Movie weekend

Did you watch the Oscar's? I did. I actually popped open a bottle of bubbly (leftover from New Year's Eve) and watched the whole darn thing. Did you have any favorite dresses? Here are mine:

There were many others that looked pretty and all but those three were my absolute favorites. I also liked Kate Winslet and I thought Meryl Streep looked great as did Kathryn Bigelow.

I did not like Jennifer Lopez' dress at all and from what I have read it seems to have been all the rage but not for me. I also thought Zoe Saldana's dress with all those purple feathery ruffles on the bottom was just too much. I will giver her an A for being bold and daring but I didn't like it.

The show overall was very underwhelming not very entertaining at all. I did like the dance performance to the mix of nominated songs. I also thought it was really cool seeing the 'Brat Pack' come out together to present.

The rest was ho humm....I don't think there were any real surprises in who got what at least I wasn't surprised.

Meanwhile over the weeekend I saw Doctor Zhivago (again). It is still wonderful. I had forgotten pieces of it so I am glad I saw it again. I also saw Giant and The Philadelphia Story and Rebel Without A Cause. They were all great. I had no idea that Dennis Hopper was in Rebel Without a Cause. It's fun seeing the old movies and finding popular actors in their beginnings in Hollywood. The only one that was a repeat for me was Zhivago and it totally sucked me in again. Marvelous. Movies back then were bigger. I mean the places were characters in the movie jsut as Texas is a character in Giant. Movies just aren't made like that any more.

I also saw Julie & Julia. It was a cute movie. I liked it because I like Julia Child. Streep totally made the movie worth watching. She was Julia. I don't mean that she impersonated her I mean she WAS Julia. Hook, line and sinker.

So overall, it was a big movie weekend for me.

I did some new baking this weekend. I made truffles with brandy. It was my first time. I coated them 3 different ways some with cocoa powder, others with crushed pistachios, and others with crushed pretzels. I chose pretzels because the person I was giving them to likes the sweet and salty combo.

The truffles were a bit involved. It's not that its technically hard to make it was just a lot of steps and working with chocolate and melting it and getting it to the right temp was a bit daunting. But know that I've done it. I have some ideas to make it easier and I will take on the task again. I already bought more chocolate.

I have 6 of each kind to hubby's aunt as her birthday present. I told her to be honest with me later and tell me which ones she liked, if any, because they were an experiment. I didn't tell her I had tried one and didn't like it.

I had some leftover and so I took them to a girls game night where I volunteered to take dessert because I wanted to make a Marmalade Cake I saw here: http://orangette.blogspot.com/.

The truffles were sampled there and enjoyed and I tried one again and it was good. I guess the brandy and chocolate needed to mellow. Now, I know.

The cake intrigued me the day I read about it and I had been wanting to make it and my girlfriends were the perfect guinea pigs. I really liked the way it came out. It was very simple looking but full of flavor. I totally see why she called it a marmalade cake not an olive oil cake. The olive oil is not a predominate flavor. The citrus and almonds totally steal the show.

I have one more birthday to plan for this month, hubby's, then I will start planning on the April ones which I already have some ideas for one of which requires setting up the sewing machine again. So, here we go.

Oh, I almost forgot I used my homemade vanilla in the recipes this weekend. I think it worked well. I am going to give some to a girlfriend who bakes a bit to have her try it and see what she thinks.

Other happenings:

* 17 went to a school retreat for 3 days. I have never done anything like that and I know he's been dealing with some issues that he doesn't want to talk to mom about and I was thrilled and grateful when he came home Friday raving about what a wonderful experience it was for him. He says it truly brought him closer to the classmates and teachers that were there and to God. He felt very good about things and I am so happy for him.

*20 had an accident in the weight room while he was bench pressing. The bar slipped from his hand and +200lbs fell on his chest. Miraculously, he's fine. He didn't even crack a rib. The Dr. didn't believe it when he saw the x-rays and so he ordered a scan and both came out clean. He's in pain because he has severe bruising but nothing broken. Thank goodness!

* My dog isn't doing very well. I see him more lethargic than normal and he has these growths that I won't go into detail here but they are gross to deal with and are giving off a bad odor. I think it may be time to say good-bye. I need to talk to the rest of the family about this.

* I have been watching more old movies and still have many recorded to watch. I saw 42nd Street, Broadway Melody and Golddiggers of 1935 and a documentary about Zora Neale Hurston as well as some cooking shows. I'm enjoying the old movies, surprised I know so many of the songs from the musicals but I guess I just didn't know what movies they came from.

