Like, it is Totally the 80's!

So I am a child of the 80's. I was there to watch the premiere of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. I owned a pink members only jacket and wore jelly shoes. I watched President Reagan change the economy and the space shuttle, Challenger, meet a tragic end. It was not a perfect era but I think it was a pretty darn good era to grow up in. So I recently did my top five list of romance flicks so I figured tonight I would do 80's films. First of all I wanted to keep the list of the movies I enjoyed in the 80's, not as an adult. What I mean is I have seen all the John Hughes films and films similar to that...Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Say Anything, Better off Dead...and I love these films and they are some of my favorites but I wanted to use the movies I loved as kid...so maybe the list should be, "Movies I Loved as a Kid". Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford, Han Solo...enough said. Loved, loved, loved this movie. I wanted to be Indiana Jones, still want to be Indiana Jones. Back to the Future, this movie is the 80's. Family ties ( T.V. show starring Michael J Fox) was my favorite T.V. show. I think me and one of my childhood friends watched this movie a million times. Those were the days that you not only rented your movie but you rented the VCR also. They sent it home with you in a luggage size briefcase and it weighed 50 pounds. It was expensive to purchase a VCR and you were a lucky kid if you had one in your home.

Goonies, Goonies, Goonies....what can I say, I wanted to be a Goonie also. I loved the character, Chunk, Chunk has a scene in the movie where the bad guys catch him and he begins confessing everything he has done bad in his life...that scene still makes me belly laugh. We recently watched this movie on our family movie night. I think the kids liked it but I don't think they will ever have the appreciation I had for the movie :). It is kinda like my dad sharing the western movie "Shane" with me and I was less than enthusiastic with it.....maybe if I make them watch Shane they will appreciate Goonies more.

Once again, I think I watched this movie a million times. I have not tried watching this movie with the kids yet. I have not watched it forever also but I remember loving this movie. I also remember watching this movie at a lot of slumber parties. That brings back the memory of being in 4th grade and going to a birthday party where we watched this movie... the party had girls and boys and the girl that was hosting the party had a parrot; one of those big Macaws. Well it did not have a cage, just a huge tree branch that it perched on in the corner. This bird flew off its perch landed on my head and dug its claws in my head, tangling itself in my hair. Lets just say it "liked" my hair a lot! I was horrified, I was not only amongst my friends I was amongst boys from my class! Here I was an awkward pre-teen with a huge bird attached to my head trying to make love to it......adolescence, how did we survive it?

This movie is more adult orientated but it is a great movie! River Phoenix, Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman, and a much chubbier Jerry O'Conell. It is a Stephen King story and it is a great story. I had the soundtrack on tape and wore the tape out. I think I was the only 12 year old that could sing numerous 50's songs...thanks to that sound track. I still watch it every time it comes on.

I did not mention Star Wars because that is a whole other blog in of itself. I loved Star Wars and the trilogy is in its own class. Also the first one came out in the 70's not the 80's. There is lots of other movies I could mention and I also loved but I have to put a cap on myself at some point. I mentioned we have a family movie night. We all get turns picking a movie. I chose Ghostbusters last time and the girls loved it! They gave it two thumbs up and said, "For an old movie that was pretty good!" ....... yup, the movies I grew up watching are "old"....so what does that make me?

The Real Houswife of Grantsville

I have an addiction, an addiction that makes my husband roll his eyes at me, an addiction that lowers my intelligence , an addiction that I don't think I can beat.

It is the addiction of the Real Housewives on Bravo. It is reality T.V. at its finest. Don't judge me, especially those of you that watch The Bachelor, you have no room to judge me if you watch that show.

This season we are introduced to the Beverly Hills Housewives. They are dripping in diamonds, they are all surgically enhanced, and live in multi-million dollar homes. They are superficial, catty, and alarmingly fake but still I watch. Why does this show fascinate me? Is it because it is so far from normal life that I tell myself that nobody really lives this way? Is there such a life that you spend hours a week at the spa, have your own personal hairdresser and makeup artist to come to your house everyday to make you beautiful? A place that has private chefs, glamorous parties, and shopping trips that entails spending more then 20,000 dollars at a time?

My life entails chipped pedicures I did myself, grocery shopping trips to Wal-mart, buy one get free coupons at Arby's, Shopping trips to the consignment shops to save money on buying three kids clothes, redboxrental ( an extra bonus if I find a coupon for a free rental), Duct taped appliances, hand me down furniture, and hot glued knick knacks that my children have broken. Do you think Bravo would want to come film the Real Housewife of Grantsville? I promise I will wear my best loungy pants, and make them the finest dinner of Mac and Cheese and chicken nuggets they have ever had!

It all started with the O.C housewives and then the New York Housewives and then the Atlanta housewives. The Washington D.C. housewives and now Beverly Hills housewives have been introduced for my viewing pleasure. I have my favorites and my not so favorites and yet I still watch them all. I truly think Grantsville has potential though. I know...I know...you are saying, "Turn off the T.V....watch some PBS...get a life Michele!" I say......."No!" .....

