How dare you challenge me? 😉 You should blog about that.

No problem, Piece of cake… piece of CRUMB cake! People just don’t understand what is involved in this. This an art-form! My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.

Is there a point to this? Do you believe in love at first sight? Or have you ever, like, seen somebody? And you knew that, if only that person *really* knew you, they would, well, they would of course dump the perfect model that they were with, and realize that YOU were the one that they wanted to, just, grow old with. So that’s, like, a metaphor? Not if you pay attention.

So how does it happen, great love? Nobody knows… but what I can tell you is that it happens in the blink of an eye. One moment you’re enjoying your life, and the next you’re wondering how you ever lived without them. I don’t know if that amounts to insanity. I had it great and perfect for a while. You know, I had a dream. And it was wonderful. Well, it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were suppose to be together… and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home… only to no home I’d ever known… I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like… magic. Who could ask for anything more?

I kept telling people that the 60+ degree temperature and sunny skies of last week was premature.  This weekend saw a return to more seasonal weather.  Saturday, I tagged along to the zoo.  Since I had to be back for mass at 6, I drove myself.  I did fine until I exited the turnpike and took the wrong branch off.  Fortunately, my mistake was remedied quickly as all I needed to do was turn around and head back.

Upon paying for admission, I decided to get a membership to the place since for some reason, I ave been quite a bit of zooing lately.  Not that that is a bad thing… as the slogan goes “I Love My ZOO!”  and not a bad deal either.  Discount prices to many zoos throughout the country plus I can bring a friend free each time.  Plus, I got to help a complete stranger by allowing him to get in on my pass.

Because the weather was cold and rainy, our band spent most of the few hours in the indoor exhibits.  The little ones spent a large part of it at the indoor play area.   They even took part in an activity in which they made toys for the birds!  The little one occupied himself with chalk and a beehive.  My little buddy!

After the zoo, we checked out Crazy Prices!  A very cool store with CRAZY Prices!  I picked up a fleece OSU blanket for $5 which usually runs upwards of $30.  Will come in very handy later tonight!  I looked at some hooded sweatshirts that were just as reasonable… BUT… wouldn’t ya know… the largest they had was a Medium.  I’m sure I’ll be back!

After returning and singing at mass, a friend and I closed the evening by watching Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.  And this leads me to wish everyone a Happy Pi Day.  If you don’t get the connection, watch the very fun film!  We won’t get into the hour loss.  Just happy that is behind us and can now catch up on a bit on the rest!  What a Super Saturday!

As of yesterday, all 4 of my daughters and 1 sister have visited and even made a comment or two on my internet musings. It took some time to get all 4 daughters to respond, but it did happen.

So a big welcome to my daughters, Betsy, Froggy, Kittles and Draclet. You are my best girls, and I am proud of all of you.

And little sis, apparently my one ‘relative’ who is blog savvy, I love having you around.

It seems like I have been getting sick a lot lately. Last Friday, I felt terrible after working all day. I had to call and let my leaders know that I wasn’t going to be at my first Bible study lesson! I didn’t feel any better by Saturday, but I was not going to miss a seven hour work day either, not when we need that money. I didn’t stay the entire time. I left two hours early, after I got sick from my lunch. Sunday, I stayed home and did nothing, just so I could be well enough to go to work on Monday. By Monday, I was fine. I was up and about, nothing wrong at all. HA! Now I have no voice and a cough that keeps my voice from coming back. Well, that and having to try and talk at work. That’s always fun to do. I have had no voice sine Tuesday night and it’s now Saturday. Thankfully, that is the only thing wrong and isn’t keeping me from work.

Tony is also sick, though he doesn’t want to admit it. He insisted on going to work yesterday after waking up with a fever. I am pretty sure he will go to work tonight also. True, his fever had gone down by the time he had to go to work, but it came back. I could feel it. I guess he’s just stubborn, not that I’m not. 🙂 We are very stubborn people. One of the many reasons I love him.

Hopefully, Amie doesn’t get sick from us. She can’t get miss any work any any more than Tony and I can. We have a house full of poor people who need to work and need insurance. Though Amie will be able to get that soon enough from her work. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get it from Goodwill when I am working more with my head cashier position, which I start training for today! Pray that everything goes well.

We recently came upon an old horror movie (1955) called Night of the Hunter.  And if you’ve noticed, I don’t really write movie reviews anymore – I watch a lot of movies and there is too much other stuff going on in my life…  but Night of the Hunter is surprisingly intriguing for a black-and-white horror flick, so I want to recommend it.

