For Katrina - updated

Kit Kat requested a movie review section. For now I will do a quick and dirty assessment of the movies I can recall watching: the letter A is a good movie, the letter B is an okay movie, the letter F is a bad movie, the ? mark is a movie I am indifferent about, and an A++is a great film. I will also review television series as I have been watching these a great deal more than movies. I will add to this list when I remember more of what I have watched. It is 2:00 a.m. and my recall is spotty. Also, Trevor dragged me to a few of these and I am sure he would rate them differently.

In Theaters

• Frost Nixon - A+
  
• Rachel Getting - A+
• Gran Torino - A
  
• Twilight - ? (It did not live up to the book)
  
• Four Christmases - F
• Quantum of Solace - B
  
• Role Models ? (I laughed three time but Trevor liked it.)
  

Movies on DVD

• The Dark Knight - A
  
• Burn After Reading - ?
• War Inc. - F
  
• Be Kind Rewind - A(Maybe I liked because I spent years working in a video store)
• The Walker - B
  
• Wanted - A (High marks because Angelina is HOT in this flick)
• X-Files - A (Good movie if you are really into X-Files. Boring if you are not fan)
• Vantage Point - ? (I didn't like it but Trevor did)
• Untraceable - F (Horrible but Trevor liked it)
• Tropic Thunder - F (Even Trevor hated this one)
• There Will Be Blood - A
• Smart People - A
• Step Brothers - ? (I didn't like it but Trevor laughed and liked it)
• Run Fat Boy Run - B
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - B
• Pineapple Express - A+
• Mama Mia - A
• Leather Heads - ? (I was BORED but Trev found it entertaining.)
• Lars and the Real Girl - A+ (loved it! loved it! loved it!)
• Kung Fu Panda - F
• Iron Man - A
• Hulk - B
• In Bruges - B
• I Really Hate My Job - A
• Hancock - F
• The Happening - ? (It would have been bearable if Mark Wallberg wasn't in it.)
• Hellboy - F (Trev made me go and it was worse than I could have imagined.)
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall - B
• The Cleaner - B
• Cloverfield - F (Horrible!)
• Charlie Wilson's War - A
• Bank Job - B
• The Brave One - A+
• Baby Mama F
• Before the Devil Knows Your Dead - A+
  
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - B
  
• Factory Girl - B
• The Assassination of Jesse Jame by the Coward Robert Ford - A+
  

TV on DVD

• Wire in The Blood - A
  
• The Wire - A+
  
• The Tudors - B
  
• Prime Suspect -A
• Damages -A
  
• Hustle -B
• Battlestar Galactica -A+
• State of Play - A++++++
  

New Year

Holidays have never been my thing but I have to admit to being excited over the changing of years. Last year was rough and I am looking forward to a fresh start. Lists of resolutions dance in my head but I haven't landed on any one in particular. Sure, I want to be healthier and happier but I am not sure if those resolutions are enough. Perhaps I need to resolve to be okay with how things are right now. At times I feel like we are all either in the past or the future; No one is in the present. Presently I am in my cozy house filled with mammals that I love. I wonder why that is never enough.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Mom's birthday. She would have turned 54. She really was a beautiful woman both inside and out. Growing up, friends would always comment on her beauty but I never really I saw her as beautiful until I got older. Mom hated birthdays and the attention that came with them. When she was well she was the most selfless, understanding and compassionate mother anyone could hope for. I choose to remember her when she was well not when she was ill and not herself. I am still trying to come up with a magnificent way to celebrate her life and all I have come up with is to live in the moment and not dwell on the past or plan for the future. Happy Birthday.

Genetics at Work

Here are two photos that prove being a dork is genetic. In the first photo my little brother is on the right. In the second photo my little sister is on the left. I love them for so many reasons. Today I love them because they make me feel a little less like a dork. The full impact of the second photo can be felt with a quick double click.

Planning for Halloween

With Apple Fest over I am left to focus on Halloween. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Halloween has great food - pumpkin pie, candy corn, popcorn balls. Halloween has great books - "The Halloween Tree" and "Something Wicked this Way Comes." My favorite Halloween book is "Something Wicked This Way Comes." You would think I would tire of the book after reading it for twenty-one Octobers. Every time I open those pages I am as terrified as a twelve year old. Since I can't dress up like my favorite Bradbury characters, I decided to dress up as one of my favorite Star Wars characters: Chewbaccha. After pricing faux fur and calculating the enormous amount I would need to cover my ass, I decided to buy some white poly/satin and dress up as Leia. White poly/satin is only $4.00 yard - $24.00 to cover my ass. Halloween is scary!

Apple Festival '08

Apple Festival always has hundreds of people, tons of food and view of the Lake. We can't stand all of the people and remind ourselves of this every year but we keep going back for the food and the view. Fall doesn't begin without a visit to Apple Festival.

