There's a monster at the end of this blog

There is a book - starring lovable, furry, old Grover - called The Monster at the End of this Book. It was a pretty big favourite of mine as a child, so when Olivia was really little and I saw the book at a garage sale, I jumped on it (then they made me leave for jumping on the merchandise! :)).
So Olivia has had that book read to her a few times now. Add that to the fact that one eating "trick" we use is to tell her she is an "insert food here" monster - and she will then "attack" the food - and maybe I shouldn't be so concerned and shocked that on Monday night there were tears at 1:30 a.m. When asked what was wrong, Olivia replied, "Monster," and I promptly took her to sleep with me.
Monster. Where does the ability to marry that phrase, which has been mostly positive, to something scary in the dark come from? I admit, it could be TV. It could really very likely be TV. *&^%ing Little Bear.
Off to fight monsters of the mind in closets and under beds everywhere!
Take care,
V
PS - do you think it's odd that Blogger's spell check does not recognize the word "blog?"me too.

It's out of the bag, baby!

This year, I will get a special, early, birthday present. A baby! Behold the Berry baby-to-be.
After going through the first ultrasound (and being encouraged to pee three cups out of my very full bladder - yeah, right!), I feel good about telling the world, yelling from rooftops and all that jazz! Alan and I are going to be daddy and mommy to two. Olivia is going to be a big sister. She has been quite helpful in telling people about the baby. We say, "Olivia what's in mommy's belly?" and she says, "Baby!"
The baby was waving to me during the ultrasound which was funny. I have no idea why i was so worried this time around, but i was. And now I am much less so.
This will be a little different from the last one as I will not be pregnant throughout the summer, but rather at home with a new one and my gorgeous girl, playing in the sunshine.
Take care,
V

Serenity Now!

Opening night of Serenity has come and gone. Were Alan and I there? Oh yes, yes we were.
The room was filled with fellow Whedon lovers, waiting for his first foray into writing and directing on the big screen. Were they disappointed? Oh no, no they weren't.
It was like a return to something that had been missing, in terms of witty writing and the best-placed, and paced, silences in the world (the silence of space being compromised, notwithstanding).
The acting was wonderful - Firefly fans would tell you that was just the norm for that group. I laughed out loud and I cried. I actually had to stop myself from full-on balling.
I'm also very sure that anyone in the audience who had never seen Firefly wouldn't have known the difference. The plot was completely it's own being. Nice job. I really enjoyed it and the battles were pretty good too.
I would urge those who like to see interesting and large-scale effects on the big screen to check this one out.
You can't stop the signal.
Take care,
V