A Weekend at the Movies

OK, so we didn't actually go out to the movies this weekend, but we did take in a few. I have to admit that when the weather gets really cold like this (single digits) and there is no snow, there is little motivation to go outside. Saturday we caught up on Survivor since we missed it to go to The Best Christmas Pagent Ever at the Spokane Civic Theater. Then we watched a little Disney short called Prep and Landing. It was pretty cute, although I thought it was going to be longer after seeing a few ads for it. You can watch it on http://www.hulu.com/ by clicking here.

That evening we decided it was time for another Christmas movie. We have a few on our list.

Elf... check.

White Christmas... check.

Die Hard... wait... well, it takes place at Christmas time.

I actually hadn't seen Die Hard in years, so it was fun to watch. After all, it is 40 stories of sheer adventure!

Next, we watched something a little more mellow. Melissa wrote a post about wanting to see the movie Julie and Julia earlier in the year. Today we snuggled up to watch this charming little story. I enjoyed it thoroughly, although, our lunch seemed quite uneventful after watching all the French cuisine being consumed in this movie. I also felt like I may have gained 10 pounds just by watching all the butter and cream teasing me on the screen.

Oddly enough, we were playing 90's Trivial Pursuit later and this question popped up:

What famous cook stated, "giving up butter means that in about two years you will be covered in dandruff."

Once you see the movie, the answer to that question is incredibly obvious. ...so, why did I guess Dom Doluise? I guess I never was one to pick up on the obvious.

~Deanna~

Test Your Christmas Smarts!

I've definately been getting more and more in the Christmas spirit lately. We went to "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at the Spokane Civic Theater the other night, I finally got my Advent wreath set up (on the second week of Advent *sigh*) and we spent an evening at The Bing Crosby Theater (I live in Bing's hometown) tapping our feet and whispering the lyrics to "Sisters". Inspired, I dug out my Christmas box and began pulling out decorations, dvds and one of my favorite little finds, a box of Christmas trivia. Aaahhh... I love both Christmas and trivia, so I snatched it up when I saw it in a discount bin one year after Christmas. I also found a great site with some fun tidbits at http://christmas.howstuffworks.com/games/christmas-trivia.htm. Now, I would like to bestow some of the enjoyment on you!

Questions:

1. What are the three different colors used for the candles of an Advent wreath?

2. In Miracle on 34th Street, at what store does Doris Walker work?

3. What did General Washington cross on December 25, 1776?

4. What holiday tradition evolved from a large stewing pot set out in the streets of San Francisco in 1891 to collect money to provide Christmas dinner to 1,000 of the city's poorest residents?

5. What does the 'X' stand for when Christmas is abbreviated to Xmas?

6. What colorful tree decoration did Ralph E. Morris, a telephone company employee, contribute?

7. Name the reindeer whose name begins with a 'B'.

8. What Christmas song was first introduced in the movie, Holiday Inn?

9. In Bulgaria, what object is hidden in the ashes of the yule log: a key, coin, or ring?

10. What was the angel's name in It's a Wonderful Life?

11. In what country did the tradition of sending Christmas cards begin in?

12. Do female reindeer have antlers?

Answers:

1. What are the three different colors... Purple, rose and white

2. In Miracle on 34th Street... Macy's

3. What did General Washington cross... The Delaware

4. What holiday tradition evolved from a large stewing pot... The Salvation Army collection kettle

5. What does the 'X' stand for... The first letter of the word Christ in the Greek language is chi, which is identical to the modern Roman alphabet's X

6. What colorful tree decoration... Electric tree lights

7. Name the reindeer... Blitzen

8. What Christmas song was first introduced... White Christmas

9. In Bulgaria, what object is hidden... A coin

10. What was the angel's name... Clarence

11. In what country did the tradition of sending Christmas cards... England

12. Do female reindeer have antlers... Yes, they are the only species of deer that females grow antlers

How'd you do?

:) Deanna

Gotta Love the Stache

Well, we managed to fit in the last outdoor movie (you may remember my description of these from last year's post). This weekend we got some action from Burt in "Smokey and the Bandit". As we set up our chairs we got to see some fun reminders of the movie.

Then we settled in for the ride. I have to admit I barely remembered the movie, but with movies like this it doesn't take long to grasp the deep characters and complex plot points. David put it something like this, "This is one of the most ridiculous movies, but it is just so fun to watch!" Well put! Of course by the end of the movie I think I had quoted every line of the song "Convoy" as well.

