What follows is a list of movies I've seen in the theatre for the past year. The movies in blue were engaging enough to keep me from dozing off, the ones in red are the ones that really made an impact and the yellow ones were just not worth the bucks. Not even Raisinets and movie popcorn could help those dogs.
Transformers - so awful we walked out midway through.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hairspray
No Reservations
The Simpsons Movie
The Bourne Ultimatum
Superbad
Across the Universe - bought this one as soon as it was released on DVD.
The Brave One
Into the Wild - hard to feel bad for a self indulgent rich kid.
Feast of Love
Dan in Real Life
No Country for Old Men - still can't decide how I feel about this one and I saw it twice.
August Rush
Enchanted
Juno
The Golden Compass
I Am Legend - saw this one twice.
27 Dresses
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Be Kind Rewind
Penelope
21
Run, Fat Boy, Run - sophomoric but made me laugh, a LOT.
Smart People
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Baby Mama
Iron Man
Made of Honor
What Happens in Vegas - borderline awful.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Sex and the City: the Movie
Kung Fu Panda
The Happening
WALL-E
Hancock - Will Smith is always fun to watch.
The Dark Knight - saw this one thrice!!
Mama Mia
Swing Vote - unbelievably bad, left halfway through.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - the scenes in Greece brought this one up from yellow, just barely.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona - MUST visit Barcelona one day.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Wondering...
why, after cleaning up my house for a party, the cat (aka the Thug)
feels it necessary to yack up a hairball in the middle of the floor moments before guests arrive?
feels it necessary to yack up a hairball in the middle of the floor moments before guests arrive?
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Heart
When I was the parent of young children I thought I could never love anyone as much as I loved these two:
And then came Aidan:
And I realized there was a part of my heart that was fallow until he came into my life. Then that part was awakened. Lately, I've wondered if there are other pieces of my heart that are sleeping, just waiting for something or someone to come and breathe life into them. I look at Aidan and what I feel is so fierce and enormous it's almost frightening. And then I realize that's just how God feels about me, about every one of us, only infinitely magnified.
Could our capacity to love ever be exhausted? I don't think so. Think about God's heart. We're made in his image. I believe he gives each of us a heart with no boundaries except those we put in place ourselves.
God, keep me from putting any boundaries on my capacity to love.
And then came Aidan:
And I realized there was a part of my heart that was fallow until he came into my life. Then that part was awakened. Lately, I've wondered if there are other pieces of my heart that are sleeping, just waiting for something or someone to come and breathe life into them. I look at Aidan and what I feel is so fierce and enormous it's almost frightening. And then I realize that's just how God feels about me, about every one of us, only infinitely magnified.Could our capacity to love ever be exhausted? I don't think so. Think about God's heart. We're made in his image. I believe he gives each of us a heart with no boundaries except those we put in place ourselves.
God, keep me from putting any boundaries on my capacity to love.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
A Hidden Diamond
UPDATE: Got the last 7 bottles at Meijer - we won't have to buy wine for awhile!
Jim and I enjoy wines, not just any wines, but a very specific type. We've found that the Germans make the most perfect white wines from the Mosel-Saar-Ruhr vineyards. The wines from that region are crisp and light and don't leave the tongue feeling "dusty" which is the only way I can describe what it feels like to drink Pinot Gris or Chardonnay.
Every now and then we find a diamond in the rough like this one from Meijer:
The region was right (Mosel) and the grape (Spatlese) is one of our favorites and extremely hard to find around here, so I grabbed one bottle. The price ($9.99) was a little higher than we normally like to spend, especially on an untested variety. (Yes, I can hear you rolling your eyes; Jim is Dutch). But when it rang up at $3.99 I sent Jim back for 2 more bottles. Turns out this bottle of wine is one of the absolute best we've ever tasted at any price! We're heading back to Meijer to grab what's left on the shelf.
Jim and I enjoy wines, not just any wines, but a very specific type. We've found that the Germans make the most perfect white wines from the Mosel-Saar-Ruhr vineyards. The wines from that region are crisp and light and don't leave the tongue feeling "dusty" which is the only way I can describe what it feels like to drink Pinot Gris or Chardonnay.
Every now and then we find a diamond in the rough like this one from Meijer:
The region was right (Mosel) and the grape (Spatlese) is one of our favorites and extremely hard to find around here, so I grabbed one bottle. The price ($9.99) was a little higher than we normally like to spend, especially on an untested variety. (Yes, I can hear you rolling your eyes; Jim is Dutch). But when it rang up at $3.99 I sent Jim back for 2 more bottles. Turns out this bottle of wine is one of the absolute best we've ever tasted at any price! We're heading back to Meijer to grab what's left on the shelf.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wondering...
why is it that when I lose weight my chest measurement is the first thing to decrease and when I gain weight it's the last place to increase?
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Strange Critter
Have you ever seen a white toad? The insides of his rear legs are fluorescent yellow. He was less than cooperative when Jim tried to get him to show that part of his anatomy for a photo.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Do I Really Have to Ask?
I read this post tonight and it set off a firestorm of emotion inside me as posts like this often do. First comes regret that's so powerful it makes me feel like I've just been kicked in the stomach. On the heels of that I usually feel deeply sad for awhile. And if I let the cycle continue I start to get angry and ask "why, God, couldn't I have heard this advice when it might have done some good?". You see, this wonderful advice comes too late for my children who are 25 and 23 years old. Don't misunderstand; my kids are wonderful people. Nor do I believe that my influence on them, now and in the future, is immaterial. Unfortunately they seem destined to follow the same path I had to follow before I found my way to the Light.