October Begins

Today I spent a good amount of time near Lake Superior. Lake Superior is its most beautiful in the fall. Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them.

Back up at the Garden

Sunday proved to be a busy day. Warm fall weather demanded that we bring in the harvest. Today we gathered over 100lb of produce. Every free space is now taken up with tomatoes, carrots and egg plant. T.J., Trevor and I had a good time.

Powells' Summertime Tomato Goodness

A few entries down I described the process we use to make our own spaghetti sauce. Today we harvested over 80 lbs. of produce from our garden. A large portion of the take was tomatoes. As many of you know, I am a fiend for a good tomato. With pounds of fruit in front me, I returned to the kitchen for several hours. In the end I have enough sauce for approximately eight meals and have more on deck to make. I wish Ragu tasted like homemade; my life would be lest hectic during harvest season. The lighting is bad in the photo but I was too tired to care.

Jay Cooke State Park

We are blessed to live so close to nature. Every way we turn there are state parks that offer amazing hiking, biking and camping. After work on Friday we took off for Jay Cooke. After spending fifteen minutes in the car we stretched our legs to visit these beautiful vistas. Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them.

ETSY

Lots of folks ask where I buy my jewelry and clothes. Well, now you will find my favorite store on the left column of the screen. Etsy sells handmade and vintage items. Why go to the mall when you can by original items directly from the artists. Why would you ever go the mall?

Naked Kitchen

Our kitchen has been naked for weeks. One of our window overlooks the alley and everyone who passes by check out the goods. First, we had to find the right fabric. After I found the fabric, I needed a free hour to work with Trevor on putting them together.

Trev's Blog

My hubby has a blog and there is a link to it on the right. The blog is title "keep it green watch it grow."

Tomato Soup

After hours of washing, cutting and roasting we are left with delicious tomato soup. Tomato soup is best served in a bowl resembling a brain and with a grilled cheese sandwich on the side. The entire production took three hours. That sounds like a lot of time but it is so damn good when you make it yourself. Also, the soup will be used as a base for spaghetti sauce.

Rainy Day Cooking

Photo 1: Garden tomatoes spend time ripening.
Photo 2: Tomatoes are cubed, drizzled in olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and pepper.

Photo 3: Roasted tomatoes in the food mill
Photo 4: Roasted tomatoes and garlic.
Photo 5: Garden fresh rosemary and basil.

not much has changed

Yesterday I went to see "The Incredible Hulk" with T.J. and Trevor. Admittedly I was not too keen on seeing the flick but I gave in. During the previews I caught a glimpse of the upcoming X Files movie. The original movie was released June 19, 1998. Ten years ago.

What else happened ten years ago? I married Trevor. Yes, I married Trevor on June 19, 1998. Because I am a huge X Files fan I decided I would forgo my hair appointment the day of the wedding so that I would be able to see the movie on opening day. We married at 6:00 p.m. but had to be there at 3:30 for pictures. That left me with only the noon show time to catch the movie before I was married. I shared this plan with my maid of honor and she put her foot down. It was bad enough that I had put off buying my shoes, my guest book and cake cutter until the last minute - she was not going to spend my wedding day watching a movie instead of getting her hair done. As my wedding day neared I became very focused on the movie and less focused on the wedding. This ended up being a good thing as many things went wrong at our wedding. I really didn't care that the cake was lopsided and the D.J. had a blown speaker. All I cared about was getting to see that movie. At one point during the reception I asked my new husband if we could bail out on our own party and try to catch the 9:00 show. To that he replied, "I love you!"

After the preview for the new movie was ending, I told Trevor, "If this releases on our anniversary I am going to see the movie and opt out of the traditional sentimental anniversary crap." To that he replied, "I love you!"

Weekends of Fun

The first photo is of Gooseberry State Park. Trevorand I spent last weekend hiking from the falls to Lake Superior. The next photo is of our new magnolia. I bought this magnolia in memory of my mom. Lastly, we have two photos of Ignacio from this weekend. The first is Ignacio eating in a "big boy" highchair. The last is a shot of Ignacio and Trevor tossing up their gang signs.

Early Spring

Spring has yet to arrive up here in the Arctic Circle. We still have snow on the ski hill. In an attempt to lure warm weather out of her cave, we purchased a few flats of flowers.

Old Stomping Grounds

When I was home for my mother's funeral I took some time to visit two of our old homes. Both places are in Grand Rapids. The red house was our first place in the city. Our first night there a sex worker was stabbed two blocks from my bedroom window. The apartment building is in a complex on Alpine. It too was shady but not as bad as the red house neighborhood. The red house is currently for sale and I toyed with the idea of buying it. Then I remembered the murdered sex worker and decided against it.

Nervous

I am returning to work on Monday. Nervousness and nausea overfloweth. Please send me some good energy. I will need it.