It's Tuesday and I'm Happy

 

I can't believe I only posted once last week.  Well, yes, I CAN believe it, but it wasn't my plan. You know what they say about the best laid plans.  Did that come from the book Of Mice and Men or did Steinbeck just borrow it?  (I went back and looked it up.  He borrowed it.  It was first written in 1785 by a man named Robert Burns.  Who knew?)

I had a fantastic weekend!  My husband and I celebrated 18 years of marriage (2nd marriage for both of us). To be honest, I'm really proud of both of us for putting up with each other!  We decided to splurge and treated ourselves to a hotel stay in downtown Houston along with a fancy schmancy dinner and a cocktail on a rooftop bar

Our waiter wasn't joking when he said these were
the best crabcakes in the city.  The BEST!

  My DH had no idea Comicpalooza was in town and many of the festival-goers were staying in our hotel. 

It was... interesting.  Being unfamiliar with that niche, we couldn't figure out what many people were dressed as.  We definitely saw an Alice or 2 and a White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.  Interesting!

Well, that's all I have worth mentioning today, so let's laugh a little!

Good question!

Last, but not least...

Have a great week, and don't forget to visit Random Tuesday Thoughts and Happy Tuesday!

Movies - Summary, Director, Stars, Grade

My husband and I don't often agree on TV shows and movies, but we decided last February to start watching a show together every night, and it has become a favorite activity.  So, when we ran out of series, we turned to movies.  There were some classics we hadn't seen and some Academy Award winners and nominees.  We still don't always agree, but we watch together anyway.

Here are the last 13 movies we've watched.

1. Taxi Driver (1976) A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.   

Directed by Martin Scorse.  

Stars:  Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, and a young Jodie Foster.  

My grade = C

 

2. Carlito’s Way (1993)  A Puerto Rican former convict just released from prison pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him to lead a better life outside of New York.

Directed by Brian De Palma  

Stars:  Al Pacino, Sean Penn, and Penelope Ann Miller

My Grade = B

3. Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Mentally unstable Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brother-in-law while reality crumbles around her. (Based on a play by Tennessee Williams

Directed by Elia Kazan

Stars:  Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh

My Grade = C

4. North by Northwest (1959) A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt. 

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Stars:  Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason

My Grade = B+

 

5. Seabiscuit (2003) Based on the true story of a Depression-era, undersized racehorse whose victories captured the spirits of a nation. 

Directed by Gary Ross

Stars:  Toby Maguire, Jeff Bridges, and Elizabeth Banks

My Grade = A-

6. The Nest (2020)  Life for an entrepreneur and his American family begins to take a twisted turn afgter moving into an English manor.

Directed by Sean Durkin

Stars:  Jude Law, Carrie Coon, and Oona Roche

My Grade = F

7. Nomadland (2020)  A woman in her 60's has lost everything in the Great Recession, so she goes on a journey through the American West living in her van.

Directed by Chloe Zhao

Stars:  Frances McDormand, David Straithairn, and Linda May

My Grade = F   

8. Lincoln (2012) (We watched half before we realized we'd already seen it, and it was a long movie.) Set during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln struggles with his own cabinet over the decision to empancipate slaves.

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Stars:  Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and David Straithairn

My Grade = B

9. Green Book (2018)  A working-class Italian-American bounces becomes the driver for an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960's American South.

Directed by Peter Ferrely

Stars:  Viggo Mortenson, Mahershala Ali, and Linda Cardellini

My Grade = B+

10. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) The mostly true story of 7 people on trial for the uprising at the 1968Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Directed by Aaron Sorkin

Stars:   Sasha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eddie Redmayne, etc.

My Grade = A-

11. The Last Emperor (1987)  The story of the last emperor of China, Pu Yi, the 11th and final leader of the Qing dynasty. The story begins when he becomes emperor at age 3 to his youth in the Forbidden City, and through revolution and captivity.

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

Stars:  John Lone, Joan Chen, and Peter O'Toole.

My Grade = A

12. Gandhi (1982)  The story begins when Mohatma Gandhi, a lawyer, is thrown from a South African train for being in a whites-only compartment.  It covers his leadership of the nonviolent independence movement in India against the British all the way to his assasination.

Directed by Richard Attenborough

Stars:  Ben Kingsley, John Gielgud, and Rohini Hattangadi with an appearance by Candice Bergen

My Grade = A

13. Argo (2012)  Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescus six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.  Directed by Ben Affleck

Stars:  Ben Affleck, John Goodman, and Bryan Cranston

My Grade = C

Join up with others for Thursday Thirteen .  

