365 | Peaches Prattlings

{March 15, 2013} Endgame

I found a new show that I really like and makes me think of my dad.

Endgame is about Arkady Balagan, a famous Russian champion chess player who saw his fiancé murdered (blown up in a car), who now cannot leave the hotel he has been residing in, The Huxley. He spent his entire life in hotels, so this hotel is his “home” and he is an agoraphobic.

He walks the hotel in his jammies, yes I said jammies, racks up mounds of charges at the hotel and is very low on funds himself. He now solves crimes, all from the hotel, and uses a chess groupie, a bartender, a hotel maid and sometimes the hotel head of security. He fell into it when, in the first episode a child is missing and he asks the right questions.

Now, people come to him to solve their problems, crimes, issues and he charges them, sometime what they can afford, sometimes for a favor, sometimes a lot of money. He’s brash and forward, direct and annoying, brilliant and caring and looks at each case from every angle, each persons view and on a chess board and all in his bare feet (I like that part the best). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1797629/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

The reason this show reminds me of my dad, as I mentioned, is that my dad plays chess. He’s played since I was a kid, he’s good too, tried to teach me, I enjoyed backgammon more than I did chess. He played postal chess, I remember the stacks and stacks of postcards of moves, I always found it amazing that he could follow along and had the patience to wait for the mail to bring a new move. I might be mistaken, but there may have been multiple boards set up with different games in my house growing up. Now he plays online, games happen a little faster, but probably not much more since he needs to wait for the next move.

He introduced me to a book, The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte, all centered around a painting and a chess game, go figure! There was mystery, intrigue, love, hate, murder, right up my alley! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Pérez-Reverte Endgame is on Hulu, so if you can handle the commercials, I recommend the show.

{March 14, 2013} Don’t mess with your face

Why do people have to mess with their faces? Ok, so I am going to wax on plastic surgery.

Why do people have to mess with what they have? Ok, I’ll admit, in my battle with my weight, there are times I have said if I had the money, I would get a tummy tuck as the tummy/middle are my problem areas, I won’t lie and say I haven’t thought about it, but it’s not something I am going to do it. I’m going to keep working out and running/walking, watching what I eat and juicing to get where I need/want to be.

There are people who legitimately need the help that plastic surgery can do for them. The extra skin from major weight loss, an injury, possibly something that happened at birth, reconstruction, possibly augmentation when you weren’t blessed, as they say, but within reason. I mostly get when there are things you might want/need based on age, but that still makes me nervous.

Plastic surgery is not something that is always within reach financially, so it’s not the average Joe or Jane who can go out each week and get something done. The people I wonder about are those that go crazy with it. Joan Rivers, I still remember her original face! I’m not sure she does, but she says the same thing. I remember watching Death Race and I had to do multiple takes and look up on imdb.com to be sure that was Joan Allen! I was watching something with Olivia Newton John, what happened? Dolly Patron, aside from her obvious “attributes” I always thought she was a good looking woman, now, it’s plastic. Meg Ryan was one of the first to set off Hollywood in recent years, she was so sweet looking, I can’t tell you how many times I went to get a hair cut with her picture as inspiration, then she had her lips done and its like they precede her everywhere she goes!

The thing that made me think of this was I was watching Once Upon A Time and Rose McGowan was on it, it took me a minute to realize who it was and then I looked at pictures of her, um..not so much.

There are also the people who have money who are obsessed with plastic surgery, the human Barbie doll wanna be’s, it frightens me. Don’t they know that if Barbie was a real woman, she’d tip over?

One of the things that got me a while back was the movie, The Women. It was a remake of The Opposite Sex, which was a remake of The Women. The original and then this one had only women in the cast, from the main characters, service industry to the animals. The Opposite Sex had men and women in the movie. The original is my favorite, with Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford, the story is all about the dichotomy of women. So, here is my point, I know, finally… At the end of the latest version, there was an interview with the actresses in the movie. They were all talking about how naturally beautiful women are and all but maybe one or two had had work done.