Garbo, Sleep and other assorted non-essentials

I have been meaning to blog, really I have but I haven't had time. By the time I finish with all the daily must-do stuff it is close to midnight and I think blog or sleep and sleep has been winning in that toss up.

So, here are some quick blurbs on what's been going on.

* I recently saw the movie Grand Hotel. Yes, that ancient black and white flick starring among many others Greta Garbo. Why? Because I had never seen it and its a classic and football season has started. Lower your eyebrows! Football season and classic movies do so have something to do with each other. After many years of marriage I have learned that Sunday I cannot watch TV in the living room during football season. Over time that unwritten and much enforced rule has spilled over to Monday nights, parts of Saturday day and sometimes Thursday night. That makes for lots of me time for me and my hobbies. I don't use this time for scrapping because that is set up to do while watching TV in the living room so this is either sewing time or reading time or movie time. This is why its the time of year when I shuffle the queue and a few classic movies get bumped to the top of the list for my viewing pleasure. Which brings us full circle and is why I recently saw Grand Hotel. It was so much fun to watch Barrymore, Garbo and a young Crawford! They don't make movies like that anymore. Seriously, the way the scenes are shot, the close-ups, the dramatic hugs. I also love watching all the special features with all the old stories of how this and that were done. Fun!

* I made Peanut Butter Bread. What? Never heard of it? No worries, I hadn't either but I saw it on a cooking show and made it on Saturday. We had it for lunch with wait for it, you guessed it - jelly! We didn't make sandwiches. We just sliced the bread and spread jelly on it and ate it. It was good. I wouldn't say it's my favorite or anything to write home about (just the world wide web) but it was something different. Hubby loved it. He's been having it for dessert every night with a glass of milk.

* I want to paint my guest bathroom. It's very small. The floor and half way up the walls are tiled in small black tiles. The fixtures are all gold and it has a white pedestal sink. I want to paint it a jewel tone color. I am really thinking about purple. Not a lavender or mauvy color a true jewel tone purple. My family thinks I'm nuts. It's such a small amount of wall space that it will only take a gallon. So, I figure if we hate it we could always paint over it. We'll see. I am still trying to convince hubby.

* The remote to the TV died. Over 2 weeks was spent banging the thing against the sofa or your thigh to make it work. I did not do this. It would work sometimes and sometimes not. When it didn't work, I didn't watch that TV. I told hubby to call our satellite company and order a new one. Did you call? I didn't think so. After 2 weeks of this it finally died for real. It wouldn't do anything. So, I went online and ordered a new remote. Ta-dah! It was at house in three days. I know, magic!

You're not all caught up but hopefully I will have time later to pass on all these life-altering tidbits.

Movie Review

This weekend our Netflix movie was There Will Be Blood. Let me start by saying that Daniel Day Lewis' portrayal of the turn of the century self-made oil man was tremendous. That's about the only nice thing I can say about the movie. It was terrible. It was 2 hours and 38 minutes that I could have spent doing something productive like sleeping or cleaning behind my refrigerator.

Let me try to elaborate. I hated the ending. The acting was good. The look and feel of the movie was good. I mean visually and not just the country scenery but even at the beginning when he is in the well digging and climbing in and out. I don't know how many minutes go by with not a word spoken just the sights and sounds of his daily work. Excellent, they've hooked me but honestly, I felt the story was lacking. It didn't flow. It was too disjointed for me. Not enough information was given. I actually turned to hubby twice and said I was confused and asked him a question and he would just answer I don't know making me frustrated with the film. I what I knew had to be towards the end there's a major scene and I am expecting more out of it as the camera starts to pan away and I exclaim - it CANNOT end like this!- right as the screen goes black. OMG! I totally hated the ending! Totally!
Don't spend any money on this, it will be on cable soon enough.
Next in the queue is: Quantum of Solace, the newest James Bond movie. What can I do? I have boys.

It's a Wonderful Life!

I know I disappeared but I think I am back now. I won't get into why I disappeared because I don't want to bitch and moan about things. Suffice it to say it had to do with GM and she's back at the ALF at least for now. Moving on.

What I want to tell you about is that I got what I wanted for Christmas yesterday. My boys (all 3 of them) had never seen the movie It's A Wonderful Life. So, I popped it up on the Netflix list, we got it on Thursday and I sent the 3 of them an email. I told them that I wanted them to plan (not me) on a time when all 4 of us would be home and able to watch the movie uninterrupted. I was asking for 132 minutes, family movie time.

