Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
Movie Review + 2
I saw TWO movies this afternoon – both very good, but very different! Per my post of earlier today, I went to see my top two choices…
The first movie I saw was my top choice – Nights in Rodanthe – Richard Gere and Diane Lane were perfect in the lead roles and the story was incredibly touching. I loved the beach scenes and coastal scenery, which made for a mellow and relaxing experience! As with the other movies from this author, the lead characters are tormented by lost loves and the anticipation of second chances. In this story, there is also a secondary story of lost love in the character played by Scott Glenn – his wife of 42 years died on the operating table and Gere’s character was the doctor. This tragedy was what brought Gere to Rodanthe – Glenn sent him a letter asking to talk to him. Lane takes over management of the inn for her friend so that she can get a weekend away from the drama of her divorce. Gere is also going through a recent divorce. Together they share their stories, a hurricane, and the experience of meeting with the grieving Glenn. I won’t spoil the whole movie or the ending, but suffice it to say that there is love, warmth, caring, and more tragedy! If you liked “The Notebook” and “Message in a Bottle”, you will like this movie! It doesn’t really compare to “The Notebook”, so don’t go expecting that caliber of an experience – it is more on the level of “Message in a Bottle”. Still very good and will tug at your heart, for sure, just not quite as perfect as “The Notebook” was! I give it a strong A- and highly recommend it for anyone who loves a good romance!
Then, I sat in the car and listened to some music and made a couple phone calls waiting for the next movie to start – Eagle Eye – I haven’t heard much about this movie – pretty much just what I read in the synopsis and reviews. So, I was mistaken about a couple things — first, I thought the only name on the cast list that I recognized was Billy Bob Thorton. There were actually other stars I recognized that I didn’t notice on the cast list: Michael Chiklis for one and a couple others that I have seen in other films, but don’t know their names. The second thing I was mistaken about was Billy Bob Thorton’s role – it was actually a fairly large role and he was really quite good in it! I don’t care a lot for Billy Bob – he’s had a couple good roles, but on a whole, I don’t usually go see anything he is a main character in. But he was very good in this role – it suited him and he did a good job! I am not going to go into a lot of detail about this movie – you need to see it for yourself! But I will say this: It was INTENSE!!! They crammed so much action in every scene – I don’t know how they were able to put it all together and edit it without screwing it up! Through most of the movie, there was so much going on and such high tech information that I had a really hard time following it all — but it kept me on edge the entire time! I swear that I must have thought and/or said out loud “holy sh**” more times in the two hours than I have in the last two years!!! The whole story was about as far fetched and unbelievable as it could be, but it also totally put the fear of having my every move and every aspect of my life monitored and tracked in me at the same time — I am absolutely paranoid now!!! ha-ha When the movie ended, I finally relaxed my body and found that every muscle and bone ached and I was tense beyond tense!!! I wish I had seen them in the opposite order so that the mellow one came last! This will appeal to any action/adventure/suspense thriller buffs — I give it a big A and urge everyone to give it a try!
After I left the theater, I went to the Dairy Bar for some dinner — now I’m full and movie’d out and ready to curl up on the couch with the girls!
Sad News…
After my last post and checking out posts from fellow bloggers, I was about to log off when I saw the headline: Paul Newman Dies at 83! I just mentioned the movie “Message in a Bottle” in my blog this morning and thought about him – he was one of the main characters in that movie and it was one of a gazillion wonderful movies he made in his long and successful career as an actor. His legendary, penetrating blue eyes and dashing good looks graced the screen for many years – he will be sorely missed!
The Weekend Is Here – YAY!
It is Saturday morning – the weekend is here – two days of fun and relaxation! So – what am I going to do with them??? The first thought this morning is on MOVIES! Since I didn’t see any of the top three from last week’s line up, I now have an even longer laundry list of movies I want to see! More that have been peaking my interest opened this weekend and two new ones catapulted themselves to the top of the list! So — here’s what I’m thinking:
Nights in Rodanthe – Richard Gere and Diane Lane – my new top choice – this is a MUST NOT MISS, SEE FIRST movie for me! No brainer – this one WILL be seen this weekend! Two other stories from this author are on my top movie favorities list – The Notebook (my current all time absolutely favorite movie) and Message In A Bottle (another wonderful movie)! So – it will take something really drastic to keep me from seeing this movie this weekend! Watch for a review!
