365-2 | Peaches Prattlings

{June 6, 2014} Call the Midwife

Love Love Love!!!

I have heard great things about this show, I was somewhat intrigued, but it wasn’t high on the list. I like period pieces, but I found recently that I enjoy the mystery shows that are period.

I really enjoy the ones set during WWII, I find them incredibly fascinating and enjoyable. My dad turned me on to Foyle’s War, it took a minute, but I got into it hard core, and then it was over. It’s hard when you enjoy a series and then it ends, but that allows you to find other things to watch. Which is one of the things I enjoy about Netflix, it allows me to find a show and watch it to the end, as long the series is over, if it’s still going on, you might not get the entire series.

I had been considering watching Land Girls, which I really liked, I’ll tell you about it some time. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1449940/?ref_=nv_sr_1

It was time for something new and Call the Midwife it is! It’s about the lives of a group of midwives in the late 1950s.

Vanessa Redgrave is the narrator, an elder Jenny Lee, who is talking us through her memoir. Jenny is a nurse and trained midwife, she is joined by Trixie, a vivacious blond, Cynthia, a shy and sweet brunette, Chummy, a very tall, solid and wonderful woman who feels like she is all thumbs. They live at Nanartas house, which is run by Sister Julienne and a group of nuns, all who are midwives. Pam Ferris is Sister Evangelina, tough as nails and a big softy. You may know Pam Ferris as Aunt Marge from Harry Potter or Ms Trunchbull from Matilda. Judy Parfait plays Sister Monica Joan, an aging nun, very forgetful and speaks in riddles. You may remember her as the queen from Ever After or Vera Donovan from Dolores Clairborne. Sister Bernadette is the quiet conflicted one. They are joined by a few male characters, PC Peter Nokes, Fred, the caretaker, the town doctor, Dr Turner.

The setting is the east end of London, very little money, several people to a flat or a room, poor conditions, but the people are happy. The funny or interesting things that I found. The women smoked, not just inside, which was common, but WHILE THEY WERE PREGNANT! Even while waiting for their prenatal appointments! How about the fact that they leave their babies in their prams outside the clinic or houses and apartments, that’s just the way they did it!

No matter what, when you called Nanartas House, you had a midwife come to visit. They would make weekly house calls and sometimes they performed duties for people in Poplar as a nurse, for both men and women. They get involved with the lives of their patients, get to know and care for them, experience their joys and heartaches and a lot of babies! There is at least one to three babies born each episode and you get to see it! Not the full birth, but you see the babies as they are coming out, from the side, you see their head and then their little bodies, it’s amazing.

As you watch each episode, you get involved with these women, their lives and you laugh with them, you cry with them, ooh and ah with their new babies, get scared with them and feel joy. You also see how medicine has changed, but one thing that hasn’t…women are still having babies.

Bottom line, I really like this show and recommend it highly. It’s a show you never want to end, does that help?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1983079/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{June 4, 2014} Sixteen Candles…Love!

Who doesn’t love the movie Sixteen Candles?

Well, especially if you grew up in the 80’s. And you’re a girl. Not that guys don’t watch it, but I think more girls have an attachment to this movie and I apologize if I’ve offended anyone.

If you don’t know this story, it’s about Samantha, a high schooler who starts her sixteenth birthday with not even a fizzle, everyone has forgotten because all focus is on her sister’s upcoming wedding. If it can go wrong, it will, just one thing after another.

We have Sam, played by Molly Ringwald, who feels invisible and is in love with Jake Ryan, the popular hunky guy who is dating a vapid self-centered popular girl who only like the status of the relationship. The cast is rounded out by some other great actors, Anthony Michael Hall, who plays the king of the freshman geeks, John Cusack plays one of his “back up singers”, Paul Dooley plays Sam’s dad and Joan Cusack plays a very small role that you wouldn’t know she was in it if you weren’t looking.

This is one of those movies that no matter what, if you own it, as soon as it comes on tv, you have to watch it. Speaking of owning it, there is a scene in the movie that they show when it’s on tv, but it’s not on the dvd or vhs, it’s the scene where Jake is reading a note that he found, has personal information of Sam’s, in the lunchroom, not on the dvd, what gives?