Mind you, hubby hates movies that are not linear from beginning to end. So, I knew he was going to struggle with the back and forth in time. It's also in black and white - duh! and I knew that wouldn't win them over either. But it's a classic and I thought that it needed to be seen.

Well, they did it. We all watched it last night. No laundry, no homework, no surfing, no texting, no reading, no phones were being used at the same time. We all just did one thing - watch the movie and of course comment along the way. And guess what?! It wasn't horrible. They actually liked it. They thought it was a little slow and probably could have been shorter but they liked it. Hubby of course, moaned when they story went back in time but he hung in there. I of course, cried at the end and they teased me. It was all good.
I got my Christmas wish...hope you get yours.

Only Fun

It's Monday again and since I didn't win the lotto over the weekend I had to drag my butt out of bed and go to work which totally interrupts the flow of fun I had all weekend. That list of things to do I posted is pretty much still intact. I only did the social/fun stuff.

I went to game night and we played Cranium. It was fun. I had a great time and saw some girlfriends that I swear I don't think I had seen in a year. My dad came over and taught us how to make a traditional Cuban picadillo. It was much better than mine. I don't like mine at all. I am going to try to duplicate this on Wednesday for dinner. The recipe should by up soon on the Cuban Food blog. So, check it out when you can. Then we went to my in-laws house for dinner and to look at vacation photos. My FIL took 1600 photos! That is not a typo. They had a great trip to I don't even remember how many parks and canyons and mountain ridges and ranges. It was his favorite vacation ever. 1600 to prove it. News flash: our grass is as green as it is over there. It was nice to see him so enthusiastic about something. Truly. Then the weekend came to a lazy close with me sewing ALL day. I made a poncho out of this great pink flowers fleece for my niece. It's got a hood and fringe. It came out super cute. I did make a couple of mistakes which I now understand but I think a 5 year old can totally wear it. A girlfriend came over and we made a pillow with tassel in each corner. That came out great too even though one tassel isn't in the corner. It gives the pillow character! She's had this material in her closet for 2 years and found it cleaning things out and voila we made a decorative pillow. I also mended a blouse and a pair of pants. After dinner we all watched the movie 23. It was weird but good.
A terrific weekend that could only have been topped had I actually won the lotto and been able to continue the fun and not have to interrupt it with you know, work.

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle

I saw this over the weekend. Why did I like this movie? I have no idea but I thought it was funny. I actually laughed out loud! Fine. The 2 of you who know me are thinking that's not hard she'll laugh at anything. But see I don't laugh at these types of things. I don't but I did. Let's try this again. You know all those dumb TV shows out there like....I survived a Japanese game show. I can't handle that stuff. A few years back I commented to my family that if I owned a TV station I'd call it IBS for Idiot Broadcasting System and it would show all those dumb 'reality' shows. Remember Anna Nicole's show, I couldn't run that prime time because of content but it would certainly be a money maker. So the running joke when we see a commercial for one of these programs and I repeated get stunned that this makes for TV programming, they simply say "prime time for IBS!" I can't laugh at it. I just think it's too stupid. Anyway, the Harold & Kumar movie would for sure be a regular movie of the weekon IBS but the thing is I laughed. A Lot. I thought parts of it were downright hysterical. I mean come on when Doogie Howser steals the car, I was in tears laughing. And when Kumar shocks the Dean who's interviewing him with the phone conversation he's overhearing. I'm telling you, it's a hoot. Now I totally didn't get Napoleon Dynamite but Harold and Kumar are my kinds so stupid its funny.
What does this all have to do with food? Well, White Castle of course. I've never had a White Castle burger. Have you?

Stayed in all weekend!

The weekend was spent mostly in the kitchen. I cooked a lot. I made brownies Friday night for game night. I made 2 meat pies using this pastry recipe. I made a strawberry pie again, from memory because I lost the recipe and it was too wet, tasty but wet. I made a strawberry rhubarb pie. I've never had one but it intrigued me. I made this one. I made waffles for Sunday breakfast as per usual. Hmmm....when I write it out it doesn't sound like a lot. Basically, I made 4 pies, brownies and waffles. I guess it felt like a lot because the pies are like 2 parts each since I made the crust and the fillings.
I also watched a bunch of movies while I was cooking. I saw Searching for Bobby Fisher, which I had never seen and thoroughly enjoyed. I saw RV, which was really dumb but funny because I like Robin Williams. I saw Goodfellas - again- because we had recorded it for the boys since they had never seen it so, we say it because it was there. I saw Disturbia, which was good. I can't imagine seeing it in the theater, they would have thrown me out because of all my screaming. It wasn't gory but it was jump out at you scary.
All in all a good weekend even though the weather alternated between utterly too hot and torrential downpour.

