Throwback Thursdays: Why I still love the Goonies, 25 years later!

Of course, now we are over 30 years with the Goonies!  I wrote this post back in 2009 back when Sam was only 3 and Frank was 10 months old.    Enjoy!  

Wow! I can’t believe that movie was made almost 25 years ago! That’s really scary! Time goes by so damn fast. This movie though is a classic, it withstands the passing of time, and secretly don’t we all want to be Goonies? I know I do. I don’t remember the first time I saw Goonies but I do remember seeing it as a double feature at the La Habra Drive In (I was about 12 years old). I think it was about the 4th of 5th time I saw it. The Goonies was shown as the second movie in a double feature. The first movie was Explorers and had just been released. Wow! Now, I feel old!
Anyway, I absolutely loved the Goonies. I listened to my tape recorded copy of Cyndi Lauper’s, “Goonies R Good Enough” all the time,   I ADORED Corey Feldman, and I knew all the movie lines by heart.  I also really liked Martha Plimpton.  She may not have been cast as the “pretty girl that gets the guy” but she certainly had all the best lines (and comebacks for that matter!). Then there was “Mikey”  the adventurer who  was willing to take that difficult and sometimes perilious treasure hunt journey to fruition.
Such an awesome movie!
So it was movie night last night with John and Sam, and usually we watch a cartoon. However, this time when I came into our bedroom to settle in with the guys I saw that Goonies was on. Now Sam is only 3 so I didn’t think we would be watching it for too long before boredom set in and he would want to watch Little Bear instead.
My Sam was enthralled through the entire movie!
He found it all so fascinating.   He loved the fact that all the boys had bikes, that they went down the hole (in the fireplace), the flying bats, and that the Goonies all went down a slide (the cool waterslide at the end). He was amazed by the pirate ship. So amazed, in fact, that he immediately sat up in bed and watched. He especially loved when the pirate ship was floating away into the ocean. He kept saying “ship,” “boat,” and then said, “home.”  Quite profound!  The release of the pirate ship so it could finally sail the open seas. A home, indeed.
So, when the movie was over (and John and I were in tears) our wee newest Goonie sadly begged, “More movie? More movie?” Needless to say it was way past his bedtime (11pm!) so it was off to bed.   However, I am sure his dreams were filled with pirate ships and grand adventures.
This morning when he woke up I asked him about the movie and he smiled and said, “bats!” Too funny!
One of the best lines in the movie (and what started me and John weeping) was the wonderful little conversation between Data and his father. Data, of course, being the kid who had all the kooky yet lifesaving inventions. At the end of the movie you see that his father too was a kooky inventor. He opens his jacket and out pops a camera. However, the film pops out of the camera and rolls all over the place. Data lovingly holds his arms out and says, “That’s okay, Daddy. You can’t hug a photograph” to which his father proudly replies, “You are my greatest invention.” Boy! Doesn’t that just get you! I am tearing up as a write it!
That movie has such a great message:  You don’t have to be perfect to be a Goonie.   You don’t have to be the rich popular guy. You can have asthma, you can be poor, you can wear braces, you can wear glasses, you can have a smart mouth, you can be heavy, and as Mikey most eloquently states, you can make mistakes, and you can STILL be the hero! What’s important is going after your dream whatever that may be, no matter what.

So to my little Goonie:

Mama Goonie loves you so much!

The Lorelai Gilmore parenthood pledge

I was inspired to create these vows today after watching Lorelai drop everything to go be with Rory on her first night at college.  Feel free to incorportate these vows in your life :).  If you haven’t already, check out Gilmore Girls!  The show is currently streaming on Netflix!

1. I vow to surround my boys with great books and encourage late night hours of reading, even if tomorrow is a school day.
2. I vow to continue movie nights.  Currently it is Mr. Peabody and Sherman but as they get older I plan to introduce them to the finer things like American Graffiti, Poltergeist, Once Upon a Time in America, The Godfather I & II, Pulp Fiction, Citizen Kane, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 2001:  A Space Odyssey, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Deer Hunter, Shawshank Redemption, The Apartment, and a steady diet of Race for Your Life Charlie Brown and Bon Voyage Charlie Brown.  Oh yes, and continued exposure to the Twilight Zone.  *Title suggestions welcome!
3. I vow to laugh at all their jokes and witticisms.
4. I vow to let them “scold” me when I am being silly.
5. I vow to be a parent always but  a confidante and friend as well (you can do both and still be respected, trust me).
6. I vow to be there for my boys whenever they need me, if that is in the middle of the night, when they throw up in my hands, their first night away from college, and that first scary night with my grandbaby.
7. I vow to have lunch, breakfast, and dinner dates with my boys where we can just talk about anything.
8. I vow to always be their biggest cheerleader and constant defender.
9. I vow to get take out, tons of candy, and simply veg out with them.  Often.
10. I vow to always worship the ground they walk on.

My Mom!

So it’s my Mom’s birthday tomorrow.  Yay!  I am writing this today since I will be busy tomorrow.  I have so much to say about my Mom and I will be holding back a little because I am thinking of submitting an article for publication about her.  However, I can talk about what I will be discussing in the article.  Well, my Mom has always felt guilty that she never taught me how to cook.  It is true.  She never did take me in the kitchen with her so to go over the basics, even though she had dinner cooking every day when I came home from school.  However, she taught me so many other life lessons.  I made a list!

There are so many valuable lessons that she instilled in me on that list.  Things that made a difference in how I handled business, interacted with people, handled my son’s IEP meetings, just so much.  My Mom may not have taught me cooking but she taught me how to be an effective defender of both my own rights and my family’s rights.  That alone is a whole blog entry right there.

