It’s wintery weather out there. 2021 weather-wise has not started out with the best intentions. What’s up with that?
New Year’s Eve was f-f-f-freezing! New Year’s day was overcast, dreary, icy cold, and freezing. [Remember that we had to get those wellies for Bee!] Literally! Look at the trash can and the branches! Isn’t it crazy how it feels horrid, but looks beautiful! and wet, what a start to the new year!
January 2nd was equally cold, it was wet, but at least the ice melted and Bee didn’t need or want the wellies. Well, does she actually want them? Ha ha! It was dreary all day, and wet, and then…it started to snow. And more freezing temperatures.
The freezing and icing was very evident this morning, January 3rd, when I was taking the girls for a walk. They told me they wanted to go the extra long walk, ok, sounds good to me, I could use the steps, right? Well, I slid a few times, couldn’t see the ice, but I felt it and tried to walk very carefully and then…about half way through the walk, I slid, my ankle turned under itself and it was twisted and yes, oh man did it hurt! I will admit, there were a few tears, but I walked it off, that’s what you need to do, right?
We walked home, gingerly and slowly, mind you, it was slippery! But we made it home, I propped up my ankle and chilled out with the pups, I have to heal…yoga tomorrow!
Last chance for lights tonight and it was worth it!
Since we moved here, people have been so nice giving us suggestions on things to do, places to go, and…, and…, and… And…it’s been great! Thank you! Keep the suggestions coming, we want to do and explore all we can, just like we did in Hawai’i, who knows how long we’ll be here, better get it all in!
The holiday lights come out in November in so many places and sadly, end early January, and as we’ve talked about over the last few days, we got to go and enjoy the Botanical Gardens, the Zoo, and our neighborhood. Since it’s the end of the holiday lights season, sadly, and it’s been a gloomy beginning to the new year, weather-wise, freezing temperatures and little sun, makes for a gloomy day, we needed some joy and lights, millions of ’em!
We decided on Santa’s Magical Kingdom, which is in Eureka, MO. Several people have told us about Eureka, MO for a few reasons, one being Santa’s Magical Kingdom, Six Flags is another [they do their own light spectacular, we have to try that next year!], which is down the road from Jellystone Park, which is what turns into Santa’s Magical Kingdom in the winter.
We loaded up the pups in the back seat and away we went! It’s about a 30 minute drive, Ruby sitting up ready to look at everything, Bee hunkered down in the back seat hoping it’s going to be over soon! As we got on the road, the snow started. Luckily, PSM and I grew up in the Northeast and we both went to college in Western NY, this weather is nothing new to us, but it seems like we’re among the very few who feel and drive that way. We were very much aware of our surroundings.
When we got there, we started driving through the bajillion, or that’s what it seemed, lights, wow! It looked like a light up Mardi Gras! Some of it looked plan, some of it looked like someone, maybe elves, were standing on the ground and throwing strings and strands of lights up into the trees to see what would catch. If that’s what they did, it worked!
There were twinkling tunnels to drive through, dancing reindeer, Hanna-Barbera characters everywhere! The Flintstones, Huckleberry Hound, The Jetsons, you can’t have Jellystone Park without Yogi, Boo-Boo, and Ranger Smith, can you? Santa, Santa believing aliens, fireworks, dancing everything!: trees, elves, snow people penguins, you name it, it lit up and probably danced.
There was traditional holiday music, ‘Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer’, ‘Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town’, ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, ok, not so traditional, but wildly popular. All of it tied together perfectly.
As we were driving through the park, looking at the cabins all decorated like different lands and places, we thought this place looked great and we would love to stay there some time. But not right now! We can’t wait to go back during the spring/summer, maybe even fall and see what it’s like. I wonder if they let dogs stay…
The entire drive took about 20 minutes, 15 to go through the lights to the general store, you have to have a store after all that! There’s a store with all sorts of Christmasy things, a snack bar for treats and hot chocolate, then another drive about 5 minutes to get out, after we paid, very clever marketing. Drive thru, then pay.
I could hear my mom’s voice come out of my mouth when I said to the dogs “Look girls, do you see all the pretty lights?” “Look, a there’s Rudolf!” “Look, dancing elves!” Yeah, they didn’t answer, didn’t expect them to! Just hoping they weren’t rolling their eyes at me! But it was fun watching them look at the lights as we went through.
All in all, it was a fun experience I look forward to doing it again next year and checking out the other light displays to add to the list! Happy January 2nd! I can’t wait to find out what adventure to share with you next!
