My Favorite Things- BFF 147

    

      When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I am feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad!! Sing along if you know it!! I can’t imagine too many people around who don’t recognize this song, or the classic movie “The Sound of Music” from which it comes.

What makes me happy?? What are my favorite things?? I had to really think about this so I could compile a good list. So here it goes in no particular order…

1. I love cats! Petting a soft contented feline who is sashaying around my hand vibrating with happiness as I caress it would have to rank right up there as one of my favorite things. I love their big bushy tails and have often wondered how they purr! When I was little I used to wish our cats would purr for me. They rarely did. Perhaps it was my tendency to chase them, tackle them like a linebacker, and squash them that put them off. Happily my three cats today: Pansy, Snuggle Puss, and Rosie have the good sense to purr every time I look at them, let alone pet them.

2. I love my dogs because they love me. My favorite thing about my dogs Jolly, Puppy Love, and Tia is that wherever I am they are close by. When I go to sleep at night they snuggle up at my side keeping me toasty warm. The only time they leave my side is when my husband comes home. Then they fight to all snuggle up to him.

3. I love waking up in the morning to discover the world covered with a fresh blanket of the white stuff. Before it has been touched by footprints and the cars have turned it into blackened slush, I love how the snow turns the world into a wintry world of white. It is so magical!

4. I love sitting in the dark and gazing at my lighted Christmas tree in the silence.

5. I love eating cotton candy!! Cotton candy is definitely one of my favorite things!

6. I love watching movies!! Movies that thrill, make me laugh, make me cry, and make me smile!! I am not too thrilled with the kind that scare the be Je$u$ out of me though. I tend to avoid the ones that would give me nightmares. I love feel good movies, movies with amazing effects, or movies that excite me.

7. I love zooming around the neighborhood with my husband and kids on the golf cart!

8. I love to play games with my kids! I love card games, board games, and LEGO games, so count me in!!

9. I love the beauty of the sea and watching the tide lap in and out on the sand.

10. Last but certainly not least, I love to laugh!! It sure as hell beats crying. Laughing is one of my favorite things.

     I am sure I have more favorite things and the list could go on forever to infinity and beyond. Still here is a list, and that is all that is required, just a few of my favorite things! Just a note, loving G0d is a given like breathing so I didn’t include it on the “list”. That is all I have until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Take Me To the Movies!!: Titanic

      The last movie that I paid money to see more than once, and subsequently bought the video as soon as it reached the stores was James Cameron’s epic romance and disaster flick “The Titanic”.  I have always been a little fascinated with the disastrous sinking of the Titanic and I was excited to see how well Hollywood would reenact the event.  The movie was well worth the wait and didn’t disappoint!

      Titanic was released to critical acclaim and rave reviews December 19, 1997.  Not surprising,  it was the first motion picture to reach one billion dollars in sales, and held the esteem of being the highest grossing film for twelve years.  Kind of makes the $200 million they invested in production well worth it!!  The fictional love story of Rose and Jack written by James Cameron is what drew me in.  I love how the movie connects the past with the present, involves treasure hunting, romance, history, and terror!!  In the movie Rose and Jack come from completely different worlds.  Jack is the classic starving artist who won his passage with a lucky hand of cards, and Rose is a rich first class debutante desperate to escape the loveless prearranged nuptials that awaits her on her arrival in America.  

         Jack and Rose first meet aboard Titanic when Rose is determined to escape her obligations by jumping overboard.  Jack convinces her to give life another chance and their friendship evolves to lust and love.  Rose realizes that life with Jack is a heck of a lot more fun whether spitting for distance to dancing below decks.  One of my favorite scenes is where Rose says to the gathered men at the below decks party “So, you think your big tough men?  Try this!“ and proceeds to stand on her tiptoes!  A lady watching exclaims “Je$u$, Mary, and Joseph!!“  mirrors my sentiments exactly!!!  To prove that she isn’t just another stuck up princess, Rose pays Jack to draw her in the nude wearing only a huge heart shaped diamond.  The whole posing in the nude scene gets the stars of the movie hot and bothered and they run below decks and do the wild thing in a car being stored for the voyage.

         The excitement is dialed up to full steam ahead as soon as Titanic hits the iceberg.  The passengers go from oblivious merrymaking to unequivocal terror as the realization hits that the ship is sinking and there are not enough lifeboats to go around.  Jack and Rose race for the top decks to board a life boat only to discover the lifeboats are almost all gone.  Rose finds that she can’t leave Jack behind and chooses to stay on board.  In the end they go down with the ship together and cling to the wreckage until Rose is finally rescued by one of the life boats that chose to come back.  Unfortunately, it was to late for Jack.

       Even though “Titanic” recounts one of the most terrible disasters in maritime history, it also brings authenticity  and life to the people who sailed on her and lost their lives so long ago stoking my love of romance, drama, and extraordinary special effects.    The story is engaging and effectively links the event from long ago with the present.    Instead of relinquishing the valuable diamond to treasure hunter Brock Lovett, Rose returns it to the sea.  The movie ends with Rose  presumably dying and  returning to Jack who awaits her on the Titanic where their love was born.
    
     When it comes to “Titanic”, my heart will go on and it will continue to be a favorite for its captivating story and it‘s edge of the seat excitement!! Makes you want to scream “I’m the king of the world!!”   Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

The Wizard of Oz: Under the Microscope

     Like everyone else, I grew up watching the Wizard of Oz on television eagerly looking forward to every single airing.  When it came out on videocassette I made sure to snatch up a copy.  It is a movie that’s legend will live on forever freezing Judy Garland in time as the one and only “Dorothy.    I have to admit that when I was a little kid there were parts of that movie that really scared the be Je$u$ out of me and held the magical mystical power to leave me mesmerized.

