Here is my Half and Half it’s amazing how different my eyes look. Although each eye is from a different pic.
Ladybug Chronicles: A Baby Is On The Way!!!
Deuteronomy 28:4 ~ Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
So my wish has finally come true, my little ladybug is pregnant and is about to have her own little ladybug, and I’m so excited!!! Just a reminder Ladybugs can also be male :). Out of Job Corps, having jobs, in their own place, and pregnant.
I won’t see my grand baby until February or March though so I have a while to wait, but time presses on. Being a grandma makes my heart glad. Now I understand my mom’s joy when I had Lani, she was so ecstatic about becoming one. I’m thinking it also may have something to do with my mom and I only having one child each and wanting to experience the nurturing process all over again. This is a very strong desire in a woman, who knew? What I mean is, I’m surprised at myself, when I was younger, I never thought the prospect of becoming a grandma would be this exciting!!
Lately, I have had some serious writer’s block which has affected my blog. I haven’t even wanted to write a movie review in sometime. I’m not exactly sure what’s really going on but I hope this will jump-start the blog processes again. I’ve missed reading my favorite blogs and just haven’t been around here much of late but I do miss all of you and hope I’m back for good now. Now I’m just wondering what my grand babies will look like??? 
A Book Review: “Outliers” By Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers, non-fiction, published in 2008, with great insight on how we as humans learn and become successful. It’s not about how to gain success, but explores how much success is about timing, and who you know. It has a timeless relevance because of how it lays out its idea as it debunks popular cliche’s and theories and focuses on how success really happens. It is a cohesive book even though each chapter is very different from the last, as it doesn’t flow like one might be used to when reading a book. Which is why this book is such an interesting read, as it jumps around and then travels back to points it was making earlier in the text.
It looks deeply at the causes and effects of how one is raised, and what the parents did to encourage the success with basically one decisive parental decision. As it also looks at others with similar backgrounds but didn’t have the same success or any success at all. Finally, this book get’s my vote for a tenacious and fascinating read about the complexities of the human experience and just how subjective success really is!!!
Becoming A Senior Isn’t A Great Feeling
So as of May 6, 2015 I officially joined the senior class, and can I say right now it was an uncomfortable feeling for sure! Talk about humble pie, I got mine yesterday, WOW!!! I took the woman I care give for to the casino which she loves, and since I don’t gamble I read a book and surfed the net on my phone while she played the slots for a while.
As I walked up to the rewards desk to get a player’s card (even though I don’t play) the only good thing which came out the experience, is the woman at the rewards desk informed me of my discount because she did the math on my ID. Well thank you very much for math, for goodness sake!!! I couldn’t believe how much that affected me. All I kept hearing echoing in my brain is, “Well I need to inform you, that you qualify for the senior discounts because you’re 50.” Wow, thanks senior discounts, for rubbing my 50 years in. What’s weird is I don’t really think it’s that bad being 50, but I’ve lived half my life and haven’t done a lot of things I want to do yet. So now I feel a little pressured to get that stuff done, which is travel, I need to travel. So this is what I’ll be working toward this side of 50. So that’s what’s really going on!!!!
Hey Everyone I’m Finally Back!!!
Wow, so much has happened in the last few months since I’ve been away from my blog. I’ve lost 40 lbs, my daughter and son-in-law both are working. Matt (son in law) is graduating from Jr. College shortly.Read More »
The Ladybug Chronicles, (Matt Got A Job!)
I’m so proud of my son-in-law, because he did the work and got himself a job! He is now a paid intern for a engineering company, and he did it rather easily. He took care of business and is doing the business of taking care of his wife. Wow, what a proud mama I am now. It’s so nice to know they did things in a good order, first they finished their trade at job corps, and now finishing Jr. college and then starting state college, and working and looking for work, and then hopefully starting a family. I’m a huge fan of godly order.Read More »
WPC: McDonald’s Wallpaper & Floating Roses
Trying to take pics of depth conjures up many things in my mind, and from the examples of other blogs I’ve really got nothing substantial here to work with. Although, it’s the trying I guess that counts, at least that’s what I’m telling myself right now…
Coconut Rice and Black Eyed Peas
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 cup basmati rice or brown rice
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup vegetable stock or chicken stock
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 can black eyed peas or a half a pound of peas from scratch
2 tablespoons freshly minced cilantro leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once hot add the minced garlic and the chili flakes, saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the white wine and stir. Add the vegetable or chicken stock and the coconut milk. Give the rice a good stir and bring to a gentle boil. Once the rice just begins to boil, lower the heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, (45 minutes if using brown rice) until the rice is cooked and all the liquid has evaporated. Fluff with a fork and stir in the black eyed peas and the cilantro. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri, 2008
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/coconut-rice-and-peas-recipe0.html?oc=linkback
Put Down That Mouse and Pick Up That Book!!!