I’ve told you a little about our dogs, they are funny and interesting creatures! And…I can guarantee there are more stories to come, but today…
So, our sweet baby beagle, well, she’s not a baby, but there are times when she looks up at you or she’s laying on one of her beds and her face gets all squished up, she looks like a puppy. SO stinkin’ cute! Well, she likes to eat anything she can get her little face on, let’s just say, she’s not very discerning. This can get her tummy a little upset and sometimes, well, let’s just say, we have a supply of probiotics and Imodium, which, by the way, is safe for dogs, who knew.
Bee doesn’t always tell us when she needs to go out, so…you can probably guess what that means. She’s the one we worry about inside the house, not Ruby. Yesterday, she would not venture out for a walk and I’ll give you one guess as to what happened. Not a pleasant scene in our house.
This morning, we had a similar issue, meaning that she did not want to go outside for a walk, we got as far as the street and she basically dug in her heels and said ‘not gonna happen’. PSM took her into the backyard and I took Ruby for a walk. We think it means that she doesn’t want to go out and put her feet on the very cold, possibly frozen ground. She goes for walks in the rain all the time, so we couldn’t figure anything but that she doesn’t like walking on ice. She absolutely loves sitting in the sun on hot summer days. Apparently, have a delicate flower on our hands!
PSM did some research online and it turns out, this is not uncommon in some dogs, so…we might need to try some doggie booties! If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes, let’s find out! We sat and kept an eye on her for the next few hours until Petco opened, didn’t want any accidents to happen while we waited.
Two very excited dogs got into the car, they love going anywhere! We got to Petco a little early, so we decided to walk a bit, I happened to still have a Mitt Mutt in my pocket from the unsuccessful walk earlier, which was a good thing, because…yup, you guessed it! The big confirmation was that she has no problem walking in the rain, on the wet ground or grass, but she does have a problem walking on frozen ground.
When the store opened, we walked in and of course, they were assaulted by so many smells, so many things to explore and a few dogs to meet! We were finally able to get to the reason for our visit and found someone to help us, he actually measured Bee’s feet! With a tape measure, it was so tiny, but medium shoes it is! The pair he gave us was yellow rubber, looked like baby wellies! OMG! LOVE! We put the booties on and started to take her for a walk. As you can imagine, she tried to shake them off, but she couldn’t do it. Made me think about Miss A and her one shoe coming off all the time! But we were a success!
She slid a little, but she started to get the hang of them. We walked a fair bit around the store, we couldn’t help laughing while she was managing, she was soooo cute! When we got back to the section that had the booties, there were rain jackets and I said she must have it and PSM agreed! There was a yellow one that matched, perfection! I wish I knew where my yellow rain slicker was, we could go out as a matching pair, but alas! We left the booties on for the walk to the car and drive home, to help her get a little more used to them.
When it was time to go for the evening walk, we got Bee dressed and ready, booties and slicker! OMG! HOW CUTE! We got outside and she was very hesitant to go at all, she dug her heels in didn’t seem to want to go. PSM took off with Ruby and I persisted with Bee. What normally takes about 25-30 minutes took us about 45 minutes to go around the block. She dug her heels in more than a few times, which is what she does, but tonight, it was more than normal. I’m not sure if the hood was covering her eyes, but she seemed to be eyes down to the ground, well, more nose to the ground, sniffing her way home. I took the hood up a few times, snapped it back, but she got it back down over her head.
No joy with doing her business, so we watched her all evening until it was time for bed, but good news, she got better with the booties as we kept walking. Since the weather is quite cold and we’re in for more winter weather, here’s hoping that the booties will help and we will keep on walking, because…I cannot help myself, but “These boots are made for walkin’!”
Is it really almost over? Can it be true? Is 2020 almost behind us? YES!
Can you believe it? In mere moments, it will be 2021, thank gawd! I know a lot of you are saying it! And what a year it’s been for a lot of us! Last year, at this time, we hadn’t been in Missouri very long, PSM had just gotten back from Iceland and I was sick as a dog. Well, this year, we’re healthy, thank goodness and we could use some good cheer.
Let’s see…a wrap up of our year, lots of background since we haven’t talked in a while. One of my favorite lines from The Princess Bride said by Inigo Montoya “Let me explain! No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” But one of the best summations was Olaf’s telling of Frozen 1! It’s been quite the year! Let me give you a taste.
November 2019, PSM took a new job with Bayer in St Louis, so we packed up and left Hawai’i. We had some great last minute staycations and adventures and away we went. I told you a little of what it was like when we talked about driving the U-Haul from Denver to St Louis.
January came and we started exploring, Covid-19 was on the back burner of people’s brains, we weren’t quite there yet. I was still on my project traveling to Baton Rouge and PSM was still going in to the office near where we live. I promise to give you more details about everything we did in future posts, this is just a summary!