Dots of the in-between stuff

In between work, hospital and regular home stuff I have managed to do some other things (not sure how) and here they are:

* Made a strawberry pie. It was low on strawberries because I didn't realize it called for so many and the kids have been picking at the pints in the fridge but it was still good, quite tasty. I want to make another one this weekend with the bajillion strawberries it calls for.

* I finished one book (The Geography of Bliss) and started another (The Last Lecture). Reviews will follow.

* I made a dress for my niece. She's 5. It's a sun dress. Don't think wow! now she can sew or anything. Frankly it was 2 seams. One up the side and the other the hem. BUT the hem came out real nice I doubled it over so there wouldn't be any fraying edge. It was good practice and helped me get familiar with my machine. I should take a picture and post it. Hmmm...maybe this weekend.

* I saw a few movies from NetFlix...Rent and La Vie En Rose. LOVED both of them. Hubby actually sat through both of them with me and didn't hate them. He didn't love them but he got through them. Yes, that was 2 movies in a row that were basically for me but remember it's June and June is mine.

* I have been delivering Orchids and Bromiliads that 15s Cross Country team is selling as a fundraiser. I thought it was clever. Would have been nice to do it before Mother's Day we could have sold a ton on Orchids then. As it is we've done very well. We are hoping that it will defray the costs of a trip they want to take this summer.

Can't think of anything else. I want to work on pictures this weekend. I want to put some on a CD for my brother and mail it along with the dress. If I do that, make the pie and get some rest in between GM's drama it will be a good weekend.

And in case you are interested, the sun is out and the headache is gone!

Time out!

I gave myself a timeout this weekend. Well, at least Saturday. Hubby and 15 went to a NFL Draft Party and then tickets to the Bon Jovi concert so they left at 1:00 and wouldn't be back until the wee hours. 18 went to Orlando on Friday for Grad Bash so I expected him to sleep in and then to go watch The Draft at a friend's house. At least that was his plan.
So, at noon I had plans to learn how to make Natilla and then just hang out at home all by myself. I was going to putz around on the computer and print some picture to do some light scrapbooking, cook and freeze some meals, and watch old movies that I had recorded on the big screen TV! Ah, the best laid plans....

Natilla class went great. YUMMY! and then I went home and 18 was sprawled on the sofa half asleep with the draft on. Are you going to stay home, I asked him (to rearrange my plans)? No, I 'm just watching the draft. Well, no biggie, I had other things to do. I went to the kitchen and took out all the meats that I wanted to thaw so I could cook later. I putzed around on the computer and sent some pictures to print online because I didn't have enough ink for the printer, so there goes the light scrapbooking. No problem. I cleaned out my wallet and wrote a note to the cleaning lady for Monday about some things I wanted her to focus on since I am having people over after graduation in a few weeks. I called my SIL and we chatted a while, it was her bday. I took a shower. It's now 5:30. 18 is asleep on the sofa. I start to change the channel. He wakes up: NO! I'm watching the draft.
Me: No, you are sleeping with the draft on. Why don't you watch it in bed?
18: Because then I will fall asleep for sure. -Apparently he was asleep for maybe on the sofa.
Me: Well, I have a movie I'd like to watch, can you please watch it in the room because I want to cook while I watch it.
18: Why can't I watch TV in MY OWN HOUSE IN PEACE?! - apparently he paid the mortgage off while I was cleaning out my wallet. He's grumpy, hasn't slept. I take a deep breath
ME: Well, you had said you were going to a friends and I made plans. I already switched them around and you have had this TV for over 2 hours. Now, I think it's my turn. There are 3 other TVs in the house. You can watch on one of those.
18: harrumphs and drags his body off the sofa and goes to his room.
I begin to cook and watch Masterpiece Theater's Emma. In mid saute, 18 stomps out of the house stating he's going to Friend's house. I let it roll off and continue cooking. I made Italian meatballs and froze enough for 1 dinners, I made steak burritos, set one aside for dinner, set 3 aside for 18 for dinner and froze the rest (8), I made Sloppy Joe mixture for lunch for Sunday all while watching Emma then Miss. Austin Regrets and then the 2nd part of Sense and Sensibility.

