365-2 | Peaches Prattlings

{January 14, 2014} Napping on planes

Napping on planes can be both good and bad.

For a long time, within twenty minutes of getting on a plane, I would fall asleep and wake up when the drink cart came by, pretty simple and relaxing. It’s not that way so much anymore, some flights I can’t sleep, some, I doze off.

Today, I slept through most of my first flight, I don’t remember much after takeoff and totally missed the drinks, then on the second flight, I fell asleep after my drink and snack and woke up once or twice before landing, I know I missed most of the movie I was watching.

Sometimes you feel better after a nap on a plane, sometimes not so much. The first flight, my nap was wonderful, I was refreshed and ready to go, after the second flight, I’m not sure if I actually fully woke up. I know I was kind of groggy coming out of it, mouth open, I know I had drooled at some point, I admit it, I occasionally am a drooler, there I said it!

I was fuzzy going to baggage claim, couldn’t quite shake the sleepiness from my head, I think when we got into the truck I was better, but here I am, still a little fuzzy, but if you think about it, I’m sort of still on eastern time and it’s 2:22am there, but I am looking at the clock as if it’s 12:22am, which it is, here in Colorado.

I only know that I was traveling for about ten or twelve hours, with two flights, so let’s just say I’m plum tuckered out and I’m going night night (spending a week with a six and three year old will do that to you and I will be saying going night night for about a week!) so…

Night night!

{January 13, 2014} Do we have to watch that again? Life with a wee tot!

Can we watch minions again? Can we watch minions again? Can we watch minions again? (Just for clarification, this is referring to Despicable Me 2, which my nieces discovered and loved.

They also have it on DVD, but discovered I have it on my iPad, so it’s “Auntie J, can I/we watch minions, or sometimes it’s ‘spicable me’ on your iPad? Yesterday, EJS went to swimming lessons, my sister and MGS watched it on the big TV, the minute EJS got home, she wanted to watch it on the big TV…agh! I’ve been here since Wednesday and I’ve probably seen the entire movie or parts of it at least 10, maybe 15 times!

It’s true, when you have a wee tot, ie toddler, grade schooler, there will be a movie or a show that captures their attention and they can’t get enough of it, can watch it over and over and over again, in a row! It’s a little different when it’s a TV show, sometimes, if you’re lucky, the episode will be different, but a movie is just that it’s the same every time!

I’m sure each of you who has or has had a small child in your home can sympathize and knows exactly what I mean! For a time it was Barney…aaaaccckkk! I’ve heard about The Little Mermaid, just to name another, enough that dads know it enough to make a video! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zwSn5ObK8-g

I’ve had movies that I’ve watched over and over, not usually right after it finishes, although my sister and I would watch Cinderella and The Court Jester over and over, but we did it together, didn’t subject our parents to that!

It’s amazing what captures their attention at that age! And what they keep going back to over and over again! I feel for my sister and brother-in-law, especially since I’m going home tomorrow and I have a feeling it will be a while before I watch “The Minions” any time soon!

PS…the minions have their own movie coming out next year!
And..just for fun, here are a few links for the minions, I couldn’t choose and you’re not burnt out yet, right? You weren’t here with me all week, right?
They are cute! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lnvy1gpZa7M

{January 12, 2014} We got flocked!

Saturday morning, we got up and discovered we’d been flocked!

For those of you not “in the know”, flocking refers to the act of putting a flock of flamingos on someone’s lawn. It is generally done as a fundraiser and in some cases you would pay it forward. It’s done for a birthday, a pick me up, a way to make the recipient smile and we did!

This is a common practice in the south, at least I’d seen it a bunch in Atlanta, apparently, not so much in the north, in particular, Boston, as that’s where I am right now.

Since you have to put the flamingos, plastic pink bird bodies on metal post/stick legs, when the ground is soft, it’s better. As we’ve had snow and freezing temperatures over the last few days, guess what the ground isn’t! As the ground was hard as a rock, or frozen, as it were, a little difficult for the person installing the flamingos to get the stakes in the ground, so at 10/10:30 pm Friday night, she is hammering something into the the ground to be able to get the flamingos in there! My sister and brother-in-law thought it was me! Wondering what I might be doing, now, I might be creative, but I’m not going to do anything that noisy that late! I was in my room wondering what the noise was! Next, my brother-in-law goes outside to see what the ruckus was and there was a woman, with a hammer, finger to her lips giving the shhhh motion!