We did some 5Ks, the Hot Chocolate, my 12th, I think. PSM and I did the Cupid’s Undie Run, fully clothed, thank you. We went to the St Louis Gateway Arch, St. Louis Union Station, walks at a local park and some farther out, we were exploring. We even threw in a weekend to Colorado, stayed in Golden and visited the Coors Brewing Company, PSM went home and I spent a few extra days skiing at Breckenridge and Keystone, and then visiting with AM and family.
The end of February, just before everything got shut down, we were in Boston for a very special event! EJS became a Bat Mitzvah! Where did the time go!? I don’t know if I could be any more proud of her! OMG! A few weeks later, we watched SHK, family friend, have his Bar Mitzvah virtually, our first of many Zoom events!
In March, we joined the St Louis Museum of Art, my project in Louisiana ended, and I was on a flight for Little Rock, AR! I got there and at the end of my first week…go home at the end of the week and…travel is suspended at the moment. What? Yup, Covid-19 was rearing its ugly head and all travel was suspended until at least Labor Day weekend. Labor Day weekend came and went and they will be giving travel some thought in January, not sure what’s happening next!
We discovered some great restaurants, near us and around, we started with breakfast at The Shack and First Watch, Uncle Bills, Jenny’s Diner, and other meals at Fitz’s Root Beer, Granite City Food & Brewery and tried Duck Donuts. We had our last official meal at Paul Manno’s Restaurant, which is where the realtors took us the first night we looked at houses, very old school Italian! This was just a taste, ha ha, of some of the restaurants we’ve discovered, promise, more and more details later!
One day, while we were walking around our local park, we thought, wouldn’t it be nice to fill the house with the pitter pat of paws. We’re both going to be home, why not look into adopting a dog, and PSM said he was ready and when he gave me the thumbs up, I started looking and the entire process took about 3 days, only because we couldn’t meet the dogs until Monday, this was on a Friday! And Monday, April 13, 2020, we became doggie parents! Ruby is a hound, we’re not sure what type, but she’s needy, so we call her an attention hound and Bee is our Beagle, stubborn and loveable. Lots of walks to the parks, both local and state parks, they keep us going!
About the same time, I started venturing into the peacock hair colors I told you about the other day! Passover was about that time, and that led to weekly Zoom calls with the family, it was great seeing everyone each week, like we were in the room together. The weather started getting nicer, which led us to start going on motorcycle rides, just the two of us, exploring Missouri and going over to Grafton, IL, someone recommended it and the ride was so worth it! We also joined a local Indian Motorcycle Riders Group and started going on monthly rides with them. Throw in some demo rides on 2021 models and we were in heaven!
In July, I took that road trip to Colorado to clear out 1.5 storage units, and when I got back, we explored St Charles, MO for fireworks, it was fabulous! It was a last minute decision, but one we’re glad we made! Most people were social distancing and wearing masks, we felt pretty good.
In August, we took a weekend trip to Branson, MO, the Las Vegas of the middle and it truly was! We left the dogs for the first time at a kennel for the weekend, they loved it! In Branson, there was a 5&Dime, fireworks, dancing fountains, shows, celebrity impersonators and mini-golf. The weekend after Branson, we packed up the dogs, bikes, and pcs and headed to New Hampshire for the month. This included work, vacation, and the annual motorcycle ride with PSM’s buddies that I was now able to participate in, because I have my own bike! We even had a visit from some friends and my family! That was heaven and on the way back to St Louis…got to stop and see dad and LaLa and introduce them to the four legged ones! Oh, somewhere in there, my sister’s family got a dog too! Baily came to meet her cousins, it was classic!
In September, back to St Louis and the next weekend, I surprised CWB for her daughter’s Bat Mitzvah weekend. I was honored and so happy to be there! Now breath.
In October, met new team members and made friends at work, and Charlene, my motorcycle, reached the 5,000 mile marker! A few more rides with the motorcycle group, with friends, and also just us, a visit from DLP, wonderful! Jimmy Fund virtual walk, thank you to everyone who helped me achieve my goal! Halloween was very low key, hanging out in the neighbor’s driveway around a firepit and toasting marshmallows, what could be better! We had one whole trick-or-treater, their daughter!
In November, we went to an amazing exhibit, Sistene Chapel Exhibition, it brought the Sistine Chapel closer than you can imagine! Then…another amazing event, CJS’s son’s Bar Mitzvah, what an event, he was amazing! Thanksgiving included a Zoom call with everyone we always have Thanksgiving with, calls to friends and family and an ovo-vegan meal! Lasagna and cheesecake, y-u-m! And finally…our fence was finished being updated! We are a whole house again! Oh yeah, it’s November, we voted!
