My Random Musings | Peaches Prattlings

{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 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 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 4, 2014} Crazy weather and catching up

Today was intended to be a lazy day and it was.

First, the weather. Get this…yesterday, yes yesterday, it was 61degrees out, yes I said 61! I had the top down on the car, scarf and hat on, heat and seat warmers and it was fantastic! No haters, please because sometime in the night it started snowing and I don’t think it’s stopped yet. It looks so nice out, all covered in white, so staying in and being lazy was on the agenda, worked out for me.

Next, catching up. DCM had to get some work done this weekend, so he worked and watched football and I watched movies and knitted. At one point I was chatting with one of my best friends from high school CGS via Facebook, any means of communication is a good means! We caught up a little, which was nice, I really need to find some time to visit. NYC.

As I mentioned, a lazy day, so lazy in fact and the movie I was watching so not entertaining, that I dozed off. I have to say I was confused when I woke up, I thought it was later or the next day! And in truth, I was asleep about ten minutes! Just after I woke up the phone rang and it was LTA, one of my other best friends from high school, youth group in fact. We had been trading messages on Facebook the other day and deciding when we could chat and found out that today worked for both of us. It was great, we talked for about two hours.

You know those relationships that you have with some people that you might not talk to but once or twice a year and it’s as if no time has passed, well, these women are two of them and I absolutely love that about us. We catch up and pick up as if we just spoke last week. I’ll take that any day!

Very low key and enjoyable day. Talked to great friends and watched the snow, what could be better?

{January 3, 2014} Milk substitutes

When I was in college, I discovered I was lactose intolerant.

Let me tell you, that first glass of (Lactaid) milk after so many years, like mana from heaven! It was so good and wonderful and comforting, I was in heaven. One of my favorite meals is a PB&J (smooth peanut butter and strawberry jam) on toasted white bread with an ice cold glass of strawberry milk, oh my goodness! So, after years of not being able to drink milk, ahhhh…the angels wept, the heavens sang, ok, eye roll!

Milk wasn’t the only thing I couldn’t have and the substitutes have been great, allowed me to enjoy certain things again. Then, years later, I developed an allergy to Lactaid milk, great. Moving on to soy milk, terrific, now, I’m allergic to soy milk, what? I can have soy products, no problem, but a glass of soy milk, my mouth gets all itchy, even Benadryl doesn’t help, great…

Interestingly enough, I can’t have Lactaid milk, but Breyer’s ice cream came out with a Lactaid free vanilla ice cream, O M G! It’s terrific! I’ve also had coconut milk ice cream, not bad, along with Rice Dream and Almond Milk ice cream, all good. Besides, put enough “stuff” on it, you can’t tell!

Now, I love rice or almond milk on cereal, soy milk was great, obviously I can’t have that anymore, but put one of the others on cereal, especially vanilla flavored, Y U M! The thing is those milks are sweeter than regular milk, so if you put this on sugared cereal, be prepared! The sweeter”fake” milk is great on non-sweetened cereal, like Special K, stuff like that, gives it a little extra something.

As great as those substitutes are, they not that great or the same as a tall glass of milk with something sweet, like cake or cookies. I can’t believe I’m saying this and I’m sure some of you are thinking the same thing…it’s too sweet! Yes, the girl who likes some tea with her sugar, uber sweet Shirley temples is saying that the imitation milks are too sweet to have with sweet desserts! What? Say it isn’t so…it is.

So, as much as I would like to have that tall glass of strawberry milk or just an ice cold glass of milk, maybe with a sweet treat, it is so not worth getting sick over, so, cake with…water, ick. Or hot tea if I take the initiative

I did have some rice milk tonight with a piece of cake, which leads me to this blog post. Cake good…rice milk good…cake + rice milk not so good. (Just because you can’t have the milk, don’t give up on the cake!)

{January 2, 2014} Insomnia…or as people on facebook like to put it…

Oh sleep…why have you forsaken me?

I think I have blogged about this before, but I don’t sleep, or sleep much. I used to love to sleep, I still do, when I can actually fall sleep and catch up when I can and need to, but I don’t sleep as soundly as I used to. When DCM gets dressed about 6:45/7:00, that’s when my brain wakes up and that’s it, I’m up.

Now, most people who post on Facebook that they can’t sleep but want to, I feel for them. As for me, I’m ok with it, I get a lot done, I’m nocturnal, so this is my time to shine!

Sometimes I read a book or two, but most of the time, I’m writing, to you or working on my book and I have a good feeling that this is the year I finish it! But mostly, I am watching movies and crafting. You saw the sock monkey I made for Miss A, well that is one example of what I do. I cross stitch a lot, which I will be sharing some of my latest creations soon and I have been knitting like crazy! I knitted a bunch of scarves for Christmas and now, I’m knitting some hats and scarves for some friends and one special friends mom who is going through some stuff, she needs some warm and fuzzy!

Next thing to work on learning is socks and sweaters, good thing I don’t sleep!

