Things we did over Christmas break (so far...)

Saw Spies in Disguise 

Dumb movie but worth enduring to get out of the house. I spent most of the movie telling Eva to keep her feet to herself and brainstorming genius ideas about my life that will never come to fruition.

Fought crime

On Christmas Eve my mom and my brother came to my house in the middle of the night  to get my step-dad's gift out of our garage (I'm now realizing that the time stamp on our security cameras is not correct - we should probably fix that for our crime-fighting benefit). I figured it would look awfully suspicious, so I let my neighbors know not to be alarmed. It didn't help that my brother showed up in dark clothes with a hood on.

Not an actual crime. 

A few days later we fought some real crime. Scotty and my neighbor (whose name happens to be Scottie - weird, right?) went chasing a guy with a baseball bat while I went back and forth from window to window in my house watching and taking pictures - just in case.

Actual crime

It's always after the fact that Scotty realizes how dangerous and stupid it is to chase criminals. But when his adrenaline is pumping, he can't be convinced otherwise. 

Made vegetable art

I made a veggie tree for a family Christmas party. I did it because I thought it was funny and over the top, and in my own heart, I was mocking all the ridiculous, Pinterest-y things of the world. But it was actually really fun to make, and everyone loved it (especially my brother-in-law, Jared, who now believes that if all his vegetables were served in such a way, he would be a much healthier man). 

Now I might be addicted to veggie creations, and I already have an idea for next year!

Did some serious planning for 2020

I love the transition from the old year to the new year. It gives me energy I normally don't have. 

Over the past month I've done some mega planning sessions for primary singing time. I created a framework to build around for the entire year. 

I've also outlined our budget for 2020 and prepped our calendar, and I got everything ready for our family to study the Book of Mormon for Come Follow Me. 

(Please know that I am operating beyond my normal level of functioning - I always do this time of year. I will crash and burn shortly, don't worry!)

Rescued drones

Nicky got a drone for his birthday and got it stuck in a tree. It took three generations of Brittish men to get it down. 

Celebrated birthdays

Our family has so many December and January birthdays. Apparently we are very fertile in the spring. Nicky turned 13 on the 27th. Tomorrow, I turn 36!!! 

Learned some new games

Went to the zoo

Hogle Zoo had free admission the day after Christmas. Normally I wouldn't be caught dead there, but I braved it on the 26th because I figured if we went right when it opened, most people would still be home in bed, sleeping off Christmas. It was a good move. The crowds were very manageable.

Went to see the lights at Temple Square... 

...at 6:00 a.m. the day after Christmas. 

The lights are on from 6:00-7:30 a.m. so on Christmas night, I asked my kids if they wanted to get up really early the next day and go see the lights. They all said yes! So we did it, and it was wonderful! 

We were also able to see the candy windows at Macy's without fighting through a crowd of people. It was amazing. My crowd aversion is legit, ya'll. 

After we saw the lights, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then to the zoo (this post is not happening in chronological order). 

Read Books

Just doing my motherly duty and reading aloud to my little stinkers. 

We finished The Best Christmas Pageant Ever before bed on Christmas Eve. It was a nice, indirect way to get them thinking about the nativity story. I read it to them just for fun, but it ended up being a good discussion starter. The kids in the book ask a lot of questions about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus and also about Herod and the wise men and more. It's done in a way that brings humor but also gets you thinking.

Watched several episodes of Lost

Scotty is actually the one watching Lost right now, but I piggy back an episode here and there. 

After watching Tess of the d'Urbervilles, I finished Les Miserables. Then I watched Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights - both which gave me the Romeo and Juliet effect!

(All of these were the BBC versions, and I'll just throw out some caution that all of them contain some sex and/or partial nudity)

Now here we are on New Year's Eve with two more days of Christmas break to go! I anticipate some major partying. We might even stay up until 10:00!

