where have you been?

I look forward to things but I do not wish life away. I see so many people just wishing things away. Counting down to a future instead of trying to help fix today. The countdown doesn't bother me, it's the "I wish the next few weeks would fly by" or "I can't wait until next year".

I often end the day with questions, where did I screw up today? What did I do right today? How did I make a difference? The last question is the one the resonates in my brain. Where did I make a difference? Where did I make a difference? Where did I make a DIFFERENCE? I sure had better have an answer to that EVERY DAY!!

A difference does not have to be a gigantic world wide thing that everyone knows about. Only a few people might know, only a family might know, only one person may know, only God may know....

There have been sometimes lately that life has bothered me. The older I get,the more I see that mankind is not what I thought. There are people that truly care only about themselves,that have no morals, no spiritually, no decency , no respect, no compassion, no values, no love and no ability to take one for the team. I just can't understand why people seem to take the "easy road" or what I like to call the lazy road. Why people can't be treated as they wish to be treated? Why people can't put the good of the many in front of the good of the few, or the one. (thank you Mr Spock).

I have a cousin that has been talking about this sweet precious child that 11 weeks ago she was this happy little kid playing with her family and friends. In a short span of 11 weeks, she was sick, diagnosed with a brain tumor, and now she is gone. She was 5 years old. Do you see exactly how short life is? 11 weeks!!! You have to make your plans TODAY!



I challenge my friends to this...if you don't have a relationship with God, what a GREAT time to develop that! If you don't treat others as you would be treated, what a GREAT time to put yourself LAST! If you don't spend time with your children, what a GREAT time to make a deposit in their future! If you don't take care of the Earth, what a GREAT time to better it for the future! If you have NEVER voted, what a GREAT time to register! If you have been making plans to make a difference, do it NOW! If you are wishing away til Christmas break...remember a lot can happen in just 11 short weeks! And for those that were alive on September 11, 2001, you all know how life can change dramatically in less than ONE HOUR!

Live for today! For the moments that you have! Make a DIFFERENCE!!! Be a GIVER not a TAKER!

America has had 44 Presidents but only one King!

Elvis Week 2010


http://www.elvisweek.com/

This is a week where all Elvis fans unite and celebrate the career of a man with an amazing voice. A man that could sing anything! From Country to rock, to hillbilly, to gospel....Elvis had it covered.

This is also the year that Graceland celebrates its 75th anniversary. Now we all can't get to Graceland this week, but it is kind of nice to go to the website and see what is going on. To listen to XM 18 and listen to the "out takes" of songs that you know well. To listen to songs that you never knew Elvis recorded (like Your cheating heart by Hank Williams), and even to hear him do a Bealtes tune (he is the only person that can get away with that).

In honor of Elvis Week I am including my favorite Elvis tunes

Burning Love
What'd I say?
Suspicious Minds
Kentucky Rain
Poke Salad Annie
Heartbreak Hotel
That's all right
Hey Jude
Viva Las Vegas
In the ghetto
How great thou art

this list could go on forever...Thanks for sharing your talent with us

TCB

The travel list

Everyone knows my zest for travel...the more the merrier. And you all know how I love lists...here are 2 lists that involve travel.

The Places I have been that I loved
1. Bathsheba, Barbados
2.. Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
3. Pikes Peak
4. In the waters around Admiralty Island, Alaska
5. El Morro in San Juan, Puerto Rico
6. Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas
7. Key West, Florida
8. Phillipsburg, St Maartin
9. Skagway, Alaska
10. Washington, D.C. (everything about it thrilled me)
11. Cumberland Falls
12. El Yunque rain forest
13. Chichen Itza
14. Ketchikan, AK
15. St John
16. Mendenhall Glacier
17. Bill Clinton Library
18. The Royal Gorge
19. Charlottsville, Virginia
20. Victoria, Canada
21. The Hermitage
22. Chicago, Illinois
23. Arlington National Cemetary
24. Coke Museum in Atlanta Georgia

25. The Old Mill
26. Great Smokey Mountains National Park



Where I would like to go:
1. Kilauea
2. Mt Saint Helens
3. The Grand Canyon
4.. Denali National Park-June 2015
5. The Grand Tetons
6. Yosemite National Park
7. Glacier National Park
8. Mt Rainier National Park
9. Forks/La Push
10. Mansfield, MO-July 2012
11. Niagara Falls-July 2018
12. Muir Glacier
13. Olympic National Park
14. Aruba-Sept 2014
15. Statue of Liberty National Monument-Oct 2019
16. England

17. A Corner in Winslow Arizona

18. Havana-Oct 2015

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.

Took the words right out of my mouth....