In the middle of it all 18 did come home for dinner in a much better mood. I paused the movie and he ate the burritos while I continued in my cooking. We chatted about Grad Bash, he talked to about the Draft, and I reminded him and he called his aunt for her bday. I finished up my cooking and sat to finish watching Austin Regrets and he tossed himself on the sofa to watch some. Mumbled something about how anyone could watch this and showered to go to a party.
Alone again. I cleaned up the kitchen and watched the rest of the movies while crocheting.
SO RELAXING! It was wonderful. It was recharging. I really needed that. I didn't think, I didn't try to solve any problems, or plan anything. I just relaxed and cooked, watched movies and crocheted. PERFECT.
Then came Sunday and I had to think and do responsible stuff. But I don't' want to think about that. Reliving Saturday is much nicer.

A Raisin in the Sun

I read this play last summer. Why? Because I never had but I knew about it. As I read it I recalled the story I still couldn't remember from where or if I had read it in school. No matter. It was worth a reread.

A remake of the movie was on TV last night. It was excellent. Phylicia Rashad, Sean Combs, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan were all perfectly cast. The story is 1959 but it's today too. Unfortunately, you still see the racism - at least I do. The story is about family, family bonds, family ties, family dreams. Each member of the family has their dreams, everyone supports one another at the same time pushing and pulling and dreams get broken and sacrificed for the family. 1959 and it covers everything from poverty, race discrimination, civil rights, women's rights, protest, social assimilation, abortion, religion. So many heavy topics in such a short glimpse of the family - the story only covers a few days.

This group of actors is the same one that performed the revival of the play on Broadway. I would love to see them live. It was 3 hours last night with all the commercials and I probably cried for 2 of them as I watched them all stumble and fall and get up again. It was excellent....everyone should see/read this story. Kudos Ms. Lorraine Hansbery. I can't imagine writing this and publishing it in 1959. Now I want to see the original movie with Sydney Poitier.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Last night we watched the Oscars. I remember back when hubby and I were dating we went to the movies EVERY weekend and we knew all the movies that were nominated at the Oscars in all the main categories and watching the Oscars was an interactive experience. It was fun. We would bet who was going to win what, we'd talk to the TV and argue with the Academy when the wrong person/movie won. Last night I just sat there and watched commenting on clothes not movies.
So, I went to my Netflix and proceeded to add ALL of the movies that have won Best Picture in Oscar's 80 years. Lower your eyebrows! I've seen half! I added 40 movies to my Netflix including last night's winner. Let's see if I can get hubby to watch some of those old ones!

You will be hearing more about this.

The can't keep up so Dots it is...

Clearly, I am irregular in my blogging and so you get dots again to try and cover a few things all at once.


* My first food co-op was a sucess. It's all organic not necessarily locally grown but obtained through a local organic farmer. Anyway, I had star fruit which was delish! I had never had it before. It was YUMmy! 18 liked it too. I got: lettuce, apples, pears, bananas, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes, and something else who's name I forgot but I didn't like it. I will find out again and blog about it later. Everything has been yummy except for that one fruit.


* 15 hit the streets this weekend. I have been taking him to the local community college to practice driving in their ample parking lots on the weekends. Well, this weekend he drove on "real streets" for the first time. We both survived. All I can say is I'm glad I don't have anymore kids, twice has been more than enough for me to teach someone to drive. Swallowing my nerves and not letting him see my nails gouging into my thighs is exhausting. A couple more weeks with just me and he's ready for dad and his brother. Then he will start doing the drving for most family outings to prepare to get his liscense in July. OMG! Hands down the hardest thing to do as a parent is hand them the keys. All control is gone then. Talk about severing the umbilical card!


* What did I see; I saw Jarhead and Fantastic Four. Both were what I expected. I don't know if I mentioned before but I found out that a childhood friend became an actor. My kids know of him. His Hollywood name is Laz Alonso. He has a supporting role in Jarhead and it's a big one. It was cool to see him and remember him as a little kid.


* I made chili for the superbowl. We went to some friends house and a bunch of us watched it together. Let's define together.... the diehard/true football fans watched in one room on a 60" screen TV, in the livivng room all our kids who were semi-interested in the game/commericals but mostly in hanging with their friends watched, and in yet another room, the wives who talked over the game and watched the commercials watched.


* My GMs ALF has called because she doesn't want to take her heart meds. She insists that she has no heart *issues*, wasn't operated and doesn't have a pacemaker. God grant me the serenity....


* Today is Monday! Best thing about Mondays....the cleaning lady is at my house. I will get home to that just cleaned smell! Love it!

Quick list

I haven't had time to properly blog but have things to put out there so here's a quick list of bullet points.

