365 | Peaches Prattlings

{June 18, 2013} A great dinner tonight

Tonight, I made a yummy dinner!

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed being here is DCM and I cooking together, we’ve only been out to eat a few times, most nights we go to the grocery store, pick up what we need for dinner and cool dinner together.

I was in the mood to cook and I thought a home made pizza would be nice. I went to Safeway, one of the major grocery stores in Colorado, they have a really nice fresh produce section and a large selection of healthier options.

So, for dinner, I got a flatbread, layered on sauce and shredded mozzarella, added some ground up sausage and green olives to half (that’s DCM’s staple for pizza) mini yellow and red peppers and spinache on my half (I made it perfectly so the meat and sausage didn’t touch my side!) and added some more cheese to the top and baked at 375 for about 15 minutes, well, I just kept looking to see when everything was melted. Lets just say it was Y U M M Y!

Then…while the pizza was baking, I whipped up a carrot cake, even had some cream cheese frosting, it was really yummy, came out wonderfully lopsided, but who cares? You cover it with frosting and who can tell? (The secret for frosting a cake is to let the cake cool completely, better even in the fridge so the cake is firm, easier for the frosting to spread and stick, the frosting has to be warm, so it’s easily spreadable).

Lets just say dinner was easy to make and delish and inexpensive, a great combination!

{June 16, 2013} Are movies getting too long?

That is the question I have been wondering lately.

The reason I have been wondering is that I can’t always make it through a movie without almost floating out the door when it’s over. Movies used to be about 1.5 hours, now they’re 2, 2.5, 3 even, is it always necessary? Don’t get me wrong, there are some movies that are that long and I have sat through, riveted to the screen, but there are some I have to ask, is it too much.

An average bottle of water at the movies is about 20 ounces, they also have larger, 33 ounce bottles. When DCM and I go to the movies, I end up getting the larger bottle, it’s about .50 more and as I drink as much water as I can get, works for me. In the past, I could drink that much water, no problem, but lately, I’ve found myself squirming in my seat not far from the end and I don’t think it’s necessarily my bladder.

And when I say, is the really long movie time necessary…last night we went to see Man Of Steel, as you know and during the final fight scene, I couldn’t take it anymore, I ran out and ran to the bathroom (they really need to have a bathroom on the side we were on!) and when I got back, they were still fighting, that should tell you something. (It doesn’t take me long, but I had to run back to the theater!). Some of the scenes they add to the end of movies seems to be a bit overkill. Don’t shoot me, like I said, there are some movies it works, but very rarely.

I love movies and I will never stop going, no matter what, but I think some things need to be taken into consideration when they are thought up and brought to life.

(I don’t want to start having to wear depends to go to the movies!)

{June 15, 2013} Man of Steel

Tonight DCM and I saw Man of Steel.

There was good and less than good, not bad, just less than good. I’m a big kid in case you didn’t notice, as evident by my love of all the marvel movies, Muppet movies, animated movies and I love super hero movies. And when it comes to remakes, I’m very skeptical.

I didn’t see Superman Returns, 2006, didn’t want to, I’m a purist, I am a Christopher Reeves fan, even George Reeves, Superman on TV back in the 50’s.

Henry Cavill was pretty good as Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman, that’s a lot of pressure for one person! How is it that no one doesn’t know he’s Superman? He had a lot of chest hair, ick and how did he shave his face? Nothing can cut the man of steel! I liked the new costume, what a bright smile! but very disappointed in one serious thing…where was the Superman curl? That was one of the things that made him super and super cute!

Amy Adams was Lois Lane, she was kind of a bad a$$, the “epitome of the do or die female”
she said “I’m only at peace when I’m wearing a flak jacket”! I really liked her character, she knew when to back off and when she could help.

Russell Crowe played Jor-El, Kal-El’s father. He was strong, intelligent, doting and a fighter. You see him from time to time in the movie.

There were some great supporting cast members.
Diane Lane and Kevin Costner played Clark’s parents, both very good, kind, caring, understanding and supportive. Laurence Fishburn was the editor of The Daily Planet, Perry White, he was firm, understanding, tried to be tough. Christopher Melonie was Colonel Hardy, turned out to be a really good guy.

