Graceland

Friday, December 25, 2009

The Season, Part 1 - Birthdays

December is a busy time for our family. Isaac's birthday is the 20th and mine the 21st. Isaac had a party at Boondock's this year. Rick and I were on cake duty. Here's what we made.

Everyone LOVES Rick's carrot cake so we made that the base. I made my favorite chocolate cinnamon cake for the top layer. Isaac loves building anything, including Legos, so the theme for the cake was easy.

For his birthday dinner at home, Isaac wanted ribs and mac & cheese. Rick made yummy ribs. We cooked them a few hours in the crock pot in ginger ale, then baked them in BBQ sauce to finish them off. Really good. I made mac & cheese. I'm still looking for a homemade recipe to rave about. I used this one. I'd rate it medium. I halved the recipe which made each of us our own ramakin plus a big pan to eat later.

The next night we celebrated both mine and Isaac's birthdays at my parents. Instead of cake, I asked for banana splits. So we blew out candles in a banana.

Isaac got an ipod nano. His shuffle went through the wash last summer in a pair of his jeans so he really wanted a new ipod, plus he loves making videos to post on youtube. The nano was perfect for him.

I got a variety of bird feeders for our backyard. I'm looking forward to seeing what we attract!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Shocking!

Last Saturday we took the boys to the mall to wander around and take in Christmas. We did most of our shopping online. I can enjoy the hustle and bustle of the mall at Christmas time much better when I don't have to accomplish anything and can just soak in the Christmas music, decorations and the general feel of the holidays.

We were in a department store and saw this game. There wasn't much of an explanation so we each grabbed a handle and pushed the start button. Let me warn you, don't do it!

If you are the last person to press your button when the middle light goes from red to green, you get the life shocked out of you. Perhaps I don't need to admit that I WAS THE LAST PERSON TO HIT MY BUTTON. A store employee was nearby and starting laughing. He said he loves to watch people try it.

Needless to say, it now tops the boys' Christmas lists.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Decorating for Christmas

We don't have a fireplace in the new house. Big dilemma-- where to hang the stockings? We have a couple of walls without art yet (waiting to be framed), so we took advantage and made our own fireplace last Sunday, complete with a cozy, roaring fire. It was a fun family project and turned out cute.

Hopefully, this weekend the tree will be decorated and a few gifts wrapped and placed underneath to complete the look.

We have started placing Christmas cards on the "mantle" that Rick did such a nice job making appear 3-D.

I'm debating what to put over the fireplace. I thought a nice paper wreath. Or a crayon-drawn family portrait. Any suggestions?

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween (aka what to do with boxes after you move)

Zane and Isaac were so excited about being Tetris pieces for Halloween this year. We have a garage full of moving boxes that I've been meaning to sell on Craigslist that worked perfectly.
Isaac is red, Zane is blue. (note: if you are ever spray painting boxes, use primer first. It will save you a midnight run to the store.) I think they turned out cute.

In this photo you get the full effect of our scary spiders on the house.

Which brings me to celebrating my favorite holiday. I've included some pics of our house. I realize is quite amateur, but it's a good starting off point for future years in the new house. Having lived in a condo for years, I haven't had a yard or home to decorate for Halloween. We had so much fun putting it together this year.

Here's the candy all ready for trick-or-treaters. Also scary, bloody footprints in our entry.

No yard is complete without a spooky graveyard!

Most of our pumpkins rotted and were thrown away last week. Luckily, Isaac did one at church this week. Also- lit skull on black pillar, witches broom and rats. We have spider lights around the door, fishing line hanging down so you feel like you walk through webs and a spider descending right above the door. Rick came home later with dry ice so we had a bubbling witches cauldron as well.

Here we have the big spiders ready to attack. On the balcony are a skull strobe and spooky music.

I'm in costume and ready for the trick-or-treaters! Oh... there's the doorbell.
Happy Halloween everyone!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Happily Ever Aftering

I've been thinking a lot about integrity lately. With Roman Polanski and David Letterman in the news, I am shocked at what people accept. I believe people make mistakes and I'm not writing to judge these men. My problem comes with how people react to it. Martha Stewart's comment regarding David Letterman's affairs was, "Men are men." What!!! So because he's a man we can't expect integrity or fidelity! Do decent men of the world not take offense at people having such low expectations of them?

I was driving home from work yesterday thinking about my expectations of a man. Growing up I had a huge crush on King Arthur (Richard Harris' version from the musical Camelot). There is one scene in the movie that I would watch over and over. It is when Arthur realizes Guinevere and Lancelot are having an affair. He goes into a room and gives, what I view, the most moving monologue in all of film history. He says how Lance is his best friend and Guinevere is everything he would choose in a woman. These two people whom he loves more than anything betrayed him. Then he says, "I will have a man's vengeance." Then he softens and says, "But I am not a man. I am a king, and a very civilized king." He goes on to talk about how it's not civilized to destroy what he loves. He resolves to forgive and love them. The scene makes me swoon. I have always and will always love that man.

I was in my 30's when I realized that movie set a very high expectation for me in finding love. I wanted man with the integrity and compassion of King Arthur. I also realized it was a movie and perhaps I should live in reality. I haven't thought much more about it until last night. I was driving home and thinking of Rick and everything he's been through in his life. I am often floored at how amazingly he has handled the cards he was dealt in this life. I suddenly realized that I married King Arthur. I got the man with the compassionate heart and forgiving nature. I am not exaggerating when I say that his integrity is right in line with my favorite movie scene.