This flocking was care of fantastic neighbor, CF, too awesome!

http://www.ehow.com/about_6677646_flamingo-flocking_.html

{January 11, 2014} In a perfect world…

Isn’t that an expression we use a lot?

I was watching something on Hulu and there was a commercial, go figure, for Dannin Oikos Greek Yogurt.”In a perfect world all the guys would look like john Stamos and bing…all men in the commercial were john Stamos.

I use that expression when I teach a software class, if something is not working right, going wrong or if just not functional in the training environment, as in “In a perfect world, you would be able to do this” or ” in a perfect world, the screen would look like that”.

I know we use it in reference to every day events, when it starts raining during a special occasion, if we really want something, if we really want something and someone else has it, when something goes wrong just as we are trying to do something or make it right.

I even have a metal board that was given to me that says “in a perfect world I live in Paris with better hair” isn’t that terrific?

I know it’s silly and ever a silly phrase, but doesn’t it sometimes make things better? In a perfect world it would!

{January 10, 2014} War Games

Oh how I la la la love this movie!

This movie came out in 1983, I remember watching it in the theater. I think it was after a neighbors birthday party, we all went to the movies, wow. Then, for the 25th anniversary, I took myself to see it in the movie theater again, how cool is that?

The movie was so revolutionary at the time, I know when we watch it now, we look at the green screen, the dial up connection, the dot matrix: font, printer, the commands, seems so archaic, an antique, but we’re looking at it from 2014 eyes, not “1983 everything about computers is still relatively new” eyes.

The story was great, opened our eyes to a lot of things, the acting was good and what a cast there was! Matthew Broderick was what, 12? That’s a guy that never ages! Ally Sheedy, before she started playing women off their rocker. Dabney Coleman as Mr McKitrick, the inventor of The WHOPR, Barry Corbin as General Berenger and John Wood as Stephen Falken.

Bit of movie trivia, did you know/remember that John Wood and Matthew Broderick were in the movie Ladyhawke two years later?

What about the memorable lines?
Joshua, the computer “Shall we play a game?”
The guy at the game company “Jim Sting: Remember you told me to tell you when you were acting rudely and insensitively? Remember that? You’re doing it right now.”
General Beringer’s most famous line “Goddammit, I’d piss on a spark plug if I thought it’d do any good!”

Do you remember the Defcons?
“McKittrick: See that sign up here – up here. “Defcon.” That indicates our current defense condition. It should read “Defcon 5,” which means peace. It’s still on 4 because of that little stunt you pulled. Actually, if we hadn’t caught it in time, it might have gone to Defcon 1. You know what that means, David?
David Lightman: No. What does that mean?
McKittrick: World War Three.”

When I was a nanny, when I first moved to Georgia, the kids didn’t know War Games or what Defcons were, so I used to tell them that we start off at five and go down, if I got to one, we had trouble. When they had friends over, I would tell them to tell their friends about the Defcons! Let’s just say…I never got past three.

Do you still get goosebumps when Joshua starts playing the game, “attacks all the countries” and we are waiting to hear if the voices were still on the phone, or horn as the general referred to the phone? or launching the codes! When they just stood watching the large screens while the simulation of attacks happens or Joshua looking for the launch codes while Matthew Broderick plays tic-tac-toe with him, trying to help him learn? How about earlier in the movie, just to see if they can make it through the gate and door at NORAD before it seals them in the mountain? What about the first time you heard or now hear…global thermo nuclear war?

When it comes on TV, aren’t you compelled to watch it when it comes on TV? How can you not?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

PS…happy birthday to my brother in law AS! Glad we could spend it together!

{January 9, 2014} Facebook…that evil time waster!

We’ve all done it, or almost all of us have done it. We get on Facebook to check one thing and three hours later, you have no idea where the time has gone.

Take me for instance, I got on Facebook about 11:15 to wish some people, like my brother-in-law, AS a very happy birthday, along with some other people who share his day and the plan was to wish a few happy birthdays and blog and here it is midnight and I’m just starting to write to you.

Facebook, for all it’s good points, has a lot of bad ones and time waster and brain sucker are among the top two. If you’re like me, you might go on there for one reason and one reason only, maybe it’s birthdays or you heard about someone’s status or picture, like all the grandkids, nieces and nephews, when CKM was doing her photo of the day, I had to go and look.

The next thing you know, it’s hours later and you have looked at the newsfeed at least four times, wished everyone a happy birthday, laughed at some jokes, responded to messages, checked on some peoples status, watch a few videos and then it’s time for bed, right?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Facebook a lot, it just sucks you in!