December brought a little holiday decorating in the house, a few events outside, including the Wild Lights at the zoo I told you about the other night and tonight was the Garden Glow at the Botanical Gardens. We did neighborhood drive throughs and a fun outdoor event at 9 Mile Garden, which hosted a holiday party. We’ve been over the summer once or twice. It’s a great venue, they have a cantina, which serves beer, and then a bunch of food trucks. They had music, vendors, movies on the lawn, Santa, Mrs. Clause, and real reindeer!
And that my friends…is a very high level of our year and despite what Covid-19 did to everyone, we still managed to have a pretty good year. It can only get better from here, right?
Happy new year my friends and family, I’m so glad we’re back together again! I can’t wait to share our next adventure with you! Here’s to a happy, healthy, and wonderful new year!
Another triumph from Ryan Murphy on Netflix. The man has the golden touch if I have ever seen it.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched everything he’s done, but from what I’ve seen, he has a knack, an eye for what works and how to make a movie or tv series. The reason I haven’t see everything is that half the topics are too skooky for me, yes I said skooky! Shows like American Horror Story, Ratched, and Nip/Tuck, not my scene, a little too graphic and gory, although I did start watching Scream Queens, not sure if I’ll finish… I loved Glee and I’m loving Pose, which I’m still watching, turned on after watching Paris is Burning, it’s been quite a ride, and still the list that I am looking forward to watching is Feud. I started watching Hollywood, but I was turned off after two episodes. You can call me a prude, but to me, it was like watching a bad porno, everyone was doing everyone and I didn’t feel like there was a definite story line. I know there was, I read the plot and I was excited about the potential, but I was just depressed.
What did like about Hollywood, like most of his movies, tv shows, and the mini-series he creates or produces, are the colors, the vibrancy, the dialog, the possibilities. Along those lines, I have to tell you…I just watched The Prom, and I la la la loved it! The IMDB description says it perfectly to a T! “A troupe of hilariously self-obsessed theater stars swarm into a small conservative Indiana town in support of a high school girl who wants to take her girlfriend to the prom.”
The cast is fabulous. There are two stories that converge into one. The movie opens with a PTA meeting, the president being played by Kerry Washington, at a school in Indiana, where the root of the story begins. A girl, Emma, who is an out lesbian, wants to take her girlfriend, not out, to the prom and the PTA doesn’t think that’s right, so…cancels the prom. Plot one.
Switch to Meryl Streep and James Cordon, two Broadway actors being interviewed right outside the theater of the show they are about to open, Elenore, which is a musical about Elenore Roosevelt. It’s a musical number, apologies, it’s a musical, a movie adaptation of the Broadway Musical The Prom, based on a true story.
Let me back up. Meryl Streep and James Cordon open on Broadway and during the cast party at Sardis the reviews come in and, let’s just say, the critics said nay. Devastated, drowning their sorrows with the bartender, in glides Nicole Kidman, who just quit the show, Chicago, where she’s been in the chorus for about 20 years and had enough. Streep and Cordon realize they need to do something to up their images, so they aren’t seen as the shallow, narcists that they are. Kidman reads something on her twitter feed about Emma and her plight and they realize they need to do something. Basically, not to help someone else for some altruistic reason, but for the good press they can get. You know it will turn around, right? Que music number.
Now we’re at high school, musical number about ‘just breath’ while trying to combat and ignore the bigots around her who blame her for the prom being canceled, while in her corner is the principle, played by Keegan-Michael Key, who happens to have a crush on Meryl Streep’s character, pretty much the only person, besides her grandmother. The plan was to introduce her girlfriend to the world at the prom, dance together and kiss in front of everyone, sounds simple enough. Sure.
When the Broadway stars get to the school, they make a giant entrance and quite an impression, not great for everyone, but they are enthusiastic. They soon find out that the prom is back on, the publicity put a few people on edge. Yeah, the prom is back on. Now what? That was only in the first 30 minutes, you think we’re done? Not a chance!
It’s prom proposal day, shopping with Emma’s new fairy godfather and now, we’re at the gym, she looks fabulous. But what is not fabulous, there is no one in the gym except the principal. It was a cruel joke on Emma and her new friends. Two girls she used to be friends with, until she came out, of course, found out who her girlfriend was and along with the parents, put on a ‘secret’ prom, basically the entire school, except Emma.
Standing in the gym, a song. Come on people, it’s a musical. Emma calls her girlfriend, who isn’t quite ready to stand up to her mother, who happens to be the president of the PTA. And the truth comes out why they came to this town, for publicity, not for Emma. The truth hurts.