I agree, we are all beautiful just the way we are, I know, I should listen to myself and if you want to change something, change something, but you still have to start with loving and like who you are.

{March 13, 2013} Jack the Giant Slayer

Love love love! I wish you could hear my sing-songy voice, well, maybe not, I loved this movie!

Even in the middle of it, I turned to DCM and said we must add this to our movie collection! There are some movies that I enjoy the I don’t feel the need to add to the collection, this one was!

What a cast! The boy who played Jack, I knew him from X-Men as Hank or The Beast, but I knew I had seen him in something recently, something where there was a transformation… I know you’re not supposed to use your phone in the theater, but with 2 other people all the way in the back, thank goodness for Internet and imdb.com! He was the lead boy/zombie in Warm Bodies I told you about a few weeks ago; he was cute in this, cute like in X-Men, but not swoon-worthy cute as in Warm Bodies (back off, he’s more than legal!)

Jack was great, shy and adventurous, sweet and brave and clever and you want him to win and get the girl!

Wean McGregor played Elmont, head of the kings guards and he reminded me of a young Kenneth Branagh, and for me, that’s a great compliment! He was brave and dashing and daring and had a good heart.

Stanley Tucci was Roderick, if you’ve seen any previews, you can guess he’s a bad dude and I have to say, he plays a great bad dude! You’re rooting for him to get stomped by a giant!

Ian McShane, who has become famous in recent years for playing Blackbeard in Pirates of the Caribbean. He plays King Brahmwell in this story and he’s a good king who loves his daughter.

A few other faces or voices you might recognize, Bill Nighy, it’s his voice you’ll recognize. The funny thing about Bill Nighy,…I first saw him in Blow Dry, he plays a hair dresser. DCM first saw him in Underworld, he plays a really nasty vampire, go figure. I this he plays a giant, General Fallon and really not nice. Warwick Davis plays Old Hamm, in it for about 5 minutes, 19 max, you may remember him from Willow, as…Willow.

The story is basically how legends become legends and then the possibility of them coming to life. You know the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, this is a slightly different take or twist, but the lore didn’t fall far from “the truth”. Boy goes to town to sell horse, boy steps into carny show, girl is getting accosted, boy saves girls, turns out girl is princess who just wants to get out and see the world. Somehow she ends up going up with the beanstalk, the king sends a group, Jack goes with them, they save the princess, giants find a way down to do battle with humans.

By now, you can tell boy and girl like each other, but boy is commoner, but does princess care? Nope!

Boy saves kingdom, after it gets smashed up a bit (not boy’s fault), then boy…do I tell you if boy gets girl! I’ll let you guess!

There were only a few things that made me go..eewwe, other than that, I loved it and recommend it, it was funny, scary even once or twice and not hide my eyes scary, just ooh, suspenseful scary, if that makes sense. I was biting my nails at one point, I squeezed DCM’s hand another and couldn’t wait for some characters to get eaten by a giant, they really did deserve it. There were even some bad one liners, we thought “did they really go there?” There were some predictable parts and that was ok too.

All in all… You guessed it, I loved it!

{March 11, 2013} Wreck it Ralph, Ted, Netflix

I believe that tonight, I have a lot to say, so here goes..

First, the other day when I was talking about all those extra charges (remember grrr) well, I forgot…at the obstacle races, they charge people to come in and watch, a $20 spectator fee! Really?
And Redbox..the beauty of Redbox is that it was $1 for a movie rental, have to have it back within 24 hours or there is a charge, ok, but now, $1.20? Plus tax? What is that?!? How much will it be next?

Everyone (well, a bunch of people) were on Facebook talking about SNL, Saturday Night Live, this past Saturday. So I decided to check it out, and I have to tell you, it’s the first time in years I have watched SNL and I laughed almost from start to finish! Justin Timberlake was hosting, it was his 5th time and if you remember the skit they did for the 5time hosts, this was like that. Chevy Chase, Dan Akroyd, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Alec Baldwin, Candice Bergen, Paul Simon. All but two of the skits were worth watching and Justin Timberlake was the musical act. It’s on Hulu, so you could check it out and I would recommend it, I haven’t said that about SNL in a long time, I hope that tells you anything about my opinion!

