How I escaped 2009

2009 Movies (62 of them)

• 28 Days Later AND 28 Weeks Later ... Zombies, they just keep coming back ... C
• 7 Pounds ... Will Smith, guilt, sacrifice ... A
• Adventureland ... not another teen virgin trying to get laid? C
• Aliens in the Attic ... Elisha thought this was pretty funny ... B
• Aliens vs Monsters ... eh ... C
• Angels & Demons ... not bad (but not DaVinci Code, either) ... B
  
• Bedtime Stories ... kids movie that did NOT make me laugh ... D
• Body of Lies ... diCaprio spy semi-thriller ... C+
• Choke ... with Sam Rockwell ... A+ Loved it!
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ... Good story with LOTSA food ... B
• Coraline ... too dark for kids, from Neil Gaiman ... B+
• Crank ... silly with Statham ... C
• Dan in Real Life .. predictable ...C
• DaVinci Code ... so Chuck will be ready for 'Angels & Demons' ... A
• Deception ... Hugh Jackman & Ewan McGregor so it can't be ALL bad ... C
• Eagle Eye with Shia Lebouf ... A
• Fight Club ... a true classic ... A
• Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais ... A
• Greenfingers ... Sweet & funny ... B
• Hot Fuzz ... Simon Pegg does Dirty Harry in the UK ... hilarious! B+
• Hotel for Dogs ... with Elisha ... C
• I've Loved You So Long ... Loved it in French with subtitles ... B+
• In the Electric Mist ... based on book series by James Lee Burke "Dave Robicheaux" ... B
• Inkheart with Brendan Fraser ... Dinner & a movie with Elisha ... B+
• Julia & Julie ... chick flick - redeeming feature is Meryl Streep as Julia Child ... B+
• Land of the Lost ... Stupid ... D-
• Little Miss Sunshine ... because Chuck hadn't seen the classic!! A+
• Mad Money ... silly fun ... B
• Miller's Crossing ... Coen brothers ... B
• Moon ... loved Sam Rockwell & Sam Rockwell in space ... A ** BEST OF THE YEAR **
  
• Neverwhere ... actually a BBC 5-part show by Neil Gaiman ... A+
• Night at the Museum 2 ... a funny kids movie that made me laugh too ... B+
• Paranoid Park ... Thought-provoking... B
• Pride & Glory with Edward Norton as NY cop... B-
• Primer ... 2 guys accidentally invent a time machine - you really have to follow this one closely! ... B
• Rachel Getting Married ... B
• Right Outside Your Door ... Dirty bomb in LA (felt like a tv movie) ... C
• Run, Fat Boy, Run with Simon Pegg ... Hilarious (romantic) British comedy with a couple scenes that made me laugh OUT LOUD! ... B+
• Shorts ... kids fun with Elisha ... B
• STAR TREK ... LOVED IT!!! A++
• Sunshine ... SciFi ... C+
• Surrogates ... Bruce Willis & scifi ... A
• Taken with Liam Neeson ... C
  
• Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 ... the original with Walter Matthau ... B+
• Ten Things I Hate about You ... fluffy ... B-
• Terminator Salvation ... It's nowhere near the first one, but I still enjoyed it ... B
• The Bank Job ... true bank heist story ... B
• The Big Nothing ... exactly. D
• The Contract ... John Cusack & Morgan Freeman ... predictable yuck ... D-
• The Informant! ... Soderbergh & Matt Damon - I'm still trying to figure it out... B+
• The International with Clive Owen ... B+
• The Mist ... a Stephen King story with a NON-SK ending ... C
• The Sorcerer ... excellent thriller from 1977 ... A+
• The Wire from HBO ... I watched the entire series from Season One all the way through... love it! Thanks Sherry!
• Traitor with Don Cheadle ... C+
• Transsiberian ... too slow & dull ... D-
• Tropic Thunder ... F (Total waste!)
• Up ... Pixar does it again ... A
• Wanted ... Angelina Jolie & assassins! A rollercoaster ride! A+
• Watchmen ... Exceeded Expectations! A
• White Out ... a TV murder mystery set at the South Pole... C
• Wolverine (the new XMen) ... at the drivein... Hugh Jackman ... B+
• Yes Man ... pretty funny Jim Carrey ... B

