Movie Reviews

We always see lots of movies over the holidays. The movies this year did not disappoint. Here are the top 4.

In 4th place, Sherlock Holmes, Game of Shadows. This second Sherlock Holmes movie is way better than the first. Lots of action and some laughs, I liked it okay, but my son and brother thought it was awesome! Definitely a boy movie. Again, way better than the first and I enjoyed watching it.
In 3rd place is Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol. Rest assured the title of Ghost Protocol has nothing to do with ghosts and supernatural. This 4th installment of Mission Impossible is better than the 2nd and 3rd, in my opinion. It had lots of action, a few laughs, lots of fighting, and crazy impossible stunts. Although not realistic, which doesn't concern me in the least, I liked it. I'd recommend this movie to those who enjoyed the first Mission Impossible. Although not totally necessary, the history in the 3rd movie may be helpful to understand the 4th. 2nd place goes to We Bought a Zoo. Loved it!!!! Based on a true story, this was a great film. I now want to visit the Rosemoor Wildlife Park in Southern California. When researching the exact location of this zoo, I learned it's real name is Dartmoor Zoological Park and it's located in England. (Bummer.) According to the articles I read on line—so they gotta be true—the movie is super close to the real story if you exclude the name and location change. Regardless, it's moving, heartwarming, and romantic with good animal care...everything I adore in a story. Lots of humor too, so I highly recommend We Bought a Zoo.1st place by a mile goes to War Horse. None of the others even come close. The cinematography was spectacular and the heart wrenching story moved me immensely. Some parts I could barely watch—it hurt so much to see horses worked to death in war. Other parts were pure joy. I want to own this movie on Blu-ray when released, but honestly, as a serious and deep animal lover, I don't know if my heart could handle watching it again. Does that make sense?


Enjoy the Holiday movie season...

Merry Christmas

Christmas started early at my house, when Bree and Curtis came for a week on 12-07-11. We had a couple parties, went to the movies, ate at their favorite restaurant...what a great week.When they flew out, it felt like Christmas was over—like I should take the decorations down. This week I am finally getting back in the mood, but come 12-26, those decorations are outta here.

My two dogs love the excitement of lots of guests and treats at Christmas. Even my mom's dog, JellyBean, was invited to our little party.

JellyBean is a little blurry with my mom's old camera, but what a sweet picture of Ellie and Boedy taken by Bree and her amazing camera.

We had a fun gingerbread building contest. After dividing into two teams, boys against the girls, with my mom as team captain for the boys team, we had 20 minutes to put together and decorate a gingerbread train. Mom and Bree are gingerbread experts, so they were team captains. Below is the boy's finished product. Obviously they lost. Unfortunately before snapping a picture of the classy and elegant girl's train, I sent it home with Lori, my sister. There was no question that the girl's train won. It wasn't over done. The boys tried to use all the available supplies to decorate their train. :) What fun, laughs, competitive trash talk, and joy comes from our various contests/games we play each year.

Below is Kelli and Bree. Kelli, my niece, is home from nursing school in Colorado. Such pretty girls!

May the blessing of Christ's birth fill your hearts and minds this Christmas.

Nasty Thyroid

The lump on my thyroid has grown again and my thyroid function has slowed down. Errr!!!! No wonder I've been gaining weight. When the non-cancerous tumor was first detected, it was a size 2.1. At the next ultrasound, it grew to 2.9, then 3.1 and now it's up to a 3.4. If it reaches 4.0, they will remove my whole thyroid. I don't want that at all. The thyroid is too important—it regulates metabolism and weight. Plus surgical removal will leave a nasty scar. I need a good thyroid!!!! My doctor prescribed a different prescription, so hopefully when I reach my New Year's weight loss goal, I will have an easier time maintaining. The thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland that producing hormones to stimulate the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus controls hunger, metabolic rate, sleep, fatigue, and more. In the last year, I have had so much trouble sleeping, now I wonder if my poor thyroid function is to blame.

Just more thing to be thankful for in Heaven. No more dieting, no more weight loss worries, no more fatigue, no more sleep deprivation, no more health issues!!!!

Homeless Gifts

Last year at Christmas, I posted about my mom's gift bag idea for the homeless. We made up gift sacs to hand to the homeless people on street corners. We made them pretty late, so the week of Christmas and New Year, we had trouble finding homeless people. They seem to disappear the week of Christmas. Perhaps they find shelter from the Oregon cold and don't want to give up their beds through Christmas. We made sure to put them together nice and early this year.

I understand a big problem for homeless people is keeping their feet dry. With holes in shoes and the wet Oregon weather, various gross foot infections plague the homeless. Someone told me not to hand out money, instead give a granola bar stuffed in a pair of socks. What a great idea!!!! Mom and I bought a big pack of socks from Costco and added a pair to each homeless present.

I think it's easy to tell the difference between a true homeless person and a scammer in clean clothes with their car parked nearby. I save my sock gift sacs for the true homeless. Crackers, candy, socks, granola bar, and little Bible track about Jesus make up our gift bags.

The poor picture above is supposed to show the gift tag. It reads, "From Jesus."

We made up 10 gift bags with men's socks, and 5 with ladies socks. We've already started passing them out. The homeless recipients are so grateful to receive a Christmas present. It's really fun to watch their surprise and joy. It blesses me.

I wish this would catch on and more people would join us in this Christmas present endeavor. It's cheap, easy, and a help for the recipients. Plus, I hope it's a way to witness to really hurting people who need Christ.

Merry CHRISTmas.

Dumb Post

Happy 9th birthday today, to my dog, Boedy. After losing Ladybug earlier this year, I've come to appreciate an animal's birthday. So please allow me one day to honor an amazingly obedient and smart dog. He can even jump through hula hoops. No joke. When Bree and Kristi were juniors or seniors, they taught him to jump off the ottoman and through a hula hoop. He can still do it, too. And no, I did not let him eat chocolate cake to celebrate. But hot dogs and bologna will be his dinner tonight. Happy birthday, Boedy!