Almost nine years ago in October of 1999, just before I met Jesus, I reached the end of my proverbial rope. I didn't think I wanted to live anymore. Things within my family had become unendurable. My relationship with my daughter had completely disintegrated. I'd lost her to drinking, drug using, violent "friends" who completely usurped my influence with her. You might think I'm exaggerating but it's true. For weeks, months really, I had been living in a constant state of fear. Sometimes it was fear that I could live with and still function. Other times it was overpowering. Near the end, after my husband would leave for work, I locked myself inside my bedroom and stayed there until he came home. I was afraid for her but I was also afraid of her. Physically afraid of her and the people she'd become involved with. I didn't realize how sick I was.
One night I reached a point of mental and physical exhaustion. I hadn't slept more than a few hours at a stretch in weeks. I decided that I simply couldn't go on. I had a handful of pills that I knew would kill me if I swallowed them. I felt bad that I'd be leaving my husband alone with this mess but my irrational thought was that maybe, if I was gone, my daughter might straighten out her life. Really, I felt that everything that was wrong was all my fault. I sat and stared at those pills for a very long time, wanting to go through with it but afraid. Finally I spoke these words: "God, please help me". I'd said those words before. If asked I would even have said I believed in God but I had never opened my heart enough to experience who He is. Not until that night. But that night my heart, so badly mangled, cracked open enough to let Him in.
It's nearly impossible to describe with words the very tangible presence of God. I'd never felt anything like it before that night and never so powerfully since. I felt arms come around me, enfold me. So strong was the sensation that, confused, I looked to where my husband lay sleeping on our bed. I thought he'd gotten up without me noticing and that he was holding me. It was in that moment that I knew and felt peace rush through me. The feeling was so foreign and such an intense relief that I began to cry silently. I stood up and walked to my bed over the pills I'd dropped without realizing. I laid down and fell asleep almost instantly and slept, long and deep.
That was the start of the amazing journey on which I find myself. Things didn't magically become perfect afterwards. The two years that followed were intensely painful but, at the same time, full of wonder and discovery. The difference was that I wasn't afraid anymore. I had found a solid place to plant my feet and a direction to follow that was clearly defined for me, week after week, by the teachers at Granger Community Church. Soon after, I discovered that the Bible was a great source of information too and I began to read it with eyes that saw everything new.
So, when I read posts like Tim's, it seems I still have much to process through but I've also come to the understanding that this is His plan for my life and for my children's lives. Would I feel this amazing gratitude and joy for the life I have if I hadn't experienced all the pain? Would I be a "casual Christian", just going through the motions of faith, without that incredible "before and after?" Or would I have any relationship with Him at all without that crack in my heart? Would anything less than total devastation have caused me to realize how much I need Him?
Do I really have to ask?
Almost nine years ago in October of 1999, just before I met Jesus, I reached the end of my proverbial rope. I didn't think I wanted to live anymore. Things within my family had become unendurable. My relationship with my daughter had completely disintegrated. I'd lost her to drinking, drug using, violent "friends" who completely usurped my influence with her. You might think I'm exaggerating but it's true. For weeks, months really, I had been living in a constant state of fear. Sometimes it was fear that I could live with and still function. Other times it was overpowering. Near the end, after my husband would leave for work, I locked myself inside my bedroom and stayed there until he came home. I was afraid for her but I was also afraid of her. Physically afraid of her and the people she'd become involved with. I didn't realize how sick I was.
One night I reached a point of mental and physical exhaustion. I hadn't slept more than a few hours at a stretch in weeks. I decided that I simply couldn't go on. I had a handful of pills that I knew would kill me if I swallowed them. I felt bad that I'd be leaving my husband alone with this mess but my irrational thought was that maybe, if I was gone, my daughter might straighten out her life. Really, I felt that everything that was wrong was all my fault. I sat and stared at those pills for a very long time, wanting to go through with it but afraid. Finally I spoke these words: "God, please help me". I'd said those words before. If asked I would even have said I believed in God but I had never opened my heart enough to experience who He is. Not until that night. But that night my heart, so badly mangled, cracked open enough to let Him in.
It's nearly impossible to describe with words the very tangible presence of God. I'd never felt anything like it before that night and never so powerfully since. I felt arms come around me, enfold me. So strong was the sensation that, confused, I looked to where my husband lay sleeping on our bed. I thought he'd gotten up without me noticing and that he was holding me. It was in that moment that I knew and felt peace rush through me. The feeling was so foreign and such an intense relief that I began to cry silently. I stood up and walked to my bed over the pills I'd dropped without realizing. I laid down and fell asleep almost instantly and slept, long and deep.
That was the start of the amazing journey on which I find myself. Things didn't magically become perfect afterwards. The two years that followed were intensely painful but, at the same time, full of wonder and discovery. The difference was that I wasn't afraid anymore. I had found a solid place to plant my feet and a direction to follow that was clearly defined for me, week after week, by the teachers at Granger Community Church. Soon after, I discovered that the Bible was a great source of information too and I began to read it with eyes that saw everything new.
So, when I read posts like Tim's, it seems I still have much to process through but I've also come to the understanding that this is His plan for my life and for my children's lives. Would I feel this amazing gratitude and joy for the life I have if I hadn't experienced all the pain? Would I be a "casual Christian", just going through the motions of faith, without that incredible "before and after?" Or would I have any relationship with Him at all without that crack in my heart? Would anything less than total devastation have caused me to realize how much I need Him?
Do I really have to ask?
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