It Happened in 2019

January

• Spent New Year's as a family at Little America with a gift card Scotty won from a golf tournament
• I turned 35 
• Went to Disneyland
• Nicky was able to start attending the temple

February

• First Snow Day since 1996
• Went KonMari crazy
• Furnace went out for four days
• Started working on Personal Progress
• Daisy got glasses
• Nicky and Scotty went on the Klondike (a winter scout camp)

March

• Scotty went to Memphis to install the temple
• Scotty went to Disneyland with his friends
• Daisy had four teeth pulled and got an expander in her mouth

April

• Eva turned 4
• I took a fall while running and scarred my left knee for life

May

• Nicky had pneumonia
• Celebrated our 16th Anniversary
• Scotty went to Paraguay to work on the temple 
• Nicky dressed like a chicken and "bocked" Baby Shark for the school talent show... twice
• I made and sold wood crafts
• One of our chickens died (leaving us with 4)

June

• I organized a summer dance class and taught through August
• Had our ward campout where Scotty's parents ended up getting recruited to serve a mission at the campground
• Went camping at the Spruces
• Scotty and I built a TV stand
• Bought a truck

July

• Camped at the in-law's campground over the 4th
• My mom moved
• Scotty turned 38
• Saw Hugh Jackman in concert
• Scotty and Nicky went to scout camp where Nicky got to do his aviation merit badge and go flying in a plane
• Inherited a "new" couch 
• Scotty went to Priests camp, so the kids and I made a weekend trip to Logan
• Scotty got a motorcycle 

August

• Housed my mom's dog for a month then he ran away two days after my mom took him to her new house. He was found 8 days later.
• Made the switch to digital calendaring
• Went to San Francisco to see Hamilton
• Scotty went to Baton Rouge to install the temple
• Scotty went to Raleigh to install the temple
• Nicky started junior high
• Daisy started 4th grade
• Zoe started 1st grade
• Eva started her second year of preschool

September

• Camped at the in-law's campground for Labor Day
• Scotty and Nicky fell in love with Fan X
• Daisy turned 10
• Nicky played in his first golf tournament
• Got my YW Medallion (i.e. the award for completing the Personal Progress program I started in February)
• Spent a weekend in Crystal Springs, Brigham City, and Logan - kicking off the start of our National Parks visits
• Zoe started being reassessed to get back into speech therapy

October

• Scotty became one of those obsolete Young Men presidents
• Made our last visit to Scotty's dad's cabin before he sold it
• Visited Mesa Verde and four other national parks and monuments
• Our rabbits escaped while we were on vacation

November

• Scotty was called to be the teachers' quorum adviser
• Zoe turned 7
• Had family pictures taken
• Primary program 
• Zoe had her tonsils and adenoids out
• Zoe's tonsils hemorrhaged, and she had to have surgery again
• Nicky reached 5’7”, making him the same height as me

December

• Took another trip to Disneyland
• Scotty went to Washington DC to set up some office space for the Church
• Daisy got her expander removed
• Nicky turned 13

It's Christmas Eve! (and ten other Christmas facts)

Fact #1: Christmas break started on Friday. This was me during the final half hour of school...

"It's coming."

Fact #2: If you need any last minutes gifts, you might be interested to know that these are a thing:

Fact #3: It's not truly Christmas until you've had to cut a large hole in your bedroom wall to fix a plumbing problem.

Car trouble, emergency room visits, and broken major appliances are also great ways to usher in the holidays (we haven't had those just yet, but if you have, I think you've met your quota, and I pray that's all you have to deal with).

Fact #4: Here are the puzzles we've done so far this season:

Rumor has it Santa is bringing the Thomas Kincaid Mulan puzzle...

Fact #5: Gingerbread houses Rounds 1 & 2:

Fact #6: The other day our van hit 100,000 miles! We put far more than the average 12,000 miles per year on our van. 

We may have taken the long way home just so we could watch it turn from 999,999 to 100,000.