It brought back a bunch of memories from when we were kids and would go on road trips with our cousins with a CB radio in each car. I remember Dad's handle was Shutterbug and Mom's was "Livewire". I'm not sure I ever convinced anyone that mine was "Scooby Doo" but I was convinced in my head. Oh, but don't worry, we never were chased by a crazy Texas Sherrif, bootlegged, or drove a shiny black Trans Am... although we did have an awefully cool "heavy Chevy".

Hope you are still enjoying your summer too! There's still a little left!

We gonna back on outta here so keep the bugs off yer glass An' the bears off yer tail. We gonna catch ya on the flip-flop. This here's Scooby Doo on the side. We gone Bye, Bye...

*D*

John Adams

I just finished watching the John Adams TV miniseries &......Wow! Normally I find it difficult to think of John Adams & historical figures of this era as real people or identify with them in any personal way. Things were so different & strange back then & lets face it, all we ever see are stuffy looking pictures in history books. But, I must say, this HBO series does a terrific job at breathing life into it all! (Paul Giamati & Laura Linney play the parts of John & Abigail Adams).The scenes that gave me chills & goosebumps:

Definitely, the swearing in of our very first POTUS, George Washington. My eyes welled up. I wish I could go back in time & be there...just for that one thrilling moment.

Secondly, the smallpox vaccinations. who knew they were giving smallpox vaccinations all the way back then?!! And it was not given in the handy form of a needle poke like it is today. I'll let you watch & see.

Third, watching slaves build the White House made me feel ashamed. What kind of sick irony is that, huh?

And lastly, when the Adams' daughter finds out she has breast cancer. What? Am I the only one shocked they were diagnosing it back then?! Well, I'm glad. But when she gets a mastectomy, without anesthesia...that's the scene that gave me chills up my spine.

You get all the basic historical information in this film that you learned in history class, but you also get to peek in on John Adams personal & family life. It's great! They should do a series like this on other historical figures.

A few other things of note: I loved how influential Abigail was in John's life.....& thank goodness men stopped wearing wigs!

Melissa

A glorious weekend

Yes, I said glorious. Why? Because the sun was shining longer than 5 minutes & because I scored free paint & a free chair (above).

Early Saturday morn, I was reading The Farm Chicks' blog where I found out Glidden was giving away free quarts of paint (which they've since run out of - but are now giving away free $5 rebates). And while I had no idea what to paint with it, I fell in love with the Canary Song yellow. Because yes, I went straight in to stare at all the pretty colors. I'm secretly mesmerized by paint chips & the names of paint chips. Who comes up with these great names anyway? "Sea glass" being my particular favorite of the Glidden collection.

Anyhow, the Canary Song was ever so cheery & I've been thinking lately that my house could use a good dose of cheer. I ordered it.

Hmm...now what to paint?

After the paint ordering frenzy, I felt energized & got straight to work Spring cleaning the house, getting stuff ready for my pending yard sale & taking our Winter/Spring backlog of recycling to the recycling center. I love recycling, but it really does take over your garage if you don't have a nice weekend to clean it out. And as I pulled our truck back into the driveway on arriving home, there it was...the chair I've wanted all along for my sewing table. I've daydreamed about this chair. The rounded, spindly back. Yes. My neighbors just set it out on the curb for Monday morning trash pick-up & I saved it. It's dirty, but I'm thinking some soap, water...& maybe some paint...yellow paint?...might turn it around. Actually, now I'm thinking a nice shade of blue. Ahh...well, something in this house will be painted yellow, if not the chair.

Now a few random things.
While folding laundry Saturday afternoon, these clean white towels stacked atop my white washing machine thrilled me to no end. I love white on white. I admired it for some time before giving in & putting the towels away. *sigh* I felt compelled to take this picture & share it with the world. Wouldn't it be great to jump in a pile of clean white towels? I think that is my newfound dream.I also think I might be turning British. Is that possible? No accent yet, but my evening treat before bed all weekend was tea & toast. Aveda tea, which is my favorite tea in the whole world. And cranberry orange toast from Great Harvest Bread Co., where I visit more often than is necessary.

And more evidence I might be turning British... I began yearning to watch something Pride-&-Prejudice-ish late Sunday afternoon. After a brief search at Netflix, I found Wives & Daughters which I was able to play from my computer. Of course, this taking place in early-1800's England, the ladies in the movie do quite a bit of needlework. Which got me in the mood to knit. I knit in the English method, not the American-Continental method (more evidence). So I picked up a project & knitted away 3 straight hours while totally engrossed in the movie. It is long, much like Pride & Prejudice, but highly recommended by me. Very good.