One of the cool things about the movie is that there was some a lot of back story which helped fill in some blanks, explain a few things. And the technology, wicked cool!

All I all, I enjoyed the movie, it was a little too long, there was a fight scene towards the end that probably didn’t need to be as long, but it didn’t detract too much from the movie. If you’re thinking about seeing it, I say go for it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770828/?ref_=sr_1

{June 14, 2013} This sofa is too comfy!

I thought my sofa in Atlanta was the only comfy couch in the world. I was wrong!

The sofa in my house in Atlanta is great, I, like many others, have fallen asleep on it more than once. There were times when I knew I needed sleep that I would grab a blanket, lay down and zzzz. There were times people would try to wake me and then go upstairs, then I would be up, so I knew, if I fell asleep there, just leave me.

It was also great for naps and snuggling. Don’t you think naps are so underrated for those over 6? There is nothing like a good nap on a rainy afternoon or a sunny one,doesn’t really matter!

When DCM found this apartment, he told me the guy who had the apartment said he would leave the sofa, it’s an L shape and boy is it comfortable! DCM said there were several nights that he fell asleep watching TV and just stayed there. I can totally understand that! This is a comfy sofa!

I have fallen asleep more than once since I’ve been here! Today, I was talking to CKM after work and realized that I was sleepy, we got off the phone, I put my head down and the next thing I knew, DCM was home from work and putting away groceries! Tonight, we were watching something, I laid my head down on his lap to watch and next thing I knew, I had missed whatever it was we were watching!

Friends, I am so not complaining! I love this sofa and I love to nap and let me tell you…there is room enough for more than one person to stretch out and nod off. I’ll save you a spot!

{June 13, 2013} What’s your number?

I watched “What’s Your Number?” And I liked it.

I missed the first 5 minutes or so, when the main character loses her job, not a spoiler alert. The story is about Ally Darling, isn’t that a great name? Her sister is Daisy Darling, too…those names are…yeah, darling.

Daisy is getting married and Ally is beginning to question her life, where it’s going, who is she going to meet and shouldn’t she be at that stage, settling down? She has found an article talking about the number of people you sleep with and what the average is.

During a drunken binge, with friends, she decides she is a) not going to sleep with anyone else, and when she does, that’s who she’s going to marry and b)she is going to track down the men that she dated, maybe one of them is the one, the one that got away. One of the inspirations is her sister, who is marrying the boy she dated in high school.

She has a neighbor, 6B, as she refers to him, Chris Evans to me (Captain America to you) agrees to help her track down the guys in return for letting him hide out in her apartment on occasion.

The movie is charming and fun and predictable at times, sad at times, but overall a good time.

I’ve told you about Chris Evans, charming, cute, sweet, a cad at times, but all around decent guy. Anna Feris is Ally and she is funny, sweet, goofy and just when you think she’s going to do something stupid or bad, sometimes an “I Love Lucy” moment, she pulls through. She is a great big sister and takes charge when she needs to. Normally, I find Anna Feris to be annoying, well most of the characters she plays. I loved her in The House Bunny! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0852713/?ref_=sr_1

Ari Graynor plays Daisy, Ally’s younger sister. I loved her in Whip It and she was such a different character in Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist. In this movie, I changed my opinion from the start, I thought she was going to be uptight, but she was a great sister, sweet, supportive and a little space, as she was getting married, but always there for her sister.

Blythe Danner played their mother, a woman who is very proper, very wealthy and although she loves her daughters and wants the best for them, she thinks marrying (wealthy,good social standing) well is what will make them happy.

Ed Begley Jr plays their dad, a small role, but an important one. The parents don’t get along, if one is going to be at the wedding, the other won’t go…fun, huh?

There were a few other actors that I knew in small supporting roles and it was fun to se them.

All in all, a fun and charming movie, I recommend it highly. Yes, it’s a chick flick and I’m a chick, so therefore, a good fit, but fun even for the guys out there, promise!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770703/

{June 13, 2013} Guest stars

Isn’t it interesting who guest stars where?