That’s all I had to say!

{January 8, 2014} What a day! Tantrums, hugs, reunions, kisses

I’m in Boston this week visiting my sister and her family, got here last night, so great to hug and kiss everyone.

Today, my sister and brother-in-law had an appointment, so it was my job to get the girls off to school. As they left for the appointment, I was helping EJS with her homework, she was tired and not that interested and while she was expressing herself, her little sister, MGS, came in the kitchen to tell her, “EJS, if you finish your homework, you can come and watch TV with me” and that was that, it worked.

A few minutes before that, MGS was having her little meltdown since mommy and daddy were gone, I gave her her “special necklace” and she was fine. About 8:15, the school bus arrived and EJS put her shoes on and was out the door. I told MGS that I was going to take a shower and in 15 minutes we would get her dressed and head to school, ok? Ok. Yeah right!

When it was time to go, someone was not having it! I had experienced this with EJS when she was younger, so it was MGS’ turn! Someone just didn’t want to go to school with me, wanted mommy and daddy, understandable. As I tried to get her pajama top off, she kept trying to get it back on! Then, when I tried to get her shirt on, she kept trying to take it off, awesome!

We are dressed and ready to go…nope! What can I do for you? What would you like? I had to call mommy and daddy for advice, they were very understanding, thankfully! Then I heard among the tears, “I want to wear mommy’s scarf!” Ok, find the scarf! About this time, Aunt A and Uncle J showed up and tried to help find the scarf, guess where it was…with mommy at her appointment!

After a few minutes, she agreed to get a different to scarf and as soon as she grabbed it, she was ready to go to school! We bundled up, got in the car, iPad in hand and it was smooth sailing. Got to school, checked her in, went to her classroom and she put her stuff away and pushed me out the door (gives her control on when I left).

After school, I went back to the house, hung with Aunt A for a bit, then headed out to meet a good friend of mine from high school for lunch.

It was great to catch up with Dr CC, yes, I said doctor! His speciality is Physical Therapy, what an accomplishment! So impressed and proud of him. He has a very cool job, he heads the internship program for physical therapy for Northeastern University, about 150 interns participating in the program, a lot of responsibility but incredibly rewarding! And to hear him talk about what he does is inspiring, he’s incredibly passionate, it comes through without question, something that’s wonderful to see.

We caught up about our families and kids, it was terrific. We’ve seen each other a few times over the years and it’s been great to see him when our schedules mesh when I’m in Boston, Facebook conversations are great, but in person is even better! I do appreciate him having the time to get together.

After lunch, I headed towards MGS’ school to pick her up, getting a little turned around along the way, but found my way there. I had some time to kill so I stopped in a Home Goods store, I had never been to one before and wow! I can’t wait to go when I get back to Denver!

Then it was time to get MGS, went into her class, she played shy for about a minute, then it she was ready to go! We were stopping at Dunkin Donuts on the way home, yes, I bribed her this morning and proud of it! It worked! After Dunkin, as the girls affectionately call it, we headed home, she was happy as a lark, got in the house and it was play and relax, then dinner, movies, stories and night night.

One of the greatest feelings…when she sits on my lap or touches my arm and says “I like you” I like you too, then a random hug or pat on the shoulder, sigh.

It’s finally time for bed, stories with EJS, talking with the lights off, rubbing her back, MGS coming in to say good night, kisses and hugs, then telling them both, like our parents did with us…”Sleep well, get up well, I love you” how wonderful is that?

Catching up with my sister and brother-in-law for a bit, watch some silly TV and then upstairs to talk to you guys!

Time for night nights! Goodnight!

{January 7, 2014} Did you order a Code Red?

OMG! How many amazing lines do you remember from A Few Good Men?

I was going to talk about something else tonight, but when I turned on the Sundance Channel, A Few Good Men was on and every time I see it, I am compelled to watch it, can’t look away, even when it’s on the “regular channels”, cut and bleeped, but luckily it’s on a cable channel, all the good words are still there!

I realized that this is not a movie in my collection and it should be, it still gives me goosebumps to this day and it came out in 1992. When it opens with the drill line, here, why imagine you can watch it http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IjLyz8OAj1s, i watch it in amazement, just truly master at Rob Reiner’s genius from that moment.

I still get weepy when they announce the verdict after realizing that “he does think better with the bat!”