Eagle Eye – the only name on the cast list I recognize is Billy Bob Thorton, but I won’t hold that against the movie because he isn’t one of the lead characters, so I’m thinking he won’t have a big enough role to ruin it for me! ha-ha I think this one is tied for second choice. It is a Steven Spielberg film and looks very intense! I’m thinking it is the type of suspense thriller that appeals to me, so it is pretty high on the list!
Ghost Town – This was top on my list last week and is now tied for second choice with Eagle Eye! I adore Greg Kinnear and this looks like a really fun, entertaining movie! So – if I see two movies this weekend, the second will depend on my mood — will I be in the mood for suspense or comedy — will I want to be on the edge of my seat or laugh! Those are the questions that will determine which of these two movies are seen first! The other downfall for Ghost Town is that is isn’t playing in Sanford……..
Burn After Reading and My Best Friend’s Girl round out my top five — these will only come into play this weekend if I feel the strong urge to see MORE movies after the top three are seen — not likely gonna happen, but you never know!!!
Other thoughts I have on this cool Sunday morning:
I have mentioned the squirrels that torment the girls every day — well, they are particularly active today — cool weather and dropping walnuts have gotten into high gear! Here are some pictures of the girls watching the squirrels who are teasing them on limbs out of their reach – the pics are kinda dark cause the sun isn’t very bright this morning and if I tried to get up close to them, they would have refocused their attention on me and I would have missed the shot (you can click on the pic and make it bigger, if you’re interested):
And in more pics of the girls — I was curled up on the couch watching the debate last night and I was able to get these pics of Megan and Amy that are a perfect expression of just how boring the the debate was – this is the first time they have ever curled up in these chairs like this – the chairs are positioned together with a small table between them and it was so cute to see the girls each in their own chair, snoozing:
Guess that’s it for now……
CIS Gala – Two Weeks and Counting
UPDATE – I received the list of jewelry Southern Jewelers is including in the Jewelry Raffle – I’ll disclose it in teaser posts I plan to run over the next week or so as I receive the restaurant’s menus, silent auction items, and other details…..it is all so fabulous!!!
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We’re in the last two weeks of preparations for the big event — the 3rd Annual Benefit Gala for Children for Communities In Schools of Lee County will take place on Friday, October 10th from 6:00 – 10:00! If you haven’t heard about it, go read the Sept 13th and 14th editions of the Sanford Herald! It is an amazing event and the major fundraiser for CIS each year! I can’t wait — but — the next two weeks are going to be really intense as we wrap up the last minute details and tie up loose ends! I gotta say — for the third year, the businesses and individuals in Sanford have been absolutely wonderful — their support makes the Gala a success year after year and we can’t do it without them!
Our hosts this year are Mark and Ruth Stewart on Camelot Lane – they have graciously opened their home as the centerpiece for the Gala where guests will tour the home upon their arrival at the event and then make their way out to the tents in the backyard for food, bars, entertainment, and the silent auction!
The restaurants that are participating in the Taste of Lee County this year are Amy’s Confection Company, Bagels ‘N Stuff, Bella Bistro, Cafe 121, Fresh Choice, Myra’s Kitchen, Harris Wholesale, and Smith’s Coffee – these (and the others that have participated in the past and will, hopefully, participate again) are incredible – they donate their food and time to offer up their specialties for our guests and are always a big hit!!!
The Silent Auction Committee put together a Silent Auction to beat all Silent Auctions this year — they have an amazing list of fabulous items donated by Sanford businesses and individuals that will knock your socks off — the list includes trips, spa packages, golf packages, artwork, photography, major sporting event packages, and much, much more!!! All proceeds from the Silent Auction go to CIS – the businesses and individuals have donated all items at no cost to CIS – you just gotta love this incredibly generous city! The CIS Board is putting together a nice item for the Silent Auction, as well – we are all donating wine to be put in a really nice wine rack (I believe the rack holds 24 bottles – not sure of that, though) – the person getting this item will have a wide variety of wines for their tasting pleasure!