Fact #7: My kids have always had Christmas trees in their rooms. I had a set of Alpine trees I got on clearance at Jo-Ann several years ago. I had a 3', 4', & 5' tree. Earlier this year I got rid of them so we could free up space to finish our basement. I knew my kids would be really upset when they learned I got rid of the trees, so I bought each of them a smaller tree with a set of battery operated lights and some decorations. 

Nicky didn't handle it well. He's a stickler for tradition. 

(After a few weeks, he changed his mind, and next year he will be in full support of the "new" trees).

Fact #8: On Sunday night we had cousins sleepover. This was how things looked at 8:00 pm:

We laid out their bedding, popped popcorn, and turned on The Little Mermaid. We truly believed they would watch the movie and fall asleep by 10:00 at the latest. 

Yeah, we are idiots. 

Fact #9: Even though Disneyland is decorated to the nines for Christmas, it didn't actually feel like Christmas while we were there. It felt pretend (70 degree weather does that for a Utahan). However, it was really nice to have that week-long break from the hustle and bustle of Christmas at home. I love Christmas, but it starts to feel a little heavy as time goes on, so stepping away for a minute was great. We missed six big Christmas events that week (three dance performances and three parties), and it was amazing how much stress was lifted.

Don't worry, though, it was made up for by my kids being in my personal space for over a week straight and Scotty going out of town for work (Washington DC) the day after we got back. 

Do you see why I was laying in my bed eating french fries moments before Christmas break?

Fact #10: I hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Remember, no feeding the gremlins after midnight. 

Oops! We did it again!

Last week we took a trip to California and spent a day at Knott's Berry Farm and five days at Disneyland.

Six days in a row at theme parks is a bit extreme, but that's how we roll. We have this problem - we could spend fewer days in Disneyland, but once you've hit three days, it becomes more affordable to add more days. And we like to go mid-week so the crowds are smaller, so if we did three days, we would prefer to go Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. That would put us traveling there on a Monday. If we're going to travel on a Monday, why not just go on Saturday? And if we're going to come home on Friday, we might as well stay until Saturday or Sunday.  

Do you see the snowball forming? 

So anyway, we went to Disneyland five days in a row (which we have done many times... because snowball). And it was so magical and so horrible. Which means it was a genuine Disneyland experience!

Now, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that we go to Disneyland a lot. I admit, my kids have been spoiled in that way. I don't even know how many times we've been. But can I just say that I know multiple families who go more than we do? So let it be known that there are people out there who are worse than us (and we love them for it!)

Since we've been to Disneyland so many times, I don't really have a lot to say about our trip, but for the sake of documentation, I like to do some sort of blog post after we go. I didn't take a lot of photos. I don't have a lot of specific memories that stand out, but here are ten quick things about our trip:

Thing 1: We stayed at the new Holiday Inn Express near the parks. We will not stay there again. They have valet parking only, and they park your vehicle about three miles away. This was a major inconvenience, and we never would have booked there had we known this beforehand. We had difficulty getting our vehicle in a timely fashion. An example: we called for our vehicle from the back of Disneyland during a parade. We walked through the parade crowd and all the way back to the hotel and still had to wait twenty more minutes before they had our car ready. 

Thing 2: Flying was nice, and I was worried that once we flew, I'd never want to drive again, but it wasn't that much better than driving. So in the future, if we need to drive, I'm okay with that. Each has it's pros and cons.

Thing 3: We briefly considered not taking a stroller, but we ended up bringing it, and I'm really glad we did. We brought the double, and even though Zoe and Eva are old enough to not need a stroller, it was really nice to have it for navigating the crowds. It's handy to have the two little kids in the stroller so we don't have to worry about them walking through the masses of people. When they are in the stroller, we have control of where they are. 

Thing 4: We saw Peter Tu again - this time, Scotty wasn't with us, but we saw Peter getting off Dumbo wearing his classic fedora!

Thing 5: Autopia will forever be the dumbest ride of all time. I hate that ride so much!