Then there are some touching scenes where different characters have to admit things to themselves they don’t want to admit, what they’ve been covering up for years, through acting, what makes them most vulnerable. This includes Alyssa Greene, played by Ariana DeBose, Emma’s girlfriend, who just isn’t ready to come out and Emma takes a stand and says she can’t hide anymore and it’s over. During the sad moments, there is ice cream, friends, and then throw in a great ‘Fosse’ number with Nicole Kidman and Emma, played by Jo Ellen Pellman. Then there is apologizing and groveling for some characters, and some eye opening truths for others, reforming of some bigoted ideas.
Next, Emma decides she is going to do things her way and sings on a live stream on the inter-web and touches so many lives and hearts of people who are just like her. Her new friends band together to give her the prom if her dreams, in the high school gym and the people that show up to help? Her former friends, apologizing, her former girlfriend, apologizing, and the president of the PTA, protesting.
Now it’s time for prom, the lights, the sounds, the flowers, the decoration, it’s pure perfection. The participants? Kids from all across the state who saw Emma’s live stream, people just like her, just different, her girlfriend, and then…her girlfriend’s mom who realizes and tell her daughter that she is more important to her than anything and nothing she does or says will ever change the love she has for her child. Just what we wanted to hear.
What started off as a protest and an anthem, turned into a heartwarming story of courage, friendship, tolerance, acceptance, a belief in yourself, and above all else, love. Isn’t that what it always comes down to, love? The most powerful emotion of all and with it, we can get through almost anything. Oh, and a good dance number thrown in.
Ok, so you might be getting that I enjoyed the movie. I really did. I liked the music, the lyrics, the songs, the dance numbers and when you know it’s going to be a musical, you can handle the cheesy bits, which there were, but they fit in right where they were supposed to.
I laughed, I cried, I give it two thumbs up. And as the old theater joke goes, it was better than Cats.
This is one of those winter holiday only experiences. If you live or are traveling to the St. Louis area during the holidays, this experience is a must!
Wild Lights takes place at the St. Louis Zoo, this year from November 27 through January 2nd. So…if you are in St. Louis, or near it, or plan on coming to St. Louis and want to experience the 1 million lights, come on! During the week it’s $10.95 for non-members and weekends is $12.95 for non-members. Members, I’m sure, already know how much tickets are!
This is a wonderful spectacle of lights, lights, and more lights, and more lights. There were lights in and on the trees, structures made of lights, animals made of lights, trees, flowers, you name it, they made it out of lights. Some were more complicated than others, some striking, some just cute. There were a few animals about that we could see, polar bears and sea lions, didn’t want to wait on the line for the penguins, we did wait to go through the insectarium to see the butterflies, or flutter-byes as I like to call them, unfortunately, after walking through the creepy crawler section, the butterfly wing, pun intended, was closed. Boo.
It was a lovely evening and experience. There were a lot of people, but it never felt crazy crowded and everyone was wearing masks and we most were socially distant, we felt comfortable. The weather was cool and crisp, but as long as you kept moving, you didn’t get too cold. Everywhere you looked, there was something to see, something to ooh and awe at, something shining, sparkling, flashing, or just glowing.
I love events like these, they aren’t here very long, you know they put a lot of thought into the planning into the event just to know the wonderment on peoples faces and in their eyes. They did it for the love of the animals and the holidays. We need more cheer!
If you have the opportunity, don’t miss it, it’s so worth it and just what we need right now!
If you haven’t seen Wonder Woman 84 [WW84] this will have spoiler alerts, you can always come back later and see if we agree. Warning delivered.
WW84…lots of questions. Why did they make this movie? Why did I go see this movie? Why do I feel like I will never get my two and a half hours back in my life? What were they thinking? What happened?! Is that enough W’s?
I’m sorry, this won’t be a very positive review. The messages in the movie had some merit, in the end. Let’s see…you can’t wish your life into existence, you have to work for it. Every action has consequences. You can’t wish for someone else’s life, live the life you have an if you’re not happy, work on what will make you happy. you don’t know what anyone else is going through or what their lives are like when you wish for them. Envy is that green eyed monster and a nasty one.
The movie opens with Diana’s past on Themyscira, she is talking about the lessons she did not learn until later in life, as we watch Lilly Aspell, the same actress who played young Diana in the first movie, running and wishing she had just taken the time to listen. I wondered allowed, isn’t that childhood? She is still a child, but competing in an olympic sort of competition against some amazing Amazons and comes close. It was great to see Robin Wright, alive and well! She has a valuable lesson for young Diana, it is the truth that is important and you cannot take short cuts to achrieve your goals.
