lighter subjects

The boys got their report cards last week and they did very well.  I'm very proud of them.  They are so much smarter than I was at their age.  But I think I enjoyed school more.  I wish they loved it as much as I did.

I've almost finished the last book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I learned a new word yesterday.  It almost jumped off the page at me and smacked me in the face.  It's a word that's very close to the "N" word.  And I'm loathe to even type it out here.  But I looked it up and it's a valid word.  Because it has it's own definition and origin and even alternative spelling with a Y instead of an I, and the "N" word had "offensive" written beside it in the dictionary.  So that tells me it's a different word altogether.  But I'm still not going to type it here.  You can look in the dictionary yourself and learn something new if you're curious!  I learned something new, but I'll never use it!  LOL!

Anyway, on to the light stuff.  If you saw the movies, you know that Gimli the Dwarf had all the best one-liners.  I've got one for you that never made the movies.  Here's the setup: the group of 9 (now 8 since Gandalf fell into the abyss) stayed for a few weeks in the woods of Lorien where the Lady of the Golden woods (Galadriel) (everyone has at least 5 different names in this book!) gave them some gifts and such.  In the movie this is where Frodo looked into the pool of water and saw some things past, present and future.  The movie treated this as a very short, bizarre visit - but in the book it was a wonderful visit.  Anyway, Gimli was absolutely smitten with the Lady.  Completely and utterly smitten.  Which is really cute since he's such a gnarly fellow.  He later had a few words with Eomer (the nephew of King Theoden of Rohan) who had never met her, only knew of her through story and rumor and thought her to be a witch.   Gimli nearly came to blows over this, but told him we'll see what you say after you meet her.   Another thing to note, dwarves fight with axes in battle.  <shudder> Keep that in mind...

So, here we are now, Sauron has been overthrown, peace prevails, evil has been destoyed or run off.  Eomer and Gimli meet again. 

 Eomer: "For there are certain rash words concerning the lady in the Golden Wood that lie still between us.  And now I have seen her with my eyes." 

"Well, lord," said Gimli, "and what say you now?"

"Alas!" said Eomer.  "I will not say that she is the fairest lady that lives."

"Then I must go for my axe," said Gimli.

LOL!  Well, *I* thought it was funny!

Gas on post: $2.92   Gas in Kailua: $3.05

The homeowner visit went very well and the house still looks pretty neat.  We might be getting a new oven!  Yippee!  Found out that the wife was raised in this house since she was 3 - her parents are the original owners.  So you know they are making money off of us hand over fist.  I"m sure the mortgage was paid off years, if not decades, ago.  They could take some of that money and rip out the nasty carpet and put in a tile floor.  Replace the broken down cabinets and <shudder> rework the electrical wiring.  A pool would be nice, but I'd rather not burn up in a house fire.  That $3200/month could pay for a LOT of things.  Maybe they're saving it up to fix the house up when they move back to Hawaii...  That's what I would do!