updates

BOOKS

 The 13^th Tale- Diane Setterfield

I really liked this one. It was a little slow going at first but around the middle it just took off. Had a great ending that I didn’t see coming and you know how I love that.

 

Lament- Maggie Stiefvater

This one was ok. A little disappointing since she wrote the Shiver series and I loved those. This one had the Fairie aspect to it. It was an interesting concept to me but it just  hold my interest.

      The Scorch Trials- James Dashner- this is the sequel to the Maze Runner that I read last year which was a total surprise hit for me. This one is even better.

 

      

            Ford County- John Grisham- this was a surprise. It was a collection of short stories focused around this Ford County. They were all really good. A must to add to my Grisham collection. 

Movies

         Babies- Netflix

       This is documentary about 4 babies from around the world from birth

      to toddler. It’s absolutely adorable and is a must to be seen.

           Someone like you- Netflix

          This has Hugh Jackman, Ashley Judd and Greg Kinnear- it was a romantic/comedy…girl falls for boy, gets jilted by boy, becomes friends w/boy she cant stand, boy secretly falls for girl while the jilting boy realizes he wants girl back and so on!!!  It wasn’t bad….just kinda predictable. I’m a huge fan of Hugh Jackman and Greg Kinnear so it was worth watching.

Envy- tv

Stars Jack Black and Ben Stiller and is really funny. I’ve seen it before and enjoyed again.

Avalon high- tv

 This is a Disney made movie about a girl who moves to a new high school which happens to also a legend of King Arthur returning one day and of course it’s when she shows up and then learns its actually her. It has the whole King Arthur storyline to it and is a typical Disney movie. It wasn’t bad…even Dylan watched it.

         

             Monster in law- tv I love this movie. Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lopez, that guy from Alias. Its cute and reminds me of what I   don’t want be like when Dylan gets to that phase in life.

              

               Before and After-netflix

          This has Meryl Streep and Liam Nielson about a death that happens in a small town and their son is a suspect and the dad tries to cover it up but the mom wants to be honest and believes her son is innocent. It was good. Kinda long but it was worth watching.

           Year of the dog Netflix

         This is written by Mike White (school of rock fame) and stars Molly Shannon and John C Reilly, Laura Dern and Regina King. I thought it was going to be very funny and some parts were but it was mostly a dark film that had me crying about 10 min. into it mostly because it centered around pets that die and just loving animals in general and it wasn’t a happy film. It was really good. But not happy.

      The Last Airbender Netflix dvd This is take on the Airbender Nickelodean cartoon and we were very excited to see it but it wasn’t that good. It was directed by M. Night Shyamalan who I love sooooo much and have loved everything he’s done but this was a disappointment. I might try it again sometime tho!!!

        Semi pro tv

         I only watched this cause it was on tv and all the BAD stuff hopefully would be taken out. It has Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson about a rich guy in the 70’s that buys a basketball team and wants to get the team into the NBA. Its of course like any Will Ferrell movie….crazy!!!

Bucketlist- tv

Stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman about 2 old men that meet in a hospital and then decide to go off together to do whatever they want before they die. It was good but I’ve seen better.

Harry potter 7- theater

I went to the midnight show to see this one. It was a lot of fun tho I had to go by myself and sit by myself cause my HP guy is gone and Dylan didn’t want to be seen w me in public. I really shouldn’t even be talking about this one cause I only ever have good things to say about HP movies so I’m a little biased but I will say that I think it was very well done and it would be better if you have read the book due to it being a 1 of 2 movie. 

this was interesting to me....When I was looking for a pic for HP..I found different ones and different covers of the book. Thought I'd share!!!

   

            Eclipse- dvd

           Dylan went at midnight on Friday 12-3 to get me the dvd and on Saturday that is all I watched. Really shouldn’t talk about this one either just cause anyone that knows me……well, should know!!!!

    

Slumdog Millionaire- dvd.

            I actually own this one. I saw it in the theater w/Sylvia cause she loved it and she was right. It is a great film. Great characters…Good story!!

            

           About a Boy- netflix

            Hugh Grant…this is about a man that doesn’t like relationships but    ends up w/ a friendship w/ a 12 yr old boy who has family problems.   It’s a nice British story!!!

                

            Imagine That- Netflix

             Eddie Murphey plays a dad who needs to spend more time w/his

            daughter. This was a really cute movie. A great family movie. 

Music

MP3’s

I have a cd that has a collection of music that was on my computer at my old job in Texas and when I moved,  I burned it cause I didn’t want to lose them. Over the years its gotten pretty beat up and I found it the other day and had so much listening to all those songs. It’s a huge variety of groups from Leanne Rimes, Jewel, Duran Duran, Brian Setzer to of course Foo Fighters, silverchair, the peppers and an unknown local band from the mid 90’s the Toadies. Of course this was back before MP3 players and Ipods when you could only listen to them off the internet from your computer. When downloading a cd had to be Ripped and took forever. But I love this little disc and hope to have it for along while.

Nov/Dec bookclub

It looks like we may have skipped Nov. bookclub but because of the holiday we just pushed it back a few weeks and had it on Dec. 2nd. This months book......Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and it was held at Kathy Hansens house.
This was a really interesting book which had me captivated from the beginning and was a hit with the rest of the group as well. Its storyline is about a woman who learns about the 1942 round up of the Jews in France and a side story of Sarah and her family who were Jews in the round up. It's a very touching and sad story. We had some great discussions it was a great book to end the year on.
Next months book is by Lois Lowry called The Blue Gathering.