And that's all for now. M

p.s. If you want to sample my favorite tea, let me know. I'll happily slip a packet in the mail for you.

Julie & Julia

I can't wait for this movie to come out in August. I could use a little inspiration in the kitchen.

xo, M

Free Summer Fun

Are you looking for something to do with the family this summer, but don't want to spend alot of money? Well here is a good idea. Regal Cinemas is having free family movies throughout the summer. If you go here you can find the movie schedule in your area.

Now, if you are just concerned about free chocolate, this one is for you. Mars is giving out 500,000 coupons for free chocolate on Fridays for a promotion. Now, the problem for those of us on the West Coast is that the giveaway starts at 9:00 a.m. EST. This means 6:00 PST. Doesn't seem like the odds are quite that fair, but what can you do? You can go here to sign-up on Friday.

Just thought I'd pass on the fun!

Deanna

A Second Helping of Deanna's Discoveries

Please indulge me one more round of discoveries. This is the last day of February and I will soon be off posting about the madness that is March, so let me sneak in these discoveries now...

Swaptree
The point of this website is to swap things like books, videos and games. Let's say you have a copy of The Godfather but are willing to give it up if you could finally get your hands on High School Musical. Just sign in (probably under an alias in a case like this) and see what's out there. My friend has used it a few times and has had a good experience so far.


Debit Card Hackers
The furrowed brow foreshadowed my plight as she stared at the credit card scanner.
"Huh. Let me try it again."
I figured it was just some glitch because I'd had that happen before, but then the discovery.
"It says I can't give your card back to you."
What??? The gas station clerk said the machine reported the card as stolen and she'd have to send it back to the company. I felt slightly like a criminal as I walked past the customers waiting impatiently to pay for their Corn Nuts. When I called the bank the next day the guy nonchalantly told me that some hackers had gotten into a payment processing system so there were cards being returned all over the place.
"Would you like me to see if you're on the list?"
Um... yea! I was on the list and he told me a new debit card would be coming to me this week. I am thankful the problem is resolved, but I find it odd that if somebody hacks into my account the gas station will know before me. I received my debit card today and never did get a letter, call or email from the bank explaining to me what happened.

Librivox
The goal is to get all the books in the public domain into an audio format that is available free to everybody. Volunteers read the chapters and then they are all organized into a catalogue. The downside is that some of the volunteers' reading is just... well... annoying. However, each volunteer only reads a couple chapters and most of the readers do a fine job.

Logan Magazine
I came across this magazine as I was browsing different magazines published in Spokane. Here's a good little description from her website: "At 16 years old, Logan sustained a brain injury. Her desire for positive influences for young women with disabilities motivated her to create Logan Magazine with her mom, Laurie." If you know any young girls who have some serious obstacles to overcome, check it out.

Randomness and Legos

A Blog Post in Which General
Thoughts that Come to Deanna
That Are Not Sufficient

for a Full Post Get Wrapped Up Into

One Big Bundle of Joy

I watched the movie, Be Kind, Rewind tonight. It is stinkin' hilarious. Not only that, but in its own quirky way it is very endearing. Some big names in it are Jack Black, Mia Farrow and Danny Glover. The basic plot is two friends recreating all the movies in a video store to replace the ones Black's character destroyed. To the left they are doing a 20 minute rendition of Ghost Busters. Other movies they have to make are Robocop, Driving Miss Daisy, and even the animated classic, The Lion King.

Recently I've been thinking about some famous song lyrics that just make me want to raise one eyebrow. There is a Tim and Faith song that says, "I need you like a needle needs a vein". Not exactly the most heartwarming, maybe heart draining, metaphor for love. I also think the imagery Fergie uses is odd when she says, "and I'm gonna miss you like a child misses its blanket". Tonight, however, Bobby Bare took the gold as I turned on the radio and heard, "Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goalposts of life".

I also wanted to inform all my astute readers that the championship has been won! The World's Ugliest Dog Contest has crowned Gus their King. Gus is a one-eyed, three-legged Chinese Crested who also has skin cancer. He has overcome a lot of odds... well, maybe for him they aren't so bad; "Big buckets of drool get extra points," radio station KZST emcee Brent Farris said in the story. "So do missing limbs."

Oh, how I would love to continue telling you all about the things I store in my brain's "random drawer" (it's kind of like that kitchen drawer that you throw things in because you just don't know where else to put them). However, I'm totally tired so I'm signing out.

D