I was listening to a sermon the other day, and the pastor said, “My father was an avid book reader and always had something interesting to talk about to his children and grand children,” and I decided this is something I should start doing with no looking back. I want to have something interesting to talk to my future grand children about, and the only way to make this happen is to do more reading. Why? Because non readers, only tell the same stories over an over again, and drive their relatives crazy repeating, washed up, boring repetitive stories, they forget they already told you because of their dementia. So, if I open my mind I will have something new to say in my old age. Since I caregive for someone who doesn’t read and should have read when they were younger, I now see why reading is truly important.
Also, because I’m turning 50 years old in a little over a week, I need to get started, being from the era of the television and not being encouraged to read more as a youth. Which I regret, but I’m going to change all that now and by golly, I’ve started already. So the first book I started reading last year that I’ve just picked up again to finish is, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, by Hannah Hurnard, this book is an allegory. I will probably review it as well but not sure if I will on my blog yet, I haven’t decided. I’m also simultaneously reading a daily devotional by my old pastor, John MacArthur, called, Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, volume 2.
This is a heavy undertaking but I’m going to do it. For my future grand kids sanity.
Big Eyes*
Amy Adams is a very gifted actor with lots of little nuances about her technique which keeps her acting fresh. She can keep the audience invested even if the role she’s playing is somewhat weak, withdrawn, non confrontational, and lacks confidence. And in this movie she articulates this beautifully. She’s hesitant, restrained, and yet, somehow in your face all at the same time and makes this role Oscar worthy. It’s interesting when an actor can pull all this off, while convincing you she’s not acting.
The Premise…
Centered on Margaret, Adams, a young woman with a daughter that she takes with her, leaves her first husband in the early 50’s something that wasn’t very popular or looked very highly on if the woman was the was the one leaving. So in desperation she moves to San Francisco near her single girlfriend, DeeAnn, Krysten Ritter, for moral support. There she meets a man, Walter Keane, Christoph Waltz who is very chipper and a fast talking fellow artist. And as she seeks to reinvent herself they become fast friends and she begins to gain confidence to pursue her painting talents, by his urging. Then Walter asks her to marry him and begins selling her work, as he tries to sell his own, but the problem is he’s a fly in the ointment and not after her best interests but his own.
With the ubiquitous chauvinistic 50’s women felt pressure to have a man define them. And it’s intriguing to note how wolves know a sheep when they see one and pounce on it, and in this scenario, Margaret is the sheep and her future husband is the wolf. Which is a sad commentary on the 50’s since women were even more burdened down when they were a divorcée. So with that the story took off from there.
The Sum Up…
It was refreshing knowing that Tim Burton directed this movie and Johnny Depp wasn’t in it. It was unusual to not see special effects and eclectic costumes, which made you forget you were watching a Burton film, and I appreciated his restraint and maturity in his directing style. Keane, Waltz, was somewhat convincing as the fast talking, con man. But this movie was all Adams, she played this role in such a way that all you could think of was, less is definitely more. So my score for this film is, B ~ NOTE WORTHY, see either in theaters or on DVD but see it. The reason I didn’t give it an A is because, Waltz was too over the top and he seemed like he was acting and Tim should have used a different actor to play the single girlfriend, DeeAnn, Ritter was terrible, and thank goodness her scenes where short and few. No Safety Alerts here, but this movie is not for kids under 12. With good directing, and decent writing it’s a go see. This movie is rated PG13.
Musings&Rants 