This is a great movie that makes me nostalgic and happy when I watch it and I could almost quote the movie word for word and there are some great lines in it, there are far too many for me to get started You can relate to some of the mishaps that Sam has, especially as a teenager.

And who among us hasn’t wished that Jake Ryan would come to pick us up, wherever, in his red Porsche and take us back to his house to eat ice cream cake sitting cross legged on the dining room table as he leans in and…

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088128/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{June 3, 2014} A lot to say, but…

Nothing to talk about.

Did you ever have that feeling that you want to talk about something but don’t know where to start? I know, I know, those that know me, and now you, my readers know me pretty well, you know I never seem to run out of things to say and admittedly, that is true. For example, right now, I am blathering on about having nothing to say, which, by my word count in this post is just not true.

There are some things that annoyed me today and other things made me laugh, so I guess the day evened out in the end. I’m doing fine, just don’t feel like blogging, but didn’t I just do that by rambling endlessly? [well, almost endlessly]

Drats…foiled again!

{June 2, 2014} And again…surprise!

Last surprise of the weekend, or is it? Kidding, it is.

Sunday morning came liesurely, I woke up about 7:40, but stayed under the covers for a while, no one was trelling me to get up, so I took full advantage.

I got up, showered, dressed and headed to the kitchen to get to work. We had a party to set up for, yes folks, another party! And a surprise party at that!

AS, my sister’s sister-in-law, had a milestone birthday last week and Sunday, my sister’s family threw her a surprise party.

Friends and family showed up at noon and AS and her hubby JS, showed up at 12:30 and we all yelled surprise, as one is apt to do at a surprise party, then we and happy birthday.

We had burgers and fries and chips and beer and ice cream cake, what could be better?

That was the last surprise of the weekend. About 2:45, dad and I headed to the airport to send me back to Michigan, I needed a nap!

{June 1, 2014} happy birthday Baby A!

One year ago today at 9:52am, Baby A was born.

The first grandson to DCM and a new love for JJ! I happened to be in Atlanta that weekend and was lucky enough to be there to see him when he was a few hours old! (We tried to get him to come out before we left Atlanta, but he wouldn’t listen, DCM’s grandson, go figure!)

I’ve gotten to see him a few times throughout the year, Christmas was the last time, and if you’ve been on my Facebook page you saw my Mother’s Day picture from him. As you can tell, he is a very handsome boy and I can tell you, he looks just like his mommy, what a doll baby! DCM is there representing and spending some good quality time with him and…he loves the tricycle DCM picked out for him.

Happy happy birthday Baby A!

{May 30, 2014} I did it!

I surprised my sister!!!

I am famous in my family for surprising family members. It started when I was in college my freshman year and I decided to come home and surprise my parents for Passover. I walked into the restaurant where there was a party for my cousin and my mom just about fell on the floor. My dad, on the other hand, seemed to know I should be there.

I did that a few times, surprising my dad on his birthday several times including last year. To date, I had never surprise my sister before.

Well, this is my last weekend off freedom, so to speak, before I can travel until the end of the project so I decided to come to Boston and surprise GES.

My dad was in on it and my brother in law. My dad was really good about keeping it secret, my brother in law wasn’t even sure if he knew!

My brother in law was great and pick me up from the airport, telling my sister that he was going to meet some friends for drinks.

We got home I saw dad and LaLa and snuck upstairs to see GES, who was checking on MGS and the look on her face was priceless!

She was very surprised and excited and said she didn’t know but had a feeling. She is her father’s daughter!

I said, well, you did invite me to two parties this weekend! (Lots happening here this weekend, go figure).

I’m so excited that I surprised her and that I’m here for the weekend.

(Think EJS and MGS will be excited tomorrow?)

Lots happening…more tomorrow.

I did it!

{May 29, 2014} Ok, today I felt old…

We all have those instances that make us feel old. Today…was a doozy.

When I talk to people who weren’t born before or when Star Wars came out. Someone who was just born when I went to college or high school, maybe I’m friendly with them and their parents are my age, that sort of thing. Today was no different.

