Wordless Wednesday

Proof that Genius Child #3 is alive and well in Connecticut

This picture was attached to Genius Child #3's latest letter from the mission field. I love how happy he looks.

Cinderella and other such things

About 25 years ago, I started writing a novelization of the fairy tale Cinderella. It was before Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine and the current trend of rewriting your favorite fairy tale/myth/legend into YA fiction. I had read The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley. It contains several short stories based on fairy tales, with one original tale thrown in for good measure. Next, it was Beauty and I was hooked. So I decided to try writing a novel based on my favorite fairy tale, Cinderella. I started with the Grimm Brothers version and not the Perrault (Disney). There's no fairy godmother. There are three balls. There's a tree in a cemetery. There are birds instead of mice. Okay, really just one bird. And her father doesn't die.

In all honesty, that last thing was the hardest part to figure out. How to keep her father alive and still have the story follow it's most basic plot device. Who can imagine a father so self-absorbed that he would let this happen to his daughter? Unfortunately, it's something I've seen in real life. Not my life. My parents are amazing people who love and cherish all of their children, even those not born to them. But it did happen to someone very close to me. The abuse (mostly emotional and mental rather than physical) did not come from a step-parent but from her own mother while her seemingly-loving father did very little to mitigate the abuse. I am happy to say that her relationship with both of her parents is much better now, but only after years of pain, therapy, physical distance, and unconditional love from the abused. Knowing that I've seen this type of abuse might help you understand why things happen the way they do in my telling of the story.

For those of you to whom I had mentioned once that I might post parts of the story on this blog, I found out that if I do that, I might lose my intellectual rights to it. So sorry if you are waiting with baited breath. However, you can contact me directly (see the Random Contacting tab) if you are interested in being a reader for drafts and revisions. I probably won't send it out blindly to all who ask, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

For those of you who have read it over the years, here are some recent (and not so recent) changes:

• The main character's name is Isabeau (this is a not-so-recent change)
• Her county is now called Avignon
• The capitol city is Valedor (from Vale-d'Or [a small city in Quebec, Canada] and means valley of gold in French; it also means protector in Spanish)
• I've changed several characters' names from British to French (I doubt there has ever been a butler named Severs outside of England)

That's really it for the major changes. I am hoping to start the next major revision next week. I'm taking some time off of work. We'll see if that translates into "Hey, look at Most Happy Girl writing!"

A girl can dream, can't she?

A brief visit

Favorite Blood Brother and his family made the trek from Colorado to Utah to visit family. Mama to Many's mother was undergoing some medical procedures, and they wanted to be here to support her. It was great to see them. Game Boy and JM Boy got to reconnect, which is always nice.

Mr. Perfect may have the chance to work on a project in the Glendale/Cherry Creek area of Denver, so we're hoping for some spare site visit time to make the journey up to Ft. Collins to visit some time in the near (or distant) future.

Mama Carrot and Baby Carrot

A few months ago, I posted about this massive carrot we pulled from our garden (anyone remember Papa Carrot?). Well, last night, Mr. Perfect found the rest of the family. Say hello to Mama Carrot and Baby Carrot. I think nature is fascinating and amazing.

Now all we need to find is one growing ringlets.

Rachmaninoff

The name alone makes me sigh.

*sigh

See! This weekend, the Utah Symphony is performing his Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major. Am I a little excited for this concert? No. I'm very, VERY, VERY excited for this concert. I have loved Rachy's No. 2 ever since I was 14. The summer between 9th and 10th grades, I played the violin in a disctrict-wide youth symphony made up of high school musicians. We went on tour to, hold your breath in anticipation, the exotic locale of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yes, yes, that vast expanse of, well, lakes and trees. The trip was a blast. I "fell in love" for the first time (tour crushes were so common), and one of the cellists soloed on the first movement of this amazing piece of music. It's been a dream of mine ever since to learn it. So here I am, 40-something, and I still haven't tackled it.

*sigh

That's a different kind of sigh from the first one.

Anyway, tomorrow night we will be traveling to the symphony with Mom & Dad P to hear the entire piece (all three movements) played by André Watts and the Utah Symphony. (It's Dad P's favorite piano piece, too.) It makes me smile just to think about it.

I can't wait for Mr. Perfect to be entranced as well.

The toilet works!

The toilet and sink are in. The sink isn't hooked up yet, but the toilet flushes! And the lights are back up. Moving along nicely nicely.

Update on home improvements!

