went out by myself for some reason and it was eerie out there. There were hardly any cars out except for the long lines at the gas stations. I had to wait a while to get gas and it was so quiet despite all the people also waiting to get gas.

I also ended up going out with some friends to get gas in their car. That was a little better because we were talking some and it wasn't so lonely.

The next few days were strange as well as more news came out about the attacks. It was a sad and strange week for me because my grandmother passed away a few days after 9/11 happened.

Eventually things resumed normalcy, but on this day I’m always taken back to the horror of that day. I didn't know anyone who died in either New York, the plane that went down or the Pentagon, but it was still something that I think changed everyone in America that day.

Chronic Pain and Suicide

My two big reasons for living

I was reading the blogs I follow yesterday and I came across The Bloggess’ post about Suicide Prevention Week. Her post has some great links to where you can get help if you are feeling suicidal. But I thought I’d talk a little about chronic pain and suicide.

When I was a teenager, a friend of the family committed suicide. He was in a dead end job and his wife had just left him. Since I was so young, I saw things more in black and white. I couldn't understand why anyone would take their life. Now that I’m older and have more life experience, I can understand it a little more.

It always makes me sad when I hear that someone with chronic pain has committed suicide, but I can understand. I've had those thoughts myself sometimes. I've never been really suicidal, but some days when the pain is really bad and I get really depressed, it’s hard not to have those thoughts.

Living with chronic pain is hard even on the good days. I’m one of the lucky ones. I can hold a job and do fun thinks like Dragon Con and Disney World. But sometimes the pain levels get unbearable. This past Sunday night I was in a lot of pain and Todd was working. I was going down the path of bad depression, but I wasn't suicidal thank goodness.

I have had vaguely suicidal thoughts in the past, especially when my chronic pain first started. Chronic pain plus depression and anxiety is not a good combination. I've thought about how I would do it but that’s as far as it’s ever gone.

There is so much to live for. For me, I have my wonderful husband and child, plus all my friends and family. And I’m a Christian so I don’t really want to tempt fate / Hell by taking my life. I just try to take it one day at a time.

I hope that if I became truly suicidal, I would get help. Life is precious, even with chronic pain.

The Birthday Party Gauntlet

A few weekends ago, Emily was invited to two back to back birthday parties. Originally, Todd planned to come with us, but since he got a new job where he works on the weekend, I had to endure the birthday parties solo.

Now I don’t mind taking Emily to parties, but I’m an introvert and a geek. It’s hard for me to make normal conversation with people sometimes. So the whole afternoon was really tiring – it made me think of the episode of Hercules where Xena has to go through the gauntlet. Of course, with less hitting and pain than she had to endure.

The first one was an outdoor pool party. It’s been unseasonably cool for August

in NC, so it was I wasn't sure if Emily would want to swim. She did and ended up having a great time splashing in the pool and tossing water balloons. Though she would stop playing every little bit because she want her towel and want me to hold her. My pants got a little wet.

I talked with the other parents. The mom of one of the birthday girls and I talked about Disney since they are going a few weeks after we are. The same birthday girl’s grandmother is someone I know from church so I talked to her a bit too. I also took a lot of pictures on my phone.

As the time when on, it got even more overcast and Emily got cold. We got her changed and then it was time for cake. They had a bunch of food to munch on plus hotdogs so we were able to have a good lunch. There was cookie cake too which Emily liked, but was more interested in getting more

fruit.

We left with just enough time go get across town to the 2nd party. At this point, I was starting to feel tired. I hadn't slept well the night before since Todd had been working all night and it was starting to catch up with me.

The 2nd party was a Dora themed party at the Little Gym. The kids got to run around and play on gym equipment while the Dora theme song played over and over. This was the most painful part of the day because I don’t like that song even once. But dozens of times got to be very grating on my ears. The guy running the party would stop the song o’ doom to do some activities with the kids. They played with a bouncy mat, got to run around after bubbles and had some fun with a parachute.

Emily’s best friend, William, was there so she spent most of her time running and playing with him. Once it was time for cake and presents, I was really tired. We stayed long enough to watch the birthday girl open her presents and to have some cake. Then we headed back home.

Even though it was tiring for me, I was glad we went to both parties because Emily had a great time. It was nice for her to see her friends since she didn't have a whole lot of playdates this summer. 

Book Review: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Image: http://us.penguingroup.com

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty is the story of Alice who loses ten years of memory after she a head injury during a spin class. The last thing she can remember is being happy married to her husband Nick as well as being pregnant with her first child. She now finds herself to be in the midst of a divorce as well as the mother of three kids. Alice embarks to remember her missing years as well as try to reconcile with the man she loves so much.

This book was one that I found hard to put down. I felt a lot of sympathy for Alice as she tried to piece together what had happened to cause her marriage to break down to the point that it was ending. I felt like I had a lot in common with young Alice, partly because I lost two days a few years ago that I still don’t remember. What Alice Forgot also made me think a lot about my past and how my future is going as I wondered what my marriage and I would be like in ten years.

I would recommend What Alice Forgot to anyone. It is an engaging book with interesting characters and an intriguing premise.

Note: I received a copy of this book for review purposes.

How a Fair Ride Nearly Killed Me

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/

I was reading the Illustrated with Crappy Pictures blog today and it was about an outing they went on to a county fair. It was a sweet post about seeing animals and accidentally eating prized tomatoes. I used to go to the Ottawa County Fair every year when I was a kid, but the last time I went I had a horrifying experience.

When I would go to the fair, I would go to ride on the rides. There was usually a set price you could pay to ride unlimited rides, so I usually got that. I was home for the summer from college one year when my mom and I went to the fair.

My mom and I rode everything that day. I’m not much of a thrill junkie but the rides at the fair are usually pretty tame. I had ridden the pirate ship before so I didn't think anything of it when my mom and I got in line. I was in for the most terrifying ride of my life.

The ride started out normally enough, but the guy running the ride let it swing further and further. I really thought we were going to actually turn upside down. My mom was great and held it together for me and another girl who was on the ride alone.

Finally the terror stopped and the ride was over. I couldn't get off of their fast enough. Once we were on solid ground, my mom admitted that she had been scared too. My mom was a bit of a thrill junkie and wasn't afraid of anything. So that made me feel cold all over to think my mom thought we were going to get hurt too.

To this day, I refuse to ride on the pirate ship no matter where it’s at. Just seeing a pirate ship ride like that makes me feel anxious and scared. I’ll ride roller coasters and other scary ride, but no pirate ships. Never again!