SDL’s mom made me a hat and an infinity scarf this year and I got my first wash cloth that she crocheted, this thing is awesome, SDL and her sister swear by them and I got my first! And…it was Smarties colored and I had just eaten a sleeve of Smarties, what are the odds? Well, today, I happened to be at Michael’s picking up some yarn and decided to get some of the same material and make a bag for her to carry the wash cloths in as she makes them.

All I can say is that I am definitely productive when I am awake, as evident by some of my posts that get posted at 3:00 in the am! So when I tell a friend that they can call me anytime day or night and they say they were up at two and thought about calling because they needed/wanted someone to talk to, I was probably awake and if I’m really tired and you call, not to worry, I won’t answer the phone!

Insomnia? Bring it on! It’s cold out there…someone needs a scarf!

{January 1, 2014} Let’s start the year off with…laughter!

They say laughter is the best medicine.

Who is they and how do they know, but I still like the sentiment. Here are a few other great quotes by some people, could be the “they”, who seem to know what they are talking about.

-Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. ~Victor Borge

-There is little success where there is little laughter. ~Andrew Carnegie

-The most wasted of all days is that in which we have not laughed. ~Nicolas Chamfort, translated from French

-Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle

Here is a great site to a whole mess o’ quotes about laughter. (That’s where some of these came from)
http://www.quotegarden.com/laughter.html

I love to laugh, what about you? I love to laugh more than just about anything in the world, I think I’ve told you, I laugh to the point of snorting and I’m proud of it! and isn’t one of the all time greatest sounds the laughter of a child? So pure and innocent and real, there is nothing like it, can we bottle it?

DCM and I love to laugh together and sometimes we’re the only ones in on it or find something funny and you know what, that’s just fine with us! So, we decided to start the new year off on a good note, we were going to watch movies and laugh. We started off at a Redbox after doing some shopping and it apparently didn’t like our choices, so we turned to On Demand and Netflix, we were set!

We started with the remake of Judge Dredd, called simply Dredd, no comment, which was a violent movie, but comical in its own way at how bad it was. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343727/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Let’s just say, if you skip this movie, your life will not be incomplete, as much as I like Karl Urban.

Next was Stand Up Guys staring Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin, what a movie! A pair of aging stickup men try to get the old gang back together for one last hurrah before one of the guys takes his last assignment – to kill his comrade. It was a little slow going at first, but you totally got into it and these three guys, wow. It wasn’t an entire laugh riot, but if you have our sense of humor, you’d be laughing. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389096/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_5

This morning, before DCM got up, I watch The Guilt Trip with Barbara Streisand and Seth Rogan, I loved it! There were a few times I got choked up because Barbara Streisand still favors my mom, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1694020/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4. The movie was funny and touching and hit home a little and I laughed and laughed and laughed. A good way to start the new year!

One of the things we both love is listening to comedy at a club, on the radio, xm radio, slacker.com and pandora.com, we could listen for hours. And one thing we have in common is the large number of comedy albums we have, most of mine are on cassette tape! and most of his are CD.

After that we were looking for something else and decided it was comedian central! We looked for a comedian and the first one, Russell Howard, didn’t do it for us. Sometimes it’s difficult when the comedians are from other countries and make reference to TV shows, etc that don’t make sense to us.

Then I introduced DCM to Russell Peters, a great comedian from Brampton, Canada. Russell Peters is a comedian I have liked for a long time, he is Indian and a lot of his comedy is about almost any ethnicity, he’s an incredible mimic with accents and tells it like it is, poking a little fun at different stereotypes but never in a malicious way. When DCM and I still worked at Stratix, the majority of the team were Indians and were quite familiar with Russell Peters. http://www.russellpeters.com

We started last night and continued today with the four specials Netflix had: Notorious, The Green Card Tour, Russell Peters vs The Word and Red, White and Brown. He uses some choice language, so if you are offended, you are forewarned.

Next was John Pinette: I’m Starvin’ and Still Hungry. This is a very funny man! He is a “healthy” individual and a lot of his standup revolves around food, his love of it and things a man his size cannot/shouldn’t do, among other very funny things. He uses very little profanity in his show, he is very funny and I recommend him highly. I saw him at the Punchline in Atlanta and have a picture with him!
http://johnpinette.com

Next was one of my favorites, Lisa Lampanelli, the self proclaimed comedy’s lovable “The Queen of Mean”. We watched Tough Love. I must warn you that she is a very foul mouthed comic, so if you are offended by bad language, stay away! She goes after everyone, every race, nationality, religion, sexuality, equal opportunity. She takes the stereotypes to a whole new level and I love it/her! The people who go to see Lisa Lampanelli know what they are in for, very few people are surprised.

Lisa Lampanelli is most famous for her stints on Comedy Central’s Friars Roast, where insults are the common theme. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_Central_Roast

I got to see her 8/9/2008, I only know the date because it was after LD’s 8/8/8 party. I love my picture with Lisa too!
http://www.insultcomic.com

DCM wasn’t impressed with Mike Birbiglia, it was ok, but I usually just hear snipits on the radio and in small doses, he’s funny. John Caparulo was a wash as well, in small doses on xm radio, not bad. He just sounds like a frat boy not sure which way is up. Aziz Ansari, who we both usually like didn’t cut it today.