We have a floor in the second bathroom!!! I know you are just so excited for us. Thank you. Thank you very much. We decided to use a lighter grout for this bathroom because it doesn't have a window. Enjoy the pictures:

A quick trip to Cedar City

Drama Queen needed a ride down to Cedar City to audition for a scholarship for SUU's theatre department. It turned out to be a little more stressful than she would've liked. She found out four days before the audition that she was supposed to have her application in a week before.

Well, thank goodness for PaintBall Boy. Because of his leg work, she was able to secure a spot. We headed down Friday night, she auditioned Saturday morning, and we returned Saturday night. Bam, slam, thank you ma'am. It is her school-of-choice, seeing how PaintBall Boy is already attending. We had a fun time with them. And aren't they just the cutest things ever?

I have discovered

I live quite nicely with a more-than-limited exposure to prime time American television. We have streaming NetFlix, and that works just fine for Mr. Perfect and me. We watch older shows (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bones, and the now-defunct Lie To Me -- why am I always getting addicted to shows that have been cancelled after just a few seasons?) Both kids came for Tuesday night dinner a couple of weeks ago, so decided to let them pick something for us to watch. Drama Queen chose New Girl. We hadn't heard much about it, but it has Zooey Deschanel, who I think is just fun and fabulous, and Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. And the episode had a lot of fun and fabulous moments, but it also had a lot of "I can't believe I'm watching this with kids" moments.

And we used to think M*A*S*H was racy. I miss those days.

Wordless Wednesday

Wing Nutz and Granite Furniture

For our anniversary lunch, Mr. Perfect and I went to Wing Nutz to enjoy some Parmesan Curry and Raspberry Chipolte wings (yummm!). There's one right across the street from where Mr. Perfect was working away at the old Granite Furniture store. The owners are hoping to turn it into smaller shops and some condos on the upper level. Here are pictures of us on the roof by the old Granite Furniture sign.

They're hoping to save the sign; it still turns. We couldn't get a picture together because it was only us up there. Alas, ear wax.

Three years and still going strong...

Oh how I love me this man.

Du du du DUNNNN!!!!!

Ah, Beethoven, you beautiful man. Okay, maybe not beautiful physically (he is dead and quite possibly reduced to nothing but dust by now), but the music he composed is wonderful.

This weekend, the Utah Symphony delighted us with Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor. It is probably the most well-known piece of music in all of classical musicdom. All you have to do is chant "Du du du dun!" and most people in the Western World can tell you it's name. This is my favorite Beethoven symphony, but not for the famous opening phrase. I love the final movement. It's rousing; it's inspiring. I also played it every year while I was in a district-wide youth symphony in high school. It is just fun to play. There is no break between the third and fourth movements, and both movements are Allegro, so it's suddenly there in all of it's glory before you know what's happened to you. The entire symphony is only 31 minutes long, so it was over before I was ready for it to be du du du done!

It was an interesting concert. Also on the program were some beautiful Fauré pieces and a new commission by Michael Jarrell. I must admit that I am not a big fan of atonal music. I love a good melody and interesting chord structure. And I like music to make sense, so I was not all that thrilled with the Jarrell piece. But, hey, I didn't ask him to write it, and I don't get to pick the symphony's playlist. The cellist, Jean-Guihen Queyras, played beautifully, especially on the final Fauré piece.

Mom and Dad M and Game Boy came with us. It was Game Boy's first live symphony performance, but not his first time to Abravanel Hall. He said that he's not opposed to coming with us again. Not a ringing endorsement, but also not a complete failure.

A bridal shower for Georgia's Sweetest Peach

The Countdown to Atlanta has begun. Genius Child #1 and Georgia's Sweetest Peach are getting married in the LDS Atlanta Georgia Temple on February 29, 2012.

Isn't it pretty?

Most Happy Girl got together with Skywalker's Mom and Psycho Exercise Sis to host the Utah-based family shower. It was great fun.

Wordless Wednesday

It's more about the writing than the politics...

Disclaimer! This post in no way endorses or criticizes any political candidate or party. I'm just saying.

Last night, Mr. Perfect and I had great fun reading some of the Drudge Report articles together. Although I am very politically minded and active, I try to keep that off of this blog. This is more about family and every-day life than what's happening with the country in general.

That said, I couldn't resist sharing this particular article with you all...because the writing is so good. It's by Kathleen Parker (no relation), who writes for the Washington Post. It's an opinion piece about the Romney vs. Gingrich primary race. I don't think I've ever laughed out loud so much while reading the newspaper (including the comics). Hope you enjoy it, too.