Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
The Adventures of Katie, Megan, and Amy
The girls have a nice, big backyard to play in — all fenced in so they are safe and sound! The morning routine is that they get up, go out to do their business, come in to eat breakfast, then go back out to play and burn off some energy! While they are out playing, I get my shower and get ready for work. When I’m ready for work, they come in and get settled in for the day.
Well, today we had a little departure from the norm…………..
Everything was as usual up until the part where they come in to settle in for the day! I got ready for work and went to the back door to call them in – they didn’t come! This isn’t terribly unusual – sometimes all I have to do is open the door and they come running – sometimes they are more interested in whatever has their attention at the moment (a cat, squirrels, birds, whatever). Also, the front of the fence is just back from the front of the house, so the back yard wraps around both sides of the house making areas that they can be in that I can’t see them! When they don’t come in after calling them, I usually rattle the box of biscuits – that always gets their attention and makes them come running for treats! So, since I was running a little later than usual, I used that tactic this morning to get them to come in quicker. I rattled the box, called their names, and nothing — no one came running! I did it again – still nothing! I thought, “this can’t be good!” I put on my shoes and went out to look for them. I went around the left side of the house – no girls! I went around the right side of the house – no girls! I stopped breathing for a minute – then I noticed it! The last picket on the picket fence was pulled away from the support brace and pushed over to create a nice sized gap in the pickets!!!
OK, so they got out — I could get them back in! I called their names and looked around the cul de sac to see if I could find them easily! I noticed Megan in the neighbor’s drive way – I called out to her and she looked at me and danced around a little and then went back to sniffing whatever it was she was sniffing……. I got the box of biscuits and went out the front door to get her attention — it worked — I got Megan home and in the house – I gave her a biscuit and shut her up in the house! One down, two to go!
I rattled the biscuit box and called their names over and over and over — I looked all over the immediate area — nothing!!! I was beginning to panic — what if they left the neighborhood and went out on the main road? Cars zip down that road like it is an Indy track…….. I knew they were most likely together — Katie and Amy are usually tied at the hip – they do everything together!!! But, where were they????? I got in the car and decided to check out the rest of the neighborhood – I drove slowly, looking in all the yards. I turned down the street that goes behind my house first! At the end of that street, it makes a 90 degree turn – right after I made that turn, I could hear Katie’s bark (it is very distinctive – I knew it was her)!!! I looked in my rear view mirror and there was Katie and Amy running to try to catch me and Katie was barking at me!!! It was like she was saying “stop Mommie, wait for us!” I hadn’t seen them in any of the yards I passed by, but they must have been in one of them and they recognized the car!!!! They came running to catch me!!! I stopped the car and they caught up to me and were all excited!! They got in the car and I took them home!!!
Once in the house, they all got biscuits and I settled them in for the day!!! WHEW!!! Everything turned out fine and I made it to work on time — but, it could have had a horrible ending!!!
I fixed the fence — it is PVC, not wood, so when the picket was pushed out, it broke the PVC where the screw went in, so it couldn’t be re-screwed or anything like that! I got some bungee cords from the garage and secured it to the support braces so that it won’t be able to be pushed out again! I checked all the other pickets to see if there were any others that might be loose or cracked or something — the rest look secure!
It was a scary experience this morning, but looking back on it now – it was so funny and sweet seeing them running after me and barking to get me to stop and let them in — I thought it was amazing that they recognized the car! I wish I could have filmed it – would have been a big winner on AFV!!!
So – that was Katie, Megan, and Amy’s big adventure this morning!!! They had fun being brave and getting a taste of freedom — all while giving me a heart attack!!!!
Another Great Movie
I had the pleasure of watching another one of my all time favorite movies on TV tonight – flipping channels, I found Hope Floats! This movie is a pure joy to watch again and again and again!!! I have a copy in my collection and watch it when I think of it and I still choose it over almost anything else when I come across it on TV!
Hope Floats stars Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr. It is about a woman who finds out her husband has been cheating on her with her best friend and the worst part is that she finds out on one of those Jerry Springer type shows on national TV and with their young daughter in the audience to witness it all!!!! She packs up and moves back to her home town to stay with her mother. She goes through all the phases of grief, runs into old friends that she finds she no longer has anything in common with, discovers new friendships with old classmates that she wasn’t close to in school, loses her mother, and comes to terms with herself, her life, and her future – and falls in love. It is an amazing story! It’s funny, touching, and heart wrenching! I love this movie and highly recommend it!!!