Thing 6: But Guardians of the Galaxy will forever have my heart. I loved Tower of Terror and was truly devastated when they announced that they would be changing it to Guardians of the Galaxy. Now I take it all back! Guardians is a blast! There is such a fun energy on that ride! Everyone cheers and dances and laughs... It's absolutely delightful! 

Thing 7: Time out happened in Disneyland.

In fact, it was the first thing we had to do when we got into the park. Zoe and Eva were at each other's throats this whole trip! Every time we waited in line, we had to separate them because they were constantly attacking each other. It was kind of a nightmare. 

Thing 8: Nicky is a Disneyland tyrant. He woke up at 5:30 every morning and tried to wake up everyone else by making discreet noises and pretending he wasn't doing it on purpose (we warned him every night not to wake anyone else up in the morning). He constantly nagged everyone to get up and get ready, and even when we told him we weren't going to rush, he would freak out and tear through the room going, "Eva, get your socks on! Mom, what do I need to pack? We need to get to breakfast! Hurry, we're going to be late!" We told him there was no "late." He was not convinced. Each morning we would send him to breakfast alone just so we could have a break from his reign of terror. 

We have created a monster.

Thing 9: One of the memorable things from this trip was the Disneyland Tyrant's insistence on saving all the Fast Pass cards so he could play Go Fish. Several times throughout the day, we would stop for a break, and the kids would play Go Fish. It was fun, and the Disneyland employees (which are referred to as "cast members") commented that they'd never seen that before!

Thing 10: One thing we did a little different this trip was spending more freely than we ever have. You want a churro? Get a churro! You want a chimichanga? Get a chimichanga! I have to admit, it was really fun to not be a tightwad. Frivolity has its perks! We couldn't bring ourselves to fork over $90 a day for our family to use Max Pass, but lived it up on Disneyland treats!

A Tale of Three Woodstocks

A few weeks ago, Scotty and I had a date night, and throughout the course of our time together, we ended up planning a trip to Disneyland.

Date nights can lead to wild ideas.

We pretended we were just daydreaming, but we both knew that we wouldn't let it rest until we went through with it. It started as, "Let's fly to California and do a quick two-day visit to Disneyland." Then it became five days in Disneyland (a habit we always fall into). And then we added a day at Knott's Berry Farm.

We are nuts. Absolutely nuts.

We kept the entire thing a secret from our kids (and therefore, everyone else) because we though it would be fun to surprise them. We planned everything and packed everything in secret. I waited until the last possible minute to contact all my kids' teachers (as not to burden them with the responsibility of keeping it a secret) to get the schoolwork we needed. Then we discretely loaded our luggage and the stroller in the trunk and told everyone to get in the van.

No one asked where we were going.

As we were approaching our long-term parking destination (but before it became apparent that that's where we were going) Nicky conveniently asked, "What's that place?" Scotty said, "I think it's a parking facility. Let's go check it out!" So we pulled in and pretended we were just going to drive around and see what it was. Right as we parked, the shuttle pulled up, so we told the kids we should get on the shuttle and go for a ride. We pulled out our luggage - thinking they would start to make assumptions about what was going on.

"Why do you have suitcases?" they asked.

"To see if they fit on the luggage racks in this shuttle," we said.

Oh the web of lies!

Finally, as we shuttled to the airport, we explained to the kids that we were going to Disneyland! On an airplane!

Our kids don't respond well to surprises. Their reaction is usually confusion. In fact, this was Nicky's face for a good ten minutes:

The questions started, "What about school? What about carpool? What about dance class?" Once we assured them that everything was taken care of, they were pretty excited!

This was the first time we've flown to Disneyland as a family (other than one time when Nicky was a baby). Daisy was so excited to go on the plane that she kept clapping, and once she found out that she could wear headphones and watch her very own tv and pick a drink and a snack, she was absolutely elated!

The kids did really well on the plane. The trip there went as perfect as we could have asked for (other than a slight delay due to fog).

