Evil

Krispy Kremes are the devil.  Just thought I'd point that out. 

Scary Movies!

Its only a few days before Halloween and the weather here is already frightful.  Its not too cold, but it sure is windy - The Weather Channel was broadcasting from my local beach for the past two days because the waves were supposed to reach an all-time high of 20 feet.  I live 5 miles from the shore and never bothered to drive out and see.  Shameful.  Anyway, its good weather for watching movies, and since its so close to Halloween, I'll share some good scary movies.  I'm not a fan of the slasher-type horror movies so those won't be appearing on my list.  Ready? 

•  Hocus Pocus  (1993) - this is one of my favorites!  Its not very scary but its cute and rather harmless.

• Ghostbusters (1984) - Again, harmless fun.  My family quotes this movie often.  "Listen, do you smell something?"

• The Shining (1980) - One of my favorites and the remake is just about as good, although no one could ever top Jack Nicholson's creepiness. 

• Halloween (1978)  This was the original and the best.  It is bit slasherish (what?  that's not really a word?) but still a scary one. 

• Wait Until Dark (1967) This is more suspenseful than scary and stars Audrey Hepburn.  I saw this for the first time when I was about 10 and in the company of about 150 high schoolers at marching band camp.  Its about a blind woman who gets tangled up with some creeps looking for stolen drugs. I'll never forget the simultaneous screaming of all of those high schoolers at a certain point in the movie.  ...don't want to give anything away now... 

• Rosemary's Baby (1968) Another really suspenseful one - Mia Farrow is carrying a devil child.  Really!  Only she doesn't know it. 

• Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1958) This is the cartoon version and while its not totally scary, it certainly isn't Mickey.  And on a side note, I visited the home of Washington Irving a few years ago while on a trip to New York.  I'll have to post about that someday.

•  The Exorcist (1973)  I still can't watch this without covering my eyes and getting totally creeped out. 

• Poltergeist ( 1982)  A classic! 

• Seven (1995)  This Brad Pitt film was creepy, and disturbing, and chilling.  It was awesome.  You have to hope that people like that don't really exist in the world.  I'm not referring to Brad Pitt you know.  Good heavens!  I wish more people in the world were like Brad Pitt!  And lived in my neighborhood.  Sigh. 

• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)  Anthony Hopkins plays a really good psycho.  I can't even see the words 'fava beans' without thinking of him in this movie. I don't think I'll ever actually eat a fava bean. 

• What Lies Beneath (2000)  This one had me literally gasping out loud.  I love this movie - and the house that the characters live in is absolutely beautiful.  Its the kind of movie where you yell at the screen, "Don't open the door!" or whatever.  I love those kinds of movies. 

• The Gift (2000)  Cate Blanchett stars in this movie about a psychic woman and a missing local girl.  I don't think too many people saw this one but its worth a rent.  You can yell at the screen in this one too. 

 There.  That should get you started. 



More Bathroom Ideas

I'm thinking more seriously about remodeling my bathroom.  Its been drifting back and forth between the "want" vs. "need" list for oh, about 15 years now.  I think I've mentioned before how truly ugly my bathroom is.  Its original to the house which was built in 1977 so its a hot mess, with its yellow/brown/orange colors of wallpaper and the nasty wrought iron swag light fixture.  But it has been functional so no matter how many times I try to put it on the "need" list, it always keeps getting put back over to the "want" list. 

But now I find that with each passing day, it is not only inching its way on to the "need" list, but its quickly moving to the top of that last.  The little latch on the tub that makes it hold water (I'm sure this has a real name but I have no idea what that is) no longer works so you can't take a bath anymore.  One sink leaks so badly that I had to put a basin underneath, hidden by the cabinets, to catch the water.  Only half of the light fixture works anymore so anything done in the bathroom is done in dim light.  OK.  I've convinced myself. 

I've been buying scrip from the band over the past few months to help fund this makeover but I don't have nearly enough to cover even half the cost.  But anyway, I have enough to buy a new tub and tub surround.  I don't think you can install a one piece shower/tub thing in an existing home - too hard to get it in the doorway - and also a builder once told me that older homes aren't level and "square" enough to get a one piece to fit.  But my big dilemma is what to do with the big double sink vanity.  Do I replace it with exactly the same thing?  Do I go with two pedestal sinks with a cabinet between?  Do we really use two sinks?  I need a decorator.  I'm terrible about making decisions so what I really need is someone to come in and take right over.  Tell me what to do. 

In the meantime, I've been looking at pictures so I'm sharing.

This seems really busy to me.  And I definitely don't need a tv in the bathroom.  But I like the vanity.  I'm thinking we only need one sink, really.  That would free up some space for more storage.  Except I have this really big closet in there already and I really don't need more storage.  I'm trying to think in terms of what a future buyer might want so thats figuring into a lot of my decisions. 