The Forgotten Carols

My brother gave me a cassette one year of Michael McLean's "Forgotten Carols" and instantly I fell in love w/ it. About 4 yrs ago I got a new little stereo and the cassette player never worked well on it so it's been about that long that I havent listened to that tape. Recently, in the mail, I got an advertisement from Deseret books and it said that Michael McLean's "Forgotten Carols" was going to be in Spokane on Nov. 26th. Of course I didnt want to go by myself and Sylvia was going to be out of town so I didnt think about going. Then a few short days after talking w/ Peggy Grigg, I got a text asking if I wanted to go cause their group was going and of course I immediately accepted. So we(Peggy, Anneleise, Shelly, Lacy, Maggie and Kylie and ME) left that day around 4, ate in Ritzville at Taco something
 and arrived in Spokane around 6:30. Our seats were fun. They were in row E of the 2nd floor smack in the middle and you could see everything. The first 4 notes that started the show just brought me back to when I could listen to it and I started crying just from being in awe of actually seeing and hearing it in person. It was a great show....the cast was great and it certainly was something I'll never forget. When it was over, he came out by himself and sang about 4 more songs and had the audience laughing and crying... he was just amazing. The cast was out front afterwards and I bought the cd and a plaque and we stood in line so he could sign them and to meet him. The girls were so excited to meet him and got autographs from the whole cast and pics w/Michael and then I also got autographs and a pic too. It was a wonderful experience. The drive home was a little rough. It started snowing really hard so it was slow going for awhile but the conversation and laughter we had made the drive so much better.
I'm really grateful for this opportunity and Anyone that has the chance to go...should.

The snow as we're leaving the Opera House!!!

more updates

Books


Little Bee by Chris Cleave 
The lives of a British woman and a Nigerian girl collide in this novel of lost innocence and survival. Its a very good book and must be read

The White Giraffe by Lauren St.John
This is a kids book that my friend Michele was reading w/her daughter and so of course I feel I must read any book I find out about and I'm glad I did. It was written well and had a good plot for that age group.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Loved this book......wolves, humans, love, desperation. It was AWESOME. My next obsession and then it lead to................

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
the 2nd book to Shiver........another great book. Different take from the 1st and it worked!!!!! Now I just have to patiently wait for #3. Any of my twilight, hunger games fans should read these books.

House Rules by Jodi Picoult
Very good book. A boy w Aspbergers is framed for a murder and of course as in Picoult books its never straightforward. It was a good read w/interesting characters and a ddnt see coming ending.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
good book.....I liked the feel of the story. Fallen Angel loves Mortal girl. Kinda Supernaturalish, It wasnt as gripping as others which I was hoping for w/the storyline. But there is a 2nd coming out and I will read that one too.





Side note:  It feels like I read something else during this time but there was about 4 wks of craziness and overtime at work,     so I dont know.
And....dylan just picked up 7 more books from the library for me!     Yay me!!!

Movies

 netflix-dvd
Hugh Dancy and Rose Burn about a guy w/Aspbergers who falls in love in a girl and it was a cute movie but the ending wasnt good. It was depressing.

dvd
I've always loved this movie and thanks to my friend Sylvia and her coupon clipping, I finally own it and then of course had to watch it straight away. I dont need to talk about it cause you either love it or you dont.

 netflix dvd
Nia Vardalos and John Corbett from My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame return in this story of a girl who doesnt want romance or love and only wants to date Until "he" moves into town and then she wants him but he's taking it way too slow. It was kinda dumb movie w/ bad acting.

netflix- instant play
 A graduate student copes with a recent breakup by conducting interviews with various men.This has John Krasinski in it. It was a depressing movie. Had the f word in it several times when the rating of it ddnt say that. In this movie, Johns character is alot like Jim!!!

netflix-instant play
This is a quirky movie. It was cute in a low budget kind of way. some bad acting but the I ddnt mind that I had watched it.

Netflix- dvd

Loved this one.....Katherine Heigel and Ashton Kutcher and it was good. Wasnt expecting the storyline which I thought was funny. If I ever find this movie for $5 or under, I'll buy it.

tv
Had seen this one before but it was on tv so I watched it. It's just ok. Eva Longoria's character is really annoying. One thing in the movie I noticed was Pauls character gave the main girl a book and it was "brief interviews w/hideous men" and I was like...hey I just watched that movie. HAHAHA!!!!

tv
This is a classic for me. I remember as a teen watching this movie w/my sister. I think we watched a hundred times. Back when HBO actually showed movies all the time and they would play all month long at different times. Anyway....I love this movie and it was great seeing it again after a long time. The songs were stuck in my head for days and dylan thought I was a bit weird since I dont like country but was singing "but you aint woman enough, to take my man!!". (add the twang for effect)

TV

The Event
This is my new I've been watching. It has John Ritters son in it and it's actually pretty good so far. Has some Aliens-a young couple in love who have torn apart by kidnapping, mean men-government people. It's been good!

The King of Queens
Only in rerun now...and very funny. I love how they're married and they act and talk horrible to each other but they really do love each other. I know that sounds bad but it's funny to watch. 






Music

James Barbour
I love this guys voice and I wish so bad I could go to this. but it's only in California, New York and one showing in Hawaii. Come to Washington, Please!!!!!!!