New this year is a Jewelry Raffle – in the first two years we did a Diamond Raffle – this year we will offer up a nice assortment of jewelry for the raffle! Southern Jewelers is sponsoring this feature this year! This is the way it will work: Guests will have an opportunity to purchase one of 50 chances for $25 each and every chance is a winner!! The minimum prize your chance will yield you is a $25 gift certificate at Southern Jewelers — so, everyone will at least get their $25 investment back!!!! No risk – no loss!!! BUT — you just may win something even better! There will be several prizes of varying values much higher than the $25 investment! You can’t lose!! And, again, ALL proceeds go to CIS — Southern Jewelers is generously donating all the prizes at no cost to CIS!!!
Live entertainment will be Jackie Gore Entertainment Group (formerly of the Embers) — this is a must attend event!! If you would like to purchase tickets or be a sponsor, please contact the CIS office at 919-718-5426! Tickets are on sale for $100 each and sponsorships are still available beginning at $250 – of course, any size donation is always appreciated, as well! For more info on CIS of Lee County, please visit our web site!
Thank you to all who support CIS and our important programs!
Dancing With The Stars – Week 1
Well, week one is done and I am 2 for 2 in my predictions! I had planned to hold my predictions and comments until after the end of week one, but per a comment I left on my 9-22-08 post, I did go ahead and say that I thought Jeffrey would be the first to go and that Ted would follow him on the second night! And I was correct! The first two to be voted off were Jeffrey and Ted – in that order!
Early ones to watch are Brooke, Toni, and Warren – all are very good and show the most promise – so far! Warren was a shocker right out of the box — for someone as big and athletic as he is, he sure is light on his feet and flexible – not what I expected out of him at all – very good! Of course, it is just the first week, so it is still anyone’s competition to blossom and win!
I would expect the scores to be low the first week because the stars are nervous, it is their first dance, and they haven’t had time to polish their techniques! But, I thought the judges were a little harsh on them – their comments sounded more like what you would expect further into the series if someone hasn’t improved or listened to their advice! Also – I think it is too early (regardless of how good someone is) to be giving out 9s! I think a 9 means they have no room for improvement and certainly they are not perfect, yet!
The first night, Susan Lucci came off nervous and cautious and didn’t get a lot of love from the judges! I forget if it was Len or Bruno who said that her first dance needed a slut and Carrie Ann said she looked frail out there! It was true — I think for Susan to continue improving, she needs to bring out Erica Kane! She is too sweet and demure as Susan Lucci – if she competes as Susan, she’ll surely be done earlier than if she brings Erica out and really pours on the DIVA qualities! She did much better last night, though!
Cody and Julianne are the king and queen of the prom…..a cutesy couple, but I’m not so sure Julianne can pull off enough magic to keep him around very long!
Then there is Cloris Leachman……what a character she is!!!! I think she’ll get to hang around a couple weeks or so because people will vote her in just to see what she’ll do next! But once the competition starts to get heated and the ones that don’t improve in their technique are weeded out, she’ll be gone. I am still in absolute awe of her, though! I can not imagine doing as good as she is doing — and she’s 82 years old!!! She definitely deserves a lot of credit for getting out there and giving it the ole college try!!!
So – who do I think will be voted off next week? By rights in the technical sense, unless someone else really blows it, it should be either Kim Kardashian or Cloris Leachman! Both will be popular with the voters, though – Cloris because people are going to want to keep her around to see what she’ll say next and Kim because of her celebrity status with the younger crowd! So – I’m thinking it just might be Cody next week!
Of course, we have seen some major upsets in past seasons because someone had one bad dance that totally blows all previous good performances out the window……I hope nothing like that happens this year!
Happy Dancing……
Yankee Stadium Closes
Sunday marked the last game that will be played at the historic Yankee Stadium! The Yanks went out with a victory over the Orioles, speeches, tears, sentiment, and cheers from the crowd! It is sad to think that the “House that Ruth Built” – a strong, iconic house rich in history – will soon no longer exist!