Oh, did I tell you, I made another batch of that great eggless egg salad, this time I added mini orange peppers and fresh peas, y u m! I will say that I really do like it better with the sweet relish, it adds something.

Ok, moving on…Wreck it Ralph. I really enjoyed this movie, Disney knows how to deliver a message. It takes place in the world of an arcade, after the arcade closes and we are in the games. They characters will actually leave the game, go to a train depot and hang out. Ralph is a “bad guy” in a 1980s style game, looked like a cross between Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong. He just wants to be a good guy, ends up in a futuristic attack game and then a candy land on crack racing game. Ralph makes friends and becomes a hero. There is action, adventure, love, laughs and a good moral. I almost shed a tear, those of you who know me aren’t surprised. As the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes, so did mine.

And then my IQ dropped at least that much! I watched Ted. I have been avoiding this movie and I probably could have gone my entire life without seeing it. Ok, it wasn’t the worst movie in the world, but I think I would have been ok if I’d skipped it. Aside from the movie, the actors they got to be in this movie was staggering! Patrick Stewart narrating? Sir Patrick Stewart?! (Swoon!) Patrick Warburton and Ryan Reynolds (unexpected), Tom Skerritt? (LOVE). Norah Jones? Sam Jones?!? If someone had told me Flash Gordon was going to be in the movie, I would have watched it sooner! (Maybe). And Mark Wahlberg singing badly? Yeah right! I know there was a message..I’ll let you know when I figure it out!

I’m sure you’re tired, I am too! G’night!

{March 9, 2013} Additional charges…bah!

Today I ran (ha ha, yeah right), ok, ran/walked the Spartan Sprint in Conyers, Ga at the Horse Park.

It was a 4+ mile race with A LOT of obstacles. http://www.spartanrace.com/index.html. We started off the race in the corrals yelling “I am Spartan!” I was invigorating! The MC was talking about everyone helping each other, even if you were running on your own someone would help you. I thought that was great until I asked for a hand and some guy clapped for me and then laughed at me, I didn’t think that was very helpful, but oh well. There were other places we helped each other, that was cool.

If you didn’t do an obstacle, you had to do 30 burpees! For those of you who don’t know what this torture is, check out the following link:
https://www.google.com/search?q=burpees+exercise&hl=en&client=safari&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=o_Q7Uf-RHou09gSkj4DQAw&ved=0CEEQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=672.

There were four obstacles I didn’t do and admittedly, I only did burpees at one of them and between you and me I’m ok living with the fact that I skipped 4 obstacles. (The one I did burpees at, and quite badly, admittedly, I had completed most of the obstacle, grrr). There were 7 & 8 foot walls (skipped) and ropes, tires, bricks, sandbags, javelins, barbed wire and lots and lots of mud! I’m still getting mud out of places!

I got my t-shirt and my medal (an odd pain in my knee) and the bragging rights, I am good with that!

Last weekend I did the Diva Dash and next weekend I am doing the Foam Fest 5k, apparently I like doing this obstacle races!

Ok, so, here is where the title of my blog comes in. Regular 5k races are generally about $25 starting and then the cost goes up the closer you get to the race. It’s worth it, you get to be a part of something, get some exercise and a t-shirt, (my Monster Dash half marathon jacket is my favorite, I’m wearing it right now) sometimes a medal and a belt buckle, how can you argue with that?

Half marathons start about $55 and up and some marathons start about $125, Disney races are ridiculous! Obstacle races start about $50 and up, when I registered for the zombie run last year, Run For Your Lives, I paid $85, I signed up late, this year, I registered for $45, timing is everything!

Sometimes, you can find a deal on Groupon, Living Social, Half Off Depot. I found the Spartan Race on Living Social, sign me up! The Vampire Run 5k coming up in April had so many people get the deal, it bogged up the race sight for registrations.

