Friday Fill-in's #115


I thought I would do my FFI on this blog too -- maybe my answers will be better, wittier, more interesting -- nah, probably not but here goes.

1. When I look to the left I see darkness out of the shutter that the cat has opened.

2. The dining room is the room that has the best view in my home -- depending on what you want to look at!

3. Let it work out for the good of all.

4. Cooking done dirt cheap -- a news story on our local news last night. Well, ok, maybe not DIRT cheap, but cheaper. Whatever.

5. Keeping our city clean is a responsibility that all qualified citizens must share.

6. If you have any gripes about the economy please feel free to write your Congressman! Right.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I am watching a movie and eating homemade quac, tomorrow I am either going to the Dallas Quilt show or to our other house to work (duh!), and Sunday I just want to go to church, get on my knees, pray for change and then relax.

Loop Group -- Larry McMurtry

I just finished "Loop Group" by Larry McMurtry and it is a definite recommend. It is easy to read, funny, typical Mc Murtry. It is about Maggie and Connie, two aging "hot, foxy" women who manage a loop group. Maggie has undergone a life changing surgery and isn't dealing well with it. Connie, her ever-needy friend is always there to help -- or hinder -- depends. The two women deal with their troubled children, their troubled loop group and their troubled romantic lives -- and they take a trip to Texas. This is the sort of book that really lets you escape for the day and wallow in sheer entertainment.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

BHC came yesterday as I was expecting. So...yesterday morning, in anticipation of a movie evening, I chunked dinner in the crockpot -- well, two crockpots actually, so I wouldn't have to take up precious movie watching time with all that kitchen drudgery. AW came home, we quickly devoured the crockpot gourmet and settled down to watch the movie. One of us was much more excited about the prospect than the other one. Wanna make any bets?

Anyway, it was an adorable movie. MY sort of action adventure movie. A little romance, a few tears, some breath taking moments. Something for everybody -- even Rollie sat and watched the entire movie. I enjoyed it. Now....I want a chihuahua. Of course, she would have to live without a Harry Winston collar.

I can't tell if AW enjoyed the movie or not. He sort of struck his "tolerant yet not smiling" pose for the entire hour and a half and didn't have much to say except ....

AW does NOT want a chihuahua.

Bummer.

Vacation from blogging --

Yes, it seems I have taken a vacation from blogging -- well, writing them at any rate. It seems I have more fun reading blogs than writing them. Almost all of them that I read have better photos (or photos at all!), are more clever and more interesting and definitely more consistent. However, since I have been watching copious amounts of movies lately, I thought a blog on that might be of interest.

AW and I joined Netflix. Well, I joined Netflix and he is just going along with me. I joined it with some apprehension -- fear of the movies getting lost in the mail and me with no way to prove that I actually did send them back. That hasn't been a problem, however. So, when I joined I made a tentative list -- always subject to change with me, of course. I tried to mix AW's favorites -- action adventure -- with my favorites -- classics (both tv and cinema) and girly stuff. So, we have had a variety of things to choose from and our relationship has managed to survive ME choosing the movies.

The first movie we received from Netflix was "The Secret Life of Bees". It was good and I recommend. Even AW enjoyed it. Then we watched some old tv classics -- "The Life of Riley" and "Our Miss Brooks". Ok, so AW didn't fare so well with those. Since then we have viewed "Pride and Glory" and "Bangkok Dangerous". I enjoyed "Pride and Glory" more than "Bangkok Dangerous" because Nicolas Cage was just too weird in "BD". I like him but it seems like he is getting stranger and stranger in some of his movies.

The next movie in my queue is not going to thrill AW at all. He wouldn't go see it in the theater -- neither would DD or SIL (I asked -- he said no). So....by tomorrow I will have a Netflix copy of the newly released "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" to watch and AW is going to watch it with me. He doesn't want to but...hey, I watched "Bangkok Dangerous" and now it is payback time!

Molly Bee

A little while ago I was searching for an email address on the net and a headline popped up that a country singer had passed away after being ill for a while. I clicked on it and much to my surprise, it was Molly Bee. Even more to my surprise, it took a moment for me to remember who Molly Bee WAS! I went completely brain dead. Not good for somebody whose dad was a C/W disc jockey and who used to watch all the old country variety shows on tv. Suddenly it clicked and I remembered Molly Bee -- a name I hadn't heard for years and years.

So, sympathies to all involved with Molly Bee -- it is a loss.

New Post on http://melissaboyettbrinkley.wordpress.com

I have just posted a movie review and a book review on the site listed above. Check it out!

"Our Kind" by Kate Walbert

My first book in the RYOB Challenge is "Our Kind" by Kate Walbert. This is a collection of short stories, "memoirs" if you will, about a group of women who have been friends for years. They lives are chronicalled for about the past 40 years through the events that have befallen them, both good and bad. It is a short book and very well written. The images created brought back fond memories of my growing up during these same years. However, I found it to be depressing. I think it was just the wrong book at the wrong time for me. I would recommend reading a few of the pages prior to committing to this book but don't let my opinion stop you -- just not right for me at this time.

RYOB Challenge -2009

Today I stumbled upon a reading challenge that is very suited to me. I am already involved in the TBR challenge which is similar but, since I have two blogs I thought two blogs would be acceptable -- more than that is overwhelming to me. So, I signed up for the RYOB challenge and, since overlaps are acceptable, my first book will be "Our Kind" by Kate Walbert. I figure if I post on TWO blogs that I will be reading it, maybe I will feel compelled to finish it -- we will see. My goal will be 12 books for the year. I know, that sounds like a meager amount and hopefully I will do better but, realistically, I would rather keep the number low and add to it as I go. It could go much higher as I seem to get roped into reading children's books a lot as I am buying and collecting for my grandkids and like to see what it out there for them.

At any rate, since I have been neglecting my blogspot blog for a while and don't really want to abandon it, I think I will use it for the RYOB Challenge. If you want to know what I am reading and what I think about it, you will want to check here. The TBR challenge will be on my other blog: http://melissaboyettbrinkley.wordpress.com.

Happy reading!

The TBR Challenge Lite is my one and only reading challenge of 2009. I chose option C because it seemed the most doable for me. I have a rather large stack of unread books that I would love to get through and I hope this challenge will help me with that. The first book on my list is "Our Kind" by Kate Walbert. Since I had to list three books I included "The Night Watch" by Sarah Waters, "Looking for Peyton Place" by Barbara Delinsky and the Beverly Lewis Trilogy "The Shunning", "The Confession", and "The Reckoning".

I chose this challenge because it gave me the most freedom to read what I want and since I like a vast variety of material, I felt most comfortable in this challenge.

So, Happy Reading all you fellow TBRers!

Happy

New

Year!

A Kodak Moment and Me Without a Camera

About three minutes ago our local NBC affiliate broke into regularly scheduled programming to announce that the space shuttle Endeavor was coming to land at the DWF Joint Reserve Air Base. They said it would be visable in about thirty seconds. Well, since I live across the road from the JRB I decided to go looking for it but I figured it had already landed. Much to my surprise, I heard a roar to my left (I am used to the military air base roars) and there is this gigantic plane with the shuttle perched piggy back! What a sight and me without a camera! Man! Oh well, I am sure it will be on youtube but it was very awesome.