Sunday night was an ending to an era and a start towards building new traditions and memories across the street at the new stadium set to open in February. I wonder if the ghosts of all the great Yankee players will follow the crowd to the new stadium – it was part of the charm of being in Yankee Stadium to feel their presence and sense that they were there sitting in the seat next to you or standing behind the pitcher whispering advice or giving a lift to an outfielder reaching to catch a fly ball to win the game! I can’t imagine Yankee Stadium without them!
Click here for a recap of Sunday night’s closing – this will take you to an article on the NY Yankee web site:
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080921&content_id=3525619&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy
Just across the street, the new stadium is going to be incredible and I hope to be able to see a game there one day. It promises to be a perfect blend of the old and the new. Click here for a virtual tour video of the new stadium – it is a long video, but well worth the time! It has some nice historical info and video, interviews, and a tour of what the interior of the new stadium will look like. A very nice video!
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200809093443211
Such is life – everything eventually changes and we move on!
Dancing With The Stars – Season 7 Begins Tonight!
Season 7 of Dancing With The Stars starts tonight in a live 3 show event where 2 of the 13 couples will be eliminated! I am so excited!! I thought it was strange, though, that there wasn’t the normal hoop-la this year to build anticipation for the show – it is really starting up with very little promotional fan fare!! But, that’s OK. I don’t have any early predictions – I’m waiting to see what happens this first week! My early favorite to root for is Susan Lucci – I think she’ll do good — she is graceful and has been an entertainer most of her life, so she knows what it takes to rehearse and give it all she’s got. Cloris Leachman may surprise us, but even if she doesn’t stay in the competition very long, she gets a BIG A+ for her effort and guts for getting out there and trying to compete at age 82!!! I think they are over playing the athelete card this year with THREE! I’m also interested in watching Chef Rocco DiSpirito. After I see how they come out of the box this week, I’ll start having some stronger opinions on who has staying power and who may be among the ones to leave early!
The line up of stars this season is:
Lance Bass
Kim Kardashian
Cloris Leachman
Misty May-Treamer
Cody Linley
Rocco DiSpirito
Toni Braxton
Ted McGinley
Susan Lucci
Maurice Green
Warren Sapp
Brooke Burke
Jeffrey Ross
I’ll be watching…
Mystery Solved and Other Thoughts
OK – so it looks like I have been in a tizzy for about 2 weeks for NO REASON – I thought I was missing out on great things my fellow Sanford bloggers Amy, Jay, and Stacey were writing that I couldn’t see….. I was all excited just now when I saw that Amy had a new post and I could actually see it now that I have the WordPress Blog Surfer feature…………..I thought everything was fixed!! But, there was still nothing between today’s and the August 27th post! I left Amy a comment and she confirmed – no post since August 27th!!! The feature on Blogger that tells if there is a new post LIED TO ME!!!! Uugghh!!!! I can only assume that the other two were the same Blogger lie……I feel so betrayed!!! ha-ha That doesn’t explain the problem my Mom had with her link to my blog a while back (which lead me to believe I was having the same problem and the reason I was sure it was something wrong with my links), but her’s was probably a one-off thing cause I was able to fix her’s by having her try using a different link and then refreshing her old link!
So – mystery solved!!!
I am actually really happy that it (whatever “it” was) happened cause it pushed me to make the switch and I am so much happier with WordPress than I was with Blogger…..and don’t you just love the picture at the top of my page? WordPress has so much nicer layout designs – I loved the one I had on Blogger, too – I have a thing for lighthouses – but that was the only one that had any character to it at all!! This one is so soothing and calming and pretty!
I didn’t get to a movie this afternoon……I just couldn’t decide which one to go see and I was feeling all lazy and sleepy, so I just curled up with the girls and relaxed and napped and vegged out watching LifeTime movies and did absolutely nothing!! My best friends came over to have lunch to help me through all the left overs from yesterday’s party – they were on their way to Myrtle Beach and decided to come have lunch here instead of going to the trouble at home or eating out — I’m glad they did!!!! They were at the party for a little while yesterday, so they knew what I had here to eat, so it was a no-brainer for them!