Zoe's first flight

When we arrived, we picked up a rental van and settled into our hotel. The next morning we headed to Knott's Berry Farm. Scotty and I had been to Knott's before (15 years ago), but our kids hadn't. We thought it would be fun to take them somewhere new.

We had a lot of fun at Knott's, but it's definitely a better option for older kids (we knew this going into it, so it wasn't a surprise, just a fact confirmed). It took a while for Eva to open her heart to the rides at Camp Snoopy, but she eventually got comfortable and started riding things. Eva and Zoe loved the little rides. Scotty and I took turns chaperoning the Bigs and the Littles. The crowds were manageable other than a few instances. It rained a little, but the rides were still operable.

We take our rides

very seriously!

There was a rollercoaster (Jaguar!) that I really wanted Zoe to go on. It's a pretty mild coaster that weaves through the trees and covers a big section of the park. Zoe had been begging to play a game, so Scotty told her that if she went on the rollercoaster with me, he would let her play a game. She followed through with her end of the deal, so in order to best follow through with his, Scotty found a game that guaranteed a prize for every player.

For the game, you pick two rubber duckies out of a river until you find a pair that matches, then you get to choose either a stuffed Snoopy or a stuffed Woodstock for a prize. Zoe and Eva each played and each picked a stuffed Woodstock.

Hours later, when we were getting ready to leave, Scotty noticed that we only had one Woodstock in the bottom of the stroller. He retraced his recent steps to see if he could find the missing bird, but it didn't turn up. This was one of "those" parenting moments. It really wasn't anyone's fault that the bird was missing. We thought the missing bird was Eva's, and we coached her through her meltdown, but then the girls figured out that it was actually Zoe's, and things went from ugly to hella ugly.

We had a voucher for a free meal, so the kids and I sat down in a restaurant to share the meal while Scotty set off to solve the Woodstock problem.

To play a game at Knott's, you have to have a game card. Scotty's card had $3 left on it, but the game cost $5. He went to the kiosk to load more money on the card, and the employee informed him that it wasn't working. He asked if he could just give her the additional $2. She said no and told him he would have to go to another kiosk on the other side of the park and load the money, so Scotty ran all the way across the park. Then he came back to the game and asked, "Can I just have a Woodstock or are you going to make me pick the ducks?" Luckily, she let him just take a Woodstock. Duckie selection would have really pushed him over the edge at that point!

After all of this, I turned to Scotty and said, "You know that missing Woodstock is going to turn up at some point, right?" and he said, "Yeah."

The next morning, while I was packing my backpack to go to Disneyland, I pulled out a stuffed Woodstock and put it on the bed. Sure enough, it was the Woodstock. It had been in my backpack all along.

2019 In the Books

The other day I looked back to see what books I've read in 2019, and I thought it would be a good time to post a list. I don't always re-cap the books I read each year, but this year I started to find my reading groove again after a bit of a hiatus, so it's a bit of a celebratory move.

This year I relied a lot more on audiobooks and e-books. I used to be adamantly opposed to e-reading, but I've discovered some things about e-books that I really like:

1. The ability to highlight passages and search, even when the book is from the library 
2. Being able to take screenshots of quotes I love
3. Having a book with me everywhere I go without having to remember to grab it on the way out the door or have it occupy space in my purse
4. Being able to read in the dark
5. Not having to make a trip to the library to obtain or return my books

I still enjoy reading a hard copy, but I have made space in my life for e-books and no longer prefer one over the other. 

Audiobooks have been great for keeping me entertained while I'm doing household tasks or driving for long periods of times. It's nice to be able to enjoy a book while working on other things, and it's kind of fun to set the 15 minute timer and fall asleep to the sweet serenade of a British narrator.

Here is the list of books I read in 2019. I have given a star rating to most of them, which matches my rating on Goodreads. Occasionally I finish a book and choose not to rate it. Sometimes this is because I'm not sure how I feel about it. Other times it's because I don't feel I can rate it fairly (maybe I have a bias that makes me more or less critical of a work, or maybe I read the book with half my brain on). 