The next thing we know, it’s 1984 and the stereotypes are incredible! It was very comic-bookish in the portrayal of the 1980’s. The big hair, big framed glasses, leg warmers, fanny packs, Members-Only jackets, the colors, the mall, the leotards, the side ponies, I lost track. Some of it was fun to see, then think back and hope that stuff really doesn’t come back around!
Barbara Minerva was typical shy, introverted, just wanted to be liked and maybe even popular. She wants to be Diana, who she thinks has it all. Kristin Wiig did a great job as Barbara Minerva, then Cheetah. Actually, she did a much better job as Barbara Minerva than she did as the Cheetah. The Cheetah, to be honest, got to be a bit ridiculous. I honestly did like Barbara’s transformation, up until she was one step away from becoming the cat and then the CGI was terrible, I was not a fan. I thought, after she made the wish, that although the transition was very subtle, in stages, each stage was incredibly noticeable and spoke volumes. The clothing went from mousy to magnificent then, I don’t know what. I guess she was supposed to be bad arse, but she just looked tattered.
The other villain, Maxwell Lord, was played by Pedro Pascal and if you’re a fan of the Mandalorian, you may or may not recognize him and if you don’t, spoiler alert…he’s the Mandalorian and now you know what he looks like without the helmet! He’s your typical scamming con artist only out for himself and doesn’t care what he has to do or who he has to run over to get it. The only thing he seems to love, and it’s not a thing, is his son. He claims he wants to make his son proud, but I’m not so sure. He seems to want total world devastation, as long as he gets what he wants. Actually, he doesn’t want total world devastation, he just wants to be the guy with it all. “He who dies with the most toys wins”. As he gets more power, he gets drunk with it and tarnishes everyone and everything he touches or thinks about.
Diana, or Wonder Woman, is kind of sad. She’s never, in all her time on Earth, never opened up her heart to anyone, only carried a torch for Steve Trevor. And, because of a wish, Chris Pine was in the movie. I enjoyed that part. It was fun to see him discover the world of 1984, like watching a child discover and experience one new thing after another. To see them together brought back feelings from the first movie, but…as you can imagine, it can’t last forever. The more she fought losing him again, the weaker she got, not just from Barbara’s wish to be more like Diana.
There were a few cool things that happened, didn’t make up for the entire movie, but cool, none-the-less. Just as they got into a plane that happened to be on the back side of the Smithsonian, don’t get me started on all the plot holes in this movie, I asked PSM “where’s her invisible plane?” guess what happened next?! That…was cool. Then they drove through and above some fireworks because it was July 4th.
There were some big fight scenes and some ridiculous ones. I have told you before, I can suspend my beliefs up to a point. And so much of what made Wonder Woman a wonder woman wasn’t there. I got antsy in my seat, waiting for something to happen, waiting for Wonder Woman to do her thang and kick arse. It was slightly painful and I know that it was what was happening around her and what people were doing to each other and the planet through what Maxwell Lord was doing, but it was still hard.
In the opening, we learn about Asteria and what she did to save the Amazonians. We learn about the gold suit of armor that she wears while doing it and we saw a glimpse of it in Diana’s apartment. She tells Steve that she tracked the golden suit of armor down after years and years of searching and told us, through Steve, about the significance of Asteria and her gold suit. As things were spiriling, I kept asking…when is she putting on the gold suit? When is she putting on the gold suit? It honestly took too long, maybe rock bottom had to be hit, but here it comes, in all its glory.
It did the trick up to a point, it was really her talking to people, telling them to look to themselves and into their hearts and resind their wishes, that is the only way that people won’t destroy each other and we can save the planet before it’s too late.
In the end, Maxwell Lord resinds his wish because he realizes the only thing that truly matters is his son and the love he has for him and hopes he gets in return, which he does. Barbara Minerva is no longer the Cheetah, there was an epic, albiet unimpressive battle between Cheetah and Wonder Woman and now it’s over, and we have no idea what happens after we see her sitting on a rock looking at the sky, just an unanswered question…what happened to Barbara Minerva.
After losing Steve Trevor a second time, claiming that she will never love again, something happens and it seems like she’s opening herself up to the possibility of being happy, who knows. There is a chance encounter at the end of the movie with the guy Steve had been inhabiting, was there a love connection? No idea.
Best part…serious spoiler alert…the additional scene is of a woman, with long dark, wavy hair and a cape, walking through a town, not sure where in the world, but it seems to be in an open market on a busy square and a banner falls and as the pole holding the banner starts to fall, the woman holds up the pole. Someone walks up to her and asks her who she is. We, of course, think it’s Wonder Woman, but no…it’s Asteria, played by none other than the original Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter!