Normally the classes we teach are made up of people ranging between mid-twenties, thirties to fifties and older and when I introduce myself, I say that I’ve been a software trainer for about twenty years and when the classes are older, I joke, “I know, I know, I just look 12” and they laugh. Especially when the class is made up of people in their 50’s.

Today’s class was made up of first year Pharmacy students, about 21 years old, although they looked much younger.I refrained from saying the same thing to the class because realized that I’ve been training almost as long or even longer than they have been around. THAT made me feel old!

Then I went back to the hotel after class, hung out with people their age, who don’t make me feel old and some people my age and it was all better.

Goodnight!

{May 28, 2014} Invincible…I La La La Love this movie!

I know I’ve already done a review of this movie, so it won’t be a review.

This is a great movie. It’s a true story of a regular guy, Vince Papali, a 30 year old bartender in South Philadelphia. He plays football with friends here and there and they encourage him to try out for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976 when new coach, Dick Vermeil, holds open tryouts.

This is not a spoiler alert, if you haven’t seen the movie…there wouldn’t be a movie if he didn’t make it. (Who’s going to watch/make a movie about a guy who tries out for a football team and doesn’t make it?)

It’s not an easy time for anyone, the steel workers are on strike, times are tough all around when he makes the team, it gives everyone in the bar something to look forward to, maybe have hope.

He faces the idea that at any moment before it’s official, he could get cut from the team, the uncertainty of the future, the other players never making him feel welcome because he was a walk on and not a draft pick, his wife having left him at the beginning of the film, friends not sure if they are going to ever work again.

The entire movie was filmed in what seemed like sepia, very soft lighting, lends to the mood and feel. The soundtrack is great, all 60s and 70s songs that speak to tone of the film.

Bottom line is this is a great movie that I own and still have to watch every time it comes on TV. (Guess why I’m telling you about it) Every time I watch it, it affects me in the same way. I get goosebumps at the same time, chills, weepy, nervous, excited, amazed, it doesn’t matter how many times I have seen this movie, I will continue to react the same way.

(It doesn’t hurt that Mark Wahlberg is pretty to look at, come on, I’m still a girl!)

If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it. It’s a feel good movie, you have to smile when it’s over.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445990/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{May 27, 2014} Going in the dark…

Total random musing today, which was inspired by a power outtage at work right in the middle of class.

Have you ever noticed that when you get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, you make your way there with your eyes closed or even half open, you don’t turn on a light and seem to function just fine. Ok, sometimes you stub your toe, it happens, but you get over it.You find the room, the toilet, do your thing, wash your hands and head back to bed, no problem.

But…when the lights go out, especially when you’re at work, it feels weird to go to the bathroom. There are emergency lights in the hallway or maybe outside light coming in from the windows and you can get around the office, but when it comes to going to the bathroom, you’re a little wigged out and worried about not having a light for the bathroom. Maybe you find a flashlight or use the light from your phone, you’re still not as comfortable as you are in the middle of the night at home.

Why is that?

{May 26, 2014} Where did the time go? What a day!

The day started a little too early.

Jymy decided to start scratching at the bedroom door and crying at what I thought was 8:50am. Not so, it was not even 7am, really? Well, now we were both up at that point. Relaxed, did some stuff around the apartment, laundry, showered, dressed.

About 9:45, I left to meet my friend, EA and her new baby boy, TJA. What a doll baby!! We went to Mimi’s Cafe, quite yummy and a great time catching up, it was really good to see her and meet her son.

After that, I headed back to the apartment, finished packing and all of a sudden it was time to head to the airport. We had to stop at the post office, but that only took a few minutes of a detour.

The flight was scheduled to leave at four, yeah right. I got to the gate, the plane wasn’t even there, so I got some lunch, eventually got on the plane, we took off about 4:20 or so, got in to Detroit and KS picked me up and drove me to the hotel.

We got here about 9:50, I said hello to everyone and got caught up, I gathered my things and then headed up to my room, I’m not sure what happened but it was after 11 when I got to the room and now it’s almost midnight. Where did the time go?

Here’s hoping you have a great week!

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What was I thinking?