2009 Books (37 of them)

• "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman - I loved this story of what happened to all the gods immigrants brought with them to America A++
• "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman - I LOVE the way Gaiman tells stories ... A
• "Bare Bones" by Kathy Reichs - I somehow missed this one in sequence (ohno!) ... B
• "Death List" by ? Thornton? - reinforced my ability to skip entire sections and still know who-dun-it ... D+
• "Devil Bones" by Kathy Reichs ... Gotta love Tempe ... B
• "Everything's Eventual" ... 14 short stories by the Master, Stephen King ... A+
• "Frankenstein series" #1, #2, #3 by Dean Koontz - I went back and re-read the first two books to better enjoy the grand finale of the trilogy ... B
• "Girl who Played with Fire" by Steig Larrson - another in his excellent series - an absolute page turner ... A
• "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larsson - wonderful Swedish mystery interweaving multiple plotlines for multiple climaxes ;} ... B+
• "Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls ... memoir of the opposite to my family ... REQUIRED reading! A+
• "Good Omens" another by Neil Gaiman - Hilarious look at Armaggedon in a Monty Python kind of way ... A
• "Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society" by Barrows & Shaffer ... a one day read (and it was a work day) - horrors of ww2 with sweetness of life ... B+
• "Heart Shaped Box" by Joe Hill ... Stephen King's son wrote this excellent thriller ... B
• "King of Lies" by John Hart ... typical legal thriller a la Grisham or Greg Iles... fairly predictable ... C+
• "Lace Reader" by Brunonia Barry - Schizophrenia, suicide and not much story... C
• "Lion Among Men" by Gregory Maguire - Third in his "Oz" series, this time about 'guess who'? ... B
• "Lush Life" by Richard Price - a novel like "The Wire" was a TVshow A
• "Mistress of the Art of Death" by Ariana Franklin - Forensic dr in 1150's England B-
• "Mysteries of Pittsburgh" by Michael Chabon - his 'coming of age' story ... B
• "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman - Exquisitely delightful look at what's under London's Underground ... A
• "Odd Hours" by Dean Koontz ... Odd Thomas the 4th ... B
• "Predator" by Patricia Cornwell - I think I read this just after we lost Anna - I remember snippets, but was surprised by the ending ... B+
• "Scarpetta Factor" by Patricia Cornwell - surprised me with how much it kept me on the edge of my seat ... B+
• "Scattershot" by David Lovelace - his memoir of growing up with four of five family members being bi-polar B+
• "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova ... Wonderful. Excellent! A+
• "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb ... Heavy reading, physically and for the spirit . An epic story . Definitely NOT Lamb's finest ... C
• "The Shack" by William Young ... NOT my usual choice of reading material, but Jessica insisted ... D-
• "Under the Dome" by Stephen King ... A heavyweight epic that mixes "High Noon" with "Lord of the Flies" with "1984" ... loved it! ... A
  
• "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen ... Thank you Jessica for my delightful xmas present! ... A
• "Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon - Another new favorite author - this is a wonderfully engaging book! A+
• Stephanie Plum Series - 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 - Hilarious, fun reads ... B+

2009 xmas day

Sorry for poor photography. It was early. And christmas. My bad. Elisha's DSi.

JB says Elisha's like Hugh Hefner - in his robe and pjs. teehee... This was E making sure he would get to see his Nana & Papa on christmas. He proceeded to run the show and throw the party. Charades, Pictionary, I Spy... The boy knows how to PLAY!

2009 elephant & xmas eve

Elisha's first professional theater performance, as an elephant in "Jungle Book Kids" production, December 21, 2009. The cutest elephant EVER! That's him, third from left, looking to his right for some reason...

Here - Christmas Eve - as Elf #1 in charge of package distribution!

Are these two not the cutest on earth!!! Check out Jes' heels! I hated them at first, but I kinda like them now. As long as I don't have to wear them!

Elisha's display of loot!

christmas cheer!

I will have to say this is definitely the best christmas I've had since we lost Miss Anna. I have laughed ... I have spent good, quality, FUN time with my most precious Jes - and with Elisha - and with my sister - and with the always lively Shelton crew - and with my sweetheart. I heard - and listened to with all my heart - Elisha tell me he loves me and know that he means it (makes what's left of my heart warm right up!). I was given the BESTEST xmas present by Jes & her JB (I GOT THE WII & WII FIT!!!) ... I have gift cards to shop with, and I got an overly generous gift from my parents... My sweetie actually looked at the list I gave him, and he did great! Since I've been out of work, I've gotten lots of well wishing cards and emails and facebook messages.