My favorite line sums up life and are good words to live by — it is right at the end of the movie when Sandra Bullock’s character is giving advice to her precocious daughter who doesn’t think being a child is all that great:
“Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad. It’s what’s in the middle that counts. You gotta give hope a chance to float up. And it usually does!”
Uugghh!!!
I got in to work this morning and decided to eat a Rice Crispy Treat Square — yum — it was really good!!!! I bit down onto the last bite and bit into something really hard that crunched between my teeth! I thought “OMG – what in the world was in that RCT????” I spit it out and discovered that my temporary crown popped off and I bit down on it and it crumbled!!!!
I called Dr. Wooddell’s office and told the receptionist what happened and she said “OK – can you come in at 8:00 tomorrow morning?” Apparently, this happens a lot! ha-ha
It doesn’t hurt — it’s a little heat and cold sensitive, but no pain, so I’m good until I can get them to make a new one and put it on!!! I can’t wait until I get the permanent one in a few weeks – then I won’t need to be as careful!!!
By The Way….
By the way — as follow up to my post about comments:
I had ONE, count ’em, ONE comment this weekend! So – congratulations, Lisa!!! You were seriously considered for the $100 cash prize!!! Unfortunately, there wasn’t an “actual” $100 cash prize – I only promised to “consider” all commenters for one! But, you definitely were considered and your comment about “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” was appreciated!
What? Did you really think I was going to give someone $100 to leave me a comment??? It was all just a clever ploy to get comments!! he-he-he-he-he Not, too clever, though – it only generated one comment! ;-(
Oh well – good night!
And the Oscar goes to….
I usually get all excited about the Academy Awards — I eagerly watch for the nominees, run out and watch all the nominated movies and performances by the Best Actor / Actress and Best Supporting Actor / Actress nominees that I didn’t already see, and wait in anticipation for the show and sit glued to it for the entire production and every single award presentation!!!
This is the first year that I haven’t really given it much thought! Yeah, I’ve had a lot going on, but I usually have a lot going on – that’s never stopped me before! The difference this year is that there isn’t any of the nominees that I have a whole lot of interest in! The only nominated movie I’ve seen is Atonement (and if you scroll down, you’ll see my opinion of THAT movie)!
So – since the only part of the show that is worth staying awake for is seeing what everyone wore and I can see that on the internet and just about every talk show tomorrow — I think I’ll just go to bed early!
Good night!
Movie – Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner
I was flipping channels trying to find a good movie this afternoon and came across one of the best movies of all time! I missed the very beginning, but that was OK – I have seen it at least a thousand times, so I didn’t miss anything. The movie I had the distinct honor of watching was “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” – the original 1967 version with Sidney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracey (not the more recent half baked attempt to do a comedic twist on the basic story line called Guess Who, starring Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher – I didn’t waste my time on that one!).
Whether the first time or the thousandth time, this movie is captivating, touching, controversial, thought provoking, and just plain amazing! They don’t make actors the caliber of Sidney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracey anymore! They can grab your very sole and hold it in their hands with a simple look or phrase. Sidney Poitier is an exceptional actor who demands your attention and gets it! The chemistry between Hepburn and Tracey is incredible – the off screen intense love they had for each other is apparent in every glance that takes place between them in every movie they do together. Their ability to make the characters they play come to life and touch your heart is second to none!!!
This movie tells an important story and brings out strong emotions in all who view it. The final scene is my favorite – when Tracey’s character recaps the events and conversations of the day and voices his concerns and feelings. It is one of the very best scenes ever filmed!!!
If you haven’t seen this movie, I suggest you find it in a rental store or watch for it on cable – it is so well worth the time – I am so happy I came across it today and will take the time to see it whenever I find it!