One thing to note about my reading list is that it isn't filtered for content. In other words, don't put your trust in me to lead you to wholesome literature. There's plenty of that here, but there are also a lot of books with strong language and heavy themes. In years past I've been more selective about the content of what I read, but this year I let that slide. The British narrators are partially to blame. Nothing sounds inappropriate when it's said in a British accent! The 'F' word sounds cute, and serial killers appear dainty.

Oh, but the books... here they are:

After the Flood by Kassandra Montag***

Almighty by David Butler****

Bird Box by Josh Malerman*****

The Book of Mormon

Born to Change the World by Brad Wilcox****

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James****

A Case for the Book of Mormon by Tad R. Callister

Celebrating a Christ-Centered Easter by Emily Belle Freeman

Columbine by Dave Cullen*****

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch***

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker****

Dreams as Revelation by Mary Jane Woodger***

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman****

Even This by Emily Belle Freeman****

Faith is Not Blind by Bruce C. Hafen & Marie K. Hafen****

A Fall or Marigolds by Susan Meissner***

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson***

The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin***

Good as Gone by Amy Gentry***

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

The Heavens are Open by Wendy Watson Nelson***

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

The Holy Invitation by Anthony Sweat***

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh****

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara****

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware**

Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison***

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo***

Living the Parables by Hank Smith*****

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite**

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty**

The Priesthood Power of Women by Barbara Morgan Gardner****

Redeemer by David Butler

Refugee by Alan Gratz*****

Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen****

Scythe by Neal Shusterman****

Seekers Wanted by Anthony Sweat*****

Silent Souls Weeping by Jane Clayson Johnson****

Smoke & Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg***

The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan*

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel****

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood****

Thunderhead  by Neal Shusterman****

True Places by Sonja Yoerg***

Voice Lessons for Parents by Wendy Mogel***

When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz***

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens***

Why We Love Serial Killers by Scott A. Bonn****

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are the books I started but didn't finish:


The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

The Goldfinch by Donna Tart

The Holy Spirit by Robert L. Millet

The Dinner by Herman Koch

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Promise Not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krentz

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure I'll have at least two more books to add before the end of the year.

The Things They Say

In my extensive selection of phone notes is a list of things my kids say. Here are some good ones from the past few weeks:


Eva: Mom! Zoe won't stop!

Me: Stop what?

Eva: Eating with her mouth!

-----------------

"Zoe said if I put nail polish on my nose, I'll get super powers!"

-Eva

-----------------

"There's a girl in my class named Oakley, and there's a boy in the other class named Throw Up, and they are in loooooove!"

-Eva

(Turns out "Throw Up" is actually named "Phillip").

-----------------

"Nephi has a really good chin."

-Nicky while watching the Book of Mormon videos

-----------------

Me (singing): We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind...

Zoe: Mom! That is so wuuuude to leave your friends behind while you are dancing!

-----------------

Me: Tomorrow is Fast Sunday, for anyone who is interested.

Zoe: Ok. I'm not interested.

-----------------

"Mom, I need to tell you a secret. Jesus' feet are sticking out of the sky!"

-Eva

-----------------

Eva to kid at church: You have chubby cheeks.

Kid at church: You have boogers.

-----------------

Teacher: Eva, what are you thankful for?

Eva: My cat. He's dead.

-----------------

Eva: Can I watch YouTube in my brain?

Me: Sure.

Eva: Okay, everyone be quiet!

(Closes eyes)

-----------------

Eva: Mom, poop and tea rhyme.

Me: No they don't.

Eva: But they're both brown!

Birthday Posters So Far

This is my 7th year doing the birthday poster each month for my kids' school. It has been a fun and challenging task to tackle each year. 

