I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

It occurred to me while I was out running that my next blog should be about how much I have to be thankful for. Then I kind of got depressed so it got put on hold :)
Is it just me, or does everyone compose a speech that they should give at the Oscars (or the Golden Globes, which I usually prefer to watch)? I mean, really, the chances of my being nominated for anything having to do with show biz are really tiny. Or even nonexistent. Nevertheless, I think everyone should have a list, at least in their head, of people and things that they are thankful for. I'll do my best to finish before the orchestra starts playing to get me off the stage.

I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I'd like to thank my Mom & Dad *tears*. They always made me think I could do anything
I ever wanted to -- so what if I didn't take piano, dance, or voice lessons. I could dream, and I did. I was going to be the next Carol Burnett, or star in the remake of "White Christmas."

I'd like to thank my husband, who was the only guy I knew during my jr hi & hi school years who thought I was hot -- at least hot enough to ask out on a date. He's been a great husband for almost 32 years and our relationship is better than ever.

I'd like to thank my kids, who have grown up to be strong, sensitive, funny, smart, beautiful, talented people who are really fun to hang around with and who spend lots of time with me. I've been able to live vicariously through them and finally be the Homecoming or Prom Queen, win scholarships & contests, win the big game, take piano lessons, be an artist, etc etc.

I'd like to thank my friends -- old & new. We've sung together, watched movies, taken Homecoming & "prom" pictures of our kids together, played lots of pinochle, talked into the wee hours, ...(music starts playing)

(Dream sequence over)
Okay, I hope this post isn't as cheesy as it seems to me now, and I know it doesn't come close to expressing how I feel, but it's been sitting here in cyberland waiting to be published for about 2 weeks now.

Easter was fun and yet very untraditional. We had ham & cheesy potatoes and instead of games we hung around the pool. The Passion Play went great last week. The choir sounded great for how small we are and things went pretty well technically too.

Then of course I'll update on the Josh Groban Concert. Oh Momma! That boy can sing.

But for now, I'll finally post this and get to dinner.

Your Average Kid

In honor of my Grandson "Baby", whose 2nd birthday is today (well it still is on the west coast) I thought I'd blog about children. This is from a book I got from DBIL. It's Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts and Bizarre Information. Now, I've found a few errors in it --that could be another post -- but this page was cute and I thought it would make a nice post.

A child laughs about 400 times a day. Adults laugh about 15 times.

More children are accidentally poisoned by toxic houseplants than by household chemicals.

The average American child uses 730 crayons by the age of 10.

The price of a sleepover in the Bronx Zoo's Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit for 15 kids: $4500.

The average American child takes his/her first trip to the mall at 2 months old.

A 4 year old child asks about 437 questions a day.

The average kid eats 15 pounds of cereal a year.

The average child will eat 1,500 peanut butter sandwiches by high school graduation.

On average, kids ages 2 to 5 put their hands in their mouths 10 times an hour.

65% of kids have had at least 1 imaginary friend by age 7.

Kids' favorite superheroes: Spider-Man, Superman, and Captain Underpants.

21% of U.S. children say that if they were president, they'd "eat ice cream for every meal."

Okay, that's it for now. I hope my daughters feel better soon! Enough of that morning sickness stuff!

Anybody Want a Peanut?

Yay, another stolen blog. I got this one from jcsingsforhim and modified it a bit. It's the AFI's top 100 movies of all time. I've put the ones I've seen in bold and those I'd like to see in italics. I added my favorites at the end. You may notice I prefer children's movies or older ones. I have this thing about happy endings. They don't have to be devoid of conflict or bad guys (Wicked Witch of the West, Mr. Potter, the Civil War, Darth Vader, e.g.) but I like them to turn out nicely.

1. CITIZEN KANE (1941) rosebud is a ... oh sorry I won't wreck it
2. CASABLANCA (1942) this could be the start of a beautiful friendship
3. THE GODFATHER (1972) yay, Herc
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) sorry, Herc
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) "Whaddaya think I am, dumb or somthin'"
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) "Must you keep playing that song over & over"
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957) I can't whistle so this movie makes me mad
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) hilarious
15. STAR WARS (1977) and all the others
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940) read the book
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) hated it
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) T~ was 5 yo and we both cried
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) saw part of it
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961) "cut the frabbajabba, which one o' da shahks did it?"
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) still traumatized
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) top 10 fave
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) "ti, a drink with jam & bread"
56. M*A*S*H (1970) was on a date with future hubby
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) dah duh-duh daaah, da duh-daaahhhh
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) still looking up expecting to see UFOs
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) not a fave
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951) I *heart* Gene Kelly
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994) "run, Forrest, run"
72. BEN-HUR (1959) don't know if I've seen the whole 10 hours
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) "and I hit her"
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976) still mad that I didn't run up the stairs of the Philly Art Museum when I had the chance...
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956)
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933) genius
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942) a definite fave

I'll add my faves not listed:

The Princess Bride
A Knight's Tale
A River Runs Through It
Phantom of the Opera
White Christmas
Finding Nemo
Cars

Toy Story
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Sandlot
Ocean's 11 (new version)
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Brave Little Toaster
What About Bob?
Groundhog Day

Top Gun

Rain Man

Mary Poppins

A League of Their Own

Independence Day

The Sting

Young Frankenstein (last movie I saw b4 giving birth to t~ )
A Few Good Men

Mrs. Doubtfire

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this mindless drivel among the more important & exciting news that T~, JuJu & Guatemama have been sharing.