Movie Review – Atonement
OK – I gave in and went to see Atonement today! I usually like period pieces, especially if they are about unrequited love or deep romance! But, I just wasn’t interested in watching this one – for some reason, it just didn’t reach out and grab me. So, I almost didn’t go see it – even though I gave it serious thought every weekend when trying to decide what movies to go see, I never put it in the top choices! Finally, today, it was down to Atonement or Vantage Point! Vantage Point looked intriguing to me, but I really wasn’t in the mood to “think” too much – I really just wanted to see a movie that would touch my heart. So – against my better judgement, I listened to the critics who have been shooting down Vantage Point and seem to really love Atonement! That should have been my clue to just stay home!I went to the 5:10 show, so that meant that I paid full price instead of matinee price! I got in to the theater and the movie started — almost immediately, I was bored and contemplating leaving! But – I paid full price and wasn’t going to waste that kind of money! I kept thinking that it has to get better! I was WRONG!!! It was slow, uninteresting, and confusing!!! The scenes kept bouncing all around and it was really hard to keep track of what was happening and what time frame they were in!!! Several scenes started in the middle or almost end of the scene and then when it was over, it started showing the same scene again from the beginning to show what happened to get them there – it was so WEIRD!!! Then, later in the film, they had real flash backs where they were in a later time frame and then went back to a previous time frame! And then, they were suddenly MANY years later! AND – in the end, it is revealed that some of the facts that were presented were “imagined” by the character telling the story – they never actually happened – making it all even MORE confusing! There was some good acting, but there was so much about the movie that was just strange and confusing, that it far out-weighed the good acting and made it difficult to put my finger on anything that was worth watching!
I will admit, though, that the last 10 minutes were good — they actually managed to pull it all together and get it to make sense — but it was almost 2 hours too late!!!! I absolutely do NOT recommend this movie and am incredibly sorry I saw it!
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Will I add this one to my my DVD collection? HELL NO!!!
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Was I sorry I spent the time and $$ on it? ABSOLUTELY – BIG TIME!!!
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Did I enjoy it? I enjoyed Monday’s Dentist appt a whole lot more!!!
I rate this one Two HUGE thumbs DOWN – or – an F
Spell Check Fixed!!!
Woo Hoo — spell check on Blogger has been fixed!!! The spell check button for posts on blogger has been unusable for quite a while now — it’s been very frustrating for someone who really depends on spell check (me!!!). But, it is fixed now, so I am happy!!!!
I want comments!!!!
What do I have to do to get people to comment on my posts???? I had a record # of hits yesterday – 30 – in one day!!! And not one single comment!!! ;-(
I know my posts aren’t terribly interesting or thought provoking, but there must be SOMEONE who has an opinion that is worthy of telling me about!!!
So – what do I need to do? Pay you? OK, then – every comment to this or any other post on this blog dated today or tomorrow (Sat / Sun – Feb 23/24) will be considered for a $100 cash prize!!!
Bring on the comments!!! Let’s see how many comments I get this weekend…………show me you’re out there!!!
Thoughts for Thursday….
Here are my thoughts for today:
Mom is out of the hospital and in rehab as of today — she’s in a LOT of pain and swollen pretty bad, but the doc and PT folks all say she is doing really well……
I did a “career day” thing at East Lee Middle School today — the kids were GREAT!!! They had a list of required questions, so there wasn’t a formal presentation. I took a basket of Chapstick (Wyeth makes Chapstick at our Richmond, VA location) and a couple baskets of candy (1 w/ M&Ms and 1 w/ Hershey’s Kisses). The ones who came by my table were really interested in hearing about what it would take to have a career in the BioTech industry – they asked their questions, I signed their sheets, and they got Chapstick and candy!!! I really enjoyed myself!
When Jon Owens posted his blog about the Lottery Challenge, I said that he had sparked my interest in scratch offs and that I was going to start getting them again…….well, I never did!!! When I would think about them, I didn’t have the time to go into a convenience store to get them – when I had the time, I wouldn’t think about them…………..and so on!!! Well, today, on my way to the career day event, I stopped at a convenience store to buy a bottle of water – while I was there, I thought about the scratch offs – I thought “wow – this must be my lucky day – I am thinking about them at the right time, I started a new job this week, I had enough cash to get enough to make it worth the effort, and I was on my way to help students learn about new career potentials — it was perfect!!! So – I bought 20 $1.00 “2 for the Dough” cards — that made a $20.00 investment!!! I left them in my purse and thought about winning all day while I did the career day thing and then while I was at work after lunch! When I got home, I took them out and slowly scratched off one at a time, building the anticipation……………I ended up with 1 card that won $3.00 and 3 cards that won $1.00 each — so, I ended up winning $6.00 total…………….since my investment was $20.00, that left me $14.00 in the hole!!!! So:
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Cost of 20 scratch off cards: $20.00
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Winning cards: $6.00
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Net loss: $14.00
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Fun factor (1-10 scale): 6 (started out at 10 and went down the more frustrated I got!)
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Knowing I have $6.00 worth of cards to cash in for more fun: PRICELESS!
I’m exhausted — it’s been a wild week — I think I’m heading to bed early tonight!
Kim's Thoughts 
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