The next few comedians were a hit! And three were on Last Comic Standing. It’s a reality show that is a competition to see who the best comic is in America, basically at the end, they are the last comic standing. Some seasons had comedians who are already successful in the industry, three of the next few comics were all part of the show and all were winners!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Comic_Standing

Iliza Shlesinger, winner of the sixth season of Last Comic a Standing in 2008 was too funny for words! She was all over the place, slightly manic, reminded us a bit of Dane Cook. Not a clean comic, but not offensive, definitely a winner! “War Paint” was the name of tonight’s episode.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liza_Shlesinger

Josh Blue was he winner of Last Comic Standing, season four, 2006. He’s a very funny indivual, he has cerebral palsy and works it into his act with perfection. He did say “Laughter is the best medicine…what happened? Doesn’t seem to be working for me!” He is funny whether he talks about cp or every day stuff. We watched “Sticky Change” tonight, where he revealed that he was born in Camaroon, which makes him African American and away he went. I recommend this comedian highly!

Home

Next was none other than Lewis Black, “American comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his angry face, comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena.” I don’t think I could have said it any better, so I copied from someone else!

He makes us laugh in a big way, check him out if you haven’t already!
http://lewisblack.com

The last comic we watched was Alonzo Bodden: Who’s Paying Attention? He was winner of season three for Last Comic Standing. He is funny and very matter of at act, this last performance, “Who’s paying Attention” told it like it is and made you laugh while he did it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_Bodden

What a great way to start the new year…laughing, I think that is a very good sign!

{January 1, 2014} Happy New Year!

It’s 2014 somewhere!

I just got off the phone with my sister, texted with my dad and a bunch of other east coast family and friends, wished them a happy new year, while we wait for midnight to get here to Colorado. And I love seeing the posts from the west coast, early happy new year!

So many different traditions that people have, it’s great to see what people are doing easy since they are posting it on Facebook! It’s also interesting how your traditions change as you get older and your situations change.

When we’re kids, we want to stay up as late as possible, if our parents will let us, teenagers, we will hang with our friends, college, we go out and party, drinking and carousing, thirties might be the same. Then we get married and have kids, we begin to take back what we said about our parents falling asleep before midnight!

In my family, my mom would cook a great dinner, I remember steak and shrimp a bunch, no matter what a delicious and wonderful meal! sometimes a few people would come over, but mostly, it would be just the four of us. We would watch two live performances from the Metropolitan Opera House: The Tales of Hoffman, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tales_of_Hoffmann, and Die Fledermaus, which takes place on New Years Eve 1899, http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/season/synopsis/die-fledermaus?customid=125.

Then the ball drop from Times Square. When we were teenagers, my sister and I would be the only two up in the house, but we’d go upstairs, kiss our parents, wish them a happy new year and go back downstairs to watch Dick Clark and all the festivities.

What are some of yours?

Whatever you do, east coast, west coast, mountain, whatever your time zone, I hope your New Year’s Eve celebration was what you hoped for.

And…for 2014, I wish you happiness and health, it’s a new year, here’s to it!

{December 31, 2013} Delta flight tonight…boo

I’m usually a big supporter of Delta Airlines, but tonight was an epic fail.

Last week, the delays were all due to the weather, we were delayed only two hours, not much you can do about the weather,

Today, we got home six hours late! This was due to technical difficulties, grrr. We got on the plane, got settled and it was about an hour and a half before they let us know there was an issue. The issue was a load balance thing in the cargo of the plane, apparently when they load the luggage there are crates they use to balance things out. The pilot came on eventually to tell us that he goes through a book before takeoff, shouldn’t he already know what to do? I’m kidding, I know there is a flight check they have to do.

So, they were loading sand bags onto the plane, so someone said. The. They were rearranging the luggage, then they were taking the luggage completely off and then going to reload it. It was at that point, somewhere about an hour and a half or two hours into it, we were told we could get off the plane. Oh, at some point we did get in line to taxi, then back to the gate, just can’t remember where in this process.

We get off the plane, leave everything on except valuables, hang out in the gate area for, oh I don’t know, forever. About twenty or thirty minutes later, they announced that there would be a plane change, so we all filed back onto the plane to get our carry on stuff. Back to the gate area waiting to get back on the plane, then another thirty minutes or so and there is a gate change, from A27, which was the original gate we boarded at, to B1. En masse we all head to the new gate, wait another twenty minutes, could have been more, then we get on the plane.

At this point, they are encouraging us quite strongly to get on so we can take off. As we board, we each receive a voucher for $50 with Delta, weehoo. I have to say, at this point we were regretting not taking their earlier offer to get bumped since they overbooked, it came with a $600 voucher and left about the same time!

We finally get settled and eventually take off, 2:53 flying time. We finally land somewhere around 9:30 pm, get the luggage, shuttle to the car, drive home. Our original time were expected in was 5:45pm, we landed four hours late, oh well.

We’re home, ready to relax and tomorrow, movie marathon for New Year’s Eve, sounds good to me!

Good night!

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