The only bad part about today…I purchased the deal for Sunday but they didn’t have enough registrations for Sunday, so I did the race today. The bad part was that I was supposed to have brunch with my good friends, SS and SD and meet their new daughter, my new “niece” SDS, pook…I know I can reschedule, but I was really looking forward to it!

I’m ok, mostly, with the cost of registration, the organization needs to make money. Parking at some events cost money, generally $10, I understand that, the host location needs to make money, I’m sure they are getting something from the race organization, but we are parking on their grass, so they might be using the money towards landscaping among other things.

Then the race organization sells t-shirts, socks, bags, all sorts of swag (yes, I have bought some additional swag, not every time, sometimes I want a little something extra and today I DID NOT buy the race bag!!! Be proud of me!). Why not, merchandising doesn’t hurt anything, it’s great advertising for the organization and we feel great wearing it, I love my I ❤ Warriors shirt.

Where I have an issue…you have to sign a waiver for all of the obstacle races, if you actually read the waiver, you might not do the race! (By signing this, you understand that you can be injured, catch something by swimming in the water and if you die, you can't blame the organization!). I sign the waivers.

Now, all of a sudden, in addition to paying for the race, you have to pay for race insurance, $12-$15 each time, really? So, I pay $65 for a race, then $12 for insurance? Next week, if I forget to bring the waiver to the Foam Fest, it costs $1??? For a piece of paper?!? Normally bag check is free, today at the Spartan Race, $5 for bag check?!? Really?

I'm all for making a buck, but c'mon…

Ok, rant over, icing my knee and chilling out, looking forward to Waffle House for breakfast!

{March 8, 2013} Kasha Varnishkes

I was feeling nostalgic tonight so I made Kasha Varnishkes.

For those of you who don’t know what that is, kasha is buckwheat or groats and Varnishkes is Yiddish for bow shaped pasta. So, kasha Varnishkes is kasha with noodles.

A friend of mine said he didn’t like bow tie pasta, they freak him out, I love what makes people tick!

The recipe I made was simple, 2 cups of water with a vegetable bouillon cube (Knorr), 1 cup of kasha (from a box), a little bit of salt and 1 box of bow tie pasta. It’s that simple.

The recipe in the following link is a little more involved, but not much.
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Food/Ashkenazic_Cuisine/Poland_and_Russia/Kasha_Varnishkes.shtml

The reason I was feeling nostalgic is that my mom used to make kasha Varnishkes, I think my grandmother, her mom, used to make it as well. My mom was a great cook, she would try new things all the time.

So now I have a large container of home made goodness and some sweet memories to fall asleep to.

{March 7, 2013} weird dreams

aren’t dreams a funny thing? they can affect us so strongly. Have you ever had a dream where someone you cared about did something stupid or really bad and you woke up very angry at them? when you woke up you told them that you needed some space, you need to stay away from them, because you knew if you said something you would probably regret it. and how could you really be mad at them for something they did in a dream? Comedians talk about that all the time, especially guy comedians, they talk about how their wives wake up and hit them because they had a dream that their husbands did something wrong. There are good dreams, there bad dreams, exciting dreams, there are hopeful dreams; there are invigorating dreams, scary dreams, sad dreams, some to make you think and dreams that make you go… what!?! there are books written about dreams, if you dream about water it means something, if you dream about fire it means something. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always remember my dreams. but last night I had a weird one! did you ever see the movie Uncle Buck? it stars John Candy; his brother and wife need to go out of town and there is no one to watch their 3 kids on short notice. they’re down to Uncle Buck and the sister in law is not a happy camper. everything worked out in the end and it was a cute movie. I know you’re wondering why I mentioned Uncle Buck while telling you about dreams. well I’ll tell you, I had an Uncle Buck type of dream. I dreamt that there is no one to watch my nieces and my sister and brother-in-law were hesitant about asking me to babysit so they ran a background check on me! to be honest, the only thing you would find in a background check about me, is my lead foot! that being beside the point, they ran a background check on me! okay for the those dream decipherers out there… what did that mean? nighty night and sweet dreams…

{March 6, 2013} Another tooth!

