I Wish I was as Cool as Beckett Thinks I Am...

....because that would be great! I'd be super talented.

He's been such a sweetheart today. I have a paper due at 5 o'clock tomorrow and, quel suprise, it is NOT EVEN CLOSE to being finished. So, I asked him what movie he wanted to watch (the committee's been behind...when can I expect my "Mom of the Year" trophy to finally get here?) while I worked on my paper. And, of course, he said Beauty and the Beast (he could not be more like me). And every time Belle sings a song he asks me, no, demands, that I "sing with it. Sing like she does!". When I try to explain to him that one day he is going to need to be

able to hear, so maybe I shouldn't sing, he replies, "But you sound like her and I like it. Now sing!". And yes, delusion does run in the family.

While I'm procrastinating, I may as well say a few more things about Beckett...

Favorite Foods: CORNDOGS. Hotdogs, too, for that matter. He still, however, LOVES fruit (strawberries especially) and most vegetables. Pizza, of course, he is 3. Chicken nuggets and peanut butter and jelly are usual sure to please. And fried chicken. But ONLY if he can eat it "off the bone."

Favorite TV Shows/Movies: He loves to watch Curious George, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Imagination Movers. He will watch anything that is animated, so I have to really keep tabs on him or he'll turn on the TV and find something

himself. He LOVES Beauty and the Beast, An American Tail (which according to him is about "Bivel"), Pinocchio, and Finding Nemo. And he is NOT a fan of Aladdin or The Lion King, much to my dismay. We are actually watching Beauty and the Beast right now, and B just got mad because the Beast was no longer a beast.

Favorite Books: Much like me, Beckett loves to read. He loves ALL Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer. He also loves the Franklin books (by Paulette Bourgeois) and any book about Arthur (by Marc Brown). Of the Dr. Seuss

books, The Lorax is his favorite (and mine!). He probably has over 200 books

and will let you read any of them to him, but some more than others. He has memorized Good Night, Moon and David Gets in Trouble and parts of countless other books.

About Beckett: He is super curious about everything and his favorite thing to say is still, "Why?" or "What is that?" He is very sweet and loving, but is ALL boy. He loves to play outside on the new "trubhouse" (clubhouse) that My Buddy just built him. He is his grandfather's little shadow. Whatever My Buddy does, wherever My Buddy goes, B is right behind him. He is strong-willed and very much a 3-year-old these days, but he knows when to stop trying to push my buttons. He has a memory like a steel trap. He literally remembers EVERYTHING.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Back to law school.....

What CaseNote?

What's he that wishes so?

My cousin Westmorland? No, my fair cousin.

If we are marked to die, we are enough

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honor.

God's will, I pray thee, wish not one man more.

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who feed doth upon my cost;

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

But if it be a sin to covet honor

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.

God's peace, I would not lose so great an honor

As one man more, methinks, would share from me

For the best hope I have. Oh, do not wish one more!

Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host

That he which hath no stomach in this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made

And crowns for convoy put into his purse.

We would not die in that man's company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is called the Feast of Crispian.

He that outlives this day and comes safe home

Will stand a-tiptoe when this day is named

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall see this day and live old age

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors

And say, "Tomorrow is Saint Crispian."

Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say, "These wounds I had on Crispian's Day."

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember with advantages

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words --

Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester --

Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered --

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

For he today that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition.

And gentlemen in England now abed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispian's Day.

-William Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Fifth

VI.iii.18-67

Picture & Poetry Monday

...Some more pictures that make me happy and one poem.

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it's you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

-Pablo Neruda

Long Day's Journey Into Night...

Roy Lichtenstein

The Melody Haunts My Reverie

Stuart Davis

Swing Landscape
...TOday has been SUCH a long day, SUCH a depressing day. In a vain attempt to cheer myself up (or get over myself), here are some things that make me smile.