Sunshine Day One...No Rain in Foreseeable Future

Hello Sunshine & Umbrella Day Followers (uh, that's just me at this point),

It is a beautiful day here in small town Americaville, and here is my snippet-for-the-day: How does my sophomore son hear his cell phone vibrate when he is listening to his ipod but is unable to hear me ask him to do any single chore using vocal volumes suitable for a retirement community? hmm.

Three of my little ladies are off to spend the weekend with their dad, and I'm taking the spare fraction of free time allotted to us mums and blogging - better than a hot bath for relieving stress I hear. My hubby is heading home from out of town and the aforementioned faux-deaf teenager son is half entertaining Baby and half entertaining himself on XBox 360. I am allegedly "doing laundry" - which is the easiest way to be alone in my house.

Perhaps I could stash a flat screen inside the laundry room cupboard and "do laundry" more often with earphones on and the pocket-door closed? Yes! I could hide a beanbag chair inside the hamper and disguise the coffeemaker like a high-tech iron and I'd be set for many hours!!! Oh. Temporarily forgot the part where the children can sniff me out of my hiding spot like Brangelina-crazed paparazzi when they're hungry...thirsty...bored...cold...hot...tired-n-whiney...in-a-fight-with-sibling...hurt...annoyed...angry...sad...need-something-signed...want-money...sugar-crazed...sneezing...bleeding...want-to-know-if-they-match...want-to-go-somewhere...want-something...anything-that-dad-might-ignore-or-say-no-to-more-likely-than-me, which is every 2 1/2 minutes. Yeah, forgot about that.

Which brings me to my next idea. Perhaps the movie industry could start making significantly shorter versions of it's major blockbuster films. Like 11 minutes total - start to finish.

Consider this: You are on a date and excited to finally be seeing a movie that isn't drawn, either by hand or digitally, and targeted towards toddlers. The previews start - all of them giving you in, 120 seconds or less, the entire movie's premise, best lines, and most romantic, poignant, funny, horrifying, or thrilling moments. Now, take this preview concept to 11 minutes in length and you would certainly have enough for cliff-note-movie conversation AND you have saved yourself an hour and 19 minutes (give or take). Everybody wins in this scenario. You've gotten dinner AND a movie, and who knows what you'll have enough energy for when you get home...dishes right? ;) So, take this randomly selected preview for Peter & Vandy - an upcoming Sundance Film Festival preview if you don't, for some odd reason, recall how previews themselves tell the whole d-n story.