* Why am I busy? Because next week if the banquet for 18s football team and I am the coordinator and it's for like 200 people and I haven't got the food set yet and so far I really only have tablecloths and plates and we need to finish 30 scrapbooks for the Seniors and I don't even have all of the collages yet or enough refill pages for all the scrapbooks and and well you get the picture.

* After living in Miami since 1983 I finally went to Knauss Berry Farm. Friends took me on Saturday morning. It's a lovely ride to a fresh fruit, veggie, baked good stand open only for a short season run by what a friend endearingly calls quasi-Amish. I bought their famous and delicious sticky buns, key lime pie, cherry pie, raisin bread, 9-grain bread, strawberry jam, hot pepper guava jam, strawberries, tomatoes (red & green), scallions, zucchini, yellow squash, green & red peppers, oregano, cilantro and a bag of mixed salad greens. I think that's everything. It's all yummy! and I so enjoyed it and now I know where it is and can go whenever I want. YEAH!!

* I had to send my sewing machine back because it was missing some accessories and apparently its a bundled package and they can't just send me the missing parts but have to get this one back and resend a whole new one! Whatever, they are paying for the shipping since it was their mistake.

* I went to a book reading. The book was "The Geography of Bliss". The author is a friend of a friend. The subject sounds fascinating and I can't wait to read the book. I have been thinking about it a lot - being happy that is and I think it will be interesting. Granted he told us one of the things was to not over think it but I think I need to think about it. I'll let you know how that works out.

*18 has now been accepted at 3 universities, Xavier University in Cincinnati, Loyola in New Orleans and FIU in Miami. AND Union College in upstate NY is going to fly him up to see the school. They are interested in him playing football. Catholic University in DC is also interested in him playing football but they told him they didn't have budget to pay for a visit. We shall see what happens with all of that.

* I have talked about learning to cook Cuban food for a few years. I have wanted to learn all the home recipes from the moms and grandmas but it never happens. Well this year its going to. I've gathered a small group of friends and we are going to use our moms and inlaws to teach us their recipes to pass them on to the next generation. I am so looking forward to it. We are starting with croquettes. Trust me you will hear much more about this.

* I recently saw the movie "Zodiac". Obviously, the topic is uber-scary as it's about the Zodiac killer. The movie is very well done. The camera work is excellent. It starts in 1968 and goes well into the '80s and maybe even '90s I forgot already but it is really well done. They were never able to convict anyone or even arrest anyone for all those murders but it shows you how it haunted and affected so many how were investigating it. How they were convinced of a suspect but frustrated at not being able to prove it. I don't know what's up next on the Netflix queue.

* I'm excited about Masterpiece Theater airing all of Jane Austen's novels. I Tivod the first one Persuasion. Who knows when I will be able to sit and watch it but I'm looking forward to it.

That's all for now....

Tonight and ...

Tonight is football scrapnight. A group of women gather at my house and we scrap 30 identical pages for the boys. Much cutting, gluing, wine drinking and fun are had by all. Of course, I have spent 3 nights laying out the pages that we will work on today and tomorrow so for me every night is football scrapnight. It has pretty much consumed me and all my white space right now.

I did manage to see the movie Pan's Labyrinth over the weekend. I will venture to say that you have to be in the mood for this movie and I don't think I was in the right frame of mind. I started it and was a little EWWWwed by it, stopped it made myself some popcorn, snuggled on the sofa under a blanket and started it again. It was good. Visually- wow! How creative! The creatures, the tasks. I loved the way he positions the two opposites the fantasy world and the harsh reality of Franco's Spain and the rebels. Really well done. Balance was key in this movie and I think he got it. I don't think that it was overdone either way. The fantasy was as fantastical (I think I made that up) as his reality was real. Not for little kids but good movie for everyone else.

Long Movie Meme

I took this from from The Mind Wobbles. You're supposed to simply count the number of these films that you've actually seen; if you score more than 85 then you are declared "lacking in life."

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show - Innumerable times. I used to be able to sing along and talk back to the screen etc.
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story - Yes, many moons ago and I don't remember much.
() Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
( ) The Princess Bride
(x) AnchorMan
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
() Labyrinth
() Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
() Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4 -OMG, there are 4 of these!
() American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
(x) Harry Potter 1

( ) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
() Resident Evil 1
() Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch
(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
( ) Robots
(X ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(X) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
(X) Meet The Parents
(X) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(X) King Kong - I saw the original
( ) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(X) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(X) Chicago

() Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street

(x) Sixteen Candles - My childhood, but so UNLIKE my childhood.
(X) Remember the Titans
(X) Coach Carter
() The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
(X) Bad Boys
(X) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven - Both the original and the remake
(X) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremacy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
() Predator I
( ) Predator II
() The Fog
( ) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(x) Independence Day
() Cujo
(X) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
() Christine
(x) ET

