the summer of zanniness

Yeah, it's been a little bit of a wild summer. We have gone to Alaska (which was the highlight), we took a trip to a National Park (Mammoth Cave), saw a couple of Cardinals games, spent a day at Holiday World, and spent lots of time in the pool. I have accomplished things that I wanted to do....paint a glacier, read a book by John Muir, caught up on all my scrapbooking, designed some 12 x 12 paper of my own, made a necklace (yeah I did not enjoy this), worked on finishing the painting in my house, designed and stitched my very own blackwork pattern, and bought tickets to my first ever teeny bopper concert.

Well, it has been a crazy summer. Why? What would I have in my life to be crazy? ME? Seriously, you are asking me? Ok here goes:
1. Husband backed into a parking sign at a ballgame
2. Son wrestled with his friends all the time, as a matter of a fact for 3 weeks in a row we had to get them adjusted.....well, that is until they broke.
3. For the first time in 17 years, I was NOT able to put anything into the local/state fair (this was very sad...I had to work so I could not go enter the stuff).
4. I began to be allergic to everything including the sun. This was the first year that I went to watch my son play baseball and had to take rash cream so that I could stay outside.
5. Realized I have become absolutely nuts about large chunks of ICE!
6. Read over 50 books since I got Laputa on my phone. (thanks Kelley Kelly)
7. Not looking forward to a football game for my high school reunion (I do NOT like football...NOT one bit)
8. My son completed his last year on the pitching machine.
9. My daughter has a teenager attitude.
10. Will never again dig in flower beds...I am tired of breaking out for weeks!
11. Spent almost $100 in an Alaskan cross stitch store (cause you know there are NOT any around here).
12. Realized that my kids need to see MORE of America...and see what a great place it is.
13. Actually THOUGHT about trying camping...in a cabin...yeah maybe....I will think about it again next year.
14. Realized that the volcanoes of Hawaii are closer than I ever imagined.
15. Fell more in love with my husband than before....(gag me with a spoon, sorry to gross you out, but it's true---He is a good guy).
16. Had many kids spend the night with us...our house is a regular Champion Inn.
17. My name is Michelle and I cannot stop downloading ebooks.
18. Got stopped by the cops because my kids were screaming in my car.
19. Tried for the second year in a row to use the time share points in Gatlinburg....did not work! Do they ever have rooms there?
20. My family may be crazy, nutty, strange, loud, obnoxious, and get me pulled over by cops, but they are mine and I love them. I would not trade them for the world.

My thoughts on the Twilight movies

So I have watched the movies over and over and over....There are some flaws that I have noticed and if you stay tuned to the end you will see what I think of eclipse.

Twilight:
First of all, its is a sweet little low budget teenage movie. There are some scenes that are simply wonderful such as the lunch with the apple, the wings of the owl making Edward look like an angel, and the scenery (you can see why I fell in love with this part of the country too).

1. The one that bothers me the most is the scene where she is in the hospital. Tubes near eyes, next shot the tubes are out of eyes, next shot they are near the eyes. BIG MISTAKE!!

2. In many of the close up shots of Edward's eyes, you see that he is wearing contacts.

3. Look at Carlise's makeup, especially in the hospital....bad job, they must have had NO budget at all.

4. Vampires should not have "cold breath" so why do you see Edward's breath in some scenes?

5. Did you know that Laurant is wearing contacts? Yep, look closely you will see the rim of the red lenses.

6. The van looks crushed before Edward stops it from hitting her.

7. Bella wears the same gray shirt many times during the movie, over other shirts, under shirts and alone. This gray shirt was everywhere.

New Moon:

1. The biggest problem is with lightness and darkness. The daylight/nighttime time line....it is NOT consistent through the movie at all.

2. The photo that Alice took of Edward and Bella at the party is NOT the same angle or photo as the one Bella printed off.

3. Photos appear and disappear throughout the whole sitting in the window scene for months.

4. She never changes her clothes for all those months either, but the photos on the walls change during this time.

5. Look at the werewolf tattoos, in some scenes you can tell they are fake.

6. Jake is 108 degrees in body temperature, but it is very easy to see that Taylor is freezing in the rain breakup shot. He is shivering and you can see his breath.

7. YOu can see Jane's contacts in the elevator.

8. I think I see wires when Jacob is lifting the bikes out of the truck.


Eclipse:
I have not seen it enough to notice flaws, so I will tell you what I think of it. This is my favorite book in the whole series. It focuses on Jasper and the the vampires and that is the things that I love. I do not like that the movie differed than the book so much. Now I like some of the differences but I am very much in love with this book.

I was very excited to see the Quilette stories on the big screen but very sad that they cut it down. To me this tells alot of the stories of Jacob and his people. Stories that you needed to know. I was also happy to see Jasper's flashbacks to his life. I enjoyed seeing him as the newborn trainer and Maria's mate. I wish that they had shown more about this time because I love it so much (Stephanie you can write a book on Jasper's former life before the Cullens that would be great).

Victoria was simply beautiful. I think the cast change was great. I hated Victoria in the first movie because she was like a white trash nomad. The second one she was glammed up a bit and attractive the hair was kept clean and combed and the clothes were much better. The third one, Bryce Dallas has the skin of a vampire, she was perfect for the role. I am very glad to see the cast change. I especially loved when Edward tore her apart.

I love the newborn fight scene. This played out exactly as I wanted it to. I love seeing everyone fights and how the vampires can be destroyed. I do have a question, if they are "stone" where does the blood they eat go?

Riley was wonderful....I think he was perfectly cast and portrayed. I hope Stephanie writes a book on his short little life. He has all types of stories to tell I am sure. I miss having Fred or Diego in the movie. I was hoping they would have some scenes.

All in all, it was a great movie, and I can't wait to see it again.