In Night of the Hunter, a little kid named Johnny is left with an incredibly adult responsibility when his father is arrested for robbing a bank and killed in prison – Johnny must now take care of his little sister Pearl and hide the stolen money – never to tell anyone where it is.  Johnny’s father talks in his sleep in prison, and his insane cellmate learns of the money and the kids.  The cellmate, played by Robert Mitchum, dons the personality of a preacher and manages to charm the childrens’ mother into making him their new stepfather, even though he is only interested in the hidden treasure.  What follows is a riveting cat-and-mouse game between the children and the bad guy, and while old-fashioned, the movie managed to become quite an intriguing horror / suspense film.  I would share the trailer since they have it on youtube, but apparently the producers were attempting to attract a different type of audience as the trailer plays up the very few sexual aspects of the film – which really isn’t representative of the film at all; the trailer completely misrepresents the film and that’s why I’m not going to show it.  There was good acting, great directing, and talented camera shots and cinematography that really helped to heighten the suspense.  Some of the characters are incredibly old-fashioned (a friend of the childrens’ mother tells her that she “can’t raise those children without a man”, suggesting that she find a man, ANY man to help her – this idea is completely irrelevant in today’s society where single moms are commonplace), but it’s easy and kind of fun to transport yourself back in time in order to sympathize and begin to understand the plight of these characters.  The movie is set in the Depression era; a time when kids were often more of a financial burden than their parents could handle.  In many cases, it was thought to be best for them if they were left to take care of themselves, often before they were teenagers.  This aspect of the movie also explains Johnny’s determination to take care of his little sister, as well as to explain other events in the movie that are best to be left unsaid here – I certainly don’t want to spoil anything.  Overall, Night of the Hunter is a riveting, classic horror movie experience that effectively transcends the decades-long gap between its release and modern horror movies – which all too often rely on blood, violence and gore to entertain.

After watching the movie, I looked up the actors on imdb.com, and I was surprised to learn that young Johnny is played by Peter Graves – a popular actor best known to me as Capt. Clarence Oveur in the Airplane! movies.  It was quite novel to see him in a movie as a kid when I was familiar with his later-in-life acting roles…  And I was also surprised to see that the childrens’ mother was portrayed by the late Shelley Winters, an actress that I knew best as Roseanne’s Nana Mary on the 90’s sitcom Roseanne – no wonder I didn’t recognize her nearly 40 years earlier!

And a final note – Night of the Hunter is based on a novel, one I will have to add to my ‘books to read’ list…  er, make that my ‘books to read if I ever finish the Harry Potter series’ list.  🙂

A semi-challenge was placed on this blog, for a movie quote blog. It is a little more difficult than I thought at first. Some of the first things that came to mind were quotes from shows I have been in. Then some TV shows that I like, and finally some movies.

So I was wondering how to handle that. I’m thinking I should keep it to movies only, but there go some good TV quotes. And then I have to make sure that the quotes I have from plays I’ve been in are actually in their movie counterpart. Tough to do. I will have to keep a list of all the movies that the quotes have been in. And no partial phrase quotes. The quotes should make up a complete sentence. And not a long ‘blog’ worthy quote from some movie. That would be cheating…

Can I do it?

We live a little over an hour outside of Toledo, Ohio, so it’s the ‘big city’ we visit for extra shopping, better restaurants, and of course, the zoo.  We’ve discovered a little cafe just north of the Ohio toll road called Nick’s Cafe, and they have GREAT food (including Greek selections – YUM!!) that comes in HUGE portions at very reasonable prices.  Just thought I’d give them a plug since the place is never hopping when we’re in the there and I would HATE to see them go out of business…  Anyway, next to Nick’s (well, there is an abandoned honky-tonk bar between them called Bootleggers) is an old Frank’s Nursery and Crafts building that recently opened up as something called Crazy Prices.  The first time we noticed it, we were too tired to check it out, but last week we had enough energy left to  go in, and it’s awesome!  They have a variety of wares, from groceries and household items to furniture and clothing, all at discounted prices.  Like any store like this, some things you have to  be careful about since there might not be much of a discount, but when we went, they had a special sale – 50% off ALL grocery items!!  We ended up with about 4-64 oz. bottles of juice for the kids, lots of snacks and granola bars for school lunches, and a whole bunch of other stuff for around $21!  Plus, they give each kid a little squirt gun as a prize for “being good and letting mom and dad shop”, and they also give you a wooden token for each $5 spent – the token is good for $5 off your next purchase of $10 or more!  We will definitely be back!  There is also a location in Bowling Green, and if you go to their website, they don’t mention the Toledo location but it’s there on South Reynolds, just north of the tollway.  Better yet, we learned that this is a Christian organization!  Their mission statement:  The Vision of Crazy Prices is to see a chain of discount retail stores providing income to an ever-growing list of organizations that are supporting young people, many of whom are hungry  and  hurting, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