Apologies if you’re disappointed, I was definitely disappointed in the movie. I had such high hopes. Doesn’t mean we won’t own it some day and maybe I’ll watch it again to see if my opinion changes. As it stands, I’m set with what I thought.
I hope I didn’t ruin the movie for you, but I do look forward to your take on things!
I was born with a full head of black hair. As time went on, it lightened a little, but it was very dark brown throughout my childhood and into my teens. I used to try to lighten streaks with peroxide, that takes forever, maybe it worked on a few strands.
Then at some point after college, I started dying it red. It started with the ginger spice look. All over red and two platinum streaks in the front. Then, it was time to have some more fun…all over red with platinum, blond, and black streaks, one time, almost orange, this was when I used to get my hair done professionally.
My mom was a red head and I was always envious. She had the most amazing long, firey red hair, then I was born and used to get my little fingers caught up in it, so she cut it, sorry mom! It got darker over the years and she would get it dyed professionally, red again, but a darker red. I guess that’s where I get it!
So…I was dying multiple colors, oh it was fabulous. Then I stopped going to the salon, it was a wee bit expensive, and started doing it myself. I looked for the perfect red for myself. I’ve done a burgandy wash, that was cool, it was great in the sun, but still looking for the perfect red. Revlon 42, that’s me! [About $4 a box at Walmart! Sometimes, I can even find them 2 for $2, think I stock up?!] I even dye my eyebrows! It’s such a perfect color for me, no one questions it! I’m on the paler side, so the red it just right! When I went to Ireland, no one questioned me! My granddaughter, LB, is almost the same shade of red, no one questions if we’re related!
After having my hair done with different colors and shades professionally, my hair is now shaded on its own, and there are sparklers. We don’t call them grey, we call them sparklers! Feel free to use that one! With the streaks and the sparklers, my all over color is different shades.
When Covid hit, I got a hair cut and dyed it my usualy Revlon 42 and it looked great. Then… I have been wanting to dye it different colors and PSM said go for it! What? Why not! Let’s do it! A few years ago, I had done the Atlanta Women’s 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer and dyed my hair a hot, magenta pink. It was awesome! But…I used Splat and what I didn’t do was follow the directions and put vasoline on my forehead, neck, and ears. Guess what color parts of my face turned! Lesson learned!
I really liked the color, it was perfect, I was working remotely at the time, only went into the office on occassion, and it was October, perfect for Halloween! I kept the pink for a while and when I dyed it Revlon 42 Red again, you could see pink streaks in it for months! I loved it!
So…I went back to Splat, it’s easy and you can find it almost anywhere. First thing I did was cover everything in vasoline, I wasn’t falling for that again! First color was aqua, then blue green, then lavendar, and I have to tell you, I LOVED it! Let me tell you, first…I didn’t realize how ‘sparkly’ my hair is now! The coolest part…as the color started to fade, it shaded the sparklers just so! I was getting compliments from random strangers, it was flattering!
August, I went blue, a perfect blue that matched Charlene, my motorcycle, how cool! It is, after all, all about accessorizing, right?! I wash my hair just about every day, so the color tends to fade quicker for me than some people, but it was working. Same thing happened, as the color faded, random people stopped me to tell me how much they loved my hair! Fun!
I dyed my hair blue when I was on vacation and I let the color start to fade because I knew in October I was going to have to conduct Train-The-Trainer with the client trainers, I couldn’t have crazy colored hair. We were also on Zoom, so many people, they couldn’t tell my hair had any color. I was waiting for vacation to dye it the next color, which was going to be emerald green. I had been debating on when to dye my hair or if I should dye it, I thought it looked great and had a feeling I would never be able to recreate the fabulousness.
Vacation came, my hair had almost no color, I needed a change and it was time, so I got down to dying my locks. I left it on for 45 minutes, which is what I usually do and it was awful. First, it didn’t come out emerald green, it was more blue green, emphasis on the green, but not emerald green. I was a little disappointed and then it started to fade more and more and it started getting muddy. It was still green, blue, lavendar, and aqua, but not pretty. You know when you start to mix paint and it gets, well, ugh? That was my hair. disappointing.
So…when we got home from Denver, PSM took a nap, it was 6:30am after all and we had been driving all night and with that nap, I was wide awake, so…under the sink I went. I told you I buy these in bulk! Pulled out the gloves and got down to business. Eyebrows first. Eyebrows have to match the hair! I told you, I do it right!
Thirty minutes later, because the instructions, yes, I read the instructions, said to leave it on 30 minutes for…grey. I did and at 30 minutes, got in the shower and when I got out…looked in the mirror and…”Hey…it’s me!” Yeah, the readhead is back!
