11 movies to see in 2011

Inspired by Jen from Daily Mish Mash, this is the 1st post in a series where I'll highlight 11 movies I most want to see in 2011 (in no particular order).

#11: Cowboys & Aliens

scheduled release date: July 29, 2011


On paper, the pedigree for this movie is outstanding:

Steven Spielberg.

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.

Harrison Ford.

And, of course, my movie boyfriend.


What do you think? I don't know anything about the graphic novel it's based on, but from the trailer I'm intrigued. Yet I have a very strong feeling this movie could be really good... or reeeaaaallly bad.

One thing I'm not sure about is my man's "Western" accent... after all, part of his appeal is that he's a Brit.

But Daniel Craig in chaps?

Oh, yeah... that works.

a look back at 2010...

And a few of my favorite posts from the past year:

• what's in a name?

• Their plan is foolproof.

• I can call you Betty. And you can call me Al.

• Yeah, that's EXACTLY what it feels like.

I'm looking forward to seeing what 2011 will bring...

Christmas 2010

All that shopping, wrapping, cooking, cleaning, and general mayhem getting ready for Christmas?

Totally worth it.


A few days before Christmas, we celebrated with my Dad...

And spent Christmas Eve at my mom's...

Hannah and Michaela were thrilled and surprised with the American Girl dolls... and I was completely surprised with a Flip camera! (Thanks again, Mom!)


We headed home to put the girls to bed and wait for Santa's arrival... and woke up to a White Christmas!

If I remember correctly, the local weatherman said it had been over 40 years since it last snowed here on Christmas (or at least snowed enough of a recordable amount). There was at least 4 inches on the ground when we woke up and it snowed pretty much all morning long. Unbelievable!

After a yummy breakfast of waffles and hot cocoa...

Hannah and Michaela were ready to open their gifts...

We then celebrated the rest of Christmas Day at Shane's mom's...

Besides the American Girl dolls, other hits this year were toe socks, Pillow Pets, and LEGO sets (including Harry Potter LEGOs!) As well as Wii games, DS games, books, and clothes (yes, my girls were happy they received new clothes for Christmas... even socks and underwear!)

Needless to say, my girls are very spoiled blessed... as are Shane and I.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, too!

Merry Christmas!

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee,

born this happy morning;

Jesus, to Thee be all glory given!

Word of the Father,

now in flesh appearing!

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord.

checklist

Holiday shopping?

Done.

Wrapping gifts?

Done.

Christmas cards?

Done.


Shannon?

DONE.

let it snow!

Our first Winter Break Activity is one for the books... homemade snow globes!

The instructions were fairly easy. In fact, the task that turned out to be the most difficult was finding the figures to go in the snow globes. I was finally able to locate two snowman figures that juuust fit inside the glass jars.

They turned out pretty cute, if I say so myself!

P.S. Thanks for supporting my "comments for cans" post... in all, 58 cans were donated to the local food shelter!

O Christmas Tree

"There's nothing to do!"

Today has been a "snow day" for the girls.

Too bad there wasn't any snow.

Actually, we did have some snow showers yesterday and last night... just enough to get a dusting of snow on the ground.

It was more due to the below-freezing temps and blustering winds that school was canceled for the day.

And if there is anything I've learned from today, it's that I had better have activities planned for my kids to do during their Winter Break... or I'm gonna go nuts.

The girls have argued/fought/picked on each other all. day. long. I'm almost to the point of locking myself in my bedroom, letting them have a go at each other, and who cares about the outcome!

So to keep them occupied (and to keep my sanity) during their two and a half weeks off from school, I'm trying to plan things for the girls to do. Here's what I have so far:

• bake Christmas cookies
  

• make handmade snow globes

• make "no-sew" fleece blankets

• watch holiday movies

We've seen "Rudolph", "Frosty the Snowman", and the Charlie Brown Christmas special. It just occurred to me the other day that my kids have never seen "Home Alone", so that one is definitely on the list. What other movies should we watch?

And what other ideas do you have? Again, I have TWO AND A HALF WEEKS to fill up with holiday fun... so please help!

Yeah, that's EXACTLY what it feels like.

First, let me set the scene...

Hannah and Michaela's Magic Elves are here for a visit... they've been getting into mischief, as elves are wont to do.

The other morning, the girls woke up to find that, for the 2nd time, the elves had taken off all the ornaments on the Advent tree...

And I overheard the following...


Hannah: Again?! We just put these back on!

Michaela: This must be what it feels like to have children.

for a worthy cause

As I did last year, I'm once again holding a "comments for cans" post... for every comment on this post through Thursday night (12/9), I will donate one canned good item to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

It's just my way of giving back. I have so much to be thankful for... including a fully stocked pantry and fridge. Maybe a few cans of peas and corn won't end hunger in this country, but it will surely help! I firmly believe every little bit does.

So leave a comment for a can!



Updated to add: There's no limit to how many comments you can leave... it is for a good cause, after all (but please don't go crazy!) I donated 30 items from last year's "comments for cans" post so I was hoping to beat that. Thanks to Lizzy, I'm well on my way!

blah blah blah

Let's see how many random thoughts we can get in one post!

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Thanksgiving was good. Ate way too many carbs, but what else is new? I don't like turkey, but I do love me some stuffing. And mashed potatoes. And gravy. And... well, you get the idea.

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There are some pretty cool giveaways going on over at my review blog... seriously, check these out:

• The Bowtique $20 gift certificate
  

• Classic Christmas Gift Basket from GourmetGiftBaskets.com
  

• Inspire Your Walls $20 gift certificate
  

• The Original Christmas Classics 4-box Blu-ray set

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Angie and I went to see "Love and Other Drugs" a week or so ago. Pretty good movie... and there is a lot of TEH SEX between Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Not that I'm complaining, or anything. They are both smokin' hot. Rawr.

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My wedding rings (my engagement ring and a a wrap which were soldered together) broke apart...

I can't decide how to fix them. My first thought was just to have the diamonds re-set onto a wider band... that way they would all be on one piece, not two. But then I saw something similar to this at the jeweler's...

I really like it! I would have my solitaire mounted onto the one band... so, yes there would be two bands but they wouldn't be fused together like my original rings were. I could wear them both, or just the bottom band if I wanted to. Of course, this leaves me with two trillion cut diamonds to do something with, but I think those could easily be made into a pair of earrings.

Two things are holding me back from going with the separate bands, though. One, this is the more expensive option. And two, it's a totally different look... those aren't the rings Shane gave me. Those aren't the rings he put on my finger on our wedding day.

Shane says it's up to me... he's fine with either way. He's not bothered by the rings being different from what they were, so maybe I shouldn't be, either. Decisions, decisions...

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Now, wasn't that fun?

Always a day late...

Not to sound like a broken record, but as I said recently, my desire to blog has been waning.

I had the notion of participating in NaBloPoMo for December... I could end the year with a bang by posting every day. Not a bad idea, right?

Yeah, I thought so, too. Until I realized today is December 2nd. Meaning I missed Day 1.

This is the story of my life, people. Story. Of. My. Life.

{sigh}