This could have spoilers so please don't read if you don't want to know what happens, I am NOT responsible for you being stupid and reading on..........





My daughter summed it up nicely for me today..."hey it's almost Eclipse day".  That is right folks, just a couple of days left.  I tell you I am so excited to see this movie.  I am trying to imagine just how great the Newborn scene is going to be.  I am excited to see 20 newborns trying to attack and over come the Cullens.  How is it going to play out on the big screen?  I have grand ideas in my head and I only hope that it is true.

And the story of the third wife....I want to see if this is portrayed like a vision with real actors playing the parts of the wolves and the third wife and then flash forwards to the future with Bella and Jacob.  I certainly hope that is the way it plays out.  They did a similar thing when they showed how Edward and Esme were turned in the first Twilight....so I hope that it comes true.

And have  you people have read the book the Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.  Stephanie Meyer wants all to read the book before going to the movies.  I am sure that it has tons to do with the fact that she tells Bree's story and how Jane and the Volturi are involved in the story.  I found the book very violent, but I did however want more.  I have visions of novellas on Riley and definitely on Diego. I found myself craving more info on Diego.  There was something Cullen like to him.  Oh and then there is Fred.  Fred who would fit in great in the coven.  Bring him back, and please tell us what happened to him.  Did Edward contact him because you know he read Bree's thoughts and she had to have been thinking of Diego and Fred in her last moments. Edward might have even told him that yes Jane killed her.

One more good back story, Victoria....how she became what she did, who created her, maybe how she and James found each other.  See Stephanie, you can make this go on and on....I would totally buy the books.  I know for sure that I am not the only one that would buy them.

  I would love to know what you think about it all please share. And in just 1 day we can share what we saw and compare to what you thought and how much we loved it and when we will go see it next.  Whoo HOO!!!

Waiting for a Lunar Eclipse.....

When I was a child eclipses were some of the coolest thing around....now as an adult they put on a whole new meaning.  If you know me, you know that I have been bitten hard by these vampires that live in the Northwest.  While the books are not the best written books ever, and the movies may be a tad corny, I am hooked by some powerful fangs that will NOT let me go (and I am ok with that).  I guess I have always been interested in vampires, but this little Cullen family has brought it all to a totally new level.  The stories fascinate me so much that I read the book over and over and over and over...well, you get the picture.  When I was in Alaska in 2007, this clan meant nothing to me.  I saw signs and all types of stuff saying things about Twilight.  Fast forward two years later and I am seeking out the things that I had seen and did not care for before.  Like the forests up there, the Tongass National Forest is a bit like the areas depicted to be Forks and La Push (I have no idea if they were the real places because I have never been there). I can attest for Port Angles, I have been there twice now and the second time gave me chills because "Bella had been there".  Stupid? I don't think so.  Overboard?  No, its like some guys with their Star Wars, Star Trek, or Superman (or wait I like all those too).  It's an alter ego, the classic good vs evil, beautiful vs ugly (Laurant and James are pretty ugly), Romeo and Juliet, and then there's JANE!  I adore Jane!  She can with her mind send "waves" of pain into your mind and even though she is not hurting your body the pain in your mind is making you think she is and it is the worst thing you ever felt....all the while she smiles and looks so sweet and innocent.  I love to watch her, and I am very excited to see her in the Eclipse movie.

Oh yes, it is only a few days away, and I am all happy.  I am trying to imagine how the scenes will play out, what parts of the books will be left out, and I know there are new tidbits that are not in the original books....now that is going to be great.

So am I Team Edward or Team Jacob?  I am Team Vampire!  I love all the vampires (yes, even the evil ones).  And what do I think of Bella?  I think she is a girl that is obsessed with this vampire.  She probably even breathes in sync with his "breathing".  We have seen little Bells grow up quite a bit since even the first Twilight.  She started out as a backward girl, and has blossomed into a very nice looking girl.  Is that what love does to a girl?  Probably.  I also think she is crazy for loving Jacob too.  Everytime I read the book I think, "I just don't get you Bella Swan", but I believe that is part of the appeal for me trying to get inside her head to see why she is torn.  Vampires ROCK!!!  Jacob? I think he's a cute kid that is a bit conceited and a lot manipulative.  I think he knows exactly what buttons to push on Bella to keep her strung along, but again that may be the reason so many girls love him.

I am excited about how the movie is going to convey the story, what the sets will look like, what Bella will wear, and THRILLED to finally "see" the Newborns!!!  I am looking forward to the Newborn fight more than anything in the movie. I hope that Riley and Bree are as beautiful on the screen as they are in my head.  

So the big day is around the corner and the next hardest thing to decide is "what am I going to wear?"  Any suggestions?   

See you at the movies!!!!