So, I get a text from my sister, GE, (cut that out, those are her initials, first and middle name), Facetime? You betcha!!! A chance to see my nieces, you couldn’t stop me!

So I throw open the iPad, dial my sister’s phone and there were my girls! Big grins and at their mommy and daddy’s sink.

The next thing i see is a huge grin on EJ’s face, a big toothy grin, minus one more tooth! Right next to the first one, bottom middle. My sister says can you see the new tooth coming in already?

Just as I see the big grin, I get a text from AS, my brother-in-law of the exact same big toothy grin! Ain’t technology grand?

Oh my, I thought i had a little more time to make a tooth fairy pillow!

Then GE says, “see what EJ is using?” She shows me…its MY old tooth fairy pillow! What!? It’s a cute little purple heart with white polka dots, cotton lace trim with a little pocket that says “My Tooth”. Oh my word!

Where did you find that? She had taken it years ago from dad’s house, I’m so tickled! EJ asks, “is that what you used? Did my mommy use it too?” (she’s fascinated by anything i have or had…did my mommy have that too?)

And, like the first tooth, there will be a letter to the youth fairy..if there’s no letter, i was told, you won’t get anything!

You can’t imagine how big MY grin is right now! I’ve got to get moving on a pillow before the rest fall out! (i was informed that there is a loose tooth on the top)

{March 5, 2013} Typecasting

It’s interesting to see actors in roles that are unexpected, nice to know they’re not typecast like others.

You know when you’re watching a movie and an actor you like plays a bad guy or just a role you’re not used to, makes you feel weird, uncomfortable even. Then it’s entertaining to see an actor in a role that is so far from what you’re used to, possibly as a favorite character.

Tonight I am watching Little Voice. Is about a painfully shy girl who can imitate almost any singer. A few of the actors you might recognize playing total opposites…

Jane Horrick plays LV, stands for little voice and that’s her name. She doesn’t go out, talk to people, just sits in her room with her records, favorites of her late father’s. The only way she can sing in public is to picture her father, who appears in black and white, right out of the photo she has on her wall. She channels all the classic greats; Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Edith Piaf, Judy Holliday, makes me want to sing.

Michael Caine, he plays a quasi sleazy, well more than sleazy, talent agent, thick cockney accent, gold chains and gold pants! not the polished and refined sort we see in most films. He uses her mom to get to her, he’s s boozer, gambler and not the most upstanding citizen, let’s say.

Brenda Blethyn was great as her trash talking mom who is slight on the floozie side, well, not slightly, way more than that. My favorite role that she’s been in is Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, the Keira Knightly version.

Ewan McGregor is playing the very shy telephone installer (dated, huh?) who is into pigeons and sweet on LV, they just look at the ground when they talk or don’t talk to each other. It’s sweet and sad all at the same time.

Jim Broadbent plays the club owner, Mr Boo. Long hair, if he had more hair in front, it would be a mullet! He’s quiet and soft spoken and not very funny, not much else I can say about his character.

How to end this blog? Not a clue, just thought I’d share.

{March 4, 2013} LB is two!

LB (well, actually LRS) turned 2 toady.

DCM has a granddaughter LS, her nickname is LB, so there you have it. She calls DCM gampa and I have a title too, JJ, I have a title!

I remember the day DCM told me that his daughter was pregnant, he was so excited, and then the day she was born, he was over the moon, I remember the first pictures! I got to meet LB at her first birthday party, that was a treat and getting to know her over the last year has been amazing.

Today is her second birthday and what a cutie she is! She’s huge into the movie Brave right now, she calls it Merida, after the main character. So, for her birthday, we sent her a Merida doll with her three brothers, the bears, some Brave stickers and an Elmo sandwich box, she loved them all!

We got to talk to her, DCM is in Colorado this week and conferenced me in and we got to wish her a happy birthday. She thanked us for the doll and told us about going to the zoo and feeding a bird (peacock) and seeing a turtle and lots of presents. She had a party via Skype with her grandma and aunts, the photo on Facebook is too precious!

It’s like nothing else to hear a two year old say your name!

Happy birthday LB!

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