updates

BOOKS

 Beautiful Darkness-Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
The 2nd book to the Caster Chronicles and just as good. I liked the same writing style and the added kick to the story. Cant wait for #3

Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper
I cant say enough about this book. It's a true story of Gwen and her blind cat that she adopted at 4 wks old. He grows w his disability and she grows just from the care and love that comes from not only taking care of an animal but from one w/no sight and doesnt know it. They have an amazing story and is a definite must read even if you dont like cats!!!!

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
This was our BKclub for Jan. Its one of 2 companion books to The Giver. Everyone really praises these books, but I dont see the what all the attention is for.

Hannah's Dream by Dianne Hammond
REALLY loved this one. An Elephant trapped at a failing local zoo is cared for by an elderly couple that treat her just as if she's a child to them but the man has literal dreams of her being at a better place. It's a great read and very heart touching. 

Mistletoe and Molly by Janet Daily
I only read this cause I forgot my book and it was a slow day at work so my coworker gave me this to pass the time. It was one of those silly romance books but the storyline and writing wasnt as bad as some I've read.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
I've read Shannon before and really like her and this book is no exception. Great story....involved characters and a great ending. I love her books cause they're written for young adult girls but us old ones love them too.








MOVIES

dvd
I only watched this cause its spoofed the Twilight Saga Movies and it was pretty funny if you have an open mind. There's some inappropriateness to it but it was worth seeing just for a laugh.

Netflix dvd
this is a made for tv movie about Temple Grandin who is autistic but educated herself and has many accomplishments. The movie was really good and interesting.

dvd
This was given to us by our Secret Santa and I wasnt sure that I would ever watch it but it was actually really good. Nicholas Cage and Jay Baruchel w/Alfred Molina. Liked it very much.

Redbox dvd
Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz in this action type movie and I liked it. It's hard to watch Tom now cause he's so weird now, but it was a good storyline and there were certain parts that I thought the filming was being portrayed as an old classic type movie which I enjoyed.

Netflix dvd
This is a movie done in 1988 starring Lucas Haas who I love, love, love. It was good when I watched it back then and it was still good all these yrs later. It also stars Len Cariou, Alex Rocco and Katherine Helmond and is a suspenseful, supernatural thriller. It's good!!!

Netflix-dvd
I started crying w this one right away and it was nice seeing Zac Efron play a serious role. The story is good, I ddnt know much about the movie so I was surprised at the turn it took. It also stars Amanda Crew that is in one of my other updates.

Redbox-dvd

This was a waste of $1.08!!!!

Tho it had Greg Kinnear, that was its only value!!

Netflix-instant
I was very very hesitant to see this movie. I dont really like the Disney version due to a little 3yr old about 22 yrs ago that would watch it over and over and over and over and over and over and over, but I watched it out of boredom and now its on my to buy list. I thought it was very well done!!!

Redbox-dvd
I was so excited to see this movie and it was such a disappointment. The dinner part was only like the last 20 min. and the before stuff was just a bunch of crap. I love Steve Carrell but this is not one of his good ones.

Netflix-instant
This is an older movie and have never seen it. Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Jason Isaacs(lucius malfoy), Michael Rosenbaum(smallville), Frank langella so it had a good cast and it was good at the beginning but when she got sick I think that when it went down hill and then the ending was so ridiculous. I didnt like this one.

Netflix-instant
 This one is a classic for me. My sister and I used to watch this one alot. Tom Hanks, Shelley Long, Alexander Gudunov (who I love) and it's a cute comedy and is classic Tom Hanks humor.

 My favorite part is when Walter is on the stairs and the whole thing is falling apart and he's hanging onto the ledge and anna comes running out of a bedroom where a raccoon has attacked her and steps on his hands. Love that!!

Netflix-instant
Watched this a good while back. It came out in 96 and I had forgotten the ending of it.  Has Will Patton,Ellen Burstyn, Marcia Gay Harden and its about a young girl released from prison and ends up in this small town becoming really good friends w/the owner of a diner and tries to start over. It's pretty good.

DVD
Love this one.....Hayden Christian Anderson, Samuel L Jackson and others. I saw it in the theater and loved it then. I love the storyline and kinda wish they had done more of these.








TV

Parks and Recreation- NBC
Netflix-instant
This has been on their programming for 2 seasons and I started watching ssn 1 just out of curiosity and it's really good. Couldnt stop watching and headed into ssn 2. It's funny and cute and cant wait for the 3rd ssn coming up in next week!!!!!

BBC
Netflix-instant
Found this one by accident and looked cute, plus I'm a succor for british comedies and it was good. Had alot of smoking and drinking but it had a good story and good characters and there's a series 2 but not available yet. Darn it!!!

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!!!