Here are the posters I've made for this school year so far:

September

October

November

December

Here are the links to all the posters I've made in past years:

January - May 2019

September - December 2018

January - May 2018

January - December 2017

2016-2017

2015 Part II

2015 Part I

2013-2014

Backpack, Backpack!

I don't mean to brag, but I can still fit in my backpack from high school.

Or maybe it's from junior college - I don't really know. Suffice it to say, this backpack is pretty old. Sixteen to twenty years.

(Cue Dora’s backpack song).

Though I don't remember exactly when I got it, I do know a couple of things for sure:

1. I got it from Target

and

2. I was really excited about the color because I loved red

(I still love red)

This week, we are parting ways. I bought a new backpack a few weeks ago, so I'm taking a big step and giving my old one to the thrift store (maybe after a courtesy wash, since it's incredibly dirty).

The only problem is... I'm not sure where I'll put my discman now since my new backpack doesn't have an awesome discman pocket with a hole through which to run my headphones.

Watched and Watching

Yesterday I wrote about watching the BBC's miniseries, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and how it gave me a similar reaction to what I felt when I first watched Romeo +Juliet as a young teenager. Here are some other selections I've watched recently:

IN THEATER

Harriet

I have always admired Harriet Tubman. In fact, she is on the guest list for my dinner party with the deceased. A few weeks ago my friend, Cassie, and I went to see Harriet. I never even heard this movie was coming out, and I never saw a trailer for it, but all I needed to know was that it was about Harriet Tubman, and I was interested. As a bonus, I learned that Leslie Odom Jr. (who played Aaron Burr in the original cast of Hamilton) was in it, and that was just fine with me (I crush on him a little).

I really liked the movie, and I recommend it to those who can handle heavy stuff.  I turned to Cassie during the movie and said, "I am so stressed out right now!" and she said, "Me, too!" It's not a movie that I'll buy and watch over and over again, but it's one that is really good to see at least once.

Frozen II

We took the kids to see Frozen II the day after Thanksgiving. I didn't really have any expectations, but I was excited to take my girls. I'm rarely impressed by animated movies. Frozen II neither blew my mind nor disappointed me.

It just was.

CURRENTLY ON AIR

A Million Little Things

I am in love with this show. The characters are fantastic. They all have a great balance between their strengths and their weaknesses. The series is pretty high drama, though. I swear they have a checklist they are trying to complete. I imagine the writers sitting around the table going, "We need someone to die, someone to have an affair, someone to have cancer, and someone to lose their dog. And hey! We should probably have someone sever a limb, but maybe hold off until season 3..."

One thing I appreciate about the dramatic plot lines in the show is that the characters handle their problems in a way that's very different from most TV shows. I feel like they are demonstrating healthier behaviors than we usually see in television.

IN PROGRESS

The World According to Jeff Goldblum

This is a series on Disney+ presented by the one and only Jeff Goldblum (does anyone else remember when Jeff Goldblum was reported dead the day after Michael Jackson died? This stands out so vividly to me because Scotty was backpacking in the Unitas at the time, and I was anxious for him to get cell phone service so I could tell him Michael Jackson and Jeff Goldblum had died).

Anyway, Jeff Goldblum is alive and well, and he is doing this show where he goes around talking to people about... I dunno... stuff. Ice cream... tattoos... denim...

The show is pretty interesting, and Jeff Goldblum is so stinkin' weird that you just can't look away. Scotty and I spend most of the episodes squirming because Goldblum makes us so uncomfortable.

The Imagineering Story

This is another series on Disney+. This one is about the history of the Disney Imagineers. As frequenters of Disneyland, we have really enjoyed this documentary. It's always really amazing to see how innovative the early years of Disney were. The things the imagineers were able to accomplish with the limited technology they had were incredible, and what makes it even more fun is how inexperienced so many of them were. They didn't specialize in what they were asked to do. Walt Disney would just tell people what he wanted them to create, and they would be set free to figure it out.

We are half-way through the third episode.