You’re watching your favorite show and occasionally they have guest stats and you’re like “woah, wow, is that?” Tonight we were watching an episode of Warehouse 13 and Lindsay Wagner appeared on the screen! I can’t remember the last thing I had seen her in, it may have been a movie on Lifetime!

I was watching the Muppet Movie this weekend and thinking about guest stars and shows that were popular for them. The shows that came to mind, and interestingly enough, from the late 70s/early 80s: The Muppet Show, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Star Trek, The A-Team, The Fall Guy.
There are others that you could add, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind the most.

This even lapped over into their movies. Think about the famous people in The Muppet Movies, all of them! It was a who’s who of Hollywood! I was first introduced to Alice Cooper, Carol Burnett, John Denver, Beverly Sills…on the Muppet Show, it seemed to be a right of passage, like being on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, it meant you made it!

There aren’t many shows like that left, that people are clamoring to get on,but it’s always fun to spot them, especially when you might not be able to remember their name, but you remember their character.

Makes me nostalgic, how about you? Charro..”hoochie coochie”…Tattoo, “Da plane boss..da plane!”

{June 11, 2013} Dark Shadows

Watched the movie, Dark Shadows and I was (we were) pleasantly surprised.

When we saw the previews, we were on the fence, it’s Tim Burton and that in and of itself says a lot. I’ve seen a lot of Tim Burton movies and I’ve liked some and fallen asleep during others. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my all time favorite movies, while on the other hand, I fell asleep shortly into The Corpse Bride.

If you’ve ever seen some of his artwork, you’ll realize just how twisted he can be, it’s quite interesting. That being said, we wanted to see Dark Shadows, just never did and then it was out of the theaters. I don’t even remember it being at the $2 theater, lucky us, it’s on TV!

Dark Shadows was created in the style of the old TV and radio shows, very cool in that respect. It starts off in the 1800s, I think, and when Barnabas Collins is awakened it’s 1972, so the costumes, hairstyles, cars, the music, all terrific…pay phones, awesome!

I didn’t know all the actors, but Johnny Depp was great as Barnabas Collins, the vampire, who awakens in a time not his own, it was interesting to watch his reaction to everything new. Helena Bonham Carter, as weird as ever, I think she’s typecast, what do you think? She is involved with Tim Burton, so I don’t think there’s a movie he’s done she hasn’t been in.

Jackie Earle Harley was great as the drunk butler, the name may not be familiar, but his face is and when I say Moocher from Breaking Away and Kelly Leak from The Bad News Bears, ah, oh yeah. The last major player was Michelle Pfeiffer, she was great, still looks fantastic and played her part so well.

Rounding out the cast, with minor roles was Christopher Lee, who you see for a moment and Alice Cooper, yes, I said Alice Cooper! Who, by the way, looked exactly the same, and by that, I mean, he never seems to age. And, a bit of trivia…the first time I saw Alice Cooper, The Muppet Show in 1978!

There were parts to the movie that you looked sideways and said “huh?” or “really?” or “ewe!” Other times you laughed, you were shocked, “they really went there?”. There was action, romance, violence, apologetic vampires, bad witches, family secrets, hidden abilities, unrequited love, money, family bickering, murder, but always, at the heart of it all, a love story. Awe.

Bottom line, we liked it and would watch it again, there I said it. We liked it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1077368/?ref_=sr_1

{June 10, 2013} A voice from the past…catching up

Today I talked to someone I haven’t spoken to in a long time.

My cousin, JFS, is my mom’s first cousin; their moms were sisters; my mom was born on her 20th birthday; she was very close to both my mother and grandmother; my name isn’t in the bible, so I chose her name for my Hebrew name.

I have great memories growing up and spending time with JFS. I enjoyed when she would come to NYC to spend time with us, either at our house on Staten Island, or at my grandmother’s in Brooklyn. Other times, we would go to her house in Allentown, PA and as I got older, I’d go to spend the weekend with her on my own, we have a common weakness for Wheat Thins! It was at her house, I saw The Breakfast Club.