The Emmy’s are on tonight – so is Army Wives! Guess I’ll be watching Army Wives when it reruns tomorrow night! But, that is at the same time as All My Children on SoapNet, so I’d better remember to set my recorder for All My Children at the regular ABC time tomorrow afternoon! Man, for someone who doesn’t really watch a lot of TV – it tends to just be “on” and I flip channels a lot – I sure have a couple of days this week that need to be juggled!!!
BTW – your’s truly will be on “Live at 9” – Charter Cable channel 16 – at 9:00 on Tuesday night talking about CIS and the upcoming Gala! Check us out!
I was really craving a blueberry bagel this morning – I thought long and hard about going to Bagels & Stuff, but just didn’t have the oomph to motivate myself to go out! I really need to get into a regular habit of stopping by there and getting some to have here for the weekends – I really love their bagels!!!
Yesterday, Today and Oh, By The Way
Let’s start with today and go to yesterday later…. I have a dilema! There are THREE movies out right now that I have been waiting for and really want to see ASAP! As I will expain later, yesterday was a little busy, so I didn’t have BOTH Sat and Sun available to go to the movies – which would have given me the opportunity to go see all three if it wasn’t so expensive to go to the movies! The movies are (in order of preference) Ghost Town with Greg Kinnear (I love Greg Kinnear), My Best Friend’s Girl with Kate Hudson (she is great in everything she does), and Burn After Reading with a large impressive cast including George Clooney and Brad Pitt (YUM). Ghost Town is my first choice, but it’s not playing in Sanford – I have to go to Southern Pines to see it (or Cary) – and if I go to Southern Pines (or Cary), I could see all three, but that would be a little much and more cash than I am willing to shell out in one day for movies……so, I will pick one and then see the others another weekend! Only problem there is that there are several that I am looking forward to coming out in the coming weeks – so I will end up in this same boat again!!!
Now, as for yesterday!!! It was a most enjoyable day!!! I got an idea in my head a few months ago to have a doggie birthday party for Megan and Amy when they turned two years old in mid August. I thought it would be cool to invite all the neat dogs I know to come and help them celebrate – and, of course, include their mommies and daddies, too! It would be a play date for the dogs and a picnic/get together for the adults. So, I mentioned it to a couple people to see what they thought about my idea and it sounded good to all of us! The original plan was to find a good date in mid August, but when I started planning it, some medical issues I was going through were coming to a peak and I wasn’t sure how that was going to shake out. Once that was resolved, I was in the middle of finalizing plans to reconfigure the front part of my fenced in back yard – the date for that kept getting pushed out and although it would have been fine to have the party either pre or post fence changes, I was concerned that they would be “in process” on the weekend we chose (which would have been a disaster), so I decided to wait until I knew the fence was going to be done! THEN – it was getting into Labor Day…………..it was beginning to look like this party was doomed to not happen!!! Also – it was now past Megan and Amy’s birthday, so it changed from a doggie birthday party to just a doggie play date party……we finally all agreed to a date and plans began!!! We had a trial run on Thurs evening with a couple dogs just to see how it looked like things would go. I discovered that Megan didn’t do so well with strange dogs in “her” yard and Amy was OK after a few minutes, but still seemed a little stressed. So, I decided that it would be way too stressful of an experience for them and I won’t deliberately put them through something that would be traumatic for them. They do GREAT with other dogs at Rae-Zor doggie day care and at other people’s homes, but not so much in their own yard…..so I decided to take them to Rae-Zor for the day and let them play and have an adventure there, instead of at the party! Otherwise, I was considering canceling the party, which I am so glad I didn’t!!
Katie, on the other hand, loves every dog and person she comes into contact with and I just knew she would take over being the perfect hostess and just love the whole thing!!! And she DID — she was right in her element all afternoon! It really made her extremely happy to have so many new friends to meet and kiss and play with!!!