I love moments like these when I realize my life is everything I dreamed it would be. On my not-so-secret dating blog, I gave Rick the code name of Grant because I said he made me feel like a leading lady in an old movie (Grant from Cary Grant). I should have called him Arthur.

My Movie Reviews

Quiet Earth. B-. Another SciFi recommended by Netflix, although this one was actually interesting and enjoyable. A guy wakes up and everyone is gone. Made in New Zealand, it claims to be one of the top ten movies in the US in the year it came out (sometime in the 1970s). After it was over, we agreed that it was good, but the ending was a little confusing, so we watched the ending again with the directors comments. Lame. Apparently the whole movie was supposed to have an anti-nuclear message and the director takes credit for his movie making New Zealand nuclear free. So.... pretend you don't know that and enjoy the movie.
Sunshine. C-. Netflix. That's it. We are not trusting Netflix's rating of sci-fi movies again. The sun is dying so a crew is going with a nuclear missle to "re-start" it. I kept hoping aliens would show up or at least something would happen to draw me in. A lot of things almost happened, but when they did, it did not make much sense.
Warm Bodies. B. Red Box. I was surprised by this movie. I'm a fan of a good zombie flick, but when I heard about the plot, it seemed a bit too much. It turned out to be very entertaining. I'd rate it pretty high on the must see zombie film list and very high on the cheesy teenage romance film list.
Wolverine. B. I'm a fan of the X-Men movies. I'm also a fan of Hugh Jackman. It was hard to go wrong going in with those two biases. The fighting sequences were too long, but that was expected. If you've like the X-Men movies, you should like this one too.
The East. B. I forget how much I love the indie flicks at the Broadway. This also had an environmentalist-based plot, but was written well and I liked how it ended. A women goes under cover in an environmental terrorist group. It goes with the obvious plot of her having sympathies for members of the group and trying to balance that with her personal beliefs. Worth seeing.
World War Z. B. I was in the middle of the book and didn't want to see the movie until I finish, but I couldn't help it and saw it opening weekend. Not a big deal as they are very different. This is a different kind of zombie movie. While most are horror flicks, this was more of a suspense movie. They cut out the gratutious gore associated with most zombie movies and gave it more of a plot. Fun for zombie fans and non-zombie fans.
Silent Running. D. Netflix. I have no idea why this is rated so well on Netflix. Sci-fi movie made in the sixties with blatant environmental message. Forests have died on the earth so they are growing them in a space station orbiting Saturn. Earth decides to abandon the project and for some reason that means they have to blow up the forests. One man understands the impact of losing all our forests so he kills everyone. My description made it seem way better than it is. At one point, he programs his robot helpers to play cards and you watch them play cards for about 10 minutes. Skip this one!

My Book Reviews

The Rent Collector. B. I loved this book while I was reading it. Then the author's comments on the back disappointed me. It was fiction! I was so inspired by the "true" story of this woman living at the dump in Cambodia and learning to read. The whole way through I thought it was true. I was mad when it wasn't. Although toward the end, it started getitng a little unbelievable. It was based on real people which bothers me wondering how much is true and how much is fiction. I still recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.
Divergent. B+. Fun, quick read. YA fiction. Your basic strong female in post-apocolypic world fighting to make change. Even though the story's been told over and over, this one was very engaging. I can't wait to read the next in the series!
World War Z. B+. For staters, this is very different from the movie. It's 10 years after we won the zombie war. The book is a series of interviews with survivors. I was hesitant about the way it was written and that I wouldn't stay involved without a central character. However, the book created a very real world. So much so that when I was getting off the freeway one morning and saw some homeless people waking up under a bridge, for just second, I thought they were zombies. I also wanted to bring it up in conversation. Like when someone was talking about North Korea, I wanted to say, "Did you hear how they handled the Zombie Apocalypse?' It was a fun book. I've never read a zombie book before and I may never again, but I'm glad I read this one. It also was welcome to read a book that isn't a strong female character overcoming incredible odds. I'm seriously weary of that plot line.
Waiting to be Heard. B+. I've followed the Amanda Knox case for several years. I thought, since I knew most details of the case, this might be boring. I was surprised at how engaging and well written it was. She is a quirky girl and, while the complete lack of physical evidence makes me sure she is innocent, I can see why people think she is hiding something. The book was haunting to think the someone who doesn't understand a culture coupled with a corrupt prosecutor could put an innocent person in jail for years.
Girl Gone. C-. Maybe it was called Gone Girl. I don't remember. Book club book. I've never gotten into mysteries. This one took a while to get into, then I couldn't put it down, then it ended and I wished I never picked it up. Ridiculous ending.
The Kitchen House. B-. I have no idea how to rate this book. It was slow to start. Once things started to happen (murder), I found myself sucked in and not wanting to put it down; however, once I did put it down, I didn't look forward to picking it up again. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's similar to a bunch of other books I've read. I'm just getting weary of the genre and need to mix it up a little. Overall, an interesting read. The story of a young white girl who is indentured when her family dies on the boat from Ireland to America. Her relationship with her new family (the slaves whom she is sent to live and work with) and how her life is different from them because of the color of her skin.
The Happiness Project. D. I'm reviewing the book, but I'm not going to finish it. I knew this wasn't my favorite genre, but it was the book club pick this month so I thought I'd give it a chance. I didn't see the point of reading someone's goals. I sometimes feel like these "self-help" books are an excuse for people to feel like they are doing something to be happier, when really they are an excuse to avoid working on yourself by living through someone else's experience. Instead of reading the book, how about spend that time working on your own "happiness project". As I read, I kept thinking it should have been a workbook for readers to complete their own project while reading hers. I'll be interested to hear how others in book club liked it.