I am sorry, this is me, watcher of trashy reality T.V., contributer to the downfall of our society.....

Hi, my name is Michele and I am a Real Housewives addict..........and potential star of the "Real Housewives of Grantsville"...............

A Penny For Your Thoughts?

In the movie Eat, Pray, Love Julia Roberts leaves her life behind for a year and tries to find herself and one of her destinations was India. She tries to find her spirituality through a guru. At the beginning of her stay she is told to meditate. She sits in a room where others are meditating and the whole time she is speaking to herself continuously making such comments as. "Why can't I clear my mind ?", or " I should I build a meditation room at home, how should I decorate it?" and so on.

So this morning Adrian had to get up at 4:55 to head out of town and once he was gone I laid in bed wide awake. I laid in bed till about 6:00 am and decided to get up and try some yoga stretches. We have a Wii fit board that came with an exercise and yoga disc. So I have my water in hand, wide awake, ready to clear my head and tackle the day.

After the Wii weighs me (lost 13 pounds in 14 days..on a diet...very happy) I begin the yoga stretches. I flip through the different options it gives me and I see a meditation section. So I think to myself, "The house is quite, I am feeling zen this morning, I lost 13 pounds, lets meditate!"

I sit on the board and the Wii screen goes dark and shows a candle. The object is you sit as still as you can on the Wii fit board. If you move to much the candle blows out. The object of meditation...relax your body...relax your mind...and find stillness.

Didn't realize the candle objective until it burnt out several times. I felt my frustration level rising. Frustrated my butt is big and does not sit easily on the board, just another reminder that I still have lots of weight to loose.

My mind wandered continuously from...calculus, kids; bills, need to dye hair; groceries I need, need to figure out what I am going to do for activity days; wonder what is on facebook this morning, the T.V. needs to be dusted; is that a fruit snack stuck to the playstation, this carpet needs to vacuumed; I wonder what we are doing in class tonight, Oh crap I need to read for class tonight; maybe I need to go to India to learn how to meditate.....and so on.

My candle burned out several times, I finally put away the Wii board, turned on the T.V., grabbed a protein shake, got the kids off to school, did some homework and finally got showered.

This afternoon I put a movie in for kenzie, sat down to read a book....15 minutes later I woke up .....I did it, I cleared my mind...I don't need India, I don't need a candle on a Wii board......I just need to close my eyes and go to sleep and my thoughts are finally quiet ........

Top Five Romance

I am not a huge fan of romance movies. I am kind of a guy when it comes to movies; I enjoy a good action flick or anything violent in general. I also really enjoy independent films, mystery, drama, and comedies. With Valentines day approaching why not make a list of romance/chick flicks that I enjoy. The Notebook, the grand poobah of all chick flicks, and I actually love this movie. I think Titanic is in the grand poobah categories of romance films and I HATE that movie. By the end of the movie I was ready to push Jack in the water and put us all out of our misery. Notebook made me cry, well I should say it made me sob, and for that reason I will consider it a good romance movie. I remember seeing Last of the Mohican's in the movie theater and also crying uncontrollably and I had the same reaction with The Notebook. I will keep it PG but the love scene in this movie is.......well.....very......well, you know...not to bad at all to watch.

50 First Dates, love,love,love this movie. It was perfect for me; lots of comedy and a sweet love story also. I also would put this movies soundtrack as my favorite soundtrack from a movie. I must say Drew Barrymore is a favorite of mine and she was perfect in this movie.

So P.S. I Love You has the yummy actor that was in my top five men category, Gerard Butler. This movie is another movie that makes me cry but it also has a good mix of humor. I love her friendship with her girlfriends in the movie. I can watch this movie over and over and never get tired of it

This movie I watched randomly on cable one day and wondered why I had not scene it before. It was my own stubbornness of watching romance films that prevented me from watching it. I judged it by the poster and figured it was some cheesy poetry filled mid century snooze fest. I was wrong on every level, this movie is amazing and I love the overall message of the movie.

My last choice was hard; but I had to pick one. I could not choose between this one and Return to Me. Return to Me has Molly Driver and David Duchovny and is a sweet love story that your kids could watch with you. It came and went out of the theaters quickly but I would gladly watch it over and over again. Love actually is many stories in one movie and is not kid friendly. It is quirky and I love all the different characters and their experiences.

Honorable mentions: The Proposal,Sleepless in Seattle, When a Man Loves a Woman, Sweet Home Alabama, Dirty Dancing, How to Loose a Guy In 10 days, Bridget Jones Diary, While You Were Sleeping, Never Been Kissed.

Do not make me watch category: TITANIC! Gone with the Wind, A Walk to Remember, Sweet November, My Best Friends Wedding, Dying Young, An Affair To Remember and did I mention TITANIC!

I Wish To Live Deliberately

I am taking a course this semester that is usually taken by most students when they are just starting school. It is a humanities course, it involves reading and discussing what you have read. I needed one more class to fill my schedule and I figured I like the professor teaching it so why not take the class. Each year he changes his themes for his classes, this year it is ecology, environment, and politics of the world. If you know me, I have strong opinions on all these things.