THANK YOU. Thank you all.

I've tried to explain how I've felt by describing a little rowboat tied up at a dock on a lake. (I'm the rowboat in this story.) It's not the greatest or biggest or newest rowboat, but it is reliable, and dependable, and it does what it's supposed to do. In my sadness and depression, I have perceived the rowboat coming untied at the dock and drifting out into the lake - out where it can easily be capsized by waves, out where no one knows it or cares for it.

Well, tonight I feel cared for. It's not just the presents (although they're really really GREAT!). I feel cared for - I even feel as if I have my very own boathouse to keep me safe and comfortable. Thank you, Jessica and Elisha and JB. Thank you Mom & Dad. Thank you Chuck (especially for being such a good caretaker in my convalescence). Thank you Sis. Thank you Sheltons for including me - for making me laugh - for knowing my pain and sharing yours - and STILL making me laugh.

I love you all. Merry christmas.

Almost christmas...

I do so love not having to go to work. This is the longest I've gone without an alarm clock since I was about 15 years old on summer vacation. After that, there has been a job, or a baby to care for keeping me from my beloved dreams.

Left to my own devices, I tend to go to sleep around eleven or twelve, then to sleep til eight or nine in the morning. I have been waking up all snuggly warm under the blankets while it's really cold in the house (no need to be paying for heat if nobody's awake to use it!). I lie there and think about how I'll spend my day - what has to be done - which projects are on the top of my list. I absolutely LOVE doing this. After I wake up, some days I stay snuggled for ten minutes, some days I stay for an hour - thinking. Just thinking. It is the best thing about being out of work. The ability to think my thoughts as long as I like.

Today my thoughts concerned christmas 'to-do' - including a walmart run for a short list of last minute recipe ingredients (and Diet Dr Peppers, in case of snow!). So after getting up, I headed to walmart with list in hand. Thankfully, it wasn't busy but after wrangling a buggy, and trudging all the way to the back of the store (where they keep my drug-of-choice), I was exhausted! Completely pooped! I got the sodas and a few dairy items, then I had to sit down on one of those old-men benches at the end of the grocery aisles. I was conscious of looking like the really old folks who make it look like WWII battlefields getting through the store. That's kinda how I felt. I told myself to just keep going - you'll make it! The very idea! It was JUST Walmart, for heavens sake! Checkout was speedy (hooray) and I made it back to my car. And sat. And rested. Apparently, I'm not as recovered as I thought I was. ... I have stopped taking the pain meds, since I'm usually okay. Nighttime is the only difficult time - trying to get my stitches and bandaids situated comfortably. ... Apparently, I need to get out and get used to moving around more. ... Apparently, I'm not twenty anymore.

I've been doing a lot of reading and crocheting and DVD-watching --- none of which are known for their cardiovascular highlights.

But show me someone who has made such a pretty scarf while power-walking? or exercising?

Next week, I will get back to taking walks. Maybe.

Snow 2009

This was from last night when it was snowing so hard and fast. Of course, Chuck is loving the cold and the snow and couldn't wait to get out in it today - has shoveled my driveway and my front walk -- which is a good thing, so the mailman can bring me my next DVD of "Fringe - Season One" that I'm watching (I love Netflix).

The ruler says 6 inches. I figured it was our most reliable measuring device.
The wind was blowing like crazy last night. Here's my car - under the carport - covered by the blowing snow. What fun!

Recuperation projects

Surgery went well. Now I'm concerned I won't have enough time to do all the stuff I wanna do before I have to go back to work Jan. 4th 2010. Seriously! I've started Stephen King's Under the Dome - it's Massive! And there are so many crochet projects to make while watching/listening to movies - both on netflix cd and on instant netflix! Plus I have to play solitaire on the computer and take naps! and taking a shower is an event for me right now - careful!! And there is xmas shopping to finish (love Amazon.com). and more naps! And doing the "old man shuffle" to get around. I lost my voice for a day from the tube down my throat during surgery. Sure was quiet around here! And did I say read and naps and games magazine puzzles?