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.