Friday Confessions

Last night, I cried.  It was an accumulation of things.  First, it finally became clear that I have so little control over things that I am able to do.  Without going into too much detail, this involves my husband, and while I'm not angry with him, I'm disappointed at some realizations I came to.

Second, I'm worried my son isn't going to go to college.  His grades and GPA are good, but his testing scores aren't great, making college less appealing for him because he doesn't think he can get in.  He can go to junior college and save me a lot of money, but now he thinks he doesn't want to go to college at all - that he wants to learn a trade instead.  There is nothing wrong with learning a trade, but I would like for him to get a degree as well.  It just makes you safer in any job you have if you have a degree.  Please pray that he will make good decisions about his education and will even get accepted at junior college.  They are upping their standards right along with everyone else.

Did you hear that the SAT is going to change back to the way it used to be?  I wish they had changed it already, because I feel strongly that both of my kids would have done well had their test been designed the way it was when I took it, and getting into the college they want wouldn't be an issue.

Third, my daughter is going off to college in five months.  She will be six hours away (one way trip), so she won't get to come home much.  I am going to miss her so much.  I know it's part of growing up, and all of those other "logical" things we say about children leaving home, but my heart is going to have a difficult time.  She has so much going on this summer, too, that I won't see her much.  She is going on a trip with her grandmother and brother, summer youth leadership training, college orientation, welcome week, and a ten day mission trip to a village in Jamaica. (I wrote about that here.)http://www.forgetfulone.com/2014/03/church-mission-trip.html I'm so proud of her, but gosh!  What am I going to do?

All of these things have made me melancholy the last couple of days.  Thanks for reading.  Are you confessing this week?

No More, Please!

image credit

If you want to...

 

ask me to clean up your mess,

ask me for money,

ask me to find something you can't find,

ask me to do your laundry or some other chore,

tell me what to do or not do,

and how to do or not do it,

yell at me for not answering my phone,

yell at me for some other supposed misdeed,

or  if you just want to

laugh at me or criticize me in general...

 

take a number,

get in line,

and bring a snack.

You're in for a long wait.

Anniversary

Today (Friday) is my anniversary. Not my "blog"versary, but my real-life, partner, friend, lover, husband-and-wife anniversary. We were both previously divorced, both have full custody of our children, and we had no idea how challenging a blended family would be. But today marks five years for us (a total of 8 1/2 years together). Here's to us!

On a different note, when we got married, May 28 fell on the Saturday after school was out. This year (and last year) we still have a week of school left after our anniversary. I wish we didn't. It was pretty nice having our anniversary AFTER the kids and I were out for the summer.

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heads or tails

Today's prompt for Heads or Tails (click for more participants), hosted by the very talented Barb, is "Once Upon a Time."

Once upon a time, I was a young girl who wanted nothing more than to get married and have children, lots of children. I'd marry a romantic man, my very own Prince Charming. He'd treat me like a princess, and we'd have a lovely home. I would be a teacher after my children started school. The whole family would be perfect. As a child, if I wasn't playing house, I was playing school. One of my favorite movies was Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968, the original with Lucille Ball) where they had about a dozen children. That's what I wanted. A dozen children! And a house with a laundry chute! How cool would that be? And being a list maker, I'd have schedules, charts, and lists everywhere to keep things organized.

Well... I don't have to tell you that life is not like the movies. My "once upon a time" didn't happen. I am blessed with twins, but I have made so many mistakes and decisions that didn't turn out to be in my best interest, and I have grown cynical. I know there is no "once upon a time." I know there is no "Prince Charming(for me, anyway)." I don't believe men are generally romantic, and I decided long ago that my twins were enough children for me, and I love them very much. I did become a teacher, and I question that decision as well. And I'm not sure if I believe true love exists since things in my current marriage continue to turn sour.

Once upon a time? There are no fairy tales in my real life.

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Thursday Thirteen #23

13 signs you’re in need of counseling

1. If there is a major change in your life, good or bad.
2. If you self-medicate (alcohol, drugs, food, etc.)
3. If you have unexplained physical problems that may be arising from stress.
4. If you are depressed or anxious, and it doesn’t go away.
5. If you doubt yourself.
6. If you have low self-esteem.
7. If a child is experiencing stress due to your attitudes and behaviors.
8. If there is too much distance in your marriage or partnership.
9. If you just need to talk.
10. If you’re curious about the counseling process.
11. If you and your mate or partner have never had an argument.
12. If you’re uneasy, but you’re not quite sure what’s bothering you.
13. If you have any thoughts about hurting yourself or others, even emotionally.

Follow this link for some common sense information.

Click here to view other Thursday Thirteeners.