() Children of the Corn
( ) My Boss's Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
(X) Rush Hour
(X) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She's All That
(X) Calendar Girls

(X) Sideways
() Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump

() Big Trouble in Little China -
(x) The Terminator -
( ) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
(x) X-Men
(x) X-2

( ) X-3

(x) Spider-Man -

(X) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday -
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek -
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street - Both the original and the remake

( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x The 40-year-old Virgin
(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
() Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
() Lord of the Rings Return Of the King

(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Basketball
( ) Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
( ) Highlander
(X) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Nightwatch
(X ) Monsters Inc.
(X ) Titanic
() Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead -

(X) Hook
() Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
() Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
(X) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
() The Hills Have Eyes

() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
() Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
() Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
() Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope

(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
(x) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
() Team America: World Police
(x) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
GRAND TOTAL = 95 or maybe 97, if you count the ones I've seen the original and the remake. So, I guess I have no life by definition of this meme. But I loves my movies!

Seen any good movies lately?

I haven't seen much lately. We watch lots of movies and are members of Netflix which I LOVE! I just Love those little red envelopes. I and everyone else in the family has been trained to get excited when they see one of those red envelopes in the mail. What'd we get? Now, mind you I am the one who "runs" the queue in Netflix and even I get excited and rip open the envelope to see what's there with the same anticipation one gets checking their lotto ticket and the first 3 numbers match. Then I go through the same bubble burst when the next number doesn't match and the movie is really one that the kids want to see not me. Talk about Pavlovian response!
That's been happening lately since it was you know, summer and the kids had days off to watch movies. The most recent movie we got (no lie) was Scarface. Yes, Tony Montana's Scarface. Is there another one? Please. Wait. Don't go. Let me explain. A while back when the family was talking about Al Pacino because he was getting some lifetime award we discovered that 17 hasn't seen Scarface. Now, how 15 saw it and 17 hasn't well, I just don't know. He's seen clips. I mean the entire free world has seen clips but he'd never seen the entire movie. So, we thought this needed to be remedied. I mean there are so many references to it in pop culture. It's one of those classics that everybody knows. The boy needs a well rounded education. Don't you think? So, we moved it to the top and the boys saw Scarface.

Reviews

This weekend we watched "Flightplan" with Jodie Foster. She's just plain brilliant but I can't think of a role she wasn't good in. I mean how much of a story can you have if the whole movie is on a plane. Fine. yes, there are few scenes in the apartment before we board the plan and at the airport after landing but for real the whole movie is on a plane. How much can happen? How fascinating can it be? She didn't have much to work with-story, characters etc.- but she is the only reason to watch this movie. Hubby predicted it in the first 10 minutes and I said no way, that's too easy. I kept coming up with something else more complicated and convoluted. These writers were simple. Hubby nailed it. If you can see it for free go ahead but don't spend a lot of money on it or make any special plans.

We also watched the first episode of the TNT miniseries "The Company" with oh, i forgot their names already. Anyway, it was really good. If you like spy stuff, intrigue, espionage and twisty plots be sure to catch a replay of the first episode so you can catch up. It was also nice that the first hour was commercial-free. Granted the second hour made up for it but hey, the first one was uninterrupted.

Now, by uninterrupted I mean they did not stop the action to sell something. They did however sell things right on top of what we were viewing. Am I the only person this bothers? Have I mentioned this before? I just hate it when messages pop up on the bottom of the screen telling me what show is Coming Next or Tomorrow or even what channel I am watching. I hate it when characters from other shows come traipsing across the bottom of the screen unveiling the name and viewing time for their show. FOR PETE'S SAKE LET. ME. SEE. THIS SHOW IN. PEACE! I KNOW what channel I am watching I put it on. Tell me what's on next when this is over. If figure out tomorrow tomorrow! It really bothers me. The director of the show I am watching surely didn't imagine Saving Grace popping up across the bottom or The Closer coming on screen with a flashlight in her hand. At one point it even covered over some subtitles because they were talking in German. UGH! Of course then I suppose about every time a normal commercial spot was supposed to come in a message would pop up telling us that Thanks to Chrysler this was commercial-free. Gee Thanks, get off the screen and lemme watch the show!
It doesn't bother hubby and 17 who were watching it with me except for all my grumbling about it. Apparently, THAT gets on their nerves not pop-up advertising on TV.

Catching up

I know you've missed me... LOL! Here's what's been happening...