If you are in either the Bowling Green or Toledo Ohio areas and you like clearance shopping (my husband can’t get enough – we spent over an hour here last weekend and he wants to go back this weekend – no complaints out of me, I like to clearance shop too AND this gets me yet another trip to the zoo!!), check out Crazy Prices!

It’s no secret that there is a big screen version in the works of the popular little blue 80’s tv characters known as The Smurfs.  I haven’t heard much buzz about this, just enough to know that it’s in development.  I  don’t know if it’s going to be live action, CGI-enhanced, or 3D (though I would guess that with  the growing popularity of 3D that this might not be a bad idea).  I do know that the main roles are rumored to have been cast, and this is the news that shocked me and prompted this post – Quentin Tarantino as Brainy Smurf?!?  If this movie is going to be live action, this is going to be interesting…  my money is going on Tarantino doing the voice-over for the character, not actually being made up as Brainy Smurf and doing the acting.  Although perhaps the actors will film the movie and then be “drawn”  over, ala Avatar.  But however they do it, I will surely be checking it out as I was a huge fan of The Smurf’s cartoon in the 80’s – I even had a Smurf’s record!  Who can forget the toothbrush song?!?  I listened to this over and over as a kid and was pleased to find it on youtube.  (I would like to apologize to my friend Carol in advance – DO NOT click the video, Carol!)  Oh, and by the way, they’ve slated Katy Perry as Smurfette, and Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf.  No word on Gargamel yet, although Neil Patrick Harris apparently has a role as a “live” character who helps the smurfs (Johan or Peewit?).  And Alan Cumming is Gutsy Smurf – who the heck is Gutsy Smurf?  Is this going to be a parody movie of the Smurfs, much like the Brady Bunch movies (which actually did a great job of hilariously spoofing the 70’s tv show)?  Staying tuned!

I finally have internet, so hopefully, I will be writing more often. I was working two jobs for awhile, just so we could pay bills and get food. I was working at KFC with Tony and at Goodwill. Thankfully, that is over with now. I was getting very stressed and Goodwill offered one of my co-workers a promotion. She took it, which gave me her job. I would be working the morning shift which would give me close to 30 hours a week, which was what I needed! For a couple of weeks now I have been working the morning shift, but wait…there is more to my tale! I am being promoted as well! Kelsey is now head cashier and starting Saturday, I will begin my training for head cashier! That will give me at least 35 hours a week! Which definitely helps since Tony and I now have four cats in our house.
Padme is not happy with us, but I am hoping that she will calm down after a week or so. If she doesn’t, they will have to go back, but she calmed down after we brought home Beru, so we are hoping that she will calm down with Darth and Chewie soon enough. I love them all, but Padme is my baby! She is so spoiled and I know it’s my fault, but I cannot make myself regret what I have done with her.

In a couple of weeks, my little baby and her sister, Beru, will be getting fixed and I (and Tony) are hoping that Padme will become calmer and want to cuddle again. That is one of the things I miss from when she was a kitten. She loved to cuddle. Now, she loves to play. I have to say that that is all right too. I get plenty of picture opportunities from that. Though, of course, at the moment, she is being grumpy and anti-social.

Tony and I now have a roommate. Amie has move and is spoiling my little babies. Not that I need any help with that any!

Well, I guess that is the main things to update, since my lap is being occupied by one of my kittens, which makes it a little difficult to type.

Hmmm, do you see the changes around you? Do they make you stop and think a bit? What to do?

Spring is a season of major change, and we are now in the first inklings of Spring. The weather seems to be getting warming. Rain is falling instead of snow. The ice and snow is melting. What to see?

I’m getting older, my children are getting older and our lives are changing. Our relationships are not what they were last year at this time. Things may or may not have gone the way we wanted. Change is there. Who do I love?

Change is all around us. Do you see the change? What changes will you make because of those changes?