Weekend update

Well, it's been a week since I've posted. I love keeping up with everyone else's but haven't really had the time to do anything on my own. I had a GREAT time in the land of the extraordinaryordinary (check out t~'s blog for the recap --www.extraordinaryordinary.blogspot.com) and I'm glad I was able to help Rosebud & Cissy pack up & drive out here.

The sunset pic is just b/c our pix are either sunsets or grandkids, and t~ does a way better job than I do of posting the gk's pix. So, here's one Poppy took just before I came home last week.

Speaking of Grandkids, some of you already know that our family is about to be blessed with not one, but two new babies. JuJu told us that she is expecting her 1st bundle of joy and the next day t~ found out that she is expecting baby #4!!!! Wowie kazowie!!!!!!! Congrats to both families. We already know that t~ & Herc are great parents and we're sure that JuJu & Bwin will be too. You'll have to check out t~'s blog for the news -- I'm sure she'll cover it much better than I.

This next pic is for BDE & Dimples. I told them that my idea of fun is to go for a run in the warm sun & then jump in the pool, still in my running clothes. I do remember to take off my phone & Ipod first! At least, I have so far :)

Well, it has been great to be back home! We've been busy, of course, helping unpack at Cissy & dh's house. It has gone unbelievably well! They can actually get both cars in the garage! Their house is beautiful and the plans are underway for the pool & casita. I loved being back at Life Group & seeing R & J -- Congrats on another grandkid on the way! Then of course I had to catch up on "24." Friday, we had our friends Nathan, Babs, & their kids over for a fun pool party. It was great to see them again -- we always laugh a lot when we're together.

Then came Sunday and I was back at church. Everyone was happy to see me back. (or at least had the courtesy to act like it!) Maestro played cello to accompany Nathan and S~'s singing and it was beautiful. Rosebud and Cissy loved watching him play drums--he does enjoy himself!

So, I think that's it for now. Someday I'll post something inspiring & brilliant, but not yet --sorry...

Oh, btw, t~, JuJu & Bwin are staying here for the weekend b/c their condo is getting tiled. She made oatmeal this morning and...

I don't care who ya are, that's funny, right there...

You have new Picture Mail!

Cissy and dh at home!

You have new Picture Mail!

Got our kicks on rte 66. Hi dimples!

You have new Picture Mail!

Hi honey i'm home! Well, kind of.

You have new Picture Mail!

Woken by wrong # who asked me 'who the f*** is this?' @ 5am. I will hunt him down and kill him like the dirty dog he is.d

You have new Picture Mail!

How i got out of my ticket.

You have new Picture Mail!

We love texas!

You have new Picture Mail!

In tulsa. I'm 'ok' with that!

You have new Picture Mail!

Getting there! Cissy driving. Nice lunch, brooks n dunn playing. Nani stopped crying.

You have new Picture Mail!

Road trip! We're just east of st louis.

I'd Better Get Some More Reading Glasses from the Dollar Store!

Yes, another blog copied from tf who copied it from supermom. I knew I would need help getting started with this blogging thing so hey, I'm ok with that!

This must be somebody's list of the the 100 books everyone should read. It was fun going through this b/c I do love to read and I don't do it as much as I should. I'm in another year of reading the Bible through (yeehah, made it through Deuteronomy----smooth sailing for awhile now) and will have to start reading some of these too. Well, 1 at a time.

The ones I’ve read are in bold.
The ones I want to read (or have started and abandoned) are in italics.
I've left alone the ones that I'm not interested in.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) *read the sequel but that doesn't count
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) *along with all the others in the series!
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (George Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) *fabulous
45. Bible * yep, the whole enchilada
46. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) *en français
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens) *some great memories of Jr Hi English class
55. The Great Gatsby (Scott Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) *I expect to hear mice say this and giggle
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) *even retired, I'm too busy to read this one!
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) *couldn't even watch Brad & Tom in this!
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) *en français
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Helen Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (John Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In the Skin of a Lion (Michael Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) *really good
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) *saw the movie but would still like to read it
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Feel free to add your own faves. I'm pretty embarrassed that so many of these were not read. That's why I felt the need to appear more intelligent by adding that I read some of them in French.

Happy Reading!
I hope to be posting from the road--promised Dimples & BDE some pix of Route 66!

This is cool and fun.

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging. I'm pathetic so I just have to copy my cool daughter. Oh that's right--she copied it from her friend and she's not pathetic. And her friend copied it from someone else and she's not pathetic either. Well, have fun.

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