I’m not a huge Tom Cruise or Demi Moore fan, but I knew I wanted to see this movie and I am so glad I did, it’s well written, well acted, keeps you on the edge of your seat for the majority of the movie. In addition, there is a great cast, the amazing and intense Jack Nickelson, could you have seen anyone else in this role? Not a chance!

Kevin Pollack is second chair, I was so used to seeing his stand up comedy, it was interesting to see him in a serious role, Keifer Suterland as Lt Kendrick, I always forget about Noah Wylie and Christopher Guest in bit roles and for the first few times I saw it on video, I would always say, I completely forgot that Kevin Bacon is the prosecutor!

Here are a few of the quotes you probably remember most from the movie:

“He eats breakfast three hundred yards away from four thousand Cubans who are trained to kill him and no one’s going to tell him how to run his unit, least of all the Harvard mouth in his faggoty white uniform.”
Lt. Daniel Kaffee

“I run my unit how I run my unit. You want to investigate me, roll the dice and take your chances. I eat breakfast three hundred yards away from four thousand Cubans who are trained to kill me. So don’t think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous.”
Col. Nathan R. Jessep

How about this piece of trivia…”You can’t handle the truth!” was voted as the #29 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
So here is the scene in full:
Judge Randolph: *Consider yourself in Contempt!*
Kaffee: *Colonel Jessep, did you order the Code Red?*
Judge Randolph: You *don’t* have to answer that question!
Col. Jessep: I’ll answer the question!
[to Kaffee]
Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I’m entitled to.
Col. Jessep: *You want answers?*
Kaffee: *I want the truth!*
Col. Jessep: *You can’t handle the truth!*
[pauses]
Col. Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Kaffee: Did you order the Code Red?
Col. Jessep: I did the job I…
Kaffee: *Did you order the Code Red?*
Col. Jessep: *You’re Goddamn right I did!*

{January 6, 2014} Happy Anniversary!

To me…and you, my dear sweet readers!

I started this blog December 29, 2006 and I would post things here and there, there were a few times I said I’m going to do this every day, you can imagine where that got me. Well, January 6th of last year, I decided I was going to try something and stick to it and here we are! I vowed to blog every day for a year and see what happens. They say it takes twenty one days to form a habit and we are way past that and I am loving it!

Who knew that I would actually stick with it and enjoy it. I know there have been a few times I was too tired, but I still posted something, it might have been “sorry friends, I’m too tired, but here is my post” but I did it! There were a few times I couldn’t think of a thing to say! Imagine that, me, not knowing what to say, well, not to worry, something came out of somewhere! And here we are!

I guess you could say I had an epiphany to write a blog telling you about myself to begin with and on January sixth, I had a serious epiphany…I was going to blog every day for a year and I am here to tell you, new epiphany, well, I’ve had this one a few times, I’m going to keep going!

I keep saying epiphany because today, January 6th is not only my anniversary, but it’s also The Feast of Epiphany!
“Epiphany, commonly known as Three Kings’ Day in the United States, is on January 6. It celebrates the three wise men’s visit to baby Jesus and also remembers his baptism, according to the Christian Bible’s events.” What are the odds I had an epiphany on The Epiphany! Too cool for school!

Thank you, CKM, for telling me about this holiday, I didn’t know anything about it! When I think of the word epiphany, I always think of the movie “Hook” when Captain Hook says to Mr Smee…’I’ve had an epiphany!’ And Mr Smee’s reply…’a whot?’.
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/epiphany

So, a great anniversary just worked out…After messaging and talking to two of my besties from high school yesterday, today, I spoke with my sister, my dad, and three of my besties! SDL, CKM and JCT, how awesome has my day been? Try and top it!

So, in conclusion to my random rambling today…I want to say thank you for signing up, coming back, reading, laughing, loving and letting me entertain you for this past year and I look forward to the next year and the next and the next. Happy Anniversary!

{January 5, 2014} Serious movie marathon! Come on with me!

Over the course of the weekend, we watched quite a few movies and I’m going to tell you about them! (I have inside nagging feeling I am forgetting one, which is not like me, and I know if I did, DCM will let me know what it was!)

Last night we watched The Croods. It was cute, we both liked it, but I could see why it wasn’t in the theatre very long. A friend, PP, who reviews movies professionally said on Facebook “I just got out of a double feature of Turbo and The Croods. Ryan Reynolds might be more entertaining if you don’t see him.” While I agree not everything he’s done has been great, I’ve enjoyed quite a few of his movies. I just have to wonder if he was in on the creation to ensure that his character in The Croods was really cute! He was by far the most attractive of the group and they were all “cave people” hmmm…

What a cast! Catherine Keener as the mom, Cloris Leachman as the grandmother who didn’t seem to want to die, much to dad’s chagrin and Emma Stone as the daughter.