* 14 turned 15! He got his Learner's Permit to drive. OMG, I have no little kids anymore. I'm really trying to deal with this.

* 14 (it was before his bday) went to a Beyonce concert. That was his bday present from us. He went with a friend, they had floor seats and had a good time. They said that she was amazing. She looked awesome! I'm glad they had a good time. They had funny stories about the people around them.

* I lost 2 hours and 11 minutes of my life never to be recouped seeing the movie "Knocked Up". Hubby and I saw it killing 3 hours for the concert to be over to pick up the boys. Hubby laughed, I didn't. OK, maybe I did a couple times but checked the time more than I laughed to see if it was almost over. Please don't waste your time.

* Hit the road with Hubby and 17 to go visit colleges. We went to Univ. of Central FL, Univ. of FL and FL State Univ. I was readily impressed with UCF, I think I was expecting a big community college and it surprised me. It's modern looking, bid campus, lots of things going on, the educational programs were impressive too. UF and FSU are all red brick buildings with gorgeous architecture. They look like what I'm used to seeing in a college. They were impressive too. I think he will end up applying to all 3 as well as others.

* We've also been sick in between all of this. That is everyone except 15 (see, I can adjust). Actually, 17 is going for more blood work today because he may have mono. GREAT!

* Finished reading "Men In Chains" by Virgina Reede. If you like romance novels, this is for you! I was about to say historical romance but it's not a true historical because its a fantasy world, I guess you might say Sci Fi historical. Anyway, it's an easy read and very entertaining. The 'romantic' scenes are very tame not over the top at all. I hadn't read one in a while and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

* Also read "Darcy's Story" by I don't remember who. It's Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's point of view. It was lovely, like reading the original again. She stayed true to the story line and just added his thoughts and little pieces that would fill in the blanks and reasonably explain why he behaves the way he does.

* Now I'm reading "The True Darcy Spirit" by Elizabeth Aston. No she didn't write Darcy's Story. This one is about Lady Catherine's granddaughter. Remember she had a sickly daughter Anne who she wanted Darcy to marry. Well, this is about Anne daughter, Cassandra.

* You may think this is a lot of Pride and Prejudice (my favorite book in the world) type reading. Well, I bought them at the same time at the bookstore, they were on sale, I left them in the car and so I read them on the trip.

* Since you are curious about my cleaning and organize (ROTFLMAO), I have cleaned out and organized my Utility closet. It's a closet in the kitchen that houses the Washer and Dryer. It has 2 shelves that with the aid of the shelf organizers I turned into 3 shelves and stored and stacked all kinds of big bulky kitchen stuff that only gets used once in a blue moon and thereby emptied a whole shelf in another cabinet! I don't know what's going in there yet but I'll get to it for sure.

* Next, I am cleaning out games. They kids have some old games they don't want and I have cleared a spot on the top of my closet for the adult games I want to keep. That is the project for this week.

Can't think of anything else right now. Although it feels like I have been busier than that.

Weekend stuffs

I didn't do too much because my nose wasn't working right. I'm all congested and wasn't feeling too well. Of course, that didn't stop me from going to some friends house after dinner Friday to meet their parents that were here from out of town. We went late and played poker while we waited for 14 to call us to pick him up from a party. A nice easy night with good company. While I was there my friend gave me this lovely orange tea that I can't wait to buy and it's available at our local grocery store. It was yummy and made me feel good. She even gave me an extra tea bag to take home and have for breakfast. Yum.

Saturday, I napped, we went to BJs to do some groceries, I napped, and we did a couple of loads of laundry and I napped, and then fixed dinner and I napped. By the time the same friends came over to our house after dinner I was feeling much better and we played more games.

Sunday, we all slept until 11:00 AMAZING! I made waffles fro breakfast. We watched our Netflix movie "Cocaine Cowboys" a documentary about the cocaine trafficking in Miami in the late 70's and '80's. It was very well done. We watched it with 17 who was impressed because obviously hubby growing up here was very familiar with the headlines that they were referring to. I think he was impressed because to him it was like ancient history and to his father it was memory. Then I napped while the last load of laundry was washed. Them we watch "Hidalgo" which we had recorded quite sometime ago. I enjoyed it but I think I may have dozed in and out. I was under the influence of OTC cold meds.

Hubby was a bit more active than I was, while I was napping he was cleaning the pool and chauffeuring 14 to his weekend stuff. He was quite useful this weekend! Yeah, for me!

So, a lazy congested head weekend makes for a lazy congested head Monday. My main source of nutrition today is tea, Halls cough drops and soup.