       It took me forever to realize that Dorothy actually hit her head and dreamed this whole little adventure!  Even when she woke up at the end with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry surrounding her bed I didn’t catch on.  It blows my mind now to realize just how dense I was.  Talk about head up the a$$ syndrome taking its toll.  Ahh, innocence!!!  Kids today aren’t so easily fooled and have more marbles rolling around upstairs than I ever could have hoped to have at that age.  


       In my impressionable youth I never once contemplated that the witch was eliminated by Dorothy throwing water on her head.  Today it was raining  while I waited for the school bus with my son and I got to thinking….that witch must have never had a bath if water was lethal to her.  Think how that woman must have reeked!!  I mean seriously, her skin was green!!  What powerful leverage to convince kids to take a bath!! You don’t wash, your skin will turn green like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz!!  There was a reason why everyone started dancing and singing “Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead!!”  Not only was she meaner than snot, but she had to reek too.  I will have to give her credit, that witchy screechy laugh of hers is stereotypically nails on the chalkboard fabulous.

        When I was a little kid I was terrified of the flying monkeys.  Do you remember that scene where the witch is in the window looking out and a million monkeys are flying by??  That segment used to freak me out.  The monkeys then proceed to swoop down and start tearing the scarecrow to smithereens.  Maybe the kids of today wouldn’t be horrified by a scarecrow head laying on the ground screaming with all his straw all around him, but I was!!!  

        There is one point that really gets me  and I just realized it.  Glenda, the good witch of the North knew all along  that all Dorothy had to do was tap her heels and repeat “There is no place like home” three times and she would be right back to good ole black and white Kansas.  I realize that the movie would have been a lot shorter if she would have shared that with the class in the beginning, but how infuriating for Dorothy!!  If I would have been Dorothy, I may have had to wipe that simpering smile off her face by kicking her butt clear back to Munchkin Land with my magical ruby slippers, especially after having the $hit scared out of me by the flying monkeys and that smelly old green witch melting before my eyes! Just saying!  

     The story was written to reveal a moral and highlight what Dorothy had learned from her adventures which is sadly lacking in today’s movies.  “The “Wizard of Oz” will always be a timeless example of the progress the production of motion pictures had made in those early years.  It was 1939’s technological breakthrough that wowed the world only comparable to the present day effects of “Avatar”!  Even though decades have passed, the fanciful timelessness of the story continues to captivate audiences of all ages to this day.  Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

What I Love Best!- BFF 126

      The girls over at Blogging for Fun have challenged me to write about what I love.  Since I make a pretty constant practice of proclaiming my undying love for my husband and kids, I thought I would focus on some other stuff I love instead.
  

      I love music!  I love anything with a beat, and anything with a message that stirs my heart.  When I was growing up I got into my head that I wanted to learn to play the piano, so I taught myself how to read music to play…well.  I used to love and sit and play every single song in a songbook. The harder the piece the better.   I also love anything with a beat that rocks or has a message that rocks my soul.  I love to sing along at the top of my lungs while bopping to the beat.  I also discovered a new passion playing the drums on the game Rock Band for Wii.  

        I love to crochet!!  The harder the stitches, the more challenge, the more fun it is! That was something else I made up my mind I wanted to learn how to do. My mom bought me a book when I was young and I sat down and taught myself.  There is nothing better than working on a project while watching a movie on a cold winter evening. 

        I love movies!!! I love to laugh, so I love comedies.  The funnier, the better!! I have a vast collection of movies that continue to grow.  If I love it, or it touches me, I have got to have it!!!

         I love to read.  My favorite series by far is the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. 
 I love the whole magical world of Hogwarts.  I love the movies!  I love the movie “Gone With the Wind”, the book of the same title, and the sequel.  I love anything written by Danielle Steel, Debbie Macomber, and Nora Roberts.  I have a whole slew of favorite authors, but those are the top ones that come to mind.

          I am a big kid, and I love games.  What began as a favorite past time with my mom and dad continues to this day with my own kids.  I love to play cards, Lego games, and board games.

         I love to cook!  I love to make a recipe my own!!  I have a collection of favorite recipes that I have perfected .  The only downside of this love, is that I hate doing dishes.  Got to take the good with the bad with that one.


         I love to write.  I love to work on my website from the posts to the design to the music that brings it to life.   I love the whole creative process.  

         Although I love my dogs,  I have loved cats since birth.  I am fascinated with their big long bushy tails and love to entice them into singing a few bars for me.   I love their “make me like you!” attitude which is so much like my own.


    

      I am one of those nut jobs that love winter and the beauty of snow.  I would rather freeze my a$$ off than roast to death.  I love Christmas and the magic of a Christmas snow.

      Last but certainly not least, I love to laugh!  Just like the old dude in Mary Poppins, I would be dancing on the ceiling if it were possible literally laughing my a$$ off at the tiniest things until tears are streaming down my face and I am literally choking on myself.  I love being silly, and it seems I get sillier with age.  Mooning is definitely not out of the question.  I love to proclaim that I am a few sandwiches short of a picnic or loony as a tune, because that is exactly what I am and proud of it.  I tend to live life having more fun than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest just because life is to short not to.  Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a truckers wife.