The story centers around the Croods Family, who go on an adventure to find the “land of tomorrow” after their cave collapses. Basically, they never did anything or went anywhere outside of the cave, except to gather food and run around a little bit. The father, played by Nicholas Cage was almost afraid of his shadow; in his opinion, his one job was to keep his family safe, and he did that. The one thing a father cannot seem to do, no matter what time you live in, is keep your teenage daughter under lock and key, she wants to explore the world, see what’s out there (of course, you could reverse that with teenage boy) especially when there is a cute boy involved. Learn to take a chance, trust yourself and tell each other how you feel, I love you says it all. Happy ending.
The Croods http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481499/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

This morning was Quartet, a charming film taking place at a home for retired musicians and opera singers. It was wonderful to listen to different pieces of music and arias sung by these amazing talents. The underlying story was the arrival of Maggie Smith’s character, a retired opera singer and former wife of one of the residents, tension ensues! Everyone is mostly nice to each other, there is professional jealousy and rivalry that carries on today, a lot of flirting, especially by Billy Connelly towards anyone in a skirt!

The wonderful thing is that the entire cast that makes up the residents are all returned musicians, opera, musical theater actor veterans, except for the four leads! The four leads have been in many films, but they were never famous for being on the stage or in an orchestra! It was charming and…happy ending.
Quartet http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441951/?ref_=nv_sr_1

After Earth was next, with Will and Jaden Smith playing, go figure, father and son! I know you’re shocked. Overall, this was a decent movie, as someone said, it was not a “Will Smith movie” this was more Jaden in the foreground and Will in the background. The premise is that we are years in the future and earth is no longer inhabitable, we live on a different planet now and on the way to a training mission, the ship enters an asteroid field and is forced to go through a worm hole and ends up on earth, nasty place!

Due to the crash, father is injured, son must travel across the planet to find the signal device. Father will guide the son, but he must do it himself and they both must come to terms with guilt they have been feeling over the death of the daughter/sister and forgive themselves and each other for not being able to save her/be there.

Age old story, father seems unstoppable, son idolizes/looks up to father, just wants him to notice him, wants his approval, father wants son to be better, a soldier like him, if that’s what he wants to be…happy ending.

(These movies have been out a while. I’m not giving anything away and it’s my discretion that it’s a happy ending or not!)
After Earth http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1815862/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Elysium is a movie staring Matt Damon and Jodi Foster, on two different worlds. Matt Damon is on Earth, 2154 and is sucks royally, to be blunt. Elysium is a space station, a really nice one, that was built by the wealthy to keep them healthy, wealthy and wise. Well, sheltered is more like it, there is no injury, death and if you’re sick, go into a pod and poof, all better.

Jodi Foster is on Elysium and the Secretary of Defense, I think and an all around bad arse and bad person, taking extreme measures to keep the “riff raff” off Elysium. Let’s just say it’s the equivalent of people trying to cross the border into the US.

Matt Damon gets into an accident and needs to get to Elysium to get into a pod to get better and in the course of his attempts to get there could do something that would give equality to all. And free health care! Happy ending!
Elysium http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535108/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Epic is an epic tale that takes place on a really small scale! Mary Katherine, or MK, as she now calls herself, because she’s a teenager and finding herself, goes to live with her dad after her mom passes away and her dad is a scatterbrained researcher looking for proof of dwellers of the forest. MK inadvertently gets shrunk down to the leaf peoples size and then adventure ensues! She finds out that the world is “bigger” than just us, the world is a magical place once you open your eyes. (There was definitely some Honey a I Shrunk the Kids in there)

While The Croods had some big names in it, it seemed like there wasn’t a big name in Epic! Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Colin Farrell, Beyoncé, Chris O’Dowd, Jason Sudekis, Steven Tyler, Pitbull, wow! Each character was a character! Had their own unique traits and added wonder and amazement to the movie, enough that you forgot who the actor was behind the voice, even though you sit there for a while wondering who’s voice that is! Thank goodness for imdb.com!

Happy ending!
Epic http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848537/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

We ended the evening watching Wreck it Ralph and Warm Bodies and I know I have reviewed both, but wanted to mention them, those two i rememberd!

So, now you have some things to think about if you haven’t seen some I of these movies! Enjoy!

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