There were 6 families with a total of 12 dogs invited to the doggie party – one family didn’t make it, one stopped in for a little while on their way to other plans – we ended up with 8 adults and 8 dogs for the majority of the party! It all started about 3:00 and turned out to be one of the best ideas I’ve had in a long time!!! The dogs all got along GREAT – they ran and ate treats and played ball and ate treats and played in the pool and ate treats and got a ton of attention from the adults and ate treats……did I mention there were treats? They each got a little gift bag with a ball, some chews, and some treats to take home with them! They had a BLAST!!! They were all so happy – wagging tales, playing, and minimal barking (my neighbors were probably happy for that when they noticed so many dogs in my yard). And, as for Katie — well, she was the Queen of the Ball — this was HER party — no doubt about it!!! And since the dogs all got along so well and pretty much entertained themselves, the adults were able to play with them some and also enjoy some conversations and food. It was a good time for all…..
After the party, I went to get Megan and Amy from Rae-Zor. Rae said they had a great time and played a lot and even got a pedicure (I asked that they clip their nails while they were there). They got home and sniffed every inch of the yard and me trying to figure out what happened here while they were off having an adventure of their own!!!
So – it turned out great for all concerned!! I was disappointed, though, that most of the pictures I took turned out blurry and that I didn’t get all the dogs captured in photos – not sure how I missed some of them, but I did….. ;( Here are a couple that paint a good picture of the theme for the day — dogs having fun!
OK – now for the “Oh, By The Way” part:
Katie, Megan, and Amy have been outside enjoying the cool morning in their yard. They were going nuts this morning – literally! There is a big black walnut tree just across the back fence that hangs over my shed. The nuts fall onto the roof of the shed and make a noise as they roll off the roof onto the ground. This time of year, they are falling pretty heavily! That also means that the squirrels are actively working to gather as many as they can to store away for the winter! On cool mornings like this, the squirrels are really into it and running all over the branches of the trees along my fence line. The girls go crazy in two directions — first, trying to get at the squirrels that are taunting them beyond their reach — second, chasing down the falling walnuts! They also crack open the hard shells trying to get the nuts out – it is funny to watch!
Gas prices are starting to go back down – the stock market is making its way back to a recovery from the major drop earlier in the week – the temperatures are starting to hang around that mid-high 70s mark – we’re just three weeks away from the CIS Gala on Oct 10th —- things are looking good!!!!
Ooppss – the girls see another squirrel – I’d better let them out before they have a melt down!
Issues….
I have been considering the move to WordPress for a while now, but the issue I was having lately was the one that pushed me to make the final decision. BUT – I found that it obviously wasn’t a “Blogger” thing because the move and entering in all new links to other blogs didn’t make the problem go away!
So – here is my issue – maybe someone can come up with a suggestion for me:
There are three blogs that came up on my Blogger blogroll as having new posts, but when I went to them, their blog was still showing an old post as the most current one AND they won’t show the title of their most recent post on my Blogger blogroll. Here is the situation:
– The first one it happened to was Amy Burns’ blog on WordPress – I show that she posted something new one week ago, but the last post I see when I go to her site is dated August 27th – “Melissa’s Wedding and the Biggest Cake Ever!”
– The next one it happened to was Stacey Craft – she is on Blogger – My Blogger blogroll had an update that she posted something new after Amy did, but the last one I see on her site is dated August 26th – “I often wonder how did I get here?”
– The last one (so far) that it has happened to was Jay Riley’s blog on WordPress – it looks like he posted something new 2 days ago, but the last one I see is dated August 27th – “I’ve Been Wiki’d!”
I had my Mom have the same problem with my blog – she kept looking for updates and finally asked me if I gave up on keeping it up. Of course, I didn’t, but she went over a week without seeing a new post! I had her try several things, but what finally worked was using the link in her Internet Explorer favorites instead of her AOL favorites. I’m thinking now, though, that it might have just been a coincidence that the issue was resolved by doing that!
I have tried several things — using my links in both IE and AOL, linking from my blog and from my favorites, typing the links in from scratch, using my desktop computer instead of my laptop, linking from a different computer that didn’t already have the link in the history, deleting and reentering the links, a suggestion that Joe Jon had about clicking on the header to get the most currently dated post, deleting my temp internet files, history, and cookies, sent a help note to Blogger to see if they knew what the problem was (no response – another reason I finally decided to switch), and now changing my blog service! NOTHING HAS WORKED!!
Can anyone help? I don’t want these (and maybe other) blogs to be lost to me forever!
Kim's Thoughts 
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