This is so bright and sunny!  Maybe a little too bright and sunny... I need more counter space than this too.

This does not appeal to me at all.  I just don't like the bowl sitting on the counter look.

Here are two from Pottery Barn - two words that strike fear in my bank account.  But holy moly!  I love that store!

Basically the same cabinet,  only the top one has one sink, the bottom has two.  This piece alone would eat up the entire budget for the room.  So this, sadly, is a no. 


...and then I have to think about lighting.  According to people who know these types of things, your bathroom light shouldn't come from above you...that creates shadows and makes it hard to apply makeup.  Lighting sources should be on the sides of the mirror.  I get what they're saying, but it seems like the light should be over the mirror, above your head so you can see what you're doing.  But what do I know? 
          

Here are some lights I like, also from Pottery Barn.

 I really love the subway tile.  It is classic and never goes out of style.  Unfortunately, it would cost too much for my project too.  If I planned on living in this house for the next 20 years, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but thats not the case.

But look what I found!  This vanity is pretty similar to the one at Pottery Barn only its a fraction of the price. 

Well, similar if you use your imagination I guess.  

Now I'm sufficiently inspired.  I guess I'll go do a little home improvement store browsing today!



Kiddos

My two youngest children are involved in a group at school, called STATS, which stands for either Straight Talk About Tough Stuff or Students Talking About Tough Stuff.  Either way, its a great program.  The students in this group go to middle schools in the county and through skits and personal talks encourage others students to stay away from alcohol, drugs and sex.  Our local paper has a really nice article about it so I'm linking it up.  My daughter is quoted near the end of the article, and my son is included in the first picture shown.  Of all the things my kids could be involved in at school, I'm really proud that they have chosen this one.

Halloween

Fall is my favorite season and Halloween is my favorite holiday, mainly because I like the decorations.  It might have something to do with my fascination with horror movies back when I was in middle school.  Not sure.  At any rate, I do like Halloween and all that goes along with it - except maybe the 3000 trick-or-treaters we get in my neighborhood every year.  I especially like when Halloween movies start playing on the Disney channel. 

My decorating skill is just one notch above a kindergartener and usually involves just placing figurines in random places on a shelf.  My sister Kathy got all of the decorating skill in my family and can throw together a beautiful little display of gourds, branches and weeds and it looks better than what Martha Stewart can do.  Sadly, my displays just look like someone forgot to put the groceries away.  That said, I thought I'd show you a picture of my wreath, which I'm pretty proud of, by the way.  I collect antique Halloween postcards and really have no idea how to display them so this is what I did with a few of them.

Now that I"m looking at it, it's not all that wonderful.  Oh well.  It'll do.  Those little orange rectangular things are antique noise makers.  They click when you squeeze them.  Funny!

What're you looking at?

I feel like a lost soul or something.  Like I've lost focus and can't get it back.   I mean really, why are you here?  This whole blog bidness started out as a way to keep myself accountable to my New Year's resolutions and I've been partially successful, but not because of this blog.  I had 2 goals, as you may recall, and I did finally meet one of those goals.  Ho hum.  I feel like I need to have a specific theme here or something...something to keep people coming back.  I'm sure no one wants to read about the mundane things going on in my life, right?  Don't answer that...  You have your own mundane things going on in your life, I'm sure.

Did you ever see that movie about Julia Child?  Julie and Julia, I think it was called.  The one where Julie decides to try a new Julia Child recipe every day and blogs about it and soon she's an internet sensation.  Not that I want to be an internet sensation or anything, but I feel like I have to have a challenge like that.  Except I can't come up with anything. 

There is a blog out there by a woman who decided that she would follow the advice and suggestions Oprah gave on her show.  She decided that since Oprah's mantra was "Live your Best Life", that she would see if following that advice did indeed result in a better life.  She did this experiment for one year and I found her blog about a month before the year was over.  It was fairly interesting and entertaining, especially since Oprah gives a lot of conflicting advice.  I don't have anything that interesting going for me.  And now that I'm working twice as much as I was when I started this thing, I really have nothing interesting to talk about.  I spend most of my week at work.  Pretty boring. 

As is true of most people, I've got stuff going on in my life I don't feel comfortable putting here for the world to read.  Really don't want my dirty laundry hanging out right there in the front yard so to speak.  Maybe someday I'll feel some level of comfort enough to share some of that stuff, but not right now.  Life is really hard and sometimes not very enjoyable.  I think I'm in that spot right now.  Still trying to find my groove.  (Not to be confused with my groove thing, which I found back in the late 70's).  So if you're not put off by my loss of focus here (and elsewhere, really) hang around and see what happens.  Maybe  I'll find something interesting to blog about.  And if you really do just like reading about the stupid stuff I put on here, let me know.  I can do that easily enough.