It is quite an amazing thing to have a Mom like mine.   I never got the notion that I was less than anyone else or  that I had to kiss anyone’s butt.  My Mom views everyone on an equal playing field.  In other words, there is no need to fear anyone because of who they are or their position in life.  Such a valuable lesson to learn.

I have talked many times on Facebook about how my Mom proudly stood by while I fought against a referral in 7th grade.  While my Mom instilled in me a basic respect for people, she also instilled that when I was in the right and something was done unfairly to me (or my family), then I needed to say something.

So, that’s it for now.  I am off to pick up the kiddos.  I love you, Mom, and thank you for everything you’ve done for me.  🙂

What I have learned Wednesdays: 5 reasons why you should volunteer at your kid’s school

So to keep me on my toes and get more people to read (PLEASE!! LOL!) I am employing a learning Wednesdays portion to my mighty blog.

Just a side note:  As I write this  my husband is cleaning out the garage.  This normally freaks me out because he throws out a bunch of stuff.  Strangely enough, suspiciously enough, there is nothing in the trash can.  I am still worried.

Okay, okay, since I volunteer on Wednesdays I figure I will start off with that topic.  Here we go:  5 reasons why you volunteer at your kid’s school.

1. Your kid loves it:  Okay, well not every kid, but certainly the majority of kids do.  It is just one more way of showing them education is important and worthwhile.
2. Your child’s teacher will worship you:  Teachers LOVE volunteers.  Why?  The busy work!    All those millions of mundane tasks that need to be done in a school day (cutting construction paper, gluing, stapling, sharpening pencils).  Who has to do all that?  The teachers (and their family members)!    You are saving them a TON of work!  Teachers love your help in the classroom too.  Classroom sizes often run at 30 or more so it is always good to have another set of hands available.
3. You learn all the in’s and out’s of your child’s classroom:  Chances are you will know all the kiddos’ names and personalities.  You will learn which kid acts up, which kid cries all the time, which kid is shy, etc.  I have had great conversations with my kiddos about their classmates because I know who their classmates are and their behaviors.  It makes a difference!
4. You will better appreciate your child’s teacher:  It is so true.  Teachers work their booties off from the time they get there in the morning to the wee evening hours.  They work hard for your kids.  Volunteering gives you a chance to see that firsthand.
5. You can learn some neat tricks!:  Teachers are the masters of anything that can entertain, reward, distract, or discipline a child.  My son’s teacher has a prize drawer that kids save up their “money” for.    Kids can either opt for the less expensive prizes at 25 cents or they can save up for the bigger prizes at 3.00.  Such a great reward system!

So there ya go!  Okay, the husband is hollering so I am off to veg outside a bit.  Thunderstorm coming!!

My Dad

Imagine what it would be like to grow up with one of the greatest ever?  Ha!  I am bragging I know but for me, it is true.

I could list so many things about what makes my Dad great.  I could start from when I was a baby.  I have a cassette recording somewhere of Dad’s and my voice.  There were a few other people on the tape but all you can hear in the background is my Dad talking baby talk  and me laughing.

I could also talk about all the times I was sick.  Times when I would be up in the middle of the night throwing up.  My Dad would be right next to me, rubbing my back and saying, “Poor Darlin’.”

Oh yes, and bugs?  He could take care of all of them.  Spiders, flies, and craneflies  would magically appear in my room during the wee hours of night.  All would be obliterated by my Dad. His common weapons of choice?  A book, a shoe, or his thumb.

My Dad loved to celebrate my accomplishments.  When I got 100% on my spelling tests he would make his famous popcorn.  He would haul out the old popcorn maker that was in the shape of a train car.  He would then pour the oil and place 2 kernels inside.  We would then guess which kernel would pop first.

Oh yes, and making treats?  My Dad is the master.  He made me my first birthday cake.  There is a picture of me in my babyseat sitting in front of a huge,  round cake with a massive candle stuck in the middle of it.  He made his own coffee ice cream too.  Wow, was it good.   Friends raved about his ice cream and especially his “secret sauce” that he kept in an old whisky bottle.

Now my Dad was no angel.  He does have a lot of hilarious stories from when he was in the Marine Corps and when he was on the Sheriff’s Department.  He swears a blue streak (think the Dad in Christmas Story), has a sense of humor about everything, and has pulled some pretty crazy pranks.  However, everyone loved (and still loves him) for it.

Everyone loves my Dad, not just me.  My Dad is the one everyone wants to be around.  Our house was filled to the brim every year for his birthdays (including the year the voluptuous singing telegram came),  and so many people came to my Dad’s retirement party we ran out of both room and food!

Then there were my school years.  My Dad was the most popular kid in the school.  Everyone wanted to go in his car for field trips, he had the front office ladies all wrapped around his finger.  “Aren’t you Dean Carlton’s daughter?”, one starstruck school secretary asked me one time (a year after I graduated!!!).

My Dad has been there for me through everything.  He was the one to buy me coffee ice cream, chicken tenders and french fries, doughnuts and bacon on Sundays, and had the television set to Looney Tunes every Saturday morning.  He laughs at all my funny jokes, he roars when I throw in a few swear words, and gently corrects my grammar when needed :).

My Dad now holds the distinct title of greatest Grandpa.  He adores his grandsons.  All 3 of them.  If you happen to peek in his wallet you will see a little bear magnet that says “Collen #1” on it.  My angel son Noah’s NICU magnet.  He has carried that magnet with him for 9 years now and I have no doubt he will carry it for the rest of his life.  Yup, best Grandpa ever.

So, thank you Dad for being the greatest.  It is so awesome to be your daughter.  I love you!

P.S. Dad, feel free to check my grammar.  You know you want to!  🙂

Love,

Your Booh