PSM even said he likes me better as a redhead and…I look younger! This keeps getting better and better! Like I said…back to my roots! HA HA
There are NO MORE storage units out in the universe with my stuff in it! What?! I know you caught your breath! It’s true, all my stuff is is one place!
Even PL, the woman at the U-Haul in Colorado, said she was proud of me! You know you had some stuff out there when that happens!
You may recall, it all started a while back when I moved from a four-bedroom house in GA to a 2-bedroom apartment in Colorado. I had to do something with my stuff. When my grandmother passed, I didn’t have any place to put some of the furniture I got from her house, so it moved into a storage unit in GA, my first. Then, when I moved to Colorado, I packed up most of the house, but still left it furnished since I was trying to sell it. What didn’t fit in the apartment, went into a storage unit in Longmont, Colorado.
Then, when I left Colorado, I was moving in with my sister until I figured things out and anything I didn’t take with me, went into a second storage unit in Colorado. Over the years, I would go and visit my stuff, on occasion bring something back with me, but for the most part, I would visit it. one time, I even introduced my stuff to PSM. We went to one of the units, I opened the door and said “Stuff, this is PSM. PSM, this is my stuff” and watched him try to hide his horror! HA HA. Not to worry, he still propsed and I said yes. Better he knows what he’s getting in to, right?
When I left my sister’s house, I had a studio apartment, you may remember me telling you about it. It was a dump when I moved in, but I made it my own, it turned out to be a really cute place, needed some more love, but as I said, I made it my own. Then…when I left Boston for Hawai’i…I added what I couldn’t take to PSM’s storage unit.
Yes, friends, if you are keeping track, that is GA: One Unit, MA: One Unit, CO: Two Units. Why do I feel like the Count from Sesame Street?! One Unit, Two Units, Three Units, Ah Ha Ha!
This was not how I wanted to live and honestly, I wanted to see my stuff. So…one of the things that was a must when we moved to Missouri was a basement, so we could get all our stuff from all the units into one place. First…it was GA. Last November, we moved from O’ahu to Missouri, and I just realized we haven’t talked in a while, so you didn’t know we left Hawai’i, sorry! More on that later.
I took my last flight from Hawai’i, PSM flew to Missouri to take care of things for the house and start working, JCT picked me up from the airport, we had a great catch up, then she helped me load the truck with the last of my stuff in GA, then I hit the road and drove through the night to MO. A few years earlier, KAB bought a house with JB and I gave them all my furniture, the coolest part…when I visit, I get to sit on the same sofa I enjoyed for years and I am tickled when I get pictures of the grandkids at the table I used to have. So…GA: Done!
Next…last Christmas, I went to GA, then to Boston, met PSM, we loaded up the U-Haul with the last of our things from Boston and my sister’s house, he flew off to Iceland with our newphew JM and I hit the road and drove our stuff from Boston to Missouri. So…MA: Done!
Next…July 3rd of this year, I dropped the top on the beetle-bug and headed to Longmont, CO. It was a great drive, 12 hours, not the great part, but the weather was perfect, except for Limon, CO, which tends to have torrential rain and hail storms in the summer, no fun, but the rest of it, awesome! Top was down most of the trip, music blaring, what more could you want!
I rented the last four U-Boxes in the state, hired two guys to help me and emptied one and three-quarters storage units. I got back in the car and drove back to Missouri, another great ride, minus the hail storm!
Yesterday, PSM and I loaded the truck up with the dogs, two dog beds, and a travel pen and we were off for Longmont, CO. It took us about 13+ hours, with stopping for gas and the dogs. Good thing we packed provisions, not much open on Christmas day. This morning, we got up, picked up the U-Haul truck, drove to the storage unit and just over 90 minutes later we were saying goodbye to PL, the woman in the U-Haul office, the one who was proud of me, and we were off.
PSM drove with the dogs and I drove the U-Haul. It really wasn’t bad, except for no cruise control, that gets old after a while, but the speed limit is 75 almost the entire way, so how bad could it be! The truck had some nice features. The backup camera view was in the rearview mirror, there were several power/charging outlets and the regulator topped at 75, I wasn’t complaining.
The trip took way longer than 13+ hours, we finally gave up the ghost about 11pm and got a few hours sleep at a rest stop, about four hours from home, that…was heaven! And now…we’re home. But…Colorado: Done!
That means, my friends, that there are no more storage units anywhere in the universe, except for our basement! I’ve been working on paring down, it’s not easy, but I’m working on it. Now that I have all of my everything, I can really get a grasp on what I need to do and start making some serious headway. I have to, for my sanity and my marriage! He’s such a good sport about it all but I can’t do this to him forever!
Peaches Prattlings 