Les Miserables

When I saw that the BBC did a six-part miniseries of Les Mis, I couldn't wait to start watching it. The summer before my senior year, I had to read the unabridged version of Les Mis to get into AP English. Our teacher made us read Les Mis because she believed any essay question on the AP test could be answered with Les Mis (I think she was right! However, I think an abridged version would have suited the task just fine). Since we spent the whole school year thoroughly studying Les Mis, I have a soft spot for it in my heart.

I usually love most of the BBC series that I watch, but I haven't loved this one. I'm not sure why, other than I don't feel like Javert and Valjean are quite the characters I've formed them to be in my mind. They seem a bit off to me, and since they are two of my favorite characters in the history of EVER, the way they are depicted matters a lot. I don't feel what I usually feel from them, however, I am not finished with the series. I've been half-way through the final episode for almost a month now. I also don't care for Marius in this version. I'm starting to wonder if I'm not really interested in the Marius/Cosette story at all. My interest lies more with the Javert/Valjean dynamic.

Benny and Joon

Many, many years ago, I was flipping through channels, and I caught the end of Benny and Joon on TV. I had no idea what the movie was, but I saw a young Johnny Depp swinging from the side of a building, and I did some follow-up Google research to learn that it was Benny and Joon. How did I spend my formative years in the 90's and never hear of Benny and Joon? I'm not sure.

I rounded up a copy of the DVD and loved the movie, and now I like to revisit it every ten years or so. Here's something to know about me - I'm usually on a ten-year movie rotation. Scotty will suggest a movie, and I'll say, "No. We just watched that five years ago." And he thinks I'm nuts (I am).

(But what about The Greatest Showman? Well, my friends, I'm over a year and a half into my ten-year break. I watched it the week it came out on DVD, and I haven't watched it since).

Anyway, back to Benny and Joon, I am currently watching it on Amazon Prime. If you've never seen it, go ahead and make that a New Year's resolution for 2020.

(Another thing to know about me is that I rarely watch a movie in one sitting. I can watch several episodes of a TV show, but I can't sit through a movie. I don't know why!)

OTHER

This Beautiful Fantastic

I saw this movie floating around on Amazon Prime, and then my friend Carrie (hey, Carrie!) recommended it on facebook so I watched it. It was really good. It has some eccentric and charming characters (kind of like Benny and Joon), and it's rather heart-warming.

The Bookshop

When I couldn't sleep after finishing Tess of the d'Urbervilles, I decided I might as well start something new. Amazon recommended The Bookshop, and well, I love books and British accents, so I started watching it. It took me a few days to finish, but it was a charming and heart-breaking little film. Good thing I love charming and heart-breaking (which is a little different from charming and heart-warming, which I also love). And now I need to read Lolita even though it's classic lit, and it might hurt my brain.

Unfinished

The 'Burbs

On my ten-year movie rotation is The 'Burbs. I think I first saw The 'Burbs when I was a pre-teen, and I hated it. Do I dare say "hate?" Yes. I dare. I watched it again when Scotty and I were dating, and I tried to pretend I liked it, but I just didn't. The other night, Scotty and I were looking for something to watch, and I said, "I can't believe I'm doing this!" as I selected The 'Burbs. I watched the first twenty minutes, and then discovered Scotty was sound asleep (typical), so I changed the show. Turns out... The 'Burbs is still a stupid movie.

Victor Frankenstein

Oh, my friends. This was a dumb, dumb movie.

First, the history of why I tried watching Victor Frankenstein:

As you now know, I recently watched This Beautiful Fantastic. Andrew Scott, who is in the BBC's Sherlock, was in the movie but played a character very different from the conniving Moriarty. This made me wonder what else he has been in and what other kinds of characters he has played. Turns out he was in Victor Frankenstein with Danielle Radcliffe and James McAvoy. James McAvoy is one of my favorite actors, and anything about Frankenstein is fascinating, so it seemed like a good idea.

Um, no.

Dumb, dumb movie.