She’s a good cook, taught me how to make eggplant parmigiana, an amazing baker,
mandel breit, http://www2.indystar.com/recipes/view/2623 and most special was hamantashen, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamantash (I’ll post her recipe when Purim comes again next year) and for years, even though I had the recipe, I would still call her the week before to get the recipe, it was our thing.

We used to talk on a regular basis, but the past few years, not as much. We would trade emails and most recently on Facebook, and as I post pictures, she is reminded very much of my mom, see..I told you I look just like her!

We’ve tried to connect a few times, but schedules being what they are, it’s been tough to get together. Well, today, our schedules gelled and we made contact and for about an hour, we caught up on what we’ve been doing, families, grandkids (tee hee hee), traveling, where we are going next.

It was nice to catch up, I hope we can do it again soon.

{June 9, 2013} First Run in Colorado

Today I/we did my/our first run/walk in Colorado.

One of DCM’s co-workers has a son who was diagnosed with epilepsy, and today was the Epilepsy 5k. I originally registered as a runner because I wasn’t sure if DCM was going to be participating.

The alarm went off at 7am…I will sleep past 7am one Saturday, I can feel it! You’ll pull for me, right? We headed out to City Park in Denver, it only took about 30 minutes to get there, it was a nice ride with the top down. We got our race bibs and T-shirts, found the group and got ready for the run to begin,

There was a good group of people, employees and spouse/significant others. Most people were walking, a few running and they encouraged me to run, I made sure DCM would be alright with that as I said we’d do it together, he was cool with it, as he’d be with his co-workers, I still feel a little bad, as I don’t know if I’ll get him to do another one with me.

It’s been about 5 weeks since I’ve run or done any kind of exercise due to packing and the move, I can’t believe I was kind of jonesing to run, if you can believe that! I wasn’t prepared to run (I did have my running shoes and 2 sports bras on, that was good thinking!) I had on jeans short, but honestly, they fit well, didn’t slide down and kept my thighs covered, what could be wrong.

The bad part…no headphones! So I had to listen to myself breathing, ok, panting most of the way! I ran the first quarter mile, walked 2 minutes, ran a quarter mile and so on. My best time in a run was 39 minutes, my slowest time 43 minutes. Since I haven’t run in a while and I’ve been told it would be very different with Denver being the Mile Hight City, I’m really happy, I made it in 44:55, no complaints here!

Someone said I need to train here, then when I go back to Atlanta, I’ll be a monster on the course! That is the plan!

After the race, I got to hang out with DCM’s co-workers, we had frozen fruit bars, ice cream, snow cones, popcorn, danced with team mascots, had a lot of laughs and took team photos. After the run, we headed home.

There were some side effects, could be from the run, might be from something else. My chest was tight for most of the day and I ended up with a wicked headache, spent the rest of the day on the couch, fading in and out of sleep, DCM taking care of me, thank you. So, I just need to start training again and I should be golden!

Tonight, DCM got an email from JS, PS’s wife about a run June 22nd and she said, “DCM, this email is of course, directed to JRS!” Too funny!

Here’s to the beginning of my runs, bib and tshirt collection in Denver, looking forward to it!

{June 9, 2013} Cliff hangers

Are Cliff Hangers a necessary evil?

You watch a show all year/season, it gets exciting and you’re not exactly sure where it’s going to take you or how it’s going to end, but you know you’re going to be left hanging. Even though you know it’s coming, you still get excited and then fall for it! Then you have to wait for the summer to end and fall to arrive so you can see what’s coming next.

Remember when they would have summer seasons, to keep you occupied. Sometimes, the station will play the last few episodes before the new season returns.

We set our internal clocks to these shows, we set the DVR to record and get excited when it goes off to remind us.

So, while we wait for the next season to start, we find something else to watch, maybe a summer mini series, sort of fill the void, until there is a cliff hanger on the summer series.

Tonight, we watched the series finale of Grimm and the ending was perfect, said it all…
The last thing on the screen was “To be Continued…C’mon, you knew that was coming!”

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