Anyways, our first reading assignment was Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. I read the chapters that we needed to read so I was ready to discuss and interpret what Thoreau was saying. There was a resounding distaste and genuine dislike of Thoreau's writing. Freshman students said they had to read each page a few times to begin to understand what he is saying and they grumbled that we still had several chapters to read.

My professor listened to the other students and discussed what they had said and then he came to me. I said, "I enjoyed it; is Thoreau my favorite author... no, but I appreciate the way he writes, the words he uses, his irony, symbolism, and use of rhetorical hyperbole's". Though a reader may not always like the styling that an author uses or what an author has to say, the reader can always find pieces in a book that offers something for them. I think if some of these students would have stopped and read aloud what they were reading and take away the 19 century speaking style there are things to learn from in this book.

I understand Walden is not an easy book to read and I am not saying I begin to understand everything that is written in this book but Walden emphasized the importance of solitude, contemplation, and finding a closeness to nature. He believed that man should be independent and not depend on worldly matters so much. Really, what he has to say is simple but just complex to read.

That is life, life becomes so complex and we become caught up in what the world expects but if we step back, take a breath, contemplate, and spend a few moments in silence, things begin to become clearer and a maybe a little bit simpler.

Maybe if this would have been my first class my attitude would have been different but I think I have learned to take a deep breath and try to appreciate all the knowledge that I have been given .....

"When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have
any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but
the shadows of the reality". ~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Version 1 or Version 2?

2011, Version 1:


Day 1 of the 2011: At an estimated time of 7:00 some juvenile delinquents decided to shoot my front window with B.B.'s which resulted in two golf ball size holes making it necessary to replace the window. Did not know this is what happened, the four year old and mother heard the noise.


Day 2 of 2011: Realized what the strange sound was the night before ( the window mentioned above). Filled out police report


Day 4 of 2011: Realized have crappy homeowners insurance and will be paying out of pocket for new front windows.


Day 5 of 2011: Husbands work decided to not pay on scheduled payday but the day after. Had mortgage payment and utilities waiting to go through bank at any time. Potential disaster because we are in the process of refinancing and we cannot bounce mortgage payment. Crisis diverted through the generous aid of my mother-in-law; would have bounced mortgage payment otherwise.


Day 7 of 2011: Four year old decided to head dive into the brick fireplace and produced a large gash in the side of hear head that required two staples, and hundreds of dollars in an E.R. visit.


Day 9 of 2011: Our angel fish found dead...still waiting for body to float to the top of the tank so it can have a proper flush burial.


2011, Version 2:


Day 1 of 2011: Got to spend the new year with my mom,and after a health scare last year, being able to spend the beginning of the new year with her is truly a blessing.


Day 2 of 2011: Honestly it is time for new windows on the home, I guess this just forced the issue.


Day 4 of 2011: Made me more conscious of my insurance policy and the fine print. Will go through policy and make some changes or get new carrier to make sure we are always covered in these situations....lesson learned! Going to invest tax returns in new windows, will help with value on home and get a great discount through husbands work


Day 5 of 2011: So grateful for my in-laws and their help when we get stuck in positions such as potential bank mishaps.


Day 7 of 2011: A lot of laughs in the E.R. between husband and I as we sat staring at a four year old with a pink bandage wrapped around her head. This is part of the package when you decide to have kids...you spend your Saturday in the E.R. and have a story you can share with her later in life.


Day 9 of 2011: Lets face it fish die, that is what fish do, and that is what this fish did...bye, bye Mr. Angel R.I.P.............


It is all in how we look at life.... do we look at version 1 or do we look at version 2? I think I will try to focus on version 2 and it makes version 1 a little easier to manage.

The Gift Of Time

365 days gone in a blink of an eye! Was 2010 a stellar year.....no...was it a horrible year...no...in 365 days I felt heartbreak, stress, sorrow,anger, excitement, love, adventure, peace, and fulfillment .....all in a blink of an eye.


So how does one start a new year; with resolutions, goals, and a positive attitude, but for some reason we all seem to forget these new resolutions by mid January and begin grumbling about mounting stresses, and soon we are longing for a new year to begin.


I am guilty of this. I remember saying to myself at the beginning of 2010, "This is going to be a great year"! By mid February I was praying for the year to be over. We have such a short time here on this earth why would I want time to go faster? My own selfish reasons....I don't want to deal with what life is giving me, I am tried, I am stressed, I am hurt. It is human nature to do these things, to focus on the negatives and long for only the positive memories that we seem to conjure up in our head.


Here it is January 1, 2011 and I am contemplating on my past year and thinking about the year to come. So here is my new years resolution for 2011......Don't use the excuse that time will change things....I change things not time....it is not time that will heal old wounds, or if I am given more time I will succeed at my goal, or just give me more time and all will be a success. I heal old wounds, not time, I am the one in charge of my own success not time, it is me doing that, not time. I am given a set 365 days in a year...24 hours in a day ...it is up to me to do what I want with that time. I have been given a fresh gift, a gift of 365 days, the gift of time, now it is up to me to decide how I am going to use it.